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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030335545 
 
OFFICES OF A LODGE OF SORROW 
 
 AND 
 
 RING SERVICE 
 
 Llneier(t aqd LJeeeptecl Neottisi] K 
 
 lie 
 
 OF 
 
 FREEMASONRY 
 
 Supreme Council for the United States of America, their Territories 
 and Dependencies 
 
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 [These services are performed in the fifth degree. All the fur- 
 niture, the jewels, and the Altar, are draped with black cloth ; 
 the walls of the room are hung with black garlands, and so also 
 are the columns. The three candlesticks of the Altar are covered 
 with black crape, and the candles are of black wax. In the 
 center of the room is a coffin, its head to the West. It is covered 
 with black cloth, and on it lie an apron of the fifth degree, a pair 
 of black gloves, the cordon and jewel of the highest degree pos- 
 sessed by the deceased, and a sword with a black scabbard and belt. 
 If the brother was an Inspector General, Master of the Royal 
 Secret, or Knight Kadosh, the standard of the body to which he 
 belonged will be in the East, drooping. 
 
 If the ceremonies are performed in a church, the Altar-lights 
 will be placed on the East, West, and South of the coffin. 
 
 The three lights are burning when the ceremonies begin. 
 
 There should, if possible, be an organ. 
 
 The escutcheon of each brother in whose memory the ser- 
 vices are held will be suspended in the East. The escutcheon 
 is in the shape of a shield with the name of the deceased brother 
 in black letters on a white ground. 
 
 The services will commence, if practicable, with a voluntary 
 on the organ, followed by the chant " DE PROFUNDIS," or 
 the following] 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Come, ye sighing sons of sorrow. 
 View with me your brother's tomb ; 
 
 Learn from it your fate, to-morrow 
 Death perhaps may seal your doom. 
 
Sad and silent flow our numbers, 
 
 While disconsolate we mourn 
 Loss of him who sweetly slumbers, 
 
 Mould'ring 'neath the silent urn. 
 
 Once, when full of life, he never 
 
 Proved unfaithful to our laws ; 
 We'll, like him, be zealous ever 
 
 To promote the glorious cause. 
 
 [After which the Master raps * * *, calling up all the 
 brethren ; and says :] 
 
 M. — What man is he that liveth and shall not see 
 death ? Shall he deliver his soul from the hands of 
 the grave ? 
 
 S. W. — Man walketh in a vain shadow ; he heapeth 
 up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. 
 
 M. — We go whence we shall not return, even to the 
 land of Darkness and of the Shadow of Death. 
 
 S. W. — A land of Darkness, as Darkness itself; and 
 of the Shadow of Death, wherein the very Light is 
 as Darkness. 
 
 M. — There the wicked cease from troubling, and 
 there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest 
 together ; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. 
 The small and the great are there ; and the slave 
 is freed of his burden. 
 
 J. W. — That land is unknown ; God regards it not 
 from above, neither doth the light enter into it. 
 
 M. — Horror and Dread are its inhabitants ; mystery 
 reigns over it ; and its silence terrifies it. 
 
 S. W. — It is desolation, and a great desert on which 
 Terror broods, and no joyful voice comes therein. 
 
M. — Therein is no glad Dawn of Day ; the Stars of 
 the twilight thereof are dark. It longs for light and 
 has none ; it sees no dawning of the day. 
 
 J. W. — There we lie still and are quiet ; there we 
 sleep ; there we are at rest. With Kings and Coun- 
 sellors of the earth, which built for themselves pal- 
 aces now desolate ; with Princes that had gold, and 
 filled their houses with silver. 
 
 M. — We dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation 
 is on the sands ; which crumble before the worm. 
 
 S. W. — We are destroyed from morning to evening. 
 We perish forever, without any regarding it. Our 
 days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent 
 without hope. Our life is but a breath ; as the cloud 
 is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down 
 to the grave shall come up no more. 
 
 [The Altar-light in the South is extinguished by the 
 Junior Deacon, during which there is slow plaintive 
 music on the organ.] 
 
 M. — ^What profit hath a man of all his labor which 
 he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth 
 away, and another generation cometh ; but the Earth 
 abideth always. 
 
