S, IS THE VISTA THAT STRETCHES ..."

Such, dearly beloved friends, is the vista that stretches before the eyes,
and challenges the resources, of the American Baha'i community in these,
the concluding years of the First Century of the Baha'i Era. Such are the
qualities and qualifications demanded of them for the proper discharge of
their responsibilities and duties. Such are the requirements, the
possibilities, and the objectives of the Plan that claims every ounce of
their energy. Who knows but that these few remaining, fast-fleeting years,
may not be pregnant with events of unimaginable magnitude, with ordeals
more severe than any that humanity has as yet experienced, with conflicts
more devastating than any which have preceded them. Dangers, however
sinister, must, at no time, dim the radiance of their new-born faith.
Strife and confusion, however bewildering, must never befog their vision.
Tribulations, however afflictive, must never shatter their resolve.
Denunciations, however clamorous, must never sap their loyalty. Upheavals,
however cataclysmic, must never deflect their course. The present Plan,
embodying the budding hopes of a departed Master, must be pursued,
relentlessly pursued, whatever may befall them in the future, however
distracting the crises that may agitate their country or the world. Far
from yielding in their resolve, far from growing oblivious of their task,
they should, at no time, however much buffeted by circumstances, forget
that the synchronization of such world-shaking crises with the progressive
unfoldment and fruition of their divinely appointed task is itself the
work of Providence, the design of an inscrutable Wisdom, and the purpose
of an all-compelling Will, a Will that directs and controls, in its own
mysterious way, both the fortunes of the Faith and the destinies of men.
Such simultaneous processes of rise and of fall, of integration and of
disintegration, of order and chaos, with their continuous and reciprocal
reactions on each other, are but aspects of a greater Plan, one and
indivisible, whose Source is God, whose author is Baha'u'llah, the theater
of whose operations is the entire planet, and whose ultimate objectives
are the unity of the human race and the peace of all mankind.

Reflections such as these should steel the resolve of the entire Baha'i
community, should dissipate their forebodings, and arouse them to
rededicate themselves to every single provision of that Divine