'Abdu'l-Bahá Tablet to Mary Lesch

'To the maid-servant of God, Miss Mary Lesch, Chicago, Illinois-Upon her be BAHA'O'LLAH EI-Abha! He Is God! O thou maid-servant of God! Thy letter was received and its contents indicated firmness in the Covenant. Therefore, the hope is entertained that thou wilt be assisted under all conditions, for today that which is most important is firmness in the Covenant and the Testament and otherwise Bahai unity will not be preserved. If Bahai unity could be preserved through something else, undoubtedly the Blessed Beauty would have commanded it. In accordance with the Kitab-el-Ak- das, which is the supreme authority and the Kitab-el-Ahd which is the last book of the Blessed Beauty written by His supreme pen, all are addressed in a clear and explicit manner.
 First he addresses the Aghsans, then the Afnans and the relatives and finally the rest of the friends and bids them to turn their faces toward the Center of the Covenant. And the verses which have been revealed in the Kitab-el-Akdas ordering all to turn after His Ascension to "Him who is branched from the Pre- Existent Root" are explicitly recorded in the Kitab-el-Ah'd as having for their object the Center of the Covenant. And in another special Tablet the authenticity of which is admitted by everyone, it is recorded that if the center of violation whose proper name he mentions, deviates the least from the shadow of the Cause, he at once loses the station of Branchhood. How could it be more explicit! Now it must be either said that the Blessed Beauty has done wrong and has led the people to error for he ordered them to obey a person who ought not to have been obeyed, or on the other hand it must be said that the least deviation from the Covenant and the Testament entails deprivation from the bounties of the Luminary of the world. One of the two alternatives must be true and there is no third one to it. In fine, Bahai unity cannot be preserved save through the Covenant of God. Today the stirring power in the body of the world is the Covenant, and if this Covenant is made ineffective, what power will be able to stir it ~ The statement which was made orally by His Holiness Christ to Peter-that "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church"-this declaration preserved for a thousand years Christian unity. After the lapse of a thousand years, due to political questions, dissensions happened. Now, if this Word of Christ has preserved the unity of Christendom for a thousand years, consider what will be done by the Kitab-el-Ahd which has been revealed by the Supreme Pen. But superficial, restless souls, who at first were firm in the Covenant and have written epistles with reference to their firmness and detachment from violators and have considered them as outcasts from the Threshold of the Almighty- and these epistles are still extant-these persons like unto Judas Iscariot, have for personal interests and financial motives, deviated from the Covenant. They followed the people of craft and stained their hands with the blood of Christ. Be admonished, 0 ye who possess intelligence! If at all thou art firm and steadfast in the Covenant, strengthen and fortify thy relationships with the Convention, and from whomsoever thou inhalest the odor of violation, avoid his company and keep aloof, that thou mayest remain safe and protected under the protection of the Covenant, and, like unto a candle, be ignited with the light of steadfastness. I am kind to all people and do not attack anyone. I pray on behalf of all that all may gather under His divine protection. This Covenant and Testament have been entered into by the Blessed Beauty and I have not taken any such part. Let them answer Him and I have no objection. My duty is to be kind to everyone; vengeance is reserved for the Blessed Beauty and not for myself. As I am kind to everyone, I mention only the good characteristics of a person and if a word is written, the intention is the setting forth of truth and the preservation of the relig- ion of God, so that Baha’i unity may be preserved. If any persons desire to up- set this unity, they are free and let them present their answers to the Blessed Beauty in the Abha Kingdom, should He address them as follows: "0 ye, my friends! Have I, through My Supreme Pen and the explicit verses of the Kitab-el-Akdas commanded obedience or disobedience? Have I not ordered the center of violation to obey and to turn his face (towards Him)? Why have ye turned away from My manifest and irrefutable Center'? I have given the command to turn your faces toward Him, how have ye turned away? Why have ye upset Bahai unity?" What will they answer? The friends must be very attentive and then whatever they deem advisable, they may perform. I have nothing to impose. In America, no doubt whatever call is proclaimed, ambitious and thoughtless souls will be found to support it for a time. Even at Green Acre it has been remarked that one of the inhabitants of Malta was summoning men to excessive hunger [fasting] and used to receive pay for it. Notwithstanding this, some souls gathered around him and from hunger they seemed dead yet would pay to that man.” Abdu’l-Baha Abbas. Translated by Shoghi Rabbani, Acca, Palestine, July 22, 1919. Star of the West, Vol. 10, No. 14, pp. 268-270.