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

_Of Expulsion._[98]
Expulsion is the very highest penalty that can be inflicted upon a
delinquent Mason. It deprives the party expelled of all the masonic
rights
and privileges that he ever enjoyed, not only as a member of the lodge
from which he has been ejected, but also of all those which were
inherent
in him as a member of the fraternity at large. He is at once as
completely
divested of his masonic character as though he had never been admitted
into the institution. He can no longer demand the aid of his Brethren,
nor
require from them the performance of any of the duties to which he was
formerly entitled, nor visit any lodge, nor unite in any of the public
or
private ceremonies of the Order. No conversation on masonic subjects
can
be held with him, and he is to be considered as being completely
without
the pale of the institution, and to be looked upon in the same light as
a
profane, in relation to the communication of any masonic information.
It is a custom too generally adopted in this country, for subordinate
lodges to inflict this punishment, and hence it is supposed by many,
that
the power of inflicting it is vested in the subordinate lodges. But the
fact is, that the only proper tribunal to impose this heavy penalty is
a
Grand Lodge. A subordinate may, indeed, try its delinquent member, and
if
guilty declare him expelled. But the sentence is of no force until the
Grand Lodge, under whose jurisdiction it is working, has confirmed it.
And
it is optional with the Grand Lodge to do so, or, as is frequently
done,
to reverse the decision and reinstate the Brother. Some of the lodges
in
this country claim the right to expel independently of the action of
the
Grand Lodge, but the claim is not valid. The very fact that an
expulsion
is a penalty, affecting the general relations of the punished party
with
the whole fraternity, proves that its exercise never could, with
propriety, be intrusted to a body so circumscribed in its authority as
a
subordinate lodge. Besides, the general practice of the fraternity is
against it. The English Constitutions vest the power to expel
exclusively
in the Grand Lodge.[99]
The severity of the punishment will at once indicate the propriety of
inflicting it only for the most serious offenses, such, for instance,
as