Chapter 13

"One night in a dream," Baha'u'llah Himself, recounting His soul-shaking experience of the first stirrings of His prophetic Mission, in the Year Nine, in that abominable pit, has written, "these exalted words were heard on every side: 'Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy Pen. Grieve Thou not for that which hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in safety. Ere long will God raise up the treasures of the earth--men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as have recognized Him'." And again, "During the days I lay in the prison of Tihran, though the galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent that precipitateth itself upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue recited what no man could bear to hear."

What still greater reward could await those who, inspired by the success achieved by the prosecutors of the second Seven Year Plan, will have arisen to carry forward to a triumphant conclusion the third phase of the Mission entrusted to them by 'Abdu'l-Baha, than that their prodigious labors, having embraced territories far beyond the confines of the continents of Europe and of America, should climax in, and be worthily commemorated through, the world-wide celebrations of the "Most Great Festival," the "King of Festivals," the "Festival of God" Himself--the Festival associated with the accession of Him Who is the Lord of the Kingdom to the throne of everlasting glory, and with the formal assumption by Him of His prophetic office? What greater reward than that the consummation of the third Seven Year Plan, marking the close of the first, and signalizing the opening of the second, epoch in the evolution of the Divine Plan, should synchronize with that greatest of all Jubilees, related to the year 1335, mentioned by Daniel in the last Chapter of His Book, and associated by 'Abdu'l-Baha with the world triumph of His Father's Faith? What greater glory than that those who have brought this initial epoch in the resistless march of a world-embracing Plan to a triumphant termination should be made to feel that they, and those gone before them, have, through their collective, their sustained, and heroic endeavors, organized through three successive stages, and covering a span of almost a quarter of a century, been vouchsafed by the Almighty the privilege of contributing, more than any other community consciously laboring in the service of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, to this blissful consummation, and to have played a preponderating role in the world triumph of its institutions?

Dearly-beloved friends! It is not for us, at this crucial hour, to delve into the future, to speculate on the possibilities of the Plan and its orientation, to conjecture on its impact on the unfoldment of an embryonic World Order, or to dwell on the glories and triumphs which it may hold in store, or to seek to delineate the mysterious course which a God given Mission, impelled by forces beyond our power to predict or appraise, may pursue. To try to obtain a clear view of the shape of things to come would be premature inasmuch as the glittering prizes to be won are directly dependent on the measure of success which the combined efforts that are now being exerted must yield. Ours is the duty to fix our gaze with undeviating attention on the duties and responsibilities confronting us at this present hour, to concentrate our resources, both material and spiritual, on the tasks that lie immediately ahead, to insure that no time is wasted, that no opportunity is missed, that no obligation is evaded, that no task is half-heartedly performed, that no decision is procrastinated. The task summoning us to a challenge, unprecedented in its gravity and force, is too vast and sacred, the time too short, the hour too perilous, the workers too few, the call too insistent, the resources too inadequate, for us to allow these precious and fleeting hours to slip from our grasp, and to suffer the prizes within our reach to be endangered or forfeited. So much depends upon us, so pregnant with possibilities is the present stage in the evolution of the Plan, that great and small, individuals, groups and Assemblies, white and colored, young and old, neophytes and veterans, settlers, pioneers, itinerant teachers and administrators, as isolated believers, as organizers of groups, and as contributors to the formation of local or national Assemblies, as builders of the Temple, as laborers on the home teaching front, or in Latin America, or in the new transatlantic field of service--all, without exception and in every sphere of activity, however modest, restricted, or inconspicuous, must participate and labor, assiduously and continually, until every ounce of our energy is spent, until, tired but blissful, our promised harvest is brought in, and our pledge to our Beloved fully redeemed.

However dark the outlook, however laborious the task, however strange and inhospitable the environment, however vast the distances that must be traversed, however scarce the amenities of life, however irksome the means of travel, however annoying the restrictions, however listless and confused the minds of the peoples and races contacted, however trying the setbacks that may be suffered, we must, under no circumstances, either falter or flinch. Our reliance on the unfailing grace of an all-loving, all-preserving, ever-sustaining, ever-watchful Providence, must, however much we may be buffeted by circumstances, remain unshaken until the very end. Shall we not, when hardships seethe about us, and our hearts momentarily quail, recall the ardent desire so poignantly voiced by 'Abdu'l-Baha in those immortal Tablets that enshrine forever His last wishes for His chosen disciples: "Oh! that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This, also, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it."

