orical order
that the key of the Holy Tomb--which is the Point of Adoration and the
sanctuary of all Baha'is in the world--be restored to His Eminence Shoghi
Effendi, the Chosen Branch, and in this way to render the Baha'i
community, whether of the East or of the West, more appreciative than ever
of British justice. The text of both cable and letter, together with the
address, have been written on a separate sheet, as enclosed. The message
is to be signed by the representatives and known followers of the Baha'i
Faith in that city.

30: This dire calamity, this great affliction, the ...

(142) This dire calamity, this great affliction, the passing of
'Abdu'l-Baha, may our lives be sacrificed for His meekness, has shaken us
to the very depths. Our lives lie in ruins. In our hearts, the stars of
happiness have set, the lamps of joy have been put out. No more, from the
rose-garden of the All-Glorious, does the nightingale warble those songs
that fed the spirit in days gone by. From over the flower-beds of Heaven,
the dove trills and coos no more. Now is the bright morning dark, and
blazing noon is night, and the sea of woe has surged, and a storm of
sorrow has overwhelmed mankind.

Alas, alas, that luminous Moon, with His ravaged breast a thicket of
arrows--darts of the evil-doers' taunts, their derision, their
calumnies--and His heart grieved by the malevolence of His foes and the
rebellion of the violators, is now hidden behind heavy clouds, has
departed from this world's horizons, and has risen upward to the realm of
transcendent glory, to the all-highest Horizon.

And now, at such a time as this, a time of our affliction and deep
distress, the prime mover of mischief, the centre of sedition, thinking to
profit by this eclipse of the Sun of the Covenant, the Moon of spiritual
concord, has taken advantage of what he sees as a rare opportunity for
himself, and has mounted a violent revolt, and with the support of their
second chief, has begun to spread the most far-fetched of malicious
accusations, and is busy day and night, stirring up trouble and carrying
out plots and stratagems the details of which would take too long to
enumerate here and which you will be informed of later on.

Although they behold in every instance only grievous abasement and
disappointment, failures and defeats, still their burning jealousy blazes
up within them all the more, and their haughtiness and arrogance only
increase. At this h