BaptistGadfly

Pivot Newt!

2012-01-21T09:13:00.002-05:00

The following is an e-mail I sent to Newt Gingrich:

Dear Speaker Gingrich:

As a debater myself (president of my nationally ranked CEDA college debate team and who has had many theological debates after college) I praise your debate skills. First, you well understand the topics, an essential to good debating. Second, you are so good on pivoting and debating jujitsu.

Let me advise you to do the same thing on the issues in the attack ads against you.

1. On the sitting on the couch with Pelosi, pivot! Instead of simply saying that it was a worst dumb mistake, and that you testified against cap and trade, go further and say a) but, let us talk about pollution, the EPA, etc., Ask - why should we spend money we don't have to do what China and other nations refuse to do? b) Pivot further and talk about how we do not need more regulations! More government control! c) Talk about how you will need to get along with the "other side" when you are president, and that you will have to work with Pelosi and others, and that you hope to sit on the couch with them to work out differences. d) Talk about the EPA and how you want the US (and UN also) to have a friendly environmental solutions agency, and promote coal and other energy industries.

2. On your supposed ethics violations and fine, your present reply is good, but you don't always give it. You should also a) pivot and play on the unpopularity of the present Congress, a) the ethics of Democrats like Barney Frank, b) the ethics of Republicans who are against abortion, like Romney, and yet support Planned Parenthood, etc., c) the ethics of Obama in associating with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, d) the ethics of work, e) wanting to teach the poor to fish rather than just giving them a fish.

3. On your former support of a universal mandate, your admission of mistake is good, but maybe you should use the word repent, as this would recall the fact that you have repented of former conduct as well as former errors. Emphasize that people grow and learn and that you have never claimed to be perfect, that you are a man of ideas, some of which are bad, but at least you are stirring discussion, that you throw out ideas and solutions so that they may be tested, and if wrong, the truth can be found. Tell them you are no dictator of ideas, only a leader and contributor to the debate. Also, pivot and talk about real solutions to the health care problem in America.

4. On the charge that you carry baggage, state a) that we all have baggage of some kind, b) at least your baggage is fully known while Romney's is not (for example - he has not released his tax forms), c) Obama has far more baggage than you (give examples), d) that you have some good looking baggage too, such as aid of the Reagan Revolution, balanced budgets, etc.

5. On the fact that so many establishment Republicans have come out against you, you should pivot again and say a) Congress and the present establishment does not have too high a rating with the public and so you take such criticism from Congress with a grain of salt, b) that you have many endorsements (name them), c) your were a little rough when you were younger and less experienced, but that you have been tested and have matured, d) that you hope to appeal to Independents and Reagan Democrats and your position on immigration will win you more votes with Hispanics than will that of your opponents.

Sincerely yours,

Stephen M. Garrett
Monroe, N.C.

Owen on Sealing

2012-01-20T09:33:00.001-05:00

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Eph. 1: 13, 14)

In the debate over the ordo salutis, or whether regeneration precedes faith, or vice versa, this verse becomes a matter of debate. Those who insist that men or born again before faith will affirm that this sealing of the Spirit cannot be connected with being born again because the sealing occurs when one believes and thus make the sealing some post regeneration experience. Others, who do not insist that regeneration precedes faith will have no difficulty equating this sealing with the new birth. Those who say that this sealing with the Spirit is not to be equated with regeneration will say that this sealing is the giving of assurance of salvation to the one already saved.

The great Calvinist theologian John Owen wrote these words about the nature of this sealing.

"Wherefore, God's sealing of believers with the Holy Spirit, is his gracious communication of the Holy Ghost unto them, so to act his divine power in them, as to enable them unto all the duties of their holy calling, evidencing them to be accepted with him both unto themselves and others, and asserting their preservation unto eternal salvation. The effects of this sealing are gracious operations of the Holy Spirit in and upon believers; but the sealing itself is the communication of the Spirit unto them. They are sealed with the Spirit."

"(2.) This is that whereby he giveth believers assurance of their relation unto him, of their interest in him, of his love and favour to them. It hath been generally conceived that this sealing with the Spirit, is that which gives assurance unto believers; and so indeed it doth, although the way whereby it doth it, hath not been rightly apprehended. And therefore, none have been able to declare the especial nature of that act of the Spirit whereby he seals us, whence such assurance should ensue. But it is indeed not any act of the Spirit in us that is the ground of our assurance, but the communication of the Spirit unto us. This the apostle plainly testifieth; 1 John iii. 24. 'Hereby we know that he ahideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.' That God abideth in us and we in him, is the subject-matter of our assurance: 'this we know/saith the apostle; which expresseth the highest assurance we are capable of in this world. And how do we know it? Even by the Spirit which he hath given unto us. But it may be, the sense of these words may be, that the Spirit which God gives us doth by some especial work of his, effect this assurance in us; and so it is not his being given unto us, but some especial work of his in us, that is the ground of our assurance, and consequently our sealing. I do not deny such an especial work of the Spirit, as shall be afterward declared; but I judge that it is the communication of the Spirit himself unto us that is here intended. For so the apostle declares his sense to be; chap. iv. 13. 'Hereby know we that we dwell in God, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.' This is the great evidence, the great ground of assurance which we have, that God hath taken us into a near and dear relation unto himself, because he hath given us of his Spirit; that great and heavenly gift which he will impart unto no others. And indeed on this one hinge depends the whole case of that assurance which believers are capable of. If the Spirit of God dwell in us, we are his; 'but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his ;' Rom. viii. 9. Hereon alone depends the determination of our especial relation unto God. By this, therefore, doth God seal believers; and therein gives them assurance of his love. And this is to be the sole rule of your self-examination whether you are sealed of God or no." (pgs. 218-22 "The works of John Owen," Volume 4 See here)

The Beauty of Christ

2012-01-18T10:27:00.001-05:00

The following are some of my notes for a message I recently gave to my home church.

In Phil. 4: 8 Paul said:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

If we are to think deeply upon what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, and of good report, then we will certainly want to think upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is all these things. No one is as true as Jesus, who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14: 6) No one is as pure, honest, and virtuous as Jesus, for he was "without sin" and spoke only truth and did only good. No one is as "lovely" and beautiful as Jesus.

In focusing our attention on the beauty of Christ we will be doing what Paul commanded, for we will be thinking and musing upon the one who is superlatively lovely, who is most beautiful, and we will be doing just what the Lord wants. We will be pleasing both God and ourselves. Is it not pleasurable to behold what is beautiful? Does beauty not delight and bring joy? It is the nature of beauty to draw attention and to inspire adoration, praise, and compliment. Beauty turns heads, as they say. Beauty pleases the eyes and in looking upon the Lord with the eyes of our minds, with the eyes of faith, we will be beholding he who is gloriously beautiful. But, beauty is not simply for the eyes, but also for the ears, and is why we speak of beautiful music.

In Song of Sol. 5: 16-19 a question is put forth by the daughters of Jerusalem, "What is your beloved more than another beloved?" The spouse answers, "He is the chief among ten thousand" and "altogether lovely." There is nothing disagreeable in him, and there is nothing lovely without him.

Fairest Lord Jesus

Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling, starry host:
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer,
than all the angels heaven can boast.

All fairest beauty
heavenly and earthly,
wondrously, Jesus, is found in thee;
none can be nearer,
fairer or dearer,
than thou, my Savior, art to me

If we look into the mirror of scripture and ask - "who is the fairest of them all?" - we will have to say that Jesus is fairest of them all! "Thou art fairer than the children of men." (Psalm 14:2)

King David said:

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple." (Psa. 27: 4)

David was awestruck with the "beauty of the Lord." He had seen it and desired to remain focused upon it all the days of his life. He wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord, in that place where the beauty and glory of the Lord are revealed. It is my desire that all who are here tonight might be blessed to behold the Lord, our God and King, in his beauty.

Just as we sing about the old rugged cross, saying that it has a "wondrous attraction," so we say of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a wondrous attraction in Christ. Let us focus our attention then on "The Attractiveness of Christ," on his glorious beauty and splendor. Christ is magnificent.

It is said that "beauty attracts and ugliness repels."  It is also said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Or, is it? Sometimes people call that ugly which is actually beautiful, just as they often call evil good. Some people simply lack the eyes to see and appreciate what is beautiful. A man with a very poor vocabulary will hardly appreciate attractive prose. A color blind man cannot see the richness in nature's beauty. Wrote Isaiah:

"In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." (Isa. 4: 2)

The Lord Jesus Christ, in his divinity, has always been beautiful and glorious. But, this verse respects Christ in his incarnation, of "God manifest in the flesh," of Christ as the God-man. "In that day" primarily refers to the time of Christ's second coming, to the day of his coronation as King of kings, and to his wedding day, when he is forever and perfectly joined to his spouse. How beautiful and glorious will Christ then appear!

It certainly may be applied to that day when Christ walked on the earth, when he, as Peter said, "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." (Acts 10: 38) But his beauty and glory were not so much revealed then as it will be when he returns the second time.

When Jesus was on the Mt. of Transfiguration, the beauty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ radiated from him. The record says that Christ "was transfigured before them" that is, before Peter, James, and John, and that "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matt. 17: 2) Christ radiated excellent glory and beauty. He was truly a "sight to behold." Peter, writing of this incident, said:

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." (II Peter 1: 16-18)

Notice from Peter's words how this manifestation of excellent honor, glory, majesty, and beauty is connected with the second coming of Christ, with "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is "that day" that Isaiah chiefly had in mind when he said - "in that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious." But, it was also true on that day when Peter, James, and John, beheld him in his transfigured state on the holy mount of transfiguration. But, if he today blesses your eyes, you may even get a glimpse now of the beauty and glory of Christ, a preview. Christ is truly a coming attraction.

Paul says that the incarnate Christ is "the brightness" of the Father's "glory," and the "express image of his person." (Heb. 1: 3) This is a beautiful and glorious "brightness," a radiation of supreme majestic excellency.

Isaiah says that Christ, the Branch, will be beautiful and glorious for a "remnant," for those that are "escaped" of Israel and of the nations. We know that the elect are referenced in scripture as being the remnant, being those who escape the wrath and judgment of God. So Paul said - "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (Rom. 11: 5) It is the elect, God's remnant, who are predestined to behold the beauty and glory of the Lord "in that day."

Isaiah also wrote:

"In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people." (Isa. 28: 5)

Isaiah says that the "Branch" of the Lord is beautiful and glorious "in that day."  And, one again he identifies "that day" with the day when the Lord is crowned, when Christ receives the "crown of glory" and the "diadem of beauty." And, he again identifies that group which will see him as such on that great day, saying that they are "the residue of his people," or the remnant.

When the Great Tribulation is finished, the ones who will be "left standing," the ones who will have "escaped," will be God's elect, the residue and remnant. Solomon said - "But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." (Prov. 2: 22) So it was in the great first judgment of God upon the wicked world in the days of Noah, for God "took away" all the "world of the ungodly" so that only the righteous were left.

Isaiah prophesied - "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." (Isa. 24: 6)

Jesus, in speaking of the coming day of judgment and tribulation that shall come upon all the word, said:

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left." (Luke 17: 34-36)

Those who are "taken away" are not the righteous, as many suppose, but are the unrighteous, as in the days of Noah. The ones who remain, who are left, the remnant, are the ones who have escaped God's wrath.  They are the righteous, not the unrighteous. Isaiah says that Christ, the Branch of Jehovah, will be beautiful and glorious "in that day" to those who are the chosen of God, who are part of the remnant few.

In scripture God is said to be 1) Spirit ("God is Spirit"), and 2) Light ("God is light"), and 3) Love ("God is love"). It is also scriptural to say that God is Beauty. In some respects this may be deduced from the proposition that "God is love," for if he is love, then he is lovely, and if lovely, then beautiful.

Of course, God is invisible, being omnipresent spirit. So, when we say that God is beautiful we are not referring to a deity of material substance or physical form of being. Yet, though he is essentially invisible, he often manifests himself in physical form to physical eyes.  Such manifestations of the presence of God to physical eyes is called "beatific vision." It is "seeing God," or "seeing him who is invisible."   Jesus promised - "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Job saw the Lord in beatific vision.

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed withinother; though my reins be consumed within me." (Job 19: 25-27)

So too did Isaiah behold the Lord in his beauty and glory.

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." (Isa. 6: 1)

The Israelites too saw the Lord.

"And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness." (Exo. 24: 10)

John, on the isle of Patmos, also saw the Lord.

"And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." (Rev. 4: 2, 3)

"Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (I Tim. 6: 16)

God dwells in beautiful and glorious light and yet is invisible.

"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." (Heb. 11: 27)

This seems to be somewhat of a contradiction. How can one see him who cannot be seen?

All beauty is of God.

Wrote Solomon:

"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Eccl. 3: 11)

All beauty in nature is but a reflection of the divine beauty.

What is it that is beautiful and attractive about Jesus in his incarnate state?

We shall see that it consists in his wisdom, in his holiness, in his love and affection, in his courage and strength, in his goodness and kindness, and in his excellent spirit. Simply put, he is beautiful in his heart, soul, mind, and spirit.

When we say that Christ is beautiful and attractive, we do not mean that he was so as a man, according to his physical appearance, for the prophet Isaiah said - "he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." (Isa. 53: 2) In his bodily appearance Christ was ugly, he had "no comeliness" and "no beauty." Christ was not physically attractive and all pictures of him that picture him as physically beautiful and lovely are pictures of a false Christ. Isaiah says that there is nothing in the external appearance of Christ to cause anyone to "desire" him, even though he is "the desire of all nations." (Hag. 2: 7)

No one has ever been drawn to Jesus by simply beholding his physical appearance. To truly see the beauty and comeliness of Jesus is to see past his outward appearance and to see into his soul and spirit, into the heart and mind of Christ. Christ's glory and beauty are like that of "the king's daughter," in Psalm 45: 13, who is said to be "all glorious within." This is unlike the self righteous Pharissees, however. Jesus said to them:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Matt. 23: 27)

"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." (Prov. 31: 30)

"As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion." (Prov. 11; 22)
Sinners they think are beautiful people, being narcissists, and they trust in their own spiritual beauty.

"But thou didst trust in thine own beauty..." (Eze. 16: 15)

"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." (Eze. 28: 17)

When the Lord opens your eyes to see his beauty you will immediately see how spiritually ugly you are, and you will suffer deep conviction of sin. Wrote David:

"When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah." (Psa. 39: 11)

Conviction of sin accomplishes this.

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." (Isa. 61: 3)

Conversion accomplishes this.

We should all pray:

"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." (Psa. 90: 17)

Inner beauty is of much greater importance than outer beauty. The beauty of the soul is vastly more important than the beauty of the body.

We only see Christ now, as it were, "through a glass darkly," or "through the veil." Paul calls the flesh and body of Jesus the "veil." (Heb. 10: 20) The Temple veil was a type of the body of Christ. Paul says that we should "go through the veil." How do we get into the most holy place, the place of God's presence, the place where the Lord's beauty and glory are seen? The place where the mercy seat is found? The place where pardoning is found? "Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." (Psa. 96: 6)

To get into the most holy place with your mental vision, you will have to see beyond the bodily appearance of Christ and look into his soul, into his person and character. The beauty of Christ is like the tabernacle, which had little external attractiveness. The outside of the tabernacle was of badger's skins, but the inside was filled with beauty, so also is Christ externally unappealing, but in his inner person is exquisitely beautiful.

The beauty and glory of Christ was concealed by his physical form, but it often shined through the covering veil of his flesh.  The apostle John said "we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father."  (John 1: 14) Though cloaked by his physical appearance, nevertheless the glory and beauty of Christ radiated from his inner being and shown through the covering veil. In every good deed and act of kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ, his inner beauty and glory shot forth its beams. In every act of mercy and every act of power, his excellency and majesty radiated through the veil of his flesh.

It is because Christ offered his body as a sacrifice for sin that anyone is able to see through the veil into the holiest place to behold the beauty and glory of the Lord. But, it takes eyes to see, and only he can give you eyes. "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them." (Prov. 20: 12) So Jesus said to his disciples - "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." (Matt. 13: 16) It requires faith, faith which only God can give. It requires God's removing the veil that obscures the vision of lost sinners. Paul said:

"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." (II Cor. 3: 16)

When people are saved, the veil is removed, then Christ is seen, appreciated, and adored. Jesus promised salvation to those who "see" the Son. "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6: 40) When the veil is taken away, Christ is seen, and when he is seen, he is appreciated and adored, and trusted. Those who do not adore and admire Christ show that they have never truly seen him with the eye of faith.

An unbeliever's heart, eyes, and mind are covered as with a veil and cannot therefore see the beauty of Christ. Believers, however, have had their eyes unveiled, have had the veil removed from their hearts and minds. Of lost men, Paul says that a "veil covers their hearts." (vs. 15) Christians, on the other hand, "are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing" the radiating beauty and glory of God in the face of Moses. Paul says that this signified that they could not see "the end (purpose or reason) of what was passing away." (vs. 13)   Christians do not have a veil on their faces, nor over their hearts and eyes.

Look then, not with your physical eyes, but with the eyes of your soul and mind, with the eye of faith, to the Beautiful One, the Desired One, to the glorious Branch of the Lord, to the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ! Pray that God removes the veil over your eyes.

In Proverbs 8:11, Solomon said of wisdom that is "is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." Christ is the true Wisdom of God. (I Cor. 1: 30) Nothing you can desire, therefore, can be compared with Christ, who is not only the Wisdom of God, but the very Beauty, Power, and Glory of God. God is is light. And, God is love. But God is also beauty. And, that beauty is revealed in the person of the incarnate Son of God.

Isaiah also wrote:

"Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off." (Isa. 33: 17)

People address kings as "his excellency." They are heard to say - "your most excellent majesty." But, to Christ, the King of kings, does this title and description superlatively apply. God called upon Job with this challenge - "Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty." (Job 40: 10) This put Job into his rightful place, for he was not "decked with majesty and excellency," nor was he "arrayed with glory and beauty." But Christ, unlike Job, is one who is indeed clad with majesty and exellency and arrayed with glory and beauty.

The beauty of Christ is seen in many things, but I wish to focus upon 1) the beauty of his wisdom, and 2) the beauty of his holiness, and 3) the beauty of his loving heart, and 4) the beauty of his courage, and 5) the beauty of his spirit, and 6) the beauty of his mind.

The Beauty of Wisdom

Solomon said that a "man of understanding is of an excellent spirit." (Prov. 17: 27)

This is superlatively true of Christ, for he is, above all, a "man of understanding," one in whom "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2: 3) In Ezekiel 28: 7 there is reference to "the beauty of" Israel's "wisdom," which would be the object of attack from Israel's enemies. Foolishness is ugly but beauty is connected with wisdom. And, in this respect, no one is more beautiful than the Lord Jesus Christ. Beauty involves excellency. Of the prophet Daniel we read that he was a man of "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding...were found in the same Daniel..." (Dan. 5: 2) But, in this, Daniel is but a type of the "excellent spirit" and "excellent wisdom and knowledge" of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head." (Prov. 20: 29) The beauty of old men is their wisdom and experience, signified by the white hair. Thus, in the visions of Daniel the prophet we see Lord God with white woolen hair and called the "Ancient of days." (Dan. 7: 9)

What an "excellent spirit" did Jesus possess as a "man of understanding"! When Luke addressed his gospel, he addressed it to the "most excellent Theophilus." (Luke 1: 3) But, Christ is preeminently and superlatively the "most excellent." Paul spoke of "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil. 3: 8) He also said that Christ has "a more excellent name" than anyone, either angel or man. (Heb. 1: 4) Of the "spirit" of Christ, Isaiah wrote:

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (Isa. 11: 1, 2)

In Eph. 1: 17 Paul spoke of "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ."

By "spirit" I mean his inner state of mind, his disposition, his character. When we say that a person is in such and such a "spirit," we mean that such a person is characterized by a stated quality. It often denotes a mood or state of emotion, as well as to a mental state. It is part of our depraved nature to have a hateful spirit, a bad spirit, a fearful spirit, a "spirit of heaviness" and grief, a proud spirit, a jealous spirit, etc. John spoke of "the spirit of truth," versus "the spirit of error." (I John 4: 6) When the disciples lacked compassion for unbelievers, and wanted to destroy them with fire from heaven, after the manner of Elijah, Jesus said to them - "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." (Luke 9: 55)

"This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish...But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." (James 3: 15, 17)

Christ superlatively possessed the "spirit of wisdom." But, it was not an earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom, but a heavenly wisdom that is pure, peaceable, gentle and placable, and full of mercy and good fruits. The wisdom of Jesus is good looking.

Beauty of Christ's Excellent Spirit

In Ephesians 4: 23 Paul referred to "the spirit of your mind." The spirit of wisdom was an essential part of the spirit of the mind of Christ. Paul wrote to Timothy and exhorted him to "be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (I Tim. 4: 12) Be an example in spirit. Be an example in your attitude and disposition, in your mental and emotional state. Who can be a better example of what to be "in spirit" than our Lord Jesus Christ? Paul also wrote to Timothy, saying:

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but (spirit) of power, and (spirit) of love, and (spirit) of a sound mind." (II Tim. 1: 7)

Christ possessed a courageous and fearless spirit, and a spirit of power, wisdom, love, the spirit that Isaiah described in a sevenfold manner.

The Beauty of Holiness

Christ is called "the Holy One." And, beauty is connected with holiness. We read in scripture of the "beauty of holiness." (Psa. 29: 2; 96: 9) In Romans 1: 4 Christ is proven to be the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, because of his holiness. Said paul: "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." What is holiness?

God says - "Be ye holy as I am holy." (I Peter 1: 16) The Greek word is "hagios." It means to be the object of veneration, to be unique and special, to be separate, especially from what is evil and ugly, and to be pure. Thus, God calls us to be separate and pure. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."  (II Cor. 6: 17) This is a description of what it means to be holy or sanctified. It is to be separate, to not be in touch with what is unclean. It involves being pure and clean. In the vision of Peter holiness was defined as being special, or uncommon. It is also to be clean. "What God has cleansed, call not common or unclean." What is holy is special and clean, what is separate. So of Christ it is said that he was "holy, harmless, separate from sinners." (Heb. 7: 26)

Thus, the beauty of Christ is seen in his unique and superlative wisdom and holiness. But the beauty in the mind, spirit, and heart of Christ are also seen in:

1. The love, affection, and passion of Christ
2. The compassion and tenderness of Christ
3. The meekness and gentleness of Christ
4. The good-natured spirit of Christ

Let us focus then upon the love and affection of Christ, of his attitude towards a fallen humanity.

The Beauty of Christ's Heart

Christ had a heart full of love for both God and man. Paul prayed that Christians -

"May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3: 18, 19)

The love of Jesus is wonderfully attractive. Jesus said to the people - "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." (Luke 6: 32) But, the love of Jesus is much more beautiful than the love of sinners, for he loves those who by nature love him not. Paul says that the love of Christ for his neighbors, and for sinners, is unfathomable, of great breadth, of great length, of great height and depth. It "surpasses knowledge."

This love of Christ is seen in the mercy and compassion that he showed to men, even to men who despised and rejected him. He was always ready to "turn the other cheek." It is further seen in his meekness and gentleness. "Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ," said Paul to the Corinthians. (II Cor. 10: 1) Jesus said of himself - "I am meek and lowly in heart." (Matt. 11: 29) Concerning Christ, in this regard, Peter wrote: "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." (Peter 2: 23) Jesus, as we showed, was both "holy" and "harmless." He possessed, above all others, a "a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (I Peter 3: 4) He possessed what Paul called the "spirit of meekness." (I Cor. 4: 21)

This does not mean that Christ was a sissy, or a coward, or weak and timid. No, no, he was rather a man of great strength, and of the greatest courage. He was the bravest of the brave. Christ was no bully and needed not show his strength and courage in that manner. Though he could have destroyed all who spoke a word against him, yet he suffered it, and was compassionate and longsuffering towards all who bullied him.

The Beauty of the Goodness of Christ

"For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!" (Zech. 9: 17)

The goodness of Christ is another thing that is beautiful about Jesus. Peter preached to the house of Cornelius and said that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" and "who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." (Acts 10: 38) A rich man came to Jesus and called him "good master" and Jesus said to him - "why do you call me good? there is none good but God." (Mark 10: 18) Jesus was not denying that he was good, but simply wanted to 1) demonstrate that the man was simply giving flattery, and 2) that he did not really understand what he was saying, for if he had, he would either have to acknowledge that Jesus was God or that he was not good.

The beauty of the mind and spirit of Christ. We should have his mind and spirit.

"we have the mind of Christ." (I Cor. 2: 16)

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2: 5-7)

Wonderful Words of Life

Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of life;
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of life.
Words of life and beauty,
Teach me faith and duty:

Chorus:

Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life, G
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.

