The Non-Christian Cross Part 8

For instance a good example of the Christ holding the fruit of the Tree of Life is reproduced for us in the well known work on the likeness of Jesus by the late Thomas Heaphy.[47] Here we see, in a picture which occurs upon a gla.s.s ornament found in the Catacombs of Rome in the tomb of a Christian named Eutychia, an ill.u.s.tration of the Christ standing by the side of the Tree of Life. The rays of the Sun surround the head of the Christ, and in his hand is the phallic Apple.

It will have been remarked that the round object to be seen upon innumerable Roman coins in the hand of this or that ruler or deity, and popularly supposed to have always represented the round world upon which we dwell although it is at the same time believed that the world was not then considered to be round, frequently occurs in the hand of a female figure representing Eternity. It is self-evident that a representation of the world we live on is less likely to have been so placed than a symbol of Life.

A still more striking fact, which cannot fail to have been noticed by the reader of the evidence from the coins of ancient Rome quoted in the earlier part of this chapter, is that in several instances a Phoenix and not a Victory surmounts the so-called orb. For the story of the Phoenix was derived from the Egyptian City of the Sun.[48] And the fabulous bird in question was, according to Tacitus as well as Herodotus, specially connected with the temple of the Sun-G.o.d at Heliopolis.

Upon this point it may be added that the famous story of the Phoenix seems to have been known to the writer of _Job_; the Septuagint version of _Job_ xxix. 18, being "I shall die in my nest and shall multiply my days as the Phoenix" according to some of the best authorities.

The various ages allotted to this allegorical bird had reference to the calendar; as indeed we learn from Pliny, who tells us that

"The revolution of the Great Year in which the seasons and stars return to their former places, agrees with the life of this bird."[49]

This is borne out by the periods spoken of as the lifetime of the Phoenix; as among them are one of 600 years, the Great Year referred to by Josephus and others, and one of 1,461 years, which was the Sothic period of the Egyptians.

It is also clear that, like the Victory and the Golden Apple it surmounted, the Phoenix and its wonderful egg were not only connected with the Sun-G.o.d, but also had a phallic signification.

The problem as to whether bird or egg first existed scarcely applies to the fabulous Phoenix and its equally fabulous egg, and need not be discussed here. Suffice it to say that the round object from which that Christian symbol the Coronation Orb is descended, though it may at times have more or less represented the world upon which we dwell, seems to have primarily signified, as a.s.sociated with each other in idea, both the Golden Apple of Love and the Phoenix-like life principle enshrined in the Egg, both the egg-like _Cosmos_ or Universe and Eternity; but in all, and through all, and above all, the basis of all power whether finite or infinite, _viz._, Life.

It is therefore not surprising to find that the monarchs of ancient days claimed to rule by divine right as vice-gerents of the Sun-G.o.d, to whose favouring influence all earthly life is traceable; and caused themselves to be represented, upon Roman coins as receiving the Golden Apple, and upon Egyptian monuments as receiving the Cross, from the Sun-G.o.d, as the symbol of their authority.

Yet another point to be borne in mind, is that we Christians are expressly taught that G.o.d the Father and G.o.d the Son are as nearly identical as the ancients considered the Central Fire, which they deemed the Parent of all things, and the Warmth and Light issuing therefrom to be; or the Sun's disc and the emanations therefrom; the Christ being represented as saying "I and My Father are one" and "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." For though we describe ours as a _co-equal_ Trinity, no such ident.i.ty with either G.o.d the Father or G.o.d the Son is affirmed of G.o.d the Holy Ghost, and it is remarkable that in our ancient ill.u.s.trations of the Three Persons, both the First and the Second are represented as holding the so-called globe and Cross, while the Third, even where depicted as of human shape like the other two, is not.

The fact is that the co-equality of the Holy Spirit of a G.o.d who is Himself, as Jesus declared, a Spirit, is an idea which did not find much acceptance among Christians till a comparatively late date and is the outcome of confused thought. And the separate personality of this Spirit of a Spirit being entirely a Christian conception, and without a counterpart in the theology of the ancients, few if any Pagan symbols such as the so-called globe and the cross would have been a.s.sociated with it in any case.

CHAPTER XI.

THE COINS OF CONSTANTINE.

We are more or less in the habit of a.s.suming that just as Paul, the founder of the catholic faith, was converted, not altogether by reason but as it were by force and with the rapidity of a flash of lightning, under the rays of a meridian sun ("About _noon_ suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me," _Acts_ xxii. 6; "At _mid-day_," _Acts_ xxvi. 13), so Constantine, the establisher of that faith as the State Religion of the empire in which Paul was so proud of his rights as a citizen, was in similarly rapid fas.h.i.+on converted by the appearance of a miraculous "cross" of light and an accompanying legend above a meridian sun ("At _mid-day_," Eusebius, _Vit. Const.

I._).

But, as has already been pointed out, this alleged vision of Constantine is said to have taken place during his march upon Rome in the year A.C. 312; and during the remaining twenty-five years of his life he acted rather as if he were converting Christianity into what he thought most likely to be accepted by his subjects as a catholic religion, than as if he had been converted to the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene.

