Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

DENDERAH
DEPUTATION 205
is the act of the member, is, then, to resign ;
and to grant a demit, which is the act of the
Lodge, is to grant a certificate that the resignation
has been accepted . It is derived from
the French reflective verb se demettre, which,
according to the dictionary of the Academy,
means "to withdraw from an office, to resign
an employment." Thus it gives as an example,
"Il s'est demis de sa charge en faveur
d'un tel," he resigned (demitted) his office in
favor of such a one .
The application for a demit is a matter of
form, and there is no power in the Lodge to
refuse it, if the applicant has paid all his dues
and is free of all charges . It is true that a
regulation of 1722 says that no number of
brethren shall withdraw or separate themselves
from the Lodge in which they were
made, without a dispensation ; yet it is not
plain how the law can be enforced, for Masonry
being a voluntary association, there is
no power in any Lge to insist on any
brother continuing a connection with it which
he desires to sever . (See, on this subject,
Dr . Mackey's Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence,
book iii., chap. iii ., sect. vi .)
The usual object in applying for a demit is
to enable the brother to join some other
Lodge, into which he cannot be admitted
without some evidence that he was in good
standing in his former Lodge . This is in accordance
with an old law found in the Regulations
of 1663 in the following words : "No
person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason,
shall be admitted into any Lodge or
Assembly until he has brought a certificate of
the time and place of his acceptation from the
Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of
that limit or division where such Lodge is
kept ." (See the corrupt word Dimit .)
Denderah . A ruined town of Upper
Egypt, of great interest in consequence of its
astronomical allusions on the ceiling of the
main portico supported on twenty-four columns,
which is covered with figures and
hieroglyphics . This is in the principal temple,
which is 220 by 50 feet. The numerous
mythological figures are arranged in zodiacal
fashion . Recent archeological travelers doubt
the reference to astronomy, in consequence of
the absence of the Crab . The temple dates
from the period of Cleopatra and the earlier
Roman emperors, and is one of the finest and
best preserved structures of the kind in Egypt .
The chief deity was Athor, the goddess of
night, corresponding with the Greek Aphrodite
. (See Zodiac .)
Denmark . The first Masonic Lodge in
Denmark was opened in Copenhagen, by
Baron G . O . Munnich, on the 11th of November,
1743, under a charter, as he claimed,
from the Lodge of the Three Globes in Berlin .
In the next year a new Lodge named Zerubbabel
was formed by members who separated
from the former Lodge . Both of these bodies,
however, appear to have been imperfect in
their constitution . This imperfection was
subsequently. rectified . The first Lodge, having
changed ts name to St . Martin, received
in 1749 a warrant from Lord Byron, who was
then Grand Master of England . Lord Cranstoun
had previously, in October 1745,
granted a warrant to the second Lodge . In
1749 Lord Byron, Grand Master of England,
granted a patent to Count Danneskiold
Laurvig as Provincial Grand Master of Denmark
and Norway . A Lodge had been established
at Copenhagen, by the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, under the name of "Le petit
Nombre" ; and in 1753 its Master was elevated
b that body to the rank of a Provincial
G
rand Master . In 1792 Prince Charles became
the sole head of the Danish Lodges, and
the Grand Lodge of Denmark may be considered
to have been then established . He
died in 1836, and the Crown Prince, afterward
Christian VIII ., became the Protector
of the Danish Lodges, and his son and successor,
Frederick VII ., became Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Denmark on ascending
the throne in 1848 . He remodeled Danish
Masonry on the Swedish system . Now
King Frederick VIII . is Protector of the
Craft, with the Crown Prince as Grand
Master, and there are three St . Andrew's,
ten St. John's, and fifteen "Instruction"
Lodges under his rule . [E . L . H .]
Deposite. The deposite of the substitute
ark is celebrated in the degree of Select Master,
and is supposed to have taken place in
the last year of the building of Solomon's
Temple, or 1000 n .c . This is therefore adopted
as the date in Cryptic Masonry .
In the legendary history of Freemasonry as
preserved in the Cryptic degrees, two deposites
are spoken of ; the deposite of the substitute
Ark, and the deposite of the Word, both being
referred to the same year and being different
parts of one transaction. They have, therefore,
sometimes been confounded . The deposite
of the Ark was made by the three
Grand Masters ; that of the Word by Hiram
Abif alone.
Deposite, Year of. See Anno Depositionis.
Depth of the Lodge. This is said to be
from the surface to the center, and is the expression
of an idea connected with the symbolism
of the form of the Lodge as indicating
the universality of Masonry. The oldest
definition was that the depth extended "to
the centre of the earth," which, says Dr .
Oliver, is the greatest extent that can be
imagined . (See Form of the Lodge .)
Deputation . The authority granted by
the Grand Master to a brother to act as
Provincial Grand Master was formerly called
a deputation . Thus, in Anderson's Constitutions
(2d edition, 1738, p . 191), it is said,
"Lovel, Grand Master, granted a deputation
to Sir Edward Matthews to be Provincial
Grand Master of Shropshire ." It was also
used in the sense in which dispensation is now
em ployed to denote the Grand Master's
authority for opening a Lodge . In German
Masonry, a deputation is a committee of one
Lodge appointed to visit and confer with some
other Lodge .