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  STONES OF THE TEMPLE




  R I V I N G T O N S


  London                  _Waterloo Place_

  Oxford                  _High Street_

  Cambridge               _Trinity Street_


Illustration: STONES OF THE TEMPLE



  STONES OF THE TEMPLE or

  Lessons from the fabric and furniture of the Church

  By WALTER FIELD, M.A., F.S.A.


  RIVINGTONS London, Oxford, and Cambridge 1871




"When it pleased  God to raise up  kings and emperors  favouring  sincerely
   the Christian truth, that which  the Church  before either could not or
     durst  not do,  was with all alacrity  performed.  Temples  were in
       all  places erected, no  cost  was  spared:  nothing judged too
         dear  which that way should  be spent.  The whole world did
           seem to exult, that it had occasion of pouring out gifts
             to so blessed a purpose. That cheerful devotion which
               David did this way exceedingly delight to behold,
                 and wish that  the same in the Jewish people
                   might be perpetual, was then in Christian
                     people  every  where  to   be   seen.
                       So far as  our Churches and their
                         Temple  have  one  end,  what
                           should let but that they
                             may lawfully have one
                               form?"--Hooker's
                               "Ecclesiastical
                                   Polity."
                                     {~MALTESE CROSS~}




CONTENTS


            PREFACE.
     _Chap._                                      _Page_

         I. THE LICH-GATE                             1

        II. LICH-STONES                              11

       III. GRAVE-STONES                             19

        IV. GRAVE-STONES                             31

         V. THE PORCH                                43

        VI. THE PORCH                                51

       VII. THE PAVEMENT                             63

      VIII. THE PAVEMENT                             73

        IX. THE PAVEMENT                             81

         X. THE PAVEMENT                             91

        XI. THE WALLS                               103

       XII. THE WALLS                               111

      XIII. THE WINDOWS                             123

       XIV. A LOOSE STONE IN THE BUILDING           145

        XV. THE FONT                                155

       XVI. THE PULPIT                              167

      XVII. THE PULPIT                              175

     XVIII. THE NAVE                                187

       XIX. THE NAVE                                197

        XX. THE AISLES                              209

       XXI. THE TRANSEPTS                           217

      XXII. THE CHANCEL-SCREEN                      225

     XXIII. THE CHANCEL                             235

      XXIV. THE ALTAR                               245

       XXV. THE ORGAN-CHAMBER                       255

      XXVI. THE VESTRY                              265

     XXVII. THE PILLARS                             275

    XXVIII. THE ROOF                                285

      XXIX. THE TOWER                               295

       XXX. THE HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS           311




INDEX OF ENGRAVINGS

                                                                    _Page_

    St. Mildred's Church and Lich-Gate, Whippingham                     3

    Lich-Gate at Yealmton                                               5

    Lich-Gate at Birstal                                                7

    Heywood Church, Manchester                                         13

    Lich-Stone, Great Winnow, Cornwall                                 15

    Lich-Stone at Lustleigh                                            18

    Church of St. Nicholas, West Pennard                               21

    Grave-Stones in Streatham Churchyard                               23

    Grave-Stones in High-Week Churchyard                               24

    Easter Flowers                                                     28

    Stinchcombe Church                                                 33

    Grave-Stones                                               35, 39, 41

    Llanfechan Church                                                  42

    Godmersham Church                                                  45

    Porch of Luebeck Cathedral                                          53

    Porch and Parvise of St. Mary's Church, Finedon                    55

    Parvise, Westbury-on-Trim                                          60

    Church of SS. Philip and James, Oxford                             65

    Brass of John Bloxham and John Whytton in Merton College, Oxford   67

    Heywood Church                                                     75

    Brass of Henry Sever, at Merton College, Oxford                    77

    Chancel of Whippingham Church                                      83

    Brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington                                  85

