CHAPTER IV.

©f 39 z st Rasters,
Before proceeding to a consideration of tlie du- ties and prerogatives of Past Masters, the attention of the reader must be called to the fact that there are two distinct classes of Masons who bear this technical appellation, namely, those who have pre- sided over a Lodge of Ancient Craft Masons, and those who have received the Past Master's degree in a Chapter of Koyal Arch Masons. Those of the former class are tnown as " actual Past Masters/7 and those of the latter as " virtual Past Masters."
It is only of the former class — the actual Past Masters — who derive the title from having presided over a symbolic Lodge, that I propose to speak in the present work.
Past Masters possess but very few positive rights, distinct from those which accrue to all Master Masons.
The first and most important of these is eligi- bility to membership in the Grand Lodge. A few years ago, in consequence of a schism which took place in the jurisdiction of New York, an attempt was made to assert for Past Masters an inherent
254 OF PAST MASTERS.
right to tli "s membership; but the long and able dis- cussions which were conducted in almost all the Grand Lodges of the Union have apparently settled the question forever, and irresistibly led to the con- clusion that Past Masters possess no such inherent right, and that membership in a Grand Lodge can only be secured to them as an act of courtesy by a special enactment of the body.
In the earlier history of Masonry, when the Gen- eral Assembly, which met annually, was composed of the whole body of the craft, Past Masters, of course, were admitted to membership in that assem- blage. And so also were all Master Masons and Fellow Crafts.* But at the organization of the Grand Lodge on a representative basis, in 1717, Past Masters were not originally admitted as mem- bers. The old Constitutions do not anywhere re- cognize them. There is no mention made of them in any of the editions of Anderson or his editors, En- tick and Northouck. Even the schismatic body of " Ancients," in England, in the last century, did not at first recognize them as a distinct class, entitled to any peculiar privileges. Dermott, in the edition of his " Ahiman Rezon," published in 1778, prefixed a note to his copy of the Old and New Regulation, taken from Anderson's edition of 1738, in which note he says, " Past Masters of warranted Lodges on record are allowed this privilege, (membership in the Grand Lodge,) whilst they continue to be
* Thus the Gothic Constitutions say that, in 926," Prince Edwin summoned all the Free and Accepted Masons in the kingdom to meet him in a Congre- gation at York."— Anderson, second edit., p. 64.
OF PAST MASTERS. 255
members of any regular Lodge."* But in the pre- vious edition of the same work, published in 1764, this note is not to be found, nor is there the slightest reference to Past Masters, as members of the Grand Lodge. Preston states that, at the laying of the foundation-stone of Coven t Garden Theatre, in 1803, by the Prince of Wales, as Grand Master, " the Grand Lodge was opened by Charles March, Esq., attended by the Masters and. Wardens of all the regular Lodges ;" and in no part of the description which he gives of the ceremonies is any notice taken of Past Masters as constituting a part of the Grand. Lodge, t
The first notice which we obtain of Past Masters as a component part of the Grand Lodge of Eng- land, is in the " Articles of Union between the two Grand. Lodges of England/7 which were adopted in 1813, and in which it is declared that the Grand Lodge shall consist of the Grand and Past Grand Officers, of the actual Masters and Wardens of all the warranted Lodges, and of the " Past Masters of Lodges who have regularly served and passed the chair before the day of union, and who continued, without secession, regular contributing members of a warranted Lodge." But it is also provided, that, after the decease of all these ancient Past Masters the representation of every Lodge shall consist of its Master and Wardens, and one Past Master only .% This was, however, evidently, a compromise made
* DEEiioiT, Ahiman Rezon, ed. 1778 p 70. t Preston, Oliver's edit., p. 341. t Ibid. p. 362L
2
for the sake of the Athol Past Masters, who from 1778, and perhaps a little earlier, had enjoyed the privileges of membership, just as in 1858, a similar compromise was made by the Grand Lodge of New York, at its union with the schismatic body, when all Past Masters, who were members of the Grand Lodge in 18-19, were permitted to continue their membership. But the regular Grand Lodge of Eng- land never recognized the inherent right of Past Masters to membership in the Grand Lodge, as will appear from the following language used in a re- port adopted by that body in 1851 :
" We think it clear that the right of Past Masters to vote in. Grand Lodge, wherever and so long as that right subsists, is due to, and depends entirely upon, the Constitutions which grant such a privilege, and therefore is not inherent."*
It seems, therefore, now to be admitted by very general consent of all authorities, that Past Masters possess no inherent right to membership in a Grand Lodge ; but as every Grand Lodge is invested with the prerogative of making regulations for its own government, provided the landmarks are preserved,? it may or may not admit Past Masers to membership and the right of voting, according to its own notions of expediency. This will, however, of course be, in each jurisdiction, simply a local law which the Grand Lodge may at any time amend or abrogate.
