The cycles of Time roll with the procession of seasons. Spring is bloom; summer is growth; autumn is fruition; winter is the shroud, and beneath its cold, yet kindly fold, live the germs of a new life. Spring comes again; growth matures, and fruit is eternal. This is the religion and lesson of Nature, and the universal example cannot fail in relation to man. Let us draw comfort and consolation from things visible in this sad scene, and lift our eyes to the invisible Father of all with renewed faith that we are in His Holy Hands. Besides His infinitude of worlds, we have also His word, "That He is All, and All-upholding." We can do nothing for the dead. We can only offer respect to our brother's inanimate clay, and cherish his memory in the abiding faith that our temporary loss is his eternal gain. In this belief let us commit him with due reverence to the keeping of the All-Father, who is supreme in wisdom, infinite in love, and ordereth all things well. (Family service to be omitted in case no relatives of the deceased are present.) While we pay this tribute of respect and love to the memory of our late brother, let us not forget to extend our fraternal sympathy to his deeply afflicted and sorrowing family (wife, children, father, mother, brothers, sisters, as the relatives may be present): In your irreparable bereavement, and as he, for whom we are all mourners, was true to us, and faithful to the ties of our brotherhood, so shall we be true to you in the practice of the principles of Freemasonry and in tender memory of our loved and lost. He gave much of his time to us in devotion to our cause. We owe a grateful acknowledgement to you for his social companionship and service, and mingle our sorrows at parting with yours, his near and dear relations. Master: "May we be true and faithful; and may we live and die in love!" Response: "So mote it be." Master: "May we profess what is good, and always act agreeably to our profession!" Response: "So mote it be." Master: "May the Lord bless us and prosper us, and may all our good intentions be crowned with success." Response: "So mote it be." The apron is taken from the coffin and handed to the Master; and while the coffin is being lowered into the grave, either of the following funeral dirges may be sung--the one used, to be selected and announced before leaving the lodge-room: Funeral Dirge. Air--Pleyel's Hymn. Solemn strikes the funeral chime, Notes of our departing time, As we journey here below Through a pilgrimage of woe. Mortals, now indulge a tear, For Mortality is here; See how wide her trophies wave, O'er the slumber of the grave! Here another guest we bring; Seraphs of celestial wing, To our funeral altar come, Waft our friend and brother home. Lord of all! below--above-- Fill our hearts with truth and love; When dissolves our earthly tie, Take us to Thy lodge on high. Hark, From the Tombs.