hose advent marks the
return of the Prophet Elijah--to Mt. Carmel, and their interment in that
holy mountain, not far from the cave of that Prophet Himself, the Plan so
gloriously envisaged by Baha'u'llah, in the evening of His life, had been
at last executed, and the arduous labors associated with the early and
tumultuous years of the ministry of the appointed Center of His Covenant
crowned with immortal success. A focal center of Divine illumination and
power, the very dust of which 'Abdu'l-Baha averred had inspired Him,
yielding in sacredness to no other shrine throughout the Baha'i world
except the Sepulcher of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation Himself, had
been permanently established on that mountain, regarded from time
immemorial as sacred. A structure, at once massive, simple and imposing;
nestling in the heart of Carmel, the "Vineyard of God"; flanked by the
Cave of Elijah on the west, and by the hills of Galilee on the east;
backed by the plain of Sharon, and facing the silver-city of Akka, and
beyond it the Most Holy Tomb, the Heart and Qiblih of the Baha'i world;
overshadowing the colony of German Templars who, in anticipation of the
"coming of the Lord," had forsaken their homes and foregathered at the
foot of that mountain, in the very year of Baha'u'llah's Declaration in
Ba_gh_dad (1863), the mausoleum of the Bab had now, with heroic effort and
in impregnable strength been established as "the Spot round which the
Concourse on high circle in adoration." Events have already demonstrated
through the extension of the Edifice itself, through the embellishment of
its surroundings, through the acquisition of extensive endowments in its
neighborhood, and through its proximity to the resting-places of the wife,
the son and daughter of Baha'u'llah Himself, that it was destined to
acquire with the passing of the years a measure of fame and glory
commensurate with the high purpose that had prompted its founding. Nor
will it, as the years go by, and the institutions revolving around the
World Administrative Center of the future Baha'i Commonwealth are
gradually established, cease to manifest the latent potentialities with
which that same immutable purpose has endowed it. Resistlessly will this
Divine institution flourish and expand, however fierce the animosity which
its future enemies may evince, until the full measure of its splendor will
have been disclosed before the eyes of all mankind.

"Haste thee, O Carmel!"