THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

ights, powers, and privileges of subordinate Lodges; and the first
question that will engage our attention will be, as to the proper
method
of organizing a Lodge.
Chapter I.
Of the Nature and Organization of Subordinate Lodges.
The old charges define a Lodge to be "a place where Masons assemble and
work;" and also "that assembly, or duly organized society of Masons."
The
lecture on the first degree gives a still more precise definition. It
says
that "a lodge is an assemblage of Masons, duly congregated, having the
Holy Bible, square, and compasses, and a charter, or warrant of
constitution, empowering them to work."
Every lodge of Masons requires for its proper organization, that it
should
have been congregated by the permission of some superior authority,
which
may be either a Grand Master or a Grand Lodge. When a lodge is
organized
by the authority of a Grand Master, it is said to work under a
Dispensation, and when by the authority of a Grand Lodge, it is said to
work under a warrant of constitution. In the history of a lodge, the
former authority generally precedes the latter, the lodge usually
working
for some time under the dispensation of the Grand Master, before it is
regularly warranted by the Grand Lodge. But this is not necessarily the
case. A Grand Lodge will sometimes grant a warrant of constitution at
once, without the previous exercise, on the part of the Grand Master,
of
his dispensing power. As it is, however, more usually the practice for
the
dispensation to precede the warrant of constitution, I shall explain
the
formation of a lodge according to that method.
Any number of Master Masons, not under seven, being desirous of uniting
themselves into a lodge, apply by petition to the Grand Master for the
necessary authority. This petition must set forth that they now are, or
have been, members of a regularly constituted lodge, and must assign,
as a
reason for their application, that they desire to form the lodge "for
the
conveniency of their respective dwellings," or some other sufficient
reason. The petition must also name the brethren whom they desire to
act
as their Master and Wardens, and the place where they intend to meet;
and