He has, also, the right of closing his lodge at any hour that he may deem
expedient, notwithstanding the whole business of the evening may not have
been transacted. This regulation arises from the unwritten law of Masonry.
As the Master is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the fidelity of the
work done in his lodge, and as the whole of the labor is, therefore,
performed under his superintendence, it follows that, to enable him to
discharge this responsibility, he must be invested with the power of
commencing, of continuing, or of suspending labor at such time as he may,
in his wisdom, deem to be the most advantageous to the edifice of Masonry.

It follows from this rule that a question of adjournment cannot be
entertained in a lodge. The adoption of a resolution to adjourn, would
involve the necessity of the Master to obey it. The power, therefore, of
controlling the work, would be taken out of his hands and placed in those
of the members, which would be in direct conflict with the duties imposed
upon him by the ritual. The doctrine that a lodge cannot adjourn, but must
be closed or called off at the pleasure of the Master, appears now to me
to be very generally admitted.

The Master and his two Wardens constitute the representatives of the lodge
in the Grand Lodge, and it is his duty to attend the communications of
that body "on all convenient occasions."[49] When there, he is faithfully
to represent his lodge, and on all questions discussed, to obey its
instructions, voting in every case rather against his own convictions than
against the expressed wish of his lodge.

The Master presides not only over the symbolic work of the lodge, but
also over its business deliberations, and in either case his decisions are
reversible only by the Grand Lodge. There can be no appeal from his
decision, on any question, to the lodge. He is supreme in his lodge, so