Child's Way/Volume 2/Issue 6/Text

←Previous

Child's Way Volume 2, Issue 6

Next→

Return to PDF view Proofread once

[Page i]HEALD

CHILD'S WAY

NOV. - DEC.

dedicated to children everywhere

BAHÁ’Í YEAR 127 [Page ii]dedicated to children everywhere

BAHÁ’Í YEAR 127

1. Bahá’u’lláh adapted from the Star of the West 2. Pretty and Petty Poinsettia by Betty Conow 3. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Sailing from America from Mahmud’s diary 4. A Story About ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from the Center of the Covenant by Juliet Thompson 5. Bahá’u’lláh in Kurdistan from the Chosen Highway by Lady Blomfield 7. Poetry and Prayers 9. Mathematical Riddle 10. Bahá’í Calendar 11. Doug’s Diary 16. Rubber Cement Painting 17. Poetry and Prayers 20. If Jesus Were Here from the Chosen Highway by Lady Blomfield 24. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Sailing from America Mahmud’s Diary, II, 13, informal translation by Marzieh Gail. Back Cover. Day of the Covenant from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant by Juliet Thompson

Advisory Board: David Lepard, Mark Rossman, Maxine Rossman, Helen Sousa, Donald Streets

General Editor: Helen Sousa

Publicity: Mark and Maxine Rossman

Subscription Service: Gloria Kohls

Art Illustrator and Consultant: Diane Paquet

Managing Editor: David Lepard

CHILD’S WAY is published bi-monthly in January, March, May, July, September and November in Amherst, Massachusetts. Manuscripts, editorial correspondence and subscriptions should be addressed to: CHILD’S WAY Magazine, Box 551, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002.

Subscriptions: USA, $4.50; Foreign, $5.00. Single copy, $.75.

CHILD’S WAY

Vol. 2, No. 6

Editor’s Note

Dear Friends of CHILD’S WAY,

We are very pleased to announce the addition of Helen Sousa to our editorial staff. She will assume a major responsibility for the content by serving as the General Editor. Anyone wishing to contribute materials of any kind, please contact Helen in care of CHILD’S WAY Magazine, Box 551, Amherst, Massachusetts. Our hats off to you, Helen!

We are also pleased to announce that Mark and Maxine Rossman will be assisting the expansion of the magazine by developing and carrying out a variety of publicity programs. They too will appreciate any ideas or assistance you can offer. New subscriptions are always most welcome!

Finally, if this is the last issue of your current subscription, thank you for your generous support and won’t you please take the time to renew your subscription today---we need you!

Sincerely,

THE MANAGING EDITOR OF CHILD’S WAY [Page 1]

Bahá’u’lláh

Adapted from Star of the West Vol. 14 No. 10

Bahá’u’lláh was born in 1817, in Tehran, the capital of Iran. There were other children in the family, but the parents had a very special love for this little boy, feeling, even when He was a child, the radiance of His remarkable power. Bahá’u’lláh’s father placed a verse which showed an intuition of his son’s future over the door to his house:

"When thou enterest the sacred abode of the Beloved Say, 'I am at Thy command.' This is the home of Love. Enter with reverence. This is holy ground. Remove thy shoes when thou enterest here." [Page 2]

Pretty and Petty Poinsettia

By Betty Conow

Once upon a winter-time, in the green back yard of a white stucco house, there grew a little flower garden. It wasn't very big because on one side were some big orange and grapefruit trees and on the other side a wide, thick bougainvillea was growing up over the pink concrete wall. Since it was winter-time there weren't many flowers growing in the garden, because most flowers like to sleep and rest in the winter, even in California. But there was one flower that was growing. That was the poinsettia. There was a big clump of poinsettias growing in the farthest part of the yard. Each year it had been growing taller and larger and finally this year it was as tall as the little girl who lived in the house, and she was already six years old, so she was quite big.

In the poinsettia clump there were only two flowers this year and at first the two poinsettias were quite happy to be the very first flowers to appear. But soon the poinsettia named Petty wasn't happy anymore.

"Do you realize,' he said to the other poinsettia who was named Pretty, "That we are the only two poinsettias in the garden? In fact, we may be the only two flowers in the entire back yard." He mulled this over and a little later he stated, "We could very well be the only two flowers in the whole world."

