Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas | Page 9

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, you may be assured in knowing that every Tablet received has been acknowledged on a special printed form, signed by the Librarian.
Concerning this important matter the following