a mysterious kind of science, delivered to the ancient Jews, as
they pretend, by revelation, and transmitted by oral tradition to those
of our times; serving for the interpretation of the books both of nature
and Scripture. The word is variously written, as _Cabala_, _Caballa_,
_Kabbala_, _Kabala_, _Cabalistica_, _Ars Cabala_, and _Gaballa_. It is
originally Hebrew, קבלה, and properly signifies _reception_; formed from
the verb קבל, _to receive by tradition_, or _from father to son_;
especially in the Chaldee and Rabbinical Hebrew. Cabbala, then,
primarily denotes any sentiment, opinion, usage, or explication of
Scripture, transmitted from father to son. In this sense the word
_cabbala_ is not only applied to the whole art, but also to each
operation performed according to the rules of that art. Thus it is,
rabbi Jacob Ben Ascher, surnamed Baal-Hatturim, is said to have compiled
most of the cabbalas invented on the books of Moses before his time. As
to the origin of the cabbala, the Jews relate many marvellous tales.
They derive the mysteries contained in it from Adam; and assert, that
whilst the first man was in paradise, the angel Raphael brought him a
book from heaven, which contained the doctrines of heavenly wisdom; and
that when Adam received this book, angels came down from heaven to learn
its contents; but that he refused to admit them to the knowledge of
sacred things, intrusted to himself alone: that, after the fall, this
book was taken back into heaven; that, after many prayers and tears, God
restored it to Adam; and that it passed from Adam to Seth. The Jewish
fables farther relate, that the book being lost, and the mysteries
contained in it almost forgotten, in the degenerate age preceding the
flood, they were restored by special revelation to Abraham, who
transmitted them to writing in the book “Jezirah;” and that the
revelation was renewed to Moses, who received a traditionary and
mystical, as well as a written and preceptive, law from God.
Accordingly, the Jews believe that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, not
only the law, but also the explication of that law; and that Moses,
after his coming down, retiring to his tent, rehearsed to Aaron both the
one and the other. When he had done, the sons of Aaron, Eleazar and
Ithamar, were introduced to a second rehearsal. This being over, the
seventy elders that composed the sanhedrim were admitted; and, lastly,
the people, as many as pleased; to all of whom Moses again repeated both
the law and explanation, as he received them from God: so that Aaron
heard it four times, his sons thrice, the elders twice, and the people
once. Now, of the two things which Moses taught them, the laws and the
explanation, only the first were committed to writing; which is what we
have in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. As to the second, or the
explication of those laws, they were contented to impress it well in
their memory, to teach it their children; they to theirs, &c. Hence the
first part they call simply the law, or the written law; the second, the
oral law, or cabbala. Such is the original notion of the cabbala.
2. The cabbala being again lost amidst the calamities of the Babylonish
captivity, was once more revealed to Esdras; and it is said to have been
preserved in Egypt, and transmitted to posterity through the hands of
Simeon Ben Setach, Elkanah, Akibha, Simeon Ben Jochai, and others. The
only warrantable inference from these accounts, which bear the obvious
marks of fiction, is, that the cabbalistic doctrine obtained early
credit among the Jews as a part of their sacred tradition, and was
transmitted, under this notion, by the Jews in Egypt to their brethren
in Palestine. Under the sanction of ancient names, many fictitious
writings were produced, which greatly contributed to the spreading of
this mystical system. Among these were “Sepher Happeliah,” or the book
of wonders; “Sepher Hakkaneh,” or the book of the pen; and “Sepher
Habbahir,” or the book of light. The first unfolds many doctrines said
to have been delivered by Elias to the rabbi Elkanah; the second
contains mystical commentaries on the divine commands; and the third
illustrates the most sublime mysteries. Among the profound doctors who,
beside the study of tradition, cultivated with great industry the
cabbalistic philosophy, the most celebrated persons are the rabbis
Akibba, who lived soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, and Simeon
Ben Jochai, who flourished in the second century. To the former is
ascribed the book entitled “Jezirah,” concerning the creation; and to
the latter, the book “Sohar,” or brightness; and these are the principal
sources from which we derive our knowledge of the cabbala.
