Although a Christian might not recognize these gods as gods, he is told to beware lest he seem to give them honor by adorning his gates with lamps or wreaths. “Indeed, a Christian will not even dishonor his own gate with laurel crowns,” says Tertullian, “if so be he knows how many gods the devil has attached to doors.” And his words of warning are: “Since there are beings who are adored in entrances [doorways], it is to them that both the lamps and laurels will pertain. To an idol you will have done whatever you shall have done to an entrance [or doorway].” “If you have renounced [heathen] temples, make not your own gate a [heathen] temple.” Yet, in proof of the prevalence of this heathen custom among Christians, Tertullian testifies: “‘Let your works shine,’ says He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-wreaths than of Christians.” In Guatemala, in Central America, “the god of houses” is called Chahalka; and the blood of sacrifices to him is sprinkled on the door of the houses as an assurance of his protection.[260] It was much the same in the Old World as in the New. In ancient and in modern times, and in widely different portions of the world, there are indications that the threshold of the home was the primitive altar; and that the side-posts and lintel of the doorway above the threshold bore symbols or inscriptions in proof of the sacredness of the entrance to the family home, and in token of an accomplished covenant with its guardian God, or gods. ----- Footnote 1: See Trumbull’s _Blood Covenant_, passim. Footnote 2: See Trumbull’s _Blood Covenant_, pp. 191 f., 370; also Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, I., 183–185. Footnote 3: These facts I have obtained at different times in personal conversations with intelligent natives of Syria and of Egypt. It will be seen, later, how they are verified in the record of similar customs elsewhere. Footnote 4: See Hopkins’s _Religions of India_, p. 362 f. Footnote 5: _Ibid._, with references to Mahabharata, II., 21, 14, 53; X., 8, 10. Footnote 6: _Ibid._, with references to Laws of Manu, IV., 73, and to Gaut. 9 : 32. Footnote 7: John 10 : 1, 2, 9, 10. Footnote 8: See Lund’s _Every-day Life in Scandinavia in the Sixteenth Century_, p. 16, with note 36; also, the _Njals Saga_. Footnote 9: See Smith’s _Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiq._, s. vv. “Athletae” and “Olympic Games;” also Gardner’s _New Chapters in Greek History_, p. 299. Footnote 10: See London _Folk-Lore Journal_, I., 92. Footnote 11: These facts were given me by a member of the vice-consul’s family, who witnessed the ceremony. The preparations were made before the arrival of General Grant; and they were not prominent in the sight of himself or party. They were simply the customs of the country. Footnote 12: Prof. A.H. Sayce, in London _Folk-Lore_, I., 523. Footnote 13: Comp. with p. 5, _supra_.