SECTION II.

OF THE EIGHT OF AFFILIATION.
Masonic membership is acquired,. as I have already said, in two ways ; first, by initiation into a Lodge, and secondly, by admission, after initiation, into another Lodge, upon petition and ballot. The for- mer method constituted the subject of discussion in the previous section ; the latter, which is termed " affiliation," will be considered in the present.
All the rights and duties that accrue to a Master Mason, by virtue of membership in the Lodge in which he was initiated, likewise accrue to him who has been admitted to membership by affiliation. There is no difference in the relative standing of either class of members : their prerogatives, their privileges, and their obligations are the same. It is therefore unnecessary to repeat what has been said in the preceding section in reference to the rights of membership, as everything that was there written respecting members admitted upon their re- ception of the third degree, equally applies to those who have been admitted by application.
There is, however, a difference in these methods of admission. It has been seen that those who acquire membership in a Lodge, by virtue of having received therein the third degree, obtain that mem- bership as a matter of right, without petition and without ballot. But a Master Mason, who is desir- ous of affiliating with a Lodge in which he was not initiated, or in which, after initiation, he had at the
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legal lime declined or neglected to assert his right of membership, must apply by petition. This peti- tion must be read at a regular communication of the Lodge, and be referred to a committee of investi- gation, which committee, at the next regular com- munication, (a month having intervened) will report on the character and qualifications of the candidate ; and if the report be favorable, the Lodge will pro- ceed to ballot. As in the case of initiation, the ballot is required to be unanimously in favor of the applicant to secure his election. One black ball is sufficient to reject him.
All of these Regulations, which are of ancient date and of general usage, are founded on the fifth and sixth of the Regulations of 1721, and are, it will be seen, the same as those which govern the petition and ballot for initiation. The Regulations of 1721 make no difference in the cases of profanes who seek to be made Masons, and Masons who de- sire affiliation or membership in a Lodge.* In both cases " previous notice, one month before," must be given to the Lodge, " due inquiry into the reputation and capacity of the candidate" must be made, and " the unanimous consent of all the mem- bers then present" must be obtained. Nor can this unanimity be dispensed with in one case any more
* The fifth Regulation of 1721 says : " No man can be made or admit- ted a member of a particular Lodge/' &c, clearly showing that the Mason who is made in a Lodge, and the one who applies for affiliation, are both placed in the same category. The phraseology of the sixth Regulation is to the same effect : " No man can be entered a Brother in any particular Lodge or admitted to be a member thereof/' &c.
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than it can in the other. It is the inherent privi- lege of every Lodge to judge of the qualifications o: its own members, " nor is this inherent privilege subject to a dispensation."
I have said nothing here of the necessity that the petition should be recommended by one or more members of the Lodge. Such is a very general usage, but not a universal one ; and I can find no authority for it in any of the ancient Constitutions, nor is anything said upon the subject by Preston, or any other written authorities that I have consulted. On the contrary, it appears to me that such a re- commendation is not essentially necessary. The demit from the Lodge of which the candidate was last a member, is itseif in the nature of a recom- mendation ; and if this accompanies the petition for admission, no other avouchment should be re- quired. The information in respect to present character and other qualifications is to be obtained by the committee of investigation, who of course are expected to communicate the result of what they have learned on the subject to the Lodge.
Some of our modern Grand Lodges, however, governed perhaps by the general analogy of appli- cations for initiation, have required, by a specific Regulation, that a petition for membership must be recommended by one or more members of the Lodge ; and such a Regulation would of course be Masonic Law for the jurisdiction in which it was in force ; but I confess that I prefer the ancient usage, which seem3 to have made the presentation of a demit from
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some other Lodge the only necessary recommendation of a Master Mason applying for affiliation."*
There is one difference between the condition of a profane petitioning for admission, and that of a Master Mason applying for membership, which claims our notice.
A profane, as has already been stated,t can apply for initiation only to the Lodge nearest to his place of residence ; but no such Kegulation exists in refer- ence to a Master Mason applying for membership. He is not confined in the exercise of this privilege within any geographical limits. No matter how distant the Lodge of his choice may be from his residence, to that Lodge he has as much right to ap- ply as to the Lodge which is situated at the very threshold of his home. A Mason is expected to affiliate with some Lodge. The ancient Constitu- tions specify nothing further on the subject. They simply prescribe that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, without any reference to its peculiar lo- cality, ana a Brother therefore complies with the obligation of affiliation when he unites himself with any Lodge, no matter how distant ; and by thus contributing to the support of the institution, he
* These demits or certificates appear formerly to have been considered as necessary letters of introduction or recommendation, to be used by all Masons when an-iving at a new Lodge. Thus the Regulations of 1663, § 3, prescribe " that no person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be admitted into any Lodge or assembly until he has brought a certiu cate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such Lodge is kept/'
(• See ante, p. U9.
