"in the beginning," are made use of to form the ini tials of six words which constitute a sentence signifying that "In the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the law,"

בראשית ראה אלהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה

3. Temura is Cabbala by permutation of letters. Sometimes the letters of a word are transposed to form another word, making what is familiarly known as an anagram, or the letters of a word are changed for others according to certain fixed rules of alphabetical permutation, the 1st letter being placed for. the 22d, the 2d for the 21st, the 3d for the 20th, and so on. It is in this way that Babel, is made out of Sheshach, and hence the Cabbalists say that when Jeremiah used the word Sheshach (XXV. 26) he referred to Babel.

A very interesting account of the Cabbala will be found in Allen's "Modern Judaism," from which work, indeed, I have principally condensed the present synopsis.

CABIRI, MYSTERIES OF THE. The Cabiri were originally Syrian or Phenician gods, and all that we know about them is to be found in a fragment of Sanconiathon, quoted by Eusebius, which tells us that they were the children of Sydyk, (whom Faber and some other authors suppose to be Noah,) and that they were the inventors of ship-building. In the time of Chronos (or Saturn) their descendants, while navigating the sea, ran aground on Mount Casius and there erected a temple.

The worship of the Cabiri was first established in the island of Samothrace, where it may be supposed that these navigators first landed on passing from the continent. Here they founded the mysteries of the Cabiri, which were subsequently celebrated at Thebes and Lemnos, but more especially at Samothrace, whence they were sometimes called the Samothracian rites. The name

Dissert. on the Mysteries of the Cabiri. Bishop Cumberland thinks Sydyk Identical with Shem, a just man, in Hebrew, Sadek.

of the Cabiri was derived originally from Phenicia, and the word signifies in that language powerful.* There were four of these gods, Axieros, Axiokersos, Axiokersa, and Cadmillus. The last had been slain by the three others, and his murder was commemorated in the secret rites. The aspirant presented himself crowned with an olive branch, and girded about the loins with a purple riband or apron. He was placed upon a throne, around which the priests and initiated performed sacred dances. Funeral rites were then enacted, in which the candidate represented Cadmillus. The hierophants declared that the object of the mysteries was, to make men just and virtuous. Candidates who had been guilty of any crime, were compelled to confess to a priest, who purified them.

Many persons annually resorted to Samothrace to be initiated into the celebrated mysteries, among whom are mentioned Cadmus, Orpheus, Hercules, and Ulysses. Jamblichus says, in his life of Pythagoras, that from those of Lemnos that sage derived much of his wisdom. The mysteries of the Cabiri were much respected among the common people, and great care was taken in their concealment. The priests were called Corybantes, and made use of a language peculiar to the rites.‡

There is much perplexity connected with this subject, but it is generally supposed that the mysteries were instituted in honour of Atys, the son of Cybele. According to Macrobius, Atys was one of the names of the sun; in confirmation of this, we know that the mysteries were celebrated at the vernal equinox. They

Compare the cognate Hebrew, kabir, "to be greater."

Some authors suppose that these four gods refer to Noah and his three sons, saved in the ark, and thus they connect the Samothracian rites with the Arkite worship. See Drummond's Origines, vol. ii. p. 130. The Scholiast on Apoll. Rhod. says their names were Ceres, Proserpine, and Bacchus.

Larcher says that those who had been admitted to these mysteries, were highly esteemed, as they were supposed to have nothing to apprehend from tempests; and Plutarch tells us, that they who learned the names of the Cabiri, pronounced them slowly, as an amulet to avert calamity.

lasted three days, during which they represented in the person of Atys, the enigmatical death of the sun in winter, and his regeneration in the spring. In all probability, in the initiation, the candidate passed through a drama, the subject of which was the violent death of Atys. Candidates on their admission, underwent an examination respecting their previous life, and after being purified and initiated were presented with a purple girdle, which was worn like an apron around their bodies, as an amulet to preserve them against all dangers.

The mysteries were in existence at Samothrace as late as the eighteenth year of the Christian era, at which time the Emperor Germanicus embarked for that island, to be initiated, but was prevented from accomplishing his purpose by adverse winds.

