Century of Light Part 3

IV

With the pa.s.sing of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Apostolic Age of the Cause reached its end. The Divine intervention that had begun seventy-seven years earlier on the night the Bab declared His mission to Mulla ?usayn-and 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself was born-had completed its work. It had been, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, "a period whose splendours no victories in this or any future age, however brilliant, can rival...."(50) Ahead lay the thousand or thousands of years in which the potentialities that this creative force has planted in human consciousness will gradually unfold.

Contemplation of so great a juncture in the history of civilization brings into sharp focus the Figure whose nature and role have been unique in this six-thousand-year process. Baha'u'llah has called 'Abdu'l-Baha "the Mystery of G.o.d". Shoghi Effendi has described Him as "the Centre and Pivot" of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, the "perfect Exemplar" of the teachings of the Revelation of G.o.d for the age of human maturity, and "the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity". No phenomenon in any way comparable to His appearance had accompanied any of the Divine Revelations that had given birth to the other great religious systems in recorded history; all of these had been essentially stages preparing humanity for its coming of age. 'Abdu'l-Baha was Baha'u'llah's supreme Creation, the One that made everything else possible. An understanding of this truth moved a perceptive American Baha'i to write:

Now a message from G.o.d must be delivered, and there was no mankind to hear this message. Therefore, G.o.d gave the world 'Abdu'l-Baha. 'Abdu'l-Baha received the message of Baha'u'llah on behalf of the human race. He heard the voice of G.o.d; He was inspired by the spirit; He attained complete consciousness and awareness of the meaning of this message, and He pledged the human race to respond to the voice of G.o.d. ...to me _that_ is the Covenant-that there was on this earth some one who could be a representative of an as yet uncreated race. There were only tribes, families, creeds, cla.s.ses, etc., but there was no man except 'Abdu'l-Baha, and 'Abdu'l-Baha, as man, took to Himself the message of Baha'u'llah and promised G.o.d that He would bring the people into the _oneness of mankind_, and create a humanity that could be the vehicle for the laws of G.o.d.(51)

Beginning His mission as a prisoner of a brutal, ignorant regime and relentlessly a.s.sailed by faithless brothers who ultimately sought His death, the Master single-handedly created of the Persian Baha'i community a brilliant demonstration of the social development the Cause could produce, inspired the expansion of the Faith across the Orient, raised up communities of devoted believers throughout the West, designed a Plan for the world-wide expansion of the Cause, won the respect and admiration of leaders of thought wherever His influence reached, and provided Baha'u'llah's followers throughout the world with a vast body of authoritative guidance as to the intent of the Faith's laws and teachings.

On the slopes of Mount Carmel He erected with enormous pain and difficulty the Shrine housing the mortal remains of the martyred Bab, the focal point of the processes by which the life of our planet will gradually be organized. Through it all, in every least occasion of a life filled with cares and demands of every sort-a life exposed at all times to examination by enemy and friend alike-He ensured that posterity will possess that treasure of which poets, philosophers and mystics have dreamed all down the ages, a demonstration of unshadowed human perfection.

And finally, it was 'Abdu'l-Baha who made certain that the Divine Order conceived by Baha'u'llah for the unification of the human race and the inst.i.tution of justice in humanity's collective life would be provided with the means required to realize its Founder's purpose. For unity to exist among human beings-at even the simplest level-two fundamental conditions must pertain. Those involved must first of all be in some agreement about the nature of reality as it affects their relations.h.i.+ps with one another and with the phenomenal world. They must, secondly, give a.s.sent to some recognized and authoritative means by which decisions will be taken that affect their a.s.sociation with one another and that determine their collective goals.

