allow the doors of complaint and grievance to be
opened, or permit any of the friends to indulge in censure and backbiting.
Whoever sets himself to do so, even though he be the very embodiment of
the Holy Spirit, should realize that such behaviour would create
disruption among the people of Baha and would cause the standard of
sedition to be raised.

In these days when the peoples of the world are thirsting for the
teachings of the Abha Beauty--teachings that provide the incomparable,
life-giving waters of immortality--when we Baha'is have pledged ourselves
to proffer these living waters to all mankind and are known to be prepared
to endure every suffering and tribulation, how pitiful it would be if,
despite all this, we were to neglect our binding obligations and
responsibilities and to occupy ourselves with disagreeable discussions
that provoke irritation and distress and to turn our attention to matters
that lead to ill-feeling, to despondency and unhappiness and reduce the
penetrating influence of the Word of God.

74: Your letter was received and its contents ...

(202) Your letter was received and its contents were perused. The scrolls
you had enclosed were clearly understood. They are of no consequence
whatsoever, nor are they worthy of any attention. The letter you have
written in reply, although brief, is adequate and conclusive. What you
have written, even as the tablet of your heart, is illumined with the
light of constancy and steadfastness, and indicates your firmness and
determination in upholding His Covenant. In truth this is the essential
thing.

Following the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha--may our lives be offered up for
His holy Dust--the Covenant-breakers, using every means in their power,
busied themselves in spreading false reports. No calumny, no slander did
they spare. Likewise, after the ascension of the Ancient Beauty, the Most
Great Name--may the life of all created things be sacrificed for His holy
dust--the people of doubt and hesitation seized upon every means and arose
to destroy the edifice of the Cause, to profane the honour of the Lord and
to violate His Covenant. Yet, during all this time and under all
conditions these bereaved and oppressed ones, with faces set towards His
luminous Threshold, held fast to the cord of patience and resignation,
engaged themselves in offering fervent prayers and supplications and
committed all their affairs to the care of the Blessed Beauty. For i