A horizontal decorative woodcut ornament featuring repeating symmetrical patterns of floral scrolls and stylized leaves.

EXPLANATION OF THIS HIEROGLYPHIC

FIGURE.

A large decorative initial 'V' set within a square frame. The background of the initial depicts a landscape with a classical building, rolling hills, and a cloudy sky.

Revelation 7.

Psalm 91.

To the preceding volume (which deals with the mystery of health), we have prefixed a symbolic original: "hieroglyphicam" description of the fortress of the mystery of salvation. In this, you will find four Angels of Life depicted as the presiding officers of the towers of the citadel, or the fortification of salvation. They are the defenders and guardians of life and virtue against the assaults of the evil demons sent from the four quarters or regions of the world. For, just as (according to the teaching of the Hebrews) the four Standard-bearers of Vengeance carry the widest banners in the army of Satan—namely, Samael, Azazel, Azael, and Mahazael, who are the evil Angels—so also in the army of God, four leaders original: "antesignani" are numbered: namely, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, who are called the good Angels. Among them, Michael looks toward the East and commands the evil Angel Samael, who is placed over the East Wind original: "Euro" and the Northeast Wind original: "Caciæ". Gabriel rules the North and is prepared to repel or suppress the assaults of the evil Angel of that region, Mahazael. Uriel subjects the evil spirit original: "cacodæmonem" of the southern fourth, namely Azael, to his will. Finally, Raphael has power over the effects of the evil Angel Azazel. The lord of all these, however, is Michael; for since he is the principal leader and conductor of the army of God against the dragon or Satan, once the dragon is defeated, he subjects those four standard-bearers to himself and his will. From this it is certain that he was that great Archangel cited by the Revelator the author of the Book of Revelation, St. John, who, ascending from the rising of the Sun, commanded those four winds standing upon the four corners of the earth, to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, that they should not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until he had sealed the servants of God on their foreheads. These four principal Angels, therefore, who have under their jurisdiction infinite legions of similar nature to themselves, were ordained by God to be the guardians of life—that is, to take care lest the elect be defiled by wicked and impure spirits. Hence God says to the chosen one:

No plague shall approach your tent, for I have given my Angels charge over you, who shall preserve you in all your ways. original quote from Psalm 91:10-11

Psalm 78:49.

Psalm 103:2.

Revelation 7:1.

But, whenever Jehovah intends to afflict anyone with either disease or death, He allows His good Angels to step away, and He Himself grants dominion and power over the human body and spirit to the evil demons. Whence the royal Psalmist King David says:

He sent upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and tribulation, through evil angels. original: "per malos Angelos"

Yet He made His angels—the evil as well as the good—winds, and His ministers a burning fire: and the four Angels to whom it was given to do harm hold guardianship over the four winds of heaven, as John testifies.

Habakkuk 3:3-5.

Psalm 91.

Here, therefore, in this symbolic original: "hieroglyphica" depiction of the siege of the fortress of salvation, we have expressed those four harmful demons, with their other infinite followers swarming everywhere in the air, while the spirit of the winds loosens their reins. For just as plague, contagion, and decay draw their origin from the South, so indeed we have—not without reason—portrayed the demon holding dominion over this quarter as riding upon the most contagious beast of all, namely the Basilisk a mythical serpent-king said to kill with its breath or gaze, and surrounded by infinite scorpions and other tiny venomous creatures. For the text says:

When God came from the South, the plague went before his feet, and a wasting pestilence in the South, and the devil went out before him. A translation of Habakkuk 3:3-5, though the "devil" phrasing varies in different Latin versions of the period

And elsewhere:

Do not fear the plague that prowls in the darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday; or, as Jerome has it, from the assault of the Noonday Demon. original: "dæmonio Meridiano," a famous concept in medieval theology referring to a spirit of sloth or spiritual gloom

Regarding these infinite spirits raging in secret, the Sage referring to the author of the Wisdom of Solomon says elsewhere: "There are spirits that are created for vengeance, and in their fury they—"

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