THE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE.
THE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE.
In determining the duration of the period within
which were to occur the events taught in the doctrines of
the Exoteric Creed, the ancient Astrologers dedicated
a thousand years to each of the signs of the Zodiac, and
thus inaugurating the cycle of twelve thousand years,
taught that, at its conclusion, the heaven and the earth,
which they believed to be composed of the indestructible
elements of fire, air, earth and water, would, through the
agency of the first of these, be reduced to chaos, as a
preliminary to the reorganization of a new heaven and a
new earth at the beginning of the succeeding cycle. Such
was the origin of the grand cycle of the ancient Astrolatry,
and it must be borne in mind that its authors made its
conclusion to correspond in time and circumstance to the
doctrines relating to the finale of the plan of redemption.