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

104 BENGABEE
BIBLE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; 2 . Masonic Widows'
and Orphans' Home, Louisville Kentucky
; 3 . Oxford Orphan Asylum, oxford,
North Carolina ; 4 . St . John's Masonic College,
Little Rock, Arkansas ; 5 . Masonic Female
College, Covington, Georgia .
Besides the Stephen Girard Charity Fund,
founded over a half century ago in Philadelphia,
the capital investment of which is
$62,000, the annual interest being devoted
"to relieve all Master Masons in good standin
," there is a Charity Fund of $60,000 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 St . 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, although
no building has been proposed.
Bengabee. 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, 1 Kings iv . 13,
the son of Geber, or the son of the strong man .
Bengal. In 1728 a "Deputation " was
granted by Lord Kingston, Grand Master of
England, to Brother George Pomfret to constitute
a Lodge at Bengal m 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 (Constitutions, 1738, p . 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 . [E. L . H .]
Benjamin. 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 Masonry
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have superseded the columns of Jachin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 .
Benkhurim . Corruptly spelled benchorim
in most of the old rituals . A significant word
in the high degrees, probably signifying one
that is freeborn, from DI11rr -ID, son of the freeborn
.
Benyah, or Beniah . Lenning gives this
form, Benayah . The son of Jah, a significant
word in the high degrees .
Berith . Heb ., r"1], a covenant . A significant
word in several of the high degrees .
Berlin . The capital of the kingdom of
Prussia, and the seat of three Grand Lodes,
namely : the Grand National Mother Loge,
founded in 1744 ; the Grand Lodge of Germany,
founded in 1770 ; and the Grand Lodge
of Royal York of Friendship, founded in 1798 .
(See Germany .)
Bernard, David. An expelled Mason,
under whose name was published, in the year
1829, a pretended exposition entitled Light on
Masonry . It 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, Saint . St. Bernard, born in
France, in 1091, 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 drew 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 Bernard 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 .
Beryl . Heb ., T 171n . A precious stone,
the first in the fourth row of the high priest's
breastplate. Its color is bluish-green . It was
ascribed to the tribe of Benjamin .
Beyerle, Fran ols Louis de . 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 d
Flore . He wrote a criticism on the Masonic
Congress of Wilhelmsbad, which was published
under the title of Oratio de Conventu
generali Latomorum aped aquas Wilhelminas,
prope Hanauviam . He also wrote an Essai
sur la Franc-Magonnerie, ou du but essential et
fondamental de la Franc-Maconnerie ; 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 Encyclop€die Methodique .
Bezaleel. One of the builders of the Ark
of the Covenant . (See Aholiab)
Bible . The Bible is roperly called a
greater light of Masonry, for from the center
of the Loge it pours forth upon the East, the
West, and the South its refulgent rays of Divine
truth. The Bible is used among Masons as a
symbol of the will of God, however it may be
expressed . And, therefore, whatever to any
people expresses that will may be used as a
substitute for the Bible in a Masonic Lodge .
Thus, in a Lodge consisting entirely of Jews,
the Old Testament alone may be placed upon
the altar, and Turkish Masons make use of
the Koran . Whether it be the Gospels to the
Christian, the Pentateuch to the Israelite,
the Koran to the Mussulman, or the Vedas
to the Brahman, it everywhere Masonically
conveys the same idea-that of the symbolism
of the Divine Will revealed to man .
The history of the Masonic symbolism of
the Bible is interesting . It is referred to in