reply:  “What!  Meanest thou that all these divines, all these exponents of learning, with all their authority, their pomp and pageantry, have erred, and failed to distinguish truth from falsehood?  Dost thou, and people like thyself, pretend to have comprehended that which they have not understood?” If numbers and excellence of apparel be regarded as the criterions of learning and truth, the peoples of a bygone age, whom those of today have never surpassed in numbers, magnificence and power, should certainly be accounted a superior and worthier people.

It is clear and evident that whenever the Manifestations of Holiness were revealed, the divines of their day have hindered the people from attaining unto the way of truth.  To this testify the records of all the scriptures and heavenly books.  Not one Prophet of God was made manifest Who did not fall a victim to the relentless hate, to the denunciation, denial, and execration of the clerics of His day!  Woe unto them for the iniquities their hands have formerly wrought!  Woe unto them for that which they are now doing!  What veils of glory more grievous than these embodiments of error!  By the righteousness of God! to pierce such veils is the mightiest of all acts, and to rend them asunder the most meritorious of all deeds!  May God assist us and assist you, O concourse of the Spirit! that perchance ye may in the time of His Manifestation be graciously aided to perform such deeds, and may in His days attain unto the Presence of God.

Furthermore, among the “veils of glory” are such terms as the “Seal of the Prophets” and the like, the removal of which is a supreme achievement in the sight of these base-born and erring souls.  All, by reason of these mysterious sayings, these grievous “veils of glory,” have been hindered from beholding the light of truth.  Have they not heard the melody of that bird of Heaven,(121) uttering this mystery:  “A thousand Fatimihs I have espoused, all of whom were the daughters of Muhammad, Son of ’Abdu’llah, the ‘Seal of the Prophets?’” Behold, how many are the mysteries that lie as yet unravelled within the tabernacle of the knowledge of God, and how numerous the gems of His wisdom that are still concealed in His inviolable treasuries!  Shouldest thou ponder this in thine heart, thou wouldst realize that His handiwork knoweth neither beginning nor end.  The domain of His decree is too vast for the tongue of mortals to describe, or for the bird of the human mind to traverse; and the dispensations of His providence are too mysterious for the mind of man to comprehend.  His creation no end hath overtaken, and it hath ever existed from the “Beginning that hath no beginning”; and the Manifestations of His Beauty no beginning hath beheld, and they will continue to the “End that knoweth no end.”  Ponder this utterance in thine heart, and reflect how it is applicable unto all these holy Souls.