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To the patriarchs of the Christian Church He issued a specific summons in which He proclaims the coming of the Promised One; exhorts them to "fear God" and not to follow "the vain imaginings of the superstitious"; and directs them to lay aside the things they possess and "take fast hold of the Tablet of God by His sovereign power." To the archbishops of that Church He similarly declares that "He Who is the Lord of all men hath appeared," that they are "numbered with the dead," and that great is the blessedness of him who is "stirred by the breeze of God, and hath arisen from amongst the dead in this perspicuous Name." In passages addressed to its bishops He proclaims that "the Everlasting Father calleth aloud between earth and heaven," pronounces them to be the fallen stars of the heaven of His knowledge, and affirms that His body "yearneth for the cross" and His head is "eager for the spear in the path of the All- Merciful." The concourse of Christian priests He bids "leave the bells," and come forth from their churches; exhorts them to "proclaim aloud the Most Great Name among the nations"; assures them that whoever will summon men in His Name will "show forth that which is beyond the power of all that are on earth"; warns them that the "Day of Reckoning hath appeared"; and counsels them to turn with their hearts to their "Lord, the Forgiving, the Generous." In numerous passages addressed to the "concourse of monks" He bids them not to seclude themselves in churches and cloisters, but to occupy themselves with that which will profit their souls and the souls of men; enjoins them to enter into wedlock; and affirms that if they choose to follow Him He will make them heirs of His Kingdom, and that if they transgress against Him, He will, in His long- suffering, endure it patiently.
(209:4)
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