have known Thee, O my God, by
reason of Thy making Thyself known unto me, for hadst Thou not revealed
Thyself unto me, I would not have known Thee. I worship Thee by virtue of
Thy summoning me unto Thee, for had it not been for Thy summons I would
not have worshiped Thee.

--The Bab

PROTECTION

"Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! Thou seest..."

Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! Thou seest and knowest that I have
called upon Thy servants to turn nowhere except in the direction of Thy
bestowals, and have bidden them observe naught save the things Thou didst
prescribe in Thy Perspicuous Book, the Book which hath been sent down
according to Thine inscrutable decree and irrevocable purpose.

I can utter no word, O my God, unless I be permitted by Thee, and can move
in no direction until I obtain Thy sanction. It is Thou, O my God, Who
hast called me into being through the power of Thy might, and hast endued
me with Thy grace to manifest Thy Cause. Wherefore I have been subjected
to such adversities that my tongue hath been hindered from extolling Thee
and from magnifying Thy glory.

All praise be to Thee, O my God, for the things Thou didst ordain for me
through Thy decree and by the power of Thy sovereignty. I beseech Thee
that Thou wilt fortify both myself and them that love me in our love for
Thee, and wilt keep us firm in Thy Cause. I swear by Thy might! O my God!
Thy servant's shame is to be shut out as by a veil from Thee, and his
glory is to know Thee. Armed with the power of Thy name nothing can ever
hurt me, and with Thy love in my heart all the world's afflictions can in
no wise alarm me.

Send down, therefore, O my Lord, upon me and upon my loved ones that which
will protect us from the mischief of those that have repudiated Thy truth
and disbelieved in Thy signs.

Thou art, verily, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful.

--Baha'u'llah

"Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! This is Thy..."

Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! This is Thy servant who hath quaffed from
the hands of Thy grace the wine of Thy tender mercy, and tasted of the
savor of Thy love in Thy days. I beseech Thee, by the embodiments of Thy
names whom no grief can hinder from rejoicing in Thy love or from gazing
on Thy face, and whom all the hosts of the heedless are powerless to cause
to turn aside from the path of Thy pleasure, to supply him with the good
things Thou dost possess, and to raise him up to such heights that h