# The Covenant of Baha'u'llah: A Compilation

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the British Isles, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah: A Compilation, London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1963, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh
> A Compilation
> 
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust
> 27 Rutland Gate, London, SW7
> 1963
> 
> Copyright 1950
> Revised and reprinted 1963
> The National Spiritual Assembly of
> the Bahá’ís of the British Isles
> 
> Printed in Great Britain
> by the Broadwater Press Limited
> Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
> 
> www.bahai-library.com
> PREFACE
> 
> This book comprises a compilation of quotations from Scripture—Jewish,
> Christian, Muslim, Bábí, and Bahá’í—bearing on the triple theme of the
> Covenant of God, the Eternal Covenant, and the Greater and Lesser Covenants.
> 
> The quotations from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Qur’án
> are concerned with the note of anticipation which overhangs them all. Those
> from the Bayán, the work of the Báb, derive their chief significance from the
> heightened awareness of the full glory, so near at hand, of the consummation of
> the promises of all the prophets in the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh, after the fullest and most cogent statements regarding man’s
> relationship with the divine, in His Will or Book of the Covenant, clearly
> established ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His eldest son, as His Mystery; the Exemplar of the
> fully balanced qualities of adult mankind and the Centre of His Covenant.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His turn leaves no doubt in His Will and Testament, here
> published in full, that after His passing all must turn to Shoghi Effendi as
> Guardian of the Cause of God, and to his lineal descendants after him.
> 
> There are also several substantial selections from the writings of Shoghi
> Effendi, chosen to fill out and explain the pattern of development and the
> themes of man’s unfolding social requirements in a world made one by the
> universal teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.       These are shown in smaller type to
> distinguish the intrinsic value of the statements.
> 
> Wherever available, the translations made by Shoghi Effendi of the Writings
> of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have been included since they carry
> a special authenticity. Certain of the Bahá’í Writings suffer considerably from
> the inadequacy of the translation, notably Bahá’u’lláh’s Book of the Covenant
> (Kitáb-i-‘Ahd) and Tablet of the Branch. The reader must make appropriate
> allowances, realizing his good fortune that so much is available in wholly
> reliable translation after so short an interval of time has elapsed from the
> original Authorship.
> 
> The book is divided into three distinct but unequal parts. The chapter on
> Expectancy comprises the selections from the older Scriptures, that on
> Fulfilment takes in the bulk of the book and includes the passages from the
> 
> works of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Finally, the chapter on
> Denial shows the effects of violation of God’s Covenant.
> 
> It is hoped that the transcendently important subject of the Covenant, or
> conditional compact between God and man, will be clarified by this
> compilation. To this end there have been incorporated not only many passages
> elucidating the significance of the power of the Covenant and the effects of
> steadfastness in it and of defection from it, but also certain other quotations that
> show the reward that is open to mankind. Not only in his full maturity will
> individual man stand forth unique and spiritually mature, but collectively he
> will share the full responsibility of service to God in rulership of the entire
> planet through the Universal House of justice over which God’s vice-regent, the
> Guardian, will preside.
> 
> It is this integrated system of perfectly and organically functioning world
> order that must crown the work of all the Messengers of God, for this is the
> instrument through which God will rule mankind. There can be no higher goal
> for man on this planet in this physical form than attainment of his full share in
> this work.
> 
> CONTENTS
> 
> PREFACE
> CONTENTS
> INTRODUCTION
> 
> EXPECTANCY
> The Old Testament
> Signs
> The Covenant
> The promised One
> The Branch
> 
> THE NEW TESTAMENT
> (a) Words of Christ
> When shall these things be?
> Great tribulations
> Son of man cometh as the lightning
> Son of man with power and glory
> Gathering and separating the nations
> Watch for an unknown hour
> As in Noe’s day
> Watch and pray always
> Keep my commandments
> Spirit of truth to come
> (b) Words of early followers of Christ
> Judge nothing before the time
> Signs of the last days
> Live soberly and look to the glorious advent
> As a thief in the night
> A new heaven and a new earth
> The Glory of God to light the holy city
> 
> ISLÁM
> (a) The Qur’án
> The Covenant
> No change in God’s way
> Effect of lapse from faith
> Understanding the Book
> Need for interpretation
> The gateway
> The Hour
> Decree accomplished
> Day of Resurrection
> 
> Two blasts of trumpet
> Christianity and the Day of Resurrection
> Gathering mankind
> Rolling up the heavens
> Coming of the Lord
> Attaining the Presence of God
> Mankind before the Lord
> God will perfect His light
> The Great Announcement
> The face of thy Lord shall abide
> (b) Hadíth
> The significance of ‘Akká
> 
> FULFILMENT
> Writings of the Báb
> The Báb’s cognizance of Himself
> The Báb’s fulfilment of Greater Covenant and establishment of His own
> Covenant
> The Bayán and the Revelation of Him Whom God will make manifest
> Time of that Revelation
> How to recognize Him
> Recognition and denial
> The Báb’s own relation to Him
> The Order of Bahá’u’lláh ordained in the Bayán
> (a) Identity and Link with the Báb
> b) He is the King
> Testimony fulfilled, proof perfected; fulfilment of Covenant established
> with
> everyone in the realms of revelation and creation, and renewal of call to
> God
> Purpose, promise, desire of all prophets and messengers now revealed as
> heralded in all scriptures
> The Best Beloved is come and every hidden thing made known
> Highest, final consummation of all past Dispensations unparalleled in past
> or future;
> Jehovah, Spirit of Truth, Great Announcement
> King of Days, Most Great Day of God
> World-wide regeneration
> God’s Revelation now on unassailable foundation
> Bahá’u’lláh’s relation to God
> A new race of men
> Man’s unique distinction and his purpose
> c) The Covenant
> God’s love, creation, revelation: man’s response and reward
> Turn away from self
> God’s three most holy words
> Maturity of prayer
> d) God’s Purpose
> God, His Manifestations and man
> 
> God’s purpose in sending His Prophets
> Duty of man in this Day
> e) Man’s Part
> Man’s potentialities all to be manifested in this Day
> Each a prescribed measure manifested through own volition
> Twofold obligation: steadfastness and observance of laws
> Each heart a scat for revelation of His glory
> God’s counsels
> God’s method unendingly
> Station of true believer
> “Fishers of men” to “quickeners of mankind”
> Justice best beloved
> Service of entire human race
> House of Justice in each city, consultation and divine guidance
> Ever-advancing civilization
> Divine favour fully vouchsafed
> f) The Appointment of the Centre of the Covenant
> Tablet of the Branch
> Guardian’s exposition of the significance of the Book of the Covenant
> The Book of the Covenant (Kitáb-i-‘Ahd)
> Guardian’s summary of the Book of the Covenant
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas instruction to turn to the Branch after the passing of
> Bahá’u’lláh
> Claim to further revelation
> g) Bahá’u’lláh about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> “Apple of Mine eye”
> Shield to all in heaven and earth
> Greatest Branch
> “Render Him victorious”
> “God’s ardent Mystery”
> 
> WRITINGS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
> a) Centre of the Covenant
> Fulfilment of proof and prophecy entirely centred in Bahá’u’lláh and the
> Báb
> Station of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> Appointment of the Centre of the Covenant the greatest characteristic of
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation
> Covenant unexampled
> Covenant distinctive, unique, leaves no occasion for difference
> Spirit of unity in the divine words
> b) Significance of the Covenant
> Naught can annul His Covenant
> “There is a power in this Cause”
> “Ere the close of this century”
> The Covenant all-pervasive
> Spirit of the age
> Turn to the Kingdom of the Covenant
> 
> Power of the Covenant pulsating, penetrating
> My words are the reality
> World of the Covenant like a tree beside the river of the water of life
> Power of the Covenant alone, can move the heart of humanity
> Sum of all sacred writings
> Shattering influence of the Divine summons
> c) Firmness in the Covenant
> Assistance cut off unless one teaches
> Firm Covenant to live and act according to the teachings
> Spirit that quickeneth the hearts
> Armies of God, apostles of Bahá’u’lláh and conditions of attainment
> Effect of absence or presence of alloy of self
> Qualities of teacher
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s link with Spiritual Assembly
> Firmness in the Covenant wards off differences
> Future effect of violation
> Degree of assistance according to degree of firmness
> Wavering soul a failure
> Firmness means obedience
> Firmness leads to spiritual progress
> All forces of universe serve the Covenant
> The Covenant is an Institution of the Lord
> Confirmation for the individual
> Prayer for firmness
> d) Unity
> How otherwise establish oneness of mankind?
> Centre of the Covenant the remover of all difficulties
> Book of the Covenant not oral but written
> Unity through any means
> Strength only in unity
> All must turn to the appointed Centre to preserve Bahá’í unity
> If two souls quarrel
> e) The Succession and Fulfilment
> Guardian’s tribute to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s spiritual relationship to Bahá’u’lláh
> Significance and origination of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament
> The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> Guardian’s summary of the themes of the Will
> The Administrative Order as framework of the Will, nucleus and pattern of
> World Order
> The strength, distinction and guarantee of the Administrative Order
> The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Promise of All Ages
> The ages of human evolution
> Divine Economy for all mankind
> The Kingdom of God Himself
> 
> DENIAL
> COVENANT BREAKERS
> 
> OLD TESTAMENT
> The story of Miriam
> 
> NEW TESTAMENT
> a) Words of Christ
> Offences necessary
> Story of Judas
> b) Words of early followers of Christ
> They separate themselves
> Wilful sin after recognition of truth
> 
> QUR’ÁN
> The Covenant of God and its breaking
> Penalty for unbelief
> Veritable infidels
> Despair and chastisement for those who believe not
> 
> WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
> Renounce thyself and turn unto Me
> “My love is My stronghold”
> Return and lose not thy chance
> Outwardly shepherds, inwardly wolves
> “My will and the will of another than Me cannot dwell together in one
> heart”
> Beasts in pastures of passion and desire
> None faithful to the Covenant on Mount Paran
> Meaning of leprosy
> “Gather Thy servants together around this Divine Law”
> 
> WRITINGS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
> The Sun of the Covenant dissipates clouds, disperses bats
> Physical and spiritual life
> Healthy to avoid the spiritually diseased
> In every age seeds of discord, e.g. Arius
> Carnal desires the cause of difference
> Shun all Covenant breakers
> The Master’s Last Tablet to America
> Desire for leadership and forming a party the cause of violation
> Tests proportionate to greatness of the Cause
> The bounties of God and how to know the faithful
> 
> INTRODUCTION
> 
> Say: ‘The light hath shone forth from the horizon of Revelation, and the
> whole earth hath been illumined at the coming of Him Who is the Lord of
> the Day of the Covenant!1
> 
> The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of
> this most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been
> revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System—the
> like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.2
> 
> “So firm and mighty is this Covenant,” He Who is its appointed Centre has
> affirmed, “that from the beginning of time until the present day no religious
> Dispensation hath produced its like.”          “It is indubitably clear,” He,
> furthermore, has stated, “that the pivot of the oneness of mankind is nothing
> else but the power of the Covenant.” … And again: “The lamp of the
> Covenant is the light of the world, and the words traced by the Pen of the
> Most High a limitless ocean.” … And finally: “The power of the Covenant
> is as the heat of the sun which quickeneth and promoteth the development of
> all created things on earth. The light of the Covenant, in like manner, is the
> educator of the minds, the spirits, the hearts and souls of men.”3
> 
> All created things have their degree, or stage, of maturity.4
> 
> Nothing has been created without a special destiny, for every creature has an
> innate station of attainment.
> 
> For He hath, through irrefutable Texts, entered into a binding Covenant
> with us all, requiring us to act in accordance with His sacred instructions
> and counsels.5
> The new believers must be deepened in the Covenant. This is really the only
> source of the fire of the love of God.6
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 133–134.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 85.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 238–9.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 438.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 71.
> Shoghi Effendi
> 
> The Covenant stands at the core and centre of the “changeless Faith of God,
> eternal in the past, eternal in the future”.7 It is the Covenant that provides
> religion with a continuing, firm basis for realization of its true source, pivot,
> motive-power, and goal. The Covenant is the “strong cord” which binds the
> creature, man, to the Creator, God.
> 
> In this day, this “time of the end”, every false avenue, whether of religion,
> philosophy, politics, or fantasy, is being explored to the utmost, to the final end
> of disillusion for the explorers. In contrast, the urgent, vital, essential, pivotal
> importance of the Covenant stands out for all believers and indeed for all men
> everywhere, as once did the pillar of fire for the children of Israel—the sole
> refuge and source of salvation for mankind.
> 
> As with almost every other concept of religion, the full meaning of the
> Covenant has been made known only during this age, through the Bahá’í Faith.
> 
> The Oxford Dictionary definition of the word “covenant” is:
> 
> “A mutual agreement between two or more people to do or refrain from
> doing certain acts; the undertaking of either party in such an agreement.”
> 
> Its significance in the religious sense would take many lifetimes to expound
> in its entirety, yet it too can be briefly stated.
> 
> The Covenant of religion enshrines a promise by God the fruition of which
> depends upon the fulfilment by man of certain conditions. These conditions are
> announced by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, speaking with the accents of God:
> 
> O son Of man!
> Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I
> knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine
> image and revealed to thee My beauty.
> 
> O Son of man!
> I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that
> I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.
> 
> O Son of being!
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 85.
> 
> Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise
> reach thee. Know this, O servant.8
> 
> In these three successive statements of matchless and concentrated brilliance
> are made dear the fundamentals of Creation in so far as man can apprehend
> them.
> 
> Herein are stated:
> 
> The reason why God created man, “I loved thy creation …,” “I knew My
> love for thee …”;
> 
> What man really is, “have engraved on thee Mine image …”; God’s method
> whereby He enables man’s soul to unfold its powers and qualities, “revealed to
> thee My beauty …” through His Self-revelation;
> 
> The immutable fact that if man is not attracted by the beauty of the
> perfections of God, wherever and through whomsoever they appear, his soul
> cannot but to that extent be deprived, “If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no
> wise reach thee …”;
> 
> Man’s obligation, his necessary response, “do thou love Me …,” “Love Me
> …” upon which his reward entirely depends;
> 
> The reward that constitutes the fulfilment and very meaning of his existence,
> “that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life …,” “that I
> may love thee …”;
> 
> That through service this reward of love is reached, “know this, O servant
> …”
> 
> Indeed the true condition of spiritual dependence of man on God, in and
> through the mutual relation of love, is made evident. The call to man is clear;
> clear too is the reward of his response. Within the scope of the freewill of man
> it lies to bring about either life or deprivation of life, heaven or hell.
> 
> Throughout man’s struggle upwards from his earliest beginnings in the days
> of Adam, the Messengers of God have made known this law of reality,
> wherever God has established His religion in all parts of the earth, and in
> whatever form, for “all are created by God”. Ever lying at the heart of religion
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic Nos. 3–5.
> 
> has been the law of love for His perfections and beauty. Thus throughout
> history there have been meek and saintly people in all parts of the world under
> many different forms of religion, who, by their whole-hearted love and worship
> of God, have individually achieved this fulfilment and have been endowed with
> the spiritual gifts, “the spirit of life”, pertaining to God’s eternal, heavenly
> kingdom.
> 
> In the earlier stages of the gradual, collective unfoldment of human society
> no more than this has ever been possible. In the days of man’s immaturity the
> pull of his earth-bound origin, the selfish propensities of his lower nature, and
> his constant striving to accumulate the outward ephemeral things of this world
> have been too strong. They have caused most men to follow the jungle laws of
> competition and struggle in which each participant suffers defeat in some
> measure. And this in spite of the constant, reiterated call of God, through His
> successive Messengers, to live in love, friendship, co-operation each with each.
> 
> “By their fruits ye shall know them,” said Jesus, and by their fruits, both
> outward and inward, social and personal, we can recognize, according to a basic
> Bahá’í principle, that all the living religions of the world have the same origin
> and divine foundation; that they are complementary in the aspects of divinity
> which have been successively revealed through them, and that each holds
> enshrined in its Scriptures a great Promise. This Promise, but for the fulfilment
> of which the Founder-Messenger of each might be convicted of speaking
> falsely, is the coming of a great and perfect Day, the Day of God Himself, the
> establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
> 
> In this age mankind is called to fulfil the conditions of the Covenant
> collectively by the building of this Kingdom.
> 
> It is with this culmination of the process of social evolution on the planet,
> analogous to the stage of adult maturity in the individual, that the Bahá’í Faith
> is directly associated. The conditions of its establishment are the conditions of
> the Covenant of God in this age. The complexities of a world grown adult are
> infinitely manifold. Because all men are created different, the opinions of men
> vary greatly. It is for this reason that there must exist some absolute standard
> by which men can be reconciled; for otherwise the descent into the anarchy of
> 
> the kingdom of expediency is inevitable. It is solely through the Covenant of
> Bahá’u’lláh that this standard will be upraised and maintained.
> 
> In the arena of existence, “the court of objectivity”, all things are subject to
> the same organic process of unfoldment under the universal laws of God. To
> this unfolding process man himself, whether individual or collective, is no
> exception. He too has degrees or stages of evolution and a condition of full
> maturity. The achievement of each stage is thus supported by all the forces of
> the universe. Like a tree, man as an individual can achieve, if he will fulfil the
> conditions, a personal mature fruition as a developed soul, whether that soul is
> the fruit of the life on this physical plane or is completed in another spiritual
> state. Similarly, the mature stage of this planet is the collective fruition of
> mankind, its highest form and fairest product. The qualities of this unique fruit
> will become more and more clearly determined as the potentialities latent in
> collective man are evoked by interaction of wider and deeper fellowship and
> love, expressed and practised by more and more people integrated into one
> organic system. Those who find the true essence of religion expressed by their
> reflection of the love of God in mutual love of fellow-human beings, are the
> servants of this Covenant of God, the Covenant that is the foundation of unity
> itself and the sole source of the fire of God’s love in this age, the age destined
> to witness the integration of the whole world.
> 
> Each time God has sent a Messenger to declare His Word, men have
> eventually responded and the salt has been re-seasoned. Each time and in all
> parts of the earth the salt in the end has lost its savour and imitations have been
> substituted. Man-made concepts and descriptions replaced the universal reality,
> but man could not tolerate substitutes for ever. As these, substitutes lost favour,
> belief in God Himself everywhere ebbed away. The universal loss of savour in
> this age, the blindness to God’s reality, the deafness to the melody of His
> words, “the famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord”, has called for a
> much greater measure of the outpouring grace of God’s bounty than ever
> before. The need was great, the time ripe, and He, never failing in His mercy,
> gave to man that greater measure through the Revelation of His two chosen
> Ones, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. They have, between Them, abolished all that
> has been, the cause of the barriers between the peoples of the earth and
> 
> provided all the necessary means for the establishment of the fairest fruit of the
> earth, the unification of mankind in “one universal Cause, one common Faith.”
> 
> The Eternal Covenant of God is the recognition of, and response to, His
> Ancient Beauty through whomsoever It may be revealed.               The complete
> revelation of that Beauty in the “Day of God” necessitates the complete
> response of the whole of mankind and the maintenance of the fullest relation of
> love towards It, through the Centre of that Covenant, Who is appointed to
> sustain the balance of truth amid the changing relativities of the world.
> 
> Of this one Eternal Covenant all other Covenants form a part, whether that
> between God and His Messengers allotting each His degree of revelation, or
> those between His Messengers and the faithful, keeping alive for forgetful
> mankind the fuller promise to come—the “Greater Covenant”, to accept the
> next Messenger, and the “Lesser Covenant”, of obedience to the appointed head
> of the divinely established faith.
> 
> It is through conscious faith in God and His promises that man is led to
> practise the right way of life, and it is this faith which constitutes the second
> birth of spiritual fire and understanding by which individuals attain their
> personal fulfilment. Awakened to the eternal qualitative life of the spirit, to
> spirituality, man grows more and more to display his faith in deeds of ever
> greater worth, and may at last become as a gleaming star in the firmament of
> eternity. With the fulfilment in this Day of the Eternal Covenant the fruition of
> the earth is fore-ordained. All men, throughout the planet, will eventually come
> to show forth that of which they are capable, until the unfolding glories of the
> earth ever more radiantly reflect the perfections of the true spiritual state, God’s
> Will done on earth as in heaven.
> 
> All things emanate from God, the Creator, are dependent upon Him, and
> exist to reflect each one a sign of Him; man alone has the potential capacity for
> reflecting all the signs and attributes of God. Will, as expression of activity, is
> an attribute of God which man possesses. Through it he can rise to fullest
> height of his potentiality, knowing Him, and becoming as much like Him as is
> possible for a dependent being. In proportion to his attainment of his true
> nature, the shadows of evil (the relative absence of good) are dispersed. This
> unending purpose is the animating principle of the whole of creation. Indeed
> 
> the very meaning of “good” is that which pertains to the advancement of this
> spiritual unfoldment of life. “I am come that they might have life, and have it
> more abundantly,” said Jesus, and so it shall be. But this life, for man grown
> adult, is to be stabilized in a unity founded upon a divine structure of
> organization, reconciling the expression of the individual conscience with the
> necessary restraint of the basic authority of the Word of God, and collective
> responsibility for the whole community, under the guidance of God’s finger
> through the Centre of His Covenant. For the first time God’s representative
> will be continually associated with men in the work of safeguarding the
> interests of the whole earth as one entity and one family acknowledging one
> Father.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh, “the Blessed Perfection”, “the Most Great Beauty through
> Whom truth shall be distinguished from error and the wisdom of every
> command shall be tested”, the complete fulfilment of the age of prophecy,
> made a provision for the protection of His Cause that was not open to His great
> Predecessors, for men in those times, our New Testament tells us, were not
> ready, and could not have borne it.           Bahá’u’lláh in unequivocal terms
> established His own first-born son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His written Will, the Book
> of the Covenant, as the Centre of the Covenant of God, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in
> His turn, in His own written Will and Testament, has established Shoghi
> Effendi as the Guardian of the Cause of God. They, and all the Guardians who
> will [were supposed to]9 succeed Shoghi Effendi, are alone the ones through
> whom the absolute truth of the Word of Bahá’u’lláh can be known whenever
> there is need for the authority of God to reconcile the divergent relative
> opinions of men. The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, providing as it does
> the Charter of the New World, gives the Guardianship the function of
> interpretative guidance of man. Shoghi Effendi, “the blessed and sacred bough
> that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees”, combines the lineage of
> both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and is “the priceless pearl”, fruit of the “twin
> surging seas”. His loving influence and guiding hand are those of the “true
> brother”.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi did not appoint a Guardian to follow him. The Universal House of
> Justice was elected in 1963 according to the principles set down by Bahá’u’lláh,
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> “We that rejecteth him hath rejected God.” Those who, after recognition of
> the full light of God, the perfect beauty of God, wherever expressed, whether
> through the Messenger Himself, or His Successor, the Centre of His Covenant,
> have deliberately and with malice turned to deny Them and attack Them,
> knowing full well what they are doing, but blinded by their selfish ambition,
> they are the malignant cancers that feed on the body of the Faith of God.
> Drawing strength from it, built up through it, they are the wolves who batten
> upon the sheep of the fold, they are the violators of the Covenant about whom
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá makes such clear statements in the last Tablet to America, and in
> His Will and Testament.         One who is a Covenant-breaker must first have
> recognized and loved, and then, like Judas or Yahyá, or Muhammad-‘Alí,
> allowed personal pride and ambition to take such hold that they consciously
> work against the Faith of God and have to be turned out from Its fold. They
> deprive themselves, though they serve a purpose.            They must be totally
> shunned.
> 
> With the hereditary office of Guardianship, preserved by the divine
> safeguards clearly outlined in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is
> coupled the future Universal House of justice10, the most perfect form of
> representative government, which will share with the Guardian the privilege of
> that “service in love for mankind which is unity with God”. God will then
> indeed come to be King and reign on earth, for His perfections will then be put
> into effect to the utmost possible extent.         The revealed text of His Book,
> containing the fullest measure of the beauty of His revelation, applied at need
> through the scion of the great line of His Messengers, providing the stability of
> conservation, together with the perfect democratic instrument, elected,
> representative of the best of the whole of mankind, ensuring the flexibility
> necessary to meet the processes of change in the unfolding development of the
> earth, of a surety these are the twin pillars designed to support the Most Great
> Peace, the Golden Age of man.
> 
> Individually and collectively man will thus attain the promises of God
> declared in all His Scriptures, and God’s mighty Covenant will be impregnably
> established for ever upon an unassailable foundation, the rock of God’s Word.
> 1950
> 
> The Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963.
> 
> EXPECTANCY
> The Old Testament
> Signs
> 
> The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall
> be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day
> of the LORD of hosts [shall be] upon every [one that is] proud and lofty, and
> upon every [one that is] lifted up; and he shall be brought low:11
> 
> Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon
> thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
> people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon
> thee.12
> 
> And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and
> thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.13
> 
> For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not
> be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever [in
> that] which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people
> a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of
> weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.14
> 
> They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they [are] the
> seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall
> come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet
> speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion
> shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust [shall be] the serpent’s meat. They
> shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.15
> 
> And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for
> the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never
> was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy
> people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
> 
> Isaiah 2:11–12
> Isaiah 60:1–2
> Isaiah 62:2
> Isaiah 65:17–19
> Isaiah 65:23–25
> 
> And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
> everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. And they that
> be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many
> to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the
> words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and
> fro, and knowledge shall be increased.16
> 
> Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the
> press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness [is] great. Multitudes,
> multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the
> valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
> withdraw their shining.17
> 
> Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the
> land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of
> the LORD: 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even
> to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not
> find [it].18
> 
> For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon
> the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.19
> 
> For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it [is] a little while, and I will
> shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry [land]; And I will
> shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this
> house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.20
> 
> The Covenant
> 
> Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then
> ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is]
> mine:21
> 
> Daniel 12:1–4
> Joel 3:13–15
> Amos 8:11–12
> Zephaniah 3:9
> Haggai 2:6–7
> Exodus 19:5
> 
> The earth [is] the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that
> dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the
> floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his
> holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up
> his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from
> the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.22
> 
> And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
> transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this [is] my covenant with
> them, saith the LORD; My spirit that [is] upon thee, and my words which I have
> put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy
> seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth
> and for ever.23
> 
> Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant
> with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the
> covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand
> to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although
> I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this [shall be] the covenant
> that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I
> will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be
> their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every
> man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for
> they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
> the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
> more.24
> 
> And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them
> one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them,
> and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with
> them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my
> fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.25
> 
> Psalms 24:1–5
> Isaiah 59:20–21
> Jeremiah 31:31–34
> Jeremiah 32:38–40
> 
> He hath showed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD
> require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy
> God?26
> 
> The promised One
> 
> And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will
> set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will
> establish his kingdom.       He shall build an house for my name, and I will
> establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be
> my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with
> the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from
> him, as I took [it] from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house
> and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be
> established for ever.27
> 
> Give unto the LORD the glory [due] unto his name: bring an offering, and
> come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Fear before
> him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the
> heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let [men] say among the nations,
> The LORD reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof: let the fields
> rejoice, and all that [is] therein. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the
> presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks
> unto the LORD; for [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.28
> 
> For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter
> [day] upon the earth:29
> 
> Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift [them] up, ye everlasting doors; and
> the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of
> hosts, he [is] the King of glory.30
> 
> Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.31
> 
> Micah 6:8
> II Samuel 7:12–16
> I Chronicles 16:29–34
> Job 19:25
> Psalms 24:9–10
> Psalms 50:2
> 
> He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgement.
> … He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the
> needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. … He shall come down like rain
> upon the mown grass: as showers [that] water the earth. In his days shall the
> righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He
> shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of
> the earth. … Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve
> him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and [him]
> that hath no helper. … His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be
> continued as long as the sun: and [men] shall be blessed in him: all nations
> shall call him blessed.32
> 
> And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
> mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of
> his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law,
> and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the
> nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into
> ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up
> sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.33
> 
> For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall
> be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
> mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
> [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David,
> and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with
> justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
> perform this.34
> 
> And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our God; we have waited for
> him, and he will save us: this [is] the LORD; we have waited for him, we will
> be glad and rejoice in his salvation.35
> 
> Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light
> of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the
> Psalms 72:2, 4, 6–8, 11–12, 17
> Isaiah 2:3–4
> Isaiah 9:6–7
> Isaiah 25:9
> 
> LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their
> wound.36
> 
> The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert
> shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice
> even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the
> excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, [and]
> the excellency of our God.37
> 
> Afterward he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the
> east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east:
> and his voice [was] like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his
> glory. … And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the
> gate whose prospect [is] toward the east.38
> 
> I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit,
> whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure
> wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.
