wise adequately
describe the sublimity of Thy sovereignty, nor scale the heights of Thy
majesty and holiness. How sweet, therefore, is the praise Thou givest to
Thine own Self, and the description Thou givest of Thine own Being!

I testify, O my God, that Thou hast, from eternity, sent down upon Thy
servants naught else except that which can cause them to soar up and be
drawn near unto Thee, and to ascend into the heaven of Thy transcendent
oneness. Thou hast established Thy bounds among them, and ordained them to
stand among Thy creatures as evidences of Thy justice and as signs of Thy
mercy, and to be the stronghold of Thy protection amongst Thy people, that
no man may in Thy realm transgress against his neighbor. How great is the
blessedness of him who, for love of Thy beauty and for the sake of Thy
pleasure, hath curbed the desires of a corrupt inclination and observed
the precepts laid down by Thy most exalted Pen! He, in truth, is to be
numbered with them that have attained unto all good, and followed the way
of guidance.

I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Name through which Thou hast enabled Thy
servants and Thy people to know Thee, through which Thou hast drawn the
hearts of those who have recognized Thee towards the resplendent court of
Thy oneness, and the souls of Thy favored ones unto the Day-Spring of Thy
unity,--I beseech Thee to grant that I may be assisted to observe the fast
wholly for Thy sake, O Thou Who art full of majesty and glory! Empower me,
then, O my God, to be reckoned among them that have clung to Thy laws and
precepts for the sake of Thee alone, their eyes fixed on Thy face. These,
indeed, are they whose wine is all that hath proceeded out of the mouth of
Thy primal will, whose pure beverage is Thine enthralling call, whose
heavenly River is Thy love, whose Paradise is entrance into Thy presence
and reunion with Thee. For Thou hast been their Beginning and their End,
and their Highest Hope, and their Supreme Desire. Blinded be the eye that
gazeth on whatsoever may displease Thee, and confounded be the soul that
seeketh the things that are contrary to Thy will.

Deign, O my God, I implore Thee, by Thy Self and by them, to accept,
through Thy grace and Thy loving-kindness, the works we have performed,
however much they fall short of the loftiness of Thy state and the
sublimity of Thy station, O Thou Who art most dear to the hearts that long
for Thee, and the Healer of the souls that have rec