The Perfect Way: Or, The Finding of Christ

creature, and smote off her venomous head. This exploit,—itself fraught with great perils,—was followed by the achievement of another not less difficult. Andromeda, In Greek mythology, the daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Her story is often used in art and literature as a symbol of the soul in need of divine rescue. daughter of the Æthiopian king, being doomed to become the prey of a dragon which long had ravaged her father’s coasts, was already chained to a rock on the seashore and on the point of being devoured, when Perseus,—divinely guided to the scene of the intended sacrifice,—vanquished the Dragon and delivered the princess. And, having won her love and espoused her, the son of Zeus The king of the Greek gods; his name is used here to signify the highest divine source. bore her away from her father’s kingdom into heaven, to shine for ever beside him, redeemed, immortal, and glorious.

Now, the names Medusa and Andromeda have a common root, and signify respectively “guardian” or “house” of Wisdom, and “the ruler” or “helpmeet” of Man. The authors are using a specialized etymology: 'Medusa' relates to the Greek medon (ruler/guardian), and 'Andromeda' combines aner (man) with the same root, suggesting the soul as the companion or ruler of the human experience. They are thus typical names, the first, of the Church, the second, of the Soul. And the two myths of which their bearers are the heroines, together constitute a prophecy—or perpetual verity An eternal truth that remains relevant across all ages.—having special application to the present epoch. Medusa is that system which—originally pure and beautiful, the Church of God and the guardian of the Mysteries, The 'Mysteries' refer to the ancient, hidden spiritual truths of a faith, which were once taught only to the initiated rather than the general public.—has, through corruption and idolatry, become “the hold of every unclean thing,” original: "the hold of every unclean thing" - This is a reference to the Book of Revelation 18:2, describing a fallen or corrupted spiritual state. and the mother of a monstrous brood. And, moreover, like the once lovely face of Medusa, the