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Short Talk Bulletin Vol 09 No 01
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX January, 1931 No.1
THE PAST MASTER
by: Unknown
Fortunate the lodge which has many; poor that body of Masonry in
which Past Masters have lost the interest with which they once
presided in the East!
The honorable station of Past Master is usually honored by the
brethren; generally it is considered as second in importance only to
that of the presiding Master. And he is a wise and good Master who
sees to it that the brethren of his lodge understand that Past
Master is no empty title, but carries with it certain rights and
privileges, certain duties and responsibilities, all set forth in the
general body of Masonic Law, although differing in some respects in
different Jurisdictions; certain unwritten attributes which become
more or less important according to the character and abilities of
the individual Past Master.
It has been well settled in this country, as it is in England, that a
Past Master has no inherent, inviolable right of membership in the
Grand Lodge, such as is possessed by the Master of a lodge. But in
many American Jurisdictions, by action of the Grand Lodge, Past
Masters are members of the Grand Lodge (in Nevada, all Master Masons
are members of the Grand Lodge, but only the three principal officers
and one among all the Past Masters of a particular lodge are
considered voting members of Grand Lodge). In some Jurisdictions
they are full voting members; in others they have but a fraction of a
vote, all the Past Masters of a lodge having one vote between them on
any Grand Lodge question to be decided by a vote by lodges. Whether
full voting members of Grand Lodge, or members with but a fraction of
a votes, they are such by action of their own Grand Lodge, and not by
inherent right.
Before the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in England in 1717,
when General Assemblies of Masons were held, Past Masters were as
much a part of that body as the members of the Craft. But the Old
Constitutions of the Mother Grand Lodge did not recognize Past
Masters as members of the Grand Lodge. Dermotts Ahiman Rezon of
1778, quoting Andersons edition of the Old and New Regulations
says: Past Masters of Warranted Lodges on record are allowed this
privilege (membership in Grand Lodge) while they continue to be
members of any regular lodge. But his previous edition of this same
work does not contain this statement, and Preston refers to the Grand
Lodge, at the laying of the corner stone of Covent Garden Theater, in
London, by the Prince of Wales as Grand Master, in these words: The
Grand Lodge was opened by Charles March, Esq., attended by the
Masters and Wardens of all the regular lodges; he does not mention
Past Masters as a part of the Grand Lodge.
These Past Masters, or course, have long since gone the way of all
flesh; Past Masters who are now members of Grand Lodges are made so
by the action of those Grand Lodges, and not by any inherent right.
But the very fact that a Past Master May receive such recognition
at the hands of his Grand Lodge, which ordinarily would not be given
to brethren not Past Masters (except Wardens), must be considered as
one of the rights and privileges of a Past Master.
Past Masters are said by Mackey to possess the right to preside over
their lodges, in the absence of the Master, and on the invitation of
the Senior Warden, or in his absence, the Junior Warden.
According to the ancient laws of Masonry, which gives a Master very
large powers, any Master Mason may be called to the Chair by a
Master. Here the question is as to who may be called to the Chair by
a warden, who has congregated the lodge in the absence of the Master.
The great Masonic jurist gives unqualified endorsement to the idea
that then only a Warden, or Past Master with the consent of the
presiding Warden can preside over a lodge, and counts this as among
the rights of a Past Master. However true this may be in this
specific case, the practice and the law in many Jurisdictions gives
to the Master the right to put any brother in the Chair for the time
being, remaining, of course, responsible for the acts of his
temporary appointee, and for the acts of his lodge during such
incumbency.
It may be considered a moot question as to just when a Master becomes
a Past Master. He is installed as Master until your successor be
regularly elected and installed. From this point of view the Master
is Master until his successor has been made Master by installation;
in other words, the right to install his successor is inherent in the
office of Master, and not Past Master. Under the law of Masonry,
however, for this purpose Masters and Past Masters are identical; the
Master really becomes a Past Master when, after election he passes
the Chair in an emergent Lodge of Past Masters, or when, as a
virtual Past Master, made so in a Chapter, he is elected Master of
his lodge. In those few American Jurisdictions in which the elected
Master is not required to receive the Past Masters Degree, prior to
installation, a Master does not become a Past Master until his
successor is installed.
The right to install his successor is inherent; the privilege of
delegating that duty to another is within the power of any Worshipful
Master (Courtesy would indicate that the desires of the Senior Warden
be considered for installing officer, as well as the date for the
installation). He should not delegate the installing power to any
brother who has not himself been installed, in order that the
succession of the Oriental Chair be unbroken, from regularly
installed Master to Master-Elect, regularly to be installed.
Therefore, in most Jurisdictions, the installation power which is the
right of the Master, may be considered also a privilege of Past
Masters.
A very important right of all Past Masters is that of being elected
to the office of Master, without again serving as Warden. Perhaps no
regulation is more jealously guarded by Grand Lodges than this, which
dates in print from 1722 (Old Charges), that no Mason may be elected,
or installed as Master who has not been regularly elected, installed
and served as Warden. There are exceptions; when a new lodge is
constituted, a brother who has not been regularly elected, installed
and served as a Warden may be elected and installed as Master (In
Nevada it is permissible for any Master Mason to be elected and
installed as Worshipful Master); when no Wardens in a lodge will
accept election to the East, a brother may be elected from the floor,
provided a dispensation is secured from the Grand Master. A Past
Master may be elected Master of a lodge (whether the lodge over which
he once presided or another is immaterial) without dispensation.
