installing its officers, subject to the same regulations, in relation to
time and qualifications, as given in the case of elections.

The Master must be installed by a Past Master,[39] but after his own
installation he has the power to install the rest of the officers. The
ceremony of installation is not a mere vain and idle one, but is
productive of important results. Until the Master and Wardens of a lodge
are installed, they cannot represent the lodge in the Grand Lodge, nor, if
it be a new lodge, can it be recorded and recognized on the register of
the Grand Lodge. No officer can permanently take possession of the office
to which he has been elected, until he has been duly installed.[40] The
rule of the craft is, that the old officer holds on until his successor is
installed, and this rule is of universal application to officers of every
grade, from the Tiler of a subordinate lodge, to the Grand Master of
Masons.

Every lodge that has been duly constituted, and its officers installed, is
entitled to be represented in the Grand Lodge, and to form, indeed, a
constituent part of that body.[41] The representatives of a lodge are its
Master and two Wardens.[42] This character of representation was
established in 1718, when the four old lodges, which organized the Grand
Lodge of England, agreed "to extend their patronage to every lodge which
should hereafter be constituted by the Grand Lodge, according to the new
regulations of the society; and while such lodges acted in conformity to
the ancient constitutions of the Order, to admit their Masters and Wardens
to share with them all the privileges of the Grand Lodge, excepting
precedence of rank."[43] Formerly all Master Masons were permitted to sit
in the Grand Lodge, or, as it was then called, the General Assembly, and
represent their lodge; and therefore this restricting the representation
to the three superior officers was, in fact, a concession of the craft.