It may not be considered irrelevant to the subject, if I subjoin an explanation of the colours employed in the services of the Church, taken from Purchas's _Directorium Anglicanum_:-- WHITE.--From the evening of Christmas Eve to the Octave of Epiphany, inclusive, except Feasts of St. Stephen and the Holy Innocents. From the evening of Easter Eve to the Vigil of Pentecost; on Trinity Sunday, Purification, Conversion of St. Paul, the Annunciation, St. John Baptist, St. Michael, St. Luke, and All Saints. RED.--Vigil of Pentecost to the next Saturday; Holy Innocents (if on a Sunday), and all other Feasts. VIOLET.--Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve; Advent to Christmas Eve; Ember Weeks in September; Rogation Days; Holy Innocents, unless on Sunday; on Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays. BLACK.--On Good Friday, and funerals, and on public fasts. GREEN.--On all other days. CLOTH-OF-GOLD is said to supply all other colours. It seems possible that this is with reference to Psalm xlv. 9, 13. EMBLEMS. [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. Of Latin crosses, the principal are these:-- [Illustration]