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Article Mi&ao-w ¦¦ ¦:: :: S ← Page 4 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mi&Ao-W ¦¦ ¦:: :: S
written for the occasion / were sung by the assembled Congregation as iollow : — - u In each cold bed a mortal sleeps—The silent Lodge is here ; Pale death an awful vigil keeps Through all the changing year .
What tears have wet these grassy mounds What sighs these winds have heard ! 0 God , have not the piteous sounds Thy pitying bosom stirred ? 44 Shall man thus die and waste away , And no fond hope be left-Is there no sweet confiding ray For bosoms all bereft ?"
The presiding officer then proceeded with the Masonic ceremonies , thus—taking a handful of wheat and directing a portion of the earth to be opened , he said : — u have met to day to consecrate the ground here selected and
prepared for the interment of the dead . In all ages , when public solemnities of any nature are proposed , the ancient and honourable order of Free and Accepted Masons have been appointed to conduct thera , and by their peculiar usages , ancient and venerable , and each symbolizing some profound and important truth , to impress them upon the public memory and respect .
u ' The ground beneath us is designed henceforth to be the resting place of men . Here will be brought the weary head , the tired limbs , —the overladen heart , Here—while ages roll , while yonder luminary marks with undeviating accuracy the passage of time , —are to sleep together those who have walked and laboured together in life , ' and who areif our traditions
, speak truly , to be reunited in another state of being . How fitting then my friends and brethren , that we should express by some public and solemn act that we have chosen this place for our last bed , and desire that it should he henceforth respected for our sake , as well as for the sake of those who have gone before us and those who shall come after us .
" Our first Masonic ceremony will be to exhibit the public grand honours of the Order . They express in the most forcible manner , first , our love for the departed , our hearts lacerated by their loss . Second , our hope thatalthough for a while escaped us and gone like freed eagles cxultingly upwards tothe better bourn—we are not ignorant as to their present abiding place . Third , the profound respect due to their remains tenderly deposited here . Unite with me , my Brothers , in this ceremony . "
The public grand honours of Masonry were then given Avith perfect accuracy and time , forming a most imposing ' spectacle , After winch the presiding officer said , a These grains of wheat I here deposit in the darkness and coldness ol mother Garth . Lost to the aiffht of man . 'if thorp , ho . mw invito vim is ; -nrnros ^
by whichthey shall reappear to honour , grace and usefulness , time will develppe it . To us they are no longer of value . They must perish in the Garth , or they cannot bring forth their increase to the ' light of " day . They must die , or they cannot live again . How impressively does this instruct us concerning the lot of man . No sooner do Ave begin to live than we also begin to die . Although he may safely pass through the vieiiisituderi of youth
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mi&Ao-W ¦¦ ¦:: :: S
written for the occasion / were sung by the assembled Congregation as iollow : — - u In each cold bed a mortal sleeps—The silent Lodge is here ; Pale death an awful vigil keeps Through all the changing year .
What tears have wet these grassy mounds What sighs these winds have heard ! 0 God , have not the piteous sounds Thy pitying bosom stirred ? 44 Shall man thus die and waste away , And no fond hope be left-Is there no sweet confiding ray For bosoms all bereft ?"
The presiding officer then proceeded with the Masonic ceremonies , thus—taking a handful of wheat and directing a portion of the earth to be opened , he said : — u have met to day to consecrate the ground here selected and
prepared for the interment of the dead . In all ages , when public solemnities of any nature are proposed , the ancient and honourable order of Free and Accepted Masons have been appointed to conduct thera , and by their peculiar usages , ancient and venerable , and each symbolizing some profound and important truth , to impress them upon the public memory and respect .
u ' The ground beneath us is designed henceforth to be the resting place of men . Here will be brought the weary head , the tired limbs , —the overladen heart , Here—while ages roll , while yonder luminary marks with undeviating accuracy the passage of time , —are to sleep together those who have walked and laboured together in life , ' and who areif our traditions
, speak truly , to be reunited in another state of being . How fitting then my friends and brethren , that we should express by some public and solemn act that we have chosen this place for our last bed , and desire that it should he henceforth respected for our sake , as well as for the sake of those who have gone before us and those who shall come after us .
" Our first Masonic ceremony will be to exhibit the public grand honours of the Order . They express in the most forcible manner , first , our love for the departed , our hearts lacerated by their loss . Second , our hope thatalthough for a while escaped us and gone like freed eagles cxultingly upwards tothe better bourn—we are not ignorant as to their present abiding place . Third , the profound respect due to their remains tenderly deposited here . Unite with me , my Brothers , in this ceremony . "
The public grand honours of Masonry were then given Avith perfect accuracy and time , forming a most imposing ' spectacle , After winch the presiding officer said , a These grains of wheat I here deposit in the darkness and coldness ol mother Garth . Lost to the aiffht of man . 'if thorp , ho . mw invito vim is ; -nrnros ^
by whichthey shall reappear to honour , grace and usefulness , time will develppe it . To us they are no longer of value . They must perish in the Garth , or they cannot bring forth their increase to the ' light of " day . They must die , or they cannot live again . How impressively does this instruct us concerning the lot of man . No sooner do Ave begin to live than we also begin to die . Although he may safely pass through the vieiiisituderi of youth