SECTION I.

OF THE RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP.
The first right which a Mason acquires, after the reception of the third degree, is that of claiming membership in the Lodge in which he has been ini- tiated. The very fact of his having received that degree, makes him at once an inchoate member of the Lodge — that is to say, no further application is necessary, and no new ballot is required ; but the candidate, having now become a Master Mason, upon signifying his submission to the regulations of the Society, by affixing his signature to the book of by-laws, is constituted, by virtue of that act, a full member of the Lodge, and entitled to all the rights and prerogatives accruing to that position.
The ancient Constitutions do not, it is true, ex- press this doctrine in so many words ; but it is dis- tinctly implied by their whole tenor and spirit, as well as sustained by the uniform usage of the craft, in all countries. There is one passage in the Regu- lations of 1721 which clearly seems to intimate that there were two methods of obtaining membership in a Lodge, either by initiation, when the candidate is said t
EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 181
now called " affiliation/7 when the applicant is said to be '; admitted to be a member." Bat the whole phraseology of the Regulation shows that the rights acquired by each method were the same, and that membership by initiation and membership by affilia- tion effected the same results.* The modern Con- stitutions of the Grand Lodge of England are explicit on the subject, and declare that " every Lodge must receive as a member, without further proposition or ballot, any Brother initiated therein, provided such Brother express his wish to that effect on the day of his initiation. "f
The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New York announces a similar doctrine ;% and, in fact, I have not met with the by-laws of any particular Lodge in which it is not laid down as a principle, that every initiate is entitled, by his reception in the third degree, to claim the privilege of member- ship in the Lodge in which he has been initiated.
The reason of this universal Regulation, (so uni- versal that were it not for the fact that membership itself, as a permanent characteristic, is of modern origin, it might almost claim to be a Landmark,) is at once evident. He who has been deemed worthy, after three ordeals, to receive all the mysteries that
* The passage referred to is to be found in Art. vi. of the Regulations of
1721 See ante,p. 66. The preceding Regulation says : " No man can be
made or admitted a member," where clearly it is meant that a man " is made " a member by initiation, and " admitted ;' by affiliation, upon petition.
f Const, of G. L. of England, of Private Lodges, § 16, p. 64.
^ " Initiation makes a man a Mason ; but he must receive the Master Mason's degree, and sign the by-laws, before he becomes a member of the Lodge."— Const. G. L. of JSf. Y., § 8, subd. 15.
182 RIGHT OP MEMBERSHIP.
it is in the power of a Lodge to communicate, can- not, with any show of reason or consistency, be withheld from admission into that household, whose most important privileges he has just been permitted to share. If properly qualified for the reception of the third degree, he must be equally qualified for the rights of membership, which, in fact, it is the object of the third degree to bestow ; and it would be needless to subject that candidate to a fourth ballot, whom the Lodge has already, by the most solemn ceremonies, three times declared worthy " to be taken by the hand as a Brother." And hence the Grand Lodge of England has wisely as- signed this as a reason for the law already quoted, namely, that " no Lodge should introduce into Masonry a person whom the Brethren might con- sider unfit to be a member of their own Lodge."*
But this inchoate membership is to be perfected, it will be recollected, by the initiate, only upon his affixing his signature to the by-laws. He does not by his mere reception into the third degree, become a member of the Lodge. He may not choose to perfect that inchoation ; he may desire to affiliate with some other Lodge ; and in such a case, by de- clining to affix his signature to the by-laws, he re- mains in the condition of unaffiliation. By having been raised to the third degree, he acquires a claim to membership, but no actual membership. It is left to his own option whether he will assert or for- feit that claim. If he declines to sign the by-law,s
* Const. Grand Lodge of England, ut supra.
RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 183
he forfeits his claim ; if he signs them, he asserts it, and becomes ipso factor member.
Now, the next question that arises is, how long does the right of asserting that claim inure to the candidate ; in other words, how long is it after his reception that the recipient may still come forward, and by affixing his signature to the by-laws, avail himself of his right of membership, and without further application or ballot, be constituted a mem- ber of the Lodge in which he has been initiated ?
Although the landmarks and ancient Constitu- tions leave us without any specific reply to this question, analogy and the just conclusions to be de rived from the reason of the law, are amply sufficient to supply us with an answer.
