The possibilities of a small beginning

Do not look at your small number. Plurality of numbers is not of importance. It is rather the bounty of God that is essential-it is the confirmation of the heavenly kingdom. Consider past times. How often it has happened that a limited meeting, a small number, has finally widened its circles and grown in proportion, until it included all nations and religions. Therefore, the hearts must be looked at, not the pluralities.

"How many followers have you?" The answer was: "We have no statistics and we do not consider these things important. It is the quality of the believers we care for. If a few are characterized with the attributes of God and live according to the divine Teachings, it is praiseworthy. Five diamonds are worth more than five million stones."

The main purpose is that all should be wholly attached to the Cause of God. They should not suppose that the greatness of number is necessary to accomplish the Mission of the Cause. Nay, I swear by God, than whom there is no other God, that if five persons arise and act wholly and literally in accord with the laws and commandments of the Blessed Perfection, they would equal five million souls in efficiency. Thus, the believers must adorn themselves with good deeds and pure actions, and obey the Law.

The fire of the love of God blazes in every clime, permeating like spirit through bodies. For physical conquests "if there be twenty patient ones among you they shall overcome two hundred" is decreed, but for spiritual conquests if there be among you one steadfast, enkindled, attracted and firm soul like a mighty edifice, they shall guide thousands and overcome ranks. Since in this Most Great Cycle the lesser jihad of physical warfare is forbidden and condemned, therefore the doors of spiritual conquests are opened from every direction. One soul has the effect of an army and one horseman the effect of countless cavalry.

Look ye not upon the fewness of thy numbers, rather, seek ye out hearts that are pure. One consecrated soul is preferable to a thousand other souls. If a small number of people gather lovingly together, with absolute purity and sanctity, with their hearts free of the world, experiencing the emotions of the Kingdom and the powerful magnetic forces of the Divine, and being at one in their happy fellowship, that gathering will exert its influence over all the earth. The nature of that band of people, the words they speak, the deeds they do, will unleash the bestowals of Heaven, and provide a foretaste of eternal bliss. The hosts of the Company on high will defend them, and the angels of the Abha Paradise, in continuous succession, will come down to their aid.

Our Lord: "Although our assembly tonight numbers only ten outwardly, in reality it is representative of all the beloved of God. Why? Because it pictures the Baha'i community. The seed, no matter how small, in the estimation of the perceptive mind, is a veritable tree. The mind images the tree and the tree is revealed from the seed. Likewise, when I see you it is as though I were seeing all the beloved of God. The Teachings I give to you are the Teachings I would give to all the beloved of God.

The Christian star arose, and in His days a small number were guided by the light of guidance and were enkindled with the fire of the love of God. … They forsook their comfort, their wealth, their lives, and forgot all their affairs - but they were few in number. The true believers were in fact twelve, and one of them turned away in pride, leaving it confined to eleven men and several women.

The Blessed Perfection suffered innumerable ordeals and calamities, but during His lifetime He trained in all regions many souls who were peerless. The purpose of the appearance of the Manifestations of God is the training of the people. That is the only result of Their mission, the real outcome. The outcome of the whole life of Jesus was the training of eleven disciples and two women. Why did He suffer troubles, ordeals and calamities? For the training of these few followers. That was the result of His life. The product of the life of Christ was not the churches but the illumined souls of those who believed in Him. Afterward, they spread His teachings.

The greatest meeting held during the day of Christ was the Lord's supper. There were only twelve. The meeting was held in a very humble quarter with no table, no chairs and no rugs. They sat around a simple wooden board and spoke on the glad tidings of the Kingdom. Now consider the results of that one Supper. One end of Christ's table is in the East, the other is in the West and many nations and tongues are sitting around it!

After Christ, there were but a few who entered into the religion of the Spirit of God. Although in the beginning, after His ascension, trembling and agitation prevailed due to the intense fear and dread that had arisen, yet after several days a woman named Mary Magdalene manifested such steadfastness and firmness that she established those men firmly and steadfastly in the Cause, and they arose to exalt the Word of God.

