MASONIC HONORS TO THE DEAD
Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
- 1860
The custom of paying a parting tribute of
respect to the Dead derives from a deep-seated and most natural
feeling in the human heart, and hence we find it to have existed
in every nation, ancient or modern, civilized or uncivilized; -
among the South sea islanders and wild North American Indians,
noels than the old world Hindus, Assyrians,
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans: with the Hebrews under their
ancient theocratic institutions as well as with the Christians
of modern times. The rites and customs connected with
such funeral celebrations have been, of course, as
widely different, as the national character of the nations
among which they were adopted, but the one common principle
was at the root of all, the desire to gratify the feelings of
the survivors' hearts by some farewell tokens of affection
and respect offered to the memory of the departed. We find
the record of such observances sanctioned by the precedents
of the earliest Scripture history, in which we read of Joseph
and his brothers, on the decease of Jacob their father,
carrying up the body for burial to Hebron and stopping "at
the threshing-floor of Atad, beyond Jordan, and there
mourning with a great and very sore lamentation: so that
the inhabitants of the land, when they saw the mourning,
said, this is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians." In the
prophet Jeremiah, again, to pass over many other instances
and allusions, we find references to the same
observances, including the employment of the "mourning
women," corresponding to the preface of the Romans and
the "keepers" of Celtic funerals. "Give ear! call the
mourning-women, that they come, And to the skilful women send,
that they come; Let them hasten, and lift up the lamentation over
us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids may flow
with water." The same scene, thus referred to by the ancient
Hebrew prophet, may be seen by the traveller daily enacted
in modern Syria and Egypt. In all time and in every land,
under whatever different phases, the human heart, with its
sorrows and its joys, is still the same, and even those who can
with difficulty obtain the means of supporting their own life,
will sacrifice even their daily sustenance to do honor to
their dead ones. And when, in a community or a nation, some
one has been called away, who, by virtue, valor, patriotism
or other noble qualities, has towered preeminently above
his fellows, the private and more modest marks of
mourning accorded to all in common, extend and rise to a wider
and loftier sphere, and country and citizens unite with kinsmen
in lamenting the loss, and lauding the merits of the great
or good departed. In ancient Greece the custom of
eulogizing the memory of the illustrious dead was established at
a very early period, as we learn from the Homeric Poems, and
was adopted, as a wise and just institution, by her most
illustrious orators and statesmen. Nor can we imagine any greater
or more exciting stimulus, that could have been afforded to
the valour of her warriors, than the glowing panegyrics of
a PERICLES, pronounced over the tombs of those who had fallen
in defence of their Fatherland. Few, if any, of the funeral
orations of later times can be compared with that eloquent and
heart-stirring eulogium delivered by that accomplished orator
over the "first-slain" of his countrymen in the Peloponnesian
war. How beautiful and powerful is even the condensed substance
of the close of that memorable address ! "My task then is
nearly done, yet it may be added that these glorious and
beautiful lives have been crowned by a most glorious and
honorable death. Enjoying and enjoyed, as had been their life, it
never tempted them to seek by unworthy fear to prolong it. To
repel their country's enemies was dearer to them than the fairest
prospect which added years could offer them; and, having gained
this, they were content to die, and their last field witnessed
their brightest glory, undimmed by a single thought of weakness!
Let us follow their example, contemplating our country's
greatness, till our hearts and minds are fully inspired with a
deep sense and an enduring Love of it. This is the just fruit of
virtues, such as theirs whom we are now lamenting! They, when
they could give their country nothing else, gave her their own
lives; and their meet return is an enduring monument in every
heart, in every land, forever!" A noble tribute to the noble
dead, and powerful exhortation to the living, and time has shown
it to have been no less prophetic, for, after the lapse of
more than two thousand years; an English poet, himself
the champion of fallen Greece, thug truthfully addresses
her-
"Bear witness Greece, thy living page, Attest it,
many a deathless age! Thy heroes, 'mid the general doom, That
swept the column from the tomb, A mightier monument
command, The mountains of their native land!"
