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STAR OF THE WEST
"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; 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'O'LLAH.
Vol. VI Ola 1, 71 (March 2, 1916) No. 19
--PHOTO--
The late Arthur Pillsbury Dodge with Abdul-Baha and group of Persian Bahais, taken along Riverside Drive, New York, during Abdul-Baha's notable visit to America in 1912
In Memoriam
ARTHUR PILLSBURY DODGE
1849-1915
ON October 12th, 1915, shortly after seven in the morning, Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, servant of Abdul-Baha, and of God, was called by the Most Glorious One to enter the Kingdom after a life of searching for the truth and of sincere and devoted service in the glorious Cause. And, although suffering untold misery from a dread disease from which there was no cure or even temporary relief, he happily held fast to the one great solace of his life and that which filled his heart with unbounded joy despite his terrible earthly affliction. The very last thing that this good soul did on earth was to
--PHOTO-- The home of the late Arthur Pillsbury Dodge at Freeport, Long Island, N,Y., where he held Bahai meetings. In this picture with Mr. Dodge, taken when he first became ill, are Mrs. Dodge, R. Paul Dodge, and Mr. Osborne.
typewrite on a plain little piece of paper a simple notice of the next Sunday's Bahai meeting which he had hoped to live long enough to give in his modest little home in Freeport, Long Island, New York. This notice was written the night before he was called into the greater world that lies beyond, and he had addressed an envelope that was to carry the notice of the Bahai meeting, that was never held except in the spirit, to a local newspaper. The envelope read: "Editor Pearsall, Nassau County Review, Freeport, N. Y." And here follows the notice:
SUNDAY SERVICES
Talks on the Bahai Revelation by Arthur P. Dodge, at 64 Jay Avenue, Freeport, N. Y., Sunday afternoons at 3:30 o'clock.
Subject for October 17, 1915:
"The obvious reasons for contemplating Jesus Christ equal with God the Father, and by many even greater than God, while Christ Himself in all His Divine Utterances, declared He was only the Son, the Servant and the Door of the Will of God, whom He persistently held 'WAS ONLY GOD!' Assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Fleming and Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Clark. All cordially welcome. Free; no charge or collection."
When my dear father passed out of this life into the greater one beyond, this notice, in the envelope addressed to the local newspaper, lay on top of a little note book in which he kept a record of his Bahai meetings held in Freeport; and the note book was beside the Holy Bible, Browne's "A Traveller's Narrative, or The Episode of the Bab," and several Utterances of Baha'o'llah and of Abdul-Baha, which were close by my father at all times.
The Sunday before he died, October 10th, 1915, when I saw him for the last time and heard him with difficulty, because of a tube in his throat, read one of the blessed tablets, my father conducted a well-attended meeting of the friends. The subject was, "The Covenants of God with His creatures, through His Seven great Prophets and Messengers, from Adam, the first recorded Prophet, down to the present time, as proven from the Bible and other sacred Books." At this meeting Andrew Fleming and Frank D. Clark assisted.
One of the oldest, best-known and beloved of Bahais, who was greatly beloved by Abdul-Baha, and who was affectionately spoken of throughout the world, and especially all through Persia and the orient as "Mr. Dodge," a short sketch of my father's work in the Cause may be of interest to the friends. Always, ever since he was a young man before his marriage to my mother in 1870, my father was given to seeking the divine truth. He successfully investigated and followed pretty nearly every cult and ism before he finally heard what he instantly recognized as the truth. During all this time he was a close and earnest student of religion and it was only natural that he should have known the Bible and other religious books as but few men, not excepting the most learned theologians, ever understand the sacred and historical works of religion. That he got more than the letter out of his early studies evidenced from his ever desire for more and more and a
continual seeking after that which he had not attained.
My father first heard of the glorious Cause when we were living in Chicago right after the World's Fair. Just before the loss of my sister Anna in the winter of 1895 my father had been told something of the Cause by Dr. Sarah J. Burgess in Chicago, but not very much. He knew just enough about the great Bahai Revelation then to be interested in it, and to have renewed hope that at last he had found the truth! In fact, if he had not felt keenly about it he might never have outlived the terrible shock to him of Anna's death, for my mother said the only thing that seemed to keep him up at that time was what Dr. Burgess had told him of the Cause. Dr. Burgess had received the Message from a "Doctor" Ibrahim G. Kheiralla, whom my father and mother met upon their return to Chicago from Boston after the death of Anna. My father was
--PHOTO-- The Dodge plot in Lake Side cemetery, Wakefield, Mass., showing the grave of Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, and monument bearing the Greatest Name inscription.
obliged to go to New York before he had investigated very far in the "Teachings," as they were termed—and it was more than a year before he returned to Chicago. Then he had only a few days and prevailed upon the teacher to give him the glad tidings all in one day. At that time, it was the method to give the Message of the Coming of the Kingdom in some twenty or more lessons, once or twice a week, before reaching the "pith"—that is, telling of the appearance of the Bab, Baha'o'llah and the Center of the Covenant, Abdul-Baha. This was in the early fall of 1897.