There is still another kind of movement or cause which from a very small, inconspicuous beginning goes forward with sure and steady progress, gradually broadening and widening until it has assumed universal dimensions. The Baha'i Movement is of this nature. For instance, when Baha'u'llah was exiled from Persia with Abdu'l-Baha and the rest of His family, they traveled the long road from Tihran to Baghdad, passing through many towns and villages. During the whole of that journey and distance they did not meet a single believer in the Cause for which they had been banished. At that time very little was known about it in any part of the world. Even in Baghdad there was but one believer who had been taught by Baha'u'llah Himself in Persia. Later on, two or three others appeared. You will see, therefore, that at the beginning the Cause of Baha'u'llah was almost unknown, but on account of being a divine Movement it grew and developed with irresistible spiritual power until in this day, wherever you travel -- East or West -- and in whatever country you journey, you will meet Baha'i assemblies and institutions. This is an evidence that the Baha'is are spreading the blessings of unity and progressive development throughout the world under the direction of divine guidance and purpose, while other movements which are only temporary in their activities and accomplishments have no real, universal significance.

Look ye not upon the present, fix your gaze upon the times to come. In the beginning, how small is the seed, yet in the end it is a mighty tree. Look ye not upon the seed, look ye upon the tree, and its blossoms, and its leaves and its fruits. Consider the days of Christ, when none but a small band followed Him; then observe what a mighty tree that seed became, behold ye its fruitage. And now shall come to pass even greater things than these, for this is the summons of the Lord of Hosts, this is the trumpet-call of the living Lord, this is the anthem of world peace, this is the standard of righteousness and trust and understanding raised up among all the variegated peoples of the globe; this is the splendour of the Sun of Truth, this is the holiness of the spirit of God Himself. This most powerful of dispensations will encompass all the earth, and beneath its banner will all peoples gather and be sheltered together. Know then the vital import of this tiny seed that the true Husbandman hath, with the hands of His mercy, sown in the ploughed fields of the Lord, and watered with the rain of bestowals and bounties and is now nurturing in the heat and light of the Day-Star of Truth.

During the lifetime of Jesus Christ the believing, firm souls were few and numbered, but the heavenly blessings descended so plentifully that in a number of years countless souls entered beneath the shadow of the Gospel. God has said in the Qur'an: "One grain will bring forth seven sheaves, and every sheaf shall contain one hundred grains." In other words, one grain will become seven hundred; and if God so wills He will double these also. It has often happened that one blessed soul has become the cause of the guidance of a nation. Now we must not consider our ability and capacity, nay, rather, we must fix our gaze upon the favors and bounties of God, in these days, Who has made of the drop a sea, and of the atom a sun.

Consider the lamp: though it be but one, yet from it can be lit, as God willeth, lamp after lamp, all drawing their light therefrom. Even so, consider the hearts of them that have detached themselves from all else but God and have turned unto the Mighty, the Well-Beloved. By My life! Should the lamp of any heart be lit with the love of God, from it would be kindled the hearts of all creation. This, verily, is a manifest truth.

Power, might and victory have never been and are not dependent upon outward forces, armaments and weapons. Repeatedly from the tongue of grandeur was this word heard: Pure deeds, pure words, and praiseworthy character are counted among the mighty hosts of the Truth, exalted be His glory. The acts and deeds of the beasts of the earth have had and have no worth. One must conquer the horizons of hearts through the hosts of goodly deeds and praiseworthy character. No sword is sharper than the Word of God. If a few souls arise purely for the sake of God, speak for God and fix their gaze upon God, assuredly its effects will become manifest and evident in the world, as indeed they have become manifest and ye witness them.

Hanzalah was but one of His servants, adorned and illumined by the lights of the Manifestation of Christ. Through one goodly deed that appeared from him, an entire kingdom--from its king and ministers and princes and others--became illumined with the lights of faith. Now consider what power, might and influence a single deed hath wrought and manifested. This is reckoned among the hosts of Truth, not the wielders of swords and spears. Exalted be His power and sublime be His grandeur!

