station ordained
for Him through the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, forms together with them what
may be termed the Three Central Figures of a Faith that stands
unapproached in the world's spiritual history. He towers, in conjunction
with them, above the destinies of this infant Faith of God from a level to
which no individual or body ministering to its needs after Him, and for no
less a period than a full thousand years, can ever hope to rise. To
degrade His lofty rank by identifying His station with or by regarding it
as roughly equivalent to, the position of those on whom the mantle of His
authority has fallen would be an act of impiety as grave as the no less
heretical belief that inclines to exalt Him to a state of absolute
equality with either the central Figure or Forerunner of our Faith. For
wide as is the gulf that separates 'Abdu'l-Baha from Him Who is the Source
of an independent Revelation, it can never be regarded as commensurate
with the greater distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of the
Covenant and His ministers who are to carry on His work, whatever be their
name, their rank, their functions or their future achievements. Let those
who have known 'Abdu'l-Baha, who through their contact with His magnetic
personality have come to cherish for Him so fervent an admiration,
reflect, in the light of this statement, on the greatness of One Who is so
far above Him in station.

That 'Abdu'l-Baha is not a Manifestation of God, that, though the
successor of His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station, that no one
else except the Bab and Baha'u'llah can ever lay claim to such a station
before the expiration of a full thousand years--are verities which lie
embedded in the specific utterances of both the Founder of our Faith and
the Interpreter of His teachings.

"Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God," is the express
warning uttered in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, "ere the expiration of a full
thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying imposter. We pray God that
He may graciously assist him to retract and repudiate such claim. Should
he repent, God will no doubt forgive him. If, however, he persists in his
error, God will assuredly send down one who will deal mercilessly with
him. Terrible indeed is God in punishing!" "Whosoever," He adds as a
further emphasis, "interpreteth this verse otherwise than its obvious
meaning is deprived of the Spirit of God and of His mercy which
encompasseth all cr