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It is incumbent upon you to commemorate and ponder upon the signs of God, to implore to God and to be evanescent and subservient in the Cause of God. This is what makes you the signs of guidance among the people, stars shining in the supreme horizon and thriving trees in the Paradise of El-Abha. (4:1) Then know ye that Abdul-Baha is in cheerfulness and joy and in the happiness of great glad-tidings through being in this far distant prison. By the life of El-Baha!-- this prison is my supreme paradise, my utmost desire, the joy of my heart and the dilation of my breast, my shelter, my asylum, my inaccessible cave and my high protection. By it I glory among the angels of heaven and the Supreme Concourse. (4:2) Be rejoiced, O friends of God, with this confinement which is a cause of freedom, this prison which is a means of salvation (to many) and this suffering which is the best cause of great comfort. Verily, by God, I would not change this prison for the throne of the command of the horizons and would not exchange this confinement for all excursions and enjoyments in the gardens of the earth. (4:3) Verily, I hope, through the kindness of my Lord and His mercy, bounty and generosity, to be suspended in the air in His path and that my breast may become the target to be pierced by thousands of bullets; or that I may be cast into the bottomless seas, or thrown into the wilderness and plains of barrenness. This is my utmost aim, my supreme desire, the animation of my spirit, the healing of my bosom and the sight of my eyes.
(4:4)
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