The Story of the Divine Plan
                                   Taking place during and immediately following World War I
                                                           by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
                                                         The New History Foundation
                                                           th
                                                132 East 65  street, New York 21, N. Y., U. S. A.
                                                                  [Title page]
                                                              Date of publication
                                                                 August, 1947
                                                               Copyright, 1947
                                                                      By
                                                            New History Foundation
                                                              All Rights Reserved
                                                               [Inside Title page]
                     By the same author
                              Heart Phantasies
                              The New Humanity
                              Poems on Hollywood Bow (illustrated)
                              Abdul Baha in Egypt
                              Renaissance (a booklet)
                              Message to the Youth of Europe (a booklet)
                              The Song of the Caravan
                              Living Pictures (co-author, Julie Chanler)
                Silver Sun (co-author, Julie Chanler)
                The Bible of Mankind
                Broken Silence
                Abdul Baha's Grandson
                The Will and Testament of Abdul Baha
                The Human Charter
                    (edited from the writings of Baha-O-Llah and Abdul Baha)
                                  [Vanity page]
           CONTENTS
           Foreword………………………………………………………………….i
           Chapter I 
             The Farmer of Galilee………………………………………………1
           Chapter II
             The Tablets to the United States ………………………………..…7
                The North-Eastern States………………………………………..9
                The Southern States ……………………………………………11
                The Central States………………………………………………12
                The Western States……………………………………………..13
           Chapter III
             The Tablets to Canada……………………………………………..18
           Chapter IV
             Tablets to the United States and Canada…………………………22
           Chapter V
             The Last Tablet……………………………………………………..32
           Chapter VI
             Accident Insurance………………………………………….………40
            Chapter VII
               American Bahais Carry On……………………………….………..44
            Chapter VIII
               Bahai Committee of Investigation………………………………….57
            Chapter IX
               The Doors Open…………………………………………………….67
            Chapter X
               My Steeple-Chase…………………………………………………..75
            Chapter XI
               The Tube and the Book……………………………………………82
            Chapter XII
               Preparations for the Convention……………………….…………93
            Chapter XIII 
               The Convention of Reconciliation……………………………….102
               Prayers in the Divine Plan………………………………………..117
                                    [Contents page]
                                 To the teachers who will arise
                            in the casts of the earth and in the wests thereof
                                   to carry the message
                                        of
                                    Abdul Baha
                                   this book is dedicated
                      “Formerly they were as moths, but they will become as royal falcons.
                        Formerly, they were as bubbles, but they will become the sea.”
                            [Dedication page]
                             FOREWARD
             Nearly two thousand years ago, after his earthly mission had been completed, the inspired hero of 
          Israel addressed his disciples:
             “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (St. Mark, chapter 16, verse 15).
          To all intents and purposes, the voice of Jesus had been silenced on Mount Calvary, yet his spirit, so vital 
          that it surmounted the very tomb, appeared to his humble disciples, commanding them to carry on his work 
          beyond the confines of their native land and to the limits of the earth. It was an incredible assignment.
             I am ignorant of the phrasing of this sentence in Aramaic, the language supposedly used by Jesus, 
          but the English translation consists of thirteen words and I wonder if any other thirteen words have had 
          such a profound influence on the destiny of mankind. As a result of this injunction, the men who heard it 
          set aside the limitations of birth, upbringing and character, and arose to peaks of valor and accomplishment;
          after which thousands upon thousands renounced the security and comfort of home to travel in their 
          footsteps. Missionary bands were organized and sent to the five continents and the islands of the seas; 
          libraries, schools, universities and hospitals were built; the New Testament was translated, in whole or in 
          part, into a thousand languages, all to bring the message of the Man of far-away Galilee into the hearts and 
          lives of the people, everywhere.
             No more brilliant records can be found than are those of the staunch and selfless teachers who 
          marched the length and breadth of pagan Europe, scaled the snow-capped mountains of Asia, ventured into 
          the jungles of Africa and faced untold hardships in the lands of the Americas. These men and women were 
          indeed the disciples of Christ, for with their spiritual ears they had clearly distinguished his voice as it 
          receded over the centuries, and obeyed it with the awe and devotion of the eleven who had heard it first.
             During our times, tile command has sounded again: Go ye into all the world — a smaller world, it 
          in true, yet, today as before it is not the glaciers and jungles of nature that obstruct and delay progress, but 
          the glaciers and jungles in the human heart. Frontiers as obtuse as ever on the fair surface of the globe and 
          in the minds of men, with traditions, superstitions and customs grown weightier with the years. It was the 
          name ungainly
                               [i]
          world that Abdul Baha took into his protective arms in the pages of the Divine Plan and upon which be 
          conferred the teachings of his Prophet-father; it was the same rank and file of humanity that he called upon 
          to teach the same message, in an hour of acute need.
             Some years earlier, when Baha-O-Llah had arisen to the realms beyond, he had left behind him a 
          plan for the union of all races and nations — a detailed, practical plan to be put into execution by the 
          maturing men and women of modern times. It was a blueprint for the ending of all wars and the 
          establishment of a world civilization. Baha-O-Llah had left this priceless legacy in the care of his great son,