ORIGIN OF THIS PRE-CHRISTIAN CROSS.
Having in the foregoing chapters demonstrated that it is possible, if
not indeed probable, that the instrument of execution to which Jesus
was affixed was otherwise than cross-shaped; and having also shown that
it was not mainly, if indeed even partially, that the early Christians
signified that instrument by the sign of the cross; it is now desirable
that, as a preliminary to an enquiry into the circumstances under which
the cross became the symbol of Christianity, we should enquire into the
origin of the _pre_-Christian cross.
That there was a pre-Christian cross, and that it was, like ours, a
Symbol of Life, is generally admitted.
The authorities upon such subjects, however, unfortunately differ as to
the reason why the Cross came to be selected by the ancients as the
Symbol of Life. And not one of their suggestions seems to go to the
root of the matter.
Let us therefore in thought go back tens of thousands of years, and
conceive the genus Homo as a race gradually awakening to reason but as
yet unfettered by inherited traditions and creeds. Let us imagine Man
ere he began to make gods in his own image. Let us remember that what
would strike him as the greatest of all marvels would of necessity be
Life itself, and that far and away the next greatest marvel must have
been the glorious Sun; the obvious source of earth life, and Lord of
the Hosts of Heaven.
Let us bear in mind, too, that though the Nature Worship of our remote
ancestors had other striking features, the facts mentioned would lead
to the predominance of the phallic idea, and to its association with
Sun-God worship. And as Life, the greatest marvel of all, must have had
a symbol allotted to it at a very early date, let us ask ourselves what
the untutored mind of Man would be most likely to select as its symbol.
To this question there is, so far as the author can see, but one
reasonable answer:--the figure of the cross.
And the author conceives this to be the real solution of the difficulty
for this reason:--because the figure of the cross is the simplest
possible representation of that union of two bodies or two sexes or two
powers or two principles, which alone produces life.
For the ancients cannot fail to have perceived that all life more
immediately proceeds from the _union_ of _two_ principles; and the
first, readiest, simplest, and most natural symbol of Life, was
consequently one straight line superimposed upon another at such an
angle that both could be seen; in other words, a cross of some
description or other.
It is evidently probable that this was the real reason why the figure
of the cross originally came to be adopted as the Symbol of Life. But,
of course, whatever the original reason, as time rolled on other
reasons for the veneration of the cross were pointed out; nothing being
more natural than that primitive Man should, or more certain than that
he did, find pleasure in connecting with other objects of his regard
than Life itself, that which as the Symbol of Life was pre-eminently a
symbol of good omen.
The most notable instance of this is the way in which, or rather the
different ways in which, the figure of the cross was connected with the
Sun-God.
A good example of the last named fact, is the declaration of the
philosophers of ancient Greece that the figure of the cross was the
figure of the "Second God" or "Universal Soul," the _Ratio_ as well as
the _Oratio_ of the All-Father, which they called the _Logos_ of God; a
term badly translated in our versions of the Gospel of St. John as the
_Word_ of God, as if it signified the _Oratio_ only.
It was this Logos or "Second God" whom Philo, who was born before the
commencement of our era, described as the "Intellectual Sun," and even
as God's "First Begotten" and "Beloved" offspring, and the "Light of
the World"; terms afterwards made use of by the writers of our Gospels
in describing the Christ. And, as will be shown in a chapter upon the
subject, the reason the philosophers, among whom was Plato, gave for
declaring the cross to be the figure of the Logos, was that the Sun
creates this figure by crossing the Equator.
An even better illustration can be seen in the fact that in days of old
almost every civilised race held feasts at the time of the Vernal
Equinox, in honour of the Passover or _Cross_-over of the Sun.
The fact that the ancients were thus at special pains to connect the
symbol of Life with the Sun-God, and also, as we know, spoke of him as
the "Giver of Life" and the only "Saviour," was doubtless due to their
perceiving, not only that life is the result of the union of the two
principles distinguished by the titles male and female, but also that
the salvation of life is due to the action of the sun in preserving the
body from cold and in producing and ripening for its use the fruits of
the earth.
As the Giver of Life, the Sun-God was of course considered to be
bi-sexual. But when the two great lights of heaven, the Sun and the
Moon, were associated with each other, as was often and naturally the
ease, the Sun was considered to be more especially a personification of
the Male Principle, and the waxing and waning moon, as represented by
the Crescent, a personification of the Female Principle. Hence the
worship of the God associated with the radiate sun, as of that of the
Goddess associated with the crescent moon and called the Sun-God's
mother or bride, was phallic in character; and their connection is
repeatedly symbolised upon the relics which have come down to us from
antiquity by the sign of the crescent containing within its horns
either a disc or what we should consider a star-like object, which
latter was almost as favourite a mode with the ancients of representing
the sun as it is with us of representing a star or planet, as will be
shown further on.
Returning, however, to the symbol of the cross, as the first and
simplest representation of that union of the Male and Female Principles
which alone produces what we mortals call life, it is extremely curious
that the selection of the figure of the cross in comparatively modern
times as the simplest and most natural symbol both of addition and of
multiplication, should have led no one to perceive that, being for
these very reasons also the simplest and most natural symbol of Life, a
probable solution of the mystery surrounding the origin of the
pre-Christian cross as a symbol of Life, as it were stared them in the
face. As to the contention of not a few authorities, apparently founded
upon the mistaken assumption that the _Svastika_ was the earliest form
of cross to acquire importance as a symbol, that the pre-Christian
cross was originally a representation of the wheel-like motion of the
sun or a reference to the wheel of the Sun-God's chariot; it need only
be remarked that evidence exists to show that the cross was a symbol of
Life from a period so early, that it is doubtful if the Sun-God had
then been likened to a charioteer, and not certain that either chariots
or wheels had been invented. It is true that the Solar Wheel became a
recognized symbol of the Sun-God, and that additional veneration was
paid to it because the figure of the symbol of Life was more or less
discoverable in the spokes allotted to the Solar Wheel; but it is
putting the cart before the horse to suppose that the cross became the
symbol of Life because its form was so discoverable.
It only remains to be added that there undoubtedly was a connection,
however slight, between the pre-Christian Cross as the Symbol of Life,
the Solar Wheel as a symbol of the Sun-God, and the Cross as the symbol
of the Christ. And whatever the date at which the cross was first
adopted as a Christian symbol, or whatever the reason for that
adoption, there is no doubt that, as will be shown further on, our
religion was considerably influenced by the facts that the Gaulish
soldiers whose victories enabled Constantine to become Sole Emperor
venerated the Solar Wheel, {image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image
"solarwheel2.gif"}, and that their leader, who was anxious to obtain
the support of the Christians, allowed a loop to be added to the top of
the vertical spoke so that the Christians might be able to interpret
the victorious symbol as {image "monogram1.gif"} or {image
"monogram2.gif"}, {image "monogram3.gif"} or {image "monogram4.gif"};
_i.e._, XP or XPI, the first two or three letters of the Greek word
XPI{sigma}TO{sigma}, _Christos_, Christ.