ruth, with rising up to serve and
with the blessings and confirmations of the Lord, we may come into a
realm, and arrive at a condition, where we shall live under His
overshadowing mercy, and His helping hand shall come to our aid and
succour.

58: After the construction of the Bab's Shrine ...

(185) After the construction of the Bab's Shrine on Mount Carmel, it was
the wish and intention of 'Abdu'l-Baha--may our lives be sacrificed for His
holy dust--to open a path that would lead directly from the Shrine to the
German Avenue. Time and again He referred to this project and explained
how it should be built. You are no doubt familiar with this matter.
However, in those days many obstacles stood in the way, preventing the
execution of this important project. Among them was a house located at the
beginning of this path at the foot of the mountain, which belonged to one
of the German settlers. This house had become a serious barrier, inasmuch
as the owner had turned down every offer for the purchase of the property.
The German community had adopted a policy in the administration of the
real estate within the boundary of their settlement which required them
not to sell any tract of land or any house within that area to outsiders,
no matter how lucrative the payment might be. This ruling was strictly
observed by them and had developed into an insurmountable barrier. Another
obstacle was that the projected path would pass through tracts of land
which belonged to different people, and some of them were unable to sell
their property due to legal problems, while others deliberately would not
sell since they had perceived that this path was exclusively intended for
access to the Baha'i Shrine and that the Baha'is would eventually be
compelled, no matter when, to pay an enormous sum for the acquisition of
this land. Thus immersed in the sea of visionary hopes and dreams they
categorically refused to sell. So days and nights, and months and years
passed by until the hand of divine power wrought a change in the whole
situation, and the truth of the words: 'He shall establish His ascendancy
over His dominion as He pleaseth' was fulfilled; for not long afterwards
this territory was occupied by the equitable Government of Great Britain,
and the local authorities, acting according to their own judgement,
decided that the existence of the above house in that locality was
undesirable. Therefore they demolished the house, cleared t