    Church of St. John the Baptist, Kidmore End                        93

    Encaustic Tiles, Brooke Church                                 95, 97

    St. Andrew's Church, Halstead                                     105

    Ancient Wall Paintings in Kimpton Church                     108, 109

    St. Michael's Church, Gloucester                                  113

    Ancient Wall Painting in Bedford Church                           118

    Wall Painting                                                     121

    Church of St. John, Brandenburg                                   125

    Doorway, St. Stephen's Church, Tangermuende                        127

    Crowmarsh Church                                                  131

    Stained Glass Windows in Great Malvern Church           137, 139, 141

    Rose Window, Cremona Cathedral                                    143

    Amberley Church, in ruin, and restored                            147

    Ancient Font in West Rounton Church                               157

    Stone Pulpit in Dartmouth Church                                  169

    Church of St. Mary, Henley-on-Thames                              177

    Stone Pulpit in North Kilworth Church                             179

    St. Mary's Church, Sherborne                                      189

    All Saints' Church, Bradford                                      199

    Castle Cary Church                                                211

    Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Ringwood                            219

    Church of St. John, Walworth                                      227

    Sutton Benger Church                                              237

    Llanfaenor Church                                                 243

    St. Alban's Church, Holborn                                       247

    Icklesham Church                                                  257

    Harpsden Church                                                   267

    Church of St. John, Highbridge                                    277

    Keynsham Church                                                   287

    Clerestory Window                                                 294

    Meopham Church                                                    297

    Tower, Saragosa                                                   303

    Window, Church of St. Petronius, Bologna                          309




    "Who is able  to build  Him an house, seeing the  heaven and heaven of
     heavens  cannot  contain Him?  who am  I then,  that I  should build
       Him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?
        "Send  me now  therefore a  man  cunning  to work  in gold, and
         in silver,  and in  brass,  and in iron,  and in  purple, and
           crimson,  and blue,  and that can skill to grave with the
            cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem,
              whom   David   my   father   did   provide.    Send
                me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algum-trees,
                  out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants
                   can   skill  to  cut  timber  in  Lebanon;
                     and,   behold,  my  servants  shall be
                       with thy servants, even to prepare
                         me    timber   in   abundance:
                          for     the    house  which
                            I  am  about  to  build
                              shall be  great and
                                 wonderful."--
                                  2 Chron. ii.
                                     6--9.
                                      {~MALTESE CROSS~}




PREFACE


The following chapters are an attempt to explain in very simple language
the history and use of those parts of the Church's fabric with which
most persons are familiar.

They are not written with a view to assist the student of Ecclesiastical
Art and Architecture--for which purpose the works of many learned
writers are available--but simply to inform those who, from having paid
little attention to such pursuits, or from early prejudice, may have
misconceived the origin and design of much that is beautiful and
instructive in God's House.

The spiritual and the material fabric are placed side by side, and the
several offices and ceremonies of the Church as they are specially
connected with the different parts of the building are briefly noticed.

Some of the subjects referred to may appear trifling and unimportant;
those, however, among them which seem to be the most trivial have in
some parishes given rise to long and serious disputations.

The unpretending narrative, which serves to embody the several subjects
treated of, has the single merit of being composed of little incidents
taken from real life.

The first sixteen chapters were printed some years since in the _Church
Builder_.

The writer is greatly indebted to the Committee of the Incorporated
Church Building Society for the use of most of the woodcuts which
illustrate the volume.

                                                   W. F.

     GODMERSHAM VICARAGE,
      _Michaelmas_, 1871.




_CHAPTER I_

THE LICH-GATE


"These words which I command thee; thou shalt write them on thy gates."

Deut. vi. 6, 9.

    "Who says the Widow's heart must break,
       The Childless Mother sink?--
     A kinder, truer Voice I hear,
     Which even beside that mournful bier
       Whence Parent's eyes would hopeless shrink,

    "Bids weep no more--O heart bereft,
       How strange, to thee, that sound!
     A Widow o'er her only Son,
     Feeling more bitterly alone
       For friends that press officious round.

    "Yet is the Voice of comfort heard,
       For Christ hath touch'd the bier--
     The bearers wait with wondering eye,
     The swelling bosom dares not sigh,
       But all is still, 'twixt hope and fear.

    "Even such an awful soothing calm
       We sometimes see alight
     On Christian mourners, while they wait
     In silence, by some Churchyard gate,
       Their summons to the holy rite."

