The very fabric of the church suggests the presence of God, and the adornment of the altar carries out the same idea. In principle it is very like the splendour and ceremonial of the king's court. It is impossible for men to have royalty amongst them, and yet not have some external sign by which the king is pointed out and honoured. The ceremonial has, of course, differed widely at different times, but from the earliest king that ever ruled amongst men down to our own time, there has always been a royal display of some kind. It is impossible, in the same way, for men to believe that our Lord is amongst them and not to lavish on Him their most precious treasures, just as it was impossible for St. Mary Magdalen not to pour out her precious ointment on His feet (St. John xii, 3).

The church is His palace, and the altar is His throne. We take that glorious court of Heaven described to us in Holy Scripture, and try feebly to imitate it on earth. The candles, and the incense, and the flowers -- the vestments and the ceremonial of priests -- what are they, but an earthly image of that "great multitude which no man could number... clothes with white robes, and palms in their hands," and of "all the angels who stood about the throne, and the ancients and the four living creatures, and they fell down before the throne upon their faces and adored God"? (Apoc. vii, 9-11).

--The Very Rev. J.B. Bagshawe, _The Treasure of the Church_ (newsletter of The Latin Mass Society)

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