> A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands
> ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him:
> the judgement was set, and the books were opened. … I saw in the night
> visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,
> and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And
> there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
> nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting
> dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be
> destroyed.39
> 
> [In] that day [also] he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and [from] the
> fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and
> [from] mountain to mountain.40
> 
> Isaiah 30:26
> Isaiah 35:1–2
> Ezekiel 43:1–2,4
> Daniel 7:9–10, 13–14
> Micah 7:12
> 
> For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as
> the waters cover the sea.41
> 
> Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the
> midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD
> in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and
> thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.42
> 
> Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:
> and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
> messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith
> the LORD of hosts.43
> 
> But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with
> healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.44
> 
> The Branch45
> 
> And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will
> eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy
> name, to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the LORD be
> beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [shall be] excellent and comely
> for them that are escaped of Israel.46
> 
> And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
> grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit
> of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
> knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick
> understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of
> his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness
> shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and
> he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
> shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
> 
> Habakkuk 2:14
> Zechariah 2:10–11
> Malachi 3:1
> Malachi 4:2
> In the Old Testament, “The Branch” refers forward to Bahá’u’lláh.
> Isaiah 4:1–2
> 
> faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
> the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
> fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear
> shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw
> like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the
> weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor
> destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
> the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.47
> 
> Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
> righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
> judgement and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
> shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE
> LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
> LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the
> children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which
> brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north
> country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell
> in their own land.48
> 
> Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before
> thee: for they [are] men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant
> the BRANCH. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one
> stone [shall be] seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the
> LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that
> day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the
> vine and under the fig tree.49
> 
> And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying,
> Behold the man whose name [is] The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of
> his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the
> temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his
> throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall
> 
> Isaiah 11:1–9
> Jeremiah 23:5–8
> Zechariah 3:8–10
> 
> be between them both.50
> 
> Zechariah 6:12–13
> 
> THE NEW TESTAMENT
> 
> (a) Words of Christ
> 
> When shall these things be?
> 
> And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
> privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the
> sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said
> unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my
> name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars
> and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must
> come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
> kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
> earthquakes, in divers places. All these [are] the beginning of sorrows. Then
> shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be
> hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and
> shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets
> shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love
> of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
> be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for
> a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.51
> 
> Great tribulations
> 
> For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
> world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be
> shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days
> shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or
> there; believe [it] not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
> shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they
> shall deceive the very elect.52
> 
> Son of man cometh as the lightning
> 
> Matthew 24:3–14
> Matthew 24:21–24
> 
> For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west;
> so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.53
> 
> Son of man with power and glory
> 
> Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened,
> and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and
> the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of
> the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
> they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
> great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
> they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
> to the other.54
> 
> Gathering and separating the nations
> 
> When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
> him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be
> gathered all nations:    and he shall separate them one from another, as a
> shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his
> right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his
> right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
> you from the foundation of the world:55
> 
> Watch for an unknown hour
> 
> But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are
> in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for
> ye know not when the time is. [For the Son of man is] as a man taking a far
> journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every
> man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye
> know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at
> the cock-crowing, or in the morning:         Lest coming suddenly he find you
> sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.56
> 
> As in Noah’s day
> Matthew 24:27
> Matthew 24:29–31
> Matthew 25:31–34
> Mark 13:32–37
> 
> And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after [them], nor
> follow [them]. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one [part] under
> heaven, shineth unto the other [part] under heaven; so shall also the Son of man
> be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this
> generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of
> the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given
> in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came,
> and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat,
> they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day
> that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and
> destroyed [them] all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
> revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the
> house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let
> him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to
> save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.57
> 
> Watch and pray always
> 
> And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged
> with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come
> upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the
> face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be
> accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand
> before the Son of man.58
> 
> Keep my commandments
> 
> If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he
> shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; [Even]
> the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
> neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be
> in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while,
> and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live
> also. At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
> you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
> 
> Luke 17:23–33
> Luke 21:34–36
> 
> me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
> will manifest myself to him.59
> 
> Spirit of truth to come
> 
> I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
> Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
> for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he
> speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
> receive of mine, and shall show [it] unto you. All things that the Father hath
> are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show [it] unto
> you.60
> 
> (b) Words of early followers of Christ
> 
> Judge nothing before the time
> 
> Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will
> bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the
> counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.61
> 
> Signs of the last days
> 
> This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men
> shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
> disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
> Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
> Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn
> away.62
> 
> Live soberly and look to the glorious advent
> 
> For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
> Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
> soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed
> 
> John 14:15–21
> John 16:12–15
> I Corinthians 4:5
> II Timothy 3:1–5
> 
> hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
> Christ;63
> 
> As a thief in the night
> 
> But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
> heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
> fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.64
> 
> A new heaven and a new earth
> 
> And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
> earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy
> city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
> adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
> Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and
> they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their
> God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no
> more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
> for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said,
> Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words
> are true and faithful.65
> 
> The Glory of God to light the holy city
> 
> And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
> the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
> shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light
> thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:
> and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates
> of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they
> shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no
> wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh
> abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book
> of life.66
> 
> Titus 2:11–13
> II Peter 3:10
> Revelation 21:1–5
> Revelation 21:22–27
> 
> ISLÁM
> 
> (a) The Qur’án
> 
> The Covenant
> 
> O children of Adam! there shall come to you Apostles from among
> yourselves, rehearsing my signs to you; and whoso shall fear God and do good
> works, no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they be put to grief. But they
> who charge our signs with falsehood, and turn away from them in their pride,
> shall be inmates of the fire: for ever shall they abide therein.67
> 
> When God entered into covenant with the prophets,’ he said, “This is the
> Book and the Wisdom which I give you. Hereafter shall a prophet came unto
> you to confirm the Scriptures already with you. Ye shall surely believe on him,
> and ye shall surely aid him. Are ye resolved?” said he, “and do ye accept the
> covenant on these terms?” They said, “We are resolved;” “Be ye then the
> witnesses,” said he, “and I will be a witness as well as you. And whoever
> turneth back after this, these are surely the perverse.”68
> 
> And remember that we have entered into covenant with the Prophets, and
> with thee, and with Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, Son of Mary:
> and we formed with them a strict covenant,69
> 
> No change in God’s way
> 
> Set thou thy face then, as a true convert, towards the Faith which God hath
> made, and for which He hath made man. No change is there in the creation of
> God. This is the right Faith, but the greater part of men know it not.70
> 
> Effect of lapse from faith
> 
> O believers! enter completely into the true religion, and follow not the steps
> of Satan, for he is your declared enemy. But if ye lapse after that our clear
> signs have come to you, know that God is Mighty, Wise. What can such expect
> 
> Qur’án 7:33–4 (The Heights (Al-Aráf))
> Qur’án 3:75–6 (The Family of Imrán (Al-Imrán))
> Qur’án 33:7 (The Confederates (Al-Ahzáb))
> Qur’án 30:29 (The Romans (Ar-Rúm))
> 
> but that God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds, and the
> angels also, and their doom be sealed? And to God shall all things return.71
> 
> Understanding the Book
> 
> He it is who hath sent down to thee “the Book.” Some of its signs are of
> themselves perspicuous,—these are the basis of the Book—and others are
> figurative. But they whose hearts are given to err, follow its figures, craving
> discord, craving an interpretation; yet none knoweth its interpretation but God.
> And the stable in knowledge say, “We believe in it: it is all from our Lord.”
> But none will bear this in mind, save men endued with understanding.72
> 
> Need for interpretation
> 
> And now have we brought them the Book:              with knowledge have we
> explained it; a guidance and a mercy to them that believe. What have they to
> wait for now but its interpretation? When its interpretation shall come, they
> who aforetime were oblivious of it shall say, “The Prophets of our Lord did
> indeed bring the truth; shall we have any intercessor to intercede for us? or
> could we not be sent back? Then would we act otherwise than we have acted.”
> But they have ruined themselves; and the deities of their own devising have fled
> from them!73
> 
> The gateway
> 
> … But between them shall be set a wall with a gateway, within which shall
> be the Mercy, and in front, without it, the Torment.74
> 
> The Hour
> 
> They will ask thee of the Hour—for what time is its coming fixed? SAY:
> The knowledge of it is only with my Lord: none shall manifest it in its time but
> He: it is the burden a of the Heavens and of the Earth: not otherwise than on a
> sudden will it come on you. They will ask thee as if thou wast privy to it:
> 
> Qur’án 2:204–206 (The Cow (Al-Baqarah))
> Qur’án 3:5 (The Family of Imrán (Al-Imrán))
> Qur’án 7:50–51 (The Heights (Al-Aráf))
> Qur’án 57:13 (The Iron (Al-Hadíd))
> 
> SAY: The knowledge of it is with none but God. But most men know not
> this.75
> 
> What! Are they sure that the overwhelming chastisement of God shall not
> come upon them, or that that Hour shall not come upon them suddenly, while
> they are unaware?76
> 
> Decree accomplished
> 
> Warn them of the day of sighing when the decree shall be accomplished,
> while they are sunk in heedlessness and while they believe not.77
> 
> Day of Resurrection
> 
> But on the day of resurrection some of you shall deny the others, and some
> of you shall curse the others; and your abode shall be the fire, and ye shall have
> none to help.”78
> 
> And every man’s fate have we fastened about his neck: and on the day of
> resurrection will we bring forth to him a book which shall be proffered to him
> wide open:79
> 
> Two blasts of trumpet
> 
> But now hath it been revealed to thee and to those who flourished before
> thee,—“Verily, if thou join partners with God, vain shall be all thy work, and
> thyself shalt be of those who perish. Nay, rather worship God! and be of those
> who render thanks.” But they have not deemed of God as is His due; for on the
> resurrection day the whole Earth shall be but his handful, and in his right hand
> shall the Heavens be folded together. Praise be to Him! and high be He uplifted
> above the partners they join with Him! And there shall be a blast on the
> trumpet, and all who are in the Heavens and all who are in the Earth shall
> expire, save those whom God shall vouchsafe to live. Then shall there be
> another blast on it, and lo! arising they shall gaze around them: And the earth
> shall shine with the light of her Lord, and the Book shall be set, and the
> 
> Qur’án 7:186–7 (The Heights (Al-Aráf))
> Qur’án 12:107 (Joseph (Yúsuf))
> Qur’án 19:39 (Mary (Maryam))
> Qur’án 29:25 (The Spider (Al-Ankabút))
> Qur’án 17:14 (Children of Israel (Al-Isrá))
> 
> prophets shall be brought up, and the witnesses; and judgement shall be given
> between them with equity; and none shall be wronged: And every soul shall
> receive as it shall have wrought, for well knoweth He men’s actions.80
> 
> One day, the disturbing trumpet-blast shall disturb it, Which the second blast
> shall follow: … Verily, it will be but a single blast,81
> 
> Christianity and the Day of Resurrection
> 
> Remember when God said, “O Jesus! verily I will cause thee to die, and will
> take thee up to myself and deliver thee from those who believe not; and I will
> place those who follow thee above those who believe not, until the day of
> resurrection. Then, to me is your return, and wherein ye differ will I decide
> between you.82
> 
> And of those who say, “We are Christians,” have we accepted the covenant.
> But they too have forgotten a part of what they were taught; wherefore we have
> stirred up enmity and hatred among them that shall last till the day of the
> Resurrection; and in the end will God tell them of their doings.83
> 
> Gathering mankind
> 
> O our Lord! For the day of whose coming there is not a doubt, thou wilt
> surely gather mankind together. Verily, God will not fail the promise.84
> 
> Rolling up the heavens
> 
> On that day we will roll up the heaven as one rolleth up written scrolls. As
> we made the first creation, so will we bring it forth again. This promise bindeth
> us; verily, we will perform it.85
> 
> Coming of the Lord
> 
> Aye. But when the earth shall be crushed with crushing, crushing, And thy
> Lord shall come and the angels rank on rank, And Hell on that day shall be
> moved up,—Man shall on that day remember himself.                 But how shall
> 
> Qur’án 39:65–70 (The Crowds (Az-Zumar))
> Qur’án 79:6–7, 13 (Those who Tear Out (An-Názi’át))
> Qur’án 3:48 (The Family of Imrán (Al-Imrán))
> Qur’án 5:17 (The Table Spread (Al-Má’idah))
> Qur’án 3:7 (The Family of Imrán (Al-Imrán))
> Qur’án 21:104 (The Prophets (Al-Anbiyá’))
> 
> remembrance help him? He shall say, Oh! would that I had prepared for this
> my life! On that day none shall punish as God punisheth, And none shall bind
> with such bonds as He. Oh, thou soul which art at rest, Return to thy Lord,
> pleased, and pleasing him: Enter thou among my servants, And enter thou my
> Paradise.86
> 
> Attaining the Presence of God
> 
> It is God who hath reared the Heavens without pillars thou canst behold;
> then mounted his throne, and imposed laws on the sun and moon:                   each
> traveleth to its appointed goal. He ordereth all things. He maketh his signs
> clear, that ye may have firm faith in a meeting with your Lord.87
> 
> To him who hopeth to attain the Presence of God, the set time of God will
> surely come. And He is the Hearer, the Knower.88
> 
> Verily, they who hope not to attain Our Presence, and find their satisfaction
> in this world’s life, and rest on it, and who of Our signs are heedless—these!
> their abode the fire, in recompense of their deeds!89
> 
> Then gave We the Book to Moses—complete for Him who should do right,
> and a decision for all matters, and a guidance, and a mercy, that they might
> believe in the Presence of their Lord.90
> 
> They are those who believe not in the signs of the Lord, or that they shall
> ever attain His Presence. Vain, therefore, are their works; and no weight will
> We allow them on the Day of Resurrection. This shall be their reward—Hell.
> Because they were unbelievers, and treated My signs and My Apostles with
> scorn.91
> 
> Have they not considered within themselves that God hath not created the
> heavens and the earth and all that is between them but for a serious end, and for
> 
> Qur’án 89:22–30 (The Dawn (Al-Fajr))
> Qur’án 13:2 (The Thunder (Ar-Ra’d))
> Qur’án 29:5 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 116.
> Qur’án 10:7–8 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 116.
> Qur’án 6:154 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 117.
> Qur’án 18:105–106 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, page 117
> 
> a fixed term? But truly most men believe not that they shall attain the Presence
> of their Lord.92
> 
> Mankind before the Lord
> 
> What! Have they no thought that they shall be raised again for the Great
> Day, the Day when mankind shall stand before the Lord of the worlds?93
> 
> God will perfect His light
> 
> Fain would they put out the light of God with their mouths! But though the
> infidels hate it, God will perfect His light.94
> 
> The Great Announcement
> 
> Of what ask they of one another? Of the great News.95
> 
> The face of thy Lord shall abide
> 
> All on the earth shall pass away, but the face of thy Lord shall abide
> resplendent with majesty and glory:96
> 
> (b) Hadíth
> 
> The significance of ‘Akká
> 
> I announce unto you a city, on the shores of the sea, white, whose whiteness
> is pleasing unto God—exalted be He! It is called ‘Akká. He that hath been
> bitten by one of its fleas is better, in the estimation of God, than he who hath
> received a grievous blow in the path of God. And he that raiseth therein the call
> to prayer, his voice will be lifted up unto Paradise. And he that remaineth
> therein for seven days in the face of the enemy, God will gather him with
> Khidr—peace be upon Him—and God will protect him from the most great
> terror on the Day of Resurrection.97
> 
> Qur’án 30:8 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 117.
> Qur’án 83:4–6 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 117
> Qur’án 9:32 or 61:8 quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 118.
> Qur’án 78:1–2 (The Tidings (An-Naba’))
> Qur’án 55:26–7 (God, Most Gracious (Ar-Rahmán))
> Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 179.
> 
> There are kings and princes in Paradise. The poor of ‘Akká are the kings of
> Paradise and the princes thereof. A month in ‘Akká is better than a thousand
> years elsewhere.98
> 
> Blessed the man that hath visited ‘Akká, and blessed he that hath visited the
> visitor of ‘Akká.99
> 
> In ‘Akká are works of supererogation and acts which are beneficial, which
> God vouchsafed specially unto whomsoever He pleaseth. And he that saith in
> ‘Akká: ‘Glorified be God, and praise be unto God, and there is none other God
> but God, and most great is God, and there is no power nor strength except in
> God, the Exalted, the Mighty,’ God will write down for him a thousand good
> deeds, and blot out from him a thousand evil deeds, and will uplift him a
> thousand grades in Paradise, and will forgive him his transgressions. And
> whoso saith in ‘Akká: ‘I beg forgiveness of God,’ God will forgive all his
> trespasses. And he that remembereth God in ‘Akká at morn and at eventide, in
> the night-season and at dawn, is better in the sight of God than he who beareth
> swords, spears and arms in the path of God—exalted be He!100
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 179.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 179.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 180.
> 
> FULFILMENT
> Writings of the Báb
> The Báb’s cognizance of Himself
> 
> I recognize in Thee none other except the ‘Great Announcement’—the
> Announcement voiced by the Concourse on high. By this name, I bear witness,
> they that circle the Throne of Glory have ever known Thee.101
> 
> The Báb’s fulfilment of Greater Covenant and establishment of His own
> Covenant
> 
> With each and every Prophet Whom We have sent down in the past, We
> have established a separate Covenant concerning the Remembrance of God and
> His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the power of truth, are the
> Remembrance of God and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His
> mercy-seat.102
> 
> The Bayán and the Revelation of Him Whom God will make manifest
> 
> Conscious from the very beginning of His twofold mission, as the Bearer of
> a wholly independent Revelation and the Herald of One still greater than His
> own, He could not content Himself with the vast number of commentaries, of
> prayers, of laws and ordinances, of dissertations and epistles, of homilies and
> orations that had incessantly streamed from His pen. The Greater Covenant
> into which, as affirmed in His writings, God had, from time immemorial,
> entered, through the Prophets of all ages, with the whole of mankind, regarding
> the new-born Revelation, had already been fulfilled.         It had now to be
> supplemented by a Lesser Covenant which He felt bound to make with the
> entire body of His followers concerning the One Whose advent He
> characterized as the fruit and ultimate purpose of His Dispensation. Such a
> Covenant had invariably been the feature of every previous religion. It had
> existed, under various forms, with varying degrees of emphasis, had always
> been couched in veiled language, and had been alluded to in cryptic prophecies,
> in abstruse allegories, in unauthenticated traditions, and in the fragmentary and
> obscure passages of the sacred Scriptures. In the Bábí Dispensation, however,
> it was destined to be established in clear and unequivocal language, though not
> 
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 72.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 68.
> 
> embodied in a separate document.         Unlike the Prophets gone before Him,
> Whose Covenants were shrouded in mystery, unlike Bahá’u’lláh , Whose
> clearly defined Covenant was incorporated in a specially written Testament,
> and designated by Him as “the Book of My Covenant,” the Báb chose to
> intersperse His Book of Laws, the Persian Bayán, with unnumbered passages,
> some designedly obscure, mostly indubitably clear and conclusive, in which He
> fixes the date of the promised Revelation, extols its virtues, asserts its preeminent character, assigns to it unlimited powers and prerogatives, and tears
> down every barrier that might be an obstacle to its recognition. “He, verily,”
> Bahá’u’lláh, referring to the Báb in His Kitáb-i-Bádí, has stated, “hath not
> fallen short of His duty to exhort the people of the Bayán and to deliver unto
> them His Message. In no age or dispensation hath any Manifestation made
> mention, in such detail and in such explicit language, of the Manifestation
> destined to succeed Him.”103
> 
> For today the Bayán is in the stage of seed; at the beginning of the
> manifestation of Him Whom God shall make manifest its ultimate perfection
> will become apparent.104
> 
> Of all the tributes I have paid to Him Who is to come after Me, the greatest
> is this, My written confession, that no words of Mine can adequately describe
> Him, nor can any reference to Him in My Book, the Bayán, do justice to His
> Cause.105
> 
> The year-old germ that holdeth within itself the potentialities of the
> Revelation that is to come is endowed with a potency superior to the combined
> forces of the whole of the Bayán.106
> 
> “A thousand perusals of the Bayán,” He further remarks, “cannot equal the
> perusal of a single verse to be revealed by ‘Him Whom God shall make
> manifest.’”107 … The Bayán and such as are believers therein yearn more
> ardently after Him than the yearning of any lover after his beloved … The
> Bayán deriveth all its glory from ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest.’ All
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 27–28.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 108.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 10.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 151.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, page 104.
> 
> blessing be upon him who believeth in Him and woe betide him that rejecteth
> His truth.”108
> 
> Better is it for thee to recite but one of the verses of Him Whom God shall
> make manifest than to set down the whole of the Bayán, for on that Day that
> one verse can save thee, whereas the entire Bayán cannot save thee.109
> 
> Suffer not yourselves to be shut out as by a veil from God after He hath
> revealed Himself. For all that hath been exalted in the Bayán is but as a ring
> upon My hand, and I Myself am, verily, but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom
> God shall make manifest -glorified be His mention!             He turneth it as He
> pleaseth, for whatsoever He pleaseth, and through whatsoever He pleaseth. He,
> verily, is the Help in Peril, the Most High.110
> 
> The whole of the Bayán is only a leaf amongst the leaves of His Paradise.111
> 
> Time of that Revelation
> 
> For none knoweth the time of the Revelation except God. Whenever it
> appeareth, all must acknowledge the Point of Truth, and render thanks unto
> God.112
> 
> Ere nine will have elapsed from the inception of this Cause, the realities of
> the created things will not be made manifest. All that thou hast as yet seen is
> but the stage from the moist germ until We clothed it with flesh. Be patient,
> until thou beholdest a new creation. Say: ‘Blessed, therefore, be God, the most
> excellent of Makers!’113
> 
> How to recognize Him
> 
> Recognize Him by His verses. The greater your neglect in seeking to know
> Him, the more grievously will ye be veiled in fire.114
> 
> Know thou with absolute certainty, and through the firmly established and
> most irrevocable decree, that He—exalted be His glory, and magnified be His
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 100-101.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 153.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 168.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 152 and 158.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 157.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 152.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 159.
> 
> might, and sanctified be His holiness, and glorified be His grandeur, and lauded
> be His ways, maketh each thing to be known through its own self; who then can
> know Him through any one except Himself?115
> 
> Recognition and denial
> 
> HE—glorified be His mention—resembleth the sun.         Were unnumbered
> mirrors to be placed before it, each would, according to its capacity, reflect the
> splendour of that sun, and were none to be placed before it, it would still
> continue to rise and set, and the mirrors alone would be veiled from its light. I,
> verily, have not fallen short of My duty to admonish that people, and to devise
> means whereby they may turn towards God, their Lord, and believe in God,
> their Creator. If, on the day of His Revelation, all that are on earth bear Him
> allegiance, Mine inmost being will rejoice, inasmuch as all will have attained
> the summit of their existence, and will have been brought face to face with their
> Beloved, and will have recognized, to the fullest extent attainable in the world
> of being, the splendour of Him Who is the Desire of their hearts. If not, My
> soul will indeed be saddened. I truly have nurtured all things for this purpose.
> How, then, can anyone be veiled from Him? For this have I called upon God,
> and will continue to call upon Him. He, verily, is nigh, ready to answer.116
> 
> By the righteousness of Him Whose power causeth the seed to germinate
> and Who breatheth the spirit of life into all things, were I to be assured that in
> the day of His Manifestation thou wilt deny Him, I would unhesitatingly
> disown thee and repudiate thy faith …. If, on the other hand, I be told that a
> Christian, who beareth no allegiance to My Faith, will believe in Him, the same
> will I regard as the apple of Mine eye.117
> 
> Consecrate Thou, O my God, the whole of this Tree unto Him, that from it
> may be revealed all the fruits created by God within it for Him through Whom
> God hath willed to reveal all that He pleaseth. By Thy glory! I have not
> wished that this Tree should ever bear any branch, leaf, or fruit that would fail
> to bow down before Him, on the day of His Revelation, or refuse to laud Thee
> through Him, as beseemeth the glory of His all-glorious Revelation, and the
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 153.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 156.
> The Báb quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 62–63,
> 101.
> 
> sublimity of His most sublime Concealment. And shouldst Thou behold, O my
> God, any branch, leaf, or fruit upon Me that hath failed to bow down before
> Him, on the day of His Revelation, cut it off, O My God, from that Tree, for it
> is not of Me, nor shall it return unto Me.118
> 
> The Báb’s own relation to Him
> 
> I, verily, am a believer in Him, and in His Faith, and in His Book, and in His
> Testimonies, and in His Ways, and in all that proceedeth from Him concerning
> them. I glory in My kinship with Him, and pride Myself on My belief in
> Him.119
> 
> Glorified art Thou, O My God! Bear Thou witness that, through this Book,
> I have covenanted with all created things concerning the Mission of Him
> Whom Thou shalt make manifest, ere the covenant concerning Mine own
> Mission had been established.120
> 
> Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent Master, Thou hast, through
> the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised me up to
> proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have
> clung to no will but Thy Will ….
> 
> … O thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I
> have accepted curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom
> in the path of Thy love. Sufficient witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the
> Protector, the Ancient of Days.121
> 
> The Order of Bahá’u’lláh ordained in the Bayán
> 
> “Well is it with him,” is His prophetic announcement, “who fixeth his gaze
> upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and rendereth thanks unto his Lord. For He will
> assuredly be made manifest. God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the
> Bayán.”122
> WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
> 
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, pp. 155–156.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 154.
> The Báb quoted by Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 160.
> The Báb: Selections from the Báb, p. 59.
> The Báb quoted by Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 25.
> 
> (a) Identity and Link with the Báb
> 
> Behold how the people of the Bayán have utterly failed to recognize that the
> sole object of whatsoever My Previous Manifestation and Harbinger of My
> Beauty hath revealed hath been My Revelation and the proclamation of My
> Cause.      Never—and to this He Who is the Sovereign Truth beareth Me
> witness—would He have, but for Me, pronounced what He did pronounce.123
> 
> Magnify Thou, O Lord my God, Him Who is the Primal Point, the Divine
> Mystery, the Unseen Essence, the Day-Spring of Divinity, and the
> Manifestation of Thy Lordship, through Whom all the knowledge of the past
> and all the knowledge of the future were made plain, through Whom the pearls
> of Thy hidden wisdom were uncovered, and the mystery of Thy treasured name
> disclosed, Whom Thou hast appointed as the Announcer of the One through
> Whose name the letter B and the letter E have been joined and united, through
> Whom Thy majesty, Thy sovereignty and Thy might were made known,
> through Whom Thy words have been sent down, and Thy laws set forth with
> clearness, and Thy signs spread abroad, and Thy Word established, through
> Whom the hearts of Thy chosen ones were laid bare, and all that were in the
> heavens and all that were on the earth were gathered together, Whom Thou hast
> called Alí-Muhammad in the kingdom of Thy names, and the Spirit of Spirits in
> the Tablets of Thine irrevocable decree, Whom Thou hast invested with Thine
> own title, unto Whose name all other names have, at Thy bidding and through
> the power of Thy might, been made to return, and in Whom Thou hast caused
> all Thine attributes and titles to attain their final consummation. To Him also
> belong such names as lay hid within Thy stainless tabernacles, in Thine
> invisible world and Thy sanctified cities.
> 
> … Magnify Thou, moreover, such as have believed in Him and in His signs
> and have turned towards Him, from among those that have acknowledged Thy
> unity in His Latter Manifestation—a Manifestation whereof He hath made
> mention in His Tablets, and in His Books, and in His Scriptures, and in all the
> wondrous verses and gem-like utterances that have descended upon Him. It is
> this same Manifestation Whose covenant Thou hast bidden Him establish ere
> He had established His own covenant. He it is Whose praise the Bayán hath
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 244–245.
> 
> celebrated. In it His excellence hath been extolled, and His truth established,
> and His sovereignty proclaimed, and His Cause perfected. Blessed is the man
> that hath turned unto Him, and fulfilled the things He hath commanded, O Thou
> Who art the Lord of the worlds and the Desire of all them that have known
> Thee!
> 
> … Praised be Thou, O my God, inasmuch as Thou hast aided us to
> recognize and love Him. I, therefore, beseech Thee by Him and by Them Who
> are the Day-Springs of Thy Divinity, and the Manifestations of Thy Lordship,
> and the Treasuries of Thy Revelation, and the Depositories of Thine inspiration,
> to enable us to serve and obey Him, and to empower us to become the helpers
> of His Cause and the dispersers of His adversaries. Powerful art Thou to do all
> that pleaseth Thee.     No God is there beside Thee, the Almighty, the All-
> Glorious, the One Whose help is sought by all men!124
> 
> This is the Day, O my Lord, which Thou didst announce unto all mankind as
> the Day whereon Thou wouldst reveal Thy Self, and shed Thy radiance, and
> shine brightly over all Thy creatures. Thou hast, moreover, entered into a
> covenant with them, in Thy Books, and Thy Scriptures, and Thy Scrolls, and
> Thy Tablets, concerning Him Who is the Day-Spring of Thy Revelation, and
> hast appointed the Bayán to be the Herald of this Most Great and all-glorious
> Manifestation, and this most resplendent and most sublime Appearance.125
> 
> Thou art He, O my Lord, Who hath, in every line of Thy Book, entered into
> covenant with them for me, and made it so sure that none of Thy creatures can
> any longer evade it. Thou didst say—and Thy word is the truth: “One single
> letter from Him excelleth all that hath been sent down in the Bayán.”126
> 
> “Had the Primal Point (the Báb) been someone else beside Me as ye claim,”
> is Bahá’u’lláh’s explicit statement, “and had attained My presence, verily He
> would have never allowed Himself to be separated from Me, but rather We
> would have had mutual delights with each other in My Days.” “He Who now
> voiceth the Word of God,” Bahá’u’lláh again affirms, “is none other except the
> Primal Point Who hath once again been made manifest.” “He is,” He thus
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 84–86.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p. 275.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 180–181.
