Christianity discovered it in the Roman _basilica_, and utilized while modifying it; thus its origin is pagan, and it was only as it grew up that it could learn the language and use the forms of our emblems." "And yet, to me, as a whole, it seems to be a symbol, for it is the image in stone of the Old Testament, a figure of contrition and fear." "And yet more of the soul's peace," replied the Abbe.

"Believe me, really to understand that style we must go back to the fountain-head, to the earliest times of Monasticism, of which it is a perfect expression; back, in fact, to the Fathers of the Church, the monks of the Desert.
"Now, what is the very special character of the mysticism of the East?
It is the calmness of faith, love feeding on itself, ecstasy without display, ardent but reserved, internal.
"In the books of the Egyptian Recluses you will never find the vehemence of a Maddalena de' Pazzi or a Catherine of Siena, the passionate ejaculations of a Saint Angela.

Nothing of the kind, no amorous addresses, no trepidations, no laments.

They look upon the Redeemer less as the Victim to be wept over than as the Mediator, the Friend, the Elder Brother.

To them He was, to quote Origen's words, 'The Bridge between us and the Father.' "These tendencies, transplanted from Africa to Europe, were preserved by the first monks of the West, who followed the example of their predecessors, and modified and built their churches on the same pattern.
"That repentance, contrition, and awe dwell under these dark vaults, among these heavy pillars, in this fortress, as it were, where the elect shut themselves in to resist the assaults of the world, is quite certain--but this mystical Romanseque also suggests the notion of a sturdy faith, of manly patience, and stalwart piety--like its walls.
"It has not the flaming raptures of the mystical Gothic, which finds utterance in all these soaring shafts of stone; the Romanesque lives self-centred, in reserved fervour, brooding in the depths of the soul.
It may be summed up in this saying of Saint Isaac's: _In mansuetudine et in tranquillitate, simplifica animam tuam_.'" "You will confess, Monsieur l'Abbe, that you have a weakness for the style." "Perhaps I have, in so far as that it is less petted, more humble, less feminine, and more claustral than the Gothic." "On the whole," the priest concluded, as he shook hands with Durtal at his own door, "it is the symbol of the inner life, the image of the monastic life; in a word, the true architecture of the cloister." "On condition, nevertheless," said Durtal to himself, "that it is not like that of Notre Dame de Poitiers, where the interior is gaudy with childish colouring and raw tones; for there, instead of expressing regret and tranquillity, it rouses a suggestion of the childish glee of an old savage in his second childhood, who laughs when his tattoo marks are renewed, and his skin rough-cast with crude ochres.".