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| VOL. 22 | JUNE, 1931 | No. 3 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
that all nations shall become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men shall be strengthened, that diversity of religion shall cease and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes; these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the
'Most Great Peace' shall come."--BAHA'U'LLAH.
LEADERS of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves, unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inferences, or unauthorized interpretations of His Word."
| VOL. 22 | JUNE, 1931 | NO. 3 |
| Page | |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 67 |
The New Prosperity, Dale S. Cole | 70 |
Progressive Religion in Japan, Agnes Alexander | 75 |
Bahá’i Pioneers, A Short Historical Survey of the Bahá’i Movement In India, Burma, Java Islands, Siam, and Malay Peninsula, Siyyid Mustafa Roumie | 76 |
Growth, Henrietta Clark Wagner | 80 |
The Future Religion, Howard R. Hurlbut | 82 |
Ideals of Persian Art, Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, N. D. | 86 |
The Glory of God, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 88 |
Let There Be Light, Reflections From the Twenty-third Annual Bahá’i Convention, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 92 |
Songs of the Spirit, Poems by Valeria DeMude Kelsey, Willard P. Hatch, Beatrice E. Williams, Kaukab H. A. MacCutcheon | 96 |
STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Associate Editor |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
Great Britain, Mrs. Annie B. Romer; Persia, Mr. A. Samimi; Japan and China, Miss Agnes B. Alexander; Egypt, Mohamed Moustafa Effendi; International, Miss Martha L. Root.
Subscriptions: $3.00 per year; 25 cents a copy. Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year. Please send change of address by the middle of the month and be sure to send OLD as well as NEW address. Kindly send all communications and make postoffice orders and checks payable to The Baha'i Magazine, 1112 Shoreham Bldg., Washington, D. C., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, 1897. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103 Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1922.
--PHOTO--
Delegates and friends in attendance at the Twenty-third Annual Convention of the Bahá’is of the United States and Canada, held in the Foundation Hall of the Bahá’i Temple at Wilmette, Ill., May 1, 2, 3, 1931. Group photographed on steps leading to one of the main entrances of the Temple now in course of construction.
| VOL. 22 | JUNE, 1931 | NO. 3 |
Cause is fully spread . . . warfare will be a thing of the past, universal peace will be realized, the oneness of the world of humanity will be recognized and religion and science will work hand in hand.”
IT IS indeed true that “experience is the best teacher.” Man may theorize about principles of human conduct and policies which would help humanity to progress, but unless events tend to support the contention of the idealist his ideals do not produce fruit in action. When, however, destiny by means of great cosmic events, brings to pass dynamic changes, man is forced to think and act on a new level and humanity quickly arises to the necessity of the new occasion.
When Bahá’u’lláh, nearly eighty years ago, gave forth His message of universal peace to the crowned heads of the world, the great nations had then no thought of renouncing war as a means of national aggrandizement. Events of the past had seemed to demonstrate that war, when successful, was a unique means of national growth, expansion and prosperity. Humanity was not at all ready to listen to the Divine Commands as uttered by Bahá’u’lláh.
Then came the World war, an entirely new experience in the martial history of humanity because of the new methods of destruction used. War was no longer a holiday excursion in which a great victory could be won at the cost of a few
lives. No nation profited by the war. Instead it proved a cataclysm most upsetting to the political and economic stability of all the nations engaged. How many monarchs lost their crowns! How many nations saw their boundaries changed and the whole pattern of their national life destroyed because of this war! New for the first time enlightened public opinion was unanimous in its cry that war should cease. Events have forced the world to a recognition of the truth which it had refused to accept when expressed by Bahá’u’lláh.
THE SAME thing is true as regards
the world’s economic reformation,
the pattern of which was
given by Bahá’u’lláh almost two
generations ago. The principle
that economic security should be
guaranteed to each individual by
the State was not accepted then
either by the politicians or by the
economists as a feasible thing. Today,
however, two major events
have forced a great swing in the direction
of the economic pattern
laid down by Bahá’u’lláh.
The first of these events is the establishment of a government by and of the working classes in Russia, which guarantees a livelihood
to every individual who will work and which places the whole resources of the State at the disposal of the community.
The second event is the great world-wide economic crisis and consequent unemployment which has forced all nations to face the definite issue as to what is the responsibility of the government in regard to the populace out of work and lacking in food and other necessities of life. For the first time, in many countries the individualistic policy of “laissez faire” is being forced to the wall by the very necessities of the occasion.
TODAY NO nation can afford to
seem indifferent to starving millions
of the working classes, especially
with Sovietism claiming daily
extraordinary performances of a
government wholly conducted by the
working classes.* Therefore we
find a country like England accepting
definitely the principle of economic
responsibility to each individual
citizen. This would never have
come about by mere theory and
preaching before the world war, the
experiment of Soviet Russia, and
the present economic crisis. The
other nations of Europe are committed
more or less as England to
this same principle, that the State
should guarantee a livelihood to
every citizen.
Nor can this country avoid ultimately a similar definition of what government means. As long as private enterprise in the United States can take care of the starving, it will be allowed to do so; but should the resources of privately
* The Baha’i civilization does not establish the rule of a single class, but harmonizes the need of capital and labor and reconciles class differences in such a way as to produce a stable economic and social foundation for a national and world order.
organized charity be overtaxed, it is quite evident that the government can not permit millions to starve without appropriating public monies in the face of such need.
SO ALSO as regards the equality
of men and women. The World
War was a great leveller of the
sexes and was the occasion of
woman suffrage in England and in
the United States. It caused
women to successfully invade many
industries previously closed to them
by custom and tradition.
It was the World War more than any other single factor which awakened all Asia to the need of universal education in order that by means of the enlightenment and progress resultant, she might equal the power and prestige of Europe and so find independence and equality in world affairs.
And the greatest ideal of all for humanity and the only means of achieving world peace, that is, the unity and brotherhood of man,—this idea has been tremendously advanced by the earnest desire of enlightened peoples for a stable foundation for world peace. Realizing that such a peace can only be founded upon mutual understanding, respect and confidence, all idealists today are advocating international friendship and interracial unity.
THUS we see that all the major
principles announced by Bahá’u’lláh
as the basis for a new world
civilization have entered the consciousness
of humanity through
cataclysmic events that could not
have been foreseen when Bahá’u’lláh gave His great Message to the world. Now humanity has indeed developed into a more or less receptive attitude toward these principles, made so by the sad experiences it has traveled through. Today the world is ready in a remarkable degree for the great Message of universal brotherhood, universal peace, universal education, universal security to the individual, which the Divinity that guides our ends has proclaimed through Bahá’u’lláh as the necessary pattern for humanity’s future progress.
JUST as in the case of the individual,
so also in the case of a nation
or of humanity as a whole,
there is no susceptibility or receptivity
for new truths so long as the
old customs seem to bring happiness
and success. The individual who
has health, prosperity and happiness
too commonly feels no need for
religion; but events that change the
whole pattern of that individual’s
life, bring receptivity and capacity
for divine guidance. It is exactly
so in the case of humanity itself.
While the old customs seem to be
advantageous, there is no collective
capacity for receiving the Message
of God for the welfare of humanity.
But when old customs fail, institutions
totter, thrones are shaken to
the dust, governments quail before
the rising tide of popular strength,
then it is that all enlightened men attain a capacity for understanding the great principles enunciated by the Founder of the Bahá’i Movement.
AS A great statesman of a foreign race said when the writer spoke to him of the principles of universal brotherhood proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh, “What harm is there in this?” Many present day thinkers, upon hearing of the Bahá’i Movement and its principles of universal brotherhood, go even further and say, “What salvation is there for the World today unless it accepts these principles?”
It does not matter greatly at this moment that these thinkers do not align themselves definitely with the Bahá’i Movement. As ’Abdu’l-Bahá says, “It makes no difference Whether you have ever heard of Bahá’u’lláh or not . . . the man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is already a Bahá’i.”
The power of Destiny moves upon the face of the world urging humanity into a condition where it is very near to accepting in practice the Bahá’i principles. It may well be that coming events of a momentous nature may break down this last remaining barrier dividing sympathetic understanding from active participation in the work of the Kingdom.
“If the world should remain as it is today, great danger will face it; but if reconciliation and unity are witnessed, if security and confidence are established, if with heart and soul we strive in order that the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh may find effective penetration in the realities of humankind, inducing fellowship and accord, binding together the hearts of the various religions and uniting divergent peoples,–the world of mankind shall attain peace and composure, the will of God will become the will of man and the earth a veritable habitation of angels.“—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
HOW masterfully, Robert Bridges in “The Testament of Beauty” depicts conditions in the world today, when he says:
“We sail a changeful sea through halcyon days and storm, and when the ship laboreth, our steadfast purpose trembles like as the compass in a binnacle. Our stability is but balance, and wisdom lies in masterful administration of the unforeseen.”
