He Who communicated the original impulse to so incalculable
a Movement was none other than the promised Qá’im (He who ariseth), the
Sáhibu’z-Zamán (the Lord of the Age), Who assumed the exclusive right of
annulling the whole Qur’ánic Dispensation, Who styled Himself “the Primal Point
from which have been generated all created things … the Countenance of God
Whose splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can never
fade.” 
We behold, as we survey the episodes of this first act of a
sublime drama, the figure of its Master Hero, the Báb, arise meteor-like above
the horizon of Shíráz, traverse the sombre sky of Persia from south to north, decline
with tragic swiftness, and perish in a blaze of glory. We see His satellites, a
galaxy of God-intoxicated heroes, mount above that same horizon, irradiate that
same incandescent light, burn themselves out with that self-same swiftness, and
impart in their turn an added impetus to the steadily gathering momentum of
God’s nascent Faith. 
In sheer dramatic power, in the rapidity with which events
of momentous importance succeeded each other, in the holocaust which baptized
its birth, in the miraculous circumstances attending the martyrdom of the One
Who had ushered it in, in the potentialities with which it had been from the
outset so thoroughly impregnated, in the forces to which it eventually gave
birth, this nine-year period may well rank as unique in the whole range of
man’s religious experience. 
Little wonder that the immortal chronicler of the events
associated with the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Revelation has seen fit to
devote no less than half of his moving narrative to the description of those
happenings that have during such a brief space of time so greatly enriched,
through their tragedy and heroism, the religious annals of mankind. 
May 23, 1844, signalizes the commencement of the most
turbulent period of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era, an age which marks the
opening of the most glorious epoch in the greatest cycle which the spiritual
history of mankind has yet witnessed. No more than a span of nine short years
marks the duration of this most spectacular, this most tragic, this most
eventful period of the first Bahá’í century. It was ushered in by the birth of
a Revelation whose Bearer posterity will acclaim as the “Point round Whom the
realities of the Prophets and Messengers revolve,” and terminated with the
first stirrings of a still more potent Revelation, “whose day,” Bahá’u’lláh
Himself affirms, “every Prophet hath announced,” for which “the soul of every
Divine Messenger hath thirsted,” and through which “God hath proved the hearts
of the entire company of His Messengers and Prophets.” 
…we can even bear witness to the marked improvement in the
conditions surrounding the pilgrimages performed by its devoted adherents to
its consecrated shrines at its world center—pilgrimages originally arduous,
perilous, tediously long, often made on foot, at times ending in
disappointment, and confined to a handful of harassed Oriental followers,
gradually attracting, under steadily improving circumstances of security and
comfort, an ever swelling number of new converts converging from the four
corners of the globe, and culminating in the widely publicized yet sadly
frustrated visit of a noble Queen, who, at the very threshold of the city of
her heart’s desire, was compelled, according to her own written testimony, to
divert her steps, and forego the privilege of so priceless a benefit. 
We can likewise discern a no less appreciable advance in the
rise of its institutions, whether as administrative centers or places of
worship—institutions, clandestine and subterrene in their earliest beginnings,
emerging imperceptibly into the broad daylight of public recognition, legally
protected, enriched by pious endowments, ennobled at first by the erection of
the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of ‘Ishqábád, the first Bahá’í House of Worship, and more
recently immortalized, through the rise in the heart of the North American
continent of the Mother Temple of the West, the forerunner of a divine, a
slowly maturing civilization. 
We can discover a no less distinct gradation in the
character of the opposition it has had to encounter—an opposition, at first
kindled in the bosom of Shi‘ah Islám, which, at a later stage, gathered momentum
with the banishment of Bahá’u’lláh to the domains of the Turkish Sulṭán and the
consequent hostility of the more powerful Sunní hierarchy and its Caliph, the
head of the vast majority of the followers of Muhammad—an opposition which,
now, through the rise of a divinely appointed Order in the Christian West, and
its initial impact on civil and ecclesiastical institutions, bids fair to
include among its supporters established governments and systems associated
with the most ancient, the most deeply entrenched sacerdotal hierarchies in
Christendom. We can, at the same time, recognize, through the haze of an
ever-widening hostility, the progress, painful yet persistent, of certain
communities within its pale through the stages of obscurity, of proscription,
of emancipation, and of recognition—stages that must needs culminate in the
course of succeeding centuries, in the establishment of the Faith, and the
founding, in the plenitude of its power and authority, of the world-embracing
Bahá’í Commonwealth. 
