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Article ON MYSTIC AND CABALISTIC NUMBERS. ← Page 2 of 8 →
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On Mystic And Cabalistic Numbers.
failed to observe that in the laws which regulate chemical combination and decomposition , as developed in the atomic constitution of bodies , there is much evidence of that remarkable harmony of proportion which in a less enlightened age was considered to indicate the mysterious agency of a hidden virtue . The doctrine of the efficacy of certain numbers in controlling and directing the powers of natureof the significance with which they were
, endowed , and of the powers and virtues to be derived from their proper employment , was early inculcated and universally received in the ancient schools of philosophy . In the philosophy of Pythagoras , or of that called the Italic school , these notions of numbers , which he had most probably received from the Egyptian hierarchs , were particularly developed . According to his dogmas , ' * arithmetic is the noblest science , numbers the first object of study , and a perfect acquaintance with
numbers the chief good . Numbers were divided by Pythagoras into Scientific and Intelligible . Scientific numbers were such as were the product of the powers involved in unity , or the progression of multitude from the monad , or unity , and its return to the same . Intelligible numbers were those which subsisted in the divine mind before all things , from which every thing hath received its form , and which always remain immutably the same . They are the model or archetype
after which the world in all its parts is framed . Numbers are the cause of essence in beings—rods dpld / Movs alriovs eivai TTJS ova-las . The Monad , or Unity , is that quantity which being deprived of all number , remains the fixed , whence called Monad ,, from TOV ueveiv . It
is an abstract conception , to be distinguished from the number one which belongs to things capable of being numbered . It is the fountain of all number . The Duad is imperfect and passive , and the cause of increase and division . The Triad , composed of the Monad and Duad , partakes of the nature of both . The Tetrad , Tetractys , or Quaternian number is the most perfect . The Decad , which is the sum of the four former ,
comprehends all arithmetical and musical proportions . These numbers were used as symbols of the first principles and forms of nature , and to those immutable and eternal essences which were afterwards , by the Platonists , termed Ideas . The Cabalistic philosophy of the Jews , which , wherever it may have ori ginated , was most extensively promulgated , and most eagerly received among the Jews of the middle agesappears to have been chiefly derived from Egypt and
, Chaldea . The doctrines and secrets of this philosophy were communicated after the manner of the Mysteries , under solemn oaths of secresy , to the initiated only , and consisted of two kinds . 1 st—The Cabalistic philosophy , properly so called , or the teaching of various doctrines in religion , morals , and natural science , under the veil of allegory and the form of symbols ; and , 2 ndly—the enigmatical and practical Cabala , which consisted in endeavours to wrest the powers of nature to
supernatural effects , and by means of the virtues of the sacred letters , words and numbers capable of being elicited from the Hol y Scriptures , to obtain power over divine and spiritual natures , as well as over things terrestrial , —in short to practise the art of magic , to transmute the baser metals into gold , and various other impossibilities of the same character .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Mystic And Cabalistic Numbers.
failed to observe that in the laws which regulate chemical combination and decomposition , as developed in the atomic constitution of bodies , there is much evidence of that remarkable harmony of proportion which in a less enlightened age was considered to indicate the mysterious agency of a hidden virtue . The doctrine of the efficacy of certain numbers in controlling and directing the powers of natureof the significance with which they were
, endowed , and of the powers and virtues to be derived from their proper employment , was early inculcated and universally received in the ancient schools of philosophy . In the philosophy of Pythagoras , or of that called the Italic school , these notions of numbers , which he had most probably received from the Egyptian hierarchs , were particularly developed . According to his dogmas , ' * arithmetic is the noblest science , numbers the first object of study , and a perfect acquaintance with
numbers the chief good . Numbers were divided by Pythagoras into Scientific and Intelligible . Scientific numbers were such as were the product of the powers involved in unity , or the progression of multitude from the monad , or unity , and its return to the same . Intelligible numbers were those which subsisted in the divine mind before all things , from which every thing hath received its form , and which always remain immutably the same . They are the model or archetype
after which the world in all its parts is framed . Numbers are the cause of essence in beings—rods dpld / Movs alriovs eivai TTJS ova-las . The Monad , or Unity , is that quantity which being deprived of all number , remains the fixed , whence called Monad ,, from TOV ueveiv . It
is an abstract conception , to be distinguished from the number one which belongs to things capable of being numbered . It is the fountain of all number . The Duad is imperfect and passive , and the cause of increase and division . The Triad , composed of the Monad and Duad , partakes of the nature of both . The Tetrad , Tetractys , or Quaternian number is the most perfect . The Decad , which is the sum of the four former ,
comprehends all arithmetical and musical proportions . These numbers were used as symbols of the first principles and forms of nature , and to those immutable and eternal essences which were afterwards , by the Platonists , termed Ideas . The Cabalistic philosophy of the Jews , which , wherever it may have ori ginated , was most extensively promulgated , and most eagerly received among the Jews of the middle agesappears to have been chiefly derived from Egypt and
, Chaldea . The doctrines and secrets of this philosophy were communicated after the manner of the Mysteries , under solemn oaths of secresy , to the initiated only , and consisted of two kinds . 1 st—The Cabalistic philosophy , properly so called , or the teaching of various doctrines in religion , morals , and natural science , under the veil of allegory and the form of symbols ; and , 2 ndly—the enigmatical and practical Cabala , which consisted in endeavours to wrest the powers of nature to
supernatural effects , and by means of the virtues of the sacred letters , words and numbers capable of being elicited from the Hol y Scriptures , to obtain power over divine and spiritual natures , as well as over things terrestrial , —in short to practise the art of magic , to transmute the baser metals into gold , and various other impossibilities of the same character .