The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-05-07
RECORD OF THE CROSS
svmsor fs ONE or MOST AN
/ c,Enr RECORDED IN HISTORY.
May Be Traced Back Five Thovssnd
yssrs, 70 the ssbyionisn Era, ss
Explained BY Students ef
the Past

the Pa@E~
me cross fs 20 old that the records
Of men do not 80 back 70 the nrst one-
Christianity took . very ancient sym
DO, and made II Christian. but nobody
KNOWS Just why.
To understand ail there II to kncT
about the cross ne must 60 back four
or five thousand years to astronomy
ma astrolOgy AZ understood by the
nnciout Babyfpnians. Under their clay
tablets and stone monuments, ana
npon the monuments Of the Persians.
the Hfttites and every other ancient
nation We fDd crosses Of all shapes
and kinda. Even the Egyptians deco
rated their high priest when be was
,oficiating ia 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 It's use would not have been
no widespread
"The Bahylonians offer the clearest
explanation Of this symbol in their
suppression. "the four ends Of tho
earth which IL 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 ENDS Of the
earth This makes the conception
plain that TO the early Senites--fcr
BabyIonians and Hebrews were all
Semitic and the cuneiform and He
brew languages have many words IN
eommon-~fhe earth was round and
had four ends. or. as We put It today,
s'four points Of the compass"
II the circle Of the earth is drawn
and then bisected in either direction
by straight lines the perfect cross ~
msde. thus symboIizlng the whole
earth.
The early BabylonianB went further
and In their polytheigm established
one Of tho gods as ruler over each OF
fnese ends of the earth. identifying
each god with one Of the great planets.
whose motions they studied so care
fully. The north was presided over
ny NerRal and the planet which we
call Mars. The east had Marduk and
the planet Jupiter. tho south had MIN.
ab 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 tho cart with morning
and sping. the south with midday
and summer and the west with even
Ing and autumn
Some OF the BabyIonian 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
~ felt
Studying the inscriptions on ancient
tablets. monuments end bowls, we find
crosses or every shape. from the Ewas
tika TO the maltese. and even the Ro
man cross with prolonged lower
part.
II 10 more than suggested that there
10 direct connection between this
fourfold division Of earth and heav
ems, as symbolized BY the cross which
stood for the complete whole and the
sc-called Tetragrammaton or fourlet
tered name for God Of the Hebrews.
This IL 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
II is now suggested that because Of
tho monotbeism OF the Hebrews, be.
ileying IN one God and not IN many.
they used the four consonants to ipdi-
cate the four ends Of the earth and
heavens. and combining them into one
word made that stand for the one God
OF heaven and earth. Cleveland
Leader.