Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of The Cabalistical Philosophy Of The Jews.
answer to the letters of another by arithmetical proportion ; ( the Hebrews as well as the Greeks making use of their letters to jjumber withal . ) Whence some Moderns have affirmed that Christianity will J . ist seven thousand years , because Ihe letters of y ^ isncetot are of the same value in number with those of e-nrray . ia- ^ r . ioi . The third is called Toemurah , which is a transposition of letters , like that of our Anagrams , the most common way of which is to change the last letter of
the alphabet into the first , and on the contrary ; to which kind are referred the words and verses which are read backwards . Thus they prove by the first word of Genesis , which is Bereschit , that the world was created in autumn , because in this word is found Fethisri , which signifies autumn : and that the law ought to be kept in the heart , because the first letter of the law is Beth , and the last Lamed ; which two letters being put together , and read after their mode , make Leb , i . e . the heart . Some are of opinion , that if the word Cabala be taken for a tradition , that is fo say , the manner in which the Jews
made their sacrifice and prayers according to the instruction they had from father and son concerning the same , it deserves to be esteemed for its antiquity , although it be abolished : and the more in regard of the liieroglyphical and mysterious names of God and Angels which it contains ; and whereof whoever should have a perfect and entire , knowledge , would find nothing impossible . It was by this means , say they , that Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea , and did so
many other miracles , because he had written at the end of his rod the name of JEHOVAH . For if it be true , that Black Magic can do wonders by the help of malignant spirits , why not the Cabala , with more reason , by means of the names of G- > d and the Angels of Light , with whom the Cabalists render themselves friends and familiars ? Our Lord seems to confirm the same , when he commands his apostles to make use of his name for casting devils out of the possessed
, and to heal diseases as he did . The victory of Judas Maccabeus against the enemies of his religion , happening by means of a sign of four letters ; that of dntiocbtis over the Galatce , by a pentagon ; that oi Constant ' ! ne the Great , by the sign of the cross ; and the Thau , with which the Scripture arms the foreheads of the faithful , demonstrate that figures are not wholly inefficacious . The critical days of diseases shew likewise that all kind of virtue cannot be denied to number , and
consequently that the Cabala is not to be blamed for making account of numbers , names , and figures , the knowledge whereof would undoubtedly be most excellent , did it not surpass the reach of human capacit )' , which cannot comprehend the connection there is between , the name and the thing which it denotes ; themumber and the thing numbered ; aud the figure and the thing figured . For , since the external figure of a . manor other animalgives me to know his
sub-, , stance , which I see not , and the species of his figure entering into my senses , suffices to make me conceive the thing without its stirring out of its place ; \ yhy shal ] not the names , and particularly those imposed- , on things by our first parent in the Hebrew language , have as necessary a signification and , connection with things as the other accidents which are the objects of our senses ? And' why shall we
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of The Cabalistical Philosophy Of The Jews.
answer to the letters of another by arithmetical proportion ; ( the Hebrews as well as the Greeks making use of their letters to jjumber withal . ) Whence some Moderns have affirmed that Christianity will J . ist seven thousand years , because Ihe letters of y ^ isncetot are of the same value in number with those of e-nrray . ia- ^ r . ioi . The third is called Toemurah , which is a transposition of letters , like that of our Anagrams , the most common way of which is to change the last letter of
the alphabet into the first , and on the contrary ; to which kind are referred the words and verses which are read backwards . Thus they prove by the first word of Genesis , which is Bereschit , that the world was created in autumn , because in this word is found Fethisri , which signifies autumn : and that the law ought to be kept in the heart , because the first letter of the law is Beth , and the last Lamed ; which two letters being put together , and read after their mode , make Leb , i . e . the heart . Some are of opinion , that if the word Cabala be taken for a tradition , that is fo say , the manner in which the Jews
made their sacrifice and prayers according to the instruction they had from father and son concerning the same , it deserves to be esteemed for its antiquity , although it be abolished : and the more in regard of the liieroglyphical and mysterious names of God and Angels which it contains ; and whereof whoever should have a perfect and entire , knowledge , would find nothing impossible . It was by this means , say they , that Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea , and did so
many other miracles , because he had written at the end of his rod the name of JEHOVAH . For if it be true , that Black Magic can do wonders by the help of malignant spirits , why not the Cabala , with more reason , by means of the names of G- > d and the Angels of Light , with whom the Cabalists render themselves friends and familiars ? Our Lord seems to confirm the same , when he commands his apostles to make use of his name for casting devils out of the possessed
, and to heal diseases as he did . The victory of Judas Maccabeus against the enemies of his religion , happening by means of a sign of four letters ; that of dntiocbtis over the Galatce , by a pentagon ; that oi Constant ' ! ne the Great , by the sign of the cross ; and the Thau , with which the Scripture arms the foreheads of the faithful , demonstrate that figures are not wholly inefficacious . The critical days of diseases shew likewise that all kind of virtue cannot be denied to number , and
consequently that the Cabala is not to be blamed for making account of numbers , names , and figures , the knowledge whereof would undoubtedly be most excellent , did it not surpass the reach of human capacit )' , which cannot comprehend the connection there is between , the name and the thing which it denotes ; themumber and the thing numbered ; aud the figure and the thing figured . For , since the external figure of a . manor other animalgives me to know his
sub-, , stance , which I see not , and the species of his figure entering into my senses , suffices to make me conceive the thing without its stirring out of its place ; \ yhy shal ] not the names , and particularly those imposed- , on things by our first parent in the Hebrew language , have as necessary a signification and , connection with things as the other accidents which are the objects of our senses ? And' why shall we