Christ, the blessed One gives to all
Wonderful words of life.
Sinner list to His loving call,
Wonderful words of life.
All so freely given,
Wooing us to heaven;

Sweetly echo the gospel call,
Wonderful words of life.
Offer pardon and peace to all,
Wonderful words of life.
Jesus, only Saviour,
Sanctify forever;

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (Isa. 52: 7)

How beautiful are the feet of Christ! How beautiful his words! His message.

He has a beautiful heart and mind. Beautiful spirit. Beautiful hands and feet. Beautiful eyes. Beautiful face. Beautiful lips. Beautiful character. Beautiful life.

Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all;

He is my strength from day to day, without Him I would fall.

When I am sad, to Him I go, no other one can cheer me so;

When I am sad, He makes me glad, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, my Friend in trials sore;
I go to Him for blessings, and He gives them over and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain, He sends the harvest’s golden grain;
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, and true to Him I’ll be;
O how could I this Friend deny, when He’s so true to me?
Following Him I know I’m right, He watches o’er me day and night;
Following Him by day and night, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better Friend;
I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a Friend, beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my Friend.

Actively Came Forth?

2012-01-16T09:07:00.001-05:00

"And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." (John 11: 43, 44)

"Came forth" is from the Greek word "exēlthen" (from ek and erchomai) and is third person second aorist indicative active. Why is this in the active voice? Is not being resurrected supposed to be all passive? Any comments?

Spurgeon on Ordo Salutis

2012-01-12T18:12:00.002-05:00

"The new LIFE enters the soul in and through BELIEVING, and is the same life which we shall exercise for ever at the right hand of God, even as Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

(MTP, Volume 47, page 662).

Benjamin Keach on Ordo Salutis

2012-01-12T17:54:00.004-05:00

Benjamin Keach was one of the signers of the second London Baptist Confession of Faith and a pastor of the church later pastored by John Gill and Charles Spurgeon. He was one of the greatest Particular Baptist apologists. He believed that men were begotten by faith in the gospel.

This is important to realize because some "Reformed" or "Hyperist" Calvinists claim that the London Confession upholds the notion that men are born again or regenerated before they can and do believe the gospel. Clearly, Keach did not hold this view. We can expect that the Confession reflects the views of Keach. Keach did not hold to the "born again before faith" error.

Keach wrote (emphasis mine - SG):

"The work of conversion itself, and in particular the act of believing, or faith itself, is expressly said to be of God, to be wrought in us by him, to be freely given unto us from him; the Scripture saith not that God gives us ability or power to believe only, namely, such a power as we may make use of, if we will, or do otherwise, but faith and conversion themselves are said to be the work and effect of God.

Object. But it may be objected that every thing which is actually accomplished is in potentia before. There must therefore be in us a power to believe before we do so actually.

Ausw. 1. The act of God working faith in us, is a creating work, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 10, and "he that is in Christ is a new creature." Now the effects of creating acts are not in potentia any where but in the active power of God, so was the world itself before its actual existence...all these preparatory works of the Spirit of God which we allow in this matter, there is not by them wrought in the minds and wills of men such a next power, as they call it, as should enable them to believe without further actual grace working faith itself. Wherefore with respect to believing, the first act of God is to work in us to will; so Phil. i. 13, "He worketh in us to will."

And again:

"It might be further demonstrated by considering how conversion, with the manner how it is effected, is set forth in the Holy Scripture; "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart," etc. Deut. xxx. 6. What is this but the putting off the body of sin? Col. ii. 11. This is the immediate work of the Spirit of God, no man ever circumcised his own heart. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, aud will take away the stony heart," Ezek. xxxvi. 26, that is, impotency and enmity which is in our hearts unto conversion."

And again:

"1. Gospel grace is glorious, because, when received in truth, it delivers the soul from bondage, it breaks the bonds. For the soul is not set at liberty by the here shedding of Christ's blood, without the application of it by the Spirit or infusion of grace into the heart.

2. The Gospel through the grace of it when received in truth, opens blind eyes, it makes them see, that never saw, in a spiritual sense, before; it opens their eyes that were bom blind; how blind was Saul till the Gospel grace shone upon him, or rather in him?

3. The Gospel through the grace of it, when received in truth, raises the dead soul to life. It is hereby we come to be quickened, the flesh profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit that quickeueth; that is, the human nature without the divine cannot accomplish salvation for us; nor shall any soul receive any saving benefit by the flesh, or death of Christ, unless he be quickened by the Spirit.

4. The Gospel in the grace of it, when received in truth, casts out that cursed enmity that is in the heart against God, and thereby reconciles the sinner to the blessed Majesty of heaven.

5. The grace of the Gospel works regeneration, makes the sinner another man, a new man. It forms the new creature in the soul.

The Gospel is glorious in respect of the tenders and offers made therein to the sons of men."

Question - What is tendered?

Answ. Repentance is tendered, pardon is tendered, peace is tendered, bread and water of life is tendered, perfect righteousness is tendered, adoption is tendered, glorious liberty is tendered; in short, God is offered, he makes a tender of himself. Christ is tendered with all his benefits, who is the Pearl of great price, worth millions; yea, more than ten thousand worlds; a marriage with Christ is tendered, the Spirit is tendered with all the blessings of it, a kingdom is offered in the Gospel, a crown is offered, a crown of endless glory, a crown that fadeth not away, eternal life is tendered." ("Tropologia: a key to open Scripture metaphors")

See here

Born Again by Faith - Calvin & Luther

2012-01-07T15:34:00.003-05:00

In his commentary on Galatians, Reformed theologian Martin Luther said this on Galatians 3: 26 - "For we are all the children (sons) of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

"The law then maketh us not children of God, and much less do men's traditions. These cannot beget us into a new nature, or a new birth; but it setteth before us the old birth, whereby we were born to be children of wrath; and so it prepareth us to a new birth, which is by faith in Jesus Christ. "For ye are all the sons of God by faith." Faith in whom? In Christ, who maketh us the sons of God, and not the law. St. John also witnesseth to the same, "To as many as believed Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God" (St. John 1: 12; Rom. 8: 16, 17)."

In his commentary upon I Peter 1: 3, Luther wrote:

"But how or by what means does this new birth take place? "By the resurrection," Peter says, "of Jesus Christ from the dead;" as if he should say, God, the Father, has begotten us, not of corruptible (as he himself will explain later) but of incorruptible seed, namely, of the word of truth, which is the power of God. It begets new life and makes all alive and blessed who believe in it (Rom. 1: 16). What kind of a word then is that? Even that which is preached among you concerning Jesus Christ..."

"He is born again, that is, created anew after the image of God, receives the Holy Spirit, knows God's gracious will, has a heart, mind, courage, will and thoughts, which no work-righteous person or hypocrite has."

In commenting upon verse 23, Luther wrote:

"Through a seed we are born again...But how does this take place? After this manner: God lets the word, the Gospel, be scattered abroad, and the seed falls in the hearts of men. Now wherever it sticks in the heart, the Holy Spirit is present and makes a new man. Then there will indeed be another man, of other thoughts, of other words and works. Thus you are entirely changed."

John Calvin wrote the following in commentary on the verses in John 1: 12, 13:

"On the contrary, the Evangelist repeats the same thing in a variety of words, in order to explain it more fully, and impress it more deeply on the minds of men. Though he refers directly to the Jews, who gloried in the flesh, yet from this passage a general doctrine may be obtained: that our being reckoned the sons of God does not belong to our nature, and does not proceed from us, but because God begat us WILLINGLY, (James 1:18,) that is, from undeserved love. Hence it follows, first, that faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration; for the Evangelist affirms that no man can believe, unless he be begotten of God; and therefore faith is a heavenly gift. It follows, secondly, that faith is not bare or cold knowledge, since no man can believe who has not been renewed by the Spirit of God.

It may be thought that the Evangelist reverses the natural order by making regeneration to precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, it is an effect of faith, and therefore ought to be placed later. I reply, that both statements perfectly agree; because by faith we receive the incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) by which we are born again to a new and divine life. And yet faith itself is a work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in none but the children of God. So then, in various respects, faith is a part of our regeneration, and an entrance into the kingdom of God, that he may reckon us among his children. The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source; but since it is by the same faith that we receive Christ, who sanctifies us by his Spirit, on that account it is said to be the beginning of our adoption.

Another solution, still more plain and easy, may be offered; for when the Lord breathes faith into us, he regenerates us by some method that is hidden and unknown to us; but after we have received faith, we perceive, by a lively feeling of conscience, not only the grace of adoption, but also newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. For since faith, as we have said, receives Christ, it puts us in possession, so to speak, of all his blessings. Thus so far as respects our sense, it is only after having believed — that we begin to be the sons of God. But if the inheritance of eternal life is the fruit of adoption, we see how the Evangelist ascribes the whole of our salvation to the grace of Christ alone; and, indeed, how closely soever men examine themselves, they will find nothing that is worthy of the children of God, except what Christ has bestowed on them." (Calvin, Commentary, John 1:13)

In his comment on 1 Corinthians 13:13, Calvin says, "In fine, it is by faith that we are born again, that we become the sons of God -- that we obtain eternal life, and that Christ dwells in us."

Edwards Misrepresented?

2011-12-31T15:22:00.003-05:00

In a posting titled Garrett's Misrepresentation of Jonathan Edwards, Jason Brown, Hardshell apologist, said:

"Garrett has argued that Edwards viewed regeneration and conversion as synonymous terms."

"Certainly the quotations of Edwards that Garrett offers show that Edwards linked the two inseparably, and used them as approximately synonymous. However, Garrett has misrepresented Edwards to argue that he made no distinction between them."

But, Garrett never affirmed that Edwards saw "no distinction" between the various terms used to describe the initial Christian experience. Regeneration, conversion, repentance, begetting, quickening, resurrection, created, etc., are all terms that speak of the one and the same saving experience. In other words, a regenerated man is a converted man, and vice versa. A begotten man is a quickened man. Etc. So, even though the words are distinct words, standing for distinct concepts, yet they each are describing the same experience! That is what Edwards taught and is what is denied by Hardshells and Hyper Calvinists.

Brown wrote:

"Garrett even quotes a crucial passage from Edwards and neglects to give the entire quote, which shows not only that Edwards did not view the terms as completely synonymous but that Edwards viewed the mind as passive in regeneration. There is no doubt from the passivity of the mind in regeneration that Edwards logically (like James White, for example) placed regeneration preceding faith."

Edwards did not, of course, view the terms regeneration, begetting, conversion, resurrection, the ones he used in the citations, as denoting separate experiences, but of one singular experience. Brown is attacking a straw man. We have simply affirmed that Edwards saw regeneration, conversion, and repentance as different words that denote the same experience. Brown affirms that Edwards says that the terms are used as synonyms in scripture, interchangeably, but not exactly synonymous! Is that what we are arguing about? Whether the various terms used to describe the Christian salvation experience were synonyms or almost synonyms?

Brown then attempts to use Hardshell "logic" on the words of Edwards regarding the "passivity" of the mind in regeneration. He deduces his proposition and then ascribes it to Edwards! What is his false conclusion? It is this - "regeneration logically precedes faith." His argument looks like this:

1. The mind is passive in being changed in regeneration
2. The mind cannot be passive in believing
3. Believing (faith) is not part of the passive changing of the mind in regeneration

But, Edwards did not divorce being convicted of the truth from that "change of mind" that resulted from the work of God, as do the Hardshells. Also, Edwards did not exclude the activity of the sinner in his regeneration. The sinner was both passive and active in regeneration. Just like regeneration is a work accomplished both mediately and immediately.

But, we have already shown how Edwards, like Calvin, equated "regeneration" with "repentance." Both terms spoke of one and the same experience, of initial Christian "transformation."

The "repentance" of Edwards did not exclude faith, for he also uses it synonymously with "conversion" as well as "regeneration." Brown and the Hardshells will sometimes argue that "faith is given in regeneration," and then argue with those who make faith a integral element of regeneration. Ironic isn't it? The plain fact is, Edwards did not believe than anyone was "regenerated" who was not converted. Arguing over "which comes first" in regard to all the elements of the new birth is like arguing over whether my feet or hands came first into being. It is like arguing about those "things which accompany salvation" in relation to which "things" came first?

Even though theologians have put the experience of regeneration under a microscope and dissected it, with the purpose of discovering process and the links in the chain of causes and effects, nevertheless, all the primitive Calvinists did not teach that regeneration or new birth was completed until one believed, repented, and was converted. According to such men as Calvin and Edwards, and according to the authors of the London Baptist Confession of 1689, the bible never designates anyone as regenerated who was not a convert to Christ.

Brown then cites these words of Edwards that I originally cited:

"If we compare one scripture with another, it will be sufficiently manifest that by regeneration, or being begotten or born again, the same change in the state of the mind is signified with that which the Scripture speaks of as effected by true repentance and conversion. I put repentance and conversion together, because the Scripture puts them together (Acts iii. 19), and because they plainly signify much the same thing.'"

Brown then comments:

"However, Garrett omits the next two sentences that show that Edwards distinguished regeneration from conversion:

"I put repentance and conversion together, as the Scripture puts them together, Acts iii. 19, and because they plainly signify much the same thing. The word metanoia (repentance) signifies a change of the mind; as the word conversion means a change or turning from sin to God. And that this is the same change with that which is called regeneration (excepting that this latter term especially signifies the change, as the mind is passive in it), the following things do show…."

Not only are they distinct in magnitude, as regeneration is represented by Edwards here as especially indicative of change, but they are distinct in that while conversion involves the intellect, regeneration does not - man is wholly passive in it! How could Garrett miss that? This misrepresentation should make a person wonder how many of Garrett's quotes and historical representations have been pulled out of context on the pretext of support for his views."

A "change of mind" does not involve the "intellect"? That is just laughable. If a man changes his mind, he does it without his brains? Without cognition? Without understanding?

When Edwards said that regeneration "especially signifies" the "passive change of mind" he does not exclude the term "regeneration" being applicable to other aspects and powers of the soul and spirit being aslo regenerated and transformed, only that it is the "mind" which is especially the object of regeneration.

It is ironic that Brown would say that my citations from Edwards and my comments upon them are a "misrepresentation" of Edwards because the evidence given already proves that it is actually Brown who "misrepresents" Edwards! Further, the additional evidence that I will shortly present from the writings of Edwards, also will further prove it.

Brown wrote that my gross "misrepresentation" of the words of Edwards "should make a person wonder how many of Garrett's quotes and historical representations have been pulled out of context on the pretext."

What is odd about Brown's words are that they apply to him! Not, to me! He says that I misrepresented Edwards because I said that he said that the various terms dealing with the initial Christian saving experience all signified the same experience. But, let us here cite more from Edwards, from the same section we have both cited.

Edwards wrote:

"The change the mind passes under in repentance and conversion, is that in which saving faith is attained. Mark i. 15, " The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." And so it is with a being born again, or born of God, as appears by John i. 12,13: " But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, &c, but of God.""

Could anything be more clear? Being "born again" is the same as that "change of mind" and "is that in which" one comes to "saving faith," when one is "converted."

Edwards also wrote:

"Many other things might be observed, to show that the change men pass under in their repentance and conversion, is the same with that which they are the subjects of in regeneration. But these observations may be sufficient.

II. The change which a man passes under when born again, and in his repentance and conversion, is the same that the Scripture calls the circumcision of the heart."

Does Brown not know what is meant by "is the same with that" means? Brown is condemning me for saying that Edwards said that regeneration and conversion were "the same" and yet this is what Edwards says! Who is misrepresenting Edwards? Is it not Brown?

Edwards wrote:

"Regeneration is that whereby men come to have the character of true Christians; as is evident, and as is confessed; and so is circumcision of heart; for by this men become Jews inwardly, or Jews in the spiritual and Christian sense (and that is the same as being true Christians)...That circumcision of the heart is the same with conversion, or turning from sin to God, is evident by Jer. iv. 1—4."

Again, notice that "regeneration" is "the same with" both "circumcision of heart" and "conversion." "THE SAME WITH"!

Edwards wrote:

"III. (This inward change, called regeneration and circumcision of the heart, which is wrought in repentance and conversion, is the same with that spiritual resurrection so often spoken of, and represented as a dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness.)

In which place also it is evident, by the words recited, and by the whole context, that this spiritual resurrection is that change, in which persons are brought to habits of holiness and to the divine life, by which Dr. Taylor describes the thing obtained in being born again."

"That a spiritual resurrection to a new divine life, should be called a being born again, is agreeable to the language of Scripture, in which we find a resurrection is called a being born, or begotten.

So that' I think it is abundantly plain, that the spiritual resurrection spoken of in Scripture, by which the saints are brought to a new divine life, is the same with that being born again, which Christ says is necessary for every one in order to his seeing the kingdom of God."

"IV. (This change, which men are the subjects of when they are born again, and circumcised in heart, when they repent, and are converted, and spiritually raised from the dead, is the same change which is meant when the Scripture speaks of making the heart and spirit new, or giving a new heart and spirit.)"

",,,as has been observed of regeneration, conversion, &c, and how apparent it is from thence, that the change is the same...For it is as it were self-evident: it is apparent by the phrases themselves, that they are different expressions of the same thing."

Brown accuses me of misrepresenting Edwards in his equating regeneration with conversion, but surely he knows what is meant by "different expressions of the same thing," does he not?

Edwards wrote:

"Add to these things, that regeneration, or a being born again, and the renewing (or making new) by the Holy Ghost, are spoken of as the same thing. Titus 3: 5, " By the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

"And it is most apparent, that spiritual circumcision, and spiritual baptism, and the spiritual resurrection, are all the same with putting off the old man, and putting on the new man."

"Here, to pass over many other evidences of this, which might be mentioned, I would only observe, that the representations are exactly equivalent. These several phrases naturally and most plainly signify the same effect." (pages 466-470) See Here

Brown wrote:

"Garrett would do well to research Edwards through the works of such scholars as John H. Gerstner. I recommend Gerstner's article.

Gerstner was a very highly regarded Edwardsean scholastic authority, and his published works testify against Garrett's claim that Edwards made no distinction between regeneration and conversion or that regeneration does not logically precede faith and repentance."

Gerstner is the one who misrepresented Edwards and so Brown is simply following in his footsteps. Bob Ross has written about Gerstner's misrepresentation of Edwards. See Here

So, rather than repeating here what he has written, I simply refer Brown and the reader to Ross's post.

Reformed 'Ordo Salutis' is not Primitive

2011-12-28T14:36:00.001-05:00

-

The Hardshell and Reformed 'Ordo Salutis' is not Primitive

Bob L. Ross, a close friend, and author of several great books on bible doctrine, and publisher of Pilgrim Publications, and Campbellite debater, and cult exposer, wrote a small book - "Hardshellism: Its History And Heresies" - and has also written much against the modern "Reformed" view that affirms that "regeneration precedes faith," or that one is "born again before faith."

In an excellent article titled - "Hybrid Calvinism - What is it?" - Ross shows that such an "ordo salutis" is not the primitive teaching of Calvinists but is a "hybrid" or novel invention and is not the older position of the Reformers and primitive Calvinists.

Bob Ross wrote (highlighting mine - SG):

"From time-to-time, we have "new arrivals" to our Flyswatter blogs who are not familiar with what I prefer to call "Hybrid" Calvinism.

In a nutshell, this term refers to the teaching that "regeneration precedes faith," or the idea that a person is actually"born again before faith."

This idea apparently was a post-seventeenth century development which arose among the Pedobaptist [baby baptizer] theologians as a means to supposedly explain how their "covenant children" were "regenerated" as babies or even before they were physically born. These supposed "covenant children" of believers were supposedly "born again" as babies before they ever became believers, which believing supposedly comes later in life.

Hybrid Calvinism is a mixture of (1) Creedal Calvinism on the efficient cause (Holy Spirit) in the New Birth, and (2) the non-creedal idea that the "means" of the Word in creating faith is not an inherent necessary element in the New Birth. It became the "Primitive Baptist" or "Hardshell" view of regeneration by a "Direct Operation of the Spirit apart from Means." It is often called the "Spirit alone" theory.

This theory became part of the "ordo salutis" and the idea is traced by some to Francis Turretin.

W. G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, Volume 2, pages 492-494, attributes the distinction between "regeneration" and "conversion" to Turretin, and Shedd adopted this approach. He says:

"The divines of the seventeenth century [Puritans] very generally do not distinguish between regeneration and conversion, but employ the two as synonyms. Owen does this continually: On the Spirit, III. v. And Charnocke likewise: Attributes, Practical Atheism. The Westminster [Confession] does not use the term regeneration. In stead of it, it employs the term vocation, or effectual calling. This comprises the entire work of the Holy Spirit in the application of redemption. . . ." Shedd then alleges: "But this wide use of the term regeneration led to confusion of ideas and views. As there are two distinct words in the language, regeneration and conversion, there are also two distinct notions denoted by them. Consequently, there arose gradually a stricter use of the term regeneration, and its discrimination from conversion. Turrettin (XV. iv. 13) defines two kinds of conversion, as the term was employed in his day. . . . After thus defining, Turrettin remarks that the first kind of conversion is better denominated 'regeneration,' because it has reference to the new birth by which man is renewed in the image of his Maker; and the second kind of conversion is better denominated 'conversion,' because it includes the operation and agency of man himself. . . ."

Then Shedd says: "We shall adopt this distinction [by Turretin] between regeneration and conversion. . . . Regeneration is a cause; conversion is an effect."

J. I. Packer also contends that the theory arose in "later Reformed theology:" Packer says:

"Many seventeenth century Reformed theologians equated regeneration with effectual calling and conversion with regeneration . . . LATER REFORMED THEOLOGY has defined regeneration more narrowly, as the implanting of the 'seed' from which faith and repentance spring (I John 3:9) in the course of effectual calling."

Louis Berkhof:

Berkhof likewise acknowledged that the theory had post-Creedal development:

"It is true that some Reformed authors have occasionally used the term 'regeneration' as including even sanctification, but that was in the days when the ORDO SALUTIS was not as fully developed as it is today" (Systematic Theology, page 468).

These are well-known "Reformed" Pedobaptist sources, and they are acknowledging that the "ordo salutis" of modern Reformed theology -- which puts "regeneration" prior to faith -- is in fact a hybrid development which arose "later" than the seventeenth century divines (Puritans) who regarded regeneration and conversion as synonymous.

Contrary to Shedd's idea that "regeneration is a cause," non-hybrids hold that regeneration is indeed an "effect" -- that is, regeneration is the New Birth, and the New Birth is an effect of the Holy Spirit's using the Word of God to bring an unconverted person to union with Christ by faith in Christ.

So non-hybrids contend that no one is born again until he has faith "monergistically" effected in him by the Word as the instrumental cause and the Spirit of God as the efficient cause -- as is plainly taught in our Baptist Confession of Faith, and is known as "Effectual Calling." (1689 London Baptist Confession, Article 10)."

Thus, the Hardshell and Hyper Calvinistic teaching of "born again before faith" is not the original teaching of Calvinists, and is not what was taught in the London Baptist Confession of 1689. "Primitive" and "Reformed" Baptists and Presbyterians who teach the hybrid ordo salutis are not teaching the view of the first greatest Calvinists, including John Calvin.

Substituting Faith for Regeneration

2011-12-28T13:58:00.004-05:00

I believe that faith in Christ and regeneration (rebirth) essentially describe the same experience so that one may put one term for the other in scripture and do no harm. Let us look at some passages of scripture where one or the other is discussed and substitute the terms and see if they do not express the truth.

"But without faith (regeneration) it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. 11: 6)

"For they that are after the flesh (unbelievers) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit (believers) the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded (unbelieving) is death; but to be spiritually minded (believing) is life and peace. Because the carnal mind (unbelieving mind) is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh (in unbelief) cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh (in unbelief), but in the Spirit (in belief), if so be that the Spirit of God (faith) dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ (faith), he is none of his." (Rom. 8: 5-9)

"But the natural man (unbeliever) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God (is not regenerated): for they are foolishness unto him (unbeliever): neither can he (unbeliever) know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2: 14)

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe (who are regenerated), according to the working of his mighty power." (Eph. 1: 19)

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (by faith), and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Tit. 3: 5)

"For by grace are ye saved through faith (regeneration); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2: 8)

"He that believeth on the Son (is regenerated) hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not (is not regenerated) the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3: 36)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me (is regenerated), hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5: 24)

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (be regenerated)." (John 6: 29)

"Of his own will begat he us (made us believers) with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." (James 1: 18)

"Being born again (made a believer), not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (I Peter 1: 23)

"Therefore if any man be in Christ (is a believer), he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Cor. 5: 17)

Edwards on Regeneration

2011-12-28T10:51:00.000-05:00

Though some affirm that Jonathan Edwards taught the hybrid "born again before faith" view, the following citations show otherwise. Edwards did not think that regeneration was different from conversion.

