TRUST.

(Written in West Cemetery, Amherst, N. H., upon the evening of July 24, 1888, and published in the CABINET.)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." (Psa. XIX: 1-2.).

It is little wonder that from our material stand-point we have regarded as myths the legends connected with the constellations, because they are the clothing of truths too profound and mystical for ordinary language. Meritorious deeds, we are told, placed the ancient heroes among the stars, a statement so at variance with our literalism that we relegate it to the realm of myth and conjecture. We learn from Swedenborg, however, that "the spiritual are those who in the word are compared to stars, inasmuch as stars enlighten the night." So will the constellations illumine the night of man's understanding when he turns to them for their light.

"The old astronomer and philosopher who gave to us the picture we find in the common almanac, the figure of a man with the twelve zodiacal signs around him, had a reason for it." The ancients described the whole world as if it were in a human form. In a very old work on Cosmography the earth is represented as a woman in a recumbent position, with her arms raised toward heaven, and her feet pointing in the direction of the Great Bear; its geographical divisions being typified by the different members of the human body; Egypt represented the Heart. St. Paul touches upon the fact that all mankind are members of one great body, one Grand Man. Through the divine law of correspondence we are enabled to so far lift the veil of Nature as to gain a glimpse into the inner temple of Truth. Swedenborg tells us that correspondence is the appearance of the internal in the external, and that no distinct idea can be had of this science without a previous knowledge of the Grand Man. "Correspondence is like anyone speaking a foreign language, aud another instantly understanding the sense of the words. The science of corresponddence has been concealed since the time of Job, but is now made known. It was not revealed to the early Christians because in the primitive church there were persons of great simplicity, and had this law been discovered, it would have proved useless and unintelligible."

The constellation Auriga, perhaps, in greater measure than any other, contains the mystical teaching that is to-day struggling for utterance, but which is veiled in its interior sense to those who are yet unawakened. Capella signifies the kid of the goat, and is the most prominent star in

this constellation. We accept the theory of evolution so far as to believe that man in his higher unfolding does evolve out of the animal, or his own lower nature, but only in the measure that he sacrifices the goat. This is the beast of the cloven hoof figuratively as well as literally. We find in Auriga the significance of the stars in the knees of the two preceding signs, for this constellation portrays the sacrifice of Capricorn, which signifies the horn of the goat and comes in the knees of the Grand Body. The goat-herd, we are told, holds in his hand the band of the goat, a suggestive statement, but an empty phrase to moderns so far as its real meaning is concerned.

Perseus the next constellation on the Argo's path is represented by the figure of a man, armed with a sword, and having beside him the head of a Gorgon. He is crowned as a victor, and his feet and hands are winged. "Sword, in the hand signifies combat and power. Wings denote preservation or defences." 66 The Milky Way around Perseus is very vivid, presenting the most wonderful and sublime phenomenon of the Creator's power and greatness." We believe this statement prefigures the radiance of the way when man shall reach this stage of experience. Perseus holding the serpent is indicative of power now attained. The fable of the freeing of Andromeda by Perseus is rich in suggestion; the victor in this struggle with the enemy is here espoused to the divine maid, that intuitive principle originally belonging to man, but which is to-day in chains. "The posterity of the ancient church had a proprium granted them vivified by the Lord; this in the word is called woman. Proprium signifies an inherent principle, what is common or proper to a person or thing; " the recepti ve or intuitional faculty of the soul. "When man is regenerated, the Lord gives to him a proprium from Himself in which He abides."

The celestial traveller, man, has here arrived at that point in his unfolding where he is receptive of the higher knowledge by which he clearly discerns the way. The star Almach in the foot of Andromeda we believe is identical in idea with the word almanac, for the latter is Arabic in origin, and means time, measure, fate. Here the ecliptic is reached and full ascension attained; for the starry way and the Christ's path now intersect. The travellers for the first time see their course in its entirety, past, present and future are one to them; for here they are able to read the heavenly chart where from creation's morn this celestial voyage has been clearly defined. The opposite or Southerly node was reached in Orion where the Argonauts though they knew it not, commenced their right ascension of that path which is delineated by the Milky Way. The terms ascension and declination applied to man contain a wisdom with which the ancients were not unacquainted, as the Dendera planisphere proves. Here is pictured man's progress through the great precessional period: for this is the horoscope of the cycle, not that of Egypt's kings, as has been stated. The point of man's ascending node, or spiritual ecliptic is, on this chart, represented by a headless human figure, with horns rising out of the body; for the arms, and even shoulders are wanting. "Head signifies things celestial,-truths. Hands, arms and shoulders denote different degrees of power. Horns represent ability in speaking, teaching and writing, and consequently in reasoning and arguing." Man may have great power in this direction, and still be destitute of the higher principle or medium through which he can come into direct communication with

the Divine life or Wisdom, for this is the end to which he is created. In the planisphere referred to, the ancients plainly tell us that man at the point of his ascending node is lacking the crowning evidence of manhood which the head symbolizes, a knowledge of the Truth, and consequently is destitute of the real power which those missing members typify.

