hou wilt
attain to nearness in every sense. The bounties of God will verily
encompass a sanctified soul even as the sun's light doth the moon and
stars: be thou assured of this.

Waft thou to each one of the believers, men and women alike, fragrant
breaths of holiness on behalf of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Inspire them all and urge
them on to shed abroad the sweet savours of the Lord.

156: O THOU SERVANT OF THE HOLY THRESHOLD! WE HAVE ...

O thou servant of the Holy Threshold! We have read what flowed out from
thy pen in thy love for God, and found the contents of thy letter most
pleasing. My hope is that through the bounty of God, the breaths of the
All-Merciful will at all times refresh and renew thee.

Thou didst write of reincarnation. A belief in reincarnation goeth far
back into the ancient history of almost all peoples, and was held even by
the philosophers of Greece, the Roman sages, the ancient Egyptians, and
the great Assyrians. Nevertheless such superstitions and sayings are but
absurdities in the sight of God.

The major argument of the reincarnationists was this, that according to
the justice of God, each must receive his due: whenever a man is afflicted
with some calamity, for example, this is because of some wrong he hath
committed. But take a child that is still in its mother's womb, the embryo
but newly formed, and that child is blind, deaf, lame, defective--what sin
hath such a child committed, to deserve its afflictions? They answer that,
although to outward seeming the child, still in the womb, is guilty of no
sin--nevertheless he perpetrated some wrong when in his previous form, and
thus he came to deserve his punishment.

These individuals, however, have overlooked the following point. If
creation went forward according to only one rule, how could the
all-encompassing Power make Itself felt? How could the Almighty be the One
Who 'doeth as He pleaseth and ordaineth as He willeth'?(51)

Briefly, a return is indeed referred to in the Holy Scriptures, but by
this is meant the return of the qualities, conditions, effects,
perfections, and inner realities of the lights which recur in every
dispensation. The reference is not to specific, individual souls and
identities.

It may be said, for instance, that this lamplight is last night's come
back again, or that last year's rose hath returned to the garden this
year. Here the reference is not to the individual reality, the fixed
identity, the specia