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[Page 167]

WORLD
ORDER

SEPTEMBER, 1944

RELIGION COMES AGAIN TO MANKIND—Dorothy Baker

ANSWER, WORLD! Poem—Angela Morgan

DEDICATION OF THE BAHÁ’Í HOUSE OF WORSHIP

COMMEMORATION OF THE DECLARATION OF THE BÁB

A BAHÁ’Í FRIEND, Prose—Mary A. McClennen

THE GIFTS OF GOD, Editorial—Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick

THE RACES OF MANKIND, Book Review—Arthur Dahl

THE GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY—
Marion Holley

15c

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE

[Page 168]

World Order was founded March 21, 1910 as Bahá’í News, the first organ of the American Bahá’ís. In March, 1911, its title was changed to Star of the West. Beginning November, 1922 the magazine appeared under the name of The Bahá’í Magazine. The issue of April, 1935 carried the present title of World Order, combining The Bahá’í Magazine and World Unity, which had been founded October, 1927. The present number represents Volume XXXV of the continuous Bahá’í publication.

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WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Garreta Busey, Alice Simmons Cox, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.

Editorial Office
69 ABBOTSFORD ROAD, WINNETKA, ILL.

Publication Office
110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.

C. R. Wood, Business Manager

Printed in U.S.A.

SEPTEMBER, 1944, VOLUME X, NUMBER 6

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 15c. Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1944 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE

[Page 169]

WORLD ORDER

The Bahá’í Magazine

VOLUME X   SEPTEMBER, 1944   NUMBER 6

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Religion Comes Again to Mankind

DOROTHY BAKER

RELIGION is progressive, rushing forward like a giant river from God to the ages, watering the arid centuries to produce flowering civilizations and holy lives.

There has never been a prophet of a religion who has not been doubted. Through under-emphasis they have become dim historic figures who can be judged only by the results apparent in the world after them. In the light of the Bahá’í Faith, the shadowy forms of the world’s great Master Teachers stand out again in brilliant relief against the mediocrity of their times. Their wisdom is deathless. They stand alone against the world, arch-types, on a mount of vision, foreshadowing the perfections of an unfolding race. Bahá’u’lláh aptly calls them Manifestations of God. As heat manifests fire, as a ray manifests the sun, these pure and stainless souls manifest the Will of God whose plan for spiritual evolution is written, chapter by chapter, in their lives and utterances. They are despised, mocked, imprisoned, crucified, but out of the crucible of their suffering; religion is born again; they are proofs of the power of God.

Abraham, son of a pagan priest in Ur, was exiled because He taught the oneness of God. He came over into the region of the holy land, a man alone against the world. By the power of religion, His exile became glorious, His descendants produced the prophets of Israel, and most of Europe and Asia came under the influence of the God of Israel.

At a later period Moses appeared, a man who was a stammerer, who had been brought up in the house of Pharaoh, who was known among men as a murderer, who through fear had for a long time remained in concealment, shepherding the flocks [Page 170] of Jethro. Moses, standing one day on Mt. Horeb, heard the voice of God, directing him to free the Jewish nation. What could a stammerer reply? Would he be convincing, even to his own people? How could he command a Pharaoh?

“Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent,” He lamented, “but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” And the Lord said, “Who hath made man’s mouth? I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what to say.”

After this Moses went into the market places of the Egyptians, teaching the Children of Israel. The Word of God was upon Him and He was no longer afraid of any man. The people listened. At times when Pharaoh’s lash descended more brutally they turned from Moses, for how could they believe in a single man, alone against the world, against Pharaoh’s chariots, against starvation and cruelty and poverty? How could they know that Moses, whose staff was His only companion, would lead the Jews, six hundred thousand strong, into the wilderness and the promised land?

By the power of religion Moses fed, housed, and taught the people, purified their lives, gave them back their faith, brought them under His civilizing law, and bestowed upon them knowledge and love of God. Moreover, He set in motion a great civilization for those times. The children of Israel became the envy of the pagans. The civilization of the Pharaohs went down to utter loss. Literacy, government, and moral values continued for many centuries to make Jerusalem, the city of the Jews, the cultural center of the ancient world. To such a development did they attain that the sages of Greece came to regard the illustrious men of Israel as models of perfection. An example is Socrates, who visited Syria and took from the children of Israel the teachings of the unity of God and of the immortality of the soul. A man found his highest tribute in the words, “He is like the Jews.” Such is the power of religion.

Revelation is progressive, sweeping onward with the natural evolution of the race. Jesus Christ appeared, the Jiving Word of God, flashing like a giant meteor through the musty period of decline that marked His generation.

Born of Mary, nurtured in the Jewish church, assisted neither by His own people, nor by the military powers of Rome, nor by the intellectual supremacy of the Greeks, Jesus of Nazareth [Page 171] brought into being, in a mere three year span of ministry, a Faith destined to cross seas and continents and enter at last every known country on the planet. Today hospitals, cathedrals, universities, and governments testify to the power of religion through Jesus Christ.

Alone against the world, healing, blessing on the one hand, hurling fierce accusations into the very teeth of a hypocritical and dormant society on the other, Jesus became the primal point of a vast civilization. So great was His power, born of God, that Bahá’u’lláh in recent times wrote of it: “The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit. . . . He it is who purified the world.”

His was a strange sovereignty. The stars were His lamps; He had no place to lay His head. Yet His was the sovereignty that could scourge the money changers! His was the power to say, “Pick up thy bed and walk!” His was the power to utter the divine words, “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go and sin no more!” All power in heaven and earth was given to Him, the humble carpenter. God does not prove His power by exalting the already exalted. From the upper chambers of communion with this Immortal Beauty, a handful of lowly fishermen conquered the world. Such is the power of religion.

Islám leaves no less a proof. The Arabic civilization in the sixth century was sunken into degeneracy. Drunkenness and moral profligacy abounded. Mecca, center of worship for the pagans, boasted no less than three hundred fifty idols, including effigies of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muḥammad denounced the idols, preached against the practices of the people, and declared the singleness of God.

Muḥammad never fought against the Christians; on the contrary, He treated them kindly and gave them perfect freedom. A community of Christian people lived at Najran who were under His care and protection. Muḥammad said, “If anyone infringes their right, I myself will be his enemy, and in the presence of God I will bring a charge against him.”

How appalling were the misfortunes that befell Muḥammad! [Page 172] Alone against the world He preached the truth, and all the powers of Arabia leagued themselves against Him. That He dared to bless a girl child was pretext enough for stoning Muḥammad. When He prayed much in the desert alone, the people flung refuse at His holy person. A thousand injuries He sustained in meekness, a man alone against the world. It is written, too, that girl children were buried alive, and that Persian and Indians maidens were brought for licentious entertainment during the Meccan months of worship.

The scene changes. We find the Arabians emerging to scientific and moral heights under the refining laws of Muḥammad. Gambling and drunkenness disappeared. The protection of women was established. The arts flourished, the mathematics, astronomy, and literature of Cordova and Salamanca became world-famous. Moral life was purified. Political unity from Arabia to Spain drew tribal life upward to national sovereignty. In short, from the lowest human condition, the people of Islám formed for a time the most powerful center of civilization. Such is the power of religion.

But all religion moves in seasons. The nineteenth century portrays a winter. Gone is the fervor of the apostle; gone the fire of earlier faith. Decay, intrigue, and division had swept away the very foundations of Islám; division and lassitude had eaten into the fibre of Christendom; Judaism, a thing hunted, no longer presented a strong or united front.

