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

contrary to the wishes of the lodge.
In such case, if the party has been suspended only, he, at once,
resumes
his place and functions in the lodge, from which, indeed, he had only
been
temporarily dissevered.
But in the case of the restoration of an expelled Mason to the rights
and
privileges of Masonry, by a Grand Lodge, does such restoration restore
him
to membership in his lodge? This question is an important one, and has
very generally been decided in the negative by the Grand Lodges of this
country. But as I unfortunately differ from these high authorities, I
cannot refrain, as an apology for this difference of opinion, from
presenting the considerations which have led me to the conclusion which
I
have adopted. I cannot, it is true, in the face of the mass of opposing
authority, offer this conclusion as masonic law. But I would fain hope
that the time is not far distant when it will become so, by the change
on
the part of Grand Lodges of the contrary decisions which they have
made.
The general opinion in this country is, that when a Mason has been
expelled by his lodge, the Grand Lodge may restore him to the rights
and
privileges, but cannot restore him to membership in his lodge. My own
opinion, in contradiction to this, is, that when a Grand Lodge restores
an
expelled Mason, on the ground that the punishment of expulsion from the
rights and privileges of Masonry was too severe and disproportioned to
the
offense, it may or may not restore him to membership in his lodge. It
might, for instance, refuse to restore his membership on the ground
that
exclusion from his lodge is an appropriate punishment; but where the
decision of the lodge as to the guilt of the individual is reversed,
and
the Grand Lodge declares him to be innocent, or that the charge against
him has not been proved, then I hold, that it is compelled by a just
regard to the rights of the expelled member to restore him not only to
the
rights and privileges of Masonry, but also to membership in his lodge.
I cannot conceive how a Brother, whose innocence has been declared by
the
verdict of his Grand Lodge, can be deprived of his vested rights as the
member of a particular lodge, without a violation of the principles of
justice. If guilty, let his expulsion stand; but, if innocent, let him
be
placed in the same position in which he was before the passage of the
unjust sentence of the lodge which has been reversed.
The whole error, for such I conceive it to be, in relation to this
question of restoration to membership, arises, I suppose, from a