BOHMANN quently constituted in Bohemia, but in conse- Bombay. The earliest Lodge in Bombay "Q. Where do you keep it? "A. In a bone box, that neither opens nor shuts but with ivory keys." The bone box is the mouth, the ivory keys the teeth. And the key to the secrets is afterward said to be the tongue. These questions were simply used as tests, and were subsequently varied. In a later lecture it is called the "bone-bone box." Bonneville, Chevalier de. On the 24th of November, 1754, he founded the Chapter of the high degrees known as the Chapter of Clermont. All the authorities assert this except Rebold (Hist. de trois G. L., p. 46), who says that he was not its founder but only the propagator of its degrees. Bonaim. The word is really an incorrect transliteration of the Hebrew word for builders, which should be "Bonim"; the construct form of which ("Bonai ") is used in 1 Kings v. 18 to designate a portion of the workmen on the Temple: "And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them." Oliver, in his Dictionary and in his Landmarks (i., 402), Bonneville, Nicolas de. A bookseller gives a mythical account of them as Fellow- and man of letters, born at Evreux, in France, Crafts, divided into Lodges by King Solo- March 13, 1760. He was the author of a work, mon, but, by a grammatical blunder, he calls published in 1788, entitled Les Jésuites chassés them Benai, substituting the Hebrew construct de la Maçonnerie et leur poignard brisé par les for the absolute case, and changing the parti- Maçons, divided into two parts, of the first cipial o into e. The Bonaim seem to be dis- of which the subtitle was La Maçonnerie tinguished, by the author of the Book of Kings, écossaise comparée avec les trois professions et le from the Gibalim, and the translators of the Secret des Templiers du 14e Siecle; and of the authorized version have called the former second, Mêmeté des quatre voeux de la Combuilders and the latter stone-squarers. It is pagnie de S. Ignace, et des quatre grades de la probable that the Bonaim were an order of Maçonnerie de S. Jean. He also translated workmen inferior to the Gibalim. Anderson, into French, Thomas Paine's Essay on the in both of his editions of the Book of Consti- Origin of Freemasonry; a work, by the way, tutions, blunders grammatically, like Oliver, which was hardly worth the trouble of transand calls them Bonai, saying that they were lation. De B nneville had an exalted idea of "setters, layers, or builders, or light Fellow the difficulties attendant upon writing a hisCrafts, in number 80,000." This idea seems to tory of Freemasonry, for he says that, to comhave been perpetuated in the modern rituals. pose such a work, supported by dates and auFrom this construct plural form "Bonai "thentic facts, it would require a period equal some one has formed the slightly incorrect form "Bonaim." [E. L. H.] Bondman. In the fourth article of the Halliwell or Regius MS., which is the earliest Masonic document known, it is said that the Master shall take good care that he make no bondman an apprentice, or, as it is in the original language: "The fourthe artycul thys moste be, That the Mayster hymn wel be-se, That he no bondemon prentys make." The regulation is repeated in all the subsequent regulations, and is still in force. (See Freeborn.) Bone. This word, which is now corruptly pronounced in one syllable, is the Hebrew word boneh, 12, "builder," from the verb banah, 2, "to build." It was peculiarly applied, as an epithet, to Hiram Abif, who superintended the construction of the Temple as its chief builder. Master Masons will recognize it as the terminal portion of a significant word. to ten times the age of man; a statement which, although exaggerated, undoubtedly contains an element of truth. His Masonic theory was that the Jesuits had introduced into the symbolic degrees the history of the life and death of the Templars, and the doctrine of vengeance for the political and religious crime of their destruction; and that they had imposed upon four of the higher degrees the four vows of their congregation. Bonneville was imprisoned as a Girondist in 1793. He was the author of a History of Modern Europe, in 3 vols., published in 1792. He died in 1828. De Book of Charges. There seems, if we may judge from the references in the old records of Masonry, to have formerly existed a book under this title, containing the Charges of the Craft; equivalent, probably, to the Book of Constitutions. Thus, the Matthew Cooke MS. f the first half of the fifteenth century (1. 534) speaks of "othere chargys mo that ben wryten in the Boke of Chargys." 