ames.

CXXXIV: "I AM HE, O MY LORD, THAT HATH SET HIS FACE TOWARDS..."

I am he, O my Lord, that hath set his face towards Thee, and fixed his
hope on the wonders of Thy grace and the revelations of Thy bounty. I pray
Thee that Thou wilt not suffer me to turn away disappointed from the door
of Thy mercy, nor abandon me to such of Thy creatures as have repudiated
Thy Cause.

I am, O my God, Thy servant and the son of Thy servant. I have recognized
Thy truth in Thy days, and have directed my steps towards the shores of
Thy oneness, confessing Thy singleness, acknowledging Thy unity, and
hoping for Thy forgiveness and pardon. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou
willest; no God is there beside Thee, the All-Glorious, the
Ever-Forgiving.

CXXXV: "UNTO THEE BE PRAISE, O LORD MY GOD! I TESTIFY..."

Unto Thee be praise, O Lord my God! I testify that Thou art God, and that
there is none other God besides Thee. Thou hast from eternity been
immeasurably exalted above the praise of any one except Thee, and far
above the description of any of Thy creatures. All created things have
borne witness to Thy unity, and every dweller in Thy kingdom hath
confessed Thy oneness. The essence of the apprehension of the assured
among Thy creatures can never attain unto Thee, and the gem-like
utterances with which Thy people have praised and glorified Thee can never
hope to ascend unto the atmosphere of Thy holiness. For men's apprehension
of Thee is but the apprehension of Thine own creation; how can it reach up
to Thee? And all human praise and glorification of Thee pertain unto Thy
servants; how can they be deemed worthy of the court of Thy oneness?

I swear by Thy glory! The quintessence of knowledge is powerless to
comprehend Thy nature, and the inmost reality of every praise of Thee
falleth short of the seat of Thy great glory and of Thine all-compelling
power. Every utterance that seeketh to describe Thee, and every knowledge
that attempteth to comprehend Thee, is but an expression of Thine own
creating, and is begotten by Thy will, and fashioned in conformity with
Thy purpose.

I implore Thee, O Thou Who art inscrutable to all except Thee, and can be
comprehended through naught else save Thyself, by the wrongs which He Who
is the Day-Spring of Thy Cause hath suffered at the hands of the ignoble
among Thy creatures, and by what hath befallen Him in Thy path, to grant
that I may, at all times, be wholly dissolved in