In the name of the One born on this day, Him Whom God hath
made to be the Herald of His name, the Almighty, the All-Loving!
This is the night [Birth of Baha’u’llah] wherein the limbs
of Jibt were made to tremble, and the Most Great Idol fell upon the dust, and
the foundations of iniquity were shattered, and Manát lamented in its inmost being,
and the back of ‘Uzzá was broken and its face blackened;[1] for the Morn of
divine Revelation hath dawned, and there hath appeared that which hath solaced
the eyes of glory and majesty, and beyond them the eyes of all the Prophets and
Messengers of God. All glory, then, to this Dawn which hath broken above the
dayspring of effulgent glory!
This is the night [Birth of Baha’u’llah] round which have
circled the Nights of Power, [Cf. Qur’án, súrih 97] wherein the angels and the
Spirit have come down bearing cups filled at the streams of Paradise, the night
wherein Heaven itself was adorned with the ornament of God, the Almighty, the
All-Gracious, the Most Bountiful, wherein every created thing was brought to
life, and all the peoples of the earth were surrounded by His grace. All joy to
the concourse of the Spirit for this manifest and resplendent bounty!
This is the night [Birth of Baha’u’llah] wherein the doors
of Paradise were flung open and the gates of Hell were shut fast, the night
wherein the paradise of the All-Merciful was unveiled in the midmost heart of
creation, the breezes of God were wafted from the retreats of forgiveness, and
the Last Hour ushered in through the power of truth, could ye but know it. All
joy to this night through which all days have been suffused with light, though
none can apprehend this save those that are endued with certitude and
discernment!
O concourse of the seen and the unseen! Rejoice with
exceeding gladness in your hearts and souls, for the night hath come for the
harvesting of the ages and the gathering up of past cycles, the night wherein
all days and nights were called into being and the time preordained for this
Revelation was fulfilled at the behest of Him Who is the Lord of might and
power. All joy to the Concourse on high at the appearance of so glorious, so
wondrous a Spirit!
Say: The Books have
been sent down for naught but My remembrance.
Whosoever is receptive to their call shall perceive therefrom the sweet
fragrances of My name and My praise; and he who hath unstopped the ear of his
inmost heart shall hear from every word thereof: “The True One is come! He
indeed is the beloved of the worlds!”
…know thou of a certainty that these Luminaries
[Manifestations & Chosen Ones of God] of heavenly majesty, though their
dwelling be in the dust, yet their true habitation is the seat of glory in the
realms above. Though bereft of all earthly possessions, yet they soar in the
realms of immeasurable riches. And whilst sore tried in the grip of the enemy,
they are seated on the right hand of power and celestial dominion. Amidst the
darkness of their abasement there shineth upon them the light of unfading
glory, and upon their helplessness are showered the tokens of an invincible
sovereignty.
Set thine heart towards Him Who is the Point of adoration
for the world, and say: “O peoples of the earth! Have ye denied the One in
Whose path He Who came with the truth, bearing the announcement of your Lord,
the Exalted, the Great, suffered martyrdom?” Say: This is an Announcement
whereat the hearts of the Prophets and Messengers have rejoiced. This is the
One Whom the heart of the world remembereth, and is promised in the Books of
God, the Mighty, the All-Wise. The hands of the Messengers were, in their
desire to meet Me, upraised towards God, the Mighty, the Glorified. Unto this
testifieth that which hath been sent down in the sacred Scriptures by Him Who
is the Lord of might and power.
Some lamented in their separation from Me, others endured
hardships in My path, and still others laid down their lives for the sake of My
Beauty, could ye but know it. Say: I, verily, have not sought to extol Mine own
Self, but rather God Himself, were ye to judge fairly. Naught can be seen in Me except God and His
Cause, could ye but perceive it. I am
the One Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath extolled, the One with Whose name both
the Torah and the Evangel were adorned. Thus hath it been decreed in the Scriptures of thy Lord, the Most
Merciful. He, verily, hath borne witness
unto Me, as I bear witness unto Him. And
God testifieth to the truth of My words.
And now, ponder this in thine heart: Were sovereignty to
mean earthly sovereignty and worldly dominion, were it to imply the subjection
and external allegiance of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth—whereby
His loved ones should be exalted and be made to live in peace, and His enemies
be abased and tormented—such form of sovereignty would not be true of God
Himself, the Source of all dominion, Whose majesty and power all things
testify. For, dost thou not witness how the generality of mankind is under the
sway of His enemies? Have they not all turned away from the path of His good-pleasure?
