136 PERSONAL ATTENTION. Induces thought, and contemplation still. We feel the present Deity, and taste PERSONAL ATTENTION. We ought to place but little confidence in ourselves, because we are often destitute both of grace and understanding. The light we have is small, and that is soon lost by negligence. We are even insensible of this inward darkness. We do wrong, and aggravate our guilt by excusing it. We are impelled by passion, and mistake it for zeal. We severely reprove little failings in our brethren, and pass over enormous sins in ourselves. We quickly feel, and perpetually brood over the sufferings that are brought upon us by others, but have no thought of what others suffer from us. If, however, a man would but truly and impartially examine himself, he would find but little cause to judge severely of his neighbour. The spiritual man prefers to all other cares, the care of his own improvement; and he that is strictly watchful over his own conduct, will easily be silent about the conduct of others. But to the divine life of the spiritual man thou wilt never attain, unless thou canst withdraw thy attention from all persons and the concerns of all, and fix it wholly upon thyself. He that purely and simply intends and desires the union of his soul with God, will not easily be moved by what he hears or sees in the world. Tell me if thou canst, where thou hast been wandering, when thou art absent from thy own breast; and after thou hast run about and taken a hasty view of the actions and affairs of men, what advantage bringest thou home to thy neglected and forsaken self! He that desires to have peace of heart, and partake of the divine nature, must cast all persons and things behind him, and keep God and his own spirit only in his view. VISION OF MIRZA. 137 As this progress to perfection depends much upon thy freedom from the cares and pleasures of the world, it must be proportionally obstructed by whatever degree of value they have in thy affections. Abandon, therefore, all hope of consolation from created things, not only as vain but dangerous; and esteem nothing honourable, nothing pleasing, nothing great and worthy the desire of an immortal spirit but God, and that which immediately tends to the improvement of thy state in him. The soul that truly loves God, does not repose in any thing that is inferior to God. It is God alone, the Infinite and Eternal, who filleth all things, that is the life, light, and peace of all blessed spirits. VISION OF MIRZA. On the fifth day of the moon, which, according to the custom of my forefathers, I always kept holy, after having washed myself, and offered up my morning devotion, I ascended the high hill of Bagdat, in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life; and passing from one thought to another, surely, said I, man is but a shadow, and life a dream. Whilst I was thus musing, I cast my eyes towards the summit of a rock that was not far from me, where I discovered one in the habit of a shepherd, with a musical instrument in his hand. As I looked upon him he applied it to his lips, and began to play. The sound of it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a variety of tunes that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from any thing I had ever heard; they put me in mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed souls of good men upon their first arrival in paradise, to wear out the impressions of the last agonies, and qualify them for the pleasures of that happy place. My heart melted away in secret raptures. I had been often told that the rock before me was the haunt of a genius; and that several had been netertained with music who had passed by it, but never 138 VISION OF MIRZA. heard that the musician had before made himself visible. When he had raised my thoughts by those transporting airs which he played, to taste the pleasure of his conversation, as I looked upon him like one astonished, he beckoned to me, and by the way of waving his hand, directed me to approach the place where he sat. I drew near, with that reverence which is due to a superior nature, and as my heart was entirely subdued by the captivating strains I had heard, I fell down at his feet and wept. The genius smiled upon me with a look of compassion and affability that familiarized him to my imagination, and at once dispelled all the fears and apprehensions with which I approached him. He lifted me from the ground, and, taking me by the hand, Mirza, said he, I have heard thee in thy soliloquies; follow me. He then led me to the highest pinnacle of the rock, and placing me on the top of it; cast thy eyes eastward, said he, and tell me what thou seest. I see, said I, a huge valley, and a prodigious tide of water rolling through it. The valley that thou seest, said he, is the valley of misery, and the tide of water that thou seest is part of the great tide of eternity. What is the reason, said I, that the tide I see rises out of a dark mist at one end, and again loses itself in a thick mist at the other? What thou seest, said he, is that portion of eternity which is called time, measured out by the sun, and reaching from the beginning of the world to its consummation. Examine, now, said he, this sea that is thus bounded with darkness at both ends, and tell me what thou discoverest in it. I see a bridge, said I, standing in the midst of the tide. The bridge thou seest, said he, is human life; consider it attentively. Upon a more leisurely survey of it, I found that it consisted of threescore and ten entire arches, with several broken arches; which, added to those that were entire, made up the number about an hundred. As I was counting the arches, the genius told me that this bridge consisted at first of a thousand arches; but that a great flood swept away the rest, and left the bridge in the ruinous condition I now beheld it; but tell me farther, said he, what thou discoverest on it. I see VISION OF MIRZA. 