THE BUILDER NOVEMBER 1915

THE INEFFABLE NAME

BY BRO. GEO. W. WARVELLE, ILLINOIS

(Scattered through the Reports of Brother Warvelle, as Committee on
Fraternal Correspondence of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of
Illinois, are many scholarly and wise little essays on matters of
vital interest and instruction. These little essays deserve a wide
reading for their accuracy, their lucidity, and their importance to
the Craft, and we are permitted, by the kindness of the author, to
reproduce them from time to time; beginning with the following
little gem, which will give our readers a foretaste of what is to
come.--The Editor.)

We often hear the interrogatory, "What's in a name?" And, usually,
the question so propounded is pregnant with the answer, "Nothing."
Indeed, this is a generally accepted opinion. But, is it really
true ? Let us investigate it a little, for the reason, if none
other, that what is known as the ineffable Name is the very essence
of the Masonic system.

It would seem that in primitive thought the personal name of an
individual was not regarded merely as an attribute--a simple
designation. On the contrary it was treated as an integral part of
the man himself-- of his being. Hence, it followed that an injury
or insult to a name reacted upon the person who bore the name.
Notwithstanding our great intellectual advance have we wholly
outgrown this primitive thought? Consider your own case. Would it
not seem as though you had lost your personality if you should be
deprived of your name? Can you, by any effort of the imagination,
really disassociate yourself from it? Is not an injury to your name
still resented by you as an injury to yourself--you, the conscious
Ego ? Then is not your name, in fact, a part of yourself ? And,
this being true, is it not easy to extend the idea, with even
greater force, to the name of the deity ? As has been well said by
Prof. Brinton, "for the practical purpose of life the name confers
or creates personality. This fact exerted a profound influence in
the earliest development of religion. The vague sense of spiritual
power first became centered in the idea of an individual, or a
personal god, when it received a name." And we can readily
understand, if the names of men were held so dear, how sacred must
be the names of the gods. And we may further understand why this
feature should have become a component part of all religions when
we remember that it has for its basis the primal conception of the
name as a part of the Self.

It was also thought in an earlier and ruder age, as it still is
among many savage tribes, that the essential power of deity was
lodged in the name, and that a knowledge of this name would enable
one to exert practically the same power as the deity himself. And
so, we find the gods of the ancient world sedulously concealed
their names. Particularly is this true of the Semitic nations and
it has been surmised that it was the fear of some such subjection
of their deity, through the malicious use of his name by an enemy,
which led the early Jews to conceal it so effectually that it is
now lost. This name--the true divine name--as it was not to be
spoken, has now come to be described as the "Ineffable Name" and as
such it figures in the symbols, rituals and philosophy of
Freemasonry.

It is a curious fact, however, that the doctrine of the ineffable
Name is not confined to any one form of religion, nor to any
particular people or age. It is held in common by many widely
differing faiths, being found in the rudest superstitions of savage
races as well as in the most developed faiths of civilized peoples.
But this is only another evidence, if such were needed, of a
widespread belief of the fact that the name is of the essence of
being.

* * *

At the present time the current transcription of the tetragrammaton
J H V H is Jehovah, but the pronunciation as well as the derivation
of this name are still matters of controversy. By some modern
critics the name is derived from the names of Egyptian divinities,
supposed to have been nationalized by Moses. Others derive it from
an Assyrian form of the divine name, but all of these derivations
are in large measure conjectural. It is contended by some of the
scholars that as the name of the national deity it must have been
older than the time of Moses, as the name of the mother of Moses is
compounded with it. For the most part, however, Jehovah is regarded
as having been originally a family or tribal god, either of the
family to which Moses belonged or of the tribe of Joseph. That it
was, in fact, only a special name of El which became current within
a powerful circle, and which, on that account, was all the more
fitted to become the designation of the national god.

In the earlier periods of its history the name was not associated
with any idea as high as that of "creator," but as the religion of
Israel developed in spirituality and depth it became invested with
new and richer meanings. So, too, primarily, Jehovah was strictly
Israel's God, and it was not until long, very long, afterward that
He came to be regarded as the God of the Universe.

