While we should not expect to find in these inscriptions a complete system of theology, we would certainly look for some definite expression regarding the religious belief of those who wrote these memorials of the dead. We would expect some reference to the lives of the departed, to the virtues of their character, and to the hopes of the survivors as to their future condition in the spirit-world. In this expectation we are not disappointed. We find in these epitaphs a body of evidence on the doctrines and discipline of the primitive church, whose value it is scarcely possible to overestimate. We are struck with the infinite contrast of their sentiment to that of the pagan sepulchral monuments, and also by the conspicuous absence, in those of the early centuries and purer period of Christianity, of the doctrines by which the church of Rome is characterized. We shall also find references to some of the heresies, which, like plague spots, alas! so soon began to infect the church,[694] and some of which even found distinguished ecclesiastical patronage.[695] The Church of Rome lays especial claim to the traditions of the early ages and the antiquities of the Catacombs as proofs of the apostolic character of her peculiar dogmas and usages. But these ancient records 417 are a palimpsest which she has written all over with her own glosses and interpretations; and when the ordeal of modern criticism revives the real documents and removes the accumulation of error, the testimony of the past is strikingly opposed to the pretensions of the Roman See and the teachings of Romish doctrine. The distinguished scholarship, laborious research, and archæological skill of such eminent authorities as De Rossi, Pitra, Garrucci, and other Roman _savants_, only furnish the weapons for the refutation of many of Rome’s most cherished beliefs. There are those, indeed, who carry to these investigations the faculty of seeing what they wish to see, and what no others can perceive. It not unfrequently happens, also, that extreme credulity and superstition are found united with great learning and high scientific attainments. The effect, however, of the honest examination of this testimony by a candid mind is seen in the case of Mr. Hemans, the learned author of “Ancient Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy.” This gentleman, although a pervert from the Anglican communion to that of Rome, and in strong sympathy with many of its institutions, as is apparent from his interesting volume, felt compelled by the historical and monumental testimony of the Catacombs, and of early Christian art and literature, to retrace his steps, and, however reluctantly to condemn and abandon the faith he had espoused.