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." "O people of Baha! Ye
are the breezes of spring that are wafted over the world. Through you We
have adorned the world of being with the ornament of the knowledge of the
Most Merciful. Through you the countenance of the world hath been wreathed
in smiles, and the brightness of His light shone forth. Cling ye to the
Cord of steadfastness, in such wise that all vain imaginings may utterly
vanish. Speed ye forth from the horizon of power, in the name of your
Lord, the Unconstrained, and announce unto His servants, with wisdom and
eloquence, the tidings of this Cause, whose splendor hath been shed upon
the world of being. Beware lest anything withhold you from observing the
things prescribed unto you by the Pen of Glory, as it moved over His
Tablet with sovereign majesty and might. Great is the blessedness of him
that hath hearkened to its shrill voice, as it was raised, through the
power of truth, before all who are in heaven and all who are on earth....
O people of Baha! 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." "Blessed are the people of
Baha! 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." "By the sorrows which afflict the beauty of the
All-Glorious! Such is the station ordained for the true believer that if
to an extent smaller than a needle's eye the glory of that station were to
be unveiled to mankind, every beholder would be consumed away in his
longing to attain it. For this reason it hath been decreed that in this
earthly life the full measure of the glory of his own station should
remain concealed from the eyes of such a believer." "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."
"Verily I say! No one hath apprehended the root of this Cause. It is
incumbent upon everyone, in this day, to perceive with the eye of God, and
to hearken with His ear. Whoso beholdeth Me with an eye besides Mine own
will never be able to know Me. None among the Manifestations of old,
except to a prescribed degree, hath ever completely apprehended the nature
of this Revelation." "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." "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." "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 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 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." "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." "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!'"
"The Day of the Promise is come, and He Who is the Promised One loudly
proclaimeth before all who are in heaven and all who are on earth, 'Verily
there is none other God but He, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting!' I
swear by God! That which had been enshrined from eternity in the knowledge
of God, the Knower of the seen and unseen, is revealed. Happy is the eye
that seeth, and the face that turneth towards, the Countenance of God, the
Lord of all being." "Great indeed is this Day! The allusions made to it in
all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul
of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this
wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned
to attain it." "This Day a door is open wider than both heaven and earth.
The eye of the mercy of Him Who is the Desire of the worlds is turned
towards all men. An act, however infinitesimal, is, when viewed in the
mirror of the knowledge of God, mightier than a mountain. Every drop
proffered in His path is as the sea in that mirror. For this is the Day
which the one true God, glorified be He, hath announced in all His Books,
unto His Prophets and His Messengers." "This is a Revelation, under which,
if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be
his recompense." "A fleeting moment, in this Day, excelleth centuries of a
bygone age.... Neither sun nor moon hath witnessed a day such as this
Day." "This is the Day whereon the unseen world crieth out, 'Great is thy
blessedness, O earth, for thou hast been made the footstool of thy God,
and been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne.'" "The world of being
shineth, in this Day, with the resplendency of this Divine Revelation. All
created things extol its saving grace, and sing its praises. The universe
is wrapt in an ecstasy of joy and gladness. The Scriptures of past
Dispensations celebrate the great Jubilee that must needs greet this most
great Day of God. Well is it with him that hath lived to see this Day, and
hath recognized its station." "This Day a different Sun hath arisen, and a
different Heaven hath been adorned with its stars and its planets. The
world is another world, and the Cause another Cause." "This is the Day
which past ages and centuries can never rival. Know this, and be not of
the ignorant." "This is the Day whereon human ears have been privileged to
hear what He Who conversed with God [Moses] heard upon Sinai, what He Who
is the Friend of God [Muhammad] heard when lifted up towards Him, what He
Who is the Spirit of God [Jesus] heard as He ascended unto Him, the Help
in Peril, the Self-Subsisting." "This Day is God's Day, and this Cause His
Cause. Happy is he who hath renounced this world, and clung to Him Who is
the Dayspring of God's Revelation." "This is the King of Days, the Day
that hath seen the coming of the Best Beloved, He Who through all eternity
hath been acclaimed the Desire of the World." "This is the Chief of all
days and the King thereof. Great is the blessedness of him who hath
attained, through the sweet savor of these days, unto everlasting life,
and who, with the most great steadfastness, hath arisen to aid the Cause
of Him Who is the King of Names. Such a man is as the eye to the body of
mankind." "Peerless is this Day, for it is as the eye to past ages and
centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times." "This Day is
different from other days, and this Cause different from other causes.
