From: B.MOHAJERIN@qut.EDU.AU (Babak Mohajerin)
Subject: The history of Baha'u'llah, Part 10
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:37:12 GMT

                    "The Changeless Faith of God..."

    Following the declaration of His mission in 1863, Baha'u'llah began to
elaborate a theme already introduced in The Book of Certitude, the
relationship between the Will of God and the evolutionary process by which
the spiritual and moral capacities latent in human nature find expression.
This exposition would occupy a central place in His writings over the
remaining thirty years of His life.  The reality of God, He asserts, is
and will always remain unknowable.  Whatever words human thought may apply
to the Divine nature relate only to human existence and are the products
of human efforts to describe human experience: 

        Far, far from Thy glory be what mortal man can affirm of Thee, or
    attribute unto Thee, or the praise with which he can glorify Thee!
    Whatever duty Thou hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to
    the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto
    them, that they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred
    upon their own inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own
    selves.[29]

        To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God,
    the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond
    every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and
    descent, egress and regress.  Far be it from His glory that human
    tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart
    comprehend His fathomless mystery.  He is and hath ever been veiled in
    the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality
    everlastingly hidden from the sight of men....[30] 

    What humanity experiences in turning to the Creator of all existence
are the attributes or qualities which are associated with God's recurring
Revelations:

        The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed
    in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace,...hath caused
    those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the
    spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest
    unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the
    unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable
    Essence....[31]

        These sanctified Mirrors...are one and all the Exponents on earth
    of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and
    ultimate Purpose.  From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from
    Him is derived their sovereignty.  The beauty of their countenance is
    but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His
    deathless glory....[32]

    The Revelations of God do not differ in any essential respect from one
another, although the changing needs they serve from age to age have
called out unique responses from each of them: 

        These attributes of God are not and have never been vouchsafed
    specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay, all
    the Prophets of God, His well-favored, His holy, and chosen 
    Messengers, are, without exception, the bearers of His names, and the
    embodiments of His attributes.  They only differ in the intensity of
    their revelation, and the comparative potency of their light....[33]

-- 
     Babak Mohajerin, 

Queensland University of Technology,
        AUSTRALIA

B.MOHAJERIN@qut.edu.au
 _^_							      _^_	     
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 |/|----------------------------------------------------------|\|
 |/| The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world |\|
 |/| will have adopted one universal language and one common  |\|
 |/| script. When this is achieved, to whatsoever city a man  |\|  
 |/| may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own  |\|
 |/| home.... That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth |\| 
 |/| himself to the service of the entire human race....      |\|
 |/| It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own    |\| 
 |/| country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world.  |\|
 |/| The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.  |\|                    
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 |/|						Baha'u'llah   |\|  
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