Báhá’u’lláh’s Tablets to “the emperors of the West and the potentates of the East”: - the “diversity of the subjects touched upon”
No less amazing is the diversity of the subjects touched
upon in these Tablets.
- The
transcendent majesty and unity of an unknowable and unapproachable God is
extolled, and the oneness of His Messengers proclaimed and emphasized.
- The
uniqueness, the universality and potentialities of the Bahá’í Faith are
stressed, and the purpose and character of the Bábí Revelation unfolded.
- The
significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings and banishments is disclosed, and the
tribulations rained down upon His Herald and upon His Namesake recognized and
lamented.
- His own
yearning for the crown of martyrdom, which they both so mysteriously won, is
voiced, and the ineffable glories and wonders in store for His own Dispensation
foreshadowed.
- Episodes,
at once moving and marvelous, at various stages of His ministry, are recounted,
and the transitoriness of worldly pomp, fame, riches, and sovereignty,
repeatedly and categorically asserted.
- Appeals
for the application of the highest principles in human and international
relations are forcibly and insistently made, and the abandonment of
discreditable practices and conventions, detrimental to the happiness, the
growth, the prosperity and the unity of the human race, enjoined.
- Kings are
censured, ecclesiastical dignitaries arraigned, ministers and plenipotentiaries
condemned, and the identification of His advent with the coming of the Father
Himself unequivocally admitted and repeatedly announced.
- The
violent downfall of a few of these kings and emperors is prophesied, two of
them are definitely challenged, most are warned, all are appealed to and
exhorted.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