Into such a world came Bahá’u’lláh, preceded by His youthful forerunner, the Báb.

It was one hundred years ago, on May 22, 1844, unheralded by the world’s leaders, that the Bahá’í Faith was born. The Báb received on that day His first disciple, and announced to him the dawn of a new religious cycle. The scene of the announcement was a humble dwelling in Shíráz, Persia.

The Báb Himself was a radiant young Persian of some two and twenty years. He was a merchant by profession, practicing a trade, as had the Carpenter of Nazareth, two milleniums before Him. On that eventful day He went, a little before sundown, to the gate of the city. His tranquil beauty must have arrested even the heedless, as He stood scanning the faces of the passing multitudes. Among those in the vicinity of the gate that day was a Shaykhí student, a young man of great inner-perception, whose [Page 173] own heart promptings had irresistibly drawn him to Shíráz, in search of a great Master. Ḥusayn, like the Magi of old, knew that a time pregnant with divine power was again at hand. With what sudden inrush of joy he must have gazed for the first time upon the countenance of the Báb. Still uninformed, however, of the reason for his ecstasy, he accompanied His lordly host to the modest dwelling chosen to become the scene of the proclamation. An Ethiopian servant opened the door, and the gentle voice of the Báb addressed His youthful visitor saying, “Enter therein, in peace, secure.” On that night the Báb announced to Ḥusayn His own mission and likewise the coming of a mighty prophet, “Him whom God would make manifest,” whose coming would introduce the foretold age of unity and peace.

Except for the fragmentary reports of Ḥusayn, the first disciple, little is known of the hours that flew in quick succession from sundown to dawn in the upper room of that house. The apostle is one of the mysteries of every religion. He attains the miracle of faith a little before his world, unable to see the end from the beginning, yet melting, flame-like into the heart of the Revelator. The commentaries that fell from the lips and pen of the Báb filled His listener with extreme inner excitement. “All the delights” records Ḥusayn, “all the ineffable glories, which the Almighty has recounted in His Book, as the priceless possessions of the people of Paradise—these I seemed to be experiencing that night.”

The holy and transforming power of the Báb is the first proof of our time that religion has come again to mankind. Through the pen of a chronicler we walk with Him on the lonely road to Shíráz, whence he has come to meet the armed guards who have been sent to seize Him; we hear the pleading of the captain of the guard that He escape to a place of safety lest He be delivered to His death; we listen to His soft-spoken reply, “May the Lord, your God, requite you for your magnanimity and noble intention. No one knows the mystery of My Cause; no one can fathom its secret. . . . Until My last hour is at hand none dare assail Me; none can frustrate the plan of the Almighty.”

We follow His path of exile as far as the city of Tabríz; a thousand excited citizens come out to meet Him. They kiss the stirrups that His feet have touched, and offer their children [Page 174] to be healed. His mercy is like the mercy of Christ; it is given freely, with no hope of reward.

We further watch through the eyes of chroniclers the long months spent in the prison fortress of Máh-Kú, situated in the northern mountains. The rough tribesmen crowding at the gates are Kurds, wildest natives of Persia, and bitter traditional enemies of the people of the Báb. They listen to His chanted prayer; they learn to take their oaths in the name of the holy One within the walls of the prison; they yearn to attain His presence; their lives struggle upward.

A glimpse of His martyrdom is witness to the power of God. A Christian general whispers a plea for forgiveness. “Enable me to free myself from the obligation to shed your blood,” he entreats his noble prisoner. “Follow your instructions,” the Báb replies, “and if your intention be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you from your perplexity.” The Báb is suspended on ropes, to be shot. Seven hundred and fifty men, led by Sám Khán, the Christian general, fire a volley of shots. The cords are severed by the shots but the Báb remains untouched. The soldiers of Khán flee in terror and Khán thankfully retires from his ignoble task. Strangers are brought to commit the odious deed, and the spirit of the Báb takes its flight. It is high noon. A dust storm from that hour to the going down of the sun causes fright among the ten thousand witnesses of the scene. The effect of the martyrdom of the Báb is far-reaching.

The merciless opposers of His truth, like the opposers of old are swept into the limbo of the forgotten, while out of the life of the martyr-revelator moves the age-old, two-fold process of the fall of an old order of things, and the rise of a believing people.

More than twenty thousand preceded the Báb to a martyr’s grave; a bare handful survived Him. Among the few was Bahá’u’lláh, son of a Persian Vazír of high station and reputation.

As a child, Bahá’u’lláh showed remarkable capacities, coupled with innate wisdom. The wisest men of the realm came to regard his destiny as distinct from others. When He was still quite young his father dreamed that he saw his son swimming in a limitless and shining sea. Innumerable fish clung to the hairs of His head as He swam, and the light of the sea was derived from His presence in the water. The Vazír, greatly impressed by [Page 175] the dream, summoned a wise and venerable man of that region, who gazed intently upon Bahá’u’lláh and extolled the beauty of His youthful countenance. “The limitless ocean, Oh Vazír,” he said, “is none other than the world of being. Single-handed and alone, your son will achieve supreme ascendancy over it. . . . The multitude of fishes signifies the turmoil which He will arouse amidst the kindreds and peoples of the earth. Around Him will they gather, and to Him will they cling.” By reason of this and other incidents the Vazír soon came to realize the concealed glory of his noble son. Like Jacob, he desired only the welfare of his beloved Joseph.

At a later time Bahá’u’lláh, grown to manhood, was offered important positions of state which He steadfastly refused. “All that we can hope to achieve,” explained one dignitary of the nation to his own son, “is but a fleeting and precarious allegiance which will vanish as soon as our days are ended. Our mortal life can never be free from the vicissitudes that beset the path of earthly ambition. Even those who, while we are still living honor us with their lips would, in their hearts, condemn and vilify us were we, for but one moment, to fail to promote their interests. Not so, however, with Bahá’u’lláh. Unlike the great ones of the earth, whatever be their race or rank, He is the object of a love and devotion such as time cannot dim nor enemy destroy. His sovereignty the shadows of death can never obscure nor the tongue of the slanderer undermine. Such is the sway of His influence that no one among His lovers dare, in the stillness of night, evoke the memory of the faintest desire that could, even remotely, be construed as contrary to His wish. Such lovers will greatly increase in number. The love they bear Him will never grow less, and will be transmitted from generation to generation until the world shall have been suffused with its glory.”

Bahá’u’lláh spread far and wide the teachings of the Báb and for a time wisely withheld His own identity as the One foretold. In 1852, following the martyrdom of the great forerunner and prophet, Bahá’u’lláh Himself was seized and imprisoned as a Bábí in the underground dungeon of Ṭihrán. En route to this loathsome pit, He was stoned and derided by a populace incited by His enemies to acts of violence. An aged woman begged to be permitted [Page 176] to cast her stone. “Suffer the woman,” said the holy prisoner. “Deny her not what she regards as a meritorious act in the sight of God.”

With such calm resignation Bahá’u’lláh took up His toll of sacrifice for a Cause in which the Báb was the dawn and He the noon-day sun. With a few companions He was placed in the dungeon in stocks. His words of endearment continued day by day to cheer their hearts, and no day passed without singing. “God is sufficient unto me,” ran their glad refrain, “He verily is the all-sufficing. In Him let the trusting trust.”

In later years Bahá’u’lláh, with His family and over seventy followers was exiled to ‘Akká, Palestine, a fortress city situated at the foot of historic Mt. Carmel. Here, in barracks rooms, the little band of first believers lived in such joy as to make them a source of wonder to all. In these days Bahá’u’lláh wrote to friends, “Fear not. These doors shall be opened. My tent shall be pitched on Mt. Carmel, and the utmost joy shall be realized.”

