Worship and art together take the beauty of the world and offer it up as a tribute at the feet of God." {11} _The Church, the Place of Worship_ It would seem that at first Christians worshiped in any place which they could use with safety. "But soon the Lord revealed Himself to the world as the King of it, until in a few generations the earth was covered with His shrines, and mines and forests and human skill offered to Him their best gifts." "The custom of setting apart places and houses as holy and dedicated to God's worship was ever a part of the faith of God's people." Thus it was said to Israel in the wilderness, "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." Of the building of the Temple Solomon says, "Behold, I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, {12} whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build a house unto My name." Our Lord confirms this practice as one of sound and true religion. He called the Temple "My Father's house," and by cleansing it of buyers and sellers showed that it was to be used for no other purpose than the worship of God. Christians from the earliest days have had consecrated places which were held in reverence as distinct from the home. And so the Prayer-Book says, "Devout and holy men, as well under the Law as under the Gospel, moved either by the express command of God, or by the secret inspiration of the blessed Spirit, and acting agreeably to their own reason and sense of the natural decency of things, have erected houses for the public worship of God, and separated them from all unhallowed, worldly, and common uses, in order to fill men's minds with greater reverence for His glorious Majesty, and affect their hearts with more devotion and humility in His service; which pious works have been approved of and graciously accepted by our heavenly Father." It is an ancient custom to dedicate churches to the glory of God and in honor of some special saint. This custom probably arose from the fact that in early days churches were commonly built over the {13} graves of martyrs, or in the place of their martyrdom, and hence were called by their names. Sometimes the church is named from some fact in the sacred history of our redemption, as the Incarnation, the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Epiphany, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension. Or it may take its name from the Holy Trinity, or from some title of our Lord or of the Holy Ghost. Or it may be named for one or all of the holy angels. It must be felt to be a decided advantage to have the place of the worship of God designated by a dignified name, and one non-secular and religious in its associations. The word "church," by which we designate the place of divine worship, being derived from the Greek _kuriakon_, the Lord's house, embodies the idea of its sacred character.