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Further Light on the RA
The RA ceremony focuses on the Biblical story of the return from Babylon, the building of the temple and the ancient legend of the discovery of the vault. The above passage from 1659 was written by Samuel Lee showing that the legend was not an invention, but a religious legend going back to the 5th century.
It also demonstrates that the holy book discovered in the vault was not the Old Testament, but the Gospel of St. John and explains some Christian excerpts still present in some rituals.
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Now whether this came from England or even France which had an exposure from 1745 describing the sword and the trowel, similar a legend was known. In all likelihood, it was designed for masters of lodges—hence the qualification of having to be a past master of a lodge which continued until 1817 although many chapters continued it until mid 19th century.
It seemed to be during this period that many alterations and additions were made to the ritual such as the tau, lectures developed, letters in the triangle, etc. The latter has been written about in alchemical studies since the 17th century and no doubt was ‘borrowed’ by the Royal Arch developers. How many RA companions can explain its meaning?
