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[Page 223]

WORLD ORDER

NOVEMBER, 1946

A BAHÁ’Í PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION — John Stroessler

SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO MORAL CONDUCT — Jack B. Fatooh

WE LONG FOR DIVINE GUIDANCE — Shirley Warde

BLAZING THE TRAIL — Stanwood Cobb

THIS GLORY, THIS POWER, Editorial — Horace Holley

‘AKKÁ, Poem — Laura Romney Davis

THE PROMISED DAY IS COME, Book Review — Mabel Hyde Paine

DOUBLE RAINBOW, Poem — Nell Griffith Wilson

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION, Part One — Fanny Knobloch

WITH OUR READERS

15c

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE

[Page 224]

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 XXXVII of the continuous Bahá’í publication.

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: Eleanor S. Hutchens, William Kenneth Christian, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.

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Printed in U.S.A.

NOVEMBER, 1946, VOLUME XII, NUMBER 8

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. Content copyrighted 1946 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE

[Page 225]

WORLD ORDER

The Bahá’í Magazine

VOLUME XII   NOVEMBER, 1946   NUMBER 8

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A Bahá’í Philosophy of Education

JOHN STROESSLER

INTRODUCTION

IN analyzing the educational implications of the Bahá’í Faith, one must bear in mind the very nature of the faith itself. The educational theories and practices that have proven most consistent are those which stem from basic philosophical beliefs. Education, in this sense, is a follower. It derives its strength and unity from man’s fundamental concepts. Where it can follow a clearly defined path it is most effective. An educational plan that tries to create its own philosophy confuses methods with beliefs.

The Bahá’í believes the ultimate reality to be God, and while he does not ignore the world of matter, he feels that it is incomplete and insufficient without the motivating force of the divine wisdom. He believes in the cosmic plan of supreme intelligence in which man, at this level of existence, maintains his free will and possesses a soul that is endowed with a capacity for development toward endless perfection.

The Bahá’í feels that the knowledge of God, through His Manifestation, is the source of all knowledge. The four human criterions of truth, i.e. sense perception, logical reason, scriptural interpretation and inspiration, are all subject to error. Only through the “breaths and promptings” of the Holy Spirit may the realities of knowledge be attained. By its quickening influence the mind is enabled to draw conclusions and perfect knowledge. Man does not create truths; he merely discovers them.

The relationship of the individual to God is of primary importance, that through the guidance of God the individual may transform society. Obedience to the will of God is the source of his well-being. In this way will he obtain real freedom, since self is the only prison. Man, as an individual, may rise above his environment; but man, in a collective [Page 226] sense, remains on the same level with it.

EDUCATIONAL VIEWPOINTS

The first essential of social life is that individuals should be able to discern right from wrong. They must learn to see things in their true proportions. Their minds must be freed of prejudice and attuned to the idea of individual investigation of the truth. Selfishness, the greatest foe of social progress, must be overcome. This calls for a change in human nature. Both education and religion are based on the belief that human nature can be changed, for without change there is no life. These changes are of two kinds—one slow and gradual, the other rapid and dramatic. Mankind is now in one of these critical, or sudden, periods of change. Through the enlightenment of a new Revelation man has had thrust upon him the vista of a new vision of the truth.

The Bahá’í feels that the revelation of God, the Educator, is the most effective instrument for ennobling the world of being and for elevating the minds and souls of men. This education is universal and pervades all things, but those who come into immediate contact with God’s teachings gain the most. Through them he learns their fundamental principles which are the causes and factors of the advancement of nations. Unfortunately, imitations and forms that man injects into these teachings after they have been given, are not conducive to progress.

Besides this spiritual education, which the Bahá’í feels is most important, there is physical education to insure strength and growth of the body, and intellectual education to provide mental training. These must be in good balance since the Bahá’í is not a religious fanatic. He feels that man has both an animal and a spiritual side and that it is the aim of education to enable the spiritual aspect to overcome the natural or animal side. Children should be trained in the principles of religion so that the reverence and love of God may lead them in the ways that will advance themselves and society. The suffering that follows error is not vindictive, but educational and remedial. If one does wrong, all suffer in greater or less degree; while if one does good, all benefit.

The Bahá’í places his faith in the use of educational methods and the precept of good example, rather than violence, for bettering the social state of affairs. All creation depends upon education and development to improve its condition. Man is in need of guidance and education even more [Page 227] than the lower creatures. A cursory glance at the varying degrees of civilization in the world today will show what education or the lack of it will do. The deprivation of education denies to man that which he inherently possesses. He is like a mine, undeveloped, yet rich in potential treasures. Education causes them to be revealed and enables mankind to benefit thereby.

Nature is the material world. It is incomplete and imperfect until it responds to the stimulus of education. All scientific discoveries and accomplishments are latent in nature and would remain so unless man, through education, discovers the laws which control them.

While man possesses powers in common with the animal, he is not likewise a captive of nature. He is distinguished from the animal by intellectual attainment, the acquisition of virtues, and spiritual perception. The educated man is one who has been lifted out of his natural state. God has ordained that man should perfect the qualities with which he is endowed. This responsibility to God is the prime mover, the utmost stimulus, in the search for self-betterment. If a child is left in its natural state and deprived of education, its mental faculties will become dulled and it will grow up in ignorance and illiteracy. It will become like an animal.

It is evident that while education improves the morals of man, raises his station, and gives him the advantages of civilization, there is nevertheless a difference in the intrinsic or inherent capacity of individuals. Every member of the human race is, however, capable and worthy of education. No one should be denied or deprived of intellectual training, but should receive according to his needs and capacities.

