. The history of Our Lord as exemplified in works of art : with that of His types ; St. John the Baptist ; and other persons of the Old and New Testament. ated on church walls, which, either from incapacity of hand, orsense of the difficulty, have no expression at all, are far more appro-priate, and therefore grand, than the highest refinements of riperArt. To the superficial glance, the earliest forms of Christ as Judgemay be mistaken for that of Christ in glory (see p. 353). In bothinstances He is seen raised above the earth, seated on the rainbow,or on a throne within a glory. But here the
. The history of Our Lord as exemplified in works of art : with that of His types ; St. John the Baptist ; and other persons of the Old and New Testament. ated on church walls, which, either from incapacity of hand, orsense of the difficulty, have no expression at all, are far more appro-priate, and therefore grand, than the highest refinements of riperArt. To the superficial glance, the earliest forms of Christ as Judgemay be mistaken for that of Christ in glory (see p. 353). In bothinstances He is seen raised above the earth, seated on the rainbow,or on a throne within a glory. But here the similarity ceases,for Christ as Judge is not blessing or holding the book, nor is He 398 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. ever accompanied by the symbols of the Four Evangelists. Theyhave no place on an occasion which proves that their mission ofreconciliation is past. But the chief distinction in the Person ofChrist consists in His showing His wounds, according to the pas-sage in Revelation i. 7, i Behold, He cometh with clouds ; and everyeye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him. For thispurpose His side is generally left bare, and the two hands are. 274 Christ as Judge. (French MS., 12th century. British Museum.) equally raised, with their pierced palms turned each exactly aliketo the spectator (woodcut, No. 274). In this was set forth the greattheological idea, never absent from the Person of Christ as Judge,whether in Greek or Latin, early or modern Art—the meaning beingthat the wounds conveyed their respective sentences to the assembledchildren of men, according as they had previously accepted or re-jected these signs of the Atonement— to the one the savour of deathunto death, to the others of life unto life—the outward aspect ofthe Judge being the same to each. This greatly contributed to givethat grand abstract air which befits the embodiment of divine jus-tice. There is something indescribably fine and awful in this rigid THE LAST JUDGMENT. 399 fall-front figure, wh
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