st century
of the Christian era offers a striking parallel; the wave of
secularization which is invading the Muhammadan ecclesiastical
institutions in Egypt and sapping the loyalty of its staunchest
supporters; the humiliating blows that have afflicted some of the most
powerful Churches of Christendom in Russia, in Western Europe and Central
America; the dissemination of those subversive doctrines that are
undermining the foundations and overthrowing the structure of seemingly
impregnable strongholds in the political and social spheres of human
activity; the signs of an impending catastrophe, strangely reminiscent of
the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, which threatens to engulf the
whole structure of present-day civilization--all witness to the tumult
which the birth of this mighty Organ of the Religion of Baha'u'llah has
cast into the world--a tumult which will grow in scope and in intensity as
the implications of this constantly evolving Scheme are more fully
understood and its ramifications more widely extended over the surface of
the globe.

A word more in conclusion. The rise and establishment of this
Administrative Order--the shell that shields and enshrines so precious a
gem--constitutes the hall-mark of this second and formative age of the
Baha'i era. It will come to be regarded, as it recedes farther and farther
from our eyes, as the chief agency empowered to usher in the concluding
phase, the consummation of this glorious Dispensation.

Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its
character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The
bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God's immutable
Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its
inspiration is no one less than Baha'u'llah Himself. Its shield and
defender are the embattled hosts of the Abha Kingdom. Its seed is the
blood of no less than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their
lives that it may be born and flourish. The axis round which its
institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and
Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Its guiding principles are the truths which He
Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so
clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws
that govern its operation and limit its functions are those which have
been expressly ordained in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The seat round which its
s