Bahá'u'lláh and the New EraEsslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Religion
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
Esslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Bahai Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
non-existent in the face of Him Whom is the All-Pervading, the
incorruptible. Methinks, they have regarded themselves as utter
nothingness, and deemed their mention in that Court an act of
blasphemy. For the slightest whisperings of self, within such a
Court, is an evidence of self-assertion and independent existence.
In the eyes of them that have attained unto that Court, such a
suggestion is itself a grievous transgression. How much more
grievous would it be, were aught else to be mentioned in that
Presence, were man’s heart, his tongue, his mind, or his soul, to
be busied with anyone but the Well-Beloved, were his eyes to
behold any countenance other than His beauty, were his ear to be
inclined to any melody but His voice, and were his feet to tread
any way but His way.
In this day the breeze of God is wafted, and His Spirit hath
pervaded all things. Such is the outpouring of His grace that the
pen is stilled and the tongue is speechless.
By virtue of this station, they have claimed for themselves the
Voice of Divinity and the like, whilst by virtue of their station
of Messengership, they have declared themselves the Messengers of
God. In every instance they have voiced an utterance that would
conform to the requirements of the occasion, and have ascribed all
these declarations to Themselves, declarations ranging from the
divine Revelation to the realm of creation, and from the domain of
Divinity even unto the domain of earthly existence. Thus it is
that whatsoever be their utterance, whether it pertain to the
realm of Divinity, Lordship, Prophethood, Messengership,
Guardianship, Apostelship or Servitude, all is true, beyond the
shadow of a doubt. Therefore, these sayings which We have quoted
in support of Our argument must be attentively considered, that
the divergent utterances of the Manifestations of the Unseen and
Daysprings of Holiness may cease to agitate the soul and perplex
the mind.—Kitáb-i-Íqán, 176–181.
When Bahá’u’lláh speaks as a man, the station He claims for Himself is
that of utter humility, of “annihilation in God.” What distinguishes the
Manifestation, in His human personality, from other men is the
completeness of His self-abnegation as well as the perfection of His
powers. Under all circumstances He is able to say, as did Jesus in the
Garden of Gethsemane, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Thus
in His epistle to the _Sh_áh, Bahá’u’lláh says:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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