CABBALAH XII.
“Then that old seer made answer, playing on him and saying, — Son, I have seen the good ship sail keel upward and mast downward in the heavens, and solid turrets topsy-turvy in air: and here is truth: but an it please thee not take thou the truth as best it pleaseth thee.—Truly as thou sayest, a Fairy king and Fairy queen have built the city, son, * and as thou sayest it is enchanted, son, for, there is nothing in it as it seems: * * * Know you not, then, the riddling of the Bards?—Confusion—and evasion,- and relation,- elusion and occasion, and evasion ?”
It is thought best, as the start was taken in these researches from the Garden of Eden, to finish our essay by a brief outline of the Concealed method of laying the foundation of the system of measures of the Holy Books, as it is to be found in the first and second chapters of Genesis, closing with the Garden of Eden. The method was to intend a circle through the use of the square.*
_________________________________________________________________
* NOTE I.—In the terms of the Cabbalistic Philosophy harmony of shapes and numbering or measuring ratios, should also embrace harmony of conception of Divine and human. This is done in the very terms of conception of the circle and the square. The ordinary definition of a circle, as found in the books, is erroneous, viz., that its circumference is made up of points, each one of which is equally distant from a central point. This fallacy was necessary because each such point was conceived to be of itself an infinitely short straight line, or side of a polygon, from the mode taken to obtain the measure of the circle itself. A circle is essentially such in its very curvature. It is of itself, without relation to any other consideration, quantity or quality. Its true definition is simple, as it should be, and bears its truth of description in itself, as follows:
“A circle is a curved line, of such nature of curvature that any portion, even the least thereof, if protracted either way, will finally reenter upon itself and form one and the same curve.”— (Skinner).
As will be at once seen this is a radically different definition. Now of itself such a figure can only be conceived of as a circle, but not as anything measurable by any element belonging to it, for its curvature is its only element. To measure it at all can only be in terms of some known measure, and recourse for that purpose must be had to some element foreign and distinct from its own essence;—and such element was found in the measure of the longest right line across it, called its diameter, —which diameter could numerically be called one, or any other number, at will. By use of the measure of this right line the measure of length of the curve and of the area of its embracement, might step by step, or progressively, be approximated to, but never reached. In similar view, the Hebrew conception of the First Cause was that of itself It was the Light, the Life, the Will, the Intelligent Artificer of the Universe, and of all things therein, but at the same time unknowable in its fullness. Man could only approximate to knowledge by the study of Its manifestations, such as are material or substantive (whether in the realm of mind, or spirit, or matter); — as he had to advance in knowledge, and to an approximate definition only of the Creator, through the reality of His works, as his only pathway.
________________________________________________________________
For the great circle of the firmament, therefore, take the square as representation, –and let it be divided into two oblongs for the “dividing between” the firmament. Let the upper half be light, or day, or heaven, and let the lower half be dark, or night, or earth. And as the elements were, in the terms of ancient mysticism, anthropomorphised, let the light signify male and the night, female. It is then said, “And God divided between the light, and between the dark,” and not as translated, “between the light and the dark.” By this we will have this diagram —

