Page:Stirling William The Canon 1897.djvu/54

32 1,480. That is to say, a circle inscribed within the square 2,093 exactly contains a square whose sides are 1,480; and this circle will be assumed to be the sphere of the zodiac or firmament. The side of the inner square, again, measuring 2,073, is $$\tfrac{1}{12}$$th of the earth's circumference measured in miles. The numerical value of the name CHRISTOS is 1,480, and the mystery of this number appears to be that it supplies the measure of God's body extending crosswise throughout the whole universe. The wisdom of the number 666 conveys the same theological secret, for 666 is the diameter of a circle having a circumference of 2,093.

The Greeks appear to have concealed a similar knowledge in the names of the planets, as recorded in the Epinomis of Plato, who calls the five planets, 1,090, , 612, , 309, , 993, and , 353; if the sun, , 318, and the moon, , 301, be included, the sum of the numbers obtained from the seven names is 3,976, a number which is one less than the radius of a circle 25,000 in circumference. Now the side of the Holy Oblation, according to Ezekiel, is 25,000 reeds $$\left ( \frac{25,\!000}{12} = 2,\!083\tfrac{1}{3} \right )$$.

But a far more striking coincidence arises from the addition of the numbers deduced from the names, 760, , 128, and , 1,196, for the sum of these amounts to 2,084, or the mean length of the side of the Holy Oblation.

In the same way the geometrical figure called the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse will be found to contain the sun's orbit and that of Mercury. Francis Potter, who published a book on "the number 666" in 1647, alludes to the mysteiresmysteries [sic] of this celestial city. He tell us, that the