themselves, with equal zest and
consecration, to the next more arduous task of erecting the superstructure
of an edifice the cornerstone of which 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself had laid. And
when that feat was achieved, this community, alive to the passionate
pleas, exhortations, and promises recorded in the Tablets of the Divine
Plan, resolved to undertake yet another task, which in its scope and
spiritual potentialities is sure to outshine any of the works they have
already accomplished. Launching with unquenchable enthusiasm and dauntless
courage the Seven Year Plan, as the first and practical step towards the
fulfillment of the mission prescribed in those epoch-making Tablets, they
entered, with a spirit of renewed consecration, upon their dual task, the
consummation of which, it is hoped, will synchronize with the celebration
of the centenary of the birth of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Well aware that
every advance made in the external ornamentation of their majestic edifice
would directly react on the progress of the teaching campaign initiated by
them in both the northern and southern American continents, and realizing
that every victory gained in the teaching field would, in its turn,
facilitate the work, and hasten the completion, of their Temple, they are
now pressing on, with courage and faith, in their efforts to discharge, in
both of its phases, their obligations under the Plan they have dedicated
themselves to execute.

Let them not, however, imagine that the carrying out of the Seven Year
Plan, coinciding as it does with the termination of the first century of
the Baha'i era, signifies either the termination of, or even an
interruption in, the work which the unerring Hand of the Almighty is
directing them to perform. The opening of the second century of the Baha'i
era must needs disclose greater vistas, usher in further stages, and
witness the initiation of plans more far-reaching than any as yet
conceived. The Plan on which is now focused the attention, the
aspirations, and the resources of the entire community of the American
believers should be viewed as a mere beginning, as a trial of strength, a
stepping-stone to a crusade of still greater magnitude, if the duties and
responsibilities with which the Author of the Divine Plan has invested
them are to be honorably and entirely fulfilled.

For the consummation of the present Plan can result in no more than the
formation of at least one center in each of the Republi