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

Moreover, whether the message of Jesus which we proclaim and variously interpret was or was not a gospel--that is, "glad tidings "--to all men, and from an unselfish point of view, what possible good purpose can be served by insisting upon supplementing the simple story of his stressful life, his magnificent love for the afflicted and suffering, his equally magnificent hatred of qualities not altogether dissimilar from that which enables some of us to claim to be not only admirers but also genuine followers of a Communist who declared that those who would follow him must first sell all their possessions and give the proceeds to the poor;--what good purpose can be served by supplementing this, and the account of the final conflict of Jesus with the officials of his native land and his subsequent execution upon a stauros or stake not stated to have had a cross-bar attached, by the adoption and culture of a partisan and misleading fiction regarding the origin and history of the symbol of the cross?

THE END.

--------------------- FOOTNOTES [1] _e.g._, _Iliad_, xxiv. 453; _Odyssey_, xiv. 11 [2] _e.g._, Thuc. iv. 90; Xen. _An._ v. 2, 21. [3] _Gal._ iii. 13; I _Pet._ ii. 24; _Acts_ v. 30; _Acts_ x. 39; _Acts_ xiii. 29. [4] _e.g._, Hdt. iii. 125. [5] _e.g._, Thuc. vii. 25. [6] Livy, xxviii. 29. [7] Minucius Felix, _Oct._ xxix. [8] _De Praescrip_. xl. [9] _Oct._ xxix. [10] _Ad Nationes_, xiv. [11] Poed iii. II, 59. [12] _Nicodemus_ i. [13] _Nicodemus_ vii. [14] _Nicodemus_ viii. [15] _Apol_, i. 55. [16] _Dial. cum Trypho_, lxxxvi. [17] _Dial. cum Trypho_, xcvii. [18] _Against Marcion_, iv. 20. [19] _Against Marcion_, iii. 18. [20] _Scorpiace_, i. [21] _De Corolla_, iii. [22] _De Proescrip_, xl. [23] _Apologiticus_, xvi. [24] _Ad Nationes_, xii. [25] xxxvi. [26] _Testimonies against the Jews_, ii. 21. [27] _Testimonies against the Jews_, ii. 22. [28] _Apud Gretserum_, ii. [29] _Epist. ad Romanos_, Lib. vi. [30] _Christ in Art_, p. 23. [31] _Against Heresies_, i. xxiv. [32] _Against Heresies_, II., xxii. 4-5. [33] _Vit. Const. I._ [34] _Vit. Const. I._, 28, 29, 30. [35] _Vit. Const. I._, 29. [36] _De Mart. Pers._, c. 44. [37] _Vit. Const. I._, 31. [38] _Vit. Const. I._, 37. [39] _Vit. Const. I._, 40. [40] _Vit. Const. II._ 7-9. [41] _Vit. Const. III._ 3. [42] _Vit. Const. III._ 49. [43] _Opera S. Cyrilli_ cura Ant. Touttee 351 Menaeum Graecum ad diem 7 Maii. [44] zosimus ii. [45] Both Zonaras and Cedrenus bear testimony to this effect. [46] _Early Christian Numismatics_. [47] _The Likeness of Christ_, p. 20. [48] Herodotus II., 73. [49] Pliny, x., 2. [ ] 2 Tacitus, _Annal_. Vi., 28. Editorial note: There is no reference in the text to this footnote #2 at the bottom of page 130 [50] An engraving of the coin can be seen in Duruy's _Histoire des Romains_, Torn. vii. [51] Bockh, C.I.G. n. 4713 b. [52] Berlin Collection 428. [53] _Strange Survivals_, 286. [54] _e.g._, Arist. _Mundi_. [55] Bar. _Ann_. A.C. 312. [56] Basnage, iii., 23. [57] Eusebius, _Vit. Const._ iv. [58] Martianus Capella. [59] _e.g._ Philo, _De Somniis_, i. [60] _Timaeus_, 34-36. [61] _Theol. Plat._ [62] _Apol._ [63] _Apol._ [64] _Report on the Old Records of the India Office_, London, 1891, x., xi. [65] _Nineveh_, ii. 213. [66] _e.g._, C. W. King, M.A. _Early Christian Numismatics_; Professor Rawlinson; &c., &c. [67] C. W. King, M.A. [68] _First Annual Report U. S. Bureau of Ethnology._ [69] Ol. Varelli, _Scandage Runic;_ Ans. Rudbeckins, _Atlant.: e.g._ an altar discovered ac Rudchester, Northumberland: Sheffer, _Lapponic_. [70] _Letters from Rome_, 1862, p. 210.