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Article OF PROPOSING CANDIDATES. Page 1 of 2 Article OF PROPOSING CANDIDATES. Page 1 of 2 →
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Of Proposing Candidates.
OF PROPOSING CANDIDATES .
STRICT constitutional Masons are oftentimes perturbed in the spirit by the laxity "with -which many of onr laws are observed . The letter of the law may be broken perhaps but seldom , but undoubtedly the spirit is frequently set at naught . Early this year an appeal was made to Grand Lodge as to the powers and privileges of a Master , and the Grand Registrar , in his ruling as to the merits of the case , took occasion to exhort the brethren not to insist
on a too strictly literal interpretation of the law , but rather to act in accordance with its spirit . In the case we are about to argue , we fear both the letter and the spirit of the
Constitutions are violated , and this not occasionally , but frequently ; not wilfully perhaps , yet deliberately , either through careless interpretation or ignorance of what the Constitution provides .
The law as to proposing candidates for initiation into Freemasonry is so clearly stated that , to use a familiar phrase , he who runs may read . It is thus worded : " No person shall be made a mason without a rpgular proposition at one lodge , and a ballot at the next regular lodge ;
which shall not take place unless bis name , addition or profession , and place of abode , shall have been sent to all the members in the summons . " Equally clear is the provision made for one exceptional class of cases . We read , in the paragraph immediately following the one we have just
quoted : " In cases of emergency , the following alteration is allowed . Any two members of a lodge may transmit in writing to the master the name , & c , of any candidate they may wish to propose , and the circumstances which cause the emergency : and the master , if it be proper , shall notif y
the same to every member of his lodge ; either in the summons for the next regnlar meeting , or in a summons for a lodge of emergency , to meet at a period of not less than seven days from the issuing of the summons for the purpose of balloting for the candidate ; and if the candidate
be then approved , he may be initiated into the first deo-ree . The master shall , previous to the ballot being taken , cause the proposition , and emergency , to be recorded in the minute-book of the lodge . " Clearly the object of the former of these laws is to secure that unworthy candidates
shall not be ' rushed ' into Freemasonry . For this reason it is laid down that every one desirous of being made a Mason shall be duly proposed and seconded at one regular meeting of tho lodge and balloted for at the next regular meeting . By this arrangement a full month is allowed for
the proper inquiries to be made into a candidate ' s fitness or unfitness , and this preliminary requirement having been satisfied , the candidate may then be balloted for and , if approved , initiated into the first degree . The object of the latter law is to meet emergent cases . It rests entirely with
the Master to determine the merits of the emergency as submitted to him , but assuming that he accepts the reason or reasons , all he has to do is to notify the same to every member of his lodge , either in the summons for the next regular meeting or in a summons for a lodge of emergency ,
seven days at least elapsing between the issue of the summons and the meeting of the lodge , in order to allow of the necessary inquiries being made . The candidate is then balloted for , and , if approved , initiated into the first degree ;
but previous to the ballot , the master must cause the proposition and the emergency to be entered in the minute book . Dr . Oliver remarks as to these cases of emergency , that " many of our Lodges work upon the exception rather than the rule , " but he subsequently expresses a doubt
Of Proposing Candidates.
