Consider the extent of the adherence of these people to
matters of faith. When dealing with their own affairs they are well content
with the testimony of two just witnesses, and yet despite the testimony of so
many righteous men they hesitate to believe in Him Who is the Bearer of the
divine Truth. 
That which God testifieth is none other than what His
supreme Testimony [Go’s Manifestation] testifieth. Were all the peoples of the
world to testify unto a thing and were He to testify unto another, His
testimony will be regarded as God’s testimony, while aught else but Him hath
been and will ever be as naught; for it is through His might that a thing
assumeth existence.
The essence of true safety is to observe silence, to look at
the end of things and to renounce the world.
The evidences which the people demanded from the Apostle of
God through their idle fancy have mostly been rejected in the Qur’án, even as
in the Súrih of the Children of Israel [Súrih XVII] it hath been revealed: ‘And
they say, by no means will we believe on thee till thou cause a fountain to
gush forth for us from the earth; or till thou have a garden of palm trees and
vines, and thou cause rivers to spring forth from the midst thereof in
abundance; or thou cause the heaven to fall down upon us, as thou hast given
out, in pieces; or thou bring God and the angels to vouch for thee; or thou
have a house of gold; or thou ascend to heaven nor will we believe in thine
ascension, till thou send down to us a book which we may read. Say, Praise be
to my Lord! Am I more than a man, an apostle?’
O My servants! It behoveth you to refresh and revive your
souls through the gracious favors which, in this Divine, this soul-stirring
Springtime, are being showered upon you. The Day Star of His great glory hath
shed its radiance upon you, and the clouds of His limitless grace have
overshadowed you. How high the reward of him that hath not deprived himself of
so great a bounty, nor failed to recognize the beauty of his Best-Beloved in
this, His new attire.
The recognition of Him Who is the Bearer of divine Truth is
none other than the recognition of God, and loving Him is none other than
loving God. However, I swear by the sublime Essence of God—exalted and
glorified be He—that I did not wish my identity to be known by men, and gave
instructions that My name should be concealed, because I was fully aware of the
incapacity of this people, who are none other than those who have, in reference
to no less a person than the Apostle of God—incomparable as He hath ever
been—remarked, ‘He is certainly a lunatic’. [Qur’án 68:51] If they now claim to
be other than those people, their deeds bear witness to the falsity of their
assertions.
The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of
deeds; he whose words exceed his deeds, know verily his death is better than
his life.
Glorified, glorified be Thou, O my God! How can I ever hope
to ascend into the heaven of Thy most holy will, or gain admittance into the
tabernacle of Thy Divine knowledge, knowing as I do that the minds of the wise
and learned are impotent to fathom the secrets of Thy handiwork—a handiwork
which is itself but a creation of Thy will?
O concourse of the fair-minded! Observe and reflect upon the
billows of the ocean of the utterance and knowledge of God, so that ye may
testify with your inner and outer tongues that with Him is the knowledge of all
that is in the Book. Nothing escapeth His knowledge. He, verily, hath
manifested that which was hidden, when He, upon His return, mounted the throne
of the Bayán. All that hath been sent down hath and will come to pass, word for
word, upon earth. No possibility is left for anyone either to turn aside or
protest. As fairness, however, is disgraced and concealed, most men speak as
prompted by their own idle fancies.
Such is Thy [God's] greatness that wert Thou to concentrate the eyes
of all men in the eye of one of Thy servants, and to compress all their hearts
within his heart, and wert Thou to enable him to behold within himself all the
things Thou hast created through Thy power and fashioned through Thy might, and
were he to ponder, throughout eternity, over the realms of Thy creation and the
range of Thy handiwork, he would unfailingly discover that there is no created
thing but is overshadowed by Thine all-conquering power, and is vitalized
through Thine all-embracing sovereignty.
O Son of Man! Write all that We have revealed unto thee with
the ink of light upon the tablet of thy spirit. Should this not be in thy
power, then make thine ink of the essence of thy heart. If this thou canst not
do, then write with that crimson ink that hath been shed in My path. Sweeter
indeed is this to Me than all else, that its light may endure for ever.
