measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath
bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be
consumed; for men’s hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its
revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light.
Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist.





XXXIX: PRAISE BE TO THEE, O LORD MY GOD, FOR THE...


Praise be to Thee, O Lord My God, for the wondrous revelations of Thy
inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast destined for
Myself. At one time Thou didst deliver Me into the hands of Nimrod; at
another Thou hast allowed Pharaoh’s rod to persecute Me. Thou, alone,
canst estimate, through Thine all-encompassing knowledge and the operation
of Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have suffered at their hands.
Again Thou didst cast Me into the prison-cell of the ungodly, for no
reason except that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the
well-favored denizens of Thy Kingdom an intimation of the vision with
which Thou hadst, through Thy knowledge, inspired Me, and revealed to Me
its meaning through the potency of Thy might. And again Thou didst decree
that I be beheaded by the sword of the infidel. Again I was crucified for
having unveiled to men’s eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity, for
having revealed to them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign and
everlasting power. How bitter the humiliations heaped upon Me, in a
subsequent age, on the plain of Karbilá! How lonely did I feel amidst Thy
people! To what a state of helplessness I was reduced in that land!