Bahá’í World Faith
Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
The Prophetic Cycle hath,
verily, ended. The Eternal
Truth is now come.
Bahá’u’lláh
Bahá’í Publishing Trust
Wilmette, Illinois, USA
Copyright 1943, © 1956, 1976 by the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States
Sixth Printing of 1956 Edition, 1976
Isbn 0-87743-043-8
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-8259
Printed in U.S.A.
Contents
Introduction i
i — Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
i — Chapter One — The Great Announcement 9
The Purpose of the Prophets; • The True Believer; • This Wondrous Day; • How Severe the Tests; • The Time Fore-Ordained; • Beware Lest Ye Fail; • Why the People Have Denied God; • Manifestations of God; • The Truth of His Mission; • The Standard of His Truth; • Oneness of the Prophets; • Breakers of the Covenant; • The Meaning of True Unity; • The Prophetic Cycle Hath Ended; • He Hath Recreated All Things; • Manifold Woes and Trials; • The Divine Spirit Awoke Him; • To Build Anew the World; • Every Soul Endowed; • This New World Order; • The Remedy the World Needeth; • Tablets to the Kings; • Tablets to the Leaders of Religion; • Tablet to the People
Chapter Two — The Promised One 69
The Successive Revelations; • Wishing to Reveal Thyself; • The Covenant Thou Hast Established; • Whom Thou Hast Chosen; • Thy Straight Path; • Thou Hast Sent Down Thy Book; • The Tablet of Visitation; • He Calleth the Nations; • Darkness Hath Fallen; • The Eternity of Thy Majesty; • This Divine Law; • No Sooner Had He Revealed Himself; • The Fire of Thy Love; • No Refuge Can Be Found; • Entities of a New Creation; • He Hath Entrusted Every Created Thing; • The Best-Beloved Is Come; • The Signs of Revelation; • The Generating Impulse of Creation; • The Morn of Divine Guidance; • The Hosts of Divine Inspiration
Chapter Three — The Life of the Soul 113
The Power of Regeneration; • A Fixed Time to Turn to God; • An Ever-Advancing Civilization; • As One Soul and One Body; • The Paradise of His Presence; • Man’s Perfection and Nobility; • Re-created By His Spirit; • Every Man Endowed with Capacity; • The Result of Volition; • The Soul’s Power; • A Sign of God; • The Gift of Understanding; • Chosen From the Whole World; • The Flood of Grace; • Two Duties Laid Upon Man; • The Spirit That Animateth the Heart; • Potentialities Inherent in Man; • Endowed with Constancy; • Establish Unity; • The Root of Knowledge; • Union with God; • A Safe Approach to God; • By Which the Truth Is Distinguished; • Unless One Love God; • Actions of the Righteous; • True Liberty; • In Amity and Concord; • The Reason They Were Created; • The Principle of Moderation; • The Advancement of the World; • The Essence of Justice; • Words of Wisdom; • Prayers; • The Hidden Words
Chapter Four — Laws of the New Age 166
Tablet of Ṭarazát; • Tablet of the World; • Words of Paradise; • Tablet of Tajallíyát; • The Glad Tidings; • Tablet of Ishráqát
Chapter Five — The Mystery of God 204
Tablet of the Branch; • Kitáb-i-‘Ahd; • Whoso Layeth Claim to a Revelation
ii — Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Chapter Six — The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh 215
Mankind Is In Danger; • I Have Come with This Mission; • The Blessed Perfection; • Bahá’u’lláh; • Religion Is Progressive; • This Radiant Century; • The Most Great Peace; • Man and Nature; • Science and Spiritual Development; • Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh; • The Educators of Mankind; • The Divine Standard of Knowledge; • The Sun of Reality; • The Source of Unity; • The Quickening Spirit; • Spiritual Existence Is Immortality; • Race Unity; • Assurance of World Peace; • Religion and Civilization; • Industrial Justice; • Universal Peace
Chapter Seven — Soul, Mind and Spirit 297
The Origin of Man; • Modification of Species; • The Kingdom of Man; • Man and Evolution; • Spiritual Nature of Man; • Man’s Innate Powers; • The Spirit in the Body; • Man’s Relation to God; • Soul; • Mind and Spirit; • Five Physical and Five Spiritual Powers; • Innate; • Inherited and Acquired Character; • Man’s Knowledge of God; • The Immortality of the Spirit; • Perfection Is Endless; • The Evolution of Man In the Other World; • Progress After Death; • Tablet on Purity; • God and the Universe
Chapter Eight — The Loom of Reality 349
His Deathless Splendor; • The New Heaven; • The New Earth; • Spiritual Spring; • Serve the Kingdom; • Fulfillment of Prophecy; • Heralds of His Name; • The World Is Infirm; • The Covenant; • Race Unity; • The Fire of the Love of God; • Ye Are the Angels; • Reality of Thanksgiving; • The Straight Path; • Cut Thyself from the World; • Arise With Great Power; • Divine Assistance; • Proof of Nobility; • The Source of Love; • Objective and Subjective Faith; • Spiritual Capacity; • The Beloved of God; • If One Possesses the Love of God; • The Magnet of the Kingdom; • The Encompassing Spirit; • Souls Are Like Mirrors; • The World of Vision; • Prayer Is Indispensable; • Turn to the Holy Spirit; • Inspiration of the Holy Spirit; • The Intermediary; • The Spirit of Faith; • Trials a Gift from God; • The Mystery of Suffering; • Bahá'í Marriage; • Kindness to Animals; • Economy a Great Treasure; • Means of Livelihood; • Socialism; • Two Methods of Healing; • If Thou Desirest Health; • Duty to Attain Science; • Work Is Worship; • Science As Worship; • Music; • Severance from the World; • Consolation of Our Hearts; • The University of the Kingdom; • The Unknowable Essence; • Faith and Knowledge; • Knowledge and Deeds; • Training and Children; • Spiritual Knowledge; • Qualifications of the Enlightened Soul; • Eternal Sovereignty; • Confirmation and Assistance; • This World a Mirage; • Protection of the Bahá’ís; • The Return of Christ; • Eternal Life; • Spreaders of Calumny; • The Spirit of Christ; • Salvation; • The Spiritual Church; • The Supper of the Lord; • Understanding the Mysteries; • Reincarnation; • The Glad Tidings; • Consider the Past; • This Branch Will Ascend; • After This Storm; • The Center; • Mental and Spiritual Education
Chapter Nine — The Divine Plan 400
The Cause of Bahá’u’lláh; • The Community of the Greatest Name; • God Loveth Those Who Work in Groups; • The Divine Shepherd; • The Fundamental Aim; • This Meeting Is Blessed; • The Spiritual Election; • The House of Justice; • Obedience to the Assembly; • ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Is Present; • The Center of Decision; • The Basis of Union; • The Spiritual Assembly; • Mercy and Justice; • Inter- Assembly Union; • The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár; • The Collective Center of the Kingdom; • Bahá’u’lláh The Lord of Hosts; • The Master’s Last Tablet to America; • Excerpts From the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Appendix 451
Sources; • Translations; • Editor’s Note
Index 455