iptions we have the following: "Bethlehem,
Calvary, Bethany." "We welcome the infant to the Font. We invite the
{21} youth to Confirmation. We invoke the faithful to the Holy
Communion." "Joyful our peal for the bridal; mournful our plaint for
the dead."

Let us turn now to the inside of the church and inquire as to the
spiritual significance which has become associated with its several
parts.

The church is divided into two main portions--the body of the church
and the chancel. This represents the whole Catholic Church, divided
into those on earth and those who have passed into Paradise. The body
of the church, representing those on earth, is divided again into two
parts--the nave and transepts. And these have each their special
religious associations and suggestiveness.

_The Nave._--The nave is that part which extends from the door to the
choir. It is the place where the congregation is gathered, in the
fellowship of Christ's religion, for the purpose of worship. It is
most probably called the nave from the Latin _navis_, signifying a
ship, the same word from which we get our English "navy" and "naval."
The ship was the favorite symbol of the Church in primitive times. We
have the idea preserved for us in the first prayer in the Offices for
Holy Baptism: "Received into the ark of Christ's Church ... may so pass
the waves of this troublesome world" as {22} finally to "come to the
land of everlasting life." The thought was so much in mind that some
old churches were built with the timbers of the roof modeled like the
ribs of a ship, and in some cases the walls were made irregular to
represent the sides of the ship beaten and pressed upon by the waves.
The nave, then, as representing the Church into which God in His love
gathers us together in order to bring us in safety through the storms
of life to the "land of everlasting life," stands for the idea of
_fellowship_ in Christ.

We may come to that same idea in connection with the main body of the
church in other ways. Notice how it is made up of several parts,
divided, in many churches, by pillars and arches. There is the central
part, what is called, strictly speaking, the nave, and the two side
parts, called the aisles. Now this threefold division of the main body
of the church into nave and aisles may speak to us of the same
thing--fellowship. These divisions do not make up three separate
churches, but unite in the one church.

So, again, the i