The Gospel in the Stars I

I will begin to post my notes on "The Gospel in the Stars," a class I taught at our local Bible school a couple years ago.

Syllabus

First Class - The Gospel before Moses I
Second Class - The Gospel before Moses II
Third Class - The Gospel before Moses III
Fourth Class - The Sign of Virgo
Fifth Class - The Sign of Libra
Sixth Class - The Sign of Scorpio
Seventh Class - The Sign of Sagittarius
Eighth Class - The Sign of Capricorn
Ninth Class - The Sign of Aquarius
Tenth Class - The Sign of Pisces
Eleventh Class - The Sign of Aries
Twelfth Class - The Sign of Taurus
Thirteenth Class - The Sign of Gemini
Fourteenth Class - The Sign of Cancer
Fifteenth Class - The Sign of Leo
Sixteenth Class - The Lunar Zodiac

Possible Other Topics

1. Gospel in the Pyramid
2. Other Witnesses

Ancient Witnesses to the Gospel Story

1. The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
2. Mazzaroth or the ancient Zodiac (gospel in the stars)
3. Names of Adam's first descendents
4. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel
5. The names of the Sabbath Week
6. Tabernacle and Temple

Some others believe that the gospel story was also written in

1. The pyramids of Egypt, especially those of Giza.
2. The Sphinx

The First Gospel Revelation or The Proto-Evangelium

"And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3: 13-19)

Allusions to the Ancient Prophecy

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." (Romans 16: 20)

"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat." (Isa. 65: 25)

The above verses in Genesis give us the story of the fall of Adam, the fall of mankind. We have all the main characters. Lord God, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and the earth with all its animal and planet lilfe. The fall of man is here viewed as the work of the "serpent." Who this is we should have no doubt. Wrote John:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev. 12: 9)

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." (20: 12)

Clearly Satan possessed this reptilian creature, choosing it. Since that time, "the serpent" has been one of the titles of Satan.

Titles and their Meanings

1. "The Old Serpent" - the Deceiver, the Crafty (subtle) one, the Destroyer, the Tempter (Seducer)

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (II Cor. 11: 3)

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." (Rev. 9: 11)

2. "The Devil" ("daimonion" and "diabolos") - evil spirit, false accuser, slanderer.

"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." (Rev. 12: 10)

3. "Satan" ("Satanas") - the Adversary (foe, enemy) of God and man.

4. "The Dragon" ("drakōn") - Leviathan, Sea Monster

"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)

When the scriptures refer to Satan under these titles, his various powers are denominated. Satan's power is called "the power of darkness." (Luke 22: 53) When he is referred to as "the dragon," his earthly political power is generally foremost.

Of course, there are other figures or symbols of Satan in scripture, such as that of a poisonous snake, a wolf, a lion, scorpion, etc.

The Serpent brought death, woe, and the curse. By the promise of God, however, the Seed of the woman will "restore," and "redeem," and "deliver" from the destructive work of the Serpent.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2: 14)

"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 20, 21)

"For the earnest expectation of the creature (all of creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature (all of creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature (all of creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8: 19-23)

Eve was looking for the coming of her "seed" for her deliverance, for when Cain, her firstborn, came forth from her womb, she said - "I have gotten a man, the Lord." She soon realized that Cain was not that illustrious "seed." She then bore Abel, but her hopes of Abel being the promised Deliverer and Redeemer, were dashed, for he was killed by his brother. Next she bore Seth whose name means "appointed," possibly thinking that he might be the one appointed to be the blessed seed. Many people might have even supposed that Noah was the One promised, for his name denoted "rest" or "comfort," the kind that only the promised Deliverer would bring.

"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." (Gen. 5: 29)

"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of (Hebrew) women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all (gods)." (Dan. 11: 37)

This verse is not saying that AntiChrist will be homosexual, but that he will not "regard" God or his Son Jesus, the one whom Eve and all godly women desired to be mother to. The "desire of women" here is described as a deity, and is a clear allusion to the promise of Genesis 3: 15, 16. Thus, the "seed" becomes known by his other titles, such as "seed of the woman," the "desire of women," the "desire of all nations," or simply "the desired one," "Redeemer" and "Restorer," "Savior" and "Deliverer," the "Warrior" who would fight and subdue the Serpent, the "Victor," the "Lamb," the sacrificial victim, etc. The first believers of the gospel placed their hopes and trust in this blessed promise of their creator.

Gospel Before Abraham

"And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us..." (Luke 1: 69-71)

"...the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation..." (Luke 11: 50)

"...the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 21)

The Prophet Enoch

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 15: 15)

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God...By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11: 4, 5, 7)

Adam, the First Man

"Adam was the greatest amongst mere mortals that ever the world possessed."

