ce; 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.

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?

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 Baha'u'llah'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.

America's Contribution to the Cause

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