XXVI: Praise be to God, the All-Possessing, the…
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Praise be to God, the All-Possessing, the
King of incomparable glory, a praise which is immeasurably
above the understanding of all created
things, and is exalted beyond the grasp of the minds
of men. None else besides Him hath ever been able
to sing adequately His praise, nor will any man succeed
at any time in describing the full measure of
His glory. Who is it that can claim to have attained
the heights of His exalted Essence, and what mind
can measure the depths of His unfathomable mystery?
From each and every revelation emanating
from the Source of His glory, holy and never-ending
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evidences of unimaginable splendor have appeared,
and out of every manifestation of His invincible
power oceans of eternal light have outpoured. How
immensely exalted are the wondrous testimonies of
His almighty sovereignty, a glimmer of which, if it
but touched them, would utterly consume all that are
in the heavens and in the earth! How indescribably
lofty are the tokens of His consummate power, a
single sign of which, however inconsiderable, must
transcend the comprehension of whatsoever hath,
from the beginning that hath no beginning, been
brought into being, or will be created in the future
till the end that hath no end. All the Embodiments
of His Names wander in the wilderness of search,
athirst and eager to discover His Essence, and all the
Manifestations of His Attributes implore Him, from
the Sinai of Holiness, to unravel His mystery.
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A drop of the billowing ocean of His endless mercy
hath adorned all creation with the ornament of existence,
and a breath wafted from His peerless Paradise
hath invested all beings with the robe of His sanctity
and glory. A sprinkling from the unfathomed deep
of His sovereign and all-pervasive Will hath, out of
utter nothingness, called into being a creation which
is infinite in its range and deathless in its duration.
The wonders of His bounty can never cease, and the
stream of His merciful grace can never be arrested.
The process of His creation hath had no beginning,
and can have no end.
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In every age and cycle He hath, through the splendorous
light shed by the Manifestations of His
wondrous Essence, recreated all things, so that whatsoever
reflecteth in the heavens and on the earth the
signs of His glory may not be deprived of the outpourings
of His mercy, nor despair of the showers
of His favors. How all-encompassing are the wonders
of His boundless grace! Behold how they have pervaded
the whole of creation. Such is their virtue that
not a single atom in the entire universe can be found
which doth not declare the evidences of His might,
which doth not glorify His holy Name, or is not
expressive of the effulgent light of His unity. So
perfect and comprehensive is His creation that no
mind nor heart, however keen or pure, can ever grasp
the nature of the most insignificant of His creatures;
much less fathom the mystery of Him Who is the
Day Star of Truth, Who is the invisible and unknowable
Essence. The conceptions of the devoutest
of mystics, the attainments of the most accomplished
amongst men, the highest praise which human tongue
or pen can render are all the product of man’s finite
mind and are conditioned by its limitations. Ten
thousand Prophets, each a Moses, are thunderstruck
upon the Sinai of their search at His forbidding
voice, “Thou shalt never behold Me!”; whilst a
myriad Messengers, each as great as Jesus, stand
dismayed upon their heavenly thrones by the interdiction,
“Mine Essence thou shalt never apprehend!”
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From time immemorial He hath been veiled in
the ineffable sanctity of His exalted Self, and will
everlastingly continue to be wrapt in the impenetrable
mystery of His unknowable Essence. Every
attempt to attain to an understanding of His inaccessible
Reality hath ended in complete bewilderment,
and every effort to approach His exalted Self and
envisage His Essence hath resulted in hopelessness and
failure.
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How bewildering to me, insignificant as I am, is
the attempt to fathom the sacred depths of Thy
knowledge! How futile my efforts to visualize the
magnitude of the power inherent in Thine handiwork—the revelation of Thy creative power! How
can mine eye, which hath no faculty to perceive
itself, claim to have discerned Thine Essence, and how
can mine heart, already powerless to apprehend the
significance of its own potentialities, pretend to have
comprehended Thy nature? How can I claim to have
known Thee, when the entire creation is bewildered
by Thy mystery, and how can I confess not to have
known Thee, when, lo, the whole universe proclaimeth
Thy Presence and testifieth to Thy truth?
The portals of Thy grace have throughout eternity
been open, and the means of access unto Thy Presence
made available, unto all created things, and the
revelations of Thy matchless Beauty have at all times
been imprinted upon the realities of all beings, visible
and invisible. Yet, notwithstanding this most gracious
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favor, this perfect and consummate bestowal, I am
moved to testify that Thy court of holiness and glory
is immeasurably exalted above the knowledge of all
else besides Thee, and the mystery of Thy Presence
is inscrutable to every mind except Thine own. No
one except Thyself can unravel the secret of Thy
nature, and naught else but Thy transcendental
Essence can grasp the reality of Thy unsearchable
being. How vast the number of those heavenly and
all-glorious beings who, in the wilderness of their
separation from Thee, have wandered all the days of
their lives, and failed in the end to find Thee! How
great the multitude of the sanctified and immortal
souls who were lost and bewildered while seeking in
the desert of search to behold Thy face! Myriad are
Thine ardent lovers whom the consuming flame of
remoteness from Thee hath caused to sink and perish,
and numberless are the faithful souls who have willingly
laid down their lives in the hope of gazing on
the light of Thy countenance. The sighs and moans of
these longing hearts that pant after Thee can never
reach Thy holy court, neither can the lamentations of
the wayfarers that thirst to appear before Thy face
attain Thy seat of glory.
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