writ or authority? Disregard then your
beginnings, perchance ye may be saved on the day of your return. Indeed
had it not been for the exaltation of the name of the Primal Point, God
would not have ordained for you the Letters of the Living, nor those who
are the Testimonies of His Truth, nor the Witnesses of His Justice; could
ye but heed a little. All this is to glorify the Cause of Him Whom God
shall make manifest at the time of His manifestation; would that ye might
ponder a while.

Therefore it behooveth you to return unto God even as ye were brought
forth into existence, and to utter not such words as why or nay, if ye
wish your creation to yield fruit at the time of your return. For none of
you who have been born in the Bayan shall gain the fruit of your beginning
unless ye return unto Him Whom God shall make manifest. He it is Who
caused your beginning to proceed from God, and your return to be unto Him,
did ye but know. XVI, 15.

"How great the number of people who deck themselves ..."

How great the number of people who deck themselves with robes of silk all
their lives, while clad in the garb of fire, inasmuch as they have
divested themselves of the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness;
and how numerous are those who wear clothes made of cotton or coarse wool
throughout their lives, and yet by reason of their being endowed with the
vesture of divine guidance and righteousness, are truly attired with the
raiment of Paradise and take delight in the good-pleasure of God. Indeed
it would be better in the sight of God were ye to combine the two,
adorning yourselves with the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness
and wearing exquisite silk, if ye can afford to do so. If not, at least
act ye not unrighteously, but rather observe piety and virtue...

But for the sole reason of His being present amongst this people, We would
have neither prescribed any law nor laid down any prohibition. It is only
for the glorification of His Name and the exaltation of His Cause that We
have enunciated certain laws at Our behest, or forbidden the acts to which
We are averse, so that at the hour of His manifestation ye may attain
through Him the good-pleasure of God and abstain from the things that are
abhorrent unto Him.

Say, verily, the good-pleasure of Him Whom God shall make manifest is the
good-pleasure of God, while the displeasure of Him Whom God shall make
manifest is none other than the displeasure