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Warm the Temple of Serapis was torn down and laid bare, 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, appropriated and applied them to their
respective religions: for the Christians who affirm that the cross is
the sign of Christ's saving passion, claimed this character as
peculiarly theirs; but 'it symbolizes one thing to Christians and
another to heathens.' Whilst this point was controverted amongst
them, some of the heathen converts to Christianity, who were
conversant with these heiroglyphic characters, interpreted the form of
a cross and said that it signifies ' Life to come.' This the
Christians exultingly laid hold of, as decidedly favorable to their
religion. But after other hieroglyphics had been deciphered containing
a prediction that 'When the cross should appear,'__ for this was
'life to come,"__' the Temple of Serapis would be de were
baptized. Such are the reports I have heard respecting the discovery
of this symbol in form of a cross. But I cannot imagine that the
Egyptian priests foreknew the things concerning Christ, when they
engraved the figure of a cross. For if ' the advent' of our Saviour
into the world 'was a mystery hid from ages and from generations,' as
the apostle declares; and if the devil himself, the prince of
wickedness, knew nothing of it his ministers, the Egyptian priests,
are likely to have been still more ignorant of the matter; but
Providence doubtless purposed that in the enquiry concerning this
character, there should something take place analogous to what happened
heretofore at the preaching of Paul. For he, made wise by the
Divine Spirit, employed a similar method in relation to the
Athenians, and brought over many of them to the faith, when on
reading the inscription on one of their altars, he accommodated and
applied it to his own discourse. Unless indeed any one should say,
that the Word of God wrought in the Egyptian priests, as it did on
Balaam and Caiaphas; for these men uttered prophecies of good things
is spite of themselves. This will suffice on the subject.
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