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Friends
we hope that you will have continuing pride
of the right kind
an internal satisfaction and peace
for having helped to make possible
something that is so sorely needed in our time.
A clear statement
that we will not be limited or held
by those principles or teachings
which we do not regard
as sufficient to be of the common good
for all men.
And that in perpetuating these principles
that we do believe and that we do affirm,
that each one of us is making
a valid contribution to life
and not only to our own life,
but to that Greater Life
which moves through all of us.
Before the cement is placed
I would like to ask all of you
to join with me
for a few moments,
in prayer:
Eternal Father, Master of all Builders,
Grand Master of architects
and of all who would construct for man,
the living temple of an eternal life.
We ask the blessing of Thy love and understanding
upon this frail effort of our hands.
We ask Thy presence
in this work which we are seeking to do
for the greater glory of Thy name.
Eternal Father,
bring peace and blessings into this house.
Assist us to so live
that Thy presence shall be with us,
in the going out and in the coming in.
We ask that this place be sanctified
against all these forces and circumstances
which may cause mortals to lose sight of Thee.
We ask Thy presence,
and we ask for the strength
to so live and so conduct ourselves
that Thy presence will be with us,
justified by our own conduct.
We ask that we may have depth of understanding
to love one another,
to serve one another,
to overlook all weaknesses and failings of the flesh,
and unite in the common service of man’s common need –
the need for love
and truth and right example
and dedication and devotion
not only here,
but in our private lives
and in all our contacts with our fellow men.
Into Thy eternal keeping, Great Father,
we place this house as our offering.
We ask Thy loving guidance;
we ask Thy presence in all our works.
We seek only to serve Thee,
and not for the glory of ourselves.
We ask that the future
shall bring to this house when we are gone,
others wiser and better than ourselves.
We ask not that this be a monument to any person,
but an eternal monument to the spirit of truth-seeking
and truth-loving in all men.
We hope that the foundations we have laid
will be used by others
who will grow further and do more,
and more greatly spread the needed message,
which we believe to be right and proper.
Into this house, O Father,
we welcome all Thy children.
Let not race nor creed nor sect divide us.
We search honorably,
we desire honorably,
that Thy presence,
as represented by this sun at high noon
– a light that shines upon all men –
shall shine into this house and into our hearts,
and from our hearts, to all who need.
Eternal Father,
bless those who have helped;
bless those who are helping;
bless those that shall help;
and keep this work clean and honest and right,
and forever dedicated to the majesty of Thy name.
We ask this humbly, as Thy servants,
awaiting the works that Thou wouldst have us do.
Bless all who need;
comfort all who mourn;
and to those who come here,
let inspiration and truth and righteousness
move their lives
toward Thy purpose and Thy service.
We ask it in Thy Eternal Name,
Great Father of works.
Amen.
Friends,
our foundation is the sincere belief
in the basic good in all men.
We believe that the time has come
when divisions, separations, and conflicts
can no longer be endured
if we are to survive.
We therefore seek to build here a place of union,
where the members of all the living religions of the world
can meet as brothers;
where no creedal limitation will ever divide men;
for we would not have a wall of creeds,
but an open door in human hearts to that God
who is the Father and the Power of all things.
In our foundation,
we have recognized
the three great instruments of the divine purpose
– religion, philosophy, and science.
We believe that these, divided,
have brought a terrible hardship upon mankind,
and that in the re-union of these,
we have the perfect servants of the Eternal.
We seek in religion
to establish men of good faith and good hope,
regardless of the names of their creeds or sects;
to establish them upon the security of their own internal convictions,
helping them to live strong and true and right,
and to come here without fear
that we shall try to take away from them
anything which they believe to be true.
We wish to take nothing; we wish only to give more,
if it is our power or privilege to so do.
We believe in philosophy
because we believe
that the great philosophical principles of the ages,
as taught through time
by the most respected and honored of human beings,
that these great teachings
and these great principles
are of eternal utility
inasmuch as they are based upon man’s universal veneration
of One Divine Power:
the eternal beauty of the universe
and the eternal goodness of man’s nature.
