lves upon their parentage.--Origen in
"Matthaeum" xv. opera, tom. in. p. 690. Even Cyprian bears honourable
testimony to certain married presbyters. See "Epist." xxxv. p. 111. See
also "Epist." xviii. p. 67. Cyprian himself was indebted for his
conversion to an eminent presbyter, named Caecilius, who had a wife and
children. "Life of Cyprian," by Pontius the Deacon, Sec. 5.

[315:1] Cyprian, "Epist." lxii. p. 219. Concerning the _Subintroductae_,
see also the letter relating to Paul of Samosata in Euseb. vii. 30.

[316:1] Jerome and Athanasius.

[316:2] See Medhurst's "China," p. 217. The symbol of the cross was
engraved on the walls of the temple of Serapis. "When the temple of
Serapis was torn down and laid bare," says Socrates, "there were found
in it, engraven on stones, certain characters, which they call
hieroglyphics, having the forms of crosses. _Both the Christians and
Pagans on seeing them, thought they had reference to their respective
religions_." "Ecc. Hist." v. 17.

[316:3] Prescott, "Conquest of Mexico," in. 338-340. See also note, p.
340. Sir Robert Ker Porter mentions a block of stone found among the
ruins of Susa, having, on one side, inscriptions in the cuneiform
diameter; and, on another, hieroglyphical figures with a cross in the
corner. See his "Travels," vol. ii. p. 415. Among the ancient pagans,
the cross was the symbol of eternal life, or divinity. On medals and
monuments of a date far anterior to Christianity, it is found in the
hands of statues of victory and of figures of monarchs. See also
Tertullian, "Apol." c. 16.

[317:1] Tertullian, "De Praescrip. Haeret." c. 40. See also Kaye's
Tertullian, p. 441. "The ancient world was possessed by a dread of
demons, and under an anxious apprehension of the influence of charms,
sought for external preservatives against the powers of evil, and
accompanied their prayers with external signs and gestures." Bunsen's
"Hippolytus," iii. 351.

[317:2] See Justin Martyr, "Dialogue with Trypho," pp. 259, 318, and
"Apol." ii. p. 90. Tertullian, "Adv. Judaeos," c. 10. In the "Octavius"
of Minucius Felix, the following remarkable passage occurs:--"What are
your military ensigns, and banners, and standards, but crosses gilded
and ornamented? _Your trophies of victory not only imitate the
appearance of a cross, but also of a man fixed to it_. We discern the
sign of a cross in the very form of a ship, whether it is wafted along
with swelling sails, or glides wi