INSCRIPTION ON THE FONT AT CHELMORTON. 5 



open book in the hand of the Evangelist is inscribed, " Ego te 

 baptizo in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." In the 

 last two " the blessing of God is represented by a hand issuing 

 from a rainbow above, with- the fingers extended, according to 

 the Roman mode of benediction, and with a triple ray of light 

 emanating from the outstretched hand." This font is of the 

 date of a.d. 11 12. :; 



From the fourth to the fourteenth century, the Supreme 

 Being (or, I should rather say, the blessed Trinity) is never 

 represented except symbolically by means of a hand in the 

 Catacombs. t Thus, in sundry representations of the sacrifice 

 of Isaac, a hand stretched out from on high to seize the knife 

 is pourtrayed. X 



For some unknown reason, the great name of Jehovah was 

 looked upon with such awful reverence by the Jews, that it 

 was never allowed to be uttered by any Jew excepting the 

 High Priest, and by him only once in the year, when he 

 solemnly blessed the people in the temple. § To this usage 

 applied the command, " Thou shalt not take the name of 

 Jehovah, thy God, in vain;" and blasphemy with the Jews 

 could only be committed by uttering that great and terrible 

 name.** 



The prohibition to utter this sacred name led to the invention 

 of symbols by which it might be represented. One of these 

 was the right hand with the three larger fingers extended, and 

 the little finger held down by the thumb. X+ A better emblem 

 of the Trinity in unity could hardly have been devised. 



Mr. Lee says that the non-utterance of this dread name '' is 

 a mere Jewish superstition, derived from a considerable an- 

 tiquity." §§ This is a complete mistake. It is as old as the 

 3rd chapter of Genesis ; for there, throughout the conversation 

 between Eve and the Serpent, the word Jehovah is omitted, 

 and Elohim alone used, although immediately before and im- 



* IS Arch. J., 217. t Withrow Cat., 354, 357. J Ibid., 289. 



^ Numb, vi., 24, 25. ** Codex Sanhedrin, cap. 4, fol. 55. 



H Moore's Lost Tribes of the Saxons of the East and West, p. 234. 



•s§ Hebr, Gram., 28. 



