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Presented b} the Aulhor

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN

THE REVELATION
OF JOHN

EXPLAINED BY
EDWARD CLARENCE FARNSWORTH

PORTLAND
SMITH & SALE, PRINTERS
1919

Copyright, 1919
by
Edward C. Farnsworth

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I SALUTATION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES.
CONCERNING THE COMING OF CHRIST 1
II MESSAGES TO THE ANGELS OF THE
CHURCHES  17
III MESSAGES TO THE ANGELS OF THE
CHURCHES (continued) .... 31
rv THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS AND THE FOUR
BEASTS. THE VISION OF THE THRONE 40
V THE BOOK WITH SEVEN SEALS ... 45
VI THE SIX SEALS OPENED  50
VII THE NUMBER OF THE SEALED ... 57
VIII OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. THE
SEVEN ANGELS WITH TRUMPETS . . 64
IX A STAR FALLS FROM HEAVEN. SOUNDING
OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET . . .71
X THE BOOK EATEN  80
XI THE TWO WITNESSES  84
XII THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN.
THE GREAT, RED DRAGON .... 95
XIII THE BEAST WITH SEVEN HEADS AND TEN
HORNS. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST . 105
XIV THE LAMB AND HIS COMPANY. THE
WORLD HARVEST .... .115

XV THE SEVEN ANGELS WITH THE SEVEN LAST
PLAGUES ... ...

124

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
XVI THE POURING OF THE SEVEN VIALS OF
WRATH .... .... 127
XVII THE WOMAN IN PURPLE AND SCARLET.
THE VICTORY OF THE LAMB . . 136
XVm THE FALL OF BABYLON . ... 144
XIX THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB . . . 152
XX SATAN BOUND FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
THE TWO RESURRECTIONS . . . 160
XXI THE NEW JERUSALEM . .171
XXII THE TREE OF LIFE . . 184

VI

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION
REVELATION is the most profoundly mysti
cal of all the Biblical books. Never has it
been interpreted as a whole, nor rarely even
in part. This is not strange when we discover that its
seemingly plainest statements are those which hide
deepest whatever should be concealed until the
appointed time. Hence the failure of all who attempt
the book through western methods of interpretation,
those which often favor an absurd literalness.
Revelation is no illogical rhapsody. Its seeming
lack of order is deliberate and wholly outward. Its
import cannot be over-estimated. Its times and sea
sons are as yet unaccomplished, for they have been
fulfilled only in type. Falling Rome is but a hint of
things to come ; hence the difificulties and final failure
of the contemporary historical method of interpre
tation, one which at first thought seems warranted.
That certain of the prophecies of Revelation have
been accomplished in type, proves the seership of the
author, and hints that upon most of the book the
present century, begun with wonderful and crowding
events, will set the seal of truth fulfilled to the letter.
If the would-be interpreter is unable at the outset
to perceive the peculiar astrological and zodiacal
symbolism of Revelation, or if he fail to understand
the mystery language which, like a shell, hides the
kernel truth, it were well that he abandon at once
an efifort sure to lead him far afield, and result only
in another of those many falsifications of the book
which the centuries have been guilty of.

IX

INTRODUCTION
On the other hand, if he be possessed of that
special information which should qualify the inter
preter for his office, another snare is waiting to trap
him as we shall see. Study of Eastern religions and
philosophies has revealed to many investigators that
the pure, and noble, and uplifting, is not the sole
property of Christianity. This discovery has some
times resulted in a belittling of Jesus the Christ,
whereas he is the chief cornerstone of that Temple
of Truth into which many great and dedicated lives
have been builded. This being so, let the qualified
interpreter refrain from substituting for the name of
Jesus Christ that of another, however exalted. If to
such an interpreter the book of Revelation seem
only a series of chapters taken from the initiatory
rites of the Ancient Mysteries, it must be admitted
that, for reasons to be explained presently, his
ingenuity and special knowledge can make the book
conform in a way to his theory, but it should be said
that his meanings, however plausible, will be only
secondary and, at a time like the present, his giving
will be but a stone to those who cry for bread. Reve
lation deals with world-happenings, in fact with the
renovation of the human race and the earth itself,
and not with that merely personal development for
which the Mysteries existed, and which is only a
type, the little likeness of the large.
The founders of the Ancient Mysteries were men
who, aided by the accumulated knowledge of long
centuries of research behind them, had come to
know that the past, present, and future of the earth
are indicated in the Zodiac, but not in a definite way
for, • evidently, such determination would mean for

INTRODUCTION
man absolute fatalism. In the Divine plan, human
free will was considered; hence an element of ambi
guity in all zodiacal readings. The founders of the
Mysteries discovered also that the development of
the individual corresponds with that of the human
race; that man the unit must undergo whatsoever
is necessary to the race as a whole. So the Mystery
teachings were intended to point out a path shorter
than the circuitous road leading to the goal of human
evolutiori. Evidently the mystery teachings epito
mized the destiny of the race to which man belonged,
and of the world from whose womb he in a way had
been born. Hence, while Revelation is in a sense a
series of chapters from the initiatory rites, the book
is valuable to the world chiefly because these chapters
have been remodeled by the Master himself into
definite statements of times and events.
Beneath a thin disguise of days and months,
Revelation deals with periods comprising thousands
of years. To be as explicit as possible, it deals with
the zodiacal time between the entrance of Pisces-
Virgo and that of Capricornus-Cancer in the great
equinoctial procession. Revelation treats of two
judgments; the first and lesser of which was typified
by the fall of Rome, and is now due at the coming in
of Aquarius-Leo, for, as the Ancient Wise well knew,
all foretellible times and events move as moves the
great zodiacal wheel.
The second and greater judgment will occur at the
entrance of the zodiacal Goat contemporaneous with
the end of the millennial period over two thousand
years hence. Even the second judgment is not the
end of the world, but rather the culmination of the

XI

INTRODUCTION
second great age, at which time a sifting, more thor
ough than that of the first judgment, will occur.
Concerning the happenings due at the culmination
of the third great age. Revelation only forecasts a
condition of humanity and of the planet almost
unbelieveable to-day, because the new Jerusalem
then shall have been for long that city of the world
toward which all eyes are to be turned, and to which
all pilgrim feet are to be directed.
As for John, he, like Paul, proves himself deeply
versed both in the mystery teaching and the mys
tery language. Besides, his method of concealing
his revelation from the profane is that of the Initiates.
John was a true seer, and of the same order as Daniel,
certain of whose prophecies dovetail into his own,
but, because Daniel was of the Jeivish period, he
treats of three judgments, the first of which would
descend upon his own home city, that Jerusalem
which, before the writing of Revelation, had fallen
as Jesus also had prophesied, but which in its glorious
days was the type of the one beheld of John descend
ing from the new heaven upon the new earth.
Let us now examine, verse by verse, the twenty-
two chapters of Revelation and, though not lifting
every veil, let us make plain as the times will warrant,
the predicted events of these culminating years to
which the last nineteen centuries have been leading.

XII

REVELATION

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Chapter I
THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto him, to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass; and
he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John. " The explicit statement of the first half of this
opening verse leaves nothing doubtful, and no middle
ground of compromise. Revelation must be accepted
as the prophecy of Jesus Christ himself, or else
rejected as sheer imposture on the part of John.
Furthermore, the word Christ is here coupled with
that of Jesus, hence the Christ of this chapter and —
for that matter — of all the others, is not the Gnostic
Christ, that spiritual principle which exists in every
man. In Daniel 8: 16, we read: "And I heard a man's
voice between the banks of Ulai, who called, and
said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the
vision." Also in chapter 9:22, Gabriel said, "O
Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and
understanding." Again in Luke 1:19, "And the
angel answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel, that
stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak
unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings."
Again in verse 26, "And in the sixth month the Angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee
named Nazareth."
Gabriel is one of the seven angels of the Sephiroth ;
the one who in respect to times and happenings

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
reflects the Mind of God even as the moon reflects
the light of the sun: but, since the other planets
each reflects chiefly some special quality of the sun's
light, so each of the seven great archangels reflects
some special attribute of the Mind of God. However,
the deeper meaning of the verse hides in the fact
that Gabriel comes not directly to John, but as a
messenger of Jesus Christ.
In respect to our world, the fact mentioned indi
cates a new dispensation, for now it is Jesus Christ
who reflects the Mind of God ; therefore Gabriel is no
longer second, but third. "Things which must
shortly come to pass. ' ' Here the meaning of ' ' shortly ' '
is "surely," and should the word "shortly" be given a
literal meaning, still immediate fulfillment will be
only through those correspondents which typify cer
tain greater events due in the fulness of time. At
once, in this first verse, is discovered the reason for
the curse contained in chapter 22: 19, "If any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the
book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from the
things which are written in this book."
"2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of
the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that
he saw." This verse is to the first what one's signa
ture is to a written statement; it vouches for the
truth therein.
"3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein: for the time is at hand."
"He that readeth" means he that discovers real
meanings, rather than he who is satisfied with out-

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
ward and often much-misleading statements. "They
that hear the words of this prophecy," are those
who assent to its reasonable elucidation, and watch
and wait as did not the people in Noah's day. " For
the time is at hand" is one of the paradoxes num
erous throughout the book. Here John's measure
of time is no earthly one. On the super-physical
planes, that which will certainly be is clearly defined
and seemingly in the present, or nearly so: whereas
the conditioned is hazy and seemingly remote; hence
the unveiled meaning of the quotation may be
expressed thus: "for the time is sure."
"4 John to the seven churches which are in
Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which
is, and which was, and which is to come; and from
the seven Spirits which are before his throne." The
prologue ended, John salutes the seven Asian churches.
The verse seems open enough, and yet why these
seven? Why omit the greater churches at Jerusalem,
and Rome, and Corinth, and elsewhere? Again,
the purport of verse 20 is that the seven churches
are enough for whatever design John may have in
mind. If on the map the position of the seven Asian
churches be noted, it is easily seen that they form a
figure much resembling the Pleiadic group of seven
stars. Also, in its configuration, the island of Patmos
— mentioned in verse 9 — resembles both the Pleiades
and the Asian group. Again, the mount of Patmos,
generally conceded to be the place of the writing of
Revelation, is central and compares to the position
of Sardis on the map, and of the star Alcyone in the
Pleiades.

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
John's method of concealing this matter was
peculiar to olden times, and was derived from hoary
antiquity when the Cross, the Swastica, the Pyramid,
the Egyptian Sphinx, the Scarabseus, the Boat of
the Dead, and even the hieroglyphics of primitive
peoples, were derived from certain star groups,
while the alignment of their temples was made to
accord with heavenly models.
In respect to the Pleiades, an ancient secret teach
ing is that they are the Divine Centre of the visible
universe, while their own central orb is the Christ
star, which in fact is the highest visible throne of the
universe. This much is what, in his mystery-speech,
John is telling us. Then, with the sweet influence of
the Pleiades in mind, he continues: "Grace be unto
you, and peace from him which is, and which was,
and which is to come." This Pleiadic influence is to
continue during the seons included in the three
times — the present, the past, and the future — just
indicated; the aeons which measure the entire life-
period of the earth. That life-period, typified by the
seven days of Genesis, is divided into seven great
ages over each of which one star of the Supreme
Seven has or will have dominion. The rulers of these
stars, or thrones, those whose names are unknown
and whose attributes are beyond man's compre
hension and so are not mentioned by John, are the
seven spirits of God before his invisible throne.
"5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the
prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
Right understanding of the verse does not support

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the doctrine of a triune God. Jesus Christ is the
first-begotten of the dead, the first of mankind to be
resurrected bodily; but explanation of the nature of
his resurrected body would require a lengthy digres
sion which is aside from our purpose. Those words,
"the prince of the kings of the earth," reveal John's
idea of the dignity and place of Jesus Christ in the
Kosmic Scheme or, to be exact, in the scheme of our
solar system. He is the ruler of this planet, the
eighth angel of the Sephiroth whose complete number
is ten; the ninth and tenth being secret as was once
the eighth.
That these planetary rulers or star angels have
risen from humbler conditions is revealed in chapter
22:8, 9, "I fell down to worship before the feet of
the angel which showed me these things. Then
saith he unto me. See thou do it not: for I am thy
fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets."
Thus did the archangel Gabriel, in the sublime
humility of the truly exalted, identify himself with
such as John. "Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood." Love is the great
Persuader; it caused the Supreme Architect to will
the universe into being, and it brought the ruler of
this planet into those humble conditions where best
he could exemplify love and self-sacrifice even to the
shedding of his life blood. Not only John, but also
that innumerable host the "one hundred forty and
four thousand," mentioned in chapter 14: 1, had
been transformed, had been made new creatures
because of that blood, or, as John expresses it, they
had been washed even to cleansing in the blood of
the Master.

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"6 And hath made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen." The office of king and
priest was an ancient one dating from the time of
Melchizedek. John is referring to the order founded
by Melchizedek, and of which Jesus was made a
priest as the Psalmisk had prophesied. Kingship in
the order, to whose head Abraham made obeisance,
was spiritual, but as John vouchsafes no hint con
cerning the specific duties of priest or king, let it
suffice that the central aim of this most ancient and
secret of orders was the bringing about of universal
peace at a time known to Melchizedek, and perhaps
to him alone.
"To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." The glory and dominion of the Father is
universal; that of Jesus the Christ is throughout the
world for ever and ever, or, rather, while the world
endures. Amen is a form of the Creative Word; it
includes the meaning of Alpha and Omega and even
more, for it signifies the creative, preservative, and
renovative principles existing in the world, and in
the universe.
"7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every
eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him;
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. Even so. Amen." Coming with clouds means
coming mysteriously, and at a time when little or
least expected. The early church looked for him
every day, and then every year, for they interpreted
literally the dark sayings of Jesus concerning his
advent. "And every eye shall see him," a specific

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
statement, if such a one exist in this book, couched as
it is in the mystery language of the Initiates.
"And they also which pierced him." Evidently
they who nailed him to the cross, and also the soldier
of the spear, are to see him. Why, then, his non
appearance during the years immediately succeeding
his ascension? In Jesus' day the doctrine of re-birth
was commonly held by many of the Jews, as well as
by whole nations beyond the limits of Palestine. If
the doctrine of re-birth is to explain the matter, then
those who pierced Jesus are to be on earth at his
second coming, even if centuries later. However,
there is another explanation; one to be derived from
the answer of the Judge as rendered in Matthew 25 : 45,
"Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of
these, ye did it not to me." Evidently those who at
any time do good or evil unto the brethren, do so
unto Christ.
"And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him." The sentence emphasizes the unprepared-
ness of the world as a whole in the day of his appear
ing. "Even so. Amen," is the most solemn of assur
ances that these things are to be fulfilled.
"8 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and
the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty." The Almighty
here identifies himself with the Word, that Trinity
of Trinities whose import is expressed for instance in
the Hindoo three: Brahma, Divine Will, the Creator;
Vishnu, Divine Love, the Permeater and Sustainer;
and Shiva, Divine Wisdom, the Renovator and— in
the fulness of time — the Destroyer.

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"9 I John, who am also your brother, and com
panion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and
patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ." "Brother, and companion in tribu
lation," has a double meaning. To an Initiate it
recalls certain rites of the Mysteries; while for the
outside world it refers to that earthly pilgrimage
which all must perform. "The kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ," signifies that spiritual kingdom in
which the saints await with patience the coming of
its visible counterpart.
"The isle that is called Patmos." These words
are an example of the mystery language used
throughout Revelation. Patmos signifies the earth
considered as the center of things, or it signifies the
center whether of the island of that name, or of the
Pleiadic group, or indeed of man himself. The last
meaning is the one we shall first explain. The central
star of the Pleiades is that of Divine Love and Wis
dom, and the spiritual center in man corresponds
with it. That John was in Patmos signifies that he
was in that calm center of his being which is com
parable to an island amidst the troubled seas.
"For the word of God, and for the testimony of
Jesus Christ." It is only when one retires deep into
himself, within what is known as the cave of the
heart, that the word of God, still and small as the
voice to Elijah, can be heard and interpreted. "And
for the testimony of Jesus Christ." This testimony
is the confirmation of the message contained between
the covers of the book of Revelation.

10

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and
heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." To
be in the Spirit is to be in the seven-fold cave of the
heart. To be there on the Lord's day, rather than
on the Jewish Sabbath, is to be a prophet of the new
dispensation. "A great voice, as of a trumpet,"
indicates that the hearer then had reached that
keenness of perception which augments every sound.
The idea of loud and soft, and great and small, varies
on different planes of being; thus the infinitesimal
of the material plane enlarges as one ascends to
higher and higher conditions. On the other hand,
the large of the material plane diminishes if one
descend to planes lower and lower than the objective.
What is true of dimension is equally so of sound.
"11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last: and, what thou seest, write in a book,
and send it unto the seven churches which are in
Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and
unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."
In naming the seven churches — really pseudo-
churches — John proceeds from left to right around
something like a semi-circle. Verse 20 reveals a cor
respondence between these pseudo-churches and the
seven planets. Since verses 14, 15, and 16 are to
deal with these planets, we shall now name them in
the order of the pseudo-churches with which they
correspond: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun — substitute
for a secret planet, — Venus, Mercury, Moon — sub
stitute for a secret planet. This order is that of the
Ptolemaic geocentric system which places the earth
in the centre of the universe. There is an esoteric

11

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
order of the planets, one revealed in the Mysteries,
and so undoubtedly known to John, but, because the
earth is the centre of the mystery drama of Revela
tion, and suns and planets attend upon it, John's
order of the planets is the only suitable one.
"12 And I turned to see the voice that spake to
me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candle
sticks." "I turned to see the voice." This clause
deals with one of the mysteries of vibration. The
super-sensitive ear translates into sound octave after
octave of color beyond the seven of the spectrum.
So, to the prepared ear, every color is a voice; on the
other hand, the prepared eye preceives sound as
color. "And being turned, I saw seven golden candle
sticks." These are the seven planets reflecting the
gold of the sun.
"13 And in the midst of the seven golden candle
sticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps
with a golden girdle." See Dan. 7:9. "One like
unto the Son of man," is not the solar orb, as some
will contend, but that light of the world Jesus the
Christ. " Clothed with a garment down to the foot,"
signifies the radiant aura which, though surrounding
every man, is larger and more prismatically beautiful
around the great souls, the elder brothers of the race.
"And girt about the paps with a golden girdle." This
girdle covers the breast and therefore the heart, of
which the head is but the servant. Hence the plane
tary influence of Venus is here indicated, Venus
being the planetary seat of wisdom.
" 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of

12

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
fire." This whiteness like wool and snow is that of
the nimbus which corresponds with the rings of the
planet Saturn. The eyes of flaming fire suggest
Jupiter the fiery planet, the one whose bulk has not
yet cooled. As the fires of Jupiter flame from its
interior, so the eyes of the Son of man flame from
the soul-fire within.
"15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they
burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of
many waters." The verse recalls Daniel's account
of the feet of iron and crumbling clay upholding the
image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, that image whose
feet typified the fourth and modern kingdom of cruel
tyranny, the kingdom to be destroyed by the stone
falling from the holy mountain. The feet of the Son
of man are steadfast like brass, and swift in that
love and mercy which are peculiar to the planet
Mercury. "And his voice as the sound of many
waters." John is comparing the voice of the Son of
man to the sound which results when the lunar
influence lifts the ocean tides and hurls them upon
the shores.
"16 And he had in his right hand seven stars:
and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword:
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength." The stars are the Pleiadic seven whose
sweet influence is over the seven planets which in
turn influence the earth in its seven-fold being, and
also seven- fold man, both singly and collectively.
"And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword." Literally the sword is a weapon for the
hand, but in the fulness of time the dispensing of
justice should be sword-like, smiting not only the
13

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
obviously guilty, but likewise those who, outwardly
innocent, are inwardly no better than the others.
The sword is that weapon of Mars which Anger uses
to vent itself, but when one whose passions are puri
fied thrusts against abuses, then is he like Jesus when
denouncing with keen, cutting words the Scribes and
Pharisees and Hypocrites. "And his countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength." This com
parison with the mid-day sun needs no comment.
"17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as
dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying
unto me. Fear not; I am the first and the last."
"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead."
These words are reminders of certain others in
Daniel 8, beginning with the 15th verse: "When I,
even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for
the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me
as the appearance of a man, * * * who called, and
said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the
vision. * * * So he came near where I stood; and
when he came, I was afraid, and fell on my face. * * *
Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep
sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched
me, and set me upright." "I am the first and the
last." Jesus is speaking of himself as the most
advanced member of the old Adamic race, and then
as king of this world, but not as the Alpha and
Omega of the universe.
"18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen; and have the
keys of hell and of death." "I am he that liveth,
and was dead." This is an affirmation of the truth
of the resurrection from the dead concerning which
14

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
argument pro and con was common even in the first
century. "Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen."
This meaning of the Amen is : I was ! I am ! I shall be !
Because Jesus the Christ is the supreme ruler of the
earth, there is no appeal from his decree; he is the
final dispenser of justice to all men. Thus he has
the keys of hell and of death. The word death may
or may not refer to what in another chapter is denomi
nated the second death, to be explained later.
"19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and
the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter." "The things which are," constitute the
type of the future. While to John the fall of Rome,
for instance, was an event to be, that event was so
vividly seen that he will picture it as if a thing almost
of the present, whereas it was only the type of an
event due long centuries later.
"20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou
sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candle
sticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches." Here the angels
of the churches are the Pleiades, but, as already
explained, these are the heavenly admonishers both
of man the unit, and of mankind everywhere. As
we have seen, the seven candlesticks are the seven
planets; but also they are the seven principles or
powers of man, and, for that matter, of the earth
itself. The Son of Man is our great eldest brother upon
whom the seven stars, which he holds aloft, look
down. These have influenced him on his way to
perfection; that to which all men shall attain. Again,
15

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the seven planets also have had their share of heaven!
influence upon him, even as ever they have upon tli
least of his followers.

16

Chapter II
UNTO the angel of the church of Ephesus write :
These things saith he that holdeth the
seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks."
As already shown, the symbology of Revelation
makes the seven stars the angels of the seven pseudo-
churches which here are the seven principles of man
as follows: The Saturn principle, that of material
mind; the Jupiter principle, that of spiritual will; the
Martian principle, that of desire in its lowest and
passional aspect; the Solar principle, that of life; the
Venusian principle, that of the spiritualized mind;
the Mercurian principle, that of spiritualized love;
and lastly the Lunar principle, that of will in its per
sonal aspect. Each of these principles is in process
of development, and that element in each which
makes for progress — that exerts an upward pull on
the residue — is now to be considered as its angel.
"2 I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which
are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they
are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my
name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted." In
this wise John praises the angel of the Saturnian prin
ciple, because of his labor and patience and sagacity.
The form of this opening address may be called a
type of those which follow.
"4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love." Here the
17

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
angel is not the one addressed, but the material min
which as an entirety is not what it should be. "Tho
hast left thy first love" refers to man's mental cor
dition since he descended, or fell, into materi;
conditions. "5 Remember therefore from whence thou ai
fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else
will come unto thee quickly, and will remove th
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
An ancient teaching is to the effect that Venus an
Saturn originally were one planet. Their separj
tion is symbolized by the fall of Satan from heavei
Lead is the heavy metal proper to Saturn, wherea
indigo, a substance that floats on water, is apprc
priate to Venus. In respect to man, this about thes
planets symbolizes first the condition of Adam whe
he communed with angels, and, second, whe
expelled from Paradise he looked to the soil.
The threat to remove the candlestick is a dark saj
ing touching the possibility of man's virtual extinctio
because of his perverted and wholly materialized mine
This possibility does not concern the animal kinj
dom, and not even the savage. Ability to percei\
the right, to distinguish it clearly, entails a gra\
responsibility. Man shall be judged according to h
light. "6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest tt
deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which also I hate." The;
were guilty of an abomination of the heathen worl(
in fact that Phallic sorcery which accompanied tl
procreative act with a mental attitude intended 1
create a demoniacal thought form inimical to man.