We feel that this belief,
so sacred, so noble, and so long held,
must be sustained, preserved, and protected
by every means available to us.
Therefore we dedicate a part of our work
to the carrying on of these principles
for which men have lived and died.
That we have recognized them and known them.
And let us try, in every way we can,
to prove that these good ones
have not lived or died in vain.
We believe that science,
the youngest of our great branches of knowledge,
is potentially one of the richest and most beautiful,
and that the scientist is peculiarly and wonderfully endowed
with powers and capacities
by which he can become
a great and wonderful servant
of the Divine Principle at the root of Life.
We know and believe
that as time goes on
science will richen, deepen, idealize,
and become a peculiar priesthood
to worship Deity eternally
through the wonders of the divine works.
For in these divine works,
we have the eternal evidence
of the Divine Power
which lies behind works
and is the power of God
in the presence of all things.
We believe in cultivating all useful knowledge,
and we invite all of you to make every possible use and advantage
of the various facilities
which we offer.
We firmly hope, also,
that here we have set up
a pillar in the world in which we live
a column that shall stand
and that in this Western world
it will grow and increase,
until it represents a real and enduring power,
working for good
working for principles
working for truth
through the consecration of individuals
who believe these things
and do not wait for others to do the work
but do it themselves
for in this way only can the work be done.
We feel that this example
may help others in doubt, uncertain;
young people growing up in a world of uncertainties
to realize that there are in this world
foundations in eternity,
foundations in principles and in truths,
foundations that shall not fail.
It is impossible for me in any way
to express to all the friends
who have helped in these works
for the wonderful things they have done.
For years they have brought flowers to our meetings;
they have helped to bring displays of our books and publications
to libraries, schools and institutions;
they have continuously and unceasingly
dedicated themselves
to the purposes for which we stand.
It is a great and solemn responsibility
to be thus the center of a purposed endeavor,
but I would like to also say
that let us not feel that I am any such center at all.
I am only working with you
trying in my own way
in the same way that you are trying
to do something that my heart and soul tell me
we all want to have done.
We do not want this in any way to be a personal loyalty,
but a loyalty to principle
a loyalty to truth.
Our own staying in this world is but short;
others must come after.
And we want for those others only one thing;
not that they shall continue anything that I have done,
not to be true to me,
but to be true to truth;
to be true to principle;
to correct the errors that I have made;
to go further than I can ever go.
All that I ask and beseech of you
is your kindly friendship,
one with another,
and all together with us here,
in order that we may do the best we can for you,
and for those whom we do not even know,
from whom we hear so frequently by letter
or by request for help.
We want to help;
we know you want to help;
and in the spirit of this helpfulness,
we cannot fail to make a richer life
for ourselves and others.
And out of this richness,
we make our great and solemn offering
to that Power
which is the guardian of all richness,
the guardian of all treasures.
And for this little building that we stand before today
we hope that there is in the universe
an archetypal house,
a universal temple of which this is the symbol and sign.
And that this great and archetypal house
shall hover above us and over us
and all the works that shall be done here
shall be done in the name of that invisible Power
and that great house
where all men dwell together
in fraternity and brotherhood.
To have you here today, friends,
is a wonderful experience.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
But the real thanks that must come to you
will come in the silence of your own lives
and in the interior realization
that you have united yourselves together
in the service
of the building of a better world
for ourselves
and those who come after us,
for our own coming years
and for our children
and for their children.
In this spirit,
we set up this house
and in this spirit,
we accept together
the God in you
which has made this possible
and we worship it and respect it in you
And we ask for you
all of the enlightenment and understanding
and the peace
that surpasseth understanding.
We thank you all
we are grateful
we are very humble
we appreciate
and we hope to continue
to be worthy of your confidence.
And also that in the time to come,
when we have gone,
others will carry on good works
in the name of the Master of all good works.
We thank you.