" whether , in the event of a complaint to the Board of General Purposes , that body would not discountenance the innovation by a censure on the Master , who ought not to allow any such measure , except under the pressure of necessity . " But passing from what is mere matter of
opinion or conjecture to matters of fact . We ask ou ?' readers whether it is not within their knowledge , that , setting aside the exception as by law provided , the law as to the proposition and election or rejection of candidates is not continually violated ? We feel sure they will endorse
our statement that cases are constantly happening in which a candidate is proposed and balloted for at one and the same general meeting , the only notice being that which is contained in the summons issued seven days previously . Our readers must be well aware that our invitations , which ,
in the majority of cases , take the form of an ordinary Lodge summons , to be present at the meetings of different Lodges , are very numerous—indeed , we oftentimes find it impossible to accept the courtesies extended to us . "We are , therefore , not speaking without chapter and verse when
we say that the law as to the proposal of and ballot for candidates at pp . 83-84 of the Constitutions is openly and continually broken—not , we feel convinced , from any malice prepense , any sense of indiscipline in the Lodges thus acting , or any wanton disregard of the ordinances of
our Society ; bnt from a lax administration of the law , a sense of carelessness , perhaps , as to the duty of being particular , or , perchance , from a feeling of necessity against the admission of unworthy members . "We were present , some weeks since , at a chance gathering of members of
different Lodges , when this law and the laxity with which it is administered was discussed at some length . It was distinctly stated that it was the regular practice in many Lodges for the names of candidates for initiation to be first made known to members in the usual summons to attend
at the next meeting . They were then formally proposed and balloted for , and , if approved , initiated . One or two who were present even went the length of defending the practice , though they were forced to admit that the law as iaid down was violated b y its adoption . A question was
asked , in the course of the argument , as to why a candidate should be kept waiting a whole month ? or , as it mi ght happen , for close on two months or even longer ? It was admitted , of course , that in exceptional instances there might be a certain amount of hardship , but unless a
real case of emergency can be made out , this hardship is unavoidable . The law is clear and emphatic on the point— " no person shall be made a Mason without a regular proposition at one Lodge , and a ballot at the next regular Lodge "—and any other mode of
proposing and balloting for a candidate must be in direct violation , both of the letter and spirit of the law . Now that Freemasonry is so popular with all classes of the community , it is more than ever necessary that our Constitutions should be observed . At the last
meeting of Grand Lodge , the Board of General Purposes reported that a brother had been raised at an interval of twenty-five days from the date of his having been passed , and that the Lodge in which this occurred had been fined one guinea , and admonished to be more careful in future .
The report was adopted . Now , in this instance , the letter of the law had been violated , for we read at , p . 86 , § 7 , "Nor shall a higher degree be conferred on any brother at a less interval than four weeks from his receiving a previous degree . " Yet it is equally manifest the spirit of the law had not been broken . The interval of four weeks is intended in order to enable a brother to make such further
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Of Proposing Candidates.
OF PROPOSING CANDIDATES .
STRICT constitutional Masons are oftentimes perturbed in the spirit by the laxity "with -which many of onr laws are observed . The letter of the law may be broken perhaps but seldom , but undoubtedly the spirit is frequently set at naught . Early this year an appeal was made to Grand Lodge as to the powers and privileges of a Master , and the Grand Registrar , in his ruling as to the merits of the case , took occasion to exhort the brethren not to insist
on a too strictly literal interpretation of the law , but rather to act in accordance with its spirit . In the case we are about to argue , we fear both the letter and the spirit of the
Constitutions are violated , and this not occasionally , but frequently ; not wilfully perhaps , yet deliberately , either through careless interpretation or ignorance of what the Constitution provides .
The law as to proposing candidates for initiation into Freemasonry is so clearly stated that , to use a familiar phrase , he who runs may read . It is thus worded : " No person shall be made a mason without a rpgular proposition at one lodge , and a ballot at the next regular lodge ;
which shall not take place unless bis name , addition or profession , and place of abode , shall have been sent to all the members in the summons . " Equally clear is the provision made for one exceptional class of cases . We read , in the paragraph immediately following the one we have just
quoted : " In cases of emergency , the following alteration is allowed . Any two members of a lodge may transmit in writing to the master the name , & c , of any candidate they may wish to propose , and the circumstances which cause the emergency : and the master , if it be proper , shall notif y
the same to every member of his lodge ; either in the summons for the next regnlar meeting , or in a summons for a lodge of emergency , to meet at a period of not less than seven days from the issuing of the summons for the purpose of balloting for the candidate ; and if the candidate
be then approved , he may be initiated into the first deo-ree . The master shall , previous to the ballot being taken , cause the proposition , and emergency , to be recorded in the minute-book of the lodge . " Clearly the object of the former of these laws is to secure that unworthy candidates
shall not be ' rushed ' into Freemasonry . For this reason it is laid down that every one desirous of being made a Mason shall be duly proposed and seconded at one regular meeting of tho lodge and balloted for at the next regular meeting . By this arrangement a full month is allowed for
the proper inquiries to be made into a candidate ' s fitness or unfitness , and this preliminary requirement having been satisfied , the candidate may then be balloted for and , if approved , initiated into the first degree . The object of the latter law is to meet emergent cases . It rests entirely with
the Master to determine the merits of the emergency as submitted to him , but assuming that he accepts the reason or reasons , all he has to do is to notify the same to every member of his lodge , either in the summons for the next regular meeting or in a summons for a lodge of emergency ,
seven days at least elapsing between the issue of the summons and the meeting of the lodge , in order to allow of the necessary inquiries being made . The candidate is then balloted for , and , if approved , initiated into the first degree ;
but previous to the ballot , the master must cause the proposition and the emergency to be entered in the minute book . Dr . Oliver remarks as to these cases of emergency , that " many of our Lodges work upon the exception rather than the rule , " but he subsequently expresses a doubt
Of Proposing Candidates.
