| ←Issue 4 | World Order Volume 11 - Issue 5 |
Issue 6→ |
| Return to PDF view |
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
AUGUST. 1945
9
Bahá’u’lláh’S TABLETTO THE POPE
THE» PATH TO THE KINGDOM—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
THE MISSION OF THE LORD CHRIST—George Townshend
RELIGIOi‘I'AiVD THE SCHOOLS, Editorial—Garreta Busey THE GIFT OF GOD—Thornton Chase THORNTON CHASE: FIRST AMERICAN Bahá’í—Carl Sheffler FOR MY SONs—Evelyn V. LOVeday
WITH OUR READERS
.15:
7" THE BAHA’ I’ MASAZINE‘
World Order was founded March 21, 1910 as Bahá’í News, the first, ‘ organ of the American Baha” 13. In March 31911, its title was changed to Star of the West. Beginning November, 1922 the magazine appeared under the name of The Bahá’í Magazine. The lssue of April, 1935 carried -the' present title of W 0er Order,‘combiriing The Bahá’í Maga ' zinc and World Unity, which had been founded October, 1927. The
present number represents Volume XXXVI of the continuous Bahá’í publication.
WORLD ORDER is pubiished monthly in Wilmette, 111., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá ’13 of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Carrels Busey, Gertrude K. Kenning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
Editorial Office Mrs. Gertrude K. Henning, Secretary 69 ABBOTSFORD ROAD, WmNz'ncA, ILL.
Publication Office 110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.
C. R. Wood, Business Manager - Printed in U.S.A.
AUGUST, 1945; VOLUME XI, NUMBER 5 i
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 bayable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmettet Illinois. -Entex'ed as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, 111., under the Act of Mérch 3, 1879. Contents copyfighted 1945 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
[Page 129]
WOBLB 0BDEB
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XI
AUGUST, 1945
NUMBER 5
Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet t0 the Pope
POPE! Bend the veils asunder. He Who is the Lord of
Lords is come overshadowed with clouds, and the decree hath been fulfilled by God, the Almighty, the Unrestrained. . . . He, verily, hath again come down from Heaven even as He came down from it the first time. Beware that thou dispute not with Him even as the Pharisees disputed with Him (Jesus) without a clear token or proof. On His right hand flow the living waters of grace, and on His left the choice Wine of justice, whilst before Him march the angels of Paradise, bearing the banners of His signs. Beware lest any name debar thee from God, the Creator of earth and heaven. Leave thou the world behind thee, and turn towards thy Lord, through Whom the whole earth hath been illumined. . . . Dwellest thou in palaces whilst He Who is the King of Revelation liveth in the most desolate of abodes? Leave them unto such as desire them, and set thy face with joy and delight towards the Kingdom. . . . Arise in the name of
thy Lord, the God of Mercy,
amidst the peoples of the earth, and seize thou the Cup of Life with the hands of confidence, and first drink thou therefrom, and proffer it then to such as turn towards it amongst the peoples of all faiths. . . . ‘
Call thou to remembrance Him Who was the Spirit (Jesus), Who, when He came, the most learned of His age pronounced judgment against Him in His own country, whilst he who was only a fisherman believed in Him. Take heed, then, ye men of understanding heart! Thou, in truth, art one of the suns of the heaven of His names. Guard thyself, lest darkness spread its veil over thee, and fold thee away from His light. . . . Consider those who opposed the Son (Jesus), when He came unto them with sovereignty and power. How many the Pharisees who were waiting to behold Him, and were lamenting over their separation from Him! And yet, when the fragrance of His coming was wafted over them, and His beauty was unveiled, they turned aside from Him and disputed with Him. . . . None save
129
[Page 130]
130
a very few, who were destitute of any power amongst men, turned towards His face. And yet, today, every man endowed with power and invested with sovereignty prideth himself on His Name! In like manner, consider how numerous, in these days, are the monks who, in My Name, have secluded themselves in their churches, and Who, when the appointed time was fulfilled, and We unveiled Our beauty, knew Us not, though they call upon Me at eventide and at dawn. . . .
The Word which the Son concealed is made manifest. It hath been sent down in the form of the human temple in this day. Blessed be the Lord Who is the Father! He, verily, is come unto the nations in His most great majesty. Turn your faces towards Him, O concourse of the righteous! . . . This is the day whereon the Rock (Peter) crieth out and shouteth, and celebrateth the praise of its Lord, the All-Possessing, the Most High, saying: “L0! The Father is come, and that which ye were promised in the Kingdom is fulfilled! . . .” My body longeth for the cross, and Mine head waiteth the thrust of the spear, in the path of the All-Merciful. that the world may be purged from its transgressions.
0 Supreme Pontiff! Incline thine ear unto that which the
WORLD ORDER
Fashioner of moldering bones counselleth thee, as voiced by Him Who is His Most Great Name. Sell all the embellished ornaments thou dost possess, and expend them in the path of God, Who causeth the night to return upon the day, and the day to return upon the night. Abandon thy kingdom unto the kings, and emerge from thy habitation, with thy face set towards the Kingdom, and, detached from the world, then speak forth the praises of thy Lord betwixt earth and heaven. Thus hath hidden thee He Who is the Possessor of Names, on the part of thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing. Exhort thou the kings and say: “Deal equably with men. Beware lest ye transgress the bounds fixed in the Book.” This indeed becometh thee. Beware lest thou appropriate unto thyself the things of the world and the riches thereof. Leave them unto such as desire them, and cleave unto that which hath been enjoined upon thee by Him Who is the Lord of creation. Should any one offer thee all the treasures of the earth, refuse to even glance upon them. Be as thy Lord hath been. Thus hath the Tongue of Revelation spoken that which God hath
made the ornament of the book
of creation. . . . Should the inebriation of the wine of My
verses seize thee, and thou deter
[Page 131]
TABLET TO THE POPE 131
minest to present thyself before the throne of thy Lord, the Creator of earth and heaven, make My love thy vesture, and thy shield remembrance of Me, and thy provision reliance upon God, the Revealer of all power. . . . Verily, the day of ingathering is come, and all things have been separated from each other. He hath stored away that which He chose in the vessels of justice, and cast into fire that which be fitteth it. Thus hath it been decreed by your Lord, the Mighty, the Loving, in this promised Day. He, verily, ordaineth what He pleaseth. There is none other God save He, the Almighty, the AllCompelling.
“To Pope Pius IX, the undisputed head of the most powerful Church in Christenv dom, possessor of both temporal and spiritual authority, He, 9. Prisoner in the army barracks of the penaJ-colony of ‘Akká, addressed a most weighty Epistle.”—God Passes By, by Shoghi Effendi.
That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.
—Bahá’u’lláh
The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion. 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 will live as brothers.
—‘ABDU’L-BAHA
A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international lawthe product of the considered judgment of the world’s federated representatives—shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship—such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.
—SHOGHI EFFENDI
The Path to the Kingdom
‘ABDU’L-BAHA
ROM the time of the creation
of Adam to this day there have been two pathways in the world of humanity; one the natural or materialistic, the other the religious or spiritual. The pathway of nature is the pathway of the animal realm. The animal acts in accordance with the requirements of nature, follows its own instincts and desires. Whatever its impulses and proclivities may be it has the liberty to gratify them; yet it is a captive of nature. It cannot deviate in the least degree from the road nature has established. It is utterly minus spiritual susceptibilities, ignorant of divine religion and Without knowledge of the kingdom of God. The animal possesses no power of ideation or conscious intelligence; it is captive of the senses and deprived of that which lies beyond them. It is subject to what the eye sees, the ear hears, the nostrils sense, the taste detects and touch reveals. These sensations are acceptable and sufficient for the animal. But that which is beyond the range of the senses, that realm of phenomena through which the conscious pathway to
the kingdom of God leads, the
world of spiritual susceptibilities and divine religion,—of these the animal is completely unaware, for in its highest station it is a captive of nature.
