These pictures were designed to preserve, expound, and perpetuate the one first great promise and prophecy of Gen. iii. 15, that all hope for Man, all hope for Creation, was bound up in _a coming Redeemer_; One who should be born of a woman; who should first suffer, and afterwards gloriously triumph; One who should first be wounded by that great enemy who was the cause of all sin and sorrow and death, but who should finally crush the head of “that Old Serpent the Devil.” These ancient star‐pictures reveal this Coming One. They set forth “the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.” Altogether there are forty‐eight of them, made up of twelve SIGNS, each sign containing three CONSTELLATIONS. These may be divided into _three_ great books, each book containing four chapters (or Signs); and each chapter containing three sections (or Constellations). Each book (like the four Gospels) sets forth its peculiar aspect of the Coming One; beginning with the promise of His coming, and ending with the destruction of the enemy. But where are we to _begin_ to read this wondrous Heavenly Scroll? A circle has proverbially neither beginning nor end. In what order then are we to consider these signs? In the heavens they form a never‐ending circle. Where is the beginning and where is the end of this circle through which the sun is constantly moving? Where are we to break into this circle? and say, _This is the commencement_. It is clear that unless we can determine this original starting point we can never read this wondrous book aright. As I have said, the popular beginning to‐day is with ARIES, _the_ Ram. But comparing this Revelation with that which was afterwards written “in the Volume of the Book,” VIRGO is the only point where we can intelligently begin, and LEO is the only point where we can logically conclude. Is not this what is spoken of as the unknown and insoluble mystery—“The riddle of the SPHINX”? The word “Sphinx” is from σφίγγω, _to bind closely together_. It was therefore designed to show where the two ends of the Zodiac were to be joined together, and where the great circle of the heavens begins and ends. [Ceiling of Portico of Temple of Esneh] Signs of Leo and Virgo, from the ceiling of the Portico of the Temple of Esneh, showing the Sphinx between, uniting the beginning and end of the Zodiac. The SPHINX is a figure with the _head of a woman_ and the _body of a lion_! What is this but a never‐ceasing monitor, telling us to begin with _Virgo_ and to end with _Leo_! In the Zodiac in the Temple of Esnéh, in Egypt, a Sphinx is actually placed between the Signs of Virgo and Leo, as shown in the illustration on the preceding page. It is a tracing from the drawing of Signor Bossi, executed on the spot, under the direction of the late Mr. Edward J. Cooper, in 1820.