Hossein said to his aged grandfather Abbas, “O grandfather, wherefore are
you reading the Gospel?”
Abbas made answer, “I read it, my son, to find the way to heaven.”
Hossein, smiling, said, “The way is plain enough. Worship but the one
true God, and keep the Commandments.”[46]
The man whose hair was silvered with age made reply: “Hossein, the
Commandments are as a bridge of ten arches, by which the soul might once
have passed over the flood of God’s wrath, and have reached heaven, but
that the bridge has been shattered. There is not one amongst us that
hath not broken the Commandments again and again.”
“My conscience is clear!” cried Hossein proudly. “I have kept all the
Commandments; at least, almost all,” he added, for his conscience had
given the lie to his words.
“And if one arch of a bridge give way under the traveller, doth he not
surely perish in the flood, my son, though the nine others be firm and
strong? But many of the arches of thy bridge are broken; yea, the very
first is in ruins.”
“Not the First Commandment—_Thou shalt have none other god but Me._ I
have never broken that!” exclaimed Hossein indignantly. “I have never
worshipped any god but one—the Almighty, the Invisible, the All-merciful.
_That_ arch in my bridge, at least, is whole and entire.”
“The being whom we love above all others, and whose honour we most
desire, the being whom we obey in all things,—is not he the one whom we
worship in the temple of the heart?” inquired the old man.
“Surely; for that Being is our God!” exclaimed Hossein.
He of the silvery beard slowly rose from his seat. “Come with me, O
youth,” said he, “and I will show thee whom thou dost worship in the
temple of thine heart.”
“No man can show me Him whom I worship!” cried Hossein in indignant
surprise; “for the one true God is invisible, and I worship none but Him.”
“Come with me,” repeated Abbas; and he led the way to a tank of water
clear and pure, in which the surrounding buildings and trees were
reflected as in a mirror.
Hossein followed his grandfather wondering, and saying to himself, “Age
hath made the old man as one who hath lost his reason.”
When the two reached the tank, Abbas said to his grandson, “Look down
into the clear water, and behold him whom thou dost love above all
others, whose honour thou dost most desire, whose will thou dost ever
obey. O Hossein, my son! is he not to thee in the place of the one true
God?”
Hossein looked down, and behold! there was his own image reflected in the
clear water.
“He who loves Self more than God hath broken the first law,” continued
Abbas; “for is it not written: _Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength: this is the First Commandment?_ Hossein, this arch of thy
bridge is broken; thou canst not pass to heaven upon it.”
“And can you?” exclaimed Hossein with impatience.
“No, my son,” said the old man meekly; “I have long ago seen that this,
as well as other Commandments, has been broken by me, a sinner. There
never was but one Man, and He the Holy One of God, with whom the bridge
of obedience was perfect and entire.”[47]
“If your bridge be broken, how do you hope to reach heaven at all?”
inquired Hossein. “How can you, or any one else, escape being swallowed
up in the flood of God’s wrath?”
“By clinging to Him who cast Himself into the raging torrent that He
might bear all those who believe in Him safe to the shore of heaven!”
exclaimed Abbas with fervour. “Thou hast looked down on thyself, thy
sinful self, O Hossein; now look upwards to Christ, the spotless One, who
can save thee from self and sin. My hope of heaven is firm and sure, for
it is founded on this sacred word: _God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life._”