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| VOL. 23 | MAY, 1932 | No. 2 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
- Here is the perfect silence. . . . . . . .
- Above the white and blue of ancient walls
- The silver censer of the moon swings in mid-heaven;
- Faint fragrance of white jasmin is the spirit of all love
- Set free,-a still white flame within the crystal air.
- Upon the seaward slope, the grove of giant pines
- Is etched in majesty against the moonlit night;
- Those tall black trunks are bars across the argent light,
- A high barred window set against the sky.
- At sunset, when I knelt within the Shrine
- The windows to the west were walls of fire.
- Within my soul, the flame of His great Name
- Was like a flashing sword, that severed all my past
- From this eternal moment. . . .
- I knew myself before the fact of God:
- Too terrible His Glory and too great His Power!
- How shall one drop resist the ceaseless tide
- Of that celestial sea?
- But now, when night is deep upon the land
- And the calm beauty of the moon
- Moves softly through the vast ethereal arch,
- Peace breathes through every atom of the air
- And draws each living spark to one pure ecstacy.
- The Timeless holds this instant in His hand:
- "Be still, be still, and know that I am God!
- Be still. . . . . and understand."
- Here is the perfect silence.
| VOL. 23 | MAY, 1932 | NO. 2 |
| Page | |
The Oneness of Mankind, `Abdu’l-Bahá | 41 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 35 |
Religion and Social Progress, Keith Ransom-Kehler, M. A. | 38 |
Needed—The Supreme Assembly, Louis G. Gregory | 42 |
Making Youth World-Minded, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 44 |
Bahá’is Contribute Significantly to Racial Brotherhood, Coralie Franklin Cook | 46 |
Keeping the Wolf From the Door, Florence King | 52 |
Seeking and Finding, by One Who Has “Sought” and “Found” | 55 |
In Clouds Descending, Florence E. Pinchon | 59 |
STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Managing Editor |
BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK | Assistant 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--
Every Bahá'i Assembly in the world is actively working for this greatest of human needs—the overcoming of racial prejudice and the establishment of an actual unity and brotherhood. This Committee bears a striking title, namely, UNITY OF EAST AND WEST COMMITTEE. Not all of the members of the Committee are represented in the picture as some were not able to be present when the group was photographed.
| VOL. 23 | MAY, 1932 | NO. 2 |
divine bounty for this luminous century. Enmity is not so much the cause of separation as it used to be; the cause of disunion now is mostly prejudice . . . In the sight of God color makes no difference at all. He looks at the hearts of men.”
ONE OF the most pressing needs that the world faces today is the abolition of racial prejudice. We cannot expect to realize a parliament of nations and the brotherhood of man so long as the psychology of race hatred persists.
Intercourse, acquaintance, familiarity, can do a great deal to abolish race prejudice; but even these things cannot be altogether efficacious. For instance, the British and the Hindus have mingled closely in their lives for a century in India, but the prejudice has not been abolished. Hindus and Muhammadans have lived side by side in the villages of India, but the prejudice is as strong now as it was centuries ago. It is evident that ordinary contacts, even of a sympathetic nature, are not sufficient to abolish prejudice; for prejudice is something deep-seated, something that takes its roots in the emotions.
If it were a reasoned intellectual matter, prejudice could be overcome by an awakened intelligence. But it does not belong to the category of things intellectual. It cannot be cured therefore by intellectual development, although it can be ameliorated by such development.
There is only one force powerful enough to control the lower emotions
in humanity and to obliterate all traces of prejudice, that is the force of religion. Only a spiritual power can bring men of different races and religions together in absolute unity and brotherhood.
THE BAHA’I Movement has as one of its principle aims the abolition of prejudice—national, racial, religious; and the substitution of a real brotherhood based upon mutual understanding and affection. Religion has performed such miracles before, and will continue to do so. But nothing short of religion can work this miracle.
In this country the interracial problem focuses almost entirely upon relations of the colored and white races. Many forces are operative in attempts to harmonize these two races and bring about more of a social and economic unity; but a powerful religious impulse alone can affect a real brotherhood between these races, abolishing emotional barriers and all vestiges of prejudice.
Bahá’is everywhere the country over are working earnestly in this field of race amity. In the large cities conferences are held yearly. But more important than the flow of words from a platform, is the endeavor
to actually get together in a human way at the banquet table. For as the Arab says, “He who shares my bread shares my life.” To actually sit at the table, to actually partake of food together, is to perform the sacrament of brotherhood. Two such momentous occasions the reader will find described later in these pages.*
Such social gatherings of the two races (and of course many other races are included) is one of the most significant works that is being done by the Bahá’is today in this country. It is of little effect for Bahá’is to preach brotherhood if they do not put it into practice, even though it take courage and the facing of social disapprobation.
And after all this is only the normal thing. Unity, harmony, brotherhood is not some extraordinary endeavor. It is merely permitting the natural flow of human intercourse. Once the barriers are removed, this mingling together in mutual understanding and friendship is as much a joy and inspiration to one race as it is to the other.
THE PERSIAN Bahá’is early faced
the dilemma of matching doctrine
with practice, and met it with boldness
and spiritual zeal. Their gospel
of brotherhood, of unity, of love,
could not exist as mere preachments.
Therefore it became necessary
for Muslim Bahá’is to fraternize
with Jewish and Zoroastrian
Bahá’is. But in Persia the social
dangers of such fraternization were
much graver even than in this country,
for religious bigotry and prejudice
there heightened the social
barriers.
In the early days of the Cause
* pp. 46-51.
in Persia, for Muslim Bahá’is to be seen fraternizing with Jewish or Zoroastrian Bahá’is meant almost certain death. At first therefore this practice of brotherhood had to be carried on in secrecy. Later, as the persecutions became mitigated by more thorough political control and order, the Bahá’is of different creeds and races could mingle more safely and more visibly. Even then, however, social stigma played such an important part that Muslim Bahá’is and the Bahá’is of other religions would find it wiser to move to some suburb of the town where they could be together and yet at the same time be somewhat segregated from the persecution mania of non-Bahá’i fellow townsmen.
Today, for the first time, under the enlightened rule of Reza Shah the Bahá’is can mingle publicly in their lectures and unity feasts without fear of persecution or of mob-derision. A traveler who would witness the amazing miracle of Muhammadans, Jews, Zoroastrains, Christians, sitting at table together in the utmost love and unity, should realize that this stupendous spectacle of brotherhood has been effected only over the course of many years and at cost of dangers, of bloodshed, of thousands of martyrdoms.
THUS WE SEE it is not so easy to
establish in actual practice the
poet’s dream of the brotherhood of
man. The average human is content
to let well enough alone. If
strong prejudice exists, the average
man keeps on the safe side of the
street. And thus prejudice continues
to exist.
Let us be sure that nothing can stop prejudice except the actual expression
of love; and that those who first venture to make this active expression of love court derision, opposition, even social persecution. Therefore one can see that successful work in the field of interracial unity must depend upon a strong religious enthusiasm, upon a spiritual power. Only by such aids can the tremendous obstacles to brotherhood be overcome.
SHOGHI EFFENDI, the Guardian of
the Bahá’i Cause, has warned that
in this country one of the gravest
of problems is that of the relations
between the white and colored races.
Here in our midst is both the opportunity
and the responsibility for the
carrying out actually of the principles
enumerated by Bahá’u’lláh.
If we preach universal brotherhood,
we must also practice it. Thus
preaching and practice go hand in
hand, the one supporting the other;
and the attention of thoughtful people
outside the Bahá’i world is being
forcibly drawn to this pioneer
work which the Bahá’ís are accomplishing,
in the way of bringing the
white and colored races into actual
fraternity–a fraternity expressed
in every phase of living, social and
recreational as well as intellectual.
Here in America we have a remarkable opportunity to prove the fallacy of color as a criterion of character or ability. America, a
land dedicated to equal opportunity for every individual, can ill afford to raise barriers merely because of pigmentation. While the problem here is very grave and difficult, yet for that very reason its solution will be powerful in its influence and noble in its accomplishment. Just as America could not remain a country dedicated to slavery, so it cannot remain (and still be true to its democratic principles) a country dedicated to race prejudice.
