Bath Abbey

Wiltshire’s Bath Abbey is a stunning construction, especially its ceilings. High, intricate and awe-inspiring, they might be cited as evidence that the gothic style was essentially a tool to point men heavenwards.

Within its precincts is buried James Montagu, Bishop of Bath and Wells at the time of King James I. Walking with Sir John Harrington one day, he was overtaken by a heavy shower and entered the roofless nave for shelter, the Abbey having lost it during the previous century’s Reformation. "If the church does not keep us safe from the waters above”, remarked Sir John to his bishop, “how shall it save others from the fire below?” The prelate duly made plans to replace the roof.

We evangelicals know that ‘the Church’ in general, and the Church of England in particular, has no ability to to save anyone, for that is the Lord Jesus’ vital office, not ours. Nevertheless, the church on earth should actively keep safe its people: from sexual predators, from false teachers, from money-grubbers, from religious pride, from worldly values. Pray we do so in as beautiful and sensitive a way as Bath Abbey’s roof keeps out the wind and rain.