hath been to confer everlasting
life upon all men, and ensure their security and peace, yet witness how
they have arisen to shed the blood of His loved ones, and have pronounced
on Him the sentence of death.

The instigators of this oppression are those very persons who, though so
foolish, are reputed the wisest of the wise. Such is their blindness that,
with unfeigned severity, they have cast into this fortified and afflictive
Prison Him, for the servants of Whose Threshold the world hath been
created. The Almighty, however, in spite of them and those that have
repudiated the truth of this "Great Announcement," hath transformed this
Prison House into the Most Exalted Paradise, the Heaven of Heavens.

We did not refuse such material benefits as could relieve Us from Our
afflictions. Every one of Our companions, however, will bear Us witness
that Our holy court is sanctified from, and far above, such material
benefits. We have nevertheless accepted, while confined in this Prison,
those things of which the infidels have striven to deprive Us. If a man be
found willing to rear, in Our name, an edifice of pure gold or silver, or
a house begemmed with stones of inestimable value, such a wish will no
doubt be granted. He, verily, doeth what He willeth, and ordaineth that
which He pleaseth. Leave hath, moreover, been given to whosoever may
desire to raise, throughout the length and breadth of this land, noble and
imposing structures, and dedicate the rich and sacred territories
adjoining the Jordan and its vicinity to the worship and service of the
one true God, magnified be His glory, that the prophecies recorded by the
Pen of the Most High in the sacred Scriptures may be fulfilled, and that
which God, the Lord of all worlds, hath purposed in this most exalted,
this most holy, this mighty, and wondrous Revelation may be made manifest.

We have, of old, uttered these words: Spread thy skirt, O Jerusalem!
Ponder this in your hearts, O people of Baha, and render thanks unto your
Lord, the Expounder, the Most Manifest.

Were the mysteries, that are known to none except God, to be unraveled,
the whole of mankind would witness the evidences of perfect and consummate
justice. With a certitude that none can question, all men would cleave to
His commandments, and would scrupulously observe them. We, verily, have
decreed in Our Book a goodly and bountiful reward to whosoever will turn
away from wickedness and lead a chaste and godly