LET US hope that the ideals held
for America by ’Abdu’l-Bahá may
eventually prevail, such as are
set forth in this prayer by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá while He was in
America: “O God! Let this democracy
become glorious in spiritual
attainment even as it has become
successful in material degrees.
Render this just government victorious.
Confirm this revered nation
so that it may raise the standard of
the Oneness of Humanity and promulgate
the Most Great Peace. May
it become glorious and praiseworthy
among the nations of the
earth.
“O God, Almighty Protector! We ask Thee by Thy holiness and bounty to pour out Thy blessing upon this government which has stretched its tent over citizens from every land, that its inhabitants, its industries, its territories may be penetrated by justice.”
“The prime cause for all these happenings (wars, etc.) is racial, national, religious and political prejudice; and the root of all this prejudice lies in outworn and deepseated traditions, be they religious, racial, national, or political. So long as these traditions remain, the foundation of the human edifice is insecure, and mankind itself is exposed to continuous peril . . . Today nothing short of these divine teachings (Bahá'i) can assure peace and tranquility to mankind. But for these teachings this darkness shall never vanish, these chronic diseases shall never be healed; nay, they shall grow fiercer from day to day.”
This is the first of a series of articles which have been written for publication both in The Baha’i Magazine and the Tokyo Nichi Nichi. Articles from the pen of this gifted author are always read with deep interest and profit, and this series undoubtedly will have an especial appeal at this time as they deal so clearly with social progress as related to religion.
AS we examine the course of history we are constrained to recognize the all-important function of religion in man’s development and social progress. From age to age there has appeared on earth a Being “peerless and unique,” who has exercised over the hearts and minds and souls of those who have heard and accepted His message a power and an authority that is never shared by another person.
Few human beings can influence their fellowmen throughout the course of their own lifetime; to extend this influence to the third or fourth generation is the utmost of human capacity: But the Founders of the great religions of the world change and control the action of millions of people for hundreds, yes, thousands of years, as in the case of Moses and Zoroaster.
All existing civilizations in the world are civilizations originating in religion, so far as history reveals their origin, founded and fostered by great Prophets or Messengers: Brahmanism and Shintoism, being of prehistoric origin must be excluded from historical evidence; but there is every indication of their springing from a personal, not a mythological source.
To repeat, no other than the Founders of the great religions of the world have ever been able to change and regiment whole peoples, races, nations and ethnic groups, within a few brief generations; demolishing the existing beliefs
and practices of those to whom they have appeared and substituting their own new and oftimes drastic teachings.
Up to the threshold of the present century, the great artistic, social, political, legal and educational institutions of history have grown out of the laws, ordinances and principles laid down by the Prophets to the era or people that produced these institutions. The vast scheme of enlightened and humanitarian administration introduced by King Asoka when he embraced Buddhism; the miraculous and dramatic energy of Gothic architecture; the educational enterprises under religious sponsorship in Arabia, India and Europe, the interdependence of church and state, as one of the most firmly established aspects of history; the evident influence of religious doctrine in the codification of Justinian law,—are only a few of the many instances that come to mind as illustrating the far reaching, unparalleled power of the Founders of the great religions of the world.
The only example of appreciable advancement in the fundamental social relations, and the spiritualizing of human practice is due, taking our evidence from history, to these great Messengers and Educators of mankind. Not the founders of new systems of philosophy, not the conquerors of vast territories, not the enlightened scientist, not the monarch, no matter how humane, can
accomplish these great ethnological movements over more than brief periods and sporadically.
The One who comes with the authentic religious message from age to age holds the allegiance of His followers when every earthly aspect that accompanied His arrival has been discarded and forgotten.
A STUDY of the comparative religions of the world reveals to us the inescapable fact that they all teach the same great spiritual truths. All religions teach that there is but one great creative power, the source of light and life. To the Buddhist this creative power is an abstract principle, not a personal being, but nevertheless the Buddha teaches a fundamental unifying creative power. All religions teach the oneness of humanity; a fact only recently established through the science of anthropology, of which Prof. Franz Boas of Columbia University is the chief proponent. All religions have for their basis of action the practice of love and good will as the one attitude through which mankind can be well pleasing to God thus accomplishing the great purpose for which he was created. All religions teach some form of survival, advancing a belief in immortality; and all religions, without exception, teach that through their Founder and through Him alone can mankind know God or attain the essential path to salvation. Each one of the religions, as it has been founded in turn, has displayed always this changeless aspect of its teaching.
However, side by side with these spiritual truths there is invariably
revealed by each great Messenger who establishes His religion in the world, a body of laws and ordinances that constitute a temporal social program. These laws vary according to the time, place, condition of society and the human needs of those to whom the Prophet makes His revelation. The liveliest source of divergence among the followers of the great religions of the world is the difference in these temporal or social teachings that have been given by their Founder, as the plan and desire of God. For long after the conditions have passed which made teachings necessary, men still cling to these obsolescent forms and ceremonies. The Founder of each religion has always covenanted with His followers that a successor would follow Him; that that same spirit which had enabled Him to lighten men’s burdens and to purify their hearts would appear in another being like unto Himself; but the course of history always reveals the same story—the Promised One comes into the world with a great message of authority, more advanced teachings than those which men had received in the past dispensation, and a meeting in every age with the most violent and perhaps tragic rejection on the part of those to whom He had been sent. One of the irrefutable proofs of His reality has been that oftimes with no prestige, no power, no position, but facing the organized opposition of society as well, in spite of all opposition and denial He has triumphantly succeeded in establishing His cause.
A study of comparative religions shows that their Founders have always claimed to derive their power from God, have always taught the
same basic spiritual truths, have always brought an uplifting and progressive social program and have always obtained the same historical results,—that of elevating men to loftier human relations and to greater spiritual ideals.
AS previously stated each of the great religions of the world today have been promised by its Founder that the same spirit which was in Him will return and dwell amongst men. The Buddha taught His followers that He was not the first Buddha nor would He be the last. Therefore the Buddhists are expecting the fifth Buddha. The Zoroastrians have been promised Shah Baroum; the Christians are expecting the Second Coming; the Muhammadans, the Imam Mahdi; the Brahmans, the twelfth incarnation of Vishnu; the Jews are still expecting their Messiah. Each religions has been promised by its Founder that when this promised One appears He will establish love and brotherhood, peace and good-will throughout the earth. With each religion divided into innumerable sects it would seem impossible to reconcile the conflicting and contending divisions of any one of the religions within itself. To produce affection and sympathetic understanding among the great religions themselves would indeed require the incomparable influence of One endowed with the power of God, as in each instance this Promised One was to be.
It is self-evident that each of the religions, in this sublime expectation, is referring to one Personality, not several; for if each of these expected
Messengers came, as promised, He would not produce harmony and accord, but greater conflict and misunderstanding. When sincere and spiritually-minded men and women, of whatever faith, examining the identity of teaching in all of the great religions, as previously explained, they are compelled, if they are candid and dispassionate, to admit the basic unity of all religious teaching. To find these earnest exponents of true religion to whom the spirit and not the letter of their faith is of paramount importance, would be to obliterate religious differences and to institute the practice rather than the profession of one’s belief; for all religions are based upon the law of love. That “pressed down and running over men give back into our bosoms” the sympathy and generosity which we express towards them is not only a teaching common to all religions, but is sound psychology as well.
Not by the arrogance of assuming everyone else to be in the wrong and ourselves in the right; not by a blind refusal to investigate and accredit the beliefs of others, but by an independent approach to the study: first–of what we owe to religions; second–of the great basic teachings which they hold in common; and third–of the immeasurable influence which they have exerted throughout the ages over the lives of the millions who have teemed this earth. By this approach can we find the reconciling attitude that will enable us to enter into sincere accord with those who are seeking and worshipping God everywhere.
HE whose morals and virtues are praiseworthy is preferred in the presence of God; he who is devoted to the kingdom is most beloved. In the realm of genesis and creation the question of color is of least importance.
