Date: 16 Oct 92 06:48:03
Distribution: world
From: 14-Oct-1992 1350 <hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com>
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Organization: <none>
Subject: The Book of Certitude (part 4)

To them that are endowed with  understanding, it is clear  and manifest that
when the fire of the love of Jesus consumed the veils of Jewish limitations,
and His authority was made apparent and partially enforced.  He the Revealer
of the unseen Beauty, addressing one day His disciples, referred unto His
passing, and kindling  in their hearts the fire of bereavement, said unto
them: "I go away and come again unto you." And in another place He said: "I
go and another will come Who will tell you all that I have not told you, and
will fulfill all that I have said." Both these sayings have but one meaning,
were you to ponder upon the Manifestations of the Unity of God with divine 
insight.

Every discerning observer will recognize that in the Dispensation of the Qur'an
both the Book and the Cause of Jesus were confirmed. As to the matter of names,
Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I am Jesus." [i.e. Hadith from Prophet Muhammad.
KH] He recognized the truth of the signs, prophecies, and words of Jesus, and
testified that they were all of God. In this sense, neither the person of
Jesus, nor His writings hath differed from that of Muhammad and of His holy
Book, inasmuch as both have championed the Cause of God, uttered His praise,
and revealed His commandments. Thus it is that Jesus, Himself, declared: "I 
go away and come again unto you." Consider the sun. Were it  to say now, "I 
am the sun of yesterday," it would speak the truth. And should it , bearing 
the sequence of time in mind, claim to be other than that sun, it still would
speak the truth. In like manner, if it be said that all the days are but one
and the same, it is correct and true. And if it be said, with respect to 
their particular names and designations, that they differ, that again is true.
For though they are the same, yet one doth recognize in each a separate 
designation, a specific attribute, a particular character. Conceive accordingly
the distinction, variation, and unity characteristics of the various
Manifestations of holiness [i.e. Messengers of God. KH], that thou mayest
comprehend the allusions made by the creator of all names and attributes  to
the mysteries of distinction and unity, and discover the answer to thy question
as to why that everlasting Beauty should have , at sundry times, called Himself
by different names and titles. 

Afterwards, the companions and disciples of Jesus asked Him concerning those
signs that must needs signalize the return of His manifestation. When, they 
asked, shall these things be? Several times they questioned that peerless
Beauty, and , every time He made reply, He set forth a special sign that
should  herald the advent of the promised Dispensation. To this testify the
records of the four Gospels.

This wronged One will cite but one of these instances, thus conferring upon 
mankind, for the sake of God, such bounties as are yet concealed within the
treasury of the hidden and sacred Tree, that haply mortal men may not remain
deprived of their share of the immortal fruit, and attain to a dewdrop of the
waters of everlasting life which, from Baghdad, the "Abode of Peace," [i.e.
Where Baha'u'llah was exiled to, and proclaimed His Mission. KH] are being
vouchsafed unto all mankind. We ask for neither meed nor reward. "We nourish
your souls for the sake of God; we seek from you neither recompense nor
thanks." [Qur'an 76:9] This is the food that conferreth ever- lasting life 
upon the pure in heart and the illumined in spirit. This is the bread of which
it is said: "Lord, send down upon us Thy bread from heaven." [Qur'an 5:117],
[The term bread is an allusion to the presence of the the Word of God among
mankind. KH] This bread shall never be  withheld from them that deserve it, 
nor can it ever be exhausted. It groweth everlastingly from the tree of grace;
it descendeth at all seasons from the heaven of justice and mercy. Even as He
saith: "Seest thou not to what God likeneth a good word? To a good tree; its
root firmly fixed, and its branches reaching unto heaven: yielding its fruits
in all seasons." [Qur'an 14:24] 

O the pity! that man should deprive himself of this goodly gift, this imperish-
able bounty, this everlasting life. It behooveth him to prize this food that
cometh from heaven, that perchance, through the wondrous favours of the Sun of
Truth, the dead may be brought to life, and withered souls be quickened by the
infinite Spirit. Make hast, O my brother, that while there is yet time our lips
may taste of the immortal draught, for the breeze of life, now blowing from 
the city of the Well-Beloved, cannot last, and the streaming river of holy
utterance must needs be stilled, and portals of the Ridva'n cannot remain 
open. The day will surely come when the Nightingale of Paradise [i.e. The 
Manifestation of God. KH] will have winged its flight away from its earthly
abode unto its  heavenly nest. Then will its melody be heard no more, and the
beauty of the rose cease to shine. Seize the time, therefore, ere the glory of
the divine springtime hath spent itself, and the Bird of Eternity ceased to
warble its melody, that thy inner hearing may not be deprived of hearkening
unto its call. This is My counsel unto thee and unto the beloved of God.
Whosoever wisheth, let him turn thereunto; whosoever wisheth, let him turn
away. God, verily, is independent of him and of that which he may see and
witness. 
				The Book of Certitude, Baha'u'llah (p. 20-24)
	
						To be continued