Our chief point in the present subject, however, has been to show that the septenary doctrine, or division of the constitution of man, was a very ancient one, and was not invented by us. This has been successfully done, for we are supported in this, consciously and unconsciously, by a number of ancient, mediæval, and modern writers. What the former said, was well said; what the latter repeated, has generally been distorted. An instance: Read the Pythagorean Fragments, and study the septenary man as given by the Rev. G. Oliver, the learned Mason, in his Pythagorean Triangle, who speaks as follows:
The Theosophic Philosophy ... counted seven properties [or principles] in man—viz.:
(1) The divine golden man.
(2) The inward holy body from fire and light, like pure silver.
(3) The elemental man.
(4) The mercurial ... paradisiacal man.
(5) The martial soul-like man.
(6) The venerine, ascending to the outward desire.
(7) The solar man, They had also seven fountain spirits or powers of nature.[1551]