From Our Most Great Prison We were moved to address to the
several rulers and crowned heads of the world Epistles in which We summoned
them to arise and embrace the Cause of God. To the Shah of Persia We sent Our
messenger Badi', into whose hands We entrusted the Tablet. It was he who raised
it aloft before the eyes of the multitude and, with uplifted voice, appealed to
his sovereign to heed the words that Tablet contained. The rest of the Epistles
likewise reached their destination. To the Tablet We addressed to the Emperor
of France, an answer was received from his minister, the original of which is
now in the possession of the Most Great Branch. To him We addressed these
words: 'Bid the high priest, O Monarch of France, to cease ringing his bells, for,
lo! the Most Great Bell, which the hands of the will of the Lord thy God are
ringing, is made manifest in the person of His chosen One.' The Epistle We
addressed to the Czar of Russia, alone failed to reach its destination. Other
Tablets, however, have reached him, and that Epistle will eventually be
delivered into his hands.
- Baha’u’llah (Quoted by Nabil in ‘The Dawn-Breakers’,
translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)