ot be
interrupted in the performance of his duty."[82]

A lodge, when not opened for "general masonic business," but when engaged
in the consideration of matters which interest the lodge alone, and which
it would be inexpedient or indelicate to make public, may refuse to admit
a visitor. Lodges engaged in this way, in private business, from which
visitors are excluded, are said by the French Masons to be opened "_en
famille_."

To entitle him to this right of visit, a Mason must be affiliated, that
is, he must be a contributing member of some lodge. This doctrine is thus
laid down in the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England:

"A Brother who is not a subscribing member to some lodge, shall not be
permitted to visit any one lodge in the town or place in which he resides,
more than once during his secession from the craft."

A non-subscribing or unaffiliated Mason is permitted to visit each lodge
once, and once only, because it is supposed that this visit is made for
the purpose of enabling him to make a selection of the one with which he
may prefer permanently to unite. But, afterwards, he loses this right of
visit, to discountenance those Brethren who wish to continue members of
the Order, and to partake of its pleasures and advantages, without
contributing to its support.

A Master Mason is not entitled to visit a lodge, unless he previously
submits to an examination, or is personally vouched for by a competent
Brother present; but this is a subject of so much importance as to claim
consideration in a distinct section.

Another regulation is, that a strange Brother shall furnish the lodge he
intends to visit with a certificate of his good standing in the lodge from
which he last hailed. This regulation has, in late years, given rise to
much discussion. Many of the Grand Lodges of this country, and several
masonic writers, strenuously contend for its antiquity and necessity,
while others as positively assert that it is a modern innovation upon
ancient usage.

There can, however, I think, be no doubt of the antiquity of certificates.
That the system requiring them was in force nearly two hundred years ago,
at least, will be evident from the third of the Regulations made in
General Assembly, December 27, 1663, under the Grand Mastership of the
Earl of St. Albans,[83] and which is in the following words:

"3. That no person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be
admitted into any lodge or asse