They make this divine name point yet more strongly to the supreme author of nature; for, as אב, signifies father; and as the omnipresent Spirit of the universe, or the holy father of mankind, is said to dwell above, they therefore call the immense space of the heavens, Aba, Abáse, and Abatàra: and, to distinguish the King of kings, by his attributes, from their own Minggo Ishto, or great chieftains, they frequently name him Minggo Ishto Aba, &c.; Ishto Aba, &c.; Minggo Aba, &c.; and, when they are striving to move the passions of the audience, Ishtohoollo Aba. The Hebrew servants were not allowed to call their master or mistress אב, Abba, till they were adopted: to which custom St. Paul alludes, Rom. viii. 15.
They have another appellative, which with them is the mysterious, essential name of God—the tetragrammaton, or great four-lettered name—which they never mention in common speech,—of the time and place, when, and where, they mention it, they are very particular, and always with a solemn air.
There is a species of tea, that grows spontaneously, and in great plenty, along the sea-coast of the two Carolinas, Georgia, and East and West Florida, which we call Yopon, or Cusseena:[[22]] The Indians transplant, and are extremely fond of it; they drink it on certain stated occasions, and in their most religious solemnities, with awful invocations: but the women, and children, and those who have not successfully accompanied their holy ark, pro Aris et Focis, dare not even enter the sacred square, when they are on this religious duty; otherwise, they would be dry scratched with snakes teeth, fixed in the middle of a split reed, or piece of wood, without the privilege of warm water to supple the stiffened skin.
When this beloved liquid, or supposed holy drink-offering, is fully prepared, and fit to be drank, one of their Magi brings two old consecrated, large conch-shells, out of a place appropriated for containing the holy things, and delivers them into the hands of two religious attendants, who, after a wild ceremony, fill them with the supposed sanctifying, bitter liquid: then they approach near to the two central red and white seats, (which the {46} traders call the war, and beloved cabbins) stooping with their heads and bodies pretty low; advancing a few steps in this posture, they carry their shells with both hands, at an instant, to one of the most principal men on those red and white seats, saying, on a bass key, Y’ah, quite short: then, in like manner, they retreat backward, facing each other, with their heads bowing forward, their arms across, rather below their breast, and their eyes half shut; thus, in a very grave, solemn manner, they sing on a strong bass key, the awful monosyllable, O, for the space of a minute: then they strike up majestic He, on the treble, with a very intent voice, as long as their breath allows them; and on a bass key, with a bold voice, and short accent, they at last utter the strong mysterious sound, Wah, and thus finish the great song, or most solemn invocation of the divine essence. The notes together compose their sacred, mysterious name, Y-O-He-Wah.[[23]]
That this seems to be the true Hebrew pronunciation of the divine essential name, יהוה, Jehovah, will appear more obvious from the sound they seem to have given their characters. The Greeks, who chiefly copied their alphabet from the Hebrew, had not jod, but ιοτα, very nearly resembling the sound of our Y. The ancient Teutonic and Sclavonian dialects, have Yah as an affirmative, and use the consonant W instead of V. The high importance of the subject, necessarily would lead these supposed red Hebrews, when separated from other people in America, to continue to repeat the favourite name of God, YO He Wah, according to the ancient pronunciation.
Contrary to the usage of all the ancient heathen world, the American Indians not only name God by several strong compounded appellatives, expressive of many of his divine attributes, but likewise say Yah at the beginning of their religious dances, with a bowing posture of body; then they sing Yo Yo, He He, and repeat those sacred notes, on every religious occasion: the religious attendants calling to Yah to enable them humbly to supplicate, seems to point to the Hebrew custom of pronouncing, יה, Yah, which likewise signifies the divine essence. It is well known what sacred regard the Jews had to the four-lettered divine name, so as scarcely ever to mention it, but once a year, when the high-priest went into the holy sanctuary, at the expiation of sins. Might not the Indians copy from them, this sacred invocation? Their method of invoking God, in a {47} solemn hymn, with that reverential deportment, and spending a full breath on each of the two first syllables of the awful divine name, hath a surprizing analogy to the Jewish custom, and such as no other nation or people, even with the advantage of written records, have retained.
