Article December 18, 1909 Issue

BUILDING THE TEMPLE

RICHARD P. VERRALL.

Among the mural decorations in the Congressional Library at Washington there is an epigram by the German mystic, Novalis, who held that religion without a church was impossible, which reads, "There is but one temple in the universe, and that temple is the body of man." Commenting on this statement, but apparently overlooking the fact that if "there is but one temple" there can be but one man, Carlyle writes: "I would bow to every man. ... Is he not a temple, then; the visible manifestation and impersonation of the divinity? And yet, alas, such indiscriminate bowing serves not. For there is a devil dwells in man, as well as a divinity: and too often the bow is but pocketed by the former" (Sartor Resartus, Chap. 6). Perceiving the false pretensions of mortal man, but knowing not how to handle the insidious claim of finite personality, Carlyle sees the impracticability of obeying his first impulse, and says, "Therefore we must withhold it."

Mrs. Eddy, armed with the sword of the Spirit and protected by the breastplate of righteousness, has at last prevailed against this beast, or false prophet, of animal magnetism, and has taught her students how to cast out the devil or false belief that dwells in mortal man, thus revealing "the visible manifestation and impersonation of the divinity."

Cruden defines the word "temple" as "a house or dwelling of God, a building erected and set apart for the worship of the true God." The Latin derivation of the term was templum, meaning "an open space, the circuit of the heavens, a place from which one can survey, a prospect, or range of vision." It thus appears that in the original meaning the word did not suggest a material structure, but rather stood for discernment, wisdom, or "the place of understanding."

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