+ TH~ CROSS and its
SYMBOLISM By David R. Clark, M.A., IXo
1-A~:K .~.
"
..
,
:11.
@ocietas Qosicruciana 321 West 101st Street
/
~+
X n H merica New York, N. Y.
~--------------------------~--------------------
THE
@: rass
nntt its Sumh.olism, BY
DAVID
R.
CLARK,
M.A.,
IXo.,
Jun. S. Magus, in Scotiá, GLASGOW. l.
I
REPRODUCED FOR THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANA IN AMERICA FROM THE
TRANSACTIONS NEWCASTLE COLLEGE. WOBKlHG t1NDliUl
~l1t ~uitth' ¡rDbiutt cf JDrlgumbtrIaub, ~urgam,. llUb ~tt1uitk-Dn-~h1ttb.
SOClETAS ROSIORUClANA IN ANGLlA. ,.,
PBIYATELY
PBIN'l'ED BY OBDEB QF~HR COLLEGE. AND WITH THR APPBOYAL OF THE PEBMANENT COHHITTEE.
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,
NoMIS
Pt:lfRS.
.JANUARY 1ST,
INe .. LITHO •. WASHIHGT~.
D. C.
1894.
RIGHT worthy Frater
D. R. Clark, M.A., J.S.M. IXo. (in Scotia) read a paper on the Cross and its Bymbolism beíore tbe Newcastle College, in March, 1893. This paper was originally intended to be read before a Joint Meeting oí the Glasgow College and the Newcastle College, at Dumfries, in June, 1892; uníortunately the railway arrangements díd not permit the Newcastle Fratres to attend in time, bence they welcomed tbe presence oí B. W. Frater Clark in Newcastle and heard bis interesting discourse. While grateíully acknowledging the valuable data provided· by our esteemed Frater, we cannot definitely subscribe to all the propositions or deductions, snd must remind Fratres tbat tbe Permanent Committee is not responsible for the papers oí contributors. Some oí our Frater's arguments.appear to rest upon tbe assumption that there was no intercourse between distant nations in tbe pre-Christian Era, or say even previous to the 14th or 15th Century, P.C. Tbis is a generally accepted opinion, altbough it ís not by any means capable oí proof, Recent finds oí Roman Coins in Cbinese soil throw a curious side ligbt upon tbis point. It will also be readily granted that although the Phcenicians did not apparently know oí the existence oí America, yet they traded with India. The Chinese and Indians, witb their old civilisation, may have known, and indeed probably dic1know, America; and the migration oí a symbol found in Egypt and Central America, is readily explained. Many such hypotheses, and indeed many such facts, will come to the mind oí the reader. 'I'here are several claims as to the prior discovery oí America ; and Africa was circumnavigated beíore the Spaniards repeated this feat. If we remember the presence oí Asiatic auxiliaries in Northumbrian garrisons, the "Sbields'" bilingual stone and the worship oí Mitbras in this very Province, we should be very careful to rush to any definite hard and íast conclusion with regard to the migration oí symbols. A íew printer's errors have escaped the sepárate print, and are revised in this edition, most oí wbich being obvious need not here be reíerred to. On page 10, the engtaving of the block jumbles up the Hebrew letters, which, íor the sake oí regularity, are repeated alongside their English representatives. It will be in the memory oí most oí tbe Fratres that the Gamadion or Swastika, reíerred to on page 5, occurs along the Reman wall, vide page 59, vol. IlI., Ars· Quatuor Coron., also Brotber Wm. Simpson's papers.(in a preceding volume) on tbe Migration oí Symbols. With tbese preliminary remarks we hand over a most interesting papel' to the Fratres, recording, at the same time, the vote oí thanks unanimously adopted to R. W. Frater D. s. Clark.
THE
nnb its iJ2mhqlism,
~toSS
BY
DAVID
R.
M.A.,
CLARK,
Jun. S. Magus,
IXo.,
\11. Scotiá,
GLASGOW.
Foua
1.- THE
CROSS A!IID
2.-THE
$YMBOL1S~ OF THB
••
QU.AaTEl1.S,.
C~QSS.
