MAGIC AND MAGICAL RITES, &C.
Few subjects present to a philosophic eye more matter of curious,
important and instructive research than the natural history of religion.
Some sort of religious service has been found to prevail in all ages and
nations, from the most rude and barbarous periods of human society, to
those of cultivation and refinement. In these periods are to be traced
specimens strongly marked with exertions of the feelings, and faculties
of men in every situation almost that can be supposed. It is from the
contemplation of these exertions that we learn what sort of creature man
is; that we discover the extent of his powers, and the tendency of his
desires: and that we become acquainted with the force of culture and
civilization upon him, by comparing the degrees of improvement he has
attained in the various stages of society through which he has passed.
It seems to be a principle established by experience, that mankind in
general have at no time been able, by the operation of their own mutual
powers, to ascend in their inquiries to the great comprehensive
foundation of true religion,--the knowledge of a first cause. This idea
is too grand, too distinct, or too refined for the generality of the
human race. They are surrounded by sensible objects, and strongly
attached to them; they are in a great measure unaccustomed to the most
simple and obvious degrees of abstraction, and they can scarcely
conceive anything to have a real existence that may not become an object
of their senses. Possessed of such sentiments and views, they are fully
prepared in embracing all the follies and absurdities of superstition.
They worship every thing they either love or fear, in order to procure
the continuance of favours enjoyed, or to avert that resentment they may
have reason to dread. As their knowledge of nature is altogether
imperfect, and as many events every moment present themselves, upon
which they can form no theoretical conclusion, they fly for satisfaction
to the most simple, but most ineffectual of all solutions--the agency of
invisible beings, with which, in their opinion, all nature is filled.
Hence the rise of Polytheism and local deities, which have overspread
the face of the earth, under the different titles of guardian gods or
tutelary saints. Hence magnificent temples and splendid statues have
been erected to aid the imagination of votaries, and to realize objects
of worship, which, though supposed to be always hovering around, seldom
condescend to become visible.
After obtaining some information concerning present objects, the next
cause of solicitude and inquiry to the mind of man, is to penetrate a
little into the secrets of futurity. The same tutelary gods who bestowed
their care, and exerted their powers to procure present pleasure and
happiness for mankind, were supposed not averse to grant them, in this
respect also, a little indulgence. Hence the famous oracular responses
of antiquity; hence the long train of conjurers, fortune-tellers,
astrologers, necromancers, magicians, wizards, and witches, that have
been found in all places and at all times; nor have superior knowledge
and civilization been sufficient to extirpate such characters, by
demonstrating the futility and absurdity of their views.
Among the ancients, this superstition was a great engine of state. The
respect paid to omens, auguries and oracles, was profound and universal;
and the persons in power monopolized the privilege of consulting and
interpreting them. They joined the people in expressing their
veneration; but there is little reason to doubt that they conducted the
responses in such a manner as best suited the purposes of government. On
this account, it would not be difficult for the oracle to emit
predictions, which, to all those unacquainted with the secret, would
appear altogether astonishing and unaccountable. It would seem that this
principle alone is sufficient to explain all the phenomena of ancient
oracles.
Though devination has long ceased to be an instrument of government,
abundance of designing persons have not been wanting in latter ages, who
found much interest in taking advantage of the weakness or credulity of
their fellow creatures. Against this pestilent and abandoned race of
men, most civilized countries have enacted penal laws. But what rendered
such persons peculiarly detestable in modern times, was the
communication which they were supposed to hold with the devil, to whom
they sold themselves, and from whom, in return, they derived their
information. And by this principle the penal statutes, instead of
extirpating, inflamed the evil. They alarmed the imaginations of the
people; they tempted them to impute the cause of their misfortunes and
disappointment to the malice or resentment of their neighbours; they
induced them to trust to their suspicions, much more than to their
reason; and they multiplied witches and wizards, by putting into
possession of every foolish informer the means of punishment. In several
countries of Europe, these statutes still subsist; they were not
abolished in Britain till a period still at no great distance. Since the
abolition of persecution, the faith of witchcraft has disappeared even
among the vulgar. It was long found inconsistent with any considerable
progress in philosophy.