18

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that over-
cometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is
in the midst of the paradise of God." The opening
sentence means that beneath the mere letter one
should reach the inner meaning of the message to the
churches. "The tree of life which is in the midst of
the paradise of God." The original Eden was the
home of the deathless pre-Adamic race, but of its
tree of life, the fallen Adam might not eat lest he
become immortal in evil. Only the wholly cleansed
shall eat of it, and, eating, go out no more into re-birth.
The fruits of this tree are those of purified desire,
and pure spiritual will. Man lives again and again
because of desire toward the earth, and because of
that personal will, that freedom to choose unwisely,
which orders his going forth to the old material
attachments. Purified personal will, when united
with spiritual will, can hold purified desire to the
heavenly paradise of God.
"8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first and the last which
was dead, and is alive." John is addressing the
Jupiter principle, that of spiritual will which in man
rules the other six. It was the union of personal and
spiritual will, accomplished in the garden and on the
cross, that perfected the Master, so that without
presumption he might speak of himself as the first
and the last; the first to become faultless, and the one
dying for the last time, and henceforth superior to
mortal birth.
"9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy
19

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
of them which say they are Jews, and are not, bi
are of the synagogue of Satan." The masterfi
principle of spiritual will must experience tribuli
tion, and know labor, since its duty is to bend, but m
to break, man's contrary personal will, and also 1
purge his gross, passional nature, and at the san
time to elevate his leaden material mind. Spiritu;
will cannot assert itself openly and ostentatious!
as does personal will ; hence its seeming poverty, bi
it is rich in this, that, in its collective manifestation
it is destined to rule not only man, but the entii
universe. "The blasphemy of these who say they are Jew;
and are not." With John the real Jew is a membf
of the Christian fellowship, but, in the peculic
sense of the verse, he symbolizes the various powei
in man which should aid the spiritual will. Th
non-Jew signifies that hypocritical attitude of min
which is denounced as of the synagogue of Satan.
"10 Fear none of those things which thou sha'
suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you int
prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall hav
tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto deatl
and I will give thee a crown of life." Since spiritu;
will has a high and sure destiny, let it hold itself i
patience despite of hindrance. To understand th
casting into prison, and the trial and tribulation fc
those ten days which of themselves have no esoteri
significance, we must refer to the book of Dani(
which bears a hidden likeness to Revelation.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego woul
not defile themselves with the king's meat and drinl
so, by favor of Melzar — the man set over them — th

20

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
four were allowed to choose pulse and water, their
own simple fare. And at the end of ten days their
countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than
all the children which did eat the portion of the
king's meat." Moreover they had "skill in all learn
ing and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in
all visions and dreams."
Were it our purpose, we could show that, like
Revelation, the entire book of Daniel is symbolical,
though, unlike Revelation, it is constructed around
an historical framework which, while somewhat
faulty, was evidently of secondary importance to
the author. John makes the seven churches in Asia
typify imperfect septenary man; but Daniel and his
three companions constitute the perfect man con
sidered as a quaternary. This according to another
classification. Of the four, Daniel is the incorruptible
spiritual will, the one set in authority. Evidently
the casting into prison of the faithful of Smyrna is a
comparison with the condition of Daniel when envy
had thrown him into the den of lions.
In the prophetic drama known as the book of
Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is carnal mind, a tyrant
controlling the physical body, or else he is carnality
tyrannizing the enslaved world, while Babylon is that
body, or that world.
The king's meat and drink are the things which
minister to his failings, while the pulse and water are
the simple and wholesome things which the humble
great ones have ever chosen, and always to their
betterment. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I
will give thee a crown of life." In a way the saying
hints at the experiences of Daniel whose life often
21

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
was in deadly peril, but who, because remaining
steadfast, finally triumphed over his enemies and
every other obstacle.
"11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death." During the
second and the third chapters, the caution to hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches is made fully
emphatic by giving it seven times. In respect to the
second death, without the light which the philosophy
of reincarnation throws upon it, this death remains
a puzzle, or else leads to absurd conclusions.
At the beginning of each of certain great astronom
ical cycles, the earth takes on a new and higher rate
of vibration. These cycles are separated by periods
of about two thousand years. During the first
century — more or less — of a cycle, the human race,
or at least the major part of it, enters a new vista of
truth. This advance is a blessing to the savage as
well as to the normal civilized man. As for the
abnormal civilized man, he whose past' — despite of
its opportunities for good — has consummated in evil,
at the beginning of one of these cycles that man goes
out never to return, or, being out, he can' no more
enter the world through the gates of re-birth.
In early ages, when little was required of normal
man, perhaps none of these self-doomed beings
existed, but, as the standard of true civilization
advanced, the unfit appeared here and there, and
more and more frequently. At the beginning of the
Christian era, or thereabouts, the new cycle over
took many of these delinquents. At the dawn of the
twentieth century a separation of the now numerous

22

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
goats began, and it should continue for about twenty-
one years. Revelation also deals with a later and
more general weeding out of those unprofitable ser
vants who shall have sinned against every oppor
tunity offered by the modern world. This second
death is not actual annihilation, but in fact a descent
of the evolutionary ladder to some low rung, from
whence, ages hence, the entity may rise with the
evolution of a new planet.
"12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
write: These things saith he which hath the sharp
sword with two edges." The address is to the Mar
tian principle of desire.
"13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my
name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those
days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who
was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth."
The solar plexus is the center of the passional
nature, and in the verse it is called Satan's seat.
Red is the color proper to Mars whose metal is iron.
Red blood, surcharged with iron, is essential to
man's physical well-being; hence the Martian prin
ciple is not to be killed out, but rather to be purified.
In the verse, purified desire is given its meed of
praise. As for Antipas, his name and martyrdom,
though remembered only here, serve to show the
inflexible iron of the transformed passional nature
when combined with the spiritual will.
"14 But I have a few things against thee,
because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine
of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-
block before the children of Israel, to eat things

23

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."
The angel of verse 12 of course represents the ideal
to which the pseudo-church niust conform, but now
an accusation is made against the passional nature
which still is led into devious ways and corrupt and
licentious practices, here symbolized as idolatry and
fornication, vices taught by Balaam the magician to
the children of Israel.
"15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitanes which things I hate." This verse
refers back to verse 6 wherein the sins of the carnal
mind are condemned. Verse 15 shows the affinity
between the material mind and the impure passional
nature. "16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly,
and will fight against them with the sword of my
mouth." This sword, first mentioned in chapter
1: 16, is the doom once pronounced upon Belshazzar
who typifies the glutton and the sensualist. "God
hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it." "Thou
art weighed in the balance a'nd art found wanting."
"Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes
and Persians." The interpretations of these indict
ments are : God hath shortened the days of thy mortal
life, for thou hast disobeyed his law of temperance
and chastity. The abused organs of thy body have
rebelled even to its death, and thou shalt be food for
worms and creeping things.
"17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that over
cometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will
give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that

24

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
receiveth it." The hidden manna is spiritual suste
nance which contrasts greatly with the living of the
gluttonous and debauched. As for the white stone;
in most secret orders, and in many other assemblies,
it is customary to-day, when voting for or against a
person or a measure, to use a white or a black ball.
In John's time the voter used a white or a black
stone. "And in the stone a new name written, which
no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."
Strictly, a voting stone should contain the name of
the one voted for; in which case it would show the
secret name of Jesus the Christ as revealed to the
Initiates, those enlightened even as were the Dis
ciples to whom in secret Jesus explained the mys
teries of the kingdom.
However, strict rendering of John's meaning
requires for the secret name a personal application.
An ancient teaching, doubtless known to John, is to
the effect that human speech originated in the seven-
syllabled Creative Word, and that all languages are
amplifications of the seven secret vowels and con
sonants which compose the Word. In respect to
personal names, each of the not many originals
represented an idea sourced in the Creative Word,
that epitome of Will, Desire, and Thought. As per
sonal names became more and more differentiated,
their derivation was more and more obscured until
finally lost. In the rites of initiation into the greater
Mysteries, the candidate received his secret and real
name; one communicated to him alone, and which
he was to withhold from the profane, and even from
the Initiate of a lesser degree. This name was the
potent link between himself and the Creative Word,
25

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
and was the key to those mysteries of the Word
with which he was in affinity. The legend of the lost
Word of Hiram Abif preserves in mutilated form the
ancient teaching above given.
"18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira
write; These things saith the Son of God who hath
his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like
fine brass." While the Jupiter principle of spiritual
will, and the Mercury principle of spiritual love, are
here alluded to, the address really is to the Solar
principle of life, physical and spiritual, centered in
the human heart from which the physical and super-
physical life-currents radiate to the bodily parts,
even as do the physical and super-physical Solar
beams to the planetary worlds.
"19 I know thy works, and charity, and service,
and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the
last to be more than the first." The metal appro
priate to the Sun is gold, and it is from what is called
the heart of gold that love and service and kindred
things proceed in such progression that truthfully it
can be said that the last work is better than the first.
"20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against
thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to
seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols." By the Hindoos
the sun and light of man the septenary is called
Ishwara, while to the Greeks it was the Christos.
Existing in the heart center, it is that reflector of
spiritual things which enables the pure in heart to
realize God, or to see him, as Jesus expressed it.
Nevertheless, in many scriptural passages the heart is

26

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
called desperately wicked. This anomaly results from
a loose classification which confounds the cardiac
with the epigastric plexus.
In this verse John also adopts the exoteric classi
fication, and attributes to the heart the evils which
he condemns. The stern words against the pseudo-
seeress Jezebel are really directed against what in the
East is known as Hatha Yoga practices, which, with
out detail, may be said to be a concentration of the
material mind upon the solar plexus for the purpose
of developing certain psychical faculties which really
are inimical to man's spiritual well-being. Fornica
tion is the word here used to distinguish this practice
from another whose object is to develop the higher
powers. This other is known in the East as Raja
Yoga, or kingly union of the higher with the purified
lower faculties.
"To eat things sacrificed unto idols," is to partici
pate in idol worship, but, in the peculiar meaning of
the verse, it is to encourage such things as trance
mediumship, for it is said by those who know, that
this mediumship is chiefly obsession by earth-bound
spirits. And ancient writing saith, in substance:
"But they who, being mediums, utter in a trance
things of which they have no knowledge, and of
which their own spirits are uninformed, they are
obsessed with a spirit of divination, a strange spirit,
not their own." Again: "Of such beware for they
speak many lies, and are deceivers working for gain,
or for pleasure's sake." Again we read: "Inspiration
may indeed be mediumistic, but it is conscious, and
the knowledge of the prophet is from within."

27

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"21 And I gave her space to repent of her forni
cation; and she repented not." Whenever such as
Jezebel surrenders personal will to that of some
incarnate or disincarnate entity, it is well-nigh impos
sible to turn back or, as the verse has it, to repent.
"22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them
that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds." To lose one's
will is to be bound hand and foot, and to become the
helpless prey of the obsessor. As for the obsessor,
whether incarnate or disincarnate, he is a practicer
of sorcery, an infernal art which entails one of the
heaviest of penalties.
"23 And I will kill her children with death; and
all the churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto
every one of you according to your works." These
children are the divinations of the pseudo-seeress.
Their falsity shall be proven, and this is their death.
The churches are the entire man, or the entire popu
lace, and he that searcheth the reins and the hearts
is the Christos, the spirit of hght and love and truth,
the real seer who shall confound the false ones even
as Elijah confounded the false prophets of Baal.
"24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in
Thyatira, and as many as have not known this
doctrine, and which have not known the depths of
Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other
burden." In the verse the results of Hatha Yoga are
called the depths of Satan, because this Yoga tends to
drag down the lower four principles of man the
septenary, and even tends to break the cord which
holds them to the upper three, thus bringing the
28

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
unfortunate personality perilously near the second
death. "25 But that which ye have already hold fast
till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and
keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give
power over the nations." Purification of man's
solar principle is like the refining of gold, that which
of all metals is a sovereign power in the world. This
being so, how much more regal shall be the dominion
of its spiritual equivalent?
"27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to
shivers: even as I received of my Father." The
verse is a variation of the second psalm, verse 9:
"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
This 27th verse is connected secretly with chap
ter 12: 5: "And she brought forth a man-child, who
would rule all nations with a rod of iron." The
Psalmist was prophesying of Christ's kingdom, and the
Revelator was foretelling his rule at his second com
ing. The authority of the little church at Thyatira
was nil; so such authority is but a symbol. The
reference openly is to perfected man's dominion over
every atom of his composite self, and, secretly, to the
reign of Messiah as king and judge. That this second
reference is the vital one appears more fully in the
words "as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken
to shivers." "Even as I received of my Father," is
the solemn assurance that these things shall be
during the Messianic reign.
"28 And I will give him the morning star."
Openly this star is Mercury, but secretly it is the

29

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
day-star for whose millennial rising these nineteen
hundred years have watched and waited.
"29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches." The fourth of the
seven cautions to septenary man on his way to per
fection; that which the Master said was possible to
every one.

30

Chapter III
AND unto the angel of the church in Sardis
write; These things saith he that hath the
seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest, and art dead." Scriptures may be written
from the view-point of Love, or of Wisdom. In address
ing the church in Sardis, John is addressing the
Venus principle of wisdom in man. The Seven Spirits
of God, and the seven stars under whose influence
Jesus the Christ was perfected, were first mentioned
in chapter 1 : 4, but not again the seven spirits until
the address to the Venus principle. This we deem a
hint that Revelation is written from the view-point
of Divine Wisdom. Wisdom is a principle as yet
little developed in the average man, and, as for the
wisest, there yet remains much for him to acquire.
In the verse, man is said to possess only the name of
wisdom. Hence while seeming to live, he is really
dead. "2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which
remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found
thy works perfect before God." The seat of the
higher wisdom is in the brain, or, to speak definitely,
in the pineal gland; that which is called the eye of
Shiva; its outward correspondent is the left eye.
The internal or third eye is almost atrophied in the
vast majority of the human race; hence it is here
said to be ready to die.
"3 Remember therefore how thou hast received
and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore

31

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon
thee." The opportunities to hear the teachings of
Wisdom are manifold. All scriptures were written
for that end, and all sages and prophets have lifted
up their voices to justify Wisdom. Blameworthiness
consists in not holding fast, in letting slip those wise
precepts which, if pondered on, would naturally lead
to repentance and reformation of life. His coming
suddenly and stealthily as a thief comes, was often
foretold by the Master. This coming may refer to a
judgment at the end of one's life, or it may mean
that visible coming to judge the world which Reve
lation surely prophesies.
"4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which
have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk
with me in white: for they are worthy." The verse
refers to the wise who are even in Sardis. In Sodom
and Gomorrah, those sinks of iniquity, only one was
found worthy to wear the white robe of intellectual
purity. "5 He that overcometh, the same shall be
clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his
name out of the book of Hfe, but I will confess his
name before my Father, and before his angels." As
it is given to the angels of the three higher planets,
Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus, to raise the life of the
four lower planets to the possibility of union with
their own; so it is given to the trinity of spiritual will,
unselfish love, and the higher mentality in man, to
raise their opposites into rapport with themselves.
If the higher mind, that which is associated with
material things only through the material mind,
32

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
should fail in its specific duty, then a separation of
the higher and the lower aspects of mind results.
This catastrophe means ultimate extinction of the
lower, and a stay to the progress of the higher, for
the destinies of the two minds are linked together.
Because of the natural activity of mind in any form,
the staying of its progress may mean for the higher
a descent which, though far more gradual, is none
the less sure as is that of the lower. Hence the pos
sibility of the blotting out or extinction threatened
in the verse.
"6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches." This is the fifth of
the seven admonitions to those who understand.
"7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is
true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth,
and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man
openeth." The address is to the Mercury principle
of spiritual love the seat of which is the pituitary
body, and whose outward correspondent is the right
eye. While the pineal gland is the organ of spiritual
vision, the energizing fire of spiritual love is necessary
to its activity. To be more effective, this fire should
be augmented by that of the purified passional
nature. Directed by spiritual will, these two fires
unite with that of the higher mind, and thus the
pineal gland becomes an all-seeing eye to whose
mental vision past, present, and future becomes the
now. This is the vision attained by the author of
Revelation, and this vision is here called the key of
David, and applies to the Hebrew king at his best

33

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
for, while in his failings David reverted to a gross
type, at other times he looked forward to one :
some ways anticipated by himself.
"He that openeth and no man shutteth; an
shutteth and no man openeth." In the sermon c
the Mount, Jesus taught in an exoteric way the gei
eral principles of Raja Yoga, or kingly union. Tl;
virtues inculcated in this simple yet profound addrei
are indispensable to the aspirant for that develo]
ment which gives to him the key of David. Henc
it can be said that the Master himself opens, whiL
on those who refuse his teachings, he can be said 1
shut the door of seership.
"8 I know thy works: behold, I have set befoi
thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for tho
hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, an
hast not denied my name." In the address to thos
pseudo-churches the seven principles of man, the prii
ciples of spiritual will and of spiritual love alor
escape a certain condemnation, and perhaps for th
reason that, being at the center of man's being, the
safety is reasonably sure. These two have a littl
strength even in the average man, and to him th
open door offers a possible passage from which onl
his own failings can debar him.
"9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogu
of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, bt
who lie; behold, I will make them to come and woi
ship before thy feet, and to know that I have love
thee." John is speaking of the honor which some da
the enlightened through Love shall receive even froi
the hypocrites who secretly have scoffed at his teacl
ings. In the words: "I will make them to come an

34

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
worship before thy feet," the writer has in mind the
words from Isaiah 49:23: "they shall bow down to
thee with their faces toward the earth."
"10 Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of
temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth." The prophet
is here looking forward to a time of universal tempta
tion, whereas ordinary temptation comes usually to
individuals, and sometimes to groups. The prophecy
hints at the time when evil in some form is to fill the
world, and the decision for or against it shall be to
every man. Then it is that the Mercurian principle
of love must in patience stand against hate.
"11 Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which
thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Here
"quickly" means "surely." Holding fast consists in
not losing the spirit of long-suffering even in the most
vexatious times.
"12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in
the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out:
and I will write upon him the name of my God, and
the name of the city of my God, which is New
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from
my God: and I will write upon him my new name."
At the entrance to the porch of Solomon's Temple
were two pillars, each hollowed to conceal certain
secret archives. The reference to the pillar is to
convey the idea that the perfected principle under
discussion will be custodian of the sacred Arcane
Wisdom of the world. The words "he shall go out no
more" signify freedom from re-birth. "The name
of my God," would to many mean the name of
35

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Jehovah the Jewish tribal god, the god of human
generation, the god whom the Rosicrucians make the
head of the Lunar evolution, whereas the secret name
of Deity can be known only to those who have mas
tered the mystery of the Creative Word.
That the New Jerusalem is to be established on
this earth. Revelation solemnly affirms, but, con
cerning the name of the Holy City, that, like the
name of God, is a mystery of the sacred Word. So
concerning the new name of Jesus the Christ, the
intimation here is that his real status in the Cosmic
scheme is to be known to the initiated who, finding
in themselves the likeness of that name, shall straight
way understand.
"13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches." This is the sixth of
the admonitions to those who understand the mys
tery language. "14 And unto the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith
the Amen the faithful and true witness, the begin
ning of the creation of God." The address is to the
Lunar principle of personal will. In a degree the
verse reveals the nature of the Amen. Wherever else
occurring in Revelation, Amen signifies the begin
ning, the middle, and the end of the creation of God.
"15 I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." Per
sonal will is one of the most essential of human posses
sions. In the free exercise of this faculty ignorant
primeval man fell into error, and perhaps unavoidably,
since, without free will man is an automaton, a non
entity. In the meaning of the verse, the hot are the
headstrong, temperamental enthusiasts whose chief

36

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
need is restraint ; whereas the cold are those as decided
in their opposition. These also have character, in
fact something for the reformer and equalizer to lay
hold of.
"16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth." The lukewarm are on a dead level; they
are unprogressive, in fact immovable, and so more
hopeless than the greatest sinners.
"17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked." Faulty personal will is
receiving a sterner condemnation than have the
other six principles. Personal will largely controls
the man, either to lift him up, or drag him down.
Crude personal will deems itself sufficient unto itself,
nor dreams of its real dependence on its spiritual
opposite; so it is deserving of all the accusations in
the verse.
"18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes
with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." The counsel
is that personal will should conjoin itself both with
spiritual will — which here is called gold tried in the
fire — and with white raiment. Clothed in this, per
sonal will no longer is naked.
"19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent." Paul says: "For
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth." This doctrine both
37

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
of Paul and the Revelator contains nothing hard or
unjust. Chastening here means a bringing to the
surface, for speedy removal, of some indebtedness
which sooner or later must be paid to the law of
inflexible Justice. Contrition results in that attitude
of non-resistance to the Divine Will which facilitates
the process of liquidation. Hence the beneficial afflic
tions of the righteous; whereas the self-willed only
delay that day of reckoning when principal and
interest shall be required.
"20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if
any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me." When the loudly assertive personal will con
forms to the spiritual will, a calm ensues, and the
listening heart then can hear the universal Christos
seeking to reach the individual Christos, that dweller
in the heart of man and, for that matter, of every
other creature. There is yet another Christos, that
of the one who, in the cosmogony of Revelation, is
the planetary ruler. Having taken upon himself the
lifting up of this world, he comes to each and all for
that spiritual breaking of bread and drinking of wine
of which the last supper is the type.
"21 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." The
two aspects of will are the two rulers of ordinary man ;
but when these are made one, man becomes a sover
eign than whom no mere king is greater. Such a
man has overcome even as Jesus in the garden; and
with justice and truth it can be said of him that he
shall sit with Messiah in his throne. Here is the

38

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
answer to the request of the mother of Zebedee's
children: "to sit on my right hand and on my left,
***** shall be given to them for whom it is
prepared of my Father."
"22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches." Thus closes the
seven admonitions to the seven spirits which in man,
the image of his Maker, correspond with the seven
spirits of God which are before his throne.

39

Chapter IV
HAVING interpreted according to our undei
standing the message of the Son of Man t
the churches, let us proceed to make plai
the nineteen chapters that follow, taking up eac
verse, or part thereof, whenever necessary.
"After this I looked, and, behold, a door Wc
opened in heaven: and the first voice that I hear
was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; whic
said. Come up hither, and I will shew thee thing
which must be hereafter. 2 And immediately
was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set i
heaven, and one sat on the throne." The open doc
in heaven signifies divine permission to enter for
special purpose into great and high mysteries. A
will be shown in the exposition of certain verses (
Revelation, John placed the central heaven in th
north. Evidently the throne is the constellation (
the Dragon. Hell, the bottomless pit, is the opposit
of heaven and in fact is the place of the Red Dragoi
the serpent that deceiveth the world. The one o
the throne is the Ancient of Days.
"3 And he that sat was to look upon like
jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbo'
round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
The jasper was the last and the sardine stone was th
first of the twelve in the breastplate of Aaron. Hei
they signify Alpha and Omega the beginning and th
end; the north and the south. The jasper is the or
first mentioned since the mystery of the end, th
future, is all unknown; whereas, the beginning, tl

40

the revelation of JOHN
past, is somewhat known. The sardine in the breast
plate signifies the cornerstone of the temple, whereas
in the verse it means the cornerstone of the universe.
The rainbow round the throne is a semi-circle
which, with its other half, is divisible into 360 degrees.
This division is the same as that of the Zodiacal belt
through which the Sun moves every twelve months,
and every 26,000 years, or, according to the ancient
enumeration, in every 25,920 short solar, or 25,500
long solar years. The semi-circle round the Throne
symbolizes the Divine Model after which the belt of
the earth was formed. The green rainbow is likened
to an emerald because that gem cleaves naturally
into hexagonal fragments. Following this clue, we
find that the semi-circle of 180 degrees should be
divided into six parts, each 30 degrees wide. This
division is a clue to the six wings mentioned in verse 8.
"4 And round about the throne were four and
twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and
they had on their heads crowns of gold." The twelve
Zodiacal powers each contains the positive and the
negative principles which, in man and the lower
creation, become male and female. Hence the twenty-
four elders, each a king, or rather a regent subject
to the Throne, as will be seen.
"5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings
and thunderings and voices: and there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are
the seven Spirits of God." Lightnings and thunder
ings and voices here signify the might and majesty
of Him of whom the Psalmist said: "Clouds and
darkness are round about him," and again: "His

41

the revelation of JOHN
lightnings enlighten the world." The seven lam]
are the seven Divine Pleiadic Colors or Rays invisib
to mortal eyes, but made manifest through the
material correspondents the seven spectrum color
each of which is proper to a certain planet amor
what were known anciently as the sacred seven.
"6 And before the throne there was a sea <
glass like unto crystal : And in the midst of the thror
and round about the throne, were four beasts full <
eyes before and behind." "A sea of glass like un1
crystal" signifies the great heavenly space within th
Zodiacal ring. This circular space was symbolize
by King Solomon, that adept in the Eastern Wisdon
when, in constructing the circular molten sea of th
Temple, he made its circumference 30 cubits, or or
twelfth of 360 cubits, thus indicating a correspont
ence with the 360 degrees of the Zodiacal circl
The four beasts are the four archangels who guar
the four corners of the earth or, as here meant, the
are those who guard the four quarters of the heaven
Their watchfulness is indicated by the eyes befoi
and behind.
"7 And the first beast was like a lion, and tl
second beast was like a calf, and the third beast ha
a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a fl]
ing eagle." The first beast is Michael the lion-lik
that fiery one whose symbol is the Sun. He is tl
guardian of the north. Also he rules the springs an
rivers. The second beast is Gabriel, ruler of the ai
and whose symbol is the Moon. He is the guardia
of the south. Gabriel is likened to a calf because 1
presides over human generation, and the pre-nat
period of the calf is almost identical with that of tl

42

the REVELATION OF JOHN
human infant. The golden calf worship of the Jews
was, in a mysterious way, a perversion of the worship
of Jehovah. The third beast with a human face
signifies wisdom, and is Uriel whose symbol is the
planet Venus. He is the guardian of the west, and
also of the land. The fourth beast, like a flying
eagle, is Raphael who signifies love. His planet is
Mercury. He is the guardian of the east, and also of
the ocean waters.
"8 And the four beasts had each of them six
wings about him; and they were full of eyes within:
and they rest not day and night, saying. Holy, holy,
holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is
to come." Michael's province in heaven is a type of
his guardianship in the world where it extends from
the north pole to the equator, and is indicated by a
vertical half circle of the earth. Gabriel's guardian
ship is indicated by the other half of the circle.
Raphael's guardianship extends over the eastern half
of the earth's equator, and Uriel's guardianship is
commensurate with the other half.
Wings signify guardianship. The six wings of
each beast signify the 180 degrees of the earth's circle
proper to him; each wing signifying thirty degrees,
because both the perpendicular and the horizontal
belts of the earth are each divided into six sections,
each thirty degrees wide. "And they were full of
eyes within" means that the four beasts had spiritual
vision of hidden things. Their attitude of perpetual
praise shows that they ascribe all within them to
the Divine Center of Being. Thus Michael ascribes
strength, Gabriel foreknowledge, Uriel wisdom, and
Raphael love.

43

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"9 And when those beasts give glory and honi
and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who livei
for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty elde
fall down before him that sat on the throne, and wo
ship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast the
crowns before the throne, saying: 11 Thou a
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor ar
power: for thou hast created all things, and for th
pleasure they are and were created." Thus in
wonderfully picturesque and dramatic way tl
Revelator makes these verses the prologue to tl
advent of the great being on which the next chapt(
centers its interest.

