Praise Be To Thee, To Whom The Tongues Of All

Sources: Prayers And Meditations

Praise be to Thee, to Whom the tongues of all created things have, from

eternity, called, and yet failed to attain the heaven of Thine eternal

holiness and grandeur. The eyes of all beings have been opened to behold

the beauty of Thy radiant countenance, yet none hath succeeded in gazing

on the brightness of the light of Thy face. The hands of them that are

nigh unto Thee have, ever since the foundation of Thy glorious sovereignty< r />
and the establishment of Thy holy dominion, been raised suppliantly

towards Thee, yet no one hath been able to touch the hem of the robe that

clotheth Thy Divine and sovereign Essence. And yet none can deny that Thou

hast ever been, through the wonders of Thy generosity and bounty, supreme

over all things, art powerful to do all things, and art nearer unto all

things than they are unto themselves.



Far be it, then, from Thy glory that anyone should gaze on Thy wondrous

beauty with any eye save Thine own eye, or hear the melodies proclaiming

Thine almighty sovereignty with any ear except Thine own ear. Too high art

Thou exalted for the eye of any creature to behold Thy beauty, or for the

understanding of any heart to scale the heights of Thine immeasurable

knowledge. For should the birds of the hearts of them that are nigh unto

Thee be ever enabled to soar as long as Thine own overpowering sovereignty

can endure, or to ascend as long as the empire of Thy Divine holiness can

last, they shall, in no wise, be able to transcend the limitations which a

contingent world hath imposed upon them, nor pass beyond its confines.

How, then, can he whose very creation is restricted by such limitations,

attain unto Him Who is the Lord of the Kingdom of all created things, or

ascend into the heaven of Him Who ruleth the realms of loftiness and

grandeur?



Glorified, immeasurably glorified art Thou, my Best-Beloved! Inasmuch as

Thou hast ordained that the utmost limit to which they who lift their

hearts to Thee can rise is the confession of their powerlessness to enter

the realms of Thy holy and transcendent unity, and that the highest

station which they who aspire to know Thee can reach is the acknowledgment

of their impotence to attain the retreats of Thy sublime knowledge I,

therefore, beseech Thee, by this very powerlessness which is beloved of

Thee, and which Thou hast decreed as the goal of them that have reached

and attained Thy court, and by the splendors of Thy countenance that have

encompassed all things, and by the energies of Thy Will whereby the entire

creation hath been generated, not to deprive them that have set their

hopes in Thee of the wonders of Thy mercy, nor to withhold from such as

have sought Thee the treasures of Thy grace. Ignite, then, within their

hearts the torch of Thy love, that its flame may consume all else except

their wondrous remembrance of Thee, and that no trace may be left in those

hearts except the gem-like evidences of Thy most holy sovereignty, so that

from the land wherein they dwell no voice may be heard except the voice

that extolleth Thy mercifulness and might, that on the earth on which they

walk no light may shine except the light of Thy beauty, and that within

every soul naught may be discovered except the revelation of Thy

countenance and the tokens of Thy glory, that haply Thy servants may show

forth only that which shall please Thee and shall conform wholly unto Thy

most potent will.



Glory be to Thee, O my God! The power of Thy might beareth me witness! I

can have no doubt that should the holy breaths of Thy loving-kindness and

the breeze of Thy bountiful favor cease, for less than the twinkling of an

eye, to breathe over all created things, the entire creation would perish,

and all that are in heaven and on earth would be reduced to utter

nothingness. Magnified, therefore, be the marvelous evidences of Thy

transcendent power! Magnified be the potency of Thine exalted might!

Magnified be the majesty of Thine all-encompassing greatness, and the

energizing influence of Thy will! Such is Thy greatness that wert Thou to

concentrate the eyes of all men in the eye of one of Thy servants, and to

compress all their hearts within his heart, and wert Thou to enable him to

behold within himself all the things Thou hast created through Thy power

and fashioned through Thy might, and were he to ponder, throughout

eternity, over the realms of Thy creation and the range of Thy handiwork,

he would unfailingly discover that there is no created thing but is

overshadowed by Thine all-conquering power, and is vitalized through Thine

all-embracing sovereignty.



Behold me, then, O my God, fallen prostrate upon the dust before Thee,

confessing my powerlessness and Thine omnipotence, my poverty and Thy

wealth, mine evanescence and Thine eternity, mine utter abasement and

Thine infinite glory. I recognize that there is none other God but Thee,

that Thou hast no peer nor partner, none to equal or rival Thee. In Thine

unapproachable loftiness Thou hast, from eternity, been exalted above the

praise of any one but Thee, and shalt continue for ever, in Thy

transcendent singleness and glory, to be sanctified from the glorification

of any one except Thine own Self.



