[211] Book vii., chap. xxi. [212] See Ezek. viii., 14-18. [213] Jer. vii., 17-19. [214] Pp. 224, 226. [215] _The Cross, Ancient and Modern_, by Willson W. Blake, illustrated, pp. 18, 19, New York. [216] _The Cross, Heathen and Christian_, by Mourant Brock, M.A., pp. 18, 57-59, London. [217] Died 460 A.D. [218] Boissier gives a minute account of the vision of Constantine and its effects in leading him to favor Christianity. He quotes from Lactantius, tutor of Constantine’s sons, who describes the vision of the Emperor in his treatise, _The Death of the Persecutors_. This summary, given by Boissier, shows that the sign which Constantine saw in his vision, and which he engraved upon his military standard, was not the cross proper, but the monogram known as the Chi-Ro. It is described by Lactantius in these words: “The letter ‘X’ crossed by a bar, the top of which was gently recurved, forming thus the monogram of Christ”--(_cf._ _La Fin du Paganisme_). [219] _Antiquities_, etc., book xvi., chap. v., sec. 6. [220] Hom. viii., _On Colossians_. [221] Homily liv., ¶ 7, _On the Gospel of St. Matthew_. [222] _Scorpiace_, xv. [223] _Antiquities_, book xi., chap. ix., sec. 5. [224] _Antiquities_, book xi., chap. x., secs. 3 and 4. [225] Tractate 118, _On the Gospel of St. John_. [226] Epists. 64 and 69. [227] _Lives of the Fathers_, by F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S., vol. i., pp. 332, 333, Edinburgh, 1889. [228] Socrates, _Eccl. History_, book vii., chap. iv. [229] _Ibid._, chap. xvii. [230] _Antiquities_, book ii., chap. ii. [231] _Antiquities_, book ii., chap. vi., sec. 3. [232] _Antiquities_, book xi., chap. vii., sec. 7. [233] _The City of God_, book xxii., chap. viii. CHAPTER XIII. SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. Lights in Worship--Worshipping “toward the East”--Easter Fires--Beltane or Baal Fires--Penance--Mariolatry--The Mass--Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead--Peter’s Keys--Christmas--Easter--Lent, etc. Sun-worship, as the dominant cult in all pagan systems, furnished more elements of corruption than any other. Lights in Worship. The pagan origin of lights in worship is universally acknowledged. Their use was sharply condemned in the earlier times.[234] The Synod of Elviri (305 or 306 A.D.) condemned their use in cemeteries, where they already formed a part of the services for the dead. Canon 34 reads: “It is forbidden to light wax candles during the day in cemeteries for fear of disquieting the spirits of the saints.” Baronius explains this as follows: “Many Neophytes brought the custom from paganism of lighting wax candles upon tombs. The Synod forbids this, because, metaphysically, it troubles the souls of the dead; that is to say, this superstition wounds them.”