I
THE
Cross is one 01 the most universal of symbols, a.8W'ell aa .one of the most ancíent, that is. known to ~x\lit. lt is found on the monuments Qf Egypt, whioh ha.ve come down to ourtime, with an antiquity of more than 4,000 years, The Cross is found on the ancíent sculpturea oí Babylon and Nineveh 80ndon tbe r~i.us of Persia and India, the Christian
It has been used as a. symbol long pravious to
~r~ in counjríes then totally unknown t.o eaoh otMr,
and so distant from eech other asOhina.
from Peru,
It has been
used as a. .sacred symbol by tha anoient peoples of Me~oo and North Amerioa, by t.he Druíds llond hl!-rdy Norsemen, by the wanderíng
tribea
in
Oentral
Asia,
and
the
islandera
01 the
Southem seas. Thus, wjdelydistributed, it/l universal Oh80t¡wteris at onee readilf admitted, b1,lt it ia more diffioult to trace the mesníng of its symbolísm and the reason wby its variad form should have bad in-everl clime a mote or Ieas sacred cheraoter. To trace its origin, thérefore, ia a somewhat diffioult ta'Sk, but in most religions, with whioh it ha.8
(2) had a moro 01' less direct counection, it has been associaied with tha idea of lifo-and of life renewed agnin and again=-of resurrection, of regoneratíon. It has assumed different íonns, but genarally retains the one idea, which
01'
soems to underlie its symbolism, namely, that this, tho Cross was the mark oí life, that it was sacred on that accouni, 01' served to remind the wearer of tlie most wonderful thing that pervaded a11 nature, and was the cause of his existence and of every thing that lived around him,
01'
it served as a charm to avert
from him the antithesis
of life, which he
fearcd and dreaded above a11 else. The idea of "life," therofore, seems to have bcen universally associatcd with the symbol, and suoh at least WRS its meaning, in its earlicst known fonn, that of the Oru» ¡1nsata,
CL
Handled Cross of Egypt. We find the CI'U,7J. Ansata among the hieroglyphics on overy ancient 01'
1'1" •
n
x
anx
t
Egyptian
monument=-and
in the
British Museum it may be seen, held in the hsnds of the godsas well as on the inscriptions of their statues. It is the sacred tan with the loop above, and is translated
as "ankh,"
"life."
1
illustrate its form, from a rubbing oí the Cvu» Ansata,. to.ken by me, in ~ho British Museum, trom the Sarcophugus of Psammetichue, which is tho general and simplest formo 1 have also taken another rubbing from tha Obelisk of Nekhtherhebi.
Thís obelisk stood before the
temple of Thoth, in the XXX. Dynasty B.C. 378, snd ita form presenta !lo rather ouríous . vana, t'1011 as WI'11b e seen f.rom t h e ¡'1lustration. Tho horizontal
From Psammetícbus sarcophagus. ~ Britísh
Muscum,
No. 1,(147, D.R.C.
lino has a portion repeated at each end, and the
(3)
npright
01'
perpendicular
line, where it intersects,
does so in a point
like tho top of an obelisk, and may thus indicato
11, 8010,1'
idea.
This mothod of
gtving a pointed form to the perpendicular line may - be seen on other monumonts, oue of wlnch 1 illustrato from the Sarcophagus of Naskntu, XXVII. Dynasty. This pointed form of the perpendicular line may give some indication
o
0..... _...
oí the inner meuning
of the symbol which has been explained as "the inverted •lingam ' representing
Fiom Obolisk 01 Nckhtherhcbi.Dritish Musoum, D.R.C.
the paternal and active power oí deity, the vertical line issuing from the cirole fertilising passive nature, the horizontal line." Whether 01' not this is the correct explanation of its. esoteric meaning, there is no doubt that tho
C'/'1(.3:
Ansata was the symbol of ' life."
It may be noticed here that the loop 01' circle attached to the tau was not morely used to grasp the tatt, _as is the case whon held in the hands of the gods, but the whole symbol is frequently
seen, as grasped by the lowsr
part of the
ta1/,
and thus held as un
object -of worship, the cirole or loop appearing to be as -mueh a part of the symbol as the tatt itself. This brings us to the question what ,,:as the tau eonsidered
Snrool'hllgus of Nnskatu,British :Mw;cwn, D.R.l!,
to be, and do we fínd it used in a.
T
similar way by other nations as well as the Egyptians. Wilkinson, in bis "Ancient Egyptians," reíerring to the origin oí the tau, Sl1yshe cannot determine it, but mentians the remarkable fa.ct. thut the early Christian s adopted it in lieu of the Cross, which was afterwo.rds substituted for it, prefixing it to inscriptions in the same manner as the Cross in later times. Thus, in Di Christian Nile, there ís the inscription :-
churoh,
to the east of the
KA90 .y.AIKH + EKKAH KATUO
LlKAE
EKKLAE
.y. e IA-. 61A.
(Boskin's ••Visa to the Great Oasis," Loudon, 1837, plate xii.)
