God grant that the people of the world may be graciously
aided to preserve the light of His loving counsels within the globe of wisdom.
We cherish the hope that everyone may be adorned with the vesture of true
wisdom, the basis of the government of the world. 
…of all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished,
and the most excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all
else besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of Their Will, and
move and have their being through the outpourings of Their grace.
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a
direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God,
inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent
testimony to the revelation of that Most Great Light. Methinks, but for the potency
of that revelation, no being could ever exist. How resplendent the luminaries
of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that
surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all
created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been
singled out for the glory of such distinction.
…were men but to take heed they would readily appreciate
that whatever hath streamed from and is set down by the Pen of Glory is even as
the sun for the whole world and that therein lie the welfare, security and true
interests of all men…
Among the things which are conducive to unity and concord
and will cause the whole earth to be regarded as one country is that the divers
languages be reduced to one language and in like manner the scripts used in the
world be confined to a single script. It is incumbent upon all nations to
appoint some men of understanding and erudition to convene a gathering and
through joint consultation choose one language from among the varied existing
languages, or create a new one, to be taught to the children in all the schools
of the world.
The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the
peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath
written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a
vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The
rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its
deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of
the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great
Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the
earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves.
…rendering assistance unto God, in this day, doth not and
shall never consist in contending or disputing with any soul; nay rather, what
is preferable in the sight of God is that the cities of men’s hearts, which are
ruled by the hosts of self and passion, should be subdued by the sword of
utterance, of wisdom and of understanding.
Thus, whoso seeketh to assist God must, before all else, conquer, with
the sword of inner meaning and explanation, the city of his own heart and guard
it from the remembrance of all save God, and only then set out to subdue the
cities of the hearts of others.
By Him Who shineth above the Dayspring of Sanctity! The
friends of God have not, nor will they ever, set their hopes upon the world and
its ephemeral possessions. The one true God hath ever regarded the hearts of
men as His own, His exclusive possession—and this too but as an expression of
His all-surpassing mercy, that haply mortal souls may be purged and sanctified
from all that pertaineth to the world of dust and gain admittance into the
realms of eternity.
That Sovereign Lord [God] Who doeth whatsoever He pleaseth
hath entrusted the kingdom of creation, its lands and its seas, into the hands
of the kings, for they are, each according to his degree, the manifestations of
His divine power. Should they enter
beneath the shadow of the True One, they will be accounted of God, and if not,
thy Lord, verily, knoweth and observeth all things.
That which God — glorified be His Name! —hath desired for
Himself is the hearts of His servants, which are the treasuries of His love and
remembrance and the repositories of His knowledge and wisdom. It hath ever been the wish of the Eternal
King to cleanse the hearts of His servants from the things of the world and all
that pertaineth thereunto, that they may be made worthy recipients of the
effulgent splendours of Him Who is the King of all names and attributes. Wherefore must no stranger be allowed in the
city of the heart, that the incomparable Friend may enter His abode. By this is meant the effulgence of His names
and attributes, and not His exalted Essence, inasmuch as that peerless King
hath ever been, and shall eternally remain, sanctified above ascent and
descent.
The Great Being saith: The structure of world stability and
order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin
pillars of reward and punishment.
I swear by God, O King! Wert thou to incline thine ear to the melodies of that Nightingale which
warbleth in manifold accents upon the mystic bough as bidden by thy Lord, the
All-Merciful, thou wouldst cast away thy sovereignty and set thy face towards
this Scene of transcendent glory, above whose horizon shineth the Book of the
Dawntide, and wouldst expend all that
thou possessest in thine eagerness to obtain the things of God. Then wouldst
thou find thyself raised up to the summit of exaltation and glory, and elevated
to the pinnacle of majesty and independence. Thus hath the decree been recorded in the Mother Book by the Pen of the
All-Merciful.
O ye who are invested with the Bayán! Ye shall be put to
proof, even as those unto whom the Qur’án was given. Have pity on yourselves,
for ye shall witness the Day when God will have revealed Him Who is the
Manifestation of His Own Self, invested with clear and irrefutable proofs,
while ye will cling tenaciously to the words the Witnesses of the Bayán have
uttered. On that Day ye will continue to rove distraught, even as camels,
seeking a drop of the water of life. God will cause oceans of living water to
stream forth from the presence of Him Whom God shall make manifest, while ye
will refuse to quench your thirst therefrom, notwithstanding that ye regard
yourselves as the God-fearing witnesses of your Faith. Nay, and yet again, nay!
Ye will go astray far beyond the peoples unto whom the Gospel, or the Qur’án or
any other Scripture was given. Take good heed to yourselves, inasmuch as the
Cause of God will come upon you at a time when you will all be entreating and
tearfully imploring God for the advent of the Day of His Manifestation; yet
when He cometh ye will tarry and will fail to be of those who are well-assured
in His Faith.
Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to
God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself,
however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences,
as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The
deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any
mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the
influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the
quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and
resplendent Spirit.
We testify that when He [Jesus] came into the world, He shed
the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper
recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the
unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the
eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it
is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with
light, hath turned towards Him.
If ye wish to distinguish truth from error, consider those
who believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest and those who disbelieve Him at
the time of His appearance. The former represent the essence of truth, as
attested in the Book of God, while the latter the essence of error, as attested
in that same Book. Fear ye God that ye may not identify yourselves with aught
but the truth, inasmuch as ye have been exalted in the Bayán for being
recognized as the bearers of the name of Him Who is the eternal Truth.
We beseech God to strengthen thee with His power, and enable
thee to recognize Him Who is the Source of all knowledge, that thou mayest
detach thyself from all human learning, for, “what would it profit any man to
strive after learning when he hath already found and recognized Him Who is the
Object of all knowledge?” Cleave to the Root of Knowledge, and to Him Who is
the Fountain thereof, that thou mayest find thyself independent of all who
claim to be well versed in human learning, and whose claim no clear proof, nor
the testimony of any enlightening book, can support.
Oh, would that the world could believe Me! Were all the
things that lie enshrined within the heart of Bahá, and which the Lord, His
God, the Lord of all names, hath taught Him, to be unveiled to mankind, every
man on earth would be dumbfounded.
Know assuredly that just as thou firmly believest that the
Word of God, exalted be His glory, endureth for ever, thou must, likewise,
believe with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be exhausted. They who
are its appointed interpreters, they whose hearts are the repositories of its
secrets, are, however, the only ones who can comprehend its manifold wisdom.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, for guiding me unto the
horizon of Thy Revelation… I beseech Thee, by the spreading rays of the Daystar
of Thy providence and by the billowing waves of the Ocean of Thy mercy, to
grant that my speech may bear a trace of the influence of Thine own exalted
Word, attracting thereby the realities of all created things.