CHAPTER XX
Growth and Expansion of the Faith in East and West
Abdu'l- Baha's historic journeys to the West, and in particular His eight- month tour of the United States of America, may be said to have marked the culmination of His ministry, a ministry whose untold blessings and stupendous achievements only future generations can adequately estimate. As the day- star of Baha'u'llah's Revelation had shone forth in its meridian splendor at the hour of the proclamation of His Message to the rulers of the earth in the city of Adrianople, so did the Orb of His Covenant mount its zenith and shed its brightest rays when He Who was its appointed Center arose to blazon the glory and greatness of His Father's Faith among the peoples of the West. (295:1)

That divinely instituted Covenant had, shortly after its inception, demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt its invincible strength through its decisive triumph over the dark forces which its Arch- Breaker had with such determination arrayed against it. Its energizing power had soon after been proclaimed through the signal victories which its torch- bearers had so rapidly and courageously won in the far- off cities of Western Europe and the United States of America. Its high claims had, moreover, been fully vindicated through its ability to safeguard the unity and integrity of the Faith in both the East and the West. It had subsequently given further proof of its indomitable strength by the memorable victory it registered through the downfall of Sultan Abdu'l- Hamid, and the consequent release of its appointed Center from a forty- year captivity. It had provided for those still inclined to doubt its Divine origin yet another indisputable testimony to its solidity by enabling Abdu'l- Baha, in the face of formidable obstacles, to effect the transfer and the final entombment of the Bab's remains in a mausoleum on Mt. Carmel. It had manifested also before all mankind, with a force and in a measure hitherto unapproached, its vast potentialities when it empowered Him in Whom its spirit and its purpose were enshrined to embark on a three- year- long mission to the Western world-- a mission so momentous that it deserves to rank as the greatest exploit ever to be associated with His ministry. (295:2)

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