Kabbalism, Secret Societies, And Masonry.

is mankind , the first Church , the whole being a figurative description . Still more in the heretical notion of the Trinity , the substitution of " Manifestation " for " Person , " the threefold soul in man , and doctrines of angels , all bear a close resemblance to ancient Kabbalism . We might also allude to certain schools of Scrip ture interpreters in our own countrywhose

, mani pulations of prophecy to suit their own prejudices , whose strange explanations of the figurative language , ivhose persevering attempts to fine ] allegory under the literal , and lastly , ivhose Kabbalistie dealings with letters and numbers , might claim a niche in the gallery of Kabbalismdid not the utter

, want of philosophy , and the transparent motive of polemical necessity , preclude them . "We may safely leave the lucubrations of Mr . Elliot and Dr . dimming to the safe ancl sure operation of time , being assured that it will annihilate their theories , as it lias done

those of Dr . Faber and others , their predecessors . Before closing our notice of modern Kabbalism , we must not omit to mention one great name , ivhose greatest ivork is everywhere tinged with the same principles : in Milton ' s Paradise Lost there is a strange struggle between Kabbalistie philosophy and

heathen mythology . The names and the hierarchies of angels and of devils ; the introduction of the Mercavah , or Chariot of God ; the various heavens , inclosing each other like the skins of an onion ; the outer rim of the Avorld on which Satan first ali ghts before arriving on the earth ; tlie notion that darkness

is positive , and not negative ; the idea of heaven and of hell ; the fall of angels ; the making lust a part of original sin ; all this , and much more that we could point out , shows how deeply read was this great Puritan in the lore of the Jewish Kabbala , and how closely he followed out its principles in his description of the Creation and Fall .

"While Christian philosophers Avere adopting the system of Jewish Kabbalism , and accommodating it to the principles of the faith of the Gospel , another development of the like jn'inciples was growing up , and has maintained itself up to our own day—we mean Freemasonry . This association , so vaunted hy

its members , so ridiculed by those who have not been initiated into its secrets , resembles , in many respects , those societies of Mount Lebanon , of ivhich we have given some account ; perhaps its ori gin may be even traced to the same spot . After examining the authorized works of its professorsand the learned

, researches of others , Ave have no doubt remaining that the Freemasons derived their ori gin , as well as their " mystery , " from the Knights Templar , t ivho , in their turn , ivere taught in the East .

That the Templars had a " mystery , " thatthey employed signs ancl passwords among themselves , is ivell known : from ivhence they learned their mystery , and from whom they received their passwords , are questions upon which we do not intend to enter further than to give the most probable solution , that having been in close and immediate contact ivith the Ismaeleeh -and

Assassins—at that time these were powerful and important bodies—they learnt from them a system , which they soon elaborated and adapted to their own use . That system the Assassins had found eminently useful in maintaining their own independence , and annoying their enemies . TheTemplars , insomewhatalikeposition ,

adopted the tactics of their foes , and turned their own weapons against them . "We can thus readily understand why they established a system of signs and passwords , which would he of great value in a country where they ivere surrounded with secret ancl open enemies ; but ivhen they proceeded further to adopt a mystery , ive have some difficulty in divining the cause , unless it was to make themselves feared and dreader ! _

if the latter was the reason , they succeeded only too well , for it was to suspicions caused by their secret practices , as well as their restless intn ' gues , and interference in polities , that they owed their final ruin ; for they were accused of various monstrous crimes , magic , idolatry , blasphemy , and secret promiscuous debauchery . * That this mystery

, and those secrets have been inherited by the Freemasons seems more than probable ; and that the philosophy of the Kabbala composes a considerable part of the Freemasons' " mystery , " Ave learn from an examination of their own published ivorks . Indeed , no one can read their " Lectures , " without perceiving

such to be the case ; for instance , we find the Sephiroth occupying an important place in the symbolism of a lodge , even appearing in the form of the Kabbalistie tree , describee ! above . Again , we have frequent reference to the practice of Kabbalistie interpretation by changing letters according to their equivalents in value or number : the constant mention of the