That is true, in one view of the matter, in regard to the Church on
earth, for there must be the individual act of repentance and faith
before a soul is fit to be built into the fabric of the Church.
There is providential training of men for their tasks before these are
given to them.
But the highest application of the symbol which we venture to find in
our text is to the relation between the earthly and the heavenly life.
This world is the quarry where the stones are dressed for the Temple in
the heavens.
(_a_) Life is the chipping and hewing. The unnecessary pieces are
struck off with heavy mallet and sharp chisel. Pain and sorrow are thus
explained, if not wholly, yet sufficiently to bring about submission
and trust.
(_b_) The Builder has His plan clearly before Him, and works accurately
to realise it. He perfectly knows what He means to build, and every
stroke of the dressing-tool is accurately directed. There are no
mistakes made in His quarrying.
(_c_) We may be sure that the prepared stones will be brought to
the Temple site and built into it. There lie gigantic half-hewn pillars
in abandoned quarries in Syria and Egypt. But no one will ever say of
the divine Temple-Builder: He began to build and was not able to
finish. It remains a problem how the old builders managed to transport
these huge stones from the quarries to the site, but we may be sure
that the Architect of the 'house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens,' knows how to bring every stone that has been prepared here,
to the place prepared for it, and for which it has been prepared. We
may repose on the Apostle's assurance that 'He that has begun a good
work in you will perform it,' or rather on the more sure word of Jesus
Himself, 'He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of
My God.'