The world of existence is contingent, inasmuch as it is
preceded by a cause, while essential preexistence hath ever been, and shall
remain, confined to God, magnified be His glory. This statement is being made
lest one be inclined to conclude from the earlier assertion, namely that
creation hath no beginning and no end, that it is preexistent. True and
essential preexistence is exclusively reserved to God, while the preexistence
of the world is secondary and relative. All that hath been inferred about
firstness, lastness and such hath in truth been derived from the sayings of the
Prophets, Apostles, and Chosen Ones of God.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh’s Responses to Mánikchí Sáhib and Other
Writings’)
