It is not my purpose to call to mind, much less to attempt a detailed
analysis of, the spiritual struggles that have ensued, or to note the
victories that have redounded to the glory of the Faith of Baha'u'llah
since the day of its foundation. My chief concern is not with the
happenings that have distinguished the First, the Apostolic Age of the
Baha'i Dispensation, but rather with the outstanding events that are
transpiring in, and the tendencies which characterize, the formative
period of its development, this Age of Transition, whose tribulations are
the precursors of that Era of blissful felicity which is to incarnate
God's ultimate purpose for all mankind.
To the catastrophic fall of mighty kingdoms and empires, on the eve of
'Abdu'l-Baha's departure, Whose passing may be said to have ushered in the
opening phase of the Age of Transition in which we now live, I have, in a
previous communication, briefly alluded. The dissolution of the German
Empire, the humiliating defeat inflicted upon its ruler, the successor and
lineal descendant of the Prussian King and Emperor to whom Baha'u'llah had
addressed His solemn and historic warning, together with the extinction of
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the remnant of the once-great Holy Roman
Empire, were both precipitated by a war whose outbreak signalized the
opening of the Age of Frustration destined to precede the establishment of
the World Order of Baha'u'llah. Both of these momentous events may be
viewed as the earliest occurrences of that turbulent Age, into the outer
fringes of whose darkest phase we are now beginning to enter.
To the Conqueror of Napoleon III, the Author of our Faith had, on the
morrow of the King's victory, addressed, in His Most Holy Book, this clear
and ominous warning: "O King of Berlin! ...Take heed lest pride debar thee
from recognizing the Day-Spring of Divine Revelation, lest earthly desires
shut thee out, as by a veil, from the Lord of the Throne above and of the
earth below. Thus counseleth thee the Pen of the Most High. He, verily, is
the Most Gracious, the All-Bountiful. Do thou remember the one whose power
transcended thy power (Napoleon III), and whose station excelled thy
station. Where is he? Whither are gone the things he possessed? Take
warning, and be not of them that are fast asleep. He it was who cast the
Tablet of God behind him, when We made known unto him what the hosts of
tyranny had caused Us to suffer. Wherefore, disgrace assailed him from all
sides, and he went down to dust in great loss. Think deeply, O King,
concerning him, and concerning them who, like unto thee, have conquered
cities and ruled over men. The All-Merciful brought them down from their
palaces to their graves. Be warned, be of them who reflect."
"O banks of the Rhine!" Baha'u'llah, in another passage of that same Book,
prophesies, "We have seen you covered with gore, inasmuch as the swords of
retribution were drawn against you; and so you shall have another turn.
And We hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be today in conspicuous
glory."