SECTION VI
There is yet one more symbol of the Romish worship to be noticed, and
that is the sign of the cross. In the Papal system, as is well known,
the sign of the cross and the image of the cross are all in all, No
prayer can be said, no worship engaged in, no step almost can be taken,
without the frequent use of the sign of the cross. The cross is looked
upon as the grand charm, as the great refuge in every season of danger,
in every hour of temptation as the infallible preservation from all the
powers of darkness. The cross is adored with all the homage due only to
the Most High; and for any one to call it, in the hearing of a genuine
Romanist, by the Scriptural term, "the accursed tree,"
is a mortal offence. To say that such superstitious feeling for the sign
of the cross, such worship as Rome pays to a wooden or a metal cross,
ever grew out of the saying of Paul, "God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"--that is, in the
doctrine of Christ crucified--is a mere absurdity, a shallow subterfuge
and pretence. The magic virtues attributed to the so-called sign of the
cross, the worship bestowed on it, never came from such a source. The
same sign of the cross that Rome now worships was used in the Babylonian
Mysteries, was applied by Paganism to the same magic purposes, was
honoured with the same honours. That which is now called the Christian
cross was originally no Christian emblem at all, but was the mystic Tau
of the Chaldeans and Egyptians--the true original form of the letter
T--the initial of the name of Tammuz--which, in Hebrew, radically the
same as ancient Chaldee, as found on coins, was formed as in No. 1 * of
the accompanying woodcut ; and in Ethurian and Coptic, as in Nos. 2 *
and 3. *
That mystic Tau was marked in baptism on the foreheads of those
initiated in the Mysteries, * and was used in every variety of way as a
most sacred symbol. To identify Tammuz with the sun it was joined
sometimes to the circle of the sun, as in No. 4; sometimes it was
inserted in the circle, as in No. 5. * Whether the Maltese cross, which
the Romish bishops append to their names as a symbol of their episcopal
dignity, is the letter T, may be doubtful; but there seems no reason to
doubt that that Maltese cross is an express symbol of the sun; for
Layard found it as a sacred symbol in Nineveh in such a connection as
led him to identify it with the sun. * The mystic Tau, as the symbol of
the great divinity, was called "the sign of life;" it
was used as an amulet over the heart; * it was marked on the official
garments of the priests, as on the official garments of the priests of
Rome; it was borne by kings in their hand, as a token of their dignity
or divinely-conferred authority. * The Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome wore
it suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now. * The Egyptians
did the same, and many of the barbarous nations with whom they had
intercourse, as the Egyptian monuments bear witness. In reference to the
adorning of some of these tribes, Wilkinson thus writes: "The
girdle was sometimes highly ornamented; men as well as women wore
ear-rings; and they frequently had a small cross suspended to a
necklace, or to the collar of their dress. The adoption of this last was
not peculiar to them; it was also appended to, or figured upon, the
robes of the Rot-n-no; and traces of it may be seen in the fancy
ornaments of the Rebo, showing that it was already in use as early as
the fifteenth century before the Christian era." * There is
hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was
worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of
Christ. * "It is a fact," says Maurice, "not
less remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves were
accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of
the Deity they adored, and having cut the side branches, they affixed
two of the largest of them to the highest part of the trunk, in such a
manner that those branches extended on each side like the arms of a man,
and, together with the body, presented the appearance of a HUGE CROSS,
and on the bark, in several places, was also inscribed the letter Thau."
* It was worshipped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic
missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably
to the "god of rain." * The cross thus widely
worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol
of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a
head-band covered with crosses . * This symbol of the Babylonian god is
reverenced at this day in all the wide wastes of Tartary, where Buddhism
prevails, and the way in which it is represented among them forms a
striking commentary on the language applied by Rome to the Cross. "The
cross," says Colonel Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches, "though
not an object of worship among the Baud'has or Buddhists, is a favourite
emblem and device among them. It is exactly the cross of the Manicheans,
with leaves and flowers springing from it. This cross, putting forth
leaves and flowers (and fruit also, as I am told), is called the divine
tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of life and knowledge, and
productive of whatever is good and desirable, and is placed in the
terrestrial paradise." * * Compare this with the language of
Rome applied to the cross, and it will be seen how exact is the
coincidence. In the Office of the Cross, it is called the "Tree
of life," and the worshippers are taught thus to address it: "Hail,
O Cross, triumphal wood, true salvation of the world, among trees there
is none like thee in leaf, flower, and bud.....O Cross, our only hope,
increase righteousness to the godly and pardon the offences of the
guilty." * Can any one, reading the gospel narrative of the
crucifixion, possibly believe that that narrative of itself could ever
germinate into such extravagance of "leaf, flower, and
bud," as thus appears in this Roman Office? But when it is
considered that the Buddhist, like the Babylonian cross, was the
recognised emblem of Tammuz, who was known as the misletoe branch, or "All-heal,"
then it is easy to see how the sacred Initial should be represented as
covered with leaves, and how Rome, in adopting it, should call it the "Medicine
which preserves the healthful, heals the sick, and does what mere human
power alone could never do." *
Now, this Pagan symbol seems first to have crept into the Christian
Church in Egypt, and generally into Africa. A statement of Tertullian,
about the middle of the third century, shows how much, by that time, the
Church of Carthage was infected with the old leaven. * Egypt especially,
which was never thoroughly evangelised, appears to have taken the lead
in bringing in this Pagan symbol. The first form of that which is called
the Christian Cross, found on Christian monuments there, is the
unequivocal Pagan Tau, or Egyptian "Sign of life." Let
the reader peruse the following statement of Sir G. Wilkinson: "A
still more curious fact may be mentioned respecting this hieroglyphical
character [the Tau], that the early Christians of Egypt adopted it in
lieu of the cross, which was afterwards substituted for it, prefixing it
to inscriptions in the same manner as the cross in later times. For,
though Dr. Young had some scruples in believing the statement of Sir A.
