made glorious above the stars. For the stars, also,
shall have an end, and the earth--even as our bodies must end here this
night; but our soul shall see the glory of God, the All-Wise, and shall
live."

"The sun riseth and the earth is made glad, and it is day; and again he
setteth and it is night, and the whole earth is sorrowful. But though
our sun is gone down and we shall see him rise no more, yet shall we see
a sun which setteth not for ever, and of whose gladness there is no end.
The morning cometh, after which there shall be no evening. The Lord
Ahura Mazda, who made all things, made also these our bodies, and put us
in them to live and move and have being for a space on earth. And now he
demands them again; for he gave them and they are his. Let us give them
readily as a sacrifice, for he who knoweth all things, knoweth also why
it is meet that we should die. And he who hath created all things which
we see and which perish quickly, hath created also the things which we
have not seen, but shall see hereafter;--and the time is at hand when
our eyes shall be opened to the world which endureth, though they be
closed in death upon the things which perish. Raise then a hymn of
thanks with me to the All-Wise God, who is pleased to take us from time
into eternity, from darkness into light, from change to immortality,
from death by death to life undying."

_"Praise we the All-Wise God, who hath made and
created the years and the ages;
Praise him who in the heavens hath sown and hath
scattered the seed of the stars;
Praise him who moves between the three ages that are,
and that have been, and shall be;
Praise him who rides on death, in whose hand are
all power and honour and glory;
Praise him who made what seemeth, the image of
living, the shadow of life;
Praise him who made what is, and hath made it
eternal for ever and ever,
Who made the days and nights, and created the darkness
to follow the light,
Who made the day of life, that should rise up and
lighten the shadow of death."_

Zoroaster raised one hand to heaven as he chanted the hymn, and all the
priests sang with him in calm and holy melody, as though death were not
even then with them. But Nehushta still held his other hand fast, and
her own were icy cold.

With a crash, as though the elements of the earth were dissolving into
primeval confusion, the great bronze doors