^^ CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 BF1411 .S86 
 
 Canon : an exposition of the paaan myste 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028956262 
 
THE CANON 
 
" Certain adhering partly to these ^Ptolemy's jueasures of the 
 universe\ as if haviftg propounded great conciiisions, and supposed 
 things worthy of reason^ have framed enormous and endless here- 
 sies : and one of these is Colarhasus^ who attempts to explain 
 religion by measures and numbersP — Hippolytus, "Refuta- 
 tion," bk. iv., ch. iii. 
 
THE CANON i i AN 
 EXPOSITION OF THE 
 PAGAN MYSTERY PER: 
 PET VATED IN THE CAB A : 
 LA AS THE RVLE OF ALL 
 THE ARTS s«- ^,L/..f/^/^ sr^'^AMM 
 
 WITH A 
 
 PREFACE ^ 
 
 BY R. B. CVNNINGHAME GRAHAM 
 
 MO 
 
 LONDON: ELKIN 
 MATHEWS VIGO 
 STREET, W. JiSgy 
 

 All rights reserved. 
 
 CHISWICK PRESS :— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, 
 
 1K 
 
THIS BOOK 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 
 WITH EVERY FEELING OF REGARD 
 
 TO HIS FRIEND 
 
 H. W. H. D. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 "SYMBOLISTS." 
 
 Contempt of ancient learning is a sure sign of an 
 enlightened mind. 
 
 We are the men. 
 
 Before our time, reason but little influenced 
 mankind. 
 
 The demonstration of the above assertion being 
 that in times gone by there were no railways, 
 steamboats, torpedoes, or any of those anaesthetic 
 inventions in regard to time and space on which 
 we pride ourselves, and upon which we base our 
 claim to have advanced the general welfare of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Marvels of science, mechanical improvements, 
 increase of wealth (and income tax), and the per- 
 fection of all warlike apparatus, seem to blind us 
 to the fact that abstract qualities of mind have 
 shown no symptoms of progression. A rich bar- 
 barian, pale and dyspeptic, florid or flatulent, seated 
 in a machine travelling at eighty miles an hour, 
 with the machine luxuriously upholstered and 
 well heated, and yet the traveller's mind a blank, 
 or only occupied with schemes to cheat his fellows 
 
Vin PRKFACE. 
 
 and advance himself is, in the abstract, no advance 
 upon a citizen of Athens, in the time of Pericles, 
 who never travelled faster than a bullock cart could 
 take him, in all his life. 
 
 Science has no marvels ; every so-called dis- 
 covery heralded as marvellous (for men of science 
 understand the power of bold advertisement to the 
 full as well as scientists in clog dancing, in hair 
 dressing, and tightrope walking), is not a marvel 
 in the true meaning of the word. 
 
 The Rontgen Rays, the microphone, the phono- 
 graph, are all as simple in themselves as is the 
 property of amber rubbed to take up straws. From 
 the beginning there have been Rontgen Rays, and 
 the principles of microphone and phonograph are 
 coeval with the world. The wonder lies not in 
 the discovery (so-called), but in the fact they have 
 remained so long unknown. The real mystery of 
 mysteries is the mind of man. Why, with a pen 
 or brush, one man sits down and makes a master- 
 piece, and yet another, with the selfsame instru- 
 ments and opportunities, turns out a daub or botch, 
 is twenty times more curious than all the musings 
 of the mystics, works of the Rosicrucians, or the 
 mechanical contrivances which seem to-day so fine, 
 and which our children will disdain as clumsy. 
 The conquests of the mind never grow stale, let 
 he who doubts it read a page of Plato and compare 
 it with some a la mode philosopher. 
 
 I take it that one of the objects of the author 
 of this work is to sustain, that in astronomy, in 
 mathematics, and in certain other branches of learn- 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 ing, the ancients knew a good deal more than 
 modern men of science care to admit. 
 
 Knowledge to-day Is not diffused, as writers in 
 newspapers, makers of almanacks, members of 
 school-boards, and worthy men who seethe means 
 but cannot grasp the fullness of achievement, are 
 never tired of stating, but on the contrary, goes 
 almost contraband. The fact that all can read and 
 write, cypher and scan the columns of a newspaper, 
 can tell the latitude (the longitude more rarely) of 
 Jella Coffee, can prattle innocently of literature, art, 
 spiritualism, and chemistry, can make their per- 
 tinent remarks upon theosophy, discuss religion, 
 say a word in season on lithotomy, and generally 
 comport themselves as If their minds were fashioned 
 after the pattern of a kaleidoscope, does not go far 
 to prove the claim of wide extended knowledge. 
 
 When all write books and few have time to read, 
 when thought grows rare and talking never ends, 
 a serious book in which a man has put the labour 
 of his life needs some apology for its appearance. 
 Deal with sex problems (pruriently, of course), be 
 mystic, moral, or immoral, flippant, or best of all 
 be dull, success is sure. Still, In an age of sym- 
 bolism, for everything we see Is but a symbol, as 
 kings, queens, dukes, lords, princes, barons, and 
 sandwichmen, it must perforce be interesting to 
 some to read of why the chief symbol of our 
 present faith came to be held In veneration. 
 
 In modern times we use a word, merely to 
 express a thing, and only rarely concern ourselves 
 with the exact value that the word may have. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 This may account to some extent for the loos 
 style of many English writers, but to examine int 
 that would be quite foreign to my purpose. Cei 
 tain it is that in the ancient world, words and eve 
 letters all had their value apart from what we, now 
 a-days, call meaning. Thus it is that orients 
 nations, and especially the Jews and Arabs, attac 
 to their particular alphabets not merely a divin 
 origin (for I suppose our alphabet is just as divin 
 as theirs), but a particular sense of sanctity. N 
 one supposes if a better alphabet than that we noi 
 employ were to be found that we should still ad 
 here from superstitious motives to our own. In th 
 ancient world, apart from letters, every ceremony 
 each rite, and all the arts and sciences had som 
 peculiar canon which was supposed to govern then 
 If, in his researches, the author has brought to ligli 
 some canon which may enlighten architects, an 
 so redeem us from the outrages our builders hea 
 upon us. if he can do even a little to stay the hand 
 of Deans and Chapters from destroying building 
 which, by the folly of the nation, have been con: 
 mitted to their care (like sheep to wolves), or put 
 stop to the restorer, that arch-fiend, who in cor 
 suming thirst for unity tears down a fine Renai; 
 sance door-way in a Gothic church, and puts up i 
 its stead what he thinks Gothic, his labour will nc 
 have been lost. Could he redeem us from Victoria 
 Queen Anne — but mitigate the horrors of platt 
 glass, set bounds to all the Gothics, ranging froi 
 Strangulated, through the degrees of Congregs 
 tional and Convulsional down to Ebenezaresqui 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 could he but find a style in which our builders could 
 express their thoughts, and help them build for us, 
 our churches, houses, theatres, and bridges, without 
 adhering slavishly to bygone styles, the twelve 
 shillings which I understand his volume is to cost 
 will be well spent. 
 
 Music and literature, with painting, surgery, and 
 economics, with boxing, fencing, and others of the 
 liberal arts, all have a style fit and peculiar to the 
 times, but architecture yet remains a blot and a 
 disgrace to those who live by it, and to all those 
 who use the edifices which it makes, and pay the 
 makers' bills. 
 
 But leaving architects bemired in stucco and 
 happy in their '* co-operation with the present 
 system," let us return to the folly of the ancients. 
 
 Strabo and Celsus, with Diodorus Siculus, 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, Maimonides, Raimundo 
 Llull, with the Rabbi Jehudah ben Gabirol and 
 others, whose names look well writ large in a 
 quotation, have all remarked upon the symbolism 
 not only of the Cross but of all ancient temples. 
 
 Pedro Mexia in his curious Silva^ de Varia 
 Leccion says that the Egyptians and the Arabians 
 honoured the figure of the cross,^ and thought so 
 much of it, that the Egyptians drew it upon the 
 
 ^ " Madrid," por Joseph Fernandez de Buendia, Ano de 1662. 
 
 ^ The Inca, Garcilaso de la Vega, in his "Comentarios 
 Reales," vol. i., chap, iii., "Tuvieron los Reyes Incas en el 
 Cozco, una Cruz de Marmol fine de color bianco y encarnado. 
 .... No adoravan en ella, mas de que la tenian en veneracion ; 
 debia ser por su hermosa figura, 6 por algun o^ro respeio^ que no 
 saben decir." 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 Statue of Serapis, adored it, and held it as a god. 
 To comprehend which it is necessary first to know 
 the Arabians of old times were people very learned 
 in the heavens, and in the phases of the stars . . . 
 made images and statues . . . rings and other 
 things, taking care to do so, at certain times and 
 epochs when the planets and other stars were in a 
 certain posture." And further on he says, " it is re- 
 markable how the Egyptians esteemed the symbol 
 of the cross above all other symbols." 
 
 It may be that, as Pedro Mexia says, the 
 Egyptians looked upon the cross as something 
 sacred, because it is '* a perfect and most excellent 
 figure geometrically considered." All things are 
 possible, but a whole people lost in the admiration 
 of a figure for geometric reasons seems improb- 
 able. Geometry is a most admirable science, 
 but appeals little to imagination, and still less to 
 any of the well rooted principles of folly inherent 
 in mankind, which generally impel them to choose 
 a subject to adore. 
 
 Again Antonio Llobera, in his book called *' El 
 Porque de Todas las Ceremonias," printed at 
 Figueras by Ignacio Porter in 1758, informs us 
 that " all temples and churches are symbols or 
 figures of the human body . . . the high altar is the 
 head, the transepts are the arms, and the rest of 
 the temple ... is the body," so that he knew 
 apparently, that churches were built according to 
 a canon and had assumed the form in which we 
 know them for a special reason. Many have 
 known as much as did Antonio Llobera, and like 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 him either have cared not, or have dared not, push 
 their theory to its conclusion. 
 
 The author of the present work has not been so 
 deterred, and argues out his case with much pre- 
 cision and a wealth of figures, proving most clearly 
 that the external measurements of almost every 
 ancient temple, the figures of the New Jerusalem, 
 Holy Oblation, and other temples, real and imagin- 
 ary, reveal the magnitudes of the sun, moon, and 
 other planets, together with the distance of their 
 orbits. And most ingeniously he argues that, as 
 all these calculations were, of necessity, impossible 
 of comprehension to the vulgar, they were typified 
 by symbols, the principal of all these symbols being 
 the cross. Therefore it follows, in his opinion, that 
 the rage of the so-called Reformers of the church was 
 not a blind unreasoning fury, blended with a dislike 
 to beauty, but a reasoning fury against a symbol that 
 they understood. And he remarks, when speak- 
 ing of the Puritans, whom he most justly stigma- 
 tizes as both "ridiculous and ignorant," that it 
 was curious that, having cast away the cross, they 
 should still retain the Christ, as both are one. 
 
 We know the mystic letters I. H. S., familiar 
 from our childhood on altar fronts, embroidered in 
 gold thread by pious ladies, were used as symbols 
 of Bacchus, and venerated in his temples by the 
 unreasoning but faithful worshipper just as they 
 are with us. 
 
 Thor's hammer was a cross ; the ruins of 
 Palenque bear sculptured on their lintels the 
 mystic symbol, and Bernal Diaz tells us that, in 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 Cozumel, upon the altars of the temples, crosses 
 were seen deep graven in the stone. 
 
 Thus it appears that almost every nation, every 
 age, has had its Cross, and, if this is the case, 
 what is the reason ? 
 
 The writer of this work most plainly sets it 
 forth, and, in so doing, connects conclusively our 
 symbolism with that which seems inherent in 
 mankind, and gently puts aside all our pretensions 
 to the possession of a faith revealed to us alone. 
 
 Into these mysteries I shrink from entering, 
 but watch him boldly walk amongst the Canon 
 Laws which govern Architecture, Music, Religion, 
 and other things, the laws of which I take on 
 trust. 
 
 Unorthodox even in his unorthodoxy, he is 
 sufficiently un-English to be logical and not to 
 shirk, after the English fashion, the just conclusions 
 towards which his reasoning leads. 
 
 Following his argument, it appears that, in 
 "The Abbey" when the nave and aisles are 
 packed with rich and pious Iris de Florence 
 scented worshippers silently waiting for the cir- 
 culating plate, they sit within a building built, like 
 the ancient temples were, to typify the body of a 
 man, and the chief symbol which the Romans 
 held in honour they, too, venerate, when, in their 
 pious contemplation, they lift adoring eyes towards 
 the Cross which stands upon the altar or com- 
 munion table. 
 
 R. B. CUNNINGHAME GrAHAM. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 II. 
 
 The Holy Oblation 
 
 
 
 
 i6 
 
 III. 
 
 The Cabala . 
 
 
 
 
 • 39 
 
 IV. 
 
 Noah's Ark . 
 
 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 V. 
 
 Names of the Gods 
 
 
 
 
 
 82 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Holy Rood . 
 
 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Tower of Babel 
 
 
 
 
 
 157 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Temples . 
 
 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 IX, 
 
 Freemasonry . 
 
 
 
 
 
 238 
 
 X. 
 
 Music of the Spheres 
 
 
 
 
 
 258 
 
 XL 
 
 Ritual . 
 
 
 
 
 
 275 
 
 XII. 
 
 Geography 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 301 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Rhetoric 
 
 
 
 
 
 334 
 
 Index 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ ^QQ 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 4, line i6, read or before "Rome.'' 
 
 Pages 48, 133, lines 33, 5, read " Tetragrammaton." 
 
 Page 65, line 27, read " 1,110." 
 
 Page 102, line 26, insert the before "sequence." 
 
 Page 104, line i, read Greek before "Zodiac." 
 
 Page 122, line 14, insert is after " 2,047." 
 
 Page 128, line 3, read " 592 " for " 562." 
 
 Page 142, line 4, read (^/before "notice." 
 
 Page 188, line 28, read Dio7tysus for " Dionysius." 
 
 Page 276, line 35, read "peoples." 
 
 Page 279, omit Note i. 
 
 Page 288, line 23, insert the before "Mass." 
 
THE CANON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " The wisdom of the Egyptians^ what was it but principally 
 astronomy V — St. Augustine, "City of God," bk. xviii., c. 39. 
 
 The failure of all efforts in modern times to dis- 
 cover what constituted the ancient canon of the 
 arts, has made this question one of the most hope- 
 less puzzles which antiquity presents. It is dis- 
 couraging in the extreme to approach the subject 
 at all. The absence of all explicit information from 
 the ancients themselves, combined with the com- 
 plete ignorance of modern authorities, is sufficient 
 to make one hesitate to lay before the reader any 
 proposition, however plausible, on this obscure sub- 
 ject. It is hoped, however, that the investigation 
 of what appears to be a clue to the method 
 practised by the old architects in building the 
 temples, may prove of some assistance in eluci- 
 dating the principles, which were the common 
 groundwork of the arts and sciences of the past. 
 For it would appear, that there was an established 
 canonical law underlying the practice of building 
 as well as all other arts. 
 
 In a general way this has been felt by all com- 
 petent students of antiquity ; and many traces of 
 such an uniformity have been pointed out, but 
 as the root of everything in the old world was 
 
2 THE CANON. 
 
 primarily centred in religion, it is to the Incier 
 theology, that we must look for the fouidatio 
 and basis of the old canon. j 
 
 The priests were practically the masters of th 
 old world. Everything and everybody was sut 
 servient to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and n 
 work could be undertaken without its authority 
 That the priests were legitimately entitled t 
 regulate the building of the temples of the god 
 nobody will deny. And that they d\d exercis 
 this control is beyond dispute. For we find ths 
 freemasons, or some body corresponding to th 
 mediaeval freemasons, with exclusive privilege 
 and secrets required for building the temple: 
 under ecclesiastical authority, have always existec 
 And the knowledge which we possess of th 
 mediaeval freemasons is sufficient to show the 
 their secrets were the secrets of religion, that i 
 of mediaeval Christianity. 
 
 It is these secrets of the old priests, carefull 
 guarded by them, and only communicated to th 
 authorized builders of the temples, that we propos 
 to treat of in the following pages, and we sha 
 endeavour to show that these secrets, comprisin 
 the esoteric doctrine of religion, have been tran; 
 mitted in unbroken continuity, at least from th 
 building of the Great Pyramid, down to recer 
 times. It is, of course, far beyond the scope ( 
 this small work, limited to a single object of ii 
 quiry, to enter into a historical examination of th 
 evidences of this continuity of idea, and since thei 
 are already in existence books dealing with th 
 special investigation, it is superfluous to undertal^ 
 it. It is only necessary to accept the testimony < 
 the old Greek historians, who emphatically asser 
 that the essential doctrines of the Greek religic 
 were imported into Greece from Egypt. W 
 know that all modern civilization in Europe is < 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 Greek origin. The Gospel itself is indisputably 
 as much a Greek as a Hebrew creation. It is 
 written in Greek, and was first established among 
 Hellenized peoples, and wherever it was accepted 
 in succeeding generations, it brought with it the 
 ideas of Greece. As there is no reason to doubt 
 the assertions , of the Greek historians, as to the 
 indebtedness of their nation to the Egyptians for 
 instruction in the arts and sciences, there has 
 clearly been, through the Greeks, a direct com- 
 munication of Egyptian ideas to the Hellenized 
 portions of the world, to which we ourselves 
 belong. 
 
 Just as Pythagoras and Plato, and other Greek 
 philosophers, visited Egypt to study the religion 
 and sciences of that country, so every educated 
 man of a subsequent age studied the religion and 
 philosophy of Greece with the same object, namely, 
 to perfect themselves in that knowledge, of which 
 the Greeks were known to have been the re- 
 cipients. To us the Egyptians are only a step 
 further off ; but fundamentally the doctrines 
 which we are now investigating were the same 
 both in Greece and Egypt. How much, the 
 original religion and philosophy of the Egyptians 
 may have been improved by filtering through the 
 refining influence of Greece, must be decided when 
 Egyptologists come to have a deeper knowledge 
 of Egyptian things, than they have at present. 
 But whatever changes may have been added by 
 Greeks and Christians to the original Egyptian 
 theology, it is insisted, that the central mysteries 
 were accepted by all priests and philosophers, as 
 the only possible basis of religion. And more 
 than that (for we must not always be content with 
 a sensible reason for anything in human affairs) 
 the absolute conservatism, always observed in 
 religious matters, would scarcely admit that any 
 
4 THE CANON. 
 
 received doctrine, once established, should be 
 removed. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, that only the vaguest 
 ideas at present prevail as to the mystical secrets ^ 
 of the old priests. Everybody knows that the 
 Egyptians, Greeks, and other Eastern nations 
 concealed the vital doctrines of their theology 
 from the ignorant and vulgar, and it was only by a 
 gradual process of initiation that the meaning of 
 the sacred writings and ceremonies were explained. 
 And then, after this preparation, the initiates were 
 allowed to be full partakers in the religious rites. 
 It is a misfortune that all the ritual of the older 
 religions has been destroyed, and it is particularly 
 regretable that no scrap of the sacred writings, or 
 temple ritual of pagan Greece of Rome, has sur- 
 vived to our time. We do not even know whether 
 the Hebraized or Christianized version of the 
 Masonic ritual, as we now know it, has anything 
 more than a faint resemblance to its primitive 
 form. Besides the ordinary services in the pagan 
 temples, it is well known that there were in certain 
 periods especially mysterious celebrations of the 
 nature of dramatic shows or plays, in some cases 
 apparently intended to form the concluding spec- 
 tacle of the initiations. A few ancient authors 
 have alluded to these shows, but when everything 
 is collected from their works, it amounts to very 
 little indeed. Plutarch, St. Clement of Alexandria 
 
 ' To avoid misunderstanding, it may be stated here, that 
 throughout the present inquiry the doctrine of the mysteries is 
 assumed to have been a defined scientific tradition, communi- 
 cated orally to the initiates or mystics, who secretly passed it 
 on from generation to generation. Therefore, mysticism be- 
 ing synonymous with gnosticism, it must not be confounded 
 with the speculative mistiness which is cultivated by certain 
 dreamy philosophers of our day. The mystic (jiii.(rr^c) in the 
 old sense has naturally become extinct, together with the gnosis 
 which formerly instructed him. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 (who had been initiated at Eleusis before he be- 
 came a Christian), Lucian, Apuleius, Macrobius 
 and other writers give some sHght information, 
 directly or indirectly, on these mystical ceremonies. 
 Besides these, there is a treatise by Jamblichus 
 pretending to expound the whole subject of the 
 mysteries, but this work has been composed with 
 such careful and scrupulous obscurity, that few 
 people have found themselves much the wiser 
 after reading it. There is also the Jewish Cabala, 
 containing an explanation of the priestly secrets 
 and mysteries of the Hebrews, but no one at the 
 present day can fully understand it. There are 
 the works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus 
 preserved by the Neo-Platonists, written in the 
 same philosophical jargon used by Jamblichus and 
 the rest ; and there are the references to the doc- 
 trines of the heretical Christians called Gnostics, 
 preserved in the controversial works of the early 
 fathers. These are some of the most direct sources 
 of information on the mystical doctrines common 
 to the Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, and Christian 
 religions. 
 
 But turning from these obscure and fragmentary 
 references, the law of the Hebrew Scriptures and 
 the extensive commentaries of the Talmud, the 
 Gospel with the offices and ritual of the Church, 
 are each an epitome, in its most complete form, of 
 those mysteries for the expounding of which they 
 were severally created ; if these works were clearly 
 understood the difficulty would be cleared up. 
 The deplorable fact, which we have now to regret 
 is, that the priests who ought to be able to tell us 
 the meaning of the Scriptures, which they undertake 
 to expound, know nothing whatever of their real 
 significance. 1 1 is probable, that there is not a single 
 Christian priest who knows what the Canon of the 
 Church is, or why a certain office or literary ar- 
 
6 THE CANON. 
 
 rangement Is canonical or what makes it so. He 
 would deny that the Old Testament and the Gospel 
 are allegorical books, but has no explanation to 
 offer for the absurdities, which occur in these works, 
 if taken literally. In fact, the modern priest, to 
 whom we naturally turn for instruction in the mys- 
 teries of the Church, is the very last person from 
 whom we are likely to get any information. Let 
 us therefore leave this man, who does not seem to 
 be aware that his office was created that he might 
 receive the canonical tradition from the mouth of 
 a pre-ordained teacher, and by its light impart the 
 spirit to the letter of the law. 
 
 We shall assume, that at the building of the 
 Great Pyramid, the first principles of all later 
 theology were already established and fixed, and it 
 would seem, notwithstanding the modern belief to 
 the contrary, that at that early period the Egypti- 
 ans had arrived at some elementary knowledge of 
 astronomy and cosmography ; that they knew the 
 measures of the earth, and the distance of the 
 planets, and had observed the recurrent cycles of 
 the sun and moon in their several orbits, and many 
 other simple astronomical phenomena ; that from 
 these ascertained facts, they derived a scheme em- 
 bodying, in the persons of certain hypothetical 
 gods, a symbolical image of the created universe, 
 and the invisible powers which regulate it. The 
 deity in this scheme was conceived according to 
 the exact forms manifested in the phenomena of 
 nature. The whole physical and material universe 
 was symbolized by the seven revolving planets 
 and the sphere of the fixed stars, while the agent, 
 or mover, who inspires all bodies with life, was 
 personified by the figure of a man. Thus the phi- 
 losophers constructed a system, which attributed 
 to God a body composed of all the matter of the 
 world, and a soul, which was diffused through all 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 its parts. The creed of the philosophers, however, 
 was never openly avowed in the popular religion, 
 but was concealed in the parables of which the old 
 theology was composed. For the old priests never 
 scrupled to believe, that history and philosophy 
 " sufficed but for the chosen few," while the popu- 
 lace were carefully instigated to the practice of 
 morality by being instructed in that kind of fiction 
 which, in this country, emanates from Exeter Hall. 
 Strabo admirably expresses the attitude of an 
 educated man to the religion of his day. He says, 
 " The great mass of women and common people 
 cannot be induced by mere force of reason to de- 
 vote themselves to piety, virtue, and honesty ; 
 superstition must therefore be employed, and even 
 this is insufficient without the aid of the marvellous 
 and the terrible. For what are the thunderbolts, 
 the segis, the trident, the torches, the dragons, the 
 barbed thyrses, the arms of the gods, and all the 
 paraphernalia of antique theology, but fables em- 
 ployed by the founders of states as bugbears to 
 frighten timorous minds ? " (Strabo s " Geography," 
 bk. i., ch. ii, § 8).^ Again, the difference between 
 Moses, and Linus, Musseus, Orpheus, and Phe- 
 recydes, is well defined by Origen, who says, that 
 the Greek poets " display little concern for those 
 readers who are to peruse them at once unaided, 
 but have composed their philosophy (as you term 
 it) for those who are unable to comprehend its meta- 
 phorical and allegorical signification. Whereas 
 Moses, like a distinguished orator, who meditates 
 some figure of rhetoric, and who carefully intro- 
 duces in every part a language of twofold meaning, 
 has done this in his five books ; neither affording, 
 
 ^ Cicero, who was an Augur as well as an Advocate, did not 
 seem to have taken his duties very seriously, for he is reported 
 to have said that he could never understand how two Augurs 
 could look each other in the face without laughing. 
 
8 THE CANON. 
 
 in the portion which relates to morals, any handle 
 to his Jewish subjects for committing evil ; nor yet 
 giving to the few individuals who were endowed 
 with greater wisdom, and who were capable 
 of investigating his meaning, a treatise devoid 
 of material for speculation." (Origen " Against 
 Celsus/' bk. i., ch. xviii). That is to say, the 
 Hebrew delivered his fictions in the guise of moral 
 precepts, while the pagan Greeks were not so par- 
 ticular. 
 
 It is well known to many people that certain 
 numbers had an important place in the philo- 
 sophical and theological system of the ancients. 
 The Pythagoreans concealed their doctrines in a 
 numerical and geometric system, which was the 
 only form of their philosophy given to the outer 
 world. The Jewish priests also elaborated an ex- 
 tensive system of numeration in the Cabala, and 
 the Rabbis frequently make use of it in the Tal- 
 mudic commentaries on the Scriptures. The early 
 fathers of the church have preserved considerable 
 expositions of the system in their books con- 
 troverting the heretical opinions of the various 
 sects of Christian Gnostics. But the purport of 
 all these theories of numbers has ceased to be 
 understood, together with the greater part of the 
 doctrines of the ancient mysteries of which this 
 numerical philosophy formed a part. 
 
 The oldest use of numbers as symbols of an 
 esoteric doctrine is to be found in Egypt, from 
 whence it was derived by the Greeks, and trans- 
 mitted by them to the modern world. Although 
 we have, unfortunately, no direct evidence of how 
 the mysterious people of Egypt actually made 
 use of their numbers, it would appear that their 
 numerical system formed a part of the dogma in 
 those laws, referred to by Plato as having been 
 ten thousand years old, and was perpetuated, as one 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 of the bases of religion and art by all subsequent 
 peoples. The words of Plato are : " Long ago 
 they appeared to recognize the very principle of 
 which we are now speaking — that their young 
 citizens must be habituated to forms and strains of 
 virtue. These they fixed, and exhibited patterns 
 of them in their temples ; and no painter or artist 
 is allowed to innovate upon them, or to leave the 
 traditional forms, or invent new ones. To this 
 day no alteration is allowed, either in those arts or 
 in music, at all. And you will find that their works 
 of art are |painted or moulded in the same forms 
 that they had ten thousand years ago (this is 
 literally true, and no exaggeration), their ancient 
 paintings and sculptures are not a whit better, or 
 worse than the work of to-day, but are made with 
 just the same skill." (" Laws," 656. Jowett's 
 translation, vol, v., p. 226). What this canon of 
 art actually was is now unknown, but it is possible 
 to discover the traces of it in the religion and art 
 of the Greeks and Christians. 
 
 Theology, in its various forms, has always been 
 the epitome of art, and constituted the law for its 
 guidance. From the times of ancient Egypt this 
 law has been a sacred arcanum, only communicated 
 by symbols and parables, the making of which, in 
 the ancient world, constituted the most important 
 form of literary art ; it therefore required for its 
 exposition a priestly caste, trained in its use, and 
 the guilds of initiated artists, which existed 
 throughout the world till comparatively recent 
 times, were instructed in it. Now-a-days, all this 
 is changed. Theology has dropped her secrets ; 
 her symbols have become meaningless ornaments, 
 and her parables are no longer understood. The 
 artist in the service of the Church no longer repre- 
 sents her mysteries in metaphorical shapes, and 
 the priests have as little skill in the old art of 
 
lO THE CANON. 
 
 myth-making, as they have in interpreting the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Few people have an adequate appreciation of 
 this lost principle— the art, that is, of working 
 symbolically. To us, who have now nothing to 
 conceal, such a practice has naturally gone out of 
 fashion, and the symbol, as a means of concealing 
 rather more than it was intended to explain, has 
 become gradually obsolete. We still write or paint 
 symbolically, but only to make that, which is ob- 
 scure, more plain. In the hands of the old priest, 
 or artist, on the contrary, the symbol was a veil 
 for concealment, beautiful or grotesque, as the case 
 might be. A myth or parable, in their hands, 
 subtly conveyed a hidden truth, by means of a 
 more or less obvious fiction ; but it has come to 
 pass, that the crude and childish lie on its surface 
 is ignorantly believed for the whole truth, instead 
 of being recognized, as the mere clue to its inner 
 meaning. All theology is composed in this way, 
 and her two-fold utterances must be read with a 
 double mind. Thus, when we read in the Scrip- 
 tures of the Church, or in the saintly legends, a 
 fiction showing more than ordinary exuberance of 
 fancy, we may be sure, that our attention is being 
 specially arrested. When miraculous events are 
 related of the gods, or when they are depicted in 
 marvellous shapes, the author gives us to under- 
 stand, that something uncommon is being con- 
 veyed. When singular and unearthly beasts are 
 described, such as Behemoth and Leviathan, the 
 unicorn, or the phoenix, it is intended, that we 
 should search deeply into their meaning : for such 
 are some of the artifices, by which the ancients 
 at once concealed and explained their hidden 
 mysteries. 
 
 When everything was mystical and metaphorical, 
 it was only natural that numbers should have 
 
INTRODUCTION. I I 
 
 been brought to the service of Art. Geometry 
 also provided a symbolical code, which may some 
 day be understood. These geometrical symbols 
 enabled the mathematicians to import the secret 
 mysteries into their works, and also gave to the 
 builders a means of applying a numerical system 
 to the temples, which, as Plato says, exhibited the 
 pattern of the laws in Egypt. Considerable traces 
 of this symbolical geometry survive in the arcana 
 of Freemasonry. Most of the practical secrets 
 of the old mediaeval architects, who built the 
 cathedrals according to the mysteries of the church, 
 have perished with the old craft lodges, which 
 preceded the establishment of the modern theo- 
 retical masonry. Nevertheless it is possible to 
 gather out of the early architectural and technical 
 books some clue to the old practice of building. 
 All old writers on architecture, as well as free- 
 masons, insist that geometry is the foundation of 
 their art, but their hints as to its application are so 
 obscure, that no one in recent times has been able 
 to explain how it was used. 
 
 Philosophy must have been equally dependent 
 upon some system of geometry, for Plato wrote 
 over the door of his academy " let none ignorant 
 OF geometry enter here," and in the " Republic" 
 (bk. vii. 527), he says, " You must in the utmost 
 possible manner direct the citizens of your beautiful 
 city on no account to fail to apply themselves to 
 geometry" — a science which, he says, " flatly con- 
 tradicts the language employed by those who 
 handle it." From this it may be concluded, that 
 Plato meant to inform us, that no one could un- 
 derstand his philosophy without knowing the geo- 
 metrical basis of it, since geometry contained the 
 fundamental secret of all the ancient science. 
 
 It is known both to freemasons and architects, 
 that the mystical figure called the Vesica Piscis, so 
 
12 THE CANON. 
 
 popular in the Middle Ages, and generally placed 
 as the first proposition of Euclid, was a symbol 
 applied by the masons in planning their temples. 
 Albert Durer, Serlio, and other architectural writers 
 depict the Vesica in their works, but presumably 
 because an unspeakable mystery attached to it 
 these authors make no reference to it. Thomas 
 Kerrich, a freemason and principal librarian of the 
 University of Cambridge, read a paper upon this 
 mystical figure before the Society of Antiquaries 
 on January 20th, 1820. He illustrated his remarks 
 with many diagrams illustrating its use by the 
 ancient masons, and piously concludes by saying," I 
 would by no means indulge in conjectures as to the 
 reference these figures might possibly have to the 
 most sacred mysteries of religion."^ Dr. Oliver, 
 (** Discrep." p. 109) speaking of the Vesica, says, 
 " This mysterious figure Vesica Piscis possessed 
 an unbounded influence on the details of sacred 
 architecture ; and it constituted the great and en- 
 during secret of our ancient brethren. The plans 
 of religious buildings were determined by its 
 use ; and the proportions of length and height 
 were dependent on it alone." ^ Mr. Clarkson (In- 
 troductory Essay to Billings' *' Temple Church") 
 considered that the elementary letters of the 
 primitive language were derived from the same 
 mystical symbol. He says that it was known 
 to Plato and " his masters in the Egyptian 
 colleges," and was to the old builders ** an arche- 
 type of idea] beauty." The Vesica was also 
 regarded as a baneful object under the name of 
 
 ' The west is the feminine end of a Christian church, and 
 the western gables of Gothic cathedrals are often lighted by a 
 rose-window, or one in the shape of the Vesica Piscis, as at 
 Dunblane. 
 
 ^ See also the article in Gwilt's " Encyclopsedia ■ of Archi 
 tecture" (1876), p. 968. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 the ** Evil Eye," and the charm most generally- 
 employed to avert the dread effects of its fascina- 
 tion was the Phallus (J. Millinger" Archseologia," 
 xix). In Heraldry the Vesica was used as the 
 feminine shield. It was interchangeable with the 
 Fusill, or Mascle (Guillim's " Display of Heraldry," 
 4th ed; 1660, § iv., ch. xix., p. 354), and was also 
 figured as a lozenge or rhombus. In the East the 
 Vesica was used as a symbol of the womb, and was 
 joined to the cross by the Egyptians forming the 
 handle of the Crux ansata. 
 
 Geometrically, the Vesica is constructed from 
 two intersecting circles, so that it may be taken as 
 
 FIG. I. — THE VESICA PISCIS. 
 
 having a double significance. Edward Clarkson 
 says that it " means astronomically at the present 
 day a starry conjunction ; and by a very intelligent 
 transfer of typical ideas a divine marriage," or the 
 two-fold essence of life, which the ancients sup- 
 posed to be male and female. To every Christian 
 the Vesica is familiar from its constant use in early 
 art, for not only was it an attribute of the Virgin, 
 and the feminine aspect of the Saviour as sym- 
 bolized by the wound'^ in his side, but it commonly 
 surrounds the figure of Christ, as His Throne when 
 seated in Glory. As a hieroglyph the combination 
 
 ^ All the early writers declare that this mystic wound emitted 
 blood and water at the Crucifixion, and it is never omitted in 
 the works of the early masters. 
 
14 THE CANON. 
 
 of Christ with the Vesica is analogous to the Crux 
 ansata of the Egyptians. 
 
 Besides the Vesica Piscis the old philosophers 
 and freemasons were accustomed to use as sym- 
 bols all the plane geometrical figures. The Pytha- 
 gorean emblem, the Pentalpha, or five-pointed star, 
 and the Hexalpha, or Solomon's Seal, have been 
 used in the church from time immemorial as sym- 
 bols of Christ and the Trinity, and have a variety 
 of emblematic associations. The Hexagon was 
 the common symbol of the Masonic Cube or 
 Cubical Stone, while the Triangle, and Square had 
 each their use as geometrical symbols. The Cross 
 has also been from the remotest times a potent 
 mystical emblem among all ancient peoples. 
 Crosses were generally of three kinds, the Tau 
 Cross, the upright or Jerusalem Cross, and the 
 Saltire or diagonal Cross, and each had its peculiar 
 significance. 
 
 Everybody knows, that the Greek and Hebrew 
 letters had each a numerical value, so that every 
 word in these languages may be resolved into a 
 number, by adding together the value of each letter 
 of which it is composed. 
 
 ABrAE«rZH0IKAMN 
 
 123 4567 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 
 
 EOnPSTTO XTfl 
 
 60 70 80 1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 
 
 70 60 5J, 40 3 2q» 10 98765432 I 
 
 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 go So 
 
 Thus the word iesovs zr 888, christos = 1,480, 
 LOGOS = 373, the Hebrew word, Messiah rr 358, 
 IHVH (Jehovah) = 26, zeusi= 612, mithras =360, 
 and ABRAXAS = 365. Of course no one supposes 
 
 "^ 
 
 ] ) ^ -n 
 
now, that the numerical value of the name christos 
 has any particular significance, or that the number 
 1 ,48ois anythingbut an accidental number, produced 
 by adding together the letters which form the Greek 
 word for "Anointed ; " nevertheless, we believe, 
 that the word christos was carefully selected by the 
 Greeks, who constructed the Christian theology, 
 in order to exemplify the old Gnosticism, which 
 forms the basis of Christianity in common with 
 every other old religious system. This number 
 1,480, as will be shown further on, accurately 
 exhibits an important measure of the Cosmos, and 
 was, apparently, chosen to be the foundation of 
 the scientific pantheism upon which the Christian 
 theology is built, and was a part of the Gnosis, 
 primarily derived from those laws of the priestly 
 astronomers of ancient Egypt, who first devised the 
 canon, which became a fundamental principle in 
 the Greek, Jewish, and Christian Law. 
 
 But there is no apparent evidence, that the Jews 
 and Christians possessed a sufficiently exact know- 
 ledge of the Cosmic scheme, to introduce any of 
 its dimensions into the names of the Deity. And 
 so it would appear. But the meaning of those 
 works which make up the canon of the Scriptures 
 are no longer understood, and although the know- 
 ledge of which we are speaking is carefully pre- 
 served in these Scriptures, so unintelligible have 
 they become, that no one at the present day appears 
 to be aware of its existence. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HOLY OBLATION. 
 
 '"''Perusing the nine last chapters of EzekieVs prophecy^ whilst 
 I hoped to find, and feel a solid body, / only grasped the flitting 
 aire, or rather a meer spirit ; I mean instead of a literall sense 
 I found the Canaan by him described no Geography, but 
 OURANOGRAPHY." — Thomas Fullee, " Pisgah-sight of Pales- 
 tine" (1650), bk. v., p. 189. 
 
 The publication by Copernicus of the measures of 
 the universe, which are at once straightforward 
 and accurate, was coincident with the Reformation, 
 and the breaking-up of the old mysticism of the 
 Middle Ages. His scheme was printed in 1543 
 in his celebrated work, " De Revolutionibus Or- 
 bium Coelestium," the first copy of which was 
 placed in his hands a few hours before his death ; 
 but the Pythagorean doctrine of the diurnal motion 
 of the earth, and its revolution round the sun, was 
 taught by him during his life, and received a con- 
 siderable amount of attention at the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. In the above work, accord- 
 ing to Newcomb(''Pop. Astron./'p. 60), the relative 
 distances of the planets are recorded with fair 
 accuracy, the unit of measurement employed being 
 the interval of the earth's distance from the sun. 
 The measures are : 
 
 According to Copernicus." According to Newcomb. 
 
 5 0*326 0-308 
 ¥ 0709 0718 
 
 © I "000 I -ooo 
 
 6 i'373 1-382 
 
 % 5*453 5*454 
 
 b 9*760 10-070 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 1/ 
 
 The moon's distance he computed at 6o|^ semi- 
 diameters of the earth. 
 
 At this time it was a dangerous innovation to 
 publish any but the vaguest astronomical facts, 
 and as Copernicus had some anxiety as to how 
 his statement would be received, his friend Rhe- 
 ticus published a volume, giving a preliminary 
 account of the Copernican theory. Although the 
 Papal authorities did not like the work of Coper- 
 nicus, it only received their qualified disapprobation, 
 for they put it on the index ** subject to correction." 
 However, although Copernicus stands as the first 
 of the modern astronomers, he wrote very much in 
 the same mystical strain as his predecessors, and 
 was by no means like an astronomer of the nine- 
 teenth century. What he really appears to have 
 done was to establish a precedent for the open 
 publication of genuine observations, which even 
 the gentle discouragement of the inquisitors was 
 unable to suppress. Whether the measures of 
 the planetary system, which he published, were de- 
 rived from his own observations, or were only the 
 revelation of an existing tradition, it is difficult to 
 determine. But as he is said to have died with- 
 out ever seeing his planet Mercury, presumably he 
 could have made no observations as to the dis- 
 tances of this planet, and consequently must have 
 received his data from some one else. This would 
 imply, that the astronomers before his time knew 
 the distances of the other planets, as well as that 
 of Mercury. Again, if it were possible for Coper- 
 nicus to arrive at the correct proportions of the 
 universe without a telescope, and unaided by any 
 previous observations beyond those which were 
 published, we can see no reason for disbelieving, 
 that the ancients, who are alleged to have gazed at 
 the stars for thousands of years, were incapable of 
 coming to a similarly accurate conclusion. 
 
 c 
 
1 8 THE CANON. 
 
 In the next century the fact, that the diameter 
 of the earth's orbit round the sum is 220 diameters 
 of the sun, is, so far as we know, mentioned for the 
 first time — a statement which implies a true know- 
 ledge of the earth's magnitude. This statement is 
 to be found in Galileo's '* System of the World," 
 the work which was condemned by the Inquisitors, 
 and for the publication of which he was arraigned, 
 and prohibited from continuing his astronomical 
 researches, or at least from publishing them. The 
 passage in which the measurement of the sun's 
 distance is given, is such as to make it doubtful if 
 the calculation were made at that time. The con- 
 text is as follows : — ** I suppose with the said 
 Copernicus, and also with his opposers, that the 
 semi-diameter of the grand orb, which is the dis- 
 tance of the earth from the sun, containeth 1,208 
 semi-diameters of the said earth. Secondly, I 
 premise with the allowance aforesaid, and of truth, 
 that the apparent diameter of the sun, in its mean 
 distance, to be about half a degree, that is 30 min. 
 prim,, which are 1,800 seconds, that is, 108,000 
 thirds. And because the apparent diameter of a 
 fixed star of the first magnitude is no more than 5 
 seconds, that is, 300 thirds, and the diameter of a 
 fixed star of the sixth magnitude, 50 thirds (and 
 herein is the greatest error of the anti-Coper- 
 nicans), therefore the diameter of the sun con- 
 taineth the diameter of a fixed star of the sixth 
 magnitude 2,160 times. . . . 
 
 " The diameter of the sun is 1 1 semi- 
 diameters of the earth, and the diameter of the 
 grand orb contains 2,146 of these same semi- 
 diameters, by the assent of both parties ; so that, 
 the diameter of the said orb contains the sun's 
 diameter 220 times very near. And because the 
 spheres are to one another as the cubes of their 
 diameters, let us make the cube of 220, which 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 1 9 
 
 is 106,480,000, and we shall have the grand orb 
 106,480,000 times bigger than the sun, to which 
 grand orb a star of the sixth magnitude ought to 
 be equal, according to the assertion of this author. 
 
 **The error, then, of these men consisteth in 
 being extremely mistaken, in taking the apparent 
 diameter of the fixed stars." (Salusbury's Trans- 
 lation, torn, i., p. 325.) 
 
 The first assumption in this remarkable passage, 
 
 namely, the distance from the earth to the sun 
 
 called the grand orb, is enormously deficient. 
 
 The distance according to modern calculations is 
 
 91,404,000 ^ ... , , 
 
 = 2^,086 semi-diameters at the least, 
 
 3.959 , 
 
 or about lo times the number stated in the text, 
 
 that is, if Galileo had given the number at 12,000 
 instead of 1,200 (12,080), it would have been ap- 
 proximately correct. Again, the diameter of the 
 sun is nearly no diameters of the earth, not 11 
 semi-diameters, as stated. Whether, in face of 
 this error, it was possible to compute the earth's 
 distance correctly by diameters of the sun, is a 
 question for astronomers to decide. It seems most 
 extraordinary, that, holding such erroneous con- 
 ceptions of the magnitude both of the earth and 
 the sun, he should yet bring out the correct result 
 in his final calculation of their distance, measured 
 by the diameter of the sun. It is also curious, 
 that by multiplying the two numbers 1,208 and 1 1 
 by 10 we get a real dimension of the sun's diameter 
 and distance. It is true that we have to take the 
 last in diameters instead of semi-diameters to make 
 it right. But, if the whole thing is a mystification, 
 this would be quite sufficient for the purpose, and 
 make detection more difficult. We know that 
 Galileo was delayed for a considerable time before 
 he obtained his privilege to publish this work, 
 and no one knows what alterations he may have 
 
20 THE CANON. 
 
 been required to make before the Inquisitors, who 
 first sanctioned the book and then condemned it, 
 were satisfied. It is tolerably certain, from what 
 we know of Galileo's stated opinions, that if there 
 had been no censorship he would have published 
 his work in a more direct form, notwithstanding his 
 obliging complacence to the wishes of the priests, 
 when they used their Procrustean persuasion to 
 make him change his mind, and take their view as 
 to how astronomical matters ought to be announced 
 to the world. His non-resistance on this occasion, 
 as well as the obscure and mystical language in 
 which his four tedious dialogues are written, 
 rather favours the idea, that his views differed very 
 little from those of the Inquisitors after all. This 
 tribunal merely disliked the idea of accurate astro- 
 nomical knowledge becoming common property, 
 and Galileo showed no serious objection to gratify 
 them. Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the contempo- 
 raries of Galileo, always kept their disclosures 
 within the bounds of ecclesiastical license, and 
 Kepler never pretended that he spoke otherwise 
 than in parables in his " Mysterium Cosmo- 
 graphicum " — an obviously mystical work, written 
 entirely as an exposition of the old doctrines which 
 we find in the " Timseus " of Plato. 
 
 All these mystifications resorted to by the 
 astronomers of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies suggest, that there was no real desire on 
 their part to allow the true facts of their science to 
 become generally known, and a sentence of John 
 Hutchinson's implies, that their was nothing new 
 in the disclosures of Copernicus. For he says : 
 " Such as believe that the motions of the orbs were 
 never known before Copernicus, nor philosophy 
 before, or that it was understood by Sir Isaac 
 Newton, let them study their books." ' Again, the 
 
 ' "The Religion of Satan, or Antichrist deUneated," 1749. 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 21 
 
 assertion, which is so frequently made, that Galileo 
 was the first astronomer who used a telescope, is 
 unsubstantiated by any certain evidence. From 
 a passage in the " Clouds " of Aristophanes we 
 know that the Greeks used burning glasses, and 
 consequently must have known their magnifying 
 powers. Roger Bacon in the thirteenth century 
 alludes to his use of a telescope and microscope. 
 Cornelius Agrippa ('* Vanity of the Arts and 
 Sciences") alludes to experiments with hollow, 
 convex, and other glasses, which make little things 
 appear great, and things afar off near. J. B. Porta 
 (1598) also makes a similar statement: *' Con- 
 cave lenses show distant objects more clearly, 
 convex those which are nearer, whence they may 
 be used to assist the sight. ... If you know 
 rightly how to combine one of each sort, you will 
 see both far and near objects larger and clearer. 
 ... I shall now endeavour to show in what 
 manner we may contrive to recognize our friends 
 at the distance of several miles, and how those of 
 weak sight may read most minute letters from 
 a distance. It is an invention of great utility, and 
 grounded on optical principles, nor is it at all diffi- 
 cult of execution ; but it must be so divulged as not 
 to be understood by the vulgar and yet be clear 
 to the sharp-sightedr (Life of Galileo, p. ) The 
 English mathematician, Leonard Digges, who 
 died about 1573, is supposed to have possessed a 
 telescope which he used in private. The accusers 
 of Galileo called him plagiarist, liar, and impostor, 
 as well as heretic, so his " Invention " may have 
 been merely the disclosure of what everybody up 
 to his time had concealed. At best Galileo only 
 imitated or improved upon the instruments made 
 by the Dutch, a specimen of which was in the 
 possession of Cardinal Borghese before the year 
 1609. The great interest taken in Galileo's tele- 
 
22 THE CANON. 
 
 scope at Venice is certainly in favour of its novelty, 
 and bears out the received opinion, that the tele- 
 scope first made its appearance openly at the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Since so much uncertainty exists as to the origin 
 of exact astronomical observations, and consider- 
 ing that the ancients devoted such extraordinary 
 attention to the heavenly bodies, it is reasonable 
 to suppose that the Egyptians and Chaldaeans, 
 who are said to have observed the stars for count- 
 less generations, must have arrived at something 
 more than a vague and absurdly inadequate know- 
 ledge of a science to which they had been so long 
 addicted. It is incredible that their knowledge 
 of the magnitude of the planetary system should 
 have been so erroneous as we are generally ex- 
 pected to believe. The fact appears to be, that 
 this science was a part of the hidden doctrine of 
 the mysteries, and was consequently withheld 
 from the uninitiated. The practice of astronomy 
 among the Egyptians is repeatedly alluded to by 
 Herodotus, Diodorus, and all early authorities. 
 Strabo saw at Heliopolis *'The houses of the 
 priests and the residences of Plato and Eudoxus 
 . . . Eudoxus came here with Plato, and accord- 
 ing to some writers, lived thirteen years in the 
 society of the priests, for the latter were distin- 
 guished by their knowledge of the heavenly bodies, 
 but were mysterious and uncommunicative, yet 
 after a time they were prevailed upon by courtesy 
 to acquaint them with some of the principles of 
 their science, but the barbarians concealed the 
 greater part of them," He says further, that the 
 later Greek astronomers derived much knowledge 
 from the records of the priests and the Chaldseans. 
 
 It is also certain that the myths and fables of 
 all early peoples contain veiled allusions to astro- 
 nomical facts, and could afford us definite informa- 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 23 
 
 tion, if we had the key to their interpretation, and 
 they are in fact the only records which it was 
 then considered desirable to preserve. Sir Isaac 
 Newton, for instance, who was not likely to be 
 deceived in astronomical matters, deduces the date 
 of the Argonautic Expedition from the sphere of 
 Mus3eus (" Chron.," pp. 82, 95). He entirely 
 accepts the reality of this primitive sphere, con- 
 structed by a mythical person, the master of 
 Orpheus, and further proves his date from the 
 observations of Thales, Meton, and Hipparchus. 
 To Sir Isaac Newton this story of the Argonauts 
 is quite real, as regards the astronomy, and is 
 apparently regarded by him as the ordinary mytho- 
 logical manner of recording a date. He never 
 questions its accuracy beyond saying that the 
 observations of the ancients were coarse. That 
 this is the true attitude to be taken towards such 
 early writings we have no doubt, and until these 
 are systematically read with a view of ascertaining 
 their hidden meaning, all ancient history must 
 remain as at present a grotesque absurdity. 
 
 The Christians, from the outset of their exist- 
 ence, seem to have deliberately destroyed all the 
 early works on astronomy. The New Sect had 
 no doubt the same reason for this course of action 
 as for the persecution of astronomers in later times. 
 Nevertheless, out of the fragments of the classical 
 writers, we get some idea of what was known in 
 their time. The following passage from Strabo 
 (bk. ii,, ch. V.) gives some notion of what he 
 knew, or rather what he cared to tell on this sub- 
 ject : " The earth and heaven are spheroidal. The 
 tendency of all bodies having weight, is to a 
 centre. Further, the earth, being spheroidal, and 
 having the same centre as the heavens, is motion- 
 less as well as the axis, which passes through both 
 it and the heavens. The heavens turn round both 
 
24 THE CANON. 
 
 the earth, and its axis from east to west. . , . 
 While the planets, the sun, and the moon describe 
 certain oblique circles comprehended within the 
 Zodiac. Admitting these points in whole or in 
 part, astronomers proceed to treat of other matters 
 [such as] the motions [of the stars], their revolu- 
 tions, eclipses, size, relative distance, and a thou- 
 sand similar particulars. . . . The heavens and 
 the earth must be supposed to be divided each into 
 five zones, the celestial zone to possess the same 
 names as those below. . . . These zones may be 
 distinguished by circles drawn parallel to the 
 equator on either side of it. Two of these will 
 separate the torrid from the temperate zones, and 
 the remaining two the temperate from the frigid. 
 . . . Likewise the torrid zone, which is divided 
 into two halves by the equator, is distinguished 
 as having a northern and southern side." In 
 a general way, this is substantially what a 
 modern astronomer would tell us, with the excep- 
 tion that in the old system the earth took the 
 place of the sun, and it is noticeable, that Strabo 
 says, that it is the business of an astronomer to 
 ascertain the size and relative distances of the 
 heavenly bodies. 
 
 Several ancient computations of the measures 
 of the universe, claiming to be accurate, have sur- 
 vived to our time. Such as the distances of the 
 planetary orbits recorded by Ptolemy, and the 
 calculation of the earth's circumference made by 
 Eratosthenes. Ptolemy's measurements are very 
 obviously wrong, and curiously enough this seems 
 to be well known to Hippolytus, who, after quoting 
 the figures, thus concludes an ironical passage: 
 "Oh pride of vain-toiling soul, and incredible 
 belief, that Ptolemy should be considered pre- 
 eminently wise among those who have cultivated 
 similar wisdom" ("Refutation of all Heresies,"' 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 2$ 
 
 bk. iv., c. xii.). Eratosthenes gives the earth*s 
 circumference at 250,000 stadia; but it is impos- 
 sible to decide whether this was a true estimate, 
 since we have no positive information as to the 
 value of the stadium he used. He made his 
 observations in Egypt, and arrived at his result 
 according to the methods practised at the present 
 day. He had the advantage of using the astro- 
 nomical appliances anciently established at Alex- 
 andria, and as librarian to the great library he 
 had access to all the available astronomical know- 
 ledge of the Egyptians. He was, moreover, in 
 every way qualified for the task, so that it must be 
 almost a certainty that his calculation was sub- 
 stantially correct. Little or nothing being now 
 known about the Alexandrian standard measures, 
 speculations based upon any hypothetical value of 
 the stadium of Eratosthenes can only lead to 
 doubtful results. Nevertheless it is not an un- 
 reasonable supposition that the Egyptians and 
 Greeks had accurately computed the measure- 
 ments of the earth. 
 
 To discover the precise knowledge of the 
 ancients as to the measures of the universe, it is 
 first necessary to determine the standards of 
 measurement which were generally in use. Un- 
 fortunately our ignorance on this essential point 
 makes all inquiries on the subject extremely 
 hazardous and difficult. If the British standard 
 measure of length be examined, it would appear 
 that the division of its component parts has been 
 derived from the ascertained diameter of the earth. 
 It is well known that the modern French standard 
 constructed in the last century, was deduced from 
 a fraction of the earth's circumference, possibly In 
 accordance with a more ancient precedent. The 
 antiquity of our English standard is unknown, 
 there being apparently no allusion to it before the 
 
26 THE CANON. 
 
 time of Elizabeth. The Druids were credited by- 
 Julius Caesar, and other writers, with a consider- 
 able knowledge of astronomy, and must conse- 
 quently have possessed a set of measures, but 
 whether the original British standard of the Druids 
 was preserved during the Roman and subsequent 
 invasions, and is that which now survives, is un- 
 certain. In any case the following coincidences 
 may be pointed out, and need not be regarded as 
 being purely accidental. The number of British 
 miles in the mean diameter of the earth is in round 
 numbers 7,920. The polar diameter is 7,899, and 
 the equatorial diameter is 7,926, giving 7,918 as 
 the exact mean. But 7,920, being a more con- 
 venient number, may be accepted as the reputed 
 amount. Now the British furlong contains 7,920 
 inches. It also contains 220 yards and no 
 fathoms, which are respectively the diameter and 
 radius of the earth s orbit measured by the diameter 
 of the sun. A mile contains 1,760 yards, and an 
 equilateral triangle, inscribed within in the orbit 
 of Saturn measured by the diameter of the sun, 
 measures about 1,760 diameters on each of its 
 sides. Therefore the British standard records 
 three important measures of the cosmic system. 
 Assuming that these coincidences are the result, 
 not of accident but of design, we are led to the 
 conclusion that at some time, possibly very remote, 
 the dimensions of the cosmos were ascertained, 
 and introduced into the standard measures in- 
 herited by the English people. Another coincid- 
 ence, lately discovered, is that the English quarter 
 measure is exactly a quarter of the capacity of 
 the coffer of the Great Pyramid, which suggests 
 a connection between our measures and those of 
 the builders of Egypt. There are other reasons 
 for supposing that this coincidence between the 
 English standard and that of the Great Pyramid 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 27 
 
 is not accidental, but these must be discussed 
 further on. For the present the reader must 
 be asked to assume that a standard measure, 
 corresponding to that in use in England, was 
 known to the Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks, 
 and was mystically employed to register the 
 facts of astronomy in the several scriptures of these 
 peoples. 
 
 The first measures are said to have been derived 
 from the body of a man, " according to the simili- 
 tude whereof God formed the world .... in such 
 sort, that the one is called the greater world, and 
 the other the lesser '* (Lomazzo on " Painting," p. 
 109). Therefore man having been made in the 
 image both of God and the world, God, the world, 
 and man are synonymous terms, and the human 
 body becomes the standard measure of the world. 
 According to Vitruvius a man*s height is four 
 cubits := 6 feet = 24 palms ^ 96 digits. Now, 
 taking the earth's distance from the sun at 10, the 
 radius of the sphere of the zodiac becomes about 
 96, so that the number of digits in a man's height 
 may have been supposed to measure the seven 
 orbits of the planets, surrounded by the fixed stars. 
 In that case, when Vitruvius lays it down that all 
 temples are to be designed according to the pro- 
 portions of the human body, he may mean that the 
 temples were to conform to the measures of the 
 universe. 
 
 The astronomical science of the Hebrews seems 
 to be mystically concealed under the figures of 
 Noah's ark, the Tabernacle, the Temple of Solo- 
 mon, and the Holy Oblation of Ezekiel, while the 
 Christians added to these the mystical city of the 
 New Jerusalem, described in the two last chapters 
 of the Revelation. Each of these mystical struc- 
 tures appears to exhibit a particular aspect of the 
 heavens, and constitutes a scientific record of cer- 
 
28 THE CANON. 
 
 tain known facts of astronomy, which formed the 
 true basis of the ancient theology. 
 
 The cosmos of the Christians, according to 
 late writers, but presumably derived from the 
 tradition of the ancient church, consisted of three 
 principal divisions: First, there were the three 
 
 FIG. 2. — CONVENTIONAL PLAN OF THE UNIVERSE HAVING THE 
 SEVEN ORBITS OF THE PLANETS INSTEAD OF THE SEVEN 
 INTERVALS GENERALLY SHOWN ON THE OLD DIAGRAMS; 
 
 circles of the empyreum ; secondly, the sphere of 
 the fixed stars, together with the seven planets ; 
 and, lastly, the sublunary, or elementary world. 
 In Greek the names of the three divisions of 
 the universe are empyreion, aither, and stoicheia, 
 whose numerical values, as will be seen, correctly 
 set forth the measures of the system for which 
 
they stand. This scheme appears in many of 
 the illustrated works of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries, but the intervals between the 
 orbits of the planets are never correctly drawn. 
 To make a diagram accurately showing the 
 relative distances of the seven planetary orbits, it 
 will be found that the sun's diameter, the interval 
 between the earth and the moon, called the Tone 
 by Pliny, or the earth's diameter, are convenient 
 units of measurement. All these units, as well as 
 the British mile, appear to have been employed 
 by the ancients. If the orbits of the planets are 
 measured by the length of the sun's diameter, 
 taken at 852,584 British miles, the distances 
 are : 
 
 Diam. of the sun. 
 
 From the sun to 
 
 5 35-392,638 miles 
 
 44 
 
 
 ? 66,131,476 „ 
 
 77^ 
 
 
 e 92,500,000 „ 
 
 io8i 
 
 
 S 139,312,226 „ 
 
 163J 
 
 
 1/^ 475.693.149 ., 
 
 558 
 
 
 h, 872,134,583 „ 
 
 1,023 
 
 According to the old Egyptian system, the earth 
 stood in the centre, the sun was supposed to 
 occupy the earth's orbit, while Mercury and Venus 
 revolved round the sun as satellites. Even modern 
 astronomers, with all their appliances, are uncer- 
 tain as to the exact distance of the earth from the 
 sun. It has been computed to be from 108 to 1 10 
 of its own diameters. Galileo called it no, and 
 the ancients seem to have usually taken it at this 
 amount. 
 
 Origen ("Against Celsus," bk. vi., ch. 23), 
 after describing the cosmic ladder of the Mithraic 
 mysteries, and the harmonic arrangements of the 
 stars, continues : " If one wished to obtain means 
 for a profounder contemplation of the entrance of 
 
30 
 
 THE CANON* 
 
 souls into divine things .... let him peruse at 
 the end of Ezekiels prophecies the visions .... 
 and let him peruse also from the Apocalypse of 
 John what is related of the city of God, the 
 heavenly Jerusalem, and of its foundations and 
 gates. And if he is capable of finding out also 
 
 FIG. 3. — THE HOLY OBLATION. 
 
 the road, which is indicated by symbols . . . ., let 
 him read the book 'of Moses entitled * Numbers,' 
 and let him seek the help of one who is capable of 
 initiating him into the meaning of the narratives 
 concerning the encampments of the Children of 
 Israel. ... He will distinguish in the encamp- 
 ments certain things relating to the numbers that 
 are enumerated, and which are especially adapted 
 
to each tribe, of which the present does not appear 
 to be the proper time to speak!' ^ The vision referred 
 to at the end of EzekieFs prophecies is the mys- 
 tical description of the land of Canaan (Ezekiel, 
 ch. xlviii). The city of Jerusalem is there de- 
 scribed as being surrounded by a four-square 
 figure, called the Holy Oblation, which is said to 
 be 25,000 reeds on every side. The suburbs of 
 the city are enclosed by a square whose sides are 
 5,000 reeds, and the city in the middle measures 
 4,500 reeds on every side. Beyond the suburbs 
 on the north and south a space of 25,000 x 
 10,000 reeds was allotted to the priests and 
 Levites. Now, if the sides of the three squares 
 be divided by 12 — the number of the tribes — 
 
 (^5^°= .,o83i 5^ = 416I, and 4:500= 375), 
 
 ^ 12 12 12 f 
 
 it will be found that the city exactly contains the 
 sun's orbit, together with the orbit of Venus, 
 shown in the four quarters according to the Egyp- 
 tian system, and probably represents the wheels of 
 the four living creatures, seen in the first vision of 
 Ezekiel. The orbit of Saturn, being about 2,046 
 diameters of the sun, is contained within the outer 
 square, whose sides are 2,083^. The square sur- 
 rounding the suburbs of the city has no direct 
 affinity with the orbits of the planets, but a circle 
 whose area is equal to this square has a circum- 
 ference of 1,480. For various reasons it would 
 seem that the measure 2,083^ is a mean between 
 the numbers 2,093 ^^*^ 2,073. ,Let it therefore be 
 taken for granted that the Holy Oblation is a 
 square enclosed by two lines, which are repre- 
 sented by the mean dimension 2,083^. The outer 
 line, which measures 2,093, ^s the side of a square 
 having an area double that, which has a side of 
 
 ^ This last sentence is a very good specimen of Patristic 
 
 equivocation. 
 
32 THE CANON. 
 
 1,480. That is to say, a circle inscribed within 
 the square 2,093 exactly contains a square whose 
 sides are 1,480 ; and this circle will be assumed to 
 be the sphere of the zodiac or firmament. The 
 side of the inner square, again, measuring 2,073, 
 is x^2"^h of the earth's circumference measured 
 in miles. The numerical value of the name 
 CHRisTOS is 1,480, and the mystery of this number 
 appears to be that it supplies the measure of 
 God's body extending crosswise throughout the 
 whole universe. The wisdom of the number 666 
 conveys the same theological secret, for 666 is the 
 diameter of a circle having a circumference of 
 
 2,093- 
 
 The Greeks appear to have concealed a similar 
 knowledge in the names of the planets, as recorded 
 in the Epinomis of Plato, who calls the five planets 
 XPONOi:, 1,090, ZET2, 612, 'APH2, 309, 'A^POAITH, 
 993, and *EPMH2, 353 ; if the sun, ^HAIOS, 318, 
 and the moon, 2EAHNH, 301, be included, the sum 
 of the numbers obtained from the seven names is 
 3,976, a number which is one less than the radius 
 of a circle 25,000 in circumference. Now the side 
 of the Holy Oblation, according to Ezekiel, is 
 
 25,000 reeds (^^^ = 2,083-! Y 
 
 But a far more striking coincidence arises from 
 the addition of the numbers deduced from the 
 names 'EMnxPEION, 760, 'AI0HP, 128, and 
 2TOIXEIA, 1,196, for the sum of these amounts 
 to 2,084, or the mean length of the side of the 
 Holy Oblation. 
 
 In the same way the geometrical figure called 
 the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse will be 
 found to contain the sun's orbit and that of 
 Mercury. Francis Potter, who published a book 
 on ** the number 666 " in 1647, alludes to the mys- 
 teires of this celestial city. He tell us, that the 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 33 
 
 144 cubits ascribed to the wall are to be taken as 
 the area of its section — the wall being 1 2 cubits 
 high and 12 cubits broad. The other measure- 
 ment given is that in ch. xxi., v. 16 : ** And the 
 city lieth four square, and the length is as large as 
 the breadth ; and he measured the city with the 
 reed 12,000 furlongs. The length, and the breadth, 
 and the height of it are equal." Francis Potter 
 explains, that the 12,000 furlongs (ardSia) are to 
 be taken as the contents of a cube, but his calcu- 
 lations as to its size are obscure. However 12,000 
 furlongs — 7, 9 20,000 feet (12, 000 x 660^:7,920,000), 
 and the cube root of this number is about 199!^, or 
 roughly 200, which gives the length of one side of 
 the cube. The area of the city is therefore a square 
 nearly 200 feet on every side, surrounded by a 
 wall 12 cubits, or 18 feet wide, which increases the 
 outside dimensions to 235-!- ^^^^' This figure 
 appears to be a Christian variation of the Hebrew 
 city of Ezekiel, and so it is interpreted by Francis 
 Potter. For it will be found, that it incloses the 
 sun's orbit together with that of Mercury, drawn in 
 each of the four corners of the square. It is well 
 known that the four beasts, which appear in the 
 midst of the four wheels in Ezekiel's vision, are iden- 
 tical with the four symbols of the Evangelists, and 
 the devices upon the four standards of the Camp of 
 the Israelites, where they stand for the four corner 
 signs of the Zodiac — Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and 
 Aquarius. In a thirteenth century manuscript of 
 the Apocalypse in the British Museum (MSS. Add. 
 18,633), there is a miniature of the city of the New 
 Jerusalem, showing the three persons of the Trinity, 
 in the midst of a square having the four symbols 
 of the Evangelists depicted in the four corners, cor- 
 responding to the four orbits of Mercury. This 
 peculiar arrangement constantly recurs in early 
 Christian art. Usually the Christ is surrounded 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 by the Vesica, and it is a remarkable fact, that a 
 Vesica, whose length is equal to that of the city in 
 the preceding diagram, coincides with the four 
 circles of Mercury's orbit, and consequently pro- 
 duces a geometrical figure exactly resembling the 
 common method of representing Christ in Glory. 
 The circumferences of the two circles which form 
 the Vesica being nearly 360, they may be taken to 
 represent the two intersecting circles of the equator 
 and the ecliptic. Some interpreters, according to 
 Francis Potter, take the 12,000 furlongs to be the 
 area of the city, and therefore he says, " that the 
 
 FIG. 4. — THE NEW JERUSALEM. 
 
 perimeter or compass of such an area must be 
 436 furlongs at the least," the side being about 109 
 furlongs. And since 109 is roughly the radius of the 
 sun's orbit measured by the sun's diameter the New 
 Jerusalem is doubly shadowed forth as a vision of 
 the city of the Sun. In ch. xxi., v. 9, " that great 
 city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven " 
 is called " the Bride the Lamb's wife, and her light 
 was like unto a stone most precious, even like a 
 jasper stone, clear as crystal." The bride of the 
 Cabala was called adni or thora, and it is evidently 
 she whom St. John is describing under the figure 
 of the heavenly city. The name Tarot has been 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 35 
 
 derived from the Hebrew word thora, the law; and 
 it is a further confirmation of the cosmic import 
 of this diagram that the hieroglyph of the twenty- 
 second card of the Tarot-pack, called " Le Monde," 
 represents the four symbols of the Evangelists 
 surrounding a Vesica, inclosing the figure of a 
 young virgin. Moreover the circle which surrounds 
 the city has a circumference of 888, the numerical 
 value of the name Jesus. 
 
 Again, Francis Potter constantly connects the 
 New Jerusalem with the number 666, and this 
 may be explained by the fact that its diagonals 
 measure (333 x 2 =) 666, and the cross thus 
 formed symbolized what he calls the Antichrist. 
 
 If the inferences just drawn from the numbers 
 ascribed to the Holy Oblation and the New Jeru- 
 salem be correct, it is obvious that these diagrams 
 afford a positive evidence of the knowledge pos- 
 sessed by the Hebrews and Christians concerning 
 the magnitude and distances of the heavenly 
 bodies. The position of these figures in the 
 Canonical Scriptures also conclusively demonstrates 
 a connection between theology and cosmic science. 
 For while the extent of the ancient knowledge of 
 astronomy has still to be proved, no one can rea- 
 sonably doubt that the old theological systems 
 were largely concerned with, if not actually founded 
 upon, the order of the universe, which in its en- 
 tirety supplies the only comprehensible manifesta- 
 tion of the Deity evident to the senses of man- 
 kind. 
 
 In the statement of Origen, already quoted, he 
 refers to the Camp, as well as the Holy Oblation, 
 and hints that a similar interpretation applies to 
 both. The description, of which he speaks, occurs 
 in the second chapter of Numbers, where it is 
 said that the Israelites pitched their camp round 
 the Tabernacle. They were grouped in four 
 
36 THE CANON. 
 
 companies composed of three tribes, each under a 
 standard. The standard of Judah was set at the 
 east, that of Reuben at the south, that of Ephraim 
 at the west, and that of Dan at the north. Judah's 
 standard bore a Hon, Reuben's bore a mandrake, 
 Ephraim's a bull, and Dan's a serpent. The 
 total number of the whole army distributed under 
 the standards was 603,550 (v. 32). 
 
 Villalpanda ("In Ezek." vol. ii., p. 470) gives 
 a diagram of the camp (reproduced by Kircher 
 *' CEdip." tom. ii., pars i, p. 21, and Sir W. 
 Drummond, " CEdipus Judaicus," plate 15) in the 
 form of a square, with the signs of the zodiac 
 arranged round it, three on every side. Each of 
 the twelve tribes is identified with one of the signs, 
 and the standards are allotted to the four tribes 
 which occupy the corners of the square, whose 
 corresponding signs are Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, 
 and Scorpio. The four corner signs of the Zodiac 
 were afterwards assigned as the symbols of the four 
 evangelists, beginning with Aquarius (Matthew), 
 Leo (Mark), Taurus (Luke), and Scorpio, changed 
 to an eagle (John). Villalpanda's diagram con- 
 tains, besides the Zodiac, the symbols of the seven 
 planets and four elements, thus comprising the 
 whole cosmic system which has been supposed to 
 be included in the Holy Oblation. The arrange- 
 ment of the squares in which the symbols are 
 placed suggests that if the solution of the mystery 
 is a geometrical one, it depends upon the problem 
 ^of squaring the circle. For the old method of 
 finding the diameter of a circle whose area was 
 equal to a given square was to divide the diagonal 
 of the square into ten parts, and to take eight for 
 the diameter of the circle. The division of the 
 camp in Villalpanda's diagram is into ten equal 
 squares, the space between each of the squares 
 bearing thp symbol of the Zodiac upon it, being a 
 
THE HOLY OBLATION. 
 
 37 
 
 double square. Therefore, a circle touching the 
 inner angle of the four corner signs has an area 
 equal to the area of the camp. Now, by dividing 
 603,550, the number of the Israelites, by 12, we 
 get 50,295^, which is nearly equal to the length of 
 the two diagonals of the square, whose area is 
 
 ,.PCCi.P.SM.«,_ 
 
 i \ 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 ZdUn 
 
 
 & 
 
 ^^1 
 
 
 
 
 "oSLfnS'ST 
 
 " 
 
 FIG. 5. THE CAMP OF THE ISRAELITES (VILLALPANDA, "IN 
 
 EZEK. EXPLAN ATI ONES," 1 596, TOM. II., P. 470.) 
 
 half of that of the Holy Oblation. The diagonal 
 of this square being r^5_J-_z5 — j 25,147-^, and 
 
 taking, as in the case of the Holy Oblation, ^^ 
 of this number to be the length required, we get 
 
 -^^—37—2,095^, or very nearly the diagonal of a 
 12 
 
 square whose sides are 1,480. The diagonal of 
 
 such a square is about 2,093, which has been 
 
38 THE CANON. 
 
 suggested as the extreme measure of the Holy 
 Oblation. Now a circle having an area equal 
 to that of a square whose sides are 1,480, and 
 whose diagonal is 2,093, has a diameter of 1,674 
 
 f^^^zr 209^x8 = 1,6741). And the square 
 \ 10 / 
 
 inclosing this circle has a diagonal of 2,368, which 
 is the numerical equivalent of the name iesovs 
 CHRiSTOS (888 + 1,480 =: 2,368). A simpler 
 explanation is that the square root of 603,550 is 
 776^, and this number is the perimeter of the 
 Holy Oblation if the sun's distance be taken at 10. 
 If this be the true interpretation of the numbers, 
 the representation of the camp given by Villal- 
 panda exactly agrees with the result. For the 
 square 1,480 being inscribed within the sphere 
 of the Zodiac the arrangement of the signs as the 
 border of the square appropriately notifies that 
 fact, and the addition of the seven planets and the 
 four elements makes the diagram a conventional 
 picture of the three divisions of the universe which 
 correspond to the three persons of the cabalistic 
 triad symbolized by the numbers 2,368, 1,480, and 
 888. These are the three great canonical numbers 
 of antiquity, and they are exemplified by the three 
 mystical diagrams just described. The camp may 
 be said to symbolize the number 2,368 (iesovs 
 CHRiSTOs), the Holy Oblation may be referred 
 to the number 1,480, christos, and the Heavenly 
 City of the Bride, being inclosed in a circle 888 
 in circumference, may be accepted as the symbol 
 of the number 888 (iesovs). Generally the third 
 person of the Trinity represented the sublunary 
 world or four elements only, but in the Pythagorean 
 system she also personified the sun, whose orbit, 
 as has been shown, is contained in her city de- 
 scribed by St. John. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CABALA. 
 
 " The Jews, in imitation of the Pythagorean Institutes^ made 
 the Cabala their codex or Canon Law.^^ — "Court of the Gen- 
 tiles," vol. iii., p. 216. 
 
 ^^The Church of Rome persisted obstinately in affirming, though 
 ndt always with the same imprudence and plainness of speech, 
 that the Holy Scriptures were not composed for the use of the 
 multitude, but only for that of their spiritual teachers^ — Mos- 
 HEiM, "Eccl. Hist.," vol. ii., sect, iii., ch. i., p. 25. 
 
 In order that what follows may be better under- 
 stood, we must now attempt to elucidate the 
 principal doctrines of the Cabala. This singular 
 work is known to have formed an important part 
 of the Masonic traditions, and undoubtedly con- 
 tains the nearest approach to a direct revelation of 
 the ancient canonical secrets of the old world ; and 
 however obscure it may be, those parts which are 
 intelligible provide us with a few fundamental 
 facts, which are indisputably the basis of the old 
 esoteric philosophy. The books of the Cabala 
 which have come down to us are said to have 
 been first written by Simeon Ben Jochai at the 
 time of the destruction of the second temple, 
 and afterwards expanded by his disciples. Mr. 
 Mathers, in the introduction to his translation of 
 the " Zohar," tells us that the mysterious science of 
 the Cabala was said to have been communicated 
 by angels to Adam after his fall. From Adam it 
 passed to Noah and the Patriarchs, ** Moses, who 
 was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, 
 
40 THE CANON, 
 
 was first initiated into the Cabala in the land of 
 his birth, but became most proficient in it during 
 his wanderings in the wilderness, where he not 
 only devoted to it the leisure hours of the 
 whole forty years, but received lessons in it from 
 one of the angels." Although statements of this 
 kind are merely philosophic fictions, we may safely 
 accept the antiquity of the Cabala as being very 
 great. The legends of its origin are not made 
 without a purpose, for underneath their ficti- 
 tious terms a truth is concealed. For instance, 
 the communication of the Cabala was said to be 
 coeval with the Fall, because this event, allegoric- 
 ally understood, symbolizes the transmission of 
 the mystical doctrine as an emblem of the divine 
 essence or life existing in the universe. The 
 Cabala was the emblem of the soul of the world, 
 and, as all human art was created in the imitation 
 of nature, the secret tradition symbolized the in- 
 visible soul, which inspired the letter of the Scrip- 
 tures. And since it was a postulate of the philo- 
 sophers, that the tradition or passage of the spirit 
 or soul of God from heaven to earth was effected 
 through the Zodiac and seven planets, so they 
 alleged that the Cabala was transmitted through 
 the mouths of the Patriarchs and the Messiah 
 Christos, who personified the planetary system. 
 According to the old cosmic arrangement, the 
 universe consisted of three stages, the Empyreum, 
 the seven planets, and the earth in the centre. 
 This order we may call God, the Universe, and 
 Man, and the cabalistic steps or degrees, embracing 
 these three divisions, may be said to express the 
 hypothetical agency through which the spirit flowed 
 down to earth, and was first incarnated in the human 
 body of the hypothetical creature, Adam. 
 
 The cabalistic theology, representing the endless 
 reasoning of countless generations of ingenious 
 
THE CABALA. 4 1 
 
 men, is the epitome of man's first efforts to grasp 
 the problems connected with the cause and con- 
 tinuance of life, the inscrutable mystery which has 
 baffled the understanding of all inquirers alike. 
 They reasoned concerning all the phenomena of 
 existence by their analogy to human creation, and 
 it was supposed that the universal creation took 
 place after the manner of human creation, and 
 that the generative attributes of a man and a 
 woman were those of God and the universe, and 
 finally that all the bodily functions of a human 
 being had their counterpart in the macrocosm or 
 greater world. 
 
 The theoretical system based upon these ideas 
 constituted the secret doctrine, which was taught 
 orally, and was never written. All the old 
 canonical writings are an exposition of its teach- 
 ing, but these works are composed, so that only 
 those persons, who are instructed in the rules of 
 the hidden wisdom could discover their meaning. 
 There was a mystical doctrine taught in all the old 
 schools of philosophy. In the case of the Pytha- 
 goreans, a long and severe period of probation 
 was required on the part of an aspirant, before the 
 ultimate truths of the system were communicated. 
 Although the true interpretation of the Jewish law 
 depends upon a knowledge of these cabalistic 
 mysteries, it is possible, that not a single human 
 being at the present day understands their mean- 
 ing or application. Menasseh Ben Israel, a Jewish 
 writer at the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 has recorded some valuable observations on this 
 mystical science, and has given the thirteen rules 
 for practical use in interpreting the myths of the 
 prophets. He says, " God delivered to Moses 
 the written law, and the commentary called the 
 oral law ; the latter was to be retained mentally 
 and to be transmitted by tradition ; it is therefore 
 
42 THE CANON. 
 
 termed * Cabala ' (received). Accordingly the 
 two texts (Exodus, xxxiv. 27) are presumed to 
 allude to the two laws, so denominated from one 
 being an exposition of the other. . . . 
 
 " AH the known languages of the world, except- 
 ing the Hebrew only, owe their origin to human 
 construction and art; but the Hebrew had the 
 Lord for its author and framer, and is thence 
 called the ' holy tongue,' as it proceeded from that 
 consummate Wisdom, which is infinite ; each word 
 in itself contains the profoundest mysteries, , . . 
 for which reason R. Simeon Ben Jochai says in 
 the * Zohar,* ' Woe to him who imagines that the 
 Law only contains the superficial structure of 
 its narration '....* and he, who supposes it has 
 no soul comprised within its veiled mysteries, has 
 no portion in the world to come/ * Its body only,' 
 he continues, 'the ignorant enjoy, but sages, who 
 are the gifted servants of the Sublime and Most 
 High King, look to its soul as its superior portion, 
 and others still more learned to the soul of that 
 soul. . . .' 
 
 *'The least instructed are those who .... 
 occupy themselves in the endeavour to learn how 
 things happen according to the literal record ; these 
 are rewarded for their pious application (although 
 they do not properly understand it) yet acquire 
 salvation by virtue of their good intention. 
 
 " Others employ themselves in studying the 
 explanations of the precepts and ceremonies, that 
 is, knowledge of the ' Mishna,' called by some the 
 oral law, from having been formerly retained in 
 the memory of sages, and conveyed verbally to 
 their disciples. 
 
 " And lastly, many aspire to the highest con- 
 templation of the mysteries contained in the words, 
 letters, points, and musical accents used in the con- 
 struction of the text of the law. 
 
THE CABALA. 43 
 
 " R. Simeon Ben Jochai termed the first of these, 
 Masters of the Reading; the second, Masters of 
 the Second or Double Lecture; and the third. 
 Masters of the Cabala, that is, of Tradition (or the 
 Received), it being an explanation of the divine 
 law, received from the mouth of God by Moses, 
 revealed by him to the sages or elders, and by 
 them handed down to posterity. . . . ' As Moses 
 was a hundred and twenty days on the Mount, on 
 three different occasions of forty days each, it is 
 highly probably he learned them all during these 
 three studies, dedicating forty days to each, and as 
 all beginnings are the most difficult, he was 
 gradually prepared, and rendered capable of attain- 
 ing the highest contemplation of the Cabala, in the 
 same period of forty days as he had employed in 
 mastering the lesser ones, from being thus gradu- 
 ally instructed. Hence it may be understood 
 what " Cabala " is, and how it is divided into two 
 parts. . . .' 
 
 " A demonstration will now be attempted, for 
 the information of the curious, as to the means 
 employed by the ' Cabalists ' to discover the highest 
 mysteries of the Law. , . , They have thirteen 
 methods of discovering the mystery they attribute 
 to the whole Law in a logical sense, and the secret 
 meaning of its words. Brief examples of these 
 rules will clearly explain their nature. . , . 
 
 " The second rule is called Transposition, that is, 
 the letters of a word being transposed, and joined 
 different ways, form various words. . . . This 
 rule also seems to be derived from scripture, as it 
 says in Genesis, * Noah found grace in the sight 
 of the Lord/ The letters in the name NCh, 
 Noah, being transposed, form ChN, grace.'* By 
 this change the numerical value of the word be- 
 comes 708, instead of 58. . . . 
 
 " The third rule is called Gematria or Numera- 
 
44 THE CANON. 
 
 tion, and is performed by numbers, being a mathe- 
 matical mode of comprehending the Scripture, for 
 as the Hebrew letters are numerals they contain 
 everything, Pythagoras said, God created the 
 world by numbers, as did Plato (See Question 
 71); so the word erashith amounts numerically 
 to the same as itsr bthvrh (He formed the 
 Law), thus drawing the conclusion, that the Law 
 was the instrumental cause of the creation of the 
 world. To this question, Why does the Law 
 begin with a B ? They answer, To signify the 
 two Laws — the written and oral, or justice and 
 mercy, and similar things. This rule is used in 
 different modes, as explained in ' Pardes Ria- 
 monim' ; they often add a unit to the amount of 
 the letters in a word, which is called Colel, as to 
 the word (Covenant) numerically 612, they add 
 this Colel making it 613, saying, this word signi- 
 fies the Law, which contains 613 precepts. This 
 mystery of numbers also appears stated in Holy 
 Writ ; for in the case of the idolatrous priests of 
 Baal, who accepted Elijah's challenge, it says, that 
 Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number 
 of the sons of Jacob; his taking this number, for 
 the special purpose of invoking the Lord, was 
 not merely that 12 was the number of Israel's 
 sons, but because those sons were 12 in conse- 
 quence of that special number In Scripture cover- 
 ing a profound mystery. The Talmudists also use 
 this rule in various passages in the Talmud, and 
 modern authors much more so ; as R. Solomon 
 Molcho, R. Jacob ben Habib, R. Mordecai, R. 
 Sabatai and others deducing great mysteries there- 
 from." ^ — " Conciliator," vol. i., p. 206. 
 
 The Christian equivalent to the word Cabala 
 
 ^ These statements are corroborated by Diodorus, who says, 
 " the Chaldeans preserve their learning within themselves by a 
 continued tradition from father to son." 
 
THE CABALA. 45 
 
 was Gnosis, knowledge, and from innumerable refer- 
 ences in the writings of the Fathers, it is evident 
 that the new sect, in the construction of the Gospel 
 and ritual of the Church, perpetuated the same 
 mystical tradition which they had received from 
 the Hebrews. The nature of the Knowledge is 
 explicitly stated by Clement of Alexandria, in the 
 following words : "And the GNOSIS itself is that 
 which has descended by transmission to a few, 
 having been imparted unwritten by the Apostles" 
 ("Miscell." bk. vi., ch. 7). St. Basil also alludes to 
 it thus : " They [the Fathers] were well instructed 
 to preserve the veneration of the mysteries by 
 silence. For how could it be proper, publicly to 
 proclaim in writing the doctrine of those things, 
 which no unbaptized person may so much as look 
 upon ?" — *' De Spiritu Sancto/' c. 27. 
 
 From expressions of this kind it becomes apparent 
 that the importance, attached to the unbroken 
 continuity of the Apostolic succession, was due to 
 the necessity for securing the transmission of the 
 oral Tradition or Gnosis unimpaired, in order that 
 the true interpretation of the Gospel might be 
 insured to succeeding generations. The works 
 of Irenseus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius have 
 numerous references to the Gnostic practices of 
 the Christians, and particularly to the Cabalistic 
 process of Gematria. The fact, that the numerical 
 system of the Cabalists and Gnostics is generally 
 condemned by the Fathers, appears to be no more 
 than a priestly artifice, intended to deceive the 
 vulgar, and prevent inquisitive people from prying 
 too deeply into the mysteries, which were retained 
 as the exclusive property of the few, referred to by 
 St. Clement. That the Greek philosophy rested 
 upon the same secret tradition, which was accepted 
 and retained as the basis of the Christian theology, 
 in common with other religious and philosophical 
 
46 THE CANON. 
 
 systems, seems to be borne out by another pass- 
 age from the " Miscellanies" : " Peter says in his 
 * Preaching/ Know that there is one God, . . . who 
 made all things by the * Word of His power,' that 
 is, according to the Gnostic Scripture, His Son. 
 Then he adds : ' Worship this God, not as the 
 Greeks ' — signifying plainly, that the excellent 
 among the Greeks worshipped the same God as we, 
 but that they had not learned by perfect know- 
 ledge that which was delivered by the Son. ' Do 
 not then worship,* he did not say the God whom 
 the Greeks worship, but * as the Greeks ' — chang- 
 ing the manner of the worship of God, not an- 
 nouncing ANOTHER GOD. . . . Neither worship 
 as the Jews; for they, thinking that they only 
 know God, do not know Him, adoring as they do 
 angels and archangels, the month, and the moon. 
 . . . For what belonged to the Greeks and the 
 Jews is old. But we, who worship him in a new 
 way, IN THE THIRD FORM, are Christians" (" Mis- 
 cell." vi., ch. 5). 
 