(4)
n
Gesenius, 'in bis lexieon, under the word tau" expla.ins the
Hebrew as a sign, and quotes Eze. 9 : 4. "Go through the midst oí tho city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a. IÍlark (a. tau) upon the foreheads of the men tho.t sigh snd
that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." Now, if we read further on, we fínd ' what happened to these men who had the Tau Cross on their foreheads, in verse 6-" Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, but come not near any man upon whom ÜI the mark," Here fue tau or Cross on the forehead was the sign of life., If we investigate further the form
Pheenician eharacter it took this form In Chaldea we find it again used as a sacred symbol in the
t
shape of a Cross attached to a chain and hung round the neck as is exhibited in the Stele of Samas-vul. n., in the British Museum, where the Cross takes its
simple
Xt or
of the ancient Hebrew tau, we find it was a simple eruciform mark or cross, and in
form, thus, resembling one of our masonic jewels. In a similar way it was worn round the neck by the Libyans and North Syrians, as may be seen from the illustrations in
+ O
Wilkinson's " Ancient Egyptians." In Mexico and Yucatan, on the other side of the globe, weñnd the Cross again as a sacred symbol, and among the ruins oí Palenque are three slabs sculptured in low relief; on the right and left are hieroglyphics, and in the centre a. Cross surmounted by a head oí strange appearance;
above this he~d is a bird, and on either side
are figures in the act of worship. Nadaillao says: "The eXistence of the Cross, at Palenque, on one of the monuments of an earlier date than fue introduction of Christianity, is not an isolated fact." Palaoia, the judicial assessor, saw at Copan a Cross with one of its arms broken.
The Jesuit
Ruiz mentions one in Paraguay.
Garcilase de la Vega mentions
another
By these
at
Cuzco (in Peru).
ancient
Americana
the Cross was regarded as the symbol of the fertilizing power of nsture, the life giving symbol oí the recreative principle, and as such was honoured by sacrifices of quails, incense, and lustral water.
(15) It ma)' be. noticed, in passing, that there is qnite a marvellous resemblance in soma of the Mexican monuments to those ol Egypt, snd tbe calm placid expression of the statues strongly resembles that seen in the Egyptian deities. 1 would dra.w attention bere to a. ourious feature, not hitherto commented on, that in an illustratíon or a vase, in the National Muaeum of Mexioo, there appeara to be the Of'UIIJ Amata the same as seen in Egypt. Here we see the Tau with the loop, and it appears almoat ídendícal in form with what ma.ybe seen on some Egyptian monuments. The Oross, at Palenque, to which 1 have referred la, however, not the Oru» Ansata, but is similar to the ordinary oross which Naldalllao. "Pre-historlO"America," may also be found depicted on the dress of the page 88~. ancient Mexicans. Anoient Gaulish eoína were made oircular with a oross in the míddle, being in fact little miniatura wheels, witb four perforations which formed the Oross; and the use of the Cross on eoíns in Pre-Christian times ís a well known fact. The tau Cross is also found on Norwegian monumental remains, and the common form that the Cross took was that known es the Fylfot which is the same as tbe Swastika, and in this forro the Cross seems to have been found 0.11 over the world. In Indio. it eppesra in tbe form of the Buddhist Swasti. In fact the geographico.llimits of the emblem, in its ~ various forras, seems praotically unbounded. Gf'/' It has been found on the ancieut pottery of o) ~ ~o Cyprus, at Herculaneum, in Egypt, in Ireland, in Bcotland, and in England, Dr. ~ Schliemo.nn disinterred it, at Mycenoo, on Buddhist Swastl. bone buttons covered with gold leaf, In early times the Swo.stikawas used as a sacred symbol in the same way !LB the Christian Cl'OSS,and it is to this that Longfellow alludes when he tells us how King Olaf kept Christmas at Drontbeim.
+ ''0' +
" O'er bis driDking horn, the sign He made· of 'he Cross Dívine, As he draDk. and mutter'd his prayera ; But the Berserks evermore Made the sign 01 Ule Hammer 01 Thor Over their ••••
(6) This is related
in one oí. the Sagas,
and
Longfel1ow has
modernised it in his poem. The Swaatika is by somo arch::eologists considerad the most ancient form of the Cross, and it is precisely the sama as is traced on the foreheads of young Buddhists, and it has likewise been in use by the Brahmins.
It is called Sioastika, which means the sign
of salvation, because the Swastí wns in India, what the sign of Salcation is with Christians. Swasti significa "well it is, "Amen, ti
or "our
bles ing be with you.
ti
ti
With this mark tha cattle ara
branded in India, especially the village hull, as the symbol of the fertilising power of naturs, with its regenerating quality, The subject of the Swastika, howaver, opens up sueh a larga field of investigation that I can a.t this time only refer to it in passing.