The mineral kingdom abounds with many colored substances and compositions but we find no strife among them on that account. In the kingdom of the plant and vegetable, distinct and variegated hues exist but the fruit and flowers are not in conflict for that reason. Nay, rather, the very fact that there is difference and variety lends a charm to the garden. If all were of the same color the effect would be monotonous and depressing. When you enter a rose-garden the wealth of color and variety of floral forms spread before you a picture of wonder and beauty. The world of humanity is like a garden and the various races are the flowers which constitute its adornment and decoration.
IN the world of minds and souls, fellowship which is an expression of composition is conducive to life; whereas discord, which is an expression of decomposition, is the equivalent of death. Without cohesion among the individual elements which compose the body-politic, disintegration and decay must inevitably follow and life be extinguished . . . therefore in the world of humanity it is wise and seemly that all the individual members should manifest unity and affinity. . . . The Prophets of God were sent into the world upon this mission of unity and agreement.
WHEN the racial elements of the American nation unite in actual fellowship and accord, the lights of the oneness of humanity will shine, the day of eternal glory and bliss will dawn, the spirit of God encompass and the divine favors descend. Under the leadership and training of God the real Shepherd, all will be protected and preserved. He will lead them in green pastures of happiness and sustenance and they will attain to the real goal of existence. This is the blessing and benefit of unity; this is the outcome of love. This is the sign of the “Most Great Peace,” this is the star of the oneness of the human world. Consider how blessed this condition will be.
“Let every believer, desirous to witness the swift and healthy progress of the Cause of God, realize the twofold nature of his task. Let him first turn his eyes inwardly and search his own heart and satisfy himself that in his relations with his fellow believers, irrespective of color and class, he is proving himself increasingly loyal to the spirit of his beloved Faith. Assured and content that he is exerting his utmost in a conscious effort to approach nearer every day the lofty station to which his gracious Master summons him, let him turn to his second task, and, with befitting confidence and vigor, assail the devastating power of those forces which in his own heart he has already succeeded in subduing.”—Shoghi Effendi in Bahá’i Administration, p. 120.
A GREAT mystic in one of his most popular works, pictures heaven as made up of numberless societies, emulous of each other in good deeds, cooperating without friction and keeping their faces ever turned toward the Sun of Truth. In Bahá’i literature one finds many references to this Supreme Concourse. This supreme assembly logically implies the existence of lesser assemblies. The social needs of man are such that happiness is impossible unless he finds fellowship in some measure with his kind. The progress of civilization is indexed by the increasing number of effective organizations.
In one of the small New England cities more than a hundred clubs are to be found which are active in various phases of community service and progress. Isolation in such a circle virtually means to be out of life; without influence among people of power, starved in the midst of wealth, a hermit–as it were–dwelling amid the beauty of a flower garden. As it is difficult to plan any meeting without conflicting dates, friends frequently divide their time between meetings of simultaneous dates, thereby showing their loyalty to similar ideals and their broad sympathies. Such
virtues and habits by their inherent excellence command homage yet practically all such clubs and fraternities, administering as they do to human welfare, owe their origins to human exigency and invention.
THE GREATEST need of every community
the world over today is a Supreme
Assembly reflecting the spirit
and power of the divine world.
Such a group will not owe its being
to the will of man, but will be consciously
a Divine Emanation,
created and set in motion by the
Will of God. The Supreme Concourse
is made up of all the Prophets
of God, past and present, and of
those holy souls who have been
honored in being permitted to share
their labors and sacrifices. Although
shining in full and unveiled
splendor in the world beyond, yet
its signs, effects, exponents and personnel
are sometimes found even
in this world.
In one of the most wonderful Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed to an Oriental friend of rare devotion, his earthly abode is described as “the stopping place of the Supreme Concourse.” This grew out of his custom of entertaining for brief periods the pilgrims who passed through his city enroute to the Most Sacred Shrines. The host
and his many guests were deemed worthy to be companions of the Divine Messengers in all the worlds.
“Praise he to Him Who by His Appearance hath made this dark world the envy of the worlds of light!”
It is definitely known that an expression of the Supreme Concourse can appear, be organized, function and have its branches in the cities of earth. How blessed were such a city, enriched by spiritual treasures and illumined by the Light of God! All members of this Supreme Assembly would be people of insight whose heart mysteries are known to each other. All its meetings will be so attractive that no greater sacrifice than non-attendance could be imagined. Its attitudes will be reverential; its thoughts pure; its labors selfless, its tongues eloquent; its ends and methods equally noble; its harmony like the music of the spheres. Its guidance will be ever clear, its unity inspired and its exhilaration like a flame of fire. In such an assembly no one will ever need to express his private griefs and woes. With keen penetration each will see the needs of his coworkers and with tenderness be their protector. All the wounds will come from without; all the balm from within with its radiance and cheer, wisdom and knowledge, love and laughter.
All lesser assemblies will be a sacrifice to this Supreme Assembly. From this first assembly all others will be the recipients of service and
inspiration. The members on the Supreme Assembly will value service on every plane, yet use all contacts for the supreme and universal good, abandoning the useless, and even bending the useful to the uses of the Supreme Will. Racial harmony, religious unity, justice, protection of minorities, rending the veils of superstition, tradition and prejudice, a program of peace and brotherhood that will eventually sweep the world,—are among the ideals it will keep constantly in view.
THE GLORIOUS Nabil, in the stirring
and beautiful narrative of the
Dawn-Breakers, shows the spirit
animating such an assembly. This
he illustrates by the marvelous
events of Tarbarsi, Nayriz and Zanjan
(Persia), and by the accounts
of the deep insight, spiritual glow
and courage of many heroes in that
romantic land which gave the Cause
of God its birth. It thrills with the
joy of life, incites our wish for more
efficiency, and appeals to the heroism
and the divine that dwell within.
Perhaps the great Victorian
poet, contemporary of Bahá’u’lláh,
who through the flash of his genius
saw the universal temple and a warless
world, also envisioned the Supreme
Assembly when he penned
these lines:
- “One equal temper of heroic hearts
- Made weak by time and fate, yet
- strong in will
- To serve, to seek, to find and not to
- yield!”
“All prejudices between man and man are falsehoods and violations of the will of God. God desires unity and love—He commands harmony and fellowship. Enmity is human disobedience. God Himself is Love.”
THE average college student is not world minded.” So stated Mr. E. R. Murrow, president of the National Student Federation of America in a recent number of The Pan-Pacific Union Bulletin. Mr. Murrow based his statement on the type of subjects which occupied the attention of this body at their annual congress. He thinks that in this respect American students compare unfavorably with European students.
But does not the fact that this body recognizes such a deficiency augur the birth of a new spirit? There are, in fact, present evidences that an international spirit among students is, at least, in its infancy. For instance, the delegates at this very congress instructed the executive committee “not to discriminate against any applicant because of race or color.” And Mr. Murrow closes his report with these words: “Believing that future harmony and mutual understanding both nationally and internationally depend upon the youth of today, the students of America are attempting to perfect a meaningful student organization which will make of the present and future college generations better citizens of the world.”
FROM this same bulletin we learn
of a trip made last year by a debating
team from the University of
Oregon all around the Pacific basin.
The three members of this team in
eight months debated in schools and
universities in eight countries bordering on the Pacific.
In summer there are numerous travel groups of youth organized, whose aim is contact and consultation with youth of other lands. All these are faint signs of this new mind we are looking so anxiously for in young men and women. The influence of these conscious efforts for world friendship surely extends beyond those immediately involved.
One of the three cardinal principles to which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that colleges must hold fast is: “Service to the oneness of the world of humanity; so that each student may consciously realize that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of religion or race.” Travel, though desirable, is not necessary for the realization of this feeling in youth. No doubt we neglect opportunities for this right at our very doors. There are thousands of students scattered over our country in different colleges and universities who have come from the four quarters of the earth and who represent the most intelligent and cultured groups in their respective countries. The attitude of both these students and ourselves has been altogether too much that they are here simply to learn from America and her institutions of learning. Have we nothing to learn from them? Have they nothing to give to us?
But here, too, we must not overlook the few efforts that are being made for a closer relationship between different nationalities. For
a good many years the Cosmopolitan Clubs have been functioning in the larger colleges and universities. These furnish opportunities for an insight into the culture and customs of other nationalities as well as for friendly human relations, but these opportunities are by no means made full use of.
