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be made this reply: "May the Lord of the world forgive the flave whom he has honoured, if Mirza prefume again to lay the bounty of Abbas at his feet. Thou haft given me the dominion of a country, fruitful as the gardens of Damafcus; and a city glorious above all others, except that only which reflects the fplendour of thy prefence. But the longest life is a period fcarcely fufficient to prepare for death. All other bufinefs is vain and trivial, as the toil of emmets in the path of the traveller, under whofe foot they perish forever and all enjoyment is unfubftantial and evanefcent, as the colours of the bow that appear in the interval of a storm. Suffer me, therefore, to prepare for the approach of eternity; let me give up my foul to meditation; let folitude and filence acquaint me with the myfteries of devotion; let me forget the world, and by the world be forgotten, till the moment arrives in which the veil of eternity fhall fall, and I shall be found at the bar of the Almighty." Mirza then bowed himself to the

earth, and stood filent.

By the command of Abbas it is recorded, that at these words he trembled upon the throne, at the footstool of which the world pays homage; he looked round upon his nobles; but every countenance was pale, and every eye was upon the earth. No man opened his mouth; and the king firft broke filence, after it had continued near an hour.

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Mirza, terror and doubt are come upon me. I am alarmed as a man who fuddenly perceives that he is near the brink of a precipice, and is urged forward by an irrefiftible force: but yet I know not whether my danger is a reality or a dream. I am as thou art, a reptile of the earth: my life is a moment, and eternity, in which days, and years, and ages, are nothing, eternity is before me, for which I alfo fhould prepare: but by whom then mult the faithful be governed? By thofe only, who have no fear, of judgment? by thofe only, whofe life is brutal, because like brutes they do not confider that they shall die? Or who, indeed, are the faithful? Are the bufy multitudes that crowd the city, in a state of perdition? And is the cell of the Dervife alone the gate of paradife? To all, the life of a Dervife is not poffible: to all, therefore, it cannot be a duty. Depart to the house which has in this city been prepared for thy refidence: I will meditate the reafon of thy request; and may He who illuminates the mind of the humble, enable me to determine with wifdom."

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Mirza departed; and on the third day, having received no command, he again requested an audience, and it was granted. When he entered the royal prefence, his countenance appeared more cheerful; he drew a letter from his bofom, and having kiffed it, he prefented it with his right hand. "My Lord!" faid he, "I have learned by this letter, which I received from Cofrou the Iman, who ftands now before thee, in what manner life may be best improved. I am enabled to look back with pleasure, and forward with hope; and I shall now rejoice still to be the fhadow of thy power at Tauris, and to keep thofe honours which I fo lately wifhed to refign." The king, who had liftened to Mirza with a mixture of furprise and curiofity, immediately gave the letter to Cofrou, and commanded that it fhould be read. The eyes of the court were at once turned upon the hoary fage, whofe countenance was fuffufed with an honeft blush; and it was not without fome hefitation that he read these words.

"To Mirza, whom the wisdom of Abbas our mighty lord has honoured with dominion, be perpetual health! When I heard thy purpose to withdraw the bleflings of thy government from the thousands of Tauris, my heart was wounded with the arrow of affliction, and my eyes became dim with forrow. But who fhall fpeak before the king when he is troubled; and who shall boast of knowledge, when he is diftreffed by doubt? To thee will I relate the events of my youth, which thou haft renewed before me; and thofe truths which they taught me, may the prophet multiply to thee!

"Under the inftruction of the phyfician Aluzar, I obtain. ed an early knowledge of his art. To thofe who were Smitten with disease, I could administer plants, which the fun has impregnated with the spirit of health. But the fcenes of pain, langour, and mortality, which were perpet ually rifing before me, made me often tremble for myself. 1 faw the grave open at my feet; I determined, therefore, to contemplate only the regions beyond it, and to defpife every acquifition which I could not keep. I conceived an opinion, that as there was no merit but in voluntary pover ty, and filent meditation, those who defired money were not proper objects of bounty; and that by all who were proper objects of bounty, money was despised. 1, therefore, buried mine in the earth; and renouncing fociety, I wan dered into a wild and fequeftered part of the country. My