 S. W. — Man dieth and wasteth away ; yea, man 
 giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 
 
 M. — Bvery man shall be brought to the grave, and 
 find a home in the tomb. 
 
 J. W. — The clods of the valley shall be heaped upon 
 him, and every man shall follow after him, as there 
 were men innumerable before him. 
 
 M. — God accepteth not the persons of Princes, nor 
 regardeth the rich more than the poor ; for they all 
 are the work of His hands. 
 
S. W. — In a moment they die, and the people are 
 troubled at midnight, and pass away ; and the mighty 
 are taken away without hand. 
 
 [The Altar-light in the West is extinguished by the 
 Senior Deacon, during which there is slow plaintive music 
 on the organ.] 
 
 M. — Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
 Lord pitieth them that fear Him ; for He knoweth 
 how weak we are to resist temptation. 
 
 J. W. — Man's days are as grass ; as a flower of the 
 field, so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it, 
 and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall know it 
 no more. 
 
 M. — Daily we draw nearer unto the gates of death ; 
 we go like the shadow when it declineth ; all our 
 days are sorrows, and our travail, grief ; yea, our 
 hearts take not rest in the night. 
 
 S. W. — There is no man that hath power over the 
 spirit, to retain the spirit ; neither power in the day 
 of death ; and there is no discharge in that war. 
 
 M. — The day goeth swiftly away ; the evening 
 shadows lengthen. When we would comfort our- 
 selves against sorrow, our hearts are faint in us for a 
 new calamity. The harvest is past, the summer is 
 ended, and we are not saved. 
 
 S. W. — Death is come up into our windows, and is 
 entered into our palaces, to cut off the young with the 
 aged whom we love. They fall alike, as the ripe and 
 the unripe ears of wheat after the harvester, and there 
 is none to gather them up. 
 
 M.— The Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth 
 the land, and it shudders ; and all that dwell therein 
 
when the children of the land pass away as 
 the dew of the morning, as the drops of the showers 
 that linger upon the grass. 
 
 S. W.— Our songs are turned into funeral dirges, 
 and our feasts into mourning. Sackcloth is upon all 
 loins, and ashes on every head ; it is as the mourning 
 for an only son, and the end thereof is as a bitter day 
 to those in a lonely house. 
 
 M. — The Lord our God causeth darkness ; and our 
 feet stumble upon the dark mountains ; and while we 
 look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, 
 and makes it thick darkness. 
 
 J. W. — He puts us out ; He covers our heavens with 
 a pall, and darkens all its stars ; He covers our sun 
 with a cloud ; and our moon no longer gives her light. 
 All the bright lights of Heaven He maketh dark 
 over us, and sets darkness upon our land. 
 
 [The Altar-light in the East is extinguished by the 
 Master of Ceremonies.] 
 
 M. — The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. 
 Blessed be the name of the Lord ! Amen ! 
 
 ALL. — Amen ! So mote it be. 
 
 M. — Behold, O Lord, we are in distress ! Our hearts 
 are turned within us ; there is none to comfort us, 
 mourning and lamentation are heard among us. 
 
 Thou hast cut off the lives of our brethren, and 
 the waters of affliction flow over our heads. Thejoy 
 of our heart has ceased, and- our gladness is turned 
 into mourning. Our life is but a span in length, and 
 yet tedious because of the calamities that enclose us 
 on every side. The days of our pilgrimage are few 
 and evil ; our bodies frail, our passions violent, and 
 
distempered, our understanding weak, our wills per- 
 verse. We adore Thy majesty, and trust like little 
 children to Thy tender mercies. Give us patience 
 to live well, and firmness to resist evil. Bless us, O 
 God. Bless our beloved fraternity throughout the 
 world. 
 
 May we live and emulate the examples of our de- 
 parted brethren ; and, finally, may we in this world 
 attain a knowlege of Thy truth, and in the world to 
 come, life everlasting. Amen ! 
 
 ALL.— Amen ! So mote it be ! 
 
 [Now will be sung the "MISERERE" or the fol- 
 lowing] 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Among the dead our brother sleeps. 
 His life was rounded true and well ; 
 
 And Love in bitter sorrow weeps 
 Over his dark and silent cell. 
 
