Manual of the Lodge/Ancient Ceremonies of the Order/Funeral Service
SECTION VIII.
FUNERAL SERVICE.
O Freemason can be interred with the formalities of the Order, unless it be at his own request, or by that of some of his family, communicated to the Master of the Lodge of which he died a member (foreigners and transient brethren excepted); nor unless he has received the Master's degree; and from this restriction there can be no exception. Fellow Crafts and Apprentices are not entitled to funeral obsequies; nor to attend the Masonic processions on such occasions.
When the Master of a Lodge receives notice of a Master Mason's death, and of his request to be interred as a Mason, he must satisfy himself of its propriety; and then, being informed of the time appointed for the funeral, the Master may invite as many Lodges as he may think proper, and the members of those Lodges may accompany their officers inform; but the whole ceremony must be under the direction of the Master of the Lodge to which the deceased belonged, and he and his officers must be duly honored and cheerfully obeyed on the solemn occasion.
The brethren who walk in procession should observe, as much as possible, a uniformity in their dress. Decent mourning, with white stockings, gloves, and aprons, being the usual dress of Master Masons, is most suitable and becoming. No person should be distinguished with a jewel, unless he is an officer of one of the Lodges invited to attend; and the officers of the Ledge to which the deceased belonged should wear sashes and hat-bands.
The brethren being assembled at the Lodge-room, or some other convenient place, the Master of the Lodge to which the deceased belonged opens the Lodge in the third degree. A procession is then formed to the house of the deceased, and thence to the grave in the following order, every brother carrying a sprig of evergreen:
Tiler, with a drawn sword;
The Stewards;
Master Masons;
Treasurer and Secretary;
Senior and Junior Wardens;
Past Masters;
The Bible, Square, and Compasses, on a blue velvet cushion, covered
with black cloth, carried by the oldest member of the Lodge;
The Master, supported by two Deacons;
The Officiating Clergyman;
The Chief Mourner;
Other Mourners.
Before the procession begins, several of the brethren should proceed to the church-yard, to prevent confusion, and make the necessary preparations. The brethren are not to desert their ranks, nor change places, but keep in their proper order. When the procession arrives at the gate of the church-yard, the Lodge to which the deceased brother belonged, and the mourners and attendants on the corpse, halt, till the members of the other Lodges have formed a circle round the grave, when an opening is made to receive them. They then advance to the grave; when the clergyman and officers of the acting Lodge take their station at the head of the grave, and the mourners at the foot. After the clergyman has concluded the religious services of the church, the Masonic service begins.
CEREMONIES AT THE GRAVE.
Master. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?
Response. Man walketh in a vain shadow, he heapeth up riches, and can not tell who shall gather them.
Master. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Response. When he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.
Master. Naked came he into the world, and naked he must return.
Response. Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
Master. All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
Response. As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
Master. So man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Response. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Master. Let us die the death of the righteous, and let our last end be like his.
Response. God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death!
Master. Almighty Father! into thy hands we commit the soul of our beloved brother.
The brethren answer three times, giving the grand honors each time:
The will of God is accomplished! So mote it be. Amen.
The Master then deposits the roll in the archives, and repeats the following
PRAYER.
Most glorious God! the Author of all good, and the giver of all mercy! pour down thy blessings upon us, and strengthen our most solemn engagements with the tie of sincere affection! May the present instance of mortality remind us of our approaching fate. May it draw our attention toward thee, the only refuge in time of need, that when the awful moment shall arrive in which we are about to leave this transitory scene, the enlivening prospect of thy mercy may dispel the gloom and fear of death; that after our departure hence in peace, and in thy favor, we may be received into thine everlasting kingdom, and there enjoy, in union with the souls of our departed friends, the just reward of a pious and virtuous life. So mote it be. Amen.
The following exhortation is then given by the Master:
My brethren, here we view a striking instance of the uncertainty of life, and the vanity of all human pursuits. The last offices paid to the dead are only useful as lectures to the living; from them we are to derive instruction, and consider every solemnity of this kind as a summons to prepare for our own approaching dissolution.
Notwithstanding the various instances of mortality which we daily meet; notwithstanding death has established his empire over all the works of nature, yet, through some unaccountable infatuation, we forget that we are mortal; we forget that we are born to die. We go on from one design to another; we add hope to hope; we lay out plans for the employment of many years, until we are suddenly alarmed with the approach of death, when we least expect him, and at an hour when we probably think ourselves to be in the meridian of our existence.
