A Letter From a Working Man

TWENTY-EIGHT years had I served the devil with all my heart and mind; and then the Lord said, Stop.' He had said so to me many a time before; but this time His voice sounded loud in my soul: Stop and listen; hear what I have got for you. If you go on serving Satan you will be lost; but if you trust Christ and His work on the cross, you shall have eternal life.'
“The preacher came to me that evening and said, 'Do you know Christ as your Savior?’ The thought came to me, Say, Yes.' But I could not in truth; so I said, No.' Then we knelt to pray; but I could not get out a word—my heart was too full. At last, from the depths of my heart I cried, Lord, save me ' And He did save me, there and then—and my dear brother, too—that same evening.
“Now, I often think that if men did but know how wicked I had been, they would say as I say—that I deserved hell, and not heaven; hut, thank the Lord, in His great mercy He has saved a big, black, hell-deserving sinner like me.
“I write these few words so that, if there are any dear souls where you are that think they are too bad to be saved, you may tell them there is none too bad for Jesus, or I should have been turned back; but, thank the Lord, He has saved me—not for a day, but forever!”
A Lesson From the Catacombs
IN the crypt of St. Peter's in Rome there is a marble sarcophagus which belonged to Junius Bassus, Prefect of Rome, who died about the middle of the fourth century. In that century the consecutive teaching embodied in a series of pictures, either in catacomb or on sarcophagus. began to decline; and while it appears in the present instance, it is only to be found in diminished proportions, and the series is introduced to fill up spaces in the general design of the sarcophagus. We give one section of the general design; above the panel will be seen two little groups of the Iamb in different attitudes. A glance at the tomb shows at once that the series of figures relative to the lamb was intended as a consecutive representation of ideas, and that it began with the design which we commence with. While the order I follow is, I contend, based on Scriptural teaching and real believing experience, it is also confirmed by the mural paintings in the catacombs which belong to the first three centuries.
The first among the representations before us is of one lamb following another to what appears to be a fountain issuing from beneath a rock. This corresponds in spiritual interpretation to Christ and the woman of Samaria, treated of in our last issue.
It includes also the bringing of water from the rock, and corresponds to the second illustration in the catacomb series referred to.
The second is of the Savior blessing baskets of loaves, and seems to carry us on to the Agape. The fisherman is left out.
The third is of a lamb with his foot on the head of another lamb. The dove above shows that the scene represents baptism.
The fourth—of a lamb receiving a book from heaven—indicates the divine origin of Scripture. This one is out of order, and is really the limit of the experience on earth of Junius Bassus.
The fifth—passing over. the Paralytic, the Damsel, Faith, the Agape, and the group under the gentle lord ship of the lamb—ends with the resurrection of Lazarus After reading the description of the so-called Chamber of the Sacraments, which appeared in our last number, and comparing the experience of the fourth century with that of the second, it will be seen how rich the latter is when compared with the former, and how the Scripture in the fourth century had ceased to exercise its highest functions in the Church of Rome. It is, however, very beautiful to see how the lamb is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the religion of Junius Bassus, who died a neophyte—that is, soon after baptism—in Rome in the fourth century.