the adherents of the Baha'i Faith carry out,
first among themselves and in their relations with their fellow-men, those
high standards of inter-racial amity so widely proclaimed and so
fearlessly exemplified to the American people by our Master 'Abdu'l-Baha.

I direct my appeal with all the earnestness and urgency that this pressing
problem calls for to every conscientious upholder of the universal
principles of Baha'u'llah to face this extremely delicate situation with
the boldness, the decisiveness and wisdom it demands. I cannot believe
that those whose hearts have been touched by the regenerating influence of
God's creative Faith in His day will find it difficult to cleanse their
souls from every lingering trace of racial animosity so subversive of the
Faith they profess. How can hearts that throb with the love of God fail to
respond to all the implications of this supreme injunction of Baha'u'llah,
the unreserved acceptance of which, under the circumstances now prevailing
in America, constitutes the hall-mark of a true Baha'i character?

Let every believer, desirous to witness the swift and healthy progress of
the Cause of God, realize the twofold nature of his task. Let him first
turn his eyes inwardly and search his own heart and satisfy himself that
in his relations with his fellow-believers, irrespective of color and
class, he is proving himself increasingly loyal to the spirit of his
beloved Faith. Assured and content that he is exerting his utmost in a
conscious effort to approach nearer every day the lofty station to which
his gracious Master summons him, let him turn to his second task, and,
with befitting confidence and vigor, assail the devastating power of those
forces which in his own heart he has already succeeded in subduing. Fully
alive to the unfailing efficacy of the power of Baha'u'llah, and armed
with the essential weapons of wise restraint and inflexible resolve, let
him wage a constant fight against the inherited tendencies, the corruptive
instincts, the fluctuating fashions, the false pretences of the society in
which he lives and moves.

In their relations amongst themselves as fellow-believers, let them not be
content with the mere exchange of cold and empty formalities often
connected with the organizing of banquets, receptions, consultative
assemblies, and lecture-halls. Let them rather, as equal co-sharers in the
spiritual benefits conferred upon them by Baha'u'llah, arise and, with the