Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 140
140 quarters there. There are many such places in Rome where. Christians took refuge for a long time. These are called catacombs. There are still extant many pictures which they drew to keep their religious zeal or the memory of their martyrs alive. Similarly, there are tomb-stones giving the identity of the person and the incidents leading to his martyrdom. I have seen a part of these catacombs. I could not see the whole of the area. It is spread over seventy miles. In brief, a view of the catacombs gives an idea of the ancient history of Christianity; for, the catacombs put into perspective. the picture of tyrannies that preceded the expansion of Christianity and the inscriptions on tablets and the drawings reveal the beliefs of the Chrsitians of the age. In the third century of the Christian era, the Emperor of Rome had embraced. Christianity and Christianity gained strength henceforward. . THE STORY OF CATACOMBS. An idea of the conditions pertaining to the earlier period is gained through a visit to the catacombs. In these catacombs, we generally come across three drawings, one of the. Noah's ark, the other of a shepherd with a flock of sheep around him and the third of a fish swallowing up the Prophet. Jonas. It shows that the foundation of Christianity in early history was laid on only three things, or, in other words, three concepts which were symbolic for Christianity. The portrait of the sphepherd hinted that the Messiah had come to gather the lost sheep of Jews; the Noah's ark signified that the Messiah was their saviour and the picture of the prophet. Jonas signified the miracle which will be discussed in the following pages. In short, it was hinted through these drawings that Christianity was based on three fundamentals: (1) the Messiah came to gather his lost sheep. (2) The