                                         _Christian Year._

Illustration: St. Mildred's Church and Lich-Gate, Whippingham




THE LICH-GATE


Illustration: Lich-Gate at Yealmton

"Any port in a storm, Mr. Ambrose," said old Matthew
Hutchison, as with tired feet, and scant breath, he hastened to share
the shelter which Mr. Ambrose, the Vicar of the Parish, had found under
the ancient and time-worn Lich-gate of St. Catherine's Churchyard. For a
few big drops of rain that fell pattering on the leaves around, had
warned them both to seek protection from a coming shower. "Ah, yes, my
old friend," the Vicar replied, "and here we are pretty near the port to
which we must all come, when the storm of life itself is past."

"I've known this place,--man and boy,--Mr. Ambrose, for near eighty
years; and on yonder bit of a hill, under that broken thorn, I sit for
hours every day watching my sheep; but my eye often wanders across here,
and then the thought takes me just as you've said it, sir. Ah! it can't
be long before Old Matthew will need some younger limbs than these to
bring him through the churchyard gate;--that's what the old walls always
seem to say to me;--but God's will be done." And as the old Shepherd
reverently lifted his broad hat, his few white hairs, stirred by the
rising gale, seemed to confirm the truth of his words.

"Well, Matthew, I am glad you have learnt, what many are slow to learn,
that there are 'Sermons in stones,' as well as in books. Every stone in
God's House, and in God's Acre--as our Churchyards used to be
called,--may teach us some useful lesson, if we will but stop to read
it."

"Please, sir, I should like to know why they call the gate at the new
churchyard over the hill, a _lich_-gate;--these new names puzzle a poor
man like me[1]."

"The name is better known in some parts of the country than it is here;
but it is no new name, I assure you, for in the time of the Saxons, more
than thirteen hundred years ago, it was in common use; but I will tell
you all about this, and some other matters connected with the place
where we now stand."

"I shall take it very kind if you will, sir, for you know we poor people
don't know much about these things."

"Very often quite as much as many who are richer, Matthew,--but here
comes our young squire, anxious like ourselves to keep a dry coat on his
back; so I shall now be telling my story to rich and poor together, and
I hope make it plain to both." After a few words of friendly greeting
between Mr. Acres and himself, the three sat down on the stone seats of
the Lich-Gate, and he at once proceeded to answer the old Shepherd's
question. "The word _Lich_[2]," he said, "means a _Corpse_, and so
_Lich-Gate_ means a Corpse-gate, or gate through which the dead body is
borne; and that path up which you came just now, Matthew, used formerly
to be called the _Lich-path_[3], because all the funerals came along
that way. In some parts of Scotland is still kept up the custom of
_Lyke-wake_ (_Lich-wake_), or watching beside the dead body before its
burial[4]. The pale sickly-looking moss, which lives best where all else
is dead or dying, we call _lichen_. Then you know the _Lich-owl_ is so
called because some people are silly enough to think that its screech
foretells death. And I must just say something about this word _lich_ in
the name of a certain city; it is _Lichfield_. Now _lich-field_ plainly
means the field of the dead: and where that city now stands is said to
have been the burial-place of many Christian Martyrs, who were slain
there about the year 290. You will remember, Mr. Acres, that the Arms of
the City exhibit this field of the dead, on which lie three slaughtered
men, each having on his head, as is supposed, a martyr's crown. Now,
Matthew, I think I have fully replied to your question; but I should
like to say something more about the use and the history of these
Lich-Gates."

Illustration: Lich-Gate at Birstal

"Will you kindly tell us," said Mr. Acres, "how it is that there are so
few remaining, and that of these there are probably very few indeed so
much as four centuries old[5]."

"I think the reason is, that at first they were almost entirely made of
wood, and therefore were subject to early decay--certainly they must at
one time have been far more general than at present. The rubrical
direction at the beginning of the Burial Office in our Prayer Book seems
to imply some such provision at the churchyard entrance. It is there
said 'the Priest and Clerks' are to'meet the Corpse _at the entrance of
the Churchyard_.' But in this old Prayer Book of mine, printed in the
year 1549, you see the Priest is directed to meet the corpse at the
'Church-stile,' or Lich-Gate. Now as in olden times the corpse was
always borne to its burial by the friends or neighbours of the deceased,
and they had often far to travel, their time of reaching the Churchyard
must have been very uncertain, and this uncertainty no doubt frequently
caused delay when they had arrived, therefore it was desirable both to
have a place of shelter on a rainy day, and of rest when the way was
long. Hence I suppose it is, that the older Lich-Gates are to be found,
for the most part, in widespread parishes and mountainous districts;
they are most common in the Counties of Devon and Cornwall, and in
Wales[6]. But even where the necessity of the case no longer exists, the
Lich-Gate, adorned, as it ever should be, with some holy text or pious
precept, is most appropriate as an ornament, and expressive as a symbol.
Its presence should always be associated in our minds with thoughts of
death, and life beyond it. It should remind us that though we must ere
long 'go to the gates of the grave,' yet that it is 'through the grave
and gate of death' that we must 'pass to our joyful resurrection.' It
is here the Comforter of Bethany so often speaks, through the voice of
His Church, to His sorrowing brethren in the world:--'I am the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live[7]."

