SECTION III.

THE RIGHT OF VISIT.
The Right of Visit, may be denned to be that pre- rogative which every affiliated Master Mason in good standing possesses of visiting any Lodge into which he may desire to enter. It is one of the most important of all Masonic privileges, because it is based on the principle of the identity of the Masonic institution as one universal family, and is the ex- ponent of that well known maxim that " in every clime a Mason may find a home, and in every land a Brother."
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Fortunately for its importance, this right is not left to be deduced from analogy, or to be supported only by questionable usage, but is proclaimed in dis« tinct terms in some of the earliest Constitutions. The Ancient Charges at Makings, that were in force in 1888, but whose real date is supposed to be much anterior to that time, instruct us that it is the duty of every Mason to receive strange Brethren " when they come over the country," which Regula- tion, however the latter part of it may have refer- red, in an operative sense, to the encouragement of traveling workmen in want and search of employ- ment, must now, in the speculative character which our institution has assumed, be interpreted as signi- fying that it is the duty of every Lodge to receive strange Brethren as visitors, and permit them to participate in the labors and instructions in which the Lodge may, at the time of the visit, be engaged.
Modern authorities have very generally concurred in this view of the subject. In June, 1819, in con- sequence of a complaint which had been preferred to the Grand Lodge of England against a Lodge in London, for having refused admission to some Brethren who were well known to them, on the ground that, as the Lodge was about to initiate a candidate, no visitor could be admitted until that ceremony was concluded, the Board of General Pur- poses resolved " that it is the undoubted right of every Mason who is well known or properly vouched, to visit any Lodge during the time it is opened for general Masonic business, observing the proper
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forms to be attended to on such occasions, and so that the Master may not be interrupted in the per- formance of his duty.''*
The Grand Lodge of New York concurs in this view, by declaring " that the right to visit, masonic- ally, is an absolute right,"t and it qualifies the pro- position by adding that this right " may be forfeited or limited by particular regulations." This subject of the forfeiture or restriction of the right will be hereafter considered.
In the jurisdiction of Ohio, it is held that every Mason in good standing " has a right to visit Lodges when at labor, and that a Lodge cannot refuse such a visitor, without doing him a wrong. J
In Mississippi, South Carolina, Michigan, and a very large majority of American Grand Lodges, the doctrine of the absolute right of visit is inculcated, while the contrary opinion is maintained in Mary- land, California, and perhaps a few other States.
The doctrine announced in Maryland -is, that " each Lodge is a family by itself, separate and dis- tinct from all the rest of the world, and has an un- questionable right to say who shall not be their associates. "§
* See Oliver's ed. of Preston, note to p. 75.
t Const. G. L. of New York, 1858, § viii., s. 8.
$ Com. of Corresp. G. L. of Ohio, 1856, p. 482.
§ Rep. of Cora, of For. Corresp., 1854, p. 10. It is evident, however, that this involves a very contracted view of the universality of Masonry, and that by making each Lodge a distinct and independent family, the cosmopolitan character of the institution is completely denied. Fortunately this theory i* nowhere else recognized.
206 RIGHT OF VISIT.
The doctrine in California appears to be, that " the right (so called) to visit masonically is not an absolute right, but is a favor, to which every lawftu Mason in good standing is entitled, and which a Lodge may concede or refuse at its discretion."
There is in the phraseology of this Regulation such a contradiction of terms as to give an objection- able ambiguity to the statute. If the right of visit " is not an absolute right," then every Mason in good standing is not entitled to it. And if it is a favor to which " every lawful Mason in good stand- ing is entitled," then no Lodge can " concede or re- fuse it at its discretion." There seems almost to be an absurdity in declaring by statute that every Mason has a right to ask for that which may, with- out cause assigned, be refused. The right mentioned in the old adage that " a cat may look at a king," has more substantiality about it than this mere right of asking, without any certainty of obtaining.
