a'u'llah. An
illuminating report, submitted by one of the most capable and trusted
itinerant teachers of the Cause in Persia, has lately reached the Holy
Land. In it the writer sets forth in graphic and accurate language the
many evidences of the increasing vitality displayed by the Faith in
different parts of Persia. Summoned by the Persian National Spiritual
Assembly to interrupt his travels in the vicinity of the town of Ma_sh_had
in order to devote immediate attention to a situation that had
unexpectedly arisen in Isfahan, our indefatigable teacher and brother was
surprised upon his arrival in that province to note in the various towns
and villages he visited a ten-fold increase in the number of the adherents
of the Faith since his last visit to those regions. He was moreover
startled at the hospitality which he received at the hands of those
persons who six years ago had been instrumental in expelling him from
their localities, and who now had freely enlisted under the banner of
Baha'u'llah. He was furthermore highly elated to learn that the prestige,
the integrity and ability of the local Baha'i Assemblies in that province
had of late stood so high that non-Baha'is, exasperated by the corruption
and incompetence of their own judges, had more than once freely submitted
cases of dispute to the judgment of the elected representatives of the
Baha'i community in their locality.

Only a close and unbiased observer of the manner and habits of the Persian
people, already familiar with the prevailing tendencies of different
sections of the population, such as their apathy and indolence, the
absence of a sense of public duty and of loyalty to principle, the lack of
concerted effort and constancy in action, the habit of secrecy and blind
surrender to the capricious will of an ignorant and fanatical clergy, can
truly estimate the immensity of the task that faces every conscientious
believer in that land. He will moreover readily testify to the high
standard already attained by the Baha'is of Persia in their efforts to
inculcate in the minds of their fellow-countrymen the principles of the
Divine Civilization ushered in by Baha'u'llah.

We have only to glance at the soul-stirring written assurances of
'Abdu'l-Baha in order to realize the magnitude and exalted character of
the mission entrusted by Him to the adherents of the Faith in
Baha'u'llah's native land. By the faithful application of the spiritual
principles which their