ils. Similarly, my answers to thy letters will,
like unto rain and dew, bestow infinite purity and freshness upon those
myrtles of significances which have blossomed in the garden of the heart.

thou hast written concerning the tests that have come upon thee. To the
sincere ones, tests are as a gift from God, the Exalted, for a heroic
person hasteneth, with the utmost joy and gladness, to the tests of a
violent battlefield, but the coward is afraid and trembles and utters
moaning and lamentation. Likewise, an expert student prepareth and
memorizeth his lessons and exercises with the utmost effort, and in the
day of examination he appeareth with infinite joy before the master.
Likewise, the pure gold shineth radiantly in the fire of test.
Consequently, it is made clear that for holy souls, trials are as the gift
of God, the Exalted; but for weak souls they are an unexpected calamity.
This test is just as thou hast written: it removeth the rust of egotism
from the mirror of the heart until the Sun of Truth may shine therein.
For, no veil is greater than egotism and no matter how thin that covering
may be, yet it will finally veil man entirely and prevent him from
receiving a portion from the eternal bounty.

O thou attracted maid-servant of God! When the men and maid-servants of
God pass in my mind, I feel the heat of the love of God and I pray the
Almighty God to assist those blessed souls with the invisible hosts.
Praise be to God! the prophecies of all the prophets have become manifest
and are fulfilled in this holy and blessed age and this great day of
Baha'o'llah!

O thou attracted maid-servant of God! Nearness is, in reality, of the
soul, not of the body, and help and receptivity of help are spiritual, not
physical. Notwithstanding this, I hope that thou mayest attain nearness in
every respect. Be thou assured that the divine bounties will so encompass
holy souls even as the light of the sun doth the moon and stars.

Convey thou, on behalf of Abdul-Baha, the sweet odor of the fragrances of
holiness to the nostrils of each one of the friends of God and the
maid-servants of the Merciful and inspire and encourage thou all of them
to diffuse the fragrances of God (i.e., to teach the truth).

"O thou dear sister!..."

O thou dear sister!

The letter arrived at a time when--praise be to God! --calamities and
sufferings in the path of God have surrounded us from every direction and
arrows and darts are flyin