The newly made candidate, it has already been intimated, possesses the right to claim his member- ship without further ballot, on the reasonable ground that, as he was deemed worthy of reception into the third degree, it would be idle to suppose that he was not equally worthy of admission into full membership ; and we have seen that this was the reason assigned by the Grand Lodge of England for the incorporation of this provision into its constitution.
Now, this is undoubtedly an excellent and un- answerable reason for his admission to membership, immediately upon his reception. But the reason loses its force if any time is permitted to elapse between the reception of the degree and the admis- sion to membership. No man knows what a day
184 EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP.
may bring forth. He that was worthy on Monday, may on Tuesday have committed some act by which his worthiness will be forfeited. It may be true, as the Roman satirist expresses it. that no man becomes suddenly wicked ;* and it may be reasonable to sup- pose that, for some time after his initiation, the habits and character of the initiate will remain un- changed, and therefore that for a certain period the members of the Lodge will be justified in believing the candidate whom they have received to continue in possession of the same qualifications of charac- ter and conduct "which had recommended and ob- tained his reception. But how are we to determine the extent of that period, and the time when it will be unsafe to predicate of the recipient a continuance of good character ? It is admitted that after three months, it would be wrong to draw any conclusions as to the candidate's qualifications, from what was known of him on the day of his reception ; and ac- cordingly many Lodges have prescribed as a regu- lation, that if he does not within that period claim his right of membership, and sign the by-laws, that right shall be forfeited, and he can then only be ad- mitted upon application, and after ballot. But why specify three months, and not two, or four, or six ? Upon what principle of ethics is the number three to be especially selected? The fact is, that the moment that we permit the initiate to extend the privilege of exercising his right beyond the time which is concurrent with his reception, the reasor
* " Nemo repente fuit turpissimus." — Juvenal*
EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 185
of the law is lost. The candidate haying been deemed worthy of receiving the third degree, must, at the time presumed to be worthy of membership. This is in the reason of things. But if a month, a week, or a single day is allowed to elapse, there is no longer a certainty of the continuance of that worthiness ; the known mutability and infirmity of human character are against the presumption, and the question of its existence should then be tested by a ballot.
Again, one of the reasons why a unanimous ballot is required is, that a " fractious member" shall not be imposed on the Lodge, or one who would " spoil its harmony.77* Now, if A is admitted to receive the third degree on a certain evening, with the unanimous consent of all the Lodge, which must, of necessity, include the affirmative vote of B, then on the same evening he must be qualified for admission to membership, because it is not to be presumed that B would be willing that A should receive the third degree, and yet be unwilling to sit with him in the Lodge as a fellow-member ; and therefore A may be admitted at once to membership, without a needless repetition of the ballot, which, of course, had been taken on his application for the degree. But if any length of time is permitted to elapse, and if, after a month, for instance, A comes forward to avail him- self of his right of admission, then he shall not be admitted without a ballot; because, between the time of his reception at the preceding meeting, and
* Regulations of 1721, art. i.
186 RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP.
the time of his application at the subsequent one, something may have occurred between himself and B, a member of the Lodge, which would render him objectionable to the latter, and his admission would then " spoil the harmony" of the Lodge, and " hinder its freedom."
The Regulation, therefore, adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, which prescribes that the candi- date, to avoid a ballot, must express his wish to be received a member on the day of his initiation, that is, of his reception into the third degree,* seems to be the only proper one. Any Regulation that ex- tends the period, and permits the candidate to sign the by-laws and become a member without a ballot, provided he does so within two or three months, or any other determined period extending beyond the day of his reception, is contrary to the spirit and tenor of the law, and is calculated to be sometimes of a mischievous tendency. If the candidate does not assert his right on the day of his reception into the third degree, he loses it altogether ; and must, to acquire membership, submit to a petition and ballot, as in the case of any other affiliation.
Before proceeding to an examination of the rights and duties of membership, it is proper that we should briefly discuss the question whether a Mason
* The modern Constitutions of the G. L. of England constantly use the word " initiation" as synonymous with " reception into the third degree." Thus, on p. 66 : " Each Lodge shall procure for every Brother initiated therein a Grand Lodge certificate." But Grand Lodge certificates are only granted to Master Masons, and therefore the term initiated, in this article, must signify raised to the third degree.
RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 187
can be a member of more than one Lodge at the same time. The Ancient Constitutions make no allusion to this double membership, either by way of commendation or prohibition ; but it must be ad- mitted that in all those old documents the phraseo logy is such as to imply that no Mason belonged to more than one Lodge at a time. On the other hand, however, a Regulation was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, in February, 1724, pre- scribing that " no Brother shall belong to more than one Lodge within the bills of mortality,"* that is, in the city of London. Now, two deductions are to be made from the adoption of such a Regulation at so early a period as only two years after the ap- proval of the " Old Charges," which are considered by many as almost equivalent to Landmarks. These deductions are, first, that at that time Masons were in the habit of joining more than one Lodge at a time, and secondly, that although the Grand Lodge forbade this custom in the Lodges of the city, it had no objection to its being continued in the country. But the Regulation does not seem ever to have been enforced ; for, in 1738, Dr. Anderson found occasion to write, " But this Regulation is neglected, for several reasons, and is now obsolete" — a remark that is repeated in 1756, in the third edition of the Book of Constitutions. t
I doubt the expediency of any Mason being an active member of more than one Lodge, and I am
* See Anderson's Constitutions, edit. 1738, p. 154. 1 Book of Coast, edit. 1756, p. 313.
188 RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP.
sure of its inconveniency to himself.* Yet, if any one is disposed to submit to this inconvenience, I know of no Landmark or ancient Regulation that forbids him. The Old Charge, which says that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, does not imply that he may not belong to two ; but in that case, suspension or expulsion by one Lodge would act as suspension or expulsion by both. As, how- ever, this matter constitutes no part of Ancient Masonic Law, it is competent for any Grand Lodge to make a local Eegulation on the subject, which will of course be of force in its own' jurisdiction. t
* "It is as true in Masonry as elsewhere that no man can serve two mas- ters. Whenever tried, the impossibility of rendering a divided allegiance perfect in each case, becomes at once apparent. The call of one body may lie in exactly a contrary direction from that of the other, given at the same instant of time. A member of two or more Lodges may be summoned to appear before each, with which he is thus connected, on the same evening. How, then, is he to fulfill his duties ? Which summons should he obey ?" — Com. For. Corres. G. L. of Illinois, 1845, p. 54.
t Thus the Grand Lodge of Virginia says : " Any Brother may be a mem- ber of as many Lodges as choose to admit him." — Method. Digest in Dove's Masonic Text-Book, p. 252. The Grand Lodge of South Carolina says : " No Brother shall be a member of two Lodges at the same time, within three miles of each other, without a dispensation from the Grand Master." — Rules and Regulations, xix. 16. The Grand Lodge of New York prescribes that " no Mason can be in full membership in more than one Lodge at the same time." — Const., tit. v., § 25. I find also the following Regulations in other Grand Lodges : " No Brother shall be a member of more than one subordinate Lodge at the same time." — Const. G. L. New Hamp. " No Lodge shall admit to membership any Brother who is already a mem- ber of a Lodge und^r the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge." — Const. G. L. Maryland. " No Brother can be a member of more than one Lodge at the same time." — Const. G. L. Missouri. "No Brother shall be a member of more than one Lodge." — Const. G. L. Michigan. The Grand Lodges of England and Ireland, and I think of Scotland, permit Masons to be members of more than one Lodge, but not to hold office in each, except by a djsr^'
RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 189
Where there is no such local Regulation^ a Mason may be a member of as many Lodges as he pleases, and which will admit him.
Honorary membership is quite a recent invention, and is now conferred only as a mark of distinction on Brethren of great talents or merits, who have been of service, by their labors or their writings, to the fraternity. It confers no powers on the re- cipient like those which are the results of active or full membership, and amounts to no more than a testimonial of the esteem and respect entertained by the Lodge which confers it for the individual upon whom it is conferred.
