FOUR-AND-TWENTY years of age was Jesus when he entered Persia on his homeward way.
2) In many a hamlet, town and neighborhood he paused a while and taught and healed.
3) The priests and ruling classes did not welcome him, because he censured them for cruelty to those of low estate.
4) The common people followed him in throngs.
5) At times the chiefs made bold to try to hinder him, forbidding him to teach or heal the sick. But he regarded not their angry threats; he taught, and healed the sick.
6) In time he reached Persepolis, the city where the kings of Persia were entombed; the city of the learned magi, Hor, and Lun, and Mer, the three wise men.
7) Who, four-and-twenty years before, had seen the star of promise rise above Jerusalem, and who had journeyed to the West to find the new-born king;
8) And were the first to honor Jesus as the master of the age, and gave him gifts of gold, gum-thus and myrrh.
9) These magi knew, by ways that masters always know, when Jesus neared Persepolis; and then they girt themselves, and went to meet him on the way.
10) And when they met, a light much brighter than the light of day surrounded them, and men who saw the four stand in the way declared they were transfigured; seeming more like gods than men.
11) Now, Hor and Lun were aged men, and Jesus placed them on his beast to ride into Persepolis; whilst he and Mer led on the way.
12) And when they reached the magi's home they all rejoiced. And Jesus told the thrilling story of his life, and Hor and Lun and Mer spoke not; they only looked to heaven, and in their hearts praised God.
13) Three wise men from the North were in Persepolis; and they were Kaspar, Zara and Melzone; and Kaspar was the wisest master of the Magian land. These three were at the home of Hor and Lun and Mer when Jesus came.
14) For seven days these seven men spoke not; they sat in silence in the council hall in close communion with the Silent Brotherhood.
15) They sought for light, for revelation and for power. The laws and precepts of the coming age required all the wisdom of the masters of the world.