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35. The horologium, by means of which the hours are read, teacheth the diligence that should be in priests to observe at the proper times the canonical hours: as he saith, 'Seven times a day do I praise thee.'[Footnote 172]
[Footnote 172: Psalm (cxix),Beati immaculati, 164.]
36. The tiles[Footnote 173]of the roof which keep off the rain are the soldiers, who preserve the Church from paynim, and from enemies.
[Footnote 173: This passage deserves to be noticed, as proving that lead was not the only roofing employed in the Norman churches.]
37. The circular staircases, which are imitated from Solomon's temple, are passages which wind among the walls, and point out the hidden knowledge which they only have who ascend to celestial things. Concerning the steps, by which ascent is made to the altar, hereafter.
38. The sacristy, or place where the holy vessels are deposited, or where the priest putteth on his robes, is the womb of the Blessed Mary, where Christ put on his robes of humanity. The priest, having robed himself, cometh forth into the public view, because Christ, having come from the womb of the Virgin, proceeded forth into the world.
The bishop's throne in the church is higher than the rest.
39. Near to the altar, which signifieth Christ, is placed the piscina, or lavacrum, that is, the pity of Christ, in which the priest washeth his hands, thereby denoting that by baptism and penitence we are purged from the filth of sin: which is drawn from the Old Testament. For he saith in Exodus, 'And Moses made a laver of brass, with his basin, in the which Aaron the priest and his sons should wash, before they went up to the altar, that they might offer an offering.[Footnote 174]
[Footnote 174: Exodus xxxviii, 8.]
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40. The lamp in the church is Christ: as He saith, 'I am the light of the world';[Footnote 175]and again, 'That was the true light.'[Footnote 176]'Or the light in a church may denote the apostles and other doctors, by whose doctrine the Church is enlightened, as the sun and moon: concerning whom saith the Lord, 'Ye are the light of the world:[Footnote 177]that is, an example of good works. Wherefore He saith to them in His admonitions, 'Let your light shine before men.'[Footnote 178]But the Church is enlightened by the precepts of the Lord; wherefore it saith in the before-quoted place, 'Speak unto the sons of Aaron that they offer oil-olive most pure, that the lamp may burn continually in the tabernacle of the testimony.'[Footnote 179]Moses made also seven lights, which are the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost: for they in the darkness of this world shine forth with brightness: and they rest in candlesticks, because in Christ rested 'the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of learning and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord, by which He preached wisdom to the captives.'[Footnote 180]The number of lights showeth the number of graces in the faithful.
[Footnote 175: S. John viii, 12.][Footnote 176: S. John i, 6.][Footnote 177: S. Matthew v, 14.][Footnote 178: S. Matthew v, 16.][Footnote 179: Lev. xxiv, 2.][Footnote 180: Isaiah lxi, i.]
41. In many places a triumphal cross is placed in the midst of the church; to teach us, that from the midst of our hearts we must love the Redeemer: who, after Solomon's pattern, 'paved the midst of his litter (ferculum) with love for the daughters of Jerusalem:'[Footnote 181]and that all, seeing the sign of victory, might exclaim. Hail, thou Salvation of the whole world, Tree of our Redemption: and that we should never forget the love of God, who, to redeem His servants, gave His only son, that we might imitate Him crucified. But the cross is exalted on high, to signify the victory of Christ. Why a church is ornamented within and not without, shall be said hereafter.
[Footnote 181: Cantic. iii, 10.]
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42. The cloisters, as Richard, Bishop of Cremona, testifieth, had their rise either in the watchings of the Levites around the tabernacle, or from the chambers of the priests, or from the porch of Solomon's temple. 'For the Lord commanded Moses, that he should not number the Levites with the rest of the children of Israel; but should set them over the tabernacle of the testimony to carry it and to keep it.'[Footnote 182]On account of which divine commandment, while the Holy Mysteries are in celebration, the clergy should in the church stand apart from the laity. Whence the Council of Mayence ordained that the part which is separated with rails from the altar should be appropriated altogether to the priests choral. Furthermore, as the church signifieth the Church Triumphant, so the cloister signifieth the celestial Paradise, where there will be one and the same heart in fulfilling the commands of God and loving Him: where all things will be possessed in common, because that of which one hath less, he will rejoice to see more abounding in another, for 'God shall be all in all.'[Footnote 183]Therefore the regular clergy who live in the cloisters, and are of one mind, rising to the service of God and leaving worldly things, lead their lives in common. The various offices in the cloister signify the different mansions, and the difference of rewards in the Kingdom: for 'In My Father's House are many mansions,'[Footnote 184]saith our Lord. But in a moral sense the cloister is the contemplative state, into which the soul betaking itself, is separated from the crowd of carnal thoughts, and meditateth on celestial things only. In this cloister there are four sides: denoting, namely, contempt of self, contempt of the world, love of God, love of our neighbour. Each side hath his own row of Columns. Contempt of self hath humiliation of soul, mortification of the flesh, humility of speech, and the like. The base of all the columns is patience.
