_Of the Number to be Initiated at one Communication._
The fourth General Regulation decrees that "no Lodge shall make more than
five new Brothers at one time." This regulation has been universally
interpreted (and with great propriety) to mean that not more than five
degrees can be conferred at the same communication.
This regulation is, however, subject to dispensation by the Grand Master,
or Presiding Grand Officer, in which case the number to be initiated,
passed, or raised, will be restricted only by the words of the
dispensation.
The following, or fifth General Regulation, says that "no man can be made
or admitted a member of a particular lodge, without previous notice, one
month before, given to the same lodge."
Now, as a profane cannot be admitted an Entered Apprentice, or in other
words, a member of an Entered Apprentices' lodge, unless after one month's
notice, so it follows that an Apprentice cannot be admitted a member of a
Fellow Crafts' lodge, nor a Fellow Craft of a Masters', without the like
probation. For the words of the regulation which apply to one, will
equally apply to the others. And hence we derive the law, that a month at
least must always intervene between the reception of one degree and the
advancement to another. But this rule is also subject to a dispensation.