> Essence, and what mind can measure the depths of His unfathomable mystery?

From each and every revelation emanating from the Source of His glory,

holy and never-ending evidences of unimaginable splendor have appeared,

and out of every manifestation of His invincible power oceans of eternal

light have outpoured. How immensely exalted are the wondrous testimonies

of His almighty sovereignty, a glimmer of which, if it but touched them,

would utterly consume all that are in the heavens and in the earth! How

indescribably lofty are the tokens of His consummate power, a single sign

of which, however inconsiderable, must transcend the comprehension of

whatsoever hath, from the beginning that hath no beginning, been brought

into being, or will be created in the future till the end that hath no

end. All the Embodiments of His Names wander in the wilderness of search,

athirst and eager to discover His Essence, and all the Manifestations of

His Attributes implore Him, from the Sinai of Holiness, to unravel His

mystery.



A drop of the billowing ocean of His endless mercy hath adorned all

creation with the ornament of existence, and a breath wafted from His

peerless Paradise hath invested all beings with the robe of His sanctity

and glory. A sprinkling from the unfathomed deep of His sovereign and

all-pervasive Will hath, out of utter nothingness, called into being a

creation which is infinite in its range and deathless in its duration. The

wonders of His bounty can never cease, and the stream of His merciful

grace can never be arrested. The process of His creation hath had no

beginning, and can have no end.



In every age and cycle He hath, through the splendorous light shed by the

Manifestations of His wondrous Essence, recreated all things, so that

whatsoever reflecteth in the heavens and on the earth the signs of His

glory may not be deprived of the outpourings of His mercy, nor despair of

the showers of His favors. How all-encompassing are the wonders of His

boundless grace! Behold how they have pervaded the whole of creation. Such

is their virtue that not a single atom in the entire universe can be found

which doth not declare the evidences of His might, which doth not glorify

His holy Name, or is not expressive of the effulgent light of His unity.

So perfect and comprehensive is His creation that no mind nor heart,

however keen or pure, can ever grasp the nature of the most insignificant

of His creatures; much less fathom the mystery of Him Who is the Day Star

of Truth, Who is the invisible and unknowable Essence. The conceptions of

the devoutest of mystics, the attainments of the most accomplished amongst

men, the highest praise which human tongue or pen can render are all the

product of man's finite mind and are conditioned by its limitations. Ten

thousand Prophets, each a Moses, are thunderstruck upon the Sinai of their

search at His forbidding voice, "Thou shalt never behold Me!"; whilst a

myriad Messengers, each as great as Jesus, stand dismayed upon their

heavenly thrones by the interdiction, "Mine Essence thou shalt never

apprehend!" From time immemorial He hath been veiled in the ineffable

sanctity of His exalted Self, and will everlastingly continue to be wrapt

in the impenetrable mystery of His unknowable Essence. Every attempt to

attain to an understanding of His inaccessible Reality hath ended in

complete bewilderment, and every effort to approach His exalted Self and

envisage His Essence hath resulted in hopelessness and failure.



How bewildering to me, insignificant as I am, is the attempt to fathom the

sacred depths of Thy knowledge! How futile my efforts to visualize the

magnitude of the power inherent in Thine handiwork--the revelation of Thy

creative power! How can mine eye, which hath no faculty to perceive

itself, claim to have discerned Thine Essence, and how can mine heart,

already powerless to apprehend the significance of its own potentialities,

pretend to have comprehended Thy nature? How can I claim to have known

Thee, when the entire creation is bewildered by Thy mystery, and how can I

confess not to have known Thee, when, lo, the whole universe proclaimeth

Thy Presence and testifieth to Thy truth? The portals of Thy grace have

throughout eternity been open, and the means of access unto Thy Presence

made available, unto all created things, and the revelations of Thy

matchless Beauty have at all times been imprinted upon the realities of

all beings, visible and invisible. Yet, notwithstanding this most gracious

favor, this perfect and consummate bestowal, I am moved to testify that

Thy court of holiness and glory is immeasurably exalted above the

knowledge of all else besides Thee, and the mystery of Thy Presence is

inscrutable to every mind except Thine own. No one except Thyself can

unravel the secret of Thy nature, and naught else but Thy transcendental

Essence can grasp the reality of Thy unsearchable being. How vast the

number of those heavenly and all-glorious beings who, in the wilderness of

their separation from Thee, have wandered all the days of their lives, and

failed in the end to find Thee! How great the multitude of the sanctified

and immortal souls who were lost and bewildered while seeking in the

desert of search to behold Thy face! Myriad are Thine ardent lovers whom

the consuming flame of remoteness from Thee hath caused to sink and

perish, and numberless are the faithful souls who have willingly laid down

their lives in the hope of gazing on the light of Thy countenance. The

sighs and moans of these longing hearts that pant after Thee can never

reach Thy holy court, neither can the lamentations of the wayfarers that

thirst to appear before Thy face attain Thy seat of glory.