CXVlll. PROLEGOMENA. 



obelisques, the cross on the church, and the 

 crescent on the mosque, as well as the signpost 

 in the streets, the antient marks for the planets, 

 the figures of arithmetic, the signs of algebra, 

 all the alphabets and grammars in the world, and 

 all the verbal sounds of every country, are all 

 of one family, and illustrate one great principle 

 belonging, as it seems, exclusively to the 

 nature of man, whereby he can arrange, ex- 

 tend, and communicate knowledge, by means 

 of representative signs, called Language, from 

 the greater facility of the tongue and organs of 

 speech to perform its functions. All human 

 inventions are liable to abuse ; and ignorant 

 persons will be found everywhere who, miscon- 

 ceiving the force of a metaphor, may confound 

 the figurative with the real meaning. That 

 the Christian religion, like other religions, is full 

 of figurative allusions there can be no doubt : 

 the diversified Salutations to Our Lady in the 

 Litany of Loretto, the Devotions to the Sacred 

 Heart of Jesus, to the Five Wounds, to the 

 Seven Griefs of Our Lady, and indeed half the 

 language of prayer, comprehend allusions to 

 truths which are hidden under the figures used 

 to express them. Hence the necessity which we 

 constantly urge, that the bulk of mankind should 

 have recourse to priests, who are educated to 

 expound them, and should not trust to private 