* Report of the Committee of the Grand Lodge of England on the New York difficulties.
f " Every annual Grand Lodge has an inherent right, power, and authority
to make new regulations, provided always that the old landmarks ha
carefully preserved.''— JRegulat ions of 1721. Art. xxxix. See ante p. 79,
OP PAST MASTERS. 257
Still, the fact that Past Masters, by virtue of their rank, are capable of receiving such a courtesy when Master Masons are not, in itself constitutes a prerogative, and the eligibility to election as mem- bers of the Grand Lodge, with the consent of that body, may be considered as one of the rights of Past Masters.
Another right possessed by Past Masters is that of presiding over their Lodges, in the absence of the Master, and with the consent of the Senior War- den, or of the Junior, if the Senior is not present. The authority of the absent Master descends to the Wardens in succession, and one of the Wardens must, in such case, congregate the Lodge. After which he may, by courtesy, invite a Past Master of the Lodge to preside. But as this congregation of the Lodge by a Warden is essential to the legality of the communication, it follows that, in the ab- sence of the Master and both Wardens, the Lodge cannot be opened ; and consequently, under such circumstances, a Past Master cannot preside. But no member, unless he be a Warden or a Past Mas- ter, with the consent of the Warden, can preside over a Lodge ; and, therefore, the eligibility of a Past Master to be so selected by the Warden, and. after the congregation of the Lodge by the latter officer, to preside over its deliberations and conduct its work, may be considered as one of the rights of Past Masters.
Past Masters also are invested with the right of installing their successors, There is, it is true, no
258 OF PAST MASTERS.
Ancient Regulation which expressly confers upot them this prerogative, but it seems always to have been the usage of the fraternity to restrict the in- stalling power to one who had himself been install- ed, so that there might be an uninterrupted suc- cession in the chair. Thus, in the "Ancient In- stallation Charges," which date at least as far back as the seventeenth century, in describing the way in which the charges at an installation were given, it is said,* " tunc unus ex senioribus tenet librum, et illi ponent manum suam super librum ;" that is, " then one of the elders holds the book [of the law], and they place their hand upon it j" where senioribus, may be very well interpreted as meaning the elder Masters, those who have presided over a Lodge : seniores, elders, like the equivalent Greek vrpefiwrspoi, presbyters, being originally a term descriptive of age which was applied to those in authority.
In 1717, the first Grand Master, under the new organization, was installed, as we learn from the book of Constitutions, by the oldest Master of a Lodge. t Preston also informs us, in his ritual of installation, that when the Grand Master does not act, any Master of a Lodge may perform the cere- mony.J Accordingly, Past Masters have been uni- versally considered as alone possessing the right of installation. In this and all similar expressions, it must be understood that Past Masters and installed
* See Preston, 01. ed., p. 71, note. t See Anderson, second edit., p 110. J Preston, Oi. ed., p. 71, note.
Of PAST MASTERS. 259
Masters, although not having been twelve months in the chair, are in Masonic law identical. A*Mas- ter of a Lodge becomes a Past Master, for all legal purposes, as soon as he is installed.
A Past Master is eligible to election to the chair, without again passing through the office of Warden. The Old Charges prescribe that no one can be a Master until he has served as a Warden. Past Masters having once served in the office of Warden, always afterwards retain this prerogative conferred by such service.
