majesty of the Word of God may not prevent them from attaining unto the
ocean of His names and attributes, nor deprive them of recognizing the
Lamp of God which is the seat of the revelation of His glorified Essence.

As to the words--"Immediately after the oppression of those days"--they
refer to the time when men shall become oppressed and afflicted, the time
when the lingering traces of the Sun of Truth and the fruit of the Tree of
knowledge and wisdom will have vanished from the midst of men, when the
reins of mankind will have fallen into the grasp of the foolish and
ignorant, when the portals of divine unity and understanding--the essential
and highest purpose in creation--will have been closed, when certain
knowledge will have given way to idle fancy, and corruption will have
usurped the station of righteousness. Such a condition as this is
witnessed in this day when the reins of every community have fallen into
the grasp of foolish leaders, who lead after their own whims and desire.
On their tongue the mention of God hath become an empty name; in their
midst His holy Word a dead letter. Such is the sway of their desires, that
the lamp of conscience and reason hath been quenched in their hearts, and
this although the fingers of divine power have unlocked the portals of the
knowledge of God, and the light of divine knowledge and heavenly grace
hath illumined and inspired the essence of all created things, in such
wise that in each and every thing a door of knowledge hath been opened,
and within every atom traces of the sun hath been made manifest. And yet,
in spite of all these manifold revelations of divine knowledge, which have
encompassed the world, they still vainly imagine the door of knowledge to
be closed, and the showers of mercy to be stilled. Clinging unto idle
fancy, they have strayed far from the Urvatu'l-Vuthqa of divine knowledge.
Their hearts seem not to be inclined to knowledge and the door thereof,
neither think they of its manifestations, inasmuch as in idle fancy they
have found the door that leadeth unto earthly riches, whereas in the
manifestation of the Revealer of knowledge they find naught but the call
to self-sacrifice. They therefore naturally hold fast unto the former, and
flee from the latter. Though they recognize in their hearts the Law of God
to be one and the same, yet from every direction they issue a new command,
and in every season proclaim a fresh decree. No two are found to agree