"It is also a matter of inspired record that God gave to Adam special revelations. After his fall Jehovah made known to him His purposes concerning the Serpent and it's seed and the woman and her Seed. The whole Gospel revelation and promise was therein included, and was given to him, not for himself alone, but to be made known to all his posterity as the great and only hope of man."

Seth

"What Adam knew, Seth would thus also know, and so would Enoch. And living contemporaneously together for more than two, three, or five ordinary lifetimes, there was the sublimest opportunity for them to observe, construct, and mature just such a system as astronomy presents, inwoven as it is with all the great facts, features, and hopes embraced in the promised redemption by the Seed of the woman. In fact, it was the one great and only opportunity in the history of our race for such an accomplishment."

"And what Adam and his believing children did not know simply as men, they would still know as prophets, which they certainly were."

"Under God, they were the great founders of the world, and were fully cognizant of the fact. They were the great appointed teachers of the world from the very nature of the case. They were the first great prophets of the world, the original recipients of the revelation of God's purposes of redemption through the promised Seed of the woman, and as such were under bonds to make known the facts, explain their import, and use every means of recording and transmitting to all men the knowledge of them. They lived nearly a thousand years, and so had ample time for observation, study, and thorough elaboration to bring the work to finished perfection before being required to leave it. And over them were the virgin stars, only waiting to be named and grouped, and hung with the records and symbols of the precious treasures of promise and prophecy on which the world's hopes depended, that they might become the everlasting witnesses to men of the God-given faith and hope which shone in the serene imaginations of these great grand fathers of all sacred prophets...men drew these celestial hieroglyphics, named and grouped the stars, laid out the Zodiacs and their signs, and made the heavens a picture-gallery for all the world, the first and greatest that ever was made, that there mankind might gaze and read the wondrous story of the promised Redeemer, the redemption, and the redeemed."

"And this, and this only, will account for the sacred reverence in which all the ancient peoples held these starry emblems, and even fell to worshipping them and ascribing to them all sorts of divine and prophetic virtues."

http://www.asis.com/users/stag/zodiac.html

Patriarchal Names & Their Significance

Adam, the likeness, of God
Seth, appointed

Eve declared that God had "appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." (Gen. 4:25)

Enos, suffering
Cainan, gaining or purchasing a possession
Mahalaleel, the shining forth of God
Jared, he shall come down
Enoch, training, teaching
Methuselah, from death he releases
Lamech, being smitten
Noah, he gives rest or comfort

When we link the names of these ten pre-Flood patriarchs together, they form the following sentence: "Man (is) appointed (a) mortal habitation, (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring the captives comfort." It's the Gospel in a nutshell!

"Such are the meanings of the names of the ten antediluvian Patriarchs. Early Christian tradition has said, that in them is contained the whole scheme of the Gospel."

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

"Seth, to whom is attributed the invention of these Signs, seems to have desired to call his descendants by names alluding to the prophecies expressed in them. He might observe that the divinely given name of Adam, the likeness, would accord with the divinely ordained sacrifice. The Lamb was the appointed likeness of the coming of the second Adam, whose redemption he had typified in the emblems he had chosen..."

"The name which his mother had given to himself would also agree with the next of his emblems. He, whose coming in power the chief of the herd prefigured, was also the appointed. In the following eight names the correspondence is so close, as to indicate design. If that design was to follow out the analogy of the Signs, two more names were required: we find them in Shem and Arphaxad, in whom was continued the line of the promised Messiah."

Shem, ordained, set up
Arphaxad, supporting the assembly

"It has been observed that the names of the antediluvian patriarchs, as enumerated in Genesis 5 and 1 Chronicles 1, contain the whole scheme of the Gospel. The assertion has been differently explained by different expositors; all however agree in referring it to the meanings of the names in Hebrew."

"In this genealogy we have the authority of the context for the intentional application of the name of Noah. We may therefore infer that the intermediate names were also given with some intended application of their ancient Hebrew significations. Their roots are to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, used in the sense here attributed to them, which, in some instances, differs from the meanings heretofore given, where the texts in which the words are used have not been referred to by those who explained them.

If these successive names be found to form a sentence containing a meaning, it appears probable that the meaning was designedly expressed; if this meaning contain prophecy, it shows that a revelation had been given. That it does contain prophecy may be made clear to the English reader as follows:—

"The likeness of God, appointed, suffering. Gaining a possession, the shining forth of God, He shall come down. Dedicated, from death he releases, being smitten. He gives rest, ordained, supporting the assembly."

