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| Thomas Kelly Cheyne (1841-1915) |
ALLAHO’ABHA!
To Abdu’l-Baha,
My Beloved Friend and Guide:
I cannot forget your tender embrace when you were with me in my study in the dear old house (which we have since left). It has been a constant source of strength in memory and I fully believe it was by the will of God. There was no need for me to be "converted," because I already lived by the truths which you are always insisting on. What I wanted, and what you gave, was the example of a life (yours was) devoted entirely to the Truth, and the sense of brotherly love, to which I may fitly add the extraordinary life of BAHA'O'LLAH.
Love is the secret of the universe, and in love I aspire to live. You help me constantly.
I thank you also, with all my heart, for empowering the admirable Mirza Ali Akbar to help me with my search for Truth. He has been, and is, of great service to me and I shall express my gratitude to him both in private and in public.
It is a great pleasure to have Hashmat'ullah so near.
My state of health does not allow me to go into "society," but I do see a few friends from time to time.
I fear that university circles ore not likely to be open-minded enough to receive the message of Bahaism. But who would have expected Saul to become a Paul?
St. Paul's teaching appeals to me by its "mysticism." He too had a "thorn in the flesh," but he heard a voice saying, "My strength is made perfect in weakness."
I trust - rather, I know - that your inward strength remains undiminished. But you have worked, our Brother, the body very hard of late.
With reverential love in El-ABHA, in which my dear wife joins, I am, beloved Friend and Guide.
(Signed) (Ruhani) T. K. CHEYNE
P.S.- I read with much sympathy your prayer for Thornton Chase, and from time to time I turn to the volume of American Tablets. You have indeed, like St. Paul, "the care of all the churches." May you be helped with that some help which you are empowered to convey to others!
(Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 17, January 19, 1914)
