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.
(S. Paulin. Epp.)]
[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.
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Again, types and emblems without number were seen in the language of
the Psalmist, occurring so continuously in the services of the Church.
'His faithfulness shall be thy buckler,' gives rise to a fine allegory
of S. Bernard's, drawn from the triangular shape of the buckler used
at the time when that Father wrote; even as we still see it, in the
effigies of early knights. It protects the upper part of the body
completely: the feet are less completely shielded. And so, remarks the
saint, does God's providence guard His people from spiritual dangers,
imaged by those weapons which attack the upper, or more vital parts of
the body: but from temporal adversities He hath neither promised, nor
will give so complete protection.
To mention the symbolism which attached itself to the worship of the
early Church, would be to go through all its rites. Confirmation and
Matrimony, and, above all, Baptism, were attended by ceremonies in the
highest degree symbolical. But it is needless to dwell on them; enough
has been said to prove the attachment which the Catholic Church has
ever evinced to symbolism.
But the Sign of the Cross is that which gave the greatest scope to
symbolism.--Our readers will probably remember the passage of
Tertullian in which he says, 'we cross ourselves when we go out, and
when we come in; when we lie down, and when we rise up,' etc. Indeed,
as in everything they used, so in everything they saw, the Sign of the
Cross. The following lines from Donne are much to the purpose:
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Since Christ embraced the Cross itself, dare I
His Image, th' Image of His Cross, deny?
Would I have profit by the Sacrifice,
And dare the chosen Altar to despise?
It bore all other sins, but is it fit
That it should bear the sin of scorning it?
Who from the picture would avert his eye,
How should he fly His pains, Who there did die?
From me no pulpit, nor misgrounded law.
Nor scandal taken, shall this Cross withdraw:
It shall not--nor it cannot--for the loss
Of this Cross were to me another Cross:
Better were worse: for no affliction.
No cross were so extreme, as to have none.
Who can blot out the Cross, which th' instrument
Of God dewed on him in the Sacrament?
Who can deny me power and liberty
'To stretch mine arms, and mine own Cross to be?
Swim--and at every stroke thou art thy Cross:
The mast and yard are theirs whom seas do toss.
Look down, thou seest our crosses in small things,
Look up, thou seest birds fly on crossed wings.
We will mention but one symbolical feature more in the trains of
thought which were common among the early Christians. We refer to the
esoteric meaning which was supposed to exist in the writings of
heathen authors: as for example, when the Pollio of Virgil was
imagined to point to the Saviour, and the Fortunate Isles of Pindar to
Paradise. It were easy but needless to dwell on this subject. The few
instances we have given are already amply sufficient to prove to some,
to remind others, how symbolical was the religion of the early Church,
and (we think) to establish our case _à priori_.
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