m Asia Minor. The work
has occupied sixteen years, and ten thousand workmen have been
constantly engaged at it. But now it is finished at last, and the Church
of the Divine Wisdom, Hagia Sophia, is to be consecrated to-day.

The great Emperor of the Byzantine realm, Justinian, drives up in a
chariot drawn by four horses. He enters the temple attended by the
Patriarch of Constantinople. The building is as large as a market-place,
and the beautiful dome, round as the vault of heaven, is 180 feet above
the floor. Justinian looks around and is pleased with his work. The
great men of the church and empire, clad in costly robes, salute him. He
examines the variegated marble which covers the walls, he admires the
artistically arranged mosaic on the gold groundwork of the dome, he is
amazed at the hundred columns which support the cupolas and galleries,
some of dark-green marble, others of dark-red porphyry. The Emperor's
wealth is inexhaustible. Has he not presented to the church seven
crosses of gold, each weighing a hundred pounds? Does not the Church of
the Divine Wisdom possess forty thousand chalice veils all embroidered
with pearls and precious stones? Are there not in the sacristy
twenty-four Bibles, which in their gold-studded cases weigh two hundred
pounds each? Are not pictures of the Redeemer, of the Mother of God, of
angels, prophets and evangelists suspended between the twelve columns of
solid silver which are the Holy of Holies in the temple? Are not the
faithful moved to tears at the sight of the crucifix and at the
remembrance that the gilded cross of silver is an exact copy of that
which, more than five hundred years ago, was set up by Roman barbarians
at Jerusalem?

Justinian turns round and examines the panels of the three doors which
are said to have been made of wood from Noah's ark. The doors of the
main entrance are of solid silver, the others are beautifully inlaid
with cedar-wood, ivory, and amber. Above his head silver chandeliers
swing in chains; some of them form together a cross, and are a symbol of
the light of heaven hovering over the darkness of earthly life. The
vault is flooded with light; and in the mosaic he sees the meek saints
kneeling before God in silent supplication. Below the vault he sees the
four cherubims with two pairs of wings. He thinks of the first chapter
of Ezekiel: "And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the
living creature was as the colour of the terrible crys