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THE GNOSTIC CONCEPTION OF THE CROSS. 



limbed Eastern cross retains the symbolic form of the primitive 

 star sign, as we see it attached to the service of the Minoan divinities." 



This identification throws light on many passages of Scripture. 

 Balaam, the prophet from Mesopotamia, for example, speaks of 

 the Coming One : " There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, 

 and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." More than a thousand years 

 later, wise men from the East came to worship the infant Christ, 

 saying, " We have seen His star in the East." And in the Apoca- 

 lypse our Lord, foretelling His return as King, testifies : " I am the 

 bright, the morning star." Again, In Ezek. ix, 4, the " mark " 

 spoken of is " tdv,'' the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, which, 

 in the ancient script, was a cross. In the Apocalypse there is a 

 cluster of texts, evidently based upon this vision of Ezekiel, which 

 speak of the seal of the living God, which is itself the Name of God 

 (vii, 3 ; ix, 4 ; xiv, 1 ; etc.) 



The Gnostic appellation of the Cross—" Horos," boundary — 

 may recall the landmarks and waymarks which were put under 

 the direct care of the Deity, and were, no doubt, often stamped 

 with His name or symbol ; just as the Celtic missionaries were 

 accustomed to write, «, w {alpha and omega) on the menhirs and 

 dolmens of paganism. 