Of even greater value may be the International Houses found in a few of the largest universities. These are residence houses where an effort is made to have a real home atmosphere. The usual plan is to have one-quarter of the residents American students. Here is a chance for a world home in miniature. Why not more of these international houses even if they must begin on a small scale? The tendency now is for the different national and racial groups to segregate themselves in their own rooming and club houses. This is natural and has advantages and will probably continue unless conscious effort is made for larger relationships.
And how about American students
living abroad? The “Bulletin” furnishes interesting information on this subject. “Of the 28,000 students attending the University of Paris, one-quarter are foreigners; at Geneva the proportion is one-half. The proportion is also big at Berlin. At Paris already eleven national houses have been erected at the beautiful Cite’ Universitaire and there will eventually be twenty. With the splendid gift of Mr. Rockefeller, a central house for all students is being erected, with dining rooms, reception rooms, library, auditorium, etc. This is to be the focus of student life. Moreover it is the intention to have a certain proportion of French students in each house, e. g., one-quarter in the American house.”
Surely seeds for world mindedness are being sown among the youth of the world. We see a dawn of the consciousness that an important part of a liberal education is, “Service to the oneness of the world of humanity.” How can we hasten the fruition of these seeds? How can we turn this dawn into full daylight?
“The proclamation of the Oneness of Mankind—the head corner-stone of Bahá’u’lláh’s all-embracing dominion—can under no circumstances be compared with such expressions of pious hope as have been uttered in the past. His is not merely a call which He raised, alone and unaided, in the face of the relentless and combined opposition of two of the most powerful Oriental potentates of His day—while Himself an exile and prisoner in their hands. It implies at once a warning and a promise—a warning that in it lies the sole means for the salvation of a greatly suffering world, a promise that its realization is at hand.
“Uttered at a time when its possibility had not yet been seriously envisaged in any part of the world, it has, by virtue of that celestial potency with which the Spirit of Bahá’u’lláh has breathed into it, come at last to be regarded, by an increasing number of thoughtful men, not only as an approaching possibility, but as the necessary outcome of the forces now operating in the world.”
“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
“The wrong in the worlol continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of worols, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort.”
THE prophecy of Isaiah and the precept of ’Abdu’l-Bahá have met with glorious fruition in two meetings, as wide apart in miles as the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans but unmistakably united in conception and purpose.
“In New York City,” writes Mrs. L. A. Mathews1, “The National Bahà’i Committee for Racial Amity and the New York Bahà’i Spiritual Assembly, gave a dinner in the banquet hall of the Hotel Shelton, Saturday, February twenty-seventh in honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the New York Urban League.”
It seems eminently fitting that a woman of Nordic blood who has demonstrated her interest in the “advancement of colored people” by constituting herself a generous patron of their work in the field of letters, should be mistress of ceremonies at this dinner, while the occasion becomes no less significant because she has as her assistant Mr. Louis G. Gregory2, an advanced man of color who has carried the teachings sent from the “So great Prison” of ’Akkà to rural groups of the “black belt” and to urban assemblages both north and south.
The welcoming address was an assurance to all that the Bahà’is
(1) Chairman of the National Interracial Committee of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada.
(2) Secretary of the same committee.
had met to do honor to the two great organizations whose members spend their lives in racial uplift. Stressing the inevitable appeal made to Bahà’is is by these organizations for racial amity the hostess declared that ever since 1844 the date of its origin, the leaders of the Bahá’i religion have stood against oppression and admonished its followers to disregard race differences.
Speaker after speaker contributed gems of thought to this brilliant occasion. “The great underlying principle of the Bahà’i Movement,” said one, “is the oneness of humanity. Throughout the world these groups are the dawning places of a coming civilization in which humanity as a whole will be freed from the superstitions of the dark ages.”
Who fails to discover in the words of the next speaker the vision of a seer? “I trust we are laying the foundation for magnificent cooperation, fellowship, brotherhood and love in the future. I do not think there is any human being who can prophesy the good we may accomplish together because one of the crying needs of the country, one of the crying needs of the world is the establishment of a unity, concord and equality among the different
races . . . So let us here resolve, in our heart of hearts and soul of souls, that this shall be the beginning of a cooperation among these three organizations that will be productive in the future of greater and greater results.”
From the heart of a woman came this beautiful sentiment: “The greatest thing in the world is friendship and the greatest part of friendship is fellowship.”
Thought-compelling and well worth heeding were the words of the last Bahà’i speaker: “I think what this ancient world needs most of all is a job that’s big enough to fit us all together on a common task, a job that will coordinate our minds and our hearts and our inner religious convictions and our outer political and economic needs. When the people of the world have been allied in a common undertaking for some universal essential need the minor differences that we have accumulated in the past will fade away. What we need is to be able to identify people by their relationship to that common human task and not by the accidental variations of dialect or creed that we have picked up on our way.
“Now, the statement of the task that is big enough for us economically, politically, philosophically and religiously, as it seems to me, we have had put into concrete and simple language within the past few months by Shoghi Effendi, in Palestine.
‘Some form of a world Super-State must needs be evolved, in whose favor all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a State will have to include
within its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments: and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgment will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration. A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law—the product of the considered judgment of the world’s federated representatives—shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship—such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.’
Now, that is the job; and, somehow or other, we have all got to find our places in it.”
LIKE THE play of Hamlet without Hamlet would be any gathering where colored folk are invited to express themselves and music is left out, so here and again strains of rare music vocal and instrumental flood the chamber.
Then, as the elder of the two guests, a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is introduced—sage, martyr, prophet—this man has laid bare the souls of black folk to the ready world. In turn he has plead with them, sacrificed for them; in season and out of season he has spoken when they have been dumb, seen when they
--PHOTO--
A Bahá’s interracial dinner at the Metropolitan Club, Los Angeles, Calif., February 27, 1932, arranged and sponsored by the Los Angeles Bahá’i Assembly.
have been blind; he has brow-beaten them too, but never more dictator than champion! Has he come to believe, he who in bitterness of soul because of the wrongs and injustices heaped upon his people, has been wont to scoff? Harken to his speech!
“About twenty-five years ago I was at Green Acre, that beautiful little spot in Maine where the Bahá’is foregather, and I met that simple and beautiful man, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and since that I have met other people who are with this Bahá’i Movement. I think all of us here tonight have gotten an impression of people who are using words and thinking thoughts that are quite foreign to this particular age—friendship and love and faith—words whose meaning we have almost forgotten. And if there are to be in the world people holding still to these simple things: if in addition to that, they even go so far as to think that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League can sit down with each
other, and in peace and harmony work out things—they have, so far as I am concerned, a very great measure of faith and hope: and I am ready to believe with them that something can be accomplished, that something can be done on the lines of these older and simpler and finer things. I thank them for giving me and you the chance to get this idea into our heads.”
FROM A WELL known and philanthropic Hebrew came this quotation from a fearless scholar of his race: “I think every Jew ought to be proud and thankful to recognize Christ as a Jew and as a Prophet. That is what I am here for to shake hands with those who recognize Christ.” Perhaps no speech of the whole evening emphasized more directly the power and universality of the Bahà’i teachings which claim not only the oneness of humanity but the oneness of all the great religions,
than this tribute to the Nazarene.
Greetings were extended by the president of a well known college for colored people who pointed out how these schools prepare for leadership as proven by their graduates at this board.
The Urban League was finally heard from in an informing talk respecting its objects–to bring representatives of the colored and white races together to deal with problems confronting the Negro precipitated into urban surroundings, to stimulate thought and action. An organized staff of social workers is maintained and health agencies are conducted. Housing surveys are made and adjustments for the relief of both tenants and owners effected. Neighborhood,
recreation and crime all share in the service of the League which work is aimed at allowing the Negro to express himself and to take his place as a fellow citizen of America.
One speaker was the victim of stage fright. This was a meeting where no word was to be spoken about the raising of money—and all speeches he had ever made were on that theme. But what better speech could one have made? “All great forward movements,” said he, “have been the result of cooperation . . . the initial step is the super-state within the individual—the superstructure of conscience, that which will eliminate from the realm of the individual prejudices in all forms. To me that is the significance of this gathering.”