For these reasons we read, with some degree of astonishment, a treatise
on this exploded subject, by a philosopher, an eminent physician, a
privy counseller of the then Empress Queen, and a professor in the
university of Vienna. It was long doubted whether the professor was in
earnest, but the world was at length forced to admit, that the great
Antonius de Haen certainly believed in witchcraft, and reckoned the
knowledge of it, in treating a disease, of great importance to a
physician--to the acquisition of which useful knowledge, he dedicated a
great part of his time. In the year 1758, three old women, condemned to
death for witchcraft, were brought by order of the Empress from Croatia
to Vienna, to undergo an examination, with regard to the equity of the
sentence pronounced against them. The question was not whether the crime
existed; the only object of inquiry respected the justice of its
application. The author, and the illustrious van Swieten, were appointed
to make the investigation. After reading over the depositions, produced
on the trials with the greatest care, and interrogating the culprits
themselves _most vigorously_ by means of a Croatian interpreter, these
great physicians discovered that the _three old_ women were not witches,
and prevailed with the Empress to send them home in safety. It was this
circumstance that induced de Haen to write on magic.
That some judgment may be formed of de Haen's very extraordinary and
curious production written in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
we shall here furnish our readers with an abstract of its principles and
reasoning, to which we shall subjoin some remarks.
By the crime of magic, the author informs us, he means any improper
communication between men and evil spirits, whether it be called
theurgy, soothsaying, necromancy, chiromancy, incantation or witchcraft.
He proposes to prove, in the first place, that such a communication
does actually exist. He quotes the Egyptian magicians, the witch of
Endor, the possessions mentioned in the New Testament, and many more
exceptionable authorities from the fathers, and canons of the church. He
is positive the incantations of the Egyptian magicians were real
operations of infernal agents, and that the accounts of them, delivered
by Moses, can admit no other construction.
May not the sincere believer in the divine authority of the scriptures
reasonably hesitate concerning this conclusion? Or rather, does not such
an interpretation justly expose revelation to reproach? The plain
dictates of the best philosophy are, that nothing is more simple,
regular, and uniform than the ordinary course of nature; and that this
course can neither be suspended nor altered, but by its author, nor can
by him be permitted to be interrupted by any inferior being, unless for
the most important reasons. It does not appear what good end could be
gained, on the part of Providence, by the permission of these magical
enchantments, supposing them supernatural; and if we imagine the Devil
to have acted spontaneously, with a view to support his power and
influence, he most manifestly erred in his design. Nothing could be more
impolitic than his appearance in a field of combat, where he well knew
he must sustain an ignominious defeat. Or if he worked effectually to
support the power and influence of his servants the magicians, he should
have counteracted, not repeated, the miraculous exhibitions of Moses.
That the magicians possessed no power sufficient for this purpose is
obvious, from their not exerting it. That Pharoah expected no such
exertion from them is evident from his never requesting it, and from his
application to Moses and Aaron. The truth seems to be, that Pharoah
conceived Moses and Aaron to be magicians like his own. He wished to
support the character of the latter; and he concluded this would be
effectually done, if they could only furnish a pretence for affirming
that they had performed every wonder accomplished by the former. Without
some such supposition of collusion, two of the miracles attempted by the
magicians are perfectly absurd and contradictory. They pretended to turn
water into blood, when there was not one drop of water in all the land
of Egypt, which Aaron had not previously converted into that substance.
They pretended to send frogs over the land of Egypt, when every corner
of it was swarming with that loathsome reptile. It is further remarkable
that, with the three first only of Moses's miracles they proposed to
vie; on the appearance of the fourth, they fairly resigned the contest,
and acknowledged very honestly that the hand of God was visible in the
miracles of Moses;--a plain confession that no supernatural power
operated in their own.
