1. _The Book of Concealed Mystery._
2. _The Greater Holy Assembly._
3. _The Lesser Holy Assembly._
Translated into English from the Latin version of KNORR VON ROSENROTH,
and collated with the original Chaldee and Hebrew Text, by S. L.
MACGREGOR MATHERS.
“We have seen that the Therapeuts listened every Sabbath to
discourses on the traditionary lore which was handed down in secret
amongst themselves. HAS THIS SECRET LORE PASSED AWAY FROM THE EARTH?
Scholars of the calibre of Reuchlin Joel and M. Franck, of the
Institute of France, affirm that we have it still in the ‘Kabbalah.’
This word implies secret tradition. The legend runs that this secret
wisdom was first taught by Jehovah to the seven angels that stand
round his throne. It was then handed down orally through the seven
earthly messengers (Adam, Moses, David, &c.). Finally, the Rabbi
Simon Ben Jochai, in a cavern amid earth rocking and supernatural
coruscations delivered it to the world in a “BOOK OF SPLENDOUR,” THE
“SOHAR.”--Arthur Lillie’s “Buddhism in Christendom” (1887).
Dr. Ginsburg speaks of the Kabbalah as:--“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 theologian. When it is added
that among its captives were Raymond Lully, the celebrated scholastic
metaphysician and chemist (died 1315); John Reuchlin, the renowned
scholar and reviver of Oriental literature in Europe (born 1455, died
1522); John Picus de Mirandola, the famous philosopher and classical
scholar (1463-1494); Cornelius Henry Agrippa, the distinguished
philosopher, divine, and physician (1577-1644); as well as our own
countrymen, Robert Fludd, the famous physician and philosopher
(1574-1637), and Dr. Henry More (1614-1687); and that these men,
after restlessly searching for a scientific system which should
disclose to them ‘the deepest depths’ of the divine nature, and show
them the real tie which binds all things together, found the cravings
of their minds satisfied by this theosophy, the claims of the
Kabbalah on the attention of students in literature and philosophy
will readily be admitted. The claims of the Kabbalah, however, are
not restricted to the literary man and the philosopher; the poet,
too, will find in it ample materials for the exercise of his lofty
genius.”
_In crown 8vo., cloth, price 7s. 6d._