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B
BAAL - BARN
BARR - BELC
BELE - BLUE
BIBLE
BOAR - BREA
BRET - BUIL
BUL - BY
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Belenus, the Baal of the Scripture, was identified with Mithras and with Apollo, the god of the sun. A forest in the neighborhood of Lausanne is still known as Sauvebelin, or the retreat or abiding place of Belenus, and traces of this name are to be found in many parts of England. The custom of kindling fires about midnight on the eve of the festival of St. John the Baptist, at the moment of the summer solstice, which was considered by the ancients a season of rejoicing and of divination, is a vestige of Druidism in honor of this deity. It is a curious coincidence that the numerical value of the letters of the word Belenus, like those of Abrazas and Mithras, all representatives of the sun, amounts to 365, the exact number of the days in a solar year. But before ascribing great importance to this coincidence, it may be well to read what the mathematician Augustus De Morgan has said upon the subject of such comparisons in his Budget of Paraclozes (see Abrazas). |
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BELGIAN CONGOThe Grand Orient of Belgium has constituted three Lodges in this Colony-Ere Nouvelle, Daennen and Labor et Libertas, the first two at Stanleyville and the third at Elizabethville. L'Aurore de Congo Lodge at Brazzaville is controlled by the Grand Lodge of France. |
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Tradition states that the Craft flourished in Belgium at Mons as early as 1721 but the first authentic Lodge, Unity, existed at Brussels in 1757 and continued work until 1794. A Provincial Grand Master Francis B.J. Dumont, the Marquis de Sages, was appointed by the Moderns Grand Lodge in 1769. For some years, however, opposition from the Emperor hindered the expansion of the Craft.
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On January 1, 1814, there were only 27 Lodges in existence in the country. A Grand Lodge was established by Dutch and Belgian Brethren on June 24, 1817, but it was not successful. Belgium became independent in 1830 and a Grand Orient was formed on May 23, 1833, out of the old Grand Lodge. In 1914 it controlled 24 Lodges in Belgium and one in the Belgian Congo. King Leopold was himself initiated in 1813 and, although he never took a very active part in the work he always maintained a friendly attitude towards the Craft. On March 1, 1817, a Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established. |
The fundamental law of Freemasonry contained in the first of the Old Charges collected in 1723, and inserted in the Book of Constitutions published in that year, sets forth the true doctrine as to what the Institution demands of a Freemason in reference to his religious belief:
"A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine.
But though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet it is now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves".
Anderson, in his second edition, altered this article, calling a Freemason a true Noachida, and saying that Freemasons "all agree in the three great articles of Noah", which is incorrect, since the Precepts of Noah were seven (see Religion of Freemasonry).
See British Honduras
The use of a bell in the ceremonies of the Third Degree, to denote the hour, is, manifestly, an anachronism, an error in date, for bells were not invented until the fifth century. But Freemasons are not the only people who have imagined the existence of bells at the building of the Temple. Henry Stephen tells us in the Apologie pour Herodote ( chapter 39 ), of a monk who boasted that when he was at Jerusalem he obtained a vial which contained some of the sounds of King Solomon's bells. The blunders of a ritualist and the pious fraud of a relic-monger have equal claims to authenticity.
The Masonic anachronism, however, is not worth consideration, because it is simply intended for a notation of time a method of expressing intelligibly the hour at which a supposed event occurred.
Brother Mackey, in writing the foregoing paragraph, had no doubt in mind the kind of bells used in churches of which an early, if indeed not the earliest, application is usually credited to Bishop Paulinus about 400 A.D.
However, in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1904, there is a report of the discovery at Gezer of a number of small bronze bells, both of the ordinary shape with clapper and also of the ball-and-slit form. If these bells are of the same date as the city on whose site they were found, then they may have like antiquity of say up to 3000 B.C. Bells are mentioned in the Bible (as in Exodus xxviii 34, and xxxix, 26, and in Zechariah xiv, 20), but the presumption is that these were mainly symbolical or decorative in purpose.
A significant word in Symbolic Freemasonry, obsolete in many of the modem systems, whose derivation is uncertain (see Macbenac).
See Bonaim
The name of a cavern to which certain assassins fled for concealment. The expression may be fanciful but in wund has a curious resemblance to a couple of Hebrew words meaning builder and tarry.
A significant word in the advanced degrees. One of the Princes or Intendants of Solomon, in whose quarry some of the traitors spoken of in the Third Degree were found. He is mentioned in the catalogue of Solomon's princes, given in First Kings (iv, 9). The Hebrew word is, pronounced ben-day-ker, the son of him who divides or pierces. In some old instructions we find a corrupt form, Bendaa.
BENEDICT XIVA Roman pontiff whose family name was Prosper Lambertini. He was born at Bologna in 1675, succeeded Clement XII as Pope in 1740, and died in 1758. He was distinguished for his learning and was a great encourager of the arts and sciences. He was, however, an implacable enemy of secret societies, and issued, on the 18th of May, 1751, his celebrated Bull, renewing and perpetuating that of his predecessor which excommunicated the Freemasons (see Bull). |
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The solemn invocation of a blessing in the ceremony of closing a Lodge is called the benediction.
One who receives the support or charitable donations of a Lodge. Those who are entitled to these benefits are affiliated Freemasons, their wives or widows, their widowed mothers, and their minor sons and unmarried daughters. Unaffiliated Freemasons cannot become the beneficiaries of a Lodge, but affiliated Freemasons cannot be deprived of its benefits on account of non-payment of dues.
Indeed, as this non-payment often arises from poverty, it thus forms a stronger claim for fraternal charity.
In 1798, a society was established in London, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Moira, and all the other acting officers of the Grand Lodge, whose object was "the relief of sick, aged, and imprisoned Brethren, and for the protection of their widows, children, and orphans".
The payment of one guinea per annum entitled every member, when sick or destitute, or his widow and orphans in case of his death, to a fixed contribution. After a few years, however, the Society came to an end as it was considered improper to turn Freemasonry into a Benefit Club. Benefit funds of this kind have been generally unknown to the Freemasons of America, although some Lodges have established a fund for the purpose.
The Lodge of Strict Observance in the City of New York, and others in Troy, Ballston, Schenectady, etc., years ago, adopted a system of benefit funds.
