t a time when 'Abdu'l-Baha had just inaugurated His Mission,
and was still in the throes of the most grievous crisis with which He was
ever confronted, can in no wise be overestimated. As far back as the year
which witnessed the birth of the Faith in _Sh_iraz the Bab had, in the
Qayyumu'l-Asma, after having warned in a memorable passage the peoples of
both the Orient and the Occident, directly addressed the "peoples of the
West," and significantly bidden them "issue forth" from their "cities" to
aid God, and "become as brethren" in His "one and indivisible religion."
"In the East," Baha'u'llah Himself had, in anticipation of this
development, written, "the light of His Revelation hath broken; in the
West the signs of His dominion have appeared." "Should they attempt," He,
moreover, had predicted, "to conceal its light on the continent, it will
assuredly rear its head in the midmost heart of the ocean, and, raising
its voice, proclaim: 'I am the lifegiver of the world!'" "Had this Cause
been revealed in the West," He, shortly before His ascension, is reported
by Nabil in his narrative to have stated, "had Our verses been sent from
the West to Persia and other countries of the East, it would have become
evident how the people of the Occident would have embraced Our Cause. The
people of Persia, however, have failed to appreciate it." "From the
beginning of time until the present day," is 'Abdu'l-Baha's own testimony,
"the light of Divine Revelation hath risen in the East and shed its
radiance upon the West. The illumination thus shed hath, however, acquired
in the West an extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by
Jesus. Though it first appeared in the East, yet not until its light had
been shed upon the West did the full measure of its potentialities become
manifest." "The day is approaching," He has affirmed, "when ye shall
witness how, through the splendor of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, the West
will have replaced the East, radiating the light of Divine guidance." And
again: "The West hath acquired illumination from the East, but, in some
respects, the reflection of the light hath been greater in the Occident."
Furthermore, "The East hath, verily, been illumined with the light of the
Kingdom. Erelong will this same light shed a still greater illumination
upon the West."

More specifically has the Author of the Baha'i Revelation Himself chosen
to confer upon the rulers of the American continent the unique hon