Despite the acknowledgement of individual differences in capacity and ability, the essentials and standards of teaching should be brought into agreement and conformity throughout the world. This is the avenue toward unity. A universal curriculum should be established. and the basis of ethics be the same. Everyone should be given a knowledge of as much science and philosophy as may be deemed necessary. A universal language should be selected and taught in all the schools of the world as an international auxiliary tongue. A universal script, weight, measurement, and monetary systems would be further developments of the plan.

The purpose and object of schools, colleges, and universities is to awaken in man the capability of controlling and appropriating [Page 228] nature’s bounties. Education must be considered as most important. It has a universal influence and the differences caused by it are very great. It is the duty of every parent to provide for the adequate education of his children. His taxes must contribute to the support of education, and no child is to be denied educational opportunities because of economic status. The community or state must provide funds for the teaching of the needy child.

The Bahá’í believes in equality of opportunity for both sexes. Daughters and sons should be allowed curricular opportunities with no discrimination. Only by granting women full rights with men, will they be able to make their adequate contribution to society. In fact, the education of women is of greatest importance because the first teachers of children are the mothers. Enlightenment in the home is a powerful influence in developing the child and awakening his talents. He can then be taught in his impressionable years to know things which he later would have to discover by doing.

The place of the teacher in Bahá’í education is extremely important. If the educator be incompetent, the educated will be correspondingly lacking. The teacher must be adequately prepared. Unless he is well educated and of the best character, his influence will be little. Those who give good counsel, which they themselves do not follow, are little respected. The teacher must be humble and not pride himself on his attainments. He must forget self, and bend his energies to whatever may foster the cause of education. Through his kindliness and good will he becomes a cause of the promotion of well-being and peace among men.

The Bahá’í feels that teaching is the noblest of professions. In his will he provides not only for his family, but for his teachers. Yet his dependence upon teachers is not complete. He feels that for the child a teacher is necessary, but that the true aim is to hear with his own ears, to see with his own eyes, and to understand with his own mind. He must investigate truth independently. This he finds not in the deeds and actions of men and nations, but in its divine source.

The great teachers of all time are of two kinds; universal and special. The universal teachers are the prophets of God. They are the first educators since they bestow spiritual development upon men, give moral training, and are the instructors of reality. The special teachers are the philosophers who educate along lines of intellectual training. Important [Page 229] as they are, they are unable to educate and train but a limited circle of people. No philosopher can claim the influence of a divine prophet.

The highest education of man is being informed of the teachings of God. This heightens his spiritual susceptibilities, and develops his transcendent powers. He must be taught to love mankind and be acquiescent to the will of God as revealed in the progress of evolution and the teachings of the prophets. In addition, he must be trained in the arts and sciences, as perfect harmony between science and religion is necessary for the higher life of humanity. There must be no conflict between true religion and science. If a point in question can not stand under the inspection of reason and science, faith and belief in it are impossible. The outcome is uncertainty and indecision.

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing, it may be concluded that the Bahá’í values spiritual development and character growth as the things of paramount importance in education. Education to him is a process of evolving from self-development to self-sacrifice. At the outset, the inherent capacities of the child are awakened and developed in their physical, mental and spiritual aspects. His study of the eternal moral ideas and spiritual truths is coupled with a delving into the knowledges of the arts and sciences. His social consciousness is awakened to a universal state. He learns to assume responsibilities and duties as a world citizen bearing in mind the oneness of religion and the unity of mankind. Progress is through a state of altruism until his powers are so heightened that he rises above material attachments and welcomes self-sacrifice as his reward. This is not in the sense of utter self-abnegation, but in the sense of a vivid realization of his relationship to God and to fellow man.

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Praise be to God! material advancement has been evident in the world but there is need of spiritual advancement in like proportion. 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-BAHÁ

[Page 230]

Scientific Approach to Moral Conduct

JACK B. FATOOH

Personality and the Family by Hornell Hart and Ella B. Hart, Boston, D. C. Heath and Co., 1941.

THE Guardian has written that chastity is a quality “preeminent and vital, which the members of the American Bahá’í community will do well to ponder,” and which “must claim an increasing share of the attention of the American believers.” The war has increased the contrast between the high standards to which we are pledged and “the moral laxity and licentiousness” of so great a proportion of our countrymen. From a “delicate subject”, sex conduct has become a common topic of conversation, treated openly in books, newspapers, magazines and movies.

We have long known the value of scientific findings for proving the oneness of mankind. An example of this use of science is the superb pamphlet, “The Races of Mankind”, by a committee of persons from the fields of anthropology, anatomy, psychology, physiology, etc. Here the words, “Ye are all the fruits of one tree . . . the flowers of one garden”, are convincingly demonstrated by science. In such fields as sex and marriage, also, we can use the findings of scientific research to show the worthiness of our high standards.

A recent trend in American universities is to present courses with an objective, scientific approach on sex and marriage, to assist students in achieving a happier married life. Of the textbooks published for these courses, one is especially worthy of study: Personality and the Family by Dr. and Mrs. Hornell Hart of Duke University. [This book is described by Dr. Noel Keys who teaches a course, “Youth and Marriage”, at the University of California, as “An admirable effort to find scientific bases for intelligent conduct.”] Besides their presentation of research evidence, the Bahá’í reader will appreciate the authors’ convincing logic, their high, dignified tone and their awareness of the interdependence of humanity and of the delicate emotional and spiritual aspirations of the individual.

In these courses, sound answers are given, based on scientific evidence, to such questions as: What effect, if any, has chastity or promiscuity on married happiness? Why should promiscuity concern anyone besides the persons practicing it?

