Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-12
The Sign of the Cross.
[By Lady Cook, nee Tennessee Clafin.I

lapse Of infinite ages. We are accus-
toned to identify it with Christ and
Christianity alone, as though it had
originated with them. Yet ten thou
sand proofs exist that it was simply ap-
propriated to these just as it had pre-
viously been claimed by every great
religious cult that made its appearance
in the world. A distinguished writer,
in his essay in the Edinburgh Review,
nearly 50 years ago, on THE Pre-Chris-
tian Cross" says: From the dawn of
organized Paganism in the eastern
world, to the final establishment of
Christianity in the western, the Cross
was undoubtedly one of the commonest
and most sacred Of symbolical monu
ments, and, to a remarkable extent, it
is so still in almost every land where
that Of Calvary is unrecognized or un
known. Apart from any distinctions of
social or intellectual superiority of caste,
colour, nationality, or location in either
hemisphere, it appears to have been
the aboriginal possession of every peo
pie in antiquity; the elastic girdIe, so to
say, which embraced the most widely
separated heathen communities; the
most significant token of a universal
brotherhood; the principal pointof con-
tact III every system of pagan mythol-
ogy. That mighty maze, but not with
out q plain, to which all the families of
mankind were severally and irresistlbly
drawn, and by which their common
descent was emphatiCally expressed, or
by means of which each and all pre-
served, amid every vicissitude of for
tune, a knowledge of the primeval hap
pine6s and dignity of their species.
Where authentic history is silent on the
subject, the material relics of the past
and long since forgotten races are not
wanting to confirm and strengthen this
superstition. Diversified forms of the
symbol are delineated more or less
artistically, according to the progress
achieved in civilization at the period,
on the ruined walls of temples and pal
aces, on natural rocks and sepulchral
galleries, on the hoariest monoliths and
the rudest statuary; on coins, medals,
and vases of every description; and, in
not few instances, are preserved in
the architectural proportions of subter-
ranean structures, of tumuli as we'll as
fanes. The extraordinary sanctlty at
taching to the symbol, in every age and
under every variety of circumstance,
justified any expenditure incurred in
its fabrication or establishment; hence
the most persistent labour, the most
consummate ingenuity were lavished
upon it..
What then was the original meaning
of this symbol, or symbols, which has
been the warp into which all the threads
of every religion have been woven? In
order to solve this question, a multitude
of facts are to be considered, all point
ing to the same conclusion, no matter
how grossly exhibited or how mystically
disguised.
1t is the sigh Of generation whether
divine or human, the emblem of the
ever-vigorous fecundity of nature, and
there re, of the life that is and that
is to come. 1t denotes the universal
yivifying power, sometimes associated
with the most obscene rites, at others
refined into spiritual regeneration,
and thus typifying future Immortality
and a state of never-ending bliss. 1t
was consequently adapted to all sorts
and conditions Of men, and became as
universal as life itself. One of the
earliest complete types known is the
cruX ansata formed like T, with an
oval or circlet resting upon it. Singly
they typify the male and female organs
of reproduction; together they may
denote goodness, hope, felicity, or the
life to come. The crux ansata is COM
monty found sculptured on Egyptian
and Coptic monuments, and the mys-
teal Tau symbolized "the hidden wis
dom" of the Chaldeans of the ancient
Egyptians, Indians, Peruyians, Amer
leans, and of every ancient people in
both hemispheres. Humboldt found in
remote KampsChatka the cross and
other rude remains of hieroglyphics,
similar to those of Egypt. 1t was en-
craven on the glass statue of Serapis,
on the walls and tombs of kings.
Planted on the frustrum of a cone the
Sinplp TT rpDrocaD+c rOo10ocS. c,,ripo
ing from heart or on the breast of a
mummy, it denotes hope or expecta-
ton Of reward. The two colossal stat
ues from Easter Island may be seen at
the British Museum, and on the backs
of each the same sign is rudely en-
graved.
AS with this which was the conven-
tional, SO with the ovoid or circle, some
times called the egg or the eye. 1t de-
noted the female principle and covered
the vestments of the Ephesian Diana,
and the Assyrian Mylitta in whose
temple all the women were bound to
prostitute themselves to strangers.
The robes of the dark-skinned mother
goddess OF India were similarly adorned
as were the tails of Juno's birds which
drew her chariot through the heavens.
We are told that the worship of Juno
was universal, that the Empire OF Jupi-
ter was small compared to hers. AS
Uytha, sometimes called her daughter,
she was the goddess of birth in Area