Post by David Johnson on Dec 19, 2009 21:27:11 GMT 7
We continue this week looking at the true meaning of the Great Seal of the United States.
3. The Scroll.
The placing of the Scroll in the beak of the Eagle was Secretary Thomson's idea. This arrangement is not only unique but solitary in national heraldry. Generally they are placed either below the Escutcheon or over the crest. Although the Statute makes no mention of its color in the official blazonry of the State Department its tincture is gold and the motto is lettered thereon in a nondescript neutral tint parchment or prepared lamb's skins. In latter days when heraldry selected its symbols the whole record of life was supposed to be worthily transcribed when on his Scroll a knight wrote his motto only. Often they were rolled up for better preservation and frequently were of great import as in prophetic writings they were sealed and stored in a case. From this practice of rolling scrolls is derived the word "volume" from the Latin word "volvere" meaning "to roll". The Scroll borne by the American eagle is an unsealed one rolled out and its sentiments openly displayed.
4. The Motto - E. Pluribus Unum.
Mottoes in heraldry had their origin in the war cries of knights. They were also honorably borne in times of peace and their sentiment was made a rule of life. So the National Motto of the Great American People "E. Pluribus Unum" born in the beak of the Eagle is its war cry as well as its lofty guide to higher life.
Our now famous Motto was first proposed by Thomas Jefferson and was formally adopted by the committee of 1776. Inspiration for the Motto may have been the Continental Silver Dollar and the design upon one of the Colonial Bills then in circulation. Both carried the word "We are One" more appropriately designed "One Out of Many" (made or constructed out of many). This gives National testimony to the fact that as a nation we sprang out of many nations or tribes.
The theme of our National Motto can be readily seen in several noted passages in the Bible where almost the exact phraseology is employed. One of them is particularly remarkable not only for its use of this expression but from its Anglo-Israelite sentiments it refers to the stars of heaven so beautifully chosen for our Crest. It occurs in the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews from which we extract the following: "By faith Abraham when he was called out to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing to which place he went....Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged Him faithful Who had promised....Therefore sprang there even one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable....By faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both sons of Joseph." (Heb.11:8, 11-12, 21).
5. The Olive Branch.
The Olive Branch held in the Eagle's Dexter (right) talon consists of 13 leaves and 13 berries and the official explanation is that it signifies peace. This is taken from the Scriptures where the dove sent out by Moses returned with an olive leaf in its beak (Gen.8:11). The Statute is not quite explicit in regards to the arrangement of leaves and fruit only stating it to be "all proper". However a letter from Tiffany & Co. shows there was a definite intention in the number of leaves and berries: The letter reads:
"We have used the classical olive and decided not to introduce the flowers the fruit (13) and the 13 leaves speak for themselves in a very clear and positive manner but the flowers while they suggest a growing and fruitful future would as no special number could be used give an uncertainty not desirable as it would always be supposed that the particular number of flowers used must have a meaning while that meaning is not there".
This shows that in making the final designs for the Obverse Seal great care was taken to introduce nothing truly significant. Another letter from Tiffany & Co. confirms this view for it reads: "Mr. James H. Whitehouse was for many years prior to 1900 the chief designer of our House and the details of the present seal were perfected and carefully drawn under his personal direction...The original details of the design were arranged and decided in 1782."
In the Scriptures the olive tree is one of the earliest and most sacred symbols of Nationality (Jer.11:16). Israel is likened to an "olive tree"(Rom.11:1-36) its fruit that of "fatness" (Judg.9:9). Jeremiah speaks of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel after they were cast out of the land for sin and before they had found grace in the wilderness in these words: "The LORD called your name A green olive tree fair and of goodly fruit..." (Jer.11:16). Hosea speaks of the Joseph-Israelites’ nation: "I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon" (Hos.14:56). This prophetic blessing of "branches shall spread" is a continuation of Jacob's blessing of Joseph which reads: "Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall" (Gen.49:22). The founding of America is the fulfillment of this promise. Our people landed on these shores as "branches running over a wall" as they were guided and led by Divine Providence.
6. The Bundle of Arrows.
The bundle of arrows in the Eagle's sinister (left) talon consists of 13 arrows fledged with 13 feathers and was first proposed by Secretary Thomson. As the case of the Olive Branch the Statute is not specific as to details. No mention is made as to color or the direction the arrows should point. Since the Statute only states "all proper" they have universally been represented on the Arms with "points upward" and outward. This is their "proper" mode of display as (on the Seal) they represent the war power of the country which is thus shown to be in a state of readiness and preparation.