[Page 231] Each person would answer such questions in terms of his goal in life. To the materialist, humankind is a highly developed animal whose only goal in life is the ample gratification of physical appetites. To the ascetic puritan, physical desire and pleasure are regarded with suspicion as “temptations of the flesh” leading to sin, in creatures “conceived in iniquity” and “born in evil”. To the Bahá’í, the ideal life is both physical and spiritual development and happiness. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “All material things are for us so that through our gratitude we may learn to understand life as a divine benefit.” “In creation, there is no evil; all is good.” The only evil is misuse. Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “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.”

“Chastity,” said Shoghi Effendi, “should be strictly practiced by both sexes, not only because it is in itself highly commendable ethically, but also due to its being the only way to a happy and successful marital life.” Dr. Hart and other investigators have measured the happiness of married persons from different backgrounds and thus are able to distinguish which factors are followed by happiness and which by unhappiness. For example, “the marriages of virgins to virgins are reported as about 30 percent above the average in happiness, while those of thoroughly promiscuous couples are a little more than half as happy as the average.” In good scientific tradition, conclusions are questioned: “Conceivably some people are promiscuous because of certain instabilities of personality which would cause unhappiness even if the person were strictly monogamous. However, a number of reasons are apparent why promiscuity should cause unhappiness, and these reasons fit well with the data which have just been cited.”

What may these reasons be? Perhaps the most important is spiritual degeneration, which causes the greatest unhappiness. “Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof,” Bahá’u’lláh advises us. “Beware that ye approach them not, inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires, and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path.” The Harts, as sociologists, affirm this fact: “Studies of actual [Page 232] instances of promiscuous sex relations indicated a very widespread tendency for people who engage in them to take the individualistic rather than the altruistic attitude toward their partners and toward the other personalities involved in their adventures . . .

“In general, Bromley and Britten’s data indicate that the more promiscuous a man is, the more callous is his indifierence to what happens to his sex partners. The psychological laws which govern social relations make this ruthless individualism unsuccessful as a means of seeking fulfillment of personality. The persons toward whom we take an exploitive or ruthless attitude are practically certain, in the long run, to come to regard us as menacing and damaging stimuli. Toward such stimuli most people take attitudes of reprisal, precautionary attack, or avoidance. The ruthless and exploitive person, therefore, builds up against himself, in the people around him a rising tide of anger, hatred, and loathing. These emotional forces seek to attack and demolish his personality. The longer he persists in his individualistic exploitation, the stronger becomes this destructive pressure. Instead of fulfillment of personality, he is creating increasingly inevitable damage of personality.”

Bahá’u’lláh said, “They that follow their lusts and corrupt inclinations have erred and dissipated their efforts. They indeed are of the lost.” This loss is now seen by sociologists. “When the physiological motive predominates strongly,” write the Harts, “esthetic, intellectual, affectional, and social overtones which make love relations intensely beautiful are largely lacking, or are present only in crude and unsatisfactory forms. . . Either the relationships must be kept free from really intense and splendid emotional experience, or one or both of the participants is apt to fall in love with the other. These adventures are likely to build up the habit of casualness—a habit strongly buttressed as a defense against acquiring emotional encumbrances.”

Shoghi Effendi said, “The Bahá’í Faith recognizes the value of the sex impulse, but condemns its illegitimate and improper expressions such as free love, companionate marriage and others, all of which it considers positively harmful to man and to the society in which he lives.” How harmful to society? Perhaps it is best shown by these conclusions from a study of the attitude [Page 233] toward marriage of sexually experienced unmarried persons: “Only two-thirds of the women would like to be married and none of the men. . . It is not for love that the women desire marriage but for security, companionship, and protection, and, in several cases, for children. The men are afraid of marriage and of fatherhood; all are afraid of the economic burden of a family and some fear the moral obligation of being faithful to one woman.”

Of this and similar studies, the Harts write: “Such data confirm the conclusion that sexual promiscuity does not tend to produce an abundant supply of mentally and physically healthy children. This conclusion will affect various types of people variously. Some men and women care a great deal about whether they participate normally and creatively in the processes of the universe of which they are a part. . .

“Many other people are indifferent to any racial significance of their lives. They want merely to have an exciting time with their bodies and in their social relationships. Such people, today, are given a good deal of freedom to make that choice and to live that sort of life. . . The attempt to ignore the larger and more fundamental racial meanings of one’s existence may, however, involve a series of unexpectedly painful maladjustments and failures. In the long run the inexorable processes of survival will ruthlessly eliminate from the earth those biological and social groups who prefer sexual promiscuity to creative parenthood.”

Shoghi Effendi said, “Sex relationships of any form, outside marriage, are not permissible therefore, and whoso violates this rule will not only be responsible to God, but will incur the necessary punishment from society.” The assertion that one couple’s promiscuousness affects no one else and is therefore of no concern to society is discussed by the Harts: “Advocates of more freedom have urged that sex relations should be regarded as a personal matter, and should be no more interfered with or regulated than are friendships. But the study of history and of ethnology indicates that in all probability there has never been a culture in which sex relations have not been regulated by public sentiment, if not by laws. The reason for this is readily seen in the nature of expanded personalities. People interpenetrate each other; they are emotionally parts [Page 234] of each other. Rare is the couple which does not have, on one or both sides, parents, brothers, sisters, or close friends in whose lives they play a vital part. Even if a couple should be completely independent of these social bonds, their conduct affects the general patterns of sexual conduct, and every member of society feels that those patterns are likely to menace or bless his own life.”

Thus we can see how emphatically a scientific, sociological approach to sex conduct affirms the teachings of the Manifestations. While enrolled in the course under Dr. Noel Keys, I marveled at the unerring wisdom of the Revelators of God Who, with no scientific research at Their disposal, knew how to guide men to the only way of life which could give the greatest happiness which God intended for them. This academic course, more than any other, helped me to appreciate the meaning of these words from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: “Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. . . We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance. . . That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity and wickedness. . . Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and heaven.”