De Haen considers the case of the witch of Endor as an authority still
more direct. He maintains that Samuel was actually called up, either
under corporeal or fantastic form, and foretold Saul the fate of his
engagements with the Philistines. Let us attend to the circumstances of
the story, and examine whether it is absolutely necessary to have
recourse to this supernatural hypothesis. The mind of Saul was
distracted and agitated beyond measure by the most critical and alarming
situation of his affairs; his distress was so great that, forgetting his
dignity and safety, he dismissed his attendants, laid aside his royal
robes, was unable to eat bread, and, dressed like the meanest of his
people, he took his journey to the abode of the conjurer. In this state
of mind, prepared for imposition, he arrives during the night at her
residence. He prevails with her, by much solicitation, and probably by
ample rewards, to call up Samuel. To discompose still further the
disordered mind of Saul, she announces the pretended approach of the
apparition by a loud acclamation, tells the king she knew him, which
till now she affected not to do, and describes the resurrection of the
prophet, under the awful semblance of God's rising out of the earth.
During all this time the king had seen nothing extraordinary, either
because he was not allowed light sufficient for that purpose, or was not
admitted within the sphere of vision. He entreats an account of the
personage who approached, and the conjurer describes the well-known
appearance of Samuel. The prophet sternly challenges the king for
disturbing his repose, tells him that David was intended to be King of
Israel, that himself would be defeated by the Philistines, and that he
and his sons would fall in battle. The king enters into no conversation
with the apparition; but unable any longer to support his agitation,
drops lifeless on the ground. The conjurer returns to Saul, presses him
to take some food which she had prepared. He at last complies; and
having finished his repast, departs with his servants before the
morning. The whole of this scene, it is evident, passed in darkness. It
does not appear that Saul ever saw the prophet; and it surely required
no supernatural intelligence to communicate all the information he
obtained. This would readily be suggested by the despondency of the
king, the strength of his enemies, and the disposition of the whole
people of the Jews alienated from him, and inclined towards his
successor. The witch of Endor, therefore, might be a common
fortune-teller, and her case exhibits no direct proof of supernatural
possession.
We do not pretend to account so easily for many of the possessions
recorded in the New Testament, though few of these only are applicable
to the case of sorcery. We are well aware, that several writers of
eminence, who cannot be supposed to entertain the least unfavourable
sentiments of revelation, have undertaken to explain these possessions,
without having recourse to any thing supernatural, by representing them
as figurative descriptions of particular and local diseases.
We mean not to adopt, or defend the views of such authors, though we may
perhaps be allowed to observe that, were their opinions supported in a
satisfactory manner, christianity would lose nothing by the attempt. It
would be exempted, by this means, from a little cavilling and ridicule,
to which some of its enemies reckon it at present exposed, and the
design could not in the least derogate from its divinity, as the
instantaneous cure of a distemper cannot be considered less miraculous
than the expulsion of the devil. At any rate, these possessions are all
extraordinary; appeared on some most extraordinary occasion; and from
them, therefore, no general conclusion can be drawn to the ordinary
cases of common life.
We shall now translate a specimen of de Haen's[2] authorities, extracted
from the fathers. The following from Jerome will need no comment. This
father, in his life of St. Hilario the hermit, relates that a young man
of the town of Gaza in Syria, fell deeply in love with a pious virgin in
the neighbourhood. He attacked her with looks, whispers, professions,
caresses, and all those arguments which usually conquer yielding
virginity; but finding them all ineffectual, he resolved to repair to
Memphis, the residence of many eminent conjurers, and implore their
magic aid. He remained there for a year, till he was fully instructed in
the art. He then returned home, exulting in his acquisitions, and
feasting his imagination with the luscious scenes he was now confident
of realizing. All he had to do was to lodge secretly some hard words and
uncouth figures, engraved on a plate of brass, below the threshold of
the door of the house in which the lady lived. She became perfectly
furious, she tore her hair, gnashed her teeth, and repeated incessantly
the name of the youth, who had been drawn from her presence by the
violence of her despairing passion. In this situation she was conducted
by her relations to the cell of old Hilario. The devil that possessed
her, in consequence of the charm, began immediately to howl, and to
confess the truth. "I have suffered violence," said he; "I have been
forced hither against my inclination. How happy was I at Memphis,
amusing my friends with visions! O the pains, the tortures which I
suffer! You command me to dislodge, and I am detained fast by the charm
below the threshold. I cannot depart, unless the young man dismiss me."