+
1 come now to another and simpler form of the Cross, which appears also to be of very ancient date, I mean the simple.form of This is what we a11 recognise as the usual form, and, in looki~g over the works of various authors, 1 find this simple form illustrated very' írequantly. In Bír Gardner Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," Vol. L, page 246, may be seen an illustration of soma of tha peoples with whom tha Egyptians
it,'hu,
wera at war, and on the dress of a Libyan may be seen this Cross clearly 0.11over tha robe of the figure, and apparently tattooed on one of the legs. No less .intercsting is it to find this simple form of the Cross also worn as an amulst hung round the neck of other two figures of the Kharu or North Syrians, and it may ba seen also on the sama page on one of the figures of the Rut-en-nu or East Syrians, and the adoption oí tha Cross as an ornament on the dress, and amulet hung round the neck by these peoples, shows tbat the Cross, in its usual simple form, was
(7) already, as Wilkinson says, "in use ssearly before the Christian
Era,"
as the fifteenth century
that is nearly 3,500 years since.
The
Cross used as an amulet hung round the neck may 11.180 be seen on the Ninevite slabs in the British Musoum. It is also to be found on Phcenician Rochette
illustrates
in Phcenicia.
coins
and sculptured
Several
Another
has the sacred
bull
also
by the Oross, and a third has the lion's head on one
side with the eross and circle on the other, tieularly
M. Raoul
of these have a. ram on oné sido and a
cross and ring on the other. acoompanied
remains.
by a number of medals the use of the Cross
here the assooiation
Lwish to note pnr-
oí these symbols with the Cross, as
1 shall have occasion to refer later to this apparent
peculiarity
in
the symbolism. The Shamrock
of Ireland
saered, and it
has been considered
derives this character from its Iikeness to the Cross; and among the Druids the long arm of the clover leaf represented and the three leaves representad
the arms of the Cross, and the
three conditions of the spirít world: so too in an old Rosiorucian
the way of life,
heaven, hell, and purgatory;
work in my possession
(" Dreyzehn
Geheime Briefe del' goldenen und Rosenkreuzer," Leipzig, 1788) there is a frontispiece with a plant oí Clover 'I'rifolium, whieh was the symbol of the Alchymistical
Trinity:
cnrium, and with which the greatest for health and wealth. Iiosicrucian
Sal, Sulphur,
and Mer-
beuefits were expected, both
These, oí course as we know, in most old
works, were not meant
as mere material
benefits, hut
were symbolical of truths, that lay under the symbolism, in many cases, and which the symbols served to conceal.
(9)
The Cross as a symbo1 may be traced very íar back in human hiatory, as 1have already shown, but its esoteric meaning and origin is more difficult to evolve. However, if we inveatigate the earliest myths that have come down to us, we shall find that it has 'been more or 1ess identified with the íour qusrtera, East, South, West. and North. As primitive man gazed on tbe stanj ñrmament sbove him, hé noticed that the constellations revolved with never ceasing motíon around one central point, the '~cile stsr, and that near it there were seven bríght atars, the Great Besr, which revolved around
this
centre. This was the first cirole doubtless marked out and identffied with the cardinal points ; and this cirole was assigned by the ancient Egyptians to Teb, the •• Mother of the Revolutions." By this constellation were establíshed the four quarters, as it pointed successively South, East; North, and West in its annual revolution. Four types were assigned to the Mother in her starry shape which were representations of the four elements, these being the Hippopotamus Ior water, the Ape for air, the Lion for fire, and the Crocodile Ior earth ; and in the South, the place of fire and heat, she was represented oí breath;
as the Lioness;
to the East she was the Apo
to the North, the place oí waters, she was the Water
Cow or Hippopotamus; and to the West, the swallowing Crocodile of earth, In such forms she was the four-fold goddess of the elemsnts, snd identified with the four quarters. From this origin, in 0.11 probability, proceeded the Zodíao Of earIy times, for we find the idea not confined to any one people, but eommon in the earliest myths ofmany peoples. Doubtless the primitiva man observed that when the position of this eonstellation poínted suecessívely to the four quarters, it corresponded with the four seaaons oí the year, and so, too, tbe sun's da.il~ motion in the .heavena came to be identified later witb the principal constellations, of which the four types were the origino The East was looked upon as the beginning, snd the