3. That this system of the cabbalistic philosophy, which we may consider
as the acroamatic, esoteric, or concealed doctrine of the Jews, by way
of contradistinction from the exoretic or popular doctrine, was not of
Hebrew origin, we may conclude with a very great degree of probability,
from the total dissimilarity of its abstruse and mysterious doctrines to
the simple principles of religion taught in the Mosaic law; and that it
was borrowed from the Egyptian schools will sufficiently appear from a
comparison of its tenets with those of the oriental and Alexandrian
philosophy. Many writers have, indeed, imagined that they have found in
the cabbalistic dogmas a near resemblance of the doctrines of
Christianity; and they have thought that the fundamental principles of
this mystical system were derived from divine revelation. This opinion,
however, may be traced up to a prejudice which originated with the Jews,
and passed from them to the Christian fathers, by which they were led to
ascribe all Pagan wisdom to a Hebrew origin: a notion which very
probably took its rise in Egypt, when Pagan tenets first crept in among
the Jews. Philo, Josephus, and other learned Jews, in order to flatter
their own vanity, and that of their countrymen, industriously propagated
this opinion; and the more learned fathers of the Christian church, who
entertained a high opinion of the Platonic philosophy, hastily adopted
it, from an imagination that if they could trace back the most valuable
doctrines of Paganism to a Hebrew origin, this could not fail to
recommend the Jewish and Christian religions to the attention of the
Gentile philosophers. Many learned moderns, relying implicitly upon
these authorities, have maintained the same opinion; and have thence
been inclined to credit the report of the divine original of the Jewish
cabbala. But the opinion is unfounded; and the cabbalistic system is
essentially inconsistent with the pure doctrine of divine revelation.
The true state of the case seems to be, that during the prophetic ages,
the traditions of the Jews consisted in a simple explanation of those
divine truths which the prophets delivered, or their law exhibited,
under the veil of emblems. After this period, when the sects of the
Essenes and Therapeutæ were formed in Egypt, foreign tenets and
institutions were borrowed from the Egyptians and Greeks; and, in the
form of allegorical interpretations of the law, were admitted into what
might then be called the Jewish mysteries, or secret doctrines. These
innovations chiefly consisted in certain dogmas concerning God and
divine things, at this time received in the Egyptian schools;
particularly at Alexandria, where the Platonic and Pythagorean doctrines
on these subjects had been blended with the oriental philosophy. The
Jewish mysteries, thus enlarged by the accession of Pagan dogmas, were
conveyed from Egypt to Palestine, at the time when the Pharisees, who
had been driven into Egypt under Hyrcanus, returned with many other Jews
into their own country. From this time the cabbalistic mysteries
continued to be taught in the Jewish schools; but at length they were
adulterated by a mixture of Peripatetic doctrines, and other tenets.
These mysteries were not, probably, reduced to any systematic forms in
writing, till after the dispersion of the Jews; when in consequence of
their national calamities, they became apprehensive that those sacred
treasures would be corrupted or lost. In preceding periods, the
cabbalistic doctrines underwent various corruptions, particularly from
the prevalence of the Aristotelian philosophy. The similarity, or rather
the coincidence, of the cabbalistic, Alexandrian, and oriental
philosophy, will be sufficiently evinced by briefly stating the common
tenets in which these different systems agreed. They are as
follow:--“All things are derived by emanation from one principle; and
this principle is God. From him a substantial power immediately
proceeds, which is the image of God, and the source of all subsequent
emanations. This second principle sends forth, by the energy of
emanation, other natures, which are more or less perfect, according to
their different degrees of distance, in the scale of emanation, from the
first source of existence, and which constitute different worlds or
orders of being, all united to the eternal power from which they
proceed. Matter is nothing more than the most remote effect of the
emanative energy of the Deity. The material world receives its form from
the immediate agency of powers far beneath the first source of being.
Evil is the necessary effect of the imperfection of matter. Human souls
are distant emanations from Deity; and, after they are liberated from
their material vehicles, will return, through various stages of
purification, to the fountain whence they first proceeded.” From this
brief view it appears, that the cabbalistic system, which is the
offspring of the other two, is a fanatical kind of philosophy,
originating in defect of judgment and eccentricity of imagination, and
tending to produce a wild and pernicious enthusiasm.
