Seldom, if at any time since its inception, has such a widespread
publicity been accorded the infant Faith of God, now at long last emerging
from an obscurity which has so long and so grievously oppressed it. Not
even the dramatic execution of its Herald, nor the blood-bath which, in
circumstances of fiendish cruelty followed quickly in its wake in the city
of Tihran, nor even the widely advertised travels of the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant in the West, succeeded in focusing the attention of
the world and in inviting the notice of those in high places as has this
latest manifestation of God's inscrutable will, this marvelous
demonstration of His invincible power, this latest move in His Own Major
Plan, using both the mighty and lowly as pawns in His world-shaping game,
for the fulfillment of His immediate purpose and the eventual
establishment of His Kingdom on earth.
For though the newly launched World Spiritual Crusade, constituting at
best only the Minor Plan in the execution of the Almighty's design for the
redemption of mankind--has, as a result of this turmoil, paralyzing
temporarily the vast majority of the organized followers of Baha'u'llah
within His birthplace, suffered a severe setback--yet the over-all Plan of
God, moving mysteriously and in contrast to the orderly and well-known
processes of a clearly devised Plan, has received an impetus the force of
which only posterity can adequately assess.
A Faith, which, for a quarter of a century, has, in strict accordance with
the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, been building
its Administrative Order--the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah--through
the laborious erection of its local and national administrative
institutions; which set out, in the opening years of the second epoch of
this Formative Age, through the launching of a series of national Plans as
well as a World Crusade, to utilize the machinery of its institutions,
created patiently and unobtrusively in the course of the first epoch of
that Age, for the systematic propagation of its teachings in all the
continents and chief islands of the globe--such a Faith finds itself,
whilst in the midst of discharging its second and vital task, thrust into
the limelight of an unprecedented publicity--a publicity which its
followers never anticipated, which will involve them in fresh and
inescapable responsibilities, and which will, no doubt, reinforce the
tasks which they have undertaken, in recent years, to discharge.
To the intensification of such a publicity in which non-Baha'i agencies
and even the avowed adversaries of the Faith are playing so active a part,
the members of the American Baha'i Community, the outstanding defenders of
the Faith, blessed with a freedom so cruelly denied the vast majority of
their brethren, and equipped with the means and instruments needed to make
that publicity effective, must fully and decisively contribute. The echoes
of the mighty trumpet blast, now so providentially sounded, awakening a
multitude of the ignorant and the skeptical, both high and low, to the
existence and significance of the Message of Baha'u'llah, must under no
circumstances, and at such a propitious hour, be allowed to die out. Nay,
their reverberations must be followed up by further calls designed to
proclaim, in still more resounding tones, the aims and tenets of this
glorious Cause, and to expose, whilst avoiding any attack on the ruling
authorities, even more convincingly than before, the barbarous ferocity of
the acts which have been perpetrated, as well as the odious fanaticism
which has inspired such conduct.
Strenuous and urgent as is the task falling to the lot of a community
already so over-burdened with a multiplicity of unavoidable obligations,
the possibilities involved in the assumption of this supplementary
responsibility are truly tremendous, the benefits that are destined to
accrue from its proper discharge are immense, and the reward inestimably
rich.
Let them remember, as they pursue diligently this sacred task, that such a
publicity, following closely upon such dire tribulations, afflicting so
large a number of their brethren, in so sacred a land, cannot but prove to
be a prelude, however slow the process involved, to the emancipation of
these same valiant sufferers from the galling fetters of an antiquated
religious orthodoxy, which, great as has been its decline in the course of
over a century, still wields considerable power and exercises a widespread
influence in high circles as well as among the masses. Such an
emancipation, which cannot be confined to Baha'u'llah's native land, will,
in varying measure, have its repercussions in Islamic countries, or may be
even preceded by a similar phenomenon in neighboring territories,
hastening and adding fresh impetus to the bursting of the bonds that
fetter the freedom of the followers of God's infant Faith.