1840.] 



Ufa and Writings of Father BescM. 



m 



«' Although what thou hast spoken is right," 7/et, said Sivastven, " do 

 ihcu, 7rho art learned in this species of knowledge, declare, whether, if 

 the effects of the deeds of previous births be denied, the inequality of men 

 in this world, some being deformed and some beautiful^ some happy awl 

 some miserable, be just or unjust then Joseph the bearer of the flower' 

 i7ig rod, whose pleasa7it speech flowed from a mouth graced by kindness, 

 again explained the scriptures of the true faith. 



He, who hath neither beginning, nor end, nor similitude, is the ever- 

 lasting, sole, all righteous God; the celestial beings and our soiils^ between 

 which there is 7io difference, having been created, have a beginning, but no 

 tnd ; irrational beings have both a beginning and an end; this being the 

 true faith, in what state were our souls when first created, before they had 

 been guilty of any crime ? 



" When our souls first entered our bodies and appeared in the world, 

 did they resemble prosperous princes free from all misery ? but though 

 they d>d not and though their condition therefore, was various, was this 

 inconsmtent with the justice of the Almighty God? if it were just then, 

 also, must the inequality of men in their present generation be immutably 

 just, without reference to the effects of their former deedsJ' 



The former, Sivasiven, said — " that it was destiny which was the causa 

 of inequality at the first generation of mankind ** but, said Joseph," is 

 it consistent with the mercy of the Almighty, the God of justice and 

 mercy, to predestine such inequality " It is the divine will of him who 

 is beyond eoopression,''^ rejoined the other. Then, replied Joseph,^ 

 can it be wrong to say that it is the divine will tvhich causes the various 

 qualities of those born in after generations? 



" As tJis clouds pour doion rain even in the thorny wilderness, so the 

 all-wise God scatter eth abimdantly the vain wealth of this world even 

 among the unworthy ; but he hath given poiver to all, to each according to 

 the intensity of his desire, to attain to the matchless glory of the wealth of 

 grace: can it be then said, O thou of superior understanding! that the 

 other kinds of wealth, which are in truth illusory, are the reward of 

 virtue ? 



** Do all streams meet at one place ? do all trees hear one sort of fruit ? 

 Is there one kind of production from all soils ? have all one countenance? 

 As all these are different, so differ the conditions of men, but virtue only, 

 a species of wealth liable to no diminution, is common to men of all raiiks ; 

 those eminent for wisdom, therefore^ describe it as common to all and make 

 no other distinclioTi respecting it. 