Past Masters are also entitled to a seat in the East, on the right and left of the Worshipful Mas- ter, that he may, on all necessary occasions, avail himself of their counsel and experience in the gov- ernment of the Lodge ; but this is a matter left en- tirely to his own discretion, for in the deliberations of the Lodge the Master is supreme, and Past Mas- ters possess no other privileges of speaking and voting than belong to all other Master Masons. As a mark of respect, and as a distinction of rank, Past Masters are to be invested with a jewel pecu- liar to their dignity."""
By a Regulation contained in the Charges ap- proved in 1722, it appears that none but Past Mas- ters were eligible to the offices of Deput}^ Grand
* The jewel of a Past Master, in the United States, is a pair of compasses extended to sixty degrees, on the fourth part of a circle, with a sun in tha centre. In England, it was formerly the square on a quadrant, but is, by later regulations, the Master's square, with a silver plate suspended within it, en which is engraved the celebrated forty-seventh problem of Euclid.
260 OF PAST MASTERS.
Master, or Grand Warden.""" The office of Grand Master, however, required no such previous qualifi cation. The highest officer of the Order might be selected from the ranks of the fraternity. The rea- son of this singular distinction is not at first appa- rent, but, on reflection, will be easily understood. The Deputy and Wardens were the working officers of the Grand Lodge, and expected to bring to the discharge of the duties of their stations some expe- rience derived from previous service in the Order. Hence they were selected from the elders of the craft. But the Grand Master was always, when possible, selected, not on account of his Masonic knowledge or experience — for these, it was supposed, would be supplied for him by his Deputy t — but on account of the lustre that his high position and in- fluence in the state would reflect upon the Order. Thus, the Old Charges say that the Grand Master must be " nobly born, or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some eminent scholar, or some curious architect or other artist, descended of honest pa- rents, and who is of singular great merit, in the opinion of the Lodges. "J But it was seldom possi- ble to find a nobleman, or other distinguished per- son, who had passed through the inferior offices of the Order, or bestowed any very practical attention
* See ante p. 58.
f Thus the General Regulations of 1721, in view of this fact, provide that " the Grand Master should receive no intimation of business concerning Ma sonry, but from his Deputy first," and the Deputy is also directed " to prepare the business speedily, and to lay it orderly before his Worship."- -A ri. xvi.
+ See ante p. 58.
OF PAST MASTERS. 261
on Masonry. It was, therefore, thought better that the craft should enjoy the advantages of a Grand Master in high social position, however unskilled in the art he might be, than of one, no matter how much Masonic experience he possessed, if he was without worldly influence. Therefore no other qua- lification was required for the office of Grand Mas- ter than that of being a Fellow Craft. The regu- lation is not now necessary, for Masonry in the elevated condition that it has now attained, needs no extraneous influence to support it, and Grand Masters are often selected for their experience and Masonic zeal ; but, in the eighteenth century, the Order undoubtedly derived much advantage, as it does even now in Europe, from the long array of royal and noble Grand Masters.
All that has been here said of the rights of Past Masters must be considered as strictly referring to actual Past Masters only ; that is to say, to Past- Masters who have been regularly installed to pre- side over a Lodge of Ancient Craft Masons, under the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge. Virtual Past Masters, or those who have received the degree in a Chapter, as preparatory to exaltation to the Eoyal Arch, possess none of these rights.
A few years ago, this distinction of actual and virtual Past Masters gave rise to much discussion in the Order ; and although the question of their re- spective rights is now very generally settled, it is proper that a few words should be devoted to its consideration.
262 OF PAST MASTERS.
The question to be investigated is, whether a vir tual or Chapter Past Master can install the Mastei elect of a symbolic Lodge, or be present when he receives the Past Master's degree during the cere mony of installation.
The Committee of Foreign Correspondence ol New York, held, in 1851, that a Chapter Past Mas- ter cannot legally install the Master of a symbolic Lodge, but that there is no rule forbidding his be- ing present at the ceremony.
In South Carolina, virtual Past Masters are not permitted to install, or be present when the degree is conferred at the installation of a Master of a Lodge. They are not recognized by the Grand Lodge.