CABLE TOW. A properly constructed tracing board of the Entered Apprentice is always enclosed within a cord or cable tow, having four tassels placed at the four angles, referring to the four cardinal virtues and their illustrated points, while the cable tow is emblematic of the cord or band of affection which should unite the whole fraternity, as in Hosea xi. 4, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." But there is another and not figurative use of this implement, with which Masons are well acquainted.

CAGLIOSTRO. Joseph Balsamo, Marquis of Pelligrini, more commonly known by the title which he assumed at Paris, of Count Cagliostro, was one of the most ingenious imposters that ever lived. He was the author of a work entitled "Maçonnerie Egyptienne," and the founder of a pseudo-masonic system, which he called the rite of Egyptian masonry. He established this rite, (the idea of which he had obtained from some manuscripts accidentally purchased at London,) at first, in Courland, in the year 1779, whence he afterward introduced it into Germany, France, and England. For the purpose more speedily of captivating the credulous and the imaginative, he united with this form of ma

sonry, the visionary schemes of Alchemy, declaring that one of the objects of initiation was the possession of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of immortality.

Both men and women were admitted into the lodges of the Egyptian rite, though the ceremonies for each sex were slightly different, and the lodges for their reception were entirely distinct. The system was called a hierarchy, and was divided into three degrees, Egyptian Apprentice, Egyptian Fellow-craft, and Egyptian Master.

Cagliostro, after having been banished from France by the government, and compelled to fly from England by his creditors, was finally arrested at Rome by the Inquisition, in 1789, on a charge of practising the rites of Freemasonry, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. He was never afterwards heard of, and is supposed to have died, or to have been put to death, during his incarceration.

CALENDAR, MASONIC.

Freemasons, in affixing dates to their official documents, never make use of the common calendar or vulgar era, but have one peculiar to themselves, which, however, varies in the different rites.

Masons of the York and French rites, that is to say, the Masons of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, and America, date from the creation of the world, calling it "Anno Lucis," which they abbreviate A... L..., signifying in the year of light. Thus with them the year 1850 is A.. L... 5850. This they do, not because they believe Freemasonry to be coeval with the creation, but with a symbolic reference to the light of

masonry.

In the Scotch rite, the era also begins from the date of the creation, but Masons of that rite, using the Jewish chronology, would call the year 1850 A... M... or Anno Mundi (in the year of the world) 5610. They sometimes use the initials A.... H.., signifying Anno Hebraico, or, in the Hebrew year. They have also adopted the Hebrew months, and the year therefore ends

with them on the 16th of September, the new year beginning on the 17th of the same month, which is the first of Tisri.

The Masons of the rite of Mizraim, which is practised in France, adopt the chronology of Archbishop Usher, and adding four years to the usual computation of the age of the world, would make the year 1850 A... L.. 5854.

Masons of the York rite begin the year on the first of January, but in the French rite it commences on the first of March, and instead of the months receiving their usual names, they are designated numerically, as first, second, third, &c. Thus the 1st January, 1850, would be styled in a French masonic document, the "1st day of the 11th masonic month, Anno Lucis, 5850." The French sometimes, instead of the initials A.. L.'., use L'an de la V. L., or, Vraie Lumiere, that is, "Year of True Light."

Royal Arch Masons commence their era with the year in which Zerubbabel began to build the second temple, which was 530 years before Christ. Their style for the year 1850 is, therefore, A.. Inv.., that is, Anno Inventionis, or, in the Year of the Discovery, 2380.

Royal and Select Masters very often make use of the common masonic date, Anno Lucis, but properly they should date from the year in which Solomon's Temple was completed, and their style would then be, Anno Depositionis, or in the Year of the Deposite, and they would date the year 1850 as 2850.

Knights Templars use the era of the organization of their order in 1118. Their style for the year 1850 is A... O..., Anno Ordinis, or, in the Year of the Order, 732.

I subjoin, for the convenience of reference, the rules for discovering these different dates.

1. To find the Ancient Craft date. Add 4000 to the vulgar era. Thus 1850 and 4000 are 5850.

2. To find the date of the Scotch rite. gar era. Thus 1850 and 3760 are 5610. one year more.

Add 3760 to the vul

After September add