ones in Baha. By the Lord! Ye are the
billows of the Most Mighty Ocean, the stars of the firmament of Glory, the
standards of triumph waving betwixt earth and heaven. Ye are the
manifestations of steadfastness amidst men and the daysprings of Divine
Utterance to all that dwell on earth.

(The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 173) [7]

8: "The Great Being saith: The man of consummate learning and the sage..."

The Great Being saith: The man of consummate learning and the sage endowed
with penetrating wisdom are the two eyes to the body of mankind. God
willing, the earth shall never be deprived of these two greatest gifts.

("Tablets of Baha'u'llah Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas", p. 171) [8]

9: "Know thou that he is truly learned who hath acknowledged My
Revelation, and..."

Know thou that he is truly learned who hath acknowledged My Revelation,
and drunk from the Ocean of My knowledge, and soared in the atmosphere of
My love, and cast away all else besides Me, and taken firm hold on that
which hath been sent down from the Kingdom of My wondrous utterance. He,
verily, is even as an eye unto mankind, and as the spirit of life unto the
body of all creation. Glorified be the All-Merciful Who hath enlightened
him, and caused him to arise and serve His great and mighty Cause. Verily,
such a man is blessed by the Concourse on high, and by them who dwell
within the Tabernacle of Grandeur, who have quaffed My sealed Wine in My
name, the Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.

("Tablets of Baha'u'llah Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas", pp. 207-208)
[9]

10: "Consider, how can he that faileth in the day of God's Revelation..."

Consider, how can he that faileth in the day of God's Revelation to attain
unto the grace of the "Divine Presence" and to recognize His
Manifestation, be justly called learned, though he may have spent aeons in
the pursuit of knowledge, and acquired all the limited and material
learning of men? It is surely evident that he can in no wise be regarded
as possessed of true knowledge. Whereas, the most unlettered of all men,
if he be honoured with this supreme distinction, he verily is accounted as
one of those divinely-learned men whose knowledge is of God; for such a
man hath attained the acme of knowledge, and hath reached the furthermost
summit of learning.

("The Kitab-i-Iqan" (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1983), pp.
145-146) [10]

From the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha

11: "...there ar