4. 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 on me with a look of compa.s.sion 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.

5. 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 then seest, said, he, is the vale of misery and the tide of water that thou seest, is part of the great tide of eternity.

6. What is the reason, said I, that the tide I see rises out of a thick 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 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.

7. 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 of about an hundred.

As I was counting the arches, the genius told me that this bridge consisted at the 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 further, said he, what thou discoverest on it. I see mult.i.tudes of people pa.s.sing over it, said I, and a black cloud hanging on each end of it.

8. As I looked more attentively, I saw several of the pa.s.sengers dropping through the bridge, into the great, tide that flowed underneath it; and upon further examination, perceived there were innumerable trap-doors that lay concealed in the bridge, which the pa.s.sengers no sooner trod upon, but they fell through them into the tide, and immediately disappeared. These hidden pitfalls were set very thick at the entrance of the bridge, so that throngs of people no sooner broke through the cloud, but 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 entire.

9. 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.

10. I pa.s.sed 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 at 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. Mult.i.tudes 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.

11. In this confusion of objects, I observed some with scymitars in their hands, and others with urinals, 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.

12. The genius, seeing me indulge myself in this melancholy prospect, told me I had dwelt long enough upon it: take thine eyes off the bridge, says he, and tell me if thou 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, superst.i.tion, despair, love, with the like cares and pa.s.sions that infest human life.

13. 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 compa.s.sion 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.

14. 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.

15. I could see persons dressed in glorious habits, with garlands upon their heads, pa.s.sing 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 at 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 pa.s.sage to them, except through the gates of death that I saw opening every moment upon the bridge.

16. The islands, said he, that are 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 sand on the sea-sh.o.r.e; there are myriads of islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching further than thine eye, or even thine imagination can extend itself.

These are the mansions of good men after death, who, according to the degree and kinds of virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among these several islands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds and degrees, suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are settled in them; every island is a paradise, accommodated to its respective inhabitants.

17. Are not these, O Mirza, habitations worth contending for? Does life appear miserable, that gives thee opportunities of earning such a reward? Is death to be feared, that will convey thee to so happy an existence? Think not man was made in vain, who has such an eternity reserved for him. I gazed, with inexpressible pleasure, on these happy islands. At length, said I, shew me now, I beseech thee, the secrets that lie hid under those dark clouds, which cover the ocean on the other side of the rock of adamant.

18. The genius making me no answer, I turned about to address myself to him a second time, but I found that he had left me; I then turned again to the vision which I had been so long contemplating: but instead of the rolling tide, the arched bridge, and the happy islands, I saw nothing but the long, hollow valley of Bagdat, with oxen, sheep, and camels grazing upon the sides of it.

_Riches not productive of Happiness: The Story of Ortogrul of Basra._

IDLER, No. 99.

1. As Ortogrul of Basra was one day wandering along the streets of Bagdat, musing on the varieties of merchandize which the shops altered to his view, and observing the different occupations which busied the mult.i.tude on every side, he was awakened from the tranquillity of meditation by a crowd that obstructed his pa.s.sage. He raised his eyes, and saw the Chief Vizier, who, having returned from the Divan, was entering his palace.

2. Ortogrul mingled with the attendants, and being supposed to have some pet.i.ton for the Vizier, was permitted to enter. He surveyed the s.p.a.ciousness of the apartments, admired the walls hung with golden tapestry, and the floors covered with silken carpets, and despised the simple neatness of his own little habitation.

3. Surely, said he to himself, this palace is the seat of happiness, where pleasure succeeds to pleasure, and discontent and sorrow can have no admission. Whatever nature has provided for the delight of sense, is here spread forth to be enjoyed. What can mortals hope or imagine, which the master of this palace has not obtained? The dishes of luxury cover his table, the voice of harmony lulls him in his bowers; he breathes the fragrance of the groves of Java, and sleeps upon the down of the cygnets of Ganges. He speaks, and his mandate is obeyed; he wishes, and his wish is gratified! all whom he sees obey him, and all whom he hears flatter him.