In 1844, several members of the Lodges in Louisville, Kentucky, organized a society under the title of the Friendly Sons of St. John. It was constructed after the model of the English society already mentioned. No member was received after forty-five years of age, or who was not a contributing member of a Lodge; the per diem allowance to sick members was seventy-five cents; fifty dollars were appropriated to pay the funeral expenses of a deceased member, and twenty-five for those of a member's wife; on the death of a member a gratuity was given to his family; ten per cent of all fees and dues was appropriated to an orphan fund; and it was contemplated, if the funds would justify, to pension the widows of deceased members, if their circumstances required it.
Similar organizations are Low Twelve Clubs which have been formed in Lodges and other Masonic bodies and these are usually voluntary, a group of the brethren paying a stipulated sum into a common fund by regular subscriptions or by assessment whenever a member dies; a contribution from this fund being paid to the surviving relatives on the death of any brother affiliated in the undertaking.
But the establishment in Lodges of such benefit funds is by some Brethren held to be in opposition to the pure system of Masonic charity, and they have, therefore, been discouraged by several Grand Lodges, though several have existed in Scotland and elsewhere.
Cogan, in his work On the Passions, thus defines Benevolence:
"When our love or desire of good goes forth to others, it is termed goodwill or benevolence.
Benevolence embraces all beings capable of enjoying any portion of good; and thus it becomes universal benevolence, which manifests itself by being pleased with the share of good every creature enjoys in a disposition to increase it, in feeling an uneasiness at their sufferings, and in the abhorrence of cruelty under every disguise or pretext".
This spirit should pervade the hearts of all Freemasons, who are taught to look upon mankind as formed by the Great Architect of the Universe for the mutual assistance, instruction, and support of each other.
This Fund was established in 1727 by the Grand Lodge of England under the management of a Committee of seven members, to whom twelve more were added in 1730.
It was originally supported by voluntary contributions from the various Lodges, and intended for the relief of distressed Brethren recommended by the contributing Lodges. The Committee was called the Committee of Charity.
The Fund is now derived partly from the fees of honor payable by Grand Officers, and the fees for dispensations, and partly from an annual payment of four shillings from each London Freemason and of two shillings from each country Freemason; it is administered by the Board of Benevolence, which consists of all the present and past Grand Officers, all actual Masters of Lodges and twelve Past Masters.
The Fund is solely devoted to charity, and large sums of money are every year voted and paid to petitioners. In the United States of America there are several similar organizations known as Boards of Relief (see Relief, Board of).
There have been several institutions in the United States of an educational and benevolent character, deriving their existence in whole or in part from Masonic beneficence, and among these may be mentioned the following:
Besides the Stephen Girard Charity Fund, founded in Philadelphia, the capital investment of which is 562,000, the annual interest being devoted "to relieve all Master Masons in good standing", there is a Charity Fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of deceased Master Masons, and an incorporated Masonic Home. The District of Columbia has an organized Masonic charity, entitled Saint John's Mite Association. Idaho has an Orphan Fund, to which every Master Mason pays annually one dollar.
Indiana has organized the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home Society. Maine has done likewise; and Nebraska has an Orphans School Fund (see Charity).
Found in some old rituals of the high degrees for Bendekar, as the name of an Intendant of Solomon. It is Bengeber in the catalogue of Solomon's officers (First Kings iv, 13), meaning the son of Geber, or the son of the strong man.
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In 1728 a Deputation was granted by Lord Kingston, Grand Master of England, to Brother George Pomfret to constitute a Lodge at Bengal in East India, that had been requested by some Brethren residing there; and in the following year a Deputation was granted to Captain Ralph Far Winter, to be Provincial Grand Master of East India at Bengal (see Constitutions, 1738, page 194); and in 1730 a Lodge was established at the "East India Arms, Fort William, Calcutta, Bengal", and numbered 72. There is a District Grand Lodge of Bengal with 74 subordinate Lodges, and also a District Grand Chapter with 21 subordinate Chapters. |
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A significant word in several of the degrees which refer to the second Temple, because it was only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin that returned from the captivity to rebuild it. Hence, in the Freemasonry of the second Temple, Judah and Benjamin have superseded the columns of Jachin and Boaz; a change the more easily made because of the identity of the initials.
Corruptly spelled benchorim in some old monitors. This is a significant word in the high degrees, probably signifying one that is freeborn, from son of the freeborn. The word has also a close resemblance in sound to the Hebrew for son of Hiram.
BENT, GOVERNOR CHARLESCharles Bent was born at Charlestown, Va., in 1797, studied medicine, graduated from West Point. After resigning from the army he entered business in St. Louis. In 1828 he and his brother William went west, erected a fort (or stockaded headquarters) near what is now Las Animas which in time was to become famous from one end of the Santa Fe trail to the other as Bent's Fort. After he had formed a partnership with Col. Ceran St. Vrain (also a Mason) the firm of Bent & St. Vrain became nationally known as second in size and influence only to Bro. John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Co. at a time when beaver skins were used as money in the whole of the West. He married Maria of the famous Spanish family of Jaramillo, whose sister Josefa afterwards married General Kit Carson. |
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After New Mexico was formed into a Territory of the United States, Bent was appointed the first Governor, but in 1847 was assassinated in his home at Taos by a mob of Indians and Mexicans. This was part of a plot to drive Americans out of the Territory which had been schemed in Mexico City and was locally instigated by a corrupt and criminal priest at Taos named Fra Martinez. Bent was (along with the famous Senator Benton) a founding member of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, St. Louis, in 1821. A Lodge formed at Taos by the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1860 and named Bent Lodge, No. 204, is now No. 42 on the rolls of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico. (See House Executive Document, No. 60, Thirtieth Congress, entitled "Occupation of Mexican Territory", and article by Bro. F. T. Cheetham in The Builder; 1923, p.358. Gould's History of Freemasonry; VI; Seribner's; New York; page 36.)
...or Beniah. Lenning gives this form, Benayah. The son of Jah, a significant word in the advanced degrees. The Hebrew is n-iz.
The Hebrew Word meaning a covenant. A significant word in several of the advanced degrees.
