O
Shay
kh, O thou who hast surrendered thy will
to God! By self-surrender and perpetual union with
God is meant that men should merge their will wholly
in the Will of God, and regard their desires as utter
nothingness beside His Purpose. Whatsoever the
Creator commandeth His creatures to observe, the
same must they diligently, and with the utmost joy
and eagerness, arise and fulfil. They should in no wise
allow their fancy to obscure their judgment, neither
should they regard their own imaginings as the voice
of the Eternal. In the Prayer of Fasting We have
revealed: “Should Thy Will decree that out of Thy
mouth these words proceed and be addressed unto
them, ‘Observe, for My Beauty’s sake, the fast, O
people, and set no limit to its duration,’ I swear by
the majesty of Thy glory, that every one of them will
faithfully observe it, will abstain from whatsoever
will violate Thy law, and will continue to do so until
they yield up their souls unto Thee.” In this consisteth
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the complete surrender of one’s will to the
Will of God. Meditate on this, that thou mayest
drink in the waters of everlasting life which flow
through the words of the Lord of all mankind, and
mayest testify that the one true God hath ever been
immeasurably exalted above His creatures. He, verily,
is the Incomparable, the Ever-Abiding, the Omniscient,
the All-Wise. The station of absolute self-surrender
transcendeth, and will ever remain exalted
above, every other station.