 Theophilus Gale, one of the most learned 
 Puritans of the seventeenth century, says, that 
 "The Jews, in imitation of the Pythagorean In- 
 stitutes, made the Cabala their codex or Canon- 
 Law" ("Court of the Gentiles," vol. iii., p. 216) ; 
 and again on page 217, he repeats, "As for the 
 Jewish Cabala or Cabalistic mythologie it seems to 
 me exactly framed in imitation of the Grecian 
 Mythology and symbolic mode of philosophizing. 
 It's true the Jewish Church had even from its 
 first institution, its choicest mysteries delivered in 
 Symbols, Parables, Enigmes, and other terrene 
 shadows." He speaks further of the Jewish Tal- 
 mud or system of traditions, called the oral Law, 
 which, he says, the Jews " equalize unto, yea prefer 
 before the Scriptures. For they say (just as the 
 Papists of their Traditions^ ' that we cannot arrive 
 
THE CABALA. 47 
 
 at a perfect explication of the Divine precepts, 
 but by the traditions of the ancients ; again, that 
 without the oral Law, the whole written Law is 
 wrapped up in darknesse.' " This is corroborated 
 by Lightfoot, probably the most competent Rab- 
 binical scholar of the English Church, who declares, 
 " Thatthe Jews venerate the oral Law as the founda- 
 tion of the written Law, and scruple not to say, 'the 
 words of the Elders are weightier than the words 
 of the Prophets. ' " 
 
 The Jews were not the only people who 
 possessed a mystical tradition, for the Neo- 
 Platonists of the Alexandrian School claimed to 
 have had a "sacred succession," by which the 
 inner doctrines of the school were received and 
 perpetuated. The Christians also had their Gnosis, 
 said to have been received from Christ, by whom 
 it was transmitted to the Apostles, and successively 
 to the heads of the churches.^ It is explicitly stated 
 
 ^ St. Clement declared that the barbarian Scriptures were all 
 symbolical, and to be understood required " an interpreter and 
 guide. For they considered that, receiving truth from those 
 who knew it well, we should be more earnest and less liable to 
 deception ; " and speaking of his own tenets, he says (bk. v., 
 ch. X.), "Rightly, therefore, the divine Apostle says, * By reve- 
 lation the mystery was made known to me,' for without a guide 
 or interpreter to reveal the meaning of the Scriptures, the 
 mysteries are hidden and dark," Such a revelation was given 
 by St. John, only his " Revelation " is as obscure as the Parable 
 which it is supposed to lay bare. A plain explanation of the 
 Gospel was handed down by oral tradition only, as St, Clement 
 intimates, for "fear of the swinish and untrained hearers." 
 " Even now I fear, as it is said, ' to cast pearls before swine, 
 lest they tread them under foot, and turn and rend us ! ' . . . . 
 For scarcely could anything which they would hear be more 
 ludicrous than those to the multitude." ("Miscell.," bk. i., 
 ch. i.) Thus without disguise he gives the reason why " the 
 mysteries of faith are not to be divulged to all." All old philo- 
 sophers and priests, Christian or otherwise, had the same dread 
 of the vulgar and profane, and had the same motive for con- 
 cealing their mystical doctrine from the people, namely, lest it 
 should be turned into ribaldry. 
 
48 THE CANON. 
 
 by Mosheim (*' Ecc. Hist.," ii., p. 57) that "the 
 religion of Rome .... is derived, according to 
 the unanimous accounts of its doctors, from two 
 sources, the written Word of God and the UN- 
 WRITTEN ; or, in other words, from scripture 
 and tradition." By the ApostoHc succession the 
 true elucidation of the mysterious wisdom of the 
 Gospel was secured, and presumably is still re- 
 tained in the unreformed churches. After the 
 Reformation the Protestants discarded the original 
 traditions of the Church, and eventually ceased 
 to regard the Papal authority, received uninter- 
 ruptedly from St. Peter, as being of paramount 
 importance. Thus the teaching of the traditions 
 having been dropped, the veneration of the Pope, 
 as the representative of the Apostolic succession, 
 gradually lapsed, and the traditional knowledge 
 intrusted to him has ceased to be known. Whether 
 any part of the Gnosis, alluded to by St. Clement, 
 is still received and transmitted by the modern 
 Popes cannot be easily discovered, but judging 
 from the Papal nervousness at present exhibited 
 towards Freemasonry, it may be surmised thai 
 some faint remnant of the ancient knowledge 
 is even now in the keeping of the Vicar ol 
 Christ.' 
 
 As the practice of Gematria, defined by Menassel 
 ben Israel, will be constantly used throughout the 
 present work, the following instances will explair 
 the method of its application in the works of th( 
 philosophers. In Hebrew the word thora, th( 
 law, and Adonai, the bride, whose name wai 
 generally used as a substitute for the tetragam-. 
 maton, or ihvh, have each the numerical valu( 
 
 ^ The reason why his holiness has declared the ordination 
 of the reformed Church of England to be invalid, is presumabl 
 because the Protestants, when they broke with the Churct 
 declined to acknowledge or teach the unwritten word. 
 
THE CABALA. 49 
 
 of 671, therefore, by the rule of Gematria, they 
 have the same signification. In Greek IIAPA- 
 AEI202 (Paradeisos) has the same numerical 
 value, and is equivalent by Gematria to O 
 K02M02, 670 + I = 671 ; and KOSMOS being 
 numerically equal to 600, implies the number 
 1,040, which is the radius of the sphere of the 
 Zodiac contained within the Holy Oblation for a 
 vesica 600 broad is 1,040 long. MAKPO-KOSMOS, 
 831, was the name given to the Father, or the first 
 three steps forming the upper triad of the Cabala. 
 These three steps form a triangle at the crown of 
 the diagram. And IITPAMIS, a pyramid or tri- 
 angle, has also the value of 831. By Gematria 
 these two words are equivalent to OAAAOS 
 (Phallos), 831, and according to the proportion 
 of the figure of Cesarino, 831 multiplied by 9^ 
 gives the height of a man, stretched crosswise in 
 a square enclosing a circle 7,899 in diameter, or 
 the length of the polar diameter of the earth 
 measured by British miles. Again *H rNXlSIZ (the 
 Gnosis), 1,271, and 2TATPOE, a cross, have each 
 the same numerical value ; therefore the Gnosis of 
 the Christians may be said to be the knowledge of 
 the cross. TEAETAI, 651, one of the names applied 
 to the Greek mysteries, yields the same number as 
 *Eni2THMH, science, and 651 is the diameter of a 
 circle 2,046 in circumference, and 2,046 is the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit, measured by the 
 diameter of the sun. Therefore both the mystic 
 rites, and science of the Greek religion signified 
 the knowledge of the cosmos. And 'EKKAH2IA, 
 the Church, who was called the Spouse of Christ, 
 is equivalent numerically to 'POAON, a rose, the 
 emblem of the Rosicrucians, and was regarded by 
 them as the antithesis of the Cross. 
 
 The doctrine of the Cabala was reduced to a 
 geometrical diagram, in which the ten steps were 
 
 E 
 
50 THE CANON. 
 
 grouped according to a progressive scheme, so 
 that the emanations of the Spirit of the Elohim 
 issues from the first step called the Crown, and 
 after passing through the whole figure is carried 
 through the ninth step, and finally reaches the 
 tenth or last of the series. The theory of the 
 Cabala teaches that these ten steps symbolize a 
 trinity of persons, whose function consists in re- 
 ceiving and transmitting the spirit of life in its 
 passage from heaven to earth. The first three 
 steps shadow forth the first person of the trinity, 
 called " Long face," the Macrocosm, or the Father. 
 The next six steps are assigned to " Small face," 
 who is called the Microcosm, the King or Son, the 
 second person of the trinity. The tenth and last 
 step is personated by the third person, called Mal- 
 chuth, the Bride or Mother. Each of these ten 
 symbols is associated with one of the heavenly 
 bodies, so that the whole diagram is an epitome 
 and image of the universe. 
 
 The ideas which the ancients connected with 
 these three persons, combined into this figure of 
 ten progessive steps, appear to form the basis of 
 all their philosophy, religion, and art, and in it we 
 have the nearest approach to a direct revelation of 
 the traditional science, or Gnosis, which was never 
 communicated except by myths and symbols. A 
 very little knowledge is required to recognize the 
 identity of the cabalistic doctrine with that of the 
 Gospel, for the Christian Trinity is clearly derived 
 from the geometrical disposition of the ten steps, 
 Kircher ("CEdipus," tom. ii., pars i, p. 289) 
 has given one of the most complete illustrations of 
 the diagram which is now available. And it is 
 specially valuable from the fact that he has placed 
 the symbols of the temple in its various parts, so 
 that he makes the temple synonymous with the 
 universe, and identifies its furniture with the three 
 
6l*iO V^ 
 
 HORIZON fc 
 
 Swmma Cyrano, 
 
 
 xris 
 
 .5Y5TEMA 
 XDIVINO 
 
 6 
 
 SEPHIROTIcyMi 
 
 rvmnominVm 
 
 Sephira. II 
 
 FIG. 6. — THE CABALISTIC DIAGRAM FROM KIRCHER's " CEDIPUS.' 
 
52 THE CANON. 
 
 symbolical persons. The first three steps are 
 attributed to the Empyreum, while the seven 
 planets are comprised in those which are below ; 
 the tenth step being assigned to the moon and the 
 sublunary world. It is thus apparent that the 
 Father represents the super-celestial region, the 
 Son the intermediate space occupied by the seven 
 planets, while the Bride or Mother is relegated to 
 the four elements, which have the earth as their 
 centre. Consequently we see in the scheme of 
 the Hebrew philosophy, that the Deity — in whose 
 image man's twofold body was formed — the temple, 
 and the cosmos are one and synonymous. 
 
 Although the only direct version of the Cabala 
 which we possess is that of the Jews, it is abso- 
 lutely certain that a similar oral tradition founded 
 upon the same doctrine was current among the 
 Greeks. All the early Christians, who knew their 
 Cabala, declared that Plato had borrowed his ideas 
 from Moses. Nor was Plato ignorant of that 
 mystical symbol, the cross, which was a sacred 
 emblem long before it emerged from obscurity in 
 the first century. The allusion to the cross, in the 
 famous passage in the "Timseus," has often been 
 commented upon, and there can be no doubt that 
 it prefigures the Mythos, which afterwards ap- 
 peared in the Christian Gospel. It is quite plain 
 that Plato, in describing the Demiurge or Logos, 
 compounded out of the Zodiac, all the planets, and 
 the elements, is referring to the second and third 
 persons of the cabalistic triad, whose bodies com- 
 prise the material universe, and who were created 
 in the image of the Elohim, male and female. 
 This Androgynous being the creator, "divided 
 lengthwise into two parts, which he joined to one 
 another at the centre like the letter X,^ and bent 
 
 ^ The letter Chi has the value of 600 as a numeral, so that 
 it is the numerical equivalent to the word cosmos, and a vesica 
 
THE CABALA. 53 
 
 them into a circular form, connecting them with 
 themselves and each other at the point opposite 
 their original meeting point" The two limbs of 
 the cross symbolize the double sex of this 
 ''heavenly creature/' whom we find in the Apoca- 
 lypse standing amidst the seven candlesticks or 
 planets, or as the image of Daniel, and again as 
 
 FIG. 7. — THE MACROCOSM. FROM THE FRONTISPIECE TO ROBERT 
 FLUDD'S " UTRIUSQUE COSMI MAJORIS ET MINORIS HIS- 
 TORIA." 1617. 
 
 the Man in Ezekiers vision, and, above all, as 
 CHRiSTOS extended crosswise in the Holy Obla- 
 tion. This was the cross which Constantine saw 
 in the sky, and his conversation meant that he 
 was enlightened and instructed in the Christian 
 Gnosis, and saw with his spiritual eye the crucified 
 
 600 wide is 1,040 long, or the radius of the circle 2,080 in dia- 
 meter which is contained in the Holy Oblation. 
 
54 THE CANON. 
 
 man stretched across the heavens, and believed in 
 the verity of the visionary Christ. 
 
 The architect Cesariano, who edited an Italian 
 
 KsBW 
 
 :. ■ ■ ^... ._™.™-^^^=3L-._^l3^l?j| 
 
 
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 klt^^rL 
 
 -L^^M-U^L, 
 
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 ''■'*r"'''f'"T ■ ' 1 
 
 FIG, 8. — THE MACROCOSM. FROM CESARIANO'S EDITION OF 
 "VITRUVIUS" (COMO, 1521), FOLIO XLIX. 
 
 translation of Vitruvius published in 152 1, has 
 drawn the two figures, intended by Vitruvius to 
 embody the proportions of temples, with an anato- 
 mical exactness not to be found elsewhere. The 
 first glance at these two figures shows us, that 
 
THE CABALA. 
 
 55 
 
 they are each disposed in the form of a cross.^ 
 The man whose body forms the Jerusalem cross is 
 relatively bigger than the other, whose limbs, de- 
 scribe the St. Andrew s cross or saltire, their pro- 
 portions being so arranged as to exemplify the 
 
 FIG. 9, — THE MICROCOSM. FROM ROBERT FLUDD'S " HISTORIA 
 MICROSMI," P. 113. 
 
 duplication of the square. The square inclosing 
 the greater man is divided horizontally and vertic- 
 
 ^ Cornelius Agrippa ("Occulta Philosophia," Parisiis, 1567, 
 p. 237) has depicted the figure of the Microcosm standing 
 within a circle, on a quadrangular stone, with his arms stretched 
 out to the circumference. In each hand is placed a five- 
 pointed star, the emblem of the firmament. On page 238 he 
 has represented the Macrocosm in a square like the figure of 
 Cesariano. Four symbols are drawn opposite the four extremi- 
 
56 THE CANON. 
 
 ally into thirty parts, thus dividing the area into 
 900 small squares. His height being 96 digits, 
 the perimeter of the square is 384 digits — the 
 number of the soul of the world according to 
 Plutarch — and if he were were drawn within the 
 Holy Oblation, then his body would extend 
 through the seven orbits of the planets to the 
 sphere of the Zodiac or fixed stars, and exactly 
 resemble the figures of the Macrocosm, which 
 appear in the works of the mystic philosophers of 
 the seventeenth century. The figure of the lesser 
 man would occupy the square, whose area is half 
 that of the Holy Oblation.^ Now the Microcosm 
 whose body is disposed saltire-wise, like the letter 
 X, exactly agrees with the description of Plato*s 
 Logos, whom the early Fathers considered to be 
 identical with their Christos. And when the 
 Microcosm or Logos is stretched crosswise in a 
 circle, drawn within the Holy Oblation, the sides 
 of the square surrounding his body measure 1,480 
 diameters of the sun, and the name Christos is 
 numerically equal to 1,480. On reading the trea- 
 tise of Francis Potter on the number 666, it is 
 obvious that the interpretation given is founded 
 
 ties of the body — an eye above his head, at his right hand a 
 serpent, at his left a staff, and shield at his feet. There is 
 another figure of the Microcosm exactly resembling the lesser 
 man of Cesariano (p. 240). The square inclosing his body is 
 surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac. There are also 
 two other figures (pp. 239, 241), each drawn within a circle 
 having one of the seven planets corresponding to some member 
 of their bodies. 
 
 ^ The duplication of the square illustrated by the relative 
 sizes of these two figures is minutely explained by Plato in the 
 " Meno." par. 82 (Jowett's translation, p. 43). The old Masonic 
 writers declare that the true system of the universe, and the 
 foundation of all geometrical proportion is to be found in the 
 forty-seventh proposition of Euclid, as expounded by Pytha- 
 goras, and communicated in writing by Plato, because, apparently, 
 the ratio which those two figures bear to one another is calcu- 
 lated by it. 
 
THE CABALA, 57 
 
 upon some knowledge of the true meaning of the 
 number, which it was not the intention of the 
 author to reveal. For the " explanations " are very 
 often mere verbal quibblings, which mean little or 
 nothing. However, he occasionally commits him- 
 self to a direct statement, as when he says — follow- 
 ing the interpretations of Rupertius and P. Bongus 
 (*' De Numerorum Mysteriis ") — ** that the number 
 666 is not only the number of the Beast's name, but 
 also the number of Gody that is, it is a number which 
 God hath pleased to name and reveal to men, that 
 by counting of this number, they might find out 
 that other numbery which it pleased not God ex- 
 pressly to name in this place, but rather mystically 
 to conceal, etc." (p. 60). From this we learn that 
 '* by counting" the number 666 we may discover 
 the number of God. The term " counting " might 
 very properly be used here to describe the process 
 of finding the circumference of a circle 666 in 
 diameter, that is, 2,093 — ^he diagonal of a square 
 whose sides are 1,480, the numerical equivalent 
 of Christos, the name of God. 
 
 Francis Potter does not count the number in 
 this way. He extracts the square root of 666 
 which he computes at 25!^, or 25-Uj or 25j^^, 
 remarking, that "however the number of the frac- 
 tions be variable, yet the number 25 is always con- 
 stant and the same." The fractions curiously in- 
 troduced may possibly give us an indication of the 
 methods of those cryptic writers. For 41 multi- 
 plied by 51 produces 2,091, a number which is only 
 one and a fraction less than the side of the Holy 
 Oblation containing the square 1,480, the numerical 
 equivalent of Christos. The next fraction is -ff , 
 and the product of the two numbers is 775, or the 
 perimeter of the Holy Oblation, taking the Sun's 
 distance at 10. It is, in fact, another way of ex- 
 pressing the number 2,093. The third fraction is 
 
58 THE CANON, 
 
 apparently the true one : but the square root of 
 666 is more nearly 25*807 than 25-806. 
 
 The two figures include three persons, for the 
 Microcosm or lesser man represents the double 
 sexed creature, whose bride, or the feminine half 
 of his body, is fixed to his back. According to the 
 Cabala, they were not always conjoined in this way, 
 but were sometimes separated. In Cesarianos 
 figure only the masculine half is visible. 
 
 In the case of the temples, it is difficult to see 
 how these figures of Cesariano's could have been 
 used, unless they were associated with specific 
 measures ; therefore we may conclude that they 
 formed the canon or rule of measurement in archi- 
 tecture. Any measure of the universe could be 
 identified with their bodies and applied to a temple, 
 and it would thus become possible to canonize a 
 certain number of figures which for convenience 
 and use could be recognized, as the sanctioned 
 patterns for the practice of the architectural arts. 
 Originally the builders must have been instructed 
 by the priests, and the rule of Vitruvius could only 
 have resulted from a theological system based upon 
 cosmic science. An illustration by Cataneo the 
 architect (" Architectura," p. 37), who wrote in 
 1554, gives the plan of a Christian church disposed 
 crosswise according to the figure of the Macro- 
 cosm, or, as he calls him, Jesus Christ. 
 
 What Hippolytus (" Refutation," bk. v.) tells us 
 of the doctrines of the Nasseni seems to show that 
 their creed was derived from the Cabala, and is a 
 valuable illustration of its meaning. The Nasseni 
 were a sect of Christian Gnostics, who worshipped 
 the Logos under the name and image of the Ser- 
 pent. They appear to have been of Hebrew origin, 
 for they took their name from the Hebrew word 
 nachash^ a serpent.^ " These Nasseni magnify,as the 
 
 ^ "For the serpent is called naas [in Hebrew]". The 
 
THE CABALA. 59 
 
 originating cause of all things else, a Man, and a 
 Son of man. And this Man is a hermaphrodite, 
 and is called among them Adam" (p. 127) : and a 
 hymn addressed to him begins thus : '* From thee 
 [comes] Father, and through thee [comes] Mother " 
 . . . . " And they say of this Man, that one part 
 
 FIG. 10. — THE PLAN OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH DISPOSED ACCORD- 
 ING TO THE FIGURE OF VITRUVIUS. CATANEO, P. 37. 
 
 is rational, another psychical, another earthly. 
 And they suppose that the knowledge of him is 
 the beginning of the knowledge of God. And the 
 Samothracians worship that Adam as the primal 
 man, and in their temples '* there stand two images 
 of naked men having both hands stretched aloft 
 towards heaven, and their pudenda turned up- 
 numerical value of NChSh (serpent) is 358; it is therefore 
 equivalent by Gematria to MShICh, Messiah. 
 
6o THE CANON. 
 
 wards, as the statue of Mercury on Mount Cyllene " 
 (p. 140). "And the Nasseni affirm concerning 
 the spirit of the seed that it is the cause of all 
 existing things and is the secret and unknown 
 mystery of the universe concealed and revealed 
 among the Egyptians, who, after the Phrygians, are 
 of greater antiquity than all mankind, and who con- 
 fessedly were the first to proclaim to all the rest of 
 men the rites and orgies of all the gods as well as 
 the unspeakable mysteries of Isis." These, how- 
 ever, are nothing but the pudendum of Osiris. 
 " And the Greeks deriving this mystery from the 
 Egyptians preserve it unto this day. For we be- 
 hold the statues of Mercury of such a figure 
 honoured among them. For Mercury is Logos 
 who, being at once the interpreter and fabricator 
 of the things that have been, that are, and will be, 
 stands fashioned into some such figure as the 
 pudendum of a man having an impulsive power 
 from the parts below towards those above. And 
 a Mercury of this description is a conjuror of the 
 dead and a guide of departed spirits and an 
 originator of souls. This is the Christ who in all 
 who have been generated is the portrayed Son of 
 Man from the unportrayable Logos, This is the 
 gi^eat unspeakable mystery of the Eleusinian rites 
 HYE CYE!' ^ (The above quotation is given in 
 the words of Hippolytus, but it is condensed, and 
 is not quite consecutive.) 
 
 From the foregoing quotation it is plain, that 
 the Logos or soul of the world, according to Plato, 
 the Greek Hermes, and the Christ, according to the 
 Christian Gnostics, are all one and the same as the 
 Hebrew Adam Kadmon, who is the second person 
 of the cabalistic triad. The Cyllenian Hermes, 
 described by Hippolytus, so exactly resembles the 
 
 ^ The numerical value of 'TE KTE is 830, or one less than 
 that of ^aXXoe. 
 
THE CABALA. 01 
 
 lesser man found in Cesariano's edition of Vitruvius, 
 that they may be justifiably considered to be iden- 
 tical. According to the masonic traditions the 
 initiated architects, who preceded the Collegia 
 Fabrorum of the Romans, and the Freemasons of 
 the Middle Ages, were called Dionysiac architects. 
 They were said to have been instructed in the 
 rites and mysteries of Dionysus, and to have con- 
 structed the temples according to the secrets thus 
 imparted to them. And it is a remarkable veri- 
 fication of this tradition, that the lesser man of 
 Cesariano is depicted with vine leaves in his hair 
 and an upright phallus, both well known attributes 
 of Dionysus. No one can look at these two 
 figures of Cesariano without seeing that they are 
 something more than mere anatomical patterns. 
 In later editions they become so, but here we have 
 clearly and distinctly a curious survival of the 
 cosmic deity of Greece, copied and disfigured by 
 the crude draughtsmen of the Middle Ages, but 
 faithfully preserved, and recognizable to the last. 
 
 There is still a further means of connecting the 
 figure of Vitruvius with the Christ, and the Micro- 
 cosm. From a passage in the Cabala we learn the 
 following very curious fact as to the body of the 
 King : " Longitudo autem membri hujus 248mund- 
 orum." Now this is the only measurement of the 
 body of the Microcosm recorded in the Cabala, so 
 that it is of the highest importance as a means of 
 identification. The fact that the measurement is 
 given in ** worlds " is also remarkable. By the 
 proportions of Cesariano's figure, we can find the 
 height of the whole body by multiplying 248 by g^. 
 But by adding coiel or unity to 248 we get 249. 
 And 249 and a fraction multiplied by 9^ gives 
 2,368, the numerical value of the name Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 In the " Book of Concealed Mystery" (p. 46) the 
 
62 THE CANON. 
 
 following interpretation of the first verse of Genesis 
 occurs. *' In the beginning the Elohim created 
 the substance of the heavens, and the substance of 
 the earth (the sense is : six members were created, 
 which are the six numerations of Microprosopus-— 
 viz., Benignity, as his right arm : Severity y as his 
 
 FIG. II. — THE MICROCOSM. FROM CESARIANO'S EDITION OF 
 "VITRUVIUS," FOLIO L. 
 
 left arm : Beauty as his body : Victory, as his 
 right leg : Glory, as his left leg : and the Fotmda- 
 tion, as reproductive)." For instead of " in the 
 beginning," it may be read " He created the six." 
 Upon these depend all things, which are below 
 (principally the Queen)." From this it is plain, 
 that the heavens and the earth are here supposed 
 
THE CABALA. 03 
 
 to take the form of man, and it is no wonder that 
 the Christian mystics of the Middle Ages saw in the 
 " Timaeus " of Plato the same doctrine of creation, 
 which they found in the Mosaic Law. Jowett, in 
 his introduction to the " Timseus," says, " The Neo- 
 Platonists, believing that Plato was inspired by the 
 Holy Ghost and had received his wisdom from 
 Moses, seem to find in his writings the Christian 
 Trinity, the Word, the Church, and the Creation 
 of the World in a Jewish sense." 
 
 The Microcosm seems to have been used as a 
 pattern in the practice of all the arts, Geofroy 
 Tory introduces it in some of the letters of the 
 " Champ Fleury," 1529, and Silvanus Morgan, the 
 heraldic painter, shows it on a shield intended to 
 symbolize the charges of the sixth day of creation. 
 It stands on the shield as the image of Mercury, 
 z.e.j Adam, He is surrounded by a lion, a hart, a 
 horse, and a dragon, apparently corresponding to 
 the four cosmic beasts of the Gospels (" Armi- 
 logia," 1666, p. 188). 
 
 Geometrically, the diagram containing the ten 
 steps of the Cabala is shown by Kircher and other 
 authorities in the form ascribed by Freemasons to 
 what they call the " Double Cube," that is to say, 
 an irregular hexagon, which will exactly enclose a 
 Vesica. Consequently its length and breadth are 
 of the proportion of 26 to 15. It is said that the 
 ten cabalistic steps, in their entirety, symbolize the 
 aspect of the Deity expressed by the four mystic 
 letters ihvh, whose numerical value is 26. This 
 number was said by the Jews to comprise the 
 most sacred mysteries of the Law. No explana- 
 tion, however, has ever been given showing how 
 the number 26 afforded a key to all the science 
 of the Israelites. It is now suggested that the 
 Vesica, whose proportion is in the ratio of 26 
 to 15, was the symbol of the hidden rule or canon, 
 
64 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 by which the synthesis of nature was reduced to 
 a comprehensible figure, capable of demonstrating 
 to initiates the truth and knowledge which con- 
 stituted the secret wisdom of antiquity. 
 
 Bryant, quoting from Eusebius, refers to a very 
 singular fish, which, described in the language of 
 hyperbole, is probably no other than the Vesica 
 piscis. Eusebius copied his account of it from 
 Berosus, a priest of Belus, and a native of Baby- 
 lonia, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great. 
 After declaring that writings were preserved at 
 Babylon containing " a history of the heavens and 
 
 FIG. 12. — DOUBLE CUBE. 
 
 the sea " for fifteen myriads of years, he says, that 
 in those ancient times the ChaldBeans lived without 
 rule and order y when "there made its appearance 
 from a part of the Eruthrean sea, which bordered 
 upon Babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, 
 who was called Cannes. According to the accounts 
 of Apollodorus the whole body of the animal was 
 like that of a fish ; and had under a fish's head 
 another head, and also feet below, similar to those 
 of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail. His voice, 
 too, and language was articulate and human ; and 
 there was a representation of him to be seen in the 
 time of Berosos. This Being, in the day-time, used 
 to converse with men ; but took no food at that 
 
iv'X X XJ^ & a^x i ■ 
 
 season ; and he gave them an insight into letters 
 and science, and every kind of art He taught 
 them to construct houses, to found temples, to 
 compile laws, and explained to them the principles 
 of geometrical knowledge. He made them dis- 
 tinguish the seeds of the earth. . . . When the sun 
 set it was the custom of this Being to plunge again 
 into the sea, and abide all the night in the deep." 
 (Bryant, *' Myth," vol, iv., p. 129). Apollodorus 
 called this animal Mva-ocpog, i,oii. Now the two 
 vesicas whose perimeters are respectively 671 and 
 676 are each formed by the intersection of two 
 circles, 1,006^ and 1,014 in circumference, there- 
 fore I, on would be a mean between the last two 
 numbers. And the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 1,011, is 32i|, or the numerical 
 equivalent of KAAOS, beautiful, and NA02, a 
 Temple. 
 
 A vesica formed of two such circles measures 
 about 482 across. And 482 is the numerical equi- 
 valent of the name of 'POMBOS, and if two inter- 
 secting circles, 1,011 in circumference, be inclosed 
 in a greater vesica, the latter will be inclosed in 
 a square contained within the orbit of Saturn, 
 Moreover, the English word Truth has the value 
 of 1,01 1, and 'fiANNHS, 1,109, ^^ i less than the nu- 
 merical equivalent of MiKPonposonox, 1,101, the 
 second person of the cabalistic triad. Finally, the 
 names of the three persons of the Hebrew Cabala, 
 Macroprosopos, 1,101, Microprosopos, 1,110, and 
 Malchuth, 496, yield the number 2,707, which is 
 the perimeter of a rhombus whose sides are 676, 
 the square of 26, the length of the Vesica, and 
 the numerical equivalent of the unspeakable name 
 
 of God, IHVH.* 
 
 ^ The following statement of Plutarch may be compared with 
 this of Eusebius. " Anaximander concludes that men were 
 first generated in the bellies oi fishes^ and being there nourished 
 
 F 
 
66 THE CANON. 
 
 Another fish remarkable in antiquity is the whale 
 which swallowed Jonah, It is called to h?to?,^ 
 (370 X 598 =) 968, and if two circles 968 in 
 diameter are formed into a vesica, their circum- 
 ferences are equal to the two diagonals of a square 
 whose sides are 2,151 ; and 597 is the circumfer- 
 ence of Saturn's orbit if the sun s distance be taken 
 at 10. 
 
 The Rabbis pretended that the mystery of the 
 name ihvh (translated Jehovah in the English 
 version of the Scriptures) lay in its proper pro- 
 nunciation, and no pious Jew ever attempts to 
 utter it, the High Priest alone being privileged to 
 pronounce it once a year, in the Holy of Holies of 
 the temple. Much philosophy may be extracted 
 from the combination of these four Hebrew letters, 
 which need not be discussed here, but it may be 
 mentioned that the numerical values of the two 
 Greek names of the Deity, ZETS,^ 612 and 
 *AnOAAXlN,^ T,o6i, bear the proportion of 26 : 15 to 
 each other, and the numbers, produced from the 
 two spellings of the name Dionysos are in the 
 same ratio to one another. It is also probable 
 that this ratio was used as a means of expressing 
 one number by another. For example, the word 
 nOAIE, a city, used as the name of the Bride in 
 the Apocalypse, has the value of 390, and a vesica 
 390 broad is 676 long, and 676 is the square of 26, 
 therefore the Greek word for a city may be taken to 
 be equivalent to 26 ihvh, the Tetragammaton. 
 
 Again, the name iesous yields 888, a number 
 which is the length of a rhombus having a peri- 
 meter of 2,048, the diameter of Saturn's orbit. 
 And the number of the Hebrew name Messiah, 
 
 till they grew strong, and were able to shift for themselves, they 
 were afterwards cast out upon the dry land." — Cudworth's 
 "Intellectual System of the Universe," vol. i., p. 189. 
 
 ^ Matthew, xii. 40. ^ Zeus. ^ Apollo. 
 
358, is the width of a vesica 620 long, and 620 is 
 the value of K ether, the first step of the Cabala. 
 
 And 666 is the length of a vesica, whose width 
 is 384, or the sun's radius measured by the tone. 
 
 If the Greek numerals from one to ten be 
 arranged so as to correspond to the cabalistic 
 steps and their numerical values computed, we find 
 that 'EI2, 215, ATO, 474, TPEI2, 6 1 5, yield 1,304, 
 which is one less than the length of a vesica which 
 will contain a circle having a circumference of 
 2,368, and this triad represents the three steps of 
 the Macrocosm. 
 
 The next six numerals are TETPAE, 906, nENTE, 
 440,'EH,65,'EnTA, 386, 'OKTIl, 1,100, and'ENNEA, 
 III — the sum of the numbers being 3,098 — and if 
 this be taken as the perimeter of a cubical stone, 
 or hexagon, the perimeter of its upper face would 
 be 2,065, ^h^ mean number between 2,083, the side 
 of the Holy Oblation, and 2,046, the diameter of 
 Saturn s orbit ; it is consequently an appropriate 
 number for the Microcosm who personates the 
 Zodiac and seven planets. 
 
 AEKA, the tenth numeral, has the value of 30, 
 and this number denoting the distance from the 
 earth to the moon, measured by the earth's dia- 
 meter, symbolizes the sublunary world — the cosmic 
 counterpart of the Bride. Again, if the numbers 
 of the second and third persons of the Triad be 
 added together, their sum is 3,128, which is the 
 width of two circles 2,083 i^i diameter, formed into 
 a vesica. And thus are represented the two 
 circles of the ecliptic, and the equator on a 
 celestial sphere. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 noah's ark. 
 
 ^^ After they had all entered into the Ark, if any one had beheld 
 the entire collection, he would not have been wrong if he had 
 said that it was a representation of the whole earth." — Philo 
 JuD^us, "Life of Moses," bk. ii., ch. xii. 
 
 " God also created man after his image; for as the world is 
 the image of God, so man is the image of the worlds — Corne- 
 lius Agrippa, "Occult Philosophy," bk. iii., p. 458. 
 
 The Ark of Noah has had an absorbing attraction 
 for most people at one time of their Hfe, but it is 
 to be regretted that after a certain period in their 
 career the interest gradually fades into a mere 
 reminiscence of the nursery. How or when it 
 happened that the ship which miraculously saved 
 the just Noah and his family and the beasts of 
 the earth came to be manufactured into a toy for 
 children, is a question which it would be difficult 
 to answer ; but it may be accepted that the Hebrew 
 elders, who constructed the curious and ingenious 
 parable of the flood, and all the details of the 
 voyage and salvation of Noah, had probably other 
 intentions than the invention of a plaything for 
 their grandchildren. In the ages preceding the 
 nineteenth century this seems to have been quite 
 well understood, and the references to the Ark found 
 in the works of early writers show that the story 
 was received in an allegorical sense ; by the early 
 Christians it was evidently regarded as a myth 
 analogous to that related of the Greek Deucalion, 
 
NOAH*S ARK. 69 
 
 for in the Clementine Homilies there is a refer- 
 ence to Noah as " Him who amongst you is called 
 Deucalion" ("Clem, Hom./' ch. xvi.), implying 
 that both the Patriarch and the Greek hero were 
 fictitious personages, created to suit the variations 
 of a similar allegory. 
 
 Philo declares that the Ark was prepared in 
 imitation of the human body, and this view is 
 followed by Cornelius Agrippa, who says, " Seeing 
 man is the most beautiful and perfect work of 
 God, and His Image, and also the lesser world; 
 therefore he by a more perfect composition, and 
 sweet harmony, and more sublime dignity doth 
 contain, and maintain in himself all numbers, 
 measures, weights, motions, elements, and all other 
 things, which are of his composition ; and in him, 
 as it were, is the supreme workmanship. From 
 hence all the ancients in time past did number by 
 their fingers, and showed all numbers by them. 
 And they seem to prove, that from the very joints 
 of man's body all numbers, measures, proportions, 
 and harmonies were invented ; hence according to 
 the measure of the body they framed and contrived 
 their temples, palaces, houses, theatres ; also their 
 ships, engines, and every kind of artifice, and 
 every part and member of their edifices, and 
 buildings, as columns, chapiters, and pillars, bases, 
 buttresses, feet of pillars, and all of this kind. 
 Moreover God Himself taught Noah to build the 
 Ark according to the measure of man's body, and 
 He made the whole fabric of the world proportion- 
 able to man's body. 
 
 Therefore some who have written of the Micro- 
 cosm, or of man, measure the body by 6 feet, a 
 foot by 10 degrees, every degree by 5 minutes; 
 from hence are numbered 60 degrees, which make 
 300 minutes, to the which are compared so many 
 geometrical cubits by which Moses describes the 
 
70 THE CANON. 
 
 Ark ; for as the body of man is in length 300 
 minutes, in breadth 50, in height 30 ; so the Ark 
 was 300 cubits long, 50 broad, and 30 high ; that 
 the proportion of the length to the breadth be six- 
 fold, to the height tenfold, and the proportion of 
 the breadth to the height about two-thirds. In 
 like manner the measures of all the members are 
 proportionate and consonant, both to the parts of 
 the world, and the measures of the Archetype, and 
 so agreeing, that there is no member in man, which 
 hath not correspondence with some sign, star, intel- 
 ligence^ divine name^ and sometimes in God Himself 
 the Archetype'' (" Occult Philosophy," p. 263, Engl. 
 Trans., 1651). 
 
 Lomazzo ("Art of Painting," Oxf, 1598) says 
 the same thing, but adds, " by this rule the 
 Grecians afterwards framed their stately Argo- 
 navis." And Montanus (" Antiq. Judaic," plate L.) 
 gives a diagram of the Ark ^ containing the body 
 of Christ within it, thus indicating the stature and 
 measure of the Saviour, 
 
 Josephus (bk. i., ch. iii.), speaking of the long 
 life of Noah (950 years) and the Patriarchs, says, 
 that God prolonged their life, on account of the 
 "good use they made of it in astronomical and 
 geometrical discoveries, which would not have 
 afforded the time of foretelling [the period of the 
 stars], unless they had lived 600 years ; for the 
 great year is completed in that interval." Accord- 
 ing to the Hebrews Noah was 600 years old when 
 the Flood commenced. This hint of Josephus, that 
 Noah was an astronomer, suggests the conclusion, 
 that the Ark had a cosmic significance, and what 
 it represents is probably indicated by the following 
 passage in the Book of Enoch: ''In those days 
 Noah saw that the earth became inclined.'' We 
 
 ^ Reproduced on p. 214. 
 
NOAH'S ARK. 7 I 
 
 believe that astronomically the rectangular figure 
 of the Ark recorded the invention of the measures 
 of the ecliptic, mythically attributed to Noah. 
 This conclusion is borne out by an examination of 
 the numbers introduced into the story. According 
 to the Hebrew chronology Noah was born in the 
 year 1056 from the creation of the world. He 
 built the Ark in 1656, and he died 2006, aged 
 
 950- 
 
 There were canons of chronology in the ancient 
 world, as of everything else, and the dates which 
 appear in canonical works were presumably re- 
 corded to exemplify the mystical facts of the 
 numerical philosophy, along with all the other 
 circumstances of the narrative. The numbers 
 connected with the events of Noah's life have 
 been evidently devised in accordance with this 
 canonical rule, for the number 1,056, being the 
 length of a vesica 609 ^ broad, expresses the 
 dimensions of the Holy Oblation, the canonical 
 figure, to which we have supposed that all the 
 cosmic measures of the Scriptures are referred 
 back. Then, 1,656 records the altitude of the 
 sun's course measured upon a terrestrial globe. 
 For every "degree of latitude on any meridian is 
 about 69 miles everywhere, that is, 69*4 in high 
 latitudes, and 68'8 near the equator" (Denison's 
 '* Astronomy," p. 9) ; and Vitruvius calculated in 
 his time that the ecliptic was inclined to the 
 equator at an angle of 24 degrees, therefore the 
 distance of the tropics from the equator measured 
 on the earth's circumference would be (69 x 24 = ) 
 1,656 British miles. Supposing the ancients to 
 have discovered the true proportions of the sun's 
 path in the ecliptic, and seeking to publish the 
 
 ^ The circumference of a circle 1 94 in diameter is 609, and 
 194 is the width of the Holy Oblation if the sun's distance be 
 taken at 10. 
 
72 THE CANON. 
 
 fact according to their mystical custom, they would 
 look for a symbol whose shape would agree with the 
 space they had measured in the heavens. A city 
 would obviously be unsuitable for the purpose. 
 A temple would hardly meet the case, so they not 
 unnaturally hit upon the form of a ship as a means 
 of expressing the measures of their discovery, and 
 proceeded to devise a myth which would at once 
 explain and conceal the facts. The story of Noah 
 is the Hebrew version of a mythos, which was 
 universal in antiquity, having been probably 
 invented by the Eygptians. Faber, one of the 
 last of the old school of mythologists, says, '* not 
 content with making the sun sail over the ocean 
 in a ship, they considered the whole solar system 
 as one large vessel ; in which the seven planets 
 act as sailors, while the sun as the fountain of 
 ethereal light presides as pilot or captain. These 
 eight celestial mariners, who navigate the ship of 
 the sphere, are clearly the astronomical repre- 
 sentatives of the eight great gods of Egypt '* 
 (" Origin of the Pag. Idol," bk. iv., p. 218). The 
 ancients, however, counted only seven planets, 
 including the sun, so that the pilot must really be 
 the personification of the eighth sphere or zodiac, 
 who is here called Noah by the Hebrews, while 
 the seven members of his family, saved with him, 
 correspond to the seven planets. 
 
 The numerical value of the name applied to a 
 ship by the Greeks gives it a cosmic meaning. 
 For the word NATS yields the number 651, the 
 diameter of a circle whose circumference is 2,046, 
 the diameter of Saturn's orbit. By Gematria, it is 
 equivalent to Plato's favourite word, 'EniSTHMH, 
 science, and TEAETAI, mystic rites. It is prob- 
 ably for this reason that the Church was called a 
 ship (Nao^ and Navis), since the temple was 
 designed as an image of the universe. Again, 
 
NOAHS ARK. 73 
 
 'H NATS has the value of 659, or ^^ of the earth's 
 ' zz 659^1 
 
 The observations of Theophilus Gale are always 
 instructive ; in a passage on the building of the 
 Ark, he says, " We need no way doubt, but that 
 Noah had been fully instructed by Church-Tra 
 dition from his godly predecessors Methuselah, 
 Enoch, and Seth, touching the creation of the world 
 by God, and particularly touching the excellent 
 fabric of the heavens, the nature of the celestial 
 bodies, their harmonious order and motion ; that 
 the sun was made to govern by day, and the moon 
 by night. . . . And it is the opinion of some 
 (which is not without probable grounds), that the 
 whole story of the creation, written by Moses, was 
 conveyed down even from Adam to his time, by a 
 constant uninterrupted tradition, to the holy seed 
 and Church in all ages. . . . That the people of 
 God were, in the infant state of the Church, much 
 ravished with holy contemplations of the glory of 
 God, that shone so brightly in those celestial bodies, 
 their order, government, motion, and influence is 
 evident in many philosophic, yet gracious medita- 
 tions, we have to this purpose in the psalms." 
 
 The measures of the Ark, as recorded in 
 Genesis, are 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in 
 breadth, and 30 cubits in height, or when rendered 
 in feet, 450 x 75 x 45 feet. Its proportion was 
 therefore that of a long narrow box, roughly agree- 
 ing with the measures of a man's body, and very 
 much like a coffin, as the figure of Montanus 
 shows. At one end there was a small window of 
 the size of a cubit. But there seems to have been 
 a doubt among the Rabbis whether the word 
 translated ** window " really was a window. The 
 word in the Hebrew means " brightness," or 
 " splendour," and it was said to have been a 
 
74 THE CANON. 
 
 precious stone, brought from the river Pison in 
 Paradise. Altogether it may be said that both as 
 regards size and ventilation, the Ark was decidedly- 
 deficient for its ostensible purpose, and quite un- 
 like the comfortable-looking house-boat with which 
 we are familiar in the nursery. 
 
 The Vesica, by its intersecting circles, formed a 
 geometrical representation of the crossing of the 
 two circles of the ecliptic and equator, and perhaps 
 by the aid of this figure we may arrive at the 
 reason for the choice of 300 cubits, as the length 
 of the Ark. For a vesica whose width is 300'48 is 
 520'84 long, and 520*84 is the side of a rhombus 
 having a perimeter of 2,083^ — the length of a 
 side of the Holy Oblation; and 2,083-J being 
 the mean number between 2,092 and 2,075, which 
 is -^2 ^f the earth's circumference in miles, the 300 
 cubits may be taken to give the length of the sun's 
 orbit, measured on a terrestrial globe. 
 
 Assuming that our English word Ark (called in 
 Hebrew Thebah, by the Seventy xijSwto? in the 
 Vulgate, Area) preserves the meaning of the Greek 
 word appall and apyw, it would mean that which 
 was at the beginning, the first original pattern or 
 rule of things. That by which the a/5X*T£XTwi/ worked, 
 and the rule of the i^x^^m, the High Priest, or 
 Arckhishop, It would be a canonical measure of 
 the universe and the Creator ; exhibiting, by the 
 proportions of the human body, the numbers and 
 measures of time and space. For the sun in his 
 journey measures a definite space in the heavens, 
 and a recurrent period of time. 
 
 The following geometrical process will illustrate 
 the agreement between proportions of the Ark, 
 and the measures of the ecliptic. If a rectangle, 
 having a ratio of 6 to i, be drawn, so that its length 
 is equal to the sun's course, as delineated upon 
 a terrestrial globe, the length of the Ark would 
 
NOAHS ARK. 
 
 75 
 
 w 
 
 \(S-' 
 
 be equal to the circumference of the earth, and the 
 line drawn through its centre would represent the 
 equator. And if the oblique course 
 of the sun be described by two 
 straight lines, cutting the equator, so 
 as to produce the exact declination 
 of the sun*s orbit, it will be found 
 that the rectangle contains a repre- 
 sentation of the solar path, leaving 
 a sufficient margin all round to 
 provide a wall. The sun s course 
 is thus inclosed inside a long 
 narrow coffer, and appears in the 
 form of a bridge or pediment, 
 marking the tropics by the sol- 
 stitial signs of Cancer and Capri- 
 corn, at its apex and base — the 
 equinoctial points being marked 
 on the equator by Aries and Libra. 
 When the rest of the signs are 
 drawn at their proper intervals, it 
 is quite an allowable figure of 
 speech to say, that the Ark con- 
 tains all the beasts of the earth. 
 
 The equatorial circumference of 
 the earth is 24,900 miles, therefore 
 an ark enclosing the sun's course, 
 taking the obliquity of the ecliptic 
 at 24°, as computed by Vitruvius, 
 measures externally 2 4, 900 by 
 4,150 miles. Internally it is 24,048 
 by 3,223. If these measures be 
 divided by 12, as in the case of 
 the Holy Oblation, they become, 
 for the exterior 2,075 ^ 345^ ^^id 
 for the interior 2,004 x 2681^2. 
 
 Now if such an Ark be drawn upon the Holy 
 Oblation, so that it is crossed by the orbits of the 
 
 ^ 
 
 // 
 
 
 FIG. 13. — NOAH'S 
 ARK. 
 
76 THE CANON. 
 
 seven planets, then, when Noah's body is intro- 
 duced according to the diagram of Montanus, 
 it is easy to understand how the facts of this 
 geonietrical figure might be mystically converted 
 into the story of Noah, and the seven members 
 of his family, who took a year's voyage in 
 the Ark, together with all the animals of the 
 world. 
 
 If this explanation be correct, we must conceive, 
 by the proportions of the Ark, the vast figure of a 
 man, in the likeness and image of God, whose body 
 contains the measure of the sun's path in the 
 ecliptic, the circuit of the earth, and the orbits of 
 the seven planets. We are, in fact, to imagine the 
 whole material universe, accurately epitomized in a 
 human body, symbolizing the Creator reflected in 
 creation. That the human body was used as 
 a means of illustrating the parts of the universe, 
 is evident from the figures surrounded by the 1 2 
 signs, depicted on old almanacks, and by the custom 
 of astrologers, who allocate the signs and planets 
 to the various members of the body. 
 
 The length of the sun's orbit amounts to about 
 690 of its own diameters (220 x 3^ =1 691), and 
 an ark, or rectangular box, as previously described, 
 whose length outside is 690, measures internally 
 666. The notorious allusion to this number in 
 the Apocalypse is as follows : *' Here is wisdom. 
 Let him that hath understanding count the 
 number of the beast ; for it is the number of a, 
 man ; and his number is six hundred, three score, 
 and six." It is possible that the wisdom mys- 
 teriously referred to by St. John, may have re- 
 ference to the sun's boat, which accurately 
 measured the extent of his course in the heavens. 
 It is generally admitted that the revealed wisdom 
 of the Apocalypse is concerned with astronomy, 
 and that the vision of St. John was a sight of 
 
heaven, sucTi as astronomers see, but set forth in 
 the mystical language of prophecy. Victorinus, 
 who was Bishop of Petau at the end of the third 
 century, in a treatise on the Revelation, alluding 
 to the number 666, speaks thus : " As they have 
 reckoned from the Greek characters, as they find 
 it among many to be teitan, for Teitan (666) 
 has this number, which the Gentiles call Sol 
 and Phoebus." This statement of the bishop ex- 
 plicitly connects the number 666 with the sun, and 
 the statement in the text, that '' it i^ the number 
 of a man," further associates it with the Ark of the 
 sun, which contained the figure of the Microcosm. 
 In some early manuscripts of the Apocalypse the 
 number 6i6 is substituted for 666. And 6i6 is 
 the perimeter of a square, enclosed by the sun's 
 orbit, so that both numbers record the same mea- 
 sure in a different way. When Eratosthenes took 
 his observations for determining the circumference 
 of the earth, he is said to have been informed that 
 when a pit was dug at Syene in Egypt, the sun's 
 rays at the summer solstice shone perpendicularly 
 into it. This place was consequently considered 
 by the Greeks to mark the northern tropic. Can 
 it be a purely accidental coincidence, that the 
 Greeks should have called the place which 
 measured the sun's course in the ecliptic by a 
 name which has the value of 666 ? Assuming 
 that it was the custom to give names an appro- 
 priate number, and that it was known that the 
 sun's orbit was contained in an ark whose internal 
 length was 666 of its own diameters, it must be 
 admitted that Syene, 666, was a very fitting name 
 for a place which indicated the boundary of the 
 sun's path. 
 
 Similarly, the length of an ark of the sun, which 
 is measured by the tone, or interval between the 
 earth and the moon, is 2,406 long (766 x 3' 14 16 
 
78 THE CANON. 
 
 zr 2,406) and 401 broad. Its internal length is 
 2,318, and its width is 311. 
 
 According to St. Clement, '* there are some who 
 say that 300 cubits [Tau, 300] are the symbol of 
 the Lords sign" (" MisceL," bk. vi., ch. ix). 
 Now every scholar knows that the letter Tau,^ or 
 cross, was the emblem of the Phallus. And the 
 word SHMEION (sign), used here, yields the 
 number 383, or the radius of the sun's orbit 
 measured by the tone. In classical Greek 
 2HMEION was written SHMA, 249, and 249 and a 
 fraction multiplied by g^-, in accordance with the 
 proportion of Cesariano's figure, produces the 
 number 2,368, the numerical value of the name 
 Jesus Christ, who was a personification of the 
 Logos or Microcosm, The reason why the ark 
 was considered to symbolize the generative power 
 in the universe may be thus explained. The 
 diameter of the sun's orbit being about 216 times 
 its own diameter, and the diameter of Saturn*s 
 orbit being 2,046 of these diameters, the two orbits 
 roughly stand to each other in the ratio of g^ to i 
 (216 X 9^ zr 2,052). The sun is thus identified 
 with the creative principle of the universe on 
 account of a geometric ratio, as well as for the 
 more obvious qualities which mark him as the 
 fertilizing or impregnating power of the earth. 
 
 The width of an ark 216 long is 36 broad, and 
 Philo (vol. iv., p. 453, Yonge's Transl.) says: 
 *' It was by the employment of this number [36] 
 that the Creator of the universe made the world ;" 
 now the sum of the numbers from i to 36 is 666, 
 the internal length of the sun's boat. 
 
 Cornelius Agrippa perceived a parallel between 
 the ark of Noah and the ship Argo. According 
 to the Greek legend, the ship of the Argonauts 
 
 ^ In Hebrew the word ThBH 407 (Ark) is equivalent by 
 Gematria to ThV 406 (Tau). 
 
jnuah s akk. yy 
 
 was built by 'APros, 374. Supposing the number 
 374 to represent the length of an ark of the ratio 
 of 6 to I, its width would be 62, and 62^ x 9|- zr 
 592, by which we get the size of a man inclosed 
 within a square having a perimeter of 2,368 (592 
 X 4 zz 2,368). And 62 squared, if we increase 
 the fraction, gives the number 3,956, the number 
 of miles in the earth's radius. The name 'APrxi 
 yields 904, which is the circumference of the two 
 circles which produce a vesica 249J long, and 
 
 249i X 9i = 2,368. 
 
 Deucalion, the name of the Greek Noah, has 
 the numerical value of 1,320, which is the length 
 of an ark 220 wide, and 220 is the diameter of the 
 suns orbit. And a cross drawn within a vesica 
 1,321 long, measures 2,083, ^he length of a side of 
 the Holy Oblation. His ark was called AAPNAH, 
 242 ; if colel be deducted the number becomes 
 241, which is the width of an ark 1,446 long, and 
 1,446 is side of a square inscribed within the orbit 
 of Saturn ; therefore the vessel of Deucalion may 
 be conceived as signifying the body of a man 
 surrounded by the seventh and outermost sphere 
 of the planets. 
 
 In the early writings of the Church, Noah, by 
 his voyage in the Ark, and Christos, by His death 
 on the Cross, fulfilled the same mystic sacrifice for 
 the salvation of the human race, and their respect- 
 ive symbols in each case represented the creative 
 agent, whose function is to transmit the divine 
 essence, which they supposed was received through 
 the sun's rays, animated by the spirit of life, flow- 
 ing round the universe in the milky way. 
 
 The diagram of the Ark given by Montanus 
 shows the body of Christ laid in it. Now the 
 numerical value of the Hebrew name Messiah is 
 358. If we take the number 358I- to be the side 
 of an ark, then its length will be 2,151 (358I- x 6), 
 
8o THE CANON. 
 
 the number of years occupied by the sun in each of 
 the 12 signs of the Zodiac, during the cycle of the 
 procession of the equinoxes, or the great year. 
 And this space of time constitutes the great month 
 or Messianic period. In a series of thirteenth 
 century designs in the South Kensington Museum 
 painted on ivory, there is a measure of Christ's 
 body among other emblems of the passion. It is 
 in the form of an oblong enclosure resembling the 
 Ark. 
 
 The proportions of the Ark being accepted as 
 the measures of a human body, the following 
 application of them to the body of truth as re- 
 vealed to Marcus the Gnostic, may explain the 
 meaning of an otherwise incomprehensible passage. 
 The description is recorded by Hippolytus (Ref., 
 bk. vi., ch. xxxix.). "The Tetrad, after having 
 explained these things, spoke as follows : ' Now I 
 wish also to exhibit to you Truth herself, for I have 
 brought her down from the mansions above, in 
 order that yoii may behold her naked, and became 
 acquainted with her Beauty ; nay, also that you 
 may hear her speak, and may marvel at her wisdom. 
 Observe then first the head above, "AXipa and X2 ; 
 the neck, B and T ; shoulders, along with hands, F 
 and X ; breasts, AeXra and ^ ; diaphragm, ET ; 
 belly, Z and T ; pudenda 'Hra and S ; thighs, and 
 P ; knees, in ; calves, KO ; ankles, AH ; feet M 
 and N.' . . . And he styles this element Man, and 
 affirms it to be the source of every word, and the 
 originating principle of every sound." The num- 
 bers of all these letters, when added together, 
 amount to 6,i66. And if we suppose this to be 
 the length of the body of Truth, according to the 
 proportions of the Ark, the width would be 1,027 
 
 ( -^ — 1= 1,027 1 a number, which is at the same 
 time the radius of Saturn*s orbit, and the length of a 
 
i^vj-firi o .n.x\.iv. 
 
 rhombus (1,027 : 592) which has a perimeter of 
 2,368. The height of this Ark is 616, which is the 
 perimeter of a square inscribed within the sun's 
 orbit. 
 
 The numerical value of the name 'AAH0EIA, 
 Truth, is 64, and the sum of the numbers from i to 
 64 is 2,080, the side of the Holy Oblation, There- 
 fore to the Greeks Truth meant the whole cosmic 
 system, accurately and truly delineated. This idea 
 seems also to have been transferred to the Christian 
 Virgin, for MAPIAM has the value of 192, which is 
 the width of the two intersecting circles, which form 
 a vesica 64 wide. 
 
 And it was also the doctrine of the Gnostic 
 Marcus, that the soul of the visible universe con- 
 sisted of seven powers, which glorify the Logos by 
 uttering seven notes. *' The first heaven sounds 
 "AA^ot, and the one after that E, and the third "^HTa, 
 and the fourth, even that in the midst of the seven, 
 the power of 'Iwra, and the fifth O, and the sixth T, 
 and the seventh and fourth from the central one, n. 
 And all the powers, when they are connected to- 
 gether in one, emit a sound and glorify that being 
 from whom they have been projected" (" Ref " 
 bk. vi., ch. xliii). It is noticeable, that in the 
 text of Hippolytus some of the letters are written 
 in full, while others are written with a single letter 
 only. When these are added together, as they 
 stand, they amount to 3,227, which is the length 
 of an Ark having a width of 538, which is the 
 side of a rhombus whose perimeter is 2,151, the 
 number of years in the great month. And 3,223 
 is the width of an Ark containing the sun's course 
 measured on a terrestrial globe. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 NAMES OF THE GODS. 
 
 ^^ Pythagoras thought^ that he, who gave things their na^nes, 
 ought to be regarded not only the most intelligent^ but the oldest 
 of the wise meii. We must then search the Scriptures accurately^ 
 since they are admitted to be expressed in parables^ and from the 
 names hunt out the thoughts which the Holy Spirit^ propounding 
 respecting things^ teaches by imprinting His mind, so to speak, on 
 the expressions; that the names tised with various meanings, being 
 made the subject of accurate investigation, may be explained, and 
 that which is hidden under many integuments may, being handled 
 and lea?'ned, come to light and gleam forth. For so also lead 
 turns white as you rub it, white lead being produced from black. 
 So also knowledge {gnosis), shedding its light and brightness on 
 things, shows itself to be in truth the divine wisdom, the pure 
 light, which illumines the men whose eyeball is clear, unto the 
 sure vision and comprehension of truth T — "Selections from the 
 Prophetic Scriptures," xxxii., "Ante-Nicene Library," vol. xxiv., 
 p. 127. 
 
 '•''The Names declare the glory of Al ; a?id the firmament 
 showeth his handiwork.''^ — Psalm xix. i. 
 
 With respect to the early history of the world, we 
 are at present in the hands of a school of teachers 
 whose attention is divided between the deductions 
 of science and the traditions of antiquity ; and 
 since there is much doubt about the primitive con- 
 dition of man, so there is no certainty about the 
 origin of language. Amongst the nations of 
 Christendom, the *' traditions " generally affirm 
 that the Elohim spoke in the Hebrew tongue, and 
 taught the letters of that language to Adam, who 
 was the first, and, owing to his nearness to divine 
 inspiration, the most perfect philologist. Theo- 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 83 
 
 philus Gale admirably expresses the ancient view 
 in his *' Court of the Gentiles" (vol. ii., p. 6): 
 " The first created divine institutor of all philo- 
 sophie was Adam, who without all peradventure 
 was the greatest among all mere mortals that ever 
 the world possessed ; concerning whom the Scrip- 
 ture tells us (Gen. ii. 19, 20), that "he gave names 
 to every ' living thing/ ^ which argues his great 
 sagacity and philosophic penetration into their 
 natures ... for Adam could, by his profound 
 philosophy, anatomize and exactly prie into the 
 very nature of things, and then contemplate those 
 glorious ideas, and characters of created light 
 and order, which Divine Wisdom had impressed 
 thereon. And that Plato had received some 
 broken tradition, touching this philosoph)?- of 
 Adam, is evident from what he lays down in his 
 '' Politicus," and elsewhere, touching the golden 
 age or the state of innocence, wherein he says 
 our first parent was the greatest philosopher 
 that ever was. And Baleus (' De Script. Brit. 
 Cent. X.,' Praefat.) tells us, * That from Adam all 
 good arts and human wisdom flow, as from their 
 fountain. He was the first that discovered the 
 motions of the celestial bodies, the nature of plants, 
 of living, and all other creatures ; he first pub- 
 lished the forms of Ecclesiastick Politic, ceco- 
 nomick government. . . . From whose school 
 proceeded whatever good arts and wisdom were 
 afterwards propagated by our Fathers unto Man- 
 
 ^ This is also repeated in the Koran (ch. ii.) God "taught 
 Adam the names of all things, and then proposed them to the 
 angels, and said, Declare unto me the names of these things if 
 ye say truth. They answered, Praise be unto thee, we have no 
 knowledge but what thou teachest us, for thou art knowing and 
 wise. God said, O Adam, tell them their names. And when 
 he had told them their names, God said, Did I not tell you 
 that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and know all that 
 which ye discover and that which ye conceal ? " 
 
84 THE CANON. 
 
 kind. So that whatever Astronomie, Geometrie, 
 and other Arts contain in them, he knew the whole 
 thereof! " The Hebrew letters were carefully 
 transmitted by him to posterity, and religiously 
 preserved, till after the addition of new languages 
 at the fall of the Tower of Babel. 
 
 On the other hand, if we turn to the legend of 
 science, we learn a totally different account of the 
 creation of the world. The affair, we are told, 
 took place at a time incredibly remote, and in a 
 manner both vague and uncertain. The very 
 name of the Elohim, who created and instructed 
 our father Adam, is not even mentioned. For 
 the primitive man, according to science, was not 
 born of great stature, nor endowed with pre- 
 eminent faculties, which made him at once fit to 
 receive a profound and abstruse philosophy from 
 the mouth of a paternal God. Instead of which, 
 he was merely an animal who had risen from very 
 small beginnings, and had gradually improved 
 himself, as his opportunities permitted, till, pro- 
 bably to his own surprise, he discovered that he 
 was a man. And then, still retaining his old 
 faculty of getting from worse to better, he ulti- 
 mately learned to speak, to write, and to practise 
 all other arts. This history, as far as it goes, is 
 plausible and probable enough, but it lacks the 
 fulness, which is the strong point about the tradi- 
 tions. There everything is specific and defined ; 
 the story is complete ; the very generations from 
 the creation of the world are counted and the 
 years recorded ; while science, on all these highly 
 interesting points, has nothing but a few guesses 
 to offer. 
 
 The traditions, when received according to the 
 letter, are crude, childish, and unquestionably 
 fabulous ; but since science has so little to tell us, 
 we are compelled to fall back upon them, and 
 
JNAMiib UJ:- iJrlJl UUJJb. O^ 
 
 make the most of their information. In fact, it 
 must be admitted that authoritative knowledge of 
 the archaic history of man does not exist. All 
 that is known of human affairs is confined to a late 
 and recent period. This will be most apparent 
 when it is remembered how little has been ascer- 
 tained about the Egyptians, who lived only a few 
 thousand years before our own time, and who re- 
 present the culmination of a vastly remote civiliza- 
 tion, of which we know little or nothing. Indeed, 
 such is the scantiness of our knowledge of still more 
 recent times, that it cannot now with certainty be 
 ascertained whether Plato or Moses is the older 
 writer/ 
 
 Although the scientist is justified in disregard- 
 ing the traditions when these are offered as literal 
 facts, he is nevertheless himself quite as much at 
 fault in his attitude towards them as the serious 
 people, who have brought discredit upon all 
 ancient history. For his misconception as to the 
 value of the traditions is due to his entire ignor- 
 ance of their meaning, and since this ignorance has 
 come about through the neglect of those critical 
 methods formerly in use among the old inter- 
 preters, if we are to understand the ancients at all, 
 it is clear that we must return to the old manner of 
 criticism. The absence, at the present day, of an 
 illuminated class, and the consequent lapse of the 
 old traditional knowledge, has left us without the 
 guidance which was required for the explanation 
 of the mystical compositions of the old poets and 
 law-givers. Therefore, our only course must be 
 
 ^ According to Josephus, Apion thought that Moses led the 
 Israelites out of Egypt in the seventh Olympiad (749 B.C.), but 
 this date is uncorroborated, and agrees with no other account. 
 The LXX. declare that he lived a.m. 3839, while the Hebrews 
 put the year of the exodus at a.m. 2423. None of these dates, 
 however, can be supported by any evidence whatsoever. 
 
86 THE CANON. 
 
 to try and recover that knowledge which could 
 transform an apparently stupid fable into the state- 
 ment of some intelligible, and, more or less, im- 
 portant fact. 
 
 The oldest treatise upon names which has come 
 down to us from antiquity is Plato's " Kratylos." 
 This dialogue was written to illustrate the origin 
 of words, and to account for the reasons and 
 motives which influenced the ancients in imposing 
 their names upon gods and things, and it conse- 
 quently affords us the most reliable information 
 available as to the views of the Greek philosophers 
 upon this subject. But we are at once confronted 
 with the difficulty as to how this treatise is to be 
 interpreted. Mr. Jowett, for instance, says: *'I 
 am not one of those who believe Plato to have 
 been a mystic, or have had hidden meanings ; '* 
 and, again : " Plato was not a mystic, nor in any 
 way affected by the eastern influences which after- 
 wards overspread the Alexandrian world . . . but 
 one who aspired only to see reasoned truth, and 
 whose thoughts are clearly expressed in his lan- 
 guage." If Mr. Jowett's emphatic opinion could 
 only settle the difficulty, we should have no further 
 trouble in the matter, but unfortunately this opinion, 
 so far as we know, is unsupported by the testimony 
 of a single ancient author ; at any rate it would be 
 easy to bring forward innumerable assertions to the 
 contrary, which are quite as credible as any state- 
 ment of Mr. Jowett's. The Neo-Platonists claimed 
 to have had a secret tradition, which had been re- 
 ceived from Plato himself, and handed down by 
 the successive members of the school ; and by this 
 knowledge they professed to interpret the works 
 of the Master. According to St. Clement of Alex- 
 andria, " It was not only the Pythagoreans, and 
 Plato, that concealed many things, but the Epi- 
 cureans, too, say that they have things which may 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 5/ 
 
 not be uttered, and do not allow all to peruse those 
 writings. The Stoics also say, that by the first 
 Zeno things were written which they do not readily 
 allow disciples to read, without their first giving 
 proof whether or not they are genuine philo- 
 sophers. And the disciples of Aristotle say, that 
 some of their teachings are esoteric and others 
 common and exoteric. Further, those who in- 
 stituted the mysteries, being philosophers, buried 
 their doctrines in myths, so as not to be obvious 
 to all." It is evident, therefore, if St. Clement 
 was not mistaken, that all the Greek philosophers 
 expressed their doctrines mystically. And it must 
 be remembered that the Greeks, amongst whom 
 St. Clement lived at Alexandria, were the sons 
 and grandsons of the men who had learned their 
 philosophy in the schools at Athens, and there is 
 no reason to suppose that the mere change of 
 locality brought about such an entire change in 
 the method of philosophizing as Mr. Jowett would 
 have us believe. Admitting that about this time 
 the influence of what remained of the ancient 
 Egyptian wisdom was affecting the current of 
 thought, it is still ridiculous to suggest that the 
 allegorical and mystical method had not been 
 practised by the old philosophers in Greece. 
 Besides, the Alexandrian Greeks were only going 
 back to the fountain-head of all their original 
 speculations ; for, according to the evidence of 
 their own historians, their entire theology and 
 philosophy was first learned among the Egyptians. 
 All the Christian Fathers declared for the sym- 
 bolical, and not the literal interpretation of ancient 
 philosophy, which they regarded in the light of 
 their own Scriptures. They believed that Plato 
 had had access to the Hebrew law, and had based 
 his philosophy upon it. This view was held by 
 all Christians, down to the nineteenth century. St. 
 
88 THE CANON, 
 
 Clement quotes Aristobulus to that effect: "And 
 Plato followed the Laws given to us, and had 
 manifestly studied all that is said in them." And 
 Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, expressly 
 writes : " For what is Plato, but Moses speaking 
 in Attic Greek?" This latter statement, that 
 Plato had borrowed his ideas from the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, may have been a mere fiction, invented 
 by the fathers to give greater authority to the new 
 Gospel. But whether they really believed it or 
 not, there is no doubt that all educated Christians, 
 down to within quite recent times, recognized the 
 identity of the Greek and Hebrew philosophy, and 
 throughout the Middle Ages even went so far as 
 to make the works of Plato and Aristotle the text- 
 books of theology. Now, making every possible 
 allowance for delusion and stupidity on the part of 
 the Fathers, is it likely that, living as they did in 
 the midst of the Pagan world, with the oppor- 
 tunity of being instructed by the Sophists, and 
 even being initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, 
 as St. Clement was, they could have made a mis- 
 take, which involves the misunderstanding of every 
 philosophical and theological system that had ever 
 been propounded ? No doubt the Christian 
 Fathers were not the most skilful of philosophers, 
 but neither can we regard them as being the hope- 
 less imbeciles which we should be compelled to do 
 if we are to believe Mr. Jowett. And it must not 
 be forgotten, that skilful or otherwise, these Chris- 
 tian philosophers were skilful enough to prevail 
 against all their rivals, and establish their system 
 as the permanent creed of subsequent ages. 
 
 Having chosen to follow the united voice of the 
 ancients as to the mystical nature of the Platonic 
 philosophy, it now remains to show what mys- 
 terious facts may be elicited from the discussion 
 about names in the Kratylos. 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. ^g 
 
 The bulk of the argument is put into the mouth 
 of Socrates, who undertakes to instruct the others, 
 as to the derivation of the various words. He 
 speaks throughout in a distinctly flippant tone, and 
 as usual, need not to be taken too seriously. There 
 are the inevitable allusions to the geometrical 
 mysteries, and apparently the aim of the whole 
 piece is directed to play upon the numerical values 
 of the different words, without arousing the sus- 
 picion of the uninstructed. 
 
 The opening paragraph has been numbered by 
 Stephanus 383, and it begins by Hermogenes say- 
 ing, *' Our friend Kratylos [1,12 1 J has been arguing 
 about names ; he says . . . that there is a truth or 
 correctness in them, which is the same for Hellenes 
 as for Barbarians. Whereupon I asked him, 
 whether his own name of Kratylos is a true name 
 or not, and he answers * Yes.' And Socrates 
 [1,629] ' Yes.' Then every man's name, as I tell 
 him, is that which he is called. To this he replies 
 — * If all the world were to call you Hermogenes, 
 that would not be your name.' And when I am 
 anxious to have a further explanation, he is ironical 
 and mysterious, and seems to imply that he has a 
 notion of his own about the matter, if he would 
 only tell, and could entirely convince me if he chose 
 to be intelligible^ 
 
 "Socrates replies *Son of Hipponicus, there is 
 an ancient saying, that ' Hard is the knowledge of 
 the Good.' And the knowledge of names is a 
 great part of knowledge/ " 
 
 ^ The Sophists appear to have been the Pagan gnostics or 
 cabalists, as Plato explains : " Soc. And what is the nature of 
 this truth or correctness of names ? That, if you care to know, 
 is the next question. Her. Certainly I care to know. Soc. 
 Then reflect. Her. How shall I reflect ? Soc. The true way 
 is to have the assistance of those who know, and you must pay 
 them well, both in money and thanks — these are the Sophists." 
 -^Kratylos. 
 
90 THE CANON. 
 
 Thus at the very outset, there is more than a 
 hint given us, that Kratylos knew more than he 
 was willing to reveal on this subject, and the state- 
 ment of Socrates, that knowledge is greatly con- 
 cerned with names, may be taken mystically, for 
 since the word onoma, a name, yields 231, and 
 TO ONOMA, the name, is numerically equivalent 
 to 601,^ he means, that those who know all that 
 is contained in that number have a great part 
 of knowledge, and further, when the opinions of 
 Plato are examined, they will be found to be 
 entirely consistent with the supposition that the 
 Greeks were in the habit of regarding names as 
 numbers, and connecting these with the measures 
 of the universe, and the cabalistic or traditional 
 order of the Canon. We are told, that "the first 
 imposers of names were philosophers," and legis- 
 lators. By legislators, we suppose he means the 
 men who formulated the Law, as the Jews use 
 the expression, when applied to the five books of 
 Moses, which constitute the exposition of the rule 
 or Canon. And it is said, " Naming is an art, and 
 has artificers ; " and again, " he who by syllables 
 and letters imitates the nature of things, if he 
 gives all that is appropriate, will produce a good 
 image, or in other words, a name." At another 
 time Socrates is made to say, '* By the dog of 
 Egypt, I have not a bad notion, which came into 
 my head only this moment ; I believe that the 
 primaeval givers of names were undoubtedly like 
 too many of our modern philosophers, who in the 
 search after the nature of things are always getting 
 dizzy, from constantly going round and round, and 
 
 ^ The number 601 is the width of a vesica 1,04 1| long, or 
 the radius of the circle of the zodiac contained in the Holy 
 Oblation, and is equivalent by Gematria to cosmos, 600. In 
 Hebrew ShMIM (names) is synonymous with, and is generally 
 translated, Heavens, in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures. 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 9 1 
 
 then they imagine, that the world is going- round 
 and round, and moving in all directions ; and this ap- 
 pearance, which arises out of their own internal con- 
 dition, they suppose to be a reality of nature ; they 
 think there is nothing stable or permanent, but 
 only flux and motion, and that the world is always 
 full of every sort of motions and change. The 
 consideration of the names I mentioned has led 
 me into making this reflection. . . . Perhaps you 
 did not observe, that in the names, which have 
 been just cited, the motion, or flux, or generation of 
 things is most assurely indicated." 
 
 The above passage may reasonably be taken to 
 mean, that the names referred to, in setting forth 
 the three laws of the universe, " motion, flux, and 
 generation " are symbols of the powers of creation 
 and the world. 
 
 Again, he says, *' A name rightly imposed ought 
 to have the proper letters. And the proper letters 
 are those which are like the things." In another 
 place, in reply to a statement of Kratylos, that a 
 name wrongly spelt is not a name at all, he says, 
 " I believe what you say may be true about num- 
 bers, which must be just what they are, or not be 
 at all." This last sentence is the only open sug- 
 gestion, in the whole dialogue, that names have a 
 numerical value. But in the following passage, we 
 are able to put this supposed allusion to numbers 
 to the test, and discover Plato's method of dis- 
 closing his numerical philosophy. " Soc, No 
 more could names ever resemble any actually 
 existing thing, unless the original elements of 
 which they are compounded bore some degree of 
 resemblance to the objects of which the names 
 are an imitation ; and the original elements are 
 letters. . . . Were we not saying, that all things 
 are in motion, and progress, and flux, and that 
 this idea of motion is expressed by names ? Do 
 
92 THE CANON. 
 
 you not conceive that to be the meaning of 
 them ? 
 
 " Kratylos, Yes, that is assuredly their mean- 
 ing, and their true meaning. 
 
 '' Soc. Let us revert to 'EniSTHMH [651 J 
 (knowledge), and observe how ambiguous the 
 word is, seeming rather to signify stopping the 
 soul at things, than going round with them ; and 
 therefore we should leave the beginning as at 
 present, and not reject the E, but make an insertion 
 of an I instead of an E (not 7n<rr7ifj(.i but £7rt(7T??jtA9i). 
 Take another example: BEBAION [140] (sure) is 
 clearly the expression of station, and position, and 
 not of motion. Again, the word *I2TOPIA [691] 
 (inquiry) bears upon the face of it the stopping of 
 the stream ; and the word nilTON [710] (faithful) 
 certainly indicates cessation of motion ; then again 
 MNHMH [146] (memory), as any one may see, ex- 
 presses rest in the soul, and not motion. More- 
 over words such as 'AMAPTIA [453] and ETMOOPA 
 [1311], which have a bad sense, viewed in the 
 light of their etymologies, will be the same as 
 XTNE2IZ [1,065] and 'EOISTHMH [651], and other 
 words which have a good sense ; and much the 
 same may be said of 'AMA0IA [62], and 'AKOAA2IA 
 
 333-" 
 
 If the foregoing passage is to be taken literally, 
 it can scarcely be said to have very much point or 
 sense, but if it is to be taken equivocally — each 
 name being chosen for the sake of its numerical 
 value, which gives it a double sense, then it is 
 evident, that the derivations are merely used to 
 give a facetious meaning to the word, in contra- 
 distinction to its numerical significance. Regarded 
 in this light, it becomes, in fact, a specimen of 
 philosophic wit, intended for the amusement of the 
 Sophists. This will become clearer when the 
 numbers of each name are examined. 
 
iN.n.i.VJ,Xl,0 WX" 1 XIJLL. <_H-'J--'0. 
 
 vo 
 
 The first word to which he draws attention is 
 'EniSTHMH, 651. It occurs several times in the 
 course of the dialogue, and is used for knowledge, 
 in the same way that 'H rNXiSII, 1,271, was after- 
 wards used by the Christians. Clement of Alex- 
 andria (*' Misc." bk. vi. 18) says, *'For real science 
 {£7n(rrYi(Ji.n)j which we affirm the Gnostic alone pos- 
 sesses, is a sure comprehension (xxrccXn^ig, 1,270) 
 leading up through true and sure reasons to the 
 knowledge {\ yu^a-tg, 1,271) of the cause." He 
 refers to it again thus : " If then we are to give 
 the etymology of ETrio-rii/xii, knowledge, its signific- 
 ance is to be derived from o-rao-K, 911/ placing" 
 {/6zd. bk. iv. 22). The motion attributed by 
 Plato to this word appears to be the motion of the 
 universe, for 651 is the diameter of a circle, whose 
 circumference is equal to the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit, measured by the diameter of the sun (65 1x3-^ 
 = 2,046). It is therefore, numerically, the name for 
 cosmic science. On the same principle BEBAION, 
 140, if a fraction be added, is the breadth of a 
 vesica formed by two intersecting circles 422 
 wide ; and a square 422 is enclosed by a rhombus 
 whose sides are 666. Further, a circle 141 in 
 diameter has a circumference of 443, the numerical 
 equivalent of 'OAOroi;. The next word, 'UTOPIA, 
 has the value of 691, the length of the sun's orbit 
 measured by its own diameter. The word mSTON 
 yields 710 ; and 709, less a fraction, is the side of 
 a square whose diagonals are (1,002 x 2) 2,004, 
 the numerical equivalent of the four Greek names 
 of the elements. The number 709 is also the 
 measure of a cross (354|- x 2 ^ 709) expressing 
 the number of days in the Lunar Year. More- 
 over, by Gematria mSTON is equivalent to IINETMA 
 'AnON, the Holy Ghost, or Third Person of the 
 
 ^ gi2^ X 4 = 3,650 = radius of Saturn's orbit by Tonos. 
 
94 THE CANON. 
 
 Christian Trinity. MNHMH, 146, is equivalent by 
 Gematria to nANAFIA, an epithet applied to the 
 Virgin in the Greek Church. A vesica 48^ wide 
 is produced by two intersecting circles, whose 
 width is 146, and 48% is the square root of 2,368, 
 the numerical value of the name Jesus Christ. 
 'H MNHMH has the value of 154, which is the side 
 of a square enclosed by the sun's orbit — the peri- 
 meter of this square being 616, a mystical number, 
 which appears in some early manuscripts of the 
 Apocalypse instead of the number 666. The word 
 'AMAPTIA, again, brings out the number 453, and a 
 cross, whose limbs are each 226|-, makes up the 
 length 453 (226J X 2 = 453), and 226^ x g^zr 
 2,151. XTM^OPA, 1,311, has the same numerical 
 value as Tetragammaton, whose numerical signi- 
 ficance is dealt with elsewhere. 2TNE2IX yields 
 1,065, which is about three times the number of 
 days in the Lunar Year ; and 'H STNESIi;, if colel 
 be added to each word, gives 1,075^, or the limb of 
 a cross which measures 2,151, the number of years 
 in the Great Month. 'AMA@IA has the value of 
 62, and 62 X 9|- 1= 592 ; it is also the side of a 
 rhombus whose perimeter is 248, while 'AKOAASIA 
 gives the number 333, a number equal to the 
 diagonal of the New Jerusalem, and the limb of a 
 cross which measures 666. 
 
 It may be said, that all these words by their 
 numerical value refer to motion, in having an 
 agreement with the measures of the celestial 
 bodies, in spite of the assurances of Plato that they 
 express rest and not motion. 
 
 The recurrence of the word £7ri(rTw/>c>i, and the 
 introduction of so many other words, which pro- 
 duce numbers representing important measures of 
 the heavenly bodies, and their orbits may very 
 reasonably justify the conclusion, that here, as in 
 so many other places, there is an allusion to the 
 
scheme of the universe, and that, in the discussion 
 3f the origin of words, there is a mystical reference 
 to their use, as symbols of the cosmic system, by 
 means of their numerical value. The arguments 
 as they stand are not convincing, and it is not 
 likely that Plato would have written such a work 
 as the ** Kratylos," if it is to be taken unequivocally, 
 as Mr. Jowett imagined, and without mystery of 
 any kind. Neither Plato nor the Hebrew philo- 
 sophers who declare that Adam was taught the 
 Hebrew tongue that he might converse with God 
 in Paradise, wrote those things, as we nowadays 
 write a philological work, but both seem to have 
 thought their story good enough for any one who 
 knew no better than to believe it. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, whose testimony has 
 been already quoted, is said to have died a.d. 220, 
 so that he lived about five hundred years after 
 Plato. He was the first considerable writer of 
 the Christian School, which was the final develop- 
 ment of the philosophic eclecticism of the Greeks, 
 and his opinions may be supposed to accurately 
 reflect the prevailing views of the later theologists. 
 He, along with the other Fathers, refers to the 
 signification of names, and treats the subject 
 exactly as Plato did. But while Plato was satis- 
 fied to indicate the measures of the universe 
 simply as the thing to be known ('ErilZTHMH, 65 1), 
 the Christians intimated that the science of Nature 
 was to be reached through the knowledge of the 
 Cross, for 'H rNXlXIS and STATPOi; have the same 
 numerical value. 
 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neo-Csesa- 
 reia, an early Christian writer, called a near suc- 
 cessor of the Apostles, speaking of the quality of 
 names, ingeniously introduces a series of mystical 
 numbers by means of certain words in his dis- 
 course upon the Trinity. " I see," he says, " in 
 
96 THE CANON. 
 
 all, three essentials — substance, genus, name. . . . 
 We speak of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; these, 
 however, are not names, which have only super- 
 vened at some after period, but they are sub- 
 stances. Again, the denomination Man is not in 
 actual fact a denomination, but a substance com- 
 mon to men, and is the denomination common to 
 all men. Moreover, names such as these — 'ASd.^ 
 
 [46], 'A|3paa> [145], 'l(ro,dy. [232], 'W^^ [833]? 
 
 these I say are names. But the Divine Persons 
 are names indeed, and the names are still the 
 Persons ; and the Persons then signify that which 
 is and subsists, which is the essence of God. . . . 
 The vocable word (logos) belongs to these three 
 genera of words, which are named in Scripture, 
 and which are not substantial, namely, the word 
 conceived ('ENNOIAN, 236), the word uttered (nPO- 
 ^OPIKON, 1,080), and the word articulated ('AP@PI- 
 KON, 360)." The names of the Patriarchs we shall 
 speak of elsewhere, so it is only necessary to draw 
 attention to the three words emphasized at the end 
 of the paragraph. The first number, 236, is the 
 length of the side of the New Jerusalem. The 
 second number is 1,080, which is the number of 
 miles in the moon's radius. The third number, 
 360, is both the degrees in the circumference of 
 the earth, and the number of days in the Greek 
 year. 
 
 Origen also testifies as to the mysterious pro- 
 perties of names. He begins with a quotation 
 from Celsus in these words : — " Those herdsmen 
 and shepherds who followed Moses as their leader 
 had their minds deluded by vulgar deceits, and so 
 supposed that there was one God, named either 
 the Highest, or Adonai, or the Heavenly, or 
 Sabaoth, or called by some other of those names, 
 
 ^ Adam, Abraham, Isaak, Jacob. 
 
jr* x^iYxiiij Kjr ixiJCf vxwJJO. y/ 
 
 which they delight to give this world ; and they 
 knew nothing beyond that ! And in a subse- 
 quent part of his work he says that * it makes no 
 difference whether the God who is over all things 
 be called by the name Zeus, which is current 
 among the Greeks, or by that, ^.^., which is in use 
 among the Indians or Egyptians/ Now, in answer 
 to this, we have to remark, that this involves a 
 deep and mysterious subject^ that, viz., respecting 
 the nature of names ; it being a question whether, 
 as Aristotle thinks, names were bestowed by 
 arrangement, or, as the Stoics hold, by nature. . . , 
 If, then, we shall be able to establish, in reference 
 to the preceding statement, the nature of powerful 
 names, some of which are used by the learned 
 among the Egyptians, or by the Magi among the 
 Persians, and by the Indian philosophers, called 
 Brahmans, or by the Samanseans, and others in 
 different countries ; and shall be able to make out 
 that the so-called magic is not, as the followers of 
 Epicurus and Aristotle suppose, an altogether 
 certain thing, but is, as those skilled in it prove, a 
 consistent system, having words which are known 
 to exceedingly few. Then, we say that the name 
 Sabaoth, and Adonai, and the other names treated 
 with so much reverence among the Hebrews, are 
 not applicable to any ordinary created things, but 
 belong to a secret theology which refers to the 
 Framer of all things" ("Against Celsus," bk. i., 
 ch. xxiv.). 
 
 That the reader may follow the next section 
 with a clear mind, we now quote the exposition of 
 the Christian faith, defined with such perfect 
 lucidity by St. Athanasius : " And the Catholic 
 faith is this : that we worship one God in Trinity, 
 and Trinity in Unity ; neither confounding the 
 perspns, nor dividing the substance. For there 
 is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, 
 
 H 
 
98 THE CANON. 
 
 and another of the Holy Ghost. But the god- 
 head of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost is all one ; the glory equal, the majesty co- 
 eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son : 
 and such is the Holy Ghost." 
 
 These being the opinions of the Fathers, we 
 are, at any rate, safe in judging their writings by 
 what Mr. Jowett calls "oriental ideas," for the 
 Gospel appears to have emanated directly from 
 the Alexandrian influences. It is, moreover, de- 
 monstrable that the threefold unity worshipped as 
 God by the new theologists merely exemplified 
 afresh the conceptions of the older philosophies of 
 Egypt and Greece finally brought together by the 
 conquests of Alexander the Great. Before the 
 Christian era, the Greeks had been in the habit of 
 summing up their theology in a Triad, or Tetrad 
 of symbolical persons, who, it appears, were always 
 analogous to the great Triad of the Cabala. Many 
 such combinations of names are to be found in 
 Plato's writings. In the "Timaeus" the divine 
 Triad is called 0fo?, Aoyo?, and fv^ri — God, the 
 Word, and the Soul. The Christian Fathers 
 identified these with their own Trinity, the 
 Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. And when 
 the various names are reduced to numbers, it 
 will be evident that Plato and Moses, as the 
 Fathers declared, established their theology upon 
 a similar cosmic basis, each deriving the divine 
 names from the numbers which occur in the Holy 
 Oblation, the New Jerusalem and the other 
 canonical figures. 
 
 The three names of the Platonic Triad have the 
 following values : 
 
wAMiis OF THK GODS. gg 
 
 0EO2 284+1 
 
 Aoros 373+ ^ 
 
 ^TXH 1,708 + I 
 
 ©EOS . . 284 
 
 Aoros . . 373 
 
 2,365 + 3 = 2,368 
 
 657 - I = 656 ME2XIA2. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be impossible to illustrate the 
 doctrine of the Trinity more ingeniously than by 
 those names and their corresponding numbers. 
 For 284, representing the first person, the Father, 
 or Macrocosm, is the diameter of a circle 8g2 in 
 circumference, and 891 is the numerical equival- 
 ent of 'OTPANOS, Heaven. Accordingly the num- 
 bers deduced from those two words being each the 
 measure of one circle, God and Heaven are pre- 
 sented to us as one and the same — a conception 
 admirably set forth by the rest of the numbers. 
 Then 284 is the width of a vesica 492^ long, and 
 this is the width of a vesica 853 long, which in its 
 turn is the width of another i ,480 long. So the name, 
 Theos, the god of the Pagan and Christian Greeks, 
 expresses, in a roundabout way, the same number 
 and the same meaning, as the name Christos, 1,480. 
 
 The second and third persons, called Logos and 
 Psyche, represent the twofold body of the Micro- 
 cosm, and are appropriately symbolized by the 
 number 2,083, the side of the Holy Oblation con- 
 taining the seven planets and the sublunary world. 
 
 The sum of the three numbers, when colel is 
 added to each, is the ever- recurring 2,368, which 
 the Christians afterwards adopted as the complete 
 name of God, expressed by the letters 'IH20T2 
 XPISTOS, Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is plain that the threefold deity of Plato em- 
 
lOO 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 bodies in the persons of the Triad the three parts 
 of the universe called : 
 
 'EMnTPEION 
 'AI0HP . . 
 2TOIXEIA . 
 
 760 
 
 128 
 
 1,196 
 
 2,084 
 
 'EMnTPEION 
 'AI0HP . . 
 
 GEOI . . 
 2TOIXEIA . 
 
 760 
 128 
 
 888 
 
 284 
 1,196 
 
 1,480 
 
 And since the sum of these numbers is 2,084, it 
 was unnecessary for a Greek to specify the 
 measures of the cosmos otherwise than by re- 
 peating the three names. 
 
