Salisbury Cathedral

I called at Salisbury Cathedral yesterday, one of the most famous episcopal seats in England dating to the mid-1200s. A mixture of Early English and Gothic, tall, pointed arches abound, begiddying the senses. The tower, built in the 1330s, was added a little later and its spire was the third tallest in England at 404 feet. When the spires of Lincoln and Old St Paul’s fell in the 1500s, Salisbury's became the tallest by default. It did not need Constable’s wonderful painting to immortalise its elegant scraping of the sky, but this is surely a wonderful English building worthy of any depiction.

As I ventured out into the great heat to circle the building, a gentleman was present with binoculars. I assumed he was admiring the masonry, but he pointed out the peregrine falcons which nest there and were presently instructing their young in the arts of flying. Nesting on the spire, they perched upon the north transept, urging them to drop off and fly. I was impressed looking up while they looked down.

Job asks “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?” (39:27), while the Lord through Jeremiah threatens the Edomites:

Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. (49:16)

One day, we Christians shall all be lifted high; till then, we content ourselves with the humility of our present conditions. It is better to look up and be impressed than to look down with hauteur and contempt.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 1 Peter 5:6

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