The arrows are most appropriately given the secondary or sinister place in the grasp of the Eagle's talon. America prefers peace to war. We offer first the right hand of friendship. However we are prepared for conflict, self-reliant, possessed of inexhaustible resources and confident in Him Who "prospered our beginnings". But arrows are more than emblems of power and war. They are symbols of "aim" denoting purpose will and intention. By combining these ideas with those of the Olive Branch we may read the symbolism of the arrows as meaning that it is the cardinal principle of true Americanism that recourse to arms shall be for no other purpose than the maintenance of a just cause having for its object the establishment and preservation of unity and love.
Arrows are also intimately connected with our tradition as Anglo-Saxon people. The English archers were most feared in every battlefield of the Middle Ages. It was their distinctive weapon whose flight in deadly clouds decimated the ranks of their adversaries.
In Scriptural symbolism the Bundle of Arrows represent the weapon of the Almighty. It is the wounding convicting of sin "Arrow of the Word" described by the Psalmist: "Your arrows stick fast in me and your hand presses me sore" (Psalm 38:2). This same arrow is the celestial arrow of Sagitta (minor constellation of Capricornus) seen having left the bow and is speeding to its aim and He Who shoots it is invisible.
THE CREST.
In Heraldry the Crest was an ornament for the head. It was usually fastened to the helmet and was a distinctively personal or hereditary devise. Warriors among the classical ancients bore insignia peculiar to themselves in this manner. Our National Crest however represents America like a new Constellation taking its place on high. "The archers have sorely grieved him and have shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Almighty God of Jacob..." (Gen.19:23-24).
Manasseh as well as his father Joseph was well versed in this method of warfare for we read that "The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh of valiant men; men able to bear buckler and swordand to shoot with bow and skillful in war were 40760 that went to the war" (1 Chron.5:18).
In Scriptural symbolism the Bundle of Arrows represents the weapon of the Almighty. It is the wounding convicting of sin "Arrow of the Word" described by the Psalmist: "Your arrows stick fast in me and your hand presses me sore" (Psalm 38:2). This same arrow is the celestial arrow of Sagitta (minor constellation of Capricornus) seen having left the bow and its speeding to its aim and He Who shoots it is invisible.
Julia Ward Howe sang of this "Glory" in the inspiring "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the following words: "Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the LORD." She like the founders of our Republic visioned the future establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. She voiced this vision in the last stanza of her hymn which is generally never sung and is almost unknown: "He is coming like the Glory of the morning on the wave He is wisdom to the mighty He is succor to the brave So the world shall be His footstool and the soul of time His slave"
2. The Cloud.
The Cloud which surrounds the Constellation in American heraldry is to be represented according to the Statute as "proper". It is therefore designed to be blazoned sable with its inner linings lightened (argent) and illuminated (in roseate and sunset hues - "gules purpure" ect.) by effulgence of the stars that it surrounds. The Cloud is represented as rolling back that other stars may be in time revealed and added to that group.
In symbolism the Cloud in rolling back indicates the breaking up of the storm of ignorance injustice and oppression before the dawning light of a new and potent constellation. But this emblem has deeper significance - that of covering and protecting. The Lord "seals up the stars" explains Job - using the Hebrew idiom - "He covers or compasses them with Clouds" (Job 9:7). "He spread a cloud for a covering:" (Psalm 105:39). This same idea of "protecting" is expressed by Moses just before taking leave of the chosen people.
In Scripture and in nature the clouds also denote the presence of Jehovah: "And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses toward the Tabernacle of the congregation: and behold the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared" (Num.16:42). A cloud guided those that had just escaped from bondage: "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way..." (Ex.13:21).
It was a cloud that stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians, "And it stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel and it was a cloud and darkness to them (i.e. the Egyptian) but it gave light by night to these so that one came not near the other all night." (Ex.14:20). '
The motions of a cloud directed their wanderings and their camps and when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode there the children of Israel pitched their tents." (Num.9:17)
Upon special occasions the Cloud generally thick and impenetrable by day was broken by the Glory of God appearing in it, "And it came to pass as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud." (Ex.16:27)
3. The Constellation.
The Constellation of 13 stars in the midst of the Glory Cloud is composed of pentagrams or 5-pointed stars so arranged that their groupings form a hexagram or 6-pointed star. This hexagram is composed of 2 equilateral triangles and in each triangle are exactly 10 stars. The Statute is silent as to the arrangement of the stars. For this reason Professor Totten suggests the arrangement of the stars in the Crest to be heraldically correct should be "proper" (according to nature and not in any way confined to the regularity of a circle or to a regular distribution).
