3 SS 
C R G 
-ftraight body laid at right angles over another ; the in- 
ftrument by which the Saviour of the world fuffered 
death.—You are- firft to confider ferioudy the infinite 
love of your Saviour, who offered himfelf for you as a 
facrifice upon the crofs. Taylor. 
The punifhment of the crofs was common among the 
Syrians, Egyptians, Perfians, Africans, Greeks, Romans, 
and Jews. The death of the crofs was the moft dreadful 
of all others, and. fo fcandalous, that it was inflicted as 
the laft mark of deteflation upon the vileft of people. It 
was the punifhment of robbers and murderers, provided 
they were flaves ; but otherwife, if they were free, and 
had the privileges of the city of Rome, this was thought 
a proflitution of that honour, and too infamous a pu¬ 
nifhment, let his crimes be what they would. The Mo- 
faic law ordained, that the perfons executed lhould 
not be left upon the tree after fun-fet, becaufe he that 
is'hanged in this manner is accurfed of God, Dent. xxi. 
22. The Jews believe, that the fouls of thofe who re¬ 
main upon the gibbet, and without burial, enjoy no 
peace, and receive no benefit from the prayers of other 
people ; but wander up and down till their bodies are 
buried : which agrees with the notions that the Greeks 
and Romans had of this matter. Honi. II. 4. Virg. Ain. 6. 
Before crucifixion, the criminal was generally fcourged 
with cords: fometimes little bones, or pieces of bones, 
were tied to thefe fcourges, fo that the condemned per- 
fon might fuffer more feverely. It was alfo a cuftom, 
that he who was to be crucified fhould bear his own 
crofs to the place of execution. After this manner 
we find Chrift was compelled to bear his own crofs. 
There were feveral ways of crucifying : fometimes the 
criminal was faflenedwith cords to a tree, fometimes he 
was crucified with his head downwards. This way St. 
Peter chofe out of refpeCt to his mailer, Jefus Chrift, 
not thinking himfelf worthy to be crucified like him ; 
though the common way of crucifying was by faflening 
the criminal with nails, one through each hand, and one 
through both feet, or one through each of them : for 
this was not always performed in the fame manner ; the 
ancients fometimes reprefenting Jefus Chrifi crucified 
with four nails, and fometimes with three. The cri¬ 
minal was fixed to the crofs quite naked; and in all 
probability the Saviour of the world was not ufed with 
any greater tendernefs than others upon whom this pu¬ 
nifhment was infiiCted. Sometimes they who were faf- 
tened upon the crofs lived a good while in that condition. 
St. Andrew is believed to have continued three days alive 
upon it. Eufebius fpealcs of certain martyrs in Egypt who 
were kept upon the crofs till they were ftarved to death. 
Pilate was amazed at Jefus Chrift dying fo foon ; becaufe 
naturally he muff have lived longer, if it had not been 
in his power to have laid down his life and to take it up 
again. The thighs of the two thieves who were cruci¬ 
fied with our Saviour, were broken, in order to haften 
their death., that their bodies might not remain upon the 
crofs on the fabbath clay, (Jokn, xix. 31, 32, 33.) and 
to comply with the law of Mofes, which forbids the bo¬ 
dies to be left there after fun-fet ; but among other na¬ 
tions, they were fuffered to remain upon the crofs a long 
time. Sometimes they were devoured, while yet alive, 
by birds and hearts of prey. Guards were appointed to 
obferve that’none of their friends or relations fhould take 
them down and bury them. The ftory of the Ephefian 
matron, and the foldier who was fet to guard the crofs,. 
is well known. The Roman foldiers, who had crucified 
Jefus Chrift and the two thieves, continued near the 
u'oifes till the bodies were taken down and buried. 
INVENTION of the CROSS, Inventio Cnicis , an 
ancient feaft, which is ftiil retained in our calendar, and 
folenmized on the 3d of May., in memory of the finding of 
the true crofs of Chrift, deep in the ground, on Mount 
Calvary, by St.. Helena, the mother of Conrtantine, 
where fhe erected a church for the prefervation of part 
of it; the reft; being brought to Rome, and depefited 
in .the church of the Holy Crofs of Jerufakm. 