This indeed was the case. His last years were passed at Bahjí, on the plains outside of the city. Here He wrote and taught, and often in the summer, the cypress trees of Carmel offered shade to the world’s greatest prisoner. This was a fitting fulfillment of the pens of Judaism, Christendom, and Islám, which had so often extolled Mt. Carmel. Here the Christian world was wont to look for the return of the Spirit, Christ.

Here He wrote many of the Tablets to the kings, begun earlier in the exile, enjoining upon them the peace of the world and advising them of the ways to attain it. Here, in a land where women were often little more than chattel, He taught the equality of men and women. Here, in a world removed from science, He proclaimed the harmony of science and true religion. Here, in a despotic monarchy, He espoused the cause of representative government, world language, a world tribunal, and federation of the nations. Here, in the midst of fanaticism and bigotry He proclaimed, “Consort with the people of all religions with joy and fragrance.”

Bahá’u’lláh counted all of the revealed religions as one and the same. “I have been preceded in this matter,” He wrote, “by Muḥammad, the Apostle of God, and before Him by the Spirit, Christ, and before Him by the Interlocutor, Moses.” Recognizing the differences of emphasis from time to time in God’s revealed [Page 177] religion, He said, “In every Dispensation the light of divine guidance has been focussed upon one central theme. . . . In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious century, the foundation of the Faith of God and the distinguishing feature of His law is the consciousness of the oneness of mankind.” From the days of the exile forward, the little band of believers throughout the world have counted the promulgation of this principle to be their foremost obligation.

The final proof of a religion is its survival and its triumph over hardship. Were the walls of ‘Akká to obscure forever the hallowed light of Bahá’u’lláh? Could such a community outlive its founders? The answer is heartening. Today the Bahá’í Faith has encircled the earth. In a single century it has entered more than sixty countries, has numbered within its ranks no less than thirty races; its adherents represent all of the religions, all of the classes, all of the cultures of the world; its writings are published in over forty languages. It has swept from the dungeon to the palace, from the humble Merchant of Shíráz to royalty, from a handful of Shaykhí students to scholars and statesmen, from the upper room in Shíráz to far-flung outposts and to the most highly civilized cities of the modern world. Its lovers have left hearth and home in unpaid missionary efforts to spread its tenets and offer its comfort to all countries. With flame-like devotion its teachers have followed in the footsteps of its martyrs, who, without reward gave up their lives to establish for all time a spiritual world commonwealth committed to unity in the love of God.

The walls of the prison city closed around Bahá’u’lláh in 1868. At the time of the rise of the Young Turks in 1908, they opened to His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who subsequently journeyed to England, France, Germany, and the United States. The days of this noble successor among the western friends were marked by striking victories, for churches, synagogues, and peace societies opened their doors to him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave to the West two profound gifts; a social message of complete unity and an infant community whose collective life could demonstrate it. In his Will and Testament ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as interpreter and first Guardian of the Faith.

Today the Faith of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh has moved out [Page 178] of its primitive or apostolic period into a formative era. Haifa, now a flourishing seaport across the bay from ‘Akká, is the chosen residence of Shoghi Effendi, whose World Order Letters have already made an indelible impression upon the stream of international life. Bahjí, with its gardens and the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, has become a place of world pilgrimage. Mt. Carmel, whose cypress trees once sheltered the holy prisoner, now boasts the terraced shrines of His family. On its ninth terrace a Temple is destined to be reared, and from its peak the future Bahá’í Universal House of Justice will overlook the Mediterranean, a House dedicated to the service of a community whose pattern is “inclined neither to East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored.” “Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the ‘Most Great Peace.’”

The holy land of Abraham, of Moses, and Jesus, is again glorious with religious aspiration. The time-honored door of Revelation opens again before us as we listen with the first disciple to the fragrant welcome of the Báb: “Enter therein in peace, secure.”

Address delivered May 22, 1944, on the program of the Bahá’í Centenary, May 19-25, 1944.

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ANSWER, WORLD!

ANGELA MORGAN

Hail, men of the future!

The world’s real patriots ye;

Above the dead I hear your tread that sets the people free!

And I hear the fife, and I hear the drum,

I hear the shouting wherever you come,

And I see the glory in your face

Who march to save the race!

Justice shall be your weapon and Truth the bomb you hurl,

Flag of united nations the banner you unfurl.

Hail, men of the present—do I hear your answering cry?

“Here am I! Here am I!”

[Page 179]

Dedication of the Bahá’í House of Worship

ALL praise, O my God, be to Thee Who art the Source of all glory and majesty, of greatness and honor, of sovereignty and dominion, of loftiness and grace, of awe and power. Whomsoever Thou willest Thou causest to draw nigh unto the Most Great Ocean, and on whomsoever Thou desirest Thou conferrest the honor of recognizing Thy Most Ancient Name. Of all who are in heaven and on earth, none can withstand the operation of Thy sovereign Will. From all eternity Thou didst rule the entire creation, and Thou wilt continue forevermore to exercise Thy dominion over all created things. There is none other God but Thee, the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.

Illumine, O Lord, the faces of Thy servants, that they may behold Thee; and cleanse their hearts that they may turn unto the court of Thy heavenly favors, and recognize Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self and the Day-Spring of Thine Essence. Verily, Thou art the Lord of all worlds. There is no God but Thee, the Unconstrained, the All-Subduing.

O CONCOURSE of creation! O people! Construct edifices in the most beautiful fashion possible, in every city, in every land, in the name of the Lord of Religion. Adorn them with that which beseemeth them. Then commemorate the Lord, the Merciful, the Clement, in spirit and in fragrance.

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THE century is great and the age belongeth to His Majesty, the Merciful, the Clement. The power of confirmation hath moved all beings and the potency of (Divine) help hath made the world of existence active. The Sun of Reality hath dawned from the temperate point and the Star of equatorial line hath shed radiance upon the East and the West.

Although human souls are mostly heedless and negligent, and the sects, tribes and nations are submerged in the slumber of inadvertence, yet the Divine summons will ere long awaken (them) and the glad-tidings of the Kingdom will soon make the souls attentive.

In the cycle of His Holiness Christ, a long time elapsed before the fame of praise and sanctification became worldwide; [Page 180] nevertheless, consider how at length it encircled the globe. But the glorious radiance, like shining twilight, of this Sun of the horizons, in the very inception of its dawn, was wide-spread; therefore, consider what great results will be soon forthcoming and what wondrous signs shall appear. Now is the commencement of organization, hence every affair concerning the Kingdom of God is of paramount importance.

Among the most important affairs is the founding of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, although weak minds may not grasp its importance; nay, perchance, they imagine this (Mashriqu’l-Adhkár) to be a temple like other temples. They may say to themselves: ‘Every nation has a hundred thousand gigantic temples; what result have they yielded that now this one Mashriqu’l-Adhkár (is said) to cause the manifestation of signs and prove a source of lights?’ But they are ignorant of the fact that the founding of this Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is to be in the inception of the organization of the Kingdom. Therefore it is important and is an expression of the upraising of the Evident Standard, which is waving in the center of that continent, and the results and effects of which will become manifest in the hearts and spirits. No soul will be aware of this mature wisdom save after trial.

