Transcript:Amoz Gibson/Speech at Bahá’í World Congress, 1963
| Transcript of: Speaking at the opening of the Bahá’í World Congress in London (1963) by |
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Our next speaker, our beloved Baháʼí brother, who does not need to be introduced, a member of the Universal House of Justice, that supreme body that we all are obedient without thinking, our dear Amoz Gibson [applause] will speak of leading incidents in in the life of Bahá’u’lláh and will endeavor to bring the person of the Supreme Manifestation of God close to us. The Blessed Beauty of Bahá’u’lláh.
O Aḥmad! Forget not My Bounties while I am absent. Remember My days during thy days. O beloved friends, you are so beautiful today, for this is the day to radiate the beauty of the spirit. This is that great day for which we have long awaited. And it is the remembrance of the days of Bahá’u’lláh, the remembrance of His life and of His teachings that has given us this great beauty, this joy, this king of festivals to celebrate in His name the end of a century, the first century of His divine gift to the world of being. Blessed are we to have served in His vineyard, to have endeavored to live that way of life which He brought to the world, to have taught His cause, to have been inspired by His words, and to have prayed His prayers, and to have longed for His good pleasure, and to have proclaimed His name. Our thoughts during this Congress can only be of gratitude to the Almighty for our manifold blessings, all of which emanate from the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Though the outside world is not yet aware of these blessings from the pen and the power of the scripture of Bahá’u’lláh, the Blessed Beauty, the people in every land have benefited beyond measure, beyond any measure that we can use, by His bounties. The beginnings of international understanding, undertaking the upraising of the conditions of human beings, have released to each human spirit so that that spirit may contribute it's required share to the betterment and the advancement of civilization. Because of the message of Bahá’u’lláh and because it gives such promises of a new age and because the conditions of the world is at present far removed from the glories of these promises, there are many, who first hearing of the message of Bahá’u’lláh, have great doubts as to the possibility of the achievement of the goals that He has set, that were set by his pen.
We who are gathered here are blessed that we have seen so many of the initial changes that must take place before the fruit of His message is gathered by all men. We have seen the dignity of man, each and every individual human being raised to a new level. In the United States of America, this very year, many people are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the emancipation of the Negro slaves. This one event, though especially close to me for I am a descendant of these once enslaved people, is just one, just one, of the great events attendant on the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, the glory of God. There are recorded hundreds, hundreds of other events of like significance occurring in the past century, and there are thousands of unrecorded and unrecognized ones. In the year 1912, the beloved Master brought the spirit and the teachings of the Blessed Beauty to Europe and to the United States. And it is in that very year that there was an apparent change in the operation of the American Indian Bureau, which was responsible for the indigenous people of that land. It is very apparent that after that year, there was a concentrated effort by all in all levels of employment in this bureau to bring the American Indian into a full participation in all of the affairs of that country. This is but another, just one other, of the evidences of the rejuvenating power of the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh. And when we see the changes that have occurred, when we see the upraising of the dignity of man, of all men, we must recall the words of Bahá’u’lláh himself:
"The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!"
Now there are many other centenaries that will occur in the next century. The spirit which caused the initial great act that will be the cause of these celebrations 100 years from now for each one of them is the message of Bahá’u’lláh delivered during this same period, 100 years ago. A few of these anniversaries, a few of these centenarians are, soon we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the telephone, of radio, of the American and the International Red Cross, of the establishment of the World Court at the Hague. This spirit of Bahá’u’lláh is in the world today. It is reported that the queen of this great country just a few days ago, in talking to a group of Girl Scouts - I'm not certain that that's the proper term in this land, but a group of girls who are interested in the betterment of themselves and of other people's made this statement at a public ceremony at Windsor and this is not an exact quote. She said that it is important today that you - and she was talking to young people - must review the values by which we live today, and it is of great importance that we concentrate on developing a religious attitude in our daily living. The spirit of Bahá’u’lláh is in the world so active that there are so many affected by it that all we have to do is to be present and we can see it. There are so many in every land who are longing to know the reason for the feelings that they have. It is our great honor and privilege to announce to them the glad tidings, the glad tidings that the promised one has come.
