The disciple who has the power of entrance, and is strong enough to pass each barrier, will, when the divine message comes to his spirit, forget himself utterly in the new consciousness which falls on him. If this lofty contact can really rouse him, he becomes as one of the divine in his desire to give rather than to take, in his wish to help rather than be helped, in his resolution to feed the hungry rather than take manna from Heaven himself. His nature is transformed, and the selfishness which prompts men’s actions in ordinary life suddenly deserts him. (_To be continued._) THE ESOTERIC CHARACTER OF THE GOSPELS. “.... Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign _of thy presence_, and _of the consummation of the age_?”[33] asked the Disciples of the MASTER, on the Mount of Olives. ----- Footnote 33: St. Matthew xxiv., 3, _et seq._ The sentences italicised are those which stand corrected in the New Testament after the recent revision in 1881 of the version of _1611_; which version is full of errors, voluntary and involuntary. The word “presence,” for “coming,” and “the consummation of the age,” now standing for “the end of the world,” have altered, of late, the whole meaning, even for the most sincere Christians, if we exempt the Adventists. ----- The reply given by the “Man of Sorrow,” the _Chréstos_, on his trial, but also on his way to triumph, as _Christos_, or Christ,[34] is prophetic, and very suggestive. It is a warning indeed. The answer must be quoted in full. Jesus ... said unto them:— “Take heed that _no man_ lead you astray. For many shall come in my name saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray. And ye shall hear of wars ... but the end is not yet. _For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places._ But all these things are the beginning of travail.... Many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many, astray ... then shall the end come ... when ye see the abomination of desolation which was spoken through Daniel.... Then if any man shall say unto you, _Lo, here is the Christ_, or There; believe him not.... If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, go not forth; behold, he is in the inner chambers, believe them not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the East, and is seen even in the West, so shall be the _presence_ of the Son of Man,” etc., etc. ----- Footnote 34: He who will not ponder over and master the great difference between the meaning of the two Greek words—χρηστος and χριστος must remain blind for ever to the true esoteric meaning of the Gospels; that is to say, to the living Spirit entombed in the sterile dead-letter of the texts, the very Dead Sea fruit of _lip_-Christianity. -----