London Philosophical Society. , 149 



kd the initiate to the central Sanctorum of Osiris. The 

 Coptic manuscript savs, that there were images of the Stars 

 and the Sua and Moon within — hut the arrangement of the 

 passage speaks for il3c!f. I have before proved that the 

 Scphyroth, with its own gates, was an Egyptian mystery. 

 ]t remains to observe, tliat all the ancient icmples oi which 

 we have record, were buih upon an astronomical principle. 

 Of this, the temples of Mecca, of Solomon, of Elephants, 

 are jiroofs. Nav, there wt-re pyramidal temples in Chaldea 

 and Mexico, which were crectfd on the very principle of the 

 Sidereal Ladder and theScphyroth. There is noihing, there- 

 fbrCj overstrained in seeking tor it in the Pyramids of 

 Egypt, expressly dfdicatcd lo the Universal System. It 

 must be recoliecied, however, that the Sidereal Ladder was 

 not always uniformly represented. It was not in the two 

 instances before ns; one consisted of concentric circles, the 

 other of steps. We know that the Jewish Sephyrolh was 

 s-ometimes represented by a tree. We know loo that the 

 Tree of Knowledge was repre;;entetl on the same astrono- 

 cal princi])le by the Oriental nations, and by the Platonists 

 themselves; and this is proved by Egyptian and Mithraic 

 monuments. For instance, they painted it bv a Tree with 

 one trunk, with titree branches, and seven ditfcrenc kinds 

 of fruit, typif\ing the jPianets, and represented the Fruit of 

 Life by the Sun, and of Death by the Moon. The Rab- 

 bins, indeed, express themselves in the same manner \n 

 niysticizinq: on the branches of the Sephy roth. If then we .re- 

 fer this mvsliciiiing theory to the branches of the Pyramidal 

 -cavcrhs, we shall lind an exact and striking coincidence. 



** As to tlie magnillcent passnee which leads to the Solar 

 chamber, I shtndd imagine, from the benches which accom- 

 pany the course of the walls, and their distinct division 

 into something like the stalls of monastic temples, that it 

 was occupied by the assend)led Coliei!,e of Priests, who pos- 

 sibly witnessed the eflorts and triumphed in the success of 

 the blindfold initiate. Th.c descent of Ulysses and of Or- 

 l)heus seem both to allude to itic iaitei' circumstance; but 

 the curiosity of Orpheus removed the veil. 



" But however this may have been, there can be little 

 doubt, that most of the poetical descents into Heil origi- 

 nated in the third passage. The description oi' it;Singularly 

 coincides uith that of N'ir.i:!. There are at-the end ')f the 

 second gallery, three ways, the one leading to EIy>ium, 

 (the ab(ji.lc of the Sun, aecordiug to Br\ant,) the other to 

 the abixle of j-'rose/pine (liie Oueen** cbaml)er), and the 

 ias^to Taitariis, that i^ to llie Catacombs., the only intera of 



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