press, from feeling the loftiness of the ideal which constitutes its theme, and the humbling sense of how far he himself falls short of it. Haud pari passu has been the reflection present in many a line and meditation: the ever-deepening conviction-" I count not myself to have apprehended" (Phil. iii. 13). But neither, on mature reflection, does he think such ought to operate as a deterrent in the attempt to give prominence to an elevating view of the believer's standing and covenant privileges, and one which, so far as he knows, has not before been made topic of special consideration. He can only hope, that light thrown on truths of transcendent import and value may be found helpful to others as they have been to himself. The very consciousness of being so immeasurably beneath the standard of the Great Apostle, may prove the means of leading both reader and writer more fervently to cherish the resolve—“ BUT, I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Phil. iii. 12).1 1 It is alike a duty and a pleasure here to state, that I was originally indebted for the suggestion of this Book to some incidental remarks I heard from the lips of an earnest and accomplished layman. The topics embraced being entirely practical, do not to any extent require the investigation of critical and textual difficulties. In any such that seemed to demand a passing reference, I have to acknowledge help derived from the invaluable commentaries of Bishops Lightfoot, Wordsworth, Ellicott, and Dean Alford; and though last not least, the late respected and learned Professor Eadie of Glasgow: besides the more trustworthy of the German commentators. ** Like the above, the most of the other mottoes and monograms in the small woodcuts inserted at the close of each chapter, are copied from those found in the Roman Catacombs. The greater number of the originals, as already stated, are now in the Lapidarian Gallery, confronting a row of Pagan Epitaphs on similar sepulchral stones. The circular woodcut with the inscription SPES DEI and the Chrism (the two combined being rendered "My hope is in God, Christ"), is from a stamp about an inch and a half in diameter. The P (Greek r) of the monogram is made to serve for the Latin P in the word 'Spes': (given in Boldetti). The one with the crown and palm conjoined, and an olive wreath encircling the Chrism, was taken from the tomb of FLAVIA JOVINA, a child of three years, referred by Baronius to A.D. 367. A similar one with the same inscription (IN PACE) is over the tomb of Faustina. The palm-branch is a symbol constantly "incised on the slab or scratched on the mortar." The square cube-like box suspended by a chain, with the Chrism and Alpha and Omega on either side, is also in the Vatican Gallery, and is supposed to have been used for containing the communion elements (see Maitland, p. 219). The simple monogram with the inscription above—“ IN HOC VINCES IN CHRISTO" (' in this thou shalt conquer, in Christ'), was discovered by Bosio, and is supposed to be of the time of Constantine. As is well known, it is the Latin rendering of the Greek inscription on his famous Labarum-Εν τούτῳ νικα. The epitaph on the grave beneath was to "Sinfonia and her sons." SINFONIA ET FILIIS (See Ib. in loc.). There is a curious device which I have not ventured to render in woodcut, from the difficulty of doing so. It may possibly represent the furnace on which the female martyr, VICTORINA, already referred to, was consumed, with an instrument of torture above. It is of triangular form with the rude b indication of flames at the top (see this last copied and described in Boldetti, p. 318). I am aware, however, that recent archæologists question, in this and other similar devices, any reference to a martyr-symbol. It may not be out of place to add, that in addition to the many 'tabulæ,' either of mortar or marble, which bear the Christian monogram, the latter appears under a variety of treatment in vast numbers of lamps, principally of terra-cotta, but some made of bronze, silver, and amber, which have been unearthed in the course of excavations. The same writer ("Dictionary of Christian Antiquities") to whom I am indebted for this reminiscence of the Lapidarian Gallery, adds the interesting fact, that (in appropriate contrast with the symbol of the new economy), "the lamps found in the Jewish Catacombs almost universally bear the seven-branched candlestick." IN HOC VINCES * |