sembly has suggested to raise the sum of fifty
thousand dollars by next April, which will enable you to place the
necessary contracts for the final completion of the entire First Story of
the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, meets with my unqualified approval. It was
specially in order to initiate and encourage the progress of such a plan
that I felt impelled to pledge the sum of one thousand pounds in the
memory of these two glorious souls who, apart from the Founders of our
Faith and its Exemplar, tower together with the Greatest Holy Leaf, above
the rank and file of the faithful.

The interval separating us from that date is admittedly short. The
explosive forces which lie dormant in the international field may, ere the
expiry of these fleeting months, break out in an eruption that may prove
the most fateful that mankind has experienced. It is within the power of
the organized body of the American believers to further demonstrate the
imperturbability of their faith, the serenity of their confidence and the
unyielding tenacity of their resolve.

We stand at the threshold of the decade within which the centenary of the
birth of our Faith is to be celebrated. Scarcely more than four years
stand between us and that glorious consummation. No community, no
individual, neither in the East nor in the West, however afflictive the
circumstances that now prevail, can afford to hesitate or falter. The few
years immediately ahead are endowed with potencies that we can but dimly
appreciate. Ours is the duty and privilege to utilize to the full the
opportunities which these fate-laden years offer us. The American Baha'i
community, already responsible, over such a long period, for such heroic
acts, under such severe handicaps, cannot and will not hesitate or falter.
The past is a witness of their splendid triumphs. The future will be no
less a witness of their final victory.

December 30, 1939

DUAL, VITALLY URGENT OBLIGATION

Urge Assembly focus attention at its forthcoming meeting upon the dual,
vitally urgent obligation: the conservation of the vigor and spiritual
health of the community and the intensification of effort aiming at
realization of recently approved Temple Plan. Sleepless vigilance to ward
off subtle attacks of enemies is first prerequisite to sound unfoldment of
the processes of the enterprise already operating. The fateful forties,
pregnant for weal and woe, are ushered in. The American believers enter
them f