(el Weet as fue end of the world; snd here it roay be notad fuat in a1l mythology, the West has been eonnected with Hades and the gata of the Under-world. There the sun was burlad ea.ch night as he sank into the darkness-tbere he wasbelíeved to die-and pass through another state before he rose regenerated on the ñext morning. , Four types, have been identified with the four quarters, and these early type!lthat we find in Egypt may have varied a little in other countries, but substantially they remain the same, They appéar in the four-fold beast of Ezekiel's Vision, and in the symbolic four of the Apocalypse. The Lion, the Calf, the Eagle, and fue Man, or in the Cherubic form of the Lion, the Ox, the Eagle, and the Man. In the Book of Revelations we find Iour guardiana or spirits, at the four quarters, as they are called in the VII. Chapter: "Four Augels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth;" and with these were associated "the four beasts full of eyes, before and behind, and first beast was- like 80' lion, and the second beast was like a calf, and the third beast had a. face as aman, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle, and the four beastshad ea.chwings about him," Compare this with Ezekiel's "four living creatures." They fourhad the face of aman and the face of a lion on the right sido, and theyfour had the face of an ox on the left side, they four had also the face of an eagle, and, for the likeness of the living creatures, their appsaranca was líke burning coals 01 -fireand like the appearance of lamps. Inthe Kabbala,under the Sephiroth, are olassedthe angelíeorder ,of CHIVTH HQDSH. Ohioth Ha- Quadosh, holy living creatures, represented by the four signs : the Bull, Lion, 'Eagle. and ]4:an, con'espondingto Taurus, Leo, Beorpio and Aquarius. Scorpio, ~s a
(10)
good emblem, was symbolized by tlteEagle; as an evil omblem by the Scorpion, and as a mixed nature by tlte Snake. These emblems, in Ezekiel's visión, support the throne of Deíty whereon the Heavonly Man is seated: the Adam Qac1mon, tbe sephirotic image, andthe " mystery oí the earthly and mortal msn is after the mystery of the supernal and immortal One," and thus man was created tho image oí God upon earth. Thc 'I'etragrammaton is found in the form oí the body of man, thus ;-
*
The Hoac1 is 'I'he Shoulders are Tl e Body is The Lega are
....
Tho four anlmals are the vivified powers of thc four letters of tho 'I'etragrammaton operating under the presidency of the first sephira as the mainspring 01' prim¡tm mobile of creation. The four wbeels of Ezekiol's visión are the correlatives under the second sephira on the four sides, viz., the four elements of air, fire, water, and earth, t" Kabbala Denudats," Mathers.] Four spírits stand, four powers preside, four winds blow, and four water s flow, at the four cardinal points, on the four corners oí thc myths of the world, The Jewish people, when travelling in the wíldemess, used to eneamp around the tabernacle, in four divisions of threo tribes each, on the North,
South, East,
and West.
These tour divisions liad
Iour standards, symbolical oí tho Man, the Lion, the Ox, and the Eagle, and if we investigate Iurther we will find in the symbols oí tho twelvo tribes the zodiacal signs. The Bev:C. H. Malden gives them thus On the EastJudah Issachar Zebulou
Líon Asa A Ship
i-«
Gan. xlix.,
"
"
"
"
v.
9.
v. 14. v. 18.
• Tbe artist who drew the sngraving sadly miseoneeived the Hebrew letters, and makes them to read, in lieu of 1 H V H, V HH V HH. Rather than.alter the block the proper letters intended to be used are plaeed alongside their Englieh represen tnti ves.
(11) On the SouthReuben
Wa.t.er
Simeon
Swords
Gad
A Troop
Gen, xlix., v. 4.
" "
.u
v. 6.
,...
v. 19.
On tbe Wést-
...
Deut. xxxiii., v. 17.
Ephraim
Ox
Manasseh
VIne
Gen.
Benjamín
Wolf
,:,
xlix.,
"
v. 22. v, 27.
On the NorthDan
...
Asher Naphtali
!3er~nt Oup
.. •...
Hind
....
"11
"
1 would note here that the tabernaele
1,'
" JI
v. 17. v.20. v. 21.
ís full of similar
sym-
bolism. Take\for example, the curtains ofthe sanctnary and Joorway. ·Tbese were made of le blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen,' symbolical :-blue, of air ; purple, of water; scarlet, of fire; and the linen, being the natural produot of earth, was symbolical of the fourth elemento The Paruvians had four syinbols tbe Chinese.
~rhe Mexicans had
of
the Ionr elements.;
four great ages:
so had
the age of
earth, the a~e- of fire, the age of air, and the ~ge of water, these being basedon the circle oí the four quarters. The four wínds of the iour quarters, rnentioned by Ezekiel, are the same as Homer's four:Boreas, Eurus, NOtUB,and Zephyrus, N., E., S., W., and these
•
four winds were represented
G .
by the Cross witbin the oircle, thus :
Thi, hi~,oglyphiciá foúnd i~:Egypt and in Pompeií, m México, and North Ameriee, and has been callad the Cross of the Four Winds, and is identified with
tbe Iour cardinal points. Four colours were also identified with the four quarters in the typical mounf 01 the world, from which also flow the four rivera. In the Maya arrangement yellow is assigned to the East, red to the South, black to the West, and white to the North.
