Oct 31, 2011

Gospel in the Stars XIX

THE CONSUMMATED VICTORY

Rev. 5:5: "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of JudaL, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

The scene of these words was in the heavenly spaces, whither the Apostle John had been caught up to witness what is to come to pass after the present Church period comes to its close. They bring to view a great and oppressive sorrow and a great and glorious consolation.

In the hand of enthroned Almightiness lay a roll or document written within and without and sealed with seven seals. That roll denoted the title-deed of the inheritance which man had forfeited by disobedience, and which had reverted into the hand of God, to whom the race had become hopelessly indebted. Those "seven seals" attested the absoluteness of the bonds of forfeit, and bespoke how completely the inheritance was disponed away and gone. Nor could it ever be recovered to man, except as some one should be found with worth, merit, and ability to satisfy the claim, lift the document, and destroy its seals. But neither in heaven or earth nor under the earth did any one appear worthy to take up the writing, or even so much as to look upon it. This was the grief which made the Apostle weep. It seemed to say to him that man's patrimony was clean gone for ever. It drew a dark and impenetrable veil over all the promises and over all man's prospects, as if everything hoped for was now about to fail. Could it be that all the fond anticipations touching " the redemption of the purchased possession" were now to miscarry, and the whole matter, of which the saints had been prophesying so long, go by default? So the matter looked, which was a grief indeed that well might overwhelm the soul of an Apostle, even in heaven.

But, though John "wept much," he was not left to weep long. A voice from among the throned elders soon broke in to relieve his anxiety and dry his tears. That voice said : " Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." This was the consolation which comforted the holy Seer, and which he was directed to write for the cheer and comfort of the sorrowing Church in all these ages since. And what was thus said to John, both in substance and in figure, we likewise find written upon the stars in the twelfth and last sign of the Zodiac and its Decans.

The Lion

The text speaks of a mystic Lion. The lion is a kingly, majestic, noble, but terrible creature, so strong and courageous as to fear nothing, and so fierce and powerful that no other animal can stand before him. The names of the lion in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Coptic, though different, all signify about the same, and mean He that rends, that tears asunder, that destroys, that lays waste. The name in Greek and Latin is formed from words which express sharp and flaming sight, leaping forth as flames, coming with raging vehemence. From this we see how the earlier peoples were impressed by what they saw and knew of this terrible beast. The common sentiment of mankind has associated it with royalty and dominion, and awarded it the title of " king of beasts." It scarcely has an equal in physical strength, which is further combined with extraordinary quickness and agility. Ordained to feed on flesh, it is fitted for the work of capture and destruction, and is supplied with the most powerful physical machinery conceivable for the purpose. It can easily kill and drag away a buffalo, and it can crush the skull of a horse or break the backbone of an ox with one stroke of its paw. Its claws can cut four inches in depth at a single grasp. It has great ivory teeth capable of crunching a bullock's bones. The fall of its fore paw in striking is estimated to be equal to twentyfive pounds in weight, whilst it is able to handle itself with all the nimbleness of a cat, to whose family the lion belongs. The possession of such powers, with its instincts for blood, renders this animal wonderfully daring, bold, and self-confident, and the great terror of men and beasts in the vicinity of its haunts. When the lion is assailed and thoroughly aroused, and lifts himself up in proud contemplation of his foes, though banded in troops around him, his composed, majestic, and defiant mien is described as noble and magnificent beyond conception; whilst the terribleness of his growl and the thunder of his roar contribute to make the picture superhumanly impressive. And this is the image which we are called to contemplate in the text as describing the character and majesty of Christ in connection with the final scenes of the taking of the roll from the hand of eternal Godhead, the breaking of its seals, and the clearing of the earth from all enemies and usurpers.

Christ As The Lion

When the dying Jacob blessed his sons, he pronounced Judah a lion, whom his brethren should praise, whose hand should be in the neck of his enemies, and before whom his father's children would bow down (Gen. 49: 8, 9). His words on that occasion were all intensely prophetic. What he said of Judah applied to the warlike and victorious energy which was afterward shown in that tribe. The same received remarkable fulfilment in David, in whom the lion-nature was strikingly exhibited, and whose boast in the Lord was, "By Thee I can dash in pieces the warlike people. I pursue after mine enemies, and overtake them, and turn again until I have consumed them" (Ps. 18). But these lion qualities assigned to Judah looked onward to a still nobler King, who "sprang out of Judah" as David's lineal descendant and heir, who is at once David's Lord and David's son, and pre-eminently the Lion of whom Jacob spoke.

Under the New Testament, and during the course of the existing Church-period, our Saviour is more commonly contemplated as the innocent, uncomplaining, and spotless Lamb of sacrifice, meekly yielding up His life that we might live. Even among the stupendous works of battle and judgment set forth in the Apocalypse, He still appears again and again as "the Lamb"—"a Lamb as it had been slain," "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"—by whose blood the saints are washed from their sins, their garments made white, and their final victory over all Satan's accusations achieved. And to His people, even as the eternal Bridegroom, He will never cease to be the Lamb of God, by whose sacrificial death and mediation they have their standing and their blessedness. Neither does He cease to be the Lamb even in connection with His being the terrible Lion. The Lamb is capable of wrath, and in the day of His wrath He is the Lion. He is the one to His friends, and He is the other to His enemies. Nay, He does not come to the exercise of His powers and prerogatives as the Lion, except as he first clears away all impediments and overcomes all embarrassments by means of sacrificial atone ment and satisfaction for the sins of those for whom He at length takes the character of the Lion, to tear His and their enemies in pieces. This is what the elder means when he says that this Lion of the tribe of Judah "hath prevailed," so as to be in position of worthiness and ability, as the almighty Redeemer, to go forward as a Lion to take the inheritance by destroying all who have obtruded themselves upon it and presume to hold it in defiance of His royal rights.

The Lion-work

Nor are the Scriptures sparing in their references to this lion-character and lion-work of the glorious Redeemer when things have once come to ripeness for the sharp sickle of judgment. Not only Jacob and Moses, but all the prophets, have alluded to it. Thus the word of the Lord by Hosea (13:7,8) was: "I will be unto them as a lion. I will rend the caul of their heart. I will devour them like a lion." Thus Zephaniah (3 :8) prophesied: "Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." Thus Isaiah (42 : 13), referring to the period of the judgment, says: "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up His jealousy like a man of war: He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies." Thus Amos declares: "The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey?" (1:2; 3:4, 8). "Consider this," saith the Lord (Ps. 50: 22), "ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."

And here, in the sign of Leo, is this very Lion, thoroughly aroused, salient, and full of majesty, the same in all the pictorial Zodiacs of all nations. It is the same "Lion of the tribe of Judah" to which the text refers, for in the Jewish astronomy this twelfth sign was the sign of Judah. He is the Lion of Judah in the text, and He is the Lion of Judah in the Zodiac. The record of the signs and the record of the Word are here precisely identical. The coincidence is positive and absolute, and rests on no mere inferences from mere likeness or concurring circumstances. The picture in the sky is one and the same with the picture in the Revelation as shown to John in his visions in Patmos.

In the Apocalypse the Lion-Lamb takes the roll from the hand of eternal Majesty amid thrills of exultation which shake the whole intelligent universe from centre to circumference. He tears asunder seal after seal, until the very last is reached and broken, and with each there bursts forth a divine almightiness, seizing and convulsing the whole world as it never before was affected. The white horse of conquering power, and the red horse of war and bloodshed, and the black horse of scarcity and famine, and the cadaverous horse of Death with Hades at his heels, dash forth in invincible energy upon the apostate populations of the earth. The heavens are shaken, and seem to collapse like a falling tent, the earth is filled with quaking, the mountains and islands are moved out of their places, and the mightiest and bravest, as well as the weakest, of men are filled with horror and dismay. The great tribulation, the like of which never was and never again shall be, sets in. The golden censers of the heavenly temple, filled with fire from the celestial altar, are emptied into the earth amid cries and thunders and terrific perturbations. The judgment-angels sound their trumpets and pour out the contents of their bowls of wrath, filling the world with burning and bitterness and tripled woe, unloosing hell itself to overrun and deceive and torment the nations, developing all their antichristianism into one great and all-commanding embodiment of consummated iniquity, and gathering its abettors at the last into the great winepress of the wrath of God, to be trodden by the divine Avenger till the blood flows in depth to the horses' bridles for more than a hundred miles, and who will no more give over until the beasts from the abyss, and the Devil, and all theirs, are cast into the burning lake of the second death.

Such is the Lion-work of the Root and Offspring of David as it was shown to the Apostle John, and directed to be written for our learning. And what is thus pictured in the last book of the Scriptures is the same that was fore-intimated and recorded in this last sign of the Zodiac before any one book of our present Bible was written.