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THE power which has gathered you here today notwithstanding the cold and windy weather is indeed mighty and wonderful. It is the power of God, the divine favor of Bahá’u’lláh which has drawn you together. We praise God that through his constraining love human souls are assembled and associated in this way.

Thousands of Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, dawning-points of praise and mentionings of God for all religionists will be built in the Orient and Occident, but this being the first one erected in the Occident has great importance. In the future there will be many here and elsewhere; in Asia, Europe, even in Africa, New Zealand and Australia; but this edifice in Chicago is of especial significance. It has the same importance as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in ‘Ishqábád, Caucasus, Russia, the first one built there. . . .

The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in ‘Ishqábád is almost completed. It is centrally located; nine avenues leading into it; nine gardens, [Page 181] nine fountains; all the arrangement and construction is according to the principle and proportion of the number nine. It is like a beautiful bouquet. Imagine a very lofty, imposing edifice surrounded completely by gardens of variegated flowers, with nine avenues leading through them, nine fountains and pools of water. Such is its matchless beautiful design. Now they are building a hospital, a school for orphans, a home for cripples, a hospice and a large dispensary. God willing, when it is fully completed it will be a paradise.

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O FRIENDS of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His co-sharers and partners in the servitude of the Lord of Hosts! Verily the greatest affair and the most important matter today is to establish a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and to found a Temple from which the voice of praise may rise to the Kingdom of the majestic Lord. Blessings be upon you for having thought to do so and intending to erect such an edifice, advancing all in devoting your wealth in this great purpose and in this splendid work. You will soon see the angels of confirmation following after you and the hosts of reinforcement crowding before you.

When the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is accomplished, when the lights are emanating therefrom, the righteous ones are presenting themselves therein, the prayers are performed with supplication towards the mysterious Kingdom (of heaven), the voice of glorification is raised to the Lord, the Supreme, then the believers shall rejoice, the hearts shall be dilated and overflow with the love of the All-living and Self-existent (God). The people shall hasten to worship in that heavenly Temple, the fragrances of God will be elevated, the divine teachings will be established in the hearts like the establishment of the Spirit in mankind; the people will then stand firm in the Cause of your Lord, the Merciful. Praise and greetings be upon you.

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MANY a chilled heart, O my God, hath been set ablaze with the fire of Thy Cause, many a slumberer hath been awakened by the sweetness of Thy voice. How many are the strangers who have sought shelter beneath the shadow of the tree of Thy oneness, and how numerous the thirsty ones who have panted after the fountain of Thy living waters in Thy days!

Blessed is he that has set himself towards Thee, and hastened [Page 182] to attain Thy Day-Spring of the light of Thy faith. Blessed is he who with all his affections hath turned to the Dawning-Place of Thy Revelation and the Fountain-Head of Thine inspiration. Blessed is he that hath expended in Thy path what Thou didst bestow upon him through bounty and favor. Blessed is he who in his sore longing after Thee, hath cast away all except Thyself. Blessed is he who hath enjoyed intimate communion with Thee, and rid himself of all attachment to any one save Thee.

I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Him who is Thy Name, Who through the powers of Thy sovereignty and might, hath risen above the horizon of His prison, to ordain for every one what becometh Thee and beseemeth Thine exaltation.

Thy Might in Truth is equal to all faith.

From Bahá’í Centenary Program, Wilmette, Illinois, May 22, 1944, 9:40 P.M.

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O FRIENDS! Help ye the one true God, exalted be His glory, by your goodly deeds, by such conduct and character as shall be acceptable in His sight. He that seeketh to be a helper of God in this Day, let him close his eyes to whatever he may possess, and open them to the things of God. Let him cease to occupy himself with that which profiteth him, and concern himself with that which shall exalt the all-compelling name of the Almighty. He should cleanse his heart from all evil passions and corrupt desires, for the fear of God is the weapon that can render him victorious, the primary instrument whereby he can achieve his purpose. The fear of God is the shield that defendeth His cause, the buckler that enableth His people to attain victory. It is a standard that no man can abase, a force that no power can rival. By its aid, and by the leave of Him Who is the Lord of Hosts, they that have drawn nigh unto God have been able to subdue and conquer the citadels of the hearts of men.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

[Page 183]

Commemoration of the Declaration
of the Báb

SAY, God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth but God sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself, the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent. (Prayer of the Báb)

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THE heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their Words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Keep hack thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm of David 19, Bible)

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[Page 184] BLESSED are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall he comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

(St. Matthew 5, 3-9, Bible)

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OUR Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

(St. Matthew 6, 9-13, Bible)

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GOD is the Light of the Heavens and of the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp—the lamp encased in glass—the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree is it lighted, the olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would well nigh shine out, even though fire touched it not!

It is light upon light.

God guideth whom He will to His light. and God setteth forth parables to men, for God knoweth all things.

In the temples which God hath allowed to be reared, that His name may therein be remembered, do men praise Him morn and even.

Men whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of God, and from the observance of prayer, and the payment of the stated alms, through fear of the day when hearts shall throb and eyes shall roll; That for their most excellent works may God recompense them, and of His bounty increase it to them more and more: for God maketh provision for whom He pleaseth without measure. . . .

Or like the darkness on the deep sea when covered by billows riding upon billows, above which are clouds:

Darkness upon darkness. When a man reacheth forth his hand, he cannot nearly see it! He to whom God shall not give [Page 185] light, no light at all hath he! Hast thou not seen how all in the Heavens and in the Earth uttereth the praise of God? the very birds as they spread their wings? Every creature knoweth its prayer and its praise!

And God knoweth what they do.

God’s, the Kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth: and unto God the final return!

(Qur’án, Sura of Light)

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THE Báb declared: “This night, this very hour will, in the days to come, be celebrated as one of the greatest and most significant of all festivals— Render thanks to God for having graciously assisted you to attain your heart’s desire, and for having quaffed from the sealed wine of His utterance. Well is it with them that attain thereunto.”

“O thou who art the first to believe in Me! Verily I say, I am the Báb, the Gate of God, and thou art the Bábu’l-Báb, the Gate of that Gate. Eighteen souls must, in the beginning, spontaneously and of their own accord, accept Me and recognize the truth of My Revelation. Unwarned and uninvited each of these must seek independently to find me.” (Dawn-Breakers, p. 61)

“I AM the Mystic Fane which the Hand of Omnipotence hath reared. I am the Lamp which the Finger of God hath lit within its niche and caused to shine with deathless splendor. I am the Flame of that supernal Light that glowed upon Sinai in the gladsome Spot, and lay concealed in the midst of the Burning Bush."

“I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things. . . . I am the Countenance of God Whose splendor can never be obscured, the light of God whose radiance can never fade. . . . All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left. . . . I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained all that is good and seemly. . . . The substance wherewith God hath created Me is not the clay out of which others have been formed. He hath conferred upon Me that which the worldly-wise can never comprehend, nor the faithful discover.”

(Dispensation, p. 34)

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THIS is May 23rd the anniversary of the message and declaration of His Holiness the [Page 186] Báb. It is a blessed day and the dawn of manifestation, for the appearance of the Báb was the early light of the true morn whereas the manifestation of the Blessed Beauty Bahá’u’lláh, was the shining forth of the sun. Therefore it is a blessed day, the inception of the heavenly bounty, the beginning of the divine effulgence. On this day in 1844 His Holiness the Báb was sent forth heralding and proclaiming the kingdom of God, announcing the glad-tidings of the coming of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh and withstanding the opposition of the whole Persian nation. Some of the Persians followed him. For this they suffered the most grievous difficulties and severe ordeals. They withstood the tests with wonderful power and sublime heroism. Thousands were cast into prison, punished, persecuted and martyred; Their homes were pillaged and destroyed, their possessions confiscated. They sacrificed their lives most willingly and remained unshaken in their faith to the very end. Those wonderful souls are the lamps of God, the stars of sanctity shining gloriously from the eternal horizon of the will of God.