> 
> refers to Himself in a Tablet addressed to one of the Letters of the Living, “the
> same as the One Who appeared in the year sixty (AH 1260). This verily is one
> of His mighty signs.” “Who,” He pleads in the Súriy-i-Damm, “will arise to
> secure the triumph of the Primal Beauty (the Báb) revealed in the countenance
> of His succeeding Manifestation?”127
> 
> And when Thou didst purpose to make Thyself known unto men, Thou didst
> successively reveal the Manifestations of Thy Cause, and ordained each to be a
> sign of Thy Revelation among Thy people, and the Day-Spring of Thine
> invisible Self amidst Thy creatures, until the time when, as decreed by Thee, all
> Thy previous Revelations culminated in Him Whom Thou hast appointed as the
> Lord of all who are in the heaven of revelation and the kingdom of creation,
> Him Whom Thou hast established as the Sovereign Lord of all who are in the
> heavens and all who are on the earth. He it was Whom Thou hast determined to
> be the Herald of Thy Most Great Revelation and the Announcer of Thy Most
> Ancient Splendour. In this Thou hadst no other purpose except to try them who
> have manifested Thy most excellent titles unto all who are in heaven and on
> earth. He it was Whom Thou hast commanded to establish His covenant with
> all created things.128
> 
> b) He is the King
> 
> Testimony fulfilled, proof perfected; fulfilment of Covenant established
> with everyone in the realms of revelation and creation, and renewal of call
> to God
> 
> I testify, O my God, that this is the Day whereon Thy testimony hath been
> fulfilled, and Thy clear tokens have been manifested, and Thine utterances have
> been revealed, and Thy signs have been demonstrated, and the radiance of Thy
> countenance hath been diffused, and Thy proof hath been perfected, and Thine
> ascendancy hath been established, and Thy mercy hath overflowed, and the
> Day-Star of Thy grace hath shone forth with such brilliance that Thou didst
> manifest Him Who is the Revealer of Thyself and the Treasury of Thy wisdom
> and the Dawning-Place of Thy majesty and power. Thou didst establish His
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 138–
> 139.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 128–129.
> 
> covenant with every one who hath been created in the kingdoms of earth and
> heaven and in the realms of revelation and of creation.129
> 
> Glorified art Thou, O my God! Thou knowest that my sole aim in revealing
> Thy Cause hath been to reveal Thee and not my self, and to manifest Thy glory
> rather than my glory. In Thy path, and to attain Thy pleasure, I have scorned
> rest, joy, delight. At all times and under all conditions my gaze hath been fixed
> on Thy precepts, and mine eyes bent upon the things Thou hast bidden me
> observe in Thy Tablets. I have wakened every morning to the light of Thy
> praise and Thy remembrance, and reached every evening inhaling the
> fragrances of Thy mercy.
> 
> And when the entire creation was stirred up, and the whole earth was
> convulsed, and the sweet savours of Thy name, the All-Praised, had almost
> ceased to breathe over Thy realms, and the winds of Thy mercy had well-nigh
> been stilled throughout Thy dominions, Thou didst, through the power of Thy
> might, raise me up among Thy servants, and bid me to show forth Thy
> sovereignty amidst Thy people. Thereupon I arose before all Thy creatures,
> strengthened by Thy help and Thy power, and summoned all the multitudes
> unto Thee, and announced unto all Thy servants Thy favours and Thy gifts, and
> invited them to turn towards this Ocean, every drop of the waters of which
> crieth out, proclaiming unto all that are in heaven and on earth that He is, in
> truth, the Fountain of all life, and the Quickener of the entire creation, and the
> Object of the adoration of all worlds, and the Best-Beloved of every
> understanding heart, and the Desire of all them that are nigh unto Thee.
> 
> Though the fierce winds of the hatred of the wicked doers blew and beat on
> this Lamp, He was, at no time, in His love for Thy beauty, hindered from
> shedding the fragrance of His light. As the transgressions committed against
> Thee waxed greater and greater, my eagerness to reveal Thy Cause
> correspondingly increased, and as the tribulations deepened —and to this Thy
> glory beareth me witness -a fuller measure of Thy sovereignty and of Thy
> power was vouchsafed by me unto Thy creatures.
> 
> And finally, I was cast by the transgressors into the prison-city of ‘Akká,
> and my kindred were made captives in Baghdad. The power of Thy might
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 35–36.
> 
> beareth me witness, O my God! Every trouble that hath touched me in Thy
> path hath added to my joy and increased my gladness. I swear by Thee, O
> Thou Who art the King of Kings! None of the kings of the earth hath power to
> hinder me from remembering Thee or from extolling Thy virtues. Were they to
> be leagued—as they have been leagued—against me, and to brandish their
> sharpest swords and most afflictive spears against me, I would not hesitate to
> magnify Thy name before all them that are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth.
> Nay rather, I would cry out and say: “This, O my Beloved, is my face which I
> have offered up for Thy face, and this is my spirit which I have sacrificed for
> Thy spirit, and this is my blood that seetheth in my veins, in its longing to be
> shed for love of Thee and in Thy path.”
> 
> Though—as Thou beholdest me, O my God—I be dwelling in a place within
> whose walls no voice can be heard except the sound of the echo, though all the
> gates of ease and comfort be shut against us, and thick darkness appear to have
> compassed us on every side, yet my soul hath been so inflamed by its love for
> Thee, that nothing whatsoever can either quench the fire of its love or abate the
> consuming flame of its desire. Lifting up its voice, it crieth aloud amidst Thy
> servants, and calleth them, at all times and under all conditions, unto Thee.
> 
> I beseech Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, to open the eyes of Thy servants,
> that they may behold Thee shining above the horizon of Thy majesty and glory,
> and that they may not be hindered by the croaking of the raven from hearkening
> to the voice of the Dove of Thy sublime oneness, nor be prevented by the
> corrupt waters from partaking of the pure wine of Thy bounty and the
> everlasting streams of Thy gifts.
> 
> Gather them, then, together around this Divine Law, the covenant of which
> Thou hast established with all Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, and Whose
> ordinances Thou hast written down in Thy Tablets and Thy Scriptures. Raise
> them up, moreover, to such heights as will enable them to perceive Thy Call.
> 
> Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily, the Inaccessible,
> the All-Glorious.130
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 103–106.
> 
> Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! Look Thou upon this wronged one,
> who hath been sorely afflicted by the oppressors among Thy creatures and the
> infidels among Thine enemies, though he himself hath refused to breathe a
> single breath but by Thy leave and at Thy bidding. I lay asleep on my couch, O
> my God, when lo, the gentle winds of Thy grace and Thy loving-kindness
> passed over me, and wakened me through the power of Thy sovereignty and
> Thy gifts, and bade me arise before Thy servants, and speak forth Thy praise,
> and glorify Thy word. Thereupon most of Thy people reviled me. I swear by
> Thy glory, O my God! I never thought that they would show forth such deeds,
> aware as I am that Thou hast Thyself announced this Revelation unto them in
> the Scrolls of Thy commandment and the Tablets of Thy decree, and hast
> covenanted with them concerning this youth in every word sent down by Thee
> unto Thy creatures and Thy people.
> 
> I am bewildered, therefore, O my God, and know not how to act toward
> them. Every time I hold my peace, and cease to extol Thy wondrous virtues,
> Thy Spirit impelleth me to cry out before all who are in Thy heaven and on Thy
> earth; and every time I am still, the breaths wafted from the right hand of Thy
> will and purpose pass over me, and stir me up, and I find myself to be as a leaf
> which lieth at the mercy of the winds of Thy decree, and is carried away
> whithersoever Thou dost permit or command it. Every man of insight who
> considereth what hath been revealed by me, will be persuaded that Thy Cause is
> not in my hands, but in Thy hands, and will recognize that the reins of power
> are held not in my grasp but in Thy grasp, and are subject to Thy sovereign
> might. And yet, Thou seest, O my God, how the inhabitants of Thy realm have
> arrayed themselves against me, and inflict upon me every moment of my life
> what causeth the realities of Thy chosen ones and trusted ones to tremble.131
> 
> Purpose, promise, desire of all prophets and messengers
> now revealed as heralded in all scriptures
> 
> The Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the
> Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire
> of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, pp. 306–307.
> 
> and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a
> Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures.132
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.133
> 
> The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now
> come. The promises of God, as recorded in the holy Scriptures, have all been
> fulfilled. Out of Zion hath gone forth the Law of God, and Jerusalem, and the
> hills and land thereof, are filled with the glory of His Revelation. Happy is the
> man that pondereth in his heart that which hath been revealed in the Books of
> God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Meditate upon this, O ye beloved of
> God, and let your ears be attentive unto His Word, so that ye may, by His grace
> and mercy, drink your fill from the crystal waters of constancy, and become as
> steadfast and immovable as the mountain in His Cause.134
> 
> The Best Beloved is come and every hidden thing made known
> 
> The Best-Beloved is come. In His right hand is the sealed Wine of His
> name. Happy is the man that turneth unto Him, and drinketh his fill, and
> exclaimeth: “Praise be to Thee, O Revealer of the signs of God!” By the
> righteousness of the Almighty!        Every hidden thing hath been manifested
> through the power of truth. All the favours of God have been sent down, as a
> token of His grace. The waters of everlasting life have, in their fullness, been
> proffered unto men. Every single cup hath been borne round by the hand of the
> Well-Beloved. Draw near, and tarry not, though it be for one short moment.135
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 5.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 10–11.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 12–13.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 34.
> 
> Highest, final consummation of all past Dispensations unparalleled in past
> or future;
> Jehovah, Spirit of Truth, Great Announcement
> 
> “I testify before God,” proclaims Bahá’u’lláh, “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.” “In this most mighty Revelation,” He unequivocally announces,
> “all the Dispensations of the past have attained their highest, their final
> consummation.” “That which hath been made manifest in this pre-eminent, this
> most exalted Revelation, stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will
> future ages witness its like.”      “He it is,” referring to Himself He further
> proclaims, “Who in the Old Testament hath been named Jehovah, Who in the
> Gospel hath been designated as the Spirit of Truth, and in the Qur’án acclaimed
> as the Great Announcement.” “But for Him no Divine Messenger would have
> been invested with the robe of prophethood, nor would any of the sacred
> scriptures have been revealed. To this bear witness all created things.” “The
> word which the one true God uttereth in this day, though that word be the most
> familiar and commonplace of terms, is invested with supreme, with unique
> distinction.” “The generality of mankind is still immature. Had it acquired
> sufficient capacity We would have bestowed upon it so great a measure of Our
> knowledge that all who dwell on earth and in heaven would have found
> themselves, by virtue of the grace streaming from Our pen, completely
> independent of all knowledge save the knowledge of God, and would have been
> securely established upon the throne of abiding tranquillity.”136
> 
> “Followers of the Gospel,” Bahá’u’lláh addressing the whole of
> Christendom exclaims, “behold the gates of heaven are flung open. He that had
> ascended unto it is now come. Give ear to His voice calling aloud over land
> and sea, announcing to all mankind the advent of this Revelation—a Revelation
> through the agency of which the Tongue of Grandeur is now proclaiming: ‘Lo,
> the sacred Pledge hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come!’”
> “The voice of the Son of Man is calling aloud from the sacred vale: ‘Here am I,
> here am I, O God my God!’ … whilst from the Burning Bush breaketh forth the
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 103–
> 104.
> 
> cry: ‘Lo, the Desire of the world is made manifest in His transcendent glory!’
> The Father hath come. That which ye were promised in the Kingdom of God is
> fulfilled. This is the Word which the Son veiled when He said to those around
> Him that at that time they could not bear it … Verily the Spirit of Truth is come
> to guide you unto all truth … He is the One Who glorified the Son and exalted
> His Cause …” “The Comforter Whose advent all the scriptures have promised
> is now come that He may reveal unto you all knowledge and wisdom. Seek
> Him over the entire surface of the earth, haply ye may find Him.”137
> 
> King of Days, Most Great Day of God
> 
> “This is the King of Days,” He thus extols the age that has witnessed the
> advent of His Revelation, “the Day that hath seen the coming of the Bestbeloved, Him Who through all eternity hath been acclaimed the Desire of the
> World.” “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.”138
> 
> “Seize your chance,” He admonishes His followers, “inasmuch as a fleeting
> moment in this Day excelleth centuries of a bygone age … Neither sun nor
> moon hath witnessed a day such as this … It is evident that every age in which
> a Manifestation of God hath lived is divinely ordained and may, in a sense, be
> characterized as God’s appointed Day. This Day, however, is unique and is to
> be distinguished from those that have preceded it.139
> 
> World-wide regeneration
> 
> “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 world-wide regeneration.” “This is,” He adds, “the most great, the most
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 104–
> 105.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 106.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 107.
> 
> joyful tidings imparted by the pen of this wronged One to mankind.” “How
> great,” He in another passage exclaims, “is the Cause! How staggering the
> weight of its message! This is the Day of which it hath been said: ‘O my son!
> verily God will bring everything to light though it were but the weight of a
> grain of mustard seed, and hidden in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth;
> for God is subtile, informed of all.’” “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 will assuredly
> reveal it in this day, pure and cleansed from dross.” “He that partaketh of the
> waters of My Revelation will taste all the incorruptible delights ordained by
> God from the beginning that hath no beginning to the end that hath no end.”
> “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 splendour, 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.”140
> 
> God’s Revelation now on unassailable foundation
> 
> “The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an
> unassailable, an enduring foundation. Storms of human strife are powerless to
> undermine its basis, nor will men’s fanciful theories succeed in damaging its
> structure.”141
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s relation to God
> 
> “Naught is seen in My temple but the Temple of God, and in My beauty but
> His Beauty, and in My being but His Being, and in My self but His Self, and in
> My movement but His Movement, and in My acquiescence but His
> Acquiescence, and in My pen but His Pen, the Mighty, the All-Praised. There
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 107.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 109.
> 
> hath not been in My soul but the Truth, and in Myself naught could be seen but
> God.”142
> 
> A new race of men
> 
> “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.”143
> 
> Man’s unique distinction and his purpose
> 
> Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through
> the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer
> upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a
> capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary
> purpose underlying the whole of creation …. Upon the inmost reality of each
> and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it
> a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man,
> however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and
> made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been
> singled out for so great a favour, so enduring a bounty.144
> 
> The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable
> him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim,
> this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and
> weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness. Whoso hath recognized the
> Day Spring of Divine guidance and entered His holy court hath drawn nigh
> unto God and attained His Presence, a Presence which is the real Paradise, and
> of which the loftiest mansions of heaven are but a symbol.145
> 
> c) The Covenant
> 
> God’s love, creation, revelation: man’s response and reward
> 
> O SON OF MAN!
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 109.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 109–
> 110.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 65.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 70.
> 
> Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I
> knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine
> image and revealed to thee My beauty.146
> 
> O SON OF MAN!
> I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that
> I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.147
> 
> O SON OF BEING!
> Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no
> wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.148
> 
> O SON OF BEING!
> Thy Paradise is My love; thy heavenly home, reunion with Me. Enter
> therein and tarry not. This is that which hath been destined for thee in Our
> kingdom above and Our exalted Dominion.149
> 
> Turn away from self
> 
> O SON OF MAN!
> If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure,
> regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in
> thee.150
> 
> God’s three most holy words
> 
> O MY FRIENDS!
> 
> Have ye forgotten that true and radiant morn, when in those hallowed and
> blessed surroundings ye were all gathered in My presence beneath the shade of
> the tree of life, which is planted in the all-glorious paradise? Awe-struck ye
> listened as I gave utterance to these three most holy words: O friends! Prefer
> not your will to Mine, never desire that which I have not desired for you, and
> approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings.
> Would ye but sanctify your souls, ye would at this present hour recall that place
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 3.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 4.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 5.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 6.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 7
> 
> and those surroundings, and the truth of My utterance should be made evident
> unto all of you.151
> 
> Maturity of prayer
> 
> I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to
> worship Thee.152
> 
> I bear witness to Thy unity and Thy oneness, and that Thou art God, and that
> there is none other God beside Thee. Thou hast, verily, revealed Thy Cause,
> fulfilled Thy Covenant, and opened wide the door of Thy grace to all that dwell
> in heaven and on earth.153
> 
> O Thou the Desire of the world and the Beloved of the nations! Thou seest
> me turning toward Thee, and rid of all attachment to anyone save Thee, and
> clinging to Thy cord, through whose movement the whole creation hath been
> stirred up.154
> 
> d) God’s Purpose
> 
> God, His Manifestations and man
> 
> The door of the knowledge of the Ancient Being hath ever been, and will
> continue for ever to be, closed in the face of men. No man’s understanding
> shall ever gain access unto His holy court. As a token of His mercy, however,
> and as a proof of His loving-kindness, He hath manifested unto men the Day
> Stars of His divine guidance, the Symbols of His divine unity, and hath
> ordained the knowledge of these sanctified Beings to be identical with the
> knowledge of His own Self. Whoso recognizeth them hath recognized God.
> Whoso hearkeneth to their call, hath hearkened to the Voice of God, and whoso
> testifieth to the truth of their Revelation, hath testified to the truth of God
> Himself. Whoso turneth away from them, hath turned away from God, and
> whoso disbelieveth in them, hath disbelieved in God. Every one of them is the
> Way of God that connecteth this world with the realms above, and the Standard
> of His Truth unto every one in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. They are the
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 19.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p. 314.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p.316.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p. 17.
> 
> Manifestations of God amidst men, the evidences of His Truth, and the signs of
> His glory.155
> 
> God’s purpose in sending His Prophets
> 
> The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all
> mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to
> resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forbearance and
> kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man with
> the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy
> and goodly deeds.156
> 
> God’s purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to
> liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to
> the light of true understanding.       The second is to ensure the peace and
> tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be
> established.157
> 
> The purpose underlying the revelation of every heavenly Book, nay, of
> every divinely-revealed verse, is to endue all men with righteousness and
> understanding, so that peace and tranquillity may be firmly established amongst
> them.     Whatsoever instilleth assurance into the hearts of men, whatsoever
> exalteth their station or promoteth their contentment, is acceptable in the sight
> of God. How lofty is the station which man, if he but choose to fulfil his high
> destiny, can attain!158
> 
> They that reflect their glory will, in like manner, continue to exist for
> evermore, for the Grace of God can never cease from flowing. This is a truth
> that none can disprove.159
> 
> Duty of man in this Day
> 
> The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of
> grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore, consider the
> largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 49–50.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 299.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 79–80.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 206.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 74.
> 
> palm of a man’s hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even
> a gallon-measure.160
> 
> The tie of servitude established between the worshiper and the adored One,
> between the creature and the Creator, should in itself be regarded as a token of
> His gracious favour unto men, and not as an indication of any merit they may
> possess. To this testifieth every true and discerning believer.161
> 
> Say: O people! The Day, promised unto you in all the Scriptures, is now
> come. Fear ye God, and withhold not yourselves from recognizing the One
> Who is the Object of your creation. Hasten ye unto Him. Better is this for you
> than the world and all that is therein. Would that ye could perceive it!162
> 
> O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the
> treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed unto
> you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting ocean. I have
> summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind the veil of
> concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine—words of
> consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the hand of divine
> power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and have wafted its holy, its
> hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all created things.            Who else but
> yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to remain unendowed with so great an
> outpouring of God’s transcendent and all-encompassing grace, with so bright a
> revelation of His resplendent mercy?163
> 
> e) Man’s Part
> 
> Man’s potentialities all to be manifested in this Day
> 
> The potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his
> destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be manifested in
> this promised Day of God.164
> 
> Each a prescribed measure manifested through own volition
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 8.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 193–194.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 314.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 327–328.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 340.
> 
> Know thou that all men have been created in the nature made by God, the
> Guardian, the Self-Subsisting.     Unto each one hath been prescribed a preordained measure, as decreed in God’s mighty and guarded Tablets. All that
> which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of
> your own volition. Your own acts testify to this truth.165
> 
> Twofold obligation: steadfastness and observance of laws
> 
> The ordinances of God have been sent down from the heaven of His most
> august Revelation.      All must diligently observe them.          Man’s supreme
> distinction, his real advancement, his final victory, have always depended, and
> will continue to depend, upon them. Whoso keepeth the commandments of
> God shall attain everlasting felicity.
> 
> A twofold obligation resteth upon him who hath recognized the Day Spring
> of the Unity of God, and acknowledged the truth of Him Who is the
> Manifestation of His oneness.       The first is steadfastness in His love, such
> steadfastness that neither the clamour of the enemy nor the claims of the idle
> pretender can deter him from cleaving unto Him Who is the Eternal Truth, a
> steadfastness that taketh no account of them whatever. The second is strict
> observance of the laws He hath prescribed—laws which He hath always
> ordained, and will continue to ordain, unto men, and through which the truth
> may be distinguished and separated from falsehood.166
> 
> Each heart a scat for revelation of His glory
> 
> He hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of His servants, and made
> them each a seat for the revelation of His glory. Wherefore, sanctify them from
> every defilement, that the things for which they were created may be engraven
> upon them. This indeed is a token of God’s bountiful favour.167
> 
> God’s counsels
> 
> Strive, O people, that your eyes may be directed towards the mercy of God,
> that your hearts may be attuned to His wondrous remembrance, that your souls
> may rest confidently upon His grace and bounty, that your feet may tread the
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 149.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 289–290.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 297.
> 
> path of His good-pleasure. Such are the counsels which I bequeath unto you.
> Would that ye might follow My counsels!168
> 
> God’s method unendingly
> 
> There can be no doubt whatever that if for one moment the tide of His mercy
> and grace were to be withheld from the world, it would completely perish. For
> this reason, from the beginning that hath no beginning the portals of Divine
> mercy have been flung open to the face of all created things, and the clouds of
> Truth will continue to the end that hath no end to rain on the soil of human
> capacity, reality and personality their favours and bounties. Such hath been
> God’s method continued from everlasting to everlasting.169
> 
> Station of true believer
> 
> “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,” He similarly affirms, “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.”170
> 
> “Fishers of men” to “quickeners of mankind”
> 
> Verily, He (Jesus) said: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become
> fishers of men.’ In this day, however, We say: ‘Come ye after Me, that We
> may make you to become quickeners of mankind.'’
> 
> The Tongue of Grandeur hath, however, in the day of His manifestation
> proclaimed: “It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who
> loveth the world.” Through the power released by these exalted words He hath
> lent a fresh impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men’s hearts, and
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 297.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 68–69.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 108.
> 
> hath obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation from God’s holy
> Book.171
> 
> Justice best beloved
> 
> O SON OF SPIRIT!
> The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away
> therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By
> its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others,
> and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy
> neighbour. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behoveth thee to be. Verily justice
> is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine
> eyes.172
> 
> Service of entire human race
> 
> That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the
> entire human race.173
> 
> House of Justice in each city, consultation and divine guidance
> 
> The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established
> wherein shall gather counsellors to the number of Bahá [9], and should it
> exceed this number it doth not matter. They should consider themselves as
> entering the Court of the presence of God, the Exalted, the Most High, and as
> beholding Him Who is the Unseen. It behoveth them to be the trusted ones of
> the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed
> of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel
> together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His
> sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet
> and seemly.174
> 
> “It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice,” Bahá’u’lláh, on
> the other hand, declares in the Eighth Leaf of the Exalted Paradise, “to take
> counsel together regarding those things which have not outwardly been
> revealed in the Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable to them. God will
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 95–96.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 2.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 250.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 29.
> 
> verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He verily is the Provider,
> the Omniscient.”175
> 
> Ever-advancing civilization
> 
> All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing
> civilization.176
> 
> Divine favour fully vouchsafed
> 
> The mystic and wondrous Bride, hidden ere this beneath the veiling of
> utterance, hath now, by the grace of God and His divine favour, been made
> manifest even as the resplendent light shed by the beauty of the Beloved. I bear
> witness, O friends! that the favour is complete, the argument fulfilled, the proof
> manifest and the evidence established.          Let it now be seen what your
> endeavours in the path of detachment will reveal. In this wise hath the divine
> favour been fully vouchsafed unto you and unto them that are in heaven and on
> earth. All praise to God, the Lord of all Worlds.177
> 
> f) The Appointment of the Centre of the Covenant
> 
> Tablet of the Branch
> 
> He is Eternal in His Abhá 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
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 149.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 215.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 82.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Enter, O people, beneath the shelter of the Word! Then drink therefrom the
> choice wine of inner significances and utterances; for therein is hidden the
> kawthar178 of the glorious One—and it hath appeared from the horizon of the
> Will of your Lord, the merciful, with wonderful lights.
> 
> Say: Verily, the ocean of pre-existence hath branched forth from this most
> great Ocean. Blessed, therefore, is he who abides upon Its shores, and is of
> those who are established thereon. Verily, this most sacred temple of ‘Abhá—
> the branch of Holiness—hath branched forth from the Sadratu’l-Muntahá.179
> Blessed is whosoever sought shelter beneath it and is of those who rest therein.
> 
> Say: Verily, the branch of command hath sprung forth from this root which
> God hath firmly planted in the ground of the will, the limb of which has been
> elevated to a station which encompasses all existence. Therefore, exalted be He
> for this creation, the lofty, the blessed, the inaccessible, the mighty!
> 
> O ye people! Draw nigh unto It, and taste the fruits of its knowledge and
> wisdom on the part of the mighty, the knowing One. Whosoever will not taste
> thereof shall be deprived of the bounty, even though he hath partaken of all that
> is in the earth -were ye of those who know.
> 
> Say: Verily a word hath gone forth in favour from the most great Tablet and
> God has adorned It with the mantle of Himself, and made it sovereign over all
> in the earth and a sign of His grandeur and omnipotence among the creatures; in
> order that, through it, the people shall praise their Lord, the mighty, the
> powerful, the wise; and that, through it, they shall glorify their creator and
> sanctify the self of God which standeth within all things. Verily, this is naught
> but a Revelation upon the part of the wise, the ancient One!
> 
> Say: O people, praise ye God, for its Manifestation, for verily it is the most
> great favour upon you and the most perfect blessing upon you; and through
> 
> Kawthar: lit. abundance. Traditionally, a lake or river in Paradise.
> Sadratu'l-Muntahá: the Divine Lote Tree; the tree beyond which there is no passing
> (i.e. the Manifestation of God).
> 
> Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whosoever turns to Him hath surely
> turned unto God, and whosoever turneth away from Him hath turned away from
> My beauty, denied My proof and is of those who transgress. Verily, He is the
> remembrance of God amongst you and His trust within you, and His
> manifestation unto you and His appearance among the servants who are nigh.
> Thus have I been commanded to convey to you the message of God, your
> Creator; and I have delivered to you that of which I was commanded.
> Whereupon, thereunto testifieth God, then His angels, then His messengers, and
> then His holy servants.
> 
> Inhale the fragrances of the Ridván from His roses and be not of those who
> are deprived.     Appreciate the bounty of God upon you and be not veiled
> therefrom—and, verily, We have sent Him forth in the temple of man. Thus
> praise ye the Lord, the Originator of whatsoever He willeth through His wise
> and inviolable Command!
> 
> Verily, those who withhold themselves from the shelter of the Branch are
> indeed lost in the wilderness of perplexity; and are consumed by the heat of
> self-desire, and are of those who perish.
> 
> Hasten, O people, unto the shelter of God, in order that He may protect you
> from the heat of the Day whereon none shall find for himself any refuge or
> shelter except beneath the shelter of His Name, the clement, the forgiving!
> Clothe yourselves, O people, with the garment of assurance, in order that He
> may protect you from the dart of doubts and superstitions, and that ye may be
> of those who are assured in those days wherein none shall ever be assured and
> none shall be firmly established in the Cause, except by severing himself from
> all that is possessed by the people and turning unto the holy and radiant
> Outlook.
> 
> O ye people! Do ye take unto yourselves the Jebt180 as a helper other than
> God, and do ye seek the Tághút181 as a Lord besides your Lord the almighty, the
> omnipotent? Forsake, O people, their mention, then hold the chalice of life in
> 
> Jebt: Idol worshipped by the ancient Egyptians from which the name Egypt was
> derived.
> (ághút: Another idol.
> 
> the Name of your Lord, the merciful. Verily, by God, the existent world is
> quickened through a drop thereof, were ye of those who know.
> 
> Say: In that Day there is no refuge for any one save the command of God,
> and no salvation for any soul but God. Verily, this is the truth and there is
> naught after truth but manifest error.