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In one of the Tablets these words have been revealed: O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behavior. Valiant acts will insure the triumph of this Cause, and a saintly character will reinforce its power.

—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

[Page 235]

We Long for Divine Guidance

SHIRLEY WARDE

WHEN the ancient Jews were in captivity in Egypt few recognized at the time the miracle that was Moses. In the midst of the crumbling Roman Empire only a handful were aware of the miraculous portent of the appearance of Jesus, Whose teachings were to revitalize past truth and by its broader exposition lay the foundation for a new civilization. Nor did the wild tribesmen of Arabia know that a humble camel driver named Muḥammad was to perform the miracle of turning their lawlessness into order, their disunity into unity, their ignorance into wisdom and to create a new chapter in the evolution of civilization which was to spread its influence far into the western world through the arts, sciences, the mathematics and astrology generated in the Islamic countries.

Today we look and hope for another such miracle. We long for the Divine guidance, the spiritual leadership, the dynamic power to “prepare the hearts and minds of men” for participation in world government, as Beardsley Ruml so concisely defines the problem. And world government we are now coming to realize as our only practical goal.

Yet the miracle is taking place in our midst. It is taking place in seventy-eight countries and among thirty-five racial groups. It is taking place, for one, in Palestine, where Jew, Arab and Christian are in embattled conflict. Yet behind a thin door in various portions of this land there are large groups of Jews, Arabs and Christians who outwardly appear to be exactly like their fellows. But there is a vital difference. They are unified in a bond that is closer than race, nationalism or even blood. They have a common standard, a common goal, a common consciousness of oneness and all division between them has ceased to exist.

In the United States our cities are embroiled in the conflict of labor and management, burn with the prejudices of white, black and yellow, and everywhere there is evidence of clashing opinions, individual greeds, growing fear and suspicion, lack of moral integrity and an appalling dearth of clear vision and clean-cut decision.

Yet behind thin doors throughout the continent from the cities of Mexico to the furthermost province of Canada and in every one of our forty-eight States, [Page 236] these same representatives of labor and management, of black and white and yellow, these same rich and poor, wise and ignorant, famous and unknown citizens of North America have dissolved their differences. Today they recognize only the bond of their common humanity and their common goal of enduring peace and a world community.

Is this a miracle? Then it is happening, too, in Latin America where national animosities, jealousies, economic advantages and suspicions breed constant friction. But again behind thin doors from Panama to the Magallanes the Chilean and the Argentinian, the Uraguayan and Brazilian and Peruvian, the Indian and Spaniard, the black and the white, all meet and work and worship together in a unity that knows no barriers.

India looms as a great problem in today’s world. Her political rulers worry over what the future may hold. But they, too, have only to open doors from Kashmir to Travancore to find the problems already solved. Behind those doors they would behold the spectacle of Brahman and Hindu and untouchable living, eating, working and worshiping together with no trace of the age-old barriers that had formerly existed between them. And among them might be found English, Americans, Turks, Persians or Egyptians, the whole group unified in purpose and in action.

In Germany the Nazis could not enslave all Germans. There were those who, when ordered to segregate the Jews among them, had the courage to refuse. They recognized, they said, no differences among men. True, they were persecuted, brought to private and public trial because they opposed war, upheld religion and refused to hate or oppress any fellow human. It is a miracle in itself that most of them remained alive to rise again in city after city of their shattered homeland to proclaim anew the oneness of humanity and to join again with their fellow workers as they found them in the occupying armies of England, France and America, and to take up the interrupted task of guiding the hearts and minds of men towards peace and world order.

A miracle? Yet it is happening —in France, in Norway, in Austria and the whole Balkans. It is happening in Australia and New Zealand, in Alaska and Hawaii and the Philippines. Yes, and in Burma, in Egypt and Iceland— in seventy-eight countries of the world this miracle is taking place under the very eyes of those who will not see and who still grope blindly for light by which to tread the path to tomorrow.

[Page 237] What has so changed these thousands upon thousands of the earth’s contending peoples? What has been able to gather the races, the religions and the nationalities together in a unity such as the world longs to attain? It is because these peoples alone have recognized that the Divine miracle has again been performed, though mankind as a whole is no more aware of it than were the masses in the days of Christ, of Moses, of Muḥammad or of any other of the great spiritual Educators Who appeared proclaiming that they spoke with the Voice of God, bringing the Divine guidance to the age in which they arose.

At one time in history those who recognized that Divine guidance called themselves Jews, at another Buddhists, at another Christians, and at still another Muḥammadans. Today they call themselves Bahá’ís—or “followers of the Light”.

The Light they follow today first rose upon the horizon of our age a full century ago, announcing a new era of human history —the age of unity among the sons of men. The Speaker for this Dispensation, the Bahá’ís recognize in Bahá’u’lláh—the “Glory of God”—Who, throughout a lifetime of persecution, exile and imprisonment in Persia, the land of His birth, in Turkey and finally in ‘Akká, Palestine, persistently called an unheeding world to unity. It is almost eighty years since He urged the rulers of the earth to meet in international consultation as the first step towards peace and world security. It was long before mankind even glimpsed the needs of today that Bahá’u’lláh set down in detailed blueprint the structure of world government, designating the institutions and procedures for such a government, as well as the spiritual laws under which it must function, and filled more than a hundred volumes with the Teachings that have so recreated the hearts and minds of those who follow them that miracles are taking place in every country of the world.

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The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting.

