Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.—March 11, 1936. [The above letters have been published in one volume entitled The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.] Epilogue Under the inspired guidance of Shoghi Effendi the Bahá’í Cause grew steadily in size and in the establishment of its Administrative Order, so that by 1951 there were eleven functioning National Spiritual Assemblies. At that point the Guardian turned to the development of the institutions of the Faith at its international level, appointing the International Bahá’í Council, the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice, and, shortly thereafter, the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God. Hitherto Shoghi Effendi has raised certain eminent Bahá’ís to the rank of Hands of the Cause posthumously, one of them being Dr. John E. Esslemont, but it was only in 1951 that he adjudged the time ripe to begin the full development of this important institution. In rapid succession between 1951 and 1957 he appointed thirty-two Hands and extended the range of their activities, instituting in each continent Auxiliary Boards consisting of believers and appointed by the Hands to be their deputies, assistants and advisors. Twenty-seven of these Hands were living at the time of his passing. Through a series of letters, some addressed to Bahá’ís throughout the world, and others to those in specific countries, the Guardian deepened their understanding of the teachings, built up the administrative institutions of the Faith, trained the believers in their correct and effective use, and in 1937 launched the American Bahá’í Community on its implementation of the Divine Plan for the diffusion of Bahá’u’lláh’s Message. This Divine Plan had been revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a number of Tablets written during the years of the First World War and constitutes the charter for the propagation of the Faith. Within the framework of this charter a number of teaching plans were carried out, first in the Western Hemisphere, then also in Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa until in 1953 the Guardian called for a “decade-long, world-embracing, spiritual crusade” to carry the Faith to all the remaining independent states and principal dependencies of the world.