The next speaker who has hazarded
many dangerous experiences in his zeal for finding facts and disclosing fictions, voiced his satisfaction in the practical demonstration that “the Negro is not fighting his battle alone.” How poignant must have been the suffering of one who in straight forward simple manner could say, “There are times when we colored folks feel we are not wanted anywhere, but this evening we shall never forget. It is a happy oasis in our bitter lives. It may be that through groups like these we shall come to know each other as human beings. We may come to lay aside artificial barriers that now keep us apart.”
A white haired, low voiced, woman sent a thrill over the audience as she confessed: “I am filled with profound admiration at the way in which you who belong to the Bahà’i faith live up to it. Many there are who hear the gospel of brotherhood and think it beautiful, but fail to practice it.” Half of the space given this article might well be used to tell something of the devotion of this one white woman to the welfare of the colored people. In private and public life, with voice and pen, she has given the strength of a trained mind and a righteous spirit to every man, woman and child who struggles under the ghastly handicap of color. While not counted a Bahà’i, it may well be said of this noble woman she ignores racial differences and “welcomes all in the light of oneness.”
To me one of the best utterances of the evening came out in the next speech when it was said: “The Negro wants not only an opportunity to work. He doesn’t want only an opportunity to receive. He
* From the teachings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
wants an opportunity to give—to bring his gifts to the altar.”
The youngest speaker came last. She spoke with the assurance, the definiteness, the utter candor so characteristic of the forward marching youth of today. “Every one who loves the principles for which this country stands wants to see them become a reality. But this can never be until the race problems within our borders are solved . . . Nor will we ever attain our place in the world as a humanitarian nation until these problems are faced and solved; it is not a question of being kind, because after all kindness is optional but justice is obligatory.“
The dinner was over but had not these people “set up three tabernacles,” one for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one for the Urban League and one for Bahà’is.”
“What is the spirit of this age? What is its focal point? It is the establishment of universal peace, the establishment of the knowledge that humanity is one family.”*
ON the same date and at the same hour when the interracial dinner was given in New York City, a similar one under the auspices of the Bahà’is of Los Angeles was given in that city, and at the Metropolitan Club. Picturesque and colorful, Mrs. Sara E. Witt writes of it—“The subject of our Bahà’i speaker of the evening was the Oneness of Mankind and that oneness was indeed made manifest to such a degree that a foretaste of what the future life on this earth will be when the Kingdom of ABHA
is established here as it is in heaven,” was given to all.
Again the Chairman of the evening was a woman of grace and charm, and again the meeting started off with a brief allusion to the fundamental principles of the Bahà’i Revelation.
Among the guests were a number of American Indians and was it not a privilege to hear one of their number, Chief Standing Bear internationally known author and lecturer as he stood upon the stage “his Chieftain’s head dress gleaming with red and white and blue feathers, chant a Sioux prayer distinguished for its spiritual power and devotion.”
“Truly interracial was the musical program. A member of the Philharmonic orchestra “gave a violin number of great appeal; Weeping Star, of the Kickapoos, sang in a rich contralto three Indian songs; an American Negro, a pianist, played with the touch of genius; while a little Indian maiden played the ‘tom-tom’ and chanted as she contributed a group of tribal dances which when interpreted have great spiritual significance.”
VARIED indeed were the speakers
and the speeches. “A world traveler,
recently returned from a seventeen
months world tour in the interest
of Esperanto, related his
experiences with the different races
and the confidence he had won by
being able to speak to them in Esperanto.”
Here indeed was proof
positive that “the use of an international
auxiliary language will become
a great means of dispelling
the differences between nations.”
One of the successful contestants of the Fifth Annual World Friendship
Oratorical Contest, a young American of color with “a voice, rich and deep, diction perfect, and an eloquence and spiritual force a prophecy of his future work for the upliftment of humanity.”
“A little Chinese lady of culture and refinement, the wife of a Japanese, spoke of the disturbance across the ‘Pacific Boulevard.’”
Another dinner guest who earlier iii the day had fractured two ribs, went through the evening not only as a speaker but as assistant to the chairman, without letting it be known what he suffered, and his wife a prominent and popular club-woman observed the same heroic secrecy with him.
Men and women who are devoting their lives to the work of the National League for Justice to American Indians were there and others devoted to the welfare of all races. A Filipino from the island of Luzon; other Indians of worth and distinction were there too, like Walking Eagle, research worker, and Sunflower his wife.
But the dinner at last had to come to an end and so must this inadequate report which when all is said falls short of fully portraying the spirit of these gatherings. Perhaps it will be best understood by these words from the Teachings of ’Abdu’l-Bahà:
“There is a Power in this Cause, a mysterious Power, far, far away from the pen of men and angels. That invisible Power is the source of all these outward activites. It moves the hearts. It inspires the friends. It dashes into a thousand pieces all the forces of opposition. It creates new spiritual worlds. This is a Mystery of the Kingdom of Abha.”
The Bahá’i Magazine plans to represent in each number as far as possible the youth of today. This article is written by a student of George Washington University.
CONFUSION reigns in the world today. The international economic problem is very serious and very difficult to solve. Loans and moratoriums give temporary relief, but will this relief be permanent? The farmers are crying out for help, conditions among the miners are unbelievably bad, and unemployment continues on the increase. In capitalistic countries, there is extreme wealth on the one hand and dire poverty on the other hand. Russia is experimenting with communism but seems to be slowly realizing that greater ability must receive greater rewards. Then, too, she has to depend on capitalistic countries for loans, installation of machinery, etc.
People are breaking away from old habits of thinking in regard to government, social standards, and religion. Many people are becoming Socialists and atheists. Humanity is growing more materialistic and for the most part, forgetting God. The problems confronting the world are so many and so complex that if we think deeply on this world status we finally come to the conclusion that only a Messenger sent by the all powerful Lord could possibly give the remedy. Even though the world has forgotten God, God has not forgotten the world. When a great spiritual leader who can speak with Divine authority is needed, the Lord always sends Him.
IN 1844, a young man of Persia declared Himself to be the Forerunner of “Him whom God shall make manifest.” In 1868, Bahá’u’lláh declared Himself to be the One Whose coming the Báb foretold, the Promised One of all the Prophets, the Divine Manifestation in Whose era the reign of peace will actually be established. He proceeded, in spite of imprisonment and terrible persecutions, to reveal certain laws and ordinances for the bringing about of a New World Order.
Explaining the World Order of Bahá’u’llah, His Son ’Abdu’l-Bahá says in regard to the economic problem, “Perfect communism and equality are an impossibility because they would upset the affairs of the world. But there is a fair method which will not leave the poor in such need nor the rich in such wealth.” He goes on to relate the attempt made by Lycurgus, king of Sparta, to divide wealth equally and shows how and why it failed. A system of graduated taxation, the poor being exempt and the wealthy giving as much as one-fifth of their incomes is suggested. The system of wages and earnings must be done away with. The employees should be considered as partners in every work. “For instance, the owners of properties, mines and factories should share their incomes with their employees and give a certain fair percentage of their products to their working men in order that the employees
may receive, besides their wages, some of the general income of the factory, so that the employee may strive with his soul in the work.” One-fifth of the shares of a factory should belong to the employees and the rest to the capitalists. So the matter can be settled by laws instead of by strikes.
’Abdu’l-Bahá further states that “Economics must commence with the farmer and thence reach out and embrace the other classes, inasmuch as the number of farmers is greater than that of other groups. Therefore it is becoming that the economic problem be solved for the farmer first, for the farmer is the first active agent in the body politic.
“In brief: from among the wise men of every village a Board should be organized, and the affairs of that village should be under the control of the Board. Likewise, a general storehouse should be founded and a secretary appointed for it. At the time of the harvest, with the approval of the members of the Board, a determined percentage of the entire harvest should be appropriated for the storehouse.
“This storehouse is to have seven revenues: tithes, taxes on animals, wealth without inheritors, all things whose owner cannot be discovered, a third of all treasure found in the ground, a third of the output of the mines, and voluntary contributions.
