The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
There are fourteen gifts of God, the all merciful; seven of them are
bodily, and seven spiritual. The seven bodily gifts are: 1. to satiate
the hungry; 2. to quench the thirst of the thirsty; 3. to clothe the
naked; 4. to harbor the stranger; 5. to inquire after the sick, and to
console the captive; 6. to procure liberty to prisoners; 7. to bury
the dead. The spiritual acts are as follow: 1. to instruct the
ignorant; 2. to advise the poor _in spirit_; 3. to comfort the heart
of the mourners; 4. to admonish the sinners; 5. to forgive injuries
inflicted; 6. to show forbearance to the deformities of nature; 7. to
offer pious prayers for the living and the dead. The Christians say
that every necessitous individual is worthy of charities, to whatever
religion or sect he may belong, but the person of the same faith, or a
relative, is more deserving of favor. It is a sin, when by choice we
perpetrate an action which is in opposition to the pleasure of God,
and when we abandon an act which we are commanded to perform. A
capital sin is it for a man, by his own choice, to commit an
abominable act and deed, such as the unrighteous spilling of blood,
and whoredom. Of venial sins seven are enumerated: such as stealing
some slight thing without a perfect concurrence of the will in it. The
summary of the capital sins is as follows: pride, avarice, lust,
anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
Pride consists in esteeming one’s self higher than others, whence
proceed petulance, which displays itself in vaunting one’s self and
despising others, and in dispute, and disobedience. The remedies to be
applied to it are trust, submission, and obedience to another; these
are suitable means by which the hateful mind may be subdued.
Avarice is a desire without measure of the brittle things of the
world, and the bad consequences which result from it are theft,
deception in buying and selling, lies, and perjury: the remedies for
it may be good works and liberality.
Lust is an unbounded desire of sensual pleasures; but the way and
scandalous display of it is the defilement of women: the remedy to be
sought for counteracting it is chastity.
Anger is a desire without measure of vengeance upon somebody, and the
display of it is hatred of God’s creatures, insulting speeches against
men, contentions, and a total want of mildness: the remedies for it
are patience, forbearance, and the reflection that, for our crimes and
shameful acts, we are deserving of the adversity which comes upon us,
and to keep before our sight the Lord Jesus and his apostles, who
showed nothing but mercy and kindness to those very men who caused
their distress and affliction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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