"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