"By My life! But for the obligation to acknowledge the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God... I would not have announced this unto thee... In that same year (year 60) I despatched a messenger and a book unto thee, that thou mightest act towards the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God as befitteth the station of thy sovereignty... (44:1)

"I swear by the truth of God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know who it is whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy. Nay - I, verily, acquainted thee with the truth of the matter - it is as if he hath imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth, and all the chosen ones... Woe betide him from whose hands floweth evil, and blessed the man from whose hands floweth good... (44:2)

"I swear by God! I seek no earthly goods from thee, be it as much as a mustard seed... I swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I know, thou wouldst forego the sovereignty of this world and of the next, that thou mightest attain My good pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True One... Wert thou to refuse, the Lord of the world would raise up one who will exalt His Cause, and the Command of God will, verily, be carried into effect." (44:3)

Dear Friends! How vast a panorama these gem-like, these soul-searching divinely uttered pronouncements outspread before our eyes! (44:4)

God's Vicar on Earth
What memories they evoke! How sublime the principles they inculcate! What hopes they engender! What apprehension they excite! And yet how fragmentary must these above-quoted words, suited as they are to the immediate purpose of my theme, appear when compared with the torrential majesty which only the reading of the full text can disclose! He Who was God's Vicar on earth, addressing, at the most critical moment when His Revelation was attaining its zenith, those who concentrated in their persons the splendor, the sovereignty, and the strength of earthly dominion, could certainly not subtract one jot or tittle from the weight and force which the presentation of so historic a Message demanded. Neither the perils which were fast closing in upon Him, nor the formidable power with which the doctrine of absolute sovereignty invested, at that time, the emperors of the West and the potentates of the East, could restrain the Exile and Prisoner of Adrianople from communicating the full blast of His Message to His twin imperial persecutors as well as to the rest of their fellow-sovereigns. (44:5)

Get Next Page