contribute. The echoes
of the mighty trumpet blast, now so providentially sounded, awakening a
multitude of the ignorant and the skeptical, both high and low, to the
existence and significance of the Message of Baha'u'llah, must under no
circumstances, and at such a propitious hour, be allowed to die out. Nay,
their reverberations must be followed up by further calls designed to
proclaim, in still more resounding tones, the aims and tenets of this
glorious Cause, and to expose, whilst avoiding any attack on the ruling
authorities, even more convincingly than before, the barbarous ferocity of
the acts which have been perpetrated, as well as the odious fanaticism
which has inspired such conduct.

Strenuous and urgent as is the task falling to the lot of a community
already so over-burdened with a multiplicity of unavoidable obligations,
the possibilities involved in the assumption of this supplementary
responsibility are truly tremendous, the benefits that are destined to
accrue from its proper discharge are immense, and the reward inestimably
rich.

Let them remember, as they pursue diligently this sacred task, that such a
publicity, following closely upon such dire tribulations, afflicting so
large a number of their brethren, in so sacred a land, cannot but prove to
be a prelude, however slow the process involved, to the emancipation of
these same valiant sufferers from the galling fetters of an antiquated
religious orthodoxy, which, great as has been its decline in the course of
over a century, still wields considerable power and exercises a widespread
influence in high circles as well as among the masses. Such an
emancipation, which cannot be confined to Baha'u'llah's native land, will,
in varying measure, have its repercussions in Islamic countries, or may be
even preceded by a similar phenomenon in neighboring territories,
hastening and adding fresh impetus to the bursting of the bonds that
fetter the freedom of the followers of God's infant Faith.

WORLD RECOGNITION OF THE FAITH

Such a consummation will, in its turn, pave the way for the recognition of
that Faith as an independent religion established on a basis of absolute
equality with its sister religions, enjoying the unqualified protection of
the civil authorities for its followers and its institutions, and fully
empowered, in all matters related to personal status, to apply without any
reservations the laws and ordinances ordained in the Most Hol