"No man can be made, _or admitted a member_ * * * * without previous notice one month before;" are the words of the Fifth Regulation.
And in a similar spirit the Sixth adds: "But no man can be entered a Brother in any particular lodge, _or admitted to be a member_ thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of that lodge." None but Master Masons are permitted to apply for affiliation; and every Brother so applying must bring to the lodge to which he applies a certificate of his regular dismission from the lodge of which he was last a member.

This document is now usually styled a "demit," and should specify the good standing of the bearer at the time of his resignation or demission.
Under the regulations of the various Grand Lodges of this country, a profane cannot, as has been already observed, apply for initiation in any other lodge than the one nearest to his residence.

No such regulation, however, exists in relation to the application of a Mason for affiliation.

Having once been admitted into the Order, he has a right to select the lodge with which he may desire to unite himself.

He is not even bound to affiliate with the lodge in which he was initiated, but after being raised, may leave it, without signing the bye-laws, and attach himself to another.
A profane, having been rejected by a lodge, can never apply to any other for initiation.