Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to
declare: “I am God,” He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth
thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their
Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and
His attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed: “Those
shafts were God’s, not Thine.” And also He saith: “In truth, they who plighted
fealty unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto God.” And were any of them
to voice the utterance, “I am the Messenger of God,” He, also, speaketh the
truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He saith: “Muhammad is not the father of
any man among you, but He is the Messenger of God.” Viewed in this light, they
are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And were
they all to proclaim, “I am the Seal of the Prophets,” they, verily, utter but
the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all but one
person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation. They are all the
manifestation of the “Beginning” and the “End,” the “First” and the “Last,” the
“Seen” and the “Hidden”—all of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit
of Spirits and Eternal Essence of Essences.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