112 BOOK BOOK coming, and ordain'd good Pay for Working Masons, &c." Book of Constitutions. The Book of Constitutions is that work in which is contained the rules and regulations adopted for Other records have from time to time been the government of the Fraternity of Free- discovered, most of them recently, which masons. Undoubtedly, a society so orderly prove beyond all doubt that the Fraternity of and systematic must always have been gov- Freemasons was, at least in the fourteenth, erned by a prescribed code of laws; but, in fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the lapse of ages, the pre ise regulations which in possession of manuscript Constitutions conwere adopted for the direction of the Craft in taining the rules and regulations of the Craft. ancient times have been lost. The earliest In the year 1717, Freemasonry, which had record that we have of any such Constitutions somewhat fallen into decay in the south of is in a manuscript, first quoted, in 1723, by England, was revived by the organization of Anderson (Constitutions, 1723, pp. 32, 33), the Grand Lodge at London; and, in the next which he said was written in the reign of Ed- year, the Grand Master having desired, says ward IV. Preston (p. 182, ed. 1788) quotes the Anderson, "any brethren to bring to the same record, and adds, that "it is said to have Grand Lodge any old writings and records been in the possession of the famous Elias concerning Masons and Masonry, in order to Ashmole, and unfortunately destroyed," a show the usages of ancient times, several old statement which had not been previously copies of the Gothic Constitutions were made by Anderson. To Anderson, therefore, produced and collated." (Constitutions, 1738, we must look in our estimation of the authen- p. 110.) ticity of this document; and that we cannot too much rely upon his accuracy as a transcriber is apparent, not only from the internal evidence of style, but also from the fact that he made important alterations in his copy of it in his edition of 1738. Such as it is, however, it contains the following particulars: "Though the ancient records of the Brotherhood in England were many of them destroyed or lost in the wars of the Saxons and Danes, yet King Athelstan (the grandson of King Alfrede the Great, a mighty Architect), the first anointed king of England, and who translated the Holy Bible into the Saxon tongue (A.D. 930), when he had brought the land into Rest and Peace, built many great works, and encourag'd many Masons from France, who were appointed Overseers thereof, and brought with them the Charges and Regulations of the Lodges preserv'd since the Roman times, who also prevail'd_with_the King to improve the Constitution of the English Lodges according to the foreign Model, and to increase the Wages of Working Masons. "The said king's youngest son, Prince Edwin, being taught Masonry, and taking upon him the Charges of a Master Mason, for the love he had to the said Craft and the honourable Principles whereon it is grounded, purchased a free charter of King Athelstan his Father, for the Masons having a Correction among themselves (as it was anciently express'd), or a Freedom and Power to regulate themselves, to amend what might happen amiss, and to hold a yearly Communication and General Assembly. Accordingly, Prince Edwin summoned all the Masons in the Realm to meet him in a Congregation at York, who came and composed a General Lodge, of which he was Grand Master; and having brought with them all the Writings and Records extant, some in Greek, some in Latin, some in French, and other languages, from the Contents thereof that Assembly did frame the Constitution and Charges of an English Lodge, and made a law to preserve and observe the same in all time But these Constitutions having been found to be very erroneous and defective, probably from carelessness or ignorance in their frequent transcription, in September, 1721, the Duke of Montagu, who was then Grand Master, ordered Bro. James Anderson to digest them "in a new and better method." (Ibid., p. 113.) Anderson having accordingly accomplished the important task that had been assigned him, in December of the same year a committee, consisting of fourteen learned Brethren, was appointed to examine the book; and, in the March communication of the subsequent year, having reported their approbation of it, it was, after some amendments, adopted by the Grand Lodge, and published, in 1723, under the title of The Constitutions of the Freemasons, containing the History, Charges, Regulations, etc., of that Most Ancient and Right Worshipful Fraternity. For the use of the Lodges. A second edition was published in 1738, under the superintendence of a committee of Grand Officers. (Ibid., p. 133.) But this edition contained so many alterations, interpolations, and omissions of the Charges and Regulations as they appeared in the first, as to show the most reprehensible inaccuracy in its composition, and to render it utterly worthless except as a literary curiosity. It does not seem to have been very popular, for the printers, to complete their sales, were compelled to commit a fraud, and to present what they pretended to be a new edition in 1746, but which was really only the edition of 1738, with a new title-page neatly pasted in, the old one being canceled. In 1754, Bro. Jonathan Scott presented a memorial to the Grand Lodge, "showing the necessity of a new edition of the Book of Constitutions." It was then ordered that the book "should be revised, and necessary alterations and additions made consistent with the laws and rules of Masonry"; all of which would seem to show the dissatisfaction of the Fraternity with the errors of the second edition. Accordingly, a third edition was published in BOOK BOOK 113 1756, under the editorship of the Rev. John | vealed will of God; although, technically, Entick. The fourth edition, prepared by a among the Jews the Torah, or Book of the committee, was published in 1767. In 1769, Law, means only the Pentateuch or five books G. Kearsly, of London, published an unau- of Moses. Thus, to the Christian Mason the thorized edition of the 1767 issue, with an Book of the Law is the Old and New Testaappendix to 1769; this was