afflictions.  Meanwhile, the voice of Mine heart crieth out these words:  “O that My people knew!” This Wronged One, rid of attachment unto all things, uttereth these exalted words:  “Waves have encompassed the Ark of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.  Fear not the tempestuous gales, O Mariner!  He Who causeth the dawn to appear is, verily, with Thee in this darkness that hath struck terror into the hearts of all men, except such as God, the Almighty, the Unconstrained, hath been pleased to spare.”

O Shay_kh_!  I swear by the Sun of Truth Which hath risen and shineth above the horizon of this Prison!  The betterment of the world hath been the sole aim of this Wronged One.  Unto this beareth witness every man of judgment, of discernment, of insight and understanding.  Whilst afflicted with trials, He held fast unto the cord of patience and fortitude, and was satisfied with the things which have befallen Him at the hands of His enemies, and was crying out:  “I have renounced My desire for Thy desire, O my God, and My will for the revelation of Thy Will.  By Thy glory!  I desire neither Myself nor My life except for the purpose of serving Thy Cause, and I love not My being save that I may sacrifice it in Thy path.  Thou seest and knowest, O my Lord, that those whom We asked to be fair and just, have, unjustly and cruelly, risen up against Us.  Openly they were with Me, yet secretly they assisted My foes, who have arisen to dishonor Me.  O God, my God!  I testify that Thou hast created Thy servants to aid Thy Cause and exalt Thy Word, and yet they have helped Thine enemies.  I beseech Thee, by Thy Cause that hath encompassed the world of being, and by Thy Name wherewith Thou hast subjected the seen and unseen, to adorn the peoples of the earth with the light of Thy justice, and to illuminate their hearts with the brightness of Thy knowledge.  I am, O my Lord, Thy servant and the son of Thy servant.  I bear witness unto Thy unity, and Thy oneness, and to the sanctity of Thy self and the purity of Thine Essence.  Thou beholdest, O my Lord, Thy trusted ones at the mercy of the treacherous among Thy creatures, and the calumniators amidst Thy people.  Thou knowest what hath befallen Us at the hands of them whom Thou knowest better than we know them.  They have committed what hath torn the veil from such of Thy creatures as are nigh unto Thee.  I beseech Thee to assist them to obtain that which hath escaped them in the days of the Dawning-Place of Thy Revelation and the Dayspring of Thine Inspiration.  Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee, and in Thy grasp are the reins of all that is in heaven and all that is on earth.”  The voice and the lamentation of the true Faith have been raised.  It calleth aloud and saith:  “O people!  By the righteousness of God!  I have attained unto Him Who hath manifested me and sent me down.  This is the Day whereon Sinai hath smiled at Him Who conversed upon it, and Carmel at its Revealer, and the Sadrah at Him Who taught it.  Fear ye God, and be not of them that have denied Him.  Withhold not yourselves from that which hath been revealed through His grace.  Seize ye the living waters of immortality in the name of your Lord, the Lord of all names, and drink ye in the remembrance of Him, Who is the Mighty, the Peerless.”