Capital of the old kingdom of Prussia, and the seat of three Grand Lodges, namely:
A small group of islands in the West Atlantic Ocean. The first Provincial Grand Master of the Bermudas was Brother Alured Popple, appointed by Lord Strathmore in 1744. A Lodge was chartered in 1761 by the Grand Lodge, "Moderns", of England as Union Lodge, No. 266. The first to be warranted by the Athol Grand Lodge was Saint George, No. 307.
The English Provincial Grand Lodge did not long survive but in 1803 a Province under the Grand Lodge of Scotland was established in the Bermudas. Two Lodges, Saint George's and Civil and Military, are still active under the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
It was discovered in 1813 that the Lodges instituted by the "Ancient" were still working but those chartered by the "Moderns" had ceased all activity. There is a Lodge, Atlantic Phoenix, at Hamilton, at work , since 1797.
An expelled member under whose name was published, in the year 1829, a pretended exposition entitled Light on Masonry. The book was one of the fruits of the anti-Masonic excitement of the day. It is a worthless production, intended as a libel on the Institution.
BERNARD, SAINTA famous preacher and Theologian, born in France in 1090, was the founder of the Order of Cistercian Monks. He took great interest in the success of the Knights Templar, whose Order he cherished throughout his whole life. His works contain numerous letters recommending them to the favor and protection of the great. In 1128, he himself is said to have drawn up the Rule of the Order, and among his writings is to be found a Sermo exhortatorius ad Milites Templi, or an Exhortation to the Soldiers of the Temple, a production full of sound advice. To the influence of Bemard and his untiring offices of kindness, the Templars were greatly indebted for their rapid increase in wealth and consequence. He died in the year 1153. |
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The Hebrew name is pronounced tar-sheesh. A precious stone, the first in the fourth row of the high priest's breastplate. Color, bluish-green. It has been ascribed to the tribe of Benjamin.
A French Masonic writer of some prominence toward the close of the eighteenth century. He was a leading member of the Rite of Strict Observance, in which his adopted name was Eques à Flore. He wrote a criticism on the Masonic Congress of Wilhelmsbad, which was published under the title of Oratio de Conventu generali Latomorum apud aquas Wilhelminas, prope Hanauviam. He also wrote an Essai sur la Franc-Maçonnerie, ou du but essential et fondamenal de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Essay on Freemasonry, or the essential and fundamental purpose of Freemasonry; translated the second volume of Frederic Nicolai's essay on the crimes imputed to the Templars, and was the author of several other Masonic works of less importance. He was a member of the French Constitutional Convention of 1792. He wrote also some political essays on finances, and was a contributor on the same subject to the Encyclopédie Méthodique.
One of the builders of the Ark of the Covenant (see Aholiab).
See BIBLE in menu on the left.
In French, we have a Bibliographie des Ouvrages, Opuscules, Encycliques ou écrits les p1us remarquables, publiés sur l'histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie depuis 1723 jusqu'en 1814, Bibliography of the Works, Booklets, Circulars, or more remarkable writings, published on the History of Freemasonry since 1725, as far as 1814. It is by Thory, and is contained in the first volume of his Acta Latotnorum. Though not full, it is useful, especially in respect to French works, and it is to be regretted that it stops at a period anterior to the Augustan age of Masonic literature. In German we have the work of Dr. Georg B. F. Kloss, entitled Bibliographie der Freimaurerei, published at Frankfort in 1844. At the time of its publication it was an almost exhaustive work, and contains the titles of about 5,400 items classified according to the subject matter of the works listed. Reinhold Taute published his Maurerische Buecherkunde at Leipzig in 1886. In 1911 begun the publication of the three volumes of August Wolfstieg's Bibliographie der Freimauerischen Literatur listing 43,347 titles of works treating of Freemasonry. The three volumes of Wolfstieg's elaborate compilation, appearing respectively in 1911, 1912, and 1914, listing and briefly describing over forty-three thousand items, was continued by Brother Bernhard Beyer of the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne in Beyreuth, Germany, whose 1926 volume adds over eleven thousand references.
Brother Silas H. Shepherd, Wisconsin Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Research, has prepared a list of Masonic Bibliographies and Catalogues in the English Language, 1920, and the Committee has also published a selected List of Masonic Literature, 1923, and these have been made all the more useful by An Essay on Masonic History and Reference Works by Brother Shepherd. Brother William L. Boyden, Librarian, Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, has described the method used in the great Library under his charge at Washington, District of Columbia, in a pamphlet, Classification of the Literature of Freemasonry, 1915, a plan peculiarly applicable to Masonic libraries. In this connection we are reminded of the late Brother Frank J. Thompson, Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of North Dakota, and a greatly esteemed correspondent of ours. He published about 1903 a System of Card Membership Record for Masonic Bodies and a Scheme of Classification for Masonic Books, the latter being an extension of the Dewey decimal system.
Baron Bielfeld was born March 31, 1717, and died April 5, 1770. He was envoy from the court of Prussia to The Hague, and a familiar associate of Frederick the Great in the youthful days of that Prince before he ascended the throne. He was one of the founders of the Lodge of the Three Globes in Berlin, which afterward became a Grand Lodge. Through his influence Frederick was induced to become a Freemason. In Bielfeld's Freundschaftlicher Briefe, or Familiar Letters, are to be found an account of the initiation of the Prince, and other curious details concerning Freemasonry.
Come let us prepare
We Brothers that are.
Met together on merry Occasion;
Let's drink, laugh, and sing;
Our wine has a spring.
'Tis a Health to an Accepted Mason.
This song first appeared in Read's Weekly Journal for December 1, 1722, and then was published in the Book of Constitutions in 1723, after the death of its author, which occurred on December 30, 1722.
Birkhead was a singer and actor at Drury Lane Theater in London, and was Master of Lodge V when Doctor Anderson was preparing his Constitutions, his funeral is thus described in Read's Weekly Journal for January 12, 1723.
"Mr. Birkhead was last Saturday night carried from his Lodgings in Which-street to be interred at St Clements Danes; the Pall was supported by six Free-Masons belonging to Drury-Lane Play-house; the other Members of that particular Lodge of which he was a Warden, with a vast number of other Accepted-Masons, followed two and two; both the Pall-bearers and others were in their white-aprons"
(see also Entered Apprentices's Song and Tune, Freemasons').
