Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE THE CABBALA 385 PROV . GRAND LODGE OF HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT 3 86 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS , \\ 3813 SUMMER BANQUET OF NEW CONCORD LODGE

NO . 813 ... 3 S 6 MACDONALD LODGE , No . 1216 3 S 7 MASONRV IN

AMERICASemi-Centennial of Olive Branch Lodge , Leroy , New York 38 S GRAND LODGE OF QUEBEC 388 & 389 THE CRAFTProvincial ... ... ... ... ... .. 389 Cape of Good Hope ... ... ... .. 389 ROYAL ARCH 389

THE FREEMASONS LIFE BOAT 389 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 390 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS - .. 390 THE WAR 390 "L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE " ... ... 390 & 391 MULTUM IN PARVO ' 391 & 392 ORIGINAL ,

CORRESVONDENCEA Query 392 " Prince Rhodocanakis" 392 Personal Explanation ... ... ... ... 392 W . M . ' s-Elect ... 393 Province of Cornwall , and Alfred Nutt ... 393

Scotch Masonry ... ... ... ... ... 393 SCOTLANDAffiliation of the Earl of Zetland 394 Masonic Fete at Roslin ... ... ... ... 394 DESTRUCTIVE FIRE—UITTWA RELIEF FUND ... 394

POETRYLines addressed to the Wives and Sisters of Freemasons ... 394 A Hymn 394 The First Great Light 394 J OTTINGS FROM MASONIC J OURNALS 395 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 395

The Cabbala.

THE CABBALA .

BY BRO . WILLIAM CARPENTER , P . M ., P . Z ., & c . In two or three articles which you have done me the favour to print in THE FREEMASON , I have spoken of the Cabbala in correspondence with the notions of those

who hold it to be a work of more than ordinary learning and authority . Its enthusiastic admirers tell us , indeed , that the doctrines with which it is identified were brought down from heaven by angels for the

purpose of teaching to fallen man the way of recovering his original dignity and happiness . Others have imagined that Moses received itfrom God Himself , duringtheforty days which he spent on Mount Sinai ; that he

then communicated it to the seventy elders , who , in their turn , transmitted it to others ; and that thus the cabbalistic traditions were handed down , until Ezra received the order of committing them to writing at the same

time as the Law . Eliphaz Levi , in his Histoire de la Magic , says , " It is the tradition of the children of Seth , brought from Chaldea by Abraham , taught to the Egyptian priesthood by Joseph , collected and

punned by Moses , hidden under symbols in the Bible , revealed by the Saviour to St . John , and still contained , unimpaired , in the Apocalypse of that apostle , under hieroglyphic figures analagous to those of the

ancients . ' But , as M . Franck has observed , " Let us examine with the most scrupulous attention the books of the Old Testament , and we shall not find there a single word suggesting aught about a secret teaching ,

a profounder and purer doctrine , reserved exclusively for a small number of initiated . " The study of the Cabbala is , however , a very interesting one , for the light it throws on the metaphysical pursuits and theories of

the most learned Jews at an early period of the Christian era ; and as aids to this study may be mentioned Munck ' s Melanges de Philosophic Jnives et Arabc , Franck ' s La

Kabbah , and Etheridge ' s Jerusalem aud Tiberias , all admirable introductions to the study of Hebrew literature . Those who want to study cabbalistic

The Cabbala.

literature in . its primary sources must go to the two books Jesird and Zohar , which present it in its most complete shape . The author , or authors , of these books are unknown , but the evidence is that the former

was composed at the time when the first doctors of the MiscJina flourished , which was early in the third century . ¦ It contains a system of cosmology in which certain general superficial relations perceived in the

external world are deemed to constitute the science of nature , mysticism being blended in it with ideas and teachings derived from the Old Testament Scriptures . The Sepher Zohar is a much more modern work , being

a compilation not anterior to the thirteenth century , and the authors of which lived in Spain . It is not a work of mere fancy , as some have supposed . The compiler , or compilers , seem to have made use of ancient

documents , and particularly of certain Midraschim , or collections of traditions and Biblical expositions , which are no longer extant . The system of allegory , or of mystical interpretation , which the authors

of this work employ , is most arbitrary in its character , and allows the commentator to discover under the text of Scripture any object that suits his fancy . Thus , the Zohar says ( p . iii ., fol . 152 verso ) : " If the law was

composed of merely ordinary words and narratives , such as the discourses of Esau , Agar , and Laban—such as those which were pronounced by Balaam ' s ass , and by Balaam himself—why should it be called

the Law of Truth , the Perfect Law , the Faithful Witness of God ? Why should the wise man deem it more precious than gold or pearls ? But it is not so ; under each word lies a higher meaning , each narrative teaches us more than the events which the

words seem to contain , and this superior and higher law is the true one . " Among the early Christian interpreters Origen adopted this system in the fullest extent ; and among the moderns , Swedenhorg may be mentioned .