His Holiness the Báb was subjected to bitter persecution in Shíráz where he first proclaimed his mission and message. A period of famine afflicted that region and the Báb journeyed to Iṣfáhán. There the learned men rose against him in great hostility. He was arrested and sent to Tabríz. From thence he was transferred to Máh-Kú and finally imprisoned in the strong castle of Chihríq. Afterward he was martyred in Tabríz.

This is merely an outline of the history of His Holiness the Báb. He withstood all persecutions and bore every suffering and ordeal with unflinching strength. The more his enemies endeavored to extinguish that flame the brighter it became. Day by day his cause spread and strengthened. During the time when he was among the people he was constantly heralding the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. In all his books and tablets he mentioned Bahá’u’lláh and announced the glad-tidings of his manifestation, prophesying that he would reveal himself in the ninth year. He said that in the ninth year “you will attain to all happiness,” in the ninth year “you will be blessed with the meeting of the Promised One of whom I have spoken.” He mentioned the Blessed Perfection Bahá’u’lláh by the title “Him whom God should make manifest.” In brief, that blessed soul offered [Page 187] his very life in the pathway of Bahá’u’lláh even as it is recorded in historical writings and records. In his first book “The Best of Stories” he says, “O Remnant of God! I am wholly sacrificed to thee; I am content with curses in thy path; I crave nought but to be slain in thy love; and God the Supreme sufficeth as an eternal protection.”

Consider how His Holiness the Báb endured difficulties and tribulations; how he gave his life in the Cause of God; how he was attracted to the love of the Blessed Beauty Bahá’u’lláh; and how he announced the glad-tidings of his manifestation. We must follow his heavenly example; we must be self-sacrificing and aglow with the fire of the love of God. We must partake of the bounty and grace of the Lord, for His Holiness the Báb has admonished us to arise in service to the cause of God, to be absolutely severed from all else save God during the day of the Blessed Perfection Bahá’u’lláh, to be completely attracted by the love of Bahá’u’lláh, to love all humanity for his sake, be lenient and merciful to all for him and to upbuild the oneness of the world of humanity. Therefore this day May 23rd is the anniversary of a blessed event. (Discourse of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá delivered in Cambridge and Boston, May 23, 1912.)

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PRAISE be to Thee, O my God, that Thou hast revealed Thy favors and Thy bounties; and glory be to Thee, O my Beloved, that Thou hast manifested the Day-Star of Thy loving-kindness and Thy tender mercies. I yield Thee such thanks as can direct the steps of the wayward towards the splendors of the morning light of Thy guidance, and enable those who yearn towards Thee to attain the seat of the revelation of the effulgence of Thy beauty. I yield Thee such thanks as can cause the sick to draw nigh unto the waters of Thy healing, and can help those who are far from Thee to approach the living fountain of Thy presence. I yield Thee such thanks as can divest the bodies of Thy servants of the garments of mortality and abasement, and attire them in the robes of Thine eternity and Thy glory, and lead the poor unto the shores of Thy holiness and all-sufficient riches. I yield Thee such thanks as can enable the Heavenly Dove to warble forth, upon the branches of the Lote-Tree of Immortality, her song: “Verily, Thou art God. No God is there besides Thee. From eternity Thou hast been [Page 188] exalted above the praise of aught else but Thee, and been high above the description of any one except Thyself.” I yield Thee such thanks as can cause the Nightingale of Glory to pour forth its melody in the highest heaven: “‘Ali (the Báb), in truth, is Thy servant, Whom Thou hast singled out from among Thy Messengers and Thy chosen Ones, and made Him to be the Manifestation of Thyself in all that pertaineth unto Thee, and that concerneth the revelation of Thine attributes and the evidences of Thy names.” I yield Thee such thanks as can stir up all things to extol Thee, and to glorify Thine Essence, and can unloose the tongues of all beings to magnify the sovereignty of Thy beauty. I yield Thee such thanks as can fill the heavens and the earth with the signs of Thy transcendent Essence, and assist all created things to enter the Tabernacle of Thy nearness and Thy presence. I yield Thee such thanks as can make every created thing to be a book that shall speak of Thee, and a scroll that shall unfold Thy praise. I yield Thee such thanks as can establish the Manifestations of Thy sovereignty upon the throne of Thy governance, and set up the Exponents of Thy glory upon the seat of Thy divinity. I yield Thee such thanks as can make the corrupt tree to bring forth good fruit through the holy breaths of Thy favors, and revive the bodies of all beings with the gentle winds of Thy transcendent grace. I yield Thee such thanks as can cause the signs of Thine exalted singleness to be sent down out of the heaven of Thy holy unity. I yield Thee such thanks as can teach all things the realities of Thy knowledge and the essence of Thy wisdom, and will not withhold the wretched creatures from the doors of Thy mercy and Thy bountiful favor. I yield Thee such thanks as can enable all who are in heaven and on earth to dispense with all created things, through the treasuries of Thine all-sufficing riches, and can aid all created things to reach unto the summit of Thine almighty favors. I yield Thee such thanks as can assist the hearts of Thine ardent lovers to soar into the atmosphere of nearness to Thee, and of longing for Thee, and kindle the Light of Lights within the land of ‘Iráq. I yield Thee such thanks as can detach them that are nigh unto Thee from all created things, and draw them to the throne of Thy names and Thine attributes. I yield Thee such thanks as can cause Thee to forgive all sins [Page 189] and trespasses, and to fulfill the needs of the peoples of all religions, and to waft the fragrances of pardon over the entire creation. I yield Thee such thanks as can enable them that recognize Thy unity to scale the heights of Thy love, and cause such as are devoted to Thee to ascend unto the Paradise of Thy presence. I yield Thee such thanks as can satisfy the wants of all such as seek Thee, and realize the aims of them that have recognized Thee. I yield Thee such thanks as can blot out from the hearts of men all suggestions of limitations, and inscribe the signs of Thy unity. I yield Thee such thanks as that with which Thou didst from eternity glorify Thine own Self, and didst exalt it above all peers, rivals, and comparisons, O Thou in Whose hands are the heavens of grace and of bounty, and the kingdoms of glory and of majesty! (Prayers and Meditations, p. 329.)

From Bahá’í Centenary Program, Wilmette, Illinois, May 22, 1944, 10:00 P.M.

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A BAHÁ’Í FRIEND

Mary A. McClennen

I HAVE a friend who is a Bahá’í. No other person could ever be a clearer friend. When I am with her I am lifted out of my past life. My feet are set down on the path of a spiritual garden. When we meet and when we part she cries out “Alláh-u-Abhá.”

God is most great! In my calamity her prayers surrounded me. I am protected from utmost misery by the sweet savor of her thoughts. She is a true friend, who, if she has any grievance against me, will come quickly to speak of it. And I am glad to listen to her counsel.

When I look upon her eyes I see a tenderness that is beyond affection and I feel, from the turning of her head, that by unending supplication she is holding her being in the direction of heaven.

[Page 190]

Editorial

THE GIFTS OF GOD

THE bounties of God are limitless. We recognize this on the material plane. We know that nature is abundant, that the earth brings forth enough for all. Some of us, perhaps most who read this, express our gratitude for this in our private and public prayers and desire that everyone should have his share of the necessities of life.

