The four roundels or tondi in the pendentives of the chapel dome represent Government, Industry, Learning and the Fine Arts. They are by Sir Charles Wheeler who worked with Sir Herbert Baker on other projects, including the Bank of England and South Africa House.
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| Government |
This Sunday's lectionary readings give as the Gospel Matthew 22, the trap set by the Pharisees and Herodians: is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? It is the great dilemma of all those who would live according to God's Law, or any other set of principles for that matter. Does one follow the Herodians, those who supported the Roman puppet ruler Herod Antipas, and accommodate to the world, follow the dictates of realpolitik and sacrifice one's principles in detail in order to follow them in general? Or is the answer to be scrupulous like the Pharisee: refuse to do anything which compromises the Truth as we understand it, but at the cost of real engagement with the world and the separation into a sect?
It is a constant struggle to get this right, and the church is guided by her Lord to "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." That is, neither to retreat to the false certainties of pure sectarianism, nor to cease to care about the means in the cause of the ends.
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| Industry |
Haileyburians are influential in Government, Industry, Learning and the Arts. Where they engage in the struggle to balance the demands of Caesar and God they do well; to stand on either extreme of the dilemma posed by the opponents of Christ is to risk ruin: not perhaps material ruin, but spiritual ruin.
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