commonly underftood to reprefent the dice wherewith the foldiers caft lots; yet that 
the lots were caft by thefe means there is no fcripture authority: whereas the fame 
fibres frequently occur among the hieroglyphics on the obelilks at Rome ; and “ ol11 
right authentic teftimony of their application as fymbols, « three fquares, diitm- 
« g U ifhed by a central crofs,” implied « the uniform operation of the elements, t>7 
« their regular combinations, exhibiting that wifdom of defign confpicuous in their 
« feveral “energies*.” Chriftians of early ages, who faw the primeval allufion, 
adopted thefe as fuitable emblems to attend the triumph of the Crofs of Jefus, an 
bear atteftation to their devout fenfe of his influence, whom all the powers of natur 
acknowledged their Lord. - 
The Ladder too, though- evidently applicable in the common acceptation, as ex 
prefled in paintings of the “ Taking down from the Crofs yet preferves a form 1° 
much refembling the Bier, as fculptured in the obelilks of Egypt, on which they c 
ried the Myfteries in the folemnities of their homage and piety, that we fcarce can » 
to fee its appropriation as a fymbol of veneration to that overruling Providence, whic 
it was the purpofe of thefe folemnities to imprint upon the mind. 
The facred pitcher, the torch, the bird, as elementary fymbols ; the platted cord, m 
lalh, and fceptral reed; no lefs than the alpha and omega, being all repeatedly 
among the hieroglyphics of the moft remote antiquity, might each defervedly attra 
attention ; and in tracing their feveral derivations, we fhould explicitly difcern how J u 
cioufly they have been felected and applied to aggrandize the manifeftation of evang« 
truth,' by all that was moft facred and venerable in the prophetical ages. But eve 
what has been already here offered on the fubjea may be thought in fome meaW 
foreign to the purport of this publication, too fpeculative for a work of tafte, and t 
abftraft for common apprehenfion ; yet there is no doing juftice to thele fym ^ 
without fuch an illuftration, as may be evident in the following inftance, which » 
be the final one. , ar jy 
An unmentioned fymbol occurs with a kind of glory round it, which has vulg 
been denominated the Nails of the Crofs. It often is reprefented, in Catholic mo 
ments, in fixations and with appendages one is at a lofs to apply, until its pnm* 
import is difcovered. It was an original fymbol of the divine Name, exprelie 
the word JT-JAH, or I AM. It was accordingly imitated, in the written H e ° r 
by three W, which bear a near affinity in form to the original Hierogram. In 
brew manufcripts, that are in the Vatican at Rome, the Name of God is fount 0 
thus written f- The Talmud bears atteftation to the fanftity of thefe three + 
they are called the moft facred Sephirot of the Deity. The Reverend a 
Thomas Obecinus, who copied the fymbols infcribed on the rocks on ^ 0REB ar e 
mount Sinai, exprefsly delineates this one among them:— of fuch high antique y 
the originals, of’ which this Ihield retains the memorial. 
* Plata. Oedip. iEgypt. tom. ii. p. 103, 107. Oedip. jEgypt. tom. ii- P* 
t Arcanum eft, quod tria Jod sequalia trium Perfonarum equalitatem fignificant. Galatinus. 
1 The charadler. or fymbol of Unity, has in all ages been emphatically applied to the Deity- ^ 
- is none -cod but one, tbat.it, God M att. ad*. 17. II Oedip, JJgypuacus, tom. »■* 