The Virginia Committee on Masonic Jurispru- dence in 1856, give a different definition of honor- ary membership. They say : " We mean by honorary member one who is entitled to all the privileges and honors conferred by Lodge membership, while he is exempt from all the requirements of such Lodge, as set forth in its by-laws ; he pays no dues, attends no summons, except voluntarily,"* &c. If by the ex-
sation. Dr. Outer calls the rule forbidding this double membership " an absurd law." On the whole, after due investigation, I am led to believe that formerly it was by no means unusual, as is now the case in Europe, for Masons to belong to more Lodges than one, but that recently a disposition has been exhibited among our Grand Lodges to discountenance the practice. As I have already said, it is to be regarded altogether as a mere matter of local regulation. If not prohibited by a special Regulation of a Grand Lodge, it is not forbidden by the Landmarks and Ancient Constitutions.
* The cases to which the Virginia Committee confine honorary member- ship seem to show that they viewed it as differing in no respect from active or full membership. It should, they think, be conferred only on a poor Brother who cannot afford to pay arrears ; on a Past Master, who is needed
190 EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP.
pression, " who is entitled to all the privileges and honors conferred by Lodge membership," the com- mittee, as the words purport, intend to convey thp idea that such a member may vote on all questions before the Lodge, as well as on petitions and at elections, may hold office, and represent the Lodge in the Grand Lodge, I can see no difference between a Mason occupying such a position of honoraiy membership and one holding membership in two Lodges at the same time. Such an honorary mem- ber is nothing more than an active member, excused by the Lodge from the payment of annual dues. I have just shown that there is no* constitutional ob- jection to such a condition of things, if the local regulations of the jurisdiction permit it, however its expediency may be doubted. But this is not the kind of honorary membership which is gene- rally understood by that title. Lexicographers cer- tainly give a very different definition of the word. Johnson, for instance, defines honorary as " confer- to organize a new Lodge, and yet who is unwilling to leave his own ; on old members of a dormant Lodge, whose names are necessary after their affilia- tion with other Lodges, for the purpose of reviving the dormant one ; and on Masons called by duty to be absent for a length of time in a foreign country, in which case honorary membership, instead of a demit, is to be granted. It is strange, with this last case in view, that the Committee should have closed this part of their report with the declaration that they " disapprove of the practice of electing to honorary membership, when that election exempts the brother from all or any of the requirements of Masonry." I can conceive of no greater drone in the Masonb hive than the Mason who, be- cause he is about to leave home for a temporary period, would require a de- mit, that he might be exempted from the payment of annual dues during his absence. Certainly such a Mason is the last man to be entitled to an honorarium from the Order.
EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 191
ring honor without gain," and he cites the follow- ing example of the word from Addison : " The Romans abounded with little honorary rewards, that without conferring wealth and riches, gave only place and distinction to the person who received them." Webster also sa}rs that the word honorary signifies " possessing a title or place, without per- forming services or receiving a reward, as an honor- ary member of a society." In this view, honorary membership will be a pleasing token of the estima- tion in which a distinguished Brother is held, and will be conferred honoris causa, for the sake of the honor which, it conveys, without bringing with the acquisition any rights or prerogatives, which should belong alone to active membership.* If this title of merit is hereafter to be adopted, as it seems pro- bable that it will be, as a usage of the fraternity, it is almost needless to say that it should be conferred only on one who is affiliated by active membership in some other Lodge. Unaffiliated Masons should receive none of the honors of the craft.
The Committee of Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, in 1851, used this language : " We condemn this principle [honor- ary membership] as un-masonic and improper. No
* The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New York recognizes the con dition of honorary membership, and defines honorary members as being " members of a Subordinate Lodge by adoption" — a definition which I confess I am at a loss to comprehend. It prescribes that it may be conferred on a poor Brother who is unable to pay dues, which, if he is invested with the right of voting and holding office, is, as I have said above, only active nerc her ship, without the payment of arsearages.
192 RIGHT OP MEMBERSHIP.
ancient precedent can "be given — no ancient lan- guage cited to justify it. It is following too muck after the devices and delusions of tlie world. We are taught that worldly honor should not be made to bear upon a person's advancement in the honors of Masonry. It is only the Mason who can best work who should be advanced and made honorable in the Order." Granted, and this is exactly what is proposed to be done by the establishment of honor- ary membership. Masons who have wrought dili- gently in the Order, and for the Order, who by their labors have instructed their brethren and elevated the character of the institution, should " be advanced and made honorable in the Order ;" and I know of no easier and yet more gratifying method of doing so than bv electing them as honor- ary members. Other societies, literary and profes- sional, have adopted this system of rewarding those who have faithfully labored in their respective vineyards ; and I can see no valid objections, but many excellent reasons, why Masonry should adopt the same course. If to reward merit be one of the " devices and delusions of the world," the sooner we allow it to lead us onward, the better for us and the institution.
