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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
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Pages 52-54
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America's Contribution to the Cause
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1 |
For great as have been the attainments and unforgettable the
services of the pioneers of the heroic age of the Cause in Persia,
the contribution which their spiritual descendants, the American
believers, the champion-builders of the organic structure of the
Cause, are now making towards the fulfillment of the Plan which
must usher in the golden age of the Cause is no less meritorious
in this strenuous period of its history. Few, if any, I venture to
assert, among these privileged framers and custodians of the constitution
of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh are even dimly aware of the
preponderating rôle which the North American continent is destined
to play in the future orientation of their world-embracing Cause.
Nor does any appreciable number among them seem sufficiently
conscious of the decisive influence which they already exercise in
the direction and management of its affairs.
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"The continent of America," wrote `Abdu'l-Bahá in February,
1917, "is, in the eyes of the one true God, the land wherein the
splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His
Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide, and the free
assemble."
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That the supporters of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, throughout the
United States and Canada, are increasingly demonstrating the truth
of this solemn affirmation is evident to even a casual observer of
the record of their manifold services, whether in their individual
capacities or through their concerted endeavors. The manifestations
of spontaneous loyalty which marked their response to the expressed
wishes of a departed Master; the generosity with which
they have, on more than one occasion, arisen to lend a helping hand
to the needy and harassed among their brethren in Persia; the
vigor with which they have resisted the shameless attacks which
unrelenting enemies, both from within and without, have, with
increasing frequency, launched against them; the example which
the body of their national representatives have set to their sister
Assemblies in fashioning the instruments essential to the effective
discharge of their collective duties; their successful intervention on
behalf of their persecuted fellow-workers in Russia; the moral support
they have extended to their Egyptian fellow-disciples at a most
critical stage in their struggle for emancipation from the fetters
of Islamic orthodoxy; the historic services rendered by those intrepid
pioneers who, faithful to the call of `Abdu'l-Bahá, forsook
their homes to plant, in the uttermost corners of the globe, the
standard of His Faith; and, last but not least, the magnificence of
their self-sacrifice, culminating in the completion of the super-structure
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár--these stand out each as an eloquent
testimony to the indomitable character of the faith Bahá'u'lláh has
kindled in their hearts.
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Who, contemplating so splendid a record of service, can doubt
that these faithful stewards of the redeeming grace of God have
preserved, undivided and unimpaired, the priceless heritage entrusted
to their charge? Have they not, one might well reflect, in
ways which only future historians will indicate, approached the high
standard that characterized those deeds of imperishable renown
accomplished by those that have gone before them?
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Not by the material resources which the members of this infant
community can now summon to their aid; not by the numerical
strength of its present-day supporters; nor by any direct tangible
benefits its votaries can as yet confer upon the multitude of the
needy and the disconsolate among their countrymen, should its
potentialities be tested or its worth determined. Nowhere but in the
purity of its precepts, the sublimity of its standards, the integrity
of its laws, the reasonableness of its claims, the comprehensiveness
of its scope, the universality of its program, the flexibility of its
institutions, the lives of its founders, the heroism of its martyrs,
and the transforming power of its influence, should the unprejudiced
observer seek to obtain the true criterion that can enable him to
fathom its mysteries or to estimate its virtue.
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