r, the All-Bountiful." "We have sustained the weight of
all calamities," He testifies, "to sanctify you from all earthly
corruption and ye are yet indifferent.... We, verily, behold your actions.
If We perceive from them the sweet smelling savor of purity and holiness,
We will most certainly bless you. Then will the tongues of the inmates of
Paradise utter your praise and magnify your names amidst them who have
drawn nigh unto God."

"The drinking of wine," writes 'Abdu'l-Baha, "is, according to the text of
the Most Holy Book, forbidden; for it is the cause of chronic diseases,
weakeneth the nerves, and consumeth the mind." "Drink ye, O handmaidens of
God," Baha'u'llah Himself has affirmed, "the Mystic Wine from the cup of
My words. Cast away, then, from you that which your minds abhor, for it
hath been forbidden unto you in His Tablets and His Scriptures. Beware
lest ye barter away the River that is life indeed for that which the souls
of the pure-hearted detest. Become ye intoxicated with the wine of the
love of God, and not with that which deadeneth your minds, O ye that adore
Him! Verily, it hath been forbidden unto every believer, whether man or
woman. Thus hath the sun of My commandment shone forth above the horizon
of My utterance, that the handmaidens who believe in Me may be illumined."

It must be remembered, however, that the maintenance of such a high
standard of moral conduct is not to be associated or confused with any
form of asceticism, or of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The standard
inculcated by Baha'u'llah seeks, under no circumstances, to deny anyone
the legitimate right and privilege to derive the fullest advantage and
benefit from the manifold joys, beauties, and pleasures with which the
world has been so plentifully enriched by an All-Loving Creator. "Should a
man," Baha'u'llah Himself reassures us, "wish to adorn himself with the
ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits
it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to
intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing,
whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants
as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God
hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties.
Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly
thankful."

As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-n