 According to some of the old cosmographers 
 there was a region beyond the Empyreum. This 
 was called by the Cabalists Ain Soph, or limitless 
 expansion, an impossible conception usually as- 
 cribed as an attribute of God. If, therefore, we 
 add the word 0£o?, God, as symbolizing this in- 
 finite region, beyond the three lower and nearer 
 divisions, which manifest the Deity to us in a more 
 comprehensible manner, we shall extend the uni- 
 verse to four parts. And 284 (0£o?) added to 2,084 
 makes 2,368 as the numerical value of the Tetrad. 
 Again, the sum of 760 and 128 is 888, and 1,196 
 + 284 zr 1,480, so that from the names of the four 
 divisions of the universe there are produced the 
 numbers which, as will now be shown, determined 
 the names of the great gods of antiquity, and thus 
 labelled them as personifications of specific parts 
 of the cosmic system. 
 
 The Christian Trinity, composed in like manner, 
 yields the number 2,047 (when colel is deducted 
 from each name), which is the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit measured by the diameter of the sun. 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. lOI 
 
 'O HATHP .... 559 - I 
 
 O 'TIOS 750-1 
 
 KAI nNETMA 'AFION 741 - I 
 
 2,050 - 3 — 2,047. 
 
 In works of art the Trinity was most often re- 
 presented by Jesus on the cross, supported by John 
 and Mary. The three names combined thus bring 
 out 2,151, the number of years occupied by the sun 
 in each of the twelve signs, during the precession 
 of the equinoxes, or great year, 
 
 'IHSOTS . . 888 
 
 'mANHS . . 1,069 + 1 K, 6. -,,6. 
 
 MAPIAM . . 192 + I J ' ^ ~ ' ^ 
 
 2,149 + 2 — 2,151 
 
 and exhibit the Messiah stretched within the 
 Holy Oblation containing the sphere of the 
 Zodiac and seven planets. 
 
 It has already been explained that the value of 
 the name Christos, 1,480, being the side of a square 
 inscribed within the Zodiac or fixed stars, gives 
 the measure of his body, extended in the form 
 of a cross throughout the whole universe. Sur- 
 rounded thus by the twelve signs, he represents 
 the Messiah, or periodic Divinity, connected with 
 the cycle of the great precessional period of 25,816 
 years. A month of this great year is 2,151 years 
 
 /25,8i6 \ , . . , , 1 
 
 I — 11: 2,151 ), and It IS supposed that the 
 
 ancients accepted the particular sign, in which the 
 sun rose at the vernal equinox, during this cycle, 
 as the symbol of the Messiah. It is thought to 
 be on this account that the Egyptians worshipped 
 the black and white bulls. Apis and Mnevis, as 
 emblems of the Deity, when the sun was in 
 Taurus, while the Greeks probably called their 
 
I02 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 Zeus, 'AMMX2N (Ammon), and gave him the head 
 of a ram, when the sun entered the sign Aries. 
 For Ammon has the value of 931, and 932-10 is 
 the length of a rhombus having a perimeter of 
 2,151. This heralding of a new Messiah, every 
 month of the Great Year, had a peculiarly mystical 
 meaning. For having conceived the universe in 
 the likeness of a woman, they made their image or 
 type to conform literally to the original or arche- 
 type, and looked forward with joyful expectation 
 to the fulfilment of time, when a new Saviour 
 would come, and symbolically purge the sins of 
 the world, and accomplish its renewal and regenera- 
 tion.-^ 
 
 We have seen that the twelve signs of the 
 Zodiac, according to Villalpanda's diagram of the 
 camp were identified with the twelve tribes of the 
 Israelites. The twelve tribes were considered by 
 the old theologians to prefigure the twelve apostles, 
 who were also said to be analogous to the signs of 
 the Zodiac. In the first century the sun had 
 passed from the Ram to the sign of the Fishes. 
 Now, taking the order of the apostles as it is given 
 by St. Mark (ch. iii.), and supposing Petros, the 
 fisherman, to correspond to 'I^Sue? (the fishes) the 
 names of the apostles represent sequence of the 
 signs in the new epoch, as follows : 
 
 March 
 
 Ram . 
 
 Kpiog . 
 
 400 
 
 X 
 
 TikTpOQ . . 
 
 755 
 
 April . ^ 
 
 Bull . 
 
 Tavpog 
 
 107 1 
 
 op 
 
 'laKOjfSog . . 
 
 1 103 
 
 May . . 
 
 Twins. 
 
 AiBvfiot 
 
 . 538 
 
 8 
 
 'iwavrjQ . . 
 
 1069 
 
 Tune . . 
 
 Crab . 
 
 KapKLVog 
 
 471 
 
 n 
 
 'Avopkag . . 
 
 361 
 
 July . . 
 
 Lion . 
 
 Aewv . 
 
 885 
 
 © 
 
 ^tKnnroQ . . 
 
 980 
 
 August . 
 
 Virgin 
 
 HapBsvog 
 
 515 
 
 a 
 
 BapOoXofidlog 
 
 603 
 
 September 
 
 Scales . 
 
 XqXai. 
 
 649 
 
 n 
 
 MaOQaiog, . 
 
 340 
 
 October . 
 
 Scorpion 
 
 'SKop-jrioQ 
 
 750 
 
 j\. 
 
 Bwfiag 
 
 1050 
 
 November 
 
 Archer 
 
 TlO^BVT7]Q . 
 
 1343 
 
 m. 
 
 'laKto^og . 
 
 1 103 
 
 December 
 
 Goat . 
 
 'AiyoKEpuii 
 
 ^ 1209 
 
 t 
 
 QaSSaXog . , 
 
 299 
 
 January . 
 
 Watermai 
 
 \ ^Tdpoxooc, 
 
 1514 
 
 yf 
 
 ^IfKOV . . . 
 
 1 100 
 
 February . 
 
 Fishes. 
 
 'ixBifBQ 
 
 1224 
 
 **** 
 
 »**• 
 
 'lovSag I(7Kapiw6 
 
 ' 1835 
 
 
 10,569 
 
 10,598 
 
 ^ Consult Mr: Massey^s "Natural Genesis" on this subject. 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. IO3 
 
 Accordingly, when the Logos is stretched cross- 
 wise in the Zodiacal circle, so that the Ram occupies 
 the vernal equinox, his hands and feet, extended 
 to the four corners of the circumference, are in 
 the signs of the Bull, the Lion, the Scorpion, and 
 the Waterman — the four signs which correspond 
 to the four beasts symbolizing the evangelists. 
 The names of the apostles analogous to these in 
 the new cycle are, 'Ia>twj3of, ^IxtTrnog, ScofAoc?, and 
 lifji.(i}v. The name icoi£}t,cc (twelve), so frequently 
 applied to the disciples in the New Testament, 
 very fitly expresses their true significance by 
 the number 834, which is the side of a rhombus 
 1,446 long, or the side of the square contained 
 in the orbit of Saturn, encircled by the twelve 
 signs. 
 
 The number deduced from the twelve pagan 
 names of the Zodiac, is the perimeter of a rhombus 
 2,642 wide, which is produced by two intersecting 
 circles with a united width of 7,926, or the number 
 of miles in the equatorial diameter of the earth. 
 Accordingly, the number 10,569 affords the means 
 of correctly determining the distance of the twelve 
 signs on a terrestrial globe. 
 
 The apostles, again, belonged to the theological 
 system of the Gospel, which presents the mythos 
 in the third manner (St. Clement), and on that 
 account they set forth the measure of the sublunary 
 world, the symbol of the third person of the Triad. 
 For the sum of the twelve names is 10,598, or the 
 circumference of the moon's orbit divided twice by 
 twelve (3,372 X s}= 10,597). 
 
 The Greek Zodiac, therefore, may be said to 
 denote the solar year, while the apostles of Messiah, 
 656, signify a lunar month, or lunar year. 
 
 Moreover, by the cabalistic process of trans- 
 position, the number 10,569 may become 10,596 
 + 11= 10,597 and is equal to 10,598 — i zz 10,597, 
 
I04 THE CANON. 
 
 therefore the great Zodiac and the twelve disciples 
 of Christos are analogous to one another. 
 
 'IHSOTS (Jesus) yields the number 888, which is 
 the length of a rhombus having a perimeter of 
 2,046, the diameter of Saturn's orbit. And a circle, 
 whose circumference is 888 contains the square of 
 the New Jerusalem. 
 
 The Holy Ghost, the third person of the Chris- 
 tian Trinity, corresponds to the Bride of the 
 Cabala, and properly personifies the sublunary 
 world or four elements, and as the embodiment of 
 the receptive and reproductive principle in genera- 
 tion, she symbolized the earth, the mother of all 
 living creatures. Now, TO HNETMA 'AFION (the 
 Holy Ghost) has the value of 1,080, which is the 
 number of miles in the moon's radius. She is 
 thus also a personification of the moon, whom the 
 ancients regarded as the wife or sister of the sun. 
 Again, nNETMA 'AFION, without the article, yields 
 (deducting colel from each name) 708, and a 
 saltire drawn within a square, whose sides are 
 708-f, measures (1,002 x 2 nz) 2,004, the numerical 
 value of the Greek names of the elements.^ The 
 number 708 is also the measure of a cross whose 
 limbs are 354 long, the number of days in the 
 lunar year. The name was also sometimes written 
 TO 'AnON TO nNETMA, which gives the num- 
 ber 1,450: and, if colel be deducted from each 
 word, the remainder is 1,446, the side of a square 
 contained within the orbit of Saturn. By this 
 number she is manifested as an image of the whole 
 material universe, and corresponds to the ^^v^ii rov 
 xoo-ju-o'j, the Soul of the World, described by Plato, 
 The Bride, likened by St, J6hn in the Apocalypse 
 to the Heavenly City, the new Jerusalem, is 
 another figure of the Holy Ghost, and 710 (llv£\j[jt,oc 
 
 ^ See chapter vi., p. 142. 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS- IO5 
 
 "ky^Qv) is the length of a vesica 409^ broad, and 
 409^ is the length of a second vesica whose 
 breadth is 236, the length of the wall in each of 
 the four sides of the celestial city. Robert Flood 
 has beautifully illustrated the figure of this heavenly 
 woman, standing in the midst of the cosmos with 
 her feet upon the elements, and her head reaching 
 up to the firmament (" Utriusque cosmi majoris 
 scilicet et minoris . . . historia," 1617). 
 
 There were also various other names applied 
 to the Christian Trinity singly or collectively. 
 The word Kupto?, Lord, for instance, has the value 
 of 800, which is the perimeter of the New Jerusalem, 
 within the wall (200 x 4 — 800). None of the 
 names given to Christ was more often used than 
 that of the Saviour and Swt??^, if colel be added to 
 each word, yields 1,480. Jesus was said to be a 
 Nazarite, and he is frequently called Jesus of 
 Nazareth. Now the word Na^upar©? yields 1,239, 
 which is the width of a vesica 2,151 long. 
 
 It is evident that the numbers obtained from 
 all these names are simple cosmic measures de- 
 rived geometrically from the canonical figures of 
 the Holy Oblation, the city of Ezekiel, and the 
 New Jerusalem, identifying the Deity with the 
 measures of the universe. 
 
 To return to the " Kratylos," an analysis of the 
 statements which are made there with reference 
 to the names of the Greek Deities suggests, that 
 the same mystical principle of naming the Gods 
 existed among the Greeks. Plato says, that there 
 was reason in the Athenians calling " the essence 
 of all things 'E2TIA, 516." Now the numbers 
 5ii'5 and 520'83 are respectively the sides of 
 rhombi whose perimeters are 2,046, the diameter 
 of Saturn's orbit, and 2,083 '33 ^he side of the 
 Holy Oblation. And the 5 16' 16 being the mean 
 number between the two, may be very properly 
 
I06 THE CANON, 
 
 said to represent the sphere of the fixed stars, 
 which was supposed by the old philosophers to 
 contain the vital essence of all existing things, and 
 was symbolized by the Christians in the name 
 Christos, 1,480, who was supposed to be extended 
 crosswise within this sphere. 
 
 The name'HPA, 109, he says, "may have been 
 given, when the legislator was thinking of the 
 heavens, and may be only a disguise of the air 
 (drip), putting the end in place of the beginning. 
 You will recognize the truth of this, if you repeat 
 the letters of 'HPH, 116, several times over." Now 
 109 is the mean radius of the sun's orbit, its dis- 
 tance from the earth being from 108 to no of its 
 own diameters. 'HPH again has the value of 116. 
 And 1 16|- is the diameter of a circle 365, the num- 
 ber of days in a year. And when he tells us to 
 repeat the letters several times over, he apparently 
 means the numbers, which are the equivalents of 
 the letters, for all the following multiples of 116 
 are mystical numbers. 116 x 2 n: 232, 116 x 
 6 = 696, 116 X 7 = 812, 116 X 8 =: 928, and 
 116 X 9—1,044. These numbers will be referred 
 to, and explained further on. For the present, it 
 is enough to say that Hera was the wife or 
 feminine part of the androgynous Zeus, whose 
 name we shall now proceed to examine. To use 
 Plato's own words, " the name of Zeus has an ex- 
 cellent meaning although hard to understand, be- 
 cause really like a sentence which is divided into 
 two parts ; for some call him ZHN, and use one 
 half, and others who use the other half call him 
 ZETS ; the two together signify the nature of the 
 God." And he further declares, that these names 
 are appropriate to, and symbolize **the God, 
 through whom all creatures always have life." 
 The numerical value of this double name is 677, 
 that is, ZHN, 65, + ZETS, 612 3: 677, and we have 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. lO^ 
 
 been told that its meaning is "hard to understand." 
 Nevertheless, by the help of geometry, it may be 
 possible to discover Plato's intention. The divi- 
 sion of the God into two is evidently intended to 
 exhibit his androgynous nature, the double name 
 Zen-Zeus being equivalent to the Hebrew Elohim, 
 the twofold Deity of creation. The number 677, 
 when colel is added and abstracted, produces the 
 numbers 676 and 678. The first of these is the 
 square of 26, the value of Tetragammaton, while 
 678 is the length of the sun's orbit (216 x 3-f — 
 678), the former number having a feminine and 
 the latter a masculine significance. 
 
 The four letters, which compose the name ZETS, 
 have been supposed to be analagous to the Tetra- 
 gammaton of the Jews, accordingly it may be 
 received, in a geometrical sense, as an illustration 
 of the square or rhombus. Among the Romans 
 and Italians of the Middle Ages, Zeus was identi- 
 fied with the planet Jupiter, and we find in the 
 series of the planets, designed by Baldini, that 
 Jupiter sits in his chariot on a cube, or square 
 seat. He is also depicted thus, in the edition of 
 Hyginus, printed at Venice in 1488. This quad- 
 rangular form, as an attribute of Zeus, is traceable 
 to the number 612, for a square, whose sides are 
 ^53 (153 X 4 = 612), is just contained within the 
 sun's orbit, so that the great God of the Greeks, 
 by the numerical value of his name, in exemplifying 
 the measure of the sun's course, may fitly be re- 
 ceived as the symbol of that animating power, 
 which flows from the sun, and gives life to all 
 things. Apparently in imitation of this, the Chris- 
 tians afterwards perpetuated the same conception, 
 by similarly placing Christos in a square, within 
 the sphere of the firmament. Such a striking 
 geometrical parallel between the two great gods 
 of antiquity is not likely to be an accidental cir- 
 
lo8 THE CANON. 
 
 cumstance, exhibiting no community of purpose 
 on the part of the legislators, as Plato calls them, 
 who devised and established the Greek and Chris- 
 tian theological systems. The number 612 was 
 also a mystical number among the Hebrews, who, 
 by adding colel, produced the number 61 3. There 
 are 354 days in the lunar year, and a vesica 354 
 wide is 6i3"6 long; the two intersecting arcs of 
 which it is composed measuring 741 '4 17. The 
 diameter of the two circles is 708, and their united 
 width is 1,062. The numbers produced from this 
 diagram are certainly remarkable. In the first 
 place 354 is the number of days in the lunar year, 
 and the equivalent of Qsog ; secondly, 708 is the 
 side of a square whose diagonals are 2,004, ^he 
 numerical equivalent of the names of the four 
 elements (see p. 142), and also of the Holy Ghost, 
 nv£v/Aa 'Ayiotf ; thirdly, 741*416 is the circumference 
 of a circle whose diameter is 236, the side of the 
 New Jerusalem ; lastly, the circumference of the 
 vesica is i, 482*832, or with a small reduction, 1,480. 
 
 "The meaning of the name 'AIIOAAXIN, 1,061, 
 will be moving together, whether in the poles of 
 heaven, as they are called, or in the harmony of 
 song, which is termed concord, because he moves 
 altogether by an harmonious power, as astronomers 
 and musicians ingeniously declare." By the 
 numerical value of the name 'AttoXXwv, the Sun God 
 appears to be the counterpart of Zeus, for a vesica 
 612 wide is 1,061 long; therefore each brother 
 appears to be the complement of the other, and the 
 sum oftheir names is (612 + 1,061 =r) 1,673 or ^ l^^s 
 than the side of a square whose diagonal is 2,368. 
 
 The name 'APTEMI2 yields 656. The moon was 
 of course regarded as the wife as well as the sister 
 of the sun, but in either case the two together 
 represent the double potency in generation. The 
 sides of a triangle whose perimeter is 656 are 2 1 8f , 
 
or the diameter of the sun's orbit. This triangle, 
 being a symbol of the sun, or the male power of 
 the universe, may possibly account for the worship 
 of Artemis under the name of Orthia at Sparta. 
 Artemis was also specially regarded as the pro- 
 tectress of cities and streets, presumably because 
 the geometricians found out that a rhombus whose 
 sides are 656*85 contains a square 4i6-|, or the 
 city of Ezekiel. Again, by Gematria, Artemis is 
 equivalent to Messias, one of the names applied to 
 Christos in the gospel. " The name of the Muses 
 (Mouo-a) and Music would seem to be derived from 
 their making philosophical inquiries (jwoVfla*), and 
 AHTX2, 1,138, is called by this name, because she 
 is such a gentle goddess, and so willing (iGskn{j.6v) 
 to grant our requests ; or her name may be A>iScj, 
 as she is often called by strangers : they seem to 
 imply by it her amiability and her smooth and 
 easy-going way of behaving. Artemis is named 
 from her healthy (a/3Tfja>ij) well ordered nature, and 
 because of her love of virginity, and perhaps 
 because she is proficient in virtue (apsTii), Numeric- 
 ally the names, Leto and Artemis, would seem to 
 have a similar significance, for a rhombus 656*85 
 broad is 1,138*68 long, and this rhombus contains 
 the city of Ezekiel, which may be referred to in 
 the legend of the birth of Leto's twins on the 
 floating island called Asteria, the starry. It is said 
 that the island suddenly stood still, being borne up 
 by four pillars, which possibly refer to the four 
 orbits of Mercury inclosed within the mystical 
 city. By Gematria Leto is equivalent to AEAOTE, 
 iji39> the womb, and would thus appear to be the 
 goddess who personates the cosmic mother, or 
 the feminine essence of creation, and was wor- 
 shipped as an embodiment of the matter of the 
 universe. The legend of her retreat to the float- 
 ing island of Delos, 312 (vesica 312 1540 x 4 = 
 
no THE CANON. 
 
 2, 1 60), appears to identify her with the tenth step 
 of the Cabala, for this step is hung to the figure 
 containing the other nine steps by a chain, or 
 properly a canal, so it might be legitimately likened 
 to an island. 
 
 When Hermogenes asks, " What is the meaning 
 of Dionysos and Aphrodite ? " Socrates answers, 
 "Son of Hipponicus, you ask a solemn question; 
 there is a serious and also a facetious explanation 
 of both these names ; the serious explanation is not 
 to be had from meT The mysterious explanation 
 which Socrates declines to divulge, may possibly 
 lie in the following geometrical problems, derived 
 from the numbers of the names. Dionysos was 
 spelt in two ways, AIONTSOS, 1,004, andAIXlNYDOS, 
 1,734. Now these two numbers are to one another 
 in the ratio, or very nearly so, of 26 to 15, for a 
 rhombus 1,001 wide is 1,734 long; accordingly 
 they afford a parallel to the names Zeus and 
 Apollo, and Leto and Artemis. The rhombus 
 was one of the attributes of Dionysos, carried in 
 the processions at the celebrations of his orgies ; 
 for although his usual attribute was the phallus, he 
 was a masculo- feminine god. It has been shown 
 that the number 1,002 may be taken to be one of 
 the limbs of a cross measuring 2,004, or the 
 numerical value of the four elements, so that the 
 name Dionysos implies that he was a personifica- 
 tion of the Logos described in the " Timaeus," 
 Another reason why he may be appropriately 
 symbolized by a cross is given in the following 
 chapter, p. 148. He was the wine-god of the 
 Greeks, being called by Plato "giver of wine;" 
 and 'O '0IN02 yields 470, the diameter of a circle 
 whose circumference is 1,480. This seems to bear 
 out the identity of this god with the Christos, 
 recognized by the Gnostics, and his identification 
 with the seasons of the year, and the equinoxes may 
 
iNAM.il.a KJt iirLtU UUJJO. 
 
 also be attributed to the numbers of his name. By 
 Gematria, Dionysos is equivalent to 2ABAX2, 1,004- 
 
 The value of the name Aphrodite is 993, and 
 Plato connects her with Dionysos, 1,004, possibly 
 because 1,004 added to 994 makes 1,998, the 
 width of the two intersecting circles, which produce 
 a vesica 666 broad. Again 994 is the perimeter 
 of a rhombus 248J wide, and the vesica enclosing 
 it has a circumference of 1,041^^, or the radius of 
 the sphere of the firmament inscribed within the 
 Holy Oblation. As the personification of the great 
 feminine principle of nature, she ought to be con- 
 nected with the earth. This is expressed in the 
 number 991, which is the side of a rhombus having 
 a perimeter of 3,964, the radius of the earth 
 measured in miles. But Aphrodite had also a 
 masculine significance ; for while she was adored 
 as the essence of all beauty, grace, and feminine 
 fruitfulness, there was also strangely worshipped 
 under her name a masculine power. Her image, 
 which in her feminine aspect personated every 
 womanly perfection, was set up in Crete and else- 
 where in the form of a crude stake, roughly carved 
 into the semblance of a human body, and her 
 face disfigured with an unsightly beard. This 
 monstrous idol may also be referred to the number 
 248 (see "Cabala," Greater Holy Assembly, 968). 
 Hesiod derived the name from 'A<pp6g, 871 (foam), 
 which is the perimeter of a square whose sides 
 are equal to the diameter of the sun's orbit. By 
 Gematria dtppo? is equivalent to x-^'of, the primaeval 
 matter from which all things were generated. 
 
 With respect to Athene, Plato says : ** Modern 
 interpreters . . . assert, that Homer meant by 
 Athene mind and intelligence. . . . This is she, 
 who has the mind of God, Sbov (484), voYia-ig (538)." 
 These two words both bring out mystical numbers, 
 484 being the width of a vesica formed by the 
 
112 THE CANON. 
 
 intersection of two circles whose circumferences 
 are 3,042 the diagonal of a square 2,151 (968 x 
 3^ = 3,042), and 538 is the side of a rhombus 
 having a perimeter of 2,152. The name Pallas, he 
 says, " is derived from armed dances. For the 
 elevation of one's self or anything else above the 
 earth ... we call dancing (^aAAciy)." IIAAAAS 
 has the value of 342, and a rhombus having a 
 perimeter of 1,368 is 342 on its sides, and 1,368 
 is the width of a vesica 2,368 long. Again 341 x 
 6 z= 2,046, the diameter of Saturn's orbit. 'A0HNH 
 yields 76, which is the square root of 5,776, or the 
 limb of a cross which measures 11,552, or the 
 sun's distance measured by the diameter of the 
 earth ; and 76, with the addition of a fraction, is 
 the square root 5,920, or the perimeter of the 
 square 1480. It will be enough to notice here 
 that the name of this mysterious goddess of the 
 Athenians exhibits those numbers which after- 
 wards are found so prominently in the Christian 
 theology. Some other characteristics of this 
 goddess will be considered, in reference to her 
 great temple on the Acropolis. 
 
 Hermogenes asks, " But what is I,£Xriv7i (moon) ? 
 Soc, That name is rather unfortunate for Anax- 
 agoras. Her. How so ? Soc, The word seems to 
 forestall his recent discovery, that the moon receives 
 her light from the sun." Now 'H SEAHNH has the 
 numerical value of 309, which is the diagonal of a 
 square inclosing the sun's orbit, which is possibly 
 what Socrates refers to ; and a rhombus, 309 
 broad, is 535 long and 535 is the value of KTEIS, 
 a word used for the womb by the Greeks (Clement 
 of Alexandria) ; and 309 is ^- of the moon's diameter 
 in miles (309x7 — 2,163). "Then surely Pan, 
 who is the declarer of all things (tt^i/), and the 
 perpetual mover {dsl ttoAwv, 1,046) of all things, is 
 rightly called 'AtTroAo?, 461 (goatherd), he being the 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. II3 
 
 two-formed son of Hermes, smooth in his upper 
 part, and rough and goat-like in his lower regions. 
 And as the son of Hermes he is speech, or the 
 brother of speech, and that brother should be like 
 brother is no marvel." The name Pan, every- 
 thing, has the value of 131, and a square, which 
 has a perimeter of 130 is 32 J on its sides, and 
 32*35 is the square root of 1,046 J, the radius of the 
 circle containing the square 1,480 within the Holy- 
 Oblation. Then 130 is the diameter of a circle 
 having a circumference of 408*4, which is the 
 length of a vesica whose width is 235*3, the length 
 of the wall on each side of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Hermes yields the number 353, or one less than 
 the number of days in the lunar year. Again, 
 353 is the perimeter of a square whose sides are 
 88|-, or the space between the tropics measured by 
 the diameter of the sun. And 353 is the diameter 
 of a circle whose circumference is 1,110, which is 
 the numerical value of the name Microprosopos, 
 the second person of the cabalistic triad. There- 
 fore Hermes appears to symbolize the lunar year, 
 and the measure of the ecliptic, thus symbolizing 
 the masculo-feminine nature of the Logos. From 
 'EPMAIGS, another spelling of the name, the number 
 426 is obtained. A square whose sides are 426 is 
 contained in a rhombus whose sides are 671, the nu- 
 merical equivalent of Adonai ; and 425 x 31=1,275. 
 
 Ares has the value of 309, which is the diagonal 
 of a square inclosing the sun*s orbit ; and 309^; is 
 the side of a rhombus having a perimeter of 1,239, 
 and this number is the width of a vesica 2,151 long. 
 
 Poseidon yields the number 1,219, which is the 
 circumference of a circle whose diameter is 388, 
 the numerical equivalent of o*'HAio?, the sun; and 
 a vesica 388 wide is 672 long, or one more than 
 the value of Thora. A vesica formed of two 
 circles 1,219 i" circumference contains the sphere 
 
I 14 THE CANON. 
 
 of the Zodiac, taking the sun's distance at 10 
 { 194 : 33 5 2^)- This god was also called nOTEIAAN, 
 520, or one less than the side of a rhombus whose 
 perimeter is equal to the side of the Holy Obla- 
 tion ; and the length of this rhombus is 901, the 
 number of ^axxo?. By Gematria, IIOSEIAXIN is 
 equivalent to 'IXQTX, a fish. 
 
 The value of nEPSE^ONEIA is 1,026, which is the 
 length of a rhombus whose perimeter is 2,368. 
 And 1,024 is the radius of Saturn's orbit. She 
 is sometimes called KOPH, 198, or KOTPH, 598; 
 
 198 is equivalent to — — zz 197^, and 598 is the 
 
 12 
 
 circumference of Saturn's orbit, taking the sun's 
 
 distance at 10. Persephone is therefore the 
 
 feminine counterpart of the deity representing the 
 
 number 2,368. 
 
 Heracles yields 370, or the side of a rhombus 
 whose perimeter is 1,480. 
 
 Before the final establishment of the Christian 
 religion, when its ultimate form was still uncertain, 
 some of those who had severed themselves from 
 the old pagan cults worshipped the deity under 
 the name of lao. And it was probably a doubtful 
 question, for some time, whether the votaries of 
 lao would prevail over those who advocated the 
 claims of Christos. However, the popularity of 
 lao did not last very long, and it is now many 
 centuries since altars were raised to this god. The 
 numerical value of lAQ is 811, and this is found to 
 be the circumference of a circle 258^ in diameter. 
 Now the Greek name of the tenth step of the 
 Cabala was Bao-iAct'a, the kingdom, a word of very 
 frequent occurrence in the New Testament, as, 
 for instance, in the Lord's Prayer, '* Thy Kingdom 
 come." And BA2IAEIA yields 259, and 'H.BASIAEIA 
 has the value of 267. And 266f is the diameter 
 of a circle whose area is equal to that of the New 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. II5 
 
 srusalem, so that this name may appropriately 
 :andfor the Bride whom St. John saw coming down 
 cm heaven. But lao has still other significations, 
 )r 811^ is the diameter of a circle whose circum- 
 :rence is 2,550, and this is the measure of the 
 mbs of a cross 1,275 ^ong {1,275x2 — 2,550). 
 Lgain, the three letters written in full bring out 
 le number 2,492, which is the perimeter of a 
 ■iangle whose sides are 831, the numerical value 
 f Macrocosmos. 
 
 2ABAX20 is a name sometimes found in con- 
 mction with 'IAD.. It is a translation of the 
 lebrew word which means "armies," and has the 
 alue of 1,013, which is also the number of the 
 ame Ilporoyovog, the Orphic Adam, or first man. 
 low 1,014x3^3,042 the diagonal of a square 
 ,151. Protogonos was produced from an egg^ 
 hich Bryant declares was an emblem of the Ark. 
 it any rate an Ark whose perimeter is 2,368 is 
 ,014 long. The names iao sabaoth yield 1,824, 
 ^hich is the measure of a cross whose limbs 
 
 re 912 
 
 (^=^-}- 
 
 As it would require a Hebrew scholar to deal 
 roperly with the names and words of that language, 
 ery little can be said here with respect to the 
 ewish scriptures. It is possible, however, to 
 lention a few facts which seem conclusively to 
 apport the principle of numeration which has 
 een pointed out in the case of the Greek writings. 
 
 Whatever doubt may exist as to the knowledge 
 f the Cabala among other peoples, there can be 
 o question as to its use among the Jews. This 
 ircumstance makes the Jewish law the chief source 
 f mystical knowledge, on account of its complete- 
 ess, for supposing the Homeric poems to be 
 arller in point of time, the Law of Moses, being 
 ccompanied by the ancient traditional comment- 
 
Il6 THE CANON. 
 
 aries preserved in the Cabala and Talmud, is 
 provided with the key which is required to unlock 
 its secrets, while all similar aids to the understand- 
 ing of the Greek poems are lost. In this respect the 
 Hebrew writings stand alone, but it may be that 
 there is in the Romish and Eastern Churches some 
 remnant of the old oral tradition which is still 
 handed down and preserved in silence. 
 
 When, therefore, the same analysis, already 
 applied to the names of the Greek gods, is extended 
 to those given to the Deity by the Hebrews, it 
 would appear that both peoples regarded the 
 universe as the emblem of God, and each formu- 
 lated a theology, founded upon the same numbers 
 and symbols. In view of the entire lack of reliable 
 evidence, it would be useless to attempt to decide 
 whether the Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews, 
 as the Fathers declare, or whether the Hebrews 
 borrowed from the Greeks. It is more probable 
 that each derived their knowledge from the 
 Egyptians independently. And it will be enough 
 to remember that the Jews, who make such pre- 
 tensions to antiquity, have absolutely nothing to 
 show in support of such an ancient origin. 
 
 The name of God, most highly venerated 
 amongst the Jews was that written with the four 
 letters IHVH. The name was considered to be 
 too holy and sacred to be spoken. Its communica- 
 tion to Moses, upon the Mount, was regarded as 
 the supreme revelation of the secret and mysterious 
 nature of the Deity, and the knowledge of its 
 pronunciation was the great arcanum oi the Jewish 
 Church, only known to the high priest. The pious 
 Jew was taught to pause when he came to this 
 name in reading the Law, or to say the name 
 Adonai in its stead. By Christians it was gener- 
 ally called Tetragrammaton, or the Tetrad. The 
 numerical value of ihvh is 26 ; but the number 
 
of the letters gave it the value of the number 4. 
 According to the ancient computation, 4 was 
 equivalent to 10 because i + 2 + 3 + 4^ 10, and 
 10 was equivalent to i, because i -{-ozr i. 
 Regarded as the number 4 it typified the elements 
 and cardinal points of the universe, and conse- 
 quently the Cross or Omphalos at the centre of 
 the world ; it also denoted the Logos, and the 
 Bride or tenth step of the Cabala — she who was 
 the great mother, the earth, and the city of the 
 New Jerusalem, called Adonai by the Hebrews. 
 Finally, the number 26 connects this aspect of the 
 Deity with that mysterious symbol, the Vesica 
 Piscis, for the proportion of this figure is 26 to 15. 
 The number 26 is also the square root of the 
 length of the sun*s orbit (262 rr 676 and 216x3^ = 
 678), This name was considered to be the same 
 as the Tetractys of the Pythagoreans, which they 
 regarded as the foundation of all things. In fact, by 
 its various aspects, the ihvh of the Jews epitomized 
 the whole mystery of theold theology, and represents 
 the body and soul of creation. It may be viewed 
 as the symbol of God, seen in the sun, the earth, the 
 whole universe, or as the powers of creation, sym- 
 bolized by the three persons of the cabalistic triad. 
 It has been already pointed out that the ten 
 steps of the Cabala are jointed together according 
 to the proportion of a vesica, the symbol of Tetra- 
 grammaton, 1,311. Now the whole ten names, if 
 reduced to numbers and added together, amount 
 to 2,868, which is the circumference of a circle 912 
 in diameter. The number 912 is the value of the 
 name Prometheus, who is an exact counterpart of 
 the Hebrew Adam Kadmon, or supernal Adam, 
 in whose person the ten steps were symbolically 
 manifested. By comparing the character and ad- 
 ventures attributed to Prometheus by the Greeks, 
 it will be seen that he was to them what the 
 
Il8 THE CANON. 
 
 Messiah was to the Hebrews and Christians. The 
 Messiah, of course, was the philosophical creation 
 of the cabalistic sages, personified as a historical 
 person for the benefit of the populace, and this 
 being, as portrayed in the drama of ^schylus, is 
 the Greek conception of the Mediator, who brings 
 life and salvation to mortals, under the symbol of 
 Fire. The Greek play is essentially religious in 
 its purpose, and is a kind of dramatic gospel, 
 corresponding to the Mystery Plays, acted by 
 Christians in the Middle Ages. It is written in 
 lofty language, calculated to inspire the audience 
 with a religious awe, in spite of the singular nature 
 of the myth. The attitude of the poet appears to 
 be reverent and sincere. Like Christ, Prometheus 
 was made to suffer innocently at the hands of the 
 Father. For Jesus was crucified to expiate the 
 crime of Adam, who disobeyed the Elohim, while 
 Prometheus was chained to the rock, on the 
 pretext of his having brought down the divine fire 
 to mortals against the will of Zeus. Both were 
 blameless in their lives, and devoted themselves to 
 instruct and aid mankind. In the play Prometheus 
 is made to say, " And verily I discovered for them 
 Numbers, the surpassing all inventions." And he 
 bestowed the benefit of fire upon men by means 
 of the Narthex (Fennel-rod), ** which has shown 
 itself a teacher of every art to mortals, and a great 
 resource." It was the counterpart, of the cross of 
 Christ. The numerical value of NapfiiiH is 228, or 
 the side of a rhombus whose perimeter is 912, 
 which seems to trebly accentuate this number, 
 which is again found in the name Kaukasos, 912, 
 where the giant was bound over a great cleft in 
 the rocks. Now 228 by 9|-zr 2,166, or very 
 nearly the number of miles in the diameter of the 
 moon. The artificer of the gods, to whom was 
 ^imputed an exquisite and marvellous skill in smith- 
 
work and other crafts, was named H ephaistos, i , 289, 
 a number which is the diagonal of a square whose 
 sides are 912. He only differed from Prometheus 
 (912) in that he guided the jiiand of the artisan, in 
 contradistinction to the god, ^vho taught men Jetters 
 and the intellectual arts. His wife, too, was called 
 91 1 (XaVi?),sowe may suppose that all artistic handi- 
 work was inspired by the wisdom of this number. 
 The point of the myth appears to be that 
 Prometheus, or the hollow reed, was the mediator 
 between heaven and earth who transmitted the 
 mystic fire from the moon, which is the lowest 
 heaven. The fire, being the highest of the 
 elements, reached up to the lunar orb, and was 
 therefore made to symbolize the celestial essence 
 or spark of d^ine life, conveyed to mortals by 
 the deity. But a more comprehensive meaning 
 may be att/ched to the number 912, for if the 
 sun's distance be taken at 10, the radius of Saturn's 
 orbit measures 95, and 95X9|-~902, or i more 
 than the value, of ^aXAo?, and the radius of a 
 circle inscribed within the Holy Oblation measures, 
 to the same scale, 97, and 96x91^ — 912; thus 
 Prometheus personifies the radius or rod, which 
 measures the whole world. The Hebrews, like 
 the Greeks, attributed the act of mediatorship to 
 many persons, each of whom was a personification 
 of the Messiah, in some aspect or another. Thus 
 Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses are all con- 
 spicuous embodiments of some fact in the Jewish 
 philosophy. The Christian mythologists recog- 
 nized an affinity between Prometheus and Noah 
 as may be seen from the opinions of Vossius (see 
 Gale, ** Court of the Gen." vol. i., p. 185) and 
 Bryant (" Myth." vol. iii., p. 7, etc.). Bochartand 
 Stillingfleet, again, discover an analogy between 
 Magog and Prometheus (Gale, p. 187), and many 
 other similarities of this kind could be pointed out. 
 
I20 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 The identification of these persons can only be 
 perceived from a knowledge of the philosophical 
 ideas which gave rise to the myths, and this 
 recognition of identity, between seemingly diverse 
 deities, is not the result of ignorance on the part 
 of the mythologists, as people nowadays imagine, 
 but is due to a knowledge which we moderns no 
 longer possess, for persons as well as things may 
 be used as symbols, and such persons were sym- 
 bolically introduced into the old histories to embody 
 the ideas of the philosophical theology. 
 
 The names, by which the ten steps of the 
 Cabala were known, are as follows : 
 
 I 
 
 KThR . 
 
 620 1 
 
 73, 
 67 j 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 ChKMH . 
 
 .760-3 = 757 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 BINH . . 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ChSD . . 
 
 72] 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 GBVRH . 
 
 216 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 ThPAPTh 
 
 1,081 
 
 - 1,612 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 NTzCh . 
 
 148 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 HVD . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 ISUD . . 
 
 80 J 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 MLKVTh 
 
 496 
 
 2,868 = (9i3X3|). 
 
 KThR . 
 
 ChKMH 
 BINH . 
 ChSD 
 
 620 
 
 73 
 67 
 
 72 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 832x9^ = 
 
 = 7,904. 
 
 As pointed out by Menasseh ben Israel, 
 BRASHiTH, the first word of the Mosaic Law, 
 has the value of 9 r 3, and by Gematria, this is 
 equivalent to the Hebrew expression, " He created 
 the Law," therefore 2,868, the sum of the numbers 
 deduced from the names of the ten cabalistic 
 steps, being the circumference of a circle whose 
 diameter is nearly 913 (913 x 3^ — 2,869), the 
 
JNAMlifc) Ut ItiiL (iUUb. 
 
 121 
 
 word BRASHITH by its numerical value implies, 
 that the Law was founded upon the ten steps. 
 A rhombus whose perimeter is 2,868 is 717 on 
 each of its sides, therefore the perimeter of each 
 of the equilateral triangles of which it is formed, 
 amounts to 2, 1 5 1, the number of years in the great 
 month.^ 
 
 The first two names numerically amount to 689, 
 or the length of the sun's orbit measured by its 
 own diameter. 
 
 The first three names forming the upper Triad, 
 called Long-face or the Macrocosm, yield 760, 
 which is the side of a square whose diagonals 
 measure 2,151. 
 
 The first four names have the value of 834 : 
 and 834 X 9^ — 7*923, the number of miles in the 
 earth's diameter ; and the length of a vesica 834 
 broad is 1,446, which is side of a square con- 
 tained in Saturn's orbit. 
 
 And the ten steps, besides the names enumer- 
 ated above, were called as follows : 
 
 57 
 
 Crown . . 
 
 AHIH. 
 
 21 
 
 Wisdom 
 
 IH . . . 
 
 15 
 
 Understanding 
 Majesty . . 
 Severity 
 Beauty . . 
 Victory 1 
 Glory J ■ 
 Foundation 
 
 ^ IHV . . 
 . AL . . 
 . ALHIM 
 IHVH. 
 
 TzBAVTh 
 
 ShDI . 
 
 21 
 
 86 
 . 26 
 
 [ 499 
 314 
 
 Kingdom . 
 
 ADNI . 
 
 65 
 
 1,078 
 
 '* Book of Concealed Mystery," ch. iii., p. 88 
 (Mathers). 
 
 ^ A further reason for the choice of the number 2,868 is 
 explained in the following chapter. 
 
122 THE CANON. 
 
 The number 1,078 is the limb of a cross which 
 measures 2,156, which is the mean between 2,151 
 and 2,161. The number of the names may be 
 therefore said to represent the Logos, in the form 
 of a cross, symboHzing the month of the great 
 year, and the space between the earth and the 
 moon. 
 
 The Greek names of the first and second 
 persons of the great cabalistic triad are Macro- 
 prosopos or Long-face, Microprosopos or Short- 
 face, and Basileia the kingdom. 
 
 MAKPonposonos . 
 
 1,101 
 
 MiKPonposonos . 
 
 1,110 
 
 BASIAEIA . . . 
 
 259 
 
 1.369 
 
 i,ior 
 1,110 
 
 2,211 
 
 2,470 
 
 The sum of the three names is 2,470, which by 
 transposition becomes 2,047, ^^e diameter of 
 Saturn's orbit, and 2,407 the length of the sun's 
 orbit measured by the tone. It is also the 
 perimeter of a rhombus whose sides are 617-I, the 
 mean between 616, the number of the Beast, and 
 619, the numerical equivalent of Helios and Selene, 
 the sun and the moon (318x301=1619). The 
 number 1,1 oi (Macroprosopos) is the perimeter 
 of a square containing a vesica 666 in circum- 
 ference (275-34 X 4 =: 1,101). This vesica is 
 formed by two intersecting circles 318 (3i7'99) in 
 diameter, and the cross inscribed within it measures 
 434^, the numerical equivalent of Diotima the 
 priestess, who is said to have instructed Socrates. 
 And 109 (Hera) x 4 zr 436 ; and the circumference 
 of the two intersecting circles is 999, or one more 
 than the 998, the number of Nympke, the name of 
 the Bride in the Apocalypse. This vesica, with 
 its circuit of 666, appears to have been one of the 
 fundamental figures of the old theology, and to 
 
NAMES 0¥ THE GODS. 1 23 
 
 have been the source of many names, including 
 the Trinity itself; for the square, inclosing the 
 two circles, has a perimeter of 1,907*28. 
 
 HATHP 489-1 
 
 'TIOS 680- T 
 
 KAI nNETMA-'AnON 741 - I 
 
 1,910-3 = 1,907- 
 
 This requires the insertion of xa,!, but the three 
 names, without the ** and," appear to be derived 
 from the number 666 in another way. 
 
 HATHP . . . 489 -f I 
 'TIGS , . . . 680 + I I 
 nNETMA-'AriGN 710 + 2 j ^*^^^ 
 
 1,879 + 4=1,883. 
 
 The number now becomes 1,883, ^.nd the diagonals 
 of a square whose sides are 666, measure 1884 
 (1^942 X 2). Macroprosopos may also be identi- 
 fied with the number 2,368 in a very simple man- 
 ner, as will be shown in the following chapter, 
 
 p. 155- 
 
 If Malchuth, 496 be substituted for Basileia, 
 the three names yield 2,707, the perimeter of a 
 rhombus whose sides are 676f , the square of 26, 
 and the length of the sun's orbit. 
 
 The first and second persons of the Triad were 
 otherwise called Macrocosmos and Microcosmos. 
 By Gematria, Macrocosmos is equivalent to ipaAAof, 
 831 ; and Microcosmos, 840, represents the 
 measure of a man's body derived from the space, 
 between the tropics measured by the sun's diameter 
 for 88|- X 9^ = 840. The sum of the two names, 
 if colel be added to each, amounts to 1673, or 
 I less than the side of a square whose diagonal 
 
124 THE CANON. 
 
 is 2,368. Together, with that of the bride, the 
 numbers (831 x 840+496) amount to 2,167 — 3 = 
 2,164, the number of miles in the moon s diameter. 
 The three great canonical numbers 888 (Ua-oZg), 
 1,480 {Xpt(TTog)y and 2,368 (lY}(roZg Xpia-rog) are to 
 each other in the ratio of 3, 5, and 8, their greatest 
 
 /888_ 1,480 _^ 
 common measure being 296 \tt^ — 3» ~TZZ~ ~ 5» 
 
 — — — 8 ). Now these three numerals, 3, 5, 
 296 / 
 
 and 8, if converted into a single number, become 
 
 358, which is numerically equal to the Hebrew 
 
 name, MShICh, Messiah. And 358^x6 equals 
 
 2,151, therefore a stone or hexagon, having a 
 
 perimeter of 2,151, is a geometrical symbol of the 
 
 Hebrew Messiah. In the Apocalypse the Messiah 
 
 is called the Alpha and the Omega (to "AA(P« xocl 
 
 TO "^riiusya), 2,152. And a hexagon or stone, 
 
 described round a circle having a circumference 
 
 of 2,151, has a perimeter of 2,368, and is therefore 
 
 the equivalent of 'Iro-ou? Xpia-rog. The period of 
 
 2,151 years, besides being the length of a month 
 
 of the great year, during which time it was alleged 
 
 that the world was regenerated, has also the 
 
 peculiarity that it is the sum of the two numbers 
 
 1,480 (Christos), and 671 (Thora the Bride) ; it is 
 
 therefore the symbol of the masculo-feminine 
 
 nature of the Messiah. And a vesica 358 broad 
 
 is 620 long, and 620 is the value of Kether, the 
 
 first step of the Cabala. And a rhombus 359 long 
 
 is 2oy^ broad, and 207^ is the diameter of a circle 
 
 having a circumference of 651, the diameter of a 
 
 circle 2,046 in circumference. 
 
 We learn from the Cabala that Adam Kadmon 
 
 was the father of the earthly Adam. He was the 
 
 being, analogous to Christos in his super-mundane 
 
 state, when he personates God*s essence before it 
 
 reaches the earth. He is the Hebrew Demiurge 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 1 25 
 
 or Logos. The numerical value of Adam Kadmon 
 is 245, or counting the values of the M and N as 
 finals, the number is 1,455. Now a rhombus 
 whose sides are 245 contains a square drawn 
 within the sun's orbit and having a perimeter of 
 612, the value of the name zeus ; and a saltire 
 (i22|^x 2 =:) 245 is contained within the space of 
 the tropics measured by the diameter of the sun. 
 The name Kadmon, 200, exemplifies the measure 
 of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and must surely have 
 an affinity with the Greek Kadmos, 335 (335^ x 2 
 ==671) who built the mystical city of Thebes, 
 with its seven cosmic walls and seven gates, 
 guarded by the seven heroes, whose shields bore 
 the symbols of the planets. The number 335 is 
 so near the diagonal (333) of the city of the New 
 Jerusalem, that it may be reasonably connected 
 with that measure. 
 
 The name Adam has the value of 45 ; and this 
 number, with a fraction added, is the square root 
 of the diameter of Saturn's orbit. The name Eve 
 has the value of 19, which is the square root of 
 361. The value of the two names (19+45) =■ 64, 
 and the sum of the numbers from i to 64 equals 
 2,080, the side of the Holy Oblation. In the 
 Talmud it is said that Adam's body stretched 
 from one end of the world to the other. At the 
 request pf the angels God reduced it to 1,000 
 cubits, meaning, perhaps, that he also personates 
 the distance between the equinoxes. Counting 
 the M, final, as 606 Adm (Adam) yields 605 ; and 
 by deducting i J it becomes 603^, which is half of 
 i,207j, the side of a vesica 2,093 ^^^g- And 
 2,093 is the diameter of the circle containing the 
 square 1,480. Again, 605 + 19 :::: 624, the length 
 of a vesica 360 wide. The sum of the num- 
 bers from I to 9 is 45, so that Adam may be 
 said to symbolize the power of the ninth step 
 
126 THE CANON. 
 
 called Yesod the foundation ; it is the repro- 
 ductive principle, and applies to Adam as the 
 progenitor of the human race. A cross whose 
 beams are 45*53 broad is 1,275 high, and will 
 crucify a man within a square whose perimeter is 
 2,368. 
 
 The name Malchuth, the Bride, who, together 
 with Macrocosmos and Microcosmos, completes 
 the great Triad, has the value of 496. She is 
 possibly a personification of the earth, for 495^ x 8 
 equals 3,963, the earth's radius in miles. In the 
 "Greater Holy Assembly" (ch. xxxiv., par. 800), 
 the Bride is called thora, 671, the gate, and the 
 numerical value of thora is equivalent to the name 
 Adonai, when it is written in its plenitude." This 
 means that when adni is spelt alp, dlth, nun, 
 lUD, the value of the letters, written thus, make 
 up 671 instead of 65, its simple value. The 
 number 671 is exactly the mean between 666 and 
 676. The name adni also gives 65, which, with 
 a fraction added, is the square root of 4,326, 
 or 2,163 ^ 2, which is the measure of a cross 
 whose limbs are equal to the moon's diameter. 
 Adonai is the great mother of the Jews, who was 
 worshipped as elsewhere under the image of the 
 earth, the moon, and the material universe. She 
 symbolized the Omphalos, with its cross indicating 
 the cardinal points, for she marked the central 
 point of the world. 
 
 It will be instructive to make a comparison in 
 this place between the Virgin Mary of the Gospel, 
 and the Bride of the Old Testament. For the 
 Mother of Jesus, like the Spouse of the Hebrew 
 Messiah, appears with all the attributes generally 
 assigned to the feminine deities of the ancients. 
 In the New Testament her name is spelt MAPIAM, 
 192, and occasionally MAPIA, 152. But in the 
 Latin Church she was called maria, 252. Her 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 1 27 
 
 symbol in the early Church was usually the vesica ; 
 and she is frequently depicted in early Christian 
 art surrounded by this figure. Now a vesica 192 
 broad is 332^ long, which is the diagonal of the 
 New Jerusalem. And*HMAPIAM(i92 + 8) equals 
 200, or the length of a side of the same mystical 
 city. Therefore, like the Hebrew Bride, she is 
 the personification of the heavens, and agrees with 
 the Greek Aphrodite Ourania. And it is notice- 
 able that 496 X 2 equals 992, one less than the 
 value of the name Aphrodite. The vesica again, 
 which is 192 broad, is formed by two intersecting 
 circles 384 in diameter (192 x 2 ~ 384), and their 
 breadth is 576 (192 x 3) ; and 576 is the square of 
 24, the number of letters in the Greek alphabet, 
 and one less than the numerical value of the word 
 Evangelion, the " Good News,'' or Gospel. Again, 
 the sum of the numbers 1,480 (Christos), and 192 
 (Mariam) with colel added to each is 1,674, the 
 side of a square, whose diagonal is 2,368. She 
 accordingly expresses the feminine aspect of the 
 Gospel, while by the number 384 is indicated the 
 amount of the sun's distance measured by the 
 tone, and indirectly also the number 666, for 384 
 is the width of a vesica 666 long. Then the 
 perimeter of the rhombus formed from the pre- 
 vious figure is 768 (192 x 4), which identifies her 
 with the cross of Christ. For, regarded as the 
 instrument of His Passion to which He was 
 nailed, this symbol seems to have had a feminine 
 aspect. The cross, 769 broad, is 1,656 high, and 
 2,366-§- measured to its full extent. Like the 
 cross, the cubical stone had also a feminine sig- 
 nificance. And a hexagon whose sides are 192 
 has a perimeter of 1,152, which is about a tenth 
 of the sun's distance measured by the diameter 
 of the earth, and the length of a rhombus 666 
 wide is 1,154 long. And the number 192 is 
 
128 THE CANON. 
 
 the diameter of a circle whose circumference 
 is 593, or i more than the side of a square 
 whose perimeter is 2,368 (562x4^2,368). In 
 this last number we see her as the mystical 
 spouse who represents the feminine aspect of the 
 twofold Logos — she whom the Greeks personified 
 as Psyche, the Bride of Love. The name 'H 
 nAP0ENOS MAPIAM, the Virgin Mary, has the 
 value of 675, or i less than the number 676, the 
 square of 26, so she thus becomes the Chris- 
 tian version of the unspeakable Jewish Tetrad, 
 called iHVH. And the numerical value of Mocplocfji. 
 riapfisi/o? is 707, or I less than the side of a cross 
 whose diagonals measure 2,004, the value of the 
 names of the four elements. And by Gematria, 
 this name is equivalent to Pneuma Hagion, Holy 
 Ghost. Lastly, if the sun's distance be taken at 
 10, the mean diameter between the sphere of 
 Saturn and the Zodiac is 192, so that the per- 
 son of the Virgin answers to the whole cosmic 
 system. 
 
 From the statements of theologians on the trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures, it is made evident that the 
 mysteries of the originals were not always retained 
 when the text was transferred to another language. 
 Philo Judseus, speaking of the seventy translators 
 says: *'Just as I suppose the things which are 
 proved in geometry and logic do not admit any 
 variety of explanation, but the proposition which 
 was set forth at the beginning remains unaltered, 
 in like manner I conceive did those men find 
 words precisely and literally corresponding to 
 things . . . for if Chaldseans were to learn the 
 Greek language, and if the Greeks were to learn 
 Chaldsean, and if each were to meet with the 
 Scriptures in both languages, namely, the Chaldaean 
 and the translated version, they would admire and 
 reverence them both as sisters, or rather as one 
 
and the same, both in their facts and their language ; 
 considering these translators not mere interpreters 
 but hierophants and prophets." — ('* Life of Moses," 
 bk. ii., c. 7.) 
 
 Again, Origen says that " when those names, 
 which in a certain language were possessed of 
 natural powers, were translated into another, they 
 were no longer able to accomplish what they did 
 before, when uttered in their native tongues. . . . 
 Nay, even if we translated into the Greek language 
 the name of an individual who had been originally 
 invoked in the Roman tongue, we could not 
 produce the result which the incantation professed 
 itself capable of accomplishing, had it preserved 
 the name first conferred upon him. And if these 
 statements are true when spoken of the names 
 of men^ what are we to think of those which 
 are transferred, for any cause whatever, to 
 the Deity ? For example, something is trans- 
 ferred from the name Abraham when translated 
 into Greek, and something is signified by that of 
 Isaac, and also by that of Jacob ; and accordingly, 
 if any one, either in an invocation or in swearing 
 an oath, were to use the expression, * the God of 
 Abraham,' and *the God of Isaac,' and 'the God 
 of Jacob,' he would produce certain effects, either 
 to the nature of these names or to their powers, 
 since even demons are vanquished and become 
 submissive to him who pronounces these names ; 
 whereas if we say, * the God of the chosen father 
 of the echo, and the God of Laughter, and the 
 God of him who strikes with the heel,' the mention 
 of the name is attended with no result, as is the 
 case with other names possessed of no power. 
 And in the same way, if we translate the name 
 ' Israel * into Greek or any other language, we 
 shall produce no result ; but if we retain it as it is, 
 and join it to those expressions to which such as 
 
 K 
 
130 THE CANON. 
 
 are skilled in these matters think it ought to be 
 united, there would then follow some result from 
 the pronunciation of the word, which would accord 
 with the professions of those who employ such 
 invocations. And we may say the same also of 
 the pronunciation of ' Sabaoth,' a word which is 
 frequently employed in incantations ; for if we 
 translate the term into ' Lord of Hosts/ or * Lord 
 of Armies,' or ' Almighty ' (different acceptations 
 of it having been proposed by the interpreters), 
 we shall accomplish nothing ; whereas if we retain 
 the original pronunciation we shall, as those who 
 are skilled in such matters maintain, produce some 
 effect. And the same observation holds good 
 of * Adonai.' If, then, neither * Sabaoth ' nor 
 *' Adonai," when rendered into what appears to be 
 their meaning in the Greek tongue, can accomplish 
 anything, how much less would be the result, 
 among those who regard it as a matter of indiffer- 
 ence, whether the highest being be called Zeus, 
 Jupiter, or Zen, or Adonai, or Sabaoth!" — (** Against 
 Celsus," bk. v., ch. xlv.) 
 
 It is difficult to understand the meaning of the 
 preceding passage, unless the changes which names 
 undergo, when translated into another language, 
 refer to numerical ch.3.nges. The words of Origan 
 seem to be capable of a satisfactory explanation 
 upon this principle, as will be seen when those 
 names are examined which are said to signify 
 something when translated into Greek. For in- 
 stance, Abraham in Hebrew yields 248, a number 
 already discussed. In Greek the name becomes 
 (AfipxdfA.) 145, which, by adding and subtracting 
 colel gives 144 and 146: and 144 x 9|- =: 1,368, 
 the width of a vesica 2,368 long; and 146 is the 
 width of two intersecting circles which produce a 
 vesica 48I- long, and 48f is the square root of 2,368. 
 'lo-aaic has the value of 232, or the side of a rhombus 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. I3I 
 
 having a perimeter of 924, the square root of the 
 suns diameter in miles. 'I«3tw|3 is numerically 
 equal to 833, and 833 xg^:= 7*923, the number of 
 miles in the diameter of the earth. Then " the 
 God of Abraham" and "the God of Isaak" and 
 " the God of Jacob " yield the following numbers : 
 
 *0 . . . 70-1 'O . . . 70 
 
 0£oc . . . 284-1 ©eoc . . 284 
 
 ^Afipadfi , . 145 — I 'liraaic . 232 
 
 499 - 3 = 496 686 - i = 685 
 
 'O. . . . 70-1 
 
 0£dc . . . 284- I 
 
 'Ia(cw/3 . . 833 — I 
 
 1,187-3 = 1,184. 
 
 Of these 496 is equivalent to Malchuth : 685 is 
 the diameter of a circle 2,151 in circumference : 
 and 1,184 X 2 zr 2,368. 
 
 We are told that the name Israel, when trans- 
 lated into Greek, produces no result, although it 
 possesses certain powers in the original. Now 
 the word ishral (Israel) in Hebrew yields 541, the 
 side of a rhombus having a perimeter of 2,164, the 
 number of miles in the moon's diameter ; whereas 
 349, the numerical value of 'I<rpa??A, has no obvious 
 analogy with any measure of the universe. 
 
 Although the reformers were responsible for the 
 more modern translations of the Scriptures, they 
 pretended to acknowledge none but the originals. 
 Accordingly, we find Dr. Featly, an English 
 divine of the seventeenth century, in a report of a 
 disputation with some Anabaptists,^ declaring that 
 
 ^ "Dippers Dipt" (1651), p, 17. Although these early 
 Dissenters appear to have especially asserted the claims of the 
 "Laver," they disapproved of the "Steeple-houses" of the 
 king, who is accused of making "an Idoll of the Church." 
 
132 THE CANON. 
 
 his opponents, who were confessedly unlearned 
 men, could not "convince any Jew, Pagan, or 
 Mahometan, out of their translated bible, without 
 other aids of learning^ Again, he says, " If you 
 will dispute in Divinity you must be able to 
 produce the Scriptures in the original languages," 
 and he calls it blasphemy to deny the letter of 
 of the text to be Scripture. John Hutchinson is 
 even more emphatic, for he asserts that *' the 
 Scriptures have been buried in a load of filthy 
 translations " (" Religion of Satan or Antichrist 
 delineated," p. 112). 
 
 Assuming that these writers are alluding to the 
 numerical value of names, in their appreciation or 
 condemnation of the translations, it is obvious that 
 to re-introduce into a translation the appropriate 
 numbers, as well as the sense of the original, 
 would certainly add a serious difficulty to the task, 
 and if this were successfully accomplished in the 
 Septuagint version, it might well call forth the 
 admiration of Philo. But no translation ever does 
 or can reproduce the peculiarities of another lan- 
 guage. Thus, Mr. Mathers points out that, "in 
 Isaiah, ix. 6 and 7, the word lmbrh, for multiply- 
 ing, is written with the character for m final in the 
 middle of the word, instead of the ordinary initial 
 and medial M. The consequence of this is that 
 the total numerical value of the word instead of 
 being 277 is 837." It is obvious that nobody 
 could translate a singularity like this into another 
 tongue. Yet it must have an important meaning, 
 which is probably connected with the fact that 
 837 is the diagonal of a square whose perimeter is 
 2,368. 
 
 Another objection to the translations is that they 
 are not always accurate, even as regards the out- 
 ward sense. For example, the English translation 
 of the eighteenth verse of the fourteenth chapter 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 1 33 
 
 of Numbers very inadequately renders the real 
 meaning of the words. In the authorized version 
 the verse runs, " The Lord is long-suffering and 
 of great mercy : " but the literal interpretation is, 
 " Tetragammaton (ihvh) is long of nose (ark 
 apim) and of great mercy" (Mathers ''Cabala," 
 p. 213). The term " Long Nose" is a variation of 
 the ordinary name, " Long-face " (Macroprosopos), 
 generally applied to the Father in the Cabala. 
 In the " Lesser Holy Assembly " it is said (572), 
 "The Nose of the Most Holy Ancient One is 
 long and extended, and he is called Long of Nose." 
 In the ''Greater Holy Assembly" the nose is 
 mentioned in paragraph 173 : " From the nose is 
 the face known ; " and again in 175, " This nose is 
 as a mighty gallery, whence his spirit rusheth forth 
 upon Microprosopos." Now ark apim yields 832, 
 which is I more than the numerical equivalent of 
 
 Italian is one of the modern languages invented, 
 or at least reduced to writing, in comparatively 
 recent times. Dante was the first great poet to 
 use it, and did for the Italian what Robert Lang- 
 lande, the author of " Piers Ploughman," in a lesser 
 degree did for the language of England. Nbthing 
 had been written in the spoken or vulgar tongue 
 till within 1 50 years of Dante's time (" Vita Nuova," 
 p. 71, Rossetti's translation). Before that all the 
 literature of the Roman Empire had been com- 
 posed in Greek or Latin. But from thenceforth 
 the modern languages began gradually to super- 
 sede those of the classical era, both for speech and 
 writing. Their grammar, spelling, and construction 
 were fixed and regulated by rules similar to those 
 observed in the older languages ; and presumably 
 the grammarians, who wrote in the vulgar tongues 
 for the first time, transferred to the newly-ap- 
 pointed names an appropriate number, such as 
 
134 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 they had been accustomed to in the earlier litera- 
 ture. At any rate, if the letters of the Latin 
 language, and the languages derived from it, be 
 supposed to have the same numerical value as in 
 Hebrew, it will be found that the numbers deduced 
 from the new words agree with the sense of the 
 name previously established. This will be evid- 
 ent from the following translations of the name 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Italian. 
 
 French. 
 
 The Latin name yields 494, or f of the earth's 
 radius in miles ; and if colel be added to each 
 name, it is by Gematria equivalent to Malchuth, 
 the personification of the sublunary world. Again, 
 141 (Jesus) is the width of a vesica formed by two 
 circles whose united width is 423, or the side of a 
 square inclosed by a rhombus whose sides are 
 666. And 353 + i =r 354, the number of days in 
 the lunar year. 
 
 In Italian the name has the value of 666, being 
 the sum of 74 (Gesu) and 592 (Cristo) : 74 is a 
 common multiple of the 888, 1,480, and 2,368 and 
 592 is the side of a rhombus having a circumference 
 of 2,368. 
 
 The French name is the same as the modern 
 English, and yields 428. Jesus is retained as in 
 the Latin, and Christ has the value of 287 : and 
 287 is the diameter of a circle having a circum- 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 1 35 
 
 ference of 901 (J <pix,KKoq), Again, if colel be de- 
 ducted from each word, the remainder is 426, 
 which is the side of a square inclosed by a rhombus 
 whose sides are 671, the mean number between 
 666 and 676, 
 
 The spelKng of the English name is taken from 
 the allegory of ** Piers Ploughman." The double 
 name yields with the addition of colel 1,239, or 
 the length of a rhombus having a perimeter of 
 2,151. The numbers 325^ (Jhesu) is the limb of 
 a cross which measures 651, and 913 (Crist) is 
 the equivalent of Brashith (beginning), the first 
 word of the Hebrew bible. 
 
 It only remains, now, to examine the names of 
 the Egyptian deities, and to show that the num- 
 bers deduced from them exactly agree with the 
 numerical values obtained from the gods of the 
 Hebrews, Greeks, and Christians. The names of 
 the great Egyptian triad, written in Greek letters, 
 are ^OSIPIS, or 'TIIPIE, 'ISIi;, and 'aPOS. These 
 are the names under which these deities were 
 worshipped in Greece and Rome. Osiris has the 
 value of 590, which may be taken to be the side 
 of a rhombus 2,368 (it ought to be 592). The 
 spelling Husiris yields 920, or the numerical equi- 
 valent of the Greek word y.o(.vu)v (Canon) ; and 97 
 the radius of the sphere of the Zodiac, if the Sun's 
 distance be taken at 10, multiplied by 9^, pro- 
 duces 921. Isis, again, who is well known to have 
 been identical with Cybele, Athene, and the other 
 feminine deities of the Greeks, has the value of 
 420; and a cross inscribed within a vesica 421 
 long measures 663, the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 2,083, ^he side of the Holy Obla- 
 tion. She is thus the counterpart of the Bride of 
 the Cabala, and an image of the whole universe. 
 Horus yields 1,170, which is one- twelfth of the side 
 of a square 14,035, equals (1,169^ x 12), whose 
 
136 THE CANON. 
 
 area is equal to the surface of the earth, measured 
 in miles. The sum of the numbers, deduced from 
 the three names, is 2,180, which is the circumfer- 
 ence of a circle 694 in diameter ; and a vesica 
 formed of two such circles is 1,041 across, and 
 1,04 if is the radius of the sphere of the Zodiac 
 contained within the Holy Oblation. 
 
 00 AE (Phthas), 710, is the Egyptian Phtha, 
 called by Suidas the Hephaistos of Memphis. 
 The numerical value of his name is equivalent to 
 Pneuma Hagion, the Holy Ghost. 
 
 TT^XIN (Typhon) has the value of 2,050, or 
 about the diameter of Saturn s orbit. 
 
 The Greeks all affirmed that their knowledge 
 of astronomy was derived from the Egyptians, and 
 an analysis of the numbers attributed to the Hill 
 of Bat, in the Book of the Dead (bk, ix., ch. cviii.), 
 shows that these statements are not necessarily 
 unfounded, and its measures seem to be the 
 Egyptian prototype of the descriptions of the ark, 
 the temples, and cities found in the Hebrew scrip- 
 tures ; for they anticipate, in a most remarkable 
 manner, the geometrical results obtained from the 
 mystical fabrics of the Bible. 
 
 "There is the Hill of Bat, the heaven rests on 
 it. It is in the east of the heaven about 370 cubits 
 long, 140 cubits broad. Sabak, Lord of the Bat 
 [cavern] in the east is on the hill in his temple 
 upon its edge. There is a snake on the brow of 
 that hill, about 30 cubits long, 10 cubits broad; 
 3 cubits in front of him are of stone ? [hard], I 
 know the name of that snake on his hill, Eater of 
 Fire is his name." 
 
 The parallelogram here ascribed to the Hill of 
 Bat has a perimeter of 1,020 cubits, or nearly the 
 radius of Saturn's orbit, measured by diameters of 
 the sun. Again, this parallelogram is exacdy 
 inclosed by the rhombus, 613 by 354, described 
 
NAMES OF THE GODS. 137 
 
 under the names Zeus and Apollo. Further, the 
 square containing the hill has a perimeter of 1,480 
 cubits (=370 X 4), and 1,480 is the numerical 
 v^lue of the name Christos, and the side of a 
 square contained within the Holy Oblation. Then 
 370 cubits zr 6,660 inches ; and 140 cubits — 2,520 
 inches, and this number is the diameter of a circle 
 whose circumference is 7,920 (=2,520 x 3y), or 
 the number of miles in the diameter of the earth. 
 The measure of the serpent is 30 x 10 cubits, 
 giving an area of 300, which is the width of a 
 vesica 520 long, which is the side of a rhombus 
 having a perimeter of 2,080, the side of the Holy- 
 Oblation, and the length of that rhombus is 888. 
 When converted into feet these measures become 
 45 x 15, and 45 with a fraction added is the 
 square root of the diameter of Saturn's orbit, and 
 15 cubed equals 3,375, the diameter of the moon's 
 orbit, and if they are multiplied together they give 
 675, or the side of a rhombus 1,170 long. Now, 
 1,169!- ^s tV the side of a square, whose area 
 equals the surface of the earth. And 676 is the 
 square of 26, the number of the Tetrad. Again, 
 45 feet := 540 inches, and 540 is the side of a 
 rhombus having a perimeter of 2,160, or the 
 moon's diameter in miles. It appears, therefore, 
 that this mystical hill, upon which "the heaven 
 rests," is a figure of the mound, mundus, or world 
 composed of the earth, the seven planets, and the 
 Zodiac. 
 
 It is universally admitted that the Mohammedan 
 religion was imitated from that of the Hebrews 
 and Christians, and since the scriptures and gospel 
 were acknowledged as sacred books by the prophet 
 himself, the matter is placed beyond dispute. But 
 it is perhaps not generally known, at least amongst 
 Christians, that the identity of the two systems is 
 quite so close as it appears to be. Numerically 
 
138 THE CANON. 
 
 the god of Islam is an exact counterpart of the 
 pantheistic deity of the old pagan philosophers. 
 For Alia, according to Kirch er ('*Arithmologia," 
 p. 153), has the value of 66, and is equivalent by 
 Gematria to Z^n, one of the names of Zeus, and 
 to Adonai, the ordinary Jewish substitute for the 
 unspeakable Tetragammaton. This number is the 
 diameter of a circle 207|- in circumference, which 
 is the diameter of a second circle whose circum- 
 ference is 651, which is the diameter of a third 
 circle having a circumference of 2,046, the dia- 
 meter of Saturn's orbit. It is true that Alia is 
 three stages removed from the god comprising 
 the whole planetary system, but he is evidently 
 no more than a new aspect of the old cosmic 
 god. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HOLY ROOD. 
 
 " Now an account must he taken of the Cross itself and its 
 meaning must be related. . . . For whatever sufferings He under- 
 went .... had a figurative meaning and great significance. . . , 
 In his suffering He stretched forth His hands, and measured 
 out the world." — Lactantius, "Divine Institutes," bk. iv., ch. 
 xxvi. 
 
 St, Cyril of Jerusalem, in his fourth lecture, 
 addressed the following words to the Catechumens : 
 *' Let us not then be ashamed of the Cross of 
 Christ ; but though another hide it do thou openly 
 seal it on thy brow." The cross, long before the year 
 350 A.D., when St. Cyril delivered his lectures, had 
 been a mystical emblem among the old pagan races 
 of Egypt and Greece. St. Cyril, if not a Greek by 
 birth, at least wrote in the Greek tongue, and 
 living as he did at Jerusalem, was stationed 
 between the Egyptian influences of Alexandria on 
 the one hand, and those of Greece on the other. 
 His reference to the custom of concealing the cross 
 probably refers to the Greeks, since the Egyptians 
 had openly displayed the cross as a sacred symbol 
 from the remotest times. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the Greeks, as implied 
 by St. Cyril, were accustomed to hide the cross, we 
 have very few references to it by the early Greek 
 writers ; that of Plato in the '* Timseus " is probably 
 the best known, and by its obscurity bears out the 
 suggestion of concealment. The two figures of 
 Vitruvius already described probably denote the 
 
140 THE CANON. 
 
 peculiar mysteries attached to the cross by the 
 Greeks and Romans, while the reverence paid 
 to it by the Christians was apparently no more 
 than the expansion of the old pagan ideas more 
 openly expressed. Plato's cross was the saltire, or 
 St. Andrew's cross, like the letter X, and was the 
 shape attributed by him to the Logos. The corre- 
 sponding figure, described by Vitruvius, shows a 
 man with his legs and arms stretched out in this 
 form, so that the tips of his fingers and toes 
 touch the four corners of a circle, having its centre 
 upon the navel or omphalos. The other figure of 
 Vitruvius forms a cross, by stretching his arms out 
 horizontally, so that he measures the same distance 
 across the arms as from head to foot. In some of 
 the earliest works of Christian art, the Christ is 
 represented in this form, standing against a cross, 
 but without any appearance of being nailed to it, 
 and is probably represented according to the old 
 classical manner.-^ 
 
 In the old Greek market-place, which was the 
 centre or omphalos of the town, there generally 
 stood an upright Hermes to mark the crossing of 
 the two lines, which indicated the four quarters of 
 the universe, and which meet at its centre. The 
 earth, being in the centre of the cosmos, was 
 symbolized by a cross of this kind ©, and repre- 
 sented, in the old astronomical system, the om- 
 phalos or navel of the universe. Delphi, as is 
 well known, marked the supposed crossing of these 
 imaginary lines in Greece, while Jerusalem occupied 
 a similar position in Palestine ; and the same 
 practice existed in Egypt, Thebes being an om- 
 phalos in that country. In Italy the Romans 
 called the crossing place the cardo, from which we 
 derive the name, cardinal points. In England we 
 
 ^ See Mrs. Jameson, "History of our Lord." 
 
ItitL tlUL. V KUUJJ. 
 
 141 
 
 call the middle of our towns simply the cross, and 
 until comparatively recently, a crucifix or other 
 suitable erection always occupied this position. 
 
 In the old temples, which were microcosms or 
 little worlds, there was always an omphalos, 
 although it was not always marked by any archi- 
 tectural feature. In the temple of Apollo at 
 Delphi, the tripod stood over the omphalos, and 
 near the centre of the church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 at Jerusalem there is a stone which was called 
 the *' Compass of our Lord." In a Christian 
 cathedral, which is cruciform in plan, the cardo or 
 compass is marked by the crossing of the transepts 
 and nave. 
 
 Procopius has left us an account of how the plan 
 of a Christian church was laid out in the sixth 
 century. He says : 
 
 '* In ancient times there was one church at 
 Byzantium dedicated to all the Apostles, but 
 through length of time it became ruinous, and 
 seemed not likely to stand much longer. Justinian 
 took this entirely down, and was most careful not 
 only to rebuild it, but to render it more admirable 
 in size and beauty ; he carried out his intention in 
 the following manner. Two lines were drawn in 
 the form of a cross, joining one another in the 
 middle, the upright one pointing to the rising and 
 setting sun, and the other cross line towards the 
 north and south wind. These were surrounded by 
 a circuit of walls, and within by columns placed 
 both above and below ; at the crossing of the two 
 straight lines, that is, about the middle point of 
 them, there is a place set apart, which may not be 
 entered except by the priests, and which is con- 
 sequently termed the sanctuary. The transepts 
 which lie on each side of this, about the cross line, 
 are of equal length ; but that part of the upright 
 line towards the setting sun is built so much 
 
142 THE CANON. 
 
 longer than the other part as to form the figure of 
 the cross." — Procopius, "Sacred Buildings of Jus- 
 tinian," Aubrey Stewart's transL, p. 20. It is 
 worthy notice of that the method, described here 
 by Procopius, is exactly similar to that employed 
 by the Roman Augurs, in setting out a Templum. 
 In the latter case, the cross-lines were called 
 Cardo, and Decumanus. 
 
 We are told by Plato in the ** Tim^us" that 
 " the Creator compounded the world out of all the 
 fire, and all the water, and all the air, and all the 
 earth, leaving no part of any of them, nor any 
 power of them outside ... in the centre, he put 
 the soul. . . , This entire compound he divided 
 lengthways into two parts, which he joined to 
 one another at the centre, like the letter X,^ and 
 bent them into a circular form, connecting them 
 with themselves and each other at the point oppo- 
 site their original meeting point." This cross was 
 a symbol of the Logos, or invisible soul of the 
 world, and his body being compounded of the 
 four elements, the size of the cross may be taken 
 to be 2,004, the numerical value of the four Greek 
 words, nXP, 580, fire, 'AHP, 109, air, 'TAflP, 1,304, 
 water, and TH, 11, earth. The limbs of the cross 
 
 would therefore measure 1,002 (~ — ~ 1= 1,002 ), 
 
 After the Creator had divided the elements into 
 two strips, in the form of a cross, he bent them 
 into two circles one within the other. The cir- 
 cumferences of these two circles being 1,002, their 
 diameters would be 3i8'94 (3i8'94 x 3*1416 n 
 1,002). The two circles, crossing each other thus, 
 are generally thought to refer to the circles of the 
 
 ^ The letter Chi as a numeral — 600, which is the numerical 
 equivalent to the word cosmos. And 601 is the width of a 
 vesica 1,041! long, or the radius of the sphere of the zodiac 
 contained in the Holy Oblation. 
 
^'tj 
 
 equator and the ecliptic on the sphere of the world. 
 And the number 2,004 is the internal length of 
 an ark containing the ecliptic, measured on a 
 terrestrial globe. Consequently, by the measure 
 of his cross, Plato was enabled indirectly to intro- 
 duce the actual space of the sun's path, as an 
 attribute of the Logos. If these two circles again 
 be made to form a vesica, the rhombus inscribed 
 within it has a perimeter of 1,275 (318*94 x 4 n 
 1,27576). And 1,276 is the numerical value of the 
 name Achilleus, the hero of the " Iliad." While 
 the united width of the two circles forming the 
 rhombus is 956*82, which is i and a fraction less 
 than the numerical value of 'O IHSOTS, 958, the 
 divine Being whose life forms the subject of the 
 gospel. 
 
 In the oldest representations of the crucifixion, 
 the four elements are constantly depicted at the 
 foot of the cross, while the sun and moon are placed 
 above the two arms. This invariable arrange- 
 ment exhibits the main features of the cosmos, 
 surrounding the body of the elemental god, pre- 
 figured in the ^^Timaeus." 
 
 The elements were represented in the east by 
 three geometrical figures — a square, a circle, and a 
 triangle — surmounted by a crescent the symbol of 
 the moon, the emblem of the upper region, called 
 ^ther, occupied by the planets. The earth was 
 assigned to the square or cube, water and air to the 
 circle or sphere, while the triangle or pyramid was 
 the symbol of fire. This figure is analogous to 
 the cross of the Christians, and may be taken to 
 symbolize the three parts of a man's body, his 
 head, his middle, and his legs ; and the height of 
 his body, being the amount of the moon's distance 
 from the earth, is a symbol of the measure called 
 the tone. 
 
 Sanford (De decen. Chri.) tells us that, *' by the 
 
144 THE CANON. 
 
 four children of Chronos, there is supposed to be a 
 reference to the first elements of things. By Zeus 
 was understood fire; by Hera, air; by Poseidon, 
 water ; and Hades, earth." The numerical value of 
 these four names is 2,163, which is exactly the 
 number of miles in the moon's diameter. The 
 four elements being assigned to the space between 
 the earth and the moon, this measure may be taken 
 to express the whole sublunary world, and to 
 explain the assertion of Sandford. 
 
 The reason for connecting the Logos with the 
 elements, or the interval between the earth and 
 the moon, may be explained thus : the moon 
 being the lowest heaven, a mediating power was 
 required to convey the divine essence, diffused 
 throughout the region of the stars, to the earth. 
 The mediator, who personified the vital fluid, was 
 invariably associated with a cross, the symbol of 
 the generative power. And this cross, standing 
 upon the earth, passing through the elements, and 
 reaching up to heaven, seems to have symbolized 
 the agent of creation in the cosmic system. 
 
 The early crucifixes always show the upright 
 beam of the cross very much longer than the 
 transverse piece ; and seeing that the treatment of 
 the subject, in the hands of the old artists, was 
 reduced to a stereotyped or canonical form, it 
 might be expected that a rule for the proportion of 
 the cross had existed also. The only measure- 
 ments attributed to the cross of Christ which we 
 have been able to find are those given by Sir John 
 Maundeville. In the second chapter of his 
 ** Travels," he says, *' And zee schulle undirstonde, 
 that the Cros of oure Lord was eyght cubytes long, 
 and the overthwart piece was of lengthe thre 
 cubytes and a half." Now 8x3^ cubits are equal 
 to 12x5:^ feet, or 144x63 inches. In practice 
 the proportions of crucifixes vary, but they keep 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. I 45 
 
 approximately to this ratio. There is a working 
 drawing of a cross, which might establish the exist- 
 ence of a rule among the old craftsmen in making 
 their crucifixes, given by Juan de Arphe, a Spanish 
 goldsmith of the sixteenth century, who published 
 a book in 1589 called ''Varia Commensuracion 
 para le Escultura y Arquitectura ; " this is a pro- 
 cessional cross, with a reliquary forming the lower 
 part of it. Arphe divides the height into eight, 
 and the cross beam measures rather more than 3f 
 of these parts, so it is very nearly of Sir John's 
 proportion. Dr. Oliver gives a cross, used by the 
 Freemasons, of the proportion of 14 to 5 ; but the 
 clue to the proportions of the cross, which has an 
 analogy with the cosmos, is probably to be found 
 in the name " Holy Rood." It is well known that 
 the crucifix set over the screen, which separated 
 the sanctuary from the nave of a church, was called 
 the Holy Rood, but there is no explanation to be 
 found why it was so called. The natural supposi- 
 tion is, that it had some reference to the rood 
 measure and, in fact, we believe that it originated 
 from the proportions of a cross composed of this 
 measure. 
 
 The rood is a quarter of an acre, and is com- 
 posed of forty square perches — a perch being 16^ 
 feet square — and 40 perches (long measure) make 
 a furlong of 660 feet, containing 7,920 inches, the 
 number of miles in the diameter of the earth. The 
 Iconostasis is, in the Greek church, what we should 
 call the Rood Screen. And 'H 'EIKONOSTASIS 
 yields the number 1,144, which is the length of 
 a vesica 660 wide. And 660 being ^ of 7,920, 
 it may be taken to represent the diameter of 
 the earth. Now, if the 40 square perches com- 
 posing the rood measure be arranged in the form 
 of a cross, as nearly as possible according to 
 Sir John's proportion for the cross of Christ, it 
 
146 . THE CANON. 
 
 will be found that such a cross has a ratio of 28 
 to 13. 
 
 If the orbits of the planets (taking the interval 
 of the earth's distance from the sun at 10) be 
 arranged upon a cross of this proportion, the sun's 
 orbit, together with the orbit of Mercury, will 
 
 II mi 
 
 ill I II 
 
 FIG. 14. — THE ROOD-CROSS. 
 
 measure 28 parts, equal to the height of the cross. 
 And if the greater man of Vitruvius be crucified 
 upon it, so that his arms stretched out occupy the 
 centre of the transverse beam, and the tips of 
 his fingers touch its extremities, then the top of 
 his head will reach to the summit of the sun's 
 orbit. This may account for the fact that, on the 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. 1 47 
 
 figure of Cesariano, there are a series of rays, 
 drawn from a point corresponding to the position 
 of the sun, in the said figure. When the lesser 
 man is made to take the place of the greater man, 
 according to the proper proportion, the top of the 
 square inclosing his body is found to be on a line 
 with the top of the cross beam, and his hands occupy 
 a position similar to those of Christ in an ordinary 
 crucifix. Justus Lipsius, in his treatise on the 
 cross, gives an illustration of a man crucified in 
 this manner — his legs being kept in position by 
 two pieces of wood hung from the transverse 
 beam (** De Cruce," 1593, p. 117). There are 
 many reasons for believing that this method was 
 the canonical way of crucifying the Logos in the 
 midst of the universe, and that the earlier repre- 
 sentations of the crucifixion were based upon this 
 secret rule, which was traditionally handed down 
 in the early church, and communicated to the 
 craftsmen and freemasons who were employed to 
 manufacture the ecclesiastical ornaments. 
 
 In the legend of the crucifixion of Christos in 
 the Gospel, we are told that the tragedy took place 
 on the spot called in Hebrew, Golgotha, which 
 means a skull. By later writers it was called a 
 mount, and according to " the tradition " it was 
 the centre of the world. The Hebrew word, 
 EGVLGLTHA (Golgotha), has the value of 475. 
 And a rood cross 475 high will crucify a man 
 whose body is inclosed by a circle equal to the 
 suns orbit. For if the upright beam measure 
 475* by the ratio of 28 to 13 the transverse beam 
 will measure 220, which is the diameter of the 
 sun's orbit. And the extreme length of the cross 
 being 678, we get the length of the orbit, com- 
 puting the diameter at 216 (216 x 3^- — 678). 
 
 Golgotha was also spelt without the B, and 
 consequently yields the number 473 ; and 473 is 
 
148 THE CANON. 
 
 the side of a pentalpha having a perimeter of 
 2,368, the numerical value of the name IHIOTS 
 XPI2TOX. 
 
 It is also spelt glgltha, 467— i = 466 : and a 
 cross whose height is 466 has some very remark- 
 able cosmic analogies. Its transverse beam is 
 216, or the diameter of the sun's orbit measured 
 by its own diameter. Its extreme measure is 666, 
 the length of the sun's ark. From the bottom to 
 the centre of the cross beam is 358, the number of 
 the name Messiah, while the height to the top of 
 the cross beam is 366^. And 466 is the side of a 
 square having a diagonal of 660, -^-j of the earth's 
 diameter in miles. This may explain the tra- 
 dition that Golgotha, 467, was in the middle of 
 the earth. 
 
 A cross of the proportion of 28 to 13, having an 
 area equal to a rood, is (28 x i6^=r) 462 feet 
 high, while the transverse beam is(i3Xi6|- = ) 
 2i4|-, and its full extent being 660 feet, it measures 
 the diameter of the earth. 
 
 There is no reason to doubt that the early 
 Christians regarded the cross, in its symbolical 
 sense, otherwise than the rest of mankind, and it 
 appears to be used by Sir John Maundeville 
 according to the ordinary mystical acceptation. 
 Accordingly, the length of a cross (and we have 
 seen that Sir John describes the cross of Christ as 
 being 144 inches high) affords a means of measuring 
 a man's body ; now by the proportion of the lesser 
 figure of Cesariano, 144 x 9|- =z 1,368, and 1,368 is 
 the width of a rhombus 2,368 ('IHSOTZ XPISTOS) 
 long. Therefore Sir John's measure is equivalent 
 to the number 249I- (248 + i), recorded in the 
 Cabala, *' Greater Holy Assembly," par. 968. 
 
 If the lesser man of Vitruvius be crucified on a 
 rood cross, in a square whose diagonals are 1,002 
 (1,002 X 2 = 2,004, the numerical value of the four 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. 1 49 
 
 elements), the height of the cross will be 2, 156, the 
 mean number between 2, 1 5 1 and 2, 1 60, the number 
 of miles in the moon's diameter. A more accurate 
 measure of the moon's diameter is 2,162*44, ^^^ 
 the transverse beam of a cross 2,162*44 is 1,004, 
 the numerical value of the name Dionysus, who 
 was identified with the Logos by the Greeks and 
 Christians, and whose rites constituted the mys- 
 terious knowledge of the old Greek architects, 
 called Dionysiacs. 
 
