hath hastened to attain the shores of the
ocean of Thy wealth? Wilt Thou shut up the door of Thy grace to the face
of Thy creatures after having opened it through the power of Thy might and
of Thy sovereignty, or close the eyes of Thy people when Thou hast already
commanded them to turn unto the Day-Spring of Thy Beauty and the
Dawning-Place of the splendors of Thy countenance?

Nay, and to this Thy glory beareth me witness! Such is not my thought of
Thee, nor the thought of those of Thy servants that have near access to
Thyself, nor that of the sincere amongst Thy people.

Thou knowest, and seest, and hearest, O my Lord, that before every tree I
am moved to lift up my voice to Thee, and before every stone I am impelled
to sigh and lament. Hath it been Thy purpose in creating me, O my God, to
touch me with tribulation, or to enable me to manifest Thy Cause in the
kingdom of Thy creation?

Thou hearest, O my God, my sighs and my groaning, and beholdest my
powerlessness, and my poverty, and my misery, and my woes, and my
wretchedness. I swear by Thy might! I have wept with such a weeping that I
have been unable to make mention of Thee, or to extol Thee, and cried with
such a bitter cry that every mother in her bereavement was bewildered at
me, and forgot her own anguish and the sighs she had uttered.

I implore Thee, O my Lord, by Thine Ark, through which the potency of Thy
will was manifested and the energizing influences of Thy purpose were
revealed, and which saileth on both land and sea through the power of Thy
might, not to seize me in my mighty sins and great trespasses. I swear by
Thy glory! The waters of Thy forgiveness and Thy mercy have emboldened me,
as hath Thy dealing, in bygone ages, with the sincere among Thy chosen
ones, and with such of Thy Messengers as have proclaimed Thy oneness.

I am well aware, O my Lord, that I have been so carried away by the clear
tokens of Thy loving-kindness, and so completely inebriated with the wine
of Thine utterance, that whatever I behold I readily discover that it
maketh Thee known unto me, and it remindeth me of Thy signs, and of Thy
tokens, and of Thy testimonies. By Thy glory! Every time I lift up mine
eyes unto Thy heaven, I call to mind Thy highness and Thy loftiness, and
Thine incomparable glory and greatness; and every time I turn my gaze to
Thine earth, I am made to recognize the evidences of Thy power and the
tokens of Thy bounty. And when I behold the sea, I