[Footnote 182: Numbers i, 47; xviii, 6.][Footnote 183: I Corinth, xv, 28.][Footnote 184: S. John xv, 2.]
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43. In this cloister the diversity of office-chambers is the diversity of virtues. The chapter-house is the secret of the heart: concerning this, however, we shall speak differently hereafter. The refectory is the love of holy meditation. The cellar, Holy Scripture. The dormitory, a clean conscience. The oratory, a spotless life. The garden of trees and herbs, the collection of virtues. The well, the dew of God's heavenly gifts; which in this world mitigateth our thirst, and hereafter will quench it.
44. The Episcopal throne, which according to the injunctions of Saint Peter has been of old consecrated in each city (as shall be said below), the piety of our forefathers dedicated, not in memory of confessors, but to the honour of apostles and martyrs, and especially of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
45. But we therefore go to church, that we may there ask for the pardon of our sins, and assist in the divine praises: as shall be said in the proeme of the fifth book, and that there we may hear God's proceedings[Footnote 185]with the good and the ill, and learn and receive the knowledge of God, and that we may there feed on the Lord's body.
[Footnote 185: Such is probably the meaning of the passage. The original isut iti bona sive mala judicia audiamus.]
46. In church, men and women sit apart: which, according to Bede, we have received from the custom of the ancients: and thence it was that Joseph and Mary lost the Child Jesus; since the one who did not behold Him in his own company, thought Him to be with the other. . . . But the men remain on the southern, the{31}women on the northern side:[Footnote 186]to signify that the saints who be most advanced in holiness should stand against the greater temptations of this world: and they who be less advanced, against the less; or that the bolder and the stronger sex should take their place in the position fittest for action: because the Apostle saith, 'God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.'[Footnote 187]To this also pertaineth the vision of S. John, who 'beheld a mighty angel placing his right foot in the sea.'[Footnote 188]For the stronger members are opposed to the greater dangers. But, according to others, the men are to be in the fore part [i.e.eastward], the women behind: because 'the husband is the head of the wife,'[Footnote 189]and therefore should go before her.
[Footnote 186: This is the practice in some parts of England even to this day: more especially in Somersetshire. Bp. Montague in his 'Visitation Articles' (reprinted Camb. 1841) asks (p. 17), 'Do men and women sit together in those seats indifferently and promiscuously? or (as the fashion was of old), do men sit together upon one side of the church, and women upon the other?' And, indeed, of old there was a still further separation on each side, into the married and unmarried. The restoration of the practice recommended by Bp. Montague is much to be wished.][Footnote 187: 1 Corinth, x, 13.][Footnote 188: Apocalypse x, 7.][Footnote 189: Eph. v, 23.]
47. A woman must cover her head in the church, because she is not the image of God, and because by woman sin began. And therefore in the church, out of respect for the priest, who is the vicar of Christ, in his presence, as before a judge, she hath her head covered, and not at liberty: and on account of the same reverence she hath not the power of speaking in the church before him. Of old time, men and women wearing long hair stood in church with uncovered heads glorying in their locks: which was a disgrace unto them.
48. But what should be our conversation in church the Apostle teacheth, saying, 'Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.'[Footnote 190]Whence we must, when we be there, abstain from superfluous words:{32}according to that saying of S. Chrysostome, When thou goest into a king's palace, set in order thy conversation and thy habit. For the angels of the Lord are there: and the House of God is full of incorporeal virtues.[Footnote 191]And the Lord saith to Moses, and so doth the angel to Joshua, 'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.'[Footnote 192]
[Footnote 190: Coloss. iii, 16.][Footnote 191: The passage referred to is as follows:—' Regiam quidem ingrediens, et habitu et aspectu et incessu et omnibus aliis te ornas et componis: Hic autem vera est Regia et plane hic talia qualia caelestia:—et rides? Atque scio quidem quod tu non vides. Audi autem quod ubique adsunt angeli, et maxima in Domo Dei adsistunt Regis, et omnia sunt impleta incorporeis illus Potestatibus.][Footnote 192: Exod. iii, 5. Josh, v, 15.]
