ordered, these indeed have outstepped the bounds
that have been set in the Book. Wretched shall be the abode of the
transgressors!"

And further We have said: "Deal not treacherously with the substance of
your neighbor. Be ye trustworthy on earth, and withhold not from the poor
the things given unto you by God through His grace. He, verily, will
bestow upon you the double of what ye possess. He, in truth, is the
All-Bounteous, the Most Generous. O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of
men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance. They that
dispute, as prompted by their desires, are indeed wrapped in a palpable
veil. Say: The sword of wisdom is hotter than summer heat, and sharper
than blades of steel, if ye do but understand. Draw it forth in My name
and through the power of My might, and conquer, then, with it the cities
of the hearts of them that have secluded themselves in the stronghold of
their corrupt desires. Thus biddeth you the Pen of the All-Glorious,
whilst seated beneath the swords of the wayward. If ye become aware of a
sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin.
He, verily, is the Concealer, the Lord of grace abounding. O ye rich ones
on earth! If ye encounter one who is poor, treat him not disdainfully.
Reflect upon that whereof ye were created. Every one of you was created of
a sorry germ."

And further We have said: "Regard ye the world as a man's body, which is
afflicted with divers ailments, and the recovery of which dependeth upon
the harmonizing of all of its component elements. Gather ye around that
which We have prescribed unto you, and walk not in the ways of such as
create dissension. Meditate on the world and the state of its people. He,
for Whose sake the world was called into being, hath been imprisoned in
the most desolate of cities (Akka), by reason of that which the hands of
the wayward have wrought. From the horizon of His prison-city He summoneth
mankind unto the Dayspring of God, the Exalted, the Great. Exultest thou
over the treasures thou dost possess, knowing they shall perish? Rejoicest
thou in that thou rulest a span of earth, when the whole world, in the
estimation of the people of Baha, is worth as much as the black in the eye
of a dead ant? Abandon it unto such as have set their affections upon it,
and turn thou unto Him Who is the Desire of the world. Whither are gone
the proud and their palaces? Gaze thou into their tombs, that thou ma