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Chapter 46
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References on Names -- the religions and revelations of God.
1)
"Arise thou amongst men in the name of this all-compelling Cause, and
summon, then, the nations unto God, the Mighty, the Great. Be thou not
of them who called upon God by one of His names, but who, when He Who
is the Object of all names appeared, denied Him and turned aside from
Him, and, in the end, pronounced sentence against Him with manifest
injustice. Consider and call thou to mind the days whereon the Spirit
of God (Jesus Christ) appeared, and Herod gave judgment against Him.
God, however, aided Him with the hosts of the unseen, and protected Him
with truth, and sent Him down unto another land, according to His
promise. He, verily, ordaineth what He pleaseth. Thy Lord truly
preserveth whom He willeth, be he in the midst of the seas or in the
maw of the serpent, or beneath the sword of the oppressor."
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 57-58
2)
This is an Epistle from Our presence unto him whom the veils of names
have failed to keep back from God, the Creator of earth and heaven,
that his eyes may be cheered in the days of his Lord, the Help in
Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Say, O followers of the Son! Have ye shut out yourselves from Me by
reason of My Name? Wherefore ponder ye not in your hearts? Day and
night ye have been calling upon your Lord, the Omnipotent, but when He
came from the heaven of eternity in His great glory, ye turned aside
from Him and remained sunk in heedlessness.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 9
3)
Forget the world of creation, O Pen, and turn thou towards the face of
thy Lord, the Lord of all names. Adorn, then, the world with the
ornament of the favors of thy Lord, the King of everlasting days. For
We perceive the fragrance of the Day whereon He Who is the Desire of
all nations hath shed upon the kingdoms of the unseen and of the seen
the splendor of the light of His most excellent names, and enveloped
them with the radiance of the luminaries of His most gracious
favors--favors which none can reckon except Him, Who is the omnipotent
Protector of the entire creation.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 32
4)
Attract the hearts of men, through the call of Him, the one alone
Beloved. Say: This is the Voice of God, if ye do but hearken. This is
the Day Spring of the Revelation of God, did ye but know it. This is
the Dawning-Place of the Cause of God, were ye to recognize it. This is
the Source of the commandment of God, did ye but judge it fairly. This
is the manifest and hidden Secret; would that ye might perceive it. O
peoples of the world! Cast away, in My name that transcendeth all other
names, the things ye possess, and immerse yourselves in this Ocean in
whose depths lay hidden the pearls of wisdom and of utterance, an ocean
that surgeth in My name, the All-Merciful. Thus instructeth you He with
Whom is the Mother Book.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 33
5)
LVII. O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus, the
Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once more, in My person,
been made manifest unto you. Deal with Me as ye wish, for I have vowed
to lay down My life in the path of God. I will fear no one, though the
powers of earth and heaven be leagued against Me. Followers of the
Gospel! If ye cherish the desire to slay Muhammad, the Apostle of God,
seize Me and put an end to My life, for I am He, and My Self is His
Self. Do unto Me as ye like, for the deepest longing of Mine heart is
to attain the presence of My Best-Beloved in His Kingdom of Glory. Such
is the Divine decree, if ye know it. Followers of Muhammad! If it be
your wish to riddle with your shafts the breast of Him Who hath caused
His Book the Bayán to be sent down unto you, lay hands on Me and
persecute Me, for I am His Well-Beloved, the revelation of His own
Self, though My name be not His name. I have come in the shadows of the
clouds of glory, and am invested by God with invincible sovereignty.
He, verily, is the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. I, verily,
anticipate from you the treatment ye have accorded unto Him that came
before Me. To this all things, verily, witness, if ye be of those who
hearken.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 101
6)
And when after the lapse of a few years the heaven of Divine decree was
cleft asunder, and the Beauty of the Báb appeared in the clouds of the
names of God, arrayed in a new raiment, these same people maliciously
rose up against Him, Whose light embraceth all created things. They
broke His Covenant, rejected His truth, contended with Him, caviled at
His signs, treated His testimony as falsehood, and joined the company
of the infidels. Eventually, they determined to take away His life.
Such is the state of them who are in a far-gone error!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147
7)
LXXIII. It is clear and evident that when the veils that conceal the
realities of the manifestations of the Names and Attributes of God, nay
of all created things visible or invisible, have been rent asunder,
nothing except the Sign of God will remain--a sign which He, Himself,
hath placed within these realities. This sign will endure as long as is
the wish of the Lord thy God, the Lord of the heavens and of the earth.
If such be the blessings conferred on all created things, how superior
must be the destiny of the true believer, whose existence and life are
to be regarded as the originating purpose of all creation.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 140
8)
O Kings of the earth! He Who is the sovereign Lord of all is come. The
Kingdom is God's, the omnipotent Protector, the Self-Subsisting.
Worship none but God, and, with radiant hearts, lift up your faces unto
your Lord, the Lord of all names. This is a Revelation to which
whatever ye possess can never be compared, could ye but know it. We see
you rejoicing in that which ye have amassed for others, and shutting
out yourselves from the worlds which naught except My Guarded Tablet
can reckon. The treasures ye have laid up have drawn you far away from
your ultimate objective. This ill beseemeth you, could ye but
understand it. Wash your hearts from all earthly defilements, and
hasten to enter the Kingdom of your Lord, the Creator of earth and
heaven, Who caused the world to tremble, and all its peoples to wail,
except them that have renounced all things and clung to that which the
Hidden Tablet hath ordained....
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh, p.
