Page:Manual of the Lodge.pdf/238

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ANCIENT CEREMONIES—DEDICATION OF HALLS.
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ties, and the Beauty of harmony and holiness in all our communications and work. Let Faith be the foundation of our Hope, and Charity the fruit of our obedience to thy revealed will.

O thou preserver of men! graciously enable us now to dedicate this house which we have erected, to the honor and glory of thy name, and mercifully be pleased to accept this service at our hands.

May all who shall be lawfully appointed to rule herein according to our Constitutions, be under thy special guidance and protection, and faithfully observe and fulfill all their obligations to thee and to the Lodge.

May all who come within these consecrated walls, have but one heart and one mind, to love, to honor, to fear, and to obey thee, as thy majesty and unbounded goodness claim; and to love one another, as thou hast loved us. May every discordant passion be here banished from our bosom. May we here meet in thy presence as a band of brethren, who were created by the same Almighty Parent, are daily sustained by the same beneficent hand, and are traveling the same road to the gates of death. May we here have thy Holy Word always present to our mind, and religion, and virtue, love, harmony, and peaceful joy reigning triumphant in our hearts.

May all the proper work of our institution that may be done in this house be such as thy wisdom may approve and thy goodness prosper. And finally, graciously be pleased, O thou Sovereign Architect of the Universe, to bless the craft wheresoever dispersed, and make them true and faithful to thee, to then

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