It may seem strange at first to those studying and using the prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh that so little special reference is made to the material blessings which God showers upon mankind. The prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh are full of praise and gratitude to God for His bounties of every kind, but it is the spiritual bounties for which He teaches us to pray and of which He begs us not to deprive ourselves. The material bounties, He tells us, are to be freely used, but we are warned not to let the love of them or the selfish use of them come between ourselves and God. So we need great wisdom as well as love of mankind and knowledge of God.

Therefore Bahá’u’lláh tells us that of all God’s gifts which are “inherent in man” “the first and foremost . . . is the gift of understanding”. For this is the gift which not only distinguishes man from the animal, through which we conduct our affairs, discover hidden secrets of science and make new inventions, but the gift which, declares Bahá’u’lláh, “giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right.” It is this gift which enables man to reach out for spiritual bounties. And yet man’s understanding or mind is so completely a part of man that he takes it for granted and forgets to be thankful for it. He is free to use or misuse it. May he not put his inventions to beneficial or diabolical use? And indeed man becomes so proud of his achievements, inventions and discoveries that he believes he has no need of God. Man becomes his own god: he worships his own ideas. In this pride he strays far from God’s purpose in bestowing upon him the gift of understanding, for, Bahá’u’lláh tells us, “God’s purpose in conferring such a gift is none other [Page 191] except to enable His creature to know and recognize the one true God.”

It is evident how far our understanding can and does go astray. It must be guided by Divine Revelation. For Divine Revelation comes through a Divine Revealer, a Christ Who is one with the Father, or a Moses Who converses with God, a Revealer Who shows us God’s attributes and makes known God’s will. Without the Divine Revealer, even with his gift of understanding, man has no knowledge of God.

This great gift God sends not because man is worthy, but because of his great need and because he has great possibilities and because of God’s love for mankind; not because he has used the gift of understanding aright, but because, having misused it, he is therefore in sore distress. Divine Revelation is not limited to days of old as many religious leaders would have us believe. It has come in this day, in the time of man’s dire need, through the words of two Divine Revealers, known as the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. For nearly fifty years of the nineteenth century this bounty of Divine Revelation poured forth from the ocean of God’s mercy. The special gift of this fresh Revelation, for each Revealer adds something to the Message of His Predecessor, is the “knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion,” and “that war shall cease between nations and by the will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men shall live as brothers.”

Because Divine Revelation is “incorruptible in nature” man cannot continue to ignore either the Revelation or the Revealer. “Though the forces of the nations be arrayed against Him, though the kings of the earth be leagued to undermine His Cause, the power of His might shall stand unshaken. He verily speaketh the truth, and summoneth all mankind to the way of Him Who is the Incomparable, the All-Knowing,” declares Bahá’u’lláh. And again and again He exhorts in such words as these: “O friends! Drink your fill from the crystal stream that floweth through the heavenly grace of Him Who is the Lord of all Names. Let others partake of its waters in My Name, that the leaders of men in every land may fully recognize the purpose for which the Eternal Truth hath been revealed, and the reason for which they themselves have been created.”

—B. H. K.

[Page 192]

THE RACES OF MANKIND

Book Review

ARTHUR DAHL

This brief but succinct pamphlet by two members of the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, is one of the best popular presentations of the race question from the scientific point of view this writer has seen. In its thirty-two pages it manages to explode quite a few widely held notions, and in simple language lays the groundwork for racial tolerance and understanding in the form most acceptable to the public in this scientific age. Its points are effectively dramatized by a series of clever cartoon illustrations.

The authors first point out that “the fact of the unity of the human race is proved . . . in its anatomy . . . . . . The races of mankind are what the Bible says they are—brothers. In their bodies is the record of their brotherhood.” They then demonstrate that most physical differences are not the result of race, that variations in height, shape of head, and blood are not due to inherent race differences, and that differences in skin color are due simply to varying proportions in the skin of two special chemicals, carotene and melanin.

Next is a section on the classification of races, in which it is pointed out that many groups spoken of as races, such as Aryans, Jews, and Italians, are not races at all, but peoples distinguished by language, religion, or nationality. Most of the people of the world are a mixture of races.

The next section blasts the popular beliefs that some races are more intelligent or have a stronger character than others, or that some races hold a monopoly on the progress of civilization. The authors believe that differences in environment and opportunity for knowledge and advancement are the most important factors in explaining variations in the cultural and economic levels of the several races today.

The final section on The Future of Race Prejudice is frank and outspoken. As Professor Benedict and Dr. Weltfish put it: “Race prejudice isn’t an old universal ‘instinct.’ It is hardly a hundred years old. Before that, people persecuted Jews because of their religion—not their ‘blood’; they enslaved Negroes [Page 193] because they were pagans—not for being black.

“Looking back now, moderns are horrified at all the blood that was shed for centuries in religious conflicts. It is not our custom any more to torture and kill a man because he has a different religion. The twenty-first century may well look back on our generation and be just as horrified. If that century builds its way of life on the Atlantic Charter—for the whole world— our era will seem like a nightmare from which they have awakened. They will think we were crazy. ‘Why should race prejudice have swept the western world,’ they will say, ‘where no nation was anything but a mixture of all kinds of racial groups? Why did nations just at that moment begin talking about the racial purity of their blood? Why did they talk of their wars as racial wars? Why did they make people suffer, not because they were criminals or double-crossers, but because they were Jews or Negroes or non-Nordic?’”

The answer to these questions, believe the authors, is fear. It is fear which leads to race prejudice, and the greater the fear, the broader and more bitter the prejudices. Establish an era of confidence and security, they say, and race prejudice will disappear naturally.

To Bahá’ís, of course, this solution is insufficient. Racial disunity is one manifestation of religious disunity and spiritual chaos, and this is the fundamental condition which must be remedied before the racial problem can be finally solved. But scientific corroboration of the lack of any basic incompatibilities or differences between the races is a necessary part of the Bahá’í viewpoint, and in presenting the Bahá’í teachings on race, particularly to new inquirers, this attractive pamphlet should be an effective aid.

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In the estimation of God there is no distinction of color; all are one in the color and beauty of servitude to him. Color is not important; the heart is all-important. It matters not what the exterior may be if the heart be pure and white within. God does not behold differences of hue and complexion; He looks at the hearts.—ABDU’L-BAHÁ

[Page 194]

The Growth of the
American Bahá’í Community

MARION HOLLEY

MAY 23rd, 1944, marks the completion of a century so illimitable in its promise for the future of humanity, that neither we who have glimpsed its brilliance, nor the world which sustains the impact of its force, can truly claim to have grasped more than a fragment of its import.

Nothing that we see, as we look back upon fifty years of Bahá’í history on this continent, is unrelated to this tremendous mission. No preparation which our nation has undergone for leadership; no experience, suffering, doubt, or achievement through which the American people have passed; no smallest project or inconspicuous aspiration of the American Bahá’í Community; no heroic endeavor, no mighty and “shining deeds” but have borne their own direct relation to the unfolding process of World Order and World Civilization. “The Great Republic of the West . . . has been singled out . . and been invested . . with a unique, an inescapable, a weighty and most sacred responsibility.”

Tonight we are met to appraise America’s heritage as the citadel of universal peace. Already, through previous speakers, we have seen the planting in North America of the potent seed of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. We have watched its rootage in faithful hearts, and seen them bestirred to remarkable activity. We have witnessed with awe and humility the results of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s journey and ceaseless exertions. And now we come to the climax of the Master’s labors, His “clarion call” sounded in “those destiny-shaping Tablets” of the Divine Plan “wherein, in bold relief, stands outlined the world mission entrusted . . . to the American Bahá’í Community.”

