The Red Cross Of Rome And Constantine.

absurdity of the whole thing , and have speedily forgotten all about it . As , however , Bro . Little has mixed up with his rficfcion certain facts , mentioned iu standard work s -of laktory , I have considered ifc my duty to prove

the 'Kfrfcei * fallacy of his historical statements , and 'from 'this to show how little faith can be placed iu his historical claims . And firstly , I shall quote from Dr . William Smith ' s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography

and Mythology ( pub . in London 1867 ) , as regards 'the birthplace of Constantine the Great . Although there are many different opinions respecting this , yet ifc is most probable , and is noio generally Teelieved , that he was born A . D . 272 in Naissus ,

snow Nissa , a well-known town in Dardania , and that he was not " a native of Britain , " as Bro . Little states . In the second place , according to the testimony of all authors who have written on the subject , the luminous trophy of the cross seen

"by Constantine A . D . 312 , when marching against his brother-in-law Licmius ( not Maxentius ) , was inscribed with the Latin words IN HOC SIGNO

VfJetOES , which Eusebius , writing in Greek , 'translated as EN ToTTn NIKA . Therefore the Latin is the correct version , and our old friend Dr-¦ Oliver is wrong again . IBL the last paragraph of his notes , Bro . Little

says : " Viceroy Eusebius , the second officer of a Bed Gross Conclave . This dignitary represents Eusebius BISHOP of NICOHEDIA , who was entrusted "by Constantine with the command , of his body guard , of Christian Knights , & c . " I again opeu

Dr . Smith ' s Dictionary , which every reader of this MAGfAZXNB can refer to , and I find the following ¦ " Easebius of Nicomedeia , the friend and protector of Arius , was maternally connected , though

distantly , with the Emperor Julian , and wees born ¦ about A . D . 324 . He was first Bishop of Berytus ( Beyrouth ) in Syria , and then of Nicomedeia , which Diocletian had made his residence , so that it was in fact the capital of the Eastern Empire , until

Constantine fixed his court at Byzantium . " He first comes under the notice of history by taking the part of Arius after his excommunication by Alexander , Bishop of Alexandria . Indeed , so warmly did he become a partisan of the Arian

heresy , that the Arians were sometimes called Eusebians . Now , according to Bro . R . W . Little , this prelate was entrusted with the command of the body guard of Constantine twelve years before he was bom , as the battle of Saxa Rubra was

The Red Cross Of Rome And Constantine.

fought on the 2 Sth October , A . D . 312 ( not on the 12 th October as Bro . Little states ) . Now , as this must be manifestly " a mockery , a delusion , and a snare , " we must charitably suppose the learned " historian " of the Masonic Order has mixed up

the Bishop of Nicomedeia with his namesake , the Bishop of CJESAREIA , " the father of ecclesiastical history , who was born in Palestine , A . D . 264 , towards the end of the reign of the Emperor Gallenienus " ( see again Dr . Smith , passlm ) , and w ho was therefore neariy 50 years of age at the date of the battle of Saxa Rubra—a rather ad vane ed

stage of life for a bishop of the Christian Church to be in command of a company of body guards r more especially when we know that in A . D . 312 he was quietly dragging out life in a prison in Egypt , where he continued till the end of the

persecution of the Christians . He then returned to Caesaria , and succeeded Agapius as Bishop of thatseeinA . D . 315 , which he continued to hold uuti 1 his death , in A . D . 340 . I have no doubt that his appointment in A . D . 327 , to be present at the Council

ofNiccea to receive Constantine with a panegyrical oration ; or perhaps the fact , of his being the biographer of Constantine , has caused Bro . R . W " Little to invest him with the vice-royalty of the Masonic Order , and . even to actually represent him

in the Conclave by a priestly grade , I can only say that the ancient prelate never either possessed or even dreamt of the honour with which his

soidisant successors have invested him . Again , supposing Eusebius had been at Saxa Rubra , and had taken command of the body guards , would he not have seen the wondrous vision in common with the whole of the army , and have

been able to personally vouch for the truth of the story ? Why then the necessity for him to say ( in his life of Constantine ) that he related the fact of the miraculous appearance of the cross , on the authority of Constantine himself , who " many

years after the event , in the freedom of conversation had related to him this extraordinary incident of his own life , and had attested the faith of it by a solemn oath . " See " Gibbon ' s Decline and Pall of the Roman Empire , " chap . xx .

Gibbon himself takes these facts from the authority of Eusebius . Thus , from the testimony of the "Viceroy" himself , we completely upset the " second officer in tho Red Cross Conclave . ''' The charge of the Imperial standard , or Labamm , which was constructed A . D . 312 , was confided to a chosen guard of 50 young men of