Consider The Past How Many Both High And

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

Consider the past. How many, both high and low, have, at all times,

yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the

sanctified persons of His chosen Ones. How often have they expected His

coming, how frequently have they prayed that the breeze of Divine mercy

might blow, and the promised Beauty step forth from behind the veil of

concealment, and be made manifest to all the world. And whensoever the

po tals of grace did open, and the clouds of divine bounty did rain upon

mankind, and the light of the Unseen did shine above the horizon of

celestial might, they all denied Him, and turned away from His face--the

face of God Himself....



Reflect, what could have been the motive for such deeds? What could have

prompted such behavior towards the Revealers of the beauty of the

All-Glorious? Whatever in days gone by hath been the cause of the denial

and opposition of those people hath now led to the perversity of the

people of this age. To maintain that the testimony of Providence was

incomplete, that it hath therefore been the cause of the denial of the

people, is but open blasphemy. How far from the grace of the All-Bountiful

and from His loving providence and tender mercies it is to single out a

soul from amongst all men for the guidance of His creatures, and, on one

hand, to withhold from Him the full measure of His divine testimony, and,

on the other, inflict severe retribution on His people for having turned

away from His chosen One! Nay, the manifold bounties of the Lord of all

beings have, at all times, through the Manifestations of His Divine

Essence, encompassed the earth and all that dwell therein. Not for a

moment hath His grace been withheld, nor have the showers of His

loving-kindness ceased to rain upon mankind. Consequently, such behavior

can be attributed to naught save the petty-mindedness of such souls as

tread the valley of arrogance and pride, are lost in the wilds of

remoteness, walk in the ways of their idle fancy, and follow the dictates

of the leaders of their faith. Their chief concern is mere opposition;

their sole desire is to ignore the truth. Unto every discerning observer

it is evident and manifest that had these people in the days of each of

the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth sanctified their eyes, their ears,

and their hearts from whatever they had seen, heard, and felt, they surely

would not have been deprived of beholding the beauty of God, nor strayed

far from the habitations of glory. But having weighed the testimony of God

by the standard of their own knowledge, gleaned from the teachings of the

leaders of their faith, and found it at variance with their limited

understanding, they arose to perpetrate such unseemly acts....



Consider Moses! Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the

white hand of Divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Paran of the love

of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty, He

shone forth from the Sinai of light upon the world. He summoned all the

peoples and kindreds of the earth to the kingdom of eternity, and invited

them to partake of the fruit of the tree of faithfulness. Surely you are

aware of the fierce opposition of Pharaoh and his people, and of the

stones of idle fancy which the hands of infidels cast upon that blessed

Tree. So much so that Pharaoh and his people finally arose and exerted

their utmost endeavor to extinguish with the waters of falsehood and

denial the fire of that sacred Tree, oblivious of the truth that no

earthly water can quench the flames of Divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts

extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water

cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but

ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of

discernment, and walk in the way of God's holy will and pleasure....



And when the days of Moses were ended, and the light of Jesus, shining

forth from the Day Spring of the Spirit, encompassed the world, all the

people of Israel arose in protest against Him. They clamored that He Whose

advent the Bible had foretold must needs promulgate and fulfil the laws of

Moses, whereas this youthful Nazarene, who laid claim to the station of

the divine Messiah, had annulled the laws of divorce and of the sabbath

day--the most weighty of all the laws of Moses. Moreover, what of the signs

of the Manifestation yet to come? These people of Israel are even unto the

present day still expecting that Manifestation which the Bible hath

foretold! How many Manifestations of Holiness, how many Revealers of the

light everlasting, have appeared since the time of Moses, and yet Israel,

wrapt in the densest veils of satanic fancy and false imaginings, is still

expectant that the idol of her own handiwork will appear with such signs

as she herself hath conceived! Thus hath God laid hold of them for their

sins, hath extinguished in them the spirit of faith, and tormented them

with the flames of the nethermost fire. And this for no other reason

except that Israel refused to apprehend the meaning of such words as have

been revealed in the Bible concerning the signs of the coming Revelation.

