Deeds not Words

On the evening of the same day ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke briefly again to a group of Bahá’í friends of the subject which, on these last days seemed very close to His heart and lips - the station to which those who had accepted the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh were called and expected to attain by the very fact that they had accepted them. I remember, in this connection, a story told me by one of the friends present at a meeting of the executive committee of the New York Spiritual Assembly. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had been asked to be present. After listening to their deliberations for a half-hour or so He calmly arose to leave. At the door He paused a moment and surveyed the faces turned towards Him. After a moment of silence He said, that He had been told that this was a meeting of the executive committee. “Yes, Master,” said the Chairman. Then why do you not execute. Always was His emphasis upon deeds: and deeds of such quality and purity as seemed, to those who listened, unattainable. Nevertheless there was no lowering of the standard. And He set the example. There was no doubt of that. Like the true Leader He never called upon His followers to go where He had not blazed the Path.
(Howard Colby Ives, Portals to Freedom, p. 200-201)