So cautious, however, was the saint, that he would not permit the magic
figures to be searched for, till he had released the virgin, for fear he
should seem to have intercourse with incantations in performing the cure
or to believe that a devil could even speak truth. He observed only that
demons are always liars, and cunning to deceive.
De Haen imputes to the power of magic the miracles,[3] as they are
called, of the famous Apollonius Thyanaeus. He seems to entertain no
scruple about their authority. As several of the enemies of revelation
have held forth Thyanaeus as a rival of Jesus Christ, a specimen of his
performances may amuse our readers. During an assembly of the people at
Ephesus, a great flight of birds approached from a neighbouring wood;
one bird led all the rest. "There is nothing wonderful," says Thyanaeus,
to the astonished people, "in this appearance. A boy passing along a
particular street has carelessly scattered in it some corn which he
carried; one bird has tasted the food, and generously calls the rest to
partake the repast." The hearers repaired to the spot, and found the
information true.
Being called to allay a pestilence which raged at Ephesus, he ordered an
old beggar to be burned under the stones near the temple of Hercules, as
an enemy to the gods. He commanded the people again to remove the
stones, that they might see what sort of animal had been put to death.
They found not a man, but a dog. The plague, however, ceased.
A married woman of rank being dead, was carried out to be burned in an
open litter, followed by her husband dissolved in tears. Apollonius
approaching, requests him to stop the procession, and he would put an
end to his grief. He asked the name of the woman, touched her, and
muttered over her some words. She immediately revived, began to speak,
and returned again to her own house. Fleury, who relates the miracle,
remarks that some people doubted whether the woman had been really dead,
as they had observed something like breath issue from her mouth. Others
imagined she had been seized only with a tedious faint, and that the
operation of the cold dews and damps upon her body might naturally
recover her. On Fleury's remark de Haen most sagely observes, that the
persons who observed the woman breathing could not surely have
suppressed the joyful news, and would certainly have stopped the
procession before the philosopher arrived.
De Haen's second attempt is to recite all the objections that have been
made against sorcery, and to subjoin to each a distinct refutation.
There is nothing in this part of the work that merits any attention. He
concludes in these words: "I may then with confidence affirm, that the
art of magic most certainly exists. History, sacred and prophane;
authority human and divine; experiments the most unquestionable and
unexceptionable, all concur to demonstrate its reality."
The last part of de Haen's work relates to the discovering and treating
of magical diseases, to explain which seems to have been the chief
purpose of the author in composing his book. Much caution, he observes,
and attention are necessary on this head; and the physician should not
readily admit the imputation of witchcraft. No absence of the ordinary
symptoms, no uncommon alteration of the course of the distemper, are
sufficient to infer this conclusion, because these may arise from
unknown natural causes. What then are the marks of certain incantations?
De Haen holds the following to be indisputable: "if, in any uncommon
disease, there shall be found, in the stuffing of the cushions, or
cielings of the room in which the patient lies, in the feather or the
chaff of his bed, about the door, or under the threshold of his house,
any strange characters, images, bones, hair, seeds, or roots of plants;
and if upon the removal of these, or upon conveying the patient into
another apartment, he shall suddenly recover; or if the patient himself,
or his friends, shall be so wicked as to call a wizzard to their aid, by
whom the malady shall be removed; or if insects and animals which do
not lodge in the human body; if stones, metals, glass, knives, plaited
hair, pieces of pitch, be ejected from particular parts of the body, of
greater size, and weight and figure, than could be supposed to make
their way through these parts, without much greater demolition and
delaceration of the passages; in all these cases, the disease is
unquestionably magical."
