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 UCSB LIBRSKY
 
 HISTORY 
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST.
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 
 
 BY THE REV. WILLIAM R. ALGER. 
 
 "Crux Vera 
 Non in ligno, Sed in Signo, 
 
 Ducis 
 
 Victoria, 
 
 Crucis 
 
 Gloria, 
 
 PriYatio Titae Donatio." 
 
 Dear Lord ! who thine own cross to death did'st bear, 
 Teach us its spirit, and thy life, to share. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE AND BOSTON: 
 
 JAMES Ml NK"I. AND COIIFANT. 
 
 1851.
 
 Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 
 JAMES MCNEOB & COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
 Court of the District of Mass. 
 
 JOHN FORD, 
 
 PRINTER, CAMBRIDOEPORT. MASS.
 
 TO 
 
 THE MOUNT PLEASANT 
 CONGREGATIONAL 
 
 SOCIETY, 
 THIS LITTLE WORK 
 
 IS 
 AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 THEIR PASTOR.
 
 My God replied, 
 
 "Jesns once died 
 
 Thy soul to save 
 
 Then rose to heaven." 
 
 Die, then, doubt, sloth, impurity and pride; 
 With all your fearful, deadly brood, go hide 
 
 In sin's last grave. 
 
 Then rise, heart's love, 
 
 To live by truth 
 
 With Christ above 
 
 In endless youth ; 
 
 And when death calls 
 
 And this frame falls, 
 
 My soul shall rise 
 
 Beyond the skies, 
 And being pardoned, crowned, by him, 
 Shall praise him with an endless hymn.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE idea of this little book was suggested to the 
 author by perusing " CRUCIANA," an interesting work, 
 by John Holland, published in England in 1835. Some 
 of the quotations, and some of the facts embodied in 
 the following sketch, were derived from that source. 
 But the plan, execution, uses of the present essay are, 
 in most respects, so different from those of Mr. Hol- 
 land's volume, that no further acknowledgment or refer- 
 ence to his work seems to be required. The hope of 
 the author in presenting this humble production to the 
 public, is that it may awaken Christian feelings in those 
 who read it, by showing how the Cross of Christ justly 
 appeals to the reason, the imagination, and the heart of 
 a living believer. " Cruciana " is a collection of miscel- 
 laneous information and literature concerning the Cross. 
 " Justi Lipsi De Grace," a Latin book printed in 1598 
 is a literal account, with engravings, of the Cross, its 
 various shapes, and its use as an instrument of torture 
 in different countries and times. The present work gives 
 the symbolic history of that now hallowed object the
 
 lessons taught by its fortunes and uses. This field the 
 writer believes to have been hitherto unoccupied ; and 
 it seemed to him so capable, that he trusts a sufficient 
 apology will be found in what he has written, for pub- 
 lishing it. 
 
 W. R. A. 
 Roxbury, March 29<A, 1851.
 
 HISTORY OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 
 
 " The preaching of the Cross." 
 
 [PAUL. 
 
 TRACING the history of the Cross 
 will help us to see its moral meanings 
 and feel its spiritual power. It was 
 a significant token for ages before 
 Christianity adopted and sanctified it. 
 It was sometimes viewed in antiquity 
 as the sign of a man standing with 
 outstretched arms. More than one 
 ancient nation honored it as a symbol 
 of the Universe, on account of its 
 pointing to the four quarters of the 
 compass. The Druids were accustom- 
 ed to consecrate to the object of their
 
 12 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 worship the most majestic oak of the 
 grove, which they stripped of all its 
 limbs, except the two largest so left 
 as to form a gigantic Cross towering 
 in the mystic ring at high moon, with 
 a meaning unknown to us. It is sin- 
 gular that the earliest use of the 
 Cross made known to us, was a sym- 
 bol of immortality. The crux ansata 
 was thus employed in the temples 
 and religious rites of the Egyptians. 
 It was also used as a sacred emblem 
 by some of the Hindoo sects, inde- 
 pendently of the establishment of 
 Christianity, as was discovered, to 
 their great astonishment, by the first 
 Christians who visited the East for 
 missionary purposes. 
 
 Let this striking coincidence be re-
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 13 
 
 garded as an unintended yet pro- 
 found symbol, prophetic of final union. 
 The true destiny of all men is one; 
 the genuine aim of all religions is 
 one ; the God towards whom all as- 
 pire is one ; the Redeemer, all need 
 to remove their sins and supply their 
 wants, is one. The Orientals were 
 farther advanced in thought and in- 
 ward experience ; the Christians were 
 in closer connection with the external 
 providence of God. The use of the 
 Cross among the former, let it be sup- 
 posed, then, was as the emblem of an 
 abstract desire after God, and a spec- 
 ulative doctrine of the future life : 
 among the latter, let us consider it as 
 the corresponding emblem of an in- 
 carnate revelation of God, and a his-
 
 14 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 toric reality of the resurrection. 
 What those priestly contemplators 
 intellectually discerned and hoped, 
 Christians have sensibly realized, seen 
 with their eyes, and handled with 
 their hands ; for the Word was made 
 flesh, and dwelt among them, and they 
 beheld his glory. And as the Holy 
 Being who, uniting the human and 
 the Divine in his own person, brought 
 God down to men, and lifted men up 
 to God, was "the Desire of all Na- 
 tions," so shall he finally be acknowl- 
 edged as the rightful Lord of all 
 hearts, and have for " his inheritance 
 the utmost bounds of the heathen." 
 Then shall the mighty Family of the 
 East, brought to the full truth, and 
 kneeling before the ancient symbol
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 15 
 
 of their faith, the Cross, planted in 
 the rising sun ; and the great Family 
 of the West, nurtured by the Gospel, 
 and kneeling before the modern sym- 
 bol of their faith, the Cross, planted 
 in the setting sun join around the 
 earth in one swelling ascription of 
 praise, through the common name of 
 Christ, unto the infinite Father of 
 them all. 
 
 Let us go back to the earthly days 
 of our Saviour, and follow downwards 
 the account of the Roman and Jew- 
 ish cross. It was an instrument com- 
 posed of two transverse pieces of 
 wood, upon which the vilest capital 
 criminals were nailed by their hands 
 and feet to die, in expiation of their 
 offences. Common offenders, who
 
 16 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 were condemned to death, were exe- 
 cuted in a less barbarous manner. 
 Crucifixion was reserved for the most 
 degraded outcasts and slaves, those 
 guilty of the most aggravated and 
 terrible crimes, the very dregs of 
 the time. Cicero, painting the illegal 
 and foul deeds of Verres, the tyrant 
 of Sicily, with the darkest colors of 
 his rhetoric, charges him not so much 
 with presuming to murder an inno- 
 cent man, as with daring to crucify a 
 Roman citizen. The cross, according- 
 ly, was held in utter abhorence, as 
 the badge of an executioner, signifi- 
 cant of the expiring agonies of the 
 worst of men, a token of ignominy, 
 abomination, and loathing. It was 
 used for this purpose, and regarded in
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 17 
 
 this manner, for several centuries 
 among various nations. A host of 
 wretched miscreants had perished on 
 it. Many a poor victim, too, who de- 
 served a better fate, had suffered on 
 it. It had come to be generally con- 
 sidered as the very emblem of defeat- 
 ed crime, and disgraceful punishment : 
 a synonyme for all that was at once 
 powerless and execrable. 
 