“On the other hand, there are seven expenditures. First, the general running expenses of the institution, salaries, etc., and the administration of public safety, including a department of hygiene. Second, tithes to the general government. Third, taxes on animals for the State. Fourth, support of an orphanage.
Fifth, support of cripples and incurables. Sixth, support of educational institutions. Seventh, supplying any deficiency in the expenses of the poor. If anything is left in the storehouse, that must be transferred to the general treasury of the nation for general national expenses. When such a system is established, each individual member of the body politic will live in the utmost comfort and happiness and the degrees will be preserved. There will be no disturbance of these degrees whatsoever for they are the essential needs of the body politic.
“The body politic is like an army. An army needs a commander-in-chief, colonel, lieutenant, and private. It is impossible for all to enjoy the same rank; preservation of degrees is necessary, but each member of that army must live in the utmost comfort and ease.
“Likewise a city is in need of a mayor, judge, merchant, banker, artisan and farmers. Undoubtedly these degrees should be preserved, otherwise the public order would be disturbed.
“The government of a country should make laws which conform to the divine law.”
After reading these rules the first remark which will be made, will be, “but how are you going to make people agree to these things, the rich would never be willing to partially share their wealth in this way. Human nature would have to undergo a radical change.”
It would indeed be an impossible task if these principles had not been given by a “Manifestation of God” (a person sent by the Lord to renew religion and again give to the world the Word of God, this time applying
it to the particular problems of the present day.) The Word of God is the one force which has the power to change human nature into divine nature. There have been many examples in the past of this change taking place among the saints of Christianity, as well as among the saints of other religions.
IN MANY of the larger cities in the
world, there exists a Baha’i community.
Once a year, the members
of this community gather together
to elect nine persons who make up
the local Spiritual Assembly. This
assembly is the governing body of
the community. Once a year, the
members of the community also
elect delegates (the number determined
by the number of members in
each community) to a national convention.
These delegates assemble
and elect the nine members of the
National Spiritual Assembly. This
is the National governing body or a
national House of Justice. This
much of the Divine plan for the administration
of the cause has been
carried out. In the future, the
members of these national bodies
will elect the members of the International
House of Justice. All international
problems will be referred
to this body. “It enacteth all ordinances
and regulations that are
not to be found in the explicit Holy
Text.” There is a Guardian of the
Cause (Shoghi Effendi) who is the
grandson of ‘Abdul-Bahá and who
was named in the latter’s will and
testament to hold this sacred office. He is to be the head of the International House of Justice and is a life member of it. “This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them.” There is also a body to be known as the “Hands of the Cause of God” whose members are appointed by the Guardian and under whose direction they function.
“The obligations of the “Hands of the Cause of God are to diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souls of men, to promote learning. to improve the character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things. They must manifest the fear of God by their conduct, their manners, their deeds and their words.”
Let no one think that the Bahái’s seek to overthrow the existing governments of the world because that is not their aim. This thoroughly democratic organization merely governs the believers. If, however, the majority of the people of the world should some day accept Bahá’u’lláh as the “Manifestation of God” and accept the teachings, perhaps this world form of government would replace the separate and antagonistic governments of the world and thus a lasting unity, peace and harmony be established in the world. The coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth would then be realized.
“The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as proclaimed by Bahá’u’llah, carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it.”
Mirza Abu’l-Fadl, one of the eminent Bahá’i teachers of the Orient, has written of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—“He is a physician to every invalid, a shelter to every exile, a refuge to every seeker for help, and a dispeller of sorrow to every grieved soul”. . . . “His Holiness ‘Abdu’l-Bahá summons the dwellers in the world to union and harmony”. . . . “Archdeacon Wilberforce, (London, England) as befitting the station of the men of learning, has spoken of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá as ‘Master’ before a great assemblage, and introduced Him with terms of glorification and commendation to a mighty gathering.”
Of Himself, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: “Know thou verily, my Thorne is my mat, my glorious crown is servitude toward God. My standard is the commemoration of my Lord; my hosts are the knowledge of my Master; my sword is the guidance of God; my dominion is my humility, my submissiveness, my lowliness, my supplication and beseeching unto God. This is that permanent reign which no one is able to dispute, gainsay or usurp.”
MANY, and varied attempts have been made to describe the meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá face to face, but to adequately translate so great an experience into the realm of words is indeed impossible; how can the drop explain the sea or the atom the effulgent sun? At best one can but say, the drop when it reaches the sea finds its completion, the atom loses itself in the glory of the sun.
At such a time of meeting, the soul’s longing is to try and become characterized to the extent of human capacity with the attributes of celestial perfection that one beholds openly manifest in the Focal Center of Divine Perfection.
Daily life in the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, witnessing the application of the law of love in every contact, made one doubly conscious of the artificial and superficial barriers that have crept into the religious systems of the world. This “Perfect Guide” in the daily heart-contacts as well as in the larger audiences, simply and yet definitely expanded the race consciousness from
the limited personal world to the universal plane. One beheld Him step by step and day by day revealing the foundation of The New World Order, and how it is to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth.
These brief glimpses into His daily life played their part in cementing in the memory the naturalness and directness of His Teaching as He planted eternal seeds in the heart of every true “listener” who came into His Presence. He did this without formality, without insistence, but always with divine attraction.
FROM THE first moment of my
meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at the
Plaza Hotel in Chicago, (May 1912)
it was as if He desired me to be detached
from His Personality. That
was veiled from my physical Vision
as by a gossamer mist stretched
across my vision. I beheld only
Light. This was evident, for a few
minutes later when I was asked
what He looked like I found I could
give no description whatever of His
physical stature.
I had been however instantly conscious of the dynamic of His Presence and the power of His Love, which was none other than the eternal flow of the Love of God.
Early the next morning three of us were seated outside of His door in the hotel praying silently when suddenly the door was thrown wide open by ‘Adbu’l-Bahá Himself, and it was then that I first met His gaze and beheld Him physically. He welcomed us and bade us enter. During the serving of morning tea—(that delightful Persian custom) we all sat for a few moments in silence. Then various questions were asked; the answers completely satisfying the questioners.
Then I gained courage to say what was in my mind and heart: “Please say to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that since He came, it is as though all the barriers between the hearts have been removed and we are melted into one great heart.” “Ah,” He exclaimed while raising both hands with spontaneous joy–“By the Bounty of Bahá’u’lláh that is what I came for!”
During those weeks in the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá we caught glimpses of how His ineffable tenderness opened the doors of the hearts. We saw a life filled with literally countless acts of love and service from early morn until often long after midnight, a life vibrant with an active peace that passed all understanding, a humility and meekness never before conceived or seen, and a self-forgetfulness beyond compare. To the orphaned who came He was a loving Father, to the wisest of the earth who called upon Him He was a Sage; with the children He was one of their own age.
How they loved Him! His attraction, His mirthfulness, and His stories were to them irresistible. These little ones became like bees around a fragrant bloom. No detail was too small to claim His attention when it involved the happiness of any heart,—a special delivery letter, a telegram, a box of flowers sent to those in trouble, or a suitable recognition to one who was about to announce her engagement or a Tablet (letter) of encouragement to a young artist or musician who was struggling to attain the apex of his ambition. Or again, the taxi driver, the hotel maid, the chef in the hotel, the poor man digging the drain in the street,—all these were the recipients of His loving attention and generosity, while everything pertaining to His own life was lived in the utmost simplicity.
As the days rolled into weeks, and the weeks into months, serving in His home, I lived in a new heaven and a new earth, constantly singing those old familiar words, “I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
DURING the first days at the Hotel
Plaza the friends gathered from
far and near. The entire staff of
the hotel management, from the
manager down, all showed forth the
utmost reverence. Their united
thoughtful consideration was continually
manifest for the welfare
and comfort of their distinguished
“Guest” who at once became their
“Host”. The last evening we were
there the manager told me that
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s stay had been the
unique experience of their lives,
that they had never had anything like unto it. Such happiness, he said, had existed in all the departments of the hotel since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s arrival, that they had had no trouble whatever in getting things done. All were on their toes to have this visit as perfect as they could make it.