49. In the last place, a consecrated church defendeth murderers who take sanctuary in it from losing life or limb, provided that they have not offended in it, or against it. Whence it is written that 'Joab fled to the tabernacle, and laid hold on the horns of the altar.'[Footnote 193]The same privilege is possessed also by an unconsecrated church, if the divine offices be therein celebrated.
[Footnote 193: 2 Kings i, 28.]
50. But the body of Christ received by such persons, doth not defend them nor those who fly to it: partly because the privilege is granted to a church as a church: and therefore not to be misbestowed on other things: partly because that food is the support of the soul, and not of the body: whence it freeth the soul and not the body.
51. Churches are moved from one place to another on three accounts. First, on account of the necessity arising from persecutors: secondly, on account of the difficulty of access or habitation, such as the unwholesomeness of air: thirdly, when they are oppressed with the society of evil men: and then with the consent of the Pope or the bishop. Wherefore he that entereth into a church fortifieth himself with the sign of the cross, shall be said in the proeme of the fifth book.'[Footnote 194]
[Footnote 194: See Appendix.]
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The First Builders of Altars—The Difference between Altare and Ara—Various Significations of Various Kinds of Altars—The Ark of the Testimony—It is preserved in the Lateran Church—What a Man needeth that he may be the Temple of God—What the Table Signifieth—Of the Candlestick—Of the Ark—Of the Altar—Of the Altar Cloths—Of Steps to the Altar.
I. The altar hath a place in the church on three accounts, as shall be said in speaking of its dedication. We are to know that Noe[Footnote 195]first, then Isaac[Footnote 196]and Abraham[Footnote 197]and Jacob made, as we read, altars: which is only to be understood of stones set upright, on which they offered and slew the victims and burnt them with fire laid beneath them. Also Moses made an altar[Footnote 198]of shittim wood: and the same was made as an altar of incense, and covered with pure gold: as we read in the xxvth chapter of Exodus, where also the form of the altar is described. From these of the ancient fathers, the altars of the moderns have their origin, being erected with four horns at the corners. Of which some are of one stone, and some are put together of many.
[Footnote 195: Gen. viii, 20.][Footnote 196: Gen. xxvi, 25. xxxiii, 20.][Footnote 197: Gen. xiii, 18.][Footnote 198: Exodus xxvii, i.]
2. And sometimes the words altare and ara are used in the same sense. Yet is there a difference. Foraltare, derived fromalta res, oralta ara, is that on which{34}the priests burnt incense. Butara, which is derived fromarea, or fromardeo, is that on which sacrifices were burnt.[Footnote 199]
[Footnote 199: The true ecclesiastical distinction betweenaltareandarais that the former means the altar of the true God, and is therefore alone used in the Vulgate, answering to the Greek[Greek text], as opposed to ara ([Greek text]), an altar with an image above it. SeeMede. Folio 386. ]
3. And note, that many kinds of altars are found in Scripture: as a higher, a lower, an inner, an outer; of which each hath both a plain and a symbolical signification. The higher altar is God the Trinity: of which it is written, 'Thou shalt not go up by steps to my altar.'[Footnote 200]And it also signifieth the Church Triumphant: of which it is said, 'Then shall they offer bullocks upon mine altar.'[Footnote 201]But the lower altar is the Church Militant, of which it is said, 'If thou wilt make an altar of stone, thou shalt not make it of hewn stone.'[Footnote 202]Also it is the table of the temple. Of which he saith, 'Appoint a solemn day for your assembly even unto the horns of the altar.'[Footnote 203]And in the Third of Kings, it is said that Solomon made a golden altar. [Footnote 204 ] But the interior altar is a clean heart, as shall be said below. It is also a type of faith in the incarnation, of which in Exodus, 'An altar of earth ye shall make Me.'[Footnote 205]And an interior altar is the altar of the cross. This is the altar on which they offered the evening sacrifice. Whence in the Canon of the Mass it is said,Jube hoc in sublime Altare Tuum perferri.[Footnote 206]Moreover the external altar representeth the sacraments of the Church: of which it is said, 'Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.'[Footnote 207]Again, the altar is our mortification in our heart, in which carnal motions are consumed by the fervour of the Holy Spirit.