 Such was its history until Jesus 
 Christ died on it, and then how it was 
 changed ! In an instant, as it were, 
 it became the most glorious instru- 
 ment, the most resistless symbol that 
 will ever be known. That such a 
 Being should have died on it, in such 
 a spirit, and for such a purpose that 
 the spotless image of God, from self- 
 
 2
 
 18 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sacrificing love, for the enforcement 
 of divine truth, should have died on 
 it this completely changed its sig- 
 nificance and its associations. The 
 fanatic Jews, and enraged Romans 
 blinded murderers, not knowing what 
 they did reared a cross upon Cal- 
 vary. It stood there, as many a one 
 had stood before, sight of horror. 
 But he who was about to die thereon, 
 without a parallel, was " The Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sins of 
 mankind." They transfixed his bleed- 
 ing limbs, and " lifted " him " up," 
 ignorant that he should thus be en- 
 abled to " Draw all men unto Him." 
 Love of man, and trust of God, were 
 blended in his features, and forgive- 
 ness fell from his lips, while, an ever-
 
 CROSS OP CHRIST. 19 
 
 memorable spectacle, he hung there 
 dying. At last he raised his fainting 
 head, and exclaimed, " It is finished." 
 And immediately the dark and shame- 
 ful cross was transfigured and irradi- 
 ate, the blood-stained wood beamed 
 with a glory that pales all the splen- 
 dor of the world. It was henceforth 
 to be the accredited symbol of God's 
 love, and Christ's divinity, and man's 
 redemption, and death's overthrow, and 
 Heaven's immortal brightness. 
 
 Nothing can, better illustrate the 
 change wrought in the meaning and 
 associations of the cross, and the pow- 
 er flung around it by the martyrdom 
 of Jesus, than the intense enthusiasm 
 that ran through all Christendom, 
 when, in the fourth century, it was
 
 20 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 reported that Helena, the mother of 
 the reigning Emperor, having en> 
 ployed some laborers to dig at Golgo- 
 tha, had found the very cross on 
 which the Saviour suffered, It was 
 publicly shown during the celebration 
 of Easter ; and an immense crowd of 
 pious believers, attracted from every 
 portion of the Christian world, stretch- 
 ing in thousands upon thousands, far 
 almost as the eye could reach, when 
 it was borne aloft, swayed to and fro 
 in prayer, and thrilled with fear as 
 they contemplated the awful wood. 
 
 The power of the cross comes, of 
 course, from what it suggests, from its 
 symbolic meaning. Its attraction is 
 two-fold ; derived first from the pow- 
 er of a natural sympathy with him
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 21 
 
 whose person, whose works, whose 
 sufferings it typifies ; and, secondly, 
 from the power of the supernatural 
 revelation whose sense and force there 
 centre and culminate. 
 
 No one can become acquainted 
 with Jesus, can know him as he was, 
 without being filled with admiration 
 for his godlike attributes, and pene- 
 trated with sympathy for him on 
 account of his virtues, and painful 
 sacrifice. The reason why so many 
 persons remain unmoved by the pic- 
 ture of his character, and the story of 
 his life, unredeemed by the power of 
 his spirit, is simply that they never 
 knew him. So unparalleled were his 
 purity, tenderness, and self-denial ; so 
 altogether lovely was he in character ;
 
 22 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 so harmless, so sublimely beneficent 
 was his career, that every heart must 
 turn to him with spontaneous rever- 
 ence, and yearn to yield him the tri- 
 bute of a holy personal love. And 
 then to think that He, that such a be- 
 ing, should have been so harshly 
 treated, so cruelly murdered, while he 
 endured all without a murmur, and 
 spent his whole existence for nothing 
 else but to bless others this is what 
 must draw forth the pitying and 
 grateful tears of all time, and clothe 
 the cross with a mighty power over 
 human affections. That he who had 
 the gentlest heart that ever throbbed 
 in sympathy with mortal weal or woe, 
 should have been so neglected, de- 
 spised, spurned, and cast out that
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 23 
 
 those feet which never wearied on 
 errands of mercy, as he still went 
 about doing good, and those hands 
 which were laid in benediction on the 
 heads of little children, which touch- 
 ed the eyes of the blind with sight, 
 and raised the broken-hearted sinner 
 with a brother's love and a Saviour's 
 forgiveness, should have been nailed 
 in agony to the accursed tree that 
 he who was the perfection of every 
 virtue, without a taint of guile or the 
 shadow of a sin, should have been 
 made to die in such ignominy, and in 
 such anguish ; the last sight that met 
 his eye, the mocking sneers of his 
 foes ; the last sound that murmured 
 in his ear, the blasphemous jeers of 
 the rabble, all this rising in the
 
 24 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 soul of the Christian, as he contem- 
 plates the cross, is what first gives 
 that symbol its power. The cross is 
 made touching and attractive, there- 
 fore, by a natural sympathy with the 
 person of the beloved Jesus, who was 
 willing to die upon it for us ; and 
 this power will never fade away until 
 the human heart becomes a stone. 
 
 In the next place, the cross has 
 power, as being the received emblem 
 of God's last and highest revelation, 
 the visible sign of his interest in man, 
 the standing proof of his great love, 
 the memorial of his redeeming pur- 
 pose, the full personification of that 
 infallible religion which came down 
 from Heaven. God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only begotten
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 25 
 
 Son to die as a reconciling sacrifice, 
 that men's hearts might be melted, 
 that they might believe in the Fath- 
 er's love, and be assured of eternal 
 life. That is the divine import of the 
 crucifixion, and hence comes its chief 
 attraction. It tells the poor benight- 
 ed wanderers of earth, that beyond 
 the visible expanse dwells a Being of 
 infinite power and mercy, who loves 
 them, and will save them, and bring 
 them to his heavenly home ; that he 
 has sent a beloved son into the world, 
 to declare this truth and make him ful- 
 ly known, to illustrate the aim of life 
 by his example, demonstrate the divin- 
 ity of his mission by miraculous works, 
 and lift the curtain from immortality 
 by a resurrection from the dead. It
 
 26 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 assures man that he is not banished 
 from God, nor isolated from the sym- 
 pathies of the universe, nor doomed 
 to perish in the grave ; but that the 
 Father is with him, that Heaven cares 
 for earth and waits to welcome its re- 
 deemed ones to a deathless shore. 
 Such is the story the cross of Christ 
 tells to our poor, weary, afflicted hu- 
 manity; and until all faith in it has 
 died out from among men, its chosen 
 symbol will not lose its power over 
 the mind, and over the heart, of the 
 world. 
 
 The cross is mighty, then, not alone 
 through the power of all the noblest 
 elements of humanity, and all the 
 deepest interests of earth, intensified 
 and gathered there ; but also through
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 27 
 
 the pleading presence of God, and 
 the anxious sympathy of Heaven, 
 there embodied and made known. It 
 was not alone the perfection of man, 
 but also a direct manifestation of God, 
 that hung and bled on Calvary ; and 
 not only the earth shuddered, but al- 
 so the Heavens were opened, when 
 he expired. God's own love, shown 
 for the conversion of a rebellious 
 race, was in that heart which was 
 pierced by the soldier's spear. The 
 chains which bind this world with 
 mutual sympathies to another sphere, 
 were illuminated, made visible, and 
 never again to be forgotten, when 
 Christ triumphed as he yielded. 
 
 One of the old painters has left a 
 picture which shows a profound in-
 
 28 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sight into the meaning of that por- 
 tentous hour, typifying the momenta 
 ous truths that God has descended to 
 man, that Heaven takes an interest 
 in earth. The Saviour is fainting in 
 death. His mother and two or three 
 disciples are prostrate at the foot of 
 the cross, in speechless woe. The 
 mob reaches widely around, the vari- 
 ous expressions of their up-turned 
 visages visible in the glare of torches 
 and the supernal light. But over this 
 heart-rending scene of all horrors 
 mingled in the gloom, streams a 
 dazzling radiance from above. From 
 the summit of the cross, far out 
 through illimitable space, and along 
 the open vistas of the clouds, throng 
 the angels of God, cherubim, rank
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 29 
 
 beyond rank, seraphim, choir above 
 choir, crowding through all the sky. 
 This host of heavenly spirits, their 
 faces radiant with divine beauty and 
 joy and triumph, are striking their 
 harps to notes of praise, and joining 
 in one exulting song of victory and 
 thanksgiving, whose burden, rolling 
 through the confines of creation, 
 sounds on forevermore, " Blessing, 
 and honor, and glory, and power be 
 unto God that sitteth upon the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb that was slain.' * 
 Beloiv the cross, the earth was shroud- 
 ed in darkness, and humanity, in 
 tears, refused to be comforted ; above 
 it, the heavens were filled with un- 
 wonted splendor, and the glittering 
 hosts were shouting for joy.
 