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discharges his duty as a Mason, and "becomes entitled to all the privileges of the Order.*
This usage — for, in the absence of a positive law on the subject, it has become a Regulation, from the force of custom only — is undoubtedly derived from the doctrine of the universality of Masonry. The whole body of the craft, wheresoever dispersed, being considered, by the fraternal character of the institution, as simply component parts of one. great family, no peculiar rights of what might be called Masonic citizenship are supposed to be acquired by a domiciliation in one particular place. The Mason who is at home and the Mason who comes from abroad are considered on an equal footing as to all Masonic rights ; and hence the Brother made in Europe is as much a Mason when he comes to America, and is as fully qualified to discharge in America all Masonic functions, without any form "of naturalization, as though he had been made in this country. The converse is equally true. Hence no distinctions are made, and no peculiar rights acquired by membership in a local Lodge. Affilia- tion with the Order, of which -every Lodge is equally a part, confers the privileges of active Masonry. Therefore no law has ever prescribed that a Mason must belong to the Lodge nearest to his residence, but generally that he mus-t belong to
* The Charges of 1722 simply say, after describing what a Lodge is, thai " every Brother ought to belong to one." And it must be remembered that> previous to that period, there could have been no Eegulation on this subject as there were no permanent organizations of Lodges.
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a Lodge ; and consequently the doctrine is, as it ha? been enunciated above, that a Master Mason may apply for affiliation, and unite himself with any Lodge which is legal and regular, no matter how near to, or how far from his place of residence.
Some Grand Lodges have adopted a Regulation requiring a Mason, living in their respective juris- dictions, to unite himself in membership with some Lodge in the said jurisdiction, and refusing to accord the rights of affiliation to one who belongs to a Lodge outside of the jurisdiction. But I have no doubt that this is a violation of the spirit of the ancient law. A Mason living in California may retain his membership in a Lodge in the State of New York, and by so doing, is as much an affiliated Mason, in every sense of the word, as though he had acquired membership in a California Lodge. I do not advocate the practice of holding member- ship in distant Lodges ; for I believe that it is highly inexpedient, and that a Mason will much more efficiently discharge his duties to the Order by acquiring membership in the Lodge which is nearest to his residence, than in one which is at a great distance ; but I simply contend for the prin- ciple, as one of Masonic jurisprudence, that a Master Mason has a right to apply for membership in any Lodge on the face of the globe, and that member- ship in a Lodge carries with it the rights of affilia- tion wherever the member may go.*
* As it is here contended that a Mason may live in one place and be a member of a Lodge in another, the question naturally arises, whether the
9*
202 EIGHT OP AFFILIATION,
The effect of the rejection of the application of a Master Mason for affiliation is different from that of a profane for initiation. It has already been said that when a profane petitions for initiation and his petition is rejected, he can renew his peti- tion only in the same Lodge. The door of every other Lodge is closed against him. But it is not so with the Master Mason, the rejection of whose application for affiliation or membership by one Lodge does not deprive him of the right to apply to another. The reason of this rule will be evident upon a little reflection. A Master Mason is in what is technically called " good standing ;" that is to say, he is a Mason in possession of all Masonic rights and privileges, so long as he is not deprived of that character by the legal action of some regularly con- stituted Masonic tribunal. Now, that action must be either by suspension or expulsion, after trial and conviction. A Mason who is neither suspended nor expelled is a Mason in " good standing." Rejection, therefore, is- not one of the methods by which the good standing of a Mason is affected, because re- jection is neither preceded by charges nor accom- panied by trial ; and consequently a Mason whoso application for affiliation has been rejected by a Lodge, remains in precisely the same position, so far as his Masonic standing is affected, as he was before
Lodge, within whose precincts he resides, but of which he is not a member,, can exercise its discipline over him, should he commit any offence requiring Masonic punishment. There is no doubt that it can ; but this question will be fully discussed when we ;ome, in a subsequent part of this work, to the subject of Lodge jurisdiction.
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his rejection. He possesses all the rights and privi- leges that lie did previously, unimpaired and undi- minished. But one of these rights is the right of applying for membership to any Lodge that he may desire to be affiliated with ; and therefore, as this right remains intact, notwithstanding his rejection, he may at any time renew his petition to the Lodge that rejected him, or make a new one to some other Lodge, and that petition may be repeated as often as he deems it proper to do so.
The right of a member to appeal to the Grand Lodge from the decision of the Master, on points of order, or from that of the Lodge in cases of trial, is a very important right; but one that will be more appropriately discussed when we come hereafter to the consideration of the appellate jurisdiction of Grand Lodges.