Gem Atria Coptic Gnostic Books

Update: March 8th, 2003
GEMATRIA
A Preliminary Investigation of The Cabala
contained in the
Coptic Gnostic Books

and of a similar Gematria in the Greek
text of the New Testament
SHOWING THE PRESENCE OF A SYSTEM OF TEACHING
BY MEANS OF THE DOCTRINAL SIGNIFICANCE OF
NUMBERS, BY WHICH THE HOLY NAMES ARE CLEARLY
SEEN TO REPRESENT AEONIAL RELATIONSHIPS
WHICH CAN BE CONCEIVED IN A GEOMETRIC SENSE
AND ARE CAPABLE OF A TYPICAL EXPRESSION OF
THAT ORDER.
BY
FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A.

AND
THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

First Published 1917
Annotated and Transcribed for the WorldWideWeb by Peter Wakefield Sault

2002-2003
EPIGRAPH.
... numbers are the thoughts of God ... The Divine Wisdom is reflected in the numbers impressed upon
all things ... the construction of the physical and moral world alike is based upon eternal numbers.
St Augustine
CONTENTS
Preface
The Method of Gematria
Chapter
I A Brief Outline of the Gematria
II The Existence of the Gnosis
IIIThe Uses of Gematria
IV The Key Applied
Note on Digamma
Appendix
A The Number 485
B Of the Square and Circle Contained
C Names of Christ as Multiples of 37
D Schema of the Numbers of Jesus
E The Decree of the First Mystery
F Of the Three Primary Figures
G Cabala of the Cosmos
HThe Cube of Light
Supplement
I On the Symbolism of Numbers
II On Geometric Truth
The Geometric Cubit as a Basis of Proportion in the Plans of Mediaeval Buildings

IIIby Frederick Bligh Bond F.R.I.B.A. (From The Builder, Third Series, Vol. XXIII, No. 15, 10 June
1916, pages 249 - 255. By courtesy of The Royal Institute of British Architects, London.)
IV Cephas: The name given by Our Lord to Peter.
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All rights reserved worldwide
Update: December 1st, 2002
GEMATRIA
BY
FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

AND

ANNOTATED AND TRANSCRIBED BY
PETER WAKEFIELD SAULT

GO TO CONTENTS P.3 P.4
PREFACE.
By recovering the Key of the Knowledge (St.Luke xi. 52), and the Mysteries of the Faith (I. Cor. xiii. 2)
the Church would greatly increase the strength of her appeal to the thinking man. The authors believe
that the Key may be recovered, and the subject-matter of their work already tends to shew that the
Apostolic Church possessed a real GNOSIS which made the Faith a great reality and joy to the
intelligence, and gave an insight into the nature of the Spiritual powers that were exercised. The Gospel
narrative, in its simplicity, is the pure milk of the Word. Christianity was a re-birth of religion (Heb. i. I,
2) and was preached as to children in the Faith. But that there was reserved for those who had
progressed, a more inward revelation, there can indeed be no doubt. And the discovery in the Gematria of
the Greek Scriptures of indubitable traces of a coherent and consistent teaching in harmony with the
exoteric expression of the Christian dogma and forming a definite link between the theology of the
Sacred Books and that wonderful scheme of imagery and symbolism of an architectural or geometrical
nature with which the Gnostic Books abound, and which is so evident in scripture, gives point to that
outstanding fact in the story of the life of Jesus, that He was trained as a
4
Carpenter or Builder (), and suggests that behind this natural and outward fact there lies a
mystery, namely that He, in His Divine Personality, was the Builder of the Aeons (Heb. i. 2) and that the
knowledge which He gave His Church was the knowledge of those principles by which the worlds were
made (Heb. xi. 3).

It should be understood that the authors are fully aware of the immensity and the difficulty of the task
that lies ahead in the interpretation of the Teaching discovered, and are conscious of the limitation of
their efforts. More research will have to be undertaken, but in the meantime it may be explained that part
of the further investigation must be into the meaning of such passages as those in which St. Paul
mentions unspeakable words which it is not lawful (or not possible) for man to utter, and where St.
John is bidden to seal up that which the seven thunders uttered. And it is just possible that this revelation
has been reserved for these great times in which the Church now struggles to proclaim the Faith.
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GEMATRIA
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AND

THE METHOD OF GEMATRIA:

OR ASSOCIATION OF LETTER AND NUMBER.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION.
About the fifth century B.C. there begin to appear in the Syro-Phoenician centre east of the
Mediterranean, traces of a mode of writing in which the letters of the alphabet serve also the purpose of
numerals. Though coming from this centre, the origin of the method is not believed to be Phoenician but
to be traceable to a more eastern source. From this parent influence two systems are derived. These are
the Greek and the Hebrew. Both systems attained a high degree of development about the third century
B.C.. Both languages are constructed with great skill, and are evidently the work of highly instructed
men animated by a clear purpose. Though compiled from older and far less perfect material, they
represent something far more than the natural evolution of that material. They shew system, but they also
shew peculiarities, sometimes having the appearance of intention, for which no adequate reason has yet
been offered. Their alphabets, which are also numerals, exhibit unexplained features, some of which may
be described as mysterious. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that the element
of chance has in any appreciable degree entered into their framing. And this is the more unlikely in that
there is evidence of a contrary belief among these peoples, who shewed a peculiar reverence for their
alphabets, ascribing to each letter its own mystical value, and, to the whole, a body of symbolic teaching
in which the principles of Number, Sound, and also Form as connected with each letter, all played their
part.
Both the Greek and Hebrew modes of numeration are based on a denary system: that is to say, one which
divides into units, tens, hundreds, etc., but it must be borne in mind that the use of the 0 or Zero was not
then known, but was introduced from an Arab source about the third century A.D.. Hence the Greek
mode of calculation was far more clumsy and laborious.
The Greek Alphabet was perfected at Athens about 400 B.C., when several new signs were added and
older compound letters superseded. Other old signs were retained as numerals only. The older Greek
numeral system was like the Roman, but even more cumbersome. It is known as the Herodian.
(Thompson, Latin and Greek Palaeography, 1906, p.104.)
For the convenience of readers, the Greek numeral alphabet is appended.1
* numerals only. For note on F - the Digamma, see end of Text.

The authors, in giving only the numeric values, are assuming some familiarity with the Greek alphabet on the part of
their readers. For the benefit of those readers unfamiliar with it, the names and sounds of the Greek letters are listed
below:LetterName
Sound|LetterName Sound |LetterName Sound
i
r
| Iota
| Rho
Alpha a
b
| Kappa k
| Sigma s
Beta
t
| Lambda l
| Tau
Gamma g
1.
d
m
| Mu
| Upsilon u, oo
Delta
n
f
| Nu
| Phi
Epsilon e
F* Digammaw
x, ks | Khi (Chi)kh
| Xi
z
ps
| Omicrono (hot)| Psi
Zeta
ee
p
| Pi
| Omega o (hope)
Eta
th
| Koppa k
| Sampi sp
Theta
- PWS
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GO TO CONTENTS P.7 P.8 P.9 P.10
CHAPTER I.
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE GEMATRIA.
On a top shelf in the study of the House Beautiful there are a couple of Early Christian books which
even Mr. Interpreter himself has almost forgotten. Indeed, when a pilgrim asks him, he seems only to be
able to say that he really knows practically nothing about their contents.
But Mr. Interpreter is a scribe, made a disciple unto the Kingdom, and will bring forth out of his treasure
things new and old, and he has kept his copies of the PISTIS SOPHIA and the BOOKS of IEOU. These
are possibly Coptic translations of Greek originals and have many words in Greek, inserted in their
nominative cases in the Coptic manner. And both books purport to be Resurrection Discourses of our
Lord when He taught His disciples things concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. And though this claim
cannot be admitted in its entirety, it must not be altogether dismissed, for it cannot have been made
without a certain amount of ostensible support, and it may be worth while to investigate what that
support may have been.
Now in the New Testament there are several references to the Knowledge and the Mysteries (as in I. Cor.
xiii.), which the faithful might learn, as well as to powers which the faithful might exercise and some of
these mysteries are still among us and give a hint as to the language in
8
Investigation of the Cabala.
which they, and probably therefore others, were expressed. Some of these mysteries concern names. It is
known that names both in Greek and Hebrew were reckoned by their numerical value. It is, for example,
held to be very probable that the celebrated number of the Beast, 666, is that of Nero the Emperor in
the Hebrew rsq Nvrn* (NRVN QSR = 666).
It was a cipher or code expression according to a well known system which prevailed both in Hebrew
and in Greek, and there is good reason for supposing that a great deal of secret information of a political
or commercial sort was sent under cover of such a code. But that was not all. The name of the code was
or , the latter word being a recognised variant of , and it has
become clear that this code-method was actually used in these books to record and to memorise
geometrical formulae.
It must be remembered that the Arabic numerals were not then in existence, and the letters of the Greek
alphabet were used as numerals. The proof of the statement can only be given by the citation of so large a
number of instances as to eliminate completely the possibility of chance coincidence. The workings of
the mathematical doctrine of chance must be taken into account, but a few illustrative instances may be
given. We may recall first the well known example quoted by St. Iranaeus:
and each enumerate at 801, thus identifying the Dove with the First and Last. On this
there is a good deal of very striking matter which has recently come to light in the Gematria.
Next we have such geometrical words as which symbolises the perfect ashlar, or cubic stone,
since = 729 or 9 9 9.
* Written defectively for rsyq Nvrn.
9
Outline of the Gematria.
Such words as the word habitually employed in Scripture to designate the Altar, and
adopted by the early Christians for that purpose, has a like geometrical implication, for
= 1728 or 12 12 12,
typical of the perfect symmetry of form connected with this feature, the earlier form of the Christian
Altar being a cubic one until such time as the reliquaries were attached to it.
The Jewish Holy of Holies, the Debir, (DBIR) is 216 or 6 6 6. The Greek sanctuary, the
is 256 or 4 4 4 4, embodying in addition to the Cube a transcendental Fourth measure.
The New Jerusalem of the Apokalypse, figured as a Four-square city, has the number 961 or the square
of 31 = .
With this introduction a specimen of the method in its more intimate application to mathematical
principles, as deduced from the old books above referred to, may now be given. It is not pretended that
the whole cipher has been decoded, and indeed it would appear that there is at least one other cipher of a
different nature to be dealt with in both books, and, generally, there is a great deal more to be done.
There is himself; the Divinity of Truth Bishop of Light by gematria 485, equated by this
method with The All-Holy, a truly remarkable numerical formula (see Appendix)
whose mathematical powers and possibilities seem to have been regarded as of peculiar importance and
as representative of the Creative Principles, as the Gematria of the Nicene Creed may suggest in the
phrase
= 3395 = 7 485.
And on investigation these powers certainly appear unusual, if not indeed unique.
10
But there are other numbers which to a certain extent offer a parallel to 485, since they may be employed
to give expression to some of the incommensurable relations of geometry in integral terms which
represent with approximate exactness such quantities as cannot strictly speaking be expressed by whole
numbers.
Of this nature are the numbers expressive of the circumferences of circles in relation to their diameters,
or enclosing squares.
These, generally speaking, are adjusted upon the basis of the proportionals 22 to 7, and similar
conventions exist for the interpretation of such quantities as the arithmetical Roots
of Two, Three, Five, Six, and Ten. For example, Heaven is conceived as a circle,
and the word , which is 891 or 11 times the square of Nine, stands for
this. The Circle is generated from the Diameter, in this case by convention equal
to 284, number of GOD, by whom the Heavens were made. And to
emphasize the Gematria of these numbers we find that the perimeter of the
enclosing square, which is 1136, is the number of the Midheaven and of .
Here then we have a very simple but typical illustration of the Geometric Method, and such as may serve
to indicate the lines for further research. Not only the Books of , but also the Pistis Sophia, appear
replete with such instances, but it need hardly be said that that which the writers of these books strove to
convey did not rest with the mere consideration of isolated forms, but that they used these as part of a
more coherent teaching.
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11
CHAPTER II.
THE EXISTENCE OF THE GNOSIS.
But of the actual or possible theological import of these books or of the whole matter something must
needs be said.
The mere existence of the books implies a system, and students of that system, and a belief that the study
was worthy of the effort it involved. And it is notorious that there were Graeco-Egyptian schools of
mathematical theosophy, and that there was some connection between some Christians and some of these
schools, though the results are generally believed to have been neither theologically orthodox nor
morally sound, if indeed what may be gleaned of the so-called Gnostic remains be truly representative
of their teachings. It is probable however that the doctrines of the mystical school were not, in the best
days, committed to writing, but in their decadence some effort was made to preserve from total loss
knowledge which was lapsing, or in danger of lapsing, and the books in question may be the witnesses of
such an endeavour.
But as the authors of these books are unknown, no personal question can arise, nor can any formal
ecclesiastical condemnation of them be found. They must speak for themselves.
Moreover the system of Gematria they contain has
12
features identical with that discoverable in some of the books of the New Testament.
Tentatively and provisionally the Pistis Sophia may be considered to be the allegorical work of an author
who had access to, but had not necessarily mastered, a mathematical theory of the origin of the universe.
He names mysteries which he does not always explain. The books of , which are referred to in the
Pistis Sophia as a revelation, are much more advanced. But what the authors do plainly believe is, that
certain entities such as the relation of the Square root of Two to Unity, or the area of the Equilateral
Triangle to that of the Square on the same base, are aeonial, in the sense of being deeply rooted in the
construction of things seen, necessarily involved in all phenomena of symmetric form. And the Church,
reading Hebrews i. 2 on Christmas Day, would be in accord with these old authors.
But these relations, however complex and beautiful, are not all that exists. There is a Geometry of the
Heavenly Places here indicated and herein lies the possibility that this work is important. For the
present state of science shews a distinct readiness to investigate whether such geometry exists, or what
laws govern the unexplored regions in which life, growth, and the dynamic phenomena of nature seem to
have their origin.
It is fully in accordance with scientific principles to proceed from the known to the unknown, nor is there
anything foreign to this method in the idea that our Lord did actually use the geometry such as any
builder might have knowledge of, for the building up of the wisdom of His Church. Even as mere
metaphor, this sort of imagery would have its value. How greatly, for example, is the work of the
preacher facilitated by the use of the architectonic symbolism of the Bible. But even as metaphor, there
may be a better and more real foundation for
13
Existence of the Gnosis.
these building allegories than is at first sight obvious to anyone who seeks to compare things intelligible
to the reason with truths of a spiritual nature. Between ideas derived from these two sources the human
consciousness seems at all times to have discovered an affinity, and it is hardly too much to say that in
the study of the growth of religious and philosophic systems they are found to be inevitably associated.
In this respect, the human mind may be attesting subconsciously its recognition of truths which it has
been unable to formulate by ordinary mental process or to prove in the terms of ordinary human
language. But it is possible that the realities of this correspondence may be conveyed by a language
whose terms are those aeonial things, geometry and number, and that the Gnosis of the Apostolic Church
had reference to such a system.
The attitude of these early Christian writers, who put forward what purport to be Resurrection Discourses
of Jesus in geometrical language and formulae, will have to be appraised most carefully. Geometry is
independent of matter; it is aeonial, and by its aid the human mind can almost reach transcendent space.
The higher powers of the mind claim kinship with geometry and choose it instinctively as their
interpreter for the expression of their ideal conceptions. And it furnishes an avenue to the greater realities
beyond human ken.
Now did the Early Christians hold ideas of higher dimensions of space? That is hypothesis only at
present. But there is much that makes this hypothesis probable. And it may well be that the mystical
geometry which has been imported into their scriptures will itself supply a clue. Thus we should have a
locus for miracles, for it is a common characteristic of the miracles of the New Testament that they
harmonise with all that can be predicated of action in and from a higher space.
14
The concept of a higher space is familiar to mathematicians who use its symbols, the higher powers of
Number, as a necessary element in their calculations. The idea is familiar also to those who make a
thoughtful study of nature and who can find no scope for an explanation of her subtle and mysterious
processes within the limits of our physical space. The phenomena of Life appearing first as a
microscopic germ, yet holding within itself the potentiality of growth and infinite reproduction, engender
this thought from what unseen source does it arrive? Modern science is again being compelled to look
beyond the visible confines of our space to account for the play of Natures forces. More than all, in the
region of psychology, we touch upon a mysterious field in which the every-day working of natural law
seems set at naught. From time to time in history there are recorded outpourings of spiritual force among
men, accompanied, as tradition strongly tells us, and more recent chronicles affirm, by the development
of strange gifts and powers, endowments of the human will and understanding which enable it to achieve
conquests over ordinary or material law.
Such outpourings vary in degree as in kind, from the transient and popular type, which among the simple
and unlearned may produce new religious fervour and emotional crisis, with a train of what we may call
spiritual phenomena to the profounder world-movement which is born in chaos, darkness, and the
dissolution of older faiths: and for its guidance and for the reconstruction of social and religious order
calls forth teachers illuminated with a higher wisdom, inspired by the flame of compassion for the race,
and who, by union with the great Realities, have laid hold on the spiritual powers and substances.
Such was the condition of the civilised world when
15
the Christian religion appeared, and such the character of its apostles. That these men had come into
conscious contact with higher realities there can be no doubt. Read the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to
the Hebrews not as a theological treatise or sermon, but as a scientific record of experience and the
conviction arises that their faith was not a mere matter of intellectual and moral assent, but a living and
real experience of some order of things transcending the physical, and that they could operate in this
higher field.
Prominent among the spiritual possessions with which the Christian religion endowed its converts was a
Knowledge of which frequent mention is made by the evangelists and apostles.
The term used to describe this Knowledge is , a word implying in this connection a higher sort
of knowledge or a deeper wisdom. It would be used both in a general and in a specific sense, but there is
little doubt that it had acquired among the later Greeks a very specific meaning in regard to religious
teachings.
In the canonical books of the New Testament there are places in which is clearly spoken of in
the general sense, as in II. Cor. vi. 6; but there are numerous other instances in which the context rather
implies some definite teaching which the spiritually enlightened were capable of assimilating.
So intimately is this linked with other good gifts such as and , and
, that it must be regarded as an essential element in the spiritual inheritance of the disciples.
These words are usually accompanied in the text by the definite article, though not always so. Where the
word is in the nominative as the subject of a sentence, or a repetition, no specific meaning is to be
attached to the article. But in oblique cases its presence is said by
16
grammarians to give a certain emphasis. Such a passage therefore as Luke xi. 52 might be rendered thus,
Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of the Knowledge ( ,
). But it is by no means easy to understand the principle on which
the translators have dealt with such words as these, since they do not receive equal treatment in all cases.
For example, the word is sometimes given the article in English where it does not appear in
the Greek, e.g., II. Thess. ii. 13, where . . . is rendered belief of the truth and no
doubt rightly so (see also I. Tim. ii. 4). But it is noteworthy that the term is not accorded the
same treatment, and the expression is thus deprived of any specific meaning.
An instance of what appears to be a somewhat arbitrary suppression of the article in connection with the
Mysteries and the Knowledge occurs in I. Cor. xiii. 2 (
) translated and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. But it can hardly be denied that
the words convey a very specific meaning and would have done so to the Greeks
of the day, who would have connected the words with the religious rites of a secret nature to which they
had been accustomed. Similarly would mean to them a certain body of knowledge
associated with those mysteries.
Perhaps however the most cogent argument for the recognition of a genuine held by the faithful
would be based on the passage in I. Tim. vi. 20, where Timothy, as a bishop, is cautioned by Paul against
the oppositions of the False or Pseudonymous Gnosis ( )
given in our authorised version as the oppositions of science falsely so-called but amended in the
revised version, which
17
reads oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called.