 30 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 And now, looking upon the cross 
 as a token charged with the accumu- 
 lated power of the personal history of 
 Christ, and with the whole power of 
 the revealed religion, sent through 
 him from God, we are prepared to 
 understand how and why it was that 
 Paul, and the other primitive be- 
 lievers, so readily accepted it as the 
 sign of their faith, magnified it, and 
 gloried in it. They but chimed in 
 with what they saw to be the won- 
 drous plan of salvation ; namely, the 
 overthrow of pride and selfishness by 
 voluntary humiliation and self-sacri- 
 fice, in an example divinely set for all 
 to follow. God might, had it so pleas- 
 ed him, have stretched his almighty 
 arm from the central heavens, and
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 31 
 
 with bare-faced power, have swept all 
 evil from the globe ; but, having re- 
 spect unto the freedom of the soul, 
 he chose to send his Son to toil, and 
 plead, and suffer, and die ; he chose 
 the foolish, weak, and base things of 
 the world, to confound the wise, 
 mighty, and honorable things that 
 no flesh should glory in his presence. 
 The early Christians, realizing this, 
 determined, lest the cross should be 
 of none effect, to know nothing save 
 Jesus Christ, and him crucified. In- 
 spired by the astonishing fact that he 
 who was in the form of God, con- 
 descended, and made himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon him the 
 form of a servant, and humbled him- 
 self, and became obedient unto death,
 
 32 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 even the death of the cross, they re- 
 solved to imitate him, and counted 
 all things loss for the excellency of 
 the knowledge thus given them. See- 
 ing the wickedness and vanity of this 
 world warring against the interests of 
 eternity the opposition of its whole 
 spirit to the spirit and conditions of 
 redemption they boldly made their 
 choice, and took their stand, exclaim- 
 ing in the front of all pagan haughti- 
 ness, " God forbid that we should 
 glory save in the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, whereby the world is 
 crucified unto us, and we unto the 
 world." And so the cross soon grew 
 emblematic of all Christianity, and 
 its assumption became the badge of 
 discipleship. " Henceforth," they said,
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 33 
 
 " let no man trouble us, for we bear 
 in our bodies the marks of the Lord 
 Jesus" the prints of that crucifixion 
 whereby we are dead unto sin, the 
 flesh and this world, and alive unto 
 righteousness, God and immortality. 
 Hitherto the image of the cross had 
 only been seen, lowering upon Gol- 
 gotha, the place of a skull, and plant- 
 ed in Aceldama, a field of blood. But 
 then, carved from the richest materi- 
 als, ornamented with gems and gold, 
 it became a conspicuous object in the 
 private dwellings of all Christian be- 
 lievers, was erected in their places of 
 worship, was worn next their breasts, 
 and often, with a pious fervor of 
 which we have but too little experi- 
 ence, pressed to their lips. Wherever 
 3
 
 34 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in the known world a Christian set 
 foot, there the cross was carried. 
 Wherever the name of Christ was 
 heard, or K preaching was attempted, 
 the speaker held the crucifix in his 
 hand, and enforced the truth of his 
 arguments by pointing to the wounds, 
 and appealing to the bleeding image." 
 The ignominious symbol of a dying 
 felon gradually extended its con- 
 quests, transformed its meaning, and 
 was covered with resplendence and 
 power. Where was it not carried, 
 by devoted disciples and heroic mis- 
 sionaries, as the all-conquering token 
 of what is holiest, strongest, and dear- 
 est ; even as the token of a pardoning 
 God, a sacrificed Redeemer, a tri- 
 umphant resurrection, and an unend-
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 35 
 
 ing Heaven ! Ethiopia saw it, and 
 stretched out her hands to God. It 
 was borne, with proselyting speech, 
 among the pagan swarms of China 
 and India. It overthrew the blood- 
 stained altars of Odin and Thor, and 
 subdued the fierce hordes of Europe 
 to its benignant sway. The first act 
 of the discoverer of America upon 
 landing, was to plant it on the shore, 
 and consecrate the continent to the 
 name and faith of Him who breathed 
 out his life upon it. The rude Green- 
 landers were melted to tears by its 
 pathos ; and the dwellers of the isles 
 of the sea learned to recognize its 
 significence, and adore. Thus the in- 
 famy of the cross was wiped away, 
 and the foolishness of preaching pre-
 
 36 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vailed, till that which once the world 
 most despised, by the consummate 
 glory of Christ grew most illustrious, 
 signed the beggar's forehead, mount- 
 ed crown and throne, blazed upon the 
 flags of nations, tipped the domes of 
 mighty cathedrals, adorned the splen- 
 did mausoleums of kings, and hallow- 
 ed the peasant's funeral turf. 
 
 One of the most unfortunate mis- 
 takes men have made, is the perse- 
 vering attempt to construct a theo- 
 logy, instead of deduce a religion, 
 from the cross. It has been regarded 
 as the exponent of abstract dogmas, 
 the emblem of a cold and awful sys- 
 tem of avenging justice, rather than 
 as the embodiment of divine feelings, 
 the sign of a regenerative, all-forgiv-
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 37 
 
 ing goodness. The first evil of the 
 arbitrary interpretation of the cross 
 has been the birth of intolerance and 
 persecution. Men, supposing the hon- 
 or of God, and the salvation of the 
 soul, to depend on the belief of a cer- 
 tain mysterious, appalling theory of 
 the crucifixion, have been led to 
 hate, and excommunicate, pursue with 
 fire and sword, all who rejected that 
 view. Had they regarded the cross, 
 not as a symbol of law, appealing to 
 the intellect, interpreting the ne- 
 cessities of God's government ; but as 
 a symbol of pity, of melting chari- 
 ty, appealing to the heart, revealing 
 the merciful kindness of God's free 
 grace, it would have softened the as- 
 perity of hostile opinions, and joined
 
 38 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 all souls in the unity of one spirit. 
 Think not upon the cross as the fear- 
 ful embodiment of a theology, but 
 contemplate it as the bright symbol 
 of a religion. For as Moses lifted up 
 the fiery serpent in the wilderness 
 that all who had been bitten by the 
 scorpions might look on it and live, so 
 Jesus was lifted upon the cross that 
 whosoever receives him as the Son of 
 God, and cherishes his spirit, may be 
 assured of eternal life. Whosoever 
 fills his heart with the feeling that 
 filled the heart of the Saviour, that 
 radiates from the cross, has passed 
 from death unto life ; no matter what 
 his special theological tenets are, he 
 has acquired all that is requisite for 
 the perfect redemption of the world.
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 39 
 
 Another evil which has resulted 
 from making the death of Christ 
 teach an arbitrary scheme of theology, 
 instead of enforce a practical lesson 
 of sympathy and duty, is the remov- 
 ing of the cross from contact with 
 personal conscience and effort. The 
 fancies of men have pictured it as 
 the instrument of a purchased deliver- 
 ance, in which they can do nothing 
 but submit to a predestined decree. 
 They have described its foot as pierc- 
 ing the depths of hell, when the in- 
 finite victim died, shaking the throne 
 of Satan to its overthrow and rescuing 
 half his captives, while its summit 
 rose above the skies and cast redoub- 
 led radiance over the shining ranks 
 of heaven. According to this scheme,
 
 40 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 those who are of the elect are safe, 
 the price has been paid, they have 
 only to rejoice and give thanks ; those 
 who are of the reprobate are unalter- 
 ably doomed, the sentence has been 
 fixed from eternity by an absolute 
 fate, they can only submit in passive 
 despair to their terrific doom. We 
 shudder at such a theory. We protest 
 against all such views as unchristian. 
 We warn men against them as unwar- 
 ranted in Scripture, unfounded in fact, 
 and bad in influence. With the ear- 
 nestness of an intense conviction, we 
 maintain that the core of the Gospel 
 is something very different, is no ab- 
 stract dogma at all, but is a living 
 principle of faith in God, and a glow- 
 ing sentiment of good will to men. In
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 41 
 
 a single word, we believe that, accord- 
 ing to the design of God, the intention 
 of Christ, and the nature of the case, 
 the legitimate object and teaching of 
 the Cross is a lesson of self-immolating, 
 all-conquering love. Its real and prac- 
 tical meaning is that pervading, puri- 
 fying, inspiring spirit of goodness 
 which leads one to deny himself, keep 
 the commandments, love God and man 
 with the whole soul, and go about 
 doing good, willingly offering up the 
 life a sacrifice for the advancement 
 of the kingdom of heaven on earth. 
 This is the essence and glory of Chris- 
 tianity. The urgent proclamation of 
 this to men is the true " preaching of 
 the cross." The prevalence of this is 
 all the Gospel proposes, or the world
 
 42 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 needs. This is the foolishness of God 
 which the Apostle affirms is wiser than 
 men ; and this is the weakness of God 
 which he says is stronger than men. 
 
