The orderly, measured writings of the pen of His determining and decree, according to knowledge and wisdom;
The depictions of the compasses of His knowledge and wisdom, traced with art;
The adornments of the shining hand of His art and bestowal of form, His embellishing and illuminating, with grace and munificence;
The flowers of the subtleties of His grace and munificence, His making Himself known and loved, bountifully, with mercy;
The fruits of the superabundance of the fount of His mercy and bounty, His pity and tenderness, with beauty and perfection;
The flashes of an eternal beauty, a perpetual perfection, testified to by the transience of the mirrors and flowing on of the places of reflection together with the continuance of the beauty’s manifestation throughout the passage of the seasons, the centuries, and epochs, together with the perpetual bestowal of bounty throughout the passage of creatures, time, and beings.
Yes, the fleeting nature of the mirrors and the passing of beings together with the constant manifestations and effulgences shows with the utmost clarity that the evident beauty and shining perfection do not belong to the places of manifestation; they prove most clearly and eloquently that they belong to a transcendent Beauty, a transcendent Bestower, to the Necessary Existent, the Enduring One, the Loving One.
For a perfect work self-evidently points to a perfect act. A perfect act necessarily points to a perfect name and a perfect performer of the act. And a perfect name doubtlessly points to a perfect attribute. A perfect attribute indubitably points to a perfect quality. And a perfect quality certainly points in a way worthy of such a one, to the perfection of his essence. This is absolutely certain.
THE FOURTH DEGREE
God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted! For He is All-Just, the Pre-Eternal All-Wise Arbiter and Sovereign, who established the body of the tree of the universe in six days in accordance with the principles of His wisdom and will. He divided it into sections in accordance with the rules of His determining and decree. He set it in order through the laws of His practices. He adorned and embellished it according to the laws of His mercy and favour. He illumined it through the manifestations of His names and attributes. All this is testified to by the order and regularity of His artefacts, the adorning of His beings, and their mutual resemblance and harmony, their mutual assistance and co-operation, their embracing one another, and