moved by the Spirit of God to arise and
proclaim His Cause, whoever believed in Him and acknowledged His Faith,
was endowed with the grace of a new life. Of him it could be truly said
that he was reborn and revived, inasmuch as previous to his belief in God
and his acceptance of His Manifestation, he had set his affections on the
things of the world, such as attachment to earthly goods, to wife,
children, food, drink, and the like, so much so that in the day-time and
in the night season his one concern had been to amass riches and procure
for himself the means of enjoyment and pleasure. Aside from these things,
before his partaking of the reviving waters of faith, he had been so
wedded to the traditions of his forefathers, and so passionately devoted
to the observance of their customs and laws, that he would have preferred
to suffer death rather than violate one letter of those superstitious
forms and manners current amongst his people. Even as the people have
cried: "Verily we found our fathers with a faith, and verily, in their
footsteps we follow."(117)

These same people, though wrapt in all these veils of limitation, and
despite the restraint of such observances, as soon as they drank the
immortal draught of faith, from the cup of certitude, at the hand of the
Manifestation of the All-Glorious, were so transformed that they would
renounce for His sake their kindred, their substance, their lives, their
beliefs, yea, all else save God! So overpowering was their yearning for
God, so uplifting their transports of ecstatic delight, that the world and
all that is therein faded before their eyes into nothingness. Have not
this people exemplified the mysteries of "rebirth" and "return"? Hath it
not been witnessed that these same people, ere they were endued with the
new and wondrous grace of God, sought through innumerable devices, to
ensure the protection of their lives against destruction? Would not a
thorn fill them with terror, and the sight of a fox put them to flight?
But once having been honoured with God's supreme distinction, and having
been vouchsafed His bountiful grace, they would, if they were able, have
freely offered up ten thousand lives in His path! Nay, their blessed
souls, contemptuous of the cage of their bodies, would yearn for
deliverance. A single warrior of that host would face and fight a
multitude! And yet, how could they, but for the transformation wrought in
their lives, be capable of manifesting