Baha’u’llah’s sufferings: “The pen is groaning, and the ink bewaileth its plight, and the tablet is awestruck at this cry.”

Pure and sanctified art Thou, O my God! How can the pen move and the ink flow after the breezes of loving-kindness have ceased, and the signs of bounty have vanished, when the sun of abasement hath risen, and the swords of calamity are drawn, when the heavens of sorrow have been upraised, and the darts of affliction and the lances of vengeance have rained from the clouds of power — in such wise that the signs of joy have departed from all hearts, and the tokens of gladness have been erased from every horizon, the gates of hope have been shut, the mercy of the supernal breeze hath ceased to waft over the rose-garden of faithfulness, and the whirlwind of extinction hath struck the tree of existence. The pen is groaning, and the ink bewaileth its plight, and the tablet is awestruck at this cry. The mind is in turmoil from the taste of this pain and sorrow, and the divine Nightingale calleth: “Alas! Alas! for all that hath been made to appear.” And this, O my God, is from naught but Thy hidden bounties. 

- Bahá’u’lláh  (Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

“Wert thou, for the sake of God, to ponder, though it be but for an hour, upon the things which have occurred in former times and more recently...”

Wert thou, for the sake of God, to ponder, though it be but for an hour, upon the things which have occurred in former times and more recently, thou wouldst turn away from the things thou dost possess unto the things which belong unto God, and wouldst become a means for the exaltation of His Word. Hath, from the foundation of the world until the present day, any Light or Revelation shone forth from the dayspring of the will of God which the kindreds of the earth have accepted, and Whose Cause they have acknowledged? Where is it to be found, and what is its name? Since the Seal of the Prophets (Muhammad)—may all else but Him be His sacrifice—and before Him the Spirit of God (Jesus), as far back as the First Manifestation, all have at the time of Their appearance suffered grievously. Some were held to be possessed, others were called impostors, and were treated in a manner that the pen is ashamed to describe. By God! There befell Them what hath made all created things to sigh, and yet the people are, for the most part, sunk in manifest ignorance! We pray God to assist them to return unto Him, and to repent before the door of His mercy. Potent is He over all things.

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

“Ponder God in your heart, reflect on His Manifestations, and be not of them that are devoid of understanding”

O people of Baha! Be as the cloud that from you may be showered that which will refresh and animate the earth. ... Ponder God in your heart, reflect on His Manifestations, and be not of them that are devoid of understanding. ... I came not to proclaim that which ye already possess. Verily, verily, this day is a new day; He that hath come is the Wondrous, and His bidding the wonder of all that is in heaven and on earth. ... We have desired naught for ourselves, but desired for you that which will profit you in the Kingdom of God, the Gracious, the All-Bountiful. ... Glory is not his that proclaimeth his faith, but glory is his that doeth that which the All-Merciful hath revealed in His wondrous Book. 

- Baha’u’llah  (The Baha’i Year Book 1924-1925)

Magnitude of Baha’u’llah’s sufferings – “the darts of affliction and the lances of vengeance have rained from the clouds of power”

Pure and sanctified art Thou, O my God! How can the pen move and the ink flow after the breezes of loving-kindness have ceased, and the signs of bounty have vanished, when the sun of abasement hath risen, and the swords of calamity are drawn, when the heavens of sorrow have been upraised, and the darts of affliction and the lances of vengeance have rained from the clouds of power — in such wise that the signs of joy have departed from all hearts, and the tokens of gladness have been erased from every horizon, the gates of hope have been shut, the mercy of the supernal breeze hath ceased to waft over the rose-garden of faithfulness, and the whirlwind of extinction hath struck the tree of existence. The pen is groaning, and the ink bewaileth its plight, and the tablet is awestruck at this cry. The mind is in turmoil from the taste of this pain and sorrow, and the divine Nightingale calleth: “Alas! Alas! for all that hath been made to appear”. And this, O my God, is from naught but Thy hidden bounties.

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Additional Prayers Revealed by Baha’u’llah’, compiled by the Baha’i World Center; Online Baha’i Reference Library)

“Strive… to comprehend… the meaning of the ‘cleaving of the heaven’—one of the signs that must needs herald the coming of the last Hour, the Day of Resurrection”

In like manner, strive thou to comprehend from these lucid, these powerful, conclusive, and unequivocal statements the meaning of the “cleaving of the heaven”—one of the signs that must needs herald the coming of the last Hour, the Day of Resurrection. As He hath said: “When the heaven shall be cloven asunder.” [Qur’án 82:1] By “heaven” is meant the heaven of divine Revelation, which is elevated with every Manifestation, and rent asunder with every subsequent one. By “cloven asunder” is meant that the former Dispensation is superseded and annulled. I swear by God! That this heaven being cloven asunder is, to the discerning, an act mightier than the cleaving of the skies! Ponder a while. That a divine Revelation which for years hath been securely established; beneath whose shadow all who have embraced it have been reared and nurtured; by the light of whose law generations of men have been disciplined; the excellency of whose word men have heard recounted by their fathers; in such wise that human eye hath beheld naught but the pervading influence of its grace, and mortal ear hath heard naught but the resounding majesty of its command—what act is mightier than that such a Revelation should, by the power of God, be “cloven asunder” and be abolished at the appearance of one soul? Reflect, is this a mightier act than that which these abject and foolish men have imagined the “cleaving of the heaven” to mean? 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)