there is no difference whatsoever
between them. The ignorance of both is blameworthy, and negligence in both
cases is reprovable. "Are they who know and they who do not know equal?"

The command is decisive concerning both. If it be considered through the
eye of reality, the training and culture of daughters is more necessary
than that of sons, for these girls will come to the station of motherhood
and will mold the lives of the children. The first trainer of the child is
the mother. The babe, like unto a green and tender branch, will grow
according to the way it is trained. If the training be right, it will grow
right, and if crooked, the growth likewise, and unto the end of life it
will conduct itself accordingly.

Hence, it is firmly established that an untrained and uneducated daughter,
on becoming a mother, will be the prime factor in the deprivation,
ignorance, negligence and the lack of training of many children.

O ye beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful! Teaching and
learning, according to the decisive texts of the Blessed Beauty, is a
duty. Whosoever is indifferent therein depriveth himself of the great
bounty.

Beware! Beware! that ye fail not in this matter. Endeavor with heart, with
life, to train your children, especially the daughters. No excuse is
acceptable in this matter.

Thus may eternal glory and everlasting supremacy, like unto the mid-day
sun, shine forth in the assemblage of the people of Baha, and the heart of
'Abdu'l-Baha become happy and thankful.

CHAPTER NINE: THE DIVINE PLAN

THE CAUSE OF BAHA'U'LLAH

The Cause of Baha'u'llah is the same as the Cause of Christ. It is the
same Temple and the same Foundation. Both of these are spiritual
springtimes and seasons of the soul-refreshing awakening and the cause of
the renovation of the life of mankind. The spring of this year is the same
as the spring of last year. The origins and ends are the same. The sun of
today is the sun of yesterday. In the coming of Christ, the divine
teachings were given in accordance with the infancy of the human race. The
teachings of Baha'u'llah have the same basic principles, but are according
to the stage of the maturity of the world and the requirements of this
illumined age.

THE COMMUNITY OF THE GREATEST NAME

O ye Cohorts of God! Today in the present world each community is
wandering in a wilderness, moving in accord with some passion and desire,
and running to