n His heroism, matchless in the
dramatic circumstances of His short yet eventful life. And finally there
emerges, though on a plane of its own and in a category entirely apart
from the one occupied by the twin Figures that preceded Him, the vibrant,
the magnetic personality of 'Abdu'l-Baha, reflecting to a degree that no
man, however exalted his station, can hope to rival, the glory and power
with which They who are the Manifestations of God are alone endowed.

With 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension, and more particularly with the passing of
His well-beloved and illustrious sister the Most Exalted Leaf--the last
survivor of a glorious and heroic age--there draws to a close the first and
most moving chapter of Baha'i history, marking the conclusion of the
Primitive, the Apostolic Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. It was
'Abdu'l-Baha Who, through the provisions of His weighty Will and
Testament, has forged the vital link which must for ever connect the age
that has just expired with the one we now live in--the Transitional and
Formative period of the Faith--a stage that must in the fullness of time
reach its blossom and yield its fruit in the exploits and triumphs that
are to herald the Golden Age of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah.

Dearly-beloved friends! The onrushing forces so miraculously released
through the agency of two independent and swiftly successive
Manifestations are now under our very eyes and through the care of the
chosen stewards of a far-flung Faith being gradually mustered and
disciplined. They are slowly crystallizing into institutions that will
come to be regarded as the hall-mark and glory of the age we are called
upon to establish and by our deeds immortalize. For upon our present-day
efforts, and above all upon the extent to which we strive to remodel our
lives after the pattern of sublime heroism associated with those gone
before us, must depend the efficacy of the instruments we now
fashion--instruments that must erect the structure of that blissful
Commonwealth which must signalize the Golden Age of our Faith.

It is not my purpose, as I look back upon these crowded years of heroic
deeds, to attempt even a cursory review of the mighty events that have
transpired since 1844 until the present day. Nor have I any intention to
undertake an analysis of the forces that have precipitated them, or to
evaluate their influence upon peoples and institutions in almost every
continent of the globe. The authentic recor