erse of which is the fundamental, though not as yet universally
recognized, principle of this Revelation. It would also justify the charge
with which, all throughout 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry, the Covenant-Breakers
have striven to poison the minds and pervert the understanding of
Baha'u'llah's loyal followers.

It would be more correct, and in consonance with the established
principles of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, if instead of maintaining this
fictitious identity with reference to 'Abdu'l-Baha, we regard the
Forerunner and the Founder of our Faith as identical in reality--a truth
which the text of the Suratu'l-Haykal unmistakably affirms. "Had the
Primal Point (the Bab) been someone else beside Me as ye claim," is
Baha'u'llah's explicit statement, "and had attained My presence, verily He
would have never allowed Himself to be separated from Me, but rather We
would have had mutual delights with each other in My Days." "He Who now
voiceth the Word of God," Baha'u'llah again affirms, "is none other except
the Primal Point Who hath once again been made manifest." "He is," He thus
refers to Himself in a Tablet addressed to one of the Letters of the
Living, "the same as the One Who appeared in the year sixty (1260 A.H.).
This verily is one of His mighty signs." "Who," He pleads in the
Suriy-i-Damm, "will arise to secure the triumph of the Primal Beauty (the
Bab) revealed in the countenance of His succeeding Manifestation?"
Referring to the Revelation proclaimed by the Bab He conversely
characterizes it as "My own previous Manifestation."

That 'Abdu'l-Baha is not a Manifestation of God, that He gets His light,
His inspiration and sustenance direct from the Fountain-head of the Baha'i
Revelation; that He reflects even as a clear and perfect Mirror the rays
of Baha'u'llah's glory, and does not inherently possess that indefinable
yet all-pervading reality the exclusive possession of which is the
hallmark of Prophethood; that His words are not equal in rank, though they
possess an equal validity with the utterances of Baha'u'llah; that He is
not to be acclaimed as the return of Jesus Christ, the Son Who will come
"in the glory of the Father"--these truths find added justification, and
are further reinforced, by the following statement of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
addressed to some believers in America, with which I may well conclude
this section: "You have written that there is a difference among the
believers concerning the 'Second Coming of