There is, no doubt, the ancient tradition that the four Cherubim meant
the four Gospels; and this has now become deeply associated with
ecclesiastical symbolism. But I submit that this is only a fancy which
can best be left to church embroidery and stained windows; it is
unworthy of any serious notice. The beings are described, it will be
observed, with great minuteness: all have the same characteristic powers
of rapid motion, and all have _human hands_, a fact that so strikes the
prophet that he repeats it three times.[2] These four Cherubim, then,
seem to me clearly to indicate the archetypes of Creation, the great
design-forms of created life, showing themselves the progressive scale
from the Animal to the Man and the Angel. And these four great types
exactly answer to the resulting groups of created life. We have the
development of _Reptilia_ into _Birds_ as one final type; consequently
one face of each cherub has the Bird type--the Eagle head[3]. Two other
faces on each give us the _Animal_ type, one representing again the
great order Carnivora (the Lion), the other the Herbivorous Ungulates
(the Ox or Calf); while the fourth face indicates the last development,
_Man_.
[Footnote 1: Ezek. viii. 10.]
[Footnote 2: See chapters i. 8, x. 8, and x. 21. Remark, in passing,
that the human hand has always been the subject of wonder as an evidence
of Divine skill in Creation.
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