One of the strangest things witnessed is that the materialists of today are proud of their natural instincts and bondage. They state that nothing is entitled to belief and acceptance except that which is sensible or tangible. By their own statements they are captives of nature, unconscious of the spiritual world, uninformed of the divine kingdom and unaware of heavenly hestowals. If this be a virtue the animal has attained it to a superlative degree, for the animal is absolutely ignorant of the realm of spirit and out of touch with the inner world of conscious realization. The animal would agree with the materialist in denying the existence of that which transcends the senses. If we admit that being limited to the plane of the senses is a virtue the animal is indeed more virtuous than man, for it is entirely bereft of that which lies beyond, absolutely oblivious of the kingdom of God and its traces whereas God has deposited
132
[Page 133]
PATH TO THE KINGDOM
within the human creature an ' illimitable power by which he can rule the world of nature.
Consider how all other phenomenal existence and beings are captives of nature. The sun, that colossal center of our solar system, the giant stars and planets, the towering mountains, the earth itself and its kingdoms of life lower than the human,—all are captives of nature except man. No other created thing can deviate in the slightest degree from obedience to natural law. The sun in its glory and greatness millions of miles away is held prisoner in its orbit of universal revolution, captive of universal natural control. Man is the ruler of nature. According to natural law and limitation he should remain upon the earth, but behold how he violates this command and soars above the mountains in aeroplanes. He sails in ships upon the surface of the ocean and dives into its depths in submarines. Man makes nature his servant; harnesses the mighty energy of electricity for instance and imprisons it in a small lamp for his uses and convenience. He speaks from the east to the west through a wire. He is able to store and preserve his' voice in a phonograph. Though he is a dweller upon the earth he penetrates the mysteries of starry
133
worlds inconceivably distant. He discovers latent realities within the bosom of the earth, uncovers treasures, penetrates secrets and mysteries of the phenomenal world and brings to light that which according to nature’s ‘jealous laws should remain hidden, unknown and unfathomable. Through an ideal inner power man brings these realities forth from the invisible plane to the visible. This is contrary to nature’s law.
It is evident therefore that man is ruler over nature’s sphere and province. Nature is inert, man is progressive. Nature has no consciousness, man is endowed with it. Nature is without volition and acts perforce whereas man possesses a mighty will. Nature is incapable of discovering mysteries 0r realities whereas man is especially fitted to do so. Nature is not in touch with the realm of God, man is attuned to its evidences. Nature is uninformed of God, man is conscious of him. Man acquires divine virtues, nature is denied them. Man can voluntarily discontinue vices, nature has no power to modify the influence of its instincts. Altogether it is evident that man is more noble and superior; that in him there is an ideal power surpassing nature. He has consciousness,
134
volition, memory, intelligent power, divine attributes and virtues of which nature is completely deprived, bereft and minus; therefore man is higher and nobler by reason of the ideal and heavenly force latent and manifest in him.
How strange then it seems that man notwithstanding his endowment with this ideal power, will descend to a level beneath him and declare himself no greater than that which is manifestly inferior to his real station. God has created such a conscious spirit within him that he is the most wonderful of all contingent beings. In ignoring these virtues he descends to the material plane, considers matter the ruler’of existence and denies that which lies beyond. Is this virtue? In its fullest sense this is animalistic, for the animal is the greater philosopher because it is completely ignorant of the kingdom of God, possesses no spiritual susceptibilities and is uninformed of the heavenly world. In brief, this is a view of the pathway of nature.
The second pathway is that of religion, the road of the divine kingdom. It involves the acquisition of praiseworthy attributes, heavenly illumination and righteous actions in the world of humanity. This pathway is con WORLD ORDER
ducive to the progress and uplift of the world. It is the source of human enlightenment, training and ethical improvement; the magnet which attracts the love of God because of the knowledge of God it bestows. This is the road of the holy manifestations of God for they are in reality the foundation of the divine religion of oneness. There is no change or transformation in this pathway. It is the cause of human betterment, the acquisition of heavenly virtues and the illumination of mankind.
Alas! that humanity is completely submerged in limitations and unrealities notwithstanding the truth of divine religion has ever remained the same. Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is darkened and the light of religion is not apparent. This darkness is conducive to differences and dissensions; rites and dogmas are many and various; therefore discord has arisen among the religious systems whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy qualities; but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies; so they are bereft and deprived
[Page 135]
PATH TO THE KINGDOM
of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. To such an extent has this prevailed that they have taken away the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in the darkness of limitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be conducive to life has become the cause of death; that which should have been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance; that which was a factor in the sublimity of human nature has proved to be its degradation. Therefore the realm of the religionist has gradually narrowed and darkened and the sphere of the materialist has widened and advanced; for the religionist has held to imitation and counterfeit, neglecting and discarding holiness and the sacred reality of religion. When the sun sets it is the time for bats to fly. They come forth because they are creatures of the night. When the lights of religion become darkened the materialists appear. They are the bats of night. The decline of religion is their time of activity; they seek the shadows when the world is darkened and clouds have spread over it.
His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has
risen from the eastern horizon. Like the glory of the sun He has come into the world. He has re 135
flected the reality of divine religion, dispelled the darkness of imitations, laid the foundation of new teachings and resuscitated the world.
The first teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the investigation of reality. Man must seek the reality himself, forsaking imitations and adherence to mere hereditary forms. As the nations of the world are following imitations in lieu of truth and as imitations are many and various, diflerences of belief have been productive of strife and warfare. So long as the imitations remain the oneness of the world of humanity is impossible. Therefore we must investigate the reality in order that by its light the clouds and darkness may be dispelled. Reality is one reality; it does not admit multiplicity or division. If the nations of the world investigate reality they will agree and become united. Many people and sects in Persia have sought reality through the guidance and teaching of Bahá’u’lláh. They have become united and now live in a state of agreement and love; among them there is no longer the least trace of enmity and strife.
The Jews were expecting the appearance of the Messiah, looking forward to it with devotion of heart and soul but because
[Page 136]
136
they were submerged in limitations they did not believe in His Holiness Jesus Christ when He appeared. Finally they rose against Him even to the extreme of persecution and shedding His blood. Had they investigated reality they would have accepted their promised Messiah. These blind imitations and hereditary prejudices have invariably become the cause of bitterness and hatred and have filled the world with darkness and violence of war. Therefore we must seek the fundamental truth in order to extricate ourselves from such conditions and then with illumined faces find the pathway to the kingdom of God.
The second teaching of Bahá’u’lláh concerns the unity of mankind. All are the servants of God and members of one human family. God has created all and all are His children. He rears, nourishes, provides for and is kind to all. Why should we be unjust and unkind? This is the policy of God, the lights of Which have shone throughout the world. His sun bestows its effulgence unsparingly upon all, His clouds send down rain without distinction or favor, His breezes refresh the whole earth. It is evident that humankind without exception is sheltered beneath His mercy and protection. Some are imperfect;
WORLD ORDER
they must be perfected. The ignorant must be taught, the sick healed, the sleepers awakened. The child must not be oppressed or censured because it is undeveloped; it must be patiently trained. The sick must not be neglected because they are ailing; nay, rather, we must have compassion upon them and bring them healing. Briefly; the old conditions of animosity, bigotry and hatred between the religious systems must be dispelled and the new conditions of love, agreement and spiritual brotherhood be estabilshed among them.
