The Supreme Grand Council Of France And Marshal Magnan.

you into one great family which will receive you with { - ¦ lien arms , which will be honoured to see—thanks to your influence—the schism cease . " I have no need to tell you that all ranks of the Supreme Grand Council will be recognised by me -with great satisfaction . " I have the honour to request you to accept the

¦ assurance , very dear and very illustrious brother and very good ancl old military comrade , of my high esteem and fraternal attachment . " ( Signed ) "THE GRAST ) MASTEE , MAESHAI MAGS " AJT . " ( To be continued . )

Kabbalism , Secret Societies , And Masonry.

KABBALISM , SECRET SOCIETIES , AND MASONRY .

( Continued from page 47 . ) AVe must now turn our attention to another phase of Kabbalism , which was apparently developed out of the former , or purely Jewish . AVe mean the Gnostic . Into the origin and history of this remarkable sect we do not mean to enter , excepting as showing its

connexion with the former . Of its extensive existence in the apostolical times we have the universal testimony of the early Fathers , as well as for the frequent allusions , condemnatory of the doctrines , in the New Testament *

Simon Magus is the reputed founder of Gnosticism , About this many erroneous opinions have been held , and many erroneous statements made , most , if not all . arising from writers who , unacquainted with Kabbalism , and not seeing that Gnosticism was only a different p hase of an existing system , imagined that

it was a new heresy , whose founder was Simon Magus . That Gnosticism borrowed much from the teachings of the Apostles there can be no doubt , but it is equally clear that these were only importations , supplementing a previously organized system . AVe shall give a conjectural account of the conversion of Simon Magus

, which , if true , will fully account for the Christ-ain element in Gnosticism . Simon was , we are told in the Acts of the Apostles , a "magician" (/ c-ryeiW ) , calling himself " some great one" ( ¦ " » imnhv ) i . i-ytu > } and that the people esteemed him as "the ( or «) great Power of God ; " for "of a

long time he had bewitched ( astonished , e £ 5 orai « Vai ) them with his sorceries ^ ayelais ' ) . " This man , witnessing tlie miracles done by Philip , especially that of exercising a power of controlling demons , believed , and desired and received baptism . Afterwards , when SS . Peter and John came clown from Jerusalemand

, displayed further acts of power , viz . giving the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands , which was followed by visible proofs that this supernatural influence was actuall y imparted , Simon offered money that this power mi ght be bestowed on him . From this narrative we learn that Simon was a magiciani . e . that

, , he actuall y did , or pretended to , control demons . AVhat these demons were we have stated above . The power of controlling these demons was the art of magic , and magic is a branch of the Kabbala . Simon Magus , then , was a Kabbalist . As such he had been

initiated into the " mystery , " of Kabbalism ; as such he gave himself out to be " some great one , " and was acknowledged by the Samaritans to be " a great Power of God , " or as it is in some MSS . and in the Vulgate , "a Power of God , whieh is called Great " ( SiW / xu Bead 5 ) Ka \ ovf . Uv-rj p-eyate ) , YirtllS Dei qU 03 VOCatur

Magna ) . * This "Power" answers exactly . to the Sepinroth , since the Kabbalists held that God created all things by them . The first of these , as we have mentioned above , is " the Spirit of the living God , " ... the Sp irit , the A oice , the AVord—this is the Holy "Sp irit . " The second is , "the Breath which comes from

the Sp irit . " Another Sephirah is power , Siva , ais , the very word used by S . Luke . f S . Jerome tells us ( in Matt , xxiv . ) that Simon thus describes himself , ' Ego sum Sermo dei , ego speciosus , ego Paracletus . ' He thus seems to have set himself up as a visible manifestation of one of the Sephiroth , perhaps as a sort of

incarnation of it ; ancl that the sorceries he worked were clone by the energising power of those creative attributes of God . J Seeing the miracles of S . Phili p ,