also published by ments; to the Jew, the Old Testament; to the Thomas Wilkinson in Dublin in the same year, Mussulman, the Koran; to the Brahman, the with several curious plates; both issues are Vedas; and to the Parsee, the Zendavesta. now very scarce. And an authorized supplement appeared in 1776. The Book of the Law is an important symbol in the Royal Arch Degree, concerning In 1784, John Noorthouck published by which there was a tradition among the Jews authority the fifth edition. This was well that the Book of the Law was lost during the printed in quarto, with numerous notes, and captivity, and that it was among the treasures is considered the most valuable edition; it is discovered during the building of the second the last to contain the Historical Introduction. Temple. The same opinion was entertained After the union of the two rival Grand by the early Christian fathers, such, for inLodges of England (see Ancient Masons) instance, as Irenæus, Tertullian, and Clemens 1813, the sixth edition was issued in 1815, Alexandrinus; "for," says Prideaux, "they edited by Bro. William Williams, Prov. Grand Master for Dorsetshire; the seventh appeared in 1819, being the last in quarto; and the eighth in 1827; these were called the "Second Part," and contained only the Ancient Charges and the General Regulations. The ninth edition of 1841 contained no reference to the First or Historical Part, and may be regarded as the first of the present issue in octavo with the plates of jewels at the end. Numerous editions have since been issued. In the early days of the Grand Lodge of Eng-affect the Masonic symbolism. The Book of land in all processions the Book of Constitutions was carried on a cushion by the Master of the Senior Lodge (Constitutions, 1738, pp. 117, 126), but this was altered at the time of the union and it is provided in the Constitutions of 1815 and in the subsequent issues that the Book of Constitutions on a cushion shall be carried by the Grand Secretary. [E. L. H.] (the Christian fathers) hold that all the Scriptures were lost and destroyed in the Babylonish captivity, and that Ezra restored them all again by Divine revelation." The truth of the tradition is very generally denied by Biblical scholars, who attribute its origin to the fact that Ezra collected together the copies of the law, expurgated them of the errors which had crept into them during the captivity, and arranged a new and correct edition. But the truth or falsity of the legend does not the Law is the will of God, which, lost to us in our darkness, must be recovered as precedent to our learning what is TRUTH. As captives to error, truth is lost to us; when freedom is restored, the first reward will be its discovery. Book of Mormon. This sacred book of the Mormons was first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have translated it from gold plates which he had found under Divine guidance secreted in a stone box. The number of Mormons is estimated at about 150,000 in the United States, and 50,000 in other countries. The seat of their church is at Salt Lake, Utah. Book of Constitutions Guarded by the Tiler's Sword. An emblem painted on the Master's carpet, and intended to admonish the Mason that he should be guarded in all his words and actions, preserving unsullied the Masonic virtues of silence and circumspection. Such is Webb's definition of the emblem Book of the Dead. By some translated the (Freemasons' Monitor, ed. 1818, p. 69), which is Book of the Master, containing the ancient a very modern one, and I am inclined to think Egyptian philosophy as to death and the reswas introduced by that lecturer. The inter-urrection. A portion of these sacred writings pretation of Webb is a very unsatisfactory one. was invariably buried with the dead. The The Book of Constitutions is rather the sym-Book in facsimile has been published by Dr. bol of constituted law than of silence and cir- Lepsius, and translated by Dr. Birch. The cumspection, and when guarded by the Tiler's myth of the "Judgment of Amenti" forms a sword it would seem properly to symbolize part of the Book of the Dead, and shadows regard for and obedience to law, a prominent forth the verities and judgments of the unMasonic duty. seen world. Book of Gold. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the book in which the transactions, statutes, decrees, balusters, and protocols of the Supreme Council or a Grand Consistory are contained. Book of the Law. The Holy Bible, which is always open in a Lodge as a symbol that its light should be diffused among the Brethren. The passages at which it is opened differ in the different degrees. (See Scriptures, Reading of the.) Masonically, the Book of the Law is that sacred book which is believed by the Mason of any particular religion to contain the re The Amenti was the Place of Judgment of the Dead, situated in the West, where Osiris was presumed to be buried. There were fortytwo assessors of the amount of sin committed, who sat in judgment, and before whom the adjudged passed in succession. There seems to be a tie which binds Freemasonry to the noblest of the cults and mysteries of antiquity. The most striking exponent of the doctrines and language of the Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris is this Book of the Dead, or Ritual of the Underworld, or Egyptian Bible of 165 chapters, the Egyptian title of which was The Manifestation to Light, |