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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
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Pages 63-64
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The Outpouring of Divine Grace
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"If all the peoples of the world," Bahá'u'lláh Himself affirms,
"be invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters
of the Living, the chosen disciples of the Báb, whose station is ten
thousand times more glorious than any which the apostles of old
have attained, and if they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling
of an eye, hesitate to recognize the Light of my Revelation, their
faith shall be of no avail, and they shall be accounted among the
infidels." "So tremendous," He writes, "is the outpouring of Divine
grace in this Dispensation that if mortal hands could be swift enough
to record them, within the space of a single day and night, there
would stream verses of such number as to be equivalent to the whole
of the Persian Bayán."
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Such, dearly-beloved friends, is the effusion of celestial grace
vouchsafed by the Almighty to this age, this most illumined century!
We stand too close to so colossal a Revelation to expect in
this, the first century of its era, to arrive at a just estimate of its
towering grandeur, its infinite possibilities, its transcendent beauty.
Small though our present numbers may be, however limited our
capacities, or circumscribed our influence, we, into whose hands so
pure, so tender, so precious a heritage has been entrusted, should
at all times strive, with unrelaxing vigilance, to abstain from any
thoughts, words, or deeds, that might tend to dim its brilliance, or
injure its growth. How tremendous our responsibility; how delicate
and laborious our task!
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Dear friends: Clear and emphatic as are the instructions which
our departed Master has reiterated in countless Tablets bequeathed
by Him to His followers throughout the world, a few, owing to the
restricted influence of the Cause in the West, have been purposely
withheld from the body of His occidental disciples, who, despite
their numerical inferiority, are now exercising such a preponderating
influence in the direction and administration of its affairs.
I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress, now that the time
is ripe, the importance of an instruction which, at the present stage
of the evolution of our Faith, should be increasingly emphasized,
irrespective of its application to the East or to the West. And this
principle is no other than that which involves the non-participation
by the adherents of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, whether in their individual
capacities or collectively as local or national Assemblies, in
any form of activity that might be interpreted, either directly or
indirectly, as an interference in the political affairs of any particular
government. Whether it be in the publications which they initiate
and supervise; or in their official and public deliberations; or in the
posts they occupy and the services they render; or in the communications
they address to their fellow-disciples; or in their dealings
with men of eminence and authority; or in their affiliations with
kindred societies and organizations, it is, I am firmly convinced,
their first and sacred obligation to abstain from any word or deed
that might be construed as a violation of this vital principle. Theirs
is the duty to demonstrate, on one hand, the nonpolitical character
of their Faith, and to assert, on the other, their unqualified
loyalty and obedience to whatever is the considered judgment of
their respective governments.
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