ing of the signs of thy
Lord--when lo, I heard the lamentation of the pulpits and the voice of
their supplication unto God, blessed and glorified be He. They cried out
and said: "O God of the world and Lord of the nations! Thou beholdest our
state and the things which have befallen us by reason of the cruelty of
Thy servants. Thou hast created us and revealed us for Thy glorification
and praise. Thou dost now hear what the wayward proclaim upon us in Thy
days. By Thy might! Our souls are melted and our limbs are trembling.
Alas, alas! Would that we had never been created and revealed by Thee!"

The hearts of them that enjoy near access to God are consumed by these
words, and from them the cries of such as are devoted to Him are raised.
Time and again have We, for the sake of God, admonished the distinguished
divines, and summoned them unto the Most Sublime Horizon, that perchance
they might, in the days of His Revelation, obtain their portion of the
ocean of the utterance of Him Who is the Desire of the world, and remain
not utterly deprived thereof.

In most of Our Tablets this most weighty exhortation hath been sent down
from the heaven of His all-encompassing mercy. We said: "O concourse of
rulers and divines! Incline your ears unto the Voice calling from the
horizon of Akka. Verily, it aideth you to proceed aright, and draweth you
nigh unto Him, and directeth your steps towards the station which God hath
made the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Dawning-Place of His
splendors. O peoples of the world! He Who is the Most Great Name is come,
on the part of the Ancient King, and hath announced unto men this
Revelation which lay hid in His knowledge, and was preserved in the
treasury of His protection, and was written down by the Most Sublime Pen
in the Books of God, the Lord of Lords. O people of _Sh_in (_Sh_iraz)!
Have ye forgotten My loving-kindness and My mercy that have surpassed all
created things, and which proceeded from God Who layeth low the necks of
men?"

In the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book) the following hath been revealed:
"Say: O leaders of religion! Weigh not the Book of God with such standards
and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the
unerring Balance established amongst men. In this most perfect Balance
whatsoever the peoples and kindreds possess must be weighed, while the
measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did
ye but know it. The eye of