44

Chapter V
AND I saw in the right hand of him that sat on
the throne a book written within and on the
back side, sealed with seven seals." The
book written within is that of unliquidated earthly
debts; the Judgment Book now full and ready for
opening. "Sealed with seven seals" means seven
kinds of judgment held in abeyance.
"2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a
loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to
loose the seals thereof? " The strong angel is Michael,
the announcer of judgment, and the first to take part
therein. "3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither
under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. 4 And I wept much, because no
man was found worthy to open and to read the book,
neither to look thereon." "Worthy" in the second
verse, and "able" in the third verse, really mean
"fit:" that is to say, no man can rightfully open the
book, or even look thereon.
"5 And one of the elders saith unto me. 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 verse shows the
Revelator familiar with one of the great mysteries of
the Sephiroth, a mystery which in these latter days
can be unveiled that the wise may understand.
The offices and names of the guardian heads of the
seven planets are knowable to those who properly
seek knowledge of them, but, concerning the guardian

45

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
of our world, information has always been withheld,
or rather kept from the many. While it is true that
the Sephiroth gUards certain sections of our planet,
that guardianship is only secondary, since each angel
of the seven indicated by John — whereas the Cabbala
hints of ten — is the special guardian of his own planet.
The eighth of the sacred planets, our world, has a
special guardian ; one who has become sponsor for its
final perfection. Therefore when underlayable judg
ment must descend upon his world, the eighth angel
alone of all beings in heaven and earth, is the rightful
unsealer of that judgment. We know not what
judgments, if any, are to come on other worlds, but
in such possible event coming for instance to the
planet Mercury, it would be the duty of Raphael to
loose the seals. Between the estimate of Messiah
which makes him Creator and Lord of all worlds, and
that which makes him the greatest of men, the
estimate here revealed is intermediate and reasonable.
"6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the
throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."
The seven horns denote the full power, and the
seven eyes the complete vision of God. The seven
Spirits of God, and the seven horns, and the seven
eyes, correspond with the seven planets and with the
synthetic white glory of the Sun. According to the
secret Wisdom of the Ancients, the Supreme acts
through intermediates, through lesser and lesser
hierarchies of being. As the Sun receives light and
heat from a higher source, and as the planets receive

46

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
from the Sun, and in turn transmit to the earth
reflected light and super-physical energy, so opera
tive Justice toward the earth is delegated to the
Lamb who therefore corresponds with the Sun, and
so stands in the midst of the throne. In turn he
delegates power to the seven "Angels of the Presence "
who, as will be seen, are typified by the seven trump
eters and the seven who pour the vials of wrath.
"7 And he came and took the book out of the
right hand of him that sat on the throne." Taking
the book from the right hand of the King emphasizes
the authority of the Lamb who typifies not only the
sacrificial lamb, but also the sign Aries, the heavenly
Ram sacred to Israel.
8 " And when he had taken the book, the four
beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and
golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of
saints." The beasts and the elders antedate man, while
the elders are a different order of beings, neverthe
less they fall down before the Lamb because he
represents the King. "Golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of saints." It is said of certain
odors that they penetrate beyond the limits of gross
matter. Hence the use of incense in ancient worship.
The quotation means that the prayers of the saints
have penetrated to the secret place of the Most High.
"9 And they sung a new song, saying. Thou art
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals there
of: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation." The elders and the beasts sing
not concerning themselves; they rejoice for the
47

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
redemption which comes to man. The nature of
that redemption will be explained in another chapter.
"10 And hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign upon the earth." The
verse refers to the millennial period and its hierarchies,
to be considered later. "11 And I beheld, and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne and the beasts and the elders : and the number
of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands." See Dan. 7: 10. Ten is
the perfect heavenly number, and here relates to the
angelic condition. The addition thereto of many
ciphers signifies the whole company of heaven.
"12 Saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory,
and blessing." Here the Lamb is endowed with seven
perfections to wit: power 1, riches 2, wisdom 3,
strength 4, honor 5, glory 6, and blessing 7.
"13 And every creature which is in heaven, and
on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are
in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying.
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
for ever and ever." See Phil. 2:10. Let us note
that the seven attributes enumerated in verse 12 are
here condensed to four. Blessing whose number was
7 now becomes 1. Honor whose number was 5 now
is 2. Glory whose number was 6 now is 3. Power
whose number was 1 now is 4. Thus we have 1,2,
3, 4, whose total is 10 the perfect number, or 7, 5,
6, 1, whose numerical equivalent is 19, in fact the 9
hidden in the 10, because heavenly blessing, honor,
48

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
glory, power, include heavenly riches 2, and wisdom 3,
and strength 4.
In the twelfth verse riches 2, and wisdom 3 and
strength 4 are also earthly qualities whose numerical
equivalent is 9. The teaching hidden in the two
verses relates to the millennial king — honored on
earth and approved on high — who, as the perfected
Solomon — builder of the new temple — shall have in
fulness the three earthly attributes omitted in the
thirteenth verse.
"14 And the four beasts said. Amen, and the
four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped
Him that liveth for ever and ever." The chapter
ends with the sacred Amen which in hoary antiquity
was OM or AUM. Let it be noted that the four and
twenty elders fell down and worshipped not the Lamb,
but the King in his own person.

49

Chapter VI
AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of
thunder, one of the four beasts saying,
Come and see." The beast that spake in the voice of
thunder was Michael the prince of the heavenly host.
"2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he
that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given
unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to
conquer." In the second, fourth, fifth, and eighth
verses, horses typify that which cannot be stayed.
Here white signifies spiritual authority. "He that
sat on him" typifies Michael, and is in fact the angel
of the secret super-physical planet that revolves
within the orbit of Mercury. The bow symbolizes
certain arrows or rays of the sun which ordinarily
are inoperative. The crown shows that these rays
emanate from the solar Crown, and are the eighth,
ninth, and tenth rays now become operative as torrid
heat upon the earth. "Conquering and to conquer"
means that what is ordained shall be.
"3 And when he had opened the second seal, I
heard the second beast say, Come and see." The
second beast is Raphael. "4 And there went out
another horse that was red: and power was given to
him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another: and there was
given unto him a great sword." The rider on the red
horse is the opposite of Raphael, love, whose planet
is Mercury. He is in fact the angel Raguel, wrath,
whose planet is Mars. The great sword is the red

50

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
ray become an inciter of warfare throughout the
world. "5 And when he had opened the third seal I
heard the beast say. Come and see. And I beheld,
and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a
pair of balances in his hand." The third beast is
Suriel whose planet is Jupiter. The rider on the
black horse — deep violet — is Gabriel whose planet is
the moon. Here he is the opposite of Suriel who rep
resents Divine Will. Man's personal will to do evil has
brought about a judgment indicated by the balances.
"6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four
beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt
not the oil and the wine." A just judgment as is
indicated by the words: "a measure of wheat for a
penny." Hurting not the oil and the wine signifies
that no harm will come to the righteous, nor to the
regions inhabited by them.
"7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I
heard the voice of the fourth beast say. Come and
see." The fourth beast is Uriel, Divine Wisdom.
His planet is Venus.
"8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his
name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed
with him. And power was given unto them over the
fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and
with hunger, and with death, and with beasts of the
earth." See Jer. 15:2, 3, and Ezk. 11: 5, 17. It
should be known that many of the testimonies of the
prophets which concern the Jews, and such cities as
Jerusalem, Babylon, Nineveh and Tyre, have a wide
application, one extending even to our own day.
51

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
The most terrible rider of the four is the angel
Jerahmeel who here represents judgment on the
carnally-minded among men. His planet is Saturn
now become malevolent to those who have per
verted their intelligence to evil ends. Man is judged
according to his light. Because in mental darkness,
the savage slays with some excuse; but the enlight
ened wielders of the sword of tyranny and conquest
shall now fall by the sword, and with physical hunger
and spiritual death, and by the bestial violence of
the multitudes who shall turn upon them. Beside a
literal meaning, "the fourth part of the earth," here
indicates the lower quaternary of man; and refers to
those who have lost the upper and spiritual triad.
"9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I
saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God, and for the testimony which
they held. " The force now liberated is that of Venus,
and its angel Uriel. These souls are those of the
saints and martyrs of all ages; in fact those again
mentioned in chapter 7 : 14.
"10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying. How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"
The verse implies a long waiting for the moment
when, in the cyclic progress of action and reaction,
the full settlement of earthly grievances shall be
consummated. "11 And white robes were given unto every one
of them; and it was said unto them, that they should
rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants
also and their brethren, that should be killed as they
were, should be fulfilled." The verse indicates that

52

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the world is governed by law ; that times and seasons
cannot encroach on others; that what is to come,
cannot be hastened or retarded.
At this point begin certain difficulties which have
always puzzled commentators. Do the unsealing of
the seals and the sounding of the trumpets and the
pouring of the vials indicate three kinds of wrath
toward the earth, or do they indicate one judgment
seen in three separate visions? We contend for the
latter opinion, and also hold that the interpolations
between the sixth and the seventh seals, and the
sixth and the seventh trumpets, are there for a definite
purpose. To make the matter clear, we must now anticipate
the course of those great events which culminate in
the Judgment. The 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 vials,
make a total of 21. It is undeniable that the end of
all things seems indicated in verse 17, coming after
the sounding of the sixth trurnpet. Moreover it is
sure that Revelation requires a pre-millennial and
a post-millennial judgment.
The sixth seal of chapter 6: 12, and the sixth
trumpet of chapter 9: 13, are parts of the first judg
ment. Although a seemingly unmethodical insertion,
chapter 7 veils a short probational period before the
seventh seal of that judgment. The office of chapter
10, and a portion of chapter 11, is to divide the sixth
trumpet from the seventh; therefore the verses are
filled chiefly with other matter. The seventh vial
is not separated from the sixth, and in it alone is
the nature of the seventh woe hinted at. From
the peculiar division of the seals is obtained the
figures 6+1, and from Hke division of the trumpets is

53

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
again obtained the figures 6+1, while from the vials
is obtained the figure 7.
The results are, first, the divided 6+1+6+1+7=
21; and, second, the undivided 6+6+7=19. The
21 or inverted 12, and the 19=10 the perfect number,
are keys to certain mysteries in Revelation. The six
pre-millennial seals, the six pre-millennial trumpets,
and the six pre-millennial vials, make the 666 of
Chapter 13: 18, and indicate those against whom the
three-fold pre-millennial judgment is launched.
Should it be argued that the division between the
sixth and the seventh trumpets is interrupted by
the account of the earthquake in chapter 11: 13, we
reply that, because an Initiate, John — like the dis
ciples of Pythagoras — was pledged not to reveal the
secret number or numbers of the Tetragrammaton,
the number or numbers that signify Jehovah 26=8,
and Adonai 65^11, in fact the Amen or 19. Hence,
to veil the division of the trumpets, the 13th verse
of chapter 11 was introduced. The wise, the initiated,
would understand despite this veiling of the Word.
"12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon
became as blood." See Joel 2:10; Matt. 24:29.
The force now liberated is that of Mercury and its
angel Raphael. This earthquake is a final warning
before the seventh seal. One versed in the secret
teachings would hold that a great sinking on one side
of the globe, and a simultaneous volcanic upheaval on
the other, would darken both the sun and the moon.
"13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she

54

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
is shaken of a mighty wind." Showers of incandes
cent volcanic rock that had been hurled to a great
height might be likened to stars falling from heaven
upon the earth.
"14 And the heavens departed as a scroll when
it is rolled together; and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places." See Isa. 34:4.
Oriental imagery signifying total obscuration of the
blue sky and the heavenly lights. Also it indicates
the leveling of mountains, and the submerging or the
enlarging of islands. Evidently a cataclysm whose
inciting cause is fire. Evidently one of a series which
has overtaken the world since the beginning of the
geological ages; in fact one of those which, according
to the ancient Secret Teaching, manifest alternately
as a fiery, or a watery outburst. Of that time Isaiah
had prophesied thus: "And all the host of heaven
shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down,
as a leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig
from the fig-tree."
"15 And 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 free
man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of
the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and
rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come;
and who shall be able to stand?" See Isa. 2:19;
Zeph. 1:15.
Verse 15 mentions seven kinds of men that hide
themselves. Here seven signifies that all men hide

55

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
themselves. Saying to the mountains and rocks:
" Fall on us, and hide us, " does not imply that all are
to be punished, since some are of the elect. The
words of fear are used to heighten the dramatic effect,
and to show that overthrow of poise which in such
an unprecedented time would terrify the strongest.
That they are terrified is indicated by the universal
utterance: "Fbr the day of his wrath is come: and
who shall be able to stand? "

56

Chapter VII
AND after these things I saw four angels stand
ing on the four corners of the earth, holding
the four winds of the earth, that the wind
should not blow upon the earth, nor on the sea, nor
on any tree." The four angels are Michael, Gabriel,
Uriel, and Raphael, the four guardians of the earth
first mentioned in Chapter 4: 6, and there described
as the four beasts. "The four winds of the earth,"
typify the four powers erf these angels, — the power
of judgment, of execution, of guidance, and of amelio
ration. In ordinary times Raphael by the power of
love holds back the torrent of the retributive law
measured by Uriel, and proceeding through Michael,
and guided by Gabriel; but in a time of reckoning,
Raphael must give way, that the lost equilibrium of
earthly things may be re-established. As will be seen
in the third verse, holding the four winds here means
a short season of respite both for man and his material
enviroiynent. "2 And I saw another angel ascending from the
east, having the se^l of the living God^: and he cried
with a loud voice to the four aiigels, to whom it was
given to hurt the efairth and the sea." The angel of
this verse is one of the Sephiroth, one of the "Seven
of the Pjesence;" in fact Suriel whose planet is
Jupiter, and he represents the Divine Will.
"3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
God in their foreheads." Sealing in the foreheads
57

the revelation OF JOHN
here signifies choosing openly; acknowledging in the
sight of all men.
"4 And I heard the number of them which were
sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty
and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of
Israel." Elucidation of the verse requires the use of
the Arabic numerals. Sealing here means giving to
each of the sealed that true number which is con
cealed in 144, or, what is the same, 144,000. Nine
is the perfect number since it is the heavenly 10 when
cramped into material conditions. The sum of the
three digits 144 is 9; hence the 144,000 are the per
fected ones of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Here the children of Israel signify the whole human
family. The perfected ones have passed successfully
through the 2160 years of trial.
"5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve
thousand. 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were
sealed twelve thousand. 7 Of the tribe of Simeon
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issacher
were sealed twelve thousand. 8 Of the tribe of
Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand."
To one unused to Eastern methods of concealing
matters while seeming to reveal them, John's detailed
enumeration of the elect of the twelve tribes would
appear a redundancy of words. Now the secret
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
reason for this detail is that Dan might thereby be
rejected, and another assigned to his place.
Constructing their Zodiac the Jews gave to the
twelve signs the names of twelve tribes. Because
Joseph represented the Messiah to come, he with
Levi — the priest of Jehovah — was hidden in the
center of the circle, and to Ephraim and Manassah
were given the station which otherwise the first two
would have occupied. Dan corresponded with Cap-
ricornus the goat. Now with John, Dan is really a
human condition, one typifying Judas the cast-out
of the twelve Apostles ; also one typifying Antichrist.
As Judas' place among the apostles was wholly filled
by Paul the divinely appointed apostle to the Gen
tiles, so, in the Revelator's scheme, the defection of
Dan allowed place, in the name of one of the twelve
tribes, for the worthy everywhere beyond the bounds
of Jewry.
Although Reuben was the eldest son, in John's
enumeration Judah is the first mentioned because
the Jewish Zodiac gave to him the sign Aries, the
Ram. Jacob and Abraham lived in the earlier centu
ries of Aries ; and the promise to the seed of Abraham
was fulfilled under the Ram ; hence the appropriate
ness of the Jewish daily sacrifice. Because of the
ancient promise of Jacob: "the sceptre shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come" the Jews believed their
Messiah due in the reign of Judah the Ram. If any
cryptic design exists in John's order of the eleven
tribes following Judah, it is that Levi, 8, typifies Jeho
vah, and Joseph 11, typifies Christ; and the sum of 8
and 11 is 19, the equivalent of the Tetragrammaton.

59

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Having said in our explanation of the fourth verse,
that 9 and 10 are the perfect numbers, we are at
once confronted by the twelve twelves which make
the 144. Our explanation of this anomaly is as fol
lows: The most ancient Zodiacs recognize but ten
divisions. Therein Virgo and Scorpio are deemed one
sign, while Libra is unrecognized. Such a Zodiac
contains the mystery of primeval man, the generic
Adam before the creation of Eve from his rib, or
rather from himself. By the separation of Virgo and
Scorpio, and the introduction of Libra — the sign of
reproductivity, — the fall of man into material genera
tion was indicated. Because an Initiate of the Mys
teries, John certainly knew all this; hence to him the
12 was a phase of the 10, and the 144,000 a phase of
the true 100,000.
"9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multi
tude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands. "
John was a Christian mystic, a converted Jew who
believed that while the original promise was to Israel,
the casting out of Dan made place for the Gentile
world. Hence in the "great multitude" were many
from all nations, the worthy of robes and palms.
"10 And cried with a loud voice, saying. Salva
tion to our God which sitteth on the throne, and
unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders and the four
beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God." Those who fell before the throne
were the angels, and not the elders, and the four beasts.

60

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power,
and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
The verse begins and ends with the sacred Amen.
This word means vastly more than Verily, or, So be
it. Rightly understood, it signifies the beginning, the
middle, and the end. It is the tri-syllable unpro
nounceable by physical man as now constituted. As
used by the white-robed multitude, it reveals the
transmutation of their material generative principle
into its spiritual equivalent. It is in fact the Sacred
Word lifted from the bonds of matter, and become the
property and expression of the sexless beings indicated
in the next verse.
"13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto
me. What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him.
Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me. These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb." From the standpoint of a first cen
tury writer, these are the martyrs of the faith under
the Roman Emperors; but in dealing with this verse,
and many others in Revelation, it is unwise to be
satisfied with surface showings. Every age of the
Christian era had its martyrs and those tried in
the fires of affliction.
Washing their robes means that purification where
by the natural body sown in corruption is raised a
spiritual body, not at the judgment day, but at any
earlier period as the verse and the chapter indicate.
To an Initiate of the Mysteries "white in the blood
of the Lamb," would have a meaning quite different

61

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
from any now accepted. The redemptive work of
Jesus consisted in assuming the world debt on which
payment was due even before his advent. At that
advent he became sponsor for the human family
until the next great cycle. This sponsorship he con
firmed by that determination which led him to
Calvary. Those who have washed their robes white
are they who have improved to the utmost the term
of probation which Jesus' sponsorship made possible.
"15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple: and he
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them."
An ancient secret teaching in respect to the earth
and the planets states that all are inhabited, and the
heaven or temple of each, and also its hell, sur
rounds and even penetrates the material sphere.
The seven archangels composing the Sephiroth are
the seven planetary rulers, each of whom is in the
seventh heaven of his planet. The multitude said to
be before the throne of God, are in the fifth and sixth
heaven of our earth; the heaven of John and Daniel
and every other prophet who spake in symbols, those
intermediates which bring heavenly understanding of
things down to the level of human comprehension.
As Swedenborg discovered, distance in the spiritual
world, especially in its highest divisions, is dependent
on mental and spiritual state. When an angel of the
higher heavens is attuned to another, wheresoever
existing, distance is annihilated. Hence in verse 9
we see the angels of our world contacting the throne
of the Divine Center, so that God is said to dwell
with them. While our explanation ignores certain
intermediates between man and the Highest, it gives

62

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the idea conveyed by John's picture, which, though
only a symbol, well serves his purpose. Nevertheless,
who can deny that, in the ages of progress ahead, the
angels of this lowly earth will attain to the actual
vision, and even to the actual presence of the Highest?
"16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor
any heat." See Isa. 49 : 10. Bodily hunger and thirst
here symbolize the soul's hunger and thirst for truth.
The tropical sun and the desert heat symbolize that
spiritual drought which no more shall come upon
them. "17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes." See Psalm 23: 21: Isa. 25: 8.
One of those beautiful pictures of the future, one of
the many messages of hope and consolation which,
aside from the profound inner significance of the
book, have placed Revelation among the greatest
messages of God to man.

63

Chapter VIII
AND when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space
of half an hour." This opening releases the
power of the planet Jupiter whose angel is Suriel.
The little time of probation now is over. The seventh
seal, that of full judgment, is opened and the four
harmful winds, of Chapter 7:1, being no longer
restrained, can work their evils upon the world. The
import of the inner voice of that silence is not
revealed by John. Only what to physical ears would
be silence, for the space of half an hour, indicated the
magnitude of the deed to be performed against the
earth. "2 And I saw the seven angels which stood
before God; and to them were given seven trumpets."
These are the angels of the Sephiroth already
described. 3 And another angel came and stood
at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it
with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne." The golden censer
shows the angel to be serving for Michael. The cry of
the saints in chapter 6: 10, was largely answered at
the opening of the sixth seal. Much incense signifies
that like it the prayers of the saints of all ages have
penetrated to the golden altar, of which every sacri
ficial altar is but a symbol.
"4 And the smoke of the incense, which came
with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand." The smokp of the

64

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
incense has here no hidden significance. It only
completes the picture painted with the temple ser
vice in mind.
"5 And the angel took the censer and filled it
with fire from the altar, and cast it upon the
earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings, and an earthquake." The seed fire from
the altar cast upon the earth is the cause of the dis
turbances mentioned in the verse, for the earth womb
is now ready to receive it. The material scientist
will assert that earthquakes and volcanic outbursts
depend wholly upon material causes located deep in
the earth's crust, and working there in a wholly
mechanical way. The wise ancients knew much
concerning what may be called occult chemistry.
They knew that between mankind and the earth
exists a subtile sympathy which manifests at cer
tain times and seasons: they knew that human
passion, if sufficiently aroused and widespread, would
eventually manifest as a correspondent in the earth's
crust, and so prepare the earth womb for the negative
and destructive solar fire. Hence in all sacred writ
ings, wars — for instance — and earthquakes are
coupled together. Understanding of such matters
will make plain that the judgments described in
Revelation are really induced by man himself. Man
acts with violence, and the earth reacts in like way.
Thus in Isaiah, 29: 6, "Thou shalt be visited of the
Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake,"
and in Matthew 24: 7, "For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in
divers places."

65

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Again in Mark 13: 8, we have the same prediction,
and then in Luke 21:11, "And great earthquakes
shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;
and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven." In Matthew 27: 51, we read: "And, behold,
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks
rent." In the 28th chapter, second verse we read:
"And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came
and rolled back the stone." Finally in Acts 16:26;
"And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken: and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every
one's bands were loosed."
"6 And the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound." The
seven angels are those of the Sephiroth already
described. These are now prepared to sound the
Creative Word in its destructive aspect, and in seven
ways each of which results in the birth of an event.
The seven births are the seven children of earth's
abnormal condition.
"7 The first angel sounded, and there followed
hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast
upon the earth: and the third part of the trees were
burned up, and all green grass was burned up." See
Ezek. 38:22. The angel is the representative ol
Michael. He is the angel of the first seal and of the
bow. What his seed arrows produced when shot into
the earth is now revealed as hail and fire and blood
Hail and lightning together are not infrequent, bu1
the word blood indicates a result of volcanic action

66

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
namely: quantities of descending lava or ashes of a
dull red hue destroying vegetation over a large tract;
not one-third of the earth , but one-third of a certain area.
"8 And the second angel sounded, and as it
were a great mountain burning with fire was cast
into the sea: and the third part of the sea became
blood." The second angel is Raguel, he of the red
horse and the great sword. Evidently the cataclysm
here described is to occur in the region where the
sword of battle is red with slaughter. "As it were a
great mountain, burning with fire was cast into the
sea:" may mean that the bulk of some huge volcano
is hurled into the water, or it may signify a volcanic
mountain rising from the sea. A burning mountain
in the midst of the sea would be reflected as blood
upon the waters around it.
"9 And the third part of the creatures which
were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part
of the ships were destroyed." Because of the sea-
volcano, a third part of the fish are scalded, and the
third part of the ships burned in an area of water
perhaps as large as the Mediterranean sea.
"10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell
a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp,
and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon
the fountains of waters." To make evident the
nature of this star we shall paraphrase a page from
the Mystery Teachings: Aries and Libra are the
axial ends of the Zodiac. Because in the equinoctical
procession the north pole of the earth describes a
circle, the immovable Zodiac seems to turn westward
like a great wheel. So Aries and Libra never are seen
as stationary signs. Aries the Lamb symbolizes Divine
67

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Love, and Libra the balance symbolizes Divine
Justice. Now Divine Love and Justice change not
however much their heavenly signs may seem so to do.
Therefore when Aries-Libra gives way to Pisces-
Virgo, the earth still experiences love and justice,
but modified, though still expressed by this doublet;
and then by Capricornus-Cancer and the doublets
which follow. Thus Aries- Libra is an all-inclusive and
ever-present sign, and hence the honor accorded to
the Lamb throughout Revelation.
The great star whose influence has fallen from
heaven, is the planet sacred to Gabriel, and also to
Libra. This planet is the now invisible one known
to the ancient Wise, and for which modern Astrology
has substituted the dead and fallible moon. Gabriel's
planet is indicated by the number 10, and its move
ments, together with those of the visible moon whose
number is 9, reveal the correct time of earthly events.
Lastly, Gabriel's planet is the one composed of that
finer than terrestrial substance through which the
Sun pours a pure violet light. This planet becomes
visible from time to time in the world's history, but
then only because of certain psychical conditions
which great happenings cast upon the human race.
It is the star of the Magi and of the Cradle; and the
star of generation which must have shone upon
Abraham what time the Lord promised that from him
should spring a mighty nation. If in Aries-Libra the
star meant generation, and in Pisces- Virgo it signi
fied promise, so in Aquarius-Leo it will foretell judg
ment upon the wicked.
"And it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and
upon the fountains of waters." As the dead moon

68

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
affects the ocean waters, so with many the violet
planet, grown visible, will affect harmfully the life
currents, and the heart, that fountain of the blood.
"11 And the name of the star is called Worm
wood : and the third part of the waters became worm
wood; and many men died of the waters, because
they were bitter." This is the star of that equalizer
of accounts who, after the third seal, went forth on a
black horse. Evidently the star of Gabriel — that
knower of all secret events — is to appear at the end
of a short and black cycle of years. This event will
indicate bitter things to that one-third of mankind
who deserve them.
"12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third
part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the
moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third
part of them was darkened, and the day shone not
for a third part of it, and the night likewise." This
is the trumpet of the angel who, at the opening of
the fourth seal, was symbolized as riding on a pale
horse with Death and Hell in his train. The darken
ing of a third part of the sunlight and the moonlight
and the starlight is brought about through the power
of Saturn whose angelic ruler is Jerahmeel. The
verse indicates spiritual blindness, and evidently
more affecting a third of the human race, also it
may indicate peculiar atmospheric conditions which
obscure the heavenly lights.
Again, this darkening of the sun, moon, and stars,
also foretold in chapter 6: 12, and which had been
prophesied by the Master himself in Matthew 24: 29,
and in Mark 13: 24, and by Isaiah, will admit
of a third interpretation; one unknown to physical

69

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
science, but no doubt familiar to John. The Sun is a
huge dynamo whose source of light, heat, and electri
city, is in the unseen Centre of Being. For our solar
system the sun is the positive pole of light, and every
planet and its every creature has within itself the
negative pole of that light; hence the connection is
complete. Normal man and his normal world are receptive
of that quantity and quality of the Sun's light which,
through the ages, they have been accustomed to.
However, when whole nations become as abnormal
as single individuals sometimes do, then through
sympathy the earth itself is similarly affected, and
is receptive of less than its proper sunlight, or else it
receives some abnormal phase thereof. As for man,
because the human eye is but an outward material
organ dependent upon the soul within, to him in
abnormal times the Sun will seem as dark as to
the devils of whom Swedenborg tells ; also the reflected
light of the moon will undergo a change, and even
the light of the stars.
"13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying
through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud
voice. Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the
earth by the reason of the other voices of the trumpet
of the three angels, which are yet to sound." The
verse can be passed without comment since by means
of it the drama is continued into the next chapter.