The third teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion must be the source of fellowship, the cause of unity and the nearness of God to man. If it rouses hatred and strife it is evident that absence of religion is preferable and an irreligious man better than one who professes it. According to the divine will and intention religion should be the cause of love and agreement, a bond to unify all mankind for it is a message of peace and good-will to man
from God.
The fourth teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the agreement of religion and science. God has endowed man with intelligence and
reason whereby he is required
to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If re
[Page 137]
PATH TO THE KINGDOM 137
ligious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the; child of ignorance is superstition. Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science. If a question he found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible and there is no outcome but wavering and vacillation.
Bahá’u’lláh has also taught that prejudices, whether religious, racial, patriotic or political are destructive to the foundations of human development. Prejudices of any kind are the destroyers of human happiness and welfare. Until they are dispelled the advancement of the world of humanity is not possible, yet racial, religious and national bias are observed everywhere. For thousands of years the world of humanity has been agitated and disturbed by prejudices. As long as it prevails, warfare, animosity and hatred will continue. Therefore if we seek to establish peace we must cast aside this obstacle, for otherwise agreement and composure are not to be attained.
Fifth: Bahá’u’lláh set forth
principles of guidance and teaching for economic readjustment.
Regulations were revealed by him which insure the welfare of the commonwealth. As the rich man enjoys his life surrounded by ease and luxuries, so the poor man must likewise have a home and be provided with sustenance and comforts commensurate With his needs. This readjustment of the social economic is of the greatest importance inasmuch as it insures the stability of the world of humanity; and until it is effected, happiness and pr‘osperity are impossible.
Sixth: Bahá’u’lláh teaches that an equal standard of human rights must be recognized and adopted. In the estimation of God all men are equal; there is no distinction or preferment for any soul in the dominion of His justice and equity.
Seventh: Education is essential and all standards of training and teaching throughout the world of mankind should be brought into conformity and agreement; a universal curricu lum should be established and
the basis of ethics be the same.
Eighth: A universal language shall be adopted and be taught by all the schools and institutions of the world. A committee appointed by national bodies of learning shall select a suitable language to be used as a medium of international communication.
138
All must acquire it. This is one of the great factors in the unification of man.
Ninth: Bahá’u’lláh emphasized and established the equality of man and woman. Sex is not particularized to humanity; it exists throughout the animate kingdoms but without distinction or preference. In the vegetable kingdom there is complete equality between male and female of species. Likewise in the animal plane equality exists; all are under the protection of God. Is it becoming to man that he the noblest of creatures should observe and insist upon such distinction? Woman’s lack of progress and proficiency has been due to her need of equal education and opportunity. Had she been allowed this equality there is no doubt she would be the counterpart of man in ability and capacity. The happiness of mankind will be realized when women and men coordinate and advance equally, for each is the complement and helpmeet of the other.
WORLD ORDER
The world of humanity cannot advance through mere physical powers and intellectual attainments; nay, rather, the Holy Spirit is essential. The divine Father must assist the human world to attain maturity. The body of man is in need of physical and mental energy but his spirit requires the life and fortification of the Holy Spirit. Without its protection and quickening the human world would be extinguished. His Holiness Jesus Christ declared “Let the dead bury their dead.” He also said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” It is evident therefore according to His Holiness that the human spirit which is not fortified by the presence of the Holy Spirit is dead and in need of resurrection by that divine power; otherwise though materially advanced to high degrees man cannot attain full and complete progress.
Address delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá June 9, 1912, at Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, reproduced in The Promulgation of Universal Peace.
All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds
of the earth.
—Bahá’u’lláh
We must strive unceasingly and without rest to accomplish the development of the spiritual nature in man, and endeavor with tireless energy to advance humanity toward the nobility of its true and intended station.
—‘ABDU’L-BAHA
[Page 139]
The Mission of the Lord Christ
GEORGE TOWNSHEND
HE task of Christ differed
.from that of any of the HighProphets who preceded Him in that to Him was assigned the duty of announcing that the Supreme Advent of all time was now at hand and of completing the education of mankind for that august event. His Dispensation stands apart from all before it in that it crowns the period of preparation and opens directly into that Age of God for which all previous Messengers had made ready the way.
Never till now was it given to men to view the work of Christ in its true perspective or to discern the full proportions of His wisdom and beneficence. Those who have felt themselves forgiven and redeemed through Him have throughout the Christian Era chanted in many accents His praise; and all that their lips could utter would not tell the tale of their gratitude nor express the felicity which He had brought to their lives. Historians, in belief and in unhelief, have extolled the radiant beauty of His character, the elevating influence of His teachings and the transformation of the western world which has been efiected through His power. But not until
the Dawn of God broke over the earth, not until Bahá’u’lláh told of the progressive revelation of God through a world-old sequence of Divine Teachers, could men regard Christ’s Message in its larger aspects or set it in its due relation to the complete redemptive purpose of the Eternal God.
Now that the faithful look back upon the past through the portals of God’s Age of Cold, it is possible to discern from a new angle values in Christ’s teaching that before were hidden and to probe with a clearer insight the bearing and significance of many of His utterances. The directions of Jesus were, of course, like those of every other High-Prophet, measured with loving care to the needs and capacities of the people to whom He ministered. Out of the limitless treasury of His knowledge He bestowed on them that which would help them most. But His special mission of preparing humanity for the great climacteric that drew so near gave to His teaching a special character. The substance of His revelation was designed to prepare mankind for that severe test of love and spirituality to which they
139
[Page 140]
140 WORLD ORDER
were so soon to be subjected. His Heart was fixed upon the Kingdom that was to be, and His central aim was to fit the people for this great enfranchisement and to strengthen them against the perils of the awful Day of Doom.
Now in the twentieth century when that Doomsday has come upon us, when the principles of that Kingdom have been divinely revealed and when its outline is taking visible shape throughout the earth, now for the first time the believer is enabled to discern how the Revelation of Christ was so conceived as to lead by a natural gradation into the Age of Bahá’u’lláh; now for the first time he can appreciate something of the foreknowledge and the wisdom of Him whose far-reaching vision swept down the long vista of His own Dispensation to the happenings of this new-born Day of God.
The central message of Jesus was His promise and His warning that before long (at the end of one more Era, the Era then begun) God would in deed and in fact establish the Kingdom upon earth; its foundations would be laid in the hearts of
'men, and those who were found
to be unworthy would be destroyed. The Event of which poets had dreamed, which seers
had descried, which prophets had predicted, was soon to be no more a dream or a hope or a forecast but an accomplished fact of history.
This was from the first to the last throughout His ministry the great theme of Jesus’ preaching, as it had been the theme of His forerunner, John:
“From that time Jesus began to preach to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The coming of that Kingdom was by this command to be the prayer of the faithful all through His Dispensation: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” And the prediction that one day He will again hold communion with the faithful on earth in His Father’s Kingdom is one of the parting thoughts of His discourse at the Last Supper.
Jesus’ revelation was not exclusively spiritual. It was in part
historical. He opened not only
the gates of a future life beyond
the grave, but the gates of humanity’s future life upon the
earth. He teaches men not only
to look inward where God has
set His shrine in the human heart,
but to look forward to a time
when God shall set His tabernacle among men. Hope became
a Christian virtue; and the object of hope was not only the
spiritual salvation of the indi
[Page 141]
MISSION OF CHRIST
Vidual but the social salvation of the race. He bade believers have no fear, for it was the F ather’s pleasure to give them the Kingdom (in which utterance, of course, as when He
said “Watch, for ye know not.
what hour your lord comet ,” or “I am with you always even to the end of the dispensation,” He addressed not only those who stood before him at the moment but all the faithful of His “generation” and after). The Gospel of Matthew quotes four of Christ’s most famous discourses. In every one of these—the Sermon on the Mount, the charge of the Twelve, the Seven Parables of chapter 13 and the Words on Mount Olivet—reference is made to the coming of the Father’s Kingdom; and in one of them, and not the least sublime, n0 leading reference is made to anything else.