The author proceeds to enquire whether the physician may presume to
remove the instruments of incantation in order to relieve the patient
without incurring the accusation of impiety by interfering with the
implements and furniture of the devil; and concludes very formally that,
after approaching them with all due ceremony and respect, after
imploring with suitable devotion and ardour, the protection and
direction of heaven in such a perilous undertaking, he may attempt to
intermeddle, and may occasionally expect a successful issue.
Such are the views, reasonings, and conclusions of, at the time, one of
the first physicians and philosophers of Germany;--views and reasonings
which would have been received with eagerness and applause two hundred
years ago, but which the philosophy and improvements of later times seem
to have banished to the abodes of ignorance and barbarity.
The origin of almost all our knowledge may be traced to the earlier
periods of antiquity. This is peculiarly the case with respect to the
arts denominated magical. There were few ancient nations, however
barbarous, which could not furnish many individuals to whose spells and
enchantments the power of nature and the material world were supposed to
be subjected. The Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and indeed all the oriental
nations were accustomed to refer all natural effects, for which they
could not account to the agency of demons, who were believed to preside
over herbs, trees, rivers, mountains, and animals. Every member of the
human body was under their power, and all corporeal diseases were
produced by their malignity. For instance, if any happened to be
affected with a fever, little anxiety was manifested to discover its
cause, or to adopt rational measures for its cure; it must no doubt have
been occasioned by some evil spirit residing in the body, or
influencing, in some mysterious way, the fortunes of the sufferer. That
influence could be counteracted only by certain magical rites; hence the
observance of those rites soon obtained a permanent establishment in the
East. Even at the present day, many uncivilized people hold that all
nature is filled with genii, of which some exercise a beneficent, and
others a destructive power. All evils with which man is afflicted, are
considered the work of these imaginary beings, whose favour must he
propitiated by sacrifices, incantations, and songs. If the Greenlander
be unsuccessful in fishing, the Huron in hunting, or in war; if even the
scarcely half reasoning Hottentot finds every thing is not right in his
mind, body, or fortune, no time must be lost before the spirit be
invoked. After the removal of some present evil, the next strongest
desire in the human mind is the attainment of some future good. This
good is often beyond the power, and still oftener beyond the inclination
of man to bestow; it must therefore be sought from beings which are
supposed to possess considerable influence over human affairs, and which
being elevated above the baser passions of our nature, were thought to
regard with peculiar favour all who acknowledged their power, or invoked
their aid: hence the numerous rites which have, in all ages and
countries, been observed in consulting superior intelligences, and the
equally numerous modes in which their pleasure has been communicated to
mortals.
The Chaldean magi were chiefly founded on astrology, and were much
conversant with certain animals, metals and plants, which they employed
in all their incantations; the virtue of which was derived from stellar
influence. Great attention was always paid to the positions and the
configurations presented by the celestial sphere; and it was only at
favourable seasons that the solemn rites were celebrated. Those rites
were accompanied with many peculiar and fantastic gestures, by leaping,
clapping of hands, prostrations, loud cries, and not unfrequently with
unintelligible exclamations. Sacrifices, and burnt offerings were used
to propitiate superior powers; but our knowledge of the magical rites
exercised by certain oriental nations, the Jews only excepted, is
extremely limited. All the books professedly written on the subject,
have been, swept away by the torrent of time. We learn, however, that
the professors among the Chaldeans were generally divided into three
classes; the _Ascaphim_, or charmers, whose office it was to remove
present, and to avert future contingent evils; to construct talismans,
etc. The _Mecaschephim_, or magicians, properly so called, who were
conversant with the occult powers of nature, and the supernatural world;
and the _chasdim_, or astrologers, who constituted by far the most
numerous and respectable class. And from the assembly of the wise men on
the occasion of the extraordinary dream of Nebuchadnezzar, it would
appear that Babylon had also her oneirocritici, or interpreters of
dreams--a species of diviners indeed, to which almost every nation of
antiquity gave birth.