If this be used in pavement work it will give the Mosaic, or checkered pavement as often represented. But it would be permissible to so arrange the light and dark that the square should show an alternate light and dark, smaller square. This division is to show the double in all things, in which it was pleasing to the First Cause to manifest, as– Light and dark, heat and cold, dry and wet, the opposite polarities in electricity and mesmerism, and in the animal kingdom male and female. This was the picture of the first day. Then followed the others to the full number of 6 — The scheme is stopped just when the number of squares taken will form the 6 faces of a perfect cube for one cubical day. The word “Heavens” is שמים, 4 1 4 3 or Shamayim, and the word “Earth” is ארצ, 9 2 1 or Aretz, and these are the names, viz., Heavens and Earth, given to this firmament, or square. The sum of the digits of each of these words is 12, so that the oblongs of the square are, consequently, each 12. Therefore in 6 days there will be 72 of Light, and 72 of Dark, together 144. At the close of the description of the 6 days, and as their close, and in their close, it is said “God created Adam, אדם 441 – male and female created He them.” That is Man became, as the substance of the close of these 6days of 72+72=Adam, or 144. The number 72 was by Cabbalah a great god name, called the Shem Ha-Maphoresh, and was specialized as designating Jehovah in His attributes, and the chiefest of these was His double aspect of, sexually, male and female. The number 72was one of His names, and John Reuchlin explains in his De Arte Cabbalisticae, how the same was made from the Jod, He, Vav, He, of that name, as follows: “Cum em quaelibet litera hebraica numerum peculiari designet. oriunt ex jod, he, vav, he. Duo & Septuagita, hoc modo. Jod notat decem, he quinq–, vau sex, he iterum quinq—. Totum hoc exarte arithmetica sic colligat Jod decem, Jod he quindecim, Jod he vau unu &uiginti, Jod he vau he uigirti sex. Comphendite nunc singula, Decem, quindecim, uiginti unu & uiginiti sex, & oriunt septuaginta duo.” That is Jod 10, Jod Hé 15, Jod He Vav 21, and Jod He Vav He 26, or together 72. This name was doubly significant, that is, of either sex, hence the 72 and 72, — yet further, still, to show unity in diversity, there was another number mode by which the concrete could be shown. By Cabbalah, before our world or universe there had been preceding worlds, which fell into that primeval ruin called Chaos,- and order first came about through the manifestation of Light. Then the light (male) was separated from the darkness (female), through or by means of the World Creating Light, ‘‘or through or by means of the Holy Name of 45”. This is a mode or version of the creation in Genesis. Molitor gives the tradition of Cabbalah as follows: “Wodurch das Urchaos enstanden ist, welches hierauf, durch das wellschaffende Zicht, oder den heiligen Namen von Fünf und Vierzig, (den Sohn Gottes neu geordnet) das Licht von der Finsternisz geschieden,”—and soon. Now to show how this number 45comes in to fit in the connection, and to show the concrete, in perfect accord with the designation of the diversity :—The sum of the letters of the name אדם, Adam, are 1+4+40=45; and under expansion, by use of the cabbalistic law of Millooi or full, the name of Jod He Vav He, becomes, for Jod 20, for Hé 6, for Vav, 13, and for He 6, or together 45. Therefore the separation of male and female comes under the attribute of 72, as a mode of the manifestation of Jehovah as Shem Ha-Maphoresh, while the concrete or collective form was shown by the same name, as 45 or Adam. Here was a form of incarnation, and the Christ of the New Testament was represented as the “Lord,” or the Jehovah of the Old, and was also spoken of as the second Adam.
Thus we have the figure of a day, as a square, repeated until we obtain the accumulated numbers 72 and 72, for the distinction of sex, to form together the collective number 144, or Man, Adam, the incarnation of Jehovah, but after all forming, collectively again, but by geometrical shape a perfect cube, for there are 6 days mentioned, and the faces of the cube are 6. The work has been intentional, to obtain a basic system of time measures, for the great circle of the heavens. The day was of 12 +12=24 hours. The Egyptian (as well as Chaldean and Hebrew) great circle of heaven, was divided into one hundred and forty four (144) parts (Seyffarth), and these included the 24 hours of the day. Now, following the direction of the text, the parts into which Adam was divided were commanded “to multiply,”— and obeying the injunction in the correlative arithmetical sense, 72×72=5184, which is the characteristic, in time measure, of 5184000 thirds,- a division of the 24hours. And by this process there is development or evolution of our 6days into another and further, viz., one great circular day, which was the 7th day, the Rest of Elohim, the number 7 carrying with it the idea of the Holy of Holies; it was the day of rest,- it was motionless, it had no evening and no morning. Thus there are three grades, or steps, in the narrative, viz., the square, the cube and the circle.* Development continues in the immediate connection, both geo metrically and numerically. There is a second making of Adam, —