"Ah! sir," said the shepherd, "many's the poor heart-bowed mourner
that's been comforted here with those words! They always remind me of
Jesus saying to the widow of Nain, 'Weep not,' when he stopped the bier
on which was her only son, and the bearers, and all the mourners, at the
gate of the city."

"Yes! and all this makes us look on the old Lich-Gate as no gloomy
object, but rather as a 'Beautiful Gate of the Temple' which is
eternal,--a glorious arch of hope and triumph, hung all round with
trophies of Christian victory. But I see the rain is over, and the sun
is shining! so good-bye, Mr. Acres, we two shepherds must not stay
longer from our respective flocks:--old Matthew's is spread over the
mountains, mine is folded in the village below." The old shepherd soon
took his accustomed seat under the weather-beaten thorn, the Vicar was
soon deep in the troubles of a poor parishioner, and the young Squire
went to the village by another way.




_CHAPTER II_

LICH-STONES


"Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets."

Eccles. xii. 5.

    "Say, was it to my spirit's gain or loss,
    One bright and balmy morning, as I went
    From Liege's lovely environs to Ghent,
    If hard by the wayside I found a cross,
    That made me breathe a prayer upon the spot--
    While Nature of herself, as if to trace
    The emblem's use, had trail'd around its base
    The blue significant Forget-me-not?
    Methought, the claims of Charity to urge
    More forcibly, along with Faith and Hope,
    The pious choice had pitch'd upon the verge
      Of a delicious <DW72>,
    Giving the eye much variegated scope;--
    'Look round,' it whisper'd, 'on that prospect rare,
    Those vales so verdant, and those hills so blue;
    Enjoy the sunny world, so fresh and fair,
    But'--(how the simple legend pierced me thro'!)
      'Priez pour les Malheureux.'"

                                                 _T. Hood._

Illustration: Heywood Church, Manchester


LICH-STONES


Illustration: Lich-Stone, Great Winnow, Cornwall

"Good morning, Mr. Acres, and a happy Easter-Tide to you. This is indeed
a bright Easter sun to shine on our beautiful Lich-Gate at its
re-opening. I little thought on what good errand you were bent when last
we parted at this spot. Hardly however had I reached my door when
William Hardy came with great glee to tell me you had engaged his
services for the work. May God reward you, sir, for the honour you have
shown for His Church."

"And an old man's blessing be upon you, sir, if you will let Old Matthew
say so; for the Church-gate is dearer to me than my own, seeing it has
closed upon my beloved partner, and the dear child God gave us, and my
own poor wicket shuts on no one else but me now."

"Thank you heartily, honest Matthew, and you too, sir," replied the
squire, giving to each the hand of friendship; "I am rejoiced that what
has been done pleases you so well. The restored Gate is in every respect
like the original one, even to the simple little cross on the top of
it. I have added nothing but the sentence from our Burial Office,
'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,' which you see over the
arch, and which I hope will bring comfort to some, and hope to all who
read it. But the work would never have been done by me, Mr. Vicar, had
you not so interested Matthew and myself in these Lich-Gates when last
we met. And so, as you see, your good words have not been altogether
lost, I hope you will kindly to-day continue the subject of our last
conversation."

"Most gladly will I do so; and as I have already spoken of the general
purpose and utility of these Lich-Gates, I will now say a little about
their construction and arrangement.

