_Bulla_, was supposed to avert dangers from the children and the wearers
of them. Cardinal Baronius (an eminent Roman Catholic ecclesiastical
historian, born at Sora, in Naples, A. D. 1538) says, that those who
have been baptized carry pendent from their neck an _Agnus Dei_, in
imitation of a devotion of the Pagans, who hung to the neck of their
children little bottles in the form of a heart, which served as
preservatives against charms and enchantments. Says Mr. Cox:

"That ornaments in the shape of a _vesica_ have been popular
in all countries as preservatives against dangers, and
especially from evil spirits, can as little be questioned as
the fact that they still retain some measure of their ancient
popularity in England, where horse-shoes are nailed to walls
as a safeguard against unknown perils, where a shoe is thrown
by way of good-luck after newly-married couples, and where the
villagers have not yet ceased to dance round the May-pole on
the green."[405:4]

All of these are emblems of either the Linga or Yoni.

The use of amulets was carried to the most extravagant excess in
ancient Egypt, and their Sacred Book of the Dead, even in its earliest
form, shows the importance attached to such things.[406:1]

We can say with M. Renan that:

"Almost all our superstitions are the remains of a religion
anterior to Christianity, and which Christianity has not been
able entirely to root out."[406:2]

Baptismal fonts were used by the pagans, as well as the little cisterns
which are to be seen at the entrance of Catholic churches. In the temple
of Apollo, at Delphi, there were two of these; one of silver, and the
other of gold.[406:3]

Temples always faced the east, to receive the rays of the rising sun.
They contained an outer court for the public, and an inner sanctuary for
the priests, called the "_Adytum_." Near the entrance was a large
vessel, of stone or brass, filled with water, made holy by plunging into
it a burning torch from the altar. All who were admitted to the
sacrifices were sprinkled with this water, and none but the unpolluted
were allowed to pass beyond it. In the center of the building stood the
statue of the god, on a pedestal raised above the altar and enclosed by
a railing. On festival occasions, the people brought laurel, olive, or
ivy, to decorate the pillars and walls. Before they entered they always
washed their hands, as a type of