 His name is graven on the stone 
 
 That Friendship's tears will often wet ; 
 
 But each true Brother's heart upon, 
 
 That name is stamped more deeply yet. 
 
 As slept the Widow's Martyred Son, 
 So doth our brother take his rest ; 
 
 Life's battle fought, life's duties done. 
 His faults forgot, his worth confessed. 
 
 So let him sleep that dreamless sleep. 
 Our sorrows clustering round his head ; 
 
 Be comforted, dear friends, who weep ! 
 He lives with God ; he is not dead. 
 
M. — My Brethren, we live only to see those we love 
 go way into the silent land before us. The arrows of 
 the insatiate and relentless Archer pass us by, only 
 to smite the bosoms of our friends and Brethren un- 
 til the aged are weary of the loneliness of life, and 
 welcome death as a friend. The Past is thickly peo- 
 pled for us with the well-remembered faces of the 
 Dead. 
 
 Death is that harbor whither God hath designed 
 every one, that there he may find rest from the troubles 
 of the world. Let us either be willing to die, when 
 God calls, or let us never more complain of the calam- 
 ities of our life, which we feel to be so sharp and 
 numerous. And when God sends His angel to us 
 with the scroll of Death, let us look on it as an act of 
 mercy, to prevent many sins, and many calamities of 
 a longer life ; and lay our heads down softly, and go 
 to sleep, without wrangling like froward children. 
 
 For this, at least, man gets by death — that his 
 calamities are not immortal. 
 
 To bear grief honorably and temperately, and to 
 die willingly and nobly, is the duty of a good and 
 valiant man. Moreover, it is reasonable, and a duty 
 of religion, to comply with the Divine Providence 
 which governs all the world, and to bear contentedly 
 and cheerfully the burdens of the world and the en- 
 mities of sad chances. 
 
 Death has invaded our Rite. For against him no 
 bolts or bars prevail, nor can the Tiler, though never 
 so vigilant and resolute, prevent or stay his entrance. 
 He hath lately called from labor to rest our Breth- 
 ren , who have gone before us, yet only 
 
 a little while before, into the foreign and unknown 
 
lO 
 
 country beyond the dark river ; there, if each hath 
 the True Word, to receive the wages of faithful ser- 
 vice. 
 
 We, following our ancient Masonic custom, and 
 obeying the demands of duty, do now pay these last 
 honors to their memory. Them, they cannot profit. 
 They are beyond the reach of praise and of censure 
 alike. These to us, may and should be profitable ; 
 gratifying those whom they loved ; showing our ap- 
 preciation of their virtues ; encouraging others to 
 labor, and showing to the .vorld that the ties and sym- 
 pathies and obligations of Masonry cannot be dis- 
 severed by the hand of Death. 
 
 [Now will be sung the Magnificat, or instead there will 
 be bold sonorous music on the organ.'^ 
 
 M. — Thus saith the Lord : Stand ye in the ways, 
 and look and inquire for the old paths, where is the 
 good way ; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for 
 your souls. It is the faith of all true Masons, that 
 prayer, like the will, is one of the forces of the uni- 
 verse. Let us pray ! 
 
 [All kneel and the Chaplain reads the following] 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Our Father, Who art here present among us, and 
 dost graciously permit us to cry unto Thee in dis- 
 tress and sorrow, it hath pleased Thee to take back 
 the Breath of Life which Thou didst breathe into the 
 bodies of the Brethren whom we mourn, and to call 
 their spirits away from the miseries of this sinful 
 world. Let Time, as it heals the wounds thus in- 
 
II 
 
 flicted on the hearts of those who loved them, not 
 erase or make illegible the salutary lessons engraven 
 there ; but let those lessons, always continuing dis- 
 tinct and legible, make each one wiser and better, 
 who now sorrows for the dead. 
 
 In whatever trouble or distress may hereafter come 
 upon us, may we be consoled by the reflection that 
 Thy Wisdom and Power are no more infinite than 
 Thy Love ; and that our sorrows are not visitations of 
 Thy Anger, but results of the great Laws of Har- 
 mony by which everything is being conducted to a 
 good and perfect issue in the fulness of Thy time. 
 
