sage, to avert the sufferings He endured, or to heed
the marvelous signs and prodigies which, during a hundred years, have
accompanied the birth and rise of His Revelation.

"From two ranks amongst men," is His terse and prophetic utterance, "power
hath been seized: kings and ecclesiastics." "If ye pay no heed," He thus
warned the kings of the earth, "unto the counsels which ... We have
revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement will assail you from every
direction... On that day ye shall ... recognize your own impotence." And
again: "Though aware of most of Our afflictions, ye, nevertheless, have
failed to stay the hand of the aggressor." And, furthermore, this
arraignment: "...We ... will be patient, as We have been patient in that
which hath befallen Us at your hands, O concourse of kings!"

Condemning specifically the world's ecclesiastical leaders, He has
written: "The source and origin of tyranny have been the divines... God,
verily, is clear of them, and We, too, are clear of them." "When We
observed carefully," He openly affirms, "We discovered that Our enemies
are, for the most part, the divines." "O concourse of divines!" He thus
addresses them, "Ye shall not henceforth behold yourselves possessed of
any power, inasmuch as We have seized it from you..." "Had ye believed in
God when He revealed Himself," He explains, "the people would not have
turned aside from Him, nor would the things ye witness today have befallen
Us." "They," referring more specifically to Muslim ecclesiastics, He
asserts, "rose up against Us with such cruelty as hath sapped the strength
of Islam..." "The divines of Persia," He affirms, "committed that which no
people amongst the peoples of the world hath committed." And again:
"...The divines of Persia ... have perpetrated what the Jews have not
perpetrated during the Revelation of Him Who is the Spirit (Jesus)." And
finally, these portentous prophecies: "Because of you the people were
abased, and the banner of Islam was hauled down, and its mighty throne
subverted." "Erelong will all that ye possess perish, and your glory be
turned into the most wretched abasement, and ye shall behold the
punishment for what ye have wrought..." "Erelong," the Bab Himself, even
more openly prophesies, "We will, in very truth, torment such as waged war
against Husayn (Imam Husayn) ... with the most afflictive torment..."
"Erelong will God wreak His vengeance upon them, at the time of Our
return, and He ha