We who are here in this hall know that the spiritual power which brought about these great events of the last century, was released to the world by the cause of Bahá’u’lláh. We know that His tribulations, His continued exile, His long imprisonment, His unbelievable hardships were those sufferings of the Divine Educator which shorten the afflictions of human beings on this planet . To those enquirers who have doubts as to the possibility of the achievement of His goals - World Order, Divine Civilization - there are these reassuring words from the pen of the Ancient Beauty:
"Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight, and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of oppression. The thick clouds of tyranny have darkened the face of the earth, and enveloped its peoples. Through the movement of Our Pen of glory We have, at the bidding of the omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new life into every human frame, and instilled into every word a fresh potency. All created things proclaim the evidences of this world-wide regeneration. This is the most great, the most joyful tidings imparted by the Pen of this wronged One to mankind. Wherefore fear ye, O My well-beloved ones? Who is it that can dismay you? A touch of moisture sufficeth to dissolve the hardened clay out of which this perverse generation is molded. The mere act of your gathering together is enough to scatter the forces of these vain and worthless people…."
Through His sufferings of exile in Baghdad, His lonely sojourn in Sulaymaniyah, His further exile to Constantinople, His sufferings and hardships during the journey to Adrianople, and His final banishment to the most great prison of 'Akká, He gave to human beings the strength to build His new creation. His revelation erases from the minds and souls of men all feelings of inadequacy, and through the belief in Him, they are empowered to serve Him and to contribute their share to the achievement of the golden age of man. He abolishes, with a stroke of His pen, all tyrannical institutions of the past, both ecclesiastical and secular. The debris of the old order is being cleared away and the evidences of the emerging new world are all around us. It is our responsibility to build within ourselves and within the framework of His Cause, that which will foster the growth of His teachings. It is the way of life for the New Age. The last decade of this past century has been a glorious campaign of teaching, and up to this very moment I have the thought that the results, the achievements of the goals of this campaign were the most important thing. I had the start until I came to this most great jubilee: from all of the reports we have received from around the world and from the 11th hour results on the home front, in the United States and in many other countries, it now appears that these 10 years, these 10 years constituting the most glorious crusade given to us by our beloved Shoghi Effendi, that these 10 years have been a proving time and a learning time and a seed-planting time, and the great harvest from the efforts of the friends all over the world have yet to be gathered by all of us here and all of the believers in every land. The grateful heart, the happy soul, the enlightened mind of every Baháʼí, those striving in every way to express gratitude to the Ancient Beauty for all His blessings, can find no better way to do this than to serve His Cause by teaching. By teaching what his mighty pen had revealed, again His words guide us. His words to His followers on teaching the Faith, on teaching His Cause to the entire human race are:
"Say: [O people, ] Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá, for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds. Such a deed is acceptable only when he that teacheth the Cause is already a firm believer in God, the Supreme Protector, the Gracious, the Almighty. He hath, moreover, ordained that His Cause be taught through the power of men’s utterance, and not through resort to violence. Thus hath His ordinance been sent down from the Kingdom of Him Who is the Most Exalted, the All-Wise."
For all his blessings to the world of mankind, we can only use His words to express our thankfulness to Him.
"The remembrance of God and His praise, and the glory of God and His splendor, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art His Beauty! I bear witness that the eye of creation hath never gazed upon one wronged like Thee. Thou wast immersed all the days of Thy life beneath an ocean of tribulations. At one time Thou wast in chains and fetters; at another Thou wast threatened by the sword of Thine enemies. Yet, despite all this, Thou didst enjoin upon all men to observe what had been prescribed unto Thee by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. May my spirit be a sacrifice to the wrongs Thou didst suffer, and my soul be a ransom for the adversities Thou didst sustain."
