systems in recorded
history; all of these had been essentially stages preparing humanity for
its coming of age. 'Abdu'l-Baha was Baha'u'llah's supreme Creation, the
One that made everything else possible. An understanding of this truth
moved a perceptive American Baha'i to write:

Now a message from God must be delivered, and there was no mankind to hear
this message. Therefore, God gave the world 'Abdu'l-Baha. 'Abdu'l-Baha
received the message of Baha'u'llah on behalf of the human race. He heard
the voice of God; He was inspired by the spirit; He attained complete
consciousness and awareness of the meaning of this message, and He pledged
the human race to respond to the voice of God. ...to me _that_ is the
Covenant--that there was on this earth some one who could be a
representative of an as yet uncreated race. There were only tribes,
families, creeds, classes, etc., but there was no man except 'Abdu'l-Baha,
and 'Abdu'l-Baha, as man, took to Himself the message of Baha'u'llah and
promised God that He would bring the people into the _oneness of mankind_,
and create a humanity that could be the vehicle for the laws of God.(51)

Beginning His mission as a prisoner of a brutal, ignorant regime and
relentlessly assailed by faithless brothers who ultimately sought His
death, the Master single-handedly created of the Persian Baha'i community
a brilliant demonstration of the social development the Cause could
produce, inspired the expansion of the Faith across the Orient, raised up
communities of devoted believers throughout the West, designed a Plan for
the world-wide expansion of the Cause, won the respect and admiration of
leaders of thought wherever His influence reached, and provided
Baha'u'llah's followers throughout the world with a vast body of
authoritative guidance as to the intent of the Faith's laws and teachings.
On the slopes of Mount Carmel He erected with enormous pain and difficulty
the Shrine housing the mortal remains of the martyred Bab, the focal point
of the processes by which the life of our planet will gradually be
organized. Through it all, in every least occasion of a life filled with
cares and demands of every sort--a life exposed at all times to examination
by enemy and friend alike--He ensured that posterity will possess that
treasure of which poets, philosophers and mystics have dreamed all down
the ages, a demonstration of unshadowed human perfection.

And finally, it was 'Abdu'l-Baha who made