The Promulgation of Universal Peace
Introduction to the 1922 Edition
An understanding of the mission and significance of this radiant herald of the New Day would not be complete without vision of the cumulative chain of religious history which extends backward from the time of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s appearance here to a period practically contemporary with the birth of the American Independence in 1776. This is of especial importance, too, in the light of the fact that when
Bahá’u’lláh sent
epistles to the kings and rulers of the earth in 1868 He addressed one to the republic of the United States, in which He said “O concourse of rulers! ... Bind ye the broken with the hands of justice, and crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of your Lord, the Ordainer, the All-Wise”
* A very brief summary will be sufficient to show this spiritual sequence and historical progression of which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the apex and consummation.
The earliest dawning rays of the effulgent Sun of Truth, the Word of God which shone forth from the heaven of the divine will upon the horizon of the human world in this luminous cycle, were reflected in the pure mirrors of sanctity
Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá’í and
Ḥájí Káẓim-i-Rashtí. As stars of morning precede the coming of the mighty luminary of day, these brilliant souls arose successively in
Persia toward the close of the eighteenth century, piercing the somber shadows of night and proclaiming the splendor of the approaching manifestation. This mission completed, the lamps of their physical existence were extinguished in 1826 and 1844 respectively.
On 23 May 1844 Mírzá ‘Alí-Muḥammad,
the Báb, suddenly enkindled the world by declaring in
Shíráz, Persia, that the Day of God was at hand. For six years as Herald and Forerunner this winsome messenger of the kingdom sounded His heavenly call, until in 1850 the flaming tongue and pen of His eloquence were stilled in the throes of a glorious martyrdom.
Then the heaven of religion overspread with the brilliant radiance of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, the manifest Word and Sun of Reality which poured its bounty upon the world of mankind forty years, extending to the time of its occultation [i.e. Bahá’u’lláh’s passing] in 1892. Throughout these years this glorious being was subjected to continuous exile, imprisonment and oppression by earthly rulers, until after infinite hardships and suffering He ascended
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