"'I am neither Leverani, Trismegistus, nor Ziska,' said the stranger. 'Spectres haunted my ignorant youth; but divine light has absorbed them, and I have forgotten the names of my ancestors. I have no name but that of "man," and am not different from others of my species.'
"'Your words are profound, but indicate distrust,' said the master. 'Confide in this sign. Do you not remember it?'
"Spartacus here made the higher masonic sign.
"'I have forgotten that language. I do not despise it; but it has become useless. Insult me not, brother, by thinking I distrust you. Is not your name also "man." Mankind have never injured me; or if they did, I have forgotten it. The injury they did me then was trifling, compared with the good they can do each other, and for which I thank them in advance.'
"'Is it possible then, oh, good man! that you esteem time as nothing in your estimate of life?'
"'Time does not exist. If men meditated on the divine essence more, they would like me, forget centuries and ages. What matters it, to one who participates so much in God's nature as to be eternal—to one who will live for ever? Time, to such an one, is a nonentity. The controlling power alone may hasten or delay, but will not pause.'
"'You mean, that man should forget to reckon time—that life runs perpetually and abundantly from the bosom of God. Are these your assertions?'
"'You rightly comprehend my meaning, young man. I have, however, a still better explanation of this great mystery.'
"'Mystery! I have come from afar to inquire and learn from you of the mysterious.'
"'Listen, then,' said the stranger, beckoning the old man to a seat on a tomb. 'This place inspires me in a peculiar manner, for on this spot rest the last rays of the setting sun and his earliest morning fires. Here, then, I could wish to exalt your soul to a knowledge of sublime truths.