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                  |  | Citadel of Faith | Pages 142-143 |  |  | Inestimable Prizes Within Our Reach
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	| 1 | As I survey, after the lapse of a little over three years, the vast range 
of historic and unforgettable achievements with which the stout-hearted, 
high-minded and wholly consecrated followers of the Faith of 
Bahá'u'lláh have, in the course of the operations of a World Spiritual 
Crusade, enriched, in every continent of the globe and in so many 
islands of the seven seas, the annals of the Formative Age of His 
Dispensation, I cannot but acknowledge, with feelings of pride, of joy, 
and of gratitude, the preponderating share which the American Bahá'í 
Community, faithful to its traditions, and in keeping with its high 
standard of stewardship to the Cause of God, has had in the conduct of 
this world-encircling enterprise and the discharge of its manifold, its 
pressing and sacred responsibilities.  With one or two exceptions, 
greatly to be deplored, this valiant community has, ever since the 
inception of this Spiritual Crusade, and in every sphere of Bahá'í 
activities in which its participators have both individually and collectively 
been assiduously engaged, set an example of whole-hearted 
dedication, dogged perseverance, unstinting self-sacrifice and undeviating 
loyalty worthy of emulation by its sister, as well as its daughter, 
communities over the entire face of the globe. |  |  
	| 2 | The number, the character and the rapidity of the spiritual conquests 
achieved by its steadfast and intrepid members, in so many sovereign 
states of the globe, its chief dependencies and widely scattered islands, 
in the course of the one-year period, constituting the opening phase of a 
memorable Plan, will no doubt be universally acclaimed as a turning 
point of unimaginable consequence in Bahá'í history.  Such feats, in so 
many territories, during so short a time, will rank, in the eyes of 
posterity, as superb and outstanding exploits, immortalizing the fame of 
the American followers of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, and as epoch-making 
events unsurpassed since the closing of the Heroic Age of the 
Bahá'í Dispensation. |  |  | 
 
 
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