The Tetragrammaton.

THE TETRAGRAMMATON .

LONDON , SATURDAY , MARCH 31 , 1866 .

Our ancient Masters , tlie Egyptian Hierophauts , were in tlie habit of only showing their symbols , and leaving them to speak for themselves the task of studying and finding their meaning devolved upon the initiated . -In doing so they acted

upon the principle that knowledge that is acquired with much facility is not duly appreciated , and that those explanations which are always freely given will not remain firmly enough graven in the mind of the learners .

This system , however , labours under this drawback , that if men are left to seek for themselves the solution of problems clad in mysteries and symbols , they will , sometimes by ignorance , often by precipitation , misinterpret them and hit on

false explanations which , by way of being repeated and diffused , will at last appear to be correct , and lead to irretrievable errors , by which the truth itself will be entirely eliminated . Many ' cases of tins kind , on which it would be needless to dwell

here , are continually to be met ivith in symbolical Masonry , but Ave may be allowed to direct the attention of the reader to some data which will tend to foster his interest in the study of our symbols .

When the functionaries of a Chapter take the oath incidental to their office , they arrange themselves in such an order as to form the celebrated , but rather obscure Terpinrvs of Pythagoras who was in ancient Greece at least the father of the philosophy of numbers .

<¦ This figure ( Pig . ' 1 ) is made up of ten dots or dashes *? *» similar to the yods that were used by the Hebrews as a * mystic mode of denoting the

name of God , as derived from the ten Sepldroth , ov ' ' ' the emanation of the divinity of Avhich so much is said in the Cabala .

9 With reference to this figure , which is further deft * 1 veloped in Pigs . 2 and 8 , ( showing the arrangement of * " * the component letters of the

a . name of God ) , it is intimately connected with the ' '" mysterious numbers of which so many Masons speak without knowing their

meaning , and Avith the symbols of the 18 ° and of symbolical Masonry . By forming an equilateral

triangle , Pythagoras represented the " Universal Nature" aud the centre point equidistant from each angle and each side of the triangle ,

denoting God as the sole Unity and centre point of the Universe , the "inner point of

the circle" of our brethren of the symbolical degrees . Taking each side of the triangle as the radius of a circle , it will represent the chord of an ark of 60 ° , or the sixth part of its circumference , and thence we derive the origin of the compass of our jewel , extended to 60 degrees .

The same triangle ( Pig . 4 ) gives us the number three , and in its angle we find the three great columns , Faith , Hope , and Charity . By

further trisecting- the sides of the equilateral triangle , Ave shall get a UGAV set of smaller equilateral triangles , each of

which in its turn is subdivisible ail infinitum

an emblem of the infinite divisibility of matter . The triple triangle ( Pig . 5 ) , the hexagon ( Pig . 4 ) , and the three gradial crosses ( Pig . 6 )

are by one-half higher than the others . In the six angles of the hexagon ( Pig . 7 ) , and the centre point , making

altogether seven points , Ave obtain the battery of that degree and the number of letters of its watchword . By means of the same lines Ave also obtain the cube or cubic stone , a solid body

Avhich becomes singularly visible on the inner plan of the triangle ( Pig . S ) , ancl has a mysterious reference to the Divinity ; the " simple

aud absolute existence" of the Hebrews , the soul of the Universe , separate and

distinct from the latter , invisible to mortal eyes , and