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
Prayer:
Grand Architect of the Universe, in whose holy sight centuries are but as days; to whose omniscience the past and the future are but as one eternal present; look down upon Thy children, who still wander among the delusions of time—who still tremble with dread of dissolution, and shudder at the mysteries of the future; look down, we beseech Thee, from Thy glorious and eternal day into the dark night of our error and presumption, and suffer a ray of Thy divine light to penetrate into our hearts, that in them may awaken and bloom the certainty of life, reliance upon Thy promises, and assurance of a place at Thy right hand. Amen.
Response: So mote it be!
The following, or some other appropriate Ode may here be sung: