Corinthian capitals may be seen wandering strange uncouth
Northern figures which tell some scripture story, such as
the Expulsion from Eden, or the Sacrifice of Isaac. All
through mediæval art may be traced these two influ-
ences, the Teutonic and the Roman, and a few moments
must therefore be given to tracing the origin in Rome of the
early Christian type of
building.

It is the matter as to which there must always be much obscurity, ow- ing to the complete de- struction of the earliest buildings, but there can be no doubt that the typical form of the Christian church arose not from copying any single building such as the pagan basilica, but from the early Christians using any building which happened to meet their requirements; and on the whole the basili- can type did so best. But till the edict of Milan ( A.D. 313) they had per- force to find their places of worship where and how they could. They would naturally meet in the houses of the members of the Church, or in any con- venient room which could be hired. Thus we hear of "the church which is in the house of Chloe" and of St. Paul preaching for two years "in the School or Lecture hall of Tyrannus," just as we might speak of a meeting to be held in some well-known assembly room.

CAPITAL FROM AUTUN: THE EXPULSION FROM EDEN

The Roman private house lent itself readily to the ar-
rangements needed by the earliest Christian congregations.
These were, an outer porch or vestibule for the penitents, an

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