twinkling of an eye.

93 O My brother! If thou be a champion of this arena, speed within the
lands of certitude, that thy soul may be delivered in this day from the
bondage of misbelief, and that thou mayest perceive the sweet savours that
waft from this garden. Verily, the perfume-laden breezes that carry the
fragrance of this city blow over all regions. Forfeit not thy portion
thereof and be not of the heedless. How well hath it been said:

94

His fragrant breaths diffused in Eastern lands could well
To sick ones in the West restore their sense of smell!(59)

95 After this heavenly journey and mystical ascent the wayfarer will enter
within the Garden of Wonderment. Were I to disclose unto thee the reality
of this station, thou wouldst lament and bewail the plight of this Servant
Who remaineth in the hands of these infidels, Who hath grown perplexed at
his plight, and is lost in bewilderment in this fathomless ocean. They
conspire each day to put Me to death, and seek at every hour to banish Me
from this land, even as they banished Me from another land. Yet this
Servant standeth ready before them, awaiting whatsoever the Almighty hath
ordained and decreed for Us. Nor do I fear any soul, encompassed as We may
be by such trials and tribulations as are inflicted by the wicked and the
malicious and surrounded at this hour by a myriad woes and sorrows.
"Noah's flood is but the measure of the tears I have shed, and Abraham's
fire an ebullition of My soul. Jacob's grief is but a reflection of My
sorrows, and Job's afflictions a fraction of My calamity."(60)

96 Were I to recount unto thine eminence the dire adversities that have
befallen Me, thou wouldst be so grieved as to forsake the mention of all
things and to forget thyself and all that the Lord hath created on earth.
But as this is not Our wish, I have concealed the revelation of the divine
decree in the heart of Baha and veiled it from the eyes of all that move
in the realm of creation, that it may lay hid within the tabernacle of the
Unseen until such time as God will have revealed its secret. "Naught in
the heavens or on the earth can escape His knowledge, and He, verily,
perceiveth all things."(61)

97 As We have digressed from Our theme, let Us leave aside these allusions
and return to Our discussion of this city. Verily, whoso entereth therein
shall be saved, and whoso turneth aside therefrom will assuredly perish.

98 O thou who art mentioned in these