The Book of the Most Holy CHAPTER SEVEN

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Division 226-250

THE MOST HOLY

226.

We have made it lawful for you to listen to music and singing.

227.

Take heed, however,

lest listening thereto should cause you to overstep the bounds of propriety and dignity.

228.

Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name,

a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart,

and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God.

229.

We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls,

a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high;

make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion.

230.

Truly, We are loath to see you numbered with the foolish.

231.

We have decreed that a third part of all fines shall go to the Seat of Justice,

and We admonish its men to observe pure justice,

that they may expend what is thus accumulated for such purposes as have been enjoined upon them by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

232.

O ye Men of Justice!

Be ye, in the realm of God, shepherds unto His sheep and guard them from the ravening wolves that have appeared in disguise, even as ye would guard your own sons.

Thus exhorteth you the Counsellor, the Faithful.

233.

Should differences arise amongst you over any matter,

refer it to God while the Sun still shineth above the horizon of this Heaven

and, when it hath set, refer ye to whatsoever hath been sent down by Him.

234.

This, verily, is sufficient unto the peoples of the world.

235.

Say:

Let not your hearts be perturbed, O people,

when the glory of My Presence is withdrawn, and the ocean of My utterance is stilled.

236.

In My presence amongst you there is a wisdom,

and in My absence there is yet another,

inscrutable to all but God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing.

237.

Verily, We behold you from Our realm of glory,

and shall aid whosoever will arise for the triumph of Our Cause

with the hosts of the Concourse on high and a company of Our favoured angels.

238.

O peoples of the earth!

God, the Eternal Truth, is My witness that streams of fresh and soft-flowing waters have gushed from the rocks through the sweetness of the words uttered by your Lord, the Unconstrained;

and still ye slumber.

239.

Cast away that which ye possess,

and, on the wings of detachment, soar beyond all created things.

240.

Thus biddeth you the Lord of creation,

the movement of Whose Pen hath revolutionized the soul of mankind.

241.

Know ye from what heights your Lord, the All-Glorious, is calling?

242.

Think ye that ye have recognized the Pen wherewith your Lord, the Lord of all names, commandeth you?

243.

Nay, by My life! Did ye but know it, ye would renounce the world, and would hasten with your whole hearts to the presence of the Well-Beloved.

244.

Your spirits would be so transported by His Word as to throw into commotion the Greater World -- how much more this small and petty one!

245.

Thus have the showers of My bounty been poured down from the heaven of My loving-kindness,

as a token of My grace, that ye may be of the thankful.

246.

The penalties for wounding or striking a person depend upon the severity of the injury;

for each degree the Lord of Judgement hath prescribed a certain indemnity.

He is, in truth, the Ordainer, the Mighty, the Most Exalted.

247.

We shall, if it be Our Will, set forth these payments in their just degrees

-- this is a promise on Our part,

and He, verily, is the Keeper of His pledge, the Knower of all things.

248.

Verily, it is enjoined upon you to offer a feast, once in every month,

though only water be served;

for God hath purposed to bind hearts together,

albeit through both earthly and heavenly means.

249.

Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you.

250.

Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the parts of one body.

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