The Non-Christian Cross An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion by Parsons, John Denham

Had there been any such intimation in the twenty-seven Greek works referring to Jesus, which our Church selected out of a very large number and called the "New Testament," the Greek letter _chi_, which was cross-shaped, would in the ordinary course have been referred to; and some such term as _Kata chiasmon_, "like a chi," made use of.

It should also be borne in mind that though the Christians of the first three centuries certainly made use of a transient sign of the cross in the non-Mosaic initiatory rite of baptism and at other times, it is, as will be shown in the next two chapters, admitted that they did not use or venerate it as a representation of the instrument of execution upon which Jesus died.

Moreover, if in reply to the foregoing it should be argued that as it is well known that cross-shaped figures of wood, and other lasting representations of the sign or figure of the cross, were not venerated by Christians until after the fateful day when Constantine set out at the head of the soldiers of Gaul in his famous march against Rome; and that the Christian crosses of the remainder of the fourth century were representations of the instrument of execution upon which Jesus died; a dozen other objections present themselves if we are honest enough to face the fact that we have to show that they were so from the first. For the Gauls, and therefore the soldiers of Gaul, venerated as symbols of the Sun-God and Giver of Life and Victory the cross of four equal arms, {image "plus.gif"}, or {image "x.gif"}, and the solar wheel, {image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "solarwheel2.gif"}; while the so-called cross which Constantine and his troops are said to have seen above the midday sun was admittedly the monogram of Christ, {image "monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram2.gif"}, which was admittedly an adaptation of the solar wheel, as will be shown further on; and it was as tokens of the conquest of Rome by his Gaulish troops, that Constantine, as their leader, erected one of these symbols in the centre of the Eternal City, and afterwards placed upon his coins the crosses {image "solarwheel1.gif"}, {image "solarwheel2.gif"}, {image "monogram1.gif"}, {image "monogram2.gif"}, {image "asterisk.gif"}, {image "monogram3.gif"}, {image "monogram4.gif"}, the cross of four equal arms {image "x.gif"}, and several variations of that other cross of four equal arms, the right-angled {image "plus.gif"}. And it was not till long after these crosses were accepted as Christian, and Constantine was dead and buried, that the cross with one of its arms longer than the other three (or two), which alone could be a representation of an instrument of execution, was made use of by Christians.