O ye peoples of the Kingdom! How many a soul expended all
its span of life in worship, endured the mortification of the flesh, longed to
gain an entry into the Kingdom, and yet failed, while ye, with neither toil nor
pain nor self-denial, have won the prize and entered in.
It is even as in the time of the Messiah, when the Pharisees
and the pious were left without a portion, while Peter, John and Andrew, given
neither to pious worship nor ascetic practice, won the day. Wherefore, thank ye
God for setting upon your heads the crown of glory
everlasting, for granting unto you this immeasurable grace.
The time hath come when, as a thank-offering for this
bestowal, ye should grow in faith and constancy as day followeth day, and
should draw ever nearer to the Lord, your God, becoming magnetized to such a
degree, and so aflame, that your holy melodies in praise of the Beloved will
reach upward to the Company on high; and that each one of you, even as a
nightingale in this rose garden of God, will glorify the Lord of Hosts, and
become the teacher of all who dwell on earth. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from
the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