 The numbers deduced from the Hebrew names 
 of the elements, like those of the Greeks, set forth 
 the distance between the earth and the moon, as 
 well as the altitude of the ecliptic; for ash, 301, 
 RVCH, 214, MiM, 90, and opr, 350, amount to 
 955. And a vesica 956769 broad is 1,658 long, and 
 1,658 is equal to the moon's distance in miles 
 divided by 12 twice ^38,828 _ 19,902 ^ ^ ^ g\ 
 
 \ 12 12 / 
 
 Again, the length of a vesica 955*38 broad is 1,656, 
 the number of miles from the equator to the tropics, 
 measured on the earth's circumference (69 x 24 r= 
 1,656). And a rood cross which measures 1,657, 
 the mean number between 1,656 and 1,658, contains 
 three measures, found in the names of the hypo- 
 thetical being, deified by the ancients. A cross 
 1,657 high measures 2,367' 12 in its full extent, 
 which may be taken at 2,368, the value of the 
 name iesous christos. The cross beam measures 
 769*3 14, which is nearly the circumference of a 
 circle having a diameter of 245 (245X3'i4i6n 
 769*682), the value of the Hebrew Adam Kadmon, 
 while a vesica 769*314 long is 443*835 broad, and 
 443 is the numerical value of 'O AOros, The 
 Word, 
 
 If we may accept the authority of Sir Thomas 
 Browne, the cross seen by the Emperor Constantine 
 in his vision was a quincunx, that is to say, the 
 
150 THE CANON. 
 
 saltire of five points. The inscription on the 
 Labarum, or standard, was '*'EN TOTTO NIKA," 
 ** In this thou shalt conquer." Now, the numerical 
 value of these three Greek words is i ,276, a number 
 which is a fraction less than the height of a rood 
 cross capable of crucifying a man whose body is 
 inclosed by a square having a perimeter of 2,368, 
 the numerical value of lesous Christos, The Latin 
 version of the inscription was ''In hoc vince," and 
 it yields the number 212, if the letters be computed 
 according to the Hebrew valuation (60 + 78 -|- 74 — 
 212). Now 212 is the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 666, and that number, being the 
 diameter of another circle whose circumference 
 is 2,092'3, represents the diameter of the sphere of 
 the Zodiac, containing the square 1,480 (Christos). 
 Therefore thetranslationhas transferred to the Latin 
 the meaning, as well as the words, of the original, 
 for the circle of the Zodiac bears the mystical ratio 
 of 9-| to I to the sun's orbit (220 x 9|- zz 2,090), and 
 thus expresses the hidden significance of the cross. 
 The name Labarum does not appear in classical 
 Latin. It was presumably invented by the Chris- 
 tians, and has a value of 840, according to the 
 Hebrew value of the letters, which makes it by 
 Gematria equivalent to Microcosmos. The number 
 1,276,^ therefore, unites the cross of the " Timseus " 
 with that of Jesus' Christ, and was an appropriate 
 number to be borne upon the standard of the 
 pagan Emperor who became a convert to Chris- 
 tianity, and was the first imperial supporter of the 
 new cult. 
 
 The diagonal of a square whose sides are 901 is 
 1,275, and the number 901 is the numerical equiva- 
 lent of (pocKXoq. Since the Hebrew word ThBH, 
 
 ^ It is a peculiarity of the number 1,275, that it is the dia- 
 meter of a circle the length of whose circumference is twice 
 2,004, the numerical value of the names of the elements. 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. I5I 
 
 407 fArk), is equivalent by Gematriato ThV, 406 
 (Tauj, and since 406 is the diameter of a circle 
 whose circumference is 1,276, or the height of a 
 rood cross which will crucify a man within a square 
 whose sides are 2,368 (Jesus Christ), there seems 
 to be good reason for accepting the testimony of 
 St. Clement, that the sun's ark and the cross were 
 used synonymously. In the dimensions attributed 
 to the ark, 300 is equivalent to Tau, and the sum of 
 the numbers from i to 50 is 1,276, and from i to 30, 
 465, or I less than 466. 
 
 The word*'HAIOX (Sun) has the value of 318, 
 and by transposing the numerals, it may become, 
 831 ((paXXo?). A curious commentary on this 
 mystical number occurs in the Epistle of Barnabas 
 (ch. ix.) : ** For Scripture says, that Abraham cir- 
 cumcised 318 men of his house. But what was 
 the mystery that was made known unto him ? 
 Mark, first, the 18, and next, the 300. For the 
 numerical letters of 10 and 8 are IH. And these 
 denote 'IH(20T£), Jesus. And because the cross 
 was that by which we were to find grace, there- 
 fore he adds 300; the note of which is T (the 
 figure of his cross). Wherefore by two letters he 
 signified Jesus, and by the third his cross. He 
 knows this, who has put the engrafted gift ^ of his 
 doctrine within us. No one has learned a more 
 genuine word from me than this, but I know that 
 ye are worthy of it." 
 
 The genuine word of Barnabas may be explained 
 thus : the word o-rau/jo? (cross) has the value of 
 1,271, and 1,272 is the perimeter of a rhombus 
 whose sides are 318. And it has just been shown 
 that the circles formed from the limbs of Plato's 
 cross were 318*94 in diameter. From this it may 
 
 ^ "This is rendered in the Latin, 'the more profound gift/ 
 referring as it does to the gnosis of the initiated." — Ante-Nicene 
 Library^ vol. i., p. 117. 
 
152 THE CANON. 
 
 be inferred that the cross of Jesus was intended to 
 measure the space between the earth and the 
 moon occupied by the four elements, and that he 
 was consequently analogous to the Logos of Plato. 
 But this number has still deeper mysteries, and by 
 a further geometrical process the " genuine word" 
 may be still more fully unfolded; for 318756 is 
 the side of a rhombus whose circuit is equal to the 
 height of a cross which will crucify a man in a 
 square having a perimeter of 2,368 (Jesus Christ). 
 Again, 3 1 8 is the diameter of the two circles which 
 produce a vesica 666 in circumference. Lastly, 
 the circumference of a circle 318 in diameter is 
 999 '02 8, and 99975 is the side of a rhombus 
 having a perimeter of 3,999, the sum of the num- 
 bers deduced from the twenty-four letters of the 
 Greek alphabet^ — a fact which may account for 
 the name Logos (speech) being applied to the 
 Microcosm. 
 
 The commentary of the Rabbis on the circum- 
 :ision of the 318 members of Abraham's house- 
 hold is quite as curious as that of Barnabas. The 
 name of Eliezer (aliozr), Abraham*s steward, has 
 the value of 318. "Now, say the Jews, the 
 numerical letters of Eliezer, making just 318, the 
 number of servants which Abraham armed, we 
 learn hence that Abraham did the business, and 
 got the victory with Eliezer alone, who was equal 
 to all of them, and that he left the rest at home " 
 (Jeremiah Jones* "Canon of New Testament," 
 vol. ii., p. 386). 
 
 The cruciform Man being double-sexed and 
 being composed of soul and body, his soul or mas- 
 culine half was diffused through the ^Ether, that 
 is, the Zodiac and seven planets, while it was his 
 body, which was feminine or material, that properly 
 belonged to the elements. Therefore, since the 
 complete Being, male and female, represented the 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. 1 53 
 
 two lower divisions of the cosmos, the numbers with 
 which he was identified connected his body with 
 the ascertained measures of the sun and the planet- 
 ary system as well as the moon and the elements. 
 And this double nature had its counterpart in the 
 two limbs of the cross. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the cosmic signi- 
 ficance of the cross was acknowledged in Greece 
 long before the time of Plato.^ For instance, the 
 name 'OP<E>ETS has the value of 1,275, ^^^ ^he 
 mysterious doctrines of the Orphic system pre- 
 sumably had reference to the cross. At any rate, 
 in the earliest efforts of Christian Art, it is not un- 
 common to find Christos depicted playing upon a 
 lyre in the character of Orpheus. No reason is 
 known for this singular impersonation, but the 
 number 1,275, deduced from the name Orpheus, 
 suggests the reason why the two gods had a similar 
 identity. 
 
 'AXIAAETS, 1,276, and 'OAT22ET2, 1,479, the 
 heroes of the two Homeric poems which formed the 
 Bible of the Greeks, were apparently regarded as 
 personifications of the Logos, for if i is subtracted 
 from 1,276 and is added to 1,479, ^^ g^t the 
 numbers 1,275 ^^^ 1,480 — the first being equi- 
 valent to 2,368 (Jesus Christ), and the latter being 
 the exact value of the name Christos. And 
 'O TPinTOAEMOS, a kindred deity, has the value of 
 i»275 ; without the article and with the addition of 
 colel the name yields 1,206^, the side of a vesica 
 2,093 long. 
 
 Plato declared that the moon received her light 
 from the sun. He may have had a further geo- 
 metrical reason for saying this than that already 
 suggested, for a rood cross 666 high has a trans- 
 verse beam 309 ('H 2EAHNH) long, consequently 
 
 ^ See Schlieman, "Ilios," p. 349, etc. 
 
154 THE CANON. 
 
 the sides of the square which encloses the lesser 
 man, crucified on such a cross, measure nearly 220, 
 the diameter of the sun's orbit, and the fact that 
 the ark, a symbol analogous to the cross/ was re- 
 garded by the old mythologists as a type of the 
 moon, may have had something to do with the 
 above numbers. 
 
 Hippolytus (" Refut.,"bk. iv., ch. xliv.), continu- 
 ing an account of the Egyptian theory of numbers as 
 applied to the nature of God, says : " And more- 
 over they make this assertion, that they have cal- 
 culated the word 0EION. deity, and found that it 
 reverts into a pentad with an ennead subtracted. 
 Now this name is an even number, and when it is 
 written down they attach it to the body and ac- 
 complish cures by it." Servius, on the Eclogues 
 of Virgil (viii. 75), and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxviii. 
 2), make similar statements. The numerical value 
 of the word 0EION is 144, and 144 — 9= 135, and 
 if 135 be converted into a pentad, we get (135 
 X 5=) 675, or I less than the- square of 26, the 
 mystical vesica. What they appear to mean is, 
 that the particular aspect of the deity for working 
 cures may be symbolized by a combination of the 
 cross and the vesica. 
 
 It is unlikely that the conjunction of the names 
 Rose and Cross, as the emblem of the Rosicrucian 
 order, was an accidental circumstance arrived at 
 without reason. In Greek the words yield, Rodon 
 294 and Stauros 1,271 ; and the sum of the two 
 numbers is 1,565. Now, if 2 be deducted, there 
 remains 1,563, which is the length of a vesica 901 
 broad, and 901 is the side of a square whose 
 diagonals are 1,275, the height of a rood cross 
 which will crucify a man in a square having a 
 perimeter of 2,368. And 1,565 is the perimeter 
 
 ' See p. 78. 
 
THE HOLY ROOD. 1 55 
 
 of a rhombus 678 long, or the extent of the sun's 
 orbit. Again, 1,565 is the perimeter of a triangle 
 whose sides are 521, a quarter of the side of the 
 Holy Oblation. Finally, 1,565 is the circumference 
 of a circle 495 in diameter, a number which is 
 I less than the numerical value of Malchuth, 
 the Bride, and is -f^ of the earth's diameter in 
 miles. 
 
 The numerical value of the name (pocXhog is 831, 
 and a cross 831 high has a transverse beam 38571 
 long, and its full extent is i,i86'8. It has already 
 been pointed out that the number 831^ gives the 
 height of a man, equal to the polar diameter of the 
 earth in miles. But that is not the only cosmic 
 measure to be observed in this cross. For the 
 transverse beam is about the sun's distance, com- 
 puted by the tone, and the extreme measure is the 
 length of a vesica whose width is 684*6, the 
 diameter of a circle 2,151 in circumference, or the 
 number of years occupied by the sun in each of 
 the signs during the period of the precession of 
 the equinoxes, or Great Year. Again, 831 is the 
 numerical equivalent of Macrocosmos, who was 
 also called by the cabalists Macroprosopos, Long 
 Face. The value of the latter name is 1,101, and 
 a cross 1,101 '688 high will crucify a man in a 
 square having a perimeter of 2,046 (51 if x 4), the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit. The sum of the 
 numbers of Macroprosopos and Microprosopos is 
 2,2 1 1, or the length of a rhombus 1,275 broad. And 
 1,275 is the height of a cross which will crucify a 
 man in a square having a perimeter of 2,368. 
 
 Again, a cross which is 248^ high has a trans- 
 verse beam ii5'05 long, and measures 354 over 
 all. The diameter of a circle 360 in circumference 
 being 114*59, this cross roughly combines in its 
 
 ^ See " Greater Holy Assembly," par. 968. 
 
156 THE CANON. 
 
 measures the length of the solar and lunar years, 
 and thus acquires a masculine and feminine signi- 
 ficance. Consequently it expresses the twofold 
 character of the symbol, exemplified by the fact 
 that Stauros and Omphalos are equal to one 
 another by Gematria. 
 
 The height of a cross whose transverse beam 
 exactly measures the diameter of a circle 360 in 
 circumference, is 246792, or in a round number, 
 247 ; and this is equivalent to the name ©HP ION, 
 the Beast of the Apocalypse. Since there is an 
 allusion in the text to the Beast's name, it may be 
 supposed that some mystery lies in the word. It 
 was certainly the received opinion, that the Beast's 
 mark was the cross, so the mystery may have had 
 reference to the figure of the Microcosm crucified 
 in a circle having a circumference of 360, the 
 number of degrees in the earth s circuit. 
 
 Finally, if the Logos be crucified, saltirewise, so 
 that his body measures 666 (333 x 2), the square 
 which contains him is 236 on each of its sides — 
 the measure of the New Jerusalem — then the 
 extreme measure of the cross is 1,024*63, the radius 
 of Saturn's orbit ; while the height of the cross is 
 7 1 7*248, or a third of 2,151, the number of years 
 in the Great Month. And the square enclosing 
 this cross (717x4) has a perimeter of 2,868, the 
 sum of the numbers deduced from the names of 
 the ten cabalistic steps, the canonical synthesis of 
 the Jewish theology. 
 
 2TAYP0S = 1,271. 
 
 *H rNQSI2 = 1,271. 
 
 'H TEQMETPIA = 1,272. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TOWER OF BABEL. 
 
 " Oh reverend arthists of times past, what despite hath gotten 
 the upper hand of your cunning that the same is buried with you, 
 and none left for us to inherit in this age." — " Hypnerotomachia " 
 (English translation), foL i8. 
 
 It is written that the sons of Noah journeyed from 
 the east to the land of Shinar, and having settled 
 to dwell there, they said, " Go to, let us build us 
 a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto 
 heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be 
 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 
 But the Elohim were displeased with the children 
 of men, saying also, '* Go to, let us go down, and 
 there confound their language " (Genesis, xi. 4-7). 
 Henceforth on this account the place was called 
 Babel (bl), which has the numerical value of 34, 
 the square root of 1,156. Now 1,156 is the length 
 of a vesica 2,004 lo^g- ^.nd 2,004 ^s the numerical 
 value of the four Greek names of the elements. 
 
 The fall of the Tower of Babel commemorates 
 to the believer the dispersal of mankind through- 
 out the world and the origin of many languages. 
 The Freemasons also connected the building of 
 this tower with the origin of architecture. And 
 after the confusion of tongues, new alphabets must 
 obviously have been invented, so it was also 
 associated with the institution of letters. Kircher, 
 who of all late writers has preserved the most 
 detailed account of the old mysticism, depicts the 
 
158 THE CANON. 
 
 Tower ("Turns Babel," p. 38) as reaching up 
 to the moon, the lowest heaven, a distance of 
 238,828 miles, or, as he measures it, 52 semi- 
 diameters of the earth. It is not related that the 
 builders succeeded in their preposterous attempt, 
 nor is it credible that any race of madmen could 
 ever have projected or commenced such a work; 
 but that does not prevent our assuming that the 
 fable may have some point. It is clear that 
 the myth-writers have made the attempt to span 
 the distance from the earth to the moon, coin- 
 cident with the commencement of all earthly 
 languages, so that by joining this astronomical 
 invention with the formation of new alphabets 
 and words, the story may be a metaphorical 
 intimation of the first bestowal of cosmic values 
 upon names. If that were so, the Freemasons 
 would obviously see in such a fable the conse- 
 quent beginning of that practice in building which 
 made a temple, like a name, an imitation of the 
 universe, and, more particularly, that part of the 
 universe symbolized by the Logos composed of 
 the elements. And since the Tower, if it had 
 been completed, would have accurately measured 
 the sublunary world, the languages of the dis- 
 persed nations are probably contrasted with the 
 divine language of the Elohim, which was spoken 
 in the heavens above. In Paradise Hebrew was 
 the only language known ; Noah also, whose ark 
 has been supposed to represent the Zodiac and 
 seven planets, knew no other, and it was not till 
 the building and collapse of the Elemental Tower, 
 that the speech of the gods was dispersed to the 
 four corners of the earth. The other mysteries 
 underlying the myth need not concern us. But it 
 may be said, in a word, that the allegory describes 
 the speech of Macrocosmos and Microcosmos be- 
 ing conveyed to Basileia, 
 
TOWER Ul" liAtJlil.. 159 
 
 The next important structure, erected by the 
 Jews, was the Tabernacle, or Tent of Tetragam- 
 maton. Though trifling in size, being neither 
 comparable in its accommodation to the Ark, nor 
 to the Towel of Babel in height, it has great 
 interest, as being the first Hebrew shrine or 
 temple of which there is any description in the 
 Canonical Scriptures. We learn from Philo 
 Judaeus that Moses ** Speedily learnt arithmetic, 
 and geometry, and the whole science of rhythm, 
 and harmony and metre, and the whole of music 
 by means of the use of musical instruments, and 
 by lectures on the different arts, and by explana- 
 tions of each ; and lessons on these subjects were 
 given him by Egyptian philosophers, who also 
 taught him the philosophy which is contained in 
 symbols, which they exhibit in those sacred 
 characters or hieroglyphics, as they are called, 
 and also that philosophy which is conversant 
 about that respect which they pay to animals 
 which they invest with the honours due to God. 
 
 All other branches of the encyclical education 
 he learned from the Greeks ; ^ and the philosophers 
 from the adjacent countries taught him Assyrian 
 literature, and the knowledge of the heavenly 
 bodies, so much studied by the Chaldseans. And 
 this knowledge he derived also from the Egyptians, 
 who study mathematics above all things, and he 
 learnt with great accuracy the state of that art 
 among both Chaldseans and Egyptians, making 
 
 ^ The Fathers, as we have seen, all declared that the Greeks 
 learnt their philosophy from Moses, but it is remarkable that 
 his earliest biographer should exactly reverse the position. The 
 importance of Philo's statement is enormous, from its implica- 
 tion of Hellenic influences having affected the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures, producing the alleged agreement between the writings of 
 the two peoples. Of course we are assuming that Philo is not 
 giving us a picture of Moses otherwise than as a mythical 
 personage. 
 
l6o THE CANON. 
 
 himself acquainted with the points in which they 
 agree with, and differ from, each other" (*' Life of 
 Moses," bk. i., c. v.). 
 
 All this knowledge was said to be contained in 
 the five books of Moses, and the Ark, Camp, 
 and Tabernacle are the embodiment of the mathe- 
 matical and astronomical part of it. Besides the 
 account in the Scriptures, the Tabernacle is fully 
 described by Philo, Josephus, and Clement of 
 Alexandria ; in recent times Sir William Drum- 
 mond (''CEdipus Judaicus," 1811, p. 119) has. 
 pointed out all that can be said in a general way, 
 as to the cosmic symbolism of the Tabernacle and 
 Temple, From all these sources it is made evident 
 that this structure was a mystical image of the 
 universe, intended as a shrine for the Pantheistic 
 deity, whose nature is enigmatically shadowed 
 forth in the Law. 
 
 Moses, we are told, *' having gone up into the 
 loftiest and most sacred mountain in the district 
 . . . which was very difficult of access and very 
 hard to ascend," was there '* initiated into the 
 sacred will of God," and received the pattern 
 from which the Tabernacle was to be built, and 
 all the measures of its parts. The court, in which 
 the tent was set up, was 100 cubits long, by 50 
 cubits broad. The vesica containing this parallel- 
 ogram is 83 X 144, and the circumference of the 
 two circles from which it is produced is 521, the 
 side of a rhombus 2,081 in circuit. It has been 
 already pointed out that 144 xgj^: 1,368, the 
 side of vesica 2,368 long. Then if the court be 
 surrounded by a rhombus, its sides are i07'55, 
 say 108, the radius of the sun's orbit. 
 
 The Tabernacle itself was placed in the court 
 towards the west, but with its front to the east, 
 that ** when the sun arose it might send its first 
 rays upon it" (Josephus). Its measures are 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. l6l 
 
 30 cubits =: 45 feet rz 540 inches by 10 cubits =1 
 15 feet— 180 in. Now the moon's distance is 
 30 diameters of the earth ; and 10 may be taken 
 to be the sun's radius. Then 45, with the addition 
 of a fraction, is the square root of the diameter of 
 Saturn's orbit measured by the diameter of the 
 sun. The number 15 is, in round numbers, the 
 square root of 3,960, the number of miles in the 
 earth's radius, and is the width of the mystical 
 vesica, 26 to 15. The length of the Holy Place 
 is 360 inches, and its perimeter is 1,080 inches, 
 the radius of the moon's diameter in miles. While 
 the perimeter of the whole tent is 1,440, or 6 less 
 than the diagonal of the square contained in the 
 mean orbit of Saturn measured by the diameter of 
 the sun. 
 
 The building is formed of three cubes ; a double 
 cube being assigned to the Holy Place, and a 
 cube to the Holy of Holies. Now the Holy of 
 Holies is 15 feet square, and 15 cubed 31 3,375 feet, 
 or the diameter of the moon's orbit twice divided 
 
 by 12 [^^ — = j^ =3^37^)' And the 
 
 Holy Place contains 6,750 cubic feet. Josephus 
 says that '*this proportion of the measures of the 
 Tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system 
 of the world" {'' Antiq.," bk. vi., chap. vi.). 
 
 If it be open to question whether the preceding 
 measures relate to the structure of the universe, 
 there can, at least, be no doubt that the furniture 
 of this mystical shrine is symbolical of the heavenly 
 order. In the Holy Place there stood on the 
 north side a table **like those at Delphi" (Jose- 
 phus), upon which were placed twelve loaves, 
 arranged in two heaps of six each, typical of the 
 twelve months of the year. And opposite the 
 table, on the south side, stood the golden candle- 
 stick having seven branches, which ** carried seven 
 
 M 
 
1 62 THE CANON. 
 
 lamps, one by one, in imitation of the number 
 of the planets" (Josephus, ^'Antiq.," bk. iii., 
 chap. vi.). And the candlestick was set obliquely, 
 like the ecliptic {ibid,). '* The altar of incense 
 was placed in the middle, between earth and 
 water, as a symbol of gratitude which it was fitting 
 should be offered up on account of things that 
 had been done for the Hebrews on both these 
 elements, for these elements have had the central 
 situation of the world allotted to them. The 
 candlestick was placed on the southern side of the 
 Tabernacle, since by it the maker intimates, in a 
 figurative manner, the motions of the stars, which 
 give light ; for the sun and the moon, and the rest 
 of the stars, being all at a great distance from the 
 northern parts of the universe, make all their 
 revolutions in the south. And from this candle- 
 stick there proceeded six branches, three on each 
 side, projecting from the candlestick in the centre, 
 so as altogether to complete the number seven ; 
 and in all the seven there were seven candles, and 
 seven lights, being symbols of those seven stars, 
 which are called planets by those men who are 
 versed in natural philosophy ; for the sun, like the 
 candlestick, being placed in the middle of the 
 other six, in the fourth rank, gives light to the 
 three planets which are above him, and to those 
 of equal number which are below him, adapting to 
 circumstances the musical and truly divine instru- 
 ments. . . . For the symbols of heaven and earth 
 are placed side by side, as the Holy Scripture 
 shows, the candlestick being the symbol of heaven, 
 and that which is truly called the altar of incense, 
 on which all the fumigatory offerings are made, 
 being emblems of things of earth" (Philo, " Life 
 of Moses," bk. iii.). 
 
 Clement of Alexandria considered both the altar 
 of incense and the table to be symbols of the 
 
earth. He says, *' But the table, as I think, signi- 
 fies the image of the earth ; it is sustained by four 
 feet, answering to the summer, autumn, spring, and 
 winter, by which the year proceeds " (*' Miscell.," 
 bk. vi., chap. ix.). He also says, *' the golden lamp 
 conveys another enigma, as a symbol of Christ *' 
 (bk. vi., chap, vi.), alluding apparently to the 
 number 1,480, which is the measure of the whole 
 planetary system. 
 
 The most sacred and mysterious object of the 
 Tabernacle was the Ark, containing the two stones 
 of the Law. It measured 2^ cubits long, or 3^ 
 feet, or 45 inches ; its breadth and height were 
 i|- cubits, or 2^ feet, or 27 inches. Its perimeter 
 was therefore the mystic number of 144 inches. 
 If the Ark were rather more than an inch thick, 
 which would be sufficient for a box of this size, its 
 contents would amount to 24,860 cubic inches, or 
 the number of miles in the circumference of the 
 earth. 
 
 The Tables of the Law preserved in the Ark 
 appear to have had a cosmic significance, for 
 Clement of Alexandria, speaking of the Decalogue, 
 says that " ten is a sacred number, it is superfluous 
 now to say. And if the Tables which were 
 written were the work of God, they will be found 
 to exhibit physical creation. For by the ' finger 
 of God ' is understood the power of God, by which 
 the creation of heaven and ea7'th is accomplished ; 
 both of which the Tables will be understood to be 
 symbols. For the writing and handiwork put on 
 the Table is the creation of the world. And the 
 Decalogue, viewed as an image of heaven, em- 
 braces sun, moon, and stars, clouds, light, wind, 
 water, air, darkness, fire. This is the physical 
 decalogue of the heaven. And the representation 
 of the earth contains men, cattle, reptiles, wild 
 beasts, etc. . . , And the Ark, which held them. 
 
164 THE CANON. 
 
 will then be the knowledge of divine and human 
 things, and wisdom" (" Miscell.," bk. vi., ch. xvi.). 
 If the Ark be enclosed in a rhombus, its peri- 
 meter is 2ii'8o inches, or say 212 inches; and 
 2 1 2 is the diameter of a circle whose circumference 
 is 666. It may also be enclosed in another rhom- 
 bus having a perimeter of 241*80 inches ; and this 
 is the diameter of a circle with a circumference of 
 759*94, which is the side of a square whose dia- 
 gonals measure 2,151. The united width of the 
 circles which produce the rhombus is 181*35, or 
 very nearly the width of the Holy of Holies, and 
 it may be that these two circles were shadowed 
 forth in the figures of the cherubim which were 
 placed upon the mercy seat over the Ark. Philo 
 quotes the opinion "that these two cherubim are 
 the symbols of the two hemispheres, placed oppo- 
 site to and fronting one another, the one beneath the 
 earth, and the other above the earth, for the whole 
 heaven is endowed with wings " (" Life of Moses," 
 bk. iii.). Josephus describes them as flying crea- 
 tures unlike anything seen by men, ** though 
 Moses said, he had seen such beings near the 
 throne of God." Clement gives a fuller descrip- 
 tion, " Those golden figures, each of them with 
 six wings, signify either the two bears, as some 
 will have it, or rather the two hemispheres. And 
 the name cherubim meant much knowledge. But 
 both together have twelve wings, and by the 
 Zodiac, and time, which moves on it, point out the 
 world of sense. It is of them, I think, that 
 Tragedy, discoursing of Nature, says : 
 
 " ' Unwearied Time circles full in perennial flow 
 Producing itself. And the two bears 
 On the swift wandering motions of their wings, 
 Keep the Atlantean pole/ 
 
 ''And Atlas, the unsuffering pole, may mean the 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 105 
 
 fixed Sphere, or, better perhaps, motionless eter- 
 nity." By this St. Clement seems to hint, that 
 the Holy of Holies was the receptacle of the two- 
 fold principle of life, which was symbolized in the 
 heavens by the two bears, the two hemispheres, 
 and the starry firmament, or fixed sphere from 
 which the germinating powers of God the Elohim 
 were supposed to flow. Nor are the Ark, with the 
 two stones of the Law, and the Schekinah above 
 it without a meaning, but it was thought fit to 
 conceal the real import of all these symbols for 
 reasons given by Origen : '' I might have men- 
 tioned what is said of those beings which are called 
 seraphim by the Hebrews, and described in Isaiah, 
 who cover the face and feet of God, and of those 
 called cherubim, whom Ezekiel has described, and 
 the postures of these, and of the manner in which 
 God is said to be borne upon the cherubim. But 
 since they are mentioned in a very mysterious 
 manner, on account of the unworthy and the in- 
 decent, who are unable to enter into the great 
 thoughts and venerable nature of theology, I have 
 not deemed it becoming to discourse of them in 
 this treatise " (*' Against Celsus," bk. vi., ch. xviii.). 
 
 Before the door of the Holy of Holies was the 
 veil symbolizing the four elements. The holy 
 place, 360 inches long, the number of degrees in 
 the earth's circumference, symbolized the mystic 
 ship, which measured the sun's course, and corre- 
 sponds to the Naos (vocv?) of a Greek temple or 
 nave (navis) of a Christian church. Thus the 
 mystic triad, the ancient emblem of God, invisibly 
 ordered the proportions of this sacred tent (see 
 Arius Montanus, " Antiq. Jud.," Plate G). 
 
 The name of the Tabernacle in the Hebrew 
 (Ex. XXV. 9) is MShKN, and yields i,o6o, one 
 less than the length of a vesica 612 broad, two 
 numbers which are found in the names Apollo and 
 
1 66 THE CANON. 
 
 Zeus — 6i2 being the perimeter of a square en- 
 closed in the sun's orbit. The number i,o6o is 
 also the diagonal of a square whose sides are 749"2> 
 and this square is contained within a rhombus in- 
 scribed in Saturn's orbit. By counting the final 
 N as 50, we get 410, one and a fraction more than 
 the length of a vesica 236 broad, the side of the 
 New Jerusalem. The word ahl, 36, was also 
 applied to the tent, and the sum of the numbers 
 from I to 36 equals 666. The Ark was called 
 ARUN, 907, or 257 if the final N be taken at 50. 
 Now 908 is the perimeter of a rhombus whose 
 sides are 227, which, multiplied by 9^, gives 2,156, 
 the mean number between 2,151 and 2,161. And 
 257 + colel = 258, which is the diameter of a 
 circle whose circumference is 8 1 1 , a number already 
 discussed under the name lao. The name Moses 
 given to the leader of the Israelites, and the 
 builder of the Tabernacle yields 345 (MShH). 
 Now 345 is at once the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference equals the moon's radius (345 x 3y 
 ZZ1084), and is half the length of the sun's orbit, 
 and consequently measures half the year, or the 
 interval between the equinoxes (345 x 2 zr 690 =: 
 220 X 3^). Then if colel be added 345 x i =r 346, 
 which is the length of a vesica 200 broad, the side 
 of the New Jerusalem; and 346x6 z= 2,076, or 
 j^ of the earth's circumference. Further, by 
 Gematria the name Moses is equivalent to Shiloh 
 (ShILH, 345), which was regarded as a prophetic 
 name of the Messiah (Gen. xlix. 10). Moses, 
 according to the Talmud, was 10 ells high. Taking 
 the ell at 3 feet 9 inches, his height would be 37 1 
 feet, or 450 inches. A square whose sides are 
 450 contains a figure of the Logos, measuring 
 635I- X 2 := 1, 271, the numerical value of the word 
 Stauros, the symbol of the Messiah. Again ^y is 
 the square root of 1,369, the width of a rhombus 
 
J. \_/ VT AJXN. \~ft: ±jn.xiAii±j, 
 
 2,368 long. And Moses was born, according to the 
 Hebrew and Samaritan chronologies, in the year of 
 the world2, 368, thenumericalvalueofthename Jesus 
 Christ (Kircher, ** CEdip.," torn, ii., par. 2, p. 270). 
 The craftsmen who were engaged in the construc- 
 tion of the Tabernacle were Bezaleel (btzlal), 
 153, and Aholiab (ahliab), 49. The first number, 
 153, is the side of the square contained within 
 the sun's orbit, and has a perimeter of 612 ; the 
 second number, 49, may be taken to represent 
 48I-, the square root of 2,368. Without attempt- 
 ing to expound the allegory of Moses' life, it is 
 sufficient to infer from . the preceding numbers 
 that Moses was conceived as an incarnation of 
 the Messiah, created by the myth-writer in the 
 semblance of a historical personage, exactly parallel 
 to the heroes of the Greek traditions, or the saints 
 of the Christian church. 
 
 Following the description of the Tabernacle is 
 the account of the vestments of Aaron, the High 
 Priest. The symbolical meaning of these garments 
 harmonizes with the cosmic significance of the 
 shrine, in which it was the duty of the high priest 
 to minister. We are told by Philo, that the priestly 
 dress '* in its whole is a copy and representation of 
 the world ; and the parts are a representation of 
 the world" (^' Life of Moses," bk. iii., c. xii.). 
 ,'*The High Priest, then, being equipped in this 
 way, is properly prepared for the performance of 
 all sacred ceremonies, that, whenever he enters 
 the temple to offer up the prayers and sacrifices in 
 use among his nation, all the world may likewise 
 enter in with him, by means of the imitations of it 
 which he bears about him, the garment reaching 
 to his feet being the imitation of the air, the 
 pomegranate of the water, the flowery hem of the 
 earth, and the scarlet dye of his robe being the 
 .emblem of fire" {Ibid., c. xiii.). 
 
1 68 THE CANON. 
 
 And Josephus summarizes the import of the 
 robes and their ornaments thus : *' Now the vest- 
 ment of the High Priest being made of linen, 
 signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, 
 being like lightning in its pomegranates, and in 
 the noise of the bells resembling thunder. And 
 for the ephod, it showed that God had made the 
 universe of four [elements] ; and as for the gold 
 interwoven, I suppose it related to the splendour 
 by which all things are enlightened. He also 
 appointed the breastplate to be placed in the 
 middle of the ephod, to resemble the earth, for 
 that has the very middle place of the world. And 
 the girdle which encompassed the High Priest 
 round, signified the ocean, for that goes round 
 about and includes the universe. Each of the 
 sardonyxes declares to us the sun and moon, 
 those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons 
 on the High Priest's shoulders. And for the 
 twelve stones, whether we understand by them the 
 months, or whether we understand the like number 
 of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call 
 the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their 
 meaning. And for the mitre, which was of a blue 
 colour, it seems to me to mean heaven ; for how 
 otherwise could the name of God be inscribed 
 upon it ? " (*' Antiquities," bk. iii., c. viL). 
 
 Philo s account substantially agrees with this, 
 but he adds that the long robe reaching down to 
 the feet, with a fringe of pomegranates, flowers, 
 and bells, exhibits the emblems of the three 
 elements, air, water, and earth. There were 360 
 bells, which were a type of the year, according to 
 St. Clement, The twelve stones on the breast- 
 plate, called the Logeion by Philo, were set in 
 four rows, to distinguish the four seasons of the 
 year. He says it was made double to agree with 
 the twofold nature of the world, *' for the Logos is 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. IO9 
 
 double," and the Logeion is a symbol " of that 
 reason which holds together and regulates the 
 universe." Now, the High Priest being regarded 
 as the type of the world, the Logeion, that is, the 
 place of the Logos, is evidently the type of the 
 Microcosm stretched crosswise on his breast, 
 and this is what is apparently meant by Philo 
 when he says : " It was indispensable that the man, 
 who was consecrated to the Father of the world, 
 should have as a paraclete His Son, the Being 
 most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgiveness of 
 sins and a supply of united blessings ... so that 
 he shall be in a manner changed from the nature 
 of a man into the nature of the world, and, if one 
 may say so, become a little world himself" {Ibid,, 
 c. xiv.). 
 
 It is noticeable that this Jew's ideas as to the 
 Logos are exactly those, afterwards formulated by 
 the Christians. The Logeion or breastplate is 
 called by Josephus 'Eo-o-tii/?!, 471. And 471 is the 
 diameter of a circle whose circumference is 1,480, 
 the numerical value of the name Christos, The 
 name Xoyaov, 238, has numerically the same mean- 
 ing, for 238-^ is the diameter of a circle 749^ in 
 circumference, and 749-I is the side of a square 
 enclosed by a rhombus inscribed within Saturn's 
 orbit. Therefore the Logeion exhibits the Christ 
 or Logos in the midst of the twelve signs sym- 
 bolized by the twelve precious stones. 
 
 The mystic inscription on the Mitre, QDNSh 
 LIHVH, '' Holiness to the Lord," has the value 
 of 510, and is one and a half less than the side of 
 a rhombus whose perimeter is equal to the diameter 
 of Saturn's orbit. 
 
 The altar of the Tabernacle was 5 cubits broad 
 by 5 cubits long, by 3 cubits high, which is equal 
 to 7^x'/lx 4^ feet, or 90 x 90 x 54 inches. The 
 perimeter of its base was therefore 360 inches, and 
 
170 THE CANON, 
 
 the perimeter of one of its sides 288 inches, and 
 288|- is the side of a square having a perimeter of 
 1,154, or the length of a vesica 666 broad. 
 
 In the '* Ion " of Euripides mention is made of 
 a tent or tabernacle at Delphi, whose area was 
 10,000 feet. If this tent were built of the pro- 
 portions of the Hebrew Tabernacle, its width 
 would be 5774, and its length 173-22 feet (5774 x 
 3 =z 173*2), giving an area of 10,001 sq. feet. 
 Its perimeter would consequently be 462 (actually 
 461*92) the height of the cross of the holy rood, 
 whose extreme measure is 660. The length of 
 the tent would be 2,078*64, or the mean number 
 between the side of the Holy Oblation and ^-^ of the 
 earth's circumference. The perimeter of the Holy 
 of Holies would be almost 230*96 feet, which is the 
 side of a square whose diagonals measure 651, the 
 diameter of a circle 2,046 in circumference ; and 
 230^x4=1 921, the numerical equivalent of the 
 word Kocvm (Canon). The perimeter of the Holy 
 Place would be 346*44, which is the length of a 
 vesica 200 broad, and 200 is the side of the cube 
 of the New Jerusalem. Then a square contain- 
 ing the whole building would have a perimeter of 
 692 (220 X 3^ = 691), the length of the suns 
 orbit. 
 
 The description of the Temple built by Solomon, 
 the King, is less minute than that of the Tabernacle, 
 but the principal measurements are given without 
 ambiguity. The oldest plan which has any serious 
 pretensions to accuracy, is that of Villalpanda, the 
 Jesuit (** In Ezekielem Explanationes," 1596). It 
 is, in fact, thoroughly workmanlike and practical, 
 and has all the appearance of being a copy from 
 some traditional drawing, probably preserved by 
 the old Freemasons. According to all information 
 at present available, there is no reason to suppose 
 that the Temple of Solomon ever existed as a 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 171 
 
 building. Like all the other fabrics of the Old 
 Testament, it seems to be a purely theoretical 
 structure, described as the canonical pattern for 
 the guidance of architects, in the design of real 
 temples or churches. If it were ever actually- 
 built, a glance at the plan will show that it must 
 have been a very substantial work, its main walls 
 being 9 feet thick ; such a building would neces- 
 sarily require considerable foundations, and, if they 
 exist at Jerusalem, it would be easy to recognize 
 them, since all the measurements of the building 
 are known. However, until actual traces of its 
 walls are brought to light, it may be reasonably 
 supposed that its description has a place among 
 the canonical books for the same mystical reason 
 that the ark of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the 
 Tabernacle, and the H oly Oblation are found 
 there. 
 
 The legends connected with the construction of 
 the Temple are certainly not in favour of its having 
 had an earthly origin, as the following story from 
 the Talmud clearly shows. " And the house, 
 when it was building, was built of stone, made 
 ready before it was brought thither. For before 
 the operations commenced, Solomon asked the 
 Rabbis, ' How shall I accomplish this, without 
 using tools of iron ? ' And they, remembering of 
 an insect, which had existed since the creation of 
 the world, whose powers were such as the hardest 
 substances could not resist, replied, ' There is the 
 Shameer, with which Moses cut the precious stones 
 of the ephod.' Solomon asked, ' And where, pray, 
 is the Shameer to be found ? ' To which they 
 made answer, * Let a male demon, and a female 
 come, and do thou coerce them both ; mayhap 
 they know and will reveal it to thee.' He then 
 conjured into his presence a male and female 
 demon, and proceeded to torture them, but in vain, 
 
172 THE CANON. 
 
 for, said they, * We know not Its whereabouts and 
 cannot tell ; perhaps Ashmedai, the king of the 
 demons, knows.' On being further interrogated, 
 as to where he in turn might be found, they made 
 this answer : ' In yonder mount is his residence, 
 there he has dug a pit, and after filling it with 
 water, covered it over with a stone and sealed it 
 with his own seal. Daily he ascends to heaven 
 and studies in the school of wisdom there, then he 
 comes down and studies in the school of wisdom 
 here ; upon which, he goes and examines the seal, 
 then opens the pit, and, after quenching his thirst, 
 covers it up again, reseals it and takes his de- 
 parture.' 
 
 ''Solomon thereupon sent Benaiah, the son of 
 Jehoiada, provided with a magic chain and ring, 
 upon both of which the name of God was en- 
 graved. He also provided him with a fleece of 
 wool, and sundry skins with wine. Then Benaiah 
 went and sank a pit below that of Ashmedai, by 
 means of which the pit was filled with the wine he 
 brought. After levelling the ground, so as not to 
 rouse suspicion, he withdrew to a tree close by to 
 watch the result. After a while Ashmedai came 
 and examined the seal, when, seeing it all right, 
 he raised the stone, and to his surprise found wine 
 in the pit. For a time he stood muttering, it is 
 written, ' Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, 
 and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise ; * 
 but, being thirsty, he could not long resist the 
 temptation. He proceeded to drink, therefore, 
 when becoming intoxicated, he lay down to sleep. 
 Then Benaiah came forth from his ambush, and, 
 stealthily approaching, fastened the chain round 
 the sleepers neck. Ashmedai, when he awoke, 
 began to fret and fume, and would have torn off 
 the chain that bound him, had not Benaiah warned 
 him, saying, ' The name of the Lord is upon thee.' 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 1 73 
 
 Having thus secured him, Benaiah proceeded to 
 lead him away to his sovereign master. 
 
 *'0n arriving at the royal city, he was in due 
 course introduced to the king ; when, measuring 
 off four cubits on the floor with the stick he held 
 in his hand, he said to Solomon : ' When thou 
 diest thou wilt not possess in the world (he re- 
 ferred to the grave) more than four cubits of earth. 
 Meanwhile thou hast conquered the world, yet 
 thou art not satisfied until thou hadst overcome 
 me also/ To this the king quietly replied : ' I 
 want nothing of thee, but I wish to build the 
 Temple, and have need of the Shameer.' To 
 which Ashmedai at once answered : ' The Shameer 
 is not committed in charge to me, but to the prince 
 of the sea, and he entrusts it to no one except the 
 great wild cock, and that upon oath that he return 
 it to him again/ Whereupon Solomon asked : 
 *And what does the wild cock do with the 
 Shameer?' To which the demon replied: * He 
 takes it to a barren rocky mountain, and by 
 means of it he cleaves the mountain asunder, into 
 the cleft of which, formed into a valley, he drops 
 the seeds of various plants and trees, and thus the 
 place becomes clothed with verdure and fit for 
 habitation.' This is the Shameer (Levit. ix. 19), 
 Nagger Tura, which the Targum renders moun- 
 tain splitter.^ 
 
 *' They therefore searched for the nest of the 
 wild cock, which they found contained a young 
 brood. This they covered with a glass, that the 
 bird might see its young but not be able to get at 
 them. When, accordingly, the bird came and 
 found his nest impenetrably glazed over, he went 
 and fetched the Shameer. Just as he was about 
 
 ^ The name ShMIR (Shameer) yields 550, which is the 
 length of a rhombus having a perimeter of 1,271, the numerical 
 equivalent of Stauros, a cross. 
 
174 THE CANON. 
 
 to apply it to the glass in order to cut it, Solomon's 
 messenger gave a startling shout, and this so 
 agitated the bird, that he dropped the Shameer, 
 and Solomon s messenger caught it up, and made 
 off with it. The cock thereupon went and strangled 
 himself, because he was unable to keep the oath 
 by which he had bound himself to return the 
 Shameer. 
 
 " Having once acquired a power over Ashmedai, 
 Solomon detained him till the building of the 
 Temple was completed." 
 
 A temple constructed without iron tools, and by 
 means of an insect whose powers were such as the 
 hardest substances could not resist, must have 
 obviously been a structure of no ordinary kind. 
 And when we find that the Freemasons, whose 
 ritual chiefly revolves round the building of this 
 mysterious fabric, regarded it as a peculiar symbol, 
 rather than a real building, we cannot be altogether 
 wrong in adopting their view. Solomon, too, was 
 no less extraordinary, and according to all the 
 legends about him, was exactly the kind of prince 
 who would build such a remarkable temple ; for 
 his splendour and riches were so great, that he 
 made gold and silver as common in Jerusalem 
 as stones in the streets. The name Solomon 
 (ShLMH) has the numerical value of 375, a 
 number which is at once the side of the city of 
 Ezekiel, and the width of a vesica 651 long, and 
 651 is the diameter of a circle having a circum- 
 ference equal to the diameter of Saturn's orbit. 
 The rabbis declare that certain horses were kept 
 in the court of the Temple, and that they were 
 every morning harnessed to the chariots dedicated 
 to the sun ; and that the king got up and rode to 
 meet the sun at its rising, as far as from the 
 eastern gate of the Temple to the suburbs of 
 Jerusalem (Calmet). By a figure of speech, there- 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 1 75 
 
 fore, Solomon might be said to be king of the city 
 of the sun, and all the world beside. And this 
 may account for the romantic stories of his glory, 
 and suggest the motive for ascribing the erection 
 of this golden temple to him. 
 
 The internal measures of the Temple are just 
 double those of the Tabernacle, the Holy of 
 Holies being 20 cubits, or 360 inches square, with 
 a perimeter of 1,440 inches, while the Holy Place 
 is 720 by 360 inches, having a perimeter of 2,160, 
 the number of miles in the moon's diameter ; its 
 width being 20 cubits, it just contains the sun's 
 orbit, taking the sun's distance at 10 ; and its 
 diagonal is 63-J cubits, which is nearly the cir- 
 cumference of the sun's orbit (20 x 3^ 3: 62^). 
 The rhombus, which contains the Holy of Holies 
 and Holy Place, has a perimeter of 2i7'8o cubits, 
 or the diameter of the sun's orbit. 
 
 The measures of the porch are 180 x 360 
 inches, which gives a perimeter of i ,080, the 
 number of miles in the moon's radius. The in- 
 ternal length of the Temple, from east to west, in- 
 cluding the porch, is 76 cubits, or 1,368 inches, 
 and 144 X g^ zn 1,368, and a vesica 1,368 broad 
 is 2,368 long. The perimeter of the Temple ex- 
 ternally is 471 feet, or the diameter of a circle 
 having a circumference of 1,480 (Christos) ; and 
 its length externally, from east to west, is 98 
 cubits, which is about the radius of Saturn's orbit, 
 if the sun's distance be taken at 10. The width 
 of two intersecting circles forming a vesica 98 
 broad is 294, the. number of the name ecclesia, 
 the Church. The width of the front is 59 cubits, 
 or 88 feet, or 1,062 inches, and 88 is the amount 
 of the sun's declination in the ecliptic measured by 
 its own diameter. The length, from the outside 
 of the eastern wall to the outside of the western 
 wall of the Holy of Holies, is 88 cubits. The ex- 
 
176 THE CANON. 
 
 ternal width of the cell is 576 inches, the width, 
 including the side chambers, being 756 inches, 
 the height of the cross, whose extreme length is 
 1,080. 
 The three divisions of the Temple were called 
 
 DBIR, 216, HKL, 55, or HIKL, 65, and AVLM, 637. 
 
 The name of the Holy of Holies, dbir, has the 
 value of the diameter of the sun's orbit ; the num- 
 bers 55 and 65, deduced frpm the names of the 
 Holy Place, express the number of miles in the 
 earth's diameter divided by 1 2 twice, and the side 
 of the Holy Oblation (the sum of the numbers 
 from I to 64 zr 2,080) ; whilst the name of the 
 porch, AVLM, denotes the cross (637I- x 2 = 1,275). 
 The three numbers evidently symbolize the per- 
 sons of the great cabalistic triad, the macrocosm 
 being represented by the sun, the microcosm by 
 the Holy Oblation, and the Bride by the elemental 
 cross. 
 
 216 + I 
 
 55 + M 692 
 637 + I 1 y 
 
 216 + I 
 
 65 + 1 
 
 637 + I 
 
 908 + 3=911 
 
 918 + 3 = 921 
 
 According to the first valuation, the sum of the 
 three numbers, with the addition and subtraction 
 of colel, is either 905 or 911. The number 905 is 
 the circumference of the two circles, producing a 
 vesica having a perimeter of 603I-, which is the 
 side of another vesica 1,046 long, or the radius of 
 the circle which contains the square 1,480. The 
 same vesica measures 249^ by 144, and 249*264 
 X 9'5 = 2,368. Again, 55 + 637 zz 692, or one 
 more than the length of the sun's orbit ; and 
 216 + 637 = 853, the side of a vesica 1,480 
 long. Then 911 is the perimeter of a rhombus 
 whose sides are 227I-, which gives the height of a 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 1 77 
 
 man 2, 1 60 high (2 2 7 J- x 9^ = 2,160). And 91 lis 
 the numerical equivalent of RAShITh, Beginning. 
 
 In the second case, the sum of the numbers, 
 with the addition of colel to each, is 921, the 
 numerical equivalent of the Greek word, KANXIN 
 (canon). The Temple is designed in a peculiar 
 form, being in fact in the shape of the ithyphallos, 
 the appropriate symbol of the great triad, and 97 
 (the radius of the Holy Oblation, taking the sun's 
 distance at 10), multiplied by g^, produces 921, 
 the sum of the three names. 
 
 It is not proposed to enter minutely into the 
 measures of the last temple of the Jews, described 
 by Josephus and the Rabbis. But the altar of 
 that temple has been so fully commented upon by 
 old writers, and its measures having been carefully 
 recorded, it may be profitably examined here. 
 The altar was situated in the court in front of the 
 temple, its height was i o cubits, and it was 
 arranged in three stories. The foundation was 
 32 cubits square and i cubit high ; it therefore 
 contains 1,024 solid cubits (32'^ z=z 1,024) which is 
 the radius of Saturn's orbit. The next storey is 
 30 cubits square by 5 cubits high, and contains 
 4,500 solid cubits. The third storey is 28 cubits 
 square by 4 cubits high-, and contains 3,136 
 solid cubits. Now, 1,024 + 4,500 + 3,136 — 
 8,660, and this number is the perimeter of a 
 
 square whose sides are 2, 1 65 ( r= 2, 1 65 j , the 
 
 number of miles in the moon's diameter. This 
 calculation bringing out the moon's diameter, 
 seems to account for the horns, which were 
 fashioned upon its corners, and for which there is 
 no satisfactory explanation extant. 
 
 There is a further peculiarity about the founda- 
 tion of this altar noticed by Oliver (" Landmarks," 
 vol. ii., p. 431). He says 5 and 7 are the nearest 
 
 N 
 
178 THE CANON. 
 
 roots of two square numbers, one of which is 
 double the other, or, in other words, 5 is very 
 nearly the side of a square whose diagonal is 
 seven. Therefore, if the area of the one square 
 ^5 X 5 zr 25) be double the area of the other square 
 (y X y z:z 49), and if in both these squares we make 
 all the stones we can double squares, we get all the 
 stones but one in each square of the proportion of 
 the Holy Place, that is, a double square ; but the 
 corner one being square, or of the proportion of 
 the Holy of Holies, was called the chief corner 
 stone ; and the one wanting to the 49 to make the 
 double square was identified with the Logos or 
 Messiah. The lesser square has twelve stones 
 and the holy one, and symbolizes the Messiah 
 and the twelve prophets or apostles ; while the 
 greater one contains twenty-four stones corre- 
 sponding to the twenty-four elders : *' thereby 
 making the future glory and perfection of the 
 Mosaic or Christian dispensation analagous to the 
 duplication of the square." The holy cornerstone 
 is placed in the south-east angle (" Bab. Talmud "). 
 Now the Rabbis, in their description of the altar, 
 say, '* the length of the foundation on every side of 
 the square was 32 cubits . . . but in the south- 
 east angle it wanted somewhat, to make the^corner 
 a perfect angle" (Lightfoot, "Temple," p. 195). 
 And 32 cubits are equal to 48 feet. But if the 
 foundation were 49 on every side, its area would 
 be (2,368 + 33 1=) 2,401, therefore this square 
 must have a piece deducted from it to make it 
 exactly 2,368 square. If this be the mystery 
 referred to by Oliver, it is necessary to suppose 
 that the altar was composed of 49 such cubes as 
 he describes, each 7 feet square, then the area 
 of the upper face of the odd stone being 33 and 
 its thickness being 7, its cubical contents would 
 be 231, and this odd piece is apparently to be 
 
TOWER OF BABEL. 1 79 
 
 taken from the south-east angle. The reason for 
 calling the rejected stone the chief corner stone 
 may be due to the extraordinary number of cosmic 
 measures found in the multiples of 231. 
 
 For instance, 231 x 2 1=462, which is the height of 
 
 a rood cross whose extreme length is 660 or^^^ — , 
 
 Then 231 x 3 = 693, which is nearly the length of 
 the sun's orbit (220 x 3^ ~ 691). And 231 x 4 =: 
 924, which is the square root of the sun's diameter 
 in miles. Again, 231 X5z= 1,155, which is one 
 more than the length of a vesica 666 broad. And 
 231 X 9 n: 2,079, which is nearly -^2 of the earth's 
 circumference, divided by 12. And a square 
 whose sides are 230-^ has a diagonal of 2>'^^\\ 
 therefore the two limbs of a cross drawn within it 
 measure 651 (^ 325^ x 2), and 651 is the diameter 
 of a circle having a circumference of 2,046, the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit. A circle whose area 
 is equal to that of a square whose sides are 231 
 has a diameter of 260 and a circumference of 817, 
 and 817 is the length of a vesica 471 broad, and 
 471 is the diameter of a circle having a circum- 
 ference of 1,480. Thus it would appear that the 
 stone which the builders rejected became the head 
 stone of the corner, because it contained the 
 number 231, the measures of the earth, the sun, 
 and the universe. This number 231 seems to 
 have been one of the great canonical numbers. 
 In the cabalistic book '* Yetsirah '* we hear of 231 
 gates or combination of letters, which, together 
 with the ID sephiroth are called "the foundation 
 of all things." And 231 is the sum of the numbers 
 from I to 21 ; and this may have occasioned the 
 omission of the number 22 from the cards of the 
 Tarot, their sum being 231. The Greek word, QVQ\f.oi.^ 
 a name, has the numerical value of 2 3 1 , and the peri- 
 meter of the lid of the pyramid coffer is 231 inches. 
 
l8o THE CANON. 
 
 It was said that the square whose area was 49 
 was double that which was 25. Francis Potter, in 
 his work on the number 666, has pointed out the 
 importance attached to the number 25 in the 
 Romish Church. The sum of the jiumbers from i 
 to 25 is 325, and 325 1 is the diagonal of a square 
 whose sides are 2 30 J. He gives a diagram of the 
 altar of St. Peter, in St. Peter s Church at Rome, 
 which he says was a cube 25 feet on every side. 
 The area of one of the sides of the altar would 
 therefore be 25^ zz 625, and its solid bulk would be 
 25^3115,625 feet. According to Archimedes a 
 circle which has a circumference of 15,625 (actually 
 between 15,610 and 15,620) is 4,970 in diameter; 
 now, if the number be increased to 15,635, the 
 square which incloses this circle has a perimeter of 
 4j975 X 4 =^ i9j902, and 19,902 feet =z 238,828 
 inches, or the number of miles in the moon's dis- 
 tance from the earth. Therefore, the altar of St. 
 Peter has the same numerical significance as the 
 altar described by the Rabbis. This cubical stone 
 or altar is evidently a symbol of the rock Petros. 
 The number 5, the square root of 25, was further 
 accentuated by the stamping of the 5 wounds of 
 Christ in 5 places in every altar. 
 
 Another mystical statement about H erodes 
 temple, which may be mentioned, is that of 
 Josephus with respect to the stones used in its 
 construction. He says, "Now the temple was 
 built of stones that were white and strong, and 
 each of their length was 25 cubits, their height was 
 8, and their breadth about 12 " ('* Antiq.," bk. xv., 
 chap. xi.). And 25x8x11 '84 rz 2,368, the nu- 
 merical value of the name Jesus Christ. Again, 
 25 cubits = 2>l\ f^^t, and 12 cubits — 18 feet, and 
 '^i^^y^ 18 = 675, therefore, the area of the top of 
 these stones, if we add colel, was 676, the square 
 of 26, the number of Tetragammaton. Further, 
 
TOWER OF BABEL ibl 
 
 the area of the side of one of these stones is 
 i8 X I2ZZ2I6 feet, the diameter of the sun's 
 orbit. 
 
 The temple described by Ezekiel is so much 
 more magnificent in scale than that of Solomon, 
 and so disproportionately large for a city of the 
 size of Jerusalem, that the commentators have been 
 obliged to acknowledge it as a visionary structure. 
 In fact, the precincts are stated to be so great that, 
 when drawn upon the site, they nearly cover the 
 whole area of the city. Each side of the temple is 
 given at 500 cubits of 2 1 inches, that is, the cubit 
 and handbreadth or palm, which is 3 of an ordinary 
 cubit of a foot and a half Now 500 of these 
 great cubits are equal to 583-^ common cubits. 
 The peribolus is given at 125 reeds, or 750 great 
 cubits, while the outer wall measures 500 reeds. 
 
 The courts of Ezekiel's temple, like the camp, 
 are formed into a diagram illustrating the squaring 
 of the circle (see p. 37). And the diagonal of a 
 square whose side is 583!- being 825, the diameter 
 of the circle whose area is equal to that of the 
 
 temple is 660 ( -^ — 82*5 x 8=660,) or j^2-of ^^e 
 
 earth's diameter in miles. 
 
 Again, a vesica formed of two circles whose 
 united width is 583^ measures 194*4 broad, and 
 therefore contains the circle of the Zodiac, the 
 sun's distance being taken at 10. 
 
 Moreover the peribolus being 750 cubits square 
 is enclosed by a rhombus inscribed within the 
 orbit of Saturn. 
 
 The outer square of 500 reeds may indicate the 
 lunar year, for the diagonal of a square 354 is 500^-. 
 And the diagonals of a square 501 amount to 1,002, 
 or half the number 2,004, the numerical equivalent 
 of the Greek names of the elements. 
 
 "Strange and uncouth," says Samuel Lee, "is 
 
1 82 THE CANON. 
 
 the fancy of Villalpanda stating the temple's typical 
 similitude in proportion to and with the body of 
 our Blessed Lord upon the cross, with His arms 
 stretched out and His legs conjoined together, in 
 such a manner; as that His head should possess 
 the sanctuary, and his breast the altar. His feet 
 the eastern gate ; in His hands the two gates on 
 the north and south side of the temple, so that as 
 the passage or way to the altar and sanctuary lay 
 open through those principal gates, in like manner 
 should the path to the sanctuary be made plain and 
 easy, through the wounds of His feet and hands. 
 Whence it is, that the brazen sea, which was situ- 
 ated on the south side of the temple, near the altar, 
 should prefigure the water and blood issuing out of 
 the right side of the Lord." (" Solomon s Temple," 
 1659, p. 189). 
 
 It has already been explained that a rood cross 
 inscribed within the square contained by the cir- 
 cumference of the earth divided by 12 has many 
 analogies with the measures of the universe. A 
 man crucified on such a cross would be enclosed 
 by a circle equal to the sun's orbit, and the extreme 
 length of the cross is 666. From the preceding 
 analysis of the measures of the temple it appears 
 that the fancy of Villalpanda is not so strange as 
 Samuel Lee pretends, nor is it more strange than 
 some of his own '' fancies," which any one may 
 read in the work just quoted. 
 
 These coincidences are perhaps enough to show 
 the mystical nature of the Biblical structures, and 
 the purely allegorical character of the descriptions. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE TEMPLES. 
 
 " The frame thereof seem^ d partly circular. 
 And part triangular : work divine I 
 Those two the first and last proportions are ; 
 The one imperfect, mortal, feminine I 
 TK other immortal, perfect, masculine ; 
 And twixt them both a quadrate was the base, 
 Fropofiioned equally by seven and nine ; 
 Nine was the circle set in heaven^ s place : 
 All which compacted, made a goodly diapaseJ' 
 
 Description of the Castle of Temperance, " Faerie 
 Queen," bk. ii., canto ix., stanza 22. 
 
 " V^en the proportions are adjusted, and the dimensions found 
 by calculation, then it is the part of a skilful architect to consider 
 the nature of the place, the purpose of the building, and the beauty 
 ofitP — ViTRUVius, bk. vi., c. ii. 
 
 The beauty of the old temples and cathedrals, 
 and the veneration in which they were held pre- 
 sent a striking contrast to the insignificant churches 
 of modern Christendom, and the indifference shown 
 towards them by priests and peoples alike. A few 
 centuries ago the mysticism of theology used to 
 make every feature of ecclesiastical architecture a 
 hieroglyph, which all could read except the totally 
 blind. But new times bring new manners, and so 
 we notice the English Puritans of the Seventeenth 
 Century — intent upon boastful reformations of the 
 old worship — busily converting the " idolatrous 
 Steeple-House " into a place where decent people 
 could invoke the Logos free from offensive symbols. 
 Since then purity has given place to ignorance. So 
 
184 THE CANON. 
 
 now, instead of a church pervaded by some of that 
 sublimity, seen in universal nature, and faithfully 
 imitated by reverent and skilful artists, we find the 
 significant measures and consecrated proportions 
 of antiquity succeeded by the meaningless empti- 
 ness of mere cant and cheapness. 
 
 The beginning of the sixteenth century, when 
 Cesariano was editing Vitruvius, was the beginning 
 of that time of severance. It marks the decadence 
 of the old ideas, preserved and continued under 
 various conditions from an origin reaching back 
 thousands of years, and inaugurates the birth of 
 the new and necessarily crude doctrines, which 
 have, ever since, been gradually replacing the ac- 
 cumulated store of achievement which the art of 
 countless generations of men had brought to a 
 marvellous perfection. 
 
 Amongst other changes, and coincident with the 
 decay of so much else, we notice at this time the 
 gradual disappearance of the old order of practical 
 Freemasons, and a corresponding decline in all the 
 architectural arts. The change of religious opinions 
 affecting the whole basis of theology, necessarily 
 extended to the design of the churches, entrusted 
 during the Middle Ages to the Freemasons who 
 had worked according to the ancient rules received 
 in continuity from their predecessors, who had 
 worshipped the older gods of earlier systems, whose 
 rites still survived and accorded with the primitive 
 Christianity of the mediaeval Church. 
 
 It was when this old conception of religion began 
 to be superseded at the Reformation, that the need 
 or desire . for a body of architects instructed in 
 theological mysteries no longer acknowledged, 
 ceased to exist, and the secret methods of all pre- 
 vious temple builders left in the hands of the 
 Freemasons fell into disuse and were gradually 
 forgotten. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 1 85 
 
 Out of the records of the modern lodges, and 
 other collateral sources, it is possible to derive a 
 clue to the mysterious rules which constituted the 
 canonical method of building churches, according 
 to ecclesiastical use and practice. It is an un- 
 questionable fact that there was a canonical art of 
 building, just as there was a canon of the Mass, 
 canonical books, canonical robes, canonical hours, 
 canons of chronology, and canonized saints. All 
 these canonical forms appear to depend upon one 
 fundamental mystery, which we shall now only 
 attempt to explain in its architectural aspect. 
 
 It is stated by J. S. Hawkins (** Origin of Gothic 
 Architecture," p. 183) that during the erection of 
 the dome of Sienna, in 1321, the five gentlemen 
 appointed to inspect the building objected to the 
 continuance of the work, ** because if completed as 
 it had been begun it would not have that measure 
 in length, breadth, and height, which the rules of a 
 church require. And they further added that the 
 old structure, to which as it seems the new ad- 
 joined, was so justly proportioned, and its members 
 so well agreed with each other in breadth, length, 
 and height, that if in any one part an addition 
 were made to it under the pretence of reducing it 
 to the right measure of a church, the whole would 
 be destroyed." (Quoted from a document dated 
 1 32 1, published by Delia Valle, '* Lettere Senese," 
 vol. ii., p. 60). 
 
 One of the most direct evidences of the old 
 mystical rule of building is found in Cesariano's 
 edition of Vitruvius, published at Como, in 152 1. 
 In this valuable and remarkable book there are a 
 plan and sections of Milan Cathedral, drawn with 
 the geometrical forms, which are said to have de- 
 termined the proportions of the building. It would 
 appear that this so-called German method of fixing 
 the measures of a cathedral does partly reveal 
 
1 86 THE CANON. 
 
 the canonical methods of the masons, and that it 
 also applies to the classical temples described by 
 Vitruvius, otherwise it would scarcely find a place 
 as an illustration in this work. Nor would an 
 architect of the Renascence, who built by the rules 
 of Vitruvius, and who must have been instructed 
 in the German manner of design, make the mis- 
 take of claiming a common basis for classical and 
 mediaeval architecture, if such an agreement had 
 not existed. During the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries in Italy, the book of Vitruvius was held 
 in the highest esteem, and societies were even insti- 
 tuted for its study and interpretation (Addington 
 Symonds). This appreciation must have been due 
 to some cause unknown to modern critics, for this 
 work is no longer read, and does not form, as it 
 used to do, the one text book on the art of building, 
 revered as much by an architect as the canonical 
 Scriptures are by a priest. And it is not surprising 
 to find that modern architects, who do not know 
 that the treatise of Vitruvius is a mystical book, 
 and do not understand the rules which he teaches, 
 have considered the introduction of the plan of 
 Milan Cathedral as an irrelevant digression on the 
 part of Cesariano ; whereas, it is really a most 
 important illustration of the principles of archi- 
 tecture common to all ancient peoples. It would 
 be unreasonable to expect that we should have in 
 this scheme, applied to the cathedral at Milan, a 
 complete exposition of all the mysteries of the archi- 
 tectural canon, but we have as much as Cesariano 
 dared to reveal, and enough to establish the funda- 
 mental principle of the old geometrical system of 
 design. 
 
 By the scheme before us, the geometrical figure, 
 forming the basis of the plan of Milan cathedral, 
 is the rhombus or vesica. It is here invisibly 
 introduced into the plan as the mystical comple- 
 
TdEJL GEOMETMOX'JlB.CHITECTGNICRE AB ICHKOGKAPHLA. SVMFTA-.VTPERAMVSSINEA.S ?OSSWrT 
 PER ORIHOORAPHIAM AC SCAENOOKAFHIAM PEKDVCERE OPINES qryASCVNQVAE IJNEA3*NO« ! 
 /50LVM AD CIRCINI CENTRVM* SED CPAE ATHIGONO ET qVADRATO AVT ALIO QVOVTSMODO ' 
 'pnwrNIVNTPOSSINTSWM HABERE RESPONSVM < TVM PEP- EVRYTHMUVMtrPROPOR.-^ 
 TIOT^ATAM Q^^>rrVM ETlAM*SVMMETRIAEQVAhn"ITATEM' OIU^INAlOAJ^r'AC^.PEB; w 
 OPERIS'DECORXTTONEM OSTENDlRE^Vn ETIAMHEC QVAE ATGERMANICO MOREPERVD 
 HIVNT DISTRIBVENTVRPENE QVEMADMODVM SACRA CATHEDRAJUS ATOES MEDIOLANI 
 
 iriG It;— SECTION OF MILAN CATHEDRAL, FROM THE CUT IN 
 CESARIANO'S EDITION OF '' VITRUVIUS," FOLIO XV, VERSO. 
 
1 88 THE CANON. 
 
 ment of the cross, which is openly and avowedly 
 exhibited in the form of the church. 
 
 Speaking of the secret rites at Eleusis, Hippo- 
 lytus tells us that the mystery of the Greeks was 
 called **Eleusin" and ** Anactorion." ''Eleusin, 
 because we who are spiritual come flowing down 
 from Adam above ; for the word ' Eleusesthi ' is 
 of the same import with the words ' to come/ But 
 ' Anactorion ' is of the same import with the ex- 
 pression ' To ascend upwards ' " (Ref. v. 3). This 
 also was the mystery of the Christian church, and 
 every cathedral symbolized by its plan those two 
 mysterious factors of existence. By the cross they 
 symbolized *' Eleusin," and '' Anactorion" by the 
 rhombus. 
 
 Anactorion was a word commonly used by the 
 Greeks for a temple. It means the royal house or 
 the king's house, and it has the numerical value of 
 672, which is I more than the value of the Hebrew 
 word Thora, 671, the Bride.^ She was mystically 
 laid as the foundation or pavement of every church,, 
 prepared to received from above Her Spouse or 
 Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. This is the mystery 
 which the cross and the rhombus united together 
 signified during the Middle Ages, and in all 
 previous times. They are the emblems of the 
 double soul of the universe, personified by Eros 
 and Psyche, Osiris and Isis, Dionysius and Perse- 
 phone, and countless other names. 
 
 Having indicated the symbolical meaning of the 
 rhombus, it will be seen, when the measures are 
 examined, that this figure drawn upon Cesariano's 
 plan is made to contain the cosmic measures 
 
 1 The name HIKL, 65, applied to Solomon's Temple, is 
 equivalent by Gematria to Adonai, whose name also produces 
 671. Therefore the two names Anactorion and Hikl afford 
 another example of the numerical agreement of the Greek aiid 
 Hebrew languages. 
 
il^.^-a- -1 ■! 1"^ lb 
 
 ICHN6"GPAPHIA.>VNDAmTI 
 ■^ GERMANICO MORE4A 
 
 TRIQONOAC PABJQNADBAIb 
 
 I. OCA 
 
 FIG. 16. — PLAN OF MILAN CATHEDRAL, FROM CESARIANO'S 
 EDITION OF "VITRUVIUS," FOLIO XIIII. 
 
I90 THE CANON. 
 
 found in the Holy Oblation, the city of Ezekiel, 
 and the New Jerusalem, and that it determines 
 the proportions and dimensions of the church, in 
 conformity with these mystical patterns. The in- 
 side measure of the transepts, and the centre of 
 the apse, are fixed by the rhombus, marked on the 
 plan by the letters EFGH. This rhombus is 128 
 cubits wide, and has a perimeter of 5 1 2 (zri 28 x 4). 
 Now 5 1 2 is the side of a square having a perimeter 
 of 2,048, the diameter of Saturn's orbit; and 512 
 cubits are equal to 768 feet, a number which is 
 I less than the length of the tranverse beam of 
 a cross 1,656 high, or the number of miles from 
 the equator to the tropics, measured on the earth's 
 circumference, and the full measure of this cross is 
 2,366f. 
 
 Then the greater rhombus, ABCD, marking 
 the extreme width and length of the building, is 
 144 X 249-I cubits, and has a perimeter of 576 
 (Pneuma, 576). If the cubits be reduced to feet, 
 the numbers become 216 by 373, and the number 
 373 is the numerical value of the name Logos. 
 Then 216 is the diameter of the sun's orbit. 
 
 The width of the cathedral is 144 cubits, and 
 144 X 9|- ^ 1,368, thus giving the height of a man 
 standing in the vesica produced by two intersect- 
 ing circles, whose united width is 2,368. Again, 
 the internal length of the building from east to 
 west is given by Cesariano as being 250 cubits, 
 and 249|- x g^ = 2,368 ; therefore, the length and 
 the width of the building are decided according 
 to the length of what Sir John Maundeville calls 
 the '' Cross of our Lord," and the cross of 'U<ro\jg 
 Xpi<rr6g. The height of the building, up to the 
 middle of the figure standing upon the pinnacle 
 of the tower, is 15579 cubits, and this number 
 multiplied by 9 J = 1,480, so that the three prin- 
 cipal dimensions of this great Italian cathedral 
 
THE TEMPLES, 191 
 
 are derived from the measures of three human 
 bodies, 1,368, 1,480, and 2,368 cubits high re- 
 spectively. 
 
 The nave or ship of the church is 144 cubits, or 
 216 feet long, and is an appropriate measure for 
 the ark of the sun. Then the length, from the 
 centre of the apse to the western wall, is 235 cubits, 
 the side of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 There is the following allusion to the system of 
 geometric proportions in the *' Hypnerotomachia," 
 Aldus, 1499, verso of sig. c : 
 
 ** At length being come to this ancient porch, a 
 worke worthie the looking upon marvellously 
 composed by exquisite rules, and by art nobly 
 beautified, with divers and sundry sorts of cuttings, 
 which did inflame a desire in me to understand 
 and find out the lineaments and practise of the 
 architect, I began in this manner, making a 
 square from the two columns on either side in a 
 perfect sort, in the which I tooke the due propor- 
 tion of the whole porch. 
 
 "A tetragon figure ABCD divided by three 
 lines straight, and three overthwart equally distant 
 one from another will make sixteene quadrats, 
 then adde to the figure as much more in the like 
 proportion, dividing the adjunct you shall finde 
 foure and twenty squares. This figure shall serve 
 of credycels to make the inlepturgie and briefe 
 demonstration that followeth. 
 
 ** Draw then in the first fygure ABCD two 
 diagons, make also in the same two lines, one 
 straight downe, and the other overthwart, which 
 make foure quadrats mutually intersect. 
 
 "Then in the voide over the Isopleures make 
 foure mediane prickes, drawing lines from one to 
 another, and they will make the Rhombus.^ 
 
 ^ In the original the references to the rhombus stand thus : 
 (i) "Item in quella vacua sopra le isopleure facti quatro medi- 
 
192 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 ** When I had drawn this figure after this 
 manner I straightway mused with my selfe, what 
 reason should moove many of our woorkemen in 
 these dayes eyther to thinke well of themselves, or 
 
 FIG. 17. — DIAGRAM FROM THE " HYPNEROTOMACHIE " (PARIS, 
 1546), VERSO OF FOLIO 12. 
 
 take the art of building in hand, not knowing what 
 it is f Making such groose faults in churches and 
 great men's houses, defaming arte, and so ignorant, 
 
 ani puncti, & da uno ad laltro deducte le linee si constituisce 
 il Rhombo" (sig. C i verso); {2) " Dalla quale removendo 
 poscia II rhombo, & gli diagonii " (sig. C 2). 
 
THE TEMPLES. 1 93 
 
 that they seeme as though they could not consider 
 what nature hir selfe dooth teach us in beholding 
 of hir woorkes. 
 
 "And what part soever is not agreeable with 
 this principle is foule and nought. For take away 
 order and rule, and what thing can any man make, 
 either beautifull to the eye, or of commendable 
 proportion and durable ? " (English translation, 
 fol. 18.) 
 
 The meaning of the passage is certainly obscure, 
 but the explanation may be suggested thus : The 
 " tetragon figure ABCD " is a square, whose sides 
 are i6, and the "rhombus" of half that width 
 measures 16x8. The two combined produce a 
 rectangle 24 x 16, having an area of 384. Now a 
 vesica 384'225 broad is 666 long, and 384 is the 
 radius of the sun's orbit measured by the tone. 
 The two "diagons" or diagonals, drawn within 
 the square ABCD, form a saltire, the symbol of 
 the microcosm, and their length is nearly 2 2-§-, there- 
 fore by the rule of Vitruvius the corresponding 
 square of the macrocosm would have an area of 
 512 (i62 •=. 256 X 2 ^ 512). And since a square 
 whose sides are 512 has a perimeter of 2,048, the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit, the whole figure sets 
 forth the measures of the seven planetary orbits 
 and sphere of the Zodiac, containing the body of 
 Christos in the square 1,480, first by the square 
 and rhombus, the symbols of man and woman, and 
 secondly by the duplication of the square. The 
 four equal "quadrats" made by the cross lines 
 have each an area of 64, and the sum of the 
 numbers from i to 64 is 2,080. It will be noticed 
 that the proportion of the rhombus given here is 
 that of a double square, and not 26 : 1 5 as indicated 
 by Cesariano on the plan of Milan cathedral. 
 
 It may have been the contemplation of these 
 mysteries that occasioned the musings of Poliphilus 
 
 o 
 
194 THE CANON. 
 
 upon those who " take the art of building in hand, 
 not knowing what it is." 
 
 The Greeks called their temples by many names 
 besides Anactorion. The word or>cof (house), used 
 commonly for the house of man, was also applied 
 to the house of God. It has a numerical value of 
 370, which, multiplied by 4, produces 1,480, the 
 side of the square contained within the sphere of 
 the Zodiac or the outermost sphere of the universe, 
 inclosed by the Holy Oblation. 
 
 The name 'Upov, again, meahs properly the Holy 
 Thing or the Holy Place. Its numerical value 
 is 235, which is the length of the side of the 
 New Jerusalem, inclosing the inner orbits of the 
 planets. 
 
 The word Naos is spelt in two ways, Nfw?, 1,055, 
 Nao?, 321. This, like the Latin and English words 
 Navis and Nave, is the ship of the temple (Nao? rr 
 Nauc). It was that part of the structure which 
 contained the mystical Argo or Ark, having a 
 meaning analogous to the cross. The number 
 1,055 is the length of a vesica 609 broad, and 
 194 >< 3?" =^ 609. By transposition the number 
 321 becomes 312, which is i more than the 
 internal width of an ark containing the sun's course 
 measured by the tone. Naos has the same nu- 
 merical value as KaAof, Beautiful, and 321 is the 
 mean between 320*37 and 32276, the diameters of 
 the circles which produce the two vesicas 67 1 and 
 676 in circumference. 
 
 Sekos (XviKog), the name applied to the cell of a 
 temple, has the value of 498, and 499 is the 
 measure of a cross whose limbs are 249J {249^ x 
 9^ := 2,368). TO TTccu, the world, is numerically 
 equal to 501 — 2 zr 499. 
 
 The name Temenos was given to the precincts 
 of a temple, and it has the value of 670, the 
 numerical equivalent of jtoo-juo?, the universe. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 1 95 
 
 Further, to rifAsvog yields 1,040, the radius of the 
 sphere of the Zodiac. 
 
 Before Christian times a Greek altar was called 
 BcofAog, which yields the number 1,112, which is the 
 circumference of a circle having a diameter of 354, 
 the number of days in the lunar year. As may be 
 seen from ancient vases, the altars of the Greeks 
 were made with horns at their corners, that they 
 inight resemble the horned moon. And by Gema- 
 tria Bomos is equivalent to Zodiakos, 1,112. In 
 the midst of every Christian church around the 
 Omphalos or cross at its centre was the Choros, 
 or choir, set apart for the singers. The name 
 Choros had long been familiar in classical Greece, 
 as applied to certain players who acted a peculiar 
 and important part in the old tragedies. But 
 originally the Choros was a dance by which the 
 earliest worshippers invoked the deity, moving 
 with measured steps around the altar. Theseus 
 is said to have first taught this mystic dance at 
 Athens. And the name Choros yields 1,040, the 
 radius of the zodiacal circle contained within the 
 Holy Oblation. Therefore when the Greek youths 
 and virgins danced round the primitive altar or 
 sacred fire, they sought to reproduce the chorus 
 of the twelve stars, which mark the intervals of the 
 sun's course in his yearly revolution. This simple 
 ritual was the prototype foreshadowing all the 
 elaborate ceremonies in the costly temples of after 
 times, and admirably illustrates the first impulse 
 towards the imitation of the measured harmony of 
 the heavenly bodies, whose circular motions were 
 counterfeited by the choral dance. And the choir 
 (Choros) of the Christian church, '* who mystically 
 represent the Cherubim " (Liturgy of St. Chrysos- 
 tom), sang also in imitation of the celestial music. 
 It has been shown that the Apostles are equiva- 
 lent to the signs of the Zodiac ; and Samuel Lee 
 
196 THE CANON. 
 
 says that the Church was *' signified by the moon 
 and the twelve stars of the Apostles" (*'Sol. Temp.," 
 p. 181); and Peter was called by St. Chrysostom 
 "the leader of the Apostolic choir" (J xopvpocTog tou 
 
 The name given to the Church by the early 
 Christians was the ordinary Greek word for an 
 assembly. Numerically the word Ecclesia has 
 the value of 294, and by Gematria it is equivalent 
 to ?) 'AKocSYifABtoc, which was adopted by Plato as the 
 name of his school, for a vesica formed by two 
 intersecting circles whose united width is 294 is 
 98 wide ; and 98 is the value of the word M>ii/, a 
 month, which by Gematria is equivalent to 'Eae^??, 
 the name of the heroine of the ''Iliad/' and the 
 Empress of Rome, who is said to have found the 
 true cross at Jerusalem. The moon, or month, was 
 often mentioned by early writers as a symbol of the 
 Church, and St. Helena may be recognized as a 
 personification of it. The vesica was one of the or- 
 dinary symbols of the Church, mystically honoured 
 as the spouse of Christ. And St. Helenas discovery 
 of the cross, the complement of the vesica, is a 
 metaphorical way of expressing the nuptial union 
 of the Christos and Ecclesia. If the number 294 
 be united to 1,480 (Christos) we get 1,774. Now 
 two interlacing triangles whose sides are 1,7 74 
 are exactly contained within the orbit of Saturn. 
 This figure, commonly called Solomon's seal, has 
 always been revered by Christians as the symbol 
 of the Trinity- — the Father or first person of the 
 Triad being, presumably, implied by the circle of 
 Saturn. And if 1,090, the numerical value of 
 Chronos, be added, the three numbers amount 
 to 2,867, or I less than the sum of the numbers 
 obtained from the names of the ten steps of the 
 Cabala : 
 
THE TEMPLES. 1 97 
 
 Chronos . . 1,090 
 Christos . . 1,480 
 ecclesia . . 294 
 
 1.774 
 
 2,864 + 3 = 2,867. 
 
 Then, 294 Is the diameter of a circle having a 
 circumference of 924, the square root of the sun's 
 diameter in miles. And 294-1- x 10 =: 2,946, the 
 diagonal of the Holy Oblation. These measures 
 seem to have been in the mind of St. Cyril when 
 he says that the Church "is called Catholic be- 
 cause it is throughout the world from one end of 
 the earth to the other ; and because it teaches 
 universally and completely one and all the doc- 
 trines which ought to come to men's knowledge 
 concerning things both visible and invisible, 
 heavenly and earthly " ('* Cat. Lect," xviii., p. 250). 
 At any rate, such a description could hardly apply 
 to the paltry assembly of Christians who in his 
 day met mostly in holes and corners as advocates 
 of a new and despised mythos. 
 
 The basilicas of the Romans were frequently 
 converted into churches by the early Christians. 
 The name was retained, and was often used to 
 designate a church. Bao-iXiJcii is numerically equal 
 to 281, which is the amount of the diameter of the 
 moon's orbit, or the sublunary world, divided by 
 12 thrice, 485.576 ^ 40^4 ^Z^Vl^^ ,81. 
 
 12 12 12 
 
 Afterwards the name cathedral was generally 
 applied to the great churches of the west. This 
 word is derived from KaSsJ^pa, 140, a chair or seat ; 
 and r\ Ku^Upa, that is, the chair, or God's seat, has 
 the numerical value of 148, and 148 is a common 
 measure of the three numbers, 888, 1,480, and 
 2,368. The word Upocy no, or 'Hpny 117, was also 
 applied to an altar or temple. And the number 
 
1 98 THE CANON. 
 
 no is the measure of the suns distance, and 116 
 and a fraction is the diameter of a circle having a 
 circumference of 360. 
 
 The Christians called their altar Thusiasterion, 
 1^358, which is the circumference of a circle 432 
 in diameter. Now every altar was inscribed with 
 five crosses, or quincunx, of five points, and if we 
 multiply 432 by 5 we get 2,160, the number of 
 miles in the moon s diameter. And the altar was 
 connected with the moon both by the Greeks and 
 Hebrews. Again, 432 is the circumference of a 
 circle whose diameter is 137^, which is nearly the 
 side of a square contained within the Holy Obla- 
 tion, if the sun's distance be taken at 10. That 
 is to say, 137 is equivalent to 1,480. The number 
 432 is also the width of the two intersecting circles 
 which produce the vesica 144 by 249^. Lastly, 
 432 is the side of a square having a diagonal of 
 6ii, the perimeter of a square inscribed within 
 the sun's orbit. 
 
 The three divisions of a Christian church in its 
 final development were called Bema, Choros, and 
 Narthex. 
 
 Bri|wa . 5 I 
 
 Xop6, . 1,040+ I 1 , ^^^ 
 
 Nciph^ 228 + I I ^' 70 
 
 1,319 + 2 = 1,321. 
 
 They correspond to the Holy of Holies, the Holy 
 Place, and the Porch of Solomon's Temple, as 
 indicated on Kircher's cabalistic diagram. The 
 sum of the numbers deduced from the three names 
 is 1,321, and a cross inscribed within a vesica 
 1,321 long measures (1,321 + 762=3) 2,083, the 
 side of the Holy Oblation, The number 5 1 (Bema) 
 is the square root of 2,601, or the side of a square 
 inclosing the body of the Logos crucified on a 
 
± i2<ivijr j^xidO. 
 
 Lyy 
 
 cross whose height is equal to the number of miles 
 in the earth s diameter. There is another reason 
 why the Bema or sanctuary, which symbolized 
 Heaven or the Empyreum,may have been so called. 
 For the name Jesus, together with those of his 
 parents on earth, yield 2,601 : 
 
 'lofTT)^ . 1,518 + 1 
 Mapt^jU 192 + I 
 'l>?<rou? , 888 + I 
 
 2,598 + 3 = 2,601. 
 
 The classical Greeks called the stone from which 
 the Athenians spoke in the Pnyx, the Bema. 
 Choros has the value of 1,040, or i and a fraction 
 less than the radius of the sphere of the Zodiac, 
 while 228 (Narthex) multiplied by 9 J- produces 
 2,166, the number of miles in the moons diameter. 
 With the addition of colel 1,040 and 228 amount 
 to 1,270, or I less than the numerical value of 
 Stauros, a cross. The Narthex, or hollow reed 
 by which Prometheus brought down the mystic 
 fire to earth, is peculiarly appropriate to the ideas 
 connected with the third division of a temple or 
 church. 
 
 The belief that some mysterious purpose exists 
 in the design of the Egyptian pyramids, although 
 unsupported by the direct testimony of those 
 ancient authors who have alluded to them, may 
 reasonably be held upon various grounds. All we 
 learn from Herodotus is an inaccurate measure- 
 ment, and the statement that the great pyramid 
 was the tomb of Cheops, erected by him during 
 his lifetime out of despotic vanity, and a desire to 
 perpetuate his memory, if possible, for ever. It 
 has been thought also, that the great pyramid was 
 built as the royal treasury. But assuming that 
 
200 THE CANON, 
 
 both these objects, as they might have been, were 
 the ostensible motives for its erection, this stu- 
 pendous fabric may have included less apparent 
 purposes, and given the opportunity to its archi- 
 tects of applying to it whatever ideas prevailed at 
 that time, as to the functions of architecture. 
 That most skilful artificers were employed in its 
 construction is sufficiently attested by the admirable 
 finish and perfection of the masonry. And the 
 marvellous accuracy in fitting and joining the 
 stones favours the idea, that such careful niceties 
 of workmanship must have been applied for some 
 definite reason, which is certainly not that of pro- 
 ducing an ornamental effect. Then the peculiarity 
 of the internal arrangements point to the existence 
 of some principle of design, which shows that the 
 builders were governed by some other ideas than 
 those of utility and permanence alone. 
 
 If their only object had been to erect a vast 
 heap of well hewn stones to enclose the body and 
 treasures of Cheops, without art or design, the 
 chambers and arrangements of the building would 
 give some evidence of such artlessness in their 
 contrivance. Instead of which, it is well known 
 that the chambers and galleries of the pyramid 
 have been devised upon a system which cannot be 
 accounted for by any simple or obvious reasons. 
 For the intentions of the builders, whatever they 
 may have been, have led them far beyond the 
 ordinary necessities of mere use. 
 
 No architect, again, whose object was to pro- 
 duce a beautiful building, would choose a pyramid 
 as a means of accomplishing his end ; therefore 
 beauty cannot be regarded as the motive of his 
 choice. But the pyramidal form must have been 
 advisedly chosen : so, to discover his motive, we ■ 
 must inquire what purpose could be fulfilled archi- 
 tecturally by an unadorned pyramid. The most 
 
THJi TiiMi'LliS. 20 1 
 
 natural answer seems to be, that apart from its 
 structural fitness, it was selected simply as a geo- 
 metrical figure. And the existence of the pyra- 
 mids, the oldest monuments in the world, seems to 
 be a striking confirmation of the statements of the 
 earliest writers, that architecture originally de- 
 pended upon geometry, and we see in Egypt the 
 first application of that science to building, un- 
 accompanied by the ornaments which were after- 
 wards brought into use. In the hands of geo- 
 metrical architects the pyramid by its bulk, surface, 
 lines, and angles, would afford the means of record- 
 ing measures and numbers. For practical purposes, 
 also, the pyramid is a most suitable form for a 
 permanent fabric. For it stands on a solid base, 
 and its sloping sides, rising to a point, prevent 
 water from lodging upon its surface and causing 
 decay. It is much better fitted for such a purpose 
 than a cube, which has a flat top ; moreover, while 
 the latter figure has the greater number of sides, 
 lines, and angles, the pyramid has more points of 
 measurement. 
 
