The purpose underlying all creation is the revelation of
this most sublime, this most holy Day, the Day known as the Day of God, in His
Books and Scriptures—the Day which all the Prophets, and the Chosen Ones, and
the holy ones, have wished to witness. 
The station which he who hath truly recognized this
Revelation will attain is the same as the one ordained for such prophets of the
house of Israel as are not regarded as Manifestations 'endowed with constancy.’
By God! Troubles have failed to unnerve Me, and the
repudiation of the divines hath been powerless to weaken Me. I have spoken, and
still speak forth before the face of men: ‘The door of grace hath been unlocked
and He Who is the Dayspring of Justice is come with perspicuous signs and
evident testimonies, from God, the Lord of strength and of might!’ Present
thyself before Me that thou mayest hear the mysteries which were heard by the
Son of ‘Imrán [Moses] upon the Sinai of Wisdom. Thus commandeth thee He Who is
the Dawning-Place of the Revelation of thy Lord, the God of Mercy, from His
great Prison.
Know thou and be well assured that from the first day
whereon the voice of the Most Sublime Pen was raised betwixt earth and heaven
We offered up Our souls, and Our bodies, and Our sons, and Our possessions in
the path of God, the Exalted, the Great, and We glory therein amongst all
created things and the Concourse on high. Unto this testify the things which
have befallen Us in this straight Path. By God! Our hearts were consumed, and
Our bodies were crucified, and Our blood was spilt, while Our eyes were fixed
on the horizon of the loving-kindness of their Lord, the Witness, the
All-Seeing.
Know thou that he is truly learned who hath acknowledged My
Revelation, and drunk from the Ocean of My knowledge, and soared in the
atmosphere of My love, and cast away all else besides Me, and taken firm hold
on that which hath been sent down from the Kingdom of My wondrous utterance.
He, verily, is even as an eye unto mankind, and as the spirit of life unto the
body of all creation. Glorified be the All-Merciful Who hath enlightened him,
and caused him to arise and serve His great and mighty Cause. Verily, such a
man is blessed by the Concourse on high, and by them who dwell within the
Tabernacle of Grandeur, who have quaffed My sealed Wine in My Name, the
Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.
My glory be with thee, O thou that callest upon My name,
whose eyes are directed towards My court, and whose tongue uttereth the praise
of thy Lord, the Beneficent.
We beseech God that He may graciously vouchsafe His grace
unto all men, and enable them to attain the knowledge of Him and of themselves.
By My life! Whoso hath known Him shall soar in the immensity of His love, and
shall be detached from the world and all that is therein. Nothing on earth
shall deflect him from his course, how much less they who, prompted by their
vain imaginations, speak those things which God hath forbidden.
We have forbidden men to walk after the imaginations of
their hearts, that they may be enabled to recognize Him Who is the sovereign
Source and Object of all knowledge, and may acknowledge whatsoever He may be
pleased to reveal. Witness how they have entangled themselves with their idle
fancies and vain imaginations. By My life! They are themselves the victims of
what their own hearts have devised, and yet they perceive it not. Vain and
profitless is the talk of their lips, and yet they understand not.
Say: Observe equity in your judgment, ye men of
understanding heart! He that is unjust in his judgment is destitute of the
characteristics that distinguish man’s station. He Who is the Eternal Truth
knoweth well what the breasts of men conceal. His long forbearance hath
emboldened His creatures, for not until the appointed time is come will He rend
any veil asunder. His surpassing mercy hath restrained the fury of His wrath,
and caused most people to imagine that the one true God is unaware of the
things they have privily committed. By Him Who is the All-Knowing, the
All-Informed! The mirror of His knowledge reflecteth, with complete distinctness,
precision and fidelity, the doings of all men. Say: Praise be to Thee, O
Concealer of the sins of the weak and helpless! Magnified be Thy name, O Thou
that forgivest the heedless ones that trespass against Thee!
That which hath been made manifest in this preeminent, this
most exalted Revelation, stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor
will future ages witness its like.
…the Day of Judgement, the Day whereon the people shall
arise from their graves and be asked of their legacy. Well is it with him who shall not be weighted
down with his burdens on that Day, the Day whereon the mountains shall pass
away and all shall gather to be questioned in the presence of God, the Most
Exalted. Stern, indeed, is He in
punishing!
…likewise, He [The Báb] saith: “The Bayán is from beginning
to end the repository of all of His [Baha’u’llah’s] attributes, and the
treasury of both His fire and His light.” Great God! The soul is carried away
by the fragrance of this utterance, inasmuch as He declareth, with infinite
sadness, that which He perceiveth. Likewise, He saith to the Letter of the
Living, Mullá Báqir—upon him be the glory of God and His loving-kindness:
“Haply thou mayest in eight years, in the day of His Revelation, attain unto
His Presence.”
…every one of you his paramount duty is to choose for
himself that on which no other may infringe and none usurp from him. Such a
thing—and to this the Almighty is My witness—is the love of God, could ye but
perceive it.
If the veil be lifted, and the full glory of the station of
those who have turned wholly towards God, and in their love for Him renounced
the world, be made manifest, the entire creation would be dumbfounded.
Blessed are the people of Bahá! God beareth Me witness! They
are the solace of the eye of creation. Through them the universes have been
adorned, and the Preserved Tablet embellished. They are the ones who have
sailed on the ark of complete independence, with their faces set towards the
Dayspring of Beauty. How great is their blessedness that they have attained
unto what their Lord, the Omniscient, the All-Wise, hath willed. Through their
light the heavens have been adorned, and the faces of those that have drawn
nigh unto Him made to shine.
Ponder a while on the woes and afflictions which this
Prisoner hath sustained. I have, all the days of My life, been at the mercy of
Mine enemies, and have suffered each day, in the path of the love of God, a
fresh tribulation. I have patiently endured until the fame of the Cause of God
was spread abroad on the earth. If any one should now arise and, prompted by
the vain imaginations his heart hath devised, endeavor, openly or in secret, to
sow the seeds of dissension amongst men—can such a man be said to have acted
with equity? No, by Him Whose might extendeth over all things! By My life! Mine
heart groaneth and mine eyes weep sore for the Cause of God and for them that
understand not what they say and imagine what they cannot comprehend.
The highest essence and most perfect expression of
whatsoever the peoples of old have either said or written hath, through this
most potent Revelation, been sent down from the heaven of the Will of the
All-Possessing, the Ever-Abiding God.
I testify before God to the greatness, the inconceivable
greatness of this Revelation. Again and again have We, in most of Our Tablets,
borne witness to this truth, that mankind may be roused from its heedlessness.
O people of Bahá! The river that is Life indeed hath flowed
for your sakes. Quaff ye in My name, despite them that have disbelieved in God,
the Lord of Revelation. We have made you to be the hands of Our Cause. Render
ye victorious this Wronged One, Who hath been sore-tried in the hands of the
workers of iniquity. He, verily, will aid everyone that aideth Him, and will
remember everyone that remembereth Him. To this beareth witness this Tablet
that hath shed the splendor of the loving-kindness of your Lord, the
All-Glorious, the All-Compelling.
O friends! Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have
been endowed, neither be neglectful of your high destiny.... Ye are the stars
of the heaven of understanding, the breeze that stirreth at the break of day,
the soft-flowing waters upon which must depend the very life of all men, the
letters inscribed upon His sacred scroll.