These four
(ti) ecrrespond 00 fue ages uamed after the metals: gold (yellow), silver (wbite). copper or brasa (red), and iron (blsek). Again tbe four elements were typiñed byTbe Crescent to Air The Triangle to Fira Tbe Circle to Water
The Square to Eartb
The four evangelista were typified by tbe four beasts. Sto Matthew, by tbe Man or Angel; Sto John,by the Eágle; Sto Mark, by tbe Lion; and Sto Luke, by tbe Ox. Tbese four attributes of the evangelists are referred to Christos himself in the following verses t ->
••Qnatuor broa Dnm" signllIlt animalla Est homo nascendo, vitulusque socer moriendo Et leo surgendo 000108 aqnílaqne petendo ; Neo minas hoo soribas animalia et ipsa figuran t."
The cburcbes, bowever, seem not to have understood
clearly,
or, at any rate, they conceaIed tbe symbolism of tbe four living creatures and tbeir connection with tbe zodiac, but they were ready to manufacture an explanatíon of the esoteric signiñcation of the association of the four beasta witb the Cross, Four angels or spirits presided at the four corners of tbe world, these being Micbael, Baphael, Gabriel, and Uriel, corresponding to tbe East, West, North, and South. Now, in architecture, tbe idea of tbe four -qnarters _88ems tohave been in tbe minds of the builders. Tbus, in temples and ehurches, the dome was mado to, represent tbe_ heavens. Tbe square building, on wbicb the dome rested, represented tbe eartb, • Contraotion for-Deum,
( 13)
.witp its four sides symbolísing the fot'lr que.rters. This la not oo1y the case in purely Ea.stern arohítecture, where probablj the idea wa.s fírst íormulated, but we find its fullest development in early Ohristian srchitecture, snd no where more beautifully illustrated then.ín ea.rly Byzantine ohurches ; and it inay also sean in many ea.rly !tallan ehurohea, whioh were evidently desígned on the samemodel. In tbese we can see how the four emblematie be!l.st$-the Líen, tbQ Ox, the Ea.g1e, and, the ~an-are pourtrayed on 8.0 starry ftrmament with the Oross m the centre oí the dome. 1 may reler here to cne af the e&'Uest nalian ohurohes, San Clemente, in. Ronw, which was originli.lit erected in the fourth or fifth Clent~ry,. AAd 'Vas rébuilt by Pope Adrianth~ first, in 790. In thls ehureh, whiQh ía oí the basílíea form, ~~e are some ratl:lElr curíous Aetails: the altar is p1o.oe4.at th~ base oí the apse, or what 1 woul'd eall the junotion'bf the Oross, and in the nave there waa plaeed the choír, ~.~ on either síde ofit Wo.s plaeed a pU!pit. callad an u·amb<)¡'I.,;...from one o( these was rea.~ the epis~le end fromtheother wa.s read the gospel : b1 $he ~tle of the gospel pulpit steod a cll!ndelo.brum with ~ lightedta.per· áS a sYlDbol oí revealed religion, 1 might also·oot.e bere that tbe men were aívided in the oongtegation from tbe women, the ·form~r oooupying íhe South side and the latter the Nortb side of the ohurch, Mal we not trace horethe maaoníe symbollsm of the rlght and left side. 1 would further draw attention to anotherpeeulíeritj' in these early churches, tha.t the floors were of tesselated pa.vement, ando thata large oírole oí porphyry, ne&J; the entranee, índícated the place wberethe neophyte was expeeted tQ make hís first prostratíon, and tbis was ealled "Rota.." Hl\"Vfl"\Vehere the·· T same symbol-as i~ .t.ba mysteriou~ tetrad-Rota,. Ta.ro, ~9f_~j""Ta.ró"t,·@¡9cording as WG ~el\d UW· 'l~tttmIQJ\e a.fter another, !l.nd it ma.y be.lIoskedOI---+----ts. was this u R9ta. \' 11I•. s~~i:v~ .Oí ~e earlier s.ola.r . ay~b~ija~L wh\o~ l:u\d.. been eIlgre¡f,ted
be
(14)
180mb,which, as in the Templar symbol, cardes what is known as the "Resurroction Oross," Nowhere in the early churches do we find it in the form of 11 erueifix that is of aman 011 the Cross, and it wss not until the beginning of the eighth century, in the timo of Adrian, tnaí the church, fearing that the idea of a personal Christ was in danger of being lost, in the great mas s of symbolism then extant, decreed that Christ should no 1011gerbe pourtrayed as the lamb, but in His human form on the Cross, and from that the crucif x originated, Tho Cross, however, and Calvary,or mound on whieh it was erected, had long previously baen adopted by the aneient Egyptians, and in this simple form has been found on the breast of Egyptian mummios. We must not, therefore, 1001. upon tbe Cross merely as a Christian
symbol, but must
recolleet
that
in Pre-
Christian times it had baen adopted as a type to signify the four quartors, and the sun as the re-arisen god, who had erossed after having descended into the shados. In this ancient symbolism we must recognise a curious parallelism ritual.
