"O KINGS of the earth! He Who is the sovereign..."
O KINGS of the earth! He Who is the sovereign Lord of all is come. The
Kingdom is God's, the omnipotent Protector, the Self-Subsisting. Worship
none but God, and, with radiant hearts, lift up your faces unto your Lord,
the Lord of all names. This is a Revelation to which whatever ye possess
can never be compared, could ye but know it. We see you rejoicing in that
which ye have amassed for others, and shutting out yourselves from the
worlds which naught except My Guarded Tablet can reckon. The treasures ye
have laid up have drawn you far away from your ultimate objective. This
ill beseemeth you, could ye but understand it. Wash your hearts from all
earthly defilements, and hasten to enter the Kingdom of your Lord, the
Creator of earth and heaven, Who caused the world to tremble, and all its
peoples to wail, except them that have renounced all things and clung to
that which the Hidden Tablet hath ordained....
O Kings of the earth! The Most Great Law hath been revealed in this Spot,
this Scene of transcendent splendour. Every hidden thing hath been brought
to light, by virtue of the Will of the Supreme Ordainer, He Who hath
ushered in the Last Hour, through Whom the Moon hath been cleft, and every
irrevocable decree expounded.
Ye are but vassals, O Kings of the earth! He Who is the King of kings hath
appeared, arrayed in His most wondrous glory, and is summoning you unto
Himself, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Take heed lest pride
deter you from recognizing the Source of Revelation; lest the things of
this world shut you out as by a veil from Him Who is the Creator of
heaven. Arise, and serve Him Who is the Desire of all nations, Who hath
created you through a word from Him, and ordained you to be, for all time,
the emblems of His sovereignty.
By the righteousness of God! It is not Our wish to lay hands on your
kingdoms. Our mission is to seize and possess the hearts of men. Upon them
the eyes of Baha are fastened. To this testifieth the Kingdom of Names,
could ye but comprehend it. Whoso followeth his Lord, will renounce the
world and all that is therein; how much greater, then, must be the
detachment of Him Who holdeth so august a station! Forsake your palaces,
and haste ye to gain admittance into His Kingdom. This, indeed, will
profit you both in this world and in the next. To this testifieth the Lord
of the realm on high, did ye but know it.
How great is the blessedness that awaiteth the king who will arise to aid
My Cause in My Kingdom, who will detach himself from all else but Me! Such
a king is numbered with the companions of the Crimson Ark, the Ark which
God hath prepared for the people of Baha. All must glorify his name, must
reverence his station, and aid him to unlock the cities with the keys of
My Name, the omnipotent Protector of all that inhabit the visible and
invisible kingdoms. Such a king is the very eye of mankind, the luminous
ornament on the brow of creation, the fountainhead of blessings unto the
whole world. Offer up, O people of Baha, your substance, nay your very
lives, for his assistance.
We have asked nothing from you. For the sake of God We, verily, exhort
you, and will be patient as We have been patient in that which hath
befallen Us at your hands, O concourse of kings!
"O KINGS of the earth! Give ear unto the Voice of God,..."
O KINGS of the earth! Give ear unto the Voice of God, calling from this
sublime, this fruit-laden Tree, that hath sprung out of the Crimson Hill,
upon the holy Plain, intoning the words: 'There is none other God but He,
the Mighty, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.'... Fear God, O concourse of
kings, and suffer not yourselves to be deprived of this most sublime
grace. Fling away, then, the things ye possess, and take fast hold on the
Handle of God, the Exalted, the Great. Set your hearts towards the Face of
God, and abandon that which your desires have bidden you to follow, and be
not of those who perish. Relate unto them, O Servant, the story of 'Ali
(the Bab), when He came unto them with truth, bearing His glorious and
weighty Book, and holding in His hands a testimony and proof from God, and
holy and blessed tokens from Him. Ye, however, O Kings, have failed to
heed the Remembrance of God in His days and to be guided by the lights
which arose and shone forth above the horizon of a resplendent Heaven. Ye
examined not His Cause when so to do would have been better for you than
all that the sun shineth upon, could ye but perceive it. Ye remained
careless until the divines of Persia--those cruel ones--pronounced judgment
against Him, and unjustly slew Him. His spirit ascended unto God, and the
eyes of the inmates of Paradise and the angels that are nigh unto Him wept
sore by reason of this cruelty. Beware that ye be not careless henceforth
as ye have been careless aforetime. Return, then, unto God, your Maker,
and be not of the heedless.... My face hath come forth from the veils, and
shed its radiance upon all that is in heaven and on earth; and yet, ye
turned not towards Him, notwithstanding that ye were created for Him, O
concourse of kings! Follow, therefore, that which I speak unto you, and
hearken unto it with your hearts, and be not of such as have turned aside.
For your glory consisteth not in your sovereignty, but rather in your
nearness unto God and your observance of His command as sent down in His
holy and preserved Tablets. Should any one of you rule over the whole
earth, and over all that lieth within it and upon it, its seas, its lands,
its mountains, and its plains, and yet be not remembered by God, all these
would profit him not, could ye but know it.... Arise, then, and make
steadfast your feet, and make ye amends for that which hath escaped you,
and set then yourselves towards His holy Court, on the shore of His mighty
Ocean, so that the pearls of knowledge and wisdom, which God hath stored
up within the shell of His radiant heart, may be revealed unto you....
Beware lest ye hinder the breeze of God from blowing over your hearts, the
breeze through which the hearts of such as have turned unto Him can be
quickened....