A natural arrangement of the stars (in Constellation) was evidently in the minds of the Committees of 1779 and 1780 as evidenced by the designs they submitted. Charles Thompson's original design also shows a natural arrangement of the stars. Not withstanding the final version approved by Congress for our National Seal has the Constellation arranged in the form of a six-pointed star. This arrangement seems to have been fixed and warranted by the earlier seal of the President of the Continental Congress and may be accounted for by the possibility of the same artist having cut both seals.
The American radiant five-pointed silver star is believed to have constituted the seal or signet of King Solomon (circ. 1000 B.C) and in early time it was in use among the Hebrew people as a symbol of safety. In Scriptural heraldry we are taught such a star (five-pointed) was always a more ancient way of hieroglyphically representing "Divine Providence". In Biblical numerics the number 5 = Grace.
The Constellation of 13 stars was meant particularly to symbolize this nation formed of 13 independent States. However, in Scriptural symbolism they also represent the 13 tribes of Israel. This is shown in the prophetic dream of Joseph in which we find the 13 heavenly bodies the eleven stars the sun and the moon making abeyance to him. The interpretation given in Scriptures is that the 11 stars represent the 11 other sons of Jacob or tribes of Israel (Gen.37:5-11).
Joseph the one receiving homage later gave up his tribal ship in favor of his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob in adopting the two sons placed the younger son Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. Consequently Ephraim took Joseph's place (the 11th tribe) leaving Manasseh who came after Benjamin to become the 13th tribe. Levi was removed from being numbered among the tribes so the Bible continues to speak of the "12 tribes of Israel."
Ephraim and Manasseh together form the two branches of the tribe of Joseph and are the recipients of Jacob's blessing of Joseph: "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock and his horns are like the horns of the unicorns (=the rhinoceros): with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut.33:17)
We will continue next week with the Reverse side of the Great Seal and what it means. Have a great week!
3. The Scroll.
The placing of the Scroll in the beak of the Eagle was Secretary Thomson's idea. This arrangement is not only unique but solitary in national heraldry. Generally they are placed either below the Escutcheon or over the crest. Although the Statute makes no mention of its color in the official blazonry of the State Department its tincture is gold and the motto is lettered thereon in a nondescript neutral tint parchment or prepared lamb's skins. In latter days when heraldry selected its symbols the whole record of life was supposed to be worthily transcribed when on his Scroll a knight wrote his motto only. Often they were rolled up for better preservation and frequently were of great import as in prophetic writings they were sealed and stored in a case. From this practice of rolling scrolls is derived the word "volume" from the Latin word "volvere" meaning "to roll". The Scroll borne by the American eagle is an unsealed one rolled out and its sentiments openly displayed.
4. The Motto - E. Pluribus Unum.
Mottoes in heraldry had their origin in the war cries of knights. They were also honorably borne in times of peace and their sentiment was made a rule of life. So the National Motto of the Great American People "E. Pluribus Unum" born in the beak of the Eagle is its war cry as well as its lofty guide to higher life.
Our now famous Motto was first proposed by Thomas Jefferson and was formally adopted by the committee of 1776. Inspiration for the Motto may have been the Continental Silver Dollar and the design upon one of the Colonial Bills then in circulation. Both carried the word "We are One" more appropriately designed "One Out of Many" (made or constructed out of many). This gives National testimony to the fact that as a nation we sprang out of many nations or tribes.
The theme of our National Motto can be readily seen in several noted passages in the Bible where almost the exact phraseology is employed. One of them is particularly remarkable not only for its use of this expression but from its Anglo-Israelite sentiments it refers to the stars of heaven so beautifully chosen for our Crest. It occurs in the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews from which we extract the following: "By faith Abraham when he was called out to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing to which place he went....Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged Him faithful Who had promised....Therefore sprang there even one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable....By faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both sons of Joseph." (Heb.11:8, 11-12, 21).