"Their most common form, as you know, is a simple shed composed of a
roof with two gable ends, covered either with tiles or thatch, and
supported on strong timbers well braced together. But they are
frequently built of stone, and in the manner of their construction they
greatly vary. At Burnsall there is a curious arrangement for opening and
closing the gate. The stone pier on the north side has a well-hole, in
which the weight that closes the gate works up and down. An upright
swivel post or 'heart-tree,' (as the people there call it,) stands in
the centre, and through this pass the three rails of the gate; an iron
bent lever is fixed to the top of this post, which is connected by a
chain and guide-pulley to the weight, so that when any one passes
through, both ends of the gate open in opposite directions. The Gate at
Rostherne churchyard, in Cheshire, is on a similar plan. At
Berry-harbour is a Lich-Gate in the form of a cross. At only one place,
I believe,--Troutbeck, in Westmoreland,--are there to be found three
stone Lich-Gates in one churchyard. Some of these gates have chambers
over them, as at Bray[8], in Berkshire, and Barking[9], in Essex. At
Tawstock there is a small room on either side of the gate, having seats
on three sides and a table in the centre. It seems that in this, as in
some other cases, provision is made either for the distribution of
alms, or for the rest and refreshment of funeral attendants. It was
once a common custom at funerals in some parts, especially in
Scotland[10], to hold a feast at the Church-gate and these feasts
sometimes led to great excesses: happily they are now discontinued, but
the custom may help to point out the purpose for which these Lich-Gate
rooms were sometimes erected. In Cornwall it is not customary to bear
the corpse on the shoulders, but to carry the coffin, under-handed, by
white cloths passed beneath and through the handles[11] and this partly
explains the peculiar arrangement for resting the corpse at the entrance
to the churchyard, common, even now, in that county, and which is called
the _Lich-Stone_. The Lich-Stone is often found without any building
attached to it, and frequently without even a gate. The Stone is either
oblong with the ends of equal width, or it is the shape of the ancient
coffins, narrower at one end than the other, but without any bend at the
shoulder. It is placed in the centre, having stone seats on either side,
on which the bearers rest whilst the coffin remains on the Lich-Stone.
When there is no gate, the churchyard is protected from the intrusion of
cattle by this simple contrivance:--long pieces of moor-stone, or
granite, are laid across, with a space of about three inches between
each, and being rounded on the top any animal has the greatest
difficulty in walking over them, indeed a quadruped seldom attempts to
cross them.

"Lich-Stones are,--though very rarely,--to be found at a distance from
the churchyard; in this case, doubtless, they are intended as rests for
the coffin on its way to burial.

"At Lustleigh, in Devonshire, is an octagonal Lich-Stone called Bishop's
Stone, having engraved upon it the arms of Bishop Cotton[12]. It seems
not unlikely that the several beautiful crosses erected by King Edward
I. at the different stages where the corpse of his queen, Eleanor[13],
rested on its way from Herdeby in Lincolnshire to Westminster, were
built over the Lich-Stone on which her coffin was placed. And now, my
kind listeners, I think I have told you all I know about Lich-Stones."

Illustration: Lich-Stone at Lustleigh

"These simple memorials of Church architecture are very touching,"
replied Mr. Acres, as he rose to depart; "and the Lich-Stone deserves a
record before modern habits and improvements sweep them away. They have
a direct meaning, and surely might be more generally adopted in
connexion with the Lich-Gate, now gradually re-appearing in many of our
rural parishes, as the fitting entrance to the churchyard."




_CHAPTER III_

GRAVE-STONES


"When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is
buried; lay my bones beside his bones."

1 Kings xiii. 31.

                              "I've seen
    The labourer returning from his toil,
    Here stay his steps, and call the children round,
    And slowly spell the rudely sculptured rhymes,
    And in his rustic manner, moralize.
    We mark'd with what a silent awe he'd spoken,
    With head uncover'd, his respectful manner,
    And all the honours which he paid the grave."

                                   _H. Kirke White._

    "I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
       The burial-ground God's acre! It is just;
     It consecrates each grave within its walls,
       And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust.

    "Into its furrows shall we all be cast,
       In the sure faith that we shall rise again
     At the great harvest, when the archangel's blast
       Shall winnow, like a fan, the chaff and grain.

    "With thy rude ploughshare, Death, turn up the sod,
       And spread the furrow for the seed we sow;
     This is the field and acre of our God:
       This is the place where human harvests grow."

