is represented as gathering in the harvest; then he is seen in procession with wife, children, friends, and followers, carrying sheaves to the temple, a thank-offering to the gods.  This seems to be a painted epitaph, signifying that the deceased was industrious, prosperous, and pious.  It was common to deposit in these tombs various articles of use or ornament, such as the departed ones had been familiar with and attached to, while on earth.  Many things in the ancient sculptures indicate that Egyptian women were very fond of flowers.  It is a curious fact, that little china boxes with Chinese letters on them, like those in which the Chinese now sell flower-seeds, have been discovered in some of these tombs.  Probably the ladies buried there were partial to exotics from China; and perhaps friends placed them there with the tender thought that the spirit of the deceased would be pleased to see them, when it came on its annual visit.  Sometimes these paintings and sculptures embodied ideas reaching beyond the earthly existence, and “the aerial body” was represented floating among stars, escorted by what we should call angels, but which they named “Spirits of the Sun.”  Families and friends visited these consecrated chambers on the anniversary of the death of those whose bodies were placed in the room below.  They carried with them music and flowers, cakes and wine.  Religious ceremonies were performed, with the idea that the “invisible body” was present with them and took part in the prayers and offerings.  The visitors talked together of past scenes, and doubtless their conversation abounded with touching allusions to the character and habits of the unseen friend supposed to be listening.  It was, in fact, an annual family-gathering, scarcely sadder in its memories than is our Thanksgiving festival to those who have travelled far on the pilgrimage of life.

St. Paul teaches that “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”  The early Christians had a very vivid faith, that, when the soul dropped its outer envelope of flesh, it continued to exist in a spiritual form.  When any of their number died, they observed the anniversary of his departure by placing on the altar an offering to the church, in his name.  On such occasions, they partook of the sacrament, with the full belief that his unseen form was present with them, and shared in the sacred rite, as he had done while in the material body.  On the anniversary of the death of martyrs, there were such commemorations in all the churches; and that their spirits were believed to be present is evident from the fact that numerous petitions were addressed to them.  In the Roman Catacombs, where many of the early Christians were buried, are apartments containing sculptures and paintings of apostles and martyrs.  They are few and rude, because the Christians of that period were poor, and used such worldly goods as they had more for benevolence than for show.  But these memorials, in such a place, indicate the