every degree of rudeness of execution. The second Person of the Trinity is neither viewed in the Jewish light of a temporal Messiah, nor degraded to the Socinian estimate of a mere example, but is invested with all the honours of a Redeemer. On this subject there is no reserve, no heathenish suppression of the distinguishing feature of our religion: on stones innumerable appears the good Shepherd, bearing on his shoulders the recovered sheep, by which many an illiterate believer expressed his sense of personal salvation. One, according to his epitaph, "sleeps in Christ;" another is “The origin of the catacombs” is the subject of chapter ii. From these vast excavations were obtained materials for extending and beautifying republican Rome. Exhausted of their stores, the quarries and sand-pits were left for other uses. There is reason to believe that the Sebastian catacombs were the first occupied by the Christians. It is conjectured that among the "sand-diggers," an extremely low grade, Christianity early spread; and that they directed the persecuted church to these subterranean retreats. The entrances being very numerous,-" scattered over the Campagna for miles,”—and the windings most intricate, the men “ of whom the world was not worthy" found here an asylum. Yet into this labyrinth their fierce enemies sometimes pursued them ; and these hidden sands were tinged with martyrs' blood. That life could be supported in so dismal a region, is the more probable from the discovery of wells and springs,—one of which, apocryphally called St. Peter's Font, is said to have been long used for baptism. Add to this, that persons of obscure condition might bear the needful supplies, with comparatively little danger, to refugees of higher mark. There is another point of interest: "Nothing is better attested in history than the fact that the church met there for the [occasional] celebration of the eucharist, for prayer at the graves of the martyrs, and for the lovefeasts or agapœ." There is a characteristic inscription, belonging to the times of the "fifth persecution,” which began in 161, and containing a reference to praying in the catacombs. Of this we copy Dr. Maitland's rendering. In Christ. Alexander is not dead, but lives beyond the stars, and his body rests in this tomb. He lived under the Emperor Antonine, who, foreseeing that great benefit would result from his services, returned evil for good. For, while on his knees, and about to sacrifice to the true God, he was led away to execution. O, sad times! in which sacred rites and prayers, even in caverns, afford no protection to us. What can be more wretched than such a life? and what than such a death? when they could not be buried by their friends and relations -at length they sparkle in heaven. He has scarcely lived, who has lived in Christian times. (Page 33.) Proceeding to consider "the catacombs as a Christian cemetery," our author observes that, in more tranquil times, the Christians added new crypts, of superior height and regularity; that the mounds of earth, at the entrances of many of the older passages, were probably cast up for the shelter of the fugitives; and that the ramifications may be thus classed in two divisions. Subterranean sepulture became, in truth, a matter of preference the resting-place of saints and martyrs was dear and hallowed. If we mistake not, a few passages from chapter iii. will be read with interest. In cemeterio Balbinæ,-" In the sleeping-place of Balbina."* In this short phrase are implied two important circumstances, entirely at variance with the customs and feeling of pagan Rome. First, we learn from it the existence of common cemeteries, which we find to have contained persons of every class, as well as families connected with each other only by their profession of Christianity. The heathen Romans, as we know, had sepulchres appropriated either to a single body, or to all the members of one tribe, -witness the tomb of the Scipios, the tomb of the Nasones, and many others. Within the last two or three years there has been discovered at Rome a columbarium of great beauty, capable of containing three hundred cinerary urns. The niches for these, disposed round the walls and central supports, give the whole chamber the appearance of a dovecote, whence its name.... .It was intended for the dependents of a particular house, with whose remains it is nearly filled. The "common sepulchre" of the dregs of the people is spoken of by Horace with contempt; and if we look back through the history of the world, we find everywhere the disposition to build tombs for the exclusive use of individual families. The mummy-pits of Egypt, as the author has learnt from personal inspection, are constructed upon this principle. "He was buried with his fathers," is a common conclusion to the history of a Jewish Patriarch. It was reserved for Christianity first to deposit side by side the bodies of persons unconnected with each other, an arrangement which prevails throughout the whole of Christendom, from the catacombs of ancient Rome, to the modern churchyards of our own country. a few votive tablets erected in aftertimes to the memory of earlier believers. 