SECTION II

ORGANIZATION OF WARRANTED LODGES.
In the last section I described the organization of a Lodge under dispensation, and it was shown that such an organization might be canceled by the revocation of the dispensation by either the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, in which event the Lodge would cease to exist ; but a Lodge under dispensation may terminate its existence in a more favorable way, by being changed into a Lodge working under a warrant of constitution. The mode in which this change is to be effected will be the subject of consideration in the present section.
At the communication of the Grand Lodge, which takes place next after the granting of the dispensa- tion by the Grand Master, that officer states the fact to the Grand Lodge, of his having granted such an authority, when a vote being taken on the question whether the dispensation shall or shall not be continued, if a majority are in favor of the con-
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firmation, the Grand Secretary is directed to issue a warrant of constitution.
This instrument differs from a dispensation in many important particulars. A dispensation ema- nates from a Grand Master ; a warrant from a Grand Lodge. The one is temporary and definite in its duration ; the other permanent and indefinite. The one is revocable at pleasure by the Grand Master ; the other, only upon cause shown by the Grand Lodge. The one confers only a name ; the other, a number upon the Lodge. The one restricts the authority that it bestows to the making of Masons ; the other extends that authority to the installation of officers and the succession in office. The one contains within itself no power of self-per- petuation ; the other does. From these differences in the two documents arise important peculiarities in the prerogatives of the two bodies which are re- spectively organized under their authority, which peculiarities will constitute the subject matter of the succeeding chapter.
The Lodge to which the warrant has been granted is still, however, only an inchoate Lodge. To per- fect its character, and to entitle it to all the prero- gatives of a warranted Lodge, certain forms and ceremonies have to be observed. These ceremonies are, according to the ritual, as follows, and in the following order :*
* As the forms of consecration, &c, are altogether ritualistic in their character, I have, for the most part, followed the authority of Webb, whose work has for more than half a century been recognized as a Text-book bj
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1. Consecration.
2. Dedication.
3. Constitution.
4. Installation.
Before proceeding to the consideration of each of these ceremonies, it is necessary to remark that they should all be performed by the Grand Master in person, or, if he is unable to attend, by some Past Master, who acts for him by a special warrant of proxy.
1. The Consecration.- — The ceremony of conse- crating religious edifices to the sacred purposes for which they are intended, by mystic rites, has been transmitted to us from the remotest antiquity. " History/' says Dudley, " both ancient and modern, tells us that extraordinary rites, called rites of con- secration or dedication, have been performed by people of all ages and nations, on the occasion of the first application of altars or temples, or places, to religious uses."* Thus, Moses consecrated the tabernacle,f Solomon the first temple, { and the re- turned exiles from Babylon the second. § Among
the Grand Lodges of the United States, and whose opinion on all questions of ceremony is entitled to great deference, as he is admitted to have been the founder of the American system of lectures. The form of constituting Lodges, which was practised by the Duke of Wharton, in the beginning of the last century, and which is described in the first edition of Anderson, page 71, is much simpler, but it has long been disused in this country. Preston's ritual, also, which varies from that of Webb, and does not include the cere mony of dedication, has also been abandoned. * Naology, p. 513. f Exod. 3d. Numb. vii. % I Kings, viii.
§ Ezra, vi. 16, 17.