—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

[Page 238]

Blazing the Trail

STANWOOD COBB

IT IS inspiring to Bahá’ís, as it is to others, to observe how over the course of the years, since the beginnings of Bahá’u’lláh’s world movement in 1863, secular world leaders have followed unconsciously the trail spiritually blazed by Bahá’u’lláh, in establishing a divinely inspired pattern for world organization and world civilization.

Over a generation ago there began, with Zamenoff, an attempt at an artificial universal language —Esperanto, a creation which now has half a dozen active competitors. Economic as well as cultural groups are definitely realizing today the need for a common world script and a world auxiliary language.

The problem of the abolition of poverty, and the responsibility for such resting upon the shoulders of all governments, is activating economic and sociological forces which are still in process of stimulating world-wide portentous movements in the direction of economic justice and social equity.

The goal of world federation and international government, implementing world peace, was put into practical action by Woodrow Wilson, who was acquainted with the writings of Bahá’u’lláh. This first attempt, rendered futile by the reluctance of individual nations to renounce the ways of warfare and of nationalistic power, is now being resurrected, in the United Nations, revivified by humanity’s abysmal fear of atomic bomb destruction in case of another world war.

The problem of disarmament, so inexorably bound up with any attempts at international controls, is for the first time receiving serious though reluctant attention, again because of the atomic terror.

The year 1946 witnesses the first world organization leading toward international controls in world trade—the International Trade Organization initiated and chiefly sponsored at present by this country—eventually to function as a subsidiary of United Nations. And for the first time in history nations are beginning to concern themselves with the problems of vast illiteracy in countries of subnormal civilization. The London Conference on International Education has evolved the permanent United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, later to function [Page 239] as part of United Nations. This conference stressed the needs of universal education, and the problem of how to make education a factor for world peace and internationalism rather than a factor for blatant and of egotistic nationalism.

Thus we live to witness, within a generation, the secular development of ideals, arms, and institutions, expressing those world goals proclaimed and forecast by Bahá’u’lláh, this spirit-of-the-times, this “zeit-gheist”, this trend-of-things, this current of world opinion and action now tending strongly toward world peace and world unification— what is all this but the Will of God for the world today; that impelling evolutionary power of that cosmic force which Christ called The Holy Spirit?

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Behold how its light is now dawning upon the world’s darkened horizon. The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned. The second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will erelong be witnessed. The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass. The fourth candle is unity in religion which is the cornerstone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendor. The fifth candle is unity of the nations—a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and every one of these will inevitably come to pass inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

[Page 240]

Editorial

This Glory, This Power

THE world today is like an ancient forest which has been assailed by a violent, a long-continued storm. Tempest has uprooted enormous, deep-rooted trees. Lightning has blasted great areas with searing flame. Upon the earth lie prostrate trunks. Riven branches hang from trees still standing or heap the disheveled earth as with the limbs of the dishonored, neglected dead.

What towering oaks had slowly, year upon year, decade after decade, for generations and centuries, raised their columns to the sky—king and emperor, assembly and parliament, kaiser and czar, diplomat and priest—the power and glory of an ancient era, the lords of men and captains of nations, now in violence have come to end. They whose words were laws, whose desire was a scepter, whose will was a sealed judgment, whose presence was terror and whose actions dominated the history of mankind —they, even they, were at last overthrown. Distilled in the cup of their ambition, the bitter poison of their war and their dissension consumed their souls. Their flesh and their heritage, unsupported by divine power, crumbled to earth and rejoined the worm.

From the small, weak seed to the titan of the forest; from the majestic wide-branched, myriad-leaved tree to a handful of decay scattered across the surface of the earth: this sequence, this cycle, this unit of time and space we witness, we comprehend, we encompass with our feeling and our thought. Its beginning and its end meet in the orbit of each little year. Every highway used by men passes grove or wood where the child can see nature’s beginning and end.

But how blind is the world to the larger orbit which encompasses the birth and death of peoples, the coming and going of civilizations, the rise and fall of systems, the glory and ignomy of discarded philosophies and abandoned, impotent creeds. We create a civilization to endure for ever, and in our haste we forget that there is no power but truth, no glory save justice and no authority except servitude to God. Then, in bewilderment, in agony, in terror, in conflict the circle of destiny rounds upon itself. What had been regarded as power and [Page 241] glory stands suddenly revealed as nothing else than denial of God.

Our time witnesses the greatest of all beginnings and the greatest of all endings. The ancient forest that is doomed is not one famous city or fabulous empire, it is the condition of division, denial and conflict wherever and however organized and established throughout the whole world. In one obscure and insignificant land the church and state combined and conspired to slay the Báb, in whom Christ had returned. In that action all states and creeds were conjoined, for all had contributed to the condition which existed on earth when He returned. Hence the long-continued tempest and eruption of society: the denier and the denial have been or will be uprooted and laid low.

With equal force, new life is given the seed which mysteriously envelops the future arising amid the wreckage of the past. To the rulers Bahá’u’lláh said: “Arise to enforce the law of God amongst them, that thou mayest be of those who are firmly established in His law.” To the churches He said: “We have decreed, O people, that the highest and last end of all knowledge be the recognition of Him who is the object of all knowledge . . . In the plain of guidance He calleth mankind, whilst ye are numbered with the dead! Great is the blessedness of him who is stirred by the Breeze of God, and hath arisen from amongst the dead in this perspicuous Name.” To the people He said: “Retrace your steps, O My servants, and incline your hearts to Him who is the Source of your creation. Deliver yourselves from your evil and corrupt affections. . . Though the wonders of My mercy have encompassed all created things . . yet the rod with which I can chastise the wicked is grievous. . .”

