Kabbalism, Secret Societies , And Masonry.

nient , because , through it , is the entrance to the knowledge of the two former . Of all these manifestations , Ali is the most perfect , being the last : he is supposed to reside in the sun , whence he is called the "Eye of the Sun : " to it the Ansaireeh turn when they worship : while the souls of menwhich they

, believe to be the essence of light , will , after undergoing purifications by means of transmigrations , become stars in heaven , " which were their first centres . " The seven appearances of the Deity , from Abel to Ali , are said to have taken place in seven IZubbelis , which Mr . Lyde translates as " literally domes , that

is , periods [ why not ajons ?] , such as the period , or dome , of Abraham , " & c . Among the Druses , a more distinctly marked system of emanations or ajons , which are supposed to have taken up their residence in certain individuals , who are the great teachers of the sect . Hakem indeed takes the place of Ali ; he

appeared ten times under the human form as a veil , yet " that the Deity and the human form which serves him as a veil , are so united , that the actions and words of this form are truly the actions and words of the Deity ; that the merit of faith consists in believing that the Deity , in rendering himself accessible to

sense by the form which serves him as a veil , does not cease to be infinite , incomprehensible , inaccessible to the senses . Eirst , that notwithstanding the diversity and the succession of his manifestations , there is , nevertheless , in respect of him , neither succession of timenor any numbers ; that the Divine humanity of

, the Deity is antecent to all created things , and is the prototype of the human form . . . that it was necessary that Divinity should manifest himself under JI human form , that men might be able to acquire a

full conviction of his existence ; . . . and lastly , that the last manifestation of himself under the name of Hakem is the most perfect , that of which all the preceding manifestations were in some sort but the daybreak and sketch . "—De Sacy , vol . i ., p . 66 . Hamza , one of the followers of Hakem , reduced

this religion to a system , and interposed between Hakem and his believers a series of existences , which also appeared in human shape : thus he styled himself " The Universal Intelligence ; " Ismaeel , " The Universal Soul ; " another , "The Word ; " another , "The Great Door ; " another , "The Successor-, " these are

superior ; the next inferior , " The Application ; " "The Opening ; " "The Appearance . " Comparing what is believed of Ali and Hakem with that ivhich Simon Magus said of himself , when he called himself the " Word of God , and the Paraclete , " we cannot but perceive a very strong resemblance between them ,

while the manifestations of the Druses especially bear a strong likeness to the aons , or their predecessors , the Sephiroth ; indeed , Mr . Lyde tells \\ s that the American missionaries in Syria stated their belief , that " these people became impregnated with the Gnostic heresies ; " and that Volney mentions the probability

of the Ansaireeh inheriting some of the old Gnostic rites . It is unfortunate that these writers were unacquainted with Kabbalistic philosophy , and have , therefore , failed in tracing "the Asian mystery" to its true source , and also have missed a full comprehension of it . Eor instanceMr , Lde tells us that "

, y among the many worlds ivhich are known to God alone , and which form the higher and lower worlds , are two others , the great and the little world ; the luminous world , or the great world of light , and the earthly

Kabbalism, Secret Societies , And Masonry.

world . " Here is clearly the macrocosm and the microcosm of the Kabbalists ; Mr . Lyde adds , improperly , " for this notion they are indebted to Hindoo philosophy . " Again , in the preereation of Mohammed , according to the Shiites , we have under another form the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists . In more

places than one we have the doctrine of the long face and the short face : also in the notion that all souls were emanations from light , ancl that all were created at once before the world was brought into being , and that thej r undergo transmigrations in order to be purified , we have precisely the Kabbalistic doctrine .

Uso less manifest is the next particular that we shall mention , viz ,, the interpretation of the Khoran . Any one at all acquainted with that book , will at once see that the religion of these sects , especially in the deification of Ali and Hakem , is directly opposed to its whole tenorand even to its plainest

declara-, tions : the difficulty of reconciling the two is a serious one ; it is , however , got over in precisely a similar manner that the Kabbalists adopted when they invented an esoteric doctrine , underlying the historical statements in the Bible * . " The only possible way in whicli the heretical sects could maintain any connexion with

Mohammedanism , was by allegorising the Khoran , and teaching an inner or esoteric meaning , Il-Batin , in opposition to , and to the entire subversion of , the outer or apparent meaning , Iz-Zahir . Mohammed , son of Ismaeel , and grandson of the Imaun

Djaafarls-Sadik , is sometimes said to have been the author of this allegorisation , which he may have learnt from his grandfather . This allegorisation , or interpretation , is called Taweel , in contradistinction to Tanzeel , descent , which is used for the literal interpretation of the words of the Khoran , as they were sent down by Mohammed . The Taweel opened a wide door to all

kinds of heresy , and led , as Mussulman authors complain , to an entire explaining away of the positive precepts of Islam . Those that pretended to this Hlm-ul-Batin , or knowledge of the inner meaning of the Khoran , were called Batineel , which name embraced a wide circle of sects ; ancl they are said to

have based their system on words of the Most High , when he says , a wall was thrown between them , which had a door , on its inner side ( Batin ) mercy , and on its outer side ( Zahir ) torment . " —Lyde , pp . 78 , 79 . The next development brings ns more directly to the " mystery . " Eollowing out the notion of an .

esoteric teaching in the Khoran , each sect has a secret doctrine , to which only a few initiated are admitted , and these proceed by certain degrees to the great truth . These degrees are generally seven , in one case increased to nine . The following is the description of these degrees given bVon Hammer . " The first

y degree was the longest and most difficult of all , as it was necessary to inspire the pupil with the most implicit confidence in the knowledge of his teacher , and to incline him to take that most solemn oath , by which he bound himself to the secret doctrine with

blmd faith and unconditional obedience . Eor this purpose every possible expedient was adopted to perplex his mind by the many contradietiens of positive religion and reason , to render the absurdities of the Khoran still more involved by the most insidious questions and the most subtle doubts , and to poinfc from the apparent literal signification to a deeper sense , which was properly the kernel , as the former was but the husk . The more ardent the curiosity of