to time, like unto savage
beasts, do they jibber and howl. Glory be to God! How can the darkness
hope to overcome the light, how can a magician's cords hold fast 'a
serpent plain for all to see'? 'Then lo! It swallowed up their lying
wonders.'(68) Alas for them! They have deluded themselves with a fable,
and to indulge their appetites they have done away with their own selves.
They gave up everlasting glory in exchange for human pride, and they
sacrificed greatness in both worlds to the demands of the insistent self.
This is that of which We have forewarned you. Erelong shall ye behold the
foolish in manifest loss.

O my Lord and my Hope! Help Thou Thy loved ones to be steadfast in Thy
mighty Covenant, to remain faithful to Thy manifest Cause, and to carry
out the commandments Thou didst set down for them in Thy Book of
Splendours; that they may become banners of guidance and lamps of the
Company above, wellsprings of Thine infinite wisdom, and stars that lead
aright, as they shine down from the supernal sky.

Verily art Thou the Invincible, the Almighty, the All-Powerful.

207: O YE WHO HAVE TURNED YOUR FACES TOWARD THE ...

O ye who have turned your faces toward the Exalted Beauty! By night, by
day, at morningtide and sunset, when darkness draweth on, and at early
light I remember, and ever have remembered, in the realms of my mind and
heart, the loved ones of the Lord. I beg of Him to bestow His
confirmations upon those loved ones, dwellers in that pure and holy land,
and to grant them successful outcomes in all things: that in their
character, their behaviour, their words, their way of life, in all they
are and do, He will make them to achieve distinction among men; that He
will gather them into the world community, their hearts filled with
ecstasy and fervour and yearning love, with knowledge and certitude, with
steadfastness and unity, their faces beauteous and bright.

O ye beloved of the Lord! This day is the day of union, the day of the
ingathering of all mankind. 'Verily God loveth those who, as though they
were a solid wall, do battle for His Cause in serried lines!'(69) Note
that He saith 'in serried lines'--meaning crowded and pressed together, one
locked to the next, each supporting his fellows. To do battle, as stated
in the sacred verse, doth not, in this greatest of all dispensations, mean
to go forth with sword and spear, with lance and piercing arrow--but rather
weaponed with pure inten