Cabalistical Philosophy Of The Jews.

CABALISTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE JEWS .

COMPILED l- 'OU TIIE MASONIC SIOXliT AXD JOU 1 IKA .. BV 11 KO , JOSEPH UOVELL . * THE word cabala ( according to its genuine import ) signifies nothing else but " tradition , " and comes from the verb cabal , denoting with the Hebrews , to give or recc ' we . It is a mystical doctrine concerning God and thc creation , which tho Jews received by tradition from father to son . If we may give credit to them , it began with Adamwho had

, a perfect knowledge , not only with the whole nature and property of things corporeal , but also of the divine nature , of the mysteries of religion , ancl of the redemption of mankind , which his angel , Raziel , assured him was to come to pass by means of a just man , whose name should consist of four letters [ which is the cause , say they , that most part of the Hebrew names are of four letters in their languagewherein the vowels

, are no letters ] . Adam taught these mysteries to his children , and they to theirs till Abraham and the patriarchs . But they say Moses learnt it anew from the mouth of God , during the ' fortydays that he was in the mount , where he received two laws , one written with the hand of God , comprised in the two tables of stone , the other not written , and more mysterious ; the former foiyill in general , thc latter for the learned in religious mysteries ; which is that

taught by Moses to the seventy elders of the peop le ^ chosen by himself , according to the counsel of Jethro , and they transferred the same to the prophets , doctors , scribes , pharisees , rabbins , and Cabalists . In order to judge oftlie cabala , it is expedient for us to know what was the philosophy of the Jews . As the Stoics , Peripatetics , Pyrrhoniansand other hilosophers hacl their peculiar sectsthe

, p , cabala is divided commonl y into that of things , and of words or names . The first is called by the rabbins Bercschit ; the second Mereana . That which treats of things , by the Cabalists called SejMroth , that is , numbers or knowledges ( for with them to number and to know are nearly synonymous ) , is either philosophical or theological . The philosophical comprehended their logic , physics , metaphysics , and astronomy . In logic they treat of the

ton _ lesser Sephiroth , which are so many steps or degrees for attaiiiing the knowledge of all things , by means of sense , knowledge , or faith ; and they are divided into three regions . In the lowest , which is made by the sense , are—1 . The object ; 2 . The medium , or Diaphanum ; 3 . The external sense . In the second and middle region are—4 . The internal or common sense ; 5 . The imagination or fancy ; 6 . The estimative faculty , or inferior judgment the third

. In and supreme degree—7 . The superior judgment ; 8 . Reason ; 9 . The intellect ; ' and 10 . The understanding , which performs the same oflice to the soul as the eye docs to the "bod y , which it enlightens . Thus , for example , ivhen I hear a cannon discharged , the sound comes to my ears by the medium of the air ; then the common sense receiving this species of the sound , transmits thc same to the imagination , and the estimative

faculty judges thereof , simply , as beasts would do ; afterwards the . judgment apprehends the essence of the sound . Reason searches the cause of it , and the intellect considers them . But , lastly , the understanding , or Mens , called by the Cabalists Celer , that is , a crown ( by way of cxceflence ) , receiving light from on high , irradiates tho intellect , as this again does all other faculties ; and these are the degrees of cabalistical knowledge . In the other parts of their philosophy they treat of the fifty gates of light . Whereof , the first is the divine essence , the svinbol of which is

the tetragrainmaton , and ineffable name of God . The second gate is the Archetypal ivorld , the knowledge of which two gates they say was hid , even from Moses ; the third is the earth ; fourth , matter ; fifth , vacuum , or privation ; sixth , the abyss ; seventh , fire ; eighth , air ; ninth , water ; tenth , light ; eleventh , the day ; twelfth , accidents ; thirteenth , night ; fourteenth , evening ; fifteenth , the morning . And after many other things they

constitute man to be the fiftieth gate . To arrive to the knowledge of all these gates , thoy have erected thirty-two flambeaux , or torches , to guide them into the secrets contained therein , which they call the paths of wisdom , namely , the intelligence , miraculous or occult ; intelligence sanctifying , resplendent , pure , dispositive , eternal , corporeal , & c . The theological cabala treats of God and angels—of God by expounding thc names of twelve , and two letters attribute hundred to him

forty- ; yea , they seven ; and particularly the divine attributes , which they term the grand Sephiroth , viz .: infinite wisdom , intelligence , clemency or goodness , severity , ornament , triumph , confession of praise , foundation and royalty , whereby God governs all things by weight , number , and measure . Of angels , namely of the thirty-two above mentioned intelligences , called by them the paths of wisdom ( for they make them to he so many angels ) , and of seventy-two other ¦

