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

BARTOLOZZI
BASLE 99
made adepts, who should transmit from generation
to generation the same mysteries of iniquity,
the same oaths, and the same hatred of
the God of the Christians, and of kings, and of
priests. These mysteries have descended to
you, and you continue to perpetuate their
impiety, their vows, and their oaths . Such is
your origin. The lapse of time and the change
of manners have varied a part of your symbols
and your frightful systems ; but the essence
of them remains, the vows, the oaths, the
hatred, and the conspiracies are the same ."
It is not astonishing that Lawrie (History of
Freemasonry, p . 50) should have said of the
writer of such statements, that "that charity
and forbearance which distinguish the Christian
character are never exemplified in the
work of Barruel ; and the hypocrisy of his pretensions
is often betrayed by the fury of his
zeal . The tattered veil behind which he attempts
to cloak his inclinations often discloses
to the reader the motives of the man
and the wishes of his party ." Although the
attractions of his style and the boldness of his
declamation gave Barruel at one time a prominent
place among anti-Masonic writers, his
work is now seldom read and never cited in
Masonic controversies, for the progress of
truth has assigned their just value to its extravagant
assertions .
Bartolozzi, Francesco (1728-1813) . A
famous engraver who lived for some time in
London and engraved the frontispiece of the
1784 edition of the Book of Constitutions . He
was initiated in the Lodge of the Nine Muses
in London on February 13 1777 (E. L . H .]
Basilica. Literally and originally a royal
palace . A Roman Pagan,basilica was a rectangular
hall whose length was two or three
times its breadth, divided by two or more lines
of columns, bearing entablatures, into a broad
central nave and side aisles . It was generally
roofed with wood, sometimes vaulted. At one
end was the entrance . From the center of the
opposite end opened a semicircular recess as
broad as the nave, called in Latin the "Tribuna"
and in Greek the "Apsis ." The uses of
the basilica were various and of a public character,
courts of justice being held in them .
Only a few ruins remain, but sufficient to establish
the form and general arrangement .
The significance of the basilica to Freemasons
is that it was the form adopted for
early Christian churches, and for its influence
on the building guilds .
For the beginning of Christian architecture,
which is practically the beginning of Operative
Masonry, we must seek very near the beginning
of the Christian religion . For three centuries
the only places in Pagan Rome where
Christians could meet with safety were in
the catacombs . When Constantine adopted
Christianity in 324, the Christians were no
longer forced to worship in the catacombs .
They were permitted to worship in the basilica
and chose days for special worship of the
Saints on or near days of Pagan celebrations or
feast days, so as not to attract the attention
or draw the contempt of the Romans not
Christians. Examples of this have come down
to us, as, Christmas, St . John the Baptist
Day, St. John the Evangelist Day, etc .
The Christian basilicas spread over the
Roman Empire, but in Rome applied specially
to the seven principal churches founded by
Constantine, and it was their plan that gave
Christian churches this name . The first
builders were the Roman Artificers, and after
the fall of the Western Empire we find a decadent
branch at Como (see Como) that developed
into the Comacine Masters, who
evolved, aided by Byzantine workmen and influence,
Lombard architecture .
Basket. The basket or fan was among the
Egyptians a symbol of the purification of souls .
The idea seems to have been adopted by other
nations, and hence, "initiations in the Ancient
Mysteries," says Mr . Rolle (Cults de Bacch ., i .,
30) "being the commencement of a better life
and the perfection of it, could not take place
till the soul was purified . The fan had been
accepted as the symbol of that purification
because the mysteries purged the soul of sin,
as the fan cleanses the grain ." John the Baptist
conveys the same idea of purification when
he says of the Messiah, "His fan is in his hand,
and he will thoroughly purge his floor." The
sacred basket in the Ancient Mysteries was
called the AJKrov, and the one who carried it
was termed the xucvdpopos, or basket-bearer .
Indeed, the sacred basket, containing the first
fruits and offerings, was as essential in all solemn
processions of the mysteries of Bacchus
and other divinities as the Bible is in the Masonic
procession . As lustration was the symbol
of purification by water, so the mystical
fan or winnowing-basket was, according to
Sainte Croix (Myst . du Pag., t . ii ., p . 81), the
symbol in the Bacchic rites of a purification
by air.
Basle, Congress of . A Masonic Congress
was held September 24,1848, at Basle, in Switzerland,
consisting of one hundred and six
members, representing eleven Lodges under the
patronage of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina .
The Congress was principally engaged upon
the discussion of the question, "What can and
what ought Freemasonry to contribute towards
the welfare of mankind locally, nationally,
and internationally? " The conclusion
to which the Congress appeared to arrive upon
this question was briefly this : "Locally, Freemasonry
ought to strive to make every brother
a good citizen, a good father, and a good
neighbor ; whilst it ought to teach him to perform
every duty of life faithfully. Nationally,
a Freemason ought to strive to promote and to
maintain the welfare and the honor of his
native land, to love and to honor it himself,
and, if necessary, to place his life and fortune
at its disposal ; Internationally, a Freemason is
bound to go still further : he must consider
himself as a member of that one great family,
-the whole human race,-who are all children
of one and the same Father, and that it is
in this sense, and with this spirit, that the
Freemason ought to work if he would appear
worthily before the throne of Eternal Truth