exalted is God above all that we may conceive of the Revealers of His
Cause, and immensely glorified is He beyond all that they may mention in
His regard!

43

Great God! This sea had laid up lustrous pearls in store;
The wind hath raised a wave that casteth them ashore.
So put away thy robe and drown thyself therein,
And cease to boast of skill: it serveth thee no more!

44 If thou be of the inmates of this city within the ocean of divine
unity, thou wilt view all the Prophets and Messengers of God as one soul
and one body, as one light and one spirit, in such wise that the first
among them would be last and the last would be first. For they have all
arisen to proclaim His Cause and have established the laws of divine
wisdom. They are, one and all, the Manifestations of His Self, the
Repositories of His might, the Treasuries of His Revelation, the
Dawning-Places of His splendour, and the Daysprings of His light. Through
them are manifested the signs of sanctity in the realities of all things
and the tokens of oneness in the essences of all beings. Through them are
revealed the elements of glorification in the heavenly realities and the
exponents of praise in the eternal essences. From them hath all creation
proceeded and unto them shall return all that hath been mentioned. And
since in their inmost Beings they are the same Luminaries and the
self-same Mysteries, thou shouldst view their outward conditions in the
same light, that thou mayest recognize them all as one Being, nay, find
them united in their words, speech, and utterance.

45 Wert thou to consider in this station the last of them to be the first,