What mankind needeth in this day is obedience unto them that
are in authority, and a faithful adherence to the cord of wisdom. The
instruments which are essential to the immediate protection, the security and
assurance of the human race have been entrusted to the hands, and lie in the
grasp, of the governors of human society. This is the wish of God and His
decree.... 
We… beseech God, exalted be He, to gather all mankind around
the Gulf of the Most Great Ocean, an ocean every drop of which proclaimeth that
He is the Harbinger of joy unto the world and the Quickener of all its
peoples. Praise be to God, the Lord of
the Day of Reckoning!
How lofty is the station which man, if he but choose to
fulfill his high destiny, can attain! To what depths of degradation he can
sink, depths which the meanest of creatures have never reached! Seize, O
friends, the chance which this Day offereth you, and deprive not yourselves of
the liberal effusions of His grace. I beseech God that He may graciously enable
every one of you to adorn himself, in this blessed Day, with the ornament of
pure and holy deeds. He, verily, doeth whatsoever He willeth.
Whatsoever instilleth assurance into the hearts of men,
whatsoever exalteth their station or promoteth their contentment, is acceptable
in the sight of God.
… I now reveal for thee this Tablet… that thou mayest hear…
the sweet melodies of the nearness of the heavenly Paradise… Perchance thou
mayest become pure spirit; attain, without taking a single step, the loftiest
stations of mystic ascent; and explore, without leaving thine outward
habitation, the furthermost reaches of the worlds of inner significance.
Thereupon wouldst thou, with a divine rapture, experience true spiritual
attraction, lay down thy life in the path of the Friend, and sacrifice thy soul
in the wilderness of His love. This indeed is the meaning of stillness in
flight and flight in stillness, of fluidity in solidity and solidity in
fluidity.
We beseech God to extend wide His shadow, that the true
believers may hasten thereunto and that His sincere lovers may seek shelter
therein. May He bestow upon men blossoms
from the bowers of His grace and stars from the horizon of His providence.
This is the night [Birth of Baha’u’llah’] round which have
circled the Nights of Power, [ Cf. Qur’án, súrih 97] wherein the angels and the
Spirit have come down bearing cups filled at the streams of Paradise, the night
wherein Heaven itself was adorned with the ornament of God, the Almighty, the
All-Gracious, the Most Bountiful, wherein every created thing was brought to
life, and all the peoples of the earth were surrounded by His grace. All joy to
the concourse of the Spirit for this manifest and resplendent bounty!
O concourse of the seen and the unseen! Rejoice with
exceeding gladness in your hearts and souls, for the night hath come for the
harvesting of the ages and the gathering up of past cycles, the night wherein
all days and nights were called into being and the time preordained for this
Revelation was fulfilled at the behest of Him Who is the Lord of might and
power. All joy to the Concourse on high at the appearance of so glorious, so
wondrous a Spirit!
…dumbfounded, the Pen of the Most High cried out: “O Thou
Who art exalted above all names! I adjure Thee by Thy might that encompasseth
the heavens and the earth to exempt me from mentioning Thee, for I myself have
been called into being by virtue of Thy creative power. How, then, can I depict
that which all created things are powerless to describe? And yet, I swear by
Thy glory, were I to proclaim that wherewith Thou hast inspired me, the entire
creation would pass away from joy and ecstasy, how much more then would it be
overwhelmed before the billows of the ocean of Thine utterance in this most
luminous, most exalted and transcendent Spot! Absolve, O Lord, this faltering
Pen from magnifying so august a station, and deal mercifully with me, O my
Possessor and my King. Overlook then my trespasses in Thy presence. Thou,
verily, art the Lord of bounty, the All-Powerful, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most
Generous.”
O night of the All-Bountiful! [Birth of the Báb] In thee do
We verily behold the Mother Book. Is it a Book, in truth, or rather a child
begotten? Nay, by Myself! Such words pertain to the realm of names, whilst God
hath sanctified this Book above all names. Through it the Hidden Secret and the
Treasured Mystery have been revealed. Nay, by My life! All that hath been
mentioned pertaineth to the realm of attributes, whereas the Mother Book
standeth supreme above this. Through it have appeared the manifestations of
“There is no God but God” over them all. Nay, while such things have been
proclaimed to all people, in the estimation of thy Lord naught but His ear is
capable of hearing them. Blessed are those that are well assured!