dwelling was a cave by the fide of a hill. I drank the running water from the spring, and ate fuch fruits and herbs as I could find To increafe the aufterity of my life, I frequently watched all night, fitting at the entrance of the cave, with my face to the east, refigning myself to the fecret influences of the Prophet. One morning after my noc turnal vigil, juft as I perceived the horizon glow at the approach of the fun, the power of fleep became irresistible, and I funk under it. I imagined myself still fitting at the entrance of my cell; that the dawn increafed ; and that as I looked earnestly for the first beam of day, a dark spot appeared to intercept it. I perceived that it was in motion; it increafed in fize as it drew near, and at length I discov ered it to be an eagle. I ftill kept my eye fixed steadfastly upon it, and faw it alight at a small diftance, where I now defcried a fox whofe two fore-legs appeared to be broken. Before this fox the eagle laid part of a kid, which she had brought in her talons, and then disappeared. When I awaked, I laid my forehead upon the ground, and blessed the prophet for the instruction of the morning. I reviewed my dream, and said thus to myself, Cofrou, thou haft done well to renounce the tumult, the bufinefs, and vanities of life but thou haft as yet only done it in part; thou art ftill every day bufied in the search of food; thy mind is not wholly at reft; neither is thy truft in Providence complete. What art thou taught by this vifion? If thou hast seen an eagle commiffioned by Heaven to feed a fox that is lame, fhall not the hand of Heaven alfo fupply thee with food, when that which prevents thee from procuring it for thyfelf, is not neceffity, but devotion? I was now fo confident of a miraculous fupply, that I neglected to walk out for my repast, which, after the first day, I expected with an impatience that left me little power of attending to any other object. This impatience, however, I laboured to fupprefs, and perfifted in my refolution: but my eyes at length began to fail me, and my knees smote each other; I threw myself backward, and hoped my weakness would foon increafe to infenfibility. But I was fuddenly roufed by the voice of an invifible being, who pronounced these words : 'Cofrou, I am the angel, who, by the command of the Almighty, have registered the thoughts of thy heart, which I am now commiffioned to reprove. While thou waft attempting to become wife above that which is revealed, thy folly has perverted the inftruction which was vouchfafed

thee. Art thou disabled' as the fox? haft thou not rather the powers of the eagle? Arife, let the eagle be the object of thy emulation. To pain and fickness, be thou again the meffenger of eafe and health. Virtue is not rest, but action. If thou doft good to man as an evidence of thy love to God, thy virtue will be exalted from moral to divine ; and that happiness which is the pledge of paradise, will be thy reward upon earth.'

"At thefe words I was not lefs aftonished than if a mountain had been overturned at my feet. I humbled myself in the duft; I returned to the city; I dug up my treasure; I was liberal, yet I became rich My skill in restoring health to the body gave me frequent opportunities of curing the difeafes of the foul I grew eminent beyond my merit; and it was the pleasure of the king, that I fhould ftand before him. Now, therefore, be not offended; I boaft of no knowledge that I have not received. As the fands of the defert drink up the drops of rain, or the dew of the morning, so do I also, who am brt duft, imbibe the inftructions of the Prophet. Believe then that it is he who tells thee, all knowledge is profane, which terminates in thyfelf; and by a life wafted in fpeculation, little, even of this, can be gained. When the gates of paradife are thrown open before thee, thy mind fhall be irradiated in a moment. Here, thou canst do little more than pile error upon error: there thou shalt build truth upon truth. Wait, therefore, for the glorious vifion; and in the mean time emulate the cagle. Much is in thy power; and therefore much is expected of thee. Though the Almighty only can give virtue, yet, as a prince, thou mayeft ftimulate thofe to beneficence, who act from no higher motive than immediate intereft thou canst not produce the principle, but mayeft enforce the practice. Let thy virtue be thus diffused; and if thou believeft with reverence, thou fhalt be accepted above. Farewell! May the fmile of him who refides in the heaven of heavens be upon thee; and against thy name, in the volume of his will, may happinefs be written!"

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The king, whofe doubts, like thofe of Mirza, were now removed, looked up with a fmile that communicated the joy of his mind. He difmiffed the prince to his government; and commanded these events to be recorded, to the end, that pofterity may know, "that no life is pleafing to God, but that which is useful to mankind."

HAWKESWORTH.

SECTION VI.

Character of the great Founder of chriftianity.

NEVER was there on earth any perfon of fo extraordinary a character as the Founder of our religion. In him we uniformly fee a mildnefs, dignity, and compofure, and a perfection of wisdom and of goodness, that plainly point him out as a fuperior being. But his fuperiority was all in his own divine mind. He had none of thofe outward advantages that have diftinguished all other lawgivers. He had no influence in the state; he had no wealth; he aimed at no worldly pow

er.

He was the fon of a carpenter's wife, and he was himfelf a carpenter. So poor were his reputed parents, that at the time of his birth, his mother could obtain no better lodging than a stable; and so poor was he himself, that he often had no lodging at all. That he had no advantages of education, we may infer from the surprise expreffed by his neighbours on hearing him fpeak in the fynagogue: "Whence hath this man thefe things? What wisdom is this which is given him? Is not this the carpenter, the fon of Mary? Are not his brethren and fifters with us?" This point, however, we need not infift on; as from no education, that his own or any other country could have afforded, was it poffible for him to derive that fupernatural wif dom and power, that fanctity of life, and that purity of doctrine, which fo eminently diftinguith him. His first adherents were a few fishermen for whom he was fo far from making any provifion, that when he fent them out to preach repentance and heal difeafes, they were, by his defire, furnished with nothing, but one coat, a pair of fandals, and a staff. He went about, in great humility and meeknefs, doing good, teaching wifdom, and glorifying God, for the fpace of about three years after the commencement of his miniftry; and then, as he himself had foreseen and foretold, he was publicly crucified. This is the great perfonage, who at this day gives law to the world. This is he, who

has been the author of virtue and happiness to millions and millions of the human race. And this is he whom the wifest and best men that ever lived have reverenced as à Divine Perfon, and gloried in as the Deliverer and Saviour

of mankind.

DR. BEATTIE.

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