That there was a False Gnosis the writings of the Church Fathers themselves testify, and the sectarian
teachings of the , who represented a number of traditions, or the systems of several schools
combined, are held up to condemnation by Epiphanus under this very term,
.
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CHAPTER III.
THE USES OF GEMATRIA.
The inference may hence be drawn that there exists an esoteric teaching dating from great antiquity and
finding expression in a harmonised scheme of symbolism in which geometrical and mathematical truth,
and their application in architecture and the builders art play an important part, with a numerical key
concealed in this geometrical structure and in the Gematria of language.
Further, that the best elements of this teaching, constituting The True Gnosis, were incorporated into the
Christian system of religious teaching, whilst the superstitious accretions were discarded, among those
teachings condemned by the Apostle as the Pseudonymous Gnosis being the various speculative
offshoots or imitations of the originals, and with them the works of all those who led and supported rival
sectarian schools, in fact, most of what is to be gathered from the so-called Gnostic Remains. We may at
the same time consider that such works as the Pistis Sophia and the Books of IEOU may or may not
contain the genuine gnosis, but that if they do not, they at least throw very valuable side-lights on the
general form in which it was imparted. The correspondences discoverable between the Gematria in the
text of these works and that which has been drawn into our Scriptures strengthens the claim to serious
attention, whilst the coincidences in the geometrical scheme of
19
Uses of Gematria.
symbolism further enhances their importance. The lack of knowledge of these correspondences deprives
the modern Churchman of an inner significance or body of teaching undoubtedly subsisting in that which
is preserved and handed on to us by the early guardians of the Christian faith a content of meaning
which was evidently considered by them to be vital, and which we cannot afford to disregard.
The Fathers were well acquainted with the system of Gematria, as appears by their own writings, and
they could not have failed to realise its intimate connection with the text of the canonical books and the
presentation of the Divine story of Creation and Redemption. The key to the system having been lost, it
is easy to see a reason for much of the uncertain and inadequate interpretation of Scripture which has
marked the subsequent work of its professional exponents.
Some words, some names, are, it is true, capable of a more or less certain interpretation, either on
account of a regularity of association, or, of a particular clearness of derivation, and an invariability in
their form,* but in too many cases the lack of one or other of these qualities gives rise to a doubtfulness
of meaning, or of the precise shade of meaning, attributable to them, and where the orthography of the
word is in doubt, there, as is well known, controversy may arise and yet worse results may accrue. Some
passages of Scripture have become so corrupt through errors, it may be, of transcription, that their very
sense has been lost. And as owing to the arbitrary nature of words there is now no rule by which their
construction can be positively allied to a particular shade of meaning by any general scientific relation to
other words, it must always appear that in any body of teaching such as our
* See p. 21.
20
translations of the sacred books convey, there is an element of hazard affecting the ultimate form and
interpretation of those books.
But Number and Geometrical form are aeonially true and constant in their relations, and a system of
representation of natural truth having for its vehicle a carefully co-ordinated series of number symbols, in
their turn expressive of definite relations of form, would, if it could be practically contrived and
interwoven with the text of Scriptural books, have a most conservative effect. Nay more. There are large
categories of ideas, mostly of a theological order, which are not capable of clear expression in terms of
human language. But it is possible to believe that a mathematical expression can be found for some of
these. For these two reasons it is plain that the Fathers and compilers of the text of Scripture, working as
they were working, to construct a literary monument which should endure through all future time and
defy the destructive tendencies of change and of human error and wilfulness, might in their wisdom seek
to incorporate with the variable an invariable, and with the fugitive a permanent, element, by wedding to
the letter of the text a Gematria built on aeonial relationships of idea.

And the Letter and the Number would tend to be mutually corrective in case of error, and mutually
corroborative where the text is pure. The foreordained relation of number would, in the case of a
corruption of text, foreshadow its restoration. This has already been attempted and with some success in
regard to the lost Greek of the Pistis Sophia, and it may not be too much to hope that the effect of the
same process on doubtful passages of Holy Writ might be found similarly helpful.
But on this matter an apology must at the present stage be tendered for the work is barely yet begun. This
apology the benevolent reader will surely understand and
21
Uses of Gematria.
accept. To work from translations is never satisfactory, and a very big piece of scholarly labour is ahead
of anyone who really wishes to do justice to these Gnostic books. A translation into Greek, or
reconstruction of the assumed original text, is an essential eventually. But until some prima facie case
has been made out there would appear no justification for such an arduous work. And, up to the present,
Coptic scholars have considered these books as unworthy of their trouble, and have regarded the subject
matter as mere magic or astrology.
The word is an example of the more regular and certain order, the spelling being precise in its
adherence to this one consistent form throughout the Scriptures. It is alluded to by St. Iranaeus as a name
of six letters, having an arithmetical significance, but the good bishop betrays no knowledge of its
meaning.
The name of John is an instance of alternative spelling, the form generally found and usually accepted
being whilst other ancient MSS give , and this form is preferred by the editors of
some recent editions of the New Testament.
Here then is a case in which the Gematria value of the spelling might be looked to for light, if our theory
be correct, and it must be admitted that the name or has an undeniable importance
in view of its Divine origin in the Gospel narrative. The numerical value of is 1069, a number
not apparently related to the general scheme of mystic numbers which
* The Magical Papyri shew traces of a gematria of which some elements appear to be common to all. But this is no more
than saying that the works of charlatans always tend to borrow from the most highly respected sources.
See W. W. Harveys St. Iranaeus, Vol. I., p. 332. Jesus enim nomen alterius linguae existens ad Graecorum numerum
transferentes, aliquando quidem episemum esse dicunt sex habens literas: aliquando autem plenitudinem ogdoadum DCCC
LXXX VIII habens.
22
subsists in the writings, but as , the form generally found and employed by the old scribes,
and which is also to be seen in the Coptic MS of the Pistis Sophia, it is 1119, and this it may at once be
said is an important number in the mystical geometry of the aeons, and is actually the number of the First
Aeon in the Books of , and is directly connected with the number 634, that of , whilst
the ideas of Noah and his ark are connected with the same series. (Xisuthrus), the
Chaldean Noah, has the number 1119 = .
A third case is where two different spellings of the same name are found in one work. This is so in St.
Lukes Gospel. This Evangelist draws a distinction between the name of the Blessed Virgin
and the other Maries, who are . Here the Gematria is obviously correct for both, as will appear
later in the special study which will be offered of these names with that of .
The presence in the canonical Scriptures of a Gematria having important elements in common with that
discovered in the Coptic Gnostic works, being an undeniable fact, raises issues which cannot be ignored
nor put aside by any reverent or thoughtful student. Nor does the fact that the system of Gematria was
employed for various secular or common purposes in any way detract from its possibly sacred character.
Viewed simply as a language it shares with ordinary language the character of universality, and even its
ultimate debasement does not disentitle it to the most respectful examination where its presence is
indicated in the Sacred Books. There is a common and familiar element even in the most venerated
Names connected with the Gospel narrative. and are both ordinary names, borne by
vast multitudes of ordinary people, and yet what a world of
23
Uses of Gematria.
significance is implied in St. Lukes narrative of the giving of these names by the angel. So that in these,
as in the numbers of the Gematria, we are warranted in assuming a special, as well as a general
significance, and in regard to the names we have mentioned , it is not possible for any believer in the
Gospel story to put aside the plain statement as to the Divine origin and intention of these names. They
are, indeed, pivotal in the whole doctrinal scheme of the Christian religion, and to doubt this would be to
raise grave theological issues. Nor is it tolerable to suppose that any element of the puerile or the
fantastic could have been admitted knowingly by the writers of the Gospels in connection with matters of
the profoundest import for the whole of humanity. The proposition is unthinkable. Yet here is the system
and it is inseparable from the text. We have then a possible alternative in regarding it. We may view it
either as a vehicle for Inspiration, or as a contrivance for teaching of the mysteries of the Faith, a product
of human skill and learning having a most pious and serious aim. If the latter, we need not be daunted by
the fact that there are many fallible and imperfect conclusions of human science linked with the sacred
numbers, any more than the fact of the name being borne by ordinary and fallible persons need
affect our mental estimate of the Divinity of our Lord.
But we shall be seeking for traces of aeonial truth and a foundation of immutable things in these Sacred
numbers and for their interpretation in a theological sense, being well assured that a method of
interpretation must exist, for it is equally inconceivable that a Book framed for the guidance and
enlightenment of the whole human race should contain statements of an unintelligible nature, or to which
the key has been permanently lost.
GEMATRIA
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GEMATRIA
BY

AND

GO TO CONTENTS P.24 P.25 P.26 P.27 P.28 P.29 P.30 P.31 P.32 P.33 P.34 P.35 P.36 P.37 P.38 P.39 P.40 P.41 P.42 P.43 P.44 P.45 P.46 P.47
P.48 P.49 P.50 P.51 P.52 P.53 P.54 P.55 P.56 P.57 P.58 P.59
24
CHAPTER IV.
THE KEY APPLIED.
It is now proposed to offer the reader some further proof of the presence of a coherent scheme of
Gematria of a geometrical nature in the New Testament which will serve to show the great importance of
the doctrinal meaning to be associated with number, or capable of being so associated, and the peculiar
value and precision of the method of numbers for this purpose. Reference will be made also to the
Gnostic books, but the main argument and illustrations will be drawn from the canonical Scriptures.
The number EIGHT, which has been called the Dominical number, is found everywhere symbolically
employed to convey the idea of Salvation. Perfecting, and Regeneration, from the Company of Noah,
onwards through the Bible, and is nowhere more emphasised than in the name of our Lord, which
teaches the doctrine of the perfected Humanity in the 888 of . This, there can be little doubt, is
the mystery to which Irenaeus alludes when he describes the numbering of the name of Jesus. To this
moral or spiritual perfection the figure of the cube is allied on the geometric side and our Lord seems to
give His sanction to this teaching when He gives to Peter the name . This suggestion of
perfectness in the number Eight is reflected in the constitution
25
The Key Applied.
of the Greek alphabet with its three Ogdoads* of units, tens, and hundreds the final which, with the
, takes its place in our Christian arithmology, being 800 in Gematria - Lord the leading
epithet of Christ and in the Old Testament of God. The 800 of is found in antithesis to the 600
of the World; just as the 888 of is in a yet more marked degree contrasted with the
666 of the Beast of the Apocalypse, whose number emphasises the qualities of incompleteness and
materiality.
With the idea of a spiritual revelation is associated Light, and the Divine significance of Light is clearly
apparent in the number symbolism of the Scriptures as well as in the Gnostic books.
The number of Light is 1500. It is the Robe of the Lord .
500 is one of the many mystical words, or words appertaining to the mystery-religions, used by St.
Paul.
In the Pistis Sophia Jesus has three of these robes of Light, and the number of the word
801 is again that of the and , and of the . And the three are 3 500 =
1500 which is the number of Light ().
801 is three times 267, the number of the Kingdom .
Ten times this number is 2670 , Lord of Light, or, as applied to Christ,
The Light of the World, who is also (2670) The Great
Power of Light, which descends upon the Lord in the Pistis Sophia. This is also the number of the
Church of Jesus Christ . Incidentally we may here point out that the
number of the Great Power
* See figure of Cephas.
26
( ) the title so blasphemously claimed by Simon Magus,* is 800 = .

