of America could have no knowledge of this vision, either by tradition. or personal experience.

In these mysteries, during the ceremony of initiation, the candidate was passed successively through seven dark and winding cavern; 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 labor; 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 favor of the celestial deities.

In the Persian mysteries, the candidate, by a similar process, was passed through seven spacious caverns, connected by winding passages, each opening with a narrow portal, and each the scene of some perilous adventure, to try his courage and fortitude before he was admitted into the splendid Sacellum, which being illuminated with a thousand torches, reflected every shade of color, from rich gems and amulets, with which the walls were copiously bedecked. The dangerous progress was denominated, ascending the ladder of perfection.

From this doctrine has arisen the tale of Rustam, who was the Persian Hercules, and Dive Sepid, or the White Giant.-(Fab. Pag. Idol. v. iii, p. 328.)

"Cai-Caus, the successor of Cai-Cobab, the first monarch of the Caianian dynasty, is instigated by the song of a minstrel to attempt the conquest of Mazenderaun, which is celebrated as a perfect earthly Paradise."

This celestial abode refers to the splendid sacellum of the Persian Epopta, which was an emblematical representation of heaven.

"Cai-Caus fails in his enterprize; for the sacred country is guarded by the White Giant, who smites him and all his troops with blindness, and makes them his prisoners."

This is a literal account of the first stage of initiation, which in the mysteries always commences with darkness. In those of Britain, the candidate is designated as a blind man. And the captivity of CaiCaus and his Persians in the cavern, under the rigid guardianship of the Dive, is but a figurative representation of the candidate's inclosure under the Pastos; and this place of penance in the Celtic mysteries, which had many ceremonies in common with those of Persia, (Borl Ant. of Corn., b. ii. c. 22,) was said to be guarded by the gigantic deity Buanawr, armed with a drawn sword, who is represented as a most

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powerful and vindictive being, capable in his fury of making heaven, earth, and hell to tremble.-(Dav. Notes on Taliein's Cad Goddeu.) In the Gothic mysteries, the same place of captivity and penance is fabled to be guarded by Heimdall, whose trumpet emits so loud a blast, that the sound is heard through all the worlds.-(Edda Fab.)

"In this emergency the king sends a messenger to Zaul, the father. of the hero Rustam, begging his immediate assistance. For the greater despatch, Rustam takes the shorter, though more dangerous road, and departs alone, mounted on his charger Rakesh."

Here Rustam enters upon the dreadful and dangerous business of initiation, mounted, says the legend, upon the charger Rakesh, or more properly Rakshi. This was a horrible winged animal, whose common food is said to have been serpents and dragons. Now these reptiles, together with monsters compounded of two or more animals, were the ordinary machinery used in the mysteries to prove the courage and fortitude of the aspirant, during his progress through the seven stages of regeneration.

"The course which he chooses is styled, the road of the seven stages; and at each of the first six he meets with a different adventure, by which his persevering courage is severely tried."

At each of the seven stages the candidate really encountered many dangers; and vanquished a multitude of Dives, dragons, and enchanters, who in succession opposed his progress to perfection.-(Shah name, in Richardson's Dissert. East. Nat.) Being pantomimically enacted during the process of initiation, and the reiterated attacks prosecuted with unrelenting severity, instances have occurred where the poor affrighted wretch has absolutely expired through excess of fear.

"Having at length however fought his way to the seventh, he discovers his prince and the captive Persians; when he learns from CaiCaus, that nothing will restore his sight but the application of three drops of blood from the heart of the White Giant."

The symbolical three drops of blood, had its counterpart in all the mysteries of the ancient world; for the number three was ineffable, and the conservator of many virtues. In Britain, the emblem was three drops of water; in Mexico, as in this legend, three drops of blood; in India, it was a belt composed of three triple threads; in China, the three strokes of the letter Y, etc. etc.

"Upon this, he attacks his formidable enemy in the Cavern where he was accustomed to dwell; and having torn out his heart, after an obstinate combat, he infuses the prescribed three drops into the eyes ' Cai-Caus, who immediately regains his powers of vision."

In this tale we have the theological ladder connected with the system of Persian initiation transferred from mythology to romance; and the coincidence is sufficiently striking to impress the most ordinary observer with the strict propriety of the application. The candidate comes off conqueror, and is regularly restored to light, after having given full proof of his courage and fortitude, by surmounting all opposing dangers. Father Angelo, who went out as a missionary into the East about 1663, says, that in the midst of a vast plain between Shiraz and Shuster, he saw a quadrangular monument of stupendous size, which was said to have been erected in memory of this great enterprize of the hero Rustam. The fact is, that this quadrangular inclosure was an ancient place of initiation; and from a confused remembrance of the scenes of mimic adventure which were reprepresented within its seven secret caverns, the fabulous labors of Rustam had doubtless their origin.

Here the author has evidently mistaken the copy for the archetype. The scenes of mimic adventure, alluded to, undoubtedly originated from the fabulous labors of Rustam, the Persian Hercules. It has been shown that Hercules was one of the names by which the sun was designated, and that the perilous adventures attributed to a fabulous character to whom the name was given, was a mere allegory on the progress of that luminary through the signs of the zodiac; of which the tale of Rustam is another version.