The Sign Of Leo

Here is the great Lion in all the majesty of His fierce wrath—Aryeh, He who rends; Al Sad, He who tears and lays waste; Pimentekeon, the Pourer-out of rage, the Tearer asunder; Leon, the vehemently coming, the leaping forth as a consuming fire. The chief star embraced in this figure, situated in the Lion's breast, whence its mighty paws proceed, bears the name of Regel or Regulus, which means the feet which crush, as where it is said of the Messiah that He shall tread upon the serpent and asp, and trample the dragon under His feet (Ps. 91 : 13). The second star in Leo is called Denebola, the Judge, the Lord who cometh with haste. The third star is Al Giebha, the exalted, the exaltation. Other names in the sign are Zosma, the shining forth, the epiphany; Minchir al Asad, the punishing or tearing of him who lays waste; Deneb al Eced, the Judge coming, who seizes or violently takes; and Al Defera, the putting down of the enemy.

As nearly and fully as names can express it, we thus have the same things in the Zodiacal Leo that we find ascribed to the Lion of the tribe of Judah in the Apocalypse. They both tell one and the same story—the story of the wrath of the Lamb, and His great and final judgment-administrations, in which the kingdom of Daniel's mystic stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, falls upon, breaks in pieces, grinds to powder, and scatters in undistinguishable dust all other kingdoms and powers, and sweeps everything inimical to a common and eternal perdition.

And what we find so vividly pictured and expressed in the sign is still further and most unmistakably corroborated in its accompanying side-pieces or Decans.

Hydra

The great mission of the promised Seed of the woman was effectually to bruise the Serpent's head. This is the all-comprehending burden of the assurance given to fallen Adam, and his children after him. The Serpent was the subtle and snaky creature which deceived and seduced our first parents into transgression. Whether in the form of a literal snake is not worth our while to inquire; but it was some visible serpentine shape by which Eve was approached, and in and behind which was a treacherous, intelligent, evil spirit, who reappears again and again in the histories and prophecies of the Scriptures, even up to the end, as "the great Dragon, that old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12: 9). He was once a good angel and a chief among the angels, but "kept not his first estate," left his place as one of God's loyal subjects, abused his free will to sin and rebellion, and fell under bonds of condemnation, in which he is held over unto the judgment of the great day. Meanwhile, he is exerting his great powers to the utmost in malignity toward God and all good. By his successful deception of our first parents he got a footing in this world, and has here planted and organized a vast Satanic kingdom, over which he reigns, and which he inspires and directs, impiously setting himself up as another god over against the true and only God, and particularly against Christ as the rightful Heir and King of the earth. Hence the saying of the Apostle Paul, which is ever true of all God's people: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in the air" (Eph. 6: 12).

During these six thousand years, which the Apostle calls "man's day" as distinguished from "the Lord's day" or the day of enforced heavenly rule, this subtle and snaky spirit has managed to worm himself into everything that goes to make up human life, corrupting and perverting it to his own base ends, seating himself in all the centres of influence and power, and making himself the very king and god of this world. From all these places he must be dislodged, his dominion broken, his works destroyed, and he and all his effectually rooted out and put down, before the heavenly kingdom can come in its fulness or the great redemption-work reach its intended consummation. In other words, the whole empire and influence of the Serpent must be rent to atoms, worked clean out of the whole realm of humanity, and so crushed as never to be able to lift up its head again. Toward this end all the dispensations and gifts of God, from the first promise to Adam until now, have been directed. Toward this end all the works and administrations of Christ to this present are framed. To this end He is to come again in power and great glory as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to "put down all rule and all authority and power," and to trample "all enemies beneath His feet." And here, in the first Decan of Leo, is the grand picture of that consummation. Here is Hydra, that old Serpent, whose length stretches one-third the way around the whole sphere, completely expelled from the places into which he had obtruded, fleeing now for his life, and the great Lion, with claws and jaws extended, bounding in terrific fury and seizing the foul monster's neck.

Myths And Names

According to the myths, this Hydra was the terrible monster which infested the Lernaean lake—image of this corrupt world. It was said to have a hundred heads, neither of which could be killed simply by cutting off, for unless the wound was burned with fire two immediately grew out where there was only one before. The poets describe him as

"Raising a hundred hissing heads in air;
When one was lopped, up sprang a dreadful pair."

All this answers wonderfully well to the history of evil in the world, and the impossibility of effectually overcoming it in any one of its manifestations except by the fires of judgment.

The myths further say that it was one of the great labors imposed on Herakles to destroy this dreadful monster, in which he also succeeded, helped by his faithful companion and charioteer, Iolaus. But his success was only by means of fire and burning, by applying a red-hot iron to the wound as head after head was severed from the horrid form. Herakles was the deliverer sent to free the world of its great pests. He was the mythologic symbol of the Seed of the woman who was to come to make an end of all ill powers. Mythology thus answers to Revelation, and well bears out the interpretation of Hydra as a picture of Satan finally vanquished, rent, burned, destroyed by the fury of Judah's Lion.

In the Dendera sphere the Lion stands directly on the Serpent, whilst underneath is the hieroglyphic name Knem, which means vanquished, conquered. The plain idea is that here is the end of the Serpent-dominion.

The name Hydra means the Abhorred. The principal star, Al Phard, means the Separated, the Excluded, the Put out of the way. Another name in the constellation is Minchir al Sugia, which means the punishing, or tearing to pieces, of the Deceiver.

Everything thus falls in with the one idea, and adds its share to prove that we here have, by the intent of those who framed these signs, a direct and graphic picture of the glorious triumph of the Seed of the woman crushing the Serpent's head and putting him out of the way for ever.

And if further evidence is needed, it is furnished in the two remaining Decans of this final sign.

Crater, Or The Cup Of Wrath

The Psalmist (75 : 8) says : "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; it is full of mixture; and He poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring out, and drink;" "Upon the wicked He shall rain burning coals, fire and brimstone, and a fiery tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup" (11 : 6). Concerning every worshipper of the Beast John heard the angel proclaim, "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night" (Rev. 14: 10, 11). The portion of the worshippers of the son of perdition is "the lake of fire," and the same is likewise dealt out to the Beast and the False Prophet, and ultimately to the Devil himself: for John saw him "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the False Prophet are," and where he "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20 : 10). In other words, he and all his are to drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without adulteration or dilution into the cup of the divine indignation.

And lo! here, as the second Decan of Leo, we have the very picture of that Cup, broad, deep, full to the brim, and placed directly on the body of this writhing Serpent! Nay, the same is sunk into his very substance, for the same stars which mark the bottom of the Cup are part of the body of the accursed monster, so that the curse is fastened down on him and in him as an element of all his after being! Dreadful beyond all thought is the picture John gives of this Cup of unmingled and eternal wrath, but not a whit more dreadful than the picture of it which the primeval prophets have thus inscribed upon the stars.

Corvus, or The Raven

But this is not all. The wise man says, "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it" (Prov. 30:17). When David, the first great impersonation of Judah's Lion, met the terrible Goliath of Gath. he cursed him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and said: " I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth" (1 Sam. 17:46). So, when the Lord of lords and King of kings dashes forth on the white horse, with the armies of heaven following Him on white horses, to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, an angel stands in the sun, calling with a great voice to all the fowls and birds of prey to come and feast themselves on the flesh of the enemy (Rev. 19:17, 18). And here, in the third Decan of Leo, we have the pictorial sign of the same thing. Here is Corvus, the Raven, the bird of punishment and final destruction, grasping the body of Hydra with its feet and tearing him with its beak.

The myths have but little sensible or consistent to say of this Raven, except in making it the symbol of punished treachery. The Greeks and Romans had for the most part lost its meaning. The Egyptians called it Her-na, the Enemy broken. The star in the eye of this ill-omened bird is called Al Chiba, the Curse inflicted. Another name in the constellation is Minchir al Gorab, the Raven tearing to pieces. It is the sign of the absolute discomfiture and destruction of the Serpent and all his power; for when the birds once begin to tear and gorge the flesh of fallen foes, no further power to resist, harm or annoy remains in them. Their course is run.

Thus, then, and thus completely, does Judah's Lion dispose of that old Serpent-enemy, with all his Hydra heads, when once the day of final settlement comes.

The Career Of The Serpent

Great and marvellous is the part which this arch-enemy has played in the history of our race, is still playing, and will yet play before the end is reached. Like a dark and chilling shadow he came up upon the new-born world, insinuated his slime into the garden of human innocence, deceived and disinherited the race at its very spring, and so spun his webs around the souls of the earlier generations as to drag almost the entire population of the earth to one common ruin. Hardly had that great calamity passed when he began again with new schemes to get men in his power and sway them to his will. Before the Flood he won them through their carnal passions. Now he set himself to taint their holy worship, perverting it into idolatries which have held and debased the great body of mankind for these forty centuries, and still holds great portions of the world in darkness and in death. Then he plied them with visions of empire and dominion, and thus filled the earth and the ages with murderous tyrannies, misrule, oppressions, wars, and political abominations. Then he began to corrupt the thinking and philosophies of men, thereby making them willing slaves to damning error. And even to-day he is the very god of this world, to whose lies the vast majority of the race render homage, whose rule is in living sway over at least twothirds of the population of the earth, which is full of misery from his power.

