O Son of Man! Thou dost wish for gold and I desire thy
freedom from it. Thou thinkest thyself rich in its possession, and I recognize
thy wealth in thy sanctity therefrom. By My life! This is My knowledge, and
that is thy fancy; how can My way accord with thine? 
O Lord of all being and Educator of all things visible and
invisible! Grant us ears that are pure, hearts that are sanctified, and eyes
that see, so that we may discover the sweetness of Thine enthralling utterance,
may fix our gaze upon Thy supreme horizon, and may come to know whatever hath
been sent down through Thy bounty, O Thou Who art the King of Names!
Burden not an animal with more than it can bear. We, truly,
have prohibited such treatment through a most binding interdiction in the Book.
Be ye the embodiments of justice and fairness amidst all creation.
Think ye that the things ye possess shall profit you? Soon
others will possess them and ye will return unto the dust with none to help or
succour you. What advantage is there in a life that can be overtaken by death,
or in an existence that is doomed to extinction, or in a prosperity that is
subject to change? Cast away the things that ye possess and set your faces
toward the favours of God which have been sent down in this wondrous Name.
Let them that bear allegiance to this Wronged One be even as
a raining cloud in moments of charity and benevolence and as a blazing fire in
restraining their base and appetitive natures.
O proud ones of the earth!
Do ye believe yourselves to be abiding in palaces whilst He Who is the
King of Revelation resideth in the most desolate of abodes? Nay, by My life! In tombs do ye dwell, could ye but perceive
it. Verily, he who faileth, in these days,
to be stirred by the breeze of God is accounted among the dead in the sight of
Him Who is the Lord of all names and attributes. Arise, then, from the tombs of self and
desire and turn unto the Kingdom of God, the Possessor of the Throne on high
and of earth below, that ye may behold that which ye were promised aforetime by
your Lord, the All-Knowing.
According to the fundamental laws which We have formerly
revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and other Tablets, all affairs are committed to
the care of just kings and presidents and of the Trustees of the House of
Justice. Having pondered on that which We have enunciated, every man of equity
and discernment will readily perceive, with his inner and outer eyes, the
splendours of the day-star of justice which radiate therefrom.
It is for the sake of God alone that My tongue counselleth
you and that My pen moveth to make mention of you, for neither can the malice
and denial of all who dwell on earth harm Me, nor the allegiance of the entire
creation profit Me. We, verily, exhort
you unto that which We were commanded, and desire naught from you except that
ye draw nigh unto what shall profit you in both this world and the world to
come. Say: Will ye slay Him Who summoneth you unto life
everlasting? Fear ye God, and follow not
every contumacious oppressor.
… [since] only those who are initiated into the divine
mysteries can comprehend the melodies uttered by the Bird of Heaven, it is
therefore incumbent upon every one to seek enlightenment from the illumined in
heart and from the Treasuries of divine mysteries regarding the intricacies of
God’s Faith and the abstruse allusions in the utterances of the Day-springs of
Holiness. Thus will these mysteries be unravelled, not by the aid of acquired
learning, but solely through the assistance of God and the outpourings of His
grace. “Ask ye, therefore, of them that have the custody of the Scriptures, if
ye know it not.” (Qur’an 16:43)
Say: If ye be seekers after this life and the vanities
thereof, ye should have sought them while ye were still enclosed in your
mothers’ wombs, for at that time ye were continually approaching them, could ye
but perceive it. Ye have, on the other hand, ever since ye were born and
attained maturity, been all the while receding from the world and drawing
closer to dust. Why, then, exhibit such greed in amassing the treasures of the
earth, when your days are numbered and your chance is well-nigh lost? Will ye
not, then, O heedless ones, shake off your slumber?
The days of your life are far spent, O people, and your end
is fast approaching. Put away, therefore, the things ye have devised and to
which ye cleave, and take firm hold on the precepts of God, that haply ye may
attain that which He hath purposed for you, and be of them that pursue a right
course. Delight not yourselves in the things of the world and its vain
ornaments, neither set your hopes on them. Let your reliance be on the
remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Great. He will, erelong, bring
to naught all the things ye possess. Let Him be your fear, and forget not His
covenant with you, and be not of them that are shut out as by a veil from Him.
Beware that ye swell not with pride before God, and disdainfully
reject His loved ones. Defer ye humbly to the faithful, they that have believed
in God and in His signs, whose hearts witness to His unity, whose tongues
proclaim His oneness, and who speak not except by His leave. Thus do We exhort
you with justice, and warn you with truth, that perchance ye may be awakened.
Respect ye the divines and learned amongst you, they whose
conduct accords with their professions, who transgress not the bounds which God
hath fixed, whose judgments are in conformity with His behests as revealed in
His Book. Know ye that they are the lamps of guidance unto them that are in the
heavens and on the earth. They who disregard and neglect the divines and
learned that live amongst them—these have truly changed the favor with which
God hath favored them.
Lay not on any soul a load which ye would not wish to be
laid upon you, and desire not for any one the things ye would not desire for
yourselves. This is My best counsel unto you, did ye but observe it.
The day is approaching when God will have raised up a people
who will call to remembrance Our days, who will tell the tale of Our trials,
who will demand the restitution of Our rights from them that, without a tittle
of evidence, have treated Us with manifest injustice. God, assuredly,
dominateth the lives of them that wronged Us, and is well aware of their
doings. He will, most certainly, lay hold on them for their sins. He, verily,
is the fiercest of avengers.
O Son of Being! Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My
descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.
O Son of Man! The temple of being is My throne; cleanse it
of all things, that there I may be established and there I may abide.
O Shaykh! [1] Seek thou the shore of the Most Great Ocean,
and enter, then, the Crimson Ark which God hath ordained in the Qayyúm-i-Asmá
for the people of Bahá. Verily, it passeth over land and sea. He that entereth
therein is saved, and he that turneth aside perisheth.
The eyes of this Wronged One are turned towards naught save
trustworthiness, truthfulness, purity, and all that profiteth men.
The Cause of God hath come as a token of His grace. Happy
are they who act; happy are they who understand; happy the man that hath clung
unto the truth, detached from all that is in the heavens and all that is on
earth.