dicular line and a horizontal line marked on their foreheads; being, in their religion, types of the generative principle in universal nature. Egyptians had a sacred emblem formed by the same lines; and, to express the same idea, they called it the Emblem of Life. It was used by them as a talisman to protect them from evil. Its universality is indicated by its frequent recurrence in all the religious and domestic scenes, represented in their palaces, temples, and tombs. When the early Christians saw this hieroglyphic symbol marked everywhere on Egyptian monuments, they inquired its meaning, and were very much impressed when told that it was the Emblem of Life. In their minds this signification was immediately associated with the cross of Christ. As they considered the brazen serpent of Moses typical of Christ, they would be likely to be still more struck with the fact that the Egyptian cross, twined with a serpent, signified Immortal Life. Whether the Egyptians of their time were in the habit of signing themselves with this ancient talisman is not recorded, so far as I am aware. Sir G. Wilkinson, in his valuable work on Egypt, states that he saw several tombs of the early Christians in that country inscribed with the Egyptian cross; which is easily distinguished from the Christian, by the fact that the perpendicular line did not extend above the horizontal one. He says: "I can attest that numerous inscriptions headed by this symbol are preserved to the present day on early Christian monuments." Tertullian says: "The Devil, who makes it his business to pervert the truth, imitates the divine sacraments by idolatrous mysteries. If I rightly remember, the God Mithras makes the sign of the cross upon the foreheads of his worshippers." Whatever may have been the origin of the custom, the cross was universally used as a talisman against evil among the Christians, as it had been among the ancient Egyptians. It was believed to have miraculous power to cast out devils, to cure diseases, to counteract poison, and protect from accidents. It formed a part of the ceremony in baptism, marriage, the Lord's Supper, and the ordination of the

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clergy. Christians always made the sign of the cross on the occasion of any sudden surprise, or whenever they were obliged to be present while others sacrificed to the gods; as was the case with those who served in the army. Supposing that the popular deities actually came, in answer to invocations and sacrifices, and believing them to be evil, they were particularly cautious to render their presence powerless by the sign of the cross. Some had it marked on their foreheads; probably as a perpetual protection against evil, whether conscious of its presence or not. Tertullian says: "At every setting out, or entry upon business, whenever we come in or go out from any place, when we dress for a journey, when we go into a bath, when we go to meat, when the candles are brought in, when we lie down, or sit down, and whatever business we have, we make on our foreheads the sign of the cross." Justin Martyr says the sea could not be passed, if sails were not suspended on a cross, and the earth could not be tilled if spades were not in that form. "Neither diggers nor artificers could do their work, except by instruments of that shape. The form of man differs in nothing else from other animals, but in the erectness of the body, and the extension of the arms, which shows nothing else but the figure of the cross." He says: "When the son of Nun, called Jesus [in Hebrew Joshua] led the people to battle, Moses employed himself in prayer, with his hands stretched out in the form of a cross. As long as he continued in that posture, Amalek was beaten; but when he remitted, Israel suffered. This was owing to the power of the cross. The people did not conquer because Moses prayed; but because the name of Jesus was at the head of the battle, and Moses was exhibiting the figure of the cross."

It has been shown in the first volume that it was a custom among all nations of antiquity to commemorate the death of a relative, by assembling at his grave, on the anniversary of his departure from this world. They dressed the tomb with flowers, offered oblations for the soul of the deceased, implored his protection and aid in their under

