Bede : On the inside, indeed, the house was lined with cedar, for on the outside, the actual stone it was built of glinted with as much brilliance as if it had been covered with glowing white marble. Taken in the mystical sense, however, the temple walls are the nations of believers of whom the holy universal church consists and whose widespread distribution throughout the whole world is denoted by the width of the walls, whereas the height denotes the hope and whole upward thrust of the church toward heavenly things, or at any rate the height of the wall, which consists of courses of stones laid one on top of the other, denotes the state of the present church where the elect are all built on the foundation of Christ and follow each other in succession through the course of the ages and, by supporting each other, fulfill the law of Christ, which is charity. — Of the Temple of Solomon 1.8.6