n idle fancy. If the wishes of the
people were to be gratified not a single disbeliever would remain on
earth. For once the Apostle of God had fulfilled the wishes of the people
they would unhesitatingly have embraced His Faith. May God save thee,
shouldst thou seek any evidence according to thy selfish desire; rather it
behooveth thee to uphold the unfailing proof which God hath appointed. The
object of thy belief in God is but to secure His good-pleasure. How then
dost thou seek as a proof of thy faith a thing which hath been and is
contrary to His good-pleasure?

"Rid thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, ..."

Rid thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in
God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this prayer:

Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens
or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord,
sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the
Omnipotent.

Regard not the all-sufficing power of God as an idle fancy. It is that
genuine faith which thou cherishest for the Manifestation of God in every
Dispensation. It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that
exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would
suffice thee. If thou art not a believer, the Tree of divine Truth would
condemn thee to extinction. If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be
sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou
possess nothing.

"It is recorded in a tradition that of the entire concourse of ..."

It is recorded in a tradition that of the entire concourse of the
Christians no more than seventy people embraced the Faith of the Apostle
of God. The blame falleth upon their doctors, for if these had believed,
they would have been followed by the mass of their countrymen. Behold,
then, that which hath come to pass! The learned men of Christendom are
held to be learned by virtue of their safeguarding the teaching of Christ,
and yet consider how they themselves have been the cause of men's failure
to accept the Faith and attain unto salvation! Is it still thy wish to
follow in their footsteps? The followers of Jesus submitted to their
clerics to be saved on the Day of Resurrection, and as a result of this
obedience they eventually entered into the fire, and on the Day when the
Apostle of God appeared they shut themselves out f