We perceive a no less apparent evolution in the scope of its
teachings, at first designedly rigid, complex and severe, subsequently recast,
expanded, and liberalized under the succeeding Dispensation, later expounded,
reaffirmed and amplified by an appointed Interpreter, and lastly systematized
and universally applied to both individuals and institutions. 
We notice a similar development in the extent of its
literature—a literature which, restricted at first to the narrow range of
hurriedly transcribed, often corrupted, secretly circulated, manuscripts, so
furtively perused, so frequently effaced, and at times even eaten by the
terrorized members of a proscribed sect, has, within the space of a century,
swelled into innumerable editions, comprising tens of thousands of printed
volumes, in diverse scripts, and in no less than forty languages, some
elaborately reproduced, others profusely illustrated, all methodically and
vigorously disseminated through the agency of world-wide, properly constituted
and specially organized committees and Assemblies. 
We witness a corresponding increase in the diversity of the
elements within its fellowship, which from being confined, in the first period
of its history, to an obscure body of followers chiefly recruited from the
ranks of the masses in Shi‘ah Persia, has expanded into a fraternity
representative of the leading religious systems of the world, of almost every
caste and color, from the humblest worker and peasant to royalty itself. 
We watch, through these periods, the infant light of the
Faith diffuse itself from its cradle, eastward to India and the Far East,
westward to the neighboring territories of ‘Iráq, of Turkey, of Russia, and of
Egypt, travel as far as the North American continent, illuminate subsequently
the major countries of Europe, envelop with its radiance, at a later stage, the
Antipodes, brighten the fringes of the Arctic, and finally set aglow the
Central and South American horizons. 
We observe how the Báb, the Forerunner, announced the
impending inception of a divinely-conceived Order, how Bahá’u’lláh, the
Promised One, formulated its laws and ordinances, how ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, the appointed Center, delineated its features, and how the
present generation of their followers have commenced to erect the framework of
its institutions. 
These four periods are to be regarded not only as the component,
the inseparable parts of one stupendous whole, but as progressive stages in a
single evolutionary process, vast, steady and irresistible. For as we survey
the entire range which the operation of a century-old Faith has unfolded before
us, we cannot escape the conclusion that from whatever angle we view this
colossal scene, the events associated with these periods present to us
unmistakable evidences of a slowly maturing process, of an orderly development,
of internal consolidation, of external expansion, of a gradual emancipation
from the fetters of religious orthodoxy, and of a corresponding diminution of
civil disabilities and restrictions.
The fourth period (1921–1944) is motivated by the forces
radiating from the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá,
that Charter of Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order, the offspring
resulting from the mystic intercourse between Him Who is the Source of the Law
of God and the mind of the One Who is the vehicle and interpreter of that Law.
The inception of this fourth, this last period of the first Bahá’í century
synchronizes with the birth of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Era, with the
founding of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh—a system which
is at once the harbinger, the nucleus and pattern of His World Order. This
period, covering the first twenty-three years of this Formative Age, has
already been distinguished by an outburst of further hostility, of a different
character, accelerating on the one hand the diffusion of the Faith over a still
wider area in each of the five continents of the globe, and resulting on the
other in the emancipation and the recognition of the independent status of
several communities within its pale. 
The third period (1892–1921) revolves around the vibrant
personality of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá,
mysterious in His essence, unique in His station, astoundingly potent in both
the charm and strength of His character. It commences with the announcement of
the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, a document without parallel in the history of any
earlier Dispensation, attains its climax in the emphatic assertion by the
Center of that Covenant, in the City of the Covenant, of the unique character
and far-reaching implications of that Document, and closes with His passing and
the interment of His remains on Mt. Carmel. It will go down in history as a
period of almost thirty years’ duration, in which tragedies and triumphs have
been so intertwined as to eclipse at one time the Orb of the Covenant, and at
another time to pour forth its light over the continent of Europe, and as far
as Australasia, the Far East and the North American continent. 
