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.”
II.—THE BURNING HUT.
Sheosahai, the Brahmin, stood in his straw-thatched cottage, gazing on the image of Krishna, the dark god, which for centuries he and his fathers had worshipped.