orget his own good, and like the chosen ones of
God, vie with his fellows in service to the good of all; until,
strengthened by the blessings and perpetual confirmations of God, he shall
be empowered to raise this mighty nation up to its ancient pinnacles of
glory, and restore this withered land to sweet new life, and as a
spiritual springtime, array those trees which are the lives of men with
the fresh leaves, the blossoms and fruits of consecrated joy.

FOOTNOTES

1 Qur'an 39:69.

2 Qur'an 55:1-3.

3 Qur'an 39:12.

4 Qur'an 41:53.

5 Qur'an 7:178; 8:22.

6 The original Persian text written in 1875 carried no author's name,
and the first English translation published in 1910 under the title
The Mysterious Forces of Civilization states only "Written in
Persian by an Eminent Bahai Philosopher."

7 Qur'an 76:9.

8 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:2; Esther 1:1; 8:9; Isaiah 45:1, 14;
49:12.

9 Qur'an 6:90; 11:31.

10 Qur'an 14:23; 35:18.

11 Qur'an 95:4.

12 The Imam 'Ali.

13 Qur'an 5:85.

14 Qur'an 29:2.

15 Jahiliyyih: the period of paganism in Arabia, prior to the advent of
Muhammad.

16 The pagan Arabs observed one separate and three consecutive months
of truce, during which period pilgrimages were made to Mecca, and
fairs, poetry contests and similar events took place.

17 Qur'an 16:124.

18 Qur'an 4:45; 5:16.

19 Cf. Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 86.

20 "If by the word algebra we mean that branch of mathematics by which
we learn how to solve the equation x2+5x=14, written in this way,
the science begins in the 17th century. If we allow the equation to
be written with other and less convenient symbols, it may be
considered as beginning at least as early as the 3rd century. If we
permit it to be stated in words and solved, for simple cases of
positive roots, by the aid of geometric figures, the science was
known to Euclid and others of the Alexandrian school as early as 300
B.C. If we permit of more or less scientific guessing in achieving a
solution, algebra may be said to have been known nearly 2000 years
B.C., and it had probably attracted the attention of the
intellectual class much earlier... The name 'algebra' is quite
fortuitous. When Mohammed ibn Musa al-_Kh_owarizmi ... wrote in