vident that it would be absurd to frame a code of laws which would
have no efficacy, for want of proper confirmation, and which, when the
time and opportunity for confirmation had arrived, would be needless, as
the society for which they were framed would then have no legal
existence--a new body (the warranted lodge) having taken its place.

A lodge under dispensation cannot elect officers. The Master and Wardens
are nominated by the Brethren, and, if this nomination is approved, they
are appointed by the Grand Master. In giving them permission to meet and
make Masons, he gave them no power to do anything else. A dispensation is
itself a setting aside of the law, and an exception to a general
principle; it must, therefore, be construed literally. What is not granted
in express terms, is not granted at all. And, therefore, as nothing is
said of the election of officers, no such election can be held. The Master
may, however, and always does for convenience, appoint a competent
Brother to keep a record of the proceedings; but this is a temporary
appointment, at the pleasure of the Master, whose deputy or assistant he
is; for the Grand Lodge looks only to the Master for the records, and the
office is not legally recognized. In like manner, he may depute a trusty
Brother to take charge of the funds, and must, of course, from time to
time, appoint the deacons and tiler for the necessary working of the
lodge.

As there can be no election, neither can there be any installation, which,
of course, always presumes a previous election for a determinate period.
Besides, the installation of officers is a part of the ceremony of
constitution, and therefore not even the Master and Wardens of a lodge
under dispensation are entitled to be thus solemnly inducted into office.

A lodge under dispensation can elect no members. The Master and Wardens,
who are named in the dispensation, are, in point of fact, the only persons
recognized as constituting the lodge. To them is granted the privilege, as
proxies of the Grand Master, of making Masons; and for this purpose they
are authorized to congregate a sufficient number of Brethren to assist
them in the ceremonies. But neither the Master and Wardens, nor the
Brethren, thus congregated have received any power of electing members.
Nor are the persons made in a lodge under dispensation, to be considered
as members of the lodge; for, as has already been shown, they have none of
the rights and priv