in winter. They passed six days of the week in solitude, composing hymns and psalms, studying the Law and the Prophets, and books written by elders of their sect, in which the Scriptures were allegorically interpreted. They believed that Hebrew Sacred Writings contained a body and a soul; the literal words being the body, and the spiritual sense the internal life. They offered no sacrifices; saying that a serious and devout mind was the sacrifice most acceptable to God. On the Jewish Sabbath, they all met together in the synagogue; the men and women being separated by a wall five or six feet high. They took their places according to seniority; each one sitting with his right hand on his breast, and the left at his side. One of the elders quietly stepped forward and uttered a grave discourse, usually an explanation of spiritual allegories. No one was allowed to whisper, or make the least noise. If they felt satisfaction while listening, they sometimes signified it by a low murmur of applause, when he finished. Then the speaker sang a hymn of praise, in the last verse of which all joined in chorus. The number seven being peculiarly sacred in their estimation, they held a solemn Sabbath Festival every seven weeks, when they all assembled, clothed in white garments. When they were ranged in order, all lifted up their hands in prayer for a blessing on the feast. Afterward they reclined on rush mats, leaning on their elbows, and preserving profound silence, while some elder slowly and distinctly expounded the Scriptures allegorically. When the speaker concluded, he began to sing, either some ancient psalm, or a new one composed by himself. The whole assembly joined in the chorus; and Philo says the high voices of the women and the deep tones of the men made a very pleasant concert. Young men, appointed for the purpose, brought in tables and spread a feast, consisting of leavened bread, salt, hyssop, and water. When they had eaten and returned thanks, a space was cleared in the middle of the hall; the men and women ranged themselves in two sepa rate choirs, each conducted by the best singer, They sang

hymns of thanksgiving, sometimes in concert, sometimes in responses; expressing the spirit of the song by motion of their hands. This being finished, they all joined in a general dance, which continued till the sun rose. Then, facing the east, they uttered the usual prayer that the day might be blessed with spiritual illumination, and each retired to his cell to resume the customary routine of his life. This dance and choral hymn is said to have been in commemoration of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and Miriam's song of rejoicing. But as they were accustomed to give spiritual significance to all the historical facts of Scripture, it is deemed likely that they also considered it symbolical of the soul's deliverance from the bondage of the senses.

Foreign theories mixed with the Jewish religion under another form, called the Cabala, from a Hebrew word, which means Tradition. It has already been said that all novelties were introduced as oral traditions from Moses; his sanction being absolutely necessary for the reception of ideas among a people who devoutly believed that God had revealed to him a knowledge of all truth. There has been much learned discussion concerning the source of the Cabalistic doctrines, and the date of their introduction into Palestine. The very obvious resemblance to Persian theories seems to indicate that they had their origin during the Babylonian exile.

There is positive historical trace of them about one hundred years before Christ, when a learned Jewish Rabbi, who had been banished to Alexandria for some political offence, was recalled to Palestine, and brought a number of disciples with him. They introduced the science of the Cabala into their fatherland, under the form of oral traditions, and allegorical interpretation of the Sacred Books; an arrangement which allowed some freedom to the mind, without the necessity of acknowledging a departure from ancient laws. Marvellous stories were told concerning the origin and preservation of this mysterious doctrine. They said while Adam was in Paradise, the angel Rasiel brought VOL. II.-7

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him a book filled with heavenly wisdom. Angels came down and begged to look into it; but Adam refused, saying it was intrusted to him alone. After the Fall, this book was carried back to heaven; but Adam obtained it again, by prayers and tears, and left it as a legacy to his son Seth. In the degenerate age preceding the Deluge, the book was lost, and its mysteries nearly forgotten. They were restored to Abraham by special revelation from heaven, and he wrote them in the book Jezirah, concerning the Creation. Being again lost, it was again repeated by angels to Moses, during his retirement on Mount Sinai. It was again lost during the captivity in Babylon, and was again revealed to Ezra; since whose time it had been successively handed down by Children of Light.

