IxXXViii. PROLEGOMENA. 



with images of the saints, and we see, io them, 

 who are to be our future companions in glory ; 

 the forms of the aspiring arches then conduct 

 us through aisles to the nave, to which the bells 

 have called us, imitating, in their sweet sonnerie, 

 the numerous invitations to heaven from the 

 voices of the various saints and preachers, some 

 deep, some high, some sharp, some mellow, 

 but all melodious and all in harmony. We then 

 approach the altar, and there learn from other 

 emblems that the way to ascend is to take up 

 the cross and follow Christ ; we have before 

 seen this emblem of our salvation on the top of 

 the churcli, as it will appear at the last day in 

 the sky ; we now see it on the back of the 

 priest's cassula, as it was carried by Christ; and 

 we siffn ourselves with it as a token that it is 

 also our burthen through life, and the mark of 

 our admission into heaven : the life of Christ is 

 then conspicuous in the dresses of the priest ; 

 the crown of thorns, the alb, the stole, the girdle, 

 all of them depict the garments and vincula 

 of our Lord before and at his passion : and thus 

 is our mind prepared by symbols in such a way 

 that those who cannot read are prepared for the 

 solemnities of the mass. The lighted tapers, 

 emblems of joy, now attract our attention, and 

 the lamps burning perpetually before the images 

 of saints, remind us of the perpetual lights 



