Master: One by one they pa.s.s away--the brothers of our adoption, the companions of our choice. A brother whose hand we have clasped in the bonds of fraternal fellowship now lies before us in the rigid embrace of death. All that remains of one near and dear to us is pa.s.sing from our sight, and we know that we shall meet him on earth no more.
We, who knew him so well in our brotherhood, feel that in his departure from among the living, something has gone out of our own lives that can never be again. Thus, as human ties are broken, the world becomes less and less, and the hope to be reunited with friends who are gone, grows more and more. Here is immediate compensation, which, while it cannot a.s.suage our grief, may teach resignation to the inevitable doom of all things mortal.
While we stand around the open grave, in the presence of a body once, and so lately, warm with life and animate with thought, now lingering for a brief moment at the dark portal of the tomb--like a beam of holy light the belief must come, this cannot be all there is of day. Stricken human nature cries out: There must be a dawn beyond this darkness and a never setting sun, while this short life is but a morning star.
The cycles of Time roll with the procession of seasons. Spring is bloom; summer is growth; autumn is fruition; winter is the shroud, and beneath its cold, yet kindly fold, live the germs of a new life. Spring comes again; growth matures, and fruit is eternal. This is the religion and lesson of Nature, and the universal example cannot fail in relation to man. Let us draw comfort and consolation from things visible in this sad scene, and lift our eyes to the invisible Father of all with renewed faith that we are in His Holy Hands. Besides His infinitude of worlds, we have also His word, "That He is All, and All-upholding."
We can do nothing for the dead. We can only offer respect to our brother"s inanimate clay, and cherish his memory in the abiding faith that our temporary loss is his eternal gain. In this belief let us commit him with due reverence to the keeping of the All-Father, who is supreme in wisdom, infinite in love, and ordereth all things well.
(Family service to be omitted in case no relatives of the deceased are present.)
While we pay this tribute of respect and love to the memory of our late brother, let us not forget to extend our fraternal sympathy to his deeply afflicted and sorrowing family (wife, children, father, mother, brothers, sisters, as the relatives may be present): In your irreparable bereavement, and as he, for whom we are all mourners, was true to us, and faithful to the ties of our brotherhood, so shall we be true to you in the practice of the principles of Freemasonry and in tender memory of our loved and lost. He gave much of his time to us in devotion to our cause. We owe a grateful acknowledgement to you for his social companionship and service, and mingle our sorrows at parting with yours, his near and dear relations.
Master: "May we be true and faithful; and may we live and die in love!"
Response: "So mote it be."
Master: "May we profess what is good, and always act agreeably to our profession!"
Response: "So mote it be."
Master: "May the Lord bless us and prosper us, and may all our good intentions be crowned with success."
Response: "So mote it be."
The ap.r.o.n is taken from the coffin and handed to the Master; and while the coffin is being lowered into the grave, either of the following funeral dirges may be sung--the one used, to be selected and announced before leaving the lodge-room:
Funeral Dirge.
Air--Pleyel"s Hymn.
Solemn strikes the funeral chime, Notes of our departing time, As we journey here below Through a pilgrimage of woe.
Mortals, now indulge a tear, For Mortality is here; See how wide her trophies wave, O"er the slumber of the grave!
Here another guest we bring; Seraphs of celestial wing, To our funeral altar come, Waft our friend and brother home.
Lord of all! below--above-- Fill our hearts with truth and love; When dissolves our earthly tie, Take us to Thy lodge on high.
Hark, From the Tombs.
Hark, from the tombs, a doleful sound, Mine ears attend the cry: "Ye living men; come view the ground Where you must shortly lie.
"Princes, this clay must be your bed, In spite of all your towers; The tall, the wise, the reverend head Must lie as low as ours."
Great G.o.d! Is this our certain doom?
And are we still secure?
Still walking downward to the tomb, And yet prepared no more?
Grant us the power of quick"ning grace, To fit our souls to fly; Then, when we drop this dying flesh, We"ll rise above the sky.
At the conclusion of the singing, the Master, displaying the ap.r.o.n, continues:
The Lambskin, or white leathern ap.r.o.n, is an emblem of innocence, and the badge of a Mason; more honorable than the crown of royalty, or the emblazoned insignia of princely orders, when worthily worn.