Black, in the Masonic ritual, is constantly the symbol of grief. This is perfectly consistent with its use in the world, where black has from remote antiquity been adopted as the garment of mourning.
In Freemasonry this color is confined to but a few degrees, but everywhere has the single meaning of sorrow. Thus in the French Rite, during the ceremony of raising a candidate to the Master's Degree, the Lodge is clothed in black strewed with the representations of tears, as a token of grief for the loss of a distinguished member of the fraternity, whose tragic history is commemorated in that degree.
This usage is not, however, observed in the York Rite. The black of the Elected Knights of Nine, the Illustrious Elect of Fifteen, and the Sublime Knights Elected, in the Scottish Rite, has a similar import.
Black appears to have been adopted in the degree of Noachite, as a symbol of grief, tempered with humility, which is the virtue principally dilated on in the ceremony.
The garments of the Knights Templar were originally white, but after the death of their martyred Grand Master, James De Molay, the modern Knights assumed a black dress as a token of grief for his loss.
The same reason led to the adoption of black as the appropriate color in the Scottish Rite of the Knights of Kadosh and the Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret.
The modern American modification of the Templar costume abandons all reference to this historical fact.
One exception to this symbolism of black is to be found in the degree of Select Master, where the vestments are of black bordered with red, the combination of the two colors showing that the degree is properly placed between the Royal Arch and Templar degrees, while the black is a symbol of silence and secrecy, the distinguishing virtues of a Select Master.
The ball used in a Masonic ballot by those who do not wish the candidate to be admitted. Hence, when an applicant is rejected, he is said to be "blackballed".
The use of black balls may be traced as far back as the ancient Romans. Thus, Ovid says in the Metamorphoses (xv, 41), that in trials it was the custom of the ancients to condemn the prisoner by black pebbles or to acquit him by white ones:
Mos erat antiquus, niveis atrisque lapillis, His dammare reos, illis absolvere culpae.
In German Lodges the Schwarze Tafel, or Blackboard, is that on which the names of applicants for admission are inscribed, so that every visitor may make the necessary inquiries whether they are or are not worthy of acceptance.
Lenning says that the Schwarze Brüder was one of the College Societies of the German Universities. The members of the Order, however, denied this, and claimed an origin as early as 1675. Thory, in the Acta Latomorum (1, 313), says that it was largely spread through Germany, having its seat for a long time at Giessen and at Marburg, and in 1783 being removed to Frankfort on the Oder.
The same writer asserts that at first the members observed the dogmas and ritual of the Kadosh, but that afterward the Order, becoming a political society, gave rise to the Black Legion, which in 1813 was commanded by M. Lutzow.
In the center of the little Italian mountainous country where Virgil once lived and Horace had his farm, and near where in other times Aquino was built, home of Juvenile and of Thomas (St. Thomas Aquinas), there stood in early Roman times a temple of Apollo and Venus. St. Benedict (480 - 543) founded on the site of it the first monastery in Europe, a small house which he called San Germano, and later Mt. Cassino, which, after having been more than once rebuilt, was in World War II bombed into rubble by Allied planes after the Germans had turned it into a fortress. This early monastery, which Benedict, a man of hard sense, founded in 529, he turned into a Monastic Order, called the Benedictines or Black Monks (from color of their habit), the first Monastic Order founded on the Continent; other Orders, some of them its daughters, were to follow it, the Carthusians, the Clusiacs, the Franciscans (half monastic), but none was ever to rival it in strength and stability.
After they had become established in centers as far away as England, and had become possessed of property, the Benedictines had many Abbeys built, and other Monastic structures. A number of these are famous buildings; a few were masterpieces of Gothic.
A legend grew up long afterwards that the Benedictines had themselves been Europe's first architects, and a few Masons even began to believe that it was they who had fathered Medieval Masonry, among the latter being Bro. Ossian Lang, who gave the theory as much support as he could find (in his treatises on Eleventh Century School for Builders, and his Black Monks).
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Benedict's rule was founded on work. Each member was assigned a form of work, and was expected to give his daily time to time, and each one was required to read at least one book a year. But there is no evidence anywhere to prove that they were ever architects or even plain builders; even the work rule fell in abeyance after the early honeymoon period. In his massive Art and the Reformation, G. G. Coulton sweeps together every scrap of written records into a chapter, and shows that the monks were not architects, and that they hired laymen to come in from the outside to cultivate their fields and gardens, and even to work in the kitchens; and not many of them ever managed to read his one book a year, or learned to read. If they ever had any connection with Freemasonry it has escaped detection; one set of Fabric Rolls, probably belonging to York, shows that the Freemasons there expressly stipulated that no monks from the nearby Benedictine houses were to work with them. (There are abundant bibliographics in the Cambridge Medieval History. See also Medieval Italy, by H. B. Cotterill, London, George C. Harrap, 1915, and Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, by F. L. Haskins.) |
Scottish officer in French army; prominent in the French high grades and Scottish Philosophic Rite and credited by some (see Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie Française, Albert Lantoine, 1925, Paris, page 221) as the founder of the grades of the Sublime Master of the Luminous Ring (Académie des Sublimes Maitres de l'Anneau Lumineux), a system in which Pythagoras is deemed the creator of Freemasonry.
Russian theosophist, born July 31, 1831; died May 8, 1891, established at New York in 1875 the Theosophical Society. A sketch of the history of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry, published by- John Hogg at London, 1880, says on page 58 that "The 24th of November, 1877, the Order conferred upon Madam H. P. Blavatsky the Degrees of the Rite of Adoption".
Subsequently to the publication of the brief article on page 138 Bro. Joseph H. Fussell, secretary of the Theosophieal Society at Point Loma, Calif., contributed to The New Age of January, 1915, page 29, an article which clears up once and for all any questions as to claims made for the founder of the Theosophical Society of having been a Mason. She received from John Yarker, unsolicited, a certificate making her a member of the so-called Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry (not connected with Free and Accepted Masonry) but, as she clearly stated, made no claim to any membership in any regular Lodge.
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The "Masonry of the Orient", to which she referred in a published letter, and which appears to refer to some form of self-styled Freemasonry indigenous to India, is one of many questions for Craft historians to clear up. The wide-ranging and indefatigable Yarker is another subject in the same category; for while he was a regular and loyal Mason, a contributor to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, and guilty of no clandestinism, his writings have left a trail of confusion behind them because of his penchant for identifying Freemasonry with any form of occultism, symbolism, or esotericism which resembled it. The Theosophical movement has never in any of its sects or branches been recognized by or identified with any regular Masonic Body. |
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Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of the Moderns, 1764-6.
