The Auditorium at The Pine Brook Hotel.
The American Revolution which began in 1776 has not been completed. Around the world intense interest is centered on our current Civil Rights legislation.
Until the Bill of Rights is enacted not only in our United States but throughout the whole world there can be no guarantee of world peace. Without the spirit of World Brotherhood there can be no safety for anyone anywhere.
Truly it has been lately said, "Love or perish."
For millenniums Sages and Seers, Prophets and Messiahs have sounded the warnings of the bitter price of greed, lust, arrogance, division, deceit, strife, hatred and have implored us to walk in the way of safety, the way of love, service, brotherhood.
The Sermon on the Mount, The Lord's Prayer, Buddha's Eight Fold Path, Moses' Ten Commandments and countless other instructions have been given to guide us along the secure paths of Righteousness.
Into this perverse generation there came One to act as teacher and guide. His sword was the King James version of the Holy Bible. He offered and gave His life and His service as a free gift to humanity. He worked without ceasing day and night pouring out His love on humanity. Above all He was a living Example of the Life which can change earth into Heaven.
He attacked injustice, illiteracy, poverty, crime, sickness, declaring
'We shall have a Righteous Government. We shall have the abundance of all good things. There shall be no segregation, no division, no strife. As it is here where I am the Head of My House, so shall it be throughout the land. I am the living example for you to follow. Follow me and we will dwell in unity with love together. We will build Heaven on earth; our songs will be happy songs, our hearts will be merry, for the old things will pass away. I will dry your tears and there shall be no more sorrow, no lacks, no wants, no limitations. Let the Holy Ghost have its way!'
He did not speak of a Heaven in the sky. He spoke of creating Heaven now, today, here on American soil, in the hurly-burly of the largest city in the world, in an area of tenements, in an era of depression and despair - to a congregation of the rejected, the despised, the exploited, the sick, sinful, illiterate, hungry, criminal - who had no place to turn, who had reached their extremity of pain and endurance - and He told them they would become angels, in a Heaven of their own, with every comfort and convenience; that they would become free of sin, debt, despair, cleansed of the vices of mortality. The price? Complete surrender to the will of God, the practice night and day of the Presence of God, complete faith in God and a. thankful, loving heart.
He spoke and taught with authority, as One who had sprung directly from the fountainhead of Universal Wisdom.
With infinite patience and practicality He taught the Architecture of Heavenly building, and none could stop nor hinder Him, for His laws and His Commandments were built on unshakeable truth.
It was inevitable that all the frightened forces of evil should rise up against Him to laugh and jeer and do their utmost to obstruct. Worldly judges would misjudge Him, newspapers caricature and slander Him. It was inevitable that these things would come about. But their stumbling blocks became His stepping stones! None could hinder this Master of the Great Mysteries.
Surely such an Architect building Heaven by day and Heaven by night, tireless in His labor is worthy of the names by which he is known, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, FATHER DIVINE, GOD.
He taught Americanism, loyalty, democracy; His theology embraced all religious science, all great religious teachings. On a practical level He functioned perfectly in schools, on farms, architecture, trades, professions and taught methods of doing the simplest task in a Divine Manner.
He chose for Himself a Virgin bride from among the ranks of His children to be His helpmate and companion. She expressed the highest attributes of Divinity and is the most perfect expression of True Motherhood, as He is the most perfect expression of True Fatherhood. Virtue and wisdom united itself in this marriage and its fruits have enriched the universe.
For the Anniversary of this Holy Marriage these words have been written as a tribute to FATHER and MOTHER DIVINE. It is especially a tribute to that part of their work which has been productive of the arising of a world conscience, which can no longer tolerate man's inhumanity to man, and which watches with keen and international interest America's decisions on the greatest spiritual and moral issue of our time: the civil rights and freedoms of every American citizen.