Bro. Gedge, of Louisiana, asserted, in 1852, that " it is the bounden duty of all Grand Lodges to pre- vent the possessors of the Chapter degree from the exercise of any function appertaining to the office and attributes of an installed Master of a Lodge of symbolic Masonry, and refuse to recognize them as belonging to the Order of Past Masters."*
Bro. Albert Pike, one of the most distinguished Masonic jurists of the present day, says Chat he does not consider " that the Past Master's degree, con- ferred in a Chapter, invests the recipient with any rank or authority, except within the Chapter itself;
* At the same communication the Grand Lodge of Louisiana unanimously adopted a resolution, declaring that "it can only concede, and does only concede the title and privileges, and confide the duties of Past Master only to such Master Masons as have heen regularly elected and installed into the office of Master of a Lodge of symbolic Freemasonry, constituted and char- tered by a lawful Grand Lodge.''— Proc. G. L. of La., pp. 76 and 90.
OF PAST MASTERS. 263
that it in no way qualifies or authorizes him to pre- side in the chair of a Lodge ; that a Lodge has no legal means of knowing that he has received the de- gree in a Chapter; for it is not to know anything that takes place there any more than it knows what takes place in a Lodge of Perfection, or a Chapter of Rose Croix."* whence it follows, that if the actual Past Masters of a lodge have no legal means of recognition of the virtual Past Masters of a Chap- ter, the former cannot permit the latter to install or be present at an installation. t"
The foundation of this rule is laid in the soundest principles of reason. It is evident, from all Masonic history, that the degree of Past Master, which was exceedingly simple in its primitive construction, was originally conferred by symbolic Lodges, as an honorarium or reward upon those brethren who had been called to preside in the Oriental chair. Thus it was simply an official degree, and could only be obtained in the Lodge which had conferred the of- fice. But as it always has been a regulation of the Royal Arch degree that it can be conferred only on one who has ''passed the chair," or received the Past Master's degree, which originally meant that none but the Masters of Lodges could be exalted to the Royal Arch, as the degree was considered too im- portant to be bestowed on all Master Masons indis- criminately, it was found necessary when Chapters
* Report on Masonic Jurisprudence to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.
t Nor can I readily understand how a Chapter Past Master can consent, as such, to sit in a Past Master's Lodge with Past Masters who have net received the Marls degree.
264 OF PAST MASTEES.
were organized independently of symbolic Lodges to introduce the degree, as a preparatory step to the exaltation of their candidates to the Royal Arch.
Hence arose the singular anomaly, which now ex- ists in modern Masonry, of two degrees bearing the same name and identical in character, but which are conferred by two different bodies, under distinct jurisdictions and for totally different purposes. The Past Master's degree is conferred in a symbolic Lodge as an honorarium upon a newly-elected Mas- ter, and as a part of the installation ceremony. In a Chapter, it is conferred as a preparatory qualifi- cation to the reception of the Royal Arch degree. All this was well understood at the beginning, and is not now denied by any who have made researches into the subject. Still, as the details of this history became, by the lapse of time, less generally known, disputes began to arise between the two parties as to the vexatious questions of legitimacy and juris- diction. In these controversies, the virtual or Chap- ter Past Masters, denied the right of the symbolic Lodges to confer, and the actual or installed Past Masters rightly contended that the conferring of the degree in Chapters is an innovation.
It must be evident, then, from what has been said, that the Chapter degree has nothing, and can have nothing, to do with the same degree as conferred in a Lodge ; and that Chapter Past Masters neither have the right to install the Masters elect of sym- bolic Lodges, nor to be present when, in the course of installation, the degree is conferred.
OHAPTEE Y. ©f mnxiiiliatelf l&asctis.
An unaffiliated Mason is one who does not hold membership in any Lodge.* Such a class of Masons, if amounting to any great number, is discreditable to the Order, because their existence is a pregnant evidence that care has not been taken in the selec- tion of members ; and accordingly, for some years past, the Grand Lodges of this country have been denouncing them'in the strongest terms of condem- nation, at the same time that able discussions have been carried on as to the most eligible method of checking the evil.
The Special Committee on Jurisprudence of the Grand Lodge of Virginia said, in 1856, with great truth, that " it cannot be concealed that this class of drones in the hive of Masonry, now numbered by
* The word is derived from the French word affilier, which Richelet thus defines : " Donner a quelqu'un participation des biens spirituels d'un Ordre religieux : cette communication se ncrmme affiliation? That is : " To communicate to any one a participation in the spiritual benefits of a re- ligious order : such a communication is called an affiliation? — Richelet, DicLde la Langue Francoise. The word is found in none of Hie older Masonic books.
