to Him, His
pauper's mat of straw was an eternal throne of glory, and His heavy chains
a sovereign's carcanet. By day, by night, He lived under a whirring sword,
and He was ready from moment to moment for death on the cross. He bore all
this that He might purify the world, and deck it out with the tender
mercies of the Lord God; that He might set it at rest; that conflict and
aggression might be put to flight, the lance and the keen blade be
exchanged for loving fellowship, malevolence and war turn into safety and
gentleness and love, that battlefields of hate and wrath should become
gardens of delight, and places where once the blood-drenched armies
clashed, be fragrant pleasure grounds; that warfare should be seen as
shame, and the resort to arms, even as a loathsome sickness, be shunned by
every people; that universal peace raise its pavilions on the loftiest
mounts, and war be made to perish forever from the earth.

Wherefore must the loved ones of God, laboriously, with the waters of
their striving, tend and nourish and foster this tree of hope. In
whatsoever land they dwell, let them with a whole heart befriend and be
companions to those who are either close to them, or far removed. Let
them, with qualities like unto those of heaven, promote the institutions
and the religion of God. Let them never lose heart, never be despondent,
never feel afflicted. The more antagonism they meet, the more let them
show their own good faith; the more torments and calamities they have to
face, the more generously let them pass round the bounteous cup. Such is
the spirit which will become the life of the world, such is the spreading
light at its heart: and he who may be and do other than this is not worthy
to serve at the Holy Threshold of the Lord.

O ye loved ones of God! The Sun of Truth is shining down from invisible
skies; know ye the value of these days. Lift up your heads, and grow ye
cypress-tall in these swift-running streams. Take ye joy in the beauty of
the narcissus of Najd, for night will fall and it will be no more....

O ye loved ones of God! Praise be to Him, the bright banner of the
Covenant is flying higher every day, while the flag of perfidy hath been
reversed, and hangeth at half-mast. The benighted attackers have been
shaken to their core; they are now as ruined sepulchres, and even as blind
creatures that dwell beneath the earth they creep and crawl about a corner
of the tomb, and out of that hole, from time