ought to indulge in speculations of this kind, for who
knows what part Destiny or Fate plays in the Great Universal plan--who
knows where Free-Will terminates and Destiny moves the pieces on the
board, that the Great Game of Universal Life be played according to
the plan?

While among the Essenes, as we have said, Jesus first heard of John,
and determined to use the ministry of the latter as an opening wedge
for His own great work. He communicated to the Essenic Fathers His
determination to travel to John's field of work later on, and the
Fathers sent word of this to John. The legends have it that John did
not know who was coming, being merely informed that a great Master
from foreign parts would join him later on, and that he, John, should
prepare the people for his coming.

And John followed these instructions from his superiors in the Essenic
Brotherhood to the letter, as you will see by reference to our first
lesson, and to the New Testament. He preached repentance;
righteousness; the Essenic rite of Baptism; and above all the Coming
of the Master. He bade his hearers repent--"repent ye! for the Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand"!--"repent ye! for the Master cometh!" cried he
in forceful tones.

And when his people gathered around him and asked whether he, John,
were not indeed the Master, he answered them, saying, "Nay, I am not
He whom thou seekest. After me there cometh one whose sandals I am not
worthy to unloose. I baptize thee with water, but He shall baptize
thee with the Fire of the Spirit that is within Him!" It was ever and
always this exhortation toward fitness for the coming of the Master.
John was a true Mystic, who sank his personality in the Work he was
called on to do, and who was proud to be but the Forerunner of the
Master, of whose coming he had been informed by the Brotherhood.

And, as we have told you in the first lesson, one day there came
before him, a young man, of a dignified, calm appearance, gazing upon
him with the expressive eyes of the true Mystic. The stranger asked to
be baptized, but John, having perceived the occult rank of the
stranger by means of the signs and symbols of the Brotherhood,
rebelled at the Master receiving baptism at the hands of himself, one
far below the occult rank of the stranger. But Jesus, the stranger,
said to John, "Suffer it to be," and stepped into the water to receive
the mystic rite again, as a token to the people that He had come as
one of them.

And