The Rosicrucian Order is an ancient Mystic Fraternity formed in the year 1313 by a high spiritual teacher having the symbolical name "Christian Rosenkreuz": Christian Rose Cross. It was his mission to prepare a new phase of the Christian religion to be used during the coming age now at hand, for as the world and man evolve so also must religion change. The system of worship suited to the spiritual needs of our forebears is unsuited to our altered intellectual condition. Therefore, the great spiritual entities in charge of evolution change the religions of the world in harmony with the passage of the marching orbs in the heavens.

The Rosicrucian Philosophy is entirely Christian, striving to make religion a living factor in the land — and to lead to Christ those who cannot find Him by faith alone.

The particular function of this Philosophy is to enable people to accept the Christian doctrines through the medium of esoteric knowledge, when they are unable to do so through the medium of faith. It aims to supplement the work of the churches, not to supplant them.

The Rosicrucian Philosophy teaches that man possesses a latent sixth sense which has been developed in some and which eventually will be developed by all. This sense enables its possessor to perceive and investigate the super-physical realms, where the so-called dead live.

It also teaches that the Earth is a great school to which we return life after life through rebirth, learning new lessons during each sojourn here, and thus ever evolving toward greater perfection of character and the powers which it confers. The grades attained by different individuals in this school account for the differences in fortunes which we see on every side. Therefore we do not despair of God's love when we see the inequalities of life, for we know that in time all will be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

Sooner or later there comes a time when the consciousness is forced to recognize the fact that life, as we see it, is but fleeting, and that amid all the uncertainties of our existence there is but one certainty — Death!

When the mind has thus become aroused by thought of the leap in the dark which at sometime must be taken by all, several questions inevitably present themselves: Whence have we come? Why are we here? Whither are we going? These are basic problems with which all must sooner or later grapple, and it is of the greatest importance how we solve them for the view we take will color our whole lives.

The Rosicrucian Teachings also take the sting of sorrow out of the greatest of all trials, "the loss of loved ones," even if they have been what is called wayward, or black sheep; for we know that it is an actual fact that in God we live and move and have our being; hence, if one single Spirit were lost, a part of God would be lost and such a proposition is absolutely impossible. Under the immutable Law of Cause and Effect, we are bound to meet these loved ones sometime in the future, under other circumstances, and there the love that binds us together must continue until it has found its fullest expression. The Laws of Nature would be violated if a stone thrown from the Earth were to remain suspended in the atmosphere, and under the same immutable Laws, those who pass into the higher sphere must return. Christ said, "Ye must be born again;" and "If I go to my Father, I will return."

When the bark of our life sails lightly upon smooth summer seas, wafted along by the fair winds of health and prosperity, when friends are present on every hand, eager to help us plan pleasures which will increase our enjoyment of this world's goods, when social favors or political powers come to us to gratify our every wish in whatever sphere our inclinations seek expression, then indeed, we may say, and seem justified in saying, with our whole heart and soul: "This world is good enough for me." But when we come to the end of the smiling sea of success; when the whirlwind of adversity has blown us upon the rocky shores of disaster, and the sea of suffering threatens to engulf us; when friends have failed and every human help is as far off as it is unavailing, then we must look for guidance to the skies as does the mariner when he steers his ship over the waste of waters.

Likewise one who is looking for a guide which he may trust in the days of sorrow and trouble also should embrace a religion founded on eternal laws and immutable principles, able to explain the mystery of life in a logical manner so that his intellect is satisfied. At the same time, a system of devotion satisfies the heart, so that these twin factors in life receive equal satisfaction.

Only when man has a clear intellectual conception of the scheme of human development is he in a position to range himself in line therewith. When it is made clear to him that that scheme is beneficent and benevolent in the very highest degree, that all is truly ruled by divine Love, then that understanding will sooner or later call out in him a true devotion and heartfelt acquiescence which will awaken in him a desire to become a co-worker with God in the world's work.

Eye has not seen nor ear heard the glories that are yet in store for us, but Oliver Wendell Holmes has expressed a little of what we may look forward to in the following lines:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul.
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from Heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!