Pretty Poinsettia was a little bit shocked. "How can you say such a thing?" he demanded.

"I've been thinking about it," said Petty. "You don't see any other flowers do you?

"No, 11 answered Pretty.

"You don't smell any other flowers, do you?"

"No," answered Pretty again, sniffing the air.

"Well, there you are," explained Petty. "It's all plain. If you can't see or smell it, it just isn't there!"

"I never looked at it in quite that way, admitted Pretty. "But how about over that wall? Maybe on the other side there is another flower garden with poinsettias just like us.

"Well, then, if there are, right now, I demand that they show themselves. Hey! Flowers! Over there! Answer me!

There was no answer.

"If there are any poinsettias anywhere in the whole world,' Petty shouted, "show yourselves at once!"

No poinsettias showed themselves.

"You see! Petty was quite excited at how clever he was, "There are no flowers in the entire world but us!"

Pretty didn't quite know what to say. He was certain Petty was wrong but he couldn't argue very well, so he just remained silent. [Page 3]Petty thought Pretty was silent because he agreed with him. And soon Petty became a very changed poinsettia. He began to feel so important that he decided he was King Flower of the World. He began to demand things. He demanded that it rain; he demanded that it not get too hot;B he demanded that Pretty not crowd him%3B he demanded just about everything he could think of. After he ran out of things to demand he began to make up some.

He decided, one bright day, that he was tired of having the sun in the sky. All day long, except when it rained, there was that big, orange ball up in the sky.

That would have to stop.

"Go away, Sun!" he shouted.

The sun continued to shine.

"I said. GO AWAY!" Petty yelled angrily. Then a cloud passed over the Sun's face.

fied. ever.

"There, that's better," said Petty, a little bit satis-fied.

But the cloud moved on and the sun shone as brightly as ever.

Petty became quite angry.

"If you don't go away, ," he shouted, "I won't look at you, and that will take care of you!"

Well, the sun didn't seem to care whether Petty looked at him or not.

Petty brooded about that all night. The next morning he made up his mind that if he huddled close to the wall he wouldn't see the sun, and if he couldn't see the sun, then it just didn't exist! After all, he was King of the Flowers of the Universe; he could do anything he wanted!

So every day after that he just huddled farther and farther back in the dark and the shade. Several times Pretty asked him what he was doing there and Petty just snapped at him, "I'm the King of the Flowers and I refuse to turn my face to the sun. If the sun wants to see me he'll have to do what I tell him to do!".

Pretty shook his head and tried to talk to Petty, but he only seemed to say the wrong things and finally Petty refused to talk to him at all.

One afternoon the little girl came out in the yard to look at the poinsettias. She sniffed and smelled Pretty and that made him giggle because her nose tickled. Soon she went indoors and came back with her mother.

"See, Mother, " she said, "here is a beautiful poinsettia." She pointed at Pretty.

"It is beautiful," agreed her mother, "but I thought we had two poinsettias. Where is the other one?" She looked high and then she looked low and then she spread the clump apart with her hands.

"Look!" the little girl said. "There it is! There's the other one!"

They both looked at Petty, hidden away in the dark. Petty, although he wasn't feeling too well lately, pulled himself up to his full regal height and looked as proud and as beautiful as he could. [Page 4]

A STORY ABOUT ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. the Center of the Covenant by Juliet Thompson

Not only ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but a great number of His followers had been imprisoned and persecuted by the Shah of Persia and his brother. When the Shah lost his throne and his power, and was exiled, his brother Zillah-Sultán fled to Geneva with his two sons. At the same time, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was set free, and He was beginning His journey through Europe. His first visit was to Thonon-les-Bains on the Lake of Geneva.

"In the suite of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a distinguished European who had visited Persia and there met Zillah-Sultán. One day when the European was standing on the balustraded terrace of the hotel in Thonon, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was pacing to and fro at a little distance, Zillah-Sultán approached the terrace. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was wearing, as always, the turban, the long white belted robe and long ‘abá of Persia. His hair, according to the ancient custom of the Persian nobility, flowed to His shoulders. Zillah-Sultán, after greeting the European, immediately asked:

"Who is that Persian nobleman?"

"‘Abdu’l-Bahá."

"Take me to Him."

