In the first book of Kings [ch. xi.] it is recorded that Solomon among his wives, had many Sidonians,—that they "turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.—For Solomon went after [worshipped] Ashtoreth, the Goddess of the Sidonians." (i. e. Tyrians.)
It was in consequence of this departure from The God of Israel, that Ahijah prophecied to Jeroboam, that he should have Ten of the Tribes of Abraham for his kingdom, in the time of Solomon's Son and successor,—Rehoboam. Ashtoreth is Astartē: the Goddess of the Sidonians and Tyrians,—they are one and the same.
Without attempting here a refutation of the assertion by atheistical or deistical writers, that the monogram of Christ (☧) was known six centuries before The Nativity,—it will be sufficient for our present purpose to establish, that the Cross was a Tyrian emblem, more than three hundred years anterior to the time of Tiberius,—for of that period (332 B. C.) we must again remark, we are illustrating. It was, also, known in the time of Solomon, for he worshipped the Tyrian Astartē,—whose symbol was the Cross,—and this was more than one thousand years before the Crucifixion!
Here then is a more remote period for a knowledge of the Cross, as an emblem, than that assumed by sceptics;—it is brought forward because it is the truth,—and why did not deistical writers trace it to the time of Solomon?—they knew, if they did, that it would prove a strong link in the chain of Christianity, and therefore, for their own purposes they avoided it! We will shew this as we proceed.
In Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, is found a pictorial representation of the Coins of ancient nations. In the plates giving those of Sidon and Tyrus (both must be viewed as one) is the figure of Astartē, surrounded by the words "The Sidonian Goddess" in the old Phœnician characters. She is standing on the fore part of a galley (emblem of Tyrian navigation)—full robed,—the classic measure on her head,—a branch in her right hand (emblem of peace and reward)—and in her left hand a long Cross (emblem of war and punishment)—the proportions are the same as the sacred one used at Mount Calvary:—it is upright, and slightly inclines, like a sceptre, across the inner part of the upper arm of the Goddess. The following are Calmet's remarks on the Coins.
"No. 4. Astarte,—holding the Cross;—standing on a Ship (galley): the measure on her head," &c.
"No. 12. Astarte standing in her Temple,—holding the long Cross in her hand—the shell, supposed to allude to the Tyrian dye;—in the exergue,—An Altar (i. e. of perpetual fire) burning before the Temple," &c.
It will be observed that the above manner of alluding to the Cross of the Tyrian Goddess, is too positive (and with the coins as witnesses) to admit even of a doubt of its being an emblem of the Tyrians, and many centuries before the period contemplated by this volume, viz. 332 B. C. They then possessed the Cross, and among the ancients they appear to have been the only people,—with the exception of the Egyptians, who probably copied it from the Phœnicians, to illustrate their own worship of the Moon,—the Egyptian emblem was thus—( ♀ )—and this has been falsely called the sacred monogram,—for the Moon is shewn by the circle—and the Cross was her general emblem.
Astartē carried a Cross merely as an emblem of punishment, as her olive, or palm-branch was emblematical of reward,—Solomon worshipped her, and her attributes, upon his leaving the One God:—from David descended the husband of The Saviour's Mother, as, also, the Virgin herself, and after the Crucifixion, the Cross became the emblem of Salvation!—and was no more viewed as a Symbol of Idolatry, as in the time of David's Son, or of a degraded death as in the time of Tyberius:—may there not, in this very change of the character of the emblem, in regard to its attribute of worship,—from punishment to atonement, and by the converted disciples from the same "chosen people," be a mysterious token of the great precept by the Divine GOD,—that from Evil cometh Good? We believe every thing tending to the Glory of the CREATOR: and even if the monogram used by Constantine did exist centuries before the time of CHRIST,—but which we deny,—yet viewing that subject with an eye of faith it would be found to illustrate the Prophets, and not detract from them or their Prophecies. We have digressed,—the reader requires no apology,—the subject will speak for us.