The Blazing Star, which is not, however, to be confounded with the Five-Pointed Star, is one of the most important symbols of Freemasonry, and makes its appearance in several of the Degrees. Hutchinson says "It is the first and most exalted object that demands our attention in the Lodge". It undoubtedly derives this importance, first, from the repeated use that is made of it as a Masonic emblem; and secondly, from its great antiquity as a symbol derived from older systems.
Extensive as has been the application of this symbol in the Masonic ceremonies, it is not surprising that there has been a great difference of opinion in relation to its true signification.
But this difference of opinion has been almost entirely confined to its use in the First Degree. In the higher Degrees, where there has been less opportunity of innovation, the uniformity of meaning attached to the Star has been carefully preserved.
In the Twenty-eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the explanation given of the Blazing Star, is, that it is symbolic of a the Freemason, who, by perfecting himself in the way of truth, that is to say, by advancing in knowledge, becomes like a blazing star, shining with brilliancy in the midst of darkness. The star is, therefore, in this degree, a symbol of truth.
In the Fourth Degree of the same Rite, the star is again said to be a symbol of the light of Divine Providence pointing out the way of truth.
In the Ninth Degree this symbol is called the star of direction; and while it primitively alludes to an especial guidance given for a particular purpose expressed in the degree, it still retains, in a remoter sense, its usual signification as an emblem of Divine Providence guiding and directing the pilgrim in his journey through life.
When, however, we refer to Ancient Craft Freemasonry, we shall find a considerable diversity in the application of this symbol.
In the earliest monitors, immediately after the revival of 1717, the Blazing Star is not mentioned, but it was not long before it was introduced. In the instructions of 1735 it is detailed as a part of the furniture of a Lodge, with the explanation that the "Mosaic Pavement is the Ground Floor of the Lodge, the Blazing Star, the Center, and the Indented Tarsal, the Border round about it!"
In a primitive Tracing Board of the Entered Apprentice, copied by Oliver, in his Historical Landmark (I, 133), without other date than that it was published early in the last century, the Blazing Star occupies a prominent position in the center of the Tracing Board. Oliver says that it represented BEAUTY, and was called the glory in the center.
In the lectures credited to Dunckerley, and adopted by the Grand Lodge, the Blazing Star was mid to represent "the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem, proclaiming to mankind the nativity of the Son of God, and here conducting our spiritual progress to the Author of our redemption".
In the Prestonian lecture, the Blazing Star, with the Mosaic Pavement and the Tesselated Border, are called the Ornaments of the Lodge, and the Blazing Star is thus explained:
"The Blazing Star, or glory in the center, reminds us of that awful period when the Almighty delivered the two tables of stone, containing the ten commandments, to His faithful servant Moses on Mount Sinai, when the rays of His divine glory shone so bright that none could behold it without fear and trembling. It also reminds us of the omnipresence of the Almighty, overshadowing us with His divine love, and dispensing His blessings amongst us; and by its being placed in the center, it further reminds us, that wherever we may be assembled together, God is in the midst of us, seeing our actions, and observing the secret intents and movements of our hearts".
In the lectures taught by Webb, and very generally adopted in the United States, the Blazing Star is said to be "commemorative of the star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Savior's nativity", and it is subsequently explained as hieroglyphically representing Divine Providence.
But the commemorative allusion to the Star of Bethlehem seeming to some to be objectionable, from its peculiar application to the Christian religion, at the revision of the lectures made in 1843 by the Baltimore Convention, this explanation was omitted, and the allusion to Divine Providence alone retained.
In Hutchinson's system, the Blazing Star is considered a symbol of Prudence. "It is placed", says he, "in the center, ever to be present to the eye of the Mason, that his heart may be attentive to her dictates and steadfast in her laws; for Prudence is the rule of all Virtues; Prudence is the path which leads to every degree of propriety; Prudence is the channel where self-approbation flows for ever; she leads us forth to worthy actions, and, as a Blazing Star, enlighteneth us through the dreary and darksome paths of this life" (Spirit of Masonry, edition of 1775, Lecture v, page 111).
Hutchinson also adopted Dunckerley's allusion to the Star of Bethlehem, but only as a secondary symbolism.
In another series of lectures formerly in use in America, but which we believe is now abandoned, the Blazing Star is said to be "emblematical of that Prudence which ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct of every Mason; and is more especially commemorative of the star which appeared in the east to guide the wise men to Bethlehem, and proclaim the birth and the presence of the Son of God".
The Freemasons on the Continent of Europe, speaking of the symbol, say:
"It is no matter whether the figure of which the Blazing Star forms the center be a square, triangle, or circle, it still represents the sacred name of God, as an universal spirit who enlivens our hearts, who purifies our reason, who increases our knowledge, and who makes us wiser and better men".
And lastly, in the lectures revised by Doctor Hemming and adopted by the Grand Lodge of England at the Union in 1813, and now constituting the approved lectures of that jurisdiction, we find the following definition:
"The Blazing Star, or glory in the center, refers us to the sun, which enlightens the earth with its refulgent rays, dispensing its blessings to mankind at large, and giving light and life to all things here below".
Hence we find that at various times the Blazing Star has been declared to be a symbol of Divine Providence, of the Star of Bethlehem, of Prudence, of Beauty, and of the Sun.
Before we can attempt to decide upon these various opinions, and adopt the true signification, it is necessary to extend our investigations into the antiquity of the emblem, and inquire what was the meaning given to it by the nations who first made it a symbol.
Sabaism, or the worship of the stars, was one of the earliest deviations from the true system of religion.
One of its causes was the universally established doctrine among the idolatrous nations of antiquity, that each star was animated by the soul of a hero god, who had once dwelt incarnate upon earth. Hence, in the hieroglyphical system, the star denoted a god.
To this signification, allusion is made by the prophet Amos (v, 26), when he says to the Israelites, while reproaching them for their idolatrous habits:
"But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chian your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves".
