II. A Lodge has the right to do all the ivorh of

ancient craft Masonry. This is the principal object for which the Lodge was constituted. Formerly, Lodges were empowered to exalt their candidates to the Royal Arch degree, but since the beginning of this century this power has been transferred in this country to Chapters, and a Lodge is now only authorized to confer the three degrees of symbolic
as the first and brightest of her jewels, and the durable texture of all her royal and beautiful vestments is woven cf the golden threads of its subhmest truths and most impressive passages,"
UNDER WARRANTS OF CONSTITUTION. 317
Masonry,- and also, at the time of installation, to in- vest its Master with the degree or order of Past Master. But this power to do the work of Masonry is restricted and controlled by certain very im- portant regulations, most of which, having been already amply discussed in a preceding part of this work, need only to be referred to on this occasion.
1. The candidate upon whom the Lodge is about to confer any of the degrees of ancient craft Ma- sonry, must apply by petition, duly recommended ; for no Lodge has the right to intrude the secrets of the institution upon any person who has expressed no anxiety to receive them. All the regulations which relate to the petition of a candidate have been discussed in Book II., chapter II., page 122, to which the reader is referred.
2. The candidate must be possessed of the proper qualifications, which are prescribed by the laws of the Order. See Book II., chap. L, pp. 83-121.
3. His application must undergo a ballot, and he must be unanimously elected. See Book II., chap. III., pp. 134-148.
4. The Eegulations of 1721 prescribe that a Lodge cannot confer the degrees on more than five candidates at one time, which last words have been interpreted to mean at the same communication. In the second and all subsequent editions of the Constitution, this law was modified by the qualifica tion " without an urgent necessity ;" and this seems to be the view now taken of it by the authorities of
318 POWERS OF LODGES WORKING
the Order, for it is held that it may "be set aside by the dispensation of the Grand Master.
5. It seems aUo to be a very general regulation that no Lodge shall confer more than one degree on the same candidate at one communication, unless it be on urgent necessity, by the dispensation of the Grand Master. We find no such rule in the General Regulations of 1721, because there was no necessity at that time for it, as subordinate Lodges conferred only one degree, that of Entered Apprentice. But subsequently, when the usage was adopted of con- ferring all the degrees in the subordinate Lodges, it was found necessary, in this way, to restrain the too rapid advancement of candidates : and accordingly, in 1753, it was ordered that no Lodge shall " be permitted to make and raise the same brother at one and the same meeting, without a dispensation from the Grand Master." But as no such regula- tion is to be found in any of the written or unwrit- ten laws previous to 1717, it can only have such authority as is derived from the local enactment of a Grand Lodge, or the usage in a particular juris- diction. But the usage in this country alwajrs has been opposed to the conferring more than one degree at the same communication, without a dis- pensation.*
* Some jurists deny the right of the Grand Master to grant a dispensation for conferring the three degrees at the same communication. But I know of no ansient law which supports such a theory, and the records of the Book of Constitutions show several instances in which it was done in " occasional Lodges." Besides, the Regulation quoted in the text is an admission that in casea of emergency, such a dispensation may be granted.
UNDER WARRANTS OF CONSTITUTION. 319