The Bahá’i friends were most eager to have ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speak to them alone so they went to the manager to engage a room for the purpose. Nothing, however, was available that was large enough in the way of a private room so it was arranged to have a section of the main foyer screened off. All gathered with great eagerness and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came down to address us. When He saw the screens surrounding the friends He instantly withdrew and returned to His room saying that when the screens were removed He would return and talk with whomever wished to hear Him. What a lesson! Never was there the slightest suggestion of separation or aloofness from any group. He had come for all humanity, and no soul was shut out of His heart even for a moment.
The scene at Hull House especially with the children is an unforgettable experience. When a bag of small coins was turned upside down by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the money scattered in all directions, the children scrambled in wildest glee on hands and knees in their frantic efforts to obtain all thy could. From the Riches of His Love He bestowed the special ‘Gift’ that they could understand.
Gifts of flowers and fruit, telegrams and letters of welcome from peace societies, groups and individuals,
arrived in a continuous stream. His public addresses delivered in different parts of the city were crowded to the doors. His activity while ceaseless was never hurried. His walk was unlike that of any other, and people frequently followed Him for blocks not knowing who He was, but irresistibly feeling that He was unlike anyone they had ever seen but that He recalled a bible picture seen in childhood.
To the Christian He brought heavenly assurance of the Divine Station of His Holiness Jesus Christ never before so fully realized, and detailed stories of His matchless life, that have been lost to the western world. To the Jew He gave fuller teachings and comprehension concerning Moses and the creative message He brought to the world in His day; its spread throughout the world by the instrumentality of the Torah and the Old Testament of the Christians. Repeatedly did He make appeal for these two great groups—as well as for all the other divergent groups of religious thought—to investigate the reality at the foundation of all religions and discover the basic oneness lying at the heart of each and every one.
At one church the minister told ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that never before had such a congregation thronged his church, that as he looked over that vast throng he could tell at a glance those who were His followers for it seemed as if from their faces emanated light. For many years the friends in America had with longing anticipated that hour, little wonder then that the light of joy
and thankfulness shone forth, for at last He had come!
SEATED in His room late one
afternoon as the sun was setting,
after His return from the cemetery
where a Bahá’i young man had been
buried the day before, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
said, (as nearly as I can recall His
Words) “Those who have ascended
to the World of Light are much
nearer to you than you realize.”
He paused, then raising His hand
in the direction of Lincoln Park He
continued—“Behold those trees,
the shrubs, the flowers, the grass—and
the people”—Another pause,
then He continued, “Are the trees,
the shrubs, the flowers and the
grass conscious of the presence of
the people?”
To a blind believer He talked one day about the sight of the heart, and how blessed she was for, though physically blind yet she possessed the true sight which had enabled her to behold the Light of Truth for this New Age.
To old and young, grave or gay, there was always that wonderful “Welcome” which seemed to come from the very Center of Existence. Many were there who said, in substance, as they watched the continual stream of guests, that it seemed as though ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had for years been waiting for each individual contact, and in the heart of every one there seemed to be a realization of that fact.
A young reporter who followed His movements most closely, came to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá one day and said, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá what do you do to these people? No matter how sad they are, how unhappy they are, or how puzzled they are when they
enter your room, when they come forth they are like new beings. It is as though all their sadness had vanished and they had become new people?” To this He replied, “It is because in every face I see the face of my Father”.
When delicious fruits or candies were brought to Him He would bid me pass them around. Often there would be just a few left on the dish and I would place them by His side with the hope that He would eat them Himself. They would remain there and when the door was opened to the next guest there would frequently be just the number that there were guests and I was bidden again to pass them. Never did He consider Himself for an instant. He was at all times preferring others before Himself. Soon we grew to realize His complete detachment from all material things no matter how rare or delicious. He was at every moment the Servant of all.
How potent were His loving exhortations! To a believer one day He said “I desire that the tablet of your heart become so pure that I may write upon it without the aid of ink or pen”. Again, “If the Bahá’is live according to the standard of other communities what proof have you that you have something which they have not?” And at another time, “I pray that you may become a standard of guidance to the people”. To another “Raise ye such a melody that ye may stir that city with gladness.”
“‘Abdu’l-Bahá has clothed Himself in the mantle of servitude and devotion to the beloved of El Bahá. Truly this is a great Victory.”
IT is a curious testimony to the conservatism of the religious mind that, despite all the profound changes that are manifesting in the philosophic, scientific and metaphysical thought of today, the simple idea of progressive revelation still fails to find full acceptance among orthodox Christian creeds. Still is the First Advent, or birth of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, regarded as an entirely unique event in history. Never had the world known a Manifestation of God before—never would it know one again.
In striking contrast to this fixed attitude concerning the First Advent are the vague and contradictory ideas held concerning the Second Advent, or what is generally called the “Return.”
Ask an ordinary member of any Christian church if he believes that Christ will fulfill His so wonderfully clear promises of coming again to earth, and the answer will, in all probability be a hesitating—“I really don’t know—but I suppose so.” Pressed as to when, or in what manner he expects this to happen, or the signs by which he may recognize the Lord when He appears, he will frankly admit that he has no idea; that he finds the subject altogether too complicated, and that the profuse and unscientific explanations offered by would-be exponents only added to his confusion and weariness.
To such as these, the prophetic
utterances scattered throughout both the Old and New Testaments are as a sealed book. As Isaiah says (29:11): “The vision of all is become unto you as the word of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned saying: read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.” Daniel was instructed by the angel to seal the account of his prophetic visions “unto the time of the end,” until that Messenger should come who would break the seals and reveal their hidden meanings.
Many cultured and spiritually-minded people maintain that the “return” of Christ is not to be a definite event, but rather a continual process of spiritual renewal. But that this process is being evidenced in a fuller measure today in that men are becoming more united, and desirous of peace. True indeed, as far as it goes!
Among those who stand, as it were, at the opposite extreme of interpretation, are the sects known as the “Second Adventists.” Thrilling it is to see emblazoned on their banners and street placards—“The Coming of the Lord draweth nigh!” But an investigation of their teachings must fail to convince any enlightened or educated mind.
One day (the exact time is liable to alterations) while the heedless world goes on its way, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, the Lord will suddenly come to His temple. At the sound
of an angelic trumpet, lo! the heavens will roll back as a scroll, and the Son of Man clad in the bodily form—though glorified—in which He walked the streets of Jerusalem, will make His startling appearance, descending among the clouds to earth, with power and great glory. “Every eye shall see Him“—though how this will be possible, is all part of the catastrophic miracle. Those who are found worthy and watching will be caught up to meet their Lord in the air—unaided even by aeroplanes! As the rest of the unbelieving world will be consumed—naturally—“then cometh the end.”
Strange! that in these days of scientific knowledge literal interpretation of Bible symbolism can still lead men to such materialistic and fantastic beliefs. Yet, sometimes, important meetings of the Adventists are crowded, and not only by the merely curious. For one of the hopeful “signs of the times,” to Bahá’is, is the interest now being shown in this question of the “Second Coming.”
It was the earnest expectation of pure-minded and cultured Muslims, that enabled them to discern in the brilliant oriflamme of the young Báb, the advent of their Imam Mahdi, and that later led them to recognize the Universal Manifestation of the One He heralded. An intelligent interest in this subject has proved the open door by which many have entered into the new Kingdom and Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Yet how can we perceive the fulfilment of prophecy, unless we know what the prophecies are? And how can prophecy be proven save by, and after, its fulfilment?
Over all these vague surmises, dim hopes, and conflicting and unscientific beliefs, the Bahái Light flashes its rays of guidance and illumination. It offers to the sincere and humble seeker after Truth, and to the unprejudiced student of the Bible, the solution to problems and questions that have perplexed and baffled, for centuries, the minds not only of the unlearned, but of eminent scholars and theologians.
