"The cross has become for ages the symbol of grief divinely borne; has it not, generation after generation, been hid in the bosoms of thousands, sustaining the soul of self-denial, and reminding them not to faint beneath the cross of life? Has it not met the eye of many a lonely captive, and allowed him to forget his chains, and from its meek image spread through his dungeon the holiest light? Has it not kept watch with the mother by night, as she bent over her sick child, and been to her soul as a star amid the infinite darkness of her sorrow? Pressed to the lips of the living, and softly laid upon the breast of the dying, it has warmed the love of the Christian while he stays, and given him trust when 'tis time to go."

Martineau.