128 



GhazzaWs Alchemy of Happiness. 



import of the warning, and continues busy in playing with 

 tops and nuts. But, if he is told instead, if you do not 

 learn to read and write, your master will whip you or pull 

 your ears, from that moment, understanding the force of 

 the admonition, he leaves his sport and play, and is dili- 

 gent in his studies. Since, therefore, the commonalty 

 cannot understand the torment of being forbidden and 

 shut out from the vision of the beauty of God, the doc- 

 tors of the law and the preachers, frighten them with ser- 

 pents and scorpions, and with the fire of hell ; for they 

 are not capable of understanding anything else. In the 

 other case, how should the " look out ! take care !" from 

 the mouth of the master, with the pain of one or two boxes 

 on the ear, have any relation or resemblance in the mind 

 of the boy with the loss of the principality ? . . . 



The heavenly pilgrim must forsake his own city, and 

 not fix himself for permanence in the place where he hap- 

 pens to be. And by the word city, worldly cares and em- 

 ployments are designated. He must quit them, and find 

 his home in the path of obedience, and forsake the land of 

 tribulation : for the prophet has said, " Love of country 

 is an article of religion." 



This road has four stages : the things of sense belong to 

 the first stage ; the things of fancy belong to the second 

 stage ; the things of speculation to the third, and those of 

 reason to the fourth stage. . . . 



The view which man obtains of things in the visible 

 world is through matter, as in the contemplation of a pros- 

 pect on land. But in the fourth stage, which is that of 

 the reason, man's view is entirely through the medium 

 of pure spirit, as when a man looks into water. But the 

 view he takes, and the intercourse he enjoys in the world 

 of speculation, is as if he was looking at an object from a 

 ship. There is, besides, in the sphere of reason a still 

 higher degree of sight and vision, which is enjoyed by the 