[Footnote 200: Exodus XX, 26.][Footnote 201: Psalm li (Miserere mei), 19.][Footnote 202: Exodus XX, 25.][Footnote 203: Psalm cxviii (Confitemini), 27.][Footnote 204: III Kings vi. 22.][Footnote 205: Exodus xx 26.][Footnote 206: This prayer, which immediately precedes the Commemoration of the Dead, runs thus: Supplices Te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, jube hoc perferri per manus Sancti Angeli Tui, in conspectu Divinae Majestatis Tuae: ut quotquot ex hac Altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii Tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione caelesti et gratia repleamur. Per.][Footnote 207: Psalm lxxxiv (Quam dilecta), 4.]
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4. Secondly, it also signifieth the Spiritual Church: and its four horns teach how she hath been extended into the four quarters of the world. Thirdly, it signifieth Christ, without whom no gift is offered acceptable to the Father. Whence also the Church addresseth her prayers to the Father through Christ alone. Fourthly, it signifieth the body of Christ, as shall be explained in the fifth book. Fifthly, it signifieth the table at which Christ did feast with His disciples.
5. It is written in Exodus, that in the Ark of the Testament or of the Testimony the witness was laid up:[Footnote 208]that is, the tables on which the law was written: and it is said that theTestimonywas there laid up, because it was a bearing witness that the law imprinted on our hearts by nature God had reimprinted by writing. Also, there was laid up the golden pot full of manna, for a testimony that He had given the children of Israel bread from heaven. And the rod of Aaron, for a testimony that all power is from God. And the second tables of the law, in testimony of the covenant in which they had said, 'All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.'[Footnote 209]And on these accounts it is called the Ark of the Testimony or Testament; and also the tabernacle of the testimony thence deriveth its title. But over the ark was made a mercy seat: of which we shall speak in the proeme of the fourth book. In imitation whereof some churches have over the altar an ark or tabernacle, in which the body of the Lord and relics are preserved. The Lord also commanded that a candlestick should be made of beaten pure gold. It is written in the third book of Kings, that in the Ark of the Covenant was nothing else than the two tables of stone which Moses put therein in Horeb: when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel in the day that they came out of the land of Egypt.
[Footnote 208: Exodus xxv, 16.][Footnote 209: Exodus xix, 8.]
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6. And note that in the time of S. Silvester, Pope,[Footnote 210]Constantine the Emperor built the Lateran church, in which he placed the Ark of the Testament, which the Emperor Titus had brought from Jerusalem, and the golden candlestick with his seven branches. In which ark are these things: the rings and the staves of gold: the tables of the testimony: the rod of Aaron: manna: barley loaves: the golden pot: the seamless garment: the reed: a garment of S. John Baptist, and the scissors with which the hair of S. John the Evangelist was shorn.
[Footnote 210: It is very remarkable that no notice whatever is taken of these relics by Ciampini in his very minute description of the Lateran Basilica: although in his account both of this, and of all the other Basilican churches built by Constantine, he copiesverbatimthe list of the donations of the Emperor which is given in the life of Pope S. Sylvester, compiled by an unknown librarian of the Vatican. It is clear that either Durandus was misinformed, or that the present passage is corrupt. Again, it is not likely that the vest of S. John Baptist, or the scissors of S. John Evangelist would have been kept in the ark besides its proper contents. Yet Durandus had obviously some facts to go upon, since the Lateran Church, having been originally dedicated to the Saviour, was now under the Invocation of the two SS. John; and the sufferings of both these saints were depicted in a very ancient mosaic, those of the Evangelist having over them the following inscription, which we give as describing a Confession of thisMartyr in will, now little known.
Martyrii calicem bibit hic Athleta JohannesPrincipium Verbi cernere qui meruit.Verberat hunc fuste Proconsul,forfice tondet,Quem fervens oleum laedere non valuit.Conditus hic oleum, dolium, cruor, atque capilli,Quae consecrantur libera Roma tibi.
To return, we may be satisfied that these Jewish memorials did not exist, since Ciampini, while composing his account, consulted the former writers upon the Lateran Basilica; viz. the poet Prudentius, an unedited MS. of Panvinius, Severanus De Septem Urbis Ecclesiis, and the work of Caesar Cardinal Rasponus.]
