North Window

The stained glass in the North window presents the witness of the church to the whole community as its members pass to and fro on the street that passes in front of the church.

The great quatrefoil rose has been devoted to large figures of the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each is accompanied by his age-old symbol:  Matthew by a man, Mark by a lion, Luke by an ox, and John by an eagle. In the windows of Chartres Cathedral the four Evangelists are shown riding each upon the shoulders of a prophet of Israel. Hence, beneath the figure of Matthew is Isaiah with his symbol of the burning coal from the altar of sacrifice. Luke is accompanied by Jeremiah with his cistern. Mark is paired with Daniel and a lion. And John towers above Ezekiel whose attribute is a turreted gateway. In this manner the ancients represented New Testament history as resting firmly upon the foundation of Old Testament history. At the heart of the rose is a device found on a ring stone which, we are told, belonged to Amulf, Bishop of Metz, and shows a basket containing one fish flanked by two additional fish drawing near to enter. The reference may be to Christ's invitation to His disciples to become "fishers of men.”

The chronology of the window spreads outward from the rose like eddies from a pebble dropped into a quiet pool of water. The circle immediately outside the rose includes the traceries which contain symbols of the twelve Apostles.

At the heart of what may be considered the next circle, are the two chief characters of the Book of Acts, Peter and Paul, who are seen at the top of the two central lancets. Peter holds his attribute, the keys. Above his head is a flame reminiscent of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to guide the church. This is also shown by the doves at the top of each of the four outer lancets and the smaller flames. Paul holds the open book and the spiritus gladius, the sword of the spirit.

Peter and Paul are flanked by four Christians representative of the ages before the Reformation. At the top of the first lancet is John Chrysostom, a 4th century churchman of powerful eloquence, and one of the fathers of the Greek Church. Next, at the top of the second lancet, is Augustine (not to be confused with St. Augustine in the prayer window) who was sent by Gregory the Great to take Christianity to England. He is shown baptizing some of the primitive peoples he found upon arrival. Founder of Canterbury, he is an illustrious example of the missionary spirit. At the top of the fifth lancet is Athanasius dressed here as a bishop of the church. As a young man, in the famous Council of Nicea in 325, he stoutly defended the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and in our window, appropriately, holds a triangle. At the top of the sixth lancet the beloved Francis of Assisi shares his compassion with the poor while accompanied by his friends the birds.

 The next circle describes the beginning of the Reformation and the Methodist movement. Under the figure of Paul stands John Wycliff, known as the Morning Star of the Reformation, sending out his Lollards, as they were called, or poor preachers. One of Wycliff's notable achievements was translating the Bible into English. Martin Luther is in the fifth lancet, and is shown nailing his 95 theses to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, and so, more than any other single figure, setting the Reformation on its way. To his right is John Calvin, the most scholarly theologian of the Reformation. The third lancet shows Methodism's founder, John Wesley. He stands here, an uncertain seeker after righteousness, at the famous meeting in Aldersgate Street, London. The hands of the clock point to a quarter before nine when on this fateful evening his heart was "strangely warmed." To the left is Francis Asbury, "The Prophet Of the Long Road," as he has been called, who more than any other gave shape to the thought, structure and spirit of the Methodist Church in America. George Whitefield, perhaps the mightiest Methodist preacher who ever lived, occupies the leftmost lancet.

The last ring at the bottom begins on the left with Robert Raikes, the founder of the Sunday school which he established to teach children who worked such long hours in factories during the week they had no schooling. Next is Peter Doub, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, a preacher of unusual gifts, and from whose labors in High Point was founded the church which became Wesley Memorial. The seals are those of the World Methodist Council and the World Council of Churches. Braxton Craven, seen next, was president of Union Institute which became Trinity College, and is now Duke University. In the last scene Bishop James Straughn of the Methodist Protestant Church, Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Bishop John M. Moore of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, clasp hands at the Uniting Conference in 1939 which merged their respective communions into The Methodist Church. The often seen photograph of this event was posed after the conference ended.  The image in our window shows the Bishops as they stood during the actual moment of unification.

 

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