As light becomes less in propagating itself, its fountain must be of an inconceivable subtlety and purity, and, accordingly, in its loftiest condition, intelligent. As its beams are removed from their source they lose their activity, and by the gradual waning of their influence sink from their original perfection ; they therefore produced different exist ences and intelligences, in proportion as they be come more distant from the fountain of light ; at last, passing from one element into another, they lost their lightness, were pressed together, and made dense, till they became corporeal, and pro duced chaos. There accordingly was between the Supreme Being and the earth a chain of inter mediate existences whose perfections decreased as they were more remote from the First Great Cause. This Supreme Being had communicated in a dis tinguished degree his pnmary radiations, intelli gence, power, productiveness ; all other emanation. had, in proportion to their distance from the highest intelligence, a less and less share in these perfec tions ; and thus were the different regions of light, from the moon to the dwelling-place of the Su preme, filled with various orders of spirits.
The space which contained the First Cause, or Fountain of radiations, was filled with pure and happy intelligences. Immediately beneath this region began the corporeal world, or the em pyreum, which was a boundless space, lighted by the pure light which flowed immediately from the Great Source ; this empyreum was filled with an infinitely less pure fire than the original light, but immeasurably finer than all bodies. Below this was the ether, or grosser region, filled with still grosser fire. Next came the fixed stars, spread over a wide region where the thickest parts of the ethereal fire had come together and formed the stars. The world of planets succeeded, which contained the sun, moon, and the wandering stars. Then came the last order of beings—the rude ele ments which are deprived of all activity, and with stand the motions arid influence of light. The different parts of the world are in contact, and the spirits of the upper regions can influence the lower, as well as descend and enter into them. As the chaotic elements were without shape and motion, the spirits of the higher regions must have formed the earth, and human souls are spirits sprung from them. To these spirits from above the system of the Chaldmans ascribed all the productions, ap pearances, and movements upon the earth. The formation of the human body, the growth of the fruits, all the gifts of nature, were attributed to beneficent spirits. In the space below the moon, in the midst of night, tempests arose, lightnings threaded the dark clouds, thunder broke forth and laid waste the earth ; there were found spirits of darkness, corporeal demons spread through the air. Often, too, were flames of fire seen to rise out of the bosom of the earth, and the mountains were shaken. Earthly powers or demons were supposed to dwell in the centre of the earth ; and since matter was held to be without activity, all movements were attributed to spirits. Storms, volcanoes, tempests, appeared to have no other object than to destroy human happiness ; and these demons were held to be wicked spirits who produced these evils; to them every unfortunate event was ascribed, and a sort of hierarchy was formed of these evil beings, as had been done in the case of the good spirits. But why did not the Supreme mind put down, by an exertion of his power, this swarm of wicked spirits ? Some thought it was beneath the dignity of the Primary Essence to contend with these demons ; others were of opinion that these bad spirits were natu rally indestructible, and as the Supreme could neither destroy nor improve them, he had banished them to the centre of the earth and to the region beneath the moon, where they indulged in their baseness and exercised their dominion : in order, however, to protect the human race against fiends so numerous and fearful, he commissioned good spirits, whose office it was to defend men against these corporeal demons. As the good and the
bad spirits had various degrees of power and dif ferent offices, so they had names given to them which described their functions. As the good spirits were under an obligation to protect men and furnish succour in their need, they were com pelled to learn human language ; accordingly, it was believed that a guardian angel against every evil was possessed by every one who bore his mysterious name—a name which was to be pro nounced only when succour was needed. All manner of names were therefore devised, by which the good spirits were conjured or informed of human necessities ; and all the combinations of the alpha bet were exhausted in order to bring about a com merce between men and angels. Here is the origin of the Cabbala [KABBALA], which gave strange names to these spirits in order to bring them into connection with men, and by this means to do wonderful things (Matt. xii. 24-27). These names also sometimes served to drive bad spirits away : they were a kind of exorcism. For since it was believed that these demons had been banished to the centre of the earth, and that they could do evil only in consequence of having baffled the vigi lance of the guardian spirits and escaped to the outer world, so, it was held, they were compelled to flee as soon as they heard the name of the good angels whose business it was to keep them shut up in subterranean caverns, and to punish them if they ventured from their prison-house. A power, too, was ascribed to the name of the spirit, or to the image which marked his office—a power which forced the spirit to come on being called ; and, accordingly, it was held that this name carved on a stone kept the spirit near the person who.wore the stone—a notion in which is probably found the origin of Talismans, which were formed either by words or symbolical figures.
The fragments of Berosus, preserved by Eusebius and Josephus, and to be found in Scaliger (De Enzendat. Temp.), and more fully in Fabricius (Bib. Gr., xiv. 175), afford some information on the subject of Chaldan philosophy. Berosus was a priest of the god Baal, at Babylon, in the time of Alexander the Great. The Talmud and other work of the Jewish Rabbins may also be advan tageously consulted, together with the following authorities :—Euseb., Prap. Evang., ix. Jo; Philo, De Mig. Man. ; Selden, De Diis Syris, Proleg. 3 ; Stanley's History of Oriental Philosophy ; Knorrii de Rosenroth, Cabbala denudata, s. doc trina Ebrawrunt transcendentalis et metaphysics ague theologica, t. r, Solisb. 1677, t. 2 ; Liber ybhan. restitutus, Francof. 1684 ; Kleuker, Ueber der Natur and den Ursprung der Emanationslehm bd den Kabbalisten, Riga 1786 ; Molitor, Philo sophic der Geschichte, 1827.2S ; Hartman, Die cage Verbindang des A. T. mit dent N., 1831 ; Ketzer, Lexicon von P. Fritz, 1838 ; Brucker, Hz:rt. Grit. Phil. ; Ritter, Geschich. der Phil. ; Vergleichende 111Ythologie von Nork, 1836.—J. R. B.