“Masterful administration of the unforseen” is just what the business world is trying to achieve, although the attempt is not often as vividly phrased. There seem to be unique forces at work, which have not been encountered in commerce before, widespread in their influences, and ruthless in their machinations. Many sacred economic traditions seem to be awash. A decade of spiritless prosperity has come to a catastrophic end. The ship of international trade laboreth after the storm. All phases of life are affected. Where is that balance which means stability? Is it to be found in trying to reconstruct the cycles of prosperity and depression through which we have passed intermittently for a number of years? To reconstruct them with the same building materials as before?
What queer quirk is there to human nature which causes us, at the same instant, to be slaves to traditional attitudes and enthusiastic proponents of the new? We seem to prefer antique methods of government and education, but in industry and science the newest is none too new. We like old paintings and modern automobiles. We like new clothes and old shoes—the glitter of
new raiment but the comfort of old leather.
Some such attitude seems to sway many of our reactions today. We want the benefits of the new without giving up some of the flavors of the old. Changes occur so rapidly that our adaptability in many respects is insufficient, It is not strange then that our conceptions of certain phases of existence lag behind changes. Certain words and phrases have meant specific things to us and we are loathe to alter their meanings with the times. We are accustomed to the mellow chimes from the belfry, and resent any modification of them, but we are not averse to having the bells rung electrically and automatically, in fact, so to do would be a matter of pride.
Mr. Wallace Brett Donham in his most challenging book–Business Adrift—warns that:
“The world is in a pecularily dangerous condition because of the numerous elements leading toward instability. Science continues to change our environment without changing human nature. Human behavior is changing rapidly because it is constantly facing new environments.”
Human behavior may be thought of as compounded from desires and environment. Human nature, as generally conceived, may not change, but human behavior is a chameleon, a poor, confused chameleon knowing not what color to adopt. Without some steadfast purpose, some wise plan, clearly understood and assimilated, are we not prone to be blown about as autumn leaves before the winds?
In The Promulgation of Universal Peace, (page 138), ’Abdu’l-Bahá
is reported as saying some nineteen years ago,
“Present exigencies demand new methods of solution; world problems are without precedent. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet the requirements of modern conditions, for this is clearly a century of new life, the century of the revelation of the reality and therefore the greatest of all centuries.”
Being true when uttered, how much more true, if possible, it is today. Changes have accelerated in the meantime as ’Abdu’l-Bahá knew they would. Unfamiliar forces are at work, and these must be wisely controlled, we are told on every hand, if our civilization is to continue to advance. We are not only faced with the necessity of restoring healthy economic conditions, but we are confronted with the essential necessity of solving attendant social and humane problems as well.
IF HUMAN behavior is changing,
as it undoubtedly is, why should we
cling to the customary meaning of
the magic word “prosperity“? Because,
in the past it has meant those
things which were pleasant and
profitable. It savors of humming
factories, of great shipments of
goods, of high wages and rampant
speculation. It has meant the easy
acquisition of things. In the period
just passed it has carried mass-production
to the competitive borderland
of profitless prosperity. It
has allowed some men to acquire
fortunes in the short span of a few
years, or even months, while many
others remain in need of the necessities
of life. It has built up what
has been characterized as the high
American standard of living. All
of which has been based on the
manufacture and sale of things and
on the rewards of a system depending upon individual incentive.
When this treasured state of affairs known as prosperity is no more, when factories slow down, when many people have no employment, when the standard of living is threatened,—with one accord we scan the business horizon, intently and constantly, for the return of prosperity. We expect it to occur in the same old form in which it departed, and for the same old reasons, bringing the familiar and cherished effects. We expect it to mean the same things that it did in the past.
But can it do so? Is prosperity ever the same for any two contiguous periods of history? Will it mean the same things in the next ten or twenty years that it has in the past? Have we any right to expect that it will? Do we want it to? Is it one of those things which we prefer to consider traditionally rather than rationally? Is it not like the old shoes which have been lost and which we hope to find and claim again as our own, wiggling our toes in familiar comfort?
WHATEVER prosperity has meant in the past, it will probably mean something quite different in the future. The prosperity of tomorrow will be a new, different sort of prosperity than we have known in the past, if civilization is to advance. For instance, greater economic stability will have to be achieved. Employment insurance is in the offing. Shorter working hours are much talked of. Greater premium is being suggested for leisure.
Each year we say that the spring
returns, but does it? Certainly one springtime may be much like another, but time has elapsed, with its effects, and no cyclic event recurring, can ever be exactly like that which has gone before. There is progress even if nothing else can be said to move but the hands of our clocks.
And so in looking for the return of prosperity in the old sense, perhaps we are anticipating a phantom and had better place our faith in a new kind of prosperity, one better suited to the day, and one which will almost inevitably bear the marks of having been influenced by that great current of change which is sweeping humanity along toward a better and more stable civilization. Economic factors are changing rapidly. Prosperity is not immune—it must be redefined.
One of the great reasons why the meaning of prosperity must change is that there is a new competition to deal with in human affairs. It is that powerful rivalry between the tangibles and the intangibles. Today and tomorrow business will have to concern itself with this new kind of competition. The problem is not of inducing individuals to buy this instead of that thing, in order to keep production up, wages high and purchasing power active; but it is the problem of weighing the individual’s wants for tangible things against his needs and impelling desires for the intangibles—security, stability, protection, a just share in well-being.
“The clear fact is that for any stage of economic progress, above the minimum of existence, the wants for intangibles are in active competition with the wants for things.
* Wallace Brett Donham, in “Business Adrift.”
If purchasing power were unlimited this competition between tangibles and intangibles would still go on.”*
In time of stress, with purchasing power severely restricted, when humanity realizes that it has lost control of affairs at least for the time being, there is a large degree of chastening necessity which forces the attention of many from the tangibles to the intangibles. Then is when we look upward and not around.
Were purchasing power unlimited, the surfeit of things would soon stale enjoyment, and we would likewise turn for consolation and inspiration to the intangibles.
And so the new prosperity must be one which deals with the intangibles of life. The new prosperity will be guaged not by material things alone, but by things and other things—the intangibles, with ever increasing accent on the latter. What are some of these intangibles? Leisure, security, self-respect, the chance to get recreation and keep health, to play, to study, to develop aesthetic values, to share in the progress of the world as a community, to be active in and contribute to the progress of humanity, to investigate truth, and to comply with God’s will.
Thus it seems probable that the new prosperity will be clothed in new garments for this one compelling reason of competition alone. The new prosperity may arise from an as yet obscure point on the horizon, so that we shall have to watch intently if we are to discern the exact time and place of its origin. Its trends and effects will be apparent to all.
IMPORTANT and impelling as will be the new competition between tangibles and intangibles, it is not the only factor which the new prosperity will have to take into account. The economic welfare of the world depends upon cooperation of nations, and those things which contribute to increasing commercial pressure between them, act as a brake on the industrial, ethical, political and spiritual advancement of the world. There is greater need now than ever for stability, in order that those economically embarassed nations may regain their equilibrium.
Another factor which the new prosperity will have to face, is that of excess productive capacity in many industries and in some agricultural localities. The chances are, that in many instances, existent capacity can never again be utilized completely. Improvements in processes are all in the direction of greater and cheaper production with less human labor. Rationalization, or the weeding out of inefficent units with attendant hardships in readjustment may be widely applied.
The new prosperity will have to devise means of preventing an over supply of such commodities as wheat, sugar, coffee, rubber and metals entailing the dislocation of commercial and social life and forcing entire nations not only to the brink of but actually into revolutions. It will have to revise the whole system of distribution and solve the economics of agriculture. These are grave and momentous tasks.
The new prosperity will have to contribute mightily to the stability
of the world and the individual communities of which it is comprised. Wallace Brett Donham formulates the problem, as far as America is concerned as follows:
“How can we, as business men, within the areas for which we are responsible, best meet the needs of the American people, most nearly approximate supplying their wants, maintain profits, handle problems of unemployment, face the Russian challenge, and at the same time aid Europe and contribute most to or disturb least the cause of International Peace?”
His is a great cry for leadership and a plan in which all may cooperate. On whatever grounds we may criticize the Russian experiment, they at least have a definite purpose in mind and adopt plans to achieve it. Plans may change but their aim is a clear cut issue. But he warns us that “we must remember that even plans made through such leadership (in America) will be dangerous if the leaders lack a philosophy of the problems of business as related to civilization or fail to develop the modes and habits of thought necessary to the rational foresight required in a changing world.”
As to this required philosophy, Alfred North Whitehead, in his introduction to “Business Adrift” explains that—“Philosophy is an at-attempt to purify those fundamental beliefs which finally determine the emphasis of attention that lies at the base of character.”
“We must produce a great age, or see the collapse of the upward striving of our race.”
Remember that ’Abdu’l-Bahá said that this is “the greatest of all centuries.” This age, to fulfil these characterizations, will have to be based on a new kind of prosperity, no matter by what terms we attempt to define it, general prosperity will
have to do with many of the spiritual nuances of life. Emphasis will have to be placed with accelerated tempo, on the intangibles of life rather than on things and the possession of them.
To those who are bearing the hardships accompanying the collapse of the familiar kind of prosperity, it will be no task to accept a redefinition of it. The very things of which the older prosperity has deprived them will be the stock in trade of the new.
