er.

The fruit of these boughs is plain to see: this Tree will bear sincere
love and true friendship, traits of Heaven and qualities of God. This
immortal Tree will yield kindness and humbleness, learning and wisdom, and
the divine virtues.

The aim of those blessed Ones, then, those Temples of holiness, in
enduring, over a whole century, all Their trials and tribulations, was to
firmly establish a way of life whereby human character in general and that
of God's loved ones in particular would be rectified. To such a degree
must this come to pass that from their very breathing and walking, their
rising up, sitting still, moving about, their every act--it can clearly be
seen that they are different from those others who are neglectful of God
and veiled away from Him: that they can be distinguished from the others
as easily as you can tell the day-star from the dark.

Although through the mighty influence of the Word of God the inner self of
each of the friends and of those who are steadfast in His perfect Covenant
is held fast by the magnet of His love, and they are known in every land
by this distinguishing characteristic and are everywhere illumined by this
light--still the thing to remember is this: until the accidental events
which arise from the world of the trivial and the personal are completely
lost in the world of the universal, that is, in the bounties and
attributes of the Merciful--that true and primal glory can never be
revealed as it merits, nor ever show forth the beauty with which it is
endowed. Let every steadfast soul ever bear in mind the anguish of those
holy Beings and the trials They endured, and because of the wrongs They
suffered, and the blood of the martyrs in His path, out of pity for what
has befallen God's Cause and His Law, put the good of the Cause before any
other good, and its honour before any other. Let him face every problem,
whether minor or major, with goodwill and purity of motive. Let him not
make of God's Law, created as it was to bring about unity and love, a
means of discord. 'Abdu'l-Baha says: 'If religion be the cause of
disunity, then irreligion is surely to be preferred.'

Today as well, the Chosen Branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, is at
all times waiting expectantly--and indeed, it is the most cherished desire
of his heart--to see this reality, this proof of serious effort, this
feature that distinguishes the Baha'is from all others, clearly and
unmistakably revea