We have admonished Our loved ones to fear God, a fear which
is the fountain-head of all goodly deeds and virtues. It is the commander of
the hosts of justice in the city of Bahá. Happy the man that hath entered the
shadow of its luminous standard, and laid fast hold thereon. He, verily, is of
the Companions of the Crimson Ark, which hath been mentioned in the
Qayyúm-i-Asmá. 
O people of the world! When the Mystic Dove will have winged
its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden
habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath
branched from this mighty Stock.
The foundations of idle fancies have trembled, and the
heaven of vain imaginings hath been cleft asunder, and yet the people are in
doubt and in contention with Him. They have denied the testimony of God and His
proof, after He came from the heaven of power with the kingdom of His signs.
They have cast away what had been prescribed, and perpetrated what had been
forbidden them in the Book. They have abandoned their God, and clung unto their
desires. They truly have strayed and are in error. They read the verses and
deny them. They behold the clear tokens and turn aside. They truly are lost in
strange doubt.
Happy are ye, O ye the learned ones in Bahá. By the Lord! Ye
are the billows of the Most Mighty Ocean, the stars of the firmament of Glory,
the standards of triumph waving betwixt earth and heaven. Ye are the
manifestations of steadfastness amidst men and the daysprings of Divine
Utterance to all that dwell on earth. Well is it with him that turneth unto
you, and woe betide the froward.
The hope is cherished that ye may obtain true education in
the shelter of the tree of His tender mercies and act in accordance with that
which God desireth. Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one
ocean.
Grieve not, O House of God, [Baghdad House] if the veil of
thy sanctity be rent asunder by the infidels. God hath, in the world of
creation, adorned thee with the jewel of His remembrance. Such an ornament no
man can, at any time, profane. Towards thee the eyes of thy Lord shall, under
all conditions, remain directed. He, verily, will incline His ear to the prayer
of every one that visiteth thee, who will circle around thee, and calleth upon
Him in thy name. He, in truth, is the Forgiving, the All-Merciful.
Whither are gone the proud and their palaces? Gaze thou into their tombs, that thou mayest
profit by this example, inasmuch as We made it a lesson unto every
beholder. Were the breezes of Revelation
to seize thee, thou wouldst flee the world, and turn unto the Kingdom, and
wouldst expend all thou possessest, that thou mayest draw nigh unto this
sublime Vision.
Whilst I lay chained and fettered in the prison, one of thy
ministers extended Me his aid. Wherefore
hath God ordained for thee a station which the knowledge of none can comprehend
except His knowledge. Beware lest thou
barter away this sublime station. Thy
Lord, verily, doeth what He willeth.
What He pleaseth will God abrogate or confirm, and with Him is the
knowledge of all things in a Guarded Tablet.
O Czar of Russia!
Incline thine ear unto the voice of God, the King, the Holy, and turn
thou unto Paradise, the Spot wherein abideth He Who, among the Concourse on
high, beareth the most excellent titles, and Who, in the kingdom of creation,
is called by the name of God, the Effulgent, the All-Glorious.
We behold the generality of mankind worshipping names and
exposing themselves, as thou dost witness, to dire perils in the mere hope of
perpetuating their names, whilst every perceiving soul testifieth that after
death one’s name shall avail him nothing except insofar as it beareth a
relationship unto God, the Almighty, the All-Praised. Thus have their vain imaginings taken hold of
them in requital for that which their hands have wrought.
Exultest thou over the treasures thou dost possess, knowing
they shall perish? Rejoicest thou in
that thou rulest a span of earth, when the whole world, in the estimation of
the people of Bahá, is worth as much as the black in the eye of a dead
ant? Abandon it unto such as have set
their affections upon it, and turn thou unto Him Who is the Desire of the
world.
Meditate on the world and the state of its people. He, for
Whose sake the world was called into being, hath been imprisoned in the most
desolate of cities, by reason of that which the hands of the wayward have
wrought. From the horizon of His prison-city He summoneth mankind unto the
Dayspring of God, the Exalted, the Great.
Set forth that which ye possess. If it be favourably
received, your end is attained; if not, to protest is vain. Leave that soul to
himself and turn unto the Lord, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting. Be not the
cause of grief, much less of discord and strife.
He is a man of insight whose eyes have been illumined with
the brightness of Thy face, and who, as soon as Thy call was raised, hath
recognized Thee. (Baha’u’llah, ‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)
O people of Bahá! Ye are the dawning-places of the love of
God and the daysprings of His loving-kindness. Defile not your tongues with the
cursing and reviling of any soul, and guard your eyes against that which is not
seemly.
Inasmuch as for each day there is a new problem and for
every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the
House of Justice that the members thereof may act according to the needs and
requirements of the time. They that, for the sake of God, arise to serve His
Cause, are the recipients of divine inspiration from the unseen Kingdom. It is
incumbent upon all to be obedient unto them. All matters of State should be
referred to the House of Justice, but acts of worship must be observed
according to that which God hath revealed in His Book.
O people of God! That which traineth the world is Justice,
for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are
the sources of life to the world.
He is a man of hearing who hath been led to hearken unto Thy
speech, and to draw nigh unto the billowing ocean of Thine utterances.
The men of God’s House of Justice have been charged with the
affairs of the people. They, in truth, are the Trustees of God among His
servants and the daysprings of authority in His countries.