u art steadfast in the Cause of God,
firm in His Covenant. I beg of Him to bestow upon thee a spiritual soul,
and the life of the Kingdom, and to make thee a leaf verdant and
flourishing on the Tree of Life, that thou mayest serve the handmaids of
the Merciful with spirituality and good cheer.

Thy generous Lord will assist thee to labour in His vineyard and will
cause thee to be the means of spreading the spirit of unity among His
handmaids. He will make thine inner eye to see with the light of
knowledge, He will forgive thy sins and transform them into goodly deeds.
Verily He is the Forgiving, the Compassionate, the Lord of immeasurable
grace.

142: O THOU DEAR HANDMAID OF GOD! PRAISE THOU GOD, ...

O thou dear handmaid of God! Praise thou God, because thou art favoured at
His Holy Threshold, and cherished in the Kingdom of His might. Thou art
the head of an assembly which is the very imprint of the Company on high,
the mirror-image of the all-glorious realm. Strive thou with heart and
soul, in prayerful humility and self-effacement, to uphold the Law of God
and spread His sweet savours abroad. Endeavour thou to become the true
president of the assemblies of spiritual souls, and a companion to the
angels in the realm of the All-Merciful.

Thou didst ask as to the tenth to the seventeenth verses of the
twenty-first chapter of Saint John the Divine's Revelation. Know thou that
according to mathematical principles, the firmament of this earth's
brilliant day-star hath been divided among twelve constellations, which
they call the twelve zodiacal signs. In the same way, the Sun of Truth
shineth out from and sheddeth its bounties through twelve stations of
holiness, and by these heavenly signs are meant those stainless and
unsullied personages who are the very well-springs of sanctity, and the
dawning-points proclaiming the oneness of God.

Consider how in the days of the Interlocutor (Moses), there were twelve
holy beings who were leaders of the twelve tribes; and likewise in the
dispensation of the Spirit (Christ), note that there were twelve Apostles
gathered within the sheltering shade of that supernal Light, and from
those splendid dawning-points the Sun of Truth shone forth even as the sun
in the sky. Again, in the days of Muhammad, observe that there were twelve
dawning-points of holiness, the manifestors of God's confirming help. Such
is the way of it.

Accordingly did Saint John the Divine tell of t