6 INSCRIPTION ON THE FONT AT CHELMORTON. 



mediately after Jehovah Elohim are used, and that too in 

 the same narrative ; and the only assignable reason for the 

 omission of Jehovah in the conversation itself is, that that 

 sacred name was too dreadful to be uttered. The command- 

 ment itself shows that the practice was as old as the time of 

 Moses at least. 



When the symbol of the extended hand was invented, it is 

 impossible to say ; but it existed in the time of Abraham. In 

 Genesis* we find that " Abraham said to the King of Sodom, 

 I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah ; " that is, I have sworn 

 by Jehovah. For the way in which the Jews took an oath 

 was to hold up the right hand extended in the manner above 

 described. And this explains the numerous passages in the 

 Bible where holding up the hand to Jehovah is mentioned. 

 This is still the mode of taking an oath in Denmark, t And 

 in South Wales a witness, as we have often noticed, places his 

 three fingers at the top and his thumb under the book, whilst 

 his little finger does not touch the book ; which is, no doubt, 

 derived from the original practice of holding up the hand, and, 

 like it, is a symbol of the Trinity. 



The extended hand with the three rays of light, which no 

 doubt issued from the three larger fingers, is thus fully shown 

 to be an emblem of the Trinity. 



It is very remarkable that the symbol of the extended hand 

 appears constantly on the ruined buildings of America, and 

 always upright, as the emblem of power,J and so it does on 

 the Carthaginian monuments. § 



* xiv. 22 f Boelen v. Melladew, 10 C. B., 898. J 2 Wils. Preh. Man, 231. 



§ The other symbols consisted of particular words, which contained twelve 

 and forty-two letters respectively. These were confided only to the most trust- 

 worthy priests, to be preserved by them in the strictest possible secrecy. The 

 symbol of twelve letters in Hebrew was "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 

 The other of forty-two letters was " Father (is) God, Son (is) God, and Holy 

 Ghost (is) God ; but not three Gods but one God." This rests on the state- 

 ments in the book, " De arcanis Catholicse Veritatis," chap. 11, 12, by Peter 

 Galatin. a Franciscan, who was living in 1532. (See Buxtorf Hebrew Lexicon, 

 under Jehovah.) It has been our lot on several occasions carefully to consider 

 the Athanasian Creed ; and when the controversy as to the date of the Utrecht 

 Psalter was going on, we had before us the two remarkable Greek copies of 

 that Creed, which Mr. Rawdon Brown had found in St. Mark's Library at 

 Venice (see them in XXXIII. Rep. Dep. Keep. Records, p. 274), as well as 