According to Cabalistic doctrine, God was pure uncreated Light, existing by the necessity of its own nature, filling the immensity of space, and containing within itself the principles of life and motion. They called this Eternal Source En-Soph, The Infinite. The souls of all things were portions of him, and had always existed in him. All forms of being were merely manifestations of his eternal, indwelling ideas. The Wisdom of the Eternal they supposed to be a feminine deity, whom Hellenistic Jews named Sophia. The first emanation from them was Adam Kadman, the First Adam. Cabalistic writers called him "The First Begotten Son of God;" "The Express Image of God;" "The Primitive Man;" "The Creator and Preserver, by whom all things were produced and disposed;" "The Animating Principle of the World, having the three forces of Divinity within him, Light, Spirit, and Life, which he gives out, as he has received;" "The Mediator and Intercessor with God for the sins of the world." Some of them supposed he had dwelt in this world in the form of the earthly Adam, and of king David; and that he would again appear as the Messiah. The letters in the name were adduced as proof. They said A stood for Adam, D for David, and M for Messiah.

From Adam Kadman were evolved ten Spirits, called

Sephiroth, or Splendours. Next, four worlds, or degrees of being; the relative perfection of which was according to comparative distance from the abode of Primeval Light; everything in each world being a reflection of the ideas. pre-existing in the mind of the angel who formed it, and consequently partaking of his character. The inhabitants of the first had ethereal, radiant forms, and existed without propagation. In the second, they had aerial forms, of surpassing beauty. In the third, they had immaterial forms, but less perfect. The fourth was our world of material bodies, subject to dissolution, and of both sexes.

teen.

Planets and Stars were animated by Spirits, endowed with intelligence and power of volition. They presided over countries, animals, plants, and minerals, and controlled all the forces of nature. They took an interest in human affairs, and could communicate to men a knowledge of future events. One of the most conspicuous of these angelic agents was called Metraton, the Mediator, who kept record of the good deeds of men. They supposed it was he who led the Israelites through the wilderness, and wrestled with Jacob. They made a mystery of his name, because the Hebrew letters forming Metraton and Shaḍai, if used as numerals, both signified three hundred and fourLower orders of Spirits were jealous of the high and pure Intelligences above them, and wished to become their equals. They constantly contended with them, strove to drag them downward, and to frustrate all their good purposes. They seduced Adam in the garden of Eden, and they were always enticing men to sin. They produced diseases, and provoked wars. Their chief was Belial. Each soul had two attendant Spirits, produced at the same time. with itself; one good, the other evil. These two accompanied every mortal, from birth to death. One guarded him, and the other tempted him. They knew all his thoughts and actions, and after death they testified concerning them. Man was a three-fold being, having a rational soul, a sensitive soul, and a material body. The rational portion was endowed with power to contemplate things above it,

and could thus raise itself to the influence of superior Spir its. Souls rendered perfect by meditation, prayer, and virtue, when freed from the encumbrance of the body, would ascend above the angels, and be united with EnSoph. Those less holy would dwell with good Spirits, in some of their resplendent realms of light. The impure must descend to earth again, to expiate their sins, and pass through new probations.

Cabalists supposed that all souls pre-existed in Adam, the same as everything in the universe pre-existed in the mind of God; therefore when Adam sinned all human souls became corrupted; and the inherent imperfection thus dederived became an inlet for Evil Spirits.

When bad Spirits had brought the earth into the greatest disorder, and all seemed hastening to ruin, the Creator himself would come to redeem it. He would deliver Spirits, who had been dragged down and held captive by Matter; he would rekindle the divine light within men, and restore the primeval harmony of the universe. The most wicked Spirits had always been more or less attracted toward light; they would finally yield entirely to this attraction, and all would return to the Divine Source, whose splendour fills the universe.

The Cabalists had an ancient volume called Zohar, or the Book of Light. It is said to contain the following statement: There are gods united in one, and yet they are three; and being three, they are only one. They form one by the most absolute union." Cabalistic writings abound with devout and rapturous expressions concerning this holy and mysterious Three, to each of which they ascribe personal actions, and divine properties. Those initiated into their mysteries they were accustomed to call Children of Light.

These doctrines were committed to writing in the second century of our era. A portion of them contained allegorical explanations of the Hebrew Sacred Books, constructing therefrom a system of spiritual philosophy. Another portion taught the art of curing diseases and performing mira