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the Pagans, ceremonies of the most magnificent na- ture were often used in setting apart their gorgeous temples to the purposes of worship. A Masonic Lodge is, in imitation of these ancient examples, consecrated with mystic ceremonies to the sacred purposes for which it had been constructed. By this act it is set apart for a holy object, the cultiva- tion of the great tenets of a Mason's profession, and becomes, or should become, in the mind of the con- scientious Mason, invested with a peculiar reverence as a place where, as he passes over its threshold, he should feel the application of the command given to Moses : " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
On this occasion a box is to be used as the symbol of the Lodge. It is placed in the centre of the room, and is a representation of the ark of the cove- nant, which was deposited in the Holy of Holies of the ancient temple.*
In the course of the ceremonies, this Lodge is sprinkled with corn, wine and oil, which are the Masonic elements of Consecration. These elements are technically called " the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy,77 and are to the Mason symbolic of the many gifts and blessings
* It is a great error on the part of some Masons to suppose that the ark of the covenant is a symbol peculiarly appropriate to Royal Arch Masonry. On the contrary, the true ark is to be found only in Ancient Craft Masonry, whose foundation is the old temple, and it has always constituted a part of the coat of arms of the institution. The ark used in Royal Arch Masonry is simply a representation of the imitative ark which was substituted for the original one in the second temple. The Royal Arch degree has nothing tc do with the true or Mosaic ark of the covenant.
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for which we are indebted to the bounty of the G. A. 0. T. U.; for the first is emblematic, in Ma- sonic symbolism, of health, the second of plenty, and the third of peace.
The ancient altars were thus consecrated by the offering of barley cakes and libations of wine and oil, and the Jewish ritual gives ample directions for a similar ceremony. The rite of Masonic consecra- tion is accompanied by a prayer, in which the Lodge is solemnly consecrated " to the honor of God's glory."
2. The Dedication. — The ceremony of dedicating the Lodge immediately follows that of its consecra- tion. This, too, is a very ancient ceremony, and finds its prototype in the religious services of anti- quity. Every temple among the Pagans was dedi- cated to some particular deity, oftentimes to the conjoint worship of several, while the Jews dedi- cated their religious edifices to the one supreme Jehovah. Thus David dedicated with solemn cere- monies the altar which he erected on the threshing floor of Oman, the Jebusite, after the cessation of the plague which had afflicted his people ; and Cal- met conjectured that he composed the thirtieth psalm on this occasion. The Jews extended this ceremony of dedication even to their private houses, and Clarke tells us, in reference to a passage on this subject in the book of Deuteronomy, that " it was a custom in Israel to dedicate a new house to God with prayer, praise and thanksgiving • and this was done in order to secure the divine presence
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and blessing ; for no pious or sensible man could imagine he could dwell safely in a bouse that was not under the immediate protection of God." *
According to the learned Selclen, there was a dis- tinction among the Jews between consecration and dedication, for sacred things were both consecrated and dedicated, while profane things, such as private dwelling-houses, were only dedicated. Dedication was, therefore, a less sacred ceremony than conse- cration, f This distinction has also been preserved among Christians; many of whom, and in the early ages all, consecrated their churches to the worship of God, but dedicated them to, or placed them under the especial patronage of some particular Saint. A similar practice prevails in the Masonic institu- tion, and therefore, while we consecrate our Lodges, as has just been seen, " to the honor of God's glory," we dedicate them to the patrons of our order.J
* Commentary on Dent. xx. 5: " What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return unto his house, Jest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it."
fGiLBERTUS, Bishop of Lucca, in his treatise, "De Usu Ecclesiastieo," quoted by Du Cange, makes a similar distinction. He says that the priest consecrates the temple and the altar; but the bishop dedicates the ecclesias- tical utensils which are used only by the priesthood, such as the saoerdotal and pontifical vestments, the chalice, &c. Those things only, he adds, are consecrated which are separated from common use for divine worship.
