The Star of the Covenant shall shine intensely upon all horizons and regions, and the violators will be as bats hiding themselves in dark holes! It is enough humiliation and abasement to them that they have violated the Covenant of God and contradicted the Appointed Center, and desired to demolish this solid edifice—which, alas, could not be! By God, they did not demolish but their own edifice, did not shake but their own foundations, and did not scatter but their own union, and to them shall come the news of what they have done! But as to you, O ye beloved of God, strengthen yourselves by every effort and arise to serve the Cause of God, for verily the Holy Spirit will confirm you by the breaths of the True One in all cases and under all circumstances! “O thou who art firm in the Covenant!...” O thou(150) who art firm in the Covenant! ***The prison is like a paradise to Abdul-Baha, the depth of the well is as the height of the moon—such is my desire in the Path of the Blessed Beauty! Were it not for the chain, sword and affliction, how should the people of faithfulness be distinguished from the people of hatred? Nay, otherwise, they would seem as one. This wound cannot be remedied save by a host of calamities, and this illness cannot be cured except by the cup of affliction. I ask God that I may not repose for a moment, but that, night and day, in the love of the Blessed Beauty(151)—may my spirit be a sacrifice to Him!—I may drink from the rosy cup of the blood of the heart. With every breath do I desire to perceive thousands of afflictions approaching me from every inhuman one; at one time, to rest in the bottom of a dungeon; at another, to repose on the chain; and, ultimately, by the favor and providence of the Blessed Perfection, to roll my face and hair in my blood. Therefore, their invitation(152) was not accepted because they invited departure to that region. Lately, that general letter was requested from persia, and it was sent thereto.*** “O ye friends of God and daughters of the Kingdom!...” O ye(153) friends of God and daughters of the Kingdom! The letter you have written was considered. It caused abundant spirit and fragrance. It was not a letter, it was a rose-garden. The fragrances of the flowers of significances were exhaling from that garden and perfumed the nostrils. It was a proof of unity and oneness and an evidence of love and freedom.