4. How different, Ortogrul, is thy condition, who art doomed to the perpetual torments of unsatisfied desire, and who hast no amus.e.m.e.nt in thy power that can withhold thee from thy own reflections! They tell thee that thou art wise, but what does wisdom avail with poverty? None will flatter the poor, and the wise have very little power of flattering themselves. That man is surely the most wretched of the sons of wretchedness, who lives with his own faults and follies always before him, and who has none to reconcile him to himself by praise and veneration. I have long sought content, and have not found it; I will from this moment endeavour to be rich.

5. Full of his new resolution, he shut himself in his chamber for six months, to deliberate how he should grow rich; he sometimes proposed to offer himself as a counsellor to one of the kings of India, and sometimes resolved to dig for diamonds in the mines of Golconda. One day, after some hours pa.s.sed in violent fluctuation of opinion, sleep insensibly seized him in his chair; he dreamed that he was ranging a desert country in search of some one that might teach him to grow rich; and as he stood on the top of a hill shaded with cypress, in doubt whither to direct his steps, his father appeared on a sudden, standing before him.

6. Ortogrul, said the old man, I know thy perplexity; listen to thy father; turn thine eye on the opposite mountain. Ortogrul looked, and saw a torrent tumbling down the rocks, roaring with the noise of thunder, and scattering, its foam on the impending woods. Now, said his father, behold the valley that lies between the hills.

7. Ortogrul looked, and espied a little well, out of which issued a small rivulet. Tell me now, said his father, dost thou wish for sudden affluence, that may pour upon thee like the mountain torrent, or for a slow and gradual increase, resembling the rill gliding from the well?

Let me be quickly rich, said Ortogrul; let the golden stream be quick and violent.

8. Look round thee, said his father, once again. Ortogrul looked, and perceived the channel of the torrent dry and dusty; but following the rivulet from the well, he traced it to a wide lake, which the supply, slow and constant, kept always full. He waked, and determined to grow rich by silent profit, and persevering industry.

9. Having sold his patrimony, he engaged in merchandise, and in twenty years purchased lands, on which he raised a house equal in sumptuousness to that of the Vizier, to which he invited all the ministers of pleasure, expecting to enjoy all the felicity which he had imagined riches able to afford. Leisure soon made him weary of himself, and he longed to be persuaded that he was great and happy. He was courteous and liberal; he gave all that approached him hopes of pleasing him, and all who should please him, hopes of being rewarded. Every art of praise was tried, and every source of adulatory fiction was exhausted.

10, Ortogrul heard his flatterers without delight, because he found himself unable to believe them. His own heart told him its frailties.

His own understanding reproached him with his faults. How long, said he, with a deep sigh, have I been labouring in vain to ama.s.s wealth, which at last is useless? Let no man hereafter wish to be rich, who is already too wise to be flattered.

_Of the Scriptures, as the Rule of Life._

1. As you advance in years and under standing, I hope you, will be able to examine for yourself the evidence of the Christian religion, and that you will be convinced, on rational grounds, of its divine authority. At present, such enquiries would demand more study, and greater powers of reasoning, than your age admits of. It is your part, therefore, till you are capable of understanding the proofs, to believe your parents and teachers, that the holy scriptures are writings inspired by G.o.d, containing a true history of facts, in which we are deeply concerned--a true recital of the laws given by G.o.d to Moses, and of the precepts of our blessed Lord and Saviour, delivered from his own mouth to his disciples, and repeated and enlarged upon in the edifying epistles of his Apostles; who were men chosen from amongst those who had the advantage of conversing with our Lord, to bear witness of his miracles and resurrection--and who, after his ascension, were a.s.sisted and inspired by the Holy Ghost.

2. This sacred volume must be the rule of your life. In it you will find all truths necessary to be believed; and plain and easy directions for the practice of every duty. Your bible, then, must be your chief study and delight; but, as it contains many various kinds of writing--some parts obscure and difficult of interpretation, others plain and intelligible to the meanest capacity--I would chiefly recommend to your frequent perusal, such parts of the sacred writings as are most adapted to your understanding, and most necessary for your instruction.

