O My Brother! Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed
tongue, and quaff the stream of mystic holiness from My sugar-shedding lips.
Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the pure soil of thy heart, and water them
with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may
spring up fresh and green in the sacred city of thy heart. 
And likewise, He saith: “Say to them that are of a fearful
heart: be strong, fear not, behold your God.” [1] This blessed verse is a proof
of the greatness of the Revelation, and of the greatness of the Cause, inasmuch
as the blast of the trumpet must needs spread confusion throughout the world,
and fear and trembling amongst all men. Well is it with him who hath been
illumined with the light of trust and detachment. The tribulations of that Day
will not hinder or alarm him. Thus hath the Tongue of Utterance spoken, as
bidden by Him Who is the All-Merciful.
Isaiah saith: “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day.”
Concerning the greatness of the Revelation He saith: “Enter into the rock, and
hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.”
And in another connection He saith: “The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory
of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon, they
shall see the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God.”
Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the state of the
soul after its separation from the body. Know thou, of a truth, that if the
soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly, return and be
gathered to the glory of the Beloved. By the righteousness of God! It shall
attain a station such as no pen can depict, or tongue describe. The soul that
hath remained faithful to the Cause of God, and stood unwaveringly firm in His
Path shall, after his ascension, be possessed of such power that all the worlds
which the Almighty hath created can benefit through him. Such a soul provideth,
at the bidding of the Ideal King and Divine Educator, the pure leaven that
leaveneth the world of being, and furnisheth the power through which the arts
and wonders of the world are made manifest. Consider how meal needeth leaven to
be leavened with. Those souls that are the symbols of detachment are the leaven
of the world. Meditate on this, and be of the thankful.
In the Tablet to ‘Abá Badí, this holy verse hath been
revealed: “Verily, We have enjoined on every son to serve his father.” Such is
the decree which We have set forth in the Book.
A true philosopher would never deny God nor His evidences,
rather would he acknowledge His glory and overpowering majesty which overshadow
all created things. Verily We love those men of knowledge who have brought to
light such things as promote the best interests of humanity, and We aided them
through the potency of Our behest, for well are We able to achieve Our purpose.
Know thou… that the people aforetime have produced things
which the contemporary men of knowledge have been unable to produce. We recall
unto thee Murtús who was one of the learned. He invented an apparatus which
transmitted sound over a distance of sixty miles. Others besides him have also
discovered things which no one in this age hath beheld. Verily thy Lord
revealeth in every epoch whatsoever He pleaseth as a token of wisdom on His
part. He is in truth the supreme Ordainer, the All-Wise.
In every land We have set up a luminary of knowledge, and
when the time foreordained is at hand, it will shine resplendent above its
horizon, as decreed by God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. If it be Our Will We
are fully capable of describing for thee whatever existeth in every land or
hath come to pass therein. Indeed the knowledge of thy Lord pervadeth the
heavens and the earth.
Indeed the breezes of divine revelation are diffused from
the verses of thy Lord in such wise that no one can dispute its truth, except
those who are bereft of hearing, of vision, of understanding and of every human
faculty. Verily thy Lord beareth witness unto this, yet the people understand
not.
Whoso turneth towards God must distinguish himself from
others by his every deed, and follow that which hath been enjoined upon him in
the Book. Thus hath it been decreed in a lucid Tablet. Those, however, who cast
behind their backs the commandments of God, and follow the prompting of their
own desires, are, verily, in grievous error.
Call Thou to mind God’s mercy unto Thee; how, when Thou wert
imprisoned with a number of other souls, He delivered Thee and aided Thee with
the hosts of the seen and the unseen, until the King sent Thee to ‘Iráq after
We had disclosed unto him that Thou wert not of the sowers of sedition. Those
who follow their corrupt desires and lay aside the fear of God are indeed in
grievous error. They that spread disorder in the land, shed the blood of men,
and wrongfully consume the substance of others — We, verily, are clear of them,
and We beseech God not to associate Us with them, whether in this world or in
the world to come, unless they should repent unto Him. He, verily, is of those
who show mercy the most merciful.