takings, and employed priests to offer sacrifices and prayers. At the sepulchres of kings and heroes, these ceremonies were observed with an unusual degree of expense and splendour; as is proved by Virgil's elaborate description of the honours paid by Eneas to the soul of his father. It was universally considered a great misfortune to leave no posterity to perform such rites. The same human feelings, which originally led to this custom, in all parts of the world, prompted Christians also to adopt it. Those among them, who had lost a relative, went to the church on the anniversary of his death, and laid a gift on the altar in his name, to signify that he was still a member of Christ's church, though his body was absent. They also partook of the Lord's Supper in token of continued fellowship with him; and the bishop, before administering the bread and wine, prayed for peace to the soul of the deceased. Tertullian says: "The widow prays for the soul of her departed husband, and begs refreshment for him in his intermediate state, and to be a partner with him in the first resurrection, and offers an oblation for him every year, on the day of his death." In another place, addressing a widower, he speaks of "her for whose soul you pray, and commend, to God, through the priest, when you offer the annual oblation." Martyrs, who were the kings and heroes of the Christian church, were honoured with peculiarly solemn observances. All the members of the church. to which they had belonged on earth assembled annually at their tombs. The clergy offered prayers, thanking the Lord for the example his saints had given to the world. Eulogies were pronounced, recounting the holy deeds and sayings of the deceased, their sufferings, and courageous death. The Lord's supper was administered, and the rites concluded with a distribution of gifts to the poor. These anniversaries were beautifully called, "The Birth Days of the Martyrs;" to signify that when they died, they were born into everlasting life. Romans had a time-honoured Festival, called the Parentalia, on which prayers were said, and oblations offered by all the people, for the souls of their

ancestors. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocæsarea, early in the third century, thinking to increase the number of his proselytes by accommodation to popular customs, substituted on the same day, a Festival in honour of All the Martyrs, the spiritual ancestors of the church. Gentile nations were universally accustomed to offer to the gods, on such occasions, sacrifices of animals, or human beings. Christians had abrogated such customs, but preserved the idea of sacrifice in another form. The administration of the Lord's Supper was said to be a renewed sacrifice of his body and his blood, every time the ceremony was performed; and in thus offering up the Son of God himself, they offered a sacrifice superior to thousands of oxen and ten thousands of rams. Expressions used by Cyprian indicate that this idea was inculcated in his day. Customs which originate in tender and devout feelings change their character when they become traditionary observances. The Festivals of the Martyrs gradually lost their simplicity, and the affectionate reverence which gathered up and cherished their remains, gave place to faith in the power of their relics to work miracles. Even during the lifetime of Tertullian, the honours paid to martyrs seemed to him so excessive as to need rebuke.

The capacity for belief in those times. was wonderfully great. Justin Martyr repeats the Jewish tradition that king Ptolemy sent to Jerusalem for seventy Rabbins, and shut them up in seventy separate cells, to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. When the translations were compared, they were found not to vary from each other in a single word; "which is a demonstration that they were guided by divine inspiration." As proof of the story, he affirms that the seventy cells had been pointed out to him. Irenæus tells the same story, and likewise asserts that the Hebrew Scriptures were utterly destroyed during the captivity in Babylon, and restored seventy years afterward by Ezra, whom God inspired expressly for the purpose.

The predictions of Sibyls were held in great reverence

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among the Romans, and the credulity of the people was often imposed upon by spurious productions bearing that These the emperors from time to time caused to be collected and destroyed; but the genuine Sibylline books were preserved in golden chests in the Temple of Apollo, and consulted only on important state occasions. Some of the early Christians, in their zeal to gain influence over the minds of men, wrote predictions concerning Christ, and passed them off as the genuine utterance of the ancient Sibyls. One of these Sibyls informs her readers that she was a daughter-in-law of Noah, and was with him in the Ark. Some of the prophecies were "merely the Mosaic history written in Greek hexameters." One described the miracles of Jesus, whom it mentioned by name, and foretold that there would be an eclipse at the time of his crucifixion, that he would rise from the dead, and show his hands and feet to his disciples. Another, purporting to be composed by the famous Erythræan Sibyl, in the sixth century after the Deluge, was written in the form of an acrostic; the first letters of the lines forming the words, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Another Sibyl says: "The Son of God shall come clothed in flesh, made like to men on earth, and shall have in his name four vowels and two consonants;" which was the case with the name of Jesus in Greek. Another prophesied that Rome would be ut terly destroyed in one hundred ninety-five. These frag ments, after floating round for a considerable time, were collected into a book some time in the second century, under the title of Sibylline Oracles. In many of them the imposture is so very thinly veiled, that it is surprising they should have gained credence even with the most unreflecting. Nevertheless, they were often and triumphantly quoted by the Fathers, as evidence all the more valuable, because it came from the prophets of a religion opposed to Christianity. Justin Martyr speaks of them as written by divine inspiration. Alluding to the custom of keeping the Sibylline Books locked up in the Temple of Apollo, he says: "The Demons contrived to make it a capital crime VOL. II.-28