Thefe are engraven to explain the faded traces of the fhleld, which the adoring c ' lC 
rubim prefent in homage to the flues *. The elements were leen continually ^ 
gaged in fu draining the animation and unfolding the beauties of creation, as 
primary principles employed in the preservation of all vifible being ; but their ° r | 
ainal energies becoming efficient, according to the counfels of an infinite undeman 
ing, obvioufiy occurred to the contemplations of early piety ; and faints and ia„ 
anxious to explore and difclofe the fecrets of intelleftual exiftence, inftituted the ^ 
orifice of the Elements, or the placing of their fymbols in folemn rites upon “ 
altar, as the profoundeft acknowledgment of that Ineffable Wisdom which P‘ e 
fided over their adminiftration ; and thus firove to reveal to the devout afph' al!tS ^ 
within the vail of the myfteries of Nature, the dominion of the Intelligent Ruler a * 
Great Infpirer of the Univerfe. j er 
Thefe folemn rites not only manifefted to the initiated, how furely they were u ^ 
the o-overnment of Infinite Wifdom, but impreffed on their hearts thefe confident* 0 
/hich corn- 
1 m en ' 
additionally interefting : 
That the human mind and underftanding, wi 
« prehends the univerfe, more admirable than the rays of light that irradiate irn ^ 
« fity, is an emanation from a more glorious fun ; and that by receiving with 
« devotion, in folemn rites, the figns of the confecrated elements, they entered in 
« a new and immortal alliance with the Great Source of Being f.” f 
Traces of thefe primaeval ideas of the firft fprings of life beam from the recou s ^ 
the firft Evangelist, wherein St. John the Baptift expreffes the divine influent^ ^ 
the Emmanuel and his holy dodtrines in language borrowed from the elements- ^ 
<c indeed fa notify you with Water, but He ffiall fandtify you with the Holy Sr lR , 
« and with Fire This adds no fmall dignity to the perfuafion of their haH° w ^ 
appropriation in the primaeval rites of piety; and, in the ritual of the Temp*-* 
Jerusalem, the elements feverally. Water, Air, and Fire, had each annexe 
it the epithet “ Holy,” on account of the purifying nature attributed to them 
applied in the folemnities of the Mofaic inftitutions. ^ 
Thefe refledtions poured in their animation, while revolving the contents of a 1 
mentous Record extant on a venerable column, reared before the porch of the 
Of the Deity in the City of the Sun. It bore witnefs to the primaeval lig 
Fleaven, which fhone on the minds of men long ere Cadmus diffufed the mi ‘ ^ 
rudiments of Grecim knowledge ; and it ftill preferves, in original purity, the 1 
ample treafures o<" Egyptian Wisdom ! a jp 
But can thefe oracles be now with fidelity and truth difclofed, of which 
admirin" antiquity has fo devoutly kept the wonderful fecret ? — It is prefume 
can. 
Ll. of ^ 
1'he fpecimen here -offered to the public view is but an extradl from a work 0 
finite labour, affording a full illuftration of the extraordinary annals contained ^ 
maze of fymbols wherewith the Pamphilian Obelisk at Rome is covered over • ^ 
as this fragment fo happily relates to die fubjedt fpecified above, no apology 
jrequifite for adding the teftimony which it bears to truths of everlalling moment. 
A cup, a Mr, or waving lines beneath a crefcent, implied the element of Watfr. 
■II 
A qu' 11 - 
T 1« 
feather, was the moll fimple, a caduceus the more complex fymbol of the properties of At « • - j r y 
ed thunder-bolt, a forked flame or dart, was put for the penetrating power of Fire. An 
indicated Ea rt if, or matter feemingly deprived of the adtion of the other elements. 
f Plato/' lainhtithits. | See Campbell’s P'ranf. of the Ewengrlifts, Notes on liA“- 1 
