The Cabala Of The Jews.

" This was the symbolical Cabala , and the business of it was to extract , by any of the means allowed , the hidden meaning of the Scriptures . The real Cabala was the doctrine in this way elicited . It was theoretical , explaining divine qualities , the ten sephiroth , the fourfold cabalistical worlds , the thirtytwo footprints of wisdom , the fifty doors to prudence , Adam Kadmon , etc . ; or it was practicalexplaining how to use such knowled for the calling of

, ge spirits , the extinguishing of fires , the banning of disease , ancl so forth . " The theoretical Cabala contained , it was said by Christian students , many references to the Messiah . Its main points were : I . The Tree ; 2 . The Chariot of Ezekiel ; 3 . The Work of Creation ; 4 . The Ancient of Days mentioned in Daniel . It concerns us most to understand the Tree . The Chariot of Ezekielor Masseh Mercabahwas a descrition of prefigurements

concern-, , p ing ceremonial and judicial law . The doctrine of Creation , in the book Levischith , was a dissertation upon physics . The Ancient of Days treated of God and the Messiah in a way so mystical that cabalists generall y declined to ascribe any meaning at all to the direct sense of the words employed . Of these things we need say no more , but of the Cabalistical Tree it will be requisite to speak in more detail .

" It was an arrangement of the ten sephiroth . The word Sephiroth is derived by some rabbis from a word meaning to count , because they are a counting of the divine excellence . Otherwise it is considered an adaptation of the Greek word S phere , because it represents the spheres of the universe which are successive emanations from the Deity . " In the beginning was Or Haensophthe eternal lihtfrom whose

briht-, g , g ness there descended a ray through the first-born of God , Adam Kadmon , and presently , departing from its straight course , ran in a circle , and so formed the first of the sephiroth , which was called Kethei , or the crown , because superior to all the rest . Having formed this circle , the ray resumed its

straight course till it again ran in a circle to produce the second of the ten sephiroth , Chochma , wisdom , because wisdom is the source of all . The same ray of divine light passed on , losing gradually , as it became more distant from its holy source , some of its power , ancl formed presently , in like manner , the third of the sephiroth , called Binah , or understanding , because understanding is the channel through which wisdom flows to things below—the ori gin of human knowled The fourth of

ge . the sephiroth is called Gedolah or Chesed , greatness or goodness , because God , as being great and good , created all things . The fifth is Geburah , strength , because it is by strength that He maintains them , ancl because strength is the only source of justice in the world . The sixth of the sephiroth , Thpereth , beauty or grace , unites the qualities of the preceding . The four last of the hiroth are successivelnamed Nezach

sep y , victory ; Hod , honour ; Jesod , or Schalom , the foundation or peace ; and finall y , Malcuth , the kingdom . Each of the ten has also a divine name , and their divine names , written in the same order , are Ejeh , Jab , Jehovah ( pronounced Elohim ) , Eloah , Elohim , Jehovah ( pronounced as usual ) , Lord Sabaoth , Jehovah Zebaoth , Elchai ( the living God ) , Adonai ( the Lord ) . By these circles our world is surroundedandweakened in its through them

, , passage , but able to bring clown with it powers that are the character of each , divine hght reaches us . These sephiroth , arranged in a peculiar manner , form the Tree of the Cabalists ; they are also sometimes arranged in the form of a man , Adam Kadmon , according to the idea of the Neoplatonics that the figure of the world was that of a man ' s body . In accordance with another view derived from the same schoolthings in this world supposed to be

, were gross images of things above . Matter was said b y the cabalists to have been formed by the withdrawal of the divine ray , by the emanation of which from the first source it was produced . Everything created was created by an emanation from the source of all , and that which being most distant contains least of the divine essence is capable of gradual purification ; so that even the evil spirits will in 2 D 2