Old Charges

What is said about attendance of a Lodge in old books and papers?

Early manuscript charges, such as the fifteenth-century Matthew Cooke and Regius manuscripts, established that every Mason was bound to attend general assemblies and lodge meetings unless hindered by a valid excuse. The Old Charges of 1722 similarly framed attendance at lodge communications as a duty, holding that no Master or Fellow could be absent—particularly when warned to appear—without incurring severe censure, unless pure necessity prevented him. Where a member was formally cited to appear at a congregation and refused to attend, early regulations allowed the lodge to determine that he forswear or renounce his Masonry.

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