As she never grasped their true significance, and, to outward seeming,

such events never came to pass, she, therefore, remained deprived of

recognizing the beauty of Jesus and of beholding the Face of God. And they

still await His coming! From time immemorial even unto this day, all the



kindreds and peoples of the earth have clung to such fanciful and unseemly

thoughts, and thus have deprived themselves of the clear waters streaming

from the springs of purity and holiness....



To them that are endowed with understanding, it is clear and manifest

that, when the fire of the love of Jesus consumed the veils of Jewish

limitations, and His authority was made apparent and partially enforced,

He, the Revealer of the unseen Beauty, addressing one day His disciples,

referred unto His passing, and, kindling in their hearts the fire of

bereavement, said unto them: "I go away and come again unto you." And in

another place He said: "I go and another will come, Who will tell you all

that I have not told you, and will fulfil all that I have said." Both

these sayings have but one meaning, were ye to ponder upon the

Manifestations of the Unity of God with Divine insight.



Every discerning observer will recognize that in the Dispensation of the

Qur'an both the Book and the Cause of Jesus were confirmed. As to the

matter of names, Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I am Jesus." He recognized

the truth of the signs, prophecies, and words of Jesus, and testified that

they were all of God. In this sense, neither the person of Jesus nor His

writings hath differed from that of Muhammad and of His holy Book,

inasmuch as both have championed the Cause of God, uttered His praise, and

revealed His commandments. Thus it is that Jesus, Himself, declared: "I go

away and come again unto you." Consider the sun. Were it to say now, "I am

the sun of yesterday," it would speak the truth. And should it, bearing

the sequence of time in mind, claim to be other than that sun, it still

would speak the truth. In like manner, if it be said that all the days are

but one and the same, it is correct and true. And if it be said, with

respect to their particular names and designations, that they differ, that

again is true. For though they are the same, yet one doth recognize in

each a separate designation, a specific attribute, a particular character.

Conceive accordingly the distinction, variation, and unity characteristic

of the various Manifestations of holiness, that thou mayest comprehend the

allusions made by the Creator of all names and attributes to the mysteries

of distinction and unity, and discover the answer to thy question as to

why that everlasting Beauty should have, at sundry times, called Himself

by different names and titles....



When the Unseen, the Eternal, the Divine Essence, caused the Day Star of

Muhammad to rise above the horizon of knowledge, among the cavils which

the Jewish divines raised against Him was that after Moses no Prophet

should be sent of God. Yea, mention hath been made in the Scriptures of a

Soul Who must needs be made manifest and Who will advance the Faith, and

promote the interests of the people of Moses, so that the Law of the

Mosaic Dispensation may encompass the whole earth. Thus hath the King of

eternal glory referred in His Book to the words uttered by those wanderers

in the vale of remoteness and error: "'The hand of God,' say the Jews, 'is

chained up.' Chained up be their own hands; And for that which they have

said, they were accursed. Nay, outstretched are both His hands!" "The hand

of God is above their hands." Although the commentators of the Qur'an have

related in divers manners the circumstances attending the revelation of

this verse, yet thou shouldst endeavor to apprehend the purpose thereof.

He saith: How false is that which the Jews have imagined! How can the hand

of Him Who is the King in truth, Who caused the countenance of Moses to be

made manifest, and conferred upon Him the robe of Prophethood--how can the

hand of such a One be chained and fettered? How can He be conceived as

powerless to raise up yet another Messenger after Moses? Behold the

absurdity of their saying; how far it hath strayed from the path of

knowledge and understanding! Observe how in this Day also, all these

people have occupied themselves with such foolish absurdities. For over a

thousand years they have been reciting this verse, and unwittingly

pronouncing their censure against the Jews, utterly unaware that they

themselves, openly and privily, are voicing the sentiments and belief of

the Jewish people! Thou art surely aware of their idle contention, that

all Revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine mercy are closed, that

from the day springs of eternal holiness no Sun shall rise again, that the

Ocean of everlasting bounty is forever stilled, and that out of the

Tabernacle of ancient glory the Messengers of God have ceased to be made

manifest. Such is the measure of the understanding of these small-minded,

contemptible people. These people have imagined that the flow of God's

all-encompassing grace and plenteous mercies, the cessation of which no

mind can contemplate, has been halted. From every side they have risen and

girded up the loins of tyranny, and exerted the utmost endeavor to quench

with the bitter waters of their vain fancy the flame of God's Burning

Bush, oblivious that the globe of power shall, within its own mighty

stronghold, protect the Lamp of God....



