1. Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I know not what the
water is with which Thou hast created me, or what the fire
Thou hast kindled within me, or the clay wherewith Thou hast
kneaded me. The restlessness of every sea hath been stilled,
but not the restlessness of this Ocean which moveth at the
bidding of the winds of Thy will. The flame of every fire hath
been extinguished except the Flame which the hands of Thine
omnipotence have kindled, and whose radiance Thou hast, by the
power of Thy name, shed abroad before all that are in Thy
heaven and all that are on Thy earth. As the tribulations
deepen, it waxeth hotter and hotter.
Behold, then, O
my God, how Thy Light hath been compassed with the onrushing
winds of Thy decree, how the tempests that blow and beat upon
it from every side have added to its brightness and increased
its splendor. For all this let Thee be praised.
I implore Thee,
by Thy Most Great Name, and Thy most ancient sovereignty, to
look upon Thy loved ones whose hearts have been sorely shaken
by reason of the troubles that have touched Him Who is the
Manifestation of Thine own Self. Powerful art Thou to do what
pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Prayers and Meditations, IX , p. 12
2. The light that
is shed from the heaven of bounty, and the benediction that
shineth from the dawning-place of the will of God, the Lord of
the Kingdom of Names, rest upon Him Who is the Supreme
Mediator, the Most Exalted Pen, Him Whom God hath made the
Dawning-Place of His most excellent names and the Dayspring of
His most exalted attributes. Through Him the light of unity
hath shone forth above the horizon of the world, and the law
of oneness hath been revealed amidst the nations, who, with
radiant faces, have turned towards the Supreme Horizon, and
acknowledged that which the Tongue of Utterance hath spoken in
the kingdom of His knowledge: "Earth and heaven, glory
and dominion, are God's, the Omnipotent, the Almighty, the
Lord of grace abounding!"
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 1-2
3. O SON OF
BEING! With the hands of power I made thee and with the
fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I
placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and
seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is
binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, Arabic No. 12
4. Verily I say,
this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear
the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been
raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up
upon men. It behoveth every man to blot out the trace of every
idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an
open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the
proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of His glory.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. 111
5. In every age
and cycle He hath, through the splendorous light shed by the
Manifestations of His wondrous Essence, recreated all things,
so that whatsoever reflecteth in the heavens and on the earth
the signs of His glory may not be deprived of the outpourings
of His mercy, nor despair of the showers of His favors. How
all-encompassing are the wonders of His boundless grace!
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 62
6. O friends! It
behoveth you to refresh and revive your souls through the
gracious favours which in this Divine, this soul-stirring
Springtime are being showered upon you. The Day-Star of His
great glory hath shed its radiance upon you, and the clouds of
His limitless grace have overshadowed you. How high the reward
of him that hath not deprived himself of so great a bounty,
nor failed to recognize the beauty of his Best-Beloved in
this, His new attire. Watch over yourselves, for the Evil One
is lying in wait, ready to entrap you. Gird yourselves against
his wicked devices, and, led by the light of the name of the
All-Seeing God, make your escape from the darkness that
surroundeth you. Let your vision be world-embracing, rather
than confined to your own self. The Evil One is he that
hindereth the rise and obstructeth the spiritual progress of
the children of men.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Tablets of Baha'u'llah, pp. 86-87
7. Dear friend!
Now when the light of God's everlasting Morn is breaking; when
the radiance of His holy words: "God is the light of the
heavens and of the earth" is shedding illumination upon
all mankind; when the inviolability of His tabernacle is being
proclaimed by His sacred utterance: "God hath willed to
perfect His light;" and the Hand of omnipotence, bearing
His testimony: "In His grasp He holdeth the kingdom of
all things," is being outstretched unto all the peoples
and kindreds of the earth; it behooveth us to gird up the
loins of endeavour, that haply, by the grace and bounty of
God, we may enter the celestial City: "Verily, we are
God's," and abide within the exalted habitation:
"And unto Him we do return."
- Bahá'u'lláh,
The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 90
8. By My life!
But for the obligation to acknowledge the Cause of Him Who is
the Testimony of God ... I would not have announced this unto
thee... All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My
right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left...
I am the Primal
Point from which have been generated all created things. I am
the Countenance of God Whose splendour can never be obscured,
the Light of God Whose radiance can never fade. Whoso
recognizeth Me, assurance and all good are in store for him,
and whoso faileth to recognize Me, infernal fire and all evil
await him...
I swear by God,
the Peerless, the Incomparable, the True One: for no other
reason hath He--the supreme Testimony of God--invested Me with
clear signs and tokens than that all men may be enabled to
submit to His Cause.
- The Báb,
Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 12
9. I know not, O
my God, what the Fire is with which Thou didst light the Lamp
of Thy Cause, or what the Glass wherewith Thou didst preserve
it from Thine enemies. By Thy might! I marvel at the wonders
of Thy Revelation, and at the tokens of Thy glory. I
recognize, O Thou Who art my heart's Desire, that were fire to
be touched by water it would instantly be extinguished,
whereas the Fire which Thou didst kindle can never go out,
though all the seas of the earth be poured upon it. Should
water at any time touch it, the hands of Thy power would, as
decreed in Thy Tablets, transmute that water into a fuel that
would feed its flame.
I, likewise,
recognize, O my God, that every lamp, when exposed to the fury
of the winds, must cease from burning. As to Thy Lamp,
however, O Beloved of the worlds, I cannot think what power
except Thy power could have kept it safe for so many years
from the tempests that have continually been directed upon it
by the rebellious among Thy creatures.
I swear by Thy
glory, O my God! Thy Lamp which Thou didst light within the
tabernacle of man crieth out to Thee and saith: "O Thou
the one alone Beloved! How long wilt Thou forsake me? Lift me
up to Thee, I pray Thee. Though this wish of mine be the wish
of a human creature, yet Thou knowest that my true wish is to
sacrifice myself in Thy path. Thou art He Who hath made my
desire to be the same as Thy desire, and my will the same as
Thy will. Do Thou preserve Thy loved ones, I beseech Thee, in
the shelter of Thy shadowing mercy which transcendeth all
things, that haply the sufferings they bear may not deter them
from turning in the direction of Thy name, the All-Glorious,
the Most Bountiful."
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Prayers and Meditations, LXXXIX, pp. 150-151