The order of Noachites, or Chevaliers Prussian.

This order, there is reason to believe, was instituted by the ancient Prussians. It claims priority over that of the freemasons of England. The author of an expose of the ritual of that institution, which will be noticed below, gives just fifty-three years between the periods of the two establishments; and says, "This tradition is firmly believed." In corroboration of this fact, Dr. Anderson observes, "The first name of Masons, according to some old traditions, was Noachida."

The ceremonies of the Noachites seem to have served in some measure, as a model upon which those of freemasonry are founded. Although the scene of the establishment of this order is laid at the Tower of Babel, instead of the Temple of Solomon, the craft of masonry, as in the freemasons' society, is made use of to cover the real design of

*Osiris, Bacchus, Cronus, Pluto, and Hercules, are all equally the sun.-(Faber Dis. on the Myst. of the Cabiri, v. 1, p. 17.)

the institution, the maintaining of religious dogmas, if not the recovery of independence.

The following remarks, in Guthrie's sketch of the history of ancient Prussia and Poland, will tend to show at what time this insti tution was probably formed.

Speaking of Poland, he says, "From this period [830] for some centuries we have no very certain records of the history of Poland. The title of duke was retained till the year 999, when Boleslaus (the I.) assumed the title of king, and conquered Moravia, Prussia, and Bohemia, making them tributary to Poland."

Of Prussia." The ancient history of Prussia, like that of other kingdoms, it lost in the clouds of fiction and romance. The inhabitants appear to have been a brave and warlike people. They were descended from the Sclavonians, and refused to submit to the neighboring princes, who, on pretence of converting them to Christianity, wanted to reduce them to slavery. They made a noble stand against the kings of Poland; one of whom, Boleslaus IV. they defeated and killed in 1163. They continued Pagans, till the time of the latter crusades, about the year 1227."

From the foregoing statements, it appears that the sway of Poland over Prussia, obtained in 999, was not of long duration; and it is reasonable to conjecture, that soon after the conquest, the people of Prussia established the order of Noachites. It was evidently a military institution, and undoubtedly intended as a rallying point, to operate as occasions might occur, for the recovery of the civil and religious liberties of the nation.

Admitting that the society of Noachites was founded in the year 1000, which is highly probable, and provided the foregoing tradition be correct, the establishment of freemasonry in England, would have occurred about the middle of the eleventh century, which is as late as it is likely to have been neglected, after the edict of Canute prohibiting the open worship of the Druids.

Bernard, in his account of this order, says, "The grand master, general of the order, whose title is chevalier grand commander, is Frederic William, king of Prussia. His ancestors, for three hundred years, have been protectors of this order. The knights were formerly known by the name of Noachites.

"The Noachites, now called Prussian Chevaliers, are descended from Peleg, the grand architect of the tower of Babel, their origin being more ancient than that of the masons descended from Hiram.—

The knights assemble on the night of the full moon in the month of March, [the vernal equinox] in a secret place, to hold their lodges; and they cannot initiate a candidate into the mysteries of this order unless by the light of the moon."

Great innovations have been introduced into the ceremonies of this order. I have a copy of its ritual, which, from its antiquity and Druidical style, may be presumed genuine. It was reprinted from a London copy, by John Holt, New-York, 1768. As a curiosity, and as bearing a relationship to the ancient mysteries, I will give an abstract

of it.

The order consists of two degrees, called Minor and Major; and the officers form what masonically may be termed a Chapter, to which the other members are not admitted. This chapter comports with the royal arch of freemasonry; for here the secret word, Belus, is revealed, which, the reader is aware, is the same as Osiris, personated by Hiram. The expounder of the order appears to have committed an error, in giving this word at the opening of the minor's degree; because it is expressly said afterwards, that it was unknown to all but officers.

Minor's Degree.

Examiner. When did Masonry begin? Respondent. About one hundred and fifty four years after Noah's flood, at the building of Babel's tower. Who was grand master there? Nimrod, called by masons Belus. [Not Peleg, as modern masons have it.] Where was the first lodge held ?—In a pleasant plain of Babylon, called Shinar, on the banks of the river Tygris.

In what manner were you made?-I was led to a door, where a man stood with a drawn sword in his hand, who asked my friend what he wanted, What did your friend reply?-To have me made a mason. Did he admit you?—Yes, he struck the door with his sword, upon which it instantly flew open; my friend then led me by the hand into a very dark room, and then the door was shut. What succeeded this?-My friend then said with a loud voice,

Here stands a candidate for masonry,

Who fain would know our art and mystery:

Shew him the light by which we work, and then
Perhaps he'll learn the art, like other men.

*Nimrod, which signifies a rebel in the Jewish and Chaldean language, was the name given him by Moses; but in Chaldea he was called Belus, which signified lord; and afterwards was worshiped as a god by many nations, under the name of Bel, or Baal, and became the Bacchus of the ancients, or Bar-Chus, the son of Chus.