I feel it, however, incumbent upon me by virtue of the responsibility
attached to the Guardianship of the Faith, to dwell more fully upon the
essential character and the distinguishing features of that world order as
conceived and proclaimed by Baha'u'llah. I feel impelled, at the present
stage of the evolution of the Baha'i Revelation, to state candidly and
without any reservation, whatever I regard may tend to insure the
preservation of the integrity of the nascent institutions of the Faith. I
strongly feel the urge to elucidate certain facts, which would at once
reveal to every fair-minded observer the unique character of that Divine
Civilization the foundations of which the unerring hand of Baha'u'llah has
laid, and the essential elements of which the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l-Baha has disclosed. I consider it my duty to warn every beginner
in the Faith that the promised glories of the Sovereignty which the Baha'i
teachings foreshadow, can be revealed only in the fullness of time, that
the implications of the Aqdas and the Will of 'Abdu'l-Baha, as the twin
repositories of the constituent elements of that Sovereignty, are too
far-reaching for this generation to grasp and fully appreciate. I cannot
refrain from appealing to them who stand identified with the Faith to
disregard the prevailing notions and the fleeting fashions of the day, and
to realize as never before that the exploded theories and the tottering
institutions of present-day civilization must needs appear in sharp
contrast with those God-given institutions which are destined to arise
upon their ruin. I pray that they may realize with all their heart and
soul the ineffable glory of their calling, the overwhelming responsibility
of their mission, and the astounding immensity of their task.
For let every earnest upholder of the Cause of Baha'u'llah realize that
the storms which this struggling Faith of God must needs encounter, as the
process of the disintegration of society advances, shall be fiercer than
any which it has already experienced. Let him be aware that so soon as the
full measure of the stupendous claim of the Faith of Baha'u'llah comes to
be recognized by those time-honored and powerful strongholds of orthodoxy,
whose deliberate aim is to maintain their stranglehold over the thoughts
and consciences of men, this infant Faith will have to contend with
enemies more powerful and more insidious than the cruellest
torture-mongers and the most fanatical clerics who have afflicted it in
the past. What foes may not in the course of the convulsions that shall
seize a dying civilization be brought into existence, who will reinforce
the indignities which have already been heaped upon it!