Light, though really threefold, has traditionally also a sevenfold nature. The emanations of the Divine
Essence are figured in the Apocalypse as Seven Lamps, which are the Seven
Spirits of God, and the seven stars which are the Angels of the Seven
Churches. In the scheme of geometric representation, the first emanation from,
or manifestation of, the Absolute, in the series we are now considering, is
figured as a Cube developed from an original point, which is one of its angles,
and this is portrayed in its visible aspect of symmetry as a Hexagon with six
internal lines radiating from the centre.
Theoretically there is a seventh radius but never more than six are visible
because the seventh approaches the eye and unites the central visible point with the eighth point lying
exactly behind it.
The Six outward points, with their connecting lines, represent the Kosmos, or manifestation of the Divine
Source, the revelation of God to man.
But the eighth or invisible original is required to complete the figure of the cube, which is only
apprehended by the higher reason.
The Six again may be held to represent the periods of Creation and the seventh point, the Sabbath rest of
God.
* Simon Magus as has the number of the Omnipotence , which follows

logically from his self-chosen title of = 800 = . presents the number 676, a
very favourite cabalistic number, being the square of the tetragrammaton IHVH or 26, and as he is a double
being 2 373 or 746, the Gnostic . another of these magicians (Sceva in our translation)
is probably only a Greek nickname the Reverend Make-up.
27
The Key Applied.
But the perfect, or New, Creation, is symbolised by the Cube, for a true knowledge of which a sense
beyond that of mere physical vision is required. By this the presence of the seventh ray is revealed and
the Eight points are manifest in their true relation. Thus from One are
seen to proceed Seven and the Seven are connected with the parent
One by rays or lines of Three several lengths (or which are now seen
to be of three several lengths), whereas in the flat representation only
six were seen, and they were apparently of equal length.* Now we are
in the presence of three geometrical entities which by their joint
operation determine the form of the Cube, and these are first, the
length of it side which is figured as 100 the basic number in the
Denary system (far older than the decimal notation), on which the
whole of the Gematria may be said to be built. In the Appendix the
Cube of Light and its special Gematria will be found fully described.
There are, as will readily be seen, three rays of this first order
emanating from any one point in the cube, and connecting that point
with the three lying nearest to it in the cube. Secondly there are to be seen three more connecting lines
which are the diagonals on the square sides
* cf. Pistis Sophia, Schwartze, p. 6. Atque erat lux tota secum invicem. Erat tribus modis, atque erat alter praestantior
altero, infinito modo. Secundus, qui in medio, praestabat primo inferiori (sc. loco posito), et tertius, superior istis omnibus,
praestabat secundo inferiori. Et primus splendor positus est infra haec omnia, similis luci, quae venit super Iesum,
antequam adscendit in caela, et aequalis sibi erat valde quoad suum lumen. Atque tres modi luminis erant variae lucis et
erant vario aliis aliis praestantibus infinito modo.
See Appendix H.
28
of the cube, linking the first point with the three next in order of remoteness, and these lines, on the scale
now determined, measure each 100 2, or 141.42 their total, 424.26, being integrally expressed as
424 or 425 by substituting unity for the fraction. Finally, there is the One ray leading diametrically across
the cube to the opposite point, and the measure of this is 100 3, or 173.205. Call this 173. Thus we
have for the total of the Seven rays the sum 300 + 424.5 + 173, which is 897 or 898 and may with equal
propriety be taken as either, as the actual figure is halfway between. Hence we find in Gematria that
whereas 897 gives , 898 is the number by gematria of ,
the seven stars or rays which are the angels of the seven Churches.
In the three incommensurable orders of magnitude derived from the measures of the cube we have
clearly a very suggestive parallel to the description in the Pistis Sophia of the three kinds of Light in the
Lords , which we are told vary in the quality of their beams (variae lucis) and in the
incommensurable nature of their proportions (vario aliis aliis praestantibus infinito modo).
What are the authors of this old book trying to tell us? Let us assume that they really mean something
that they have a rational idea which they are trying to express. With this assumption let us endeavour to
see what sort of parallel modern science can offer to the interpretation we have placed upon the seven
rays and the three cardinal measures of the Cube.
Those who have studied the physics of Light will know that the reputed Seven colours of the spectrum
are really Three, and three only, the Red, the Green and the
29
The Key Applied.
Violet-blue. And these occupy a certain part of the field, indefinite as to its boundaries, but having an
acme of intensity at or near the centre of each section. Near the centre of the spectrum, at a point where
the purest green is observed, is the position of one of the fixed lines of colour known as Frauenhofer's E
line. There are other such lines, lettered A to H, distributed over the field, and these are measured
according to their wavelength, in inverse order to their frequency, and the lengths are given in what are
called tenth-metres (see Ganot's Physics).
The whole series of light-rays comprises those whose wave-length varies from a little more than 7600
tenth-metres in the extreme Red to a little less than 3900 in the extreme Violet - altogether about an
octave of light. Now if we take our Green ray at about line E or 5270 in measure, then our series must be
as follows:Red 7453 . . . .or 5270 2
Green 5270
Violet 4302. . . .or 7453 3
and this is remarkable, because 7453 brings us to the intense Red close to Frauenhofer's A line (7604)
and between it and B, whilst 4302 for the Violet brings us to the point of the most intense deep Blue, and
practically on to Frauenhofer's line G, which is 4307.
We must be content to leave our instructed readers to judge as to the real nature of so striking an
approximation. If, on further investigation, the parallel appears based on undeniable physical fact, then a
few more such instances may go far to rehabilitate the lost wisdom of Antiquity. And if it be true that the
data of the colour-scale - which are derived from molecular motions - are indeed founded upon
harmonics whose source is not, as
30
in the case of Sound and other physical measure, based upon the interaction of forces having whole-
number proportionals, but upon those mysterious entities, the Roots of Two and Three, then we are face
to face with a condition pointing to a genesis of motion in a region of space unknown to us, and wherein
the dynamic laws operate in a relation quite unfamiliar. It looks as if a fourth, and interior dimension
must be assumed, and is this not precisely what some physicists say of the Atom, that it must possess
some substance in a fourth direction?
THE METACUBES.
A beautiful extension of this geometrical scheme and one which arrests the attention on account of its
scope, precision, and fidelity to the Christian dogma is discovered in the following.
The first Cube, which is the Cube of One, presents, in the diagram, seven points or angles at which the
edges meet, but the second, which is the cube of Two, exhibits Nineteen such points, and the third, the
cube of Three, shows Thirty-seven. These are of course the differences of the first three cubes; viz., 8 - 1,
27 - 8, and 64 - 27. If instead of drawing the outlines of the cubes, we indicate these angles by clusters of
points, the resulting figures may be termed Metacubes, as they register these cube-differences, which are
of prime importance in the Gematria (see p. 32).
Now when we come to analyse the Names, Titles, or Epithets of Our Lord in the Scriptures, the
extraordinary fact becomes apparent that in an altogether disproportionately large number of cases, these
names, etc., are by Gematria, multiples of 37. For example, there is the word - Deity or
Divinity (Godhead), by Gematria
31
The Key Applied.
592 or 37 16, which added to - 888, gives us 1480, the number of . is 37

24, and , 37 40. Note again that they are all divisible by Eight.
is 2368 or 37 64, and 64 is the number of . And it has a Gematria
equivalent the following among many others.
.
.
.
For 888 there are numerical equivalents in , and numerous others.
For an alternative on the number 1480 appears in and another in
- the Divinity of the Son, whilst - Holiness (Ep. Rom. 1. 4) has the same number,
as has also the name given to the Lord's Table by the early Christians - .
As - Substance, or real possession, His number is 851 or 37 23 as it is
703 or 19 37. is 1776 or 2 888, and , the other
form, is 2257 or 37 61, in which also we find - a remarkable parallel. But it were
tedious here to enumerate even a small part of these. A fuller list is given in the Appendix.
We have noted the fact that - Divinity = 592, added to the 888 of , give us 1480 =
, but even more striking is the fact that when all three are added together we have 2960 which
is - Son of Man, the term so often employed by our Lord in speaking of
Himself. The component words are multiples of Eight, the Dominical number, as well as of 37, and the
number of is 2368 or 37 64. the latter number is the
32
Square of Eight symbolising a yet greater perfection from the fact that it is also a Cube number. And it
contains the number of the Truth - . = 64.
Sixty-four is the cube of Four, but the cube of Three will give us graphically this number of points, in the
intersections of the lines which are the boundaries of its component cubes.
Now, of these 64 points, which may be considered to represent the truth inits completeness, only a
certain number can be apprehended by the sight. Thirty-seven is the total visible at any one time. The
number 37 may thus imply the Manifestation in visible form to Man of God's . Eight are
within the Cube, and the whole number of surface points is 56, and 56 37 or 2072 the number of
, etc.
Now as 37 is to 64 - the revealed Truth, to the unmanifest - so is 888, the number of Jesus, to 1536. And
1536 is .
Yet more astonishing is the result when we go back to the second cube-difference, namely 19, which is
27 minus 8. Just as 37, the third cube-difference, is the basic number of the Christos series of names, so
is 19 that of the names and titles of the Virgin Mary.

Again, we may depict 19 as the number of visible points on the surface of the Cube of Two, in it
symmetric aspect, the true total being 26. Now, as
19 : 37 :: 456 : 888.
And 456 is the number of . - the Mother.
33
The Key Applied.
456 then is the number of visible points, each counted as 24, whilst the invisible counterpart is 8 24, or
192, the number of , so that the whole number is that of - Mary the
Mother. is the spelling of the name chosen by St. Luke, who, curiously enough, makes a
distinction between her and the other Maries, who are given the number 152 (), and 152 is 8
19.
Lastly, let us compare the full numbers 37 64 and 19 64.
19 64
37 64
1216
2368

And if each of the 64 cubes in the cube of 4 be reckoned as 40, then the whole cube will be 2560 or 10
times the fourth power of Four, which is the sum of 2368 and 192 ( and ), then
the number of the visible points will be 37 40 or 1480 = , whilst the concealed number will
be 27 40 or 1080 the number of - the Holy Ghost. 2560 is
,* so this may be analysed either as a geometrical Fourth power, typical of the Higher or
Transcendental World; or on the theological side as the union of two principles, of which the two abovegiven instances are expressive. It will also be seen from the foregoing that
= 888
= 192
together give 1080=
In this connection the following may be regarded as worthy of note.
Twice 888, the number of Jesus, is 1776, for which, in
* Or .
34
the Biblical Gematria, we find the expression . There is some reason to think that
the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is concealed in the phrase, for it represents the three Godheads, being 3
592, or . And the parallels in the Gematria are not a little astonishing; as witness = 592 = 489
= 354
= 592 = 680
= 464
= 592 = 607 = 958
1776
1776
1776
1119.
The number 1119 is important as being that of the name of the Baptist, mystically communicated by the
Angel to Zacharias.
The name, among the Hebrews, was not a common one and means Jah is Gracious. We are not, as in
the case of the name , bound to regard the particular mode of spelling as invariable, but as
- 1119 it plainly has a mystical teaching in connection with the Baptism of Jesus containing
as it does the threefold potency of the (1119 = 3 373 ) and herein we may trace a
foreshadowing of the triple manifestation of God's Essence at the Baptism. And the name is
linked to that of Jesus, since by Gematria , is 1119,* and this again is
* The number of the Metacube, , see Appendix D.
35
The Key Applied.
= 294
= 825
1119
(The Church and her Foundation)
Light and Baptism were two ideas peculiarly associated in the teaching of the early Church. in the
Gnostic Books is the Bishop of Light,* and his number is 485. If to this number we add 634, the
number of , we have 1119. But this is not a mere addition of two chance numbers. It is the
union of two geometrical aeons. Take 485 in this illustration as the area of an equilateral triangle. Set that
triangle within the square raised on the same base and the area of the triangle
being 485, that of the square will be 1119, their difference being 634.
is related to the Power of Light precisely as the Logos is, by
geometry, related to the Aeon. For each pair of words is expressive of the
relation of the Square to the Triangular area, thus - 1119 is the area
of an equilateral triangle on the same base as the square 2583 - which is
- the Power of Light, and 373 is similarly related
to 861.
Other parallels may be detected in the numeration 1119 as - The
Seven Lamps, or .. In connection with the latter it may be noted that
both SS. John are solstitial Saints.
* The Cube of Light, see Appendix H.
36
1358.
The Voice or Sound is the Power that brings the Worlds into manifestation. The Acts of Creation are
rendered thus in Scripture And GOD said. And it is the Word, the of God which is the Builder
of the Aeons. , then, is the power of which is the articulate manifestation.
has the number 1358 which is also the number of the altar - : also of the Gnosis as:=Perfect Knowledge.
=The Great Knowledge.

=Knowledge and Truth.
- Light, the First Creation of God by the power of His Word, has the number 1500. It is by these
two principles that GOD is manifested and the two form a duplicate Pleroma of Fulness, which is the
treasury of light.
1358 + 1500 = 2858 = 2 1429,
and 1429 = - The Fulness.
= - Treasury of Light.*
- The Voice of One crying - is again 2858, and is the sum of the - 373,
- 1119, and - 1366.
-1480, and - 634, unite to make 2114 which is the number of the Way of the
Lord - . And as the Voice in the Wilderness is 2366,
identical by Gematria with the Voice of the Lord - , and with Jesus the Saviour . if to this 2366 be added the number of - 634, there appears the
number of the Fulness of Christ, the - 2739, which is also that of the
* See both Gnostic Books.
37
The Key Applied.
High Priest of God - the , and by addition of unity becomes 2740 - Priest after the order of Melchisedek.
He who cries in the Wilderness - - is 2000, and this is the sum of 1366, and - 634.
and - 1366 + 992, are together 2358, which is . and
- 352 + 992 are together 1344 = .
There is here a perfect arithmetical correspondence which no mere juggling with numbers will explain.
The several words, single and combined, are, as it were, members of one body, the soul animating which
is a doctrinal significance pervading the whole.
Take the next passage. In Luke iii. 3 we find the expression Baptism of Repentance. Now
- Repentance - has the number 485, which, as already shewn, is that of IEOU, the Greek
Tetragrammaton of the Coptic Gnostic books, Bishop of Light, and Divinity of Truth. And 485 is the
complement of 634 - - in the number of the first Aeon of those Books, which is 1119, the
number of the Threefold and of . In this, then, we have another Cabala of 1119,
teaching that the name of John signifies Baptism and Repentance.
Again in the following verse occur the words Make His paths straight. The word for path is ,
and the paths of the Lord are therefore = 1492, which is not only the value of the textword - of One Crying - but is the sum of 1119 , and 373 - and hence a
quadruple (373 4 = 1492). This most interesting number is represented in Gematria by the
epithet of Our Lord found in I. Cor. xv. 45 - the Last Adam -
38
, the Gemellus Soter of Schwartze's translation, now restored as = 1492.

The parallelism of ideas is very obvious.
But however remarkable the arithmetical correspondence shewn in the above examples, it would be of
inferior importance unless the numbers themselves had some intrinsic meaning derived from their
essential nature. What is really of importance is the fact that all these numbers are of one order and can
be expressed as a mathematical or algebraical series, representative of fundamental principles in the
geometry of the Aeons. What this series is we shall endeavour to make clear. It is concerned with the
successive operation of the Generative Power of the number Three, arithmetically symbolised by certain
whole numbers chosen to represent the irrational quantities or surds which denote the triangular and
other kindred measures in which the root of three is to be traced. Thus, for example, the aeonial relation
of the side of an equilateral triangle to its altitude is as 1000 to 866 +, and that of the breadth of a
rhombus of two equilateral triangles to its length, is as 1000 to 1732 +, or as One to the Root of Three.
The Key-number of the series is found by abstracting from Three its own Root, thus (raising all values by
1000 to cover fractions, according to the usual method).
3000
minus1732
=
1268= .
.
.
This is the Building Number, that which geometrises (). It contains the potency of the double
- 634 + 634 = 1268.
From this we can proceed to build several series as follows-
39
The Key Applied.
1000
634
1634 . , etc.
+634
2268 .
.
The Annunciation
152 = .
=
312
+ =
464
reveal =
634
+ =
1098 (The Procession of the Holy Ghost.)
=
= * .
634
+ =
1732 (3 1000) .
=
634
+
= 2366 (3 + 3) 1000 .
( )
634
+ =
= 3000 3 1000 .
= .
* There is very early Christian authority for this in the Gospel according to the Hebrews quoted by Origen and St.
Jerome. See also Acts of St. Thomas.
Whence it will be seen that the is the germ of the threefold , plus the power of Baptism, and that
by the second operation of the same power the Trinity itself becomes manifest. It will be remembered in this connection
that stands for the triple LOGOS. Three is the number of the greatest and most profound of the Christian
Mysteries - the Persons of the Godhead - and the aeonial mystery which the teaching of the Gematria presents is that
which lies within and beyond this - the Generative principle in the Bosom of the Father. Our demonstration should serve to
indicate how valuable the Gematria may be for the conservation of the purity of the text, and how great its corroborative
value; and further than this, it will show to what extent the original shade of meaning resident in such words as
may have been lost in the mere idea of the rite, and how the spiritual conception may regain definiteness by the restoration
of the key of the GNOSIS.
40
or
500
=
866
+ =
1366(1 + 3) 1000.
=
634
+ =
=2000
and
= 634
+ =866
1500=(3 1000).
= =
Readers will easily discover other series for themselves. We have shewn the correspondences evoked by
the addition of number to number, or by the converse method of subtraction, but from the nature of the
series, which has to do with geometrical quantities, it will be found that processes of multiplication or
division are wont to give similar results. Thus, for example, 1500, the number of Light, if divided by 634,
gives us 2366, the digits of , and if this be again divided by 634 the digits 3,732 are
produced, in Gematria 373 - the Logos, and representing the formula 2 + 3.
It has been said of the Tenth Book of Euclid, which is the development of all the preceding ones, and
deals with these irrational quantities, that it is one of the most curious of Greek speculations. In this
work Euclid
41
The Key Applied.
had evidently in mind the classification of incommensurable quantities: perhaps the circumference of the
circle, which we know to have been an object of enquiry, was suspected of being incommensurable with
its diameter, and hopes were perhaps entertained that a searching attempt to arrange the
Incommensurables which ordinary geometry presents might enable the geometer to say finally to which,
if any of them, the circle belongs. However this may be, Euclid investigates, by isolated methods, and in
a manner which, unless he has a concealed algebra, is more astonishing than anything in the Elements,
every possible variety of lines which can be represented by the formula
( )
and representing two incommensurable lines. He divides lines which can be represented by this
formula into 25 species and he succeeds in detecting every possible species. He shews that every
individual of every species is incommensurable with with all the individuals of every other species; and
also that no line of any species can belong to that species in two different ways, or for two different sets
of values and .*
The Gematria seems to reflect this intention and to apply it to the description of the aeons and their
formative principles as the intellectual counterpart of spiritual things. The wise men of old knew that the
Mind of man was geometrical, being but a reflection of the Mind of God: but so little did the Church of
the monastic ages care for geometry that Euclid came back to Europe through the Arabic!
* See Smith's Dictionary of Latin and Greek Biography, sub EUCLID (italics ours).
42
The MYSTERION.
In Six days the Universe was created. Mystically, Six is the formative principle of the Cosmos and
Geometry gives her warrant to this.
In the Gematria this Sixfold nature is constantly expressed. In the 432 or 6 72, the name
for that quality by which objects become visibly manifest; in the or Spatial projection which
is 360, in the which is 720 or 6 120, and in the itself, whose number is 600, we
find always this guiding principle. But the Parent, whose immanence in his work gives Life, is the One,
and hence the Unity must be added to give the Numbers of Perfection. So 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, the
first seven formative numbers, become by this addition 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, and 43.
And the last, raised by the power of Ten, is the number of - the Law, and of Number itself . And why this number is chosen for the purpose of symbolising the controlling factor is, on
geometric grounds, quite clear, and capable of satisfactory proof, but all that can here be said is, that it
controls, unites, and harmonises the measures of circles and rectilinear figures in a manner that no other
simple number could do.
Now one of the Key Words in the Gnostic Gematria is , and is 1548,
which is 36 43, implying the Law operating in all Creation. And this number is also the number of the
Incommensurable Line, the which in its generic sense is the parent of
Rational Form and Whole Things - the Manifestations of the Aeons.
And the first of these Incommensurables is the Root of TWO, represented by the digits 14142. The Voice
of the Lord, the , sounds once and generates the number 2358 (these digits expressing
an incommensurable
43
The Key Applied.
quantity, rather nearer 2357). Twice it sounds and the number 4714 appears; a third time and the digits
7071 come to view, a fourth brings 9428 (22/7 3000), a fifth, and we have 1178.5, which is the number
of or -1178 or 1179, both expressions being employed. A sixth time the
Voice sounds, and there appears the perfect aeon 14142, or 2 10,000. the series may otherwise, and
perhaps more fitly, be expressed as commencing with Unity, thus,
1, 2357, 4714, 7071, 9428, 11785, 14142.

