All Praise To The Unity Of God And All

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

All praise to the unity of God, and all honor to Him, the sovereign Lord,

the incomparable and all-glorious Ruler of the universe, Who, out of utter

nothingness, hath created the reality of all things, Who, from naught,

hath brought into being the most refined and subtle elements of His

creation, and Who, rescuing His creatures from the abasement of remoteness

and the perils of ultimate extinction, hath received them into His kingd m

of incorruptible glory. Nothing short of His all-encompassing grace, His

all-pervading mercy, could have possibly achieved it. How could it,

otherwise, have been possible for sheer nothingness to have acquired by

itself the worthiness and capacity to emerge from its state of

non-existence into the realm of being?



Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He,

through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will,

chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him

and to love Him--a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating

impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.... Upon

the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light

of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His

attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance

of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self.

Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a

favor, so enduring a bounty.



These energies with which the Day Star of Divine bounty and Source of

heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent

within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of

light are potentially present in the lamp. The radiance of these energies

may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be

concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the

candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor

can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It

is clear and evident that until a fire is kindled the lamp will never be

ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror

it can never represent the image of the sun nor reflect its light and

glory.



And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true

God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever can exist between the

transient and the Eternal, the contingent and the Absolute, He hath

ordained that in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be

made manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. Unto this subtle, this

mysterious and ethereal Being He hath assigned a twofold nature; the

physical, pertaining to the world of matter, and the spiritual, which is

born of the substance of God Himself. He hath, moreover, conferred upon

Him a double station. The first station, which is related to His innermost

reality, representeth Him as One Whose voice is the voice of God Himself.

To this testifieth the tradition: "Manifold and mysterious is My

relationship with God. I am He, Himself, and He is I, Myself, except that

I am that I am, and He is that He is." And in like manner, the words:

"Arise, O Muhammad, for lo, the Lover and the Beloved are joined together

and made one in Thee." He similarly saith: "There is no distinction

whatsoever between Thee and Them, except that They are Thy Servants." The

second station is the human station, exemplified by the following verses:

"I am but a man like you." "Say, praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a

man, an apostle?" These Essences of Detachment, these resplendent

Realities are the channels of God's all-pervasive grace. Led by the light

of unfailing guidance, and invested with supreme sovereignty, They are

commissioned to use the inspiration of Their words, the effusions of Their

infallible grace and the sanctifying breeze of Their Revelation for the

cleansing of every longing heart and receptive spirit from the dross and

dust of earthly cares and limitations. Then, and only then, will the Trust

of God, latent in the reality of man, emerge, as resplendent as the rising

Orb of Divine Revelation, from behind the veil of concealment, and implant

the ensign of its revealed glory upon the summits of men's hearts.



From the foregoing passages and allusions it hath been made indubitably

clear that in the kingdoms of earth and heaven there must needs be

manifested a Being, an Essence Who shall act as a Manifestation and

Vehicle for the transmission of the grace of the Divinity Itself, the

Sovereign Lord of all. Through the Teachings of this Day Star of Truth

every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which

he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self

hath been endowed. It is for this very purpose that in every age and

dispensation the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have appeared amongst

men, and have evinced such power as is born of God and such might as only

the Eternal can reveal.



Can one of sane mind ever seriously imagine that, in view of certain words

the meaning of which he cannot comprehend, the portal of God's infinite

guidance can ever be closed in the face of men? Can he ever conceive for

these Divine Luminaries, these resplendent Lights either a beginning or an

end? What outpouring flood can compare with the stream of His

all-embracing grace, and what blessing can excel the evidences of so great

and pervasive a mercy? There can be no doubt whatever that if for one

moment the tide of His mercy and grace were to be withheld from the world,

it would completely perish. For this reason, from the beginning that hath

no beginning the portals of Divine mercy have been flung open to the face

of all created things, and the clouds of Truth will continue to the end

that hath no end to rain on the soil of human capacity, reality and

personality their favors and bounties. Such hath been God's method

continued from everlasting to everlasting.