In the Jesird we find the , numbers ( Sephiroth ) and the letters of the alphabet treated as elements of the Divine Word , represented as principles of all things , and considered as the general forms of

beingcomposing , together , the thirty-two marvellous Paths of Wisdom , at the origin of which is the Unity . or God , thc principiumct fons , the common source of all creatures . The work consists of only a few pages , written

in an oracular style , but through this revealing the fundamental idea of the Cabbala . It assures us that all created beings , both spiritual and corporeal—the angels as well as the brute elements of

natureemerged gradually from the incomprehensible Unity , which is the beginning and end of existence . To these degrees—which are ever the same , despite the infinite variety of creatures—to these immutable forms of

being , the Sepher Jesird gives the name of Sephiroth , which arc ten in number . The world , according to this , is not separated from its principle , and the last degrees of creation constitute one whole with the first .

" The end of the Sephiroth is connected with their beginning , like the flame with the burning wood ; for the Lord is One , and there is none other besides Him . Now , in the presence of the One , what is the use of

numbers and of words ? " ( Diet , des Sciences Philos ., s . v . Kabbala . ) The doctrine of emanation , which is the fundamental principle of the Sepher Jesird ,

presents itself under another form in the Sepher Zohar , where the Sephiroth are symbolised in a different manner . The object of the teaching is to reconcile monotheism and the dogma of creation with the

The Cabbala.

great axiom of ancient philosophy , ex mhilo nihil fit . They sought , too , to explain the existence of evil , both moral and physical , by the doctrine of emanation . The whole of creation , it is said , has gradually

emanated from the Divine Light ; in proportion as it is removed from its origin it approaches darkness , and that portion of matter on which is at the furthest extremity is the

seat of evil . This doctrine , which introduces us into a fresh puzzle , was popular amongst the philosophers of the Alexandrine school ; and of that school the speculative Cabbala formed one of the ramifications .

The system of the Cabbala , as far as it can be comprehended , aims at achieving what , in all probability , is not within reach of mortals—an explanation of the origin and existence of evil , upon purely rational and

philosophical grounds . But it fails ; difficulties are only eluded , not solved ; the transition from spirit to matter , from absolute good to evil , is left under an impenetrable veil . Through its results , Cabbalism

completely wanders away from the Mosaic doctrine , and ends in Pantheism ; instead of a free God , creating by the action of His will , we find nothing in its system of emanation but deified nature , carrying out

fatally its plans of organization . M . Franck { La Kabbale , p . 347 , ) is of opinion , that the materials of the Cabbala were derived from the theology of the ancient Persians ; and thereisnodoubtagreat resemblance in many

points , especially in questions of psychology , angelology , and the origin of ideas , between the speculations of the Cabbalists , and the teachings of the Zend-Avesta , the Bun-Dchesh , and other works of the same kind .

Nor will this seem strange when we remember the captivity of Babylon , and the long stay of the Jews in the land of exile , where they were likely , even unconsciously , to adopt some of the metaphysical ideas

supposed to have been taught by Zoroaster . However interesting the study of the Cabbala may be , in relation to the metaphysical schools that have existed amongst the Jews , it is absolutely worthless in

relations to theology and cosmogony . And some of the most enlightened Jewish rabbis long ago discovered the danger which arose from its indiscriminate study . Some denounced it altogether , whilst others

endeavoured to keep away the profane from it , as from the entrance to the holiest of holies . Leo of Modena , who wrote against the authenticity of the Sepher Zohar , does not entertain much hope of the salvation of those who publish the principal Cabbalistic

treatises . The use made of the Cabbalistic speculations in the higher philosophical degrees of Masonry , may plead my apology for this obtrusion on the columns of" THE FREEMASON .

BRO . FREDERICK LEDGER has been elected a Warden upon the Council of the Royal Dramatic College , vacant by the decease of the late Mr . Charles Dickens . BRO . DE KONTSKI , the celebrated violinist , and

his daughter Waud , the pianist , recently performed before the Sultan at Constantinople . His Majesty was so pleased with both artists that he conferred the decoration of the Medjidie on the father , and added a donation of ten thousand francs .

THE first portion of the eighth edition of Tischendorf ' s Greek Testament is just published , containing the Acts , the Epistles of St . James and St . Peter , and part of 1 St . John . THE French Minister of Foreign Affairs has communicated to the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres an account of a discovery recently made by M .

Baillicu in the Isle of Gahu , one of the Sandwich Islands , of an oval-shaped stone about a foot in height and more than two feet in its greatest -width , and having a cavity formed near the centre capable of containing about four gallons of liquid . M . Baillieu supposes the stone to have been an antique altar for human sacrifice . The altar , or whatever it may be , is on its way to France .