upplications there.
Therefore forgiven and freed from all the guilt in which he lies
My mercy chooses him a citizen of paradise;
This monk desires that he may not that sinner stand beside,
Therefore he goes to hell and so his wish is gratified.'

(_Alger: Poetry of the Orient_)

It is refreshing to find one of the classical Moslem writers so strongly
denouncing self-righteousness. The poet Nizami in the following apologue
seems to have caught no little of the spirit of the Gospel:--

One evening Jesus lingered in the market-place
Teaching the people parables of truth and grace,
When in the square remote a crowd was seen to rise
And stop with loathing gestures and abhorring cries.
The Master and His meek Disciples went to see
What cause for this commotion and disgust could be,
And found a poor dead dog beside the gutter laid;
Revolting sight! at which each face its hate betrayed.
One held his nose, one shut his eyes, one turned away,
And all amongst themselves began loud to say,
'Detested creature! he pollutes the earth and air!'
'His eyes are blear!' 'His ears are foul!' 'His ribs are bare!'
'In his torn hide there's not a decent shoe-string left!'
'No doubt the execrable cur was hung for theft!'
Then Jesus spake and dropped on him this saving wreath:
'Even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth!'

(_Alger: Poetry of the Orient._)

The entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem is referred to in the following
passage from the Masnavi of Jalaluddin Rumi:--

Having left Jesus, thou cherishest an ass,
And art perforce excluded like an ass;
The portion of Jesus is knowledge and wisdom,
Not so the portion of an ass, O assinine one!
Thou pitiest thine ass when it complains;
So art thou ignorant, thine ass makes thee assinine,
Keep thy pity for Jesus, not for the ass,
Make not thy lust to vanquish thy reason.

(_Whinfield's Translation_).

Elsewhere in the Masnavi Jalaluddin Rumi says:--

Jesus, thy Spirit, is present with thee;
Ask help of Him, for He is a good Helper.

In the Diwan-i-Shams-i-Tabriz, by the same author, we have the lines:--

I am that sweet-smiling Jesus,
And the world is alive through Me.

Elsewhere he says, 'The pure one is regenerated by the breath of Jesus.'
It is a significant fact that Jalaluddin Rumi spent most of his life at
Iconium, where very likely some apostolic trad