ities have descended, and how many will descend! I walk
advancing toward the Mighty, the Bounteous, while behind Me glides the
serpent. My eyes rain down tears until My bed is drenched; but My sorrow
is not for Myself. By God, My head longeth for the spears for the love of
its Lord, and I never pass by a tree but My heart addresseth it [saying],
'O would that thou wert cut down in My name and My body were crucified
upon thee in the way of My Lord'; yea, because I see mankind going astray
in their intoxication, and they know it not: they have exalted their
lusts, and put aside their God, as though they took the command of God for
a mockery, a sport, and a plaything; and they think that they do well, and
that they are harbored in the citadel of security. The matter is not as
they suppose: tomorrow they shall see what they [now] deny.

"We are about to shift from this most remote place of banishment(46) unto
the prison of Akka. And, according to what they say, it is assuredly the
most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them in
appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the foulest in water; it
is as though it were the metropolis of the owl; there is not heard from
its regions aught save the sound of its hooting. And in it they intend to
imprison the Servant, and to shut in Our faces the doors of leniency and
take away from Us the good things of the life of the world during what
remaineth of Our days. By God, though weariness should weaken Me, and
hunger should destroy Me, though My couch should be made of the hard rock
and My associates of the beasts of the desert, I will not blench, but will
be patient, as the resolute and determined are patient, in the strength of
God, the King of Preexistence, the Creator of the nations; and under all
circumstances I give thanks unto God. And We hope of His graciousness
(exalted is He) the freedom of Our necks from chains and shackles in this
imprisonment: and that He will render [all men's] faces sincere toward
Him, the Mighty, the Bounteous. Verily He answereth him who prayeth unto
Him, and is near unto him who calleth on Him. And We ask Him to make this
dark calamity a buckler for the body of His saints, and to protect them
thereby from sharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction hath His
light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: this hath been His
method through past ages and bygone times.

"The people shall know what today they underst