Though bent with age, though suffering from ailments resulting from the
accumulated cares of fifty years of exile and captivity, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá set
out on His memorable journey across the seas to the land where He might
bless by His presence, and sanctify through His deeds, the mighty acts His
spirit had led His disciples to perform. The circumstances that have
attended His triumphal progress through the chief cities of the United
States and Canada my pen is utterly incapable of describing. The joys
which the announcement of His arrival evoked, the publicity which His
activities created, the forces which His utterances released, the
opposition which the implications of His teachings excited, the
significant episodes to which His words and deeds continually gave
rise—these future generations will, no doubt, minutely and befittingly
register. They will carefully delineate their features, will cherish and
preserve their memory, and will transmit unimpaired the record of their
minutest details to their descendants. It would indeed be presumptuous on
our part to attempt, at the present time, to sketch even the bare outline
of so vast, so enthralling a theme. Contemplating after the lapse of above
twenty years this notable landmark in America’s spiritual history we still
find ourselves compelled to confess our inability to grasp its import or
to fathom its mystery. I have alluded in the preceding pages to a few of
the more salient features of that never-to-be-forgotten visit. These
incidents, as we look back upon them, eloquently proclaim ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
specific purpose to confer through these symbolic functions upon the
first-born of the communities of the West that spiritual primacy which was
to be the birthright of the American believers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account