Nor is there the slightest solid ground for hope that it will be essentially otherwise till the great Lion of the tribe of Judah comes forth in the fury of his almightiness to make an utter end of him and his infernal domination. But his doom is sealed. On the face of these lovely stars it has been written from the beginning, the same as in the Book. Though Satan's grasp upon our world should hold through the long succession of two-thirds of the signs, there is at last a Lion in the way, alive, awake, and mighty, even that Seed of the woman whom he has all these ages been wounding in the heel and trying to defeat and destroy. That Lion he cannot pass. Cunningly as the subtle Deceiver has wound himself about everything, injecting his poison and making firm his hellish dominion, he will soon be dragged forth to judgment, seized by almighty power, crushed, torn, pierced, put under the bowl of eternal wrath, whilst the hundred-headed body in which he has operated through all these ages is given to the black birds of uncleanness to be devoured.

The End

And when the Serpent thus falls the circle of time is complete, and it is eternity. There is no continuity of the way of time beyond the victorious triumphs of Judah's Lion. Death, and Hell, and all the wild beasts, with all their children, and the old Serpent, their father, with them, thenceforward have their place in the everlasting prison burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And outside of that dread place " there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away." Then the great voices in heaven sing: " Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God;" for they " shall inherit all things" (Rev. 21).

Blessed consummation! How should we look and long and pray for it, as Jesus has directed where He tells us to say, "Thy kingdom come—Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven "! Well might one of England's greatest poets cry: "Come forth out of Thy royal chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth! Put on the visible robes of Thy imperial Majesty! Take up the unlimited sceptre which Thy almighty Father hath bequeathed Thee! For now the voice of Thy bride calls Thee, and all creatures sigh to be renewed." How cheering the hope, amidst the clash of conflicting beliefs, the strife of words, the din of war, the shouts of false joy, the yells of idolatry, the sneers of unbelief, the agonies of a dying race, and the groans of a whole creation travailing in pain together in consequence of the Serpent's malignity, that a period is coming when eternal death shall be that Serpent's portion; when peace and order and heavenliness shall stretch their bright wings over the happy sons of men; when rivers of joy proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb shall water all this vale of tears; when cherubim to cherubim shall cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory;" when myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels round about the throne shall join in the acclaim of "Worthy is the Lamb which hath been slain, to receive the Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Might, and Honor, and Glory, and Blessing;" and when every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and upon the sea, and all things in them, shall sing, "To Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, be the Blessing, and the Honor, and the Glory, and the Dominion, for the ages of the ages"! Yet such is our hope given us as an anchor for our souls, both sure and steadfast, entering into that within the veil, and linking us even now to those solid shores of the world to come. We have it in the written word of Prophets and Apostles, and the same is certified to us by these everlasting stars in their ceaseless journeyings around the pathway of the circling year. God be thanked for such a hope! God be thanked for the full and wide-sounding testimony to its certainty! God be thanked that it has come to us, and that ours is the privilege of taking it to our souls in the confidence and comfort that it shall be fulfilled!

Oct 30, 2011

Gospel in the Stars XVIII

THE BLESSED POSSESSION

Gen 22: 17 - "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies."

THIS is part of the oath which God swore unto Abraham after the test of his faith in the offering of his son Isaac. It applied in part to the believing patriarch's natural seed, but more especially to Christ and the multitudinous seed of faith, who are also " the seed of Abraham." This is made clear in the writings of St. Paul, who tells us that " to Abraham and his seed were the promises made; not to seeds, as of many, but as of one—thy Seed—which is Christ" (Gal. 3:16); "and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3 : 29).

We do not therefore strain or misapply the text when we understand it of Christ and the Church, and say that to these the divine promise is to multiply them as the stars of the sky and the sands on the sea-shore, and to give them victory and success to take the gate of their enemies, and possess the same for ever. And the ultimate fulfilment of this promise is what we find symbolized in the stars by the sign of Cancer and the constellations which form its Decans.

The Sign Of Cancer

In our planispheres we have here the picture of a gigantic Crab. It is the same in the Parsi, Hindoo, and Chinese Zodiacs, and hence is supposed to have been the same in the Chaldean and original representations; but in the Egyptian sphere the figure is the Scarabaus, or sacred beetle, which some take as having been the original figure. It is difficult to decide which is the most ancient, but either serves well to express the meaning which clearly attaches to this sign.

The Crab

The crab is an animal born of the water, as the Church is "born of water and of the Spirit." Its rows of legs, on opposite sides, give the idea of multitudinous development and numerous members, as the promise here is with regard to the Church, and as is signified in the sign of the Fishes, which is a special symbol of the Church.

In the progress of the crab's development and growth it undergoes important changes. The most marked of these is the periodic throwing off of its old shells and the taking on of new ones. In its earlier life these changes involve alterations in the whole form and shape of the animal. And so the Church, in the process of its earthly development and growth, passes from dispensation to dispensation, and each individual saint first puts off the old man with his deeds, and puts on the new man which is renewed after the image of Him that created him, and then lays off "the body of this death" in order to be "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." And these several changes, both general and personal, are all entirely completed by the time the Church comes to occupy the place indicated by this sign.

The crab is also armed with two powerful hands or claws, by which it grasps hold with wonderful force and securely retains whatever it takes. And so it is with the people of God. Having, like Mary, "chosen the good part," or, like the patriarchs, "embraced the promises," or, like the apostles, "lain hold of the hope set before us," they come into the possession of the incorruptible and heavenly inheritance, and retain it with a grasp so firm and strong that it "shall not be taken away."

The Scarabeus

And so again with the scarabeus. This is a creature whose career exhibits very marked and significant transformations. The first period of its existence is passed in a dark, drear, subterranean abode, where its senses are feeble, its powers circumscribed, ungladdened by pleasant sights, oft terrified by unintelligible voices from the sunlit world above, compelled to eat and live amid filth, and with no worthier employment than to grow and wait for future changes. And so it is with the earthly Church and the children of God in this present life. With all that may be said of us here, we are the slaves of toil and suffering, full of darkness, doubt, and uncertainty, loaded with grovelling cares, the sport of ever-recurring accidents which we cannot explain, pushed and cramped and crowded by others no better off than ourselves—mere knots of incapacities and troubles like earthborn and dirt-fed grubs, though bearing in us the germs and beginnings of eventual glory and blessedness.

Having dragged out the time apportioned to its first condition, the scarabaeus is next transformed into quite another. Nature's hand now swaths it into a chrysalis. Activity ceases. Food can no longer be token. The avenues of the senses are closed. The functions of life are put in abeyance, though soon to open out into still another form of existence. And so our earthly life terminates in death and passes into the mummy condition—that peculiar middle stage in which our inner being still lives on, but in quiescence and rest, which the Scriptures call "sleep," which no cares or wants invade, and in which the embalmed body awaits the call of resurrection to reappear with new and augmented powers.

And when this period of peaceful inaction is completed the swathed creature suddenly breaks from its chrysalis, and bursts forth into an exaltation of being which has for ever left behind it every vestige of the low conditions in which its earlier life was spent. What painfully and gloomily crawled in the filthy earth and darkness now spurns the dust, takes wings like a bird, soars at large in the bright sunshine whithersoever it will, and becomes a dweller in air, with the liberties of a free heaven. Filled now with loving affections and marvellous sagacity, it builds a house for its treasure, and holds it fast as it rolls it out with unwearied devotion into the vast unknown. And thus from the mummy form of the sleeping saints there is to come a sudden bursting forth, when bodies terrestrial shall be supplanted by bodies celestial, and what was earthy becomes heavenly, and what was corruptible puts on in corruption, and what was ignoble becomes glorious, and what was natural takes all the attributes and capacities of enfranchised spiritual being, to mount up with wings as eagles, and to enjoy the light and love and liberty of heaven, in no way inferior to the angels. And thus, with the goal of our being reached and the treasure of our hearts in hand, the promise is that we shall hold it secure world without end.