70

Chapter IX
AND the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star
fall from heaven upon the earth; and to him
was given the key of the bottomless pit."
The star is Venus whose angel is Uriel of the fifth
seal. Because of the abnormal condition of the
earth womb indicated in chapter 8:5, that womb is
here likened to the pit of hell the key to which
is the penetrating negative Venusian rays which, like
the negative solar rays, become operative under certain
conditions. "2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great
furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit." The verse indicates
abnormal conditions like those described in the pre
ceding chapter, or else it means wide and deep fis
sures in the earth crust from which escape sulphurous
fumes and smoke of hidden fires filling the air, and
darkening the sun.
"3 And there came out of the smoke locusts
upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as
the scorpions of the earth have power." The locusts
can be explained in two ways; the first explanation
is that they are gases poison to man, hence they are
likened to venomous serpents. They are in fact the
negative sun seeds quickened by the negative Venusian
fires, and risen from the earth as countless atoms of
gaseous poison.
"4 And it was commanded them that they
should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any

71

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
green thing, neither any tree; but only those men
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."
See Ezek. 9 : 4. The command that the locusts hurt
not the vegetation should be noted. Many gases
inimical to animal life are innocuous, or even bene
ficial where vegetable life is concerned. That the
locusts should harm only the unsealed, those not of
the 144,000, would indicate that the plague is con
fined to certain localities.
"5 And to them it was given that they should
not kill them, but that they should be tormented
five months : and their torment was as the torment of
a scorpion, when he strike th a man." While not
fatal, the plague is to last for five months. The key
to these months is the lunar cycle of nineteen years,
here reckoned as one year ; hence the plague is to last
a little less than eight years; in fact five-twelfths of
nineteen years. That its torment is compared to that
of a scorpion would indicate some eruptive disease
affecting the entire cuticle.
"6 And in those days shall men seek death, and
shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death
shall flee from them." The fiery nature of this erup
tion is such that death would seem a relief. The
above in respect to the locusts is but a literal inter
pretation of a distemper which probably is physi
ological, and burns as a fever in the minds of men,
thus inciting them to civil strife, and anarchy like
that witnessed in France during the Revolution. Our
interpretation of the next five verses will conform
to this second explanation.
"7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto
horses prepared unto battle ; and on their heads were

72

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as
the faces of men." This description warrants the
second theory in respect to these creatures. The
Revelator is describing things visible only to super-
physical sense. The locusts are hellish thought
forms evolved and shaped by human hatred, and
violence. They move swiftly even as hatred flies
from one to another among men. They enact the
part of tyrant kings, for they are crowned with
spurious gold. That they have human intelligence
is evident since their faces are those of men.
"8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions." See Joel 1:6.
Long hair usually denotes strength, but here it denotes
that these thought forms emanate from the minds of
evil women as well as evil men. Besides hate, like
love its opposite, is a feminine quality. That these
forms have lion's teeth shows a savage nature and an
ability to rend their victims.
"9 And they had breastplates, as it were breast
plates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as
the sound of chariots of many horses running to
battle." Breastplates of iron signify that they are
not easily vanquished being in fact almost invulner
able. Though the sound of their wings is as described,
that sound is audible only to the super-physical ear.
"10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and
there were stings in their tails: and their power was
to hurt men five months." The five months are the
eight years already mentioned. Evil thought forms
are always of fantastic or horrible shape. Horses
eager for battle, lions hungering for prey, and
scorpions ready to strike, are similes intended to
73

THE REVELATION Ob JUHJN
depict the utter malignity of the men, and even th(
women, who created these creatures.
"11 And they had a king over them, which ii
the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in th(
Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongu(
hath his name Apollyon." Abaddon is the beast; th(
antipodes, and dark counterfeit, and natural antago
nist of the leonine Michael.
"12 One woe is past; and, behold, there com(
two woes more hereafter." The verse requires nc
comment. "13 And the sixth angel sounded, anc
I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden alta:
which is before God." The golden altar is the sui
now in Aquarius. The four horns of the altar are th(
four quarters of the heavens, and the four corner
of the earth guarded by Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, anc
Raphael. "14 Saying to the sixth angel which had thi
trumpet. Loose the four angels which are bound ii
the great river Euphrates." The sixth angel i
Raphael whose planet is Mercury. The mysteriou
Euphrates flows from the holy mountain of the Lord
the Olympus of the Greeks, the great and high Men
of the Hindoos. That mountain is the solar orb, th
fountain-head wherefrom the streaming rays nourisj
the earth even to its four corners. Not only in Gene
sis, but in certain other occult writings, the solar ray
are divided into four streams. To Michael belon:
the golden rays, to Gabriel the violet, to Uriel th
dark blue, and to Raphael the yellow. That thes
angels and their rays have never been bound i
evident from their activities already described. Th
loosing means that the energy of the so-called angel
74

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
of the four divisions of the Zodiac is now to be liber
ated against the earth. These divisions are those of
Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, the sky controllers; Cancer,
Leo, and Virgo, the rulers of the rivers; Libra, Scorpio,
and Sagittarius' presiding over the land; and Cap-
ricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the lords of the
oceans. "15 And the four angels were loosed, which were
prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a
year, for to slay the third part of men." Here, as in
verses 5 and 10, the measure of time is the lunar
cycle of about 19 years of 360 days each. Prophetic
time and astronomic time rarely agree to a nicety;
hence the . impossibility of determining exactly the
falling due of any prediction of the Hebrew prophets.
The time indicated in verse 15 is 19 hours, 19 days,
19 months, and 19 years. At first thought it seems
absurd that these hours and days should be added
to the months and years. Since weeks are here
omitted, it may be that nineteen weeks would make
the total excessive, and that a nearly correct period
could be better indicated by the days and hours.
The sum of the four periods is about twenty years,
seven months, and nineteen days, reckoning 360 days
as a year, or twenty years and four months, reckoning
365^ days as a year.
This period almost equals the three and one-half
days of chapter 11:9. In the light of the verses
which follow, the words "to slay the third part of
men" evidently mean war on a huge scale. This war
of the ages began in 1898 on the super-physical plane,
but was not brought down to the material plane until
1914.

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"16 And the number of the army of the horse
men were two hundred thousand thousand: and I
heard the number of them." The horsemen are what
are known as "fiery lives." They are the sun atoms
or seeds whose normal office is to enter into every
kind of seed sown in the earth. In the abnormal
times of which Revelation treats, these seeds enter
the human mind and germinate as those impulses
which set nation against nation in universal war.
"Two hundred thousand thousand" means a vast
but indefinite number.
"17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire,
and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the
horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their
mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone." To
the well-informed it is evident that the Revelator
holds firmly a belief in Zodiacal, solar, and planetary
influence upon this earth and its inhabitants. In
an age of discovery which has made known and
usable the material currents of force circulating
around the globe, are we not warranted in arguing
that like currents flow from planet to planet, and
even from star to star? In an age which is demon
strating that super-physical currents emanate from
mind to mind, can we not contend that the collective
life of one planet can influence the collective life of
another? Assent to these questions will place the
ancient Astrology — once the serious study and occu
pation of the wise — upon its former footing, and
vindicate the claim of Revelation to be a reliable
forecast of things to come at the end of the Piscean
age. 76

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Like the horses of verse 7, those of verse 17 are
prepared unto battle, but battle more dreadful than
any civil strife ; battle more general than any previous
ones, for this is the first Armageddon, the type of the
final Armageddon to be fought at the end of the
millennial period. "Breastplates of fire, and of
jacinth, and brimstone" constitute a triple armor
more defensive than that of the locusts. The lion-
headed horses are of solar origin, for Leo the heavenly
lion symbolizes the sun. The fire and smoke and
brimstone from the horses' mouths suggest hell
rather than heaven, but John is describing the
negative solar force-atoms, and hell is but heaven
reversed. "18 By these three were the third part of men
killed by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brim
stone, which issued out of their mouths." The nega
tive solar atoms enter the minds of evil men whose
arms and swords and every means of aggression
become theirs. These aggressive forces are here
named smoke, and fire, and brimstone. The multi
tudes killed by them are denominated the third part
of men.
"19 For their power is in their mouth, and in
their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents and
had heads, and with them they do hurt." The ser
pent is the emblem both of Divine Wisdom and
fiendish cunning. The fire from the mouths of the
serpents may be the pure creative fire, or its lurid
and destructive opposite. That the heavenly and
the hellish should emanate from the solar source is
indeed paradoxical. To speak plainer than in our
explanation of verse 12, chapter 8, the solution of
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the matter is that, when emanated, these solar forces
are neutral, but afterwards they take to themselves
the characteristics of the soil wherein they germinate,
whether that soil be the human heart, or the earth
womb. Evidently the sting like that of the serpent
is an enforced characteristic for, according to the
ancient Secret Science, the venom of snakes and the
savagery of beasts have in a large degree been thrust
upon them by the obsessing will of evil men.
"20 And the rest of the men which were not
killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works
of their hands, that they should not worship devils,
and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone,
and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor
walk." As already stated, the sixth trumpet cor
responds with the sixth seal. From the awful hap
penings following the opening of that seal, one would
suppose the end of all things to be at hand; but,
from what is stated in the above verse, it is evident
that that exaggeration which characterizes oriental
imagery has entered largely into the description from
verse 12 to the end of chapter 6. Moreover, it is
very probable that the entire book of Revelation is
highly colored, in fact over-colored if judged by
Western standards. Nevertheless, we object to the
methods of those who interpret Revelation as if in
every particular a symbolical book: those to whom,
for instance, earth always represents society; moun
tains, kingdoms; heavens, the power of spiritual
control ; seas, the restless, turbulent, dissatisfied masses ;
fire, devastation; and earthquake, social revolution
and anarchy.
Notwithstanding this, the intent of verse 20 is

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
plain enough. It declares that, despite of every warn
ing and portent, the world at large will continue in
the old way, eating and drinking gluttonously, and
marrying and giving in marriage in its most carnal
sense, and bowing down to Mammon, and selling
itself for those things which perish in the using.
"21 Neither repented they of their murders nor
of their sorceries, nor of theirfornications, nor of their
thefts." In this indictment the Revelator depicts
that deep of degradation into which the wicked have
sunk themselves. This condition is possible in a time
of revealing when all things, bad as well as good, are
thrown to the surface of human life that there the
good may be gathered up and preserved, and the
bad may be destroyed as by fire.

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Chapter X
FOLLOWING our usual method we now take
up, verse by verse, the great matters sym
bolized in chapter 10.
"And I saw another mighty angel coming down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow was
upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun,
and his feet as pillars of fire." "Clothed with a
cloud" signifies mystery, as appears in the fourth
verse. The rainbow upon his head promises peace
after the world storm has spent its fury; also it is a
clue to a matter mentioned in the next verse. "And
his face was as it were the sun" shows that he acts
for Michael the Sun as judgment matured and oper
ative. "And his feet as pillars of fire" reveals him
to be the archangel Raphael who understands all
things through Love. His planet is Mercury the
guardian of the East and of the ocean waters, whereas
Uriel, or Venus is the guardian of the West and of
the dry land. As Swedenborg did not believe in arch
angels, nor in any ranks between God and man,
his explanation of this chapter is much aside from the
meaning of John.
"2 And he had in his hand a little book open:
and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left
foot upon the earth." The little book open held
matters which, though relating to the end of the age,
are yet revealable at a somewhat earlier time. To
one who understands the next sentence, the angel
looks to the South, that land of mystery, symbolized
by Gabriel's moon, the planet of generation both of

80

the revelation of JOHN
men and events, while his left foot touches that part
of the Tetrad over which stands the Great Pyramid,
and his right foot rests upon the opposite point of the
Tetrad near the Hawaiian Islands. The Tetrad is
explained in the next chapter. As the rainbow is an
arch spanning the sky, so the curve of the globe below
the feet of the angel is a half circle. A mystery above
and a mystery below.
"3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion
roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders
uttered their voices." Acting for Michael, Raphael
is lion-like, and his voice is that of the king of beasts;
a voice whose appropriate reply would be the seven
thunders containing the fulness of mystery.
"4 And when the seven thunders had uttered
their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a
voice from heaven saying unto me, seal up those
things which the seven thunders uttered, and write
them not." The Revelator gives in number and
symbol many things for our deciphering; but other
things are not for our knowing save as the months
and years reveal them. Full knowledge of the future
would paralyze human effort, and leave man a prey
unto dread of the inevitable. No doubt the unwrit
ten things were specific statements, detail of events
due at the end of the age.
"5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the
sea, and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever,
who created heaven, and the things that therein are,
and the earth, and the things that therein are, and
the sea, and the things that are therein, that there
should be time no longer." The angel's hand up-

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
lifted signifies truth in respect to great matters.
His swearing by God and his creation, both in heaven
and earth, that time should be no longer, signifies a
mighty event affecting the whole earth, and con
sequently its established order of time, also it hints
mysteriously at the destruction of the mystic Baby
lon. The ancients made 360 days a divine year and,
to conform with the material facts, they added five
and one-fourth days, those which inharmony had
added to the earth's true orbital time. This addition
because they believed that, in the golden age before
the flood, the 360-day year obtained. The Revelator
would have us understand that after a prophesied
event earthly time would again be changed.
"7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of
God should be finished, as he hath declared to his
servants the prophets." The voice of the seventh
angel is to be followed by the final and greater earth
quake and the Judgment of Babylon due before the
beginning of the millennial period. This period
should last nearly 2,000 years.
"8 And the voice which I heard from heaven
spake unto me again, and said. Go and take the
little book which is open in the hand of the angel
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth."
A simple statement requiring no comment.
"9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him.
Give me the little book. And he said unto me. Take
it, and eat it up ; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but
shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey." The learned
in the Secret Science will understand that the angel's
right foot upon the sea indicated the spot at the

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
edge of Raphael's dominion, where the nucleus of a
continent shall be lifted up. Perhaps the book
revealed the beauties of that land and the perfection
of its people. So at first thought, or in the mouth,
it would be like honey.
"10 And I took the little book out of the angel's
hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet
as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was
bitter." See Ezek. 3:3. The verse means that while
the fair promises of the book were to be fulfilled,
digestion of it, or consideration of its contents, revealed
that the rise of old Lemuria would cause a correspond
ing depression on the globe's opposite side; perhaps
a great enlargement of the Mediterranean basin
northward and perhaps southward. This calamity
would involve regions well known to John and no
doubt dear to him.
"11 And he said unto me. Thou must prophesy
again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues,
and kings." Evidently the prophecy would refer to
the judgment upon the European peoples; and for
nineteen centuries have not peoples and nations and
tongues and kings had before their eyes the tenth
chapter of Revelation?

83

Chapter XI
NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that chapter
9: 16 dealt with the sixth trumpet, the
eleventh chapter deals with events begun
when, in the great Zodiacal cycle, the sun entered the
outskirts of Pisces-Virgo about two hundred and sixty
years before the year that, according to general
belief, witnessed the birth of Messiah. That he did
not appear at the possible beginning of the cycle was
due to several causes. His number then was Pisces
11 and Virgo 10. From these, according to the
method of John, is derived the secret number 111.
Therefore Messiah would not appear until 111 years
after the Sun's faintest contact with Pisces. Again,
other reasons still further delayed his advent, for
instance, the maturing of the Jewish period of which
he would be the Judge. The cycle of Pisces-Virgo
ended its direct influence in the sign of Capricornus
on December 21, 1899. These are the corrected
figures. Often our figures are the uncorrected ones, those
of the Initiates and Prophets; in fact the ideal figures
proper to the geometrically constructed universe
when undisturbed by marring influences. These
figures allow 360 days for the solar, and 354 1-3 days
for the lunar year. To the solar year the Initiates
added 5}i days of travail, or delayed delivery; where
as to the lunar year they added about 11 days.
That the Initiates always obtained results satis
factory to modern astronomers, is proved by the
measurements preserved in the Great Pyramid.

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Following our usual method, let us take the entire
chapter verse by verse and discover the central
meaning of each. As for the secondary meanings
contained in every verse, we leave them to those who
interpret Revelations from a merely astrological, or
a wholly theosophical viewpoint.
"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod;
and the angels stood saying: Rise, and measure the
temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship
therein." See Ezek. 40: 3-5. To make this verse plain
we must explain the mystery of the Tetrad. The
ancient Initiates well knew the. earth to be outwardly
a sphere, and inwardly a douibJo pyramid joined at rt8
two n^claiigillai^-bases, thus forming-^he square. This
was placed within the spherical shell so that one point
touched the north pole, and the other the south pole,
while the remaining six points touched the globe's
circumference at places sixty degrees apart.
The center and the upper and lower ends of the
Tetrad were stable, while the six points revolved
around them. The upper point of the Tetrad cor
responded with the Sun, and was the earthly Mount
Meru of the Hindoos, the material Olympus of the
initiate Greeks, the holy mountain of Isaiah, and the
primal Eden of Genesis from which originated the
four rivers flowing to the earth's circumference where
four points of the Tetrad touch it. Much of this has
been set forth by the great pyramid of Cheops which
stands on one of the six points of the Tetrad. We
may be sure that John had knowledge of the facts
above given.
"The Temple of God" is the upper half of the
Tetrad and the immovable center is the altar, that

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
which in most ancient times, before the shifting of
the earth's poles, was approached from the north;
therefore the entrances to the Egyptian pyramids
are on the north side. In the Great Pyramid the
entrance leads by a straight and narrow way to the
king's chamber, once frequented by such as John
proves himself to be.
"2 But the court which is without the temple
leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the
Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under
foot forty and two months." The outer earth is the
spherical shell of the true earth. This outer is the
appropriate dwelling of those who live in external
truth and in the worship of Mammon. Because
impermanent, the outer was not worthy of measure
ment. The holy city is both literally and spiritually
beneath the careless feet of those typified as Gentiles,
and for forty and two months. Following the ancient
method, our elucidation employs the occult Arabic
numerals. These months are the 1260 days or years
to be explained in our exposition of the next chap
ter. 1260 is a blind. The real number is 2160.
The numerical equivalent of 2160 is 9, while 42 is
expressed by its reduced number 6. If 9 express
perfect conditions, then the inverted 9 here will indi
cate the opposite, therefore the 6 signifies the treading
under foot of the holy city during the 1260 days, or
2160 years. Our interpretation is not arbitrary, for
it conforms to the method of the ancients.
"3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred
and three-score days clothed in sackcloth." The

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
witnesses are the Zodiacal powers Pisces and Virgo
the dispensers of rigid Justice, and their term of
office is the 2160 years above mentioned. The cloth
ing in sackcloth indicates unpleasant duty per
formed. "4 These are the two olive trees, and the two
candlesticks standing before the God of the earth."
The two olive trees symbolize the physical good and
the spiritual hope and refreshing which they mete
to the deserving. The two candlesticks symbolize
the light of those two equal truths action and reaction.
By means of these in operation equilibrium is estab
lished, and the poise of the world is preserved.
"5 And if any man will hurt them, fire pro-
ceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their
enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in
this manner be killed." The verse makes plain that
the Zodiacal powers, those loftiest beings knowable
by man, are instruments of the Law. That Law,
which proceeds from the great Center of Being,
requires that they dispense impartial justice; hence
the symbol of devouring their enemies and killing
those who hurt them.
"6 These have power to shut heaven, that it
rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have
power over waters to turn them to blood, and to
smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they
will." Whatever of drouth and famine and pesti
lence these bring upon the earth will be but the
recompense of man's demerit. See I Kings 11: 1;
Ex. 7:10.
"7 And when they shall have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottom-
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
less pit shall make war against them, and shall
overcome them, and shall kill them." Toward the
close of the Pisces-Virgo period, when the power of
the two has diminished almost to the vanishing point,
the dark forces seizing the opportunity, counteract
and finally nullify their efforts. Hence the symbol of
overcoming and killing.
"8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street
of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." See
Heb. 13: 12. By the great city is meant the spheri
cal earth here likened, by way of emphasis, to Sodom
the place of destruction, and Egypt, the house of
bondage. In its original intent Jerusalem typified the
holy Tetrad, the new Jerusalem. Hence Christ was
crucified beyond the city walls, and on a mount
which typified the outer material earth ; afterward his
body was laid in a tomb which typified the streets of
the great city. In that tomb the Lord typified the
vanished power of Pisces-Virgo at the end of the age.
"9 And they of the people and kindreds and
tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three
days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead
bodies to be put in graves." The peoples and kindreds
and tongues and nations are the great multitude
who, having heard the warnings of these witnesses,
are still in unbelief. In computing the three days
and an half, the 2160 years should be considered one
great year. The three days and an half are 21 years
of 360 days each from 1898, or 20 years and 8 months,
if 365 days be a year. During that time the wit
nesses are held in scorn and contempt; hence the
symbol of their lying unburied.

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send
gifts one to another; because these two prophets
tormented them that dwell on the earth." The
verse is not an overdrawn picture of multitudes
to-day, eaters and drinkers and careless merry
makers even as in the days of Noe. This despite of
the seriousness which universal war forces upon
others. The warning prophecies of dire calamity
which the unworthy were compelled to hear, are now
in their overdue or travail period; hence they seem
proven false and fit only for jest and laughter.
"11 And after three days and an half the Spirit
of life from God entered into them, and they stood
upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which
saw them." The travail period of 20^ years ended,
the prophets live again to fulfill their predictions;
they stand upon their feet ready for the crowding
events foretold, wherefore a revulsion of mood, a great
fear, falls upon the unworthy.
"12 And they heard a great voice from heaven say
ing unto them. Come up hither. And they ascended
up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld
them." The loud command from heaven: "Come up
hither" signifies supreme confirmation of their
authority. Their ascent in a cloud before their
enemies is their majestic approach to those seats of
judgment where, as regents of the Divine, they now
must officiate for a season.
"13 And the same hour there was a great earth
quake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the
earthquake was slain of men seven thousand: and
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the
God of heaven." It would be misleading to give to
the opening sentence of the verse only a symbolical
meaning. That cataclysms occur at the termination
of certain cycles, and that man himself is a potent
factor among the causes of their bringing about,
was well known to the Initiates in whose school
John always gives evidence of having been a deep
student. The number proper to man is 9, whereas to woman,
because of her capacity for motherhood, was given
the number 10. The woman who avoids motherhood,
in its material or else its spiritual form, is deemed
sterile and loses one-tenth of her true number.
Because from her womb the earth brings forth her
yield, the number 10 is proper to her. The barren
fig-tree which Jesus cursed, typified the unfruitful parts
of earth in the judgment coming at the end of the
age. The wise ancients knew the earth to be a sphere,
and its great circle of 360 degrees they divided into
ten equal parts. The words: "the tenth part of the
city fell" mean the tenth part of the world as gen
erally known in John's time, or it may signify one-
tenth of the globe's surface. In either case the one-
tenth becomes a barren waste.
This unproductive part may consist of desert land,
but more likely of desert water. In this latter case
the rising of a continent — or the nucleus thereof, —
and the submergence of certain sections of the conti
nental areas, will no doubt result. However, the
earthquake possibly may signify the destruction of
temporal kingdoms and powers.
By the words: "and in the earthquake was slain of

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
men seven thousand" the Initiate seer shows knowl
edge concerning the seven divisions of the human
race. In this separation of the sheep from the goats,
the doomed lowest of the seven divisions would not
necessarily comprise the world's ignorant peoples.
Far more likely is it that in the earthquake will be
caught the sinners against the full light which a high
civilization supposedly gives. In a time of wide judg
ment those of kindred natures gravitate each to each,
so that the destruction of the seven thousand, who
here signify conditions rather than numbers, would
not greatly involve the comparatively good . Those of
this intermediate class are the remnant so-called,
who, through fear rather than repentance, give glory
to the God of heaven.
"14 The second woe is past; and behold, the
third woe cometh quickly." Since it is not the Reve
lator's purpose here to discover the nature of the
second woe, let us proceed directly to the next verse,
where is resumed the narrative broken off with
chapter 9:21.
"15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying. The kingdoms
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
7 is the exoteric number denoting fulness, and
interiorly it is connected with 10, the real number of
completeness. As man is born into completeness after
three lunar months of incipient life, and six months
of increasing growth, so, according to the Secret
Science, while the world was created in six ages and
then reached completeness, these stages were pre
ceded by three of secret preparation unmentioned in
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Genesis. These secret ages correspond with Uranus
and Neptune and a planet beyond.
Beginning with the year 1898, or thereabouts, three
trumpets, corresponding with the influence of those
planets, had sounded in secret, and their voices and
effects had been apparent in the super-physical world
before the first trumpet of Revelation, and what is
true of the trumpets applies to the seals. Because of
the ten seals and the ten trumpets, and the outcome
as foreseen on high, the great voices in heaven utter
the triumphant words: "The kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
"16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat
before God on their seats, fell upon their faces."
The twelve Zodiacal powers are all bi-sexual. Each
includes that which, in the human race and all lower
creatures, becomes male and female. The word
bi-sexual here indicates a condition far above sex as
generally understood. The words: "which sat before
God on their seats," hints at the mystery of the
Supreme Throne, the secret place of the Most High,
the Spiritual Sun invisible to mortal eyes, and in
fact the Divine Center of the Zodiacal Ring before
which all the hosts of heaven humble themselves.
"17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come;
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and
hast reigned." Although the Zodiacal circle is in
time, and its time is the standard of measurements
adopted by the prophets and seers of old, the center
of the circle is in Eternity indicated by the words:
"which art, and wast, and art to come." The Center

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
is the real source from which, through its Zodiacal
representatives, eternal Law and Justice are adminis
tered to the world, as notably now at the end of the
age; therefore: "thou hast taken to thee thy great
power and hast reigned."
"18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath
is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be
judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy
servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them
that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth." The words
"And the nations were angry," refer to matters found
in the next chapter. Commentators easily discover
in Revelation a lack of sequence, and a disregard of
chronological order. Nevertheless there is always a
method beneath this outward confusion. It would
seem that the twenty-two chapters were given to
John at intervals, and in visions whose contents
sometimes overlap what is to follow. At other times
events are repeated, for instance, the sixth verse of
chapter twelve is almost duplicated in the fourteenth
verse. Such duplications often contain information
not incorporated in the first account.
"And thy wrath is come." Wrath, as generally
understood, has no place in the Divine Nature.
Matured Judgment is here meant. Concerning that
Judgment, there is a mystery long known to the few.
Judgment was due at the beginning of the great cycle
of Pisces- Virgo, but because Messiah became sponsor
for the human race, that judgment was deferred dur
ing the entire cycle, and no longer. This sponsorship
is the base on which the doctrine of the Atonement
was reared. Now sponsorship and atonement are not

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the same. Messiah was the burden-bearer, human
ity's strong elder brother who assumed the world's
crushing load until, at the end of another cycle and
through a slow but sure attainment, it would prove
itself worthy. Since both worth and unworth have
resulted, judgment upon forty- two hundred years of
accumulating evil is at hand.
Gross misunderstanding of the words: "and the
time of the dead, that they should be judged," and
other texts of like import, have given rise to the
absurd doctrine that the dead sleep until the Last
Judgment. The dead here designated are the
unawakened, the dead in trespasses and sin. "And
that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the
prophets, and the saints, and them that fear thy
name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them
which destroy the earth," means that the sowers of
good seed, each according to his ability and worth,
shall now reap the long-delayed harvest, and that
those who with tares destroyed the good sowing,
shall be cut down and cast out.
"19 And the temple of God was open in heaven,
and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testa
ment: and there were lightnings, and voices, and
thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
The open temple of God signifies Divine Truth, and
the ark of his testament signifies the light of that
truth on the revealed law which Jesus summarized
in two commandments applicable to all men regard
less of creed or caste. "And there were lightnings,
and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake."
This is the third woe, the one closing the trumpet series,
which now is to be separated from the vial series.

