justice and mercy. Even as He saith: “Seest thou not to what God likeneth
a good word? To a good tree; its root firmly fixed, and its branches
reaching unto heaven: yielding its fruit in all seasons.”(18)

O the pity! that man should deprive himself of this goodly gift, this
imperishable bounty, this everlasting life. It behooveth him to prize this
food that cometh from heaven, that perchance, through the wondrous favours
of the Sun of Truth, the dead may be brought to life, and withered souls
be quickened by the infinite Spirit. Make haste, O my brother, that while
there is yet time our lips may taste of the immortal draught, for the
breeze of life, now blowing from the city of the Well-Beloved, cannot
last, and the streaming river of holy utterance must needs be stilled, and
the portals of the Ridván cannot for ever remain open. The day will surely
come when the Nightingale of Paradise will have winged its flight away
from its earthly abode unto its heavenly nest. Then will its melody be
heard no more, and the beauty of the rose cease to shine. Seize the time,
therefore, ere the glory of the divine springtime hath spent itself, and
the Bird of Eternity ceased to warble its melody, that thy inner hearing
may not be deprived of hearkening unto its call. This is My counsel unto
thee and unto the beloved of God. Whosoever wisheth, let him turn
thereunto; whosoever wisheth, let him turn away. God, verily, is
independent of him and of that which he may see and witness.

These are the melodies, sung by Jesus, Son of Mary, in accents of majestic
power in the Ridván of the Gospel, revealing those signs that must needs
herald the advent of the Manifestation after Him. In the first Gospel
according to Matthew it is recorded: And when they asked Jesus concerning
the signs of His coming, He said unto them: “Immediately after the
oppression(19) of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers