articlesforchristians

Summary

Man has ever sought to rob Christ of His glory. He has long since done his best to obliterate His name and His work from the Revelation which had been written in the stars of light. When He humbled Himself, and came as the promised Seed of the woman, men “saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.” And these were religious men. It was religious men, not the common rabble, whom the Old Serpent made use of to wound Him in the heel. The Devil could not touch Him himself; he must use them as his instruments; and it was only religious men that could be so used.

It was the “chief priests and scribes,” men learned in the Scriptures, whose very knowledge of the Word was used to compass His death amongst the babes at Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 4-6).

It was the same priests and scribes who were used to put Him to death, and give the long-prophesied wound in the heel.

Religion without Christ is enmity against God! Knowledge of the Scriptures where the heart is not subject to Christ, and where Christ is not seen in them, is powerless and lifeless. It is true of the Scriptures, as it will be of the heavenly Jerusalem—“the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. xxi. 23).

The Church of Rome has been used of the great enemy to rob the Lamb of God of His promised glory. Jerome, in his Latin translation of the Bible (405 a.d.), wrote “ipse,” He, in Gen. iii. 15, as the “bruiser of the serpent’s head.” And, in spite of the fact that Jerome himself so quotes it in his commentary, and that it is masculine in all the other ancient translations of the Bible, Rome has first corrupted Jerome’s Vulgate by changing the “e” into “a,” and putting “ipsa” (she) instead of “ipse” (He); then she has so translated this corruption and perpetuated this perversion in various languages! So that in all her versions, in her pictures and statues, in the decree of Pope Pius IX., which promulgated the dogma of the “immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary,” this lie of the Old Serpent has been foisted on unnumbered thousands of deluded souls, who have thereby been deceived into putting Mary in the place of Jesus; the “co-Redemptress” in the place of the Redeemer; the creature in the place of the Creator; the woman in the place of the woman’s Seed;—until the outcome is reached by emblazoning, in huge gilt letters, on the outside of a large church in Rathmines, Dublin, “MARIÆ PECCATORUM REFUGIUM,” to Mary the Refuge of Sinners!

So complete has been the success of the subtlety of the Serpent, that he has beguiled thousands of Protestants to unite in circulating these corrupted versions as the Word of God, thus giving currency to the Devil’s lie. This is done on the plea of expediency, in order that these versions might come to many as Protestant truth instead of Popish error; but thus misleading those who were seeking for light, while confirming Papists in their darkness.

But through all the “wisdom of the Serpent” we can detect his lie. It is very thinly veiled, and the Old Serpent has not succeeded in blinding the eyes which the Spirit of God has opened. True, we see in all Rome’s pictures and statues the foot of Mary, on the Serpent’s head, but the foot is not coming down, nor is the head crushed! Rather is the woman’s foot resting on its head; and the woman herself supported by the Serpent.

The whole system of Mary-anity is thus seen to be the outcome of the Serpent’s wisdom in opposition to the true Christ-ianity.

How different are the primeval star-pictures of the heavens. There, the club is lifted up, the foot is coming down, yea, the foot is actually planted upon the enemy, treading the Scorpion under foot.

Rome may corrupt the words of the Book, but she cannot touch the stars of heaven! The Devil himself cannot move them from their places. He may choose and use his servants and agents for corrupting the Scriptures written in the Book, but he cannot change the Revelation of the stars.

There,—no woman’s foot is seen upon the Serpent’s head! There,—no woman usurps the place of the all-glorious Redeemer!

In Ophiuchus we see Him in dread conflict with the Serpent, and we see His foot upon the Scorpion’s heart (Scorpio). We see Him, the Risen Lamb (Aries), binding Cetus, the great Monster of the Deep; we see Him in the glorious Orion, whose foot is coming down on the enemy’s head (Lepus); we see Him in the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Leo), about to tread down that Old Serpent (Hydra) the Devil; we see Him in the mighty Hercules, who has his foot on the head of the Dragon (Draco), and his up-lifted club about to inflict the long-threatened blow; we see Him crowned in Cepheus, with all His enemies subdued, and His right foot planted upon the Polar Star!

True, we do see a woman in this heavenly and Divine revelation; for there are four women. Two are connected with the Redeemer, and two with the Redeemed. The Redeemer is seen in the one (Virgo) as the “promised Seed”; in the other (Coma), He is seen as the child born, the Son given. The Redeemed are represented in one as a captive chained (Andromeda), with no power to wage conflict with an enemy, but a prey to every foe; in the other (Cassiopeia), she is enthroned, with no necessity for conflict. For with one hand she waves the palm of a victory which another (Perseus) has wrought on her behalf, while with her right hand she is preparing and making herself ready for “the marriage of the Lamb.”

Thus pure and undefiled is this primeval fountain of Divine truth. Thus harmonious is it with the written Word of God. And He who gave them both to enlighten a dark world which lieth in the power of this wicked one, has filled both with one subject—“The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.”

These are set forth by the Holy Spirit in a double sevenfold expansion of the prophetic promise of Gen. iii. 15, giving seven steps in His humiliation and seven in His glorification (Phil. ii. 5-1176).

CHRIST JESUS,

1. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery (a thing to be grasped at and held) to be equal with God;
2. But made Himself of no reputation (Gr. emptied Himself),
3. And took upon Him the form of a servant,
4. And was made in the likeness of men:
5. And being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself.
6. And became obedient unto death,
7. Even the death of the cross.

WHEREFORE

1. God also hath highly exalted Him,
2. And given Him a name which is above every name:
3. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
4. Of things in heaven,
5. And things on earth,
6. And things under the earth;
7. And that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

“Come, then, and, added to Thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere Nature’s birth;
And Thou hast made it Thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with Thy blood.
Thy saints proclaim Thee king; and in their hearts
Thy title is engraven with a pen
Dipp’d in the fountain of eternal love.
Thy saints proclaim Thee king; and Thy delay
Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see
The dawn of Thy last advent, long desired,
Would creep into the bowels of the hills,
And flee for safety to the falling rocks.”
“Come, then, and, added to Thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest,
Due to Thy last and most effectual work,
Thy Word fulfilled, the conquest of a world.”