The First Mystery is the Mystery of the - The Last or 24th Mystery is the Mystery of the
. The 24 correspond to the 24 letters of the Greek Alphabet, with their three
Ogdoads, or groups of Eight (in which Marcus the Gnostic traced the 888 of the Master). And 14142
divided by 24 gives the digits of the Penterema (589).
But when the Pistis Sophia tells us that the First Mystery is also the 24th Mystery, a riddle offers itself
for solution, and this riddle can only be solved by reference to the Geometry of the and the . The clue
is supplied in the first instance by the reference in an early Christian hymn* to the and in the
similitude of the Triangle and the Square or Lozenge, to which forms these letters may easily be seen to
approximate. The next clue is in the word itself which by Gematria is - a Form, the
number being 849.
Now there is evidence in the Gematria that there are two ways in which a value may be expressed,
namely, either in the ordinary way, or by its reciprocal, the number produced by its division into Unity.
* (Communicated.) It is regretted that at the moment of going to press this reference cannot be verified.
44
Thus when 849, the Omega, is divided into 1,000,000, the reciprocal is found to be 1178, the number of
the first Mystery, the , so that the number of the first Mystery is only the arithmetical
counterpart of the number of the last, and the statement of the Pistis Sophia is to be comprehended in this
sense.
But 1178 or 1179 are both expressions for geometrical values having reference to the Root of Two, and
in particular are associated with that peculiarly Triangular solid, the Tetrahedron, for .117859 is the
Solidity of a Tetrahedron whose edge is 1.000 in length, and the volume of the corresponding cube is
1.000. But if the volume of the Tetrahedron is 1.000, then that of the Cube or Omega figure is to be
expressed as 849 (i.e. 8.49).
The sixth term of the series, , is, as we have seen, 14142, expressive of the perfect aeon,
and taking this number as the sum of the mysteries of this (alphabetical) order, let us divide by 24, the
number of the letters, and we obtain the digits 589,in Gematria the , the key-word of a
certain passage in the Pistis Sophia, recovered by Dr. Lea. The passage in question runs as follows
(Schwartze): Et inveni in meo scriptum in quique verbis () quae
pertinent ad altitudinem . . . .
.
The number of the , in which this mystery is to be sought, is 500 - one of the Lord's three robes
of Light, which jointly make 1500 . Divide this 500 by the 11785 of the , and there
appear the digits 4242 nearly. And 4242 is the sum, by Gematria, of the following:
.
And 4242, divide by the number of the again gives the 849 of the .
45
The Key Applied.
In such strange guise does this old Gnostic work give the kernel of the knowledge concerning these
fundamental things of geometry. But the passage quoted goes on to say that the Zama, etc., has a
solution. We give the whole of this passage in the words of Schwartze's translation.
Factum igitur est, quum sol exortus esset in locis orientis descendit magna lucis, in qua meum , quod
posui in vicesimo quarto , sicuti jam dixi vobis nunc. Et inveni in meo , scriptum in
quinque verbis (pertinent) ad altitudinem: , cuius est soluto: , quod est extra
in ( ) cuius causa universum factum est, hoc est egresio omnis et elatio omnis,* hoc
projecit emanationes omnes et haec, quae sunt in istis omnibus. Et huius causa quodquod factum est atque
etiam eorum omnes. Veni ad nos, quod nos socia tua . Nos Autem () omnes tecum quoque. Nos unus
idemque atque (tu es) unus idemque (sc. tecum et nobiscum).
Istud est primum quod factum est ab initio in hoc, qui ineffibilis, antequam : atque nomen illius nos
omnes sumus.
Here is the statement clearly made - that the first mystery (1178.5) was made in that which is
(849) - the Ineffable - before it came forth. And who are the We?
= 849 = .
: = 849 = .
Dr. Lea restores the Greek of Schwartze's translation in quinque verbis as - here following
on known models. if is the , the digits of the should have some sort of
correspondence. is by Gematria 589, and this sum, divided by .5, produces 1178 =
. This seems good enough. , then as 589 stands for the volume of an octahedron
within the Tetrahedron which is the , and is half the solidity of the latter.
But the Octahedron, whose edges are equal in measure
* The egressio omnis et elatio omnis might be restored as and - 851 + 490 - total 1341 =
- The Cross.
46
to those of the tetrahedron and the Cube of the Omega, has a volume four times greater than that of
Tetrahedron, and consequently 4.712 at this (the lesser) computation.
And 4712 is the Gematria value of the words
,
so that with this we have a series embracing Four related Solids, and representing the first three regular
or platonic bodies, and each of their cubic contents or volumes is recorded with a precision quite
extraordinary. There is first the innermost octahedron, the , next the tetrahedron containing it,
which is the , then the outer octahedron, the
, and finally the Cube, the and last mystery.*
The discovery of this series lays a secure foundation for the prosecution of further research and indicates
in no uncertain manner the course that such research may now be permitted to take. What may be its
destined influence in the sphere of theological studies it is not as yet easy to forecast, but the
potentialities are vast and the fields opened to the view of scholars present an almost illimitable
perspective.
1549.
.
THE FIRST MYSTERY.
( - The First Precept of the Father.)
As an instance of the more obvious kind of Gematria to be found in the Coptic Gnostic books, the
following is
* See Table, Appendix F.

Representing (33 + 1) 1000.
47
The Key Applied.
given. On p. 13 of Schwartze's translation of the Pistis Sophia, par. 13, the second is spoken
of in the following terms:Et hoc . . . est in eo gloria nominis , , quod idem est primum preceptum,
atque quinque , et magni huius, qui est ineffabilis, quod
idem est magnum ludem. . . .
The reader will note the peculiar spelling of for and of for
The is one of the three great Robes of Light which are the vesture of the Lord, and are connected
with the first mystery - that of the Alpha, which is the last mystery.*
Now = 1549,
and the = 1549,
but this is also = 1549,
and, by the variation of the spelling, = 1549.
So far, the coincidences are clearly of a nature which precludes any reasonable theory of chance, but this
is not all. These are the robes of Jesus, and are of the nature of the Aeons, and the Aeon of
Jesus is
= 1549.
The Gnostic books are also full of references to the , apparently a geometrical aeon, since it is
found in connection with all the others, and
= 1549.
It is also the number of the , and, in the Orphic mysteries, of the founder of the
mysteries = 1549.
* Readers may trace a connected symbolism in the Three Yellow Robes worn by the Buddhist priesthood.
48
And finally, as Light ( ), it is the number of the First Precept of the Omnipotent = 1549.
As evident in the series and elsewhere unmistakably in the Gematria, the Creative Logos of
Light is indicated by the Root of Three.*
Regarding, then, the 1549 of this Mysterion as the arithmetical sign of this Power, let us look at its parent
number.
Now as
3 : 3 :: 1549 : 2683,
2683 is the parent Number, indicative of the Creator of Light, and we find this is, in Gematria, the value
of the all-important
= 2683,
(The Pleroma, or Fulness, of God.)
and it is the number of the Creative Fiat Let there be Light! for
= 2683.
Light is in very truth the Aeon of all Power, and
= 2683,
(The Almighty Aeon.)
= 2683,
= 2683,
= 2683.
These magnificent words, so grand, so simple and telling, all occurring on this individual number,
bespeak some great principle to be looked for in the number itself, for no casual choice could have
determined so grave a matter. And here we shall not be disappointed, for 2683 is again one of those
numbers which is in perfect geometrical accord with those of Light and Baptism in the series we have
given. For 2683 is one-half of 5366, and 5366 is 3 1500 plus 866 - with a triple vesture of
Light (
* = 1873 = - the title of the Book of or , and 1873.2

= (17 + 3) 100.
Or .
49
The Key Applied.
= 1500). And here Adonai and Jesus are one in the Gematria, for this is the Jesus Christ the Righteous of
I. John ii. 2, who is the propitiation for the sins of the world,
= 2683.
The two related numbers are capable of a perfectly simple algebraical expression, and it may be well to
shew this as an example of the law which governs the genuine Gematria for the definition of ideas
concerning the Nature and Works of God.
To arrive at this we have to postulate the powers of the number Ten as being figurative of the the
Ineffable Source of All, allowing that it may be a fitting symbol of that Ineffable, whilst carefully
avoiding the common error of a superstitious attribution to the number itself, this being a symbol and a
symbol only. Ten, in this connection, is the sum of the first four arithmetical powers, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4, the
Tetractys of the Pythagoreans.* These powers first exist as the simple Monad, Dyad, Triad, and Tetrad.
Their Squares are the foundation of Form (viz. 1, 4, 9 and 16). Now 1 + 4 = 5, and 1 + 9 = 10, 16 - 1 =
15, 16 + 4 = 20, and 16 + 9 = 25. In this lies the unique geometrical basis of the Denary system of
Number which the sages of old gave to the world, and to which the world has found it necessary to
adhere. But these whole-number powers are Static Powers, and the Active Powers or Logoi are in the
roots of the Two and the Three, and the Creative Logos of Light is the Root of Three.
Hence the Gnostic conception of Deity as the Source of Light may be described mathematically in
reference to this Gematria as
(9 + 3) 1000, which is 2683 - ,
* Which appears in the Gnostic systems (cf. Iranaeus).
50
and His number may be further analysed into the following homogeneous parts,
(1)(3 + 3) 1000 =1183= -Let there Be!

(2)(3 + 3) 1000 = 1500= -Light!
2683
so that (3 + 3) 1000 is the Creative Principle,
and (3 + 3) 1000 is the First Creature - ,
and the Creative Fiat - - has the number 1549, which is expressed algebraically
as
(3 + 3) / (4 3) 1000.
THE 153 FISHES AND THE UNBROKEN NET.
Perfect symmetry of Form is typical of Regenerate and perfected Nature and the means whereby
geometrical perfections can be expressed in literary form is by the use of number. But the numbers
related to geometric form are mainly incommensurables, and for the purpose of the Gematria a wholenumber convention has to be achieved, whereby each value shall be rationally represented and with
approximate truth.
One of these integrating numbers is 153, the number of the Fishes in the unbroken net, in the miracle
recorded in St. John xxi. This number was held by the Fathers to signify the Number of the Elect. And it
is a very important example of the general method of of the Gematria, since it stands for the harmonising
of the Root, or Generative Power of THREE, with Unity. For the
51
The Key Applied.
benefit of readers who may be interested, we propose shortly to explain this mystery on its
mathematical side.
Numbers under 100 are easy to use in calculation and afford a convenient foundation for the building up
of larger series by process of addition or multiplication. Hence some number or numbers less than 100
which might stand for this quantity would be a desideratum. There are three or more of such numbers,
and three in particular which give a very close approximation to the truth - so close as abundantly to
satisfy the purpose of the Gematria.
The first of these nunbers is 26, which is the equivalent in Gematria of the Hebrew Tetragrammmaton
hvhy IHVH - Jehovah - or more properly Jahweh.
The second is 71, the foundation of the Greek Tetragram = God, which has the number 284, or 4
71.
The third and most perfect is formed by the union of the two foregoing. 26 + 71 = 97, and this is the
foundation of the mystical Greek Tetragrammmaton = 485 or 5 97.
26 is 15 3, 71 is 41 3, and 97 is 56 3,
so that15 : 26
41 : 71
56 : 97whose sum = 153
are all expressive of the ratio 1 : 3. All these numbers are the foundation of series having accordant
meanings in the Gematria and by their union other concordances are framed. 97 + 56 is 153, and this is
one of the principal numbers of this order. It symbolises Unity plus the generative power of the Three.
Eight being the number of the Saviour, and 153 that of the saved, the process of salvation is
accomplished by the Net, which as has the number 8 153, or 1224, which number the
fishes (= 1224) may
52
also claim. And it is the number of - The Word of the Father. The Net of
Salvation is also figured as the Walls of the Heavenly City, a foursquare figure - - the Walls =
1224, and within the square lies the citadel, a circle of the same breadth whose measure is the measure of
the New Jerusalem - = 961, which is Heaven ( ).
The are thus 1377, equal to the Net and the 153, and this is the number in Gematria of the
with the , and of the .
This rationalising of irrational quantities, and integrating of fractional numbers appears to be generally
regarded in the Teaching of the Cabala as a type and symbol of
Salvation. And the relation found to subsist between certain
words, such as - Saviour, and - Fish, which is
typical of a very numerous class, furnishes an excellent
demonstration of the fact. The two words are found to have
numbers related as 2:3, or as the diameter of a circle to the side
of an equilateral triangle within that circle. Reference to Euclid,
Bk. I., prop. 1, will shew that the latter line lies within the
intersection of two equal circles, and is the measure of the Vesica formed by their intersection. The
historic and traditional importance of this Cabala, coupled with the extraordinary nature of the Gematria
found to be connected with it, call for special mention.
53
The Key Applied.
CABALA OF THE FISH.

