r dissent by depositing black balls. His application to be
raised is consequently rejected, and he remains a Fellow Graft. Two or
three meetings of the lodge pass over, and at each, B and C are present;
but, at the fourth meeting, circumstances compel their absence, and the
friends of A, taking advantage of that occurrence, again propose him for
advancement; the ballot is forthwith taken, and he is elected and raised
on the same evening. The injustice of this course to B and C, and the evil
to the lodge and the whole fraternity, in this imposition of one who is
probably an unworthy person, will be apparent to every intelligent and
right-minded Mason.

I do not, however, believe that a candidate should be rejected, on his
application for advancement, in consequence of objections to his moral
worth and character. In such a case, the proper course would be to prefer
charges, to try him as an Apprentice or Fellow Craft; and, if found
guilty, to suspend, expel, or otherwise appropriately punish him. The
applicant as well as the Order is, in such a case, entitled to a fair
trial. Want of proficiency, or a mental or physical disqualification
acquired since the reception of the preceding degree, is alone a
legitimate cause for an estoppal of advancement by the ballot. But this
subject will be treated of further in the chapter on the rights of Entered
Apprentices.

Section XI.

_Of the Number to be Initiated at one Communication._

The fourth General Regulation decrees that "no Lodge shall make more than
five new Brothers at one time." This regulation has been universally
interpreted (and with great propriety) to mean that not more than five
degrees can be conferred at the same communication.

This regulation is, however, subject to dispensation by the Grand Master,
or Presiding Grand Officer, in which case the number to be initiated,
passed, or raised, will be restricted only by the words of the
dispensation.

The following, or fifth General Regulation, says that "no man can be made
or admitted a member of a particular lodge, without previous notice, one
month before, given to the same lodge."

Now, as a profane cannot be admitted an Entered Apprentice, or in other
words, a member of an Entered Apprentices' lodge, unless after one month's
notice, so it follows that an Apprentice cannot be admitted a member of a
Fellow Crafts' lodge, nor a Fellow Craft of a Masters', without the like
probation. For the words of the