Here Are
Four Giants Holding Up The Old Wooden Chair Of The Apostle Peter,
If We May Believe The Book De Identitate Cathedrae Romanae, Of
The Identity Of The Roman Chair.
The implements of popish
superstition; such as relicks of pretended saints, ill-proportioned
spires and bellfreys, and the nauseous
Repetition of
the figure of the cross, which is in itself a very mean and
disagreeable object, only fit for the prisons of condemned
criminals, have contributed to introduce a vitious taste into the
external architecture, as well as in the internal ornaments of
our temples. All churches are built in the figure of a cross,
which effectually prevents the eye from taking in the scope of
the building, either without side or within; consequently robs
the edifice of its proper effect. The palace of the Escurial in
Spain is laid out in the shape of a gridiron, because the convent
was built in consequence of a vow to St. Laurence, who was
broiled like a barbecued pig. What pity it is, that the labours
of painting should have been so much employed on the shocking
subjects of the martyrology. Besides numberless pictures of the
flagellation, crucifixion, and descent from the cross, we have
Judith with the head of Holofernes, Herodias with the head of
John the Baptist, Jael assassinating Sisera in his sleep, Peter
writhing on the cross, Stephen battered with stones, Sebastian
stuck full of arrows, Laurence frying upon the coals, Bartholomew
flaed alive, and a hundred other pictures equally frightful,
which can only serve to fill the mind with gloomy ideas, and
encourage a spirit of religious fanaticism, which has always been
attended with mischievous consequences to the community where it
reigned.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 424 of 535
Words from 113442 to 113726
of 143308