Each of these four lines in the original would consist of three words. Such is the measure of the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32, and such that of Lamech in the line of Cain, which has often been cited as the earliest poetry. The tradition that these names contain the whole scheme of the Gospel is corroborated by the somewhat similar meanings in the names of Cain's posterity. In the line from which the Messiah was to descend, the names are more clearly expressive of the prophecy, and given in such succession as to convey it. In the family of Cain, they are only as it were a faint echo of the promise made to the common ancestor. The eldest son of Cain was called Enoch, dedicated, probably because, as the firstborn, he was to be the religious as well as temporal head of the family. Such was the birthright which Esau failed to recover, though he sought it with many tears. To the name of Irad, the next in succession, the meaning usually annexed is that of "a wild ass," in Syriac, untamed, in Arabic, hard to subdue, as if inheriting the temper of his grandfather Cain: the next, Mehujael, declaring God, written by the Sept. as they write Mahalaleel, and having nearly the same signification. Methusael, his death is required, may set forth the doctrine taught by the rite of sacrifice. These two last names encourage the hope that the promise of the coming Saviour was not wholly disregarded among the Cainites. The name of Lamech, sixth in the line of Cain, and eighth in that of Seth, has the same meaning in both: whether it had any reference to his homicide is not known. It is considered that with him polygamy began; and he named his offspring not after spiritual, but temporal good. Jubal, fruit of the earth; Tubal-cain, worldly possession; Zillah, likeness or shadow, as of the parent; Naamah, gracious."

"Had the names of the patriarchs of the chosen family merely individually referred to the promised Redeemer, as did many in later times, their series would not thus have formed a sentence or stanza conveying the prophecies, amplified much beyond what is contained in the promise of the seed of the woman.

If, as antiquity asserts, Seth was the inventor of astronomy, his arrangement of the emblems would account for the sequence of the names of his descendants, most of whom he lived to see. The meanings and order of these names therefore furnish corroborating evidence that such was the origin and intention of the signs.

Were it proved that Chinese or Egyptian chronology went back further than the date usually assigned to the deluge, there might have been transmitted by Noah the history of his ancestors, or of chiefs and dominions in the line of Cain, especially if connected with astronomical data, such as eclipses or conjunctions of the orbs of heaven. Seth has often been supposed by ancient writers to be Hermes Trismegistus."

http://philologos.org/__eb-mazzaroth/204.htm

Prophetic Names - 12 Tribes

Rolleston, under title "NAMES OF THE SONS OF JACOB ACCORDING TO THEIR BIRTH," gives the name and their significance in the following citation from her works.

Reuben, behold a son, the son, arising, pouring out blessings
Simeon, heard, characteristic of the Church
Levi, bound, united, characteristic of the Church
Judah, praise to the Lord, for the coming Messiah
Dan, judging, ruling, his people
Naphtali, wrestling, sufferings at the first coming
Gad, good fortune, blessings at the second coming, (Arab. use.)
Asher, happy, the going forth of the Gospel
Issachar, recompense, or reward, of the Messiah's sufferings
Zebulon, dwelling, as the promised seed at his first coming
Joseph, adding.
Ephraim, fruitful, Gen 41:52; gathering in the Gentiles
Benjamin, son of the right hand, called by his mother, Ben-oni, son of sorrow, the suffering and triumphant Messiah

From http://www.philologos.org/

Taken together, these names tell the story of the gospel.

"Behold the Son," the promised Deliverer, the Seed of the Eve, the Coming One. Look earnestly for and unto him, or "look and live." Him will Lord God "hear" on our behalf, as he represents men before God as priest, granting to him, because of his worthiness, our petitions of salvation. Also, the message is "hear him." He "unites" himself with the fallen race by incarnation, by his becoming one with men in his nature, voluntarily binding himself and uniting God and men thereby. Praise to the Lord for this act of mercy and grace, for his coming to our aid. Praise to the Son who dies and who is the Lord himself. He will come to rule and to judge, the divine harvester and separater of men, wrestling and fighting with the enemy, and obtaining victory for us, a "good fortune," a "happy" destiny, free from all curse and sorrow, dispensing to many the "reward" of Messiah's victorious mission, an eternal "dwelling" or "resting place," an "eternal inheritance," who will "add" to what was lost, giving greater blessing than was enjoyed in Eden, a far superior "fruitful" earth and blessing, being exalted to the right hand of God with the Son.