It is beginning to be realized, from a purely economic viewpoint, that there can be no widespread and sustained prosperity as long as a few, either nations or individuals are superfluously wealthy, and the many possessed of but very limited means and slight opportunities to enjoy those intangible needs which are the great factors in modifying the desires for the material things produced by industry. When a person is very unhappy, disturbed, insecure and worried, he is not a good consumer nor a good prospective customer.
In The Wisdom of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, (pages 140 to 143), this matter is very clearly discussed.
The Bahá’i Revelation teaches that every human being has a right to a “certain amount of well being.” The rich may have their luxuries but the others must have comforts, the necessities and privileges of development.
In The Promulgatiom of Universal Peace, (pages 97 and 98), ’Abdu’l-Bahá reminds us that material civilization has reached a very advanced degree, but that this is not
sufficient. It will not satisfy. Its benefits are limited to this earthly life. But there is no limitation to the spirit of man. There is need for a divine civilization which will witness great progress.
This is the key to that “great age” mentioned previously. This is the plan for “the greatest of all centuries.” With the divine civilization, prosperity will also be illumined with those attributes which may help us to define it as spiritual-prosperity.
We are told that if we develop our susceptibilities to the spiritual, our effectiveness will be enhanced. We need all the effectiveness we can muster to raise the world from its present state of mal-adjustment.
Solutions for the exigencies confronting us, He (’Abdu’lBahá) has explained can be brought about solely through the Religion of God, which can alone create love, unity and concord in human hearts, the absolute requisites for the complete solution of the ills which beset humanity. It is through the agency of the Love of God that our purpose must be found and plans formulated. We must seek to reflect the Light of Reality on a troubled world.
Standards of monetary systems may and do fluctuate but the fundamental values on which the real life must be based, are unchanging and eternal.
OUR theorists are confused. Old
laws do not seem to fit present situations.
There are different schools
of thought among which there is
little agreement. New problems
have appeared about which there
seems to be some mystery, some
deep-seated factors which lie hidden. Many explanations and suggestions are offered from numerous viewpoints, and there is a growing conviction that there are some secrets which have escaped us.
In Bahá’i Scriptures, (page 445), ’Abdu’l-Bahá kindly tells what these are:
“The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and are concerned with the world of the heart and the spirit. In the Bahá’i Teachings, this is most completely explained, and without the consideration of the Bahá’i Teachings it is impossible to bring about a better state.”
Thus a great responsibility is placed on those who are familiar with these tenets, a responsibility involving the wise dissemination of knowledge concerning them. Some
one has said “that knowledge is power” but that wisdom is the control of such knowledge. Unwanted knowledge is almost always unwelcome, and ineffective. Education cannot be forced on unwilling recipients, but the dynamic forces now acting towards instability the world over, are also arousing new susceptibilities through sheer necessity and despair of old methods of thought, and opportunities are being presented and will continue to arise for the promulgation of the real solution as explained in the Bahá’i Revelation.
“Economic questions” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá “are most interesting but the power which moves, controls and attracts the hearts of men is the Love of God.”
--PHOTO--
The following interesting material has been sent to us by our contributing Editor for Japan, Miss Agnes Alexander.
THE participants of a meeting held in a Buddhist Temple in Tokyo, January 10, 1981, representing Buddhist, Bahá’i and Christian. The object of the meeting was to seek true religion delivered from all prejudices. From left to right: Rev. J. Mori, Buddhist Priest and Superior of the Temple; Miss Agnes Alexander, Bahá’i teacher, and Rev. Sempo Ito, Christian Pastor. In the background the Temple entrance is seen and in the lower righthand corner is the announcement of the meeting which was posted outside the Temple gate.
A Short Historical Survey of the Bahá’i Movement in India, Burma, Java Islands, Siam, and Malay Peninsula.
The Author, one of the leading Bahá'is of Mandalay, was in his youth an ardent associate and companion of the great Mirza Jamal Effendi who first brought the Bahá'i Message to the countries of southern Asia. These chronicles are both fascinating themselves in the spiritual adventure they narrate, and also invaluable as a history written by one who was an eye witness.
WHEN through the mighty Will of God, His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, came out of the terrible prison walls in the fortress of ’Akká (where He had been exiled and incarcerated for a number of years by the Turkish government at the instigation of the fanatical Muslim clergy of Persia) and finally settled at Bahjí, at a distance of about a couple of miles from the Great Prison, His numerous devoted followers and many ardent admirers of His teaching and high ideals poured forth from all corners of the world, especially from Persia, to lay their allegiance at His feet and to receive His command to serve the great Cause of the “upliftment of humanity” for which He and His noble adherents had undergone severe sufferings and privations and suffered diverse humiliations, chastisements and persecutions of which there is hardly a parallel in the history of the world.
Among these followers was a venerable figure of rather an advanced age, a great scholar of Arabic, Turkish and Persian, the selfless striking character of whose personality and whose singular courteous manners most eloquently testified to his noble birth and high rank. Sulaymán Khan was his original and official name, and Tanakaboon in Mazindarán (Persia) was his birthplace. He
subsequently came to be known in the Bahá’i world as Jamal Effendi or Jamaluddin Shah. As an orthodox believer in the Báb since the early period of His Declaration, he was well aware of the prophecies regarding the Manifestation of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh. Therefore he with peaceful heart pledged his faith in Him. Leaving his dear home in Persia he renounced all his worldly possessions, very cheerfully gave up his official rank and position and presented himself to His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, offering most humbly and meekly to sacrifice himself at the Holy Threshold of his Lord so that he might attain His supreme pleasure which to him was more precious than all the treasures of the universe put together. Such was the condition of the early sincere devoted believers.
His Holiness revealed a Tablet conferring upon him the distinguished title of “Lamia” (i. e., the brilliant one). The opening words of that holy Tablet which was written by the Supreme Pen were as follows: “O thou the brilliant one! We have conferred upon thee the title of “the brilliant one” so that thou mayest shine forth in the universe in the name of thy Lord the Possessor of the Day of Distinction.“ He then received a command to proceed to India with his kinsman,
Mirza Hussain, who was directed to accompany him. These two noble and heroic souls, without the slightest wavering, at once set out from the Holy Land with unflinching determination to serve the Divine Cause, and took the first boat available from Port Said to India.
They landed in Bombay about the year 1872-73. On their arrival here they met Jinabi Haji Sayed Mirza. Afnan and the great sage Jinabi Haji Muhammad Ibrahim, “the moballigh”—both of Yazd (Persia). Since they were quite strangers to the country and were not acquainted with the language, customs and manners of the people of India, they decided for the time being to act under the advice and guidance of these two gentlemen of Yazd, who were well known as general merchants and commission agents, and had their business of long standing in Fort Bombay under the celebrated name of Messrs. Maji Sayed Mirza and Mirza Mahmood Co. So Jamal Effendi’s first place of residence in India was “The Hussainieh.” This was a building dedicated to the celebration of the mourning ceremony of Imam Hussain by its founder a zealous Shi’ih philanthropist from Lucknow, India, called Babri Ali.
DURING his short stay in Bombay
Jamal Effendi did not remain inactive.
Despite the language difficulty
he managed to deliver the Great
Message to many distinguished Persian
residents, such as the late Agha
Khan (the then head of the Khoja
Ismailieh Community and grand-father
of the present well known
leader of that Community), and the
Persian High Priest of the Shi’ih
Isna Asharieh Mosque, Meer Sayed Muhammad. The latter accepted the Message and proved to be one of the most confirmed and devout believers. Within a short period Jamal Effendi became a marked figure in the public eye, and the nature of his activities became widely known, which necessitated his friends advising him in the interests of the Cause and their own protection to leave Bombay and go to the interior provinces of India. Accordingly he left Bombay and traveled through many important towns proclaiming the glad tidings everywhere and resurrecting souls from the dark graves of error and prejudice whenever such opportunity presented itself. Finally he reached Rampur Rohilkhand, which was then under a native chief by the name of Nawab Kalbi Ali Khan, an orthodox Sunni Muslim. Jamal Effendi was the guest of the chief’s uncle Colonel Nawab Asghar Ali Khan. During the stay there the chief one day arranged for a meeting at his palace of the Muslim clergy of his State for a discussion with him about the Bahá’i doctrine of the “nonexistence of evil.” Jamal Effendi in the course of his address told the audience that the Bahá’is do not believe that there exists any positive evil in the creation. According to Bahá’i philosophy all is good. The Creator of all things is but one God. He is good, and therefore His creation is purely good. Evil never exists in His creation. It is a non-existent thing.
At the end of his discourse the High Priest of the State, who was noted for his learning, pointed to the fire on the hubble-bubble which the chief was smoking and questioned
Jamal Effendi. “Is this not a positive evil? It may burn the palace and reduce to ashes all present here in no time.”
Jamal Effendi answered the question with great eloquence. He asked the audience to imagine what would be the consequence if fire were to cease to exist upon earth for a moment. In its absence the very existence of human life would be impossible, as it is a principle element in the creational system believed by the cosmologists, and generally in cold countries people would be simply frozen to death without fire. We ought to be thankful to the Creator for creating such a useful thing for the preservation of our life. How can one justly call it a positive evil! The improper and wrong use of it, as of all things in the world, is undoubtedly an evil.
