72 



GhazzaWs Alchemy of Happiness. 



In short, man in this world, is framed in infirmity and im- 

 perfection. But if he desire and will to free himself from 

 animal propensities, and ferocious and satanic qualities, he 

 may attain future happiness, will be more exalted and 

 excellent than a king and will be enriched with the vision 

 of the beauty of the Lord. But if he incline towards the 

 world, and retain only the qualities of animals and wild 

 beasts, his future state will be worse even than theirs. For 

 they turn to dust, and are delivered from pains and tor- 

 ment. Our refuge is in God ! 



From the moment, beloved! that you have learned 

 in what the dignity and nobleness of man consists, and 

 what constitutes his vileness and meanness, you have learned 

 at the same time how the knowledge of the soul, is the 

 key to the knowledge of God. 



Chapter, II.— On the Knowledge op God. 



In the books of former prophets it is written, "Know 

 thine own soul, and thou shalt know thy Lord," and we have 

 received it in a tradition, that " He who knows himself, 

 already knows his Lord." This is a convincing argument 

 that the soul is like a clean mirror, into which whenever a 

 person looks, he may there see God. If you say, however, 

 that there are many who have studied themselves, and have 

 learned that they are creatures, and still they do not know 

 their Lord, I reply, that to pass from the knowledge of the 

 soul to the knowledge of God, and to demonstrate the latter 