Unity is not, that is, merely a condition resulting from a sense of mutual goodwill and common purpose, however profound and sincerely held such sentiments may be, any more than an organism is a product of some fortuitous and amorphous a.s.sociation of various elements. Unity is a phenomenon of creative power, whose existence becomes apparent through the effects that collective action produces and whose absence is betrayed by the impotence of such efforts. However handicapped it often has been by ignorance and perversity, this force has been the primary influence driving the advancement of civilization, generating legal codes, social and political inst.i.tutions, artistic works, technological achievements without end, moral breakthroughs, material prosperity, and long periods of public peace whose afterglow lived in the memories of subsequent generations as imagined "golden ages".

Through the Revelation of G.o.d to humanity's coming of age, the full potentialities of this creative force have at last been released and the means necessary to the realization of the Divine purpose have been inst.i.tuted. In His Will and Testament, which Shoghi Effendi has described as the "Charter" of the Administrative Order, 'Abdu'l-Baha set out in detail the nature and role of the twin inst.i.tutions that are His appointed Successors and whose complementary functions ensure the unity of the Baha'i Cause and the achievement of its mission throughout the Dispensation, the Guardians.h.i.+p and the Universal House of Justice. He laid particularly strong emphasis on the authority thus conveyed:

Whatsoever they decide is of G.o.d. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed G.o.d; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against G.o.d; whoso opposeth him hath opposed G.o.d; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with G.o.d....(52)

Shoghi Effendi has explained the significance of this extraordinary Text:

The Administrative Order which this historic Doc.u.ment has established, it should be noted, is, by virtue of its origin and character, unique in the annals of the world's religious systems. No Prophet before Baha'u'llah, it can be confidently a.s.serted,... has established, authoritatively and in writing, anything comparable to the Administrative Order which the authorized Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's teachings has inst.i.tuted, an Order which ... must and will, in a manner unparalleled in any previous religion, safeguard from schism the Faith from which it has sprung.(53)

Before the reading and promulgation of the Will and Testament, the great majority of the members of the Faith had a.s.sumed that the next stage in the evolution of the Cause would be the election of the Universal House of Justice, the inst.i.tution founded by Baha'u'llah Himself in the Kitab-i-Aqdas as the governing body of the Baha'i world. An important fact for present-day Baha'is to understand is that prior to this point the concept of Guardians.h.i.+p was unknown to the Baha'i community. There was widespread rejoicing at the news of the unique distinction that the Master had conferred on Shoghi Effendi and the continuing link with the Founders of the Faith that his role represented. Until then, however, there had been no appreciation of Baha'u'llah's intent that such an inst.i.tution should emerge or of the interpretive function it would have to perform-a function whose vital importance has since become readily apparent and which hindsight makes clear was implicit in certain of His Writings.

What was entirely beyond the imagination of anyone then living, whether faithful or ill-disposed, was the transformation in the life of the Cause that the Will of the Master set in motion. "Were ye to know what will come to pa.s.s after Me," 'Abdu'l-Baha had declared, "surely would ye pray that my end be hastened"? (54)

V

An appreciation of the place of the Guardians.h.i.+p in Baha'i history must begin with an objective consideration of the circ.u.mstances in which Shoghi Effendi's mission had to be carried out. Particularly important is the fact that the first half of this ministry unfolded between wars, a period marked by deepening uncertainty and anxiety about all aspects of human affairs. On the one hand, significant advances had been made in overcoming barriers between nations and cla.s.ses; on the other, political impotence and a resulting economic paralysis greatly handicapped efforts to take advantage of these openings. There was everywhere a sense that some fundamental redefinition of the nature of society and the role its inst.i.tutions should play was urgently needed-a redefinition, indeed, of the purpose of human life itself.

In important respects, humanity found itself at the end of the first world war able to explore possibilities never before imagined. Throughout Europe and the Near East the absolutist systems that had been among the most powerful barriers to unity had been swept away. To a great extent, too, fossilized religious dogmas that had lent moral endors.e.m.e.nt to the forces of conflict and alienation were everywhere in question. Former subject peoples were free to consider plans for their collective futures and to a.s.sume responsibility for their relations.h.i.+ps with one another through the instrumentality of the new nation-states created by the Versailles settlement. The same ingenuity that had gone into producing weapons of destruction was being turned to the challenging, but rewarding, tasks of economic expansion. Out of the darkest days of the war had come poignant stories, such as the impulse that had briefly moved British and German soldiers to leave the slaughterhouse of the trenches to commemorate together the birth of Christ, providing a flickering glimpse of the oneness of the human race which the Master had tirelessly proclaimed in His journeys across that same continent. Most important of all, an extraordinary effort of imagination had brought the unification of humanity one immense step forward. The world's leaders, however reluctantly, had created an international consultative system which, though crippled by vested interests, gave the ideal of international order its first suggestion of shape and structure.

The post-war awakening expressed itself world-wide. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese people had already thrown off the decadent imperial regime that had compromised the country's well-being, and were seeking to lay foundations of a rebirth of that country's greatness.

Throughout Latin America, despite terrible and repeated setbacks, popular movements were likewise struggling to gain control over their countries'

destinies and the use of their continent's immense natural resources. In India, one of the century's most remarkable figures, Mohandas Gandhi, embarked on an enterprise that would not only revolutionize the fortunes of his country, but also demonstrate conclusively to the world what spiritual force can achieve. Africa was still awaiting its moment of destiny, as were the inhabitants of other colonial lands, but for anyone with eyes to see, a process of change had been set in motion that could ultimately not be suppressed, because it represented the universal yearnings of humankind.

These advances, however encouraging, could not conceal the historic tragedy that had occurred. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the proclamation of the Day of G.o.d addressed by Baha'u'llah to the rulers of His day, in whose hands lay the destiny of humankind, had been either rejected or ignored by its recipients in both East and West.

Reflection on so great a breach of faith throws into sobering perspective the subsequent response that had met the mission of 'Abdu'l-Baha to the West. However much one may rejoice in the praise poured on the Master from every quarter, the immediate results of His efforts represented yet another immense moral failure on the part of a considerable portion of humankind and of its leaders.h.i.+p. The message that had been suppressed in the East was essentially ignored by a Western world which had proceeded down the path of ruin long prepared for it by overweening self-satisfaction, leading finally to the betrayal of the ideal embodied in the League of Nations.

In consequence, the two decades immediately after Shoghi Effendi a.s.sumed his responsibility for the vindication of the Cause of G.o.d were a period of deepening gloom throughout the Western world, which seemed to reflect a ma.s.sive setback in the process of integration and enlightenment so confidently proclaimed by the Master. It was as if political, social and economic life had fallen into a kind of limbo. Grave doubts developed about the capacity of the liberal democratic tradition to cope with the problems of the times; indeed, in a number of European countries, governments inspired by such principles were replaced by authoritarian regimes. Soon, the economic crash of 1929 led to a world-wide reduction in material well-being, with all the further moral and psychological insecurities that resulted.

An appreciation of these circ.u.mstances helps us to understand the magnitude of the challenge facing Shoghi Effendi at the outset of his ministry. So far as the objective condition of humankind, as he encountered it, was concerned, there was nothing that would have inspired confidence that the vision of a new world bequeathed him by the Founders of the Baha'i Cause could be significantly advanced during whatever span of years might be allowed him.

Nor did the instrument available to him appear to possess the strength, the resilience or the sophistication his task required. In 1923, when Shoghi Effendi was eventually able to a.s.sume full direction of the Cause, the core of Baha'u'llah's followers consisted of the body of believers in Iran, of whose number not even a reliable estimate could have then been produced. Denied most of the means necessary to their promotion of the Cause, and severely limited in the material resources at their disposal, the Iranian community was hedged about by constant hara.s.sment. In North America, charged with the daunting responsibilities of the Divine Plan, small communities of believers found themselves struggling with the simple challenges of making a livelihood for themselves and their families as the economic crisis steadily deepened. In Europe, Australasia and the Far East, even smaller Baha'i groups kept the flame of the Faith alive, as did isolated groups, families and individuals scattered throughout the rest of the world. Literature, even in English, was inadequate, and the task of translating the Writings into other major languages and of finding the funds to publish them represented an almost impossible burden.

