e
rising fortunes of that handful of its citizens, whose mission, if they be
faithful to their trust, is to heal its wounds, restore its confidence and
revive its shattered hopes. Contrast the dreadful convulsions, the
internecine conflicts, the petty disputes, the outworn controversies, the
interminable revolutions that agitate the masses, with the calm new light
of Peace and of Truth which envelops, guides and sustains those valiant
inheritors of the law and love of Baha'u'llah. Compare the disintegrating
institutions, the discredited statesmanship, the exploded theories, the
appalling degradation, the follies and furies, the shifts, shams and
compromises that characterize the present age, with the steady
consolidation, the holy discipline, the unity and cohesiveness, the
assured conviction, the uncompromising loyalty, the heroic self-sacrifice
that constitute the hallmark of these faithful stewards and harbingers of
the golden age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

Small wonder that these prophetic words should have been revealed by
'Abdu'l-Baha: "The East," He assures us, "hath verily been illumined with
the light of the Kingdom. Ere long will this same light shed a still
greater illumination upon the West. Then will the hearts of its people be
vivified through the potency of the teachings of God and their souls be
set aglow by the undying fire of His love." "The prestige of the Faith of
God," He asserts, "has immensely increased. Its greatness is now manifest.
The day is approaching when it will have cast a tremendous tumult in men's
hearts. Rejoice, therefore, O denizens of America, rejoice with exceeding
gladness!"

Most prized and best-beloved brethren! As we look back upon the forty
years which have passed since the auspicious rays of the Baha'i Revelation
first warmed and illuminated the American continent we find that they may
well fall into four distinct periods, each culminating in an event of such
significance as to constitute a milestone along the road leading the
American believers towards their promised victory. The first of these four
decades (1893-1903), characterized by a process of slow and steady
fermentation, may be said to have culminated in the historic pilgrimages
undertaken by 'Abdu'l-Baha's American disciples to the shrine of
Baha'u'llah. The ten years which followed (1903-1913), so full of the
tests and trials which agitated, cleansed and energized the body of the
earliest pioneers of the Faith