1. Lauded be Thy name, O my God! I can discover no one in Thy
realm who can befittingly turn unto Thee, or is able to
adequately hearken unto what hath gone out of the mouth of Thy
will. I beseech Thee, therefore, O Thou Who art the Possessor
of the entire creation and the King of the realm of Thine
invention, graciously to aid Thy creatures to accomplish that
which is pleasing and acceptable unto Thee, that they may
arise to serve Thy Cause amidst Thy creatures, and to speak
forth Thy praise before all who are in heaven and on earth.
Thou art He, O my
Lord, Whose bounty hath surpassed all things, and Whose power
hath transcended all things, and Whose mercy hath encompassed
all things. Look, then, upon Thy people with the eyes of Thy
tender mercies, and leave them not to themselves and to their
corrupt desires in Thy days. How farsoever they may have
strayed from Thee, and however grievously they have turned
back from Thy face, yet Thou, in Thine essence, art the
All-Bountiful, and, in Thine inmost spirit, art the Most
Merciful. Deal with them according to the unrevealed tokens of
Thy bounty and Thy gifts. Thou art, verily, the One to the
power of Whose might all things have testified, and to Whose
majesty and omnipotence the whole creation hath borne
witness.
No God is there
but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Prayers and Meditations, CLII, pp. 244-245
2. He is Eternal
in His Abha Horizon! Verily, the Cause of God hath come upon
the clouds of utterances and the polytheists are in this day
in great torment! Verily, the hosts of revelation have
descended with banners of inspiration from the heaven of the
Tablet in the name of God, the powerful, the mighty! At this
time the monotheists all rejoice in the victory of God and His
dominion, and the deniers will then be in manifest perplexity.
O ye people! Do ye flee from the mercy of God after it has
encompassed the existent things created between the heavens
and earths? Beware lest ye prefer your own selves before the
mercy of God, and deprive not yourselves thereof! Verily,
whosoever turneth away therefrom will be in great loss.
Verily, mercy is like unto verses which have descended from
the one heaven, and from them the monotheists drink the choice
wine of life, whilst the polytheists drink from the fiery
water; and when the verses of God are read unto them, the fire
of hatred is enkindled within their breasts. Thus have they
preferred their own selves before the mercy of God, and are of
those who are heedless.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Baha'i World Faith, p. 204
3. The third word
we have recorded on the third leaf of Paradise is this:
"O son of man! If thine eyes be turned towards mercy,
forsake the things that profit thee, and cleave unto that
which will profit mankind. And if thine eyes be turned towards
justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest
for thyself."
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 29-30
4. This is the
Day whereon the Ocean of God's mercy hath been manifested unto
men, the Day in which the Day Star 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.
Now is the time to cheer and refresh the down-cast through the
invigorating breeze of love and fellowship, and the living
waters of friendliness and charity. They who are the beloved
of God, in whatever place they gather and whomsoever they may
meet, must evince, in their attitude towards God, and in the
manner of their celebration of His praise and glory, such
humility and submissiveness that every atom of the dust
beneath their feet may attest the depth of their
devotion.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, V, p. 7
5. Speed out of
your sepulchers. How long will ye sleep? The second blast hath
been blown on the trumpet. On whom are ye gazing? This is your
Lord, the God of Mercy. Witness how ye gainsay His signs! The
earth hath quaked with a great quaking, and cast forth her
burdens. Will ye not admit it? Say: Will ye not recognize how
the mountains have become like flocks of wool, how the people
are sore vexed at the awful majesty of the Cause of God?
Witness how their houses are empty ruins, and they themselves
a drowned host.
This is the Day
whereon the All-Merciful hath come down in the clouds of
knowledge, clothed with manifest sovereignty. He well knoweth
the actions of men. He it is Whose glory none can mistake,
could ye but comprehend it. The heaven of every religion hath
been rent, and the earth of human understanding been cleft
asunder, and the angels of God are seen descending. Say: This
is the Day of mutual deceit; whither do ye flee? The mountains
have passed away, and the heavens have been folded together,
and the whole earth is held within His grasp, could ye but
understand it. Who is it that can protect you? None, by Him
Who is the All-Merciful! None, except God, the Almighty, the
All-Glorious, the Beneficent.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 44-45
6. O SON OF MAN!
My majesty is My gift to thee, and My grandeur the token of My
mercy unto thee. That which beseemeth Me none shall
understand, nor can anyone recount. Verily, I have preserved
it in My hidden storehouses and in the treasuries of My
command, as a sign of My loving-kindness unto My servants and
My mercy unto My people.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
The Hidden Words, Arabic #65
7. The ninth
Glad-Tidings: When the sinner findeth himself wholly detached
and freed from all save God, he should beg forgiveness and
pardon from Him. Confession of sins and transgressions before
human beings is not permissible, as it hath never been nor
will ever be conducive to divine forgiveness. Moreover such
confession before people results in one's humiliation and
abasement, and God - exalted be His glory - wisheth not the
humiliation of His servants. Verily He is the Compassionate,
the Merciful. The sinner should, between himself and God,
implore mercy from the Ocean of mercy, beg forgiveness from
the Heaven of generosity and say:
O God, my God! I
implore Thee by the blood of Thy true lovers who were so
enraptured by Thy sweet utterance that they hastened unto the
Pinnacle of Glory, the site of the most glorious martyrdom,
and I beseech Thee by the mysteries which lie enshrined in Thy
knowledge and by the pearls that are treasured in the ocean of
Thy bounty to grant forgiveness unto me and unto my father and
my mother. Of those who show forth mercy, Thou art in truth
the Most Merciful. No God is there but Thee, the
Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Tablets of Baha'u'llah, pages 24-25
8. Methinks
people's sense of taste hath, alas, been sorely affected by
the fever of negligence and folly, for they are found to be
wholly unconscious and deprived of the sweetness of His
utterance. How regrettable indeed that man should debar
himself from the fruits of the tree of wisdom while his days
and hours pass swiftly away. Please God, the hand of divine
power may safeguard all mankind and direct their steps towards
the horizon of true understanding. Verily our Lord of Mercy is
the Helper, the Knowing, the Wise.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Tablets of Baha'u'llah, pp. 173-174
9. Unto Thee be
praise, O Lord my God! I entreat Thee, by Thy signs that have
encompassed the entire creation, and by the light of Thy
countenance that hath illuminated all that are in heaven and
on earth, and by Thy mercy that hath surpassed all created
things, and by Thy grace that hath suffused the whole
universe, to rend asunder the veils that shut me out from
Thee, that I may hasten unto the Fountain-Head of Thy mighty
inspiration, and to the Day-Spring of Thy Revelation and
bountiful favors, and may be immersed beneath the ocean of Thy
nearness and pleasure. Suffer me not, O my Lord, to be
deprived of the knowledge of Thee in Thy days, and divest me
not of the robe of Thy guidance. Give me to drink of the river
that is life indeed, whose waters have streamed forth from the
Paradise (Ridván) in which the throne of Thy Name, the
All-Merciful, was established, that mine eyes may be opened,
and my face be illumined, and my heart be assured, and my soul
be enlightened, and my steps be made firm…. Thou art the
Great Giver, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.
- Bahá'u'lláh,
Prayers and Meditations, pp. 4-5
