Elsewhere we read that "The King of Glory stretched out his right hand,
and took hold of our forefather Adam, and raised him: then, turning
also to the rest, he said, 'Come with me as many as have died through
the Tree which he touched, for behold I again raise you all up through
the Tree of the Stauros.'"[14] Some see in this peculiar pronouncement a
reference to the doctrine of re-incarnation.

In the _Acts and Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Andrew_ we are told that
those who executed Andrew "lifted him up on the stauros," but "did not
sever his joints, having received this order from the pro-consul, for
he wished him to be in distress while hanging, and in the nighttime as
he was suspended to be eaten by dogs." There is nothing to show that
the stauros used was other than an ordinary stauros.

In the _Epistle of Barnabas_ are various references to the stauros;
mixed up with various passages from the Hebrew Scriptures,
quoted--without any justification--as referring to the initiatory rite
of baptism; a rite, be it noted, that was admittedly of Gentile rather
than Israelitish origin, and not unconnected with the Sun-God worship
of the Persians and other Orientals of non-Hebrew race.

The references in question commence with the enquiry, "Let us further
ask whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the Water and the
Stauros?"

Afterwards we have a quotation of _Psalm_ i. 3-6--which likens the good
man to a tree planted by the side of a river and yielding his fruit in
due season--and the pronouncement, "Mark how he has described at once
both the Water and the Stauros. For these words imply, Blessed are they
who, placing their trust in the Stauros, have gone down into the