Of Christ's "mystical body," with its fellowship and cross-bearing on earth, its passage through death to the joy of Paradise, and, waiting beyond, heaven, with its communion and peace through the Cross--it is of this that the church as a building may speak to devout hearts.
_Arrangement and Furniture of the Church_
A person coming into one of our churches would recognize at once a difference between its interior arrangement and that of many other places of worship. If he thought out the purpose of this arrangement, its adaptation to various forms of divine service and religious uses, he would feel that "here is a place where people are taught to worship the Lord in holy rites, and where forms and spaces and objects are themselves teachers of holy truths."
From the door a broad alley (commonly but improperly called an aisle), running lengthwise of the building, leads to the chancel. It suggests that the approach of the people, for the blessings and { 38} consolations which are dispensed there, is made convenient and is invited.
The place of prominence in the furnishing of the church is given to the _Altar_--a table of stone or wood on which the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is celebrated. It is raised several steps above the level of the choir and is railed in. Covering the Altar is an _Altar-cloth_, embroidered, and varying in color with the seasons of the Christian Year. The portion covering the front of the Altar is called the _frontal_; that covering the top of the Altar and simply a few inches of the front is called the _super-frontal_.
Back of the Altar, and raised above it, is a narrow shelf, called the _retable_, upon which the several ornaments of the Altar are placed. In the center is the _Altar-cross_, that this holy symbol of our Faith may be constantly before the eyes of all who worship. The _vases_ to hold the flowers with which the Altar is beautified on festal occasions stand at either side of the Cross. The _candlesticks_, in churches where lights at the Holy Communion are used, stand at the ends of the retable.
Behind the Altar, in many churches, is the _reredos_--a carved or sculptured screen of wood or stone, frequently extending the whole width of the { 39} sanctuary. Sometimes a painting takes its place, or a _dossal_--a decorated curtain of as rich material as circumstances will allow.