Having thus disposed of the questions of double and of honorary membership, it is proper that we should now inquire into the prerogatives, as well as the duties which result from active membership in a Masonic Lodge.
Every Master Mason, who is a member of a Lodge,
RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 193
has a right to speak and vote on all questions that come before the Lodge for discussion, except on trials in which he is himself interested. Rules of order may be established restricting the length and number of speeches, but these are of a local nature, and will vary with the by-laws of each Lodge.
A Mason may also be restricted from voting on ordinary questions where his dues for a certain period — generally twelve months — have not been paid ; and such a Regulation exists in almost every Lodge. But no local by-law can deprive a member who has not been suspended, from voting on the ballot for the admission of candidates, because the Sixth Regulation of 1721 distinctly requires that each member present on such occasion shall give his consent before the candidate can be admitted.* And if a member were deprived, by any by-law of the Lodge, in consequence of non-payment of his dues, of the right of expressing his consent or dis- sent, the ancient Regulation would be violated, and a candidate might be admitted without the unani- mous consent of all the members present.
Every member of a Lodge is eligible to any office in the Lodge, except that of Worshipful Master. Eligibility for this latter office is only to be acquired by having previously held the office of a Warden/!*
* " But no man can be entered a Brother of any particular Lodge, or ad- mitted to be a member thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of that Lodge then present when the candidate is proposed." — Beg. 0/1721, art. vi.
f " No Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellow Craft ; nor a Master until he has acted as a Warden."- -Charges of 1722,
9
194 EIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP;
But in the instance of new Lodges, the Grand Mas- ter^may, by his dispensation, authorize any compe- tent Master Mason to discharge the duties of Master. In cases of emergency also, in old Lodges, where none of the Past officers are willing to serve, the Grand Master may issue his dispensation authoriz- ing the Lodge to select a presiding officer from the floor. But this can only be done with the consent of all the Wardens and Past Masters ; for, if any one of them is willing to serve, the Lodge shall not be permitted to elect a Brother who has not pre- viously performed the duties of a Warden.
The payment of dues is a duty incumbent on all the members of a Lodge, which, although of com- paratively recent date, is now of almost universal usage. Formerly, that is to say, before the revival of Masonry in 1717, Lodges received no warrants 5 but a sufficient number of Brethren, meeting to- gether, were competent to make Masons, and prac- tice the rites of Masonry.* After the temporary business which had called them together had been performed, the Lodge was dissolved until some simi- lar occasion should, summon the Brethren again together. There was then no permanent organiza- tion— no necessity for a Lodge fund — and conse- quently no Regulation requiring the payment of annual dues. When Lodges, however, became per-
§ iv. Fellow Crafts then constituted the body of the fraternity. Master Masons have now taken their place, and whatever is said in the Old Consti- tutions of the former, is at this day, in general, applicable to the latter. * Pkeston, Illustrations, p. 182
RIGHT OF MEMBERSHIP. 195
manently established by warrants of Constitution, permanent membership followed, and of course the payment of some contribution was required from each member as a fund towards defraying the ex- penses of the Lodge. It is not a general Masonic duty, in which the Mason is affected towards the whole body of the craft, as in the duty of moral deportment, but is to be regarded simply in the light of a pecuniary contract, the parties to which are the Lodge and its members. Hence it is not prescribed or regulated by any of the Ancient Con- stitutions, nor is it a matter with which Grand Lodges should ever interfere. However, as the non-payment of dues .to a Lodge has of late years been very generally considered as a Masonic offence, (which, by the way, it is not always,) and as punish- ment of some kind has been adopted for its enforce- ment, this subject will be again resumed when we arrive at that part of the present work which treats of Masonic crimes and punishments.
The other rights and duties of Master Masons, which are in part connected with the condition of membership, such as the right of demission, of visit and of relief, are so important in their nature as tc demand for each a separate section.
196 RIGHT OF AFFILIATION.