simply the open mouth of the
fish, the female emblem. In old sculptures a fish's head, with open
mouth pointing upwards, is often worn by the priests, and is scarcely
distinguishable from the present mitre. The modern crozier is the hooked
staff, emblem of the phallus; the oval frame for divine things is the
female symbol once more. Thus holy medals are generally oval, and the
Virgin is constantly represented in an oval frame, with the child in her
arms. In some old missals, in representations of the Annunciation, we
see the Virgin standing, with the dove hovering in front above her, and
from the dove issues a beam of light, from the end of which, as it
touches her stomach, depends an oval containing the infant Jesus.

The tinkling bell--used at the Mass at the moment of consecration--is
the symbol of male and female together--the clapper, the male, within
the hollow shell, the female--and was used in solar services at the
moment of sacrifice. The position of the fingers of the priest in
blessing the congregation is the old symbolical position of the fingers
of the solar priest. The Latin form, with the two fingers and thumb
upraised--copied in Anglican churches--is said rightly by ecclesiastical
writers to represent the trinity; but the trinity it represents is the
real human trinity: the more elaborate Greek form is intended to
represent the cross as well. The decoration of the cross with flowers,
specially at Easter-tide, was practised in the solar temples, and there
the phallus, upright on the altar, was garlanded with spring blossoms,
and was adored as the "Lord and Giver of Life, proceeding from the
Father," and indeed one with him, his very self. The sacred books of the
Egyptians were written by the god Thoth, just as the sacred books of the
Christians were written by the god the Holy Ghost. The rosary and cross
were used by Buddhists in Thibet and Tartary. The head of the religion
in those countries, the Grand Llama, is elected by the priests of a
certain rank, as the Pope by his Cardinals. The faithful observe fasts,
offer sacrifice for the dead, practise confession, use holy water,
honour relics, make processions; they have monasteries and convents,
whose inmates take vows of poverty and chastity; they flagellate
themselves, have priests and bishops--in fact, they carry out the whole
system of Catholicism, and have done so, since centuries before Christ,
so that a Roman Catholic priest, on his first mission amo