the gradual
unfoldment of a newborn Revelation was ushered in, the first effusions
from the inspired pen of its Author were recorded, the first principles of
His slowly crystallizing doctrine were formulated, the first implications
of His august station were apprehended, the first attacks aiming at the
disruption of His Faith from within were launched, the first victories
over its internal enemies were registered, and the first pilgrimages to
the Door of His Presence were undertaken.

This life-long exile to which the Bearer of so precious a Message was now
providentially condemned did not, and indeed could not, manifest, either
suddenly or rapidly, the potentialities latent within it. The process
whereby its unsuspected benefits were to be manifested to the eyes of men
was slow, painfully slow, and was characterized, as indeed the history of
His Faith from its inception to the present day demonstrates, by a number
of crises which at times threatened to arrest its unfoldment and blast all
the hopes which its progress had engendered.

One such crisis which, as it deepened, threatened to jeopardize His
newborn Faith and to subvert its earliest foundations, overshadowed the
first years of His sojourn in 'Iraq, the initial stage in His life-long
exile, and imparted to them a special significance. Unlike those which
preceded it, this crisis was purely internal in character, and was
occasioned solely by the acts, the ambitions and follies of those who were
numbered among His recognized fellow-disciples.

The external enemies of the Faith, whether civil or ecclesiastical, who
had thus far been chiefly responsible for the reverses and humiliations it
had suffered, were by now relatively quiescent. The public appetite for
revenge, which had seemed insatiable, had now, to some extent, in
consequence of the torrents of blood that had flowed, abated. A feeling,
bordering on exhaustion and despair, had, moreover, settled on some of its
most inveterate enemies, who were astute enough to perceive that though
the Faith had bent beneath the grievous blows their hands had dealt it,
its structure had remained essentially unimpaired and its spirit unbroken.
The orders issued to the governors of the provinces by the Grand Vizir had
had, furthermore, a sobering effect on the local authorities, who were now
dissuaded from venting their fury upon, and from indulging in their
sadistic cruelties against, a hated adversary.

A lull had, in con