The intensity of Jesus’ spirituality, the vigor of His insistence that the vital matter in life is the right relation of the individual soul to God, seem to make more startling, more arresting by contrast, those historical predictions in which He deals with outward happenings and worldwide events and speaks not alone to the individual but especially to nations and the human race as a whole.
141
Not that in their character and essence the laws and injunctions of Jesus are diflerent from His forecasts and promises. The outlook and the spirit is ever unchanging. Indeed, in the light of the further revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, the connection between the two portions of Jesus’ teaching is seen to be close and intimate. The distinction is real; yet it is now evident that the spiritual principles which Christ most strongly urged are the self-same principles on which His Father’s Kingdom in the world today is based. His religious teachings seem to have been directed to the purpose of preparing mankind for the promised gift of the Kingdom, and to have been designed to elevate and strengthen them for the task of establishing it upon the earth.
For the Kingdom of the F ather is indeed an earthly kingdom in the sense that it is set down foursquare upon the solid earth for all men to see it, know it and inhabit it. But it is not less certainly a spiritual kingdom. The rule of the Father is primarily over the hearts of men, and it is as the winner of their hearts that He controls their wills and their actions. Till the human heart is opened to God and is made fit and ready to receive Him, such a rule is impossible; and it is to
142 WORLD ORDER
the preparation of the heart for God that Christ addresses the main body of this teaching. Set the instruction of Jesus beside that of the mighty Prophet who preceded Him, and in nothing does it show a greater heightening than in its insistence on spirituality and love. Moses, meting His message to a cruder people in a cruder age, had said nothing of eternal life. His religion was a religion of one world. They who faithfully obeyed the commandments of God would dwell long in the land enjoying peace and plenty. But Christ’s was a religion of two worlds, the outer and the inner, the material and the spiritual; and of the two by far the more important was the latter. He did not teach believers to set much store by temporal rewards, but rather to desire the everlasting blessedness of the vision of God, admission to His presence, and the enjoyment of His mercy. Moses had given a comprehensive code of statutes and regulations; Jesus—so far as our Canon informs us—gave two material ordinances only. He loosed men from the law of the sabbath and made more tight the law of divorce. He removed
a complicated system of ritual and material sacrifice; and no record remains of His having instituted in its place more than two
ceremonies, both of which were essentially symbolic. In contrast to the offerings demanded by the old law these rites involved no material outlay of any moment. The ancient ordinance that no worshipper should appear before the Lord empty-handed was not fulfilled in them. No gift of bullock, ram or sheep, not even of a little dove or two young pigeons, was called for. A running brook, an ordinary meal, supplied the Christian with all he needed for baptism and the breaking of bread. The meaning and the value of the observance lay wholly in that spiritual thing which it signified. The baptism with water typified that baptism with the Holy Spirit and the fire of the love of God (spoken of by John) which Christ conferred on, those who were able to receive it. The blessedness of the memorial feast was its renewing of that spiritual love which gave to the Lord’s last passover its unique and imperishable glory.
Moses, like every HighProphet before or since, proclaimed the law of love. Every High-Prophet has done so—“All laws and ordinances,” said Bahá’u’lláh, “have been changed according to the requirements of the times, except the law of love, which like a fountain ever flows and the course of which never
[Page 143]
MISSION OF CHRIST
suffers change.” Moses commanded (Deut. vi, 5), “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might” and (Lev. xix, 18), “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” But Jesus revealed the law more fully and insisted on a larger obedience to it. “A new commandment I give unto you: that ye love one another.” He made love the test of discipleship. “By this shall all men know ye are my disciples: if ye have love one to another” (J ohn xiii, 35). If He taught that God was Spirit, men learned from Him that God was Love. The whole duty of man towards his Maker and towards his fellowereature was comprehended in the practice of Love. When He carried men to the summit of all His most exalted and exacting demands, He bade them to be perfect as their Father whose nature He revealed as being Spirit and Love.
Had men during the Christian Era learned from their Master this lesson of spirituality and love, the establishment of the Father’s Kingdom upon earth would be an easy task today. The fact that the Kingdom hasas the Bahá’ís believe—in very fact been inaugurated, stands now fixed upon irremovable foundations, and takes shape
143
amidst the chaos of the nations, is the greatest proof existing of the wisdom and the power and the triumph of the Lord Christ.
Not only did Christ reveal the leading principles of the Kingdom which was—He said —so soon to come, but He gave many signs by which the approach of that Kingdom and of His own advent might be recognized. The date He did not give: it was known only to the F ather. But He presaged a number of events and omens, some of them unmistakable and portentous, for which He bade men watch. The period was to be distant. The Gospel would be carried to all lands; and, nevertheless, before the Son of Man came, faith would be hard to find and the people growing careless and disobedient, would indulge in oppression and tyranny and would give themselves up to worldly pursuits. The fate of the Jews, however, would be the most definite prognostic of the time of the end. During the Christian Era they were to be scattered abroad and held in exile. When they had served their sentence and were permitted to return to their own land, the world might know that an epoch had ended and a new world-age begun.
Such a prediction was so clear that it would seem Christ had
144
made any failure to identify His coming impossible. Yet He went further. He spoke repeatedly about His own coming. His language was (as always) simple, yet it was such as to arrest attention and to demand scrutiny. He announced that He would come with power in the glory of the Father; that He would send His angels throughout the. world and would destroy the ungodly; and that His splendor would shine in the darkness from the east to the west. But He also said with not less emphasis that His coming would take mankind by surprise: as a thief enters stealthily at night and is in the house while the master sleeps and knows it not, so He would come into a world wrapt in spiritual ignorance and would not be observed by those to whom He came.
It is not put on record that His disciples asked Him the meaning of forewarnings so important and seemingly so contradictory, nor is there extant the explanation of any inconsistency. He gave men enough information to guide them aright when the emergency arose, and left the rest to their own efforts.
The tone in which He delivered
WORLD ORDER
these prophecies about the dawn of the Last Day was not that which His hearers might have expected. He did not speak of the approach of world-redemption in a joyous and triumphant strain. On the contrary, His words were those of premonition and anxiety. Though the great Day which He had the privilege to foretell was the time of the Victory of God, was to purge away sorrow and tears and spiritual death, and to usher in the reign of concord and peace and divine felicity when the righteous would shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father, yet His language about its drawing near was imbued with grave foreboding. He dwelt on the thought of a Great Assize in which He would figure as Judge and would be called on to condemn many who used His name and counted themselves His friends; and impressed firmly on men’s minds an apprehension of a strict and universal judgment and of a final exculpation that would only be gained after an ordeal of unprecedented calamity.
George Townshend, M.A., is Canon of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and Archdeacon of Clonfert. This wide is a chapter in Dr. Townshend’s book entitled The Promise of All Ages, Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1935.
This is the Day, O my Lord, which Thou didst announce unto all mankind as the Day whereon Thou wouldst reveal Thy Self, and shed Thy
radiance, and shine brightly over all Thy creatures.
——Bahá’u’lláh
[Page 145]
“—6lclitoria/
RELIGION AND THE SCHOOLS
HE United States has been a
pioneer among nations in providing education for all its people. The public school system is designed, at least theoretically, to give every child a basic education and to offer higher learning on easy terms to those Who
desire it. Some such system is'
corollary to democratic government, for the people cannot govern unless the citizens are able to read and to think for themselves. Another fundamental principle on which this nation was founded is that of freedom of worship, which is guaranteed by the Constitution to all the people. No system of religious belief is to be forced on any of the people by individuals or by any agency of the government. The necessary result of the working out of these two principles is a widespread public school system from which all religious teaching is prohibited.
