uishing Faith, sorely-stricken, sinking into obscurity,
threatened with oblivion. From it were diffused, day and night, and with
ever-increasing energy, the first emanations of a Revelation which, in its
scope, its copiousness, its driving force and the volume and variety of
its literature, was destined to excel that of the Bab Himself. Above its
horizon burst forth the rays of the Sun of Truth, Whose rising glory had
for ten long years been overshadowed by the inky clouds of a consuming
hatred, an ineradicable jealousy, an unrelenting malice. In it the
Tabernacle of the promised "Lord of Hosts" was first erected, and the
foundations of the long-awaited Kingdom of the "Father" unassailably
established. Out of it went forth the earliest tidings of the Message of
Salvation which, as prophesied by Daniel, was to mark, after the lapse of
"a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (1290 A.H.), the end of "the
abomination that maketh desolate." Within its walls the "Most Great House
of God," His "Footstool" and the "Throne of His Glory," "the Cynosure of
an adoring world," the "Lamp of Salvation between earth and heaven," the
"Sign of His remembrance to all who are in heaven and on earth,"
enshrining the "Jewel whose glory hath irradiated all creation," the
"Standard" of His Kingdom, the "Shrine round which will circle the
concourse of the faithful" was irrevocably founded and permanently
consecrated. Upon it, by virtue of its sanctity as Baha'u'llah's "Most
Holy Habitation" and "Seat of His transcendent glory," was conferred the
honor of being regarded as a center of pilgrimage second to none except
the city of Akka, His "Most Great Prison," in whose immediate vicinity His
holy Sepulcher, the Qiblih of the Baha'i world, is enshrined. Around the
heavenly Table, spread in its very heart, clergy and laity, Sunnis and
_Sh_i'ahs, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians, princes and nobles, peasants and
dervishes, gathered in increasing numbers from far and near, all
partaking, according to their needs and capacities, of a measure of that
Divine sustenance which was to enable them, in the course of time, to
noise abroad the fame of that bountiful Giver, swell the ranks of His
admirers, scatter far and wide His writings, enlarge the limits of His
congregation, and lay a firm foundation for the future erection of the
institutions of His Faith. And finally, before the gaze of the diversified
communities that dwelt within its gates, the first phase in