Written by Bro. David Vinton, 1816
Composed by Bro. Ignaz Joseph Pleyel
Solemn strikes the fun’ral chime,
Notes of our departing time,
As we journey here below,
Thro’ a pilgrimage of woe.
Mortals, now indulge a tear,
For mortality is here!
See how wide her trophies wave,
O’er the slumbers of the grave.
Lord of all, below, above,
Fill our souls with Truth and Love.
As dissolves our earthly tie,
Take us to Thy Lodge on High.
According to Robert G. Davis, FPS, writing as a guest author in the Spring 1997 Indiana Freemason, “…the music was composed by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, a composer who was a student of Brother Hayden’s, and also a Mason himself. It is a hymn from Pleyel’s ‘4th Quartet, op. 7,’ published in 1791.” Also in this article, Brother Davis says about the lyricist, “[Brother David Vinton] is best known for publishing at Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1816, a volume…under the title of ‘The Masonic Minstrel.’…It was in this volume that the words of the beautiful dirge used in the Third Degree [were] found.”