94

Chapter XII
THE twelfth chapter of Revelation has been a
stumbling block both to theologians and to
Bible students. This their attempted inter
pretations amply show. Sectarian bias, and precon
ceived theories touching the ways of God toward man,
have blinded most of these expounders of this great
and pregnant chapter, so they looked not above
creedal limits; much less did they look beyond this
little world to others which, as instruments of the
Divine Plan, have a regulative purpose towards
humanity as a whole; a purpose whose accomplish
ment is Justice fulfilled, especially at those seasons
when the means to that necessary end are most avail
able. Let us now examine this chapter, taken from the
deepest Mystery Teachings, and, verse by verse,
throw upon it the light at present permissible.
"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. "
Dismissing as inadequate, and even false, the notion
that the woman signifies the Jewish Christians, or
the mother of the Babylonian sun-god Marduk, or
that of Grecian Apollo, or of Egyptian Osiris; or that
she is the New Church of Swedenborg, or Divine
Science as revealed by Mrs. Eddy, let us say that the
Mystery Teaching shows her to be Aquarius when
the sun in apparent backward motion reaches that
constellation. Clothed with the sun, the woman

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then assumes the office of the Zodiac; wherefore she
is crowned with twelve stars. Since Aquarius, or
any other sign, influences man primarily through the
Sun, and secondarily through the Moon, the latter is
beneath the feet of the woman. Moreover, the Sun
above and the Moon below are mystically related to
the Word about to be made manifest.
"2 And she being with child cried, travailing in
birth, and pained to be delivered." While this verse
is chiefly an introduction to the events described in
verse five, it also indicates the travail years extending
beyond the ideal time of delivery, even as five days
prolong the ideal solar year of 360 days.
"3 And there appeared another wonder in
heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven
heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his
heads." The dragon is neither the constellation of
that name, nor is it Rome; therefore the mistake of
those who would find in the chapter a meaning wholly
astrological, and of those who find a meaning quite
external. The method of "John" the Initiate was to
veil in the likeness of other things the real matter,
that so it might be preserved until the time when
momentous events would prepare the world for the
truth thus skillfully hidden.
The red dragon is a real being, the leader of the
hosts of darkness, the head of what is known as the
Black Lodge. His seven heads and their seven crowns
indicate that he draws to his cause the entire evil of
every planet, including the earth ; while the ten horns
indicate the fulness of evil found at the pole opposite
that summit of perfection which in the Solar Logos,
is indicated by the number 10.

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"4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars
of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to
be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born." This verse, together with the first, has misled
many to suppose that in part the chapter is an inter
polation of certain so-called heathen myths, but we
do not so read. The reference is to the war of the ages
which begins in super-physical realms and later is
transferred to the material world as the prophesied
rising of nation against nation. See chapter 9: 15.
The tail of the dragon is the evil persuasion by
which he draws to his earthly cause the evil hosts of
Mars and Saturn, and the other planets from the
moon to Jupiter inclusive. The evil drawn from those
higher planets Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter, is small
in bulk, but more and more concentrative in quality.
Knowledge of all this fact is necessary to the under
standing of the seven heads and seven crowns men
tioned in verse three.
As regards the child about to be born, the dragon's
purpose was not to devour, for that is but a symbol.
Rather it was to deprive him of his power by divert
ing the force of Aquarius, and so leaving him empty
of his message and purpose.
"5 And she brought forth a man-child who would
rule all nations with a rod of iron ; and her child was
caught up to God, and to his throne." Christian
commentators generally agree that the child is Christ ;
but why he should be caught up to God and to his
throne has greatly mystified them. We teach that the
man-child is the Aquarian Avatar to be, and, through
that execution of Divine Justice which precedes his
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
coming, Messiah in a way already is ruling the nations
with a rod of iron. Are not old scores being settled?
Are not the people being tried as by fire? Shall not
all who worship the dragon be dashed in pieces like a
potter's vessel? Before the very eyes of men are not
the sheep being separated from the goats in a universal
judgment? As for the child, in this time of his danger
is he not under the special protection of the Solar
Powers and their throne of God, the highest of which
man can have knowledge?
"6 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." Conforming to a custom long
approved by the wise, the Initiate author here con
ceals the real figures while seeming to reveal them.
The 1260 days are equivalent to the 2160 years of
chapter 11: 3; but whereas the first 2160 years are
now time fulfilled, the like years of chapter 12 date
from about 1898 A. D., and terminate at the end of
the millennial period. The wilderness prepared by
God for the woman is the comparatively empty space
between Aquarius and Capricornus. The feeding of
the woman signifies that her power over the earth
shall continue during her entire period.
"7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and
his angels fought against the dragon ; and the dragon
fought and his angels." The great war was hinted
at in the comment on verse 4. Christian commen
tators have been puzzled because the archangel
Michael, and not Christ himself, should lead the
heavenly hosts. Now Michael here represents the
Sun, the solar Logos, the great channel through which

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the Aquarian forces are brought down to this planet
and to others in their turn; therefore the angels of
light acknowledged Michael as their head.
"8 And prevailed not; neither was their place
found any more in heaven." In a cause whereof
Michael is the solar head, and in which the Zodiacal
hosts are by no means remotely interested, the out
come cannot be doubted if one understand the nature
of the forces pledged to maintain the right.
"9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him." The verse makes
plain that the dragon, otherwise the serpent or the
Devil, is not an astrological symbol, or the incorporeal
power of evil, but in fact embodied wickedness. If
there be angels and archangels, the law of opposites
requires that there also be fiends and archfiends.
Casting out into the earth means not total defeat,
but great humbling and a resulting painful condition
of the Satanic hosts.
"10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven.
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the King
dom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night." The verse con
tains a statement not to be understood in any age
of the world prior to the present one. No imperial
tyrant of pagan Rome would accuse the righteous
before their God in whom he believed not; neither
would Satan, that beguiler of men, accuse them
directly. The mouthpiece of the accuser is a king born at

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the beginning of the Aquarian Age. Because the
dupe and the servant of the Evil One, not only will
he proclaim his own cause justified in the sight of
heaven, but also he will denounce before God all who
in the cause of humanity adhere to the right.
The voice of thanksgiving heard in heaven is for
victory which there is seen as accomplished, whereas
that victory has not yet been won on the earth.
This because on the physical plane events are in time
as there measured, while on the highest heavenly
planes they are in Eternity.
"11 And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they
loved not their lives unto the death." The word
"they" in the first line makes evident that the war
in heaven had extended to the human race; while
the words "overcame him" mean that, strictly, the
righteous overcame not Satan, but in fact his
adherents among men. The expression, "blood of
the Lamb," is much misleading to those employing
ordinary methods of interpretation. The author,
known to the world as John, was a Christian mystic
and seer of the type of Swedenborg, but one of much
higher rank, and withal a revelator having access to
certain secret knowledge of which Swedenborg's
writings show no trace as is made plain by his idea
that the days given in the sixth verse make three
and one-half years.
According to Swedenborg, " the blood of the Lamb,"
is Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine
Humanity. Now we teach that while the life of the
physical body of Jesus was the red blood, the blood
meant by John was the principle of Spiritual Will;

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that life principle which sustained the Master through
every trial and temptation from Jordan to Calvary;
in fact the blood was that principle which, because
severely tested in the garden, manifested outwardly
as the bloody sweat. Emulating the Spiritual Will
of Jesus, the followers of the Lamb found in it the
means essential to the overcoming mentioned.
By that other factor: "the word of their testi
mony;" is meant a bold and clear assertion of right
principles. The Revelator is dealing with actual
warfare on the physical plane where the right word
stimulates the sword arm. "And they loved not
their lives unto the death" certainly refers to the
martyrs ; but is it not evident that in the world war
men and women are being martyred even as in the
times of Nero and Diocletian?
" 12 Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that
dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth
and of the sea: for the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
but a short time." While in heavenly places there is
rejoicing that the warrior brothers among men faint
not, the earthly conflict grows ever fiercer for, seeing
his end in sight, the devil has instilled his venom into
the hearts of the enemy.
"13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast
unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man-child." Here, as elsewhere
in Revelation, the word dragon signifies one per
fected in the use of infernal arts. The persecution of
the woman who represents Aquarius, consists of the
dragon's attempt, through these arts, to divert the
liberated Zodiacal force manifesting through Aquarius,

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and thus to render impotent its effort to benefit the
world. "14 And the woman was 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."
See Dan. 12:7.
The metaphor of the eagle's wings half reveals the
nature of the woman who, as Aquarius, floats in the
sky, or seems so to do, in the diurnal cycle of the
earth, and in its yearly cycle, and also in the Zodiacal
cycle. By many commentators the remainder of the
verse is rightly identified with the sixth verse. This
to them means redundancy and lack of sequence; in
fact careless arrangement, but with the aid of the
Arabic numerals we shall show to the contrary.
The time, and times, and half a time, are 2160 years
whose reduced number is 9. 48 is the half a time, and
96 is the time. Together they are 144 years whose
reduced number is 9. The remaining 2016 years are
21 times. The total is liyi. times. According to
ancient methods, this total indicates some important
happening 22^ years after 1898. Prophecies hidden
in such a way were meant to reveal only approximate
dates. In this connection let it be said that 9 is the num
ber peculiar to initiation, the one which meant much
to Plato, also the one which ApoUonius said must be
passed over in silence, for it was the key to the great
secrets of initiation, and of the powers which fructify
the earth.
9 is the number sacred to the solar influence con
trolling the human uterus which itself corresponds

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with the universal matrix. Therefore as man is born
after nine solar months, or ten lunar months, so world
events are brought forth soon after nine solar days,
weeks, months, or years, or soon after any solar period
divisible by 9. This number is a favorite with John,
but his enigmatic figures usually conceal it as if in a
womb. " 15 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." The
symbology of this verse has led commentators to
suppose it a free transcription of certain solar myths,
for instance: that of Apollo whose mother escaped
from the Python. Because an Initiate, John well
knew that the key to all mysteries is hid in the Zodiac,
but that his symbology is not always astrological our
interpretation would show.
We do not find that the "water as a flood" neces
sarily indicates a cataclysm upon the physical earth.
We shall here call it a mighty and perhaps vast effort
of the dark hosts, and their representatives among
men, to achieve complete victory against the work
which the woman was missioned to accomplish; they
would sweep away every vestige of it.
"16 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." Continu
ing the metaphor of the flood, the writer here reveals
the defeat of the woman's human enemies, and their
wholesale slaughter, wherefore their power is buried
with them.
"17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman
and went to make war upon the remnant of her seed,

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which keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ." From this it appears
that the new Golden Age of the second Eden comes
not in the immediate wake of this victory. Though
vanquished in heaven, the dragon is for a season
unchained in respect to the earth. Therefore must
the righteous resist even as before. Spiritual growth
like physical growth is gradual. The Millennium has
a slow dawning, but its first faint glow is touching
the remote East.

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Chapter XIII
AND I stood upon the sands of the sea, and saw
a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven
heads, and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
See Dan. 7:3. The beast is Worldliness, and he rises
from the mobile sea of human passions ; a sea often
troubled by the storm of capricious desire. Again,
the beast has no defined birthplace, hence the path
less, indefinite sea. The seven heads are those crown
ing sins wherein all others have origin : Luxury, Wrath,
Idleness, Envy, Avarice, Gluttony, and Pride.
The ten horns are ten evil powers. 10 is the full
number of heavenly perfections and so of their antith
esis the totality of hellish evils. In this connection
blasphemy signifies the assumption of righteousness;
it is hypocrisy in its most blatant expression.
"2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a
leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his
mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave
him power, and his seat, and great authority." See
Dan. 7:6. This nondescript creature is a pseudo-
lion, a counterfeit of the king of beasts, and also of
Leo the heavenly lion. The words of his mouth are
high-sounding, but empty of wisdom. Power, and
place and authority, in fact every opportunity for
evil is given to him by the dragon. Of such com
posite creatures, Swedenborg says that they derive
their existence and shape from the lusts of the spirits
of hell.
"3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all
the world wondered after the beast." The wounded
head is the one named Pride. Jesus the greatest of
earthly kings came in humble garb, and not to be
ministered unto, but to minister. His true humility,
the chief insignia of his greatness, caused a powerful
reaction among the early Christians. Because of
his illustrious example, pomp and pride, even in
high places, seem doomed to extinction; but, after
ward, even in the church itself, pride of place and all
its attendant evils gradually obtained, and so in
respect to that wound the beast was made whole.
No wonder the world said: "After such failure who
can conquer pride?"
"4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave
power unto the beast: and they worshipped the
beast, saying. Who is like unto the beast? who is able
to make war with him?" So in its unchanged con
dition the great world goes its usual way, even as did
decadent Rome and voluptuous Corinth in the long
ago; yes, even as before the lowly Nazarene had
spoken, the world falls down before the dragon and
the beast who reigns in his likeness.
"5 And there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies; and power
was given unto him to continue forty and two
months." The mouth is that of the pesudo-lion, and
the great things are its hollow wisdom, and the
blasphemies its assumption of truth. In the forty
and two months is hidden the secret of the nature of
the beast, a secret veiled so skillfully that would-be
interpreters have been led far astray, or else the
meaningless months have caused them to discard

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this chapter as a hopeless puzzle. This notwithstand
ing the assurance of chapter 22: 19, that the matter
and arrangement of Revelation entire is as it should
be. The forty and two months are indeed 1260 days,
but, as previously shown, the first two digits should be
reversed to reveal the secret of the 2160 days which
evidently are years. Thus the beast will continue
through one Zodiacal sign; in other words, from the
beginning of the reign of Pisces-Virgo until that of
Aquarius-Leo. Of a truth the beast, here named
Worldliness, has lived in every age and therefore
under all Zodiacal signs, but its expression changes
with each sign. Under the present signs, the pseudo-
lion must meet the heavenly lion, and, as the Reve
lator elsewhere intimates, to the utter humiliation of
the former.
"6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his taber
nacle, and them that dwell in heaven." He sets his
opinion against what right judgment has declared to
be heavenly things. His life gives the lie to humility,
mercy, meekness, peacefulness, and the like, the ideal
and practice of those in heaven.
"7 And it was given unto him to make war with
the saints, and to overcome them: and power was
given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
By the words to "overcome them," the Revelator
means the beast's power to swerve them from the
paths of right. Pride is the most subtle of vices.
Even the saint may be proud of his humility, and
thus find himself in the drag-net which he had escaped
were it labeled: luxury, wrath, or any of the obvious

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
sins. As for the world at large, history all too
often shows the power of the beast's pride over the
majority of the human family.
"8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall wor
ship him, whose names are not written in the book
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world." The multitudes here mentioned are those to
whom the beatitudes do not apply; they are guilty
of some, or even of all of the great sins. Those whoes
names are written in the book of life are the 144,000
mentioned in the next chapter.
"The Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world" requires some little elucidation. Sacrifice is
one of the greatest means whereby God-Wisdom
will bring about finally that divine event the unifica
tion of mankind. As originally instituted — not by
priest-craft, but by Divine revelation and command —
sacrifice was wholly substitutional. Things not
lightly valued, but rather of undoubted worth, for
instance, the firstlings of the flock, were offered at
stated times upon the altar. This act of devotion
and generosity was one whereby the links binding
man to God were kept ever in mind.
In due season, the most advanced peoples being
ready — or rather the most spiritual individuals among
them — the Master appeared who would reveal by
his life, and if need be by his death, that true sacrifice
is wholly personal; that any other is but for a lesson
to the beginner in the school of life. Sacrifice, the
giving of what we prize to aid others, creates between
giver and receiver a bond of sympathy destined to
grow till it girdles the globe and branches to its every
nook and corner.

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Concerning those who yet cling to the idea of
substitutional sacrifice in any form, it must be said
that, despite their understanding of other matters,
they are, in respect to sacrifice, only in the period of
immaturity. If our reasoning have any force it is to
the effect that the necessity and outcome of that
personal sacrifice, of which to John the Lamb was
the symbol, existed in the mind of God before the
world was.
"9 If any man have an ear let him hear." That
is to say he should ponder not only the contents of
verse 8, but also of verse 10, and so discover their
relation. "10 He that leadeth into captivity shall
go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword
must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience
and the faith of the saints." This is a statement of
the doctrine of eternal Justice, that rigid Justice
which rules the world. It is a statement of the
doctrine that whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap. Because this doctrine is held by
the God-enlightened, the saints have patience and
faith. "11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of
the earth: and he had two horns like a lamb, and he
spake as a dragon." The world-beast of verse 1 was
a sea-born pseudo-lion, a nondescript creature. Now
behold the pseudo-lamb earth-born and of the dust,
and having a local habitation. He may be a nation
outwardly a cultivated people, a lamb supposedly
peaceful, but thinking and speaking otherwise, and
from whom shall arise Antichrist concerning whose
nature and time of appearing learned theologians
have argued and speculated, and against whom, in
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the guise of those who differed from them, bigots
have hurled their execrations.
The kingdom of Antichrist is either a corrupt
religious system, or, more likely, a military nation
devoid of conscience, in fact an iconoclastic people
bent on world conquest, and using the words of the
Master: "I came not to bring peace but a sword."
Amidst their most atrocious deeds they will declare
themselves the manifest right arm of God.
"12 And he exercise th all the power of the first
beast before him, and causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose
deadly wound was healed." The pseudo-lamb — the
nation — is the epitome of Worldliness. Here the
earth is not necessarily the whole world, but no
doubt it comprises entire peoples corrupted by the
example and methods of the pseudo-lamb until they
worship the beast his prototype who represents
pomp and pride and who, like himself, strives for that
universal dominion which belongs to Christ alone.
"13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in
the sight of men." This calling down of fire is a
reminder of the incident recorded in II Kings,
chapter 1: 10: "And Elijah answered and said to the
captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come
down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.
And there came down fire from heaven and con
sumed him and his fifty." Also the Revelator brings
to mind the rebuke administered by Jesus when
James and John said to him: "Lord wilt thou that
we command fire to come down from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elijah did?"

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
Fear of the king whom he had displeased, and
wrath against his emissaries, caused Elijah to forget
mercy: so, as John the Baptist, he paid the penalty
with his head. Does not this payment vindicate the
inflexible justice declared in verse 10 of the present
chapter; that justice which such as even Elijah could
not escape?
Concerning the fire brought down from heaven by
the pseudo-lamb, the age of miracles such as the one
recorded of Elijah seems gone forever; hence but two
interpretations can be given to the verse. 1st: As
the crowning evil of many come to maturity, the acts
of the pseudo-lamb precipitate the portents indicative
of the general judgment, and those portents are
symbolized as descending fire; or, 2nd: The passage
requires a literal interpretation. If so, it is evident
that fire hurled from airships would seem a great
wonder to any seer of the olden times.
"14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
by means of those miracles which he had power to do
in the sight of the beast ; saying to them that dwell on
the earth, that they should make an image to the
beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did
live." To deceive them that dwell on the earth
means that, aside from those whom he persuades, he
deceives others by his great show of power, thus
causing even his enemies to fear the outcome. The
image of the beast to be made by the dwellers on
earth is a single person, one in authority, in fact
Antichrist, the outward head and the tool of the
nation. This man-image is that seeming impossi
bility to-day, the corrupt head of a corrupt Christian
church, or else he is to wield the sword. If so, he will

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
think himself invulnerable as the beast whose sword
wound was healed, for if the first beast survived the
sword of the spirit which Christ brought, should not
he, the image of that beast, laugh at the sword of
man? For an earlier description of Antichrist see
Dan. 7:8, 11; also 8: 23 to 26; also 11: 36 to 39.
In this connection it should be said that many utter
ances of the Hebrew prophets which concerns ancient
times, have also a vital modern application, while
others reach down the centuries even to the twentieth.
"15 And he had power to give life unto the
image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak, and cause that as many as would not
worship the image of the beast should be killed."
In the early centuries of the Christian era. Antichrist
was identified with Nero or Diocletian, those chief
persecutors of the incipient Church. In the time of
Luther, and at intervals thereafter. Antichrist was
the Pope, the perverter of truth, and the persecutor
of those who reverted to the original teachings of
the Master. On the other hand, intolerance and
persecution were rife among the heretics themselves,
for these things reflected the spirit of an intolerant
age. Since the beginning of the present century, the
trend of events has revealed to the discerning that
the spirit of Antichrist exists not necessarily in creed,
but more likely in absolute autocracy based on
military prowess, and that its desired world-wide
domination should radiate from some political centre,
rather than from an ecclesiastical one. Our reading
of verse 15 is in accord with this conclusion. The
figure-head of the political system is the natural
exponent of its most extreme views. So rabid is he

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
that death is meted to those who do not bow down
to his will.
" 16 And he causeth all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in
their right hand, or in their foreheads." Specula
tion concerning the nature of this mark has resulted
in many curious theories, for instance: that those
who observe the Christian Sunday, instead of the
Jewish Sabbath, are the branded ones. The name by
which we have designated the beast is Worldliness,
but of course any name indicating that idea would
be applicable. The mark signifies children or disciples
of the beast. This to distinguish the followers of
worldly things from those who look higher. The
mark in the right hand means performance, while
that in the forehead means to think; hence to per
form all or any of the seven deadly sins, or even to
think them, is to receive the mark.
"17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he
that hath the mark, or the name of the beast or the
number of his name." Antichrist, the man-image,
seeks absolute control of the commerce of the world
both for his people and for those in close affinity with
them, all of whom are here said to have the mark, or
the name, or the number of the beast.
" 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath under
standing count the number of the beast: for it is the
number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
three score and six." As explained, the beast is not
the Roman Empire, nor is he a Roman tyrant, for
his term is 2160 years. History repeats itself, hence
the type of Antichrist's kingdom did exist in the
long ago. Six hundred, or the greatly multiplied six,
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
is the number of the beast. He is the condemned
of the six seals, the six trumpets, and also the six
vials, for the verse in its meaning looks to the chapters
to come, as well as to those behind. Sixty, or the
multiplied six, is the number of the nation ruled by
Antichrist. Six is the number of the man-image, the
very essence of the sixty, as well as of the six hundred.
His number is therefore 666. The kingdom of Anti
christ is that one-tenth of the world-city which, at
the sound of the sixth trumpet, fell as described
in chapter 11: 13. The third part of men killed as
described in chapter 9: 15, are the children of the
beast wherever existing throughout the world. At
the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh
vial, the number 666 will be changed to 777 which
means the fully judged.
In chapters 12 and 13, the Revelator has con
trasted those two characters of his drama in whom
human interest centers. The first is the heaven-born
man-child, the lion of Judah; the one to rule the
nations with a rod of iron; with prompt and exact
justice ; the second is Antichrist the man-made image
of the pseudo-lion, in other words, the tool of unjust
and autocratic Authority. This man lifts his insolent
sword against the great brand Excalibur that ancient
and sure defence certain to rise again in the hour of
the world's direst need.

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Chapter XIV
AND I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the
Mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty
and four thousand, having his Father's name
written in their foreheads." Evidently the Mount
Zion here mentioned is in no material situation, nor
are the twelve times twelve thousand to be numbered
with the inhabitants of the physical world. Chap
ter 1:4, tells of the seven Spirits before the throne,
and from the addresses to the seven churches was
learned that man also is seven-fold. To understand
the location of the non-material Zion, some knowl
edge of the seven-fold earth is necessary.
The solid globe is a nucleus around and within
which are six others. Proceeding from lowest to
highest, each is more tenuous and of larger girth
than the one before it. The ethereal Mount Zion is
in one of the higher and larger of the seven; and
the angelic company are those of mankind perfected
during the slow equinoctial turning of the Zodiacal
wheel. This immense period of evolution began in
Atlantean times and dates from that period in the
soul's progress when it became fully responsible, and
so quite capable of engendering merit and demerit.
This perfected company, whose individual number
is 144 — or 9 the number of assimilated earthly experi
ence — and whose collective number is formed by add
ing cyphers to the 144, have outstripped their fellows,
the great majority of whom have had equal time and
opportunity, for that the human race is old indeed
on this planet the Secret Science confidently affirms.
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Having his father's name in their foreheads signifies
knowledge of the Word, and also that in a way the
one hundred forty and four thousand have become
the Word and the wielders of its power. These are
in fact the guardian angels of this lower earth which
still is the abode of those who re-enter and depart
through the gates of birth and of death.
"2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps." The verse has reference to vibra
tion, the rate of which increases gradually from the
lowest to the highest of the seven globes comprising
the earth septenary. Though inaudible to the physi
cal ear, to super-physical hearing these vibrations
may be compared to the voice of many waters, and
even to that of a great thunder. That on the higher
planes of our globe there are no discordant vibrations,
is intimated by what is said concerning the harps.
"3 And they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders:
and no man could learn that song but the hundred
and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth." This new song is not necessarily
music as we understand the art; rather it is that
higher vibration, indicated by the 10 into which the
company has entered in its rise toward the con
dition of the four beasts and the twenty-four elders.
"No man could learn that song" means that no man
can function with full consciousness on the planes of
high vibration unless he be of the redeemed, in fact
of the evolved of the race.
"4 These are they which were not defiled with

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women; for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These
were redeemed from among men, being the first
fruits unto God and to the Lamb." See II Cor. 11:2;
Jas. 1:16. On the words: "they are virgins" the
Secret Science throws needed light, for it teaches that
before the separation of Eve from Adam's rib, man
was a sexless being, and that perfecting man tends
towards the sexless condition. The defilement with
women has a secondary meaning, for the word women
can signify the unpurified passional nature in any of
its various expressions.
"These are they which follow the Lamb whither
soever he goeth" reveals the Master's status as the
chiefest, not of ten thousand, but of the entire angelic
host connected directly with this planet. "These
were redeemed from among men," shows, even as
the seer Swedenborg had discovered, that angels
were once men. The words "the first fruits" hint at
a greater company eventually to be added to the
host first mentioned in verse 1.
"5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for
they are without fault before the throne of God."
To speak with guile is to speak falsely not in igno
rance, but in full knowledge of the truth. These
beings have achieved what the Psalmist desired,
saying: "He shall redeem my soul from guile."
These are without fault before the throne, that is
they are blameless, even though judged by the
highest standard.
"6 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.