Beware not to deal unjustly with any one that appealeth to you, and
entereth beneath your shadow. Walk ye in the fear of God, and be ye of
them that lead a godly life. Rest not on your power, your armies, and
treasures. Put your whole trust and confidence in God, Who hath created
you, and seek ye His help in all your affairs. Succour cometh from Him
alone. He succoureth whom He willeth with the hosts of the heavens and of
the earth.
Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye
betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk
not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon
to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be
set, the day when unto every one shall be rendered his due, when the
doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed.
If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal
language, We have revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement shall
assail you from every direction, and the sentence of His justice shall be
pronounced against you. On that day ye shall have no power to resist Him,
and shall recognize your own impotence. Have mercy on yourselves and on
those beneath you, and judge ye between them according to the precepts
prescribed by God in His most holy and exalted Tablet, a Tablet wherein He
hath assigned to each and every thing its settled measure, in which He
hath given, with distinctness, an explanation of all things, and which is
in itself a monition unto them that believe in Him.
Examine Our Cause, inquire into the things that have befallen Us, and
decide justly between Us and Our enemies, and be ye of them that act
equitably towards their neighbours. If ye stay not the hand of the
oppressor, if ye fail to safeguard the rights of the down-trodden, what
right have ye then to vaunt yourselves among men? What is it of which ye
can rightly boast? Is it on your food and your drink that ye pride
yourselves, on the riches ye lay up in your treasuries, on the diversity
and the cost of the ornaments with which ye deck yourselves? If true glory
were to consist in the possession of such perishable things, then the
earth on which ye walk must needs vaunt itself over you, because it
supplieth you, and bestoweth upon you, these very things, by the decree of
the Almighty. In its bowels are contained, according to what God hath
ordained, all that ye possess. From it, as a sign of His mercy, ye derive
your riches. Behold then your state, the thing in which ye glory! Would
that ye could perceive it! Nay, By Him Who holdeth in His grasp the
kingdom of the entire creation! Nowhere doth your true and abiding glory
reside except in your firm adherence unto the precepts of God, your
wholehearted observance of His laws, your resolution to see that they do
not remain unenforced, and to pursue steadfastly the right course....
Twenty years have passed, O Kings, during which We have, each day, tasted
the agony of a fresh tribulation. No one of them that were before Us hath
endured the things We have endured. Would that ye could perceive it! They
that rose up against Us, have put Us to death, have shed Our blood, have
plundered Our property, and violated Our honour. Though aware of most of
Our afflictions, ye, nevertheless, have failed to stay the hand of the
aggressor. For is it not your clear duty to restrain the tyranny of the
oppressor, and to deal equitably with your subjects, that your high sense
of justice may be fully demonstrated to all mankind?
God hath committed into your hands the reins of the government of the
people, that ye may rule with justice over them, safeguard the rights of
the down-trodden, and punish the wrong-doers. If ye neglect the duty
prescribed unto you by God in His Book, your names shall be numbered with
those of the unjust in His sight. Grievous, indeed, will be your error.
Cleave ye to that which your imaginations have devised, and cast behind
your backs the commandments of God, the Most Exalted, the Inaccessible,
the All-Compelling, the Almighty? Cast away the things ye possess, and
cling to that which God hath bidden you observe. Seek ye His grace, for he
that seeketh it treadeth His straight Path....
The day is approaching when God will have exalted His Cause and magnified
His testimony in the eyes of all who are in the heavens and all who are on
the earth. Place, in all circumstances, Thy whole trust in Thy Lord, and
fix Thy gaze upon Him, and turn away from all them that repudiate His
truth. Let God, Thy Lord, be Thy sufficing Succourer and Helper. We have
pledged Ourself to secure Thy triumph upon earth and to exalt Our Cause
above all men, though no king be found who would turn his face towards
Thee.
"O KINGS of the earth! We see you increasing every year..."
O KINGS of the earth! We see you increasing every year your expenditures,
and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is wholly
and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs and tears of this Wronged One, and lay
not excessive burdens on your peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for
yourselves; nay rather choose for them that which ye choose for
yourselves. Thus We unfold to your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye
but perceive. Your people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule
violate the commandments of God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of
the robber. By them ye rule, by their means ye subsist, by their aid ye
conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look upon them! How strange, how very
strange!
Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the
Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition
and that of your dependents.
O Rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no
more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and
dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the counsel of the All-Knowing, the
Faithful.
Be united, O Kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord
be stilled amongst you, and your people find rest, if ye be of them that
comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye
all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.
"THE one true God, exalted be His glory, hath ever regarded,..."
THE one true God, exalted be His glory, hath ever regarded, and will
continue to regard, the hearts of men as His own, His exclusive
possession. All else, whether pertaining to land or sea, whether riches or
glory, He hath bequeathed unto the kings and rulers of the earth. From the
beginning that hath no beginning the ensign proclaiming the words 'He
doeth whatsoever He willeth' hath been unfurled in all its splendour
before His Manifestation. 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 cherish the hope that one of the
kings of the earth will, for the sake of God, arise for the triumph of
this wronged, this oppressed people. Such a king will be eternally
extolled and glorified. God hath prescribed unto this people the duty of
aiding whosoever will aid them, of serving his best interests, and of
demonstrating to him their abiding loyalty. They who follow Me must
strive, under all circumstances, to promote the welfare of whosoever will
arise for the triumph of My Cause, and must at all times prove their
devotion and fidelity unto him. Happy is the man that hearkeneth and
observeth My counsel. Woe unto him that faileth to fulfil My wish.