In earlier times this divorce between education and religion mattered less than it does now. Institutions of worship were strong, children were sent to Sunday Schools, and in most families some religious training was provided in the home. But
recently certain tendencies have been at work to upset the original balance between mental and spiritual education.
On the one hand, the school is absorbing more and more of the children’s time. Social and athletic activities fill the hours outside the regular curriculum to such an extent that much of the time when formerly the child was at home is now spent under the auspices of the school.
On the other hand, the influence of the religious institutions is generally weaker. Faith has declined. In few homes is religion ever mentioned. The parents themselves do not attend church regularly and the children are not sent to the Sunday Schools. The Sunday Schools themselves, in an effort to hold the young people, dilute religious training and often replace a serious study of the basic religious scriptures with social attractions. The result of this situation is a vast ignorance on the part of most young people of their own or any other religion. A literature class at one of our state universities, not long ago, asked to explain an allusion to Sinai, produced only blank
145
146 WORLD ORDER
bewilderment. Perhaps it is not surprising that the Ten Commandments have lost some of their force.
The public as a whole is beginning to be aware that something is wrong. There is a demand in many places that ethics be taught in the schools, a demand that, in itself, is an admission of the inability of the home and the church to provide sufficient moral background for the children. Because it is hard to find a powerful system of ethics unconnected with any religion, some schools have made provision for a period of religious instruction to be given by ministers and rabbis of the faiths to which the children belong. School time is used and the authority of the school is exercised to‘ insure attendance.
Such an arrangement has drawn protest, however, and indeed it is charged with potential trouble. It may threaten religious freedom by forcing the child of a minority faith with no teacher available to the school into one of the more powerful groups. The plan calls the attention of the children to religious differences between them and may very well cause prejudice.
And yet the present artificial division between mental and spiritual education is disastrous
in itself. Knowledge is indeed one point and the present system only serves to multiply it. The human being is not meant to be divided into air-tight compartments, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Religion can serve to integrate the personality of the individual. It can draw all knowledge together into a whole and supply a point of orientation for the student which will make learning easier and give it an adequate purpose. The study of the physical universe, for instance, is enhanced by a sense of reverence for its Creator, and by a realization that the knowledge we gain is to be used for the glory of God and the advancement of mankind.
Our young people feel an acute need of such orientation, but it cannot be given them in the schools until the religions have become united. The rift in the education of children is a symptom of the illness of the world, which Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed could be healed only by one common Faith, a Faith which He promised would soon prevail on the earth. We can anticipate, then, a time when educators will have a spiritual renaissance, when teaching will be illumined by the love of God and study
will become an act of devotion.
—G. B.
[Page 147]
The Gift of God
THORNTON CHASE
OD loved the world —— not
only the Jews at Jerusalem, but all mankind; not only at the time of Jesus but before and since. Always, since the world began He has given His Word to all men, at all times, in so far as they were able to receive it. Whence came the wonderful instructions for life in the ancient writings of Enoch, Moses, David, and the Psalmists, in the Vedas, the ‘Avesta, the Gathas and Upanishads, in Isaiah and Lao Tse? Were they of human or divine manufacture? They were always higher than the imaginations of man, and they were opposed to his natural desires. When their inner significances and realities are pierced, the oneness of their essentials is so evident there can be no doubt that they originated from a single source. They -all had their origins in the Word! of God, which in its essence is the same today, yesterday and forever. That which is different
is not His Word.
Each of the great religions bases its teaching, faith, loyalty and existence upon confidence in the word of a single human founder. Each points back to him as the reliable one, the
superlative one, the infallible one. But no word is infallible save that of God, and if those great ones were truly reliable, their word must have been the Word of God. The expression of that Word through such prepared human instruments has always been the method whereby man has learned the Will of
God for his own life. They were the “mouths” of the Lord.
That the Almighty God chooses a man to be His representative and His mouthpiece is shown in the interesting account, related in Exodus 3 and 4, of His appointment of Moses to be the Deliverer of his people of Israel. After God called to him out of the burning bush and told him that he was God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He said: I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. (God is always trying to bring His children out of the Egypt of darkness and ignorance.)
But Moses did not seek such an appointment; he dreaded it and tried to escape it, although he desired to serve God. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
147
148 WORLD ORDER
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Then God gave His mighty Name—I am that I am: and He said, Thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. He also gave further instructions to Moses to tell the people how God had appeared unto him and given these commands.
And M oses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not sent thee. Then the Lord showed him how to manifest signs of power by the symbols of the rod and of the right hand, but still Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore g0, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Yet Moses could not entirely sever his thought of self and trust the Lord. And he said, 0 my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send. How prone we are, even to this day, to decide in our minds whom the Lord shall send as His Representative to man, and how He shall come.
But, after all this, God chose Moses to be His Representative to Israel, and even appointed Aaron, ' his brother, to be a mouthpiece for Moses, saying, I know that he can speak well. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shalt be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shalt be, even he shalt be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
Thus God puts His Word into the mouths of His Chosen Ones, and thus He appoints a man to be as God unto men. It is by the might of the Word that man is saved. The power of God is in the Word, but it saves only him who takes it into his heart that it may spring up there into a fountain of living Water, from which he shall be born into a new Life. In its lower, outer aspect, it is for the advantage of man’s present living; it teaches him morals and ethics which are the only source of all true ethical training, but its deeper meanings and, instructions are to prepare man for an inner life, widely diflerent and incomparable to this life. Indeed, the best outer life is but death compared to this inner life; it is an old life compared to a new life.
[Page 149]
GIFT OF GOD 149
The speech of these Mouthpieces of God was in the language and terminology of the time and place where it was given, but the teachings were offered and accepted only up to the degree of capacity in their hearers. In the ages of spiritual infancy man could receive but little of the strength of the Word, and its doctrine was according to his capacity. First came the laws of fear and obedience; then reverence, justice, wisdom and love were inculcated as mankind progressed in the Schools of the Prophets. Each revealer of the Word was a heavenly schoolmaster and each divine lesson became the fountain for the further teaching of a later day. Each manifestor of the commands of God referred to the teachings of those before him as witness to his own authority. For had ye believed M oses, ye would have believed me.
Age after age, through history, One has appeared, who gave to man the Word of God, divine instruction how to live and what to do to attain a higher and heavenly station, to overcome former conditions and rise to a manner of life which should be permanent, sinless, perfect and valuable. With each one there was no earthly power, no armies, royalty, riches nor honor, but rather poverty, ap parent weakness, oppression, hatred and rejection. Whatever the circumstance, time or place, he was, or became, poor in all things except the riches of the Word which ever went forth from the door of humility and lowliness. It was simply delivered and left to itself without human aid (except the life illustrating it) that it might prove its divine power by its own penetrative, creative and transforming effect upon mankind. At first it entered the hearts of the few, changed their lives, opened their minds to the Truth and Love of God, and then went on from generation to generation, altering the destinies of nations, overthrowing dynasties, forming new peoples and giving life and hope to untold millions of souls throughout centuries of time. There are men in this day, reputed to be learned, Who try to deny that the historical Jesus ever lived. The histories of him are hearsay accounts, written by unknown authors; not a word of his own writing is in existence as far as known; indeed there is no record that he ever wrote, except with his finger upon the ground (what a wonderful symbol was that, if it be understood) even as God wrote with his finger upon the tables of stone borne by Moses from Sinai. Yet the evidence that the Christ lived in
150 WORLD ORDER
that age of the world, and that he gave such teachings as are recorded, is as certain as the existence of the sun, because there must have been a Speaker of the Words which have lived and proved their divine quality through nineteen centuries in every way possible for the mind or heart of man to conceive. None but a Christ could have conceived such a character as the man, Christ Jesus.
