Dear Brent,
Hmmmm, you mentioned looking at a particular section in context. My current reference is the document on Ocean - I've misplaced the book. Is there something I've missed that delineates sections of the Surih of the Temple?
"Fix your gaze upon Him Who is the *Temple of God* amongst men. He, in truth, hath offered up His life as a ransom for the redemption of the world. He, verily, is the All-Bountiful, the Gracious, the Most High. If any differences arise amongst you, behold Me standing before your face, and overlook the faults of one another for My name's sake and as a token of your love for My manifest and resplendent Cause."
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah pg. 315)
Baha'u'llah is the Temple; The Living Temple, the Eyes, the Ears, the Tongue.
I might well be mistaken in my understanding of this Tablet ... Having conceded that, to my mind, the entire Tablet seems to be the Summons of God addressing "The Temple", Baha'u'llah and [then, through Him] those who will become His followers. It flows like dialogue between The Two through the intercession of the Maiden [Holy Spirit].
While I would agree that the term "hands" as defined in this Tablet, as well as other passages of the Sacred Writings, correllates with the duties of those honored men and women of the Institution, I would disagree that it was, in fact, a direct reference to the future Institution. I hear the Surih of the Temple as broader and more encompassing -an assurance of the charaterics and testament to the strengths of those who will respond to Baha'u'llah's Divine Message -an "encouragement" if you will.
"The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up *a race of men* the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting. He shall purify them from the defilement of idle fancies and corrupt desires, shall lift them up to the heights of holiness, and shall cause them to manifest the signs of His sovereignty and might upon earth. Thus hath it been ordained by God, the All-Glorious, the All-Loving." (Summons to the Lord of Hosts pg.5)
"The Pen of the Most High hath decreed and imposed upon every one the obligation to teach this Cause.... God will, no doubt, inspire whosoever detacheth himself from all else but Him, and will cause the pure waters of wisdom and utterance to gush out and flow copiously from his heart. Verily, thy Lord, the All-Merciful, is powerful to do as He willeth, and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 3)
Baha'u'llah, it seems, confirms the correlation by bestowing the distinction of "Hand" on worthy individuals -following this example, Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian, did as well.
With regard to the capitalization of Hand, in Shoghi Effendi's translation, I'm more inclined to think he chose to do so because the reference was to the "hands" of the Divine -figuratively speaking...
""Erelong shall God draw forth, out of the bosom of power, the hands of ascendancy and might,
and shall raise up a people who will arise to win victory for this Youth and who will purge
mankind from the defilement of the outcast and the ungodly." (Summons to the Lord of Hosts p.19)
CXXXI. The Pen of the Ancient King hath never ceased to remember the loved ones of God. At one time, rivers of mercy have streamed from His Pen, at another, through its movement, God's perspicuous Book hath been revealed. He is the One to Whom none can compare, Whose utterance mortal man can never rival. *He it is Who from everlasting hath been established upon the seat of ascendancy and might*, He from Whose lips have gone out counsels that can satisfy the needs of the whole of mankind, and admonitions that can profit them. (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 286)
"No sooner had that eternal Beauty revealed Himself in Shiraz, in the year sixty, and rent asunder the veil of concealment, than *the signs of the ascendancy, the might*, the sovereignty, and power, emanating from that Essence of Essences and Sea of Seas, were manifest in every land. (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 234)
"Send down upon them, therefore, O my Lord, that which will unmistakably reveal unto them the fury of Thy wrath and *the ascendancy of Thy power*, and will enable them to recognize *the weight of Thy might* and the greatness of Thy strength." (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 141)
"Help them through Thy strengthening grace, I beseech Thee, O my God, to suffer patiently in their love for Thee, and unveil to their eyes what Thou hast decreed for them behind the Tabernacle of Thine unfailing protection, so that they may rush forward to meet what is preordained for them in Thy path, and may vie in hasting after tribulation in their love towards Thee. And if not, do Thou, then, *reveal the standards of Thine ascendancy*, and make them to be victorious over Thine adversaries, that Thy sovereignty may be manifested unto all the dwellers of Thy realm, and *the power of Thy might demonstrated* amidst Thy creatures. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou willest. No God is there but Thee, the Omniscient, the All-Wise." (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 158)
Thy might beareth me witness, O my Well-Beloved! The entire creation hath been called into being to exalt Thy triumph and *to establish Thine ascendancy*, and all the bounds that have been set by Thee are but the signs of Thy sovereignty, and *proclaim the power of Thy might*. (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 325)
Therefore, my conclusion is that ASCENDANCY or, -controlling influence- and MIGHT, -intensity- as implied in the quoted scripture are the domain of God and not mortal man, and only He can choose to withhold or manifest them.
Lovingly, Sandra
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