Thomas or
to the cunning device of the Evil One. The hallowed symbol challenged
their attention on every hand and in almost every variety of form. It
appeared on the bass-reliefs of ruined and deserted as well as on those
of inhabited palaces, and was the most conspicuous ornament in the great
temple of Gozumel, off the coast of Yucatan. According to the particular
locality, and the purpose which it served, it was formed of various
materials--of marble and gypsum in the open spaces of cities and by the
way-side; of wood in the teocallis or chapels on pyramidal summits and
in subterranean sanctuaries; and of emerald or jasper in the palaces of
kings and nobles.
When we ask the question how it comes that the sign of the Cross has
thus been reverenced from the highest antiquity by the races of the Old
and New Worlds, we learn that it is a reminiscence of the Garden of
Eden, in other words, of Atlantis.
Professor Hardwicke says:
"All these and similar traditions are but mocking satires of the old
Hebrew story--jarred and broken notes of the same strain; but with all
their exaggerations they intimate how in the background of man's vision
lay a paradise of holy joy--a paradise secured from every kind of
profanation, and made inaccessible to the guilty; a paradise full of
objects that were calculated to delight the senses and to elevate the
mind a paradise that granted to its tenant rich and rare immunities, and
that fed with its perennial streams the tree of life and immortality.
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