At the grave the Lodge forms a circle or semicircle. The Master and
other officers of the Lodge take their position at the head of the
grave; the Tyler behind the Master, and the mourners at the foot. The
religious burial service of the church (if there be any) should be first
performed, after which the Masonic service begins:
The following passage of Scripture, from Ecclesiastes, chapter xii,
verses 1-7, is read:
Chaplain: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have
no pleasure in them; while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the
stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain; in the day
when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall
bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those
that look out of the windows be darkened; and the doors shall be shut in
the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low; and he shall rise up
at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be
brought low; also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and
fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the
grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth
to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; or ever the
silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be
broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it.
Master: One by one they pass 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 passing 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
assuage 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.