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Lion because he has set forth the royal dignity of Christ or, according to others, because he begins with the mission of S. John Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,' which is figured by the Lion; or, according to a third interpretation, the Lion was allotted to S. Mark because there was, in the middle ages, a popular belief that the young of the lion was born dead, and after three days was awakened to vitality by the breath of its sire; some authors, however, represent the lion vivifying his young not by his breath but by his roar. In either case the application is the same; the revival of the young lion was considered as symbolical of the Resurrection, and S. Mark was commonly called the 'Historian of the Resurrection.' Another commentator observes that S. Mark begins his Gospel with roaring;' 'the voice of one crying in the Wilderness;' and ends it fearfully with a curse, 'He that believeth not shall be damned;' and that, therefore, his appropriate attribute is the most terrible of beasts, the lion. (3) S. Luke has the Ox because he has dwelt on the priesthood of Christ, the ox being the emblem of sacrifice. (4) S. John has the Eagle, which is the symbol of the highest inspiration, because he soared upwards to the contemplation of the Divine Nature of the Saviour. The order, however, in which, in ecclesiastical art, the symbols are placed, is not the same as the order of the Gospel according to the Canon. Rupertus considers the Four Beasts as typical of the Incarnation, the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension; an idea previously dwelt upon by Durandus, who adds, that the Man and the Lion are placed on the right, because the Incarnation and the Resurrection are the joy of the whole earth; whilst the Ox is on the left, because Christ's Sacrifice was a trouble to the Apostles; and the Eagle is above the Ox, as suggestive of our Lord's upward flight into Heaven. According to others, the proper order in the ascending scale is this:

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at the lowest point on the left, the Ox; to the right, the Lion; above the Ox, the Eagle; and above all, the Man.

"In Greek art the four emblems are united in one mysterious cherub-like form called a Tetramorph, its wings full of eyes, and its feet on winged wheels full of flame; and with the four heads of a Man, a Lion, an Ox, and an Eagle joined on to one body. This is evidently an attempt to realize the vision of Ezekiel. In early Western Art the heads alone of the Four Beasts are shown joined on to separate winged bodies, of vague form, and having arabesque-like terminations. Sometimes the plain natural animal alone is drawn winged, and holding or standing upon a book or scroll, and this form, varied according to the style of art in vogue, is the one most generally found in medieval work. Sometimes these symbols have been combined with the human form, so that the Evangelists are themselves represented as men with the heads of a Lion, Ox, and Eagle. In later and modern art the Evangelists appear as men (though occasionally with wings, to show that they, like the holy angels, were the bringers of good tidings), and are attended by their respective symbols; S. Matthew's winged man now becomes an Angel, but the Lion and the Ox are often wingless. The symbols of the Evangelists sometimes applied to the Four Great Doctors of the Latin Church; and to Christ as Man, King, Priest, and God."

St. Philip and St. James's Day.

MAY 1.

N the earlier ages of the Church the generality of the Apostles enjoyed only a mass commemoration, which was celebrated on the 1st of May, and called the Feast of all the Apostles. A festival in honour of All Martyrs and Saints obtained in the Eastern Church as early as the fourth century, and was celebrated on the octave of Pentecost, our Trinity Sunday. It was not, however, till about the year 731 that the Western Church-in which Boniface III. had already (A.D. 609) instituted a Feast of All Martyrs, whose day was the thirteenth of May-definitely substituted for its commemorations of All Martyrs and All Apostles the more comprehensive one of All Saints; which last feast was transferred (A.D. 834) by Gregory IV. from the month of May to the season of its modern celebration, the first day of November. With the allocation of a special day to each individual of the Apostolic College, the Feast of All Apostles had become unnecessary, and its name irrelevant; and the first of May being left free for the use of a more particular celebration, was, in the long run, adopted as the day on which to do honour to the memory of St. Philip and St. James. Of the reason for associating these two Apostles together in a joint Festival, there is no conclusive informa

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tion; and "in the absence of more authentic history, we are compelled to adopt a story concerning the mingling of their relics at Rome as the probable foundation of the observance. It is said that when Christians began to collect and treasure up the relics of celebrated martyrs and saints (about the middle of the fourth century), the remains of Philip were conveyed from Hierapolis to Rome, and there placed in the same grave with those of St. James. Afterwards, in the sixth century, Pelagius, bishop of Rome, dedicated a church which he built to the two Apostles; and the combination, thus established, has continued ever since.

"It is impossible to say when the Festival of these Apostles was first instituted. If the foregoing history be true, such a festival may have been established in the sixth or seventh century. When the Feast of All the Apostles grew into disuse, it was ordered that the day on which it had been celebrated should be observed in honour of the two Apostles, St. Philip and St. James.

"We have no means of ascertaining whether this Festival was at first of a local or provincial character, or generally observed."*

The Greek Church provides for St. Philip and St. James a separate commemoration-for the former on the fourteenth of November, and for the latter on the ninth of October.

St. Philip was a native of Bethsaida, in Galilee; and it has been insisted upon as a peculiar privilege " that he had the honour of being first called to be a disciple of our blessed Saviour; because, though our Saviour, after His return from the wilderness, first met with St. Andrew and his brother Peter, and had some conversation with them, yet they immediately returned to their trade; and the next day, as He was passing through Galilee, He found Philip, whom He commanded to follow Him (John i. 43), the constant form He used in choosing His disciples. And it * Riddle's Manual of Christian Antiquities.

was a whole year after that the other two were called to be disciples, when John was cast into prison."*

Philip's response to the call of our Lord was prompt and cordial. "He immediately engaged in His service although he had not seen any miracle. But it is reasonable to believe that he was acquainted with Moses and the prophets, and that he was awakened with the expectation then general among the Jews, that the Messias would immediately appear; besides, we are to suppose the Divine grace did particularly accompany the command of Christ, and dispose those that He called to believe him to be the Messias. The first effect of his faith was a forwardness of mind to direct others in the same way of happiness with himself; for he finds Nathanael, a person of note and eminency, and acquaints him with the welcome news of his discovery, that he had found Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, the anointed of God, the Saviour of the world, and conducts him to Him. From which we are to learn readily to obey all the suggestions and offers of Divine grace, and to prepare our minds for the reception of supernatural truth. Zealously to propagate that Christian knowledge to others, which the good providence of God hath graciously bestowed upon us; which obligeth pastors in respect of their flock, parents of their children, masters of their servants, and all Christians in some degree in regard of one another, boldly to profess the truth when the providence of God calls us to give testimony to it." +

From such benevolent effort neither personal joy nor personal sorrow ought to bar us; rather it should be regarded as a relief to the one and a safeguard to the other. It is on such grounds that the following poem by Mr. Wilcox, an American poet, incites to "Christian Activity."

* Nelson's Festivals and Fasts of the English Church.