Astral Worship | Page 5

of Israel, and the
twelve Disciples. In the Book of Revelation alone the number 7 is
repeated twenty-four times, and the number 12 fourteen times.

THE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE.

In determining the duration of the period within which were to occur
the events taught in the doctrines of the Exoteric Creed, the ancient
Astrologers dedicated a thousand years to each of the signs of the
Zodiac, and thus inaugurating the cycle of twelve thousand years,
taught that, at its conclusion, the heaven and the earth, which they
believed to be composed of the indestructible elements of fire, air, earth
and water, would, through the agency of the first of these, be reduced to
chaos, as a preliminary to the reorganization of a new heaven and a
new earth at the beginning of the succeeding cycle. Such was the origin
of the grand cycle of the ancient Astrolatry, and it must be borne in
mind that its authors made its conclusion to correspond in time and
circumstance to the doctrines relating to the finale of the plan of
redemption.

THE ANCIENT TRIAD.
After conceiving the idea of a primeval chaos, constituted of four
indestructible elements of which fire was the leading one, the Oriental
astrologers began to indulge in speculations relative to the agencies
which were engaged in its organization. Having no knowledge of the
forces inherent in nature, they imputed this work to three intelligences,
which, embodying the All in All, they personified by the figure of a
man with three heads, and to this trinity gave the names of Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva. Such a figure, carved in stone, may be seen in the
island Cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, India, and is popularly
believed to represent the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer; but, in
determining their true signification, we must be governed by the
ancient teachings that "All things were made by one god-head with
three names, and this God is all things." Hence the conclusion is
irresistible that the first person represents neither the creator nor
organizer of chaos, but chaos itself; the second person, its organizer and
governor; and the third person, the agent in nature which impresses all
her parts with life and motion; the latter being the imaginary great soul
or spirit inculcated in the Esoteric philosophy. In support of this
opinion it will be found that the Egyptian Triad of Father, Son and
Spirit is virtually the same we have assigned to its Oriental prototype.

Thus we see that to the ancient Astrolatry Christendom is indebted for
the Trinity of
"God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit--three in one."
But, having ascribed supreme intelligence or reason to its second
person, under the name of the Logos, or Word, and designating its third
person as the Holy Ghost, the ancient Triad was usually formulated as
the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, as may be seen by reference
to the text in the allegories which we find recorded in I John v. 7,
which reads that "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one."
Considered in some forms of Astrolatry as too sacred to attach a name
to the triune Deity, he was called "the One," and we find him thus
designated in the 4th chapter of Revelation, where, like Zeus and
Jupiter, of the Grecian and Roman mythologies, he is represented as
seated above the firmament, upon a throne from which "proceeded
lightnings and thunderings," and to whom all, the subordinate divinities
were made to pay homage. As the hurler of thunderbolts he was called
"the Thunderer," and as the opener of the windows of heaven, when it
rained, he was designated "Jupiter Pluvius." Such was the ancient Triad
made to say of himself, in an inscription found in the ruins of the
temple at Sais in Egypt, "I am all that has been, all that is, and all that
shall be, and no mortal has lifted yet the veil that covers me;" and such
was the Triunity referred to as the God Universe by Pliny, the Roman
philosopher and naturalist, who, flourishing in the first century of the
Christian era, wrote that he is "An infinite God which has never been
created, and which shall never come to an end. To look for something
else beyond it is useless labor for man and out of his reach. Behold that
truly sacred Being, eternal and immense, which includes within itself
everything; it is All in All, or rather itself is All. It is the work of nature,
and itself is nature."
Thus we see that, although inculcating homage to a multitude of
subordinate divinities, the ancient Astrolatry was only an apparent
Polytheism; its enlightened votaries, recognizing the