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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 30-31
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CONTRIBUTION OF THE WEST TO WORLD ORDER
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In the light of these glowing tributes, these ardent hopes, these
soul-stirring promises, recorded by the pen of the Center of the Covenant, is
it surprising to find that the Author of the Covenant Himself has,
anticipating the great contribution which the West is destined to make
to the establishment of His World Order, made such a momentous
statement in His writings: "In the East the light of His Revelation hath
broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder
this in your hearts, O people, and be not of those who have turned a
deaf ear to the admonitions of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Praised."
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`Abdu'l-Bahá Himself, confirming this statement, has written:
"From the beginning of time until the present day the light of Divine
Revelation hath risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West.
The illumination thus shed hath, however, acquired in the West an
extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus.
Though it first appeared in the East, yet not until its light had been
shed upon the West did the full measure of its potentialities become
manifest." "The day is approaching when ye shall witness how,
through the splendor of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh the West will have
replaced the East, radiating the light of divine guidance." "The West
hath acquired illumination from the East, but, in some respects the
reflection of the light hath been greater in the Occident." "The East
hath, verily, been illumined with the light of the Kingdom. Erelong
will this same light shed a still greater illumination through the potency
of the teachings of God, and their souls be set aglow by the undying fire
of His love."
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Invested, among its sister communities in East and West, with the
primacy conferred upon it by `Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan; armed with
the mandatory provisions of His momentous Tablets; equipped with
the agencies of a quarter-century-old Administrative Order, whose
fabric it has reared and consolidated; encouraged by the marvelous
success achieved by its daughter communities throughout the Americas,
a success which has sealed the triumph of the first stage of that
Plan; launched on a campaign of vaster dimensions, of superior merit,
of weightier potentialities, than any it has hitherto initiated, a campaign
destined to multiply its spiritual progeny in distant lands and
amidst divers races, the community of the Most Great Name in the
North American continent must arise, as it has never before in its
history, and demonstrate anew its capacity to perform such deeds as are
worthy of its high calling. Its members, the executors of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Plan, the champion-builders of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic Order, the
torchbearers of a world-girdling civilization, must, in the years immediately
ahead, bestir themselves, and, as bidden by `Abdu'l-Bahá,
"increase" their exertions "a thousandfold," lay bare further vistas in
the "range" of their "future achievements" and of their "unspeakably
glorious" mission, and hasten the day when, as prophesied by Him,
their community will "find itself securely established upon the throne
of an everlasting dominion," when "the whole earth" will be stirred and
shaken by the results of its "achievements" and "resound with the
praises of majesty and greatness," when America will "evolve into a
center from which waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the
throne of the Kingdom of God will, in the plenitude of its majesty and
glory, be firmly established."
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In every state of the United States, in every province of the
Dominion of Canada, in every republic of Latin America, in each of the
ten European countries to which its inescapable responsibilities are
insistently calling it, this community, so blessed in the past, so promising
at present, so dazzling in its future destiny, must, if it would guard its
priceless birthright and enhance its heritage, forge ahead with equal
zeal, with unrelaxing vigilance, with indomitable courage, with tireless
energy, until the present stage of its mission is triumphantly concluded.
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