4. Among the explications of the law which are furnished by the cabbala,
and which, in reality, are little else but the several interpretations
and decisions of the rabbins on the laws of Moses, some are mystical;
consisting of odd abstruse significations given to a word, or even to
the letters whereof it is composed: whence, by different combinations,
they draw meanings from Scripture very different from those it seems
naturally to import. The art of interpreting Scripture after this manner
is called more particularly _cabbala_; and it is in this last sense the
word is more ordinarily used among us. This cabbala, called also
artificial cabbala, to distinguish it from the first kind, or simple
tradition, is divided into three sorts. The first, called _gematria_,
consists in taking letters as figures, or arithmetical numbers, and
explaining each word by the arithmetical value of the letters whereof it
is composed; which is done various ways: the second is called
_notaricon_, and consists either in taking each letter of a word for an
entire diction, or in making one entire diction out of the initial
letters of many: the third kind, called _themurah_, that is, _changing_,
consists in changing and transposing the letters of a word; which is
done various ways. The generality of the Jews prefer the cabbala to the
literal Scripture; comparing the former to the sparkling lustre of a
precious stone, and the latter to the fainter glimmering of a candle.
The cabbala only differs from masorah, as the latter denotes the science
of reading the Scripture; the former, of interpreting it. Both are
supposed to have been handed down from generation to generation by oral
tradition only, till at length the readings were fixed by the vowels and
accents, as the interpretations were by the gemara.
5. Cabbala is also applied to the use, or rather abuse, which
visionaries and enthusiasts make of Scripture, for discovering futurity
by the study and consideration of the combination of certain words,
letters, and numbers, in the sacred writings. All the words, terms,
magic figures, numbers, letters, charms, &c, used in the Jewish magic,
as also in the hermetical science, are comprised under this species of
cabbala; which professes to teach the art of curing diseases, and
performing other wonders, by means of certain arrangements of sacred
letters and words. But it is only the Christians that call it by this
name, on account of the resemblance this art bears to the explications
of the Jewish cabbala: for the Jews never used the word _cabbala_ in any
such sense; but ever with the utmost respect and veneration. It is not,
however, the magic of the Jews alone which we call cabbala; but the word
is also used for any kind of magic.
they pretend, by revelation, and transmitted by oral tradition to those
of our times; serving for the interpretation of the books both of nature
and Scripture. The word is variously written, as _Cabala_, _Caballa_,
_Kabbala_, _Kabala_, _Cabalistica_, _Ars Cabala_, and _Gaballa_. It is
originally Hebrew, קבלה, and properly signifies _reception_; formed from
the verb קבל, _to receive by tradition_, or _from father to son_;
especially in the Chaldee and Rabbinical Hebrew. Cabbala, then,
primarily denotes any sentiment, opinion, usage, or explication of
Scripture, transmitted from father to son. In this sense the word
_cabbala_ is not only applied to the whole art, but also to each
operation performed according to the rules of that art. Thus it is,
rabbi Jacob Ben Ascher, surnamed Baal-Hatturim, is said to have compiled
most of the cabbalas invented on the books of Moses before his time. As
to the origin of the cabbala, the Jews relate many marvellous tales.
They derive the mysteries contained in it from Adam; and assert, that
whilst the first man was in paradise, the angel Raphael brought him a
book from heaven, which contained the doctrines of heavenly wisdom; and
that when Adam received this book, angels came down from heaven to learn
its contents; but that he refused to admit them to the knowledge of
sacred things, intrusted to himself alone: that, after the fall, this
book was taken back into heaven; that, after many prayers and tears, God
restored it to Adam; and that it passed from Adam to Seth. The Jewish
fables farther relate, that the book being lost, and the mysteries
contained in it almost forgotten, in the degenerate age preceding the
flood, they were restored by special revelation to Abraham, who
transmitted them to writing in the book “Jezirah;” and that the
revelation was renewed to Moses, who received a traditionary and
mystical, as well as a written and preceptive, law from God.