This idolatry was early learned by the Israelites from their Egyptian taskmasters; and so unwilling were they to abandon it, that Moses found it necessary strictly to forbid the worship of anything "that is in heaven above", notwithstanding which we find the Jews repeatedly committing the sin which had been so expressly forbidden. Saturn was the star to whose worship they were more particularly addicted under the names of Moloch and Chian, already mentioned in the passage quoted from Amos.
The planet Saturn was worshiped under the names of Moloch, Malcolm or Milcom by the Ammonites, the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians, and under that of Chian by the Israelites in the desert.
Saturn was worshiped among the Egyptians under the name of Raiphan, or, as it is called in the Septuagint, Remphan. St. Stephen, quoting the passage of Amos, says, "ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan" (see Acts vii, 43).
Hale, in his analysis of Chronology, says in alluding to this passage:
"There is no direct evidence that the Israelites worshiped the dog-star in the wilderness, except this passage; but the indirect is very strong, drawn from the general prohibition of the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, to which they must have been prone.
And this was peculiarly an Egyptian idolatry, where the dog-star was worshiped, as notifying by his helical rising, or emersion from the sun's rays, the regular commencement of the periodical inundation of the Nile. And the Israelite sculptures at the cemetery of Kibroth-Hattaavah, or graves of lust, in the neighborhood of Sinai, remarkably abound in hieroglyphics of the dog-star, represented as a human figure with a dog's head.
That they afterwards sacrificed to the dog-star, there is express evidence in Josiah's description of idolatry, where the Syriac Mazaloth (improperly, termed planets) denotes the dog-star; in Arabic, Mazaroth".
Fellows (in his Exposition of the Mysteries, page 7) says that this dog-star, the Anubis of the Egyptians, is the Blazing Star of Freemasonry, and supposing that the latter is a symbol of Prudence, which indeed it was in some of the ancient lectures, he goes on to remark ; "What connection can possibly exist between a star and prudence, except allegorically in reference to the caution that was indicated to the Egyptians by the first appearance of this star, which warned them of approaching danger".
But it will hereafter be seen that he has totally misapprehended the true signification of the Masonic symbol. The work of Fellows, it may be remarked, is an unsystematic compilation of undigested learning; but the student who is searching for truth must carefully eschew all his deductions as to the genius and spirit of Freemasonry.
Notwithstanding a few discrepancies that may have occurred in the Masonic lectures, as arranged at various periods and by different authorities, the concurrent testimony of the ancient religions, and the hieroglyphic language, prove that the star was a symbol of God. It was so used by the prophets of old in their metaphorical style, and it has so been generally adopted by Masonic instructors.
The application of the Blazing Star as an emblem of the Savior has been made by those writers who give a Christian explanation of our emblems, and to the Christian Freemason such an application will not be objectionable.
But those who desire to refrain from anything that may tend to impair the tolerance of our system, will be disposed to embrace a more universal explanation, which may be received alike by all the disciples of the Order, whatever may be their peculiar religious views. Such persons will rather accept the expression of Doctor Oliver, who, though much disposed to give a Christian character to our Institution, says in his Symbol of Glory (page 292), "The Great Architect of the Universe is therefore symbolized in Freemasonry by the Blazing Star, as the Herald of our salvation". Before concluding, a few words may be said as to the form of the Masonic symbol. It is not a heraldic star or estella, for that always consists of six points, while the Masonic star is made with five points.
This, perhaps, was with some involuntary allusion to the five Points of Fellowship. But the error has been committed in all our modern Tracing Boards of making the star with straight points, which form, of course, does not represent a blazing star. John Gullim, the editor in 1610 of the book A Display of Heraldirie, says:
"All stars should be made with waved points, because our eyes tremble at beholding them".
In the early Tracing Board already referred to, the star with five straight points is superimposed upon another of five waving points. But the latter are now abandoned, and we have in the representations of the present day the incongruous symbol of a blazing star with five straight points. In the center of the star there was always placed the letter G, which like the Hebrew yod, was a recognized symbol of God, and thus the symbolic reference of the Blazing Star to Divine Providence is greatly strengthened.
The Baron Tschoudy was the author of a work entitled The Blazing Star (see Tschoudy). On the principles inculcated in this work, he established, says Thory Acta Latomorum I, 94), at Paris, in 1766, an Order called "The Order of the Blazing Star", which consisted of Degrees of chivalry ascending to the Crusades, after the Templar system usually credited to Ramsay. It never, however, assumed the prominent position of an active rite.
See Benediction
A blind man cannot be initiated into Freemasonry under the operation of the old regulation, which requires physical perfection in a candidate. This rule has nevertheless been considerably modified in some Jurisdictions.
Chaplain Couden of the House of Representatives of the United States for a long period of years was blind, and yet was a Mason.
W. W. Drake, Kileen, Texas, became blind during his Mastership; he was reelected for a second term.
Charles F. Forshaw, Doncaster, England, who died in 1800, was for a number of years widely known as a Masonic musician. In his Notes on the Ceremony of Installation, page 52, Henry Sadler gives a sketch of the most famous of blind Masons, George Aarons, Master of Joppa Lodge, No. 1827, and of Lodge of Israel. He was a ritualist taught by Peter Gilkes, and for nearly twenty years was Lecture Master in the leading Lodges of Instruction. More remarkable still is Lux in Tenebris Lodge, on Shaftsbury Avenue, London, which is a Lodge for blind Masons. The Craft in England has always acted on the principle that when the Craft was transformed from Operative to Speculative the Physical Qualifications were transformed with it.
Physical blindness in Freemasonry, as in the language of the Scriptures, is symbolic of the deprivation of moral and intellectual light. It is equivalent to the darkness of the Ancient Mysteries in which the neophytes were enshrouded for periods varying from a few hours to many days. The Masonic candidate, therefore, represents one immersed in intellectual darkness, groping in the search for that Divine light and truth which are the objects of a Freemason's labor (see Darkness).