In describing the scene later, the European said:

"If you could have heard the wretch mumbling his miserable excuses!"

But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá took the prince in His arms. [Page 5]

Bahá’u’lláh in Kurdistán

from the Chosen Highway by Lady Blomfield

‘Abdu’l-Bahá always obeyed the whole of the Tablet given by His Father, Bahá’u’lláh, which starts out in these words: “be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity”’

The following story will show you that Bahá’u’lláh also lived by this Tablet. We will take another line of the Tablet and tell you the story of a small boy who met Bahá’u’lláh and found that He was “. . an answerer of the cry of the needy. . a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed. . ”

Bahá’í World Faith, p. 136

There was once a little boy who lived in the mountains of Kurdistán. He wanted very much to learn to read and write, but he was very slow in everything he did. First thing in the morning his father would have to speak to him very sternly. “Hurry, hurry! You will be late to the school.” His mother would have to call him to breakfast many times because he was so dreamy. His teacher would shout at him, “Hurry, hurry! ‎you You‎ are far behind in your work.”

Poor lad, his dream was almost too big for him. It was a fine dream and that was the reason he had been chosen as one of the special ones to go to the school. He wanted to be a teacher. He thought that it would be good for everyone to be able to write his own name, to read books and to learn how to think for himself.

One day, the teacher’s patience ran out. “Go home and don’t come back. There are other things for you to do, much work waits for you to do, I’m sure. Dream another dream and forget about reading and writing. You are too slow!”

On the way home, the little boy was overcome with tears of disappointment and he sat down on a stone, sobbing and heartbroken. [Page 6]A Stranger, dressed like a dervish (a holy man) found him there and stopped to comfort him. When He saw the slate on which the boy's school work was set down for him to do, He took it and very lovingly started to help him to understand his problems. The slate was soon covered with beautiful letters and symbols. The most interesting and wonderful thing was that the boy understood perfectly what the Stranger had written down and was able to explain it all. The Stranger told him to go back to school and show the teacher what he had learned.

The teacher was amazed! He had never seen such beautiful and perfect work. He also realized that the boy was not just copying. He really understood. The teacher decided that he would keep the boy in his class and try to be more patient with him.

At home, the mother and father could not believe what had happened. "Suddenly, we have a son to be proud of—no longer is it hurry, hurry, to him."

The Stranger knew how to teach, how to make a little boy feel sure of himself. He knew how to love. A dream is fine, but hard work is important to make it come true. From then on the lad was on his way and the news about the wonderful teacher spread among the mountain people. Even though He dressed like a poor dervish, everyone knew that He was very great. He helped them to understand things that had puzzled even the wisest among them. He loved them and they adored Him, but He belonged to the people of the whole world. He couldn't stay with them only, and after two years He returned to Baghdad where His family was waiting. It was in Baghdad, shortly after, that He announced to the world that He, Bahá’u’lláh, had come to bring them the Message from God that would some day change the world into a most wonderful place of peace and justice. [Page 7]The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His divine Manifestation.

from Words of Wisdom of Bahá’u’lláh [Page 8]Behold a candle how it gives its light. It weeps its life away drop by drop in order to give forth its flame of light.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

I pray in behalf of these children and beg confirmation and assistance for them from the kingdom of Abhá so that each one may be trained under the shadow of the protection of God, each may become like a lighted candle in the world of humanity; that they may receive insight; that they may bestow hearing upon the people of the world. . .

--‘Abdu’l-Bahá [Page 9]

A MATHEMATICAL RIDDLE????

Ask a friend to write a 3 digit number, each digit 1 less ‎that than‎ the preceding one. For instance 765; then ask him to invert the numbers: 567, and to subtract the smaller from the larger (765-567). Tell him that you know the answer. It will always be 198.

TLh

This can be proven, using algebra. Are you interested in trying to prove it? Good luck. [Page 10]

Bahá’í ‎Calerdar Calendar‎

Cut out, tape Calendar to your wall.

