Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-BaháʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Religion
Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Bahai Faith
O ye beloved of the Lord! This day is the day of union, the day of the
ingathering of all mankind. ‘Verily God loveth those who, as though they
were a solid wall, do battle for His Cause in serried lines!’(69) Note
that He saith ‘in serried lines’—meaning crowded and pressed together, one
locked to the next, each supporting his fellows. To do battle, as stated
in the sacred verse, doth not, in this greatest of all dispensations, mean
to go forth with sword and spear, with lance and piercing arrow—but rather
weaponed with pure intent, with righteous motives, with counsels helpful
and effective, with godly attributes, with deeds pleasing to the Almighty,
with the qualities of heaven. It signifieth education for all mankind,
guidance for all men, the spreading far and wide of the sweet savours of
the spirit, the promulgation of God’s proofs, the setting forth of
arguments conclusive and divine, the doing of charitable deeds.
Whensoever holy souls, drawing on the powers of heaven, shall arise with
such qualities of the spirit, and march in unison, rank on rank, every one
of those souls will be even as one thousand, and the surging waves of that
mighty ocean will be even as the battalions of the Concourse on high. What
a blessing that will be—when all shall come together, even as once
separate torrents, rivers and streams, running brooks and single drops,
when collected together in one place will form a mighty sea. And to such a
degree will the inherent unity of all prevail, that the traditions, rules,
customs and distinctions in the fanciful life of these populations will be
effaced and vanish away like isolated drops, once the great sea of oneness
doth leap and surge and roll.
I swear by the Ancient Beauty, that at such a time overwhelming grace will
so encircle all, and the sea of grandeur will so overflow its shores, that
the narrowest strip of water will grow wide as an endless sea, and every
merest drop will be even as the shoreless deep.
O ye loved ones of God! Struggle and strive to reach that high station,
and to make a splendour so to shine across these realms of earth that the
rays of it will be reflected back from a dawning-point on the horizon of
eternity. This is the very foundation of the Cause of God. This is the
very pith of the Law of God. This is the mighty structure raised up by the
Manifestations of God. This is why the orb of God’s world dawneth. This is
why the Lord establisheth Himself on the throne of His human body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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