ted to the
diffusion of the knowledge of His Faith and teachings in a measure which
no other single agency, operating within the framework of its
Administrative Order, has ever remotely approached.

"When the foundation of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar is laid in America,"
'Abdu'l-Baha Himself has predicted, "and that Divine Edifice is completed,
a most wonderful and thrilling motion will appear in the world of
existence... From that point of light the spirit of teaching, spreading
the Cause of God and promoting the teachings of God, will permeate to all
parts of the world." "Out of this Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar," He has affirmed
in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, "without doubt, thousands of
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars will be born." "It marks," He, furthermore, has
written, "the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth." And again: "It is
the manifest Standard waving in the center of that great continent."
"Thousands of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars," He, when dedicating the grounds of
the Temple, declared, "...will be built in the East and in the West, but
this, being the first erected in the Occident, has great importance."
"This organization of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar," He, referring to that
edifice, has moreover stated, "will be a model for the coming centuries,
and will hold the station of the mother."

"Its inception," the architect of the Temple has himself testified, "was
not from man, for, as musicians, artists, poets receive their inspiration
from another realm, so the Temple's architect, through all his years of
labor, was ever conscious that Baha'u'llah was the creator of this
building to be erected to His glory." "Into this new design," he,
furthermore, has written, "...is woven, in symbolic form, the great Baha'i
teaching of unity--the unity of all religions and of all mankind. There are
combinations of mathematical lines, symbolizing those of the universe, and
in their intricate merging of circle into circle, and circle within
circle, we visualize the merging of all the religions into one." And
again: "A circle of steps, eighteen in all, will surround the structure on
the outside, and lead to the auditorium floor. These eighteen steps
represent the eighteen first disciples of the Bab, and the door to which
they lead stands for the Bab Himself." "As the essence of the pure
original teachings of the historic religions was the same ... in the
Baha'i Temple is used a composite architecture, expressing the essence in
the li