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 trum