that Mighty and All-Compassionate One. For the order and balance in this Book and Record are two shining proofs for people of reason who have two eyes in their head, that nothing at all in existence and time is outside the grasp of power of a Most Merciful One, the ordering of One Most Kind, the adorning of One Most Clement, the balancing of a Requiter.
I n S h o r t : The manifestations of the names of First and Last in creation look to the beginnings and ends of beings, and their origin and progeny, and the past and the future, and to the divine command and knowledge; they point to the Clear Record. While the manifestation of the names of Outward and Inward in the creation of things indicate the Clear Book.
For the universe is like a vast tree, and all the worlds within it also are like trees. You may therefore draw a comparison between the creation of a single tree and that of the universe together with all its worlds and realms. The tree has an origin and source, which is the seed from which it sprang, and it has a progeny which continues its functions after its death, which is the seed in its fruit.
Thus its beginning and end are the manifestations of the names of First and Last. Through order and wisdom, its beginning and original seed are an index and timetable comprising all the laws of the tree’s formation. The seeds in its fruits, which are its end, are the place of manifestation of the name of Last.
The seeds in its fruit created with perfect wisdom are like small coffers in which have been placed an index and timetable for the formation of a similar tree. Inscribed in them with the pen of divine determining are the laws of the formation of future trees.
The tree’s outer aspect is the manifestation of the name of Outward. For its outer appearance displays perfect order and balancing and wisdom, like an ornate and decorated garment with which the tree has been clothed with perfect wisdom and grace in accordance with the measure of its stature.
The tree’s inner aspect is the manifestation of the name of Inward. It displays perfect order and planning and astounds minds. It distributes the substances necessary for the tree’s life to its various members with complete regularity, as though this inner aspect were a wondrous machine working with the utmost orderly balance.
Thus, its origin is a wondrous timetable and its end an astonishing index, both indicating the Clear Record. While its outer aspect is a gorgeous robe full of art, and its inner aspect, a machine of the utmost regularity; both pointing to the Clear Book.
Just as man’s faculty of memory points to the Preserved Tablet and is a proof it, so the original seeds of trees and their fruits point to the Clear