ire to
simplify them; one may be displeased with the antiquated language;
another, with the character of the traditions; a third, with something
else. But, the rule is imperative and absolute, that no change can or must
be made to gratify individual taste. As the Barons of England, once, with
unanimous voice, exclaimed, "Nolumus leges Angliae mutare!" so do all good
Masons respond to every attempt at innovation, "We are unwilling to alter
the customs of Freemasonry."

In relation to the election of officers, a subordinate lodge is allowed to
exercise no discretion. The names and duties of these officers are
prescribed, partly by the landmarks or the ancient constitutions, and
partly by the regulations of various Grand Lodges. While the landmarks are
preserved, a Grand Lodge may add to the list of officers as it pleases;
and whatever may be its regulation, the subordinate lodges are bound to
obey it; nor can any such lodge create new offices nor abolish old ones
without the consent of the Grand Lodge.

Lodges are also bound to elect their officers at a time which is always
determined; not by the subordinate, but by the Grand Lodge. Nor can a
lodge anticipate or postpone it unless by a dispensation from the Grand
Master.

No lodge can, at an extra meeting, alter or amend the proceedings of a
regular meeting. If such were not the rule, an unworthy Master might, by
stealth, convoke an extra meeting of a part of his lodge, and, by
expunging or altering the proceedings of the previous regular meeting, or
any particular part of them, annul any measures or resolutions that were
not consonant with his peculiar views.

No lodge can interfere with the work or business of any other lodge,
without its permission. This is an old regulation, founded on those
principles of comity and brotherly love that should exist among all
Masons. It is declared in the manuscript charges, written in the reign of
James II., and in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity, at London,
that "no Master or Fellow shall supplant others of their work; that is to
say, that, if he hath taken a work, or else stand Master of any work, that
he shall not put him out, unless he be unable of cunning to make an end of
his work." And, hence, no lodge can pass or raise a candidate who was
initiated, or initiate one who was rejected, in another lodge. "It would
be highly improper," says the Ahiman Rezon, "in any lodge, to confer a
degree on a Brother who is not of