Though the vision communicated by the Master burned as brightly as ever, the means at their disposal must have appeared to Baha'is as pitifully inadequate in the face of the conditions prevailing everywhere. The hulking black foundation of the future Mother Temple of the West, rising over the lake front north of Chicago, seemed to mock the brilliant conception that had dazzled the architectural world only a few years before. In Baghdad, the "Most Holy House", designated by Baha'u'llah as the focal centre of Baha'i pilgrimage, had been seized by opponents of the Faith. In the Holy Land itself, the Mansion of Baha'u'llah was falling into ruin as a result of neglect by the Covenant-breakers who occupied it, and the Shrine housing the precious remains of both the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha had progressed no further than the simple stone structure raised by the Master.

A series of exploratory consultations with leading Baha'is made it clear to the Guardian that even a formal discussion with qualified believers about the creation of an international secretariat would be not only useless, but probably counterproductive. It was alone, therefore, that Shoghi Effendi set out on the task of propelling forward the vast enterprise entrusted to his hands. How completely alone he was is almost impossible for the present generation of Baha'is to grasp; to the extent one does grasp it, the realization is acutely painful.

Initially, the Guardian a.s.sumed that the members of the Master's extended family, whose distinguished lineage brought them immense respect from Baha'is everywhere, would welcome the opportunity to a.s.sist him in realizing the purpose that the Master's Will had set out in language so imperative and moving. Accordingly, he invited his brothers, his cousins and one of his sisters, whose education made them qualified for the purpose, to provide the administrative support that the demanding work of the Guardians.h.i.+p required. Tragically, as time pa.s.sed, one after another of these persons proved dissatisfied with the supporting role thus a.s.signed and careless in the discharge of its functions. Far more seriously, Shoghi Effendi found himself facing a situation in which the authority conferred on him, although expressed in uncompromising terms in the Will and Testament, was seen by those related to him as relatively nominal in character. These individuals preferred to regard the leaders.h.i.+p of the Faith as essentially a family affair in which great weight should be placed on the views of senior figures among them, who were supposedly qualified to a.s.sume such a prerogative. Beginning with demonstrations of sullen resistance, the situation steadily deteriorated to a point where the children and grandchildren of 'Abdu'l-Baha felt free to disagree with His appointed successor and to disobey his instructions.

Ru?iyyih _Kh_anum, who saw this process of deterioration in its later stages and herself suffered greatly in witnessing its effects on both the work of the Cause and the Guardian personally, has written:

...one must understand the old story of Cain and Abel, the story of family jealousies which, like a sombre thread in the fabric of history, runs through all its epochs and can be traced in all its events.... The weakness of the human heart, which so often attaches itself to an unworthy object, the weakness of the human mind, p.r.o.ne to conceit and self-a.s.surance in personal opinions, involve people in a welter of emotions that blind their judgment and lead them far astray.... Even though this phenomenon of Covenant-breaking seems to be an inherent aspect of religion this does not mean it produces no damaging effect on the Cause.... Above all it does not mean that a devastating effect is not produced on the Centre of the Covenant himself. Shoghi Effendi's whole life was darkened by the vicious personal attacks made upon him.(55)

This sombre background casts in an all the more brilliant light the achievements of the Greatest Holy Leaf, sister of 'Abdu'l-Baha and last survivor of the Faith's Heroic Age. Bahiyyih _Kh_anum played a vital role in guarding the interests of the Cause after the Master's death and became Shoghi Effendi's sole effective support. Her fidelity evoked from his pen perhaps the most deeply moving pa.s.sages he was ever to write. The apostrophe he addressed to her after her pa.s.sing in 1932 was set in a letter to the Baha'is "throughout the West", which itself read in part:

