on that from whatever
angle we view this colossal scene, the events associated with these
periods present to us unmistakable evidences of a slowly maturing process,
of an orderly development, of internal consolidation, of external
expansion, of a gradual emancipation from the fetters of religious
orthodoxy, and of a corresponding diminution of civil disabilities and
restrictions.

Viewing these periods of Baha'i history as the constituents of a single
entity, we note the chain of events proclaiming successfully the rise of a
Forerunner, the Mission of One Whose advent that Forerunner had promised,
the establishment of a Covenant generated through the direct authority of
the Promised One Himself, and lastly the birth of a System which is the
child sprung from both the Author of the Covenant and its appointed
Center. We observe how the Bab, the Forerunner, announced the impending
inception of a divinely-conceived Order, how Baha'u'llah, the Promised
One, formulated its laws and ordinances, how 'Abdu'l-Baha, the appointed
Center, delineated its features, and how the present generation of their
followers have commenced to erect the framework of its institutions. We
watch, through these periods, the infant light of the Faith diffuse itself
from its cradle, eastward to India and the Far East, westward to the
neighboring territories of 'Iraq, of Turkey, of Russia, and of Egypt,
travel as far as the North American continent, illuminate subsequently the
major countries of Europe, envelop with its radiance, at a later stage,
the Antipodes, brighten the fringes of the Arctic, and finally set aglow
the Central and South American horizons. We witness a corresponding
increase in the diversity of the elements within its fellowship, which
from being confined, in the first period of its history, to an obscure
body of followers chiefly recruited from the ranks of the masses in
_Sh_i'ah Persia, has expanded into a fraternity representative of the
leading religious systems of the world, of almost every caste and color,
from the humblest worker and peasant to royalty itself. We notice a
similar development in the extent of its literature--a literature which,
restricted at first to the narrow range of hurriedly transcribed, often
corrupted, secretly circulated, manuscripts, so furtively perused, so
frequently effaced, and at times even eaten by the terrorized members of a
proscribed sect, has, within the space of a century, swelled into
innu