Chapter C69
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The Remembrance of God -- the Independent and Dependent Prophets.
1)
The Bab, a Manifestation of God (Independent Prophet) is the Remembrance of God.
O people of the earth! Whoso obeyeth the Remembrance of God and
His Book hath in truth obeyed God and His chosen ones and he will, in
the life to come, be reckoned in the presence of God among the inmates
of the Paradise of His good-pleasure.
-- The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 43
2)
Baha'u'llah, a Manifestation of God (Independent Prophet) is the Remembrance of God.
Unlock, O people, the gates of the hearts of men with the keys of the
remembrance of Him Who is the Remembrance of God and the Source of
wisdom amongst you. He hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of
His servants, and made them each a seat for the revelation of His
glory. Wherefore, sanctify them from every defilement, that the things
for which they were created may be engraven upon them. This indeed is a
token of God's bountiful favor.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 295
Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Him Who is Thine exalted and supreme Remembrance,
Whom Thou hast sent down unto all Thy creatures and invested with Thy
name, the All-Glorious, Whose will Thou hast ordained to be Thine own
will, Whose self Thou hast decreed to be the revealer of Thine own
Self, and His essence the Day-Spring of Thy wisdom, and His heart the
treasury of Thine inspiration, and His breast the dawning-place of Thy
most excellent attributes and most exalted titles, and His tongue the
fountain-head of the waters of Thy praise and the well-spring of the
soft-flowing streams of Thy wisdom, to send down upon us that which
will enable us to dispense with all else except Thee, and will cause us
to direct our steps towards the sanctuary of Thy pleasure and to aspire
after the things Thou didst ordain for us according to Thine
irrevocable decree. Empower us, then, O my God, to forsake ourselves
and cleave steadfastly to Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self, the
Most Exalted, the Most High.
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 130
3)
Abdu'l-Baha, a Branch, is the Remembrance of God.
Say: O people, praise ye God, for its Manifestation, for verily it is
the most great favor upon you and the most perfect blessing upon you;
and through Him every moldering bone is quickened Whosoever turns to
Him hath surely turned unto God, and who soever turneth away from Him
hath turned away from My beauty denied My proof and is of those who
transgress. Verily, He is the remembrance of God amongst you and His
trust within you, and His manifestation unto you and His appearance
among the servants who are nigh. Thus have I been commanded to convey
to you the message of God, your Creator; and I have delivered to you
that of which I was commanded. Whereupon, thereunto testifieth God,
then His angels, then His messengers, and then His holy servants.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from Bahá'í World Faith, Pages: 204-207
4)
O KINGS of the earth! Give ear unto the Voice of God, calling from this
sublime, this fruit-laden Tree, that hath sprung out of the Crimson
Hill, upon the holy Plain, intoning the words: 'There is none other God
but He, the Mighty, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.'... Fear God, O
concourse of kings, and suffer not yourselves to be deprived of this
most sublime grace. Fling away, then, the things ye possess, and take
fast hold on the Handle of God, the Exalted, the Great. Set your hearts
towards the Face of God, and abandon that which your desires have
bidden you to follow, and be not of those who perish. Relate unto them,
O Servant, the story of Ali (the Bab), when He came unto them with
truth, bearing His glorious and weighty Book, and holding in His hands
a testimony and proof from God, and holy and blessed tokens from Him.
Ye, however, O Kings, have failed to heed the Remembrance of God
in His days and to be guided by the lights which arose and shone
forth above the horizon of a resplendent Heaven. Ye examined not His
Cause when so to do would have been better for you than all that the
sun shineth upon, could ye but perceive it. Ye remained careless until
the divines of Persia -- those cruel ones -- pronounced judgment
against Him, and unjustly slew Him. His spirit ascended unto God, and
the eyes of the inmates of Paradise and the angels that are nigh unto
Him wept sore by reason of this cruelty. Beware that ye be not careless
henceforth as ye have been careless aforetime. Return, then, unto God,
your Maker, and be not of the heedless.... My face hath come forth from
the veils, and shed its radiance upon all that is in heaven and on
earth; and yet, ye turned not towards Him, notwithstanding that ye were
created for Him, O concourse of kings! Follow, therefore, that which I
speak unto you, and hearken unto it with your hearts, and be not of
such as have turned aside. For your glory consisteth not in your
sovereignty, but rather in your nearness unto God and your observance
of His command as sent down in His holy and preserved Tablets. Should
any one of you rule over the whole earth, and over all that lieth
within it and upon it, its seas, its lands, its mountains, and its
plains, and yet be not remembered by God, all these would profit him
not, could ye but know it.... Arise, then, and make steadfast your
feet, and make ye amends for that which hath escaped you, and set then
yourselves towards His holy Court, on the shore of His mighty Ocean, so
that the pearls of knowledge and wisdom, which God hath 9
stored up within the shell of His radiant heart, may be revealed unto
you.... Beware lest ye hinder the breeze of God from blowing over your
hearts, the breeze through which the hearts of such as have turned unto
Him can be quickened....
-- Baha'u'llah, The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. 6
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