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The next constellation on the Argo's course is Cassiopeia, which is pictorially represented by the figure of a woman in regal state, on a throne or chair, and holding in her left hand the branch of a palm tree. We say this is so given pictorially, for astronomers tell us that this chair is inverted. To us this but symbolizes the fact that it is empty. Cassiopeia, or the divine proprium, woman, originally given to man is yet chained to the rock, not occupying her position of honor. Throne denotes all things of heaven and the church. Palm Branch signifies a holy festivity." There are many other points which are suggestive in their correspondencies with the spiritual truths they declare, one of which is the importance of the star Caph, in the garland of the chair, to the mariner and surveyor. The meaning of the names given to the stars in this constellation are significant. "Cassiopiea, the enthroned, the beautiful. Shedar the freed. Ruchba, the seated or enthroned. Caph, the branch in the hand." There are fifty-five stars in this constellation, the whole number of passengers on the Argo.

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The next constellation, and the last with which we have to do in the voyage of the Argonauts is Cepheus, or Man as a king with his royal spouse. Cepheus, we are told was king of Ethiopia, and Cassiopeia was his queen. Ethiopia signifies those who are in possession of celestial things, such as love, charity, and works of charity. Queen denotes the church as a wife." Cepheus is represented on the celestial map as a king in his royal robe, with a sceptre in his left hand, and a crown of seven stars upon his head. He stands in a commanding posture with his left foot over the pole, and his sceptre extended toward Cassiopeia, as if for favor and defence of the queen." A square is described by stars in the upper part of the body of Cepheus including the heart and face. Here is signified the fact that the race has squared the circle, having reached the heart of the Grand Body. Not only do the stars assert this, but the great pyramid of Gizeh is declaring the same truth. The ancients demonstrated this mathematical problem of squaring the circle in Egypt, the heart or centre of the habitable world, leaving to coming generations the material correspondence of the sublime wisdom that the stars are giving namely, that man completes the circle in Leo or the Lion. This is the riddle of the great sphinx, which, failing to answer man has paid the forfeit with his life. "Cepheus means the branch. Crown signifies an ensign of warfare and victory. Seven stars, the knowledge of all things. Sceptre, denotes divine truth as to government. Heart corresponds to the celestial kingdom of the Lord. Face, represents spiritual and celestial things existing interiorly with man.” "Al Deramin and Al Derab, two of the principal stars, denote coming quickly, as in a circle." Here the great summer soltice of the race is reached; the Sun, or Christ makes a stand in his course. The head of Cepheus divides the Milky Way; this fact has its spiritual correspondence, but having reached the end of our Argonautic voyage we will as briefly as possible sum up the deductions to be drawn from this celestial journey.

Our travellers started out in the sign Cancer, that division of the zodiac called the crab; for this was the first sign in the present great precessional period. We would here note the fact that the twelve divisions of the zodiac have always been called signs. "That twelve signifies all things of faith, has been heretofore unknown to the world, nevertheless this is the constant signification of twelve wherever that number occurs. Sign is mentioned in the word in reference to things to come; it refers to divine truth." (Dict. Cor.)

In affirming that our great cycle commenced in the sign Cancer, we are of course talking about the Grand Zodiac, or the path of the solar orb; and we conclude our readers know that the sun is over two thousand years in passing through one sign, or division of the zodiac; consequently more than twenty-five thousand years, or the whole precessional period in making the complete circuit of the twelve signs. The law of correspondence settles what must otherwise be a matter of conjecture as to when our great cycle commenced; but that it began in Cancer is proved by this heavenly wisdom, for it was here that the ancient church, or race of man began its decline. "A cancer corresponds to the consummation of the church in the manner of its progress and fatal termination." It is not without significance that the small cluster in Cancer was formerly called the manger, which means to eat. The breast of the human body is the most common point of a cancer's attack to-day. The sign Cancer comes in the breast of the Grand Body, as the ancient runstaffs, and our modern almanacs affirm. The Crab and the Scarabeus both symbols of this sign denote holding the possession. The Scarabeus is peculiarly the emblem of the ancient church, hence considered sacred by the Egyptians, who were in the knowledge of correspondences, and therefore understood the significance of this symbol. They have told us in the Dendera planisphere that the church of Cancer passed out and that the sign was not to be counted in our cycle; for on that chart this emblem, the Crab, is drawn out of the circle of the Zodiac, and in toward the pole, a fact that has puzzled science in trying to find in this an astronomical projection.

