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יהוה

The presence of the Divine Name here is in accord with the intention that the fountain be the centre of the symbolic, religious landscape of the Valley Cemetery. I learned this later; at the time, I was simply exploring the area randomly, and (as usual) was drawn to details of particular interest.

See NS7993 : The Valley Rock Fountain for the fountain itself, and NS7993 : Statues of three preachers for more context. The paper cited in the end-note provides further explanation, and mentions the symbolic connection with the nearby Star Pyramid: NS7993 : The Star Pyramid.

There are three scriptural citations inscribed around the Name, within the circle, but they are very worn (note also an unusual symbol formed from an almost sinusoidal curve crossing a straight line, with the peak and trough of the wave marked by a point or very short line; I comment on these markings below).

Having made out the scripture citations (with some effort), I have listed them below; for interest, I also quote the text of each scripture (from the King James Version), to illustrate their thematic connection with the fountain:

(1) "JOHN III 16" (at top):
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

(2) "JOHN VII 37" (lower left):
"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."

(3) "REV. XXII 17" (lower right):
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

Some time after writing the above, I had a chance to look at the contemporary "Valley Rock Fountain Guide" (my thanks to the staff of the NS7993 : Stirling Public Library); it is credited only to "Transcriber", and is generally acknowledged to be difficult to understand, on account of its dense allusions and odd use of language.

I now have a photographic copy of that flyer. I quote it below, for interest, and follow the text with some observations of my own. As can be seen from the Guide, some of the details shown in the present picture were originally coloured; that colouring is now gone. Also, I have used asterisks to indicate words or phrases that the Guide italicises.

The details shown in my photograph are, according to the Guide: an olive wreath surrounding the Divine Name; outside that, more vegetation and flames, representing the Burning Bush; glorious rays emanating from the centre; also, other lines and curves in the centre, for which, see the transcription below, and my notes that follow.

To keep those notes to a reasonable length, I have concentrated primarily on details from the small part of the fountain that is shown in the present picture, and on those phrases whose allusive meaning, or source, is neither obvious nor easy to look up. For example, readers can look up for themselves the various verses that *are* cited in the flyer, and can easily look up verses that are quoted in part or in full; I need not comment on them here.

Transcription follows:

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VALLEY ROCK FOUNTAIN GUIDE

The Valley Rock Fountain is situated betwixt the Castle battlements and Ladies' Rock of Stirling, the central point of Scotland. The water, from the western hills, here flows through a rock, which was detached 'without hands' from a neighbouring cliff, in due time for upholding the fountain carved-work, in connection with a *monumental Bible mission* of solemn import.

*On the borders* of the marble are ears of corn and clusters of the vine, under a censer with ascending incense, and Exod. xxxiv. 5-7; also the inscription — 'Every good gift ... is from above', and Isa. lx. 13; Psalm lxxii.; Jer. xvii. 13. In the midst, light of light in radiation, 'burning bush', olive circle, and in triadic order, John iii. 16; John vii. 37; Rev. xxii. 17; also, figurative points and lines. The name JEHOVAH, in Hebrew, occupying the centre of irradiation, is seen through glass — in occasional haze of cloud or morning-dew.

*By the threshold*, where the water is drawn by the hand, are olive branches, and John iv. 14.

"Teach me, my God and King, / In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in any thing, / To do it as for Thee."

"A man that looks on glass, / On it may stay his eye;
Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass, / And then the heaven espy."

"This is the famous stone, / That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own / Cannot for less be told."

Hos. xiv. 5-9 ; Prov. xxv. 1-7 ; 2 Cor. iii. 5-18.

"And the eyes of those who see shall not be dim,
And the ears of those who hear shall hearken."

Within the sanctuary of the olive-wreath, in the hallowed serene of double glory, the *azure* point, *right* line, and line of *grace*, with the points *red* and *gold*, in connection with the great Name, have peculiar analogical significance, indicative of the pure and perfect Law of Truth, so gloriously manifested in the Word and Works of GOD the TRUTH, *personal* and *doctrinal*, in azure infinite enthroned; 'and there is no God else — a just God, and a Saviour'. — An ALL-SUFFICIENT SAVIOUR, by the azure lines, unto all of our fallen race who return to God, and to glory, by the *only* way of acceptance — *red* — through the 'travail of soul', and the 'offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all'. — A JUST GOD, by the line of rectitude; and at the great Assize, when, final Law demands, and with repellent power for ever seals, the sinner's doom — 'the door is shut' — return impossible — 'the soul that sinneth dies'.

