St Dunstan-in-the-West

London’s church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is a peculiar, octagonal building, which was erected in the 1830s to replace a medieval structure, in which the great William Tyndale had lectured. It is needlessly dark and has a bizarrely ornate Romanian Orthodox iconostasis inside, the two features combining to give it a distinctly un-Western feel.

Octagonal churches or naves are unusual, and the number eight is not without significance in the scriptures. The eighth day of the week was the beginning of the new, post-creation pattern. In Genesis 21:4, we read:

Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

It had an important role in the giving of sacrifices: 

Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. Exodus 22:30

David’s harp, upon which he composed and sang his inspired worship was of eight strings (Ps 6) while most pointedly of all, however, Peter reminds us in 2:2:5 that only eight were saved from the great flood.

A number worth pondering is eight. Many more than that number have found the way to life in Jesus Christ, but most will not. What of you?

Great God! my Maker and my King,
Of thee I’ll speak, of thee I’ll sing;
All thou hast done, and all thou dost,
Declare thee good, proclaim thee just.

Thy ancient thoughts and firm decrees;
Thy threatenings and thy promises;
The joys of heaven, the pains of hell –
What angels taste, what devils feel;

Thy terrors and thy acts of grace;
Thy threatening rod, and smiling face;
Thy wounding and thy healing word;
A world undone, a world restored;

While these excite my fear and joy,
While these my tuneful lips employ,
Accept, O Lord, the humble song,
The tribute of a trembling tongue.

-Benjamin Beddome, No 8, in Gadsby's Hymns