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Article OST THE SYMBOLISM OF THE EQUILATERAL TRI... ← Page 3 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ost The Symbolism Of The Equilateral Tri...
no visible notation of the number in the form of a ^ jvord possessing , in the letters composing it , the required values . There can , however , be little doubt that had this number 666 presented to the Hebrew imagination the mysterious qualities attributed
to it , we should find it under the form of a name , and that name brought prominently forward in the numerous treatises where this kind of learning is employed for the purposes of the Hermetic philosophy . But this number , written in Hebrew numerical letters , produces the word " trso" to which it is difficult to attach a ^ y meaning , without resorting to a forced and arbitrary interpretation .
Or if written according to the more modern method of notation , employing the final or closed M as the sign of 6 Q 0 it produces the word " msOy in which there would , according to the Eahbins , be an occult signification , in consequence of the position of the closed - jf- ' at the commencement of the word . On this point there might be many conjectures , but nothing arises to connect the nuipaber of the word
with the idea of a divine symbol , whether in indication of unity or of a trinity in unity . If we follow the method of the K-abbala , and try this number by the rules of arithmetical interpretation called gematria , the sum of its units is 18 , wbieh in its lesser number is 9 , a number which though possessed of remarkable arithmetical qualities , has not been considered appropriate as a divine symbol . One reason
for this was , that the number 9 stands between the sacred number 8 which it exceeds by unity , and the perfect number 10 of which it falls short by unity ; in the Pythagorean system it typified the curved line as opposed to the straight—the limited human intellect as contrasted with the boundless intelligence of the Deity .
We may safely conclude , that however remarkable may be the mathematic properties exhibited by the number 666 , it is wanting in those harmonic relations with the words of the law which would be required to invest it with a divine symbolical character , a character , moreover , which while it could not have been overlooked , has not been noticed bvthe Jewish exuounders of received tradition . We must noticed by the Jewish expounders ot received tradition . We-must
. , therefore , abandon the idea that in its place in the Hebrew scripture , it is the representative of a divine mystery , and equally refuse it place as a Masonic number with any equivalent signification . In truth , the fact that the author of the Book of Eevelations should liavo selected this number as typical of " the beast , " would in itself
give rise to serious doubts whether it could ever have had any sacred qualities attributed to it . If the Book of Eevelations were written by St . John , the Gospel of that Apostle shows that he was conversant with the Gnostic doctrines , in opposition to which , Irenscus stated his Gospel to have been directed . The Greek style of the Apocalypse
in strongly tinctured with Hebraisms , and there can be little doubt that when its author speaks of " the number of the name" of the beast , lie alludes to the Kabbalistic method of valuing the letters ot which the name was composed . It is in the last degree improbable that the Apostle , himself a Jew by birth , should have applied to " the beast" a number which had been held to be a symbol of the v 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ost The Symbolism Of The Equilateral Tri...
no visible notation of the number in the form of a ^ jvord possessing , in the letters composing it , the required values . There can , however , be little doubt that had this number 666 presented to the Hebrew imagination the mysterious qualities attributed
to it , we should find it under the form of a name , and that name brought prominently forward in the numerous treatises where this kind of learning is employed for the purposes of the Hermetic philosophy . But this number , written in Hebrew numerical letters , produces the word " trso" to which it is difficult to attach a ^ y meaning , without resorting to a forced and arbitrary interpretation .
Or if written according to the more modern method of notation , employing the final or closed M as the sign of 6 Q 0 it produces the word " msOy in which there would , according to the Eahbins , be an occult signification , in consequence of the position of the closed - jf- ' at the commencement of the word . On this point there might be many conjectures , but nothing arises to connect the nuipaber of the word
with the idea of a divine symbol , whether in indication of unity or of a trinity in unity . If we follow the method of the K-abbala , and try this number by the rules of arithmetical interpretation called gematria , the sum of its units is 18 , wbieh in its lesser number is 9 , a number which though possessed of remarkable arithmetical qualities , has not been considered appropriate as a divine symbol . One reason
for this was , that the number 9 stands between the sacred number 8 which it exceeds by unity , and the perfect number 10 of which it falls short by unity ; in the Pythagorean system it typified the curved line as opposed to the straight—the limited human intellect as contrasted with the boundless intelligence of the Deity .
We may safely conclude , that however remarkable may be the mathematic properties exhibited by the number 666 , it is wanting in those harmonic relations with the words of the law which would be required to invest it with a divine symbolical character , a character , moreover , which while it could not have been overlooked , has not been noticed bvthe Jewish exuounders of received tradition . We must noticed by the Jewish expounders ot received tradition . We-must
. , therefore , abandon the idea that in its place in the Hebrew scripture , it is the representative of a divine mystery , and equally refuse it place as a Masonic number with any equivalent signification . In truth , the fact that the author of the Book of Eevelations should liavo selected this number as typical of " the beast , " would in itself
give rise to serious doubts whether it could ever have had any sacred qualities attributed to it . If the Book of Eevelations were written by St . John , the Gospel of that Apostle shows that he was conversant with the Gnostic doctrines , in opposition to which , Irenscus stated his Gospel to have been directed . The Greek style of the Apocalypse
in strongly tinctured with Hebraisms , and there can be little doubt that when its author speaks of " the number of the name" of the beast , lie alludes to the Kabbalistic method of valuing the letters ot which the name was composed . It is in the last degree improbable that the Apostle , himself a Jew by birth , should have applied to " the beast" a number which had been held to be a symbol of the v 2