The proof of the sun is its shining and its effect On the physical world; the evidence of the Word of God is its educative power and the light of life, which it kindles in the souls of men, making each heart a living flame, never to be quenched. No one, who has felt the elixir of the Word penetrating his soul and the fountain of eternal youth springing up within him, can ever deny the reality of the Christ and the fact of human
Manifestation, the bearer of the Cup of Life.
That which distinguishes man from the lower kingdoms, that which makes him a man, is the power of the Word of God working in him to will and to do, to create new methods of thinking and doing, to implant new ideas which later become ideals toward which he strives, because he perceives them to he more valuable
than his former knowledge and possessions, and so he grows in favor with God and man.
Many can bear witness to the power of the Word in their lives. It enters through the brain into the mind of man, and if not rejected it goes deeper, penetrating his heart, piercing through the shells of self-sufiiciency and self-conceit, and becomes the new motive power of his life. For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Sometimes the effect is sudden, in the twinkling of an eye. Sometimes a great grief or disappointment is the cause of his awakening, because such experiences drive man, as it were, to God for relief from despair. He finds in time of sorrow and trial that there is no comforter but God and consolation comes through the revealed Word which always invites the hungry, the thirsty, the weary, to water, food and rest. Therefore the Manifestation of the Word is indeed the Comforter sent by God to those who turn to Him.
It teaches us of the realities of things, what we are and what we may be. It tells of the destiny
[Page 151]
GIFT OF GOD 151
made possible to us by the Love of our Father. It is so plain that no farer in the way need err therein; it is so full that infinite riches reward him who enters its depths. It is the pearl of great price, the treasure of mankind, the guerdon of immortality, the path of eternal life. Its rewards are love, wisdom, service, bounty and joy.
The divine proof, the permanent and reliable evidence of the
mission and authority of any one
of God’s Chosen Manifestations is the effect of the Words he speaks. Man’s word is of little weight, meaning or permanence; it is only for the circumstance and time; it soon fades and is forgotten, but the Word of God passes not away. It changes the very nature of man; it lives, grows, spreads in ever widening influence, has depths and mountains of meanings, is exhaustless, boundless, mighty, and rides in triumph over innumerable graves and generations of the works of
men. So it is said in the Revelation of St. John that he who went forth conquering and to conquer riding upon the white horse and followed by the hosts of heaven, he who was the Lord of hosts, was called: The Word of God.
Is it not sufficiently evident that the great means for the salvation of men from themselves, for the overcoming of all satanic desires and the attainment of Eternal Life, is the Word of God? All the mighty names surround the Word. The one redeeming, creative, life-giving Power, the Angel of Light, the King of Righteousness, the Son, the Father, the Manifestation, the Glory of God, his Right Arm, his Holy One, his Redeemer and Saviour, is his Word Incarnate, revealed through the mouths and manifested in the lives of his holy and chosen Ones from the beginning of the world.
Reprinted from The Bahá’í Revelation by Thornton Chase, published in 1919.
The purpose of the one true God, exalted be His Glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves. That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity among men is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion. These principles and laws, these firmly established and mighty systems, have proceeded from one Source, and are the rays of one Light. That they differ one from another is to be attributed to the varying requirements of the ages in which they were promulgated.
——Bahá’u’lláh
Thornton Chase: First American Bahá’í
CARL SCHEFFLER
PERHAPS the complete story of the life of Thornton Chase, the first Bahá’í in America, will never be written. There is no question but that future students will enter upon exhaustive researches to discover the details of the life of the man who, through the grace of God, was given that great distinction. Even though I was closely associated with him for a period of about seven years and there was given me the privilege of being his traveling companion on the memorable pilgrimage to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the prison at ‘Akká, I had then practically no knowledge of his early life. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on the 22nd of F ebruary, 1847. He showed me a picture of the home of his childhood Which I recall was a large, rather ornate white frame dwelling, located at the intersection of two sharply converging streets. Of his early school or college life I know nothing. He told me that as a youth he had been engaged in fishing and on one occasion when we were quietly chatting together he described the sea, the waves, the oilskin hat and coat that he wore. At such a time I also
learned that he at one time had a serious interest in music. I am under the impression that he sang in the opera, because he had a glorious voice.
His interest in religion was a life-long one. A profound student of comparative religion, he was, he said, convinced that this undoubtedly was the “Day of God”, and he neglected n0 avenue in his search for the Truth of God. Not only did he study the existing great organizations in the religious world but no new sect that sprung up was likely to escape his scholarly scrutiny. A few years previous to his contact with the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh he became a follower of Emanuel Swedenborg, without, however dropping his indefatigable search for a greater light which he felt must surely appear in this age.
He was of a deeply mystical nature, as well as an exact and methodical student whose appraisal of ideas and facts was most searching and critical. Logical, kindly, even sympathetic, he was certainly not easily led in his religious life by the many voices that clamored for recogni tion in that day of cults and “isms”.
152
[Page 153]
THORNTON CHASE
He wrote many articles, poems and essays about God, Faith, and Divine Love and he was so engaged when he finally found the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. While writing a poem about God one day he was interrupted by the visit of a business acquaintance who expressed an interest in his activity, perhaps because he was so busy typing. Mr. Chase read a portion of what he was writing and he was astounded when his friend told him that he had recently come upon a man who had declared that God had “walked upon the cart ”. Immediately Mr. Chase expressed interest and asked to be conducted to this person, who it transpired was Ibrahim Kheirella. I believe that the friend who led Mr. Chase to Dr. Kheirella was William F. James. In the roster of early believers which is part of the National Bahá’í archives, there appears under the date of 1894 four names, William F . James, Miss Marian A.
Miller, Edward W. Dennis and Thornton Chase.
That Thornton Chase was the first Bahá’í in America stands without question. He was designated so by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. His acceptance of the Faith on the date that is recorded is also certain. In the early days of the Faith there were many hundreds of names inscribed on the roll
153
of believers but unquestionably Thornton Chase was the leader and inspirer of the entire company. His steadfastness and zeal continuing undiminished through the storm and stress of question and doubt that was the result of the deflection of Ibrahim Kheirella himself and of those who, through too meager understanding of the Faith, followed him, marks him as a stalwart champion as well as the first one to arise in behalf of the Faith in America.
During the entire period of his residence in Chicago Thornton Chase held the position of superintendent of agencies of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Society. His business caused him to travel a great deal. Whenever possible, in whatever city his business took him, he endeavored to scatter the seeds of the Faith, and as the years passed and believers became scattered throughout the country he constantly contacted and inspired them to greater effort in its behalf. Whenever he traveled it was his custom to carry a typewriter, and regardless of where he was, at home, in his office, or in his compartment on the train, he always gave every spare moment to the service of the Faith. He wrote numberless papers, (he never gave a public address extemporaneously); he carried on a
154 WORLD ORDER
voluminous correspondence and he wrote books, articles and poems, many of which have been
published.
His thirst for knowledge was unquenchable, as witnessed by his unending search for the Truth, which finally led him to discover the Faith. His understanding was so great that even the repudiation of the Faith by him through whom he first learned of it, made not the slightest difierence. His understanding of the Teachings, even in the earliest period when practically no authentic material regarding them was available, transcended that limitation and he was able to explain esoteric meanings in the Scriptures as well as to make clear phases of the Bahá’í Teachings that were difficult for others. The things that he said were later upheld by the clear explanations made by the great souls who were sent to this country by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
as well as by the Tablets of the Master.
