That all that doth offend away shall flee.
When nothing shall pollute the living fountain,
Nor yet "destroy in all his holy mountain."
When all the building of His saints complete
Of "living stones framed fitly" too, and meet
To "reign on earth," and rule each subject nation
With truth and justice, "bringing in salvation."
"A stone cut from a mountain without hands,"
Shall erst increase and fill all heathen lands,
Shall grow and prosper, men shall sheathe their swords
Creation sing the "kingdom is the Lord's,"
A universe beholding wrapt in light,
The sun of Righteousness dispelling night.
Wisdom unsearchable shall banish doubt,
Truly, "His judgments are past finding out."
A moral pyramid, thus upbuilt shall be
Of which the type in Egypt's midst we see.
Who is a Rock," but our own Lord and God
On whom is built foundation sure and good
Of prophets and apostles, wisely taught
By Him whose purposes ne'er come to naught.
And "Jesus Christ, the chief and corner stone,"
Crowning the structure, for 'tis He alone,
Who is the "Head," who is the life, the way,
The truth, our joy, who wait and wish the day
For "His revealing with the saints," who weep
His long delay and grieve for "those who sleep,"
Whom He will raise, and "bring with Him" and give

Eternal joy and peace "and they shall live."

So, these two pyramids no capstones bear,

The stone one missing is, we know not where,
Our "Head" and "Cornerstone" shall yet return,
Nor then be spurned, but all the spurners spurn.

Shall not the pyramid in Egypt's sands
Abide its time till all the ransomed bands
Shall look upon its beauty, then restored,
And hail it as an "altar to the Lord,"
A "sign and witness" in proud Pharaoh's home
"Unto the Lord of hosts," with Jesus come?
Shall not the type and witness yet be crowned,
When earth's millennial jubilee shall sound?
The nations no more rivalling in arms,
Nor trump of war proclaim its loud alarms,
But, joining hand in hand, the stone to place
Upon its top, and say, to it be grace,
A headstone worthy of its ancient fame,
Known not as Geezeh, but, by Jesus' name.

MRS. THOMAS BASSNETT,

Jacksonville, Florida, April 7, 1885.

THE KABBALAH.

EXTRACTS FROM THE WORK OF CHRISTIAN D. GINSBERG, LL. D.

A system of religious philosophy, or more properly of theosophy, which has not only exercised for hundreds of years an extraordinary influence on the mental development of so shrewd a people as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the greatest thinkers of Christendom in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries, claims the greatest attention of both the philosopher and the theologian. Listen to the story of its birth, growth and maturity as told by its followers: The Kabbalah was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a Theosophic school in Paradise. After the fall the angels most graciously communicated this Heavenly doctrine to the disobedient child of earth, to furnish the Protoplasts with the means of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity. From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some knowledge of it, and the other nations could introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into it in the land of his birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels. By the aid of this mysterious science the lawgiver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose during his management of the Israelites. He covertly laid down the principles of this secret doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld them from Deuteronomy. This constitutes the former the man and the latter the woman. Moses also initiated the seventy elders into this doctrine, and they again transmitted the secrets from hand to hand. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon were most initiated into the Kabbalah. No one, however, dared to write it down, till Simon Ben Jochai, who lived at the time of the destruction of the second temple. Having been condemned to death by Titus, Rabbi Simon managed to escape with his son and concealed himself in a cavern where he remained for twelve years. Here he occupied himself entirely with the contemplation of the sublime Kabbalah, and was constantly visited by the prophet Elias, who disclosed to him some of the secrets which were still concealed from him. Here, too, his disciples resorted to be initiated by their master into these divine mysteries; and here, Simon Ben Jochai expired with this Heavenly doctrine in his mouth, while discoursing on it to his disciples. Scarcely had his spirit departed when a dazzling light filled the cavern so that no one could look at the Rabbi; whilst a burning fire appeared outside, forming as were a sentinel at the entrance of the cave, and denying admittance to the neighbors. It was not until the light inside and the light outside had disappeared that the lamp of Israel was extinguished. As they were preparing for his obsequies, a voice was heard from Heaven saying: "Come ye to the marriage of Simon B. Jochai. He is entering into peace and shall rest in his chamber." A flame preceded the coffin, which seemed enveloped and burning like fire. And when the remains were deposited in the tomb another voice was heard from heaven saying: "This is he who caused the earth to quake and the kingdoms to shake." His son, R. Eliezer, and his secretary, R. Abba, as well as his disciples then collated. R. Simon B. Jochai's treatises, and out of these composed the celebrated work called Sohar that is Splendor, which is the grand storehouse of Kabbalism.

Taking this exparte statement for what it is worth, we shall have to examine the oldest documents which embody the tenets of the Kabbalah, and compare these doctrines. with other systems, in order to ascertain the real date and origin of this theosophy. But, before this is done, it will be necessary to summarize as briefly as possible those doctrines which are peculiar to the Kabbalah, and which constitute it a separate system within the precincts of Judaism. The doctrines are as follows:

1. God is boundless in his nature. He has neither will, intention, desire, thought, language, nor action. He cannot be grasped and depicted; and for this reason, is called En Soph, and as such He is in a certain sense not existent.

2. He is not the direct creator of the universe, since He could not will the creation; and since a creation proceeding directly from Him would have to be as boundless and as perfect as He is himself.

3. He at first sent forth ten emanations, or sephiroth, which are begotten, not made, and which are both infinite and finite.

4. From these Sephiroth, which are the Archetypal man, the different worlds gradually and successively evolved. These revolutionary worlds are the brightness and express image of their progenitors, the Sephiroth, which uphold all things.