The Kingdom of assistance is within His mighty grasp. Should He so will, He could through a single soul subdue the entire world. Observe the sun, which is but one of His signs: through divine confirmations it alone hath conquered the whole world. When such a sign in the horizons is thus observed, this same is proof that He is able, in the realm of the souls of His loved ones, to raise up one soul with such power, might and ascendancy as to subdue all the kingdoms of the earth. Every discerning mystic from this supreme example perceiveth that which he had not perceived before, and with heart and soul confirmeth the words of the All-Merciful which have streamed from His Pen. Yet this station hath been made to tarry and hath been prohibited, in accordance with consummate wisdom. None knoweth the mysteries of His wisdom save His all-pervading knowledge. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all today to conquer the strongholds of heedless souls through proof, evidence, mention and utterance, and to bestow fresh eternal life upon moldering bones through His remembrance.

Observe that the hosts of Christ were few in number, but because they were supported by the celestial army, these few achieved a mighty victory over all parties. Thus it became clear that if there was no spiritual force, these few would have been defeated, but each soul was supported by the wave-like hosts of the All-Merciful. Therefore, in the field of battle they conquered all the armies of the world - that is, a spiritual battle, not with sword and spear of iron, for bloodshed and savagery destroy the human world. This is why He says "to be killed is better than to kill" - this is the attribute of those near to God, the characteristic of the sincere ones, and the gift of the Lord of all worlds.

O ye believers of God! Be not concerned with the smallness of your numbers, neither be oppressed by the multitude of an unbelieving world. Five grains of wheat will be endued with heavenly blessing, whereas a thousand tons of tares will yield no results or effect. One fruitful tree will be conducive to the life of society, whereas a thousand forests of wild trees offer no fruits. The plain is covered with pebbles, but precious stones are rare. One pearl is better than a thousand wildernesses of sand, especially this pearl of great price, which is endowed with divine blessing. Erelong thousands of other pearls will be born from it. When that pearl associates and becomes the intimate of the pebbles, they also all change into pearls.

I swear by the Ancient Beauty---may my life be offered up for the dust ennobled by the footsteps of His loved ones! Were the weakest of all creatures to arise in this Day to fulfil this momentous task, that is, to diffuse the divine fragrances, it would become the mightiest of all created things. The drop would become like unto a sea, and the atom would attain the power of the sun. Although the hoopoe was a frail and feeble bird, yet the hosts of Solomon were its support. So it was that the Queen of Sheba, with all her legions, could not resist its powers and found no recourse but to surrender. Now, should any soul arise to diffuse the sweet savours of God, the hosts of the Abha Kingdom will be his helpers and succourers, and the Almighty Lord his refuge and shelter.

O ye spiritual friends! Such must be your constancy that should the evil-wishers put every believer to death and only one remain, that one, singly and alone, will withstand all the peoples of the earth, and will go on scattering far and wide the sweet and holy fragrances of God. Wherefore, should any fearsome news, any word of terrifying events, reach you from the Holy Land, see to it that ye waver not, be ye not stricken by grief, be ye not shaken. Rather, rise ye up instantly, with iron resolve, and serve ye the Kingdom of God.

As you observe, one person triumphs over two hundred people. In the heavenly Books, they have considered at most one believer equal to ten deniers, as it states in the Qur'an: "If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred." Now praise be to God, in the Cause of God one person has become victorious over two hundred people.

Did you ever imagine your journey to Semnan would yield such results - that alone and single-handed you would confront the mass of deniers and convince the skeptics through conclusive proofs and clear evidence? This is pure bounty. Today whoever arises to serve the Sacred Threshold, detached from all save God, attracted to His holy fragrances, enkindled with the fire of His love, mindful of His remembrance, and independent of all else - and who proceeds to diffuse the divine fragrances - though alone and single-handed will resist all who dwell on earth and triumph over them all, as has been proven through experience.

But alas, the means are entirely cut off and the channels completely blocked. 'Abdu'l-Baha must array the battle lines without an army, and sail the ship without sail, rudder or winds. He must heal without medicine and dress wounds without ointment. He must write tablets and verses without a pen and gallop in this field without a steed. Despite this, you observe that the East is illumined and the West perfumed. The call is raised and the divine fire is ablaze. If the means were available, consider how the Word of God would create commotion throughout the horizons. In this too there is a penetrating wisdom and a hidden mystery concealed and veiled, so that the power of divine confirmation may become evident and the victory of the hosts of the Abha Kingdom may be made manifest.

Be not grieved at the smallness of your number and thank God for the power of your spirits. He shall assist you with such a confirmation whereat minds will be astonished and souls will be amazed.