Entreat ye the one true God that He may deprive not the eyes of men from
beholding His signs, nor their ears from hearkening unto the shrill voice
of the Pen of Glory." "These days are God's days, a moment of which ages
and centuries can never rival. An atom, in these days, is as the sun, a
drop as the ocean. One single breath exhaled in the love of God and for
His service is written down by the Pen of Glory as a princely deed. Were
the virtues of this Day to be recounted, all would be thunderstruck,
except those whom thy Lord hath exempted." "By the righteousness of God!
These are the days in which God hath proved the hearts of the entire
company of His Messengers and Prophets, and beyond them those that stand
guard over His sacred and inviolable Sanctuary, the inmates of the
celestial Pavilion and dwellers of the Tabernacle of Glory." "Should the
greatness of this Day be revealed in its fulness, every man would forsake
a myriad lives in his longing to partake, though it be for one moment, of
its great glory--how much more this world and its corruptible treasures!"
"God the true One is My Witness! This is the Day whereon it is incumbent
upon everyone that seeth to behold, and every ear that hearkeneth to hear,
and every heart that understandeth to perceive, and every tongue that
speaketh to proclaim unto all who are in heaven and on earth, this holy,
this exalted, and all-highest Name." "Say, O men! This is a matchless Day.
Matchless must, likewise, be the tongue that celebrateth the praise of the
Desire of all nations, and matchless the deed that aspireth to be
acceptable in His sight. The whole human race hath longed for this Day,
that perchance it may fulfill that which well beseemeth its station and is
worthy of its destiny."
"Through the movement of Our Pen of Glory We have, at the bidding of the
Omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new life into every human frame, and
instilled into every word a fresh potency. All created things proclaim the
evidences of this worldwide regeneration." "O people! I swear by the one
true God! This is the Ocean out of which all Seas have proceeded, and with
which every one of them will ultimately be united. From Him all the Suns
have been generated, and unto Him they will all return. Through His
potency the Trees of Divine Revelation have yielded their fruits, every
one of which hath been sent down in the form of a Prophet, bearing a
Message to God's creatures in each of the worlds whose number God, alone,
in His all-encompassing knowledge, can reckon. This He hath accomplished
through the agency of but one Letter of His Word, revealed by His Pen--a
Pen moved by His directing Finger--His Finger itself sustained by the power
of God's Truth." "By the righteousness of the one true God! If one speck
of a jewel be lost and buried beneath a mountain of stones, and lie hidden
beyond the seven seas, the Hand of Omnipotence would assuredly reveal it
in this Day, pure and cleansed from dross." "Every single letter
proceeding from Our mouth is endowed with such regenerative power as to
enable it to bring into existence a new creation--a creation the magnitude
of which is inscrutable to all save God. He verily hath knowledge of all
things." "It is in Our power, should We wish it, to enable a speck of
floating dust to generate, in less than the twinkling of an eye, suns of
infinite, of unimaginable splendor, to cause a dewdrop to develop into
vast and numberless oceans, to infuse into every letter such a force as to
empower it to unfold all the knowledge of past and future ages." "We are
possessed of such power which, if brought to light, will transmute the
most deadly of poisons into a panacea of unfailing efficacy."
"The days are approaching their end, and yet the peoples of the earth are
seen sunk in grievous heedlessness, and lost in manifest error." "Great,
great is the Cause! The hour is approaching when the most great convulsion
will have appeared. I swear by Him Who is the Truth! It shall cause
separation to afflict everyone, even those who circle around Me." "Say: O
concourse of the heedless! I swear by God! The promised day is come, the
day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath
your feet, saying: 'Taste ye what your hands have wrought!'" "The time for
the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived. He Who is the
Pre-Existent is come, that He may bestow everlasting life, and grant
eternal preservation, and confer that which is conducive to true living."