7. Man, if he hath an altar, a table, a candlestick, and an ark, he is the temple of God. He must have an altar, whereon rightly to offer and rightly to distribute. The altar is our heart, on which we ought to offer.{37}Whence the Lord commandeth in Exodus: 'Thou shalt offer burnt offerings on mine altar.'[Footnote 211]Since from the heart words, set on fire of charity, ought to proceed.Holocaustis derived fromholos, whole, andcauma, a burning:therein signifying a thing wholly burnt. On this altar we must rightly offer, and we must rightly divide. We offer rightly when we bring any good thought to perfection. But we do not rightly divide if we do it not discreetly. For a man often thinketh to do good, and doeth ill: and sometimes with one hand he doeth good and with the other ill; and thus himself buildeth, and himself knocketh down. But we then rightly divide when the good which we do we attribute, not to ourselves, but to God alone.
[Footnote 211: Exodus ix, 2.]
8. It behoveth also man to have a table, whence he may take the bread of the Word of God. By the table we understand Holy Scripture, concerning which the Psalm, 'Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.'[Footnote 212]That is, Thou hast given me Scripture against the temptations of the devil. This table then we must have, that is, must lay up in our minds, that thence we may take the Word of God. Of the deficiency of this bread saith Jeremiah: 'The little ones sought bread, and there was none to break it unto them.[Footnote 213]It behoveth man likewise to have a candlestick, that he may shine with good works.
[Footnote 212: Psalm xxiii (Dominus regit me), 5.][Footnote 213: Jeremiah xvi, 7.]
9. A candlestick that giveth light without is a good work, which by its good example inflameth others. Of which it is said, 'No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but in a candlestick.'[Footnote 214]This candle, according to the Word of the Lord, is a good intention: of which He saith Himself: 'Thine eye is a light.'[Footnote 215]But the eye is the intention.{38}Therefore we ought not to put the candle under a bushel, but in a candlestick. Because, if we have a good intention, we ought not to hide it: but to manifest our good deeds to others, for a light and an example.
[Footnote 214: S. Matthew v, 15.][Footnote 215: S. Matthew vi, 22.]
10. Man must also have an ark. Nowareais derived fromarcendo: discipline, therefore, and regular life may be called the ark; by which crimes are driven away (arcentur) from us. Now in the ark were the rod, the tables, and the manna: because in the regular life there must be the rod of correction, that the flesh may be chastised; and the table of love, that God may be loved. For in the tables of the law were written the commands which pertain to the love of God. Therein must also be the manna of divine sweetness: that we may 'taste and see how gracious the Lord is: for it is good to have to do with Him.'[Footnote 216]According to that proverb of the prudent woman, 'She tasted and saw that it was good.'[Footnote 217]Therefore, that we may be the temple of God, let us have in ourselves an altar of oblation, lest we appear empty in His presence, according to that saying, 'Thou shalt not appear empty before the presence of thy God':[Footnote 218]let us have a table for refection lest we faint, through hunger, in the way: as saith the Evangelist, 'If I send them away empty, they will faint in the way,'[Footnote 219]a candlestick by good works that we be not idle, as he saith in Ecclesiasticus, 'Idleness hath taught much mischief,'[Footnote 220]let us have an ark, that we be not as sons of Belial, that is, undisciplined, and without the yoke: for discipline is necessary, as the Psalmist teacheth, saying, 'Be instructed, lest He be angry.'[Footnote 221]Concerning which, and other ornaments, we shall speak in the following chapter.
[Footnote 216: Psalm xxxiv (Benedicam Dominum), 8.][Footnote 217: Prov. xxxi, 18. Marg. reading.][Footnote 218: Exodus xxiii, 15.][Footnote 219: S. Mark viii, 3.][Footnote 220: Ecclesiasticus xxii, 2.][Footnote 221: Psalm ii (Quare fremuerunt), 12.]
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11. He buildeth this altar who adorneth his heart with true humility and other virtues. Whence Gregory: He who gathereth together virtues without humility, is as he who scattereth dust to the wind. For by the altar he understandeth our heart, as it shall be said when we treat of the dedication of the altar: it is in the middle of the body, as the altar is in the middle of the church.[Footnote 222]
[Footnote 222: Lev. vi, 9.]
12. Concerning which altar the Lord commandeth in Leviticus: 'The fire shall always be burning upon Mine altar.'[Footnote 223]The fire is charity. The altar is a clean heart. The fire shall always burn on the altar, because charity should always burn in our hearts. Whence Solomon in the Canticles: 'Many waters cannot extinguish charity,'[Footnote 224]for that which ever burneth cannot be extinguished. Do thou, therefore, as the prophet commandeth, keep holy day and a solemn assembly, even to the horns of the altar: because the rest of thy thoughts will keep holy day. Concerning this the Apostle showeth 'unto us a more excellent way.'[Footnote 225]He calleth charity a more excellent way, because she is above all virtues: and whoever possesseth her possesseth all virtues. This is the short word that the Lord speaketh over the earth: which is so short that it only saith, 'Have charity, and do whatsoever thou wilt. For from these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'[Footnote 226]
[Footnote 223: Canticles viii, 7.][Footnote 224: I Corinth xii, 31.][Footnote 225: S. Matthew xxii, 40.][Footnote 226: See Appendix I.]