The destruction operates through men themselves, in the disunity which prevails within, and between, the races, peoples and nations of earth. The inability of mankind to accept the universal law of God compels the people to gather around principles and policies which are limited and not universal, and their loyalty to a limited and exclusive policy brings them into certain conflict with other limited societies and groups. Thus the destruction continues until the era is made incapable of further extension. Meanwhile, feeble and insignificant in appearance, the little community which consciously seeks to promote the law of God has been entrusted with the future of mankind. This weakness [Page 242] and not the military organization of the nations is power; this servitude and not the pride of the worldly great is glory.

The essential purpose of human society is to express the will of God acting through man. The Prophet is the true Lawgiver; and there is no peace until the peoples assemble around His law and His truth.

—H. H.

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‘AKKA

Laura Romney Davis

Dark ‘Akká! ancient fortress beside the Eastern sea

Where Christian fought with Saracen in days that used to be;

Drear ‘Akká! in whose dungeon tombs beside thy changeless tide

Lay rotting hapless prisoners whom earth had cast aside;

Dread ‘Akká! citadel accursed by anguish and despair

Of all the myriads who were doomed to pine and perish there.

Till lo, one day from Persia’s land, by order of the Turk,

A Prisoner passed within thy gates into thy filth and murk—

A Prisoner such as ne’er before thy dungeons did enclose—

A Messenger of God, a Man destined to heal earth’s woes.

Within thy darkest dungeon, with the lowest dregs of men,

They locked the irons round His neck, and beat Him yet again.

His dear ones—wife and family, and follower and friend—

Chose life within thy prison walls; their days with Him to spend.

His gaolers came, and marveled when they saw the face of Him

Whom Sháh and Mullá had condemned for heresy and sin.

The winds that blew o’er ‘Akká and found this Prisoner there

Swept out the stench and staleness with a purer, fresher air.

The stagnant sea of ‘Akká felt the holy Presence too,

And, cleansed and purified, it sparkled, brilliant, blue.

Those whose souls could listen, and those whose hearts could hear

Thrilled with a new conviction of God’s Kingdom drawing near.

For this Prisoner brought the promise of the Day of God on earth—

The Day the Prophets prophesied, for which mankind had birth—

The promise of a world reborn, a new, God-given plan

With peoples joined to peoples in the brotherhood of man.

To Him who came to ‘Akká a prisoner in chains,

Whose Message rings around the world, o’er mountains, seas and plains,

Whose clarion call flung wide the gates to usher in God’s Day,

Oh! may our minds be open; our hearts and wills obey.

Bright ‘Akká thou art purified because He dwelt in thee.

Thy Prisoner from Persia has cleansed and set thee free.

Fair ‘Akká! lovely city at the foot of Carmel curled,

The New Day dawns, and crowns thee the center of the world!

[Page 243]

THE PROMISED DAY IS COME

Book Review

MABEL HYDE PAINE

The Promised Day is Come by Shoghi Effendi. Bahá’í Publishing Committee, Wilmette, Illinois, 1941.

THIS book, written by the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi Effendi, presents to the Bahá’ís of the West and through them to the western world what posterity may well judge as among the most dramatic episodes in the history of the human race. The drama, spiritual in its essence, moves through the hearts and actions of the leaders and people of the Christian and Muḥammadan worlds between the years 1844 and 1944.

In the opening pages Shoghi Effendi represents the times of supreme suffering through which the world is now passing as “a tempest, unprecedented in its violence, unpredictable in its course, catastrophic in its immediate efiects, unimaginably glorious in its ultimate consequences.” It will bring man eventually to a realization that, to quote Bahá’u’lláh, “The Kingdom is God’s, the Almighty, the All-Praised.”

Those who have recognized Bahá’u’lláh as the Mouthpiece of God see in these unprecedented sufferings of mankind, “a visitation from God and a cleansing process for all mankind”. The Object of this visitation is both to punish mankind for their forgetfulness of God and the sins into which this forgetfulness has plunged them, and through their sufferings to soften their hearts until they are ready to unite in building a new world order based on an unshakeable realization of the unity of mankind under the Fatherhood of God.

But these great sweeping statements need to be explained in the light of the spiritual meaning of what has happened to mankind in the last hundred years, the hundred years since the inception of the Bahá’í Faith.

God has not been silent, but has spoken to His people as of old, “Through the mouths of His Holy Prophets which have been since the world began.” “In a hundred volumes”, to quote our author, “the repositories of priceless precepts, mighty laws, unique principles, impassioned exhortations” and “reiterated warnings” Bahá’u’lláh “. . . has proclaimed as no prophet before Him has done, the mission with which God has entrusted Him.” All this while He was a prisoner and an exile. For this purpose He had forsaken fame and fortune, submitted to physical torture and cruel deprivations.

What was the response of the world? His followers in the Moslem world were subjected to such persecutions as the world had not till that time witnessed. Rulers and kings looked on with indifference while the corrupt Moslem priesthood incited the populace to make away with as many as twenty thousand heroic adherents who refused to give up their Faith.

Bahá’u’lláh directed His Message, as no Prophet before Him had done, to the rulers of the world. He did this, Shoghi Effendi points out, because [Page 244] these rulers, at the time of the proclamation of the Bahá’í Faith in 1863, wielded absolute authority. The mass of the people had not the freedom to appraise the merits of that Faith and embrace its truth.

Though a prisoner and exile He sent letters to the most powerful rulers of His time: Napoleon III; Pope Pius IX; Czar Alexander II; Queen Victoria; William I of Germany; Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria-Hungary; ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz, Sulṭán of Turkey and Caliph of Sunní Islám; and the Sháh of Persia. A large part of The Promised Day Is Come is taken up with a brilliant and masterly account of the character of these rulers, their deeds and the results of their deeds, and with quotations from Bahá’u’lláh’s letters to them, letters which bring out “clearly and insistently . . . the truths of His Revelation . . . stress the preciousness of the opportunities which it was in the power of these rulers and leaders to seize . . . and warn them in ominous tones of the grave responsibilities which the rejection of God’s Message would entail” and predict “the dire consequences of such a rejection”.

