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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 110-111
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A Turning Point in American Bahá'í History
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My soul is thrilled and my heart is filled with gratitude as I
contemplate--looking back upon six decades of eventful American
Bahá'í history--the chain of magnificent achievements which, from
the dawn of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in the West until the present day,
have signalized the birth, marked the rise and distinguished the unfoldment
of the glorious mission of the American Bahá'í Community. Of
all Bahá'í communities in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres,
with the sole exception of its venerable sister community in
Bahá'u'lláh's native land, it alone may well claim to have released
forces, and set in motion events, which stand unparalleled in the annals
of the Faith; while in the course of the last fifty years, comprising the
concluding years of the Heroic and the opening epochs of the Formative
Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation, it can confidently boast of a record
of stewardship which, for its scope, effectiveness and splendor, is unmatched
by that of any other community in the entire Bahá'í world.
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The first to awaken to the call of the New Day in the western
world; the first to spontaneously arise to befittingly erect the Mother
Temple of the West; the first to grasp the implications, evolve the
pattern and lay the basis of the structure of the Bahá'í Administrative
Order in the entire Bahá'í world; the first to openly and systematically
proclaim the fundamental principles of the Faith, to adopt effectual
measures for its defense, to invite the attention of royalty to its
teachings, to devise an adequate machinery for the translation, the
publication and the dissemination of its literature and to provide the
means for the creation of its subsidiary institutions; the first to champion
the cause of the oppressed and to generously contribute to the
alleviation of the sufferings of the needy and persecuted among the
followers of Bahá'u'lláh; the first to inaugurate collective enterprises for
the propagation of His Cause; the first to assert its independence in the
West; the first to lay an unassailable foundation for the erection of
auxiliary institutions designed to multiply its financial resources; and,
more recently, the first to achieve, as befits its primacy, the initial task
devolving upon it in pursuance of the newly launched World Spiritual
Crusade, this community has abundantly merited, by the quality of its
deeds and the magnitude of its exploits, the distinctive titles of the
cradle of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, of the vanguard of His
world-conquering host, of the standard-bearers of the oneness of mankind,
of the chief trustees of the Plan devised by the Center of the
Covenant and of the torch-bearers of an as yet unborn world civilization.
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