Part 19 (2/2)

Tiler, with drawn sword.

Masters of Ceremony, with white rods.

Musicians, if they are Masons; otherwise they follow the Tiler.

Master Masons.

Secretary and Treasurer.

M Senior and Junior Wardens.

A R Past Masters.

S H Chaplain.

A L The Three Great Lights on a cus.h.i.+on, covered with black cloth, carried by a member of the Lodge.

The Master, Supported by two Deacons with white rods.

Officiating Clergy.

Pall Bearers. Pall Bearers.

Mourners.

If the deceased was a member of a Royal Arch Chapter and a Commandery of Knights Templar, and members of those bodies should unite in the procession, clothed as such, the former will follow the Past Masters, and the latter will act as an escort or guard of honor to the corpse, outside the pallbearers, marching in the form of a triangle, the officers of the Commandery forming the base of the triangle, with the Eminent Commander in the center.

When the procession has arrived at the place of interment the members of the Lodge should form a square around the grave; when the Master, Chaplain and other officers of the acting Lodge, take their position at the head of the grave, and the mourners at the foot.

After the clergyman has performed the religious service of the Church, the Masonic service should begin.

The Chaplain rehea.r.s.es the following, or some other suitable prayer:

Prayer.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we adore Thee as the G.o.d of time and eternity. As it hath pleased Thee to take from the light of our abode one dear to our hearts, we beseech Thee to bless and sanctify unto us this dispensation of Thy providence. Inspire our hearts with wisdom from on high, that we may glorify Thee in all our ways. May we realize that Thine All-Seeing Eye is upon us, and be influenced by the spirit of truth and love to perfect obedience--that we may enjoy Thy divine approbation here below. And when our toils on earth shall have ended, may we be raised to the enjoyment of fadeless light and immortal life in that kingdom where faith and hope shall end, and love and joy prevail through eternal ages. And Thine, O righteous Father, shall be the glory forever. Amen.

Response: So mote it be.

The following exhortation is then given by the Master:

The solemn notes that betoken the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle have again alarmed our outer door, and another spirit has been summoned to the land where our fathers have gone before us.

Again we are called to a.s.semble among the habitations of the dead, to behold the ”narrow house appointed for all living.” Here, around us, in that peace which the world cannot give or take away, sleep the unnumbered dead. The gentle breeze fans their verdant covering, they heed it not; the suns.h.i.+ne and the storm pa.s.s over them, and they are not disturbed; stones and lettered monuments symbolize the affection of surviving friends, yet no sound proceeds from them, save that silent but thrilling admonition, ”Seek ye the narrow path and the straight gate that lead unto eternal life.”

We are again called upon to consider the uncertainty of human life, the immutable certainty of death, and the vanity of all human pursuits.

Decrepitude and decay are written upon every living thing. The cradle and the coffin stand in juxtaposition to each other; and it is a melancholy truth that so soon as we begin to live, that moment we also begin to die. It is pa.s.sing strange that, notwithstanding the daily mementos of mortality that cross our path--notwithstanding the funeral bells so often toll in our ears and the ”mournful processions” go about our streets--we will not more seriously consider our approaching fate.

We go on from design to design, add hope to hope, and lay out plans for the employment of many years, until we are suddenly alarmed at the approach of the Messenger of Death, at a moment when we least expect him, and which we probably conclude to be the meridian of our existence.

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