223: O YE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KINGDOM! YOUR ...

O ye sons and daughters of the Kingdom! Your letter was received. From its

contents it was known that, praise be to God, your hearts are in the

utmost purity and your souls rejoice in the glad tidings of God. The mass

of the people are occupied with self and worldly desire, are immersed in

the ocean of the nether world and are captives of the world of nature,

save those souls who have been freed from the chains and fetters of the

material world and, like unto swift-flying birds, are soaring in this

unbounded realm. They are awake and vigilant, they shun the obscurity of

the world of nature, their highest wish centereth on the eradication from

among men of the struggle for existence, the shining forth of the

spirituality and the love of the realm on high, the exercise of utmost

kindness among peoples, the realization of an intimate and close

connection between religions and the practice of the ideal of

self-sacrifice. Then will the world of humanity be transformed into the

Kingdom of God.

O ye friends, exert ye an effort! Every expenditure is in need of an

income. This day, in the world of humanity, men are all the time

expending, for war is nothing but the consumption of men and of wealth. At

least engage ye in a deed of profit to the world of humanity that ye may

partially compensate for that loss. Perchance, through the divine

confirmations, ye may be assisted in promulgating amity and concord among

men, in substituting love for enmity, in causing universal peace to result

from universal war and in converting loss and rancour into profit and

love. This wish will be realized through the power of the Kingdom.

Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá · 第 231 / 310 题