Accordingly, the Jews believe that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, not
only the law, but also the explication of that law; and that Moses,
after his coming down, retiring to his tent, rehearsed to Aaron both the
one and the other. When he had done, the sons of Aaron, Eleazar and
Ithamar, were introduced to a second rehearsal. This being over, the
seventy elders that composed the sanhedrim were admitted; and, lastly,
the people, as many as pleased; to all of whom Moses again repeated both
the law and explanation, as he received them from God: so that Aaron
heard it four times, his sons thrice, the elders twice, and the people
once. Now, of the two things which Moses taught them, the laws and the
explanation, only the first were committed to writing; which is what we
have in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. As to the second, or the
explication of those laws, they were contented to impress it well in
their memory, to teach it their children; they to theirs, &c. Hence the
first part they call simply the law, or the written law; the second, the
oral law, or cabbala. Such is the original notion of the cabbala.
2. The cabbala being again lost amidst the calamities of the Babylonish
captivity, was once more revealed to Esdras; and it is said to have been
preserved in Egypt, and transmitted to posterity through the hands of
Simeon Ben Setach, Elkanah, Akibha, Simeon Ben Jochai, and others. The
only warrantable inference from these accounts, which bear the obvious
marks of fiction, is, that the cabbalistic doctrine obtained early
credit among the Jews as a part of their sacred tradition, and was
transmitted, under this notion, by the Jews in Egypt to their brethren
in Palestine. Under the sanction of ancient names, many fictitious
writings were produced, which greatly contributed to the spreading of
this mystical system. Among these were “Sepher Happeliah,” or the book
of wonders; “Sepher Hakkaneh,” or the book of the pen; and “Sepher
Habbahir,” or the book of light. The first unfolds many doctrines said
to have been delivered by Elias to the rabbi Elkanah; the second
contains mystical commentaries on the divine commands; and the third
illustrates the most sublime mysteries. Among the profound doctors who,
beside the study of tradition, cultivated with great industry the
cabbalistic philosophy, the most celebrated persons are the rabbis
Akibba, who lived soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, and Simeon
Ben Jochai, who flourished in the second century. To the former is
ascribed the book entitled “Jezirah,” concerning the creation; and to
the latter, the book “Sohar,” or brightness; and these are the principal
sources from which we derive our knowledge of the cabbala.
3. That this system of the cabbalistic philosophy, which we may consider
as the acroamatic, esoteric, or concealed doctrine of the Jews, by way
of contradistinction from the exoretic or popular doctrine, was not of
Hebrew origin, we may conclude with a very great degree of probability,
from the total dissimilarity of its abstruse and mysterious doctrines to
the simple principles of religion taught in the Mosaic law; and that it
was borrowed from the Egyptian schools will sufficiently appear from a
comparison of its tenets with those of the oriental and Alexandrian
philosophy. Many writers have, indeed, imagined that they have found in
the cabbalistic dogmas a near resemblance of the doctrines of
Christianity; and they have thought that the fundamental principles of
this mystical system were derived from divine revelation. This opinion,
however, may be traced up to a prejudice which originated with the Jews,
and passed from them to the Christian fathers, by which they were led to
ascribe all Pagan wisdom to a Hebrew origin: a notion which very
probably took its rise in Egypt, when Pagan tenets first crept in among
the Jews. Philo, Josephus, and other learned Jews, in order to flatter
their own vanity, and that of their countrymen, industriously propagated
this opinion; and the more learned fathers of the Christian church, who
entertained a high opinion of the Platonic philosophy, hastily adopted
it, from an imagination that if they could trace back the most valuable
doctrines of Paganism to a Hebrew origin, this could not fail to
recommend the Jewish and Christian religions to the attention of the
Gentile philosophers. Many learned moderns, relying implicitly upon
these authorities, have maintained the same opinion; and have thence
been inclined to credit the report of the divine original of the Jewish
cabbala. But the opinion is unfounded; and the cabbalistic system is
essentially inconsistent with the pure doctrine of divine revelation.
The true state of the case seems to be, that during the prophetic ages,
the traditions of the Jews consisted in a simple explanation of those
divine truths which the prophets delivered, or their law exhibited,
under the veil of emblems. After this period, when the sects of the
Essenes and Therapeutæ were formed in Egypt, foreign tenets and
institutions were borrowed from the Egyptians and Greeks; and, in the
form of allegorical interpretations of the law, were admitted into what
might then be called the Jewish mysteries, or secret doctrines. These
innovations chiefly consisted in certain dogmas concerning God and
divine things, at this time received in the Egyptian schools;
particularly at Alexandria, where the Platonic and Pythagorean doctrines
on these subjects had been blended with the oriental philosophy. The
Jewish mysteries, thus enlarged by the accession of Pagan dogmas, were
conveyed from Egypt to Palestine, at the time when the Pharisees, who
had been driven into Egypt under Hyrcanus, returned with many other Jews
into their own country. From this time the cabbalistic mysteries
continued to be taught in the Jewish schools; but at length they were
adulterated by a mixture of Peripatetic doctrines, and other tenets.