 The cross does not unveil a magical 
 theory, but emphasizes, with miraculous 
 sanctions and motives, the rational 
 truth. It demands not a barren belief, 
 but a fruitful love. By this view it 
 will be seen the crucifixion has a per- 
 sonal office to fulfil, in awakening the 
 consciousness and renewing the char- 
 acter of every disciple through his 
 own voluntary attention and effort. 
 The Saviour willingly submitted to 
 that cruel death, with forgiveness and 
 benediction on his lips, to exemplify 
 the character of the Father, to show 
 the awful nature and depth of the
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 43 
 
 wickedness which could perpetrate 
 so unutterable an outrage, and to ex- 
 ert a moral power on the human heart 
 which would melt down its hardness, 
 purge away its impurities, fill it with 
 admiration and gratitude, and lift it 
 into the kingdom of divine emotions 
 and immortal ideas. We are to co- 
 operate with the Holy Spirit by using 
 means to effect these results. The 
 proper aims and influences of our 
 Saviour's sufferings and death combine 
 to secure one end ; that is, to produce 
 in the soul of the disciple the spirit of 
 the master, the spirit of humility, self- 
 denial, disinterested piety and philan- 
 thropy. It is therefore the duty of 
 every individual to take his stand in 
 hallowed imagination at the foot of
 
 44 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Cross, in struggling penitence, and 
 meditation, and prayer, until he feels 
 and is redeemed by its power, until 
 he is consecrated to the obedience of 
 righteousness, caught up by the love 
 of God, penetrated with sympathy for 
 the great brotherhood of forlorn and 
 sighing humanity. While the soul of 
 man is oppressed with injustice, denied 
 with unclean desires, deformed and 
 tormented by haughtiness, envy, cruel- 
 ty the Cross of Christ is made of none 
 effect. In vain did his Saviour bleed 
 for him. He may boast of the sound- 
 ness of his faith, observe the ceremo- 
 nies, and parade the outward symbols 
 of religion, but all is hollow and worth- 
 less so long as 
 
 " The breast-worn cross betrays no cross below."
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 45 
 
 Ah ! who can stand at the foot of the 
 cross and gaze on the face of the Son 
 of Man, and remember his toiling out- 
 cast and smitten life, and hear the 
 faint accents of his voice, and see him 
 die, without feeling the inconsistency 
 of selfishness, pride and coldness, with 
 a Christian's profession, without feel- 
 ing the duties of earth and the claims 
 of heaven profoundly impressed upon 
 his conscience. The poverty, lone- 
 liness, sacrifice, love and spirituality 
 of the Cross of Christ rebuke and fling 
 dimness and shame on the arrogant 
 luxuries and honors of the pampered 
 children of this world, and urge upon 
 them the lowliest spirit and the loftiest 
 aim. And there have been those who 
 have learned that lesson well and prac-
 
 46 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tised it to the last. There passes before 
 the mind a sainted multitude of those 
 who have taken up the cross, and in its 
 full spirit pressed on in the steps of 
 their great example, regardless of the 
 shame, the danger, and the toil, despis- 
 ing the pleasures and prizes of the world, 
 keeping their consciences pure, their 
 whole lives consecrated to the glory 
 of Him who was crucified, ministering 
 to the poor, the loathed, and the sick, 
 comforting the mourner's heart, breath- 
 ing the words of salvation in the ear 
 of the dying, preaching the religion of 
 redemption in foreign lands among 
 savage people, expiring with the cross 
 in their hands and the name of Christ 
 on their lips, and borne into heaven, 
 their transfiguration garments already
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 47 
 
 on. The genuine " preaching of the 
 cross" is that which tends to produce 
 such a result. Let us not deceive 
 ourselves then with arbitrary creeds, 
 not remain coldly afar off, but draw 
 near and be melted with sorrow and 
 fired with resolve. Let us, humbly 
 and devoutly kneeling there, vow 
 never to forsake the heavenward 
 path in which the Cross leads its fol- 
 lowers to the bosom of their Master, 
 who awaits their emancipated coming 
 at the right hand of God. 
 
 The present meaning, associations, 
 honors of the Cross, contrasted with 
 its ancient ignominious uses, and with 
 the profound loathing in which it was 
 held the startling and total change 
 herein implied affords an interesting
 
 48 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and powerful argument for the his- 
 torical genuineness and authenticity 
 of Christianity. Go, in imagination, 
 from the present position of that 
 potent sign, step by step, along the 
 backward path of its diminishing 
 radiance and increasing disgrace, and 
 you must come at last to a summit of 
 Calvary and a death of Christ, to a 
 place and an hour and an event where 
 and when a transfiguring power was 
 thrown about it, causing it to shine with 
 growing lustre and wield an accumu- 
 lating influence thenceforwards till 
 now. The phenomena of the history 
 of the Cross are inexplicable, save 
 upon the supposition that Jesus, a 
 being of superhuman virtues and au- 
 thority, really suffered, as the Records
 
 CROSS OP CHRIST. 49 
 
 declare. " What," pertinently observes 
 the ingenious writer to whom we owe 
 this thought ; " what must take place 
 before we could see, without a shud- 
 der, and with emotions of reverence, 
 the gallows on the spires of our 
 churches, the gallows in our parlors, 
 the gallows an ornament on our per- 
 sons, the gallows wrought in all our 
 most beautiful and sacred works of 
 art ?" To effect a revolution of his- 
 toric association, and of aesthetic taste, 
 so immense, so incredible, so nearly 
 inconceivable, a miracle would be re- 
 quired. Every time we see the Cross, 
 we know that the historic events re- 
 lated in the Gospels actually occurred. 
 We next pass to notice some of the 
 symbolic uses made of the Cross at 
 
 4
 
 50 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 various times. Omitting those super- 
 stitious perversions, and legends, which 
 are merely interesting to a useless 
 curiosity, and with which it would be 
 easy to fill volumes, we shall confine 
 our attention to those particulars 
 which have spiritual power and a 
 practical moral in them. 
 
 With deep significance and a beau- 
 tiful propriety, the use of the Cross in 
 baptism was early introduced into the 
 Church. Children were brought to 
 the font ; the minister, after a solemn 
 prayer, crossed them with the holy 
 water, saying, " Receive the sign of 
 the Cross in thy forehead, in token 
 that thou shalt not be ashamed to 
 confess thy faith in Christ crucified." 
 Thus, hi their innocence, in the morn-
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 51 
 
 ing of life, were they by right dedi- 
 cated to God, consecrated through 
 baptism into the faith of Christ, in 
 promise that they should follow his 
 example on earth and join his triumph 
 in heaven. They were baptised and 
 sealed with the Cross in token that 
 they were his. Beautiful emblem ! 
 God grant all our children may ever 
 be his, and keep his Cross in sight. 
 "Whenever one is baptised in his spot- 
 less purity, a worthy offering to him 
 who was himself spotless, oh ! let it be 
 hoped he will always be guided by 
 the unconscious vow, and never forfeit 
 that Saviour's protecting love ! 
 