"The day is approaching when its [civilization's] flame will devour the
cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: 'The Kingdom is God's,
the Almighty, the All-Praised!'" "O ye that are bereft of understanding! A
severe trial pursueth you, and will suddenly overtake you. Bestir
yourselves, that haply it may pass and inflict no harm upon you." "O ye
peoples of the world! Know, verily, that an unforeseen calamity is
following you, and that grievous retribution awaiteth you. Think not the
deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight." "O heedless
ones! Though the wonders of My mercy have encompassed all created things,
both visible and invisible, and though the revelations of My grace and
bounty have permeated every atom of the universe, yet the rod with which I
can chastise the wicked is grievous, and the fierceness of Mine anger
against them terrible." "Grieve thou not over those that have busied
themselves with the things of this world, and have forgotten the
remembrance of God, the Most Great. By Him Who is the Eternal Truth! The
day is approaching when the wrathful anger of the Almighty will have taken
hold of them. He, verily, is the Omnipotent, the All-Subduing, the Most
Powerful. He shall cleanse the earth from the defilement of their
corruption, and shall give it for an heritage unto such of His servants as
are nigh unto Him." "Soon will the cry, 'Yea, yea, here am I, here am I'
be heard from every land. For there hath never been, nor can there ever
be, any other refuge to fly to for anyone." "And when the appointed hour
is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of
mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be
unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody."
"In the beginning of every Revelation adversities have prevailed, which
later on have been turned into great prosperity." "Say: O people of God!
Beware lest the powers of the earth alarm you, or the might of the nations
weaken you, or the tumult of the people of discord deter you, or the
exponents of earthly glory sadden you. Be ye as a mountain in the Cause of
your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Unconstrained." "Say:
Beware, O people of Baha, lest the strong ones of the earth rob you of
your strength, or they who rule the world fill you with fear. Put your
trust in God, and commit your affairs to His keeping. He, verily, will,
through the power of truth, render you victorious, and He, verily, is
powerful to do what He willeth, and in His grasp are the reins of
omnipotent might." "I swear by My life! Nothing save that which profiteth
them can befall My loved ones. To this testifieth the Pen of God, the Most
Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Best Beloved." "Let not the happenings of
the world sadden you. I swear by God! The sea of joy yearneth to attain
your presence, for every good thing hath been created for you, and will,
according to the needs of the times, be revealed unto you." "O my
servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things
contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days
of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you.
Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You
are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their
benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their
sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt,
attain."
"This is the day in which to speak. It is incumbent upon the people of
Baha to strive, with the utmost patience and forbearance, to guide the
peoples of the world to the Most Great Horizon. Every body calleth aloud
for a soul. Heavenly souls must needs quicken, with the breath of the Word
of God, the dead bodies with a fresh spirit. Within every word a new
spirit is hidden. Happy is the man that attaineth thereunto, and hath
arisen to teach the Cause of Him Who is the King of Eternity." "Say: O
servants! The triumph of this Cause hath depended, and will continue to
depend, upon the appearance of holy souls, upon the showing forth of
goodly deeds, and the revelation of words of consummate wisdom." "Center
your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is worthy of
so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Whoso is unable, it is
his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation,
whose power hath caused the foundations of the mightiest structures to
quake, every mountain to be crushed into dust, and every soul to be
dumbfounded." "Let your principal concern be to rescue the fallen from the
slough of impending extinction, and to help him embrace the ancient Faith
of God. Your behavior towards your neighbor should be such as to manifest
clearly the signs of the one true God, for ye are the first among men to
be re-created by His Spirit, the first to adore and bow the knee before
Him, the first to circle round His throne of glory." "O ye beloved of God!
Repose not yourselves on your couches, nay, bestir yourselves as soon as
ye recognize your Lord, the Creator, and hear of the things which have
befallen Him, and hasten to His assistance. Unloose your tongues, and
proclaim unceasingly His Cause. This shall be better for you than all the
treasures of the past and of the future, if ye be of them that comprehend
this truth." "I swear by Him Who is the Truth! Erelong will God adorn the
beginning of the Book of Existence with the mention of His loved ones who
have suffered tribulation in His path, and journeyed through the countries
in His name and for His praise. Whoso hath attained their presence will
glory in their meeting, and all that dwell in every land will be illumined
by their memory." "Vie ye with each other in the service of God and of His
Cause. This is indeed what profiteth you in this world, and in that which
is to come. Your Lord, the God of Mercy, is the All-Informed, the
All-Knowing. Grieve not at the things ye witness in this day. The day
shall come whereon the tongues of the nations will proclaim: 'The earth is
God's, the Almighty, the Single, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing!'"
"Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the
heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and
the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God
hath been made, and His praise glorified." "The movement itself from place
to place, when undertaken for the sake of God, hath always exerted, and
can now exert, its influence in the world. In the Books of old the station
of them that have voyaged far and near in order to guide the servants of
God hath been set forth and written down." "I swear by God! So great are
the things ordained for the steadfast that were they, so much as the eye
of a needle, to be disclosed, all who are in heaven and on earth would be
dumbfounded, except such as God, the Lord of all worlds, hath willed to
exempt." "I swear by God! That which hath been destined for him who aideth
My Cause excelleth the treasures of the earth." "Whoso openeth his lips in
this day, and maketh mention of the name of his Lord, the hosts of Divine
inspiration shall descend upon him from the heaven of My name, the
All-Knowing, the All-Wise. On him shall also descend the Concourse on
high, each bearing aloft a chalice of pure light. Thus hath it been
foreordained in the realm of God's Revelation, by the behest of Him Who is
the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful." "By the righteousness of Him Who, in
this day, crieth within the inmost heart of all created things, 'God,
there is none other God besides Me!' If any man were to arise to defend,
in his writings, the Cause of God against its assailants, such a man,
however inconsiderable his share, shall be so honored in the world to come
that the Concourse on high would envy his glory. No pen can depict the
loftiness of his station, neither can any tongue describe its splendor."
"Please God ye may all be strengthened to carry out that which is the Will
of God, and may be graciously assisted to appreciate the rank conferred
upon such of His loved ones as have arisen to serve Him and magnify His
name. Upon them be the glory of God, the glory of all that is in the
heavens and all that is on earth, and the glory of the inmates of the most
exalted Paradise, the heaven of heavens." "O people of Baha! That there is
none to rival you is a sign of mercy. Quaff ye of the Cup of Bounty the
wine of immortality, despite them that have repudiated God, the Lord of
names and Maker of the heavens."
"I swear by the one true God! This is the day of those who have detached
themselves from all but Him, the day of those who have recognized His
unity, the day whereon God createth, with the hands of His power, divine
beings and imperishable essences, every one of whom will cast the world
and all that is therein behind him, and will wax so steadfast in the Cause
of God that every wise and understanding heart will marvel." "There lay
concealed within the Holy Veil, and prepared for the service of God, a
company of His chosen ones who shall be manifested unto men, who shall aid
His Cause, who shall be afraid of no one, though the entire human race
rise up and war against them. These are the ones who, before the gaze of
the dwellers on earth and the denizens of heaven, shall arise and,
shouting aloud, acclaim the name of the Almighty, and summon the children
of men to the path of God, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised." "The day is
approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of
men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful,
the Self-Subsisting." "He will, erelong, out of the Bosom of Power, draw
forth the Hands of Ascendancy and Might--Hands who will arise to win
victory for this Youth, and who will purge mankind from the defilement of
the outcast and the ungodly. These Hands will gird up their loins to
champion the Faith of God, and will, in My name, the Self-Subsistent, the
Mighty, subdue the peoples and kindreds of the earth. They will enter the
cities, and will inspire with fear the hearts of all their inhabitants.
Such are the evidences of the might of God; how fearful, how vehement is
His might!"
"ONE MORE WORD IN CONCLUSION. AMONG SOME OF THE ..."
One more word in conclusion. Among some of the most momentous and
thought-provoking pronouncements ever made by 'Abdu'l-Baha, in the course
of His epoch-making travels in the North American continent, are the
following: "May this American Democracy be the first nation to establish
the foundation of international agreement. May it be the first nation to
proclaim the unity of mankind. May it be the first to unfurl the Standard
of the Most Great Peace." And again: "The American people are indeed
worthy of being the first to build the Tabernacle of the Great Peace, and
proclaim the oneness of mankind.... For America hath developed powers and
capacities greater and more wonderful than other nations.... The American
nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the
pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both
the East and the West for the triumph of its people. ...The American
continent gives signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future
is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are
far-reaching. It will lead all nations spiritually."
The creative energies, mysteriously generated by the first stirrings of
the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah, have, as soon as released within
a nation destined to become its cradle and champion, endowed that nation
with the worthiness, and invested it with the powers and capacities, and
equipped it spiritually, to play the part foreshadowed in these prophetic
words. The potencies which this God-given mission has infused into its
people are, on the one hand, beginning to be manifested through the
conscious efforts and the nationwide accomplishments, in both the teaching
and administrative spheres of Baha'i activity, of the organized community
of the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North American continent. These
same potencies, apart from, yet collateral with these efforts and
accomplishments, are, on the other hand, insensibly shaping, under the
impact of the world political and economic forces, the destiny of that
nation, and are influencing the lives and actions of both its government
and its people.