arers.

Thou art the One, O my God and my Ruler, Who hast sent down Thy Book that
Thou mayest manifest my Cause, and glorify my Word. Through it Thou didst
enter into a Covenant, concerning me, with all that hath been created in
Thy realm. Thou seest, O Beloved of the world, how the rebellious among
Thy creatures have made of that Covenant a bulwark for themselves, and
through it have withdrawn from Thy Beauty, and repudiated Thy signs.

Thou art He, O my God, Who hath commanded them in Thy great Book, and
said: "Fear ye the Most Merciful, O people of the Bayan, and deny not Him
for Whom I have ordained the Bayan to be one of the leaves of His
Paradise. I, verily, esteem it as a gift from me unto Him. Were it His
pleasure to accept it, He, truly, is the Most Bountiful; and if He cast it
away and refuse to consider it, His verdict is just, and He, in very
truth, is Praiseworthy in His acts, and meet to be obeyed in His behests.
To none is given the right to cavil at Him."

Thou beholdest, therefore, O my God, how this wronged one hath fallen into
the hands of such as have denied Thy right, and broken off from Thy
sovereignty. He, round whose person circleth Thy proof, and in whose name
and on behalf of whose sovereignty Thy testimony crieth out unto all
created things, hath suffered more grievously in his days than any pen can
recount, and been so harassed that He Who is Thy Spirit (Jesus) lamented,
and all the denizens of Thy Kingdom and all the inmates of Thy Tabernacle
in the realms above cried with a great and bitter lamentation.

Should any one incline his inner ear, he would hear the cry and the
wailing of all created things over what hath befallen Him Whom the world
hath wronged, at the hands of them with whom Thou hast covenanted in the
Day of Separation. Where is that fair-minded soul, O my God, who will
judge equitably Thy Cause, and where is the man of insight to be found who
will behold Thee with Thine own eyes? Is there any man of hearing who will
hear Thee with Thine ears, or one endued with eloquence who will speak the
truth in Thy days?

I swear by Thy glory, O Thou Who beholdest me from Thine all-glorious
horizon, and hearest the voice of the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no
passing! Should any one consider Thy Books which Thou didst name the
Bayan, and ponder in his heart what hath been revealed therein, he would
discover that each of these Books announceth my Revelation, and declareth
my Name, an