The Bible on the Stars

1. Stars in the Bible are mentioned in the singular and plural (star vs. stars)
2. Sometimes we read of "the star," referencing a single particular star
3. Sometimes we read of "stars," where reference is to a particular group of stars or to the totality of them
4. "Wandering stars" (Jude 1: 13) are the seven planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and are contrasted with the fixed stars.
5. Stars are named by God - "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4 & Isa. 40: 6)
6. Stars are not only given individual names, but group of stars are also named (such as Pleiades, Orion, and The Crooked Serpent - Job 26: 13; 38: 31)
7. Stars are placed into groups by 1) proximity 2) Magnitude of brilliance
8. Stars are signs and symbols of

a. Christ (Rev. 22: 16)
b. Children of God (Dan. 12: 3)
c. Angels (cherubim and seraphim, etc. - Job 38: 7)
d. Pastors (Rev, 2 & 3)
e. Satan and his angels
f. false gods (Amos 5: 26 & Acts 7: 43)

9. Stars were created by God to be "lightbearers" and to be for "signs" (Gen. 1: 14)
10. The star constellations, or Mazzaroth (Job 38: 32), was the first zodiac, inspired by God and written by Adam, Seth, and Enoch
11. Stars are characterized by their radiance, brilliance, and glory (aura)
12. Stars differ in "glory" (I Cor. 15: 41) or in "magnitude" or effulgence
13. Stars are called the "host" of heaven, as if marching in ranks.

The Sabbatic Week And The Stars

"It is generally claimed that the Sabbath, and the week of seven days which it marks, date back to the beginning of the race, to the institution of God himself at the completion of the great creation-work. But that system of the seven days is essentially bound up with these selfsame astronomical notations. We find among all the ancient nations—Chaldeans, Persians, Hindoos, Chinese, and Egyptians—that the seven days of the week were in universal use; and, what is far more remarkable, each of these nations named the days of the week, as we still do, after the seven planets numbering the Sun and Moon among them. Hence we say Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco or Tuves'-day (Tuisco being the Anglo-Saxon name for Mars), Woden's-day (Woden being the same as Mercury), Thor's-day (Thor being the same as Jupiter), Frigo-day (Friga or Freiya being the same as Venus), and lastly, Saturn-day, anciently the most sacred of the seven. The order is not that of the distance, velocity, or brilliancy of the orbs named, neither does the first day of the week always coincide among the different nations; but the succession, no matter with which of the days begun, is everywhere the same. It is impossible to suppose this mere accident or chance; and the fact forces the conclusion that the devising and naming of the seven days of the week dates back to some primitive representatives of the race, from whom the tradition has thus generally descended, and who at the same time knew and had regard to the seven planets as enumerated in the primeval astronomy."

"It appears from the most ancient records, that among all nations the period of seven days was used from time immemorial. It is traced in the account given of the Deluge in the book of Genesis (Gen 8: 10, 11), and in the scarcely less ancient book of Job (Job 1:6, and 2:1, where the Hebrew is the day). By the Hebrews, Arabs, and Persians the seven days were distinguished, as in the history of the creation, by numbers, as day one, &c. - a form considered to be of the highest antiquity."

"The succession of the planetary names in the week, as found in all ages and climates, may also be accounted for by the planets having been first recognized in that order. If by Adam, as here suggested, and from him made known to Noah, the wide diffusion of the traditional succession may be understood, which is otherwise unintelligible, neither according with magnitude, brightness, nor time of revolution."

"In the arrangement of these planets so as to be discovered in this order, there might be foreshown the course of prophecy: the sun in daily return proclaiming that He who was to come, shall come, shall go, and shall return; the moon, that even in His absence His light shall illuminate the darkness of the earth; Mars, by all his equivalent names expressing that He should bruise the enemy, but Himself receive the wounds beheld by the prophet, with which He should be wounded in the house of His friends (Zech 13: 6); in Mercury, the consoling prospect that He should return with intensified luster; in Jupiter, the reign of truth and righteousness; in Venus, the beauty of His sister-spouse (Song 4: 9, 10) the Church; in Saturn, the rest that shall remain for the people of God."

"As, however, the Arabs, through whom we receive the names of the stars, and the Hebrews, through whom we receive the prophecies with which they are shown to correspond, did not annex the names of the sun, moon, and five planets to the days of the week, that annexation might seem to be a contrivance of later days than those of the invention of the celestial emblems, of those days when, as in the time of Job, men had begun to pay undue reverence to the orbs of heaven "walking in their brightness." If, however, this application to the days of the week be of later origin and inferior authority, still the arrangement of the names in the order here shown to be accordant with prophecy, may have been part of the lesson of divine truth, intended by the early fathers of mankind for their posterity, to be nightly read in the golden characters of the starry heaven: an arrangement commemorating at once the order of their appearing to the eyes of man, and the development of those promises on which hang the hopes of his future destiny, solving the great enigma of the restoration of a ruined world."