Edwards wrote (all emphasis mine - SG):

"If we compare one scripture with another, it will be sufficiently manifest that by regeneration, or being begotten or born again, the same change in the state of the mind is signified with that which the Scripture speaks of as effected by true repentance and conversion. I put repentance and conversion together, because the Scripture puts them together (Acts iii. 19), and because they plainly signify much the same thing.'"

"Regeneration is that whereby men come to have the character of true Christians; as is evident, and as is confessed; and so is circumcision of heart; for by this men become Jews inwardly, or Jews in the spiritual and Christian sense (and that is the same as being true Christians), as of old proselytes were made Jews by circumcision of the flesh. Rom. ii. 28,29, "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God...That circumcision of the heart is the same with conversion, or turning from sin to God, is evident by Jer. iv. 1—4, "If thou wilt return, 0 Israel, return (or, convert unto me)—circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and put away the foreskins of your heart." And Deut. x. 16, " Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked...Circumcision of the heart is the same change of the heart that men pass under in their repentance; as is evident by Levit xxvi. 41, " If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they accept the punishment of their iniquity."

"This inward change, called regeneration and circumcision of the heart, which is wrought in repentance and conversion, is the same with that spiritual resurrection so often spoken of, and represented as a dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness...That a spiritual resurrection to a new divine life, should be called a being born again, is agreeable to the language of Scripture, in which we find a resurrection is called a being born, or begotten...This change, which men are the subjects of when they are born again, and circumcised in heart, when they repent, and are converted, and spiritually raised from the dead, is the same change which is meant when the Scripture speaks of making the heart and spirit new, or giving a new heart and spirit."

"It is needless here to stand to observe, how evidently this is spoken of as necessary to salvation, and as the change in which are attained the habits of true virtue and holiness, and the character of a true saint; as has been observed of regeneration, conversion, &c, and how apparent it is from thence, that the change is the same. For it is as it were self-evident: it is apparent by the phrases themselves, that they are different expressions of the same thing. Thus repentance (metanoia) or the change of the mind, is the same as being changed to a new mind, or a new heart and spirit. Conversion is the turning of the heart; which is the same thing as changing it so, that there shall be another heart, or a new heart, or a new spirit."

"The apostle does in effect tell us, that when he speaks of that spiritual death and resurrection which is in conversion, he means the same thing as crucifying and burying the old man, and rising a new man." (pgs. 466-470)

"It appears from this, together with what has been proved above, that it is most certain respect to every one of the human race, that he can never have any interest in Christ, or see the kingdom of God, unless he be the subject of that change in the temper and disposition of his heart, which is made in repentance and conversion, circumcision of heart, spiritual baptism, dying to sin and rising to a new and holy life; and unless he has the old heart taken away and a new heart and spirit given, and puts off the old man, and puts on the new man, and old things are passed away, and all things made new." (pg. 471)

Citations from "THE W0RKS of PRESIDENT EDWARDS, IN FOUR VOLUMES." A REPRINT OF TBE WORCESTER EDITION, WITH VALUABLE ADDITIONS AND A COPIOUS GENERAL INDEX. VOL. II.

See here

"Much has been said concerning regeneration by light, and by moral suasion. If they who use this language mean no more, than that men are not regenerated in paganism, and so without the light and motives of the gospel; and that under the gospel they are commonly regenerated in consequence of attention to the gospel and of awakening and conviction in view of the truths and motives of it; and that the regenerate turn from sin to God in view of those truths and motives, though not by them as the efficient cause; I shall not oppose them, though I think their phraseology in many instances leads to a different understanding. In the sense now explained, we may understand the following texts, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth;" "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever;" "I have begotten you through the gospel," etc." (pgs. 109-113)

From the "WORKS of JONATHAN EDWARDS" by TRYON EDWARDS. VOL. II.

See here

Zack Guess - Hardshell Apologist

2011-12-08T09:09:00.005-05:00

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Elder Zack Guess, a modern day Hardshell, and supporter of Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr., and whose writings I have previously critiqued here, wrote:

"When God's grace enters a sinner's heart, that heart is changed. The will is changed. The sinner who hated the Holy God now loves Him, and longs for holiness (Matt. 5:6). The sinner is now willing to follow God and to please Him. As the psalmist said, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power..." (Ps. 110:3). As God said by Paul, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)."

There is nothing wrong with this description of the salvation/regeneration experience, of that time "when God's grace enters a sinner's heart." However, the above description contradicts general Hardshell ideas on the nature of the saving experience. It even contradicts other statements that Guess makes in the same writing, as we shall see.

Guess and the Hardshells do not teach that the "change" that occurs when one is saved includes any experience effected by gospel knowledge and belief. A man is as much a heathen in belief and practice after "regeneration," according to the Hardshells, as before. He becomes a "believer," but not a believer in scripture, nor in the gospel, nor in the one true God, nor in Jesus. Those who are saved are "made willing," but not, according to Guess and the Hardshells, made willing to believe in Christ, not made willing to turn away from heathen faith and practice.  A man's heart and mind are "changed," but this change, as characterized by Hardshells, does not include any conversion to Hebrew and Christian faith. It is a mere metaphysical change of the faculties of the soul, of what Hardshell apologist R. V. Sarrels, called the "soul essence." It simply changes the physical nature of the soul to where it is now "enabled" to believe, repent, etc. There is no real faith, nor turning to God, nor any revelation or enlightenment of truth about Christ. According to Guess and the Hardshells, many idol worshippers in non-Christian religions have been "regenerated," and "made willing," but who nevertheless never become believers in the revelation of scripture.

Guess says that a saved person is one who loves the Holy God. But, to know the one holy God, one must have knowledge of him, for "how shall they believe in him whom he has not heard?"   Guess does not divorce enlightenment from the saving experience. He does not make it wholly a sub-conscious or non-cognitive experience, at least not in this place, for he mentions loving God, being willing, etc. One of the verses cited by Guess is Phil. 2: 13 and cannot be interpreted outside of the context of Christian conversion. Willingness to do the will and pleasure of God implies a knowledge of God, and a knowledge of Christ, such knowledge that comes through instruction. Can one be "willing" in a non-cognitive sense? Guess says that regeneration makes a man "willing to follow God." But, how can he follow God that he knows nothing about? How can one believe in God of whom he has not heard?

Guess wrote:

"The Ephesian epistle, in very powerful and beautiful language shows emphatically that it takes the same mighty, miracle-working power to make one a believer as it took to raise Christ from the dead: "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." (Eph. 1:19,20)."

All this is acceptable and an accurate statement, but who is the "believer" in the passage? What is it that these believers believe? What doctrine do they receive as true? Clearly it is a Christian believer. The context makes this all too clear to be successfully denied. Notice these verses from Ephesians chapter one:

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." (12, 13)

Guess and the Hardshells are forced to admit that these words describe Christian conversion, a being saved by hearing and believing the gospel. They cannot make the "believing" and the "faith" of these verses into a "non-cognitive faith," or "latent faith," or "hidden faith," or "seed faith," for the faith is produced by the preaching of the gospel and has Christ as the object. So, they will admit that the "believer" of these verses is the one who is converted by the gospel. But, they will affirm that conversion is not regeneration, that the Ephesian converts had been "regenerated" long before they heard the gospel and became converts to Christ. Further, they will make the "salvation" of this passage to be something that occurs some time after "regeneration," and something entirely separate and distinct from "regeneration."

But, in order to uphold their views the Hardshells must show, from the context, how the "salvation" of verses 12 and 13 is not eternal salvation, and how the "believing" of verse 19 is not the same believing of verses 12 and 13. Where, in verses 14-18 does Paul show a change in definition for the term "believer"? Is eternal salvation not under consideration in verses 1-11? Does Paul not talk about being chosen and predestined to eternal salvation in all these verses? How can the salvation of verses 12 and 13 be different from the salvation of verses 1-11?

Guess makes the experience of being made a "believer" in Jesus to be the same as the experience of regeneration. This passage presents all kinds of difficulty for the Hardshells and their "anti-means" view of salvation.

Guess wrote:

"This same truth is taught in I Peter 1:23: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." The "word" here is not the preached word nor is it the written word. Rather it is the living truth of God in Jesus Christ which is implanted in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit. We will study this verse in depth in another study sheet."

Of course, I have responded to this argumentation in chapters in my book and in postings in my Gadfly and Old Baptist blogs. Hardshell apologist, Elder R. V. Sarrels, in his "Systematic Theology," said that "the word" here could not be the Lord Jesus Christ because the definite article "the" is absent in the Greek of the passage, and yet, in all the passages where Christ is called "the Word of God," the definite article is present. Of course, there are lots of other reasons why this interpretation is false. Certainly the London Confession cited this verse as proof that men were saved by the preaching of the gospel. John Gill also believed that this "word" was not Christ, but was the gospel, which was the means whereby God "begets" his children.

Guess wrote:

"The impartation of saving grace to individuals is also referred to in the Scriptures as a creation. "For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Cor. 4:6). Here, of course, Paul is referring back to the Genesis account of the creation of the heaven and the earth. How was light created? God commanded it to shine with irresistible power! "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." (Gen. 1:3). There was no resistance here. God was the active agent. The thing created was passive (indeed non-existent) until God called it into being."

Not only is it problematic for the Hardshells to make Ephesians 1: 19 to refer to either regeneration or conversion, II Cor. 4: 6 is also problematic for them. Is Paul describing the Christian conversion experience in these words, or not? How do Hardshells answer the question? Guess says it is talking about regeneration, about effectual calling or irresistible grace. But, how can he not see that this experience of regeneration is applied, by the apostle, to the experience of Christian conversion? Guess and the Hardshells affirm that regeneration often exists apart from conversion. Many people, even worshippers of idol gods, are "regenerated," and only need to be "converted."

Clearly Paul is describing Christian conversion in these words for he says that the "light" that illuminates the soul is the "gospel," and the soul is enlightened with "knowledge" of Christ!

Guess wrote:

"The great majority of Christians believe in gospel regeneration. They believe that a person must hear and believe the gospel (or at least read the Word of God) in order to be born again. However, they have a problem with what to do with those who die in infancy or with those who are mentally incapable of hearing and understanding the gospel."

Notice that Guess does not say "however they have a problem with these verses of scripture"? No, he says that those who believe that the gospel is a means in regeneration "have a problem" with explaining how the gospel is a means in the regeneration of those who die in infancy and with those who are mentally incapable. But, I have written extensively on this argumentation in my book on the Hardshell Cult and have completely refuted it. The main purpose of Guess is to convince bible believers that the bible does not make faith in Christ, or conversion, to be necessary to be eternally saved. What an impossible task! The bible is full of verses that affirm that faith in Christ is necessary for being eternally saved.

Guess wrote:

"The Scriptures make plain that God has regenerated individuals before they were able to think in a reasonable manner. This is very plain in the case of David. He said, "Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts." (Ps. 22:9). This clause is rendered in Bagster's Interlinerary Hebrew And English Psalter, p. 29, "causing me to trust upon the breasts of my mother." The word for "hope" in Ps. 22:9 is BATACH, which, according to Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon To The Old Testament, p. 112 means, "to confide in anyone, to set one's hope and confidence upon any one." So it is obvious that David was regenerated while a suckling. It is just as obvious that this was before the stage of maturity to mentally comprehend either the spoken or written word of God. The conclusion that must be reached is that regeneration takes place on a level below the consciousness. Faith and repentance are those exercises which reveal this subconscious change."

Yes, and all these "carnal reasonings" have been "cast down" in my book. I have shown that the case of David does not exclude the use of means. David is said to "hope," but hope is cognitive and springs from faith in a revelation of truth. Guess even admits that this "hope" included "trusting," and "confiding." Therefore, David was not a non-cognitive infant. But, after admitting that David hoped and trusted in the Lord, and confided in his God, yet this was "before the stage of maturity to comprehend..." What a contradiction of words! Guess and the Hardshells will say, on the one hand, that "the infant is not able to believe, repent, trust, etc.," and yet here we see, on the other hand, how Guess argues that David did exactly the thing he said infants could not do! David hoped! David trusted in the Lord! David had faith in the Lord! David confided in his God! But, it was not possible for him? What contradictions!

David is not said to be sucking upon his mother's breasts, but to be "upon" them. But, many young children sit in mother's lap and recline in her bosom long after they have been weaned.

Guess wrote:

"Another infant who was regenerated in infancy was John the Baptist. In fact John was born again while in his mother's womb. "The babe leaped in her womb" (Luke 1:41) "The babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:44).

The occasion of the joy was the presence of his Savior who was in the womb of Mary. This was no ordinary leap of a babe in the womb of its mother. Elisabeth was enlightened by the Holy Spirit and she said the babe leaped for joy."

Again, I refer the reader to my book "The Hardshell Baptist Cult" (hardshellism.blogspot.com) and to those chapters where I deal with the case of the infant and how it gives no support for their anti-means view of regeneration, for their "regeneration" that lacks Christian faith and conversion. The case of the Baptist certainly offers no support, and actually overthrows it! If John the Baptist was truly "regenerated" while in his mother's womb, ever since he became "filled with the Spirit," was it a regeneration that excluded gospel faith and knowledge? That excluded conversion? Did not the Baptist "leap for joy"? How does that prove that there was no gospel faith or knowledge? Does it not rather prove the presence of faith? Further, since the salutation was a gospel announcement, was not the gospel present and believed? Again, one cannot help but notice how the Hardshells speak out of both sides of their mouths and are grossly contradictory. First they say that infants cannot be saved by possessing gospel faith and knowledge because they are incapable of possessing it, and then they cite the case of John the Baptist to prove it! No, but the case of the Baptist disproves their assertion that infants cannot hear and believe the gospel!

Guess wrote:

"How does this square with a Scripture like John 17:3, where it is said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The answer is simple. One of the basic meanings of know is "to be aware or cognizant of."

There is much misunderstanding in the religious world about "faith" or "belief." Many preachers will say that salvation is by grace but that a person must "put his trust in Jesus Christ" or "believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior" or "have faith in Jesus Christ" before he can be saved. This act of faith, thus presented, is an act of the sinner's free will.

These verses make it plain that "saving faith" is not an act of man's so-called "free will" but is a gift of God."

How confusing and contradictory are these words! Hardshells argue that "regeneration" is a non-cognitive experience, that there is no imparting of truth knowledge in it. But, as I have said, they speak out of both sides of their mouths in this regard. For, while they insist that no instruction is integral to the regeneration experience, or involves cognition, or belief of revelation, out of one side of their mouths, they will out of the other side say what Guess says, that having eternal life is essentially connected with "knowing" and "believing" the "only true God," and in "knowing" and "believing" Jesus, as God's appointed Savior. And, he affirms that "knowing" means "to be aware or cognizant of." How can he say, on one hand, that regeneration is non-cognitive and then say, on the other hand, that it is cognitive? It just demonstrates that they are blind to their errors.

Guess once again objects to the idea that faith precedes salvation! But, is this not the universal presentation of scripture? Have I not already given a couple examples? Where does Guess cite any verse that says men "believe because they are already saved"? Is it not always "believe to salvation"?

Guess objects to saving faith being a free will act, and yet he has already affirmed that "the will (choice) is changed" in regeneration, and that being saved involves God making the sinner "willing" and obedient, and making him into a Christian believer, a bringing him to know God and Christ. To what extent, and in what sense, the will of the sinner is "free" in salvation, is beside the point.

Guess also affirms that gospel "faith," or "faith in Jesus," is "the gift of God," and he says this in the context of his apology for the Calvinist doctrine of "irresistible grace" or "effectual calling." But, if gospel faith is the gift of God, then conversion is equally efficacious as is regeneration. Yet, this is denied by Hardshells.

Guess wrote:

"The Greek word most commonly translated "believe" in the New Testament is PISTEUO. The meaning is "to believe, be persuaded of, to place confidence in." (W. E. Vine). Thayer gives the meaning as follows: "of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of his soul." When the object of believing is Jesus Christ, Thayer says that it is "a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah."

The Greek word most commonly translated "faith" in the New Testament is PISTIS. The meaning is "firm persuasion." (W. E. Vine). Thayer says of this word that "when it relates to God, PISTIS is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ-Heb. 11:6." He says that, "in reference to Christ, it denotes a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation."

It should be obvious that PISTEUO and PISTIS are cognate words. This means that they were derived from a common original form or root. One is a verb; the other is a noun. Simply put it means that "to believe" is "to exercise faith." "Faith" is "the ability to believe." So, if one believes, he is exercising the faith which he already has."

One can read what I have written on pisteuo and pistis here.

All that Guess writes, excepting the last sentence, destroys Hardshellism's teaching about the nature, definition, and use of the word "faith." The definition that Guess gives of "faith" (noun) and "believe" (verb) uproot another Hardshell definition of "faith" and "believe" which is absolutely opposite to the one he gives above. Notice that Guess does not say that the above definition is true only of that faith which comes by hearing the word of God, but not true of "latent faith" of "seed faith." What he does in one sentence after the end of his biblical definition of faith is to say "Faith" is "the ability to believe." Faith is not belief! Faith is without belief! Unbelievers are actually believers!

If "faith is ability to believe," is this true of "seed faith," of "non-cognitive faith," of that "faith" that is given to all in regeneration? The same that is given to infants and the mentally incompetent when they are regenerated?  By this logic, Guess creates a infinite chain of causes! One must have faith in order to have faith! If one has to have "ability to believe" even before he has "seed faith" or "hidden faith," then regeneration must occur even before one obtains it! In other words, in order to have gospel faith, one must first have seed faith, and before one can have seed faith he must have the "faith of ability," ad infinite.

Guess, by defining "faith" by "ability to believe," has changed the whole meaning of the word. After Guess cites the definition of faith and believe as given by scholars, then adds to the definition and gives one that no scholar gives, a totally new definition. Is this not a clear example of perverting and corrupting the word of God? Is "repentance" also to be defined as "the ability to repent"? Is "perseverance" to be defined as "the ability to persevere"? Is "knowing" and "trusting" God to be defined as "the ability to know and trust"?

Guess wrote:

"The Scriptures make plain that faith is a gift of God and not an achievement of man's "free-will." "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8,9). These verses tell us that we are saved on the principle of grace (a free unmerited favor); that faith is the instrument used; that salvation is not of works (including a work of faith); and that man cannot take any credit for his salvation. In short these verses say that God gives the individual faith when He saves him. Faith, as used here is almost a synonym for spiritual life."

Guess affirms that the "faith" of Eph. 2: 8, 9 is "the instrument used" in salvation. He even says that such faith is "a synonym for spiritual life." But, what is the meaning of "faith" in this passage? Is it the faith that the word scholars gave and which Guess endorsed? Or, is it that weird definition of "faith" that Guess himself gave to it? Does Paul mean "ability to believe" when he speaks of being "saved through faith"? Let us read the passage with the Hardshell definition. "For by grace are you saved through ability to believe." How does that make any sense? Where does Guess give us any proof from the Book of Ephesians where "faith" meant "ability to believe"? Where does Guess prove that the "faith" and "believing" of the Book of Ephesians is non-cognitive, that it is not what came by the preaching of the gospel? It is good that Guess admits that faith is "a synonym for spiritual life," but he needs to accept the biblical definition of "faith" and throw his man-made definition away.

In Ephesians 1 Paul speaks of "your faith in the Lord Jesus" (vs. 15), and of a faith that involves "revelation in the knowledge of him," and "enlightenment" (vs. 17).

Guess wrote:

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Phil. 1:29). This verse makes it plain that the ability to believe on Christ is a gift of God, and not a power exercised by the "free-will" of the sinner."

To apply this passage to regeneration is as damaging to Hardshellism as the application of Eph. 1; 19 to regeneration. Guess and many Hardshells want to affirm, and actually do affirm, that "faith" is "given in regeneration." Too many scriptures uphold that truth. But, they do not want to make this "faith" that which "comes by hearing the word of God" (Rom. 10: 14), and thus have to create a whole new definition of "faith," one that is diametrically different from the one given in the scriptures. But, as we have shown, the "believing" of Eph. 1: 19 is clearly shown, by the context, to be that believing in Christ that comes by the gospel, the same kind that Paul had in mind when he said - "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher?" But, Guess cannot make the "believing" of Phil. 1: 29 to be "ability to believe," or "latent faith," or "hidden faith," or "seed faith," for it is a believing in Christ. All Hardshells confess that believing in Christ necessitates that one hear the gospel, as Paul taught, and yet Guess applies believing in Christ as what is the gift of God, what is given effectually in regeneration.

Guess wrote:

"To further show that Jesus finishes what He has begun He said to Peter, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." (Luke 22:32). Christ prays for all His people as their Intercessor. Though they lapse into sin from time to time their faith (practically a synonym for spiritual life) will never fail. The fact that Jesus is both the author and finisher of faith is what is being emphasized in the following verse: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (I John 5:4)."

For what kind of "faith" does Guess think that Jesus prayed? For "faith" that is defined as "the ability to believe"? "I have prayed for thee that your ability to believe fail not"? Did Jesus pray for a hidden, latent, invisible "faith"? For a "faith" which did not have him for an object? For a "faith" that was without knowledge and cognition? Again, Guess says that "faith" is "a synonym for spiritual life." What kind of "faith" did John have in mind in I John 5? Did he not refer to "whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ" in verse 1? And to him "who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" in verse 5? And to one who believes "the record that God gave of his Son" in verse 10?

Guess wrote:

"Another verse that shows that the ability to believe is entirely of God and is not of man is I Peter 1:21: "Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." The gift of faith was purchased for the elect on the cross: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." (I Peter 3:18). We are brought to God in vital, living union by faith. That faith is entirely by Christ is further pointed out in Acts 3:16: "And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.""

Notice how Guess says that the word "faith" in the passages he cites is "ability to believe." But, he has no authority from word scholars in Greek or Hebrew for his definition, and the context shows that the novel and man-made definition of Guess is false. The "faith" of these passages is a "faith in His name," a faith in Christ, a faith that Hardshells admit can only come through the preaching of the gospel per Romans 10. It is a "believing in God," but how can one believe in Israel's God without any revelation or knowledge of him?

Guess wrote:

"Faith is not the work of man. Man only exercises that which God has already worked in him. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." (John 6:29). John Gill says of this verse, "This, as a principle, is purely God's work; as it is an act, or as it is exercised under the influence of divine grace it is man's act." He is saying what I have said above -- man only exercises what God has already worked in him. The Greek scholar, A. T. Robertson says, "So here Jesus terms belief in Him as the work of God.""

Yes, Gill gave all the credit to God for faith, but he did not interpret "faith" as did Guess, and Gill affirmed that faith in Christ was produced through the gospel, and that God regenerates through the gospel as a means. Notice that Robertson's words contradict those of Guess! Faith is "belief in Him," that is, belief in Jesus!

Guess wrote:

"It takes the same power to truly believe as it took to raise Christ from the dead. "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raise Him from the dead ... " (Eph. 1:19,20).

The pattern of how one becomes a believer is Paul the Apostle. He wrote, "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. (I Tim. 1:16).

Paul became a believer on the road to Damascus by a direct operation of the Spirit of God. He was not under the sound of the gospel when this occurred. Since this was a "pattern" conversion, all sinners who become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are born again by the immediate power and grace of God, and not by the ministry of the Word."

It is interesting that Guess cites the words "believe on Him to life everlasting," for they uproot his Hardshell notions about believing not being "to life everlasting," but teach rather that men believe because of everlasting life.

I have already shown how Guess is wrong about the regeneration and conversion of the apostle Paul in my posting pointed to earlier in the link given. Paul was converted when he was regenerated and the gospel was present in his mind and believed at the time of his regeneration. When Guess says that Paul "became a believer" when he was regenerated, was it not a believer in Christ?

Zack Guess's article, titled "Irresistible Grace," can be read here.

Difficult, Especially for Hardshells

2011-12-05T11:01:00.009-05:00

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"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (I Tim. 2: 1-6)

These verses have been the subject of disagreement between Calvinists and Arminians and present some difficulty for both groups. The first area of debate is over who is meant by the term "all men." Arminians affirm that "all men" means every human being. Calvinists are not uniform in their interpretation. Some affirm that "all men" simply means "all kinds or classes of men," or "all men without distinction," or "some men." Other Calvinists will agree with the Arminians that "all men" literally means all men without exception. With these Calvinists, the discussion moves from discerning who is meant by "all men" to discerning what is meant by God being "willing" that all men be saved. Is God's predetermined will or predestination the thing alluded to by reference to the will of God, or is God's will of precept alluded to? These Calvinists will affirm that the "will of God" has two significations in scripture, sometimes it refers to what God has decreed will absolutely and unconditionally come to pass and sometimes to what God calls upon creatures to do of their own wills.

For myself, I agree with Spurgeon, a five point Calvinist, who believed that "all men" did not mean "some men" only, but that the "will" of God denoted what God wishes to see occur as a result of the choices of men. Does God want all men to tell the truth? Certainly. Does he decree postitively that they all will in fact tell the truth? Certainly not.

