"Cherish thou as dearly as thine own life this testimony pronounced by the All-Glorious Pen ..."

"Being overcome by the drunkenness of corrupt inclinations, the people of the earth find themselves in a state of stupor. They are, therefore, debarred from the wondrous signs of God, are prevented from attaining the ultimate goal and are deprived of the liberal effusions of divine grace.

It behoveth the people of God to be forbearing. They should impart the Word of God according to the hearer’s particular measure of understanding and capacity, that perchance the children of men may be roused from heedlessness and set their faces towards this Horizon which is immeasurably exalted above every horizon.

O Javád! The manifold bounties of God have ever been and will continue to be vouchsafed unto thee. Praised be God! Thou hast been shielded from the most great terror and hast succeeded in drawing nigh unto the Most Great Bounty at a time when all men were prevented from recognizing the eternal King by the interposition of the veils of outward glory, namely the divines of this day. Cherish thou as dearly as thine own life this testimony pronounced by the All-Glorious Pen and strive with all thy might to preserve it by the potency of the Name of Him Who is the Beloved One of the entire creation, that this sublime honour may be proof against the eyes and the hands of robbers. Verily thy Lord is the Expounder, the All-Knowing."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 237-238

© 2009 Chuck Egerton

Vermont