mortal bodies. It hath established the ignorant upon the seats of
learning, and elevated the oppressor to the throne of justice.

The universe is pregnant with these manifold bounties, awaiting the hour
when the effects of Its unseen gifts will be made manifest in this world,
when the languishing and sore athirst will attain the living Kawthar of
their Well-Beloved, and the erring wanderer, lost in the wilds of
remoteness and nothingness, will enter the tabernacle of life, and attain
reunion with his heart's desire. In the soil of whose heart will these
holy seeds germinate? From the garden of whose soul will the blossoms of
the invisible realities spring forth? Verily, I say, so fierce is the
blaze of the Bush of love, burning in the Sinai of the heart, that the
streaming waters of holy utterance can never quench its flame. Oceans can
never allay this Leviathan's burning thirst, and this Phoenix of the
undying fire can abide nowhere save in the glow of the countenance of the
Well-Beloved. Therefore, O brother! kindle with the oil of wisdom the lamp
of the spirit within the innermost chamber of thy heart, and guard it with
the globe of understanding, that the breath of the infidel may extinguish
not its flame nor dim its brightness. Thus have We illuminated the heavens
of utterance with the splendours of the Sun of divine wisdom and
understanding, that thy heart may find peace, that thou mayest be of those
who, on the wings of certitude, have soared unto the heaven of the love of
their Lord, the All-Merciful.

And now, concerning His words: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son
of man in heaven." By these words it is meant that when the sun of the
heavenly teachings hath been eclipsed, the stars of the
divinely-established laws have fallen, and the moon of true knowledge--the
educator of mankind--hath been obscured; when the standards of guidance and
felicity have been reversed, and the morn of truth and righteousness hath
sunk in night, then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in heaven. By
"heaven" is meant the visible heaven, inasmuch as when the hour draweth
nigh on which the Day-star of the heaven of justice shall be made
manifest, and the Ark of divine guidance shall sail upon the sea of glory,
a star will appear in the heaven, heralding unto its people the advent of
that most great light. In like manner, in the invisible heaven a star
shall be made manifest who, unto the peoples of the earth, shall act a