Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

92 BADGE
BALDRICK
guished in a particular place or employment,
and designating his relation to a person or to a
particular occupation . It is in heraldry the
same thing as a cognizance : thus the followers
and retainers of the house of I'ercy wore a
silver crescent as a badge of their connection
with that family ; the white lion borne on the
left arm was the badge of the house of Howard,
Earl of Surrey ; the red rose that of the house
of Lancaster ; and the white rose, of York .
So the apron, formed of white lambskin, is
worn by the Freemason as a badge of his
profession and a token of his connection with
the Fraternity . (See Apron.)
Badge of a Mason . The lambskin apron
is so called . (See Apron .)
Badge, Royal Arch . The Royal Arch
badge is the triple tau, which see .
Bafomet . See Baphomet .
Bag . In the early days of the Grand Lodge
of England the Secretary used to carry a Bag
in processions - thus in the procession round
the tables at tie Grand Feast of 1724 we find
" Secretary Cowper with the Bag " ( Constitutions,
ed. 1738, p . 117) ; and in 1729 Lord
Kingston, the Grand Master, provided at his
own cost "a fine Velvet Bag for the Secretary,"
besides his bade of "Two golden Pens
a-cross on his Breast' (ibid. p . 124) ; and in
the Procession of March from St. James'
Square to Merchant Taylor's Hall on January
29, 1730, there came "The Secretary
alone with his Badge and Bag, clothed, in
a Chariot." (Ibid ., p . 125 .)
This practise continued throughout the
Eighteenth century, for at the dedication of
Freemasons' Hall in London in 1776 we find
in the (Constitutions, procession "Grand Secretary with the
bag ."
1784, p . 318 .) But at the
union of the two rival Grand Lodges in 1813
the custom was changed, for in the order of
procession at public ceremonies laid down in
the Constitutions of 1815, we find "Grand
Secretary with book of constitutions on a
cushion " and "Grand Registrar with his
bag " ; and the Grand Registrar of England
still carries on ceremonial occasions a bag
with the arms of the Grand Lodge embroidered
on it .
[E . L. H.)
Bagulkal. A significant word in the high
degrees. Lenning says it is a corruption of
the HebrewBegoal-kol, "all is revealed." Pike
says, Bagulkol, with a similar reference to a
revelation . Rockwell gives in his MS ., Bekalkel,
without any meaning . The old rituals interpret
it as signifying "the faithful guardian
of the sacred ark," a derivation clearly fanciful .
Bahrdt, Karl Friederich. A German
Doctor of Theology, who was born, in 1741, at
Bischofswerda, and died in 1792 . He is
described by one of his biographers as being
"notorious alike for his bold infidelit and for
his evil life ." We know not why Tory and
Lenning have given his name a place in their
vocabularies, as his literary labors bore no
relation to Freemasonry, except inasmuch as
that he was a Mason, and that in 1787, with
several other Masons, he founded at Halle
a secret society called the "German Union,"
or the "Two and Twenty," in reference to the
original number of its members . The object
of this society was said to be the enlightenment
of mankind . It was dissolved in 1790,
by the imprisonment of its founder for having
written a libel against the Prussian Minister
Woellner . It is incorrect to call this system
of degree a Masonic Rite . (See German Union .)
Baldachin . In architecture, a canopy
supported by pillars over an insulated altar .
In Masonry, it has been applied b7 some
writers to the canopy over the Master a chair .
The German Masons give this name to the
covering of the Lodge, and reckon it therefore
among the symbols .
Balder or Baldur. The ancient Scandinavian
or older German divinity . . The hero
of one of the most beautiful and interesting
of the myths of the Edda ; the second son of
Odin an Frigga, and the husband of the
maiden Nanna. In brief, the myth recites
that Balder dreamed that his life was threatened
which being told to the gods a council
was held by them to secure his safety. The
mother proceeded to demand and receive
from every inanimate thing, iron and all
metals, fire and water, stones, earth, plants,
beasts birds, reptiles, poisons, and diseases,
that they reptiles, injure Balder . Balder
then became the subject of sport with the
gods, who wrestled, cast darts, and in innumerable
ways playfully tested his invulnerability .
This finally displeased the mischievous, cunning
Loki the Spirit of Evil, who, in the form
of an oki woman, sought out the mother,
Frigga, and ascertained from her that there
had been excepted or omitted from the oath
the little shrub Mistletoe . In haste Loki
carried some of this shrub to the assembly of
the gods, and gave to the blind Hoder, the
god of war, selected slips, and directing his
aim, Balder fell pierced to the heart .
Sorrow among the gods was unutterable,
and Frigga inquired who, to win her favor,
would journey to Hades and obtain from the
goddess Hel the release of Balder . The
heroic Helmod or Hermoder, son of Odin,
offered to undertake the journey . Hel consented
to permit the return if all things animate
and inanimate should weep for Balder .
All living beings and all things wept, save
the witch or giantess Thock (the stepdaughter
of Loki), who refused to sympathize
in the general mourning . Balder was therefore
obliged to linger in the kingdom of Hel
until the end of the world .
Baldrlck. A portion of military dress,
being a scarf passing from the shoulder over
the breast to the hip In the dress regulations
of the Grand Encampment of Knights
Templar of the United States, adopted in
1862, it is called a "scarf," and is thus
described : "Five inches wide in the whole of
white bordered with black, one inch on either
side, a strip of navy lace one-fourth of an
inch wide at the inner edge of the black . On
the front centre of the scarf, a metal star of
nine points, in allusion to the nine founders of
the Temple Order, inclosing the Passion Cross,