Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty
hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its
peoples. They, however, rose up against
Him with sharpened swords, and committed that which caused the Faithful Spirit
to lament, until in the end they imprisoned Him in the most desolate of cities,
and broke the grasp of the faithful upon the hem of His robe. Were anyone to tell them: “The World Reformer
is come”, they would answer and say: “Indeed it is proven that He is a fomenter of discord!”, and this
notwithstanding that they have never associated with Him, and have perceived
that He did not seek, for one moment, to protect Himself. At all times He was at the mercy of the
wicked doers. At one time they cast Him
into prison, at another they banished Him, and at yet another hurried Him from
land to land. Thus have they pronounced
judgement against Us, and God, truly, is aware of what I say.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Queen Victoria, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of
the Lord of Hosts’)
