Morning
Gracious God! None of them [“seven powerful sovereigns ruling the world” in His day] hath been informed of His [the Báb’s] Manifestation, and if informed, none hath believed in Him. Who knoweth, they may leave this world below full of desire, and without having realized that the thing for which they were waiting had come to pass. This is what happened to the monarchs that held fast unto the Gospel. They awaited the coming of the Prophet of God [Muhammad], and when He did appear, they failed to recognize Him. Behold how great are the sums which these sovereigns expend without even the slightest thought of appointing an official charged with the task of acquainting them in their own realms with the Manifestation of God! They would thereby have fulfilled the purpose for which they have been created. All their desires have been and are still fixed upon leaving behind them traces of their names.
- The Báb (In the Dalá’il-i-Sab‘ih [Seven Proofs], quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
Evening
Lauded be Thy name, O my God! Thou beholdest how the
tempestuous winds of tests have caused the steadfast in faith to tremble, and
how the breath of trials hath stirred up those whose hearts had been firmly
established, except such as have partaken of the Wine that is life indeed from
the hands of the Manifestation of Thy name, the Most Merciful. These are the
ones whom no word except Thy most exalted word can move, whom nothing whatever
save the sweet smelling fragrance of the robe of Thy remembrance can enrapture,
O Thou Who art the Possessor of all names and the Maker of earth and heaven!
I implore Thee, O Thou Who art the beloved Companion of Bahá, by Thy name, the All-Glorious, to keep safe these Thy servants under the shadow of the wings of Thine all-encompassing mercy, that the darts of the evil suggestions of the wicked doers among Thy creatures, who have disbelieved in Thy signs, may be kept back from them. No one on earth, O my Lord, can withstand Thy power, and none in all the kingdom of Thy names is able to frustrate Thy purpose. Show forth, then, the power of Thy sovereignty and of Thy dominion, and teach Thy loved ones what beseemeth them in Thy days.
- Baha’u’llah ('Prayers and Meditations of Baha’u’llah’)
