How long, O Lord, how long?
That desolate cry of the centuries would be heard no more.
While Israel was dispersed and the world full of sin, the higher and
lower worlds had been parted, and the four letters of God's name had
been dissevered, not to be pronounced in unison. For God Himself had
been made imperfect by the impeding of His moral purpose.
But the Messiah had pronounced the Tetragrammaton, and God and the
Creation were One again. O mystic transport! O ecstatic reunion! The
joyous shouts died into a more beatific silence.
From some near mosque there broke upon the midnight air the solemn
voice of the _muëddin_ chanting the _adán_--
"God is most great. I testify that there is no God but God. I testify
that Mohammed is God's Prophet."
Sabbataï shivered. Was it the cold air or some indefinable foreboding?