169: O YE TWO PATIENT SOULS! YOUR LETTER WAS RECEIVED. ...

O ye two patient souls! Your letter was received. The death of that

beloved youth and his separation from you have caused the utmost sorrow

and grief; for he winged his flight in the flower of his age and the bloom

of his youth to the heavenly nest. But he hath been freed from this

sorrow-stricken shelter and hath turned his face toward the everlasting

nest of the Kingdom, and, being delivered from a dark and narrow world,

hath hastened to the sanctified realm of light; therein lieth the

consolation of our hearts.

The inscrutable divine wisdom underlieth such heart-rending occurrences.

It is as if a kind gardener transferreth a fresh and tender shrub from a

confined place to a wide open area. This transfer is not the cause of the

withering, the lessening or the destruction of that shrub; nay, on the

contrary, it maketh it to grow and thrive, acquire freshness and delicacy,

become green and bear fruit. This hidden secret is well known to the

gardener, but those souls who are unaware of this bounty suppose that the

gardener, in his anger and wrath, hath uprooted the shrub. Yet to those

who are aware, this concealed fact is manifest, and this predestined

decree is considered a bounty. Do not feel grieved or disconsolate,

therefore, at the ascension of that bird of faithfulness; nay, under all

circumstances pray for that youth, supplicating for him forgiveness and

the elevation of his station.

I hope that ye will attain the utmost patience, composure and resignation,

and I entreat and implore at the Threshold of Oneness, begging for

forgiveness and pardon. My hope from the infinite bounties of God is that

He may shelter this dove of the garden of faith, and cause him to abide on

the branch of the Supreme Concourse, that he may sing in the best of

melodies the praise and glorification of the Lord of Names and Attributes.

Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá · 第 177 / 310 题