9)
Further, we have harkened to what the nightingale of knowledge sang on
the boughs of the tree of thy being, and learned what the dove of
certitude cried on the branches of the bower of thy heart. Methinks I
verily inhaled the pure fragrances of the garment of thy love, and
attained thy very meeting from perusing thy letter. And since I noted
thy mention of thy death in God, and thy life through Him, and thy love
for the beloved of God and the Manifestations of His Names and the
Dawning-Points of His Attributes--I therefore reveal unto thee sacred
and resplendent tokens from the planes of glory, to attract thee into
the court of holiness and nearness and beauty, and draw thee to a
station wherein thou shalt see nothing in creation save the Face of thy
Beloved One, the Honored, and behold all created things only as in the
day wherein none hath a mention.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, p. 2
10)
1.12
O Pen of the Most High! Hearken unto the Call of Thy Lord, raised from
the Divine Lote-Tree in the holy and luminous Spot, that the sweet
accents of Thy Lord, the All-Merciful, may fill Thy soul with joy and
fervour, and that the breezes that waft from My name, the
Ever-Forgiving, may dispel Thy cares and sorrows. Raise up, then, from
this Temple [Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet], the temples [Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah] of the Oneness of God,
that they may tell out, in the kingdom of creation, the tidings of
their Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, and be of them that are
illumined by His light.
1.13
We, verily, have ordained this Temple [Baha'u'llah] to be the source of all existence
in the new creation, that all may know of a certainty My power to
accomplish that which I have purposed through My word "Be", and it is!
Beneath the shadow of every letter of this Temple
We shall raise up a people whose number none can reckon save God, the
Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Erelong shall God bring forth from
His Temple such souls as will remain unswayed by the insinuations of
the rebellious, and who will quaff at all times of the cup that is life
indeed. These, truly, are of the blissful.
1.14
These are servants
who abide beneath the shelter of the tender mercy of their Lord, and
who remain undeterred by those who seek to obstruct their path. Upon
their faces may be seen the brightness of the light of the
All-Merciful, and from their hearts may be heard the remembrance of
Mine all-glorious and inaccessible Name. Were they to unloose their
tongues to extol their Lord, the denizens of earth and heaven would
join in their anthems of praise -- yet how few are they who hear! And
were they to glorify their Lord, all created things would join in their
hymns of glory. Thus hath God exalted them above the rest of His creation, and yet the people remain unaware!
1.15
These are they who circle round the Cause of God even as the shadow
doth revolve around the sun. Open, then, your eyes, O people of the
Bayan, that haply ye may behold them! It is by virtue of their movement
that all things are set in motion, and by reason of their stillness all
things are brought to rest, would that ye might be assured thereof! Through
them the believers in the Divine Unity have turned towards Him Who is
the Object of the adoration of the entire creation, and by them the
hearts of the righteous have found rest and composure, could ye but
know it! Through them the earth hath been established, the
clouds have rained down their bounty, and the bread of knowledge hath
descended from the heaven of grace, could ye but perceive it!
1.16
These souls are the protectors of the Cause of God on earth, who shall
preserve its beauty from the obscuring dust of idle fancies and vain
imaginings. In the path of their Lord they shall not fear for their
lives; rather will they sacrifice their all in their eagerness to
behold the face of their Well-Beloved when once He hath appeared in
this Name, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Most
Holy.
1.17
O Living Temple! Arise by the power of Thy Self in such wise that all
created things will be moved to arise with Thee. Aid, then, Thy Lord
through such ascendancy and might as We have bestowed upon Thee. Take
heed lest Thou falter on that Day when all created things are filled
with dismay; rather be Thou the revealer of My name, the Help in Peril,
the Self-Subsisting. Assist Thy Lord to the utmost of Thine ability,
and pay no heed to the peoples of the world, for that which their
mouths utter is like unto the droning of a gnat in an endless valley.
Quaff the water of life in My name, the All-Merciful, and proffer unto
the near ones amongst the inmates of this lofty station that which
shall cause them to become detached from all names and enter beneath
this blessed and all-encompassing shadow.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 9
11)
1.44
Say: 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 hath not been in My soul but
the Truth, and in Myself naught could be seen but God.
1.45
Beware lest ye speak of duality in regard to My Self, for all the atoms
of the earth proclaim that there is none other God but Him, the One,
the Single, the Mighty, the Loving. From the beginning that hath no
beginning I have proclaimed, from the realm of eternity, that I am God,
none other God is there save Me, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting; and unto the end that hath no end I shall proclaim,
amidst the kingdom of names, that I am God, none other God is there
beside Me, the All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Say: Lordship is My
Name, whereof I have created manifestations in the world of being,
while We Ourself remain sanctified above them, would ye but ponder this
truth. And Godhead is My Name, whereof We have created exponents whose
power shall encompass the people of the earth and make them true
worshippers of God, could ye but recognize it. Thus should ye regard
all Our Names, if ye be endued with insight.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 23
12)
1.73
Say: We have made each one of Our Names a wellspring from which We have
caused the streams of divine wisdom and understanding to gush forth and
flow in the garden of Our Cause -- streams whose number none can reckon
save Thy Lord, the Most Holy, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the
All-Wise. Say: We have generated all Letters
from the Point and have caused them to return unto It, and We
have sent It down again in the form of a human temple. All glory be
unto the Author of this incomparable and wondrous handiwork! Erelong
shall We unfold and expound It again, in Our name, the All-Glorious.
This is indeed a token of Our grace, and I, truly, am the Most
Bountiful, the Ancient of Days.
1.74
We have brought forth all Lights from the Orb of Our name, the True
One, have caused them to return unto It, and have again made them
manifest in the form of a human temple. All glory be unto the Lord of
strength, might, and power! None can withstand the operation of My will
or the exercise of My might. I am He Who hath raised up all creatures
through a word of My mouth, and My power is, in truth, equal to My
purpose.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 38
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