I vividly recall an afternoon at 475 W. Monroe St., Chicago, the headquarters of the Bahá’í Community. Mr. Chase was endeavoring to assist a young Persian (Ameen Fareed) in the first attempt to translate into English the Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh. My part was, with
the help of several dictionaries, to look up words or synonyms. The young Persian had some knowledge of English, but Thornton Chase’s demands for words that might adequately express the meanings that were concealed in the Persian taxed him beyond his capacity. The translation that finally was obtained was, of course, only for our own satisfaction. Mr. Chase had no idea of preparing it for general use, but his burning desire for the Words of Bahá’u’lláh and his readiness to understand the significance of the words as they were in a painfully painstaking manner translated, made a deep
impression on my youthful consciousness.
Another evidence of his penetrating understanding of the Faith was his eager acceptance of every element of the administration as it was gradually unfolded by the Master in those early days. He was, undoubtedly, inclined toward it by his natural, highly developed sense of order. His appreciation of the principle of order and law is attested to by many writings and poems.
There were many in the early days of the Faith in America who were inclined to question, and of those a goodly number actually abandoned the Faith because they learned that its
[Page 155]
THORNTON CHASE
Teachings included an actual organization. This continued through a number of years and even up to the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit in 1912. Thornton Chase’s endeavors in behalf of the establishment of the House of Spirituality caused some who were opposed to the whole idea of organization to violently oppose him. Many meetings which ordinarily would have served to promote the welfare of the Cause were therefore torn by dissension and strife. Through it all, however, he stood kind but firm, and it undoubtedly was largely his loyalty and constant endeavor that kept alive and functioning the administrative work of the Faith. In those early days the numbers of those Who upheld him naturally were small, and there were periods when it was exceedingly difficult to gather together a sufficient number of men to serve on the administrative body. It was through this circumstance that both Mr. Albert Windust and I were invited to sit in with the members of the newly established House of Justice. The administrative body functioned under that name only one year, but under the conditions prevailing at the time and at the suggestions of Thornton Chase, we two younger men in the Faith were invited to attend the deliberations of the mem 155
hers. After a period our names were proposed to the community as a whole and we were accepted and installed as members of that body. The exigency of the moment was, of course, the justification for what now would certainly be regarded as highly irregular. It must be home in mind that at that time membership was limited to men. When later the name of the body was changed to House of Spirituality and both men and women were enabled to serve, the need for such devices to keep intact the institution of the Faith of God was obviated. It is referred to here only to point out the anxiety of Thornton Chase to uphold and to keep functioning the institution of the Spiritual Assembly, which, in spite of still meager information from the authorities in the Faith, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, he deemed a sacred institution and worthy of every endeavor and sacrifice. To those who have had a long continued association with the Faith and who have witnessed the skillful unfoldment of the administration by our Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, Thornton Chase’s example, his deep insight into the reality of the Teachings and his early championship of that administration, there must come a deep feeling of gratitude to God for awakening a vision so
[Page 156]
v .W“ -5~tw>n:au:
156 WORLD ORDER
profound in one of our number. For the benefit of the reader of this statement who may still be somewhat unfamiliar with the unfoldment of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in America, it should be said that from the earliest days when actual contact with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself had been established there was no longer possible even a reasonable doubt regarding the character of the administrative bodies that were to be established by the Bahá’ís. The Spiritual Assemblies were definitely established by the Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and through every other contact that was made with Him. It remained for the Guardian, after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to establish the National organization, not only in America but in every other country where the numbers of adherents of the Faith made such an establishment feasible. Nevertheless it is wonderful to recall that in the earliest days, Thornton Chase saw clearly the possibility of this great unfoldment, and he had in mind the vision of the establishment even of the Supreme House of Justice.
Undoubtedly the greatest period in the life of Thornton Chase was that which began with his pilgrimage to ‘Akká in 1907 and the years that followed to the end of his earthly life. Since
it was my privilege to accompany him on that journey, I am perhaps better able to tell about it than about the time that follows, for shortly after his return from ‘Akká business changes demanded his moving to California. Of his labors there others, no doubt, are able to tell.
His story of his visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá published as a booklet under the title “In Galilee”, gives the reader some impressions of that visit. It does not, however, present any idea of the way that great soul responded to the loving influence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He was by nature a kindly and affectionate person. His great smile quickly overcame the reserve that his eminent dignity usually inspired. In the presence of the Master he seemed completely melted and overcome by the love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the love and kindness of the believers. Not all of the experiences in that Holy Household were purely pleasurable, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his kindly manner corrected many concepts that, in spite of a broad vision and deep understanding, still were wrong. That ‘Abdu’l-Bahá loved him dearly was obvious, and his response was that of a loving trusting son. The radiant joy of the four days spent there was counterbalanced by the sorrow that came when we were told
[Page 157]
THORNTON CHASE
that, because of agitation on the part of those who opposed the Faith, our stay would have to be shortened. On leaving ‘Akká our party was driven to the Holy Tomb at Bahjí and there we were individually permitted to enter and pray. Thereafter the garden in which Bahá’u’lláh found surcease from the rigors of His prison life was visited, and the journey back to America began.
Mr. Chase was so moved by this departure that he spoke no word during the entire journey and not until he again entered the hospice of the Little Child in Haifa were his tears dried. As we descended the stairs leading from the small second story patio surrounded by the rooms that were ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s prison home and which we had so eager 157
ly ascended only four days before, four days that were in their significance to our lives like eternity, Mr. Chase said, “The Master has assured me that I will return to this place soon. This reconciles me to this unbearable departure.”
It will be recalled that shortly before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived in America, Mr. Chase passed on. Without question all Who knew him will testify that he knew the reality of the meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and even though it was not destined that he should once again physically visit that abode of light, he attained that visit in the true spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice for the love of God which was the animating and dominating force in his life.
Mighty indeed have been the tasks accomplished and the victories
achieved by this sorely-tried undefeatahle Faith within the space of a century! Its unfinished tasks, its future victories, as it stands on the threshold of the second Bahá’í century, are greater still. In the brief space of the first hundred years of its existence it has succeeded in diffusing its light over five continents, in erecting its outposts in the furthermost corners of the earth, in establishing, on an impregnable basis its Covenant with all mankind, in rearing the fabric of its world-encompassing Administrative Order, in casting off many of the shackles hindering its total emancipation and world-wide recognition, in registering its initial Victories over royal, political and ecclesiastical adversaries, and in launching the first of its systematic crusades for the spiritual conquest of the whole planet.
—SHOGHI EFFENDI in God Passes By
For My Sons
EVELYN V. LOVEDAY
FOR YOU, my young sons, I
wish as does any mother that life may be kind to you. I wish, too, that you may be kind to life. There is so much to do, so much to give and a lifetime is very brief. I wish for you a full and a rich life; knowing as I say it that it will be thus only as you live fully and richly.
You will make many mistakes.
' But it is the wise man who can make his mistakes work for him —who can wring the last drop of knowledge there is to be gained from those mistakes.
I would have you feel all about you the infinite mercy and, love of God. This will he in direct proportion to your own love for God, and your desire for spiritual growth and understanding. I care not how you find Him, or by what path you travel toward Him. But this I do know, that until you constantly “practice the presence of God” you will be but an empty shell of a human.
I wish that you may he always alert and sensitive to the sufl'erings and needs of your fellow humans. The greatest need of the world in this time is for all people to realize their fullest potentialities religiously, social ly and economically.