66 * * * * The second circumstance of note connected with the phrase, In cemeterio Balbina, is the use of the term cemetery, derived from the Greek, Kounτnpiov, and signifying a sleeping-place." In this auspicious word, now for the first time applied to the tomb, there is manifest a sense of hope and immortality, the result of a new religion. A star had risen on the borders of the grave, dispelling the horror of darkness which had hitherto reigned there: the prospect beyond was now cleared up, and so dazzling was the view of an eternal city "sculptured in the sky," that numbers were found eager to rush through the gate of martyrdom, for the hope of entering its starry portals. St. Paul speaks of the Christian as one not intended to sorrow as others who had no hope: how literally their sorrow was described by him, may be judged from the following pagan inscription, copied from the right-hand wall of the Lapidarian Gallery :—† "Caius Julius Maximus 2 years & 5 months. O relentless Fortune, who delightest in cruel death, Why is Maximus so early snatched from me? He, who lately used to lie, beloved, on my bosom. This stone now marks his tomb-behold his mother." But the Christian, not content with calling his burial-ground a sleepingplace, pushes the notion of a slumber to its full extent. We find the term in a Latin dress, as "DORMITIO ELPIDIS "Victorina sleeps." (Boldetti.) "Zoticus, laid here to sleep." (Boldetti.) "Gemella sleeps in peace." (Lapidarian Gallery.) This virgin was buried on the Via Ardeatina, and the catacomb was named after her. + From regard to our space, we give here and there only the translation. And, lastly, we find the certainty of a resurrection and other sentiments equally befitting a Christian, expressed in the following: (Lapidarian Gallery :) "Peace. "This grief will always weigh upon me may it be granted me to behold in sleep your revered countenance. My wife Albana, always chaste and modest, I grieve, deprived of your support; for our divine Author gave you to me as a sacred (boon). You, well-deserving one, having left your (relations), lie in peace -in sleep-you will arise-a temporary rest is granted you. She lived forty-five years, five months, and thirteen days: buried in peace. Placus, her husband, made this." (Pages 39-44.) Christianity is triumphant, and essentially popular, in its doctrine of IMMORTALITY. This principle is alleged, by one of the greatest Americans,* as the very first illustration of "the Gospel preached to the poor,"the first reason of its efficacy with the mass of mankind. We are not surprised at this order of particulars: we can enter into the pleading. "He who pretends to be my comforter without consulting my immortality, overlooks my essential want. The Gospel supplies it. Immortality is the basis of her fabric. She resolves the importance of man into its true reason, the value of his soul. She sees under every human form, however rugged or abused, a spirit unalterable by external change, unassailable by death, and endued with stupendous faculties of knowledge and action, of enjoyment and suffering; a spirit, at the same time, depraved and guilty; and therefore liable to irreparable ruin. These are Christian views. They elevate us to a height, at which the puny theories of the world stand and gaze. They stamp new interest on all my relations, and all my acts. They hold up before me objects vast as my wishes, terrible as my fears, and permanent as my being. They bind me to eternity."-There is little doubt that, in receiving much of the Egyptian mythology, the classical nations had hoped for a revelation of the future; and, under a like impulse, multitudes now turned to a religion by which Jesus "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light." On the other hand, malice, the more exasperated, vainly cast the ashes of martyrs into the Tiber or the Rhone, to quench the hope of a resurrection. On page 47 we have a drawing, representing the interior of a catacomb. The height is generally about eight or ten feet, and the width from four to six. The graves, exceedingly numerous, are cut in the walls. In these extensive crypts the Christian population of Rome, from A.D. 98 till after 400, found repose. Many a grave contains a multitude of those who died in times of calamity, and whose only record is on high. An inscription, given on page 56, has been often supposed to belong to one of these common graves; but Dr. Maitland regards it rather as a votive tablet, raised to the victims of a persecution collectively." 66 "MARCELLA ET CHRISTI Marcella and five hundred and fifty martyrs of Christ." In the fourth chapter, our author considers the "Martyrs of the Catacombs." In cherishing the memory of that "noble army," surviving churches honour themselves. The CAPTAIN himself acknowledges his undismayed followers; and, in the letter to the church in Pergamos, names Antipas (immortal distinction !) as his "faithful martyr." In the songs of * Dr. John M. Mason. inspiration, the heavens and their jubilant hosts are challenged to "rejoice" in the victory strangely won by those who "loved not their lives unto the death." Martyrology seems, then, to be the church's duty. Its appeal to deep sympathy is of universal power. Voices, eloquent in life, become resistless as they break from the sepulchral mound. Few among us will envy the man who, unmoved, can visit the place in which have crumbled bodies once venerable with marks of fire and stripes. It is easy to declaim against extravagance; of which we are not disposed to become the apologists. But the reflection that little has been done for Leonidas or Camillus, for Regulus or Julius Cæsar, in comparison with the monuments erected to St. Peter, applies to a later age. Discriminating observers will "call to remembrance the former days," and apply the lessons and sentiments thence derived. They will love to think of the Gallic confessors of the second century, who meekly refused the honoured title of "martyrs." They will trace the gradual change of Roman policy in regard to the Christians; which appears to have been, in the time of inspired history, comparatively mild and equitable. The aggressions of the new sect" on the pagan religion probably attracted the anxious attention, and excited the anger, of the authorities. Instead of protecting an innocent people, Magistrates devised for them new and elaborate tortures. But, as Eusebius suggests, the fiery trial promoted the church's purity and selfdenial; and the true religion spread by means of the multiplying examples of its power. Thus Christianity was exalted by the fall of its witnesses; and they, falling, "overcame" their miscalculating foes "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." 