the Gospels, though, like the other Epistles, misleadingly placed after
the Gospels, Jesus is said to have been _hanged_ upon a _tree_.[3] For
in the first place the Greek word translated "hanged" did not
necessarily refer to hanging by the neck, and simply meant suspended in
some way or other. And in the second place the word translated "tree,"
though that always used in referring to what is translated as the
"_Tree of Life_," signified not only "tree" but also "wood."
It should be noted, however, that these five references of the Bible to
the execution of Jesus as having been carried out by his suspension
upon either a tree or a piece of timber set in the ground, in no wise
convey the impression that two pieces of wood nailed together in the
form of a cross is what is referred to.
Moreover, there is not, even in the Greek text of the Gospels, a single
intimation in the Bible to the effect that the instrument actually used
in the case of Jesus was cross-shaped.
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