 We shall, therefore, conclude that it was the 
 object of the builders, by this simple geometrical 
 figure to set up an enduring monument, exempli- 
 fying by its measures and numbers those canonical 
 laws of Egypt, alluded to by Plato, which, it is 
 supposed, were the pattern and source of all our 
 later philosophical and theological systems. It 
 accordingly follows that this remarkable structure 
 is an exact embodiment of the universe, geo- 
 metrically reduced to a pyramidal form, and ex- 
 hibiting the true aspect of the cosmic system as it 
 appeared and was known to the Egyptians at the 
 time of its foundation. This view is borne out by 
 ■the opinion of John Greaves, the old Oxford 
 astronomer, from whose work on ** English Weights 
 and Measures" we quote the following: ** Accord- 
 
202 THE CANON. 
 
 ing to Arabic traditions, one of the pyramids is the 
 sepulchre of Seth . . . and it seems probable that 
 the pyramids are the pillars of Seth. And these 
 pillars of Seth, according to Josephus, were in the 
 very same place where Manetho placed the pillars 
 of Thoth, called Seiread." The words of Josephus 
 respecting these pillars are: "They (the children 
 of Seth) were the inventors of that peculiar sort of 
 wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly 
 bodies and their order. And that their inventions 
 might not be lost before they were sufficiently 
 known, upon Adam's prediction that the world was 
 to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, 
 and at another time by the violence and quantity 
 of waters, they made two pillars, the one of brick 
 the other of stone ; they inscribed their dis- 
 coveries upon them both, that, in case the pillar of 
 brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar 
 of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries 
 to mankind ; and also inform them that there 
 was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now 
 this remains in the land of Siriad to this day." 
 
 Statements of this kind being generally mis- 
 understood at the present time, the subjoined 
 passage taken from another part of the work of 
 Greaves, quoted above, may help to explain the 
 meaning of the tradition. '* In the first ages of 
 the world, an obscure way of expressing things 
 was practised by the wise and learned, to whom it 
 seemed good not to expose everything they knew 
 to the eyes of the vulgar, who would not relish 
 such matters that were too sublime for their other- 
 wise disposed thoughts." The latter part of this 
 sentence is an admirable piece of philosophic cant, 
 but as Greaves himself adopted the ancient practice 
 indicated here, it is necessary to receive his state- 
 ments in a proper spirit. Accordingly, when he 
 quotes with approval the Arabic tradition, he does 
 
THE TEMPLES. 203 
 
 SO, knowing that it does not express the literal 
 truth. He merely repeats it that he may convey 
 the hint that the pyramids were set up for astro- 
 nomical reasons. Their builders, he says, hoped 
 " by this means to preserve, as long as the world 
 endures, those sciences which their long experience 
 had found out for the good of mankind." And 
 again, he adds, ** what is in these pyramids yet 
 undiscovered I know not ; but this, I believe, that 
 what learning is here to be found was also written 
 upon tables, or in books, whose title was ' Inscrip- 
 tions on the Pillars of Seth.' " 
 
 The place where the Pillars of Seth are said to 
 have stood, is called Siriad, which may be taken 
 to mean the place of Anubis, who marked the sol- 
 stitial or midsummer sun, and it is therefore the 
 region of the abode of the sun. The name lipiai, 
 or XsTpsoc^y has the value of 325, and by Gematria it 
 is equivalent to hog, a year. And if 325 be taken 
 as the perimeter of a triangle or pyramid, its sides 
 are loS-J, or the sun's distance measured by its 
 own diameter. And 325!- x 2 zr 651, which is the 
 diameter of a circle whose circumference is 2,046, 
 the diameter of Saturn's orbit. From these 
 numbers it would appear that the astronomical 
 Pillars of Seth were located in a very appropriate 
 place. And the name of their founder XH0 (217, 
 the diameter of the sun's orbit) adds further con- 
 firmation to the name of the locality. It will also 
 appear that Siriad is a name equally appropriate 
 to the site of the Great Pyramid, and, strange to 
 say, John Greaves seems to have considered it so. 
 
 In Arbuthnot's " Tables,'* published in 1727, the 
 following quotation from Bishop Cumberland 
 appears on p. 68 : " The sides of the base of the 
 Great Pyramid are delivered, on p. 68 of Mr. 
 Greaves' * Pyramidographia,' to be 693 English 
 feet. For reduction these must be divided by 
 
204 THE CANON. 
 
 1-824, which is his length of the Cairo cubit in our 
 foot measure — the quote is 379'934, which is so 
 very little short of 380 Cairo cubits, that I think 
 it is reasonable to believe that the old architects 
 designed just this even number of Egyptian cubits." 
 To this Arbuthnot objects, saying that *'the 
 strength of the Bishop's argument depends chiefly 
 upon 380 being a remarkable number, such as an 
 architect would choose for the dimensio7i of the 
 principal part of his fabric'' The curious fact 
 about this statement is, that both the Bishop and 
 Arbuthnot should consider 380 a ''remarkable 
 number." It is needless to say that such a pro- 
 position is quite unintelligible to a modern archi- 
 tect, to whom one number is no more remarkable 
 than another. Now Greaves, by bringing out 
 380 cubits from 693 feet, manages to state two 
 measures of the sun's orbit very nearly. For the 
 diameter of a circle 220 is 691, and the sun's 
 distance, measured by the Tone, or interval be- 
 tween the earth and the moon, is 383. 
 
 It has been shown that, according to the system 
 of Cesariano applied to Milan Cathedral the 
 rhombus formed the basis upon which the plan of 
 that church was constructed. And assuming that 
 Cesariano's method was the traditional secret of all 
 ancient builders, it has now to be tried whether any 
 trace of it exists in the design of the Great Pyramid. 
 
 Externally the pyramid has but five main 
 external measurements. The length of the side 
 of its square base is 755f English feet and the 
 diagonal of the base is 1,069^ feet. Its vertical 
 height is 48 if feet. The slope of its sides are 
 6ii-| feet and the measure along the angles is 
 IZZ-fo feet. 
 
 Since all the Greek writers say that their astro- 
 nomy and philosophy were derived from Egypt, it is 
 quite reasonable to look for a pre-existing practice 
 
THE TEMPLES. 205 
 
 among the Egyptians, similar to that subsequently- 
 found in Greece, Alexandria, or Rome. Having 
 found that each side of the base of the Great 
 Pyramid measures 755-J feet, there will be nothing 
 ridiculous in considering what ideas the Greeks, who 
 wrote the Gospel, connected with the word Petros, 
 755, a stone. If the text of the Gospel were liter- 
 ally translated, the name Peter would be rendered 
 " the Stone," for it almost invariably appears as 
 n/rpo?, 825. According to the traditions, St. Peter 
 is said to have been the younger brother of St. 
 Andrew, the oldest of the Apostles. He was born 
 three years before the Virgin, and seventeen years 
 
 FIG. 18. — THE CUBICAL STONE. 
 
 before the Incarnation of Christ. He was the first 
 Pope of Rome, and held the See for twenty-five 
 years. He suffered martyrdom in his seventy-sixth 
 or eighty-sixth year, being crucified along with St. 
 Paul, on the 29th of June, with his head down- 
 wards. He is called 'Llf/^my 1,100, son of 'Iwva?, 
 1,061, and Jesus is there made to say, *' Thou 
 shalt be called K»i^a?, 729, which is by interpreta- 
 tion a stone (n/Tpo?)." The very prominent place 
 which this apostle holds, both in the Gospel-mythos 
 and in the Romish Church, must have some ex- 
 planation. And if he personates that rock (thought 
 to be impregnable by some) upon which the very 
 Church itself was founded, we must expect to find 
 that there is some fundamental truth and mystery 
 
206 THE CANON. 
 
 in it And it is not impossible that the number 
 755, preserved in the name Petros, may have been 
 the measure of the canonical stone of the old 
 Egyptian priests, handed down by a continuous 
 tradition, and received by the Christians. It was 
 apparently this measure, with all it expressed and 
 concealed, that the old builders sought to give an 
 everlasting permanence in the Great Pyramid. 
 
 Assuming that the Egyptians built their pyra- 
 mid as a symbol of the universe, it may be sup- 
 posed that they chose the number 755 as the side 
 of the square base for the following reasons. For 
 it is possible to deduce from this square, chiefly by 
 means of the rhombus, an approximate representa- 
 tion of the whole planetary system. No scheme, 
 depending upon a simple geometrical process, can 
 quite accurately measure the universe, because it 
 does not happen to have been constructed upon 
 any such simple principle, therefore the number 
 755 is more or less a compromise. It must also 
 be assumed that figures corresponding to the 
 temple of Ezekiel and the city of the New Jeru- 
 salem, were known to, if not invented by, the 
 pyramid-builders. 
 
 To arrive at the numbers intended to be re- 
 corded by the architect of any building, it is neces- 
 sary to know the standard by which it has been 
 set out. What standard was used in the pyramid 
 is unknown. There is, however, we believe, reason 
 for assuming that the standard measure now in use 
 in Great Britain is similar to that which was here 
 employed by the Egyptians. 
 
 Now, taking the English foot to be equal to a 
 diameter of the sun, it will be found that the 
 rhombus which contains the square base of the 
 pyramid (755|- feet) is 2,065 long, and the num- 
 ber 2,065 is the mean between 2,083, ^he side of 
 the Holy Oblation, and 2,047, ^he diameter of 
 
THE TEMPLES. 20/ 
 
 Saturn's orbit. Therefore the extremities of the 
 rhombus reach to the middle point, between the 
 sphere of Saturn and the sphere of the Zodiac. 
 This is simply a practical illustration of the same 
 geometrical problem which is illustrated by the 
 peribolus of Ezekiel's temple. 
 
 The number 755, found in the name Petros, 
 may give the clue to the next step. At any rate, 
 a cubical stone, or hexagon, which measures 755-| 
 feet diagonally from point to point, drawn within 
 
 FIG. 19. THE GREAT PYRAMID ENCLOSED BY A RHOMBUS 
 
 INSCRIBED WITHIN THE SPHERE OF THE ZODIAC. 
 
 the pyramid, gives by its width the side of a 
 rhombus which nearly incloses a square of the 
 same dimensions as the city of Ezekiel — each of 
 its sides being 416 diameters of the sun; and, 
 again, the length of another rhombus, which 
 roughly incloses a square similar to the New 
 Jerusalem, whose sides are 236 diameters of the 
 sun. And a third rhombus, drawn within this 
 last, is 217 on its sides, or the diameter of the 
 sun's orbit, and also the numerical value of the 
 name Seth, as it appears in the Septuagint, or 
 Christian version of the Old Testament. Thus 
 
2o8 THE CANON. 
 
 the whole scheme leads us to the sun's orbit, as its 
 centre, and there is no impropriety, according to 
 the ancient manner of speech, in the Arabians 
 calling the innermost rhombus the tomb of Seth, 
 217. 
 
 A vesica, inclosed within the square 755, con- 
 tains a Solomon's seal which holds the New Jeru- 
 salem within the bases of its two triangles, and 
 these two triangles form a rhombus whose sides 
 are 272, the numerical value of the name Harmonia 
 (wife of Cadmos) ; and the circle which incloses 
 the seal is 1,480 in circumference. If this circle 
 be inclosed in a square its sides are 471, and its 
 diagonal is 666, and that square is inclosed by a 
 decagon whose perimeter is 2,151. The number 
 272 appears to be called harmony, because a 
 vesica 272 wide is 471 long, or the diameter of a 
 circle 1,480 in circumference, and 272 is also the 
 diameter of a circle which is 853 in circumference, 
 and 853 is the width of a vesica 1,480 long. That 
 is to say, by a circle and a vesica, it brings out the 
 number 1,480. 
 
 The length of a vesica whose breadth (75576)15 
 equal to the side of the great pyramid, is 1,310, or i 
 less than the numerical value of Tetragrammaton. 
 
 A rood-cross 756 high can be almost inclosed 
 within the square base of the pyramid ; it would, 
 in fact, be four inches too long. Now the extreme 
 measure of this cross is 1,080, the number of miles 
 in the moon's radius ; and the numerical equi- 
 valent of TO nv£V{xcc "Aytov, the Holy Ghost ; and it 
 will crucify the lesser man of Vitruvius in a square 
 whose perimeter is 993 (= 248^ x 4), the numerical 
 value of the name Aphrodite ; and the circle in- 
 closing his body is 1,103 i^ circumference, or i 
 more than the height of a cross which will crucify 
 a man in a square whose perimeter is 2,048, the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit. The name Hiram, the 
 
± IXXJ X AU±fA.±. J 
 
 architect of Solomon's Temple, is translated by 
 the Seventy XsipdiJi., 756. 
 
 The diagonals of the base measure 1,069-!, and 
 a rhombus of this length has a perimeter of 2,468 
 (= 6i7'07 X 4), or 2 less than the value of 
 Macroprosopos, Microprosopos, and Basileia, the 
 names of the great cabalistic triad. Moreover, if 
 the two diagonals be bent into two intersecting 
 circles, in the Platonic manner, their united width 
 is 5 1 of, or very nearly one-quarter of the mean 
 distance of Saturn's orbit ; and the perimeter 
 of the rhombus thus produced is 681, or the 
 length of the sun's orbit, and 680 is the numerical 
 equivalent of Tlog, the Son, or second person of 
 the Christian Trinity. 
 
 The sockets cut in the rock to receive the foun- 
 dation stones at the four corners of the base are 
 760^ feet apart. Therefore, if the lesser man of 
 Vitruvius be drawn upon the plan, so that his feet 
 and hands touch their four sockets, his body will 
 measure diagonally (1,075^ x 2 n) 2,151 feet, and 
 2,151 is the number of years in the great month. 
 The cross required to crucify this figure is 2,314 
 high, and it is a strange coincidence that a Solo- 
 mon's seal measuring 2,314 from point to point is 
 composed of two triangles whose sides are 2,002^, 
 or i|- less than 2,004, the number out of which 
 Plato formed his logos and the equivalent of the 
 names of the four elements in Greek. The 
 Hebrew names of the upper triad, or Long-face of 
 the Cabala, yield 760. 
 
 The sides of the core-masonry are 750 feet long 
 at the base. Accordingly this square is contained 
 in a rhombus inscribed within the orbit of Saturn. 
 
 The vertical height of the pyramid is 481^ feet, 
 and this is the width of a vesica 834*288 long. 
 From this length we get the exact number of 
 miles in the equatorial diameter of the earth, for 
 
2IO THE CANON. 
 
 834-288 multiplied by g^ produces the measure of 
 a man 7,9257 high. 
 
 Again, a circle whose diameter is equal to the 
 vertical height of the pyramid is double the length 
 of the base, namely, 1,512 feet. Therefore if the 
 twofold body of the logos, the male having been 
 separated from the female, were bent into such a 
 circle, the man above and the woman below, each 
 semicircular figure would measure 755-§-. It is 
 certain that the hemispheres were personified in 
 Egypt by celestial beings who may in some way 
 be connected with this circle. At any rate the 
 logos of the Christians was symbolized by the con- 
 joined letters xr, 610, and Pw, 900; and 611 -|- 
 901 := 1,512, the circumference of the said circle. 
 
 The measure of a cross whose limbs are 481-J 
 long is (48i-|- X 2 zr)962-§-, the numerical equival- 
 ent of the word Ti^vn, Art. And 481 is the cir- 
 cumference of a circle whose diameter is 153, the 
 side of the square contained within the sun*s orbit, 
 having a perimeter of 612, or i less than the 
 number of precepts in the Hebrew law. 
 
 The sloping sides of the pyramid measure 61 if. 
 And 611 is nearly the circumference of the sphere 
 of the Zodiac contained within the Holy Oblation, 
 if the sun s distance be taken at 10. The name 
 Zeus has value of 612, and 611 is equivalent to 
 ThVRH, Thora, the Bride, or Law. 
 
 The length from the base to the apex, measured 
 on the four angles, is 733^ feet. If shown upon 
 the plan the lines of these angles would indicate 
 the diagonals of the square in the form of a cross. 
 And it is curious that the length of a vesica 733'9 
 broad is 1,271, the numerical value of the Greek 
 word stauros, a cross. ^ 
 
 ^ A saltire whose limbs measure 733*1 may be inscribed 
 within a square having a perimeter of 2,075, o^ rV of the 
 equatorial circumference of the earth. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 2 I I 
 
 From the allusion by Vitruvius (bk. ix., chap. 8) 
 to the Analemma, or diagram for determining the 
 axis of the earth by the equinoctial shadow, we 
 may infer that it was the practice of the builders 
 to set up a figure such as he describes at the foun- 
 dation of a temple. Accordingly the site of the 
 pyramid may have been chosen at Memphis be- 
 cause they found on constructing the analemma at 
 that latitude (to a scale of one inch to a mile), that 
 a square 2,368 inches set up in the centre of the 
 earth, perpendicular to the horizon, is just con- 
 tained within the tropics. And when a plan and 
 section of the pyramids are drawn upon the circle 
 660 feet, or 7,920 inches in diameter, the distance 
 of the south pole below the horizon marks the 
 height of the passage to the Qaeen's chamber, 
 while the axis of the earth passes through the apex 
 of the great stones over the King's chamber. 
 The length of the equinoctial shadow, from the 
 gnomon, 330 feet high or 3,960 inches, appears to 
 be 192 feet, the shadow at the winter solstice 
 about 454, and that at the summer solstice ^^, 
 The Pyramid itself, regarded as a gnomon, casts 
 no shadow on the ground either at the summer 
 solstice or the equinoxes, but at midwinter the 
 shadow measures about 660 feet from the centre. 
 The measurements in this paragraph are only 
 taken from a rough geometrical diagram and are 
 not calculated. 
 
 The pavement surrounding the pyramid seems 
 to have measured about 840 feet square, but its 
 full extent does not appear to be ascertainable. 
 The number 840 is numerically equivalent to 
 Microcosmos. 
 
 The fact that the cosmic numbers, which may be 
 deduced from the dimensions of the pyramid 
 coffer, measured by the British inch, agree with 
 those of the system which has been applied to the 
 
212 THE CANON. 
 
 exterior of the building, is a decided evidence in 
 favour of the belief, that the standard used by the 
 Egyptians in setting out the pyramid, is similar to 
 that now in use in Great Britain. This coincidence, 
 coupled with the fact that the British quarter 
 measure is almost exactly a quarter of the contents 
 of the pyramid chest,' may be thought sufficient to 
 warrant an examination of the chest upon the 
 hypothesis, that the two standards are practically 
 identical. 
 
 There is no positive evidence that anyone was 
 ever buried in this sarcophagus, but it is described 
 as being exactly like the ordinary stone coffins of 
 the time at which the pyramid is supposed to have 
 been erected. It may have been the tomb of a 
 hypothetical king, whose body was supposed to 
 measure the parts of the world ; that is to say, the 
 practical embodiment of a structure like that de- 
 scribed by Moses in the form of Noah^s ark. And, 
 if we knew all the secrets concealed in the mys- 
 terious arrangements of the pyramid, it might be 
 found that the tomb of the king, earthly or heavenly, 
 played its part in the order of a symbolical scheme, 
 reduced possibly to some pictorial figure or mystic 
 parable capable of being enacted with canonical 
 ceremonies and initiatory rites. Whatever its use 
 may have been, the following measurements may 
 be found worthy of consideration. 
 
 The foot having been taken as the unit of 
 measurement in the main building, the inch be- 
 comes the unit for the chest. The outside dimen- 
 sions of the coffer are 89-62 inches, by 38'5, and 
 its diagonal is gy^, therefore the perimeter of 
 
 ^ Magna Charta (a.d. 1215), sect 35 : "There shall be but 
 one uniform standard of weights, measures, and manufactures ; 
 that for corn shall be the London quarter." — Quoted by C. 
 PiAZZi Smyth, "Our inheritance in the Great Pyramid," 
 p. 161. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 213 
 
 a square which would enclose it would be Sg'Gi 
 X 4 = 358*48. Now, 358 is the number of the 
 Hebrew name Messiah, and 358^ x 6 = 2,151, 
 the number of years in a month of the great year. 
 Moreover, a circle 2,151 in circumference is in- 
 closed by a hexagon whose perimeter is 2,368. A 
 rhombus described round the square is 244*944, ^^ 
 say 245 long, and 245 is the numerical equival- 
 ent of ADM QDMVN, the supernal Adam or micro- 
 cosm of the cabala. Further, this rhombus is 
 surrounded by a circle having a circumference of 
 769*824, which is the length of the transverse beam 
 of a rood cross 1,658*076 high, and 2,368*68 in its 
 total extent. The number of miles in the radius 
 of the moon's orbit divided by 12 twice is 1,658. 
 
 The distance between the tropics measured by 
 the sun's diameter is 89*48, if the orbit of the sun 
 be taken at 220 diameters, and the inclination of 
 the ecliptic at 24 degrees. 
 
 The number 89 is the square root of the earth's 
 diameter in miles (89^^ 7,921). 
 
 The external width of the coffer is 38*5, or 
 nearly the square root of 1,480 (38*5^ zz i,482'25). 
 
 And it may be contained by a rhombus having 
 a perimeter of 360*6, and by another 193*824 long, 
 the latter number being rather more than the 
 radius of the sphere of the Zodiac, if the sun's dis- 
 tance be taken at 10 (216 : 2,093 : : 20 : : i93'6). 
 
 The lid of the coffer, now missing, must have 
 measured, if it fitted the space provided for it, 
 8i'46 by 34*33 inches. A rhombus described 
 round it is 140*948 long by 81*33 inches broad, 
 and has a perimeter of 325'32. Now 325*32 x 2 
 ::: 650*64, the diameter of a circle whose circum- 
 ference is equal to the diameter of Saturn's orbit ; 
 and 325 is the numerical equivalent of the name 
 Siriad, already referred to. The diagonal of the 
 lid is 88|-, or the width of the space between the 
 
214 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 u^ 
 
 ll 
 
 % 
 
 Xit 
 
 tropics if the diameter of the sun's 
 orbit be taken at 2 1 7 . I f the sun's 
 orbit and that of Venus be drawn 
 in the centre of the hd to a scale 
 which fixes the sun's distance at 
 10, the orbit of Venus will be con- 
 tained in the lid's breadth, and the 
 perimeter of a square 34*33 is 
 i37'32, or the numerical equi- 
 valent of the word cabala (qblh, 
 137). The perimeter of the lid 
 is 231 '62 inches; its area is 2,796 
 
 and ' 1= 466. 
 
 The inner depth is 34*42, which 
 is the side of a square whose 
 diagonal is 48-I, the square root 
 
 of 2,368. 
 
 Its contents, 72,032, and the 
 solid bulk 70,500 cubic inches, 
 seem to indicate the measure of 
 the sun's diameter in miles, for 
 
 72,032 X 1 2 zr 864,384 and ^—^^ — 
 
 12 
 
 zr 846,000, the mean being 
 855,000. 
 
 The inside dimensions of the 
 coffer are 78*06 inches long by 
 26'8r broad. Supposing it to 
 have been prepared to measure 
 the body of Macrocosmos, as the 
 ark of Noah measures the body 
 of Christ in the diagram of Mont- 
 anus, then the internal area of 
 the coffin upon which the body 
 would he measures (78*06 x 26*81 
 =) 2,092788, the diameter of the 
 BODY IN THE ARK OF clrcle coutaiuing the square 1,480 
 
 NOAH (MONTANUS). 
 
 m 
 
 FIG. 20. — CHRIST S 
 
THE TEMPLES. 215 
 
 within the Holy Oblation. Secondly, aman standing 
 crosswise within a square whose sides are 7 8 '06, 
 would represent the Macrocosm according to the 
 rule of Vitruvius. The diagonal of this square is 
 no inches, or the radius of the sun's orbit, and a 
 circle i lo in diameter has a circumference of 345^, 
 or -f^ of the width of the sun's ark, containing the 
 ecliptic measured upon a terrestrial globe. Thirdly, 
 if the microcosm be inclosed within a square 
 whose area is half that of the first, the circle sur- 
 rounding his body has a circumference of 245^, or 
 the numerical equivalent of Adam Kadmon. The 
 sides of the smaller square measure 55 inches, or 
 the number of miles in the diameter of the earth 
 divided by 1 2 twice. 
 
 According to the inferences drawn from the 
 measures of the greatest pyramid, it may be sup- 
 posed that it and the other two were built to 
 symbolize the three persons of the Cabala. In 
 their order the second pyramid would fall to micro- 
 cosmos, and the measure of its square base is 706^, 
 and its diagonal 998*67 feet, its vertical height 
 being 472 feet. Now if the microcosm were 
 inclosed within the square base, and crucified 
 upon a rood cross, its height would be 2,151 
 feet, or the number of years in the great month or 
 Messianic period. By taking the diagonals at 999 
 feet, and bending them into two circles, after the 
 manner of Plato in the '' Timseus," a vesica is 
 formed 666 in circumference. Then 472 feet is the 
 united width of the two circles producing a vesica 
 whose perimeter is equal to -^2 of the earth's 
 diameter in miles. It is also one more than the 
 diameter of a circle 1,480 (471 x 3-^ = 1,480). 
 
 The fable related by Herodotus, that the third 
 pyramid was built by Rhodopis, the rosy-cheeked 
 ()f 'PoJ^wTTK, 1,272), was probably meant to convey 
 that it was dedicated to the Bride, the third person 
 
2l6 THE CANON. 
 
 of the Triad. At least, the measures of this 
 pyramid support such a view. The base is 346x2 
 feet square, and it is 2 1 3f feet high. The sides 
 of a rhombus inscribed within the base are equal 
 to those of the New Jerusalem (199-68), the Bride 
 of the Apocalypse, while the height, 2 1 3-§-, is the 
 diameter of a circle 671 in circumference ; and 671 
 is the numerical equivalent of Thora and Adonai, 
 the names of the third person of the cabalistic 
 triad. The width of the base, 346^^2' ^s very 
 nearly -^2 of the width of the sun s ark measured 
 in miles on a terrestrial globe. Taking the equa- 
 torial circumference at 24,900 miles, the external 
 
 width would be (^^ zr) 345f 
 
 The distinguishing measures of the three pyra- 
 mids seem clearly to agree with the old doctrine of 
 the Trinity, and if their heights be arranged in a triad : 
 
 48if 48if 481 
 
 472 472 1 gg^ 213 
 
 2I3§J ^^ 
 
 953f 694 
 
 1,167 
 
 the sum of the numbers is 1,167, or -^^2" of the side 
 of a square whose area is equal to the surface of 
 the earth. The numbers of the second and third 
 added together give 685^, the diameter of a circle 
 2,151 in circumference, an appropriate number for 
 the King and Queen of Heaven. Then 953^, the 
 sum of the first and second numbers, with the addi- 
 tion of 2, is the width of a vesica 1,656 long, or the 
 number of miles from the equator to the tropics, 
 measured on the earth's circumference. And 694 
 is the width of a vesica formed by two intersecting 
 circles inscribed within the Holy Oblation. 
 
 It is well known that Herschel the astronomer 
 ascertained that the entrance passage of the great 
 
THE TEMPLES. 217 
 
 pyramid pointed to that part of the heavens 
 occupied by the pole star in the year 2, 1 60 or 2,170 
 B.C. In Herschel's day, this year agreed with the 
 reputed age of the pyramid, and he consequently 
 inferred that the passage had been built at this 
 particular angle to record the date of its erection. 
 Professor Piazzi Smyth, however, afterwards 
 calculated that the Pole Star was in the same 
 position in the year 3,440 B.C., and presumably it 
 passed the same point at intervals, ages before that. 
 Whatever the true date may be it is probable that 
 the Pyramids of Memphis, though less than 10,000 
 years old, may have been built to preserve the 
 canon of the Egyptian priests. And Plato's re- 
 ference to the laws being laid up in the temples, 
 suggests the conclusion that the pyramids did 
 actually "fix and exhibit patterns of them," which 
 became the established traditions of after times, 
 and never changed. 
 
 The Parthenon, like the pyramids, seems to 
 have illustrated all the astronomical science of the 
 Greeks. In treating of its geometrical disposition 
 there is this advantage, that the value of the foot 
 by which it has been set out has been ascertained 
 with comparative certainty. For it may be taken 
 for granted that the width of the top step, as 
 Mr. Penrose supposes, gave rise to the name 
 Hecatompedon, and that this measure is 100 
 Greek, or 101*341 English feet.^ 
 
 A consideration of the value of the names of 
 the great goddess of Attica, in whose honour the 
 temple was built, may throw some light upon the 
 nature of her position among the Greek deities, 
 and indicate the motives of the builders in making 
 the design of her temple. Athene is obviously a 
 
 ^ All the subsequent measures of this temple are given in 
 Greek feet of this value. Every information with respect to the 
 temple will be found in Mr. Penrose's "Athenian Architecture." 
 
2l8 THE CANON. 
 
 very complex deity, who embraced in one per- 
 sonification many conceptions, and her house on 
 the AcropoHs was probably intended to convey her 
 many-sided character. 
 
 As the virgin, mystically born from the forehead 
 of Zeus, the Father, she appears to personate the 
 divine essence in its feminine and immaterial 
 aspect. But it is evident from the various myths 
 related about her, that she was also conceived as 
 a male and androgynous being, thus combining in 
 her person all the powers of creation embodied in 
 the cabalistic triad, and she seems to have been 
 accepted as the cosmic divinity afterwards rele- 
 gated to the Christian mythos. 
 
 The name Athene has the value of 76 ; it is the 
 square root of 5,776, or half of the sun's distance 
 measured by the earth's diameter. She may 
 therefore be said to represent one part of the two- 
 fold principle of life. Again, 76-| is the side of a 
 square whose diagonals measure 216, the diameter 
 of the sun's orbit ; and "jb, with a fraction added, 
 is also the square root of 5,920, the perimeter of a 
 square whose sides are 1,480 (Christos). 
 
 Then her name Athene, the virgin ('A9>ip>i Ilapflfvo?) 
 yields 591, and by adding colel to this we get 592, 
 which is the side of a rhombus having a perimeter 
 of 2,368. 
 
 Another name under which she was invoked 
 was Athene Polias, goddess of the city, and this 
 has the numerical value of 467, or one more than 
 466, the height of a cross whose extreme length is 
 666, and whose transverse beam is 2i6,the diameter 
 of the sun's orbit. It will be remembered that 666 
 is the sum of the diagonals of the New Jerusalem, 
 the Heavenly City, of which she seems to have 
 been the goddess. 
 
 She was also called Athene Promachos, the 
 avenger ; Promachos is numerically equivalent to 
 
THE TEMPLES. 219 
 
 1,061, the value of the name Apollo, and i,o6i + 
 "](>■=. 1,137, which is I less than the length of a 
 vesica 656 broad (Artemis and Messias). And 
 by adding colel to each name this designation is 
 equivalent by Gematria to AEA^TS, the womb. 
 
 But the name which was most commonly applied 
 to Athene was Pallas, and her statues in the 
 Parthenon represented her under this image. 
 Pausanias tells us that the figure was wrought of 
 gold and ivory, standing erect clad in a long robe 
 with a Medousa upon her breast. Her helmet was 
 surmounted by a sphinx, and in one hand she held 
 a spear, while in the other stood a victory four 
 cubits high. At her feet lay a shield, and close 
 beside the spear was a snake, which was supposed 
 by Pausanias to be Erychthonios. And the birth 
 of Pandora, the first woman, was depicted on the 
 pedestal. The height of the statue was 26 cubits,^ 
 the number of the mystic Tetragammaton. The 
 Victory (NIKE, 88), being 4 cubits, is 96 digits 
 high, or the radius of the sphere of the Zodiac if 
 the suns distance be taken at 10, and 88 is the 
 space between the tropics, measured by the sun's 
 diameter. All the symbols enumerated by Pau- 
 sanias are doubtless attributes, appropriate to some 
 of her many forms. The sphinx, the helmet, the 
 chiton, the medousa, the spear, the shield, and the 
 snake being each capable of some explanation. 
 
 The name Pallas gives the number 342, which is 
 the side of a rhombus whose perimeter is 1,368,^ 
 
 ^ 26 cubits = 624 digits, and 624 is the length of a vesica 
 360 broad. 
 ^ ^aXXoc . . 831 + 1 = 832 
 
 1,368 
 
 See St. Clement, "Exhortation to the Heathen," p. 32 (Ante- 
 Nicene Library, vol. iv.). The famous account of the Eleu- 
 sinian Mysteries occurs in this piece. 
 
2 20 THE CANON. 
 
 and this is the width of a vesica 2,368 long. The 
 statue of Pallas was called Palladium. The most 
 ancient of these mysterious images having been 
 thrown down from Olympus by Zeus at Troy 
 {Tpoln, 488), was set up and worshipped by the 
 Trojans till it was taken by the Greeks and 
 brought to Athens. The figure is said to have 
 been '* 3 cubits in height, its legs close together, and 
 holding in its right hand a spear, and in the left a 
 spindle and distaff" (Smith's Diet.). Now three 
 cubits are equal to 54 inches, and 54 is the side of 
 a square whose perimeter is 216, and 54 with a 
 fraction added is the square root of 2,946, the 
 diagonal of the Holy Oblation. 
 
 Next to the Palladium the statue of Athene 
 Polias was most highly revered. According to 
 Pausanias (bk. i., ch. 26) the Greeks were accus- 
 tomed to dedicate this image in that part of each 
 town which was called "the city." Accordingly 
 we may suppose that her statue thus set up 
 symbolized the heavenly city called the Bride, or 
 the New Jerusalem by the Christians. And the 
 extreme length of the Parthenon being about 235 
 Greek feet, it would appear that this great sanctuary 
 of the goddess was built according to the measure 
 of her city in the sky. 
 
 The name Parthenon, the virgin's house, yields 
 1,095, which is the width of two intersecting circles 
 producing a vesica 365 broad ; napGsvwi/ has the 
 numerical value of 1,165 — 2 n: 1,163, which is the 
 length of a vesica 671 broad, and 671 is numeric- 
 ally equivalent to Thora, the Hebrew Bride, to 
 whom, in the person of the Virgin Mary, this 
 temple was afterwards dedicated. The word 
 napflfi/o?, applied both to Athene and Mary, has the 
 value of 515, which is i less than 516, the mean 
 between 512 and 520 (512 x 4 = 2,048 and 52of x 
 4 rz 2,083). Accordingly, by the name Parthenos 
 
IXXSL liLiVirJ_.Il.O. 
 
 the Pagan and Christian virgin symbolized the 
 universe. And we find that the Parthenon, 
 measured on the first step, is inclosed by a rhom- 
 bus 5 1 5*228 long, formed by two intersecting 
 circles whose united width is 891*675, a figure 
 which admirably expresses the significance of the 
 two names in the Greek language, for 891 is the 
 numerical equivalent of oJpai/o?, Heaven. 
 
 If the classical temples were designed according 
 to the rule of Vitruvius, so that their measures 
 depended upon the proportions of the human body, 
 we ought to find an illustration of it in the Parthe- 
 non. The length of the cell externally, including 
 the antae, is 165 '6 13 feet, and it is probable that 
 a square inclosing it was intended to contain the 
 lesser of the two pattern-figures. For, if this 
 square be doubled, the larger square, containing 
 the greater man, measures about 234 feet, or nearly 
 the length of the temple measured on the first 
 step. Thus the two main dimensions of the build- 
 ing exemplify the duplication of the square as 
 nearly as the exigencies would admit. The head 
 of the lesser man then lies in the centre of the four 
 pillars of the Opisthodomos, and the phallus falls 
 upon the place chosen for the statue of Pallas. 
 Moreover, the perimeter of the square inclosing 
 his body is 662'452 (165*613x4) which is the 
 diameter of a circle 2,081 in circumference. There- 
 fore, with a small addition to the side of the square 
 we get the measure of the Holy Oblation. Then 
 the square surrounding the greater man has a 
 perimeter of 936 (234 x 4), which is the length of 
 -a rhombus having a perimeter of 2,160, the number 
 of miles in the moon's diameter. 
 
 The measures of the temple, taken on the first 
 step, exclusive of the ledge, are 234*28 by 109*17 
 feet. The proportions, therefore, are very nearly 
 those of a rood cross. If we suppose 109*17, the 
 
2 22 THE CANON. 
 
 extreme breadth of the temple, to be the length of 
 the transverse beam of a cross in the ratio of 
 28:13, its height will be 235-116. If, on the 
 other hand, we suppose the extreme length 234*28 
 to be the height of a cross, its transverse beam 
 will be 10877. The first of the two crosses would 
 be contained within the New Jerusalem {235-1 16), 
 while each would crucify the macrocosm in a square 
 whose sides are equal to a computation of the 
 radius of the sun's orbit. 
 
 The rhombus appears to have been similarly 
 applied to the design of the Parthenon, as in the 
 case of the Great Pyramid. For the whole building 
 (234*28 X 109*17 feet) is contained in a rhombus, 
 formed by the intersection of two circles which 
 produce a vesica having a perimeter of 1,023 f'^^t, 
 or the radius of Saturn's orbit. 
 
 The perimeter of the top step is 650-^ feet, 
 and is therefore the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is equal to the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit. 
 
 The perimeter of the first step, exclusive of 
 the ledge, is 686*9 feet; if the ledge be included 
 we get the diameter of a circle 2,162 in circum- 
 ference of the number of miles in the moon's 
 diameter. 
 
 The number of days in the solar and lunar years 
 has also determined certain of the proportions of 
 the building, for the upper platform is inclosed by 
 a rhombus formed by two intersecting circles 
 365-I- feet in diameter, or the number of days in 
 the solar year, and the full length of the cell 
 externally is that of a rhombus having a peri- 
 meter of 354'6, the number of days in the lunar 
 year. 
 
 A rectangle surrounding the cell externally has 
 a perimeter of 471 feet, the diameter of a circle 
 1,480 in circumference, while the rhombus in- 
 
A. J^XTJX J^JJlt^t 
 
 closing it has a perimeter equal to ^^ of the number 
 of miles in the earth's diameter. 
 
 The external length of the cell exclusive of the 
 antse is 155701, and 15579 x 9*5 =z 1,480. Its 
 length from wall to wall above the sill is 155*54, 
 and a vesica I55'468 has a perimeter of 651*228, 
 which is the diameter of a circle 2,046 in circum- 
 ference, or the mean diameter of Saturn's orbit 
 (651*228 X 3*1,416=: 2,046). And the length 
 between the outer faces of the door-jambs is 
 1 55*48, or the distance of the tropics from the 
 equator, measured by the tone. 
 
 The internal measures of the cell being 142*2 
 by 62*17 feet, its proportions are practically those 
 of the " cross of our Lord " described by Sir John 
 Maundeville as being 144 x 63 inches. But 
 Athene being primarily a feminine deity, the 
 builders have made the perimeter of the cell 
 408*74 feet, and that is the length of a rhombus 
 whose sides are equal to those of the New Jeru- 
 salem. In this way the cross and vesica have 
 been mystically combined. The interior of the 
 cell may also be inclosed by a rhombus about 249 J 
 long (249J X 9^ = 2,368). 
 
 The opisthodomos, the treasury (sometimes 
 called treasuries) was apparently dedicated to the 
 goddess, as the germinating essence, for the dia- 
 gonals of this chamber measure 75^ feet (Athene, 
 76). And by giving the measure in the two 
 diagonals, the builders have suggested her double 
 character. For the opisthodomos and naos to- 
 gether must be taken to represent the abode of 
 the deity in the form of the mystical triad. Its 
 perimeter round the cell is 207*484, which is the 
 diameter of a circle 651*9, or the diameter of a 
 circle whose circumference is equal to the diameter 
 of Saturn^s orbit. The rhombus inclosing the 
 opisthodomos is a notable one ; those referred to 
 
224 THE CANON. 
 
 elsewhere seem to have been chosen in all cases 
 on account of the coincidences in their numbers, 
 but this one surrounding the Holy of Holies of the 
 temple is specially worthy of attention. The 
 united width of the circles by which it is produced 
 is 258, or I less than the value of Basileia, the 
 third person of the cabalistic triad. The rhombus 
 thus formed has a perimeter of 360*38. The circum- 
 ferences of the two circles added together amount 
 to 1,081*142, the radius of the moons diameter, 
 and the numerical equivalent of to 7rv£VfAa,"AyioVi the 
 Holy Ghost, who corresponds to Basileia. A 
 cross inscribed within the vesica measures (86 + 
 149*058 =:) 235*058, or nearly the side of the New 
 Jerusalem, the city personified both by Basileia^ and 
 the Christian bride. A square enclosing the whole 
 figure has a perimeter of (258 x 4 ^) 1,032, or the 
 mean radius of a circle between Saturn and the 
 Zodiac. It has been supposed that Hestia, 516, 
 personified this circle, and by Gematria, Parthenos, 
 515, is equivalent to Hestia. To the old priests 
 looking for numerical harmonies this figure would 
 certainly appear remarkable, and perhaps for this 
 reason the Romans called every diagram such as 
 this vesica 85, being i less than 86. And to the 
 architect, seeking a proportion fit for the sanctuary 
 of that goddess, whom they sought to make an 
 image of the universal consonance of nature, such 
 a figure would also appeal. 
 
 The length of the naos is 96*78 feet, which 
 
 ^ Basileia is mentioned in the " Birds " of Aristophanes. 
 She is said to have charge of the thunderbolts of Zeus, and in 
 the play marries the founder of the city in the clouds, which 
 seems to be a pre-Christian version of the City of St. John. It 
 occupied an intermediate position between the earth and the 
 firmament, and was built by 40,000 birds. Now 40,000 is the 
 area of the New Jerusalem (200^ = 40,000). Aristophanes is 
 evidently ridiculing the mystic geometricians in the person of 
 Meton, who offers his services to measure the city. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 2 25 
 
 is the radius of the Zodiac inscribed within the 
 Holy Oblation, if the suns distance be taken at 
 ID (io8 : 1,046 : : 10 : : 96"8o). The diameter of 
 the two circles forming the rhombus which con- 
 tains the naos is 235^ feet, or the length of the 
 side of the New Jerusalem, and the perimeter of 
 the rhombus thus produced is 471*6, while the 
 perimeter of the vesica inclosing it is 495, or i 
 less than the value of the name Malchuth, the 
 bride. 
 
 The word Pallas is generally considered to be 
 identical with phallos, and the division of the 
 cell into two parts accords with the idea of the 
 cross, for the front chamber of the temple called 
 naos (the ship or nave), containing the great 
 statue of Pallas, has a perimeter of 317*9, and 
 3i7'9 X 4 r= i,27i'6 the numerical equivalent of 
 stauros, a cross. The statue was said to be 26 
 cubits or 39 feet high; and 26 multiplied by g^ 
 produces 247, a number doubly suited to measure 
 this icon of Pallas. Firstly, 247 is the length of 
 the transverse beam of a rood-cross 532 high and 
 760 over all. Now 760 is the side of a square 
 whose diagonals measure 2,151, the number of 
 years in the great month; and the height 532 
 is the length of a vesica formed by two circles 
 having a united width of 9207 and a common 
 diameter of 6i3'8. The number 532 is the value 
 of the name Atlas, who was fabled to bear up the 
 whole world on his shoulders ; 921 is the numeric- 
 ally equal to the Greek word canon, and there 
 were said to be 613 precepts in the Hebrew law. 
 Secondly, by reducing the 26 cubits by a small 
 amount, we find that 25*98 x 9*5 — 246792 ; and 
 a cross of this height has a transverse beam 
 ii4'589, and will consequently crucify the Logos 
 in a circle having a circumference of 360, the 
 number of degrees in the earth's circumference. 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE CANON. 
 
 Again, then, a circle described round this cross has 
 a circumference equal to the perimeter of the Holy 
 Oblation, if the sun's distance be taken at lo 
 
 (246792 X 3-1,416 = T7A^^ = i93'83o). And 
 
 4 
 246792 cubits are equal to 1,480752 palms ; in 
 like manner the number 25 '98 gives the height of 
 the microcosm inclosed in a square, having a peri- 
 meter of 1,480752. Also a vesica 246792 broad is 
 formed by two intersecting circles whose united 
 width is 740*376, the circumference of a circle 
 inscribed within the New Jerusalem. Lastly, the 
 word Gnptovy the beast in the Apocalypse whose 
 number was 666, and whose mark was the cross, 
 has the value of 247, and possibly the number 248 
 mentioned in the cabala ("Greater Holy Assem- 
 bly," 968) was chosen because it is the mean be- 
 tween 246792 and 249*264. 
 
 The height of the temple from the pavement to 
 the apex of the eastern pediment is 1,025*6 digits, 
 or a large computation of the radius of Saturn's 
 orbit. 
 
 From the floor of the peristyle to the apex of the 
 pediment under the cymatium is 226*84 palms, and 
 226*84x9*5^=2,155 the mean number between 
 2,151 and 2,160. 
 
 The height of the columns and entablature is 
 176*28 palms, and 176*28 x 9*8=: 1,674*6, or very 
 nearly the side of a square whose diagonals are 
 2,368. 
 
 The four angle-columns being 540*48 digits 
 high, their united height amounts to 2, 161 '9 digits, 
 or the number of miles in the moon's diameter. 
 
 It has been suggested that the area of 10,000 
 feet attributed to the tent at Delphi is contained 
 within the walls of the cell. Now a parallelogram 
 1 50 X 66-| feet incloses this area, and is contained 
 within the walls. And if it be supposed that the 
 
plan of the Parthenon was set out according to the 
 proportions of Solomon's temple, as given by 
 Laurencio de San Nicolas^ (1663) on p. 50, and 
 that the length of the Holy Place, and Holy 
 of Holies are 100, and 50 feet respectively, then, 
 their united lengths are 150 feet, agreeing with 
 the length of the parallelogram containing 10,000 
 square feet. And besides this coincidence it will 
 be found that upon drawing the temple of Solomon 
 according to the above proportions on the plan of 
 the Parthenon, that the division between the Holy 
 Place and the Holy of Holies is marked by the 
 partition between the naos and opisthodomos, 
 and the centre of the opisthodomos, in the middle 
 of the four columns, coincides with the centre of 
 the Holy of Holies of Solomon's temple. 
 
 The arrangement of the four columns so exactly 
 agrees with the ciborium of the churches, after- 
 wards raised by the Christian Greeks, that we 
 probably see in the Parthenon the prototype of the 
 arrangements of the Christian Church. There is 
 no doubt that Solomon's temple formed the pattern 
 of the Christian churches, and the ark occupied 
 the centre of the Holy of Holies. Now it is well 
 known that the altar of the first Christian churches 
 placed under the ciborium was in the form of an 
 ark, containing relics of the saints, and was an 
 obvious type of the ark of the Covenant The 
 four columns were also preserved in the Gothic 
 churches, at the crossing of the nave and transepts. 
 
 Another circumstance connecting the plan with 
 this theoretical temple of Solomon is, that the 
 Holy Place, or naos, is 100 feet long, and may 
 have been the true origin of the name Heca- 
 tompedon. And when the porch and cruciform 
 additions are added, as shown by Laurencio de 
 
 ^ " Del Arte y uso de Architectura." 
 
228 THE CANON. 
 
 San Nicolas, their total width coincides with the 
 breadth of the top step, and the whole length is 
 200 feet, which is the side of the cube of the New 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Antiquaries have been a good deal divided in 
 their opinions as to the antiquity of the remains 
 at Stonehenge, for although, perhaps, no one ex- 
 cept Inigo Jones ever thought that this ancient 
 structure was a Roman temple, some persons have 
 considered that it might have been set up after the 
 Roman invasion. There is certainly no authentic 
 evidence in existence as to its age. From the nature 
 of the work it might reasonably be judged to belong 
 to the most ancient form of building in the world, for 
 nothing ruder or more primitive can be conceived 
 as the means of inclosing a sacred place for divine 
 worship. As we have no knowledge at all of the 
 early inhabitants of Britain, except what we learn 
 from a few references in late classical authors, it is 
 useless to speculate as to who really were the 
 builders of Stonehenge. We may, in fact, assume 
 anything or nothing. The work has generally 
 been connected with the Druids, who presumably 
 built it, if it is not the work of an earlier race. 
 
 Several classical writers have spoken of the 
 British Islands, and appear to have heard some 
 rumours of the customs and character of the people. 
 Diodorus quotes Hecataeus as having said that 
 " The Hyperboreans inhabited an island beyond 
 Gaul, as large as Sicily, in which Apollo was 
 worshipped in a circular temple, considerable for 
 its size and riches." Then Dionysius Periegetes 
 (v. 565, etc.) says that the rites of Dionysus were 
 duly celebrated in the British Islands. And we 
 are told by Strabo that "In an island close to 
 Britain, Ceres and Proserpina are venerated with 
 rites similar to the orgies of Samothrace " (Geog. 
 bk. iv.). The Testimony of Julius Caesar, who 
 
THE TEMPLES. 229 
 
 obtained his information at first hand, ought to be 
 strictly veracious and reliable. He declares that 
 the Druids '* deemed it unlawful to commit their 
 statutes to writing ; though in other matters, 
 whether public or private, they make use of Greek 
 characters. They seem to me to follow this method 
 for two reasons : to hide their mysteries from the 
 knowledge of the vulgar : and to exercise the 
 memory of their scholars. . . . They likewise teach 
 many things relating to the stars and their motions, 
 the magnitude of the world and our earth. . . . 
 Mercury is the chief deity with them : of him they 
 have many images, account him the inventor of all 
 arts. . . . Next to him are Apollo, and Mars, and 
 Jupiter, and Minerva. . . . Apollo is their god of 
 physic, Minerva, of works and manufactures : 
 Jove holds empire of heaven, and Mars presides 
 in war. . . . The Gauls fancy themselves to be 
 descended from the god Pluto" (*' Gallic Com- 
 mentaries," bk. vi., ch. 13). We have also the 
 statement of Pomponius Mela, the Roman Geo- 
 grapher (lib. iii., cap. 2), *' That the Gauls have 
 their masters of eloquence and wisdom from the 
 Druids. These profess that they know the mag- 
 nitude and form of the earth and world ; they teach 
 many noble persons of their nation privately T 
 Finally, Hippolytus (Ref, bk. i., ch. 22) tells us 
 that, *' The Celtic Druids investigated to the very 
 highest point the Pythagorean Philosophy." 
 
 If all these writers are to be believed, and there 
 is no particular reason to doubt them, we should 
 certainly expect to find that an ancient British or 
 Druidical temple was constructed in a similar 
 manner to those of Greece and Egypt. The state- 
 ment of Csesar and the other historians, that the 
 worship of Dionysus, Apollo, Ceres, etc., existed 
 in Britain has been thought to expose the ignorance 
 or credulity of those old writers, but, as a matter 
 
230 THE CANON. 
 
 of fact, there is nothing surprising in such state- 
 ments, when it is recognized, that the powers in- 
 voked under these names were the gods of all 
 ancient peoples, however they might be called in 
 different places ; and the statement of Hecatseus 
 as to the circular temple of Apollo, or the sun, 
 seems to agree very well with the facts which 
 may may be deduced from the measures of Stone- 
 henge. 
 
 Mr. Davies (*' Mythology and Rites of the 
 British Druids ") has given the translation of a 
 poem called the Gododin, supposed to have been 
 written about a.d. 510, by a Briton of Northum- 
 bria. The bard describes the massacre of the 360 
 Britons which took place at Stonehenge in 472. 
 The poem contains several allusions which appear 
 to relate to that structure. The mystical sanctuary 
 which is referred to by the bard is called *' The 
 Stone Cell of the Sacred Fire," that is, the ark or 
 coffer of the sun. It is also called *'The Great 
 Stone Fence," ** The Ark of the World," and 
 " The Circle of the World." And the name Caer 
 Sidiy the seat of Sidi or Saturn, was applied to it, 
 so that the beings who were worshipped in this 
 mysterious circle appear to be no other than the 
 universal cosmic deities. 
 
 Fortunately, Stonehenge, like the Great Pyramid, 
 has been measured by Mr. Petrie, so we are in 
 possession of absolutely trustworthy measurements 
 to work upon. 
 
 There will be no great improbability in sup- 
 posing that we have inherited our present standard 
 measures from our remote ancestors, who built 
 their sanctuary on Salisbury Plain. Consequently 
 it will be assumed, that Stonehenge is set out ac- 
 cording to the present standard of British measure. 
 The inside diameter of the outer circle of the 
 temple is given as being 1,1 67 '9 inches. Now the 
 
side of a square whose area equals the surface of 
 the earth divided by 12 measures 1,1 67|- miles, or 
 almost exactly the diameter of the circle. 
 
 Again, 1,170 inches is gy^ feet f-i—L^^zgy^Y 
 
 therefore the outer circle of stones at Stonehenge 
 will nearly surround an ark of the same size as that 
 in the Great Pyramid, measured by feet instead of 
 inches. And this would appear to be the " stone 
 cell of the sacred fire," or the ark of the sun, whose 
 length measures the limits of the sun's course in 
 the ecliptic. And it is said in the Gododin, " in 
 the circle of the world it was his choice to have 
 Eidiol, the harmonious," Eidiol being the sun, 
 according to Davies. 
 
 Then 96*8 is the radius of the sphere of the 
 Zodiac surrounding Saturn's orbit, if the sun's 
 distance be taken at 10. And i,i68 inches ir 
 973- feet -r- 2 zz 48-I, the square root of the number 
 2,368, which may be written in Greek letters as 
 IE SO (IS CHRISTOS, 
 
 The only one of the inner circles which is 
 defined is 4727 inches in diameter ; but it is rather 
 irregular, and may very well be taken at 471, 
 which would give it a circumference of i ,480 inches. 
 Mr. Petrie thinks, that this circle may be of later 
 date than other parts of the building. 
 
 The arrangement of the smaller stones is rather 
 uncertain, but the inclination of the two upper 
 trilithons, on either side of the altar, appears to be 
 that of the sides of a pentalpha. Accordingly, if 
 a pentalpha touching the trilithons be drawn 
 within a pentagon, having a perimeter of 416^ 
 feet, the sides of the pentalpha will be 132 x 5 ir 
 660 ^ feet or 7,920 inches, the number of miles in 
 the earth's diameter. 
 
 ^ This may possibly be inaccurate. 
 
232 THE CANON. 
 
 If the builders of Stonehenge founded their 
 design upon the measures of the ark, which is found 
 in the Great Pyramid, the question arises, whether 
 the Egyptians received their knowledge from the 
 people who built Stonehenge, or whether the latter, 
 as the ingenious Godfrey Higgins supposed, were 
 a colony of Egyptians. If this last opinion be 
 true, it seems strange that a people capable of 
 executing a work, constructed with the utmost 
 science and showing an advanced knowledge of 
 building, should have been content to erect a rude 
 monument like the temple of Stonehenge. But 
 a question of this kind might lead to endless 
 theorizing, which probably could never lead to 
 any satisfactory conclusion. 
 
 The Pantheon maybe taken as the best remain- 
 ing example of the classical temples of Rome. 
 From the inscription over the portico we learn that 
 " Having been impiously dedicated of old by 
 Agrippa to Jupiter and all the Gods, it was piously 
 reconsecrated by Pope Boniface the Fourt'h to the 
 Blessed Virgin and all the Saints.'' Serlio, the 
 architect, describing it in 1540, says, " Among all 
 the ancient buildings to be seene in Rome, I am of 
 opinion that the Pantheon (for one piece of work 
 alone) is the fayrest, wholest, and best to be under- 
 stood ; and it is so much the more wonderfull than 
 the rest, because it hath so many members, which 
 are all so correspondent one to another, that whoso- 
 ever beholdeth it, taketh great pleasure therein, 
 which proceedeth from this, that the excellent 
 workeman, which invented it, chose the perfitest 
 forme, that is, the round forme, whereby it is 
 usually called, Our Lady of the Round ; for within 
 it is as high as it is broad." Further on, he con- 
 tinues: *' The widenesse of the whole Temple (that 
 is of the floore within, from one wall to another) is 
 194 Palmes : and just so much is the height from 
 
THE TEMPLES. 233 
 
 the floore to the undermost stone of the window 
 above " {" Architettura," bk. iii., ch. iv.). He gives 
 on the margin of the page the length of the old 
 Roman palm by which he measured the Temple. 
 It is divided into twelve fingers, and these again are 
 divided into four minutes. Palladio, about thirty 
 years later, made much more accurate plans, and 
 says that it was made in the form of the world. 
 
 Now since the diameter of the sphere of the 
 Zodiac is I93'6, taking the sun's distance at lo, 
 the interior of the Temple would contain the 
 whole world, and the dome being an exact hemi- 
 sphere surrounding the firmament, it is a literal 
 representation of the vault of heaven. This may 
 account for the remark of Serlio, that of all the 
 temples, it was *' the best to be understood,*' 
 
 The reasons for believing that the geometrical 
 principles of design, found in the Gothic cathedrals, 
 formed the secret of the Freemasons, have already 
 been laid before the reader. And it has been 
 supposed that the diagrams of Cesariano applied 
 to the cathedral at Milan, are an exposition of 
 those principles. If those assumptions, therefore, 
 are correct, it is to be expected that a similar 
 system will be found in other mediceval cathedrals 
 built by the Freemasons. Apparently, all the 
 sacred buildings erected in the Middle Ages are 
 alike in this respect, and, as it is easy for anyone 
 to apply Cesariano's system to any cathedral-plan, 
 we shall not tire the reader by giving long de- 
 scriptions of its application to different churches. 
 It will be enough to draw attention to some of the 
 measures of Westminster Abbey, which is one of 
 the most perfect examples of mediaeval building in 
 Europe, and is likely to exhibit the geometrical 
 methods of its builders, as well as any other 
 structure. 
 
 The two great churches of London and West- 
 
234 THE CANON. 
 
 minster, dedicated to SS. Paul and Peter, were 
 founded upon the sites of temples of Diana and 
 Apollo (Dugdale, '' History of St. Paul's," p. 3). 
 And although the good Dugdale was greatly 
 scandalized at the idolatry of the ancient Lon- 
 doners, nevertheless, it would appear that the 
 worshippers of the true God carried on the tra- 
 ditions of their predecessors with tolerable success. 
 Theophilus Gale tells us that the ' * canonized 
 saints are parallel to the pagan demons (AotifMovsg), 
 as to their origin and formal canonization, so in 
 like manner in point of office, as mediators between 
 God and men " (*' Court of the Gentiles," vol. iii., 
 p. 180). And according to Bochart, *'the wor- 
 shippers of Christ transferred to their saints all the 
 equipage of the pagan gods ; to St. Wolfang, the 
 hatchet orhooke of Saturne ; to Moses, the homes 
 of Jupiter Hammon ; to §t. Peter, the keys of 
 Janus " .(see also Joseph Mede, *' Apostasie of the 
 Latter Times," 1644). 
 
 According to Mede and Gale, the dedication of 
 Christian churches to a particular saint was the 
 perpetuation of the old pagan practice, which 
 caused the Athenians to devote the Parthenon to 
 Pallas Athene. And, just as the measures of the 
 Greek temple were derived from the numbers of 
 the names attributed to the goddess, so also we 
 find that the number 755 (petros) seems to 
 have determined some of the proportions of the 
 Abbey of Westminster. As Camden and other 
 old writers have informed us, the idolatrous people 
 of Westminster worshipped the sun or Apollo ; 
 and it has been already shown, in reference to the 
 Pyramid, that a stone or hexagon, which measures 
 755 from point to point, contains the sun's ark 
 (691 X 115), and a stone or hexagon having a 
 perimeter of 755 encloses the sun's orbit 217' in 
 diameter. 
 
THE TEMPLES. 235 
 
 Now the great church dedicated by the Christians 
 of Westminster to the canonized and sanctified 
 stone, Petros, 755, measures externally across the 
 transepts about 220 feet. That is to say, if the 
 sun's orbit be drawn with the middle of the cross 
 under the great tower as a centre, the course of 
 the sun would pass the outside limit of the north 
 doorway. Then the external measurement of the 
 wall of the nave appears to be 89^ feet, or the 
 space between the tropics measured by the sun's 
 diameter. And the rhombus, touching the north- 
 west corner of the building, incloses the main part 
 of the church, and has a perimeter of 1,656, the 
 altitude of the ecliptic above the equator measured 
 in miles. Moreover, the rhombus, touching the 
 same point, but drawn horizontally, has a peri- 
 meter of 2,368. A hexagon or cubical stone 755 
 in circuit marks the outside of the wall of the 
 north transept, while a pentalpa, whose perimeter 
 is 755, seems to determine the inside line of the 
 east wall of the transepts. 
 
 If the temple of Solomon be drawn, so that the 
 centre of the Holy of Holies falls upon the middle 
 of the four piers of the great tower, it will be found 
 to cover the space occupied by the choir. The 
 present choir stalls and screen are, of course, 
 modern, but they are in the same place as those 
 shown upon Hollars plan, engraved in the middle 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 A rood cross 540 feet high will crucify a man 
 in a square whose perimeter is (251 x 4 zr ) 1,004, 
 the interval between the equinoxes ; and 540 x 4.=: 
 2,t6o, the number of miles in the moon's diameter. 
 If this cross be drawn so that its centre coincides 
 with the omphalos of the church, its lower end 
 will reach to the western doorway, and the head of 
 the lesser man of Vitruvius, crucified upon it, will 
 fall upon what was presumably the central apsidal 
 
236 THE CANON. 
 
 chapel in the fourteenth century. The altar 
 occupies the same position, with regard to this 
 figure, as the statue of the Parthenon does to the 
 man, drawn within the square 663. 
 
 A square whose sides are 365 set diagonally 
 with its centre on the middle of the great tower 
 incloses Henry VI I. 's chapel and touches the 
 western door. 
 
 The height of the nave or ship (if it be the 
 same as that of the south transept ^) is 104^ feet, or 
 the height of an ark 1,042 long, and 1,042 is the 
 radius of the Holy Oblation. 
 
 From the west wall of the north transept to the 
 apse is 15579 feet. From the entrance of the 
 choir to the apsidal end of the arcade is 249J feet. 
 
 It will be noticed that Islip*s Chapel forms the 
 corner of a square described round the centre of 
 the building, and this square has a perimeter of 
 512 feet. 
 
 The circuit of the Chapter House internally 
 appears to be 192 feet (24 x 8). And 192*84, be- 
 sides being the diameterofthe sphere of the Zodiac, 
 taking the sun's distance at 10, is the numerical 
 value of the name Mariam. The Chapter House 
 had evidently a peculiarly mystical significance to 
 the old monks, who regularly performed certain 
 offices in it. The name implies that it was the 
 " House of the Head" (Domus Capitis), and from 
 its position here, and the measurement 192, it 
 would seem to inclose the head of the spouse of 
 Christ, laid beside her Lord who mystically occu- 
 pies the main building. If the Omphalos of her 
 body be taken to fall upon the centre of the cloister 
 garden, which would be its appropriate symbol, the 
 side of the square which would hold her figure 
 stretched crosswise within it would be 512, and 
 
 ^ See section published in the "Builder," March 7th, 1885. 
 
itiiL TliJVlJr'i.iiS. '^y/ 
 
 its perimeter would be 2,048 feet, the diameter of 
 Saturn's orbit. But it may be that this chamber is 
 built to hold the head of a woman whose body is 
 proportionate to it ; in that case her body would 
 be 462 feet long, for the house is nearly 58 feet 
 across, and the figure of Vitruvius is 8 heads high. 
 The Chapter House was built in the thirteenth 
 century, when the cult of the Virgin was at its 
 highest popularity among thescholastic theologians, 
 and it is probable that the builders would seek to 
 include in their design the feminine image of the 
 divine power. The Chapter House of West- 
 minster was finished about the year 1260, the date 
 at which the new age of the Holy Ghost was pre- 
 dicted to begin. 
 
 The measurements of the abbey have been taken 
 from the plan published in " The Builder " of 
 January 6th, 1894. This is the best plan at 
 present available, but no dimensions being given, 
 the preceding measures are liable to a slight 
 error. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FREEMASONRY. 
 
 "A MasorHs Lodge , . . , is a microcosm or picture of the 
 universe,^^ — "Discrepances of Freemasonry," p. 185. 
 
 " What is the form of the Lodged 
 
 "-4 long square, 
 
 " How long ? 
 
 " J^rom east to west, 
 
 ^^ How broad 1 
 
 " Between north and south, 
 
 ''How deep? 
 
 '^ From the surface of the earth to the centre. 
 
 " How high ? 
 
 ''Even as high as the heavens J' — "Masonic Ritual," quoted 
 by Dr. Oliver, ibid., p. 209. 
 
 In the traditions and ritual of modern Free- 
 masonry, we have the remains of those philosophi- 
 cal doctrines, which at one time guided the practice 
 of architecture. Whatever uncertainty there may 
 be as to the precise secrets of the old operative 
 masons, it is evident that the rites which are said 
 to have been formulated for the first time in the 
 eighteenth century, were not a brand new inven- 
 tion. For it may be asserted — and this is con- 
 firmed by many contemporary evidences — that the 
 establishment of the present forms of initiation 
 and instruction was the attempt of certain mys- 
 tics of that time, to preserve the ancient secrets of 
 architecture from sinking into the oblivion which 
 was rapidly overtaking the lapsed craft of opera- 
 tive Freemasonry. And the new dilettanti masons 
 seem to have been sufficiently instructed in the 
 
FREEMASONRY. 239 
 
 mystical traditions, still existing at that time, to 
 compose the degrees in accordance with the old 
 system, so they may be taken as tolerably reliable 
 expositions of the ideas which governed the 
 practice of their predecessors. 
 
 Building was not the only art or science which 
 had its symbolical secrets, but the Freemasons 
 depended entirely upon the Church for their sup- 
 port, consequently, when the Reformation began to 
 discourage the secret discipline as a part of the 
 teaching of theology, masons of the old instructed 
 kind were no longer employed to build the 
 churches. The disuse of symbolical architecture, 
 however, does not seem to have come about till 
 after the time of Sir Christopher Wren, for it 
 is known that he was the master of an operative 
 lodge, and that Freemasons were employed in 
 building St. Paul's, the last of the old cathedrals. 
 We are told that " The highest or last stone on 
 the top of the Lantern was laid by the hands of 
 the surveyor s son, Christopher Wren, deputed 
 by his father, in the presence of that excellent 
 artificer, Mr. Strong, his son, and other Free 
 and Accepted Masons chiefly employed in the 
 execution of the work." (" Parentalia," p. 293.) 
 
 The coming to light of all sorts of mystical know- 
 ledge that had been carefully concealed in previous 
 times, is one of the noticeable features of the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But it is a 
 mistake to suppose that for this reason these cen- 
 turies were peculiarly given to mysticism, on the 
 contrary, the appearance in the seventeenth 
 century of Rosicrucian, Hermetic, and Masonic 
 Societies was a sign of decadence, and the pre- 
 monition of the final extinction of the esoteric 
 traditions of antiquity. As long as the secret 
 doctrines of masonry were received as the vital 
 inspiration of the craft, no one heard anything 
 
240 THE CANON, 
 
 about them, and the same thing applies to theology 
 itself. In fact the mysteries, which in the past 
 were only spoken in secret and never written, 
 became faintly heard when their power had prac- 
 tically ceased. 
 
 It is not to be expected that a society, whose 
 secrets were communicated orally, should have 
 records to prove the nature of its mysteries, there- 
 fore it is to the monuments, which the mediseval 
 masons have everywhere left behind them, that 
 we must look for the evidence of their practical 
 methods ; while the ritual, however doubtful its 
 antiquity may be, is the best and only surviving 
 instance of those mystical initiations which pre- 
 vailed in the pagan world. All intelligent masons 
 agree that, notwithstanding the alterations which 
 may have been made to the ceremonies during the 
 eighteenth century, certain forms of initiation in 
 use from time immemorial were required *' to make 
 a mason.'* In the Lansdowne manuscript (1560), 
 it is said, " These be all the charges . . . read at 
 the making of a mason" (Mackenzie's " Cyclop."). 
 But the ancient ritual may well have been a com- 
 paratively simple affair, when it is understood that 
 the chief business of an operative mason was to 
 learn the principles of his craft. And it is obvious 
 that this would have to be done in some more 
 practical way than by a purely symbolical cere- 
 mony, which was quite sufficient, however, for the 
 theoretic masons of the last century. And it is 
 probable that all the modern degrees were an 
 attempt to reduce to a ceremonial order some of 
 the practices actually forming a part of the ancient 
 architectural methods of design. It would be 
 manifestly inexpedient that the profounder secrets 
 of theology should be intrusted to young and 
 ignorant apprentices, so that there would naturally 
 arise a practical necessity for progressive degrees 
 
of instruction, leading up to the full knowledge 
 of the esoteric rules which constituted the archi- 
 tectural canon. 
 
 The early Freemasons, being the ecclesiastical 
 workmen, were authorized by the Pope, who was 
 regarded as their head. They were exempted 
 from taxation, and had other privileges ; and ** the 
 papal briefs, which protected them, alleged that 
 such immunities were given them after the example 
 of Hiram, King of Tyre, when he sent artisans to 
 King Solomon for the purpose of building the 
 temple at Jerusalem." At that time many of the 
 masters were bishops and abbots, while the monks 
 worked as journeymen in the different crafts. 
 
 Although there is no direct documentary evid- 
 ence giving a straightforward explanation of the 
 Masonic mysteries, there are various traditions 
 which profess to give an account of the origin and 
 purpose of the craft. Modern masons, who do 
 not understand the symbolical mode of communica- 
 tion, regard these traditions as worthless fictions, 
 deserving no serious consideration. We venture, 
 however, to take another view of the case, and an 
 analysis of the following quotation from a docu- 
 ment, published in the "Gentleman's Magazine" 
 (June, 1815), will show that the statements of the 
 old masons, like those of the priests, were pub- 
 lished in the form of grotesque historical allegory, 
 for the sole purpose, apparently, of deceiving those 
 who were considered to be unfit to appreciate the 
 simple truth. 
 
 " Good Breetheren and Fellowes : Our purpose 
 is to tell you how and in what manner this worthy 
 science of Masonrye was begunne. . . . For there 
 be seaven liberall sciences, of the which seaven it 
 is one of them. And the names of the seaven 
 scyences bene these ; first is Grammere : and it 
 teacheth man to speake truly and write truly. And 
 
242 THE CANON. 
 
 the second is Rethorike ; and teacheth a man to 
 speak faire in subtill termes. And the third is 
 Dialectyke ; and teacheth a man for to discern 
 and know truth from false. And the fourth is 
 Arithmeticke ; and teacheth a man for to reckon 
 and to accompte all manner of numbers. And the 
 fifth is called Geometrie ; and that teacheth Mett 
 and Measure of earth, and all other things ; of the 
 which science is called Masonrye, And the sixth 
 science is called Musicke ; and that teacheth a 
 man of songe, and voice of tongue, and orgaine, 
 harpe, and trompe. And the seaventh science is 
 called Astronomye ; and that teacheth a man the 
 course of the sunn, moone, and stars. 
 
 *' How that these worthy sciences were first 
 begonne I shall tell you. Before Noyes Floode, 
 there was a man called Lameche, as it is written 
 in the Byble, in the fourth chapter of Genesis: and 
 this Lameche had two wives, and the one height 
 Ada and the other height Sella : by his first wife 
 Ada he gott two sons, and that one Jabell and 
 thother Tuball, and by that other wife Sella he 
 got a son and a daughter. All these children 
 founden the beginning of all the sciences in the 
 world. And this elder son Jabell found the 
 science of Geometrie, and he departed flocks of 
 sheepe and lambs of the field, and first wrought 
 house of stone and tree, as is noted in the chapter 
 above said. And his brother Tubal found the 
 science of Musicke, songe of tongue, harpe and 
 orgaine. And the third son, Tuball Cain, found 
 smithcraft of gold, silver, and copper, iron and 
 steel : and the daughter found the crafte ofWeav- 
 inge. And these children knew well that God 
 would take vengeance for synn, either by fire or 
 by water ; wherefore they writt their science that 
 they had found in two pillars of stone, that they 
 might be found after Noyes Floode. And that 
 
FREEMASONRY. 243 
 
 one Stone was marble, for that would not bren with 
 fire ; and that other stone was clepped laterns, 
 and would not drown in noe water. 
 
 **Our intent is to tell you trulie, and in what 
 manner these stones were found, that these 
 sciences were written in. The Greet Hemarynes 
 that was Cubys son, the which Cub was Sem's 
 son, that was Noys son. This Hemarynes after- 
 wards was called Harmes, the father of wise men ; 
 he found one of the two pillarsof stone, and found the 
 science written here, and he taught it to other men. 
 And at the making of the tower of Babylon, there 
 was Masonry first made much of. And the Kinge 
 of Babylon, that height Nemrothe, was a Mason 
 himself. ... And this was the first tyme that 
 ever Mason had any charge of his science. 
 
 " Moreover, when Abraham and Sara his wife 
 went into Egypt, there he taught the seaven 
 sciences to the Egiptians, and he had a worthy 
 Scoller that height Ewclyde, and he learned right 
 well, and was a master of all the vii sciences 
 liberall. And in his days it befell, that the lond 
 and the estates of the realme had so many sonnes 
 .... and they had not competent livehode to 
 find with their children .... And they did crye 
 through all the realme, if there were any man 
 that could informe them, that he should come to 
 them. . . . 
 
 " After that this crye was made, then came this 
 worthy clarke Ewclyde, and said to the Kinge 
 and to all his great lords, * If yee will take me 
 your children to governe, and to teach them one 
 of the seaven Scyences, wherewith they may live 
 honestly as gentlemen should, under a condition 
 that yee will grant me and them a commission, 
 that I may have power to rule them after the 
 manner that the science ought to be ruled ! And 
 that the kinge and all his counsell granted to him 
 
244 'THE CANON. 
 
 anone, and sealed their commission,' . . . And 
 thus was the scyence grounded there : and that 
 worthy M' Ewdide gave it the name of geome- 
 trie. And now it is called through all this land 
 Masonrye." 
 
 It is first to be noticed, that Masonry is said to 
 be identical with geometry, the fifth of the sciences, 
 which teaches the measure of the earth. This 
 definition is to be found in all the old accounts of 
 the craft, and whatever else may be mythical in 
 these histories, this at least may be taken literally. 
 As heretofore, it will be found that the numbers of 
 names play the same part in the Masonic parables 
 as in the case of other mystical writings. 
 
 It has been previously suggested that the 
 cabalistic process of Gematria was practised by 
 other peoples besides the Hebrews and Greeks, 
 and the English Freemasons seem to have applied 
 that system of numbers to the names used in their 
 science. 
 
 In the preceding document we are told that 
 Lameche was the father of Masonry. Now, in 
 the Greek, t^d^it-^x has the numerical value of 676, 
 the square of 26. And 26, the number of Tetra- 
 gammaton, was also in, England the number of 
 letters in the alphabet, which (according to the 
 book of Yetsirah), together with the Sephiroth, 
 are the foundation of all things. And the word 
 Masonrye has the value of 676, supposing the 
 English letters to have the same value as the 
 Hebrew ; while the more modern spelling of the 
 word, without the final e, gives it the value of 671 
 — the number of the Bride — and confirms the Ionic 
 tendency of English Masonry, In corroboration 
 of this, Vitruvius (bk. i., ch. ii.) says that archi- 
 tecture consists of order, arrangement, and eco- 
 nomy. These names are given in Greek (ra^i?, 
 (Jiafifo-i?, oiJioyoiwta), and are numerically equal to 
 
FREEMASONRY. 245 
 
 1,351. If colel be added we get 1,352, which is 
 the measure of a cross whose Hmbs are each 676 
 long. Again, the name Lameche treated in the 
 same way gives the number 89, w^hich is the square 
 root of the earths diameter in miles (89^ = y.gii). 
 And Lameche was, in the order of the patriarchal 
 giants, the ninth from Adam, and corresponds to 
 the step Yesod of the Cabala. In this capacity- 
 he may be said to be the symbol of the generative 
 power of the sun, for the distance between the 
 tropics, or the limit of the solar path, is 89!- dia- 
 meters of the sun. And Lameche, with his two 
 wives (Ada, 6, and Sella, 366), complete a triad 
 (89 + 6 + 366) numerically equal to 461, which 
 is I less than the height of a cross whose area 
 measures a rood of 40 perches or 660 feet or 
 7,920 inches in length. In Hebrew the name 
 Lamech (lmk) has the value of 90, which is the 
 side of a rhombus having a perimeter of 360, 
 while Tubal Cain (tubl qin) yields 1,248 which 
 is the width of a vesica 2,163 lorig"» oi" the number 
 of miles in the moon's diameter, and may symbolize 
 the Tone. The numbers of the five names, de- 
 ducting colel from each, amount to 1,003, ^^ ^ 
 more than 1,002, the limb of the cross described 
 by Plato ^ in the " Tim^us." 
 
 Tubal, it is said, founded the science of Musicke, 
 384, the number of Plutarch's soul of the world, 
 and the measure of the sun's distance computed 
 by the tone. And Tubal Cain yields 1,183 zz 
 (469 + 714) ; he is called the first worker in 
 metals, and the value of his name is one less than 
 the half of the number, 2,368 (1,184 x 2), 
 
 It would take too long to discuss all the numbers 
 which occur in the piece, but it may be noticed 
 that the name Noye yields 135, or the vertical 
 
 ^ According to the tradition Plato had been instructed in 
 Masonry, and was claimed as an ancient brother. 
 
246 THE CANON. 
 
 height of the tropic above the equator on a globe 
 660 in diameter. Hemarynes has the numerical 
 value of 616, the number of the beast according 
 to some of the manuscripts of the Apocalypse. 
 Then Nemroth yields 735, which is the width of 
 a vesica 1,275 loi^g"* ^^^ 1*275 is the height of a 
 cross, which will crucify a man in a square whose 
 perimeter is 2,368. Ewclyde appears to be brought 
 in to show that the Greeks were fully instructed 
 in Masonry. His name yields 69, and the sum of 
 the numbers from i to 68 is 2,346, so that 69 
 may stand for 2,368. 
 
 It is possible, also, that there is an arcanum 
 hidden beneath this account of the seven sciences, 
 for the sum of the numbers deduced from the 
 English names given here is 5,261, which divided 
 by 7 gives 751, but 5,261 may also be taken as 
 the perimeter of a square inclosing a rhombus 
 whose width is 758. Now if 2 be taken from 758 
 and added to 751, the numbers become 753 and 
 756, the one being the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 2,368, and the other being the 
 height of rood cross whose extreme measure is 
 1,080. These Scyences, 676, therefore involved 
 the knowledge of Jesus Christ, who personated 
 the cosmos mystically embodied in the measures 
 of His cross. The same sciences are dealt with 
 at some length in the cosmographical treatise 
 called " The Mirrour of the Worlde," translated 
 by Caxton, and published by him in the year 
 1480. To Christians who were fond of numerical 
 analogies, the year whose number corresponded 
 with the name of Christos would be a notable 
 one, and this cosmic work — the only book printed 
 in England in that year — was probably considered 
 suitable to the occasion. And the word " Scyences " 
 having the same numerical value as "Masonrye," 
 namely, 676, they are by Gematria equivalent to 
 
FREEMASONRY. 247 
 
 one another, and are appropriately introduced into 
 the parable to illustrate the meaning of the Masonic 
 craft. 
 
 In the treatise of Vitruvius there are certain 
 rules laid down as to the proportions of columns 
 for the practical guidance of architects. These 
 rules are said to have been derived from the 
 writings and monuments of the Greeks. No 
 Greek treatise on architecture exists at the present 
 day, nor is there any exact uniformity in the pro- 
 portions of the columns of Greek temples. The 
 rules must, therefore, be taken independently upon 
 their own merits. There is reason to believe that 
 this method of measuring columns is connected 
 with the mystical practice of architecture set forth 
 here as obscurely as elsewhere. Although modern 
 architects no longer proportion their buildings 
 according to a scale of modules, as Vitruvius 
 directs, that system has only been dropt within 
 comparatively recent times. Alberti, whose book 
 on building is the next in point of age to that of 
 Vitruvius, lived nearly 1,500 years after his master, 
 nevertheless he scrupulously advocated the same 
 principles, and the other architects of the Re- 
 nascence followed in his steps. It may be con- 
 cluded, therefore, that the later architects had 
 good reasons for accepting these rules, and for 
 continuing to use them. 
 
 We are told by Vitruvius (bk. iv., ch. i.), that 
 there are three sorts of columns, the Doric, Ionic, 
 and Corinthian. The names and proportions con- 
 nected with these three columns have evidently 
 been assigned with a mystical purpose, as an 
 analysis of their numbers will show. The Doric 
 was the oldest column, and was first made of the 
 proportion of six to one, in imitation of the body 
 of a man, as it is said, whose foot was found to be 
 the sixth part of his height. Then they made the 
 
248 THE CANON. 
 
 Ionic column according to the proportion of a 
 woman, and made its height eight times its thick- 
 ness. Lastly, Kallimachos invented a still more 
 slender and graceful proportion for the Corinthian 
 column in imitation of the slim figure of a young 
 virgin. " Thus two orders were invented, one of 
 a masculine character without ornament, the other 
 bearing a character which resembled the delicacy, 
 ornament, and proportion of a female." 
 
 These three columns have the greatest archi- 
 tectural importance, for they are the distinguishing 
 features of the three great types of design applied 
 to all classical temples. They apparently symbol- 
 ize the Macrocosm, the Microcosm, and the Bride 
 or Virgin of the Cabala, the three personifications 
 of the architectural canon. 
 
 The Doric column, if it signified the Macrocosm, 
 would be designed as the emblem of the original 
 cause of all things, and according to the mystical 
 account of Vitruvius»it is to be conceived as a type 
 of the upper Triad of the Cabala, set forth by the 
 father, Hellen, 123, his wife, Orseis, 588, and 
 Doros, 1,174, their son. 
 
 The original proportion of the Doric column 
 being six to one, the ratio of Noah's ark, it was 
 said to have been based upon the human form. 
 In the Greek language, Ktwp AoopiKo? (Doric column) 
 is equivalent to the number 2,084, the side of the 
 Holy Oblation. It was also called JLicov Awpia?, 
 2,003, or I less than the number produced from 
 the four elements described by Plato in the 
 " Timaeus," and from xiuv Adptocg we get 2,073, ^^ 
 ^2 of the earth s circumference in miles. The 
 name Awpo? yields 1,174, and this is the length of 
 a rhombus whose width is 677, which is i more 
 than the square of 26, and i less than the length 
 of the sun's orbit. The Doric column, therefore, 
 may be said to be the symbol of the generative 
 
FREEMASONRY. 249 
 
 power of the universe, expressed by the sun, which 
 of all the celestial bodies most conspicuously 
 appears to measure the whole extent of the cosmic 
 system. 
 
 The method of measuring the proportion of a 
 column is described by Vitruvius in bk. iii., ch. iii., 
 where we are told that the thickness of a column 
 is to be 2 modules, and this has always been the 
 received principle among architects. Each module 
 was further divided into 30 parts, so that the thick- 
 ness of every column, no matter what its size may 
 be, is always a measure of 60 parts, and those 
 parts form the basis of a proportionate scale of 
 measurement throughout the building. Now every 
 Doric column whose height is 6 times its thick- 
 ness, is 360 parts high, or the number of degrees 
 in the circumference of any circle — the sun's orbit 
 for instance — or the earth's circumference.^ And 
 these 2 modules have also a symbolical import, as 
 the foundation upon which every column was 
 supposed to stand. 
 
 The numerical value of the name Doros, and 
 those of his father and mother, when added to- 
 gether amount to 1,885 (^^/)o?, 1,174, ''Eaativ, 123, 
 'Opc-Yitgj 588), which is the perimeter of a rhombus 
 
 ^ The architects of the Renascence considered that the most 
 perfect proportions had been reahzed in the Temple of " Jupiter 
 Stator " in the Forum at Rome. The height of the Order is 
 given at 762'9i parts. Now a square 763 is enclosed by a 
 rhombus inscribed within the Holy Oblation. The height of 
 the shaft being 6o6f parts is very nearly the circumference of 
 the zodiac, taking the sun's distance at 10. Then the height 
 of the column and architrave is 649 "83, or nearly the diameter 
 of a circle whose circumference is equal to the diameter of 
 Saturn's orbit. If the Pattern-temples described by Vitruvius, 
 and the designs published by Alberti, Serlio, Vignola, Palladio, 
 and other architects of the sixteenth century be computed in 
 the same way, it will be found that they also are illustrations of 
 the harmonious order of the universe, accepted as the canon 
 of beauty by all the artists of antiquity. 
 
250 THE CANON. 
 
 whose sides are 471, the diameter of a circle 1,480 
 in circumference. The number 1,885 is also the 
 sum of the diagonals of a square whose sides are 
 666. According to Vitruvius, Hellen and Orseis 
 reigned over Achaia, 613, and Peloponnesos, 913, 
 both names yielding mystical numbers already 
 discussed. The name Hellen and that of his wife 
 Orseis, are numerically equal to 711, or 2 more 
 than the side of a square whose diagonals measure 
 2,004 J while 588 + 1,174 := 1,762, or the circum- 
 ference of a circle 532 in diameter. Now the 
 length of a vesica 532 broad is 921, the value of 
 the name Kocvdu (Canon). 
 
 The invention of the Ionic column is ascribed 
 by Vitruvius to the Asiatic colony of 13 cities, 
 founded by Ion, 860, the son of Xouthos, 709, and 
 Chreousa, 796. When the lonians were about to 
 build a temple to Artemis and ** seeking a new 
 proportion, they used the female figure as the 
 standard." Modern philologists have frequently 
 derived the word Ionic from the Oriental Yoni, 
 whose symbol is the vesica. The Ionic was the 
 most ancient form of Greek philosophy, and was 
 introduced by Thales, celebrated for his observa- 
 tions of the Lesser Bear, KuvoVoupa, 1,311. By 
 Gematria, Cynosoura is equivalent to Tetragam- 
 maton, and she is the feminine of the two.^ A 
 rhombus — the Ionic symbol — which is 1,311 long, 
 is 756 broad, and this is the height of a cross 
 whose extreme measure is 1,080, the number of 
 miles in the moon's radius, and the numerical value 
 of TO Uu£V{j.oc"AyioUf the Holy Ghost of the Christians. 
 By adding col el to 248, the value of the name of 
 the first Ionic philosopher, we get 249, and 294:^ x 
 g^ =: 2,368. Again the sum of the numbers of the 
 
 ^ Arctos, the Great or masculine Bear, has the value of 691, 
 the length of the sun's orbit (220 X 3-f = 691). 
 
FREEMASONRY, 25 1 
 
 name Ion, and those of his father and mother, 
 when colel is added to each, amounts to 2,368. 
 
 709 + I 
 
 796 + Ui6^8 
 860+ i|^'^5^ 
 
 2,365 + 3=^2,368. 
 
 The design of the Ionic column is primarily- 
 distinguished by its double character, marked by 
 the two spiral volutes of its capital. It would 
 seem that the Greeks connected this number, 
 2,368, not only with the feminine symbolism of 
 the number 2, associated specially with the Ionic 
 column, but that it was also regarded as an emblem 
 of the masculo-feminine potency of the Logos. 
 For the number 2 may express cabalistically both 
 the second step and the second person of the 
 great Triad, composed of the six steps intermediate 
 between the first Triad and the tenth step. There- 
 fore the Ionic system includes the two first prin- 
 ciples of life, joined together in the person of the 
 Microcosm or Logos, who in a manner epitomized 
 all the philosophy of the ancients. Moses appears 
 to have been, like Thales, an Ionic philosopher, 
 for the numerical value of his name signifies the 
 period of the equinoxes, which divide the year into 
 two parts (345-J- x 2 ^ 691, the length of the sun's 
 orbit measuring the space of the year), and 345 is 
 the diameter of a circle whose circumference 
 is equal to the number of miles in the moon's 
 radius — the moon being the feminine of the two 
 great lights of the heavens. And he attributed the 
 creation of the world to the twofold Deity called 
 the Elohim. 
 
 And just as the universe was built by a twofold 
 agency, so the temple of Solomon, designed in 
 
252 THE CANON. 
 
 imitation of the greater world, was built by the 
 two kings, Solomon and Hiram. The walls of 
 Troy were also built by Apollo and Poseidon. 
 Kadmos and Harmonia built the city of Thebes ; 
 the Aloadae, Otos and Ephialtes, are said to have 
 founded the city Aloeum ; and the invention of 
 brick building was attributed to the two brothers, 
 Euryalos and Hyperbios. Thus the creative 
 powers were commonly symbolized in a double 
 form, and are identical with the two intersecting 
 circles of the Ionic vesica, and are reproduced in 
 the two volutes of the Ionic capital. 
 
