The space which contained the First Cause, or Foun- tain of radiations, was filled with pure and happy in- telligences. Immediately beneath this region began the corporeal world, or the empyreum, which was a bound- less space, lighted by the pure light which flowed im- mediately from the Great Source; this empyreum was tilled with an infinitely less pure fire than the original light, but immeasurably finer than all bodies. Below this was the ether, or grosser region, filled with still grosser fire. Next came the fixed stars, spread over a wide region where the thickest parts of the ethereal fire had come together and formed the stars. The world of planets succeeded, which contained the sun, moon, and the wandering stars. Then came the last order of beings — the rude elements which are deprived of all ac- tivity, and withstand the motions and influence of light. The different parts of the world are in contact, and the spirits of the upper regions can influence the lower, as well as descend and enter into them. As the chaotic elements were without shape and motion, the spirits of the higher regions must have formed the earth, and hu- man souls are spirits sprung from them. To these spir- its from above the system of the Chaldseans ascribed all the productions, appearances, and movements upon the earth. The formation of the human body, the growth of the fruits, all the gifts of nature, were attributed to beneficent spirits. In the space below the moon, in the midst of night, tempests arose, lightnings threaded the dark clouds, thunder broke forth and laid waste the earth ; there were found spirits of darkness, corporeal daemons spread through the air. Often, too, were flames of fire seen to rise out of the bosom of the earth, and the mountains were shaken. Earthly powers or daemons were supposed to dwell in the centre of the earth ; and since matter was held to be without activity, all move- ments were attributed to spirits. Storms, volcanoes, tempests, appeared to have no other object than to de- stroy human happiness; and these daemons were held to be wicked spirits who produced these evils ; to them every unfortunate event was ascribed, and a sort of hi- erarchy was formed of these evil beings, as had been
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140
PHILOSOPHY
done in the case of the good spirits. But why <li<l not the Supreme .Mind put down, by an exertion of his pow- er, this awarm of wicked spirits? S e though! it was
beneath the dignity of the Primary Essence to contend with these daemons; others were of opinion thai these bad spirits were naturally indestructible, and as the Su-
pn- lould neither destroy nor improve them, lie had
banished them to the centre of the earth and to the re- gion beneath the moon, where they indulged in their and exercised their dominion: in order, how- ever, to protect the human race againel fiends so nu- merous and fearful, he commissioned good spirit-, n hose office it was to defend men against these corporeal dae- mons. As the g 1 and the bad spirits had various
degrees of power and different offices, so they had names given to them which described their functions. As the good spirits were under an obligation to protect men and furnish succor in their need, they were compelled to learn human language; accordingly, it was believed that a guardian angel against every evil was possessed by everj our who bore Ids mysterious name — a name which was to be pronounced only when 3uccor was need- ed. All manner of names were therefore devised, by which the good spirits were conjured or informed of human necessities; and all the combinations of the al- phabet were exhausted in order to bring about a com- merce between men and angels. Here is the origin of the Cabala, which gave strange names to these spirits in order to bring them into connection with men, and by this means to do wonderful things (Matt, xii, 24 --'7 >. The-" names also sometimes served to drive had spirits away : they were a kind of exorcism. For since it was believed that these daemons had been banished to the centre of the earth, and that they could do evil only in consequence of having baffled the vigilance of the guar- dian spirits and escaped to the outer world, so. it was held, they were compelled to flee as soon as they heard the name of the good angels whose business it. was to mi shut up in subterranean caverns, and to pun- ish them if they ventured from their prison-house. A power, too. was ascribed to the name of the spirit, or to the image which marked his office — a power which forced the spirit to come on being called; and, accord- ingly, it was held that this name carved on a stone kept the spirit near the person who wore the stone— a no- tion in which is probably found the origin of talismans, formed i ithei by words or symbolical figures.
:;. < 'abvdistic /'. riod. -It is uncertain at what date the earliest Cabala ( i. e. Tradition) received a definite form; but there can he no doubt that the two great divisions of which it ISCOmpOSed, " the Chariot" (.!/< rcabdh, t'./rk. i ). ami -the Creation" (BereshUh, Gen. i), found a wide de- velopment before the < 'hristian sera. The first dealt with the manifestation of God in himself; the second with his manifestation in Nature; and as the doctrine was hand- ed down orally, it received naturally, both from its ex- tent and form, great additions from foreign sources. On the one shir ii was open to the Persian doctrine of emanation, on the other to the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation ; and the tradition was deeply impressed by both In for,, h was first committed to writing in the 7th or Nth century. At present, the original sources for the teaching of the Cabala are the Sepher Jezirah, or Hook of Creation, and the s, ^h. r Hazohar, or Book of Splendor. The former of these dates, in its present form, from the Mb. and the latter from the l:;th century (Zunz, Gottesd. Vortr. d. Juden, p. 165; Jellinek, Moses ben-Schemtob c/< Leon, Leips. 1851). Both are based upon a system of pantheism. In the Hook of Creation the cabalistic ideas are given in their simplest form, and offer some points of comparison with the system of the Pythagoreans, 'the i k begins with an enume- rate f the thirty-two ways of wisdom seen in tl„.