5. The Olive Branch.
The Olive Branch held in the Eagle's Dexter (right) talon consists of 13 leaves and 13 berries and the official explanation is that it signifies peace. This is taken from the Scriptures where the dove sent out by Moses returned with an olive leaf in its beak (Gen.8:11). The Statute is not quite explicit in regards to the arrangement of leaves and fruit only stating it to be "all proper". However a letter from Tiffany & Co. shows there was a definite intention in the number of leaves and berries: The letter reads:
"We have used the classical olive and decided not to introduce the flowers the fruit (13) and the 13 leaves speak for themselves in a very clear and positive manner but the flowers while they suggest a growing and fruitful future would as no special number could be used give an uncertainty not desirable as it would always be supposed that the particular number of flowers used must have a meaning while that meaning is not there".
This shows that in making the final designs for the Obverse Seal great care was taken to introduce nothing truly significant. Another letter from Tiffany & Co. confirms this view for it reads: "Mr. James H. Whitehouse was for many years prior to 1900 the chief designer of our House and the details of the present seal were perfected and carefully drawn under his personal direction...The original details of the design were arranged and decided in 1782."
In the Scriptures the olive tree is one of the earliest and most sacred symbols of Nationality (Jer.11:16). Israel is likened to an "olive tree"(Rom.11:1-36) its fruit that of "fatness" (Judg.9:9). Jeremiah speaks of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel after they were cast out of the land for sin and before they had found grace in the wilderness in these words: "The LORD called your name A green olive tree fair and of goodly fruit..." (Jer.11:16). Hosea speaks of the Joseph-Israelites’ nation: "I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon" (Hos.14:56). This prophetic blessing of "branches shall spread" is a continuation of Jacob's blessing of Joseph which reads: "Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall" (Gen.49:22). The founding of America is the fulfillment of this promise. Our people landed on these shores as "branches running over a wall" as they were guided and led by Divine Providence.
6. The Bundle of Arrows.
The bundle of arrows in the Eagle's sinister (left) talon consists of 13 arrows fledged with 13 feathers and was first proposed by Secretary Thomson. As the case of the Olive Branch the Statute is not specific as to details. No mention is made as to color or the direction the arrows should point. Since the Statute only states "all proper" they have universally been represented on the Arms with "points upward" and outward. This is their "proper" mode of display as (on the Seal) they represent the war power of the country which is thus shown to be in a state of readiness and preparation.
The arrows are most appropriately given the secondary or sinister place in the grasp of the Eagle's talon. America prefers peace to war. We offer first the right hand of friendship. However we are prepared for conflict, self-reliant, possessed of inexhaustible resources and confident in Him Who "prospered our beginnings". But arrows are more than emblems of power and war. They are symbols of "aim" denoting purpose will and intention. By combining these ideas with those of the Olive Branch we may read the symbolism of the arrows as meaning that it is the cardinal principle of true Americanism that recourse to arms shall be for no other purpose than the maintenance of a just cause having for its object the establishment and preservation of unity and love.
Arrows are also intimately connected with our tradition as Anglo-Saxon people. The English archers were most feared in every battlefield of the Middle Ages. It was their distinctive weapon whose flight in deadly clouds decimated the ranks of their adversaries.
In Scriptural symbolism the Bundle of Arrows represent the weapon of the Almighty. It is the wounding convicting of sin "Arrow of the Word" described by the Psalmist: "Your arrows stick fast in me and your hand presses me sore" (Psalm 38:2). This same arrow is the celestial arrow of Sagitta (minor constellation of Capricornus) seen having left the bow and is speeding to its aim and He Who shoots it is invisible.
THE CREST.
In Heraldry the Crest was an ornament for the head. It was usually fastened to the helmet and was a distinctively personal or hereditary devise. Warriors among the classical ancients bore insignia peculiar to themselves in this manner. Our National Crest however represents America like a new Constellation taking its place on high. "The archers have sorely grieved him and have shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Almighty God of Jacob..." (Gen.19:23-24).
Manasseh as well as his father Joseph was well versed in this method of warfare for we read that "The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh of valiant men; men able to bear buckler and swordand to shoot with bow and skillful in war were 40760 that went to the war" (1 Chron.5:18).
In Scriptural symbolism the Bundle of Arrows represents the weapon of the Almighty. It is the wounding convicting of sin "Arrow of the Word" described by the Psalmist: "Your arrows stick fast in me and your hand presses me sore" (Psalm 38:2). This same arrow is the celestial arrow of Sagitta (minor constellation of Capricornus) seen having left the bow and its speeding to its aim and He Who shoots it is invisible.