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and kindred, and tongue, and people." The angel
is the representative of Michael whose orb, the Sun,
sheds its light over all the earth. Unfortunately
this everlasting gospel has many interpretations. In
lands supposedly Christian, a multitude of sects
each claims to be the real custodian of truth. How
many of these would accept the Revelator's teaching
concerning zodiacal, solar, and planetary influences?
How many would acknowledge his star angels, in
other words, his planetary rulers? How many would
give to Jesus the Christ the unique position of ruler
of this planet and this only? Touching the Master,
the Nicene creed reads: "God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God," while in Jesus, Swedenborg
discovers Jehovah God made flesh; a unity, a single
person with a trinity of attributes.
In dealing with any problem thoroughly Eastern,
especially a religious problem, the Western mind
arrives at queer conclusions, and always will unless
it strives for the Eastern view-point. Occidental
theology must be modified by Oriental philosophy
before "the everlasting gospel" can be adapted to
Eastern nations, and kindreds, and peoples. For
the last forty years or more, Greek thought and
philosophy have been yielding increasingly to their
Oriental equivalents; wherefore the deed mentioned
in the verse is brought nearer and nearer.
"7 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 water." "For the
hour of his judgment is come:" contains nothing of
immediateness. The verse relates a thing visioned
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
on a plane of consciousness where earthly divisions
of time do not obtain, or at least they obtain but
imperfectly. However, it is only reasonable to say
that judgment will not come until the everlasting
gospel has been preached to the understanding of all
the earth, and men everywhere have had oppor
tunity to "worship him that made heaven, and earth
and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
"8 And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath
of her fornication." See Isa. 21:9. The angel is
Raguel the ruler of Mars, and the warrior against
Babylon. Commentators who follow the historical
method have agreed that the wicked city was pagan
Rome; and so, in a sense, it was; for Rome furnished
an adequate type of the mystic Babylon. In the
words: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," a pecuharity
both of Isaiah and Revelation is revealed. The words
' ' is fallen, ' ' are written twice ; outwardly for emphasis,
but inwardly to signify that Babylon is to fall twice;
first in type to wit, as the Roman Empire, and,
second, in reality. We hold that the real fall is yet
to occur, and at a time not far removed from the
present. The spell of warlike Rome at the zenith of her
power was an intoxicant to other nations, and the
wine of the wrath of her fornication — lust for power —
wrought the destruction of weaker states. History
repeats itself and if not faithfully, at least as a
general likeness, and so again Rome, no longer pagan,
but materialistic and filled with lust of gain, must
cast the spell of war upon the world. This modern

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Rome, not the city so named, but its new prototype,
is the one whose fall is to affect profoundly, and for
the better, the future of the world.
"9 And the third angel followed them, saying
with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and
his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand." The angel is Gabriel ruler of the lunar
sphere, and also the representative of that equilibrium
which results from the dispensing of rigid justice.
As explained in chapter 13, the number of the beast
is 600, while that of the image is 6. To make the
beast and its image the model of one's life is to have
the mark, and to be judged both from the thought
of the brain and the work of the hand.
"10 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 tor
mented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb."
The verse threatens dire and unescapable penalties
to those who have the mark of the beast and of
Antichrist his image. This tormenting with fire
and brimstone is symbolical of purgatorial purifica
tion. Righteous punishment is in no wise vindictive,
else how could the holy angels and the Lamb look on
with feelings not inimical to the serenity of the
blessed? "11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth
up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor
night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." The
meaning of "for ever and ever" is for ages and ages.
The 144,000 were each freed from the chain of re-birth

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only after many thousand years of right living;
but for those who, in the great Cycle of Necessity,
take two steps forward and one backward, the period
of regeneration must be far longer; while for those
who have been contaminated by the world evil and
branded by the mark, the period of purification must
seem indeed an eternity.
"12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the commandments of God, and the
faith of Jesus." The patience of the saints is rooted
in the knowledge that all wrong shall be righted, and
that demerit must undergo the penalty which teaches
that only in the way of pure living, that is of obedience
and faith, can peace be found.
"13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me. Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that
they may rest from their labors; and their works do
follow them." These blessed dead are they who,
profiting by the life of their great Elder Brother,
shall fit themselves during material life for death-
entrance into the great company that go out no more.
Resting from labor here means change of activity.
"Their works do follow them" means that whatever
of immaterial treasure is gathered on earth, can be
assimilated in the life beyond.
"14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud,
and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man,
having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a
sharp sickle." The one seated on the white cloud is
Suriel the angel of Jupiter. He represents the divine
Spiritual Will whose earthly representatives are
addressed in chapter 2:8, as if they were but one.

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There they are called the angel of the church in
Smyrna. As the spiritual will in man is ruler, so in
the planetary system Jupiter rules. Hence the
golden crown of Suriel, and his likeness to the Son
of man who triumphed in Gethsemane. The sharp
sickle indicates a judgment harvest.
"15 And another angel came out of the temple,
crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud :
Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come
for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
The one coming out of the temple of higher Wisdom
is Uriel the angel of Venus. The command is to
reap those in every way the best, to wit, the self-
governed; hence the harvest is necessarily small.
This reaping symbolizes that first separation of peoples
which takes place at the first judgment; the one due
at the end of the Piscean age; and which in a way
prepares the earth for that greater judgment due at
the end of the Aquarian age.
"16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his
sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."
This reaping is a spiritual one of no great significance
to the world at large: however the wise will see and
understand. "17 And another angel came out of the temple
which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle."
This is Jerahmeel, the angel of Saturn.
" 18 And another angel came out from the altar,
which had power over fire; and cried with a loud
voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying: Thrust
in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe."
See Joel 3: 13. The one from the altar is the angel

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of Mercury, Raphael whose hosts are the sons of the
flame and fire. "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her
grapes are fully ripe" signifies that the vine of the
earth branches out to every land, and that its grapes
are a human harvest ready for the judgment.
"19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the
earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast
it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God."
The verse really refers to Armageddon, and the
wine-press is the centre of the field of battle. The
name Armageddon which appears in chapter 16: 16,
was chosen to symbolize the battle of the nations
because the song of Deborah and Barak contains
a clue to the outcome of the conflict: "The kings
came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan
in Taanach by the waters Megiddo, they took no gain
of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in
their courses fought against Sisera."
"20 And the wine-press was trodden without
the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even
unto the horse-bridles, by the space of a thousand
and six hundred furlongs." See chapter 19: 11-17.
The battle, which is against the hosts of Antichrist,
is fought outside the city, in other words outside the
limits of his kingdom. The blood unto the horse-
bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs indicates the sanguinary nature of the con
flict, and the length of the battle line which literally
would be two hundred miles, or rather a little less
because the Greek stadium is a little short of a
furlong. Thus ends the second act in the prophetic
drama of Revelation.

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Chapter XV
AND I saw another sign in heaven, great and
marvellous, seven angels having the seven
last plagues ; for in them is filled up the wrath
of God." The third act of the drama opens with the
seven angel-dispensers of the seven plagues or judg
ments which in fact are the seals and trumpets seen
from a different angle so to speak. The angels are
those of the Sephiroth already described.
"2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled
with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over
the beast, and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea
of glass, having the harps of God." The sea of glass
and fire is one of the six ethereal envelopes of the
physical earth. Fire is a universal element, though
not always recognizable as such. The crude physi
cal fire which scorches and burns is but one of many.
Mind is a fire, and so also is love. The fire here
mentioned is akin to that which Moses saw when
on Horeb he marvelled that the burning bush was
not consumed.
Those on the shining sea, which to them is hard
like glass and as transparent, have overcome the
world evil which is the beast, and have not followed
the lead of Antichrist, nor taken part in his schemes
for material gain and power, and so are not judged
by the six judgments indicated in the number of his
name. These now have entered into that harmonious
condition meant by the simile of the harps of God.
"3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant

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the revelation of JOHN
of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great
and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."
The song of Moses is the one beginning: "I will sing
unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the
horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea."
The inference is that in the present instance the song
is a paean of victory over the hosts of Antichrist in
the great battle of Armageddon. Pharaoh was
swallowed up of the sea, and in some unrevealed way
the fate of Antichrist is comparable to that of the
Egyptian tyrant. The song of Moses was to the Lord
who had triumphed gloriously, but now direct praise
is to the Lamb who is equally victorious. The words :
"Great and marvellous are thy works," is rightful
praise to the Lord God since he, the ruler of the
spheres, is over all.
"4 Who shall not fear thee O Lord, and glorify
thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations
shall come and worship before thee; for thy judg
ments are made manifest." The verse continues the
praise of God to whom all nations henceforth shall
come in worship, for his judgments in the great
matter of Antichrist are manifest to the world.
"5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the
temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven
was opened." This temple of the tabernacle con
tains the heavenly law whose correspondent is the
Decalogue to which Jesus added two command
ments inclusive of the others, even as the Zodiacal
signs Aries and Libra incorporate the substance of
the other ten.
"6 And the seven angels came out of the temple,

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white
linen, and having their breasts girdled with golden
girdles." Like the Son of man, as described in chapter
1:13, these angels are enveloped in shining auras
whose diamond luster synthesizes the seven pris
matic colors. Ordinarily the golden girdles would
indicate Venusian wisdom.
"7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the
seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of
God, who liveth for ever and ever." Gold being the
metal sacred to the solar powers, the giving of golden
vessels is a hint that Michael is the beast or arch
angel spoken of. As for the seven golden girdles, it
now appears that they indicate authority from the
highest source. "The wrath of God, who liveth for
ever and ever," means the judgment of God whose
decrees are sure, however long in the carrying out.
"8 And the temple was filled with smoke from
the glory of God, and from his power; and no man
was able to enter into the temple, till the seven
plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." Here
smoke signifies the mystery of the Divine purpose.
"And no man was able to enter into the temple, till
the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled,"
means that human understanding is unable to solve
the mystery of that purpose until the events them
selves shall furnish the key.
Only the unexpected and unparallelled events of
the opening years of this century have furnished
that key; and while certain seals have been opened,
and certain trumpets sounded, and certain vials
poured, whoever enters the temple cannot hope to
approach the central mystery until the consummation.

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Chapter XVI
AND I heard a great voice out of the temple
saying to the seven angels: Go your ways
and pour out the vials of the wrath of God
upon the earth." The voice is that of one who spake
in tones of thunder at the opening of the first seal.
It is in fact the voice of Michael who rules the
heavenly host even as the sun rules the seven planets.
"2 And the first went, and poured out his vial
upon the earth ; and there fell a noisome and grievous
sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast,
and upon them which worshipped his image." This
angel is he who, as ruler of the inter-Mercurial
planet, represents Michael in the Sephiroth, and
whose trumpet awoke the earth's volcanic fires.
The verse would indicate a pestilence choosing the
followers of Antichrist. These bring to mind the
plague of boils which chose out the Egyptian oppres
sors of the Jews. From the modern view-point, the
affliction of the followers of Antichrist would result
from their assembling in some unsanitary place.
"3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon
the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man:
and every living soul died in the sea." This angel is
Raguel the ruler of Mars who sounded the second
trumpet whereat what seemed a great mountain was
cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became
blood, and a third part of the fishes died. Now, from a
different view-point, the blood was that of slaughtered
men, and all life in the sea was destroyed. The one-
third of the sea and the one-third of its creatures

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
might be a correct estimate when the whole sea was
in the mind of the writer, whereas, if at another time
he considered only the locality, he could say that the
entire sea was tinged with human slaughter, and all
life therein was destroyed.
"4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon
the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became
blood." This angel is Gabriel at the sounding of
whose trumpet a great star fell from heaven; in fact
the star of judgment which brought bitter things to
those who deserved them. The additional particulars
of this fourth verse indicate that human slaughter
will not be confined to the sea; the rivers and
the fountains are to receive their dreadful con
tribution. "5 And I heard the angel of the waters say: Thou
art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and
shall be, because thou hast judged thus." The angel
of the waters is Gabriel, ruler of the lunar sphere.
After God, he is the foreknower of all events, their
causes and consummations; hence he is the one to
pronounce on the righteous judgment of the Lord.
"6 For they have shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink."
" For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,"
see Matt. 23: 34, and Luke 11: 49. "And thou hast
given them blood to drink," see Isa. 49 : 26. The verse
is one of many in which John in a way draws from
the older writers.
"7 And I heard another out of the altar say:
Even so. Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments." This angel is Michael who
stands to Gabriel as positive to negative, or, from

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the Zodiacal point of view, as north to south, as Aries
to Libra.
"8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon
the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire." This is the angel Jerahmeel whose
sounding of the fourth trumpet caused a third part
of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars to be darkened.
As one explanation of this event we said that none
of these luminaries, but man's perception of it was
darkened. Now it appears that, notwithstanding this
seeming darkness, men are to be scorched with solar
heat. This heat is an internal one, and proceeds from
some abnormal condition of the solar plexus which is
known as the sun of the body. The condition indi
cated is psychological, rather than physical.
"9 And men were scorched with great heat, and
blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over
these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory." In the mind of the Revelator the afflicted
are likened to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar who
hardened their hearts under the punishments of
heaven. "10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon
the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of
darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of
their pains and their sores, and repented not of their
deeds." This angel is Uriel whose sounding of the
fifth trumpet caused — according to the second expla
nation of chapter 9:2, — seismic disturbances which
filled the air with carbonic acid gas and sulphurous
fumes, thus poisoning the atmosphere and obscuring
the face of the sun. By the seat of the beast, whose

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
kingdom extends to the earth's four corners, is meant
the definitely located realm of Antichrist. That
this realm was full of darkness, and that its inhabi
tants gnawed their tongues for pain, is due to con
ditions described in dealing with chapter 9:1 to 11
inclusive. Verse 11 of the present chapter indicates
that, like Pharaoh of old, this people will remain
obdurate notwithstanding the warning in this visita
tion. "12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon
the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof
was dried up, that the way of the kings from the
sunrise might be prepared." This angel is Raphael
whose sounding of the sixth trumpet loosed the four
angels bound in the great river Euphrates. The
puzzle now presented is most ingenious, for at first
thought it might be supposed that the solar Euphrates
is the only one designated. The drying up of the
sun's beams would in no degree facilitate the progress
of the kings of the east; neither would the drying up
of the literal river much further the movement of an
army bent on achieving some definite end. Of this
matter Isaiah speaks figuratively thus: "And the
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian
sea ; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand
over the river, and shall smite it in its seven streams,
and make men to go over dry-shod."
John was a Gnostic Christian and a Jew to whom
his nation was the greatest of eastern peoples, in fact
the kings of the east. In the exodus the Egyptian
sea seemed an obstacle to the flight of the chosen
people, and the Euphrates in the vicinity of Babylon
was the scene of the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar.

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So in a metaphorical sense the Euphrates was an
obstacle to the return of the Jews to Zion. In these
facts is found the key to the riddle of the verse. The
sounding of the sixth trumpet was the battle call of
earth's armies, and the equivalent of that trumpet
was the pouring of the sixth vial which removed, by
means of those armies, the obstacle to the return of
the Jews to their own land.
" 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
false prophet." Here the devil, the world-evil, and
Antichrist are all of one mind ; and their evil thoughts
are likened to the plague of frogs which troubled the
Egyptians. " 14 For they are the spirits of devils working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle
of that great day of God Almighty." See II Thess.
2:8, 9. These miracles are those of persuasion.
They are those ideas which arouse the heads of great
nations either to lust of gain, or jealousy, or fear, or
to that desperation which is sourced in the instinct
of self-preservation. From these causes, and no doubt
from others — for much is left to conjecture — come
a gathering together of armies such as the world had
not before seen, or even dreamed of; for this is the
great day of God Almighty in which the future
welfare of the world trembles in the balance.
"15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk
naked, and they see his shame." See Matt. 24:42.
Why is this verse here introduced abruptly and with-

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out apparent relation to the subject matter unless it
is a hint and a warning of the sudden and stealthy
approach of the Master? Concerning exact dates, no
man knoweth the day, nor the hour; but surely the
trend of events should aid our effort toward an approxi
mate time. The garments spoken of are those of
righteousness. In the great day of searching, the
unrighteousness of men will be apparent; they will
be naked so to speak.
"16 And he gathered them together in a place
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." This is
the battle to which veiled allusion was made in
chapter 14: 20. Strict sequence is not to be expected
of a book like Revelation. No doubt the events
there depicted are in the order of their appearance
to John, but then, as already said, earthly ideas of
time, and events in time, do not obtain on the higher
planes of being.
"17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial
into the air; and there came a great voice out of the
temple of heaven, from the throne, saying: It is
done." The angel of this last vial is Suriel, at the
sounding of whose trumpet there were great voices
in heaven saying: "The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."
The earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains, the sun,
the seat of the beast, and the river Euphrates all
have received their dread portions; and now the last
vial is poured into the air to indicate some momen
tous happening perhaps not far above the surface of
the earth. The great voice out of the temple of
heaven is that of Michael: "the great prince who
standeth for the children of thy people."

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"18 And there were voices, and thunders, and
lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such
as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty
an earthquake, and so great." At the opening of the
sixth seal there was a great earthquake, and the
seeming end of all things; but evidently this hap
pening was more or less local. The removal of every
island and mountain does not necessarily include all in
the world. Soon after the sounding of the sixth
trumpet there was a great earthquake and the tenth
part of the city fell; but at the pouring of the sixth
vial no mention was made of this earthquake. It is
apparent that the record of the happenings at the
opening of the seven seals conveys certain informa
tion which is supplemented in the record of the
seven trumpets, and still more enlarged in the record
of the seven vials. Hence it is no unreasonable find
ing if two earthquakes are deduced from the particu
lars in respect to the last two seals, and trumpets.
Possibly these earthquakes symbolize internal discord
like that of the French Revolution, but on a scale
surpassing anything in the history of the world. See
comment on chapter 9: 20.
" 19 And the great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great
Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his
wrath." The great city is the kindgom of Antichrist
of which one-tenth had already fallen. The divid
ing into three parts would indicate dismemberment,
or it might mean that the city was divided as is the
crater of a volcano sometimes during an eruption.
This second theory is strengthened by the account in

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chapter 18. There the friends and lovers of Babylon
stand afar off and lament at her burning. "And the
cities of the nations fell" would indicate that the dis
turbance, of whatever kind, will spread to other
kingdoms. "The cup of the wine of the fierceness of
his wrath" means the meed of severe judgment which
the iniquity of the doomed city has brought upon
herself. "20 And every island fled away, and the moun
tains were not found." In chapter 6: 14, it was said
that: "every mountain and island were moved out
of their places." This occurred at the opening of
the sixth seal ; but now, at the pouring of the seventh
vial, every island and every mountain were annihilated.
That even this is not a universal cataclysm is indi
cated by the contents of the next verse.
"21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of
heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent:
and men blasphemed God because of the plague of
the hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."
A Jewish talent is about ninety pounds; hence the
hail may be a meteoric shower — which seems
improbable — or else it is a descent of volcanic rock.
In the mind of the Revelator the men who yet blas
phemed God are like Pharoah of whom we read:
"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply
my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But
Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay
my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies,
and my people the children of Israel, out of the land
of Egypt by great judgments."
Concerning the hail out of heaven, the verse holds
a hidden comparison between it and the hail which

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devastated Egypt, but did not trouble the land of
Goshen where the children of Israel had dwelling.
In this comparison, Goshen is the land outside
the kingdom of Antichrist, and the inference is that
none save those having the mark of the beast are to
suffer the dread punishments due at the end of the age.
Revelation elsewhere makes certain veiled compari
sons between the Pharaoh of the Oppression and Anti
christ who would enslave peoples beyond his empire
proper, and who, notwithstanding many reverses or
judgments, will not relent until driven to extremities.
According to Jewish history, Pharaoh was drowned
in the Red Sea. Now concerning the manner of the
physical death of Antichrist, Revelation saith not,
but the inference is that the wave of retribution
loosed by the seals and trumpets and vials, will over
take him as well as his hosts. As for the new Moses,
the instrument of the Divine purpose, unfolding
events alone will reveal him to the children of the
new dispensation. May there be no latter day wan
dering in the wilderness ! Nor should there be , because,
if Revelation is to be trusted, mankind is assured of
a speedy entry into the Promise.

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Chapter XVII
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." The angel is Gabriel
who, according to chapter 1:1, was sent by Jesus
Christ to reveal unto John things which must surely
come to pass. The great whore sitting upon many
waters is the kingdom of Antichrist. Through the
prophet Jeremiah, the Lord long before had pronounced
judgment upon the original Babylon that dwelt
"upon many waters," and the words of John were yet
to be fulfilled against the Roman Empire; but the
prophecy ended not then, for Rome itself was but
a type of the Babylon with which the seventeenth
and eighteenth chapters of Revelation deal in an
extended way.
"2 With whom the kings of the earth have com
mitted fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her forni
cation." Although a superficial explanation would
indicate that all kings and all inhabitants are here
included, only those rulers and peoples are meant
who, because of a community of interests, have
leagued themselves with the kingdom of Antichrist.
"Made drunk with the wine of her fornication"
means that against their better judgment, these
have yielded to the wiles of Antichrist and his fol
lowers. "3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the

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wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven
heads and ten horns." "In the spirit" as the words
are here used, means a trance condition unlike that
of those who have communication with familiar
spirits. Here the wilderness means the place where
one loses his way even as the Israelites who, because
of disobedience, were compelled to wander therein
for forty years.
The scarlet colored beast typifies the dragon
mentioned in chapter 12, as making war on the
woman in the sky, and his seven heads and ten horns
and blasphemies have already been described in
what was said of the beast that rose out of the sea.
"4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and
scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand
full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication."
In chapter 13 was described the pseudo-lion, the
pseudo-lamb or ram, and the pseudo-Christ; and
now is described the pseudo-queen, the mother — not
after the flesh — of Antichrist even as Aquarius, the
other woman, the one in the sky, was the spiritual
mother of Christ at his second coming. The golden
cup is the fair and even royal external of the deeds
of the queen mother which inwardly are but intrigue
and injustice. No doubt John had in mind the saying
of Jesus: "Ye make clean the outside of the cup and
of the platter, but within they are full of extortion
and excess." Also John may have considered the
words of Jeremiah: "Babylon hath been a golden
cup in the Lord's hand that made all the earth
drunken." Had the earth been guiltless, Babylon

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would not have been a golden cup to make her
drunken. "5 And upon her forehead was a name written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH." The name in Capitals upon the
forehead signifies that the woman is branded in the
sight of the whole world.
"6 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
wonder." The verse describes the Roman Empire
and especially the city of Rome under the pagan
emperors, particularly Domitian and Nero, and so
commentators generally have deemed the prophecy
fulfilled, whereas the verse looks forward to a far
later time when the reincarnation, so to speak, of
Roman cruelty would occur, and would manifest in
a way even more brutal. The Revelator wondered
greatly when he beheld the deeds of Nero and his
kind surpassed by the harlot mother and the tyrant
Antichrist, and his followers.
"7 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 seven heads and ten horns." The thought is
that John would cease to wonder when he was made
to know the identity of the beast with whom the
woman was in close fellowship.
"8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go
into perdition : and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book

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of life from the foundation of the world, when they
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."
The words "the beast that was, and is not, and yet
is," have given rise to much speculation, but in fact
the solution is easy enough, for the key is in chapter
13: 2, and in the words: "and the dragon gave him
his power, and his seat, and great authority." The
real seat of the dragon is in hell. That seat he did not
relinquish, nor any power peculiar to his own proper
place. Verse 8 of the present chapter refers to the
Dragon's dominion and seat in the abode of men.
It is as if a king should choose a temporary regent.
Then it could be said that as a sovereign he was, but
now is not, and yet is, for he upholds the regent and
can at any time thrust him aside and resume his
rightful place. John's play on words is to emphasize
the fact that never before was the dragon so nearly
personified as he would be at the time indicated.
"And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and
go into perdition:" includes in its meaning those
characteristics of the regent which are derived from
hell. When the regent — the scarlet beast — goes into
perdition, then his followers everywhere, those who
hung upon his words and paid him all reverence, will
wonder at him as unmasked before their opened eyes.
"9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the
woman sitteth." The opening sentence is a dark
saying like the words: "Here is wisdom," in chapter
13: 18, and Hke the words: "He that hath an ear, let
him hear" which concludes each of the seven addresses
to the seven churches in Asia. The seven mountains
are seven kingdoms, each of which is guilty of some

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or even all of the seven deadly sins, to wit: luxury,
wrath, idleness, envy, avarice, gluttony, and worldly
pride. "10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,
and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when
he cometh, he must continue a short space." The
prophecy first indicates five great dynasties whose
representative kings had departed before the days
of John. Much speculation concerning these kings
and kingdoms has proved wide of the mark, and no
wonder for the zodiacal key is the only one which
can unlock the mystery of their time and reign.
Each of these dynasties flourished during the passage
of the sun through the major portion of a zodiacal
sign in the equinoctial procession.
The sixth king or kingdom, under Pisces, was the
Roman Empire, which, as a nation, came into promi
nence about 600 B.C., and ended with the fall of
Constantinople in 1453 A. D. The fifth kingdom,
under Aries, was Israel, which attained to some impor
tance about 1800 B. C, and ceased with the fall of
Jerusalem in 70 A. D. The fourth kingdom, under
Taurus, was Babylonia, originating at least 4000 B.C.,
and virtually ending with the death of Alexander. The
third kingdom, under Gemini, was Egypt whose
history is traceable beyond the year 5000 B.C. The
second kingdom, under Cancer, 8900 B. C, was one of
those prehistoric civilizations concerning which the
Secret Science of the Initiates has revealed much.
The first kingdom flourished under Leo at least 11,100
B.C., and was ruled by the last of the Atlantean kings,
the remnant of whose land sunk many thousand years
before Plato in that cataclysm which the account

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in Genesis, makes the Noahic Deluge. The seventh
king, or kingdom, the one to come, is now here and
must endure for a short space, but just how long
the seventh seal, and trumpet, and vial will reveal.
"11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is
the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdi
tion." In respect to this one, evidently he is the
world beast who, acting for the dragon, is the beast
that was and is not. "And is of the seven." The
dragon is of himself, but the world beast has grown
and matured during and because of the reign of the
seven kings. The dragon goes into perdition after the
second judgment, but the beast and Antichrist after
the first judgment. See 20: 10 and 19: 20.
"12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten
kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast." It
would seem that after the rule of the seventh king,
which is the kingdom of Antichrist, that the beast will
begin a reign which is no reign since it means lawless
ness and chaotic conditions. Then the ten kings —
who are no more kingly than is the beast — are to
represent ten factions ; evidently those ten evils which
are the fulness of hellish conditions. This for one
zodiacal hour, or about ninety days.
"13 These have one mind, and shall give their
power and strength unto the beast." Notwith
standing the chaotic conditions above mentioned,
there is an inward conformity among the ten since
they hate what the beast hates, and love what he
loves, and this is power and strength to him.
" 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and
the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of

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lords, and King of kings : and they that are with him
are called, and chosen, and faithful." See I Tim. 6 : 15.
Whether these shall make war with the Lamb as a
visible presence, or as an unstayable force making for
their complete overthrow, is left open. See 19: 11-20.
In deciding the question, one should bear in mind that
Revelation is an Eastern book which treats matters
and things largely though not wholly in a symbolical
way. As explained in a preceding chapter: "Lord of
lords, and King of kings:" refers to sovereignty over
this world, and not to universal dominion. The
chosen and faithful are perhaps embodied men in
actual battle.
"15 And he said unto me: The waters which thou
sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues." The writer
has in mind the symbolical Euphrates which brings
only harm to the peoples ruled by the symbolical
Babylon. The figure is suggestive of the contrast
presented by the heavenly Euphrates, that bringer
of blessings to the four corners of the earth.
"16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon
the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make
her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and
burn her with fire." In a way the ten horns resemble
the ten plagues brought upon Egypt; only now there
is no Moses to call off the ten plagues brought upon
itself by the kingdom of Antichrist. In her days of
prosperity the ten kings were with the harlot, but
because of her reverses which involved them, they
revenge their loss in the manner symbolically
described. Thus, to burn her with fire is to turn
furiously upon her. To make her naked is to commit

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every vandalism; and to eat her flesh is to rend and
dismember, and disintegrate her kingdom.
"17 For God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill
his will and to agree, and give their kingdom unto
the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled."
The verse expresses the truth that oftentimes evil
men do of their own free will, and so without exten
uation, that which God intended toward those who
had broken his law. Giving their kingdom unto the
world beast means that the ten evil kings will
unconsciously work a destruction which includes the
harlot, and the beast, and themselves also. The
words of God, as meant in this verse, concern the
fate of Babylon as told in the next chapter.
"18 And the woman which thou sawest is that
great city, which reigneth over the kings of the
earth." The verse is to the effect that Babylon is
the molder of the opinions and the fosterer of those
vices whose like have long enslaved the world.