3. Our Saviour's precepts were spoken to the common people amongst the Jews; and were therefore given in a manner easy to be understood, and equally striking and instructive to the learned and unlearned; for the most ignorant may comprehend them, whilst the wisest must be charmed and awed by the beautiful and majestic simplicity with, which they are expressed. Of the same kind are the Ten Commandments, delivered by G.o.d to Moses; which, as they were designed for universal laws, are worded in the most concise and simple manner, yet with a majesty which commands our utmost reverence.

4. I think you will receive great pleasure, as well as improvement, from the historical books of the Old Testament; provided you read them as an history in a regular course, and keep the thread of it in your mind as you go on. I know of none, true or fict.i.tious, that is equally wonderful, interesting, or affecting; or that is told in so short and simple a manner as this, which is of all histories the most, authentic.

5. I shall give you some brief directions, concerning the method and course I wish you to pursue, in reading the Holy Scriptures. May you be enabled to make the best use of this most precious gift of G.o.d--this sacred treasure of knowledge!--May you read the bible, not as a task, nor as the dull employment of that day only in which you are forbidden more lively entertainments--but, with a sincere and ardent desire of instruction; with that love and delight in G.o.d's word, which the holy Psalmist so pathetically felt and described, and which is the natural consequence of loving G.o.d and virtue.

6. Though I speak this of the bible in general, I would not be understood to mean, that every part of the volume is equally interesting. I have already said, that it consists of various matter, and various kinds of books, which must be read with different views and sentiments.

7. The having some general notion of what you are to expect from each book, may possibly help you to understand them. I shall treat you as if you were perfectly new to the whole; for so I wish you to consider yourself; because the time and manner in which children usually read the bible, are very ill-calculated to make them really acquainted with it; and too many people who have read it thus, without understanding it in their youth, satisfy themselves that they know enough of it, and never afterwards study it with attention when they come to a mature age.

8. If the feelings of your heart, whilst you read, correspond with those of mine whilst I write, I shall not be without the advantage of your partial affection, to give weight to my advice; for, believe me, my heart and eyes overflow with tenderness, when I tell you how warm and earnest my prayers are for your happiness here and hereafter.

_Of Genesis._

9. I now proceed to give you some short sketches of the matter contained in the different books of the Bible, and of the course in which they ought to be read.

10. The first book, Genesis, contains the most grand, and, to us, the most interesting events, that ever happened in the universe: The creation of the world, and of man; the deplorable fall of man, from his first state of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all his descendants continue: The sentence of death p.r.o.nounced on Adam and on all his race; with the reviving promise of that deliverance, which has since been wrought for us by our blessed Saviour: The account of the early state of the world; of the universal deluge: The division of mankind into different nations and languages: The story of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people, whose unshaken faith and obedience, under the severest trial human nature could sustain, obtained such favour in the sight of G.o.d, that he vouchsafed to stile him his friend, and promised to make of his posterity a great nation; and that in his seed--that is, in one of his descendants--all the kingdoms of the earth should be blessed. This, you will easily see, refers to the Messiah, who was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations.

11. It is amazing that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among many others, should have been so blinded by prejudice, as to have expected from, this great personage, only a temporal deliverance of their own nation from the subjection to which they were reduced under the Romans: It is equally amazing, that some Christians should, even now, confine the blessed effects of his appearance upon earth, to this or that particular sect or profession, when he is so clearly and emphatically described as the Saviour of the whole world.

12. The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice his only son, at the command of G.o.d, is affecting in the highest degree, and sets forth a pattern of unlimited resignation, that every one ought to imitate in those trials of obedience under temptation, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispensations, which fall to their lot: of this we may be a.s.sured, that our trials will be always proportioned to the powers afforded us. If we have not Abraham's strength of mind, neither shall we be called upon to lift the b.l.o.o.d.y knife against the bosom of an only child; but, if the almighty arm should be lifted up against him, we must be ready to resign him, and all we hold dear, to the divine will.

13. This action of Abraham has been censured by some who do not attend to the distinction between obedience to a specified command, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and without any divine injunctions, offered up their own children, under the notion of appeasing the anger of their G.o.ds. An absolute command from G.o.d himself--as in the case of Abraham--entirely alters the moral nature of the action; since he, and he only, has a perfect sight over the lives of his creatures, and may appoint whom he will, either angel or man, to be his instrument of destruction.