"When I awoke a light was burning in the room, and sitting by my side was the high priest himself. As I looked into this man’s noble face I felt certain that my trials were over. It was impossible to believe that he would descend to act the part of tempter; and in this view I was correct. "’You have,’ he said, ’passed through the three temptations which for centuries have been used to try those who are admitted to the white-robed order of priesthood, the trials of perseverance, purity, and meekness. In future, as you are one of us, no secret may be kept from you, and any special wisdom you possess should be freely taught to all. Your case is, however, one of unusual interest, as you are the first man who has been admitted into our ranks without many years of careful preparation. We have in various parts of the world disciples, whose business it is to train those they may consider likely to become fitted for the high calling, but it is not often that any of these converts attain to the highest order, which you have now reached.’ "’Tell me,’ I said, ’to what creed you belong.’ "’To no creed,’ he replied. ’In this temple at one time the followers of Zoroaster worshipped; then it fell into the hands of the Buddhists, and became one of their most sacred shrines. But the wise, gathered together as they were here, soon learned to cast off the errors which spring up in a mixed community, and three hundred years ago one Zifanta became high priest. He was a man possessed of unusual power, not such as the scattered mystics possess, which can only be employed at certain times, and under the most favourable circumstances. He was able to leave the body at will, and to converse with the spirits of the dead, whereby he acquired great wisdom and worked mighty miracles on earth. He, moreover, changed the religion of his followers, bidding them to seek in every creed and among all people the truth which Brahm, the one and only God, whispers into the hearts of his faithful children, who are scattered over the face of the earth. He preached against the subjugation of the body after the manner employed by the Buddhist adepts, saying that the body should not be regarded as the enemy of the spirit, but rather for the time being as its helpmate. He affirmed that without the aid of matter the spirit on earth was powerless; for as the wing-feathers of a bird plucked from the pinions are scattered hither and thither by every fitful breeze, so is matter helpless without the forces of the spirit; but as a bird deprived of its plumage can no longer leave the earth, and becomes the prey of any prowling beast, so the spirit, when the body is injured or weakened, becomes a prey to passing delusions, and is unable to accomplish any noble work. Therefore, among our followers, have we many grades. Had you fallen in the second trial, preferring the love of woman to entire devotion to wisdom, the girl you saw might have become your wife, and you would have