Section 17

"Wherefore, my brethren," says Harris, "do you
carry corn^ wine, and oil in your processions, but to
remind you that in the pilgrimage of human life you are
to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry,
to send a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and
to pour the healing oil of your consolation into the

172 Symbolism of Freemasonry

wounds which sickness hath made in the bodies, or
affliction rent in the hearts, of your fellow-travellers?"^

But, individually, each of these elements of conse-
cration has also an appropriate significance, which is
well worth investigation.

Corn, in the language of Scripture, is an emblem of
the resurrection, and St. Paul, in that eloquent discourse
which is so familiar to all, as a beautiful argument for
the great Christian doctrine of a future life, adduces the
seed of grain, which, being sown, first dieth, and then
quickeneth, as the appropriate type of that corruptible
which must put on incorruption, and of that mortal
which must assume immortality.

But in Freemasonry the sprig of acacia, for reasons
purely Masonic, has been always adopted as the symbol
of immortality, and the ear of corn is appropriated as
the symbol of plenty. This is in accordance with the
Hebrew derivation of the word, as well as with the
usage of all ancient nations. The word dagan, "j^T?
which signifies corrij is derived from the verb dagah,
T]y^ 7 to increase, to multiply, and in all the ancient relig-
ions the horn or vase, filled with fruits and with grain,
v/as the recognized symbol of plenty.

As an element of consecration, corn is intended to
remind us of those temporal blessings of life and health,
and comfortable support, which we derive from the
Giver of all good, and to merit which we should strive,
with ^'clean hands and a pure heart," to erect on the
corner-stone of our initiation a spiritual temple, which
shall be adorned with the ''beauty of holiness."

Wine is a symbol of that inward and abiding comfort
with which the heart of the man who faithfully per-
forms his part on the great stage of life is to be re-

* "Masonic Discourses," Dis. iv. p. 81.

Symbolism of the Corner-stone 173

freshed. As in the figurative language of the East,
Jacob prophetically promises to Judah as his reward
that he shall wash his garments in wine, and his clothes
in the blood of the grape, it seems intended, morally,
to remind us of those immortal refreshments which,
when the labors of this earthly Lodge are forever closed,
we shall receive in the celestial Lodge above, where the
Grand Architect of the Universe forever presides.

Oil is a symbol of prosperity, and happiness, and joy.
The custom of anointing every thing or person destined
for a sacred purpose is of venerable antiquity. The
statues of the heathen deities, as well as the altars on
which the sacrifices were offered to them, and the
priests who presided over the sacred rites, were always
anointed with perfumed ointment, as a consecration of
them to the objects of religious worship.

When Jacob set up the stone on which he had slept
in his journey to Padan-aram, and where he was blessed
with the vision of ascending and descending angels, he
anointed it with oil, and thus consecrated it as an altar
to God. Such an inunction was, in ancient times, as it
still continues to be in many modern countries and con-
temporary religions, a symbol of the setting apart of
the thing or person so anointed and consecrated to a
holy purpose.

^'The act of consecration chiefly consisted in the
unction, which was a ceremony derived from the most
primitive antiquity. The sacred tabernacle, with all
the vessels and utensils, as also the altar and the priests
themselves, were consecrated in this manner by Moses,
at the divine command.

"It is well known that the Jewish kings and prophets
were admitted to their several offices by unction. The
patriarch Jacob, by the same right, consecrated the

174 Symbolism of Freemasonry

altars which he made use of; in doing which it is more
probable that he followed the tradition of his fore-
fathers, than that he was the author of this custom.
The same, or something like it, was also continued down
to the times of Christianity."^

Hence we are reminded by this last impressive cere-
mony, that the cultivation of virtue, the practice of
duty, the resistance of temptation, the submission to
suffering, the devotion to truth, the maintenance of
integrity, and all those other graces by which we strive
to fit our bodies, as living stones, for the spiritual build-
ing of eternal life, must, after all, to make the object
effectual and the labor successful, be consecrated by a
holy obedience to God's will and a firm reliance on
God's providence, which alone constitute the chief
corner-stone and sure foundation, on which any man
can build with the reasonable hope of a prosperous issue
to his work.

It may be noticed, in concluding this topic, that the
corner-stone seems to be peculiarly a Jewish symbol.
We can find no reference to it in any of the ancient
pagan rites, and the EBEN PINAH, the corner-stone^
which is so frequently mentioned in Scripture as the
emblem of an important personage, and most usually,
in the Old Testament, of the expected Messiah, appears,
in its use in Freemasonry, to have had, unlike almost
every other symbol of the Order, an exclusively temple
origin.

Bro. Mackey does not examine at length the sacri-
ficial relation of the youngest Entered Apprentice to the
North-East Corner and therefore to the corner-stone.
A sacrifice at the corner-stone is of very great antiquity.
For a brief but most instructive reference see Hasting's

* Potter, "Archaeologia Grseca," b. ii. p. 176.

