Kabbalism , Secret Societies , And Masonry.

he at once acknowledged a power superior to his own . This he would probably ascribe to a higher kind of Kabbalistic science . He saw in the use of the " name of Jesus " an efficacy far above any charm , that he possessed . He at once , and sincerely , expressed his faith in the new manifestation , ancl desired to be admitted into this new societyto learn the mystery

, connected with the ' name of the Lord Jesus , ' for he saw its tremendous power . Christianity was to him a higher developement of Kabbalism , and baptism was the rite of initiation into the mystery . The further manifestation of supernatural power displayed by SS . Peter and John , only made him more eager to

enter more deeply into this mystery . Ignorant of the true nature of Christianity , its true purpose and end , and looking only on its manifestations , he offered money to be allowed admittance into the deeper mysteries , such as were displayed by the Apostles , in comparison with those of the deacon Philip . AVe need not follow the narrative further : it explains , however , pretty clearly , how it happened that

some Kabbalists so readily adopted a certain amount of Christian doctrine into their system ; and how this combination produced the new phase of Kabbalism called Gnosticism ; eventually completed under A alentinus and Basilides . The identity of the a ? ons of the latter with the Sephiroth of the former is too plain to require lengthened proof : we need only compare

the two together to perceive at a glance the fact . The great ancl distinguishing difference between the two systems is the introduction into the latter of a scheme of redemption of mankind ; the former placing the whole of its mystery , and directing all its investigation , into the doctrine of creation . To effect

a harmony between the old and the new system , new names , and a seeminggly new position was given to the Sephiroth ; but still they went in pairs , and a sort of marriage ivas supposed to exist between them : the two first were depth and silence ( PvBbs and ccyn ) ; then breadth ancl truth ; then the word and life ; then man and the church . Sometimes ive have ei ghteen reons . sometimes thirty ; these latter are made up with attributes of G-od ancl of man . AVe next come to

the generations of aions , " endless genealogies " as S . Paul calls them ; thus , God dwelling in light unapproachable , conceived a plan for creating the universe : this existed first in idea ; it is expressed by the reons breadth and truth : from these two came the word and life ; these two inferior to the others , inasmuch as the portrait cannot equal the ori ginal : from these

came the other two , man and the church . All this is only another way of expressing what the Kabbalists had expressed by the long and the short face . AVe have next the origin of matter : the a ; on AVisdom desiring to see hei * father , was punished for her temerity by becoming enceinte- from her was born

, Achamoth , matter unformed and full of ignorance from her fear and her tears came water ; the aeon Christ was sent to console- her , ancl then came forth the soul of the world ; from her smiles came light , ancl from light came three sorts of substances—the

first spiritual , which are good ; animals , which are susceptible of good ancl evil ; ancl finally , matter , which is wholly evil . However , lest the other reons should fall in the like manner as AVisdom hacl clone , God sent Christ to warm them not to attempt to penetrate too deeply the mystery of the nature of God .

AVe need not go into this further : we see here a mystical ancl allegorical way of describing the creation and redemption of the world . The two first asons , depth and silence , only express the immensity and incomprehensibility of God ; breadth and truth are His ideal creation the word and life are the spiritual

parts , aud man and the church the visible parts , of the real creation . The fable of the birth of Achamoth is a sort of history of the fall—man aspiring to know " good and evil ; " the ason Christ , sent to comfort AVisdom , and warn others against a similar fate , represents redemption . AVe do not for a moment believe that the learned Gnostics ever conceived these mons to be anything more than ideal existences , or that these generations

were any more than such an ideal generation as St . James describes , when he says , " AVhen lust hath conceived , it bringeth forth sin ; and sin , when it is finished , bringeth forth death . " That the more ignorant of the Gnostics really believed in the actual existence of these asons is probable enough ; for Gnosticism is essentially a " mystery" into which only

, the advanced or initiated were fully instructed ; but it certainly strikes us as very singular that some of the Fathers should be so deceived as to imagine that this allegorical way of teaching was intended to be a . reality , as , for example , Tertullian , who says that the Gnostics acknowledged many gods .

Basilides and A alentinus were both of Egyptian origin ; the latter studied at Alexandria , at . that timefamous for Jewish learning , the home of Philo and the Therapeutics ; here he became acquainted with both Kabbalism ancl Christianity , for he boasted of ' having for his teacher a learned Jewwho had been a

, friend of St . Paul . From Egypt came the name ason , together with their charms ancl talismans , their Abraxasand Abracadabra . * The Gnostics denied the doctrine of the resurrection of the body , and consistently , the death and

Kabbalism , Secret Societies , And Masonry.