_________________________________________________________________
*Note 2. The number 5184, by transfer into measure, is our typical square, of four others of 1296, each, which as inches are one square yard,— hence the harmony of time and square measure. The English word YRD, or yard, is the Hebrew ירד, or Jared, the Source of Descent. But the circle of 1296 has, by what is called the pi formula, of 3.14159265+ to 1, a diameter of 412529+, or radius of 206264+, which we see to have been the old cubit value in inches, and the radius seconds of the circle of 360 degrees. If we take our square day, there is 12 of day and 12 of night, or if we choose to use the figures so, 12–21, – there are two oblongs, and so we may have 1221.2. Now this is the diameter of the great sphere in feet, from whence was carved out the Great Pyramid with its measures. The 12212, is composed of the numbers 6561+ 5651, or the coupling of the square of 81, the source whence the cubit measure, and the Great Name (for the 1may be taken as aleph or jod). If the pronunciation of the name Jehovah be changed to Yôhow, it will give יוהו 6561). So also if the Great Name, jod he vav he, be changed to another name, under the law of Albam, it will give Shōpho, or שעפע), which was the name found in the Great Pyramid, in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
_________________________________________________________________
or a further use of the number 144. It is said that “God planted a garden M’KDM (sic) in Eden,”—wherein the word m’kdm is translated “eastward,” or “in the East”; and indeed the expression bears the interpretation. But it must be considered that no mention has been made of cardinal points, no East,—no South, – no West. The term is rather that of construction. In Cabbalah the word KDM is, in reference to the creation, joined with the name Adam, as the Adam-Kadmon, and by the Greek mysteries it was the proper name Cadmus. The constructive mode explains itself. The word used is מ-קדם 4 4 1 – 4 or the same word with the name אדם 441, with the addition of the prefix of the preposition out of, or by, or by means of, in the letter מ, or 4, by its characterizing digit. Taking it in this sense the sentence may be read, — “He framed, or created, or constructed a garden (Eden) out of KDM, or 144, used four times; ” that is “144 by4,” which is numerically an exact literal reading. But Adam is 144 likewise, –and of him it is said in the immediate connection, “and there (in this Eden) He put the man (Adam), or 144, whom he had formed ” By the description He placed him in the midst of this construction, and this is shown by the following diagram : —

Here we see in the center the square Adam, or 144, and the expansion of this square, by or out of, 4others, of equal size, to form the Garden. It is a literal obedience to the description, —and we are repeatedly, and always emphatically told that the most profound mysteries of the Holy Books, are to be thus found and recognized. One must become as a little child, to recognize their settings in such simplicity. But, by correlation, as our first square was developed into a cube, we may now conceive a similar structure for our garden and for this we have the direct approval of the Revelations of the New Testament, in this statement, viz., that the New Jerusalem is Paradise, or the Garden of Eden restored, and that this is a cubical city, the length, breadth and height thereof being the same, as measured by the number 144 (our Adam). In the midst of this geometrical city Jehovah is described (our Adam, as shown,) as sitting on a throne. This cubical structure will be made with a central cube of 144, a cubical Adam, and hence we will have an apparent great cube made out of 8 lesser ones, with our cubical Adam, the incarnation of Jehovah, concealed in its midst. This peculiarity of construction is made for the sake of special numbers arising from the consideration of the blocks, and their locations and relations. By this, for instance, we may have the numbers 8 and 1 or 81,- 7 and 1 or 71, so likewise 91, also 79, and 243, all which are fundamentally of great significance. But of the whole, the number of each square may be taken as144 for the measure of its side, then each side of the large square will be 288, and the total of the periphery will be288×4=1152. These numbers may be placed each at a corner of a square, and by halving and lettering may be read thus, as ירני, 1521or INRI, which letters have been variously interpreted, — by some to indicate the four elements, –by others differently.
