o present themselves in these parts. In
these days this does not conform with wisdom. God willing, permission
shall be given at some favorable time.

"Glory be unto Thee, O Thou whose mercy hath encompassed..."

(178) Glory be unto Thee, O Thou whose mercy hath encompassed all things,
whose gift is made perfect, whose power hath encircled the world, whose
proof is demonstrated, whose signs have become manifest, whose words are
promulgated, whose arguments are established and whose ensigns are
hoisted! Praise be unto Thee for that which Thou hast bestowed! Thanks be
unto Thee for that which Thou hast granted! Glorification behooveth Thee
for Thou hast manifested Thyself! Glory be unto Thee Glory be unto Thee!
How inaccessible is Thy station! How manifest is Thy proof and how
all-embracing is Thy munificence!

Verily the dark night hath been spreading its wings over all the regions
and the face of the heaven and earth was hidden behind the clouds of inky
gloom and blackness--wherefore the sights were veiled from beholding the
most great signs and inner perceptions were blinded and unable to find the
fire of divine guidance; souls were wandering in the desert of error and
heedlessness and the possessors of intelligence were lost in the
wilderness of amazement and skepticism, crying and weeping as a mother
bereft of her babe--bewailing and lamenting like unto a thirsty one in the
midst of a vast and boundless Sahara!

But through Thy greatest bounty, the glorious dawn broke and the lightning
of guidance flashed from the Supreme Horizon upon the face of heaven! Then
the First Point (the Bab) appeared among mankind with the glad-tidings of
Thy Manifestation, the fragrances of Thy Holiness and the verses of Thy
Singleness, spreading Thy good news, heralding Thy Name, declaring and
praising Thee in numerous epistles!

Thine is favor for this gift which hath cheered the souls of the pure
ones! Thine is generosity for Thou hast enabled every righteous and
devoted one to adore Thee by causing the Sun of Truth to shine upon all
the regions of existence! Thine is glory and excellence! Thine is power
and beauty! Thine is sovereignty and authority! Thine is dominion and
kingdom! Thine is exaltation and omnipresence! Thine is divinity and
lordship! For thou hast manifested Thy bounty from the horizon of
emanation, rent asunder the veil and raised the covering from Thy
illumined countenance in the promised day and shone fort