It is the same with all the natural qualities of man. If they be used and displayed in an unlawful way they become offenders and blameworthy. The gist of the Divine Laws in all religions is to use each and everything in its proper place as ordained by its Author. Then each thing is termed as good and lawful. Only when used in a wrong place is it called unlawful, evil, or sin. The chief object of the Prophets of God was to teach this doctrine to mankind according to their condition and the necessity of that time. Thus have arisen the “Commandments” and “Prohibitions.“
He also illustrated the same principle from a pen-knife which was shown to him by the Chief. Referring to it he said, “How useful an article is this. But its misuse (for example, if it is used for the purpose of stabbing) is an evil. The
creation of metal is not an evil in itself. It is one of the necessities of our life. But when men turn it into a deadly weapon it becomes an evil.”
The Chief and the whole Assembly of the learned men accepted his scholarly exposition of the doctrine with great applause; and many became interested in the teachings of the New Philosophy of the New Age.
ABOUT this time in 1876, there was held an historic gathering in Delhi, the ancient capital of the Mogul Empire in India, on the occasion of the assumption of the title of the “Empress of India” by her Majesty Queen Victoria. Almost all the Rulers of the various Native States with their entourage, high officials of the British Government and many notable persons, Indians as well as nonIndians, came to the gathering. Jamal Effendi was not slow in taking advantage of a unique opportunity. There he came in contact with almost all the celebrities of India and quietly unfolded to them the Great Mystery of the age. He met here Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, and found in him a true and sympathetic friend of the Cause. Finally he proceeded to Deccan Hyderabad—the Nizam’s dominion. The Nizam being very young at that time Jamal Effendi was introduced to the Prime Minister, Sir Salar Jang Mukhtaru’l Mulk, who was a staunch Shi’ih. Through the magnetic personality and eloquence of Jamal Effendi this statesman soon became deeply interested in the Bahá’i Movement and eventually a
Tablet from the Supreme Pen was revealed in his favor. (According to the laws of the Kingdom, high officials could not confess openly any religion except their ancestral faith declared on oath, even though they were ruling monarchs.)
His next move was towards Madras, in southern India. While in Hyderabad and Madras he conceived the idea of visiting Burma and unfurling the banner of Ya Bahá Ul Abhá on the shore of the Irrawaddy, as he received information that King Mindon of Burma was a monarch of exceptionally generous disposition and absolutely unprejudiced mind, and though himself a Buddhist was tolerant to all forms of worship. In those days the steamships running between India and Burma were very few in number, so he had to wait for some time before he could catch a boat to take him to Rangoon. While he was thus waiting, a message from the Chief of Rampur State was received, soliciting his immediate presence there, because the brother of the Chief—Nawab Mahmood Ali Khan—had displayed a tendency towards atheism and it was the conviction of the Chief that Jamal Effendi was the only person qualified to demonstrate to his brother the absurdity of his belief and bring him round to the true faith of Islam. Jamal Effendi readily accepted the invitation. But before proceeding to Rampur he
sent Mirza Hussain with a servant to Rangoon by a cargo boat, and he also sent along with them all his luggage.
IT was in Madras that Siyyid
Mustafa the writer of this account,
met Jamal Effendi the first time. I
was then quite a young man and was
just preparing to return to my native
country, Karbala and Baghdad,
after having settled my dues in consequence
of a heavy loss sustained
in the rice business. Jamal Effendi’s
eloquent address, his silver
voice and his flowery language frequently
attracted large gatherings
around him. This humble servant
was one of his ardent admirers. I
soon became so devotedly attached
to him that I actually approached
my father, Siyyid Muhammad, celebrated
as Roumie, for permission to
accompany Jamal Effendi to Rampur.
My father, who was a very
learned Muslim divine and held in
great esteem and reverence by the
Muslim public, did not approve of
the proposal; and although he did
not exactly know that the theme of
Jamal Effendi’s talk was the Bahá’i
Revelation, yet he not only refused
permission but even prohibited me
from entering his house. I was determined,
however, to accompany
Jamal Effendi to Rampur and succeeded
in doing so.
“The Holy Spirit is the energizing factor in the life of man. . . . He who is educated by the Divine Spirit can, in his time, lead others to receive the same Spirit. The life and morals of a spiritual man are in themselves an education to those who know him.”
A FEW years ago I renewed a very precious friendship of my girlhood with a woman, in the interim widowed, to whom with her husband I had given the Bahá’i Message more than twenty years previous. Since the sad event we had lost touch with each other, but I was gratified to find that she had kept track of The Movement through press notices and comments.
After the ordinary conversation about personal matters, she ventured to ask, “Etta, are you still interested in that religion?”
“Yes, Mary, more than ever. In fact, it is all that has kept me on the earth.” Then a pause.
“Didn’t the Leader of that Movement come to this country some years ago?”
“Yes, in 1912. He spent about nine months in the United States, traveling from coast to coast, but very quietly, even so, it was astonishing how many people He met, singly and in groups—the high and low, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, people of all religions and of no religion, scientists, theologians, peace advocates and manufacturers of deadly weapons and explosives—all were touched, silenced and melted by His simple words and his indescribable, all-embracing spirit.”
“And didn’t He pass away some years ago?”
“Yes, in 1921, when His earthly work was accomplished.”
Another pause. Then, finally,
“Well, Etta, I want to ask a question. Why, does the Movement grow so slowly?”
THERE IS, for every one of us,
food for thought in this question,
as to what extent we are individually
responsible. Yet all great
and lasting movements have had
slow growth in the beginning because
of the prejudice of the people
to innovations. Like the boy in
school who was promoted and given
a first reader in place of the primer
to which he had become fondly attached,
we cry when our primers
are taken from us—our old ideas,
beliefs, habits and customs.
Just yesterday I heard a woman say that she and her husband had been attending the Congregational Church, and liked it, but she must some day go back and die in the Lutheran Church because that was her mother’s religion. We cannot but admire a woman’s loyalty to her mother’s memory, but this is largely sentiment. Should we reflect a moment, we would realize that if we all think and believe as our forbears did, there could be no progress upon the earth. Personally speaking, I feel sure that my dear mother, who has been in the Realm of Spirit many years, has progressed infinitely more than I have, imprisoned in this cage of the body, and she would tell me, I know, not to think as she did in those dark ages of the past, but to go on, and ever on, in the Light of the Spirit of Truth.
Take our own Christian religion as an example. When Jesus was crucified, He had only a handful of real believers and followers, though many out of curiosity flocked to see and hear Him, but fell away and were no more seen nor heard from, in such wise that He turned sadly to some of the faithful and asked: “Will you also go away?” After His agony in the Garden, He found them asleep, and at His trial we hear not one voice raised in His defense. Oh, the pathos of that hour!
LET US, in comparison, look to
this day, the dawn of the establishment
of the Kingdom, and see if
humanity has made any progress.
From the time of the Báb down to
the present time, it is estimated
that more than twenty thousand
souls in Persia have offered up their
lives on the altar of Bahá’u’lláh,
the Glory of God. They went to
their death singing and dancing
and praising God for the privilege
of shedding their blood in His path.
Out of their sacrifice a new Persia
has been born; schools have been
established and boys and girls are
being educated alike. The women
are coming forth from the seclusion
of centuries, are becoming educated
and appearing in meetings in company
with their husbands. Railroads
have been built, automobiles
are becoming common and aeroplane
routes have been established.
Think of this in benighted Persia, where, a few years ago, to be even known as a Bahá’i was sufficient to be dragged forth to an ignominious death!
With what enthusiasm have we in America followed the triumphal world teaching tour of our Bahá’i traveler and apostle, Martha Root! Particularly impressive is the picture of the open air New Year Feast in Tihrán, at which she spoke, attended by twenty-three hundred people! Can we ask, Why does the Cause not grow faster?
IN THE western world the conditions
are different and the Cause
has been of slower growth, due to
our materialistic tendencies. We
are “from Missouri”—we have to
be shown. But the factors are at
work which will show even the
people of the dollar mark, and
when the American people are at
last aroused and put on the robes
of spirit, we will prove that we do
not do things by halves.
The Christian religion, that had its birth in the Orient, was worked out and made practical in the West, and carried back by the missionaries, as Jesus commanded, into every corner of the globe. So may it not be, through the wealth and enterprise of America rightly expended, that every country of the earth may become a garden spot and the footstool of the Most High?
“Inasmuch as this century is a century of light, capacity for action is assured to mankind. Neccessarily the divine principles will be spread among men until the time of action arrives. Surely this has been so and truly the time and conditions are ripe for action now.”
This is the author’s second installment in the articles he is contributing which describe the Bahá’i Movement as the fulfillment of prophecy and the solution of the world’s present needs. The first installment appeared in the May number of this magazine.