Behold how the sovereignty of Muhammad, the Messenger of God, is today

apparent and manifest amongst the people. You are well aware of what

befell His Faith in the early days of His Dispensation. What woeful

sufferings did the hand of the infidel and erring, the divines of that age

and their associates, inflict upon that spiritual Essence, that most pure

and holy Being! How abundant the thorns and briars which they have strewn

over His path! It is evident that that wretched generation, in their

wicked and satanic fancy, regarded every injury to that immortal Being as

a means to the attainment of an abiding felicity; inasmuch as the

recognized divines of that age, such as 'Abdu'llah-i-Ubayy, Abu'Amir, the

hermit, Ka'b-ibn-i-A_sh_raf, and Nadr-ibn-i-Hari_th_, all treated Him as

an impostor, and pronounced Him a lunatic and a calumniator. Such sore

accusations they brought against Him that in recounting them God

forbiddeth the ink to flow, Our pen to move, or the page to bear them.

These malicious imputations provoked the people to arise and torment Him.

And how fierce that torment, if the divines of the age be its chief

instigators, if they denounce Him to their followers, cast Him out from

their midst, and declare Him a miscreant! Hath not the same befallen this

Servant, and been witnessed by all?



For this reason did Muhammad cry out: "No Prophet of God hath suffered

such harm as I have suffered." And in the Qur'an are recorded all the

calumnies and reproaches uttered against Him, as well as all the

afflictions which He suffered. Refer ye thereunto, that haply ye may be

informed of that which hath befallen His Revelation. So grievous was His

plight, that for a time all ceased to hold intercourse with Him and His

companions. Whoever associated with Him fell a victim to the relentless

cruelty of His enemies....



Consider, how great is the change today! Behold, how many are the

Sovereigns who bow the knee before His name! How numerous the nations and

kingdoms who have sought the shelter of His shadow, who bear allegiance to

His Faith, and pride themselves therein! From the pulpit-top there

ascendeth today the words of praise which, in utter lowliness, glorify His

blessed name; and from the heights of minarets there resoundeth the call

that summoneth the concourse of His people to adore Him. Even those Kings

of the earth who have refused to embrace His Faith and to put off the

garment of unbelief, none-the-less confess and acknowledge the greatness

and overpowering majesty of that Day Star of loving-kindness. Such is His

earthly sovereignty, the evidences of which thou dost on every side

behold. This sovereignty must needs be revealed and established either in

the lifetime of every Manifestation of God or after His ascension unto His

true habitation in the realms above....



It is evident that the changes brought about in every Dispensation

constitute the dark clouds that intervene between the eye of man's

understanding and the Divine Luminary which shineth forth from the day

spring of the Divine Essence. Consider how men for generations have been

blindly imitating their fathers, and have been trained according to such

ways and manners as have been laid down by the dictates of their Faith.

Were these men, therefore, to discover suddenly that a Man, Who hath been

living in their midst, Who, with respect to every human limitation hath

been their equal, had risen to abolish every established principle imposed

by their Faith--principles by which for centuries they have been

disciplined, and every opposer and denier of which they have come to

regard as infidel, profligate and wicked,--they would of a certainty be

veiled and hindered from acknowledging His truth. Such things are as

"clouds" that veil the eyes of those whose inner being hath not tasted the

Salsabil of detachment, nor drunk from the Kaw_th_ar of the knowledge of

God. Such men, when acquainted with those circumstances, become so veiled

that, without the least question, they pronounce the Manifestation of God

as infidel, and sentence Him to death. You must have heard of such things

taking place all down the ages, and are now observing them in these days.



It behoveth us, therefore, to make the utmost endeavor, that, by God's

invisible assistance, these dark veils, these clouds of Heaven-sent

trials, may not hinder us from beholding the beauty of His shining

Countenance, and that we may recognize Him only by His own Self.