The Bahá’í Centenary 1844-1944/Early Bahá’í Pilgrimages to ‘Akká and Haifa

The Bahá’í Centenary 1844-1944

Proofread once

[Page 139]

EARLY BAHÁ’Í PILGRIMAGES TO ‘AKKÁ AND HAIFA

THE public announcement made at the Congress of Religions in 1894 concerning the spiritual sanctity of Bahá’u’lláh quickened into vital life the latent religious seeking of the people of the West. Bahá’u’lláh Himself had departed this life. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was still a prisoner unable to leave ‘Akká. No literature of the Faith existed in North America. The response, therefore, demonstrated its power by an increasing flow of pilgrims who made the journey to the Holy Land in order to learn of the teachings from the lips of Bahá’u’lláh’s chosen Exemplar and Interpreter. Famous among these pilgrimages, first in order of time and extraordinary in its permanent results, was the party made up by Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, whose membership included Lua Getsinger, May Ellis Maxwell and the first American Negro Bahá’í, Turner, and thirteen other seekers.

The ardor kindled by these visits made the early pilgrims return as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s first messages to their fellow-countrymen of the United States and Canada, living Tablets inscribed with the image of His radiant being and the text of His loving wisdom. The pilgrims brought back the sense of the early days of faith, when the Prophet has been seen by human eyes and heard by human eyes, and the world is filled with ecstasy like the golden light of perfect dawn.

The teaching of the Faith in America, at first confined to the effort of one Oriental who conducted a class in Chicago, became established on the permanent foundation of direct relationship with the true expounder. All the activities of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in America emanated from the few score souls who attained the goal of all earthly seeking in ‘Akká and Haifa between the years 1894 and 1911. Their vivid talks created the capacity to teach; their letters anticipated the development of the great publishing enterprise in later years. As the Master’s Person transcended His written Tablets, so the experience of that small and specially blessed company who beheld Him transcends the more formal methods of instruction employed by the following generation.

In the Bahá’í catalog of 1924 we find a number of pamphlets written by early pilgrims still listed: "Ten Days in the Light of Acca," by Julia M. Grundy; "In Galilee," by Thornton Chase; "Unity Through Love," by Howard MacNutt; "Flowers From the Rose Garden of Acca," by Ida A. Finch, Fanny A. Knobloch and Alma S. Knobloch; and "Table Talks in the Prison of Acca," by Arthur S. Agnew. The "Flowers from the Rose Garden" were transplanted to bloom eternally in new soil, for its three authors later identified themselves with the founding or development of the Faith in a new country: Ida A. Finch in Japan, Fannie A. Knobloch in South Africa, and Alma S. Knobloch in Germany.

Other accounts printed in the early days exerted great influence among the American Bahá’ís for many years, such as: "In Galilee," by Thornton Chase; "In Wonderland," by Arthur S. Agnew; "Table Talks With ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in February, 1904," notes taken by Mr. and Mrs. George T. Winterburn; "Utterances of ‘Abdu’l Beha ‘Abbá to Two Young Men, American Pilgrims to Acre, 1901," anonymous; "What Went Ye Out For to See?", by Thornton Chase; "An Early Pilgrimage," by May Ellis Maxwell; "‘Akká Lights," by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hannen; "A Brief Account of My Visit to ‘Akká," by Mary L. Lucas; "Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akká-1908," by Helen S. [Page 140] Goodall and Ella G. Cooper; "A Heavenly Feast," by Charles and Mariam Haney; "A Heavenly Vista," by Louis G. Gregory; "Knock and It Shall be Opened Unto You," by Roy and M. J. M.; "Notes Taken at ‘Akká," by Corinne True; "Table Talks," anonymous; "Table Talks at ‘Akká," by Arthur S. Agnew; "Visit to Abbas Effendi in 1899," by Margaret B. Peake.

Of much larger scope is the book entitled "‘Abbás Effendi," by Marion H. Phelps, a serious effort made by an early pilgrim to compile in the household of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a brief history of the Faith and representative selections from its literature.

In "Some Answered Questions," however, edited by Laura Clifford Barney from transcribed talks made by the Master in answer to a series of questions she was permitted to refer to Him during a long pilgrimage in 1907, the contribution of the pilgrim to the spread of the Faith attained a new height. The book produced as result of her visit has since filled a unique place in the literature of the Faith, and editions have since appeared in English, French and other languages.

Space is lacking for a representative selection of the writings of these early Bahá’ís, but the few excerpts which follow convey the spirit of their ardent experience.

From May Maxwell's pamphlet:-

"On the following morning. Friday the 17th, at about seven o'clock, sister Mariam hurried into our room and announced that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would arrive in a few moments. We had barely time to dress when a sudden stir without set all our beings in commotion. We went out into a large central hall from which opened all the rooms in the house and opposite the door of one of these we saw the shoes of the believers; thus we knew that the Blessed Master was within. The others preceded me. In a moment I stood on the threshold and dimly saw a room full of people sitting quietly about the walls, and then I beheld my Beloved. I found myself at His feet, and He gently raised me and seated me beside Him all the while saying some loving words in Persian in a voice that shook my heart. Of that first meeting I can remember neither joy nor pain nor anything that I can name. I had been carried suddenly to too great a height; my soul had come in contact with the Divine Spirit; and this force so pure, so holy, so mighty had overwhelmed me.

"He spoke to each one of us in turn of ourselves and our lives and those whom we loved and although His words were so few and so simple they breathed the Spirit of Life to our souls. . . .

