Mantic uttaïr, Allegorical Anecdote

I know of no one in the world who has attained a happiness like that enjoyed by Pharaoh’s magicians. The happiness they obtained may be compared to the faith which the people of whom I have just spoken have found today. These people, like the magicians, have in this instant separated their soul from themselves; indeed, no one has ever shared in such happiness. At the very moment when they set foot in religion, they withdrew it from the world. Nothing better than this has ever been seen; no better deed has ever been seen.