The Grand Chaplain, standing before the Lodge, then makes the following
Invocation.
And may the Lord, the giver of every good and perfect gift, bless the brethren here assembled, in all their lawful undertakings, and grant to each one of them, in needful supply, the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy. Amen.
Response: So mote it be.
The Lodge is then covered, and the Grand Master retires to his chair.
The following or an appropriate original oration may then be delivered, and the ceremonies conclude with music:
Brethren: The ceremonies we have performed are not unmeaning rites, nor the amusing pageants of an idle hour, but have a solemn and instructive import. Suffer me to point it out to you, and to impress upon your minds the ennobling sentiments they are so well adapted to convey.
This Hall, designed and built by Wisdom, supported by Strength, and adorned in Beauty, we are first to consecrate in the name of the great Jehovah; which teaches us, in all our works, begun and finished, to acknowledge, adore, and magnify Him. It reminds us, also, in His fear to enter the door of the Lodge, to put our trust in him while passing its trials, and to hope in Him for the reward of its labors.
Let, then, its altar be devoted to His service, and its lofty arch resound with His praise! May the eye which seeth in secret witness here the sincere and unaffected piety which withdraws from the engagements of the world to silence and privacy, that it may be exercised with less interruption and less ostentation.
Our march round the Lodge reminds us of the travels of human life, in which Masonry is an enlightened, a safe, and a pleasant path. Its tesselated pavement of Mosaic-work intimates to us the chequered diversity and uncertainty of human affairs. Our step is time; our progression, eternity.