In the light of these glowing tributes, these ardent hopes, these
soul-stirring promises, recorded by the pen of the Center of the Covenant,
is it surprising to find that the Author of the Covenant Himself has,
anticipating the great contribution which the West is destined to make to
the establishment of His World Order, made such a momentous statement in
His writings: "In the East the light of His Revelation hath broken; in the
West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts,
O people, and be not of those who have turned a deaf ear to the
admonitions of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Praised."
'Abdu'l-Baha Himself, confirming this statement, has written: "From the
beginning of time until the present day the light of Divine Revelation
hath risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The
illumination thus shed hath, however, acquired in the West an
extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus. Though
it first appeared in the East, yet not until its light had been shed upon
the West did the full measure of its potentialities become manifest." "The
day is approaching when ye shall witness how, through the splendor of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah the West will have replaced the East, radiating the
light of divine guidance." "The West hath acquired illumination from the
East, but, in some respects the reflection of the light hath been greater
in the Occident." "The East hath, verily, been illumined with the light of
the Kingdom. Erelong will this same light shed a still greater
illumination through the potency of the teachings of God, and their souls
be set aglow by the undying fire of His love."
Invested, among its sister communities in East and West, with the primacy
conferred upon it by 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan; armed with the mandatory
provisions of His momentous Tablets; equipped with the agencies of a
quarter-century-old Administrative Order, whose fabric it has reared and
consolidated; encouraged by the marvelous success achieved by its daughter
communities throughout the Americas, a success which has sealed the
triumph of the first stage of that Plan; launched on a campaign of vaster
dimensions, of superior merit, of weightier potentialities, than any it
has hitherto initiated, a campaign destined to multiply its spiritual
progeny in distant lands and amidst divers races, the community of the
Most Great Name in the North American continent must arise, as it has
never before in its history, and demonstrate anew its capacity to perform
such deeds as are worthy of its high calling. Its members, the executors
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, the champion-builders of Baha'u'llah's embryonic
Order, the torchbearers of a world-girdling civilization, must, in the
years immediately ahead, bestir themselves, and, as bidden by
'Abdu'l-Baha, "increase" their exertions "a thousandfold," lay bare
further vistas in the "range" of their "future achievements" and of their
"unspeakably glorious" mission, and hasten the day when, as prophesied by
Him, their community will "find itself securely established upon the
throne of an everlasting dominion," when "the whole earth" will be stirred
and shaken by the results of its "achievements" and "resound with the
praises of majesty and greatness," when America will "evolve into a center
from which waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the throne of the
Kingdom of God will, in the plenitude of its majesty and glory, be firmly
established."
In every state of the United States, in every province of the Dominion of
Canada, in every republic of Latin America, in each of the ten European
countries to which its inescapable responsibilities are insistently
calling it, this community, so blessed in the past, so promising at
present, so dazzling in its future destiny, must, if it would guard its
priceless birthright and enhance its heritage, forge ahead with equal
zeal, with unrelaxing vigilance, with indomitable courage, with tireless
energy, until the present stage of its mission is triumphantly concluded.