[Illustration: Sea Coast of Joppa]
Third Search.
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Fourth Search. * * * Acacia and voices. Capture--Sentence.--W. W. F. T.
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F. C. Released.
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Procession.
Funeral Dirge.
1. Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound!
Mine ears attend the cry:
"Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie.
2. "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."
3. Great God! is this our certain doom!
And are we still secure,
Still walking downward to the tomb,
And yet prepared no more?
4. 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.
Pleyel's Hymn.
Solemn strikes the fun'ral 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 slumbers of the grave!
Here another guest we bring!
Seraphs of celestial wing,
To our fun'ral 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.
The following Prayer is used at the raising of a brother to the degree
of Master Mason:
Thou, O God! knowest our down-sitting and our up-rising, and
understandest our thoughts afar off. Shield and defend us from the evil
intentions of our enemies, and support us under the trials and
afflictions we are destined to endure while traveling through this vale
of tears. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of
trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not. Seeing his days are determined, the
number of his months is with Thee; Thou hast appointed his bounds that
he cannot pass. Turn from him that he may rest till he shall accomplish
his day. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. But man
dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up,
so man lieth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more. Yet, O
Lord, have compassion on the children of Thy creation; administer them
comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting salvation.
Amen!
Response: So mote it be!
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That we should be ever ready to go on foot, and even barefoot,
on a worthy M. M.'s errand, should his necessities require it,
and we be no better provided.
That we should ever remember our brethren in our devotions to
Deity.
That the secrets of a worthy M. M., when communicated to us as
such, should be as secure and inviolate in our breasts as they
were in his before communication.
That we should be ever ready to stretch forth a hand to support
a falling brother, and aid him on all lawful occasions.
That we should be ever ready to whisper wise counsel in the ear
of a brother, and warn him of approaching danger.
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It has been the practice of all ages to erect monuments to the
memory of exalted worth.
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