" slain from the foundation of the world " (Rev. xiii. 8) 

 the Amen, or Jupiter Ammon, of the Apocalypse, at 

 which moment he exclaims, " I am he that liveth and 

 was dead, and behold I, Arnen, am alive for evermore " 

 (Rev. i. 1 8), and " These things saith Amen, the true and 

 faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God " 

 (Rev. iii. 14). The winter period, commencing with 

 Libra, was called by the ancients the period of scorpions, 

 because Scorpio was the principal sign of the period, and 

 next after the equinoxial sign ; Egypt (see Rev. xi. 8), 

 because, that being the most southerly country then 

 known, the sun appeared to descend into it at that time 

 of the year ; and Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., because it was 

 a period of evil. The sea-monster, Cetus, is the same 

 that is referred to in Rev. xiii. as blasphemy, with a 

 mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, and leopard-like marks 

 on its forequarters, and whose number was declared to 

 be 666, which figure being made up of D 60, r\ 400, 

 ") 6, and 1 200, stands fci the word "YinD> Setur, the 

 concealed one, the Latin equivalent of which is Cetus* 

 This was probably something like the original Christian 

 myth, which, as time wore on, became converted into 

 the absurd story presented to us in the four Gospels. 



The story of Adonis being separated from his darling 

 Venus for six months, and being afterwards re -united to 

 her in love for another six months, was fabricated from 

 the same source ; as also were the legends of Osiris and 

 Horus, Vishnu and Krishna, Ormuzd and Mithras, 

 Jupiter and Apollo, Jupiter and Bacchus, and Jupiter 

 and Hercules. The cult of Bacchus, indeed, was almost 

 a fac simile of those of Jesus and Adonis, the three 

 being but representations in different countries of the 

 very same drama. The twelve labours of Hercules were 

 no more than the passage of the sun through the twelve 

 signs of the zodiac, just as the twelve patriarchs, the 

 twelve tribes, the twelve stones, and the twelve apostles 

 were the twelve signs themselves. In my " Popular 

 Faith Unveiled" I have pointed out the reasons for 

 thinking the twelve sons of Jacob and the twelve 

 apostles to be the twelve zodiacal signs ; but I may here 

 state that, on re-consideration, I am inclined to modify 

 the order maintained there in regard to the twelve 



