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

the same time, the lodge may not only refuse, but is bound to do so,
unless under a dispensation, which dispensation can only be given in
the
case of an over-populous lodge.
With these restrictions and qualifications, it cannot be doubted that
every Master Mason has a right to demit from his lodge at his own
pleasure. What will be the result upon himself, in his future relations
to
the Order, of such demission, will constitute the subject of the
succeeding chapter.
Chapter VIII.
Of Unaffiliated Masons.
An unaffiliated Mason is one who is not connected by membership with
any
lodge. There can be no doubt that such a position is contrary to the
spirit of our institution, and that affiliation is a duty obligatory on
every Mason. The Old Charges, which have been so often cited as the
fundamental law of Masonry, say on this subject: "every Brother ought
to
belong to a lodge and to be subject to its bye-laws and the General
Regulations."
Explicitly as this doctrine has been announced, it has been too little
observed, in consequence of no precise penalty having been annexed to
its
violation. In all times, unaffiliated Masons have existed--Masons who
have
withdrawn from all active participation in the duties and
responsibilities
of the Order, and who, when in the hour of danger or distress, have not
hesitated to claim its protection or assistance, while they have
refused
in the day of their prosperity to add anything to its wealth, its
power,
or its influence. In this country, the anti-masonic persecutions of
1828,
and a few years subsequently, by causing the cessation of many lodges,
threw a vast number of Brethren out of all direct connection with the
institution; on the restoration of peace, and the renewal of labor by
the
lodges, too many of these Brethren neglected to reunite themselves with
the craft, and thus remained unaffiliated. The habit, thus introduced,
was
followed by others, until the sin of unaffiliation has at length
arrived
at such a point of excess, as to have become a serious evil, and to
have
attracted the attention and received the condemnation of almost every