Datasets:
EdBergJr
/
gleanings_baha

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
1
text
stringlengths
0
3.51k
every soul naught may be discovered except the revelation of Thy
countenance and the tokens of Thy glory, that haply Thy servants may show
forth only that which shall please Thee and shall conform wholly unto Thy
most potent will.
Glory be to Thee, O my God! The power of Thy might beareth me witness! I
can have no doubt that should the holy breaths of Thy loving-kindness and
the breeze of Thy bountiful favor cease, for less than the twinkling of an
eye, to breathe over all created things, the entire creation would perish,
and all that are in heaven and on earth would be reduced to utter
nothingness. Magnified, therefore, be the marvelous evidences of Thy
transcendent power! Magnified be the potency of Thine exalted might!
Magnified be the majesty of Thine all-encompassing greatness, and the
energizing influence of Thy will! Such is Thy greatness that wert Thou to
concentrate the eyes of all men in the eye of one of Thy servants, and to
compress all their hearts within his heart, and wert Thou to enable him to
behold within himself all the things Thou hast created through Thy power
and fashioned through Thy might, and were he to ponder, throughout
eternity, over the realms of Thy creation and the range of Thy handiwork,
he would unfailingly discover that there is no created thing but is
overshadowed by Thine all-conquering power, and is vitalized through Thine
all-embracing sovereignty.
Behold me, then, O my God, fallen prostrate upon the dust before Thee,
confessing my powerlessness and Thine omnipotence, my poverty and Thy
wealth, mine evanescence and Thine eternity, mine utter abasement and
Thine infinite glory. I recognize that there is none other God but Thee,
that Thou hast no peer nor partner, none to equal or rival Thee. In Thine
unapproachable loftiness Thou hast, from eternity, been exalted above the
praise of any one but Thee, and shalt continue for ever, in Thy
transcendent singleness and glory, to be sanctified from the glorification
of any one except Thine own Self.
I swear by Thy might, O my Beloved! To make mention of any created thing
beseemeth not Thy most exalted Self, and to bestow any praise upon any one
of Thy creatures would be wholly unworthy of Thy great glory. Nay, such a
mention would be but blasphemy uttered within the court of Thy holiness,
and such praise would amount to no less than a transgression in the face
of the evidences of Thy Divine sovereignty. For the mere mention of any
one of Thy creatures would in itself imply an assertion of their existence
before the court of Thy singleness and unity. Such an assertion would be
naught but open blasphemy, an act of impiety, the essence of profanity and
a wanton crime.
Wherefore, I bear witness with my soul, my spirit, my entire being, that
should They Who are the Day-Springs of Thy most holy unity and the
Manifestations of Thy transcendent oneness be able to soar so long as
Thine own sovereignty endureth and Thine all-compelling authority can
last, they will fail in the end to attain unto even the precincts of the
court wherein Thou didst reveal the effulgence of but one of Thy most
mighty Names. Glorified, glorified be, therefore, Thy wondrous majesty.
Glorified, glorified be Thine unattainable loftiness. Glorified, glorified
be the préeminence of Thy kingship and the sublimity of Thine authority
and power.
The highest faculties which the learned have possessed, and whatsoever
truths they, in their search after the gems of Thy knowledge, have
discovered; the brightest realities with which the wise have been endowed,
and whatever secrets they, in their attempts to fathom the mysteries of
Thy wisdom, have unraveled, have all been created through the generative
power of the Spirit that was breathed into the Pen which Thy hands have
fashioned. How, then, can the thing which Thy Pen hath created be capable
of comprehending those treasures of Thy Faith with which, as decreed by
Thee, that Pen hath been invested? How can it ever know of the Fingers
that grasp Thy Pen, and of Thy merciful favors with which it hath been
endowed? How can it, already unable to reach this station, be made aware
of the existence of Thy Hand that controlleth the Fingers of Thy might?
How can it attain unto the comprehension of the nature of Thy Will that
animateth the movement of Thy Hand?
Glorified, glorified be Thou, O my God! How can I ever hope to ascend into
the heaven of Thy most holy will, or gain admittance into the tabernacle
of Thy Divine knowledge, knowing as I do that the minds of the wise and
learned are impotent to fathom the secrets of Thy handiwork--a handiwork
which is itself but a creation of Thy will?
Praise be to Thee, O Lord, my God, my Master, my Possessor, my King. Now
that I have confessed unto Thee my powerlessness and the powerlessness of
all created things, and have acknowledged my poverty and the poverty of
the entire creation, I call unto Thee with my tongue and the tongues of
all that are in heaven and on earth, and beseech Thee with my heart and
the hearts of all that have entered beneath the shadow of Thy names and
Thine attributes, not to shut us from the doors of Thy loving-kindness and
grace, nor to suffer the breeze of Thy bountiful care and favor to cease
from being wafted over our souls, nor to permit that our hearts be
occupied with any one except Thee, or our minds to be busied with any
remembrance save remembrance of Thy Self.
By the glory of Thy might, O my God! Wert Thou to set me king over Thy
realms, and to establish me upon the throne of Thy sovereignty, and to
deliver, through Thy power, the reins of the entire creation into my
hands, and wert Thou to cause me, though it be for less than a moment, to
be occupied with these things and be oblivious of the wondrous memories
associated with Thy most mighty, most perfect, and most exalted Name, my
soul would still remain unsatisfied, and the pangs of my heart unstilled.
Nay, I would, in that very state, recognize myself as the poorest of the
poor, and the most wretched of the wretched.
Magnified be Thy name, O my God! Now that Thou hast caused me to apprehend
this truth, I beseech Thee by Thy Name which no scroll can bear, which no