Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-BaháʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Religion
Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Bahai Faith
The treatment ordered by wise physicians of the past, and by those that
follow after, is not one and the same, rather doth it depend on what
aileth the patient; and although the remedy may change, the aim is always
to bring the patient back to health. In the dispensations gone before, the
feeble body of the world could not withstand a rigorous or powerful cure.
For this reason did Christ say: ‘I have yet many things to say unto you,
matters needing to be told, but ye cannot bear to hear them now. Howbeit
when that Comforting Spirit, Whom the Father will send, shall come, He
will make plain unto you the truth.’(25)
Therefore, in this age of splendours, teachings once limited to the few
are made available to all, that the mercy of the Lord may embrace both
east and west, that the oneness of the world of humanity may appear in its
full beauty, and that the dazzling rays of reality may flood the realm of
the mind with light.
The descent of the New Jerusalem denoteth a heavenly Law, that Law which
is the guarantor of human happiness and the effulgence of the world of
God.
Emmanuel(26) was indeed the Herald of the Second Coming of Christ, and a
Summoner to the pathway of the Kingdom. It is evident that the Letter is a
member of the Word, and this membership in the Word signifieth that the
Letter is dependent for its value on the Word, that is, it deriveth its
grace from the Word; it has a spiritual kinship with the Word, and is
accounted an integral part of the Word. The Apostles were even as Letters,
and Christ was the essence of the Word Itself; and the meaning of the
Word, which is grace everlasting, cast a splendour on those Letters.
Again, since the Letter is a member of the Word, it therefore, in its
inner meaning, is consonant with the Word.
It is our hope that thou wilt in this day arise to promote that which
Emmanuel foretold. Know thou for a certainty that thou wilt succeed in
this, for the confirmations of the Holy Spirit are continually descending,
and the power of the Word will exert such an influence that the Letter
shall become the mirror in which the splendid Sun—the Word Itself—will be
reflected, and the grace and glory of the Word will illumine the whole
earth.
As for the heavenly Jerusalem that hath come to rest on the summits of the
world, and God’s Holy of Holies, Whose banner is now lifted high, this
comprehendeth within itself all the perfections, all the knowledge of the
dispensations gone before. Beyond this, it heraldeth the oneness of the
children of men. It is the flag of universal peace, the spirit of eternal
life; it is the glory of the perfections of God, the circumambient grace
of all existence, the ornament bedecking all created things, the source of
inner quietude for all humankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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