ent of every human need: the kinship of the soul with God; the
life of purity, honor, and piety demanded by that high heredity; the
unity and fellowship of the race in duty and destiny; and the faith
that the soul is deathless as God its Father is deathless! Now to
accept this faith as a mere philosophy is one thing, but to realize it
as an experience of the innermost heart is another and a deeper thing.
_No man knows the Secret Doctrine until it has become the secret of
his soul, the reigning reality of his thought, the inspiration of his
acts, the form and color and glory of his life._ Happily, owing to the
growth of the race in spiritual intelligence and power, the highest
truth is no longer held as a sacred secret. Still, if art has efficacy
to surprise and reveal the elusive Spirit of Truth, when truth is
dramatically presented it is made vivid and impressive, strengthening
the faith of the strongest and bringing a ray of heavenly light to
many a baffled seeker.

Ever the Quest goes on, though it is permitted some of us to believe
that the Lost Word has been found, in the only way in which it can
ever be found--even in the life of Him who was "the Word made flesh,"
who dwelt among us and whose grace and beauty we know. Of this Quest
Masonry is an aspect, continuing the high tradition of humanity,
asking men to unite in the search for the thing most worth finding,
that each may share the faith of all. Apart from its rites, there is
no mystery in Masonry, save the mystery of all great and simple
things. So far from being hidden or occult, its glory lies in its
openness, and its emphasis upon the realities which are to the human
world what light and air are to nature. Its mystery is of so great a
kind that it is easily overlooked; its secret almost too simple to be
found out.

FOOTNOTES:

[47] Matt. 13:10, 11.

[48] _Unwritten Sayings of Our Lord_, David Smith, vii.

[49] By occultism is meant the belief in, and the claim to be able to
use, a certain range of forces neither natural, nor, technically,
supernatural, but more properly to be called preternatural--often,
though by no means always, for evil or selfish ends. Some extend the
term occultism to cover mysticism and the spiritual life generally, but
that is not a legitimate use of either word. Occultism seeks to get;
mysticism to give. The one is audacious and seclusive, the other humble
and open; and if we are not to end in blunderland we must not confound