e progress of their enterprises--in all these the
champions of the Faith of Baha'u'llah have, with ever-increasing emphasis,
borne witness to the sublimity of the faith which burns within their
breasts, to the radiance of the vision that shines clearly and steadily
before their eyes, the sureness and rapidity that mark their gigantic
strides, and the vastness and glory of the unique mission entrusted to
their hands.

Milestones of historic significance have been successively reached and
rapidly left behind. A still stonier stretch of road now lies before them.
Rumblings of catastrophes yet more dreadful agitate with increasing
frequency a sorely stressed and chaotic world, presenting a challenge to
grapple with the unfinished tasks, a challenge graver and still more
pressing than any hitherto experienced.

PRESS FORWARD ON TEMPLE CONTRACTS

The present and remaining contracts, designed to consummate the
magnificent enterprise, initiated almost fifty years ago, in the heart of
the North American continent and complete an edifice consecrated for all
time by the loving hands of the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant,
constituting the foremost symbol of the Faith, and incarnating the soul of
the American Baha'i Community in the Western Hemisphere, must be speedily
and systematically carried out, however onerous the task may become, in
consequence of the inevitable fluctuations to which the present economic
conditions are subjected, in preparation for the jubilee that must mark
the completion of that holy edifice. The recent broadening of the
administrative basis of the Faith in a land that has served, and will long
remain the base of the spiritual operations now being conducted in both
hemispheres, in response to the ringing call of 'Abdu'l-Baha, sounded
three decades ago in His historic Tablets, must, no matter how arduous and
insistent the tasks to be performed in Latin America and Europe, be fully
maintained, and the process continually enlarged and steadily
consolidated. The various agencies designed to carry the Message to the
masses, and to present to them befittingly the teachings of its Author,
must, likewise, be vigilantly preserved, supported and encouraged. The
essential preliminaries, calculated to widen the basis of the forthcoming
Latin American national Baha'i assemblies, to familiarize the Latin
American believers with the administrative duties and functions they will
be called upon to discharge and