Did the text say simply "who will have all men to be saved," there would be less reason to believe that "all men" literally meant every person without exception. But, it also adds "and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Obviously God does not want all men to be saved, for many will not be saved. Even Arminians admit that God does not want unbelievers to be saved. Paul is not saying that God "will have all men, both believers and unbelievers, to be saved." Only the Universalists would affirm such from Paul's words.

Why would any Calvinist see a need to deny that God wants all men not only to tell the truth, but to believe the truth? Admitting that God wants all to know the truth, including the truth about God and salvation, does not overthrow Calvinism nor endorse Arminianism.

Do all Calvinists deny that God "wants every sinner to be saved"? Some do, but not all. Spurgeon believed, as I said, that "all men" excluded no one. But, he nevertheless still taught that Christ died only for the elect, for believers. God has a general will and a special will. Paul wrote:

"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." (I Tim. 4: 10)

Here Paul plainly says that God is the "Saviour of all men." And, if he is the "Savior of all men," then he is so because he wants to be so. And, if he wants to be the Savior of all men, then this is all the same as saying that God "wants to have all men saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Thus what Paul affirms in I Tim. 2: 1-6 is no different from what Paul says in I Tim. 4: 10. Both Calvinists and Arminians should be able to agree that God is the Savior of all men, that he wants all men to be know the truth and to be saved.

Both should agree and affirm that God, however, is not in fact the Savior of all men. Both agree that all men will not be saved. God is the Savior of those who perish, in some sense, but is also not their Savior, in some sense. If a person is in Hell, he can hardly say that God is his Savior and Deliverer. When a person says of another person - "he is my rescuer," he may mean either 1) "he is my appointed rescuer in case I ever need one," or 2) "he is the one who actually rescued me." In the first case a savior/rescuer was provided, and in the latter case a savior actually rescued.

Paul says that God is "especially" the Savior of believers.  Thus, we may say that God is not especially the Savior of unbelievers. The term "savior" is not apropos for unbelievers. Again, both Arminians and Calvinists should affirm that God is not the Savior of unbelievers, especially speaking. But, they should also both affirm that God is the Savior of all men, believers and unbelievers, generally speaking.

Both Arminians and Calvinists should also agree that God's wishing to see all sinners saved, to see all become believers in the truth, is not sufficient in itself to save all. If God's wishing it was all that was needed, then Universalism would be true.  God wishes that all men keep his laws, but this in itself is obviously not sufficient to make it so.

If then God's general wishing of the salvation of all is not sufficient to save, then what ultimately does make the difference in why one believes and is saved and one not? Or, to put the same question into words of scripture, "who makes you to differ from another?" (I Cor. 4: 7) The apostolic question shows that such a question is not one of those "foolish and unlearned questions." (II Tim. 2: 23) Our inquiry into "why" one person believes, and is saved, and "why" another believes not, and is not saved, is a good question, one raised in scripture. Both Calvinists and Arminians should agree that Paul affirms that God is the reason for one differing from another. The reason lies in God. The outcome of gospel preaching is owing to God.  Paul does not say "you made yourself to differ," but "God made you to differ from another." So he also taught in I Cor. 3: 6, 7:

"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."

When a sinner hears and believes the gospel and is saved, it is because God "gave the increase," and that he was the cause or reason why the seed germinated, or why the plant that was planted in their hearts produced fruit. God is to be credited for "making the difference."

God then has a general will and a special will in regard to the salvation of sinners.  We are authorized to say that God has a general will that all men believe and be saved, but not a special will for such an end.   Generally willing a man's salvation is insufficient for salvation, as I have shown. It is the special willingness of God that makes the difference in why the seed germinates in one heart and not in another, why one believes and is saved and another is not. Cannot both Calvinists and Arminians agree on this much?

Certainly they can both agree that the number of the elect is equal to the number of believers. All Arminians would affirm such, and most Calvinists. Those Calvinists who would not affirm such would be the Hyper Calvinists and Hardshell Baptists. These believe that the number of the elect is greater than the number of believers, for not all the elect, they affirm, become believers. But, more on them later.

The chief disagreement between Arminians and Calvinists involves the question of whether faith is the cause or the effect of the divine choice to salvation. Am I chosen to believe or chosen because I believed? To my mind the answer to this question has already been demonstrated. God gives the increase, he is the reason for why one is different, why one believes and another does not. He had a general will that all believe, but he had a special will for some to believe. While the general will is not sufficient to save anyone embraced in it, the special will actually guarantees salvation for all embraced in the special will.

There are three expressions in I Tim. 2: 1-6 where the discussion is focused. They are 1) "who will have all men to be saved," and 2) "who will have all men to come to a knowledge of the truth," and 3) "who gave himself a ransom for all." The first two have been discussed, so the latter will now draw our attention.

"All" refers of course to "all men." Here the debate continues regarding whether "all men" means "some of all kinds," or "every person." Those Calvinists who believe that Christ died only for the elect defend their views, relative to this passage, in one of two ways. Some will say that "all men" does not mean "every single person without exception," but means "all men without distinction, not all men without exception," or "all classes or kinds of men." Other Calvinists, though affirming that "all men" does in fact refer to every person, will rather focus on determining how Christ can be said to be the ransom for all and yet be the ransom for some only, for only the elect.

Both Arminians and Calvinists should agree that Christ is not, in every respect, the Redeemer and Ransomer of all. That Christ has ransomed all, generally speaking, and the elect (believers), especially speaking, ought to be affirmed by all.

It is said that Calvinists have difficulty with Christ giving himself a ransom for all men (I Tim. 2), and that Arminians have difficulty with Christ shedding his blood "for many" (Matt. 26: 28), and with his "giving his life a ransom for many." (Matt. 20: 28) How can one reconcile "for many" and "for all"? It is argued by Calvinists that "many can mean all but all cannot mean many."   I think this is irrefutable.

Obviously Christ is, in some sense, a ransom "for all," and is in some sense only a ransom "for many." Becoming more precise in defining and describing wherein this difference lies is not easy. But, if we could stick to what has been said thus far, both Calvinists and Arminians should be in agreement. As the terms "general" and "special" may be used in regard to what God wills, so also in regard to what he does, or to his works. It seems that Calvinists need to affirm that atonement and redemption are, in some respects, general and unlimited, and that Arminians need to affirm that atonement and redemption are, in some respects, particular and limited.

One of the ways that theologians have sought to restate the teaching of scripture on this point is to say that the atonement and ransom of Christ is "sufficient for all, efficient to the elect (believers)." It is only the Hyper and extreme Calvinists, however, who would not accept such a statement. They do not believe that God, in any sense, or in any degree, desires or wills that all men believe and know the truth, or be saved, nor that Christ, in any sense, died for, or provided himself a ransom for, all men.

"Sufficient for all" often involves the idea of provision, and so may include the idea of "provided for all." Thus the question - "was salvation provided for all?" And, who can deny, that the answer is "both yes and no"? Christ made what we may call, in keeping with one of our themes, a "general" provision, in his death, and also what we may safely call a "special" provision.

But, into the depths of that question, we will not descend, but hopefully what has been stated thus far should be acceptable to both Calvinists and Arminians. But, let us recap a few points and then see how Hardshells and Hyperists have the greater difficulty relative to I Tim. 2: 1-6.

The salvation of the passage cannot be made into what the Hardshells call "time salvation" because the salvation under consideration is paired with being ransomed by the death of Christ. Being ransomed by the death of Christ is the same as being eternally saved, and no Hardshell will deny this. But, if they admit that this salvation is equated with being ransomed by the death of Christ, then they are confronted by the words - "who will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Coming to a knowledge of the truth, and becoming a believer, is said to be as much the result of God's wishing and willing as is being saved. Paul couples together being "saved" with "believing." How can the Hardshells deny that this salvation is eternal? How can they deny that those under consideration, the "all men," or "the elect," are as much willed to a knowledge and belief of the truth as to eternal salvation?

If they argue that "God will have" means "God absolutely and unconditionally will have," then they must affirm, to be consistent, that God is then saying that he "will in fact absolutely and unconditionally have them both saved and to know and believe the truth."

If the reference to God's will be interpreted to refer to his decree, to his predestination, then it is detrimental to Hardshellism, for they do not believe that all the elect will be both saved and believe the truth. If the reference be made to God's preceptive will, to his mere general wish and will, then the Hardshell still has difficulty, for he then must make eternal salvation to be through means, through the means of precept.

In closing let me present some further observations and questions for further investigation.

1. If "all men" means "every human being," does it include Christ himself? Does it include those who are not sinners, to those who die in infancy and before the "age of accountability"?

2.  If "all men" means "every human being," are we to pray for those who are in Hell, seeing that we are to pray for all men? Does it include Judas Iscariot?

3. If "all men" means "every human being," does this include those who died never having heard the gospel?

Let me close this posting by noting that the great evangelist, D. L. Moody, is reported to have said that "whosoever will" is on the front side of the door to heaven, but that "chosen to salvation" is on the other side.  Moody used to say - “The elect are the ‘whosoever wills’; the non-elect are the ‘whosoever wont's.'”

Spurgeon - Preaching that Saves

2011-12-01T08:45:00.003-05:00

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In Spurgeon's "Lectures To My Students," in CHAPTER XXIII - "ON CONVERSION AS OUR AIM," Spurgeon said some things that condemn both Hyper Arminianism and Hyper Calvinism.

Spurgeon said:

"Our great object of glorifying God is, however, to be mainly achieved by the winning of souls. We must see souls born unto God. If we do not, our cry should be that of Rachel "Give me children, or I die." If we do not win souls, we should mourn as the husbandman who sees no harvest, as the fisherman who returns to his cottage with an empty net, or as the huntsman who has in vain roamed over hill and dale. Ours should be Isaiah's language uttered with many a sigh and groan "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" The ambassadors of peace should not cease to weep bitterly until sinners weep for their sins."

This is a condemnation of Hyper Calvinism and Hardshellism. It is one of the characteristics of this system to kill evangelistic zeal. See Bob Ross's excellent book "The Killing Effects of Hyper Calvinism" for a good treatise on this issue. Spurgeon was a five point Calvinist and yet he was one of the most evangelistic of ministers. Those Calvinists who have little zeal for saving souls manifest that they are infected with Hyperism. To lack deep and intense desire for the salvation of souls is the effect of a false Calvinism.

Spurgeon said:

"Brethren, the necessity for the Holy Ghost's divine operations will follow as a matter of course upon the former teaching, for dire necessity demands divine interposition. Men must be told that they are dead, and that only the Holy Spirit can quicken them; that the Spirit works according to His own good pleasure, and that no man can claim his visitations or deserve his aid. This is thought to be very discouraging teaching, and so it is, but men need to be discouraged when they are seeking salvation in a wrong manner. To put them out of conceit of their own abilities is a great help toward bringing them to look out of self to another, even the Lord Jesus. The doctrine of election and other great truths which declare salvation to be all of grace, and to be, not the right of the creature, but the gift of the Sovereign Lord, are all calculated to hide pride from man, and so to prepare him to receive the mercy of God."

Here Spurgeon denounces Hyper Arminianism and shows how the right preaching of the doctrines of grace do not hinder sinners in salvation, but rather promotes it.

Spurgeon said:

"Secondly, if we are intensely anxious to have souls saved we must not only preach the truths which are likely to lead up to this end, but we must use modes of handling those truths which are likely to conduce thereto. Do you enquire, what are they? First, you must do a great deal by way of instruction. Sinners are not saved in darkness but from it; "that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good." Men must be taught concerning themselves, their sin, and their fall; their Saviour, redemption, regeneration, and so on. Many awakened souls would gladly accept God's way of salvation if they did but know it; they are akin to those of whom the apostle said, "And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it." If you will instruct them God will save them: is it not written, "the entrance of thy word giveth light"? If the Holy Spirit blesses your teaching, they will see how wrong they have been, and they will be led to repentance and faith. I do not believe in that preaching which lies mainly in shouting, "Believe! believe! believe!" In common justice you are bound to tell the poor people what they are to believe. There must be instruction, otherwise the exhortation to believe is manifestly ridiculous, and must in practice be abortive. I fear that some of our orthodox brethren have been prejudiced against the free invitations of the gospel by hearing the raw, undigested harangues of revivalist speakers whose heads are loosely put together. The best way to preach sinners to Christ is to preach Christ to sinners. Exhortations, entreaties, and beseechings, if not accompanied with sound instruction, are like firing off powder without shot. You may shout, and weep, and plead, but you cannot lead men to believe what they have not heard, nor to receive a truth which has never been set before them. "Because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.""

In these words Spurgeon "kills two birds." He condemns the Hyper Arminian practice that calls upon sinners to believe without giving them that instruction that is needed for faith and he condemns the Hyper Calvinist who is "prejudiced against the free invitations of the gospel."

Spurgeon said:

"While giving instructions it is wise to appeal to the understanding. True religion is as logical as if it were not emotional. I am not an admirer of the peculiar views of Mr, Finney, but I have no doubt that he was useful to many; and his power lay in his use of clear arguments. Many who knew his fame were greatly disappointed at first hearing him, because he used few beauties of speech and was as calm and dry as a book of Euclid; but he was exactly adapted to a certain order of minds, and they were convinced and convicted by his forcible reasoning. Should not persons of an argumentative cast of mind be provided for? We are to be all things to all men, and to these men we must become argumentative and push them into a corner with plain deductions and necessary inferences. Of carnal reasoning we would have none, but of fair, honest pondering, considering, judging, and arguing the more the better."

Here again Spurgeon does not "throw out the baby with the bath water." He does not, as some Hyper Calvinists, totally reject the methods of Finney, but neither does he fully endorse them. Spurgeon objected more to Finney's doctrine than to his methods. It would be well for those Calvinists today who are decrying "invitations," and "Finneyism," to heed the counsel of Spurgeon.

Spurgeon said:

"The class requiring logical argument is small compared with the number of those who need to be pleaded with, by way of emotional persuasion. They require not so much reasoning as heart-argument which is logic set on fire.

Brethren, we must plead. Entreaties and beseechings must blend with our instructions. Any and every appeal which will reach the conscience and move men to fly to Jesus we must perpetually employ, if by any means we may save some."

Again, Spurgeon is condemning Hyper Calvinism. We should all condemn it. That preaching which lacks such appeals to sinners is not the kind we find coming from the mouth of Christ and the apostles.

Spurgeon said:

"Sometimes, too, we must change our tone. Instead of instructing, reasoning and persuading, we must come to threatening, and declare the wrath of God upon impenitent souls. We must lift the curtain and let them see the future. Show them their danger, and warn them to escape from the wrath to come. This done, we must return to invitation, and set before the awakened mind the rich provisions of infinite grace which are freely presented to the sons of men. In our Master's name we must give the invitation, crying, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Do not be deterred from this, my brethren, by those ultra-Calvinistic theologians who say, "You may instruct and warn the ungodly, but you must not invite or entreat them." And why not? "Because they are dead sinners, and it is therefore absurd to invite them, since they cannot come." Wherefore then may we warn or instruct them? The argument is so strong, it be strong at all, that it sweeps away all modes of appeal to sinners, and they alone are logical who, after they have preached to the saints, sit down and say, "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." On what ground are we to address the ungodly at all? If we are only to bid them do such things as they are capable of doing without the Spirit of God, we are reduced to mere moralists. If it be absurd to bid the dead sinner believe and live, it is equally vain to bid him consider his state, and reflect upon his future doom. Indeed, it would be idle altogether were it not that true preaching is an act of faith, and is owned by the Holy Spirit as the means of working spiritual miracles. If we were by ourselves, and did not expect divine interpositions, we should be wise to keep within the bounds of reason, and persuade men to do only what we see in them the ability to do. We should then bid the living live, urge the seeing to see, and persuade the willing to will. The task would be so easy that it might even seem to be superfluous; certainly no special call of the Holy Ghost would be needed for so very simple an undertaking. But, brethren, where is the mighty power and the victory of faith if our ministry is this and nothing more? Who among the sons of men would think it a great vocation to be sent into a synagogue to say to a perfectly vigorous man, "Rise up and walk," or to the possessor of sound limbs, "Stretch out thine hand." He is a poor Ezekiel whose greatest achievement is to cry, "Ye living souls, live.""

What a powerful denunciation of Hyper Calvinism and Hardshellism is this! It also condemns Pelagianism that says that men are to be preached to according to their abilities.

Spurgeon said:

"Let the two methods be set side by side as to practical result, and it will be seen that those who never exhort sinners are seldom winners of souls to any great extent, but they maintain their churches by converts from other systems, I have even heard them say, "Oh, yes, the Methodists and Revivalists are beating the hedges, but we shall catch many of the birds." If I harboured such a mean thought I should be ashamed to express it. A system which cannot touch the outside world, but must leave arousing and converting work to others, whom it judges to be unsound, writes its own condemnation."

It is a characteristic of Hyper Calvinistic and Hardshell churches to fill up their churches with "converts" from other denominations and have none who are converted from outside of churches, from the multitudes of sinners who belong to no church at all.

Spurgeon said:

"Again, brethren, if we wish to see souls saved, we must be wise as to the times when we address the unconverted. Very little common sense is spent over this matter. Under certain ministries there is a set time for speaking to sinners, and this comes as regularly as the hour of noon. A few crumbs of the feast are thrown to the dogs under the table at the close of the discourse, and they treat your crumbs as you treat them, namely, with courteous indifference. Why should the warning word be always at the hinder end of the discourse when hearers are most likely to be weary? Why give men notice to buckle on their harness so as to be prepared to repel our attack? When their interest is excited, and they are least upon the defensive, then let fly a shaft at the careless, and it will frequently be more effectual than a whole flight of arrows shot against them at a time when they are thoroughly encased in armour of proof. Surprise is a great element in gaining attention and fixing a remark upon the memory, and times for addressing the careless should be chosen with an eye to that fact."

Here Spurgeon condemns those who only appeal to sinners at the close of a discourse or only in special services, such as Sunday night services or in revival meetings. He believed that sinners ought to be appealed to throughout a discourse and in all meetings.

Spurgeon said:

"Do not close a single sermon without addressing the ungodly, but at the same time set yourself seasons for a determined and continuous assault upon them, and proceed with all your soul to the conflict. On such occasions aim distinctly at immediate conversions; labour to remove prejudices, to resolve doubts, to conquer objections, and to drive the sinner out of his hiding-places at once. Summon the church members to special prayer, beseech them to speak personally both with the concerned and the unconcerned, and be yourself doubly upon the watch to address individuals. We have found that our February meetings at the Tabernacle have yielded remarkable results: the whole month being dedicated to special effort. Winter is usually the preacher's harvest, because the people can come together better in the long evenings, and are debarred from out-of-door exercises and amusements. Be well prepared for the appropriate season when "kings go forth to battle.""

Here Spurgeon promotes the practice of regularly giving appeals and invitations to the lost, and even special services designed for "addressing the ungodly."

Spurgeon said:

"Mean conversions, expect them, and prepare for them. Resolve that your hearers shall either yield to your Lord or be without excuse, and that this shall be the immediate result of the sermon now in hand. Do not let the Christians around you wonder when souls are saved, but urge them to believe in the undiminished power of the glad tidings, and teach them to marvel if no saving result follows the delivery of the testimony of Jesus. Do not permit sinners to hear sermons as a matter of course, or allow them to play with the edged tools of Scripture as if they were mere toys; but again and again remind them that every true gospel sermon leaves them worse if it does not make them better. Their unbelief is a daily, hourly sin; never let them infer from your teaching that they are to be pitied for continuing to make God a liar by rejecting His Son."

Let both Arminians and Calvinists heed these well spoken words of Spurgeon!

Spurgeon said:

"From the very first you should appoint frequent and regular seasons for seeing all who are seeking after Christ, and you should continually invite such to come and speak with you. In addition to this, hold numerous enquirers' meetings, at which the addresses shall be all intended to assist the troubled and guide the perplexed, and with these intermingle fervent prayers for the individuals present, and short testimonials from recent converts and others. As an open confession of Christ is continually mentioned in connection with saving faith, it is your wisdom to make it easy for believers who are as yet following Jesus by night to come forward and avow their allegiance to him."

http://www.cblibrary.net/pastoral_aids/spurgeon_lectures/lms_23.htm

May we all hear well what this great Calvinist soul winner has advised!

Jesus Uproots Hardshellism

2011-11-19T15:43:00.004-05:00

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"But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you...If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." (John 10: 26, 37, 38)

These words of Jesus uproot Hardshellism. Jesus is clearly preaching to those who are not his sheep, not his elect, those who are not believers. Let the Hardshell come forward and deny these plain facts. Jesus is addressing a group who he says "are not of my sheep." That much is clear. But, the fact that they are not his sheep, are not believers, does not keep Christ from preaching to them. This in itself shows that Christ was no Hardshell, for Hardshells do not address those who are not Christ's sheep, believing that gospel preaching is only to be addressed to the sheep. Consider also the fact that Christ says to these "goats," these unregenerate souls, "believe the works that you may know and believe." If Christ commands the non-elect to "believe" on him, then is it not their duty to do so? How then can Hardshells deny that it is the duty of all to believe the truth about Christ? How can they deny that all men are responsible to believe in Christ?

It is not only the duty of all to believe "the record that God gave of his Son" (I John 5: 10), but it is also their privilege, for believing assures one of salvation.

^"And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not...And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life...But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you." (John 5: 38, 40, 42)

Who can doubt that these people, like the ones addressed in John 10 (above), are unregenerate, "dead in tresspasses and sins"? They are identified as unbelievers, as those who have no will to come to Christ, who have no life in them, who have not his word abiding in them, and who have not the love of God in them. Let the Hardshell come forward and deny that these are dead sinners. But, what does Christ say to them? "These things I say, that ye might be saved." (John 5: 34)

Do Hardshells follow Christ's example? Do they admonish the lost to believe in Christ for salvation? For an enlarged treatment on this subject, see my chapters in "The Hardshell Baptist Cult" under the series title "Addresses to the Lost," at hardshellism.blogspot.com.

Answering Hardshell Brown

2011-11-01T18:29:00.008-04:00

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Jason Brown, Hardshell "apologist," with whom I have been having an Internet debate on Hardshellism at old-baptist-test.blogspot.com, made an entry in his blog against an entry I made in this Gadfly blog where I cited from Elder Sheet's work against the Hardshell claims about being "Primitive" Baptists. Since that posting was originally made on my Gadfly blog, I will respond to him here as well as in my "Old Baptist" blog. You can find my original posting here

http://baptistgadfly.blogspot.com/2010/06/seceder-hardshells.html

Jason's posting was titled "Garrett on 'Hardshell Secession.'" and can be found at

http://primitivebaptistapologist.blogspot.com/2011/10/garrett-on-hardshell-secession.html

In that posting, Jason wrote:

"Garrett fancies himself a Baptist Socrates, no doubt, but I remind the occasional reader that Socrates also depicted himself as a midwife in relation to individuals understanding the truth. A Gadfly's stinger is not congenial to the gentle touch of a midwife in relation to coming to the knowledge of truth. Truth is arduous enough in the "bearing" process without adding to the pain by "stinging"."

And how does Jason Brown "fancy" himself? The Hardshell "apologist"! The one who is to answer all of my published works against Hardshellism! But, anyone who has followed our debate over the past couple months knows how he has failed to apologize for Hardshellism.

Is God's word not like a "goad"? How is a goad that much different from the gadfly's sting? Do not both goads and gadflys sting? I once heard Elder Sonny Pyles, one of Brown's favorite preachers, say that he was not only sent to be a comfort to the Lord's people, but to also be a "cockle bur under the saddle blanket" to some of them! What is the great difference between being a cockle bur and a gadfly? A gadfly is meant to pester others and I have intended to pester the Hardshells and hyper-Calvinists, which, it seems, I am succeeding, for I get all kinds of feedback from the hyperists.

Further, the founding fathers of the Hardshells believed that the new birth took place in the conversion experience, and which was accomplished by means of the gospel, and that ministers were therefore midwives in that work of "delivering" children. But, Jason does not believe that he is a midwife of the new birth. So, it is ironic that he would talk about being a midwife. I agree with the Hardshell founding fathers that I can be an instrument in birthing sinners, but Jason does not. So, who is the real midwife, Jason or myself? Why can one not be both a midwife and a gadfly? Jason is being a nitpicker here. He is trying to find fault over minor things. He is "straining at a gnat" while "swallowing the camel."

Ironically, Jason condemns my being a gadfly but he is being a gadfly about my being a gadfly! Is he not being a pest by the above comments? But, I have shown lots of irony and contradiction in the apologies of Jason, as can be seen by anyone who reads our debate.

Jason wrote:

"Concerning the blog post of Garrett above, he argues that Henry Sheets in, "A History of the Liberty Baptist Association From Its Organization In 1832 to 1906", establishes the Missionary Baptists as representing the original position of the Baptists on Missionary methods, Sunday Schools, etc.