Leaving my brother William and me in Chicago to finish out the last year in our respective schools, he and my mother, with my brother Paul, moved to New York whither my father was to spend the balance of his life. William and I then took the "Teachings," in a large class that met once or twice a week, in West Monroe street.
That same winter, in January, 1898, my father sent for "Doctor" and Mrs. Kheiralla to come to New York, to No. 55 West 95th Street, where he and mother and Paul were boarding, to inaugurate the Cause in New York. So, as a matter of historic record, it is here set down that the great and wonderful, beautiful Bahai Revelation was first introduced into New York, and the first, original Bahai Assembly established there by my father in January, 1898. In the first class at the West Ninety-fifth street address was Mrs. Fiske, the wife of Col. Archie Fiske, who was invited to the class by Mrs. Talbot, who had taken the "Teachings" in Chicago. My father had asked Mrs. Talbot, who was interested in New Thought, to bring some of the New Thought people to the class.
Among the first believers in New York were the Kappes family—Lily and Charles, their mother, brothers and sisters; Arthur James, wife and daughters; Charles Jones and James D. Brittingham.
(Continued on page 165)
STAR OF THE WEST
PUBLISHED NINETEEN TIMES A YEAR
By the BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, 515 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the post office at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Editorial Staff: ALBERT R. WINDUST — GERTRUDE BUIKEMA — DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI
Honorary Member: MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB
Terms: $1.50 per year; 10 cents per copy.
Note—Until further notice, distribution in the Orient is through Agents.
Make Money Orders payable to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
To personal checks please add sufficient to cover the bank exchange.
Address all communications to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
TABLET FROM ABDUL-BAHA.
HE IS GOD!
O thou Star of the West!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shalt become the Star of the East and shalt spread in every country and clime. Thou art the first paper of the Bahais which is organized in the country of America. Although for the present thy subscribers are limited, thy form is small and thy voice weak, yet shouldst thou stand unshakable, become the object of the attention of the friends and the center of the generosity of the leaders of the faith who are firm in the Covenant, in the future thy subscribers will become hosts after hosts like unto the waves of the sea; thy volume will increase, thy arena will become vast and spacious and thy voice and fame will be raised and become world-wide—and at last thou shalt become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness, firmness, firmness!
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
Vol. VI
No. 19
Words of Abdul-Baha
CONCERNING thy question whether all the souls enjoy eternal life: Know thou those souls partake of the Eternal Life in whom the Spirit of Life is breathed from the Presence of God and all beside them are dead—without Life, as Christ hath explained in the texts of the Gospel. Any person whose insight is opened by God seeth the souls in their stations after the disintegration of the bodies. Verily they are living and are subsisting before their Lord and he seeth also the dead souls submerged in the gulfs of mortality.
Then know thou verily all the souls are created according to the nature of God and all are in the state of (unconscious) purity at the time of their births. But afterwards they differ from one another insofar as they acquire excellencies or defects. Nevertheless, the creatures have different degrees in existence insofar as the creation goes, for capacities are different; but all of them are good and pure (in their essence), then afterwards they are polluted and defiled. Although there are different states of creation, yet all of them are beneficial. Glance thou over the temple of man, its members and its parts. Among them there are the eye, ear, nose, mouth, hands and fingers. Notwithstanding the differences between these organs, all of them are useful in their proper spheres. But if one of them is out of order, there is need of a remedy and if the medicine does not heal, then the amputation of that member becomes necessary.
—ABDUL-BAHA.
CORRECTION
Dear brother Windust:—I have just been reading No. 18 STAR OF THE WEST. Now there is one word (page 156) which I feel ought to be corrected in the next issue if possible. It is the word "Baghdad," which should have been "boyhood"—so as to read, "they were intimately associated in boyhood." The Bab was never in Baghdad. This is the fault of my writing I know and I should have sent a typed letter.
Also on the top of the second column, page 157, the word "visiting" should have been "residing," and on top of page 154, second column, "wall" should have been "well." But these latter two errors are not of great importance.
Charles Mason Remey.