% As some over-scrupulous brethren have been known to object to the dedication of our Lodges to the Saints John, as savoring, in their opinion, of superstition, it may be profitable to read the remarks of " the judicious Hooker" on the similar custom of dedicating Christian churches: " Touch- ing the names of angels and saints, whereby most of our churches are called, as the custom of so naming them is very ancient, so neither was the cause of it at first, nor is the use and continuance of it at this present, hurtful. That churches were consecrated to none but the Lord only, the very general
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Tradition informs us that Masonic Lodges were originally dedicated to King Solomon, because lie was our first Most Excellent Grand Master. In the sixteenth century, if we may judge from expressions used in the celebrated Charter of Cologne, St. John the Baptist seems to have been considered as the peculiar patron of Freemasonry ; but subse- quently this honor was divided between, the two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist, and modern Lodges, in this country at least, are uni- versally erected or consecrated to God, and dedicated to the Holy Saints John* I am therefore surprised to find the formula in Webb, which dedicates the Lodge " to the memory of the Holy Saint John." I cannot but deem it an inadvertence on the part of this Masonic lecturer, since in all his oral teachings he adhered to the more general system, and de- scribed a Masonic Lodge in his esoteric work as being " dedicated to the Holy Saints John." This, at all events, is now the universal practice, and the language used by Webb becomes contradictory and absurd when compared with the fact that the festi-
name itself doth sufficiently show : inasmuch as by plain grammatical con- struction, church doth signify no other thing than the Lord's house. And because the multitude of persons, so of things particular, causeth variety of proper names to be devised for distinction's sake, founders of churches did that which best liked their own conceit at the present time, yet each intend- ing that as oft as those buildings came to be mentioned, the name should seem in mind of some memorable person or thing." — EcclesiasL, Pol. J5.V.13.
* At the union, in 1813, the Grand Lodge of England changed the dedi- cation from the two Saints John to Solomon and Moses. But this unwar. rantable innovation has never been acknowledged in America nor elsewheri out of the English jurisdiction— not always indeed by the Lodges in it.
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vals of both, saints are equally celebrated by the Order, and that the 27th of December is not less a day of observance in the Order than the 24th of June.''"
The ceremony of dedication is merely the enun- ciation of a form of words, and this having been done, the Lodge is thus, by the consecration and dedication, set apart as something sacred to the cultivation of the principles of Masonry, under that peculiar system which acknowludges the two Saints John as its patrons.
3. The Constitution. — The consecration and dedi- cation may be considered as the religious formula- ries which give a sacred character to the Lodge, and by which it is to be distinguished from a pro- fane association, intended only for the cultivation of good fellowship. The ceremony of constitution which immediately follows, is of a legal character. -It is intended to give legality to the Lodge, and constitutional authority to all its acts. It is of course dependent on the preceding ceremonies ; for no Lodge can be rightfully constituted until it has been consecrated and dedicated. The two prelimi- nary ceremonies refer to the place, the last to the persons assembled. The Lodge is consecrated and dedicated as a place wherein the science of Free- masonry is to be cultivated. The members then
* The formula of dedication used in the Book of Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina corrects the phraseology of Webb in this respect, and is therefore, I think, to be preferred : " To the memory of the Uolj Saints John we dedicate this Lodge. May every brother revere their charac ter and imitate then- virtues."
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present and their successors are authorized to culti- vate that science in the legal and acknowledged mode. The ceremony of constitution is a simple one, and consists merely in the enunciation of the fact by the Grand Master, or his special proxy under his authority, and as the organ of the Grand Lodge, which body alone can give this legal character to an assembly of Masons. In England, Grand Mas ters have the power of granting warrants of consti- tution ; and hence in Preston's formula the Lodge is constituted by that officer in his own name and character, but in America the power of constituting Lodges is taken from him, and vested solely in Grand Lodges, and hence the formula adopted by Webb expresses that fact, and the Grand Master constitutes the Lodge " in the name of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge." By this ceremony the Lodge is taken out of its inchoate and temporary condition as a Lodge under dispensation, and is placed among the permanent and registered Lodges of the jurisdiction.
4. The Installation. — The Lodge having been thus consecrated to the uses of Masonry, and dedi- cated to the patrons of the Order, and its members constituted into a legal Masonic organization, it is now necessary that the officers chosen should be duly invested with the power to exercise the functions which have been confided to them. The ceremony by which this investiture is made is called the installation.