'But my hope is good of you, dearly beloved in the Lord Jesus, that even to the end ye shall continue in that doctrine which once ye have professed, notwithstanding that the words of unstable and deceivable opinions be blown in your ears; and also, that ye shall proceed and march forward in the battle begun. Remember, I beseech you, with what conditions we did first break bread together in the name of the Lord Jesus' — Knox to his brethren in Scotland.

'Christianity, divested of the errors of men, that divide and distract it, will flourish eternally as truth — the purest, the sublimest, the most profound philosophy: for truth admits neither sect nor party, and pure Christianity will ever be the same for all men.'

In pure Christianity we have *liberty* with *loyalty* to the free constitution of Truth — 'Christ dwelling in the heart by faith', and God in Christ, 'love which passeth knowledge', 'peace which passeth all understanding'; and all revealed by our *only* guide, to its rest and blessedness, the Holy Spirit of Truth.

"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."
"If ye will inquire, inquire: return, come."
"Whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely."

Psa. xxxvi. 9; Zeph. iii. 9; Psa. xxv. 14; Mat. vii. 7.

Stirling, 1860. Transcriber.

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My notes:

● "The Right Line and the Line of Grace": in connection with what is visible in the present picture, it will be observed that the flyer speaks of a "right line" and of a "line of grace". The "right line" has a double meaning: it is "right" in the sense that it is a straight line, but it is also a line of moral rectitude, as the flyer itself makes clear elsewhere in the text.

The "line of grace" is the sinusoidal curve, and the primary allusion is, unsurprisingly, to Grace in the theological sense. I offer the suggestion that there is again a double allusion, the secondary meaning being far from obvious: William Hogarth, in his "Analysis of Beauty", made much of a particular sinusoidal shape, similar to the one shown here, which he called the "line of grace" (see Link at Project Gutenberg, where that curve is shown within a triangle). This may seem an unusual reference, given that Hogarth often depicted unsavoury behaviour in his art, but he did so with the aim of promoting moral improvement.

The line of grace pointedly does not coincide with the "right line", or line of rectitude; I take the intended symbolism to be that salvation is by means of divine grace and is not simply "earned" by human actions.

● "Detached without hands": a reference to the stone that is, in a dream, seen cut out "without hands" from a mountain, as recounted at Daniel 2:34 — Link . The flyer connects it with a "monumental Bible mission"; given the dense allusions in the text, it is at least possible that "monumental" here, in addition to the straightforward meanings (alluding to the fountain itself as a monument, and to the great importance of the "Bible mission"), refers to the fact that the stone seen in the dream topples and pulverises a huge monumental image.

● "Enthroned in azure infinite": the heavens (compare, for interest, the blue flagstones of the vision at Exodus 24:9-10 — Link and see also other renderings). There are several other references to azure, as well as some to red (for redeeming blood), and to gold (for excelling value). These are indications that at least some of the features of the fountain were originally coloured.

● "The door is shut": the phrase, as used here, is taken from Jesus' parable of the bridegroom, Matthew 25:8-13 — Link

● "Teach me ... cannot for less be told": the three stanzas are from a hymn that is drawn in turn from George Herbert's poem "The Elixir". The Elixir of Life (or Philosopher's Stone, "the famous stone that turneth all to gold") is employed here as a metaphor. The phrase "that looks on glass" (i.e., a mirror [of polished metal]), is from the poem, but similar remarks are found elsewhere in the flyer. It seems that, in this context, they are allusions to James 1:22-25 — Link — rather than to the perhaps better-known 1 Corinthians 13:12 — Link

● Knox's words quoted in the flyer: these seem, to me, to include the thoughts of Hebrews 6:9 and James 1:6-8, though not quoting them as such: see, respectively, Link and Link

● "Revealed by our *only* guide ... the Holy Spirit of Truth": John 16:13 — Link

● "The soul that sinneth dies": Ezekiel 18:4 — Link

● "The name JEHOVAH, in Hebrew, occupying the centre of irradiation, is seen through glass — in occasional haze of cloud or morning-dew": for this, in relation to surrounding symbols (such as the already-mentioned "ears of corn and clusters of the vine"), compare Isaiah 18:4 — Link
The phrase "seen through glass" used here may also allude to the stanza that begins "A man that looks on glass", which was quoted earlier in the flier, and which I commented on above.

● "By the threshold, where the water is drawn by the hand": compare Ezekiel 47:1, where water issues from the threshold of "the house" (that is, the visionary temple) — Link