12
266 OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS.
thousands in America, are exerting a very unwhole- some influence on the position which our time- honored institution is entitled to hold before the world."*
It is important, therefore, that we should inquire into the prerogatives of this class, and into the na- ture of the relations which exist between them and the body from which they have withdrawn.
In the first place, it may be stated, that there is no precept more explicitly expressed in the ancient Constitutions than that every Mason should belong to a Lodge. The foundation of the law which im- poses this duty is to be traced as far back as the Gothic Constitutions of 926, which tell us that " the workman shall labor diligently on work-days, that he may deserve his holidays. "f The obligation that every Mason should thus labor is implied in all the subsequent Constitutions, which always speak of Ma- sons as toorking members of the fraternity, until we come to the Charges approved in 1722, which expli- citly state that " every Brother ought to belong to a Lodge, and to be subject to its By-Laws and the General Regulations."!
Explicitly, however, as the law has been an- nounced, it has not, in modern times, been observed with that fidelity which should have been expected, perhaps, because no precise penalty was annexed to its violation. The word " ought" has given to the
* Report of Special Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence to the Grand Lodge of Virginia, 1855, p. 3. t See ante p. 45. % See ante p. 56.
OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS. 267
regulation a simply declaratory form ; and although we are still compelled to conclude that its violation is a neglect of Masonic duty, and therefore punish- able by a Masonic tribunal, Masonic jurists have been at a loss to agree upon the nature and extent of the punishment that should be inflicted.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia prohibits Master Masons who remain unaffiliated more than twelve months from visiting other Lodges, or receiving any of the privileges or benefits of Masonry.
Maryland deprives them of the right of visit.
Mississippi divests unaffiliated Masons of all the rights and privileges of the Order — those, namely, of visiting Lodges, demanding charitable aid, re- ceiving Masonic burial, or joining in Masonic pro- cessions.
Iowa directs them to be tried and suspended if they give no valid excuse for their non-affiliation.
South Carolina withholds Masonic aid, and denies to them the right of visit, except once, to every Lodge.
Vermont deprives them of " all the rights, bene- fits, and privileges of the Lodges," but makes a res- ervation in favor of poor brethren who cannot afford to pay Lodge dues.
Virginia declares them to be not entitled to the benefits of Masonry.
"Wisconsin refuses to grant relief to them, unless they can assign good reasons for non-affiliation.
Alabama deprives them of Masonic relief and burial.
Jb5 OF UNAFFILIATED MASutfS.
New York forbids them to visit more than twice, withholds relief and Masonic burial, and deprives them of the right of joining in processions.
California orders its Lodges to try them, and de- clares them unworthy of Masonic charity.
Indiana forbids them to join in processions, and deprives them of the rights of relief, visit, and burial.
North Carolina directs them to be taxed. The same principle of taxation has at various times oeen adopted by Texas, Ohio, Arkansas, and Mis- souri.
Minnesota declares it an offence to admit an unaf- filiated Mason, as a visitor, more than three times, and denies them the right of Masonic relief, burial, and joining in processions.
In short, while the penalty inflicted for non-affili- ation has varied in different jurisdictions, I know of no Grand Lodge that has not concurred in the view that it is a Masonic offence, to be visited by some penalty, or the deprivation of some rights.
And certainly, as it is an undoubted precept of our Order, that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, and contribute, as far as his means will allow, to the support of the institution ; and as, by his continuance in a state of non-affiliation, he vio- lates this precept, and disobeys the law which he had promised to support, it necessarily follows that an unaffiliated Mason is placed in a very different position, morally and legally, from that occupied by an affiliated one. Let us now inquire into the na-
OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS. 269
ture of that new position, and its legal effects But I must premise, for the better understanding of the views that will be announced on this subject, that every Mason is placed, by the nature of the Masonic organization, in a two-fold relation : first, to the Order ; and next, to his Lodge.
