"It is strange y yet unquestionably a fact that in ages long before the birth of Christ and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. The Ar yan tribes ancestors of most of the European nations so regarded a cross of curious form whose four equal arms were all turned midway at a right angle. The excavations of Dr. Schliemann on the site of ancient Troy have brought to light discs of baked clay stamped with a cross. It is well known that the crux ansata or Tau Cross (T) sometimes with the addition of a ring as if for suspension at the top is found in Egyptian inscriptions. The Greek Bacchus the Tyrian Tammuz the Chaldean Bel and the Norse Odin were all symbolized to their votaries by a cruciform device. The Spanish conquerors of Mexico found the cross already an object of reverence among the Aztecs car ved on temple walls on amulets and on potter y ; so too in North America specimens of shell-work engraved with crosses of various forms have been unearthed from mounds raised by the native Indian tribes."