"During the three wonderful days and nights we spent in that sacred spot we heard naught but the mention of God; His Holy Name was on every tongue; His praise and glory were chanted and sung; His beauty and goodness were the theme of all conversation; His glorious Cause the only aim of every life. Whenever we gathered together in one of the rooms they spoke unceasingly of the Blessed Perfection, relating incidents in the life of the Beloved, mentioning His words, telling of His deeds and of the passionate love and devotion of His followers until our hearts ached with love and longing. . . .

"During the dinner our Master talked to us and taught us, referring to Christ, quoting His utterances and prophecies, and always speaking with a simplicity and clearness which any child could comprehend; yet His symbols and metaphors, drawn always from nature, embodied that essence of wisdom and truth which baffles the learned and great."

Thornton Chase wrote:-

"Scholars, scientists, theologians and students from the seats of learning of the world, of every race, religion and clime, ply him with questions, and his simple answers have satisfied-or confounded them. Whence came such knowledge? He has never been enrolled in the schools. His only Teacher has been-his Father. His only books-the writings that were claimed to be Sacred Scriptures. There is no man living that can say: I taught him.

"His own writings, spreading like whitewinged doves from the Center of His Presence to the ends of the earth, are so many (hundreds pouring forth daily) that it is an impossibility for him to have given time to them for searching thought or to have applied the mental processes of the scholar to them. They flow like streams from a [Page 141]

EARLY BAHÁ’Í PILGRIMAGES TO ‘AKKÁ AND HAIFA

gushing fountain, bearing treasures of knowledge and wisdom, and bringing the waters of Life to thirsty souls everywhere in the wilderness of earth. They satisfy the intellects and pierce the hearts of men the world around, and many are they who have told us that, in the 'Tablets' received from "The Master,' it is proved that He knew their secret conditions and touched the pulses of their inmost thoughts and desires. It is evident that 'He knows.' Who 'knows?' It is the man-‘Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas? Indeed, who can know save the One who knows all things-the Omniscient- the Holy Spirit of God?"

From Roy C. Wilhelm's account:-

"During our last meal ‘Abdu’l-Bahá broke a quantity of bread into His bowl; then asking for the plates of the pilgrims He gave to each of us a portion. When the meal was finished, He said that He had given us to cat from His bowl-now we were to distribute His bread among the people."

The occasion is opportune for listing the names of those American Bahá’ís who made pilgrimage during that early period of the Cause up to the time ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to North America in 1912.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur S. Agnew Miss Alma Albertson Dr. Emma Mackay Appel Mr. and Mrs. Willard Ashton Mrs. Asaych Pollock Allen Mme. d'Angie d'Astre Dr. George Augur Mrs. Isabella Brittingham Mrs. Alice Barney Miss Laura D. Barney Miss Charlotte Bingham Mrs. Alice Beede Stanwood Cobb Dr. Sarah Clock Mr. Thornton Chase Mrs. Josephine Cowles Mrs. Helen Ellis Cole Mme. M. A. De S. Canavarro Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Pillsbury Dodge Mr. Wendell Dodge Mr. William Dodge Mrs. Alice S. Devin Mrs. Emily Dixon Miss Louise Dixon Miss Eleanor Dixon Mrs. Laura Dixon Miss Sophie Engelhorn Colonel Fiske Colonel Nathan Ward Fitzgerald Mrs. Ida Finch Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford Mrs. Kathryn Frankland Miss Sarah J. Farmer Mrs. Helen Goodall Mr. Louis G. Gregory Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst (with party of thirteen whose names follow):- Dr. E. C. Getsinger Mrs. Lua M. Getsinger Dr. I. Kheirella Mrs. Marian Kheirella Anne Drucilla Apperson Julia Pearson Robert Turner Amelia Bochrodt Mrs. Maryam Thornburgh-Cropper Mrs. Thornburgh May Ellis Bolles (Mrs. Maxwell) Helen Adelaide Hillyer Ella Frances Goodall (Mrs. Cooper) Mrs. H. Emogene Hoagg Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hannen Mr. and Mrs. William Hoar Mr. Hooper Harris Mr. and Mrs. Charles Haney Mrs. Cecilia Harrison Mr. Albert Hall Mr. Herbert Hopper Mrs. Maude Hauser Mrs. Mary Tewksbury Jackson Miss Marion Jack Mrs. Kelting Miss Lillian Kelting Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Kinney Sanford Kinney Howard Kinney Miss Alma S. Knobloch Miss Fannie A. Knobloch Mrs. Mary Lucas Miss Josephine Locke Mr. Mountfort Mills Dr. Susan I. Moody Mr. and Mrs. Howard MacNutt Miss Elizabeth Mather Mr. Harlan F. Ober Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons Mrs. Pursell [Page 142] Mr. Myron H. Phelps Mrs. Arna True Perron Mr. Charles Mason Remey Miss Caroline Rogers Mr. Sigurd Russell Miss Elizabeth Stewart Mr. Carl Scheffler Mr. Sydney Sprague Mrs. Louise Stopfer Mr. Howard Struven Mrs. Hebe Moore Struven Miss Juliet Thompson Mrs. Corinne True Mrs. Louise Waite Miss Winalda Wilcox Mrs. Laurie Wilhelm Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm Miss Maria Wilson Prof. George Winterburn Mrs. Rose Winterburn Mr. and Mrs. Percy Woodcock (with two daughters)