Thus far we have employed the name of Jehovah, but this is not
really a word of any language, neither is it the name now generally
recognized and used by the biblical scholars. The Jews, of later
periods, at least, either from religious awe, or from a
misunderstanding of Ex. XX, 7; Lev. XXIV, 16; abstained from
pronouncing the divine name, and whenever it occurred in reading
substituted therefor the word Adonai (Lord). As only the
consonantal outline of the word was written, (thus J H V H) in time
the true pronunciation became lost. Subsequently the revisers of
the Jewish scriptures, known as the Massorets, punctuated this
consonantal outline with the vowels e (for a) o a of the word
Adonai (Adonay) and thus we get the present name which, it will be
perceived, is distinctly a hybrid form. It is now generally agreed
among scholars, however, that the true pronunciation of the name is
Jahwe (Yahwe), a conclusion which is supported not only by the
linguistic argument derived from the fact that the various
contracted forms in which the name appears, either separately or in
compound proper names, are all reducible to Jahw, but also by the
testimony of ancient tradition.
* * *

The meaning of the name is involved in some obscurity. It does not
seem that the Hebrew phrase lends itself very readily to
translation into idiomatic English, and the scholars are not wholly
agreed with respect to its etymology. The translation furnished by
the Authorized Version of the Scriptures in Exod. III, 14, "I am
that I am," is the one employed in all Masonic liturgies. The
Revised Version gives the same translation with the marginal
readings, "I am because I am," or, "I will be that I will be." The
Douay Version, following the Latin Vulgate, renders it "I am who
am," and-" He who is." The English rendering of the Septuagint
seems to be, "I am he who is," or "who exists." The biblical
scholars, as a rule, translate the phrase, "I will be what I will
be," and "I will." This latter seems to be the true grammatical
reading, as the words, in the original, are in the future tense.
The root, however, is 'to be," and the essential meaning throughout
the scriptures is "the being," or "the everlasting."

The foregoing states the long held and generally received opinion
concerning the meaning of the phrase As previously stated, however,
the etymology of the word Jahwe, is still unsettled and many of the
biblica critics are of opinion that the better translation is, "He
who causes to be," or "He who causes to happen." This view is now
held by a very large number. It will be perceived that it still
emphasizes the essential fact of being and, it is contended, in a
much more satisfactory manner than the vague "I will be what I will
be." It is also more in consonance with the views of the Israelites
concerning the Deity at the time of its probable origin.

But, however we may translate the phrase, or eve though we may be
unable to state its meaning in words the ideas which it connotes
are the highest conception of God that can be framed--sublime and
comprehensive --the great mystery of Nature which is at the heart
of all things and connects all things into one whole. But that
great mystery we may never know, for it is no given to the finite
to comprehend the infinite. As a fitting conclusion I quote the
words of Kant (Critik de Urtheilskraft, pg. 197): "Perhaps in all
human composition there is no passage of greater sublimity, no
amongst all sublime thoughts any which has been more sublimely
expressed, than that which occurs in the inscription upon the
temple of Isis (the Great Mother-- Nature) :"

"I am whatsoever is--whatsoever has been what soever shall be: and
the veil which is over my countenance, no mortal hand has ever
raised."


NO CHURCH BUT MAN

A creedless love, that knows no clan, 
No caste, no cult, no church but Man, 
That deems to-day, and now, and here 
Are voice and vision of the seer, 
That through this lifted human clod 
The inflow of the breath of God 
Still sheds its apostolic powers,-- 
Such love, such trust, such faith be ours.

We deem man climbs an endless slope 
Toward far seen tablelands of hope; 
That he, through filth and shame of sin, 
Still seeks the God that speaks within; 
That all the years since time began 
Work the eternal Rise of Man; 
And all the days that time shall see 
Tend toward the Eden yet to be.

Too long our music-hungering needs 
Have heard the iron clash of creeds. 
The creedless love that knows no clan, 
No caste, no cult, no church but Man, 
Shall drown in mellow music all 
The dying jangle of their brawl; 
Such love with all its quickening powers,--
Such love to God and man be ours.
--Sam Walter Foss.

THE FATHERLAND

Where is the true man's fatherland?
Is it where he by chance is born?
Doth not the yearning spirit scorn
In such scant borders to be spanned?
Oh, yes ! his fatherland must be
As the blue heaven wide and free !

Is it alone where freedom is,
Where God is God and man is man ?
Doth he not claim a broader span
From the soul's love of home than this ?
Oh, yes; his fatherland must be
As the blue heaven wide and free.

Where'er human heart doth wear
Joy's myrtle wreath or sorrow's gyves,
Where'er a human spirit strives
After a life more true and fair,
There is the true man's birthplace grand,
His is a world-wide fatherland !

Where'er a single slave doth pine,
Where'er one man may help another--
Thank God for such a birthright brother--
That spot of earth is thine and mine !
There is the true man's birthplace grand,
His is a world-wide fatherland.
--James Russell Lowell.

