Message proclaimed by Baha'u'llah America had now arisen to espouse the
cause of the Administration which the Will and Testament of His Son had
unmistakably established. It was given to her, and to her alone, in the
turbulent years following the revelation of so momentous a Document, to
become the fearless champion of that Administration, the pivot of its
new-born institutions and the leading promoter of its influence. To their
Persian brethren, who in the heroic age of the Faith had won the crown of
martyrdom, the American believers, forerunners of its golden age, were now
worthily succeeding, bearing in their turn the palm of a hard-won victory.
The unbroken record of their illustrious deeds had established beyond the
shadow of a doubt their preponderating share in shaping the destinies of
their Faith. In a world writhing with pain and declining into chaos this
community--the vanguard of the liberating forces of Baha'u'llah--succeeded
in the years following 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing in raising high above the
institutions established by its sister communities in East and West what
may well constitute the chief pillar of that future House--a House which
posterity will regard as the last refuge of a tottering civilization.

In the prosecution of their task neither the whisperings of the
treacherous nor the virulent attacks of their avowed enemies were allowed
to deflect them from their high purpose or to undermine their faith in the
sublimity of their calling. The agitation provoked by him who in his
incessant and sordid pursuit of earthly riches would have, but for
'Abdu'l-Baha's warning, sullied the fair name of their Faith, had left
them in the main undisturbed. Schooled by tribulation and secure within
the stronghold of their fast evolving institutions they scorned his
insinuations and by their unswerving loyalty were able to shatter his
hopes. They refused to allow any consideration of the admitted prestige
and past services of his father and of his associates to weaken their
determination to ignore entirely the person whom 'Abdu'l-Baha had so
emphatically condemned. The veiled attacks with which a handful of deluded
enthusiasts subsequently sought in the pages of their periodical to check
the growth and blight the prospects of an infant Administration had
likewise failed to achieve their purpose. The attitude which a besotted
woman later on assumed, her ludicrous assertions, her boldness in flouting
the Will of 'Abdu'l