	QUDRAT	POWER	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12 BIRTH OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22
	23	24	25	26 DAY OF THE COVENANT	27	28 ASCENSION OF ABDUL-BAHA
29	30	1	2	3	4	5

[Page 11]

A TEACHING TRIP TO INDIA

Monday Dec. 22 Today has by far been the most exciting day so far. This has been a most extraordinary day in several ways. First we went to a village which was over 15 miles off the main road. And was it hard to get to. At first the going was easy. Just a very bumpy road. Well this was all very fine until we had to drive through a small river. When this didn’t stop us, the road got really mean and decided to really give us the ride of our lives. We went through gullies and ditches. The road even took us through a ravine where there were upheavals and downheavals and erosion galore. The jeep tipped at all kinds of crazy angles and once it even started to lean against the side of the ravine because it was tipped so much. But the road leveled a bit and our jeep was solidly back on "all fours." When we finally reached the village we had gone over quite a bit of terrain; anytime it got too rough our friend, Mr. Vajdi got out of the jeep to "scout ahead." We all knew however that he got out in order not to be in the jeep while we went over the terrain.

Well, we finally got to the village. There, after an hour’s talk by Dad, Dennis, and me, the whole village declared themselves Bahá’ís and ‎noone no one‎ had even heard of the Bahá’í Faith before today. On we went to our next appointment. On the way, we had to get stuck in a river or our day wouldn’t be complete. So that’s exactly what we did. [Page 12]We got stuck in a river that was between shin and knee deep. Everyone had to get out and push except dad who had to drive. Ah, also Mr. Vajdi didn’t push. He got out and went over to the other bank and directed or tried to. And when dad told him to push he said no because he would get his pants wet. But Denny and I and all the rest of the people who had come to help were spattered with mud and water and not one person complained (except when I stepped on one of Denny’s shoes by mistake with my muddy foot). It might be well to mention that after we finally got out of the river and up a slippery bank that was very steep, dad was not exactly dry himself: Jeeps have no doors so he got plenty of mud and water on him, too.

Mr. Vajdi in the meantime hadn’t been idle either. All this time he had been jumping up and down on the bank shouting to push harder, to go the other way and also kept admonishing that we would never make it, out of the river, but we did. So off we went again happily along our way for 15 minutes when we came to this little mud hole; there was no way around it so dad plowed in full force hoping to get through. We didn’t. In fact when the front wheels were about half way through the mud hole, and the back wheels were about to enter, the front wheels stuck and we abruptly came to a stop unable to get out of the mud. Mr. Vajdi told us the village was only half a mile away so while we walked there and gave our presentation he would get the jeep out, if we would send some men to help when we got to the village. Well, to make a long [Page 13]story short, an hour later Mr. Vajdi ‎come came‎ trudging into the village and instructed men to get sticks to use as a lever to lift the jeep up. Dad knew this would never work and asked that 15 or 20 men come down to where the jeep was. Mr. Vajdi tried his idea first and the stick they used broke so easily it was insane to even try it. Mr. Vajdi failed to get the jeep out after over an hour’s work. Dad put his idea to work and in less than two minutes the jeep was out of the mud hole and ready to go. Well today already had been exciting enough to go down into history but Silver Steel wasn’t through yet. We had one hour’s time to go 2½ hours distance. So we really whizzed along twice as fast as was reasonable for the road. This was all very nice until

Silver steel lost a ‎pinyon pinion‎ gear and we had to go very slow hoping to make it to a gas station before the engine gave out, for, as the old saying goes, slow transportation is better than no transportation.

(I ‎dont don’t‎ know why I said old saying since I just made it up on the spur of the moment.) We finally got to the gas station and found there was no way to fix the engine. So dad and I went down to see if we could find a truck to take some of us to Ujjain to make this speech he was late for. He saw a truck and shouted to it, “Can you take me to Ujjain?” The driver said yes, and since there was room for two people dad made a split second decision that he and Mrs. Boman would go by truck to see if they could get to his talk in time and that Denny and I [Page 14]would go with Mr. Vajdi as fast as his Jeep would allow back to Ujjain. Dad watched us get smaller as we waved to them as they pulled away, and soon they were flying down the road in a 2 ton truck. Dad was happy with the progress made because it was a fast truck. In about 15 minutes they were half way to their destination. Unfortunately there was a tax stop where all trucks had to pay taxes. A stop of any length of time there would cause dad to miss his meeting.

Denny and I travelled slowly and carefully along. Twenty minutes earlier we had left the gas station hoping to make it back to Ujjain without a total engine failure. Since leaving the gas station we had covered about six miles so we were going about 18-20 miles an hour. Every time we went over a bump we would unconsciously listen to see if the motor was still going. It was. After travelling about 4 or 5 more miles, Mr. Vajdi felt the steering change as if we had a flat tire. We stopped and checked the tires, and upon finding no defective tires we went on and speeded up to about 25 miles per hour. All of a sudden we heard a large bump, heard a screeching noise, and skidded for about 50 feet before we could get off the road and the ‎lost last‎ thing I can remember before stopping was seeing a tire go careening off into a field some distance from the road.

See you in the next issue of Child’s Way! [Page 15]

| 29 | 30 | 31 DEC. | |

7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |

| | | MASA’IL | QUESTIONS | 12

14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26

28 | 29 | 30 | | |

QAWL	SPEECH

fold on line between the Arabic name of the month and the translation - TAPE and all the months will fit! [Page 16]

RUBBER CEMENT PAINTING

Paint the outline of a picture with Rubber Cement, using a flat tooth-pick or a ‎samll small‎ stick instead of a brush.

When the ‎rubber, cement rubber cement‎ is completely dry (be patient), cover the whole picture with ink.

When the ink is dry, remove the rubber cement by rubbing your hand over the surface. Your picture appears like magic.

You may use any color ink, of course. When you become an expert, you might try producing designs 3½" x 4". You may then glue each picture to a folded piece of 4 x 10 paper and use these lovingly hand made cards to invite your friends to Bahá’í special events. [Page 17]O my God! O my God! Adorn the heads of thy chosen ones with the crown of love and their temples with the robes of virtue.

from Words of Wisdom of Bahá’u’lláh [Page 18]It is Our wish and desire that every one of you may become a source of all goodness unto men, and an example of uprightness to mankind.

Bahá’u’lláh [Page 19]

Pretty and Petty Poinsettia

"Oh, poor thing!" said the Mother. "It’s dead," said the little girl, "it’s all brown-looking." "No—it’s not quite dead," said her mother slowly, "but unless we can get it out in the sunlight it will be." She straightened out its stalk and she did some things to the dirt and she cut back some of the clump and after ‎awhile a while‎ she was finished.

"Well, we’ll have to wait and see if this poinsettia will grow and be beautiful like the other one. It’s so little and shriveled. It’s a shame it couldn’t get more sun."

She went indoors and the little girl sniffed Pretty again. "Maybe Mommy will let me take you into the house where the other flowers are." She looked again at the skinny, brown poinsettia, and sighed. "Well, maybe you can learn to grow beautiful too." When she looked at Petty a little closer she saw two big drops of water right in the center of his face which was now looking at the sun.

"I never saw a flower cry before," she said. "Maybe the sun is too bright and hurts your eyes." She felt sorry for the poor little flower so she bent down and kissed him and then ran into the house to tell her mother about the sick little poinsettia who was crying.

As for Petty, he was already feeling stronger and all the world seemed to look different somehow. Pretty said it was because he had learned how to love.

Do you remember the verse over the door of Bahá’u’lláh’s house? Do you understand it better now?

There are people or things that you respect, and you may want to express your respect in some way. How do we show our respect?

Sometimes we are quiet; we don’t talk while the other person is speaking;

When we are asked a question, we answer immediately, in a loud voice;

We use our very best handwriting when we know that what we write will be read by the person we respect;

Sometimes we take our hands out of our pockets, Or we take our hat off;

Sometimes we stand up when a person comes into the room where we are.

In some churches, ladies must wear a hat to show their respectful attitude;

In Eastern countries, people take off their SHOES. [Page 20]

If Jesus Were Here

from the Chosen Highway by Lady Blomfield

There was once a little boy who saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and whispered, "Look, there is Jesus when He was old."

Now, it is true that both Jesus and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were born and lived in the Near East. Perhaps They both wore beards. We know that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did, but no one knows for sure how Jesus looked. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wore a light colored turban on His head. His face was beautiful because His heart was full of love and kindness towards all people. Yet, He was not Jesus; nor was He Bahá’u’lláh. - He was not a Prophet of God as They were, but He was a perfect man. [Page 21]There was another little child who saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She lived in America, and her story is rather strange, for she knew about Him before she actually saw Him. He was far across the ocean when she said to her mother one day, "Mummy, if Jesus were here what would you do?"