> 
> Verily, God hath made it incumbent upon every soul to deliver His Cause
> according to his ability. Thus hath the command been recorded by the finger of
> might and power upon the Tablet of majesty and greatness.
> 
> Whosoever quickens one soul in this Cause is like unto one quickening all
> the servants and the Lord shall bring him forth in the day of resurrection into
> the Ridván of oneness, adorned with the Mantle of Himself, the protector, the
> mighty, the generous! Thus will ye assist your Lord, and naught else save this
> shall ever be mentioned in this day before God, your Lord and the Lord of your
> forefathers.
> 
> As to thee, O servant, hearken unto the admonition given unto thee in the
> Tablet; then seek the grace of thy Lord at all times. Then spread the Tablet
> among those who believe in God and in His verses; so that they may follow that
> which is contained therein, and be of those who are praiseworthy.
> 
> Say: O people, cause no corruption in the earth and dispute not with men;
> for, verily, this is not worthy of those who have chosen in the shelter of their
> Lord a station which shall indeed remain secure.
> 
> If ye find one athirst, give him to drink from the chalice of Kawthar182 and
> Tasnín;183 and if ye find one endowed with an attentive ear, read unto him the
> verses of God, the mighty, the merciful, the compassionate!                  Unloose the
> tongue with excellent utterance, then admonish the people if ye find them
> advancing unto the sanctuary of God; otherwise abandon them unto themselves
> and forsake them in the abyss of hell. Beware lest ye scatter the pearls of inner
> significance before every barren, dumb one. Verily, the blind are deprived of
> witnessing the lights and are unable to distinguish between the stone and the
> holy, precious pearl.
> 
> Kawthar: lit. abundance. Traditionally, a lake or river in Paradise.
> Tasnín: fountain in Paradise.
> 
> Verily, wert thou to read the most mighty, wonderful verses to the stone for
> a thousand years, will it understand, or will they take any effect therein? No!
> by thy Lord, the merciful, the clement! If thou readest all the verses of God
> unto the deaf, will he hear a single letter? No! Verily, by the beauty, the
> mighty, the ancient!
> 
> Thus have We delivered unto thee some of the jewels of wisdom and
> utterance, in order that thou mayest gaze unto the direction of thy Lord and be
> severed from all the creatures. May the spirit and glory rest upon thee, and
> upon those who dwell upon the plain of holiness and who remain in the Cause
> of their Lord in manifest steadfastness!184
> 
> Guardian’s exposition of the significance of the Book of the Covenant
> 
> A dynamic process, divinely propelled, possessed of undreamt-of
> potentialities, world-embracing in scope, world-transforming in its ultimate
> consequences, had been set in motion on that memorable night when the Báb
> communicated the purpose of His mission to Mullá Husayn in an obscure
> corner of Shíráz. It acquired a tremendous momentum with the first intimations
> of Bahá’u’lláh’s dawning Revelation amidst the darkness of the Síyáh-Chál185
> of Tihrán. It was further accelerated by the Declaration of His mission on the
> eve of His banishment from Baghdád.             It moved to a climax with the
> proclamation of that same mission during the tempestuous years of His exile in
> Adrianople. Its full significance was disclosed when the Author of that Mission
> issued His historic summonses, appeals and warnings to the kings of the earth
> and the world’s ecclesiastical leaders. It was finally consummated by the laws
> and ordinances which He formulated, by the principles which He enunciated
> and by the institutions which He ordained during the concluding years of His
> ministry in the prison-city of ‘Akká.
> 
> To direct and canalize these forces let loose by this Heaven-sent process,
> and to insure their harmonious and continuous operation after His ascension, an
> instrument divinely ordained, invested with indisputable authority, organically
> linked with the Author of the Revelation Himself, was clearly indispensable.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Bahá’í World Faith, pp. 204–207.
> Síyáh-Chál: The Black Pit in the slums of Tihrán where, in August 1853,
> Bahá’u’lláh was chained in darkness. Entry to the underground dungeon is down
> three flights of steps.
> 
> That instrument Bahá’u’lláh had expressly provided through the institution of
> the Covenant, an institution which He had firmly established prior to His
> ascension. This same Covenant He had anticipated in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, had
> alluded to it as He bade His last farewell to the members of His family, who
> had been summoned to His bed-side, in the days immediately preceding His
> ascension, and had incorporated it in a special document which He designated
> as “the Book of My Covenant,” and which He entrusted, during His last illness,
> to His eldest son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
> 
> Written entirely in His own hand; unsealed, on the ninth day after His
> ascension in the presence of nine witnesses chosen from amongst His
> companions and members of His Family; read subsequently, on the afternoon
> of that same day, before a large company assembled in His Most Holy Tomb,
> including His sons, some of the Báb’s kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers,
> this unique and epoch-making Document, designated by Bahá’u’lláh as His
> “Most Great Tablet,” and alluded to by Him as the “Crimson Book” in His
> “Epistle to the Son of the Wolf,” can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any
> previous Dispensation, not excluding that of the Báb Himself. For nowhere in
> the books pertaining to any of the world’s religious systems, not even among
> the writings of the Author of the Bábí Revelation, do we find any single
> document establishing a Covenant endowed with an authority comparable to
> the Covenant which Bahá’u’lláh had Himself instituted.
> 
> “So firm and mighty is this Covenant,” He Who is its appointed Centre has
> affirmed, “that from the beginning of time until the present day no religious
> Dispensation hath produced its like.” “It is indubitably clear,” He, furthermore,
> has stated, “that the pivot of the oneness of mankind is nothing else but the
> power of the Covenant.” “Know thou,” He has written, “that the ‘Sure Handle’
> mentioned from the foundation of the world in the Books, the Tablets and the
> Scriptures of old is naught else but the Covenant and the Testament.” And
> again: “The lamp of the Covenant is the light of the world, and the words
> traced by the Pen of the Most High a limitless ocean.” “The Lord, the All-
> Glorified,” He has moreover declared, “hath, beneath the shade of the Tree of
> Anísá (Tree of Life), made a new Covenant and established a great Testament
> …. Hath such a Covenant been established in any previous Dispensation, age,
> period or century? Hath such a Testament, set down by the Pen of the Most
> 
> High, ever been witnessed? No, by God!” And finally: “The power of the
> Covenant is as the heat of the sun which quickeneth and promoteth the
> development of all created things on earth. The light of the Covenant, in like
> manner, is the educator of the minds, the spirits, the hearts and souls of men.”
> To this same Covenant He has in His writings referred as the “Conclusive
> Testimony,” the “Universal Balance,” the “Magnet of God’s grace,” the
> “Upraised Standard,” the “Irrefutable Testament,” “the all-mighty Covenant,
> the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed”
> and “one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle.”
> 
> Extolled by the writer of the Apocalypse as “the Ark of His (God)
> Testament”; associated with the gathering beneath the “Tree of Anísá” (Tree of
> Life) mentioned by Bahá’u’lláh in the Hidden Words; glorified by Him, in other
> passages of His writings, as the “Ark of Salvation” and as “the Cord stretched
> betwixt the earth and the Abhá Kingdom,” this Covenant has been bequeathed
> to posterity in a Will and Testament which, together with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and
> several Tablets, in which the rank and station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are
> unequivocally disclosed, constitute the chief buttresses designed by the Lord of
> the Covenant Himself to shield and support, after His ascension, the appointed
> Centre of His Faith and the Delineator of its future institutions.186
> 
> The Book of the Covenant (Kitáb-i-‘Ahd)
> 
> Although the Most High Horizon is devoid of trivial possessions of the
> earth, we have nevertheless bequeathed unto our heirs a noble and peerless
> heritage within the treasure-house of trust and resignation.
> 
> We have left no treasure nor have we added to man’s pains.
> 
> By the Life of God! In earthly riches fear is hidden and peril is concealed.
> Consider, then take warning by what the God of Mercy hath revealed in the
> Qur’án:
> 
> “Woe unto those who malign and speak evil of their fellows; who hoard
> earthly goods and count their riches.”
> 
> Earthly possessions are unstable; wherefore whatsoever passeth or suffereth
> vicissitudes is unworthy of regard except to a limited measure.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 237-239.
> 
> In bearing hardships and tribulations and in revealing verses and expounding
> proofs, it has been the purpose of this oppressed One to extinguish the fire of
> hate and animosity, that, haply, the horizons of the hearts of mankind be
> illumined with the light of concord and attain real tranquillity.
> 
> The light of the following utterance shineth from the horizon of the Divine
> Tablet, which should be observed by all: Oh people of the world! I counsel
> you to act in a manner which shall tend to elevate your stations. Cling to divine
> virtue and obey the divine law. Truly I say, the tongue is for mentioning that
> which is good; do not defile it by evil speech. “God hath forgiven your past
> ways.”   You must henceforth speak that which is worthy.            Shun reviling,
> maligning, and whatsoever will offend your fellowmen.
> 
> Man’s station is great. Ere this, the following exalted words have flowed
> forth from the Pen of Abhá.
> 
> This is a Day great and blessed. Whatsoever was hidden in man is today
> being revealed. The station of man is great, were he to cling to truth and
> righteousness and be firm and steadfast in the Cause. Before the God of Mercy,
> a true man appears like unto heaven. The sun and the moon of that heaven are
> his sight and hearing and its stars are his shining attributes. His station is the
> highest and his signs are the educator of the world.
> 
> In this Day, every believer who discovered the fragrance of the garment and
> turned with a pure heart unto the most high horizon is indeed recorded in the
> Crimson Tablet as of the people of Bahá.
> 
> Hold the chalice of My grace in My name. Then drain it in My mention, the
> mighty, the wonderful!
> 
> Oh! people of the world! The religion of God is to create love and unity; do
> not make it the cause of enmity and discord. All that is regarded by men of
> insight and the people of the most lofty outlook as the means for safeguarding
> and effecting the peace and tranquillity of man, has flowed from the Supreme
> Pen. But the ignorant ones who are the victim of self and desire, are heedless
> of the consummate wisdom of the truly wise One, and their words and deeds
> are prompted by fancy and superstition.
> 
> Oh! ye chosen of God and His trusted ones! Kings are the manifestors of
> God’s power and the sources of His majesty and affluence. Pray ye in their
> behalf The government of the earth has been vouchsafed unto them. But the
> hearts of men He decreed unto Himself He forbade conflict and strife—a rigid
> prohibition in the Book.          This is the Decree of God in this most great
> Manifestation; and God hath preserved it from annulment and clothed it with
> the broidered garment of confirmation. Verily, He is the All-Knowing, the All-
> Wise!
> 
> It is incumbent upon all to support those rulers and chiefs of state who are
> adorned with the raiment of justice and equity. Blessed are the rulers and the
> learned in Al-Bahá! They verily are My trustees amongst My servants, and the
> sources of My Decrees amongst My people. Upon them rest My Bahá, My
> mercy, and My grace which hath encircled the world.
> 
> Anent this matter, we have revealed in the Book of Aqdas the following
> words which radiate the light of divine mercy:
> 
> Oh! my Branches! A mighty power and supreme potency is hidden and
> concealed in the world of being.           Focus your gaze upon it and upon the
> direction of its unity, not upon the differences which are apparent therein.
> 
> God’s Will and Testament enjoins upon the branches, the twigs, and the
> kinsfolk, one and all, to gaze unto the most great Branch. Consider what we
> have revealed in my Book of Aqdas, to wit:
> 
> “When the sea of My Presence is exhausted and the Book of Origin hath
> reached its end, turn you unto him (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) who is desired by God—he
> who is issued from this ancient Root.”187
> 
> The purpose of this sacred verse is the most great Branch. Thus have we
> declared the matter as a favour on our part, and we are the gracious, the
> beneficent!
> 
> God hath, verily, decreed the station of the great Branch next to that of the
> most great Branch. Verily, He is the wise Ordainer. We have chosen Al-Akbar
> after the Al-Azam, as a command on the part of God, the All-Knowing, the
> Omniscient.
> 
> See quotation after the next from Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 63
> 
> All must regard the other Branches with affection, but God bath not decreed
> unto them any right to the people’s property.
> 
> Oh! my branches, my twigs, and my kinsfolk! I counsel you to manifest
> divine virtue, and to act in accord with the Law, and with whatsoever is
> befitting and will elevate your stations.
> 
> Truly I say, virtue is the greatest commander which leads the Cause of God
> to victory, and the legions which deserve this commander are pure, sanctified,
> and praiseworthy deeds and attributes.
> 
> Say: Oh servants! Do not make the cause of order a cause for disorder, nor
> the means of unity a means for disunity. It is hoped that the people of Bahá
> will observe the sacred verse:        “Say, all are created by God.”     This lofty
> utterance is like unto water for quenching the fire of hate and hostility which is
> hidden and stored in men’s hearts and minds. This single utterance will cause
> the various sects and creeds to attain the light of true unity. Verily, He speaketh
> truth and guideth to the right path; and He is the Mighty, the Glorious, the
> Omnipotent.
> 
> For the honour of the Cause and the promotion of the Word—it is necessary
> that all shall respect and have regard for the Branches. This command has been
> recorded once and again in the divine Book.             Blessed is he who obeys
> whatsoever hath been ordained on the part of God, the ancient ruler. All shall
> also have respect for the women-members of Our household and for the Afnán
> and kinsfolk. We likewise counsel you to serve mankind and bring peace to the
> world.
> 
> All that leads to the quickening of the peoples and the salvation of the world
> hath been revealed from the kingdom of utterance by the Lord of mankind.
> Hearken to the exhortations of the Supreme Pen with ideal cars. These are
> preferable unto you above all that is on the earth. Whereunto beareth witness
> my Book, the blessed, the glorious!188
> 
> Guardian’s summary of the Book of the Covenant
> 
> In this weighty and incomparable Document its Author discloses the
> character of that “excellent and priceless heritage” bequeathed by Him to His
> 
> Bahá’í World Faith (1943), pp. 207–10.
> 
> “heirs”; proclaims afresh the fundamental purpose of His Revelation; enjoins
> the “peoples of the world” to hold fast to that which will “elevate” their
> “station”; announces to them that “God hath forgiven what is past”; stresses the
> sublimity of man’s station; discloses the primary aim of the Faith of God;
> directs the faithful to pray for the welfare of the kings of the earth, “the
> manifestations of the power, and the daysprings of the might and riches, of
> God”; invests them with the rulership of the earth; singles out as His special
> domain the hearts of men; forbids categorically strife and contention;
> commands His followers to aid those rulers who are “adorned with the
> ornament of equity and justice”; and directs, in particular, the Aghsán (His
> sons) to ponder the “mighty force and the consummate power that lieth
> concealed in the world of being.” He bids them, moreover, together with the
> Afnán (the Báb’s kindred) and His own relatives, to “turn, one and all, unto the
> Most Great Branch (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)”; identifies Him with “the One Whom God
> hath purposed,” “Who hath branched from this pre-existent Root,” referred to in
> the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; ordains the station of the “Greater Branch” (Mírzá
> Muhammad-‘Alí) to be beneath that of the “Most Great Branch” (‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá); exhorts the believers to treat the Aghsán with consideration and
> affection; counsels them to respect His family and relatives, as well as the
> kindred of the Báb; denies His sons “any right to the property of others”;
> enjoins on them, on His kindred and on that of the Báb to “fear God, to do that
> which is meet and seemly” and to follow the things that will “exalt” their
> station; warns all men not to allow “the means of order to be made the cause of
> confusion, and the instrument of union an occasion for discord”; and concludes
> with an exhortation calling upon the faithful to “serve all nations,” and to strive
> for the “betterment of the world.”189
> 
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas instruction to turn to the Branch after the passing of
> Bahá’u’lláh
> 
> When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation
> is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath
> branched from this Ancient Root.190
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 239–240.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 63.
> 
> When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of
> Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye
> understand not in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mighty
> Stock.191
> 
> Claim to further revelation
> 
> Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God, ere the expiration of a
> full thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying impostor. We pray God
> that He may graciously assist him to retract and repudiate such claim. Should
> he repent, God will, no doubt, forgive him. If, however, he persisteth in his
> error, God will, assuredly, send down one who will deal mercilessly with him.
> Terrible, indeed, is God in punishing!        Whosoever interpreteth this verse
> otherwise than its obvious meaning is deprived of the Spirit of God and of His
> mercy which encompasseth all created things. Fear God, and follow not your
> idle fancies. Nay, rather, follow the bidding of your Lord, the Almighty, the
> All-Wise.192
> 
> g) Bahá’u’lláh about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> “Apple of Mine eye”
> 
> “O Thou Who art the apple of Mine eye!” Bahá’u’lláh, in His own
> handwriting, thus addresses ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “My glory, the ocean of My lovingkindness, the sun of My bounty, the heaven of My mercy rest upon Thee. We
> pray God to illumine the world through Thy knowledge and wisdom, to ordain
> for Thee that which will gladden Thine heart and impart consolation to Thine
> eyes.”193
> 
> Shield to all in heaven and earth
> 
> “We have made Thee a shelter for all mankind,” He, in yet another Tablet,
> affirms, “a shield unto all who are in heaven and on earth, a stronghold for
> whosoever hath believed in God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing. God
> grant that through Thee He may protect them, may enrich and sustain them, that
> He may inspire Thee with that which shall be a wellspring of wealth unto all
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 82.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 32.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 135.
> 
> created things, an ocean of bounty unto all men, and the dayspring of mercy
> unto all peoples.”194
> 
> Greatest Branch
> 
> O thou My Greatest Branch! …            Verily, we have ordained Thee the
> Guardian of all the creatures, and a Protection to all those in the heavens and
> earth, and a Fortress to those who believe in God, the One, the Omniscient! …
> I beg of Him to water the earth and all that is in it by Thee ….195
> 
> “Render Him victorious”
> 
> “Thou knowest, O my God,” Bahá’u’lláh, in a prayer revealed in ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá’s honour, supplicates, “that I desire for Him naught except that which
> Thou didst desire, and have chosen Him for no purpose save that which Thou
> hadst intended for Him. Render Him victorious, therefore, through Thy hosts
> of earth and heaven … Ordain, I beseech Thee, by the ardour of My love for
> Thee and My yearning to manifest Thy Cause, for Him, as well as for them that
> love Him, that which Thou hast destined for Thy Messengers and the Trustees
> of Thy Revelation. Verily, Thou art the Almighty, the All-Powerful.”196
> 
> “God’s ardent Mystery”
> 
> All the atoms of the earth have announced unto all created things that from
> behind the gate of the Prison-city there hath appeared and above its horizon
> there hath shone forth the Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty
> Branch of God—His ancient and immutable Mystery—proceeding on its way
> to another land.        Sorrow, thereby, hath enveloped this Prison-city, whilst
> another land rejoiceth. …
> 
> Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His footsteps have trodden, the
> eye that hath been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that hath
> been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted the
> sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through His remembrance,
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 135–
> 136.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted in Star of the West, IV:14, p. 239.
> Bahá’u’lláh quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 136.
> 
> the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of
> His writings.”197
> 
> WRITINGS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
> 
> a) Centre of the Covenant
> 
> Fulfilment of proof and prophecy entirely centred in Bahá’u’lláh and the
> Báb
> 
> “Every proof and prophecy,” is His still more emphatic warning, “every
> manner of evidence, whether based on reason or on the text of the scriptures
> and traditions, are to be regarded as centred in the persons of Bahá’u’lláh and
> the Báb. In them is to be found their complete fulfilment.”198
> 
> Station of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> The Blessed Beauty is the Sun of Truth, and His light the light of truth. The
> Báb is likewise the Sun of Truth, and His light the light of truth … My station
> is the station of servitude—a servitude which is complete, pure and real, firmly
> established, enduring, obvious, explicitly revealed and subject to no
> interpretation whatever … I am the Interpreter of the Word of God; such is my
> interpretation.”199
> 
> Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> “I affirm,” is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s own written comment on the Tablet of the
> Branch, “that the true meaning, the real significance, the innermost secret of
> these verses, of these very words, is my own servitude to the sacred Threshold
> of the Abhá Beauty, my complete self-effacement, my utter nothingness before
> Him. This is my resplendent crown, my most precious adorning. On this I
> pride myself in the kingdom of earth and heaven. Therein I glory among the
> company of the well-favoured!” “No one is permitted,” He warns us in the
> passage which immediately follows, “to give these verses any other
> interpretation.” “I am,” He, in this same connection, affirms, “according to the
> explicit texts of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd the manifest Interpreter
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 227–8.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp.
> 127–128.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 133.
> 
> of the Word of God … Whoso deviates from my interpretation is a victim of
> his own fancy.”200
> 
> But if any soul asks concerning the station of the Servant, the answer is—
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. If he enquires after the meaning of the Branch, the answer is—
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. If he desires to know the significance of the verse regarding the
> Branch, the answer is—‘Abdu’l-Bahá. If he insists upon the explanation of the
> meaning of the “Branch extended from the Ancient Root”, the answer is—
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.201
> 
> My name is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. My qualification is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. My reality is
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. My praise is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Thraldom to the Blessed Perfection
> is my glorious and refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my
> perpetual religion... No name, no title, no mention, no commendation have I,
> nor will ever have, except ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This is my longing. This is my
> greatest yearning. This is my eternal life. This is my everlasting glory.”202
> 
> Appointment of the Centre of the Covenant the greatest characteristic of
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation
> 
> As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, a specific
> teaching not given by any of the Prophets of the past: It is the ordination and
> appointment of the Centre of the Covenant. By this appointment and provision
> He has safeguarded and protected the religion of God against differences and
> schisms, making it impossible for anyone to create a new sect or faction of
> belief. To ensure unity and agreement He has entered into a Covenant with all
> the people of the world, including the interpreter and explainer of His
> teachings, so that no one may interpret or explain the religion of God according
> to his own view or opinion and thus create a sect founded upon his individual
> understanding of the divine Words. The Book of the Covenant or Testament of
> Bahá’u’lláh is the means of preventing such a possibility, for whosoever shall
> speak from the authority of himself alone shall be degraded. Be ye informed
> and cognizant of this.203
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 138.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VIII:14, p. 186.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 139.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 455–456.
> 
> Covenant unexampled
> 
> In accordance with the explicit text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Bahá’u’lláh hath
> made the Centre of the Covenant the Interpreter of His Word -a Covenant so
> firm and mighty that from the beginning of time until the present day no
> religious Dispensation hath produced its like.”204
> 
> Covenant distinctive, unique, leaves no occasion for difference
> 
> His Holiness Abraham, on Him be peace, made a covenant concerning His
> Holiness Moses and gave the glad-tidings of His coming. His Holiness Moses
> made a covenant concerning the Promised One, i.e. His Holiness Christ, and
> announced the good news of His Manifestation to the world. His Holiness
> Christ made a covenant concerning the Paraclete and gave the tidings of His
> coming. His Holiness the Prophet Muhammad made a covenant concerning
> His Holiness the Báb and the Báb was the One promised by Muhammad, for
> Muhammad gave the tidings of His coming.               The Báb made a Covenant
> concerning the Blessed Beauty of Bahá’u’lláh and gave the glad-tidings of His
> coming for the Blessed Beauty was the One promised by His Holiness the Báb.
> Bahá’u’lláh made a covenant concerning a promised One who will become
> manifest after one thousand or thousands of years. He likewise, with His
> Supreme Pen, entered into a great Covenant and Testament with all the Bahá’ís
> whereby they were all commanded to follow the Centre of the Covenant after
> His departure, and turn not away even to a hair’s breadth from obeying Him.
> 
> In the Book of Aqdas, He has given positive command in two clear instances
> and has explicitly appointed the Interpreter of the Book. Also in all the Divine
> Tablets, especially in the Chapter of The Branch—all the meanings of which
> mean the Servitude of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—all that was needed
> to explain the Centre of the Covenant and the Interpreter of the Book has been
> revealed from the Supreme Pen. Now as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the Interpreter of the
> Book He says that the “Chapter of The Branch” means ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that is,
> the Servitude of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and none other.205
> 
> In short, one of the specific teachings of this cycle of His Holiness
> Bahá’u’lláh which has not been manifest during the former cycles is that His
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted by Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 136.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Bahá’í World Faith, pp. 358–359.
> 
> Holiness Bahá’u’lláh left no occasion for difference. For in His blessed Day
> He made a Covenant and Testament with the Traces of the Supreme Pen and
> explained the One to whom all should turn; and He explicitly pointed to the
> Interpreter of the Book, and thus closed all doors to interpretations. We must
> all offer thanks to God for He gave us rest in this blessed cycle, and left no
> occasion for any one to hesitate. All must therefore obey and be submissive
> and wholly turn themselves to the one appointed by Him.206
> 
> In former cycles no distinct Covenant was made in writing by the Supreme
> Pen; no distinct personage was appointed to be the Standard differentiating
> falsehood from truth, so that whatsoever he said was to stand as truth and that
> which he repudiated was to be known as falsehood. At most His Holiness Jesus
> Christ gave only an intimation, a symbol, and that was but an indication of the
> solidity of Peter’s faith. When He mentioned his faith, His Holiness said,
> “Thou art Peter,” which means rock, “and upon this rock will I build My
> church.” This was a sanction of Peter’s faith; it was not indicative of his
> [Peter’s] being the Expounder of the Book-but was a confirmation of Peter’s
> faith.
> 
> But in this Dispensation of the Blessed Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh] among its
> distractions is that He did not leave people in perplexity. He entered into a
> Covenant and Testament with the people.               He appointed a Centre of the
> Covenant. He wrote with His own Pen and revealed it in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the
> Book of Laws, and Kitáb-i-‘Ahd, the Book of the Covenant, appointing Him
> [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] the Expounder of the Book. You must ask Him [‘Abdu’l-Bahá]
> regarding the meanings of the texts of the verses. Whatever He says is correct.
> Outside of this, in numerous Tablets He [Bahá’u’lláh] has explicitly recorded it,
> with clear, sufficient, valid, and forceful statements.           In the Tablet of the
> Branch He explicitly states: “Whatsoever The Branch says is right, or correct;
> and every person must obey The Branch with his life, with his heart, with his
> tongue. Without his will, not a word shall anyone utter.” This is an explicit
> text of the Blessed Beauty. So there is no excuse left for anybody. No soul
> shall. of himself, speak anything. Whatsoever His [‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s] tongue
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VIII:14, p. 187.
> 
> utters, whatsoever His pen records, that is correct; according to the explicit text
> of Bahá’u’lláh in the Tablet of the Branch.
> 
> His Holiness Abraham covenanted with regard to Moses. His Holiness
> Moses was the promised One of Abraham, and he, Moses covenanted with
> regard to His Holiness Christ, saying that Christ was the promised One. His
> Holiness Christ covenanted with regard to His Holiness “The Paraclete”, which
> means His Holiness Muhammad.              His Holiness Muhammad covenanted as
> regards the Báb, whom he called “My promised One”, His Holiness the Báb, in
> all his books, in all his epistles, explicitly covenanted with regard to the Blessed
> Beauty, Bahá’u’lláh, that Bahá’u’lláh was the promised One of his Holiness the
> Báb. His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh covenanted, not that I [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] am the
> promised One, but that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the Expounder of the Book and the
> Centre of His Covenant, and that the promised One of Bahá’u’lláh will appear
> after one thousand or thousands of years.              This is the Covenant which
> Bahá’u’lláh made.         If a person shall deviate, he is not acceptable at the
> Threshold of Bahá’u’lláh.          In case of difference, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be
> consulted. They must revolve around his good pleasure. After ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s,
> whenever the Universal House of justice is organized, it will ward off
> differences.207
> 
> Inasmuch as great differences and divergences of denominational belief had
> arisen throughout the past, every man with a new idea attributing it to God,
> Bahá’u’lláh desired that there should not be any ground or reason for
> disagreement among the Bahá’ís. Therefore, with His own pen He wrote the
> Book of His Covenant, addressing His relations and all people of the world,
> saying, “Verily, I have appointed One Who is the Centre of My Covenant. All
> must obey Him; all must turn to Him; He is the Expounder of My Book, and He
> is informed of My purpose. All must turn to Him. Whatsoever He says is
> correct, for, verily, He knoweth the texts of My Book. Other than He, no one
> doth know My Book.” The purpose of this statement is that there should never
> be discord and divergence among the Bahá’ís but that they should always be
> unified and agreed. … Therefore, whosoever obeys the Centre of the Covenant
> 
> Address of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, II:14, pp. 9–10; and XII:14, p.
> 227–228.
> 
> appointed by Bahá’u’lláh has obeyed Bahá’u’lláh, and whosoever disobeys
> Him has disobeyed Bahá’u’lláh.
> 
> Beware! Beware! lest anyone should speak from the authority of his own
> thoughts or create a new thing out of himself. … Bahá’u’lláh shuns such souls.
