, and
have served to strengthen the ties that bind me to my dearly-beloved
friends in that great country.

I am much pleased and gratified to hear of the wonderful progress of the
work of our able and devoted brother, Jinab-i-'Avarih, and my earnest hope
and prayer is that he may, by his zeal, patience, experience and
knowledge, set ablaze the fire that the Master has kindled in the heart of
that land.

The supreme necessity, and the urgent need of the Cause of God at present,
is the unity of the friends, and their sustained and wholehearted
co-operation in their task of spreading the Divine Teachings throughout
the world. It is the sacred duty of all believers to have implicit
confidence in, and support heartily, every decision passed by their
Spiritual Assemblies, whether local or central; and the members of these
Assemblies must, on their part, set aside their own inclinations, personal
interests, likes and dislikes, and regard only the welfare of the Cause
and the well-being of the friends. This is surely the foundation which
must be firmly laid in the hearts of all believers the world over, for
upon this only can any constructive and permanent service be achieved, and
the edifice of the Beloved's last instructions, as revealed in His Will
and Testament, be raised and established.

The all-conquering Spirit of Baha'u'llah cannot prove effective in this
world of strife and turmoil, and cannot achieve its purpose for mankind,
unless we, who are named after His Name, and who are the recipients of His
Grace, endeavour, by our example, our daily life and our dealings with our
fellow-men, to reveal that noble spirit of love and self-sacrifice of
which the world stands in need at present.

I have been reading lately some of the oldest Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha and
am enclosing for your perusal the translation of various selections from
His soul-stirring words, revealed some twenty-five years ago, during the
darkest days of His incarceration in the prison city of Akka. You will
realise as you read them the unshakable confidence of the Master in the
future growth of the Movement, the significance of the Cause in this age,
and the glorious privilege of the friends to labour for its spread in
every land.

I am enclosing also my revised translation of the Hidden Words, both
Persian and Arabic, a copy of which I have sent to the friends in the
United States in response to their cable, requesting me to authorise
circulation o