ns that the loins of
utterance shake when attempting their description." And finally: "In such
a manner hath the Kitab-i-Aqdas been revealed that it attracteth and
embraceth all the divinely appointed Dispensations. Blessed those who
peruse it! Blessed those who apprehend it! Blessed those who meditate upon
it! Blessed those who ponder its meaning! So vast is its range that it
hath encompassed all men ere their recognition of it. Erelong will its
sovereign power, its pervasive influence and the greatness of its might be
manifested on earth."

The formulation by Baha'u'llah, in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, of the fundamental
laws of His Dispensation was followed, as His Mission drew to a close, by
the enunciation of certain precepts and principles which lie at the very
core of His Faith, by the reaffirmation of truths He had previously
proclaimed, by the elaboration and elucidation of some of the laws He had
already laid down, by the revelation of further prophecies and warnings,
and by the establishment of subsidiary ordinances designed to supplement
the provisions of His Most Holy Book. These were recorded in unnumbered
Tablets, which He continued to reveal until the last days of His earthly
life, among which the "I_sh_raqat" (Splendors), the "Bi_sh_arat" (Glad
Tidings), the "Tarazat" (Ornaments), the "Tajalliyat" (Effulgences), the
"Kalimat-i-Firdawsiyyih" (Words of Paradise), the "Lawh-i-Aqdas" (Most
Holy Tablet), the "Lawh-i-Dunya" (Tablet of the World), the
"Lawh-i-Maqsud" (Tablet of Maqsud), are the most noteworthy. These
Tablets--mighty and final effusions of His indefatigable pen--must rank
among the choicest fruits which His mind has yielded, and mark the
consummation of His forty-year-long ministry.

Of the principles enshrined in these Tablets the most vital of them all is
the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the human race, which may
well be regarded as the hall-mark of Baha'u'llah's Revelation and the
pivot of His teachings. Of such cardinal importance is this principle of
unity that it is expressly referred to in the Book of His Covenant, and He
unreservedly proclaims it as the central purpose of His Faith. "We,
verily," He declares, "have come to unite and weld together all that dwell
on earth." "So potent is the light of unity," He further states, "that it
can illuminate the whole earth." "At one time," He has written with
reference to this central theme of His Revelation, "We spoke in the
language of th