“It is a comfort to man’s breast, an expeller of cares. It is an exposition of the Quran, an amplification of spiritual aliments, and a dulcifier of the disposition; written “by the hands of honorable scribes”[98] who inscribed theron the prohibition: “Let none touch it save the purified.”[99] It is (a revelation) “sent down (from on high) by the Lord of (all) the worlds,[100] which vanity approacheth not from before, nor from behind,”[101] which God watches over and observes, He being “the best of a Preserver,”[102] and “The Most Compassionate of the merciful ones,”[103] unto whom pertain (many) titles, his utmost title being God, whose name be exalted.” Further on he says: “I have exerted myself to enlarge this book of poetry in rhyming couplets, which contains strange and rare narratives, beautiful sayings, and recondite indications, a path for the devout, and a garden for the pious, short in its expressions, numerous in their applications.”— The Mesnevi is said to contain twenty-six thousand six hundred and sixty couplets and a large part of them ought to be cited here, but space forbids. We offer a few selections entirely at random. The strength of strongest man can merely split a stone; The Power that informs man’s soul can cleave the moon. If man’s heart but untie the mouth of mystery’s sack, His soul soon soars aloft beyond the starry track. If heaven’s mystery divulged should, ‘haps become, The whole world ‘twould burn up, as fire doth wood consume.— Saints’ ecstacy springs from a glimpse of God, his pride. His station’s that of intimate. He’s bridegroom; God is bride. A bride’s veiled graces are not seen by groom alone; Her unveiled charms solely to him in private shown. In state she first appears before the people all; Her veil removed, the groom alone is at her call.— Who’s not received the gift of knowledge from above, Will ne’er believe a stock could sigh and moan for love. He may pretend to acquiesce; not from belief; He says: “Tis so,” to scape a name much worse than thief. All they who’re not convinced that God’s “Be” is enough, Will turn away their face; this tale they’ll treat as “stuff.” If he (man) from _esse_, reach not _posse’s_ state, he’s _nil_.— (God) Himself He’s veiled in man, as sun behind a cloud. This seek to comprehend. God knows what mysteries shroud. The sun He is;—the sun of spirit, not of sky; By light from Him man lives;—and angels eke, forby.— The soul it is originates all vital force.— The Prophet hath assureth us God’s the soul of all.— The world’s renewed each moment, though we still remain In ignorance that permanence can change sustain. Life, like a river, ceaselessly, is still renewed.—