The Glenwood post., 1914-06-06
RECORD OF the CROSS
ovMOol - oAG OF MOST A.
eiGMv RECORDED IN HISTORY.

My y YraeeA 0aek eivs vhsUsaa6
vssra - tbs oabyssaisa Era. -
Gxeiaiasd BY etsSsaas -
ths Pask
The cross 10 % old that tie reo0r4o
Of men do not 60 back to the Arst oos.
Christianity took . vesy aneient syn
bol and made Il Christian. bat nobody
knows Just Why.
To understand eli there II to know
about the cross Ne must 90 hack four
or ave thousand years to astronomy
and astrosogy - understood By the
ancient Baby Donians. Under their clay
tablets and stone nonumeats. anA
upon the noaunents Of the Persians.
the Hittites and every other ancient
nation We and crosses Of all shapes
and kinds. Even the Egyptians deco
rated their high priest whea he was
omciating In the greatest OF their
temples with the figure Of the cross
There must. therefore. BE- some great
and universal significance in this sym
Dol or its use would not have been
30 Widespread.
THE Babylonians offer the clearest
explanation of this symbol in their
expression. the four ends Of the
earth" which is also found in the
Bible. The people of Bible times
knew that the earth was round. for
Isaiah speaks of the circle OF the
earth" and then of the lends OF the
earth" This makes the conception
plain that to the early Semites-for
Bahylonians and Hebrews were all
Semitic and the Cuneiform and He
brew languages have many words in
common-the earth was round and
had four ends. or. ~ We put It today.
-four points Of the compass"
II the circle Of the earth 10 drawn
and then bisected In either direction
by straight lines the perfect cross 10
made. thus symbolising tho whole
earth.
The early Babylonians went fuSther.
and In their polytheism established
one Of the gods a. ruler over each of
these ends Of tho earth. Identifying
each god with one Of the great planets.
whose motions they studied SO care
fully. The north was presided over
by Nergal and the planet which We
call Mars. The east had Marduk and
the planet Jupiter. the south had Min
ib and the planet Saturn, while the
west was ruled by Nabu and his
planet Mercury. The names of the
stars were different in Babylonian,
but they corresponded to the planets
as we know them by these names.
The north was identified with winter
and midnight, the east with morning
and sping. the south with midday
and summer and the west with even
ing and autumn.
Some of the Babylonian inscriptions
also show that the four phases Of the
moon were indicated by the cross.
The mystic quality Of this symbol pen
etrated the life and literature Of the
people because they held that the di.
rect influence of the moon and stars
upon the affairs of men was constant
ly felt.
Studying the inscriptions on ancient
tablets, monuments and bowls, we fnd
crosses of every shape, from the swas-
tika to the maltese, and even the Ro.
man cross with prolonged lower
part
1t is more than suggested that there
10 . direct connection between this
four-fold division Of earth and heav-
ems. as symbolized by the cross which
stood for the complete whole and the
so-called Tetrasrammaton or four-let.
tered name for God Of the Hebrews.
This 10 the word rendered in English.
Jehovah. or by advanced scholars.
Yahveh. The four consonants in the
Hebrew are YHvH, the vowels not BE-
ing reckoned as Of any Significance.
1t II now suggested that because of
the monotheism of the Hebrews. b.
lieving in one God and not in many.
they used the four consonants to indi-
cate the four ends Of the earth and
heavens, and combining them into ono
word made that stand for the one God
Of heaven and earth. - Cleveland
Leader.