One of the most conspicuous among the symbols intended to represent the Trinity, to be seen in Christian churches, is the compound leaf of the trefoil. Modern story had attributed to St. Patrick the idea of demonstrating a trinity in unity, by showing the shamrock to his hearers; but, says Dr. Inman, "like many other things attributed to the moderns, the idea belongs to the ancients."[352:7]
The Trefoil adorned the head of Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, and is to be found among the Pagan symbols or representations of the three-in-one mystery.[353:1] Fig. No. 32 is a representation of the Trefoil used by the ancient Hindoos as emblematic of their celestial Triad—Brahma, Vishnu and Siva—and afterwards adopted by the Christians.[353:2] The leaf of the Vila, or Bel-tree, is typical of Siva's attributes, because triple in form.[353:3]
The Trefoil was a sacred plant among the ancient Druids of Britain. It was to them an emblem of the mysterious three in one.[353:4] It is to be seen on their coins.[353:5]
The Tripod was very generally employed among the ancients as an emblem of the Trinity, and is found composed in an endless variety of ways. On the coins of Menecratia, in Phrygia, it is represented between two asterisks, with a serpent wreathed around a battle-axe, inserted into it, as an accessory symbol, signifying preservation and destruction. In the ceremonial of worship, the number three was employed with mystic solemnity.[353:6]
The three lines, or three human legs, springing from a central disk or circle, which has been called a Trinacria, and supposed to allude to the island of Sicily, is simply an ancient emblem of the Trinity. "It is of Asiatic origin; its earliest appearance being upon the very ancient coins of Aspendus in Pamphylia; sometimes alone in the square incuse, and sometimes upon the body of an eagle or the back of a lion."[353:7]
We have already seen, in the chapter on the crucifixion, that the earliest emblems of the Christian Saviour were the "Good Shepherd" and the "Lamb." Among these may also be mentioned the Fish. "The only satisfactory explanation why Jesus should be represented as a Fish," says Mr. King, in his Gnostics and their Remains,[353:8] "seems to be the circumstance that in the quaint jargon of the Talmud the Messiah is often designated 'Dag,' or 'The Fish;'" and Mr. Lundy, in his "Monumental Christianity," says:
"Next to the sacred monogram (the