> I have expounded these things for you, for the conservation and protection of
> the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, in order that you may be informed, lest any souls
> shall deceive you and lest any souls shall cause suspicion among you. You
> must love all people, and yet if any souls put you in doubt, you must know that
> Bahá’u’lláh is severed from them. Whosoever works for unity and fellowship
> is a servant of Bahá’u’lláh, and Bahá’u’lláh is his assistant and helper.208
> 
> Spirit of unity in the divine words
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the interpreter of the aims, intents, and purposes of the
> words of the Blessed Perfection [Bahá’u’lláh], and is the interpreter of his own
> written words; and none can say that this or that is the intention conveyed
> therein, save ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The spirit of unity exists in the divine Words, and
> one who interprets them in such wise as to create division and discord, is indeed
> one who errs.209
> 
> b) Significance of the Covenant
> 
> Naught can annul His Covenant
> 
> Verily, God effecteth that which He pleaseth; naught can annul His
> Covenant; naught can obstruct His favour nor oppose His Cause! He doeth
> with His will that which pleaseth Him and He is powerful over all things!210
> 
> “There is a power in this Cause”
> 
> There is a power in this Cause—a mysterious power—far, far, far away
> from the ken of men and angels; that invisible power is the same cause of all
> these outward activities. It moves the hearts. It rends the mountains. It
> administers the complicated affairs of the Cause. It inspires the friends. It
> creates new spiritual worlds. This is the mystery of the Kingdom of Abhá!211
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 323–325.
> Pilgrim notes quoted in Star of the West, VI:6, p. 44.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. III, p. 598.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. XV, p.243.
> 
> “Ere the close of this century”
> 
> “Now in the world of being the Hand of divine power hath firmly laid the
> foundations of this all-highest bounty and this wondrous gift. Whatsoever is
> latent in the innermost of this holy cycle shall gradually appear and be made
> manifest, for now is but the beginning of its growth and the dayspring of the
> revelation of its signs. Ere the close of this century and of this age, it shall be
> made clear and evident how wondrous was that springtide and how heavenly
> was that gift!”212
> 
> The Covenant all-pervasive
> 
> Know thou, verily, the Covenant is an Orb which shines and gleams forth
> unto the universe. Verily, its light will dispel darkness, its sea will cast out the
> thick foam of suspicions upon the shore of perdition. Verily, naught in the
> world can ever resist the power of the kingdom. Should all mankind assemble,
> could they prevent the sun from its light, the winds from their blowing, the
> clouds from their showers. the mountains from their firmness or the stars from
> their beaming? No! By thy Lord, the Clement! Everything is subject to
> corruption; but the Covenant of thy Lord shall continue to pervade all
> regions.213
> 
> Spirit of the age
> 
> … the spirit of this age is the Covenant and the Testament of God. It is like
> the pulsating artery in the body of the world.214
> 
> Turn to the Kingdom of the Covenant
> 
> Consequently, turn thy face unto the Kingdom of the Covenant, thy heart
> beating with the love of God, thy soul attracted to the fragrances of god, thy
> tongue speaking of the appearances of the Kingdom of God, thy insight rending
> veils asunder and disclosing the realities of things-and with a power which may
> move the heart of all in the world.
> 
> This is a confirmation from the Lord of the effulgence, while all else save
> this shall never profit thee! This is that by reason of which thy face shall
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 111.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Bahá’í Scriptures, No. 641, pp. 320–1.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VIII:16, p. 219.
> 
> gleam, thy heart shall be dilated with joy, thy soul become pure, thy back
> strengthened, thy spirit rejoiced and thy identity quickened. Leave the people
> of suspicion behind thy back and adhere to the manifest signs.215
> 
> Power of the Covenant pulsating, penetrating
> 
> Strive at present as much as possible to raise the call of the divine kingdom,
> for this call bestows the spirit of life.      Endeavour to raise the call of the
> Covenant and Testament, for the power of the Covenant, like unto arteries,
> pulsates in the body of the world.216
> 
> Know this for a certainty that today, the penetrative power in the arteries of
> the world of humanity is the power of the Covenant. The body of the world
> will not be moved through any power except through the power of the
> Covenant. There is no other power like unto this. This Spirit of the Covenant
> is the real Centre of love and is reflecting its rays to all parts of the globe,
> which are resuscitating and regenerating man and illuminating the path to the
> Divine Kingdom.217
> 
> My words are the reality
> 
> That which has come out of the centre of the Covenant you must take fast
> hold of. That which issues from my lips and that which is written with my pen
> is the reality. With this you can irrigate the vineyard of God. With this you can
> make the tree of the Cause of God become verdant. Through this the name of
> the Kingdom of God will be spread over the world. Through this the sun of
> reality will shine. Through this the clouds of mercy will pour down.218
> 
> World of the Covenant like a tree beside the river of the water of life
> 
> The world of the Covenant is like unto the Blessed Tree which is growing
> beside the river of the Water of Life in the utmost delicacy and beauty, and day
> by day it is developing and adding to its verdancy.219
> 
> Power of the Covenant alone, can move the heart of humanity
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Bahá’í Scriptures, No. 641, p. 321.
> European Teaching Conference Manual (1948), p. 50.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VI:14, p. 111.
> European Teaching Conference Manual (1948), p. 50.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VIII:16, p. 219.
> 
> Today, every wise, vigilant and foresighted person is awakened, and to him
> are unveiled the mysteries of the future which show that nothing save the power
> of the Covenant is able to stir and move the heart of humanity ….
> 
> The Covenant of God is like a vast and fathomless ocean. A billow shall
> rise and surge therefrom and shall cast ashore all accumulated foam.220
> 
> Sum of all sacred writings
> 
> And this Covenant is the Ancient Covenant, the Illuminator of the horizons.
> … It is the Testament and the Covenant and it is mentioned in all the tablets
> and the early Books and in the later tablets. … It is the holy fragrance of His
> Holiness, the Creator, and the Breaths of Life of the garden of the Creator. It is
> the strong fortress; therefore it is a sure shelter for all created beings, and in
> brief, it is the sum of all the sacred writings, ancient and modern!221
> 
> Shattering influence of the Divine summons
> 
> What more shall I say? What else can my pen recount? So loud is the call
> that reverberates from the Abhá Kingdom that mortal ears are well-nigh
> deafened with its vibrations. The whole creation, methinks, is being disrupted
> and is bursting asunder through the shattering influence of the Divine summons
> issued from the throne of glory. More than this I cannot write.222
> 
> c) Firmness in the Covenant
> 
> Assistance cut off unless one teaches
> 
> It is known and clear that today the unseen divine assistance encompasseth
> those who deliver the Message. And if the work of delivering the Message be
> neglected, the assistance shall be entirely cut off, for it is impossible that the
> friends of God could receive assistance unless they be engaged in delivering the
> Message.223
> 
> Firm Covenant to live and act according to the teachings
> 
> O ye Cohorts of God! Today in the present world each community is
> wandering in a wilderness, moving in accord with some passion and desire, and
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 223.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, VIII:16, pp. 213–214.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 112.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. II, pp. 390–1.
> 
> running to and fro in pursuance of his own imagination.              Among the
> communities of the world, this community of the “Most Great Name” is free
> from every thought, keeping aloof from every project and scheme, arising with
> the purest designs and intentions, and striving and endeavouring with the
> utmost hope to live in accordance with the divine teachings in order that the
> surface of the earth become the delectable paradise, the nether world become
> the mirror of the Kingdom, the universe become another universe, and the
> human race attain to higher morals, conduct and manners.
> 
> O ye Cohorts of God! Through the protection and help of the Blessed
> Perfection—may my life be a sacrifice to His beloved ones!—you must conduct
> and deport yourselves in such a manner that you may stand out among other
> souls distinguished by a brilliancy like unto the sun. If any one of you enters a
> city he must become the centre of attraction because of the sincerity,
> faithfulness, love, honesty, fidelity, truthfulness and loving-kindness of his
> disposition and nature toward all the inhabitants of the world, that the people of
> the city may all cry out: “This person is unquestionably a Bahá’í; for his
> manners, his behaviour, his conduct, his morals, his nature and his disposition
> are of the attributes of the Bahá’ís.” Until you do attain to this station, you
> have not fulfilled the Covenant and the Testament of God. For according to the
> irrefutable texts, He has taken from us a firm covenant that we may live and act
> in accord with the divine exhortations, commands and lordly teachings.
> 
> O ye Cohorts of God! Now is the time when the signs and the perfections of
> the “Most Great Name” become manifest and clear in this golden cycle in order
> that it may become demonstrated and established beyond doubt that this period
> is the period of the Blessed Perfection, and this cycle is distinguished from all
> other cycles and epochs.224
> 
> Spirit that quickeneth the hearts
> 
> O ye beloved of God, know that steadfastness and firmness in this new and
> wonderful Covenant is indeed the spirit that quickeneth the hearts which are
> overflowing with the love of the Glorious Lord; verily, it is the power which
> penetrates into the hearts of the people of the world! Your Lord hath assuredly
> promised His servants who are firm and steadfast to render them victorious at
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. I, pp. 41–42.
> 
> all times, to exalt their word, propagate their power, diffuse their lights,
> strengthen their hearts, elevate their banners, assist their hosts, brighten their
> stars, increase the abundance of the showers of mercy upon them, and enable
> the brave lions (or teachers) to conquer.
> 
> Hasten, hasten, O ye firm believers!         Hasten, hasten, O ye steadfast!
> Abandon the heedless, set aside every ignorant, take hold of the strong rope, be
> firm in this Great Cause, draw light from this Evident Light, be patient and be
> steadfast in this wise Religion! Ye shall see the hosts of inspiration descending
> successively from the Supreme World, the procession of attraction falling
> incessantly from the heights of heaven, the abundance of the Kingdom of El-
> Abhá outpouring continually and the teachings of God penetrating with the
> utmost power, while the heedless are indeed in evident loss.225
> 
> Armies of God, apostles of Bahá’u’lláh and conditions of attainment
> 
> O ye Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh!
> 
> May my life be sacrificed for you!
> 
> The blessed Person of the Promised One is interpreted in the Holy Book as
> the Lord of Hosts—the heavenly armies. By heavenly armies those souls are
> intended who are entirely freed from the human world, transformed into
> celestial spirits and have become divine angels. Such souls are the rays of the
> Sun of Reality who will illumine all the continents. Each one is holding in his
> hand a trumpet, blowing the breath of life over all the regions. They are
> delivered from human qualities and the defects of the world of nature, are
> characterized with the characteristics of God, and are attracted with the
> fragrances of the Merciful. Like unto the apostles of Christ, who were filled
> with Him, these souls also have become filled with His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh;
> that is, the love of Bahá’u’lláh has so mastered every organ, part and limb of
> their bodies, as to leave no effect from the promptings of the human world.
> 
> These souls are the armies of God and the conquerors of the East and the
> West. Should one of them turn his face toward some direction and summon the
> people to the Kingdom of God, all the ideal forces and lordly confirmations will
> rush to his support and reinforcement. He will behold all the doors open and all
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. II, pp. 442–3.
> 
> the strong fortifications and impregnable castles razed to the ground. Singly
> and alone he will attack the armies of the world, defeat the right and left wings
> of the hosts of all the countries, break through the lines of the legions of all the
> nations and carry his attack to the very centre of the powers of the earth. This
> is the meaning of the Hosts of God.
> 
> Any soul from among the believers of Bahá’u’lláh who attains to this station
> will become known as the Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh. Therefore strive ye with
> heart and soul so that ye may reach this lofty and exalted position, be
> established on the throne of everlasting glory, and crown your heads with the
> shining diadem of the Kingdom, whose brilliant jewels may irradiate upon
> centuries and cycles.
> 
> O ye kind friends! Uplift your magnanimity and soar high toward the apex
> of heaven so that your blessed hearts may become illumined more and more,
> day by day, through the rays of the Sun of Reality, that is, His Holiness
> Bahá’u’lláh; at every moment the spirits may obtain a new life, and the
> darkness of the world of nature may be entirely dispelled; thus you may become
> incarnate light and personified spirit, become entirely unaware of the sordid
> matters of this world and in touch with the affairs of the divine world.
> 
> Behold the portals which Bahá’u’lláh hath opened before you! Consider
> how exalted and lofty is the station you are destined to attain; how unique the
> favours with which you have been endowed. Should we become intoxicated
> with this cup, the sovereignty of this globe of earth will become lower in our
> estimation than children’s play. Should they place in the arena the crown of the
> government of the whole world, and invite each one of us to accept it,
> undoubtedly we shall not condescend, and shall refuse to accept it.
> 
> To attain to this supreme station is, however, dependent on the realization of
> certain conditions:
> 
> The first condition is firmness in the Covenant of God. For the power of the
> Covenant will protect the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh from the doubts of the people of
> error. It is the fortified fortress of the Cause of God and the firm pillar of the
> religion of God. Today no power can conserve the oneness of the Bahá’í world
> save the Covenant of God; otherwise differences like unto a most great tempest
> will encompass the Bahá’í world. It is evident that the axis of the oneness of
> 
> the world of humanity is the power of the Covenant and nothing else. Had the
> Covenant not come to pass, had it not been revealed from the Supreme Pen and
> had not the Book of the Covenant, like unto the ray of the Sun of Reality,
> illuminated the world, the forces of the Cause of God would have been utterly
> scattered and certain souls who were the prisoners of their own passions and
> lusts would have taken into their hands an axe, cutting the root of this Blessed
> Tree. Every person would have pushed forward his own desire and every
> individual aired his own opinion! Notwithstanding this great Covenant, a few
> negligent souls galloped with their chargers into the battlefield, thinking
> perchance they might be able to weaken the foundation of the Cause of God:
> but praise be to God all of them were afflicted with regret and loss, and erelong
> they shall see themselves in poignant despair. Therefore, in the beginning the
> believers must make their steps firm in the Covenant so that the confirmations
> of Bahá’u’lláh may encircle them from all sides, the cohorts of the Supreme
> Concourse may become their supporters and helpers, and the exhortations and
> advices of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, like unto the pictures engraved on stone, may remain
> permanent and ineffaceable in the tablets of all hearts.
> 
> The second condition: Fellowship and love amongst the believers. The
> divine friends must be attracted to and enamoured of each other and ever be
> ready and willing to sacrifice their own lives for each other. Should one soul
> from amongst the believers meet another, it must be as though a thirsty one
> with parched lips has reached to the fountain of the water of life, or a lover has
> met his true beloved. For one of the greatest divine wisdoms regarding the
> appearance of the holy Manifestations is this: The souls may come to know
> each other and become intimate with each other; the power of the love of God
> may make all of them the waves of one sea, the flowers of one rose garden, and
> the stars of one heaven. This is the wisdom for the appearance of the holy
> Manifestations! When the most great bestowal reveals itself in the hearts of the
> believers, the world of nature will be transformed, the darkness of the
> contingent being will vanish, and heavenly illumination will be obtained. Then
> the whole world will become the Paradise of Abhá, every one of the believers
> of God will become a blessed tree, producing wonderful fruits.
> 
> O ye friends! Fellowship, fellowship! Love, love! Unity, unity!—so that
> the power of the Bahá’í Cause may appear and become manifest in the world of
> 
> existence. My thoughts are turned towards you, and my heart leaps within me
> at your mention. Could ye know how my soul glows with your love, so great a
> happiness would flood your hearts as to cause you to become enamoured with
> each other.226
> 
> Effect of absence or presence of alloy of self
> 
> O ye Cohorts of God!       If you observe that a soul has turned his face
> completely toward the Cause of God, his intention is centralized upon the
> penetration of the Word of God, he is serving the Cause day and night with the
> utmost fidelity, no scent of selfishness is inhaled from his manners and deeds,
> and no trace of egotism or prejudice is seen in his personality—nay rather is he
> a wanderer in the wilderness of the love of God, and one intoxicated with the
> wine of the knowledge of God, occupied wholly with the diffusion of the
> fragrances of God, and attracted to the signs of the Kingdom of God; know ye
> of a certainty that he is confirmed with the powers of the Kingdom, assisted by
> the heaven of Might; and he will shine, gleam and sparkle like unto the morning
> star with the utmost brilliancy and splendour from the horizon of the everlasting
> gift. If he is alloyed with the slightest trace of passion, desire, ostentation or
> self-interest, it is certain that the results of all efforts will prove fruitless, and he
> will become deprived and hopeless.227
> 
> Qualities of teacher
> 
> The aim is this:   The intention of the teacher must be pure, his heart
> independent, his spirit attracted, his thought at peace, his resolution firm, his
> magnanimity exalted and in the love of God a shining torch. Should he become
> as such, his sanctified breath will even affect the rock; otherwise there will be
> no result whatsoever. As long as a soul is not perfected, how can he efface the
> defects of others? Unless he is detached from aught else save God, how can he
> teach severance to others?
> 
> In short, O ye believers of God! Endeavour ye, so that you may take hold of
> every means in the promulgation of the religion of God and the diffusion of the
> fragrances of God.228
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of the Divine Plan, pp. 49–53.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. I, p. 42.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 54.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s link with Spiritual Assembly
> 
> O ye who are firm in the Covenant! ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is constantly engaged in
> ideal communication with any Spiritual Assembly which is instituted through
> the divine bounty, and the members of which, in the utmost devotion, turn to
> the divine Kingdom and are firm in the Covenant. To them he is wholeheartedly attached and with them he is linked by everlasting ties.            Thus
> correspondence with that gathering is sincere, constant and uninterrupted.
> 
> Firmness in the Covenant wards off differences
> 
> Today the most important affair is firmness in the Covenant, because
> firmness in the Covenant wards off differences.230
> 
> Future effect of violation
> 
> The confirmation of the Kingdom of Abhá shall descend uninterruptedly
> upon those souls who are firm in the Covenant. Thou hast well observed that
> every firm one is assisted and aided, and every violator is degraded, humiliated,
> and lost. It is very astonishing that people are not admonished. They have
> observed how Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí, on account of violation of the Covenant,
> descended to the lowest degree of humiliation, and yet they do not become
> mindful. They have seen how others, through disobedience to the Testament,
> have fallen into a well of degradation, and yet they are not awakened.
> 
> This Covenant is the Covenant of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh.         Now its
> importance is not known befittingly, but in the future it shall attain to such a
> degree of importance that if a king violates to the extent of one atom, he shall
> be cut off immediately.231
> 
> Degree of assistance according to degree of firmness
> 
> Today the stirring power that exhibits itself throughout all regions is the
> power of the Covenant, which, like unto the artery, beats and pulsates in the
> body of the world. He who is firmer in the Covenant is more assisted, just as ye
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 89.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. IX, p. 139.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. IV, pp. 240–1.
> 
> are manifestly witnessing how firm souls are enkindled, attracted, and
> confirmed.232
> 
> Wavering soul a failure
> 
> Although in the body of the universe there are innumerable nerves, yet the
> main artery, which pulsates, energizes, and invigorates all beings, is the power
> of the Covenant.       All else is secondary to this.        Nobody is assisted and
> confirmed save that soul who is firm. Consider it well that every soul who is
> firm in the Covenant is luminous, like unto a candle which emanates its light on
> those around it. While every wavering soul is an utter failure, frozen, lifeless,
> dead—yet moving. This one proof is sufficient.233
> 
> Firmness means obedience
> 
> Firmness in the Covenant means obedience, so that no one may say this is
> my opinion. Nay rather, he must obey that which proceeds from the pen and
> tongue of the Covenant.234
> 
> Firmness leads to spiritual progress
> 
> Whosoever is firm in the Covenant and Testament is today endowed with a
> seeing eye, and a responsive ear, and daily advances in the divine realm until he
> becomes a heavenly angel.235
> 
> Today the magnet of the confirmations of the divine Kingdom is firmness in
> the Covenant and the Testament and all else save that is useless talk for by what
> (else) can Bahá’í unity be preserved?236
> 
> All forces of universe serve the Covenant
> 
> Today, those who are firm in the Covenant are soaring by the bounties of the
> Holy Spirit in lofty regions, while the wavering ones are depressed, dejected,
> and afflicted with a thousand pains and calamities.               This is because the
> confirmation of the Abhá Kingdom have been cut off from them. They have
> been deprived of the Light of the Sun of Truth and have no share from the
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 233.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. XI, p. 308.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 227.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 251.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 268.
> 
> breezes of the Holy Spirit. They resemble these souls who arose to agitate the
> minds of men after the time of Christ. Each one, by every subtle means,
> gathered around himself a group of souls, but all were eventually led to face
> disappointment, loss, and failure. This was because the result of their principles
> was like unto a tree destitute of roots, or like the ocean foam. A rootless tree,
> no matter how tall and hardy it may seem, will ultimately wither away; and the
> ocean foam.        however formidable it may appear, shall at last vanish and
> disappear.
> 
> In brief. the Covenant is like unto the ocean which preserves Bahá’í unity,
> and these souls are like unto the foam upon it. They manifest a temporary
> activity, but soon, like unto Judas Iscariot and his associates and those who
> approved of his conduct, they shall be completely forgotten. The ocean of the
> Covenant, on the other hand, is eternally surging, for it preserves Bahá’í unity.
> 
> Today, the Lord of Hosts is the defender of the Covenant, the forces of the
> Kingdom protect it, heavenly souls tender their services, and heavenly angels
> promulgate and spread it broadcast. If it is considered with insight, it will be
> seen that all the forces of the universe, in the last analysis, serve the Covenant.
> In the future it shall be made evident and manifest. In view of this fact, what
> can these weak and feeble souls achieve?237
> 
> The Covenant is an Institution of the Lord
> 
> For this divine Covenant is an institution of the Lord.        The Blessed
> Perfection in all the tablets, books, epistles, and supplications has begged
> confirmation for and has praised and commended those who are firm in this
> Covenant and the Testament, and has asked the wrath of God and woe and
> desolation unto the violators. For firmness in this Covenant will preserve the
> unity of the religion of God and the foundation of the religion of God will not
> be shaken.238
> 
> Confirmation for the individual
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. XI, pp. 240–1.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 223.
> 
> As thou hast realized thy own shortcomings, rest thou assured that thou art
> firm in the Covenant and Testament, and in the love of the True One art
> steadfast and growing.239
> 
> Today, no soul has any station or enjoys any title except the soul who is firm
> in the Covenant and steadfast in the Testament, who entirely forgets himself
> and is released from the world.240
> 
> Today, whoever is firm in the Covenant, he will become ignited like unto a
> candle in the assemblage of the world, and the confirmations of the Kingdom of
> Abhá shall encircle him from all directions.241
> 
> Be ye assured with the greatest assurance that, verily, God will help those
> who are firm in His Covenant in every matter, through His confirmation and
> favour, the lights of which will shine forth unto the east of the earth, as well as
> the west thereof. He will make them the signs of guidance among the creation
> and as shining and glittering stars from all horizons.242
> 
> Prayer for firmness
> 
> O God! Assist me with the hosts of the Supreme Concourse, and make me
> firm and steadfast in the Covenant and Testament. I am weak in the Covenant
> and Testament, confer upon me strength. I am poor, bestow upon me wealth
> from the treasury of the Kingdom. I am ignorant, open before my face the
> doors of knowledge. I am dead, breathe into me the breath of life. I am dumb,
> grant me an eloquent tongue, so that with a fluent expression I may raise the
> Call of Thy Kingdom and guide all to firmness in thy Covenant. Thou art the
> Generous, the Giver, and the Mighty.243
> 
> d) Unity
> 
> How otherwise establish oneness of mankind?
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 228.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 218.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 219.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, vol. I, p. 83; and Power of Divine
> Assistance, p. 210.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in a pilgrim note in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 228.
> 
> Today the stirring power of the world of existence is the power of the
> Covenant which like unto arteries pulsates in the body of the contingent world
> and protects Bahá’í unity.
> 
> The Bahá’ís are ordered to establish the oneness of mankind; if they cannot
> unite around one point how will they be able to bring about the unity of
> mankind?244
> 
> Centre of the Covenant the remover of all difficulties
> 
> According to the clear text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and other tablets the Centre
> of the Covenant is the remover of all the difficulties for he is the interpreter of
> the Book. Not one soul has the right to say one word in his own account, or to
> explain anything or to elucidate the text of the Book whether in public or in
> private.245
> 
> Book of the Covenant not oral but written
> 
> But on the other hand, the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd is not an oral communication; it is
> the mark of the Supreme Pen. It has been revealed in order to preserve Bahá’í
> unity, so that the souls may not become agitated and perturbed, may not every
> day set up for themselves an idol and establish a new centre of authority, and
> seditious men may not agitate.246
> 
> Unity through any means
> 
> Therefore, the hope is entertained that thou wilt be assisted under all
> conditions, for today that which is most important is firmness in the Covenant
> and the Testament. Otherwise Bahá’í unity will not be preserved. If Bahá’í
> unity could be preserved through anything else, undoubtedly the Blessed
> Beauty would have commanded it.247
> 
> Strength only in unity
> 
> Be sure therefore that if the believers are not united in the will of God, they
> will not be assisted. This is especially necessary because all of them are under
> the Tent of the Covenant in this Revelation. There is strength only in unity.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 272.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 223.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 268.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 268.
> 
> Under one tent there is union and harmony. The Covenant of God in this day of
> Manifestation is a life-boat and Ark of Salvation. All true followers of the
> Blessed Perfection are sheltered and protected in this Ark. Whoever leaves it
> trusting in his own will and strength will drown and be destroyed. For the
> Blessed Perfection left no possibility for discord, disagreement, and dissension.
> The Covenant is like the sea and the believers are as the fishes in the sea. If a
> fish leaves the water it cannot live. There is nothing to equal, nothing so
> effective as the Covenant of God to bring about and continue unity.248
> 
> All must turn to the appointed Centre to preserve Bahá’í unity
> With the utmost resolution and constancy call the souls to the Kingdom of
> Abhá and invite them to firmness and steadfastness in the Covenant and
> Testament. Read to them the translation of the Tablet of The Branch, and speak
> with gentleness, moderation, and loving-kindness, saying:
> “We have no other aim save the protection of the fortified fortress of the Cause
> of God. We must guard this fortified fortress from the attack of the thoughtless
> ones. Hence we must all turn our faces to the appointed Centre in order that the
> Bahá’í unity be preserved; otherwise in one year the Bahá’ís would be divided
> into a thousand sects. We entertain no other object except the safety of the
> Cause of God!”249
> 
> If two souls quarrel
> 
> In brief, O ye believers of God! The text of the Divine Book is this: If two
> souls quarrel and contend about a question of the divine questions, differing and
> disputing, both are wrong. The wisdom of this incontrovertible law of God is
> this: That between two souls from amongst the believers of God, no contention
> and dispute might arise; that they may speak with each other with infinite amity
> and love. Should there appear the least trace of controversy, they must remain
> silent, and both parties must continue their discussions no longer, but ask the
> reality of the question from the Interpreter. This is the irrefutable command!250
> 
> e) The Succession and Fulfilment
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Ten Days in the Light of Acca, p. 48; and Star of the West,
> vol. VIII, p. 222.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. VIII, p. 223.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 56.
> 
> Guardian’s tribute to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> He is, and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Centre
> and Pivot of Bahá’u’lláh’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most
> exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of
> His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every
> Bahá’í ideal, the incarnation of every Bahá’í virtue, the Most Mighty Branch
> sprung from the Ancient Root, the Limb of the Law of God, the Being “round
> Whom all names revolve,” the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity, the
> Ensign of the Most Great Peace, the Moon of the Central Orb of this most holy
> Dispensation—styles and titles that are implicit and find their truest, their
> highest and fairest expression in the magic name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He is, above
> and beyond these appellations, the “Mystery of God”—an expression by which
> Bahá’u’lláh Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not
> by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood, indicates
> how in the person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human
> nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are
> completely harmonized.251
> 
> Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> It would be indeed difficult for us, who stand so close to such a tremendous
> figure and are drawn by the mysterious power of so magnetic a personality, to
> obtain a clear and exact understanding of the role and character of One Who,
> not only in the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh but in the entire field of religious
> history, fulfils a unique function. Though moving in a sphere of His own and
> holding a rank radically different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of
> the Bahá’í Revelation, He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through the
> Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, forms together with them what may be termed the
> Three Central Figures of a Faith that stands unapproached in the world’s
> spiritual history. He towers, in conjunction with them, above the destinies of
> this infant Faith of God from a level to which no individual or body ministering
> to its needs after Him, and for no less a period than a full thousand years, can
> ever hope to rise.252
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 134.
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 131–132.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s spiritual relationship to Bahá’u’lláh
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who incarnates an institution for which we can find no
> parallel whatsoever in any of the world’s recognized religious systems, may be
> said to have closed the Age to which He Himself belonged and opened the one
> in which we are now labouring.           His Will and Testament should thus be
> regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is
> the Mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three
> ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá’í Dispensation. The period
> in which the seed of the Faith had been slowly germinating is thus intertwined
> both with the one which must witness its efflorescence and the subsequent age
> in which that seed will have finally yielded its golden fruit.
> 
> The creative energies released by the Law of Bahá’u’lláh, permeating and
> evolving within the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have, by their very impact and close
> interaction, given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of
> the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most
> great Dispensation. The Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable offspring
> resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who communicated the
> generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle
> and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant—the Heir of both the
> Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God—the Will and Testament of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the original
> and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it.
