the being.  Such consternation of soul, such despondency, could have been caused by no other than the censure of the enemy and the cavilings of the infidel and perverse.  Reflect, what answer could Mary have given to the people around her?  How could she claim that a Babe Whose father was unknown had been conceived of the Holy Ghost?  Therefore did Mary, that veiled and immortal Countenance, take up her Child and return unto her home.  No sooner had the eyes of the people fallen upon her than they raised their voice saying:  “O sister of Aaron!  Thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor unchaste thy mother."(47)

And now, meditate upon this most great convulsion, this grievous test.  Notwithstanding all these things, God conferred upon that essence of the Spirit, Who was known amongst the people as fatherless, the glory of Prophethood, and made Him His testimony unto all that are in heaven and on earth.

Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as ordained by the King of creation, to the ways and desires of men!  As thou comest to comprehend the essence of these divine mysteries, thou wilt grasp the purpose of God, the divine Charmer, the Best-Beloved.  Thou wilt regard the words and the deeds of that almighty Sovereign as one and the same; in such wise that whatsoever thou dost behold in His deeds, the same wilt thou find in His sayings, and whatsoever thou dost read in His sayings, that wilt thou recognize in His deeds.  Thus it is that outwardly such deeds and words are the fire of vengeance unto the wicked, and inwardly the waters of mercy unto the righteous.  Were the eye of the heart to open, it would surely perceive that the words revealed from the heaven of the will of God are at one with, and the same as, the deeds that have emanated from the Kingdom of divine power.

And now, take heed, O brother!  If such things be revealed in this Dispensation, and such incidents come to pass, at the present time, what would the people do?  I swear by Him Who is the true Educator of mankind and the Revealer of the Word of God that the people would instantly and unquestionably pronounce Him an infidel and would sentence Him to death.  How far are they from hearkening unto the voice that declareth:  Lo! a Jesus hath appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost, and a Moses summoned to a divinely-appointed task!  Were a myriad voices to be raised, no ear would listen if We said that upon a fatherless Child hath been conferred the mission of Prophethood, or that a murderer hath brought from the flame of the burning Bush the message of “Verily, verily, I am God!”

If the eye of justice be opened, it will readily recognize, in the light of that which hath been mentioned, that He, Who is the Cause and ultimate Purpose of all these things, is made manifest in this day.  Though similar events have not occurred in this Dispensation, yet the people still cling to such vain imaginings as are cherished by the reprobate.  How grievous the charges brought against Him!  How severe the persecutions inflicted upon Him—­charges and persecutions the like of which men have neither seen nor heard!