The custom of inducting an officer into the sta«
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Hon to which he has been elected by some cere- mony, however simple, has been observed in every association. The introduction of the presiding officer of a profane society into the chair which lie is to occupy, by one or more of the members, is, in every essential point, an installation. In the church, the ceremony (differing, as it must, in every denomi- nation,) by which a clergyman is inducted into his pastoral office, or a bishop placed in his see, is in like manner a species of installation, all of which forms find their type in the inauguration of the Augurs in ancient Rome into their sacred office.* A similar usage prevails in Masonry, where it has always been held that an officer cannot legally per- form the duties of his office until he has been in- stalled into office. As in the Roman inauguration the rite could only be performed by an Augur, (whence the derivation of the word,) so in Masonry the ceremony of installation can only be performed by a Past Master, and in the installation of the offi- cers of a new Lodge, by the Grand Master or some Past Master, who has been especially deputed by Lim for that purpose.
Preston says that the Deputy Grand Master usu- ally invests the Master, the Grand Wardens invest the Wardens, the Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary the Treasurer and Secretary, and the Grand Stewards the Stewards. But this usage
* A reference to Smith (Diet, of G-reek and Roman Ant.) will show how much the inauguration of the Augurs resembled in all its provisions the Masonic installation.
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is not observed in America, where all the officers are installed and invested by the same installing officer, whether he be the Grand Master or a Past Master.
The ceremony of installing the subordinate offi- cers consists simply in the administration of an obli- gation for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, with the investment of the appropriate jewel, and the delivery of a short charge. But in the in- stallation of the Master, other ceremonies are added. He is required to signify his assent to cer- tain propositions which contain, as it were, the Ma- sonic confession of faith ; and he is also invested with the Past Master's degree. All the writers on the subject of installation concur in the theory that the conferring of the Past Master's degree consti- tutes an integral part of the installation ceremony. The language of the oldest ritual that has been preserved, that of the Duke of Wharton, hints at the fact that there was some secret ceremony at- tached to the exoteric formula of installation,* and the hint thus given has been fully developed by Preston, who expressly states that the new Master is " conducted to an adjacent room, where he is regularly installed and bound to his trust in ancient
* " Then the Grand Master, placing the candidate on his left hand, having ashed and obtained the unanimous consent of all the brethren, shall say, I constitute and fcxm these good brethren into a new Lodge, and appoint you the Master of it, not doubting of your capacity and care to preserve the cement of the Lodge, &c, with some other expressions that are proper and usual m that occasion, but not proper to be written*" — Anderson, firs*, edit., p. 71.
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form, in the presence of at least three installed Mas- ters." I cannot, therefore, hesitate to believe, from the uniform concurrence of all authorities, that the investiture with the Past Master's degree consti- tutes an essential part of the ceremony of installa- tion, and is actually necessary to its legality as a completed act.
It is usual, in case of the absence of any one of the officers who is to be installed, for some other brother to assume his place, and, acting as his proxy, to make the usual promises for him, and in his be- half to receive the charge and investiture. Long and uninterrupted usage would seem alone sufficient to sanction this practice, (however objectionable it may, in some respects, be deemed,) but it has also the authority of ancient law ; for the thirty-sixth of the Regulations of 1721 prescribes that when the Grand Master elect is absent from the grand feast, that is to say, on the day of installation, the old Grand Master may act as his proxy, per- form his duties, and in his name receive the usual homage.
The Lodge thus consecrated, dedicated and con- stituted, with its officers installed, assumes at once the rank and prerogatives of a warranted Lodge. The consecration, dedication and constitution, are never repeated, but at every subsequent annual elec- tion, the installation of officers is renewed. But on these occasions it is no longer necessary that the Grand Master or his proxy should act as the install- ing officer. This duty is to be performed by the
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last Master, or by any other Past Master acting in his behalf ; for, by the warrant of constitution, the power of installing their successors is given to the officers therein named, and to their successors, so that the prerogative of installation is oerpetually vested in the last officers.