Part 14 (1/2)

Section XI.

_Of the Number to be Initiated at one Communication._

The fourth General Regulation decrees that ”no Lodge shall make more than five new Brothers at one time.” This regulation has been universally interpreted (and with great propriety) to mean that not more than five degrees can be conferred at the same communication.

This regulation is, however, subject to dispensation by the Grand Master, or Presiding Grand Officer, in which case the number to be initiated, pa.s.sed, or raised, will be restricted only by the words of the dispensation.

The following, or fifth General Regulation, says that ”no man can be made or admitted a member of a particular lodge, without previous notice, one month before, given to the same lodge.”

Now, as a profane cannot be admitted an Entered Apprentice, or in other words, a member of an Entered Apprentices' lodge, unless after one month's notice, so it follows that an Apprentice cannot be admitted a member of a Fellow Crafts' lodge, nor a Fellow Craft of a Masters', without the like probation. For the words of the regulation which apply to one, will equally apply to the others. And hence we derive the law, that a month at least must always intervene between the reception of one degree and the advancement to another. But this rule is also subject to a dispensation.

Section XII.

_Of Finis.h.i.+ng the Candidates of one Lodge in another._

It is an ancient and universal regulation, that no lodge shall interfere with the work of another by initiating its candidates, or pa.s.sing or raising its Apprentices and Fellow Crafts. Every lodge is supposed to be competent to manage its own business, and ought to be the best judge of the qualifications of its own members, and hence it would be highly improper in any lodge to confer a degree on a Brother who is not of its household.

This regulation is derived from a provision in the Ancient Charges, which have very properly been supposed to contain the fundamental law of Masonry, and which prescribes the principle of the rule in the following symbolical language:

”None shall discover envy at the prosperity of a Brother, nor supplant him or put him out of his work, if he be capable to finish the same; for no man can finish another's work, so much to the Lord's profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted with the designs and draughts of him that began it.”

There is, however, a case in which one lodge may, by consent, legally finish the work of another. Let us suppose that a candidate has been initiated in a lodge at A----, and, before he receives his second degree, removes to B----, and that being, by the urgency of his business, unable either to postpone his departure from A----, until he has been pa.s.sed and raised, or to return for the purpose of his receiving his second and third degrees, then it is competent for the lodge at A---- to grant permission to the lodge at B---- to confer them on the candidate.

But how shall this permission be given--by a unanimous vote, or merely by a vote of the majority of the members at A----? Here it seems to me that, so far as regards the lodge at A----, the reasons for unanimity no longer exist. There is here no danger that a ”fractious member will be imposed on them,” as the candidate, when finished, will become a member of the lodge at B----. The question of consent is simply in the nature of a resolution, and may be determined by the a.s.senting votes of a majority of the members at A---. It is, however, to be understood, that if any Brother believes that the candidate is unworthy, from character, of further advancement, he may suspend the question of consent, by preferring charges against him. If this is not done, and the consent of the lodge is obtained, that the candidate may apply to the lodge at B---, then when his pet.i.tion is read in that lodge, it must, of course, pa.s.s through the usual ordeal of a month's probation, and a unanimous vote; for here the old reasons for unanimity once more prevail.

I know of no ancient written law upon this subject, but it seems to me that the course I have described is the only one that could be suggested by a.n.a.logy and common sense.

Section XIII.

_Of the Initiation of Non-residents._

The subject of this section is naturally divided into two branches:--First, as to the initiation by a lodge of a candidate, who, residing in the same State or Grand Lodge jurisdiction, is still not an inhabitant of the town in which the lodge to which he applies is situated, but resides nearer to some other lodge; and, secondly, as to the initiation of a stranger, whose residence is in another State, or under the jurisdiction of another Grand Lodge.

1. The first of these divisions presents a question which is easily answered. Although I can find no ancient regulation on this subject, still, by the concurrent authority of all Grand Lodges in this country, at least, (for the Grand Lodge of England has no such provision in its Const.i.tution,) every lodge is forbidden to initiate any person whose residence is nearer to any other lodge. If, however, such an initiation should take place, although the lodge would be censurable for its violation of the regulations of its superior, yet there has never been any doubt that the initiation would be good and the candidate so admitted regularly made. The punishment must fall upon the lodge and not upon the newly-made Brother.

2. The second division presents a more embarra.s.sing inquiry, on account of the diversity of opinions which have been entertained on the subject. Can a lodge in one State, or Grand Lodge jurisdiction, initiate the resident of another State, and would such initiation be lawful, and the person so initiated a regular Mason, or, to use the technical language of the Order, a Mason made ”in due form,” and ent.i.tled to all the rights and privileges of the Order?

The question is one of considerable difficulty; it has given occasion to much controversy, and has been warmly discussed within the last few years by several of the Grand Lodges of the United States.

In 1847, the Grand Lodge of Alabama adopted the following regulation, which had been previously enacted by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee:

”Any person residing within the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge, who has already, or shall hereafter, travel into any foreign jurisdiction, and there receive the degrees of Masonry, such person shall not be ent.i.tled to the rights, benefits, and privileges of Masonry within this jurisdiction, until he shall have been regularly admitted a member of the subordinate lodge under this Grand Lodge, nearest which he at the time resides, in the manner provided by the Const.i.tution of this Grand Lodge for the admission of members.”

The rule adopted by the Grand Lodge of Maryland is still more stringent.

It declares, ”that if any individual, from selfish motives, from distrust of his acceptance, or other causes originating in himself, knowingly and willfully travel into another jurisdiction, and there receive the masonic degrees, he shall be considered and held as a clandestine made Mason.”