[Sidenote: St. John, xv. 5.]
[Illustration: I am the Vine, ye are the branches.]
It is hardly necessary to observe that the only ornamentation
suitable to a text from Holy Scripture is that which conveys to
the mind some religious thought; and such thoughts are naturally
suggested by forms that figuratively represent some holy attribute or
virtue.
[Sidenote: Crosses.] The first and most obvious of Christian emblems
is the Cross, that blessed form which must and should always remind
us of the inestimable price of our redemption. As such a remembrance
it has been received from the earliest ages of Christianity;[16] and
most dear may it always prove to those who love their SAVIOUR's Name!
[16] "It was not till the sixth century that the cross became a
_crucifix_, no longer an emblem, but an _image_."--_Sacred and
Legendary Art._
The almost infinitely varying forms of this sacred symbol are divided
into two classes, the Latin and the Greek; which distinction
originated in the separation of the Eastern and Western Churches.
The Latin forms most nearly resemble the true cross, _i.e._ having
the lower limb elongated--this, of course, is received as the emblem
of the Atonement: the Greek, having each of the four limbs equal in
length, is considered symbolical of the Christian religion, extending
its blessed influence through all the four quarters of the world. On
this distinction of the two forms, it has been well observed that
"the Latins, who were more material in sentiment than the Greeks,
preferred the _actual_ form; the Greeks, more spiritual than the
Latins, idealised the reality."
The Western Church has generally retained the Latin form, while the
Greek is more peculiar to the Eastern branch. In all the earlier
examples we read that this distinction seems to have been very
scrupulously observed.[17]
[17] See _Penny Post_, vol. vii. 1857.