The second period (1853–1892) derives its inspiration from
the august figure of Bahá’u’lláh, preeminent in holiness, awesome in the
majesty of His strength and power, unapproachable in the transcendent
brightness of His glory. It opens with the first stirrings, in the soul of
Bahá’u’lláh while in the Síyáh-Chál of Tihrán, of the Revelation anticipated by
the Báb, attains its plenitude in the proclamation of that Revelation to the
kings and ecclesiastical leaders of the earth, and terminates in the ascension
of its Author in the vicinity of the prison-town of ‘Akká. It extends over
thirty-nine years of continuous, of unprecedented and overpowering Revelation,
is marked by the propagation of the Faith to the neighboring territories of
Turkey, of Russia, of ‘Iráq, of Syria, of Egypt and of India, and is
distinguished by a corresponding aggravation of hostility, represented by the
united attacks launched by the Sháh of Persia and the Sultán of Turkey, the two
admittedly most powerful potentates of the East, as well as by the opposition
of the twin sacerdotal orders of Shi‘ah and Sunní Islám. 
The first period (1844–1853), centers around the gentle, the
youthful and irresistible person of the Báb, matchless in His meekness, imperturbable
in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance, unrivaled in the dramatic episodes
of His swift and tragic ministry. It begins with the Declaration of His
Mission, culminates in His martyrdom, and ends in a veritable orgy of religious
massacre revolting in its hideousness. It is characterized by nine years of
fierce and relentless contest, whose theatre was the whole of Persia, in which
above ten thousand heroes laid down their lives, in which two sovereigns of the
Qájár dynasty and their wicked ministers participated, and which was supported
by the entire Shi‘ah ecclesiastical hierarchy, by the military resources of the
state, and by the implacable hostility of the masses. 
The century under our review may therefore be considered as
falling into four distinct periods, of unequal duration, each of specific
import and of tremendous and indeed unappraisable significance. These four
periods are closely interrelated, and constitute successive acts of one,
indivisible, stupendous and sublime drama, whose mystery no intellect can
fathom, whose climax no eye can even dimly perceive, whose conclusion no mind
can adequately foreshadow. Each of these acts revolves around its own theme,
boasts of its own heroes, registers its own tragedies, records its own triumphs,
and contributes its own share to the execution of one common, immutable
Purpose. To isolate any one of them from the others, to dissociate the later
manifestations of one universal, all-embracing Revelation from the pristine
purpose that animated it in its earliest days, would be tantamount to a
mutilation of the structure on which it rests, and to a lamentable perversion
of its truth and of its history. 
In its broadest outline the first century of the Bahá’í Era
may be said to comprise the Heroic, the Primitive, the Apostolic Age of the
Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and also the initial stages of the Formative, the
Transitional, the Iron Age which is to witness the crystallization and shaping
of the creative energies released by His Revelation. The first eighty years of
this century may roughly be said to have covered the entire period of the first
age, while the last two decades may be regarded as having witnessed the
beginnings of the second. The former commences with the Declaration of the Báb,
includes the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, and terminates with the passing of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá. The latter is ushered in by His Will and Testament, which
defines its character and establishes its foundation.
Nor will it be my intention to ignore, whilst surveying the
panorama which the revolution of a hundred years spreads before our gaze, the
swift interweaving of seeming reverses with evident victories, out of which the
hand of an inscrutable Providence has chosen to form the pattern of the Faith
from its earliest days, or to minimize those disasters that have so often
proved themselves to be the prelude to fresh triumphs which have, in turn,
stimulated its growth and consolidated its past achievements. Indeed, the
history of the first hundred years of its evolution resolves itself into a
series of internal and external crises, of varying severity, devastating in
their immediate effects, but each mysteriously releasing a corresponding measure
of divine power, lending thereby a fresh impulse to its unfoldment, this
further unfoldment engendering in its turn a still graver calamity, followed by
a still more liberal effusion of celestial grace enabling its upholders to
accelerate still further its march and win in its service still more compelling
victories. 
…administrative institutions - institutions which must be
regarded as the nucleus and herald of that World Order that must incarnate the
soul, execute the laws, and fulfill the purpose of the Faith of God in this
day. 
It is not my purpose—nor does the occasion demand it,—to
write a detailed history of the last hundred years of the Bahá’í Faith, nor do
I intend to trace the origins of so tremendous a Movement, or to portray the
conditions under which it was born, or to examine the character of the religion
from which it has sprung, or to arrive at an estimate of the effects which its
impact upon the fortunes of mankind has produced. I shall rather content myself
with a review of the salient features of its birth and rise, as well as of the
initial stages in the establishment of its administrative institutions… 