To be privileged to render, in His stead, on so colossal a scale, at such a challenging hour, and in the service of so sublime a Plan, so great and enduring a service, is a bounty which we can never adequately appraise. We stand too close to the noble edifice our hands are rearing, the din and tumult into which a war-devastated world is now plunged are too distracting, our own share in the furtherance of those global aims, task and problems that are increasingly absorbing the attention of mankind and its leaders is as yet too circumscribed, for us to be in a position to evaluate the contribution which we, as the executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Mandate, as the champion-builders of Baha'u'llah's Order, as the torch-bearers of a civilization of which that Order is the mainspring and precursor, are now being led, through the inscrutable dispensations of an almighty Providence, to make to the world triumph of our Faith, as well as to the ultimate redemption of all mankind.

Great have been the blessings, and divers the bestowals, vouchsafed to this Community ever since the compelling will of a loving Master called it into being, and raised it up for the glory and honor of His Father's Faith. Unnumbered have been the marks of solicitude which, down the years, He showered upon it, as He nursed it in its infancy, as He fostered its growth, as He sent forth His messengers and communicated His written instructions to initiate it into the mysteries of His Cause, as He vitalized it through personal contact with His own dynamic and vibrant personality, as He consecrated, through a series of significant acts, the initial activities which He Himself had enabled it to inaugurate, as He invested it, at a later stage, in the evening of His life, with that primacy that was to empower it to launch the Plan which He had conceived for its future development, as He, through the sustaining power of His spirit from on high, assisted it to erect the framework of those institutions that were to safeguard its unfoldment and canalize its energies, as He led it forward to embark upon the first stage of His own revealed Plan which was to enable it to achieve such exploits and garner such a harvest in the virgin territories of the New World, and as He, with that same watchful and loving care, is now marshalling its forces and sounding the signal for a still greater and more brilliant deployment of those forces, at a time of great commotion and distress, in one of the most agitated storm centers of the world.

Strange, indeed, as we look back over the last fifty years that have witnessed the creation and unfoldment of so powerful an agency for the execution of Baha'u'llah's purpose for mankind, that he who had first raised his voice in public on behalf of so mighty a Faith should have sprung from the ranks and been recognized as one of the leading representatives of that narrow and hostile ecclesiastical order which, as the Faith advances and storms still greater heights, will increasingly launch against it its determined attacks. Stranger still that he whom posterity will recognize to have been the founder of that Faith in the Western Hemisphere, whom the Center of the Covenant, in recognition of so signal a service, had acclaimed as "Baha's Peter" and "the Second Columbus", should have, in his vanity and ambition, deserted the Fold he had labored to gather, should have allied himself with the Arch-Breaker of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, and remained until the end of his life, a sworn and bitter enemy of the One Who had entrusted him with such a holy and historic errand, and conferred upon him such glowing tributes. More extraordinary still that he who had been instrumental in carrying the Tablets of the Divine Plan from the One Who had revealed them to those into whose care they were to be committed, who had enjoyed, for so long and so intimately, near access to his Master as amanuensis, companion and interpreter, should have been blinded by his inordinate ambition, and should have arisen, with all the resources at his disposal, to attack and undermine the institutions of an Order which, springing from the authentic Will of 'Abdu'l-Baha, had been designed by Him to be the chief instrument for the vigorous prosecution of that Plan and the fulfillment of its ultimate purpose.

Such reflections, far from engendering in our minds and hearts the slightest trace of perplexity, of discouragement or doubt, should reinforce the basis of our convictions, demonstrate to us the incorruptibility, the strange workings and the invincibility of a Faith which, despite the assaults which malignant and redoubtable enemies from the ranks of kings, princes and ecclesiastics have repeatedly launched against it, and the violent internal tests that have shaken it for more than a century, and the relative obscurity of its champions, and the unpropitiousness of the times and the perversity of the generations contemporaneous with its rise and growth, has gone from strength to strength, has preserved its unity and integrity, has diffused its light over five continents, reared the institutions of its Administrative Order and spread its ramifications to the four corners of the earth, and launched its systematic campaigns in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.

For such benefits, for such an arresting and majestic vindication of the undefeatable powers inherent in our precious Faith, we can but bow our heads in humility, awe and thanksgiving, renew our pledge of fealty to it, and, each covenanting in his own heart, resolve to prove faithful to that pledge, and persevere to the very end, until our earthly share of servitude to so transcendent and priceless a Cause has been totally and completely fulfilled.

June 15, 1946.