The fact is that Constantine was favourable to our religion out of policy rather than conviction; and if after refusing so long he did indeed, a quarter of a century after the alleged vision, consent to be baptised when ill and dying, policy doubtless swayed him even then.

Anyway, as has already been stated and will now be seen, the evidence of his coins conclusively shows that the G.o.d to whom Constantine from first to last attributed his victories, was--the Sun-G.o.d.

Upon one coin issued by Constantine we see upon the reverse a nude figure crowned with rays, with the right hand elevated toward the east, and a round object in the left hand. In the field is a cross widened at the extremities, and the surrounding legend is a significant one, _Soli Invicto Comiti_. This coin was struck years after the alleged conversion of Constantine, and the combined reference to the Sun-G.o.d and use of the cross are worthy of special notice.

Upon two somewhat similar coins of Constantine the cross is placed within a circular wreath of bay or laurel.

On another coin with the same legend we see the same nude figure crowned with rays, representing the Sun-G.o.d and carrying a round object; while in the field we see the Gaulish symbol, sometimes called a cross, which by the addition of a loop was, as we shall see later on, turned into the so-called Monogram of Christ.

Upon a coin with the anything but Christian legend _Marti Conservatori_, is a cross with four equal arms.

On a somewhat similar coin with the same legend, the helmet on the reverse is ornamented with the so-called Monogram of Christ.

Upon another coin we see Mars leaning on a s.h.i.+eld adorned with the so-called Monogram of Christ, the legend being _Marti Patri Conservator_.

On a coin issued in the name of his son Crispus during the reign of Constantine, we see two Victories holding a s.h.i.+eld upon a pedestal marked with a cross of four equal arms.

A similar cross appears upon a coin issued during this reign in the name of another son of Constantine.

Upon a coin bearing the inscription _Constantinus Max. Aug._ we see upon the reverse a cross of four equal arms.

On an otherwise similar coin a compound _tau_ cross of four equal arms, {image "taucross.gif"}, appears.

Upon a well-known engraving of a coin in the _Annales Ecclesiastici_ of Baronius, the {image "monogram3.gif"} form of the so-called Monogram of Christ appears upon the helmet of Constantine. Some authorities, however, state that this is copied as the familiar {image "monogram3.gif"} in error; what appeared on the helmet being the Gaulish symbol {image "asterisk.gif"} with a dot representing a star near the top of the vertical bar. Such a dot can be seen in a similar place upon two or three coins bearing the legend _Virtus Exercit_.

On another coin the legend _Gloria Exercitus_ surrounds two soldiers holding military standards, between which is the symbol of the cross.

On a somewhat similar coin the compound tan cross, of which we have already noted an example, occurs between the standards.

A cross of four equal arms appears upon a coin bearing the legend _Pax Publica_.

A coin issued during the reign of Constantine the Great in the name of his son Constantine, has upon its reverse a cross of four equal arms, the extremities of which are rounded.

On an otherwise similar coin the compound tau cross appears.

Upon a coin bearing the inscription _Constantinus Max. Aug._ a cross of four equal arms occurs near a soldier armed with spear and s.h.i.+eld.

On the reverse of one coin we see two soldiers holding military standards, and between the standards the so-called Monogram of Christ appears.

A coin of similar type was issued during the reign of Constantine the Great in the name of his son Constantine.

Upon a coin which on the obverse bears the inscription _Constantinus Max. Aug._, we see upon the reverse Victory carrying a palm. In the field is the symbol {image "monogram4.gif"}. The surrounding motto is _Victoria constantini Aug._

Several coins with the legend _Gloria Exercitus_ have upon the same side two soldiers with a labarum or military standard between them, upon the banner of which is the symbol {image "monogram4.gif"}.

On a coin with the legend _Victoria Caesar NN_ we see Victory carrying a palm. In the field is the Gaulish symbol {image "asterisk.gif"}.

The reverse of another coin has the legend _Constantinus Aug._, and represents Constantine as holding a labarum or military standard terminating in a round object. Upon the banner is the symbol {image "monogram4.gif"}.

On a coin bearing upon its obverse the inscription _Constantinopolis_, we see upon the other side a figure of Victory and a cross of four equal arms.

On another coin bearing the same legend we see upon the reverse Victory standing upon a s.h.i.+p, and to the left the so-called monogram.

Upon another coin we see the same symbol above the wolf and twins of the city of Rome.

A rare coin bears upon the obverse the inscription _Constantinus Max.

Aug._, and on the reverse, surrounded by the legend _Spes Publica_, a labarum or military standard the handle or base of which transfixes a serpent. Upon the banner three globules are embroidered, and the symbol {image "monogram3.gif"} appears above the cross-bar from which the banner hangs.

Upon one medal or coin of Constantine we see the significant legend _Soli Invicto Aeterno Aug._ inscribed around the quadriga of the Sun-G.o.d Phoebus.

On another piece struck by Constantine the Great, the Sun-G.o.d is given the t.i.tle _Comes Aug._; Companion, Guardian, or Saviour, of the Emperor.

Upon several coins we see the legend _Comiti Aug. NN_, and, surrounded by the same, the Sun-G.o.d holding a small round object.