Edmonstone, that it holds that position in the sepulchres of the great
Oasis, I can attest that such is the case, and that numerous
inscriptions, headed by the Tau, are preserved to the present day on
early Christian monuments." * The drift of this statement is
evidently this, that in Egypt the earliest form of that which has since
been called the cross, was no other than the "Crux Ansata,"
or "Sign of life," borne by Osiris and all the
Egyptian gods; and the ansa or "handle" was
afterwards dispensed with, and that it became the simple Tau, or
ordinary cross, as it appears at this day, and that the design of its
first employment on the sepulchres, therefore, could have no reference
to the crucifixion of the Nazarene, but was simply the result of the
attachment to old and long-cherished Pagan symbols, which is always
strong in those who, with the adoption of the Christian name and
profession, are still, to a large extent, Pagan in heart and feeling.
This, and this only, is the origin of the worship of the "cross."
This, no doubt, will appear all very strange and very incredible to
those who have read Church history, as most have done to a large extent,
even amongst Protestants, through Romish spectacles; and especially to
those who call to mind the famous story told of the miraculous
appearance of the cross to Constantine on the day before the decisive
victory and the Milvian bridge, that decided the fortunes of avowed
Paganism and nominal Christianity. That story, as commonly told, if
true, would certainly give a Divine sanction to the reverence for the
cross. But that story, when sifted to the bottom, according to the
common version of it, will be found to be based on a delusion--a
delusion, however, into which so good a man as Milner as allowed himself
to fall. Milner's account is as follows:--"Constantine,
marching from France into Italy against Maxentius, in an expedition
which was likely either to exalt or to ruin him, was oppressed with
anxiety. Some god he thought needful to protect him; the God of the
Christians he must most inclined to respect, but he wanted some
satisfactory proof of His real existence and power, and he neither
understood the means of acquiring this, nor could he be content with the
atheistic indifference in which so many generals and heroes since his
time have acquiesced. He prayed, he implored with such vehemence and
importunity, and God left him not unanswered. While he was marching with
his forces in the afternoon, the trophy of the cross appeared very
luminous in the heavens, brighter than the sun, with this inscription,
'Conquer by this.' He and his soldiers were astonished at the sight; but
he continued pondering on the event till night. And Christ appeared to
him when asleep with the same sign of the cross, and directed him to
make use of the symbol as his military ensign." * Such is the
statement of Milner. Now, in regard to the "trophy of the
cross," a few words will suffice to show that it is utterly
unfounded. I do not think it necessary to dispute the fact of some
miraculous sign having been given. There may, or there may not, have
been on this occasion a "dignus vindice nodus," a
crisis worthy of a Divine interposition. Whether, however, there was
anything out of the ordinary course, I do not inquire. But this I say,
on the supposition that Constantine in this matter acted in good faith,
and that there actually was a miraculous appearance in the heavens, that
it was not the sign of the cross that was seen, but quite a different
thing, the name of Christ. That this was the case, we have at once the
testimony of Lactantius, who was the tutor of Constantine's son Crispus--the
earliest author who gives any account of the matter, and the
indisputable evidence of the standards of Constantine themselves, as
handed down to us on medals struck at the time. The testimony of
Lactantius is must decisive: "Constantine was warned in a dream
to make the celestial sign of God upon his soldiers' shields, and so to
join battle. He did as he was bid, and with the transverse letter X
circumflecting the hand of it, he marks Christ on their shields.