First, this "history" is published from the perspective of a Missionary Baptist in 1854 and 1906 after the split had occurred, so the author could be accused of propagating a revisionist history after the same manner that Garrett accuses Hassell."

But, the thing that Jason needs to do is to respond to the historical evidence that Sheets brought forth to prove that the Hardshells were really the "modern innovators," and Sheets even cites from Hardshell founding father, Elder John Watson, who said that his Hardshell brethren, who denied means and would not support evangelism and missions, were "modern innovators" and "ultraists." Why does Sheet's support of missions, or being a Missionary Baptist, invalidate such citations? I have proven, in my writings, the numerous errors in historical facts made by Hardshell historians, and shown how they are guilty of writing "revisionist histories," but Jason cannot do the same with the historians I reference. I already showed him how Michael Ivey, in his "Welsh Succession of Primitive Baptists," was full of falsehood. I have also shown some of the falsehoods in "Hassel's Church History," the leading Hardshell history, and plan to show more in the future.

But, Jason is in the habit of making accusations which he cannot substantiate. Let him deal with the evidence that Sheets presents in his work and then he might be able to put some teeth into his accusations. But, until then, we will just dismiss his unfounded charges of bias.

Further, though we have not debated concerning missions, theological education, Sunday Schools and bible classes, etc., nevertheless I have given some evidence already to show that these things were not new in 1832 when the Hardshells denounced all these things and declared non-fellowship for all Baptists who supported them. I also can present lots more evidence to show that these things were not new among the Baptists.

Jason wrote:

"Second, this history does not consider the influence among the Baptists of Fuller and Carey who represented a departure in missionary method and theology from an older generation of Baptists. The presence of missionary work and methods in Baptist associations like the Kehukee or Baltimore before the Missionary split does not prove that such methods were not recognized as modern innovations among Baptists."

Again, this is false. Mission work by the Baptists was not new in the days of Fuller and Carey. The 17th century London Confession Baptists supported mission work and theological education. Notice that Jason admits that the Kehukee and Baltimore Associations supported missions many years before the Hardshells arose to oppose them. In Griffin's "History of the Mississippi Baptists," a book I have cited in my ongoing book on "The Hardshell Baptist Cult," admits that the first Baptists supported missions and theological education for 50-60 years before the Hardshells arose to oppose them! Even Hassell, in his Hardshell history, admits that the Kehukee Association had supported missions for over twenty five years or more before the Hardshells arose to oppose missions. In fact, several of the founding fathers of Hardshellism were missionaries themselves before becoming "anti-missionaries," men like Daniel Parker, James Osbourn, Wilson Thompson, etc.

After Jason and I get through debating our present topic, I will be happy to debate him on these things, and show him the evidence that shows that the Baptists have always supported church missions, theological education, and bible classes, etc.

What Fuller and Carey did was to spur the Baptists to their neglected duty. The Baptists have never been perfect, and to pick out one generation of them and make them into prime examples that all are to adhere to, is not the right thing to do. Suppose we admit that the Baptists, in the late 18th century, had become slack in certain areas of duty? Are we then to make them the pattern to which all should conform? The first Particular Baptists in London in the 17th century did not at first believe in singing hymns and psalms in the church service. Benjamin Keach and others helped to change that. But, if we made the first churches absolute patterns for judging orthodoxy, then to be "Primitive" churches would have to abolish singing in the churches.

Jason offers no proof for his assertions about mission work being new among Baptists in the early 19th century. Yet, I can offer all kinds of proof that Baptists have always been missionary.

Jason wrote:

"Perhaps Baptists like Elder James Osbourne initially could be viewed as not following their conscience when they went along with Fuller inspired missionary trappings, but they cannot be proved to have heartily endorsed these innovations, as they did eventually repudiate them as inconsistent with the original Particular Baptists of England."

"Perhaps"? Is that what we are dealing with in discussions about Hardshell origins? With guesses and suppositions? "Perhaps" Elder Osbourne really did support missions at first! Is Jason saying that Osbourne violated his conscience in supporting missionaries? That he was not genuine and sincere? "They cannot be proved to have heartily endorsed" missions? Can you prove that they did not heartily endorse them? Are not the facts more in favor of his supporting it, seeing he became a missionary under the Baptist name? The burden of proof is on Jason to prove that Osbourne was a hypocrite.

It seems that many of these non-existent Hardshells, from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, went for many years with a violated conscience! I can understand doing this for a short time, but to support missions for 25-60 years and then, all of a sudden, to oppose them, is sufficient evidence to disprove Jason's charges about the conscience of Elder Osbourne. "Inconsistent with the original Particular Baptists of England"? That is a falsehood seeing the old Particular Baptist had mission societies and theological schools!

Jason wrote:

"It may not even be inconsistent, save in name only, for Osbourne to have allowed himself to be designated a "Home Missionary", as this designation effectively refers to what every present, faithful Primitive Baptist may do in their interactions of daily life in America."

The kind of missionary that Parker, Thompson, and Osbourne, became, prior to them doing an about face, was not the Hardshell kind of "mission" work, for they were supported by societies to go preach in areas where there were no churches. Also, if Osbourne was a "home missionary," after the Hardshell fashion, why would he turn on that kind of missionary activity?

Jason refers to the kind of "missionary activity" that Hardshells claim to do, but what he means is their ministers going to "fill appointments" at existing Hardshell churches!

Jason wrote:

"I have stated before that John Ryland's statement to a young Carey concerning the necessity of the conversion of the heathen was indicative of Ryland's rejection of the view that the gospel was the means of eternal salvation of the heathen. Garrett argued against this by suggesting that Ryland's remark was eschatological rather than soteriological in nature. If this were so, it would demonstrate that Ryland did not view the Great Commission as given to the Apostles as unfulfilled. The most that could be said in reference to his view of the Commission as applied to the Church, was that the Church was not at liberty to pursue mission work on unqualified grounds, and would indicate that Ryland was opposed to indiscriminate missionary work until such time as a sign was given by a second Pentecost."

I am not going to respond to all this here in this blog but will refer the reader to the Old Baptist blog where I have made several postings about the false charges of Jason in regard to John Ryland, Sr. Jason has been completely disproven by the evidence I presented in those postings. I showed that Ryland believed in gospel means.

Jason wrote:

"Fuller's publication in 1782, "The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation", marked a turning point among Baptists."

And, a good turning point it was! Why? Because the Baptists had become slack in their duty and needed to be turned back to the faith and practice of the 17th century Particular Baptists. The introduction of singing in the church was also a "turning point" in the history of Baptists.

Jason wrote:

"The work was completed in 1775 only 4 years after the death of John Gill. Fuller was responsible for the Missionary movement among Baptists, not only in doctrine, but in practice by establishing the Baptist Missionary Society in Kettering in 1792. Fuller certainly did not espouse his doctrines and practices as consistent with Baptists of the 18th century, as he stated that what he defended was contrary to the Baptists of the 18th century. He claimed that he was consistent with Bunyan and Baptist writers in the 16th and 17th centuries."

True, Fuller sought to stem the tide of hyper-Calvinism. But, the hyper-Calvinism of the 18th century did not include Hardshell hyperism, for the hyperists of the 18th century all believed as John Gill, that regeneration was effected by the preaching of the gospel. What Fuller proposed was not contrary to the Baptists of the 18th century. Yes, he was opposed by some hyperists, but these objected, not because they rejected means, but because they denied duty faith and the indiscriminate offer of salvation, and certain mission methods, and because some, like Ryland Sr., did not believe the timing was right for mass foreign evangelism.

Notice how Jason contradicts himself in the above words. He first says that Fuller taught what was "contrary to the Baptists of the 18th century," but then says that Fuller "claimed that he was consistent with" the old Baptists! Which is it?

Jason wrote:

"The difficulty is that, as far as history seems to indicate, the first Baptists of England seemed to be Arminian, not some illogical mixture of Calvinism and Arminianism as Fuller's doctrine was."

Some "Baptists," such as the "General Baptists," were Arminian, but not so the Particular Baptists. They began their confession by saying they "deny Arminianism." How can Jason imply that the authors of the old London confessions were Arminians? Also, Fuller was no Arminian.

Jason wrote:

"Seeing that the earliest Baptists of England were Arminian, far earlier than the London Confession, are the "original" Baptists Arminian? This surely demonstrates the illegitimacy of solely appealing to history for identity. No, the original, Biblically faithful Baptists of England were the Particular Baptists we are bound to judge by the canon of Holy Scripture alone."

Soley appealing to history for identity? Notice how Jason does not want to use history to judge identity and yet he claims to be a "primitive" or "original" Baptist! I wonder why? Is it not because history shows, as Watson said, that the Hardshells are "modern innovators"? About letting scripture decide who is right and wrong, that is fine, and I have been showing, in my writings and in my debate with Jason, that the scriptures are against Hardshell teachings. But, when it comes to showing who is an original Baptist, we must look at history. How else are we to determine if the Hardshell denomination started in the 19th century, if we do not look at the historical records? And, Jason feels the heat, for he knows that history is against Hardshell claims to being "old Baptists." I have challenged him and all other Hardshells to give us the historical evidence to prove that there were Hardshell Baptist churches prior to the 19th century and so far there has been no evidence given. No wonder he does not want to bring in historical facts to judge the Hardshell claims.

Gill and Duty Faith

2011-11-01T14:03:00.003-04:00

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"...in process of time the Jews indeed put away the word of God from them, and showed themselves unworthy of it, and even of everlasting life; when the apostles, as they were ordered, turned to the Gentiles, and they gladly received it, Ac 28:28 and it is both the duty and privilege of all, who have the opportunity of hearing it, to hear it; "For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God", Ro 10:17 and this is what is to be treated of..."

(A Body of Doctrinal & Practical Divinity By John Gill. Practical Divinity, Book 3, Chapter 4: Of Public Hearing the Word)

Gospel in the Stars XIX

2011-10-31T15:00:00.000-04:00

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!

Gospel in the Stars XVIII

2011-10-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

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.

Gospel in the Stars XVII

2011-10-28T21:14:00.004-04:00

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."

Gospel in the Stars XVI

2011-10-27T06:08:00.001-04:00

THE DAY OF THE LORD

"My horn shall Thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn." (Psa. 92: 10)

"Many of the Jewish writers and the Jewish Targum ascribe the authorship of this psalm to Adam, the first man. The Jewish ritual appointed it as the special psalm for the Sabbath day. It celebrates, first of all, the glories and blessings of creation. It then anticipates a period of great apostasy, wickedness, and prosperity to the enemies of Jehovah. But beyond that it contemplates the speedy and invincible overthrow and destruction of the workers of iniquity, followed by a glorious Sabbath of everlasting righteousness and peace. And in connection with the violent scattering and perishing of the enemies of the Lord it particularly emphasizes a special and peculiar exaltation of the power and dominion of the Messiah, who speaks in the Psalmist, and says that His "horn" — His power, His active dominion—shall be "like the horn of an unicorn."

The Unicorn, Or Reem

"It has long been a question what animal is meant by the Reem, which is so often referred to in the ancient Scriptures, and which translators have generally called the unicorn. But modern research and discovery have served to clear up the subject in a manner entirely satisfactory. The reem is not a onehorned creature, like the rhinoceros, as has generally been supposed, but a pure animal of the ox kind, though wild, untamable, fierce, and terrible. Two passages prove that it was a great two-horned and mighty creature, now, so far as known, entirely extinct, but once common in North-western Asia, Assyria, and Middle Europe. Remains of it have of late years been discovered in the north of Palestine, and Caesar, in the account of his wars, describes it as being hunted in the Hercynian forest in his day. It was known as the primeval ox, or wild bull, different altogether from the bison or the great antelope, sometimes taken for it. It was a formidable animal, "scarcely less than the elephant in size, but in nature, color, and form a true ox." Its strength and speed were very great, and it was so fierce that it did not spare man or beast when it caught sight of them. It was wholly intractable, and could not be habituated to man, no matter how young it was taken. This fact is set out in the book of Job (39:9-12), where it is said: "Will the reem be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the reem with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him? Wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?"

This animal was particularly distinguished for its great, outspread, sharp, and irresistible horns, to which the horns of ordinary oxen were not to be compared. Hence Caesar says, when a hunter succeeded in killing one, pitfalls being the chief means of capture, he made a public exhibition of the horns as the trophies of his success, and was the wonder and praise of all who beheld. Joseph (Deut. 33 : 17), in his superiority of power, is likened to the reem, of which his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were the two great horns which were to push the people to the ends of the earth. And to this mighty, untamable, and invincible primeval ox the Messiah compares himself in connection with the great judgment upon the wicked world; for then His horn shall be exalted like the horn of a reem. Toward His Church He is the Lamb, but toward the unsanctified world He finally becomes the terrible reem.

But, what is very marvellous, the picture which the Messiah appropriates to himself so exultingly in the text is precisely the picture which is presented in the sign of the Zodiac which now comes before us—the sign of Taurus, the first of the final quaternary in the celestial circle.

I have already explained that the twelve Zodiacal signs are arranged in three sets of four each, each set having a particular subject of its own in the grand evangelic history. In the first set we were shown the Seed of the woman in His own personal character and offices. In the second set we were shown the formation, career, and destiny of the Church. And in the third set, upon which we now enter, we are shown the great judgment-period and the completion of the whole mystery of God respecting our world and race."
The Judgment

"I may also remark here that it is a great mistake to conceive of the judgment-time as limited to a period of twenty-four hours. It is called "the day of judgment" only after the manner in which "the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens " is spoken of as a day. The day of judgment is simply the period or time of the judgment. The common notion on the subject, which crowds up everything in one grand assize, is wholly at variance with the Scriptures, and a source of endless troubles to expositors in attempting to construe the very numerous and very diverse prophecies which refer to it. It can be clearly demonstrated, from the teachings of Christ and His Apostles, as well as from the ancient prophets, that everything does not end with the termination of the present Church period, and that the end or consummation itself includes a variety of administrations, in most of which the glorified saints are to take active part."
The Sign Of Taurus

"The names of this sign, in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Latin, and Greek, mean the same as the English name, the Bull. But the figure is not that of the common bull of any known class. The horns are greater and differently set from those of domestic cattle, whilst the toes also have horns. The attitude and energy displayed are likewise far fiercer and more nimble than the common ox ever shows. It is the reem of the text, the aurochs, the bull of yore, the fierce, mighty, and untamable wild bull of the primeval ages, and a most expressive symbol of Christ as the irresistible and angry Judge.

This terrific animal appears here in the intensest rage, dashing forward with swift and impetuous energy, and with his great sharp horns set as if to run through everything that comes in its way. The Egyptians called it by names signifying the Head, the Captain, the mighty Chieftain who cometh. The chief star in this sign is situated in the Bull's eye; and its name, Al Debaran, means the Captain, Leader, or Governor. The middle and hinder part of the enraged animal includes the body of the enthroned Lamb, out of which it seems to rise. It is also the direct opposite of the Scorpion, so that when it rises the Scorpion sets and disappears."

Misc. Scripture

"His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut. 32; 17)

"The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." (I Sam. 2: 10)

"But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil." (Psa. 92: 10)

"Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us." (Psa. 44: 5)

"Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place." (Job 40: 12)

"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." (Isa. 63: 6)

"For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth." (Micah 1: 3)

"And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts." (Mal. 4: 3)

The Myths

"In mythology this Bull was always accounted snow-white, the color of righteousness and royal judgment. According to some of the accounts, this form was assumed by Jupiter out of his passion for the beautiful Europa, whom he won by his gentleness and bore on his back across the seas to Crete. The god of the sea demanded that he should be offered in sacrifice, but because of his beauty the king preserved him. Afterward he became mad, and wrought great havoc and destruction among the Cretans, and could neither be caught nor tamed except by Herakles.

This story remarkably interprets with reference to Christ and His Church, and the anger with which He is to visit the wicked world after the Church of the first-born has been safely landed in heaven. The same becomes the more striking when we take in some other markings of the case.

Among the early nations there was a widespread idea connecting this Bull with the Deluge, and the Pleiades—the seven stars, the Doves, the peculiar star-cluster of "sweet influences "—with the ark of Noah and those saved by it in that great judgment. "The seven stars," which the Scriptures also connect with the Church (Rev. i : 16; 2:1), are on the back of this Bull, high up on his great shoulder. The Pleiades, according to the myths, were the seven daughters of Atlas, the upholder of heaven and earth, who, with their sisters, the Hyades, in this Bull's head, were placed in heaven because of their virtues and mutual sympathy and affection. They beautifully symbolize the saints securely supported by the terrible Judge, and who, together with the holy angels whom they are like, thus move with Him and His inflictions upon the guilty world."
The Sacred Prophecies

"And when we take this fierce and enraged aurochs as the symbol of the glorious Head of His redeemed people, particularly in those scenes of judgment upon the apostate and unbelieving nations after the saints have been taken away, we have before our eyes in the stars the very picture which Isaiah describes where he prophesies of "the world, and all the things that come forth of it," and says: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies. He hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. The unicorns [the reems, the precise animal which constitutes the figure in Taurus'] shall come down, and the bullocks with the bulls, and their land shall be soaked with blood. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion" (34 : 2—8).

The Scriptures everywhere tell us of a period of indignation, when the Lord shall come forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; when He will no longer keep silence; when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain (Isa. 26 : 20, 21). He is very longsuffering now. Men sin, but His judgment does not quickly follow upon transgression. Sin is added upon sin, and wickedness upon wickedness, and yet the Lord keeps silence, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But there is a limit to His forbearance. There is a time coming when He will tear in pieces, and there shall be none to deliver. His own word is: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness ol the terrible. The earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. Every one that is found shall be thrust through" (Isa. 13).

These are fearful comminations. And lest we should think that they refer only to the past, the New Testament repeats them, and tells us how "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel" (2 Thess. i : 7-9); and how the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, will hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6: 12-17). Alas, alas, for the wicked, the unbelieving, and the impenitent when that day comes! For the horn of Messiah shall then be like the horn of the enraged aurochs, and there will be no escape from His fury."
Orion

"Very impressively also do we find the same still further signified in the constellation of the first Decan of this animated sign. This is one of the grandest of the constellations, and so beautifully splendid that when it is once learned it is never forgotten. When it comes to the meridian a very magnificent view of the celestial bodies presents itself above the horizon. It is specially celebrated in the book of Job, and is mentioned in Amos and in Homer. And because of its great magnificence the flatterers of conquerors like Nimrod and Napoleon selected it for association with the names of these men.

The figure is a giant hunter, with a mighty club in his right hand in the act of striking, and in his left the skin of a slain lion.

His left foot is in the act of crushing the head of the enemy. He wears a brilliant starry girdle to which hangs a mighty sword, the hilt or handle of which is the head and body of the Lamb. Concerning the idolatrous and the wicked, God hath said: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks; for mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double" (Jer. 16 : 16-18). And here is the great Captain and Prince of these hunters in full and mighty action. His name is Orion, He who cometh forth as light, the Brilliant, the Swift. The book of Job speaks of Him as invincibly girded, whose bands no one can unloose. Betelguese, a star of the first magnitude, flames on His right shoulder; and Betelguese means The Branch coming. Rigel, another star of the first magnitude, flames in His lifted foot; and Rigel means the Foot that crusheth. In His great belt are three shining brilliants, called the Three Kings, also Jacob's Rod (Isa. 11 : i), also the Ell and Yard, giving the rule of celestial and righteous measurement, just as it is said of the Rod and Branch from Jesse's roots, "Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins" (Isa. 11:5). In His left breast shines a bright star, Bellatrix, which means Swiftly coming or Suddenly destroying. The Arabs call Him Al Giauza, the Branch; Al Mirzam, the Ruler; Al Nagjed, the Prince. He is but another figure of the same invincible Avenger represented by the enraged aurochs—the horn of the Messiah exalted into the horn of the terrible aurochs."
Myths On Orion

"According to the myths, though full of con fusion and contradictions, Orion was the united gift of the gods, Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury, and had power to walk the sea without wetting his feet, and surpassed in strength, stature, and handsomeness all other men. He is described as the greatest hunter in the world, who claimed to be able to cope with and conquer every animal on earth. Because of this claim, a scorpion sprang up out of the earth and gave him a mortal wound in his foot; but at Diana's request he was raised to immortality, and placed in the heavens over against the Scorpion. He is spoken of as skilled in the working and handling of iron, as having fabricated a subterranean abode for the god of fires, and as having walled in Sicily against the inundations of the sea, building thereon a temple to its gods. It is said of him that because he loved Merope her father put out his eyes while he was asleep on the sea-shore, but that, by raising himself on the back of a forgeman and turning his face to the rising sun, he recovered his sight, and went forth with great haste, rage, and energy to avenge the perfidious cruelty of his foes. He is said to have greatly loved the Pleiadic maiden, and that out of affection for her he performed the great work of clearing the country of all noxious wild beasts, bringing the spoils of his successes as presents to his beloved.

There is much rubbish and heathen uncleanness in some of the accounts, but the filthy waters nevertheless reflect the pure image. Christ was born of a woman, as some accounts allege of Orion; and he was at the same time the peculiar gift of Deity to our world, as alleged by other accounts of this hero of the constellation. He was indeed the greatest and sublimest of all men. He did claim to be able to destroy, and came into the world that He might destroy, all the mighty powers of evil and all the works of the Devil. On this account He was stung by the Scorpion of death. Because of His love for the Church He did sink into a deep sleep upon these shores of time, in which the light of His eyes was extinguished, but was restored to Him again by His lifting up from the grave. He was in the world, and passed through it without being wetted or soiled by its waters. He is indeed stationed in immortal glory as the everlasting plague, enemy, and destroyer of death. He it is who has made ready the lake of fire for the Devil and his angels. He is the Protector of the land of His Church, and the Builder of the temple of its worship and security. And so it is also appointed to Him to come forth in His mighty power and vengeance, to bring swift destruction upon His cruel foes, and to hunt out all the noxious wild beasts that infest the earth, that he may clear it for ever of their presence, bestowing all the fruits of His victories upon the Church which He has purchased with His blood."
Eridanus

"The second Decan of this illustrious sign carries forward the same idea to still further lengths. From beneath the down-coming foot of Orion, from under the feet of the rampant aurochs, and from before both, there flows out a great tortuous river, eastward and westward, and down into the regions of darkness in the under-world. Its name is Eridanus, the River of the judge. It is specially connected in the myths with a confusion in the management of the chariot of the Sun, by which heaven and earth were threatened with a universal conflagration, during which trouble the vain and obtrusive Phaeton was killed by a thunderbolt and hurled headlong into this river, in which his body burned and consumed with fire, whilst at the same time such burning heat fell upon the world that it dried up the blood of the Ethiops and turned vast sections into sterility and emptiness.

In Daniel's vision of the four beasts, and of God's judgment of them, we find this same River of the Judge. Having described the several world-monsters and their ill-doings, the Prophet says: "I beheld till the thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream [a river of fire] issued and came forth from before him." It is the River of the Judge, for we read, "The judgment was set, and the books were opened." And the Prophet "beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame" (Dan. 7: 9—11).

So we also read in the Psalms (50: 3) : "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him;" "A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about Him " (97 : 3-5).

So again in Isaiah it is written: "Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire: and His breath as an overflowing stream (of fire). Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: He hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (30: 27-33); "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many" (66: 15, 16). "Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire" (Nah. i : 5, 6).

And so, also, "when the Sen of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory" the nations which did not the works of faith and charity shall go away "into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels" (Matt. 25 : 3141). Nay, saith the holy Apostle, "The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned" (2 Pet. 3 : 10).

Here, then, is the true Eridanus, and the fate of the proud and presumptuous Phaeton and all his usurped rule. The River of Fire, issuing from before Taurus and Orion, shall receive them and burn them up in unquenchable flames. The burning breath of the angry Judge shall sweep them headlong to "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Rev. 20: 14, 15).

These are very dark, painful, and terrifying presentations; but they are true pictures, exactly the same both in the Scriptures and in the constellations. They are given in these alarming terms and figures that wicked, careless, and indifferent people may take warning, turn away from their follies and sins, and flee to the refuge set before us in the blessed Gospel of Christ. And if any man have ears to hear, let him hear."

Gospel in the Stars XV

2011-10-26T21:36:00.000-04:00

THE BLESSED OUTCOME

Rev. 5:12: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, ami blessing."

"The text celebrates the worthiness, glory, and dominion of the Lamb, who is further described as appearing to have been slain, but here as standing in the midst of the throne, having the perfection of strength and wisdom, and the fulness of spiritual and divine energy operative in the world for the complete salvation of His people; for this is what is meant by the "seven horns and seven eyes— the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." And in the sign of Aries we have this same Lamb, or Prince of the flock, the Son of man as the Head, Sacrifice, and High Priest of the Church, lifted up upon the path of the Sun, looking forth in the repose of power, and working that very translation and glorification of His people which the Scriptures everywhere set before us as the blessed hope of all saints.
To this interesting presentation, then, let us now direct our attention.

