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

BROTHERLY
BRUCE 121
fraternities of the Middle Ages assumed the
same title to designate any association of men
engaged in the same common object, governed
by the same rules, and united by an identical
interest. The association or Fraternity of
Freemasons is, in this sense, called a brotherhood
.
Brotherly Kiss. See Kiss . Fraternal.
Brotherly Love. At a very early period
in the course of his initiation, a candidate for
the mysteries of Freemasonry is informed that
the great principles of the Order are BROTH-
ERLY LOVE, RELIEF, and TRUTH . These virtues
are illustrated, and their practise recommended
to the aspirant, at every step of his
progress ; and the instruction, though continually
varied in its mode, is so constantly repeated,
as infallibly to impress upon his mind
their absolute necessity in the constitution of a
good Mason .
BROTHERLY LOVE might very well be supposed
to be an ingredient in the organization
of a society so peculiarly constituted as that
of Freemasonry. But the Brotherly Love
which we inculcate is not a mere abstraction,
nor is its character left to any general and careless
understanding of the candidate, who
might be disposed to give much or little of it
to his brethren, according to the peculiar constitution
of his own mind, or the extent of his
own generous or selfish feelings . It is, on the
contrary, closely defined ; its object plainly
denoted ; and the very mode and manner of
its practise detailed in words, and illustrated
by symbols, so as to give neither cause for
error nor apology for indifference .
Every Mason is acquainted with the Five
Points of Fellowship-he knows their symbolic
meaning-he can never forget the interesting
incidents that accompanied their
explanation ; and while he has this knowledge,
and retains this remembrance, he can be
at no loss to understand what are his duties,
and what must be his conduct, in relation to
the principle of Brotherly Love. (See Points
of Fellowship .)
Brothers of the Bridge . See Bridge
Builders of the Middle Ages .
Brothers of the Rosy Cross . See Rosicrucianism
.
Brown, Dr. John. See Latin Lodge.
Browne, John. In 1798 John Browne
published, in London, a work entitled The
Master Key through all the Degrees of a Free-
Mason's Lodge, to which is added, Eulogiums
and Illustrations upon Freemasonry . In 1802,
he published a second edition under the title of
Browne's Masonic Master Key through the
three degrees, by way of polyglot . Under the
sanction of the Craft in general, containing the
exact mode of working, initiation, passing and
raising to the sublime degree of a Master . Also,
the several duties of the Master, officers, and
brethren while in the Lodge, with every requisite
to render the accomplished Mason an explanation
of all the hieroglyphics . The whole interspersed
with illustrations on Theology, Astronomy,
Architecture, Arts, Sciences, &c ., many of
which are by the editor . Browne had been, he
says, the Past Master of six Lodges, and wrote
his work not as an offensive exposition, but as
a means of giving Masons a knowledge of the
ritual . It is considered to be a very complete
representation of the Prestonian lectures, and
as such was incorporated by Krause in his
drei altesten Kunsturkunden. The work is
printed in a very complicated cipher, the key
to which, and without which the book is
wholly unintelligible, was, by way of caution,
delivered only personally and to none but
those who had reached the Third Degree .
The explanation of this "mystical key," as
Browne calls it, is as follows : The word
Browne supplies the vowels, thus, b r o w n e~
aeiouy
and these six vowels in turn represent six let-
a e i o u y.
ters,
Initial capitals are of
' kcolnu
no value, and supernumerary letters are often
inserted . The words are kept separate, but
the letters of one word are often divided between
two or three . Much therefore is left to
the shrewdness of the decipherer . The initial
sentence of the work may be adduced as a
specimen . Ubs Rplrbsrt wbss ostm ronwprn
Pongth Mrlwdgr, which is thus deciphered :
Please to assist me in opening the Lodge. The
work is now exceedingly rare .
Bru. See Vielle Bru, Rite of.
Bruce, Robert . The introduction of Freemasonry
into Scotland has been attributed
by some writers to Robert, King of Scotland,
commonly called Robert Bruce, who is said to
have established in 1314 the Order of Herodom,
for the reception of those Knights Templars
who had taken refuge in his dominions
from the persecutions of the Pope and the King
of France . Thory (Act. Lat ., i ., 6) copies the
following from a manuscript in the library
of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophical
Rite :
"Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, under the
name of Robert the First, created, on the
24th June, 1314, after the battle of Bannockburn,
the Order of St. Andrew of the Thistle,
to which has been since united that of Herodom
(H-D-M) for the sake of the Scotch Masons,
who composed a part of the thirty thousand
men with whom he had conquered an
army of a hundred thousand Englishmen .
He reserved, in perpetuity, to himself and his
successors, the title of Grand Master. He
founded the Royal Grand Lodge of the Order
of H-D-M at Kilwinning, and died, full of
glory and honours, the 9th of July, 1329 ."
Dr. Oliver (Landm ., ii ., 13), referring to the
abolition of the Templar Order in England,
when the Knights were compelled to enter
the Preceptories of the Knights of St . John, as
dependents, says :
" In Scotland, Edward, who had overrun
the country at the time, endeavoured to pursue
the same course ; but, on summoning the
Knights to appear, only two, Walter de Clifton,
the Grand Preceptor, and another, came
forward . On their examination, they confessed
that all the rest had fled ; and as Bruce