On a recapitulation, then, of the views that have been advanced in relation to these three symbols of the Deity which are to be found in the masonic system, we may say that each one expresses a different attribute. The letter _G_ is the symbol of the self-existent Jehovah. The _All-Seeing Eye_ is the symbol of the omnipresent God. The _triangle_[139] is the symbol of the Supreme Architect of the Universe--the Creator; and when surrounded by rays of glory, it becomes a symbol of the Architect and Bestower of Light. And now, after all, is there not in this whole prevalence of the name of God, in so many different symbols, throughout the masonic system, something more than a mere evidence of the religious proclivities of the institution? Is there not behind this a more profound symbolism, which constitutes, in fact, the very essence of Freemasonry? "The names of God," said a learned theologian at the beginning of this century, "were intended to communicate the knowledge of God himself. By these, men were enabled to receive some scanty ideas of his essential majesty, goodness, and power, and to know both whom we are to believe, and what we are to believe of him." And this train of thought is eminently applicable to the admission of the name into the system of Masonry. With us, the name of God, however expressed, is a symbol of DIVINE TRUTH, which it should be the incessant labor of a Mason to seek. XXV. The Legends of Freemasonry. The compound character of a speculative science and an operative art, which the masonic institution assumed at the building of King Solomon's temple, in consequence of the union, at that era, of the Pure Freemasonry of the Noachidae[140] with the Spurious Freemasonry of the Tyrian workmen, has supplied it with two distinct kinds of symbols--the _mythical_, or _legendary_, and the _material_; but these are so thoroughly united in object and design, that it is impossible to appreciate the one without an investigation of the other. Thus, by way of illustration, it may be observed, that the temple itself has been adopted as a material symbol of the world (as I have already shown in former articles), while the legendary history of the fate of its builder is a mythical symbol of man's destiny in the world. Whatever is visible or tangible to the senses in our types and emblems--such as the implements of operative masonry, the furniture and ornaments of a lodge, or the ladder of seven steps--is a _material symbol_; while whatever derives its existence from tradition, and presents itself in the form of an allegory or legend, is a _mythical symbol_. Hiram the Builder, therefore, and all that refers to the legend of his connection with the temple, and his fate,--such as the sprig of acacia, the hill near Mount Moriah, and the lost word,--are to be considered as belonging to the class of mythical or legendary symbols.