8.  "May  he  not  destroy1  us.  He  the  Creator  of  the  earth,  the
righteous,  who  created  the  heavens.  He  who  also  created  the
bright  and  mighty  waters.  Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer
our  sacrifice  ? " 2

Who  is  this  that  is  "born  in  the  waters,"  an  "embryo
of  light "  ?  Even  He  of  whom  the  waters  and  the
light  are  but  the  garment,  "the  only  life  of  all  these
bright  gods  ;  "  their  life,  not  apart  from  them  only,  but
in  them.3

And  here  is  a  farther  venture  into  those  abysses  of
the  consciousness,  where  finite  so  blends  with  infinite,
that  its  very  darkness  deepens  into  light ;  where
deity,  felt  as  mystery  beyond  all  names  or  forms  of
conception,  yet  is  also  highest  personality  and  instant
life  of  all.
1.  "There  was  then  neither  nonentity  nor  entity;  neither  atmos-
phere nor  sky  beyond.     What  covered  all  ?

2.  "  Death  was  not,  nor  therefore  immortality  ;  nor  day  nor  night.
That  One  breathed,  breathless,  by  Itself  [in  essence] :  there  was  [or
has  been]  nothing  different  from  It,  nor  beyond  It.
3.  "  The  covered  germ  burst  forth  by  mental  heat.
4.  "  Then  first  came  Love  upon  it,  the  spring  of  mind.  This  the
poets  in  their  hearts  discerned,  the  bond  between  being  and  nought.
5.  "The  ray  which  shot  across  these,  was  it  above  or  below?
There  were  mighty  productive  powers,  nature  beneath  and  energy
above.
6.  "  Who  can  declare  whence  this  creation  ?    The  gods  came  later.
