Lay ye down the golden chain
From Heaven, and pull at its inferior links
Both Goddesses and Gods.

The Iliad, Book 8. Cowley's translation. See also in Milton—Paradise Lost, Book II. I. 1004; 1. 1050. Cotton Mather. Treatise entitled Schola et Scala Naturæ. Idea found in Lucan. "Aurea Catena Homeri," sometimes called "The Hermetic or Mercurial chain." Idea used by John Arndt, True Christianity, Book I, Chapter 4. Southey, quoting Wesley in Life of Wesley. Professor Sedgwick, Review of a Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil.