constitute the bounties of the Covenant itself, divine bestowals of higher capacity for development, discovery and advancement. That is to say, in each dispensation, through the gifts and bestowals of the Covenant the people of the Covenant have been quickened by a power which enabled them to overcome the menace of difficulties surrounding them, dominate their environments, make conditions minister to their advancement and growth, purify their lives and laws, strengthen their institutions and uplift themselves to the beatitude of peace, prosperity and unity; whereas those who denied the Covenant and were deprived of its bounties have succumbed to forces and surrounding conditions and have passed into oblivion, incapable of existence and continuance. This is the inner, penetrating power of the pure religion of God, the divine leavening spirit of the Covenant which has manifested itself in every age through an appointed or collective Center whom all were commanded to acknowledge in allegiance and steadfastness lest they become deprived of the outpouring and overflowing bestowals of God.
Inasmuch as this wonderful century, this Day of God is universal in its conditions and requirements, characterized by an inter-relationship and interdependence never before witnessed among the nations of the world, and inasmuch as the Book of the Covenant has been revealed in this day by the tongue and pen of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh to all races, religions and peoples without preference or favor, naming in holy words and text the one to whom all must turn in obedience and loyalty, it therefore follows that the source of effulgent power and heavenly bestowals, the collective center and point of unity from which the bounties of the Covenant are now overflowing to the world of mankind is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Servant of Bahá, Center of the Covenant of God. He is the channel of purifying, unifying religious belief, the new impUlse and dynamic, the creative spirit of regeneration, the power and healing direct from God, the irrigating current of life to the world of man, the answerer of questions, the explainer of the Book, the bestower of spiritual capacities, the uplifting impetus of civilization, the Servant of all mankind, the point of agreement and reconciliation for all the divine religions, the Standard-bearer of Universal Peace and Messenger of the Glad-tidings of the Oneness of the World of Humanity.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s station of servitude in the divine cause is therefore world-wide and universal, beyond the limitation of race, denomination, creed or nationality; a station supreme in its loftiness, perfect in its humility: Servant of the servants of God. Significant indeed is His visit to the shores of the western world; pregnant indeed are His words to the highly organized material civilizations of the Occident; potent indeed His message of peace and unity of mankind cementing the East and the West in spiritual solidarity, blending the world that is old and the world that is new under the beneficent laws of the heavenly kingdom.
In obedience to the direct command of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this Introduction has been written by a humble follower of His light and a devoted lover of His beauty. May the glory of God illumine this heart and guide this pen to do His will in this most great responsibility.
