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.
Gluttony is a desire without measure of eating and drinking; the offspring of this is sensuality, rejection of fasts, slowness in worship, and all sorts of diseases ruining the body: the remedies for this are abstinence, moderation in eating and drinking, in order that a becoming attention to divine favor be excited, the constitution restored to health, and a return from all extravagance accomplished.
Envy is a pain and sadness derived from the good condition of the affairs of other people; whence proceeds the jealous intention to find fault and occasion for detraction. It displays itself by rejoicing at the distress of one’s neighbors, when related by other tongues, by reviling certain people, and by leading an unprofitable life: the remedy for it is affection for mankind on account of their being God’s creatures, and to consider that happiness and welfare are bestowed upon them by the mercy of God, and that it is an exceeding offence against good morals to be afflicted on account of the works and effects which result from divine disposition.
Sloth is negligence in the worship of God and in good behaviour. It displays itself by a frequent deficiency in laudable and obligatory actions, and in always letting slip out of our hands the expedients of spiritual and material life: the remedy for it is activity and alacrity.
Hell is a place a worse than which cannot exist, and in this abode one is imprisoned to all eternity, on account of commission of sins for punishment, more severe than which none can be imagined. Heaven is a place full of all sorts of delight; the happiness of this place manifests itself for all ages by jubilation and pleasure.
Jesus told his disciples: “After me, a great number of men will set forth pretensions to divine mission, but all will be deceivers: remain you persevering and steady in your adherence to me, until my coming.”
The Gospel has been translated from the tongue of Jesus into different languages; namely, into Arabic, Greek, Latin, which last is the language of the learned among the Firang; into Syriac, and this all men of letters know.
CHAPTER VI.
Of the religion of the Muhammedans, or of the people of Islám (right faith), consisting of two sections: the first treats of the religion of the Sonnites, the second of the religion of the Shiâs.