corner-stone of a new civilization. It involved conditions essential to Christian democracy and brotherhood. In the theory of Christians, the dignity of labor found a hearty acceptance. With the lives of their illustrious leaders before them, they could not do otherwise than honor all honest employment. Hence, the Apostolic Constitutions points to the example of the apostles, who labored as tent-makers, fishermen, and husbandmen, and exhorts to labor, saying, "The Lord our God hates the slothful."1 Finally, we may mention, as characteristic of early Christianity in the sphere of life and practice, the cheerful and hopeful temper which it breathed into its adherents. A line of sombre hue began indeed to be drawn across that life by the asceticism which, from the rise of Montanism, made increasing progress in the Church. There was a tendency thereafter to put a greater discount upon the natural order of things, than is in harmony with the spirit of the New Testament. One manifestation of this was in the imposition of fasts.2 But even back of this asceticism there was a freshness and enthusiasm which tempered the element of gloom in it; and taking Christian life as a whole, in the first three centuries, it was peculiarly buoyant, cheerful, and hopeful. There was a sense of enrichment at the hands of Christ, and an expectancy of eternal fruition. 1 ii. 63. 2 "In the time of Tertullian," says Pressensé, "the Church still used large liberty in this respect. There was no compulsory fast, except that of the great Easter week, on the night commemorative of the entombment of Christ. The rules for fasting, however, were soon multiplied; and the custom of observing as days of vigil the Wednesday and Friday in each week, in memory of the Passion, became more and more general." (See Tertullian, De Jejun., ii.) which in a marked degree conquered adversity and banished heaviness of heart. Many a convert from the darkness and emptiness of paganism could enter heartily into the triumphant refrain of Clement of Alexandria: "He hath changed sunset into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life; and, having wrenched man. from destruction, He hath raised him to the skies, transplanting mortality into immortality, and translating earth to heaven." Joy was considered not only the birthright, but the duty, of Christians. "Remove grief from you," says the Pastor of Hermas, "and crush not the Holy Spirit which dwells in you. For the Spirit of God which has been granted to us to dwell in this body does not endure grief or straitness. Wherefore put on cheerfulness, which always is agreeable and acceptable to God."2 Nor was it merely while looking at the life beyond that the eyes of Christians were able to discern. brightness. They dwelt, no doubt, mainly upon God's supernatural order; but they were not by any means wholly blinded to the revelation of God in nature. We find, for example, Clement of Rome, indulging a glowing description of the Divine harmony and beneficence stamped upon nature.3 The regular worship also of the Christian congregations paid tribute to God as the God of nature. "The eucharistic prayer never fails to unite in one act of thanksgiving both the natural and supernatural gifts of God, the bountiful providence which makes the harvest ripen, and the gracious forgiveness with which the prodigal is welcomed home." 4 1 Cohort., xi. 2 Command, x. 2. 3 Epist. ad Corinth., xx. IV. THE CATACOMBS, AND THEIR TESTIMONY ON De Rossi, a leading investigator of the Catacombs in recent times, finds good evidence that at least three or four of them were commenced within the first century; and Christian burial-places of this kind were probably preceded by Jewish. Their chief, if not their sole, design at first was to provide suitable resting-places for the bodies of the dead. This was the original aim in their excavation. The old theory that they were deserted quarries or sand-pits, which the Christians appropriated, is untenable, being clearly contradicted by the structure, of which narrow corridors and sharp angles are characteristic features. It is also a mistake to suppose that primarily the use of the catacombs as places of refuge was an influential motive in their construction. The attempt at secrecy in their structure did not become prominent till in the third century. This was clearly the case with the Roman Catacombs. "They were, like the pagan tombs, situated on the high roads entering the city. Their entrances were frequently protected and adorned by elegant structures of masonry, such as that which is still visible at the Catacomb of St. Domitilla."1 So far as the mere purpose of burial was concerned, these cemeteries could claim the protection of that respect which classic antiquity generally awarded to the resting-places of the dead. The decrees that were finally issued against visiting them. (such as the Valerian edict in 257) had probably more 1 W. H. Withrow, The Catacombs of Rome, Book I., chap. ii. reference to their use as assembling-places than as mere burial-places. The earliest catacombs were most likely of private origin. Wealthy Christians could easily be constrained to offer the family sepulchres upon their own grounds for the burial of distinguished martyrs, as also of the poor. Thus burial centres were established, about which catacombs, of greater or less extent, were formed in process of time. It is hardly to be doubted, also, that the Christians soon formed burial associations among themselves. Great tolerance was awarded to this kind of association. Preserved documents show that a great number of burial societies, representing different trades and professions, existed at Rome. An assessment upon the members of these provided for the necessary expenses. There are indications that the very extensive Catacomb of St. Callistus was under the charge of the Roman Church, and was recognized by the government as the cemetery of a burial association.1 The largest and most noteworthy of the catacombs are found near the great roads leading from Rome, and within three miles of the walls.2 Their entrance at present, when not through the crypt of an ancient church, is by a descending stairway through an aperture or archway. They consist essentially of narrow corridors, with an occasional addition of a small chamber, built in a friable, volcanic formation, the tufa granolare. The corridors range from two to five feet in width, 1 Hippolytus, Philos., ix. 7. 2 Catacombs are found in many other places, those at Naples being among the most important. Victor Schultze gives a list of thirteen places in the Orient, and thirty-three in the West, that have catacombs (Die Katakomben, p. 25.) intersect each other for the most part nearly at right angles, are usually vaulted and naked, but are occasionally plastered or supported by masonry. Graves, cut into the sides and sealed up with slabs of marble or other material, thickly line these narrow ways, which are themselves very numerous, and arranged in line would extend hundreds of miles. Michele de Rossi1 estimates that those of St. Callistus, the largest catacomb, would extend about the whole length of Italy. The same author computes that the Roman Catacombs, with the compact style of burial employed, contain room enough for nearly four millions of bodies. economize space more perfectly, the galleries were sometimes arranged upon different planes, one below the other. In individual instances, there are as many as five stories in a catacomb. The chambers are small, vaulted rooms, often not more than eight or ten feet square. These, if not simply burial chambers, may have been used for the celebration of funeral services, and for the administration of the eucharist near the graves of the martyrs. Το The accession of Constantine, with its addition of security and enlarged resources to the Church, lessened the motive for the use of underground cemeteries. Still, for a considerable interval, burials in these continued to be in the majority. After the year 373, however, the inclination toward this kind of interment rapidly decreased; and, according to Kraus, the year 454 marks the last instance in which a body was consigned to a catacomb.2 Thereafter these resting-places of the dead 1 Brother of the chief investigator, Giovanni Battista de Rossi. |