The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-04-01
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
A SACRED SYMBOL LONG Be
FORE cRuclFlxloN. q

"A SACRED SYMBOL LONG BE-
FORE cRuclFlxloN. a,
Rsvered b. the Ancisnts-lt Z Found
in Two Letters Of the Alphabet.
Which Have . Mystic History-Not Of
Christian Origin.
No symbol, either In art or in reli-
gion is so universal as the cross. It.
appears twice in u alphabet, as the
letter T and the letter x. It is worn
by priests on their sacrificial robes, by
distinguished laymen as a sign of dis.
tinction on occasions of state, and by
male and female nonentities as taste
may direct. 1t is craven on eucharis-
tic vessels, embroidered on altar cloths
and cut in relief on tombs and monu-,
ments. Some of the greatest churches
and cathedrals Of Christendom are
fashioned in its shape. In European
countries it is common to see large
/. crosses erected in public places. The
famous Charing (chere reine) Cross, In
London, derives its name from the
fact that it was one of the places at
which King Edward l set u2 q cross to
mark where the body Of his Queen
Eleanor rested during the progress of
the funeral cortege to Westminster.
Yet it is a mistake to suppose that
the cross has only a Christian history.
It was used as a religious symbol by
the ahcrigines of North and South
America, as we'll as the most ancient
nations Of the old world. Prescott
tells us that the spaniards found the
cross Us an object of worship in the
temples of Mexico. Researches in
Central America prove that it was
used in the same way by the inhabi-
tants Of those countries. DR.. Brinton,
in Myths of the New World" informs
us that the Indians regard the cross as
a mystic emblem OF the four cardinal
points of the compass.
The ancient Phoenicians, Persians,
Assyrians and Brahmins looked upon
the cross as a holy symbol, as is album
dainty shown by the numerous hero
glyphics and other pictorial represen-
. tations on their monumental remains.
Osiris by the cross gave light eternal
to the spirits Of the just, beneath the
cross the Mpysea mothers laid their
babes. trusting by that sign to Sc
cure them from the power Of the evil
spirits. and with that symbol to pro-
tect them, the Etruscans, the ancient
people of northern Italy, calmly laid
them down to die.
The THAI Of the Jews and the Tau
of the Greeks, whence came the T of
the Roman alphabet, were held to be
not merely letters, but sacred symbols,
on account of their being suggested by
q o
Among the Scandinavians Thorr was
the thunder, and the hammer was his
symbol. It was with this hammer that
Thorr crushed the head of the great
Mitgard serpent; that he destroyed the
giants; that he restored to life the
dead goats, which ever after drew his
car; that he consecrated the pyre of
Baldur. This hammer was a cross. In
Iceland the cross Of Thorr is still used
as q magical sign in connection with
storms Of wind and rain. Longfellow
tells US how King Olaf kept Christmas
at Drontheim:
Der his drinking horn, the sign
He made of the Cross Divine,
AS he drank and muttered his pray
ers;
But the Berserks evermore
Made the sign Of the Hammer OF
Thorr
Over theirs.
Neither King Olaf nor his Berserk-
.ers, nor. indeed, .Longfellow himself,
seem to have realized that the two
symbols were identical.
Comparative mythologists draw va
rious deductions from these remark
able facts. Let us, however, appeal to
a man who Is not only a comparative
m%ythologist, but q Christian priest.
For my own part" says the Rev.
Barring Gould, 81 see no diflculty in
believing that the cross formed a por-
ton Of the primeval religion, traces Of
which exist over the whole world,
among every people; that trust in the
cross was q part Of the ancient faith
which taught men to believe in a Trim
ity, in q war In heaven, q Paradise
from which man fell, q Flood and a
Babel, q faith which was deeply Inn
rroaoad Nth a nnnvactinn that a Vir-