The three blows given to the Builder, according to the legend of the Third Degree, have been differently interpreted as symbols in the different systems of Freemasonry, but always with some reference to adverse or malignant influences exercised on humanity, of whom Hiram is considered as the type. Thus, in the symbolic Degrees of Ancient Craft Freemasonry, the three blows are said to be typical of the trials and temptations to which man is subjected in youth and manhood, and to death, whose victim he becomes in old age. Hence the three Assassins are the three stages of human life. In the advanced Degrees, such as the Kadoshes, which are founded on the Templar system commonly credited to Ramsay, the reference is naturally made to the destruction of the Order, which was effected by the combined influences of Tyranny, Superstition, and Ignorance, which are therefore symbolized by the three blows; while the three Assassins are also said sometimes to be represented by Squin de Florean, Naffodei, and the Prior of Montfaucon, the three perjurers who swore away the lives of DeMolay and his Knights. In the astronomical theory of Freemasonry, which makes it a modern modification of the ancient sun-worship, a theory advanced by Ragon, the three blows are symbolic of the destructive influences of the three winter months, by which Hiram, or the Sun, is shorn of his vivifying power. Des Etangs has generalized the Templar theory, and, supposing Hiram to be the symbol of eternal reason, interprets the blows as the attacks of those vices which deprave and finally destroy humanity. However interpreted for a special theory, Hiram the Builder always represents, in the science of Masonic symbolism, the principle of good; and then the three blows are the contending principles of evil.
This is emphatically the color of Freemasonry. It is the appropriate tincture of the Ancient Craft Degrees. It is to the Freemason a symbol of universal friendship and benevolence, because, as it is the color of the vault of heaven, which embraces and covers the whole globe, we are thus reminded that in the breast of every brother these virtues should be equally as extensive. It is therefore the only color, except white, which should be used in a Master's Lodge for decorations. Among the religious institutions of the Jews, blue was an important color. The robe of the high priest's ephod, the ribbon for his breastplate, and for the plate of the miter, were to be blue. The people were directed to wear a ribbon of this color above the fringe of their garments; and it was the color of one of the veils of the tabernacle, where, Josephus says, it represented the element of air. The Hebrew word used on these occasions to designate the color blue or rather purple blue, is tekelet; and this word seems to have a singular reference to the symbolic character of the color, for it is derived from a root signifying perfection; now it is well known that, among the ancients, initiation into the mysteries and perfection were synonymous terms; and hence the appropriate color of the greatest of all the systems of initiation may well be designated by a word which also signifies perfection.
This color also held a prominent position in the symbolism of the Gentile nations of antiquity. Among the Druids, blue was the symbol of truth, and the candidate, in the initiation into the sacred rites of Druidism, was invested with a robe composed of the three colors, white, blue, and green.
The Egyptians esteemed blue as a sacred color, and the body of Amun, the principal god of their theogony, was painted light blue, to imitate, as Wilkinson remarks, "his peculiarly exalted and heavenly nature".
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The ancient Babylonians clothed their idols in blue, as we learn from the prophet Jeremiah (x, 9). The Chinese, in their mystical philosophy, represented blue as the symbol of the Deity, because, being, as they say, compounded of black and red, this color is a fit representation of the obscure and brilliant, the male and female, or active and passive principles. The Hindus assert that their god, Vishnu, was represented of a celestial or sky blue, thus indicating that wisdom emanating from God was m be symbolized by this color. Among the medieval Christians, blue was sometimes considered as an emblem of immortality, as red was of the Divine love. Portal says that blue was the symbol of perfection, hope, and constancy. "The color of the celebrated dome, azure", says Weale, in his treatise on Symbolic Colors, "was in divine language the symbol of eternal truth; in consecrated language, of immortality, and in profane language, of fidelity". |
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Besides the three degrees of Ancient Craft Freemasonry, of which blue is the appropriate color, this tincture is also to be found in several other degrees, especially of the Scottish Rite, where it bears various symbolic significations; all, however, more or less related to its original character as representing universal friendship and benevolence.
In the Degree of Grand Pontiff, the Nineteenth of the Scottish Rite, it is the predominating color, and is there said to be symbolic of the mildness, fidelity, and gentleness which ought to be the characteristics of every true and faithful brother.
In the Degree of Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges, the blue and yellow, which are its appropriate colors, are said to refer to the appearance of Jehovah to Moses on Mount Sinai in clouds of azure and gold, and hence in this degree the color is rather a historical than a moral symbol.
The blue color of the tunic and apron, which constitutes a part of the investiture of a Prince of the Tabernacle, or Twenty-fourth Degree in the Scottish Rite, alludes to the whole symbolic character of the degree, whose teachings refer to our removal from this tabernacle of clay to "that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens". The blue in this degree is, therefore, a symbol of heaven, the seat of our celestial tabernacle.
Brothers John Heron Lepper and Philip Crossle contributed to Ars Quatuor Coronalorum (volume xxxvi, part 3, page 284), a discussion of Masonic Blue from which the following abstract has been made. Reference being first directed to other contributions to the subject in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (xxii, 3; xxiii); and to the Transactions, Lodge of Research (1909 - In, page 109), the authors state their belief that the Gold and Blue worn by the officers of the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the members of the Grand Master's Lodge, Dublin, are symbolical of the Compasses from the very inception of a Grand Lodge in Ireland, the symbolism being introduced there from England in or before 1725. After the first dozen years some variations were made in the established forms and the opinion is hazarded that one of these changes was from sky-blue to the dark Garter Blue for the ribbons and lining of the aprons then worn by the officers of the Grand Lodge of England, afterwards the Moderns.
On Saint John's Day in June, 1725, when the Earl of Rosse was installed Grand Master of Ireland, he was escorted to the King's Inns by "Six Lodges of Gentlemen Freemasons", the members of one "wore fine Badges full of Crosses and Squares, with this Motto, Spes mea in Deo est (My hope is in God), which was no doubt very significant, for the Master of it wore a Yellow Jacket, and Blue Britches". Brethren of the Grand Lodge still wear working aprons with yellow braid and yellow fringe with sky blue border on a plain white ground with no other ornament. These are probably symbolical of the compasses as in the following quotation from a spurious ritual published in the Dublin Intelligence, August 29, 1730:
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At a Masonic Fête in the Theater Royal, Dublin, December 6, 1731, we find "The Ladies all wore yellow and Blue Ribbons on their Breasts, being the proper Colors of that Ancient and Right Worshipful Society".
From the first the Grand Lodge of Ireland issued Lodge Warrants bearing Yellow and Blue ribbons supporting the seal showing a hand and trowel, a custom continued until about 1775.