I swear by Thy might, O my Beloved! To make mention of any created thing

beseemeth not Thy most exalted Self, and to bestow any praise upon any one

of Thy creatures would be wholly unworthy of Thy great glory. Nay, such a

mention would be but blasphemy uttered within the court of Thy holiness,

and such praise would amount to no less than a transgression in the face

of the evidences of Thy Divine sovereignty. For the mere mention of any

one of Thy creatures would in itself imply an assertion of their existence

before the court of Thy singleness and unity. Such an assertion would be

naught but open blasphemy, an act of impiety, the essence of profanity and

a wanton crime.



Wherefore, I bear witness with my soul, my spirit, my entire being, that

should They Who are the Day-Springs of Thy most holy unity and the

Manifestations of Thy transcendent oneness be able to soar so long as

Thine own sovereignty endureth and Thine all-compelling authority can

last, they will fail in the end to attain unto even the precincts of the

court wherein Thou didst reveal the effulgence of but one of Thy most

mighty Names. Glorified, glorified be, therefore, Thy wondrous majesty.

Glorified, glorified be Thine unattainable loftiness. Glorified, glorified

be the preeminence of Thy kingship and the sublimity of Thine authority

and power.



The highest faculties which the learned have possessed, and whatsoever

truths they, in their search after the gems of Thy knowledge, have

discovered; the brightest realities with which the wise have been endowed,

and whatever secrets they, in their attempts to fathom the mysteries of

Thy wisdom, have unraveled, have all been created through the generative

power of the Spirit that was breathed into the Pen which Thy hands have

fashioned. How, then, can the thing which Thy Pen hath created be capable

of comprehending those treasures of Thy Faith with which, as decreed by

Thee, that Pen hath been invested? How can it ever know of the Fingers

that grasp Thy Pen, and of Thy merciful favors with which it hath been

endowed? How can it, already unable to reach this station, be made aware

of the existence of Thy Hand that controlleth the Fingers of Thy might?

How can it attain unto the comprehension of the nature of Thy Will that

animateth the movement of Thy Hand?



Glorified, glorified be Thou, O my God! How can I ever hope to ascend into

the heaven of Thy most holy will, or gain admittance into the tabernacle

of Thy Divine knowledge, knowing as I do that the minds of the wise and

learned are impotent to fathom the secrets of Thy handiwork--a handiwork

which is itself but a creation of Thy will?



Praise be to Thee, O Lord, my God, my Master, my Possessor, my King. Now

that I have confessed unto Thee my powerlessness and the powerlessness of



all created things, and have acknowledged my poverty and the poverty of

the entire creation, I call unto Thee with my tongue and the tongues of

all that are in heaven and on earth, and beseech Thee with my heart and

the hearts of all that have entered beneath the shadow of Thy names and

Thine attributes, not to shut us from the doors of Thy loving-kindness and

grace, nor to suffer the breeze of Thy bountiful care and favor to cease

from being wafted over our souls, nor to permit that our hearts be

occupied with any one except Thee, or our minds to be busied with any

remembrance save remembrance of Thy Self.



By the glory of Thy might, O my God! Wert Thou to set me king over Thy

realms, and to establish me upon the throne of Thy sovereignty, and to

deliver, through Thy power, the reins of the entire creation into my

hands, and wert Thou to cause me, though it be for less than a moment, to

be occupied with these things and be oblivious of the wondrous memories

associated with Thy most mighty, most perfect, and most exalted Name, my

soul would still remain unsatisfied, and the pangs of my heart unstilled.

Nay, I would, in that very state, recognize myself as the poorest of the

poor, and the most wretched of the wretched.



Magnified be Thy name, O my God! Now that Thou hast caused me to apprehend

this truth, I beseech Thee by Thy Name which no scroll can bear, which no

heart can imagine and no tongue can utter--a Name which will remain

concealed so long as Thine own Essence is hidden, and will be glorified so

long as Thine own Being is extolled--to unfurl, ere the present year draw

to a close, the ensigns of Thine undisputed ascendancy and triumph, that

the whole creation may be enriched by Thy wealth, and may be exalted

through the ennobling influence of Thy transcendent sovereignty, and that

all may arise and promote Thy Cause.



Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the All-Highest, the All-Glorious, the

All-Subduing, the All-Possessing.