ly by and the little
that still remaineth shall come to an end, but that which endureth and
lasteth for evermore is the fruit that man reapeth from his servitude at
the Divine Threshold. Behold the truth of this saying, how abundant and
glorious are the proofs thereof in the world of being!

The glory of glories rest upon the people of Baha!

195: O THOU EXALTED BOUGH OF THE DIVINE LOTE-TREE! ...

O thou exalted bough of the divine Lote-Tree! ...When thou art disdained
and rejected by the wicked doers be not cast down; and at the power and
stiffneckedness of the presumptuous be neither vexed nor sick at heart;
for such is the way of heedless souls, from time out of mind. 'O the
misery of men! No Messenger cometh unto them but they laugh Him to
scorn!'(59)

Indeed, the attacks and the obstructiveness of the ignorant but cause the
Word of God to be exalted, and spread His signs and tokens far and wide.
Were it not for this opposition by the disdainful, this obduracy of the
slanderers, this shouting from the pulpits, this crying and wailing of
great and small alike, these accusations of unbelief levelled by the
ignorant, this uproar from the foolish--how could news of the advent of the
Primal Point and the bright dawning of the Day-Star of Baha ever have
reached to east and west? How else could the planet have been rocked from
pole to pole? How else could Persia have become the focal point of
scattering splendours, and Asia Minor the radiating heart of the beauty of
the Lord? However else could the flame of the Manifestation have spread
into the south? By what means could the cries of God have been heard in
the far north? How else could His summons have been heard in the
continents of America and of Africa the dark? How else could the cock-crow
of Heaven have penetrated those ears? How else could the sweet parrots of
India have come upon this sugar, or nightingales have lifted up their
warblings out of the land of 'Iraq? What else could set the east and west
to dancing, how else could this Consecrated Spot become the throne of the
Beauty of God? How else could Sinai behold this burning brightness, how
could the Advent's flame adorn that mount? How else could the Holy Land be
made the footstool of God's beauty, and the holy vale of Towa(60) become
the site of excellence and grace, the sacred spot where Moses put off His
shoes? How could the breaths of heaven be carried across the Vale of
Holiness, how could the