Thadeu

Coffin and grave we dock with care ;
Ills body reverently we bear ;
It is not dead ; but rests in God ;
Softly to sleep beneath the sod .
Cod breathed into this house of clay
The Spirit that hath passed away ;
He gave the true courageous Dlind,
The noble heart, strong, calm and kind .
Our brave Grand Master, who preferred
Death to the utterance of a word ;
Shall to the Mason ever be
The type of true fidelity .
[An alarm is now given at the door ; and the Jun :. Deacon says : "Th.'. lion:., the'lf .• . Ill .. Kings,
Solomon and Hiram, our Grand Masters, approach this sacred place, to unite with us in performing the last
honours to our deceased Gr.- . Master, their lamented Brother ."]
Th.% Hon: . [Rapping] : Arise, my Brethren, and receive our M.' . Ill:. G . •. Masters in silence.
[Two brothers come forward, representing King Sulomon and Hiram King of Tyre ; and the former says]
S: . &l.' . My Brethren, when we have received the last breath of our friend, and closed his eyes and
composed his body for the grave, then seasonable is the counsel of the Son of Sirach : "Weep bitterly and
make great moan, and use lamentation, as lie is worthy ; and that a day or two ; lest thou be evil spoken
of ; and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness . But take no grief to heart, for there is no turning again ;
thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself ." Solemn and appointed mournings are good expressions of our
affection for the departed soul, and of his worth and our value of him ; and it hath its praise in nature,
and in manners, and in public customs . Something is to be given to custom, something to fame, to nature
and to civilities, and to the honour of our deceased friends ; for that man is esteemed to die miserable, for
whom no friend or relative sheds a tear, or pays a solemn sigh .
When thou host wept a while ; compose the body to burial : which that it be done gravely, decently and
.charitably, we have the example 'of all nations to engage no, and of all ages of the world to warrant ; so
that it is against honesty, and public fame and reputation, not to do this office .
Place therefore on the coffin of our brother the square, the compass, the gavel and the rule ; emblems
of the virtues and authority of our Grand Master, Hiram Abi ; and let him who wears the jewels of that
distinguished and murdered Mason, remember henceforward and forever, that he can commit no graver offence
against the laws of Masonry and honour, than to degrade them by any act which that illustrious martyr would
scorn or be ashamed to do.
'
(The square,* compass, gavel and rule are laid upon the coffin by four different brothers, each advancing
separately and depositing one of them .]
• .L'. Sol.' . Place now upon the coffin the apron, collar and jewel of a Perfect Master ; and'let him
who shall hereafter wear them, be careful that he wear them worthily ; lest Masonic justice pluck them
from him if he disgrace them by sloth or baseness ; as the spurs were in former times hacked from the
heels of him who proved false gentleman and disloyal knight .
- It is a great act of piety, and honorable, to inter our friends and relatives according to the proportions
of their condition ; and so to give evidence that we appreciate and desire to imitate their virtues . For so
Jacob was buried with great solemnity, anal Joseph's bones were carried unto Canaan, after they had been
embalmed and kept four hundred years . Those that die should not be commended at a price, nor the
measure of their legacy be the degree of their virtue ; lest to want a monument should best preserve the
memories of the great and good, while the succeeding ages should by their instances remember the changes