But to appearance, this cabbalistic city is simply composed of 8cubes, whereas its structure is made curiously complex by its interior building or forming. For an exhibition of the totality and technical construction of its parts, a mode of presenting all to view, so as to give a clear idea of relation, can be had by a blazon. Unfold these cubes, exterior and interior, in pari passu, and for the blazon of this foundation of a system of scientific cosmic admeasuring, we will have the picture of a cross with the man Adam extended on it. It is the exposed picture of the Source and Origin of Measures, from thence forward made use of in the record. It should be properly placed on a cube or calvary, or upon its equivalent sphere, or golgotha. It is the picture of the earthly Adam in contrast with the heavenly Adam of the New Testament. The one was said to be of the earth earthy, the second was said to be the Lord (Jehovah) from heaven. Yet we see by the very terms of the Hebrew Cabbalists that the Adam of Genesis was the embodiment of the Shem Ha-Maphoresh, or the attributes of Jehovah. But Jesus was Joshua and Joshua was the son of Nun the Fish, the manifestation on Sinai; so that the opening and closing of the New Testament, is but a mode of exhibition of Eden and Sinai, and borrowed thence from the Hebrew Books. Let it be sufficient to quote St. Paul: — “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus) was made a quickening spirit.” Add also that the name Jesus is Joshua of Sinai. The city of the one is as we see geometrical, or ideal, the city of the other was “not made with hands.” The parallels are so clear and so marked, that it is almost certain that the second was an Alexandrian Gnostic interpretation of the first record, by adepts in mystic lore.
But the fact was that the Christian interpretation of the Sacred Record differed little, if at all, from the Cabbalistic interpretation of the Pentateuch. The profound Jewish idea was that the outward world was but the manifestation of an inward spiritual world. That in that inward world resided forever and ever the potencies for every possible conceivable outward, even to thought and the germs of thought. This world was but the mirrored image of the Life Will beyond. Hence there was an expression “As above so below.” Yet true to the wonderful power of figure, even here and for this there was a parallel diagram of shape. The idea was conveyed by two triangles, vertical sections of pyramids, one having its base on the ground, the other its base in the heavens, the points touching. The lower was a section of Sinai (the earthly. Adam), the upper was the Lord coming down from heaven in the bush of fire. The union or equal interlacing of these triangles, was what was called the “Benignity,” the blessedness of heaven joined to earth, the so called Marriage, –the acceptance of man in the everlasting Arms, the haven of rest of the redeemed soul. But what Cabbalah held most interiorly, as most sacred, that was brought into more open instruction in the Gospels,—which was the betrayal or publication of the Mysteries. The Gospels were not new, they were only published expositions of teachings as old as the Pentateuch, and far older. The idea of redemption is as old as man,— and what is most strange is that one after another form of presenting the same as they succeeded each other seems after all to have been derived from that primeval source of which the Pentateuch is the sole remaining exemplar on earth.
Now there is proof that the secret and sacred teaching of the Hebrews was the same with that of the Christians, excluding human sacrifice, and the Trinity as it got to be accepted by the Church, for the Cabbalah also had a trinity. But before showing this let us refer to an unobserved and almost unnoted fact, viz., -that the Old and New Testaments, in whole and in part, are composed of steps, or stages, terminating in architecture. In the Old Testament we have in Genesis the three steps of square, cube and circle, then the Garden of Eden, then the Ark of the Flood, then the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, then the building of the first Temple, then the description of the same at the close of the greater Prophets, then the close of the whole with the assurance, as to the last times, that the Lord should come to His temple. The New Testament ends with description of the cubical city, and the Temple. It all goes to show that the highest ideal of man’s best estate and relation to Deity was a deduction or efflorescence from geometrical harmonies, which were the means of approximation toward Him in thought;-and geometry was presented in masonry. This was the Hieratic mode of mystic teaching.
