bols of Masonry.

The fact that the mystical stone in all the ancient religions was a symbol
of the Deity, leads us necessarily to the conclusion that the Stone of
Foundation was also a symbol of Deity. And this symbolic idea is
strengthened by the tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God, that was
inscribed upon it. This ineffable name sanctifies the stone upon which it
is engraved as the symbol of the Grand Architect. It takes from it its
heathen signification as an idol, and consecrates it to the worship of the
true God.

The predominant idea of the Deity, in the masonic system, connects him
with his creative and formative power. God is, to the Freemason, _Al
Gabil,_ as the Arabians called him, that is, _The Builder_; or, as
expressed in his masonic title, the _Grand Architect of the Universe_, by
common consent abbreviated in the formula G.A.O.T.U. Now, it is evident
that no symbol could so appropriately suit him in this character as the
Stone of Foundation, upon which he is allegorically supposed to have
erected his world. Such a symbol closely connects the creative work of
God, as a pattern and exemplar, with the workman's erection of his
temporal building on a similar foundation stone.

But this masonic idea is still further to be extended. The great object of
all Masonic labor is _divine truth_. The search for the _lost word_ is the
search for truth. But divine truth is a term synonymous with God. The
ineffable name is a symbol of truth, because God, and God alone, is truth.
It is properly a scriptural idea. The Book of Psalms abounds with this
sentiment. Thus it is said that the truth of the Lord "reacheth unto the
clouds," and that "his truth endureth unto all generations." If, then, God
is truth, and the Stone of Foundation is the masonic symbol of God, it
follows that it must also be the symbol of divine truth.

When we have arrived at this point in our speculations, we are ready to
show how all the myths and legends of the Stone of Foundation may be
rationally explained as parts of that beautiful "science of morality,
veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," which is the acknowledged
definition of Freemasonry.

In the masonic system there are two temples; the first temple, in which
the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry are concerned, and the second temple,
with which the higher degrees, and especially the Royal Arch, are related.
The first temple is symbolic of the present life; the second temple is