1 14 GhazzaWs Alchemy of Happiness. 



Call to mind now, that the spirit of a man is eternal : 

 it has not perished at death. Can you doubt then, that 

 that spirit which had chosen the glare and glitter of the 

 world for its beloved object, and had been absorbed heart 

 and soul in the occupations of the world — when in a mo- 

 ment of time, all that which it had been gaining day after 

 day, which it had obtained with great perseverance and 

 industry, and which it had been coveting and striving for 

 during many years, is taken out of its hands by death, 

 can you doubt that it will be the prey of endless sorrow 

 and grief, of abundant mortification, regret and remorse ? 

 This accords with what the apostle of God declares, " Love 

 what thou hast loved : but thou shalt be separated from 

 it." But when a man realizes that this world is a stage of 

 a journey, and that the purpose of his coming hither is to 

 attain the knowledge and love of God, and when he is day 

 and night occupied with this, forsaking the world before 

 death arrives, aud perhaps even envying and longing for 

 death, there can be no doubt that in the event of death, 

 he is delivered from all pain and sorrow, and obtains rest 

 and spiritual union. 



From what has been said, it follows that the torments 

 of the grave are for the friends of this world and the 

 seekers of the world, and not for the devout and pious. 

 And here we find an explanation of what the prophet of 

 God said : that " the world is the prison of the believer and 

 the paradise of the infidel." 



Since you have now learned, student, that the torment 

 of the grave is occasioned by love of the world, know also 

 that there are different degrees of it. It is in proportion 

 to each person's affection and love for the world, and will 

 come upon some with great severity. . . . 



If, for example, a person possess a female slave to whom 

 he is exceedingly attached, and on account of his being 

 every day by her side, he is not conscious of his attach- 



