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)
