The Book of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Divisions 501-525
EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF
501.
And further We have said:
“More grievous became Our plight from day to day, nay, from hour to hour, until they took Us forth from Our prison and made Us, with glaring injustice, enter the Most Great Prison.
502.
And if anyone ask them: ‘For what crime were they imprisoned?’
503.
they would answer and say:
‘They, verily, sought to supplant the Faith with a new religion!’
504.
If that which is ancient be what ye prefer, wherefore, then, have ye discarded that which hath been set down in the Torah and the Evangel?
505.
Clear it up, O men!
606.
By My life! There is no place for you to flee to in this day.
507.
If this be My crime, then Muhammad, the Apostle of God, committed it before Me, and before Him He Who was the Spirit of God (Jesus Christ), and yet earlier He Who conversed with God (Moses).
508.
And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause,
then indeed am I the greatest of sinners!
509.
Such a sin I will not barter for the kingdoms of earth and heaven.”
510.
And further We have said:
“As My tribulations multiplied, so did My love for God and for His Cause increase, in such wise that all that befell Me from the hosts of the wayward was powerless to deter Me from My purpose.
511.
Should they hide Me away in the depths of the earth, yet would they find Me riding aloft on the clouds, and calling out unto God, the Lord of strength and of might.
512.
I have offered Myself up in the way of God, and I yearn after tribulations in My love for Him, and for the sake of His good pleasure.
513.
Unto this bear witness the woes which now afflict Me, the like of which no other man hath suffered.
514.
Every single hair of Mine head calleth out that which the Burning Bush uttered on Sinai, and each vein of My body invoketh God and saith:
515.
‘O would I had been severed in Thy path, so that the world might be quickened, and all its peoples be united!’
516.
Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
517.
“Know of a truth that your subjects are God’s trust amongst you.
518.
Watch ye, therefore, over them as ye watch over your own selves.
519.
Beware that ye allow not wolves to become the shepherds of the fold,
nor pride and conceit to deter you from turning unto the poor and the desolate.
520.
Arise thou, in My name, above the horizon of renunciation, and set, then, thy face towards the Kingdom, at the bidding of thy Lord, the Lord of strength and of might.”
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521.
And further We have said:
“Adorn the body of Thy kingdom with the raiment of My name, and arise, then, to teach My Cause.
522.
Better is this for thee than that which thou possessest.
523.
God will, thereby, exalt thy name among all the kings.
524.
Potent is He over all things.
525.
Walk thou amongst men in the name of God, and by the power of His might,
that thou mayest show forth His signs amidst the peoples of the earth.”
The Book of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Divisions 526-560
EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF
526.
And further We have said:
“Doth it behoove you to relate yourselves to Him Who is the God of mercy,
and yet commit the things which the Evil One hath committed?
527.
Nay, by the Beauty of Him Who is the All-Glorified!
could ye only know it.
528.
Purge your hearts from love of the world, and your tongues from calumny,
and your limbs from whatsoever may withhold you from drawing nigh unto God,
the Mighty, the All-Praised.
529.
Say:
By the world is meant that which turneth you aside from Him Who is the Dawning-Place of Revelation, and inclineth you unto that which is unprofitable unto you.
530.
Verily, the thing that deterreth you, in this day, from God is worldliness in its essence.
531.
Eschew it, and approach the Most Sublime Vision, this shining and resplendent Seat.
532.
Shed not the blood of anyone, O people,
neither judge ye anyone unjustly.
533.
Thus have ye been commanded by Him Who knoweth, Who is informed of all.
534.
They that commit disorders in the land after it hath been well ordered,
these indeed have outstepped the bounds that have been set in the Book.
535.
Wretched shall be the abode of the transgressors!”
536.
And further We have said:
“Deal not treacherously with the substance of your neighbor.
537.
Be ye trustworthy on earth,
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and withhold not from the poor the things given unto you by God through His grace.
538.
He, verily, will bestow upon you the double of what ye possess.
539.
He, in truth, is the All-Bounteous, the Most Generous.
540.
O people of Bahá!
Subdue the citadels of men’s hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance.
541.
They that dispute, as prompted by their desires, are indeed wrapped in a palpable veil.
542.
Say:
The sword of wisdom is hotter than summer heat,
and sharper than blades of steel, if ye do but understand.
543.
Draw it forth in My name and through the power of My might,
and conquer, then, with it
the cities of the hearts of them that have secluded themselves in the stronghold of their corrupt desires.
544.
Thus biddeth you the Pen of the All-Glorious, whilst seated beneath the swords of the wayward.
545.
If ye become aware of a sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin.
546.
He, verily, is the Concealer, the Lord of grace abounding.
547.
O ye rich ones on earth!
If ye encounter one who is poor, treat him not disdainfully.
548.
Reflect upon that whereof ye were created.
549.
Every one of you was created of a sorry germ.”
550.
And further We have said:
“Regard ye the world as a man’s body, which is afflicted with divers ailments, and the recovery of which dependeth upon the harmonizing of all of its component elements.
551.
Gather ye around that which We have prescribed unto you, and walk not in the ways of such as create dissension.
552.
Meditate on the world and the state of its people.
553.
He, for Whose sake the world was called into being, hath been imprisoned in the most desolate of cities (‘Akká), by reason of that which the hands of the wayward have wrought.
554.
From the horizon of His prison-city He summoneth mankind unto the Dayspring of God,
the Exalted, the Great.
555.
Exultest thou over the treasures thou dost possess, knowing they shall perish?
556.
Rejoicest thou in that thou rulest a span of earth,
when the whole world, in the estimation of the people of Bahá,
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is worth as much as the black in the eye of a dead ant?
557.
Abandon it unto such as have set their affections upon it,
and turn thou unto Him Who is the Desire of the world.
558.
Whither are gone the proud and their palaces?
559.
Gaze thou into their tombs, that thou mayest profit by this example,
inasmuch as We made it a lesson unto every beholder.
560.
Were the breezes of Revelation to seize thee,
thou wouldst flee the world, and turn unto the Kingdom,
and wouldst expend all thou possessest, that thou mayest draw nigh unto this sublime Vision.”
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