Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas | Page 9

the
Beauty of God!..." "O thou who art preparing to receive knowledge
from..." "O thou who are supplicating to God and turning to..." "O thou
that virtuous soul and individual who art ready..." "O thou gem of the
Kingdom and brilliant leaf!..." "O thou who art attracted to the "Spirit
of Truth!"..." "O thou who art attracted to the Fragrances of God!..." "O
thou who art attracted to the Fragrances of Holiness!..." "O thou who
art attracted by the Fragrances of God!..." "O thou lamp who art
enkindled with the fire of the..." "O thou candle of the Love of God!..."

"The contents of thy last letter were extremely rejoicing,..." "O thou
servant of the Beauty of Abha!..." "O thou who art attracted to the Holy
Spirit!..." "O thou flame of the Love of God!..." "O thou dear sister!..."
"O thou beloved maid-servant of God!..." "O thou sign of the Kingdom
and the bird singing with..." "O thou bird of the Rose-garden of the
Kingdom!..." "Convey my respectful greeting to Mrs. ........." "O thou
daughter of the Kingdom!..." "O thou who art attracted to the Beauty of
Abha!..."

VOLUME I

Frontispiece
"In reality thou art spiritually hungry and athirst for the Water of Life.
Therefore I send thee spiritual food and bestow upon thee the Water of
Life Eternal. That food is the divine advices and exhortations revealed
in the Tablets and the spiritual outpourings of the Breath of the Holy
Spirit. I hope ere long it will reach thee and thou wilt behold what an
exhilaration and beatitude it produceth and what cheerfulness and
serenity and what heavenly emotions it createth!"
Abdul-Baha Abbas.
Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas Volume I Published by BAHAI
PUBLISHING SOCIETY P. O. Box 283 CHICAGO, U.S.A.

Introduction
This book is a reproduction of the Tablets of Abdul-Baha as contained
in the archives of the House of Spirituality(1) of Bahais of Chicago
from the recipients for the purpose of safe preservation in accordance
with the purpose mentioned in the following letter sent out by that
Body:

March 21, 1908.
To the Friends of God in the Light of El-Abha, throughout America.
Greeting:--
For a number of years the House of Spirituality has been gathering
copies of Tablets, received by the Friends in America from Abdul-Baha
Abbas, for sacred preservation in its archives, in accord with
permission from him to do so in a Tablet addressed to it dated April 21,
1903, as follows: "As to the compiling of the Tablets in a Book for the
House of Spirituality, this depends upon the consent of the receivers of
the Tablets; if the owners of the Tablets consent, copies should be kept
and collected in the House of Spirituality and it will be acceptable."
Although many Tablets, both published and unpublished, were known
to be in circulation among the believers, and notwithstanding the
restriction to collect only copies sent in with the consent of the
recipients, yet, in the spring of 1907, through the hearty response and
co-operation in this endeavor about 500 copies of different Tablets had
been received, acknowledge and filed with data concerning each in a
safety deposit vault equipped with all modern appliances for protection.
We believe the Friends everywhere will be further interested in
knowing that at that time a draft of the Tablets was made by the
Librarian of the House of Spirituality for the Bahai Publishing Society
(who contemplated issuing same in book form), with all references to
personalities eliminated, and said compilation was taken by Mr. Agnew
to the presence of Abdul-Baha, who inquired especially as to
elimination of all names of persons and everything of a clearly personal
nature, and as to whether the recipients of the Tablets had consented to
publication of them, etc.--to all of which he gave approval and
instructed the Publishing Society to proceed with the work.
The purpose of this communication is therefore twofold: First, that the
endeavor be continued to preserve a copy of every Tablet obtainable;
and second, that it be accomplished at the earliest possible moment in
order to make the forthcoming Volumes of Tablets (now being

prepared by the Publishing Society) as complete as possible, for only
the Tablets in the archives of the House will be used, as therein is
recorded the desire of the recipients.
In sending copies of Tablets, kindly see in so far as possible that
together with each is given: (1) Full name of recipient (2) present
address, mentioning street number, city or town, and state, (3) on or
about date translation, (4) name of translator, (5) clearly state whether
or not permission to publish all or only a portion of same is granted.
Should there be any doubt as to whether or not a copy of any certain
Tablet is already in the archives,