I wish that I may make you see very clearly the way in which‘ hatred, bigotry and prejudice are the worst enemies confronting the world today. And I would wish still further that you may become leaders in your generation to wipe out these enemies that are constant deterrents toward a peaceful and sane world.
I suppose I would be a strange mother indeed, did I not wish for you material success. This need not concern me unduly, for you have within you the potentialities for such success. Rather am I concerned that you maintain a sense of good balance between reality and unreality; between the “things of the spirit” and the “things of the flesh.” I would wish that you be fully conscious that in the final reckoning, material success will be as nought, and only the amount you have given of yourselves to the world will be worth counting.
I wish that you may constantly and increasingly become aware of two great attributes; loving kindness and understanding. With these as your goal you cannot help achieving all and more than I dare hope for you.
158
[Page 159]
WITH OUR READERS
THIS August issue of World Order is planned especially to show the relation of Bahá’u’lláh to Christ and of the Bahá’í Faith to Christianity. We hope it will answer the questions of many inquiring Christians; definitely refute the rather prevalent idea that the Bahá’í Faith is simply another cult not worthy the time for investigation; turn sincere souls into the path of search so that they may realize that we are living in the Day of Days, the Day promised in all the Holy Scriptures, that we are living in a time unparalleled in the past and not to be repeated for a full 100,000 years.
The leading place in this number is given to Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet to the Pope, one of many Tablets or letters addressed by Bahá’u’lláh to kings and ecclesiastics of Christendom. Of this Tablet Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, has written: “To Pope Piux IX, the undisputed head of the most powerful church in Christendom, possessor of both temporal and spiritual authority, He, a prisoner in the army barracks Of the penal colony of ‘Akká, addressed a most weighty epistle, in which He announces that ‘He who is the Lord of Lords is come overshadowed with clouds,’ and that
‘the Word which the Son concealed
is made manifest’. ”
When ‘Abdu’l- Bahá was in this country in 1912 he gave His universal message to all types of audiences and very often in churches. “ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s first public appearance before a western audience,” writes Sho ghi Effendi, “significantly enough
took place in a Christian house of worship, when on September 10, 1911, He addressed an overflowing congregation from the pulpit of City Temple.” This was in London. And in speaking of the miracle of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s extensive western tour and addresses in western cities Shoghi Effendi writes: “He, Who, in His Own words, had entered prison as a youth and left it an old man, Who never in His life had faced a public audience, had attended no school, had never moved in Western circles, and was unfamiliar with Western customs and language, had arisen not only to proclaim from pulpit and platform, in some of the chief capitals of Europe and in the leading cities of the North American continent, the distinctive verities enshrined in His Father’s Faith, but to demonstrate as well the Divine origin of the Prophets gone before Him, and to disclose the nature of the tie binding them to that Faith.”
The address of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “The Path to the Kingdom”, which we print this month is typical of many of His addresses in that it shows the universal need of true religion and expounds clearly the new and fundamental principles necessary for this ag e which have been revealed by Bahá’u’lláh. This address was given in the Bap tist Temple, Philadelphia. Our readers will remember that in the October, 1944, issue of World Order we called attention in this department to the uniqueness of the occasion of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s appearance in this church. We repeat this in part for the bene 159
160
fit of new readers of the magazine. “A most interesting and unusual church visited by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the Baptist Temple in Philadelphia. Dr. Russell H. Conwell, founder and pastor at that time, had made a visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in ‘Akká in 1908 and while there he extended an invitation to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to speak in his church if He should ever come to Philadelphia.” This is the only recorded case when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá fulfilled an engagement in a Christian church previously requested in ‘Akká when there seemed no prospect of His coming to America.
“The Mission of the Lord Christ” is a chapter in the book entitled The Promise of All Ages by George Townshend. Canon Townshend is Archdeacon of Clonfert, Ireland. This scholarly Christian has delved deeply into Bahá’í scriptures, has written extensively about the Bahá’í Faith with deep love, appreciation and understanding and, as is clear,
from the chapter here printed accepts Bahá’u’lláh as “The Promised One.”
The first one to accept the Bahá’í Faith in the United States was Thornton Chase. As a student of Oriental languages and philosophies he sensed the importance of the Bahá’í message when he first learned of it and upon investigation'accepted it. “The Gift of God” is a chapter from his book, now out of print, entitled The Bahá’í Revelation, in which he presents this Revelation as a fulfillment of Bible teachings and prophecies.
The interesting account of Thornton Chase’s life and experience, which we are printing in this number, is told by Carl Schefi'ler who knew him intimately for many years and was associated with him in Bahá’í activi WORLD ORDER
ty. Mr. Schefl’ler has contributed several articles to W orld Order. The most recent was in the June, 1944, number on “The Significance of the Universal House of Worship.” Mr. Scheffler was for a number of years a member of the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly, has served the Cause as a teacher and lecturer and in many other ways. He is an artist residing in Evanston, Illinois.
The following excerpt, taken from a weekly column written by the Rev. C. W. Chandler and published in a New Zealand paper, gives us the thoughts of one thoughtful Christian clergyman.
“Nothing short of a Second Coming, or sudden appearance, or the birth of a prophet will effect the transformation that is needed. Wilson’s Fourteen Points were thought to be too Utopian, and the Atlantic Charter itself will need more than wishful thinking to bring it into effect . . .”
Fifty years ago the great Christian scholar, Professor Jowett of Oxford University wrote concerning the Bahá’í Revelation: “This is the greatest light the world has seen since Christ, but it is too great and too
close for the world to appreciate its full import.”
Garreta Busey in her editorial shows that instruction in religion is an indispensable part of education of the whole personality and that this need is in no way met in our present system of education.
“F or My Sons” is Evelyn V. Loveday’s first contribution to W orld Order. Mrs. Loveday is a member of the Bahá’í Assembly in Brookline, Massachusetts, and has served at Green Acre Bahá’í School.
—THE EDITORS
Bahá’í World Faith
This book contains a representative selection of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l- Baha, and is the largest collection of Blahai
literature in English translation now available In one volume.
. A detailed Table of Contents and an Index make the Bahá” 1 teach» ix'igs readily accessible for study as well as reading and meditation.
The plan, of the book arranges the contents in nine chapters, as V folloWs:Part One—Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
Chapter One——The Great Announéement Chapter Two—The Promised One Chapter Three—The Life of the Soul Chapter F our—Laws of the New Age Chapter Five—J'he Mystery of God
Part. Two—Wfitings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Chapter Six—The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh Chapter Seven—Soul, Mind and Spirit Chapter Eight—The Loom of Reality Chapter Nine—The Divine Plan
Each of these chapters has been treated as a unit of significance, _ i ”and the sequence of the nine chapters conveys a sense of the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, His Will and Testament, the Tablets and Addresses of ‘Abdu’l- Bahá, and in His Testament and Plan for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The passages selected have been taken from fifteen different publications as well as from the National Archives. '
Printed on thin light paper and bound in green fabrikoid. 465 pages._ Per copy, $1. 50. Bahá’í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
[Page 162]
"TRU’I‘HSWFOR A NEW DAY
/ .‘ promulgated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá throughout North America. in 1912
These teachings were given by Bahá’u’lláh‘ over seventy years ag 0 and are to be '
found in His published writings of tkqt time.
The oneness of mankind.
Independent investigation of truth. The founfléit'idn of all IaIfgiofis- is ':one. Religion must be the chase of unity.
Religion must be in 1awccgrd wnh science and reason._. - . , .
Equality betWeen men and women. V , ‘ _ lPrejudice of_ .aI‘I kinds must Be forgotten. Universal peaqé. ' 7 " UniversaI educauo'n. I i ,- '
Spiritual solution of the economic problem. 3A universal language. An international tribunal.