13. Or by the altar we understand the soul of every man, which is by the Lord built up of various living stones, which are various and different virtues.
14. Furthermore, the white cloths wherewith the altar is covered signify the flesh of the Saviour, that is, His humanity: because it was made white with many toils, as also the flesh of Christ born of earth, that is, of Mary,{40}which attained through many tribulations to the glory of the Resurrection, and the purity and joy of immortality. [Concerning which the Son exulteth, saying to the Father, 'Thou hast girded me with gladness, and exalted Me on every side.'[Footnote 227]When, therefore, the altar is covered, it signifieth the joining of the soul to an immortal and incorruptible body.][Footnote 228]Again, the altar is covered with white and clean cloths, because the pure heart is adorned with good works. Whence the Apocalypse: 'And put on white garments, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.'[Footnote 229]And Solomon: 'Let thy garments be always white,'[Footnote 230]that is, let thy works be clean. [But it little profiteth him that approacheth to the altar to have high dignity, and a life sunk low in sins. Whence Benedict: It is a monstrous thing, exalted faith, and abandoned life. The highest step and the lowest state, is mighty authority joined with instability of soul.[Footnote 231]] The silken coverings placed over the altar are the ornaments of divers virtues wherewith the soul is adorned. The hanging wherewith the altar is beautified setteth forth the saints, as below shall be said. [The beginning and the end of the Mass take place at the right side of the altar: the middle portion at the left: as shall be said when we treat of the changes of the priest. The ancients made their altars concave; as it is written in Ezekiel, that in the altar of God was a trench. And this, according to Gregory, lest the wind should scatter the sacrifices laid upon it. Also he saith in Ezekiel that the inner part of the altar was bent downwards in all its circumference.[Footnote 232]
[Footnote 227: Psalm lxxi (Juste, Domine), 21. ][Footnote 228: This passage does not appear in the edition of Durandus published at Venice, in 1609.][Footnote 229: Apocalypse iii, 18.][Footnote 230: Ecclesiastes ix, 8.][Footnote 231: This passage also is not found in the Venetian edition.][Footnote 232: This passage also is not found in the Venetian edition.]
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15. But the steps to the altar [spiritually set forth the apostles and martyrs of Christ, who for His love poured out their blood. The bride in the Canticles of Love calleth it a purple ascent. Also, the fifteen virtues are set forth by them: which were also typified by the fifteen steps by which they went up to the temple of Solomon:][Footnote 233]and by the prophet in fifteen Psalms of degrees, therein setting forth that he is blest who maketh ascents in his heart. This was the ladder that Jacob beheld: 'And his top reached to the heavens.' By these steps the ascent of virtues is sufficiently made manifest, by which we go up to the altar, that is, to Christ: according to that saying of the Psalmist, 'They go from virtue to virtue.'[Footnote 234]And Job, 'I will seek him through all my steps.' Yet it is said in Exodus, 'Neither shalt thou go up by steps to my altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.'[Footnote 235]For perhaps the ancients did not as yet use trousers. In the Council of Toledo, it is decreed that the priest, who for the sake of grief at the misfortune of another, strippeth the altar or any image of its garments, [or girdeth himself with a mourning vest, or with thorns,[Footnote 236]] or extinguisheth the lights of the church, shall be deposed. But if his church be undeservedly spoiled, he is allowed to do this for grief: or, according to some, he may on the day of the Passion of our Lord make bare the altars as a sign of grief. Which is, however, reprobated by the Council of Lyons. Lastly, altars which have been built at the instigation of dreams, or the empty revelations of men, are altogether reprobated.
[Footnote 233: This passage also is not found in the Venetian edition.][Footnote 234: Psalm lxxxiv (Quam dilecta), 7][Footnote 235: Exodus xx, 26.][Footnote 236: This passage also is not found in the Venetian edition.]
