ng influences that now
hold in their grip the whole of the civilized world.

How clearly and strikingly the following words of 'Abdu'l-Baha are being
demonstrated at this hour: "The darkness of error that has enveloped the
East and the West is, in this most great cycle, battling with the light of
Divine Guidance. Its swords and its spears are very sharp and pointed; its
army keenly bloodthirsty." "This day," He, in another passage has written,
"the powers of all the leaders of religion are directed towards the
dispersion of the congregation of the All-Merciful, and the shattering of
the Divine Edifice. The hosts of the world, whether material, cultural or
political are from every side launching their assault, for the Cause is
great, very great. Its greatness is, in this day, clear and manifest to
men's eyes."

The one chief remaining citadel, the mighty arm which still raises aloft
the standard of an unconquerable Faith, is none other than the blessed
community of the followers of the Most Great Name in the North American
continent. By its works, and through the unfailing protection vouchsafed
to it by an almighty Providence, this distinguished member of the body of
the constantly interacting Baha'i communities of East and West, bids fair
to be universally regarded as the cradle, as well as the stronghold, of
that future New World Order, which is at once the promise and the glory of
the Dispensation associated with the name of Baha'u'llah.

Let anyone inclined to either belittle the unique station conferred upon
this community, or to question the role it will be called upon to play in
the days to come, ponder the implication of these pregnant and highly
illuminating words uttered by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and addressed to it at a time
when the fortunes of a world groaning beneath the burden of a devastating
war had reached their lowest ebb. "The continent of America," He so
significantly wrote, "is, in the eyes of the one true God, the land
wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries
of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide, and the
free assemble."

Already, the community of the believers of the North American continent--at
once the prime mover and pattern of the future communities which the Faith
of Baha'u'llah is destined to raise up throughout the length and breadth
of the Western Hemisphere--has, despite the prevailing gloom, shown its
capacity to be recognized as the to