terpreter, has since, with irresistible power, raised up communities in
many countries,(23) and challenges the weakness of a decaying civilization
with a body of teachings that alone reveal the future of a despairing
humanity.

The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha itself set forth with complete
clarity the mystery of the stations of the Bab and of Baha'u'llah, and His
own mission:--

This is the foundation of the belief of the people of Baha (may my
life be offered up for them): "His Holiness, the Exalted One (the
Bab), is the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the
Forerunner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abha Beauty
(may my life be a sacrifice for His steadfast friends) is the
Supreme Manifestation of God and the Dayspring of His Most Divine
Essence. All others are servants unto Him and do His bidding."

By this statement, and by numerous others in which 'Abdu'l-Baha emphasized
the importance of basing one's knowledge of the Faith upon His general
Tablets, a foundation for unity of belief was established, with the result
that the differences of understanding caused by reference to His Tablets
to individuals, in which the Master answered personal questions, rapidly
disappeared. Above all, the establishment of a definite administrative
order, with the Guardian at its head, transferred to institutions all
authority previously wielded in the form of prestige and influence by
individual Baha'is in the various local groups.

Exemplar of Baha'i Life

Baha'u'llah was preeminently the Revealer of the Word. His forty years'
imprisonment gave Him but limited opportunities of intercourse with His
fellowmen. To 'Abdu'l-Baha, therefore, fell the important task of becoming
the exponent of the Revelation, the Doer of the Word, the Great Exemplar
of the Baha'i life in actual contact with the world of today, in the most
diverse phases of its myriad activities. He showed that it is still
possible, amid the whirl and rush of modern life, amid the self-love and
struggle for material prosperity that everywhere prevail, to live the life
of entire devotion to God and to the service of one's fellows, which
Christ and Baha'u'llah and all the Prophets have demanded of men. Through
trial and vicissitudes, calumnies, and treachery on the one hand, and
through love and praise, devotion and veneration on the other, He stood
like a lighthouse founded on a rock, around which wintry