139 multitudes of people passing over it, said I, and a black cloud hanging on each end of it. As I looked more attentively, I saw several of the passengers dropping through the bridge into the great tide that flowed underneath it; and upon farther examination perceived there were innumerable trap-doors that lay concealed in the bridge, which the passengers no sooner trode upon, but they fell through them into the tide, and immediately disappeared. These hidden pit-falls were set very thick at the entrance of the bridge, so that throngs of people no sooner broke through the cloud, than many of them fell into them. They grew thinner towards the middle, but multiplied and lay closer together towards the end of the arches that were entiré. There were indeed some persons, but their number was very small, that continued a kind of hobbling march on the broken arches, but fell through one after another, being quite tired and spent with so long a walk. I passed some time in the contemplation of this wonderful structure, and the great variety of objects which it presented. My heart was filled with a deep melancholy to see several dropping unexpectedly in the midst of mirth and jollity, and catching by every thing that stood by them to save themselves. Some were looking up towards the heavens in a thoughtful posture, and, in the midst of a speculation, stumbled and fell out of sight. Multitudes were very busy in the pursuit of bubbles that glittered in their eyes and danced before them; but often when they thought themselves within the reach of them, their footing failed, and down they sunk. In this confusion of objects, I observed some with scimitars in their hands, and others with bottles who ran to and fro upon the bridge, thrusting several persons on trap doors, which did not seem to lie in their way, and which they might have escaped, had they not been thus forced upon them. The ge nius seeing me indulge myself in this melancholy prospect, told me I had dwelt long enough upon it. Take thine eyes off the bridge, said he, and tell me if thou yet seest any thing thou dost not comprehend. Upon looking up, What mean, said I, those great flights of birds that are perpetually hovering about the bridge, and settling upon it from time to time? I see vultures, harpies, ravens, cormorants, and, among many other feathered creatures, several little winged boys, that perch in great numbers upon the middle arches. These. said the genius, are envy, avarice, superstition, despair, love, with the like cares and passions that infest human life. I here fetched a deep sigh. Alas, said I, man was made in vain! how is he given away to misery and mortality! tortured in life, and swallowed up in death! The genius being moved with compassion towards me, bid me quit so uncomfortable a prospect. Look no more, said he, on man in the first stage of his existence, in his setting out for eternity; but cast thine eye on that thick mist into which the tide bears the several generations of mortals that fall into it. I directed my sight as I was ordered, and whether or no the good genius strengthened it with any supernatural force, or dissipated part of the mist that was before too thick for the eye to penetrate, I saw the valley opening at the farther end, and spreading forth into an immense ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running through the midst of it, and dividing it into two equal parts. The clouds still rested on one half of it, insomuch that I could discover nothing in it: But the other appeared to me a vast ocean, planted with innumerable islands, that were covered with fruits and flowers, and interwoven with a thousand little shining seas that ran among them. I could see persons dressed in glorious habits, with garlands upon their heads, passing among the trees; lying down by the sides of fountains, or resting on beds of flowers; and could hear a confused harmony of singing birds, falling waters, human voices, and musical instruments. Gladness grew in me upon the discovery of so delightful a scene. I wished for the wings of an eagle that I might fly away to those happy seats; but the genius told me there was no passage to them, except through the gates of death, that I saw opening every moment upon the bridge. The islands, said he, that lie so fresh and green before thee, and with which the whole face of the ocean appears spotted as far as thou canst see, are more in number than the sands on the sea shore; there are myriads of |