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

Royal Arch Masons well know how all these traditions are sought to be
reconciled by the masonic legend, in which the substitute ark and the
Stone of Foundation play so important a part.
In the thirteenth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, the Stone of
Foundation is conspicuous as the resting-place of the sacred delta.
In the Royal Arch and Select Master's degrees of the Americanized York
Rite, the Stone of Foundation constitutes the most important part of
the
ritual. In both of these it is the receptacle of the ark, on which the
ineffable name is inscribed.
Lee, in his "_Temple of Solomon_", has devoted a chapter to this Stone
of
Foundation, and thus recapitulates the Talmudic and Rabbinical
traditions
on the subject:--
"Vain and futilous are the feverish dreams of the ancient Rabbins
concerning the Foundation Stone of the temple. Some assert that God
placed
this stone in the centre of the world, for a future basis and settled
consistency for the earth to rest upon. Others held this stone to be
the
first matter, out of which all the beautiful visible beings of the
world
have been hewn forth and produced to light. Others relate that this was
the very same stone laid by Jacob for a pillow under his head, in that
night when he dreamed of an angelic vision at Bethel, and afterwards
anointed and consecrated it to God. Which when Solomon had found (no
doubt
by forged revelation, or some tedious search, like another Rabbi
Selemoh),
he durst not but lay it sure, as the principal foundation stone of the
temple. Nay, they say further, he caused to be engraved upon it the
tetragrammaton, or the ineffable name of Jehovah." [226]
It will be seen that the masonic traditions on the subject of the Stone
of
Foundation do not differ very materially from these Rabbinical ones,
although they give a few additional circumstances.
In the masonic legend, the Foundation Stone first makes its appearance,
as
I have already said, in the days of Enoch, who placed it in the bowels
of
Mount Moriah. There it was subsequently discovered by King Solomon, who
deposited it in a crypt of the first temple, where it remained
concealed
until the foundations of the second temple were laid, when it was
discovered and removed to the Holy of Holies. But the most important
point
of the legend of the Stone of Foundation is its intimate and constant
connection with the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name. It is this name,
inscribed upon it, within the sacred and symbolic delta, that gives to
the