According to the monk of Clairvaux, it is the false doctrine of the Jews and heretics; and as to the drops of resin, they are Christ's tears, if we may believe Saint Ambrose," replied the Abbe Plomb.
"And even so, our cathedral remains incomplete.

We are but feeling our way, without logical sequence.

I admit that at the entrance we must plant the purifying hyssop in the place of the holy-water vessel; but with what can we build the walls unless we accept the alternative of a real church having walls but unfinished ?" "Take the figurative sense of the walls and translate that; the great walls are representative of the four Evangelists, Can you find plants for them ?" Durtal shook his head.

"The Evangelists are, of course, symbolized in the fauna of mysticism by the animals of the Tetramorph; the twelve apostles have their synonyms in the category of gems, and two of the Evangelists are naturally to be found there: Saint John is associated with the emerald, the emblem of purity and faith; Saint Matthew with the chrysolite, the emblem of wisdom and watchfulness; but none, so far as I know, has found a representative among either trees or flowers.

And yet, to be sure, Saint John has the sun-flower, signifying divine inspiration; for he is represented in a window in the church of Saint Remy at Reims, his head crowned with a nimbus surmounted by two of these flowers." "Saint Mark, too, has a plant--the tansy, so named in the Middle Ages." "The tansy ?" "Yes; a bitter, aromatic plant with yellow flowers, which grows in stony ground, and is used in medicine as an anti-spasmodic.