In Memoriam—Arthur Pillsbury Dodge
(Continued from page 163)
A month or so later a class was started at the home of Dr. Egbert Guernsey, made up principally of New Thought people. In this class, among others, were Mrs. Mary MacNutt, Annie Boylan and Mrs. Alice Gibbons. Mrs. MacNutt had been
"Blessing be upon the spirit who departed from the
body purified from the doubts and
superstitions of the nations"
BUT concerning that which thou hast asked about the spirit and its everlastingness after its ascension, know that it will ascend at the time of its departure until it enters the presence of God in a form which, throughout all centuries, times, and throughout all circumstances and events of the world will remain unchanged. It will be everlasting as the perpetuity of the Kingdom of God, His Sovereignty, His Power and His Might, and from it will appear the traces of God, His Qualities, Providences and Favors—the Pen cannot move at the mentioning of this Station as it is in its Supremeness and Exaltation! The hand of the Divine Bounty will cause it to enter into a station that cannot be comprehended by expression, nor be explained by all the creatures of the existence.
Blessing be upon the spirit who departed from the body purified from the doubts and superstitions of the nations. Verily, it moves in the atmosphere of God's desire, and enters into the Supreme Paradise.
All the angels of the Supreme Paradise attend and surround it, and it will have fellowship with all the prophets of God and His saints, and speak with them and tell them what happened to it in the Cause of God, the Lord of the Universe. If anyone could realize what hath been assigned for it in the Kingdoms of God, the Lord of the Throne and the dust, he would immediately yearn with a great longing for the Unmovable, Exalted, Holy and Abha station!
—BAHA'O'LLAH.
studying the Vedanta philosophy, and a
swami was staying at the MacNutt home
at 731 St. Nicholas avenue, New York.
Later Howard MacNutt, who rendered
a most beautiful Bahai service at my
father's funeral, received the Message
from the "Doctor" at my father's rooms
in Ninety-fifth street, and still later did
W. Hooper Harris.
Following the Ninety-fifth street meetings, my father started other Bahai meetings in different studies in Carnegie
Hall, New York. At this time Abdul Karim and Mirza Serim Moses Raffi came from Cairo—the first Persians to come to America to teach the Cause. Anton Haddad, a Syrian, had come to America on business, and was in evidence
--PHOTO-- Arthur Pillsbury Dodge and Elizabeth A. Dodge at the time they first received the Bahai Message in Chicago. the early fall of 1897.
at the Ninety-fifth street meetings before this time. He was greatly beloved by my father, and was of great assistance with his Arabic translations of the Holy Utterances.
In August, 1900, my father and mother, and Mrs. William H. Hoar, set sail for Acca, and were met at the pier in Haifa by forty of the Persian believers. Often did my father comment upon the great spiritual light in their faces, making it easy to distinguish the believers from the other natives in the street or anywhere one passed or came upon them!
They remained in the Holy Household in Acca for nine days with Abdul-Baha, and my father spent nearly all of the time with him, receiving the blessed instructions straight from the fountainhead. He also studied much during his stay at Acca with Mirza Abul Fazl, the great Persian historian, and became thoroughly conversant with the history of the Bahai Revelation in Persia and elsewhere.
Sailing away from Haifa on the same ship that brought my father, mother and Mrs. Hoar, bound for America, were Mirza Assad'Ullah, Hadji Hassan Khorosani and Rhoui Effendi, who reached New York while father was in the East.
In Beyrout father, mother and Mrs. Hoar were beautifully entertained by Mohammad Mustapha Bagdadi, father of Dr. Zia Bagdadi, and in Acca by the Turkish Governor of the Province. Likewise by various good friends in Cairo, Port Said, Alexandria, and all along the way.
Returning from Acca my father gave the Message on board ship in the Mediterranean, and in London he gave the glad tidings to Canon Wilberforce of Westminster Abbey, among others. In London he had long talks about the Bahai Revelation with Prof. Edward G. Browne of Cambridge University—the great authority on Persian and other oriental languages and history; and with Prof. E. Denison Ross, also a Persian scholar and historian.
--PHOTO-- One of the latest pictures taken of Mr. Dodge, and a very good likeness.
While in London, the guest of Mrs. Thornburgh Cropper, Prof. Browne made a masterly translation of perhaps the most wonderful of all of the blessed tablets that Abdul-Baha had written in his own hand for my father and in his presence in Accra, explaining the three
great questions of Vicarious Atonement, the Trinity and the Immortality of the Soul, with which tablet every friend is familiar.
On his return to New York from Acca my father started meetings for the Cause in various places and took a large house at No. 261 West 139th street, which soon became known as the Bahai Home. Here meetings were held, and believers from all parts of the world were welcomed and received at all times. "Open house" always prevailed here, and it was the first place that the Persians and other friends coming to America and to New York would seek out.
My father also started a highly successful series of meetings in the big assembly hall of the Stephen Merritt Undertaking Establishment at Eighth avenue and Nineteenth street, New York, where four and five hundred persons would listen to talks on the Cause at every meeting.
Among the many things he did for the Cause was to send lamps over to Haifa for the blessed tomb of the Bab; and to Acca for the holy tomb of the Blessed Perfection (Baha'o'llah).
