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a 7 2. The ground must be prepared before corn be planted ; the potter ‘must build hig furnace before he can make his po : 3. As the breath of Heaven sayeth unto the waters of the deep: “This way shall thy billows roll, and no other; thus high, and no higher shall they raise their fury”; so let thy spirit, O man, actuate and direct thy flesh; so let it repress its wilderness. 5. Thy body is as the globe of the earth; thy bones the pillars that sustain it on its basis. ; _ As the ocean giveth rise to springs, whose waters return again into its bosom through the rivers; so runneth thy life from thy outwards, and so runneth it into its place again. 7. Do not both retain their course forever? Behold, the same Allah ordained them. . 8. Is not thy nose the channel to perfumes, thy mouth tlie path to delicacies. . 9. Are not thine eyes the sentinels that watch for thee? Yet how often are they unable to distinguish truth from error? . 10. Keep thy soul in moderation; teach thy spirit to be attentive of h fee mele leases - =! santero io jis wood, so shall these its Ministers Ge always to thee conveyances of truth, : 11. Thine hand, is it not a miracle? Is there in the creation aught like unto it? Wherefore was it given thee, but that thou mightest stretch it out to the assistance of thy brother? 12. Why of al! things living are thou alone made capable of blush- ing? The world shall read thy shame upon thy face: therefore do noth- ing shameful. "13. Fear and dismay, who rob thy countenance of its ruddy spien- dour? Avoid guilt, and thou shalt know that fear is beneath thee; that dismay is unnamely. 14, Wherefore to thee alone speaks shadows in the vision of the pillow? Reverence them; for know that dreams are from on high. 15. Thou man alone canst speak. Wonder at thy glorious preroga- tive; and pay to Him who gave it to thee a rational and welcome praise, teaching thy children wisdom, instructing the offspring of thy Joms in piety. . ; | CHAPTER XXXVIII HOLY INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PROPHET THE SOUL OF MAN 1, The blessing, O man, of thy external part, are health, vigour and proportion. The greatest of these is health. What health is to the body even that is honesty to the soul. 2 That thou hast a soul is of all knowledge the most certain, of all truths the most plain unto thee. Be meek, be grateful for it. Seek not to know it perfectly. It is inscrutable. oy _ 3, Thinking, understanding, reasoning, willing, cali not these the oo . oul. They are its actions, but they are not its essence. *s “6 4. Raise it not too high, that thou be not despised. Be not thou —_—- like unto those who fall by climbing; neither debase it to the sense of brutes, nor be thou like to the horse and the mule, in whom there is 10 understanding, .