cross-over of the equator by the sun at the Vernal Equinox, of the
bounteous harvests of summer after the dearth of devastating winter;
bidding us ever hope, not indeed for the avoidance of death and
therefore of defeat, but for such victory as may happen to lay in
survival or resurrection.

It is therefore clear that even if we _could_ prove that the instrument
of execution to which Jesus was affixed was cross-shaped, it would not
necessarily follow that it was as the representation of the cause of
His death which we now deem it, that the figure of the cross became our
symbol of Life and Victory.

In any case honesty demands that we should no longer translate as
"cross" a word which at the time our Gospels were written did not
necessarily signify something cross-shaped. And it is equally incumbent
upon us, from a moral point of view, that we should cease to render as
"crucify" or "crucified" words which never bore any such meaning.



CHAPTER II.

THE EVIDENCE OF MINUCIUS FELIX.

The Fathers who wrote in Latin, used the word _crux_ as a translation
of the Greek word _stauros_. It is therefore noteworthy that even this
Latin word "crux," from which we derive our words "cross" and
"crucify," did not in ancient days necessarily mean something
cross-shaped, and seems to have had quite another signification as its
original meaning.