[Page ix]
PREFACE
The period covered by these letters and cables is unique in more ways than one. It covers the first thirty-six years of the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, an Age inaugurated by the accession of Shoghi Effendi to the Guardianship of that Faith. It is a period which has witnessed, in human society, the greatest upheavals, the most destructive war, the most widespread disruption of any comparable period in human history. It has witnessed the rise and establishment of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the earth.
What an appalling prospect faced the young Guardian in I 92 I as he came face to face with his destiny. The unimaginably powerful forces released through more than seventy-five years of almost continuous Divine Revelation were now to be conserved by him and directed to their appointed task—the spiritual regeneration of the entire human race. His sole instrument was a small, widely-scattered community, wholly unconscious of the social implications of its faith, largely unorganised, untrained in collective action, containing within itself all the historic elements of strife, unaware even of the fundamental verities of its religion.
These messages record how the Guardian nurtured and educated one of the national elements in that primitive Bahá’í community, showering it with love and encouragement, training it, raising its vision beyond the confines of its own place and time, forging it into an instrument of spiritual receptivity and action and eventually fusing it into the single, world-wide brotherhood of the embryonic World Commonwealth ofBah2’1’u’llah.
The Guardian himself, as well as the Guardianship, are seen in
perspective through these successive messages. The “youthful
branch”, “blest, tender”, is seen in the early days, eagerly responsive,
with all the ardour of “his radiant nature”, to any and every effort
made for the service of the Cause. As the heroic tasks of his life
develop, as he unfolds to the believers the sublime vision of
Bahá’u’lláh’s Kingdom, the majesty of his station and of his person
becomes more apparent until it is seen by all that “he is the blest and
sacred bough that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees. Well is [Page x]
it with him that seeleeth the shelter of his shade that shadoweth all
mankind.”
The Bahá’í community of the British Isles, the fortunate recipient of these messages, can only express its gratitude, its joy, its pride in the love and confidence showered upon it by its “true brother”, by pursuing relentlessly the “long, steep and thorny”, but glorious path assigned to it. Its beloved Guardian, even in death, conferred upon this country the incalculable privilege of receiving his mortal remains and becoming the custodian of his resting place.
To those of us who have lived through the stirring times when these messages were received they have caused an uplifting of the spirit and a divine joy. To the generations of the future they will be a never-ending source of inspiration, guidance and incitement to service.
David Hofman
