Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláhBahá'u'lláh
Religion
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahai Faith -- Doctrines
O kings of Christendom! Heard ye not the saying of Jesus, the Spirit of
God, “I go away, and come again unto you”? Wherefore, then, did ye fail,
when He did come again unto you in the clouds of heaven, to draw nigh unto
Him, that ye might behold His face, and be of them that attained His
Presence? In another passage He saith: “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is
come, He will guide you into all truth.” And yet, behold how, when He did
bring the truth, ye refused to turn your faces towards Him, and persisted
in disporting yourselves with your pastimes and fancies. Ye welcomed Him
not, neither did ye seek His Presence, that ye might hear the verses of
God from His own mouth, and partake of the manifold wisdom of the
Almighty, the All-Glorious, the All-Wise. Ye have, by reason of your
failure, hindered the breath of God from being wafted over you, and have
withheld from your souls the sweetness of its fragrance. Ye continue
roving with delight in the valley of your corrupt desires. Ye, and all ye
possess, shall pass away. Ye shall, most certainly, return to God, and
shall be called to account for your doings in the presence of Him Who
shall gather together the entire creation...
Twenty years have passed, O kings, during which We have, each day, tasted
the agony of a fresh tribulation. No one of them that were before Us hath
endured the things We have endured. Would that ye could perceive it! They
that rose up against Us have put us to death, have shed our blood, have
plundered our property, and violated our honor. Though aware of most of
our afflictions, ye, nevertheless, have failed to stay the hand of the
aggressor. For is it not your clear duty to restrain the tyranny of the
oppressor, and to deal equitably with your subjects, that your high sense
of justice may be fully demonstrated to all mankind?
God hath committed into your hands the reins of the government of the
people, that ye may rule with justice over them, safeguard the rights of
the down-trodden, and punish the wrong-doers. If ye neglect the duty
prescribed unto you by God in His Book, your names shall be numbered with
those of the unjust in His sight. Grievous, indeed, will be your error.
Cleave ye to that which your imaginations have devised, and cast behind
your backs the commandments of God, the Most Exalted, the Inaccessible,
the All-Compelling, the Almighty? Cast away the things ye possess, and
cling to that which God hath bidden you observe. Seek ye His grace, for he
that seeketh it treadeth His straight Path.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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