117 



The truth of this conclusion may appear from many parts of 

 this Essay ; to dwell upon it here, in any manner worthy of 

 its importance, would far exceed my limits ; and it would de- 

 grade such a subject to treat of it lightly. My present object 

 is, I hope, attained, and that I have succeeded in proving an 

 antient connexion of typical allusion, between the Cherubim 

 and the Zodiac. It remains however for me to shew, what I 

 commenced with asserting, that the several Cherubim of Scrip- 

 ture, however apparently differing in description, are far more si- 

 milar as types, than such descriptions would seem to allow. 



Commentators have observed of the Cherubim of cunning work, 

 that those in Ezekiel, which were formed of the combined heads 

 of a lion and of a man, are emblems of the union of the Divinity 

 of Christ — the lion of Judah — and of his Manhood : while their 

 turning towards the palm-branches, between which they are carved, 

 is symbolical of the blessed effects of peace, which are promised 

 to mankind as the results this mystical union. 



We have before spoken of tlie covering cherub, those only* 

 therefore, of the garden of Eden remain. There was an antient 

 opinion concerning them, which Sir Thomas MorCj-f- relying on 

 the authority of Ambrose, Origen, Lactantius, and others of 

 the Fathers, has thus expressed — " Igneos hosce Cherubinos sym- 

 " bolum facere alicujus status animse, quse cam idoneam reddat 

 " ad gustandum fruclus immortal itatis vitse." I might have quoted 

 before a passage of Philo relating to them,| as it concludes with a 

 hint, that, even by these cherubim, were signified the celestial 



t Mori op. Fol.Lond. 1679— V. 3. p. 611. 

 t Francof. Ed, Fol. 1691. p. 111. 