The Sign Of Aries

"The figure here is that of a vigorous Ram. It is called Aries, the Chief, the Head; as Aryan means the Lordly. So Christ is the Chief, the Head and Lord of His Church. The English name, Ram, means high, great, elevated, lifted up. In Syriac the name is Amroo, the Lamb, the same as John 1: 29, where it is said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" also the Branch, the Palm-branch, recognized by the Jews as denotive of Christ's royal coming to His Church. The Arabic calls this figure Al Hamal, the Sheep, the Gentle, the Merciful. The principal stars included in this figure are called El Nath or El Natik, and Al Sharetan, which mean the Wounded, the Bruised, the Slain. Over the head of the figure is a triangle, which the old Greeks said exhibited the name of the Deity, and its principal star bears a name signifying the Head, the Uplifted, hence the Lamb exalted to the divine glory, to the throne of the all-holy One.

It is unreasonable to suppose that all this could have happened by mere accident. There was manifestly some intelligent design by which the whole was arranged. And the entire presentation is in thorough accord with what the Scriptures say concerning the Seed of the woman. As the Son of man He is continually represented as the Head and Prince of the flock, the Lamb—"the Lamb that was slain"—the Lamb lifted to divine dominion and glory. In His pure, meek, and sacrificial character the Scriptures style Christ "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." In His exaltation He is represented as "the Lamb in the midst of the throne." In the administrations of judgment upon the wicked world He is contemplated as the Lamb, whose wrath is unbearable. As the Bridegroom and Husband of the Church He is also the Lamb, to whose marriage supper the Gospel calls us. As the Keeper of the Book of life in which the names of the saints are written, the Lifter of the title-deed of our inheritance, and the Breaker of the seals by which the earth is purged of usurpers and the mystery of God completed, He is presented as "the Lamb." As the consociate of the eternal Father in the joy and sovereignty of the world to come, in which the saints glory for ever and ever, He is still referred to as "the Lamb," by whose blood they overcome and in whose light they live world without end. And in whatever attitude He appears, back of all He is still the Lamb."
The Mythic Stories

"The mythic stories concerning Aries still further identify him with the Lamb of the text. This noble and mysterious animal was given by Nephele to her two children, Phrixus and Helle, when Ino, their mortal stepmother, was about to have them sacrificed to Jupiter. It was by seating themselves on its back and clinging to its fleece that they were to make their escape. Nephele means the Cloud. She is reputed the queen of Thebes; and Thebes was the house, city, or congregation of God. We thus have the cloud over God's house, or congregation, precisely as the Scriptures tell of the cloud of God's gracious manifestations to His ancient people—in their deliverance from Egypt, in their journeyings in the wilderness, and in their worship in the tabernacle and the temple. God visibly dealt with them as their merciful Guide, Instructor, Protector, and Ruler; and His gracious presence was almost uniformly manifested in the form of the cloud. Also in Job's time "thick clouds " were His covering. It was by these cloud-manifestations that He called and formed the congregation of His people, assembled them around Him, and kept them in communion with himself as His Church or city.

The two children of the cloud are therefore the same with the two Fishes in the preceding sign; that is, the multitudinous twofold Church, which is born of these merciful divine manifestations. These children were all under sentence of death. So the Church, consisting of men who had fallen under the power of incoming sin, was in danger of being sacrificed. From such a fate believers are delivered by means of the blest "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

This Lamb was furnished to these children from the same cloud of which they themselves are born; and so Christ was begotten by the power of the Highest coming upon and overshadowing the Virgin of Nazareth, and upon himself at His baptism and transfiguration.

The safety of these children of the cloud rested exclusively in this Lamb, and so the name of Jesus is the only name given under heaven among men whereby we can be saved. Both of them in fact were safe, and carried far aloft from Ino's reach and power, so long as they both continued firmly seated on this Lamb; and so the Church is lifted far above all condemnation by virtue of its being planted on Jesus Christ as its Help and Redeemer. Helle, one of these cloud-children, became giddy in the heavenly elevation to which she was lifted by this Lamb, lost her hold upon his back, and fell off into the sea, thereafter called Hellespont, or Helle's Sea; and so the antediluvian Church apostatized and was drowned in the flood; as likewise the Israelitish Church, becoming giddy in its sublime elevation, let go its hold on the Lamb by rejecting Christ, and dropped from its heavenly position into the sea of the common world. Phrixus, the more manly part of this mystic cloud-seed, held on to the mystic Lamb, and was brought in safety to Colchis, the citadel of reconciliation, the city of refuge. So likewise there has ever been a true people of God remaining faithful amid the apostasies around them, who never let go their hold on the Lamb of God, and are securely borne to the citadel of peace and salvation.

Nephele's Lamb was sacrificed to Jupiter as those who were saved by him would have been without him; and so Christ, the true Aries, was sacrificed for us, and died in our stead. He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." And it was this Lamb of Nephele that yielded the Golden Fleece, which made him who possessed it the envy of kings, and which constituted the highest treasure to be found by the children of men. And this, again, is a most striking image of the heavenly robe of Christ's meritorious righteousness, the sublimest and most enriching treasure and ornament of the Church.

It is wonderful to see how these traditional legends of the constellations interpret on the theory that they have come from prophecies and sacred beliefs touching the promised Seed of the woman and the Church which He has purchased with His blood.

It is also worthy of remark that the Egyptians celebrated a sacred feast to the Ram upon the entrance of the Sun into the sign of Aries. They prepared for it before the full moon next to the spring equinox, and on the fourteenth day of that moon all Egypt was in joy over the dominion of the Ram. Everybody put foliage or boughs, or some mark of the feast, over his door. The people crowned the ram with flowers, carried him with extraordinary pomp in grand processions, and rejoiced in him to the utmost. It was then that the horn was full. The ancient Persians had a similar festival of Aries. For all this it is hard to account except in connection with what was prophetically signified by Aries. But taken in relation to what the Scriptures foretell of the Lamb, in the period when He shall take to Him His great power for the deliverance and glorification of His Church, we can easily see how this would come to be one of the very gladdest and most exultant of the sacred feasts. It is when the Lamb thus comes upon the throne, and appears for the taking up of the deeds of the inheritance, the gladdest period in all the history of the Church and people of God is come. Then it is that the songs break forth in heaven in tremendous volume of Worthiness, and Blesssing, and Honor, and Glory to the Lamb for redeeming men by His blood, and making them kings and priests unto God, and certifying unto them that now they "shall reign on the earth."

And when we turn to the accompanying Decans of this sign, the very work and doings ascribed to the Lamb in this entrance upon His great power are still more specifically set before us, in which the joy in Him on the part of His Church and people comes to its culmination. The first of these is Cassiopeia."
Cassiopeia

"This is nothing less than a picture of the true Church of God lifted up out of all evils, bonds, and disabilities, and seated with her glorious Redeemer in heaven. The figure is that of a queenly woman, matchless in beauty, seated in exalted dignity, with her foot on the Arctic Circle, on which her chair likewise is set. In one hand she holds aloft the branch of victory and triumph, and with the other she is spreading and arranging her hair, as if preparing herself for some great public manifestation. Albumazer says this woman was anciently called "the daughter of splendor," hence "the glorified woman." Her common name is Cassiopeia, the beautiful, the enthroned; or, as Pluche derives the name, the Boundary of Typhoris power, the Delivered from all evil. The constellation itself is one of the most beautiful in the heavens.

Four stars of the third magnitude, which never set, form the seat upon which this woman sits. The star on her right side is on the equinoctial colure, and on a straight line with Al Pherats in Andromeda's cheek to the north pole. The constellation embraces a binary star, a triple star, a double star, a quadruple star, and an extraordinary number of starclusters of similar constituents to the general field of greater stars.

About three hundred years ago there occurred in this constellation what was a great mystery to astronomers. A star, surpassing in brilliancy and splendor all the fixed stars, suddenly appeared on the tenth of November, 1572, and, after shining in continuous glory for sixteen months, disappeared, and has never since been seen, just as the Church disappears in the shadow of death, or is presently to be caught away to the invisible world.

And if there is any one constellation of the sky, or any figure among these celestial frescoes, specially fitted to be the symbol and representative of the Church, particularly in its enfranchised and glorified condition, it is this. The names are equally significant. The first star marking the figure of this woman is called Shedar, which means the Freed, and Ruchbah and Dat al Cursa, signifying the Enthroned, the Seated. On her right hand is also the glorious star-crowned King, holding out his sceptre toward her, whilst all the accounts pronounce her his wife, just as the Scriptures everywhere describe the Church as affianced to Christ, hereafter to be married to Him as "the bride, the Lamb's wife."

Cassiopeia is universally represented as the mother of Andromeda; and so the Apostle refers to the heavenly Church as the mother of the earthly Church. The Jerusalem that is above "is the mother of us all." The whole presentation is that of deliverance and heavenly triumph, precisely as we speak of the Church triumphant; and the ready-making is for the great marriage ceremonial. (Compare Rev. 19:7, 8.)

The perfection of this woman's beauty, fairer than Juno and the envy of all the nymphs of the sea, likewise answers exactly to the Scripture descriptions of the Church: "Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord" (Ezek. 16: 14). Christ is to present it to himself, "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5 : 27). Cassiopeia is an enthroned queen; and this is also uniformly the biblical picture of the Church when once it comes to enter upon its promised glory. John saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and they reigned with Christ. And it was further said that so "they shall reign for ever and ever." The Church is "the queen in gold of Ophir" of which the Psalmist (45 : 9) so enthusiastically sung."
Cetus

"But when the time comes for the Church to enter upon her royal exaltation and authority, another very important and marked event is to occur. John beheld it in apocalyptic vision, and writes : "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years are fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season " (Rev. 20: 1-3). And this is pictorially given in the second Decan of Aries.

The picture is that of a great sea-monster (Cetus), the true Leviathan of Job and Isaiah, which covers the largest space of any one figure in the sky. It is a vast scaly beast, with enormous head, mouth, and front paws, and having the body and tail of a whale. It is generally called "the Whale" on our planispheres. It is an animal of the waters and marshes, and the natural enemy and devourer of the fishes. It is the same which the seagod sent to devour Andromeda, and hence the particular foe and persecutor of the Church. It is a downward constellation, bordering on the lower regions. One of its characteristic stars, Mira, situated in the neck of the scaly monster, is the most wonderfully variable and unsteady in the heavens. From a star of the second magnitude it dwindles away so as to become invisible once in about every three hundred days, and Hevelius affirms that it once disappeared for the space of four years. It is a striking symbol of the arch-Deceiver, and, singularly enough, its name means the Rebel. And what is specially remarkable in the case is, that the doubled end of the Band which upholds the Fishes, after passing the front foot or hand of the Lamb, is fastened on the neck of this monster, and holds him firmly bound. The name of the first of the Cetus stars, Menkar, refers to this; for Menkar means the chained Enemy. And so the name of the second star, Diphda, means the Overthrown, the Thrust-down.

Satan is loose now. Peter writes: "Your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (Pet. 5:8). God speaks of him, and puts the confounding questions: "Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with the cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears? Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up" (Job 41 : i—10). But he whom no man can take or bind, the Lamb has in His power, and will yet lay hold upon, and fasten with a great chain, from which he cannot break away. By the same power with which He upholds the Fishes He restrains the devouring Enemy; and with that same power He will yet fasten up the monster for final destruction. Of old, Isaiah prophesied of a day when "the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing Serpent even Leviathan that crooked Serpent, and He shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea" (Isa. 27:1). And here we have the same forepictured in the stars, showing how the enthroned Lamb will bind and punish Leviathan, even as the written word of prophecy describes. The sign in the heavens answers precisely to the descriptions in the Book, proving that one is of the same piece with the other, and that both are from the same eternal Spirit which has moved to show us things to come."

Perseus

"But in still greater vigor and animation is this whole scene set out in the third accompanying side-piece to this sign of the enthroned Lamb. Micah (2 : 12, 13) prophesies of a time when the flock of God shall be gathered, their King pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them; and says that this shall be when "the Breaker is come up before them" Whatever may have been in the foreground of this prediction, it is agreed that "the Breaker" here must needs be Christ, the very Lamb of our text, breaking the way of His people through all the doors and gates of their present imprisonment and disability, and dashing to pieces all the antagonizing powers which stand in the way of their full deliverance and redemption. So the Lamb in the Apocalypse is the Breaker of the seals and of apostate nations, the same as the Son in the second Psalm. And this Breaker, in these very acts, is the precise picture in this constellation.

Here is the figure of a mighty man, stepping with one foot on the brightest part of the Milky Way, wearing a helmet on his head and wings on his feet, holding aloft a great sword in his right hand, and carrying away the blood-dripping head of the Gorgon in his left. His name in the constellation is Perets, Graecised Perses or Perseus, the same as in Micah's prophecy—the Breaker. The name of the star by his left foot is Atik, He who breaks. The name of the brightest middle star in the figure is Al Genib, the One who carries away, and Mirfak, Who helps. And when Perseus comes to the meridian the most brilliant portion of the starry heavens opens out its sublimest magnificence in the eastern hemisphere."
The Myths

"Now, one of the most beloved and admired of all the hero-gods of mythology was this Perseus. He was the son of the divine Father, who came upon Danae in the form of a shower of gold. No sooner was he born than he and his mother were put into a chest and cast into the sea; but Jupiter so directed that they were rescued by the fishermen on the coast of one of the Cyclades, and carried to the king, who treated them with great kindness, and entrusted to them the care of the temple of the goddess of wisdom. His rising genius and great courage made him a favorite of the gods. At a great feast of the king, at which the nobles were expected to make some splendid present to their sovereign, Perseus, who was so specially indebted to the king's favors, not wishing to be behind the rest or feebler in his expressions than were his obligations, engaged to bring the head of Medusa, the only one of the three horrible Gorgons subject to mortality.

These Gorgons were fabled beings, with bodies grown indissolubly together and covered with impenetrable scales. They had tusks like boars, yellow wings, and brazen hands, and were very dangerous. Their heads were full of serpents in place of hair, and their very looks had power to turn to stone any one on whom they fixed their gaze. To equip Perseus for his expedition Pluto lent him his helmet, which had the power of rendering the wearer invisible; and Minerva furnished him with her buckler, resplendent as a polished mirror; and Mercury gave him wings for his feet and a diamond sword for his hand. Thus furnished, he mounted into the air, led by the goddess of wisdom, and came upon the tangled monsters. He,

"In the mirror of his polished shield Reflected, saw Medusa slumbers take, And not one serpent by good chance awake; Then backward an unerring blow he sped, And from her body lopped at once her head." Grasping the same in his left hand, he again mounted into the air, and

"O'er Lybia's sands his airy journey sped; The gory drops distilled as swift he flew, And from each drop envenomed serpents grew."

By this victory he was rendered immortal, and took his place among the stars, ever holding fast the reeking head of the Gorgon. It was on his return from this brave deed that he saw the beautiful Andromeda chained to the rock, and the terrible monster of the sea advancing to devour her. On condition that she should become his wife, he broke her chains, plunged his sword into the monster that sought her life, fought off and turned to stone the tyrant Phineus who sought to prevent the wedding, and made Andromeda his bride, begetting many worthy sons and daughters, and by varied administrations of miraculous power changing portions of the earth and its governments and rulers, returning betimes to bless the countries that honored him."
Perseus And Christ

"No natural events in the seasons or in the history of man could ever serve as a foundation for such a story as this. Here is a divine-human son, begotten of a golden shower from the Deity, a child of affliction and persecution from his very birth, but predestined by the heavenly powers to live and triumph. By his high qualities he is made the keeper and conservator of the temple of wisdom and sacred worship. Out of devotion to his king he undertakes to destroy the Gorgons as far as they are destructible. For this he descends into hell, and brings forth armor from thence. He is in communion with the divine wisdom, and thereby is girded in splendor and led unerringly. He is winged, and given a diamond sword, as Heaven's messenger and herald to undo the powers of evil and administer deliverance and prosperity. He wounds the dire Gorgons in the head, and carries off their power. He punishes Leviathan with his "sore and great and strong sword." He breaks the bonds of Andromeda, and makes her his bride amid high festival, at which he puts down all opposition. And thereupon he goes forth to countries far and near, punishing and expelling tyrants and usurpers, rooting out untruth and corrupt worship, and blessing and rejoicing the city and kingdom of heroes. All this interprets with wonderful literalness and brilliancy when understood of the promised Seed of the woman, the Lamb that was slain, going forward at the head of His people as the Breaker, bringing death and destruction to the monsters of evil, setting wronged captives free, and joining them to himself in glory everlasting. Nor is there anything else of which it will interpret or that can adequately account for the existence of the story."
Medusa's Head

"And that we are so to understand this figure is still further manifest in the facts and names in the reeking, snake-covered head grasped by the hero. Medusa means the Trodden under foot. The name of the principal star in this head, Al Ghoul, contracted into Algol, means the Evil Spirit. The same is also a variable star, like Mira. It changes about every three days from a star of the second magnitude to one of the fourth, and makes its changes from one to the other in three and a half hours. Rosh Satan and Al Oneh are other names of the stars in this head, which mean Satan's head, the Weakened, the Subdued. And the invincible Subduer and Breaker is none other than "the Lamb," the biblical Peretz, the Persian Bershuash, taking to himself His great power, and enforcing His saving dominion and authority for the full redemption of His people."
The Church's Hope

"With great vividness, beauty, and fulness does this sign of Aries thus symbolize the blessed outcome of the Church, whose earthly estate and career were signified in the three preceding. Out of the sacrificial death and mediation of the Seed of the woman, the slain Lamb, the Church obtains its being. By the unfailing stream of the spiritual waters, which pour down from heaven as the fruit of His mediatorial intercession, it is quickened into life and celestial fellowship. By the bands of royal power with which He has been crowned at the right hand of eternal Majesty it is upheld, directed, and governed amid this sea of earthly existence, turmoil, danger, and temptation. Helpless in its own strength, despised, hated, threatened by the serpents of Medusa's head, and exposed to the attacks of the monster lord of this world, it is still sustained and preserved by the right hand of Him whose is the dominion. And the time is coming when He who walks amid the golden candlesticks and holds in His hand the seven stars shall lift the title-deed of its inheritance, and call its members up from this doomed world to meet Him in the air, whilst He proceeds to punish and dash in pieces all enemies, cutting off Medusa's head, putting Leviathan in bonds, and lifting the chained Andromeda to Cassiopeia's starry throne.

And then it is that all heaven rings with the song, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing;" whilst all creation thrills with "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, untc Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

Dear friends, may I not here turn to ask, Have you been brought into fellowship and communion with this Church and congregation of the Lord? If so, then thank God for it, and be glad before Him that He has bestowed upon you so great a favor. Bless His name for the grace that has led you into those holy gates, and for the treasures and dignities of which He has thus made you heirs. Trials, dangers, and disabilities may be upon you now, but the Lamb is in the midst of the throne to uphold, protect, and comfort you, and by His blood and interces sion you are safe. Cling to Him and His golden fleece, and no malignity of the Destroyer shall ever be able to touch a hair of your head. Wait and pray on in patience and in hope; the victorious Perseus comes for your deliverance and to share with you His own triumphant immortality.

Or does the present moment find you still lingering without the gates, and far aside from the assembly and congregation of God's flock? These starry lights that look down so lovingly upon you are hung with admonitions of your danger, and in diamond utterance point you to the better way. "There is no speech nor language, their voice is not heard; but their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," marking out the tabernacle of the Sun of Righteousness, in which alone there is covenanted safety and salvation for exposed and helpless man. In full harmony with the written Book night by night they hold forth their pictorial showings to corroborate the testimony of Prophets and Apostles, that the erring seed of Adam may learn wisdom, enter the chambers of security, and shut themselves in to life and glory against the time when the Breaker shall come. The light-bearers in the sky join with the lightbearers in the Church in giving out the one great testimony of God : "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3 : 36)."

Gospel in the Stars XIV

2011-10-14T04:21:00.000-04:00

Andromeda

Two Major Women in History

The church, or congregation of the redeemed, is described in scripture as a woman. Likewise the congregation of the lost is described as a woman. These two women are discussed in the scriptures, particularly in the Book of Revelation. Every person is part of one or the other of these two women.

Apocalyptic Descriptions of The Two Women

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered...And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days...And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 12: 1, 2, 5, 6, 15-17)

Wrote Seiss (in his book on the Apocalypse)

"In the passage which we are now to consider (Rev. 12), we have the picture of a marvellous Woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, and she herself agitated and agonizing with the anxieties of parturition. This, the Apostle tells us is a sign, semeion, a word which he here uses for the first time in the Apocalypse, and which serves to show that the apparition is not simply a "wonder," as our version has it, but a wonder intended to bring before us something beyond itself. I have repeatedly remarked, that when the Scriptures use figures or symbols, or speak in a way not intended to be taken literally, like all serious writings they always give intimation of it, in one way or another. The text is a case in point. What is described, is said to be a sign, a representation or picture of something else—a symbol. And the fact that we are here told that this is a sign, goes far to prove that the Apocalypse in general is to be taken literally, except where indication to the contrary is given. It would be quite superfluous to tell us that this thing is a sign, and that certain things mean certain other things, except upon the assumption that whatever is not so labelled is to be taken just as it reads, a woman for a woman, a star for a star, a mountain for a mountain, and so on. But, whatever else is literal in this book, the case of this woman is not; for the Apostle says it is a sign—a picture—a symbol of something else, which is the true subject of contemplation. He further tells us that it is "a great sign." In itself it was something very imposing and sublime to the eye which beheld it. But the greatness cannot be well understood, except with reference to the thing signified. It was a great sign as indicating something great, remarkable, momentous. The whole picture is itself so marvellous and extraordinary as to necessitate the idea of something of the greatest excellence, conspicuity, and importance. And when it is yet added, that the sign is a "great" one, that to which it refers must needs be of the utmost consequence and consideration, and no trifling object or ordinary event can be admitted as fulfilling the majesty of such a picture."

"A more important question is that respecting the object intended to be symbolized by this Woman. Who is she, and what are we to understand by her? The answers returned by expositors are not in all cases the same.

Some are disposed to consider it the picture of the Virgin Mary giving birth to the blessed Saviour. Even Professor Stuart says, that no attentive reader can help thinking of the birth of Christ and the massacre of Bethlehem. But, much as we may think of it, and howsoever included, this cannot be the proper subject. If the Apostle had believed it a representative of Mary, he doubtless would have said so; neither is it congruous thus mysteriously to give us the picture of one woman so superlatively exalted, in order to denote another woman so poor and lowly as Mary at the birth of our Lord. Nor was Mary ever clad and adorned as here set forth. She has also long since passed away from the earth, while this woman continues even until after the sounding of the last trumpet. When Christ was caught up to God, this Apocalypse was not yet written, nor for half a century after, whereas it was said at the time of the writing that it referred to things then still future.

Others think that it means the City of Jerusalem. It has been said that there are only two women spoken of in this book, and that as the one is "that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth," so the other is that city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. But it is as foreign to all Scripture diction, as it is contrary to the nature of things, for a material earthly city to take wings and fly away to the wilderness, and after 1260 days to return again.

A more common view, in which there is a more general agreement, is, that this woman somehow represents the Church, the body of God's professed people. It belongs to the ordinary Scripture imagery to speak of the Church under the figure of a woman, a spouse, a mother. We read of "the Daughter of Zion" as a personification of this kind under the Old Testament, and Paul speaks of the spiritual Jerusalem as "the mother of us all." The Canticles, which certainly are to be taken in a mystic sense, show how familiar such conceptions were to the Jews; and the same sort of language is everywhere employed, in one form or another, in the New Testament. And when we contemplate all the splendid particulars respecting this woman, how she is assailed by Satan, and the destiny of the offspring she bears, there is hardly any room left for a doubt, that it is the collective body of the Church or people of God that we are to see in this picture.

But what Church, or the Church of what particular dispensation or era, or the Church in what particular aspect, is not so generally agreed. Some say it is the Old Testament Church, others that it is the Christian Church of the early centuries persecuted by the heathen, agonizing for converts, and finally bringing forth the Emperor Constantino; others, that it is tbe Latin Church of a later period; and others still, that it refers to the Church in yet other times, or the Church in general, without undertaking to find any one particular fulfilment for it.

In trying to come to a definite conclusion where there is so much irreconcilable diversity, it is necessary to bear in mind that we are here dealing with consummations. The Apocalypse is the Book and revealer of consummations; and the seventh trumpet, under which this sign appears, above all, refers to the times and scenes in which everything runs to its final completion and end, and appears in its terminal culmination. It is the climax of the great judgment period, when all that has gone before comes to its full, and is finally disposed of. It would therefore harmonize best with the time, and with the character of the connected administrations, that any picture of the Church here introduced should embrace it in its largest fulness, aa made up through all ages and dispensations, and as related to the great consummating events pertaining to the end.