There was scarce a creature on earth which the old Egyptians made so much of as this scarabseus beetle. The stones of their fingerrings and shoe-latchets, the seals of their priests and nobles, the ornaments and anvilets worn on their bodies, the tokens of their guilds and orders, the memorials of their marriages, and the last mark put upon the mummies of their dead, were shaped into the form of the scarabaeus. Men have wondered why this was, and faulted the taste of people so attached to a filthy bug. It was not on account of its beauty surely, nor on account of any great service rendered by it to their country or their crops. But it was the figure in their Zodiac—the star-sign of perfected being, the progress of which from darkness to light, from death to resurrection, from earthly disability to heavenly glory, from the vicissitudes of time to the secure possession of the treasures of eternity, they could see and trace in this beetle at almost every step throughout all their land, and with which the primitive traditions had taught them to connect the most precious hopes of man. This explains the mystery and tells the story, and helps us greatly in identifying the meaning which the primeval patriarchs understood and intended to express in this eleventh sign of the Zodiacal series.

Praesepe

In the centre of this constellation there is one of the brightest nebulous clusters in the starry sky, and sufficiently luminous to be be seen betimes with the naked eye. It looks like the nucleus of a great comet, and has often been taken for one. It is made up of a multitude of little stars, and is often designated in modern astronomy as the Bee-hive. The ancients called it Praesepe, which, in its Arabic and Hebrew elements, means the Multitude, Offspring, the Young, the Innumerable Seed—the very idea in the text. The Latins understood by it the manger from which the asses were fed, the stall, the stable, the fold, and hence a house of entertainment, the place into which travellers gathered fojr refreshment and rest. The same idea is expressed by Moses in connection with Issachar, to whom the Jews referred this sign, where he speaks of Issachar as being gathered into tents, called to the mountain, offering the sacrifices of righteousness, and sucking the abundance of the sea and all the hid treasures of its sands (Deut. 33: 18, 19). In Jacob's blessing of his sons we have corresponding allusions and still further identifications with the particulars in this sign. In many of the classic references to the Zodiac the figures here are two asses, particularly represented by the two stars, the one north and the other south of Praesepe. And so Jacob prophesies of the coming Shiloh, that to Him shall the gathering of the people be, and that, having washed His garments in the blood of grapes, as when He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, and having accomplished the destruction of His enemies, as when He rides forth on the white horse to destroy all hostile powers, "He shall bind His foal to the vine, and His ass's colt to the choice vine." Issachar himself is likened to the great and strong ass which reclines between the two folds or resting-places, seeing that "the rest is good and the land pleasant," even that for which he was willing to bow his shoulder to the burden, and to serve and pay tribute to possess (Gen. 49: 10-15).

The Scriptures thus not only give us the imagery found in this sign, but connect the sign itself—which was assigned to Issachar—with the final results of the achievements of the promised Seed of the woman—with the rest that remains for the people of God-with the ultimate home-gathering of the multitudinous seed of faith—with the peaceful and secure entrance of the Church upon the "inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (i Pet. i : 4-6).

The Myths

The myths concerning this sign are faint and feeble, but what is given amply conforms to what the Scriptures record in connection with it. The two asses which the Greeks accepted as the figures of Cancer they explained to be the animals by which Jupiter was assisted in his victory over the giants, but in repose now by the side of the celestial crib. They would thus admirably identify with the white horses on which Christ and His heavenly armies rode when they came forth for the destruction of the beasts, kings, and armies that made war with the Lamb. They would seem, indeed, to stand for the same, but now resting in immortal glory after the victory.

Other myths associate this Crab with the famous contest of Hercules with the dreadful Lernaean monster, and affirm that this was the animal from the sea which Juno's envy of the hero caused to bite his foot, but which, being quickly despatched, was rewarded by being placed among the heavenly constellations. Hercules was the symbol of the Seed of the woman as the suffering and toiling Deliverer, the great Overcomer and Slayer of the powers of evil, who, for the sake of His people, endured the sting and bruising of His heel; and yet, for all the pains they caused Him, He brings them at last to the enjoyment of eternal rest and glory, having slain their enmity by His cross.

The Names

The Egyptians called this sign Klaria, the Folds, the Resting-places. We call it Cancer, which in later vocabularies means the Crab, but which, in its Noetic roots, explains what we are to see in this Crab. Khan means the traveller's resting-place, and ker or cer means embraced, encircled, held as within encircling arms. And so Can-cer means Rest secured—the object of desire at length reached, compassed, possessed, and inalienably held. Hence also the chief star in this sign is named Acubens, the sheltering, the place of retirement. the good rest. Hence also other names in this sign (Ma'alaph and Al ffimarein) mean assembled thousands, the kids or lambs ; whilst the whole is called in Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac by a name which signifies holding, possessing, retaining. It is the sign of the saints' everlasting rest, in which the head of the Serpent is beneath their feet, as under the feet of this Crab.

And what we thus find in the sign itself is further illustrated and fully corroborated in its accompanying Decans.

Ursa Minor

The first of these is what is now called Ursa Minor, the Lesser Bear. But this was not its original name; nor is it a bear at all. Those who figure it as a bear are obliged to give it a long uplifted tail, such as no bear ever had. And what is very astonishing, on the supposition that we here have to do with the form of a bear, is, that the most remarkable star in this constellation, and the most observed and rested on by man in all the heavens, is located far out on this unnatural tail. Where is the sense that would lead any astronomer, ancient or modern, to locate the Pole Star of the heavens in an imaginary tail of a feeble little bear? The very idea is absurd, and such an absurdity that we may be sure the great old primeval astronomers are in no wise chargeable with it. It is said that the North American Indians connected the North Star with a bear, and that hence the figure here must have been primitively known as "the Bear;" but it is not proven that these Indians belong to the primitive peoples, whilst they at the same time criticise and ridicule those who name it a bear, as not knowing what a bear is, or they never would have given it a long and lifted tail.

The way in which Ursa Minor and Ursa Major may have come to be called Bears is perhaps from the fact that the ancient name of the principal star in the latter is Dubheh or Dubah, and as Dob is the word for bear, the Greeks and others took the name of that star as meaning the Bear, and so called these two corresponding constellations the Bears.

But Dubheh or Dubah does not mean bear, but a collection of domestic animals, a fold, as the Hebrew word Dober. The evidence is that, according to the original intent, we are to see in these constellations not two longtailed bears, but two sheepfolds or flocks, the collected and folded sheep of God's pasture.

The ancient Danes and Icelanders called Ursa Minor the Chair or Chariot of Thor, and the old Britons ascribed the same to Arthur, their great divine hero. This is coming much nearer to the astronomical facts of the case, as also to the original ideas connected with this constellation. It has seven principal stars, often called Septentriones—the seven which turn. The Arabs and the rabbins called them Ogilah, going round, as wheels; and hence also they are called Charles's Wain, the King's Wagon, or the thing which joes round. These noted seven stars are in themselves sufficient to suggest some connection with "the seven churches" which John saw as "seven stars" in Christ's right hand. The whole number of stars in this constellation is twenty-four, which suggests connection again between it and the "four and-twenty elders" whom John beheld "round about the throne, clothed in white raiment, and having on their heads crowns of gold" (Rev. 4), which denote the seniors of the elect Church in heaven. The ancient names in this constellation are Kochab, the Star, allied perhaps with the promise in Rev. 2 : 28, otherwise rendered by Rolleston waiting the. coming; Al Pherkadain, the Calves, the Young, Hebraically, the Redeemed; Al Gedi, the Kid, the Chosen of the flock; and Al Kaid, the Assembled, the gathered together. These are all applicable to the Church of the first-born, and particularly describe it as it finally comes to its inheritance.

The Greeks called Ursa Minor, if not both the Bears, Areas, or Arktos, a name which Harcourt derives from Arx, the stronghold of the saved. The myth concerning Arcas is, thai he was the son of Jupiter and the nymph Callisto, that he built a city on the site of the blasted house of him who was served up as a dish to try Jupiter's divinity, and that he was the progenitor, teacher, and ruler of the Arcadians; which readily interprets in good measure of what is written of the Church of the first-born, particularly in its offices in the mysterious future.

The Pole-star. It is part of the promise of the text that the seed of faith is to " possess the gate of his enemies"—that is, to take the house or possession of the foe — and thenceforward to hold what the enemy previously held. Now, at the time these constellations were formed, and for a long time afterward, the Pole-Star was the Dragon Star, Alpha Draconis. Thus this central gate, or hinge, or governing-point of the earth's motion, was then in the enemy's possession. But that Dragon Star is now far away from the Pole, and cannot again get back to it for ages on ages, whilst the Lesser and higher Sheepfold has come into its place ; so that the main star of Arcas is now the Pole-Star. The seed of faith thus gets the enemy's gate. And understanding Ursa Minor of the Church of the first-born in heaven, instated in the government of the earth, we have in it a striking picture of the old prophecy fulfilled, when once Satan is cast down and the saints reign with their Lord in glory everlasting.

It is also an interesting fact that no traces of these Greek Bears are to be found in the Egyptian, the Persian, or the Indian planispheres, but only what is thoroughly agreeable to the idea that we are here to see the assembly of God's flocks in their heavenly glory, authority, and dominion, as over against the Serpent and the whole serpent dominion.

