IO INSCRIPTION ON THE FONT AT CHELMORTON. 



Turning to the letters, we begin with the capital S, which is 

 next to the second hilt. Baptism has always been considered 

 as the means, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say, 

 one of the means of salvation. " He that believeth and is 

 baptised shall be saved." * So on a tomb at Tideswell, " Qui 

 baptizatus fuerit, salvus erit;"t and we have seen in St. Ambrose's 

 verses that salvation is said to return to the people by means 

 of baptism. To such an extent did this doctrine prevail 

 amongst the early Christians, that the term salus was commonly 

 used in lieu of baptisma itself.* S, therefore, may well be 

 taken to represent salus. salvation. Then b, in the next com- 

 partment, may well stand for baptisma. 



In our Church the Baptist is regularly called St. John, Sanctus 

 Johannes; and in a church dedicated to the Baptist it is highly 

 probable that an inscription on the font would contain that 

 designation. S. I., therefore, may represent Sanctus Johannes. 



The capital letter M is used in inscriptions for Martyr. Thus 

 at Cologne there is an inscription to Ursula and eleven virgin 

 martyrs, " Ursula et XI MM. VV. ; " § and, as the martyrdom 

 of the Baptist is represented on the baptisteries, it may safely 

 be inferred that M on this font denotes Martyr, and the hilts 

 of the swords support this conclusion. It is quite true that 

 this St. John is commonly called "the Baptist," and not "the 

 martyr," but it might be considered right to state that he was 

 a martyr, in the same way as it was thought right to represent 

 his martyrdom on the baptisteries. On so short an inscription 

 also it would have been a waste of valuable space to call him 

 the Baptist, especially after having spoken of his baptism. Nor 

 is it unreasonable to suppose that a church might have been 

 dedicated to him both as Baptist and Martyr. 



It remains to explain the letter e. It may be the first letter 

 either of est or ex. In the former case, the inscription would 

 be, "Salus est baptisma Sancti Johannis, martyris " — "The 

 baptism of St. John, the martyr, is salvation." In the latter 



Mark xvi 16 f 2 Cox's Derbyshire Churches, 301. 



\ Ency Loixi. Baptism. § VVithrow Cat., 107. 



