The cock is frequently introduced as the emblem of vigilance, derived from the reproof of St. Peter, where we have shown it portrayed. On many of the tombs, too, we have the CROWN as the symbol. of victory. The following is often its form. It is here joined with the monogram of our LORD'S name, as it is on this tomb, where it is also united with the dove. (See page 146.) We have thus given all the principal symbols found in the Catacombs, to enable the reader to form a clear idea of those dark retreats in which the infant Church of Rome was nurtured into strength and manhood. It is generally easy to tell the age of an epitaph. The earliest were invariably rude in the extreme, while they gradually improved as the Church became more free from persecution, and its members were enabled in peace and safety to lay their brethren to their rest. There is a wide difference, therefore, between the hastily scratched emblems of the first century, and the more carefully executed representations of Scripture scenes in the fourth. Yet, with regard to all of them, we can not but adopt the language of Lord Lindsay: "Considered as works of art, it must be confessed, they are but poor productions -the meagerness of invention only equalled by the feebleness of execution-inferior, generally speaking, to the worst specimens of contemporary heathen art. There is little to wonder at in this, when we remember the oppressed condition of the Christians at the time, and (I am afraid I must add) the poverty of imagination which uniformly characterized Rome, even in her palmy period."* But it is with far different views from those of * Christian Art, vol. i., p. 39. artistic criticism that we have dwelt upon these symbols. It was in these illustrations that the primitive Christians wrote their creed, and we wished to show the purity and simplicity of their faith. Among these thousands of emblems and scenes, there are none which Countenance the errors having their origin in later days, and which still deform the Church of Rome. The early Christians may often have been singularly unskilful in embodying the thought they wished to express, yet still the idea was right and in accordance with Scripture truth. Considering, indeed, the station and character of the early converts-looked upon by the rest of the world as "the offscouring of all things," just reclaimed from heathenism― listening to a teaching which was often interrupted, and whose benefits they enjoyed at the peril of their lives, it is truly wonderful how little of the errors of their lately-abandoned systems was mingled with their faith. But we see that these representations were not executed by those revelling in luxurious ease. They tell of times of peril and conflict. They show the purity of an age which was refined in the furnace of affliction, and in suffering and fear clung with steadfastness to the essential verities of the faith. |