"The Manifestations of God and His Chosen Ones have always been the first to carry out that which they enjoin upon others."

 

..." And now that individual is, God be praised, living in Cyprus under British protection, in comfort and happiness, while his hapless disciples in Ṭihrán have been induced, through empty promises and vain methods of divination, to stir up mischief and sedition against the government. He hath promised them that this and that will happen, and that through those foolish disciples, sceptre and crown will be granted. Thus have they all been entangled in the mesh of their own devices. Those hapless ones have been condemned to endless misery and eternal loss, whilst he liveth his days in the utmost comfort and tranquillity, with no fear or trepidation, no dread of peril or danger.

In short, the point is that these disciples, who raised such a clamour in Ṭihrán and were so confident in his promises, should have asked him to deign to go to Ṭihrán himself, to act as a true leader and commander, and to issue such incitements and provocations from there. The Manifestations of God and His Chosen Ones have always been the first to carry out that which they enjoin upon others. Yet this individual, while dwelling in peace and safety in his retreat in Cyprus, hath sent his hapless disciples to the cannons and the gallows. Were anyone to gaze with the eye of fairness, this fact alone would suffice. The Glory of Glories rest upon thee."

(Light of the World: Selected Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, #73, part 6)
www.bahai.org/r/988146333