NOAH was therefore to revive the Adamic instruction, and the experiences associated with his labors are presented in the allegory of the “Ark” which had no relation to a structure of substance, but was the “Ark of the Covenant of God” wherein Noah standing as a Revelator of the Truth, called upon the people of his time to emerge from the seas of their superstition and error and take refuge in the only Truth. Correspondingly with the Adamic experience, the evil tendencies were paramount and only a few responded favorably to his call while the great majority derided him and, as recorded in the Our’án, they asked him by what authority he stood to present to them a new religion. Their faith had been good enough for their fathers, it was good enough for them. So the light of the day of Noah witnessed accession of interest and sure decline to the state of spiritual darkness, despite the high scientific standards promoted by Enoch.
When Abraham arose—the “third day”—there was no change in the manner of reception accorded the message. We see him pictured with his hammer breaking the images of the gods in the temple where his father worshipped, its meaning being his assault upon the false doctrines and the idolatry of the people, by reason of which on the incitement by the priestcraft, he
was compelled to take recourse in flight from Ur to Aleppo.
With the dawn of his era, the race had developed from its original nomadic state, which had become tribal in the time of Noah and had begun to make claim to territories of authority as distinct from those similarly held by others, and “nations” became a human establishment, their regulation of relationships being entered upon according to their human concepts of what it should be. These laws became inadequate to uphold either an international accord or a spiritual force, and after the night had fallen upon the people, Moses (the fourth day) appeared with a repetition of the age-old cry. His was the mission of the promulgation of the Law of God, and the divine tablets which He revealed have endured through all these thousands of years to remain in our own time as the bases of all law.
His appearance is limned in one of the most deceptive, as it is one of the most alluring, of all the allegories of Holy Writ. The narrative pictures him as being found in a floating cradle in the bulrushes of the Nile by the daughter of Pharaoh, and we find ourselves almost unconsciously absorbing it and taking it into our innermost hearts as something sweet and intensely human, with the coloring of romance about it—a daughter of a king stooping to associate with the humble
and taking to herself the offspring of a slave. One might consider it were better to leave so intimate a narration of human love, unsullied by explication, much as we defer making known to trusting childhood the truth regarding Santa Claus.
Undoubtedly, too, however completely we may accept this revealment of the truth about Moses, the memory of what we once accepted must linger with us in the indestructible fragrance of its romance. The bulrushes along the banks of the Nile are of almost impenetrable density and for this reason, when Ezra, the inspired priest of Israel, began during the Babylonian captivity the compilation of the folklore of his people which, with other matter, was to be merged in that which constitutes the Bible, he fixed upon the bulrushes of the Nile as an adequate presentment of the density of superstition and spiritual ignorance of the Egyptian people.
EARLY in youth, Moses had become
established as a favorite at the
court of Pharaoh, and when, as with
every other Christ, the urge came
within Him to begin His mission,
He began quietly to spread the truth
of a single God, in contradistinction
to the several gods—Isis, Osiris,
and the rest—worshipped by the
Egyptians. Small attention was accorded
to what He sought to promote
until its rationality appealed
to Aseyeh, the daughter of Pharaoh,
and when she began to realize the
unapproachable majesty and dignity
and power of a single God ruling
the entire universe of worlds, instead
of a multiplicity of deities
warring with one another over the
manner in which affairs should be carried on, that was the time of her budding understanding of the Christhood—she found Moses (the Christ) in the density of the superstitions of her people.
The manner of the wider reception of His message is also presented in an allegory which possibly has constituted a greater test of the faith of religionists in the divinity of the station of Moses, as the Interlocutor of God, than any other recital in Holy Writ, namely, the murder in the market place. To one deeply considerate of unbroken consistency in the divine attitude, it must ever appear as impossible that a personage appointed to a divine station to reflect the attributes of the Most High should be a slayer of his brother man, and yet the record stands that this was the reason for the Egyptian monarch seeking Moses with the intent of destroying Him. To suggest any such procedure on the part of Pharaoh appears as an absurdity on the face of it.
The killing of one of the common people by a court favorite would mean little more to the monarch than might the killing of a dog and it therefore becomes imperative that search shall be had for a more rational excuse for His action. It is this—the sword employed by a messenger of divinity is His tongue and it was because of His incontrovertible argument supporting His teaching of the singleness of God, refuting every contention of the Egyptian priesthood, that they, foreseeing the loss of their influence over the populace through continuance of their appeal to prevailing superstitions, repaired to Pharaoh
and informed him that the teaching of Moses was intended to destroy the religion of his forebears and also threatened the stability of his throne. Upon such a determination, it may be readily grasped, the monarch would lose no time in seeking out Moses for his destruction, because of which Moses made His flight to take refuge with Jethro in Midian.
The conversion of Aseyeh, realizing as she must have the bitter condemnation of her sire, must ever stand before all womankind as one of the most inspiring pictures of the beauty of an unfaltering faith, Pharaoh having her seized and imprisoned in a barred iron cage and submerged alive in the waters of the Nile.
The rescue of the children of Israel from the hosts of Pharaoh by the upraising of the walls of water across the Red Sea is also an allegorical presentment of their escape from the practice of Egyptian idolatries, into which many of them had fallen. Their awakened faith in the mission of Moses enabled them to throw back the waters of superstition and with shining faces march along the highway of clarified understanding toward the “Promised Land” of God.
BECAUSE in this day, the compilation of records is a labor of ready accomplishment, possibly there is a measure of excuse for the many in assuming that when the Bible was prepared all of the data had been gathered and ready for final transcription. But this is farthest from the truth. There has never been any final determination as to the origin
of the books of the Bible, nor the time of their compilation. It is known, however, to as great an extent as anything may be said to be known regarding the undertakings of a period ante-dating positive historical record, that when the Jews were detained in Babylon a cry was raised by some of them for their Book, although the major number of them were entirely ignorant of the fact that they had ever had such a thing. The labor of its compilation was laid upon Ezra, the priest.
Also, quarrel may be raised as to that stated herein regarding the assemblage of Jewish and tribal folklore, to be made part of a book which was to be considered divine in its origin. But it is this assemblage in precisely the manner of its compilation which is one of the convincing arguments for the validity of the Book,—that is, it registers a matchless panorama of the qualities we name divine, and in corresponding completeness those which we know as distinctly human. Thus is presented a picture of spiritual beauty upon the identical canvas where the Master Artist has caused to be limned every human emotion, every evil and vicious tendency, every degrading trait which finds root in the uninstructed soul, so that mankind shall have exposed for its guidance two directly opposing forms of attractions and be able therefrom to determine for itself that which it will adopt as the better suited for human advancement.
With the throwing off of the Egyptian yoke of superstition and their rise after less than half a millenium to the glory of the Solomonic sovereignty, the downfall of Israel began in their departure from the
worship of the true God and their devotion to material things, so that they became subject to other powers and the fourth day of creation passed to its night. Then, out of their body, arose one of themselves–Jesus, the Christ. The reception accorded Him differed only in the manner of its application from that experienced by His predecessors. Our observation of Easter the resurrection—is based also upon an allegorical presentment of something which never took place in fact. Its explication removes it from the category of things which must be taken on faith and places it entirely on the plane of rationality. When Jesus had undergone crucifixion, it threw His disciples into the deeps of despair and doubts. Up to the final moment they had believed that through His divine power He would rise superior to His enemies and flout them through a miraculous escape, convincing them of His divinity, but when He had failed in this they began in their despair to think that after all they had been worshipping only a man like themselves.
Sorrowfully, they lowered the still form from the Cross and bore it for burial to a cemetery, but they found the visitation of hate had not been dissipated at the Cross, and they were denied at every gate. Even with the owners of lots they met no more favoring reception and were in the uttermost of dejection when an old Jew came to them and consented to interment in a lot belonging to him. This was hailed by them as a special providence and giving to him all their small possession of coin they followed as he directed, only at last to find themselves looking aghast at the “Place of the Refuse”
of Jerusalem. In the face of this horror they were overcome and sat and pondered long until at last, with hope died out, they scraped away the surface of the sickening mass and there, under the refuse of the city, they laid the body of their Lord. It was through three days thereafter they remained in the deeps of dejection until Mary of Magdala, who alone of them all had realized the Christ in Jesus, as they had not, because they had been holding His personality—His body—in their hearts, by her ministry brought them to an understanding of the Truth, and then it was that He was resurrected in them, and they saw Him in His Reality, and heard in their own awakened souls the voice of God, proclaiming “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus, therefore, appears on the plane of divine purpose as the fifth creational Day.
FOLLOWING on the Revelation of
Jesus, after six hundred years, the
sixth Day dawned in the personage
of Muhammad. He has been put
before us as “a Manifestation
apart,”—his placement in the unbroken
continuity of guidance being
likened to the Caspian Sea—isolated
from the great oceans, but of
their identical substance.
His appearance and the predestined period of His influence—His Day—are allegorized in the story of Hagar being driven with her infant into the wilderness. While the field of His missionary, initially, was one of isolation—in the arid reaches of the Arabian desert, an underlying purpose in it was the rescue of Christianity in the “dark ages” of
Christian Europe, from its apparently hopeless spiritual degradation, the “Wars of the Crusades” constituting the channels through which was transmitted to deprived Christian Europe an inspiring grasp of the marvelous civilization of the East, being instructed in which, Europe was stirred from its spiritual lethargy and an awakened christendom was launched on its pathway to greater things.