In two letters to Napoleon III Bahá’u’lláh called upon him to recognize Him as the One foretold by Christ, to desist from his ambitions for worldly conquest and from following the dictates of his desires. If he failed to observe these warnings his kingdom would “be thrown into confusion” and his empire pass from his hands. This prophecy was fulfilled after Napoleon’s defeat at Sedan in 1870.

Pope Pius IX was called upon to accept Bahá’u’lláh and His Message as the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy that He would come again as “The Spirit of Truth”, Who was to tell the “many things” which those of His time “could not bear” and Who was to “lead into all truth”. He was urged to “abandon his kingdom unto kings”, sell his “embellished ornaments” and expend them in the path of God. Soon after this letter had been revealed, the temporal power of the Papacy, Which had already shrunken, received its death blow through the establishment in 1870 of the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital. This humiliation of the Papacy Shoghi Effendi characterizes as “less spectacular” yet “historically more significant than that of Napoleon III”.

The downfall of the German Empire in 1918 had been foretold by Bahá’u’lláh in His letter to William I of Germany, in which He also prophesied that “the sword of retribution” would again be turned upon Berlin.

In short one finds in Bahá’u’lláh’s letters to the kings and rulers of His day, prophecies of the destruction or disappearance of all those dynasties which when those letters were revealed seemed so stable. Our generation has witnessed the fulfillment of these prophecies in the case of the Romanoffs, the Hapsburgs, the Sultanate and the Caliphate. A significant exception was Queen Victoria, whom Bahá’u’lláh praised for heading a representative government of the people and for abolishing slavery.

Both Muḥammadan and Christian worlds were called to account in various letters and in passages from His other works. Here again He placed responsibility for the decline of true religion, and the consequent rejection of His Message, upon the leaders. “Leaders of religion” is His clear and universal censure, “in every age, have hindered their people from [Page 245] attaining the shores of eternal salvation, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in their mighty grasp.”

In the last pages Shoghi Effendi relates the main theme of his book to the problems of our time and removes some misunderstanding which might arise from Bahá’u’lláh’s denunciations of ecclesiastical and temporal rulers. Although Bahá’u’lláh rebuked the kings of His time He did not belittle the principle of kingship, but rather, in many passages, eulogized it as a secondary manifestation of that authority which rests primarily in God. He quotes passages from previous scriptures which enjoin obedience to those invested with authority and Himself speaks of the “majesty of kingship” as one of the “signs of God.” “A just king” is “the shadow of God on earth.” He also prophesies the appearance of a king who will embrace the Bahá’í Faith and protect its followers.

The rebukes to the leaders of the Christian and Muḥammadan Faiths, Shoghi Effendi explains, are not to be interpreted as an attempt to belittle either those faiths or their righteous leaders. The Bahá’í Faith upholds the Divine origin of all the Prophets of God and does not seek to degrade the rank of religious leaders whose “conduct conforms to their profession.”

The fundamental problem of our age is that, to quote Bahá’u’lláh, “the way of God and the religion of God have ceased to be of worth in the eyes of men.” From the “weakening of the pillars of true religion” has come a moral downfall, signs of which meet us at every turn. To this moral downfall we must trace “the spread of lawlessness, drunkenness, and crime; the inordinate love of pleasure, the irreponsible attitude towards marriage, the weakening of parental control, the deterioration in the standard of literature and the press, the advocacy of theories that are the negation of purity, morality and chastity.”

For the worship of the one true God mankind has substituted, among many minor idols, three chief false gods: racialism, nationalism and communism. But in place of these “false and war-engendering doctrines” will come eventually a recognition of the saving truths proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh, such as: “Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples . . . of the earth that . . . all mankind may become the upholders of one order.” “Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you.”

Humanity is now passing through the adolescent stage in its development, a stage marked, as in the development of the individual, by “tumult, impetuosity, pride, self-assurance and contempt of discipline.” From this stage mankind will emerge into maturity, when the ideals of the Bahá’í Faith will become a reality.

In conclusion Shoghi Effendi traces the steps which will lead to this great consummation, steps which must of necessity be taken gradually. They will lead at first to the establishment of the “Lesser Peace”, “which the nations of the earth, as yet unconscious of [Bahá’u’lláh’s] Revelation and yet unwittingly enforcing the general principles which He has enunciated, will themselves establish.” This step “will bring in its wake the spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the recognition of the character, and the acknowledgement of the claims, [Page 246] of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh—the essential condition to that ultimate fusion of all races, creeds, classes, and nations which must signalize the emergence of His New World Order. . . . Then will a world of civilization be born, flourish, and perpetuate itself, a civilization with a fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive.”

With faith in such a goal it becomes the duty of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh to “labor serenely, confidently and unremittingly to lend . . . assistance to the operation of the forces which, as marshalled by Bahá’u’lláh, are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory.”

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DOUBLE RAINBOW

NELL GRIFFITH WILSON

Remembering the double rainbow over the Bahá’í House of Worship,
Wilmette, Illinois, May 21, 1944.

The Temple stood, a citadel of light,

Outlined against a dark, foreboding sky,

When from the lake there rose a mighty storm

With spears of rain, and thunder rolling by.

And then a double rainbow curved above,

A misty halo, when the storm had passed,

To frame in glowing shades the dome of peace,

A breath of loveliness too frail to last.

The people gazed, as if in silent prayer,

Until its radiant beauty dimmed away,

Leaving the Temple like a marble dream

And lasting promise of a brighter Day.

