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This remarkable personage was able by these principles to establish a bond of unity among the differing sects and divergent people of Iran. Those who followed His teachings no matter from what denomination or faction they came were conjoined by the ties of love, until now they cooperate and live together in peace and agreement. They are real brothers and sisters. No distinctions of class are observed among them and complete harmony prevails. Daily this bond of affinity is strengthening and their spiritual fellowship continually develops. In order to insure the progress of mankind and to establish these principles His Holiness Baha'u'llah suffered every ordeal and difficulty. His Holiness the Bab became a martyr, and over twenty thousand men and women sacrificed their lives for their faith. His Holiness Baha'u'llah was imprisoned and subjected to severe persecutions. Finally he was exiled from Iran to Mesopotamia; from Baghdad He was sent to Constantinople and Adrianople and from thence to the prison of Akka in Syria. Through all these ordeals He strove day and night to proclaim the oneness of humanity and promulgate the message of Universal Peace. From the prison of Akka He addressed the kings and rulers of the earth in lengthy letters summoning them to international agreement and explicitly stating that the standard of the "Most Great Peace" would surely be upraised in the world.
(233:2)
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