" whether , in the event of a complaint to the Board of General Purposes , that body would not discountenance the innovation by a censure on the Master , who ought not to allow any such measure , except under the pressure of necessity . " But passing from what is mere matter of
opinion or conjecture to matters of fact . We ask ou ?' readers whether it is not within their knowledge , that , setting aside the exception as by law provided , the law as to the proposition and election or rejection of candidates is not continually violated ? We feel sure they will endorse
our statement that cases are constantly happening in which a candidate is proposed and balloted for at one and the same general meeting , the only notice being that which is contained in the summons issued seven days previously . Our readers must be well aware that our invitations , which ,
in the majority of cases , take the form of an ordinary Lodge summons , to be present at the meetings of different Lodges , are very numerous—indeed , we oftentimes find it impossible to accept the courtesies extended to us . "We are , therefore , not speaking without chapter and verse when
we say that the law as to the proposal of and ballot for candidates at pp . 83-84 of the Constitutions is openly and continually broken—not , we feel convinced , from any malice prepense , any sense of indiscipline in the Lodges thus acting , or any wanton disregard of the ordinances of
our Society ; bnt from a lax administration of the law , a sense of carelessness , perhaps , as to the duty of being particular , or , perchance , from a feeling of necessity against the admission of unworthy members . "We were present , some weeks since , at a chance gathering of members of
different Lodges , when this law and the laxity with which it is administered was discussed at some length . It was distinctly stated that it was the regular practice in many Lodges for the names of candidates for initiation to be first made known to members in the usual summons to attend
at the next meeting . They were then formally proposed and balloted for , and , if approved , initiated . One or two who were present even went the length of defending the practice , though they were forced to admit that the law as iaid down was violated b y its adoption . A question was
asked , in the course of the argument , as to why a candidate should be kept waiting a whole month ? or , as it mi ght happen , for close on two months or even longer ? It was admitted , of course , that in exceptional instances there might be a certain amount of hardship , but unless a
real case of emergency can be made out , this hardship is unavoidable . The law is clear and emphatic on the point— " no person shall be made a Mason without a regular proposition at one Lodge , and a ballot at the next regular Lodge "—and any other mode of
proposing and balloting for a candidate must be in direct violation , both of the letter and spirit of the law . Now that Freemasonry is so popular with all classes of the community , it is more than ever necessary that our Constitutions should be observed . At the last
meeting of Grand Lodge , the Board of General Purposes reported that a brother had been raised at an interval of twenty-five days from the date of his having been passed , and that the Lodge in which this occurred had been fined one guinea , and admonished to be more careful in future .
The report was adopted . Now , in this instance , the letter of the law had been violated , for we read at , p . 86 , § 7 , "Nor shall a higher degree be conferred on any brother at a less interval than four weeks from his receiving a previous degree . " Yet it is equally manifest the spirit of the law had not been broken . The interval of four weeks is intended in order to enable a brother to make such further