The Master drops the ap.r.o.n into the grave.
Our brother was worthy of its distinction, and it shall bear witness to his virtues, and our confidence in the sincerity of his profession.
W. M.: (Taking off his white glove and holding it up.) This Glove is a symbol of fidelity and is emblematic of that Masonic friendship which bound us to him whose tenement of clay now lies before us. It reminds us that while these mortal eyes shall see him not again, yet, by the practice of the tenets of our n.o.ble order and a firm faith and steadfast trust in the Supreme Architect, we hope to clasp once more his vanished hand in friendship and in love. (Deposits glove.) Those whom virtue unites, death can never separate.
The Master, displaying an evergreen sprig, continues:
The Evergreen is emblematic of our Faith in Immortality.
This green sprig is the symbol of that vital spark of our being which continues to glow more divinely when the breath leaves the body, and can never, never, never die.
The Master drops the evergreen in the grave, and the Brothers each make a similar deposit, with as little confusion as possible.
If the place is convenient, they march around the grave in a line. When all are again settled in their places, the public Grand Honors are given by three times three.
The will of G.o.d is accomplished; so mote it be. Amen.
The Master then continues:
Change is the universal law of mortality, and the theme of every page of its history. Here we view the most striking ill.u.s.tration of change that can be presented to mortal eyes, minds and hearts. Ties of fraternity, friendship, love, all broken, and earthly pursuits, hopes and affections laid waste by death. Let us profit by this example of the uncertainty of the world, and resolve to live honest, pure and worshipful lives in daily preparation for the summons that will, sooner or later, surely come. It came to our brother, whose remains we have here laid away to rest eternal, and reminds us that we, too, are mortal--subject to the universal law. Our brother is dead, and cannot speak for himself. Let us defend his good name. Frailties he may have had, as what mortal man has not? To err is human, charity is Divine, and judgment is with the Almighty and All-Merciful. In this resting place of the body, virtues only are remembered, and sweet memories bloom.
All must pa.s.s through the Shadow of Death, and each one must make the dark journey without the companionship of earthly friend. Let us all hasten to secure the pa.s.sport of an upright life, to the glories of a better land. Unto the grave we have resigned the body of our brother.
The Master scatters a handful of earth in the grave.
Earth to earth; dust to dust (the S. W. scatters dirt in the grave); ashes to ashes (the J. W. scatters dirt in the grave); there to remain until the dawn of that resplendent day, when again, the morning stars shall sing together, and all the sons of G.o.d shall shout for joy.
Prayer by the Chaplain.
Chaplain: Almighty and eternal G.o.d, in whom we live and move, and have our being--and before whom all men must appear, in the judgment day to give an account of their deeds in life, we, who are daily exposed to the flying shafts of death, and now surround the grave of our fallen brother, most earnestly beseech Thee to impress deeply on our minds the solemnities of this day, as well as the lamentable occurrence that has occasioned them. Here may we be forcibly reminded that in the midst of life we are in death, and that whatever elevation of character we may have obtained, however upright and square the course we have pursued, yet shortly we must all submit as victims of its destroying power, and endure the humbling level of the tomb, until the last loud trump shall sound the summons of our resurrection from mortality and corruption.
May we have Thy divine a.s.sistance, O merciful G.o.d, to redeem our mis-spent time; and in the discharge of our important duties Thou has a.s.signed us, in the erection of our moral edifice, may we have wisdom from on high to direct us, strength commensurate with our task to support us, and the beauty of holiness to adorn and render all our performances acceptable in Thy sight. And when our work is done, and our bodies mingle with the mother earth, may our souls, disengaged from their c.u.mbrous dust, flourish and bloom in eternal day; and enjoy that rest which Thou hast prepared for all good and faithful servants, in that spiritual house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, through the great Redeemer. Amen.
So mote it be. Amen.
Fill grave.
W. M.: Soft and safe, my brother, be this thy earthly bed. Bright and glorious be thy rising from it. In the glorious morning of the resurrection may thy body spring again into newness of life, to live forever in the home of the blest. Until then, dear brother, farewell.
Benediction.