e," says Prideaux,[225] "the Rabbins call the
Stone of Foundation, and give us a great deal of trash about it."

There is much controversy as to the question of the existence of any ark
in the second temple. Some of the Jewish writers assert that a new one was
made; others, that the old one was found where it had been concealed by
Solomon; and others again contend that there was no ark at all in the
temple of Zerubbabel, but that its place was supplied by the Stone of
Foundation on which it had originally rested.

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 a