ages;* and the original settlers on the vast continent of America could have no knowledge of this vision, either by tradition or personal experience. The Jewish Cabalists entertained a belief that the paradisiacal mount was the place of residence chosen by the children of Seth, while the contami nated descendants of Cain resided in the plains below; and its altitude was said to be so great, that from its summit might be heard, the angels of heaven singing their celestial anthems before the throne of God!

In ancient Masonry, the Ladder was figuratively said to rest on the Holy Bible, and to consist of three principal staves, although the general number was indefinite, pointing to Faith, Hope, and Charity, as the fundamental virtues which exalt mankind from earth to heaven. But in subsequent ages, the Essenes increased the number to seven, and subsequently to ten principal steps, which were denominated the Sephiroth. In the emblematical representation of these divine splendours, we find the three great hypostases of the godhead surmounting the seven steps of the Ladder, and by regular

* In the midst of a thick forest, says M. Humboldt, called Tajin, near the gulf of Mexico, rises the pyramid of Papantla. It had SEVEN Stories; was built of hewn stone, and was very beautifully and regularly shaped. THREE stair cases led to the top. The covering of its steps was decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture and small niches, which were arranged with great symmetry. The number of these niches seems to allude to the three hundred and eighteen simple and compound signs of the days of the Compohualilhuitl, or civil calender of the Toltecks. Researches in America. vol. i. p. 86.

gradations ascending to the celestial abodes. The names of the Seven Sephiroth were, Strength, Mercy, Beauty, Victory or Eternity, Glory, the Foundation, and the Kingdom. Initiation was considered absolutely necessary to entitle the candidate to a participation in these divine splendours; which communicated with each other by progressive stages; until, from the summit of the Ladder, the three hypostases of the divine nature were attained, whose consummation was a crown of glory and the throne of God.

Amongst the heathen, this Ladder always consisted of seven steps or gradations; probably as a

memorial of the seven magnificent Stories of the Tower of Babel; or it might have been derived from a tradition respecting the establishment of the Sabbath, in commemoration of the great day of rest which followed the creation, and received the peculiar benediction of the Most High.* This division of time and consecration of the seventh day was known to the sons of Noah, as we may gather from our own scriptures, for it was practically enforced by the patriarch while he continued in the Ark. Hence the sacred nature of the seventh day was universally acknowledged by all nations of their posterity; and subsequently many mysterious properties were ascribed to the number itself. The extreme probability that the number seven was applied to the Theological Ladder with this reference, may be deduced from the fact, that each gradation was appropriated to a day in the week, and also to a particular planet; and it is observable that the seven days, and the seven planets, were made to correspond in almost every country in the world. Our own names of both may be referred to as a corrobation of the system. Thus Sunday is so called from the Sun; Monday, from the Moon; Tuesday and Wednesday, from

Dion. Cass. 1. xxxiii. Acosta and Humboldt are of opinion that no nation of the New Continent was acquainted with the week or cycle of seven days. But Garcilasso, Bailly, and Lalande unite in believing that the natives of America did compute their time by this cycle like the inhabitants of the Old World.

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Tuisco and Woden, the Gothic Mercury and Mars; Thursday, from Thor, the Jupiter of the same people;* Friday, from the goddess Friga, who amongst the Getæ corresponds with the Grecian Venus; and Saturday, from the idol Seater, who represented Saturn amongst the northern nations of Europe.t

The Ladder with seven steps was used in the Indian mysteries to designate the approach of the Soul to perfection. The steps were usually denominated gates. The meaning is undoubtedly the same; for it is observable that Jacob, in reference to the lower stave of his Ladder, exclaimed, "this is the house of God, and the gate of heaven." Here we find the notion of ascending to heaven by means of the practice of moral virtue, depicted by the Hebrew Patriarchs and by a remote idolatrous nation under the idea of a Ladder; which we may hence conclude was a masonic symbol much earlier than the time of Jacob. These gates were said to be composed of different metals of gradually increasing purity; each being dignified with the

❤ There exists some degree of confusion relative to the appropriation of these days. Tuisco may be more properly assimilated with the Roman Mercury, and Woden with Mars. But Tertullian says (Apol, c. ix.) that Thor was the same as Mercury; and Brady tells us that (Clav. Calend. vol. i. p. 117.) "the Romans dedicated Wednesday to Mercury, from which cause it was called Dies Mercurii, feria quarta; and the Roman Mercury and the Saxon Odin have from thence, and in despite of the Roman Idol not having been a warrior, usually been regarded as the same deity."

+ Verst. Rest. of Dec. Intell. c. iii.-Brady's Clav. Calend.

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name of its protecting planet. The first and lowest was composed of lead, and dedicated to Saturn; the second of quicksilver, sacred to Mercury; the third of copper, under the protection of Venus; the fourth of tin, typical of Jupiter; the fifth of iron, sacred to Mars; the sixth of silver, dedicated to the Moon; and the uppermost stave, which constituted the summit of perfection, and opened a way to the residence of the celestial deities, was composed of the pure and imperishable substance of gold, and was under the protection of their Most High God, the Sun.

In these mysteries, during the ceremony of initiation, the candidate was passed successively through seven dark and winding caverns; which progress was mystically denominated, the ascent of the Ladder. Each cavern terminated in a narrow stone orifice, which formed an entrance into its successor. Through these gates of purification, the mortified aspirant was compelled to squeeze his body with ⚫ considerable labour; and when he had attained the summit, he was said to have passed through the transmigration of the spheres, to have accomplished the ascent of the soul, and to merit the favour of the celestial deities. These seven stages of initiation, emblematical of the seven worlds, are thus explained. "The place where all beings whether fixed or moveable exist, is called earth, which is the First World. That in which beings exist a second time, but without sensation, again to be