N.

NABIIM, SCHOOLS OF THE. We repeatedly meet in the Old Testament with references to the Beni Hanabiim, or sons of the prophets. These were the disciples of the prophets, or wise men of Israel, who underwent a course of esoteric instruction in the secret institutions of the Nabiim or prophets, just as the disciples of the Magi did in Persia, or of Pythagoras in Greece. Of these institutions, Oliver says, that "though little is known of their internal economy, their rites and ceremonies being strictly concealed, there can be no doubt that they were in many respects similar to our masonic lodges, and in some of their features they bore a resemblance to the collegiate institutions of our own country."+

NAHARDA, FRATERNITY OF. The Jewish Rabbins tell us, that the tribes which were carried into captivity on the destruction of the first temple, founded a fraternity at Naharda, on the river Euphrates, for the preservation of traditional knowledge, and which they transmitted to a few initiates, and that on the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus, Zerubbabel, with Joshua and Esdras, carried all this secret instruction to Jerusalem, and established a similar fraternity in that city. Oliver says that during the captivity, the Jews practised Freemasonry in regular lodges, until the time of their deliverance, and they had for this purpose three Colleges or Grand Lodges, which were situated at Sora, Pompeditha, and Naharda.

NAME OF GOD. In addition to what has been said upon this subject in the article Jehovah, we may observe, that an allu

I refer the reader for this expression to the Second Book of Kings, chap. ii., verses 3, 5, 7, 12, 15.

Historical Landmarks, ii., p. 374. Note.

sion to the unutterable name of God, is to be found in the doctrines and ceremonies of other nations, as well as the Jews. It is said to have been used as the pass-word in the Egyptian mysteries. In the rites of Hindostan, it was bestowed upon the aspirant, under the triliteral form AUM,* at the completion of his initiation, and then only by whispering it in his ear. The Cabalists reckoned seventy-two names of God, the knowledge of which imparted to the possessor magical powers. The Druids invoked the omnipotent and all-preserving power, under the symbol I. O. W. The Mohammedans have a science called Ism Allah, or the science of the name of God. "They pretend," says Niebuhr, "that God is the lock of this science, and Mohammed the key; that consequently none but Mohammedans can attain it; that it discovers what passes in different countries; that it familiarizes the possessors with the genii who are at the command of the initiated, and who instruct them; that it places the winds and the seasons at their disposal, and heals the bites of serpents, the lame, the maimed, and the blind."

Besides the Tetragrammaton, or incommunicable name, there are other expressive but less holy names of Deity. Maimonides, for instance, mentions a twelve lettered and a forty-two lettered name.t

Rosenberg gives the following twelve Cabalistic names: Ehie,

Sir William Jones, speaking of this Hindoo name of God, says: "It forms a mystical word which never escapes the lips of the pious Hindoo. They meditate on it in silence."-Dissertations relative to Asia, vol. i., p. 33. The Brahmins make a great secret of it, and the "Institutes of Menu" are continually referring to its peculiar efficacy as an omnifie word. "All rites ordained in the Veda," says this book, "oblations to fire and solemn sacrifices pass away, but that which passes not away is the syllable Auм, thence called aishara, since it is a symbol of God, the Lord of created beings.”—Instit. of Menu, p. 28.

† Urquhart (Pillars of Hercules, vol. ii., p. 67) mentions one name of God among the Hebrews, which I have met with nowhere else. viz., EL GIBAL, the master builder.

Jehovah, Elohim, El, Gibbor, Eloah, Sabaoth, Tsebaoth, Shaddai, Adonai, Makom, Agla.

Lanci, whose researches on this subject have been surpassed by no other scholar, and equalled by few, extends his list of divine names to twenty-six, which, with their signification, are as follows:*

1. At. The Aleph and Tau, that is, Alpha and Omega. A name figurative of the Tetragrammaton.

2. Ihoh. The eternal, absolute principle of creation and. 3. Hohi. destruction, the male and female principle, the

} the the

author and regulator of time and motion.

4. Jah. The Lord and Remunerator.

5. Oh. The severe and punisher.

6. Jao. The author of life.

7. Azazel. The author of death.

8. Jao-Sabaoth. God of the co-ordinations of loves and hatreds. Lord of the solstices and the equinoxes.

9. Ehie. The Being; the Ens.

10. El. The first cause. The principle or beginning of all things.

11. Elo-hi. The good principle.

12. Elo-ho. The evil principle.

13. El-raccum. The succouring principle.

14. El-cannum. The abhorring principle.

15. Ell. The most luminous.

16. I. The omnipotent.

17. Ellohim. The omnipotent and beneficent.

I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Gliddon, for this interesting list.

The ineffable degrees of masonry record a great variety of the names of God; making the whole system, like the Mohammedan Ism Allah, a science of the name of God. In fact, the name of God must be taken in Freemasonry as symbolical of truth, and then the search for it will be nothing else but the search after truth, the true end and aim of the masonic science. The subordinate names are the subordinate modifications of truth, but the ineffable tetragrammaton will be the sublimity and perfection of Divine Truth, to which all good Masons and all good men are seeking to approach, whether it be by the aid of the theological ladder, or passing through the pillars of Strength and Establishment, or wandering in the mazes of darkness, beset on all sides by dangers, or travelling weary and worn over rough and rugged roads, whatever be the direction of our journey or how accomplished, light and truth, the Urim and Thummin, are the ultimate objects of our search as Freemasons.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. A king of Babylon, who in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah, having, after a siege of about twelve months, taken Jerusalem, commanded Nebuzaradan, one of his generals, to set fire to and utterly consume the temple, to reduce the city to desolation, and to carry the citizens captive to Babylon. See the entire history under the title of Royal Arch.

NEBUZARADAN.

One of the generals of the King of Babylon, who by his order entered Jurusalem with a Chaldean army, and after having taken away every thing that was valuable, burned the city and temple, and carried all the inhabitants, except a few husbandmen, as captives to Babylon.

NEOPHYTE.

(From the Greek veov yuτov, a new plant.)

In the primitive church it signified one who had recently abandoned Judaism or Paganism, and embraced Christianity; whence it was afterwards applied to the young disciple of any art or science. Freemasons thus sometimes designate the uninstructed candidate.

These

NE VARIETUR. "Lest it should be changed." words refer to the masonic usage of requiring a brother, when he receives a certificate from a lodge, to affix his name, in his own hand-writing, in the margin, as a precautionary measure, in enabling distant brethren to recognise the true and original owner of the certificate, and to detect any impostor who may surreptitiously have obtained one.

NINE. If the number three is sacred among Masons, the number nine, or three times three, is scarcely less so. The Pythagoreans, remarking that this number has the power of always reproducing itself by multiplication,* considered it as an emblem of matter which, though continually changing its form, is never annihilated. It was also consecrated to the spheres, because the circumference of a sphere is 360 degrees, and 3 and 6 and 0 are equal to 9.

In Freemasonry, 9 derives its value from its being the product of 3 multiplied into itself, and consequently in masonic language the number 9 is always denoted by the expression 3 times 3. For a similar reason, 27, which is 3 times 9, and 81, which is 9 times 9, are esteemed as sacred numbers in the higher degrees.

Thus 2 9-18, and 1 and 8-9.

3 9-27, and 2 and 7-9.

4 9-36, and 3 and 6-9,

5 9-45, and 4 and 5-9.

6 9-54, and 5 and 4-9.

7 9-63, and 6 and 3-9.

8 9--72, and 7 and 2-9.

9 9-81, and 8 and 1-9.