This being said, let us revert to Mount Sinai. As shown, it was pictured as two mountains, or pyramids, or structures,-one resting on the ground, the base of the other resting in heaven. The picture was that of Jehovah coming down upon the earth to bless it, and to incarnate into Joshua, Jesus, the second Adam. This Jehovah with His acts was the Christ, of the New Testament, the same ideal. The results of Sinai were monumented in the Tabernacle, and the Tabernacle was the nucleus of the Temple. This Dwelling of Jehovah, as He descended on Sinai, was in the similitude of His Temple, or rather, the Temple that was afterward built was after the similitude of this Dwelling But in what respect? In this, that the Temple was constructed after the pattern of the Temple above, in which Jehovah descended, not after that of the one whose base rested on the earth. It could not be in the similitude of that which was of the earth, earthy. To show that this statement is true literally, I will call attention to a style of architecture, of which mention has never been made save by one man, so far as we know, and which is too novel almost for credence. As a style of architecture no man, it would seem, would ever dream of building a pyramid with its point downward, –nor can we imagine that such an idea would ever enter into conception, as a serious thought or design to be practically followed. And yet such was the Temple. It was patterned on the lines of the burning bush. It is most strange, that the symbols which taught the doctrine of correspondencies, were those on which such conception rested, and that these very old doctrines of correspondencies were in accord with the conceptions of Emanuel Swedenborg, and that a Swedenborgian clergyman, Timothy Otis Paine, should be the one to rediscover, or rather recover, from the Sacred Books the undoubted pattern of the Temple. But so it is, and reference is made to his work for precise knowledge of Temple construction, as directed in the Sacred Text Here is this temple in vertical section:

We see here distinctly:—First, the Temple was, as we have affirmed, patterned after the Great Pyramid the difference being that it is upside down in its construction and display, to indicate that its foundation is in heaven not on earth, in the above rather than the below. Second,—by the dotted lines it will be seen that the building is on the lines of the burning bush, and is intended to be the Dwelling of Jehovah as He descends from heaven to earth, as the fire of the Spirit. It was built so that following the pattern in the Mount, His home might be in its very construction (Kings 8, 17, 29). As the fire came down from heaven on Sinai so likewise in the copy, for: —“When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and the glory of Jehovah filled the house.” It was the materialized manifestation of the Temple not made with hands. The New Testament only read the interpretation out loud, the substance and fact was long before. No man ever saw God or Jehovah, and therefore no man ever saw Christ.
With this we close the series of articles on the Cabbalah The question is whether there has not been disclosed a secret or occulted teaching in the Hebrew text of the Thora –and whether it has not been shown that the substance of this teaching was made use of for the fabrication of the books of the New Testament. The answer is left to the careful and candid student. The effect of occultism of this kind only seemed to enhance the divine quality of The Book, in the minds of the master cabbalists. The mind seemed to be carried forward and upward into almost communion with the Father. Nearer and nearer seemed the approach, until it appeared to be communion with, instead of instruction from, a divine source. Such study in the Old Testament exalts the idea of value of the Book, as something beyond the powers of human invention and instruction. As to the New, it becomes a delight to find in the Christ the ideal conception of the Jehovah of the Old Testament. But does it not teach the essential Oneness of Deity, manifesting in difference, only, of attributes? Does it not teach that the paths of nature are the history of the Creator, and their study the means of knowledge of Him? Does not the Oneness of Deity give us a better and more satisfactory idea of the universal brotherhood of the race,—that all peoples have ever had and always will have God with them, — that not a single man or animal or tree or plant or flower, has ever existed as abandoned by Him? Is there not a growing tendency to merge, in conception, all specialized persons of Godhead into the One, viz., the Father?
The language of the Cabbalah is acquired by study, reverie and contemplation. Its phases are often difficult, hard to acquire, — often bordering on the grotesque, and to the casual observer sometimes almost inconsistent with the character of the Divine Word. But the most perfect love of God and fellow-man comes with the study:—
“Vague, phantasmal, and unreal, to our thoughts he seems walking in a world ideal,—in a land of dreams. On the mystic union pondering, with supreme delight, — how the gods, themselves concealing, lift men to their height.”
