y and chosen thee from among those who are called, whether
men or women. Therefore, thank thou thy Lord at morn and eve and glorify
His praise for this favor. Verily a great favor is bestowed upon thee!

Our dear friend ......... hath arrived. He praises the beloved of God and
His maid-servants and adorns the ears with the pearls of praiseworthy
actions and good qualities of the elect and the faithful.

I supplicate God to enable him and every one else to serve Him in the
garden of El-Abha and to help thee to be gentle, humble and submissive; to
reveal Himself upon thee with the attributes of the Merciful and to grant
thee a heavenly table at all times.

"O thou honored friend!..."

O thou honored friend!

Verily the sight of Providence is far reaching and the divine glance is
perfect. Thou hast always been a recipient of favors and the object of the
bounty of the glorious Beauty of Abha. I trust in God that thou mayest be
thus aided by Him to serve His Cause and so shine as a luminous star in
the horizon of His Kingdom, an illumining candle burning in the assemblage
of the Bahais; that thou mayest be confirmed by a power of the Kingdom and
attain divine bounty and providence.

As to the question of women being chosen rather than men: In this cycle
there were men who arose through a divine power and who shone forth as the
sun from the dawning-point of holiness; and, likewise, there appeared
certain women who became side by side with men. The expression which you
quote, "Every woman who is directed to the guidance of God in this great
age, will surpass men in every respect," signified that, in this age,
certain women will appear who will surpass some men. It does not mean that
they will surpass all the men who have given their lives as sacrifices in
this Cause; for in this wonderful cycle there appeared such men as his
holiness Khudoos, his holiness Bab-el-Bab, his holiness the "King of
Martyrs" and his holiness the "Beloved of Martyrs," his holiness the great
Vaheed(143), and such ones who have no equals in the world of existence.

If, in the letters to the maid-servants of the Merciful, there hath been
written in the sense of encouragement (that form which such meanings can
be inferred), the purport is that some women in the wonderful age have
surpassed some men, and not that all women have surpassed all men. The
members of the House of Spirituality must give unlimited encouragement to
women. In this age,