So, then, I have been led to view and interpret this wonderful sign. It does not refer to the Jewish Church exclusively; for that, apart from the Christian, never, to the same degree, possessed the majesty and glory which pertain to this woman. It is not the Christian Church exclusively; for the man-child who is to rule the nations with the rod of iron must necessarily include the Lord Jesus as its Lord and head; but he was born before the Christian Church, as such, had an existence. But the Church of the Old Testament and that of the New, are, after all, not so alien to each other. There is still an inner oneness between them never to be overlooked, which makes one a necessary part of the other, and which constitutes them the one" Church of God, notwithstanding the differences of dispensations and outward form. Christian believers are children of faithful Abraham, and brethren of the ancient prophets, who were not perfect without us. Changes of external order and administration have occurred, and will perhaps occur again when the present age is consummated, but it is still the same Church of the living God. There has really been but one Church on earth, existing through all times and under all economies. And so we have here, as the symbol of it, this one glorious woman, in whom all its highest excellences and chief characteristics are summed up from the beginning even unto the great consummation, at which point, and with reference to the great occurrences of that time, it is here brought to our contemplation. It is the one only Church of God on earth, though its several parts have existed in succession—even the same which was patriarchal hefore Moses, Jewish before Christ, and Christian since Christ, here aggregately exhibited, that we may at one and the same view see it in its fulness, and particularly with reference to what is to happen it under the seventh and last trumpet.

It is wonderful also what a profound and complete view of the Church, in all its deepest peculiarities, excellences, office, and prospects, is here given in one single picture, at once as simple as it is sublime.

1. We have here the image of a woman. Woman was made out of Adam. A deep sleep fell upon him for the purpose, and out of that sleep woman came into being. From a rib out of his side was she builded. There was but one made, and Adam had none other. She was brought unto the man, and accepted and loved as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, and made oue with him in the closest of all earthly relations. This is not only history, but also parable and prophecy. Paul is very particular to tell us that it is "a mystery," a sacred revelation set in historic facts, to show the character and relations of the Church. Adam was "the figure of Him that was to come." Christ is "the Second Adam." And the wife of the Second Adam is the Church, made out of Him by the hand and Spirit of God from that deep sleep of His for the sins of the world. It is but one, and beside it there is none other. It is Christ himself begotten in His people, and joined to Him in holy compact, service, fellowship, and love, so deep and close as to be really organic; for "we are members of his body, and of his flesh, and of his bones"—one with him as the branches with the vine—sharing each other's characteristics, estates, and destiny. And to say nothing of the feminine qualities as distinguished from the masculine, there is here the profoundest reason for the representation of the Church in the figure of a woman,—a pure, beautiful, sublime, and perfect woman. The Church is the woman, in her creation from the second Adam, in her naming after Christ, and in her receptivity, love, maternity, trusting dependence, beauty, and willing obedience. She is the betrothed of the Lord, His Bride, His Queen, partaker of His inmost love, and all His estate and kingdom, having her joy in Him and His in her. Nor is there another image known to man which more richly and truly sets forth that mystic body, which we recognize and identify in every age as the Church or people of God.

2. This woman is in the way of motherhood. This is the characteristic of the Church in every period of its existence, and with special reference to what is to be fulfilled when the last trumpet shall Bound. She ever bears in her body the maturing germs of a mighty birth awaited in the future. There is one individual outward figure, but that figure incloses and carries within it an invisible seed, the royal sous of a royal sire. As seen and known to us, the Church is the assembly of God's called and chosen people, manifest in the fellowship and profession of the rites and signs of revealed religion. This assembly, however, embraces two classes, the truly elect and regenerate, whom God has begotten as His own children, and in whom the Church has its life-character as the congregation of saints, but along with them many nominal outward members, who are not God's children in living reality. It is quite manifest, to those who look, that not all are saints who profess Christianity and observe its rites; but who are the true members is not certainly known to us, but to God only. There is, therefore, a visible and an invisible Church—one woman, but compassing a hidden seed to be revealed hereafter. The invisible Church lies within the visible, and there is begotten, nourished, and borne, till the time comes for it to be brought forth. The visible Church is truly the Church, because the elect are in it, only it embraces some who are not of the elect. In it alone are God's true people to be found. There are the means and instruments through which saints are begotten and nurtured, and the Church collected, and its offices and administrations tilled. Though it has many who are not really what they profess, and are not of the inner household of faith, it does not cease to be the true Church of God and the only mother of saints on that account. Their profession still is right, and the word and sacraments which they handle are still God's appointed means of grace and salvation. And it is the Church as one glorious whole, outward and inward, visible and invisible, that we are to see in this magnificent woman.

3. This woman is magnificently arrayed. It is sometimes decried as a woman's weakness that she is fond of beautiful attire, and has an irrepressible instinct for personal adornment. It is not a weakness, but an instrument of power. It is part of her God-given nature, as the original type and representative of the Church. She may abuse it, and fall into many silly mistakes and sins by reason of it, but it becomes her, and belongs to her proper womanliness to be as beautiful as possible, and to be as beautifully and appropriately arrayed as she honestly can. She owes it to herself, to her sex, to her husband, and to society. A slattern is a monstrosity to the Divine ideal. The Church is the truest and heavenliest woman, and she is splendidly arrayed. She is "clothed with the sun."

Of course, no mere creature, or any number of creatures, can be literally dressed with the sun. That sublime luminary cannot be worn as a garment. It is only a pictorial representation, which is to be figuratively understood. But it is a gorgeous and most expressive figure.

The sun is the fairest and most brilliant thing our eyes have ever seen. It is the great orb of brightness. To be clothed with it, one would needs be clothed with light. And so it is with the Church and the people of God. Jesus says, they are "the children of light" (Luke 16 :8). It is the office and end of all God's merciful appointments " to turn men from darkness to light" (Acts 26: 18). Of those whom the Apostles enrolled as members of the Church of Christ, it is written, "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5: 8). The Church has ever been an illuminated body. Its children are not of darkness, but of the day. God, who caused the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of His own glory. They " walk in the light." They wear it about them as a garment. If there be any light in the Divine revelations, they have it as their constant possession. If there bo any teaching and illumination of the Holy Ghost, they enjoy it. They are an instructed people, illuminated from on high. They are the truly wise. They have the true philosophy of things, and are. the widest awake to the highest truth and wisdom. While others grope.in darkness, they are arrayed in light.

The sun is at the same time the great lightgiver. It radiates brightness as well as possesses it. Light streams forth from it as the illuminator of this whole sublunary world. And to be clothed with the sun, one must necessarily be a glorious dispenser of illumination. And such is the Church. Its members and ministers have been the brightest lights of the ages. It is the pillar and ground of the truth—the golden candlestick of God amid the abounding and otherwise sunless darkness of this alien world. It is constituted and ordained for the teaching of the nations, and the bearing of the light of heaven to the benighted souls of men. People can learn the way of truth only through its testimony and confession. Christ hath said of His people, "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5 : 14). By them it is that the knowledge and joy of salvation are carried over the earth, and ministered unto the dwellers in darkness and the shadow of death. They are the dispensers of the light of God. It is a great and wonderful endowment and office; but this treasure hath the Lord given to His Church. Oh, that His people may know and realize it!

The sun is likewise an orb of great excellence and purity. Nothing can diminish its glory, or taint its rays. To be clothed with it, is to be clothed with unsullied excellency. And so it is with the Church. It may have shabby members, but they are not really of it. Whatever may be the native corruption of men, or their entanglement with the errors and vices of an ungodly world, in becoming God's people they are washed, they are sanctified, they are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. They are the purest and holiest of the race. They are the flower of mankind. They are the jewels of the Lord of hosts. They are saints, having put on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the Sun of Righteousness."

Light is the garment of God. It is the symbol of His own nature. And as all true people of Ilis are "partakers of the divine nature," being begotten unto Him from above, they enter also into the same clothing. The Church is robed with the sun.

4. This woman is victorious in her position. She has "the moon under her feet." Needless is the perplexity which men have felt in ascertaining what we are here to understand by the moon. As the sun is the king of day, so the moon is the empress of night; and hence a fit picture of the kingdom of darkness. And as to be clothed with the one is to be "light in the Lord," a glorious lightbearer to the world, a possessor of great excellence and purity; so to tread the moon under foot is the image of victory over the powers of darkness, whether of nature, or aught else. And this is a blessed characteristic and honor of the Church. All her true members are conquerors. Not all have yet come to the final triumph. This is not a picture of the Church triumphant, for the woman is still the subject of persecution, compelled to fly into the wilderness for her life. But even now, all who have come to real standing and membership in the household of faith, must needs have gained certain victories, and attained to the character of conquerors. By whatever Divine helps and gratuities it has been achieved, they have vanquished their native ignorance and hatred of God. They have subdued their prejudices, and brought their bodies and passions under the sway of another and better dominion and discipline. They have risen in rebellion against the old bondage, and have conquered it, and broken away from it, and by stern resolve through the grace of God have entered upon the field of self-mastery and independence. With some the battle still rages, and " there remaineth yet much land to be possessed." But they have not warred in vain. Some glorious vantage-grounds have been won. They have conquered so far, that if they will only stand firm, their final triumph is sure. On fields once held by Satan, they have succeeded in planting the banners of Jehovah. And from the heights they have already gained, they see the victory from afar, and realize it even now. The moon is under their feet.

5. Still further: this woman is royal in rank and dignity. Regal gems glitter about her brow. There is "on her head a crown"—a crown "of stars,"— stars to the sacred number of completeness,— "twelve stars." Whatever the particular allusion may be, whether to patriarchs, or tribes, or apostles, or all of these, or to the totality of her teaching agency, there flashes forth from this the unmistakable idea of kinghood and authority; yea, of celestial royalty and dominion. And this too is one of the sublime possessions of the Church. Christians are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood." (1 Peter 2 : 9.) By anticipation at least, all who are washed from their sins in the blood of Jesus, are "Kings and priests unto God." (Rev. 1: 6.) All who are called by the Gospel, are called to royal place and dignity, and in so far as they have made that calling sure, whatever be their earthly estate or place, they are anointed and sealed as lords and princes of the eternal realm. They are joint heirs with Him to whom all power in heaven and earth is given. Time only is needed to instate them in immortal thrones. Crowns are theirs and the glory of imperishable empire.

6. Aud she is in travail to bring forth. She is persecuted; but these are not so much pains of persecution. The pains of persecution come upon her from without; this anguish is from within. Persecution proceeds from the wicked, for the purpose of destruction; this agony proceeds from a treasure of heavenly sons, and is a travail to produce. Persecution has its spring in hell's malignity; this agonizing has its origin in the love, and faith, and hope of a pious maternity.

Friends and Brethren: There is a grand and glorious birthday on hand when once the seventh trumpet begins to sound,—a birthday foreshadowed by the seizing away from earth of Enoch and Elijah, and forepledged by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, and his sublime ascension to the right hand of the Father,—a birthday which Paul had in his eye when he wrote, "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall bo raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. 15 : 52.) To that all the promises point.

For this present we are in heaviness and tribulation. Heaven is not in this world. Our inheritance is beyond, and only the resurrection can bring us to the full fruition of it. In the day of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, and His saints come to that for which they look, and long, and cry out, in all these years of waiting. Think, then, what a time that will be when once the object of all these prayers, sufferings, and endeavors has at last been reached! What, indeed, is all the glorious light, and victory, and royalty, and joy of faith and hope we now possess, compared with the fulness of joy which shall come with that glad consummation!

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns." (Rev. 17: 1-7)

On The Woman (Babylon) of Revelation 17, Seiss writes:

"The subject itself is one of great prominence in the Apocalypse, as in all the prophecies; but it has proven about as difficult as it is conspicuous. On none of the current methods of treating this Book is it possible to come to any clear, consistent, and satisfying conclusions with regard to it. The body of preterist expositors have found themselves necessitated to take Great Babylon as meaning the city, the church, or the ecclesiastical system of Rome, not so much because the features of the record call for it, or really admit of it, when fairly dealt with, but because unable on their theory to do any better. That Rome and the Romish system are involved, may readily be admitted; but that this is all, and that the sudden fall of Great Babylon is simply the fall of Romanism, or the utter destruction of the city of Rome, must be emphatically denied, if the inspired portraiture is to stand as it is written. If we cannot find more solid ground than that on which the Rome theory rests we must needs consign the whole subject to the department of doubt and uncertainty, and let all these tremendous foreshowings pass for nothing. Unite with me, then, dear friends, in praying God to open our understandings, that we may not fail to take in what He really intends that His people should see in these sacred visions.

The first thing which strikes me in the study of this subject, is one which I have nowhere seen duly noticed, namely: the evident correlation and contrast between the Woman here pictured and another Woman described in the twelfth chapter. There, " a great sign was seen in the heaven, a Woman?' here, it is remarked, " he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a Woman."

Both these Women are mothers; the first "brought forth a son, a male [neuter, embracing either sex], who is to rule all the nations;" the second " is the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth." Both are splendidly dressed ; the first is " clothed with the sun." Her raiment is light from heaven. The second is " clothed in purple, and scarlet, decked with gold,' and precious stone, and pearls." All her ornaments are from below, made up of things out of the earth and the sea. Both are very influential in their position; the first has " the moon," the empress of night, the powers of darkness, " under her feet;" the second " hath rule, or kiugdom, upon the kings of the earth." Both are sufferers; against the first is the Dragon, who stands watching to devour her child, and persecutes and pursues her, and drives her into the wilderness, and sends out a river to overwhelm her, and is at war with all her seed that he can find; against the second are the ten kings, who ultimately hate her, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, whilst God in His strength judgeth her, and visits her with plague, death, and utter destruction. Both are very conspicuous, and fill a large space in the history of the world, and in all the administrations of divine providence and judgment. That they are counterparts of each other there can hardly be a reasonable doubt. The one is a pure woman, the other is a harlot. The first is hated by the powers on earth, the second is loved, flattered, and caressed by them. "Where the one has sway, things are heavenly; where the other lives, it is "wilderness." The one produces masculine nobility, which is ultimately caught away to God and to His throne; the other produces effeminate impurity, which calls down the fierceness of the divine wrath. The one is sustained and helped by celestial wings; the other is supported and carried by the Dragon power,—the Beast with the seven heads and ten horns. The one has a crown of twelve stars, wearing the patriarchs and apostles as her royal diadem ; the other has upon her forehead the name of the greatest destroyer and oppressor of the holy people, and is drunken with " the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth." The one finally comes out in a heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, made up of imperishable jewels, and arrayed in all the glory of God and the Lamb; the other finally comes out in a city of this world's superlative admiration, which suddenly goes down forever under the intense wrath of Heaven, and becomes the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit.

These two Women, thus related, and set over one against the other as opposites and rivals, must necessarily be interpreted in the same way. As Antichrist corresponds to Christ as a rival and antagonist of Christ, so Great Babylon corresponds to the Woman that bears the Man-child, as her rival and antagonist.

By recalling, therefore, who and what is meant by the first Woman, we will be in position to understand who aud what is meant by the second.

Beyond question, the sun-clad Woman is God's great symbol of the visible Church,—the Lamb's Wife,—the bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, fashioned out of His rifted side as the Second Adam, who fell into the deep sleep of death for that purpose. As Methodius taught, " The woman seen in heaven, clothed with the sun, and adorned with a crown of twelve stars, is, in the highest and strictest sense, our Mother. The prophets, considering what is spoken of her, call her Jerusalem, at other times The Bride, the Mount Sion, the Temple and Tabernacle of God." She is not the church of any one period or dispensation, but the entire Universal Church of all time, as Victorinus, the earliest commentator on this Book, held and affirmed, saying: " The Woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, is the Church of the Patriarchs, and of the Prophets, and of the holy Apostles "—that is, the Church from the days of Adam and Eve on to the last victory over the worship, name, and mark, of the final Antichrist. What then can this rival Woman be but the organized Antichurch, the psendochurch, the Bride made out of Satan, the universal body and congregation of false-believers and false-worshippers ? As Christ has had a visible Church in all time, embodying the wisdom and spirit of heaven, aud maintaining the confession of His truth and worship, so has the Devil had a corresponding following in all time, embodying the sensual and devilish wisdom and spirit, and maintaining the profession and teaching of Satan's lies. And as the first Woman denotes the one, so the second Woman denotes the other. The proofs of this will appear as we consider the particulars of the case."

"A still further representation of the Church is supplied in the third Decan of this sign. This is the picture of a beautiful woman, with fetters upon her wrists and ankles, and fastened down so as to be unable to rise. This woman in the Decan is the same as the Fishes in the sign. The change of the image argues no change in the subject. The Church is often a woman, and oftener than it is a net full of fishes; but it is both—sometimes the one, and sometimes the other—in the representations of the Scriptures. Besides, in some of the ancient planispheres these Fishes were pictured with the heads of women, thus identifying them with the woman."

Greek mythology calls this woman Andromeda (andro-medo), man-ruler, but with what idea, or for what reason, does not appear in the myths. The name is perhaps derived from some ancient designation of similar significance, which has no meaning in the Greek fables, but which covers a most important and inspiring biblical representation respecting the Church. Here we discover the true Andromeda—the mystic woman called and appointed to rule and guardianship over men. When Peter wished to know what he and his fellowdisciples should have by way of compensation for having forsaken everything for Christ, the blessed Master said: "Ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). Hence Paul spoke to the Corinthians as of a well-understood fact, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (i Cor. 6: 2). Hence the enraptured John ascribes everlasting glory and dominion to the divine Christ, not only for washing us from our sins in His own blood, but that He "hath made us kings and priests unto God" (Rev. i : 5, 6). The true people of God, the real Church, are the elect kings of the future ages. Even now already they are embodiments and bearers of the heavenly kingdom and dominion upon earth. Through them the word goes forth for the governing of men, and the regulation of their hearts and lives, and the bringing of them under a new spiritual dominion, so that none ever come to forgiveness and glory except as they come into submission to the truth and the teachings of the Church. The great All-Ruler has so united the Church to himself, and so embodied himself in it, that by its word, testimonies, and ordinances He rules, governs, tutors, and guards men, and brings them under His saving dominion. The Prophets, Apostles, Confessors, Pastors, and Teachers which He has raised up in the Chuich, with those associated with them in the fellowship of the same faith and work, are the true kings and guardians of men, who have been ruling from their spiritual thrones for all these ages, and will continue to rule more and more for ever as the spiritual and eternal kingdom is more and more revealed and enforced. Most significantly, therefore, may the Church be called Andromeda; and the fact that the mystic woman in this constellation is so called, with no other known reason for it, goes far to identify her as verily intended to be a prophetic picture of the Church, which she truly represents beyond anything else that has ever been in fable or in fact.

Andromeda's Chains

But this woman is in chains, bound hand and foot. The names in the sign mean the Broken-down, the Weak, the Afflicted, the Chained. The fables say that she was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, promised to her uncle Phineus in marriage, when Neptune sent a flood and a sea-monster to ravage the country in answer to the resentful clamors of his favorite nymphs against Cassiopeia, because she boasted herself fairer than Juno and the Nereides. Nor would the incensed god be pacified until, at the instance of Jupiter Ammon, the beautiful Andromeda was exposed to the sea-monster, chained to a rock near Joppa in Palestine, and left to be devoured. But Perseus, on returning from the conquest of the Gorgons, rescued her and made her his bride.

Here, then, was a case of malignant jealousy and persecution resulting in the disability, exposure, and intended destruction of an innocent person. And thus, again, we have a striking picture of the unfavorable side of the Church's condition in this world. Jealous rivals hate her and clamor against her. The world-powers in their selfishness fail to protect her, and lend themselves for her exposure and destruction. Innocently she is made to suffer. Though a lovely and influential princess, she is hindered by personal disabilities and bonds. It will not be so always. The time will come when those bonds shall be broken and that exposure ended. There is One engaged in a war with the powers of darkness and the children of hell who will presently come this way to rescue and deliver the fair maiden and to make her His glorious bride. But for the present affliction and hardship are appointed to her. She cannot move as she would, or enjoy what pertains to her royal character, her innocence, and her beauty. She is bound to the hard, and ponderous rock of this earthly life. Born to reign with her redeeming Lord, Apostles can only wish that she did reign, that they might reign with her. She is within the sacred territory, but it is as yet a place of captivity and bonds. She never can be truly herself in this mortal life. Nor is she completely free from the oppressive Phineus until the victorious Perseus comes. The whole picture is true to the life, and shows with what profound prophetic foresight and knowledge the makers of these signs were endowed.

Ill-favor Of The Church

Among the ancients the Zodiacal Pisces was considered the most unfavorable of all the signs. The astrological calendars describe its influences as malignant, and interpret its emblems as indicative of violence and death. The Syrians and the Egyptians largely abstained from the eating of fish, from the dread and abhorrence which they associated with the Fishes in the Zodiac. In the hieroglyphics of Egypt the fish is the symbol of odiousness, dislike, and hatred. And this, too, falls in exactly with our interpretation. The earthly condition and fortunes of the Church are nothing but unfavorable and repulsive to the tastes and likes of carnal and self-seeking man. The restraints and disabilities which go along with it are what the world hates, derides, and rebels against. These Bands that bind the Fishes together, and hold them with bridles of heavenly command and control, and enclose them with meshes beyond which they cannot pass, are what unsanctified humanity disdains as humiliation and reckons as adversity to the proper joy and good of life. Though people can sustain no charges against the Church, and cannot deny her princely beauty, yet to take sides with her is to them nothing but flood, drowning, and devastation to what they most cherish and admire. Let her be chained, disabled, exposed and devoured, if need be, only so that they are exempt from association with her! Let her suffer, and let her be given to death and destruction, the more and the sooner the better if they only can thereby have the greater freedom for their likes, passions, and enjoyments uncurbed and unrestrained! This is the feeling and this the spirit which have obtained toward the Church in all the ages. And the dislike of men to this sign is but the filling out of the picture in the stars as I have been expounding it. It is another link in the chain of evidence that we have here a divine symbol of the Church in its earthly estate and career. The coincidences, to say the least, are very marvellous. To say that the Church has been formed from and to the signs, as French infidelity would have it, is in the highest degree absurd. The Church has not accepted humiliation, disability, contempt, hatred, and oppression from the world just to conform herself to the indications connected with Pisces; and yet her condition today, as in all other time, is precisely that which this sign represents, and has been representing on the face of the sky for all these four or five thousand years. The sign has in no sense or degree conditioned the Church, and yet it truly represents the estate of the Church in all generations. To what other conclusion, then, can we come than that the sign in its place, and the whole system of signs of which it forms a conspicuous part, is from that good and infallible prescience which knows the course and end of all things from the beginning? Let those doubt it who will; for my own part, I have no doubt upon the subject."

Gospel in the Stars XIII

2011-10-09T01:05:00.000-04:00

THE MYSTIC FISHES

John 21 : 6: "And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."

"Our blessed Saviour taught by acts, as well as words. He gave out parables in deeds, as well as in stories and descriptions. All His works of wonder were living allegories—pictures and prophecies incarnated in visible and tangible facts. This is particularly true of the miracle to which the text refers. It was a supernatural thing, to prove the divine power of Him by whom it was wrought; but its chief significance lies in its symbolic character as an illustration of that catching of men by the preaching of the Gospel to which the Apostles were called and ordained."

Apostolic Fishing

"At the beginning of his ministry, seeing Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea, He said unto them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men;" that is, ministers of the Word, who by the holding forth of the truth were to cast the great evangelic net into the sea of the world, and enclose people as Christian believers and members of the Church. So He also said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." So, likewise, when He commanded Peter to launch out into the deep and let down the nets for a draught, which resulted in taking such a multitude of fishes that the nets brake in the drawing, and two boats were loaded down to the sinking point with the product, He meant to show the disciples not only His divine power, but a picture of that mystic fishing on which he was about to send them, and which was to be the work of His ministers in all the ages. And the miracle before us is a corresponding picture of the same thing—with this difference, that the other instances refer to the Church nominal and visible as it appears to human view, embracing both good and bad, to be assorted in the day of judgment; whilst the reference here, is to the inward, true, invisible Church— the Church as it appears to the eye of God— which includes none but the good, the genuine children of grace and salvation, the definite number of real saints.

It is thus abundantly established and clear that in the symbology of the Scriptures and the teachings of Christ the congregation of those who profess to believe in Him—that is, the Church—is likened to fishes enclosed in the fisherman's net. The world is likened to a sea, in which natural men range without control, following their own likes and impulses, and belonging to no one. So the Gospel is likened to a net, which the ministering servants of the Lord spread in the waters in order to enclose and gather men—not to destroy them, but to secure them for Christ, that they may be held by His word and grace and be His peculiar possession. And when they are thus secured and brought within the enclosure of the influences and laws of the Gospel as Christ's professed followers, and formed into His congregation, they are His mystic fishes, caught by His command and direction and made His peculiar property. The aptness of the figure no one can dispute, and the scripturalness of the imagery is fixed and settled beyond all possibility of mistake. Christ himself makes fishes the symbol of His Church.

