are in heaven and on earth, and the one Desire of the hearts which are devoted to Thee!  I implore Thee, by Thine Ocean unto which Thou didst summon all the inmates of heaven and all the dwellers of the earth, to help Thy servants who have been kept back from turning unto it and from approaching its shores.  Make them, then, O my God, to be detached from all else but Thee, and enable them to speak forth Thy praise and extol Thy virtues.  Supply them, moreover, O my God, with the choice Wine of Thy mercy, that it may cause them to be forgetful of any one except Thee, and to arise to serve Thy Cause, and to be steadfast in their love for Thee.  Thou art, verily, the Lord of their lives and the Object of their adoration.  If they be driven away by Thee, who will then look upon them; and if they be removed far from Thee, who is there that can help them to approach Thy Presence?  I swear by Thy might!  No refuge is there to flee to except Thee, and no shelter to seek except Thy shelter, and no protection except Thy protection.  Woe betide him who hath taken as Lord any one beside Thee, and blessed are the ones who have rid themselves of all attachment to all the dwellers of Thine earth, and clung to the hem of Thy bounteousness.  These! the people of Baha, before all that are in heaven and all that are on earth.  No God is there but Thee, the Omniscient, the All-Wise.”

Praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds.

CX:  “I know not, O my God, whether I should speak...”

I know not, O my God, whether I should speak forth the wonders of Thy praise among Thy servants, and lay bare before them the secrets of Thy mercy and the mysteries of Thy Cause, or keep them wrapped up within the receptacle of my heart.  Though the lover be loth to share with any one the intimate conversation of his beloved, yet at whatever time Thine inescapable commandment to declare Thy Cause reacheth me, I will unhesitatingly obey it.  I would proclaim Thee, undeterred by the darts of affliction that may rain down upon me from the clouds of Thy decree.

I swear by Thy might!  Neither the hosts of the earth nor those of heaven can keep me back from revealing the things I am commanded to manifest.  I have no will before Thy will, and can cherish no desire in the face of Thy desire.  By Thy grace I am, at all times, ready to serve Thee and am rid of all attachment to any one except Thee.

What I desire, however, O my God, is that Thou shouldst bid me unveil the things which lie hid in Thy knowledge, so that they who are wholly devoted to Thee may, in their longing for Thee, soar up into the atmosphere of Thy oneness, and the infidels may be seized with trembling and may return to the nethermost fire, the abode ordained for them by Thee through the power of Thy sovereign might.

Thou dost consider, O my Lord, how Thy dear ones are sore pressed by Thine enemies, and hearest from all sides their sighing by reason of what hath befallen them in Thy path.  Thou knowest, O my Lord, that their one desire was to seek Thy face, and that the sole Object of their adoration was Thee.  They who wronged them had no other purpose except to turn them away from Thee, and to extinguish the fire which Thou hadst kindled with the hands of Thine almighty power.