ed, the obstacles
that must be overcome, and the responsibilities that must be assumed, to
enable a sore-tried Faith to pass through the successive stages of
unmitigated obscurity, of active repression, and of complete emancipation,
leading in turn to its being acknowledged as an independent Faith,
enjoying the status of full equality with its sister religions, to be
followed by its establishment and recognition as a State religion, which
in turn must give way to its assumption of the rights and prerogatives
associated with the Baha'i state, functioning in the plenitude of its
powers, a stage which must ultimately culminate in the emergence of the
worldwide Baha'i Commonwealth, animated wholly by the spirit, and
operating solely in direct conformity with the laws and principles of
Baha'u'llah.

The challenge offered by these opportunities the American believers, I
feel confident, will, in addition to their answer to the teaching call
voiced by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Tablets, unhesitatingly take up, and will,
with their traditional fearlessness, tenacity, and efficiency, so respond
to it as to confirm, before all the world, their title and rank as the
champion-builders of the mightiest institutions of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah.

Dearly beloved friends! Though the task be long and arduous, yet the prize
which the All-Bountiful Bestower has chosen to confer upon you is of such
preciousness that neither tongue nor pen can befittingly appraise it.
Though the goal towards which you are now so strenuously striving be
distant, and as yet undisclosed to men's eyes, yet its promise lies firmly
embedded in the authoritative and unalterable utterances of Baha'u'llah.
Though the course He has traced for you seems, at times, lost in the
threatening shadows with which a stricken humanity is now enveloped, yet
the unfailing light He has caused to shine continually upon you is of such
brightness that no earthly dusk can ever eclipse its splendor. Though
small in numbers, and circumscribed as yet in your experiences, powers,
and resources, yet the Force which energizes your mission is limitless in
its range and incalculable in its potency. Though the enemies which every
acceleration in the progress of your mission must raise up be fierce,
numerous, and unrelenting, yet the invisible Hosts which, if you
persevere, must, as promised, rush forth to your aid, will, in the end,
enable you to vanquish their hopes and annihilate their forces. Thou