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 then occurred that strange event, with which you are familiar, when a dove descended as if from Heaven and rested over the head of the stranger, and a soft voice, even as the sighing of the wind through the trees, was heard, whispering, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”  And then the stranger, evidently awed by the strange message from the Beyond, passed away from the multitude, and bent his way toward the wilderness, as if in need of a retreat in which he could meditate over the events of the day, and regarding the work which He could now dimly see stretching its way before Him.