crown of the sky like the Dragon.

Yet again, the narrative in Genesis tells us that God "drove out the
man" (_i. e._ Adam), "and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden
the cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep
the way of the tree of life." No description is given of the form of the
cherubim in that passage, but they are fully described by Ezekiel, who
saw them in vision when he was by the river Chebar, as "the likeness of
four living creatures." The same beings were also seen in vision by St.
John, and are described by him in the Apocalypse as "four living
creatures" (_Z[=o]a_). "The first creature was like a lion, and the
second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a
man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle." Ezekiel gives a
fuller and more complex description, but agreeing in its essential
elements with that given by the Apostle, and, at the close of one of
these descriptions, he adds, "This is the living creature that I saw
under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they
were cherubim"--no doubt because as a priest he had been familiar with
the cherubic forms as they were embroidered upon the curtains of the
Temple, and carved upon its walls and doors.

The same four forms were seen amongst the constellation figures; not
placed at random amongst them, but as far as possible in the four most
important positions in the sky. For the constellations were originally
so designed that the sun at the time of the summer solstice was in the
middle of the constellation _Leo_, the Lion; at the time of the spring
equinox in the middle of _Taurus_, the Bull; and at the time of the
winter solstice, in the middle of _Aquarius_, the Man bearing the
waterpot. The fourth point, that held by the sun at the autumnal
equinox, would appear to have been already assigned to the foot of the
Serpent-holder as he crushes down the Scorpion's head; but a flying
eagle, _Aquila_, is placed as near the equinoctial point as seems to
have been consistent with the ample space that it was desired to give to
the emblems of the great conflict between the Deliverer and the Serpent.
Thus, as in the vision of Ezekiel, so in the constellation figures, the
Lion, the Ox, the Man, and the Eagle, stood as the upholders of the
firmament, as "the pillars of heaven." They looked down like watchers
upon all creation; they seemed to guard the four quarters of the sky.

If we