VOLUME XXVIII

R

ECENT commentary in the Masonic press carries the intimation that some writers are endeavoring to Christianize Masonry. From the comments and the context we presume that the brethren meant trying to conform Masonry to the specific limitations of some creed.

Now we agree that this attempt, if indeed it is being made, would result in nothing but confusion, because Masonry teaches men to:

"Be of that religion in which all men agree; that is to be good men and true, or men of honor and honesty, whereby Masonry becomes the center of Union and the means of conciliating true of conciliating true friendship among those that must have remained at a perpetual distance."

Creeds are matters of belief and beliefs separate men; and most often the cleavage comes along the line of a nonessential.

But there is a body of knowledge that unifies men; and it has been known to some in all ages and climes, including this present age and clime, through the experience of "Initiation," or the discovery of The Christ within-"That

NUMBER 8

Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

The Christ Principle is in Masonry and a little study will disclose it under many veils.

From the Ancient Sun Myth of Egypt, which is the basic form, it may be traced down the ages, from the Mysteries in which this myth was developed and purified for a chosen few, to the narrative of the life and experiences of Jesus of Nazareth, where it was still further developed and purified for the many.

With the advent of the Nazarene, the Sun of God became the Son of God, prefigured in the Sun Myth.

This Son, or Emanation of the Principle of Light, Life and Love, became The Christ-The Messiah-The Redeemer of the World.

In the Egyptian and in later mysteries, the candidate was placed in a death-like sleep, during which the Ego was liberated from the physical body, and made acquainted in the spiritual realms with mighty truths concerning the spiritual basis of the universe, and the real nature of "life" and "death.”

This statement is neither more nor less than an explanation and a parallel of experiences mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments.

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After being raised to consciousness. again in the physical body, this knowledge remained and constituted "Initiation." The candidate had in fact, by the assistance of the powers of the Hierophant, travelled in foreign countries.

Those students in this age who approach the altar of Truth divested of prejudice and invested with toleration, may glean many hints from the religious lore of other lands, notably India; but the greatest occult book ever given to man is the Holy Bible, and we may find therein landmarks concerning this matter of "Initiation."

Running through its pages, appearing and disappearing like a thread of gold in a tapestry, there are gleams of a metallic kind. Let us follow the clue. Hiram, the Master Builder, was the son of a widow.

Elijah, afterwards reincarnated as John the Baptist, is represented as raising the son of a widow.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Greatest Master of whom we know, raised at Nain the son of a widow.

Perhaps the whole story is told in the The Bible narratives, perhaps not. Bible makes no secret of the fact that Jesus had esoteric instructions for his disciples. It is a fair question, therefore, were these two raisings in fact Initia

tions?

The landmark is there and it forms a cable tow between the Old Testament and the New. In both cases it was the son of a widow that was raised.

"He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."

The Legend of the Builder is one of the variations of this same Story of the Ages, the old, old story of the effort of man to know himself, to know his God, and to find the way whereby At-Onement might be effected; for At-Onement is something more than Initia

tion; it is the attainment of the stature of a Master.

We shall understand this Legend of the Builder if we study it in the light which preceding degrees shed upon it. Divorced from this introductory

work it ceases to teach what it is intended to teach.

Studied as history alone, it becomes meaningless and leads to confusion. worse confounded.

The Legend as we have it today is an evergreen Acacia concealing the place where a mighty truth is buried. This Truth-this open secret of the agesis the fact that those worthy and well qualified may, by personal study and effort, and the subduing of the lower nature, bring about the personal experience of Initiation, or the discovery of The Christ within.

It is possible to attain to an individual experience of the Rising of the Star in the East, a personal knowledge of the birth of the Christ Child in the heart, and a personal responsibility for its nurture in the Manger, and its development in grace and truth.

It is significant that the Child is laid in a Manger which is a place where Beasts are fed.

This, because the Child must take the place in the heart formerly occupied by the "beasts," or the passions and desires of the lower nature.

We say growth and development advisedly, for this experience of Initiation attained by effort and in progressive is not accomplished all at once. It is stages. There is an old saying, "The Adept becomes, he is not made.' It is something like this: at just the right time, a man grasps the real beauty and significance of one of those beams of the Spiritual Sun that are being poured out on us all continually, and it leaves him no peace until by effort and development he becomes worthy of receiving more light.

At no time in the history of the world. has a vital interest in these things been more necessary than now, when men are adrift from their old moorings.

The current interest in the more sensational aspect of psychic and occult possibilities is but the floating branches which betoken the approach of land.

In the Legend of the Builder, Masonry presents a Constructive Allegory reflecting this evolution of the human soul, and such allegory most certainly goes back to the remotest ages of antiquity.