 It is said that 8 letters were added in later 
 times to the primitive Greek alphabet of Kadmos, 
 consisting of 16 letters. The 8 Ionic letters were 
 C '^y ®j H) 9j PC» ^i ^f ^^^ ^^^ numerical value amounts 
 to 2,684, which is the perimeter of a rhombus 
 whose sides are 671, the number of the Hebrew 
 name, Thora or Adonai, the bride, who corre- 
 sponds to the feminine part of the Logos, and 
 appropriately embodies all the feminine attributes 
 of the number 2. 
 
 The name Ion, the founder of the Ionic race, 
 having the value of 860, further emphasizes this 
 connection between the Ionic cultus and the 
 Cabalistic Spouse, for a vesica 496 (Malchuth) is 
 860 long. 
 
 The numerical value of Ktuv 'lujvmog is 2,040+2 
 — 2,042, which is nearly the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit. 
 
 The proportion of the Ionic column was at first 
 made 8 times its thickness, making its height 480 
 modules (60 x 8 =: 480) and 480 is the width of a 
 vesica 831 long. It was also made of the propor- 
 tion of 8 1- to I, which gives it a height of 510 
 modules, which is about the side of a rhombus 
 whose perimeter is equal to the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit (5 10 X 4 zi 2,040). But the most usual height 
 
FREEMASONRY, 253 
 
 for this column, although it is not mentioned by 
 Vitruvius, is 9 times its thickness, which produces 
 540 modules, or the side of a rhombus whose peri- 
 meter is 2,160, the number of miles in the moon's 
 diameter. 
 
 The account of the accident which suggested to 
 Kallimachos the hint for composing a new capital 
 is well known to every one. John Shute, an 
 English architect of the sixteenth century, was 
 evidently pleased with the story, and, as it stands 
 in his book, it has more freshness and simplicity 
 than the barer narrative of the Roman writer, so 
 we shall repeat the legend in his works. " After 
 that, in the citie of Corinthe was buried a certaine 
 maiden, after whose burial her nourishe (who 
 lamented much her death) knowing her delightes 
 to have bene in prettye cuppes, and such like con- 
 ceytes in her lifetime with many other thinges, 
 appertayninge only to the pleasure of the eye, toke 
 them and broke them, and put them in a littell 
 preatie baskette, and did sette the basket on her 
 grave, and covered the basket with a square 
 pavinge stone. That done, with weping teares 
 she sayde, * Let pleasure go wyth pleasure/ and 
 so the nourishe departed. It chanced, that the 
 basket was set upon a certain roote of an herbe 
 called acanthus, in frenche Brankursine, or Beare 
 fote with us, now in the spring time of the yeare, 
 when every roote spreadeth fourth his leaves in 
 the increasing, they did ronne up by the sides of 
 th"e basket, until they could rise no higher for the 
 stone that covered the basket, which, being square, 
 and castinge his foure corners over the sydes of 
 of the rounde basket, constrained the branches of 
 the herbe to draw downwardes againe with a cer- 
 taine compasse, and so drew to the fashion that 
 Vitruvius calleth Voluta. ... In this citie one 
 Callimachus, an excellent architectur, passinge or 
 
254 THE CANON. 
 
 going thereby, regarding the beawtifull worke of 
 nature/* devised a column, and set a capital upon it 
 in imitation of the tomb which he had seen. This 
 story is generally supposed to be no more than 
 an idle fancy, invented or repeated by Vitruvius. 
 Nevertheless the circumstances related here are 
 probably an indication of the ideas which the 
 classical architects associated with the third order 
 of columns. Although this pillar is called Corin- 
 thian, it might appropriately be called ^olic, and 
 represent the third division of the Greek race, 
 since the names Doric and Ionic were given to 
 the preceding orders. 
 
 Supposing that these three columns symbolize 
 the three cabalistic powers, then the Corinthian 
 order must be identical with the tenth step, and 
 third person of the Trinity. Aiolos, 381, appears 
 in the '' Odyssey" as the god of the winds, which 
 seems to correspond with the pneuma, breath, 
 or spirit of the Christian Trinity, The word 
 Anemos, wind, has the value of 366, or the 
 number of days in the year, and 381 (Aiolos) is 
 the length of a vesica 220 broad, or the diameter 
 of the sun*s orbit. Thus, by the circle of the 
 year, by the winds, which the old cosmogra- 
 phers placed round the world, by the sun's orbit 
 enclosed by the city of the bride, they associated 
 the third column with the centre of the universe, 
 and its flowering capital is a beautiful emblem of 
 the fertile earth. There was also a mystery in 
 the Tomb of the Virgin that will be touched upon 
 further on. 
 
 The name Korinthios yields the number 539, 
 which is the side of a rhombus having a perimeter 
 of 2,156, the mean between the numbers 2,151 
 and 2,160 — the first being the number of years in 
 the great month, and the second the number of 
 miles in the moon's diameter. Kallimachos, the 
 
FREEMASONRY. 255 
 
 artificer, who is said to have first made a column 
 of this form, has the numerical value of 1,002, or 
 ■f-^ of the length of the equinox when the sun's 
 course is measured on the earth's circumference, 
 and contained in an ark. The number 1,002 is 
 also the diagonal of a square 709, and the length 
 of one of the strips of Plato's cross, composed of 
 the four elements. 
 
 The proportions of this column are omitted by 
 Vitruvius, but its height is generally about 10 times 
 its thickness, and is therefore 600 parts (60 x lozr 
 600). Now 600 is the numerical equivalent of the 
 word cosmos. 
 
 The two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, in the porch 
 of Solomon's temple, were supposed to exemplify 
 the Hebrew proportions of columns. The position 
 of these pillars decides their primary significance. 
 From Villalpanda s plan, it will be seen that they 
 flank the two chambers on either side of the porch 
 and are intended to symbolize the double portion 
 of the Triad, represented by the whole Temple. 
 Their names, Strength and Stability, are analogous 
 to the names of the two beings, Kratos, 691 
 (Strength), and Bia, 13 (Force), who appear in the 
 play of ^schylus as the male and female powers, 
 who bind or crucify Prometheus. They represent 
 the twofold element of creation. 
 
 Jachin in Hebrew has the value of 735 (ihkn) 
 or counting the final " n " at 50 the number is 85. 
 Boaz, again, yields 79 (boz). Now 735 is the 
 width of a vesica 1,275 ^oJ^g* and 1,275 ^s the 
 height of a cross which crucifies a man in a square 
 whose perimeter is 2,368. And 85^ is -j\ of the 
 radius of Saturn's orbit, measured by the sun's 
 diameter. 
 
 Then 79, the value of Boaz, is the square root 
 of 6,241, which is the perimeter of a triangle whose 
 sides are 2,080. And 79^ is the side of a rhombus 
 
256 THE CANON. 
 
 having a perimeter of 318. Again, 735 + 79 == 814, 
 which is the circumference of a circle having a 
 diameter of 259, which is the numerical equivalent 
 of Basileia, the Bride, or third person of the 
 cabalistic triad. And 814 + 2 rz 816, which is the 
 length of a vesica whose width is 471, the diameter 
 of a circle 1,480 in circumference. 
 
 It is obvious that these two mystical columns 
 are analogous to the pillars of Hermes and Seth, 
 set up to record the astronomical science of their 
 time. The height of each shaft was 18 cubits, its 
 girth 12 cubits, and the chapiter 5 cubits. They 
 were cast in brass by hirm (Hiram), or 255, an ad- 
 mirable number, for a square whose sides are 255 
 has a diagonal of 360 and a perimeter of 1,020, 
 the radius of Saturn's orbit ; and the measures 
 which he cunningly ascribed to these canonical 
 pillars are no less significant than this. 
 
 Since their circumference is exactly specified, 
 we find their diameter, reduced to inches, to be 
 68f , a number probably chosen because the sum 
 of the numbers from i to 68 zr 2,346, or nearly 
 2,368. Accordingly, if the shafts be laid side by 
 side, they occupy an area of 324 by i37|- inches, 
 having a perimeter of 923, or nearly the square 
 root of the sun's diameter in miles. Then, if the 
 chapiters be added, the rectangle enclosing them 
 becomes (324 + 900 = ) 414 by i37|-, and its 
 perimeter is 1,103 ^^ ^^e height of a rood cross 
 which will crucify a man in a square with a circuit 
 equal to the diameter of Saturn's orbit. The 
 rhombus which encloses the two pillars is 652 
 long, or nearly the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is equal to the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit. Again, the circumference of each shaft 
 being 216 inches, we get the measure of the 
 diameter of the sun's orbit. And a square en- 
 closing the pillars has a perimeter of 1,656 (414 
 
FREEMASONRY. 257 
 
 X 4), the number of miles from the equator to 
 the tropics. 
 
 Thus the Hebrews established a standard 
 measure of the planetary system, by which the 
 Freemasons ever afterwards instructed their fel- 
 lows and masters in the mysteries of the craft. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 
 
 *' From whence proceed these sounds^ so strong and yet so sweety 
 that Jill my ears ? 
 
 " The melody which you hear, and which, though composed in 
 unequal time, is nevertheless divided into regular harmony, is 
 effected by the impulse and motion of the spheres. . . . The ears 
 of mankind, filled with these sounds, have become deaf .... and 
 cannot comprehend them. Just as you cannot look dh'ectly upon 
 the sun, because your sight and sense are overcome by his beams.^^ 
 — Cicero's "Vision of Scipio." 
 
 The theory of ancient music seems to have been 
 constructed from a study of the harmonic relations 
 existing between the parts of the universe ; and 
 the musical canon, like that of architecture, was 
 probably based upon certain symmetrical conson- 
 ances, discovered in the proportions of the planets, 
 and the intervals between their orbits. Yet none 
 of the ancient rules of harmony, which are now 
 intelligible, can be directly or simply traced to the 
 known ratios of the planetary orbits. But all the 
 ancient expositions of the science of music are 
 very obscure, and give the reader the impresssion 
 that, as in the case of other arts, there is something 
 behind their obvious statements which the writers 
 did not choose to disclose. 
 
 For instance, Vitruvius (bk. v., ch. 4), after 
 stating that music is an abstruse science, difficult 
 to understand, and requiring many Greek words in 
 its explanation, says, ** There are three sorts of 
 modulation, the enharmonic (dpfAoutocv), the chro- 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 259 
 
 [Tiatic {xp^M'Oi)f and the diatonic ((TtaToi/oi/), so called 
 by the Greeks." From the numbers deduced 
 from these Greek words, it may be reasonably 
 assumed that they have been introduced into the 
 text for mystical reasons ; for we find Harmonia 
 yields 272, Chroma, 1,541, 3.ndDiatonos, 705 ; and 
 272 is the width of a vesica 471 long, and 471 
 is the diameter of a circle having a circumference 
 of 1,480 (a square whose sides are 471 has a 
 diagonal of 666), and 272 is the diameter of a 
 circle having a circumference of 854, which is the 
 width of a vesica 1,480 long. It may be therefore 
 supposed that the word harmonia implies the 
 number 1,480. Then i,54oisthelengthof a vesica 
 888 long, so that the word chroma may be taken 
 to indicate the number 888. Diatonos, again, has 
 the value of 705, which is in round numbers the 
 side of a square whose diagonals are 999 ; and a 
 vesica formed of two circles 999 in circumference 
 has a perimeter of 666, which may be supposed to 
 be the number intended to be expressed by this 
 name. We therefore get from the names given to 
 the three kinds of harmony the numbers 2,046, 
 1,480, and 2,093, ^s the supposed basis of the 
 harmonic system, and they are, apparently, used 
 here by Vitruvius, as the received canonical 
 measures summarizing the principal dimensions of 
 the universe. 
 
 The three numbers, 2,368, 1,480, and 888 are 
 in the ratio of 6 : 10 : 16, being divisible by 148. 
 Now, if the sun's distance be taken at 10, the order 
 of the planets is very nearly in the following pro- 
 portion : §4, ?7, ©ID, cJi6, 7^52, Jp97. There- 
 fore the numbers 10 and 16 agree with the ratios 
 of the sun and Mars, while the number 6 falls 
 between Mercury and Venus; that is to say, 2,368 
 may represent the planet Mars, 1,480 the sun, and 
 888 the two inner planets Mercury and Venus. 
 
26o THE CANON, 
 
 Thus the whole three are analogous to the cabalistic 
 triad, according to the Pythagorean theory. For 
 the first person was said to be male, the second 
 person female, and the third person comprised the 
 union of both. Pythagoras sometimes regarded 
 the sun as the central fire of the universe, in which 
 case it may have a feminine sense. These pro- 
 portions probably formed the harmonic canon of 
 the architects, and it may be concluded that they 
 were known to Vitruvius. 
 
 A theory of music is said to have been invented 
 by Pythagoras, who said that numbers were the 
 principles and elements of all things, and composed 
 the harmonic proportions of the whole world. To 
 him the rhythmic treatment of numbers was music, 
 and he declared that " without numbers all 
 measures, weights, and art itself, would fall to the 
 ground." And music was the art of composing, 
 and reconciling contrary and discordant things, 
 according to the harmony of the world, called by 
 the Greeks o Ko<r[xo?, 670. It is also said that the 
 system of Pythagoras was reduced to certain "har- 
 monical canons, or rules found out by reason." 
 
 The assertion that the planets in their revolutions 
 round the earth uttered certain sounds differing 
 according to their respective ** magnitude, celerity 
 and local distance," was commonly made by the 
 Greeks. Thus Saturn, the farthest planet, was 
 said to give the gravest note, while the moon, 
 which is the nearest, gave the sharpest. ** These 
 sounds of the seven planets, and the sphere of the 
 fixed stars, together with that above us, are the 
 nine Muses, and their joint symphony is called 
 Mnemosyne." Pliny (bk, iii., ch, 22) says, *' Saturn 
 moveth by the Doric tone : Mercury by Pthongus, 
 Jupiter by Phrygian and the rest likewise." The 
 Pythragorean harmony consisted of three concords, 
 called Diapente, Diatessaron, and Diapason. The 
 
Hie auccmmonochordummundanum cumfuisproportiombusiconfc 
 nannis&inicrvaUisexadhuscomporuimu5,cujusmocorcmcxHamun<lujucflc 
 hocmododcpuuumui. "~ 
 
 FIG. 21. — THE COSMIC HARMONY. FROM ROBERT FLUDD S 
 "UTRIUSQUE COSMI HISTORIA," P. 90. 
 
262 THE CANON. 
 
 discovery of these concords is said to have been 
 made by Pythagoras, on hearing the hammers 
 striking the anvil in a blacksmith's shop. By an 
 experiment he found that the variation of sound 
 was produced according to the weight of the 
 hammer, and he demonstrated his theory thus. 
 The weights of the hammers were respectively, 6, 
 8, 9, and 12 pounds. He hung these weights upon 
 strings of equal substance and length. When the 
 two strings stretched by the greatest (12), and 
 least (6) weight were struck, they sounded a diapa- 
 son ; the greatest and least but one a diapente, 
 and the greatest, and next greatest sounded a 
 diatessaron. " The diapente proportion was found 
 by Pythagoras to be sesquialtera, the diatessaron 
 sesquitertia, and the diapason or universal concord 
 to be duple." He made up the octochord by call- 
 ing the sound produced from the string stretched 
 by the 6 pound weight Hyate, that from the 8 
 pound weight Mese, that from the 9 Paramese, and 
 that from the 12 pound weight Neate. 
 
 Pythagoras, using the terms of music, called the 
 interval between the earth and the moon a Tone. 
 He supposed that the distance from the earth to 
 the Zodiac measured seven of these tones, accord- 
 ing to the following proportions. But Pliny, who 
 gives us the information, calls this computation of 
 the planetary intervals *' a subtiltie more pleasant 
 ywis than needful "^ (bk. ii., ch. 22). By taking the 
 Tone to be 296, the greatest common measure of 
 the three numbers, 2,368, 1,480, and 886, the dis- 
 tance would be 2,072, or i more ihs.n ^2 ^^ ^^e 
 earth's circumference in miles, and the inner line 
 of the Holy Oblation. 
 
 ^ " Jucunda magis, quam necessaria subtilitate.'' 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 263 
 
 Zodiac. 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 li 
 
 444 
 
 % 
 
 i 
 
 148 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 148 
 
 © 
 
 1 
 
 296 
 
 ? 
 
 4 
 
 444 
 
 $ 
 
 ^ 
 
 148 
 
 ([ 
 
 i 
 
 148 
 
 e 
 
 I 
 
 296 
 
 2,072 
 
 Although Vitruvlus does not show how the 
 theory of music which he introduces into his 
 treatise is to be applied to architecture, it is certain 
 that some method of harmonic proportion was 
 known to, and practised by, the Greek architects, 
 We are told by Serlio, who wrote in 1537, that 
 there were seven quadrangular proportions gener- 
 ally used in architecture. " The first figure is a 
 perfect square of four equal sides, and four right 
 angles. The second figure is a sesquiquarta, that 
 is, a square and a quarter (5 : 4). The third figure 
 is a sesquitertia, that is, a square and a third (being 
 of the proportion of 4 : 3, it is the diatessaron). 
 The fourth figure is of the proportion called dia- 
 gonea, because its length is equal to the diagonal 
 of the square ; it is irrational, there being no simple 
 way of finding out this proportion from the frac- 
 tional part of a square. The fifth figure is called 
 sesquialtera, that is, a square and a half (it is of 
 the proportion of 3 : 2, or diapente). The sixth 
 figure is called superbipartiens tertias, that is a 
 square and two thirds added. The seventh and 
 last figure is called dupla, and is formed of two 
 squares joined together" (this is the proportion of 
 2 : I, or diapason). 
 
 Serlio, like Vitruvius, suggests no way of apply- 
 
264 THE CANON. 
 
 ing these proportions, but it may be, that by taking 
 some number as the measure of the square, a series 
 of proportions are derived, which when distributed 
 throughout a building would give an harmonic 
 result. Thus, if the sides of the square measured 
 592, and its perimeter 2,368, the six numbers pro- 
 duced according to the above ratios would be 640, 
 789^ 833, 888, 996f, and 1,184. 
 
 Another series of harmonic proportions may be 
 derived from the divisions of a circle, divided ac- 
 cording to the figure given by Cesariano (Vitru- 
 vius, p. 11). 
 
 Nearly all the old philosophers devised an har- 
 monic theory with respect to the universe, and 
 the practice continued till the old mode of philo- 
 sophizing died out. Kepler (1596), in order to 
 demonstrate the Platonic doctrine, that the uni- 
 verse was formed of the five regular solids, pro- 
 posed the following rule. " The earth is a circle, 
 the measurer of all. Round it describe a dodeca- 
 hedron; the circle inclosing this will be Mars. 
 Round Mars describe a tetrahedron ; the sphere 
 inclosing this will be Jupiter. Describe a cube 
 round Jupiter; the sphere containing this will be 
 Saturn. Now inscribe in the earth an icosohedron ; 
 the circle inscribed in it will be Venus. Inscribe 
 an octohedron in Venus ; the circle inscribed in it 
 will be Mercury " (** Mysterium Cosmographicum," 
 1596). 
 
 This rule cannot be taken seriously as a real 
 statement of the proportions of the cosmos, for it 
 bears no real resemblance to the ratios published 
 by Copernicus in the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century. Yet Kepler was very proud of his formula, 
 and said he valued it more than the Electorate of 
 Saxony. It was also approved by those two 
 eminent authorities, Tycho and Galileo, who evid- 
 ently understood it. Kepler himself never gives 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 265 
 
 the least hint of how his precious rule is to be 
 interpreted. The subjoined explanation is sub- 
 mitted as a possible solution of its meaning. The 
 earth, he says, is the mensor, or measurer of all, 
 therefore everything depends upon the first step. 
 The diameter of the earth is taken to be 660, that is, 
 
 i^ — ; and instead of taking the five figures as 
 
 solids, they are assumed to be so many regular 
 plane polygons of 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20 sides respect- 
 ively. The construction of the figure is conse- 
 quently extremely easy. The twelve-sided figure 
 enclosing the earth is contained by a circle 684^ 
 in diameter, whose circumference is 2,151. This 
 is the circle of Mars. The square described round 
 Mars is enclosed by a circle with a radius of 488, 
 and a circumference of 3,067 ; this is the circle of 
 Jupiter. The hexagon described round Jupiter is 
 enclosed by a circle whose diameter is 1,120 ; and 
 this is the circle of Saturn. The twenty-sided 
 polygon inscribed within the earth contains a circle 
 with a diameter of 651, and a circumference of 
 2,046 ; this is the circle of Venus. The octagon 
 inscribed within Venus contains a circle whose 
 diameter is 596 ; this is the circle of Mercury. 
 
 It will be seen at once that the relative propor- 
 tions of these circles have no agreement with the 
 orbits of the planets whose names they bear ; but 
 every circle, either in its diameter or circumference, 
 represents a cosmic measure. The circle of Mars 
 has a circumference of 2, 1 5 1 ; and according to 
 Plato's distribution of the five solids in the 
 **Timseus," the dodecahedron represents theZodiac; 
 and 2,151 being the number of years in the great 
 month, this may properly symbolize the Zodiacal 
 circle. A hexagon described round this circle has 
 a perimeter of 2,368. The radius of the circle 
 called Jupiter is 488, the square root of the moon's 
 
266 THE CANON. 
 
 distance from the earth in miles ; the circumference 
 of the same circle is the perimeter of the square 
 which incloses the sun s orbit measured by the 
 tone, and is inclosed by a rhombus inscribed within 
 the Holy Oblation. The circle assigned to Saturn 
 has a diameter of 1,120, which is the height of a 
 rood cross which crucifies a man contained in a 
 square having a perimeter equal to the side of the 
 Holy Oblation. The circumference of the circle 
 of Venus is equal to the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit, measured by the sun s diameter. The circle 
 called Mercury has a diameter of 596, which is the 
 circumference of Saturn's orbit if the sun's distance 
 be taken at 10, and it may be taken for 592, the 
 side of a square having a perimeter of 2,368. In 
 Kepler's figure in the " Harmonices Mundi," he 
 allows three lines to each circle, which seems to 
 imply that a certain latitude is to be allowed in the 
 geometry. 
 
 Probably, therefore, this mystical diagram sym- 
 bolically reveals the astronomical measures secretly 
 applied to theology, and seems to be intended to 
 illustrate the harmony which was supposed to exist 
 between the sun, the fixed stars, and the inter- 
 vening planets, likened, by Kepler, to the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It seems to ex- 
 emplify Kepler's attitude to all astronomical prob- 
 lems, and to be a result of the old searching after 
 symmetry and harmony in the order of the heavens. 
 For the three laws formulated by him could only 
 have been discovered by a mind intent upon finding 
 harmonic relations of this kind. And he evidently 
 devoted his life to this search. It was music and 
 philosophy which really interested Kepler, rather 
 than the patient and careful observation of nature 
 which occupied his friend Tycho. And although 
 he used Tycho's observations he never seriously 
 pursued any of these natural inquiries as an end, 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 267 
 
 but rather, like the ancients, he tried to use them 
 as a means to artistic expression. He stands as 
 one of the last astronomers of the old type, and 
 gives us a valuable insight into the practice of the 
 earlier school, who combined astronomy with the 
 doctrines of philosophy. 
 
 Another ingenious contrivance of the old philo- 
 sophers was the magic square. The curious re- 
 sults produced from the combination of numbers in 
 these squares would naturally appeal to the mind, 
 when first discovered, as presenting an analogy 
 to that harmony and symmetry which they dis- 
 covered, or sought to discover, in all creation. 
 The admiration for these numerical wonders was 
 probably genuine among the philosophers, but the 
 magical properties attributed to them by the priests 
 could only have been believed in by an ignorant 
 and superstitious populace. Cornelius Agrippa 
 describes seven of these squares. " It is affirmed," 
 he says, "by magicians, that there are certain sacred 
 tables of the planets endowed with many and very 
 great virtues of the heavens, inasmuch as they 
 represent that divine order of celestial numbers 
 which can no other way be expressed than by the 
 marks of numbers and characters. The first of 
 them is assigned to Saturn, and consists of a square 
 of three, containing the particular numbers of nine, 
 and in every line, three every way and through 
 each diameter (diagonal), making fifteen. Now 
 the whole sum of the numbers is forty-five. Each 
 number represents an intelligency for good, or a 
 spirit for bad. Out of the same numbers is drawn 
 the seal, or character, which should be engraved 
 on a plate of lead. If this be done with a fortunate 
 Saturn it is a safeguard to births and bringing 
 forth, but if it be done with an unfortunate 
 Saturn, it hinders buildings, plantings, and the 
 like, and casts a man from honours and dignities." 
 
268 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 The number 45, deduced from this square, is in 
 round numbers the square root of Saturn's orbit. 
 And if the numbers of the square be read from 
 right to left in the three rows, we get 294, 753, 
 and 618, all of which are mystical numbers, already 
 discussed. 294 is the numerical equivalent for 
 Ecclesia, the Church, 753 is the diameter of a 
 circle whose circumference is 2,368, and 618 is the 
 numerical equivalent of IHS, etc. By reading it 
 perpendicularly other numbers are obtained, which 
 have also mystical meanings. 
 
 The number of circles in the universe, counting 
 from the earth to the empyreum is 15. 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 " The second is called the table of Jupiter, which 
 consists of a quaternion drawn into itself, contain- 
 ing 16 particular numbers, and in every line and 
 diameter 4, making 34. Now the sum of all is 
 136. .. . They say that if it be impressed on a 
 silver plate with Jupiter ruling it conduces to 
 riches, favour, love, and peace. To dissolve en- 
 chantments it should be engraven on coral." 
 
 The number 34 is the square root of 1,156, the 
 width of a vesica 2,004 lo^g? while I36'9 is the 
 side of a square inscribed within the Holy Oblation 
 taking the sun's distance at 10; it is therefore 
 equivalent to the number 1,480. 
 
 " The third table belongs to Mars, which is 
 made of a square of 5 containing 25 numbers, and 
 of these in every side and diameter 5, which make 
 65, and the sum of all is 325. . . . These, with 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 269 
 
 Mars being fortunate, being engraved on an iron 
 plate or sword, make a man potent in war and 
 judgments, but if it be engraven with Mars being 
 unfortunate, on a plate of red brass, it hinders 
 buildings, and causes discords." 
 
 The numbers 5, 25, 65, and 325 are all discussed 
 in the course of this work, and the meanings 
 attributed to them are found in some of the attri- 
 butes of the planet Mars. 
 
 ** The fourth tablet is of the sun, and is made of 
 a square of 6, and contains 36 numbers, whereof 
 6 on every side and diameter, produce iii, and 
 the sum of all is 666. . . . This being engraven 
 on a golden plate, renders him who wears it re- 
 nowned and amiable, and equals a man to kings 
 and princes . . . but with an unfortunate sun it 
 makes a tyrant." 
 
 The numbers of this square are all curiously 
 appropriate to the sun, whose ark has been shown 
 to measure 666 of its diameters. Again, 666 is 
 the diameter of a circle 2,093 1^ circumference, and 
 2,093 ^s gj times the diameter of the sun's orbit 
 as well as the diameter of the circle containing the 
 square whose sides are 1,480, — the measure of the 
 body of Christos. 
 
 '* The fifth table is of Venus, consisting of a 
 square of 7 drawn into itself, namely, of 49 numbers, 
 whereof 7 on each side and diameter make 175, 
 and the sum of all is 1,225. This being engraven 
 on a silver plate, Venus being fortunate procureth 
 concord and love, and endeth strife, . . . and con- 
 duceth to the cure of all melancholy distempers. 
 . . . But if it be formed upon brass with an un- 
 fortunate Venus, it produceth the contrary." 
 
 In round numbers 49 is the square root of 2,368.. 
 And 1,225 is the measure of a cross whose limbs 
 are 612^ long. 
 
 '* The sixth table is of Mercury, resulting from 
 
270 THE CANON. 
 
 the square of 8 drawn into itself, containing 64 
 numbers, whereof 8 on every side and by both 
 diameters make 260, and the sum of all, 2,080. . . . 
 If it be with Mercury being fortunate, engraven 
 upon silver or tin or yellow brass, or be writ upon 
 virgin parchment, it renders the bearer grateful 
 and fortunate , . . and conduceth to the memory , . . 
 -and understanding of occult thingsT 
 
 The numbers produced by this square are per- 
 haps the most remarkable of the seven, and this 
 seems to be suggested by the comment of Cornelius 
 Agrippa. The number 2,080, thus associated with 
 Hermes, connects this god with the Holy Oblation 
 and confirms the opinion of the Gnostics, that he 
 was identical with Christos. The number 64 is 
 the numerical equivalent of the word Aletheia, 
 Truth. And 260 is, besides being 10 times 26, 
 the diameter of a circle whose area is equal to that 
 of a square whose sides are 231. 
 
 *' The seventh table is of the moon, of a square 
 of 9 multiplied into itself, having 81 numbers, in 
 every side and diameter 9, producing 369, and the 
 sum of all is 3,321. . . This fortunate moon being 
 engraven on silver renders the bearer amiable, 
 pleasant, honoured, and without malice. But if it 
 be an unfortunate moon, engraven on a plate of 
 lead, wherever it shall be buried it makes that 
 place unfortunate." 
 
 The moon was the accepted symbol of the sub- 
 lunary world, containing the four elements, and 
 the four elements were attributed to the body of 
 the Logos. Now, 81 X9|-=::769, and 769 is the 
 length of the transverse beam of a cross whose 
 extreme measure is 2,368. Again, 369 is i less 
 than 370, the side of a square whose perimeter is 
 1,480 ("Occult Philosophy," bk. ii., ch. 22). 
 
 Another way by which the ancients appear to 
 have concealed mystical and cosmic numbers was 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES, 
 
 271 
 
 in the words and names written on their charms 
 and sigils. The inscriptions on these mysterious 
 gems are very often unreadable, and bear upon 
 them unknown names and words without meaning. 
 It is probable, therefore, that they were intended 
 to be read as numbers, and thus conveyed a mean- 
 ing appropriate to the symbolical devices which 
 they accompanied. In Kirchers " Arithmologia " 
 (p. 220), there is a Solomon's seal inscribed within 
 a circle, containing a square divided into 25 smaller 
 squares, with a letter in each. The letters are 
 
 FIG. 2 2. — SIGIL FROM KIRCHER'S " ARITHMOLOGIA." 
 
 arranged so as to read ** Sator Arepo Tenet Opera 
 Rotas/' which has the look of a Latin epigram, 
 but it is apparently untranslatable. We know 
 that the priests sometimes converted Roman letters 
 into Greek, so as to obtain numbers from them, as 
 for instance in the " CEdipus Egyptiacus " (torn, ii., 
 par. i., p. 219), where various Latin words are 
 written in Greek letters which bring out the 
 number 666. If we give the letters of this seal 
 the value of their Greek equivalents, we get 25 
 numbers, which may be read in various ways. 
 The five letters on the four sides of the square 
 
272 THE CANON, 
 
 form the word Sator, the " Sower/' or backwards 
 " Rotas," wheels. This word, written in Greek 
 letters, has the numerical value of 671, the number 
 of Thora, the Hebrew Bride, and noa-fAog zz 670. 
 Then the sum of the numbers forming the peri- 
 meter of the square is 2,084, ^^ ^he length of the 
 side of the Holy Oblation. The two middle rows 
 of letters make up the word " Tenet," read vertic- 
 ally and horizontally, and the numerical value of 
 this word written in Greek letters is 660, or the 
 number of miles in the diameter of the earth 
 divided by 12. 
 
 A saltire-cross arrived at in the same way has 
 the value 1,060, or i less than the length of a 
 rhombus whose sides are 612. Again, the four 
 letters, which occur at the angles of the cross 
 formed by the word " Tenet," are equal to 360, 
 and the five letters forming a quincunx bring out 
 the number 650, which is i less than the dia- 
 meter of a circle whose circumference is equal to 
 the diameter of Saturn's orbit. The middle letter 
 has the value of 50, and the sum of the numbers from 
 I to 50 is 1,275, or the height of a rood cross which 
 crucifies a man in a square having a perimeter of 
 2,368. Eliphaz Levi called this mystic seal the 
 "Great Arcanum," and in his version of the dia- 
 gram, a man and woman occupy the two inter- 
 lacing triangles. The figure illustrates the follow- 
 ing passage from the *' Lesser Holy Assembly" 
 (par. 720), " So also here, when the Male is joined 
 to the Female, they both constitute one complete 
 body, and all the universe is in a state of happiness 
 because all things receive blessing from their per- 
 fect body. And this is an arcanum." 
 
 The number five had a peculiar significance to 
 the Pythagoreans and Christian Cabalists. The 
 Greeks are said to have regarded the pentalpha as 
 the symbol of the Microcosm, and to have written 
 
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 273 
 
 the word 'Tyua, 419 (Health), at its five points.^ 
 Caramuel, in a curious work on architecture (1678), 
 gives the figure of a pentalpha, which not only has 
 the letters of the word Hygeia written round the 
 pentagon at its centre, but also the word Jesus. 
 Now, if a pentalpha be inscribed within the Holy 
 Oblation, the perimeter of the pentagon at its 
 centre measures 2,368.^ And a pentalpha whose 
 sides measure 4i8|^, a fraction less than the 
 numerical equivalent of Hygeia, has a perimeter 
 of (418I X 5 =z) 2,093, the side of the Holy Oblation 
 containing the crucified body of Christos. And 
 
 FIG. 23. — PENTALPHA FROM C. AGRIPPA S "OCCULT PHILO- 
 SOPHY," BK. III., CH, 31. 
 
 419 is the diagonal of a square whose sides are 296, 
 the greatest common measure of the three numbers 
 888, 1,480, and 2,368. And a pentalpha whose 
 sides are 296 has a perimeter of 1,480. 
 
 The mystic word abracadabra was said to have 
 great power as a charm. Kircher derives it from 
 Abraxas, 365. According to the Greek valuation 
 of the letters it has the value of 2 1 6, the diameter 
 of the sun's orbit measured by its own diameter. 
 When written in the form of a triangle, each side 
 having 1 1 letters, the numerical equivalent of the 
 3 sides is 443 (216 + 216 + 11 )» the number of 
 
 ^ Kircher's " Arithmologia," p. 217. 
 ^ Not calculated. 
 
274 THE CANON. 
 
 the name o Aoyo?. The sum of all the letters 
 arranged thus is 1,197, which is the length of a 
 vesica 691 broad, and 691 is the length of the sun's 
 orbit (220 X 3^ = 691), The number 1,197 is also 
 the circumference of a circle having a diameter of 
 381, the width of a vesica whose length is equal to 
 ^ of the earth^s diameter. 
 
 By counting the letters according to the Hebrew 
 valuations, abracadabra yields the number 416, 
 which is the side of EzekieFs city, and the length 
 of a rhombus 240 wide. A cross drawn within 
 this rhombus measures 656, the numerical equi- 
 valent of the name Messias. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 RITUAL. 
 
 ^^ Now I know that the mysteries of the gnosis are a laughing- 
 stock to many^ especially when not patched up with sophistical 
 figurative language. And the few are at first startled at them ; 
 as when light is suddenly brought into a convivial pai'ty in the 
 dark. Subsequently^ on getting used and accustojjied, and trained 
 to reasonifig, as if gladdened and exulting for delight, they [praise] 
 the Lordy — "Selections from the Prophetic Scriptures," ch. 
 XXXV., Ante-Nicene Library, vol. xxiv. 
 
 Before entering upon the details of the ancient 
 mystic rites, perhaps a word ought to be said on 
 the virtue of modesty. Tertullian, justly admired 
 for the enthusiastic eloquence of his writings, calls 
 ** modesty the flower of manners, the honour of our 
 bodies, the grace of the sexes, the integrity of the 
 blood, the guarantee of our race, the basis of sanctity, 
 the pre-indication of every good disposition." We 
 can hardly doubtthesincerityoftheman who bestows 
 such praise upon this virtue, or refuse to regard him 
 as a modest man. Yet neither can we suppose that 
 our British matron in these days would sanction 
 Tertullians treatises '* On Baptism," '*The Soul," 
 ''The Ascetic's Mantle," or " The Strain of Jonah," 
 were the good lady capable of understanding them. 
 It is not that he fails to cover religiously every 
 naked thought with the symbolical cloak of shame, 
 exactly as she would demand, but there is that in 
 his argument which would inevitably revolt a nine- 
 teenth century champion of modesty. For now 
 we demand a theme which can be uttered simply, 
 
276 THE CANON. 
 
 and without all the elaborate toilet of a shameful 
 thing. And herein lies one of the differences be- 
 tween the feeling of the ancients and our own. 
 
 Brought up as we all are in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, it seems at first sight shocking that they 
 should have argued by analogies which appear so 
 impossible to our minds. Not that they had no 
 sense of decorum, but there is something in their 
 attitude of mind towards certain matters which 
 divides them from us. It is almost incredible 
 that, underlying the beautiful legend of Cupid and 
 Psyche as told by Apuleius, or the marvellous 
 parable of the crucified Christ, there should be 
 a hidden meaning of which it is impossible to 
 speak. 
 
 All this leads us to search into the root and 
 origin of that shame, which all mankind possess, 
 but in different degrees. It must have been a 
 feeling akin to our own, which caused the primitive 
 theologists to hide from view the spirit of their 
 dogma, and to establish an inviolable secrecy 
 around their mysteries. For they made it some- 
 times shameful even to utter the name of God. 
 From this, doubtless, a purely superstitious feeling 
 of modesty arose, but it seems that shame is a 
 spontaneous impulse peculiar to man, for the 
 beasts have none of it ; and it is more than an 
 artificial sense fostered originally by priests and 
 taught by women to their children. In fact, it is 
 a higher faculty developed by the increased sensi- 
 tiveness of men over the brute animals. And it 
 arises plainly from natural reasons, which it would 
 be immodest to mention. 
 
 Of this shame the Greeks seem to have had the 
 least of all civilized people. And they were at 
 once the most refined, cultivated, and accomplished 
 race who have ever lived in this world. We learn 
 from Plutarch, that Lycurgus ordered the Spartan 
 
RITUAL, 277 
 
 virgins "to go naked, as well as the young men," 
 and to dance and sing in their presence, at certain 
 solemn feasts and sacrifices. '* And though it may 
 appear strange," he says, "that virgins should 
 appear thus naked in public, yet, as the strictest 
 modesty was preserved, there was nothing of 
 indecency in it ; but it accustomed them to an 
 innocent simplicity." At Sparta this practice 
 formed a part of the noble cultivation of the body, 
 which gave that people their great physical strength 
 and beauty. We see that, although Plutarch here 
 speaks of modesty, it is something rather different 
 from ours. 
 
 Again, the religious rite described by Aris- 
 tophanes, in the "Acharnians" (v. 241), sounds 
 strange in nineteenth century ears : " Use no ill- 
 omened words. Let the basket-bearer advance 
 a little forward. Let Xanthias set up the phallus 
 erect." But to the Greek, who walked naked in 
 the sun, this was a most natural, and in no sense 
 an immodest proceeding. The same absence of 
 shame existed in Rome, where unabashed virgins 
 and matrons were accustomed to hang garlands on 
 the effigy of Priapus,^ standing in the midst of his 
 garden. For the good Priapus, with his homely 
 bucolic grin, was regarded by the old Roman with 
 a peculiar veneration, which was a mixture of 
 affection and buffoonery, not always or necessarily 
 the expression of indecency or unseemliness, but 
 rather the remnant of the crude but chaste impulse, 
 which moved the simple rural population to gather 
 in worship round the undisguised Phallus, as the 
 emblem of the generative pbwers of Nature. 
 
 It was ever the function of ancient art to in- 
 geniously cover the naked truth, and to veil the 
 primitive nudity with other and perhaps seemlier 
 
 ' See St. Augustine, "City of God," bk. vii,, ch. xxi.-xxiv. 
 
278 THE CANON. 
 
 forms. And so it was that naked Hermes gra- 
 dually disappeared from the market place, and 
 crude old Priapus was decked with no more gar- 
 lands in ladies' gardens. Then the Cross, the old 
 symbol of Egypt was brought forth from the 
 secrecy of mysterious orgies, and was displayed 
 more and more openly. It not only replaced the 
 old Hermes at cross-roads, and in the middle of 
 the town, but was conspicuously seen as the central 
 object in every new temple. The cross was chosen 
 as a fitting emblem to express the same funda- 
 mental principle of creation which had been de- 
 noted by the earlier figures. Consequently, in 
 the Middle Ages, when the glorification of the 
 Cross reached its height, we find the pious monk 
 kneeling in adoration of the Logos, or devoutly 
 kissing his crucifix in simple faith and knowledge, 
 but without shame. 
 
 Thus it is plain that, while all the ancients 
 knew and experienced a certain feeling of modesty, 
 the sense of it to which our forefathers, the Puri- 
 tans, first gave expression, is a peculiarly modern 
 feeling. The Puritans were very obviously absurd 
 people, and the reformation with which they were 
 connected, was an ignorant movement from the 
 beginning, notwithstanding the fact that it may 
 have been a tendency towards better things. Yet 
 those Puritans, whom it is so easy to ridicule, have 
 so far influenced the generations immediately 
 preceding our own, that it has become difficult to 
 decide whether ours is a worthier feeling of modesty 
 than that of our ancestors. In their revolt against 
 the old pagan doctrines of the church, as something 
 indecent and repulsive, they rose up and destroyed 
 the old images and ecclesiastical symbols, to such 
 purpose, that we believe there does not exist in 
 England a rood cross, dating from a time previous 
 to the Reformation. This idol seems to have been 
 
RITUAL. 279 
 
 especially shameful in their eyes. The Scottish 
 covenanters were horrified at the very sight of a 
 cross — their feelings being like those of old Philip 
 Stubbes towards the May-pole, when he called it a 
 " Stinkying idolL" ^ The only thing we do not 
 understand is, how, when they rejected the Cross 
 they retained the Christ, for the two are so in- 
 separably connected to a modern mind, that the 
 aversion to the one would naturally apply to the 
 other. 
 
 The ritual of all the pagan cults has been so 
 effectually destroyed by their successors, that there 
 does not exist a single vestige of the ceremonial 
 rites with which the Greeks and Romans invoked 
 their deities. All the offices and ritual appertain- 
 ing to the worship of the virgin Athene in the 
 Parthenon, or Apollo at Delphi, are now lost and 
 forgotten. A few hymns addressed to the old 
 gods have come down to us, but there is not a 
 trace of the ceremonial order observed in the 
 ordinary temple services of the pagan cults, and 
 there remain only a few references to the sacred 
 rites enacted in the celebration of the initiatory 
 mysteries at Eleusis and elsewhere.^ We possess, 
 
 '" Thomas Gale, "Another sort of Papist Idols,'' etc. 
 
 ^ Of the religious mysteries of Pagan Rome very little is now 
 known. St. Augustine ("De Civitate Dei," lib. vii., cap. 34) 
 tells us, on the authority of Varro, that some books were dis- 
 covered by a man who was ploughing the land near the grave 
 of Numa. These books contained the secret knowledge under- 
 lying the theology instituted by Numa, and that, according to 
 St. Augustine, was too infamous even to be retained as the 
 mystery of the priesthood, from which it would appear that it 
 was very bad indeed. Numa, it was said, feared to publish 
 the books on account of their singular contents ; nor did he 
 dare to burn them, for fear of devils ; so as a compromise 
 he buried them in the earth. The senate ultimately obtained 
 possession of them ; but although they thus discovered the 
 shameful nature of their ancestral religion, they were afraid to 
 overturn it. Nevertheless that the revelation of the ancient 
 
28o THE CANON. 
 
 however, a masonic ritual, possibly of great 
 antiquity, and the canonical offices of the Jewish 
 and Christian churches; both of which were 
 formulated in classical times. 
 
 The Liturgy of the Christians introduced so 
 many of the rites previously established as a part 
 of the Greek mysteries, that the correspondence 
 between the two must be acknowledged by every 
 one acquainted with the ceremonies of both 
 systems. The two great Sacraments of the Chris- 
 tian church were mystical rites, having a hidden 
 or esoteric meaning, secretly performed after an 
 elaborate and exacting preparation. The mys- 
 terious nature of the faith is distinctly set forth by 
 Origen, as follows : ** Since he [Celsus] frequently 
 calls the Christian doctrine a secret system, we 
 must confute him on this point also, since almost 
 the entire world is better acquainted with what 
 Christians preach than with the favourite opinions 
 of philosophers. For who is ignorant of the state- 
 ment that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that 
 He was crucified, and that His resurrection is an 
 article of faith among many, and that a general 
 judgment is announced to come, in which the 
 wicked are to be punished according to their 
 
 mysteries might be lost for ever, they ordered the books to be 
 burnt. 
 
 Lactantius gives another account of the finding of Numa's 
 books ("Divine Institutes," bk. i., chap. 22). He says that 
 Numa was the first to establish pontiffs, priests, salii, and 
 augurs among the Romans. " But though he deceived others 
 he did not deceive himself. For after many years, in the 
 consulship of Cornelius and Bebius, in a field belonging to the 
 Scribe Petilius, under the Janiculum, two stone chests were 
 found by men who were digging, in one of which was the body 
 of Numa, in the other seven books in Latin, respecting the law 
 of the pontiffs, and the same number written in Greek respect- 
 ing systems of philosophy, in which he not only annulled the 
 religious rites which he himself had instituted, but all others 
 also." 
 
RITUAL. 281 
 
 deserts, and the righteous to be duly rewarded ? 
 And yet the mystery of the resurrection, not being 
 understood, is made a subject of ridicule among 
 unbelievers. In these circumstances, to speak of 
 the Christian doctrine as a secret system, is alto- 
 gether absurd. But that there should be certain 
 doctrines not made known to the multitude, which 
 are [revealed] after the exoteric ones have been 
 taught, is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone, 
 but also of philosophic systems, in which certain 
 truths are exoteric and others esoteric. Some of 
 the hearers of Pythagoras were content with his 
 ipse dixit; while others were taught in secret 
 those doctrines which were not deemed fit to be 
 communicated to profane and insufficiently pre- 
 pared ears. Moreover, all the mysteries that are 
 celebrated everywhere throughout Greece and 
 barbarian countries, although held in secret have 
 no discredit thrown upon them, so that it is vain 
 that he endeavours to caluminate the secret doc- 
 trines of Christianity, seeing he does not correctly 
 understand its nature." (** Against Celsus," bk. i., 
 
 Origen, in the above quotation, complains that 
 the misconceptions concerning the Christian faith 
 arose from the mystery of the resurrection not 
 being properly understood. It is therefore neces- 
 sary to make sure that the meaning of the great 
 events of Christ's life are known to us before 
 inquiring into those rites which merely com- 
 memorated or typically represented them. 
 
 The resurrection, the immediate consequence of 
 the crucifixion, offered by analogy the joyful 
 prospect of a future life according to the revelation 
 of the mysteries. For the crucifixion of Christ, 
 like the "unspeakable mystery of the Eleusinian 
 rites,'* ^ was the great cosmic love-scene, hyper- 
 ^ See Hippolytus, quoted below, on p. 60. 
 
282 THE CANON. 
 
 bolically portrayed as a symbol of the conjunction 
 or marriage of the heaven and the earth ; it 
 exhibited the natural powers of the universe in the 
 act of begetting, and afforded a sight of God and 
 Nature in the very pangs and embracements of 
 love. It presented to the eye an image of the 
 actual germination, which recurs in regular order 
 every spring. 
 
 The vernal equinox had been the occasion when 
 the impregnation of the world was annually cele- 
 brated for centuries before the Christians began to 
 commemorate the Crucifixion on Good Friday and 
 the Resurrection on Easter Day. To the old 
 Pagans this stupendous consummation had been 
 the humanizing of the natural powers of omni- 
 potence, infinity, and eternity, which could only 
 be conceived by some concrete figure, and it 
 brought home to them by analogy the love of God 
 for the earth and the hope of life through death. 
 To the Christian a similar vision was set forth in 
 the Passion of Christ described in the Gospel. 
 For when the light of the sun was quenched, 
 amidst thunder and lightning and other strange 
 portents, we must imagine the earth quivering and 
 shaking at the awful moment when the spirit 
 of God descended upon her. All this was simply 
 man, the microcosm, arguing from the lesser to 
 the greater, and attributing to the unknown powers 
 above and beyond him, a grander and more sublime 
 version of his own miniature powers of creation. 
 The experienced knew something of this, and 
 bowed down without superstition or delusion 
 before the symbol of a mighty transaction, too 
 great and deep for their comprehension. 
 
 The supposed analogy between the creative 
 functions of God and man supplied the basis of 
 the principal ritualistic ceremonies of antiquity, 
 and constituted the culminating revelation dis- 
 
RITUAL. 283 
 
 closed to the initiate at the celebration of the 
 mysteries. In the case of the Greeks, Hebrews, 
 and Christians, the great feast of the year was a 
 commemoration of this fact, and in each case was 
 celebrated at the vernal equinox. The pious 
 Greeks were quite as careful to guard the secrets 
 of paganism as the Christians were with respect 
 to the doctrines of the Church ; our knowledge of 
 the Eleusinian and other mysteries is chiefly con- 
 fined to the accounts of the Fathers, who, being 
 the supporters of a rival system, give us a very 
 perverted and inadequate description of them.^ 
 
 In his "Exhortation to the Heathen'* St. 
 Clement, who had been initiated, has made some 
 instructive allusions to the old mystic feasts, which 
 may be profitably studied.^ But notwithstanding 
 the lack of precise information as to the details of 
 the ancient mysteries, we know that the rites of 
 
 ^ All the rival religious sects, ancient and modern, have 
 accused each other of worshipping false gods. The Sibyl, 
 whose gods were no better than those of other people, thus 
 reproves the Greeks : 
 
 " Why trustest thou, O Greece, to princely men ? 
 
 Why to the dead dost offer empty gifts ? 
 
 Thou offerest to idols ; this error who suggested, 
 
 That thou shouldst leave the presence of the mighty God, 
 
 And make these offerings ? " 
 
 Lactantius, " Divine Institutes," bk. i., ch. xv. 
 
 The Christian fathers administered similar rebukes to those 
 who upheld the theology of the Sibylline books, and the 
 Reformers hurled even more violent reproaches at their fellow- 
 Christians, who continued to maintain the practises of the early 
 church. These sectarian squabbles are both unseemly and 
 absurd in themselves, but their value to outsiders is enormous, 
 for whenever people quarrel they become indiscreet, and the 
 result is that we learn more of the hidden doctrines of the 
 priests from these foolish theological disputes than from any 
 other source. 
 
 ^ Among modern writers, the " Great Dionysiak Myth," by 
 Mr. Robert Brown, jun., will also be found instructive on this 
 subject. 
 
284 THE CANON. 
 
 baptism and the Eucharist were perpetuated by the 
 Christians from similar ordinances forming a part 
 of the pagan ritual, and the parallel between the 
 dramatic shows representing the life of Orpheus or 
 Dionysus enacted in Greece and the symbolical 
 scene of the Mass is complete. In both cases the 
 acts of the drama unfolded the meaning of the 
 theological mystery by means of imitative cere- 
 monies, and the initiations were so arranged that 
 the ignorant neophytes were gradually instructed 
 in the hidden truths, which were concealed under 
 the characters and events of the mythos. 
 
 Although it is unknown how the pagan neophyte 
 was prepared and instructed, so as to be able to 
 understand the ceremonial acts which he was 
 nnally to witness, there are extant a set of lectures 
 delivered by St, Cyril of Jerusalem, which furnish 
 us with an outline of the teaching accorded to the 
 Christian before he was allowed to participate in 
 the Rites and Mysteries of his religion. Unless 
 those lectures were accompanied, as doubtless they 
 were, with further oral instructions, there does not 
 seem to have been much necessity for keeping 
 them secret. Nevertheless, the following address 
 to the reader is found at the beginning of the book. 
 " These catechetical lectures thou may est put into 
 the hands of Candidates for Baptism and Baptized 
 believers, but by no means of Catechumens, nor 
 of any others, who are not Christians ; as thou 
 shalt answer to the Lord. And if thou take a copy 
 of them, write this in the beginning, as in the sight 
 of the Lord." 
 
 The lectures were delivered with closed doors, 
 in the evening during Lent. The candidates were 
 baptized on Easter eve, and afterwards partook of 
 the Eucharistic feast. The final instruction is 
 contained in the last four lectures, delivered to the 
 baptized in Easter week. St. Silvia ('* Pilgrimage 
 
RITUAL. 285 
 
 to the Holy Places," p. "j^, Palestine Pilgrim Text 
 Soc.) has vividly portrayed the scene of a Christian 
 initiation in her time. She says, ** The doors are 
 shut lest any catechumen should find his way in. 
 And while the bishop is arguing about and ex- 
 pounding the details, so loud are the voices of 
 those applauding, that they are heard outside the 
 church. For truly all the mysteries are made so 
 plain that there is no one but is moved by the 
 things that he hears thus expounded." The follow- 
 ing passage from the Sixth Lecture of St. Cyril is an 
 instance of how they were addressed : *' To hear 
 the Gospel is allowed to all : but the glory of the 
 Gospel is set apart for them that are truly Christ's. 
 Therefore our Lord spake in parables to them who 
 were not able to hear ; but to his disciples he ex- 
 pounded them privately : for the brightness of 
 Glory is for the Illuminated, but blindness for the 
 unbelievers. These mysteries which the Church 
 now speaks to thee who art removed from the 
 catechumens, it is not the custom to speak to the 
 Gentiles : for to a Gentile we speak not the 
 mysteries concerning the Father, and Son, and the 
 Holy Spirit, nor before catechumens do we dis- 
 course plainly about mysteries ; but many things 
 many times we speak in a covert manner, that the 
 faithful who know may understand, and that those 
 who know not may receive no hurt." (Lect. vi., 29.) 
 In the early Church, infant baptism was unknown ; 
 the ceremony being consciously undergone by 
 those who had come to years of discretion as a 
 symbolical rite, which raised them from ignorance 
 to a knowledge and participation in the deeper 
 mysteries of the Church, and its elaborate ritual 
 was only second in importance to that of the 
 Mass, and was properly the prelude to the Euchar- 
 istic feast. It seems, however, to have been 
 performed as a complete ordinance, having much 
 
286 THE CANON. 
 
 the same significance as the higher mystery. In 
 primitive times it consisted in the immersion of the 
 body into the sea, a river, or fountain, but in 
 St. CyriFs time it was the custom among the 
 Christians to anoint the baptized person with 
 chrism or oil before entering the water. St. Cyril 
 says, **when ye were stripped ye were annointed 
 with exorcised oil, from the very hairs of your 
 head to your feet. . . . After those things ye 
 were led to the holy pool of Divine baptism, as 
 Christ was carried from the cross to the Sepulchre. 
 . . . And descended three times into the water, 
 and ascended again" (Lect. xx.). He further 
 says that the three immersions refer to the three 
 days passed by Christ in the **womb of the 
 Earth," for " at the self-same moment ye died and 
 were born ; and that water of salvation was at once 
 your grave and your mother." 
 
 Besides its other mysteries the Baptismal ritual 
 exhibits a cosmic significance in the names and 
 words used in the performance of the rite. The 
 word Baptismos (baptism) has the value of 903, 
 which is I more than the side of a square having 
 a diagonal of 1,275, the height of a cross which 
 will crucify a man in a square having a perimeter 
 of 2,368 ; and a rhombus 902*77 long has a peri- 
 meter of 2,083^, the length of the side of the 
 Holy Oblation. 
 
 Sometimes the neophyte was anointed twice, 
 first with oil ('EAAION, 166), and afterwards with 
 chrism (MTPON, 660). The esoteric meaning of 
 this double unction is obvious, but it is remarkable 
 that the two words may symbolize by their numbers 
 the Sun and the Earth, for i66-| is the side of a 
 rhombus having a perimeter of 666, and 660 is ^ 
 of the Earth's diameter in miles. And 660+166 
 r:: 826, which is the diagonal of a square whose 
 area is equal to a circle 660 in diameter. Again, 
 
RITUAL. 287 
 
 826 is the side of a rhombus whose perimeter is 
 3>307> which is the height of a cross having a 
 transverse beam 1,075 long; it will, therefore, 
 crucify the figure of the Logos, whose body measures 
 (1,075 X 2 zz) 2,150. The circle surrounding the 
 figure has a circumference of 3,378, or the number 
 of miles in the diameter of the moon's orbit divided 
 by 12 twice. 
 
 The Baptistry of the early Basilicas (as at Tor- 
 cello) was built at the west end of the church, 
 occupying a position corresponding to that of the 
 Holy Sepulchre in the church at Jerusalem. It 
 was generally a detached structure, and supposing 
 the whole church to be an emblem of the ten steps 
 comprised in the cabalistic diagram, the Baptistry 
 appropriately typifies the tenth step, which was a 
 personification of the great mother Earth, or the 
 heavenly spouse of the Logos, called the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 The Eucharist, as the supreme mystery of the 
 church, was the last ceremony of initiation, and 
 constituted the final enlightenment of the Christian 
 neophyte. In the early Church it was a secret 
 orgy, celebrated at night, like the Greek mysteries. 
 No unbelievers. Gentiles, or Catechumens, were 
 admitted. As everybody knows, it was analogous 
 to the Jewish feast of the Passover, and com- 
 memorated the Paschal Supper, partaken of by 
 Christ and his disciples on the eve of his betrayal. 
 
 On the 14th day of the month of Nisan (March), 
 the Hebrews killed a lamb, which was roasted 
 and eaten by each family with certain observances, 
 among which were the eating of unleavened cakes 
 and the drinking of four cups of wine. According 
 to Lightfoot the Jews called the third of these 
 cups the ** cup of blessing," and he says that it was 
 this cup which Jesus blessed at his last Passover. 
 The novelty, therefore, of the Christian rite chiefly 
 
288 THE CANON. 
 
 lay in their dispensing with the slaughter of the 
 lamb, a ceremony which had doubtless become 
 obsolete when the sun passed from the sign of the 
 Ram. Both Jews and Christians were alike in 
 symbolically commemorating the act of salvation 
 by the death of a victim, the only difference being 
 that the Christians, in the bloodless sacrifice, 
 assumed that the death of Christos was mystically 
 enacted at every celebration of the Mass, when 
 the faithful, according to St. Cyril, tasted the body 
 and drank the blood of their Saviour. " Judge not 
 the matter by taste," he says, " but from faith 
 be fully assured without misgiving, that thou 
 hast been vouchsafed the Body and Blood of 
 Christ." 
 
 While the ceremonies of the Pagan mysteries 
 and the Jewish Paschal feast account for the institu- 
 tion of the Christian Eucharist, its more immediate 
 prototype was the Last Supper of Christ and his 
 disciples described in the Gospel. The language 
 and words used on this occasion were considered 
 of so great importance that they were incorporated, 
 word for word, into the liturgy of Mass, and were 
 understood to convey the true meaning and pur- 
 pose of this mystic feast. That these words should 
 have been chosen with the utmost care by the 
 compilers of the Gospel may be taken for granted, 
 and if there is any truth in what has been said 
 about the numerical value of names, it is to be 
 expected that here, if anywhere, the application of 
 that system would be clearly manifest. 
 
 In St. Mark's Gospel (xiv. 22) the description 
 of the supper is given thus : " And as they did 
 eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, 
 and gave to them, and said, Take, eat ; this is my 
 body. And he took the cup, and when he had 
 given thanks he gave it to them ; and they all 
 drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my 
 
RITUAL. 209 
 
 blood of the [new] testament, which is shed for 
 many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no 
 more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I 
 drink it new in the kingdom of God/' 
 
 In the first place it is said that he took bread, 
 the element which signified his body. In the 
 original the word 'APTOS (bread) has the value of 
 671,^ and is, therefore, by the Gematria equivalent 
 to Thora and Adonai, the names of the third 
 person of the Cabalistic Triad, here synonymous 
 with the Holy Ghost, the spouse, or feminine 
 aspect of the Logos. And the word EliMA (body) 
 yields the number 1,041, or the radius of the 
 sphere of the Zodiac contained within the Holy 
 Oblation (1,041-^ x 2 1= 2,083). This measure may 
 be taken as an emblem of the vital essence, or 
 spirit of life, surrounding the whole material 
 universe, and exhibits the bride by a figure, 
 analogous to the Greek Aphrodite Ourania. Next, 
 it is said, " He took the cup," which figuratively 
 stands also for the wine which was in it. The 
 Greek word used here for cup is nOTHPION, and 
 it is numerically equal to 688, which is the diameter 
 of a circle having a circumference of 2,162, the 
 number of miles in the moon's diameter. By this it 
 may be supposed that the sublunary world is 
 intended, from the four elements of which the 
 body of the Logos was compounded, in the shape 
 of a cross, the masculine emblem. Then 'AIMA 
 
 ^ The fact that dpTOQ yields 671 may explain the sarcastic 
 remark of the puritanical Gale, that, "The great sacrifice which 
 the sons of Antichrist so much adore is that of their Masse, or 
 Hostie, as they call it, wherein they sacrifice and eat their 
 Breaden God, in commemoration, as they fancie, of Christ's 
 sacrifice on the crosse . . . which is a piece of idolatrie so 
 monstrous that Averroes himself abhorred it, crying out that he 
 had rather his soul should be with the philosophers than with 
 such as did eat their God" ("Court of the Gentiles," vol. iii., 
 p. 200). 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 (blood) yields 52, the square root of 2,704, the 
 perimeter of a rhombus whose sides are 676. 
 
 Again, the sides of the two interlacing triangles, 
 forming a Solomon's Seal within the Holy Oblation, 
 measure 1, 805*4, and the names of the two elements, 
 with the addition of the article, amount to 1,803. 
 
 oc^roq (the bread) 
 TO woTYipiou (the cup) 
 
 741 + 2 
 1,058 + 2 
 
 1799 + 4= i>8o3. 
 
 The two names synonymous with those are : 
 
 TO a-cofxoc (the body) . . 1,411 
 TO aT/xa (the blood) . . 422 
 
 1.833 
 
 and the Holy Oblation, when the sun's distance is 
 taken at 10, measures i92'9 (216 : 2,o83'3 : : 10 : : 
 192-9). Now 192*9 X 9*5 zi 1,832*5. 
 
 By the Bread and the Cup, therefore, we see 
 the symbols of the masculine and feminine powers 
 of the universe commingled together. And thus 
 the Christian philosophers, like their predecessors, 
 typically celebrated the marriage of the cosmic 
 powers, which every spring revivify the earth, 
 causing her to bring forth her yearly fruits. 
 
 In the Greek Church the Oblation, or Host was 
 marked with a cross, having the inscription, 
 ^^'iHSOrs XPISTGS NIKA" (Jesus Christ con- 
 quers) abbreviated in the four corners thus : 
 
 liG 
 
 
 rirr/ 
 
 iMOHM 
 
 FIG. 24.^R0CK's "HIERURGIA," P. 2o8. 
 
RITUAL. 291 
 
 The number of letters retained is six, agreeing with 
 the six members of the body of the Cabalistic 
 Logos, and their numerical value being 1,080, or 
 the number of miles in the radius of the moon, it 
 exhibits a figure of the sublunary world composed 
 of the four elements. Another method of marking 
 the oblation was with 2 Chis crossing one another, 
 The letter, Chi, having the value of 600, the two 
 together yield 1,200, and a vesica 1,200 broad, is 
 2,080 long, or the side of the Holy Oblation, 
 therefore this device upon the offering may be 
 said to signify the figure of Christos, extended 
 crosswise throughout the whole universe. The 
 offering or oblation was also called Anaphora, 
 which is a combination of the two words, aVa, 52, 
 and ^o^d., 67 1 . The conjunction of the two numbers 
 is presumably intentional. In Hebrew the word 
 Ben (son) yields 52, which is moreover the square 
 root of 2,704, the perimeter of the rhombus whose 
 sides are 676. 
 
 The Seventy apply the word 'AIIAPXH, 790, to 
 the Holy Oblation, and 789I is the width of a 
 vesica formed by two intersecting circles, whose 
 united width is 2,368, which appropriately identi- 
 fied the offering, or victim, with the Messiah, 
 Jesus Christ, whose body was mystically encom- 
 passed by the figure of Ezekiel. The word 
 Anaphora, again, has the value of 723, which is a 
 fraction more than the length of a rhombus whose 
 sides are 4i6-§-. Now the city in the centre of 
 the Holy Oblation has been shown to measure 
 4i6f on each of its sides, so this rhombus may be 
 taken as a secret emblem of the same figure. 
 
 Not only were the elements of the mass sym- 
 bolical, but every detail of the ritual, the vestments 
 of the celebrant, the utensils and furnishing of the 
 altar, had each their meaning, and convey some 
 circumstance in the Passion of Christ. In the 
 
292 THE CANON. 
 
 ** Book of Ceremonies " or '* Rationale," drawn up 
 by Cranmer in 1542, we are told that *' the Amice, 
 as touching the mystery, signifies the veil with 
 which the Jews covered the face of Christ when 
 they buffeted him/' 
 
 *'The Albe, as touching the mystery, mani- 
 fests the white garment wherewith Herod 
 clothed Christ in mockery when he sent him to 
 Pilate." 
 
 ** The Girdle, as touching the mystery, signifies 
 the scourge with which Christ was scourged." It 
 was also said to be the cord by which he was 
 bound in the garden. 
 
 ''The Stole, as touching the mystery, signifies 
 the ropes or bands with which Christ was bound 
 to the pillar, when he was scourged." 
 
 " The Maniple, or Phanon, admonisheth him 
 of ghostly strength," and was also said to be the 
 cord which bound him to the pillar. 
 
 The Chasuble signified the seamless garment, 
 or purple robe. 
 
 The altar represented the cross ; the chalice the 
 Sepulchre of Christ ; the paten the stone rolled to 
 the door of the sepulchre ; and the altar cloths, 
 the corporal, and pall symbolized "the linen in 
 which the body of Christ was shrouded." 
 
 Each gesture ^ and act of the priests during the 
 
 ^ " I have often read in books of magicians, and their works 
 and experiments, certain and, as they seemed to nie, ridiculous 
 gesturings . . . but after I did more seriously examine the 
 matter, then I did presently understand that they were not the 
 compacts of divels, but thai there lay in them the reason of 
 numbers^ by which the ancients did by the various bending for- 
 ward and backward their hands and fingers represent numbers, 
 by whose gesturings the magicians did silently signifie words 
 unknown by sound. . . . The rites whereof Martianus makes 
 mention of in his Arithmetick, saying, The fingers of the Virgin 
 were moved all manner of ways, who after she went in, did by 
 expressing 717 numbers with her bended fingers call upon 
 
RITUAL. 293 
 
 celebration was also Imitative of the events of the 
 Passion, and had an esoteric import. By taking 
 three steps back from the altar, and humbling 
 himself before beginning the mass, the celebrant 
 expressed the prostration of Christ in the Garden. 
 
 " Ascending to the altar, the priest kisseth the 
 middle of it, because the altar signifies the Church." 
 
 *' The Gospel was read at the north end of the 
 altar to signify that Satan's Kingdom (seated in 
 the north, Lev. i. 14) is destroyed." 
 
 The offerings were signed five times to signify 
 Chri.st's five wounds, and the Host and Chalice 
 were signed three times, to denote the three hours 
 which Christ hung on the Cross. 
 
 The uncovering of the chalice, and signing it 
 three times with the Host, indicate the rending 
 the veil of the Temple. 
 
 The laying down of the Host upon the corporal, 
 and then covering the chalice again, signified the 
 descent from the Cross, and the silence which fol- 
 lowed denoted Christ's period in the grave. The 
 Host, divided into three parts, signified the dividing 
 of the Body into hands, side, and feet. 
 
 The particle of the Host, put into the chalice, 
 symbolized the *' re -uniting of our Saviour's Body 
 and Soul" (W. Turner, '* Hist, of all Religions," 
 1625, pp. 263-264). 
 
 The ceremonial acts just enumerated follow 
 
 Jupiter. But that these things may be the better understood, 
 I shall bring something out of Beda who saith, When thou 
 sayest one, bend in the little finger on thy left hand, and set it 
 in the middle of the Palme; when thou sayest two, etc." 
 (Cornelius Agrippa, " Occult Philosophy," bk. ii., ch. xiv). The 
 number 717 mentioned here is the height of a rood cross, which 
 would crucify the Logos in a square equal to the New Jerusalem ; 
 and the square inclosing the cross has a perimeter of 2,868, the 
 sum of the numbers obtained from the Hebrew names of the 
 ten steps of the cabala. It is also width of a vesica produced 
 by two circles, whose united breadth is 2,151. Again, the value 
 of Mapta^ rj irapdevoi:, the Virgin Mary, is 715 + 2 = 717. 
 
294 THE CANON. 
 
 the order of the office as performed in the Latin 
 Church, but they by no means exhaust the mys- 
 teries of this profoundly symboHc rite. 
 
 In the Church of Rome the mass was called 
 missa, for no very obvious reason, but if the letters 
 of the word are computed, according to the Hebrew 
 valuations, its numerical value is 651, or the 
 diameter of the circle having a circumference 
 equal to the diameter of Saturn's orbit ; being 
 equivalent by Gematria to Teletai, mystic rites, 
 and to Episteme, science, it may fitly represent the 
 nature of the knowledge communicated to the 
 initiate who was allowed to partake of the feast 
 with an instructed and enlightened mind. 
 
 The baptismal rite, as already pointed out, was 
 performed in a chamber at the west end of the 
 church, but the Eucharist was offered at the altar 
 in the east, within the bema or sanctuary. By 
 referring to the plan of the Basilica of Torcello, it 
 will be seen that the church, according to the 
 practice of the time, has a threefold termination, 
 and supposing the church to represent the cabal- 
 istic diagram, this triple arrangement would cor- 
 respond to the three upper steps. 
 
 The east end of the Gothic churches was built 
 in the form of a tau cross, the western half of the 
 church being of a long rectangular shape, resem- 
 bling Noah's Ark, which is probably connected 
 with the name, ship, or nave, given to this part of 
 the building. Therefore the east end of the church 
 exhibits the symbol of the Macrocosm or Father, 
 who is the antithesis of the Bride, allocated to the 
 west. While the choir or choros, 1,040, between 
 the two, figuratively contained the seven circles of 
 the planets, with the body of Christ in the midst 
 of them. That this threefold arrangement of the 
 Christian church agrees with the pattern of a 
 masonic lodge, may be shown from an examination 
 
RITUAL. 295 
 
 of an old "Tracing Board," preserved at the 
 Masonic Hall, Great Queen Street. 
 
 In the working of a masonic degree the sym- 
 bolical lodge is not the room in which the cere- 
 mony is performed, but the emblematic design 
 which is painted upon a movable board and laid 
 upon the floor. As the initiate advances the lodge 
 changes its character, and in every degree he finds 
 a new board before him, the symbolic devices 
 upon it being appropriate to each step in the 
 ritual. The particular specimen before us is not 
 more than a hundred years old, but it was probably 
 designed according to a traditional plan handed 
 down from remote times. On one side it shows a 
 lodge of the first and second degrees, and on the 
 other, that of the third degree. The proportion 
 of the Board is very nearly in the ratio of 3 : i, 
 that is to say, it is composed of three squares laid 
 in a row, and is consequently of the same propor- 
 tion as the floor of the tabernacle. 
 
 The events enacted in the Masonic ritual are, of 
 course, supposed to take place at the building of 
 Solomon's Temple, and in the first degree the 
 apprentice enters into the porch, which is symbol- 
 ized on the lodge board by the two Pillars with a 
 doorway between them. It has been said that the 
 Temple of Solomon is figuratively set forth in 
 every church, and if, as we have supposed, the 
 Temple followed the pattern of the Cabalistic 
 diagram, then the apprentice, being brought into 
 the porch, which ,has been identified with the 
 tenth step, must symbolically ascend from the 
 earth to the highest heaven. At first the candidate 
 only sees half of the board, for he is admitted no 
 farther than the porch or sublunary world. 
 
 In the next degree as a fellow craft, he enters 
 into the holy place of the Temple, when, the other 
 half of the tracing board being unfolded, he sees a 
 
296 THE CANON. 
 
 "Point within a circle" bounded by two parallel 
 lines, denoting the universe, the ladder expressing 
 the intervals between the planetary orbits, and the 
 sun, moon, and seven stars completing the 
 number of the heavenly bodies. It has already 
 been shown that the six steps, intermediate between 
 the tenth and the third, were referred by cabalists 
 to the Logos, or the second person of the triad. 
 Accordingly the fellow craft sees in these emblems 
 on the floor a figure of the Microcosm whose 
 body occupies the region between the moon and 
 the zodiac. The choir in the middle of a church 
 correspond3 to the tracing board of a fellow craffs 
 lodge. 
 
 For the third degree the tracing board is turned 
 over, and the candidate is confronted with the half 
 open coffin. He has passed through the elements 
 as an embryo, traversed the planetary orbits as a 
 man, and now having left the material world 
 behind, he enters the empyreum or three hypo- 
 thetical circles which surround the zodiac. The 
 Holy of Holies of the Temple was supposed to 
 symbolize this region, corresponding to the three 
 upper steps of the Cabala under the name of the 
 Macrocosm or Father. So the initiate now 
 personates Father Hiram, the master builder of 
 Solomon, whose spirit in death ascends to the 
 spheres of Heaven, which the ancients supposed 
 to be the dwelling place of souls. Thus the 
 masonic ritual epitomizes, in its three stages, the 
 whole compass of existence, both cosmic and 
 human. The apprentice personates the man in 
 his embryonic or antenatal period, the fellow craft 
 represents him in the flesh, while the masters 
 death allegorically signifies the transmission of the 
 soul to the starry fluid of the Empyreum, from 
 which it re-issues into a new sphere of life, in 
 another incarnation. The fitness of the altar, as a 
 
RITUAL. 297 
 
 place for celebrating the mystical rite of the 
 Eucharist, or the passing of the spirit to its new 
 body, will now be apparent. 
 
 The emblematic order of the tracing board may 
 be compared with the disposition of a Christian 
 church, described by that truly instructed mason, 
 Dr. Oliver (*' Discrepancies," p. 103). The diagram 
 fepresents the six square sides of a cube, laid in 
 the form of a cross, each square having a suitable 
 name, taken from the New Testament. 
 
 'AyaTT*], 93 
 (i John iv. 16) 
 
 LOVE. 
 Xocptg, 911 'EATTt?, 325 Uia-Tigj 800 
 
 (Heb. vi. 19) (Heb. vi. 19) (Heb. xi. i) 
 
 CHARITY. HOPE. FAITH. 
 
 AXvidsiCCy 64 
 
 (Eph. iv. 15) 
 
 TRUTH. 
 Atajtoi/ia, 166 
 
 (Acts xi. 29) 
 
 RELIEF. 
 
 He explains that "in the progress of a Christain 
 from this world to a better, he first enters as a 
 catechumen at the narthex, or ante-temple in the 
 west, under the assurance of relief from worldly 
 trouble ; presses forward into the naos or church 
 militant, where dwelleth Truth ; and having at 
 length advanced, by the practice of Christian 
 charity, through the gates of Faith and Hope, he 
 enters by the partes sanctcB into the bema, chancel 
 or choir, the Church Triumphant," the sanctuary 
 of Love. When the numbers are examined, the 
 meaning is made still clearer. First, the number 
 93 ascribed to the chancel gives the height of a 
 
298 THE CANON. 
 
 man 888 high {g^^ ^9^ = 888). Then the triad, 
 composed of the transepts and sanctuary, amounts 
 to (93 + 800 + 911 — ) 1,804 oi" I l^ss than the 
 side of a triangle inscribed within the Holy Oblation, 
 Secondly, to the middle point, at the crossing of 
 the transepts and nave, is assigned the number 
 325, and the cross, whose limbs are 325^, measures 
 651. If we add to this 64, we get 389, or i less 
 than the number oi polis, a city, and the side of a 
 rhombus 676 feet long. These two middle names, 
 applied to the church '* Militant," represent the 
 stauros and omphalos in the centre of the world. 
 Thirdly, the number of the porch is 166, or i 
 more than the side of a rhombus whose perimeter 
 is 660, the diameter of the earth. Lastly, the sum 
 of the six numbers is 2,359 + 6 := 2,365, which 
 IS apparently intended for 2,368, Jesus Christ. 
 
 A further connection between the three degrees, 
 and the " Church Expectant, the Church Militant, 
 and the Church Triumphant " is noticed by Oliver. 
 A mason's lodge is theoretically supported by 
 three pillars, called in Hebrew, dbr (wisdom), 
 OTZ (strength), and gmr (beauty). The nu- 
 merical value of the three names is 426, the side 
 of a square inclosed by a rhombus whose sides are 
 671. Now, besides being the numerical equivalent 
 of the English word masonry, 671 is numerically 
 equal to Thorah, the law (** Discrepancies," pp. 
 104 and 188). 
 
 Geometrically, the 'measures of the tracing- 
 board fully bear out the statements in the ritual, 
 that the lodge is as long as the east is from the 
 west, and as broad as the north is from the south, 
 and as high as the heavens. It measures extern- 
 ally about 64x21-1 inches, and seems to have 
 been ingeniously contrived to include all the 
 canonical numbers of the universe. For the vesica, 
 which contains the board, is 48-| wide, the square 
 
RITUAL. 299 
 
 root of 2,368. Then the perimeter is lyo^- inches, 
 or X2" ^^ the diameter of Saturn's orbit measured 
 
 by the sun's diameter ( ' '^ nz lyo^j. 
 
 Again, the perimeter of the inner Hne of the 
 denticulated border is 15579, and 15579x9-5 — 
 1480. 
 
 Thus indirectly the numbers 2,368, 2,046, and 
 1,480 are obtained in a very simple way. 
 
 Further, the number 64 implies the measure of 
 the Holy Oblation, for the sum of the numbers 
 from I to 64 =1 2,080. Also 64 inches are equal 
 to 192 barleycorns, and 192 is the numerical 
 equivalent of the name Mariam. 
 
 The area of the space inclosed by the border is 
 (60 X 18 n:) 1,080 inches, or the number of miles 
 in the moon's radius, and the numerical equivalent 
 of To Pneuma Hagion, the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The rhombus which contains the board has a 
 perimeter of 231 inches, which is also the circuit 
 of the lid of the pyramid-coffer. 
 
 The hexagon which surrounds the board has a 
 perimeter of 691, or the length of the sun's orbit. 
 
 If the board be inclosed by a Solomon's Seal, 
 the measure of the interlacing triangles from point 
 to point is 384 barleycorns, or the amount of the 
 sun's distance measured by the tone. 
 
 Then if the lesser Man of Vitruvius be drawn 
 within a square equal to the length of the board, 
 the perimeter of the square is 768 barleycorns, 
 and a vesica 768 long is 443 broad, or the nu- 
 merical value of Xoyoq, the word. The square 
 containing the greater man, being double the 
 last, has a perimeter of 365 inches. 
 
 If a circle I4'2 inches in diameter be drawn in 
 the middle of the tracing board, to represent the 
 orbit of Saturn — that is, 2,046 divided by 12 
 twice — it will appear to be supported by the two 
 
300 THE CANON. 
 
 pillars, Jachin and Boaz, and the two globes 
 placed upon these columns may have had their 
 origin from this circumstance. 
 
 The mutilated and contorted body of Hiram 
 was often shown lying in the coffins, depicted on 
 tracing boards of the third degree. In the present 
 instance the length of the coffin is 48-I inches, or 
 the square root of 2, 368, which implies that 
 Hiram was a personification of Jesus Christ. It 
 is impossible to discuss the Masonic legend here, 
 since the masons, unlike the Christian priests, still 
 perform their ceremonies in secret, but all who 
 are initiated know that the import of Hiram^s 
 death is exactly analogous to that of Christos, and 
 that the third degree is symbolically similar to the 
 Eucharistic rite, which in the early Church was 
 enacted with the same secrecy and mystery as is 
 still observed in the raising of a master mason. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 " God did, in a manner^ tie up the Church of the Jeijus to 
 Types, Figures, and Similitudes .... yea , ... as it see^ns 
 to me the whole Land of Canaan, the place of their lot to dwell 
 in, was to them a Ceremonial or a Figure. Their Land was a 
 Type of Heaven.^'' — Bunyan's "Solomon's Temple," p. 4. 
 
 It would appear that the same system of cosmic 
 imitation which was appHed to the temple was ex- 
 tended on a larger scale to countries and cities, and 
 even to the whole inhabitable world. Strabo, the 
 oldest classical writer on geography whose work 
 has survived to our time, says, *' in its figure the 
 habitable earth resembles a chlamys or soldier's 
 cloak." He computes its breadth to be under 
 30,000 stadia, and its length at 70,000, thus the 
 length of the habitable earth is above twice its 
 breadth. Now the Greek word chlamys has the 
 numerical value of 1,271, and consequently by 
 Gematria it is equivalent to stauros, a cross, and 
 the proportions of a rood cross being in the ratio 
 of 28 : 13, its length is rather more than double its 
 breadth. However, if the length of such a cross 
 were 70,000, its transverse beam would measure 
 32,500, so that the measurements only approximate 
 those of the rood cross. Still the use of the word 
 chlamys, and the entirely arbitrary limit to the in- 
 habitable space of the world suggests a mystical 
 intention on Strabo's part.^ 
 
 ^ The symbol of the world has been for centuries a cross 
 within a circle, and the name mundus has the value of 406, 
 
302 THE CANON. 
 
 Kosmas, an Egyptian monk of the sixth century, 
 in his '* Christian Topography " tried to prove 
 that the earth was a rectangle, whose length was 
 more than twice its breadth. Ephorus, again, 
 appears to have divided the world saltire-wise, 
 after the image of the Microcosm, for he says, **if 
 the whole celestial and terrestrial globe were 
 divided into four parts, the Indians would possess 
 that towards the east, the Ethiopians towards the 
 south, the Kelts towards the west, and the 
 Scythians towards the north " (Strabo, bk. i., 
 ch. 28), Thus it seems evident that the ancient 
 geographers mapped out the world, according 
 to some of the canonical forms which have been 
 described in the preceding pages. 
 
 But not only was the whole earth conceived as 
 an illustration of the Canon law, but every country 
 was seemingly made to conform to the same 
 hypothetical standard — Palestine, for instance, 
 being regarded by the Jews and Christians as the 
 Canonical land, while a similar idea guided the 
 Greeks in assigning a mystical significance to the 
 various regions and cities of their country. The 
 word Canaan applied to the Holy Land seems to 
 have some connection with the word canon. In 
 Greek, xa^wv ^ is derived from xccvua, or xai/m, a reed, 
 and meant a measuring rod or carpenter's rule. 
 The Hebrew word for a reed is qnh (Kanah),and 
 
 the equivalent of ThV, Tau, and the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 1,276, the height of a rood cross which will 
 crucify a man in a square having a perimeter of 2,368. Ac- 
 cordingly, when we see the cruciform figure drawn upon Eb- 
 storf's map (p. 316), we can perhaps understand the intention 
 of Strabo when he said that the habitable earth was in ^hape 
 like a soldier's cloak (Chlamys, 1,271). 
 
 ^ The word d00aX/^dc, the eye, is equivalent by Gematria to 
 Kanon^ and it is said in the Talmud, that "the world is like 
 the eyeball of a man : the white is the ocean which surrounds 
 the world, the black is the world itself, the pupil is Jerusalem, 
 and the image of the pupil is the Temple." 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 303 
 
 is presumably of kindred origin. Numerically 
 QNH is equivalent to 155, and this number denotes 
 its purport as a symbol. For, by the proportions 
 of Cesariano's lesser figure, 155^ measures the 
 phallus of a man, who is 1,480 high, that is, of a 
 man stretched crosswise within the Holy Oblation. 
 And the land of Canaan, or Palestine, measures 
 from Dan to Beersheba about 155 miles. The 
 Hebrew name knaan yields 840, a number 
 already discussed under the name Microcosmos. 
 The Seventy translate Canaanites, ^oivixsg or 
 Phoenicians, and in Greek Canaan was called xna, 
 which has the value of 651, the diameter of a 
 circle having a circumference of 2,046, the diameter 
 of Saturn's orbit. All these numbers obviously 
 agree in defining the Holy Land as a Microcosm, 
 or lesser image of the world. 
 
 The Greek word KANX2N, 921, favours a similar 
 interpretation, for 96*8 x 9*5 ^919*6, or i and 
 a fraction less than 921 ; and 96*8 is the radius of 
 the circle containing the square 1,480, taking the 
 sun's distance at 10. The word would therefore 
 mean the rule, or scale, which measures the 
 universe by the figure of a man. Menasseh Ben 
 Israel {'' Conciliator," vol. ii., p. 115) says, that the 
 body has 248 members, 365 nerves, and 307 bones ; 
 those three numbers amount to 920, and sum up 
 all the philosophy of the Hebrew law in a man's 
 body. For the Mosaic Tables were written in 
 two columns, 306 words on the one side, and 307 
 on the other, the whole number of words being 
 613.^ By transposition 921 may be converted 
 
 ^ And, "It is written" (Exod. iii. 5), "This is my name, 
 and this is my memorial." *'My name," together with Ve/io, 
 amounts numerically to 365 ; Va/i, together with "my memo- 
 rial," amounts to 248. Here we have the number 613 in the 
 "Holy One— blessed be He !" ("Talmudic Miscell.," p. 325). 
 This division of the Law into 613 precepts was called Theriog 
 (ThRIG) a name which has the numerical value of 613. 
 
304 THE CANON. 
 
 into 912, the numerical equivalent of the name 
 Prometheus. So the Radius, or rod, was like the 
 hollow reed {narthex), which "has shown itself 
 a teacher of every art" (^schylus). Otherwise 
 transposed, the three numerals become 219, the 
 diameter of the sun*s orbit; or again, 192, the 
 side of the Holy Oblation if the sun's distance be 
 taken at 10 (216 : 2,083^ : : 10 : : i92'9). 
 
 Analogous to the narthex of Prometheus was 
 the Syrinx, or Pipe of Pan. The story of its 
 origin is told by Longus as follows : " This Syrinx, 
 the musicke whereof hath been from Pan recounted 
 always so excellent, was not at the first an instru- 
 ment, but was a faire young maide, of favour and 
 feature most singular & perfect, wel loved she to 
 chaunt foorth hir laies, with grace most wonderful, 
 and harmonic right pleasant. . . . Pan frequently at 
 this time frequented the fields and pastures ... & 
 hearing the wonderful and variable notes she sang, 
 drew neere unto the place, and seeing that as wel 
 with excellent cunning, as with most rare and 
 piercing beautie she was replenished, he boldly 
 stept to hir, because he was a god, & praied at hir 
 hands the thing he most desired. . . . But Syrinx 
 nothing regarding these amorous offers, scoffed 
 rather at his shape. . . . The god, angry at her dis- 
 dainful usage, intended to take hir by force, but 
 shee preventing his fraud by flight, endeavoured 
 to escape, & he still pursued her. And feeling her- 
 self in thend to be greatly wearied, she suddenly 
 got at last among the reeds, and therein creeping 
 from place to place wound herself out of sight. 
 But Pan, enraged with greater vehemencie than 
 before, in that he could not overtaike hir, cutte 
 down the reeds in haste, in minde to seek & sue 
 after her, and not finding anything else besides the 
 marshes, for that she was utterly vanished . . . and 
 sorrowing greatly for the Nymph, whome he 
 
GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 305 
 
 knewe to have beene converted into ^a reede, hee 
 cropped the same reede also from the place, and 
 
 A Faciea Eubicundajcaloris via inMundo, 
 B RadtorumccElcitium in fublunariq vir- 
 C Elenienca mafculinj .' (tus . 
 
 D Potcftasin annuoiKncrqj'rcuoIucioncs. 
 E Virtute eiua omnia Ailciiineur. 
 F Domiolum in firm^mentum 1 feu iixa- 
 
 rum (lellaTum fjihceram . 
 G Terra (clementUEi foemin.) hifpida_, 
 
 plantis, fatis, arboribufquc- 
 H AquE & liquoris fons ( cicm. fccm . ) ri- 
 .'rU, gatiooe fcecuudans terram. 
 I Agri, fcgercs, aliaquc vegctabilia . 
 KHarmonia 7. PlanccarutiiJ. , 
 LATpcra 8c inaequaliamontes indicant, 
 M Vis iccciinditatma. 
 N StabiJe fundamentum;v 
 O Vis ventorum, & cclcricas ia agend(>?r 
 
 FIG. 25. — TO DAN, THE UNIVERSE. FROM KIRCHER's "CEDIPUS," 
 TOM. II.j PARS I. P. 204. 
 
 thereof framed in seven quills his arcificial and 
 excellent pipe, the most sweete and delicate instru- 
 ment of any other, the pleasantnes whereof record- 
 
306 l^HE CANON. 
 
 ing yet the melody of hir from whence it came " 
 {** Daphnis and Chloe," bk. ii.)/ The Pipe of 
 reeds whose tune set forth the seven-voiced 
 harmony of the planets, exhibited in the hands of 
 Pan, 131, the cosmic mystery, which ruled the 
 practice of Hellenic art. For 132 is the side of a 
 square contained within the orbit of Saturn, if the 
 sun's distance be taken at 10 (220 : 2,046 : : 10 : : 
 186). Numerically Syrinx has a similar signi- 
 ficance, ']']2i (lupty^) being i and a fraction 
 less than the perimeter of the Holy Oblation 
 (i93'6 X 4 := 774'4). Apollo's Lyre was likewise 
 conceived as a counterpart of this, Lyra having 
 the value of 531, the width of a vesica whose 
 length is 921 (>cai/wi/), and Callimachus relates that 
 *' swans, tuneful minstrels of the god, having left 
 Mseonian Pactolus, circled seven times around 
 Delos, and chaunted over Leto in childbirth, birds 
 of the muses as they are, most tuneful of winged 
 fowl. Hence aftertvard the boy fitted to the lyre 
 just so many strings, as the times the swans had 
 chaunted over her throes'' (Hymn to Delos, v. 250), 
 And again he says, " Thee, fragrant Asterie, the 
 islands circle round about, and, as it were, encom- 
 pass thee with a choir." 
 
