***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 Beauty2—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 invitation3 was not accepted because they invited departure to that region. Lately, that general letter was requested from Persia, and it was sent thereto.***