s, and leads them on to capture the cities of men's hearts. A
continent, twice blessed by 'Abdu'l-Baha's successive visits to its
shores, and the scene of His first public appearance in the West; which
has been the cradle of a civilization to some of whose beneficent features
the pen of Baha'u'llah has paid significant tribute; on whose soil both
the Greek and Roman civilizations were born and flourished; which has
contributed so richly to the unfoldment of American civilization; the
fountainhead of American culture; the mother of Christendom, and the scene
of the greatest exploits of the followers of Jesus Christ; in some of
whose outlying territories have been won some of the most resplendent
victories which ushered in the Golden Age of Islam; which sustained, in
its very heart, the violent impact of the onrushing hosts of that Faith,
intent on the subjugation of its cities, but which refused to bend the
knee to its invaders, and succeeded in the end in repulsing their
assault--such a continent is now experiencing, at the hands of the little
as yet unnoticed band of pioneers sent forth by the enviable, the
privileged, the dynamic American Baha'i Community, the first stirrings of
that spiritual revolution which must culminate, in the Golden Age that is
as yet unborn, in the permanent establishment of Baha'u'llah's Order
throughout that continent.

DIVINE PLAN CHALLENGES NORTH AMERICAN BELIEVERS

One word in conclusion to those to whom the Tablets of so stupendous a
Plan have been addressed, to whose care the destinies of so prodigious an
enterprise have been committed, and of whom such titanic efforts are now
demanded. I can do no better than recall, nor can I sufficiently
emphasize, or refrain from quoting anew, those stirring and pregnant
passages that illuminate the pages of 'Abdu'l-Baha's epoch-making Tablets.

In one of these Tablets, addressed to the believers in the Northeastern
States, these weighty and highly significant words are recorded: "All
countries, in the estimation of the one true God, are but one country, and
all cities and villages are on an equal footing... Through faith and
certitude, and the precedence achieved by one over another, however, the
dweller conferreth honor upon the dwelling, some of the countries achieve
distinction, and attain a preeminent position. For instance,
notwithstanding that some of the countries of Europe and of America are
distinguished by, and surpass other co