Although we have just completed in the Seven Year Plan the preliminary stage of this vast assignment, learning through the strenuous period of its development some hint of what it means to labor for the triumph of God’s Cause, yet the full significance of these words from the Guardian can only be guessed: “The promulgation of the Divine Plan,” he wrote in 1936, “. . . is [Page 195] the key which Providence has placed in the hands of the American believers whereby to unlock the doors leading them to fulfil their unimaginably glorious Destiny.”

We are too close to this unseen but all-compelling process. For seven years we have moved to its rhythm, manifested its influence, hungered for its goals, and demonstrated all unwittingly its latent power. The victories we have won, the territories of our conquest, the key cities which brighten the horizon of the Western Hemisphere, the swelling ranks of “the heavenly armies” of Bahá’u’lláh —all these proclaim the confirming and irresistible energy of a Plan which enshrines, in every phrase and conception, the Divine Will for the uniting of nations in this Promised Day.

From the first moment of their appearance, the Tablets of the Divine Plan carried a life-imparting force. Conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the dark course of the first World War, from March 26th to April 11th, 1916, and from February 2nd to April 22nd, 1917, they were designed in two matchless cycles, each consisting of seven Tablets, addressed to the five regions of the Northeastern, Southern, Central, and Western States, and Canadian Provinces; and to the “Assemblies and Meetings,” the “believers and . . . maid-servants . . . in the U. S. and Canada”.

“Travel ye to the East and to the West of the world and summon the people to the Kingdom of God. . . Thus through this superhuman service the, rays of peace and conciliation may illumine and enlighten all the regions and the world of humanity may find peace and composure.” This was the essence of the Master’s call, as He arrayed for our support the methods of victory, enumerated every far-flung goal, quickened our spirits with heavenly ambition, and revealed for our daily sustenance nine prayers of unexcelled beauty and might.

The first regenerating impulse of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s work in far-off Palestine seems to have been reflected in the Eighth Bahá’í Convention of 1916, although no outward sign reached this country for several months. Every session, so runs the record, carried a vision of “the new kingdom which is to appear upon the earth”, while “the gales of the Holy Spirit . . . swept the room at times like the rushing of a mighty wind”. The effect of the earliest Tablets published in September, 1916, was instantaneous. Within three months [Page 196] reports were coming from “soldiers at the front,” while the Ninth Convention envisioned the initial framework of teaching on a national scale.

Not until 1919, however, did the American Bahá’ís witness the complete and glorious panorama of the Divine Plan, released to the sessions of a Convention which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself described as “the Convention of the Covenant”. It was the signal for one of the brightest chapters of teaching history. In a few years the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh “encircled the globe . . . encompassing thereby the whole earth with a girdle of shining glory.” “Forsaking home, kindred, friends and position,” the Guardian has written, “a handful of men and women, fired with a zeal and confidence which no human agency can kindle, arose to carry out the mandate which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had issued.” Heroic souls they were, who stand as archetypes on the roll of American pioneers: Martha Root, “star-servant,” the “first” and “finest fruit” of the Formative Age; Hyde Dunn, “Australia’s spiritual conqueror”; and all those other “stout-hearted disciples” who hastened in the closing years of the Master’s life to implant the Faith in such distant regions as Alaska, the West Indies, South America, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.

But brilliant as were their exploits, and however great our pride in such instant response by the American Bahá’ís, it is a fundamental fact that the Divine Plan was to undergo “a period of incubation of well-nigh twenty years . . . while the machinery of a divinely-appointed Administrative Order was being laboriously devised and its processes set in motion.” For long, under the guidance of Shoghi Effendi, our efforts were committed to other tasks—the erection of administrative institutions and the completion of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. Their bearing upon the Tablets of the Divine Plan we scarcely grasped, or that the scope of America’s world mission would be vast and demanding beyond the vision or capacity of individuals to discharge. Yet how otherwise, save by an all-encompassing effort of collective will, save by “utter” and “continuous consecration” and the harnessing of “all available resources”, should we hope to accomplish the rebirth and reorganization of mankind?

The intimations of a new era in the progress of the Faith began to sound through the Guardian’s messages from 1932, when [Page 197] the deeds of the Dawn-Breakers first opened to our view in the stirring pages of Nabíl. This book, the “essential adjunct to (a) reconstructed teaching program,” stirred latent longings soon to find release through Shoghi Effendi’s pleas “to the American believers, the spiritual descendents of the heroes of God’s Cause. . .” “The new hour has struck,” he cabled in 1935, “calling for nation-wide, systematic, sustained efforts in teaching field.”

Painstakingly he prepared us. Yet who could guess, at the Convention of 1936, the whole thrilling and terrible pathway which beckoned the Faith and the world, in the closing years of the first Bahá’í century? “Humanity entering outer fringes most perilous stage its existence. Opportunities (of) present hour unimaginably precious. Would to God every State within American Republic and every Republic in American continent might ere termination this glorious century embrace (the) light (of the) Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and establish structural basis of His World Order.”

From such a summons there was no return! In that hour the American Community embarked upon the fulfillment of the Divine Plan, embodying their pledge in an initial phase, the Seven Year Plan, adopted in 1937. It was the signal for intercontinental expansion, and for an unprecedented growth in North America destined to eclipse the achievements of forty previous years of Bahá’í history.

A Faith which, for so long a period, had been administratively confined within the boundaries of twenty-six States and Provinces (including Hawaii and the District of Columbia), now dared the conquest in seven years of the remaining thirty-four areas of the United States, Canada, and Alaska. With ever-mounting strength it engulfed the land, claiming by 1939 the ten virgin areas which had lacked even a single Bahá’í; going on to initiate far-flung projects and campaigns; perfecting its instruments in local, regional, and national teaching committees; organizing methods of stimulus and support; and calling into the ranks of its “trailbreakers” a swiftly-growing host of pioneers and settlers—“veteran believers” and “neophytes”, “stalwart warriors” of “every class, race, age and outlook”—who contributed the decisive share to this vast enterprise.

No one who participated in the Seven Year Plan can ever forget its momentum, the peaks [Page 198] of confirmation, of exhilarating triumph; the taut and perplexing crises; the obstacles hurled up by depression and war; the perilous threat of loss which was met and surmounted in the sixth year; until finally, on March 28, 1944, the cycle was crowned in glorious victory! Strenuous and rich was this experience, whose every year returns to memory endowed with a bright particular tale.

What, then, was accomplished? Statistically it is a compelling record: the conquest of thirty-four virgin States and Provinces through the formation of thirty-eight Local Spiritual Assemblies; the increase of functioning Assemblies in North America from seventy to one hundred and thirty-six; eight times as many groups as in 1937, and three and a half times the number of isolated Bahá’ís; with participation in the campaign by 293 pioneers and 336 members of Regional Committees.

Tonight, we acclaim with grateful hearts the consummation of this “crowning crusade,” the “greatest collective enterprise ever launched in the course of the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.” We have reached the first milepost in the unfoldment of America’s spiritual destiny. Around us, in this great Convention Hall, is proof of our effort. The fruits garnered in every virgin State and Province are here represented. The sessions of this All-America Convention rest, for the first momentous time, on the “structural basis” of Bahá’u’lláh’s World Order. “The record” is “complete, the roll call filled, and the mighty task victoriously concluded.” It is in hours like these that the potency of the Bahá’í Faith is unveiled to our eyes. What words can ever express our privilege, to be its supporters in the day of upbuilding?

