“And likewise of Noah’s Ark—­the Ark outside which there is no safety,” added the Abbe.

“Now consider the church in all its parts.  Its roof is the symbol of Charity, which covereth a multitude of sins; its slates or tiles are the soldiers and knights who defend the sanctuary against the heathen, represented by the storm, its stones, all joined, are, according to Saint Nilus, emblematic of the union of souls, or, as the Rationale of Durand of Mende has it, of the multitude of the faithful; the stronger stones figuring the souls that are most advanced in the way of perfection and hinder the weaker brethren, represented by the smaller stones, from slipping and falling.  However, to Hugues de Saint Victor, a monk of the abbey of that name in the twelfth century, this collection of stones is merely the mingled assembly of the clerks and the laity.

“Again, these blocks of stone of various shapes are bound and held together by mortar, of which Durand of Mende will tell you the meaning.  ‘Mortar,’ saith he, ’is compounded of lime and sand and water; lime is the burning quality of charity, and it combines by the aid of water, which is the Spirit, with the sand, of the earth earthy.’

“Thus these united stones form the four walls of the church, which Prudentius of Troyes tells us are the four evangelists; or, according to other interpreters, they represent in stone the cardinal virtues of religion:  Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance, already prefigured by the walls of the City of God in the Apocalypse.

“Thus you see each part may be regarded as having more than one meaning, but all included in one general idea common to all.”

“And the windows?” asked Durtal.

“I am coming to them; they are emblematic of our senses, which are to be closed to the vanities of the world and open to the gifts of Heaven; they are also provided with glass, giving passage to the beams of the true Sun, which is God.  But Dom Villette has most clearly set forth their symbolical meaning:  ‘They are,’ says he, ’the Scriptures, which receive the glory of the sun and keep out the wind, the hail and the snow, the images of false doctrine and heresies.’

“As to the buttresses, they symbolize the moral force that sustains us against temptation; they are likewise the hope which upholds the soul and strengthens it; others see in them the image of the temporal powers who are called upon to defend the power of the Church; and others again, regarding more especially the flying buttresses which resist the thrust of the span, say that they are imploring arms clinging to the safe-keeping of the Ark in time of danger.

“The principal entrance, the great portal of so many churches, such as those of Vezelay, Paray-le-Monial and Saint German l’Auxerrois, in Paris, was approached through a covered vestibule, often very deep and intentionally dark, called the Narthex.  The baptismal pool was in this porch.  It was a place for probation and forgiveness, emblematical of Purgatory, an ante-room to Heaven, where, before being permitted access to the sanctuary, penitents and neophytes had their place.