My father had the honor to receive the first tablet ever sent to America, which was written in Arabic by Abdul-Baha's own hand, and translated by Anton Haddad. He also received the first "Greatest Name" stone, sent from Acca. My father received many tablets and communications from Abdul-Baha, more perhaps than any other believer, and all over the orient the name, "Mr. Dodge" was known among the friends.
He was president of the First Bahai Assembly of New York, and served on the Board of Council for several years.
In forming the First Bahai Assembly of Freeport, N. Y., on March 14th, 1915, my father wrote the following statement that was subscribed to and signed by the names which follow:
"We, whose signatures and addresses
are written below hereby associate ourselves as Founder-members of the First Bahai Assembly of Hempstead, in the County of Nassau and State of New York, and located at Freeport in said Township.
"It is our desire and intention to labor as humble, faithful and steadfast servants of and for the Incomparable Cause of God."
Signatures: Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, E. A. Dodge, Josephine Falley Clark, Frank Durbon Clark, Wendell Phillips Dodge, Beatrice M. Dodge, Richard William Dodge, Wendell Phillips Dodge, Jr., Richard Paul Dodge, Clara Louise Osborne, Mrs. Otis I. Hathon, Irene C. Holmes, William Copeland
Dodge and Lavinia, Evelyn Dodge.
Whereas he had been bitter against the church for its bigotry and superstition, the last two years of his life my father had so mellowed his feelings that he was not even antagonistic to an unbeliever, but rather pitied and tried to help everyone who had not been able to "see the light." The Bahai Revelation had made of him a sweet-tempered soul and had given him an unlimited reserve and compassion. He seemed not to mind his terrible suffering during the last year of his life, and expressed himself as only regretting that he could not live long enough to complete his work for the Blessed Cause, to serve God and man as he never had been able to do!
Wendell Phillips Dodge.
MADAME CHERON
To the STAR OF THE WEST, Greeting:
I recall in former years you have made it a custom to announce the departures of the friends in the last issue for the Bahai year of the STAR OF THE WEST.
Now as the end of our present year is drawing near I am in receipt of the
announcement of the passing of one of our friends Madame Chéron on January 20th last, in Paris.
During Abdul-Baha's visits in Paris, souls became attracted to the Cause, and the principles of his teachings became known and produced an effect upon many. Then out from these people there arose a few who recognized the Covenant of God and realized that in Abdul-Baha was the living spiritual Center of this new life in the world. Madame Chéron was of these few. The spiritual atmosphere of her home was to the hungry and seeking soul as an oasis in the desert to the tired traveller seeking refreshment and rest.
During the weeks prior to the outbreak of the war, which George Latimer and I spent in Paris, we went often to the apartment of Madame Chéron, overlooking the Seine. At times when surrounded by discouragements we went there to talk about The Center of The Covenant and thus revive our spiritual forces; and at other times we went there to meet groups of friends and seekers whom our kind hostess had gathered to hear the wonderful story of The Cause of God. It will interest the friends in this country to know that the first of the ninth-day Mashrak-el-Azkar meetings held in Paris, was at Madame Chéron's home.
Only a few weeks before her death Madame Chéron wrote from the American Hospital in Paris, saying that she had but a few more weeks here with us. She had suffered much, but was happy and contented. My first thought was that she might be spared for more spiritual service here, but such was not God's will. We cannot say that her work is finished, for to those of us who knew her, her faith in and devotion to Abdul-Baha continues to inspire us—it will always stand out as a spiritual light of brilliancy amid the surroundings of darkness of material Paris.
Faithfully yours in El-Abha,
Charles Mason Remey.
MRS. THOMAS PETERSON
1838-1916
Mrs. Thomas Peterson, who died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Jensen, Burlington,
--PHOTO-- Mrs. Thomas Peterson
Wis., February 13, 1916, at the age of seventy-seven years, was one of the pioneers of the Bahai Cause in Wisconsin. She received the message in 1899. It was her desire that the Bahais conduct the funeral service. Mr. Albert R. Windust of Chicago and Mr. Andrew Nelson of Racine responded to this request. The selections from the utterances of Baha'o'llah and Abdul-Baha which were read, made all realize that the promised age had indeed come, when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
HERBERT ANDERSON
1886-1915
On October 22, 1915, George Herbert Anderson passed into the life beyond. He was well known
--PHOTO-- George Herbert Anderson
among the Bahai young people of Chicago. Afflicted with a disease of the throat, he went first to Muskogee, Okla., then to Denver, Colo., where he died. Herbert, as everyone called him, was well known for his sincere convictions and earnest religious work. From Mr. Arthur S. Agnew, he heard the glad tidings of the coming of Baha'o'llah, and was the recipient of a beautiful tablet from Abdul-Baha.
