O ye that are foolish, yet have A name to be wise!  Wherefore do ye wear the guise of shepherds, when inwardly ye have become wolves, intent upon My flock?  Ye are even as the star, which riseth ere the dawn, and which, though it seem radiant and luminous, leadeth the wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition.

“25:  O ye seeming Fair yet inwardly foul!  Ye are like clear but bitter water, which to outward...”

O ye seeming Fair yet inwardly foul!  Ye are like clear but bitter water, which to outward seeming is crystal pure but of which, when tested by the divine Assayer, not a drop is accepted.  Yea, the sun beam falls alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet differ they in reflection even as doth the star from the earth:  nay, immeasurable is the difference!

“26:  O My friend in word!  Ponder awhile.  Hast thou ever heard that friend...”

O My friend in word!  Ponder awhile.  Hast thou ever heard that friend and foe should abide in one heart?  Cast out then the stranger, that the Friend may enter His home.

“27:  O Son of dust!  All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained...”

O Son of dust!  All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory; yet thou didst give My home and dwelling to another than Me; and whenever the manifestation of My holiness sought His own abode, a stranger found He there, and, homeless, hastened unto the sanctuary of the Beloved.  Notwithstanding I have concealed thy secret and desired not thy shame.

“28:  O essence of desire!  At many a dawn have I turned from the realms of...”

O essence of desire!  At many a dawn have I turned from the realms of the Placeless unto thine abode, and found thee on the bed of ease busied with others than Myself.  Thereupon, even as the flash of the spirit, I returned to the realms of celestial glory and breathed it not in My retreats above unto the hosts of holiness.

“29:  O Son of bounty!  Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay...”

O Son of bounty!  Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training every atom in existence and the essence of all created things.  Thus, ere thou didst issue from thy mother’s womb, I destined for thee two founts of gleaming milk, eyes to watch over thee, and hearts to love thee.  Out of My loving-kindness, ’neath the shade of My mercy I nurtured thee, and guarded thee by the essence of My grace and favor.  And My purpose in all this was that thou mightest attain My everlasting dominion and become worthy of My invisible bestowals.  And yet heedless thou didst remain, and when fully grown, thou didst neglect all My bounties and occupied thyself with thine idle imaginings, in such wise that thou didst become wholly forgetful, and, turning away from the portals of the Friend didst abide within the courts of My enemy.