“O thou who art turning toward the Kingdom of God!...”
O thou who art turning toward the Kingdom of God!
I was informed of the contents of thy excellent letter and supplicated the Holy Threshold, the Circuit of the Supreme Concourse, to baptize thee with the water of knowledge and the fire of the love of God and to make thee a perfect and faithful servant in His Great Vineyard, so that thou mayest water the trees of the love of God in the Paradise of Abha; and to make thee a sign of meekness and humbleness among the maid-servants of God and a promulgator of His Cause in those vast and extensive regions.
“O thou pure soul who hath turned with a submissive...”
O thou pure soul[241] who hath turned with a submissive heart to the Kingdom of God!
Turn thy face to the Assembly of the Covenant and [hear him] say: “Salutations and praise be upon you, the fragrances of God be upon you! for that by reason of which ye have awakened from your sleep, arisen from your negligence and heedlessness, aroused from your couches, relied upon your Creator, depended upon your Maker and been kindled with the fire burning in the Spirit on Mt. Sinai and in the Heart of Mt. Paran —from this conflagration shall appear dazzling lights, which shall shine upon all regions.
“Consider the first century of the time of Christ—glory be unto Him! —and the beginning of His Cause. In that time no one but a certain few persons believed in Him; and the great one among them was Peter the disciple, who, through the burning of the fire of test and persecution, was in great fear and denied Christ three times; then the Jews who were scoffing, persecuting, deriding and laughing at Him, despised Him as through He were a thief, a murderer, or a villain, and committed against Him that which made the hearts lament, distressed the minds, caused tears to flow and the foundations of existence to tremble and shake! They thought that they had quenched the Fire which flamed in the tree of Christian certainty; nay, verily, that Lamp hath diffused its dazzling rays unto the Supreme Height and that Fire hath burned until it kindled the hearts of the righteous!”