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Use of Pictures and Curtains—Objections against the Use, answered— Place of Pictures—The Saviour, how Represented—The Angels—The Evangelists—The Apostles—The Patriarchs—S. John Baptist— Martyrs—Confessors—Institution of Pictures—Of Crowns—Of Paradise—Of the General Ornament of Churches—Of Pyxes—Of Relicaries—Of Candlesticks—Of Cups—Of the Cross—Of Altar Cloths and Veils—The Treasures of the Church, when Displayed, and why—Of Ostrich Eggs—Of Vessels for the Holy Mysteries—Of Chalices—General Observations on the Respect due to Church Ornaments.
1. Pictures and ornaments in churches are the lessons and the Scriptures of the laity. Whence Gregory: It is one thing to adore a picture, and another by means of a picture historically to learn what should be adored. For what writing supplieth to him which can read, that doth a picture supply to him which is unlearned, and can only look. Because they who are uninstructed thus see what they ought to follow: andthingsare read, though letters be unknown. True is it that the Chaldeans, which worship fire, compel others to do the same, and burn other idols. But Paynim adore images, as icons, and idols; which Saracens do not, who neither will possess nor look on images, grounding themselves on that saying, 'Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters{43}under the earth,'[Footnote 237]and on other the like authorities: these they follow incontinently, casting the same in our teeth. But we worship not images, nor account them to be gods, nor put any hope of salvation in them: for that were idolatry. Yet we adore them for the memory and remembrance of things done long agone.[Footnote 238]Whence the verse,[Footnote 239]
What time thou passest by the rood, bow humbly evermore;Yet not the rood, but Him which there was crucified, adore.
And again:[Footnote 240]
That thing, which hath his being given, 'tis fond for God to own:A form material, carved out by cunning hands, in stone.
And again:[Footnote 241]
The form is neither God nor man, which here thou dost behold:He very God and Man, of whom thou by that form art told.
[Footnote 237: Exodus xx, 4.][Footnote 238:Veneramur.—We here use the wordadorein the sense given to it by the great and good Bishop Montague, in his 'Just Treatise of Invocation': where he says, speaking of the Saints, 'I do admire, reverence,adorethem in their kind.'][Footnote 239:
Effigiem Christi, quum transis, pronus honora:Non tamen effigiem, sed quem designat, adora.]
[Footnote 240:
Esse Deum, ratione caret, cui consulit esse:Materiale lapis, effigale manus.]
[Footnote 241:
Nec Deus est, nec homo, quam praesens cernis imago;Sed Deus est et Homo, quem sacra figurat imago.
The later editions add—
Nam Deus est, quod imago docet, sed non Deus ipse;Hunc videas, sed mente colas, quod noscis in ipsa.]
2. The Greeks, moreover, employ painted representations, painting, it is said, only from the navel upwards, that all occasion of vain thoughts may be removed. But they make no carved image, as it is written, 'Thou shalt not make a graven image.'[Footnote 242]And again: 'Thou shalt not make an idol, nor a graven image.'[Footnote 243]And again, 'Lest ye be deceived, and make a graven image.'[Footnote 244]And again: 'Ye shall not make unto you gods of silver:[Footnote 245]{44}neither shall ye make with Me gods of gold.' So also the Prophet, 'Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hand. They that make them are like unto them: and so are all they that put their trust in them.'[Footnote 246]And again: 'Confounded be all they that worship graven images: and that put their glory in their idols.'[Footnote 247]
[Footnote 242: Deut. v, 8.][Footnote 243: Lev. xxvi. 1.][Footnote 244: Deut. iv, 16.][Footnote 245: Exodus xx, 20.][Footnote 246: Psalm cxv, 4.][Footnote 247: Psalm xcvii, 7.]
3. Also, Moses saith to the children of Israel, 'Lest perchance thou shouldest be deceived, and shouldest worship that which the Lord thy God hath created.'[Footnote 248]Hence also was it that Hezekiah King of Judah brake in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses set up: because the people, contrary to the precepts of the law, burnt incense to it.
[Footnote 248: Deut. iv, 19.]
4. From these forementioned and other authorities, the excessive use of images is forbidden. The Apostle saith also to the Corinthians, 'We know that an idol is nothing in the world: and there is no god but One.'[Footnote 249]For they who are simple and infirm may easily by an excessive and indiscreet use of images, be perverted to idolatry. Whence he saith in Wisdom, 'There shall be no respect of the idols of the nations, which have made the creatures of God hateful, and temptations for the souls of men, and snares for the feet of the unwise.'[Footnote 250][Footnote 251]But blame there is none in a moderate use of pictures, to teach how ill is to be avoided, and good followed.