"The division into years, months, and days depended on natural causes; but that into weeks is not so dependent, four weeks not being exactly equal to a lunar revolution; a tradition older than the dispersion of mankind can alone account for it, that tradition being of the seven days or periods of creation."

"The week was not in the calendar of the Greeks, who divided the month into three periods of ten days; and it was not adopted by the Romans until the time of Theodosius, in the latter part of the fourth century of our era. There is properly no word in the Latin classics equivalent to the term week."

"Some religious persons have had a great objection to speak of the days of the week by the names in common use. Many do not like to call the Lord's Day Sunday, but to those who have been brought up so to speak, it may be useful to remember that the Sun is the Scripture type or emblem of the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, as making Himself known to mankind, as it were shining on them. That Oriental name of the Sun, Shemish,* most used in Hebrew and Arabic for the Sun, means ministering, as the Sun ministers light, and as Christ's abode on earth is often called His ministry, giving light to the souls as the Sun to the bodies of men; but in other Eastern dialects names are used signifying who cometh, another attribute of the Sun peculiarly befitting him as the type of the great theme of prophecy, the Sun of righteousness who should arise with healing on His wings, "He who should come" (Matt 11:3; Luke 7:19,20)."

"In calling the next day Monday, or the Moon's day, we may also remember that the Moon is the Scriptural type of the visible Church of Christ. Every day of the week should be in some sort a day for the Lord, and the remaining five days bear traces in their names of those ancient prophecies of Christ, from which the Gentiles formed many of their idols. The third day some of the Northern nations named after their hero-god, Tuisco, who like Mars ((#y) was called the god of war, but the Oriental root of his name means, who saves; therefore in using our name of this day, Tuesday, He might be remembered to whom the name best applies, and from a traditional prophecy of whom it originated. Wednesday, called the day of Mercury, said by the Romans to be the son of Jupiter and to have power over the souls of the dead, in many other particulars showing that here too we have a tradition of ancient prophecy concerning Christ, by our Northern ancestors was named, as was their demigod or great hero, Woden or Odin, whose name means Judge or Lord, and is nearly the same word as that used in Psalm 110 of the Messiah; here again let us think of Him, rather than of the heathen hero. Thursday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Thor, the god of heaven, and of thunder and lightning; one meaning of the name Thor is light, but it also means, who bruises or is bruised, as Christ the Seed of the woman in the original prophecy, concerning which they evidently had some tradition, but it was also by some understood as referring to light, whence he was considered as the god of the Sun and of lightning;* and was not Christ revealed as the true light? John 1.

Friday the Northerns named after a goddess whose Roman name Venus means gracious, or beloved, and whose Greek name Aphrodite, and Northern name Freyga or Freya, means, bearing fruit, fruitful, as a branch, and from the Northern name of Freya we call this day Friday, on which Christ died upon the cross for His people, His Church, whose duty to Him and to each other we may remember in so naming the sixth day of the week.

Saturday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Sater, a name which means to hide, and it may remind us that on this day our Lord's body was hidden in the grave.

Surely those Christians who use these names should be glad to remember, that however corrupted to the service of idolatry, they had a foundation in the ancient prophecies still to be traced among all the children of Adam."

Sunday, think of Him who rose,
Who comes again even as He goes;
Monday, think how in His light
His faithful Church is calm and bright;
Tuesday, of His pierced side,
Wounded for His sister-bride;
Wednesday, of His sure return,
Soon may we that day discern;
Thursday, of His truth and love
Shining on us from above;
Friday, of His hour of anguish,
Lest our love of Him should languish;
Saturday, His silent grave,
Dying those He loved to save.
Misc. Scriptures

"He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4)

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth. * Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isa. 40: 6)

"Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion..." (Amos 5: 8)

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" (Job 38: 31, 32)

"By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." (Job 26: 13)

"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)

"They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." (Judges 5: 20)

"Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night..." (Jer. 31: 35)

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." (Gen. 15: 5)

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II Peter 1: 19)

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isa. 14: 12)

"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38: 7)

"And I will give him the morning star." (Rev. 2: 28)

"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Rev. 22: 16)

"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." (Rev. 8: 10, 11)

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit..." (Rev. 9: 1, 2)

"Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." (Isa. 47: 13)

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)

"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deut. 4: 19)

"Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:14-15)

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." (Rev. 12: 1, 2)