ame
property in 1982.

11: Letters and Cable to the Baha'is of Japan in the Early Days, 1922-1931

[Letter of January 26, 1922]

My well-beloved brethren and sisters in 'Abdu'l-Baha:--

Despondent and sorrowful, though I be in these darksome days, yet whenever
I call to mind the hopes our departed Master so confidently reposed in the
friends in that Far-Eastern land, hope revives within me and drives away
the gloom of His bereavement. As His attendant and secretary for well-nigh
two years after the termination of the Great War, I recall so vividly the
radiant joy that transfigured His Face wherever I opened before Him your
supplications as well as those of Miss Agnes Alexander. What promises He
gave us all regarding the future of the Cause in that land at the close of
almost every supplication I read to Him! Let me state, straightway, the
most emphatic, the most inspiring of them all. These are His very words,
that still keep ringing in my ears;--"Japan will turn ablaze! Japan is
endowed with a most remarkable capacity for the spread of the Cause of
God! Japan, with (another country whose name He stated but bade us conceal
it for the present) will take the lead in the spiritual reawakening of the
peoples and nations that the world shall soon witness!" On another
occasion,--how vividly I recall it!--as He reclined on His chair, with eyes
closed with bodily fatigue, He waved His hand and uttered vigorously and
cheerfully these words in the presence of His friends:--"Here we are seated
calm, quiet and inactive, but the Hand of the Unseen is ever active and
triumphant in lands, even as distant as Japan."

My dear and steadfast friends! Now if ever is the time for you and for us
to show, by our unity, service, steadfastness and courage, the spirit that
the Master has throughout His lifetime so laboriously, so persistently
kindled in our hearts. Now is the time for us to prove ourselves worthy of
His love for us, His trust in us and His hopes for us. Japan, He said,
will turn ablaze. Let us not, in any way, whatsoever, retard the
realization of His promise. Nay, let us hasten, through our service,
cooperation and efforts the advent of this glorious day.

The bereaved Ladies of the Holy Household, receive with comfort and
refreshing gladness any news that may come to them from that wonderful and
distant land. They all know what the Master has graciously spoken about
the future of the Cause in that land. They a