he suffering that follows error is not vindictive, however, but educative
and remedial. It is God's Voice proclaiming to man that he has strayed
from the right path. If the suffering is terrible, it is only because the
danger of wrongdoing is more terrible, for "the wages of sin is death."

Just as calamity is due to disobedience, so deliverance from calamity can
be obtained only be obedience. There is no chance or uncertainty about the
matter. Turning from God inevitably brings disaster, and turning to God as
inevitably brings blessing.

As the whole of humanity is one organism, however, the welfare of each
individual depends not only on his own behavior, but on that of his
neighbors. If one does wrong, all suffer in greater or less degree; while
if one does well, all benefit. Each has to bear his neighbor's burdens, to
some extent, and the best of mankind are those who bear the biggest
burdens. The saints have always suffered abundantly; the Prophets have
suffered superlatively. Baha'u'llah says in the Book of Iqan:--"You must
undoubtedly have been informed of the tribulations, the poverty, the ills,
and the degradation that have befallen every Prophet of God and His
companions. You must have heard how the heads of their followers were sent
as presents unto different cities. ..."--Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 73.

This is not because the saints and Prophets have merited punishment above
other men. Nay, they often suffer for the sins of others, and choose to
suffer, for the sake of others. Their concern is for the world's welfare,
not for their own. The prayer of the true lover of humanity is not that
he, as an individual, may escape poverty, ill-health or disaster, but that
mankind may be saved from ignorance and error and the ills that inevitably
flow from them. If he wishes health or wealth for himself, it is in order
that he may serve the Kingdom, and if physical health and wealth are
denied him, he accepts his lot with "radiant acquiescence," well knowing
that there is a right wisdom in whatever befalls him in the Path of God.

'Abdu'l-Baha says:--

Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance; they are sent by the
Divine Mercy for our perfecting. When grief and sorrow come, then
will a man remember his Father Who is in Heaven, Who is able to
deliver him from his humiliations. The more a man is chastened,
the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by
him.

At first sight it ma