> Bahá’u’lláh’s inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so
> thoroughly infused into the conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and their motives have
> been so closely wedded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the
> teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those
> same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the
> most sacred and basic truths of the Faith.253
> 
> Significance and origination of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament
> 
> The Charter which called into being, outlined the features and set in motion
> the processes of, this Administrative Order is none other than the Will and
> Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His greatest legacy to posterity, the brightest
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 143–144.
> 
> emanation of His mind and the mightiest instrument forged to insure the
> continuity of the three ages which constitute the component parts of His
> Father’s Dispensation.
> 
> The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh had been instituted solely through the direct
> operation of His Will and purpose. The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
> on the other hand, may be regarded as the offspring resulting from that mystic
> intercourse between Him Who had generated the forces of a God-given Faith
> and the One Who had been made its sole Interpreter and was recognized as its
> perfect Exemplar. The creative energies unleashed by the Originator of the
> Law of God in this age gave birth, through their impact upon the mind of Him
> Who had been chosen as its unerring Expounder, to that Instrument, the vast
> implications of which the present generation, even after the lapse of twentythree years, is still incapable of fully apprehending. This Instrument can, if we
> would correctly appraise it, no more be divorced from the One Who provided
> the motivating impulse for its creation than from Him Who directly conceived
> it.    The purpose of the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation had, as already
> observed, been so thoroughly infused into the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and His
> Spirit had so profoundly impregnated His being, and their aims and motives
> been so completely blended, that to dissociate the doctrine laid down by the
> former from the supreme act associated with the mission of the latter would be
> tantamount to a repudiation of one of the most fundamental verities of the
> Faith.254
> 
> The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> [PART ONE]
> 
> Herein Follow the Tablets and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> 
> All-praise to Him Who, by the Shield of His Covenant, hath guarded the
> Temple of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness, Who by the Hosts of His
> Testament hath preserved the Sanctuary of His most Beneficent Law and
> protected His Straight and Luminous Path, staying thereby the onslaught of the
> company of Covenant-breakers, that have threatened to subvert His Divine
> Edifice; Who hath watched over His Mighty Stronghold and All-Glorious Faith,
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 325–326.
> 
> through the aid of men whom the slander of the slanderer affect not, whom no
> earthly calling, glory and power can turn aside from the Covenant of God and
> His Testament, established firmly by His clear and manifest words, writ and
> revealed by His All-Glorious Pen and recorded in the Preserved Tablet.
> 
> Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that primal branch of the
> Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing
> from the Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that
> doth gleam from out the Twin surging seas; upon the offshoots of the Tree of
> Holiness, the twigs of the Celestial Tree, they that in the Day of the Great
> Dividing have stood fast and firm in the Covenant; upon the Hands (pillars) of
> the Cause of God that have diffused widely the Divine Fragrances, declared His
> Proofs, proclaimed His Faith, published abroad His Law, detached themselves
> from all things but Him, stood for righteousness in this world, and kindled the
> Fire of the Love of God in the very hearts and souls of His servants; upon them
> that have believed, rested assured, stood steadfast in His Covenant and followed
> the Light that after my passing shineth from the Dayspring of Divine
> Guidance—for behold! he is the blest and sacred bough that hath branched out
> from the Twin Holy Trees. Well is it with him that seeketh the shelter of his
> shade that shadoweth all mankind.
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord! The greatest of all things is the protection of the
> True Faith of God, the preservation of His Law, the safeguarding of His Cause
> and service unto His Word. Ten thousand souls have shed streams of their
> sacred blood in this path, their precious lives they offered in sacrifice unto Him,
> hastened wrapt in holy ecstasy unto the glorious field of martyrdom, upraised
> the Standard of God’s Faith and writ with their life-blood upon the Tablet of the
> world the verses of His Divine Unity. The sacred breast of His Holiness, the
> Exalted One (may my life be a sacrifice unto Him), was made a target to many
> a dart of woe, and in Mázindarán, the blessed feet of the Abhá Beauty (may my
> life be offered up for His loved ones) were so grievously scourged as to bleed
> and be sore wounded. His neck also was put into captive chains and His feet
> made fast in the stocks. In every hour, for a period of fifty years, a new trial
> and calamity befell Him and fresh afflictions and cares beset Him. One of
> them: after having suffered intense vicissitudes, He was made homeless and a
> wanderer and fell a victim to still new vexations and troubles. In Iraq, the Day-
> 
> Star of the world was so exposed to the wiles of the people of malice as to be
> eclipsed in splendour.    Later on He was sent an exile to the Great City
> (Constantinople) and thence to the Land of Mystery (Adrianople), whence,
> grievously wronged, He was eventually transferred to the Most Great Prison
> (‘Akká). He Whom the world hath wronged (may my life be offered up for His
> loved ones) was four times banished from city to city, till at last, condemned to
> perpetual confinement, He was incarcerated in this prison, the prison of
> highway robbers, of brigands and of man-slayers. All this is but one of the
> trials that have afflicted the Blessed Beauty, the rest being even as grievous as
> this.
> 
> And still another of His trials was the hostility, the flagrant injustice, the
> iniquity and rebellion of Mírzá Yahyá.      Although that Wronged One, that
> Prisoner, had through His loving-kindness nurtured him in His own bosom ever
> since his early years, had showered at every moment His tender care upon him,
> exalted his name, shielded him from every misfortune, endeared him to them of
> this world and the next, and despite the firm exhortations and counsels of His
> Holiness, the Exalted One (the Báb) and His clear and conclusive warning;—
> “Beware, beware, lest the Nineteen Letters of the Living and that which hath
> been revealed in the Bayán veil thee!” yet notwithstanding this, Mírzá Yahyá
> denied Him, dealt falsely with Him, believed Him not, sowed the seeds of
> doubt, closed his eyes to His manifest verses and turned aside therefrom.
> Would that he had been content therewith! Nay, he even attempted to shed the
> sacred blood (of Bahá’u’lláh) and then raised a great clamour and tumult
> around him, attributing unto Bahá’u’lláh malevolence and cruelty towards
> himself. What sedition he stirred up and what a storm of mischief he raised
> whilst in the Land of Mystery (Adrianople)! At last, he wrought that which
> caused the Day-Star of the world to be sent an exile to this, the Most Great
> Prison, and sorely wronged, and in the West of this Great Prison He did set.
> 
> O ye that stand fast and firm in the Covenant! The Centre of Sedition, the
> Prime Mover of mischief, Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí, hath passed out from under
> the shadow of the Cause, hath broken the Covenant, hath falsified the Holy
> Text, hath inflicted a grievous loss upon the true Faith of God, hath scattered
> His people, hath with bitter rancour endeavoured to hurt ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and hath
> assailed with the utmost enmity this servant of the Sacred Threshold. Every
> 
> dart he seized and hurled to pierce the breast of this wronged servant, no wound
> did he neglect to grievously inflict upon me, no venom did he spare but he
> poisoned therewith the life of this hapless one. I swear by the most holy Abhá
> Beauty and by the Light shining from His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my
> soul be a sacrifice for Their lowly servants), that because of this iniquity the
> dwellers in the Pavilion of the Abhá Kingdom have bewailed, the Celestial
> Concourse is lamenting, the Immortal Maids of Heaven in the All-Highest
> Paradise have raised their plaintive cries and the angelic company sighed and
> uttered their moanings. So grievous the deeds of this iniquitous person became
> that he struck with his axe at the root of the Blessed Tree, dealt a heavy blow at
> the Temple of the Cause of God, deluged with tears of blood the eyes of the
> loved ones of the Blessed Beauty, cheered and encouraged the enemies of the
> One True God, by his repudiation of the Covenant turned many a seeker after
> Truth aside from the Cause of God, revived the blighted hopes of Yahya’s
> following, made himself detested, caused the enemies of the Greatest Name to
> become audacious and arrogant, put aside the firm and conclusive verses and
> sowed the seeds of doubt. Had not the promised aid of the Ancient Beauty
> been graciously vouchsafed at every moment to this one, unworthy though he
> be, he surely would have destroyed, nay exterminated the Cause of God and
> utterly subverted the Divine Edifice. But, praised be the Lord, the triumphant
> assistance of the Abhá Kingdom was received, the hosts of the Realm above
> hastened to bestow victory. The Cause of God was promoted far and wide, the
> call of the True One was noised abroad, ears in all regions were inclined to the
> Word of God, His standard was unfurled, the ensigns of Holiness gloriously
> waved aloft and the verses celebrating His Divine Unity were chanted. Now,
> that the true Faith of God may be shielded and protected, His Law guarded and
> preserved and His Cause remain safe and secure, it is incumbent upon everyone
> to hold fast unto the Text of the clear and firmly established blessed verse,
> revealed about him. None other transgression greater than his can be ever
> imagined. He (Bahá’u’lláh) sayeth, glorious and holy is His Word:—“My
> foolish loved ones have regarded him even as my partner, have kindled sedition
> in the land and they verily are of the mischief-makers.” Consider, how foolish
> are the people! They that have been in His (Bahá’u’lláh’s) Presence and beheld
> His Countenance, have nevertheless noised abroad such idle talk, until, exalted
> 
> be His explicit words, He said:—“Should he for a moment pass out from under
> the shadow of the Cause, he surely shall be brought to naught.” Reflect! What
> stress He layeth upon one moment’s deviation: that is, were he to incline a
> hair’s breadth to the right or to the left, his deviation would be clearly
> established and his utter nothingness made manifest.           And now ye are
> witnessing how the wrath of God hath from all sides afflicted him and how day
> by day he is speeding towards destruction. Ere long will ye behold him and his
> associates, outwardly and inwardly, condemned to utter ruin.
> 
> What deviation can be greater than breaking the Covenant of God! What
> deviation can be greater than interpolating and falsifying the words and verses
> of the Sacred Text, even as testified and declared by Mírzá Badí’u’lláh! What
> deviation can be greater than calumniating the Centre of the Covenant himself!
> What deviation can be more glaring than spreading broadcast false and foolish
> reports touching the Temple of God’s Testament! What deviation can be more
> grievous than decreeing the death of the Centre of the Covenant, supported by
> the holy verse:—“He that layeth a claim ere the passing of a thousand years
> …,” whilst he (Muhammad ‘Alí) without shame in the days of the Blessed
> Beauty had advanced such a claim as this and been confuted by Him in the
> aforementioned manner, the text of his claim being still extant in his own
> handwriting and bearing his own seal. What deviation can be more complete
> than falsely accusing the loved ones of God! What deviation can be more evil
> than causing their imprisonment and incarceration! What deviation can be
> more severe than delivering into the hands of the government the Holy Writings
> and Epistles, that haply they (the government) might arise intent upon the death
> of this wronged one! What deviation can be more violent than threatening the
> ruin of the Cause of God, forging and slanderously falsifying letters and
> documents so that this might perturb and alarm the government and lead to the
> shedding of the blood of this wronged one, -such letters and documents being
> now in the possession of the government! What deviation can be more odious
> than his iniquity and rebellion! What deviation can be more shameful than
> dispersing the gathering of the people of salvation! What deviation can be
> more infamous than the vain and feeble interpretations of the people of doubt!
> What deviation can be more wicked than joining hands with strangers and with
> the enemies of God!
> 
> A few months ago, in concert with others, he that hath broken the Covenant,
> hath prepared a document teeming with calumny and slander wherein, the Lord
> forbid, among many similar slanderous charges, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is deemed a
> deadly enemy, the ill-wisher of the Crown. They so perturbed the minds of the
> members of the Imperial Government that at last a Committee of Investigation
> was sent from the seat of His Majesty’s Government which, violating every rule
> of justice and equity that befit His Imperial Majesty, nay, with the most glaring
> injustice, proceeded with its investigations. The ill-wishers of the One True
> God surrounded them on every side and explained and excessively enlarged
> upon the text of the document whilst they (the members of the Committee) in
> their turn blindly acquiesced.   One of their many calumnies was that this
> servant had raised aloft a banner in this city, had summoned the people together
> under it, had established a new sovereignty for himself, had erected upon
> Mount Carmel a mighty stronghold, had rallied around him all the peoples of
> the land and made them obedient to him, had caused disruption in the Faith of
> Islam, had covenanted with the following of Christ and, God forbid, had
> purposed to cause the gravest breach in the mighty power of the Crown. May
> the Lord protect us from such atrocious falsehoods!
> 
> According to the direct and sacred command of God we are forbidden to
> utter slander, are commanded to show forth peace and amity, are exhorted to
> rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and
> peoples of the world.      We must obey and be the well-wishers of the
> governments of the land, regard disloyalty unto a just king as disloyalty to God
> Himself and wishing evil to the government a transgression of the Cause of
> God. With these final and decisive words, how can it be that these imprisoned
> ones should indulge in such vain fancies; incarcerated, how could they show
> forth such disloyalty! But alas! The Committee of Investigation hath approved
> and confirmed these calumnies of my brother and ill-wishers and submitted
> them to the presence of His Majesty the Sovereign. Now at this moment a
> fierce storm is raging around this prisoner who awaiteth, be it favourable or
> unfavourable, the gracious will of His Majesty, may the Lord aid him by His
> grace to be just. In whatsoever condition he may be, with absolute calm and
> quietness, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is ready for self-sacrifice and is wholly resigned and
> 
> submitted to His Will. What transgression can be more abominable, more
> odious, more wicked than this!
> 
> In like manner, the focal Centre of Hate, hath purposed to put ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> to death and this is supported by the testimony written by Mírzá Shú’á’u’lláh
> himself and is here enclosed. It is evident and indisputable that they are privily
> and with the utmost subtlety engaged in conspiring against me. The following
> are his very words written by him in this letter:—“I curse at every moment him
> that hath kindled this discord, imprecate in these words ‘Lord! have no mercy
> upon him’ and I hope ere long God will make manifest the one that shall have
> no pity on him, who now weareth another garb and about whom I cannot any
> more explain.” Reference he doth make by these words to the sacred verse that
> beginneth as follows:—“He that layeth a claim ere the passing of a thousand
> years...”   Reflect!   How intent they are upon the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!
> Ponder in your hearts upon the phrase “I cannot any more explain” and realize
> what schemes they are devising for this purpose. They fear lest, too fully
> explained, the letter might fall into alien hands and their schemes be foiled and
> frustrated. The phrase is only foretelling good tidings to come, namely that
> regarding this all requisite arrangements have been made.
> 
> O God, my God! Thou seest this wronged servant of Thine, held fast in the
> talons of ferocious lions, of ravening wolves, of bloodthirsty beasts. Graciously
> assist me, through my love for Thee, that I may drink deep of the chalice that
> brimmeth over with faithfulness to Thee and is filled with Thy bountiful Grace;
> so that, fallen upon the dust, I may sink prostrate and senseless whilst my
> vesture is dyed crimson with my blood. This is my wish, my heart’s desire, my
> hope, my pride, my glory. Grant, O Lord my God, and my Refuge, that in my
> last hour, my end may even as musk shed its fragrance of glory! Is there a
> bounty greater than this? Nay, by Thy Glory! I call Thee to witness that no
> day passeth but that I quaff my fill from this cup, so grievous are the misdeeds
> wrought by them that have broken the Covenant, kindled discord, showed their
> malice, stirred sedition in the land and dishonoured Thee amidst Thy servants.
> Lord! Shield Thou from these Covenant-breakers the mighty Stronghold of
> Thy Faith and protect Thy secret Sanctuary from the onslaught of the ungodly.
> Thou art in truth the Mighty, the Powerful, the Gracious, the Strong.
> 
> In short, O ye beloved of the Lord!         The Centre of Sedition, Mírzá
> Muhammad ‘Alí, in accordance with the decisive words of God and by reason
> of his boundless transgression, hath grievously fallen and been cut off from the
> Holy Tree. Verily, we wronged them not, but they have wronged themselves!
> 
> O God, my God! Shield Thy trusted servants from the evils of self and
> passion, protect them with the watchful eye of Thy loving kindness from all
> rancour, hate and envy, shelter them in the impregnable stronghold of Thy care
> and, safe from the darts of doubtfulness, make them the manifestations of Thy
> glorious Signs, illumine their faces with the effulgent rays shed from the
> Dayspring of Thy Divine Unity, gladden their hearts with the verses revealed
> from Thy Holy Kingdom, strengthen their loins by Thy all-swaying power that
> cometh from Thy Realm of Glory. Thou art the All-Bountiful, the Protector,
> the Almighty, the Gracious!
> 
> O ye that stand fast in the Covenant! When the hour cometh that this
> wronged and broken-winged bird will have taken its flight into the Celestial
> Concourse, when it will have hastened to the Realm of the Unseen and its
> mortal frame will have been either lost or hidden neath the dust, it is incumbent
> upon the Afnán, that are steadfast in the Covenant of God and have branched
> from the Tree of Holiness; the Hands, (pillars) of the Cause of God (the glory
> of the Lord rest upon them), and all the friends and loved ones, one and all to
> bestir themselves and arise with heart and soul and in one accord, to diffuse the
> sweet savours of God, to teach His Cause and to promote His Faith.              It
> behoveth them not to rest for a moment, neither to seek repose. They must
> disperse themselves in every land, pass by every clime, and travel throughout
> all regions. Bestirred, without rest, and steadfast to the end, they must raise in
> every land the triumphal cry “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!” (O Thou the Glory of
> Glories), must achieve renown in the world wherever they go, must burn
> brightly even as a candle in every meeting and must kindle the flame of Divine
> love in every assembly; that the light of truth may rise resplendent in the
> midmost heart of the world, that throughout the East and throughout the West a
> vast concourse may gather under the shadow of the Word of God, that the sweet
> savours of holiness may be diffused, that faces may shine radiantly, hearts be
> filled with the Divine spirit and souls be made heavenly.
> 
> In these days, the most important of all things is the guidance of the nations
> and peoples of the world. Teaching the Cause is of utmost importance for it is
> the head corner-stone of the foundation itself. This wronged servant has spent
> his days and nights in promoting the Cause and urging the peoples to service.
> He rested not a moment, till the fame of the Cause of God was noised abroad in
> the world and the celestial strains from the Abhá Kingdom roused the East and
> the West. The beloved of God must also follow the same example. This is the
> secret of faithfulness, this is the requirement of servitude to the Threshold of
> Bahá!
> 
> The disciples of Christ forgot themselves and all earthly things, forsook all
> their cares and belongings, purged themselves of self and passion, and with
> absolute detachment scattered far and wide and engaged in calling the peoples
> of the world to the divine guidance; till at last they made the world another
> world, illumined the surface of the earth, and even to their last hour proved selfsacrificing in the pathway of that beloved One of God. Finally in various lands
> they suffered glorious martyrdom. Let them that are men of action follow in
> their footsteps!
> 
> O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is
> incumbent upon the Aghsán (Branches), the Afnán (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-
> Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abhá
> Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi—the youthful branch branched from the
> two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the
> two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness, -as he is the sign of God, the chosen
> branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsán, the
> Afnán, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the
> Interpreter of the Word of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his
> lineal descendants.
> 
> The sacred and youthful branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, as well
> as the Universal House of Justice to be universally elected and established, are
> both under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and
> unerring guidance of the Exalted One (may my life be offered up for them
> both). Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither
> obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against
> 
> them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso
> contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath
> disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in
> him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth
> aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from
> God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon
> him!   The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through
> obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent
> upon the members of the House of Justice, upon all the Aghsán, the Afnán, the
> Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissiveness and
> subordination unto the Guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be
> lowly before him. He that opposeth him hath opposed the True One, will make
> a breach in the Cause of God, will subvert His Word and will become a
> manifestation of the Centre of Sedition. Beware, beware, lest the days after the
> ascension (of Bahá’u’lláh) be repeated when the Centre of Sedition waxed
> haughty and rebellious and with Divine Unity for his excuse deprived himself
> and perturbed and poisoned others.       No doubt every vainglorious one that
> purposeth dissension and discord will not openly declare his evil purposes, nay
> rather, even as impure gold, will he seize upon divers measures and various
> pretexts that he may separate the gathering of the people of Bahá. My object is
> to show that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and so soon
> as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the
> Cause of God, cast him out from the congregation of the people of Bahá and in
> no wise accept any excuse from him. How often hath grievous error been
> disguised in the garb of truth, that it might sow the seeds of doubt in the hearts
> of men!
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the Guardian of the Cause
> of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor, that
> differences may not arise after his passing. He that is appointed must manifest
> in himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity,
> must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus,
> should the first-born of the Guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in
> himself the truth of the words:—“The child is the secret essence of its sire,” that
> is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the Guardian of the Cause
> 
> of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then
> must he, (the Guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed
> him.
> 
> The Hands of the Cause of God must elect from their own number nine
> persons that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work
> of the Guardian of the Cause of God. The election of these nine must be carried
> either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause
> of God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their
> assent to the choice of the one whom the Guardian of the Cause of God hath
> chosen as his successor.     This assent must be given in such wise as the
> assenting and dissenting voices may not be distinguished (i.e., secret ballot).
> 
> O friends!    The Hands of the Cause of God must be nominated and
> appointed by the Guardian of the Cause of God. All must be under his shadow
> and obey his command. Should any, within or without the company of the
> Hands of the Cause of God disobey and seek division, the wrath of God and His
> vengeance will be upon him, for he will have caused a breach in the true Faith
> of God.
> 
> The obligations of the Hands of the Cause of God are to diffuse the Divine
> Fragrances, to edify the souls of men, to promote learning, to improve the
> character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified
> and detached from earthly things. They must manifest the fear of God by their
> conduct, their manners, their deeds and their words.
> 
> This body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the
> Guardian of the Cause of God. He must continually urge them to strive and
> endeavour to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet savours of God, and
> to guide all the peoples of the world, for it is the light of Divine Guidance that
> causeth all the universe to be illumined. To disregard, though it be for a
> moment, this absolute command which is binding upon everyone, is in no wise
> permitted, that the existent world may become even as the Abhá Paradise, that
> the surface of the earth may become heavenly, that contention and conflict
> amidst peoples, kindreds, nations and governments may disappear, that all the
> dwellers on earth may become one people and one race, that the world may
> become even as one home. Should differences arise, they shall be amicably and
> 
> conclusively settled by the Supreme Tribunal, that shall include members from
> all the governments and peoples of the world.
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord!            In this sacred Dispensation, conflict and
> contention are in no wise permitted. Every aggressor deprives himself of God’s
> grace. It is incumbent upon everyone to show the utmost love, rectitude of
> conduct, straightforwardness and sincere kindliness unto all the peoples and
> kindreds of the world, be they friends or strangers. So intense must be the spirit
> of love and loving kindness, that the stranger may find himself a friend, the
> enemy a true brother, no difference whatsoever existing between them. For
> universality is of God and all limitations earthly. Thus man must strive that his
> reality may manifest virtues and perfections, the light whereof may shine upon
> everyone. The light of the sun shineth upon all the world and the merciful
> showers of Divine Providence fall upon all peoples. The vivifying breeze
> reviveth every living creature and all beings endued with life obtain their share
> and portion at His heavenly board. In like manner, the affections and loving
> kindness of the servants of the One True God must be bountifully and
> universally extended to all mankind.            Regarding this, restrictions and
> limitations are in no wise permitted.
> 
> Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and
> religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness,
> kindliness, good-will and friendliness, that all the world of being may be filled
> with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Bahá, that ignorance, enmity, hate and
> rancour may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst
> the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the Light of Unity.
> Should other peoples and nations be unfaithful to you show your fidelity unto
> them, should they be unjust toward you show justice towards them, should they
> keep aloof from you attract them to yourselves, should they show their enmity
> be friendly towards them, should they poison your lives, sweeten their souls,
> should they inflict a wound upon you, be a salve to their sores. Such are the
> attributes of the sincere! Such are the attributes of the truthful.
> 
> And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the
> source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal
> suffrage, that is, by the believers. Its members must be manifestations of the
> 
> fear of God and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast
> in God’s faith and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this House is meant the
> Universal House of Justice, that is, in all countries a secondary House of Justice
> must be instituted, and these secondary Houses of Justice must elect the
> members of the Universal one. Unto this body all things must be referred. It
> enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit
> Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the
> Guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member
> for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must
> appoint one to represent him.           Should any of the members commit a sin,
> injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his
> own discretion the right to expel him, whereupon the people must elect another
> one in his stead. This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government
> enforceth them.         The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the
> executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close
> union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice
> may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even
> as Paradise itself.
> 
> O Lord, my God! Assist Thy loved ones to be firm in Thy Faith, to walk in
> Thy ways, to be steadfast in Thy Cause. Give them Thy grace to withstand the
> onslaught of self and passion, to follow the light of Divine Guidance. Thou art
> the     Powerful,     the   Gracious,   the   Self-Subsisting,   the   Bestower,   the
> Compassionate, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful.
> 
> O friends of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! The Lord, as a sign of His infinite bounties,
> hath graciously favoured His servants by providing for a fixed money offering
> (Huqúq), to be dutifully presented unto Him, though He, the True One and His
> servants have been at all times independent of all created things, and God verily
> is the All-Possessing, exalted above the need of any gift from His creatures.
> This fixed money offering, however, causeth the people to become firm and
> steadfast and draweth Divine increase upon them. It is to be offered through
> the Guardian of the Cause of God, that it may be expended for the diffusion of
> the Fragrances of God and the exaltation of His Word, for benevolent pursuits
> and for the common weal.
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon you to be submissive to all
> monarchs that are just and to show your fidelity to every righteous king. Serve
> ye the sovereigns of the world with utmost truthfulness and loyalty. Show
> obedience unto them and be their well-wishers.        Without their leave and
> permission do not meddle with political affairs, for disloyalty to the just
> sovereign is disloyalty to God Himself.
> 
> This is my counsel and the commandment of God unto you. Well is it with
> them that act accordingly.
> 
> (This written paper hath for a long time been preserved under ground, damp
> having affected it. When brought forth to the light it was observed that certain
> parts of it were injured by the damp, and the Holy Land being sorely agitated it
> was left untouched.)
> 
> [PART TWO]
> 
> He Is God
> 
> O my Lord, my heart’s Desire, Thou Whom I ever invoke, Thou Who art my
> Aider and my Shelter, my Helper and my Refuge! Thou seest me submerged in
> an ocean of calamities that overwhelm the soul, of afflictions that oppress the
> heart, of woes that disperse Thy gathering, of ills and pains that scatter Thy
> flock. Sore trials have compassed me round and perils have from all sides beset
> me. Thou seest me immersed in a sea of unsurpassed tribulation, sunk into a
> fathomless abyss, afflicted by mine enemies and consumed with the flame of
> their hate, enkindled by my kinsmen with whom Thou didst make Thy strong
> Covenant and Thy firm Testament, wherein Thou biddest them turn their hearts
> to this wronged one, to keep away from me the foolish, the unjust, and refer
> unto this lonely one all that about which they differ in Thy Holy Book, so that
> the Truth may be revealed unto them, their doubts may be dispelled and Thy
> manifest Signs be spread abroad.
> 
> Yet now Thou seest them, O Lord, my God! with Thine eye that sleepeth
> not, how that they have broken Thy Covenant and turned their backs thereon,
> how with hate and rebelliousness they have erred from Thy Testament and have
> arisen intent upon malice. Adversities have waxed still more severe as they
> rose with unbearable cruelty to overpower and crush me, as they scattered far
> 
> and wide their scrolls of doubt and in utter falsehood hurled their calumnies
> upon me.     Not content with this, their chief, O my God, hath dared to
> interpolate Thy Book, to fraudulently alter Thy decisive Holy Text and falsify
> that which hath been revealed by Thy All-Glorious Pen.             He did also
> maliciously insert that which Thou didst reveal for the one that hath wrought
> the most glaring cruelty upon Thee, disbelieved in Thee and denied Thy
> wondrous Signs, into what Thou didst reveal for this servant of Thine that hath
> been wronged in this world. All this he did that he might beguile the souls of
> men and breathe his evil whisperings into the hearts of Thy devoted ones.
> Thereunto did their second chief testify, confessing it in his own handwriting,
> setting thereupon his seal and spreading it throughout all regions. O my God!
> Could there be a more grievous injustice than this? And still they rested not,
> but further strove with stubbornness, falsehood and slander, with scorn and
> calumny to stir up sedition in the midst of the government of this land and
> elsewhere, causing them to deem me a sower of sedition and filling the minds
> with things that the ear abhorreth to hear. The government was thus alarmed,
> fear fell upon the sovereign, and the suspicion of the nobility was aroused.
> Minds were troubled, affairs were upset, souls were perturbed, the fire of
> anguish and sorrow was kindled within the breasts, the Holy Leaves (of the
> Household) were convulsed and shaken, their eyes rained with tears, their sighs
> and lamentations were raised and their hearts burned within them as they
> bewailed this wronged servant of Thine, fallen a victim into the hands of these,
> his kindred, nay, his very enemies!