 Memorial Crosses came to be built 
 on the site of a martyrdom, a re- 
 markable conversion, an important
 
 52 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 battle, or other great event. They 
 were frequently vast structures, con- 
 stituting the finest specimens of archi- 
 tecture extant. A few of them are 
 still standing. One of the very oldest 
 Christian monuments in England is a 
 stupendous Cross, cut in the steep side 
 of a high hill of chalk. It is a hundred 
 feet in height, seventy feet in width, 
 and the trench is sunk in the chalk 
 several feet in depth. This gigantic 
 white Cross is visible at a distance of 
 more than thirty miles, carrying the 
 thoughts of all who recognize its form 
 back, over the intervening centuries, 
 to a Cross in the outskirts of Jeru- 
 salem, and to one dying there, the 
 just for the unjust. Many public 
 Crosses, and cruciform buildings, were
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 53 
 
 also erected near the markets, and 
 other much frequented places of busi- 
 ness, in order, as an old writer says, 
 " to excite open homage for the reli- 
 gion of Christ crucified, and to inspire 
 men with a sense of morality and 
 piety amidst the ordinary transactions 
 of life." If this were now done every- 
 where, it could not but be a good 
 thing. Let the Cross meet the man 
 of the world in the midst of his busi- 
 ness, face him at every turn, remind- 
 ing him of his Saviour's life of self- 
 denial and death of shame, reminding 
 him of his God's requirement of him, 
 that he should ' deal justly, and love 
 mercy, and walk humbly before 
 heaven.' It would be a holy influence 
 not unneeded by many a tempted
 
 54 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 man in many a hurrying and perilous 
 hour. 
 
 It seems to us an altogether harm- 
 less, nay, a most touching and useful 
 custom the habit so prevalent in the 
 middle ages of erecting crosses and 
 open chapels by the way side, as it 
 were inviting the passer-by and the 
 stranger to remember their Saviour, 
 not to neglect their devotions, but 
 pause and kneel in confession, and 
 lift up the humble voice of petition 
 and praise to God. 
 
 "Eugenio marked, when journeying far from home 
 
 A pilgrim through Italia's classic land, 
 
 On Lithuanian or Iberian strand, 
 
 Where'er old Europe bows to papal Rome 
 
 How oft the Cross near some lone chapel stood, 
 
 Beside the fount, or in the public way, 
 
 That whoso list might there kneel down and pray 
 
 To him, once crucified, who shed his blood 
 
 For all mankind."
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 55 
 
 The ever-open church, the inviting 
 altar, the sacred silence only broken 
 by the sweet pensive music, allure 
 many a soul to prayer, many a thought 
 to Jesus, and many a desire to heaven. 
 There was a time when it was the 
 common custom for helpless men- 
 dicants to take their station at the foot 
 of crosses set up by the roadside, near 
 churches, markets, and other frequent- 
 ed places, and there beg for relief in the 
 name of Christ. And doubtless many 
 an iron-handed knight, many a proud 
 baron, his heart softened by the sad 
 and sweet memories of him who suf- 
 fered and died for all, was penetrated 
 with pitying charity for the poor 
 broken members of humanity who 
 besought his aid, and liberally gave
 
 56 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to them with a tear and a blessing. 
 Then was the cross of Christ put to a 
 worthy use, its true spirit and power 
 felt. And is it too fanciful to think 
 that often, under such circumstances, 
 the divine voice, which centuries 
 before had spoken amid the fields of 
 Judea, was again heard whispering in 
 approving accents to their souls, "Inas- 
 much as ye have done it unto one of 
 the least of these my brethren, ye 
 have done it unto me." 
 
 In some Christian countries, for a 
 long tune, public crosses were endowed 
 with privilege of sanctuary. Any con- 
 demned criminal, escaped prisoner, or 
 person pursued by his enemies, who 
 should fly to a cross, was to be left in 
 peace, as if he had hold of the horns
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 57 
 
 of the altar, revenge and justice were 
 compelled to spare him, unless the 
 church herself laid hands on him. In 
 those lawless and bloody times, such 
 refuge was a merciful and fortunate 
 provision, often improved by the inno- 
 cent, the persecuted, the defenceless. 
 How striking and pleasant is the em- 
 blem this fact affords ! Now as then, 
 though in a different sense, the foot of 
 the cross is a sanctuary and a refuge 
 from the cares of the world, from the 
 enemies of the soul. He who flies to 
 it and prostrates himself there in faith 
 and earnest prayer, will find pity and 
 pardon, and divine protection ; find 
 peace from the fever and turmoil of 
 his passions, and hear the benignant 
 representative of the Father still ex-
 
 58 HISTORY OF THfc 
 
 claiming with unwearied tenderness, 
 " Come unto me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest." With what figurative truth 
 and beauty Bunyan, having pictured 
 his heavy-laden pilgrim toiling and 
 struggling wearily through a thousand 
 difficulties and dangers, shows us how 
 the intolerable burden spontaneously 
 rolled from his back and disappeared 
 forever, the moment he reached the 
 foot of the cross. 
 
 Almost from the commencement of 
 Christian history we find that those 
 to whom the world had lost its charm, 
 the disappointed, the repentant, the 
 bereaved, the broken-hearted, hermits, 
 and those pious men and women who 
 retired from the gay vanities of life to
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 59 
 
 the secluded cells of the monastery, 
 were wont to soothe their aching 
 hearts, kindle their devotions, and 
 draw nigh to God and eternity, by 
 contemplating the cross bearing an 
 image of the dying Christ. Up and 
 down the darkened isles, while strains 
 of solemn music stole through the 
 deserted silence and floated in plain- 
 tive cadences towards purer regions, 
 sadly paced the guilty, with self-denial 
 and prayer, and with many bitter 
 tears, to wash away the memory of 
 their sins. A death's head and a cru- 
 cifix composed a chief part of the fur- 
 niture of each private room. They 
 glanced at that dread monitor, and all 
 worldly thoughts and fleshly lusts fled 
 away. They gazed upon this sad
 
 60 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 spectacle till their hearts yearned and 
 their tears flowed in remembrance of 
 him who did so much for them, till 
 the absorbing love of God and the 
 glorious hope of heaven filled the 
 desires of their souls. Well would it 
 be for us, in these modern days, in a 
 degree to do likewise. Sometimes to 
 turn away from the luring toils of 
 earth, and its deceitful pleasures, leave 
 the dusty arena of worldly rivalry and 
 ambition, and retreat to some place 
 of lonely devotion ; there to repent 
 and pray, and solemnly meditate on 
 all the associations and duties and 
 promises that gather around the name 
 and the cross of Christ, There to 
 think of the certainty of death, the 
 offered redemption of the Gospel, the
 
 CROSS OP CHRIST. 61 
 
 open arms of the prodigal's God, the 
 immense realities of an unknown eter- 
 nity. Ah ! well would it be for most 
 of us to dwell less in the world, and 
 more with the cross. An hour comes 
 when we shall think so. 
 
 It early became a custom with 
 Christians to hold the cross over the 
 dying, that the last object they saw 
 might assure them both of a future 
 life and of acceptance w r ith God ; and 
 many a weary soul has gently passed 
 away in the supporting trust thus 
 inspired. " Hold the cross before me 
 that I may see it in dying," said Joan of 
 Arc when cruelly burnt at the stake ; 
 and the last word heard through the 
 flames was, " Jesus." In the lone and 
 awful crisis when the present was
 
 62 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 closing and the future unfolding, the 
 proud and costly things of the world 
 were as dust and mockery, and the 
 soul was absorbed in the cross, in the 
 priceless symbol of salvation. The 
 rich man turned from his treasures, 
 the voluptuary from his indulgence, 
 the statesman from his plots and fame, 
 the king from his royal shows, the 
 warrior from his arms and his enemy, 
 in the solemn passage of the soul, and, 
 clasping the cross to the pallid lips 
 and the stiffening bosom, gasped a 
 prayer of penitence and trust, and 
 died. 
 
 " The sword had conquered kings, 
 And the spear through realms had passed, 
 But the cross alone of all seen things 
 Could avail them at the last." 
 
