Through the news of the progress of the Cause of God, and the unity and agreement of the beloved of God, great joy was realized, and to such an extent that I forgot all sorrow and all ills. ***

At a time when conditions were most difficult and oppressive and the reception or [of] letters hard and impracticable, your letter was received. Therefore, its reception denoteth that the honorable assembly is confirmed. I hope from the bounties of His Highness the Incomparable One that under all circumstances and conditions ye may become assisted in the service of the Kingdom of God.

Ye have written regarding the erection of the Temple and the purchase of the ground, or the finding of a place to be as a home for the gathering of the believers. At this moment that Abdul-Baha is immersed in the ocean of calamities, this news caused him joy and happiness, that—praise be to God!—the friends and the maid-servants of the Merciful are thinking to serve the Kingdom of God.

O ye sanctified souls! It is the time of firmness and steadfastness and the period of arising in the service of the Word of God, for the Blessed City2 is environed from all directions with the tempestuous waves of tests and trials and the sweeping hurricanes of persecutions