THE UTMOST VIGOR, VIGILANCE AND CONSECRATION

The new Plan on which the American Baha'i community has embarked, in the course of the opening years of the second Baha'i century, is of such vastness and complexity as to require the utmost vigor, vigilance and consecration on the part of both the general body of its prosecutors and those who are called upon, as their National elected representatives, to conduct its operation, define its processes, watch over its execution, and insure its ultimate success. The obstacles confronting both its participants and organizers, particularly in the European field, are formidable, and call for the utmost courage, perseverance, fortitude and self-sacrifice.

The precarious international situation in both Hemispheres, the distress and preoccupation of the masses, in most of the countries to which pioneers will soon be proceeding, with the cares of every day life, the severe restrictions which are still imposed on visitors and travellers in foreign lands, the religious conservatism and spiritual lethargy which characterize the population in most of the lands where the new pioneers are to labor, add to the challenge of the task, and render all the more glorious the labors of the national community that has arisen to achieve what posterity will regard as the greatest collective enterprise, not only in the history of the community itself, but in the annals of the Faith with which it stands identified.

The initial success of the enterprise which has been so auspiciously launched, the enthusiasm which it has already engendered throughout Latin America, the hopes it has aroused amid the suffering and scattered believers in war-torn Europe, the feelings of admiration and envy it has excited throughout several communities in the Baha'i world in both the East and the West, augur well for the future course of its operation, and foreshadow the splendors of the victories which its consummation must witness. The forces that have been released through the birth of the Plan must be directed into the most effective channels, the spirit that has been kindled must be continually nourished, the facilities at the disposal of its organizers must be fully utilized, each and every barrier that may obstruct its expansion must be determinedly removed, every assistance which Baha'i communities in various lands may wish, or be able, to offer, should be whole-heartedly welcomed, every measure that will serve to reinforce the bonds uniting the newly-fledged communities in the Latin world, and to stimulate the movement, and raise the spirits, of itinerant teachers and settlers laboring in the continent of Europe, must be speedily undertaken, if the colossal task, which in the course of seven brief years must be carried out, is to be befittingly consummated.

The sterner the task, the graver the responsibilities, the wider the field of exertion, the more persistently must the privileged members of this enviable community strive, and the loftier must be the height to which they should aspire, in the course of their God-given mission, and throughout every stage in the irresistible and divinely guided evolution of their community life.

Setbacks may well surprise them; trials and disappointments may tax their patience and resourcefulness; the forces of darkness, either from within or from without, may seek to dampen their ardor, to disrupt their unity and break their spirit; pitfalls may surround the little band that must act as a vanguard to the host which must, in the years to come, spiritually raise up the sorely ravaged continent of Europe. None of these, however fierce, sinister or unyielding they may appear, must be allowed to deflect the protagonists of a God-impelled Plan, from the course which 'Abdu'l-Baha has chosen for them, and which the agencies of a firmly established, laboriously erected, Administrative Order, are now enabling them to effectively pursue.

That they may press forward with undiminished fervor, with undimmed vision, with unfaltering steps, with indivisible unity, with unflinching determination until the shining goal is attained is my constant prayer, my ardent hope, and the dearest wish of my heart.

July 20, 1946

DISTINGUISHED SERVANT

Profoundly grieve passing dearly-beloved, great-hearted, high-minded, distinguished servant Baha'u'llah, John Bosch. His saintly life, pioneer services, historic contribution of institution of summer school, entitle him to rank among outstanding figures of the closing years heroic, and opening years of the formative age of the Baha'i Dispensation. Concourse on high extol his exalted services. Assure his wife and valiant companion of my deepfelt sympathy. Advise hold special gathering in Temple as tribute to his imperishable memory.

Cablegram July 29, 1946

THIS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE

As the opening phase of the Second Seven Year Plan draws inexorably to a close, the American Baha'i community, which has already abundantly demonstrated its capacity to carry to a triumphant conclusion the initial stage of the Plan conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha, must equally--nay, even more convincingly--prove to the entire Baha'i world, its inflexible determination and undoubted ability to discharge befittingly whatever responsibilities the constant evolution of the Plan may impose upon its members under any circumstances and in whatever continent of the globe. As the field of their historic labors steadily widens, as the implications of their high mission become more apparent, as the complexity of their task increases, as the agencies designed to facilitate and accelerate its execution multiply, the members of this community must, individually as well as collectively, redouble their efforts, evince a nobler spirit of self-sacrifice, display greater resourcefulness, unity, initiative, steadfastness and enterprise, rise to loftier heights of heroism and self-abnegation, and establish, more convincingly than ever, their right to be regarded as the worthy champions of a glorious Cause, the principal builders of a unique Order, the chosen trustees and executors of a divinely conceived Plan.

