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

BUILDER
BUNYAN 123
who, not being himself a Mason, published,
in 1804, a work entitled Ueber den Ursprung
and die vornehmsten Schicksale des Orders der
Rosenkreuzer and Freimaurer, that is, "On the
Origin and the Principal Events of the Orders
of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry ." This
work, illogical in its arguments, false in many
of its statements, and confused in its arrangement,
was attacked by Frederick Nicolai in a
critical review of it in 1806, and is spoken of
very slightingly even by De Quincey, himself
no very warm admirer of the Masonic Institution,
who published, in 1824, in the London
Magazine (vol . ix .), a loose translation of it,
"abstracted, re-arranged, and improved,"
under the title of Historicocritical Inquiry into
the Origin of the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons.
Buhle's theory was that Freemasonry
was invented in the year 1629, by John Valentine
Andrea . Buhle was born at Brunswick
in 1753, became Professor of Philosophy at
Gottingen in 1787, and, having afterward
taught in his native city, died there in 1821 .
Builder. The chief architect of the Temple
of Solomon is often called "the Builder ."
But the word is also applied generally to the
Craft ; for every speculative Mason is as
much a builder as was his operative predecessor.
An American writer (F. S. Wood)
thus alludes to this symbolic idea : "Masons
are called moral builders . In their rituals,
they declare that a more noble and glorious
purpose than squaring stones and hewing
timbers is theirs, fitting immortal nature for
that spiritual building not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." And he adds, "The
builder builds for a century; Masons for eternity."
In this sense, "the Builder" is the
noblest title that can be bestowed upon a
Mason .
Builder, Smitten. See Smitten Builder.
Builders, Corporations of. See Stone-
Masons of the Middle Ages .
Bul . Oliver says that this is one of the
names of God among the ancients . (Landmarks,
ii ., 551 .) It is also said to be an Assyrian
word signifying " Lord " or "Powerful ."
Bul . The primitive designation of the
month Marchesvan. (See Zif.)
Bull, Papal. An edict or proclamation
issued from the Apostolic Chancery, with the
seal and signature of the Pope, written in
Gothic letters and upon coarse parchment .
It derives its name from the leaden seal which
is attached to it by a cord of hemp or silk, and
which in medieval Latin is called ulla . Several
of these bulls have from time to time been
fulminated against Freemasonry and other
secret societies, subjecting them to the heaviest
ecclesiastical punishments, even to the
greater excommunication . According to these
bulls a Freemason is ipso facto excommunicated
by continuing his membership in the
society, and is thus deprived of all spiritual
privileges while living, and the rites of burial
when dead .
The several important Bulls which have
been issued by the Popes of Rome intended to
affect the Fraternity of Freemasons are as fol-
Iowa : the Bull In Eminenti of Clement XII .,
dated 24th of April, 1738. This Bull was confirmed
and renewed by that beginning Providas,
of Benedict XIV ., 18th of May, 1751-
then followed the edict of Pius VII . 13th of
September, 1821 ; the apostolic edict Quo
Graviora of Leo XII ., 13th of March, 1825 ; that
of Pius VIII ., 21st of May, 1829 ; that of Gregory
XVI ., 15th of August, 1832 ; Pius IX . in
1846 and 1865 ; and finally that of Leo XIII .,
who ascended to the papacy in 1878, and issued
his Bull, or encyclical letter, Humanum
Genus, on April 20, 1884 .
Whatever may have been the severity of
the Bulls issued by the predecessors of Leo
XIII ., he with great clearness ratifies and
confirms them all in the following language :
"Therefore, whatsoever the popes our predecessors
have decreed to hinder the designs and
attempts of the sect of Freemasons ; whatsoever
they have ordained to deter or recall persons
from societies of this kind, each and all do
we ratify and confirm by our Apostolic authority."
At the same time acknowledging that
this "society of men are most widely spread
and firmly established ."
This letter of the Roman hierarchy thus
commences : "The human race, after its most
miserable defection, through the wiles of the
devil, from its Creator God, the giver of celestial
gifts, has divided into two different and
opposite factions, of which one fights ever for
truth and virtue, the other for their opposites .
One is the kingdom of God on earth . . . the
other is the kingdom of Satan."
That, "by accepting any that present them
selves, no matter of what religion, they (the
Masons) gain their purpose of urging that
great error of the present day viz ., that questions
of religion ought to be left undetermined,
and that there should be no distinction made
between varieties. And this policy aims at the
destruction of all religions, especially at that of
the Catholic religion, which, since it is the only
true one, cannot be reduced to equality with .
the rest without the greatest injury ."
"But, in truth, the sect grants great license
to its initiates, allowing them to defend either
position that there is a God, or that there is
no God."
Thus might we quote continuous passages,
which need only to be stated to proclaim their
falsity, and yet there are those who hold to the
doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope .
Bulletin. The name given by the Grand
Orient of France to the monthly publication
which contains the official record of its proceedings
. A similar work is issued by the Supreme
Council of the Ancient and Accepted
Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the
United States of America, and by several
other Supreme Councils and Grand Orients .
Bunyan, John. The well-known author
of the Pilgrim's Progress . He lived in the
seventeenth century, and was the most celebrated
allegorical writer of England . His
work entitled Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
will supply the student of Masonic symbolism
with many valuable suggestions .