Was the Cabbalah the invention of Moses de Leon? We said in one of the opening articles of this inquiry:-‘‘Instead of dwelling upon the Cabbalah as disclosed or treated on in the manner and by the means recognized usually, let us turn our attention to the Sacred Text itself:—If it can be shown to set forth alike or similar esoteric teaching with that claimed in the written works on the Cabbalah, it will do away with the necessity of any nice, severe learning in this described literature;—and will only need, to establish this literature (The Sohar, The Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth, and the Book Jtzerah) as completely authentic, a sufficient showing of sameness’ between the concealed learning of the Sacred Text and the said literature—with the claims made in it. ‘ If the Sacred Text can be shown to hold a systematic development of such esoteric tuition, the question will be set at rest; and we will have to admit as a result that the Bible is susceptible of a reading entirely novel, and different from that which appears upon its plain face, or in its open letter.” It is thought that this has been shown, consequently we do not think Cabbalah was the invention of the 12th century, nor was it new or modern at the time of the Christian era. It was as old as the Text of the Thora which contained it.
Inclosing let me refer to the words of two men: –First, Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “The religion that is to guide and fulfill the present and coming ages, whatever else it may be, must be intellectual. The scientific mind must have a faith which is a science, at first cold and naked, a babe in the manger again, the algebra and mathematics of ethical law, the Church of man to come, without shawms, psaltery, or sackbut; but it will have heaven and earth for its beams and rafters, with science for its symbol and illustration; and will fast enough gather beauty, music, pictures, and poetry.” Second, Sir William Drummond says:—“Thus it would be proved to their own conviction, that the gods of their idolatry were mere fictions of the brain–conventional marks and signs, intended to facilitate the acquisition of science to those who were to be initiated into it, and contrived to impede the progress of knowledge among those who were thought unworthy of being invested with the mysterious secrets of the wise. The sacred lawgiver (Moses) having explained what appears to have been the hieroglyphical narrative of the reform in the calendar, now introduces a type which relates not to human science Melchizedek, or the Kings of Justice, who are the Kings of Salem, that is, the King of Peace, bring forth bread and wine, and he is the Priest of God most High. But who are these Kings, that are a King? Who is the Priest of God most High—this King of Peace, that are the Kings of Justice? In what calendar shall we find the answer to these questions? What mythology contains alikeness to this mysterious person, who being more than one is one? Is there no allusion here to the triune God, and to the minis try of Christ? At the period fixed, the Prophet seemed to say, when dynasty shall have succeeded dynasty among the contending and revolutionary Gods of idolatry; and after the Gentile nations have adored age after age, and cycle after cycle, the Sun, the Moon and the hosts of heaven; the true religion shall be revealed, and the world shall behold the glorious fabric reared on the ruins of a thousand superstitions. Then shall mankind turn from their material idols and images (and especial god-names) to contemplate and acknowledge the spiritual existence of a sole and infinite Deity. — Then it will not be symbols, and devices, and allegories, nor yet the seasons as they revolve, that will be addressed under divine appellations. The existence and the order of all things, and the laws which govern nature, from the world to the atom, will be referred to a living source, and to a primeval and intelligent cause The period of the year shall be told even to a second; the march of planets shall be calculated; and the orb of the Sun shall be measured. The Moon shall be followed from node to node, and in spite of her wanderings, her course shall be known. She shall not hide her face that it shall not be predicted, nor rob the Sun of his glory, that the hour of partial darkness shall not be expected. Time shall move as science directs his pace. Nor Sun nor Planets shall conceal their distance from our earth; comets shall not wander so far into space that their return shall not be calculated; nor light fly swift enough that its speed shall not be measured. But the Priest of God most High shall have offered the expiatory sacrifice: The Kings of Justice, who are the King of Peace, shall have revealed the true religion: the Deity shall be adored as the God of Nature, and the works of the Creator shall no more be mistaken for Him, who is the cause of their existence. Such to my humble apprehension appears to have been the design of Moses in placing before his readers the mysterious account of Melchizedek.” But it is almost beyond question that the substance of the New Testament is nothing more or less than a borrowing and plagiarism from the Moses books,—a pirated edition, the same thing clothed in a new garment. Can we not then reflect after the same manner with the Hebrews, as described by Drummond: “To all those who were capable of comprehending it, this lesson of the lawgiver must have been deeply impressive. They must have seen that they had been adoring allegories, and worshiping symbols; and that the religion of the people was only valued inasmuch or insofar only as it was science among the learned.”