nt by the words: 'The human mind is part of the divine
mind.'

"A single drop rises on the surface of the stormy ocean of life. It
lasts but a second--though men term it threescore years and ten--and
then, glowing with the light it receives and imparts, sinks again.

"Man, regarded as an individual, is both by birth and education a
thought entering upon the threshold of the consciousness of God. At
death, he simply sinks below that threshold, but he does not perish. He
remains a part of eternity, just as all thought endures in its
consequences.

"When I combine a number of such individuals or thoughts and term them
a nation, the genius of that nation enters upon the threshold of such
consciousness as soon as the nation begins to have a history of its
own.

"Combining the nations into a whole, we have mankind or the totality of
thought, the consciousness of God and of the world.

"I have often felt giddy at the mere thought of standing firm and
secure, on the highest pinnacle of thought.

"May these thoughts inspire and deliver me in the hour of dissolution.
There is no separation of mortal and immortal life, they flow into each
other and are one.

"The knowledge that we are one and the same with God and the universe
is the highest bliss. He who possess this, never dies, but lives the
life eternal.

"Come to me once more, thou spirit of Truth, at the moment when I
sink--

"Dust cleaves to my wings, just as it does to yonder lark, winging its
flight from the furrowed field into ether. The furrow is as pure as the
ether, the worm as pure as the lark,--God yet dwells in that which, to
us seems lost and ruined. And should my eye be dimmed in death--I have
beheld the Eternal One--My eyes have penetrated eternity. Free from
distortion and self-destruction, the immortal spirit soars aloft--"

When Gunther had read thus far, Eberhard laid his hand on his lips as
if to silence him, and gazed intently into his eyes.

"You have honestly wrestled with yourself and the highest ideas," said
Gunther, whose voice was tremulous with something more than grief at
approaching death.

Eberhard closed his eyes. When Gunther saw that he was asleep, he rose
from his seat.

He now noticed that Irma had been sitting behind the bed-screen. He
beckoned to her, and she left the room with him.

"Did you hear everything?" asked Gunther.

"I only came a few minutes ago." Irma wanted to know the whole truth in
regard to her father's