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Article ON MYSTIC AND CABALISTIC NUMBERS. ← Page 3 of 8 →
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On Mystic And Cabalistic Numbers.
In the practical Cabala , the doctrines of the Cabalistic philosophy relating to the constitution of the universe , to the Sephivioths , or emanations from the Divine Essence , and to the nature and order of the inhabitants of the worlds of spirits , were made subservient to their visionary but indefatigable attempts to obtain superhuman power and knowledge by the aid of signs , words , and numbers ; and hence arose all that system of magic and incantation with which the Cabala are
replete even to overflowing . The enthusiasm and devotion with which these objects were pursued , and the time , labour , and ingenuity exhausted upon them , afford a remarkable example of the proneness of the human mind to mystery and superstition , and the eagerness with which men rush into the mazes of error , in the hope of discovering a short and easy road to riches , knowledge , or power . Turning aside from the surer but somewhat tedious path of experiment , the olden philosophers
sought to accomplish the subjugation of the powers of nature b y the aid of agencies of supernatural character , which had no existence save in their own fertile imaginations , and having once wandered into the labyrinth of speculative tbtory , their onward course in ignorance and darkness became more perplexed and inextricable . In those writings of the Cabalists which refer to the study of natural phenomena , and especially the pursuits of alchemy , the wonderful and all-commanding powers of numbers occupy the most prominent station , and are used as a key to the secrets supposed to be locked up in
almost every sentence in the Old Testament . Many of the Cabalists , indeed , appear to have looked upon the entire Old Testament as containing within itself full and complete directions for the transmutation of the baser metals into gold , for the preparation of the universal menstruum and the elixir vita ; , and as being , in fact , a kind of allegorv throughout , constructed for the purpose of preserving them secret from the vulgar gaze , and dimly shadowing them forth to the eye of the
philosopher , whose great object was to remove the veil which hung over the divine wisdom therein contained . Clothed in absurdity , and concealed amid a profusion of verbiage , of which the laboured mystery is only equalled by the insane earnestness with which the doctrine is promulgated , truth and knowledge do occasionally shine forth amid their writings , like the ever-burning lamp which shone upon the altar of Mithras , struggling with darkness , in
the cavern temples of the worshippers of fire . Before proceeding to illustrate the attributed powers of certain numbers as connected with the Mysteries of the Cabala , I must remark that , in a very interesting and instructive paper on Masonic Numbers , by the Rev . and Worshipful Brother G . Oliver , in an earl y Number of tlie Freemasons' Quarterly Review , the Number 26 is appropriated to the word Jah , one of the sacred names of God . The Number 26 ,
however , belongs to the Tetragrammaton , or most sacred and hol y name , rriiT Jehovah , and not to the name PP Jah , as rendered b y Dr . Oliver . The number V 6 is formed thus : — n i rr ^ 5 + 6 - ( - 5 + 10 = 26 . whereas Jab forms the sacred number 15 . n ^ 5 4 10 = 15 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Mystic And Cabalistic Numbers.
In the practical Cabala , the doctrines of the Cabalistic philosophy relating to the constitution of the universe , to the Sephivioths , or emanations from the Divine Essence , and to the nature and order of the inhabitants of the worlds of spirits , were made subservient to their visionary but indefatigable attempts to obtain superhuman power and knowledge by the aid of signs , words , and numbers ; and hence arose all that system of magic and incantation with which the Cabala are
replete even to overflowing . The enthusiasm and devotion with which these objects were pursued , and the time , labour , and ingenuity exhausted upon them , afford a remarkable example of the proneness of the human mind to mystery and superstition , and the eagerness with which men rush into the mazes of error , in the hope of discovering a short and easy road to riches , knowledge , or power . Turning aside from the surer but somewhat tedious path of experiment , the olden philosophers
sought to accomplish the subjugation of the powers of nature b y the aid of agencies of supernatural character , which had no existence save in their own fertile imaginations , and having once wandered into the labyrinth of speculative tbtory , their onward course in ignorance and darkness became more perplexed and inextricable . In those writings of the Cabalists which refer to the study of natural phenomena , and especially the pursuits of alchemy , the wonderful and all-commanding powers of numbers occupy the most prominent station , and are used as a key to the secrets supposed to be locked up in
almost every sentence in the Old Testament . Many of the Cabalists , indeed , appear to have looked upon the entire Old Testament as containing within itself full and complete directions for the transmutation of the baser metals into gold , for the preparation of the universal menstruum and the elixir vita ; , and as being , in fact , a kind of allegorv throughout , constructed for the purpose of preserving them secret from the vulgar gaze , and dimly shadowing them forth to the eye of the
philosopher , whose great object was to remove the veil which hung over the divine wisdom therein contained . Clothed in absurdity , and concealed amid a profusion of verbiage , of which the laboured mystery is only equalled by the insane earnestness with which the doctrine is promulgated , truth and knowledge do occasionally shine forth amid their writings , like the ever-burning lamp which shone upon the altar of Mithras , struggling with darkness , in
the cavern temples of the worshippers of fire . Before proceeding to illustrate the attributed powers of certain numbers as connected with the Mysteries of the Cabala , I must remark that , in a very interesting and instructive paper on Masonic Numbers , by the Rev . and Worshipful Brother G . Oliver , in an earl y Number of tlie Freemasons' Quarterly Review , the Number 26 is appropriated to the word Jah , one of the sacred names of God . The Number 26 ,
however , belongs to the Tetragrammaton , or most sacred and hol y name , rriiT Jehovah , and not to the name PP Jah , as rendered b y Dr . Oliver . The number V 6 is formed thus : — n i rr ^ 5 + 6 - ( - 5 + 10 = 26 . whereas Jab forms the sacred number 15 . n ^ 5 4 10 = 15 .