Nothing further of a doctrinal character occurs till the year 291, when we find the following barbarous example. The grammar and spelling are atrocious, and the division of the words quite arbitrary: EX VIRGINEO TVO BENE MECO VIXISTI LIB ENIC ONIVGA INNOCENTISSE MACERVONIA SILVANA REFRIGERA CVM SPIRITA SANCTA. Read, _Ex virginio tuo bene mecum vixisti libens in conjuga innocentissima Macervonia Silvana. Refrigera cum spiritis sanctis_--“Macervonia Silvana, thou didst live well with me from thy maidenhood, rejoicing in most innocent wedlock. Refresh (thyself) among the holy spirits.” No candid interpretation can discover in the closing acclamation any thing beyond the natural expression of a desire for the happiness of the departed among the sanctified. There is nothing, therefore, in any of the inscriptions of the first three centuries--the ages of the purity of the faith--which can in the least degree support the assumptions of Roman controversialists as to the antiquity of Romish dogmas. Nor is there any indication of those dogmas till the latter part of the fourth century, as will be evident from a brief examination of the principal inscriptions having any reference to doctrine before that period. In the year A. D. 302 we 423 find the following beautiful tribute of conjugal and filial affection, which only, however, attests the high Christian character of the deceased: DOMINO PATRI PIISSIMO AC DVLCISSIMO SECVNDO VXOR ET FILII PRO PIETATE POSVERVNT--“To the highly venerable, most devout, and very sweet father, Secundus. His wife and sons in expression of their dutifulness have placed this slab.” In the year A. D. 310, in the epitaph of a youth twenty-two years of age, we find the beautiful euphemism for death, ACCERSITVS AB ANGELIS--“Called away (literally, sent for) by angels.” There is no doctrine of purgatory here. The Christian soul, like Lazarus, is borne by angels to Abraham’s bosom, and not, like Dives, to tormenting flames, albeit called of purgatorial efficacy to supplement the work of Christ. In A. D. 329 occurs the still nobler expression, NATVS EST LAVRENTIVS IN ETERNVM ANN XX · DORMIT IN PACE--“Laurentius was born into eternity in the twentieth year of his age. He sleeps in peace.” Sometimes the word _natus_ refers to the new birth of spiritual regeneration, and admission to the church by the rite of baptism. Thus, in an example of date A. D. 338, a youth of twenty-four years of age is said to have been born and died in the same year, though at the interval of a few months. In A. D. 377 we find the expression COELESTI RENATVS AQVA--“Born again of heavenly water.” In the year A. D. 335 the chaste and modest character of a Christian matron is commended, without any suggestion of the Romish notion of the superior merit of virginity, as follows: