truth, they who plighted fealty
unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto God." And were any of them to
voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger of God," He, also, speaketh the
truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He saith: "Muhammad is not the
father of any man among you, but He is the Messenger of God." Viewed in
this light, they are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that
unchangeable Essence. And were they all to proclaim, "I am the Seal of the
Prophets," they, verily, utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow
of doubt. For they are all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one
being, one revelation. They are all the manifestation of the "Beginning"
and the "End," the "First" and the "Last," the "Seen" and the "Hidden"--all
of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal
Essence of Essences. And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God,"
this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made
manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of
which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences
of Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting
holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine mysteries,
they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity, the Call of God
Himself.

Were the eye of discernment to be opened, it would recognize that in this
very state, they have considered themselves utterly effaced and
non-existent in the face of Him Who is the All-Pervading, the
Incorruptible. Methinks, they have regarded themselves as utter
nothingness, and deemed their mention in that Court an act of blasphemy.
For the slightest whispering of self within such a Court is an evidence of
self-assertion and independent existence. In the eyes of them that have
attained unto that Court, such a suggestion is itself a grievous
transgression. How much more grievous would it be, were aught else to be
mentioned in that Presence, were man's heart, his tongue, his mind, or his
soul, to be busied with any one but the Well-Beloved, were his eyes to
behold any countenance other than His beauty, were his ear to be inclined
to any melody but His Voice, and were his feet to tread any way but His
way....

By virtue of this station they have claimed for themselves the Voice of
Divinity and the like, whilst by virtue of their station of Messengership,
they have declared themselves the Messengers