The relation of a Mason to the Order is like that of a child to its parent — a relation which, having once been established, never can be obliterated. As no change of time, place, or circumstance can au- thorize the child to divest himself of that tie which exists between himself and the author of his exist- ence— a tie which only death can sever — so nothing can cancel the relationship between every Mason and his Order, except expulsion, which is recognized as equivalent to Masonic death. Hence results the well-known maxim of, " Once a Mason and always a Mason." It follows, therefore, that an unaffiliated Mason is not divested, and cannot divest himself, oi all his Masonic responsibilities to the fraternity in general, nor does he forfeit by such non-affiliation the correlative duties of the craft to him which arise out of his general relation to the Order. He is still bound by certain obligations, which cannot be canceled by any human authority ; and by similar obligations every Mason is bound to him. These obligations refer to the duties of secrecy and of aid in the hour of imminent peril. No one denies the perpetual existence of the first ; and the very lan- guage— giving no room for any exceptions in its phraseology — in which the latter is couched, leaves
270 OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS.
no opportunity for reservation as to affiliated Masons only.
Bro. Albert Pike, in his report to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, while discussing this subject, says : " If a person appeals to us as a Mason in im- minent peril, or such pressing need that we have not time to inquire into his worthiness, then, lest we might refuse to relieve and aid a worthy Brother, we must not stop to inquire as to anything.77* But I confess that I am not satisfied with this argument, which does not take the highest view of the princi- ple. We are to give aid in imminent peril when Masonically called upon, not lest injustice may be done if we pause to inquire into the question of af- filiation, but because the obligation to give this aid, which is reciprocal among all Masons, never has been, and never can be, canceled.
It may be said that in this way an expelled Mason may also receive aid. I reply, that if I do not know his position, of course I am not to stop and inquire. Here the reasoning of Bro. Pike holds good. In imminent peril we have no time to in- quire into the question of worthiness. But- if" I know him to be an expelled Mason, I am not bound to heed his call, for an expelled Mason is legally a dead Mason, or no Mason at all. But an unaffili-
* Report of Corn, of For. Corresp. G. L. of Ark., 1854, p. 116. Let me add here, that this document is one of the most valuable treatises on Ma- sonic jurisprudence that has ever been published, and ought to be in the library of every Mason. It bears throughout the impress of the acoom plished author's profundity and originality of thought. .
OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS. 271
ated Mason, is not in that position, and this makes all the difference. The only way to cut the gor- dian knot of these difficulties is for Grand Lodges to expel all unaffiliated Masons who can give no sufficient excuse for their non-affiliation. There is no legal objection to this course, provided a due course of trial, in each case, is pursued. Then, and then only, will unaffiliated Masons become in the legal sense unworthy ; and then, and then only, will they lose all the Masonic rights which they had origin- ally possessed by their relations to the Order.
The relation which a Mason bears to his Lodge is of a different nature from that which connects him with the Order. It is in some degree similar to that political relation which jurists have called " local allegiance," or the allegiance which a man gives to the country or the sovereign in whose ter- ritories and under whose protection he resides. This allegiance is founded on the doctrine that where there is protection there should be subjec- tion, and that subjection should in turn receive pro- tection.* It may be permanent or temporary. A removal from the territory cancels the allegiance, which will again be contracted towards the sove- reign of the new domicil to which the individual may have removed. Now this is precisely the rela- tion which exists between a Mason and his Lodge. The Lodge grants him its protection ; that is, from his membership in it he derives his rights of visit,
* The maxim of the law isi '' Protectio trahit subjectionem et subjectia protectkmem.''
272 OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS.
of relief, of burial, and all the other prerogatives which inure, by custom or law, to the active mem- bers of Lodges, and which are actually the results of membership. In return for this, he gives it his allegiance ; he acknowledges obedience to its By- Laws, and he contributes to its revenues by his an- nual or quarterly dues. But he may at any time dissolve this allegiance to any particular Lodge, and contract it with another. As the denizen of a coun- try cancels his allegiance by abandoning its protec- tion and removing to another territory, the Mason may withdraw his relations to one Lodge and unite with another. But he still continues an affiliated Mason, only his affiliation is with another body.
But the denizen who removes from one country may not, by subsequent residence, give his allegiance to another. He may become a cosmopolite, bear- ing local allegiance to no particular sovereign. All that follows from this is, that he acquires no right of protection ; for, if he gives no subjection, he can ask for no protection.