66 Nothing could have been devised better adapted to display the beauties of the new faith, than submitting its professors to martyrdom: not proof against the generous enthusiasm of his victim, the executioner often caught the flame; gazed upon the dangerous spectacle of the power of true religion, till his heart burnt within him; and, fairly overwhelmed by the triumph of faith and hope, hastened to undergo the death which his hands had inflicted on another. It was perhaps the frequent experience of this which led many of the pagan officers to avoid the capital punishment of the Christians, and to employ the more efficacious method of bribes and entreaties. There was, moreover, a spirit of combination among the Christians, an earnest energy, and a desire to extend their Master's kingdom at any risk to themselves, that must have suggested gloomy forebodings to the more thoughtful worshippers of Jupiter. There was, un doubtedly, a falling-off in the devotion of the Pagans, independent of the injuries inflicted on their religion by Christianity; a deistical philosophy was gradually taking the place of polytheism; yet the vigour of the persecutions shows that the new doctrine was by no means looked upon with indifference, nor did the world tamely allow itself to be surprised into Christianity. Because a rationalist Emperor placed together in his palace, the statues of Orpheus, Abraham, Christ, and Apollonius, and because a few of the more learned Heathen delighted in the same eclectic worship; we are not to infer with Gibbon, that indifference gave the death-blow to Paganism, and that Christianity only stepped in to enjoy the triumph. For one martyr to the unity of God among the Pagans, for one Socrates, how many might be numbered among the followers of Jesus! To those who bled in the cause, let us ascribe the honours of the victory. (Pages 95, 96.) If, in one or two instances, the author's remarks on the conduct of martyrs seem hypercritical, his general statements are exceedingly judicious. The ancient martyrology contains much that is extravagant, and much that is of doubtful authenticity. It will be readily allowed, also, that fierce repartee and stoicism do not grace so high an occasion, or illustrate the temper of our gentle and deeply-suffering LORD. Nor can we applaud the impetuous resolve, on the part of many, to share the honours of such a death. The course of time brought an ominous disposition to attach miracles to martyrdom ;-miracles, indeed, which proclaim themselves false by the absence of the simplicity, majesty, beneficence, and obvious aim, that mark the true. In the fifth and following centuries, some relic of a martyr was esteemed "a palladium to a church." Martyrdom came to be considered a sacrament,—a baptism of blood. Demons were supposed to be tortured by the approach of martyrs' ashes! Of honorary tablets subsequently raised to martyrs, (which "never contain any reference to the family of the deceased,") we give a specimen or two. In Christ. In the time of the Emperor Adrian, Marius, a young military officer, who had lived long enough, when with his blood he gave up his life for Christ. At length he rested in peace. The well-deserving set up this with tears and in fear. On the 6th Ides of December. Here lies Gordianus, Deputy of Gaul: who was murdered with all his family, for the faith. They rest in peace. Theophila, his handmaid, set up this. (Pages 128, 129.) A reference to the vain inscriptions of Diocletian and Galerius, after the last sweeping persecution, leads Dr. Maitland to remark,— We have here a monument raised by Paganism over the grave of its vanquished foe. But in this "the people imagined a vain thing:" so far from being deceased, Christianity was on the eve of its final and permanent triumph; and the stone guarded a sepulchre empty as the urn which Electra washed with her tears. Neither in Spain nor elsewhere can be pointed out the burialplace of Christianity: "it is not; for the living hath no tomb." The final establishment of our religion was effected almost without a struggle: the edicts of Constantine were received Antiquarians have assumed the use of symbols, by the ancient Christians, to mark the tombs of their martyrs. But credulity herself has reduced these from a vast number to one,-a cup of blood beside the grave; and even this lies under serious objections. Cups seem to have been used without any one uniform intention. Dr. Maitland inclines to the opinion that they were depositories for aromatic gums. One or two vases of the Pagans are said to have exhibited blood-like marks; and here, at least, the criterion must be allowed to fail. The lines on the death of Quirinus, who was sentenced to be drowned, are most absurdly quoted in favour of the superstition. In fact, Prudentius, the writer of these versicles, is silent as to any symbols of this kind. Nil refert, vitreo æquore, etc. "The deep cold waters close o'er one; Another sheds a crimson river: No matter; either stream returns "In these verses," says Dr. Maitland on page 145, "there is obviously no allusion to the custom of burying the blood." In glancing at other criteria, a word or two will suffice. There is, certainly, neither antecedent |