 The Greeks apparently recognized that the 
 Egyptian Osiris personified the Canon, for his 
 name, according to Plutarch, is equal to 920 
 ('rsiPIS). 
 
 The statement of Gale (Court of Gent., vol. iii., 
 p. 216), that ** the Jews, in imitation of the Pytha- 
 
 ^ Compare this with the exposition of the Myth in Bacon's 
 ''Advancement of Learning," bk. ii., ch. xiii. "The two en- 
 signs which Pan bears in his hands, do point, the one at 
 Harmony, the other at Empiry : for the Pipe of Seven Reeds 
 doth evidently demonstrate the consent and harmony, or dis- 
 cordant concord of Nature, which is caused by the motion of 
 the seven wandring stars : for there are no errors or manifest 
 expiations in heaven save those of the Seven Planets." 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 307 
 
 forean Institutes, made the Cabala their Godex or 
 [^anon-law," has already been quoted, and its 
 Lccuracy with respect to the geographical distribu- 
 ion of Palestine and Jerusalem appears to be 
 imply verified. The land of Hellas seems to 
 lave been fancifully treated by the poets in the 
 iame way. Accordingly, if the cabalistic diagram 
 )e drawn upon the map of Greece, so that the 
 ;ummit or " crown " falls upon Mount Olympus, 
 md the "foundation" upon the extremity of 
 Mount Tainaros, it will be seen that Delphi 
 ■oughly marks the centre of the figure, while the 
 eastern boundary passes through Athens, and just 
 is Ganaan is i55"79 miles long, so Greece, from 
 Dlympus to Tainaros, measures 249I- miles (249-! 
 X g^ = 2,368). The Island of Grete, to the 
 ;outh-east, will supply the tenth step, which is 
 ktached from the main figure like an island. 
 
 Because Homer and the Greek poets allude to 
 31ympus as the dwelling-place of the gods, people 
 )f the present day suppose that the Greeks were 
 :redulous enough to believe that if any one climbed 
 o the top of that mountain he would probably 
 lurprise the immortal gods in council, or become 
 in enraptured listener to the divine choir of the 
 nuses. Whether even the clod-pate, who had 
 pent his life in an Arcadian ditch, believed such 
 tories, it would be difficult nowadays to ascer- 
 ain, but the ease with which our learned men are 
 .ble to impute such credulity to the crafty Homer 
 .nd his readers, is a touching indication of that 
 hildlike faith of their own, which is one of the 
 narvels of the age. 
 
 But if. instead of regarding the Greek poets as 
 teing filled with a strange and improbable super- 
 tition — which is belied both by the skill and 
 igenuity of their writings, and by the testimony 
 f the oldest critics — we suppose that geography 
 
308 THE CANON. 
 
 supplied a means of setting forth the mysteries of 
 the Canon, we may find a reason for their other- 
 wise unaccountable fables. For, assuming that 
 Olympus was the crown of the Cabala, it becomes 
 at once evident how it might be figuratively con- 
 sidered as the region of the Empyreum, and the 
 habitation of the gods. 
 
 Olympus was the most northern of the two 
 other peaks, Ossa and Pelion, which were gener- 
 ally associated with it. It is generally called 
 makros by Homer, and, together with the other 
 two, was evidently viewed by the poets as an 
 emblem of Macrocosmos, the triad at the summit 
 of the diagram. 
 
 The numbers of the three names are Olympos, 
 890, Ossa, 471, and Pelion, 248. By Gematria 
 Olympus is equivalent to Ouranos, 891, Heaven ; 
 and 471, the number of the name Ossa, is the 
 diameter of a circle whose circumference is 1,480, 
 the side of the square enclosed by the sphere of 
 the Zodiac ; and, if i and a fraction be added 
 to 248, the numerical equivalent to the name 
 Pelion, we get the number 2,368, for 249|- x <^\ 
 zn 2,368. Then the sum of the three numbers is 
 1,609, which is the circumference of a circle 512 
 in diameter (512 X4 = 2,048). The legend that 
 the timber for the ship Argo was hewn on Mount 
 Pelion further indicates its meaning and place in 
 the triad. 
 
 Athens, by its position, ought to have the sig- 
 nificance of the fifth step in the diagram, and 
 would symbolize one of the two cabalistic laws. 
 For this reason, apparently, Athene was selected 
 as the goddess of the city, since one of her chief 
 characteristics was her personification of the 
 number 5, her mysterious birth from the forehead 
 of Zeus expressing this idea. The name 'Afiii'vat 
 has the value of 79, the square root of 6,241, a 
 
GEOGRAPHY, 309 
 
 number which is the perimeter of a triangle whose 
 sides are 2,080, the side of the Holy Oblation. 
 The number 79 and a fraction is also the diameter 
 of a circle whose circumference is 249-I-, the mystic 
 measure of the body of a man 2,368 high (249^ 
 X 9^ = 2,368). 
 
 The site of Delphi, the metropolis or canonical 
 city of Greece, was said to have been determined 
 from its being the place where the two eagles of 
 Zeus met. These had been sent, the one from 
 the East and the other from the West, and 
 alighted at the middle point, or navel of the 
 world. According to the Cabala, they would 
 represent the emanations from the fourth and 
 fifth steps. The name Delphi has an obvious 
 connection with Delphys, the womb, and its 
 numerical value is 619. When this number is 
 read backwards it becomes 916, the product of 
 96-45 X 9^; again 169 x 4 = 676 ; otherwise trans- 
 posed it becomes 691, the length of the sun's 
 orbit. Finally 619 is the sum of the numbers of 
 the two names, Helios, 318, and Selene, 301, the 
 sun and the moon. This combination of the male 
 and female powers of the universe was expressed 
 in the Temple of Apollo by the Cleft in the rock, 
 and the Tripod, which stood over it. The two 
 eagles, the two mythical architects, Trophonios 
 and Agamedes,^ with other indications of duality 
 all bring us to the omphalos and staurosy sym- 
 bolically united at this place. The two latter 
 words have the numerical value of 1,271, the 
 length of the diagonals of a square whose sides 
 are equal to the radius of Saturn's orbit, if the 
 sun's distance be taken at 10 ; and their conjunc- 
 tion at the middle of the earth clearly exemplifies 
 
 ^ The names Triphonios and Agamedes yield the numbers 
 2,100 and 265, and, by adding colel to each, we get 2,367, or 
 I less than 2,368. 
 
3IO THE CANON. 
 
 the geographical application of the microcosmic 
 theory. 
 
 The whole arrangement of the Temple re- 
 sembled that of the Jews, with the great altar 
 (Pw/Ao?) of sacrifice in the court before the door. 
 Its name, Pythion, has the same value as Delphi, 
 namely, 619. This was from Pytho (Jlufiw) the 
 original name of the place. Numerically, Pytho 
 yields 1,288, which is i less than the diagonal 
 of a square whose sides are 912 J, consequently its 
 perimeter is 3,650, the distance of Saturn's orbit 
 measured by the Tone. The Tripod, upon which 
 the priestess sat who delivered the oracles, stood 
 in the innermost sanctuary of the Temple, called 
 To"Apt/)o;/, 941 (the cave), "aJ'utoi', 825 (adytum), or 
 '^'^X^^-* ^'3^o (recess). Of these numbers the first 
 with the addition of colel is the diagonal of a 
 square whose sides are 666 ; the second is the 
 diagonal of a square whose area is equal to that 
 of a circle 660 in diameter, and 825 being the 
 numerical equivalent of irhpo;, the stone, may 
 account for the curious legend that the Holy of 
 Holies of Solomon's Temple was built upon a 
 stone, which was the foundation of the world ; the 
 third number is the numerical equivalent of Tetra- 
 grammatofty and anthropos (a man). 
 
 The ninth Step, or the *' Foundation," we have 
 supposed to be represented by the promontory of 
 Tainaros, which yields 732, or i less than the 
 width of a vesica whose length is 1,271 {stauros). 
 There was a cave on this promontory which was 
 said to be the entrance to Hell, and Hercules 
 brought the dog, Cerberus, through it in his twelfth 
 Labour. Tainaros being regarded as the entrance 
 to Hades implied its cabalistic position, for the 
 ninth Step leads directly through the channel to 
 the tenth, a hieroglyph of the underworld, which 
 IS thus connected to the main figure, like an island. 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 3 1 I 
 
 Crete, lying to the south of the mainland, bears 
 a perfect analogy to the tenth Step, and the tradi- 
 tions related about it accord with such an inter- 
 pretation. Nao-of, an island, has the numerical 
 value of 521, which is the side of a rhombus having 
 a perimeter of 2,084, the side of the Holy Obla- 
 tion. The most celebrated monument of Crete, 
 the famous Labyrinth of Daedalus, at once con- 
 nects it with the cosmos of which it was theoretic- 
 ally the centre, and the seven concentric walls are 
 an obvious illustration of the seven circles of the 
 planets. The Hebrew Malchuth (the tenth Step) 
 was a personification of the umbilicus, or cardinal 
 points meeting at the middle of the world ; and we 
 find that in Crete the women were the heads of 
 the family, the children taking their names from 
 their mothers, and not from their fathers (Herod. 
 bk. i., 173). 
 
 The name Kpn'r*) has the value of 436, and if this 
 be taken as the measure of a cardinal cross, the 
 length of each limb will be 218, the diameter of 
 the sun's orbit ; and a square ^ surrounding such a 
 cross (218x4) h^-s a perimeter of 872, the nu- 
 merical equivalent of xu(ivpivhgy the labyrinth. 
 *0 Xapj/Jii-So?, again, yields 942, the diagonal of a 
 square whose sides are 666. Further, 435 and a 
 fraction is the diameter of a circle 1,368 in cir- 
 cumference, and 1,368 is the side of a rhombus 
 2,368 long. 
 
 The legends of Minos, the law giver, who on 
 his death became the judge of the shades in 
 Hades, all point to his being King of Crete, 
 regarded as an image of the world. By Gematria 
 Minos is equivalent to Macroprosopos, the Long 
 Face of the Cabala. He was the father of Deuca- 
 lion and Ariadne. Deucalion, as we have seen, 
 
 ^ The diagonals of a square enclosing the sun's orbit (2185) 
 measure (309I x 2 =) 619. 
 
312 THE CANON. 
 
 was regarded by the writer of the Clementine 
 Homilies as a mythical double of Noah, and the 
 statement that he was born in Crete must have 
 the same origin as that of Hippolytus, who declared 
 that the Ark of Noah rested on Mount Cardu, or 
 Cardo, that is, the middle of the world. The 
 Greeks evidently implied the same thing when 
 they said that Deucalion's Ark rested on Mount 
 Parnassus, at Delphi, another omphalos, where the 
 Temple of Apollo with its mystic cave, and the 
 subterranean prison of the Minotaur^ in Crete 
 express the same idea. The reader may be 
 reminded that the Ark was a symbol analogous to 
 the cross. Ariadne, Deucalion's sister, appears 
 to personify the cosmos, and in the Iliad (bk. 
 xviii., v. 590) Daedalus is said to have wrought 
 her a dancing-place {x^po<;) in Gnossus, which 
 must refer to the Labyrinth that symbolized the 
 circling dance of the Planets. The name Ariadne 
 has the value of 174, which is -fj of 2,083, the 
 
 side of the Holy Oblation f^^S^ = 173^). 
 
 The fact that Apollo was worshipped both at 
 Delphi and Crete seems to suggest that the 
 Pythagorean doctrine concerning the sun may 
 have determined the choice of the omphalos, as 
 the great seat of sun worship. The statues of 
 Apollo, standing on the navel-stone, also point to 
 a similar motive. 
 
 The treatment of cities appears to have followed 
 the same cosmic distribution as that of the whole 
 country. Ambrosius Leo. a writer at the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth century, has accompanied 
 
 ^ This monstrous creature, half man, half bull, confined in 
 the centre of the Labyrinth, or world, is probably a grotesque 
 personification of the omphalos and stauros, for his name 
 Minotauros^ Ij97i> is equivalent by Gematria Xo P hallos^ 831, 
 and Delphys, 1,139 (^31 + i)i39 = Ij97o)' 
 
GEOGRAPHY* 
 
 3i3 
 
 his description of the city of Nola with some 
 mysterious diagrams, which apparently refer to 
 the geometrical measurement of ancient cities. 
 These diagrams are supplied without explanation, 
 as is usual in the case of mystical figures only 
 intended for the instructed. 
 
 Boissardo has published an ideal arrangement 
 
 S^'iajmculfn/Tt 
 
 M£R1DIEJ 
 
 ^. Ma Jr^ntwiB 
 
 -a CeiLtPu 
 
 5EPTENTHIO 
 
 OIVVS PO^XE A. AVGVSTVi'AD 3EXUEC1M REc;II)^rES 
 ITT PORTaJ DEDV-Xrr. QVOD ET NON NVliS 
 PRINCIPE5 P05T? EVM ^ERVAVERVNT 
 
 FIG. 26, — CITY OF ROME. FROM BOISSARDO's " TOPOGRAPHiA 
 ROM^," 1597- 
 
 of the city of Rome on a geometrical plan, and 
 shows the development of the city by means of 
 three different diagrams, having four, eight and six- 
 teen gates and towers, corresponding to the 
 number of the winds. He has so arranged the 
 number of the division of the circle on plan c 
 (fig, 26), that an appropriate building falls into 
 each of the twelve spaces. From this it may be 
 concluded, that the site of a great temple, or public 
 
314 THE CANON, 
 
 building was chosen so that, if possible, it might 
 conform to the mystical scheme of the town, and 
 stand in its proper relation to its surroundings. 
 In order to illustrate this, we shall now examine 
 in detail the distribution of the city of Jerusalem, 
 the metropolis of the Canonical land of the 
 Hebrews and Christians. 
 
 The original name of Jerusalem is thought to 
 have been Salem, mentioned in Gen. xiv. 18 : 
 " And Melchizedeck King of Salem brought forth 
 bread and wine." SHLM (Salem) has the nu- 
 merical value of 370, or the width of a rhombus 
 having a perimeter of 1,480. And the words, 
 MLKI-TzDQ MLK SHLM (Melchizedek, King 
 of Salem), yield 754, the diameter of a circle 
 having a circumference of 2,368. These numbers 
 seem to accord with the opinions of the fathers 
 concerning the king and the priest of this city, for 
 Melchizedeck was not only regarded by the Jews 
 as the Messiah, but the early Christians variously 
 spoke of him as an Angel, the Holy Ghost, the 
 Logos, or the Son of God appearing in human 
 flesh. By Gematria MLKI-TzDQ (Melchize- 
 deck), 294, is equivalent to Ecclesia, a fact which 
 would account for his being called the Holy Ghost, 
 who is identical with the spouse of Christ. 
 
 The city was afterwards known by the name 
 Jebus, and its inhabitants as Jebusites. From this 
 name we derive the number 318, which is the 
 diameter of the two circles forming a vesica 666 in 
 perimeter. The Greeks gave the number 318 
 to HelioSy the sun, and by transposition 318 
 becomes 831. 
 
 IRVShLIM (Jerusalem), again, yields 1,156, 
 which is the width of a vesica 2,004 long,, and 
 2,004 is the measure of the cross composed of the 
 four elements described by Plato in the *' Timseus." 
 
 Josephus (vii, 2) makes one of the Greek 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 315 
 
 names XoKv(AiXy 741, and adds *£p®H» producing 
 'l£po(roXu|t*a, 926, the Holy Soluma. The number 
 741 is the circumference of a circle described 
 within the New Jerusalem, that is, with a diameter 
 of 236, while 926 is nearly the square root of the 
 sun*s diameter in miles. In the New Testament 
 we find the name of Jerusalem as 'ispouo-aXiiju, 864, 
 which is the length of a rhombus 374|- broad, or 
 very nearly the length of the side of the city of 
 E^ekiel, and a rhombus whose sides are 216, the 
 diameter of the sun's orbit, has a perimeter of 
 864. 
 
 Bearing in mind that Jerusalem occupies an 
 analogous position in the land of Canaan to that 
 of Delphi in Greece, we see that the numbers 
 attributed to the names of the Jewish metropolis, 
 or omphalos^ are singularly appropriate to the city, 
 which was said to be the central point of the 
 world. 
 
 We have the testimony of Vitruvius, that ancient 
 cities like the Temples were laid out round the 
 cardo or cross, for he tells us that the area en- 
 closed within the walls of a city should be planned 
 so as to exclude the winds, which are reckoned as 
 being four, eight, or sixteen in number. " To find 
 and lay down their situation, we proceed as follows : 
 Let a marble slab be fixed in the centre of the 
 space enclosed by the walls .... and erect a 
 gnomon in its centre .... and mark off the 
 divisions or regions of the winds, etc." ('*Vit.," 
 bk. i. c. 6). This method explained by Vitruvius 
 for disposing the streets to dissipate the violence 
 of the winds, is apparently a mystical artifice to 
 obscure the meaning of the passage, for no city 
 was ever built on such a plan, and if it were, it is 
 extremely doubtful if such an arrangement would 
 have the effect claimed for it. But when he pro- 
 ceeds to give the measures of the earth according 
 
 & 
 
3l6 THE CANON. 
 
 to Eratosthenes, who ascertained from the suns 
 shadow at the Equinox that the circuit of the 
 earth was 252,000 stadia, a quarter, an eighth, or 
 a sixteenth part of which was occupied by each 
 wind, the natural inference to be drawn from 
 these remarks is, that in planning a city it was 
 customary to begin by describing the earth's cir- 
 cumference round the centre, and marking upon it 
 the points of the compass. This supposition is 
 confirmed by the plan of the city of Nola already 
 alluded to. The ancient city is there shown to be 
 surrounded by a circular wall, 660 paces in 
 diameter, and 2,074 paces in circumference. The 
 circuit of the citadel is given at 924 paces, the 
 square root of the sun's diameter in miles. The 
 circular wall, which is exactly ^ of the earth's 
 magnitude measured by miles, is divided into 
 twelve equal parts by so many turrets. 
 
 There are also evidences which seem to justify 
 the assumption, that the same practice was adopted 
 by the Jews in setting out Jerusalem. Accord- 
 ingly, on examining the plan of the city to discover 
 upon what principle it is laid out, and whether the 
 sacred places have any relation to the cosmic 
 scheme, the first measurement we find suggesting 
 such a connection is the distance between the 
 Serpent pool in the west (called also Upper Gibon), 
 and the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of 
 Olives in the east. From the north-west corner 
 of the Pool of the Serpent to the eastern boundary 
 of the Church of the Ascension is a distance of 
 7,920 feet, or the number of miles in the diameter 
 of the earth. If a meridian line be drawn between 
 these two points, passing through the Golden 
 Gate and the Holy Sepulchre, its centre will fall 
 upon the Acra, or Acropolis. And a circle 7,920 
 feet in diameter described from this centre, will 
 represent the earth's circumference to a scale of 
 
tiliUUKAii'llY^ 317 
 
 i foot to a mile. If this circle be divided accord- 
 ■ to the method described by Vitruvius in his 
 ;ount of the analemma (bk. ix., ch. 6), the 
 itude of Jerusalem being 31°, the axis of the 
 th will be found to pass through the Damascus 
 :e, while the whole city will lie within the space 
 the Tropics or the path of the sun. In fact the 
 ith-east angle of the Haram wall nearly touches 
 : line of the southern tropic. 
 Next, if a rood cross of the proportions of 28 : 13 
 
 drawn with its centre upon the Acra, or the 
 itre of the world, so that it may bear upon it 
 ; crucified figure of Christos within the square 
 .80, the base of the cross will stand upon the 
 irden of Gethsemane, while the top will reach to 
 ; most western point of the city wall. There 
 ; also the foundations of an older wall a little to 
 i south, which show that the old western 
 undary had been fixed at exactly the same 
 itance from the middle of the city. The head 
 
 Christos crucified in this manner falls upon the 
 e of the Holy Sepulchre Church, which is built 
 on Golgotha, the Place of the Skull ; and as the 
 ws personified the Logos under the name of 
 lam, it is probable that the chapel called the 
 )kull of Adam" included within the church was 
 roduced there in reference to this fact. 
 The Sepulchre is itself apparently 1,046^ feet 
 m the middle of the city, that is, a distance 
 Lial to the radius of a circle containing a square 
 lose sides measure 1,480 feet. 
 Jerusalem being in the possession of three 
 oples professing a distinct religious system, 
 d having holy places peculiar to their cult, it 
 necessary to treat the Jewish sites captured by 
 I Mohammedans and the precincts of the Holy 
 pulchre separately. Nevertheless, the sanctity 
 lich had first been extended to the various places 
 
3l8 THE CANON. 
 
 by the Jews was preserved afterwards both by 
 the Christians and Mohammedans, who avowedly 
 founded their religion upon the law of Moses. 
 The difficulty of dealing with the city when in the 
 hands of the Jews, lies in the fact that there are 
 no essentially Jewish remains now in existence to 
 work upon. The accounts of the buildings and 
 disposition of the city found in the scriptures and 
 in the gospels are all we have to guide us as to 
 the appearance of ancient Jerusalem. From these 
 sources, however, it is evident that the rabbis 
 regarded their metropolis as an image of the 
 cabalistic diagram, the castle of Goliath and the 
 western extremity of the city being the place of the 
 Macrocosm ; the acra and the haram area, which is 
 said to have contained Solomon s temple, being 
 apportioned to the Microcosm, while the valley of 
 Jehoshophat and the Mount of Olives fall to the 
 Bride. The Jewish way of looking at the city 
 would therefore accord with the orientation of the 
 Temple. But in the Middle Ages, when the 
 Christians built their temples facing the west 
 instead of the east, this was reversed, and, if this be 
 remembered, much confusion will be avoided in 
 reading the descriptions of the city written by later 
 pilgrims from the west. 
 
 Now from the Golden Gate to the extremity of 
 the western wall is a distance of about 3,600 feet, 
 therefore the diagram covering the city, being of 
 the ratio of 26 : 15, is 2,076 feet broad, or ^^2 of the 
 circumference of the earth in miles. The citadel 
 occupies the place of the third step, while the site 
 of the Holy Sepulchre falls on the point called 
 Daath, 474, or knowledge, by the Cabalists. It is 
 the place marked by the head of Microcosmos, 
 which again affords a reason for calling the place 
 Golgotha, the skull. *' In three hollow places of the 
 skull the brain is contained." *' In the third cavity 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 319 
 
 lath, knowledge, is contained and dwelleth." ^ 
 irther, by Gematria Golgotha is equivalent to 
 lath, for BGVLGLThA = 475 or GVLGThA 
 473, therefore by adding or deducting colel in 
 her case we get 474 — DOTh. The stables of 
 lomon stand on the eighth Step, and the Golden 
 ite on the ninth. The sixth Step, Beauty, lies 
 tside the Haram enclosure, to the east of the 
 :ra. The valley of Kedron, called also Tophet 
 
 Hinnon, was identified with Hades, and seems 
 have been always associated with the ideas con- 
 cted with the tenth Step. Here is found the 
 rden of Gethsemane, called in Arabic " the place 
 
 incarnation," the Church of the Tomb of the 
 rgin, and the Tombs of Jehoshophat, Absalom, 
 Lchariah, and St. James. Towards the south 
 the pool of Siloam, and the Virgin's well. 
 The holy places of Jerusalem being thus 
 :luded within the circumference of the earth, the 
 y and its precincts are an exact microcosm, 
 lat it was regarded as such, and that Christ was 
 cepted as a personification of the old microcosmic 
 ity of the Greeks, is made clearly manifest by a 
 irteenth-century geographer, who has left us a 
 ip of the world (exhibited in the King s Library 
 
 the British Museum), in which the figure of 
 sus is expanded, in the form of a cross like the 
 icrocosm of Cesariano. His body, symbolically 
 mprising the whole world, is depicted by its 
 tremities only, his head in the east, his two 
 nds in the north and south, and his feet in the 
 ist. 
 
 In this map we see a literal presentation of the 
 icified Logos, unobscured by the metaphorical 
 iguise of the customary fables ; for it was thus 
 
 See Cabala, " Greater Holy Assembly," oh. xxvii., On the 
 lin of Microprosopus, p. 180. 
 
320 THE CANON. 
 
 "He Stretched out His hands on the cross, that 
 He might encompass the ends of the world," and 
 " wrought salvation in the middle of the earth." ^ 
 St. Augustine, who knew this well, explains the 
 mystery not less surely but more cautiously; he 
 says, " the first letters of the words North, South, 
 East and West in Greek form the word Adam. 
 Adam is, therefore, the type of all nations. But 
 these Greek letters, being taken according to the 
 value of their numbers, make 46. Our Lord did 
 of Adam receive a body ; and he did in three days 
 raise it up" (On St. John, ii. 20). Now the 
 points of the compass are called : 
 
 f North "ApKrog . 691 691 + 1 
 
 ^ West Aufftc . . 814) 814+ 1 
 
 (East 'AvaToXrj . 460/^'^''^ 460 + 1 
 
 South Mear)fxf3pia 406 ■ ■ 
 
 ' h9^S + 3 = Ij968. 
 
 2,371-3 = 2,368. 
 
 Their numerical values amount to 2,371, or, by 
 deducting colel from three of the names, 2,368 
 {Jesous Christos), Accordingly the four quarters 
 of the world are a visible emblem of Adam, and 
 Christ; and we find that Staurosis, 2,211 (cruci- 
 fixion), is equivalent by Gematria to T*?, (S'Jo, rpfrf, 
 and TfT/)aV, the names of the Greek numerals i, 2, 
 3, 4. Moreover, the breadth of a vesica 2,210 
 long is 1,275, which is the height of a rood cross 
 which will crucify a man in a square having a 
 perimeter of 2,368. And 2,211 is the sum of the 
 two numbers 1,101 (Macroprosopos) and 1,110 
 (Microprosopos). Again, the sum of the numbers 
 from I to 46 is 1,081, the radius of the moon and 
 the symbol of the four elements of which the body 
 of the Logos was made. So the verity of the 
 symbolic crucifixion is as skilfully and unmistak- 
 
 ^ St. Cyril, "Cat Lect.," xiii. 28. 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 32 1 
 
 ly adumbrated by the words of St. Augustine as 
 ' the map of the geographer. 
 Bearing in mind the primitive ideas of theology, 
 becomes at once apparent why the Greeks, Jews 
 d Christians chose to consider their country and 
 stropohs to be in the middle of the world, ^ For 
 t see in this mofikish map that Jerusalem is 
 lilt over the centre of Christ's body, thereby 
 quiring its reputed sanctity ; and the symbol, by 
 lich this Christian priest has notified the mystery 
 the holy city, would be quite as appropriate to 
 eliopolis, Babylon, and Delphi, as Jerusalem, 
 'ithin the four square walls there is drawn the 
 jure of Christos issuing from an oblong tomb, 
 tended to represent the Holy Sepulchre or 
 tphalos of the world. Nor does his piety allow 
 m to omit the cross, for by the addition of the 
 ^0 soldiers ^ still asleep outside the sarcophagus, 
 e mystic triad is ingeniously included in the com- 
 )sition. In the Hereford map the walls of 
 Tusalem are made round, in the image of the 
 .vel, while the cross stands up outside the walls, 
 hus we distinctly see why the writers of the 
 ospel selected the centre of the world wherein to 
 ^ the scene of the crucifixion, the central feature 
 id climax of their parable. 
 
 The actual navel-stone of Jerusalem is not 
 own in the Acra or centre of the city, but in the 
 iddle of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — 
 e reason of this probably being, that the Chris- 
 
 ^ "The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the world, 
 d Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the 
 imple in the centre of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies in 
 I centre of the Temple, and the foundation-stone on which 
 i world was founded is situated in front of the ark." — 
 ERSHON, " Talmudic Miscellany," p. 300. 
 ^ The two soldiers are representatives of the Armies (Tza- 
 oth) mentioned in the Cabala. "Lesser Holy Assembly," 
 . xxii., pars. 740, 741, and 742 (Mathers). 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE CANON. 
 
 tians preferred to especially consecrate a place of 
 their own when they succeeded the Jews. Ac- 
 cordingly we find that the navel-stone marks the 
 centre of Christ's body, if crucified on a rood 
 cross inscribed within the circle of the earth, 7,920 
 feet in diameter. 
 
 We further see from Ebstorfs map that the 
 Christian Paradise corresponds to the head of 
 Macrocosmos (831), and the three first steps of 
 the Cabalistic Diagram. According to Hippolytus 
 (Ref., bk. v., ch, iv.) the Nasseni "suppose that 
 man, as far as the head only, is Paradise." The 
 "man" being Adam ('A^a^wac, 247), the Macro- 
 cosm, or as shown on the map, Christos.^ 
 
 All the holy places of Jerusalem, as well as 
 those of the greater world being associated with 
 the parts of the human body, it was probably for 
 this reason, that the footprints of Jesus were shown 
 in the Church of the Ascension, where the feet of 
 the Macrocosm appear on the map. 
 
 Like the travels of Pausanias, the diaries of the 
 pilgrims who journeyed to Jerusalem in the early 
 days of the Church are most valuable records of 
 antiquity, revealing the spirit of the old world, 
 interpreting naturally and unfeignedly its own 
 conceptions, without any of the effort and learned 
 affectation required by a modern traveller to adjust 
 a new mind to an old subject. For every quota- 
 tion and observation they make is a valuable critic- 
 ism, and to the instructed, it is overwhelmingly 
 evident, that the saintly pilgrims of the Middle 
 Ages saw a very different parable in the sites and 
 episodes of the Gospel than that which is dis- 
 cernible to one of Mr. Cook's tourists. An old 
 
 ^ In a mediaeval map of Jerusalem Solomon's Temple stands 
 in Paradise, Golgotha in the middle of the world, and the Holy 
 Sepulchre in the west occupies the place of the Bride. To a 
 Jew, however, the order was exactly reversed. 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 323 
 
 pilgrimage forms a summary of the sacred histories, 
 *where legends often derive as much point from 
 their situation as from any other cause. 
 
 The descriptions of these pious travellers are so 
 ample, that we are left in no doubt as to the 
 general significance of the holy places, and so 
 systematically do the localities appear to have 
 been fixed, that since the Land of Canaan, Jeru- 
 salem, and the churches or cathedrals were all 
 microcosms, exactly delineated, it was possible to 
 assign every event of Christ's passion to its proper 
 place in the world, in the city and in the Temple. 
 Accordingly we find in the churches, as at Chartres, 
 a labyrinth with Jerusalem in its centre, just as 
 the corresponding place in the city itself was also 
 called Jerusalem. At Durham there is the Galilee 
 Chapel at the west, corresponding to the Galilee 
 on the Mount of Olives.^ Elsewhere we find a 
 calvarium, golden and beautiful gates, but whether 
 the places were marked or not, they could be 
 located by measurement, and any mediaeval Chris- 
 tian could make a pilgrimage round his cathedral, 
 to all intents and purposes, as though he were in 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 ^ " On the other side of the Church (of the Ascension) is 
 the chapel where our Lord Jesus Christ first appeared to the 
 Apostles after his resurrection, and it is called Galilee, as he 
 said to the Apostles, ' After I am risen again, I will go before 
 you unto Galilee.'" (Saewulf's Travels.) He also mentions 
 "the Galilee of Mount Sion." Sir John Maundeville says, 
 "After Mount Olivet is the Mount of Galilee, where the 
 Apostles assembled when Mary Magdalene came and told 
 them of Christ's ascension. And there between Mount Olivet 
 and the Mount of Galilee is a church where the angel foretold 
 our Lady of her death." He also mentions (ch. viii.) "a deep 
 cave under the rock, which is called the Galilee of our Lord, 
 where St. Peter hid himself when he had forsaken our Lord." 
 Again, in the " City of Jerusalem," it is said, " in this Church 
 (of the Ascension) is the place where Holy Mary died in 
 Galilee." 
 
324 THE CANON. 
 
 It was this mystical order that Eusebius seems 
 to have had in his mind, when describing the 
 Basilica of Constantine with its threefold division, 
 agreeing with the cabalistic diagram. The Sepul- 
 chre, or cave in the west, he says, marking the 
 place of the Macrocosm was joined to an open 
 court, ** paved with shining stones," in which was 
 the navel of the world. Next to this was the 
 Martyrium, its apse standing over Golgotha, where 
 a hemisphere was "girt with 12 pillars, according 
 to the number of the Apostles of the Saviour " — 
 these are of course the 12 signs of the Zodiac, 
 surrounding the body of Christos crucified in their 
 midst. And the vestibule, or atrium in the east 
 was the appointed symbol of the Bride. 
 
 It is recorded by an anonymous pilgrim who 
 visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the 
 Middle Ages, that " in the midst of the choir 
 is the middle of the world, where our Lord was 
 laid, when Nicodemus took him down from the 
 cross." A similar statement occurs in the " Citez 
 de Jherusalem" : "Near to the Holy Sepulchre, 
 that is to say, in the choir where is the compass of 
 mr Lordy is also the place where Nicodemus and 
 Joseph of Arimathsea placed his blessed body" 
 (Capt. Conder's trans., p. 34). Again we learn 
 from Theoderich, the pilgrim, that "about the 
 middle of the choir [of the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre] there is a small open altar of great 
 sanctity, on the flooring whereof is marked a cross 
 inscribed in a circle, which signifies that on this 
 spot Joseph and Nicodemus laid our Lord's body, 
 in order to wash it, after they had taken it down 
 from the cross." 
 
 The "cross inscribed in a circle " probably refers 
 to the figure of the Microcosm stretched within the 
 sphere of the Zodiac. And supposing the lesser 
 man of Vitruvius be drawn within that circle, the 
 
GEOGKAPHY. 325 
 
 sun's distance being taken at 10/ his head will 
 occupy the space between the high altar and the 
 front line of the Iconostasis, so that it is entirely 
 enclosed within the sanctuary, or apse, which 
 Eusebius has called the }cs(pacXxtovj the place of 
 the head. The top of the head also marks the 
 attitude of the pole above the horizon, according 
 to the latitude of Jerusalem. And a line drawn 
 southwards at right angles to the axis of the church 
 from the crown of the head touches the eastern 
 extremity of the Chapel of the Skull of Adam, 
 thereby implying that Adam's Skull is no other 
 than that of the hypothetical Man, or Microcosm 
 whose body was made to measure the universe. 
 
 Without having the exact dimensions to work 
 upon it would be hazardous to say more about 
 this pre-eminently important church, but it is to be 
 hoped that the deficiency with respect to the 
 measures will be supplied. 
 
 According to Eusebius, when Constantine pro- 
 jected the building of his Basilica, he discovered a 
 " mound of Venus " raised over the Saviour's tomb 
 (" Life of Constantine"). The earliest travellers 
 describe the Sepulchre as being a separate struc- 
 ture surrounded by pillars enclosed by a circular 
 wall, having the entrance facing the east. Its 
 position in the present building corresponds to the 
 narthex, or baptistry of a primitive church, or the 
 porch of Solomon's Temple. The name Anastasisj 
 Resurrection, has the value of 963, and is equi- 
 valent by Gematria to ri^xv-fiy art. 
 
 The account of Bernard the wise is that the 
 four principal churches in Jerusalem were " con- 
 nected with each other by walls ; one to the east, 
 
 ^ The only available plan of this church (that of the Ordnance 
 Survey) gives no measurements. But by taking the sun's dis- 
 tance as being equal to ten English feet, the result will be ap- 
 proximately accurate. 
 
326 THE CANON. 
 
 which contains the Mount of Calvary and the 
 place in which the Cross of our Lord was found, 
 and is called the Basilica of Constantine ; another 
 to the south, a third to the west, in the middle of 
 which is the Sepulchre of our Lord, having nine 
 columns in its circuit. . . . Between the aforesaid 
 four churches is a parvis without roof, the walls of 
 which shine with gold, and the pavement is laid 
 with very precious stone ; and in the middle four 
 chains, coming from each of the four churches, 
 join in a point which is said to be the middle of 
 the world." ^ Bernard is the only pilgrim who 
 mentioned these four " chains," but they are 
 doubtless the cross-lines of the cardinal points or 
 quarters. The same adherence to the canonical 
 pattern seems to have made the priests declare 
 that it was on this spot that Adam was formed, 
 and that here Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac. 
 Here also Jacob saw the mystic Ladder. Even 
 the horn, wherewith David was anointed, was seen 
 here, as was also in after times ''the banquet hall 
 {missormm)y where the head of John the Baptist 
 was brought before Herod the King," Here 
 again is displayed the " hole in which it is known 
 that the cross was fixed ; into which hole pilgrims, 
 out of the love and respect which they bear to 
 Him that was crucified, are wont to plunge their 
 head and face," and close by, in a little shrine, 
 was the ''cup of our Lord which Arculf touched 
 
 ^ "At the head of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the 
 wall outside, not far from the place of Calvary, is the place 
 called Compas, which our Lord Jesus Christ himself signified 
 and measured with his own hand as the middle of the world, 
 according to the words of the Psalmist, ' For God is my King 
 of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth' (Psalm 
 Ixxiv. 12). But some say that that is the place where our 
 Lord Jesus Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene, while she 
 sought Him weeping, and thought He had been a gardener, as 
 is related in the Gospel." (Saewulfs "Travels.") 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 327 
 
 and kissed through a hole in the covering." In 
 the same place stood the pillar to which Christ 
 was bound, and which at midday at the summer 
 solstice cast no shadow, because it was in the 
 centre of the world. These are a few of the things 
 that happened and were seen at this site, but many- 
 more are mentioned by the pious pilgrims, whose 
 works may be consulted.^ 
 
 It was apparently for similar reasons that the 
 Druids held their great festival " at a consecrated 
 place in the territories of the Carnutes, whose 
 country is supposed to be in the middle of GauV 
 (C^sar, Gallic Com., bk, vi., c. 13), and as the 
 institution is said to have come originally from 
 Britain, there was probably a correspondingly holy 
 place in the centre of our island. In Christian 
 times the omphalos of England appears to have 
 been reckoned in Lichfield, in the county of 
 Staffordshire. 
 
 We learn from Camden that **the people 
 whereof as living in the heart of England, are 
 called in Bede Angli mediterranei ... it lies 
 from south to north, almost in the form of a 
 rhombus, being broad in the middle, but narrow 
 and contracted towards the ends." Bede calls it 
 Licidfield, which Rouse of Warwick renders " a 
 field of carcasses," and tells us that many Christians 
 suffered martyrdom there. According to some 
 authorities the number of the martyrs was 888, 
 the diameter of the circle enclosing the New Jeru- 
 salem, which is in the middle of the universe. 
 " This worde Lichefelde," says Lydgate, who de- 
 scribed the slaughter by 1^^ paynyms, **by inter- 
 pretation, is ... a felde that lyeth full of bodyes 
 dead," while the manner in which Amphibalus was 
 put to death, suggesting the ritualistic ceremonies 
 
 ^ See the publications of the Palestine Pilgrim Text Society. 
 
328 THE CANON. 
 
 of a pagan sacrifice, is no doubt related with a 
 mystical intention. One of the ** paynyms," he con- 
 tinues (''Life and Passion of St. Alban and St. 
 Amphibalus"), 
 
 " Like a bocher (butcher) persed his entrayles, 
 This homycyde that ranne afore the route 
 Raffe his navylle^ and toke out his bowelles. 
 And at a stake whiche that stode without 
 Tyed like ropes evyn rounde about, 
 And with a scurge the martyr he gan make 
 In cercle wyse to go aboute the stake." 
 
 Then they threw swords, daggers, spears, and 
 knives at him, but *' ever the more again they did 
 malign, the more they found him gracious and 
 benign." 
 
 Kircher (**CEdipus," torn, ii., pars ii., p. 358), 
 has depicted the Microcosm standing in the midst 
 of the planets with his body cut open, so that the 
 intestines are seen in a spiral coil encircling the 
 navel. It is an ugly simile; but it seems that the 
 ancients derived the idea of the Labyrinth from 
 the tortuous winding of the entrails round the 
 omphalos^ and they were likened to the orbits of 
 the planets surrounding the earth, or navel of the 
 universe. 
 
 Delos is said to have been visited by Theseus 
 on his return from Crete, where he had slain the 
 Minotaur; "and having sacrificed to Apollo, and 
 dedicated in the temple the image of Aphrodite, 
 which Ariadne had given him, he danced with the 
 young Athenians a dance that in memory of him 
 is still preserved among the inhabitants of Delos, 
 and which by its various turnings and involutions 
 imitated the intricate windings of the Labyrinth. 
 And this dance, as Dicaearchus writes, is called 
 among the Delians the Crane, This he danced 
 round the Ceratonian altar, so called from its 
 being built entirely of horns ; and these were 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 329 
 
 taken only from the left side of the head" 
 (Plutarch's '* Theseus "). This dance has probably 
 an anatomical as well as an astral significance, and 
 the speech in the Hymn of Callimachus in refer- 
 ence to the navel at Delphi appears to have a 
 similar meaning; '* nor yet hath died the huge 
 serpent, but still that monster with dreadful jaws, 
 creeping down from Plistus, enwreaths snowy 
 Parnassus with nine coils'' ("Hymn to Delos," 
 V. 92). 
 
 In Lydgate's poem the coiling of the entrails 
 of Amphibalus round the stake seems to be an 
 obvious imitation of the circling of the planets 
 round the pole, whose emblem was the serpent 
 Draco, and it is probable that the entrails were 
 used for some such reason as this, in the old sacri- 
 ficial rites. Amphibalus, the "cloak " of St. Alban, 
 takes the second place in the legend, and it must 
 be borne in mind that Christ*s death on Golgotha 
 was the prototype of all the martyrdoms of the 
 Saints. It is therefore natural that the "cloak" 
 of the first English martyr to Christianity should 
 be sacrificed at Lichfield, called by Bede mediter- 
 ranean, or in the centre of the world. 
 
 Now taking a point a little to the south of Lich- 
 field as a centre, we find that the circumference 
 of a circle 220 miles in diameter passes through 
 London. And London has the numerical value 
 of 924, the square root of the sun's diameter in 
 miles. Stephanus in his " Book of Cities " calls it 
 AtvfJowoi/, which yields 344, the diameter of a circle 
 1,081 in circumference (Camden). 
 
 Again, if the sphere of the Zodiac be drawn 
 within the Holy Oblation with the same centre, 
 and taking a furlong to be equivalent to the sun's 
 diameter, the square enclosing the body of Christos 
 passes through the city of York in the north, and 
 through Stonehenge in the south. The square of 
 
330 THE CANON. 
 
 the Holy Oblation passes through Canterbury 
 and the Isle of Wight; whether the name of 
 " Wight," a man, has any reference to this fact, or 
 that the right hand of a man inscribed within a 
 circle 2,368 in diameter touches the " Isle of 
 Man," has any connection with its name, we have 
 no idea. 
 
 Supposing Lichfield to have been the navel of 
 England, it may be that the singular revels 
 anciently celebrated at Coventry, lying about 
 twenty-five miles to the south-east, had a phallic 
 origin. Camden derives the name from Con- 
 ventits, a convent, and, amongst other things, says 
 that their Cross for beauty and workmanship is 
 inferior to few in England. Its height appears to 
 have been 57 feet (57 x 9-J rz 541, the side of a 
 rhombus having a perimeter equal to the moon's 
 diameter). The annual procession in memory of 
 Godiva, represented by a naked figure riding on 
 horseback, was still continued in Camden's time, 
 and several of the old mystery plays enacted by 
 the trade guilds are yet extant. One of these, 
 published by Sharp, is a dramatized life of Noah, 
 a subject which entirely accords with the nature 
 of the place. 
 
 In pre-Christian times the great city in the 
 middle of England was Caerleon, or the city of 
 Legions. It was the seat of an Archflamen, along 
 with London and York. But when the new cult 
 was established the two archbishops were con- 
 fined to the north and south. 
 
 The finding of the true cross has a personal 
 interest for Englishmen, for (if Jeffrey of Mon- 
 mouth spoke the truth) St. Helena, who surpassed 
 all the ladies of her time in beauty and skill in 
 music, was the daughter of King Cole of Colchester. 
 It is true that Colchester is not the only city 
 named as her birth-place, but its claims are certainly 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 331 
 
 as good as those of any other. Jeffrey calls it 
 ** Kaercolvin, id est Colecestriae " (lib. v., cap. 6), 
 and when that name is resolved into a number, its 
 relation to the true cross may be explained thus : 
 401 is I less than the breadth of a vesica formed 
 by two intersecting circles whose united width is 
 1,206, which is the side of a rhombus inscribed 
 within the Holy Oblation containing the cruciform 
 body of Christos. Helena yields 96, and 96*8 is 
 the radius of Holy Oblation if the sun s distance 
 be taken at 10. Again, the name of her son Con- 
 stantine (Kwi/o-rai'Tii/o?), the first Christian emperor, 
 has the value of 2,051, or about the diameter of 
 Saturn s orbit, while 2,051 +98 ('EA£i/>j) = 2,i49 + 2 
 = 2,151. In Latin, Constantinus yields 378, the side 
 of a rhombus having a perimeter of (377|- x 4 ir) 
 1,510, the numerical equivalent of Xt, Pw, ^, the 
 Labarum or standard fashioned as the emblem of 
 Constantine's vision. Finally, 378 (Constantinus) 
 + 96 (Helena) =1474, the number of the name 
 Golgotha, where the cross was discovered in the 
 year A.D. 326 (3251 x 2=651). 
 
 According to the traditions the cross was made 
 of the wood of the Tree of Paradise ; and we see 
 on Ebstorf's map that Paradise is situated beside 
 the head of Christ or Macrocosmos, and the tree 
 stands between Adam and Eve, the central feature 
 of a triad evidently corresponding to the first three 
 steps of the Cabala. 
 
 We are told that Adam, who died at the age of 
 930 years, was buried with a branch of the Tree of 
 Paradise in his mouth. This branch took root and 
 grew to be a tree, and, having incorporated the 
 body of Adam in its stem, they say that for this 
 reason Adam's head is always shown on the up- 
 right beam of the cross on old crucifixes. After- 
 wards Noah carried it through the flood in the 
 Ark. It was next brought to Jerusalem with the 
 
332 THE CANON. 
 
 Other materials of which the temple was built. 
 But no place could be found for it in the building, 
 so it lay on the ground unregarded except by the 
 careless people, who scraped their muddy feet upon 
 it; till the Queen of Sheba, passing that way, 
 saw it, wiped it with her own clothes, and adored 
 it. After that, it seems to have taken root 
 again, for " they show a place encircled by walls 
 near Jerusalem, where it is said the tree grew from 
 which the Holy Cross was made" (Abbot Daniel). 
 Then on Golgotha, and in a garden (St. Cyril, Cat 
 Lect. XII I., 8) the salvation of mankind having 
 been achieved, the cross, as in former times, lay 
 neglected for 293 years, when the devotion of St. 
 Helena drew attention to it again. 
 
 A simple geometrical demonstration is all that 
 is required to disclose the verity of the tradition. 
 For the distance from the navel-stone in the 
 centre of the Holy Sepulchre Church to the place 
 of the invention is about 200 feet. And, since 
 it has been shown that the said stone coincides 
 with the navel of the Microcosm crucified on a rood 
 cross inscribed within the circumference of the 
 earth, it will be at once apparent how St. Helena 
 came to find the cross just at the spot where the 
 chapel stands to commemorate it (see the Ordnance 
 Survey of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). 
 
 The old artists, who were piously instructed in 
 the Ecclesiastical Tradition, always represented 
 St. Helena and the cross according to the mystic 
 sense. That the theoretical treatment was still 
 known in the sixteenth century is attested by one 
 of the most beautiful pictures in the world — that of 
 Paolo Caliari (National Gallery, No. 1041). The 
 artist has depicted the invention as a visionary 
 revelation merely, but he has taken care that the 
 mystery of the true cross is presented with signi- 
 ficant accuracy. 
 
GEOGRAPHY. 333 
 
 Countries and cities appear to have been named 
 upon the same microcosmic principle as the world 
 itself. Hellas has the value of 266, which is the 
 diameter of a circle, whose area is equal to the 
 square of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Latium, the country of the Latins, yields 1,047, 
 the radius of the circle containing the square 
 1,480. 
 
 Roma has the value of 3 1 1, the side of a rhombus 
 540 long, and 540 x 4 zz 2,160. According to the 
 Greek valuation of the letters it is equal to 941, 
 and 942 is the diagonal of a square whose sides are 
 666. The statements of Francis Potter and the 
 Puritans seem to show that they knew this. 
 
 The number of a name might even assist in the 
 making of history. At least the writer of the 
 " Acts of the Apostles " (xi. 26) was probably not 
 ignorant that Antiochda had the value of 1,047, 
 when he said " the disciples were called Christians 
 first in Antioch." Nor could a more suitable 
 place than this be found in the whole world in 
 which to give a name to the followers of Christos, 
 1,480. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RHETORIC. 
 
 " Ten are the Numbers^ as are the Sephtroth, and twenty-two ^ 
 the letters; these are the foundation of all things.^'' — Cabala, 
 "Yetsirah." 
 
 ^'■Against order is against reason.^^ — "Recognitions of Cle- 
 ment," bk. iii., ch. xxxiv. 
 
 History, it has been said, has two eyes, Chrono- 
 logy and Geography. Having already touched 
 upon historical phenomena in relation to the latter 
 science, we shall now briefly treat of the epochs 
 and sequence of time, as viewed by old historians. 
 Strauchius ("Chronology," p. 2), says that "the 
 chronologer disposeth times, and gives certain 
 characters of them ; the historian records things 
 done and fills up the spaces, which the other leaves 
 empty. . . . Yea, Scaliger (" Proleg. in Euseb.") 
 makes chronology to be the soul of history, and to 
 excel it as much as the soul doth the body." He 
 adds further, that '' it assumes most of its principles 
 out of astronomy." According to these authorities 
 history is made a mere accessory to chronology, 
 and occupies a place exactly the reverse of that 
 which we are accustomed to give it at the present 
 day. For, according to them, the times must be 
 first established, and then a series of events found 
 to fit them. That chronology did actually affect the 
 composition of ancient history seems to be indis- 
 
 ^ 10 + 22 = 32, which is the square root of 1,024, the radius 
 of Saturn's orbit. 
 
RHETORIC. 335 
 
 putable, and there is every reason to believe that 
 the eminent ScaHger was not mistaken in exalting 
 chronology as the guiding spirit of history.^ 
 
 It is well known that the epochs and cycles of 
 the ancients were arranged according to a canonical 
 system. Ptolemy s chronological canon of the 
 Ptolemaic dynasty is still extant, and Plutarch 
 (*' Life of Solon," p. 307, Edin., 1763), speaking of 
 Solon^s interview with Croesus, says that he can- 
 not reject it as fictitious because it does not agree 
 with " some chronological canons, which thousands 
 have endeavoured to regulate, and yet to this day 
 could never bring the different accounts to any 
 agreement." It is, moreover, clearly evident that 
 the period reckoned from the creation of the world 
 to the birth of Christ belongs to the category of 
 canonical or artificial computations referred to by 
 Plutarch. This imaginary cycle is so obviously 
 fictitious that modern churchmen, committed as 
 they are to a literal acceptance of the Scriptures, 
 rather than support the reality of this epoch prefer 
 the ignominious and absurd alternative of believing 
 the history while rejecting the dates. If Strauchius 
 be correct these semi-believers are leaning on the 
 more shadowy support of the two, for he says *' in 
 relating matters of fact History pretends to no 
 demonstrations : but Chronology produces the 
 firmest that are." And this must necessarily be 
 so, if the history of the world from the creation to 
 the birth of Christ is an ingeniously compiled 
 chronicle, relating in canonical order events appro- 
 
 ^ A distinction ought to be made between sacred and profane 
 history — as, for instance, between the works of Homer or Moses 
 and, say, those of Thucydides or writers who aimed at veracity 
 simply. When Pythagoras went down into Hell, he found 
 Homer's soul hung upon a tree, surrounded by serpents, as a 
 punishment for his having related fabulous stories about the 
 gods (Diogenes Laertes, " Life of Pythagoras "). He does 
 not seem to have noticed the soul of Moses. 
 
336 THE CANON. 
 
 priate to the numbers of the years determined by 
 the length of the cycle. 
 
 Upwards of fifty different computations of this 
 important epoch have been made by Christian 
 chronologers (Strauchius, p. 166), who reckon the 
 interval at from 3,760 to 6,484 years. When the 
 chief of these reckonings are severally examined, 
 it would seem that the chronological canon was 
 constructed in accordance with the fundamental 
 doctrines of the Cabala, explained in the case of 
 the other arts. For the three persons of the Triad 
 representing the whole scheme of creation from the 
 firmament to the earth symbolize, in the period of 
 time occupied by the events of the Old Testament, 
 the mediating powers by which the emanation 
 of God or germ of life descended from heaven, 
 and became incarnate on earth in the body of 
 Jesus Christ. And since the exposition of the 
 Cabala is easily effected by numbers, the com- 
 putation of the years in any cycle was a simple 
 means of mystically supplying a measurement, 
 which conveyed to the philosophers a representa- 
 tion of the three symbolic persons. Consequently 
 it is necessary to resolve the period into three 
 terms, so that a proper number falls to each person, 
 the result of the varying length of the cycle being 
 that the symbolical meaning of the events will be 
 capable of a variable interpretation. 
 
 According to Strauchius (p. 166), the Greeks 
 constituted the period from the creation of the 
 world to the birth of Christ at 5,598 years. Now 
 the three obvious numbers appropriate to the 
 persons of the Cabala, which may be deduced from 
 5,598 are 2,368, 2,151, and 1,080 (2,368 + 2,151 + 
 1,080 = 5,599). These numbers, as already ex- 
 plained, accurately describe the three parts of the 
 universe, the Empyrean, the Zodiac together with 
 the planets, and the Sublunary, or elementary world. 
 
RHETORIC. ^;i7 
 
 The Constantinopolitans and Alexandrians 
 counted 5,508 years as the canonical period. 
 And this number is made up of 2,368, 2,093, ^^^ 
 1,047 — ^^^ fi^s^ being, as before, the numerical 
 equivalent of Jesus Christ, the second the diameter 
 of the circle containing the square 1,480 (Christos), 
 and the third number, being the radius of the same 
 circle, applies to the feminine half of the Logos. 
 
 The cycle of the /Ethiopic church is 9 less than 
 the preceding, so that the numbers become 2,368, 
 2,083^, and i,046|-. The only difference is that 
 the Holy Oblation signifying Christ is indicated 
 by the mean number 2,083-J, instead of 2,093. 
 
 In our English Bible the cycle is set down at 
 4,004 years. This is a late calculation made by 
 Archbishop Ussher in the seventeenth century, 
 but it was evidently adopted by the English 
 Church for sound theological reasons. The three 
 numbers into which the period may be resolved 
 are 2,083, 1480, and 441. Consequently we get 
 the dimensions of the universe as measured by the 
 bodies of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm in 
 their due relation to each other (or nearly so), 
 while the number of the third person is the 
 measure of a cross drawn within the sun's orbit 
 (220 X 2 iz: 440). This is a most instructive triad, 
 well worthy of consideration as manifesting the 
 hidden doctrine. The first and second persons 
 exhibit the duplication of the square illustrated by 
 the figures of Cesariano, and the sun's orbit, being 
 the emblem of the new Jerusalem or city of the 
 sun, marks the oinphalos and stauros in the middle 
 of the world.^ 
 
 ^ A vesica 441 broad is 766 long, and a square whose sides 
 are 766 has a diagonal of 1,083, the radius of the moon; and 
 such a square is contained within a rhombus inscribed in the 
 Holy Oblation, so that every attribute of the Bride or Holy 
 Ghost are implied by the number 441. The Hebrew word, 
 
 Z 
 
338 THE CANON. 
 
 Scaligers number is 3,949 years, which pro- 
 duces 2,083, 1,480, and 386. The last number is 
 the side of a rhombus whose length is 670, the 
 numerical equivalent of yja-fjt-og, and i less than 
 that of Adonai and Thorah, the Hebrew names of 
 Malchuth, the Bride. 
 
 Haynlinus chose the number 3,963, the number 
 of miles in the earth's radius. Taking the first 
 and second numbers, as before, to be 2,083 and 
 1,480, the third is 400, which is the length of a 
 rhombus having a perimeter of 924, the square 
 root of the number of miles in the sun's diameter. 
 
 Even the reckoning of the Jews brings out a 
 mystical triad, for 3,760 may be divided into 
 2,083, 1*480, and 197 — the twelfth of 2,368 being 
 
 ^973- 
 
 Strauchius, on p. 382, gives the following quota- 
 tion from the Roman Martyrology published by 
 the authority of Pope Gregory XI II., and publicly 
 read every year on Christmas Day : "In the 
 5,199th year from the creation of the world, when 
 God created Heaven and Earth; and the 2,957th 
 after the Deluge; the 2,015th from the birth of 
 Abraham; 1,510th from Moses, and the time of 
 the Israelites leaving Egypt; and 1,032nd from 
 the time of David's being anointed king ; in the 
 65th annual week of Daniel ; in the 194th 
 Olympiad ; in the 752nd year since the building 
 of Rome ; in the 42nd year of the Emperor 
 Octavius Augustus, when the whole world was 
 blessed with peace ; in the 6th Age of the world ; 
 Jesus Christ, Eternal God, and Son of the Eternal 
 Father, conceived from the Holy Ghost, was born 
 of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judaea." The 
 entire cycle of 5,199 years may be divided into 
 2,368, 2,083, ^^d 748 — the last number being the 
 
 AMTh, truth, TO ayadoyy the good, and 6 Xdyog (deducting 
 colel), the word, yield 441. 
 
RHETORIC. 339 
 
 side of a square contained in a rhombus inscribed 
 within the orbit of Saturn. But, leaving the other 
 numbers, the remarkable fact in the preceding 
 passage is the striking numerical coincidence in 
 the years according to the reckonings of Greece 
 and Rome. Counting by the Greek chronology, 
 Christ was born in the 194th Olympiad. Now 
 193-6 is the side of the Holy Oblation, if the sun s 
 distance be taken at 10 : and 194 Olympiads are 
 776 (—194x4) years; and the transverse beam 
 of a rood cross 776 high is 360, the number of 
 degrees in the earth's circumference. Then, count- 
 ing by the Roman chronology, the year 752 from 
 the founding of the city is i less than the 
 diameter of a circle 2,368 in circumference. This 
 curious coincidence, occurring at a time when the 
 sun had passed into a new sign of the Zodiac, and 
 when consequently a new Messiah was required, 
 strangely confirms, by the appearance of the 
 Gospel, the suggested influence of chronology 
 upon history. 
 
 Christ (supposing him to have been a real per- 
 sonage) was not the only claimant to the honour of 
 personifying the Logos. The fathers give accounts 
 of similar pretensions on the part of Marcus, 
 Basilides, Marcion, and others, while the intro- 
 duction of the cults of Abraxas, 365, and Mithras, 
 360, at Rome may be attributed to some such 
 cause as this. 
 
 The only rival of Jesus alluded to in the New 
 Testament is Xifj-m Mdyog (Simon Magus),' whose 
 
 ^ " There was one John, a day-baptist, who was also, accord- 
 ing to the method of combination, the forerunner of our Lord 
 Jesus; and as the Lord had 12 apostles, bearing the number 
 of the 12 vionths of the sun, so also he [John] had 30 chief 
 men, fulfilling the monthly reckoning of the moon, in which 
 number was a certain woman called Helena, that not even this 
 might be without a dispensational significance. For a woman, 
 being half a man, made up the imperfect number of the tria- 
 
340 THE CANON. 
 
 name, when colel is deducted from the three 
 words, yields 1,481, or i more than Christos. He 
 declared himself to be a personification of the 
 Father {Simon^ 1,100 z= Macroprosopos, 1,101), 
 and showed himself among the Jews as Christ, 
 ** not in the flesh, but in appearance ; and after 
 this, as the Holy Ghost, of whom Christ had 
 promised that he should be sent as the Comforter " 
 (St. Cyril, Lect. VI.). We are also told that 
 Claudius set up a statue to him inscribed " To 
 Simon, the Holy God" {Ibid,). 
 
 In the third century Manes, a Persian, also pro- 
 claimed himself to be a personification of the Holy 
 Ghost — or Logos, for Manes in Persian means 
 speech. He appears to have healed the s^ick, and 
 performed wonders like Simon Magus and the 
 rest. He was worshipped by disciples, persecuted 
 by other Christian sects, and like the gentle 
 Christos, was taken prisoner, condemned as a 
 malefactor, and having been flayed alive, consum- 
 mated his martyrdom with every accompaniment 
 of infamy (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Lect. VI., 
 20-31). 
 
 Again, the impersonation of the Holy Ghost by 
 a woman of the thirteenth century appears to be 
 due to chronological reasons. A fondness for the 
 worship of the Virgin was characteristic of the 
 theology of this century, and it resulted in the 
 introduction of the doctrine of transubstantiation 
 decreed 1,215 (by transposition 2 151), besides 
 the addition of new offices especially addressed to 
 the Mother of God. 
 
 It was declared by various mystics that a Third 
 Age was to succeed those of the Father and the 
 
 contad ; as also in the case of the moon, whose revolution does 
 not make the complete course of the month. But of these 
 thirty, the first and the most esteemed by John was Simon " 
 (" Clementine Homilies," ch. xxiii., Hom. ii.). 
 
RHETORIC. 341 
 
 Son, which were past. The Age of the Father, 
 or the old law, they considered to have lasted till 
 the first century, when the Logos was incarnated 
 in the body of Jesus, and there was not wanting a 
 woman in the thirteenth century, Wilhelmina by 
 name, who undertook to personate the Holy Ghost. 
 Her doctrine was that " all that had happened to 
 Christ during His appearance upon earth in the 
 human nature, was to be exactly renewed in her 
 person, or rather in that of the Holy Ghost, which 
 was united to hen" She died at Milan, says 
 Mosheim, " in the most fragrant odour of sanctity, 
 and her memory was not only held in the highest 
 veneration by her numerous followers and the 
 ignorant multitude, but was also honoured with 
 religious worship both in public and private " 
 (" Eccles. Hist./' p. 349). 
 
 These opinions, according to Guillaume de St. 
 Amour, were first propagated in the year 1200, 
 although Joachim's " Everlasting Gospel," which 
 named the year 1260 as the beginning of the New 
 Age, was not published till 1254. The reason of 
 the appearance of these prophecies was probably 
 due to the fact that, according to the theory of 
 mystical numbers, the year 1 200 was remarkable 
 because a vesica 1,201 broad is 2,083 long, and 
 2,083 being the size of the Holy Oblation enclos- 
 ing the sphere of the Zodiac, that number was the 
 symbol of the Holy Spirit. Again, 1,200 is also 
 the length of a vesica 692 broad, and 691 is the 
 length of the sun's orbit, which is enclosed in the 
 New Jerusalem, the city of the Bride. In the same 
 way the year 1239 would be remarkable, for 1,239 is 
 the side of a vesica 2,151 long, or the number of 
 years in the great month which symbolized the 
 feminine aspect of the Logos, corresponding to 
 the Holy Ghost. And 1,246 is the width of a 
 vesica 2,160 long, the number of miles in the 
 
342 THE CANON, 
 
 moon's diameter, and consequently a symbol of 
 the elements, the emblem of the Bride. The 
 number 1,260 is not so easily accounted for, unless 
 it be that it is composed of the figures 2,160 
 transposed. 
 
 In the ecclesiastical computation of time there 
 are two great cycles observed, one of the sun and 
 one of the moon. The Lunar cycle is composed of 
 235 lunations of nineteen solar years, and by it the 
 golden number of the calendar is adjusted. The 
 solar cycle consists of a period of twenty-eight 
 years, and determines the changes of the Dominical 
 letter. It is assumed that the precession of the 
 equinoxes or great year^ constituted the third 
 cycle during one month of which the Messiah was 
 supposed to rule. 
 
 The commemoration of the saints in the calendar 
 afforded another means of chronicling the doctrine 
 of theology with respect to numbers. For the 
 feasts, dedicated to the spirits or souls of the holy 
 persons canonized by the church, appear to be 
 distributed in a numerical order throughout the 
 circle of the 3''ear, to symbolize the choir of saints 
 who filled the sphere of heaven. 
 
 The Puritans have shown (Gale, ** Court of the 
 Gentiles," vol. iii., p. 184, etc.) that the invocation 
 of saints was instituted by the Christians in imita- 
 tion of the rites with which the pagans honoured 
 their demons (spirits).^ It was thought that when 
 
 ^ The precessional cycle, like other hidden matters, was 
 brought to light by Copernicus. (Vincent Wing, "Harmonicon 
 Celeste," 1651, p. 60.) 
 
 ^ " As the Pagans had their Holy-dayes dedicated to their 
 Demons, so also sacred Hy77ines^ whereby they sung their 
 praises .... So Bacchus had his rpayto^iag, Tragedies, and 
 K<i>/ii(ohag, Comedies : the former so called from the sacrificing 
 a goaf, the latter, in that they were sung in Villages, answer- 
 ably to the Popish wake-songs. . . . And are not those Hymnes, 
 which the sons of Antichrist sing to their Canonised Saints on 
 
RHETORIC. 343 
 
 the golden race of men died they became spirits 
 (demons) ** kindly, haunting earth, guardians of 
 mortal men, who, I ween," as Hesiod says, " watch 
 both the decisions of justice and harsh deeds, 
 going to and fro everywhere over the earth, having 
 wrapt themselves in mist, givers of riches as they 
 are : and this is a kingly function which they 
 have" ('* Works and Days," v., 109). Plato, in 
 the "Cratylus," calls these spirits mediators be- 
 tween gods and men. And according to both, 
 they are the souls or spirits of departed heroes, 
 who dwell and move about the intermediate space 
 between the gods and mortals. 
 
 To go deeper into the matter we must consider 
 what theories the old philosophers had about the 
 soul. Cicero has preserved some of the ancient 
 notions in the "Vision of Scipio," who is brought 
 in a dream to the abode of the shades. He is 
 there instructed by the spirit of Africanus his 
 father, as to the nature of the place and the 
 condition of souls after death, and is informed that 
 **'a soul has been supplied to them [men] from 
 those eternal fires which you call constellations 
 and stars . . . and the assembly of those who 
 have lived before, and who, having been released 
 from their bodies inhabit that place which thou 
 beholdest.' Now the place my father spoke of 
 was a radiant circle of dazzling brightness amid 
 the flaming bodies you, as you have learned from 
 the Greeks, term the Milky Way. ... All things," 
 he continues, **are connected by nine circles or 
 rather spheres : the outermost of which is heaven, 
 
 their Holy-dayes, an exact vvoKpifng, or Imitamen of these 
 Pagan Hymnes? .... The Pagans also had their Playes 
 which were a part of those solemnities they performed to their 
 Demons .... and as Antichrist has his Canonic Playes and 
 Dayes^ so also his Images^ Crosses, Reliques, and other Idol- 
 representations of his Saints." 
 
344 'I'l^^ CANON. 
 
 and comprehends all the rest, inhabited by that 
 all-powerful God who bounds and controls the 
 others ; and in this sphere reside the original princi- 
 ples of those endless revolutions which the planets 
 perform . . ." which as I was gazing at in amaze- 
 ment I said as I recovered myself: From whence 
 proceed these sounds so strong and yet so sweet 
 that fill my ears ? " The melody," replied he, 
 which you hear, and which, though composed 
 in unequal time is nevertheless divided into regular 
 harmony, is effected by the impulse and motion of 
 the spheres themselves which by a happy temper 
 of sharp and grave notes regularly produces 
 various harmonic effects." 
 
 From the preceding quotation Cicero makes it 
 clear that the souls of men descend to the earth 
 from the *' constellations or stars," and then after 
 death ascend to the circle of dazzling brightness, 
 which the Greeks call the Milky Way, that is, 
 to the place from whence they came. But Plato 
 speaks of demons or spirits, who are ** intermediate 
 between the divine and the mortal," and who can 
 be no other than the seven planets encircling 
 the earth and filling the interval between it and 
 heaven. 
 
 The action of the soul in its passage through the 
 planets is obscurely referred to by Macrobius in 
 his commentary on Scipio's dream (ch. xii.). " The 
 soul, therefore, falling with this first weight, from 
 the Zodiac and Milky Way into each of the subject 
 spheres is not only clothed with the accession of a 
 luminous body but produces the particular motions 
 which it is to exercise in the respective orbs, etc." 
 It is also explained by Porphyry (" Cave of the 
 Nymphs," par. ii), that souls descending in gener- 
 ation enter through the **gate" of Cancer, the 
 northern Tropic on their way to an earthly body, 
 and, on their release at death, they ascend through 
 
RHETORIC. 345 
 
 Capricorn the southern tropic, on their way back 
 to heaven. 
 
 Those hymns to which Gale draws attention 
 were probably sung in allusion to the celestial 
 music of the spheres, representing the demons, 
 who convey the souls of men down to earth and 
 from thence to heaven. Origen has a passage of 
 like purport. **Celsus," he says, **too agreeably 
 to the opinion of Plato, asserts that souls can make 
 their way to and from the earth through the 
 planets ; while Moses, our most ancient prophet, 
 says that a divine vision was presented to the view 
 of our prophet Jacob, — a ladder stretching to 
 heaven, and the angels of God ascending and de- 
 scending upon it, and the Lord supported upon its 
 top — obscurely pointing, by this matter of the 
 ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had 
 in view, or to something greater than these." 
 
 The number of saints commemorated in the 
 calendar of the English Church has varied with 
 the changes of opinion and jurisdiction which 
 have occurred at different times. In the Prayer 
 Book, as published in the reign of James II., in 
 the year 1680, the holy days and festivals, including 
 52 Sundays, amount to 81 ; then there are 16 
 vigils, the 40 days of Lent, the 12 Ember days, 
 the 3 Rogation days, and lastly, all the Fridays 
 in the year, to which are added '* 3 solemn 
 days," with appointed services. Consequently, 
 all the days devoted to religious exercises are 
 207, which is the diameter of a circle having a 
 circumference of 651, which in its turn is the 
 diameter of Saturn's orbit Again, the total 
 number of saints named in the calendar is 93, 
 which is the radius of Saturn's orbit if the sun's 
 distance be taken at 10 (220 : 2,046 : : 10 : : 93), 
 and 93-8 X 9'5 = 891 {ouranos). 
 
 But the system seems to have been carried 
 
346 THE CANON. 
 
 further, as a closer examination of the calendar 
 will show. According to the usage of the English 
 church the ecclesiastical year begins on the first 
 Sunday of Advent, which falls in the current year 
 upon the 29th of November, 1896. Consequently, 
 St. Andrew's Day, fixed for the 30th of Novem- 
 ber, is observed on the second day of the year. 
 Now St. Andrew, who was said to have been 
 crucified on a cross saltirewise, like the second 
 figure of Cesariano, is an obvious personification 
 of the Microcosm, and may be appropriately sym- 
 bolized by the number 2.^ The square of 30 is 
 900, and if i and a fraction be added we get the 
 side of a square whose diagonal is 1,275. 
 
 St. Thomas's Day (December 21st) falls upon 
 the 23rd day of the year. This apostle is called 
 in the Gospel, Didymus, the Twin, being regarded 
 as the twin-brother of Christ. In the apocryphal 
 Gospel, ** The Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas," 
 when the disciples were sent out to all the corners 
 of the earth to preach, it fell to the lot of Thomas 
 to go to India. At first he was unwilling to go 
 owing to weakness of the flesh, but his brother 
 Christ sold him to a merchant, who had been sent 
 by the King of India to buy a carpenter. 
 
 Sir John Maundeville, in the thirteenth century, 
 speaks of India as the Antipodes : ** The Londes 
 of Prestre John, Emperour of Ynde ben undre 
 us," he says, "and thei han there the day, whan 
 wee have the nyghte" (ch. xvii.). The southern 
 hemisphere seems to have been fancifully con- 
 ceived as a cup by the ancients. According to 
 the legends, the Holy Grail was preserved in 
 India by Prestre John, and the diagram of a 
 chalice given by Greaves (" English Weights and 
 
 ^ The days of the month upon which the feasts of the saints 
 are fixed must be considered as well as the days of the year, 
 especially as the day of the year yields a variable number. 
 
RHETORIC. 347 
 
 Measures ") seems to disclose its esoteric mean- 
 ing. It is drawn as a hollow hemisphere or bowl 
 set upon a stem with the twenty-four hour-circles 
 of tqjp earth marked upon it, and is consequently 
 a symbol of the under world. In some of the 
 earliest crucifixes a chalice is shown at the feet 
 of the Saviour. On turning to Cesariano's Macro- 
 cosm it will be seen that the four points of the 
 compass are clearly distinguished upon it. The 
 head and hands are enclosed by three circles, 
 and the feet by a vesica, the three upper points 
 representing the upper hemisphere or the male, 
 the lower hemisphere being the emblem of the 
 female. 
 
 In the order of the apostles Thomas stands 
 seventh according to St. Matthew (ch. x.). There- 
 fore supposing St. Peter to correspond to the sign 
 of the fishes, Thomas would represent the Virgin, 
 or seventh month of the year, when the sun enters 
 the lower hemisphere at the autumnal equinox. 
 
 Thomas was also called Judas, 685, and ^lou^ocg 
 0W(Wa? ^: 1,735, ^^ I more than Dionysos, who 
 also made a famous expedition into India. 
 
 Thus, the two brothers, Christ and Thomas 
 (HS'jfAOi), symbolize the male and female powers 
 of the Logos. In the English calendar the feast 
 of St. Thomas is the sixth in order, which again 
 connects it with the double potency. 
 
 The Epiphany occurs in the 6th week, and 
 39th day of the year. This festival signified the 
 manifestation of Christ, and in Greek Epiphaneia 
 yieilds 662 + i rz 663, which is the diameter of a 
 circle having a circumference equal to the side of 
 the Holy Oblation. And the 39th day may stand 
 for the number 38|-, which is the square root of 
 1,480, while the 6th week probably refers to the 
 6 cabalistic steps, of which the body of the Micro- 
 cosm is composed. 
 
348 THK CANON. 
 
 The Purification of the Blessed Virgin falls in 
 the loth week on the 66th day of the year. Now 
 the number 10 is the cabalistic equivalent of the 
 Bride, and 66 is the diameter of a circle 207 in 
 circumference, while 207^ is in its turn the 
 diameter of a circle 651 in circumference, which 
 is the diameter of a third circle whose cir- 
 cumference is 2,046, the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit. 
 
 The Annunciation of Mary falls in the 17th 
 week, on the 1 1 7th day of the year. The number 
 1 7 is treated on p. , and 1 1 7 is the diameter of 
 a circle whose circumference is 367, the numerical 
 equivalent of the word Venus. 
 
 The Invention of the Cross is commemorated 
 in the 23rd week, and the 158th day of the year. 
 And 158 is the diameter of a circle having a 
 circumference of 496, the numerical equivjilent of 
 Malchuth, who personified the earth and sub- 
 lunary world symbolized by the cross ©. Again, 
 ^58 X gjn 1,501, and a cross inscribed in a 
 vesica 1,501 long measures (1,501 + 866 rz) 
 2,368. 
 
 St. Mary the Magdalen is commemorated in the 
 34th week, and the 236th day of the year. And 
 34^ n: 1,156, the side of a vesica 2,004 long, while 
 236 is the side of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Lammas day falls in the 36th week, on the 
 246th day of the year. Now the sum of the 
 numbers from i to 36 amounts to 666, and 246 is 
 the diameter of a circle 773 in circumference, and 
 773 is the perimeter of the Holy Oblation if the 
 sun's distance be taken at 10. 
 
 In the same week, the Transfiguration is com- 
 memorated on the 251st day of the year. And 
 251 is the diameter of a circle 788 in circum- 
 ference, and 789-J is the width of a vesica formed 
 by two circles whose united width is 2,368, 
 
RHETORIC. 349 
 
 The Name of Jesus ^ falls on the following day 
 in the same week. And 252 is the length of a 
 vesica 146 long, which is the width of the circles 
 forming a vesica 48-I broad, or the square root of 
 2,368. 
 
 Holy Cross day is celebrated in the 42nd week 
 and 290th day of the year. And 290 x 3y — 
 911. 
 
 All Saints' day occurs in the 49th week and the 
 338th day of the year. Now 48^ is the square 
 root of 2,368, and 338, besides being the limb of a 
 cross which measures 676 (338 x 2 ^ 676), is the 
 diameter of a circle having a circumference of 
 1,062. [See Apollo.) 
 
 The feast of St. Catherine falls on the 361st 
 day of the year, and 361 is the width of a vesica 
 formed by two circles whose united width is 1,083, 
 the radius of the moon. 'Hxarfpji/a yields 495, or 
 Jth of the earth's radius, so the wheel of St. 
 Catherine may be regarded as a symbol of the 
 earth surrounded by the circles of the four 
 elements. 
 
 Although chronology has been said to be the 
 soul of history, there is yet another source from 
 which literary composition received an inspira- 
 tion corresponding to the divine afflatus breathed 
 into the nostrils of Adam at his creation. For the 
 structure of the law was like that of a man having 
 a body and soul, the written word or Scriptures 
 
 ^ When Truth appeared to Marcus, the Gnostic, it is said 
 that she " opened her mouth, and uttered a word. That word 
 was a name, and the name was this one which we do know 
 and speak of, viz., Christ Jesus. . . . This which thou knowest 
 and seemest to possess, is not an ancient name. For thou 
 possessest the sound of it merely, whilst thou art ignorant of 
 its power. For Jesus ('Ij/o-ovc) is a name atithmetically sy^n- 
 boiicai, consisting of six letters, and is known by all those that 
 belong to the called'' (Irenseus, *' Against Heresies," bk. i., 
 ch. xiv.) 
 
350 THE CANON. 
 
 corresponding to the body, and the Tradition or 
 unwritten word to the soul. Now since the 
 written Law, as we all know, can only be inter- 
 preted by the oral tradition, it is highly important 
 that this spirit, which is said to vivify and impart 
 meaning to the letter, should be sought for and 
 studied. Perhaps to make the analogy between 
 the soul and the body more complete, the old 
 philosophers always kept the oral law a secret, so 
 that its operation was conducted invisibly and 
 inscrutably like its counterpart in nature. At any 
 rate the mysteries, which it unfolded to those who 
 knew it, have never been communicated to the 
 outer world. 
 
 The oral tradition of the Hebrews was also 
 double, being called Masorah and Cabala, or that 
 which was delivered and that which was received. 
 Now these two are presumably the Logos and 
 Psyche of the Greeks, or the double soul, which 
 was supposed to exist in the body of every man. 
 In a passage quoted by Menasseh Ben Israel 
 (" Conciliator," vol. i., p. 207) it is said that angels, 
 in descending to the elemental w^orld, incorporate 
 themselves with the law. The whole section is 
 purposely obscure, but the words associating the 
 soul of the law with the descent of angels to the 
 sublunary world, are clear enough. According to 
 R. Isaac Abarbanel, the name Elohim denotes 
 ** the relation between the creative power that 
 bestows, and his creatures that receive ; it is like- 
 wise applied to those created beings who by 
 means of their official situation, bestow on others 
 who receive. Hence angels are called Elohim, as 
 they are the divine instruments to bestow his 
 blessings on the world." Cornelius Agrippa 
 ("Occult Philosophy," p. 215) mentions ten orders 
 of the blessed, with ten archangels, corresponding 
 to one of the cabalistic steps and one of the celes- 
 
RHETORIC. 351 
 
 tial spheres, viz., Primum Mobile, Zodiac, Saturn, 
 Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and 
 the elementary world. 
 
 We also learn from the Talmud, that ** the dis- 
 tance from the earth to the firmament is 500 years 
 journey, and so it is from each successive firmament 
 to the next throughout the series of the seven 
 heavens.^ * Now as I beheld the living creatures, 
 behold one wheel upon the earth by the living 
 creatures' (Ezek. i. 15). Rabbi Eleazar says,?/ was 
 an angel who stood upon the earthy and his head reached 
 to the living a^eatures. It is recorded in a Mishna 
 that his name is Sandalphon, who towers above 
 his fellow-angels to a height of 500 years journey : 
 he stands behind the chariot and binds crowns on 
 the head of his creator." In the liturgy of the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, it is said, that Sandalphon 
 gathers in his hands the prayers of Israel, and, 
 forming a wreath of them, he adjures it to ascend 
 as an orb for the head of the Supreme King of 
 Kings." (Hershon's *' Talmudic Miscellany," p. 
 
 ^ To account for Moses having omitted to mention the 
 creation of the planets or the angels, Bishop Wilkins quotes Mr. 
 Wright and other authorities, as follows : " 'Tis not the endeavour 
 of Moses, or the Prophets, to discover any Mathematical or 
 Philosophical subtilties, but rather to accommodate themselves 
 to vulgar capacities, and ordinary speech, as nurses are wont to 
 use to their Infants. . . . But 'tis certain (saith Calvin) that his 
 purpose is to treat only of the visible form of the world, and 
 those parts of it, which might be most easily understood by the 
 Ignorant and Ruder sort of people, and therefore we are not to 
 expect the discovery of any Natural Secret. As for more hidden 
 arts, they must be looked for elsewhere ; the Holy Ghost did 
 here intend to instruct all without exception. . . . And there- 
 fore too, Aquinas observes, that he writes nothing of the Air, 
 because that being invisible, the People knew not whether there 
 were any such Body or no. And for this reason St. Jerom also 
 thinks, that there is nothing exprest concerning the creation of 
 Angels because the rude and ignorant Vulgar were not so 
 capable of apprehending their Natures " (" Discovery of a New 
 World," 1684, p. 22, by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester). 
 
352 THE CANON. 
 
 250). The height of Sandalphon would be (500 x 
 8 zz) 4,000 years' journey, or i more than 3,999. 
 See p. 370. 
 
 Again, Plato's description of Eros (Love), 
 exactly agrees with this angel of the Hebrews. 
 ** These spirits (SxtfAovsg) or intermediate powers," 
 he says, ** are many and diverse, and one of them 
 is Eros (Love). He is a great spirit, and like all 
 spirits he is intermediate between the divine and 
 mortal. ... He interprets between gods and men, 
 conveying and taking across the prayers and sacri- 
 fices of men, and to men the commands and replies 
 of the Gods ; he is the mediator who spans the 
 chasm which divides them, and therefore in him 
 all is bound together, and through him the arts of 
 the prophet and the priest, their sacrifices and 
 mysteries, and charms and all prophecy and incan- 
 tation find their way. For God mingles not with 
 man ; but through Eros all intercourse and con- 
 verse of God with man, whether awake or asleep, 
 is carried on." (Symposium.) 
 
 One of the difficulties which the theology of the 
 ancients attempted to explain was the problem of 
 human generation. Having assumed that man 
 was a twofold being with a soul and a body, and 
 that his soul was a scintillation of the divine essence 
 derived from the sphere of the fixed stars or Milky 
 Way, it was necessary to suggest the means by 
 which the immortal soul reached its earthly dwell- 
 ing. For this purpose the ten cabalistic steps, 
 personified by Eros, Sandalphon, or Macropro- 
 sopus, were devised, and afforded the hypothetical 
 ladder by which souls descended to the elemental 
 world. The five books of the Law written accord- 
 ing to this mystical hypothesis, imitated by its 
 symbolical composition the order of creation. But 
 the Mosaic method of philosophizing will perhaps 
 be made clearer by the testimony of numbers. 
 
RHETORIC. 353 
 
 The Law was said to have been first written on 
 a roll by Moses himself, from the ^{beth) of 
 Brashith, the first letter of the first word in Genesis 
 to the L {lamed) of Isral, the last letter of the last 
 word in Deuteronomy ("Talmud, Treatise, Bava 
 bathra," ch. i., fol. 15). Thus the whole fabric of 
 the law is included between these two letters. 
 Now the numerical value of Beth is 2, and that 
 of Lamed is 30; and 2 + 30ZZ32, which is the 
 square root of 1,024, the radius of Saturn's orbit. 
 Again, the two words Brashith, 913, and Isral, 
 541, express the twofold principle corresponding 
 to Masorah and Cabala, whilst 913 + 541 — 1,454, 
 or one less than the value of Adam Kadmon, the 
 celestial Adam or Macroprosopus, who in one sense 
 comprehends the whole ten steps of the diagram 
 in his body, and conveyed the spirit of life to the 
 earth. 
 
 Since it was supposed that the generation of the 
 world was accomplished after the manner of men, 
 we must conceive the Macrocosm or celestial Adam 
 stretched within the sphere of the Zodiac, so that 
 the centre of his body (the phallus) coincides with 
 the centre of the universe occupied by the earth 
 and the elements. And since the earth was philo- 
 sophically considered to be the mother or receptive 
 power in the planetary system, she was figuratively 
 said to have conceived and brought forth the prim- 
 aeval man, the earth-born Adam, the son of the 
 supernal Adam. Thus, according to the Hebrews, 
 the race of mortals was produced ; and the spirit of 
 life having been implanted in the body of the First 
 Man he transmitted it through Eve to all subse- 
 quent generations. 
 
 In the **Phaedrus" of Plato, a treatise very 
 apposite to the present inquiry, Socrates says, 
 " The method of the Art of Rhetoric is in a man- 
 ner the same as that of medicine. Phcsdrus, How 
 
 A A 
 
354 THE CANON. 
 
 SO ? Socrates. In both it is requisite that nature 
 should be thoroughly investigated, the nature of 
 the body in the one, and the nature of the soul 
 in the other." Let us literally follow the advice 
 of Plato in investigating the progress of a human 
 soul as far as our natural powers of observation 
 will carry us. As far as human science can trace 
 it the human soul in its passage through life exists 
 in at least three distinct habitations, and in each 
 case under very different circumstances. Beyond 
 this, it may be said, that nothing else is positively 
 known. The germ of life, which ultimately be- 
 comes a human creature, first exists in the body 
 of the man, whom we call its father. In the act 
 of coition it is transmitted to the womb of the 
 woman, whom we call its mother ; and in the third 
 stage of its known existence it is born into the 
 world where, as a man or woman, it remains till 
 death. 
 
 Although some philosophers supposed that at 
 the death of the body the soul evaporated and 
 ceased to exist, it was generally held as a reason- 
 able hypothesis grounded upon the analogy of its 
 progressive existence, that the soul continued to 
 live after death, and by returning to the stars from 
 whence it came completed the cycle of its being. 
 
 The first abode occupied by the soul in its 
 mundane state is thus referred to in the New 
 Testament : '* And as I may so say, Levi also, 
 who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. 
 For he was yet in the loins of his father when 
 Melchisedec met him" (Heb. vii. 9, 10). The 
 transition from the first abode to the second 
 constitutes the soul's first death and birth. The 
 Greek initiate into the mysteries, having figura- 
 tively passed through the region of Hades, was 
 called (?i<?)u>i?, twice-born ; and it was by the analogy 
 borne by the first dissolution to the last, that the 
 
incients argued their doctrine of immortality. 
 The evidence and hope of the resurrection was 
 :ommonly demonstrated by the rising again of 
 the Phoenix after complete decay. St. Cyril of 
 Jerusalem says that God, knowing man*s unbelief, 
 tiad provided the Phoenix to disclose his purpose. 
 ' This bird," as Clement writes, and as many 
 more relate, *' the only one of its race, going to the 
 land of the Egyptians at revolutions of 500 years, 
 shows forth the resurrection ; and this, not in 
 desert places, lest the mystery which comes to 
 pass should remain unknown, but in a notable 
 :ity, that men might even handle what they dis- 
 believe. For it makes itself a nest of frankincense 
 ind myrrh and other spices, and entering into this 
 when its years are fulfilled, it evidently dies and 
 moulders away. Then from the mouldering flesh 
 of the dead a worm springs, and this worm when 
 ^rown large is transformed into a bird, etc." (Cat. 
 Lect. xviii.). The Phoenix is only another image 
 of the Christ, whose crucifixion, burial and descent 
 nto Hell, and ultimate resurrection illustrate in 
 mother way the same order of nature. 
 