It may be worthy of notice, that they never prostrate themselves, nor bow their bodies, to each other, by way of salute, or homage, though usual with the eastern nations, except when they are making or renewing peace with strangers, who come in the name of Yah; then they bow their bodies in that religious solemnity—but they always bow in their religious dances, because then they sing what they call divine hymns, chiefly composed of the great, beloved, divine name, and addressed to Yo He Wah. The favoured persons, whom the religious attendants are invoking the divine essence to bless, hold up the shells with both hands, to their mouths, during the awful sacred invocation, and retain a mouthful of the drink, to spirt out on the ground, as a supposed drink-offering to the great self-existent Giver; which they offer at the end of their draught. If any of the traders, who at those times are invited to drink with them, were to neglect this religious observance, they would reckon us as godless and wild as the wolves of the desart[[XI]]. After the same manner, the supposed holy waiters proceed, from the highest to the lowest, in their synedrion: and, when they have ended that awful solemnity, they go round the whole square, or quadrangular place, and collect tobacco from the sanctified sinners, according to ancient custom; “For they who serve at the altar, must live by the altar.”
[XI]. The Mosaic law injoined the offering of libations; as Exod. xxix. and Numb. xv. And the heathens, especially the ancient Greeks and Romans, mimicked a great deal of the Mosaic institution. They observed the like ceremonies in their idolatrous sacrifices. The priests only tasted, and then spilt some wine, milk, or other liquor, in honour of the Deity, to whom the sacrifice was offered. Alexander is said to have sacrificed a bull to Neptune, and to have thrown a golden vessel used for the libation, into the sea.
The Cheerake method of adjuring a witness to declare the truth, strongly corroborates the former hints, and will serve as a key to open the vowels of the great, mysterious, four-lettered name of God. On small affairs, the judge, who is an elderly chieftain, asks the witness, Cheeakõhgà (sko?) “Do you lie?” To which he answers, Ansa Kai-e-koh-gà, “I do not lie.” But {48} when the judge will search into something of material consequence, and adjures the witness to speak the naked truth, concerning the point in question, he says “O E A (sko?)” “What you have now said, is it true, by this strong emblem of the beloved name of the great self-existent God?” To which the witness replies, O E A, “It is true, by this strong pointing symbol of YO He Wah.” When the true knowledge of the affair in dispute, seems to be of very great importance, the judge swears the witness thus: O E A—Yah (sko?) This most sacred adjuration imports, “Have you now told me the real truth by the lively type of the great awful name of God, which describes his necessary existence, without beginning or end; and by his self-existent literal name, in which I adjure you.” The witness answers, O E A—Yah, “I have told you the naked truth, which I most solemnly swear, by this strong religious picture of the adorable, great, divine, self-existent name, which we are not to prophane; and I likewise attest it, by his other beloved, unspeakable, sacred, essential name.”
When we consider that the period of the adjurations, according to their idiom, only asks a question; and that the religious waiters say Yah, with a profound reverence, in a bowing posture of body, immediately before they invoke YO He Wah,—the one reflects so much light upon the other, as to convince me, that the Hebrews, both invoked and pronounced the divine tetragrammaton, YO He Wah, and adjured their witnesses to give true evidence, on certain occasions, according to the Indian usage; otherwise, how could they possibly, in a savage state, have a custom of so nice and strong-pointing a standard of religious caution? It seems exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on the like religious occasions—who being sworn, by the name of the great living God, openly to declare the naked truth, hold up their right hand, and answer, אמנ אמנ Amen Amen, or “very true;” “I am a most faithful witness.” The Hebrew word signifies faithful, and by being repeated twice, becomes a superlative, and O E A—Yah is one of the highest degree.