The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-13

documents of the third century These
Phrygian descriptions belong to the
period before Christianity was legal
lied by Constantine. In this period a
Christian was esteemed by law a
traitor and an outlaw. The inscription
did not, therefore, to the uninitiated
bear on it's face the evidence of its
Christian character. He shows that
something like symbolic language of
epitaphs was devised, so that the
Christian tombs were marked by vari-
atlons from the customary sepulchral
formulae, apparently insignificant in
themselves and easily eluding notice,
but giving a Christian turn to the Ian
guage and clearly significant to the
brethren. This system seems to be-
gin about 200 A. D.. and to be confined
to certain districts of Phrygia, where
the population was to a very large
extent Christian and where there was
less chance of malevolent pagans set
ting the law in motion against sus-
pected Christians.
The Abercius inscription.
Another notable contribution of
Ramsey to Christian Archaeology is
his find of the Alexander Stella and of
the Abercius Stella on his first and Sec
ond visits to Phrygia. The Abercius
inscription was known to the Ryzan-
tine hagiologists but has been consid-
cred generally as a piece of legendary
poetry. The biography of Abercius re-
lateS that AberciuS was bishop OF
Hierapolis in Phrygia in the second
MALT OF the second century, and that
during the reign of Marcus Aurelius
and Lucius Verus he visited Rome, and
on his return in his seventy-second
year, caused his epitaph to be engrav-
ed upon slab. But the unsolva BILE
difficulty appeared that among the
bishops Of Hierapolis at that time the
name OF Aberclus does net appear This
doubt vanished perfectly in conse-
quehce or discoveries due to w. Ram
say in his first journey through Phry
gla iii 1882 to Hierapolis He found a
Stella from the year 5000 of the Phry
g1an reckoning, PIG of the Christian
reckoning. In his second journey he
found the original inscription of Aber-
Gus built into the walls of a bath. Put
ting these two Stella together and with
the help of the manuscript copies, the
entire inscription is reproduced.
1t appears that the stone found In
1882 contained an inscription taken
from the first and the last parts of
the Abercius inscription, with the SUBJ
stltution of Alexander for Abercius.
ana IS hence called the Alexander
Stella. The entire inscription makes up
forty-four lines. In substance it re-
lates that Abercius went to Rome 70
behold the splendor of the city: that he
passed through Syria, visited Nisibis.
crossed the Euphrates and everywhere
faith is his guide, everywhere he feeds
upon the mystic "Ichthus," everv
where he received brotherly greeting.
Documentary Finds.
Within the past twenty-five years
,, the Christian world has been thrilled
with a brilliant succession of documen.
tary finds, in which Christian literature
of the first three centuries has been
brought to light The circumstances
are familiar to every Christian schol-
ar 1t will be necessary to give merely
an outline of some of these important
finds
The most important discovery since
the convent of ST. Catharine in 1853
gave up the renowned Sinaitic
manuscript must be reckoned
| that of the "Didache" in 1874
by Bryennics, in the Jerusalem,
monastery at Constantinople This
Was published in 1888 and took
! the Christian world by storm.
Amos w. Patten, D. D.