"If all the peoples of the world," Baha'u'llah Himself affirms, "be
invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters of the
Living, the chosen disciples of the Bab, whose station is ten thousand
times more glorious than any which the apostles of old have attained, and
if they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling of an eye, hesitate
to recognize the Light of my Revelation, their faith shall be of no avail,
and they shall be accounted among the infidels." "So tremendous," He
writes, "is the outpouring of Divine grace in this Dispensation that if
mortal hands could be swift enough to record them, within the space of a
single day and night, there would stream verses of such number as to be
equivalent to the whole of the Persian Bayan."
Such, dearly-beloved friends, is the effusion of celestial grace
vouchsafed by the Almighty to this age, this most illumined century! We
stand too close to so colossal a Revelation to expect in this, the first
century of its era, to arrive at a just estimate of its towering grandeur,
its infinite possibilities, its transcendent beauty. Small though our
present numbers may be, however limited our capacities, or circumscribed
our influence, we, into whose hands so pure, so tender, so precious a
heritage has been entrusted, should at all times strive, with unrelaxing
vigilance, to abstain from any thoughts, words, or deeds, that might tend
to dim its brilliance, or injure its growth. How tremendous our
responsibility; how delicate and laborious our task!
Dear friends: Clear and emphatic as are the instructions which our
departed Master has reiterated in countless Tablets bequeathed by Him to
His followers throughout the world, a few, owing to the restricted
influence of the Cause in the West, have been purposely withheld from the
body of His occidental disciples, who, despite their numerical
inferiority, are now exercising such a preponderating influence in the
direction and administration of its affairs. I feel it, therefore,
incumbent upon me to stress, now that the time is ripe, the importance of
an instruction which, at the present stage of the evolution of our Faith,
should be increasingly emphasized, irrespective of its application to the
East or to the West. And this principle is no other than that which
involves the non-participation by the adherents of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, whether in their individual capacities or collectively as
local or national Assemblies, in any form of activity that might be
interpreted, either directly or indirectly, as an interference in the
political affairs of any particular government. Whether it be in the
publications which they initiate and supervise; or in their official and
public deliberations; or in the posts they occupy and the services they
render; or in the communications they address to their fellow-disciples;
or in their dealings with men of eminence and authority; or in their
affiliations with kindred societies and organizations, it is, I am firmly
convinced, their first and sacred obligation to abstain from any word or
deed that might be construed as a violation of this vital principle.
Theirs is the duty to demonstrate, on one hand, the nonpolitical character
of their Faith, and to assert, on the other, their unqualified loyalty and
obedience to whatever is the considered judgment of their respective
governments.