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OBJECTIVES OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLAN LARGELY ATTAINED
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     The objectives of the Second Seven Year Plan, the concluding 
phase of which has synchronized with this period of nation-wide 
austerity, have, it must be recognized, been in the main, attained.  The 
pillars which must needs add their strength in supporting the future 
House of Justice have, according to the schedule laid down, been 
successively erected in the Dominion of Canada and in Latin America.  
The European Teaching Campaign--the second outstanding enterprise 
launched, beyond the confines of the North American continent, 
in pursuance of the Mandate, issued by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'u'lláh's 
valiant "Apostles"--has not only achieved its original aims, but exceeded 
all expectations through the formation of a local spiritual 
assembly in the capital city of each of the ten goal countries included 
within its scope.  The interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of 
the West has, before its appointed time, been completed.  Other tasks, 
no less vital, still remain to be carried, in the course of a fast shrinking 
period, to a successful conclusion.  The landscaping of the area surrounding 
a structure whose foundations and exterior and interior 
ornamentation have demanded, for so many years, so much effort and 
such constant sacrifice, must, under no circumstances, and while there 
is yet time, be neglected, lest failure to achieve this final task mar the 
beauty of the approaches of a national shrine which provide so suitable 
 
a setting for an edifice at once so sacred and noble.  The responsibilities 
solemnly undertaken to consolidate and multiply the administrative 
institutions throughout all the states of the Union--a task that has 
of late been allowed to fall into abeyance, and has been eclipsed by the 
spectacular success attending the shining exploits of the American 
Bahá'í Community in foreign fields--must be speedily and seriously 
reconsidered, for upon the constant broadening and the steady reinforcement 
of this internal administrative structure, which provides the 
essential base for future operations in all the continents of the globe, 
must depend the vigor, the rapidity and the soundness of the future 
crusades which must needs be launched in the service, and for the glory 
of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, and in obedience to the stirring summons 
issued by the Center of His Covenant in some of His most weighty 
Tablets.  Above all, the accumulating deficit which has lately again 
thrown its somber shadow on an otherwise resplendent record of 
service, must, through a renewed display of self-abnegation, which, 
though not commensurate with the sacrifice of so many souls immolated 
on the altar of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, may at least faintly reflect its 
poignant heroism, be obliterated, once and for all, from the record of 
a splendid stewardship to His Faith.  
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     There can be no doubt--and I am the first to proudly acknowledge 
it--that, ever since the launching of the Second Seven Year Plan, and 
in consequence of unexpected developments both in the Holy Land 
and elsewhere, the American Bahá'í Community, ever ready to bear the 
brunt of responsibility, under the stress of unforeseen circumstances, 
has considerably widened the scope of its original undertakings and 
augmented the weight shouldered by its stalwart members.  At the 
World Center of the Faith, in response to the urgent call for action, 
necessitated by the imperative needs of the rising Sepulcher of the Báb, 
the formation of the Bahá'í International Council, and the establishment 
of the State of Israel, as well as in the continent of Africa, where 
the appointed, the chief trustees of a divinely conceived, world-encompassing 
Plan could not well remain unmoved by the sight of the 
first attempts being made to introduce systematically the Faith of 
Bahá'u'lláh and to implant its banner amongst its tribes and races, the 
American Bahá'í Community have assumed responsibilities well exceeding 
the original duties they had undertaken to discharge.  This twofold 
opportunity that providentially presented itself to them, to contribute 
 
to the rise and consolidation of the World Center of their Faith, 
and to the spiritual re-awakening of a long-neglected continent, must, 
however, be exploited to the fullest extent, if the early completion of 
the most sacred edifice, next to the Qiblih of the Bahá'í world, is to be 
assured, and if the executors of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Plan are to retain 
untarnished the primacy conferred upon them by its Author.  
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     That primacy will be demonstrated and re-emphasized as the 
representatives of this privileged community take their place, and 
assume their functions, at each of the four Intercontinental Bahá'í 
Teaching Conferences which are to be convened in the course of, and 
which must signalize, the world-wide celebrations of the Centenary of 
the Year Nine.  Playing a preponderating role, as the custodians of a 
Divine Plan, in the global crusade which all the Bahá'í national 
spiritual assemblies, without exception, must, in various degrees and 
combinations, launch on the morrow of the forthcoming Centenary, 
and during the entire course of the ten-year interval separating them 
from the Most Great Jubilee, they must, upon the consummation of 
their present Plan, deliberate, together with their ally the Canadian 
National Assembly, and their associates, the newly formed National 
Spiritual Assemblies of Central and South America, on the occasion of 
the convocation of the approaching All-American Teaching Conference, 
on ways and means whereby they can best contribute to the 
establishment of the Faith, not only throughout the Americas and their 
neighboring islands, but in the chief sovereign states and dependencies 
of the remaining continents of the globe.  
 
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