C R O 
EXALTATION Of the CROSS, an ancient feaft, 
held on the 14th of September, in memory of this, that 
Heraclitus reftored to Mount Calvary the true crofs, in 
642, which had been carried off, fourteen years before, 
by Cofroes, king of Perfia, upon his taking Jerufalem. 
from the emperor Phocas. This feaft is (till retained in 
our calendar, on September 14, under the denomination 
of holy rood or holy crofs. 
ORDER of the CROSS, or CROISADE, an order 
of ladies, inftituted in 1668, by the emprefs Eleonora de 
Gonzagua, wife of the emperor Leopold. 
CROSS, f. The enlign of the Chriftian religion : 
Her holy faith and Chriftian crofs oppos’d 
Again!! the Saxon gods. Rowe. 
A monument with a crofs upon it to excite devotion, 
fuch as were anciently fet in market places; 
She doth ftray about 
By holy crofis, where (he kneels and prays. Shakfpeare. 
A line drawn through another.—Money, fo called, 
becaufe marked with a crofs.—He was faid to make 
foldiers fpring up out of the earth to follow him, 
though he had not a crofs to pay them (alary. Howell . 
— Crofs and Pile, a play with money ; at which it is put 
to chance whether the fide, which bears a crofs, (hall 
lie upward, or the other. In all coins or medals, the 
right fide or face is called the crofs, the under fide cr 
back, the pile or reverfe .—This I humbly conceive to be 
perfect boy’s play ; crofs, I win ; and pile, you lofe ; or, 
what’s your’s is mine, and what’s mine is my own. Swift. 
Church lands in Ireland.—The abfolute palatines made 
their own judges, fo as the king’s w'rit did not run in 
thole counties, but only in the church lands lying within 
the fame, which were called the crofs ; wherein the king 
made a flierifF; fo in each in thefe counties palatines 
there was one fherifF of the liberty, and another of the 
crofs. Sir J. Davies .—Any thing that thwarts or obftruCts ; 
misfortune ; hindrance ; vexation ; oppreflion ; mifad- 
venture ; trial of patience : 
Then let us teach our trial patience, 
Becaufe it is a cuftomary crofs. Skakefpeare. 
Heaven prepares good men with croffes ; but no ill can 
happen to a good man. Ben Joifon .—Hence the proverb, 
that 
“ Crosses are ladders that lead to heaven.” Be¬ 
caufe, in time of affliction, we are apt to look back upon 
the caufes of our troubles and misfortunes ; and, if we 
judge impartially, we generally find, even without hav¬ 
ing recourfe to divine juftice, that they are owing to our 
own vice, imprudence, and nrifmanagement; and fuch 
reflections are fo many fteps towards amendment, and 
confequentiy in our way to heaven. 
CROSS, inftead of a iignature put to a deed or writing, 
is derived from the Saxon practice of affixing the fignof 
the crofs, whether they could write or not. 
CROSS, in Surveying, an inftrument confiding of a 
brafs circle, divided into four equal parts, by two lines 
crofting each other in the centre. At each extremity of 
thefe lines is fixed a perpendicular fight, witli fmall 
holes below each flit, for the better difeovering of dif- 
tant objefts. The crofs is mounted on a ftaff or Hand 
to fix it in the ground, and is very ufeful for meafuring 
fmall pieces of land, taking offsets, &c. 
CROSS, adj. Tran(verie ; falling athwart fomething 
elfe.—The fun, in that (pace of time, by his annual 
contrary motion eaftward, will be advanced near a degree 
of the ecliptick, erfs to the motion of the equator. 
Holder. —The (hips mud needs encounter, when they 
either advance towards one another in direCt lines, or 
meet in the interfection of crofs ones. Bentley. —Oblique | 
lateral; 
Was this a face, 
To ftand againft the dee.p dread-bolted thunder. 
In the moft terrible and nimbleXtroke 
Of quick crojs lightning ? Skakefpeare. 
Adverfe; 
