|
"Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Baha ," the Author of our Faith, Himself, admonishes His followers, ".... for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.... Should any one arise for the triumph of Our Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued against him." "They that have forsaken their country," He assures them, "for the purpose of teaching Our Cause - these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power.... Such a service is, indeed, the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every goodly act." "When the hour cometh that this wronged and broken-winged bird will have taken its flight unto the celestial Concourse," is `Abdu'l-Baha's last poignant call to the entire body of the followers of His Father's Faith, as recorded in His Will and Testament, "it is incumbent upon . . . the friends and loved ones, one and all, to bestir themselves and arise, with heart and soul, and in one accord... to teach His Cause and promote His Faith. It behoveth them not to rest for a moment.... They must disperse themselves in every land . . . and travel throughout all regions. Bestirred, without rest, and steadfast to the end, they must raise in every land the cry of "Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha' . . . that throughout the East and the West a vast concourse may gather under the shadow of the Word of God, that the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted, that men's faces may be illumined, that their hearts may be filled with the Divine Spirit and their souls become heavenly." No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate victory; however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions demanded of them; however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely-tried, must, in its hour of travail, traverse; however severe the tests with which they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however afflictive the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom Providence, will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from within or from without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal of temporary separation from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by the precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated, by the supreme, the glorious sacrifice of the Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations which its Founder, Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might live, His Order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse the entire planet - I adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh, to resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax, until each and every objective in the Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been fully consummated.
(38:2)
|