Gracious God! In His [the Báb’s] Book, which He hath
entitled “Qayyúmu’l-Asmá,”—the first, the greatest and mightiest of all
books—He prophesied His own martyrdom. In it is this passage: “O thou Remnant
of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for
Thy sake; and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love.
Sufficient Witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of
Days!”
Another proof and evidence of the truth of this Revelation
[the Báb’s], which amongst all other proofs shineth as the sun, is the constancy
of the eternal Beauty in proclaiming the Faith of God. Though young and tender
of age, and though the Cause He revealed was contrary to the desire of all the
peoples of earth, both high and low, rich and poor, exalted and abased, king
and subject, yet He arose and steadfastly proclaimed it. All have known and
heard this. He was afraid of no one; He was regardless of consequences. Could
such a thing be made manifest except through the power of a divine Revelation,
and the potency of God’s invincible Will? By the righteousness of God! Were any
one to entertain so great a Revelation in his heart, the thought of such a
declaration would alone confound him! Were the hearts of all men to be crowded
into his heart, he would still hesitate to venture upon so awful an enterprise.
He could achieve it only by the permission of God, only if the channel of his
heart were to be linked with the Source of divine grace, and his soul be
assured of the unfailing sustenance of the Almighty. To what, We wonder, do
they ascribe so great a daring? Do they accuse Him of folly as they accused the
Prophets of old? Or do they maintain that His motive was none other than
leadership and the acquisition of earthly riches?
O Land of Tá (Tihrán)! Let nothing grieve thee, for God hath
chosen thee to be the source of the joy of all mankind. He shall, if it be His
Will, bless thy throne with one who will rule with justice, who will gather
together the flock of God which the wolves have scattered. Such a ruler will,
with joy and gladness, turn his face towards, and extend his favors unto, the
people of Bahá. He indeed is accounted in the sight of God, as a jewel among
men. Upon him rest forever the glory of God, and the glory of all that dwell in
the kingdom of His revelation.
Were men to observe with the eye of justice, they would be
made aware of the secret of this blessed verse: “Neither is there a thing green
or sere, but it is noted in a distinct writing,” and would comprehend it. On
this day, however, men’s repudiation of the truth hath prevented them from
understanding what hath been sent down in truth by Him Who is the Revealer, the
Ancient of Days. Gracious God! Perspicuous signs have appeared on every side,
and yet men are, for the most part, deprived of the privilege of beholding and
of comprehending them. We beseech God to bestow His aid, that all men may
recognize the pearls that lie hid within the shells of the Most Great Ocean,
and exclaim: “Praised be Thou, O God of the world!”
…He [the Báb] saith: “The year-old germ that holdeth within
itself the potentialities of the Revelation that is to come is endowed with a
potency superior to the combined forces of the whole of the Bayán.” These
glad-tidings of the Bayán and of the Books of former times have been repeatedly
mentioned under divers names in numerous books, that perchance men might judge
equitably that which hath arisen and shone forth above the horizon of the will
of God, the Lord of the Mighty Throne.
The essence of charity is for the servant to recount the
blessings of his Lord, and to render thanks unto Him at all times and under all
conditions.
Amongst the people are those who allege that this Youth [Baha'u'llah] hath
had no purpose but to perpetuate His name, whilst others claim that He hath
sought for Himself the vanities of the world—this, notwithstanding that never,
throughout all My days, have I found a place of safety, be it to the extent of
a single foothold. At all times have I
been immersed in an ocean of tribulations, whose full measure none can fathom
but God. He, truly, is aware of what I
say. How many the days in which My loved
ones have been sorely shaken by reason of My afflictions, and how many the
nights during which My kindred, fearing for My life, have bitterly wept and
lamented! And this none can deny save
them that are bereft of truthfulness. Is
it conceivable that He Who expecteth to lose His life at any moment should seek
after worldly vanities? How very strange
the imaginings of those who speak as prompted by their own caprices, and who
wander distractedly in the wilderness of self and passion! Erelong shall they be called upon to account
for their words, and on that day they shall find none to befriend or help them.