d of the lives of the first
believers of the primitive period of our Faith, together with the
assiduous research which competent Baha'i historians will in the future
undertake, will combine to transmit to posterity such masterly exposition
of the history of that age as my own efforts can never hope to accomplish.
My chief concern at this challenging period of Baha'i history is rather to
call the attention of those who are destined to be the champion-builders
of the Administrative Order of Baha'u'llah to certain fundamental verities
the elucidation of which must tremendously assist them in the effective
prosecution of their mighty enterprise.

The international status which the Religion of God has thus far achieved,
moreover, imperatively demands that its root principles be now definitely
clarified. The unprecedented impetus which the illustrious deeds of the
American believers have lent to the onward march of the Faith; the intense
interest which the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West is fast
awakening among divers races and nations; the rise and steady
consolidation of Baha'i institutions in no less than forty of the most
advanced countries of the world; the dissemination of Baha'i literature in
no fewer than twenty-five of the most widely-spoken languages; the success
that has recently attended the nation-wide efforts of the Persian
believers in the preliminary steps they have taken for the establishment,
in the outskirts of the capital-city of their native land, of the third
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world; the measures that are being
taken for the immediate formation of their first National Spiritual
Assembly representing the interests of the overwhelming majority of Baha'i
adherents; the projected erection of yet another pillar of the Universal
House of Justice, the first of its kind, in the Southern Hemisphere; the
testimonies, both verbal and written, that a struggling Faith has obtained
from Royalty, from governmental institutions, international tribunals, and
ecclesiastical dignitaries; the publicity it has received from the charges
which unrelenting enemies, both new and old, have hurled against it; the
formal enfranchisement of a section of its followers from the fetters of
Muslim orthodoxy in a country that may be regarded as the most enlightened
among Islamic nations--these afford ample proof of the growing momentum
with which the invincible community of the Most Great Name is marching
forward