 It was not uncommon in former
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 63 
 
 ages, when the hour of dissolution 
 approached, to scatter on the floor a 
 quantity of ashes in the form of a 
 cross upon which straw or sackcloth 
 was laid as a bed for the dying per- 
 son. Three monarchs of France, and 
 one of England, expired upon such a 
 bed, " yielding up the ghost with their 
 arms composed in the shape of the 
 cross." Solemn scene ! which, while 
 it speaks of the ghastly king who 
 preaches in all ears, 'dust to dust,' 
 also reminds us of a mightier than he, 
 who hath snatched away his sting and 
 robbed him of victory. The unfor- 
 tunate Mary, Queen of Scots, just 
 before she placed her head upon the 
 block, having kissed the crucifix, fixed 
 her eyes upon it and prayed in these
 
 64 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 touching words : " Even as thy armes, 
 Jesus, was spredd here upon the 
 crosse, so receive me into thy armes of 
 mercy, and forgive me all my sinnes." 
 In this manner the cross sustained 
 the faith of the dying as they sank 
 down into the shadow of the dark 
 valley ; and then it was planted above 
 their graves to bid the mourners be 
 of good cheer, remembering their 
 resurrection in a better world. One 
 of the most significant and affecting 
 sights in our modern burial grounds 
 is the constantly recurring sight of 
 the cross, surmounting alike the gilded 
 tomb and the nameless hillock ; a 
 fond memento of what has been, a 
 cheering prophecy of what is to be. 
 The crosses thus set up over the dead
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 65 
 
 were called mortuary crosses. Two 
 of them, made of solid gold, adorned 
 with precious stones, and weighing a 
 hundred and fifty pounds each, were 
 placed upon the supposed sepulchres 
 of Peter and Paul emphatically con- 
 trasting their posthumous honors 
 with their living poverty, toil, and 
 deserted martyrdom. In the defiles 
 of the Alps, and among the mountain 
 passes of Spain and South America, 
 the traveller encounters thousands of 
 these rude crosses, each one comme- 
 morating the spot where some poor 
 wayfarer has perished, either by acci- 
 dent, or from the bandit's knife. As 
 he passes by these frail mementoes of 
 sudden mishap, or of murderous wrath, 
 he is expected to breathe a silent 
 
 5
 
 66 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 prayer in the name of Christ for the 
 hapless victim whose fate overtook 
 him there. 
 
 It would leave too prominent a 
 defect in this sketch of the history of 
 the Cross, if we did not allude to its 
 public adoption among the belligerent 
 nations of Christendom, its emblazonry 
 upon the standards and weapons of 
 war. In the beginning of the fourth 
 century, when Christianity, not yet 
 acknowledged by any secular autho- 
 rity, was struggling with a precarious 
 existence, Constantine, hesitating whe- 
 ther to proclaim allegiance to the 
 many gods of the old religion or to 
 the one God of the new, marched at 
 the head of a large army against 
 Maxentius. All was uncertainty and
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 67 
 
 hazard before his path, and all was 
 indecision and anxiety within his soul. 
 Suddenly, as it is related, there ap- 
 peared before him in the mid-heaven 
 a beaming cross bearing the inscrip- 
 tion, " Conquer by this." He said the 
 Saviour told him in a dream the en- 
 suing night, to lift the figure of that 
 cross and its motto upon his banners, 
 and it should lead the way to inva- 
 riable victory. It was done. The 
 first unhappy union of Church and 
 State was sealed and the faith of the 
 despised Gallilean, who had not where 
 to lay his head, began to be courted 
 by princes, began to be installed in 
 palaces. The publication of this vision 
 and command, we must suppose, was 
 either the result of a deep stroke of
 
 68 HISTORY *OF THE 
 
 policy or the deception of a heated 
 fancy on the part of the emperor. 
 The plan, however, was crowned with 
 visible success ; but as they marched 
 beneath the mystic Labarum to suc- 
 cessive triumphs, they trampled under 
 their feet at every step, violated with 
 every blow, and insulted with every 
 shout, the person, spirit, cross, and 
 commandments of him their lips called 
 Lord. For that meek sufferer, abjur- 
 ing all violence, refused to pray to his 
 Father for twelve legions of angels, 
 who, in an instant, would have gladly 
 stooped from heaven with swords of 
 fire to sweep away his foes but he 
 refused. 
 
 Centuries after the bones of Con- 
 stantine had crumbled to dust, the
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 69 
 
 example he had thus set was followed 
 on a stupendous scale in the Crusades, 
 or Holy Wars, falsely so called. 
 Europe shook beneath the tread of 
 warriors mustering to the sign of the 
 Crucified hoisted on their standards. 
 As they marched towards Palestine to 
 fight the Saracens, each soldier bore a 
 red cross broidered on his shoulder. 
 The most frightful barbarities and 
 carnage ensued, and continued year 
 after year. These horrible scenes 
 were enacted in the very name, and 
 under the shelter of the cross, of him 
 who said, " My kingdom is not of this 
 world ; if it were, then would my 
 servants fight." Among these per- 
 versions of the symbol of the religion 
 of the prince of peace, the device on
 
 70 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the fearful banner of the Spanish 
 Inquisition is worthy of notice. It 
 was a knotty cross, with an olive 
 branch on one side, and a dagger on 
 the other. In the modern wars of 
 nominal Christendom, the sacred cross 
 had been frequently seen reared on 
 both sides at once, and the banners 
 that bore it bathed in each other's 
 blood by the worshippers of a common 
 Saviour. The wickedness of man, not 
 content with once slaughtering the 
 great High Priest, must keep the cross 
 freshly stained with his divine blood 
 renewedly shed ! 
 
 " Alas that Christians should have e'er unfurled 
 This glorious sign, save as betokening peace, 
 That where it flew, there war and strife should cease 
 Till Christ's pacific empire filled the world ! 
 But ah, heneath this banner hath been hurled
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 71 
 
 Hell's worst artillery, death's most cruel darts : 
 Revenge and rage have played their murderous parts 
 On battle gun-ships where the smoke up-curled 
 Its odious shadow and foul stain to cast 
 O'er the crossed flags that floated from the mast. 
 Oh, when shall come the blest, long-looked for time, 
 When, where this ensign floats on land or sea, 
 There, Jesus ! shall thy Gospel reign sublime, 
 And all who own thy cross shall worship thee !" 
 
 Among the former habits of the 
 warlike clans of Scotland was a wild 
 picturesque custom, in case of invasion, 
 or other national crisis, to transmit a 
 Fiery Cross, blazing from its three 
 upper points, over the hills and glens, 
 from tribe to tribe. With incredible 
 swiftness the country was awakened 
 and united to repel the danger. So, 
 we devoutly trust, in some future age 
 a time shall come when the thrilling 
 sign of the cross, in its true meaning
 
 72 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and power, passed from disciple to dis- 
 ciple, and from land to land, shall 
 arouse the world to roll back the ag- 
 gression of evil, and fulfil the requi- 
 sitions of universal duty, to destroy 
 the wretched hosts of wrong, and 
 unite mankind in one faithful and 
 happy band of brothers. God grant 
 the help of his Spirit to the prayers 
 and labors of good men to establish 
 his kingdom on earth; and to that 
 end let the Cross of Christ be borne 
 aloft, once more, and for the last time, 
 as the rallying standard of a nobler 
 crusade, which shall summon all right- 
 eous and devout souls, not to the deliv- 
 erance of an empty and supposititious 
 sepulchre, by barbarous force, but to 
 the redemption of the living and
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 73 
 
 bleeding body itself of our Lord, by 
 the peaceful conquests of truth and 
 virtue over error and sin, of piety and 
 happiness over unbelief and misery, 
 of brotherhood, equality and freedom, 
 over hatred, pride and slavery, of 
 heavenly harmony over infernal dis- 
 cord, and of a glorious immortality 
 over death. 
 
