Now the story of Orpheus has an interest for us in more ways than one.
The early Christians liked to think of the resemblance between Orpheus
and Christ. They saw in the minstrel, who tamed the wild beasts with
his music, a type of the gracious and gentle Saviour who came to subdue
the evil passions of men's hearts, and to change confusion and strife
into harmony and peace. In the pictures which they have left in the
Roman Catacombs Christ is very frequently represented under the figure
of the fabled musician. He appears as a young man sitting beneath a
tree, wearing a country cloak and cap, and with a harp on His knee.
The lion, the wolf, the leopard, the horse, the sheep, the serpent, and
the tortoise are gathered round Him, and peacocks and other birds are
perched upon the branches of the tree.

But our picture leads us rather to think of the difference between
Orpheus and Christ. Christ's love, unlike the love of Orpheus, is
stronger than death. It brought back to life the little daughter of
Jairus, who had died just before He came to her father's house. It
brought back the widow's son at Nain, when his body was being carried
to the grave. It brought back Lazarus of Bethany, after he had been
dead four days. The love of Christ took Him into the world of the dead
Himself, that He might return as a Conqueror. It sets free all His
disciples from the power of death. It brings them all back, not to
this world of sin and sorrow, where they would have to die again, but
into the better world of heaven, where they have everlasting life and
gladness. What the old heathen Greeks dreamed of hopelessly has come
to pass. What Orpheus could not do for Eurydice because of his
weakness and forgetfulness, Jesus Christ in His strength and wisdom can
do for you and me. He will do it if we trust Him. His disciples need
never be troubled by the old despairing thought, _He that goeth down to
the grave shall come up no more_.

THE LAST SLEEP OF ARGYLL

BY THE LATE E. M. WARD, R.A.

[Illustration: THE LAST SLEEP OF ARGYLL. By permission of Messrs.
Thomas Agnew & Sons.]

THE LAST SLEEP OF ARGYLL

_Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,
because he trusteth in Thee_.--ISA. xxvi. 3.

This is a painting which takes us back, not to any legend of pagan
times, nor to any Bible story, nor to any incident of the Reformation
in other lands, but to a scene in the history of our own country,