The Rosicrucian FellowshipAutumn Equinox Service

Music
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience
( Tune: Sweet Hour of Prayer )
Let’s strive to know that we may do.
What lift’s, ennobles, is right and true.
With love to all and hate to none,
Let’s shun no duty that should be done.
For knowing how to act aright,
And doing it from morn till night,
From day to day and year to year,
We conquer self and sin and fear.

Reader unveils the Emblem and gives salutation:

“ My Dear sisters and brothers, may the roses bloom upon
Your cross.” ( Answer from the audience: “And upon
Yours also.” )
“God is Light”
Each time we sink ourselves in these three words
We lave in a spiritual fountain of inexhaustible
Depth, and each succeeding time we sound more
Thoroughly the divine depths and draw more closely
To our Father in heaven.
To get in close touch with this subject, now that
The Christ Light is beginning to permeate the
Earth , let us go back in time to get our bearing
And the direction of our future line of progress.
The first time our consciousness was directed to-
Ward the Light was shortly after we had become en-
Dowed with mind and had entered definitely upon our
Evolution as human beings in Atlantis, the land of
The mist, deep down in the basins of the Earth, where
The warm mist emitted from the cooling Earth, hung
Like a dense fog over the land. Then the starry
Heights of the universe were never seen, nor could
The silvery light of the Moon penetrate the dense,
Foggy atmosphere which hung over the ancient land.
Even the fiery splendor of the Sun was almost totally
Extinguished, for when we look in the Memory of
Nature pertaining to that time, we find that it was
Exceedingly dim, having an aura of various colors,
Very similar to those we observe around an arc light.
But this light had a fascination. The ancient Atlan-
Teans were taught by the divine Hierarchs who
Walked among them to aspire to light, and as the
Spiritual light was then already on the wane, they
Aspired all the more ardently to the new light, for
They feared the darkness of which they had become
Conscious through the gift of mind.
Then came the inevitable flood when the mist cooled
And condensed. The atmosphere cleared, and the
“ chosen people” were saved. Those who had worked
Within themselves and learned to build the necessary
Organs required to breathe in an atmosphere such as
We have today, survived and came to light. It was
Not an arbitrary choice; THE WORK OF THE PAST CON-
SISTED OF BODY BUILDING. Those who had only gill
Clefts, such as the fetus still uses in its prenatal
Development, were as unfit physiologically to enter
The new era as the fetus would be to be born were
It to neglect to build lungs. It would die as those
Ancient people died when the rare atmosphere made
Gill clefts useless.
Since the day when we came out of ancient Atlantis
Our bodies have been practically complete, but
From that time and from now on THOSE WHO WISH TO
FOLLOW THE LIGHT MUST STRIVE FOR SOUL GROWTH. The
Bodies which we have crystallized about us must be
Dissolved, and the quintessence of experience ex-
Tracted, which as “SOUL” may be amalgamated with
The Spirit to nourish it from impotence to omnipo-
Tence. Therefore, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness
Was given to the ancients, and the LIGHT OF GOD DE-
SCENDED UPON THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE. This is of great
Significance: The Ego had just descended into its
Tabernacle, the body. We all know the tendency od
The primitive instinct toward selfishness, and if we
Studied the higher ethics we also know how sub-
Versive of good the indulgence of the egotistic tend-
Ency is; therefore God immediately placed before
Mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of Sacrifice.
Upon this altar they were forced by dire necessity
To offer their cherished possessions for every trans-
Gression, God appearing to them as a hard task-
Master whose displeasure it was dangerous to incur.
But still the Light drew them. They knew then that
It was futile to attempt to escape from the hand of
God. They had never heard the words of John, “God
IS LIGHT,” but they had already learned from the
Heavens in a measure the meaning of infinitude, as