Theirs is the duty, at once urgent, inescapable and sacred, to scatter more widely and as far as the extremities of both the North and South American continents, to cross the ocean in ever-increasing numbers, and reinforce, rapidly and systematically, the outposts of the Faith in Western Europe, lay, on a definite and unassailable basis, the foundations of new and flourishing communities, disseminate, energetically, and on a far more extensive scale, the literature of the Faith in all the languages which the execution of the Plan, at its present stage, demands, collaborate more closely with the two National Assemblies and their subsidiary agencies already functioning in that continent, initiate, wisely and patiently, whatever measures may be required to further the purposes of the Plan, and surmount, at whatever cost, every obstacle they may encounter in their path.

As to those who, owing to circumstances beyond their control, are unavoidably prevented from participating in this national and inter-continental crusade, and are denied the privilege of struggling in the forefront of battle, either at home or abroad, theirs is the no less meritorious task, to aid by every means in their power, whether through financial assistance, constant support and encouragement, the supply of literature or the appointment of deputies, the little band of their heroic brethren, who have assumed so preponderating a share of the responsibilities now facing the entire community: all, without exception, without reservation, without further delay, must participate. Each and every one, to the fullest extent of his or her ability, and however distracting the prevailing circumstances, or circumscribed the means, must arise to contribute to the success of this new enterprise, that will at once safeguard the fruits already garnered through the successful conclusion of the first stage of the Divine Plan, and enable its prosecutors to launch, at the appointed time, the third and a still more glorious stage in its evolution.

There is no time to lose. The task, though prodigious, is not beyond the capacity of those, who, in so short a time, in such distant fields, over so wide an area, and in the midst of a people so alien in temperament, language and custom, have won such conspicuous victories for their beloved Faith, and laid so enduring a foundation for its nascent institutions.

This gallant community is now summoned to undertake, further afield and in circumstances admittedly more adverse and challenging, a task infinitely more meritorious, and considerably richer in its potentialities. To fail, at this critical juncture to rise to the height of the occasion, would jeopardize the colossal work so painstakingly achieved in the course of many long years, and irretrievably shatter the hopes for the early opening of the third and most shining phase of the Divine Plan,--a stage whose completion must mark the closing of the initial Epoch in the Plan's progressive unfoldment.

May this community, faithful to its pledge and obedient to 'Abdu'l-Baha's mandate, arise as one man and carry out, in its entirety and within the stipulated time, the task on which it has so spontaneously embarked.

October 5, 1946

THE FORCES MYSTERIOUSLY RELEASED

The opening year of the second Seven Year Plan so auspiciously inaugurated is half spent. The entire American Baha'i Community, galvanized through fuller perception of the progressive unfoldment of its glorious destiny, is geared to a higher speed of organized activity, and uplifted to a new level of collective achievement. The forces mysteriously released, designed to direct the operation and stimulate the processes to insure the consummation of the second stage of the Divine Plan, are inconceivably potent. Full, rapid use of these forces, by an organized community alive to the sublimity of its mission, is imperative. The manifold agencies, local, regional, national and intercontinental, directly responsible for prosecution of the Plan are now called upon to achieve, in their respective spheres, ere termination of this current year, successes so conspicuous as shall immeasurably fortify hopes of winning, within the stipulated time, a total, decisive victory. An immediate notable increase in the number of pioneers, particularly for the newly-opened transatlantic field of service, is the supreme necessity of this challenging hour. The present trickle must at all costs swell into a steady flow of consecrated settlers and itinerant teachers, who, mindful of the Master's poignant plea, careless of their limited resources, undismayed by the somber international outlook, undeterred by the formidable character of the tasks undertaken or by the obstacles to be surmounted, will, in both the administrative and teaching spheres, arise to accomplish feats outshining the exploits immortalizing the record of American Baha'i stewardship in both continents of the New World since the inception of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. May the months immediately ahead be productive of results exceeding my fondest expectations.

Cablegram October 7, 1946

THE PIVOT ON WHICH HINGES SUCCESS

I recall with profound emotion, on the morrow of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, the dramatic circumstances marking simultaneously the termination of the Heroic Age, and the commencement of the Formative Period, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

I acclaim with thankfulness, joy and pride the American Baha'i community's manifold, incomparable services rendered the Faith at home and across the seas in the course of this quarter century.