v. 8. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. v. 9. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. v. 14. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come. Here we have a distinct declaration: Reincarnation is a fact; John is the rebirth of Elias.[169] Judging from these texts, one might be tempted to think that reincarnation was confined to the prophets or to people of importance, but Saint John shows us that the Jews, though perhaps ignorant that it was a law of universal application, recognised, at any rate, that it might happen in the case of any man. _Saint John_, Chapter 9. v. 1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. v. 2. And his disciples asked him, saying: Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? v. 3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Here we are dealing with a man _blind from birth_, and the Jews ask Jesus if he was blind because he sinned; this clearly indicates that they were referring to sins committed in the course of a former existence[170]; the thought is, therefore, quite a natural, straightforward one, referring to something well known to everyone and needing no explanation. As one well acquainted with this doctrine of Rebirth, without combating it as an error or as something doubtful which his disciples ought not to believe, Jesus simply replies: "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." And yet it appears as though this answer must have been distorted, as so many others have been, otherwise it would mean that the only reason for this man's blindness was the caprice of the Deity. _Reincarnation in the Apocalypse._ The _Apocalypse_, an esoteric book _par excellence_, confirms the doctrine of Reincarnation, and throws considerable light on it: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out...."[171] In another verse it is stated that to him who overcometh "I will give the morning star."[172] In the language of theosophy, this means: He who has overcome the animal soul, shall, by mystic Communion, be united to the divine soul, which, in the _Apocalypse_, is the symbol of the Christ: "I, Jesus, am the bright and morning star."[173] Another verse clearly characterises the nature and the cost of victory: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a _white stone_, and in the stone a new _name_ written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."[174]