it is still possible, amid the whirl and rush of modern life, amid the self-love and struggle for material prosperity that everywhere prevail, to live the life of entire devotion to God and to the service of one’s fellows, which Christ and
Bahá’u’lláh and all the prophets have demanded of men.”
4.
Bahá’ís believe in a Greater
Covenant under which God promises always to supply man with a divine messenger, a tree of guidance to show the way forward. In a Lesser Covenant, each prophet foretells the advent of the next messenger, e.g., the prophecy of Jesus Christ about the “Spirit of Truth” who “will guide you unto all truth.” For the first time in the world’s religious history, the
Bahá’í Faith implements these Covenants with written provisions for
Guardians to preserve the purity and integrity of the
Faith.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson,
Shoghi Effendi, as the first Guardian of the Faith of God and called him the “Sign of God” on earth. Probably no one was more surprised by this action than Shoghi Effendi. This descendant of both
the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh was then studying at Oxford University.
The years of Shoghi Effendi’s stewardship have been crowded with manifold projects. Most time-