With the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who has blessed our continent with “spiritual primacy” and linked its fortunes to the unfolding power of His Covenant, I close: “The hope which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá cherishes for you is that the same success which has attended your efforts in America may crown your endeavors in other parts of the world, that through you the fame of the Cause of God may he diffused throughout the East and the West and the advent of the Kingdom of the Lord of Hosts be proclaimed in all the five continents of the globe . . . Please God, ye may achieve it.”

Address delivered on the program of the Bahá’í Centenary, May 19-25, 1944.

[Page 199]

WITH OUR READERS

TREASURES from the Centenary celebration still come to the editors. A part of this issue is therefore devoted to the events and addresses of Monday evening, May 22, the evening which commemorated the exact completion of the hundred years since the Báb’s Declaration, the evening when hundreds of believers gazed on the portrait of the Báb. Never in the history of the world until this greatest of Revelations has the likeness of the Revealer been preserved that His followers might see it.

The public meeting that evening was addressed by Mrs. Frank Baker, Dr. Harry Overstreet, our guest speaker, and Mr. Horace Holley. In opening the services that evening Mr. George Latimer, chairman for the occasion, said in part: “On May 23rd, 1844, two events occurred in widely separated parts of the world which were destined to initiate a profound change in the life and thought of man. Shortly after sunset in the far-off city of Shíráz, Persia, in the upper chamber of a modest residence, a noble and irresistible youth, titled the Báb, made the enkindling declaration that the Day of God was at hand and that the long anticipated Promised One of the Sacred Scriptures had come. On this same day from our nation’s capital, the first telegraphic message was flashed over the wire to Baltimore,— ‘What hath God wrought!’ This remarkable coincidence signalized a turning point in the unfoldment of human history throughout the world.

“Tonight we are gathered here to commemorate the first of these events. One hundred years have elapsed since the first impulse of a new and mighty Revelation of the Word of God shook the land of an ancient civilization, a land reddened by the blood of thousands of martyrs to the Cause of the saintly Báb, whose eloquent tongue was likewise stilled, after a brief ministry of six years, in glorious martyrdom in the city of Tabríz. . . . Such is the potent force of the spiritual energies released during this first century of the Bahá’í era, that from the early infusion of the neighboring countries of India, ‘Iráq, Turkey, Egypt and Russia, the spirit of the Bahá’í Faith has illumined the major nations of Europe, parts of Africa, Australia and the North, Central and South American horizons. From Iceland to the Straits of Magellan; from Alaska to Cape Town the seven candles of unity have been lit. Not only here in this peaceful village of Wilmette, but throughout the Americas and in more than sixty countries of the world, this Centennial celebration of the birth of the Bahá’í Faith has been inaugurated. . . . “Your attention is directed to the literature of the Bahá’í Faith which outlines the distinguishing features of its plan for a new World Order, which clearly indicates a change from man’s present life of prejudice, strife and disorder. For, and I wish now to quote from our eminent guest speaker, Dr. Overstreet: ‘There come times in the history of life, when, with changing conditions, old conceptions suddenly reveal themselves [Page 200] as inadequate or misdirected or actually destructive of life values, and when fresh ideas blow in to take their place. In such periods new civilizations are born. If a civilization is being born, the most interesting thing to do is to put oneself in line with the kind of thinking that is headed toward the future’.”

Mr. Latimer then introduced Mrs. Frank Baker whose address entitled “Religion Returns to Mankind” appears in this issue. Mrs. Baker is well known to Bahá’ís and their friends as one who travels and speaks for the Faith, as a writer and as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly. We regret that the talks by Dr. Overstreet and Mr. Holley are not available for printing just now.

Following these public talks were dedicatory and commemorative programs arranged for Bahá’ís alone who were all assembled in the auditorium under the vast dome of the House of Worship. These services consisted entirely of readings. First came the dedication of the House of Worship completed as to its exterior ornamentation according to the seven year plan. These readings are printed in the order read. All are from the Sacred Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The readings commemorating the Declaration of the Báb were timed to include the exact moment, two hours and eleven minutes after sunset, when the Báb declared to Mullá Ḥusayn, the seeker, that He was the Promised One. These readings are also included in this issue. They were selected from Bahá’í Sacred Writings and from Jewish, Christian and Muḥammadan Scriptures.

The culmination of the evening’s program was the viewing of the portrait of the Báb. This portrait is a photographic facsimile of the original portrait preserved at Haifa which the Guardian has caused to be made and has given to the National Spiritual Assembly to be shown to believers on rare occasions and for preservation in the National Bahá’í Archives.

Quietly, one by one, as on a holy pilgrimage, the sixteen hundred assembled Bahá’ís filed by to view the radiant face. All who were present have their own precious memories.

* * *

The editorial by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick reminds us of the great gift of Divine Revelation which God has again sent to the world.

Arthur Dahl’s review of Races of Mankind puts us in touch with a booklet most valuable for its scientific facts about race and one that has received much publicity because of its rejection in certain army camps.

The address by Marion Holley which we are printing was delivered Tuesday evening, May 23rd, when the general subject was, “North America, Citadel of Universal Peace.” Miss Holley is a member of the National Bahá’í Teaching Committee and is prominent as a lecturer and teacher of the Faith. Her talk deals with the development of the Bahá’í Cause in North America from the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1921 to the present time. Miss Holley’s home is in San Francisco.

—THE EDITORS

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Bahá’í Literature

Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The Bahá’í teachings on the nature of religion, the soul, the basis of civilization and the oneness of mankind. Bound in fabrikoid. 360 pages. $2.00.

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, translated by Shoghi Effendi. Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh toward the end of His earthly mission, this text is a majestic and deeply-moving exposition of His fundamental principles and laws and of the sufferings endured by the Manifestation for the sake of mankind. Bound in cloth. 186 pages. $1.50.

The Kitáb-i-Íqán, translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work (The Book of Certitude) unifies and coordinates the revealed Religions of the past, demonstrating their oneness in fulfillment of the purposes of Revelation. Bound in cloth. 262 pages. $2.50.

Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The supreme expression of devotion to God; a spiritual flame which enkindles the heart and illumines the mind. 348 pages. Bound in fabrikoid. $2.00.

Some Answered Questions. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's explanation of questions concerning the relation of man to God, the nature of the Manifestation, human capacities, fulfillment of prophecy, etc. Bound in cloth. 350 pages. $1.50.

The Promulgation of Universal Peace. In this collection of His American talks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the basis for a firm understanding of the attitudes, principles and spiritual laws which enter into the establishment of true Peace. 492 pages. Bound in cloth. $2.50.

Bahá’í Prayers, a selection of Prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, each Prayer translated by Shoghi Effendi. 72 pages. Bound in fabrikoid, $0.75. Paper cover, $0.35.

The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, by Shoghi Effendi. On the nature of the new social pattern revealed by Bahá’u’lláh for the attainment of divine justice in civilization. Bound in fabrikoid. 234 pages. $1.50.

BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois

[Page 202]

Words of Bahá’u’lláh

Inscribed Over the Nine Entrances of the
House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois

1. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
2. The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me.
3. My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure.
4. Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.
5. Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.
6. I have made death a messenger of joy to thee; wherefore dost thou grieve?
7. Make mention of Me on My earth that in My heaven I may remember thee.
8. O rich ones on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust.
9. The source of all learnings is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory.