On account of the deep veneration wherewith thefe fymbols were regarded, it v r 0 " 1 ,' 
appear from JoJephus, that they were wove in fplendid characters on the vai 0 
Temple of JeruJalem. In very early ages of Chriftianity they were appropriated 
embellifhments of evangelical fhrines, and handed down as requisite to adorn the ve ^ 
bale to the high offices of devotion. In aliufion to this, St. Cyril quotes it as jangu^S 
adapted to the Hymn of die Euchariftical facrifice — “ The fun and moon, and the w i 
** choir of ftars praife Thee* !” t j lC 
Thus far has reflexion been led by the paintings on the entrance to 
great altar. In the facrifty, mot; complicated defigns, and more woncte* , 
fchemes of theology, feem to have been purfued. In Catholic churches, 
facrifty is generally underftood as the apartment where the moveable ornaments a 
u ten fils of the altar, the facred veftments, and other appendages of religious nte» 
kept. In the myftic fane of Eleusis, and temples of the Eafl, built after * 
models, the Jacrijlies were chambers where the chief apparatus of fymbols and hierog y _ 
phics were arranged, which had reference to the rites of initiation ; and the vai 
fteps, by which drey advanced to the fecret communications of tne fanCluaiy, v> 
there narrated to them. . , . . has 
In Plujcar dins Abbey it is a long vaulted gallery, the roof and walls of whicn 
been wholly covered with emblematical paintings : Confiderable traces of thefe rern 
exhibiting evangelifts and apoftles nearly as large as life, accompanied with their lev ^ 
charaCteriftic attributes, and many allegorical reprefentations thronged around, in r 
midft of them, the auguft fyrnbol of the Church, “ A woman cloathed with the fan, 
« the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve ftars t,” attrafls c 
attention. But there is a yet more ftriking and awful figure above, replete with n 
daring allufions, which one could have fcarce ventured to deferibe, were it not to* ^ 
correfpondency of defign obfervable in it to fome of thofe incomprehenfible P ie j: e <J. 
fculpture executed in the early, though darker periods of Chriftianity, that are P re ? e J 
with fuch care in mufeums on the continent. One of thefe may be feen repic e 
by a plate in Kercher's Theatrum Hieroglyphicum J. . 
The Messiah feated on a throne, in the attitude of benediction, is myfteii ^ 
vailed ; his head encircled with folar rays, in reference to the declaration, “ I f 1 0 f 
* light of the world ;” but the aliufion is carried on by characters or defignation ^ 
the planets being placed around the Throne of Light. On the four angles ° 
fquare which contains the figure, there are fymbols of the elements; a c j: e C p re- 
placed before the throne, and an expreffive Alpha and Omega indicate the acr 
ference of the whole; while St. John and the Holy Virgin are bending with vejiei 
towards thefe facred infignia ! ... -r \ th e ‘ r 
The Arrange afiociation of ideas that induced Chriftian artifts, who exerci c , 
genius under the immediate tuition of the Catholic fathers, to employ primseva ^ e fe 
bols as offering illuftrations of the evangelical truths, prefents us with one ° g olJ1 e 
fubjefts of fpecuiation which human ingenuity perhaps will never fully unrave . 
confiderations, that fwayed with the fiift pallors to find devotion in appropt^ 11 ^- 
tenets of the hieroglyphical communications to elucidate the divine inftruCtions 
Gofpel of Jesus, have already been touched on in preceding numbers ; other re ^ 3 li 
on this, one of the moft interefting and curious, if not the moft momentous 
tlfo 
the fubjeCls on which modern erudition has been employed, are offered on 
lowing pages, along with the plate of l'ome pieces of fculpture that are yet fZaiW 
in Plujcardtne Abbey ; in unfolding the high import of which, it is prefurnet 4^j jS 
to advance fome fteps into an unexplored region ; and in doing fo the lauda 
unavoidable, of following a great example, “ To utter things whereof 
“ QIJITV HATH BEEN SILENT II.” r 
„ i //>« Tr an * 
* Catech. My ft* f Rev. xii. I. t Vol. iii.p. 36. S Makth - xiii - *5- Ca A kel1 