Ursa Major

And this is made the more evident in the second Decan of Cancer—Ursa Major, the Great Bear, anciently, the Great Sheepfold, the resting-place of the flock. The Arabs still call this constellation Al Naish or Annaish, the ordered or assembled together, as sheep in a fold.

In the centre of the miscalled tail of this so-called Bear we find the name Mizar, which means guarded or enclosed place. The chief star of all is Dubheh, herd or fold; the second is Merach, the flock; another, Cab'd al Asad, multitude of the assembled. Here we also have the names El Acola, the sheepfold; Al Kaiad, the assembled; Alioth, the ewe or mother; El Kaphrah, the protected, the covered, the Redeemed; Dubheh Lachar, the latter herd or flock, as distinguished from a former in Ursa Minor. The book of Job refers to "Arcturus and his sons"—to Ash, or Aish, and "her" progeny. The old Jewish commentators say that Aish here means the seven stars of the Great Bear. The word is often collective, denoting a community, hence the flock, the congregation. And in the so-called tail of this Bear we find the name Benet Naish, the daughters of Aish, part of the flock going out after Bootes, the Shepherd.

The myths say that this Bear is the nymph Callisto, the mother of Arcas, the son of Jupiter, and that she was metamorphosed into a bear by Juno. In the word Callisto we find the Shemitic root which we again meet as Caulcz, a sheepfold, an enclosure. And with this idea in mind a glance at these " seven stars" shows how well the presentations answer to an enclosure, from which the great flock goes forth from the fold at the corner led by their great Shepherd and Guardian, to whose coming all the ages have been looking from the beginning.

In the Dendera Zodiac this constellation has a great female figure with the head of a swine, the enemy of the Serpent, the tearer of the earth, and holding in her hand a great ploughshare, emblematic of tearing up, bruising, turning under; and the name by which it is called is Fent-Har, the Serpent-bruiser, the Serpent-horrifier. This ploughshare appears in both these constellations, and may have given rise to the association of the plough with these stars; but the whole significance is that of the seed of faith in power and triumph over the Serpent and its progeny.

All this sufficiently shows that we here have to do with the happy sheepfold, the flock of God, in heavenly glory and dominion, and not in the least with the anomalous wild bears of the Greeks and the later Western peoples. The picture is that of the seed of faith spoken of in the text in its twofoldness—the Church of the first-born round about the throne, signified by the Polar centre, and the Church of the after-born in still ampler numbers, led and guarded by the great Bootes amid the everlasting pastures.

Argo

And to make this the clearer, the third Decan of Cancer was framed. This is Argot the mysterious ship of the mysterious Argonauts returned from their successful expedition to recover the Golden Fleece. Since the time of Homer, and long before Homer lived, the world has been full of noise about this ship and these gods and demigods of the Argonautic Expedition. But that same world till now has been floundering about to find a key to unlock the mystery in which the story is enveloped. Many are the suggestions to explain it, but all as empty ol satisfactoriness as they are beneath the importance and significance always and everywhere attached to it. The trouble is, that men have ever persisted in trying to interpret it with reference to the affairs of ordinary human history or of some wild conceits of dreaming poets; whereas it belongs to the mystic, spiritual, and prophetic ideas frescoed on the stars, and to nothing else under heaven. Taken in these relations, and construed with the rest of these signs as we found their true application to be, we can have no difficulty. That Golden Fleece was the lost treasure of human innocence and righteousness, of which the subtlety of the Serpent had bereft mankind in the Garden of Eden, and so held and guarded it that no mere men could ever find or recover it. In the grove of Mars, the fierce god of justice, at Colchis, the citadel of atonement, it lay, the Serpent watching it with jealous and ever-wakeful eyes. Nor was there a mortal to be found able to approach it until the true Jason, the Recoverer, the Atoner, the Healer, even Jesus, came, organized His Argo, His company of travellers, made up of heroes under His command and leadership, and went forth through various trials, conflicts, and sufferings, helped by the holy oracles that went along, and sustained by the heavenly ointments and powers to heal the wounds and hurts that had to be encountered, and took the precious prize, and then through varied fortunes brings the heroes back victorious to his own home-shores. And here, in the constellation of Argo, we have the picture of that return—the ship and the brave travellers come home, with the lost treasure regained, their toils and hazards and battles over, and blessed rest their lasting inheritance. Here the story fits in every part. It is the old ship of Zion landed in the heavenly port. Understand it so, and every feature takes on an evangelic light and a meaning commensurate with its fame. Nor is it possible to contemplate the vivid correspondence without wonderment at the prophetic knowledge and spiritual understanding and anticipations of those primeval sages who framed these signs and gave out their meaning.

The Names

And what we thus read in the story of the Argonauts is confirmed by the names in tht constellation itself. The brightest star in the group is Canopus or Canobus. And this is the name of the great hero and helmsman, who died from the serpent's bite, but whom the Egyptians worshipped as a divine being. The name itself means the possession of Him who ccmeth, and thus explains why the Egyptians represented Canobus by a great treasure-jar. Other names are also here which tell us what we are to understand. Sephina means multitudinous good, the very abundance of the seas and of treasures referred to by Moses under the sign of Issachar. Tureis means the firm possession in hand, the treasure secured. Asmidiska means the travellers released. And Soheil means what was desired.

In the Dendera Zodiac we have here the figure of a great ox enclosed, with the cross suspended from his neck, the symbol of the great possession marked with the ancient token of immortality and eternal life. And the name of this figure is Shes-en-Fent, rejoicing over the Serpent. All this expresses exactly what I have said is the great subject of Cancer.

In the Persian Zodiac we have here three young women walking at leisure, the same with the daughters of Aish, signifying the Church in its final inheritance.

Thus the whole presentation binds up and links together from all sides to fix upon the sign of Cancer and its Decans the intention to make it the recorded symbol, prophecy, and hope of the heavenly rest for the redeemed which shines so conspicuously in all the scriptural promises. It is the star-picture of the multitudinous seed of faith at length possessing the gate of the enemy, rejoicing over him in life eternal, and going forth in abundant peace and blessedness, with the Serpent's head effectually trodden beneath their feet.

A Sweet Consolation

It is a blessed consolation to the oft-weary toilers and travellers in this world to know that there does remain a rest for the people of God. With all the trials and hardships to which they are subjected here, there is to come a blessed recompense. Jesus says: " Let not your heart be troubled; in my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye maybe also" (John 14 : 1-3). Isaiah sings: " The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (25:10). John in prophetic vision looked over into that other world, and writes: " I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Rev. 7:9-17); "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (21 : 4). And even from His throne in glory the Saviour sends word to His struggling people: " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). Such are the great and precious promises given to us, and such the possession to which we aspire. They are promises also that shall surely be fulfilled. God has pledged himself by His oath to make them good. They are the same that glowed in the hearts of the primeval patriarchs, who saw them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. On these imperishable stars they hung and pictured their confident belief and anticipations, whereby they, being dead, yet speak—speak across these many thousands of years—speak for our comfort on whom the ends of the world have come. Let us, then, be encouraged to believe as they believed, to hope as they hoped, laboring and looking for entrance into that same holy rest, even the everlasting kingdom of our I.ord :ind Saviour Jesus Christ.







Oct 28, 2011

Gospel in the Stars XVII

Review of Figures of Christ in the Star Constellations

1. Coma - The Desired One (the child in Virgo's lap)
2. Centaurus - The Despised and Pierced
3. Bootes - The Shepherd Harvester (The Coming One)
4. The Victim
5. Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder
6. Hercules the Mighty One, the Toiling Deliverer
7. The Archer
8. The Sacrificial Goat
9. The Pierced Eagle
10. Delphinus, the ressurrected one
11. Aquarius, the Water-Bearer
12. Cepheus, the crowned king
13. Aries, the Ram or Lamb
14. Perseus, the Breaker
15. Taurus, the Auroch
16. Orion, the Glorious One
17. Auriga, the Shepherd King

Titles of Christ

1. The Branch
2. The Seed of the virgin
3. The Redeemer
4. The Mediator
5. The Mighty One
6. The Savior
7. The Restorer
8. The Desired One
9. The Coming One
10. The Victim
11. The Pierced and Wounded one
12. The Reaper
13. The Shepherd
14. The King or Prince
15. The Serpent Holder
16. The Victor
17. The Archer
18. The Praiseworthy
19. The Sacrifice
20. The Pierced Eagle
21. The Ressurrection
22. The Water Dispenser
23. The Swift One
24. The Judge
25. The Lord or Ruler
26. The Beautiful one
27. The Heavenly Bridegroom
28. The Dragon Slayer
29. The Ram or Lamb
30. The Hunter
31. The Treader
32. The Auroch

Auriga

"To the enraged Aurochs, the mighty Hunter, and the fiery River of the Judge there is added another figure in the third Decan, which is thoroughly evangelic and gracious. The Greek myths are totally at a loss with regard to its main features, conclusively showing that these signs were arranged long before the time of the Greeks, and that Greek genius was totally incompetent to produce them. The Greeks could only preserve the traditional figure in this Decan, and let it stand wholly unexplained. The figure itself is that of a mighty man seated on the Milky Way, holding a band or ribbon in his right hand, and with his left arm holding up on his shoulder a she-goat, which clings to his neck and looks out in astonishment upon the terrible Bull; whilst in his lap are two frightened little kids, which he supports with his great hand. The Greeks called him Hceniochos (Eniochos) which in their language signified a Driver or Charioteer; and so our modern atlases call him the Wagoner. But as he has neither chariot nor horses, and is thoroughly occupied with the care of his goats, it is very strange that the modern world should have persisted in regarding him as a chariot-driver. But there is one link of connection to show how this absurdity came about. One of the old traditional names of this figure was Auriga, or a name framed of the elements preserved in the word Auriga, which, in Latin, means a Conductor of the reins, a coachman, a charioteer. And as this figure holds a band or ribbon in his right hand, these heathen people could do no better than to take him for a wonderful charioteer. But he is no charioteer at all, and is engaged in performing a wholly different office.