. 1219.
Icthys, the Fish is well-known as a frequent symbol of the Christian Faith, occurring in early inscriptions.
As a natural type, it has an allegorical meaning, which may be rendered thus. The Fish, though living in
the salt sea, is not penetrated by saltness. Even so, Jesus incarnate in a world full of sin, is Himself free
from sin, and His followers are also made free, those who are caught up in His net being saved from the
salt waters.
The Gematria of the Icthys has survived in the Sybilline Acrostic,
, the initials of which spell .
But in the orthodox Gematria it is now clearly seen to have a prominent place, and its teaching is
reinforced in the language of geometry and mathematical symbol. There can be no doubt that it is the
same Mystery of the Icthys which is traditional in sacred art and architecture, in the form of the Vesica
Piscis. In this geometrical guise it is everywhere met with in ecclesiastical buildings of the mediaeval era,
both as latent in the plan and proportions of Christian Temples, and apparent in the ornamental detail,
where it is often associated with sculptured figures of Christ or of the Virgin.
The Vesica, as the diagram shews, is formed by the intersection of the arcs of two equal circles, and it
contains a double equilateral triangle, AEBF, the figure of the Rhombus. The proportions of breadth to
length, of Rhombus or Vesica, are as One to the Root of Three, and here we are again in the presence of
the same geometrical teaching of the genesis of the Logos from the One, the Father, the Mystery of the
Virgin Conception and Birth of the Logos of Truth.
The Vesica, by its measure of length, is the
54
(1219 in Gematria), and the Diameter of the circle has a

corresponding measure of 1408 = - Saviour. And
1408:1219, expresses with fair accuracy the ratio 2:3, since
1408 .866 = 1219.328. Either arm of the Cross formed by
these two lines will thus be 609.66, integrated in Gematria as
610 = - The Cross.
These numbers give us the foundation of a whole geometric
series whose Gematria is found to be no less harmonious.
This we will now place before our readers. The first terms we find to be - the Virgin = 515,
and the Virgin Conception - = 704 - which is also the Conception of Truth or the Higher Truth Itself - .
But 704 is half 1408 - , and is thus the radius of the circle. And this is the geometrical Unit, and
will figure in our series as 1.
Now
515
+ 704 *
= 1219 which is .
Hence we now have the first four terms of a mathematical series with an accordant teaching in Gematria,
and a geometrical illustration, and these we may express as follows.
(1)704 1.00=704
(2)704 2.00=1408 - Saviour.
.
* Representing 10,000 / (9 + 33) (i.e. 704.4 etc.).
55
The Key Applied.
(3)704 (3 - 1)=515 - the Virgin.

(4)704 3
=1219, also
.
.
.
( 469 + 750 = 1219 = + .)

And from these we may proceed to develop:
(5)704 (3 =610 - The Cross. {Arm of Cross.}
(6)704
=352 - The Way. {Type of Christ}
(7)704 (3 + 1)=1923 .
This is the figure of the Cross in the Vesica, the union of the 1219 and 704.
And the 1923, as the union of the One with the Power of Three, symbolised by the two geometric
measures, has exactly the same intention as the 153 of the Miraculous Draught - as we have already
shewn. For that number stands for the same mathematical relation, viz. 97:56. And on the larger scale of
the Icthys Gematria we find that the Lord's Draught of Fishes is
= 1923,
56
and the figures of the Fish and of Baptism give us again the number of the Logos, for
1289
634
=
1923.
We can now go further with our series. The next term is the measure of the whole cross, AB + ED.
(8)AB + ED
= (2 + 3) 704
=2627 .
.
.
.
.
(9)AEF (triangle) or
CEFD (Length of the Greater Rhombus)
= 704 3.00
=2112 .
(Jesus, the Net).
.
.
The greater rhombus is the type of the Net - - containing the Vesica of the Icthys.
(10)AEBF (Rhombus)
= 704 4.00
=2816 .
(11)AEBF (Vesica)
=2950 .
= 704 4/3
.
.
.
57
The Key Applied.
The Spherical Triangle on AEF, which has the same measure as the semicircle on ED or as a circle of
which EF is the diameter, in one of the most important of the series and is expressed thus:(12)AEF (Spherical)
=2213 .
= 704
(The Word of the Lord).
As 1219 is the length of the Vesica, it is also that of the base of the equilateral triangle ABD. Two sides
of this triangle are raised upon the third, which is , and the value of the two is thus
expressed:(13)AD + BD
= 704 23 =2438 .
(14)All three sides:AD + AD + BD
= 704 33 =3657 .
.
All the foregoing are linear measures, but those of area appear equally to give interesting results.
(a) Area of Triangle on base, 704.
704 3=2146 .
(b) Area of Rhombus or Double Triangle, expressed as 4291.2
4291= .
4292= .
58
(c) Area of the Spherical Triangle, by convention

=3946= .
(d) Area of the Triangle ABD. This is most nearly expressed in hundreds by the digits 644, which is the
number of Emmanuel.
644= .
(e) Area of the greater Rhombus, 1288, or, by another convention, 1289.
1288= (The Divinity of Jesus).
1289= - The Fish.
We have set out this series in some detail, since there is a cumulative value which tends to strengthen the
proof. But what has been shewn does not exhaust the possibilities of this amazing Cabala. It is clear
however that the symbol refers not only to the Christian Faith and to its Members, but, by this body of
geometrical teaching, to its Founder as well, as the Word of Truth proceeding from the Father and
through the Spirit.
Thus in the secret communications of the early Christians the Sign of the Fish is used as a token of
brotherhood and as a credential.
And its number is that of the Author and Finisher of the Faith - and
.
At the close of what may be termed the first great encyclical letter to the Gentile converts and to all
whom it might concern, which we have in Acts xv., appears the word - Farewell. This word,
behind its simple and obvious significance, would hide a further meaning which might quite readily carry
with it the testimony to the authenticity of the letter, for the number of is 1219 - the Sign of
the Fish and of the Saviour - .
59
The Key Applied.
We must now take leave of our readers. Enough, we trust, has been said to make clear the purport and the
trend of what has been discovered. The triple chain of correspondences, first, the harmony of number and
meaning in groups of words on individual numbers; second, the harmonic sequences of numbers built
upon the Roots which are the Formative Principles in Nature; and third, the answering sequences of
meaning in the Gematria which appear so consistently to explain and elucidate the doctrines of the
Church, proclaim the fact that here we have before our eyes the operation of the Law, not Chance, and
that no casual or superstitious fancy, but a high degree of Knowledge and Intelligence, laid within the
Sacred Books this unseen foundation.
But we do not miss the real significance of that which this teaching implies. When we contemplate the
Symmetric Forms with which it deals, forms composite yet moulding their many parts into perfect
wholes, everywhere the Great Law holds, the Law of the perfect union of the Lesser in the Greater, and
the Greater with the Lesser forms which are the perfect miniatures of the Greater. So we see the great
Figure of the Church, which is the congregation of units whose being is patterned on the Universal Truth,
mirrored as fidelity to her Form, and thus sharing the eternal or aeonial Life of the great Exemplar.
As Stones of the living Temple each one fits and fills his niche, and the Temple is not perfect until All
the Stones are in their appointed place and the Lord has made up His jewels. In coming face to face with
the reality of this teaching the disciple loses sight of fancied isolation and knows that he is One with his
Master and with all his Fellows, and that all are members one of another, since each is necessary to the
whole. And with this truth it may be that the future of Religion among the nations of the Earth is bound
up.
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60
THE DIGAMMA.
F, The . An obsolete letter corresponding to the Hebrew Vav, and in sound like a W. Retained
as a numerical sign, it became gradually simplified in form until it was no more than a large comma, the
or . The place of the Digamma is taken in the Roman alphabet by the F. In the Greek
alphabet, as reconstructed, the Digamma disappears as a letter, but a labial is introduced. There is no
proved connection between the two, but a coincidence must be noticed. has the numerical value 500,
which is that of and combined, since = 200 and = 300. Both and retain their individual
values in the Gematria, but where they occur together they make a semi-compound letter, and this, in
later Greek, is recognised as a compound letter stau, with a sign so like the as to be for all
practical purposes identical. And in mediaeval Greek they are clearly one.
Now for the purposes of Gematria the letters most frequently employed are necessarily those which
denote the unit values.1 For example, the word - Truth - is composed chiefly of such numbers,
being 1 + 30 + 8 + 9 + 5 + 10 + 1 = 64, and the number 6 would be one whose exclusion would be most
inconvenient. Consequently it would be quite reasonable to assume that endeavours would be made to
retain this value.
The fusion of the two signs, the with the compound , might readily suggest an underlying
element of intention. As to this there seems no direct evidence. But on the other hand there is in the
Gematria itself some very suggestive internal evidence pointing to such a use, and a typical example of
the Gematria so obtained is the word - The Cross - which, by counting .. as 6, gives the
number 777 - a highly symbolic one in connection with the 888 of Jesus.2
And the value 500 being supplied by , there would no longer be the same urgency for this numeration in
all cases where the .. are employed. Hence on general grounds we have included in the list
of 37 multiples (Appendix C).
1.This assertion is unsupported by any evidence. The example given is contradicted by, for example, the word . - PWS
Without a sample of greater than one the example given must be dismissed as coincidence. Not only do the authors give only one example of this
2.hypothetical method but there is only one example of a word with a gematria value of 777 given in Appendix C - the same word. - PWS
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61
APPENDIX A.
485 = , identical by Gematria with and with - the latter said to be the original
spelling of the name of Jesus in Pilate's inscription in the Church of Sta. Croce at Rome.
has the same number. The Tetragrammaton, IAOU cited by Clem. Al. is another form of this, having the
number 481 which is 37 13 the Jewish sacred number. The Jewish cabalists were accustomed to
substitute for the Divine Name the word molwObab BAB-SHaLOM = Gate of Salem or Peace (
= 381), with the number 381, which is the measure of the circle contained in the square of 485 perimeter,
and by Gematria the of the Persian astronomers.
- 866 - is 485 + 381.
485 is notable for the following peculiar powers as a number in the geometrical series and as integrating
the roots of 2, 3, and 6.1
(1) 485= The cube of Seven
2(343 1.4142).
= Four times 70
3(280 1.7321).
= Nine times 22
6(198 2.4495).
The last is particularly exact.
(2) 485= Doubly a Square of the Hypothenuse, since
22+1 = 485
17+14= 485.
as the 29th of the series of Hypothenuse squares which are capable of being resolved into two or more
pairs of Squares
No matter that the calculations may be correct, these discovered correspondences do not have any meaningful
significance since any number can be subjected to the same kinds of arithmetic and similar equations derived. The
probable only arithmetical significance of the number 485 is that it is removed from the square of 22 by unity. Hebrew
cabalists allow differences of unity, which they call colel, in gematrial sums and 22 is a significant number in the
1.
Hebrew cabala being the number of paths in the so-called Tree of Life, a magical symbol in that cabala. Whether
significations in the Hebrew cabala meaningfully transfer to the Hellenic is a matter of speculation. Moreover the authors
are again presenting virtually random sequences of calculations as series. The term series has a strict mathematical
definition within which these collections do not fall. - PWS
62
it appears important.2
There are in the Books of IEOU twenty-eight surviving diagrams of concentric squares of IEOU, with
indications of a twenty-ninth, a leaf being lost. There seems ground for supposing that these diagrams
may have reference to the system of hypothenuse squares, and the fundamental importance attributed by
the old geometers to these squares is well-known and can be readily understood by reference to the early
editions of Euclid. They have various geometric uses.
(3) 485 =20 + 9 + 2.
20 + 7 + 6.
16 + 15 + 2.
15 + 14 + 8.
(4) 485=( 10) nearly(= 7.857)
= 10 11/14, which is precisely the old convention.

Note that 7857 = 97 81 or (24 + 34) 34
(5) 485=(3 + 2) (24 + 24)

It is not clear what the authors meant by Hypothenuse squares. Most likely it was Pythagorean Triples (the sets of
2.whole numbers which can form lengths of sides of right-angled triangles) since a hypotenuse is solely a property of a
right-angled triangle but, however, none of the examples given is a Pythagorean Triple. - PWS
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63
APPENDIX B.
OF THE SQUARE AND CIRCLE CONTAINED.
(1) When the perimeter of the Square is 1270, that of the circle is 998, and
1270= - The Bridegroom.
998 = - The Bride, the of certain Gnostics.
2268= .
(2) When the square is 656, the circle is 515, and the square lozenge within the
square is 464.
656= - The Messiah.
515= - The Virgin.
464= - The Mother.
464 + 515 is the as well as .
656 + 515 is 1171, the number of the , the second Profundity of the Gnostic aeons.
656 + 464 is 1120, which is the of the Coptic books, and of the Gnostic system generally.
656 is 464 + 192 = .
(3) When the Square is 1224 - the circle is 961 (or 31). These, as already shewn, are and
- the Heavenly city and its peribolus. But the joint number 1224 + 961 is the
- 2185, and the lozenge within the square measures 866 - .
64
(4) If the measure of the square be 2185, the circle becomes 1716-1717, and the inner square or lozenge
1545.
2185 = ( ).
1545 = - The Builder - title of Christ.
And 2185 1545 = 640 = The Kingdom of Peace, which is .
The circle, taken at the lesser valuation 1716, stands for = The Soul.
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65
APPENDIX C.
NAMES, EPITHETS, AND TYPES OF CHRIST, APPEARING IN THE GEMATRIA OF THE SACRED BOOKS AS MULTIPLES OF 37,
TOGETHER WITH OTHER EXAMPLES
PRELIMINARY NOTE BY DR. LEA.
This list, apart from its intrinsic interest, is a sample of the method adopted in the investigation. A careful
index is being compiled by Mr. Bond of all words and phrases which seem likely to have been
constructed or selected to convey meanings apart from their ordinary literary sense.
Coincidences purely accidental must necessarily occur, and something like three per cent. of all words
and phrases will be multiples of Thirty-seven by the mere operation of the doctrine of Chance.
But when a large collection exhibits peculiarities for which the doctrine of Chance cannot wholly
account, then other causes must be looked for and will probably be discovered. This method has been
successfully applied in other branches of science, and, though very slow, is extremely effective.
T.S.L.
37
37 1 ABEL (Heb.) lbh.
185 37 5 = The Master.

259 37 7 = Kingdom.
333 37 9 = Hope.
66
407 37 11
= The Inheritance. Isa. lviii. 14. ( = 1271 =

and ).
- The Beginning.
, I. Pet. ii. 12 = The Lord's Visitation.
= Overseership.
481 37 13 This is the number of the Tetragrammaton mentioned by Clement of Alexandria:
also of the ecclesiastical formula meaning the Three Persons - , ,
and . 481 is the measure of the circle whose diameter is the 153 of the
Elect.
- The Door. Epithet of Christ. S. John x. 9.
518 37 14 - The Gate. Matt. vii. 13, 14.
- The Elect.
555 37 15 - The Desire of Jesus to eat the Passover in fellowship. S. Luke xxii. 15.
- Godhead; also , .
This is the number of the Interpreter , and of the or framing of
592 37 16 sentences; a term also employed by the geometers to imply the logic of rational
lines. It enters into Aegypto-Greek Gematria as the number of and of
.
Not emblematic of Christ in our Scriptures but originally pertaining to the Solar Divinity
in the Greek and , in the Hebrew trvs(Sorath), hvhy~DmD
666 37 18
SheMeSh-IaHVeH - the Sun of Jahweh, DvlD ShiLLVSh (the dotted l is counted
double) - the Rabbinical name for the Triune God.
67
Appendix.
703
.
37 19 .
. (The Promised Land).
740
Not a number of Christ, but, like 666, a cosmic number, being that of the or Cycle, of - Creation; the Nyky IaKIN of the Hebrew temple symbolism, the
37 20
solar of Aegypto-Greek worship, - Heat,
- The Music of the Spheres, and the of the Platonists.
777
37 21
851
37 23 - Substance. Epithet of Christ. See Heb. x. 34.
888
.
37 24 .
.
999
.
37 27 - The Ineffable.
(Creeds).
Traditionally the number of - the Cross, spelt with the Digamma for .. (=
6), see note at end of text.
1036 37 28 , I am the Resurrection, words of Christ.

1073 37 29 . Genesis xxiv. 3.
.
.
1110 37 30 (). Coloss. iii. 11.1
Again a cosmic number, being that of , and
.
1184 37 32 .
1221 37 33 = wonderful. Epithet of the Messiah. Isaiah ix. 6.
1. Not found in this form in the Nestl Greek.
68
1258 37 34 - The Minister. Epithet of Christ. Heb. viii. 2.
1332 37 36
Cosmic and Solar. The number of the of the Gnostic

Inscriptions.
1369 37 37
The Square of 37. , and the ,

etc.
.
1443 37 39 .
( ).
.
.
.
.
1480 37 40
.
.
(The Early Christian Altar).
. .. (Gnostic gems.)
1517 37 41
, cf. I. Cor. i. 24.

