The Pagans, in celebrating the resurrection of Bacchus, Osiris, etc., who represented the sun, lighted the lamps of their temples with a fire, which the priests obtained by striking a piece of steel with silex, and was called new fire. That day the priests were clothed in white ornaments; the lustral waters were renewed, and also the decorations of the temples: so in every church the Romish priests strike a piece of steel with silex, and obtain a fire called new fire; with it they light the lamps, and the taper called Paschal taper. They renew the holy water, which the people piously carry to their homes, and keep for protection during the storms, etc. The priests change their priestly garments, and clothe in white. The Pagans worshiped the sun under the name of Aries, because the Aries was one of the celestial signs: so the Church of Rome worships Jesus Christ under the form of a lamb. Formerly, the Roman Catholic parents suspended on the necks of their children the symbolic image of a lamb; and the women, instead of wearing a cross, as they do now, wore a lamb. This practice had been introduced by the Romish priests, who sold, as they sell now, Agnus Dei, which have been consecrated with prayers and sprinkled with holy water, as being the emblems of Jesus Christ. A lamb was represented bleeding, and under it was a vessel in which the blood dropped. This practice was in use till the year 680, under the pontificate of the pope Agathon, and under the reign of the emperor Constantine III., surnamed Pogonat. Then it was ordered by the sixth council of Constantinople, canon 82, that a man nailed to a cross should be substituted to the ancient symbol of a lamb. However, this symbol was partly preserved in the church, as seen above. The symbol of a lamb is yet seen on the tabernacle, or small box of marble, or of wood, richly wrought upon, placed on the altar; also on the ostensorium, and on the forepart of the altars. The Pagans placed a sunlike halo around the heads of the statues of Osiris, Bacchus, and other gods, who, in their opinion, represented the sun: likewise in the Church of Rome the priests place the wafer, which, they think, is Jesus Christ himself, in an ostensorium, which is shaped like the disc of the sun; and which represents his beams; the wafer itself is circular. This ostensorium is of silver, or of gold, and adorned with diamonds, or gems. Above the altar a large sun is generally either painted, or carved, or formed with draperies. The Pagans kept in their temples a lamp burning, in the honor of the sun: so, in the Roman Catholic churches a lamp is kept burning, day and night, near the altar, in the honor of Jesus Christ. The Pagans built their temples so that the sanctuary was turned towards the rising sun: likewise, the Roman Catholic churches are built so that the sanctuary be turned towards the rising sun.