Paragraph 78

We have digressed from the purpose of Our argument, although whatsoever is mentioned serveth only to confirm Our purpose. By God! however great Our desire to be brief, yet We feel We cannot restrain Our pen. Notwithstanding all that We have mentioned, how innumerable are the pearls which have remained unpierced in the shell of Our heart! How many the huris of inner meaning that are as yet concealed within the chambers of divine wisdom! None hath yet approached them; -- huris, "whom no man nor spirit hath touched before." (Qur'an 55:56) Notwithstanding all that hath been said, it seemeth as if not one letter of Our purpose hath been uttered, nor a single sign divulged concerning Our object. When will a faithful seeker be found who will don the garb of pilgrimage, attain the Ka'bih of the heart's desire, and, without ear or tongue, discover the mysteries of divine utterance?


After nearly a year's break, this is the fifth of those twelve paragraphs that look at the phrase "And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Now, before we begin again, we feel that we need to offer a bit of an explanation of why it has been so long since we have written here. Well, simply, Samuel got married and bought a house. As with all newlyweds, his life suddenly got far busier than he anticipated. And we both felt that it was far more important for him to spend the time getting used to his new life situation. Now, nearly a full year later, he is back into it. It also helps that his wife, wonderful soul that she is, kicked him in his spiritual behind, gave him the Virtues' Card on "certitude", and told us both to get back to it.

The first question we have, after our own digression is how is it possible for Baha'u'llah to have "digressed from the purpose of (His) argument"? And having done that, how could it serve "only to confirm (His) purpose"?

As usual, we don't really know, but we suspect that it is because they may be two different things. His argument, in this book, we think is to demonstrate the validity of the mission of the Bab to His uncle. That is Baha'u'llah's argument. But His purpose, Baha'u'llah's purpose in life, is to give forth the religion of God. When we re-read the opening sentence of this paragraph with this observation in mind, it suddenly makes a lot more sense to us.

In the previous paragraph, paragraph 77, He gave us a glimpse of why the various tribes of the earth mourn, namely through their attachments. Here, He is reminding us of this again, and then carrying us through the rest of the quote from Jesus, "the Son of man coming in the clouds". He seems to be demonstrating that not only was the Bab veiled in these clouds, but He, Himself, is, too. So many of His pearls of wisdom "have remained unpierced in the shell" of His heart. As He has not yet revealed His glorious station, "not one letter of (His) purpose hath been uttered". "Not a single sign" has been "divulged concerning (His) object". Still, after years of patiently guiding the Babis, He is awaiting that "faithful seeker".

This is another demonstration of the unity of all the Manifestations, this concealment behind the clouds. When we look back at the first couple dozen paragraphs of this book where Baha'u'llah describes the earlier Manifestations and helps us see what They all have in common, we can recognize this trend. It is part of His on-going demonstration of how we can recognize a Divine Messenger, helping to lead the uncle of the Bab to recognize his divine Kinsman, and also to help us all become closer to recognizing the station of Baha'u'llah Himself.