Monas and the author's other books · Lexicon

From the book

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Attributed to Abraham the Jew · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordMonas and the cabala of the faith of Christians and philosophers are names or descriptions attached to other discussions to which the writer refers.
In the bookOne reference concerns universal alteration, corruption, and death; the other appears in the discussion of represented species and glorification.
TranslationThe names are retained without identifying a particular surviving book where the witness does not provide enough information.
A place to readRead 95r, scan 221, and 121r, scan 277, for the two references and their immediate subjects.

Meaning

A reference to another book can reveal the author’s intended intellectual setting even when the book itself is unidentified. These passages tell us what topics the writer assigns elsewhere: the dissemination of the universal spirit and mortality, and the relation of species, representation, and heavenly happiness.

Monas can function as a title-element. Its occurrence does not alone identify John Dee’s Monas hieroglyphica or establish that this witness quotes it. The fuller phrase in the manuscript and the subject assigned to it are the evidence available here.

Use in the book

On 95r, scan 221, the author explains a continual movement of alteration, corruption, and death spreading through the universe. Contrariety and the spirit of Antichrist are joined to this harvest of mortality and transience. He says that the matter is explained at length in a book called the sole Monas of the hieroglyphs of physics, magic, and Christian cabala. The cross-reference belongs to the exposition of nature’s fallen condition, immediately before divine mercy supplies a remedy.²⁸⁴

The phrase gives a distinctive combination of subjects, but no author, date, or other bibliographic detail. It should therefore be preserved as the witness’s designation. An identification would require comparison with an actual candidate text and evidence that its content fits the referral.

On 121r, scan 277, the writer says that he has discussed the matter in ‘our Cabala of the Faith of Christians and Philosophers.’ The preceding optical argument distinguishes a representation from the species of a planet. The same side proceeds to the renewal and glorification of animal, vegetable, and mineral species as accidental causes of blessed spirits’ happiness. The possessive our is a claim by the transmitted speaker; it does not establish the modern identification or survival of the named book.²⁸⁵

Together, the references show that the present treatise presents itself as part of a wider explanatory enterprise. They also give useful limits. A reader can locate the subject sent elsewhere, while the absence of a securely identified other book leaves that further exposition unavailable. The lexicon records both the invitation and the limit rather than filling the gap with a familiar title.

Places to read

Manuscript 95r · Scan 221The Monas reference concerns universal alteration, corruption, mortality, and the universal spirit.
Manuscript 121r · Scan 277The author’s other cabala is named between an optical distinction and the glorification of species.

Translation

Monas remains Monas. The companion English renders the longer description as the sole Monas of the hieroglyphs of physics, magic and Christian Kabbalah. That English spelling variant corresponds to the source’s cabale and should not be made into another French term.

Cabala of the Faith of Christians and Philosophers follows the phrase at scan 277. Its capitalization in English makes the book-reference readable while leaving its bibliographic identification open. The uncertain optical word vitines remains qualified as vitreous(?) in the preceding sentence.

Monas

Attested: H001-S221. The title-element occurs in a reference to a fuller discussion of mortality and alteration.

cabale de la foi des chrétiens et des philosophes

Attested: H001-S277. The speaker refers to an earlier or separate discussion under this designation.

Source note

Manuscript 95r, scan 221. The witness supplies the longer Monas designation without an author or date. A familiar title-element is insufficient to identify a particular surviving work.

Manuscript 121r, scan 277. The first-person possessive belongs to the transmitted author. This entry does not infer authorship of an independently identified book from that possessive alone.