heirs
of the One Who discoursed with God [Moses], who were accounted the most
abject of men, have split the veils asunder, and rent the coverings, and
seized the Sealed Wine from the hands of the bounty of Him Who is the
Self-Subsisting, and drunk their fill, whilst the detestable _Sh_i'ih
divines have remained, until the present time, hesitant and perverse." And
again: "The divines of Persia committed that which no people amongst the
peoples of the world have committed."

"If this Cause be of God," He thus addresses the Minister of the _Sh_ah in
Constantinople, "no man can prevail against it; and if it be not of God,
the divines amongst you, and they that follow their corrupt desires, and
such as have rebelled against Him, will surely suffice to overpower it."

"Of all the peoples of the world," He, in another Tablet, observes, "they
that have suffered the greatest loss have been, and are still, the people
of Persia. I swear by the Daystar of Utterance which shineth upon the
world in its meridian glory! The lamentations of the pulpits, in that
country, are being raised continually. In the early days such lamentations
were heard in the Land of Ta [Tihran], for pulpits, erected for the
purpose of remembering the True One--exalted be His glory--have now, in
Persia, become places wherefrom blasphemies are uttered against Him Who is
the Desire of the worlds."

"In this day," is His caustic denunciation, "the world is redolent with
the fragrances of the robe of the Revelation of the Ancient King ... and
yet, they [divines] have gathered together, and established themselves
upon their seats, and have spoken that which would put an animal to shame,
how much more man himself! Were they to become aware of one of their acts,
and perceive the mischief it hath wrought, they would, with their own
hands, dispatch themselves to their final abode."

"O concourse of divines!" Baha'u'llah thus commands them, "...Lay aside
that which ye possess, and hold your peace, and give ear, then, unto that
which the Tongue of Grandeur and Majesty speaketh. How many the veiled
handmaidens who turned unto Me, and believed, and how numerous the wearers
of the turban who were debarred from Me, and followed in the footsteps of
bygone generations!"

"I swear by the Daystar that shineth above the Horizon of Utterance!" He
asserts, "A paring from the nail of one of the believing handmaidens is,
in this day, more esteemed, in the sight of God, than the d