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

membership, he at once, and while he continues unaffiliated, dissevers
all
connection between himself and the _Lodge organization_ of the Order.
He,
by this act, divests himself of all the rights and privileges which
belong
to him as a member of that organization. Among these rights and
privileges
are those of visitation, of pecuniary aid, and of masonic burial.
Whenever he approaches the door of a lodge, asking to enter or seeking
for
assistance, he is to be met in the light of a profane. He may knock,
but
the door must not be opened--he may ask, but he is not to receive. The
work of the lodge is not to be shared by those who have thrown aside
their
aprons and their implements, and abandoned the labors of the Temple-the
funds of the lodge are to be distributed only among these who are
aiding,
by their individual contributions, to the formation of similar funds in
other lodges.
But from the well-known and universally-admitted maxim of "once a
Mason,
and always a Mason," it follows that a demitted Brother cannot by such
demission divest himself of all his masonic responsibilities to his
Brethren, nor be deprived of their correlative responsibility to him.
An
unaffiliated Mason is still bound by certain obligations, of which he
cannot, under any circumstances, divest himself, and by similar
obligations are the fraternity bound to him. These relate to the duties
of
secrecy and of aid in the imminent hour of peril. Of the first of these
there can be no doubt; and as to the last, the words of the precept
directing it leaves us no option; nor is it a time when the G.H.S. of
D.
is thrown out to inquire into the condition of the party.
Speaking on this subject, Brother Albert Pike, in his report to the
Grand
Lodge of Arkansas, says "if a person appeals to us as a Mason in
imminent
peril, or such pressing need that we have not time to inquire into his
worthiness, then, lest we might refuse to relieve and aid a worthy
Brother, we must not stop to inquire _as to anything_." But I do not
think
that the learned Brother has put the case in the strongest light. It is
not alone "lest we might refuse to relieve and aid a worthy Brother,"
that
we are in cases of "imminent peril" to make no pause for deliberation.
But
it is because we are bound by our highest obligations at all times, and
to
all Masons, to give that aid when _duly_ called for.
I may, then, after this somewhat protracted discussion, briefly