For great as have been the attainments and unforgettable the services of
the pioneers of the heroic age of the Cause in Persia, the contribution
which their spiritual descendants, the American believers, the
champion-builders of the organic structure of the Cause, are now making
towards the fulfillment of the Plan which must usher in the golden age of
the Cause is no less meritorious in this strenuous period of its history.
Few, if any, I venture to assert, among these privileged framers and
custodians of the constitution of the Faith of Baha'u'llah are even dimly
aware of the preponderating role which the North American continent is
destined to play in the future orientation of their world-embracing Cause.
Nor does any appreciable number among them seem sufficiently conscious of
the decisive influence which they already exercise in the direction and
management of its affairs.
"The continent of America," wrote 'Abdu'l-Baha in February, 1917, "is, in
the eyes of the one true God, the land wherein the splendors of His light
shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled,
where the righteous will abide, and the free assemble."
That the supporters of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, throughout the United
States and Canada, are increasingly demonstrating the truth of this solemn
affirmation is evident to even a casual observer of the record of their
manifold services, whether in their individual capacities or through their
concerted endeavors. The manifestations of spontaneous loyalty which
marked their response to the expressed wishes of a departed Master; the
generosity with which they have, on more than one occasion, arisen to lend
a helping hand to the needy and harassed among their brethren in Persia;
the vigor with which they have resisted the shameless attacks which
unrelenting enemies, both from within and without, have, with increasing
frequency, launched against them; the example which the body of their
national representatives have set to their sister Assemblies in fashioning
the instruments essential to the effective discharge of their collective
duties; their successful intervention on behalf of their persecuted
fellow-workers in Russia; the moral support they have extended to their
Egyptian fellow-disciples at a most critical stage in their struggle for
emancipation from the fetters of Islamic orthodoxy; the historic services
rendered by those intrepid pioneers who, faithful to the call of
'Abdu'l-Baha, forsook their homes to plant, in the uttermost corners of
the globe, the standard of His Faith; and, last but not least, the
magnificence of their self-sacrifice, culminating in the completion of the
super-structure of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar--these stand out each as an
eloquent testimony to the indomitable character of the faith Baha'u'llah
has kindled in their hearts.
Who, contemplating so splendid a record of service, can doubt that these
faithful stewards of the redeeming grace of God have preserved, undivided
and unimpaired, the priceless heritage entrusted to their charge? Have
they not, one might well reflect, in ways which only future historians
will indicate, approached the high standard that characterized those deeds
of imperishable renown accomplished by those that have gone before them?
Not by the material resources which the members of this infant community
can now summon to their aid; not by the numerical strength of its
present-day supporters; nor by any direct tangible benefits its votaries
can as yet confer upon the multitude of the needy and the disconsolate
among their countrymen, should its potentialities be tested or its worth
determined. Nowhere but in the purity of its precepts, the sublimity of
its standards, the integrity of its laws, the reasonableness of its
claims, the comprehensiveness of its scope, the universality of its
program, the flexibility of its institutions, the lives of its founders,
the heroism of its martyrs, and the transforming power of its influence,
should the unprejudiced observer seek to obtain the true criterion that
can enable him to fathom its mysteries or to estimate its virtue.