The opposition which had attended the dawning of each new Day was not in any measure stilled in Muhammad’s rise and as a measure of preservation he made the celebrated
“night flight” from Mecca to Medina from which we have the dating of Muhammadan chronology. The prophesied term for the continuance of His teachings as a spiritual force as given in the story of Hagar ended on the day and the year (1844) when Ali Muhammad, the Báb, made declaration of His appointment to serve as the Announcer of the dawn of the new Day of God, and this “final day,” pointed to in the prophetic utterances in all the sacred Books, and in which we are living, is the seventh day “in which God rested” with His work complete.
Mirza Khan is an authority on Persia and Persian general culture. In the past he has represented his country in various diplomatic capacities, most notably in the United States and Russia. He is at present in private business in this country, first haying founded the Persian Art Center in New York, and later established Centers on the west coast.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON spoke of the Persians as a nation who, in the long course of their history have ever refined and civilized their conquerors. This is due to their ancient culture and to the original character of their art. The Moslem Arabs who conquered Persia in the seventh century and gave their religion to her people were, in time, conquered by the superior qualities of Persian culture. The same is true of the Mongol descendants of Genghis Kan who conquered Persia in the early thirteenth century.
Tamerlane and other mogul rulers of Persia, assisted by the learned statesmen and scholars of that country, introduced Chinese art into Persia, and later diffused a broader knowledge of Persian culture throughout the countries of the Near East, not forgetting the noble gifts of the Aryan civilization with which they enriched China. Thus, these two conquerors of Persia became the means of disseminating Persian art in all the countries from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
There are those who contend that Persia is not the originator of her
arts, in that Assyria and ancient Egypt have made their contributions to Persian art. But this is true of all the nations and their arts.
Why is it that Persian art has had such a general appeal? Why has it endured despite the many vicisitudes experienced by the Persian nation? Why has Persian art influenced the arts of all the nations of the world?
A brief answer to these questions may here be of interest. The main reason is the universal conception of the Creator which the Persian artist has ever aimed to express in his handiwork. To him, the divine creator of the universe is the one father of one humanity, irrespective of race, region or religion, not a racial or parochial God, but the supreme invisible spirit of whom nature is the visible garment.
To portray this conception in lasting fashion, the Persian artist has had recourse to the two agencies of design and color. He early adopted the floral design with the cypress and the rose tree as its central pattern. The evergreen cypress symbolizes the eternal nature of God, while the fragrance of the rose suggested the fragrant qualities of the perfect man, or divine manifestation. The so-called “palm leaf” pattern is nothing but the cypress with its head bent in token of the
reverence shown by created things toward the Creator.
Color is the eloquent tongue by which the various attributes of God are expressed throughout nature. One of the innumerable attributes is divine glory. This is symbolized by the phenomenon of the sun, whose color is yellow and gold. Another is the impregnable and unfathomable nature of God, which is expressed by the deep blue of the sea and the azure blue of the sky. Another is the virtue augmentative visible in the vegetable kingdom, which is green. Another is the heat of the love of God, which is symbolized by the element, fire, suggested by the various shades of red rose and crimson.
The Persian artist searched the realms of the vegetable world to discover the substances out of which these colors were drawn. But he neglected the perfecting of black, which is the symbol of evil, and against which he was warned by all Persian prophets from time immemorial. In sum, this sacred mission initiated the Persian artist into the arcana of the philosophy of color, which embodies the principle of eternal truth and furnishes the key to the enigma of divine nature. Hence, the greatest of all modern Persians, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, has said: “Art is worship.”
“The sun emanates from itself and does not draw its light from other sources. The Divine Teachers have the innate Light; They have knowledge and understanding of all things in the universe, the rest of the world receives its light from Them, and Through Them the arts and sciences are revived in each age.”
The following is the second part of Chapter 5 in the series of articles which the author has been contributing under the title, “The Basis of Bahá’i Belief.” The third part of Chapter 5 will appear in the July number, and will conclude this noteworthy but brief presentation of the Bahá’i Message as related to Christianity.
THE Old Testament prophecies given in the previous chapter, represent a very small number of the references continuously made to the Manifestation of Bahá’u’lláh; but space will not permit a more exhaustive investigation. The major references of prophecy to the time and place of this great expectation and to the repatriation of the Jews, as already exhibited, were definitely fulfilled by Bahá’u’lláh. Now we must turn to the New Testament in order to see whether or not the repeated warnings1 uttered by Jesus against the false prophets who would appear in his name, include Bahá’u’lláh.
It has already been noted that the New Testament gives the same date of fulfillment as the Old2 so that we may now turn our attention to the definite statements made by Jesus as to the character of the “time of the end.”
The most serious warning is against the “false Christs and false prophets who will rise and bring forward great signs and wonders, so as to mislead the very elect—if that were possible.”1
In the course of this discussion the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh regarding miracles, has already been set forth. Although the miracles of Bahá’u’lláh and of ’Abdu’l-Baha are quite as clearly authenticated as
1 Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:22; Luke 21:8. 2 Matt. 24:15 and Rev. 14:16. 3 The Founders of the great religions of the world.
any of the facts of their lives, Bahá’u’lláh makes it evident that miracles are convincing only to those who witness them; that they constitute no proof of the authority or reality of the Manifestations of God.3
Our teachings would put us in full accord with the attitude of Julian the Apostate when he scorns the Christians for offering no greater evidence of the Godlike qualities of their Savior than that He had healed some blind and halt people in Palestine. However gratifying this was to the beneficiaries there would be millions in the world who would challenge or reject the authenticity of these stories. But no inquiring person can reject the historical fact that a simple Jewish peasant, facing the organized opposition of the rulers, despots, priests, authorities and society in which He appeared was able, in a few brief centuries, to overthrow the powerful and flourishing order of that brutal and materialistic era and to substitute for it his own teachings and commands.
In the Orient an event is recounted that clearly substantiates the attitude of Bahá’u’lláh. One of His followers approached Him with a manuscript containing an inclusive resumé of His apparently supernatural and inexplicable accomplishments. Bahá’u’lláh at once destroyed
the manuscript on the basis, already explained, that miracles do not constitute proof of the might and the divine origin of this Peerless Personage. Therefore it is evident that the warnings which Jesus gives against the false prophets who will perform great signs and wonders, cannot possibly apply to Bahá’u’lláh, since He does not permit us to evoke as evidence this phase in His mission.
Continuing the account of the attitude and teachings of the false prophets1 Jesus says further, “If they tell you here he is in the desert, do not go out.” In other words, when that Spirit which was in Him, returns once more to dwell amongst men, He will not be remote and difficult to find, His teachings will not be removed from the ordinary struggles and problems that confront humanity. Nor will he be “In the secret chamber;” approachable only through occult and mysterious practices; but “like lightning that shoots from East to West so will be the arrival of the Son of Man.”
Already we have referred to the meaning of the Aramaic phrase “Son of man”” as an idiomatic pronoun meaning I, he or, generically, a Man. Now lightning is confined to neither waste nor secret places but is equally evident to all observers, the young and the old, the ignorant and the learned; the rich and the poor, the white and the black, agree without any difference of opinion, as to what constitutes lightning:—one brilliant flash, illuminating all the dark wastes lying under the pall of night and after its cessation an apparent return of the
1 Matt. 24:26. 2 Prof. Nathaniel Schmidt’s “Man of Nazareth.”
darkness: but in the minds of those who have beheld the illumination, an ineffaceable picture of reality.
That the revelation of Bahá’u’állah is universal, embracing the East and the West, has already been stressed. As ’Abdul-Bahá has expressed it “Under these teachings the Orient and the Occident will embrace like two long-parted lovers.” But more literal than this has been the flash of His lightning. Bahá’u’állah, from His prison cell in ’Akká, under the shadow of Mount Carmel, memorialized all the monarchs and rulers of the world in the West as well as the East through His famous “Tablets to the Kings”: Summoning them to disarmament and to the abrogation of war; to the establishment of peace and of justice; to the nurture of the poor and dispossessed. More convincing still was the actual journey undertaken by ’Abdul-Bahá, after sixty years as an exile and a prisoner, from the Orient to the Occident, penetrating to the very shores of the Pacific, during His memorable visit to America in 1912; which like spiritual lightning revealed the glory of unity, peace and good-will to East and West alike.
As to the darkening of the sun, the failure of the moon to yield her light, the dropping of the stars, and the rolling together of the Heavens as a scroll, Bahá’u’lláh in His fascinating treatise on the interpretation of prophecy, (recently translated by Shoghi Effendi, under the title, “The Book of Assurance”) indicates the interpretation of these terms: “the sun” is the Manifestation or Founder of the past dispensation;
“the moon” His laws and ordinances; “the stars,” those who represent the administration of His principles; while the rolling together of the heavens represents the power which the command of the new Manifestation possesses to turn men’s hearts from outmoded practices and perverted conceptions to the glorious light of the New Day.
“Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in Heaven and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and Glory.” Zodiac, from its derivation indicates its meaning “A circle of Beasts.” Astronomically there is but one man in the Zodiac, Aquarius, the Water Bearer. Due to the precession of the equinox the North Pole cuts a small circle in the direction of its inclination, about every twenty-seven thousand years, which means that the equator of the earth will cut the ecliptic in a different sign of the Zodiac about every twenty-three hundred years.
The earth progressed from the sign Pices to the sign Aquarius, astronomically, about the middle of the Nineteenth century, and at that time the “Man” came in the clouds of His Glory, for coincidentally Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to Baghdad and made the first declaration of His mission to a small group of trusted followers. Clouds cover the sun, they do not reveal but conceal it. Therefore, this prophecy clearly refers to the apparent limitations from which the Manifestation of God would suffer.
The fact that Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned, exiled, subject to the vicissitudes of ordinary men, beclouded
1 John 20:9–18. 2 John 16:13-15. 3 Moffatt edition. 4 Rev. 14:1. 5 St. John 2:22. 6 1st John 2:18.
His glory quite as much as the birthplace of Jesus, His failure literally to fulfill the prophecies and the manner of His birth, had previously beclouded His.
Jesus in the parable of the vineyard gives us to understand that the Owner, Who has sent His Beloved Son, will Himself come and requite the wicked servants for their treatment of His Son?1
The New Testament indicates as clearly as the Old the coming of both the Father and the Son; Jesus states in the 16th Chapter of John His return to the Father, and the coming of the Spirit of Truth, not as an abstraction, but as a human being who will disclose that which he hears. “All that the Father has is mine, that is why I say, He will draw upon what is mine and disclose it to you.”2 An examination of the text shows the identification of the “Spirit of Truth” and the “Father.“3
The first Chapter of John also gives this relationship of identity between the Father and the Son, while looking forward in Revelation to this Day, John sees the hundred and forty-four thousand standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb, “Bearing his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.”4 “No one who disowns the Son can possess the Father.”5 Furthermore John says that in the last hour (the end of the old dispensation) the Anti-Christ will appear.6 Many interpreters seem to imagine that the Anti-Christ will be a personality, who will attempt to undermine the Kingdom of the Christ, but John very early disabuses us of this idea
by telling us in the most definite terms that “every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; and this is that Spirit of Anti-Christ.” “Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh, is of God.”7
Even in that day, when Jesus was no more than a generation out of the world, men were beginning to hypothecate Him, to treat Him as an abstraction, as a Spirit, as one of the mythologjical Gods, not an incarnate man. John warns us that at the time of the end these beliefs will once more reappear, and to-day, we have the widespread conception that the second coming will be some sort of Spiritual experience, something that will descend into men’s hearts, a transmutation that makes human experience the return of the Christ “And this is that spirit of Anti-Christ.” The indefensible assumption, already analyzed, that man can reach to God without a mediator finds no evidence anywhere; no kingdom makes contact with another any where in creation except through a focal center.
Also this assumption that the Manifestation will not “come in the flesh” necessitates the illogicality of assuming in the parts of creation
7 1st John 4:2-3.
* December issue Baha’i Magazine.
something that does not exist in the whole, i. e. personality.
It is scientifically and rationally impossible to advance any evidence of the part’s possessing characteristics that do not originate in the whole. Since this question has already been exhaustively treated there is no need for repetition here.* Suffice it to say, that this spirit of Anti-Christ namely the belief that the Manifestation will not return in this era as He appeared previously—in a human personality—constitutes the belief of a large and increasing group of Christians.
The fulfillment of the prophecies of the Sacred book of Zoroaster, the Zend’avesta, and of the Qur’an are equally as startling; and convincing as those quoted from the Old and New Testaments of the Hebrew and Christian faiths. It would encroach too far upon the limitations of this series to make more than this mere reference.
There are many to whom the interpretation of prophecy is entirely unconvincing; they argue that it is perfectly possible to manipulate such utterances to suit the exigencies of the case. Therefore, this argument constitutes only one of the evidences of the reality and station of Bahá’u’lláh.
“The fields and flowers of the Spiritual Realm are pointed out to us by the Manifestations Who walk amid their glories. It remains for the soul of man to follow them in these paths of eternal life, through the exercise of its own human will.“
HOW can one diffuse the fragrances from the twenty-third annual Bahá’i convention to one not present? Surely one would need a powerful pen to do this.
To separate the spirit of the convention from the atmosphere of the Temple is impossible. In the seven and a half months from the middle of September to the first of May the Temple had been erected.* Complete in outline and form, if not in detail, finish, and ornamentation, it stood ready to greet those coming from all parts of the United States and from Canada. Could anyone look at it for the first time without a sense of its meaning, without a spiritual uplift? It is a Temple of light. As one stands under the dome he is unconscious of the heavy ribs and pillars of steel and concrete, which are but a framework to hold the walls and dome of glass. For the Temple is designed not to shut out but to let in the pure white light. By day its beautiful dome and sides of glass seem to bring together and absorb the light of the sun from every direction. By night it will send out its beacon light for miles in every direction from its own illumination.
The delegates and believers had come from every direction to bring light and information to each other on important and pressing problems, and to get more light, more spiritual insight through consultation, meditation, and prayer, under
* The super-structure only; the foundation having been completed several years ago.
the dome of light. The problems discussed and faced, although on subjects seemingly disconnected with the Temple yet in reality centered in it, ramified out from it and intricately connected themselves with it and with each other. The light of the Temple symbolized the light earnestly sought for the solution of these problems, the light of the Spirit of God.
The cry of even the learned and wise in this age is for more light to understand and untangle the intricate problems of this topsy-turvy world. So it seems inevitable that a Temple which represents universal religion and the renewed descent of the Holy Spirit should be a Temple of Light. As the pure white light stands, too, for unity, the union of all the prismatic colors, so the Temple stands for the unity of all religions and the oneness of mankind. Could anything more perfectly illustrate ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s words: “The outward is the expression of the inward; the earth is the mirror of the Kingdom; the material world corresponds to the spiritual.”
THIS TEMPLE and its accessories is known in Persian as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, meaning the “Dawning-Place of the Praise of God.” And so it was that on the first afternoon of the convention, the afternoon of May first, 1931, a group of two or three hundred Bahá’í believers
stood on the large auditorium floor for the purpose of dedicating this universal Temple* to prayer and the praise of God. According to the instructions of Bahá’u’lláh, and emphasized by ’Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, the services held in this auditorium are always to be simple, informal and confined to the Words of Bahá’u’lláh, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and the great prophets of the ages. The hearts overflowed with joy and gratitude as the words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá were heard and the beginning of their fulfillment was sensed: “When the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is accomplished, when the lights are emanating therefrom, the righteous ones are presenting themselves therein, the prayers are performed with supplication toward the mysterious Kingdom (of heaven), the voice of glorification is raised to the Lord, the Supreme, then the believers shall rejoice, the hearts shall be dilated and overflow with the love of the All-living and Self-existent (God). The people shall hasten to worship in that heavenly Temple, the fragrances of God will be elevated, the divine teachings will be established in the hearts like the establishment of the Spirit in mankind; the people will then stand firm in the Cause of your Lord, the Merciful.”
The exultant significance of the occasion seemed to urge those present to shout for joy even while they heeded the words: “The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silent before Him.” Then from out of this silence were heard in supplication further words
* Situated on Lake Michigan at Wilmette, suburb of Chicago. * Construction Engineer.
of ’Abdu’l-Bahá beginning: “In the name of God, the Most High! Lauded and Glorified art Thou, Lord God Omnipotent! Thou before whose wisdom the wise falleth short and faileth—before Whose Light the enlightened is lost in darkness.” The hearts responded also to the selection from the “Discourse of the Temple” including the words, “Glory be to Him who hath caused the signs to descend.” Surely this material temple was one of the signs, erected by sacrificial gifts from loving Bahá’í believers in all. corners of the world as well as Americans.
The simple service ended with the reading in English and chanting in Persian of the Tablet of Visitation made precious by its use at the sacred shrines of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l’Bahá. Thus for the first time in history the praises of God dawned from a universal house of worship in America, this Temple where all religions blend into one religion, where all races are one race, where all creeds and prejudices are destined to vanish.
IT IS interesting to note in passing that nineteen years ago, also on May first, ’Abdu’l-Bahá dedicated the site for the Temple by laying a stone at the center of the grounds. Nine years ago, but on July ninth, the first service was held in the Temple’s foundation hall.
In the evening of the same day as the dedication, opportunity was given to watch step by step the erection of the Temple when Mr. Shapiro* showed pictures taken every few days during its construction. At
this time and Sunday morning when the privilege of seeing and hearing the engineers and contractors was granted, the uninitiated sensed a little what difficult construction and engineering problems had been overcome in erecting this absolutely unique structure and of the fine cooperation that had been exercised by all directing and participating in the work.
THE FEAST of the Ridván was
beautifully restful after two days
(three for many) of reports and
concentrated discussion and consultation.
It was held, as were all
the sessions of the convention except
the dedication, in the foundation
hall of the Temple.
