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Preface
Students
of literature, philosophy and religion who have any sympathy with the
Occult Sciences may well pay some attention to the Kabalah of the
Hebrew Rabbis of olden times; for whatever faith may be held by the
enquirer he will gain not only knowledge, but also will broaden his
views of life and destiny, by comparing other forms of religion with
the faith and doctrines in which he has been nurtured, or which he
has adopted after reaching full age and powers of discretion.Being
fully persuaded of the good to be thus derived, I desire to call
attention to the dogmas of the old Hebrew Kabalah. I had the good
fortune to be attracted to this somewhat recondite study, at an early
period of life, and I have been able to spare a little time in
subsequent years to collect some knowledge of this Hebrew religious
philosophy; my information upon the subject has been enlarged by my
membership of The Rosicrucian Society. Yet the Kabalistic books are
so numerous and so lengthy, and so many of them only to be studied in
Rabbinic Hebrew and Chaldee that I feel to-day less confident of my
knowledge of the Kabalah than I did twenty years ago, when this essay
was first published, after delivery in the form of lectures to a
Society of Hermetic Students in 1888. Since that date a French
translation of "The Zohar," by Jean de Pauly, and a work
entitled "The Literature and History of the Kabalah," by
Arthur E. Waite, have been published, yet I think that this little
treatise will be found of interest to those who have not sufficient
leisure to master the more complete works on the Kabalah.The
Old Testament has been of necessity referred to, but I have by
intention made no references to the New Testament, or to the faith
and doctrines taught by Jesus the Christ, as the Saviour of the
world: if any desire to refer to the alleged reference in the Kabalah
to the Trinity, it will be found in the Zohar ii., 43, b.: and an
English version of the same in "The Kabbalah," by C. D.
Ginsburg.WM.
WYNN WESTCOTT,