The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-28

value of 1914 q believe it isl Further he
says that the term year of the Lord Cor
Jehovah) which is so often used in Scrip
ture, means the year of the worlds end as
predicted by the numerical value of the
word Jehovah. Therefore by prophecy of
this name the world comes to an end in
1914.
II NUMBER OF THE BEAST.
Discussion Of these numerical values as
signed in mystical literature to Greek and
Hebrew names. would open up "A subject
too wide to be considered at any length
here. The most famous matter of the kind
is the number of the Beast mentioned in
St. Johns Revelation. which is 666 (6l6 &C
cording to some MSS) and is supposed to
tell the name of the Antichrist who is to
come. Most interpreters say that its So
luton is Nero Caesar or the word
"Lateinos." which is taken as a personii-
cation of the old heather Roman empire.
All through the ages, however. the names
of distinguished persons have been found
to bear this numerical value in Hebrew
or Greek, and they have been identified by
some with the Antichrist. Many modern
names work out all right. / myself. in
a moment Of idleness one day, tried a few
III SCDA-udN CSi6OllllGSs dhh 0ab tC'N@As
that the name of our honored Christian
President. Mr.. Mckinley. can by trans
liberation into Greek. be made TO produce
the mystical number. which L failed to get
out of any other names. Such numerical
name riddles are frequent in the Sibylline
books and are found in other apocrypha.
And the subject connects itself with that
of superstitions about the fatality of num-
Lor. r-hfob = many Rnt To return to
the mystery of names.
Observe how identical are these ideas
with those of folklore. of magic, and of
many other religions, as well as Of a host
Of Christian superstitions.
In folklore, the fairy, spirit or whatever
it is. is very anxious to conceal its name.
Thus, in the familiar fairy tale. Rumpel-
stiltskin tears himself asunder when his
name is guessed. Some think that this idea
has originated in a perfectly historical
| manner. Fairies, they argue, represent ira
ditions amongst the races of certain other
inferior wandering races with which they
have come in contact, like the Gypsies, for
instance. of the present. Now it is a peculi-
arity of such vagabond races that indi-
viduals do not like to have their names
known, just as criminals and all suspicious
characters do not. 1t gives the police a GER
tain power over them, and ii gives the
settled inhabitants power over the Gypsies.
So, it is argued, these Gypsies or similar
wanderers of the past, as ~emembere in
tradition. are lowered as time passes with
the supernatural attributes of fairies, and
their reluctance to have their names known
is commemorated by a similar tale about
the fairies. And this idea carried further
back, becomes the superstition that he
who gets to know the true name of the
highest supernatural being. a god, has
power TO secure the granting of his re-
quests by that god.
Whether there be any truth or not in this
rather tenuous explanation. it is a fact
that most Of the ancient religions had the
idea, Just as folklore and magic have it,
and Just as secret societies use names as
passwords with the same symbolic teach
ing that possession of a name enables one
TO secure the granting of his requests.
MAGICIAN'S SECRET.
The religion of ancient Egypt had it in
most highly developed form. and it is from
that country that Christian superstitions
about the magic in words came. / cannot
do better than translate here a passage
from Maspero's great work on Egypt. "An-
cient Egypt" he says, believed that the
name of a being was really its essence. He
who had that name had control over the
being and could max it obey him, without
power TO resist, just as the slave obeys his
master. The art of the magician, then,
simply consisted in obtaining sacred names
by revelations from the gods. This was
done In many ways but when men got the
names the gods could do nothing but
obey"
Now, the Egyptians believed they had the
names, and a large part of their ritual
that has come down to us consists of direc-
lions how to use them. The famous Book
OF the Dead Is principally concerned with
this. So the magical stories of the Arabian
Nights, a book which came from Egypt, is
full of it's "open sesames" and of it's tales
of words of enchantment. The Christian
churches which were connected with EgypL
did not escape the infusion of these ideas.
Apocryphal Christian literature in general
is largely Egyptian i'm origin, and IL is full
of the idea of the magical word. On the
other hand. Mahommed drew many of his
ideas from this apocryphal Christian litera-
ture. although he evidently knew nothing
OF the canonical New Testament. So IL
comes that there are many prayers and
formulas in use in the Oriental churches
that are exactly similar TO those used by
Mohammedans.
| think that a notice of some Of these will
be found interesting. For instance. from
Vassiliev's "Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina,"
which is a collection of Greek apocrypha
current in the Russian Church. L find for
mulas like the following: "A charm 10
enable a child to learn his letters. Write
out on the inside and outside Of a glass
vessel the names of the four and twenty
elders that stand before the throne of God"
Then the names Of these elders are duly
given; they are alleged names, such as
suggest by their meaning learning and
related ideas. The direction further says
to put wine and water in the glass, put II
on the altar in the church for a short time
and then let the child drink IL. He will
infallibly learn after that. The point in
this particular case is. l take II. that the
number of letters in the Greek alphabet is
twenty-four. the same as that of the elders
III heaven mentioned by the Book of Rev
elation.
This work further contains magical pray
ers TO keep snakes from coming around ones
dwelling, TO keep them from biting when
they do come, for finding the name OF and
for catching "a thief. for curing MANY kinds