with the swiftness of lightning, pass by all else save Him.  He should succour the dispossessed, and never withhold his favour from the destitute.  He should show kindness to animals, how much more unto his fellow-man, to him who is endowed with the power of utterance.  He should not hesitate to offer up his life for his Beloved, nor allow the censure of the people to turn him away from the Truth.  He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfil.  With all his heart should the seeker avoid fellowship with evil doers, and pray for the remission of their sins.  He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be.  How often hath a sinner, at the hour of death, attained to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the celestial Concourse.  And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul’s ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire.  Our purpose in revealing these convincing and weighty utterances is to impress upon the seeker that he should regard all else beside God as transient, and count all things save Him, Who is the Object of all adoration, as utter nothingness.

These are among the attributes of the exalted, and constitute the hall-mark of the spiritually-minded.  They have already been mentioned in connection with the requirements of the wayfarers that tread the Path of Positive Knowledge.  When the detached wayfarer and sincere seeker hath fulfilled these essential conditions, then and only then can he be called a true seeker.  Whensoever he hath fulfilled the conditions implied in the verse:  “Whoso maketh efforts for Us,"(151) he shall enjoy the blessing conferred by the words:  “In Our ways shall We assuredly guide him."(152)

Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker’s heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.  At that hour will the mystic Herald, bearing the joyful tidings of the Spirit, shine forth from the City of God resplendent as the morn, and, through the trumpet-blast of knowledge, will awaken the heart, the soul, and the spirit from the slumber of negligence.  Then will the manifold favours and outpouring grace of the holy and everlasting Spirit confer such new life upon the seeker that he will find himself endowed with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind.  He will contemplate the manifest signs of the universe, and will penetrate the hidden mysteries of the soul.  Gazing with the eye of God, he will perceive within every atom a door that leadeth him to the stations of absolute certitude.  He will discover in all things the mysteries of divine Revelation and the evidences of an everlasting manifestation.