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Praise be to God!-- the kind friends of God are also in a state of resignation and submissiveness. All are happy, thankful, joyful and content. But the center of violation presumed that after the shedding of the blood of this oppressed one, or the throwing of him into the great desert, or the casting of him into the Mediterranean Sea, he will become nameless, traceless and forgotten, and that he [himself] would find an arena to gallop in and could win, with the spear of suspicions and fictions, the object of his hopes and desire. In vain! In vain! If there be no permanence to the fragrance of the musk of faithfulness, will any one be attracted by the vile odor of jealousy? If the deer of God be torn asunder by dogs and wolves, no one will run after the blood-thirsty wolf. If the nightingale of significances end his days, no one will listen to the croaking of the raven, nor to the cawing of the crow. What vain imagination is this, and what an ignorant display! Their actions are like unto a mirage in the desert, which the thirsty imagines to be water, but when he reaches it, finds it to be nothing. (378:2) In sooth, O ye friends of God, make firm your feet and heart, make perfect resolve through the power of confirmation of the Blessed Beauty; engage in e service of the Cause of God and withstand the nations and the peoples with the firmness, the solidity and the steadfastness of the people of Baha'. Thus may others wonder how these hearts are fountains of trust and mines of the love of His Majesty, the Merciful One. Thus may ye remain unshaken by the painful occurrences in the Holy Land, and may remain firm through the disastrous events. If all the friends oppose (the Cause of God) with sword and one remain (firm), he will be the proclaimer of God, a divine herald, and will stand before all upon the earth.
(378:3)
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