Her mother answered, "I would go to Him as fast as I could!"

"Well, Mummy, He is here in the world somewhere," she told her mother.

"Now Precious, what do you mean? How do you know?"

Her little girl then said, "He told me so Himself, so He must be here."

The mother was puzzled because her daughter was so sure, and the mother prayed that she would know what it all meant. [Page 22]The next day, the child asked her mother why she had not gone to see Lord Jesus "He's told me two times that He is here," she insisted.

But her mother could only say, "Mummy doesn't know where He is—how can I find Him?"

The little girl was not discouraged. That afternoon while the two of them were out walking she saw something that made her stop and cry out. "There He is! There He is!" She was trembling with excitement, for in the window of a magazine store there was a picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!

Her mother hurried into the store and bought the paper with the picture and there she found out where He was. He was in Paris, far away across the ocean.

And do you know, she did just what she told her little girl she would do—she made the journey to Paris as fast as she could. And she took the child with her!

Then they both saw the One Whose love was so great for everyone that it could reach people all around the world! [Page 23]"All that is of the past," He answered, "Never think of it again. Send your two sons to see me. I want to meet your sons."

They came, one at a time. Each spent a day with the Master. The first, though an immature boy, nevertheless showed Him great deference. The second, older and more sensitive, left the room of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, where he had been received alone, weeping uncontrollably.

"If only I could be born again," he said, "into any other family than mine."

For not only had many Bahá’ís been martyred during his uncle's reign (upwards of a hundred by his father's instigation,) and the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá threatened again and again, but his grandfather, Nasir'd-Din Shah, had ordered the execution of the Báb, as well as the torture and death of thousands of Bábís. **

The young prince was "born again"-a Bahá’í.

• ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was called "Master."

• • The Bábís were followers of the Báb, the precursor of Bahá’u’lláh. We'll soon have some stories about Him.

[Page 24]

Abdul-Bahá’s Sailing from America

‘Abdu’l-Bahá sailed away from America on December 5th, 1912. Among His last words to the American believers, spoken while they visited Him on board ship, were these: "You have no excuse to bring before God if you fail to live according to His command, for you are informed of . . . the good-pleasure of God. You must therefore be kind to all men."

(Prom. II, end)

As the Celtic was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: "I wish the weather would change; I would not mind seeing a storm; it would be worth seeing. . . I have walked 4,600 paces (on deck); this is the distance from ‘Akka to the Holy Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh. I want to practise walking so that perhaps I shall be able to go on foot to the Holy Tomb Toward the end, in the Holy Land, I had become so weak that I was deprived of this bounty. I could not make my pilgrimage on foot.

(Mahmud’s Diary, II, 13, informal translation by Marzieh Gail)

(to be continued) [Page 25]

Day of the Covenant

from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. the Center of the Covenant

by Juliet Thompson

On the subject of the Covenant ‎" ‎‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes, among many other statements: "Were it not for the protecting power of the Covenant to guard the impregnable fort of the Cause of God, there would arise among the Bahá’ís, in one day, a thousand different sects, as was the case in former ages, but in this Blessed Dispensation, for the sake of permanency of the Cause of God and the avoidance of dissension amongst the people of God, the Blessed Beauty (may my life be a sacrifice to Him) has through the Supreme Pen written the Covenant and Testament; He appointed a Center, the Exponent of the Book and the ‎Annuller Annuller‎ of disputes. Whatsoever is written by Him is conformable to truth and under the protection of the Blessed Beauty. He is infallible."

"As to the most great characteristic, and it is a specific teaching of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and not given by any of the Prophets of the Past, —it is the teaching concerning the Center of the Covenant. By giving the teaching concerning the Center of the Covenant, he made a provision against all kinds of differences, so that no man should be able to create a new sect."

• • Did you know that the Blessed Beauty is Bahá’u’lláh? The word covenant means agreement, contract. Can you find this word and its meaning in a dictionary? Can you read about the Covenant in some Bahá’í books?

This is a difficult passage. Maybe you can find someone with whom to discuss it; perhaps your parents or some Bahá’í youth in your area. [Page 26]--BLANK--