ouls to that
assembly, and in future it may become doubled an hundred-fold.

How blessed it is that this assembly may become firmly established, and it
is sure that the heavenly confirmations will pour down!

"O ye beloved friends of Abdul-Baha!..."

O ye(196) beloved friends of Abdul-Baha!

The detailed letter which you have written was received and it was read
with the greatest attention. From the rose-garden of its significances a
perfumed fragrance reached the nostrils and from its suggestions and
statements traces of sincerity of intention became manifest.

Praise be to God!--that each one of that assembly is like unto a shining
lamp, is ignited by the fire of the love of God, hath closed his eyes to
the world and the inhabitants thereof, hath burned away the veils of
superstitions and hath acquired the treasury of Truth. I have loosened my
tongue to thank God for this gift at the Threshold of Oneness and praised
and glorified the Incomparable God for His bounty, because He assisted
those souls in the service of the Kingdom, and established such an
assembly in New York that it will finally become a cause of the guidance
of that continent.

You have written that there is a difference among the believers concerning
the "Second Coming of Christ." Praise be to God!--time and again this
question hath arisen and its answer hath emanated in a clear and
irrefutable text from the pen of Abdul-Baha that what is meant in the
prophecies by the "Lord of Hosts," the "Promised Christ" is the Blessed
Perfection (Baha'o'llah) and His Highness the Supreme (the Bab). The faith
of everyone must resolve around this palpable and evident text.

My name is Abdul-Baha, my identity is Abdul-Baha, my qualification is
Abdul-Baha, my reality is Abdul-Baha, my praise is Abdul-Baha. Thraldom to
the Blessed Perfection is my glorious and refulgent diadem; and servitude
to all the human race is my perpetual religion. Through the bounty and
favor of the Blessed Perfection, Abdul-Baha is the Ensign of the
Most-Great-Peace, which is waving from the Supreme Apex; and through the
gift of the Greatest name, he is the Lamp of Universal Salvation, which is
shining with the light of the love of God. The Herald of the Kingdom is
he, so that he may awaken the people of the East and of the West. The
Voice of Friendship, Uprightness, Truth and Reconciliation is he, so as to
cause acceleration throughout all regions. No name, no title, no mention,