in His early days, ere His ministry was proclaimed, He saw two men engaged in fighting.  One of them asked the help of Moses against his opponent.  Whereupon, Moses intervened and slew him.  To this testifieth the record of the sacred Book.  Should the details be cited, they will lengthen and interrupt the course of the argument.  The report of this incident spread throughout the city, and Moses was full of fear, as is witnessed by the text of the Book.  And when the warning:  “O Moses! of a truth, the chiefs take counsel to slay Thee"(43) reached His ears, He went forth from the city, and sojourned in Midian in the service of Shoeb.  While returning, Moses entered the holy vale, situate in the wilderness of Sinai, and there beheld the vision of the King of glory from the “Tree that belongeth neither to the East nor to the West."(44) There He heard the soul-stirring Voice of the Spirit speaking from out of the kindled Fire, bidding Him to shed upon Pharaonic souls the light of divine guidance; so that, liberating them from the shadows of the valley of self and desire, He might enable them to attain the meads of heavenly delight, and delivering them, through the Salsabil of renunciation, from the bewilderment of remoteness, cause them to enter the peaceful city of the divine presence.  When Moses came unto Pharaoh and delivered unto him, as bidden by God, the divine Message, Pharaoh spoke insultingly saying:  “Art thou not he that committed murder, and became an infidel?” Thus recounted the Lord of majesty as having been said by Pharaoh unto Moses:  “What a deed is that which Thou hast done!  Thou art one of the ungrateful.  He said:  ’I did it indeed, and I was one of those who erred.  And I fled from you when I feared you, but My Lord hath given Me wisdom, and hath made Me one of His Apostles.’"(45)

And now ponder in thy heart the commotion which God stirreth up.  Reflect upon the strange and manifold trials with which He doth test His servants.  Consider how He hath suddenly chosen from among His servants, and entrusted with the exalted mission of divine guidance Him Who was known as guilty of homicide, Who, Himself, had acknowledged His cruelty, and Who for well-nigh thirty years had, in the eyes of the world, been reared in the home of Pharaoh and been nourished at his table.  Was not God, the omnipotent King, able to withhold the hand of Moses from murder, so that manslaughter should not be attributed unto Him, causing bewilderment and aversion among the people?

Likewise, reflect upon the state and condition of Mary.  So deep was the perplexity of that most beauteous countenance, so grievous her case, that she bitterly regretted she had ever been born.  To this beareth witness the text of the sacred verse wherein it is mentioned that after Mary had given birth to Jesus, she bemoaned her plight and cried out:  “O would that I had died ere this, and been a thing forgotten, forgotten quite!"(46) I swear by God!  Such lamenting consumeth the heart and shaketh