to Christianity
in its early
Worthy of note also is the fact, that in these early Byzantine churches, on the fioor under the centre oí the. dome, exaetly in the centre of the Cross, there was a spot held speeially sacrod, Procopius tolls us that this spot, in Sto Bophia, at Constantinople, WI1S set apart, and may not be enterad except by the priests, which is eonsequently termed the sanctuary,
This idea of the centre of the Cross
boing a sacred spot is well known and can be illustrated
by many
examples. The centre of the Mosque of Ornar, with the sacred rock, has many parallela in other ehurehes, as well as in other roligions ; but in all these it will be found that the position of the building has direct referenee to the four quarters, North, South, East, or West.
In some of these the worshippers turned towards the
rising sun, in others his rays were allowed to enter by the Western door, and towards his beams they bent .in, holy awe; but in a11cases tho buildings have bcen placed with a due reeognition oí the solar infiu nce, and oí the four quarters of the heavens.
(15) T119early Christiaus
composod from the Cross, combinad with
the Grcck Icttors Rho and Chi, thc monogram
of Christ, thus:
Ín the same way the Iamous "Labarum " of Constantine was formod by letters X and P (that is Chi.and Rho) intorlaced. sign tho Emperor the
sky
nika,"
wíth
"By
This
declared he beheld in
the inscription
this conquer."
"Touto But it is
worthy of note that the symbol was in oxisteuce long beíore Constantine's time. 'I'ho Grook Church oxhibits, in a similar way, the monogram of Christ in picturcs and in the priest's
act of benedíotion, when he
raisos the first finger symbolical of 1; tho sccond finger slightly curved forma C (sigma); the third ís crossed by thc thnmb, forming X; and tho íourth fingor
is slightly
bent,
forming
C.
From those is formed the word Christos. Tho Latín Ohurch gives the bonediction in the form of the crucifix,
01'
with the first and second fingors close togother, and the third and fourtholosed, the thumb bcing raised. 'I'ho fírst and second fingors and thumb aro said to indica te the Trinity. It is curions to observe, in this connection, tlmt this sign had a totnlly difforent moaning in Pro-Christian timos. Didron gives a curious form of the Cross that is rathor interesting, and oxhibits tho íondnoss of tho eurly Church for mysticism. lt is formad by tho words Lux, Dux, Lox, Rex, plaeod crosswise. 1 have already referred to the Swastika
-,
fT1
'-"-L~V X~Y~a
w c: as being the sign of
salvation, but 1 wish to refer to the symbolism of this form of the Cross as giving HS an inclication why the centre of the Cross, in some religions at least, was considered to bo spccially sacred. Tha origin of the Swastika is tolerably easy to dotect, even in tlte present day, as it representa tho two pieces of wood which composcd U{e Arani; whose extremities were bent or swelled Ior the purpose
(18) ·of being nailed down firmly with four nails. When they were joined a. little hollow was ma.de, snd into that was placed a little lancet shaped thing which, being quickly whipped round, produeed Áglli (fire). " Christian
Archreology,"
says Burnouí,
"is
perfect1y silent
sbout the origin of the sign oí the Cross, but the Veda., and the theory of Agl~i reveal its primitivo meaning." The theory of Agni is similar to the early Christian symbolism of the Lamb, in connection with the Cross, and it is a eurious fact that there a.pp.ears to be more 'thnn a mere passing resemblance between the two; for, among the texts oí the ancient legends, such a phrase as "Corporis Agni margaritllm ·ingens" reproduces the Sanscrit formula "Agni-Kaya_maha-ratnam," "The great jewel oí Agni's body;" this jewelwas in [ewelled C1'OS8e8,placed in that spot Whe1'6 the two limbs oí the Cross lntersected each other, similar to the Rose in our Rosicrucian symbolism. 1 have lately designed for OU1'College a seal which will indicato what 1 mean in reference to the Cross. You are supposed here to look at it downwards, from above, and you see in the outer circle the motto, and then you will note the inner circle with the twelve signs oí the zodiac in their usual arrangement: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, or, as they have been called, the ascending line or Macrocosmos in the grand
circle,
and then we come to the descending line, or Microcosmos, Scorpío, pricomus, Pisoas.
from Libra to Sagittarius, OaAquarius,
and
The ñrst six vernal and summer signs, form the Macrocosmos, then comes the turning
point, or "balances,"
and we reach the
descending or autumnal
and winter signs which form the Micro-
cosmos, with which again you will note man is idéntified snd saved by the Cross in the annual return of the sun, These twelve signs form the radii of Esekiel's Mystic Wheel.