> 
> Lord! Thou seest all things weeping over Me and My kindred rejoicing in
> My woes. By Thy Glory, O my God! Even amongst mine enemies, some have
> lamented my troubles and my distress, and of the envious ones a number have
> shed tears because of my cares, my exile and my afflictions. They did this
> because they found naught in me but affection and care and witnessed naught
> but kindliness and mercy. As they saw me swept into the flood of tribulation
> and adversity and exposed even as a target to the arrows of fate, their hearts
> were moved with compassion, tears came to their eyes and they testified
> declaring:—“The Lord is our witness; naught have we seen from him but
> faithfulness, generosity and extreme compassion.”       The Covenant-breakers,
> foreboders of evil, however, waxed fiercer in their rancour, rejoiced as I fell a
> 
> victim to the most grievous ordeal, bestirred themselves against me and made
> merry over the heartrending happenings around me.
> 
> I call upon Thee, O Lord my God! with my tongue and with all my heart,
> not to requite them for their cruelty and their wrong-doings, their craft and their
> mischief, for they are foolish and ignoble and know not what they do. They
> discern not good from evil, neither do they distinguish right from wrong, nor
> justice from injustice. They follow their own desires and walk in the footsteps
> of the most imperfect and foolish amongst them. O my Lord! Have mercy
> upon them, shield them from all afflictions in these troubled times and grant
> that all trials and hardships may be the lot of this Thy servant that hath fallen
> into this darksome pit. Single me out for every woe and make me a sacrifice
> for all Thy loved ones. O Lord, Most High! May my soul, my life, my being,
> my spirit, my all be offered up for them. O God, my God! Lowly, suppliant
> and fallen upon my face, I beseech Thee with all the ardour of my invocation to
> pardon whosoever hath hurt me, forgive him that hath conspired against me and
> offended me, and wash away the misdeeds of them that have wrought injustice
> upon me. Vouchsafe unto them Thy goodly gifts, give them joy, relieve them
> from sorrow, grant them peace and prosperity, give them Thy bliss and pour
> upon them Thy bounty.
> 
> Thou art the Powerful, the Gracious, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting!
> 
> O dearly beloved friends! I am now in very great danger and the hope of
> even an hour’s life is lost to me. I am thus constrained to write these lines for
> the protection of the Cause of God, the preservation of His Law, the
> safeguarding of His Word and the safety of His Teachings. By the Ancient
> Beauty! This wronged one hath in no wise borne nor doth he bear a grudge
> against any one; towards none doth he entertain any ill-feeling and uttereth no
> word save for the good of the world. My supreme obligation, however, of
> necessity, prompteth me to guard and preserve the Cause of God. Thus, with
> the greatest regret, I counsel you saying: Guard ye the Cause of God, protect
> His law and have the utmost fear of discord. This is the foundation of the belief
> of the people of Bahá (may my life be offered up for them): “His Holiness, the
> Exalted One (the Báb), is the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God
> and the Forerunner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abhá Beauty (may
> 
> my life be a sacrifice for His steadfast friends) is the Supreme Manifestation of
> God and the Dayspring of His Most Divine Essence. All others are servants
> unto Him and do His bidding.” Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn,
> and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal
> House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority
> doth carry, that is verily the truth and the purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth
> deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hath shown forth malice,
> and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant. By this House is meant that
> Universal House of Justice which is to be elected from all countries, that is
> from those parts in the East and West where the loved ones are to be found,
> after the manner of the customary elections in Western countries such as those
> of England.
> 
> It is incumbent upon these members (of the Universal House of Justice) to
> gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which have caused
> difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not expressly
> recorded in the Book. Whatsoever they decide has the same effect as the Text
> itself. Inasmuch as the House of Justice hath power to enact laws that are not
> expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions, so also it hath
> power to repeal the same. Thus for example, the House of Justice enacteth
> today a certain law and enforceth it, and a hundred years hence, circumstances
> having profoundly changed and the conditions having altered, another House of
> Justice will then have power, according to the exigencies of the time, to alter
> that law. This it can do because these laws form no part of the divine explicit
> Text. The House of Justice is both the initiator and the abrogator of its own
> laws.
> 
> And now, one of the greatest and most fundamental principles of the Cause
> of God is to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant-breakers, for they will utterly
> destroy the Cause of God, exterminate His Law and render of no account all
> efforts exerted in the past. O friends! It behoveth you to call to mind with
> tenderness the trials of His Holiness, the Exalted One, and show your fidelity to
> the Ever-Blest Beauty. The utmost endeavour must be exerted lest all these
> woes, trials and afflictions, all this pure and sacred blood that hath been shed so
> profusely in the Path of God, may prove to be in vain. Ye know well what the
> hands of the Centre of Sedition, Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí, and his associates have
> 
> wrought. Among his doings, one of them is the corruption of the Sacred Text
> whereof ye are all aware, the Lord be praised, and know that it is evident,
> proven and confirmed by the testimony of his brother, Mírzá Badí’u’lláh,
> whose confession is written in his own handwriting, beareth his seal, is printed
> and spread abroad. This is but one of his misdeeds. Can a transgression be
> imagined more glaring than this, the interpolation of the Holy Text? Nay, by
> the righteousness of the Lord! His transgressions are writ and recorded in a
> leaflet by itself. Please God, ye will peruse it.
> 
> In short, according to the explicit Divine Text the least transgression shall
> make of this man a fallen creature, and what transgression is more grievous
> than attempting to destroy the Divine Edifice, breaking the Covenant, erring
> from the Testament, falsifying the Holy Text, sowing the seeds of doubt,
> calumniating ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, advancing claims for which God hath sent down
> no warrant, kindling mischief and striving to shed the very blood of ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá, and many other things whereof ye are all aware! It is thus evident that
> should this man succeed in bringing disruption into the Cause of God, he will
> utterly destroy and exterminate it. Beware lest ye approach this man, for to
> approach him is worse than approaching fire!
> 
> Gracious God! After Mírzá Badí’u’lláh had declared in his own handwriting
> that this man (Muhammad ‘Alí) had broken the Covenant and had proclaimed
> his falsification of the Holy Text, he realized that to return to the True Faith and
> pay allegiance to the Covenant and Testament would in no wise promote his
> selfish desires. He thus repented and regretted the thing he had done and
> attempted privily to gather in his printed confessions, plotted darkly with the
> Centre of Sedition against me and informed him daily of all the happenings
> within my household. He has even taken a leading part in the mischievous
> deeds that have of late been committed. Praise be to God affairs recovered their
> former stability and the loved ones obtained partial peace. But ever since the
> day he entered again into our midst, he began afresh to sow the seeds of sore
> sedition. Some of his machinations and intrigues will be recorded in a separate
> leaflet.
> 
> My purpose is, however, to show that it is incumbent upon the friends that
> are fast and firm in the Covenant and Testament to be ever wakeful lest after
> 
> this wronged one is gone this alert and active worker of mischief may cause
> disruption, privily sow the seeds of doubt and sedition and utterly root out the
> Cause of God. A thousand times shun his company. Take heed and be on your
> guard. Watch and examine; should anyone, openly or privily, have the least
> connection with him, cast him out from your midst, for he will surely cause
> disruption and mischief.
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause of
> God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause the
> straight to become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce contrary
> results.
> 
> O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints
> and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy Proofs
> unto Thy loved ones and set forth clearly all things unto them, that they may
> watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight Path and protect Thy Resplendent
> Law. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise!
> 
> [PART THREE]
> 
> He Is the Witness, the All-Sufficing
> 
> O my God! my Beloved, my heart’s Desire! Thou knowest, Thou seest that
> which hath befallen this servant of Thine, that hath humbled himself at Thy
> Door, and Thou knowest the sins committed against him by the people of
> malice, they that have broken Thy Covenant and turned their backs on Thy
> Testament. In the day-time they afflicted me with the arrows of hate and in the
> night-season they privily conspired to hurt me. At dawn they committed that
> which the Celestial Concourse did lament and at eventide they unsheathed
> against me the sword of tyranny and hurled in the presence of the ungodly their
> darts of calumny upon me. Notwithstanding their misdeeds, this lowly servant
> of Thine was patient and did endure every affliction and trial at their hands,
> though by Thy power and might he could have destroyed their words, quenched
> their fire and stayed the flame of their rebelliousness.
> 
> Thou seest, O my God! how my long-suffering, my forbearance and silence
> have increased their cruelty, their arrogance and their pride. By Thy Glory, O
> Beloved One! They have misbelieved in Thee and rebelled against Thee in
> 
> such wise that they left me not a moment of rest and quiet, that I might arise as
> it is meet and seemly, to exalt Thy Word amidst mankind, and might serve at
> Thy Threshold of Holiness with a heart that overfloweth with the joy of the
> dwellers of the Abhá Kingdom.
> 
> Lord! My cup of woe runneth over, and from all sides blows are fiercely
> raging upon me. The darts of affliction have compassed me round and the
> arrows of distress have rained upon me. Thus tribulation overwhelmed me and
> my strength, because of the onslaught of the foemen, became weakness within
> me, while I stood alone and forsaken in the midst of my woes. Lord! Have
> mercy upon me, lift me up unto Thyself and make me to drink from the Chalice
> of Martyrdom, for the wide world with all its vastness can no longer contain
> me.
> 
> Thou art, verily, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Gracious, the All-
> Bountiful!
> 
> O ye the true, the sincere, the faithful friends of this wronged one!
> Everyone knoweth and believeth what calamities and afflictions have befallen
> this wronged one, this prisoner, at the hands of those who have broken the
> Covenant at the time when, after the setting of the Day-Star of the world, his
> heart was consumed with the flame of His bereavement.
> 
> When, in all parts of the earth, the enemies of God profiting by the passing
> away of the Sun of Truth, suddenly and with all their might launched their
> attack; at such a time and in the midst of so great a calamity, the Covenantbreakers arose with the utmost cruelty, intent upon harm and the stirring up of
> the spirit of enmity. At every moment a misdeed they did commit and bestirred
> themselves to sow the seeds of grievous sedition, and to ruin the edifice of the
> Covenant. But this wronged one, this prisoner, did his utmost to hide and veil
> their doings, that haply they might regret and repent. His long-suffering and
> forbearance of these evil deeds, however, made the rebellious ones still more
> arrogant and daring; until, through leaflets written with their own hands, they
> sowed the seeds of doubt, printing these leaflets and scattering them broadcast
> throughout the world, believing that such foolish doings would bring to naught
> the Covenant and the Testament.
> 
> Thereupon the loved ones of the Lord arose, inspired with the greatest
> confidence and constancy and aided by the power of the Kingdom, by Divine
> Strength, by heavenly Grace, by the unfailing help and Celestial Bounty, they
> withstood the enemies of the Covenant in well-nigh three score and ten treatises
> and supported by conclusive proofs, unmistakable evidences and clear texts
> from the Holy Writ, they refuted their scrolls of doubt and mischief-kindling
> leaflets. The Centre of Sedition was thus confounded in his craftiness, afflicted
> by the wrath of God, sunk into a degradation and infamy that shall be lasting
> until the Day of Doom. Base and wretched is the plight of the people of evil
> deeds, they that are in grievous loss!
> 
> And as they lost their cause, grew hopeless in their efforts against the loved
> ones of God, saw the Standard of His Testament waving throughout all regions
> and witnessed the power of the Covenant of the Merciful One, the flame of
> envy so blazed within them as to be beyond recounting. With the utmost
> vigour, exertion, rancour and enmity, they followed another path, walked in
> another way, devised another plan: that of kindling the flame of sedition in the
> heart of the very government itself, and thus cause this wronged one, this
> prisoner to appear as a mover of strife, inimical to the government and a hater
> and opponent of the Crown. Perchance ‘Abdu’l-Bahá may be put to death and
> his name be made to perish whereby an arena may be opened unto the enemies
> of the Covenant wherein they may advance and spur on their charger, inflict a
> grievous loss upon everyone and subvert the very foundations of the edifice of
> the Cause of God. For so grievous is the conduct and behaviour of this false
> people that they are become even as an axe striking at the very root of the
> Blessed Tree. Should they be suffered to continue they would, in but a few
> days’ time, exterminate the Cause of God, His Word, and themselves.
> 
> Hence, the beloved of the Lord must entirely shun them, avoid them, foil
> their machinations and evil whisperings, guard the Law of God and His
> religion, engage one and all in diffusing widely the sweet savours of God and to
> the best of their endeavour proclaim His Teachings.
> 
> Whosoever and whatsoever meeting becometh a hindrance to the diffusion
> of the Light of Faith, let the loved ones give them counsel and say: “Of all the
> gifts of God the greatest is the gift of Teaching. It draweth unto us the Grace of
> 
> God and is our first obligation. Of such a gift how can we deprive ourselves?
> Nay, our lives, our goods, our comforts, our rest, we offer them all as a sacrifice
> for the Abhá Beauty and teach the Cause of God.” Caution and prudence,
> however, must be observed even as recorded in the Book. The veil must in no
> wise be suddenly rent asunder. The Glory of Glories rest upon you.
> 
> O ye the faithful loved ones of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! It is incumbent upon you to
> take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi, the twig that hath branched from and
> the fruit given forth by the two hallowed and Divine Lote-Trees, that no dust of
> despondency and sorrow may stain his radiant nature, that day by day he may
> wax greater in happiness, in joy and spirituality, and may grow to become even
> as a fruitful tree.
> 
> For he is, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Guardian of the Cause of God, the Afnán,
> the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and
> turn unto him. He that obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth
> away from him, hath turned away from God and he that denieth him, hath
> denied the True One. Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like
> unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of
> Bahá’u’lláh) advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and
> open wide the door of false interpretation. To none is given the right to put
> forth his own opinion or express his particular conviction.         All must seek
> guidance and turn unto the Centre of the Cause and the House of Justice. And
> he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error.
> 
> The Glory of Glories rest upon you!255
> 
> Guardian’s summary of the themes of the Will
> 
> The Document establishing that Order, the Charter of a future world
> civilization, which may be regarded in some of its features as supplementary to
> no less weighty a Book than the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; signed and sealed by ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá; entirely written with His own hand; its first section composed during one
> of the darkest periods of His incarceration in the prison-fortress of ‘Akká,
> proclaims, categorically and unequivocally, the fundamental beliefs of the
> followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh; reveals, in unmistakable language, the
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Will and Testament, pp. 1–27.
> 
> twofold character of the Mission of the Báb; discloses the full station of the
> Author of the Bahá’í Revelation; asserts that “all others are servants unto Him
> and do His bidding”; stresses the importance of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; establishes
> the institution of the Guardianship as a hereditary office and outlines its
> essential functions; provides the measures for the election of the International
> House of Justice, defines its scope and sets forth its relationship to that
> Institution; prescribes the obligations, and emphasizes the responsibilities, of
> the Hands of the Cause of God; and extols the virtues of the indestructible
> Covenant established by Bahá’u’lláh. That Document, furthermore, lauds the
> courage and constancy of the supporters of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant; expatiates
> on the sufferings endured by its appointed Centre; recalls the infamous conduct
> of Mírzá Yahyá and his failure to heed the warnings of the Báb; exposes, in a
> series of indictments, the perfidy and rebellion of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Ali, and
> the complicity of his son Shú’á’u’lláh and of his brother Mírzá Badí’u’lláh;
> reaffirms their excommunication, and predicts the frustration of all their hopes;
> summons the Afnán (the Báb’s kindred), the Hands of the Cause and the entire
> company of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh to arise unitedly to propagate His
> Faith, to disperse far and wide, to labour tirelessly and to follow the heroic
> example of the Apostles of Jesus Christ; warns them against the dangers of
> association with the Covenant-breakers, and bids them shield the Cause from
> the assaults of the insincere and the hypocrite; and counsels them to
> demonstrate by their conduct the universality of the Faith they have espoused,
> and vindicate its high principles. In that same Document its Author reveals the
> significance and purpose of the Huqúqu’lláh (Right of God), already instituted
> in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; enjoins submission and fidelity towards all monarchs who
> are just; expresses His longing for martyrdom, and voices His prayers for the
> repentance as well as the forgiveness of His enemies.256
> 
> The Administrative Order as framework of the Will, nucleus and pattern
> of World Order
> 
> The Administrative Order, which ever since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension has
> evolved and is taking shape under our very eyes in no fewer than forty
> countries of the world, may be considered as the framework of the Will itself,
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 328.
> 
> the inviolable stronghold wherein this new-born child is being nurtured and
> developed. This Administrative Order, as it expands and consolidates itself,
> will no doubt manifest the potentialities and reveal the full implications of this
> momentous Document—this most remarkable expression of the Will of One of
> the most remarkable Figures of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. It will, as its
> component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with efficiency and
> vigour, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as
> the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in
> the fullness of time the whole of mankind.257
> 
> The strength, distinction and guarantee of the Administrative Order
> 
> It should be noted in this connection that this Administrative Order is
> fundamentally different from anything that any Prophet has previously
> established, inasmuch as Bahá’u’lláh has Himself revealed its principles,
> established its institutions, appointed the person to interpret His Word and
> conferred the necessary authority on the body designed to supplement and
> apply His legislative ordinances. Therein lies the secret of its strength, its
> fundamental distinction, and the guarantee against disintegration and schism.
> Nowhere in the sacred scriptures of any of the world’s religious systems, nor
> even in the writings of the Inaugurator of the Bábí Dispensation, do we find any
> provisions establishing a covenant or providing for an administrative order that
> can compare in scope and authority with those that lie at the very basis of the
> Bahá’í Dispensation.258
> 
> The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Promise of All Ages
> 
> The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh should indeed be regarded, if we wish to be faithful
> to the tremendous implications of its message, as the culmination of a cycle, the
> final stage in a series of successive, of preliminary and progressive revelations.
> These, beginning with Adam and ending with the Báb, have paved the way and
> anticipated with an ever-increasing emphasis the advent of that Day of Days in
> which He Who is the Promise of All Ages should be made manifest.
> 
> To this truth the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh abundantly testify.     A mere
> reference to the claims which, in vehement language and with compelling
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 144.
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 145.
> 
> power, He Himself has repeatedly advanced cannot but fully demonstrate the
> character of the Revelation of which He was the chosen bearer. To the words
> that have streamed from His pen—the fountainhead of so impetuous a
> Revelation—we should, therefore, direct our attention if we wish to obtain a
> clearer understanding of its importance and meaning. Whether in His assertion
> of the unprecedented claim He has advanced, or in His allusions to the
> mysterious forces He has released, whether in such passages as extol the glories
> of His long-awaited Day, or magnify the station which they who have
> recognized its hidden virtues will attain, Bahá’u’lláh and, to an almost equal
> extent, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have bequeathed to posterity mines of such
> inestimable wealth as none of us who belong to this generation can befittingly
> estimate.259
> 
> The ages of human evolution
> 
> The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again to return, while
> the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must signalize the coming
> of age of the entire human race, is yet to come. The convulsions of this
> transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the
> essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages,
> “the time of the end,” in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the
> dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally
> transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquillity of an undisturbed, a universal,
> and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men
> will have given way to the world-wide reconciliation, and the complete
> unification of the divers elements that constitute human society.
> 
> This will indeed be the fitting climax of that process of integration which,
> starting with the family, the smallest unit in the scale of human organization,
> must, after having called successively into being the tribe, the city-state, and the
> nation, continue to operate until it culminates in the unification of the whole
> world, the final object and the crowning glory of human evolution on this
> planet. It is this stage which humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly
> approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 103.
> 
> is experiencing is mysteriously paving the way. It is with this stage that the
> fortunes and the purpose of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh are indissolubly linked.260
> 
> Divine Economy for all mankind
> 
> Feeble though our Faith may now appear in the eyes of men, who either
> denounce it as an offshoot of Islam, or contemptuously ignore it as one more of
> those obscure sects that abound in the West, this priceless gem of Divine
> Revelation, now still in its embryonic state, shall evolve within the shell of His
> law, and shall forge ahead, undivided and unimpaired, till it embraces the whole
> of mankind. Only those who have already recognized the supreme station of
> Bahá’u’lláh, only those whose hearts have been touched by His love, and have
> become familiar with the potency of His spirit, can adequately appreciate the
> value of this Divine Economy—His inestimable gift to mankind.261
> 
> The Kingdom of God Himself
> 
> Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its
> character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on
> which this Administrative Order is founded is God’s immutable Purpose for
> mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no one
> less than Bahá’u’lláh Himself. Its shield and defender are the embattled hosts
> of the Abhá Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less than twenty thousand
> martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be born and flourish. The
> axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will
> and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Its guiding principles are the truths which He
> Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly
> enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws that govern
> its operation and limit its functions are those which have been expressly
> ordained in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.          The seat round which its spiritual, its
> humanitarian and administrative activities will cluster are the Mashriqu’l-
> Adhkár and its Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its authority and buttress
> its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal
> House of Justice. The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the
> establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Bahá’u’lláh. The
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, pp. 117–118.
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 23–24.
> 
> methods it employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it to neither East nor
> West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor coloured.
> Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the “Most Great
> Peace”; its consummation the advent of that golden millennium—the Day when
> the kingdoms of this world shall have become the Kingdom of God Himself,
> the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh.262
> 
> Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 156–157.
> 
> DENIAL
> 
> COVENANT BREAKERS
> OLD TESTAMENT
> 
> The story of Miriam
> 
> And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian
> woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And
> they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken
> also by us? And the LORD heard [it]. (Now the man Moses [was] very meek,
> above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth.) And the LORD
> spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye
> three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And
> the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood [in] the door of the
> tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he
> said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, [I] the LORD will
> make myself known unto him in a vision, [and] will speak unto him in a dream.
> My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all mine house. With him
> will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the
> similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to
> speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled
> against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle;
> and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked
> upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses,
> Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done
> foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom
> the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And
> Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And
> the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not
> be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after
> that let her be received in [again]. And Miriam was shut out from the camp
> seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in [again].263
> 
> NEW TESTAMENT
> 
> Numbers12:1–15. Compare with Numbers 16:1–33; 46–9; Malachi 2:10.
> 
> a) Words of Christ
> 
> Offences necessary
> 
> Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences
> come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!264
> 
> Story of Judas
> 
> Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup [is] the new testament
> in my blood, which is shed for you. But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth
> me [is] with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was
> determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!265
> 
> b) Words of early followers of Christ
> 
> They separate themselves
> 
> I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that
> the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed
> them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
> their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto
> the judgement of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities
> about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going
> after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of
> eternal fire. Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise
> dominion, and speak evil of dignities.        Yet Michael the archangel, when
> contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring
> against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these
> speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally,
> as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for
> they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam
> for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your
> feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear:
> clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit
> withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of
> the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the
> 
> Matthew 18:7
> Luke 22:20–22
> 
> blackness of darkness for ever. … How that they told you there should be
> mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These
> be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.266
> 
> Wilful sin after recognition of truth
> 
> For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
> there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of
> judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that
> despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how
> much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
> trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
> wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
> Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance [belongeth] unto
> me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his
> people. [It is] a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.267
> 
> QUR’ÁN
> 
> The Covenant of God and its breaking
> 
> Verily, God enjoineth justice and the doing of good and gifts to kindred; and
> he forbiddeth wickedness and wrong and oppression. He warneth you that
> haply ye may be mindful. Be faithful in the covenant of God when ye have
> covenanted, and break not your oaths after ye have pledged them: for now have
> ye made God to stand surety for you. Verily, God hath knowledge of what ye
> do. … And barter not the covenant of God for a mean price; for with God is
> that which is better for you, if ye do but understand.268
> 
> But those who, after having contracted it, break their covenant with God,
> and cut asunder what God hath bidden to be united, and commit misdeeds on
> the earth, these, a curse awaiteth them, and an ill abode!269
> 
> Jude 1:5–13, 18–19. Compare with:
> (i) The Story of Judas—Matthew 26:14–25, 45–50 and 27; 3–10; Mark 14:18–21,
> 42–50; Luke 22:1–6, 20–24, 47–53; John 1318–30 and 18:2–12.
> (ii) The Story of Lazarus (Lazar—Leper) John 11:1–44.
> Hebrews 10:26–31
> Qur’án 16:92–3, 97 (The Bees (An-Nahl))
> Qur’án 13:25 (The Thunder (Ar-Ra’d))
> 
> Whoso, after he hath believed in God denieth him, if he were forced to it and
> if his heart remain steadfast in the faith, shall be guiltless: but whoso openeth
> his breast to infidelity—on such shall be wrath from God, and a severe
> punishment awaiteth them. This, because they have loved this present life
> beyond the next, and because God guideth not the unbelievers! These are they
> whose hearts and ears and eyes God hath sealed up: these are the careless ones:
> in the next world shall they perish beyond a doubt.270
> 
> Penalty for unbelief
> 
> O ye who believe! stand fast to justice, when ye bear witness before God,
> though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kindred, whether the
> party be rich or poor. God is nearer than you to both. Therefore follow not
> passion lest ye swerve from truth. And if ye wrest your testimony or stand
> aloof, God verily is well aware of what ye do. O ye who believe! believe in
> God and his Apostle, and the Book which he hath sent down to his Apostle, and
> the Book which he hath sent down aforetime. Whoever believeth not on God
> and his Angels and his Books and his Apostles, and in the last day, he verily
> hath erred with far-gone error.          Verily, they who believed, then became
> unbelievers, then believed, and again became unbelievers, and then increased
> their unbelief it is not God who will forgive them or guide them into the way.
> Announce to the hypocrites that a dolorous torment doth await them. Those
> who take the unbelievers for friends besides the faithful—do they seek honour
> at their hands? Verily, all honour belongeth unto God! And already hath He
> sent this down to you in the Book “WHEN YE SHALL HEAR THE SIGNS OF
> GOD THEY SHALL NOT BE BELIEVED BUT SHALL BE MOCKED AT.”
> Sit ye not therefore with such, until they engage in other discourse; otherwise,
> ye will become like them. Verily God will gather the hypocrites and the
> infidels all together in Hell.271
> 
> Veritable infidels
> 
> Of a truth they who believe not on God and his Apostles, and seek to
> separate God from his Apostles, and say, “Some we believe, and some we
> 
> Qur’án 16:108–110 (The Bees (An-Nahl))
> Qur’án 4:134–9 (Women (An-Nisá’))
> 
> believe not,” and desire to take a middle way; These! they are veritable infidels!
> and for the infidels have we prepared a shameful punishment.272
> 
> Despair and chastisement for those who believe not
> 
> “As for those who believe not in the signs of God, or that they shall ever
> attain His Presence, these of My mercy shall despair, and these doth a grievous
> chastisement await.”273
> 
> “But when Our clear signs are recited to them, they who look not forward to
> attain Our Presence, say, ‘Bring a different Qur’án from this, or make some
> change in it.’ Say: It is not for Me to change it as Mine own soul prompteth. I
> follow only what is revealed to Me: verily, I fear, if I rebel against My Lord,
> the punishment of a great day.”274
> 
> WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
> 
> Renounce thyself and turn unto Me
> 
> There is no peace for thee save by renouncing thyself and turning unto Me;
> for it behoveth thee to glory in My name, not in thine own; to put thy trust in
> Me and not in thyself, since I desire to be loved alone and above all that is.275
> 
> “My love is My stronghold”
> 
> My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he
> that turneth away shall surely stray and perish.276
> 
> Return and lose not thy chance
> 
> I desire communion with thee, but thou wouldst put no trust in Me. The
> sword of thy rebellion hath felled the tree of thy hope. At all times I am near
> unto thee, but thou art ever far from Me. Imperishable glory I have chosen for
> thee, yet boundless shame thou hast chosen for thyself. While there is yet time,
> return, and lose not thy chance.277
> 
> Outwardly shepherds, inwardly wolves
> 
> Qur’án 4:149–150 (Women (An-Nisá’))
> Qur’án 29:23 quoted in Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 116.
> Qur’án 10:15 quoted in Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 116.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 8.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 9.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 21.
> 
> Wherefore do ye wear the guise of shepherds, when inwardly ye have
> become wolves, intent upon My flock? Ye are even as the star, which riseth ere
> the dawn, and which, though it seem radiant and luminous, leadeth the
> wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition.
> 
> “My will and the will of another than Me cannot dwell together in one
> heart”
> 
> Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze
> upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My
> will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water, cannot dwell
> together in one heart.278
> 
> Beasts in pastures of passion and desire
> 
> Even as the swiftness of lightning ye have passed by the Beloved One, and
> have set your hearts on satanic fancies. Ye bow the knee before your vain
> imagining, and call it truth. Ye turn your eyes towards the thorn, and name it a
> flower. Not a pure breath have ye breathed, nor hath the breeze of detachment
> been wafted from the meadows of your hearts. Ye have cast to the winds the
> loving counsels of the Beloved and have effaced them utterly from the tablet of
> your hearts, and even as the beasts of the field, ye move and have your being
> within the pastures of desire and passion.279
> 
> None faithful to the Covenant on Mount Párán
> 
> Call ye to mind that covenant ye have entered into with Me upon Mount
> Párán, situate within the hallowed precincts of Zamán. I have taken to witness
> the concourse on high and the dwellers in the city of eternity, yet now none do I
> find faithful unto the covenant. Of a certainty pride and rebellion have effaced
> it from the hearts, in such wise that no trace thereof remaineth. Yet knowing
> this, I waited and disclosed it not.280
> 
> Meaning of leprosy
> 
> Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the
> recognition of the Lord, his God. Whoso alloweth himself to be shut out from
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 31.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 45.
> Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 71.
> 
> Him is indeed a leper, who shall not be remembered in the Kingdom of God,
> the Mighty, the All-Praised.281
> 
> “Gather Thy servants together around this Divine Law”
> 
> I beseech Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, to open the eyes of Thy servants,
> that they may behold Thee shining above the horizon of Thy majesty and glory,
> and that they may not be hindered by the croaking of the raven from hearkening
> to the voice of the Dove of Thy sublime oneness, nor be prevented by the
> corrupt waters from partaking of the pure wine of Thy bounty and the
> everlasting streams of Thy gifts.
> 
> Gather them, then, together around this Divine Law, the covenant of which
> Thou hast established with all Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, and Whose
> ordinances Thou hast written down in Thy Tablets and Thy Scriptures. Raise
> them up, moreover, to such heights as will enable them to perceive Thy Call.
> 
> Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily, the Inaccessible,
> the All-Glorious.282
> 
> WRITINGS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
> 
> The Sun of the Covenant dissipates clouds, disperses bats
> 
> Souls are still unaware of the power of the Covenant. This Testament is
> neither a tradition nor a tale. It has been established through the pen of His
> Holiness—Bahá’u’lláh with the utmost firmness and undoubtedly if all the
> people of the world join in endeavouring to uproot it, they will all eventually
> fail and be disappointed. What can therefore a handful of people do?
> 
> The power of the Covenant is like unto the sun and those who have acted
> contrary to it are like transparent clouds. The Sun of the Covenant dissipates
> dense clouds and causes them to vanish.              What then will it do to these
> imaginary mists?        Thou dost consider that in all regions the Call of the
> Covenant is being raised and in the utmost power. His Holiness Christ said to
> Peter, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” This Word
> could not be resisted by all the people of the world and eventually it has been
> evident and manifest. At present His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has through His
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 86.
> Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, p. 106.
> 
> Sacred Pen established this Covenant in the utmost power, perfection, and
> clearness. Consider then what power it yields. At present some superficial
> souls like unto bats are plotting together in the dark, and say to one another that
> this Sun of the Covenant shall be eclipsed and the resplendent Moon of the
> Testament shall be concealed.        But the Sun of the Covenant through one
> effulgence shall disperse and annihilate these bats.283
> 
> Physical and spiritual life
> 
> A certain disciple came to Christ and asked permission to go and bury his
> father.     He answered, “Let the dead bury their dead.”         Therefore, Christ
> designated as dead some who were still living—that is, let the living dead, the
> spiritually dead, bury your father. They were dead because they were not
> believers in Christ. Although physically alive, they were dead spiritually. This
> is the meaning of Christ’s words, “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that
> which is born of Spirit is spirit.” He meant that those who were simply born of
> the human body were dead spiritually, while those quickened by the breaths of
> the Holy Spirit were living and eternally alive. These are the interpretations of
> Christ Himself.284
> 
> Healthy to avoid the spiritually diseased
> 
> Thou hadst asked some questions; that why the blessed and spiritual souls
> who are firm and steadfast, shun the company of degenerate persons. This is
> because, that just as the bodily diseases like consumption and cancer are
> contagious, likewise the spiritual diseases are also infectious. If a consumptive
> should associate with a thousand safe and healthy persons, the safety and health
> of these thousand persons would not affect the consumptive and would not cure
> him of his consumption. But when this consumptive associates with those
> thousand souls, in a short time the disease of consumption will infect a number
> of those healthy persons. This is a clear and self-evident question.
> 
> Likewise, if a thousand magnanimous persons associate with a degraded
> one, the perfection of those souls will not affect this debased person. On the
> contrary, this mean person will be the cause of their going astray. Therefore,
> His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh says in the Tablets: “Soon will a foul odour be
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, XI:18, p. 307.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 245–246.
> 
> spread; shun it, so commandeth the Omniscient and the Wise. That is, in that
> city a stinking odour will soon be spread. You should avoid it. So are ye
> commanded by His Holiness, the Knower and the Wise.”
> 
> That foul odour is that of violation. Also in the Tablet of Advice He says:
> “Now, do not neglect your Sower, Protector, and Educator; and do not choose
> and prefer others to Him, lest foul and poisonous winds should pass over you.”
> 
> His Holiness Christ says that the owner of the garden does not leave the
> dried tree, but certainly cuts it and throws it into the fire, because the dried
> wood is worthy and deserving of fire.
> 
> Again, His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh says: “Then, O ye trees of the blessed
> garden of My bestowal, protect ye yourselves from the poison of the
> treacherous souls and the stinking winds, which are the association of the
> polytheist and the negligent ones, so that the trees of existence, through the
> bounty of the Worshipped [God] be not deprived of the blessed breaths and
> breezes of love.”285
> 
> In every age seeds of discord, e.g. Arius
> 
> In every age and cycle, in the time of Moses, of His Holiness Christ and of
> His Holiness Muhammad as well as after these sacred Manifestations, some
> people of evil intention have been found and have sown the seeds of discord
> and of sedition. Even after Christ, Arius, the well-known patriarch, was the
> cause of a widespread schism in the Cause of God and intense agitation among
> the believers. His followers numbered over three million, and he as well as his
> successors exerted the utmost effort in order to produce a split and a widespread
> commotion in the religion of God.              But eventually the power of Christ
> exterminated and utterly destroyed them all to the extent that no trace [of them]
> has been left. These people are like the froth that gathers on the surface of the
> sea; a wave surges from the ocean of the Covenant and through the power of
> the Abhá Kingdom will cast these foams ashore. In the Qur’án it is mentioned:
> “As to the foam, it is quickly gone; and as to what is useful to man, it remaineth
> on the earth.” These corrupt thoughts that emanate from personal and evil
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, XII:14, pp. 233–4.
> 
> intentions will all vanish, whereas the Covenant of God shall remain stable and
> secure.286
> 
> Carnal desires the cause of difference
> 
> … carnal desires are the cause of difference, as it is the case with violators
> [of the Covenant]. These do not doubt the validity of the Covenant, but selfish
> motives have dragged them to this condition. It is not that they ignore (or are
> ignorant of) what they do; they are perfectly aware and still they exhibit
> opposition. in short. the ocean of the Covenant is tumultuous and wide. It
> casts ashore the foam of violation, and thus rest ye assured.287
> 
> Shun all Covenant breakers
> 
> And now, one of the greatest and most fundamental principles of the Cause
> of God is to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant-breakers, for they will utterly
> destroy the Cause of God, exterminate His Law and render of no account all
> efforts exerted in the past. O friends! It behoveth you to call to mind with
> tenderness the trials of His Holiness, the Exalted One, and show your fidelity to
> the Ever-Blest Beauty. The utmost endeavour must be exerted lest all these
> woes, trials and afflictions, all this pure and sacred blood that hath been shed so
> profusely in the Path of God, may prove to be in vain.288
> 
> O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause of
> God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause the
> straight to become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce contrary
> results.
> 
> O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints
> and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy Proofs
> unto Thy loved ones and set forth clearly all things unto them, that they may
> watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight Path and protect Thy Resplendent
> Law. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise!289
> 
> The Master’s Last Tablet to America
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 95.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, p. 246.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Will and Testament, p. 20.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Will and Testament, p. 22.
> 
> O ye friends of God!
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is day and night thinking of you and mentioning you, for the
> friends of God are dear to Him. Every morning at dawn I supplicate the
> Kingdom of God and ask that you may be filled with the breath of the Holy
> Spirit, so that you may become brilliant candles, shine with the light of
> guidance and dispel the darkness of error. Rest assured that the confirmations
> of the Abhá Kingdom will continuously reach you.
> 
> Through the power of the divine springtime, the downpour of the celestial
> clouds and the heat of the Sun of Reality, the tree of life is just beginning to
> grow. Before long, it will produce buds, bring forth leaves and fruits, and cast
> its shade over the East and the West. This Tree of Life is the Book of the
> Covenant.
> 
> In America, in these days, severe winds have surrounded the Lamp of the
> Covenant, hoping that this brilliant Light may be extinguished, and this Tree of
> Life may be uprooted. Certain weak, capricious, malicious and ignorant souls
> have been shaken by the earthquake of hatred, of animosity, have striven to
> efface the Divine Covenant and Testament, and render the clear water muddy
> so that in it they might fish.   They have arisen against the Centre of the
> Covenant like the people of Bayán who attacked the Blessed Beauty and every
> moment uttered a calumny. Every day they seek a pretext and secretly arouse
> doubts, so that the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh may be completely annihilated in
> America.
> 
> O friends of God! Be awake, be awake; be vigilant, be vigilant! His
> Holiness, the Báb, made a Covenant for Bahá’u’lláh with all the people of the
> Bayán, so that on the day of appearance of “Him Whom God shall manifest”—
> and of the radiation of the Light of Bahá’u’lláh, they might believe and be
> assured, arise in service and promulgate the Word of God. Later the people of
> the Bayán, like Mírzá Yahyá and many others, arose against the Blessed
> Beauty, invented every sort of calumny, aroused doubt in the minds of the
> people, and from the Books of His Holiness the Báb—that were full of
> references to “Him Whom God shall manifest”—tried to prove Bahá’u’lláh
> false. Every day they wrote and spread a pamphlet opposing Bahá’u’lláh,
> caused trouble and perplexity among the people; they inflicted the greatest
> 
> injury and cruelty, yet counted themselves firm in the Covenant of His
> Holiness, the Báb. However, when the light of the Covenant of His Holiness,
> the Báb, lighted the universe, then all the faithful and sincere souls were freed
> from the darkness of the violation of the people of the Bayán and shone like
> brilliant candles.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh, in all the Tablets and Epistles, forbade the true and firm friends
> from associating and meeting the violators of the Covenant of His Holiness, the
> Báb, saying that no one should go near them because their breath is like the
> poison of the snake that kills instantly.
> 
> In the Hidden Words, He says: “Esteem the friendship of the just, but
> withhold both mind and hand from the company of the wicked.”
> 
> Addressing one of the friends, He says: “It is clear to your honour that
> before long Satan, in the garb of man, will reach that land and will try to
> mislead the friends of the Divine Beauty through temptations which arouse the
> desires of self, and will cause them to follow the footsteps of Satan away from
> the right and glorious path, and prevent them from attaining the Blessed Shore
> of the King of Oneness.       This is a hidden information of which we have
> informed the chosen ones lest they may be deprived of their praiseworthy
> station by associating with the embodiments of hatred.           Therefore, it is
> incumbent upon all the friends of God to shun any person in whom they
> perceive the emanation of hatred for the Glorious Beauty of Abhá, though he
> may quote all the Heavenly Utterances and cling to all the Books.”             He
> continues -Glorious be His Name!—“Protect yourselves with utmost vigilance,
> lest you be entrapped in the snare of deception and fraud.” This is the advice of
> the Pen of Destiny.
> 
> In another address, He says: “Therefore, to avoid these people will be the
> nearest path by which to attain the divine good pleasure; because their breath is
> infectious, like unto poison.”
> 
> In another Tablet, He says: “O Kázim, close thine eye to the people of the
> world; drink the water of knowledge from the heavenly cup bearers, and listen
> not to the nonsensical utterances of the manifestations of Satan, because the
> manifestations of Satan are occupying today the observation posts of the
> glorious path of God, and preventing the people by every means of deception
> 
> and ruse. Before long you will witness the turning away of the people of Bayán
> from the Manifestation of the Merciful.”
> 
> In another Tablet, He says:        “Endeavour to your utmost to protect
> yourselves, because Satan appears in different robes and appeals to everyone
> according to each person’s own way, until he becomes like unto him—then he
> will leave him alone.”
> 
> In another Tablet, He says: “Shun any man in whom you perceive enmity
> for this Servant, though he may appear in the garb of piety of the former and
> later people, or may arise to the worship of the two worlds.”
> 
> In another Tablet, He says: “O Mahdí! Be informed by these utterances and
> shun the manifestations of the people of hell, the rising place of Nimrods, the
> rising place of Pharees, the fountain of Tághút,290 and the soothsayers.”
> 
> Again He says: “Say, O my friend and my pure ones! Listen to the Voice
> of this Beloved Prisoner in this Great Prison. If you detect in any man the least
> perceptible breath of violation, shun him and keep away from him.” Then He
> says: “Verily, they are manifestations of Satan.”
> 
> In another Tablet, He says: “And turn your faces to the Great Countenance
> for before long the foul odours of the wicked persons will pass over these
> regions. God willing, you may remain protected during these days.”
> 
> In the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, 6th to 9th verses, His Holiness
> Christ says: “But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe
> in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
> that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of
> offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom
> the offence cometh. Wherefore if thy hand or thy feet offend thee, cut them off
> and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed,
> rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if
> thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee.”
> 
> And in the 21st chapter and 38th verse of the Gospel of Matthew, He says:
> “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the
> 
> Idol worshipped by the ancient Egyptians from which the name Egypt was derived.
> 
> heir, come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught
> him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him.”
> 
> Also in the 22nd chapter and the 14th verse of the Gospel of Matthew, He
> says “But many are called and few are chosen.”
> 
> In the Holy Writings of His Holiness, Bahá’u’lláh, in a thousand places at
> least, the violators of the Covenant are execrated and condemned. Some of the
> heavenly passages will be mentioned.
> 
> In short, all the friends in America know that the founders of this sedition—
> namely, the violators of the Covenant—are people whose aims are known to all
> the friends. Yet, O glorious God, they are deceived by them!
> 
> Praise be to God, you know with perfect clearness that His Holiness Christ,
> was extremely kind and loving, yet there were people like Judas Iscariot who—
> by their own deeds—separated themselves from Christ. Therefore, what fault
> of Christ’s could that be? Now the Nághi dín291 say that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is
> despotic, drives some people out and excommunicates like the Pope. This is
> not so at all! Any person who has left (the Cause), did so because of his own
> actions, intrigues and evil plots. If this objection be raised against ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá, they must also object to the Blessed Beauty who, with distinct and
> conclusive command, forbids the friends from companionship and familiarity
> with the violators of the people of Bayán.
> 
> Supplication! O Lord of the Covenant! O luminous Star of the world! The
> persecuted ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has fallen into the hands of persons who appear as
> sheep and in reality are ferocious wolves; they exercise every sort of
> oppression, endeavour to destroy the foundation of the Covenant,—and claim
> to be Bahá’ís. They strike at the root of the Tree of the Covenant—and count
> themselves persecuted—just as did the people of Bayán who broke the
> Covenant of His Holiness, the Báb, and from six directions shot arrows of
> reproach and calumny at Thy Blessed Body.             Notwithstanding this great
> oppression, they call themselves oppressed.           Now this Servant of Thy
> Threshold has also fallen into the hands of oppressors.          Every hour they
> contrive new intrigues and fraud, and bring forth new calumny.
> 
> Nághi dín (Nakazeen)—Covenant-breakers.
> 
> Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá! Protect the Stronghold of Thy Cause from these thieves,
> and safeguard the lamps of the Kingdom from these malevolent winds!
> 
> Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá! ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not rest a moment until He had raised
> Thy Cause and the Standard of the Kingdom of Abhá waved over the world.
> Now some people have arisen with intrigues and evil aspirations to trample this
> flag in America, but My hope is in Thy confirmations. Leave Me not single,
> alone and oppressed! As Thou didst promise, verbally and in writing, that Thou
> wouldst protect this deer of the pasture of Thy love from the attacks of the
> hounds of hatred and animosity, and that Thou wouldst safeguard this
> persecuted sheep from the claws and teeth of the ferocious wolves,—now do I
> await the appearance of Thy bounties and the realization of Thy definite
> promise. Thou art the true Protector, and Thou art the Lord of the Covenant!
> Therefore, protect this Lamp which Thou hast lighted, from the severe winds.
> 
> Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!        I have forsaken the world and its people, am
> heartbroken because of the unfaithful, and am weary. In the cage of this world
> I flutter like a frightened bird and long for the flight to Thy Kingdom.
> 
> Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá! Make me to drink the cup of sacrifice, and free Me!
> Relieve Me from these difficulties, hardships, afflictions and troubles! Thou art
> the assister, the helper, the protector and the supporter!
> 
> Now some of the writings, prayers and verses of the Blessed Beauty will be
> mentioned in which association with the violators is forbidden. In the Iranian
> Commune, He says:
> 
> “Protect this Servant from the doubts of the persons who have turned away
> from Thee and are deprived of the sea of Thy knowledge. O God! O God!
> Protect this Servant through Thy bounty and generosity from the evil of Thine
> enemies who have broken Thy Covenant and Testament.”
> 
> In another place He says: “O My God and the Aim of My Life! Protect this
> weak one with Thy Mighty hand from the voice of the Ná’ig.”
> 
> Also He says: “Ye have taken one whom I hate to be thy beloved, and My
> enemy to be thy friend.”
> 
> Also He says: “The company of the wicked ones increaseth sorrow, and the
> association with the pious ones removeth rust from the heart. The one who
> 
> desires to associate with God, let him associate with His friends; the one who
> wishes to hear the Words of God, let him hear the words of His chosen ones.”
> 
> Also He says: “Do not associate with the wicked, because the company of
> the wicked changeth the light of life into the fire of remorse. If thou asketh for
> the bounties of the Holy Spirit, associate with the pure ones, because they have
> quaffed the eternal chalice from the hands of the Cupbearer of eternity.”
> 
> Also He says: “The greatest of degradation is to leave the Shadow of God
> and enter under the shadow of Satan.”
> 
> Also He says: “O ye servants! There is nothing in this heart save the
> effulgences of the splendour of the morn of Meeting, and it does not speak but
> the absolute truth from your Lord. Therefore, do not follow self; break not
> God’s Covenant and violate not His Testament.             Proceed with perfect
> steadfastness, and with heart, soul and tongue, turn unto Him, and be not of the
> thoughtless.”
> 
> And still He says: “You have forgotten God’s Covenant and violated His
> Testament.”
> 
> And again He says: “If anyone comes to you with the book of the wicked,
> put him behind you.”
> 
> “Among the people are those who have broken the Covenant, and among
> them are those who have followed what was ordained by the All-Knower, the
> All-Wise. My affliction is not from My imprisonment and persecution, or from
> what comes to Me from My rebellious servants,—but from the actions of those
> who attribute themselves to this persecuted One and commit among the people
> that which is degrading to the honour of God. Verily, they are of the seditious.”
> 
> Likewise speaking for the violators, He says: “Thou hast made the pulpits
> for Thy mention, the proclamation of Thy Word and the manifestation of Thy
> Cause, and we have ascended them to proclaim the breaking of Thy Covenant
> and Testament.”
> 
> Likewise, He says: “Take what has been ordained for you and follow not
> those who have broken God’s Covenant and Testament, for lo! they are the
> people of error.”
> 
> Again He says:       “Those who have broken the Covenant of God,
> notwithstanding His Commands, and have turned away, they are the people of
> error before the most Opulent, the Exalted.”
> 
> And He says: “Those who have been faithful to God’s Covenant are of the
> highest ones in the sight of the exalted Lord.        Those who have become
> negligent are of the people of fire in the sight of Thy Lord, the Beloved, the
> Independent.”
> 
> Likewise He says: “Blessed is the servant or maid-servant who believes,
> and woe to the polytheists who have violated the Covenant of God and His
> Testament, and deviated from My Right Path.”
> 
> Likewise He says: “I implore of Thee not to deprive me of what Thou
> possessest or what Thou hast ordained for Thy chosen ones who have not
> broken Thy Covenant and Testament. Say! Die with your hatred! Verily, He
> is come by Whom the pillars of the world have been shaken and because of
> Whom the feet have stumbled—save those who have not broken the Covenant,
> but have followed what God revealed in His Book.”
> 
> Likewise He says: “The Supreme Concourse will pray for the one who is
> adorned with the garment of faithfulness between heaven and earth; but he who
> breaks the Covenant is cursed by heaven and earth.”
> 
> Likewise He says: “Take hold of what has been revealed unto you, with a
> power superior to that of the hands of the unbelievers who have violated the
> Covenant of God and His Testament, and have turned from the Face.”
> 
> Also He says: “O Yahyá! Verily the Book has come! Take it with a power
> from Us and do not follow those who have broken the Covenant of God and His
> Testament, and have denied what has been revealed from the Powerful, the All-
> Knower.”
> 
> Likewise He says: “I awoke this morning, O My God, under the shadow of
> Thy great bounty and have taken, with Thy power, the pen to mention Thee
> with such mention as shall be a light unto the pure, and fire unto the wicked
> who have violated Thy Covenant, denied Thy Verses and put aside the Kawthar
> of life which appeared by Thy command and was revealed by the finger of Thy
> will.”
> 
> Here, in a Tablet to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, He says also: “O God! This is a Branch
> which has sprung forth from the Tree of Oneness, the Sadrat292 of Thy Unity. O
> God!      Thou seest Him looking to Thee and clinging to the rope of Thy
> Bounties. Protect Him in the shelter of Thy Mercy! Thou knowest, O My God,
> that I do not desire Him save for what Thou dost desire Him, and I do not
> choose Him save for what Thou dost choose Him. Assist Him with the Hosts
> of Thy earth and Thy heaven. Assist, O God, those who assist Him, and choose
> those who choose Him. Confirm those who draw nigh unto Him, and debase
> those who deny Him and do not want Him. O God, Thou seest that at this
> moment of Revelation My Pen shakes and My Being trembles. I ask Thee, By
> My impatience in Thy Love and My willingness to proclaim Thy Cause, to
> ordain for Him and His friends, what Thou hast ordained for Thy Messengers
> and the faithful ones of Thy Revelation. Verily, Thou art the powerful and the
> omnipotent! By God, O people, My eye weeps, and the eye of ‘Alí weeps in
> the Supreme Concourse; My heart throbs, and the heart of Muhammad throbs in
> the Courts of Abhá; My heart and the hearts of the Prophets lament with the
> people of knowledge, if you are those who are possessed of sight. My sorrow is
> not for Myself, but for the One Who comes after Me in the Shadow of the
> Cause with a clear, undeniable reign; because these will not acknowledge His
> Manifestation and will deny His evidences and verses, will dispute His power,
> will antagonize Him and will be traitors to His Cause—as they did to His
> Person in those days -and ye were witnesses.”
> 
> Again in a Tablet to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, He says: “O Greatest Branch! Verily,
> Thy illness caused Me sorrow, but God will cure Thee, and He is the most
> generous and best helper. Glory be upon Thee and upon those who serve Thee
> and encircle Thee! Woe and torment be upon him who opposes and torments
> Thee! Blessed is he who befriends Thee, and hell be for him who opposes
> Thee!”
> 
> Likewise He says: “Is it possible that after the dawning of the sun of Thy
> Testament from the horizon of Thy greatest Tablet, that any feet shall slip away
> from the right Path? We said, O My Supreme Pen, it behoves Thee to do as
> Thou hast been bidden by God, the exalted and the great. Do not ask about that
> 
> Sadratu’l-Muntahá (the tree beyond which there is no passing) is a title of
> Bahá’u’lláh.
> 
> which melts Thy heart and those of the denizens of Paradise who encompass
> Thy wonderful Cause. Thou shouldst not know what We have hidden from
> Thee. Thy Lord is the veiler and the knower. Turn Thy most luminous Face to
> the greatest aspect and say: O My Merciful God! Decorate the Heaven of
> Bayán with the stars of steadfastness, trust and truth. Verily, Thou art the
> Powerful over what Thou willest. There is no God save Thee, the wise and the
> generous.”
> 
> In short, from these Holy Utterances and those of His Holiness Christ, it
> becomes clear, evident and proved, that man should associate with people who
> are firm in the Covenant and Testament, and befriend the pure ones; because
> bad associates bring about infection of bad qualities. It is like leprosy; it is
> impossible for a man to associate and befriend a leper and not be infected. This
> command is for the sake of protection and to safeguard.
> 
> Consider this text of the New Testament: the brothers of His Holiness
> Christ, came to Him and they said: “These are your brothers.” He answered
> that His brothers were those who believed in God, and refused to associate with
> His own brothers.
> 
> Likewise Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, who is celebrated in all the world, when she
> believed in God and was attracted to the Divine Breaths, she forsook her two
> eldest sons, although they were her two oldest children, because they did not
> become believers, and thereafter did not meet them. She said: “All the friends
> of God are my children, but these two are not. I will have nothing to do with
> them.”
> 
> Consider! The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry or weak branch from the
> good tree and grafts to it, a branch from another tree. He both separates and
> unites. This is that which His Holiness Christ says: that from all the world they
> come and enter the Kingdom, and the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out.
> Noah’s grandson, Canaan, was detested in the sight of Noah and others were
> accepted. The brothers of the Blessed Beauty detached themselves from Him,
> and the Blessed Beauty never met them. He said: “This is an eternal separation
> between you and Me.”       All this was not because the Blessed Beauty was
> despotic; but because these persons, through their own actions and words
> deprived themselves from the bounties and bestowals of the Blessed Beauty.
> 
> His Holiness Christ did not exercise despotism in the case of Judas Iscariot and
> His own brothers,—but they separated themselves.
> 
> In short, the point is this: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is extremely kind, but when the
> disease is leprosy, what am I to do? Just as in bodily diseases we must prevent
> intermingling and infection and put into effect sanitary laws—because the
> infectious physical diseases uproot the foundation of humanity; likewise one
> must protect and safeguard the blessed souls from the breaths and fatal spiritual
> diseases; otherwise violation, like the plague, will become a contagion and all
> will perish. In the early days, after the Ascension of the Blessed Beauty, the
> centre of violation was alone; little by little the infection spread; and this was
> due to companionship and association.293
> 
> Desire for leadership and forming a party the cause of violation
> 
> All previous Books are subordinate to this Book of the Covenant, for it has
> been revealed subsequent to all the previous ones. He has named it the “Book
> of the Covenant,” therefore consider that if the friends remain firm in the
> Covenant will there be any misunderstandings among them? No, by God!
> Except those souls who have an evil intention and are thinking of leadership
> and of forming a party; those souls, although they have written epistles with
> their own pen and have execrated the violators, denouncing them as having
> destroyed the foundation of the monument erected by His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh,
> and have written that He has written this Covenant with His own pen and that
> whoever deviated the least from the Centre of the Covenant is of the people of
> treachery and well deserves the wrath of God—these souls are themselves at
> present among the pioneers of violation. This is because of their personal
> motives, for they had thought of securing leadership and wealth, but when they
> considered that in remaining firm in the Covenant their purpose would not be
> realized, they deviated from it … Their lie is now manifest. Notwithstanding
> this, some souls who are not aware of this fact waver when these people cast
> the seeds of suspicion …294
> 
> Tests proportionate to greatness of the Cause
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Bahá’í World Faith, pp. 429–439.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, vol. X, pp. 235–6.
> 
> The tests of every dispensation are in direct proportion to the greatness of
> the Cause, and as heretofore such a manifest Covenant, written by the Supreme
> Pen, hath not been entered upon, the tests are proportionately more severe.
> These trials cause the feeble souls to waver while those who are firm are not
> affected. These agitations of the violators are no more than the foam of the
> ocean, which is one of its inseparable features; but the ocean of the Covenant
> shall surge and shall cast ashore the bodies of the dead, for it cannot retain
> them. Thus it is seen that the ocean of the Covenant hath surged and surged
> until it hath thrown out the dead bodies—souls that are deprived of the Spirit of
> God and are lost in passion and self and are seeking leadership. This foam of
> the ocean shall not endure and shall soon disperse and vanish, while the ocean
> of the Covenant shall eternally surge and roar …295
> 
> The bounties of God and how to know the faithful
> 
> THE PEOPLE OF GOD
> 
> The more you love, the nearer you will be to God. Love is one of the
> bounties of God. Therefore to love one another is good.
> 
> The bounties of God are: to love each other, to speak the truth, to sever our
> hearts from the world, to be reverent, to be humble, to be hospitable. By these
> things you know the faithful servant of God. How do we know the light? By
> its rays. So when you see these qualities, you will know that the servant of God
> has received the regeneration. You must be thus reborn. You must pray and
> supplicate, and the more you pray and supplicate, the nearer you will be to God.
> 
> When a dead body is thrown into the ocean, the waves will throw it back
> upon the shore. So it is with the Ocean of Truth it will not accept a dead body;
> and if a believer has not these bounties of God, the sea will roll until he is
> finally cast out.
> 
> The people of God have no dependence upon the conditions of this world;
> they neither become bittered with the bitterness of the cup, nor do they become
> intoxicated if the cup be sweet.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 210–211.
> 
> The people of God are like the birds, who satisfy themselves with a few
> crumbs, and sit the whole time on the branches of the tree singing the praises of
> God.296
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Bahá’í Scriptures, No. 964, p. 501.
>
> — *The Covenant of Baha'u'llah: A Compilation (Used by permission of the curator)*