Only future generations and pens abler than mine can, and will, pay a worthy tribute to the towering grandeur of her spiritual life, to the unique part she played throughout the tumultuous stages of Baha'i history, to the expressions of unqualified praise that have streamed from the pen of both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of His covenant, though unrecorded, and in the main unsuspected by the ma.s.s of her pa.s.sionate admirers in East and West, the share she has had in influencing the course of some of the chief events in the annals of the Faith, the sufferings she bore, the sacrifices she made, the rare gifts of unfailing sympathy she so strikingly displayed-these, and many others stand so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the Cause itself that no future historian of the Faith of Baha'u'llah can afford to ignore or minimize....Which of the blessings am I to recount, which in her unfailing solicitude she showered upon me, in the most critical and agitated hours of my life? To me, standing in so dire a need of the vitalizing grace of G.o.d, she was the living symbol of many an attribute I had learned to admire in 'Abdu'l-Baha.(56)

For long years, the Guardian felt that the protection of the Cause required him to maintain silence about the deteriorating situation in the Holy Family. Only as opposition finally burst into acts of open defiance, eventually involving the family in shameful collaboration and even marriages with members of the very band of Covenant-breakers against whose treachery the Will and Testament of the Master had warned in vehement language, as well as with a local family deeply hostile to the Cause, did Shoghi Effendi eventually feel compelled to expose to the Baha'i world the nature of the delinquencies with which he was having to deal.(57)

This sad history is of importance to an understanding of the Cause in the twentieth century not only because of what the Guardian called the "havoc"

it wreaked in the Holy Family, but because of the light it casts on the challenges the Baha'i community will increasingly face in the years ahead, challenges predicted in explicit language by both the Master and the Guardian. Apart from the insincerity that marked all too many of them, the relatives of Shoghi Effendi demonstrated little or no awareness of the spiritual nature of the role conferred on him in the Will and Testament.

That the Revelation of G.o.d to the age of humanity's maturity should have brought with it, as a central feature of its mission, an authority essential for the restructuring of social order represented a spiritual challenge they seemed unable, or perhaps never sought, to understand.

Their abandonment of the Guardian is a lesson that will remain with posterity down through the centuries of the Baha'i Dispensation. The fate of this most privileged but unworthy company of human beings underlines for all who read their story both the significance that the Covenant of Baha'u'llah holds for the unification of humankind and the uncompromising demands it makes on those who seek its shelter.

In considering the events of the ministry of Shoghi Effendi, Baha'is need to make the effort of imagination to see, through his eyes, the nature of the mission laid on him. Our guide is the body of writings he has left.

'Abdu'l-Baha had proclaimed in countless Tablets and talks the pivotal principle of Baha'u'llah's message: "In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious century, the foundation of the Faith of G.o.d and the distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of His Law is the consciousness of the Oneness of Mankind."(58) 'Abdu'l-Baha had been equally emphatic in a.s.serting, as already noted, that the revolutionary changes taking place in every field of human endeavour now made the unification of humanity a realistic objective. It was this vision that, for the thirty-six years of his Guardians.h.i.+p, provided the organizing force of Shoghi Effendi's work. Its implications were the theme of some of the most important messages he wrote. Addressing in 1931 the friends in the West, he opened for them a brilliant vista:

The principle of the Oneness of Mankind-the pivot round which all the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve-is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relations.h.i.+ps that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family.... It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not experienced.... It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world -a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.(59)

A concept that showed itself strongly in the Guardian's writings was the organic metaphor in which Baha'u'llah, and subsequently 'Abdu'l-Baha, had captured the millennia-long process that has carried humanity to this culminating point in its collective history. That image was the a.n.a.logy that can be drawn between, on the one hand, the stages by which human society has been gradually organized and integrated, and, on the other, the process by which each human being slowly develops out of the limitations of infantile existence into the powers of maturity. It appears prominently in several of Shoghi Effendi's writings on the transformation taking place in our time:

The long ages of infancy and childhood, through which the human race had to pa.s.s, have receded into the background. Humanity is now experiencing the commotions invariably a.s.sociated with the most turbulent stage of its evolution, the stage of adolescence, when the impetuosity of youth and its vehemence reach their climax, and must gradually be superseded by the calmness, the wisdom, and the maturity that characterize the stage of manhood.(60)

Deliberation on this vast conception was to lead Shoghi Effendi to provide the Baha'i world with a coherent description of the future that has since permitted three generations of believers to articulate for governments, media and the general public in every part of the world the perspective in which the Baha'i Faith pursues its work:

The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and cla.s.ses are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded.