(17) Probably it might be more correot to place Aries on the right hand sido and read backwards and downwa.rds, but as that would have altogether spoiled the aymbolism of the asoending line, as is really the case in Nature, 1 prefer to have the reading kept as 1 have put it in my designo You will also at once preoeive that inside the eircla are the four living creatures:
the Bull, opposite Taurus
j
the
Lion, opposite Leo j The Eagle, opposite Scorpio j and the Man opposite Aquarius. If you prefer to have Man and Eagle uppermost you only require to turn the seal round,
or as it were stand
on the
other side. YOl1will note the background of eaoh of the four living creatures has its symbolícal colour heraldically indioated for fue tour quarters: Blaok for the Bull, Red for the Lion, Yellow for the E agle , and White for the Angel or Man. These in their relative posítíons would stand Weet, South, East, a.nd North. Then you have the Cross indícating also, by the triangles, on its four comers, the four elements oí Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, and in the centre 1 have ondeavoured to índioate ·the nose as we understand it in its Cabalistio sense, its Ieaves baving each a letter, and these are like the cloud veils of the Ain in the Kabbala, formulating the hidden Sephiroth, and concentrating in Kether the first Sephira. Reading from the outer inwards we have "Ain Soph Aur," The Limitless Light. Then in the seeond row H Ain Soph," The Limitlcss. Then CI Ain," The Trinity, conaentrating in "Kether," The Crown, the First Sephira, In the design 1 could not indicate the Crown except sideways j 1 wonld have proferred to have had it looking down on it, but this might have led to confusion in regara to the symbol. 1 have not, at present, time to refer further to the Cross and ite symbolism, nor to the many varioua forms that the Cross has had, all oí which are most interesting to the archreologist and the student of comparntive religions j but I oannot close this paper without referring to the curious fact that as one religion has sucoeeded another, tho now religion has rotained many of the symbols, .many of the customs, and not a littlo of the ritual of the religion which has preceded it.
(18) We find -that the Jcws borrowe(ra good deal from the Egyptians, and the Christíans retained muoh that was Jewish in their symbolism ; and we, even in our every day life, have been subjected to the same influences without realizing the source from whence they have originated. The Cross exhibits this in a marked degree, and so do most of 0111' holidays and ehurch festivals, suoh as Easter, for example, which is a varying date according to the position oí the moon and sun, and its origin goes even further baek than the time of Moses, being Iounded on an Egyptian festival of a similar charaoter to the Passover. The sturdy independence of our English and Scots forefathers, who fought for freedom of thought in religion, was actuated more by a sort of intuitive instinct thsn by oonviotion. What they rebelled against most was a ritualism, and to them empty formalism, which contained so muoh that was in its.elf falsa, and which really had a nonChristian origino In many cases, indeed, what they were asked to adopt was a new adaptation of the superstitions and the symbols of religions which Christianity centuries before had in part adopted, but which it was supposed to have total1y superseded. This we can ñnd illustrated in the sculptured stones, the ancient illuminated manuscrípts, as well as in the architecture of the early. church, whe!}, as it were, the religion was in the transition stage, and the graft of Christianity was bursting into leaf on tlre old Pagan trunk. Nowhere is this bettor illustrated than in the symbolof the Cross, snd, as we investigate its history, the student can see unfolded before hím the gradual development of many of the beliefs which are founded on much earlier religious systems. It is the duty of the student and the thinker false from the true, and to remember thatPrimas Sa.pientim gradus est,
FALSA.
to separata the
intelligere-
yet never forgetting that these religious symbols, which through so many ages have been sacred to so many peoples throughout tbe world, have always conoealed an esoteric meaning, whioh expressed great principles that were unknown to the common people, but were known to the wise of all ages : and they should also serve to remind us that in this symbol of the Cross men have recognised it may be under different forms, but, nevertheless, the same vital prinoíple and universal
belief, that there ís an existence in another world and a
life beyond the grave, which we are all destined to share, and from which the best and brightest part of Out being will arise to live in eternal communion with the Divina,