 In tracing down the lineal history 
 of the Cross, we must notice that its 
 fate in Japan forms a dark episode, 
 and emphasizes an important moral. 
 The early labors of the Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries in that flourishing and popu- 
 lous empire were attended by remark- 
 able success. With proverbial cun- 
 ning adapting the externals of their 
 system closely to those of the pre-
 
 74 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vailing religion of the land, they 
 made converts by thousands through 
 the astonishing wisdom, intrepidity, 
 indomitable energy, self-sacrifice and 
 zeal they displayed. Having risen 
 to great consideration and influence, 
 they began to take part in political 
 affairs, and finally united in a reso- 
 lute attempt to possess themselves 
 of the government of the country, 
 which they very nearly succeeded in 
 doing. The unconverted portion of 
 the Japanese, aroused by this apparent 
 treachery and incipient effort to wrest 
 all their rights from them, rose upon 
 the missionaries and their adherents, 
 slew great numbers of them and ban- 
 ished the rest. Since that time the 
 Buddhists of Japan have looked upon
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 75 
 
 every sign of Christianity, especially 
 upon the Cross, with inveterate hate 
 and undissembled horror. Annually 
 they trample that object beneath their 
 feet with rage and scorn in the tem- 
 ples and in the streets. Its sign is 
 stamped on the quay of the only port 
 Christians are allowed to enter, where 
 every one who lands steps upon it. 
 That empire probably will be the last 
 in the world to bow to the sceptre of 
 Jesus. When Christian missionaries 
 use sophistry, concealment and deceit, 
 engage in treasonous plots, employ 
 violence to secure their ends, how 
 much more, in the long run, they lose 
 than they can gain ! How painful it 
 is to think of the causes of the pres- 
 ent fate and prospects of the Cross in
 
 76 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that crowded island, so blessed and 
 choice with beauties in clime and soil, 
 so benighted and bigoted in creed 
 and policy ! 
 
 One of the most frequent and strik- 
 ing uses the cross was formerly put 
 to, was the neutralizing of spells, the 
 casting out of evil spirits, and the 
 working of other kindred magical ef- 
 fects. It was supposed that before 
 the sign of the Cross all wicked charms 
 were instantly reversed, all demons 
 exorcised, all the wiles of hell baffled, 
 and that the devil himself, reminded 
 thereby of his fatal overthrow on Cal- 
 vary, fled. The old Christian writers 
 are full of miracles wrought by the 
 simple making of this sign. Many of 
 these legends are as beautiful as they
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 77 
 
 are marvellous ; others are ludicrous, 
 or coarse, or terriffic. It is remarka- 
 ble, how every superstitious belief or 
 custom is underlaid and informed, as 
 it was probably originated, by a pro- 
 found spiritual verity and moral. In 
 the present instance the miraculous 
 efficacy of the sign of the cross in 
 vanquishing infernal powers, should 
 be to us a symbol of the power of 
 truth and love over evil of faith 
 and piety over the sorrows of the 
 flesh and the temptations of the world. 
 Let the token of purity be seen, and 
 lust cowers and hides itself: before 
 the manifest token of forgiveness and 
 love how quickly anger and hatred 
 fly ! At the sign of truth and good- 
 ness error and sin disappear. The
 
 78 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sign of the cross banishes Satan. And 
 though we trust not the letter of the 
 tale, we are awed by the sublimity of 
 the doctrine which looks yet to see 
 that sign of the Son of Man in heav- 
 en, and on a scale so vast that it shall 
 be visible to the whole universe when 
 the stars are falling, and the elements 
 melting, and Death and Hell with all 
 their victims shall gaze on it and on 
 Him whom they pierced, and shall 
 flee away, and no place be found for 
 them. 
 
 "Jesus of Nazareth, king of the 
 Jews." When Pilate wrote this in- 
 scription, and, saying, " What I have 
 written I have written," ordered it to 
 be placed on the cross of Christ over 
 his head, he little dreamed it would
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 79 
 
 one day be repeated through the 
 world, not as mockery, but as loyalty. 
 But so it is, and the fact preaches 
 more loudly than thunders of the 
 folly and madness of opposing the in- 
 tentions of God, the cause of truth 
 and man. The most astonishing and 
 inspiring page in the annals of time, 
 is the page which recounts the tri- 
 umphs of this instrument, once the 
 symbol of all that is ignominious, now 
 of all that is divine and enduring. 
 Among the mountains of Auvergne 
 stands an altar of heathen worship, a 
 Druid rocking stone overgrown with 
 moss and age, surmounted by a rude 
 Cross, probably a thousand years old. 
 No traveller passes it without emotion 
 and thought. It is at once a memo-
 
 80 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rial of the past conquests of the re- 
 ligion of Christ crucified over the 
 pagan faiths, and a prophecy of its 
 future reign without a rival. A still 
 more emphatic emblem of the destined 
 universality of the empire of Christi- 
 anity was afforded by the sceptre of 
 Theodosius. It was a globe crowned 
 by a cross, meant to represent the earth 
 subdued to the faith of Christ. The 
 same symbol, we believe, is always 
 placed in the hand of a monarch of 
 Great Britain at his coronation, and 
 was held by the present Queen during 
 that cremony. But not only has the 
 Cross climbed to the tops of altars, 
 the domes of temples, the spires of 
 churches, to proclaim its triumph. It 
 has also ascended into the sky, and 
 there, as
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 81 
 
 " Of man's redemption autograph supreme, 
 Is fitly charactered by stars in heaven." 
 
 In the southern firmament is a well 
 known constellation, composed of five 
 large stars located in a cruciform shape, 
 called "The Cross of the South." 
 From that splendid spot in the heav- 
 ens it looks down upon the earth and 
 preaches the resurrection and deifica- 
 tion of Christ and of the cause for 
 which he gave his life. There the sign 
 of the Son of Man is seen in heaven. 
 And far beyond it Jesus himself lives, 
 and reigns, and invites his followers to 
 come unto him. In Dante's ascent 
 through the successive spheres of Par- 
 adise, in the fifth heaven he saw the 
 souls of those who had gloriously died 
 for the faith, ranged in the sign of a 
 
 6
 
 82 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cross, athwart which, spirits, like scin- 
 tillating lights, met and passed to the 
 sound of a melodious hymn. The 
 religious imagination here finds still 
 another application of the words, 
 " The sign of the Son of Man shall 
 appear in heaven." 
 
 A few words more must bring these 
 feeble illustrations of a vast, solemn, 
 and gladdening theme to a close. 
 Originally, the prominent aspect of 
 the cross was its inexpressible cruelty 
 and injustice. It was the most appall- 
 ing tragedy ever enacted amidst the 
 darkened heavens and the shuddering 
 earth by the unfeeling sin of man. 
 And yet what good, what unbounded 
 and eternal good, has flowed from it ! 
 It is the greatest illustration given by
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 83 
 
 history of the marvellous providence 
 of God, how it educes good from evil, 
 and converts even the wrath of man 
 to praise. It was horror, agony, 
 and fear a few moments ; it is bless- 
 ing, power, and sanctification forever. 
 A worthy treatise, anything like an 
 adequate portrayal of the effects of 
 the crucifixion, is yet to be written. 
 The influence of the sacrifice of Jesus 
 in drawing attention to his religion 
 and aiding in its diffusion ; its influ- 
 ence in softening, purifying, and 
 strengthening the sympathies of the 
 human heart ; its influence in awaken- 
 ing, rectifying, enthroning the moral 
 conscience ; its influence in quicken- 
 ing the spiritual aspirations and loves 
 of the soul, creating true piety ; its
 
 84 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 resulting influence in reforming, re- 
 fining, advancing civilization, and in 
 other respects, have effected results 
 which otherwise, in all human proba- 
 bility would not have been secured, 
 and which, in value and amount are 
 well nigh incalculable. The actual 
 good effects traceable specifically to 
 the crucifixion of Christ, infinitely 
 outweigh all the evil connected with 
 it. In its revealed meaning and pow- 
 er, it has conferred upon unnumbered 
 thousands as much comfort and joy as 
 it originally inflicted sorrow and pain 
 upon one. The bearing of his own 
 cross by the Saviour as our example, 
 has consoled and inspired millions to 
 bear their crosses with a peaceful joy, 
 a divine resignation, an all suffering
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 85 
 
 faith and love towards God, and an 
 undoubting hope of heaven, which 
 they would not have known were it 
 not written, "And they took Jesus 
 and led him. away ; and he, bearing 
 his cross, went forth." And who will 
 undertake to estimate the power, the 
 softening, spiritualizing power, that 
 has gone forth, and will go forth more 
 and more through all coming ages, 
 from the Prayer of the Cross. " Fath- 
 er, forgive them, for they know not 
 what they do." Poor spurned out- 
 cast, unpitied victim of injustice, sor- 
 rowful and weary sufferer, go 
 
 " Weigh thy grief with the cross 
 Of Christ, and see which is the heavier." 
 
