XCV111 INTRODUCTION. 



bolize" ' Irenseus, the learned Bishop of 

 Lyons, who had conversed with Polycarp, 

 St. John's disciple, regards these mystic ob- 

 jects as physical and ecclesiastical symbols, 

 taking chiefly into consideration their number. 

 The four quarters of the globe, the^b^r winds, 

 the four gospels, the four universal covenants 

 given to man each of these he appears to 

 regard as figured by the cherubic animals ; 2 

 and he might have added the four physical 

 cherubim, spirit or wind, light, expansion, 

 and the clouds. 3 Justin Martyr has a sin- 

 gular opinion on this subject. He thinks 

 Ezekiel's cherubim symbolized Nebuchad- 

 nezzar when he was driven out from the 

 society of man as a beast : 4 when, according 

 to the Septuagint which Justin used, he eat 

 grass like an ox, his hair was like a lions, and 

 his nails like a bird's or eagles. Athanasius 

 has a remarkable passage, before alluded to, 

 in which he says of Christ, that when he ap- 

 peared upon earth, He bowed the heavens and 

 came down, and that he again mounted the 



1 In allusion probably to Isaiah vi. 3, and Revel, iv. 8. 



2 Adv. Hares. 1. iii. c. 11. 



3 See Appendix, Note 25. 



4 Quasi, et Resp. ad Orthodox. Queest. xliv. 



