Order, which was now to be formally established after 'Abdu'l-Baha's
passing, had already been taken by Him, and even by Baha'u'llah in the
years preceding His ascension. The appointment by Him of certain
outstanding believers in Persia as "Hands of the Cause"; the initiation of
local Assemblies and boards of consultation by 'Abdu'l-Baha in leading
Baha'i centers in both the East and the West; the formation of the Baha'i
Temple Unity in the United States of America; the establishment of local
funds for the promotion of Baha'i activities; the purchase of property
dedicated to the Faith and its future institutions; the founding of
publishing societies for the dissemination of Baha'i literature; the
erection of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world; the
construction of the Bab's mausoleum on Mt. Carmel; the institution of
hostels for the accommodation of itinerant teachers and pilgrims--these may
be regarded as the precursors of the institutions which, immediately after
the closing of the Heroic Age of the Faith, were to be permanently and
systematically established throughout the Baha'i world.

No sooner had the provisions of that Divine Charter, delineating the
features of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah been
disclosed to His followers than they set about erecting, upon the
foundations which the lives of the heroes, the saints and martyrs of that
Faith had laid, the first stage of the framework of its administrative
institutions. Conscious of the necessity of constructing, as a first step,
a broad and solid base upon which the pillars of that mighty structure
could subsequently be raised; fully aware that upon these pillars, when
firmly established, the dome, the final unit crowning the entire edifice,
must eventually rest; undeflected in their course by the crisis which the
Covenant-breakers had precipitated in the Holy Land, or the agitation
which the stirrers of mischief had provoked in Egypt, or the disturbances
resulting from the seizure by the _Sh_i'ah community of the House of
Baha'u'llah in Ba_gh_dad, or the growing dangers confronting the Faith in
Russia, or the scorn and ridicule which had greeted the initial activities
of the American Baha'i community from certain quarters that had completely
misapprehended their purpose, the pioneer builders of a divinely-conceived
Order undertook, in complete unison, and despite the great diversity in
their outlook, customs and languages, the