 The next stage of the soul's existence, when it 
 "caches its second abode, is its period in the womb, 
 :he dark and gloomy place through which it was 
 doomed to pass in its appointed course ; when, in 
 :he symbolical language of the Greeks, it makes 
 ts descent into Hades. An ample description of 
 :he regions of Tartarus is given by Plato in the 
 ' Phaedo." " One of the chasms of the earth/' he 
 >ays, " is exceedingly large, and perforated through 
 :he entire earth, and is that which Homer speaks 
 )f, * very far off, where is the most profound abyss 
 )eneath the earth,' which elsewhere both he and 
 nany other poets have called Tartaros. For into 
 his chasm all rivers flow together, and from it flow 
 mt again." Plato, who always ** moralized" his 
 
356 THE CANON. 
 
 fables, pretended (for the benefit of the populace) 
 that the wtc^ed souls who were hurled into Tartaros 
 perished and never came out again. ** But those 
 who are found to have lived an eminently holy life, 
 these are they, who, being freed and set at large 
 from these regions in the earth, as from a prison, 
 arrive at the pure abode above, and dwell in the 
 upper parts of the earth/' ^ 
 
 The Christian idea of Hades did not differ from 
 that of Homer and Plato, as it is said of Christ in 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians : ** Now that He 
 ascended, what is it but that he also descended first 
 into the lower parts of the earth ? " (ch. iv. 9) : 
 and the following extract from Tertullian is to the 
 same purpose. " By ourselves the lower regions 
 are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some 
 subterranean sewer, but a vast deep space in the 
 interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its 
 very bowels ; inasmuch as we read that Christ in 
 His death spent three days in the heart of the 
 earth (Matt. xii. 40), that is, in the secret inner 
 recess which is hidden in the earth . , . therefore 
 keep at arm's length those who are too proud to 
 believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a 
 place in the lower regions. Those persons who 
 are * servants above their Lord, and disciples 
 above their Master,' would no doubt spurn to 
 receive the comfort of the resurrection, if they 
 must expect it in Abraham's bosom " (** De Anima," 
 cap. Iv.). 
 
 The allusion above to Abraham's bosom is as 
 important as it is peculiar, since this expression 
 
 ^ In concluding the passage, that no one may be deceived, 
 he adds, "To affirm positively, indeed, that these things are as 
 I have described them, does not become a man of sense ; that, 
 however, this or something of the kind takes place with respect 
 to our souls and their habitation s^since our soul is certainly 
 immortal — this appears to be most fitting to be believed." 
 
RHETORIC 357 
 
 denotes in the Gospel the place prepared for the 
 reception of virtuous souls. Now everybody 
 knows that " there was a certain rich man, which 
 was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared 
 sumptuously every day ; and there was a certain 
 beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, 
 full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs 
 which fell from the rich man's table : moreover the 
 dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to 
 pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the 
 angels ^ into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also 
 died and was buried : and in hell he lift up his 
 eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar 
 off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and 
 said. Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and 
 send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger 
 in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented 
 in this flame," and so on (Luke^ xvi. 19-24). 
 
 The word xoAtto?, euphemistically translated 
 *' bosom" in the text, means the womb. In a 
 previous chapter of the same treatise, Tertullian, 
 affirming the corporeal nature of the soul in hell, 
 draws attention to the fact that Lazarus is said to 
 have a finger and the rich man a tongue. Accord- 
 ingly it may be supposed that Abraham's bosom 
 was also attached to a body. Now when Plato in 
 the " Phsedo " is describing the parts and structure 
 of the earth it is evident that he is mystically 
 referring to a woman's body, the centre of which is 
 called by him Hades, and it may be concluded 
 that the y-oXTroq,^ or " bosom" of Abraham, belongs to 
 
 ^ In the " Selections from the Prophetic Scriptures," the 
 soul is said to enter the womb, "introduced by one of the 
 angels who preside over generation " (" Ante-Nicene Library," 
 vol. xxiv., p. 131). 
 
 ^ 6 koXttoc A^padfx (Abraham's bosom) has the numerical 
 value of 685 (70 + 470+145), the diameter of a circle whose 
 circumference is 2,151, the number of years in the great month. 
 "Ao7?e (Hell) yields 213, the diameter of a circle having a cir- 
 
358 THE CANON. 
 
 the same mystical body. We must consequently 
 assume that the body of a woman was supposed 
 by the philosophers to extend in an opposite 
 direction to that of the Macrocosm in the manner 
 depicted by Eliphas Levi, and the generative 
 attributes thus meeting together in the middle of 
 the universe explains the conjunction of the om- 
 phalos and stauros at the earth's centre. These 
 two figures commonly symbolized by a Solomon's 
 Seal will also represent the double soul of the law, 
 Masorah and Cabala, the part of the man being 
 to deliver, the part of the woman to receive. 
 
 On issuing from the womb, provided with a 
 substantial body, the soul begins the third term of 
 its mundane life as a man. Of its waxing and 
 waning upon earth it is hardly necessary to speak. 
 But to the philosophers the sacredness of the body 
 consisted in its being the receptacle or temple of a 
 spark of the vital essence which they called God, 
 for such they considered to be the soul of man. 
 And the human creature having reached the full 
 limit of his development was endowed with the 
 supreme faculty of transmitting a portion of the 
 soul within him, and thereby rendering himself 
 immortal by adding a new link in the continuous 
 chain of life whose beginning was in heaven. 
 
 This much at least was knowledge : and those 
 ascertained facts set forth in symbols and parables 
 constituted the gnosis imparted to initiates at the 
 celebration of the mysteries. The attainment of 
 immortality wherein a man could reproduce him- 
 self by sending forth a new born soul into the 
 depths of futurity was regarded as the utmost 
 function of manhood, and since the man gave up 
 his soul and the woman gave it back nourished 
 
 cumference of 671, the numerical equivalent of Thorah and 
 Adonai, the Bride. The patriarch must, of course, be con- 
 sidered to be androgynous. 
 
RHETORIC. 359 
 
 With her blood and covered with her flesh, they 
 looked upon this act as a work of sacrifice, as well 
 as an imperative duty. 
 
 Tertullian tells us more than once that all souls 
 flow from Adam.^ For the chain of life was con- 
 ceived like a series of threads which followed 
 backwards from son to father converge and meet 
 in the first thread generated by the earth-born 
 Adam. So when the body, worn out with age, 
 succumbed at last to death, it was honoured with 
 funeral rites, enacted in imitation of that former 
 parting at the gates of Hades. Such was the 
 meaning of the Egyptian ceremonies bestowed 
 upon their dead, for by the analogy of the souls 
 entrance into the world or body, with faith and 
 hope they argued its exit into another, and looked 
 forward to the completion of the full span of life 
 when carried by the seven spirits, demons, angels, 
 or wanderers (TrAai/n'rat) they should ascend to the 
 firmament and join the everlasting choir of the 
 stars. Or, as Origen puts it, *' we hope, after the 
 troubles and struggles which we suffer here, to 
 reach the highest heavens, and receiving, agree- 
 ably to the teaching of Jesus, the fountains of 
 water that spring up unto eternal life, and being 
 filled with the rivers of knowledge, shall be united 
 with those waters that are said to be above the 
 heavens, and which praise His name. As many 
 of us as praise Him shall not be carried about by 
 the revolution of the heaven, but shall be ever 
 engaged in the contemplation of the invisible 
 
 ^ That this was the doctrine of the mysteries is evident from 
 the following speech of Pythagoras, who appears in Lucian's 
 dialogue reincarnated in a cock. "How this soul of mine, 
 which came originally from Apollo, flew down to earth and got 
 into a human body as a punishment for its crimes it would be 
 tedious to recount : besides those are things which it is neither 
 lawful for me to tell or you to hear" ("The Cock and the 
 Cobbler"). 
 
360 THE CANON. 
 
 things of God" ("Against Celsus/' bk. vi., 
 ch, XX.). 
 
 The custom of burying the dead in a contracted 
 position (the knees being drawn up to the head) 
 once practised by the ancient Peruvians and 
 Egyptians still prevails in certain parts of Africa. 
 " Some writers have expressed the opinion that 
 the object of burying a person in this position was 
 to imitate that of a child in the womb of its 
 mother, so that the man or woman's entrance into 
 another world should to some extent resemble that 
 of their entrance into this world " (H. N. Hutchin- 
 son, " Prehistoric Man," p. 209). 
 
 The process of creation may be expressed by 
 inscribing the cabalistic diagram in the upper 
 hemisphere, so that the apex or crown reaches to 
 the Milky Way, while the tenth step will coincide 
 with the earth. By this means the ladder for the 
 descent of the soul may be reduced to specific 
 measures, determining the sizes of the figures of 
 which it is composed. Geometrically, the symbols 
 of the three persons of the triad are, firstly, a 
 pyramid or triangle ; secondly, a cube or hexagon^ 
 a circle, or a saltire ; thirdly, a vesica or rhombus, 
 or a cross. 
 
 HTPAMIS 831 
 
 KTBOS 692 1 
 
 'POMBOS 482 J ^'^""^ 
 
 2,005 
 
 The manner of ascertaining their relative sizes 
 may be illustrated thus. The numerical value of 
 the name Macrocosmos is 831. Now, if the first 
 three steps be relegated to a triangle having a 
 perimeter of 832*5, the base of the triangle will be 
 386'5 and its sides 222*9 (386*5 : 222*9 : : 26 : 15). 
 And since the steps from i to 9 are arranged in a 
 
RHETORIC. 361 
 
 figure of the proportion of 26 : 15 the distance from 
 the first to the ninth step will be 670 (0 xoV/xo?). By 
 adding a rhombus> whose sides are 222-9, to repre- 
 sent the Bride who occupies the tenth step, the 
 diagram is complete and it only remains to depict 
 upon it the figures of the persons. In the Zohar 
 we are told that Macroprosopos is only represented 
 by his head, which is fully described in the " Lesser 
 Holy Assembly." Now, if the greater man of 
 Cesariano be drawn so as to occupy the entire 
 extent of the diagram, his head will be found to 
 be contained within the triangle formed by the first 
 three steps which properly belong to him. The 
 height of his body measures 892*9, which is i and 
 a fraction more than the value of OuranoSy Heaven, 
 the Father of the Gods, according to Hesiod. 
 
 Another notable fact respecting the height of 
 Macrocosmos in the diagram is that a rood- 
 cross 892 high will crucify a man in a square 
 having a perimeter of 1,656, the distance of the 
 tropics from the equator measured on the earth's 
 circumference; and its extreme length is 1,274!;, 
 or the height of a cross which will crucify a man 
 in a square having a perimeter of 2,368. 
 
 Then, if a circle be described round his body, 
 and a square inscribed within it, we obtain a square 
 whose sides are 630. When the figure of the 
 Microcosm is stretched within its four corners, the 
 lines indicating the emanations from the second 
 and third steps mark his forehead with a cross by 
 their intersection.^ 
 
 The sides of the rhombus denoting the Bride 
 are 222*9 ^^ '^^ ^ round number 223, the numerical 
 
 ^ This point is called Daath, knowledge, and it is said in the 
 "Lesser Holy Assembly" (chap, xx., par. 709-710): "The 
 masculine power is extended through Daath; and the Assemblies 
 and Conclaves are filled. It commenceth from the beginning 
 of the skull, etc." 
 
362 THE CANON. 
 
 equivalent of the word "AiSng, Hades, which has 
 been shown to be synonymous with the earth or 
 womb. The circle inscribed within the rhombus 
 has a diameter of i93'2 or nearly that of the Zodiac 
 if the sun's distance betaken at 10. The distance 
 from the first to the tenth step is 781*4, the 
 numerical equivalent of the word Sophia, wisdom, 
 while the circumference of the circle including the 
 whole diagram (892 x 3-f) is 2,803, which by trans- 
 position becomes 2,083, the side of the Holy 
 Oblation. 
 
 That the pictures of the Christian Trinity were 
 founded upon this diagram it is impossible to 
 doubt. There is one in the National Gallery 
 (No. 1478) by Giovanni Mansueti, in which the 
 cabalistic symbolism is very plainly discernible. 
 The persons of the Great Triad are depicted in 
 the ordinary canonical manner. The Father is 
 seated with Christ on the Cross in front of Him, 
 the Dove appearing to proceed from the Father 
 to the Son. Mary the Magdalene is represented 
 upon the ground clasping the foot of the Cross 
 and evidently personifying the tenth step. Mary 
 the Virgin and St, John stand on either side, while 
 the full number of the ten steps are completed in 
 the persons of other saints. 
 
 With the preceding description in his mind, the 
 reader will perhaps more clearly understand the 
 following passage from the " Lesser Holy As- 
 sembly" concerning the members of Micropro- 
 sopos. " 734. The Male is extended in right and 
 left, through the inheritance which he receiveth 
 (?. e,y from the second and third steps). 735. But 
 whensoever the colours are mingled together then 
 is He called Tiphereth, and the whole body is 
 formed into a tree (the Autz-Ha-Chaiim, or Tree 
 of Life),^ great and strong, and fair and beautiful, 
 
 ^ Tiphereth, Beauty, is the sixth step. It marks the centre 
 
RHETORIC. 363 
 
 Dan. iv. 11. 737. His arms are right and left. 
 In the right arm is Chesed, life ; in the left is 
 Geburah, death. 738. Through Daath are His 
 inner parts formed, and they fill the Assemblies 
 and Conclaves, as we have said. 739. For thus 
 is it written : * And through Daath shall the Con- 
 claves be filled/ 740. Afterwards is his body 
 extended into two thighs, et intra haec continentur 
 duo renes, duo testiculi mascuhni. 741. Omne 
 enim oleum, et dignitas, et vis masculi e toto cor- 
 pore in istis "congregatur ; nam omnes exercitus, 
 qui prodeunt ab iis, omnes prodeunt et morantur 
 in orificio membri genitalis. 742. And therefore 
 are they called Tzabaoth, the Armies ; and they 
 are Victory (the seventh step) and Glory (the 
 eighth). For Beauty is Tetragrammaton, but 
 Victory and Glory are the armies ; hence cometh 
 that name, Tetragrammaton Tzabaoth. 743. 
 Membrum masculi est extremitas totius corporis, 
 et vocatur yesod, fundamentum ; et hie est gradus 
 ille qui mitigat foeminam. For every desire of 
 the male is toward the female. 744. Per hoc 
 fundamentum ille ingreditur in foeminam ; in locum 
 qui vocatur Tzion et Jerusalem. Nam hie est 
 locus tegendus fcemina^, et in uxore vocatur uterus. 
 745. And hence is Tetragrammaton Tzabaoth 
 called Yesod, the Foundation (the ninth step). 
 Also it is written Ps. cxxxii. 13 : 'Since Tetra- 
 grammaton hath chosen Tzion to be a habitation 
 for himself, He hath desired her.' 746. When 
 Matronitha, the mother, is separated and conjoined 
 with the King face to face in the excellence of the 
 Sabbath, all things become one body. 747. And 
 then the Holy One — blessed be He! — sitteth on 
 His throne, and all things are called the Complete 
 
 of the figure, and is consequently the place occupied by the 
 phallos of Macrocosmos and the omphalos of Microcosmos. 
 Astronomically it is the sun. 
 
364 THE CANON, 
 
 Name, the Holy Name. Blessed be His Name 
 for ever, and unto the ages of the ages ! 748. All 
 these words have I kept back unto this day, which 
 is crowned by them for the world to come." Such 
 is said to have been the dying revelation of Rabbi 
 Schimeon in which he unfolded, with passing 
 breath and in an ecstasy of joy, the inmost verity 
 of the Hebrew Law. 
 
 Since the ten steps of the diagram astronomic- 
 ally represent the radius or interval between the 
 firmament and the earth, the tenth step being 
 assigned to the world in the middle of the uni- 
 verse, it is necessary to repeat the figure twice in 
 order to span the diameter of the sphere. In that 
 case the two figures, the one occupying the upper 
 hemisphere and the other the lower, provide a 
 ladder by which souls descending to the earth 
 may return to heaven ; and by thus completing 
 the diagram there is presented a perfect image of 
 the double soul of the world, shadowing forth the 
 two laws, Masorah and Cabala, by the male power 
 above and the female below, and likewise the two 
 trees, the one of knowledge, the other of life, the 
 two testaments, the old and new, comprehending 
 the mystic cycle of birth, death, and resurrection. 
 The man belonging to the upper hemisphere may 
 be conceived standing upright in the midst of the 
 spheres with his feet upon the earth, like the 
 figure of the Macrocosm in Caxton's ** Mirror of 
 the World." He is there shown in the circle four 
 times repeated, thus producing the four arms of a 
 cross. All four have their feet upon the earth, so 
 that the figure in the lower hemisphere stands head 
 downwards. But the two bodies may also be 
 stretched into a semicircle with their arms ex- 
 tended like those figures of the Egyptians, so that 
 the man occupies half the circumference of the 
 Zodiac from Aries to Virgo, and the woman the 
 
RHETORIC. 
 
 In astrology 
 
 lower half from Libra to Pisces 
 the signs are alternately 
 male and female, so that 
 when, distributed to the 
 various members of the 
 body they comprise the two- 
 fold Microcosm, the King 
 and the Bride. 
 
 Several writers have 
 shown that the symbols of 
 the Hebrew alphabet, from 
 Aleph to Yod, correspond 
 to the ten cabalistic steps. 
 The Greeks also distributed 
 the 24 letters of their alpha- 
 bet to the members of the 
 human body. Now the cir- 
 cumference of the world has 
 been from time immemorial 
 divided into 24 hour-circles, 
 and if the double figure, just 
 described, be bent into a 
 circle composed of 24 steps, 
 each of these may be identi- 
 fied with a letter of the 
 alphabet. In Kircher s re- 
 presentation of the diagram 
 (p. 51) each of the 22 He- 
 brew letters is assigned to 
 one of the *' canals" through 
 which the soul flows from 
 step to step, but there is 
 good reason for believing 
 that the letters were asso- ^^^ 
 ciated with the steps them- (^ 
 selves in the order which ^ ^ 
 
 , ,- , FIG. 27. THE CABALISTIC 
 
 we shall now endeavour to or^er as far as the 
 explain, twenty-fourth step. 
 
366 THE CANON. 
 
 Grammar, the first of the seven sciences which 
 governed the arts of antiquity, is derived from 
 •ypa^/Aa, a letter. According to Brocardo (" On the 
 Apocalypse," p. 167, translated by James Sanford, 
 1582), the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets 
 symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost. " Because ye olde Testament and worke 
 of the Father was wrytten in the Hebrew tongue : 
 and so the Hebrew alphabet continued unto the 
 coming of Christ : and there according to a certayne 
 07'der ye worke doth end wrytten in ye Hebrew 
 tongue. The worke of the Sonne ensueth wrytten 
 in the Greeke tongue : ... ye worke of the Holy 
 Ghost taketh place in ye Lord's second cominge, 
 while the Latine tonge doth declare the eventes 
 that were told of things to come, and openeth the 
 things written in ye Lawe, in ye Gosple, and in 
 the Prophets, repeating all mysteries in ye two 
 former tongues from the beginning." 
 
 The tradition that the Elohim taught the He- 
 brew letters to Adam is of course a figure of 
 speech, meaning, perhaps, that as all the parts of 
 the universe were represented by the letters, and 
 as the stars were considered to be the manifesta- 
 tion of God, the alphabet might be said to have 
 been revealed from heaven. The number of the 
 Hebrew letters is 22, consisting of 3 mother- 
 letters, 12 simple, and 7 double. Each of the 12 
 simple letters corresponds to a sign of the Zodiac, 
 and each of the 7 double letters to one of the 
 planets. The 3 mother-letters are Aleph^ the 
 first, Mem, the thirteenth, and Shifiy the twenty- 
 first {see Cabala, '^Yetsirah," translated by Dr. 
 Westcott). The three divisions appear to denote 
 the cabalistic triad, corresponding to Macrocosmos, 
 the simple letters to Microcosmos, and the double 
 letters to the Bride. By computing their respective 
 numerical values, they yield the following numbers : 
 
RHETORIC. 367 
 
 The 3 mother-letters (empyreum) . 341 
 „ 1 2 simple letters (zodiac) . 445] 
 
 „ 7 double letters (planets) . 709/^*^^4 
 
 1495 
 
 The sum of the 3 mother-letters is 341, and the 
 length of a vesica 341 broad is 592, which is the 
 width of a rhombus having a perimeter of 2,368 ; 
 and 341 multiplied by 3 produces 1,023, the radius 
 of Saturn's orbit. Then the width of a vesica 445 
 broad is 771, the perimeter of the Holy Oblation 
 taking the sun's distance at 10 (216 : 2,083*3 ' • 20 
 : i92'9). The third number, 709, is the length of 
 a vesica, which will contain a rhombus whose sides 
 are equal to those of the New Jerusalem. It is 
 also the side of a square whose diagonals measure 
 2,004, the value of the names of the four elements 
 in Greek, and 710 is the numerical equivalent of 
 Pneuma Hagion^ the Holy Ghost. Lastly if the 
 two parts of the body of the Microcosm are united 
 we get the number (445 + 709—) 1,154, or the 
 length of a vesica 666 broad. 
 
 In their elaborate " refutations " of the Gnostic 
 heresies, the Fathers reveal, that the Greeks 
 divided and distinguished their letters in much the 
 same manner as the Hebrews, but no complete 
 exposition of their system exists. In a treatise, 
 "Against all Heresies," attributed to Tertullian 
 (ch. v.), it is said : *' After these there were not 
 wanting a Marcus and Colarbasus, composing a 
 novel heresy out of the Greek alphabet. For they 
 affirm, that without those letters Truth cannot be 
 found : nay more, that in those letters the whole 
 plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised : for 
 this was why Christ said, * I am the Alpha and the 
 Omega; "^ 
 
 ^ This is the Colarbasus who, according to Hippolytus 
 
368 THE CANON. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixteenth century- 
 Cornelius Agrippa says that " the vowels in the 
 Greek tongue, viz., x s -k t o v u answer to the seven 
 planets, (iyS^KXfji,u7rp(rr are attributed to the 
 12 signs of the Zodiac, the other five, 6 ^ ?> ;)c 4'j re- 
 present the four elements, and the Spirit of the 
 world. Amongst the Latine there is the same 
 signification of them. For the five vowels, a e i 
 o u, and j and v consonants, are ascribed to the 
 seven planets ; but the consonants, bcdfglmn 
 p R s T, are answerable to the twelve signs, The 
 rest, viz., k q x z, make four elements, h, the 
 aspiration, represents the Spirit of the World, y, 
 because it is a Greek word, and not a Latine 
 character, and serving only to Greek words, follows 
 the nature of its idiome " ("Occult Philosophy," 
 bk. i., ch. 74). 
 
 Again we know from Manilius that the Roman 
 astrologers located the signs of the Zodiac through- 
 out the members of the body, and Marcus similarly 
 ascribed two of the 24 letters to each of the 12 
 divisions, that the body, being a type of the 
 alphabet as well as the universe, might serve as a 
 rule for literary art. 
 
 According to Manilius. According to Irenseus. 
 
 Head (y Head . . , A fl 
 
 Neck b( Neck . . , B T 
 
 Arms and Shoulders n Shoulders . F X 
 
 ("Ref.," bk. iv., ch. xiii.), "as if, having propounded great 
 conclusions, and supposed things worthy of reason .... 
 attempts to explain religion by measures and numbers." Now 
 the number deduced from A koI il is 832 (<{)aX\6c). In the 
 Apocalypse, where the statement occurs, it is written in some 
 manuscripts, ro"AX^a, Kal to ^iljuiya (902 + 31 + 1219 = ) 2152, 
 or eveh^AX^a kqI D. (532 + 31 + 800 = ) 1363 + 3 = 1366 (^aXXde 
 tfrf/c), and 532 + 800 = 1332 + 2 = 666. Again, A i+ii8oo = 
 801, which Irenseus tells us is equivalent by Gematria to 
 TrepnTTEpa, the Dove or Holy Ghost, and 800 is the perimeter 
 of the new Jerusalem (200 x 4 = 800). 
 
RHETORIC, 
 According to Manilius, 
 
 Breast gs 
 
 Shoulder-blades . . SL 
 
 Flank -njj 
 
 Buttocks , . . . ^ 
 
 Groin yyi 
 
 Thighs f 
 
 Knees y^ 
 
 Legs ^ 
 
 Feet ^ 
 
 369 
 
 According to Irenseus. 
 
 Breast . 
 
 A $ 
 
 Diaphragm , 
 Belly . . . 
 Genitalia 
 
 E r 
 
 Z T 
 
 H I 
 
 Thighs . . 
 Knees . . 
 
 P 
 
 I n 
 
 Shins . . . 
 
 K 
 
 Ankles . . 
 
 A S 
 
 Feet . . . 
 
 M N 
 
 FIG. 28. THE MICROCOSM ACCORDING TO THE ASTROLOGERS. 
 
 FROM AN ALMANAC OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 B B 
 
370 THE CANON. 
 
 The total value of the 24 letters is 3,999, so the 
 body to which they are assigned may be symbolic- 
 ally expressed by the three measures 2,093, Ij48o 
 and 426,^ whose sum is 3,999. Further, taking 
 the proportions of a human figure to be 6 : i 
 a body 3,999 high is 666 J broad. These numbers 
 shadowing forth the figure of Christ and his Bride, 
 suggest a reason for the name, Truth (AXrihtoc), 
 being bestowed upon the visionary figure of Marcus. 
 Mention is made in the " Golden Legend" of an 
 early rite practised at the dedication of a church. 
 The letters of the alphabet were inscribed on the 
 floor in the form of a cross, which was no doubt 
 an obscure way of indicating the body of the 
 Microcosm. 
 
 The symbolical association of the body with 
 letters, the elements of words and the basis of 
 literature, discloses the last aspect of the canon to 
 which we shall allude, namely, that application of 
 it which was called Rhetoric. From its derivation 
 the second of the seven sciences seems to have 
 meant what the Hebrews called Cabala, or Tra- 
 dition, the word 'FYiropiariy 616, coming from 'P^irpn, 
 516, an unwritten or oral law. Thus the traditional 
 laws of Lycurgus were called 'Vrtrpca, 511 ; and 
 Rhetoric may be taken to mean the unwritten law 
 or canon of speech which supplied the means of 
 effecting an exact analogy between a set oration 
 and the order of the universe — the conformity of 
 any work to that order making it " canonical." 
 It is probably due to the objections of the Puritans 
 that the art of Rhetoric is no longer taught, and 
 that the methods of its former professors have 
 passed into oblivion, Plato, however, has made 
 the old manner of oratorical composition the subject 
 
 ^ The number 426 is the side of a square enclosed by a 
 rhombus whose sides are 67 r, the numerical equivalent of 
 Adonai the Bride, or third person of the Triad. 
 
RHETORIC. 371 
 
 of discussion in the *' Phsedrus." Socrates is there 
 made to say, after inquiring whether the sentences 
 in a speech are written in any express order, ** but 
 this, at least, I think you will allow that every 
 speech ought to be put together like a living 
 creature, with a body of its own, so as neither to 
 be without head nor without feet, but to have both 
 middle and extremities;" and again, "All great 
 arts require a subtle and speculative research into 
 the law of nature. . . . But do you think it possible 
 rightly to understand the nature of the soul, without 
 understanding the nature of the universe ? " 
 
 In the " Recognitions " of Clement, who lived 
 in the Apostolic age and was a companion and 
 disciple of St. Peter, the rhetorical manner of 
 speech is alluded to more than once. In the twenty- 
 first chapter (bk. i.), speaking of the postponement 
 of his debate with Simon Magus, the apostle says, 
 *' I believe that it has been done by the providence 
 of God for your advantage : that I may be able in 
 this interval of seven days to expound to you the 
 method of our faith without any distraction, and 
 the order continuously according to the tradition of 
 the true Prophet, who alone knows the past as it 
 was, the present as it is, and the future as it shall be : 
 which things were indeed plainly spoken by Him, 
 but not plainly written:'^ so much so that they 
 
 ^ " Our prophets did know of greater things than any in the 
 Scriptures, but which they did not commit to writing. Ezekiel, 
 e.g.^ received a roll, written within and without, in which were 
 contained * lamentations,' and ' songs,' and ' denunciations ; ' 
 but at the command of the Logos he swallowed the book in 
 order that its contents might not be written, and so made 
 known to unworthy persons. John also is recorded to have 
 seen and done a similar thing. Nay, Paul even heard * un- 
 speakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.' 
 And it is related of Jesus, who was greater than all those, that 
 He conversed with His disciples in private, and especially in 
 their secret retreats, concerning the Gospel of God \ but the 
 words which he uttered have not been preserved, because it 
 
372 THE CANON. 
 
 cannot be understood without an expounder." 
 And in the twenty-fourth chapter (bk. iii.), he de- 
 clares that '* the teaching of all doctrine has a 
 certain order and there are some things which must 
 be delivered first, others in the second place, and 
 others in the third, and so all in their order : and 
 if those things be delivered in their order, they 
 become plain : but if they be brought forward out 
 of order they will seem to be spoken against reason. 
 And therefore order is to be observed above all 
 things, if we seek for the purpose of finding what 
 we seek. For he who enters rightly upon the 
 road will observe the second place in due order, 
 and from the second will more easily find the third ; 
 and the further he proceeds so much the more will 
 the way of knowledge become open to him even 
 till he arrive at the City of Truth." 
 
 Lord Bacon has also left some dark hints on the 
 mystic or traditional tQS,c\\\ng of Rhetoric. In the 
 *' Advancement of Learning" (bk. ii., ch. 2), he 
 says, ** Let us now come to the doctrine concerning 
 the Method of Speech. This hath been handled 
 as a part of Logick, so it hath found a place in 
 Rhetorick by the name of Disposition. But the 
 placing of it as a part of the Train of other Arts, 
 hath been the cause that many things which refer 
 unto it, and are useful to be known, are preter- 
 missed : wherefore we thought good to constitute a 
 substantial and principal doctrine touching Method^ 
 which by a general name we call the wisdom of 
 Tradition, . . . 
 
 '' Wherefore let the first difference of Method be 
 set down to be either Magistral or Initiative; 
 neither do we understand the word initiative, as if 
 this should lay the groundwork, the other raise the 
 
 appeared to the evangelists that they could not be adequately 
 conveyed to the multitude in writing or in speech " (Origen, 
 "Against Celsus," Bk. vi., ch. 6). 
 
RHETORIC. 373 
 
 perfect building of sciences ; but in a far different 
 sense (borrowing the word from sacred ceremonies), 
 we call that Initiative Method which discloses and 
 unveils the mysteries of knowledges. . . . The one 
 delivers popular science fit for learners ; the other, 
 sciences as to the sons of science . . . and we call 
 it Traditionem lampadis, the Delivery of the Lamp, 
 or the method bequeathed to the Sons of Sapience. 
 
 *' Another diversity of Method followeth. ... In 
 this both these methods agree, that they separate 
 the vulgar auditors from the select. . . . Let there- 
 fore the distinction of them be this, that the one is 
 an exoterical, or revealed ; the other an acroa- 
 matical, or concealed method. For the same differ- 
 ence the ancients specially observed in publishing 
 books. ... So the Acroamatic Method was in use 
 with the writers of former ages . . . that by the 
 intricate envelopings of Delivery y the profane and 
 vulgar may be removed from the secrets of sciences ; 
 and they only admitted which had either acquired 
 the interpretation of parables by tradition from 
 their teachers ; or by the sharpness and subtilty 
 of their own w^it, could pierce the veil." 
 
 On the same subject Theophilus Gale asserts, 
 "that the majestie of the Scripture style was the 
 original idea and exemplar of that sublimitie of 
 speech or Rhetorick, in use amongst the heathens, 
 we may conjecture from the consideration of those 
 particular Canons which are given by Pagan Rhe- 
 toricians or observed in their choicest pieces of 
 oratorie ; but nowhere to be found in such a degree 
 of perfection as in the sacred scriptures. The most 
 ancient piece of Rhetorick or oratorie commended 
 and practised by Heathen masters of speech 
 consisted in the right framing and application 
 of Metaphors, Allegories, and other Symbolick 
 images, sensible forms and similitudes, whereby the. 
 Ancients were wont to paint forth or give lively 
 
374 THE CANON. 
 
 colours to their more choice and hidde7i notions and 
 things. And the great Canon on which they 
 founded this artificial mode of expressing things 
 was this : ' Sensible formes are but imitates of In- 
 telligibles ' " ("Court of the Gentiles," vol. i., p. 
 
 382). 
 
 The most careless reader who has merely turned 
 over the leaves of a few old books cannot have 
 failed to notice the striking difference between 
 them and the works of the present day. The 
 reason for this manifest diversity seems to be that 
 nowadays the old canon of rhetoric, which pre- 
 scribed the order of a discourse, has ceased to be 
 used in literary composition. And since the pre- 
 ceding quotations refer to the existence of a definite 
 rule determining the symbolic form of a speech we 
 shall now endeavour to show more specifically what 
 that canon was and how it was applied. 
 
 Each letter of the Hebrew or Phoenician alphabet 
 has a symbol corresponding to it. Nothing appears 
 to be known of these primitive symbols now but 
 their names ; however, in the twenty-two trump 
 cards of the Tarot we possess a series of hiero- 
 glyphs corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew 
 alphabet. The origin of these twenty-two cards is 
 dubious, but it has been surmized that they are of 
 Egyptian extraction. In any case they were con- 
 nected with the Hebrew letters in the fifteenth 
 century, specimens of that date being still extant, 
 and they certainly represent an authentic and fun- 
 damental version of the ideas formerly associated 
 with the primitive alphabet believed to be of 
 Phcenician origin.^ 
 
 ^ "The Phoenicians who came with Cadmus .... intro- 
 duced .... amongst other things letters, with which, as I 
 conceive, the Greeks were unacquainted. These were at first 
 such as the Phoenicians themselves indiscriminately use ; in 
 process of time, however, they were changed both in sound and 
 
KHii:TUKic. 375 
 
 Since the ten steps and the twenty-two letters 
 are said to be the foundation of all things (Yetsirah) 
 by arranging the letters progressively according to 
 the order of the diagram, we get a continuous 
 sequence of hieroglyphs following the downward 
 and upward course of the soul as it enters and 
 leaves a body on the earth. A glance at the 
 figure (p. 365) will explain the disposition of the 
 letters. They agree with the order of the steps as 
 far as the tenth, then the eleventh and twelfth are 
 added to mark the two equinoctial points on the 
 horizon or equator. The thirteenth step corre- 
 sponds to the first of the ten lower steps, the last 
 of which is the twenty -second. To complete the 
 cycle two more steps are required, as in the case of 
 the eleventh and twelfth, making altogether twenty- 
 four, the final number of the Greek letters. These 
 symbols recurring in regular order may be com- 
 pared to a circle of twenty-four divisions corre- 
 sponding to the meridians of the earth's circum- 
 
 form. ... I myself have seen in the temple of the Ismenian 
 Apollo at Thebes, in Boeotia, these Cadmean letters inscribed , 
 upon some tripods" (Herod, v. 58; see also Diod., v. 24; 
 Plin. V. 12, vii.56 ; "Tacit," Ann., xi. 14; and Euseb., "Chron.," 
 can. i. 13). The similarity between the Phoenician, Greek, and 
 Hebrew alphabets will be evident upon a reference to Rawlin- 
 son's " History of Phcenicia " (p. 379). Mr. Rawlinson observes 
 that the people who invented letters have left us no literature — 
 the Sanchoniathon being only known in a Greek translation, 
 and the inscriptions being few and of limited range. But he 
 does not notice what is even more curious, that the Hebrews, 
 whose alphabet (according to the traditions) was far older than 
 that of the Phoenicians, have left neither inscriptions nor docu- 
 ments of any antiquity. The MSS. of the Hebrew Bible begin 
 to appear about the tenth century a.d. There is exhibited in 
 the British Museum the cast of a single stone, found at Jeru- 
 salem, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and inscribed with what 
 are presumed to be the local characters. The date of the in- 
 scription, however, is unknown. Mr. Rawlinson does not say 
 whether it is from this source that the " old Hebrew letters " 
 printed in his table are taken. 
 
2,7 6 THE CANON, 
 
 ference or to an endless chain capable of infinite 
 extension, and any literary composition might be 
 constructed to set forth the sequence of ideas thus 
 established. In fact the rhetorical canon enabled 
 the poet or philosopher to inspire his work with an 
 invisible spirit in the semblance of that which also 
 animated the universal scheme of nature, and gave 
 his writing an allegorical sense hidden from the 
 vulgar or uninstructed reader. 
 
 The upper half of the diagram symbolized the 
 germ of life in its descent or fall, the lower half 
 the ascent or resurrection — the two together 
 embodying the entire compass of human existence. 
 The great canonical works of the Greeks and 
 Christians appear to be arranged in accordance 
 with this division. The Old Testament in describ- 
 ing the events from the generation of the world to 
 the incarnation of Christ metaphorically illustrates 
 the ** fall " of the soul from heaven to earth, the 
 deity of the H ebrew writers being conceived 
 as residing in heaven. But in the second of the 
 two Testaments God becomes incarnate upon 
 earth and, as Athanasius says (" Incarnation of 
 Jesus Christ "), *' What Adam brought down from 
 heaven to earth * Christ carried up from earth 
 to heaven." In this aspect the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey accord with the Christian Testaments, for 
 the epic of the Trojan war affords an exact parallel 
 to the mystical history of the scriptures. The Greek 
 heroes who set sail against Troy (the sublunary 
 world) are, like the patriarchs, incarnations of the 
 sephiroth.'^ Their encounter with the Trojans, 
 
 * According to Origen, "the soul of our Saviour was the 
 same that was in Adam " (Preface to Henry More's Works, 
 p. xxiii). And we learn from the Talmud that "after Adam 
 sinned his soul passed into David, and the latter having sinned 
 it passed into the Messiah" (Hershon's " Miscell.," p. 325). 
 
 ^ Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who died B.C. 464, declared 
 
and subsequent introduction into the *'city'* in 
 the wooden horse represent the soul on its way to 
 earth ; the dispersal of the armies (Tzabaoth) with 
 the voyage of Odysseus and his descent into 
 Hell symbolize the second stage of the allegory. 
 
 The Egyptian '' Book of the Dead/* as com- 
 piled in the Turin manuscript of the Ptolemaic 
 period, consists of twenty-two books and appar- 
 ently follows the same symbolical order as the 
 works of the Greeks ; and above all, Dante's 
 " Divine Comedy," the great epic of the middle 
 ages, is a conspicuous illustration of the mystical 
 rhetre or tradition of antiquity. In fact, wherever 
 we find in ancient art a series of designs or parts 
 making up a whole work, it will appear on exami- 
 nation that the order of the divisions is canonical. 
 Such are books of emblems from the hieroglyphs 
 of Horapollo and the Iconesof Philostratus down- 
 wards. In itineraries like that of Pausanias or Sir 
 John Mandeville, or in the description of cities 
 like the Mirabilia Romse the same mystical rule 
 seems to be observed. Whenever there is a 
 sequence in the painted or sculptured ornaments 
 of a temple they are disposed in like order. The 
 verses and stanzas of the old poets> the paragraphs 
 and chapters of the prose writers may be devised 
 with similar purpose, so that the allegory may be 
 expressed with all the manifold resources of 
 pictorial, plastic, or literary art. 
 
 To fully substantiate so sweeping a generaliza- 
 tion would of course require nothing less than 
 
 " that neither Hera, nor Athene, or Zeus are what those persons 
 suppose who consecrate to them sacred enclosures and groves, 
 but are parts of Nature and certain arrangements of the 
 Elements." And he said that Hector, Achilles, Agamemnon, 
 with Helen and Paris were merely allegorical creations, and 
 never had any real existence (Tatian, "Address to the Greeks," 
 ch. xxi.). Plato, Eratosthenes, Strabo, and presumably all but 
 the ignorant and vulgar were of the same opinion. 
 
378 THE CANON. 
 
 a whole volume of evidence in its support instead 
 of the few isolated notes which must conclude our 
 investigations for the present. However, having 
 something further to say on the subject, we hope 
 that a final judgment may be postponed, till the 
 question receives a more adequate and systematic 
 treatment. 
 
 Francis Roberts (''Key of the Bible," 1649) 
 gives certain rules for the gaining of scripture- 
 knowledge. On page 34, he advises " the prudent 
 use of Logick, for orderly and misthodical resolu- 
 tion of the text, and the subservient helps of other 
 Arts as Rhetorick^ Natural Philosophy^ etc., with- 
 out which it is impossible satisfactorily to interpret 
 the scriptures. For, as Ambrose well observes, 
 ' though Penmen of Scripture wrote not according 
 to Art . • . yet they that have written of Art, 
 have found an Art in their writings.' " The Jews 
 divided the Old Testament like the Iliad into 
 twenty-four books, and these again had a threefold 
 division corresponding to the three persons of the 
 great triad of the cabala. The Law, consisting of 
 five books and fifty-four ^ sections {siderirn) or 
 " orders," constitutes the first division. The Pro- 
 phets, or second division, included the following 
 eight works : — Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, 
 together with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 
 Twelve minor Prophets. The third division, called 
 the Writings {Hagiographa) was composed of the 
 eleven remaining books, namely, Ruth, Psalms, 
 Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 
 Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra (with Nehe- 
 miah), and Chronicles. In the Articles of the 
 English Church these are the twenty-four books 
 which are named as canonical, but they follow a 
 different order. According to Josephus and St. 
 
 ^ The sum of the numbers from i to 54 is 1,485. 
 
Cyril, however, the canon consisted of only twenty- 
 two books. Thus it would appear to be impossible 
 to make the twenty- two or twenty-four books agree 
 with a set order unless their hieroglyphic meaning 
 were capable of being transferred from one symbol 
 to another. But although this might be done, ;we 
 find that amongst Christians the sequence of the 
 books was one of the secrets imparted to initiates 
 at their preparation for baptism. In his fourth 
 lecture St. Cyril enumerates them in what was 
 evidently their esoteric order, by which their true 
 symbolic significance could be ascertained, and it 
 may be accepted as the traditional order having the 
 authority of the Church. 
 
 In treating the cabalistic steps we have hereto- 
 fore considered that they represented the elements, 
 the Zodiac with the seven planets, and the Primum 
 Mobile ; but the celestial circles may be extended 
 by the addition of nine angelic spheres, while each of 
 the four elements may be counted separately, thus 
 making twenty-two circles or steps. One of the en- 
 gravings by De Bry in Fludd's " Microcosmi His- 
 toria" (p. 93) thus illustrates the soul's progress 
 through the universe. The germ is depicted as a 
 winged head surrounded by luminous rays like a 
 star. It is shown to descend through the twenty-two 
 spheres to the body of Adam drawn in microcosmic 
 fashion upon the earth. Again, on page 2 19 of the 
 same work, the ascent of the soul from earth to 
 heaven is depicted in the form of a spiral having 
 twenty-two rings, with the Hebrew letters inscribed 
 upon them, and a similar arrangement of the 
 celestial spheres. Therefore the centre of the 
 universe may be computed at the twenty-second 
 step as well as the tenth. 
 
 Rhetoric was the art of saying one thing and 
 meaning another. And it was practised with 
 so much subtilty by old writers that in a treatise 
 

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RHETORIC. 381 
 
 before us the tropes and figures of speech are dis- 
 tinguished in ninety-four different ways. So it is not 
 always easy to follow the metaphorical allusions. 
 No one, of course, can readily perceive the affinity 
 between the divisions of a canonical work and the 
 twenty-two hieroglyphs without first committingthe 
 latterto memory. Then comes the most serious diffi- 
 culty — that of discerning the various meanings of 
 each. An explicit interpretation of them does not 
 exist, but the ** Tarot," by Papus, and the remarks 
 on the subject by Eliphaz Levi may be referred to. 
 
 God has ever been the supreme symbol of 
 human nescience ; for by that name there is sug- 
 gested all that we do not know concerning the 
 remote cause of things. Accordingly, " one thinks 
 He is made of fire. . . . The Epicureans that He 
 is idle and inactive and so to speak a nobody in 
 human affairs. Then the Stoics represent Him as 
 placed outside the world whirling round this huge 
 mass from without like a potter ; while the Platonists 
 place Him within the world, as a pilot is in the ship 
 he steers." Other conceptions even more curious 
 and barbarous than these will at once occur to each 
 of us. In fact we begin to doubt whether the fool 
 who said in his heart '* there is no God," was after 
 all so much worse than the many who have made 
 assertions to the contrary. 
 
 But though no one does, or ever did, know any- 
 thing about the gods, the more one studies the 
 ancient scriptures the more one sees that this very 
 lack of knowledge made theology the one theme 
 which allowed unlimited scope for the imagination 
 or humour of the artist. No absurdities were too 
 grotesque to apply to a god and no humour too 
 broad. Hyperbole was the sanctioned vehicle of 
 expression ; poets and artists vying with each 
 other in the gross monstrosity as well as the 
 sublimity of their productions. But all this is 
 
382 THE CANON. 
 
 wasted upon the serious people who nowadays 
 monopolize religion, for they neither admire the 
 delicacy and art in the handling of a difficult 
 subject, nor laugh at the cruder caricature of a 
 coarser wit. 
 
 And since the gods are but the reflex of their 
 creators, what more natural than that the fortune- 
 tellers and mountebanks for whom the Tarot was 
 designed should have regarded the maker of 
 heaven and earth as a juggler, and the feat of 
 creation as an inexplicable trick ? With this apt 
 conceit the series of the twenty-two symbols begins; 
 and from it we derive some of the ideas connected 
 with the number one. By some type or emblem the 
 first division of a canonical work ought to express 
 a suggestion of the primary principle. This is 
 obviously done in the book of Genesis, wherein 
 the manifestation of the deity, the creation of the 
 world and its history for 2,368 years,-^ are obscurely 
 set forth. 
 
 Briefly, the first hieroglyph represents the be- 
 ginning and first cause of things — in Nature the 
 universal life, in persons the god, king, chief, 
 father or generator, in astronomy the empyreum, 
 in geometry a point, and so on, with a similar 
 figure appropriate to each of the arts and sciences. 
 
 In his preface to the Cabala, Mr. Mathers com- 
 plains of the shameful suppression in modern times 
 of all references to the feminine principle in theo- 
 logy. At an earlier period they were less reticent. 
 So the histories include a female Pope,^ who per- 
 
 ' See R Roberts, " Key of the Bible," 1649, p. 9. 
 
 ^ The inclusion of Pope Joan in the order of the Popes 
 seems to be accounted for by chronological reasons. In the 
 list of Ciaconius (torn, i., fol. 626), under the name of John 
 VIII., she follows Leo IV,, who died in 855, and was the 
 105th Pope in order. Pope Joan, therefore was the io6th. 
 Now 106 is the diameter of a circle 333 in circumference, and 
 
sonifies the number two in the Tarot. She is the 
 Vicar of Christ in his feminine capacity. In the 
 Pythagorean system the number one was generally 
 considered to be male, the number two female, and 
 the number three the union of both, thus making 
 the second person of the Triad a woman ; and 
 from an old English homily for Trinity Sunday 
 we learn that " the fourme of the Trinity was 
 founden in man, that was Adam our forefadir, of 
 earth oon personne, and Eve of Adam the seconde 
 personne ; and of them both was the thirde per- 
 son" (Strutt's "Manners and Customs," vol. iii., 
 p. 176; see Oliver's " Pythag. Triangle," p. 98). 
 But the number two was sometimes regarded as a 
 masculine power as in the case of the second step 
 in the Cabala, where it refers to the Logos or the 
 emanation of the male. The Mohammedan idea 
 of the Christian Trinity is thus expressed in the 
 fourth chapter of the Koran, *' Jesus (the son of 
 Mary) is the apostle of God and his Word, which 
 he conveyed into Mary, and a spirit proceeding 
 from Him." As representing the double potency 
 in creation, the second hieroglyph signifies the 
 feminine essence of life. 
 
 The departure of the children of Israel out of 
 Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the 
 wandering in the desert may be interpreted as an 
 image of the transition of the soul, the Israelites 
 being likened to the stars or germs of life in the 
 firmament (see Sir W. Drummond, *'CEdipus 
 
 333 is the diagonal of the New Jerusalem, emblem of the 
 Bride. And the circumference of a circle 855 in diameter is 
 equal to the perimeter of a rhombus, whose sides are 67 1|, or 
 the numerical equivalent of Thorah and Adonai. Like St. 
 Helena this famous lady was said to have been an English 
 girl. And in the guise of a priest she lived many years with a 
 reputation for great learning, and for a time also for piety 
 (j^^ Boccaccio, " De Mulieribus Claris," 1539, p. 73). 
 
384 THE CANON. 
 
 Judaicus," and Gerald Massey, *' Book of Be- 
 ginnings "). 
 
 The upper Triad is completed by the third 
 hieroglyph, which is represented in the Tarot by 
 the Empress, for the Christians usually assigned a 
 feminine personification to the third person of the 
 Trinity. She corresponds to Mary the Virgin as 
 contrasted with Mary the Magdalen,^ who belongs 
 to the tenth step. These three steps typify God 
 [MacrocosmoSj 831) as the Father and Husband of 
 the universe, as Philo says. 
 
 The exposition of the Law (Thorah) in Leviticus 
 makes that book appropriate to the number three. 
 
 The fourth card of the Tarot bears upon it the 
 figure of an Emperor seated on a throne. And 
 Daleth, the letter whose numerical equivalent is 4, 
 signifies a door or the womb. This hieroglyph 
 added to the Triad represent the material terms of 
 creation. 
 
 From these two is generated the fifth power 
 personified in the Tarot by the Pope, who is the 
 earthly substitute or vicar of the Logos. The 
 Spirit of the world, says Cornelius Agrippa, was 
 called the quintessence, that is, the fifth essence, 
 which existed above the four elements and per- 
 vaded the yEther or planetary system (bk. i., 
 ch. xiv). 
 
 In his '* Address to the Greeks" (ch. xii.), 
 Tatian says *' we recognize two varieties of spirit, 
 one of which is called the soul (ij^ux'i)* but the 
 other is greater than the soul [viz., LogoSy see 
 ch. vii., ibid^ly an image and likeness of God : both 
 existed in the first man." The number six repre- 
 sented the mingling together of these two. It is 
 an emblem of Psyche, whose marriage is so beauti- 
 fully portrayed by Apuleius in the sixth chapter of 
 
 ^ Bacon says that the ancients conceived matter as a 
 courtezan ("Advancement of Learning," bk. ii., ch. 13). 
 
RHETORIC. 385 
 
 the "Golden Ass." In the order of progression 
 the number six marks the time of conception, and 
 if we count nine for the months of gestation, the 
 the period of birth would be fulfilled at the four- 
 teenth step. It was perhaps for this reason that 
 the sonnet was composed of 14 lines, embracing 
 the complete cycle of human life. The steps from 
 I to 5 are also a complete cycle, whence probably 
 Moses chose this number for the books of the Law. 
 Again, the 6 steps of the Cabala from the third to 
 the tenth make up the body of Microcosm os, and 
 he is evidently personified by Joshua, whose name 
 is written 'l^io-ou?, Jesus by Josephus and the Seventy 
 (IHShO, Joshua,, yields 385 and a vesica 384*2 
 broad is 666 long). 
 
 The next two symbols are too obscure to be 
 explained briefly. A reference to the ninth step 
 is quoted on page 363. In the ninth book of the 
 " Book of the Dead" (Turin MS.), the soul of the 
 deceased comes to the Ark of Osiris and the Hill 
 of Bat.^ Now, if the reader will turn to the 
 diagram on page 365 he will see that the ninth 
 step forms one of the extremities of a cross whose 
 centre is in the tenth. Hippolytus tells us that 
 Noah's Ark was turned round upon Mount Kardu 
 {cardd) towards the four cardinal points of the 
 world, and ** finally stood towards the East. We 
 say, moreover, that that was a sign of the Cross. 
 And the ark was a symbol of the Christ who was 
 expected" (" Ante-Nicene Library," vol. vi., p. 
 495), An examination of the tenth hieroglyph of 
 the Tarot makes this clearer ; for the Wheel of 
 Fortune is an obvious representation of the planets 
 revolving round the navel or centre of the world. 
 On the right a dog ascends, and on the left an 
 ape descends, while a sphinx surmounts the wheel 
 
 * Described on p, 136, 
 
 c c 
 
386 THE CANON. 
 
 in the middle. Her twofold body, the hinder 
 parts being those of a lion, seem to refer to the 
 fact that she sits on the horizon between the upper 
 and lower hemisphere ; the figures on either side 
 are apparently personifications of the eleventh and 
 twelfth steps or the equinoxes. The name I.<piy^ 
 (Sphinx) has the value of yy^y or the perimeter of 
 the Holy Oblation taking the sun's distance at 10. 
 St. Clement (** Miscell.," bk. v., ch. 8), says, 
 " The sphinx is not the comprehension of the 
 universe, and the revolution of the world, accord- 
 ing to the poet Aratus. . . . But it is better to 
 regard it as the Ether, which holds together and 
 presses all things." By gematria Sphinx is equi- 
 valent to Syrinx, the pipe of seven reeds shown in 
 the hand of Pan (fig. 25). And doubtless her 
 Tvell-known riddle, whose answer was a Man, 
 mystically adumbrated the Microcosm whose body 
 is measured by the number 773. Or can it be a 
 purely accidental coincidence that the name of 
 CEdipus (0 oiViVou?, the swollen-footed) should 
 have the value of 514+2 — 516, the side 
 of a rhombus whose perimeter is equal to the 
 mean diameter of the spheres of Saturn and the 
 Zodiac ? 
 
 The Hebrew word ODN (Eden) has the same 
 numerical value, and must be regarded as an 
 analogous place in biblical mythology. The Mount 
 of Purgatory, described by Dante, had 7 terraces, 
 the Terrestrial Paradise being at its summit. It 
 is, of course, an image of the 7 planetary orbits 
 surrounding the earth which stands in the diagram 
 intermediate between Heaven, the upper hemi- 
 sphere, and Hell, the lower ; and Botticelli's design 
 seems to show that he conceived it in this cosmic 
 sense. 
 
 Sir John Maundeville speaks of a " well " in the 
 middle place of Paradise that cast out four floods 
 
RHETORIC. 387 
 
 [marking the cardinal points]. And " many great 
 Lords/' he says, "have assayed with great will 
 many times for to passe by those rivers with full 
 great companies : but they might not speed in their 
 voyage : and many died from weariness of rowing 
 against so strong waves," etc. Sir John, who 
 wrote with the authority of the Pope, was a good 
 cabalist, and did not forget that the tenth step was 
 an emblem of the Bride. 
 
 The cross in the centre of the world also repre- 
 sents the Elements, or the universal matter, out of 
 which the body of the Logos was compounded ; 
 and the incarnation of the soul upon earth was 
 symbolized among Christians by Jesus and his 
 earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, Their names 
 have the value of 2,598 -|- 3 zi 2,601, which is the 
 side of a square enclosing the Microcosm crucified 
 on a rood-cross inscribed within the earth^s circum- 
 ference. 
 
 The suggestion that Noah's Ark is shadowed 
 forth in the cardinal cross, dividing the sublunary 
 world, is corroborated by the value of the names of 
 Noah and his sons, to whom the earth was said to 
 have been apportioned.^ The numbers are NCh 
 58, ShM 340, ChM 48, and IPhTh 4901=936, or 
 the length of a rhombus having a perimeter of 
 2,160, the number of miles in the moon's diameter. 
 Again, 93 3^ is the diagonal of a square whose 
 sides are 660 ; while 938 is the width of a rhombus 
 whose length is 1,626, the numerical equivalent of 
 Tetractysj the sacred emblem of the Pythagoreans, 
 which was synonymous with the Tetragrammaton 
 of the Jews. It is further remarkable that a 
 
 ^ The names of the five earliest races of men mentioned by 
 Hesiod are derived from the minerals of which the earth is 
 largely composed, viz., gold, silver, brass, earth, and iron. 
 The sum of their numbers is 3968 - 5 = 3963, which is the 
 exact radius of the earth at the equator. 
 
388 THE CANON. 
 
 cross inscribed in a vesica 938 long measures 
 1,480. 
 
 In St Cyril's Canon the Book of Chronicles, 
 called in Hebrew the ** words of days," ^ has the 
 loth place. It begins with the generation of the 
 sons of Adam and gives a recapitulation of the 
 events narrated in the previous books. By the 
 philosophic method of addition 10 is reduced to i 
 (i +03: i). Therefore the history in the tenth 
 book is the going-back to the beginning and 
 original starting point. And the incarnation of the 
 soul being accomplished in Adam and his suc- 
 cessors, the genealogy of Chronicles fitly expresses 
 man's birth and heritage of the earth down to 
 the time of its composition. 
 
 The symbols of the tenth step, referring as they 
 do to the universe, the elements, and the earth, are 
 very numerous. For instance, as the genetrix or 
 mother of men, the earth was conceived as a loom. 
 For she as the woman was said to weave the 
 purple web of flesh with which the soul is invested 
 as with a garment. So Persephone " is repre- 
 sented by Orpheus as weaving a web, and the 
 heavens are called by the ancients a veil, in conse- 
 quence of being, as it were, the vestment of the 
 celestial gods " (Porphyry, " Cave of the Nymphs"). 
 By poets, priests, and craftsmen she was idealized 
 in countless forms as the emblem of productive 
 Art. And for this reason apparently Plato in the 
 tenth book of the ** Republic " pictured Necessity 
 as a spinster bearing a mighty distaff having 7 
 whorls, corresponding to the planetary orbits. With 
 her three daughters, the Fates, who correspond to 
 the I ith, 1 2 th, and 13th steps, she seems to be an 
 image similar to the Wheel of Fortune in the Tarot. 
 
 The adventures of Odysseus in the loth book of 
 
 ^ DBRI, 216, HIMIM, 665. Now 2l6 + 665 = 88I. 
 
RHETORIC. 389 
 
 the Odyssey include his coming to the Hall of Circe, 
 1 58 ( X 3-^ = 496). There he receives from Hermes 
 the plant Moly, 1270, to enable him to withstand 
 the magic arts of the enchantress. This herb was 
 said to have a black root and a white (milky) 
 blossom ; by gematria it is equivalent to Stauros, 
 The I ith and 1 2 th steps, marking the two points 
 on the horizon, may be taken to be the two poles, 
 the two equinoxes or solstices. And the 1 2th book 
 of the Odyssey relates how Odysseus passes the 
 monsters Scylla, 688, and Charybdis, 1,317,^ which 
 appear to be hyperbolical personifications of these ; 
 for 688 + 1,317^2,005, or the internal width of an 
 ark whose outer measure is 2,083. In the '* Book 
 of the Dead" it is at the nth chapter that the 
 soul of the deceased reaches the Hall of the Two 
 LawSy so it is possible that they also refer to these 
 positive and negative symbols. The 12th card of 
 the Tarot plainly sets forth one aspect of the 
 hieroglyph. A man is represented hanging head- 
 downwards from a beam resting upon two trees, 
 each having 6 lopped branches. Now since the 
 earth turns once upon its axis every 24 hours, the 
 1 2th hour divides the day from the night; accord- 
 ingly, when the soul has passed the T2th step it 
 metaphorically enters the lower hemisphere. This 
 is indicated by the man hanging head downwards. 
 The writer of the book of Esther (the 12th on St. 
 Cyril's list) makes use of this very metaphor. For 
 the hanging of the malefactor, Haman, and the 
 release of the just Mordecai through the inter- 
 cession of Queen Esther^ is the Old Testament 
 type of the crucifixion — the gallows of the Hanged 
 Man of the Tarot being a foreshadowing of the 
 cross and the 1 2 disciples. 
 
 ^ 688 X 3^- = 2,162, and 1,317 is the width of an ark 7,902 
 long, the polar diameter of the earth. 
 ' ASThR = 661. 
 
390 THE CANON- 
 
 The five hieroglyphs, the 9th, loth, nth, 12th, 
 and 1 3th, occupying the middle and extremities of 
 the cross, may be all connected with the world, or 
 Malchuth ; thus Odysseus makes his descent into 
 Hades in the i ith book of the Odyssey. But the 
 1 3th is essentially the symbol of the lower hemi- 
 sphere, corresponding in the underworld to the first 
 step above. It is called *' Death " in the Tarot, and 
 has the signification of a woman. Its hieroglyphic 
 meaning is adumbrated in the Book of Job — a 
 treatise so greatly admired by the old theologians 
 that it was considered the masterpiece of the Old 
 Testament. The name Job means " the assailed " 
 in Hebrew, and has the value of 19 ; so it is equi- 
 valent by gematria to Eve. At this point the soul 
 has crossed the line, so to speak, and enters the 
 threshold of death, or Hell ; and when depicting 
 the exaggerated trials and dangers of the passage 
 the ancients placed no limits upon their imagina- 
 tion, as when the old artists delighted to paint the 
 agonies of Christ on the cross and all the cruelties 
 of the Passion. So we find upon the 1 3th card of 
 the Tarot a grisly skeleton remorselessly cutting 
 off human heads and hands with a scythe. 
 
 From a statement in the *' Court of the Gentiles " 
 we gather that the Book of Job was the oldest 
 dialogue ever written, and that its form had a sym- 
 bolic meaning. Job, it is said, is the respondent 
 in the dispute, and his three friends the assailants. 
 So when wrestling with his adversaries, and argu- 
 ment is met by argument, we are to admire the 
 patient persistency of the pious Job and to wonder 
 as he justifies himself against the attacks of his 
 opponents, undauntedly pushing a fresh argument 
 again and again till they are at last put to silence. 
 
 The Rabbis declared that the disease from which 
 the patient one suffered was elephantiasis. 
 
 Another figure by which this step may be ex- 
 
RHETORIC. 391 
 
 pressed is signified by St. Augustine in the thirteenth 
 chapter of the first book of the ** City of God": 
 " Aye, but many Christians (say they) were led 
 into captivity : this indeed had been a lamentable 
 case, if they had been led into some place where 
 they could not possibly have found their God. 
 But for comforts in captivity, the Scriptures have 
 store : the three children were in bondage : so was 
 Daniel, so were others of the Prophets : but they 
 never wanted God their comforter. No more did 
 He here abandon His faithful ; being under the 
 command of barbarous men, who forsook not His 
 Prophet being even in the belly of a beast. This 
 now they with whom we are to deal, had rather 
 scorn than believe, yet of that fable in their own 
 books they are fully persuaded, namely, that that 
 same excellent harper Arion of Methymna, being 
 cast overboard, was taken up on a dolphin's back, 
 and so borne safe to land. Is our history of Jonas 
 more incredible than this ? yes, because it is more 
 admirable ; and it is more admirable, because more 
 powerful " {compare with the i^th book of the same 
 T^ork), 
 
 Sir John Maundeville describes the country of 
 Job in Xh^ fourteenth chapter of his ** Travels," and 
 so carries us a step further than St. Cyril. He 
 says that Job was a paynim, but served God well 
 "after his Law," and that in his land ** there ben 
 Hills where men getten great plenty of Manna . . . 
 this Mana is clept Bread of Angels." In the Tarot 
 a winged figure is shown to pour liquid from one 
 vessel into another. The moral inculcated is 
 Temperance. It is difficult to speak otherwise 
 than metaphorically with respect to this hieroglyph, 
 bilt the manna and the pouring-out of the liquid 
 are both types of the mystery, which are again 
 expressed by the Psalms, the figurative swan-song 
 when the gates of Hades are passed. The Fathers 
 
392 THE CANON. 
 
 called the Psalter an epitome of the Scriptures, and 
 its order appears to follow the rule we are now 
 attempting to explain. Luther's commentary on 
 the first twenty-two Psalms is as instructive as the 
 more extensive work of St. Augustine, and shows 
 that this early reformer had no desire to depart 
 from the ancient Canon of the Church. 
 
 The 15th step completes the upper Triad in the 
 underworld, and is represented by the Devil, who 
 is simply Macrocosmos in the lower hemisphere. 
 The received manner of depicting the evil one 
 was after the fashion of Pan (fig. 25) ; and it is 
 extremely curious that the numerical values of the 
 names applied to him are identical with those of 
 the good deity. Thus Satanas yields 753, the 
 diameter of a circle whose circumference is 2,368 ; 
 Antichristos, 1,841, when read backwards makes 
 1,481, but 1 93 '6, the diameter of the Holy Obla- 
 tion multipHed by 9*5, produces 1,839*2 ; again 
 Ophis, the Serpent, is equivalent by Gematria to 
 Sophia, wisdom ; and ThLI, dragon, and AMTh, 
 truth, have each the same numerical value, and are 
 equal by Gematria to To agathon, the good. It 
 would be difficult to find an instance more clearly 
 manifesting the profundity of the old philosophy 
 than this. 
 
 Passing over the intermediate hieroglyphs for 
 the present we shall only refer to the 22nd, or last 
 of the series. It is symbolized by the cross, and 
 is a repetition of the loth step. The letter Tau 
 with which it is associated, like chi^ the 22nd 
 letter of the Greek alphabet, was originally a 
 cross ; and its numerical value (ThV =: 406) ^ 
 is the diameter of a circle whose circumference 
 is 1,276, the height of a rood cross which will 
 crucify a man in a square having a perimeter of 
 
 ^ A rhombus whose sides are 406 has a perimeter of 1,626, 
 the numerical equivalent of Tetractys. 
 
RHETORIC. 393 
 
 2,368. In Fludd's '' Historia Microcosmi," p. 114, 
 there is an engraving of Macrocosmos, whose 
 body is obviously disposed in the form of a cross 
 like the letter Tau ; and underneath it is written, 
 *' Hence we conclude that the veritable, genuine, 
 and visible figure of the outer man is a true repre- 
 sentation of the cross of Christ.'' ^ It is also note- 
 worthy that the loth Roman numeral, X, is a 
 cross in the form of a saltire. 
 
 By gematria ThV is equivalent to EJa, 406, 
 Eve, and the 22nd card of the Tarot displays 
 the figure of a woman enclosed by a vesica, sur- 
 rounded by the* four beasts of the Evangelists, 
 which are the four corner signs of the Zodiac, in 
 the form which has been ascribed to the New 
 Jerusalem. In the Apocalypse, whose chapters 
 correspond with the canonical symbols, the City of 
 the Bride is described in the 2ist^ and 22nd 
 chapters. The last design of the Tarot, called 
 "The World," depicts that image of Thorah,^ the 
 Law, under which she appeared in heaven as a 
 " woman clothed with the sun, and the moon 
 under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
 12 stars,' ' or as the Christian counterpart of her 
 classic prototype Helen, the daughter of Zeus, 
 ever adored as the feminine ideal of beauty, love, 
 and nature by all old artists, and glorified by the 
 priest as the virgin, bride, and mother, who sets 
 forth the three phases of womanhood exhibited 
 in the threefold sequence of the Cabala. 
 
 Pythagoras defined the soul as being composed 
 
 ^ " Hinc etiam elicimus, quod vera, genuina atque visibilis 
 hominis externi figura veram cruds Christi effigiem repraesentet." 
 See fig. 8, p. 54, of the present volume. 
 
 ^ The 22nd card is numbered 21, the 21st card being un- 
 numbered. 
 
 ^ Thorah means "gate," and is similar to the Greek Qvpa^ 
 which yields 510, or the side of a rhombus having a perimeter 
 equal to the diameter of Saturn's orbit. 
 
394 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 of i/ouf, (pfi^Vy and 6u/tAo?, understanding, reason, and 
 anger, whose numbers amount to 2,097 — 3 — 
 2,094, the diameter of the zodiac. His doctrine 
 that the soul must pass through the bodies of 
 various animals before attaining perfection pro- 
 bably refers to its supposed passage into the signs 
 and constellations, most of which are figured as 
 beasts of some kind He himself said that **he 
 
 FIG. 29. — ASTRONOMICAL HIEROGLYPH OF THE 22ND, 23RD, 
 AND 24TH STEPS, CALLED CIRCULUS LACTEUS, HYGINUS, 1488. 
 
 should again return from the other world and con- 
 verse with men after the expiration of 207 ^ years'' 
 (Diogenes Laertius, " Life of Pythagoras "). Ac- 
 cordingly, by the spirit of the world on the 22nd 
 card, the artist has intimated that the cycle of 
 life has been completed ; the soul has traversed 
 the whole circle of the universe, and, as a small 
 
 ^ 207 X 3f = 681 X 3| = 2,047, the diameter of Saturn's 
 orbit, which is surrounded by the twelve beasts of the zodiac. 
 
RHETORIC. 395 
 
 drop merges into a greater, it is assimilated into 
 the sphere of infinity. 
 
 The application of the order of ideas which we 
 have attempted to describe may be seen in a short 
 piece like the Apostles' Creed, forming a part of 
 the avowedly canonical ritual of the English 
 Common Prayer. The tradition, according to 
 Ambrose, is that the twelve Apostles assembled 
 together and made the creed, each of them inserts 
 ing an article. It thus acquired a cosmic signi- 
 ficance from being an image of the zodiacal circle. 
 Although it was unknown to the Greeks, it was 
 greatly esteemed in the Western Church. It was 
 called the symbolum, and was secretly preserved 
 unwritten, being one of the mysteries communi- 
 cated to the baptized at their initiation. In the 
 English Church it is printed with only three sec- 
 tions, and these manifestly correspond to the 
 Cabalistic Triad, or the Persons of the Trinity^ 
 whom the initiated in the early Church secretly 
 confessed as the all-embracing summary of their 
 faith. The subdivisions of the Prayer-book are 
 marked thus, ^, and the Creed occupies the 13th 
 division in the Morning Prayer, and the 9th in 
 the Evening Prayer, or, counting from the be- 
 ginning, the 34th. Now it has been shown that 
 the steps from the 9th to the 13th typify the 
 Zodiac, since they comprise the centre and ex- 
 tremities of the mundane cross, or " cosmic 
 wheel. And if the diagram (p. 365) be continued 
 and another link added to the chain, the 34th 
 step corresponds to the loth and 22 nd, each of 
 which is an emblem of the world. 
 
 In this way much light will be thrown upon old 
 books if they be studied in connexion with this 
 order. St. Cyril's lectures and other patristic 
 commentaries, the old allegories and romances 
 which puzzle everyone now, from Apuleius to 
 
396 THE CANON. 
 
 Spenser, or even the scenes of '' Hamlet," may be 
 redeemed from obscurity, and often an unexpected 
 meaning will be imparted to the barest platitude 
 when the reference to the symbol is perceived. 
 
 The divisions of the New Testament, according 
 to St. Cyril, amount to 26, the number of the 
 Tetragrammaton. He omits the Apocalypse just as 
 other early canons are without the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. The authorship of the four versions of 
 the life of Christ being attributed to persons typi- 
 fying the four corner signs of the Zodiac, the Man, 
 the Lion, the Bull, and the Eagle, the astronomical 
 sense of the parable is disclosed. And the name 
 svocyylxtop, 577, the " good news," appears to have 
 been chosen with the same mystical intention, for 
 a Solomon's seal whose sides are 577*2 is enclosed 
 by a circle 666 in diameter and 2,093 ^^ circum- 
 ference. It has already been shown (pp. 56-57) 
 that these numbers supply the key to the cosmic 
 aspect of the Christian theology, and suggest the 
 true nature of the Microcosmic Man personified in 
 the Gospels by the Saviour. 
 
 Biblos, 314, the first word of the New Testament, 
 has a similar meaning, since a vesica 314 wide is 
 formed by two intersecting circles whose united 
 width is 942, the diagonal of a square whose sides 
 are 666. And both these names are indirectly 
 equivalent to Paradosis, Tradition, whose nu- 
 merical value is 666. 
 
 The numbers 137 deduced from qblh, Cabala, 
 has the same import as 1480, for the square con- 
 tained within the zodiac, if the sun's distance be 
 taken at 10, is 136*9 ; and zhr, Zohar, the name 
 of the principal cabalistic treatise, yields 212, the 
 diameter of a circle 666 in circumference. 
 
 Of the morality which the philosophers at- 
 tempted to combine with their theological myths 
 we have said nothing, because very often it is only 
 
RHETORIC. 397 
 
 an irrelevant accessory. Besides, a treatise on the 
 subject is a superfluity nowadays, the moral features 
 of religion have become so exceedingly popular 
 that everyone knows how to be good, if no one 
 wishes to be so. Morals, of course, are merely 
 customs {moires). Each code is a local and tem- 
 poral affair, constructed to suit the exigencies of 
 the time and place, and no more states the law 
 finally and absolutely than any one of the extant 
 theologies states the true nature of the deity. 
 Still the attempt to demonstrate (however unsuc- 
 cessfully) that a moral, or rather a beneficent pur- 
 pose is involved in the operations of nature, will 
 always touch a chord deep-rooted in our hearts. 
 And if there is any analogy between the squI of 
 man and the soul of the universe, the moral sense, 
 which is undoubtedly though strangely manifested 
 in each of us, must have its counterpart in the 
 Logos or soul of all. 
 
 We have not tried to defend the priests for 
 having deceived the multitude, or to uphold their 
 doctrines now or in the past. Nor have we sought 
 to make an idol of antiquity. But in looking back 
 we see the same mad, foolish, credulous, and in- 
 credible world, which is here to-day, with its 
 infinite capacity for being tricked and imposed 
 upon, for establishing and supporting the absurdest 
 institutions ; while, in extenuation of their guilt, it 
 must be conceded that the saner could hardly be- 
 queath their wisdom to a populace, which in all 
 ages has persistently declined to inherit it. As for 
 the enlightened amongst ourselves who conscien- 
 tiously suppose that the ancients were children, 
 and patronize them as such, we imagine that the 
 slightest acquaintance with the works of both must 
 make it conclusively apparent who the children 
 are. 
 
 In conclusion, this essay to explain the legend 
 
398 THE CANON. 
 
 on the door-post of Plato's school, " Let none 
 
 IGNORANT OF GEOMETRY ENTER HERE," may fitly 
 
 close in the Master's words. It seems that he fore- 
 saw that the geometrical tradition of the academy 
 was passing into oblivion and would some day be 
 utterly forgotten. Such apparently was his mean- 
 ing when he composed the Prediction of Thamus, 
 whose fulfilment has been most curiously accom- 
 plished. When the Egyptian Theuth invented the 
 alphabet he showed it to King Thamus, declaring 
 that the knowledge of letters would be an incentive 
 to wisdom and a medicine for memory. But the 
 king replied, '* Most ingenious Theuth, one per- 
 son is able to give birth to art, another to judge 
 of what amount of detriment or advantage it 
 will be to those who use it, and now you, as 
 being the father of letters, out of fondness have 
 attributed to them just the contrary effect to that 
 which they will have. For this invention will pro- 
 duce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn 
 it through the neglect of memory, for that through 
 trusting to writing they will remember outwardly 
 by means of foreign marks, and not inwardly by 
 means of their own faculties. . . . For hearing 
 many things through your means without in- 
 struction they will appear to know a great deal, 
 although they are for the most part ignorant, and 
 will become troublesome associates, through think- 
 ing themselves wise instead of being so." 
 
 " Gemetrk the seventhe syens hyt ysse 
 
 That con deperte falshed from trewthe y-wys^ 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abracadabra, 273. 
 Abraham's bosom, 356. 
 Adam, 59, 60, 83, 125, 320, 
 
 376. 
 Adam Kadmon, 124. 
 Agrippa, Cornelius, 55, 69. 
 Aletheia, Truth, 80, 81. 
 Alia, 138. 
 
 Alpha and Omega, 367. 
 Alphabet, Greek, 366, 368, 
 
 374- 
 
 Hebrew, 365, 366, 367. 
 
 Latin, 366, 368. 
 
 Phoenician, 374. 
 Altar of Herod's Temple, 177. 
 Amphibalus, 328, 329. 
 Anactorion, 188. 
 Analemma, 211. 
 Angels, 350, 357. 
 Antioch, 333. 
 Aphrodite, no, in. 
 Apocalypse, 393. 
 Apollo, 108, 109. 
 Apostles* Creed, 394. 
 Apostolic succession, 48. 
 Ares, 113. 
 Argo, 78. 
 
 Ariadne, 311, 312. 
 Ark of Osiris, 385. 
 Artemis, 108. 
 Athene, in. 
 Augur's Templum, 142. 
 Averroes, 289. 
 
 Babel, 157. 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 306, 372. 
 
 Baptism, 285, 286. 
 
 Baptistry, 287. 
 
 Basileia, 114, 122, 197. 
 
 Beast, the number of, 226. 
 
 Bema, 198, 297. 
 
 Biblos, 396. 
 
 Body, the human, 368. 
 
 " Book of the Dead," 377. 
 
 Books of Numa, 279, 280. 
 
 Brashith, 121, 353. 
 
 Bride, 50, 52, 126. 
 
 British standard measure, 26. 
 
 Cabala, 39, 61, 62, 67, 396. 
 Names of the 10 steps, 120, 
 
 121. 
 
 Cabalistic diagram, 51, 63, 
 
 360, 361. 
 Cadmus, 374. 
 Camp of the Israelites, 35, 36, 
 
 37, 38. 
 Canon, 5, 302, 303. 
 
 Of the Hebrews, 378. 
 
 St. Cyril, 380. 
 Cardo, 142, 385. 
 Cataneo, 58, 59. 
 Cesariano, 54, 58, 61, 62. 
 Chalice, 292, 293. 
 Chapter House, 236. 
 Chasuble, 292. 
 Cherubim, 164, 165. 
 Chi, 392. 
 Chlamys, 301. 
 Choros, 195, 199, 294. 
 
400 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 Chrism, 286. 
 Christos, 15, 32. 
 Chronology, 71, 334, 336. 
 City of Ezekiel, 31. 
 Clement of Alexandria, 45, 
 
 46, 47. 
 Constantine, 53, 150, 331. 
 
 Basilica of, 325, 326. 
 Copernicus, 16, 17. 
 Corinthian column, 253, 254. 
 Cosmos, its divisions, 28, 32, 
 100. 
 
 Its true measures, 29. 
 Coventry, 330. 
 Crete, 311. 
 Cross, 14, 139, 140, 141, 142, 
 
 ^50, 393- 
 Cross of Christ, 393. 
 "Cross of cure Lord," 144, 
 
 148. 
 Crucifixion, 146, 147, 156, 
 
 281, 320, 393. 
 
 Dance of Theseus, 328. 
 
 Death, 390. 
 
 Decumanus, 142. 
 
 Delos, 109, 306, 328. 
 
 Delphi, 309, 321. 
 
 Demons, 234, 342, 343, 359. 
 
 Deucalion, 79. 
 
 Devil, 392. 
 
 Dionysiac architects, 61. 
 
 Dionysus, 61, no, in, 149. 
 
 Doric column, 248. 
 
 Druids, 229, 327. 
 
 Duplication of the square, 56. 
 
 Easter Day, 282. 
 
 Ebstorf's map, 319, 320, 321, 
 
 322. 
 Ecclesia, 196. 
 Ecleptic, 71, 75. 
 Eden, 386. 
 Egyptian Canon, 9. 
 Elements, 143, 149. 
 Eleusinian rites, 281. 
 Elohim, 62, 84, 157. 
 
 Ephorus, 302. 
 
 Epiphany, 347. 
 
 Eratosthenes, 25. 
 
 Eros, 352. 
 
 Esther, 389. 
 
 Eucharist, 287, 289, 294. 
 
 Evangelists, 33. 
 
 Eve, 393. 
 
 EzekieUs Temple, 181, 182. 
 
 Fall, the, 376. 
 
 First man, 353. 
 
 Fludd, Robert, 53, 55, 105 
 
 261, 379, 393- 
 Freemasons, n. 
 Funeral rites, 359. 
 
 Gale, Theophilus, 46. 
 Galileo, 18, 19. 
 Gematria, 43, 48, 49. 
 Geometry, n, 244. 
 Gestures of the priests, 292. 
 Gnosis, 45, 48. 
 God, 381. 
 
 Golden Legend, 370. 
 Golgotha, 147, 148, 318, 319, 
 
 326. 
 Good Friday, 282. 
 Gospel or *' Good News,'' 396. 
 Great Pyramid, 6, 199, 204, 
 
 207, 209. 
 Great Year, loi, 102. 
 Greek letters as numerals, 14. 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, 95. 
 
 Hades, 354, 355, 356. 
 Hall of the Two Laws, 389. 
 Heaven, 359. 
 Hebrew letters, 365, 366. 
 
 As numerals, 14. 
 Helena, Saint, 330-332. 
 Hell, 390. 
 Hellas, 333. 
 Hera, 106. 
 Heracles, 114. 
 Hereford map, 321. 
 Hermes, 60, 113. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 401 
 
 Hestia, 105. 
 
 High priest, 168, 169. 
 
 Hill of Bat, 136, 385. 
 
 Hippolytus, 24. 
 
 Hiram, 256. 
 
 Holy Ghost, 104. 
 
 Holy Grail, 346. 
 
 Holy Land, 302. 
 
 Holy Oblation, 30, 31, 100. 
 
 Holy Sepulchre, 317,318, 321, 
 
 325- 
 Church of, 324, 325, 332. 
 Host, 290. 
 Human body, measures of, 
 
 27- 
 
 Hypnerotomachia, 191. 
 
 Immortality, 358. 
 Incarnation of the soul, 354, 
 
 .357- 
 India, 346. 
 Initiation, 284. 
 Ionic column, 250. 
 
 Letters, 252. 
 Isle of Wight, 330. 
 
 of Man, 330. 
 Ithyphallos, 177. 
 
 Jachin and Boaz, 255. 
 Jacob's ladder, 296, 326, 345. 
 Jamblichus, 5. 
 Jerusalem, 314, 3i5j3i6, 317, 
 
 321, 323* 363- 
 Job, 390. 
 
 John the Baptist, 339. 
 Jonas, 391. 
 
 Joseph and Mary, 387. 
 Joshua, 385. 
 Jowett, Mr., 86, 95. 
 
 Kepler, 264-266, 
 Kratylos, 89, 
 
 Labarum, 149. 
 Labyrinth, 311, 323, 328. 
 Law, the, 353. 
 Lazarus, 357. 
 
 Leto, 109. 
 
 Lichfield, 327. 
 
 Logos, 52, 60, no, 140, 142, 
 
 144, 147. 
 London, 329. 
 Long-face, 122. 
 Long-nose, 133. 
 
 Macrocosmos, 49, 50, 53, 54, 
 
 320» 393- 
 Macroprosopos, 122. 
 Malchuth, 126, 390. 
 Manes, 340. 
 Manilius, 368. 
 Marcus, 80, 81. 
 Mariam, 126, 127, 128. 
 Masorah, 350. 
 Mass, 284, 285, 288, 289. 
 Menasseh Ben Israel, 41, 42, 
 
 43» 44- 
 Messiah, 124. 
 
 Messianic Period, loi, 102. 
 Metempsychosis, 394. 
 Metrodorus of Lampsacus, 
 
 376. 
 Microcosmos, 50, 55, 56, 62. 
 Microprosopus, 122, 362,363. 
 Milan Cathedral, 185, 187, 
 
 190. 
 Milky Way, 344. 
 Minos, 311. 
 Minotaur, 312. 
 Modesty, 275, 278. 
 Moly, 389. 
 Moses, 7, 39, 52, 159, 166, 
 
 167. 
 As an Ionic philosopher, 
 
 251. 
 Music of the Spheres, 8i, 
 Mystic, 4. 
 
 Name of Jesus, 349. 
 Naos, 94, 297. 
 
 Of Parthenon, 224. 
 Narthex, 118, 198, 297, 304. 
 Nasseni, 58. 
 Navel-stone, 321, 322. 
 
 D D 
 
402 
 
 THE CANON. 
 
 Necessity, 388. 
 
 New Jerusalem, 32, 33, 34, 
 
 104, 224, 293. 
 New Testament, 396. 
 Noah's Ark, 68, 72, 75, 80. 
 Nola, 313, 316. 
 Numa, 279, 280. 
 Numbers, 8. 
 
 CEdipus, 386. 
 Olympus, 307, 308. 
 Omphalos, 140, 321. 
 
 Of England, 327. 
 Opisthodomos, 223. 
 Origan, 96. 
 Orpheus, 153. 
 Osiris, 135. 
 
 Pallas, 112, 225. 
 
 Pan, 112. 
 
 Pantheon, 232. 
 
 Paradise, 49, 322, 331, 386. 
 
 Paradosis, Tradition, 396. 
 
 Parthenon, 217, 220. 
 
 Passion of Christ, 282, 390. 
 
 Passover, 287. 
 
 Pentalpha, 273. 
 
 Period of Christ's birth, 339. 
 
 Persephone, 114, 388. 
 
 Peter, Saint, 205, 234. 
 
 Phallos, 61, 78, 155, 221, 225, 
 
 277. 
 Phcenix, 355. 
 Pillars of the Lodge, 298. 
 Pillars of Seth, 202. 
 Pipe of Pan, 304, 305. 
 Plato, 3, 9, II, 32, 52, 56, 86, 
 
 100. 
 Pope Joan, 382, 
 Poseidon, 113. 
 Potter, Francis, 56, 57. 
 Prayer-book, 395. 
 "Prestre John," 346. 
 Priapus, 277. 
 
 Prometheus, 117, 118, 119. 
 Psalms, 391. 
 Purgatory, Mount of, 386. 
 
 Puritans, 278. 
 Pyramid-Coffer, 212. 
 Pythagoras, 393. 
 Pythagorean System of Music, 
 260, 262, 263. 
 
 Rabbi, Schimeon, 364. 
 Reincarnation, 358, 359. 
 Resurrection, 281. 
 Rhetoric, 353, 370, 379. 
 Rhodopis, 215. 
 Rhombos, 65, 360. 
 Rose and Cross, 154. 
 
 Sabbath, 363. 
 
 Sabao, ni. 
 
 Saints in, the Calendar, 342, 
 
 345- 
 Sandalphon, 351. 
 
 Satanas, 392. 
 
 Scylla and Charybdis, 389. 
 
 Septuagint, 128. 
 
 Serpent, 59, 392. 
 
 Shameer, 171, 173. 
 
 Simon Magus, 339, 371. 
 
 Six hundred and sixty-six, 57, 
 
 77, 396. 
 Solomon's Seal, 271. 
 Solomon's Temple, 170, 174, 
 
 176, 227. 
 Sphinx, 385, 386. 
 Spouse of Christ, 49, 126, 
 
 236. 
 Stauros and Omphalos, 298, 
 
 3^9) 358. 
 
 Stonehenge, 228, 329. 
 
 Strabo, 7. 
 
 His description of the uni- 
 verse, 23, 24. 
 
 Symbols, 10. 
 
 Syrinx, 304, 306. 
 
 Tabernacle, 159, 160, 162, 
 
 165. 
 
 At Delphi, 170, 226. 
 Tables of the Law, 163, 303. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 403 
 
 Tables of the Planets, 267, 
 
 270. 
 Tartarus, 355. 
 Tau, 78, 151. 
 
 Cross, 294, 392. 
 Telescopes, 21. 
 Tertullian, 356. 
 Tetractys, 117, 387. 
 Tetragrammaton, 66, 116, 387. 
 Thamus, 398. 
 Theological fables, 7. 
 Thomas, Saint, 346. 
 Thorah, 34, 393. 
 Timseus, 139, 140, 142, 143. 
 Tiphereth, Beauty, 362, 363. 
 Tracing Board, 295, 299. 
 Tradition, 41, 45, 46, 350, 
 
 396. 
 Translations, 129, 130, 131, 
 
 132, 133) 134. 
 Trinity, the, 50, 97-101, 122, 
 
 123, 362, 383, 394. 
 True Cross, 330, 331, 332. 
 
 Ussher's Chronology, 337. 
 
 Vesica Piscis, 11, 12, 13, 63, 
 
 64, 65. 
 Vestments, 292. 
 Villalpanda, 36, 37. 
 Vision of Scipio, 343. 
 Vitruvius, 27, 54, 58, 61, 62, 
 
 186, 247, 249. 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 233, 
 Wheel of Fortune, 385. 
 Wilhelmina, 341. 
 Wilkins, Bishop, 351. 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, 239, 
 
 Yesod, the Foundation, 363. 
 York, 329. 
 
 Zeus, 106, 107. 
 Zodiac, 102, 368. 
 Zohar, 396. 
 
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