I shall restate here My theme, that perchance this may
assist thee in recognizing thy Creator. Know thou that God—exalted and
glorified be He—doth in no wise manifest His inmost Essence and Reality. From
time immemorial He hath been veiled in the eternity of His Essence and
concealed in the infinitude of His own Being. And when He purposed to manifest
His beauty in the kingdom of names and to reveal His glory in the realm of
attributes, He brought forth His Prophets from the invisible plane to the
visible, that His name “the Manifest” might be distinguished from “the Hidden”
and His name “the Last” might be discerned from “the First”, and that there may
be fulfilled the words: “He is the First and the Last; the Seen and the Hidden;
and He knoweth all things!” [Qur’án 57:3] Thus hath He revealed these most excellent
names and most exalted words in the Manifestations of His Self and the Mirrors
of His Being.
It is therefore established that all names and attributes
return unto these sublime and sanctified Luminaries. Indeed, all names are to
be found in their names, and all attributes can be seen in their attributes.
Viewed in this light, if thou wert to call them by all the names of God, this
would be true, as all these names are one and the same as their own Being.
Comprehend then the intent of these words, and guard it within the tabernacle
of thy heart, that thou mayest recognize the implications of thine inquiry,
fulfil them according to that which God hath ordained for thee, and thus be
numbered with those who have attained unto His purpose.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gems of
Divine Mysteries’, ‘Javáhiru’l-Asrár’)
