she bemoaned her plight and cried out: "O would that I had
died ere this, and been a thing forgotten, forgotten quite!"(46) I swear
by God! Such lamenting consumeth the heart and shaketh the being. Such
consternation of soul, such despondency, could have been caused by no
other than the censure of the enemy and the cavilings of the infidel and
perverse. Reflect, what answer could Mary have given to the people around
her? How could she claim that a Babe Whose father was unknown had been
conceived of the Holy Ghost? Therefore did Mary, that veiled and immortal
Countenance, take up her Child and return unto her home. No sooner had the
eyes of the people fallen upon her than they raised their voice saying: "O
sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor unchaste thy
mother."(47)

And now, meditate upon this most great convulsion, this grievous test.
Notwithstanding all these things, God conferred upon that essence of the
Spirit, Who was known amongst the people as fatherless, the glory of
Prophethood, and made Him His testimony unto all that are in heaven and on
earth.

Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, as ordained
by the King of creation, to the ways and desires of men! As thou comest to
comprehend the essence of these divine mysteries, thou wilt grasp the
purpose of God, the divine Charmer, the Best-Beloved. Thou wilt regard the
words and the deeds of that almighty Sovereign as one and the same; in
such wise that whatsoever thou dost behold in His deeds, the same wilt
thou find in His sayings, and whatsoever thou dost read in His sayings,
that wilt thou recognize in His deeds. Thus it is that outwardly such
deeds and words are the fire of vengeance unto the wicked, and inwardly
the waters of mercy unto the righteous. Were the eye of the heart to open,
it would surely perceive that the words revealed from the heaven of the
will of God are at one with, and the same as, the deeds that have emanated
from the Kingdom of divine power.

And now, take heed, O brother! If such things be revealed in this
Dispensation, and such incidents come to pass, at the present time, what
would the people do? I swear by Him Who is the true Educator of mankind
and the Revealer of the Word of God that the people would instantly and
unquestionably pronounce Him an infidel and would sentence Him to death.
How far are they from hearkening unto the voice that declareth: Lo! a
Jesus hath appeared out of t