O ye spiritual friends of 'Abdu'l-Baha! A trusted messenger hath arrived
and hath, in the world of the spirit, delivered a message from God's loved
ones. This auspicious courier bringeth fragrances of great ardour and
wafteth the life-giving breezes of the love of God. He maketh the heart to
dance for joy and filleth up the soul with an ecstasy of love and rapture.
So intensely hath the glory of Divine Unity penetrated souls and hearts
that all are now bound one to another with heavenly ties, and all are even
as a single heart, a single soul. Wherefore reflections of the spirit and
impressions of the Divine are now mirrored clear and sharp in the deep
heart's core. I beg of God to strengthen these spiritual bonds as day
followeth day, and make this mystic oneness to shine ever more brightly,
until at last all shall be as troops marshalled together beneath the
banner of the Covenant within the sheltering shade of the Word of God;
that they may strive with all their might until universal fellowship,
close and warm, and unalloyed love, and spiritual relationships, will
connect all the hearts in the world. Then will all humankind, because of
this fresh and dazzling bounty, be gathered in a single homeland. Then
will conflict and dissension vanish from the face of the earth, then will
mankind be cradled in love for the beauty of the All-Glorious. Discord
will change to accord, dissension to unison. The roots of malevolence will
be torn out, the basis of aggression destroyed. The bright rays of union
will obliterate the darkness of limitations, and the splendours of heaven
will make the human heart to be even as a mine veined richly with the love
of God.
O ye loved ones of the Lord! This is the hour when ye must associate with
all the earth's peoples in extreme kindliness and love, and be to them the
signs and tokens of God's great mercy. Ye must become the very soul of the
world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men. In this
wondrous Age, at this time when the Ancient Beauty, the Most Great Name,
bearing unnumbered gifts, hath risen above the horizon of the world, the
Word of God hath infused such awesome power into the inmost essence of
humankind that He hath stripped men's human qualities of all effect, and
hath, with His all-conquering might, unified the peoples in a vast sea of
oneness.
Now is the time for the lovers of God to raise high the banners of unity,
to intone, in the assemblages of the world, the verses of friendship and
love and to demonstrate to all that the grace of God is one. Thus will the
tabernacles of holiness be upraised on the summits of the earth, gathering
all peoples into the protective shadow of the Word of Oneness. This great
bounty will dawn over the world at the time when the lovers of God shall
arise to carry out His Teachings, and to scatter far and wide the fresh,
sweet scents of universal love.
In every dispensation, there hath been the commandment of fellowship and
love, but it was a commandment limited to the community of those in mutual
agreement, not to the dissident foe. In this wondrous age, however,
praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited, not restricted
to any one group of people, rather have all the friends been commanded to
show forth fellowship and love, consideration and generosity and
loving-kindness to every community on earth. Now must the lovers of God
arise to carry out these instructions of His: let them be kindly fathers
to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the
youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of
this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being,
even to your enemies, and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good
cheer, and loving-kindness. When ye meet with cruelty and persecution at
another's hands, keep faith with him; when malevolence is directed your
way, respond with a friendly heart. To the spears and arrows rained upon
you, expose your breasts for a target mirror-bright; and in return for
curses, taunts and wounding words, show forth abounding love. Thus will
all peoples witness the power of the Most Great Name, and every nation
acknowledge the might of the Ancient Beauty, and see how He hath toppled
down the walls of discord, and how surely He hath guided all the peoples
of the earth to oneness; how He hath lit man's world, and made this earth
of dust to send forth streams of light.
These human creatures are even as children, they are brash and
unconcerned. These children must be reared with infinite, loving care, and
tenderly fostered in the embraces of mercy, so that they may taste the
spiritual honey-sweetness of God's love; that they may become like unto
candles shedding their beams across this darksome world, and may clearly
perceive what blazing crowns of glory the Most Great Name, the Ancient
Beauty, hath set on the brows of His beloved, what bounties He hath
bestowed on the hearts of those He holdeth dear, what a love He hath cast
into the breasts of humankind, and what treasures of friendship He hath
made to appear amongst all men.
O God, my God! Aid Thou Thy trusted servants to have loving and tender
hearts. Help them to spread, amongst all the nations of the earth, the
light of guidance that cometh from the Company on high. Verily Thou art
the Strong, the Powerful, the Mighty, the All-Subduing, the Ever-Giving.
Verily Thou art the Generous, the Gentle, the Tender, the Most Bountiful.