In no age of the world has the Father left his Children without light. Always there has been a body of men highly advanced in spiritual truths. The modern title of Master Mason is only the reflection of a great reality, a reality that inspires, teaches and directs from behind the scenes. It is the reality hinted at in the lecture on the Apron, in the words, "Except he be a Mason." There is indeed a small band. "Many

are called and but few are chosen.' Their ranks are open to all on the sole test of merit, or proficiency in the preceding degrees. Scattered inconspicuously about the world in many differing races and climes, they are referred to, broadly speaking, as The Masters; and the more advanced, tried and tested of the fellowcraft sometimes find the way to their doors.

An Ancient Legend in which this spiritual truth of the evolution of The Christ in man is told under the guise of a narrative of physical events, divides naturally into three periods. In a way, these periods may be spoken of as Initiation, Probation and Enlighten

ment.

INITIATION

The great event of this first period is an experience through which the candidate obtains a brief glimpse of the true Light. Henceforth he knows that there is Light to be had and where to seek for more.

Almost his first desire is to share this knowledge with a brother; but he is restrained by a tie stronger than human hands can impose. He cannot give this light to another.

He can, if that other is ready, lead him to a place of preparation where he will find out how to attain this light for himself.

So we see that the main lessons of this first period are the attainment of initial light, the assumption of an obligation, and the understanding that the Path of Attainment must be trodden, each for himself in the silence of his own soul.

One reason why we see so much in print about the lesser psychic phenomena and so little about the genuine. higher experiences (and there are such) is hinted at by A. P. Sinnett in his "Esoteric Buddhism," where he says: "The Neophyte no sooner forced his way into the region of mystery, than he was bound over into the most inviolable secrecy as to everything connected with his entrance and further progress there. .. the chela or pupil of occultism, no sooner became a chela, than he ceased to be a witness on behalf of the reality of occult knowledge." That is, as we understand the passage to apply today, he at least ceases to be a witness as to times, places, or persons connected with his own novitiate or even the fact that he is a novice.

There is another landmark connected with this first period, and mentioned by the Nazarene, and that is that he who would tread this path must resolve to "lay up for himself treasures where neither moth nor rust corrupt," treasures that last, something of a metallic kind.

one of the most beautiful pieces of symbolism in the esoteric work; and one which cannot too strongly be commended to the consideration of the student.

The Neophyte is informed that he must come into touch with a certain "Master," in a place called the "Middle Chamber," where he will receive further instructions. The story runs that this Chamber is approached by an ancient winding stair having Three, Five and Seven Steps.

Where and what is this Middle Chamber?

Do you know of any more ancient Middle Chamber than the human brain -middle in function-between body and spirit?

Is there anything more winding than its physical convolutions, or anything more twisted and involved than the webs of sophistry it can spin when reason refuses to be guided by Love?

Is it not in truth the very place where Jesus said to seek for the Kingdom of God within?

Perchance it is the Shrine where true Knights may still find and drink of Life from the Holy Grail.

As to the numbers Three, Five and Seven, it would be hard to pick out any having more symbolic meanings associated with them, and we only note a few in passing.

The number Three may refer to the Trinity of God, Man, and the Means which establishes their Mutual Relationship, whereby the Three that can always hold a Master's Lodge are

manifest.

As to the Five, the Five Pointed Star is an ancient geometric glyph of ManMan with his head erect and hands and feet outspread and exhibiting the Five Points of Fellowship.

We have no doubt whatever that the Seven, in this connection refers to the Seven Stations of the Cross which we must all pass on the way to self mastery. In another way, this is the Seven Principles of man which must be brought

under control by the Ego in order to complete its evolution on this planet.

These Seven Principles are symbolized in the Apron, where we have the Four Lower principles, represented by the Square, supporting the Three Higher principles, represented by the Triangle; and the Triangle is folded down into the Square, indicating that the work of the Divine Triad in Man is to inform, vivify and spiritualize the Four Lower principles, which constitute the Four Square Foundation Stone of the New Jerusalem.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Of the Third Period, little can be said. to him who has been raised from the Dead Level to the Living Perpendicular, or from the grave of materiality to the Living Plumb, which expresses the integrity of Unity or At-One-ment with the Father of Lights or the Sun of God.

But the Legend runs that the Plumb must be tested and proved by the Angle of a Square.

Now the Angle of a Square is the essential element of a Cross, because the right angle indicates the greatest possible divergence between two straight lines; and is therefore a symbol of the fundamental conflict between Human Desire and Divine Will within the Mind of Man-or the Passion of the Cross.

Hence we may say that the Neophyte is proved by the Cross and is raised on the Cross, for when the Level is raised to the Plumb the Cross is demonstrated.

The Human Mind is the theater wherein this Mystery of Initiationthis Passion of the Cross is accomplished.

In this Third Period, the Middle Chamber now consecrated by long and pure worship, has become the Sanctum Sanctorum or Holy of Holies, or the Most Retired Apartment of the Mind.

In that place, where the Soul communes with the Over Soul-in perfect silence-and thus receives that Wisdom