Julia Ward Howe sang of this "Glory" in the inspiring "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the following words: "Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the LORD." She like the founders of our Republic visioned the future establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. She voiced this vision in the last stanza of her hymn which is generally never sung and is almost unknown: "He is coming like the Glory of the morning on the wave He is wisdom to the mighty He is succor to the brave So the world shall be His footstool and the soul of time His slave"
2. The Cloud.
The Cloud which surrounds the Constellation in American heraldry is to be represented according to the Statute as "proper". It is therefore designed to be blazoned sable with its inner linings lightened (argent) and illuminated (in roseate and sunset hues - "gules purpure" ect.) by effulgence of the stars that it surrounds. The Cloud is represented as rolling back that other stars may be in time revealed and added to that group.
In symbolism the Cloud in rolling back indicates the breaking up of the storm of ignorance injustice and oppression before the dawning light of a new and potent constellation. But this emblem has deeper significance - that of covering and protecting. The Lord "seals up the stars" explains Job - using the Hebrew idiom - "He covers or compasses them with Clouds" (Job 9:7). "He spread a cloud for a covering:" (Psalm 105:39). This same idea of "protecting" is expressed by Moses just before taking leave of the chosen people.
In Scripture and in nature the clouds also denote the presence of Jehovah: "And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses toward the Tabernacle of the congregation: and behold the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared" (Num.16:42). A cloud guided those that had just escaped from bondage: "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way..." (Ex.13:21).
It was a cloud that stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians, "And it stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel and it was a cloud and darkness to them (i.e. the Egyptian) but it gave light by night to these so that one came not near the other all night." (Ex.14:20). '
The motions of a cloud directed their wanderings and their camps and when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode there the children of Israel pitched their tents." (Num.9:17)
Upon special occasions the Cloud generally thick and impenetrable by day was broken by the Glory of God appearing in it, "And it came to pass as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud." (Ex.16:27)
3. The Constellation.
The Constellation of 13 stars in the midst of the Glory Cloud is composed of pentagrams or 5-pointed stars so arranged that their groupings form a hexagram or 6-pointed star. This hexagram is composed of 2 equilateral triangles and in each triangle are exactly 10 stars. The Statute is silent as to the arrangement of the stars. For this reason Professor Totten suggests the arrangement of the stars in the Crest to be heraldically correct should be "proper" (according to nature and not in any way confined to the regularity of a circle or to a regular distribution).
A natural arrangement of the stars (in Constellation) was evidently in the minds of the Committees of 1779 and 1780 as evidenced by the designs they submitted. Charles Thompson's original design also shows a natural arrangement of the stars. Not withstanding the final version approved by Congress for our National Seal has the Constellation arranged in the form of a six-pointed star. This arrangement seems to have been fixed and warranted by the earlier seal of the President of the Continental Congress and may be accounted for by the possibility of the same artist having cut both seals.
The American radiant five-pointed silver star is believed to have constituted the seal or signet of King Solomon (circ. 1000 B.C) and in early time it was in use among the Hebrew people as a symbol of safety. In Scriptural heraldry we are taught such a star (five-pointed) was always a more ancient way of hieroglyphically representing "Divine Providence". In Biblical numerics the number 5 = Grace.
The Constellation of 13 stars was meant particularly to symbolize this nation formed of 13 independent States. However, in Scriptural symbolism they also represent the 13 tribes of Israel. This is shown in the prophetic dream of Joseph in which we find the 13 heavenly bodies the eleven stars the sun and the moon making abeyance to him. The interpretation given in Scriptures is that the 11 stars represent the 11 other sons of Jacob or tribes of Israel (Gen.37:5-11).
Joseph the one receiving homage later gave up his tribal ship in favor of his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob in adopting the two sons placed the younger son Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. Consequently Ephraim took Joseph's place (the 11th tribe) leaving Manasseh who came after Benjamin to become the 13th tribe. Levi was removed from being numbered among the tribes so the Bible continues to speak of the "12 tribes of Israel."
Ephraim and Manasseh together form the two branches of the tribe of Joseph and are the recipients of Jacob's blessing of Joseph: "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock and his horns are like the horns of the unicorns (=the rhinoceros): with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut.33:17)
We will continue next week with the Reverse side of the Great Seal and what it means. Have a great week!
