24 



to fling a pebble at the image on entering the church. Sub- 

 sequently this image was hung in chains in the churchyard, and 

 is now to be seen in the diocesan museum. 



The early Eastern Church anxiously removed all vestiges of 

 idolatry from buildings dedicated to Christian worship, but the 

 Western Church allowed a greater latitude. S. Augustine, in 

 a letter to Publicola (No. 154, ed. Vulg., No. 47, ed. Bened.), jus- 

 tifies the retention of heathen works of art by reference to 

 Joshua vi., 18, 19. To avoid any temptation to man-worship, 

 symbols were chosen to represent the persons of the Trinity ; 

 a hand reaching out of the clouds for God the Father, the 

 Agnus Dei for God the Son, the dove for the Holy Ghost. 

 Heathen symbols, such as the Phenix, the Unicorn, the Sirens, 

 the Basilisk, became Christian symbols with a new and deeper 

 meaning. Medieval art and poetry developed this kind of 

 symbolism with special predilection. The fabulous history of 

 the Unicorn as a symbol of the incarnation and death of Christ, 

 became one of the most frequent sculptural ornaments of our 

 churches. 



The well-known reference to the Cumaean Sybil in the fourth 

 Eclogue of Virgil had early struck the Christians as greatly 

 resembling the prophecy of Isaiah. The Sybils were introduced 

 into the Christian tradition as prophetesses, as early as the 

 second century. They even are appealed to in one of the most 

 solemn hymns of the Church, the Dies irae. They are found 

 frequently represented holding in their hands the instruments 

 of the Passion, at Badninch and Ugborough in Devonshire, 

 on the panels of the Rood-screen ; and at Auch in the Pyrenees, 

 on the stalls, and in a painted window. 



Of heathen origin are, likewise, the oldest images of the 

 Saviour. The oldest type is the Jupiter type ; next the Helios- 

 Mithras type, from which the halo (originally a attribute of 

 Kings and Gods), has been imported into Christian art, the 

 crossed nimbus being reserved for the figure of Christ. The 

 last type is the Semitic, which has been finally accepted as 

 the traditional portrait of Christ. This type we can trace 

 distinctly back to the famous miraculous image of Edessa. Dr. 