.
1554 37 42
.
.
1591 37 43
- Parent of the Eternal, or of the Aeon. Synesius 322a.

.
1628 37 44
- Head of the Corner. Epithet of Christ. Matt. xxi. 42.

.
1665 37 45
.
.
1739 37 47 . Psalms.
. is a frequent type of Christ in the New Testament
Books.
.
1776 37 48
.
. A word whose real meaning has been the subject of much speculation
(see Dllinger's First Age of the Church, Appendix.)
69
Appendix.
- Lord of Hosts. Isa. ix. 7.

1813 37 49 ( .)
( .)
This is the number of the of the Gnostic Books: also of the
1850 37 50 ; ; ; , and the
of the Book of . Clearly a number of the Cosmogony.
1887 37 51 . Epithet of Christ. See 2257. (cf. Ps. xiv. 7 and liii. 6.)
1924 37 52
.
.
.
1961 37 53 .
.
.
. cf. Ep. Rom. xiii. 1.
.
1998 37 54 (Creeds).
.
(Creeds).
.
- Wall of Fire. Type of Christ. Zech. ii. 5.
.
2035 37 55
.
.
70
, .
..
.
2072 37 56
.
.
. (= Divination.)
.
.
2109 37 57 .
.
.
2146 37 58
- Fishers of Men. Matt. iv. 19. Mark 1. 17.

.
2183 37 59
- Head over all to the Church. Epithet of

Christ. Ep. Eph. i. 22.
A cosmic and Solar number.

.
.
2220 37 60
The name , by which members of the primitive church were
designated, has this number.
.
2257 37 61
. cf. Ps. xiv. 7 and liii. 6. ( .)

- Noah's Ark.
2294 37 62
. cf. Heb. i. 6.
. (see also 2664.)
.
.
2331 37 63 .
.
+ .
71
Appendix.
.
2368 37 64 .
.
2442 37 66 .
2479 37 67
.
.
.
.
2516 37 68 .
A Gnostic number on which we find (Book of Ieou. Schmidt, p. 306),
(do., p. 207).
.
2590 37 70 The number of the of the Books of IEOU, and of the =
Baptism of the Early Church.
.
.
( .)
.
.
.
The peculiar geometric and doctrinal importance of this number is explained in the text
2627 37 71
(p. 54) where a diagram is given, shewing the connection of the , and
lines. The number 2627 has also cosmic analogies, and is, by Gematria, that of
the Zodiacal Circle , and of (
in Empedocles).
As the 71st multiple of 37 it is doubly a number of God ( being 4 71) and hence
we find it gives us
= 2627 = , etc.
72
2664 37 72 .
2701 37 73
.
Also the number of .
2738 37 74
.
.
.
The passage from St. John i. 14, ,
2775 37 75
gives 2774.
Clem. Al. speaks of Christ as = 2775.
2812 37 76
.
.
2849 37 77
.
.
2886 37 78
- Good Saviour.
.
2923 37 79
, .
.
. The autonymous Name of Jesus.

.
2960 37 80
.
.
.
2997 37 81 .
.
3034 37 82 .
.
3071 37 83 . The Door of the sheep. Epithet of Christ. St. John x. 8.
(). Greg. Naz.
3108 37 84 .
3293 37 89 .
73
Appendix.
3330 37 90
. (cf. Rev. xix. 16 = .)

.
3441 37 93
3700 37 100
- Christ our Passover.

.
4255 37 115 . Epithet of Christ. Rev. i. 5.
4440 37 120 .
4588 37 124 . Epithet of Christ. Rev. i. 5.
(or 7 888 = )
6216 37 168 . (The full text of the
Sibylline Acrostic of the , see p. 53.)
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74
APPENDIX D.
= 888
SCHEMA OF THE NUMBERS OF JESUS.
The Schema represents by a series of points the symmetric aspect of a Cube in

flat projection. Each point represents one of the Sixty-four constituent Cubes in a
cube of 4 4 4, and of these lesser cubes there are visible Thirty-seven, and
never more than Thirty-seven can be seen at any one time. The whole 64 stand
for the absolute Truth - = 64 - and the 37 thus symbolise Revealed
Truth, of which the Holy Names founded upon this number are types.
Of these Names the chief one is (Jesus) = 888 or 37 24, and this
value may be taken as the total value in the enumeration of the figure counting each point as 24. The
hidden or back part of the cube shews upon its surface a further 19 cubes, making a total of 39 + 19 or 56
for the surface cubes. Multiply, as before, by 24, and 19 24 gives 456 the number of (the
Mother), and the same number is found by counting only the points within the outer ring of the Schema.
From the central One are first generated the Seven (first ring and centre): next a ring of Twelve, making
with the centre Thirteen, and all together make the 19.
75
Appendix.
And from the 19 are formed the 37, or as we may now interpret the figure, from the 456
proceed the 888 . And we may follow out the imagery of number and form in its gradual
development for the unfolding of the doctrinal teaching of the Gematria step by step as here indicated.
(Abram). Father of Israel.
1st Ring . .
6 24 = 144 . The Choice or Election. Ep. Rom. xi. 7, etc.
(The 144 or 12 12 are a figure of Israel, the Chosen Seed.)
1st Ring and Centre . .
7 24 = 168 . The Promise. II. Pet. iii. 13.
2nd Ring and Centre . .
13 24 = 312. The Angel.
3rd Ring . .
18 24 = 432. Conception. Heb. xi. II.
. The Mother.
3rd Ring and Centre . .
19 24 = 456
(The 1st and 2nd Rings give the same number.)
. The Spirit - by Whom was the Incarnation.
.
1st and 3rd Rings . .
24 24 = 576
.

1st and 3rd Rings and Centre .25 24 = 600 . The Godhead - Divine counterpart of .
76
.
.
.
.
2nd and 3rd Rings . . .
30 24 = 720. Abode of Deity.
. The Divine Intelligence.
.
. The Priest (of the Temple of Truth.)
.
. The Virgin Mother
.
.
2nd and 3rd Rings and Centre .31 24 = 744 .
.
.
.
N.B. - is an androgynous word in Gematria and the 744 is the union of the two
principles
=515
= 229
744
recalling the of the older Greeks. She appears to correspond to
, spouse of , who gives birth to , whose name is a clever anagram of the Mind of Zeus. The whole conception is one of a pure principle of intelligence in its operation in
virgin substance.
1st, 2nd and 3rd Rings . . .36 24 = 864 . The Lord builds His Tabernacle, which is
77
Appendix.
, figured as
- The Holy City.
.
.
. The Temple of Immortality
and of the Resurrection of the Spiritual Body.
.
.
.
.
Whole figure of the Metacube37 24 = 888 .
.
.
.
The constitution of the Schema shews Six lines radiating from the centre. Each of these lines consists of
three points and is emblematic of Truth since
3 24 = 72 . Truth.
United with the central point, they become Four, signifying the all-prevailing power of Truth since
4 24 = 96 . Victory. (I. Esdras iii. 12.)

Three of these lines yield 24 9 or 216 - the cube of Six, in Gematria
24 9 = 216= 152 + 64. + .
Together with the central unit this is raised to
. The Gnostic equivalent of Mariam, who represents the Universal Truth.
.
10 24 = 240
78
Four of these radii give, with the centre, the 312 of and five shew
15 24 = 360 .
which, when combined with the central 24, gives 15 24 = 384, the number of the , or
Absolutely True.
The Schema will be seen to contain the outline of a Cross whose arms stretch from point to point
horizontally. The number of this Cross is
- the number of Truth.
11 24 = 264 . Virginity.
= 192 + 72 ( + ).
So far the Gematria of our figure has been drawn only from the flat or two-dimensional projection of the
Cube. There remain other measures. First let us consider the whole surface.
- The Way of the Lord.
.
This is 37 + 19 (or 56) 24 = 1344
.
.
Within this hollow cube is the lesser cube of 2 2 2, giving
8 24 = 192. Mother of Jesus.
And if we take the cube of 3 3 3, which we get by adding the 19 points to the 8, we have
.
.
.
.
27 24 = 648
.
.
.
.
79
Appendix.
And lastly, the solid content of the whole cube 4 4 4 is 64, so that
the final number being that of
.
64 24 = 1536
.
. (See Appendix F.)
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80
APPENDIX E.
THE DECREE OF THE FIRST MYSTERY.
.
This phrase from the Pistis Sophia is one which seems to contain evidence of the greatest theological
importance. By Gematria is 3177, which on analysis is seen to be 3
1059, the number of the . It is then a triple Pleroma. Now 1059 is by Gematria the number of
or Fatherhood, a term found in the Coptic Gnostic books, also of and of
, and these represent the three Persons of the Trinity, by whose command our
Lord descends to earth. And 3177 again consists of
1179 = ,
+ 1998 = = The Nature of Jesus,
and the whole is .
The Mystery is that of the Alpha and the Omega, as elsewhere shewn (in text, p. 40, and Appendix F).
The number of the Pleroma is a number of the Geometry of the Higher Spheres. 1059 is three times 353
the Hermetic number, and 353 is 24 + 34 + 44
Hence the number 3177 is the ninth multiple of the same trinity of Fourth Powers symbolising the
Heavenly Places.
We append a Table of various combinations found in the Gematria of this number. Many of these are
frankly empirical
81
Appendix.
and are introduced with a view of shewing the working of the law governing the constitution of the
system by which the lesser units tend by addition to evolve greater numbers accordant with the general
law, whose truth can only be demonstrated by the testing of all rational combinations of known or
suspected Gematria words, whether such combinations have, or have not, been met with in the Gnostic
writings.
To prove this will be to prove the existence of a fundamental principle capable of general application,
rather than one which is capable only of a selective application.
Thus, 1059 - Fatherhood.
1059
- Pleroma or Logos.
1059
- The Great Comforter = The Holy Ghost.
3177
.
.
or, 1059
+ 1059
2118
(674 ).
1059
(337 ).
3177
(1011 ).
.
2311
.
866
.
3177
.
2451
.
726
.
.
3177
(or .)
82
Of 3177, as expressive of the Logos or Pleroma, we find:3177 .

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
As expressive of the Holy Ghost: .
.
And finally:2368 (or ).
809 .
3177 .
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83
APPENDIX F.
TABLE
OF THE THREE PRIMARY FIGURES OF THE ,
(1)
(2)
(3)
TETRAHEDRON
OCTAHEDRON
CUBE
()
(primitive form)
representing
( )
(primitive form)
The inclusion of the restores the more perfect form of the Mystery of the Alpha and Omega. This is
preserved in the work of Rhabanus Maurus de laudibus Sanctae Crucis, in which the cross-bearing
Nimbus of Jesus carries the letters , signifying the Beginning, Middle, and End (Cabrol Dict.
Archl. Chret. sub ..).
84
(1)
(2)
(3)
TETRAHEDRON
OCTAHEDRON
CUBE
40.0
84.9
Comparative Volumes,
10.0
as per Table.
or as
1178.5
By Gematria
or
Do. in other values.
4714.0
10,000
________
=1
= 40
() = 849
1178 = .
4712 = () 849 = .

.
(Irenaeus.)
.
________
589.2 = .
2357 = .500.0 = .
(235 = .)
500 = .
2000 = .
4242 =
( .)

.
1500 = .
600.0 = .
1272 = .
1273 = .
1767, 1768 = ()707.1 = 2 500.
1500 = .
(471.4 + 235.7)
.
.
849 = .
3395 = . 720.0 = .
.
(= 7 485 ....)
.
400
1600 = . 3395 = .
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85
APPENDIX G.
CABALA OF THE COSMOS.
The Formative principles expressed by the mathematical powers One, Root Two, and Root Three, are
assumed as the Aeons, whose operation has been invoked to bring into manifestation the visible
Universe. These may be said to determine the form of the Regular Solids and are hence fundamental.
Taking as a plastic unit the 600 of , we discover in the Gematria of the Macrocosm and the
Microcosm the following very perfect example of this mode of interpretation.
(1) 600 1
= 600
600
(2) 600 2 = 848
or 849
(848.52 actual value).
(3) 600 3 = 1040 or 1039 = 1040. (1039.23 actual.)
2488
- The Form of God, which by Gematria is

also
2488 - Jesus, Lord of the Universe.
- The Universe is the Word of
God.
is the pattern as conceived in the Mind of God: its materialisation in space:

whilst is Man, its crown in whom the whole is reflected. And Man himself is created in
the Image of God.
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86
APPENDIX H.
THE CUBE OF LIGHT.
3375,000,000 = (1500)3.
3375 is 153 (15 15 15); and by Gematria represents the cube of 1500 (), since only the first four
digits are of consequence, and the cyphers are written off.
3375 is related geometrically to 2683 - the number of the First Precept, as follows:2683
3375
(Gen. i. 4.)
= (9 + 3)/4 1000 = 33/23 1000
or 1200 5
In Gematria it is represented by the
or 9/4 1500 ().
Name of - as Bishop of Light,
= 3375,
and the Descent of Light,
= 3375,
which creates the Division of Light from Darkness of Gen. i. 4, = 3375,