Like the Chaldean astrologers, the Persian magi, from whom our word
magic is derived, belong to the priesthood. But the worship of the gods
was not their chief occupation; they were also great proficients in the
arts. They joined to the worship of the gods, and to the profession of
medicine and natural magic, a pretended familiarity with superior
powers, from which they boasted of deriving all their knowledge. Like
Plato, who probably imbibed many of their notions, they taught that
demons hold a middle rank between gods and men; that they (the demons)
presided not only over divinations, auguries, conjurations, oracles, and
every species of magic, but also over sacrifices, and prayer, which in
behalf of men is thus presented, and rendered acceptable to the gods.
Indeed, the austerity of their lives[4] was well calculated to
strengthen the impression which their cunning had already made on the
multitude, and to prepare the way for whatever impostures they might
afterwards practise.
We are less acquainted with Indian magic than with that practised by
any other Eastern nations. It may, however, be reasonably enough
inferred that it was very similar to that for which the magi in general
were held in such high estimation: although they were excluded, as
beings of too sacred a nature, from the ordinary occurrences of life.
Their Brahmins, or Gymnosophists, were regarded with as much reverence
as the magi, and probably were more worthy of it. Some of them dwelt in
woods, and others in the immediate vicinity of cities. Their skill in
medicine was great; the care which they took in educating youth, in
familiarizing it with generous and virtuous sentiments, did them
peculiar honour; and their maxims and discourses, as recorded by
historians, prove that they were much accustomed to profound reflection
on the principles of civil polity, morality, religion and philosophy.
JEWISH MAGI.
Of the magi of the Jews, it is proved by Lightfoot,[5] that after their
return from Babylon, having entirely forsaken idolatry, and being no
longer favoured with the gift of prophecy, they gradually abandoned
themselves, before the coming of our Saviour, to sorcery and divination.
The Talmud, still regarded with a reverence bordering on idolatry,
abounds with instructions for the due observance of superstitious rites.
After their city and temple were destroyed, many Jewish impostors were
highly esteemed for their pretended skill in magic; and under pretence
of interpreting dreams, they met with daily opportunities of practising
the most shameful frauds. Many Rabbins were quite as well versed in the
school of Zoroaster, as in that of Moses. They prescribed all kinds of
conjuration, some for the cure of wounds, some against the dreaded bite
of serpents, and others against thefts and enchantments. Their
divinations were founded on the influence of the stars, and on the
operations of spirits, they did not, indeed, like the Chaldean magi,
regard the heavenly bodies as gods and genii, but they ascribed to them
a great power over the actions and opinions of men.
The magical rites of the Jews were, and indeed are still, chiefly
performed on various important occasions, as on the birth of a child,
marriages, etc. On such occasions the evil spirits are supposed to be
more than usually active in their malignity, which can only be
counteracted by certain enchantments.[6] They believe that Lilis will
cause all their male children to die on the eighth day after their
birth; girls on the twenty-first.[7] The following are the means adopted
by the German Jews to avert this calamity. They draw arrows in circular
lines with chalk or charcoal on the four walls of the room in which the
accouchement takes place, and write upon each arrow: _Adam, Eve! make
Lilis go away!_ They write also on certain parts of the room the name of
the three angels who preside over medicine, _Senai, Sansenai and
Sanmangelof_, after the manner taught them by Lilis herself when she
entertained the hope of causing all the Jews to be drowned in the Red
Sea.
