Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-24
DEFINITION OF LODGES.


portion Of the patronage Of the public.
DEFINITION OF LODGES.
There is no such thing as a "Lod2e"
Out DE of the Masters Lodge. In other
wdf1s, there is legally nc such thing as
an f. A. Lodge, or +. G. Lodge. The
Grand Lodge recognizes nothing but the
Lodge of NJ. Masons. On October II,
1899, the Grand Lodge Of Missouri
adopted the following
The degree of T.. A. and +. G. are, Of
necessity, the mere appeRdages to a
Lodge, Of which apprentices and + G. |
cannot legitimately be members, and
consequently prohibited any participa-
ton in the work Of the Lodge. They are
merely candidates for mastership and
membership. In each Of the degrees Of
Z. A. and F. c., those candidates must
serve a PREDATORY term before they can
attain the rank of Master, or claim any
OF the privileges thereto annexed.
Lodges, as such, can not consistently
tDOrE as f. A. or +. c., even provided
none but Masters be present; and, to the
opinion Of this Grand Lodge, no business
can legitimately be transacted ia those
degrees other than leeturing or confer
ring Of the degree"
This resolution wac sent to all the
Grand Lodges in the United States, and
the Baltimore Convention was called to-
gether in consequence Of many such
points, and before that Convention this
point was definitely settled, as stated
~abOve-thus confirming the regularity OF
the Missouri work. 1t is now enforced,
that all Lodges, on regular meetings,
must open in the Masters Lodge, and
conduct ali its business in that Lodge
and If any other degrees are 10 be on
ferred, they are conferred in the proper
degree, etc, as is understood by all Ma
sons.
Therefore E. A. and F. C. are not,
strictly speaking, members OF a Lodge,
but are amenable to the higher authority
in whose jurisdiction they live.
The above is not given as the ihdivid-
ual opinion OF our Bro. GoULEY, but il
really wLat has been decided OF late
years by those n~uisances in Masonry,
Grand Lodges, whose principal business,
as they are managed, is to consume what
ought to be expended in charity, confuse
Masonic law, and enable Grand Masters
and Chairmen who compose committees
of Masonic Jurisprudence to "splurge."
Therefore u Bro. GoULEY must not
deem is rude in stating these three or
four "pints."
LIST. Before 1900 there was only one
degree in modern Masonry, and that the
degree Of Apprentice.
2d. As late as the time when the con-
situations of Dessguliers and Anderson
were printed, (say I72l), Apprentices and
Fellows were Masons, sat in the General
Assemblies, and voted for the Grand
Masters.
Sd. An Apprentice is a Mason. His
obligation makes him such. He was
made Sin a just and regularly constituted
Lodge" He is entitled TO masonic burial.
He is entitled to vote on applications for
initiation and any doctrine to the
contrary Of that is W~eG5ery-that is,
modern, manufactured doctrine like
the notion that a Lodge under dispen-
sation is not a Lodge, but so many
Masons " working after the manner of a
Lodge - and the removal by the Grand
Lodge of England, without any author
ity, of the original landmark, by which
no one could act as Master, UhO had not
been qualified as Master. The Senior or
Junior Warden, the Master being absent,
had to cOa0eHe the Lodge. No stranger,
or member not an officer could do that.
But when the BIB. Of the Lodge
Were convened, the Warden was
pL werless to preside. He HAD NOT
BEEN DULY QUALIFIED, and was not
WELL AND TRULY PREPARED. He was
utterly and absolutely Incompetent to
preside. Therefore the right TO preside,
the OFFICE, REVERTED to the last Past
Master, ss of right and no Warden or
Bro. not before daily qualified as actual
Master of some Lodge, erer can preside.
We Wotdd not sit nor ia a Lodge 1OAer6 a
Warden rhO had neUcr been Master Of a
Lodge, presided. For that Office, he is
not one whit better than a Profane.
ALodge under Dispensation is a Lodge,
or else fraud and humbug. An Appren-
tice is a Mason, or he has been cheated
and lied to. The Master Mason, how
ever, ne kaow, is nor promised that
which he does not get, but only a substi-
tute, that means -, what?
To return, We only say that there
never was any power in Masonry to
apprentices of the character of
Masons. There never was any power to
deprive Grand Masters of their preroga-
tives. There never wa any power to
make Grand lodges permanent bodies,
with jurisdiction to remove the old land
If there should be, at any time,
on any island in the Pacific, two
regularly warranted, these two
the right, if they wish, to
by their Master and War
fens ia a Grand Lodge. MAcREY
says that three Lodges must concur to
create q Grand Lodge,-whioh is only !
another Instance Of the way in which
Masonic Law is manufactured. If there
were five Lodges, in Chill, for example, !
four Of them formed a Grand Lodge, :
here is no law that requires the Gfth to I
submit to 1t or be represented in it. Re :
nember that, in all the nonsense that is
alked about Grand Lodges. There is a :
Grand Lodge Of Canada but there is a
Iodgs in Ottawa under the Grand Lodge I
II England, and one lower down the
liver, under Ike Grand Lodge of Ireland. !
We propose that the manufacturing Of {
lew Masonic law, especially by Editors, V
e declared out of order.
HE PRESIDENT TO VISIT ROsrox
President Johnson hss accepted an in
itatiOn fTOm the Grand Lodge Of Mas :