“O thou who art rejoiced by the Divine Glad-tidings!...”

O thou who art rejoiced by the Divine Glad-tidings!

Verily I have received thy last letter and thanked God that thou didst reach Paris protected and guarded (by Him). Thank thou God that He assisted thee to behold the brilliant faces of the believers of God and favored thee to meet them in American countries. For, verily, beholding those shining countenances is a divine gift; by it the hearts are dilated, the souls are rejoiced and the spirits are attracted toward the Supreme Concourse.

Do not lament over the departure of my dearly beloved Breakwell, for verily he hath ascended to the luminous rose-garden in the Abha Kingdom, near the mercy of his Lord, the Almighty, and is crying out with the loudest voice: “O that my people knew how my Lord hath forgiven me and made me one of those who have attained (to the meeting of God)!”

O Breakwell, my beloved! Where is thy beautiful countenance and where is thy eloquent tongue? Where is thy radiant brow and where is thy brilliant face?

O Breakwell, my beloved! Where is thy enkindlement with the fire of the love of God and where is thy attraction to the fragrances of God? Where is thy utterance for the glorification of God and where is thy rising in the service of God?

O my dear, O Breakwell! Where are thy bright eyes and where are thy smiling lips? Where are thy gentle cheeks and where is thy graceful stature?

O my dear, O Breakwell! Verily thou hast abandoned this transitory world and soared upward to the Kingdom, hast attained to the grace of the Invisible Realm and sacrificed thyself to the Threshold of the Lord of Might!

O my adored one, O Breakwell! Verily thou hast left behind this physical lamp, this human glass, these earthly elements and this worldly enjoyment!

O my adored one, O Breakwell! Then thou hast ignited a light in the glass of the Supreme Concourse, hast entered the Paradise of Abha, art protected under the Shade of the Blessed Tree and hast attained to the Meeting (of the True One) in the Abode of Paradise!

O my dearly beloved, O Breakwell! Thou hast been a divine bird and, forsaking thy earthly nest, thou hast soared toward the holy rose-garden of the Divine Kingdom and obtained a luminous station there!

O my dearly beloved, O Breakwell! Verily thou art like unto he birds, chanting the verses of thy Lord, the Forgiving, for thou wert a thankful servant; therefore thou hast entered (into the realm beyond) with joy and happiness!

O my beloved, O Breakwell! Verily thy Lord hath chosen thee for His love, guided thee to the Court of His Holiness, caused thee to enter into the Rizwan211 of His Association and granted thee to behold His Beauty!

O my beloved, O Breakwell! Verily thou hast attained to the eternal life, never-ending bounty, beatific bliss and immeasurable providence!

O my beloved, O Breakwell! Thou hast become a star in the most exalted horizon, a lamp among the angels of heaven, a living spirit in the Supreme World and art established upon the throne of immortality!

O my adored one, O my Breakwell! I supplicate God to increase thy nearness and communication, to make thee enjoy thy prosperity and union (wih Him), to add to thy light and beauty and to bestow upon thee glory and majesty.

O my adored one, O my Breakwell! I mention thy name continually, I never forget thee, I pray for thee day and night and I see thee clearly and manifestly, O my adored one, O Breakwell!

***Concerning thy question whether all the souls enjoy eternal life: Know thou those souls partake of the Eternal Life in whom the Spirit of Life is breathed from the Presence of God and all beside them are dead—without Life, as Christ hath explained in the texts of the Gospel. Any person whose insight is opened by God seeth the souls in their stations after the disintegration of the bodies. Verily they are living and are subsisting before their Lord and he seeth also the dead souls submerged in the gulfs of mortality. Then know thou verily all the souls are created according to the nature of God and all are in the state of (unconscious) purity at the time of their births. But afterward they differ from one another insofar as they acquire excellencies or defects. Nevertheless, the creatures have different degrees in existence insofar as the creation goes, for capacities are different, but all of them are good and pure (in their essence), then afterward they are polluted and defiled. Although there are different states of creation, yet all of them are beneficial. Glance thou over the temple of man, its members and its parts. Among them there are the eye, ear, nose, mouth, hands and fingers. Notwithstanding the differences between these organs, all of them are useful in their proper spheres. But if one of them is out of order, there is need of a remedy and if the medicine does not heal, then the amputation of that member becomes necessary.

Verily I beseech God to make thee confirmed under all circumstances. Do not become despondent, neither be thou sad. Ere long thy Lord shall make thee a sign of guidance among mankind.

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