firm in the Covenant and Testament to be ever wakeful lest
after this wronged one is gone this alert and active worker of mischief
may cause disruption, privily sow the seeds of doubt and sedition and
utterly root out the Cause of God. A thousand times shun his company. Take
heed and be on your guard. Watch and examine; should anyone, openly or
privily, have the least connection with him, cast him out from your midst,
for he will surely cause disruption and mischief.

O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause
of God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause
the straight to become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce
contrary results.

O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints
and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy Proofs
unto Thy loved ones and set forth clearly all things unto them, that they
may watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight Path and protect Thy
Resplendent Law. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise!

PART THREE

He Is the Witness, the All-Sufficing

O My God! my Beloved, my heart's Desire! Thou knowest, Thou seest that
which hath befallen this servant of Thine, that hath humbled himself at
Thy Door, and Thou knowest the sins committed against him by the people of
malice, they that have broken Thy Covenant and turned their backs on Thy
Testament. In the day-time they afflicted me with the arrows of hate and
in the night-season they privily conspired to hurt me. At dawn they
committed that which the Celestial Concourse did lament and at eventide
they unsheathed against me the sword of tyranny and hurled in the presence
of the ungodly their darts of calumny upon me. Notwithstanding their
misdeeds, this lowly servant of Thine was patient and did endure every
affliction and trial at their hands, though by Thy power and might he
could have destroyed their words, quenched their fire and stayed the flame
of their rebelliousness.

Thou seest, O my God! how my long-suffering, my forbearance and silence
have increased their cruelty, their arrogance and their pride. By Thy
Glory, O Beloved One! They have misbelieved in Thee and rebelled against
Thee in such wise that they left me not a moment of rest and quiet, that I
might arise as it is meet and seemly, to exalt Thy Word amidst mankind,
and might serve at Thy Threshold of Holiness with a heart that overfloweth
with the