The true doctrine is, that the right of visit is one of the positive rights of every Mason ; because Lodges are justly considered as only divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic family. The right may, of course, be lost or forfeited on special occasions, by various circumstances ; but any Mas- ter who shall refuse admission to a Mason, in good standing, who knocks at the door of his Lodge, is expected to furnish some good and satisfactory reason for his thus violating a Masonic right. If the admission of the applicant, whether a member or visitor, would, in his opinion, be attended with
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injurious consequences, such, for instance, as impair- ing the harmony of the Lodge, a Master would then, I presume, be justified in refusing admission. But without the existence of some, such good reason, Masonic jurists have always decided that the right of visitation is absolute and positive, and inures. to every Mason in his travels throughout the world. Wherever he may be, however distant from his resi- dence and in the land of the stranger, every Lodge is, to a Mason in good standing, his home, where he should be ever sure of the warmest and truest welcome.
We are next to inquire into the nature of the re- strictions which have been thrown around the exer- cise of this right of visit.
In the first place, to entitle him to this right of visit, a'Master Mason must be affiliated with some Lodge. Of this doctrine there is no question. All Masonic authorities concur in confirming it. But as a Mason may take his demit from a particular Lodge, with the design of uniting again with some other, it is proper that he should be allowed the op-^ portunity of visiting various Lodges, for the pur- pose— where there are more than one in the same place — of making his selection. But that no en- couragement may be given to him to protract the period of his withdrawal of Lodge membership, this privilege of visiting must be restricted within the narrowest limits. Accordingly, the Grand Lodge of England has laid down the doctrine in its Con- stitutions in the following words :
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" A Brother, who is not a subscribing member to some Lodge, shall not be permitted to visit any one Lodge in the town or place in which he resides, more than once during his secession from the craft."*
A similar usage appears very generally, indeed universally, to prevail ; so that it may be laid down as a law, fixed, by custom and confirmed in most jurisdictions by statutory enactment, that an un- affiliated Mason cannot visit any Lodge more than once.f By ceasing to be affiliated, he loses his general right of visit.
Again : a visiting Brother, although an affiliated Mason, may, by bad conduct, forfeit his right of visit. The power to reject the application of a visitor for admission, is not a discretionary, but a constitutional one, vested in the Master of the Lodge, and for the wholesome exercise of which he is responsible to the Grand Lodge. If, in his opin- ion, the applicant for admission as a visitor, is not in a condition, or of fitting moral character, to en- title him to the hospitalities of the Lodge, he may refuse him admission ;% but the visitor so rejected will have his right of appeal to the Grand Lodge, in whose jurisdiction he has been refused, and the
* Constitutions of the G. L. of Eng., p. 91.
f The Grand Lodge of New York extends the number of visits of un- affiliated Masons to two. But the rule laid down in the text is the more general one.
i Thus the Grand Lodge cf New York has very wisely enacted that no visitor shall be admitted, unless it be known " that his admission will not disturb the harmony of the Lodge, or embarrass its work."— Const. Gr. L. cf m Y., § 23.
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onus then lies on the Master of proving that such refusal was founded on and supported b)T sufficient reasons.
