CHAPTER II
THE ARGUMENT A PRIORI
It will first be proper to consider whether, regarding the subject à priori, that is, looking at the habits and manners of those among whom the symbolical system originated, if it originated anywhere, we have reason to think them at all likely to induce that system. Now, as matter of fact, we know that the train of thought, the every-day observances, above all, the religious rites of the early Christians, were in the highest degree figurative. The rite of Baptism gave the most forcible of all sanctions to such a system; and while it sanctioned, it also suggested, some of the earliest specimens of Christian symbolism. Hence, when that rite was found to be, so to speak, connected with the word formed by the initial letters of our Blessed Saviour's name and titles, arose the Mystic Fish: hence, as we shall see, the octagonal baptistery and font. Indeed, almost every great doctrine had been symbolised at a very early period of Christianity. The Resurrection was set forth in the Phoenix, rising immortal from its ashes: the meritorious Passion of our Saviour, by the Pelican, feeding its young with its own blood: the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, by grapes and wheatears, or again by the blood flowing from the heart and feet of the Wounded Lamb into a chalice beneath: the Christian's renewal of strength {xxxvii} thereby in the Eagle, which descending grey and aged into the ocean, rises thence with renewed strength and vigour: the Church, by the Ark, and the vessel [Footnote 9] in which our Lord slept: the Christian's purity and innocence by the Dove: [Footnote 10] again, by the same symbol the souls [Footnote 11] of those who suffered for the Truth: again, though perhaps not so early, the Holy Spirit: the Apostles were also set forth as twelve Doves: [Footnote 12] the Ascension of our Saviour by the Flying Bird; concerning which S. Gregory [Footnote 13] teaches, 'rightly is our Redeemer called a Bird, Whose Body ascended freely into heaven': Martyrs also by birds let loose; for so Tertullian, [Footnote 14] 'There is one kind of flesh of fishes, that is of those who be regenerate by Holy Baptism; but another of birds, that is of martyrs.'
[Footnote 9: Naviculum quippe ecclesiam cogitate,—turbulentum mare hoc seculum.——S. Aug. de Verb Dom.]
[Footnote 10:
Quaeque super signum resident coeleste Columbae,
Simplicibus produnt regna patere Dei.
S. Paulin. ep. 12, ad Sever.]
[Footnote 11: Cum nollet idolis sacrificare (sc. S. Reparata) ecce, gladio percutitur: cujus anima in Columbae specie de corpore egredi, coelumque conscendere visa est.—Martyrol. Rom. viii. Id. Oct.
Emicat inde Columba repens,
Martyris os nive candidior
Visa relinquere, et astra sequi:
Spiritus hic erat Eulaliae
Lacteolus, celer, innocuus.
Pruden. Perist. Hymn. 9.
Compare also the Passion of S. Potitus,—Act. SS. Bollandi, 13 Jan. So, in the cemetery of S. Calistus, a piece of glass was found by Boldetti, on which S. Agnes was represented between two doves, the symbols of her Virginity and Martyrdom.]
[Footnote 12:
Crucem corona lucido cingit globo
Cui coronas sunt corona Apostoli,
Quorum figura est in columbarum choro.
[Footnote 13: In Evang. 29.]
[Footnote 14: De Resurrect. 52.]
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The caged bird is symbolical of the contrary; this has been found upon the phial containing the blood of a martyr. Of this, Boldetti says, 'It is represented on the mosaic of the ancient Tribune of S. Mary beyond Tiber; one being seen at the side of Isaiah the Prophet, the other at that of the Prophet Jeremiah.' In the same way, partridges and peacocks, each with its own meaning are represented. So, again, lions, tigers, horses, oxen, strange fishes, and marine monsters, represent the fearful martyrdoms to which God's servants were exposed: a point which the reader will do well to bear in mind, because in treating of Norman mouldings we shall have occasion again to refer to this matter. So, again, the extended hand symbolised Providence. We have also the seven stars, the moon, and many other symbols of a similar kind. Nor must we forget the Agnus Dei, by which our Blessed Lord Himself was represented; nor the Pastor Bonus, in which His own parable was still further parabolised. The Christian gems found in the Catacombs are all charged with some symbolical device. Upon these is the ship for the Church, the palm for the martyr, and the instrument of torture: as well as the sacred monogram expressing our Saviour's name. The same symbol blazed on the labarum of the first Christian Emperor; and the very coins symbolically showed that the Church had subdued the kingdoms of this world. That fearful heresy, Gnosticism, which arose from an over-symbolising, shows, nevertheless how deeply the principle, within due limits, belonged to the Church. The Gnostic gems exhibit the most monstrous perversions of symbolical representations: the medals of Dioclesian bear a lying symbol of a crushed and expiring Christianity. Later still, new symbols were adopted: mosaics, illuminations, ornaments, all bore some holy emblems. The monogram ihs found in every church in Western Christendom: the corresponding symbol stamps the Eucharistic wafers of the East. [Footnote 15]
[Footnote 15: See on this subject the Cambridge Camden Society's 'Argument for the Greek Origin of the Monogram IHS.']
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The symbols of the Evangelists were also of very early date, though not, in all cases, appropriated as now: for the angel and the lion fluctuated between S. Matthew and S. Mark. Numbers, too, were fruitful of allegorical meaning; and the most ingenious combinations were used to elicit an esoteric meaning from them. By one, the Unity of the Deity was understood: by two, the divine and human Natures of the Saviour: by three, of course, the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity: by four, the doctrine of the Four Evangelists: by six, the Attributes of the Deity: seven represented the sevenfold graces of the Holy Spirit: eight (for a reason hereafter to be noticed), Regeneration: twelve, the glorious company, the Apostles, and, tropologically, the whole Church. And when a straightforward reference to any of these failed, they were added or combined, till the required meaning was obtained. A single instance may suffice:—S. Augustine, writing on that passage of S. Paul's, 'What? know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?' after explaining (Expos. super Psalm. lxxxvi) the twelve thrones, which our Saviour mentions, of the whole Church, as founded by and represented in the Apostles, finds a further meaning. 'The parts of the world be four; the east, the west, the north, and the south:' and (adds the Father) 'they are constantly named in Holy Writ. From these four winds, saith the Lord in the Gospel, shall the elect be gathered together: whence the Church is called from these four parts. Called, and how? By the Trinity. It is not called, except by Baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So four, multiplied by three, make twelve.' In accidental numbers, too, a meaning was often found. No wonder that some beheld, in the three hundred and eighteen trained servants wherewith Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, routed the combined kings, a type of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers of Nicaea, by whom the Faithful rose triumphant over the Arian heresy.