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<x - FROM THE HOLY PROPHET: ' 53. - 9. Is there any thing in which thy weakness appeareth more, than in desiring things? It is in the possessing, and in the using of them. 10. Good things cease to be good in our enjoyment of them. What nature meant pure sweets, are sources of. bitterness to us, from our delights arise pain, from our joys, sorrow. . ti. Be moderate in the enjoyment, and it shall remain in thy pos- session; let thy joy be founded on reason, and to its end shall sorrow be a stranger. 12. The delights of love are ushered in by sighs, in Janguishment and dejection. The objects thou burnedst for, nauseates with satiety; and no sooner bast thou possessed it, but thou its presence. 13. Join esteem to thy admiration, unite friendship with so shalt thou Gnd in the end content so absolute, that it su tures, tranquility more worth than ecstasy. 14. Allah hath given thee no good, without ite admixture of ev but he hath given thee also the means of throwing off the evil from it. 15. As joy is not without its alloy, so neither is sorrow without its portion of pleasure. Joy and grief, though unlike, are united. Our own thoice can only give them to us entire. 16. Melancholy itself often giveth delight, and the extrenfity of joys are mingled with tears. © . 17. The best things in the hands of a fool may be turned to hit estruction; and out of the worst, the wise will find means of 27 18. So blended is weakness in thy nature, O man, that thou hast not strength either to be good nor to be evil, entirely. Rejoice that thou — canst not excel in evil, and Jet the good that is within thy reach content 19. The virtues are allotted to various stations. Seek not after im- possibilities, nor grieve that thou canst not possess them all. 20. Wouldst thou at once have the liberality of the rich, and fhe contentment of the poor? Shall the wife of thy bosom be despised becacse she showeth not the virtues of the widow? 21. i thy father sink before thee in the divisions of country, can at once thy justice destroy him, and thy duty save his life?’ Tf thou behold thy brother in the agonies of slow deafh, is it not mercy to put a period to his life? And is it not also death to be his murderer? : 23. Truth is but one; thy doubts are of thine own raising. He who made virtues what they are, planted in thee a knowledge of their pre- eminence. Act as thy soul dictates to thee, and the end shall be always right. . CHAPTER XLIIT aA HOLY INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PROPHET THE INSUFFICIENCY OF KNOWLEDGE 1. If there is anything lovely, if there is anything desirable, if there is anything within the reach of man that is worthy of praise, is i not knowledge? And yet who is it that attaineth it? -- ial