 Cause the loss of these friends and Brethren whom 
 we lament, to increase our affection for each other, 
 and make u's more lenient, indulgent and charitable, 
 and more punctual in the performance of all the duties 
 which Friendship, Loving-kindness, Brotherhood and 
 Honor demand. And when it comes to us in our turn 
 to die, may an abiding trust in Thy Mercy dispel the 
 dread of dissolution. And may we not be disap- 
 pointed in our Hope, nor find our Faith to be a delu- 
 sion, that we shall meet our Brethren again hereafter, 
 in another and a more excellent life. Amen ! 
 
 ALL. — Amen ! So mote it be ! 
 
 M. — Enlighten, O Lord, those who sit in darkness 
 and the shadow of death ! 
 
 ALL. — The Lord is our God forever ; He will be 
 our guide, even unto Death. 
 
 M. — We are but sojourners on the earth ; let us 
 not stray from Thy commandents ! 
 
 ALL. — Lord, make us to know our end, and the 
 measure of our days, what it is ! 
 
12 
 
 M. — That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, 
 and may finish the work Thou hast given us to do. 
 
 ALL. — Let us die the death of the righteous, and 
 let our last end be like theirs ! 
 
 M. — We commit ourselves to Thy Loving-kindness 
 and tender mercies. 
 
 ALL. — Strengthen Thou our hands and purify our 
 hearts ! 
 
 M.— Confirm and make effectual, and multiply our 
 good resolves ! Lead us away from temptation, and 
 deliver us out of the power of evil. 
 
 ALL. — For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power 
 and the Glory, forever. Amen ! 
 
 M. — The will of God is accomplished. So mote it 
 be ! Amen ! 
 
 [Now will be sung the '•'•Benedicite Omnia Opera" 
 or instead there will be played bold triumphant music 
 on the organ. 
 
 The Master raps* and all are seated except the M., 
 S. W., and J. W.J 
 
 M. — My Brethren, in a little while, as it hath hap- 
 pened to our Brethren to whose memory we now do 
 honor, so it will happen unto each of us ; and we, like 
 them, shall be gathered unto our fathers. But our 
 Brethren are not wholly gone from us, nor ever will 
 be, nor from this material world. Their influences and 
 the eifects of their example survive them ; the thoughts 
 they uttered are not subject to decay ; and the conse- 
 quences of their action and exertion can never cease 
 while the universe continues to exist. Many that 
 sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
 everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
 
13 
 
 contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the 
 brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many 
 to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. 
 
 S. W. — The eyes of the Lord are upon the right- 
 eous, and His ears are open unto their cry. 
 
 J. W. — The face of the Lord is against them that 
 do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the 
 earth. 
 
 S. W. — The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, 
 and delivereth them out of all their troubles. 
 
 J. W. — The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a 
 broken heart ; and saveth such as be of a contrite 
 spirit. 
 
 S. W. — Many are the affiictions of the righteous ; 
 but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 
 
 J. W. — The Lord redeemeth the Soul of his Ser- 
 vants ; and none of them that trust in Him shall be 
 desolate. 
 
 [A strain of minor music on the organ.'^ 
 
 M. — Come with me, my Brethren, around this cofi&n, 
 which represents those wherein the bodies of our 
 Brethren repose ; and aid me in paying the last 
 Honors of Masonry to their memory. 
 
 [A procession of twenty-seven members of the Rite, selected 
 for the purpose, is formed, and marches three times in a 
 circuit, as large as practicable, around the coffin, their hands 
 crossed on their breasts, bearing lighted torches in their 
 right hands. During each circuit there is slow and solemn 
 music, which ceases when the procession has halted. When 
 the Master reaches the head of the coffin, at the end of the 
 first circuit, all face inward, continuing under the same sign ; 
 and he says :] 
 
H 
 
 M. — May all the influences of our Brethren, for good, 
 that do survive them, be continually expanded and 
 increased, to benefit their fellow-men ; and may our 
 Father who is in Heaven, in His Wisdom, counter- 
 act and annul all those that tend to evil ! 
 
 ALL. — Amen ! So mote it be ! 
 