Cabalistical Philosophy Of The Jews.

angels ; thc names they compose of the 19 th , 20 th , and 21 st verses of the fourteenth chapter of Exodus ; in each of which there being seventy-two letters , they form the name of the first angel oat ofthe first three letters of each verso : the name oftlie second out of the three second letters of thc s .:: nc verses , and so of the rest , adding at the end of every word , the names of God , Jab , or El ; thc former whereof denotes God as he exists , and

the latter signifies mighty or strong God . The cabala which treats of words , and names , is nothing else but the practice of grammar , arithmetic , and geometry . They divide it into three kinds , the first of which is called Notraickon , when of several first or last letters of some words is framed a single one , as in our acrostics . The second Gemalrie , when the letters of one name answers to the letters of another by arithmetical proportion ;

( the Hebrew as well as the Greeks making use of their letters to number withal . ) Whence , some moderns have affirmed that Christianity will last seven thousand years , because the letters of xpwriavoi are of the same value in number with those of swraKiox & toi . The third is called Themurah , which is a transposition of letters , like that of our Anagrams , the most common way of which is to change the last letter of the alphabet into the first , and on tbe contrary , to which kind are referred the words and verses which are read backwards . Thus

they prove by the first word of Genesis , which is Bercschit , that the world was created in autumn , because in this word is found Fethisri , which signifies autumn ; and that the law ought to be kept in the heart , because the first letter of the law is Beth , and the last lamed , which two letters being put together and read after their mode , make Leb , that is , the heart . Some are of opinion that if the word cabala be taken for a tradition , that is to

say , the manner in which the Jews made their sacrifice and prayers according to the instruction they had from father and son concerning the same , it deserves to be esteemed for its antiquity , although it be abolished ; and the more in regard of the hieroglyphical and mysterious name of God and angels which it contains ; and whereof whoever should have a perfect and entire knowledge , would find nothing impossible . It was hy this means , say they ,

that Moses divided the waters of the Bed Sea , ancl did so many other miracles , because he had written at the end of his rod the name of Jehovah . For if it be true that Black Magic can do wonders by the help of malignant spirits , why not the cabala , with more reason , by means ofthe names of God andthe Angels of Light , ivith whom the Cabalists render themselves friends arid familiars ? Our Lord seems to confirm the same , when he commands his

apostles to make use of his name for casting devils out of the possessed , and to heal diseases as he did . The victory of Judas Maccabeus against the enemies of his religion , happening by means of a sign of four letters ; that of Antiochus over the Galat-o , by a pentagon ; that of Constantino tbe Great , by the sign of the cross ; andthe Thau , with ivhich the Scripture arms the foreheads of the faithful , demonstrates that figures are not whollv 'inefficacious . The critical days of diseases show likewise

that all kind of virtue cannot be denied to number , and consequently that the cabala is not to be blamed for making account of numbers , names and figures , the knowledge whereof would undoubtedly be most excellent , did it not surpass the reach of human capacity , which cannot comprehend the connection there is between the name and the thing which it denotes—the number and thc thing numbered—and the figure ancl the thing figured . For

since the external figure of a man , or rather animal , g ives me to know his substance , which I see not , aud thc species of his figure entering into my senses , suffices to make me conceive the thing without its stirring out of its place ; why shall not the names , and particularly those imposed on things by our first parents in the Hebrew language , have as necessary a signification and connection with things as thc other accidents which arc the objects

of our senses ? And why should wc not believe the same of the letters which represent those names in the same language V Again , others think - that the cabala was either allegorical or literal . The former was more conjectural ; but , if there be any virtne in characters which signify nothing , with more reason , thc words , syllables and letters which are the visible name of things , shall not be without . This afforded ground to the Cabalists to

consider , in letters , not only their number and arithmetical value ; but , also , their order , proportion , harmony , magnitudes , and geometrical figures ; observing whether they arc straight , crooked or tortuous , closed or not , Thus , in one passage , where the Messiah is spoken of , some have concluded from a Messr , which is found inclosed in the middle of a word , contrary to custom , that this Messiah should proceed from thc closed womb of a virgin , contrary to the course of the ordinary birth of men . Tims , jlabbi , Ifaccathsh , in the first letters of these Hebrew