Whensoever the clouds of tribulation have rained down the
darts of affliction in the path of God, the Lord of all names, I have hastened
to meet them, as every fair-minded and discerning soul shall attest. How many the nights which found the beasts of
the field resting in their lairs, and the birds of the air lying in their
nests, while this Youth languished in chains and fetters with none to aid or
succour Him!
O brother, we should open our eyes, meditate upon His Word,
and seek the sheltering shadow of the Manifestations of God, that perchance we
may be warned by the unmistakable counsels of the Book, and give heed to the
admonitions recorded in the holy Tablets; that we may not cavil at the Revealer
of the verses, that we may resign ourselves wholly to His Cause, and embrace
wholeheartedly His law, that haply we may enter the court of His mercy, and
dwell upon the shore of His grace. He, verily, is merciful, and forgiving
towards His servants.
Give ear unto God’s holy Voice, and heed thou His sweet and
immortal melody. Behold how He hath solemnly warned them that have repudiated
the verses of God, and hath disowned them that have denied His [the Báb’s] holy
words. Consider how far the people have strayed from the Kawthar of the divine
Presence, and how grievous hath been the faithlessness and arrogance of the
spiritually destitute in the face of that sanctified Beauty. Although that
Essence of lovingkindness and bounty caused those evanescent beings to step
into the realm of immortality, and guided those destitute souls to the sacred
river of wealth, yet some denounced Him as “a calumniator of God, the Lord of
all creatures,” others accused Him of being “the one that withholdeth the
people from the path of faith and true belief,” and still others declared Him
to be “a lunatic” and the like.
…the people of the Qur’án, like unto the people of old, have
allowed the words “Seal of the Prophets” to veil their eyes. And yet, they
themselves testify to this verse: “None knoweth the interpretation thereof but
God and they that are well-grounded in knowledge.” [Qur’án 3:7] And when He Who
is well-grounded in all knowledge, He Who is the Mother, the Soul, the Secret,
and the Essence thereof, revealeth that which is the least contrary to their
desire, they bitterly oppose Him and shamelessly deny Him.
Verily I say, the human soul is, in its essence, one of the
signs of God, a mystery among His mysteries. It is one of the mighty signs of
the Almighty, the harbinger that proclaimeth the reality of all the worlds of
God. Within it lieth concealed that which the world is now utterly incapable of
apprehending. Ponder in thine heart the revelation of the Soul of God that
pervadeth all His Laws, and contrast it with that base and appetitive nature
that hath rebelled against Him, that forbiddeth men to turn unto the Lord of
Names, and impelleth them to walk after their lusts and wickedness. Such a soul
hath, in truth, wandered far in the path of error...
Every created thing in the whole universe is but a door
leading into His [God’s] knowledge, a sign of His sovereignty, a revelation of
His names, a symbol of His majesty, a token of His power, a means of admittance
into His straight Path....
Much hath been written in the books of old concerning the
various stages in the development of the soul, such as concupiscence,
irascibility, inspiration, benevolence, contentment, Divine good-pleasure, and
the like; the Pen of the Most High, however, is disinclined to dwell upon them.
Every soul that walketh humbly with its God, in this Day, and cleaveth unto
Him, shall find itself invested with the honor and glory of all goodly names
and stations.
Whoso hath, in this Day, refused to allow the doubts and
fancies of men to turn him away from Him Who is the Eternal Truth, and hath not
suffered the tumult provoked by the ecclesiastical and secular authorities to
deter him from recognizing His Message, such a man will be regarded by God, the
Lord of all men, as one of His mighty signs, and will be numbered among them
whose names have been inscribed by the Pen of the Most High in His Book.
Blessed is he that hath recognized the true stature of such a soul, that hath
acknowledged its station, and discovered its virtues.
O Ye that Pride Yourselves on Mortal Riches! Know ye in
truth that wealth is a mighty barrier between the seeker and his desire, the
lover and his beloved. The rich, but for a few, shall in no wise attain the
court of His presence nor enter the city of content and resignation. Well is it
then with him, who, being rich, is not hindered by his riches from the eternal
kingdom, nor deprived by them of imperishable dominion. By the Most Great Name!
The splendor of such a wealthy man shall illuminate the dwellers of heaven even
as the sun enlightens the people of the earth!