 If the Cross of Christ could be oblite- 
 rated from the history of the world
 
 86 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as if the crucifixion had never been, 
 the most blessed and powerful influ- 
 ence ever exerted upon the heart of 
 humanity would be destroyed. The 
 history of the Cross teaches us, as no 
 other history can teach, that God, the 
 Father, orders and overrules all things, 
 making light follow darkness, good 
 spring out of evil, Christendom come 
 from the Crucifixion. 
 
 The members of the Roman Catho- 
 lic Church have always cherished, 
 sanctified and revered the Cross al- 
 most to idolatry. They have used it 
 as a spiritual symbol and power in a 
 thousand ways, frequently with ex- 
 ceeding beauty, solemn majesty, irre- 
 sistible pathos and the best effects. 
 The whole history of their Church,
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 87 
 
 exterior and interior, gathers around 
 it. Inexpressible associations cling 
 about it ; volumes of legends are con- 
 nected with it. It has attended the 
 travels, prominently marked the rites 
 and crowned the altars of all their 
 missionaries. It has gleamed like a ray 
 from heaven before the eyes of their 
 dying. It is carried, costly enough 
 to ransom empires, before the Pope in 
 gorgeous processions. It is placed, 
 rude and humble and unattractive to 
 the senses, in lonely cells where it 
 awakens thrills of awe and delight in 
 the bosoms of poor monks. 
 
 In the far-off isle of San Shan sleep 
 the ashes of Francis Xavier, and his 
 simple but magnificent epitaph is 
 crowned by a humble cross, to which
 
 88 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 pilgrimages are made, and where 
 irrepressible tears are shed. On the 
 banks of the Penobscot and of the 
 Mississippi, in Florida and Newfound- 
 land, in Mexico and at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, amid the icy wastes of 
 Scythia, on the balmy islands of the 
 tropical ocean, and in the central re- 
 cesses of China, the pathetic linea- 
 ments of the Cross tell the traveller 
 that there reposes some martyred 
 brother of the Society of Jesus. The 
 orphan, the widow, the sick and af- 
 flicted, the beggar, the wretched out- 
 cast and sinner have found consolation, 
 strength and peace in it, when there 
 was no other comfort for them. Words- 
 worth speaks of its effect upon him 
 when displayed in the annual cere- 
 monies of the Church.
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 89 
 
 " Mine ear has rung, my spirit sunk subdued, 
 Sharing the strong emotion of the crowd, 
 When each pale brow to dread hosannas bowed, 
 While clouds of incense mounting, veiled the rood 
 That glimmered like a pine-tree dimly viewed 
 Through Alpine vapors. Such appalling rite 
 Our Church prepares not, trusting to the might 
 Of simple truth with grace divine imbued ; 
 Yet will we not conceal the precious Cross, 
 Like men ashamed : the Sun, with his first smile 
 Shall greet that symbol crowning the low pile : 
 And the fresh air of incense-breathing morn 
 Shall wooingly embrace it ; and green moss 
 Creep round its arms through centuries* unborn." 
 
 Though it may be true that the Cath- 
 olics have abused the Cross by gross 
 superstitions, it must be confessed in 
 their hands it is clothed with an af- 
 fecting power which, in different 
 ways, is calculated to touch the 
 deepest springs of devotion, melt 
 the hard heart, and animate the spir-
 
 90 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 itual mind. Protestants, in their re- 
 vulsion, went altogether too far, threw 
 away some of the tenderest, most effi- 
 cacious and hallowed methods of 
 Christian influence. Since we, there- 
 fore, unimaginative, unspiritual de- 
 scendants of the Puritans, have not 
 these outward incitements, and are 
 not likely, in our hard and literal 
 worldliness to adopt them, let us deep- 
 ly stamp in our souls, and carry there, 
 the sign of the Cross, an ever-present 
 memento, pleading with us to be mind- 
 ful of the claims of Him who loved 
 us and gave himself for us that we 
 might be reconciled to God. Let his 
 spiritual image be formed in us ; his 
 truth and love, his self-sacrifice and 
 heavenly-mindedness ; then will the
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 91 
 
 bearing of his cross be our pride, and 
 perseverance in his service be its own 
 exceeding great reward. 
 
 As a Christian traveller was roam- 
 ing one morning among the valleys 
 of the Alps, he saw, planted upon a 
 frowning cliff, just above him, a hum- 
 ble cross, around which Nature had, 
 with the most touching beauty and 
 significance, twined a blooming cluster 
 of forget-me-nots. At that moment 
 the ascending sun sent its beams full 
 upon the spot. The effect was singu- 
 larly striking the dark wood, the 
 grey rock, the green vine, the painted 
 flowers, all bathed in the rich golden 
 light. He knelt down and poured out 
 his soul in communion with God and 
 heaven. The scene before him seem-
 
 92 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ed to say with audible voice, as if 
 Jesus himself were saying, " Forget 
 me not, forget not me who suffered 
 and died for you ; remember and love 
 me, as I have remembered and loved 
 you." 0, who would not spontaneous- 
 ly reply to such an appeal, "Dear 
 Saviour, never will I forget thee ; I 
 will remember thee, love thee, obey 
 thee, and pray that thou wilt accept 
 me, forgiving my un worthiness ! " The 
 cross of Christ wreathed with forget- 
 me-nots ! Let such an affecting sym- 
 bol be set up in the hearted memo- 
 ry of every one who hopes hereafter 
 to meet him. " He that taketh not 
 his cross and followeth after me, is not 
 worthy of me." Christian, bear thy 
 cross in a patient, cheerful spirit of
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 93 
 
 faith and love, and it shall grow 
 lighter and lighter till it bears 
 thee bears thee up to heaven, where, 
 instead of it, Christ shall give thee a 
 crown.
 
 94 mSTORY OF THE 
 
 
 
 " O glorious Cross ! Eternity and Time 
 Meet on this pillar of the truth of God : 
 There, Justice wields heaven's sin-avenging rod 
 There, Mercy hleeds for man's stupendous crime : 
 O, glorious Cross ! when shall this truth sublime 
 That He who died upon that altar lives 
 Above, and prays for man : that power he gives 
 To all who pray through him that they may climb, 
 O glorious Cross ! up towards the Father's throne 
 O, when shall this high truth to every heart 
 Grace, joy, salvation, Christian life impart, 
 And all mankind seek bliss in that alone 1 
 O, glorious Cross ! Faith trusts the day to see, 
 When Hope shall turn all eyes, Love draw all hearts 
 to thee."
 
 CROSS OF CHRIST. 95 
 
 Immortal 
 
 Christ, I pray 
 
 To thee : 
 
 Oh, say 
 
 To me, 
 
 Sweet Jesus, that thou wilt abode take up 
 With me when I have cleansed my sinful heart ; 
 And when I taste thy sacramental cup 
 Still whisper that thou never wilt depart. 
 Oh Lord, 
 I kneel 
 Thy word 
 To feel ; 
 My grief 
 Doth see 
 Belief 
 In Thee, 
 And while 
 I weep, 
 Thy smile 
 Doth keep 
 
 My soul in cheer. 
 And falling here, 
 God's heaven is near.
 
 SHf