                                        _Longfellow._

Illustration: Church of St. Nicholas, West Pennard




GRAVE-STONES


Illustration: Grave-Stones in Streatham Churchyard

"And so, Matthew, the old sexton's little daughter is to
be buried to-day. What a calm peaceful day it is for her funeral! The
day itself seems to have put on the same quiet happy smile that Lizzie
Daniels always carried about with her, before she had that painful
lingering sickness, which she bore with a meekness and patience I hardly
ever saw equalled. And then it is Easter Day too, the very day one would
choose for the burial of a good Christian child. All our services to-day
will tell us that this little maid, and all those who lie around us here
so still beneath their green mounds, are not dead but sleeping, and as
our Saviour rose from the grave on Easter Day, so will they all awake
and rise up again when God shall call them. I see the little grave is
dug under the old yew-tree, near to that of your own dear ones. Lizzie
was a great favourite of yours, was she not, Matthew?"

"Ah, she was the brightest little star in my sky, I can tell you, sir;
and I shall miss her sadly. She brought me my dinner, every day for near
two years, up to the old thorn there, and then she would sit down on the
grass before me, and read from her Prayer Book some of the Psalms for
the day; and when she had done, and I had kissed and thanked her, she
used to go trotting home again, with, I believe, the brightest little
face and the lightest little heart in England. Well, sir, it's sorry
work, you know, for a man to dig the grave for his own child, and so I
asked John Daniels to let me dig Lizzie's grave: but it has been indeed
hard work for me, for I think I've shed more tears in that grave than I
ever shed out of it. But the grave is all ready now, and little Lizzie
will soon be there; and then, sir, I should like to put up a stone, for
I shall often come here to think about the dear child. Poor little
Lizzie! she seemed like a sort of good angel to me,--children do seem
like that sometimes, don't they, sir? Perhaps, Mr. Ambrose, you would be
so good as to tell Robert Atkinson what sort of stone you would like him
to put up."

"Certainly I will; and I think nothing would be so suitable as a simple
little stone cross, with Lizzie's name on the base of it. And as she is
to be buried on Easter Day, I should like to add the words, 'In Christ
shall all be made alive.'"

"Thank you, sir; that will do very nicely. I'm only thinking, may be,
that wicked boy of Mr. Dole's, at the shop, will come some night and
break the cross, as he did the one Mr. Hunter put up over his little
boy. But I think that was more the sin of the father than of the son,
for I'm told the old gentleman's very angry with you, sir, 'cause he
couldn't put what he call's a 'handsome monument' over his father's
grave; and he says, too, he's going to law about it."

Illustration: Grave-Stones in High-Week Churchyard

"Ah, he'll be wiser not to do that, Matthew. The churchyard is the
parson's freehold, and he has the power to prevent the erection of any
stone there of which he disapproves; and I, for one, don't mean to give
up this power. 'Tis true that every one of my parishioners has a right
to be buried in this churchyard, nor could I refuse this if I would; but
then, if I am to protect this right of my parishioners, as it is my duty
to do, and to preserve my churchyard from disfigurement and desecration,
I must take care that the ground is not occupied by such great ugly
monuments as Mr. Dole wishes to build[14]. Why I hear he bought that
large urn[15] which was taken down from Mr. Acres' park gates, to put on
the top of the tomb. And then I suppose he would like to have the sides
covered with skulls and crossbones, and shovels and mattocks, and fat
crying cherubs, besides the usual heathen devices, such as inverted
torches and spent hour-glasses; all which fitly enough mark an infidel's
burial-place, but not a Christian's. For you see, my friend, that _none
of these things represent any Christian truth_; the best are but emblems
of mortality; some are the symbols of oblivion and despair, and others
but mimic a heathen custom long gone by. The stones of the churchyard
ought themselves to tell the sanctity of the place, and that it is a
Christian's rest[16]. The letters we carve on them will hardly be read
by our children's children. The lines on that stone there tell no more
than is true of all the Epitaphs around us:

    'The record some fond hand hath traced,
     To mark thy burial spot,
     The lichen will have soon effaced,
     To write thy doom--Forgot.'

But even then, if the symbol of our redemption is there, 'the very
stones will cry out,' and though time-worn and moss-grown, will declare
that