“O thou flame of the Love of God!...”

O thou flame of the Love of God!

What thou hast written caused joy, for that letter was like unto a rose-garden whose roses of significances bestowed the sweet odor of the love of God upon the nostrils. Similarly, my answers to thy letters will, like unto rain and dew, bestow infinite purity and freshness upon those myrtles of significances which have blossomed in the garden of the heart.

thou hast written concerning the tests that have come upon thee. To the sincere ones, tests are as a gift from God, the Exalted, for a heroic person hasteneth, with the utmost joy and gladness, to the tests of a violent battlefield, but the coward is afraid and trembles and utters moaning and lamentation. Likewise, an expert student prepareth and memorizeth his lessons and exercises with the utmost effort, and in the day of examination he appeareth with infinite joy before the master. Likewise, the pure gold shineth radiantly in the fire of test. Consequently, it is made clear that for holy souls, trials are as the gift of God, the Exalted; but for weak souls they are an unexpected calamity. This test is just as thou hast written: it removeth the rust of egotism from the mirror of the heart until the Sun of Truth may shine therein. For, no veil is greater than egotism and no matter how thin that covering may be, yet it will finally veil man entirely and prevent him from receiving a portion from the eternal bounty.

O thou attracted maid-servant of God! When the men and maid-servants of God pass in my mind, I feel the heat of the love of God and I pray the Almighty God to assist those blessed souls with the invisible hosts. Praise be to God! the prophecies of all the prophets have become manifest and are fulfilled in this holy and blessed age and this great day of Baha’o’llah!

O thou attracted maid-servant of God! Nearness is, in reality, of the soul, not of the body, and help and receptivity of help are spiritual, not physical. Notwithstanding this, I hope that thou mayest attain nearness in every respect. Be thou assured that the divine bounties will so encompass holy souls even as the light of the sun doth the moon and stars.

Convey thou, on behalf of Abdul-Baha, the sweet odor of the fragrances of holiness to the nostrils of each one of the friends of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful and inspire and encourage thou all of them to diffuse the fragrances of God (i.e., to teach the truth).

Source: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas (1909). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19312.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1909). *Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19312/pg19312-images.html