Kabbalism, Or The Religious Philosophy Of The Hebrews.

tremities have also as emblems , tho different combinations of the four letters of the word Jehovah . These emanations , ifc appears , become more and more material the further they extend from the En-soph : apparently , in the end becoming actually matter . The nearer thoy are , the more spiritual they are : thus , the first , as we have seen , is the ' Voice' and the ' Word ;'

the second is the 'Breath of tho Spirit , ' attached to which are the letters of the alphabet ; in other words , the verbal inspiration of the Bible . This seems to be that trinity of which Philo speaks , the En-soph , the Adyos , the iivevij-a : still more remarkably manifested in -fche Targum of Onkelos , where the ' word' is so frequently used as a sort of mediator between God and

man . Besides this , there are notices of a belief in a male and female principle as pervading fche Deity ; the ' long face' was male , the ' short face' was female ; in some instances it seems that the Shekinah is spoken of as female : so also the three elements , water , air , and fire ( earth is included in water , being supposed to be water condensed ) , are called , in the formation of tho world , the Ocnctrices . There can be little doubt that the

idea of a male and female principle was borrowed from the Egyptian mysteries through the Alexandrian school ; though the system of emanation is Persian , or perhaps Indian . We have also somo curious speculations about being and non-being in the Deity . The latter is spoken of as having three heads , ' the one in the other , and the one above the other : above the first head is the Ancient

of Days ; then comes the head which rules all the others : what ifc incloses no one knows nor can know : for it is equally beyond our knowledge aud our ignorance . This is why the Ancient of Days is called the non-being . ' Thus there is a unity in the being , and a trinity in the intellectual manifestations . 'Thought is the begiuninoof all existence , but it is afc firsfc ignorant anel shut up in

itself : when thought begins to expand itself ifc arrives afc thafc point where it becomes spirit ; then it takes the name of intelligence , and is no longer shut up iu itself . The Spirit iu its turn developes ] itself in the midst of mysteries with which it is surrounded , and it utters a voice which is the combination of all the heavenly choirs . . . . This thought allies itself to the nonloeing , and is never separated ; such is the meaning of the words , ' Jeuovah is one , and His name is one . ' "

. . . The name which means " I am indicates to us tho union of all that exists . . . . When we intend to describe the Genetrix having in her bosom all things , and about to reveal tho great name , then God speaking of ifc , says , " I am that I am . " * Besides answering to the name of God , the Sephiroth answered likewise to tho hierarchies of angels , tho

heavens , and planets , the parts of tho human frame , and the Ten Commandments . To the nine hierarchies of angels is added that of the human soul , to make tho tenth . The heavens and the planets are as follows : — The empyrean , thejirimtirn mobile , the firmament , Saturn , Jupiter , Mars , the Sun , Venus , Mercury , the Moon ; The ten parts of the human frame are the brain , tho lungs , the heart ; the stomach , the liver , tho gall , tho spleen , the reins , the membrnm virile , the matrix

.-f-As there was an image of God , so also there was one , or rather two of man ; a macrocosm and a microcosm : the macrocosm , or Adam Kadmon , is an ideal image with the parts of a human frame , each containing some profound mystery . Thus : wisdom is the skull ; intelligence is the righfc ear ; prudence , the left ; on the diaphragm is a spot of condensed light , from which is communicated

the power of producing other worlds . Iu man there is a soi-fc of trinity : first , the spirit , the highest part ; secondly , the soul , the seat of good and evil , of desire , and of all the moral attributes of man ; thirdly , life , immediately connected with the body , tho seat of all animal instincts and actions . Sometimes these three are comprehended under one common name of the soulthis

; soul descends from heaven at the momonfc of conception to unite itself to the body . ' At the moment when is accomplished the union with the earthly body , fche Lord sends down a form which is the likeness of the man , and having fche stamp of the Divine seal . . . ; if the eye could see what then takes place , it would perceive above its head an image in every wa / resembling a human face ,

the image of that iu which we are afterwards formed . ' This is the ' image of God , ' and is the microcosm—a term often applied to man , even by Christian philosophers ; ifc is developed with us , aud grows with our growth . All souls are jare-cxisfcent , having been created ou the first day , immediately after tbe light ; they are sent down to earth for the purpose of being disciplined for a higher

state of existence . Metemphsychosis became a necessary doctrine , in order that this education might be complete : it was apparently the general doctrine of the Kabbalists , while at the same time some of them held that of the resurrection of the body ; two doctrines seemingly incompafcable . In each soul was the male and female principle , for , indeed , it is said , ' every form which contains not the male and female principle is not a form superior

and complete : . . . blessings do not descend when this union does not exist ; as wo learn from the words , " He blessed them , and called their name Adam , in the day when they were created . " Again : ' each soul and each spirit is composed of a man and a woman united in one being ; in descending on earth , these two halves are separated , and go to animate different bodies . ' Marriage

is the union of these two ; happy marriages are those in which these souls have found each other ; unha ] 3 ] jy , when they are united to others . There is much in this that reminds us of Plato ' s androgynes .- perhaps ifc was borrowed from him through the Alexandrian school . * By adopting' tho doctrine of metempsychosis , by which souls , passing through different bodies leted their

disci-, comp p line , and were at last joined to their proper halves , they solved the difficulty attending on the fact of divorce , separation , and unhappy unions . Afc night , during sleep , each soul went up to heaven to render an account of those things done during-the day . Opinions on the origin of matter , as well as that of evilarc various ; and they are frequentlconfounded .

, y According to the theory of emanations , matter is the extremity of the emanation of spirit ; the nearer to the En-soph ifc is the more purely spiritual , the further its extension the grosser it becomes , till at last it degenerates into matter . In following oufc this opinion , we can see how easily the parallel of sin would be imagined , so that while , in the one case , distance from pure spirit thickened

the emanation till ifc became matter , so , by the like process , would be produced sin , sin being extreme distance from God morally , as matter is physically ; sin becoming , as ifc were , an opposite magnetic pole . In accordance with this notion the worlds were created , or rather produced , by the immediate action of the Sephiroth ; thus , when it is written , ' The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth ; by understanding He hath established the heavens ; by His knov . icd . gc the depths are broken up , ' & c , the Kab-