Have they not done that which He hath forbidden, and left undone, nay
repudiated and opposed, those things which He hath commanded? Have not His
friends ever been the victims of the tyranny of His foes? All these things are
more obvious than even the splendour of the noon-tide sun.
How vast the number of people who will, on the Day of
Resurrection, regard themselves to be in the right, while they shall be
accounted as false through the dispensation of Providence, inasmuch as they
will shut themselves out as by a veil from Him Whom God shall make manifest and
refuse to bow down in adoration before Him Who, as divinely ordained in the
Book, is the Object of their creation.
…He, the Mover of all beings, that glorified Countenance, is
the source of such potencies as neither this wronged One can reveal, nor this
unworthy people comprehend. Immensely exalted is He above men’s praise of His
sovereignty; glorified is He beyond that which they attribute unto Him!
In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God
and their chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual
significance of the terms “life,” “resurrection,” and “judgment.”
Gracious God! How far have that people strayed from the way
of God! Although the Day of Resurrection was ushered in through the Revelation
of Muhammad, although His light and tokens had encompassed the earth and all
that is therein, yet that people derided Him, gave themselves up to those idols
which the divines of that age, in their vain and idle fancy, had conceived, and
deprived themselves of the light of heavenly grace and of the showers of divine
mercy. Yea, the abject beetle can never scent the fragrance of holiness, and
the bat of darkness can never face the splendour of the sun.
The Person of the Manifestation hath ever been the
representative and mouthpiece of God. He, in truth, is the Day Spring of God’s
most excellent Titles, and the Dawning-Place of His exalted Attributes. If any
be set up by His side as peers, if they be regarded as identical with His
Person, how can it, then, be maintained that the Divine Being is One and Incomparable,
that His Essence is indivisible and peerless? Meditate on that which We have,
through the power of truth, revealed unto thee, and be thou of them that
comprehend its meaning.
Happy is the man who will arise to serve My Cause, and
glorify My beauteous Name. Take hold of My Book with the power of My might, and
cleave tenaciously to whatsoever commandment thy Lord, the Ordainer, the
All-Wise, hath prescribed therein.
The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever
be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most
excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the
divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness. Whoso hath
recognized the Day Spring of Divine guidance and entered His holy court hath
drawn nigh unto God and attained His Presence, a Presence which is the real
Paradise, and of which the loftiest mansions of heaven are but a symbol. Such a
man hath attained the knowledge of the station of Him Who is “at the distance
of two bows,” Who standeth beyond the Sadratu’l-Muntahá. Whoso hath failed to
recognize Him will have condemned himself to the misery of remoteness, a
remoteness which is naught but utter nothingness and the essence of the
nethermost fire. Such will be his fate, though to outward seeming he may occupy
the earth’s loftiest seats and be established upon its most exalted throne.
....
Say, ye will be unable to recognize the One True God or to
discern clearly the words of divine guidance, inasmuch as ye seek and tread a
path other than His. Whenever ye learn that a new Cause hath appeared, ye must
seek the presence of its author and must delve into his writings that haply ye
may not be debarred from attaining unto Him Whom God shall make manifest at the
hour of His manifestation. Wert thou to walk in the way of truth as handed down
by them that are endowed with the knowledge of the inmost reality, God, thy
Lord, will surely redeem thee on the Day of Resurrection. Verily He is potent over
all things.
Sanctify your souls from the world, O people, and hasten
unto the Divine Lote-Tree in this furthermost sanctuary, that ye may hearken
unto the voice of your Lord, the All-Merciful, calling from this Paradise which
hath been created at the behest of God, the All-Praised, and before whose
portals the inmates of the pavilion of sanctity bow down in adoration.
He Who is the Day Spring of Truth is, no doubt, fully
capable of rescuing from such remoteness wayward souls and of causing them to
draw nigh unto His court and attain His Presence. “If God had pleased He had
surely made all men one people.” His purpose, however, is to enable the pure in
spirit and the detached in heart to ascend, by virtue of their own innate
powers, unto the shores of the Most Great Ocean, that thereby they who seek the
Beauty of the All-Glorious may be distinguished and separated from the wayward
and perverse. Thus hath it been ordained by the all-glorious and resplendent
Pen....