 [All now give, together, the Funeral Honors. These are 
 to cross the arms on the breast, the right over the left ; raise 
 both hands, the torch between, at the same time looking up- 
 ward ; bring down the arms until extended horizontally in 
 front of the body, then rest the heel of the torch on the floor. 
 Do this three times, and at the end of each time say, "Fare- 
 well !" Another circuit is now made and when the Master 
 again reaches the head of the coffin, all again face inward, 
 and he says : ] 
 
 M. — May we not forget the lesson s taught us by the 
 death of our Brethren ! But, remembering the uncer- 
 tainty of life, and the little value of those things for 
 which men most strive, may we more earnestly en- 
 deavor to obey rhe laws of God, avoid dissensions, 
 hatreds, and revenges, and labor to do good to our 
 fellow-men ! May we be true and faithful, and live 
 and die loving our Brethren! 
 
 ALL. — Amen! So mote it be! 
 
 [All again give the Honors as before ; and the third 
 circuit is made. When the Master is again at the head 
 of the coffin, all face inward, and he says :] 
 
 M. — May the relatives of our Brethren be consoled 
 in their great affliction, and sustained in all the trials 
 and hardships which they may have to encounter in 
 this world. 
 
 ALL. — Amen! So mote it be! 
 
15 
 
 [All again give the Honors as before. Then the 
 Brethren all return to their places.] 
 
 M. — Let US pray ! 
 
 [All kneel and the Master reads the following] 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O, Merciful and Loving Father, encourage to per- 
 severance all wlio labor in the cause of Truth and 
 Virtue and the rights of men, and keep them from 
 becoming weary and faint-hearted, assuring them 
 that none so labor without result, nor at the last are 
 unrewarded. Protect and perpetuate, we pray Thee, 
 civil and religious liberty in this land, and prevent 
 tyranny, subversion of constitutional government, 
 oppression, injustice and usurpation ; and defeat all 
 mad or wicked schemes that with plausible pretexts 
 lead to ruin. Teach all men the great truth, that 
 peace, good government, political freedom and pure 
 religion walk hand in hand ; and as Thou hast united 
 these, let none put them asunder. 
 
 Make the Order of Freemasonry worthy of its high 
 pretensions. Persuade its initiates everywhere to 
 illustrate its holy principles of Truth, brotherly Love, 
 Virtue and Toleration. And when our labors in this 
 earthly Lodge and Workshop in which we serve our 
 apprenticeship, are finished, admit us to the com- 
 panionship of those who have worthily worked and 
 gone away before us, in that Temple of the Heavens 
 wherein Thy Throne of Love is established forever. 
 Amen! 
 
 ALL. — Amen ! So mote it be ! 
 
 [A strain of solemn music on the organ.~\ 
 
x6 
 
 M. — The dead men shall live ; with my dead body 
 shall they arise. Awake, and sing, ye dwellers in the 
 dust ! For Thy dew is as the dew on the grass ; and 
 earth shall send forth its dead. 
 
 S. W. — The seed dies ; and out of its death springs 
 the young shoot of the new wheat, to produce an hun- 
 dred-fold. 
 
 J. W. — The worm dies in its narrow prison-house, 
 woven by itself; and out of its death springs the bril- 
 liant moth, emblem of Immortality. 
 
 S. W. — The Serpent, symbol of Eternity, renews its 
 youth ; and out of the night-death of sleep comes the 
 renewed life of the morning. 
 
 J. W. — All Death is new Life. The Creator, Pre- 
 server and Destroyer is ONE Deity. All evil and 
 affliction are but the modes of this great and continu- 
 ous Genesis, that shall not be eternal. Death is the 
 day of recompense, after the toils of life. It is the 
 dawn of the day of Bternity. Through the dark veil, 
 the soul, freed from the body, passes into the light 
 beyond, redeemed and delivered from the evils and 
 dangers of mortality. 
 
 [The Junior Deacon relights the Altar-light in the 
 South, and there is a strain of triumphant music on the 
 organ.\ 
 
 S. W. — Thy Brethren shall live again. The seed 
 that is sown is not quickened unless it die. Then 
 that which is sown in corruption and dishonor shall 
 be raised in glory. The grave enfolds in its embrace 
 the bodies of those who were once our Brethren ; but 
 they are not there. They are not dead, but live and 
 have returned to God" their Father. 
 
