we drive the same unto a dead country, and thereby quicken the earth after it hath been dead: so shall the resurrection be. Whoever desireth excellence, unto God doth all excellence belong: unto him ascendeth the good speech; and the righteous work will he exalt. But as for them who devise wicked plots, they shall suffer a severe punishment; and the device of those men shall be rendered vain. God created you first of the dust, and afterward of seed: and he hath made you man and wife. No female conceiveth, or bringeth forth, but with his knowledge. Nor is anything added unto the age of him whose life is prolonged, neither is anything diminished from his age, but the same is written in the book of God's decrees. Verily this is easy with God. The two seas are not to be held in comparison: this is fresh and sweet, pleasant to drink; but that is salt and bitter: yet out of each of them ye eat fish, and take ornaments for you to wear. Thou seest the ships also plowing the waves thereof, that ye may seek to enrich yourselves by commerce, of the abundance of God: peradventure ye will be thankful. He causeth the night to succeed the day, and he causeth the day to succeed the night; and he obligeth the sun and the moon to perform their services: each of them runneth an appointed course. This is God, your Lord: his is the kingdom. But the idols which ye invoke besides him have not the power even over the skin of a datestone: if ye invoke them, they will not hear your calling; and although they should hear, yet they would not answer you. On the day of resurrection they shall disclaim your having associated them with God: and none shall declare unto thee the truth, like one who is well acquainted therewith.

O men, ye have need of God; but God is self-sufficient, and to be praised. If he pleaseth, he can take you away, and produce a new creature in your stead: neither will this be difficult with God. A burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another: and if a heavy-burdened soul call on another to bear part of its burden, no part thereof shall be borne by the person who shall be called on, although he be ever so nearly related. Thou shalt admonish those who fear their Lord in secret, and are constant at prayer: and whoever cleanseth

VOL. V.-21.

himself from the guilt of disobedience cleanseth himself to the advantage of his own soul; for all shall be assembled before God at the last day. The blind and the seeing shall not be held equal; neither darkness and light; nor the cool shade and the scorching wind: neither shall the living and the dead be held equal. God shall cause him to hear whom he pleaseth: but thou shalt not make those to hear who are in their graves. Thou art no other than a preacher: verily we have sent thee with truth, a bearer of good tidings, and a denouncer of threats. There hath been no nation, but a preacher hath in past times been conversant among them: if they charge thee with imposture, they who were before them likewise charged their apostles with imposture. Their apostles came unto them with evident miracles, and with divine writings, and with the enlightening book: afterward I chastised those who were unbelievers, and how severe was my vengeance! Dost thou not see that God sendeth down rain from heaven, and that we thereby produce fruits of various colors? In the mountain also there are some tracts white and red, of various colors; and other are of a deep black: and of men, and beasts, and cattle there are whose colors are in like manner various. Such only of his servants fear God as are endued with understanding: verily God is mighty and ready to forgive.

Verily they who read the book of God, and are constant at prayer, and give alms out of what we have bestowed on them, both in secret and openly, hope for a merchandise which shall not perish: that God may fully pay them their wages, and make them a superabundant addition of his liberality; for he is ready to forgive the faults of his servants, and to requite their endeavors. That which we have revealed unto thee of the book of the Koran, is the truth, confirming the scriptures which were revealed before it; for God knoweth and regardeth his servants.

And we have given the book of the Koran in heritage unto such of our servants as we have chosen: of them there is one who injureth his own soul; and there is another of them who keepeth the middle way; and there is another of them who outstrippeth others in good works, by the permission of God.

This is the great excellence. They shall be introduced into gardens of perpetual abode; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls, and their clothing therein shall be of silk: and they shall say, Praise be unto God, who hath taken away sorrow from us! verily our Lord is ready to forgive the sinners, and to reward the obedient; who hath caused us to take up our rest in a dwelling of eternal stability, through his bounty, wherein no labor shall touch us, neither shall any weariness affect us. But for the unbelievers is prepared the fire of hell: it shall not be decreed them to die a second time; neither shall any part of the punishment thereof be made lighter unto them. Thus shall every infidel be rewarded. And they shall cry out aloud in hell, saying, Lord, take us hence, and we will work righteousness, and not what we have formerly wrought. But it shall be answered them, Did we not grant you lives of length sufficient that whoever would be warned might be warned therein; and did not the preacher come unto you? taste, therefore, the pains of hell. And the unjust shall have no protector.

It

Verily God knoweth the secrets both of heaven and earth, for he knoweth the innermost part of the breasts of men. is he who hath made you to succeed in the earth. Whoever shall disbelieve, on him be his unbelief: and their unbelief shall only gain the unbelievers greater indignation in the sight of their Lord; and their unbelief shall only increase the perdition of the unbelievers. Say, what think ye of your deities which ye invoke besides God? Show me what part of the earth they have created. Or had they any share in the creation of the heavens? Have we given unto the idolaters any book of revelations, so that they may rely on any proof therefrom to authorize their practise? Nay: but the ungodly make unto one another only deceitful promises.

Verily God sustaineth the heavens and the earth, lest they fail: and if they should fail, none could support the same besides him; he is gracious and merciful. The Koreish swore by God, with a most solemn oath, that if a preacher had come unto them, they would surely have been more willingly directed than any nation. But now a preacher is come unto