Symbolism op the Corner-stone 175

Bible Dictionary, article "House/' The question has
also been skillfully handled by Bro. George W. Speth.
Essentially now as in olden times the building is sym-
bolically consecrated by the sacrifice of a human being,
the ceremony being a foundation rite. The corn, wine,
and oil are symbolic reminders of a sacrifice of once
far greater proportions. With this explanation the
allusions of Masonic ritual to the Entered Apprentice
take on the greater significance. Here also the Knight
Templar has an enlarged vision of what is meant by
the Savior as a corner-stone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Ineffable Name

ANOTHER important symbol is the Ineffable
Name, with which the series of ritualistic sym-
bols will be concluded. The Tetragrammaton/
or Ineffable Word — the Incommunicable Name — is a
symbol. Rightly considered it is nothing more than
a symbol, but a symbol that has more than any other
(except, perhaps, the symbols connected with sun-
worship) pervaded the rites of antiquity. We know,
indeed, of no system of ancient initiation in which it
has not some prominent form and place.

But as it was in all probability the earliest symbol
which was corrupted by the spurious Freemasonry of
the pagans, in their secession from the primitive system
of the patriarchs and ancient priesthood, it will be most
expedient for the thorough discussion of the subject
which is proposed in the present paper, that we should
begin the investigation with an inquiry into the nature
of the symbol among the Israelites.

* From the Greek rcrpas, four, and ypanjxa, letter, because it is
composed of four Hebrew letters. Brande thus defines it: "Among
several ancient nations, the name of the mystic number four, which
was often symbohzed to represent the Deity, whose name was ex-
pressed by four letters." But this definition is incorrect. The
tetragrammaton is not the name of the number four, but the word
which expresses the name of God in four letters, and is always
appUed to the Hebrew word only.

176

Ineffable Name 177

That name of God which we at a venture pronounce
Jehovah — although whether this is, or is not, the true
pronunciation can now never be authoritatively settled
— was ever held by the Jews in the most profound vener-
ation. They derived its origin from the immediate
inspiration of the Almighty, who communicated it to
Moses as His especial appellation, to be used only by
His chosen people. This communication was made at
the Burning Bush, when He said to him, ^'Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel: Jehovah, the God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this
[Jehovah] is My name forever, and this is My memorial
unto all generations."^

And at a subsequent period He still more emphat-
ically declared this to be His peculiar name: *'I
am Jehovah; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai;
but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto
them.'^^

It will be perceived that we have not here followed
precisely the somewhat unsatisfactory version of King
James's Bible, which, by translating or anglicizing one
name, and not the other, leaves the whole passage less
intelligible and impressive than it should be.

We have retained the original Hebrew for both names.
El Shaddai, *'the Almighty One,'' was the name by
which He had been heretofore known to the patriarchs;
in its meaning it was analogous to Elohim, who is
described in the first chapter of Genesis as creating the

* Exodus iii. 15. In our common version of the Bible, the word
"Lord" is substituted for "Jehovah," whence the true import of
the original is lost.

» Exodus vi. 2, 3.

178 Symbolism of Freemasonry

world. But His name of Jehovah was now for the first
time to be communicated to His people.

Ushered to their notice with all the solemnity and
religious consecration of these scenes and events, this
name of God became invested among the Israelites with
the profoundest veneration and awe. To add to this
mysticism, the Cabalists, by the change of a single
letter, read the passage, ^'This is my name forever, '*
or, as it is in the original, Zeh shemi Volam, ub'^b *^/J123 tilt
as if written Zeh shemi Valanij obi^b *^^125 HT > that is to
say, *'This is my name to be concealed."

This interpretation, although founded on a blunder,
and in all probability an intentional one, soon be-
came a precept, and has been strictly obeyed to this
day.

^'The Jews have many superstitious stories and opin-
ions relative to this name, which, because they were for-
bidden to mention in vain, they would not mention at
all. They substituted Adonai, etc., in its room, when-
ever it occurred to them in reading or speaking, or else
simply and emphatically styled it DlDH, the Name.

"Some of them attributed to a certain repetition of
this name the virtue of a charm, and others have had
the boldness to assert that our blessed Savior wrought
all His miracles (for they do not deny them to be such)
by that mystical use of this venerable name. See the
Toldoth Jeschu, an infamously scurrilous life of Jesus,
written by a Jew not later than the thirteenth century.
On p. 7, edition of Wagenseilius, 1681, is a succinct
detail of the manner in which our Savior is said to have
entered the temple and obtained possession of the Holy
Name.

"Leusden says that he had offered to give a sum of
money to a very poor Jew at Amsterdam, if he would

Ineffable Name 179

only once deliberately pronounce the name Jehovah;
but he refused it by saying that he did not dare."^

''A Brahmin will not pronounce the name of the
Almighty, without drawing down his sleeve and placing
it on his mouth with fear and trembling. "^

The word ^^ Jehovah'' is never pronounced by a pious
Jew, who, whenever he meets with it in Scripture, sub-
stitutes for it the word ^^Adonai" or ^^ Lord'' — a practice
which has been followed by the translators of the com-
mon English version of the Bible with almost Jewish
scrupulosity, the word ''Jehovah" in the original being
invariably translated by the word ''Lord."

