And likewise He saith:  “We heretofore gave the Book to Moses.  Have thou no doubt as to His attaining Our Presence.”  And He saith:  “Aye!  But when the earth shall be crushed with crushing, crushing, and thy Lord shall come and the angels rank on rank.”  And likewise He saith:  “Fain would they put out the light of God with their mouths!  But though the infidels hate it, God will perfect His light.”  And likewise He saith:  “And when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was journeying with His family, He perceived a fire on the mountain side.  He said to His family:  ’Wait ye, for I perceive a fire, haply I may bring you tidings from it, or a brand from the fire to warm you.’  And when He came up to it, a Voice cried to Him out of the Bush from the right side of the Vale in the sacred Spot:  ’O Moses, I truly am God, the Lord of the worlds!’”

In all the Divine Books the promise of the Divine Presence hath been explicitly recorded.  By this Presence is meant the Presence of Him Who is the Dayspring of the signs, and the Dawning-Place of the clear tokens, and the Manifestation of the Excellent Names, and the Source of the attributes, of the true God, exalted be His glory.  God in His Essence and in His own Self hath ever been unseen, inaccessible, and unknowable.  By Presence, therefore, is meant the Presence of the One Who is His Vicegerent amongst men.  He, moreover, hath never had, nor hath He, any peer or likeness.  For were He to have any peer or likeness, how could it then be demonstrated that His being is exalted above, and His essence sanctified from, all comparison and likeness?  Briefly, there hath been revealed in the Kitab-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude) concerning the Presence and Revelation of God that which will suffice the fair-minded.  We beseech Him—­exalted be He—­to aid every one to become the essence of truthfulness, and to draw nigh unto Him.  He, verily, is the Lord of strength and power.  No God is there but Him, the All-Hearing, the Lord of Utterance, the Almighty, the All-Praised.

O thou who art reputed for thy learning!  Bid men to do that which is praiseworthy, and be not of such as tarry.  Observe thou with a keen eye.  The Sun of Truth shineth resplendently, at the bidding of the Lord of the kingdom of utterance, and the King of the heaven of knowledge, above the horizon of the prison-city of Akka.  Repudiation hath not veiled it, and ten thousand hosts arrayed against it were powerless to withhold it from shining.  Thou canst excuse thyself no longer.  Either thou must recognize it, or—­God forbid—­arise and deny all the Prophets!

Reflect, O Shay_kh_, upon the Shi’ih sect.  How many the edifices which they reared with the hands of idle fancies and vain imaginings, and how numerous the cities which they built!  At length those vain imaginings were converted into bullets and aimed at Him Who is the Prince of the world.  Not one single soul among the leaders of that sect acknowledged Him in the Day of His Revelation!