O loved ones of God! Ponder and reflect upon the gracious favours of the Blessed Beauty. That holy Essence bore a hundred thousand ills and pains, and all His blessed days were spent in severe affliction, so that souls might be raised up who, under the sheltering shadow of the all-compelling Word of God, would become signs of Divine Unity and proofs of God’s singleness, manifestations of love and dawning-places of the light of fellowship. They would turn away from estrangement and apprehend the oneness of all illumined souls and realities. They would hoist the standard of unity and raise up the pavilion of harmony. They would raise the wine-cup of primal oneness and, dancing in the assemblage of Divine Unity, scatter the hosts of discord. O ye loved ones of God! Hath dissension at any time brought forth any fruit, result, or profit? Nay, by God! Dissension hath ever struck at the root of the tree of existence, while harmony hath transformed the ruins of the world into the prosperous domain of the Placeless. The power of unity transcendeth the power of oppression, and the oneness of the hearts is the dispeller of afflictions. Therefore, pray and supplicate by day and night, and beg from Him who is the All-Glorious purity for the hearts and faithfulness for the souls. Should one of the friends commit a failing, call ye to mind the forgiveness of the Merciful Lord and oppose the evil within your own self. The self is in a state of utmost pride and vainglory. We seek refuge with God! Beware of such pride, which seizeth the reins from your hands and roveth in the wilderness of rebellion. There is no cure save tearful supplication and no remedy but humble entreaty.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