On this night [Birth of the Báb] the fragrance of nearness
was wafted, the portals of reunion at the end of days were flung open, and all
created things were moved to exclaim: “The Kingdom is God’s, the Lord of all
names, Who is come with world-embracing sovereignty!” On this night the
Concourse on high celebrated the praise of their Lord, the Exalted, the Most
Glorious, and the realities of the divine names extolled Him Who is the King of
the beginning and the end in this Revelation, a Revelation through whose potency
the mountains have hastened unto Him Who is the All-Sufficing, the Most High,
and the hearts have turned towards the countenance of their Best-Beloved, and
the leaves have been stirred into motion by the breezes of yearning, and the
trees have raised their voices in joyful reply to the call of Him Who is the
Unconstrained, and the entire earth hath trembled with longing in its desire to
attain reunion with the Eternal King, and all things have been made new by that
concealed Word which hath appeared in this mighty Name.
“This is the Day whereon the Ocean of God’s mercy hath been
manifested unto men, the Day in which the Daystar of His loving-kindness hath
shed its radiance upon them, the Day in which the clouds of His bountiful favor
have overshadowed the whole of mankind.” “By the righteousness of Mine own
Self! Great, immeasurably great is this Cause! Mighty, inconceivably mighty is
this Day!” “Every Prophet hath announced the coming of this Day, and every
Messenger hath groaned in His yearning for this Revelation—a revelation which,
no sooner had it been revealed than all created things cried out saying, ‘The
earth is God’s, the Most Exalted, the Most Great!’”
This is the month [Birth of Baha’u’llah’] wherein Paradise
itself was decked forth with the splendours of the countenance of its Lord, the
All-Merciful, and the heavenly Nightingale warbled its melody upon the Divine
Lote-Tree, and the hearts of the favoured ones were filled with rapture. But
alas, the people, for the most part, are heedless. Blessed be the one who hath
recognized Him and apprehended that which was promised in the Books of God, the
Almighty, the All-Praised; and woe betide him that hath turned aside from the
One upon Whom the Concourse on high have fixed their gaze, Him Who hath confounded
every wayward misbeliever.
By God! This is the month [Birth of Baha’u’llah’] through
which all other months have been illumined, the month wherein He Who is the
Hidden Secret and the Well-guarded Treasure hath been made manifest and hath
called aloud amidst all humankind. All dominion belongeth to this newborn Child
through Whom the face of creation hath been wreathed in smiles, and the trees
have swayed, and the oceans have surged, and the mountains have taken flight,
and Paradise hath lifted its voice, and the Rock hath cried out, and all things
have exclaimed, “O concourse of creation! Hasten ye towards the dawning-place
of the countenance of your Lord, the Merciful, the Compassionate!”
This is the month wherein was born He Who beareth the Most
Great Name, Whose appearance hath caused the limbs of humankind to quake and
the dust of Whose footsteps the Concourse on high and the dwellers of the
cities of names have sought for a blessing. Whereupon they rendered praise unto
God and cried out in joy and exultation.
“How great is the Cause, how staggering the weight of its
Message!” “In this most mighty Revelation all the Dispensations of the past
have attained their highest, their final consummation.” “This is the Day in
which God’s most excellent favors have been poured out upon men, the Day in
which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things.”
O concourse of divines! This is the day whereon nothing
amongst all things, nor any name amongst all names, can profit you save through
this Name which God hath made the Manifestation of His Cause and the Dayspring
of His Most Excellent Titles unto all who are in the kingdom of creation.
Blessed is that man that hath recognized the fragrance of the All-Merciful and
been numbered with the steadfast. Your sciences shall not profit you in this
day, nor your arts, nor your treasures, nor your glory. Cast them all behind
your backs, and set your faces towards the Most Sublime Word through which the
Scriptures and the Books and this lucid Tablet have been distinctly set forth.
Cast away, O concourse of divines, the things ye have composed with the pens of
your idle fancies and vain imaginings. By God! The Day-Star of Knowledge hath
shone forth above the horizon of certitude.
O Son of Man! Bestow My wealth upon My poor, that in heaven
thou mayest draw from stores of unfading splendor and treasures of imperishable
glory. But by My life! To offer up thy soul is a more glorious thing couldst
thou but see with Mine eye.
Peruse thou the Kitáb-i-Íqán and that which the All-Merciful
hath sent down unto the King of Paris [Napoleon III] and to such as are like
him, that thou mayest be made aware of the things that have happened in the
past, and be persuaded that We have not sought to spread disorder in the land
after it had been well-ordered. We exhort, wholly for the sake of God, His
servants. Let him who wisheth turn unto Him, and him who wisheth turn aside.
Our Lord, the Merciful, is verily the All-Sufficing, the All-Praised.