The groined roof is divided into two bays, and in each bay there is a
large central boss, having eight bosses encircling it, four large and
four small ones, the four small ones being in each case the further away
from the centre. In the eastern bay from the central boss looks down
upon us the face of the Redeemer, crowned with thorns, surrounded by six
angels carrying in their hands shields bearing the emblems of the
Passion. The other two bosses in this bay are foliated and bear the
“Alpha” and “Omega.”
In the western bay the large central boss is carved with the symbol of
the Holy Spirit, the hovering dove, from which emanate rays of light
spreading in every direction, and forming a radiating aureole about it.
Around it, receptive of the light, are grouped angels carrying in their
hands shields bearing the arms of the great Universities of England and
New England and of the Colleges and School with which the donors of the
chapel and their people have been associated. Oxford and Cambridge face
Harvard, and Yale, and outside them on the outer ring Eton faces Trinity
College, Cambridge, and New College, Oxford, faces Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, Harvard being nearest to Emmanuel from which it directly
derives descent. It may be of interest to note here that the secure
foundation of civil and religious life in New England, and the subsequent
pre-eminence of Massachusetts and Connecticut in shaping the policy of
national life and in the vigour of their moral and intellectual life, is
largely traceable to those who went forth from Oxford and Cambridge, and,
as far as Cambridge is concerned, from Trinity and Emmanuel. New College
is also pleasurably associated in our minds with our present Vicar, Rev.
W. S. Swayne, as Trinity College, Cambridge, is with Mr. W. D. Caröe, the
architect of the chapel.
On the day of consecration there will be sung before the Communion
service Gounod’s anthem, “Send out Thy Light and Thy Truth, let them lead
me,” one peculiarly appropriate in the case of a chapel to be dedicated
to the Holy Spirit, and it may be of interest to some to note in
connection with the carving of the bosses of this western bay how closely
the mottoes of the Universities bear out the idea of their having been
intended to be centres of religious light and truth, the motto of Oxford
being “Dominus illuminatio mea,” whilst Harvard bears upon its shield
“Veritas,” and Yale “Light and Truth,” or rather the Hebrew equivalents
therefore, carrying us back in thought to the Urim and Thummim, the
jewels indicative of purity and perfection that gleamed on the
breastplate of the Jewish High Priest.