While I was gazing in a transport of delight and wonder on this
enchanting spot, I perceived a man stealing along the walk with a
thoughtful and deliberate pace; his eyes were fixed upon the earth, and
his arms crossed on his bosom; he sometimes started, as if a sudden pang
had seized him; his countenance expressed solicitude and terror; he
looked round with a sigh, and having gazed a moment on the desart that
lay before him, he seemed as if he wished to stop, but was impelled
forwards by some invisible power; his features however soon settled again
in a calm melancholy; his eye was again fixed on the ground; and he
went on as before, with apparent reluctance, but without emotion. I was
struck with his appearance; and turning hastily to the angel, was about
to enquire what could produce such infelicity in a being surrounded with
every object that could gratify every sense; but he prevented my request:
“The book of nature,” said he, “is before thee; look up, consider it, and
be wise.” I looked, and beheld a valley between two mountains that were
craggy and barren; on the path there was no verdure, and the mountains
afforded no shade; the sun burned in the zenith, and every spring was
dried up; but the valley terminated in a country that was pleasant and
fertile, shaded with woods, and adorned with buildings. At a second
view, I discovered a man in this valley, meagre indeed and naked, but
his countenance was cheerful, and his deportment active; he kept his eye
fixed upon the country before him, and looked as if he would have run,
but that he was restrained, as the other had been impelled, by some
secret influence: sometimes, indeed, I perceived a sudden impression of
pain, and sometimes he stepped short, as if his foot was pierced by the
asperities of the way; but the sprightliness of his countenance instantly
returned, and he pressed forward without appearance of repining or
complaint.
I turned again towards the angel, impatient to enquire from what secret
source happiness was derived, in a situation so different from that in
which it might have been expected: but he again prevented my requested:
“Almet,” said he, “remember what thou hast seen, and let this memorial be
written upon the tablets of thy heart. Remember, Almet, that the world
in which thou art placed, is but the road to another; and that happiness
depends not upon the path, but the end; the value of this period of thy
existence is fixed by hope and fear. The wretch who wished to linger in
the garden, who looked round upon its limits with terror, was destitute
of hope, and was perpetually tormented by the dread of losing that which
yet he did not enjoy; the song of the birds had been repeated till it
was not heard, and the flowers had so often recurred, that their beauty
was not seen; the river glided by unnoticed; and he feared to lift his
eye to the prospect, lest he should behold the waste that circumscribed
it. But he that toiled through the valley was happy, because he looked
forward with hope. Thus to the sojourner upon earth it is of little
moment whether the path he treads be strewed with flowers or with thorns,
if he perceives himself to approach these regions, in comparison of which
the thorns and the flowers of this wilderness lose their distinction, and
are both alike impotent to give pleasure or pain.
“What then has Eternal Wisdom unequally distributed? That which can make
every station happy, and without which every station must be wretched, is
acquired by virtue, and virtue is possible to all. Remember, Almet, the
vision which thou hast seen; and let my words be written on the tablet of
thy heart, that thou mayest direct the wanderer to happiness, and justify
God to men.”
While the voice of Azoran was yet sounding in my ear, the prospect
vanished from before me, and I found myself again sitting at the porch of
the temple. The sun was gone down, the multitude was retired to rest, and
the solemn quiet of midnight concurred with the resolution of my doubts
to complete the tranquillity of my mind.
Such, my son, was the vision which the Prophet vouchsafed me, not for my
sake only, but for thine. Thou hast sought felicity in temporal things;
and, therefore, thou art disappointed. Let not instruction be lost upon
thee, as the seal of Mahomet in the well of Aris: but go thy way, let
thy flock clothe the naked, and thy table feed the hungry; deliver the
poor from oppression, and let thy conversation be Above. Thus shalt
thou “rejoice in Hope,” and look forward to the end of life as the
consummation of thy felicity.
Almet, in whose breast devotion kindled as he spake, returned into the
temple, and the stranger departed in peace.