This custom
then of paying a proper tribute of respect and affection to all
the dead, and of offering, by funeral orations and other
appropriate means, a more public and marked honor to the memory
of those who had in their lives pre-eminently distinguished
themselves, is, as we have said, no less sanctioned by the
precedents of history in every age and land, than the sense of
right and justice implanted in the human soul. It emanates at
once from the heart of humanity. We shall, therefore, not be
wrong in applying it to a point of Masonry, to which many
circumstances have combined of late to draw our attention in a
more than ordinary degree, and respecting which we know that many
of our Brethren are feeling not a little anxiety and uneasiness.
MASONRY, we need hardly say, in its path of wide-spread
benevolence, is confined to no age or land. It is the fortress
and support of charity, virtue and truth, of Humanity at large,
in every age and land; and its practice, like its principles,
should ever been strict unison with those DIVINE PRINCIPLES,
from which HUMANITY derives its loftiest and holiest
inspirations. As each nation, of ancient or of modern times, has
had its own peculiar modes of giving vent to the sorrow of the
living, and of showing respect to the dead, so the RITUAL of our
world-wide Brotherhood has established a certain form for
the funeral ceremonies of each departed Brother; and to us
it appears a matter of no light moment - but, on the
contrary, one of imperative duty - that, whenever it is possible,
the order of that Ritual should be compiled with. That
every Mason, however humble his position or unknown his
name, provided he had through life been true to his vows and
the principles of our Order, should in death receive from
his Brethren a Brother's need of mourning and respect. There
is no want of charity in distinctly stating that only for him
who has thus been a true Mason in life, can this honor be
,justly claimed or expected. The instances happily are few, but
yet they do occasionally arise, in which those initiated into
our honorable craft have proved false, in character and
conduct, to all those high and virtuous principles which it is
the essential object of Masonry to maintain. If, by such
deviation from his vows, he, who was once a brother, has incurred
the penalty of expulsion, he has lost all claim to funeral
honors awarded to the true Mason. And yet, we have learned
with deep regret that a case has not long since occurred in
a neighboring State, in which this wise and wholesome rule has
been entirely and flagrantly disregarded, even the highest
Masonic honors having been paid to the memory of one, who, at the
time of his death, was under the sentence of expulsion, and whose
whole life had reflected disgrace, instead of dignity, upon our
Brotherhood! We feel bound to protest in the most earnest terms
against such a misuse and degradation of Masonic honors as this.
However it may have originated in a feeling of generous charity
towards the dead, it is no less a violation of the fundamental
principles of Masonry, and is calculated to inflict great injury
upon our Order in the eyes of the uninitiated; while even
among ourselves, one of the greatest incentives to perseverance
in the path of duty and of fidelity to Masonic obligations
is removed, when the violator of those obligations is thus
seen by his Brethren to be honored on a par with the most
faithful observer of them. This, we know, is an extreme
and extraordinary case, such as, we trust and hope, may
never occur again. But there is another species of
indiscriminate conferring of the highest funeral honors of very
frequent occurrence, and against which, though of course in a
less urgent tone, we must also protest. Let every true Mason we
repeat, receive at the hands of his Brethren the regular tribute
of funeral respect laid down by our Ritual, but, as has ever been
the case in the history of the human race, let high
and extraordinary honors be reserved for such Masons as
have, like the Heroes of Ancient Greece, or the Fathers
of American Freedom, distinguished themselves in
life preeminently above their fellows in the practical virtues
of Masonry;- for those who, by truth, virtue, honor and
honesty, and, above all, by that true charity and generosity of
heart, which is the brightest jewel in the Masonic crown, have
(in the words of the Grecian orator) 'erected for themselves
an enduring monument in every heart, in every land,
forever!' back to top
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