But as is the picture in the Scriptures, so we find in the figures of the constellations. The new life that rises out of the death of the sacrificial goat is in the form of a large and vigorous fish. Those who come to the heavenly Waterman to drink in the stream of living influences which he pours down from on high are represented by a great fish. And as the Church is the most important institute, result, and embodiment of the redemptive work and achievements of the Seed of the woman, so we have one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac specially and exclusively devoted to it; and that sign is the sign of the fishes, which we are now to consider.

The Sign Of Pisces

This constellation is now the first in the order of the twelve signs of the Zodiac; but in the original order, which I have been following, it is the seventh. The figure by which it is represented consists of two large fishes, one headed toward the north pole, and the other parallel with the path of the Sun. They are some distance apart, but are tied to the two ends of a long, undulating band or ribbon, which is held by the foot of the Ram in the next succeeding sign.

The names of this sign in Hebrew and Arabic, as in the Greek and Latin, mean the same as in English—the Fishes. In Syriac it is called Nuno, the Fish prolonged, the fish with the idea of posterity or successive generations. In Coptic its name is Pi-cot Orion, the Fish, congregation, or company of the coming Prince. Two prominent names in the sign are Okda, the United, and Al Samaca, the Upheld. And all the indications connected with Pisces tend to the conclusion that in these two great fishes we are to see and read precisely what was symbolized by Christ in the miracle to which the text refers; namely, a pictorial representation of the Church.

The Myths

The origin of this sign, as mythology gives it, is not at variance with this idea. It is said that Venus and Cupid were one day on the banks of the Euphrates, and were there surprised by the apparition of the giant monster Typhon. To save themselves they plunged into the river, and escaped by being changed into fishes—saved by transformation through water. To commemorate the occurrence it is said that Minerva placed these two fishes among the stars.

We have already noted some symbolic connection between the mythic Venus and the Church. The ancient Phoenicians, according to Nigidius, asserted that she was hatched from an egg by a heavenly dove. Cupid, or the ancient Eros, was held to be the first-born of the creation, one of the causes in the formation of the world, the uniting love-power which brought order and harmony to the conflicting elements of Chaos. The later fables of Cupid are remote inventions out of the original cosmic Eros, the ideas concerning whom well agree with the sign, and readily interpret in their application to Christ and the Church. Christ was "the first-born of every creature " (Col. 1:15), and is the Head of "the general assembly and Church of the first-born," who, through His uniting love, combines the chaotic elements of humanity into order and union with himself, bringing into being the mystic woman, "born of water and of the Spirit," which is part of His own mystic organism, His body. By that means also those who compose the Church escape the hundredheaded enemy of God and all good. And in so far as this sign of the Fishes was divinely framed and placed in the heavens to commemorate this transformation and deliverance by water, it is nothing more nor less than a divine symbol of the Church—the impersonation of escape from horrible confusion and destruction, as also of that new-creating love of God, the mother of all holy order and salvation.

Twofoldness Of The Church

These Fishes are two in number. The general idea thus expressed is the idea of multitude, which is characteristic of all the sacred promises relating to the success of the Messianic work among men. The Church, in comparison with the great unsanctified world around it, is always a "little flock "—a special elect called out from among the great body of mankind outside of itself—just as the fishes enclosed in a net are but a small portion of the myriads that are in the sea. But, in itself considered, multitudinousness is always one of its characteristics. To Abraham it was figured as the stars of the sky and as the sand on the seashore for multitude. To Ezekiel the sacred waters embraced "a very great multitude of fish." Every symbolic casting of the net at Christ's command took a great multitude of fishes. The very name carries in it the idea of multitude, and the duplication of the symbol gives the still further idea of outspread multiplication—a glorious company of Apostles, a goodly fellowship of Prophets, a noble army of Martyrs, a holy Church throughout all the world.

But, beyond this, the Church, in historical fact and development, is twofold. There was a Church before Christ, and there is a Church since Christ; and whilst these two make up the one universal Church, they are still quite distinct in character. The patriarchal Church, which was more definitely organized under the institutes given by Moses, was one. It is a singular fact that the ancient rabbis always considered the people of Israel as denoted by this sign. The Sethites and Shemites, and all adherents to the true God and His promises and worship, were by both themselves and the heathen astronomically associated with these Fishes. They are certainly one set of the great Saviour's fishes. The Christian Church, organized under the institutes of Jesus Christ, was the other of these Fishes. Though in some sense the same old Church reformed, it was still in many respects quite another—so much so that it became apostasy to turn from it to "the beggarly elements" of the former dispensation. Here, then, are the two great branches or departments of the one great universal Church of the promised Seed of the woman. To the one His coming was future, and so it dealt in types, shadows, symbols, and figures of the true. To the other the ancient anticipations have passed into actual fact, and exist as living realities, already far on the way toward the final consummation. The faith of both is the same, and the spiritual life of both is the same. Hence both are mystic Fishes. But the stage of development, the historical place and condition, and the entire external economy, are different, as type and antitype are different, though in interior substance one and the same. The Fish in its multitudinousness symbolizes both. The old Church was the Fish arising out of the slain sacrifice believed in in advance, and signified in the old ordinances; and the new Church, organized under Christ, is the Fish arising afresh out of the same, which has now become an accomplished and existing reality. Hence the whole thing was fore-signified in the stars under the image of two Fishes, which are indeed two under one method of conception, and yet one and the same in another method of conception. It is the one Fish in both, yet two Fishes in historic presentation and external dispensation.

The Band

The Decans of this sign serve to bring out this idea with great clearness. The first Decan is a very long waving Ribbon or Band. The ancient name of it is Al Risha, the Band or bridle. It is one, continuous, unbroken piece, and so doubled that one of its ends goes out to the northern Fish, and is tightly bound around its tail; whilst the other end goes out to the other Fish, and is fastened to it in the same way. By this Band these two Fishes are inseparably tied together, so that the one cannot get on without the other. And so the fact is. The patriarchal Church is really tied to the Christian Church. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that the ancient saints, from Adam onward, could not be made perfect without us (chap, 11 :4o). The consummation of all they hoped for was inevitably tied up with what was to be subsequently achieved by Christ, much of which is still a matter of promise and hope. And so the Christian Church is really tied to the patriarchal Church. All the necessary preparations and foundations for Christianity were vouchsafed through the Old Testament. What was then testified, believed, and looked for we must needs also accept, believe, and take in. The Christian does not stand just where the ancient believer stood, but the old was the bridge by which the new was reached. Christ came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them, and to complete what they looked to and anticipated. There could be no Christian Church without the patriarchal going before it, just as there could be no patriarchal Church without the Christian coming after it to complete and fulfil what the old was meant to prepare for. And here is the Band of connection unalterably binding them together in a unity which still is dual.

The doubled part of this Band, strange to say, is in the hand or front foot of the symbolic figure in the next succeeding sign; that is, in the hand of Aries, the Ram or Lamb. The point of unity between these two Fishes is therefore in Christ and His administrations, by which both are equally affected and upheld. Both belong to Christ in the attitude of the reigning and victorious Lamb. He upholds, guides, and governs them by one and the same Band. These Fishes thus have their places and status by His appointment and authority. They are caught Fishes, no longer roaming at large according to their own will. They are bound together in the hand of the glorious Lamb. They are His, and are upheld, governed, and made to fulfil their offices and mission by His power, will, and grace. And this is precisely the relation and condition of the Church in all dispensations. Like the net of Peter, which held, controlled, and lifted the literal fishes enclosed by it, so this Band holds, controls, and lifts the mystic Fishes which constitute the Church. It is the tie of connection between all saints, and at the same time the tie of connection between them and the glorified Saviour, by whose word they have been taken and made His precious possession. "Without Me ye can do nothing," was His word when on earth; and ever of old His promise has been: "Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right liand of my righteousness" And here is the same word pictorially expressed.

Cepheus

Who the friend and protector of these Fishes is, the second accompanying side-piece also very sublimely shows. Here is the figure of a glorious king, wearing his royal robe, bearing aloft a branch or sceptre, and having on his head a crown of stars. He is calmly seated in the repose of power, with one foot on the solstitial colure,* and the other on the pole-star itself, whilst his right hand grasps the Ribbons. Bearing with us what the Scriptures tell of the present exaltation and glory of Jesus Christ, we here behold every particular so completely and thrillingly embraced that the picture stands self-interpreted. It so vividly portrays our enthroned Saviour, and fits so sublimely to Him, and to Him only, that no special prompting is necessary to enable us to see Him in it. And if we need further assurance on the subject, we find it in the accompanying star-names.

*(astronomy) That great circle of the celestial sphere through the celestial poles and the solstices.

On the right shoulder of this figure, in glittering brilliancy, shines a star whose name, Al Deramin, means the Quickly-returning. In the girdle shines another, equally conspicuous, whose name, Al Phirk, means the Redeemer. In the left knee is still another, whose name means the Shepherd. The Egyptians called this royal figure Pe-ku-hor, the Ruler that cometh. His more common designation is Cepheus, which means the royal Branch, the King. Everything thus combines to identify this figure as intended to represent our Saviour as now enthroned in glory, even the Seed of the woman, clothed with celestial royalty and dominion.

In the Zodiac of Dendera the figure in this constellation is a large front leg of an animal connected with a small figure of a sheep, in the same posture as Aries in the next sign. It is the strong hand of the Lamb, and so the same which holds the Band of the Fishes. It identifies what is otherwise represented as a glorious king with the upholder of the Fishes, and makes Cepheus one and the same with the victorious Lamb.

Christ has been really invested with all royal rights and dominion. It was predicted of Him from of old, "He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne" (Zech. 6: 13). And so the testimony of the Apostles is that, having been made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, and having humbled himself to the cross for our redemption, God hath highly exalted Him, and set Him on His own right hand in the heavens, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1 : 19-23). Hence also it is said to all believers, "Ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10). With a high hand and an outstretched arm He sitteth in royal majesty to help, uphold, and deliver His Church; "and of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."

Gospel in the Stars XII

2011-10-03T07:23:00.001-04:00

Aquarius

"But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." (Amos 5: 24)

God's People are Good Fishes

"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them..." (Jer. 6: 16)

"And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh." (Eze. 47: 9)

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt. 4: 19)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind (of fish): Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 13: 47-50)

The Southern Fish

"That this sign was really framed to be a picture of the risen and glorified Redeemer pouring out from heaven the saving influence and gifts of the Holy Ghost, is further evidenced by the first Decan of Aquarius. Those who truly profit by the gifts and powers procured and poured out by our glorious Intercessor are the people who believe in Christ, the regenerate, the saved Church. These, as we saw in our last, are the mystic fishes. And here, as the first Decan of Aquarius, we have the picture of a fish—Pisces Australis— drinking in the stream which pours from the urn of the beautiful One in heaven. It is the picture of the believing acceptance of the invitation of the text. Jesus stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink;" and here is a coming from below—a glad coming to the stream which issues from on high, a drinking in of the heavenly waters, and a vigorous life sustained and expanded by means of that drinking.

The mythic legends do not help us much with regard to the interpretation of this constellation, but they still furnish a few significant hints. Some say this fish represents Astarte, called Aphrodite by the Greeks and Venus by the Romans, and that she here appears in the form into which she metamorphosed herself to escape the advances and power of the horrible Typhon. Astarte was the moon-goddess, the great mother, the embodiment of the dependent but ever-productive feminine principle. In the symbology of the Scriptures the moon sometimes denotes the mother of the family, as in Joseph's dream (Gen. 37), and both the woman and the moon are representatives of the Church. As the woman was made out of the side of Adam while He slept, so the Church was made out of Christ by means of that deep sleep of death which came upon Him, and to which He submitted for the purpose. The whole mystery of marriage is the symbol of the union between Christ and His Church (Eph. 5 : 23-32). Everywhere the congregation of believers is pictured as the spouse of Christ, the spiritual woman, the mother of us all. And if this fish represents the Astarte of the pagan religion, we have only to strip off the heathen impurities, and understand the reference in the sense and application of the Scripture symbols, in order to find here a picture of the regenerate people of God, the Church, the bride of Christ, the mother of saints.

So understood, the metamorphosis into a fish is also applicable and significant, as in no other interpretation. All true members of the Church are transformed persons, made over again by the power of a new spiritual creation, and living a new life superadded to Nature. It is by this spiritual metamorphosis that we make our escape from the power and dominion of the Devil. And it is by means of this transformation that we have our status and relations in the heavenly economy and kingdom. The light comes feebly through the dark and murky atmosphere of the pagan world; but wherever we get sight of a distinct ray, it easily resolves back into the figures of the primeval constellations, and thence into the sacred story of redemption through the promised Seed of the woman."

The people of God are they who drink from this water pouring forth from Aquarius.

"Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4: 13, 14)

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." (John 7: 37)

"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." (Rev. 21: 6)

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22: 17)

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Rev. 22: 1)

Pegasus

"And in perfect consistence with, and as fur ther illustration of, what I have given as the meaning of this sign, is the second Decan. Here is the figure of a great horse pushing forward with full speed, with great wings springing from his shoulders. The elements of his name, as in Isaiah 64: 5, signify the swift divine messenger bringing joy to those whom he meets, otherwise the horse of the opening; or as the Greeks put it, without obliteration of the old Noetic nomenclature, the horse of the gushing fountain—a celestial horse, ever associated with glad song, the favorite of the Muses, under whose hoofs the Pierian springs started upon Mount Helicon, and on whose back rode Bellerophon as he went forth to slay the monster Chimaera.

The fables say that this wonderful horse sprang into being from the slaying of Medusa by Perseus; that he was called Pegasus, Horse of the Fountain, because he first appeared near the springs of the ocean; that he lived in the palace of the King and Father of gods, and thundered and lightened for Jupiter; and that Bellerophon obtained possession of him through sacrifice to the goddess of justice, followed by a deep sleep, during which he was divinely given the golden bridle which the wild horse obeyed, and thus he was borne forth to victory, though not without receiving a painful sting in his foot.

In the first chapter of Zechariah the appearance of such horses are the symbols of those whom "God hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth," not simply to see and report the condition of affairs, but to shake and disturb nations, so as to restore liberty, peace, and blessing to God's people. Pegasus is not precisely one of those horses, or all of them combined in one, but still a somewhat corresponding ambassador of God. Pegasus is winged; he moves with heavenly speed. The first part of his or his rider's name, Pega, Peka, or Pacha, in the Noetic dialects means the chief; and the latter part, sus, means, not only a horse, but swiftly coming or returning, with the idea of joy-bringing; hence the chief, coming forth again in great victory, and with good tidings and blessing to those to whom he comes. The ancient names of the stars which make up his constellation are—Markab, the returning; Scheat, he who goeth and returneth; Enif, the Branch; Al Genib, who carries; Hainan, the waters; Matar, who causeth the plenteous overflow. The names show to what the picture applies."

The idea of coming and returning, as in a circuit, in connection with the incarnation of Christ, is something we have already mentioned. The Hebrew letter Koph denoted a "circuit" or to "move in a circle." The Hebrew letter Mem denoted "water, waves, flood." In Eccl. 1 Solomon mentions two things that go and return, or go in circuits, and that is water and wind and both are types of the Holy Ghost.

Pegasus is a picture of the sending forth of the good news of Christ's victory through the cross.

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." (Prov. 25: 25)

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14: 6, 7)

"Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." (Eccl. 10: 20)

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isa. 40: 31)

They shall mount up with wings, not only as eagles, but as Pegasus, as Cygnus the Swan.

"...the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork..." (Zech. 5: 9)

"But 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." (Mal. 4: 2)

"Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." (Job 39: 19-25)

"But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift." (Isa. 30: 16)

"Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit." (Isa. 31: 3)

"Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled." (Jer. 4: 13)

"...as the horse rusheth into the battle." (Jer. 8: 6)

"If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?" (Jer. 12: 5)

"Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?" (Hab. 3: 8)

"He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly." (Psa. 147: 15)

Gospel messengers are like Paul Revere, giving warning, and bearing good news.

"And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." (Hab. 2: 2)

"And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead...And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word." (Matt. 28: 7, 8)

"Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." (Phill. 2: 16)

"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Rev. 3: 11)

"Gathering up these remarkable items, and combining them, as they all readily combine, in one consistent narrative, we have in astonishing fulness one of the sublimest evangelic presentations; nay, the very going forth of Christ in His living Gospel, as from the scenes of that supper-hall which witnessed the coming of the Paraclete the joyous waters of cleansing and redemption, through His successful mediation, poured their glad flood into our weary world. Then the word was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel [Good Tidings] to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Thenceforward, Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, in Lybia, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, and people to the farthest ends of the earth, were made to hear, in their tongues, the wonderful works and achievements of God for the renewal and saving of men. Thenceforward the Glad Tidings went, winged with the Spirit of God, waking poetic springs of joy upon the mountains and in the valleys, slaying the powers of darkness and superstition, overwhelming the dominion of the Devil, and bringing song and salvation to every thirsty and perishing soul which hears and obeys the call of the Lord of life to come unto Him and drink. The true Pegasus is the herald and bringer of Christ's mediatorial success and salvation to a famishing world, which the saintly patriarchs looked for from the beginning, and which they thus figured in the constellations in advance as an imperishable witness of what was to come through and by that Coming One in whom all their hopes were centred."

The Swan

"The final side-piece which accompanies the Zodiacal Aquarius accords precisely with this presentation. It is one of the most interesting and beautiful of the constellations, both in its natural peculiarities and in its evangelic references. It consists of eighty-one stars— one of the first or second magnitude, six of the third, and twelve of the fourth; and some of these never set. It embraces at least five double stars and one quadruple. The binary star (61 Cygni) is the most remarkable known in the heavens. It is one of the nearest to our system of the fixed stars. It consists of two connected stars, which, besides their revolution about each other, have a common progressive and uniform motion toward some determinate region, and moving thousands of times faster than the swiftest body known to our system. This constellation has a number of distinct systems in itself, and shows planetary nebulae which have led astronomers to regard it as the intermediate link between the planetary worlds and the nebulous stars. It has in it specimens of both, and lies in the midst of the great Galactic Stream of nebulous stars. It is therefore remarkably suited to represent that peculiar and complex economy—partly celestial and partly terrestrial, partly acting by itself and partly dependent on the heavenly powers—by which grace and salvation are carried and ministered to the children of men.

The figure in this constellation is the figure of a swan, the lordly bird-king of the waters, in all ages and in all refined countries considered the emblem of poetic dignity, purity, and grace. By the Greeks and Romans it was held sacred to the god of beauty and the Muses, and special sweetness was connected with its death. Eschylus sung,

"The swan, Expiring, dies in melody."

As the white dove is the emblem of the Holy Ghost, so the elegant, pure, and graceful swan is a fitting emblem of Him who, dying, sends forth the glad river of living waters, and presides in His majesty over the administration of them to the thirsty children of men. And this is here the underlying idea.

But this swan is on the wing, in the act of rapid flight, "circling and returning," as its name in Greek and Latin signifies. It seems to be flying down the Milky Way, in the same general direction with the river which pours from the heavenly urn. The principal stars which mark its wings and length of body form a large and beautiful cross, the most regular of all the crosses formed by the constellations. It is thus the bird of matchless beauty, purity, dignity, and grace, bearing aloft the cross, and circling with it over the blessed waters of life; whilst in the naming of its stars, the brightest is Deneb, the Lord or Judge to come; Azel, who goes and returns; Fafage, glorious, shining forth; Sadr, who returns as in a circle; Adige, flying swiftly; Arided, He shall come down; and other words of like import, we find strong identifications of this lordly bird-king of the waters with Him who, through the preaching of His cross hither and thither over all this nether world, cries and says, "If any man thirst, let hint come urto Me, and drink "

Greek and Roman mythology is greatly at a loss to account for the presence of this bird in the sky; but the stories on the subject are not destitute of thought and suggestion corresponding with the evangelic truth. The. Greeks enumerated a collection of characters of different parentages and histories, each reputed to have been the original of this swan in the heavens. One was the son of Apollo, a handsome hunter, who in some strange fit leaped into Lake Canope, and was metamorphosed into this swan. Another was the son of Poseidon, an ally of the Trojans, who could not be hurt with arms of iron, but was strangled by Achilles—whose body, when the victor meant to rifle it, suddenly took its departure to heaven in the form of a swan. A third was the son of Ares, killed by Herakles in a duel, who at his death was changed by his father into a swan. A fourth was the son of Sthenelus and a dear friend and relative of Phaeton, who so lamented the fate of, him whom Jupiter destroyed for his bad driving of the chariot of the sun that Apollo metamorphosed him into a swan and placed him among the stars. Some dim embodiments of the true prophetic delineations of this swan, and of that history of the Redeemer through which He came to the position and relations in which this picture received fulfilment, appear in the several myths. Christ was of divine birth and nature. He was in himself invincible. He did submit to death in heroic conflict with the powers of darkness and the just penalties due the sins of the world. It was His great love for those to whom He became a Brother that brought him down to the dark river. His body did take life again after death, and disappear into a new form of brightness and glory to assume position in the heavens. In these several particulars the myths touching this constellation are in remarkable accord with the Gospel history, and help to reflect how minute and clear and vivid were the believing anticipations of the makers of these signs already in the very first ages of our race."

The swan is an "emblem of dignity, purity, and grace." It is a symbol too of beauty. Think of the story of the "ugly duckling" who transforms into a beautiful swan. The story connects then with transformation. Christ was transformed, after his resurrection. So too are they who are saved.

Those who are saved are "new creatures," people who have been transformed or metamorphed, changed. They were once ugly because of sin, but now beautiful because of the righteousness of Christ.

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." (Psa. 48: 2)

"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." (Psa. 50: 2)

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." (Song 6: 4)

"In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." (Isa. 4: 2)

"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." (Isa. 52: 1)

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (Isa. 52: 7)

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple." (Psa. 27: 4)

"...let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us..." (Psa. 90: 17)

"And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock." (Zech. 11: 6)

"Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever." (Psa. 45: 2)

"For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck." (Prov. 1: 9 & 4: 9)

"So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck." (Prov. 3: 22)

Not only is the Swan connected with beauty and grace, but with lordship and kingship. The lion is the king of land animals, the eagle is the king of the sky, but the swan is king of water and air.

"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (Rev. 1: 6)

A Beautiful Picture

"Thus, then, in the Zodiacal Aquarius we have the picture in the stars of the heavenly waters of life and salvation; of their source in the beautiful Seed of the woman, slain indeed, but risen again and lifted up in everlasting glory; of the voluminous plenteous ness in which they flow down into all oui dry and thirsty world; of the new creation and joyous life they bring to those who drink them; of the swift heralding and bearing of the glad provision to all people; and of the graceful holding forth of the cross to the nations over which, on outspread wings, the Lord of these waters circles, in His meek loveliness ever calling, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink."

Beautiful picture of most precious Gospel truths!—a picture which I can interpret no otherwise than as intended by men fully informed beforehand of these glorious facts. And if, perchance, these constellations were not meant in token, testimony, and prophecy of what was foreknown, believed, and expected by the primeval patriarchs who arranged them, the picture is still true to what has since come to pass, and which it is part of our holy religion to accept and rejoice in as the great mercy of God to a fallen world. Christ Jesus is the beautiful Saviour of mankind, Son of God and Son of man. He did come in the flesh and live a human life in which humanity came to its loveliest and highest bloom. He did suffer and die a violent death from offended justice on account of sin which He assumed, but in no degree chargeable to Him. He did rise again from death by the power of the eternal Spirit, changed, transfigured, and glorified, and soar away beyond all reach of enemies, even to the calm heavens, where no revolutions of time can any more obscure His brightness or eclipse the outshining of His glory. He is there as the Lord of life and grace, obtaining by His meritorious intercession an exhaustless fulness of spiritual treasures, like very rivers of renewing and sanctifying mercies, which He has poured, and is ever pouring, down into our world for the comfort, cheer, and salvation of those who believe in Him. He has arranged, and himself conducts and energizes, a great system of means for carrying and proclaiming the same all over the world amid songs of halleluia and rejoicing which can never die. Deep in it all He has embedded the great doctrine of His Cross and Passion as the central thought and brightest substance of the sublime and wonderful economy. And in and amid it all faith beholds Him in His lordly beauty stationed by the true Pierian spring, ever crying and ever calling, "If Any Man Thirst, Let Him Come Unto Me, And Drink."

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price;" "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Blessed tidings! blessed provision! blessed opportunity! O man! awake to the glory and drink; drink deep, drink earnestly, drink with all the capacity of thy soul; for thy Lord and Redeemer saith, "WhosoeVer drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."