If the place is convenient, they march around the grave in a line. When all are again settled in their places, the public Grand Honors are given by three times three.
The will of God is accomplished; so mote it be. Amen.
The Master then continues:
Change is the universal law of mortality, and the theme of every page of its history. Here we view the most striking illustration of change that can be presented to mortal eyes, minds and hearts. Ties of fraternity, friendship, love, all broken, and earthly pursuits, hopes and affections laid waste by death. Let us profit by this example of the uncertainty of the world, and resolve to live honest, pure and worshipful lives in daily preparation for the summons that will, sooner or later, surely come. It came to our brother, whose remains we have here laid away to rest eternal, and reminds us that we, too, are mortal—subject to the universal law. Our brother is dead, and cannot speak for himself. Let us defend his good name. Frailties he may have had, as what mortal man has not? To err is human, charity is Divine, and judgment is with the Almighty and All-Merciful. In this resting place of the body, virtues only are remembered, and sweet memories bloom.
All must pass through the Shadow of Death, and each one must make the dark journey without the companionship of earthly friend. Let us all hasten to secure the passport of an upright life, to the glories of a better land. Unto the grave we have resigned the body of our brother.
The Master scatters a handful of earth in the grave.
Earth to earth; dust to dust (the S. W. scatters dirt in the grave); ashes to ashes (the J. W. scatters dirt in the grave); there to remain until the dawn of that resplendent day, when again, the morning stars shall sing together, and all the sons of God shall shout for joy.
Prayer by the Chaplain.
Chaplain: Almighty and eternal God, in whom we live and move, and have our being—and before whom all men must appear, in the judgment day to give an account of their deeds in life, we, who are daily exposed to the flying shafts of death, and now surround the grave of our fallen brother, most earnestly beseech Thee to impress deeply on our minds the solemnities of this day, as well as the lamentable occurrence that has occasioned them. Here may we be forcibly reminded that in the midst of life we are in death, and that whatever elevation of character we may have obtained, however upright and square the course we have pursued, yet shortly we must all submit as victims of its destroying power, and endure the humbling level of the tomb, until the last loud trump shall sound the summons of our resurrection from mortality and corruption.
May we have Thy divine assistance, O merciful God, to redeem our mis-spent time; and in the discharge of our important duties Thou has assigned us, in the erection of our moral edifice, may we have wisdom from on high to direct us, strength commensurate with our task to support us, and the beauty of holiness to adorn and render all our performances acceptable in Thy sight. And when our work is done, and our bodies mingle with the mother earth, may our souls, disengaged from their cumbrous dust, flourish and bloom in eternal day; and enjoy that rest which Thou hast prepared for all good and faithful servants, in that spiritual house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, through the great Redeemer. Amen.