New York, the City of the Covenant

*A retelling drawn from **The Promulgation of Universal Peace** (talks of 23 November and 2 December 1912), with the events of 19 June 1912 from Shoghi Effendi's **God Passes By** (ch. 19) and H. M. Balyuzi's **'Abdu'l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant**, and details from **Mahmúd's Diary**.*

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'Abdu'l-Bahá arrived in New York on 11 April 1912 and left from there on 5 December. Between His journeys across the United States and Canada He kept returning to the city. On 2 December He told the friends: "I have stayed a long time with you in New York. My stay in other towns has not been a tenth as long."

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On 19 June 1912, at a general gathering of the Bahá'ís of New York, the newly translated Tablet of the Branch was read. It had been revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in Adrianople and speaks of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the loftiest terms. The Master then spoke of it and declared His own station as the Centre of the Covenant. Balyuzi writes that because He made this statement in public in New York, the city was given that distinction. Shoghi Effendi records that New York was "designated henceforth as the 'City of the Covenant.'"

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Months later, on 23 November, the New York Bahá'ís held a banquet at the Great Northern Hotel to commemorate the Day of the Covenant and the Master's journey. More than three hundred guests came. After an address of welcome pledging the friends' firmness in the Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the oneness of humanity, then walked among the tables perfuming the guests with attar of rose.

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On 2 December, three days before He sailed, He spoke at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Kinney about the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. He came last to the one He called the greatest: "As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, a specific teaching not given by any of the Prophets of the past: It is the ordination and appointment of the Center of the Covenant.

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By this appointment and provision He has safeguarded and protected the religion of God against differences and schisms, making it impossible for anyone to create a new sect or faction of belief."

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He warned them that some would try to turn them toward another than the appointed Centre by praise and insinuation. They were to ask any such person: "Where are your proofs and writings? Where is your authority from the pen of the Center of the Covenant?" And He gave them a standard by which to judge: "But when you find a person living up to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, following the precepts of the Hidden Words, know that he belongs to Bahá'u'lláh; and, verily, I proclaim that he is of me."

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On 5 December 1912 He sailed from New York on the *Celtic.*

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Promulgation of Universal Peace** by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, and **Mahmúd's Diary**.*

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