Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/241

 1868.] Ecclesiastical A rchitccture. 197 efforts in this direction made not the slightest approach to a science, but were the vague results of imagination, assump- tion, or caprice. Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship, along with all the lesser secret social and fraternal societies of the world, have their sj-mbolic colors, specially appro- priated to the various grades or ranks of the members of the respective orders, and many of these arbitrary symbolic meanings of interior decorations or of regalia* — as the temporary meeting- badges or parade uniforms of their mem- bers are somewhat grandly termed — arc extremely rational, appropriate, and beautiful ;f but, that these significations are identical with those of the color- symbols of the Ninevite palaces or the Egj T ptian temples would be most prepos- terous to say. Here is some of the a posteriori com- the tangible symbols of sovereignty. The crowns, scep- tres, and jewels :-re the regalia of England ; the great seal and the national flag are the regalia of the United States. Inside these various orders, the decorations of the respective highest officer would be strictly regalia. Custom, however, has given tho word an added, yet a much lower, as a much more diffused, sense. •J That is, judging by their published books. menting upon Christian symbolism : "In the transfiguration the countenance of our Lord became resplendent as the sun, and his vesture shone like the light. Such, in their highest energy, are the symbols of divine love and wisdom. The angel who rolled away the stone from the sepulchre, reproduced them in an inferior order. His face shone like lightning, and his robe was white as snow. Finally, in the last degree, ap- peared the just, in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. The artists of the middle ages preserved these pre- cious traditions, and gave red or white costume, after the resurrection, to Jesus Christ." The paper on Heraldry, in this number, will bear attentive perusal from all inter- ested in the subject of Christian Color Symbolism, it being palpably evident, as hinted before, that the old heralds, whose ideas are therein detailed, had drawn freely, not only on their own imaginations, but upon all the preced- ing writers who touched, in any manner, upon the symbolic signification of colors, whether inside, or outside, of the science of arms. ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. By Charles P. Dwyer. THERE is no more decisive proof of the enlightenment of a nation, than is to be found in the appearance of those two great instructors, the Church and the School. We unite them ad- visedly, for the one prospers with the other. The refinement of the mind is the safeguard of the soul. It is, then, to the relatively increasing number of these true temples of freedom, in the cities and villages of the land, that we look for the maintenance of national character ; and not alone to their mere relative num- bers, but to the architectural appearance they present. It is very true, that the unpretending village church, or the quaint and primi- tive log school-house, possesses a par- ticular power over us, which gives rise to pleasing feelings. But such a senti- ment belongs more to the associations of memory than to any thing else. As a community accumulates wealth, it is but simple justice that the GREAT GIVER should have a due share of honor from man in the decoration of His Temples of Thanks. Hence, we naturally look to the ecclesiastical structure, for rich- ness, purity and grandeur, in architec- ture. Like the religion it enshrines, it
 * Regalia, Latin, nominative plural, from regalis, for