The Days of Mohammed | Page 2

and even down into Yemen,
Arabia-Felix,--Yusuf has learned of a new and strange religion held by
the people of the great peninsula. His whole being calls for relief from
the doubts which harass him. He is rich and he decides to proceed at
once towards the west and to search the world, if necessary,--not, as did
Sir Galahad and the knights of King Arthur's Table, in quest of the
Holy Grail, but in search of the scarcely less effulgent radiance of the
beams of Truth and Love.

THE DAYS OF MOHAMMED.
CHAPTER I.
YUSUF BEGINS HIS SEARCH FOR TRUTH.
"O when shall all my wanderings end, And all my steps to Thee-ward
tend!"
"Peace, oh peace! that thy light wings might now rest upon me! Truth,
that thou mightest shine in upon my soul, making all light where now is
darkness! Ye spirits that dwell in yon bright orbs far above me, ye that
alone are privileged to bow before the Great Creator of the universe, ye
that alone may address yourselves to the Great Omnipotent Spirit with
impunity, intercede for me, I beseech you! Bow before that Great
Sovereign of all wisdom and light, whom we worship through these
vague symbols of fire and brightness; plead with him before whom I
dare not come, in my behalf. Beseech of him, if he will condescend to
notice his most humble priest, that he may lead him into light effulgent,

into all truth, and that he may clear from his soul these vapors of doubt
which now press upon him in blackest gloom and rack his soul with
torment. If I sin in doubting thus, beseech him to forgive me and to lead
me to a conception of him as he is. Ye that are his ministers, from your
starry spheres guide me! Whether through darkness, thorns, or stony
ways, guide me; I shall not falter if I may see the light at last! Oh, grant
me peace!"
Thus prayed Yusuf, the Magian priest. He paused. No sound passed
from his lips, but he still stood with upraised arms, gazing into the
intense depths of the Persian sky, purple, and flecked with golden stars,
the "forget-me-nots of the angels."
His priestly vestments were dazzlingly white, and upon his shoulders
were fixed two snowy wings that swept downward to the ground. His
black beard descended far over his breast, and from the eyes above
shone forth the glow of a soul yearning towards the infinite unknown,
whose all is God.
Behind him, near the altar of the rounded tower,--round in the
similitude of the orbs of light, the sun, moon, and stars,--danced the
sacred fire, whose flames were said to have burned unceasingly for
nearly one thousand years. The fiery wreaths leaped upwards toward
the same purple sky, as if pointing with long, red fingers, in mockery of
the priest's devotion; and the ruddy glare, falling upon him as he stood
so still there, enveloped him with a halo of light. It gleamed upon his
head, upon his uplifted hands, upon the curves of the wings on his
shoulders, silhouetting him against the darkness, and lighting his white
habiliments until, all motionless as he was, he seemed like a marble
statue dazzlingly radiant in the light of one crimson gleam from a
sinking sun.
And so he stood, heeding it not, till the moon rose, soft and full; the
mountain-tops shone with a rim of silver, the valleys far below the
temple looked deeper in the shade, and the fire burned low.
Rapt and more rapt grew the face of the priest. Surely the struggle of
his soul was being answered, and in his nearness to Nature, he was

getting a faint, far-off gleam of the true nature of Nature's God. His
glance fell to the changing landscape below; his arms were extended as
if in benediction; and his lips moved in a low and passionate farewell to
his native land. Then he turned.
The fire burned low on the altar.
"Sacred symbol, whose beams have no power to warm my chilled heart,
I bid you a long farewell! They will say that Yusuf is faithless, a false
priest. They will mayhap follow him to slay him. And they will bow
again to yon image, and defile thine altars again with infants' blood, not
discerning the true God. Yet he must be approachable. I feel it! I know
it! O Great Spirit, reveal Thyself unto Yusuf! Reveal Thyself unto
Persia! Great Spirit, guide me!"
For the first time, Yusuf thus addressed a prayer direct to the Deity, and
he did so in fear and trembling.
A faint gleam shone feebly amid the ashes of the now blackening altar.
It flared up for an instant, then fell, and the sacred fire of the Guebre