This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relations.h.i.+ps of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements const.i.tuting this universal system.... The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated.(61)

Writing a definitive interpretation of the Administrative Order in "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah", Shoghi Effendi made particular reference to the role that the inst.i.tution he himself represented would play in enabling the Cause "to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations...." This unique endowment expressed itself with particular clarity in his description of the dual nature of the historical process that he saw unfolding in the twentieth century. The landscape of international affairs would, he said, be increasingly reshaped by twin forces of "integration" and "disintegration", both of them ultimately beyond human control. In the light of what meets our eyes today, his previsioning of the operation of this dual process is breathtaking: the creation of "a mechanism of world inter-communication ... functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity";(62) the undermining of the nation-state as the chief arbiter of human destiny; the devastating effects that advancing moral breakdown throughout the world would have on social cohesion; the widespread public disillusionment produced by political corruption; and-unimaginable to others of his generation-the rise of global agencies dedicated to promoting human welfare, coordinating economic activity, defining international standards, and encouraging a sense of solidarity among diverse races and cultures. These and other developments, the Guardian explained, would fundamentally alter the conditions in which the Baha'i Cause would pursue its mission in the decades lying ahead.

One of the striking developments of this kind that Shoghi Effendi discerned in the Writings he was called on to interpret concerned the future role of the United States as a nation, and, to a lesser extent, its sister nations in the Western hemisphere. His foresight is all the more remarkable when one remembers that he was writing during a period of history when the United States was determinedly isolationist in both its foreign policy and the convictions of the majority of its citizens. Shoghi Effendi, however, envisioned the country a.s.suming an "active and decisive part ... in the organization and the peaceful settlement of the affairs of mankind". He reminded Baha'is of 'Abdu'l-Baha's antic.i.p.ation that, because of the unique nature of its social composition and political development -as opposed to any "inherent excellence or special merit" of its people-the United States had developed capacities that could empower it to be "the first nation to establish the foundation of international agreement". Indeed, he foresaw the governments and peoples of the entire hemisphere becoming increasingly oriented in this direction.(63)

The role that the Baha'i community must play in helping bring about this consummation of the historical process had been prefigured in the summons addressed to His followers by the Bab, at the very birth of the Cause:

O My beloved friends! You are the bearers of the name of G.o.d in this Day.... You are the lowly, of whom G.o.d has thus spoken in His Book: "And We desire to show favour to those who were brought low in the land, and to make them spiritual leaders among men, and to make them Our heirs." You have been called to this station; you will attain to it, only if you arise to trample beneath your feet every earthly desire, and endeavour to become those "honoured servants of His who speak not till He hath spoken, and who do His bidding".... Heed not your weaknesses and frailty; fix your gaze upon the invincible power of the Lord, your G.o.d, the Almighty.... Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be a.s.sured of ultimate victory.(64)

As early as 1923, Shoghi Effendi was moved to open his heart on this subject to the friends in North America:

Let us pray to G.o.d that in these days of world-encircling gloom, when the dark forces of nature, of hate, rebellion, anarchy and reaction are threatening the very stability of human society, when the most precious fruits of civilization are undergoing severe and unparalleled tests, we may all realize, more profoundly than ever, that though but a mere handful amidst the seething ma.s.ses of the world, we are in this day the chosen instruments of G.o.d's grace, that our mission is most urgent and vital to the fate of humanity, and, fortified by these sentiments, arise to achieve G.o.d's holy purpose for mankind.(65)