THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

whatever with the Stone of Foundation or its symbolism. Nor, although
the
Stone of Foundation is said, for peculiar reasons, to have been of a
cubical form, must it be confounded with that stone called by the
continental Masons the _cubical stone_--the _pierre cubique_ of the
French, and the _cubik stein_ of the German Masons, but which in the
English system is known as the _perfect ashlar_.
The Stone of Foundation has a legendary history and a symbolic
signification which are peculiar to itself, and which differ from the
history and meaning which belong to these other stones.
Let us first define this masonic Stone of Foundation, then collate the
legends which refer to it, and afterwards investigate its significance
as
a symbol. To the Mason who takes a pleasure in the study of the
mysteries
of his institution, the investigation cannot fail to be interesting, if
it
is conducted with any ability.
But in the very beginning, as a necessary preliminary to any
investigation
of this kind, it must be distinctly understood that all that is said of
this Stone of Foundation in Masonry is to be strictly taken in a
mythical
or allegorical sense. Dr. Oliver, the most learned of our masonic
writers,
while undoubtedly himself knowing that it was simply a symbol, has
written
loosely of it, as though it were a substantial reality; and hence, if
the
passages in his "Historical Landmarks," and in his other works which
refer
to this celebrated stone are accepted by his readers in a literal
sense,
they will present absurdities and puerilities which would not occur if
the
Stone of Foundation was received, as it really is, as a philosophical
myth, conveying a most profound and beautiful symbolism. Read in this
spirit, as all the legends of Masonry should be read, the mythical
story
of the Stone of Foundation becomes one of the most important and
interesting of all the masonic symbols.
The Stone of Foundation is supposed, by the theory which establishes
it,
to have been a stone placed at one time within the foundations of the
temple of Solomon, and afterwards, during the building of the second
temple, transported to the Holy of Holies. It was in form a perfect
cube,
and had inscribed upon its upper face, within a delta or triangle, the
sacred tetragrammaton, or ineffable name of God. Oliver, speaking with
the
solemnity of an historian, says that Solomon thought that he had
rendered
the house of God worthy, so far as human adornment could effect, for