St Mary's Church, Huntingdon

St Mary's Church, in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was regarded as the ‘Mother Church of Huntingdon’. Curiously, part of it seems to have fallen down in 1609, forcing the Jacobean authorities to rebuild. Although much of the nave appears to be medieval, the tower looks a little younger, and that was likely to have been the main focus of the rebuild. Yet, within the walls, there are niches for Roman Catholic statues of saints. Much as puritans despaired of the Jacobean Church of England, even the highest of its bishops would have serious qualms about statuary and images being shelved on the outer or inner walls of its premises. The official, Historic England listing, tried to account for it by stating that the rebuilding was limited to the northeast corner. This would suggest that the damage to the building was not as substantial as some sources suggest.

We Christians are not unlike this ancient church. The idols of our former lives have been removed, but the old places in which they stood and received our adoration, remain. Israel built a glorious temple to the Living God, but many a king condoned the use of the older High Places, those ancient, pagan shrines of the Canaanites. The Roman Church expelled the gods of Greece and Rome, but allowed their return under the guise of saints. It is good to remove an idol, but beware the place where once it stood, for there is always a long queue of alternative tenants seeking to occupy the space.

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-25. NKJV