Opening the Lodge.
The several officers being in their places, and the brethren seated, the Worshipful Master will call up the Lodge and say:
W. M.: Brother Senior Warden, for what purpose are we assembled?
S. W.: To honor the memory of those brethren whom death hath taken from us; to contemplate our own approaching dissolution; and, by the remembrance of immortality, to raise our souls above the considerations of this transitory existence.
W. M.: Brother Junior Warden, what sentiments should inspire the souls of Masons on occasions like the present?
J. W.: Calm sorrow for the absence of our brethren who have gone before us; earnest solicitude for our own eternal welfare, and a firm faith and reliance upon the wisdom and goodness of the Great Architect of the Universe.
W. M.: Brethren, commending these sentiments to your earnest consideration, and invoking your assistance in the solemn ceremonies about to take place, I declare this Lodge of Sorrow opened.
The Chaplain, or Worshipful Master, will then offer the following, or some other suitable