Josephus, the historian of the Jews, does not allow to magic so ancient
an origin among them, as many Jewish writers do. He makes Solomon the
first who practised an art which is so powerful against demons; and the
knowledge of which, he asserts, was communicated to that prince by
immediate inspiration. The latter, continues this historian, invented
and transmitted to posterity in his writings, certain incantations for
the cure of diseases, and for the expulsion and perpetual banishment of
wicked spirits from the bodies of the possessed. It consisted, according
to his description, in the use of a certain root, which was sealed up,
and held under the nose of the person possessed; the name of Solomon,
with the words prescribed by him, was then pronounced, and the demon
forced immediately to retire. He does not even hesitate to assert, that
he himself has been an eye witness of such an effect produced on a
person named Eleazer, in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian and his
sons. Nor will this relation surprise us, when we consider the rooted
malignity entertained by the Jews to the christian religion, and this
writer's attempt to appreciate the miracles of our Saviour, by ascribing
them to magical influence, and by representing them as easy of
accomplishment to all acquainted with the occult sciences.
Innumerable are the devices contained in the Cabala for averting
possible evils, as the plague, disease, and sudden death. It directs how
to select and combine some passages of scripture, which are believed
both to render supernatural beings visible, and to produce many
wonderful and surprising effects. The most famous wonders have been
accomplished by means of the name of God. The sacred word Jehovah is,
when read with points, multiplied by the Jewish doctors into twelve,
forty-two, and seventy-two letters, of which words are composed that are
thought to possess miraculous energy. By these, say they, Moses slew the
Egyptians; by these Israel was preserved from the destroying angel of
the wilderness; by these Elijah separated the waters of the river, to
open a passage for himself and Elisha, and by these it has been as
daringly and impudently asserted, that our blessed Saviour, the eternal
Son of God, cast out evil spirits. The name of the devil is likewise
used in their magical devices. The five Hebrew letters of which that
name[8] is composed, exactly constitute the number 364, one less than
the days of the whole year. They pretended that, owing to the wonderful
virtue of the number comprised in the name of Satan, he is prevented
from accusing them for an equal number of days: hence the stratagem
before alluded to, for depriving the devil of the power of doing them
any harm on the only day on which that power is granted to him.
In allusion to the cabalists, Pliny says, "There is another sect of
magicians of which Moses and Latopea, Jews, were the first authors." It
was the prevailing opinion among the Hebrews, that the Cabala was
delivered by God to Moses, and thence through a succession of ages, even
to the times of Ezra, preserved by tradition only, without the help of
writing, in the same manner as the doctrine of Pythagoras was delivered
by Archippus and Lysiades, who kept schools at Thebes in Greece, where
the scholars learned all their master's precepts by heart, and employed
their memories instead of books. So certain Jews, despising letters,
placed all their learning in memory, observation, and verbal tradition;
whence it was called by them Cabala, that is, a receiving from one to
another by the ear an art said to be very ancient and only known to the
christians in later times.
The Jews divided the Cabala into three parts; the first containing the
knowledge of _Bresith_, which they call also cosmology, the object of
which is to teach and explain the force and efficacy of things created,
natural or celestial; expounding also the laws and mysteries of the
Bible according to philosophical reasons, which on that account differs
little from natural magic, a science in which King Solomon is said to
have excelled. We find, therefore, in the sacred histories of the Jews,
that he was wont to discourse from the cedar of the forests of Lebanon
to the low hyssop of the valley; as also of cattle, birds, reptiles, and
fish, all which contain within themselves a kind of magical virtue.
Moses also, in his expositions upon the Pentateuch, and most of the
Talmudists, have followed the rules of the same art.
The other division of the Cabala contains the knowledge of things more
sublime, as of divine and angelical powers, the contemplation of sacred
names and characters; being a certain kind of symbolical theology, in
which the letters, figures, numbers, names, points, lines, accents, etc.
