The signature of that meeting should be the Spiritual Gathering (House of Spirituality) and the wisdom therein is that hereafter the government should not infer from the term "House of Justice" that a court is signified, that it is connected with political affairs, or that at any time it will interfere with governmental affairs.
Hereafter, enemies will be many. They would use this subject as a cause for disturbing the mind of the government and confusing the thoughts of the public. The intention was to make known that by the term Spiritual Gathering (House of Spirituality), that Gathering has not the least connection with material matters, and that its whole aim and consultation is confined to matters connected with spiritual affairs. The was also instructed (performed) in all Persia.***
"O my G.o.d! O my G.o.d!..."
O my G.o.d! O my G.o.d!
These are servants who have turned to Thy Kingdom and hearkened unto Thy voice. Their hearts were dilated by Thy call, responded unto Thy summons, were attracted unto Thy beauty, acknowledged Thy proofs, believed in Thy signs, confessed Thy Oneness and arose for the service of Thy Cause and the promotion of Thy Word.
O Lord! O Lord! Make them lamps of guidance, lights glistening in the supreme apex, sparkling stars in heaven, holy angels moving on earth and thriving trees bearing delicious and fragrant fruits.
O Lord! O Lord! Purify their qualities, clarify their consciousness, cleanse their hearts and illumine their faces. Verily Thou art the Powerful, the Precious, the Protecting!
O ye spiritual ones! The rules for election are those which are customary in that country. The period of election is five years.
O Lord! O Lord! Bless this Spiritual Gathering, strengthen them by Thy power for the spreading of Thy divine fragrances, cause them to follow Thy will which is effective in the realities of all things, and aid them by a confirmation such as never hath preceded to any one in former centuries.(9) For these are servants of Thy servants and Thou hast crowned them them with this diadem, the most luminous (Abha) gems of which will shine unto all the horizons.
Verily Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty, the Giver!
"O ye who are sincere! O ye who are firm! O ye who..."
O ye who are sincere! O ye who are firm! O ye who are steadfast!
Verily, I received a letter from that brilliant body and Spiritual Gathering-those who have arisen and called out for the Kingdom of G.o.d among the peoples of America.
Verily, know with certain knowledge that ye will be confirmed by hosts from the Kingdom of El-Abha and with inspirations from the Supreme Concourse in the promotion of the Word of G.o.d. Verily, Abdul-Baha is with you and supplicates unto G.o.d, desiring His heavenly blessings to surround you, His divine favors to encompa.s.s you, the appearances of the Sun of Truth to shine in your hearts, the glad tidings of G.o.d to rejoice your spirits, the fragrances of holiness to perfume your nostrils, the verses of guidance to be chanted in your gatherings, and the lamp of the Supreme Concourse to illumine your meetings. Know with real a.s.surance that this light will encompa.s.s the horizons (the world) with great brilliancy.
I ask G.o.d to make ye lamps ignited by the great Light, so that ye may stand with all power, meekness, humbleness, sacrifice and self-resignation and thus become examples for the people and pure types for the world, be salt of the earth, stars of guidance, great trees with broad foliage and excellent fruits of fragrant scent, growing by the bounty of the cloud of the Kingdom of El-Abha.
I praise G.o.d that ye were firm in faithfulness in that ye testified and acknowledged the efforts which Mirza a.s.sa Ullah(10) manifested in spreading the fragrances of G.o.d and that ye thanked him for his labor and teaching for you, and this is what gladdens the heart of Abdul-Baha.
"O thou who art attracted by the Fragrances of G.o.d!..."
O thou(11) who art attracted by the Fragrances of G.o.d!
Verily I say unto thee the truth, that I am with you in spirit and in heart, that I rejoice by your joy and am happy by your happiness; and hear with the ear of spirit your calling and scent with the spiritual nostrils the fragrances of your garden.
O ye friends of G.o.d! Arise from the corporeal beds (bodies) and ask for the divine favors, so that ye become revived by the Holy Spirit through the breath which the Spirit breathes into the souls.
By the glory of my Lord, there will be for your brilliant a.s.semblage an evident sign and great effects in the spirits and the hearts. Therefore, gladden the friends of the Merciful with the glad-tidings of thy Lord in this time, and convey to them greeting from Abdul-Baha in this promised century, so that they may arise with me in servitude to the Threshold of El-Baha.
"O ye servants of the Threshold of G.o.d!..."
O ye servants of the Threshold of G.o.d!
The weekly reports of *** were received and I was informed of their beautiful meanings which proved firmness and steadfastness in the Cause of G.o.d and solidity in the Covenant of G.o.d.
Through the favor and providence of the Beauty(12) of Abha I trust that Spiritual Gathering will develop day by day and will be reinforced by the strength of G.o.d.
Communication with the friends of G.o.d in other countries is a source of fragrant spirituality.
O ye members of the Spiritual Gathering! Appreciate this favor. This is the glorious crown of the Kingdom, which, in this century, the Hand of the Great Favor has placed on your head, and the gems of this brilliant diadem will surely glisten unto all centuries.
Thank G.o.d that ye became a manifestation of such favor and are addressed by such speech.
"O ye friends of Abdul-Baha!..."
O ye friends of Abdul-Baha!
Verily I read your reports with great joy. They are a cause of spirituality and fragrance and a source of dilation of souls. If this Spiritual Meeting, by the divine fragrance and heavenly confirmation, be firmly established (or continued) it will become a source of great signs and will be confirmed in matters of paramount importance.
The Spiritual Meetings, which are organized in this cycle of G.o.d and this divine century, have never had their simile or likeness in bygone cycles.
For the great meetings (organizations) were under the protection of aristocratic men, while these meetings (or organizations) are under the protection of the bounty of El-Abha. The helper or supporter of those (organizations) was either a prince or a king; either a priest was the princ.i.p.al, or a great republic (the cause); but the Helper, the a.s.sistant, the Confirmer and the Inspirer of these spiritual meetings (or organizations) is His Majesty the Everlasting G.o.d.
Consider not the present condition, but rather foresee the future and the end. A seed in the beginning is very small, but in the end a great tree.
One should not consider the seed, but the tree and its abundance of blossoms, leaves and fruits.
Consider the days of Jesus, when there was only a small body of people, and then observe the great tree which grew from that seed and what an abundant fruit it produced. This is greater than that, forasmuch as it is the calling of the Lord of Hosts and the Voice of the Trumpet of the Living G.o.d; it is the summons unto the harmony and unison of the world, and it is the banner of faithfulness, trustworthiness and friendship among the difference nations and sects of the universe; it is the light of the Sun of Truth and the spirituality of the Majestic One. Verily this great cycle (dispensation) will encompa.s.s all the horizons and ultimately all the nations will gather together under this standard.
Therefore, know the importance of this seed which was planted in the divine field by the heavenly Gardener, watered with the rain of grace and nurtured by the heat and light of the Sun of Truth. Thus, O ye friends of G.o.d, give thanks unto His Majesty, the One, that ye became (or were made) the manifestation of such a gift and the recipient of such favor.
Blessed are ye! Good-tidings unto you for this great blessing!
"O ye who are sincere! O ye who are firm in the Covenant..."