resulting in the First Sphere of Light,
= 2683.
87
Appendix.
But the connection with is also a geometrical one as the area of one face of the cube 33750 is very
nearly 4850; or 10 485 - .
- Light = 1500, and - a Lamp = 1350, whilst , another form, is 1200.
These three words are therefore arithmetically related in Gematria, as will appear by the following table,
1500
1350
1200
150 10
150 9
150 8
so that they represent the harmonic proportionals 8, 9, 10 apparent in physical law. And the first two are
related geometrically, since 1350 - is the surface of the cube of 15.00 or 3375. For each face of
the cube is 152 or 225, and all six faces are 225 6 or 1350.
The number of the exterior or surface cubes in the block of 3375 cubes is 1178 = , and the
metacube, or total number visible to sight, is 631 - = Death. So the Gnosis tells us that Death
is but a part, and that the visible part, of the great Mystery which leads from Cube to Cube, from the
Cube of twice Seven, which represents the Church of Christ, to the Cube of Fifteen, which, as Light, is
Christ Himself.
For 143 (or 73 8) = 2744 .
+
= 631
3375 .
And we may go yet further. Beyond the Cube of Light, 3375, and between it and the next, is the
Metacube 721, which is - The Gathering-in of the Fruits, and this brings us to the perfect
form of Truth, the Cube of 16, the Square of 64 - , and the Fourth or transcendental power of
88
EIGHT, the Master's number. And the content of this Cube is 4096, which is
- Jesus Christ, the True Light, or , and it is the
Altar of Jesus Christ - , whose perimeter measure is 192 , and its surface measure - 1536, who mark the bounds of the Geometry
of Truth - - 1536, and this is the Consummation - the Beginning, the
Middle, and the End - . . . - 1536.
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89
SUPPLEMENT.
I.
ON THE SYMBOLISM OF NUMBERS.
(WITH REFERENCE TO GEMATRIA.)
Of late there has been manifest a greatly increased interest in the symbolic uses of Number, and some
dim sense that numbers do in reality constitute a sort of Language of Interpretation.
The numbers so evident in the Sacred Books have attracted renewed attention. Some of these, it is
recognised, have an astronomical bearing, being connected with the chronologies, and hence with solar,
lunar and planetary periods; and we may trace the growth of astrological systems to which certain
numbers are traditionally attached.
Other numbers are more purely geometrical. To some the dual significance clearly applies.
But the pure teaching and symbolism of numbers, already degraded by the false gnostics, was destined to
suffer, in the long darkness of the mediaeval times, further degeneration, and a species of idolatry of
numbers has resulted, all sorts of fancied potencies and virtues being attached to these symbols, and
magical qualities attributed.
At times these appear faintly reminiscent of the verities they were designed to represent, but more often
90
they are but the false attributions of superstitious vanity and ignorance, the stock-in-trade of the
charlatan.
The Church in her ostensible teaching has been but little concerned with the mysteries of Number. What
she has put forth has been of the simplest. The Apostolic Fathers in their references to such matters have
been chiefly concerned with the refuting of heretical teachers, so that much of what they say is apt to
convey, and perhaps designedly so, an impression of triviality and almost of disdain. After the third
century the Church becomes strangely anxious to crystallise in human words the essence of mysteries
which we are bound to believe she always possessed in another and more recondite form, for the
alternative - i.e. that she did not possess them - would leave insufficiently explained the artificial aspect
of the theological system to which she adheres and would impair her claim to antiquity in this sense.
The simplicity of the geometric and numeric symbolism as conveyed by the orthodox Bishops in any
written treatise is well seen in the writings of Durandus, the XIIth century Bishop of Mende, whose work
embraces reference to all the principal features of a church and the simpler numbers connected with
them. But the teaching conveyed is almost purely ethical in its application, and seems largely an effort of
pious imagination. We might quote as an instance the following:
Some (churches) are built in the form of a circle, to signify that the Church hath been
extended throughout the circle of the world, as saith the Psalmist, and their words unto the
end of the world - or because from the circle of this world we reach forth to that crown of
eternity which shall encircle our brows.
Or again:
By the lattice work of the windows we understand
91
Supplement.
the prophets and other obscure teachers of the Church Militant: in which windows there
are often Two shafts, signifying the Two precepts of Charity, or because the Apostles were
sent out to preach the Gospel two and two.
The study of the true principles underlying the older symbolism of Numbers is of a very intimate nature
and involves a well-founded familiarity with pure mathematical principles in their relation to geometric
form, and to the cyclic laws governing the motions of the heavenly bodies. Without this as a constant
guide and check, any results obtained will be liable to error and to dangerous contradiction. Moreover,
the serious student who has investigated, without sufficient mental reserve, the workings of the
mediaeval Cabalists, and their more modern exponents, may have much to unlearn ere he can approach
the subject with a clear outlook.
There is a fundamental principle which must be stated as a sine qu non if any research on right lines is
to be undertaken. This is, the avoidance of all attributions to individual numbers of a nature or
significance wholly or uniquely good or evil.
This is a heresy which vitiates the great mass of literature on the subject, and it appears even in the works
of famous Cabalists. There is no wholly evil number, just as there is no wholly fortunate or
unfortunate number, but there are numbers which, from special association, have acquired one or the
other preponderant character.
And often the very reason for such acquired significance is lost. A modern investigator of astronomical
numbers, the Rev. John Griffith, of Cardiff (who has been working out an astronomical interpretation of
the Phaestos Disc), as a result of the careful study of ancient calendars, has been able to point out those
cases
92
in which an ancient festal day has, by the secular change and progressive error of the Calendar, drifted
away from its original moorings, and remained in the recollection of the people merely as a fortunate
day - with a number of the common monthly count attached to it.
Now in regard to the Gematria, our guide is of course the general or collective sense of the words
accumulated upon any given number by virtue of their correspondence with that particular value. Some
progress has already been made in in the collection and classification of known and suspected Gematria
words. But a great deal remains to be done, especially in the recording of words of negative implication
or of antagonistic meaning and of a large category of words which are thought to possess, in addition to
their ordinary significance, a secondary and obscure symbolical meaning which their Gematria would
tend to make clear. The analysis has however already gone far enough to shew abundant evidence of
contrasted, as well as of allied, meanings, the good and evil, or positive and negative, signification being
present on the same number, indicating a polarity or balance of opposites.
A number may thus suggest a quality or principle, and at the same time, the defect, or excess, of that
quality, and thus the regularity of the interpretation is assured, for the choice between positive and
negative becomes the choice between the rational versus the irrational, and the spiritual versus the
material combination.
In this way, and in this way alone, is a faithful system of interpretation capable of being consistently
applied by the method of Gematria, for were it otherwise, and a significance wholly and uniquely good,
or evil, found in the words on any given number, it would be possible to harness together a Divine and an
Infernal number.
93
Supplement.
Their sum would be chaos in the literary as well as the theological sense, and the whole of the geometric
structure would be riddled with contradiction. Alternatively, if it were not for this element of choice, it
might easily appear that a Holy Name could be analysed into two component numbers, one or both of
which might possess a significance exclusively evil, which is absurd.
As an instance of the simple polarity above referred to on any given number, we may take the number
46, on which appear the words
(+) (Dikaia) = Justice,
(-) (Adikia) = Injustice,
and it will be observed that these opposites consist of the same six letters transposed.
A more subtle contrast is observable in the case of (Oinos) - Wine, and (Oxos) - Vinegar,
both of which are 400 by Gematria.
A further and very striking instance of this polarity is found on the number 1500, shewing the antithesis
between Light and Darkness, thus
(+)
(Phs)
= Light
(+)
(ps)
= The Eye = 1500
(-) (Tuphlos) = Blind
= 1500
= 1500
Other contrasted meanings are obtained on two successive numbers. This is sometimes effected by the
use of the Alpha, which is the Greek negative, and which seems happily adjusted to this use, for, as as
has already been shewn, two successive numbers are often to be regarded as two expressions of the same
value, the greater or lesser computation of some geometric quantity which cannot be expressed more
definitely, as it is fractional.
So we find such pairs as
(Delos) = Manifest
= 312
(Adelos) = Unmanifest = 313
94
(Oratos) = Visible
= 741
(Aoratos) = Invisible = 742

In this power of choice comes in a possible scope for the Inspirational element in interpretation,
prompting the student in his choice to test all values by the standards of Life and not of Death. The
Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Our Cosmos presents itself to us
under the laws of Light and Darkness, and between these our spiritual choice is made.
The importance of this choice in these days can scarcely be over estimated, for too often spiritual
imagery is accorded interpretation in the material sense, leading to the misapplication of a wellintentioned effort, and thus to waste and to confusion.
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95
II.
ON GEOMETRIC TRUTH.
(EXPLANATORY OF CHAP. I.)
Mere words of natural significance fail to interpret spiritual ideas unless a figurative meaning can be
added to them. By type and symbol alone can the essence of Truth be conveyed. In myth and parable the
poet, prophet and religious teacher in all time present to us the realisations of their spiritual sense.
And not in the imagery of words alone, but in architecture, and its allied arts, some of the most sublime
of human conceptions have been conveyed. Architecture has been the interpreter to man of the Universal
Truths, those which express the Mind and Works of the Creator, for Architecture is the witness to the
Formative principles which underlie Nature, and speaks of the Immutable Foundations.
And these are expressed in the symmetry of geometric forms, co-related by Measure and Number. Thus
Architecture constitutes a higher language adapted to sacred uses.
Now in the Greek Gematria we have what may be termed the Architecture of Language, for the Gematria
unites both elements, both modes of expression, and in a wonderful accord, since words are therein
related in their sense to Number, by their Number to Geometry, and by their Geometry again to Building.
96
For all Building, whether of Words, Ideas, Figures, or Material Forms, is founded on fixed proportionals
which we have termed Aeonial, and these we study under the name Geometry.
As a matter of fact we think in Geometry, for the laws of human thought are themselves geometrical, so
that, as Howard Hinton has shewn, even the Rules of Logic may be demonstrated geometrically, the
Rational Conclusions arranging themselves symmetrically on the surface of a cube*, and their exact
number determined in the process.
The concept of Truth is thus possibly more purely illustrated and more vitally appropriated through the
exercise of the geometric sense than by any other method. Pythagoras and his followers were obviously
of this opinion. And it may clearly be inferred from the Coptic Gnostic Books that that the same teaching
was believed to be inculcated by Jesus. Hence in the true and faithful use of Geometric Forms we shall in
reality be demonstrating truths more subtle than those of which we are commonly aware.
Geometry is therefore a sacred study, the Language of the Great Verities, and it follows that any
language built upon Geometry will contain more than at first meets the eye, and will be capable of a
limitless power of expression, because its rational terms are eternal in nature, and infinite.
* H. Hinton. New Era of Thought. (Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., 1906.) He shewed, by this means one more rational form,
not included in the textbooks. The first application of the method is credited to Mrs. Alicia Boole Stott, and it is elaborated
by Hinton, who shews that a four-dimensional figure is necessarily involved in the process of demonstration, and that this
Fourth Element is present in the Laws of Thought.
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97
III.
THE GEOMETRIC CUBIT AS A BASIS OF PROPORTION IN THE PLANS OF MEDIAEVAL BUILDINGS
By F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I.B.A.
In response to an invitation to contribute a Paper on a subject of interest to the profession at large, the
writer offers in the following essay a theory which he has for some time past been testing, and which
tends in his opinion to explain a principle of proportion found in many mediaeval works for which an
adequate explanation seems to have been lacking. Much research and good scholarship will be needed in
order to establish his theory and to win it general acceptance should it be found to merit that reward
but the writer's apology for putting it forward at the present stage of his research is that it answers, or
appears to answer, equally the historical as well as the practical and arithmetical tests, and to reconcile in
a remarkable way certain doubts and contradictions.
In order to clear the position it will be necessary to state briefly a few well-known facts accessible to
students in recent editions of Gwilt's Encyclopaedia and in works therein referred to. It appears from
contemporary records that there were in the Middle Ages two rival geometrical systems for setting out
the ground plans of churches and other Gothic buildings, and these were also applied to their cross
sections and sectional elevations. These were:
(1) A system of commensurate squares.
(2) A system of equilateral triangles, which, when contained in parallelograms, gave a rectangular field
or setting.
Our chief authority for these is Cesariano, the sixteenth-
98
century translator (or editor) of the works of Vitruvius. Both systems were habitually applied, and there
are records extant of controversies which took place between adherents of the rival schools. The first
rule, that of the commensurate squares, is called by Cesariano the rule a pariquadrato, and the second,
the rule a trigono. The first was adopted by the German architects and became more or less identified
with their system. The second seems to have been favoured by the Latins, but it will be well not to be too
insistent upon this point in the present stage of research.
THE AIM OF THE SYSTEMS

We now begin to break new ground. The question arises: Were the two methods of planning designed to
produce results of a different nature, or were they meant to yield effects approximately similar? The
question is of crucial importance, and its answer implies also the solution of some obscure points of
mediaeval planning, and the discovery of the principle at stake in these bitter controversies.
WHAT WAS THIS PRINCIPLE?

In the writer's view, it was one of geometrical perfection, the object being the reproduction of the form of
the Rhombus of two equilateral triangles in the greatest degree of accuracy consonant with practical
methods of building and harmonious scales of measurement. As to the motive which led the ancients to
their preference for geometric truth that is another question. For the moment we are on safe ground in
accepting it as an axiom of their system that they did work where possible on geometric lines, and that
from very early times a peculiar respect even a sanctity attached to those proportionals which most
clearly accorded with the mathematical principles known to Master Masons.
From this it will be inferred that the contest was one
99
The Geometric Cubit.
between principle and compromise, the rule a trigono being the use of the purist school, and that a
pariquadrato of the practical builders. The German school, logical and practical, preferred to work on
a system wherein the measures of length and breadth were commensurate or uniform, whilst their idealist
opponents saw in this something approaching a profane disregard of principles instilled into their guilds
by the teaching of a tradition so old, so venerable, that to depart from it was architectural heresy. But
even they must have perceived and found by experience a limit of possibility in practical working, and
hence in Cesariano we find in the instance he gives of the designing of the Cathedral of Milan a
reconciliation of the two ideals.
THE RHOMBUS OR VESICA

Readers are referred to Gwilt (Ch. IV. sec. 3) for an exposition of this highly symbolic feature, based
upon the construction given by Euclid in his first proposition. Among all the select proportionals used by
the old builders, this, the ratio of length to breadth in the double triangle, seems to stand apart in a
position of pre-eminence. Not only do we find it reproduced in many approximations in the plans of our
own and continental churches, but it is notoriously used in Gothic detail wherever the architectural
expression of the best periods reaches its highest point. And its association with certain parts of a church
and with statuary of a certain order leaves no doubt of its symbolic intent.
Modern writers have discovered and chronicled many examples of these proportionals in our mediaeval
plans. Notably Kerrich, in his communications to the Society of Antiquaries in the second decade of the
last century, has furnished us with material for reference, and following him comes Professor Cockerell
with his analysis of the works of William of Wykeham, in which the rule a pariquadrato seems to find
expression, seeing that the ratio he employs is the
100
Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset: Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin. Plan showing Rhombic proportions.
most practical of all, and the one which least truly approximates to the ideal proportions of the double
triangle, though in buildings of lesser size it would be near enough to exemplify that principle. This is the
ratio of Four in breadth to Seven in length. This we will call the Mason's Convention.
The English Perpendicular, in which William of Wykeham worked, was in some respects a reversion to
practical principles, though it must not be assumed that the scheme of symbolic representation by number
and proportion, into which Durandus gives us a guarded insight, was superceded by the later builders
altogether. It probably tended with time to become over-elaborate, and for that reason a reaction would
sooner or later be inevitable, by which processes of simplification would assert themselves.
To find the geometrical principle in its more perfect expression an examination must be made of the
works of the
101
best period, that is to say, the time when architectural achievement had reached its highest point and
decadence had not set in. This would be the twelfth century and the early thirteenth century of English
work. And reference should be made to examples of the most careful character and least altered by
subsequent builders.
It has been the writer's good fortune to discover an almost perfect example of such a principle in the
Lady Chapel of Glastonbury Abbey, a structure whose history would be all in favour of a perfect
symbolic expression, since the extreme and scrupulous care used by its builders in designing it on ancient
lines is on record. Kerrich alludes to this building and gives diagrams and dimensions, but he was not
accurately informed as to its true proportions, which have only been recoverable by careful measurement
owing to the violence to which the building has been subjected and its consequent partial collapse in
width at one end. A plan of this chapel is given, from which it will be seen that the figure of the Vesica is
present in a form so nearly accurate as to leave only the most insignificant margin of error, and the figure
is repeated in duplicate on the main axis.
THE GEOMETRIC RATIO

The true proportion of the double triangle is as 1 in breadth to the square root of 3 in length, or as 1 :
173205. A building 40 feet in breadth would thus have a proportionate length of 69282 feet or, say, 69
feet 4 inches.
St Mary's Chapel has a width, measured on the west face, of 40 feet 1 inch, but as some of the joints have
opened it may be taken to have been intended originally for 40 feet. This is the measurement outside the
plinth of the angle turrets. In the length there is another open joint to be allowed for, and for this we must
deduct nearly an inch. The present measurement is 69 feet 7 inches, and with the corresponding
deduction comes to 69 feet 6 inches. If the conventional 4 to 7 had been
102
employed, it must have been about 6 inches longer.

But the inner measurement, which is the breadth between the buttress faces on centre of north and south
walls, is computed to have been as nearly as possible 37 feet, and hardly even now deviates from that
figure. The proportionate length brings us in this case to the face of the west wall at the level of the cill
beneath the recessed wall-arcade, and this is the most natural point from which to calculate a dimension
of length.
Although the corresponding line on the east wall is now missing, owing to the removal of the central
section for the inclusion of the Galilee which was done in the fourteenth century the evidence of
the original length of the chapel is attested clearly enough by the remaining data.
The superior accuracy of the inner Rhombus, which is, after all, the measurement of the actual
framework of the walling, gives us a suggestion of another and closer approximation to truth than the
Mason's Convention first described. This nearer approach is represented by the ratio 37 : 64.
Allusion may be made here to a remarkable fact noted constantly by the writer in his measurements of
the various parts of the fabric of Glastonbury Abbey and that of the other foundations and walls
discovered. It is that the whole scheme of the Abbatial church and buildings appears to be planned upon
a series of commensurate squares of 37 feet, or more accurately speaking, of twice 37, that is, 74 feet.
The west wall of St Mary's Chapel marks the western limit of this great series of squares, which are
figured in a plan contributed to the Somerset Archaeological Society's Proceedings for 1913. The reason
for the choice of this number of feet (or inches) as the unit of general measurement is still under
investigation and will take some time to determine, as it is by no means clear that some second standard
or measure, different from the English foot or yard, was not employed, such as the ell of 37 inches,
which was used at Gloucester as a land measure, and may have been used
103
also by the Glastonbury builders.