The same scrupulous avoidance of a strict translation
has been pursued in other versions. For "Jehovah,"
the Septuagint substitutes "Kuptos," the Vulgate "Dom-
inus," and the German "der Herr," all equivalent to
''the Lord.'' The French version uses the title 'I'Eter-
nel.'' But, with a better comprehension of the value of
the word, Lowth in his Isaiah, the Swedenborgian ver-
sion of the Psalms, and some other recent versions, have
restored the original name.

The pronunciation of the word, being thus aban-
doned, became ultimately lost, as, by the peculiar con-
struction of the Hebrew language, which is entirely
without vowels, the letters, being all consonants, can
give no possible indication, to one who has not heard
it before, of the true pronunciation of any given word.

To make this subject plainer to the reader who is
unacquainted with the Hebrew, we will venture to furnish
an explanation which will, perhaps, be intelligible.

The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants,
the vowel sounds having always been inserted orally,

» "Horae Solitarise," vol. i. p. 3.

'Murray, "Truth of Revelation," p. 321.

180 Symbolism of Freemasonry

and never marked in writing until the "vowel points,"
as they are called, were invented by the Masorites, some
six centuries after the Christian era. As the vowel
sounds were originally supplied by the reader, while
reading, from a knowledge which he had previously
received, by means of oral instruction, of the proper
pronunciation of the word, he was necessarily unable to
pronounce any word which had never before been
uttered in his presence.

As we know that " Dr." is to be pronounced '' Doctor,"
and "Mr." as "Mister," because we have always heard
those peculiar combinations of letters thus enunciated,
and not because the letters themselves give any such
sound; so the Jew knew from instruction and constant
practice, and not from the power of the letters, how the
consonants in the different words in daily use were to
be vocalized.

But as the four letters which compose the word
"Jehovah," as we now call it, were never pronounced
in his presence, but were made to represent another
word "Adonai," which was substituted for it, and as
the combination of these four consonants would give no
more indication for any sort of enunciation than the
combinations "Dr." or "Mr." give in our language, the
Jew, being ignorant of what vocal sounds were to be
supplied, was unable to pronounce the word, so that its
true pronunciation was in time lost to the masses of the
people.

There was one person, however, who it is said was in
possession of the proper sound of the letters and the
true pronunciation of the word. This was the high
priest, who, receiving it from his predecessor, preserved
the recollection of the sound by pronouncing it three
times, once a year, on the day of the atonement, when

Ineffable Name 181

he entered the holy of holies of the tabernacle or the
temple.

If the traditions of Freemasonry on this subject are
correct, the kings, after the establishment of the mon-
archy, must have participated in this privilege; for
Solomon is said to have been in possession of the word,
and to have communicated it to his two colleagues at
the building of the temple.

This is the word which, from the number of its letters,
was called the ''tetragrammaton,^' or four-lettered
name, and, from its sacred inviolability, the ^'ineffable"
or unutterable name.

The Cabalists and Talmudists have enveloped it in a
host of mystical superstitions, most of which are as ab-
surd as they are incredible, but all of them tending to show
the great veneration that has always been paid to it.
Thus they say that it is possessed of unlimited powers,
and that he who pronounces it shakes heaven and earth,
and inspires the very angels with terror and astonishment.

In the Talmudical treatise, Majan Hachochimay quoted
by Stephelin, Rabbinical Literature, i. p. 131, we are
informed that rightly to understand the Shem Ham-
phorash is a key to the unlocking of all mysteries.
*' There," says the treatise, ''shalt thou understand the
words of men, the words of cattle, the singing of birds,
the language of beasts, the barking of dogs, the language
of devils, the language of ministering angels, the lan-
guage of date-trees, the motion of the sea, the unity
of hearts, and the murmuring of the tongue — nay, even
the thoughts of the reins."

The Rabbins called it ''Shem Hamphorash," that is
to say, ''the name that is declaratory," and they say
that David found it engraved on a stone while digging
into the earth.

182 Symbolism of Freemasonry

From the sacredness with which the name was vener-
ated, it was seldom, if ever, written in full, and, conse-
quently, a great many symbols, or hieroglyphics, were
invented to express it. One of these was the letter ^^
or Yod, equivalent nearly to the English I or J or Y
which was the initial of the word, and it was
often inscribed within an equilateral tri-
"* \ angle, thus: the triangle itself being a sym-
bol of Deity.

This symbol of the name of God is peculiarly worthy of
our attention, since not only is the triangle to be found in
many of the ancient religions occupying the same posi-
tion, but the whole symbol itself is undoubtedly the origin
of that hieroglyphic exhibited in the second degree of
Freemasonry, where, the explanation of the symboUsm
being the same, the form of it, as far as it respects the
letter, has only been anglicized by modern innovators.

In Bro. Mackey's opinion the letter '^G'^ which is
used in the Fellow Craft's degree, should never have
been permitted to intrude into Freemasonry. He be-
lieved that it presents an instance of absurd anachron-
ism, which would never have occurred if the original
Hebrew symbol had been retained. But be that as it
may, the English letter ''G" being there now, without
the possibihty of removal, we have only to remember
that it is in fact but the symbol of a symbol. ^