lasting or secure? Nay! By Myself, the All-Merciful, ye cannot, if ye be
of them who judge fairly. The days of your life flee away as a breath of
wind, and all your pomp and glory shall be folded up as were the pomp and
glory of those gone before you. Reflect, O people! What hath become of
your bygone days, your lost centuries? Happy the days that have been
consecrated to the remembrance of God, and blessed the hours which have
been spent in praise of Him Who is the All-Wise. By My life! Neither the
pomp of the mighty, nor the wealth of the rich, nor even the ascendancy of
the ungodly will endure. All will perish, at a word from Him. He, verily,
is the All-Powerful, the All-Compelling, the Almighty. What advantage is
there in the earthly things which men possess? That which shall profit
them, they have utterly neglected. Erelong, they will awake from their
slumber, and find themselves unable to obtain that which hath escaped them
in the days of their Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised. Did they but
know it, they would renounce their all, that their names may be mentioned
before His throne. They, verily, are accounted among the dead.

41 Amongst the people is he whose learning hath made him proud, and who
hath been debarred thereby from recognizing My Name, the Self-Subsisting;
who, when he heareth the tread of sandals following behind him, waxeth
greater in his own esteem than Nimrod. Say: O rejected one! Where now is
his abode? By God, it is the nethermost fire. Say: O concourse of divines!
Hear ye not the shrill voice of My Most Exalted Pen? See ye not this Sun
that shineth in refulgent splendour above the All-Glorious Horizon? For
how long will ye worship the idols of your evil passions? Forsake your
vain imaginings, and turn yourselves unto God, your Everlasting Lord.

42 Endowments dedicated to charity revert to God, the Revealer of Signs.
None hath the right to dispose of them without leave from Him Who is the
Dawning-place of Revelation. After Him, this authority shall pass to the
Ag{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}h{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}san, and after them to the House of Justice--should it be established
in the world by then--that they may use these endowments for the benefit of
the Places which have been exalted in this Cause, and for whatsoever hath
been enjoined upon them by Him Who is the God of might and power.
Otherwise, the endowments shall revert to the people of Baha who speak not
except by His leave and