In a brief article it would not be possible to treat the vast subject of prophecy regarding the Bahái Revelation in any but the most cursory manner. Many volumes would be required to deal with even the utterances of the ancient prophets; remarkable utterances which they, themselves, could but partially have understood; to say nothing of the apocalypses of Daniel and of St. John, and the parables of Jesus. Only a few signposts along the road may be indicated. But enough, we hope, to induce the reader to start on the road for himself, and traveling thus, become filled with increasing amazement at the wonders of progressive revelation, at God’s Way in the world, and God’s Word for the world. As Habakkuk predicted (1:5):
”Behold ye among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days which ye shall not believe, though it be told you.”
FIRST then, shall we agree that the coming of the Lord of Hosts and of a great Day of God, of Judgment and Resurrection, followed by an age of universal righteousness and peace is the recurrent theme of the whole Bible? In passing, we may
observe that prophecies of a similar nature, numbering many hundreds, are to be found in the Qur’an, and also in the Zend-Avesta and Buddhist writings.
By way of confirmation, let us stop to glean a golden corn here and there from this wide and ripening harvest-field.
“The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory (Baha) of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habk. 2:14).
“It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isa. 2:2).
Isaiah was pre-eminently the prophet of the “latter days” for almost every chapter is clearly applicable to events which have recently transpired. To read, with some knowledge of Bahái history, the ninth and fortieth chapters would alone be sufficiently convincing. “His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. . . . Of the increase of His government and of peace, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.”
“For verily the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:11).
“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” (Zech. 14:9).
The keynote of the new Revelation
is unity of all religions and the oneness of humanity.
Christ, Himself, spoke much in parables, “as they were able to hear it,” about the Kingdom of God on earth, and a Day of Judgment at the end of the age. The Lord of the vineyard would come, Himself, and spread a great table, and they would come “from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29).
St. John described the vision of the new heaven and earth in which righteousness and peace would reign supreme; and the city of light to which the nations would bring their glory and honor. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8).
GRANTED then that the Bible declares
that God is to again manifest
Himself, shall we pass on to the next
signpost, and answer the vexed
question: In what manner will He
do so?
How will man, being a limited creature, be able to know, understand and comprehend the unlimited Creator? There is but one way. The way He has chosen all down the ages. He will use that form after the pattern of which we, ourselves, have been created, and which, after all, is in His image and likeness. The Creator’s glorious attributes and qualities will be seen reflected in One made “like unto the son of man.”
Ezekiel (ch. 1:26) saw Him “on his throne having the appearance of a man.” And John also “like unto
the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot. (Rev. 1:13) Isaiah sang: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.” . . .
Christians have regarded this and similar passages as referring solely to Jesus. But Christ’s Work had nothing directly to do with governments, and He made no claim to be the Prince of Peace. On the contrary He said: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay—but rather division.”
But a large part of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings are concerned with government, administrative work, and international relations. In His historic Letters to the Kings and other Potentates, He definitely claims to be the Lord of Hosts, the Father, and to have come as the world’s Promised One and Peacemaker.
Again, God is described by the prophets as establishing a city which will be visited by people from all countries.
“Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.” (Ps:87).
“The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.” (Ps:72).
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised is the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” (Ps:48).
“The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the Glory of the Lord (Baha) and the
excellency of our God.” (Isa 35:2).
“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” (Isa. 25:6).
Can anyone—aware that the name Bahá’u’lláh means “the Glory or Splendor of God”—knowing the situation of ’Akká and of Haifa in relation to Mt. Carmel, where the Holy One passed His many years of imprisonment, in the heart of the land of prophecy—learning something of the heavenly Message revealed in this spot—of the thousands who, of every race, and from every religion, traveled to visit the Prophet and His Son—doubt, that here the veils of prophecy have been rent asunder, and the seals broken; here the promises of the ages have met with complete and perfect fulfilment?
BUT, one may ask, if our Lord is
to come in this way, naturally, as a
man, unheralded by the miraculous
or sensational, in what part of the
world, and at what time, are we to
look for His appearance?
Truly He has come to us, “as a thief in the night,” as the bride-groom at midnight, unrecognized save by those who are keeping vigil. Christ tells us that He shall shine forth–as have all the Founders of great faiths—from the East, “even unto the West.”
When Daniel had the revelations which were to be sealed unto the “time, times and a half,” until the coming of the Messenger, and the three symbolic figures of the river, he was a captive in the palace at Shushan, the capital city of the Persian king, in the province of Elam.
This part of Persia today includes Tihrán. And it is surely significant that in this capital city of the Persian empire now, Bahá’u’lláh was born, a Prince of Nur. Jeremiah declared: (ch. 49:38)—“I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord.”
But of all the difficulties attending this subject, perhaps the most baffling is the problem of dates. To deal with this section would require many articles. It can, therefore, only be lightly touched upon.
We remember that when the disciples of Jesus asked Him at what time they were to expect the events predicted, He replied that, “the day or the hour no man knoweth—not even the angels—but the Father only.” Then among other signs, He referred them to the book of Daniel.
Since this prophet, as before mentioned, was in Persia when he received his visions, the reckoning was, naturally, given in Persian time—that is in lunar time, instead of solar. Here the “time, times and a half” means 1260 lunar years, or in Christian, and solar ones—1222. The Hegira of Muhammad corresponds to our year A. D. 622. This, added to the actual number of years in our reckoning, gives 1844, A. D. (or 1260 A. H.)—the year in which the Báb declared Himself and the new dispensation began. Likewise the prophecy regarding the twenty-three hundred days, given in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, brings us to the same significant date. This reckoning will not, however, be clear, without a study of the full contexts. The point about Bible prophecy relating to “the last days” to be emphasized
* Answered Questions, p. 51.
is, that, in their working out, the Hegira (that is the time the Muhammadan era began) must be taken into account, rather than our Anno Domini. The dispensation of the Prophet of Islam is indicated in the Bible quite clearly, and honored in its predictions. This method of reckoning also applies to prophecies of events yet to be fulfilled. The student who bears this in mind, while seeking for confirmatory proofs in this branch of the subject, will find that actual dates, significant in the Bahá’i Revelation, will show accurate correspondence with the times indicated.*
This brings us to our last point. By what signs shall we recognize the Manifestation? What will be its characteristics?
A careful comparison of many widely scattered passages, will reveal the fact that the Coming will be threefold in nature. Daniel, in his vision, saw three figures, one on the river, and one on either bank. The advent of the Lords of Hosts, the Father, the Almighty, who will “tread upon the high places of the earth” would be preceded and heralded by a Messenger, (Mal. 3:1)-the Báb, or Door of entrance to the new Kingdom, and followed by a Man who is called “the Branch.” This is the title by which Ábdu’l-Bahá, the eldest son and successor of Bahá’u’lláh, was known among the believers. “Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts saying, Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of
peace shall be between them both.” (Zech. 6:12).
AS FOR the numerous other signs which are mentioned as accompanying the supreme event, one has only to read the daily newspaper to see them. The unprecedented war of Armageddon, the earthquakes in divers places, the general turmoil and restlessness, the revolutions and kings “falling down,” the running of the lightnings and jostling of the chariots, the return of the Jews to Palestine, the dawn, all over the world, of new ideals. . . .
The theme is almost exhaustless, but we trust that enough has been said to convince the seeker of truth—as revealed in the Bible-that here, awaiting his patient exploration,
stretches away to a great horizon, a fascinating land, of whose wonders and glories, “the half has never been told.”
And those of us who are already followers of the divine Light of the New Day, shall we not pray and work ever more earnestly, so that the clouds of doubt, indifference, prejudice and materialistic interpretations veiling His appearance from those who are called by His name, may be dispersed, and that throughout Christendom there may, at last, go up the joyous cry of recognition: “Lo, this is the Lord: we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; for Him we have waited; we will be glad and rejoice in His Salvation!”
--PHOTO--
A Bahá’i Interracial Group, Cairo, Egypt, April 1907. Here are represented Persians, Turks, Syrians, Egyptians, Africans and Americans. Seated on the right, front to rear, are Haji-Niaz, well known by many American Bahá'is; Thornton Chase of Chicago; Mirza Abu’l-Fadl, the renowned Bahá'i teacher.
Editor’s Note: A second series continuing the very interesting description by Siyyid Mustafa Roumie of the early days of the Baha’i Cause in India, will begin in the September number.
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