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Part XXII
UNDER THE flashing head-line, “Revelation of St. John Solved by Cryptogram,”’ the Chicago American [Mar. ’01] has a lengthy article on Cryptogramia Tottensonia, founded upon a false interpretation of an utterly spurious system of astronomy. If Professor Totten is correctly reported, he says: ‘The throne itself was some grand central sun, where God dwells, unapproachable, surrounded by ineffable light and fire; the one that sat thereon was indescribable, and the halo was the many-hued, iridescent rainbow reflected through the photosphere that clothed the terrible orb.”
If it be admitted that this universe is what the term universe implies, it follows that it is one great system governed by a complete and uniform function. It would logically follow, that “some grand central sun” could be no other than the central sun of the physical universe,— if we are to locate the throne of Deity as a material throne at any material center in space.
Let us examine this cryptogram of Prof. Totten’s from the common astronomical point of view. First, the universe, according to Professor Totten, is illimitable; this is also in agreement with the universal astronomical modern conception. If the universe is illimitable, then it has no limit. If it had a center, it would have at least one limitation, and therefore would not be illimitable. But according to the Copernican system of astronomy there can be no central limitation, for there can be no central sun: hence no central material throne upon which Professor Totten’s god could sit. If the Copernican system were true, the solar system would revolve around a great sun in company with ten thousand other solar systems as great as ours—and even greater. That center around which these thousands of solar systems are revolving, with all their retinue of solar fields, would be revolving around another greater sun, incalculably distant, out in the interminable space.
The very conception of the Copernican idea precludes the possibility of any such thing as a central throne of the physical universe. The impossibility of the conception of a physically central sun has made impossible the conception of a central consciousness called God; hence the atheistic determination of the Copernican system of astronomy. With the indescribability of the one who sits upon this nondescript throne, * we present another cryptogram from no less authority than Ezekiel, who regards the occupant of the throne not as indescribable, but rather as perfectly describable, and in agreement with every other Biblical description of the Deity. Ezekiel declares he “saw visions of God;”’ he does not say from, but of, God. This means that his visions were an analysis of Deity, and this analysis was not indescribable, but altogether describable. What did he see when he had visions of God? He saw God in symbolic configuration.
Ezekiel’s Visions of God
“And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.”—(Ezek. i: 4.)
These four parts of a describable and visually approachable being were signalized by four distinct characteristics; namely, the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of a bullock, and the face of an eagle. These four living creatures constituted, in their summary, the likeness of a man, and this was the vision and the appearance of Deity himself.
“And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straightforward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox [bullock] on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straightforward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps; it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
“Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes roundabout them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went: and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
“And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne,as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
“And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins [whose loins?] even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord; and when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.'’— (Ezek. i: 6-28 ) Was this the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Was it the Lord Jesus who sat upon this throne? Is this the throne of God? Is the Lord the God of heaven, as it is declared of him? And if so, is God a man?
Ezekiel has herein described what Professor Totten has declared to be “‘indescribable,” if he is correctly reported. Who is right, Prof. Totten or the prophet Ezekiel? We would rather take Ezekiel for our authority than the materialist, Professor Totten. If there be an “illimitable universe,’ which therefore has no center nor circumference,in which there are innumerable suns which the astronomers say are, many of them, much larger than our sun, and have their planetary systems, why is it that the wise Professor selects our seven little planets of this one solar system of thousands, to represent the seven lamps or torches of fire? Are these planets more specifically torches or lamps than the seven Pleiades? Are the seven planets of this one solar system all the planets there are belonging to the great illimitable thing which, according to Professor Totten, has no limitation, and consequently no central sun?
Center and Circumference of the Physical Universe and their Correspondence
The physical universe has a center and a circumference; consequently it has form. It has its definite limitations, and only one center. This physical universe is the correspondent of the anthropostic domain, in which all intellectuality obtains and dwells. The bright and morning star in the physical heavens is not intellectual; it is merely physical light and various other essences. But it is the correspondent of the Lord Jesus, who was the bright and morning Star of the anthropostic cosmos.
The throne of God and the Lamb was manifest at the beginning of the dispensation as the Son of God. Jesus said, “l am the Door.” If any Door is ever opened in heaven,or if any has been opened, that Door was and will be Christ the Lord. John was in the spirit. All the things seen by the Revelator were from a spiritual, not a natural point of view. They pertained to the anthropostic cosmic order.
The throne set in heaven was none other than the intellectuality in the interior of the human race. The one who sat upon this throne was Jesus Christ the Lord. To look upon, He is like jasper, because it is white, and as a symbol represents scientific truth. He was like the sardine stone, because he united. both truth and good in their ultimate degree. John saw the future of the church in its resurrected state, when at the end of the age there should come another personal manifestation of Deity, who would constitute the open Door, as the man Jesus was the open Door at the beginning of the age. The rainbow round about the throne like an emerald, is predicated of those who will accompany the Son of man as his chosen vessels of Apostolic power and authority. At the end and beginning, when the Lord sets his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, he will call around him a people of a specific character to be receptive of his life when, in the theocrasis, he passes into his new Church to baptize it with the spirit of its regeneration. This bow,is the same that is mentioned in the blessing of Jacob upon Joseph: “His bow abode in strength.”
This is the bow of divine natural life, which surrounds Joseph at the.time of his final reincarnation at the close of the Christian dispensation. The rainbow which John saw was none other than the group of faithful followers who will accompany the Messianic manifestation at the beginning of the new dispensation. These are conditions, qualities, and characteristics of the firstfruits of the new Church; but they are also the correspondences of the things that are in the physical universe.
Twenty-four seats round about the throne, signifies a definite number of persons, who will comprise the order corresponding to the progress of the human race through a period of time marked by the movement of the sign on the physical Zodiac. This is because all human progress is marked by astronomical progress, and its description is portrayed in language which corresponds to astro-biologic signs. That they were clothed in white raiment, means that they were made chaste through the application of the principles of purity. Crowns of gold upon their heads, implies that they are in the full fruits of righteousness. The head is the all of life in first and last things. Gold symbolizes the goods or uses of natural life.
Out of the throne—out of the intellectual status, which is the throne, as the affectional is the altar—proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. Lightnings proceed from the conflict of truth with error, and are manifest when in the promulgation of truth the principles of truth are illustrated by rational processes. The promulgation of the truths of life will produce the conditions of life, which are the conditions of immortality, hence the thunderings are the creations of immortality in the body. Jesus was the Word of God, hence he was the Voice of God. ‘The regeneration of the Sons of God constitutes the voices referred to in this description of John the Revelator.
The ‘seven lamps of fire’ are the seven churches, which are to appear at the end of the age as the fruit of the dispensation. If this explanation is disputed, refer to the twentieth verse of the first chapter of Revelation, and notice the explanation of “the stars” and the “seven lamps of fire” as therein defined. The‘seven stars” are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lamps are the seven churches. But Totten says that the seven lamps or torches of fire are the seven dominant planets; while we say that the seven dominant planets are only the correspondences of the seven churches. These were the seven Spirits of God. As the natural sun manifests in the prismatic refractions of the solar radiations, the seven colors of the rainbow, so the prismatic refractions of the mental rays of Deity manifest the seven churches.
(To be continued.)
Editorial transcription checked against the cited scans; historical claims remain those of The Flaming Sword.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 28, No. 11 · Nov 1914 · PDF pp. 6–7