Equipped with this sign, his army takes the sword." * Now, the
letter X was just the initial of the name of Christ, being equivalent in
Greek to CH. If, therefore, Constantine did as he was bid, when he made "the
celestial sign of God" in the form of "the letter
X," it was that "letter X." as the symbol
of "Christ," and not the sign of the cross, which he
saw in the heavens. When the Labarum, or far-famed standard of
Constantine itself, properly so called, was made, we have the evidence
of Ambrose, the well-known Bishop of Milan, that that standard was
formed on the very principle contained in the statement of
Lactantius--viz., simply to display the Redeemer's name. He calls it "Labarum,
hoc est Christi sacratum nomine signum." * --"The
Labarum, that is, the ensign consecrated by the NAME of Christ." *
There is not the slightest allusion to any cross--to anything but the
simple name of Christ. While we have these testimonies of Lactantius and
Ambrose, when we come to examine the standard of Constantine, we find
the accounts of both authors fully borne out; we find that that
standard, bearing on it these very words, "Hoc signo victor
eris," "In this sign thou shalt be a conqueror," said
to have been addressed from heaven to the emperor, has nothing at all in
the shape of a cross, but "the letter X." In the
Roman Catacombs, on a Christian monument to "Sinphonia and her
sons," there is a distinct allusion to the story of the
vision; but that allusion also shows that the X, and not the cross, was
regarded as the "heavenly sign." The words at the
head of the inscription are these:- "IN HOC VINCES * X."
Nothing whatever but the X is here given as the "Victorious
Sign." There are some examples, no doubt, of Constantine's
standard, in which there is a cross-bar, from which the flag is
suspended, that contains that "letter X;" * and
Eusebius, who wrote when superstition and apostacy were working, tries
hard to make it appear that that cross-bar was the essential element in
the ensign of Constantine. But this is obviously a mistake; that
cross-bar was nothing new, nothing peculiar to Constantine's standard.
Tertullian shows * that that cross-bar was found long before on the
vexillum, the Roman Pagan standard, that carried a flag; and it was used
simply for the purpose of displaying that flag. If, therefore, that
cross-bar was the "celestial sign," it needed no
voice from heaven to direct Constantine to make it; nor would the making
or displaying of it have excited any particular attention on the part of
those who saw it. We find no evidence at all that the famous legend, "In
this overcome," has any reference to this cross-bar; but we
find evidence the most decisive that that legend does refer to the X.
Now, that the X was not intended as the sign of the cross, but as the
initial of Christ's name, is manifest from this, that the Greek P,
equivalent to our R, is inserted in the middle of it, making by their
union CHR. Any one who pleases may satisfy himself of this by examining
the plates given in Mr. Elliot's Horae Apocalypticae. * The standard of
Constantine, then, was just the name of Christ. Whether the device came
from earth or from heaven--whether it was suggested by human wisdom or
Divine, supposing that Constantine was sincere in his Christian
profession, nothing more was implied in it than a literal embodiment of
the sentiment of the Psalmist, "In the name of the Lord will we
display our banners." To display that name on the standards of
Imperial Rome was a thing absolutely new; and the sight of that name,
there can be little doubt, nerved the Christian soldiers in
Constantine's army with more than usual fire to fight and conquer at the
Milvian bridge.
In the above remarks I have gone on the supposition that Constantine
acted in good faith as a Christian. His good faith, however, has been
questioned; * and I am not without my suspicions that the X may have
been intended to have one meaning to the Christians and another to the
Pagans. It is certain that the X was the symbol of the god Ham in Egypt,
and as such was exhibited on the breast of his image. * Whichever view
be taken, however, of Constantine's sincerity, the supposed Divine
warrant for reverencing the sign of the cross entirely falls to the
ground. In regard to the X, there is no doubt that, by the Christians
who knew nothing of secret plots or devices, it was generally taken, as
Lactantius declares, as equivalent to the name of "Christ."
In this view, therefore, it had no very great attractions for the
Pagans, who, even in worshipping Horus, had always been accustomed to
make use of the mystic Tau or cross, as the "sign of
life," or the magical charm that secured all that was good,
and warded off everything that was evil. When, therefore, multitudes of
the Pagans, on the conversion of Constantine, flocked into the Church,
like the semi-Pagans of Egypt, they brought along with them their
predilection for the old symbol. The consequence was, that in no great
length of time, as apostacy proceeded, the X which in itself was not an
unnatural symbol of Christ, the true Messiah, and which had once been
regarded as such, was allowed to go entirely into disuse, and the Tau,
the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false
Messiah, was everywhere substituted in its stead. Thus, by the "sign
of the cross," Christ has been crucified anew by those who
profess to be His disciples. Now, if these things be matter of historic
fact, who can wonder that, in the Romish Church, "the sign of
the cross" has always and everywhere been seen to be such an
instrument of rank superstition and delusion?
There is more, much more, in the rites and ceremonies of Rome that
might be brought to elucidate our subject. But the above may suffice
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