completed; that all three must be present when it should be conferred, and if either should be taken away by death prior to the finishing of the Temple, the Master's Degree should be lost. "After this wise arrangement, lest the knowledge of the arts and sciences, together with the patterns and valuable models which were contained in the Temple, should be lost, they agreed to build a secret vault under ground, leading from Solomon's most retired apartment, a due west course, and ending under the
sanctum sanctorum of the Temple, to be divided into nine separate arches. The ninth arch was to be the place for holding the grand council, and also for a deposit of a true copy of all those things which were contained in the sanctum
sanctorum above. "After the ninth arch was completed, the three Grand Masters deposited therein those things which were important to the craft, such as the Ark of the Covenant, a pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, the book of the law, etc. p. 254 "Prior to the completion of the Temple, Grand Master Hiram Abiff was assassinated, and by his death the Master's Word was lost. The two kings were willing to do all in their power to preserve the Sacred Word, and as they could not communicate it to any, by reason of the death of Hiram, they agreed to place it in the secret vault, that if the other treasures were ever brought to light, the Word might be found also."--Fellows's Inquiry into the Origin, History, and Purport of
Freemasonry, pp. 308, 309. Next: Extracts from a Dictionary of Masonry