But this is a digression from the main issue. We have now two approximations to a geometric rule: one
rough, but extremely simple and convenient (4 : 7), capable of lending itself to the making of handy
builders' measuring rods, and the second a finer adjustment but inferior in convenience, since 37 inches is
a long scale, and a relatively clumsy one to deal with,* the compensating feature in this case being that
the longer proportional 64 is capable of sub-division by repeated bisection to an extent which would
surely have commended itself to the practical mason.
OTHER APPROXIMATIONS
We may now enquire what other fractions will yield us good conventional working elements for the
setting out of buildings to the rhombic proportion? In what other manner could the architects of the
former time have divided their measuring rods so as to secure the desired result without undue difficulty
or inconvenience? There are several fractions giving a near approximation to truth, but only one or two
which could be called convenient. The best of these is the ratio 26 to 15, which is alluded to in a work
which will be found in the R.I.B.A. Library, entitled The Canon An exposition of the Pagan Mystery
perpetuated in the Cabala as the Rule of all the Arts (London: Elkin Matthews, 1897). This work, being
very mystical and ill-arranged, is not freely consulted, but it is evident that the author was well read in
his subject and has been most painstaking in his collection of evidence on such points as connect the
ancient rules of building with geometrical symbolism. We gather from his pages that he considers the
ratio 26 : 15 was well known and of high repute among the ancients in some such connection as the
tradition inherited by the mediaeval builders from remoter
* In the Gloucester records it is viewed as a yard-and-an-inch, or thumb, and spoken of as virga cum police interposito.
104
antiquity would point out. The Louvre Cubit of 28 digits, unequally divided as 13 : 15, might suggest a
practical application of this principle.
We have yet, however, to find proof of the use of these proportionals either in the known history of our
building measures or as evidenced in the masonry of our schools of builders. But this may well be due, as
regards the last-mentioned, to a want of definiteness in research. It is a point which would clearly have
easily eluded any investigation not based upon the a priori conception of the existence and use of such a
proportional. In this respect it is hoped that the present essay may stimulate research.
But another and very fair adjustment of scales to integral number in inches offering a near approach to
the rhombic ratio is that of 11 to 19 with its complementary ratio 19 to 33. Take 33 inches as your
yard, and the cross measure 19 inches, which we may describe as a cubit, and you have a very
workable pair of measures, since 19 inches is 18 + 1, and 11 inches is 12 - 1. We do not say that there is
any warrant for the assumption that such a pair of measures was actually in use, but in all these cases it is
well to remember that the masons were undoubtedly in the constant habit of halving, doubling, or
otherwise devising simple and compound fractions of their normal standards, and indeed, our own foot of
12 inches is a case in point, seeing that it is one-third of the real standard, that is to say, of the yard. And
in this connection it is sufficiently clear that a cubit was often employed which was 1 feet in length, or
half a yard, whilst there is also evidence of an 11-inch foot.
THE GEOMETRIC CUBIT

The title chosen for this Paper must now be justified. We
The ratio 219 : 311 (38 : 33) also subsists in our land measures as it is the ratio of the nautical mile to the statute mile
(202667 yards : 1,760 yards).
105
are dealing with a proportional which, as already shown, bears to the 12-inch foot the approximate
relation of 3 : 1. Theoretically it is the Mean Proportional between the foot and the yard, but in practice
it could not be so if any arithmetical convention were used for harmonising it with the other standards,
since any artificial adjustment, if it increased the difference between the foot and the geometric mean,
must correspondingly decrease that which lies between this mean measure and the yard, and vice versa.
In this case the proportionals would appear as:
Foot Cubit Yard
4 :7
: 12
Hence greater accuracy would be desirable. There is a triplet of measures to be kept in reasonable
harmony. Our yard and foot are ancient measures so ancient, indeed, that the mere statement of their
probable antiquity is apt to excite scepticism. But the fact remains that they are in close geometrical
relation with the principal measure employed by the builders of antiquity i.e., the cubit of 7 palms;
and if this geometrical relation be admitted, then they may be claimed to have been in all probability the
original standard from which that cubit was derived, seeing that they do, as a matter of fact, happen to be
in the strictest sense of the word geometrical measures that is to say, measures of the earth's axis. For
it has been stated on good authority that our inch, the unit upon which the foot and yard are based,
represents within a close approximation a fraction of 1/500,000,000 part of the earth's axial length. Sir J.
Herschel, in a letter to the Times dated 30th April 1869, says that the inch appears to have deviated from
geometric accuracy by the loss of just 1/999 of its length. Sir C. Warren, however, in his work on the
Ancient Cubit seems to regard even this as an over-estimate. In any case the loss is so minute as to be
negligible in practice, and the amazing fact is that the standard, if originally derived from the earth's
106
measure should have been so well maintained. The cubit, which is the mean between our foot and yard,
is strictly 207846 inches, and is the side of a square whose area is 432 square inches, equivalent to an
area of 24 inches 18 inches.
The prime object of the use of the Mean Proportional in measures would appear to be to provide a
Standard of Area, of square form, from which other spaces of equivalent area might readily be derived.
There is evidence of the highest antiquity for the practice of obtaining equal areas with diverse
proportionals. It is found in the ancient Indian Shilpashastras, or rules of religious art; and Professor
Petrie notes such a custom as controlling methods of the Egyptian builders.* In the King's Chamber of
the Great Pyramid are recorded, in linear measure, the roots of the simpler arithmetical values, such as
are employed for this purpose. These roots would appear to have been among the more guarded
traditions of the ancient builders. In the case of the mediaeval workers, however, there does not at present
appear sufficient evidence that their object was the equalising of areas of floor or wall space, but it is
more likely that the practice of employing these proportionals had become so interwoven with their
traditions, and so hallowed by time and religious association, that it had taken on a purely symbolic
implication. This would be pre-eminently so in regard to the use of the triangular proportions, as the
history of the Vesica shows plainly enough.
But, more than this, it must always be borne in mind that a practice of this sort may be grafted on original
necessities of the craft, and that the mason, in order to set out his square and perpendicular lines, must
necessarily have made use of the equilateral triangle on each side of his base line of standard length, and
would thus obtain a third measure which would be the geometric mean between his two principal units of
linear measure.
* Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, pp. 194, 199, 200, 220, and p. 181 ref.
107
The triangular ratio does not appear definitely in Egyptian monuments, which rather follow the laws of
the numbers 2 and 5 and their roots the proportions of the side of the square to its diagonal and of the
right-angled triangle whose sides are as 2 : 1, and the hypothenuse consequently 5, since 22 + 1 = 5, the
square on the same. Nevertheless, in Egypt appears in later times a well-marked triplicity of measure,
similar to our own, the extreme proportions being in their case the Mahi, or Nile cubit of 2076 inches (or
thereabouts) and its triple, the Xylon, or staff-measure; whilst their unrecorded mean would be as nearly
as possible our yard of 36 inches. The tripling of measures had, without doubt, a religious probably a
trinitarian significance, and in the choice of the two leading units we may recall the proportions of the
first Hebrew Temple, with its single and double square areas, the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place
together, three squares in length. It would be well if, in the case of some of our own unspoilt Early
churches, a careful measurement of the floor areas of the nave and quire (often square) could be made,
with the object of testing the principle involved, by finding the side of a true square of the same total
area.
To revert to our own units of length. A witty Frenchman once said, If God did not exist, we should have
to invent Him, and the writer would be disposed to make a similar observation with regard to our Inch,
that, if it did not exist, we should have to discover it in order to explain the measures of the ancient
world, to reconcile their apparent incompatibilities, and introduce any coherence amongst them. For truly
our measures would appear the only possible nucleus of a stable system to which these others could be
linked, unless we are to be content with a merely physical i.e., corporal origin for all. Such human
measures are well known and admitted, but their use argues a perpetual variability, and does not logically
exclude the geometrical theory, any more than the counting of fives and tens on the fingers excludes a
quite distinct geometrical basis for the denary system of
108
notation. (This geometrical foundation can be shown and is of the greatest interest). Some measures are
strictly geometric (in the sense of terrestrial measure). Others are in mathematical relation with these (as
the cubit of seven palms). Many are ascertained to have a counterpart in the measures of the human
frame. The two systems co-exist, blend, and harmonise. But we must make our choice as to those which
we deem original, and those which we think derived. In the writer's view the most reasonable working
hypothesis is that the Inch, Foot, and Yard are the original series, and the Cubit, a measure of
acknowledged variability, the secondary or derived one.
The argument from antiquity is fortified by the facts in the following table, which shows the units
required for setting out areas equivalent to that of a given square, with sides proportioned as 2 : 1, 3 : 1,
and 5 : 4.
(1)
Assumed Original Unit,

on the primitive sexagesimal system:
Sides.
36" 36" = 1296 square inches
36" = 1 yard
(2) First derivative (for a double square):

(36 2) : (36 1/2)-unit, 36 1/2
= 25"45
(Cf. Royal Cubit of Persia, Chaldea, and Judah.)

(3) Second derivative (for a triple square):
(36 3) : (36 1/3)-unit, 36 1/3
= 20"78
= Egyptian Royal Cubit.

(4)
Third derivative (for a rectangle

proportioned as 5 : 4):
(36 5/2) : (36 2/5)-unit, 36 5/2
= 40"248
= Egyptian Metric Yard (early form).

These results err but very slightly on the side of excess, the average in each case being a trifle lower in
the case of known examples, but, being geometrical, are liable to modification to suit any arithmetical
adjustment of scales desired.
109
How small, comparatively, are the differences between them and actually discovered units will be seen
by the following table:
(1)
Yard.
36" Eng.
36" Gt. Pyramid
(Great Step)
(Practically alike)
(2)
Chaldean Cubit.
2545 Geometric
2538 Maximum found
0007 defect.
(3)
Egyptian Cubit.
2078 Geometric
2076 Nilometer
0002 defect.
(4)
Old metre.
40"248 Geometric
40"23 Egyptian
00018 defect.
or 00009 on the half metre.
The Egyptian Royal Cubit was of seven palms, each measuring from about 2"91 to 2"95 according to
the size of the digit (727 to 737). The Pyramid palm yields a digit approaching the latter.
40 digits of 735 or 12 palms = 29"4, again a derivative of the yard, since 36 6/3 = 29"40.
The division of the Royal Cubit into seven palms seems good evidence of the presence of the seven as a
proportional, either as 5 : 7 : 10, or (more probably) as 4 : 7 : 12. The cubits vary from about 20"5 to
21". Seven-fourths of 12" is 21", and twelve-sevenths of 12" is 20"57, which is nearly the Louvre Cubit.
The Cubit of 20"63, found by Professor Petrie in the King's Chamber, seems to be the most
representative cubit of this order. These 28-digit cubits are Royal, or Temple, Cubits.
110
The Common cubit is of six palms.* The European cubit seems to accord very nearly with the latter, and
become readily identified with the half-yard of 18". The Seven stands out prominently as a proportional
both in ancient and mediaeval usage. With the Egyptians it appears to have ruled the relation of square
and diagonal, since the side of a square is very nearly as 5 : 7, or as 7 : 10 of its diagonal.
We can express this ratio as 5 : 7 : 10

7 : 10 : 14
or as
12 : 17 : 24
and the sum of the two sets of proportionals gives us the better adjustment (12 : 17) found in Roman
work.
To summarise our conclusions in the old and mediaeval systems of measure we can discern at least
three main standards:
(1) The Yard, with a senary division representing the old sexagesimal system.
(2) The Metre, representing the 5 and 2 derivatives, with a decimal division.
(3) The Cubit, representing the 3 derivatives, with the proportionals 4 : 7 : 12, and a consequent
division into 28 (4 7), or into 84 (7 12).
Of these the first is the overt measure in English work, the 21" cubit being a latent proportional. In Egypt
the cubit is the overt measure, and the yard is implicit only, or scarcely to be detected in the monuments.
The second, the old metre, is common to both systems, and though abolished by statute in this country
since 1439, is still well represented by our decimal system of land measure, where the unit is 3"96
(+06), giving us the fathom of 79"22/10 of a yard. Were our Metric Yard still in use, it may be that our
debt to Egypt in the matter of measures would more readily have been recognised.
* Usually about 18"24. It unites in square measure with the cubit of 2063, forming a rectangle of 376 square inches,
equivalent in area to one square Euboic cubit, and almost precisely 7/12ths of the area of one square Royal Cubit of 2538
(= 644 sq. ins.). With the square Remen, which is 4/12ths of the same area, we have again the triplicity of 4 : 7 : 12, this
time in surface measure.
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111
IV.
CEPHAS
The Name given by Our Lord to Peter
112
Cephas
THE NAME GIVEN BY OUR LORD TO PETER.
= 20
=8
= 500
=1
= 200
729
= 9 9 9 or the CUBE of NINE
The PERFECT STONE () upon which CHRIST builds His Church (). This is the
ROCK () of 243 squared stones (see diagram), the Figure of the Temple of the Church (
) and the Perfected Work (); also the .
The Schema, or visible figure of CEPHAS, shews 3 9 9 or 243 facets out of a total of 486 on the
whole surface. The 486 is (80 + 5 + 300 + 100 + 1), so that PETRA, the Rock, is the the Surface
of the cube whose solidity is CEPHAS. And ', or the Rock of 243 stones = 729 = .
But it will be observed that the 243 facets visible belong to 217 separate cubes of which the central one
shews Three facets and three rows of Eight cubes each
113
(all marked in the Schema) shew each Two facets. The central Cube represents the Chief of the Seven
cornerstones and the triple Divine Potency, whilst the Three Ogdoads of 8, 8, 8, all having a Duality of
aspect, stand for the 888 of Jesus, Who unites in His nature God and Man. Each arm of the
Ogdoads encloses 8 8 stones = 3 times 64 a triple Truth, and the whole is 192 =
, the name of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, here symbolic of His Church. On the further side of
of the cube, invisible, are 169 more of the lesser cubes, and this is the number of the name of Christ.
the Amen meaning Truth or Verity, and these 169 cubes, shew again 3 64 faces or a
triple Aletheia which is Mariam.
These 217 + 169 cubes, completely surround and enclose the Cube of 7 7 7, whose surface has facets
7 7 6 = 294 = the Church. Hence the Sevenfold Symbolism of the Ecclesia,
otherwise evident in the Seven Corners of the Cube, and the Seven Stars (see text). The cubes of 7 7
7 and of 9 9 9 stones are thus indissolubly connected, and that which lies between is the cube of
Eight 8 8 8 again the three Ogdoads of , this time in multiplication. For if from the
cube Cephas there be taken its visible surface cubes (217 in number) there remain the 512 which are 8
8 8, and whose visible surface cubes are the 169 of the and their facets 192. And if there be
further removed these 169 cubes, there remains the Cube of Seven, whose whole surface facets are are
the 294 of the ECCLESIA, which is the Trust committed to Timothy (II.
Tim. i. 14).
If all Six Facets of the 217 visible cubes of Cephas are counted, the number is 6 217 = 1302 which =
The Living Church , or the Church of the Lord . If all Six
facets of the 169 invisible are counted the number is 1014, which is that of the the Seal of
the Church or of Apostleship I. Cor. ix. 2.
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Update: March 8th, 2003

Coptic Gnostic Books

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A.

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

Annotated and Transcribed for the WorldWideWeb by Peter Wakefield Sault

The Geometric Cubit as a Basis of Proportion in the Plans of Mediaeval Buildings

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 1st, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

PETER WAKEFIELD SAULT

made (Heb. xi. 3).

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 1st, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

THE METHOD OF GEMATRIA:

* numerals only. For note on F - the Digamma, see end of Text.

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 1st, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

PETER WAKEFIELD SAULT

* Written defectively for rsyq Nvrn.

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 1st, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

PETER WAKEFIELD SAULT

reads oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called.

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 16th, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

PETER WAKEFIELD SAULT

the letter of the text a Gematria built on aeonial relationships of idea.

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: December 1st, 2002

FREDERICK BLIGH BOND, F.R.I.B.A

THOMAS SIMCOX LEA, D.D.

The Key Applied.

* See figure of Cephas.

( ) the title so blasphemously claimed by Simon Magus,* is 800 = .

* Simon Magus as has the number of the Omnipotence , which follows

592 or 37 16, which added to - 888, gives us 1480, the number of . is 37

is 19 that of the names and titles of the Virgin Mary.

=The Great Knowledge.

, the Gemellus Soter of Schwartze's translation, now restored as = 1492.

1, 2357, 4714, 7071, 9428, 11785, 14142.

* See Table, Appendix F.

* = 1873 = - the title of the Book of or , and 1873.2

(1)(3 + 3) 1000 =1183= -Let there Be!

CABALA OF THE FISH.

(1219 in Gematria), and the Diameter of the circle has a

* Representing 10,000 / (9 + 33) (i.e. 704.4 etc.).

(3)704 (3 - 1)=515 - the Virgin.

( 469 + 750 = 1219 = + .)

(c) Area of the Spherical Triangle, by convention

Internet edition copyright ODEION 2003

Update: March 1st, 2003