The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
Preface to 1955 Edition
Seventeen fateful years have passed since the publication of The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Neither the disasters of the second World War nor the increasing menace of the post-war period can challenge Shoghi Effendi’s convictions, nor invaslidate his thesis, nor deny his ultimate hopes expressed in these letters written between 1929 and 1936. On the contrary, his presentation of the world mission of the Bahá’í Faith acquires added force from the very failure of human philosophy and statesmanshipto attain security for mankind. The reader has in these pages access to a public document addressed to the people of spiritual faith in all races, all nations and all creeds. Recognition and acceptance, however, calls for an act of faith since these basic truths have as yet no endorsement comparable in public influence with the massive prejudices which still command the loyalty of partisan minds.
The fundamental thesis developed in this work has been carried farther in two later works by the Guardian of the Faith.
In a text dated December 25, 1938, Shoghi Effendi unfolded the mighty theme, The Advent of Divine Justice, hailing the ultimate victory of world unity after the peoples have been purged and purified by intense ordeals. Recognizing that the Bahá’ís have established their administrative order, the Guardian holds aloft the great teaching missions which that order is destined to undertake. The text is intimately identified with the Bahá’í community, but that community is associated with a goal representing the best interests of humanity itself.
The second work, The Promised Day is Come, dated March 28, 1941, related the history of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries to the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who exemplified the expression of the Divine Will. The destiny of an era is determined by its
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