literal reading of scripture; the meaning of the signs and portents of the
Bible concerning the advent of the new Manifestation; the continuity of
divine revelation; intimations of Bahá’u’lláh’s own approaching
declaration; the significance of such symbolic terms as “the Day of
Judgement”, “the Resurrection”, “attainment to the Divine Presence”, and
“life and death”; and the stages of the spiritual quest through “the
Garden of Search”, “the City of Love and Rapture”, “the City of Divine
Unity”, “the Garden of Wonderment”, “the City of Absolute Nothingness”,
“the City of Immortality”, and “the City that hath no name or
description”.

The publication of Gems of Divine Mysteries is one of the projects
undertaken in fulfilment of the Five Year Plan goal, announced in April
2001, of “enriching the translations into English from the Holy Texts”.
The volume will further deepen the Western reader’s appreciation of a
period infused with potentiality and described by Shoghi Effendi as “the
vernal years of Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry”, and assist the students of His
Revelation in gaining a more profound insight into its gradual unfoldment.






GEMS OF DIVINE MYSTERY


The essence of the divine mysteries in the journeys of ascent set
forth for those who long to draw nigh unto God, the Almighty, the
Ever-Forgiving—blessed be the righteous that quaff from these