Consider the first century of the time of Christ—glory be unto Him! —and the beginning of His Cause. In that time no one but a certain few persons believed in Him; and the great one among them was Peter the disciple, who, through the burning of the fire of test and persecution, was in great fear and denied Christ three times; then the Jews who were scoffing, persecuting, deriding and laughing at Him, despised Him as through He were a thief, a murderer, or a villain, and committed against Him that which made the hearts lament, distressed the minds, caused tears to flow and the foundations of existence to tremble and shake! They thought that they had quenched the Fire which flamed in the tree of Christian certainty; nay, verily, that Lamp hath diffused its dazzling rays unto the Supreme Height and that Fire hath burned until it kindled the hearts of the righteous!”
Then consider this day, and the day of His existence among those people—how they crowned Him with a diadem of thorns and now how thousands of people adorn their heads in His name, with the Most Brilliant Gem, glittering to the sight! Woe, woe unto the like of such heedless people! Alas for the souls, because of what they have committed against the Word of God in the day of His Appearance—and today they worship the dust which the feet of His Beloved have trod! Such is the condition of the people. Abandon them and let them play until they fall in abasement and loss!
But as to you, O ye beloved of God, let your breasts be dilated with joy for that by reason of which ye have attained unto the Day of God, entered the Kingdom of God, and tasted the food of Knowledge which hath descended from Heaven!
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha ('Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 3')