The Noetic elements in the word Auriga signify the Shepherd; and the Shepherd he really is, even that same Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep and giveth unto them eternal life. This is most clearly shown by His having the mother-goat on His arm, with her feet clasped about His neck, and the little kids on His hand. The band in his right hand is the same Band which we saw in the hand of the Lamb and in the hand of the enthroned Cepheus. It is the Band of power by which the glorious Head of the Church upholds and guides His people on the one side, and binds the enemy on the other. It is therefore a picture of the exalted and almighty Saviour, still exercising His offices of mercy and salvation in the midst of the scenes of judgment, just as the Scriptures tell us that in the midst of wrath He remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2). And to this all the indications in this sign agree.

The chief star in this constellation, Capella, which is of the first magnitude and of peculiar brilliancy, marks the heart of the mothergoat on Auriga's bosom. The very attitude and expression of this goat are significant. It not only clings to the great Shepherd's neck, as if trembling for its own safety, but is anxiously looking back upon the action of the Bull, as if saying, "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree; yet he passed away, and, lo, he is not: yea, I look for him, but he cannot be found" (Ps. 37 : 34-36). The whole picture is in precise accord with Isaiah's prophecy of this very period, where he says : "Behold, the Lord will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck" (40 : 10, n). Hence the name of the star in the right arm of Auriga, Menkalinon, in Chaldaic means the Band of the Goats or Ewes.

In the Zodiac of Dendera, Auriga holds a sceptre, the upper part of which shows the head of the Lamb, and the lower part the figure of the Cross; which vividly expresses salvation even under the severe administrations of sovereign judgment. And here are the two little kids, just born, having come into place amid these ongoings of the terrible judgment, the one bleating upward after its mother, and the other looking in startled wonder at the dashing career of the enraged Bull, but both safe in the great Shepherd's hand. How touching the picture of the tender mercies of our Saviour, even after the Church of the firstborn has been taken, and He has already risen up as the terrible Aurochs!"

A Solemn Outlook

"And now what shall we say to these showings of the Holy Ghost? There is a day of judgment coming, and it hastens on apace. It will be a day of trouble and an hour of trial such as have never yet been seen in our world. It will be a day that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble to the fire; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch (Mal. 4: 1). Only they that take refuge in Jesus shall find shelter and security. And on the throne of His majesty in the heavens He sits with wide-open arms, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11 : 28, 29). From the eternal Father the word is: "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall; and ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord " (Mal. 4: 2, 3).

How, then, should these presentations serve to quicken us to spirituality of living and to all earnestness of watchfulness and prayer, that we may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless! And how should the same animate our hopes as believers, and reconcile us to whatever sacrifices, pains, or losses to which our profession may subject us in this present evil world! What saith the Spirit? Hear it, dear friends, and ponder it: "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity; for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. For evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved for ever. Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: He is their strength in the time of trouble, And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him" (Ps. 37)."


GEMINI - THE HEAVENLY UNION

I Thess. 4:17: "And so shall we ever be with the Lord."

"THESE sweet and comforting words relate to a scene of things beyond the resurrection of the dead, and hence to something which is to be brought about during the progress of the judgment-period. After the Lord himself has come forth with the voice of a great trumpet, and the holy dead have been raised, and the living saints have been translated, and both classes have been caught up together to meet the Saviour in the air, then the word is, "So shall we ever be with the Lord" And the particular blessedness which we thus find set forth in the Scriptures we also find in the constellations, and more especially in that sign of the Zodiac which we now come to consider—Gemini, usually called The Twins."

The Sign of Gemini

"We have here two youthful-looking and most beautiful figures peacefully sitting together, with their feet resting on the Milky Way. Their heads lean against each other in a loving attitude. The one holds a great club in his right hand, whilst his left is clasped around the body of his companion. The other holds a harp in one hand and a bow and arrow in the other. Both the club and the bow and arrow are in repose, the same as the figures which hold them. The club, unlifted, lies against the shoulder of the one, and the bow, unstrung, rests in the hand of the other. The picture looks like a readiness for warlike action, but at the same time like a joyful repose after a great victory already gained. We will presently see that it really means all that it seems, and that it significantly portrays what is set forth in the text and in many places in the Scriptures."
Mythic Accounts

"The Greeks and Romans considered these two figures the representatives of two youths, twin brothers, both sons of Jupiter, of very peculiar and extraordinary birth. They are said to have been with the Argonauts in the contest for the Golden Fleece, on which occasion they displayed unparalleled heroism—the one by achievements in arms and personal prowess, and the other in equestrian exercises. In the Grecian temples they were represented as mounted on white horses, armed with spears, riding side by side, crowned with the cap of the hunter tipped with a glittering star. The belief was, that they often appeared at the head of the armies, and led on the troops to battle and victory—the one mounted on a fiery steed, the other on foot, but both as invincible warriors. After their return from Colchis it is said that they cleared the Hellespont and the neighboring seas from pirates and depredators, and hence were honored as the particular friends and protectors of navigation. An intimation of this is given in the history of St. Paul, as the name of the vessel in which he sailed was that of these two figures. It is further said that flames of fire were betimes seen playing around their heads, and that when this occurred the tempest which was tossing the ocean ceased, and calm ensued. They were said to have been initiated into all the mysteries, and were invited guests at a great marriage at which a severe conflict occurred. They were indissolubly attached to each other, and Jupiter rewarded their mutual affection by transferring them together to heavenly immortality. The Greeks and Romans sacrificed white lambs upon their altars, and held them in very high regard. It was a common thing to take oaths by their names, as indicative of the utmost truth and verity. Vulgarly, the habit still survives of swearing "by Gemini."

Further accounts represent these two youths as kings, and as divine saviors and helpers of men, though mostly in the character of warriorjudges. They were supposed to preside over the public games, particularly where horses were concerned. War-songs and dances were supposed to have originated with them, and they had much to do in favoring and inspiring the bards and poets. When Menestheus was endeavoring to usurp the government of Attica, they interfered, and devastated the country around Athens until its gates opened to them and the Athenians submitted to them and rendered them sacred honors. They were distinguished in the Calydonian Hunt, and fought and slew Amycus, the gigantic son of the god of the sea, who challenged the Argonauts and had shown himself the enemy of Herakles. They made invasive war to recover the portions of which they had been cunningly cheated, and succeeded in it, and gained much more in addition. In this conflict the authors of the murderous assaults upon them were stricken down and slain by the lightnings of Jupiter. They were assigned great power over good fortune, and particularly over the winds and the waves of the sea.

Such are the mythic representations as they come through the Greeks and Romans. In some other showings, however, these two figures are not of one sex. In the Zodiac of Dendera the figure is that of a man walking hand in hand with a woman. The same are sometimes called Adam and Eve. But the male figure is not the literal first Adam, but the mystic second Adam, the same Seed of the woman who everywhere appears in these celestial frescoes. The figure in the Egyptian sphere has an appendage which signifies the Coming One — the Messiah-Prince. And having identified the masculine figure, there can be no difficulty in identifying the accompanying female figure. The Lamb has a bride, a wife, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, and destined for an everlasting union with Him in glory and dominion. And this Eve, made out of His side in the deep sleep of death to which He submitted for the purpose, is none other than the Church, which here appears in celestial union with her sublime Lord. Even the word Gemini, in the original Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, whence it has come, does not run so much on the idea of two brought forth at the same birth, as upon the idea of something completed, as of a year come to the full or as of a long betrothal brought to its consummation in perfected marriage. The old Coptic name of this sign, Pi Mahi, signifies the United, the Completely joined."

