SECTION I.

THE ORGANIZATION OF LODGES UNDER DISPENSATION.
When seven Master Masons, at least, are desirous of organizing a Lodge, they apply by petition to the Grand Master of the jurisdiction for the necessary authority. This petition must set forth that they now are, or have been, members of a legally consti- tuted Lodge, and must assign a satisfactory reason for their application. It must also be recommended by the nearest Lodge, and must designate the place where the Lodge is intended to be held, and the names of the persons whom the petitioners desire to be appointed as Master and Wardens.
Seven things must therefore concur to give regu- larity to the form of a petition for a Dispensation. 1. There must be seven signers at least. 2. They must all be Master Masons. 3. They must be in good standing. 4. There must be a good reason for the organization of a Lodge at that time and place. 5. The place of meeting must be designa- ted. 6. The names of the three officers must be
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stated. 7. It m ast be recommended by the nearest Lodge.
Dalcho, contrary to all the other authorities ex- cept the Grand Lodge of Ireland, says that not less than three Master Masons should. sign the petition.* The rule, however, requiring seven signers, which, with these exceptions, is, I think, universal, seems to be founded in reason ; for, as not less than seven Masons can, by the ritualistic Landmark, open and hold a Lodge of Entered Apprentices, the prelimi- nary degree in which all Lodges have to work, it would necessarily be absurd to authorize a smaller number to organize a Lodge, which, after its organi- zation, could not hold meetings nor initiate candi- dates in that degree.
The Old Constitutions are necessarily silent upon this subject, since, at the time of their adoption, permanent Lodge organizations were unknown. But it is singular that no rule should have been incor- porated into the Regulations of 1721, which were of course adopted after the establishment of per- manent Lodges. t It is therefore to Preston that
* Dalcho , Ahiman Rezon, ed. 1822 , p. 102. The Regulation of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, both as to the number of signers and of recommenders. is precisely the same as Dalcho's. The regulation has not been in force in South Carolina, within my recollection, and seven signers are required in that as in other jurisdictions.
f Dermott, who, however irregular, was his authority, gives us, very often, an accurate idea of what was the general condition of Masonic law at bis time, says nothing about the number of petitioners in his Ahiman Rezon, but in his letter to the Master of a Lodge in Philadelphia he says that the Dispensation must be granted to one Master Mason, who calls others to his assistance.
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we are indebted for the explicit announcement of the law, that the petition must be signed by not less than seven Masons.
Preston says that the petition must be recom- mended " by the Masters of three regular Lodges adjacent to the place where the new Lodge is to be held.7' This is also the precise language of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Grand Lodge of Scotland requires the recommenda- tion to be signed " by the Masters and Officers of two of the nearest Lodges." The modern Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England requires a recom- mendation "by the officers of some regular Lodge/'7 without saying anything of its vicinity to the new Lodge. The rule now universally adopted is, that it must be recommended by the nearest Lodge ; and it is an excellent one, too, for it certifies to the su- perior authority, on the very best evidence that can be obtained — that, namely, of a constituted Masonic body, which has the opportunity of knowing the fact that the new Lodge will be productive, neither in its officers nor its locality, of an injury to the Order.
But as, unfortunately, the recommending Lodges are not always particular in inquiring into the quali- fications of the officers of the new Lodge who have been nominated to the Grand Master, and hence Lodges have been created in advantageous situa- tions which yet, from the ignorance of those who presided over them, have been of serious detri- ment to the craft, the Grand Lodges are beginning
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now to look for something more than a mere formal recommendation which only certifies to the moral character of the applicants. As a Lodge may be considered as a Masonic academy, it is certainly desirable that its teachers should be competent to discharge the duties of instruction which they have undertaken. Hence, in 1858, the Grand Lodge of Florida adopted a resolution which declared " that no Dispensation or Charter shall be granted to any set of Masons, unless the Master and Wardens named in the application be first examined as to their proficiency in three degrees by the Master and Wardens, or Lodge recommending them, and that said examination shall not be considered suffi- cient unless the entire ceremony of opening and closing the Lodge, with all the Lectures of each de- gree, are fully and completely exhibited in open Lodge, and such satisfactory examination be en- dorsed on the application."
The correctness — the indispensable necessity of such a regulation — commends itself to every one whose experience has made him acquainted with the fact, that Lodges are too often organized, with officers altogether unacquainted with the most ru- dimentary instructions of Masonry ; and a carica- ture of the institution is thus often presented, alike derogatory to its dignity and usefulness, and hu- miliating to its better informed friends. No dis- pensation, in my opinion, should ever be granted, until the Lodge asking for it had given convincing proofs that the institution of Masonry would in its
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hands be elevated, and justice would be fairly done to all the candidates whom it should admit. I do not ask that all Lodges should be equally learned, but I do require that none should be deplorably ig- norant. Still, excepting in jurisdictions which may have wisely adopted this regulation, the old law remains in force, which only requires a simple recommendation as to moral character and Masonic standing.
If this recommendation be allowed, the Grand Secretary makes ready a document called a Dispen- sation, which gives power to the officers named in the petition to hold a Lodge, open and close it, and to '" enter, pass, and raise Freemasons."
The length of time of this dispensation is gen- erally understood, and expressed on its face to be, " until it shall be revoked by the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, or until a Warrant of Constitu- tion is granted by the Grand Lodge." Preston ob- serves, that the brethren named in it are vested with power " to assemble as Masons for forty days, and until such time as a Warrant of Constitution can be obtained by command of the Grand Lodge, or that authority "be recalled.1' Usage, however, as a general thing, allows the dispensation to con- tinue until the next meeting of the Grand Lodge, when it is either annulled or a warrant of consti- tution granted.
Either the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge has the power to revoke the dispensation ; and in such a case, the Lodge of course at once ceases to
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exist. As in the case of all extinct Lodges, what- ever funds or property it has accumulated will pass to the Grand Lodge, which may be called the natural heir of its subordinates ; but all the work done in the Lodge, under the dispensation., is regu- lar and legal, and all the Masons made by it are, in every sense of the term, " true and lawful brethren."