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Chapter XVIII
AND after these things I saw another angel
come down from heaven, having great power;
and the earth was lightened with his glory."
This angel is Michael, prince of the heavenly host
that fought against Babylon even to her destruction.
"2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice,
saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird." Michael announces the fulfillment of the
prophecies found in Isaiah, 11th, 13th, and 14th
chapters wherein Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and such
names are but symbols of nations and peoples of this
twentieth century. The saying of Isaiah: "And
Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God over
threw Sodom and Gomorrah," were in the mind of
the Revelator when he put into the mouth of the
archangel the words of this verse of the 18th chapter.
To become the habitation of devils is to be unin
habitable by normal men. By every foul spirit is
meant bandits and murderers and other outcasts.
The cage of every unclean and hateful bird is the
rendezvous of such creatures as those mentioned.
Concerning the condition of Babylon, Isaiah saith:
"The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the
owl also and the raven shall dwell in it * * * *
and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court
for owls."
"3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the

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wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth
have committed fornication with her, and the mer
chants of the earth are waxed rich through the
abundance of her delicacies." The verse contains
Httle not already declared in chapter 17:2. "The
abundance of her delicacies" gives the idea of luxu
rious living which is one of the deadly sins.
"4 And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying: Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues." See Jer. 50:8. The voice is that of the
Lamb. That Revelation is no mere drama of initia
tion into the Greek mysteries is proved by the fact
that many sayings, scattered through the twenty-two
chapters, are variants of originals found in Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and others of the Hebrew prophets.
Thus Jer. 51: 45, "My people, go ye out of the midst
of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the
fierce anger of the Lord."
"5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and
God hath remembered her iniquities." The verse
states what every great religion of the world teaches,
that sin and punishment are inseparably joined
together. That her sins have reached unto heaven
means that they have attained all possible limit in
quality and quantity, and that the action of the
retributive Power is called into being.
"6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and
double unto her double according to her works: in
the cup which she hath filled fill to her double."
Exact justice would seem to require only the equali
zation of the debt due the law, but when the trans
gressor in some way delays or obstructs the law, then,
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•THE REVELATION OF JOHN
like the dammed waters of a river, retribution bursts
through in an over-whelming flood. The idea of
doubling either good or evil recompense occurs quite
often in the Hebrew Scriptures.
"7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived
deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her:
for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no
widow, and shall see no sorrow." Again we have the
idea of luxury and its requital; and besides the idea
of self-glorification and arrogant pride, another of
the deadly sins. The queen that knows not of her
coming widowhood, and laughs at the thought of
sorrow, had been described by Isaiah in these words:
"I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a
widow, neither shall I know the loss of children."
"8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day,
death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be
utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God
who judgeth her." Of this matter Isaiah saith:
"But these two things shall come to her in a moment,
in one day, the loss of children and widowhood."
In Revelation one day usually means six years, but
Isaiah's coupling of a moment and a day would
indicate for the modern Babylon a period much
shorter than six years. The burning with fire was the
deed of the ten kings; see 17: 16.
"9 And the kings of the earth, who have com
mitted fornication and lived deliciously with her,
shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall
see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off
for the fear of her torment, saying: Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one
hour is thy judgment come." The judgment of

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Babylon foretold by the Hebrew prophets, is to
occur when the mystic Euphrates shall be dried up
that the Lord may gather the remnant of his people
from the four corners of the earth as described in
Isa. 11:15: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy
the tongue of the Egyptian sea * * * and make
men go over dry-shod." The one hour mentioned
should be about ninety days. That the kings of the
earth stand afar off to witness the fate of Babylon
means that its downfall shall be felt to the ends of
the earth.
"11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep
and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their mer
chandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold,
and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and
fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all
thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all
manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass,
and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odors,
and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil,
and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and
horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men."
The Revelator's description of the luxury of Baby
lon is in line with Jeremiah's utterance against ancient
Tyre. Through his doctrine of correspondences,
Swedenborg would discover a special meaning in
every item of such verses as those just given; but
endeavoring to prove too much he weakens his case,
for the impartial reader ere long discovers the strained
and the artificial in the Swedish seer's over-applica
tion of his principles.
"14 And the fruits that thy soul lusteth after are
departed from thee, and all things which were dainty
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt
find them no more at all." In verses 12 and 13 were
enumerated the "fruits" which ministered to the
sumptuous living of the queen, and many others
might be named. It is a habit of a certain class of
critics to read into an author meanings of which he
little dreamed. We would consider the contents of
verses 12 and 13 only as a list of luxuries; those which
the soul of Babylon, in other words her entire being,
lusted after. These dainty and goodly things are
gone never to be enjoyed again.
" 15 The merchants of these things, which were
made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying,
Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine
linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold,
and precious stones, and pearls!" These merchants
are the people affiliated with Babylon while living
outside her borders. These indeed escape her destruc
tion, but are punished by intolerable sorrow because
of her fate. In the mind of the Revelator the doomed
city is like unto that of which Isaiah said: "Who
hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning
city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers
are the honorable of the earth?"
"17 For in one hour so great riches is come to
naught. And every ship-master, and all the company
in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea,
stood afar off." Here also Babylon is likened to Tyre
concerning whom: "Howl ye ships of Tarshish for it
is laid waste."
"18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her
burning, saying: What city is like unto this great

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and
cried, weeping and wailing, saying: Alas, alas that
great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships
in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one
hour is she made desolate."
In a like lamentation over Tyre, Ezekiel says: "And
all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots
of the sea, shall come down from their ships — and
shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their
heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes — and
lament over these sayings: 'What city is like Tyrus,
like the destroyed in the midst of the sea! When thy
wares went forth out of the sea, thou filledst many
people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth
with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchan
dise.' "
"20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy
apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you
upon her." This verse is a sequel to the words in
chapter 6: 10, "And they cried with a loud voice
saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth?"
"21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a
great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying:
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be
thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."
The angel is Michael who in verse 2 announced the
fall of Babylon. The verse is a reminder of Jeremiah
51:63 and 64, "And it shall be, when thou hast
made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt
bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of
Euphrates: And thou shalt say. Thus shall Babylon

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring
upon her."
"22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and
of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more
at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft
he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the
sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in
thee. " Of the judgment at the end of the age Isaiah
saith: "The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of
them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. "
Concerning the saying: "and no craftsman of what
soever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee;"
Swedenborg says that it signifies that no more wis
dom, intelligence, and knowledge shall be found in
Babylon. The explanation seems reasonable, and
we willingly acquiesce, but at the same time contend
that a literal explanation is also proper.
"23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more
at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and
of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for
thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for
by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." By the
absence of the light of a candle is meant spiritual
darkness, as well as the night gloom of a ruined and
deserted city. Telling of the restitution of Jerusalem,
Jeremiah said that again would be heard in that
place: "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the
bride." Elsewhere Jeremiah speaks not unlike John
when he is denouncing the modern Babylon: "Then
will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and
from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth, and
the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom

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and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be
desolate." In another chapter John compares the
new Jerusalem to a bride prepared for her husband,
but the ceasing of the voice of the bridegroom and the
bride from Babylon indicates conditions which are the
antithesis of those in the Holy City to be.
In the 23rd verse, sorceries that would deceive all
nations mean cunning methods of ensnaring, for
instance, that spoken of by Daniel: "And in the lat
ter times of their kingdom, when the transgressors are
come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and
understanding dark sentences, shall stand up * * * *
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to
prosper in his hand ; and he shall magnify himself in
his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall
also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he
shall be broken without hand."
" 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and
of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."
As all roads led to Rome, so all iniquities converge
to Babylon as a common center. As already said, this
Babylon is not only ancient Rome, but also the modern
kingdom of which Rome was the prototype. In chapter
17: 6, is written: "And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus: "but in the present verse the king
dom of Antichrist is deemed guilty of the blood of
all that were slain upon the earth. Adequate expla
nation of this accusation requires not only the reincar
nation of Roman cruelty as suggested in the explana
tion of chapter 17:6, but even the . reincarnation of
Nero, Domitian, and in fact many more of those whose
brutality has made them the loathed of all subsequent
times. 151

Chapter XIX
AND after these things I heard a great voice
of much people in heaven saying. Alleluia;
Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power,
unto the Lord our God." As we have before said,
the scheme of Revelation allows interpolated pas
sages, and even entire chapters. Because of this
peculiarity, certain commentators have declared the
book to be a piecing together of writings made at
different times by one author, or perhaps by a number
of authors. We contend for a book wholly written at
one time, and in a way to serve several purposes, one
of which was to mystify the superficial reader and
hold the unprepared from the real meaning of Revela
tion until the time of the fulfillment of its prophecies.
The song of praise beginning with this first verse,
opens nearly like that in chapter 4:11, "Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power." "2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for
he hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt
the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the
blood of his servants at her hand." The avenging is
that called for in chapter 6: 10. The words: "hath
avenged the blood of his servants" are much like a
passage in the song of Moses wherein the Lord
declares that he will avenge the blood of his servants.
See Deut. 32:43.
"3 And again they said Alleluia. And her smoke
rose up unto the ages of the ages." See Isa. 34: 10.
Alleluia is Hallelu-Jah; praise ye Jah.

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"4 And the four and twenty elders and the four
beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the
throne, saying. Amen: Alleluia." The beasts and the
elders were first mentioned in chapter 4, where the
drama of Revelation really began, and now again they
occur at the approach of the millennial period. The
words "Amen; Alleluia," mean praise to Jehovah that
was and is and is to come. The word Jehovah is not
in the New Testament, and outside of this chapter the
word Alleluia is not found there.
"5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying:
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, b'oth small and great." The voice is that of
Michael who throughout the drama speaks from the
throne, because he symbolizes the Sun the center of
the planetary spheres of which the angels of the
Sephiroth are rulers . The words " small ' ' and ' ' great ' '
have respect to differences and ranks not only among
men, but also among the angels of heaven.
"6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great
multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Alleluia:
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." In chapter
14: 2, the angelic song was: "as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of a great thunder;" but
now is heard the very climax of praise from the entire
heavens which John the Gnostic no doubt deemed
seven-fold, but which Paul condensed into the first,
second, and third heaven.
"7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to
him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready." See II Cor. 11:2.
This verse contains the earliest hint of the millennial

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era which the fall of Babylon and the first Judgment
are to usher in. The marriage of the Lamb is the
reign of Christ in the regenerate world; but whether
that reign is to be in person, or in spirit, is with many
a debatable matter. Our contention is that the
tenor of the chapters and verses which treat of
Christ's second coming, whether they are found in
Revelation, or whether they embody the sayings of
the Master himself, would indicate the corporeal
presence of the Lord : but in respect to the nature of
the visible body of the king, that is a mystery con
cerning which all scripture is silent.
"8 And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints." The fine linen,
clean and white, symbolizes the kingdom of the saints
which may have or may not have a central city.
The new Jerusalem could be the purified earth, or
some particular locality therein. That the bride is
to be arrayed as described, signifies that purity shall
distinguish the new Jerusalem above every city that
the world before had held.
"9 And he saith unto me: Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me: These are the true
sayings of God." Those who are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb are the ones who have
come worthily through the troublesome times cul
minating in the great battle of Armageddon which
includes many minor conflicts preparatory to one
great decisive day. Blessing upon the worthy is
assured by the word of God.
"10 And I feH at his feet to worship him. And

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he said unto me : See thou do it not : I am thy fellow-
servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony
of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy." See chapter 22: 8, 9. The
angel guide is no less than Gabriel who in true humility
calls himself John's fellow-servant, a prophet of the
line. Nevertheless Gabriel is the chief of prophets,
for he stands in the presence of God and reflects the
Divine Mind. "And of thy brethren that have the
testimony of Jesus:" refers to the brotherhood of
angels and of men who acknowledge Jesus the Christ
in his true relation to this world. The command
"Worship God:" means that John should worship the
Ruler of all worlds, rather than him who rules only
this world. "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy," means that the truth, as announced by
Jesus, is in accord with the utterances of the Hebrew
prophets, or, for that matter, with all prophecy which
is God-inspired. "11 And I saw heaven open, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful
and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and
make war." In a consecutive narrative, this verse
would follow chapter 16: 16, but, as before said, it
was for a specific purpose that John adopted the
peculiar arrangement of Revelation. The wondrous
happenings when the seventh vial was poured into
the air, rather than upon the earth, are now to be
depicted in the second half of chapter 19.
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse;" indicates a spectacle in the sky. Though not
the one mentioned in chapter 6:2, this white horse
also indicates spiritual authority. Before John's day
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the author of the book of Daniel had written: "And
at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy people." Now
it appears that one more closely related to this earth
than Michael could be, is the rightful principle in the
great scene to be enacted in the drama of Revela
tion. The one called "Faithful and True," is of
course he who said unto Thomas: "I am the way,
the truth, and the life." "In righteousness he doth
judge and make war." In Isa. 11:41, it is written:
"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor
* * * * he shall smite the earth with the rod of
his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he
slay the wicked."
" 12 His eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head
were many crowns; and he had a name written, that
no man knew, but he himself." In the description of
the Son of man, chapter 1: 14, we read that "his
eyes were a flame of fire." "And on his head were
many crowns;" signifies that he is king over all the
sovereigns of the earth. The name: "that no man
knew but he himself," is not to be revealed until after
the seventh plague is fulfilled. See chapter 15:8.
No doubt his name would indicate definitely the place
of Messiah in the cosmic scheme.
"13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood: and his name is called The Word of God." In
speaking mystically of the great day of God Almighty,
Isaiah said: "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-
fat?" In the present verse the red garment signifies
the blood of the slain. In the Ancient Mysteries it
was taught that every man is the Word made flesh

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but, according to the individual, the manifestation
of the Word varies. Therefore the name of Messiah
would really be The Supreme Word of God. In this
connection, the Word indicates power.
" 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean." The description indicates that, accord
ing to his attainments, each angel was like unto the
leader. That the heavenly host were white and
clean means that, even as Isaiah had prophesied,
Messiah treads alone the wine-press of the wrath of
God. The host of his followers only look on the
carnage. "15 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
wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God." The sword is the one mentioned in chapter
1:16. In Isa. 11:4, this sword is called: "the rod
of his mouth," but whether sword or rod, it is no
doubt the mysterious energy which the Hindoos call
Kundalini. This force is the basic energy of life,
and for him who is its master it can both create and
destroy. That he shall rule them with a rod of iron
was foretold in chapter 12:5, the little understood
chapter which symbolizes the second coming of
Christ. That he treadeth the wine-press has already
been explained.
" 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a
name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS." These words from Isaiah are written on
the vesture of Messiah because it bears the san
guinary evidence of his victory. The words are also
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written on his thigh because he treads the wine-press.
"17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and
he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that
fly in the midst of heaven. Come and gather your
selves together unto the supper of the great God."
See Ezek. 34: 17, 18. The angel is Michael the
regent of the solar sphere. The marriage supper of
the Lamb was a feast of spiritual blessings to which
the worthy were asked; whereas the supper of the
great God, in fact the judgment supper, is that of
carrion, the very antithesis of the other.
"18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the
flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and
the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both great
and small." "That ye may eat the flesh of kings."
Far from being asked to the supper, the kings and
great ones, even as their beasts, are to be eaten by
the scavengers of the skies. A satire on pride and
worldiness, the verse gives hope that in the new order
of ages such sins will be a stench in the nostrils of men.
" 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the
earth, and their armies, gathered together to make
war against him that sat on the horse, and against
his army. See chapter 16: 16. The statement is
general rather than specific. It is unreasonable to
assume that all kings whatsoever and their followers
are with the beast. If this were so, then would the
human race prove a failure, and none would be worthy
to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb. No
doubt certain great armies and their kings and
leaders are those indicated as gathered to make war
against Messiah. 158

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"20 And the beast was taken, and with him the
false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with
which he deceived them that received the mark of
the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning
with brimstone." As we made evident in dealing
with chapter 13: 1, 2, the beast is the evil existing in
the world as a whole. The false prophet is Anti
christ that wrought miracles before him. This was
explained in chapter 13. The fate of both the beast
and Antichrist was foretold in chapter 7 of the alle
gorical book of Daniel.
"21 And the remnant was slain with the sword of
him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded
out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with
their flesh." In this verse is found the consumma
tion of things prepared for in verses 15, 17, and 18.
At the beginning of certain world cycles the human
race is decimated through war, earthquake, tidal
waves, famine, and pestilence. All this that a new race
with a new outlook may be brought forth, the rem
nant of the old being the progenitors of the new ; thus
fulfilling the command given to Noah and his sons:
"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
The only historic cataclysm was known as the Deluge,
that which occurred at the close of the Atlantean
epoch. In the fall of Babylon, Revelation treats of
the one to come. The Ancient Arcane Science
teaches of periodical cataclysms both watery and
fiery. These occur alternately; hence the fiery out
burst is next in order.

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Chapter XX
THIS chapter has proved a veritable stumbling-
block to commentators, and so it is not
strange that many fantastic beliefs have
been tortured from its contents. In John's day the
doctrine of re-birth was held, not only beyond the
bounds of Jewry, but also by many thinkers within
her borders. The rationale of the doctrine was
taught in the philosophic schools of Plato, Pythag
oras and others, while among the Gnostics — with
whom we believe John to have been affiliated — it was
a central tenet derived no doubt from the mysteries
as taught in the secret initiations of Egypt, India,
and Greece.
In the chapter before us, re-birth is taken for
granted even as in certain portions of the four gospels ;
and it is indispensable to a correct explanation of
the mystery veiled in the fifteen verses which now
require elucidation.
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand." Often this verse has received a
literal rendering; in support of which can be quoted
the words of chapter 1: 18: "I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." We
deem the language of the verse we are considering to
be allegorical, and for reasons which will be set forth.
"2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old ser
pent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottom
less pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him,

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the revelation of JOHN
that he should deceive the nations no more, till the
thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he
must be loosed a little season." See Matt. 24: 24.
With John the Arch-fiend is a being real as are the
archangels, and we hold his position to be a logical
one. In other respects, a literal interpretation of
verses 2 and 3 is absurd. Why should Satan be
bound for a season and then be loosed to work ven
geance upon mankind? In truth Satan is bound only
by the chain of enforced idleness, and for what is here
called a Millennium.
Employing the Zodiacal key, we unlock the mys
tery of the millennial years, and discover that the
entrance of the Sun into Capricornus, a Httle over
two thousand years hence, will indicate the time of
Satan's release for a little season. That Satan is to
be absolutely inactive during the nineteen hundred
or more years of his so-called chaining should not be
taken literally. With ages of hereditary behind
them, men cannot be changed radically in a month,
or a year, or even a century; still wonderful improve
ment will be brought about by means which Divine
Wisdom has provided. A certain teaching is in sub
stance this: Because of unsuitable environments
resulting from the presence and permeating influence
of the world-beast, of which the kingdom of Anti
christ is the essence and he the quintessence, thous
ands of great souls have for centuries been held back
from re-birth. To preserve the equilibrium of the
moral world, certain great ones — and a much larger
number of lesser calibre and attainments — have at all
times been drawn into physical life by those supreme
Intelligences whose office it is to regulate the repro-

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duction of the race, and thus to maintain its possible
standards. The overthrow of the beast and his prophet will
clear the moral atmosphere, and makes it breatheable
by the greatest among the world's discarnate host
whose total is said to be many billions of egos. On
the other hand, if the discarnate man of evil deeds
would return — and it is a teaching that souls return
not through compulsion, but through free will — then,
because of the much purer conditions existing through
out the earth during the millennial period, that soul
will find little to attract it to the earth life; in other
words, the strands which somehow bind and draw
that soul to the physical plane will fail to exert
their accustomed power. However, the time cometh
when that soul shall be drawn back to the world.
The return of such in large numbers would give
employment to the Evil One, and, because of this, it
might then be said of him that he is released from his
prison, or, in fact, from his enforced term of idleness.
"4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them,
and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the
souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their
hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years." See Dan. 7:9, also I Cor. 6:2.
Jesus said: "Verily I say unto you, that 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."

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It is taught that Jesus chose for his diciples men
who corresponded with the twelve zodiacal signs. It
is also taught that the twelve powers symbolized by
these signs are the administrators of the law to this
earth as well as to many others. Because of their
fitness, the twelve disciples are to be exalted to a
position comparable with that of certain adminis
trators of the zodiacal law to our world. The
"beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word
of God," are a type of all the faithful unto death in
any great cause which harmonizes with the teachings
of the Master. Evidently none of these have wor
shipped the beast, or his Antichrist; nor have they
received the dooming mark.
"And they lived and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years." Many believe that under the
dispensation treated in the first six verses of the
chapter, the lives of the saints will rival that of
Methuselah. This belief is against reason unless
one admit the possibility of some miraculous change
in the constitution and functions of the human body.
Now in fact the verse requires no such change. That
the saints should reign with Christ for a thousand
years demands no longer life for the individual than
is implied in the statement that the Romans lived,
and ruled their possessions for a thousand years and
more. The words: "reigned with Christ a thousand
years," together with the vivid descriptions of what
followed the seven seals and trumpets and vials, have
led many to imagine that Christ would be present
visibly on the new earth throughout the millennial
period. The farewell words of Jesus to his disciples:

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"lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world," is true both figuratively and literally; there
fore we hold that in a degree never before equalled,
the saints shall be aware of his ever-presence because
they live wholly in conformity with his law. Of that
latter time Ezekiel wrote: "And David my servant
shall be king over them and they all shall have one
shepherd." "5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until
the thousand years were finished. This is the first
resurrection." During "the thousand years" if only
the martyrs and the most saintly are to people the
globe, then for that period must vast numbers of
progressive egos be debarred from necessary earth
experiences. On the other hand, we have reasoned
that some day the evil souls are to come again into
re-birth. See comment on verse 3. The verses from
the seventh to the fifteenth inclusive show beyond
question that the world remains material enough for
Satan's purposes after his release.
In explaining the first sentence of verse 5, it should
be said that no doubt it is a comment because not
found in the earliest manuscripts ; hence latitude should
be given its meaning. Otherwise it is unreasonable,
and a source of narrow notions touching the elect.
"This is the first resurrection." To live again upon
this earth as verse 8 proves it to be, even at the
close of the thousand year resurrection period, one
must pass through the gates of re-birth; and yet to
live there during that period is to have part in the
first resurrection.
"6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection: on such the second death hath no

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power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand years." A part
of the verse points to the general judgment due at
the end of the Millennium: at that time the wicked
are to be born again.
This judgment is not the first meted to the wicked
multitude, for in the days of Noah the waters covered
them all, and, in an earlier age, the expulsion from
Eden was a minor judgment upon a race not yet
evolved to definite ideas of right and wrong. Each
judgment succeeding the first in the series is more
severe than its predecessor, and for the reason that,
with growing intellect, evil men sin more and more
wilfully against the Light. The second death will be
explained as we proceed. The "priests of God and
of Christ," will have various duties before unknown
to the sacerdotal office, for unless the physical world
is to be wholly unlike what now it is, many indis
pensable material tasks will demand their attention.
"7 And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison." In the third
verse it is written that he must be loosed for a little
season. In comparison with long periods of time, a
hundred years or more, and even two hundred years,
may be called a little season.
"8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together for battle: the number of
whom is as the sands of the sea." For Gog and
Magog to become numerous as the sands of the sea
would require the longest term mentioned in the
comment on verse 7. In describing God's future
judgment upon Gog and Magog, Ezekiel gives his

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message a Jewish coloring; thus to him the chosen
people were the ones warred against in the valley of
Hamon-gog; but notwithstanding the signs and won
ders to be wrought by the Lord upon his enemies, the
old world is to abide, for the prophecy adds that:
"seven months shall the house of Israel be burying
of them, that they may cleanse the land." Magog
was the grandson of Noah, and his evil descendants
who shall be gathered to battle, are presumably the
reincarnation of certain among the multitudes
drowned in the Deluge; a judgment which was final
only for the vilest contemporaries of Noah.
"9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and
the beloved city: and fire came down from God out
of heaven, and devoured them." The beloved city
is of course the new Jerusalem. The Revelator's
descriptions of battles are very brief, particularly so
this description; one almost lacking in particulars,
since only a fragment of a sentence is granted to what
surely is the last and greatest and most far-reaching
conflict that a war-wearied world shall be compelled
to endure. As for details, Ezekiel is more explicit
albeit he gives the prophecy a Jewish setting: "And
thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a
cloud to cover the land ; it shall be in the latter days,
and I will bring thee against my land, *****
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in
the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and
the fowls of the heavens, and the beasts of the field,
and all creeping things that creep upon the earth,
and all the men that are upon the face of the earth,
shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall

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be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and
every wall shall fall to the ground * * * *
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with
blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands,
and upon the many people that are with him, an
overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and
brimstone." "10 And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever." See chapter 19 : 20.
The verse makes plain that, among the armies of Gog
and Magog, Antichrist is not present in any capacity.
Those informed in respect to the seven-fold constitu
tion of our globe will understand that he is in that
place of debasement known as the eighth sphere; a
globe condition from which there is no rise into
re-birth. As for the Arch-fiend, once he sinks deep
into that sphere, he cannot emerge to trouble the
race of men.
The eighth sphere is that of men who have fallen
below the human, but not quite to the brute level;
hence there exists upon the earth no type of body,
human or animal, to which they can conform. This
condition is that of the second death in which these
unfortunates must await the birth of a new planet
and there take their chance on some low rung of the
evolutionary ladder. The spirits in prison, to whom
Christ brought some word of hope, were probably
of this class. Concerning Satan, for ages he has led
a vampire life upon the mental and moral fiber of his
victims. Deprived of this ghoulish sustenance, he
becomes impotent chiefly through loss of his mentality.
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away; and there was no place for them." See
Pet. 3:7. This is the Great Judgment under the
sign Capricornus, at which time the goats are to be
separated finally from the sheep. This last of the
four judgments is the only one final for a multitude
of beings. For all save Antichrist, condemned at
the advent of Aquarius-Leo, and those whose accum
ulated iniquities approached his own, an opportunity
to save themselves yet remained. The great white
throne, of which the Sun is the symbol, signifies that
height of spiritual vision from which all world hap
penings are beheld, so that impartial Justice shall be
rendered to the doers of good and of evil.
The words: "from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away," is one of many sayings tending
to show that periodical cataclysms accompany the
periodical judgments of the human race. Speaking
of the flood, the Apostle Peter says: "the world that
then was, being overflowed with water perished."
Immediately he adds: "But the heavens and the
earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment,
and perdition of ungodly men." From Peter's lan
guage which, if taken literally, contains a contradic
tion — since the world did not perish — we argue that
the words of the Revelator touching the fate of the
earth and the heavens would not indicate their dis
solution, but, at most, some radical change in the
configuration of the terraqueous globe.
"12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God ; and the books were opened : and another

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book was opened, which is the book of life; and the
dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works. See
II Cor. 5:10. In Dan. 10:4, the book containing
the prophecy of what is generally deemed the events
connected with the last Judgment, is shut and
sealed until the opening of the books seen by the
Revelator. As instanced by the flood, the physical earth
experiences the outward results of a judgment, but
the essentials of every judgment occur in the super-
physical world, and its vital effect is upon the dis
embodied. Swedenborg believed that in the spiritual
world a judgment occurred just prior to the inception
of the earthly church of the New Jerusalem. In
respect to the opened books, it is well known to cer
tain students of the occult that the seven-fold aura
surrounding every being contains the record of all
his deeds. This aura is his individual book of judg
ment, comprising seven volumes. The eighth book
is the synthetic book of life, to be explained.
" 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ;
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged every man according
to his works." See Dan. 12: 2. By the sea is here
meant that intermediate condition of the disembodied
which corresponds with the purgatory of the Roman
Catholic church. By death and hell are meant those
upper strata of the eighth sphere which as yet are not
wholly doomed. That these were adjudged evil would
appear from the statement of the next verse.
"14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death." To swine the filth

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in which they wallow is no uncleanness; likewise to
those who merit death and hell, their condition
therein, though fiery to the observer, is not neces
sarily so to them. Hence it is the fate of those who
suffer the second death, not to realize that they are
dead to every possibility of rise during the life period
of this planet. "And whosoever was not found writ
ten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
The seven-fold human aura, in other words man's
individual judgment book in seven volumes, derives
peculiar significance from the purity or impurity of
the seven spectrum colors, one of which is proper to
each volume. Thus, in the red division of the seven
fold aura of the man of purified passions, that color
has evolved to a delicate shade of rose, or lilac pink;
whereas in the corresponding auric division of the
sensualist, the red has become dull and heavy.
A greyish hue, permeating one or more divisions of
the human aura, denotes entire lack of spirituality;
while ultra-marine, and indigo, and golden yellow,
when resplendent in their divisions, signify lofty
ideals wholly realized. To the Revelator the golden
and the extremes of blue, together with the perfected
violet, red, green, and orange, constituted the book
of life, for these are the infallible evidences of great
thoughts, words, and actions which no hypocrite can
simulate. On the other hand, the heavy, clouded,
and ill-looking aura is of itself condemnatory, and
truly may be called the book of death.

