s that blow from the spirit of the
Company on high. Grieve thou not over what the Pharisees, and the
purveyors of false rumours among writers for the press, are saying of
Baha. Call thou to mind the days of Christ, and the afflictions heaped
upon Him by the people, and all the torments and tribulations inflicted
upon His disciples. Since ye are lovers of the Abha Beauty, ye also must,
for His love's sake, incur the peoples' blame, and all that befell those
of a former age must likewise befall you. Then will the faces of the
chosen be alight with the splendours of the Kingdom of God, and will shine
down the ages, yea, down all the cycles of time, while the deniers shall
remain in their manifest loss. It will be even as was said by the Lord
Christ: they shall persecute you for My name's sake.

Remind them of these words and say unto them: 'Verily did the Pharisees
rise up against Messiah, despite the bright beauty of His face and all His
comeliness, and they cried out that He was not Messiah [Masih] but a
monster [Masi_kh_], because He had claimed to be Almighty God, the
sovereign Lord of all, and told them, 'I am God's Son, and verily in the
inmost being of His only Son, His mighty Ward, clearly revealed with all
His attributes, all His perfections, standeth the Father.' This, they
said, was open blasphemy and slander against the Lord according to the
clear and irrefutable texts of the Old Testament. Therefore they passed
the sentence upon Him, decreeing that His blood be shed, and they hanged
Him on the cross, where He cried out, 'O My beloved Lord, how long wilt
Thou abandon Me to them? Lift Me up unto Thee, shelter Me close to Thee,
make Me a dwelling by Thy throne of glory. Verily art Thou the Answerer of
prayers, and Thou art the Clement, the Merciful. O My Lord! Verily this
world with all its vastness can no longer contain Me, and I love this
cross, out of love for Thy beauty, and yearning for Thy realm on high, and
because of this fire, fanned by the gusts of Thy holiness, aflame within
My heart. Help me, O Lord, to ascend unto Thee, sustain Me that I may
reach unto Thy sacred Threshold, O My loving Lord! Verily Thou art the
Merciful, the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou art the Generous!
Verily Thou art the Compassionate! Verily Thou art the All-Knowing! There
is none other God save Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful!'

Never would the Pharisees have been emboldened to calumniate Him and
charge Him with that gr