These mysteries were not, probably, reduced to any systematic forms in
writing, till after the dispersion of the Jews; when in consequence of
their national calamities, they became apprehensive that those sacred
treasures would be corrupted or lost. In preceding periods, the
cabbalistic doctrines underwent various corruptions, particularly from
the prevalence of the Aristotelian philosophy. The similarity, or rather
the coincidence, of the cabbalistic, Alexandrian, and oriental
philosophy, will be sufficiently evinced by briefly stating the common
tenets in which these different systems agreed. They are as
follow:--“All things are derived by emanation from one principle; and
this principle is God. From him a substantial power immediately
proceeds, which is the image of God, and the source of all subsequent
emanations. This second principle sends forth, by the energy of
emanation, other natures, which are more or less perfect, according to
their different degrees of distance, in the scale of emanation, from the
first source of existence, and which constitute different worlds or
orders of being, all united to the eternal power from which they
proceed. Matter is nothing more than the most remote effect of the
emanative energy of the Deity. The material world receives its form from
the immediate agency of powers far beneath the first source of being.
Evil is the necessary effect of the imperfection of matter. Human souls
are distant emanations from Deity; and, after they are liberated from
their material vehicles, will return, through various stages of
purification, to the fountain whence they first proceeded.” From this
brief view it appears, that the cabbalistic system, which is the
offspring of the other two, is a fanatical kind of philosophy,
originating in defect of judgment and eccentricity of imagination, and
tending to produce a wild and pernicious enthusiasm.
4. Among the explications of the law which are furnished by the cabbala,
and which, in reality, are little else but the several interpretations
and decisions of the rabbins on the laws of Moses, some are mystical;
consisting of odd abstruse significations given to a word, or even to
the letters whereof it is composed: whence, by different combinations,
they draw meanings from Scripture very different from those it seems
naturally to import. The art of interpreting Scripture after this manner
is called more particularly _cabbala_; and it is in this last sense the
word is more ordinarily used among us. This cabbala, called also
artificial cabbala, to distinguish it from the first kind, or simple
tradition, is divided into three sorts. The first, called _gematria_,
consists in taking letters as figures, or arithmetical numbers, and
explaining each word by the arithmetical value of the letters whereof it
is composed; which is done various ways: the second is called
_notaricon_, and consists either in taking each letter of a word for an
entire diction, or in making one entire diction out of the initial
letters of many: the third kind, called _themurah_, that is, _changing_,
consists in changing and transposing the letters of a word; which is
done various ways. The generality of the Jews prefer the cabbala to the
literal Scripture; comparing the former to the sparkling lustre of a
precious stone, and the latter to the fainter glimmering of a candle.
The cabbala only differs from masorah, as the latter denotes the science
of reading the Scripture; the former, of interpreting it. Both are
supposed to have been handed down from generation to generation by oral
tradition only, till at length the readings were fixed by the vowels and
accents, as the interpretations were by the gemara.
5. Cabbala is also applied to the use, or rather abuse, which
visionaries and enthusiasts make of Scripture, for discovering futurity
by the study and consideration of the combination of certain words,
letters, and numbers, in the sacred writings. All the words, terms,
magic figures, numbers, letters, charms, &c, used in the Jewish magic,
as also in the hermetical science, are comprised under this species of
cabbala; which professes to teach the art of curing diseases, and
performing other wonders, by means of certain arrangements of sacred
letters and words. But it is only the Christians that call it by this
name, on account of the resemblance this art bears to the explications
of the Jewish cabbala: for the Jews never used the word _cabbala_ in any
such sense; but ever with the utmost respect and veneration. It is not,
however, the magic of the Jews alone which we call cabbala; but the word
is also used for any kind of magic.