The words heard at the Feast in regard to guidance seemed peculiarly fitting and to link this consecrating service with the deliberating and consulting sessions of the convention. Shoghi Effendi in writing concerning the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and the matter of guidance says: “Theirs (the willing worshippers in the Bahá’í Temple) will be the conviction that an all-loving and ever watchful Father who in the past, and at various times in the evolution of mankind, has sent forth His Prophets as the Bearers of His message and the Manifestations of His Light to mankind, cannot at this critical period of their civilization withhold from His children the Guidance which they sorely need amid the darkness which has beset them, and which neither the light of science nor that of human intellect and wisdom can succeed in dissipating.”
The Temple then, symbolic as it is of light and guidance, is more
than a place of worship. It is the “Dawning-Place of the Praise of God.” Let the reader emphasize for a moment the first word, “Dawning-Place.” The words of prayer and praise dawn in the Temple and are sincere only when they break forth into days of deeds. In the Bahá’í world worship and service must be indissolubly linked. “The people of Bahá must . . . manifest the Light of God in their deeds.” This command of Bahá’u’lláh is urged again and again by Shoghi Effendi. He says, “It (worship) cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the worshipper himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and transfused into . . . dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity.”
If one listens to the deliberations, reports and consultations of the general sessions of the convention he finds abundant evidence of this service to the cause of humanity. The sympathetic listener is conscious of something new in the spirit in which experiences are shared, experiments are explained, advice sought and given; he senses a different method and purpose in electing, voting and administering. There are no nominations, there is no excitement, no demonstration. Voting time is preceded by prayer and silence. “We need group unity, no individual mind, just group mind,” says one delegate. One of the essential qualities of the administration seems to be self-effacement, not personality. “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” “Success is in proportion to sacrifice” and “the measure of success is found in
its effect on lives” are standards which we know are met by those who set them.
Two new features in connection with this twenty-third annual convention were the conference of Bahá’í youth and the teaching conference, both held on Thursday, the day preceding the opening of the conference proper. There seemed no room for doubt of there being life and activity in the group of Bahá’í youth gathered to face problems and seek advice. How irresistible seems the combination of youthful enthusiasm coupled with humility and sincere desire for light and guidance.
Most widely known of the teachers is Miss Martha Root with whom the readers of the Bahá’í Magazine are acquainted through her frequent contributions to it. For nine years she has been traveling throughout the world informing the “kings, rulers, chiefs, princes, learned men and mystics” that this is the time for world peace, for racial amity,
for abandonment of all racial, national and religious prejudice, for the establishment of economic justice, for the realization of the oneness of all religions and of all mankind—that this is the foundation upon which Bahá’u’lláh has established His universal religion.
The inspiration that came from the getting together in exchange of experiences and ideas, in consultation, cooperation and planning of a group of such selfless, active and devoted souls could not fail to permeate the entire convention.
On Sunday afternoon two of these inspired teachers, Miss Root and Mr. Gregory, spoke at the public meeting to an overflowing house. Sunday evening the last session of the convention was held, the friends and delegates gave a lingering look at the dome of light and separated, filled with the consciousness of the truth of the words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “the ages of darkness have passed away and the Century of Light has arrived.”
“In this world we judge a cause or movement by its progress and development. Some movements appear, manifest a brief period of activity, then discontinue. Others show forth a greater measure of growth and strength, but before attaining mature development, weaken, disintegrate, and are lost in oblivion. Neither of these mentioned are progressive and permanent.
“There is still another kind of movement or cause which from a very small inconspicuous beginning, goes forward with sure and steady progress, gradually broadening and widening until it has assumed universal dimensions. The Bahá’i Movement is of this nature. . . . . At the beginning the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh was almost unknown, but on account of being a divine movement it grew and developed with irresistible spiritual power until in this day wherever you travel East or West and in whatever country you journey you will meet Bahá’i Assemblies and institutions. This is an evidence that the Bahá’is are spreading the blessings of unity and progressive development throughout the world under the direction of divine guidance and purpose.”
- Suppose, after I died it would be like this:
- I’d find myself within a wondrous place,
- Quite freed of everything and facing Him,
- And He should smile and gently speak to me:
- “Well, child, did you succeed or fail on earth?”
- The while that glowing smile enfranchised me,
- And I beheld how all my life I had failed?
- The burning memory of constant fear
- Would make me cry: “How could I help but fail?
- The pain, the sorrow, all the endless woes
- Were heaped upon me till I groaned aloud.
- Now that I’m here the life on earth seems far—
- Had I known there this glory shining clear,
- I could have kept the pace with any man.
- But always it was pain, defeat and loss—
- I knew not this—else I had never failed!”
- He smiled and then I knew His strength had made
- More speech impossible. Sudden I swayed
- Into the depths of that divinest smile
- Dimly as from far worlds I heard Him say,
- "Dear child, you never left My Presence. All
- The while I sent your body forth to work
- Upon that pendulum of time, the earth,
- You dwelt here in the Kingdom of your Lord,
- But through that instrument of matchless skill
- Your register of consciousness was made,
- And I have heard your song—have heard your song!
- My child, my child, My love for you endures!”
“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.” —Bahá'u'lláh.
- How can a soul be truthful, if it knows not Truth:
- And, having known, within Its rays transmuted be,
- Until the baser metal of neglectful gloom
- Is gone, and happiness eternal takes its room?
- "Oho,” ’tis said, “and pray, what then, indeed, is Truth
- By which creation moves? Where find Its chemistry?
- And how attain the fluting of Its pleasing strain?”
- The false doth meet decay, and, in the end, it finds
- Despair: then come and walk the Path of Life with pain,
- If Truth shall top the cliffs whereto the Pathway winds!
- The shining angels paused and prayed, the while they heard—
- For Truth is God, effulgent in His holy Word.
- I saw my Lord and Master,
- In a haze of golden light,
- His form of power and majesty,
- Was robed in dazzling white.
- The flowers that bloomed around Him,
- Of every kind and hue,
- Were sending their perfume upward,
- While drenched in heavenly dew.
- By the side of a pond where lilies grew,
- He paused and prayed awhile,
- And the very place seemed flooded,
- With the radiance of His smile.
- The air itself seemed vibrant
- With a power undefined;
- As He prayed for peace triumphant,
- And unity of mankind.
- He prayed for another garden,
- Where birds of knowledge soar,
- In the meadows of the souls of men,
- That their wisdom may be pure.
- He prayed that knowledge, faith, and love,
- Into the heart of man be born;
- And the flowers of human kindness,
- Like a crown the head adorn.
- That the Cause of God be nourished,
- And spread through all the land;
- Though sin and strife still flourished,
- With foes on every hand.
- Then as I watched and waited,
- He vanished from my sight,
- But the Glory of His Beauty—
- It filled me with delight.
- In the great wild joy that thrills
- Through earth and plant and tree;
- In the awakening song of praise that fills
- All space from sea to sea;
- In throbbing pulse of quickening life
- As mighty heartbeat bursting cords of girth—
- We know that Spring’s Creative Power is rife
- Among the atoms of the air and sea and earth.
THE PROMULGATION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE, being The Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in America, in two volumes. Price, each, $2.50.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE NEW ERA, by Dr. J. E. Esslemont, a gifted scientific scholar of England. This is the most comprehensive summary and explanation of the Bahá’í Teachings as yet given in a single volume. Price, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents.
THE WISDOM TALKS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHÁ in Paris. This series of talks covers a wide range of subjects, and is perhaps the best single volume at a low price in which 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains in His own words the Bahá’í Teaching. Price, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
BAHÁ'Í SCRIPTURES. This book, compiled by Horace Holley, is a remarkable compendium of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It contains a vast amount of material and is indexed. This Paper Edition (only ¾-inch thick) Price, $2.50.
THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD, a Biennial International Record (formerly Bahá’í Year Book). Prepared under the auspices of the Bahá’í National Assembly of America with the approval of Shoghi Effendi. Price, cloth, $2.50.
All books may be secured from The Bahá’í Publishing Committee, Post office Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York City.
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Bound volumes Nos. 15 and 16, covering the years 1924 to 1925 and 1925 to 1926, contain many of the most valuable and instructive Bahá'í teachings compiled from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, on such subjects as Education, Peace, The Solution of the Economic Problem, Cooperation and Unity, Proof of the Existence of God, and others equally as important. They also contain articles on various phases of the Bahá'i Cause and its teachings contributed by Bahá'í writers and presented with clearness and accuracy, reports of conferences and conventions, Bahá'í News and Travel Notes and other interesting information. Volumes 17, 18 and 19 contain valuable material and information for students of religion, sociology, science, etc., both Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís.
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Bound in half leather, each volume $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00; postage additional.
All of the bound volumes of earlier years are filled with such remarkable spiritual teachings of the New Age that they constitute a priceless library. Volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 contain many sublime records of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's teachings, addresses and interviews in Europe and America. (Volumes 2 and 3 are now exhausted and Volume 4 cannot be supplied in a complete form as several numbers of this volume are exhausted.)
Volumes 7 and 8, which are, also, often bound together, contain the wonderful compilations on the Divine Art of Living and the New Covenant.
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