The church of this cycle in which we live is symbolized by the Crab, and also has the possession as the word denotes. Here is typified the fact that there remained a seed or remnant of the ancient church. Those who possessed the interior illumination, the divine proprium which is God's highest gift to man, and which in the word is called woman. The Crab does not readily relax its hold where it has once gained possession, and its characteristic of reaching out and drawing to itself well typifies the fact of the natural growth of truth by accretion; also the great variety of the Crab species suggests another analogy into which we need not enter.

It was not without the divine purpose that the crab was chosen as the symbol of this sign, for it not only typifies the solar orb which here commences its backward movement, but the fact that humanity in order to go forward seems to retrograde; hence ascension and declination.

Belonging to the sign Cancer are three Decans, Dek meaning a part or piece, and these are Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, the Lesser and the Greater Bear, and the Argo called the Ship. The order in which the ancients have sent these Decans down to us is the natural one of correspondence. We have only to remember the characteristics of the Bear to see the significance. This animal with its huge paws tears down, puts under foot;

greater

in other words depresses. The cant, stock term "Bulls and Bears” contains a greater truth than the usually accepted one. "Bears signify the natural sense of the word separated from the spiritual. Lesser and denote comparative degrees of truth." The order of these terms is sig nificant. "Argo means the company of travellers;" those who start out on the celestial voyage. We see many correspondences in the sign Cancer where we find the Polar Bear, for this word has a new significance when the fact of the Grand Man of the cosmos is understood. Between the feet of the Bear and the Horn of the Bull man does indeed pay the difference, in lacking spiritual illumination on the one hand, and on the other hand, in his material understanding of divine things. But the Dipper points ever to the Pole, that centre which we profanely call imaginary. "The sphere of divine good is in the midst like an axis." "Even unto this day a veil remaineth in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is only removed in Christ."

The Argo is the constellation belonging to Cancer, and this, as we have shown, appears at the entrance of the Milky Way.

The next sign in the zodiac, or great wheel of life, is the second in the sun's course, for the solar luminary, which typifies the Christ, moves in a direction opposite to that of the earth, as the law of correspondence testifies; consequently it is with Gemini, or the Twins that we now have to deal. This sign comes in the hands, arms and shoulders of the Grand Man, proving that the people of Gemini were the thrice great of mythical history; the Heroes, Manes and Mortals of antiquity. Gemini was the childhood of the race, a period of great purity, for this was only the second stage of declination, or the Fall. This people brought down the heavenly science of the stars which was later degraded, and then lost in man's farther lapse from the spiritual.

This was that traditionary time when the animals are said to have talked to man, as indeed they did, and will again when the divine science of correspondence is understood.

The constellation belonging to this sign is the first on the Argo's path. Columba, the dove: which is emblematic of innocence, and also of love and charity which is symbolized by the olive branch that the dove is bearing. The ten stars visible in Columba designate the whole law" in other words the decalogue.

The third sign in the sun's course, or the next stage in man's journey, was through the sign Taurus; this came in the cerebellum and neck of the Grand Man, and was ancient Egypt's place in the great microcosm. "Man was called by the ancients the microcosm from his resembling the universe in the whole complex. This they derived from the science of correspondence. In the cerebellum, which is in the hinder part of the head dwells the will." (Dict. Cor.) Was it this that gave Egypt her greatness? It was no weak, or impotent race that left such testimonials of prowess behind it.

The constellation belonging to this sign is the second on the Argo's path, Canis Major, the Greater Dog. Its most prominent star Sirius, or Sothis in its periodical variations, marked Egypt's great Sothaic period. We are told that Dog in general signifies the animal instinct in man, but this constellation is the Hound, the highest type of the species; and the great star Sirius is in the mouth. "Mouth in a spiritual sense signifies