Chapter C74
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They through whom God hath spoken - Independent Prophets and Dependent/Lesser Prophets.
1)
Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet, who speaks not except by His leave.
Lauded be Thy name, O my God! Thou seest how I have been sorely vexed
among Thy servants, and beholdest the things that have befallen me in
Thy path. Thou knowest full well that I have not spoken a word but by Thy leave,
that my lips have never been opened except at Thy bidding and in
accordance with Thy pleasure, that every breath I have breathed hath
been animated with Thy praise and Thy remembrance, that I have summoned
all men to naught else except that whereunto Thy chosen ones have
through all eternity been summoned, and that I have bidden them observe
only the things that would draw them nearer unto the Day-Spring of Thy
loving-kindness, and the Dawning-Place of Thy favors, and the Horizon
of Thy riches, and the Manifestation of Thine inspiration and Thy
revelation.
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 202
Those, however, who have met Us will testify that this Servant hath not spoken save in accordance with that which God hath commanded in the Book,
and that He hath called attention to the following blessed verse --
exalted be His Word: "Do ye not disavow us merely because we believe in
God, and in what He hath sent down unto us, and in what He had sent
down aforetime?"25
-- Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 116
2)
The Chosen Ones of God, the two classes of Prophets, they that speak not till He hath spoken.
Know ye that trials and tribulations have, from time immemorial, been the lot of the chosen Ones of God
and His beloved, and such of His servants as are detached from all else
but Him, they whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the
remembrance of the Almighty, they that speak not till He hath spoken, and act according to His commandment.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 128
3)
"His
loved ones" and they "whose hearts witness to His unity, whose tongues
proclaim His oneness, and who speak not except by His leave",
the Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah, who are the Face of God (like
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad), are the chosen Ones of God.
True believers in the Unity of God recognise them, faithful to the
commandment: "forget not His covenant with you, and be not of them that
are shut out as by a veil from Him."
The days of your life are far spent, O people, and your end is fast
approaching. Put away, therefore, the things ye have devised and to
which ye cleave, and take firm hold on the precepts of God, that haply
ye may attain that which He hath purposed for you, and be of them that
pursue a right course. Delight not yourselves in the things of the
world and its vain ornaments, neither set your hopes on them. Let
your reliance be on the remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the
Most Great. He will, erelong, bring to naught all the things ye
possess. Let Him be your fear, and forget not His covenant with you,
and be not of them that are shut out as by a veil from Him.
Beware that ye swell not with pride before God, and disdainfully reject
His loved ones. Defer ye humbly to the faithful, they that have
believed in God and in His signs, whose hearts witness to His unity,
whose tongues proclaim His oneness, and who speak not except by His
leave. Thus do We exhort you with justice, and warn you with truth,
that perchance ye may be awakened.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 127
4)
"The people of Baha who speak not except by His leave", the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah.
Endowments dedicated to charity revert to God, the Revealer of Signs. None hath the right to dispose of them without leave from Him Who is the Dawning-place of Revelation.
After Him, this authority shall pass to the Aghsan, and after them to
the House of Justice -- should it be established in the world by then
-- that they may use these endowments for the benefit of the Places
which have been exalted in this Cause, and for whatsoever hath been
enjoined upon them by Him Who is the God of might and power. Otherwise,
the endowments shall revert to the people of Baha who speak not except by His leave
and judge not save in accordance with what God hath decreed in this
Tablet -- lo, they are the champions of victory betwixt heaven and
earth -- that they may use them in the manner that hath been laid down
in the Book by God, the Mighty, the Bountiful.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 34
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