17 
 
 [The Senior Deacon relights the Altar-light in the 
 West, and thei-e is a strain of triumphant music on the 
 
 M. — Behold ! I show you a mystery. We shall not 
 all sleep ; but we shall all be changed, in a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. So 
 when this corruptible shall have put. on incorruption, 
 and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
 shall be brought to pass the saying that is written : 
 " Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, Death, 
 where is thy sting ? Oh, Grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory?" 
 
 [The Master of Ceremonies relights the Altar-light in the 
 East. Immediately is sung the " TE DEUM LAUD- 
 AMUS," or a selected Anthem similar in character to the 
 Te Deum.J 
 
 M. — The will of God is accomplished. 
 
 ALL. — Blessed be the name of the Lord ! 
 
 M. — In Egypt, among our old masters, where 
 Masonrj? was more cultivated than Vanity, no one 
 could gain admittance to the Sacred Asylum of the 
 tomb until he had passed under the most solemn judg- 
 ment. A grave Tribunal sat in judgment upon all, 
 even the kings. They said to the Dead — " Whoever 
 thou art, give account to thy country of thine actions ! 
 What hast thou done with thy time and life ? The 
 law interrogates thee ; thy country hears thee ; Truth 
 sits in judgment on thee." Princes came there to be 
 judged, escorted only by their virtues and their vices. 
 
 A public accuser recounted the history of the dead 
 man's life, and threw the blaze of the torch of Truth 
 on all his actions. If it were adjudged that he had 
 
led an evil life, his memory was condemned in the 
 presence of the nation, and his body was denied the 
 honors of sepulture. 
 
 Masonry has no such tribunal to sit upon her dead 
 and judge them. With her, Xh^good that they have 
 done lives after them, and the evil is interred with 
 their bones. But she requires that whatever is said 
 in her behalf concerning them shall be the simple 
 truth ; and should it ever so happen that of any one of 
 her sons who dies, nothing of good can truthfully be 
 said, she will mournfully and pityingly bury him out 
 of her sight in silence. 
 
 Let Masonry, through the lips of our Orators, speak 
 
 to us of our Brethren , who have gone 
 
 away from us, to be seen among us in this world no 
 more forever. Tell us the story of their lives, and re- 
 count their virtues, and their good deeds, that we may 
 remember and endeavor to imitate them ; but let the 
 faults and errors of each be forgiven and forgotten ; 
 for to say that each had them is but to say that he was 
 human. 
 
 Brother , let us hear what may prop- 
 erly and profitably be said of our Brother . 
 
 [The Orator, or a Brother selected for the occasion, delivers 
 an oration on the life and character of each deceased Brother, 
 respectively. If desirable, a different Brother may be selected 
 in each case, in which event the foregoing clause will be 
 repeated for each. J 
 
 M. — My Brethren, the duty we owed to the dead is 
 performed. It remains, that we who are alive should 
 so live, and by our actions attend the coming of the 
 day of Fate, that we neither be surprised, nor leave 
 
our duties imperfect, nor our sins uncanceled, nor our 
 persons unreconciled, nor God unappeased ; but that, 
 when our bodies in their turn go down to their graves, 
 our souls may ascend to the regions of Eternal light, 
 wherein is the Holy House of the Heavenly Temple 
 of the Lord. Amen ! 
 
 [The Chaplain, or a Clergyman selected for the occa- 
 sion, pronounces the following Benediction ;] 
 
 May the blessings of our Father who is in Heaven 
 rest upon us all, now and forevermore ! May Broth- 
 erly Love increase among us, and the remembrance of 
 our Brethren who have gone away from us, make 
 more dear unto us those who remain ! And may all 
 those virtues which Masonry inculcates be continually 
 and faithfully practiced by all of us, and unite us and 
 all good Masons closely together ! And may content, 
 and peace, and resignation, with faith and hope, abide 
 with us forever ! Amen ! 
 
 ALL. — Amen ! So mote it be ! 
 
 [The Service is concluded with triumphant music, prefer- 
 ably by singing the GLORIA IN EXCELSIS— either in 
 Latin or English. ] 
 
IxnQ ^eruicje. 
 
 [This service of bestowing the ring of a deceased Brother 
 . upon his widow, should follow the Church Funeral Service. 
 The ring should be in possession of the Master, having pre- 
 viously been secured by the Undertaker.] 
 
