267 Erelong shall the exponents of wealth and power banish Us from the land of Adrianople to the city of ’Akka.  According to what they say, it is the most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the foulest in water.  It is as though it were the metropolis of the owl, within whose precincts naught can be heard save the echo of its cry.  Therein have they resolved to imprison this Youth, to shut against our faces the doors of ease and comfort, and to deprive us of every worldly benefit throughout the remainder of our days.

268 By God!  Though weariness lay Me low, and hunger consume Me, and the bare rock be My bed, and My fellows the beasts of the field, I will not complain, but will endure patiently as those endued with constancy and firmness have endured patiently, through the power of God, the Eternal King and Creator of the nations, and will render thanks unto God under all conditions.  We pray that, out of His bounty—­exalted be He—­He may release, through this imprisonment, the necks of men from chains and fetters, and cause them to turn, with sincere faces, towards His face, Who is the Mighty, the Bounteous.  Ready is He to answer whosoever calleth upon Him, and nigh is He unto such as commune with Him.  We further beseech Him to make of this darksome tribulation a shield for the Temple of His Cause, and to protect it from the assault of sharpened swords and pointed daggers.  Adversity hath ever given rise to the exaltation of His Cause and the glorification of His Name.  Such hath been God’s method carried into effect in centuries and ages past.  That which the people now fail to apprehend they shall erelong discover, on that day when their steeds shall stumble and their finery be folded up, their blades blunted and their feet made to falter.

269 I know not how long they shall spur on the charger of self and passion and rove in the wilderness of error and negligence!  Shall either the pomp of the mighty or the wretchedness of the abased endure?  Shall he who reposeth upon the loftiest seat of honour, who hath attained the pinnacle of might and glory, abide forever?  Nay, by My Lord, the All-Merciful!  All on earth shall pass away, and there remaineth alone the face of My Lord, the All-Glorious, the Most-Bountiful.(59)

270 What armour hath not been pierced by the arrow of destruction, and what regal brow not divested by the hand of Fate?  What fortress hath withstood the approach of the Messenger of Death?  What throne hath not been shattered to pieces, what palace not reduced to rubble?  Could the people but taste that choice Wine of the mercy of their Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, which lieth in store for them in the world beyond, they would assuredly cease their censure, and seek only to win the good pleasure of this Youth.  For now, however, they have hidden Me behind a veil of darkness, whose fabric they have woven with the hands of idle fancy and vain imagination.  Erelong shall the snow-white hand of God rend an opening through the darkness of this night and unlock a mighty portal unto His City.  On that Day shall the people enter therein by troops, uttering what the blamers aforetime exclaimed,(60) that there shall be made manifest in the end that which appeared in the beginning.