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Article Mi&ao-w ¦¦ ¦:: :: S ← Page 3 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mi&Ao-W ¦¦ ¦:: :: S
that the tender branch thereof will not cease . Though the root thereof wax old in the earth , and the stock thereof die in the ground ; yet through the scent of water it will hud and bring forth houghs like a plant .
u But man dieth and wasteth away : yea , man giveth up the ghost , and where is he ? As the waters fall from the sea , and the flood decayetli and drieth up , so man lieth down and riseth not up ; till the heavens be no more they shall not wake nor be raised out of their sleep . "
The presiding officer now made some observations , directed chiefly to the noivMasonic portion of the audience , to the effect , that the place where freemasons statedly assemble themselves together is styled in their technical tongue , " holy ground ; " for this reason they erect their Lodges to God , and dedicate them to holy St . John . But the place where Freemasons lie , awaiting a glorious resurrection , "is OTound more holv : therefore , we ought to do honour to its selection , and consecrate it with fitting ceremonies to the work it has to do . The following prayer was then read by the Grand Chaplain : —
u Amidst the resting places of the departed , 0 Lord Gad , thy children have assembled this Hour to acknowledge their own feebleness , to view with humble hearts these abodes of poor , crumbling mortality , and to contemplatethe hour when each shall cast off his earthly clay as a garment , and be joined to the silent multitudes who have gone this way before us ! " ¦ ' If it be sad to think of death—sad to realize that each of us is every moment subject to mortal influences—how inexpressibly mournful , O Lord our heavenly Father , to stand by the graves of our departed , and to count the few brief days remaining to us until we shall be called to rejoin them So teach us to number our days , that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom . " Thy word , great God , declareth that man that is born of a woman is of few days and fall of trouble . He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down ; hefleethalso as a shadow and continueth not . All nature repeats this word , and proclaims that man must die ! The friends who stood around us
and gladdened the circle of our youth , have fallen away one by one in the pilgrimage of life , until we are well nigh alone . Death , that insatiable monster , has snatched from our hands the tender babe ; has torn from our side the honoured parent ; has mercilessly bereaved us of those whom w e loved as our very lives . AVe have felt the sting of death in our inmost souls ; the victory of the grave has humbled us to the very dust .
" We walk above the heads of the fond and the lovely . We cry aloud to them but they make us no reply . The hearts that once bounded to the voice of our coming are still . The tongues that once made music at our approach are silent * for the earth has concealed within its bosom our fairest and our dearest , and we mourn to-day that , although we may go to them , they cannot come to us . And there is no help yi us . u Enlighten us , O Lord , in the great lesson to be derived from all this sorrow . Impress upon our hearts the solemn moral of death as a judgment for sin . And since we are surely bound to drink the bitterness of this cup , may we not lose its sweetness . Pity us , a feeble , dyin g ' race , and manifest thy pity to our exceeding consolation . As we are so '' soon to join companionship in the grave , may we cherish kindness and forbearance to all who are our companions in the flesh - and so may these graves teach us to love all mankind as brethren . Amen . So mote it be . " Following this , thq first throe verses of the consecration ode .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mi&Ao-W ¦¦ ¦:: :: S
that the tender branch thereof will not cease . Though the root thereof wax old in the earth , and the stock thereof die in the ground ; yet through the scent of water it will hud and bring forth houghs like a plant .
u But man dieth and wasteth away : yea , man giveth up the ghost , and where is he ? As the waters fall from the sea , and the flood decayetli and drieth up , so man lieth down and riseth not up ; till the heavens be no more they shall not wake nor be raised out of their sleep . "
The presiding officer now made some observations , directed chiefly to the noivMasonic portion of the audience , to the effect , that the place where freemasons statedly assemble themselves together is styled in their technical tongue , " holy ground ; " for this reason they erect their Lodges to God , and dedicate them to holy St . John . But the place where Freemasons lie , awaiting a glorious resurrection , "is OTound more holv : therefore , we ought to do honour to its selection , and consecrate it with fitting ceremonies to the work it has to do . The following prayer was then read by the Grand Chaplain : —
u Amidst the resting places of the departed , 0 Lord Gad , thy children have assembled this Hour to acknowledge their own feebleness , to view with humble hearts these abodes of poor , crumbling mortality , and to contemplatethe hour when each shall cast off his earthly clay as a garment , and be joined to the silent multitudes who have gone this way before us ! " ¦ ' If it be sad to think of death—sad to realize that each of us is every moment subject to mortal influences—how inexpressibly mournful , O Lord our heavenly Father , to stand by the graves of our departed , and to count the few brief days remaining to us until we shall be called to rejoin them So teach us to number our days , that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom . " Thy word , great God , declareth that man that is born of a woman is of few days and fall of trouble . He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down ; hefleethalso as a shadow and continueth not . All nature repeats this word , and proclaims that man must die ! The friends who stood around us
and gladdened the circle of our youth , have fallen away one by one in the pilgrimage of life , until we are well nigh alone . Death , that insatiable monster , has snatched from our hands the tender babe ; has torn from our side the honoured parent ; has mercilessly bereaved us of those whom w e loved as our very lives . AVe have felt the sting of death in our inmost souls ; the victory of the grave has humbled us to the very dust .
" We walk above the heads of the fond and the lovely . We cry aloud to them but they make us no reply . The hearts that once bounded to the voice of our coming are still . The tongues that once made music at our approach are silent * for the earth has concealed within its bosom our fairest and our dearest , and we mourn to-day that , although we may go to them , they cannot come to us . And there is no help yi us . u Enlighten us , O Lord , in the great lesson to be derived from all this sorrow . Impress upon our hearts the solemn moral of death as a judgment for sin . And since we are surely bound to drink the bitterness of this cup , may we not lose its sweetness . Pity us , a feeble , dyin g ' race , and manifest thy pity to our exceeding consolation . As we are so '' soon to join companionship in the grave , may we cherish kindness and forbearance to all who are our companions in the flesh - and so may these graves teach us to love all mankind as brethren . Amen . So mote it be . " Following this , thq first throe verses of the consecration ode .