The Star-names

"And when we closely examine the names still retained in this constellation, we find ample indication that these figures were meant to set forth Christ and His Church in that great marriage-union which is to be completed in the heavens during that very judgment-period to which these last four signs refer. In the left foot of the southern figure of Gemini shines a conspicuous star, named Al Henah, the Hurt, the Wounded. This figure, then, must refer to Him whose heel was to be bruised. So the principal star in his head is called Pollux, the Ruler, the Judge, and sometimes Herakles, or Hercules, the mighty sufferer and toiler, who frees the world of ail otherwise unmanageable powers of evil. In the centre of his body is another bright star, called Wasat, which means Set, Seated, or Put in place, as where it is said, "I am set on the throne of Israel," "there are set thrones of judgment," "the judgment was set," "I am set in my ward;" which specially describes what is prophesied of Christ in connection with the completion of His marriage with His Church.

And, in perfect accord with these indications, this figure holds in his right hand the great club of power, as the One who bruises the Serpent's head and breaks in pieces all antagonisms to His rule or to His people's peace. The Egyptians called him Hor, or Horus, the Coming One, the son of light, the slayer of the serpent, the recoverer of the dominion. Horus is described in an extant Egyptian hymn as "the son of the sun," "the mighty, the great avenger, the observer of justice," "the golden hawk coming for the chastisement of all lands, the divinely beneficent, the Lord omnipotent;" which corresponds again with the descriptions of the Merodach of the ancient Babylonians, who is called the Rectifier, the great Restorer. It is the biblical description, almost literally, of the promised Redeemer of the world in connection with the judgment.

The variation as to the sex of the other figure, which is sometimes contemplated as a woman and sometimes as a masculine hero, corresponds also with the biblical representations of the Church. God calls Israel His son, and also His spouse, the wife of which He is the Husband, the one chosen out from among the maidens and wedded to himself. The bride of the Lamb in the Apocalypse is at the same time described as "a man-child" who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and to that end was "caught up unto God and to His throne."


Christ's Union With His Church

"But the two figures in this sign, though in some sense distinct, are really one, as Christ and the Father are one, and as the man and his wife are one flesh. The union is such that one is in the other, and the two are so conjoined that one implies and embraces the other. There is no Christ apart from His Church, and there is no Church except in Christ. They are two, and yet they are one —He in them, and they in Him—so that what is His is theirs, and what is theirs is His. As He is the peculiar Son of God, they are peculiar sons of God in Him, and are joint-heirs with Him to all that He inherits. Again and again the Scriptures comprehend Him in the descriptions of the Church, and embrace them in the predictions concerning Him. Hence, in the truer and deeper meaning of the Psalms, He and His people speak the same words, pass through the same experiences, receive the same assurances, and rejoice in the same promises, hopes, and honors. The king often disappears in the body politic, and the body politic still oftener disappears in the king. And so it is in these two figures. They are no more twins than Christ and His Church are twins, yet they are both the peculiar sons of God; whilst the birth of the one was virtually and really the birth of the other.

Hence, also, the names and qualities which appear in the one are at the same time construable with both, because they coexist in one another. They are Bridegroom and bride, but they are at the same time together the one Man-Child appointed to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Accordingly, the one is called Pollux and Herakles—the Ruler, the Judge, the Toiling Deliverer; and the other is called Castor and Apollo—the Coming Ruler or Judge, "born of the light," who punishes and destroys the wicked and unrighteous, who brings help and wards off evil, whc has the spirit of prophecy and sacred song, who protects and keeps the flocks, and who delights in the founding and establishment of cities, kingdoms, and settled rule and order among men. It is not the one by himself in either case, but the one in and with the other, conjoined and perfected in the same administration—Christ with the Church, and the Church with Christ, as the one all-ruling ManChild under whom the whole earth shall be delivered from misrule and oppression, the eternal kingdom come, and the entire world enjoy its unending Sabbath.

At present this union of Christ with His Church, though real and the very life of Christianity, is mystic, hidden, and not yet fully revealed. The Church is yet intermixed and held down by earthiness and the power of mortality and death. All this needs to be stripped off and immortality put on, as has been accomplished in the case of Christ the Head, who is now already at the right hand of the Father. What has happened in His deliverance, triumph, and exaltation needs also to be wrought out in the case of His members, the Church. Our complete union with Him can only be when this mortal has put on immortality and death is swallowed up of life; which occurs when the sainted dead are raised, and they, together with those of His who are then still alive, are caught up in incorruption to meet Him in the heavenly spaces. But what is as yet mystic and unrevealed is hereafter to be openly, formally, and most gloriously exhibited and shown in living and eternal fact."

The Marriage Of The Lamb

"Hence, in the Apocalyptic pictures of the ongoing judgment-period, after the Man-Child has been born into immortality, and is caught up to God, and has overcome the opposing Dragon and his angels by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and immediately before Christ and His people come forth riding on white horses for the overthrow of the Beast and his armies, we hear the voice of gladness and rejoicing, and the giving of glory to the All-Ruler, in that "the Marriage of the Lamb is come" and the word of blessing goes forth upon all who are "called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19 : 7-9).

Just what this marriage of the Lamb is, or what celestial formalities and demonstrations it embraces, no man is able definitely to tell. We know, in general terms, that the Bridegroom is Christ, after He has taken to Him His great power and is about to proceed to the utter destruction of His enemies, and that the bride is the Church, the completed assembly of the elect, after they have all been gathered to their Lord in triumphant immortality. We know also that it involves some formal and manifest ceremonial, by which He takes, acknowledges, and fully endows His glorified Church as thenceforward and for ever conjoined with himself in closest and inseparable unity, to move as He moves, to reign as He reigns, to judge and make war as He judges and makes war, and to be one with Him in all the possessions, administrations, joys, honors, and achievements which pertain to Him then and world without end. It is the formal and eternal perfecting of them in Him, and of Him in them, in a union as ineffable as it is unending.

And this is the precise thing alluded to in the text and pictorially given in the sign of Gemini. The very name, the attitudes of the figures, and the order of place occupied by this sign, as well as the star-names in it and all the mythic stories connected with it, combine to fix this as its truest and fullest meaning, as intended by the mind that framed it and gave out the original instructions concerning it. It is God's sign in the heavens of the coming marriage and union of the Seed of the woman with His redeemed Church, precisely as the same is set forth in all His word as the hope and joy of His people, to be fulfilled at His revelation and coming.

Thus, then, we find the true Castor and Pollux, the peculiar sons of God, whose bravery secures the prize of the Golden Fleece, who share in the same trials, sufferings, labors, triumphs, and glories, and with whom is the holy wisdom, the prophetic inspiration, the leadership of armies that fight for human rights and liberty, the patronage of holy heroism and sacred song, the upholding of truth and righteousness, the only salvation for oppressed and afflicted man. These are the true kings, ordained to rule all nations with a rod of iron, to chastise and destroy the rebellious and incorrigible, to hunt out and punish wickedness unto the ends of the earth, and to be revealed in flaming fire as warriorjudges on white horses, to put down usurpers, fight the gigantic son of the god of this world, hurl the dread Antichrist and his hordes to sudden perdition, revenge the blood of martyrs on those who shed it, apportion law and destiny to the earthly peoples, and sit and reign in immortal regency over all the after generations.

And what we thus find in the sign is further signified in the accompanying Decans."


Lepus

"The first of these, as given in our planispheres, is Lepus, the figure of a gigantic hare. In the Arabic it is called Arnebeth, which means the Hare, but also has the signification of Enemy of the Coming. In the Persian and Egyptian Zodiacs the figure is a serpent, trodden under Orion's foot, with this further addition in the Egyptian, that the serpent is also caught in the claws of a seeming hawk. It is also called Bashti-Beki, the Offender confounded. The mythic account of this hare is, that it is one of the animals which Orion most delighted in hunting, and hence was placed near him in the stars. In the picture Orion is in the act of crushing this hare with his great foot. And the names of the stars which it includes—Nibal, Rakis, and Sugia— mean the Mad, the Caught, the Deceiver.

From these indications it is sufficiently manifest that this constellation was meant to show and record the nearing end of the Enemy, and the close proximity of his utter overthrow when once the heavenly marriage is celebrated.

And this is precisely the showing made in the Scriptures, particularly in the Apocalypse. The lifting of the Church into its destined union with Christ in glory is a stunning blow to the whole empire of darkness, and the sure herald of its utter dissolution then speedily to follow. No sooner is it announced that "the marriage of the Lamb is come" than the heaven opens, and He who is called Faithful and True rides forth upon the white horse, in righteousness to judge and make war, and all the armies of heaven follow Him on white horses, and the Beast and the False Prophet are taken, and the kings of the earth and their armies are slain with the sword of this invincible host (Rev. 19 : 6-21)."


