XIX. The distribution and application of

this Charitable Fund shall be monthly, for which purpose a Committee, or Lodge of Benevolence, shall be held on the third Wednesday of every month, which Lodge shall consist of twelve Masters of Lodges (within the, Bills of Mortality); and three Grand Officers, one of whom only (if more are present) shall act as President, and be entitled to vote. The said twelve Masters. to be summoned by the choice and direction of the Grand Master, or his Deputy, not by any rule or rotation, but by discretion; so as that the Members, who are to judge of the cases that may come before them, shall not be subject to canvass, or to previous application, but shall have their minds free from prejudice, to decide on the merits of each case with the impartiality and purity of Masonic feeling: to which end it is de- clared that no Brother, being a Member of such Committee or Lodge, shall vote, upon the petition of any person to whom he is in
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Articles of Union
any way related, or who is a Member of any- Lodge or Masonic Society, to which he himself actually belongs, but such Brother may ask leave to be heard on the merits. of such petition, and shall afterwards, during
the discussion aud voting thereon, withdraw..