Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-01-22

from the dome, over the great altar, placed at the
intersection OF the limbs of the cross, in form OF
which the church is built; a galaxy of light, at this
point, diminishing 10 sobscurity before it reached
the distant extremitieso of the: aisles. Was this de-
signed 10 be illustrative of that light which grows
less as we remove from lis fountains. until it i slost
in the outer darkness2 or, with less pious inten
ton, to display what is most imposing in the edi-
flee, and to cast in Shade its humblest embslish-
ments; let us supposethe former most probable; for
here is nothing common place, or Insignificant,
majestic or minute, all is wonderful, where archi-
lecture, sculpture painting; the wealth of nations
and the genius of ages have been tasked in every
department, to render them worthy of their exal-
ted stations. co az. tt
Again, Irepeat, this temple fulflls the purpose
ofits foundation, which was to render it so distinct.
on its magniicence from the dwellings OIL, men; so
superior to them, that we lose, in contemplating il,
all considerations of our own Importance, while,
at the same time, we can not express our admira-
ton of that amazing condecension which, even
amid its splendor, we feel watches over us with a
parents eye, and permits not the prayer of sincere
humility to pass unheeded in the swell of anthems
which bear the tribute of adding thousands to the
throne ofthe Most High. i - 80
But what shall we say of the presiding image of
this Christian temple, which once filled the like
Office in a pagan? An ancient figure of Jove rem
dered, by the substitution Of bunch of KEYS, for his
thunder-bolt, and q halo round his head, the repre-.
sentation of st. Peter, the tutelar saint of this com.
paratively modern fame. Such mutations, however,
are not uncommon at Rome. The tomb of Adrien,
as l have already stated, is u fortress, & often, during
the civil dissentions which, in the middle ages,
made Italy the battle ground Of rival princes, the
din of arms violated the silence that should wrap
the dead, and the roar of mode. n artillery NV,
frequently sends its loud voice from the charnel
house of imperial mortality. The pantheon, dedi-
Gated, as its name imports, to call the Gods,' re-
echoes the hymn to the Virgin, and busts OF illus
trious men of modern times. occupy inches once
filed by the deities of Olympus. Other temples
of antiquity, have undergone similar, or less digni.
fed conversion, and that of Antininas Wins, now
forming part of the Custom House, has, among
others, been degraded to temporal purposes. The
ashes of a Pope repose in the sarcophagus of Agrip-
pa, and the Forum Roinanum, bears in its modern
name, Campo Vaccine, (cow-field.) the most stri-
king anti-climax of all. Rich in classic recollec-
tons, and streweL over with ruins Of riumpl.a
arches, columns, and memorials of ancient gran
deur, modern art cannot ever initiate, one would
ha'S oupPoSCu io ildlICy y lCuStS might nave eS-
capped the ruin that has dilapidated, and levelled
its trophies. ars'f .H.r t
But what, will be asked, have these to do with
the subject l embarked in? Nothing; but to fur
nish excuse, in prevailing custom. for the meta
morphosis of Jove; nothing, but TO show the perish
able nature of all institutions but those whose orr
gin is Divine, as must the source OF that Christianity
be which has overthrown Paganism, in her favorite
Empire, and appropriated to herself, her proudest
temples, her most costly memorials, and the self
SAME air. once eloquent in peons to heathen Gods
hay, erecting, on the very spot which witnessed
the impious massacre of her earliest martyrs, n
monument. SURPRISING in grandeur all that is left
of her once magnificent prosecutor, and from whose
lofty altitude her symbolic CT SIS looks down, rs il
in plying disdain, on the scattered and ruined re-
mains Of PROSTATE Mythology. M
60 In hoe sisno ricit."
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