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
representation of an instrument of execution, was made use of by
Christians.

Another point to be remembered is that when Constantine, apparently