Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

CROSS
CROSS 187
times and in almost all countries the cross has
been a sacred symbol. It is depicted on the
oldest monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Persia,
and Hindustan . It was, says Faber (Cabir .,
ii ., 390), a symbol throughout the Pagan
world long previous to its becoming an object
of veneration to Christians . In ancient symbology
it was a symbol of eternal life . M . de
Mortillet, who, in 1866, published a work entitled
Le Signe de la Croix avant le Christianisme,
found in the very earliest epochs three
principal symbols of universal occurrence :
viz ., the circle, the pyramid, and the cross.
Leslie (Man's Origin and Destiny, p . 312),
quoting from him in reference to the ancient
worship of the cross, says : "It seems to have
been a worship of such a peculiar nature as to
exclude the worship of idols ." This sacredness
of the crucial symbol may be one reason
why its form was often adopted, especially by
the Celts, in the construction of their temples.
Of the Druidical veneration of the cross,
Higgins quotes from the treatise of Schedius
(De Moribus Germanorum, xxiv .) the following
remarkable paragraph :
"The Druids seek studiously for an oaktree,
large and handsome, growing up with
two principal arms in the form of a cross, bebeside
the main, upright stem . If the two
horizontal arms are not sufficiently adapted
to the figure, they fasten a cross beam to it .
This tree they consecrate in this manner .
Upon the right branch they cut in the bark, in
fair characters, the word HESUS ; upon the
middle or upright stem, the word TARAMIS ;
upon the left branch, BELENUS ; over this,
above the going off of the arms, they cut the
name of God, THAU. Under all the same
repeated, THAU. This tree, so inscribed, they
make their kebla in the grove, cathedral, or
summer church, towards which they direct
their faces in the offices of religion ."
Mr. Brinton, in his interesting work entitled
Symbolism; The Myths of the New World,
has the following remarks :
"The symbol that beyond all others has
fascinated the human mind, THE CROSS, finds
here its source and meaning . Scholars have
pointed out its sacredness in many natural
religions, and have reverently accepted it as a
mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and
often debasing, interpretations . It is but
another symbol of the four cardinal points, the
four winds of heaven . This will luminously
appear by a study of its use and meaning in
America ." (P . 95 .) And Mr . Brinton gives
many instances of the religious use of the
cross by several of the aboriginal tribes of this
continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed,
seems evidently to be to the four cardinal
points, or the four winds, or four spirits
of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable
that a similar reference was adopted by
the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we
would have in the cruciform temple as much
a symbolism of the world, of which the four
cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as
we have m the square, the cubical, and the
circular .
Cross, Double . See Cross, Patriarchal .
Cross, Jerusalem. A Greek cross between
four crosslets . It was adopted by Baldwyn
as the arms of the
kingdom of Jerusalem,
and has since been
deemed a symbol of the
Holy Land . It is also
the jewel of the Knights
of the Holy Sepulcher .
Symbolically, the four
small crosses typify the
four wounds of the Savior
in the hands and
feet, and the large central cross shows forth
his death for that world to which the four extremities
point .
Cross, Maltese .
worn by the Knights
of Malta. It is heraldically
described as
"a cross pattt;e, but
the extremity of each
pattee notched at a
A cross of eight points,
deep angle ." The
fA
eight points are said
to refer symbolically
to the eight beatitudes
.
Cross of Constantine. See Labarum .
Cross of Salem . Called also the Pontifical
Cross, because it is borne before the
Pope. It is a cross, the upright
piece being crossed by
three lines, the upper and
lower shorter than the middle
one . It is the insignia of the
Grand Master and Past
Grand Masters of the Grand
Encampment of Knights Templar
of the United States, and
also of the Sovereign Grand
Commander of the Supreme
Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite .
Cross, Passion . The cross on which
Jesus suffered crucifixion . It is
the most common form of the
cross . When rayonnant, or having
rays issuing from the point
of intersection of the limbs, it is
the insignia of the Commander of
a Commandery of Knights Tem- .
play, according to the American
system .
Cross, Patriarchal . A cross, the upright
piece being twice crossed, the upper arms
shorter than the lower .
It is so called because it
is borne before a Patriarch
in the Roman Church .
It is the insignia of the
officers of the Grand Encampment
of Knights Templars
of the United States,
and of
essors of the
Thirty-third egree in the
Ancient a"pot and Accepted
Scottish Rite .
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