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POWERS OF LODGES WORKING
Masonic usage haB been that the business of Lodg'e~ should be conducted in that degree, the members of which constitute the main body of the craft at th.e time. Whence it seems but a just deduction that at the present time, and in the present condition of the fraternity, all business, except the lllere ritual work of the inferior degrees, should be conducted in the third degree. Another exceptionmnst be lnade as to the examination of witnesses in the trial (\f an Entered Apprentice or a Fellow Crc1ft s which, for purposes of justice, should be cOBducted iu the degree towhicb the defendant has attained: but even here the fin8:,1 decision should always be made in th€ third degree. In conducting the business of a Lodge, certain rules are to be observed, as in all other deliberative bodies; but these will be more appropriately considered in a chapter devoted to the discussion of " rules of order," in a subsequent part of this work. IV. .A Lodge has the 1·ight to be ftep1·esented at an communicatiCYtl.$ oj" the Grrand Lodge. I have already laid, in a previous part of this work, that it is a Landmark of the Order that every Mason has';,a right to be represented in all general meetings of the craft.* The origin of this right is very intimately connected with an interesting portion of the tllatory of the institution. In former times, every M~son,even "the youngest Entered Apprentice," .had a right to be present at the General Assembly of the craft, which was annually held. And even .-
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