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Chapter XXI
AND I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea."
See Isa. 65: 17. Because of the metaphorical lan
guage wherewith both prophets and apostles have
described the state of the earth and the heavens after
the last Judgment, it would seem unwise to attempt
any specific statements concerning conditions at that
remote time. Peter speaks of "the coming of the
day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fer
vent heat. ' ' Immediately he continues : ' ' Nevertheless
we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
From passages of like tenor scattered throughout
the biblical books, it would seem that many inspired
teachers, including the Master himself, foretold a
veritable cataclysm due at the time indicated in
chapter 20, beginning with the ninth verse. Evidently
they foretold an earlier cataclysm due at the fall of
the mystic Babylon.
The Ancient Arcane Science, always known to the
few, but now accessible to quite a body of students,
treats of cataclysms which, while sinking certain
continents, at about the same time uplifted others.
Thus when Lemuria vanished beneath the waves of
the Pacific, Atlantis appeared in the Western Ocean.
Of these lost continents it was taught that each in its
appointed cycle would rise again; Lemuria first, and
afterward Atlantis; but the re-birth of Lemuria

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the REVELATION OF JOHN
means the disappearance of one of the historic con
tinents and the extinction of its civilization. From
this fact it might be argued that the words: "there
was no more sea," meant to John that some large
body of water had been displaced by dry land.
"2 And I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband." See Isa. 52: 1, also
Gal. 4: 26. Chapter 19: 8, states definitely that "the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath
made herself ready." This should be just after the
fall of Babylon under the sign Aquarius. Again in
chapter 20: 9, it is said in respect to the New Jeru
salem, that her foes "compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city. " But how can
these things be reconciled with the descent of the
Holy City at a much later period, unless here John
would convey the thought that the New Jerusalem
had now taken on a splendor which, compared with
its former condition, amounted to a veritable re-birth?
Moreover the descriptions that follow demand for
their fulfillment some radical change in the nature of
the earth.
In the comment on chapter 11: 2, the doctrine of
the Tetrad was revealed. John the Initiate may
have held that after the Second Judgment the puri
fied world, throughout certain areas of its surface,
would repeal uncovered portions of that true earth
the d«ttble pyrdiiiid : in other words, some continental
division would be uplifted so that the sacred moun
tain of Isaiah, that Eden of the Adamic race, could
become the ideal habitation of the saints.
" 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying:

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the REVELATION OF JOHN
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." See Lev. 26: 11, also Ezek. 37: 27. Ever the
tabernacle of God was with devout men ages before
its outward correspondent was built by the wander
ing Israelites. As a movable temple, this tabernacle
indicated that God could not be confined to localities,
whereas the fate of the fixed temples of Solomon and
of Herod demonstrated that in the midst of a froward
people, the most imposing structure shall retain no
indication of the Divine favor. The teaching of the
verse is that in the New Jerusalem the like cannot occur.
"4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; 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." See Isa. 35: 10.
Touching the ideal conditions to which the verse
looks forward, Paul had already written: "Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall
have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under
his feet. The last enemy that shall be overcome is
death." Evidently the real Millennium is that in
which there is neither death, as we understand it,
nor sorrow, nor crying. Messiah's rule is over the
earth, but since God is over all worlds, Messiah
reigns by his permission. Christ's acknowledgment
of this in the hour of his triumph is what Paul calls
delivering up the kingdom to God the Father.
"5 And he that sat upon the throne said. Behold
I make all things new. And he said unto me. Write:

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
for these words are true and faithful." He that sat
upon the throne is the Father: see chapter 4:2, 3.
Prophesying of this new era of the world, Isaiah, as
the mouth-piece of God, said: "For, behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall
not be remembered, nor come into mind."
"And he said unto me, Write: for these words are
true and faithful." Revelation contains more than
one solemn assurance of the truth of its foretellings,
thus the first and second verses of chapter 1, and the
sixth verse of the closing chapter.
"6 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." All ancient alphabets derived the
form of their every letter from a zodiacal constella
tion, or some other star cluster, and these letters
were sacred to them. The Hebrew and the Greek
letters are modifications of older ones; therefore the
Greek Alpha and Omega have an esoteric relation to
the star-groups from first to last. The meaning of
Alpha and Omega really is: I am the total of the
heavenly hosts. See chapter 1:8.
"I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely." Foretelling that golden
time which, according to Revelation, will come after
the pouring of the seventh vial, Isaiah said: "There
fore with joy shall ye draw water out of the well of
salvation." Concerning that well Jesus said: "If
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
"7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." To
inherit all things is "to eat of the tree of life, which

174

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
is in the midst of the paradise of God." Paul truly
says that to be a son of God is to be a joint heir with
Christ. This mutual heirship makes Christ man's
elder brother, but does not give him supreme place
in the universe.
" 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abomi
nable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sor
cerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone:
which is the second death." See I Cor. 6:9, 10; also
Eph. 5:5. Swedenborg would have explained these
offences as against the Lord and his church; thus
adultery and fornication would mean to falsify the
truth of the Word, while murder would mean to be
rashly incensed against the Lord, and even to be
desirous of blotting out his name. We hold that the
eight classes of crime enumerated in the verse, some
of which are named by Paul, are literal offences
against the laws of God, and in fact conducive to
that debased condition which the Revelator calls
the second death.
"9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels
which had the seven vials full of the seven last
plagues, and talked with me, saying. Come hither, I
will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." The
angel is Gabriel who was sent to enlighten John
even as, according to Moslem belief, he enlightened
Mahomet, and dictated to the Prophet the sacred
volume of the Koran.
"10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a
great and high mountain, and showed me that great
city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven
from God." The great and high mountain is the
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
northern point of the Tetrad • ©i^<double -pyramid'.
The ancient teaching is that this was the primal
Eden, but, because of a cataclysm accompanied by
great climatic changes, the original habitat of man
has for ages been hidden under the frozen Polar seas.
The teaching adds that at some remote period the
imperishable Sacred Land shall be restored, and the
new Eden shall be the abode of the evolved Adamic
race. "11 Having the glory of God; and her light was
like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal;" the stone is the diamond,
or, more likely, the opal, for, as later verses show,
the city was enveloped in the colors of the prism.
That this aura is around objects, as well as men and
animals, will appear when mankind develops ability
to see beyond the violet of the spectrum. The verse
pre-supposes that ability in the inhabitants of the
Holy City.
"12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve
gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names
written thereon, which are the names of the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel." The wall is the
radient aura of the city. That the tenor of the verse
and those to follow is astrological is quite evident, for
the city is likened to man into whom the twelve
zodiacal powers radiate their influence by means of
the twelve gates of his body. To make the chapter
less openly astrological, it is given a Jewish coloring
by substituting for the names of the zodiacal con
stellations those of the twelve tribes. The angels
themselves are however the personified powers of
the Zodiac.

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"13 On the east three gates; on the north three
gates ; on the south three gates ; and on the west three
gates." The eastern gates are Capricornus, Aquarius,
and Pisces. The northern gates are Aries, Taurus, and
Gemini. The southern gates are Libra, Scorpio,
and Sagitarius. The western gates are Cancer, Leo,
and Virgo.
" 14 And the wall of the city had twelve founda
tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb." John may have had in mind the
saying of Paul that the faithful "are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets," neverthe
less the twelve foundations of the walls of the city
corresponded with the twelve constellations. The
names of the apostles engraved on these foundations
show that each apostle corresponded with a zodiacal
group. "IS And he that talked with me had a golden
reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and
the wall thereof." Zechariah saw in a vision a man
with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem, but the
new Jerusalem is measured more fitly with a golden
measuring stick.
"16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length
is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city
with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length
and the breadth and the height of it are equal."
Evidently the city is a cube, and the cube is the
Tetrad' m — dortbte pyramid:. From this it would
appear that in shape the city is like that greater
Tetrad the purified earth.
The words "twelve thousand furlongs" reveal
nothing of the city's dimensions. They are used for
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
a different purpose as will be explained. 12 is the
zodiacal number, and the city is a cube having six
sides each twelve thousand furlongs in length, as also
in breadth. If the city were wholly measured, the
total length covered by the golden reed would be one
hundred forty and four thousand furlongs. This total
is an esoteric way of indicating that the city is
adapted to the one hundred forty and four thousand
saints. Also this total length indicates that from
every point of view the city is under the protection
of the twelve zodiacal hierarchies.
In chapter 14 the one hundred forty and four
thousand were seen standing on Mount Zion; where
as now they are to stand on the purified earth; for
heaven, under the name of New Jerusalem, has
descended to the abode of men. This fact is in
conformity with an ancient secret teaching; one
probably known to John, the Initiate. The teaching
is in substance that every world contains its own
heaven and its own hell. The teaching further
reveals that the hell of this earth shall eventually be
cast out as a dead planet which, like the moon, will
contain only the coarse material atoms, whereas the
finer material particles are to shape themselves into
the lowest division of the new earth which, for aeons,
is to be the home of the all but perfected human race.
"17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred
and forty and four cubits, according to the measure
of a man, that is, of the angel." The cubit is not a
defined measure; the Jewish cubit may be eighteen
or twenty-two inches. In any case the height of the
wall could have been only a little over two hundred
and forty feet, although the height of the city was
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
said to be twelve thousand furlongs. In the present
verse, as in the preceding, the measurement given is
only for enlightenment concerning another matter.
In John's day the wall of a city was its chief defense ;
hence to intimate that the city is protected by the
twelve zodiacal powers — each of which is divisible
into twelve minor powers — the height of the wall
was given as one hundred and forty-four cubits, a
reasonable height, and therefore satisfactory to the
surface reader, while at the same time revealing the
truth to the real investigator.
This interpretation contains the key to the
remainder of the verse. One hundred and forty-
four is the number of a perfected man, and so of an
angel, because, like the Holy City, these are under
the protection and guidance of every aspect of the
zodiacal powers. Hence for the word "measure" in
the verse, the word "number" should be substituted.
"18 And the building of the wall of it was of
jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear
glass." As already stated, jasper here is undoubtedly
the irridescent opal. Gold is the metal sacred to the
Sun, but this gold is transparent as glass. The
matter hinted at can now be understood much better
than before the discovery of the X-ray. The gold
is transparent because of the evolved organs of sight
proper to the humanity of future ages. When
purified, even as this earth is to be, every planet
shall have its characteristic color: thus for Jupiter,
light blue; for Mercury, yellow; for Venus, indigo;
for Saturn, green; for Mars, red; while for the per
fected invisible Luna planet, violet is already attained.
Evidently orange is the color proper to the perfected
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
earth, which color was its own until the fall of man
into dense material conditions. The pure gold of
the New Jerusalem is the prevailing and permeating
orange, minus the brown and coarse slag from which
somehow the gold shall separate itself.
"19 And the foundations of the wall of the city
were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire;
the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh,
chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the
tenth, a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth; the
twelfth, an amethyst." See Isa. 54: 11, 12.
These twelve precious stones correspond occultly
with the twelve zodiacal powers, and as follows:
the many-colored opal with Aries; the rich blue
sapphire with Pisces; the blue-grey chalcedony with
Aquarius ; the bluish-green emerald with Capricornus ;
the red sardonyx with Sagitarius; the bright red
sardius with Scorpio; the yellowish-green chrysolite
with Libra ; the yellow beryl with Virgo ; the greenish-
yellow chrysoprasus with Cancer; the azure jacinth
with Gemini; and the violet amethyst with Taurus.
"21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls;
every several gate was of one pearl : and the street of
the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass."
The twelve gates are of pearly hue because through
them radiates the white light, the synthesis of the
spectrum colors which are upon the city walls. The
street of a city is its least honorable part, hence to
emphasize the glory of the New Jerusalem, John says
that its street was pure gold.
"22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."
The verse pre-supposes a condition of the human
family immeasureably beyond that of the foremost
races living to-day. Considering the ages of ancestry
behind those races, it may with reason be said that
nothing short of the miraculous could make true the
Revelator's words unless, as we contend, the chapter
as a whole contains the outcome only, and is silent
concerning the ages necessary to the absolute consum
mation. When God is deemed afar off, the temple
is the place wherein he seems to draw near his children ;
but when his nearness is fully realized, and almost
seen, then the temple becomes obsolete.
"23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither
of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Much
of this had been foretold in Isa. 24: 23, also in 60: 19.
It is taught by certain wise ones that the Sun is
seven-fold, and that the physical sun, that to which
John refers, is a veil between man and the true light.
The glory of God is that brightness which Sweden
borg called the spiritual Sun. It is a brightness visible
to angels, and eventually to be seen of angelic men.
Swedenborg says that oftentimes the angels behold in
the midst of the spiritual sun the figure of a Lamb.
"24 And the nations of them which are saved
shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the
earth do bring their glory and honor into it."
Prophesying of that Zion which. is to be, Isaiah said:
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings
to the brightness of thy rising." The nations men
tioned by John are those of the post-millennial period.
Presumably these all are saved, or at least well on
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
the way to salvation. In the verse the word "kings"
has a wide meaning which includes the pre-eminent
in every important field of human activity.
" 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by
day: for there shall be no night there." Literally,
the Holy City shall have neither gates nor walls.
Its enveloping aura is a sure defense. The twelve
gates sacred to the zodiacal powers are the avenues
through which only those beings shall be admitted
whose individual auras shall resemble that of the
city. Since the sun's light is ever upon the earth,
though shut out during certain hours of the twenty-
four because of the earth's axial rotation, it is obvious
that if the earth were transparent to the observer,
there would be no night, but in its place an agreeable
twilight. "26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of
the nations into it." Every excellence which the
nations have evolved in their individual components,
or have perfected through the work of human hands
and brains, is here indicated.
"27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any
thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are
written in the Lamb's book of life." See Dan. 12: 1.
In the great sifting known as the Second Judgment,
the evils mentioned have disappeared in what the
Revelator calls the second death.
Certain commentators regard verses 24^27 as an
abandonment of the idea of a heavenly Jerusalem
for an earthly one; whereas, we have endeavored to
show that the earthly city is indicated both in 19: 7,
and in 21:2, 10.

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Chapter XXII
AND he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb." See Ezek. 14: 8.
This river, which Ezekiel saw flowing from under the
threshold of the temple, is synonymous with what
Eastern philosophy names the Great Breath, in
other words, the vital life principle; that which the
Lord God breathed into Adam. This life principle
proceeds from the Spiritual Sun of our planetary
system which here is called the throne of God. The
throne of the Lamb, which is the spiritual center of
the earth, receives the Great Breath, and transmits it
not only to man, but to every breathing thing in
earth, water, and air.
"2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either
side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare
twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations." As in chapter 2:7, so here, the
expression "tree of life" is a figure of speech. This
tree is a zodiacal tree, and its twelve manner of
fruits are the twelve zodiacal influences, each of
which descends when in its month the Sun enters
the sign proper thereto. The tree of life exists on
the earth to-day, but its spiritual fruits are few
indeed, for gross material conditions are most unfav
orable to its bearing.
Only the world tree, yielding twelve kinds of fruit,
one kind every two thousand years, is really
acclimated and productive. The fruits of this tree

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
are given to us through those world teachers whose
line began in pre-historic times, and whose last and
greatest representative was known as Jesus, the
Christ. The leaves of the world tree are the applica
tion of the spiritual truths revealed by these leaders;
but because in the course of centuries truth becomes
perverted and ineffectual, the leaves may be said to
wither and die. Under the new order of things, all
spiritual truths are to remain fresh as when delivered,
and so the leaves of the zodiacal tree will always be
for the healing, or, more precisely, the preservation
of the nations.
"3 And there shall be no more curse: but the
throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his
servants shall serve him." Zechariah says of Jeru
salem that in it "there shall be no more utter destruc
tion." The promise that the throne of God shall be
in the Holy City must not be taken literally. Where
soever the imminence of God is wholly believed in,
and his service worthily performed, there his omni
present throne will seem to be. In respect to this
planet, the same is true of the throne of the Lamb,
for, as the Master said: "lo I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world."
"4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall
be in their foreheads." This verse has led many to
suppose that in the New Jerusalem — but whether on
earth or in heaven they do not know — an anthropo
morphic God would be visible to the saints. The
Revelator refers to the Lamb, but, as the majority of
Christians have not yet learned to distinguish between
God the Father, and Jesus the Christ, the promise
means to them the visible presence of the Trinity.
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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
The sealed in their foreheads are of course the one
hundred forty and four thousand ; those whose number
indicates the entire host of the redeemed.
"5 And there shall be no night there; and they
need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord
God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever." The verse is almost a replica of 21: 23,
and its insertion in this closing chapter may be to
emphasize the extraordinary prophecy of that verse.
In his vision of the judgment of Antichrist, Daniel
saw that after his dominion was taken from him, the
saints would possess the whole earth for ever and
ever. "6 And he said unto me: These sayings are faith
ful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets
sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done." It is Gabriel who
assures the Revelator of the truth of the message
given to him, and in words which prove John to be
of the greater rather than of the lesser order of
inspired writers. The words : "must shortly be done,"
have no reference to time as measured on the physi
cal plane.
"7 Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that
keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."
On the highest plane of being where, because clearly
seen, cause and effect are conjoined, to act surely is
to act quickly. The separation of cause and effect
begins just below the highest plane, and increases as
the material plane is approached.
"8 And I John saw these things, and heard them.
And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to wor
ship before the feet of the angel which showed me

185

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
these things. 9 Then said he unto me. See thou
do it not: for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy
brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the
sayings of this book: worship God."
We have endeavored to show that John himself
saw and heard whatever is recorded in these twenty-
two chapters. We have rejected the theory of com
pilation from various authors; also the theory of the
incorporation of old legends. We do not admit that
Revelation is the piecing together of Johannine
writings of different dates. Rather we contend for a
composite whole, and hold that the interruptions of
the narrative, wherever occurring, are deliberate and
for a purpose which is common in occult writings.
In his rebuke of John, the great Archangel calls him
self a fellow-servant which indicates that, in the pres
ence of the Supreme, the mightiest are small indeed.
"10 And he saith unto me. Seal not the sayings
of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."
In the early centuries especially, and at intervals
ever after, the words: "Seal not the sayings of the
prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand," were
taken to mean immediate fulfillment of the event
foretold in Dan. 12:9, thus: "for the words are
closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Our
explanation of the warning in chapter 3:11, and in
verse 7 of this chapter, "Behold I come quickly,"
applies also to the words: "the time is at hand."
From the highest view-point, that which is inevitable
is at hand.
"11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and
he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that
is righteous, let him be righteous stiU: and he that is

186

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
holy, let him be holy still." Thus is indicated the
solemn fact that when the time of Christ's return
draws near, the world will be fixed in its usual way,
so that only the always-ready will be prepared.
"12 And behold I come quickly; and my reward
is with me, to give every man according as his work
shall be." See Isa. 40: 10, also Matt. 16: 27. Behold
I come surely; then, whatsoever a man hath sown,
that shall he also reap.
" 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end, the first and the last." See Isa. 44: 6. With
in its limit, the verse is almost a replica of chapter 1 : 8.
"14 Blessed are they that do his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city . ' ' The zodiacal
tree was described in the comments on verse 2 ; and the
gates in the comments on chapter 21 : 12, 13.
"15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." The verse was
explained in the comment on chapter 21:8. Evi
dently the city is the purified earth, since all without
is the place of the condemned.
" 16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto
you these things in the churches. I am the root and
the offspring of David, and the bright and morning
star." Already the churches have been explained
as the seven principles of man. Isaiah prophesied of
Jesus the Christ thus: "And there shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
grow out of his roots. " Jesus the Christ is also the
star out of Jacob of which Balak had prophesied
before Balaam.

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THE REVELATION OF JOHN
"17 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." The great seven-fold
Breath, the vis vitce which issued from the spiritual
Sun at the creation of this world, and which at the
prime of our planetary life turned back to its heavenly
source, is that plenteous and free draught of which
Isaiah said: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye
to the waters. "
" 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if
any man shall take away from the words of the book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of
the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from
the things which are written in this book."
There is no doubt that before the days of printing,
religious zealots sometimes undertook to improve
the New Testament books, especially when certain
passages seemed to contradict their own views, or
those borrowed from others. It is also true that if
certain commentators had had the re-writing of
Revelation, its inner meaning would now be lost to
the world. It is our great good fortune to have
in the Apocalypse a pure text, and perhaps solely
because of the warning contained in the verse. Such
warning is not peculiar to the last book of the Bible,
for Moses issued a command that the Jewish statutes
and judgments should not be tampered with.
"20 He which testifieth these things saith. Surely
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come. Lord Jesus.

188

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen." The words, " I come quickly," or, as we inter
pret them: "I come surely," first occur in chapter
3: 11, and then three times in chapter 22. This warning
derives peculiar emphasis from being those final words
of Revelation which precede the benediction.
That Revelation survived the adverse criticisms of
many early theologians and, later, those of Luther
and some of his contemporaries, is due in part to the
lofty hope and unquenchable faith which many of its
messages have brought to the hearts of the faithful
down the Christian centuries. From one view-point
Revelation continues too rigidly the attitude of the
Hebrew prophets when declaring God's wrath toward
the unrighteous.
John seemingly forgets the message of mercy and
forgiveness announced by Jesus ; but it should be seen
that John is dealing largely with the two Judgments,
concerning the last of which Jesus himself uttered a
terrible warning. Despite the many promises of
mercy to the contrite, repentance may come too late,
for in the face of doom it is but a surface expedi
ent of the terror-stricken — those eaters and drinkers
as in the days of Noe — and can have no determining
influence on their fate.
To the sentimentalist, who fears in that fate a
resulting unhappiness of friends and families among
the redeemed, we would say that from the view-point
of the redeemed doubtless there are mitigations of
grief which cannot enter the minds of mortals yet in
the flesh.
Because the universe is dual, there can be no final
loss. God Supreme is the pinnacle of the evolved half

189

THE REVELATION OF JOHN
of the universe; that which has come to be perfect if
judged by the standard of the negative half, but not
wholly so by its own standard. Because naturally
heavy and lethargic and slow of progress, the negative
half of the universe — that which includes mankind
and all finite beings — is yet on the way to perfec
tion, aided by the positive half which contains
attributes proper only to itself. Since the negative
contains certain attributes peculiar to itself alone,
we gather that positive and negative are mutually
dependent; and, until every atom of the negative is
redeemed and purified, the positive will to that
extent, fall short of full and rounded perfection.
On the other hand appears the paradox that to the
Divine Mind the perfect whole exists in the eternal
Now, and that Now results from God's encompassing
vision of past, present, and future; each as clearly
defined as the other two, and so all three be held as
timeless Eternity. For those who see no more with
mortal eyes, some part of that veil which we call
time is lifted, wherefore results one of those mitiga
tions whose total will nullify the sorrow which other
wise would come to the redeemed because of the
separation of the sheep from the goats in the great
cycle of Capricornus.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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