Small wonder, then, that the Author of the Bahá’í Faith, and
to a lesser degree its Herald, should have directed at the world’s supreme
rulers and religious leaders the full force of Their Messages, and made them
the recipients of some of Their most sublime Tablets, and invited them, in a
language at once clear and insistent, to heed Their call. Small wonder that
They should have taken the pains to unroll before their
eyes the truths of Their respective Revelations, and should have expatiated on
Their woes and sufferings. Small wonder that They should have stressed the
preciousness of the opportunities which it was in the power of these rulers and
leaders to seize, and should have warned them in ominous tones of the grave
responsibilities which the rejection of God’s Message would entail, and should
have predicted, when rebuffed and refused, the dire consequences which such a
rejection involved. Small wonder that He Who is the King of kings and
Vicegerent of God Himself should, when abandoned, contemned and persecuted,
have uttered this epigrammatic and momentous prophecy: “From two ranks amongst
men power hath been seized: kings and ecclesiastics.”
- Shoghi Effendi (From a
letter dated March 28, 1941, ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
