258 God beareth Me witness that My purpose hath not been to foment sedition, but to purify His servants from whatsoever hath prevented them from drawing nigh unto Him, the Lord of the Day of Reckoning.  I was asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of My Lord, the All-Merciful, passed over Me, awoke Me from My slumber, and bade Me lift up My voice betwixt earth and heaven.  This thing is not from Me, but from God.  Unto this testify the dwellers of His Dominion and of His Kingdom, and the inhabitants of the cities of His unfading glory.  By Him Who is the Truth!  I fear no tribulation in His path, nor any affliction in My love for Him and in the way of His good pleasure.  Verily God hath made adversity as a morning dew upon His green pasture, and a wick for His lamp which lighteth earth and heaven.

259 Shall a man’s wealth endure forever, or protect him from the One Who shall, erelong, seize him by his forelock?  Gazing upon those who sleep beneath the gravestones, embosomed in the dust, could one ever distinguish the sovereign’s crumbling skull from the subject’s mouldering bones?  Nay, by Him Who is the King of kings!  Could one discern the lord from the vassal, or those that enjoyed wealth and riches from those who possessed neither shoes nor mat?  By God!  Every distinction hath been erased, save only for those who upheld the right and who ruled with justice.

260 Whither are gone the learned men, the divines and potentates of old?  What hath become of their discriminating views, their shrewd perceptions, their subtle insights and sage pronouncements?  Where are their hidden coffers, their flaunted ornaments, their gilded couches, their rugs and cushions strewn about?  Gone forever is their generation!  All have perished, and, by God’s decree, naught remaineth of them but scattered dust.  Exhausted is the wealth they gathered, dispersed the stores they hoarded, dissipated the treasures they concealed.  Naught can now be seen but their deserted haunts, their roofless dwellings, their uprooted tree-trunks, and their faded splendour.  No man of insight will let wealth distract his gaze from his ultimate objective, and no man of understanding will allow riches to withhold him from turning unto Him Who is the All-Possessing, the Most High.

261 Where is he who held dominion over all whereon the sun shineth, who lived extravagantly on earth, seeking out the luxuries of the world and of all that hath been created upon it?  Where is the commander of the swarthy legion and the upraiser of the golden standard?  Where is the ruler of Zawra’, and where the tyrant of Fayha’?(56) Where are those before whose munificence the treasure-houses of the earth shrank in shame, and at whose largesse and swelling spirit the very ocean was abashed?  Where is he who stretched forth his arm in rebellion, and who turned his hand against the All-Merciful?