Now this is precisely the case with an unaffiliated Mason. Having taken his demit from one Lodge, he has of course lost its protection ; and, having united with no other, he can claim protection from none. He has forfeited all those rights which are derived from membership. He has dissevered all connection between himself and the Lodge organiza- tion of the Order, and by this act has divested him- self of all the prerogatives which belonged to him as a member of that organization. Among these
OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS. 273
are the right of visit, of pecuniary aid, and of Ma- sonic burial. When he seeks to enter the door of a Lodge it must be closed upon him, for the right to visit belongs only to affiliated Masons. Whenever he seeks for Lodge assistance, he is to be refused, because the funds of the Lodge are not to be dis- tributed among those who refuse to aid, by their individual contributions, in the formation of similar' funds in other Lodges. Nor can he expect to be accompanied to his last resting-place by his breth- ren ; for it is a settled law, that no Mason can be buried with the ceremonies of the Order, except upon his express request, previously made to the Master of the Lodge of which he is a member.
We see, theu, that there is a wide difference in the result of non-affiliation, on the relations which exist between a Mason and the Order generally, and those which exist between him and the Lodges of the Order. With the latter all connection is severed, but nothing can cancel his relations with the former except Masonic death ; that is to say, expulsion. When the question between two Masons is in refer- ence to any mutual duties which result from mem- bership in a Lodge — as, for instance, when it is a question of the right of visit — then it is proper to inquire into the matter of affiliation, because that affects these duties : but when it is in reference to any duties or obligations which might be claimed even if Lodge organization did not exist — such, for instance, as assistance in imminent peril — then there can be no inquiry made into the subject of affiliation j
12"
274 OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS.
for affiliation or non-affiliation has no relation to these duties.
But it has been said that non-affiliation is a Masonic offence, and that he who is guilty of it is an unworthy Mason, and as such divested of all his rights. It is admitted, most freely, that non-affiliation is a viola- tion of positive Masonic law ; but it does not follow that, in the technical sense in which alone the word has any Masonic legal meaning, an unaffiliated Ma- son is an unworthy Mason. He can only be made so by the declaration, in his particular case, of a le- gally'constituted Lodge, after due trial and convic- tion. But this question is so well argued by the Committee on Jurisprudence of the Grand Lodge of Yirginia, that I do not hesitate to cite their lan-
" All who have spoken or written upon the subject, pro- claim him [the unaffiliated Mason] an unworthy Mason ; but they, and ten times their number, do not make him so, in their individual relation, for the obvious reason that he can- not, individually, absolve himself from such duties as he owes to the institution; so the fraternity, acting in their individual capacity, cannot absolve themselves from their duties to him ; and as it is only by a just and legal Lodge, acting in its chartered capacity, and under the injunctions of the Constitutions of Masonry and By-Laws of Grand Lodges, that he can be invested with the rights and benefits of Masonry, and pronounced worthy; so it is only by the same power, acting in the same character, and under the same restrictions, that he can be disfranchised of these rights and benefits, and pronounced unworthy.'*
f Report, p. 11.
OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS. 275
It seems to me, in conclusion, that it will be safe to lay down the following principles, as sup- ported by the law on the subject of unaffiliated Masons :
1. An unaffiliated Mason is still bound by all those Masonic duties and obligations which refer to the Order in general, but not by those which relate to Lodge organization.
2. He possesses, reciprocally, all those rights which are derived from membership in the Order, but none of those which result from membership in a Lodge.
3. He has a right to assistance when in imminent peril, if he asks for that assistance ip. the conven- tional way.
4. He has no right to pecuniary aid from a Lodge.
5. He has no right to visit Lodges, or to walk in Masonic processions.
6. He has no right to Masonic burial.
7. He still remains subject to the government of the Order, and may be tried and punished for any offence, by the Lodge within whose geographical jurisdiction he resides.
8. And, lastly, as non-affiliation is a violation of Masonic law, he may, if he refuses to abandon that condition, be tried and punished for it, even by ex- pulsion, if deemed necessary or expedient, by any Grand Lodge within whose jurisdiction he lives.