 , DEATH ! DEATH ! ! DEATH ! ! ! 
 MORTALITY ! MORTALITY ! ! MORTALITY ! ! ! 
 
 Dear Brethren : Once more our harps are tuned 
 to mourning, and our organs unto the voice of those 
 who weep ; again the ponderous gates of our Are- 
 opagus have swung upon their massive hinges, and the 
 chill wind that comes through the opening admon- 
 ishes us of the presence of the last dread enemy — 
 Death ! Hark ! The solemn tolling of the funeral 
 bell, and the chanting of the dread " Miserere " comes 
 stealing on our ears, and tells us of the sad fact, that 
 another soul has departed from among us ; that an- 
 other one of our members, a loved brother, has crossed 
 over the dark river, to that brighter, happier home 
 beyond the grave. 
 
 By this sad visitation we are again reminded of the 
 uncertainty of life, and of the inevitable fate that awaits 
 us all — Death ! Many of the solemn ceremonies of 
 our Rite, within the sacred walls of our Areopagus, 
 are funereal in their character, and are intended to 
 impress upon our memories, in a solemn and real 
 manner, that we are mortal ; that this world is not 
 our abiding-place. 
 
21 
 
 To-day these ceremonies become a solemn reality. 
 It is no manikin that fills the casket before us ; the 
 remains of one of our members now occupies that 
 receptacle, and we are called upon to bear his earthly 
 temple to its final resting-place. 
 
 The solemn service in which our voices join at this 
 time, is a reality. God wills it, and we humbly submit 
 to His decree. He whose death we mourn, was an es- 
 teemed and cherished friend and brother, and we 
 deeply deplore our loss. We trust that he realized in 
 his life and actions, the grand motto of a Master of 
 the Royal Secret : — " SpES mea in deo EST "—His 
 trust being in God, his faith was well founded. 
 
 How often, you, who are familiar with the solemn 
 ceremonies of our Rite, have heard the welcome call 
 from the visored guard : — Next ! Upon this mourn- 
 ful occasion, what a significant import has that word 
 to us all ! Soon, how soon we know not, the inexor- 
 able guard, Death, will call "Next!" Who will it 
 be ? May each of us be ready ! 
 
 On the day of , 189 , our dear 
 
 brother, whose remains now lie before us, within this 
 casket, in the cold grasp of death, united himself with 
 this branch of Masonry. As a part of the solemn and 
 impressive ceremonies upon that occasion, while he 
 was kneeling at the sacred altar, the Holy Bible open 
 before him, and surrounded by the brethren of the 
 Rite, he was presented with a gold ring, which was 
 placed upon the wedding finger of his left hand, as a 
 symbol of the alliance he had that evening contracted 
 with Virtue and the Virtuous. This ring had in- 
 scribed within it the legend — " Whom virtue unites, 
 death cannot separate." 
 
22 
 
 The ring, being endless^ is an emblem of eternity, 
 and with, its motto symbolizes the eternal nature of 
 Virtue and Truth. He was charged never to part with 
 it, during his life, and at death only to his wife, his 
 eldest son, or his dearest friend. And now, in accord- 
 ance with that covenant, and the solemn usages of our 
 Order, it becomes my duty to perform the last sad 
 ceremony connected with this ring. 
 
 My Dear Sister: In the name of the Ancient 
 and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and in 
 the name of your dear departed husband, who was an 
 honored and loved member of our Order, I present to 
 you this memento, and with it the sorrowing sympa- 
 thy and condolence of his brethren, with whom, in 
 life, he was united. I trust that when you look upon 
 this ring, you will always be reminded of the great 
 truth contained in the legend : " Whom Virtue unites^ 
 death cannot separated 
 
 [As these last words are being said tlie Master takes the 
 Widow's left hand and places the ring upon her third or 
 wedding finger. J 
 
 And now, dear citizen, friend, neighbor, and brother. 
 Farewell, a long, a last Farewell ! Brothers, bear him 
 forth tenderly, bear his precious remains to the tomb. 
 '' Blessed be his rest and fragrant the Acacia upon the 
 hallowed sod that covers him." 
 
HS770 .d'lr" ""'^"""V Ubrar, 
 
 Jiiir-