5. These emanations, or Sephiroth, gave rise to or created in their own image all human souls. These souls are pre-existent. They occupy a special hall in the upper world of spirits, and there already decide whether they shall pursue a good or bad course in their temporary sojourn in the human body, which is also fashioned according to the archetypal image.

6. No one has seen the En Soph at any time. It is the Sephiroth in whom the En Soph is incarnate, who have revealed themselves to us, and to whom the anthropomorphisms of Scripture and the Hagada refer. Thus when it is said, "God spake, descended upon earth, ascended into Heaven, smelled the sweet smell of sacrifices, repented in his. heart, was angry," etc., or when the Hagadic works describe the body and the mansions of the Deity, etc.; all this does not refer to the En Soph, but to these intermediate beings. 7. It is an absolute condition of the soul to return to the infinite source whence it emanated, after developing all those perfections, the germs of which are indelibly inherent in it. If it fails to develop these germs, it must migrate into another body. And in case it is still too weak to acquire the virtues for which it is sent to this earth, it is united to another and a stronger soul, which, occupying the same body with it, aids its weaker companion in obtaining the object for which it came down from the world of spirits. 8. When all the pre-existent souls shall have passed the probationary period here below, the restitution of all things will take place; Satan will be restored to an angel of light, hell will disappear, and all souls will return into the bosom of the Deity whence they emanated. The creature shall not then be distinguished from the Creator. Like God, the soul will rule the universe. She shall command, and God obey.

3.

The books of the Kabbalists are: I. The Book of Creation. 2. The Sohar. The Commentary of the Ten Sephiroth. The Book of Creation or Jetzira pretends to be a monologue of the patriarch Abraham, and premises that the contemplations it contains are those which led the father of the Hebrews to abandon the worship of the stars and embrace the faith of the true God. The whole treatise consists of six Perakim or chapters, subdivided into thirty-three very brief Mishnas or sections. The design of this treatise is to exhibit a system whereby the universe may be viewed methodically in connection with the truths given in the Bible, thus showing from the gradual and systematic development of the creation, and from the harmony which prevails in all its multitudinous component parts, that one God produced it all and that he is over all. The order in which God gave rise to this creation out of nothing, and the harmony which pervades all the constituent parts of the universe are given by the analogy which subsists between the visible things and the signs of thought, or the means whereby wisdom is expressed and

perpetuated among men.

ten.

Since the letters have no absolute value nor can they be used as mere forms, but serve as the medium between essence and form, and like words assume the relation of form to the real essence, and of essence to the embryo and unexpressed thought, great value is attached to these letters, and to the combinations and analogies of which they are capable. The patriarch Abraham, therefore employs the double value of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; he uses them, both in their phonetic nature and in their sacred character, as expressing the divine truths of the scriptures. But, since the Hebrew alphabet is also used as numerals, which are represented by the fundamental number ten, and since the vowels of the language are also ten in number, this decade is added to the twenty-two letters, and these two kinds of signs--that is, the twentytwo letters of the alphabet and the ten fundamental numbers--are designated the thirtytwo ways of secret wisdom; and the treaties opens with the declaration-"By thirty-two paths of secret wisdom, the Eternal, the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, the living God, the King of the universe, the Merciful and Gracious the high and exalted God, He who inhabiteth eternity, glorious and holy is His name, hath created the world by means of numbers, phonetic language, and writing." First of all comes the fundamental number This decade is divided into a tetrade and hexade, and thereby is shown the gradual development of the world out of nothing. At first there existed nothing except the Divine Substance with the creative idea and the articulate word as the Holy Spirit, which is one with the Divine Substance and indivisible. Hence the spirit of the living God stands at the head of all things and is represented by the number one. "One is the spirit of the living God. blessed be His name, who liveth for ever, voice, spirit and word, this is the Holy Ghost." From this spirit the whole universe proceeded in gradual and sucessive emanations, in the following order; The creative air, represented by number two, emanated from the spirit. In it he engraved the twenty-two letters." The water again, represented by number three, proceeded from the air. "In it he engraved darkness and emptiness, slime and dung." Whilst the ether or fire, represented by the number four, emanated from the "In it he engraved the throne of his glory, the Ophanim, the Seraphim, the sacred animals, and the ministering angels, and from these three he formed his habitation; as it is written-'He maketh the wind his messengers, flaming fire his servants.'"' These intermediate members between the Creator and the created world sustain a passive and created relationship to God, and an acting and creating relationship to the world; so that God is neither in immediate connection with the created and material universe, nor is his creative fiat hindered by matter. Then comes the hexade, each unit of which represents space in the six directions, or the four corners of the world, east, west, north and south, as well as height and depth which emanated from the ether, and in the center of which is the holy temple supporting the whole.

water.

These constitute the primordial ten, from which the whole universe proceeded. And lastly follow the "twenty-two letters, by means of which God, having drawn, hewn and weighed them, and having variously changed and put them together, formed the souls of everything that has been made and that shall be made."

These twenty-two letters of the alphabet are then divided into three groups, consisting respectively of, I. The three mothers, or fundamental letters, 2, seven double and 3, twelve simple consonants, to deduce therefrom a triad of elements, a heptade of opposites, and a duodecimo of simple things.

These cuts of the United States seal have been furnished by the kindness of Lieutenant Totten, U. S. A., the author of 'An Important Question,' which all our members should own and read. The cut of obverse of the seal, to accompany Mr. Weldon's paper, was cut from the medal of the anniversary of the adoption of our seal issued by the government of the United States, hence should be authentic.