“This Victim hath from earliest days until now been afflicted at the hands of the heedless. They exiled Us without cause at one time to ‘Iráq, at another time to Adrianople, and thence to Akká, which was a place of exile for murderers and robbers; neither is it known where and in what spot We shall take up Our abode after this greatest prison-house. Knowledge is with God, the Lord of the Throne and of the dust and the Lord of the lofty seat. In whatever place We may be, and whatever befall Us, the saints must gaze with perfect steadfastness and confidence towards the Supreme Horizon and occupy themselves in the reformation of the world and the education of the nations. What hath befallen and shall befall hath been and is an instrument and means for the furtherance of the Word of Unity. Take hold of the command of God and cling thereto: verily it hath been sent down from beside a wise Ordainer.” “With perfect compassion and mercy have We guided and directed the people of the world to that whereby their souls shall be profited. I swear by the Sun of Truth which hath shone forth from the highest horizons of the world that the people of Bahá had not and have not any aim save the prosperity and reformation of the world and the purifying of the nations. With all men they have been in sincerity and charity. Their outward [appearance] is one with their inward [heart], and their inward [heart] identical with their outward [appearance]. The truth of the matter is not hidden or concealed, but plain and evident before [men’s] faces. Their very deeds are the witness of this assertion. Today let everyone endowed with vision win his way from deeds and signs to the object of the people of Bahá and from their speech and conduct gain knowledge of their intent. The waves of the ocean of divine mercy appear at the utmost height, and the showers of the clouds of His grace and favor descend every moment. During the days of sojourn in ‘Iráq this Oppressed One sat down and consorted with all classes without veil or disguise. How many of the denizens of the horizons entered in enmity and went forth in sympathy! The door of grace was open before the faces of all. With rebellious and obedient did We outwardly converse after one fashion, that perchance the evildoers might win their way to the ocean of boundless forgiveness. The splendors of the Name of the Concealer were in such wise manifested that the evildoer imagined that he was accounted of the good. No messenger was disappointed and no inquirer was turned back. The causes of the aversion and avoidance of men were certain of the doctors of Persia and the unseemly deeds of the ignorant. By [the term] ‘doctors’ in these passages are signified those persons who have withheld mankind from the shore of the Ocean of Unity; but as for the learned who practice [their knowledge] and the wise who act justly, they are as the spirit unto the body of the world. Well is it with