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The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh
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1 |
To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout
the United States and Canada.
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Friends and fellow-defenders of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh:
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Significant as have been the changes that have lately overtaken
a swiftly awakening humanity at this transitional phase of its
checkered history, the steady consolidation of the institutions which
the administrators of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh are, in every land,
toiling to establish should appear no less remarkable to even those
who are as yet imperfectly acquainted with the obstacles they have
had to surmount or the meagre resources on which they could rely.
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4 |
That a Faith which, ten years ago, was severely shaken by the
sudden removal of an incomparable Master should have, in the face
of tremendous obstacles, maintained its unity, resisted the malignant
onslaught of its ill-wishers, silenced its calumniators, broadened
the basis of its far-flung administration, and raised upon it
institutions symbolizing its ideals of worship and service, should
be deemed sufficient evidence of the invincible power with which
the Almighty has chosen to invest it from the moment of its
inception.
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That the Cause associated with the name of Bahá'u'lláh feeds
itself upon those hidden springs of celestial strength which no force
of human personality, whatever its glamour, can replace; that its
reliance is solely upon that mystic Source with which no worldly
advantage, be it wealth, fame, or learning can compare; that it
propagates itself by ways mysterious and utterly at variance with
the standards accepted by the generality of mankind, will, if not
already apparent, become increasingly manifest as it forges ahead
towards fresh conquests in its struggle for the spiritual regeneration
of mankind.
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6 |
Indeed, how could it, unsupported as it has ever been by the
counsels and the resources of the wise, the rich, and the learned in
the land of its birth, have succeeded in breaking asunder the shackles
that weighed upon it at the hour of its birth, in emerging unscathed
from the storms that agitated its infancy, had not its animating
breath been quickened by that spirit which is born of God,
and on which all success, wherever and however it be sought, must
ultimately depend?
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7 |
It is not necessary for me to recall, even in their briefest outline,
the heart-rending details of that appalling tragedy which
marked the birth-pangs of our beloved Faith, enacted in a land
notorious for its unrestrained fanaticisms, its crass ignorance, its
unbridled cruelty. Nor do I need to expatiate on the valor, the
sublime fortitude, that defied the cruel torture-mongers of that race,
or stress the number, or emphasize the purity of the lives, of those
who died willingly that their Cause might live and prosper. Nor is
it necessary to dwell upon the indignation which those atrocities
evoked, and the feelings of unqualified admiration that surged, in
the breasts of countless men and women, in regions remote from
the scene of those indescribable cruelties. Suffice it to say that upon
these heroes of Bahá'u'lláh's native land was bestowed the inestimable
privilege of sealing with their life-blood the early triumphs
of their cherished Faith, and of paving the way for its approaching
victory. In the blood of the unnumbered martyrs of Persia lay the
seed of the Divinely-appointed Administration which, though transplanted
from its native soil, is now budding out, under your loving
care, into a new order, destined to overshadow all mankind.
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