&c. From the fallen angels (says Zosimus) came all that miserable knowledge which is of no use to the soul.”Παντα τα πονηρα και μηδεν WPERSITA THY LUXn-Ap. Photium. Page 71. That light Escaping from the Zodiac's signs. "La lumière Zodiacale n'est autre chose que l'atmosphere du soleil."-Lalande. Page 103. As 'tis grav'd Upon the tablets that, of old, By Cham were from the Deluge sav'd. The pillars of Seth are usually referred to as the depositaries of ante-diluvian knowledge; but they were inscribed with none but astronomical secrets. I have, therefore, preferred here the tablets of Cham, as being, at least, more miscellaneous in their information. The following account of them is given in Jablonski from Cassianus:-"Quantum enim antiquæ tradi tiones ferunt Cham filius Noæ, qui superstitionibus ac profanis fuerit artibus institutus, sciens nullum se posse superbis memorialem librum in arcam inferre, in quam erat ingressurus, sacrilegas artes ac profana commenta durissimis insculpsit lapidibus.” Page 103. And this young angel's 'mong the rest. Pachymer, in his Paraphrase on the Book de Divinis Nominibus of Dionysius, speaking of the incarnation of Christ, says, that it was a mystery ineffable from all time, and "unknown even to the first and oldest angel,"-justifying this last phrase by the authority of St. John in the Revelation. Page 104. Circles of light that, from the same Carry its beams on every side. See the 13th chapter of Dionysius for his notions of the manner in which God's ray is com municated, first to the Intelligences near him, and then to those more remote, gradually losing its own brightness as it passes into a denser medium.—προσβάλλεσα δε ταις παχυτέραις ύλαις, αμυδρότεραν έχει την διαδοτικήν επιφανειαν. Page 115. Then first did woman's virgin brow Can bid a new one bloom out there. In the Catholic church, when a widow is married, she is not, I believe, allowed to wear flowers on her head. The ancient Romans, honoured with a "corona pudicitiæ," or crown of modesty, those who entered but once inte the marriage state. Sara. Page 115. Her, who near The Tabernacle stole to hear Page 117. Two fallen Splendors. The Sephirots are the higher orders of emanative being, in the strange and incomprehensible system of the Jewish Cabbala. They are called by various names, Pity, Beauty, &c. &c.; and their influences are supposed to act through certain canals, which communicate with each other. The reader may judge of the rationality of the system by the following explanation of part of the machinery: "Les canaux qui sortent de la Miséricorde et de la Force, et qui vont aboutir à la Beauté, sont chargés d'un grand nombre d'Anges. Il y en a trente-cinq sur le canal de la Miséricorde, qui recompensent et qui couronnent la vertu des Saints, &c. &c."-For a concise account of the Cabalistic Philosophy, see Enfield's very useful compendium of Brucker. |