Austere, silent, hedged by an inviolable sanctity, he stood long motionless, realizing, his followers felt, the Cabalistic teaching as to the Messiah, incarnating the Godhead through the primal Adam, pure, sinless, at one with himself and elemental Nature. At last he raised his luminous eyes heavenwards, and said in clear, calm tones one word-- YAHWEH! He had uttered the dread, forbidden Name of God. For an instant the turbaned figures stood rigid with awe, their blood cold with an ineffable terror, then as they became conscious again of the stars glittering on, the sea plashing unruffled, the earth still solid under their feet, a great hoarse shout of holy joy flew up to the shining stars. "_Messhiach! Messhiach!_ The Messiah!" The Kingdom was come. The Messianic Era had begun. II 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? III