Sirius

"The second Decan confirms and sustains the same presentation. This is the great Dog, anciently the Wolf, the special hunter and devourer of the hare. In the Dendera Zodiac the figure is the Eagle or Hawk, the particular enemy of the Serpent, having on his head a double mark of crownings with power and majesty, and standing on the top of a great mace as the triumphant royal Breaker and Bruiser of the powers of evil. The principal star in this constellation is the most brilliant and fiery in all the heavens.

"All others he excels; no fairer light
Ascends the skies, none sets so clear and bright."

But it is associated with burning heat, pestilence, and disaster to the earth and the children of men. Homer sung of it as a star

"Whose burning breath Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death."

Virgil speaks of blighted fields, a smitten earth, and suffering beasts, because this star

"With pestilential heat infects the sky."

This star is called Sirius, from Sir or Seir, which means Prince, Guardian, the Victorious. Taken in connection with the name of the figure in the Egyptian sphere, as often given, we have Naz-Seir or Nazir; and we know who it was that was to be called Naz-seir-ene, Naz-Seir means the Sent Prince. So the Rod promised to come forth from the stem or stump of Jesse is called Netzer in the Hebrew Bible, there translated the Branch, the princely Scion, who should "smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips." Not, then, only because Christ spent His earlier years at an obscure little village by the name of Nazareth, but, above all, because He was the Sent Prince, the Messiah, the Branch, at once the Netzer of Isaiah and the Naz-Seir of these equally prophetic constellations. From the earliest ages of Christianity till now interpreters and defenders of the Scriptures have been at a loss to explain by what prophet or in what sacred prophecy it was said, as claimed by the Apostle, that Christ should be called a Nazarene; but here, from a most unexpected quarter, we find the nearest and most literal foreshowing of that very name, given in place as a designation of the Seed of the woman, and describing Him as the Sent Prince, the lordly Eagle, the appointed tearer in pieces and extirpator of the whole serpent brood. And in this Naz-Seir, or Naz-Sirius, we are to see Him of whom Matthew said, "He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called Naz-seir-ene" (Matt. 2: 23).

In accord with this, the second star of this constellation is called Mirzam, the Ruler; the third, MuKphen, the Leader, the Chieftain; the fourth, Wesen, Shining, Illustrious, Scarlet; the fifth, Adhara, the Glorious; and another, Al Habor, the Mighty. It would verily seem as if we were selecting a list of scriptural expressions concerning our Redeemer when we thus give the sense of these astronomic names. Their meaning is most truly significant when understood of Christ, but they are worse than absurd if we are to understand them of an Egyptian dog. Nor will these showings interpret at all except as applied to the scene, subject, and period of which Gemini, as I have explained, is the central sign."

The Sublime Prince

"A magnificent picture of the Sun is that which the Psalmist gives, where he represents him as a bridegroom, glowing under his wedding-canopy, exulting like a mighty man to run his race, and going forth from one horizon to the other with a power of heat and brightness from which nothing can hide. But what is thus said of the natural Sun is still more thrillingly true of the Sun of Righteousness in the case before us. He is the Bridegroom, for "the marriage of the Lamb is come." He stands under the wedding-canopy, the Illustrious, the Glorious, ready for revelation in the brightness of His appearing, and exulting to go forth in all His invincible energy to search and try the earth from end to end, revealing everything, testing everything, and bringing burning, death, and destruction to whatever is found lifting itself against Him as "the King of kings and Lord of lords."

In this attitude and in these relations He is the Hunter and Destroyer of the Hare, the true Naz-Seir-ene, the Appointed Prince, the lordly Eagle, the Destroyer of the Serpent. Here especially He is the mighty, the glorious, the Prince of the right hand, as the Arabic has it, the Chief leading His hosts to effective victory. Here heat and burning and plague and death attend upon His going forth, and men are smitten and scorched; as it is written: "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth" (Zech. 14:12); "for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isa. 2 : 12-17); "And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God" (Rev. 19:15).

It is the same picture of the same identical scene described by Isaiah (63), where it is asked, " Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?" To which He answers: "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." And where the further inquiry is put: "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the winefat?" And the further anjwer is: "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come...And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth." Here is the true Pollux, the real Sirius, the mighty Chieftain, the Wolf or Eagle coming upon the enemy, the glorious Hero of salvation, arrayed in brightness and scarlet, and triumphing in the greatness of His strength.

All the features in the sign thus harmoniously weave into one consistent and magnificent showing, which is the same in the stars as in the written prophecies."


The Companion Of Sirius

"But when the glorious Sun of Righteousness thus comes forth in His majesty from under the wedding-canopy, "clothed with his vesture dipped in blood," riding upon the white horse, and sending out His mighty sword to smite the nations and hurl the Beasts and their followers to perdition, He comes not alone. The armies of the heaven follow Him on white horses, wearing the clean linen of saintly righteousness. He is the Head, the Leader, the Chief, but behind Him are His elect myriads, warrior-judges like himself. He is married now, and His bride is with her Husband. "To execute vengeance upon the nations and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all the saints" (Ps. 149 : 7-9).

And to bring out this feature there is added a third Decan of Gemini—the second Dog or Wolf. It differs from the first only in being smaller and feebler, and following a little behind the first; for the saints by this time are all like unto their Lord, and follow Him whithersoever He goeth. Princeliness is in them also, though the Arabic astronomy designates them as the Prince of the left hand, as it calls Him the Prince of the right hand. In the Egyptian Zodiac this constellation has a human figure with the Eagle's head; hence a sign of humanity exalted to power and authority against the Serpent-seed. It is called Sebak—that is, Conquering, Victorious.

The name of the principal star, a very bright star of the first magnitude—and from that star the name of the constellation itself on our planispheres—is Procyon, which, in its Noetic elements, is associated in meaning with redemption, and may mean Redeemed or Redeeming, or both, and well describes the body of the glorified saints. The term Al Mirzam occurs here also, as in the second Decan, and ascribes rulership to what is here symbolized, the same as to the Head Prince going before; just as Christ has promised to His faithful people that they shall share His throne and sovereignty and reign with Him for ever and ever." The second star in this constellation bears the name of Al Gomeiza, which in signification also refers to redemption, and seems to include particularly the previous history of the saints, as, like their Lord, once burdened, loaded down, enduring for the sake of others."


The Myths

"The myths touching this Dog are varied. Some say he represents the Egyptian god Anubis, which was the god that took charge of the dying and carried them to judgment. Others say it refers to Diana and her hunting and destroying of wild beasts. Some say he is the dog of Icarus, who revealed the place where the murderers of his master had hid the body of their victim, and thus was the occasion of various sad and disturbing calamities. And still other accounts represent this Dog as one of the hounds of Actaeon, which in madness devoured their master after Diana had turned him into a stag. Actaeon was a trained and cunning hunter who was impertinent toward Artemis, the goddess of purity and justice, and had command over sufferings, plagues, and death. He boasted himself against her, and even appropriated to himself and associates what was sacred to her. Hence these judgments came upon him and made an end of him.

These stories agree in nothing except in the recognition of some good agency or heavenly power at work to bring the erring to account, and to give trouble and death to the proud, the offending, and the intractable. But in this they all accord with the character and office which the Scriptures ascribe to the glorified Church in connection with what follows immediately on the marriage of the Lamb. They help to strengthen the chain of evidence identifying Procyon as the starry symbol of those heavenly armies which come forth along with the King of kings and Lord of lords to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, to make an end of misrule and usurpation on earth, and clear it of all the wild beasts which have been devastating it for these many ages."


Summary On Gemini

"Thus, then, the records in the stars combine with the records in the Book to picture to us a most sublime destiny for the congregation of believers. They are betrothed to Christ even now, and love Him, and oft have sweet and blessed communion with Him; but it is only through veils and intervening ordinances, by faith and not by sight. The time is coming when these veils shall be removed, and God's people shall meet Him face to face, and see tne King in His beauty, and be joined with Him in all the intimacies of love, fellowship, and oneness, being made copartners with Him in all He has and is and does, yea, the loved and loving participants in all His glory, throne, and immortal administrations. They shall not only "stand in the judgment," but they shall be lifted when it comes, "caught up to meet the Lord in the air," to be with Him as no other beings are with Him, even as His bride and wife. And when His power goes forth to plague the wicked world, avenge the blood of the martyrs, overwhelm the great Beast and his armies, rid the world of all the wild beasts of usurpation and unrighteousness which have infested it so long, and reduce the refractory nations and peoples to just and rightful authority by the force of an iron sceptre to which all must bow or be dashed to pieces, they shall be one with Him in the terrific manifestations and be co-administrants of that irresistible almightiness. They in Him, and He in them, shall be the Castor and Pollux of the world to come, supremely blessed in each other, and making blessed, putting glad songs where tears and groans have moaned their miserere, and settling everything into the order, peace, and permanence of that divine kingdom when all shall be "on earth as it is in heaven."