he
termination "hi," or "him," is an intensitive which may be rendered in
English by "only." Thus the word "Jachin" resolves itself into the words
"one only," the all-embracing Unity.

The meaning of Boaz is clearly seen in the book of Ruth. There Boaz
appears as the kinsman exercising the right of pre-emption so familiar
to those versed in Oriental law--a right which has for its purpose the
maintenance of the Family as the social unit. According to this
widely-spread custom, the purchaser, who is not a member of the family,
buys the property subject to the right of kinsmen within certain degrees
to purchase it back, and so bring it once more into the family to which
it originally belonged. Whatever may be our personal opinions regarding
the vexed questions of dogmatic theology, we can all agree as to the
general principle indicated in the role acted by Boaz. He brings back
the alienated estate into the family--that is to say, he "redeems" it in
the legal sense of the word. As a matter of law his power to do this
results from his membership in the family; but his motive for doing it
is love, his affection for Ruth. Without pushing the analogy too far we
may say, then, that Boaz represents the principle of redemption in the
widest sense of reclaiming an estate by right of relationship, while the
innermost moving power in its recovery is Love.

This is what Boaz stands for in the beautiful story of Ruth, and there
is no reason why we should not let the same name stand for the same
thing when we seek the meaning of the mysterious pillar. Thus the two
pillars typify Unity and the redeeming power of Love, with the
significant suggestion that the redemption results from the Unity. They
correspond with the two "bonds," or uniting principles spoken of by St.
Paul, "the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace," and "Love,
which is the Bond of Perfectness."

The former is Unity of Being; the latter, Unity of Intention: and the
principle of this Dual-Unity is well illustrated by the story of Boaz.
The whole story proceeds on the idea of the Family as the social unit,
the root-conception of all Oriental law, and if we consider the Family
in this light, we shall see how exactly it embodies the two-fold idea of
Jachin and Boaz, unity of Being and unity of Thought. The Family forms a
unit because all the members proceed from a common progenitor, and are
thus all of one blood; but, although this gives them a natural unity of