The Ineffable Word.

-still more emphatically declared this to be his peculiar name : "I am Jehovah ¦ ¦; and I appeared unto Abraham , unto Isaac , and unto Jacob , by the name of M Shaddai ,-but by my name JEHOVAH ivas I not know unto them . " * It will be perceived , that I haA * e not here followed precisely the somewhat unsatisfactory version of King James' Biblewhichby translating or anglicizing one

, , name , and not the other , leaves the whole passage less intelligible and impressive than it should . I have Retained the original Hebrew for both names . EL SHADBAI , "the Almighty One , " was the name hy which he had been heretofore knoAA * n to the preceding patriarchs ; in its meaning it vvas analogous to ELOHIM , who

is described in the first chapter of Genesis as creating the 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 eA * ents , this name of God became invested among the Israelites with the profoundest veneration and aive . To add to this mysticism , the Kabbalists , by the change of a single letter , read the passage " This is my name for ever , " or ,

: as it is in the original , Zeli shemi Volant , rzhsh ve ? n *> as if written Zeli- shemi Valam , ahtth > a-a m . 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 became a precept , and has been strictly obeyed to this clay . The word Jehovah is never pronounced by a pious Jewivho

, , whenever he meets with it in Scripture , substitutes for it the word Adonai or Lord , a practice which has been followed by the translators of the common English version of the Bible with almost Jewish scrupulosity , . the word " Jehoi'ah" in the original being ini'ariably » 'translated by the word "Lord . " The jn-onunciation of

the word being thus abandoned , became ultimately lost . » as by the peculiar construction 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 AA'ho is unacquainted Avith the HebreAV , I ivill venture to furnish an explanation which will , perhaps , be intelligible .

The HeoreAv alphabet consists entirely of consonants , the vowel sounds having always been inserted orally , ancl sever marked in writing until the " VOAA ' CI points , " as they are called , Avere invented by the Masorites , some six ¦ centuries after the Chrsstian era . As the voAvel sounds were originally supplied by the reader AA'hile reading , from a knowledge which he had prei'iouslreceivedb

y , y ¦ means of oral instruction , of the proper pronunciation of the Avord , he Avas necessaril y unable to pronounce any word which had never before been uttered in his presence . As we knoiv that Dr . is to be pronounced doctor , and Or . as creditor , because we have ahvays heard those peculiar combinations of letters thus enunciated , and not because

the letters themselA'es give any such sound ; so the JCAV knew from instruction and constant practice , and not -from the poAver of- the letters , IIOAV the consonants in the cAi'fferent Avords in daily use were to be vocalized . But as the four letters which compose the word Jehovah , as sve now call itwere never pronounced in his presence

, , » but were made to represent another word , Adonai , ivhich was substituted for it , ancl as the combination of these four consonants would give no more indication for any . sort of enunciation than the combinations Dr . or Or . ig ive in our language , the JCAV , 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 , AA * ho , 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 he entered the holy of holies of the tabernacle or the temple . If the traditions of Masonry on this subject are correctthe kingsafter 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 invioladility , the "ineffable" or unutterable name . The Kabbalists and Talnradists haA'e enveloped it in a host of mystical superstitions , most of which are as absurd 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 . The Eabbins called if'shem hamphorash , " that is to say "the name that Avas declared , " and they say that

David found it engraved on a stone while digging into the earth . From the sacredness with which the name was A-enerated , it was seldom , if ever , written in full , and , consequently a great many symbols , or hieroglypics , were invented to express it . One of these was the letter > , or Todequivalent nearly to the English Ior Jor T ,

, , , which was the initial of the word , and it was A often inscribed within an equilateral tiangle thus : /* i \ ; the triangle itself being a symbol 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 relig ions occupying the

same position , but the whole symbol itself is undoubtedly the origin of that hieroglyp hic exhibited in the second degree of Masonry , where the explanation of the symbolism being the same , the form of it , as far as it respects the letter , has only been anglicized by modern innoA'ators . In my OAvn opinion , the letter G- , which is used in the FelloAv Craft's degree , should never have

been permitted to intrude into Masonry ; it presents an instance of absurd anachronism , which would never have occurred if the orig inal Hebrew symbol had been retained . But being there now , without the possibility of removal , we have only to remember that it is in fact but the symbol of a symbol . Widely spreadas I have already saidwas this reverence

, , for the name of God ; and , consequently , its symbolism , in some peculiar form , is to be found in all the ancient rites . Thus , the Ineffable Name itself , of which ive have been discoursing , is sad to have been preserved in its true pronunciation by the Essenes , who in their secret rites ,

communicated it to each other only in a whisper , and in such form , that while its component parts were known , they were so separated as to make the whole word a mystery . Among the Egyptians , whose connection with the Hebrews was more immediate than that of any other people , and where , consequently , there was a greater