[Footnote 249: I Corinth, viii, 4.][Footnote 250: Wisdom xiv, 11.][Footnote 251: A more solemn protest against the sin of idolatry can hardly be found than the above passage: and they who brand every return to, and every wish for the restoration of, Catholic practices, by so hateful a name, would do well to bear it in mind.]
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Whence saith the Lord to Ezekiel, 'Go in, and behold the abominations which these men do. And he went in, and saw the likeness of reptiles and beasts, and the abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed on the wall.'[Footnote 252]Whence saith Pope Gregory in his Pastorale, When the forms of external objects are drawn into the heart, they are as it were painted there, because the thoughts of them are their images. Again, He saith to the same Ezekiel, 'Take a tile, and lay it before thee, and describe in it the city Jerusalem.'[Footnote 253]But that which is said above, that pictures are the letters of the laity explaineth that saying in the Gospel, 'He saith. They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear them.'[Footnote 254]Of this, more hereafter. The Agathensian[Footnote 255]Council forbids pictures in churches: and also that that which is worshipped and adored should be painted on the walls. But Gregory saith, that pictures are not to be put away because they are not to be worshipped: for paintings appear to move the mind more than descriptions; for deeds are placed before the eyes in paintings, and so appear to be actually carrying on. But in description, the deed is done as it were by hearsay: which affecteth the mind less when recalled to memory. Hence, also, is it that in churches we pay less reverence to books than to images and pictures.
[Footnote 252: Ezekiel viii, 10.][Footnote 253: Ezekiel iv, 1.][Footnote 254: S. Luke xvi, 29.][Footnote 255: A.D. 605]
5. Of pictures and images some are above the church, as the cock and the eagle: some without the church, namely, in the air in front of the church, as the ox and the cow: others within, as images, and statues, and various kinds of painting and sculpture: and these be represented either in garments, or on walls, or in stained glass. Concerning some of which we have spoken in treating of the church: and how they are taken from the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon. For Moses made carved work, and Solomon made carved work, and pictures, and adorned the walls with paintings and frescoes.
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6. The image of the Saviour is more commonly represented in churches three ways: as sitting on[Footnote 256]His throne, or hanging on His cross, or lying on the bosom of His Mother.
[Footnote 256: Durandus had doubtless in his mind the ancient mosaic over the apsides of the earliest churches in Rome. The extremely beautiful one in San Clemente represents our Lord as crucified. The frescoes with which the walls of our own churches were anciently adorned, seem usually to have represented the Saviour as seated on the Throne of His Majesty. In the chancel of Widford, Herts, is, or was till lately, a fresco of the Saviour seated on a rainbow, a sword proceeding from His mouth, His feet and His hands pierced. In Alfriston, Sussex, there was, we believe, before it was whitewashed over by Bishop Buckner's order, a painting of a similar kind. There is a singular, and, we believe, undescribed painting over the altar in Llandanwg church, Merion. The Saviour is seated in judgment, as before: at His side is His Blessed Mother in a kneeling posture: around Him are angels blowing trumpets, and S. Peter in eucharistical vestments. There is a representation of the souls under the altar. Below are devils torturing souls in cauldrons of brimstone. The evangelistic symbols are also represented.In a fresco at Beverstone, Gloucestershire, our Saviour is represented on the Cross, with blood flowing from His side into a chalice. (See App. I.) There are remains also of a crucifixion in fresco, in the exquisite, but desecrated chapel of Prior Crauden, in the Deanery, Ely. On the Iconostasis of the Greco-Russian Church, all the three positions are to be found.In stained glass, the Crucifixion generally supplies the place of any other representation of the Saviour. Brasses occasionally, as a very curious one in Cobham, Surrey, represent His nativity or epiphany: but most commonly the Crucifixion, or a Trinity.There can be no doubt, that many of the most graphic pictures in our old poets owed their origin to the then undestroyed fresco paintings of churches. Some painting, like that above described, of hell, very probably suggested the noble lines of Spenser (i. ix. 50. 6):
He showed him painted in a table plaine.The damned ghosts that doe in torments waile.And thousand feends that doe them endless paineWith fire and brimstone, which for ever shall remaine.
Who can estimate the effect of such pictorial representations on the minds of our ancestors? or the good which might be the result, if our churches were again frescoed with similar subjects, wrought with the genius and Catholic feeling of an Overbeck or Cornelius?][End footnote]
And because John Baptist pointed to Him, saying, 'Behold the Lamb of God,'[Footnote 257]therefore some represented Christ under the form of a lamb.
[Footnote 257: S. John i, 29.]