The Grand Lode of Ireland preserves a cancelled Warrant issued June 6, 1750, to erect a Lodge No. 209 in Dublin. On the margin is a colored drawing of the Master on his throne and he wears a yellow jacket and blue breeches - with a red cloak and cocked hat - all of the Georgian period. An old picture - said to be after Hogarth - in the Library of Grand Lodge of England shows a Freemason with a yellow waistcoat. Our late Brother W, Wonnacott, the Librarian, thought the color of this garment was no accident and is symbolical of the brass body of the Compasses.
Up to recent years the members of Nelson Lodge, No, 18, Newry, County Down, Ireland, wore blue coats and yellow waistcoats, both having brass buttons with the Lodge number thereon. The color of the breeches has not been preserved but no doubt it was intended to be the same as the coat.
Union Lodge, No. 23, in the same town, must have worn the same uniform, for there is still preserved a complete set of brass buttons for such a costume.
These two Lodges, 18 and 23, were formed in 1809 from an older Lodge, No. 933, Newry, warranted in 1803. But from the fact that in Newry there still works the oldest Masonic Lodge in Ulster, warranted in 1737 and also from the fact that. Warrant No. 16, originally, granted in 1732 or 1733, was moved to and revived at Newry in 1766, there can be no question but that Masonic customs had a very strong foothold in that town.
That this custom was an old custom in Newry is also shown by the coat and vest which the late Brother Dr, F, C. Crossle had made for himself, he being intensely interested in Masonic lore, and having learned from the lips of many veteran Freemasons in Newry that this was the old and correct Masonic dress for festival occasions. It is true we cannot assume a general practice from a particular custom, as in the case of the Newry usage, nevertheless the latter is another link in the chain.
Gould, Hughan, Lane, and others who in the 1875-1890 period began the writing of Masonic history according to the canons of scholarly work which elsewhere governed professional historians, always hoped to find evidence of a great antiquity for pre-1717 Lodges but insisted on documentary proof, and refused to accept traditions, as they were right in doing, though it is now believed that they were somewhat more skeptical than they needed to have been. Also, present-day scholars know, they sometimes overlooked data which belonged neither to the class of traditions nor to the class of documents; these data are present Lodge facts, customs, or possessions which in themselves, and necessarily, imply a long period of time.
A datum of this kind, an exceptionally interesting one, is the Blue Banner which was possessed by an Edinburgh Lodge, the history of which is given in Annals of Journeyman Masons, No. 8, by Seggie and Tumbull; Thomas Allan and Sons; Edinburg; l930. This Lodge began as a sort of offshoot, or Side Order, of an old Operative Lodge, and is therefore reminiscent of the "Acception" in the Mason Company of London. The history of the Blue Banner goes back for about eight centuries; it was given to the Scottish Trade Gilds when they joined the Crusade under Pope Urban V, and for centuries entitled its possessors not only to special honors but to special privileges, and is more than once mentioned in the early records of the burgh.
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This history contains one entry of a special interest to American Masons. In September, 1918, the Lodge was visited by Bro. Sam Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor; he received the distinction for that Lodge a rare one, of being elected an Honorary Member. His home Lodge was Dawson's No 16 Washington D. C. See also An Historical Account of the Blue Blanket; or Crafts-Men's Banner. Containing the Fundamental Principles of the Good-Town, with the Powers and Prerogatives of the Crafts of Edinburgh, Etc., by Alexander Pennecuik; Edinburgh; 1722. There were 14 incorporated Crafts in Edinburgh in 1722. |
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The Lodge of Journeymen, in the city of Edinburgh, is in possession of a blue blanket which is used as a banner in Masonic processions. The history of it is thus given in the London Magazine:
"A number of Scotch mechanics followed Allan, Lord Steward of Scotland, to the holy wars in Palestine, and took with them a banner, on which were inscribed the following words from the 51st Psalm, the eighteenth vers, `In bona voluntate tua edificentur muri Hierosolymae', meaning `ln Thy good pleasure build Thou the walls of Jerusalem'. Fighting under the banner, these valiant Scotchman were present at the capture of Jerusalem, and other towns in the Holy Land; and, on their return to their own country, they deposited the banner, which they styled The Banner of the Holy Ghost, at the altar of St. Eloi, the patron saint of the Edinburgh Tradesmen, in the church of Saint Giles.
It was occasionally unfurled, or worn as a mantle by the representatives of the trades in the courtly and religious pageants that in former times were of frequent occurrence in the Scottish capital.
"In 1482, James III, in consequence of the assistance which he had received from the Craftsmen of Edinburgh, in delivering him from the castle in which he was kept a prisoner, and paying a debt of 6,000 Marks which he had contracted in making preparations for the marriage of his son, the Duke of Rothsay, to Cecil, daughter of Edward IV, of England, conferred on the good town several valuable privileges, and renewed to the Craftsmen their favorite banner of The Blue Blanket".
James's queen, Margaret of Denmark, to show her gratitude and respect to the Crafts, painted on the banner, with her own hands, a Saint Andrew's cross, a crown, a thistle, and a hammer, with the following inscription:
"Fear God and honor the king; grant him a long life and a prosperous reign, and we shall ever pray to be faithful for the defense of his sacred majesty's royal person till death".
The king decreed that in all time coming, this flag should be the standard of the Crafts within burgh, and that it should be unfurled in defense of their own rights, and in protection of their sovereign. The privilege of displaying it at the Masonic procession was granted to the journeymen, in consequence of their original connection with the Freemasons of Mary's Chapel, one of the four men incorporated trades of the city.
"The Blue Blanket was long in a very tattered condition; but some years ago it was repaired by lining it with blue silk, so that it can be exposed without subjecting it to much injury".
An interesting little book was written by Alexander pennecuik, Burgess and Guild-Brother of Edinburgh, and published with this title in 1722 and in later editions describing the Operative Companies of Edinburgh. The above particulars in the London Magazine are found in Pennecuik's work with other details.
The first three degrees of Freemasonry are so called from the blue color which is peculiar to them.
A Symbolic Lodge, in which the first three degrees of Freemasonry are conferred, is so called from the color of its decorations.
The degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason an sometimes called Blue Masonry.
In some of the advanced degrees, these words are used to designate a Master Mason.
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