136 THE STONES OF VENICE

And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a work of sanctification. It is the holiness of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels celebrate in their ceaseless praise; and it is on account of this holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory.

§ 68. After thus hearing praise rendered to God by the angels for the salvation of the newly-entered soul, it was thought fittest that the worshipper should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity, as summed up in the three facts without assurance of which all faith is vain;¹ namely, that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault between the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate scenes,-the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the Sepulchre, and the apparition to Mary Magdalene. The second cupola itself, which is the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the subject of the Ascension.² At the highest point of it Christ is represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath Him, the twelve apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna,³ and, in the midst of them, the two men

¹ [See 1 Corinthians xv. 14.]

² [For a fuller description of the mosaics of the Central Dome, see St. Mark’s Rest-§ 126 (the Four Evangelists under its angles), §§ 127-131 (the Christian Virtues).]

³ [Upon the mosaics on this cupola Ruskin wrote in one draft of the chapter some artistic criticism which he intended to illustrate by a plate. This, however, was not prepared; but the reader will find a photographic reproduction of the mosaics opposite p. 278 of Dr. Robertson’s Bible of St. Mark. The passage in the MS. is as follows:-

“There are one or two circumstances in the mode of decoration itself, considered as such, which we ought not to pass without notice. Trees, much smaller in size and much less conspicuous in position, would as well or better have indicated that the scene was on the Mount of Olives, but their tall stems and dark foliage are of admirable service in dividing, like so many slender

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