Say: O People! Withhold Not From Yourselves

Sources: Gleanings From The Writings Of Baha'u'llah

Say: O people! Withhold not from yourselves the grace of God and His

mercy. Whoso withholdeth himself therefrom is indeed in grievous loss.

What, O people! Do ye worship the dust, and turn away from your Lord, the

Gracious, the All-Bountiful? Fear ye God, and be not of those who perish.

Say: The Book of God hath been sent down in the form of this Youth.

Hallowed, therefore, be God, the most excellent of makers! Take ye good
< r /> heed, O peoples of the world, lest ye flee from His face. Nay, make haste

to attain His presence, and be of them that have returned unto Him. Pray

to be forgiven, O people, for having failed in your duty towards God, and

for having trespassed against His Cause, and be not of the foolish. He it

is Who hath created you; He it is Who hath nourished your souls through

His Cause, and enabled you to recognize Him Who is the Almighty, the Most

Exalted, the All-Knowing. He it is Who hath unveiled to your eyes the

treasures of His knowledge, and caused you to ascend unto the heaven of

certitude--the certitude of His resistless, His irrefutable, and most

exalted Faith. Beware that ye do not deprive yourselves of the grace of

God, that ye do not bring to naught your works, and do not repudiate the

truth of this most manifest, this lofty, this shining, and glorious

Revelation. Judge ye fairly the Cause of God, your Creator, and behold

that which hath been sent down from the Throne on high, and meditate

thereon with innocent and sanctified hearts. Then will the truth of this

Cause appear unto you as manifest as the sun in its noon-tide glory. Then

will ye be of them that have believed in Him.



Say: The first and foremost testimony establishing His truth is His own

Self. Next to this testimony is His Revelation. For whoso faileth to

recognize either the one or the other He hath established the words He

hath revealed as proof of His reality and truth. This is, verily, an

evidence of His tender mercy unto men. He hath endowed every soul with the

capacity to recognize the signs of God. How could He, otherwise, have

fulfilled His testimony unto men, if ye be of them that ponder His Cause

in their hearts. He will never deal unjustly with any one, neither will He

task a soul beyond its power. He, verily, is the Compassionate, the

All-Merciful.



Say: So great is the glory of the Cause of God that even the blind can

perceive it, how much more they whose sight is sharp, whose vision is

pure. The blind, though unable to perceive the light of the sun, are,

nevertheless, capable of experiencing its continual heat. The blind in

heart, however, among the people of the Bayan--and to this God is My

witness--are impotent, no matter how long the Sun may shine upon them,

either to perceive the radiance of its glory, or to appreciate the warmth

of its rays.



Say: O people of the Bayan! We have chosen you out of the world to know

and recognize Our Self. We have caused you to draw nigh unto the right

side of Paradise--the Spot out of which the undying Fire crieth in manifold

accents: "There is none other God besides Me, the All-Powerful, the Most

High!" Take heed lest ye allow yourselves to be shut out as by a veil from

this Day Star that shineth above the dayspring of the Will of your Lord,

the All-Merciful, and whose light hath encompassed both the small and the

great. Purge your sight, that ye may perceive its glory with your own

eyes, and depend not on the sight of any one except your self, for God

hath never burdened any soul beyond its power. Thus hath it been sent down

unto the Prophets and Messengers of old, and been recorded in all the

Scriptures.



Strive, O people, to gain admittance into this vast Immensity for which

God ordained neither beginning nor end, in which His voice hath been

raised, and over which have been wafted the sweet savors of holiness and

glory. Divest not yourselves of the Robe of grandeur, neither suffer your

hearts to be deprived of remembering your Lord, nor your ears of

hearkening unto the sweet melodies of His wondrous, His sublime, His

all-compelling, His clear, and most eloquent voice.