The great object in all Masonry being the pre- servation of harmony among the Brethren, which our ritual properly declares to be " the support of all well regulated institutions/7 it has been deemed, by many excellent Masonic authorities, to be the prerogative of any member of a Lodge to object' to the admission of a visitor when his relations to that visitor are of such a nature as to render it un- pleasant for the member to sit in Lodge with- the visitor. It is certainly much to be regretted that any such unkind feelings should exist among Masons. But human nature is infirm, and Masonry does not always accomplish its mission of creating and per- petuating brotherly love, Hence, when two Masons are in such an unmasonic condition of antagonism, the only question to be solved is — the one being a contributing member and the other a visitor — whether shall the former or the latter retire? Jus- tice seems to require that the visitor shall yield his claims to those of the member. If the presence of both would disturb the harmony of the Lodge — and I know not how that harmony can be more effectually disturbed than by the presence of two Masons who are inimical to each other — then I cannot deny not only the right, but the duty of the Master, to forbid the entrance of the one who, as a stranger and a visitor, has the slightest claims to admission, and whose rights will be the least affected by the re-
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fusal. If a visitor is refused admission, it is only his right of visit that is affected ; but if a member be compelled to withdraw, in consequence of the admission of a visitor, whose presence is unpleasant to him, then all his rights of membership are in- volved, which of course include his right of voting at that communication on any petitions for initia- tion or membership, and on motions before the Lodge, as well as his right of advocating or oppos- ing any particular measures which may become the subject of deliberation during the meeting. Hence, under the ordinary legal maxim, argumentum ab in- convenienti plurimum valet in lege, that is, " an argu- ment drawn from inconvenience is of great force in law," it seems clear that the earnest protest of a member is sufficient to exclude a visitor. And to this we may add, that if by the old Regulation of 1721, every member present was to be allowed the expression of his opinion in reference to the admit- tance of a permanent member, because if one be admitted without unanimous consent, " it might spoil the harmony" of the Lodge, then by analogy we are to infer that, for a similar reason, the same unanimity is expected in the admission of a visitor."*
* The Hon. W. B. Hubbard, Grand Master of the Knights Templar of the United States, whose claims as au eminent Masonic jurist are everywhere acknowledged, lays down the following axioms in his admirable " Digest of Masonic Laws and Decisions," p. 51. They refer, it is true, to Commander. ies of Knights Templar, but are equally applicable to Lodges of Master Masons, and I cordially adopt them as my own opinions en this subject of the restrictions of the right of visit :
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But another restriction on the right of visit is to be found in the necessity of an examination. No Brother can be permitted to visit any strange Lodge, unless he has first submitted to an examination. This examination, it is true, may be rendered un- necessary by an avouchment : but, as the principle is the same, and as the subject of the right of avouchment will be discussed in a subsequent sec- tion, it is unnecessary, on the present occasion, to consider anything more than the effect of an ex- amination on the right of visit.
The rule, then, is imperative that every Master Mason who applies as a visitor to a Lodge, and for whose Masonic standing and character as a Mason no Brother present can vouch, must submit to an examination before he can be admitted. This exa- mination is accompanied by several forms, which, as they are used in the presence of a person not known to be a Mason, and who, after having participated in them, is often rejected, because lie cannot give sufficient proof of his Masonic character, necessarily form no part of the secret portions of our ritual, and can therefore be as safely committed to paper and openly published, as any of the other ordinary
" When a member of a Commandery, who is not under suspension, applies for admission, the E. Commander ought not to refuse to receive him, because another and sitting member objects.
" But no visiting Knight should be admitted, if one only of the regular members present objects.
" If one member cannot sit with another member, their differences should be reconciled, if possible. If irreconcilable, then charges should be prefer red by the objecting member, and a trial be had."
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business of a Lodge. To assert to the contrary — to say, for instance, that the " Tiler's obligation," so called because it is administered to the visitor in the Tiler's room, and usually in the presence of that officer, is a Masonic secret — is to assert, that that which is secret, and a portion of our mysteries, may be openly presented to a person whom we do not know to be a Mason, and who therefore receives this instruction before he has proved his right to it by " strict trial and due examination." The very fact that the " Tiler's obligation" is to be adminis- tered to such an unknown person, is the very best argument that can be adduced that it no more con- stitutes a part of our secret instructions, than do the public ceremonies of laying corner stones, or burying our dead. I do not consequently hesitate to present it to the reader in the form which I have seen usually adopted.*
The visitor, therefore, who desires admission into a Lodge, and who presents himself for preparatory examination, is required to take the following oath in the presence of the examining committee, each
* These remarks are induced in consequence of objections having been made by a few overscrupulous brethren to the insertion of this Tiler's oath, in a previous publication. They deemed it a part of the apporreta, or hidden things of Masonry. But for the reasons urged above, I cannot . consent to view it in this light. Masonic scholars are beginning now to abandon that timid course whrch leads to the suppression of important information, under the mistaken, but honesi belief, that the secrets of Freemasonry may thereby be unlawfully divulged. It is true that there are some things that cannot be written ; but, as a general rule, it may be stated, that more injury has been done to the institution by needless reserve than by liberal publication of its concerns.
