"To be happy is easy enough if we give ourselves, forgive others, and live with thanksgiving, No self centered person, no ungrateful soul can ever be happy, much less make anyone else happy. Life is giving, not getting." -Joseph Fort Newton

"This hidden teaching may indeed be described as the open secret of the world, because it is open, yet understood only by those fit to receive it. What kept it hidden was no arbitrary restriction, but only a lack of insight and fineness of mind to appreciate and assimilate it. Nor could it be otherwise; and this is as true today as ever it was in the days of the Mysteries, and so it will be until whatever is to be the end of mortal things. Fitness for the finer truths cannot be conferred; it must be developed. Without it the teachings of the sages are enigmas that seem unintelligible, if not contradictory. In so far, then, as the discipline of initiation, and its use of art in drama and symbol, help toward purity of soul and spiritual awakening, by so much do they prepare men for the truth; by so much and no further. So that, the Secret Doctrine, whether as taught by the ancient Mysteries or by modern Masonry, is less a doctrine than a discipline; a method of organized spiritual culture, and as such has a place and a ministry among men." -Joseph Fort Newton

"Dr. Joseph Fort Newton...is truly a Master Mason...this scholar, writer and orator holds the place...among the guiding minds of the great fraternity. No lecturer dealing with the subject of Masonic historical research has...brought more light to the subject than did the eloquent and noted divine....Sees Fraternity as influence for world peace." -Masonic News

"This essay quotes from the writings of scholars who are specialists in their lines and who are eminently qualified to speak for the antiquity of Masonry by a study of the most ancient records. From the evidences to be obtained by a study of old Egypt and old India, we see that even ancient Masonry was no novelty. It everywhere seems to be hoary with age. Its symbols are older than the oldest living religion, and it would seem that ancient Masonry received them as a sacred truth to be transmitted to posterity." -New Age Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Ante-Room

Part I--Prophecy

Chapter I. The Foundations

Chapter II. The Working Tools

Chapter III. The Drama of Faith

Chapter IV. The Secret Doctrine

Chapter V. The Collegia

Part II--History

Chapter I. Free-Masons

Chapter II. Fellowcrafts

Chapter III. Accepted Masons

Chapter IV. Grand Lodge of England

Chapter V. Universal Masonry

Part III--Interpretation

Chapter I. What Is Masonry

Chapter II. The Masonic Philosophy

Chapter III. The Spirit of Masonry

Bibliography