are esteemed to contain the significations of most profound things and
wonderful mysteries. This part again is twofold--_Authmantick_, handling
the nature of angels, the powers, names, characters of spirits and souls
departed--and _Theomantick_, which searches into the mysteries of the
Divine Majesty, his emanations, his names, and _Pentacula_, which he who
attains to is supposed to be endowed with most wonderful power. It was,
they say, by virtue of this art, that Moses wrought so many miracles;
that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still; that Elias called down
fire from heaven; that Daniel the prophet muzzled the lions' mouths; and
that the three children sang in the fiery furnace. And, what is more,
the perfidious and unbelieving Jews, did not stick to aver, that our
Saviour himself wrought all his miracles by virtue of this art, and that
he discovered several of its secrets, containing a variety of charms
against devils, and also, as Josephus writes, against diseases. "As for
my part," says Cornelius Agrippa, in allusion to this subject, "I do not
doubt but that God revealed many things to Moses and the prophets, which
were contained under the covert of the words of the law, which were not
to be communicated to the profane vulgar: so for this art, which the
Jews so much boast of, which I have with great labour and diligence
searched into, I must acknowledge it to be a mere rhapsody of
superstition, and nothing but a kind of theurgic magic before spoken of.
For if, as the Jews contend, coming from God, it did any way conduce to
perfection of life, salvation of men, truth of understanding, certainly
that spirit of truth, which having forsaken the synagogue, is now come
to teach us all truth, had never concealed it all this while from the
church, which certainly knows all those things that are of God; whose
grace, baptism, and other sacraments of salvation, are perfectly
revealed in all languages;--for every language is alike, so that there
be the same piety; neither is there any other name in heaven or on
earth, by which we can be saved, but only the name of Jesus. Therefore
the Jews, most skilful in divine names, after the coming of Christ, were
able to do nothing, in comparison of their forefathers:--the Cabala of
the Jews, therefore, is nothing else, but a most pernicious
superstition, the which by collecting, dividing, and changing several
names, words, and letters, dispersed up and down in the bible, at their
own good will and pleasure, and making one thing out of another, they
dissolve the members of truth, raising up sentences, inductions, and
parables of their own, apply thereto the oracles of divine scripture to
them, defaming the scriptures, and affirming their fragments to consist
of them, blaspheme the word of God by their wrested suppositions of
words, syllables, letters and numbers; endeavouring to prop up their
villainous inventions, by arguments drawn from their own delusions."
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Antonio de Haen, S.C.R.A. Majestate a consiliis anticis, et
Archiatri, medicinae in alma et antiquissimo universitate professoris
primarij, plurium eruditorium societatem socii, de magia liber. 8vo.
Vienna.
[3] Many significations have been attached to the word miracle, both by
the ancients and moderns. With us a miracle is the suspension or
violation of the laws of nature; and a miracle, which can be explained
upon physical principles, ceases to be such. Whatever surpassed their
comprehension was regarded by the ancients as a miracle, and every
extraordinary degree of information attained by an individual, as well
as any unlooked-for occurrence, was referred to some peculiar
interposition of the deity. Hence among the ancients, the followers of
different divinities, far from denying the miracles performed by their
opponents, admitted their reality, but endeavoured to surpass them; and
thus in the "life of Zoroaster," we find that able innovator frequently
entering the lists with hostile enchanters, admitting but exceeding the
wonderful works they performed; and thus also when the thirst of power,
or of distinction, divided the sacerdotal colleges, similar trials of
skill would ensue, the successful combatant being considered to derive
his knowledge from the more powerful god. That the science on which each
party depended was derived from experimental physics, may be proved. 1.
by the conduct of the Thaumaturgists, or wonder-workers: 2. from what
they themselves had said concerning magic; the genii invoked by the
magicians, sometimes denoting physical or chemical agents employed,
sometimes men who cultivated the science.
[4] All the three orders of Magi enumerated by Porphyry, abstained from
wine and women, and the first of these orders from animal food.
[5] Vol. ii. p. 287.
[6] See Tobit. chap. viii. v. 2 and 2.
[7] Elias, as quoted by Becker.
[8] There is no mention made of the word _Devil_ in the Old Testament,
but only of _Satan_: nor do we meet with it in any of the heathen
authors who say anything about the devil in the signification attached
to it among christians; that is, as a creature revolted from God. Their
theology went no farther than to evil genii, or demons, who harassed and
persecuted mankind, though we are still aware that many curious
_nick_-names are given to the prince of darkness both by ancient and
modern writers.