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.
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.