Bounties of the Gracious God — Page 92
92 honour and your lives. In return for this, He will grant you His pleasure. So, be steadfast in this bargain so that you are showered with blessings and favours and so that you are counted among His close friends. Burnish your resolve to obtain perfection of faith. Even if you are old and decrepit, show from your face as if you are young. O courageous ones! Remember death. Do not walk like drunkards. You can see that people have made wealth their sole aim in everything, and if they do not find it, they consider reli- gion to be a burden. They only accept religion if it satisfies their selfish desires. Otherwise, they reject it. They tread heedlessly in places of mortal danger and know not what will alleviate their fear and free them from the tribulation that afflicts them. They have become slaves of this world, having stuffed their hearts with it, so they run towards it and their carriages are pulled by their desires. O people! The plague has wreaked havoc in your cities, and its onslaught is so ferocious that the like of it has not been witnessed by any of your ancestors. You are aware that the germs of plague die only in extreme heat or cold, so try to adopt both states so that you are saved from harm. When I say cold, I mean the cool- ing of the self by making it free from unworthy passions, turning towards God, and presenting oneself in His presence with prayer and supplication. And when I say heat, I mean to be ready to serve Him, to shun slothfulness, and discard laziness with the help of the warmth that is a prerequisite for the fear of God and right- eousness, and is required if one is sincere in beseeching Him. If you attain this coldness, then you have attained salvation. And if you attain this heat, then you have been saved from destruc- tion and ruin. My dear brothers! The wealth of righteousness has