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of whom he may likewise require to take the same oatli with him :
" I, A. B., do Jiereby and hereon solemnly and sincerely swear, that I have been regularly initiated, passed and raised, to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, in a just and legally consti- tuted Lodge of such; that I do not now stand suspended or expel- led; and know of no reason why I should not hold Masonic communication with my brethren."
This declaration having been confirmed in the most solemn manner, the examination is then com- menced with the necessary forms. The ritualistic landmark requires that these forms must be con- ducted in such a manner as to constitute what is technically called a " strict trial." No question must be omitted that should have been asked, and no answer received unless strictly and categorically correct. The rigor and severity of the rules and forms of a Masonic examination must never be weakened by undue partiality or unjustifiable deli- cacy. The honor and safety of the institution are to be paramount to every other consideration ; and the Masonic maxim is never to be forgotten, that " it is better that ninety and nine true men should, by over strictness, be turned away from the door of a Lodge, than that one cowan should, through the carelessness of an examining committee, be admitted."
Correlative to this right of examination is that which belongs to every visitor of demanding a sight of the warrant of constitution of the Lodge which he proposes to visit. The demand to see this im
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portant instrument he may make before examina- tion, because it is in fact the evidence of the right of the committee to proceed to that examination, and the committee is bound to produce it.
Intimately connected with this subject of the right of visit is that of Grand Lodge certificates. The propriety of any Regulation requiring such a document as a necessary preliminary to a visit, has, within the last few years, been warmly agitated by several of the Grand Lodges of this country ; and some of them, denying its antiquity, have abolished the Regulation in their own jurisdictions. It is, however, surprising that any writer professing to be acquainted with the history of the institution, should for a moment deny the great antiquity and univer- sality of the law which has required every strange Brother to furnish the Lodge which he intends to visit with a certificate of his good standing in the Lodge and the jurisdiction from which he hails.
The Regulation was certainly in force two cen- turies ago ; for we have the evidence of that fact in the Regulation adopted in the General Assembly in 1663, under the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans, in the following explicit language :
" No person hereafter, who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be admitted into any Lodge or assembly, until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such a Lodge is kept."
From that time, at least, the Regulation has been strictly observed in the Grand Lodges of England,
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Ireland, and Scotland, and many of the older Grand Lodges of this country.* Several other Grand Lodges, however, whose Constitutions are of a later date, have, as I have already observed, abolished it, and decline to furnish their members with such cer- tificates. There may be a doubt whether a Masonic certificate, not renewable, but given to its possessor for his life, is of any real value in establishing his Masonic standing, except at the time that lie re- ceived it ; but there can be no doubt that the Regu- lation requiring one to be given, is one of the most ancient written laws of the Order. Under any cir- cumstances, it must, however, be recollected that a Grand Lodge certificate is to be considered only as a collateral evidence of the good standing of its possessor, preparatory to an examination in the legal way ; and hence the Regulation adopted by the Grand Lodge of South Carolina in 1848, seems to be .a reasonable one, namely, that where the visi- tor, being without a certificate, can furnish other sufficient evidence of his Masonic standing, and assign a satisfactory reason for his being without a certificate, the Lodge which he proposes to visit may proceed to his examination.
In concluding this section, it may be remarked,
* So important was this subject deemed by the Masonic Congress which was beld at Paris in June, 1855, that among the ten propositions recom- mended, was one fur a standard form of Masonic diploma. It was advised that this instrument should be in Latin, with an accompanying translation in the national language, and to have a testamentary formula, setting forth the desire of the recipient that after his death it may be returned to the Lodge whence it emanated.
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by way of recapitulation, that the right of visit ia a positive right, which inures to every unaffiliated Master Mason once, and to every affiliated Master Mason always ; but that it is a right which can never be exercised without a previous examination or legal avouchment, and may be forfeited for good and sufficient cause ; while for the Master of auy Lodge to deny it, without such cause, is to do a Masonic wrong to the Brother claiming? it, for which
O CD i
iie will have his redress upon complaint to the Grand Lodge, within whose jurisdiction the injury is inflicted. This, it appears to me, is now the settled law upon this subject of the Masonic right of visit.