Henry Dana Ward

History of the Cross Henry Dana Ward

In the Churches, especially of America, a flood-tide of ritualism now threatens to overwhelm the gospel, such as in the fourth century deluged the primitive Churches with relics of martyrs, monkish legends, lying wonders, pagan customs, and " the invention of the cross." The eye is taken with a curious pantomime, carried on by various actors. Any parade with banners and sweet voices through the streets, or into the churches, is sure to attract a crowd. Excited by the mysterious movement, the rising generation are fired to see, to fall in, and to form a part of the brave show, dressed in colours, or white robes, with banners and standard-bearers for the admiration of the beholders. The sign and image of tlie cross is now, as of old, in the fore- front of the pagan assault upon the simplicity of the faith of God in Christ, Therefore it is timely to present to the public a history, showing the pagan origin of the image, with its entrance among Christians, and its final adoption in the Church Catholic and Universal.