s and the pleasures of human life
symbolized together, and the mystery of its redemption; for the mazes
of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the
Cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone;
sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it, sometimes with
doves beneath its arms and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet;
but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the church
before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the
apse. And altho in the recesses of the aisles and chapels, when the
mist of the incense hangs heavily, we may see continually a figure
traced in faint lines upon their marble--a woman standing with her
eyes raised to heaven, and the inscription above her "Mother of
God"--she is not here the presiding deity. It is the Cross that is
first seen, and always, burning in the center of the temple; and every
dome and hollow of its room has the figure of Christ in the utmost
height of it, raised in power, or returning in judgment.

Nor is this interior without effect on the minds of the people. At
every hour of the day there are groups collected before the various
shrines, and solitary worshipers scattered through the darker places
of the church--evidently in prayer both deep and reverent, and for the
most part profoundly sorrowful. The devotees at the greater number of
the renowned shrines of Romanism may be seen murmuring their appointed
prayers with wandering eyes and unengaged gestures: but the step of
the stranger does not disturb those who kneel on the pavement of St.
Mark's; and hardly a moment passes, from early morning to sunset, in
which we may not see some half-veiled figure enter beneath the Arabian
porch, cast itself into long abasement on the floor of the temple, and
then, rising slowly with more confirmed step, and with a passionate
kiss and clasp of the arms given to the feet of the crucifix, by which
the lamps burn always in the northern aisle, leave the church as if
comforted....

It was in the hearts of the old Venetian people far more than a place
of worship. It was at once a type of the redeemed Church of God, and
a scroll for the written Word of God. It was to be to them, both an
image of the Bride, all glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold;
and the actual Table of the Law and the Testimony, written within and
without. And whether honored as the Church or as the Bible, was it not
fitting tha