The last three and most eventful years of the Báb’s ministry
had, as we have observed in the preceding pages, witnessed not only the formal
and public declaration of His mission, but also an unprecedented effusion of
His inspired writings, including both the revelation of the fundamental laws of
His Dispensation and also the establishment of that Lesser Covenant which was
to safeguard the unity of His followers and pave the way for the advent of an
incomparably mightier Revelation. It was during this same period, in the early
days of His incarceration in the fortress of Chihríq, that the independence of
the new-born Faith was openly recognized and asserted by His disciples. The
laws underlying the new Dispensation had been revealed by its Author in a
prison-fortress in the mountains of Ádhirbáyján, while the Dispensation itself
was now to be inaugurated in a plain on the border of Mázindarán, at a
conference of His assembled followers. - Shoghi Effendi (Chapter 2, ‘God Passes
By’)