What are all the pomp and splendor of majesty, the pride of wealth, or the charms of beauty, when nature has paid her just debt? Fix your eyes, my brethren, on the last scene; view life stripped of her ornaments, and exposed in her natural meanness; and you will then be convinced of the futility of all those empty delusions. In the grave, all fallacies are detected, all ranks are leveled, and all distinctions are done away.
While we drop the tear of sympathy over the grave of our deceased brother, let charity induce us to throw a vail over his frailties, whatever they may have been, and not withhold from his memory the praise that his virtues may have claimed. Suffer the apologies of human nature to plead in his behalf. Perfection on earth has never been attained by any human being. The wisest, as well as the best, of men have erred.
Let the present example excite our most serious thoughts, and strengthen our resolutions of amendment. As we see that life is uncertain, and that all earthly pursuits are vain, let us no longer postpone the important concern of preparing for eternity. Let us embrace the happy moment, while time and opportunity offer, to provide against the great change which we know must come, when all the pleasures of this world shall cease to delight, and the reflections of a religious and virtuous life will yield the only comfort and consolation. Thus our expectations will not be frustrated, nor we be hurried, unprepared, into the presence of an all-wise and powerful Judge, to whom the secrets of all hearts are known.
Let us, while in this state of probation, support with sincerity the character of our profession. Let us advert to the nature of our solemn ties, and pursue with assiduity the sacred tenets of our Order. Then, with becoming reverence, let us supplicate the divine grace to insure the favor of that Eternal Being whose goodness and power know no bound, that when the awful moment arrives, be it sooner or later, we may be enabled to prosecute our journey without dread or apprehension, to that undiscovered country whence no traveler returns.
The following invocations are then made by the Master, and the public grand honors accompany each response:
Master. May we be true and faithful; and may we live and die in love with our brother.
Brethren. So mote it be.
Master. May we profess what is good, and always act agreeably to our profession.
Brethren. So mote it be.
Master.—May the Lord bless us, and prosper us; and may all our good intentions be crowned with success.
Brethren. So mote it be.
The apron is then thrown into the grave, while the Master repeats, with an audible voice:
Glory be to God on high! on earth, peace, good will to men!
Brethren. So mote it be, now, from henceforth, and for evermore.
The brethren march three times round the grave, casting therein their evergreens, and the public grand honors are then given. The Master closes with the following exhortation:
From time immemorial it has been a custom among the fraternity of Freemasons, at the request of a brother on his death-bed, or at the solicitation of his friends, to accompany his body to the place of interment, and there to deposit his remains with the usual formalities of our Order.
In conformity with this usage [and at the special request of our deceased brother, whose memory we revere, and whose loss we now deplore], we have assembled in the character of Freemasons, to resign his body to the earth whence it came [and to offer up to his memory before the world the last testimony of our regard]; thereby demonstrating [the sincerity of our past esteem, and] our inviolable attachment to the principles of the Order.[1]
The great Creator having been pleased, out of his wisdom and mercy, to remove our brother from the cares and troubles of a transitory existence to a state of eternal duration, and thereby to weaken the chain by which we are united, man to man, may we, who survive him, anticipate our approaching fate. May we be more strongly cemented in the ties of union and friendship; that during the short space allotted to our present existence and probation, we may wisely and usefully employ our time; and in the reciprocal intercourse of kind and friendly offices, mutually promote the welfare and happiness of each other, to the honor and glory of God, and the salvation of our own souls.
Unto the grave we have resigned the body of our deceased brother, there to remain until the general resurrection, in favorable expectation that his immortal soul may then partake of the joys which have been prepared for the righteous from the beginning of the world. And may Almighty God, of his infinite goodness, at the grand tribunal of unbiased justice, extend his mercy to him and all of us, and crown our hope with everlasting bliss in the realms of a boundless eternity. This we beg for the honor of his name, to whom be glory now and forever. Amen.
Brethren. The will of God is accomplished. So mote it be. Amen.
Master. From dust we came, and unto dust we must return.
Brethren. May we all be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Amen.
The procession then returns to the place whence it set out, where the necessary duties are complied with, and the business of Freemasonry is renewed. The insignia and ornaments of the deceased, if an officer of a Lodge, are returned to the Master, and the Lodge is closed in the third degree with the usual benediction.
When a Grand officer is interred, the service is performed by the Grand Chaplain, and the procession arranged according to the form of St. John's Day.
- ↑ What is included within brackets may be omitted in the case of transient brethren, or otherwise, as the officiating officer may think fit.