Look ye not upon the
present, fix your gaze upon the times to come. In the beginning, how small is
the seed, yet in the end it is a mighty tree. Look ye not upon the seed, look
ye upon the tree, and its blossoms, and its leaves and its fruits. Consider the
days of Christ, when none but a small band followed Him; then observe what a
mighty tree that seed became, behold ye its fruitage. And now shall come to
pass even greater things than these, for this is the summons of the Lord of
Hosts, this is the trumpet-call of the living Lord, this is the anthem of world
peace, this is the standard of righteousness and trust and understanding raised
up among all the variegated peoples of the globe; this is the splendour of the
Sun of Truth, this is the holiness of the spirit of God Himself. This most
powerful of dispensations will encompass all the earth, and beneath its banner
will all peoples gather and be sheltered together. Know then
the vital import of this tiny seed that the true Husbandman hath, with the
hands of His mercy, sown in the ploughed fields of the Lord, and watered with
the rain of bestowals and bounties and is now nurturing in the heat and light
of the Day-Star of Truth.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha,
‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha)
