Dayspring of God, the Exalted, the Great. Exultest thou over the treasures
thou dost possess, knowing they shall perish? Rejoicest thou in that thou
rulest a span of earth, when the whole world, in the estimation of the
people of Bahá, is worth as much as the black in the eye of a dead ant?
Abandon it unto such as have set their affections upon it, and turn thou
unto Him Who is the Desire of the world. Whither are gone the proud and
their palaces? Gaze thou into their tombs, that thou mayest profit by this
example, inasmuch as We made it a lesson unto every beholder. Were the
breezes of Revelation to seize thee, thou wouldst flee the world, and turn
unto the Kingdom, and wouldst expend all thou possessest, that thou mayest
draw nigh unto this sublime Vision.




CZAR ALEXANDER II


O CZAR of Russia! Incline thine ear unto the voice of God, the King, the
Holy, and turn thou unto Paradise, the Spot wherein abideth He Who, among
the Concourse on high, beareth the most excellent titles, and Who, in the
kingdom of creation, is called by the name of God, the Effulgent, the
All-Glorious. Beware lest thy desire deter thee from turning towards the
face of thy Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We, verily, have
heard the thing for which thou didst supplicate thy Lord, whilst secretly
communing with Him. Wherefore, the breeze of My loving-kindness wafted
forth, and the sea of My mercy surged, and We answered thee in truth. Thy
Lord, verily, is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Whilst I lay chained and
fettered in the prison, one of thy ministers extended Me his aid.
Wherefore hath God ordained for thee a station which the knowledge of none