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

BREASTPLATE
BRIDGE 117
original arrangement and reset in various ornaments
by their captors. A new one was
made for the services of the second Temple,
which, according to Josephus, when worn by
the High Priest, shot forth brilliant rays of fire
that manifested the immediate presence of
Jehovah . But he adds that two hundred
years before his time this miraculous power
had become extinct in consequence of the impiety
of the nation . It was subsequently
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carried to Rome together with the other spoils
of the Temple. Of the subsequent fate of
these treasures, and among them the breastplate,
there are two accounts : one, that they
were conveyed to Carthage by Genseric after
his sack of Rome, and that the ship containing
them was lost on the voyage ; the other, and,
as King thinks (Ant . Gems, p . 137), the more
probable one, that they had been transferred
long before that time to Byzantium, and deposited
by Justinian in the treasury of St .
Sophia.
The breastplate is worn in American Chapters
of the Royal Arch by the High Priest as an
essential part of his official vestments . The
symbolic reference of it, as given by Webb, is
that it is to teach him always to bear in mind
his responsibility to the laws and ordinances
of the Institution, and that the honor and interests
of his Chapter should be always near
his heart . This does not materially differ from
the ancient symbolism, for one of the names
given to the Jewish breastplate was the "memorial
" because it was designed to remind
the High Priest how dear the . tribes whose
names it bore should be to his heart .
The breastplate does not appear to have
been original with or peculiar to the Jewish
ritual. The idea was, most probably, derived
from the Egyptians. Diodorus Siculus says
(1 . i., c . 75) that among them the chief judge
bore about his neck a chain of gold, from which
hung a figure or image (fgSSwr), composed of
precious stones, which was called TRUTH, and
the legal proceedings only commenced when
the chief judge had assumed this image . 1Elian
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YASHPAIT. SnoaAM. TAnsamsn.
(lib . 34) confirms this account by saying that
the image was engraved on sapphire, and hung
about the neck of the chief judge with a
golden chain . Peter du Val says that he saw
a mummy at Cairo, round the neck of which
was a chain, to which a golden plate was suspended,
on which the image of a bird was engraved
. (See Urim and Thummim.)
Breast, The Faithful . One of the three
precious jewels of a Fellow-Craft . It symbolically
teaches the initiate that the lessons
which he has received from the instructive
tongue of the Master are not to be listened to
and lost, but carefully treasured in his heart,
and that the precepts of the Order constitute
a covenant which he is faithfully to observe . •
Breast to Breast . See Points of Fellowship.
Brethren. This word, being the plural of
Brother in the solemn style, is more generally
used in Masonic language, instead of the common
plural, Brothers . Thus Masons always
speak of "The Brethren of the Lodge," and
not of "The Brothers of the Lodge ."
Brethren of the Bridge . See Bridge
Builders of the Middle Ages .
Brethren of the Mystic Tie . The term
by which Masons distinguish themselves as
the members of a confraternity or brotherhood
united by a mystical bond . (See Mystic
Tie .)
Brewster, Sir David . See Lawnis, Alexander
.
Bridge. A most significant symbol in the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Degrees of the Scottish
Rite, at which an important event transpires
. The characteristic letters which appear
on the Bridge, L . o . P ., refer to that liberty
of thought which is ever thereafter to be the inheritance
of those who have been symbolically
captive for seven weeks of years . It is
the new era of the freedom of expression, the
liberation of the former captive thought .
Liberty, but not License . (See Lakak Deror
Pessah; also Liber ; also Liberty of Passage.)
It is also a symbol in the Royal Order .
Bridge Builders of the Middle Ages .
Before speaking of the Ponti/ . ces, or the " Fraternity
of Bridge Builders,' whose history is
closely connected with that of the Freemasons
of the Middle Ages, it will be as well to say
something of the word which they assumed as
the title of their brotherhood .
The Latin word pontifex, with its equivalent
English ponti~', literally signifies "the builder
of a bridge," from pons, " a bridge," and facere
"to make." But this sense, which it must
have originally possessed, it seems very speedily
to have lost, and we, as well as the Romans,
only recognize pontifex or pontiff as significant
of a sacerdotal character .
Of all the colleges of priests in ancient
Rome, the most illustrious was that of the
Pontiffs . The College of Pontiffs was established
by Numa, and originally consisted of
five, but was afterward increased to sixteen .
The whole religious system of the Romans,
the management of all the sacred rites, and the
government of the priesthood, was under the
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