Mine Eyes Are Cheered, O My God, When I Contemplate

Sources: Prayers And Meditations

Mine eyes are cheered, O my God, when I contemplate the tribulations that

descend upon me from the heaven of Thy decree, and which have encompassed

me on every side according to what Thy pen hath irrevocably established. I

swear by Thy Self! Whatsoever is of Thee is well pleasing unto me, though

it involve the bitterness of mine own death.



He Who was Thy Spirit (Jesus), O my God, withdrew all alone in the

darkness of the night preceding His last day on earth, and falling on His

face to the ground besought Thee saying: If it be Thy will, O my Lord, my

Well-Beloved, let this cup, through Thy grace and bounty, pass from me.



By Thy beauty, O Thou Who art the Lord of all names and the Creator of the

heavens! I can smell the fragrance of the words which, in His love for

Thee, His lips have uttered, and can feel the glow of the fire that had

inflamed His soul in its longing to behold Thy face and in its yearning

after the Day-Spring of the light of Thy oneness, and the Dawning-Place of

Thy transcendent unity.



As to me--and to this Thou art Thyself my witness--I call upon Thee saying:

I have no will of mine own, O my Lord, and my Master and my Ruler, before

the indications of Thy will, and can have no purpose in the face of the

revelation of Thy purpose. I swear by Thy glory! I wish only what Thou

wishest, and cherish only what Thou cherishest. What I have chosen for

myself is what Thou hast Thyself chosen for me, O Thou the Possessor of my

soul! Nay, I find myself to be altogether nothing when face to face with

the manifold revelations of Thy names, how much less when confronted with

the effulgent splendors of the light of Thine own Self. O miserable me!

Were I to attempt merely to describe Thee, such an attempt would itself be

an evidence of my impiety, and would attest my heedlessness in the face of

the clear and resplendent tokens of Thy oneness. Who else except Thee can

claim to be worthy of any notice in the face of Thine own revelation, and

who is he that can be deemed sufficiently qualified to adequately praise

Thee, or to pride himself on having befittingly described Thy glory?

Nay--and to this Thou dost Thyself bear witness--it hath incontrovertibly

been made evident that Thou art the one God, the Incomparable, Whose help

is implored by all men. From everlasting Thou wert alone, with none to

describe Thee, and wilt abide for ever the same with no one else to equal

or rival Thee. Were the existence of any co-equal with Thee to be

recognized, how could it then be maintained that Thou art the

Incomparable, or that Thy Godhead is immeasurably exalted above all peers

or likeness? The contemplation of the highest minds that have recognized

Thy unity failed to attain unto the comprehension of the One Thou hast

created through the word of Thy commandment, how much more must it be

powerless to soar into the atmosphere of the knowledge of Thine own Being.

Every praise which any tongue or pen can recount, every imagination which

any heart can devise, is debarred from the station which Thy most exalted

Pen hath ordained, how much more must it fall short of the heights which

Thou hast Thyself immensely exalted above the conception and the

description of any creature. For the attempt of the evanescent to conceive

the signs of the Uncreated is as the stirring of the drop before the

tumult of Thy billowing oceans. Nay, forbid it, O my God, that I should

thus venture to describe Thee, for every similitude and comparison must

pertain to what is essentially created by Thee. How can then such

similitude and comparison ever befit Thee, or reach up unto Thy Self?



By Thy glory, O my God! Though I recognize and firmly believe that no

description which any except Thyself can give of Thee can beseem Thy

grandeur, and that no glory ascribed to Thee by any save Thyself can ever

ascend into the atmosphere of Thy presence, yet were I to hold my peace,

and cease to glorify Thee and to recount Thy wondrous glory, my heart

would be consumed, and my soul would melt away.



My remembrance of Thee, O my God, quencheth my thirst, and quieteth my

heart. My soul delighteth in its communion with Thee, as the sucking child

delighteth itself in the breasts of Thy mercy; and my heart panteth after

Thee even as one sore athirst panteth after the living waters of Thy

bounty, O Thou Who art the God of mercy, in Whose hand is the lordship of

all things!



I give thanks to Thee, O my God, that Thou hast suffered me to remember

Thee. What else but remembrance of Thee can give delight to my soul or

gladness to my heart? Communion with Thee enableth me to dispense with the

remembrance of all Thy creatures, and my love for Thee empowereth me to

endure the harm which my oppressors inflict upon me.



Send, therefore, unto my loved ones, O my God, what will cheer their

hearts, and illumine their faces, and delight their souls. Thou knowest, O

my Lord, that their joy is to behold the exaltation of Thy Cause and the

glorification of Thy word. Do Thou unveil, therefore, O my God, what will

gladden their eyes, and ordain for them the good of this world and of the

world which is to come.



Thou art, verily, the God of power, of strength and of bounty.