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I need not dwell on the immediate effects of this serious yet transitory cleavage in the ranks of the American adherents of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. Nor do I need to expatiate on the character of the defamatory writings that poured upon them. Nor does it seem necessary to recount the measures to which an ever-vigilant Master resorted in order to assuage and eventually to dissipate their apprehensions. It is for the future historian to appraise the value of the mission of each of the four chosen messengers of 'Abdu'l-Baha who, in rapid succession, were dispatched by Him to pacify and reinvigorate that troubled community. His will be the task of tracing, in the work which these deputies of 'Abdu'l-Baha were commissioned to undertake, the beginnings of that vast Administration, the corner-stone of which these messengers were instructed to lay - an Administration whose symbolic Edifice He, at a later time, was to found in person and whose basis and scope the provisions of His Will were destined to widen. (83:1) Suffice it to say that at this stage of its evolution the activities of an invincible Faith had assumed such dimensions as to force on the one hand its enemies to devise fresh weapons for their projected assaults, and on the other to encourage its supreme Promoter to instruct its followers, through qualified representatives and teachers, in the rudiments of an Administration which, as it evolved, would at once incarnate, safeguard and foster its spirit. The works of such stubborn assailants as those of Vatralsky, Wilson, Jessup and Richardson vie with one another in their futile attempts to stain its purity, to arrest its march and compel its surrender. To the charges of Nihilism, of heresy, of Muhammadan Gnosticism, of immorality, of Occultism and Communism so freely leveled against them, the undismayed victims of such outrageous denunciations, acting under the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha, retorted by initiating a series of activities which by their very nature were to be the precursors of permanent, officially recognized administrative institutions. The inauguration of Chicago's first House of Spirituality designated by 'Abdu'l-Baha as that city's "House of Justice"; the establishment of the Baha'i Publishing Society; the founding of the Green Acre Fellowship; the publication of the Star of the West; the holding of the first Baha'i National Convention, synchronizing with the transference of the sacred remains of the Bab to its final resting-place on Mount Carmel; the incorporation of the Baha'i Temple Unity and the formation of the Executive Committee of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar - these stand out as the most conspicuous accomplishments of the American believers which have immortalized the memory of the most turbulent period of their history. Launched through these very acts into the troublesome seas of ceaseless tribulation, piloted by the mighty arm of 'Abdu'l-Baha and manned by the bold initiative and abundant vitality of a band of sorely-tried disciples, the Ark of Baha'u'llah's Covenant has, ever since those days, been steadily pursuing its course contemptuous of the storms of bitter misfortune that have raged, and which must continue to assail it, as it forges ahead towards the promised haven of undisturbed security and peace.
(83:2)
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