[Page 247]

South African Mission

FANNY KNOBLOCH

In Collaboration With Bertha H. Kirkpatrick

Part One

WHENCE comes the urge to carry the Glad Tidings twelve thousand miles from home? After weeks of helplessness due to a complete nervous collapse, suddenly an overwhelming desire to go to Johannesburg seized me. Friends tried to dissuade me. Members of the firm reasoned against it—offered me an ocean trip. Not the slightest temptation was this to me.

Permission was asked in a cable to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “If according to divine wisdom will you authorize me to teach in South Africa?” The answer came: “Your plan highly advisable,” signed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

After many delays I started on the five weeks’ voyage from New York to Capetown, July 22, 1920. Eagerly inquiring fellow passengers were told of my purpose in visiting South Africa. The stalwart Scotch captain was approached by those interested to know more, and an invitation to tea with the captain followed. After giving close attention to the most wonderful story ever told, this rugged earnest man requested that this story he repeated to the ship’s officers and first and second class passengers. He himself arranged for this lecture. Thus, through the bounty and assistance of ‘Abdu-l-Bahá, the history and proofs of this great Day of God were given, with my heart overflowing with gratitude, to the largest assemblage of that entire journey.

Reading matter was asked for by officers and passengers. Thus soon began the conversation among small groups dealing with the Bahá’í teachings. The seeds sown were carried far and wide, into Mozambique, Salaam, Zanzibar and Lorenco Marques, the Congo and Narobi. A glorious memory!

Capetown! Our first port! Capetown, with its majestic mountains, at whose feet the white crested waves of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans dashed endlessly. The blue sky reflected in the water below! The luxuriant vegetation on the mountain sides! The picturesque natives passing to and fro! What a sight to be remembered! The artistic bungalow homes, each within a garden surrounded by the ever present hedge, five to six feet in height; the brilliant colored flowers, [Page 248] trellises, bushes and flowering trees, like garlands of beauty winding in and out, up and down among the mountains—a most colorful picture. The golden sunshine gave nine months of summer, while three months of rain made the winter. Midwinter is in June.

Having come ashore after dark I was up with the birds next morning. My first day had come.

With no names or letters of introduction, but with a business connection, no time was lost in calling at the office and meeting Mr. and Mrs. B., a fine English couple who gave me a warm welcome. The Message was listened to with rapt attention. A telephone call brought an invitation to the four o’clock tea, where, forgetful of all else, the story of progressive Revelation was presented to a group of seven in what proved to be a most exclusive home and where at later times many groups were met. Through this contact talks were given to the Bankers’ Club, the Military Club, the Engineering Club, as well as to family groups.

At Cardaga Hotel in the Gardens dinner was served at seven-thirty and after this I returned to my room to write home. A strong south-eastern Cape wind was blowing. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. There stood two charming ladies who urged me to join them in the drawing room, explaining that it was customary for all guests to meet there after dinner. When we entered the drawing room I saw groups lounging about, some playing chess, others games of cards, two young men at the piano, and ladies doing needle work. A group of guests around the fireplace made room for me, the one and only stranger from the “States”.

These British subjects, tall and of military bearing, and their wives were constantly coming and going, some awaiting a steamer sailing for home in England, others just returned from similar holiday trips and soon to leave for their homes in various parts of the continent. To this group a stranger was welcome. To the many polite inquiries as to my errand in South Africa, I replied, “No, I am not a tourist. I have a purpose, a goal in view.”

“May it be permitted to inquire the purpose?”

Instantly there was absolute stillness in that large drawing room where forty or fifty guests were assembled. My first evening! Can this be the time and place to speak? A moment’s wordless appeal to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then the first thought put into words: “My visit is for the purpose of sharing with all who are interested in the [Page 249] spiritual uplift of mankind my most precious possession, my Faith.” The marvelous story of prophecy fulfilled was told fully. Questions courteously and earnestly presented were discussed and answered. It was after midnight when we arose and dispersed for the evening. Invitations were extended to meet families and friends. The next evening the request came that I should continue the talks.

General Bell, with whom I talked later, extended to me a pressing invitation to visit Narobi where he owned a large coffee plantation. This invitation was repeated during our correspondence which followed for some years, but lack of funds for the journey prevented my acceptance.

Hearing of a Spanish lady who was interested in comparative religion, I called at her office and soon we were lost in the thrilling story of universal religion. Suddenly she exclaimed, “This is what Miss Busby has been praying for. She is a lady into whose hands a bit of Bahá’í literature fell some years ago and she has been praying ever since that God would send someone to South Africa to explain and teach this Faith. Come quickly. We can meet her leaving the post office, for it is almost noon.”

So we hastened the short distance. On the way I purchased a bouquet from the natives who bring the most brilliant wild flowers to the city for sale. These I presented to the surprised Miss Busby. During those early days on the Cape, Miss Busby became a confirmed believer.

It was during those first weeks in Cape Colony that this blessed and instructive Holy Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá rejoiced my soul:

“To the maidservant of God, Fanny Knobloch, the sister of Miss Alma Knobloch.

“Unto her be the Glory of God, the Most Glorious!

“He is God!

“O thou dear maidservant of God!

“Thy letter has been received. Verily thy sister has lighted a lamp in Germany. God willing thou wilt be, to a larger extent confirmed. Thou wilt kindle a luminous lamp.

“It may be that the government of those regions will check thee. Thou shouldst say: ‘I am a Bahá’í and am friend of all religions and nations. I consider all to be of one race and count them as my relatives. I have divine love and not racial and sectarian love. According to the palpably written command of Bahá’u’lláh I do not pronounce a word pertaining to politics, because we are forbidden to interfere in political affairs. We are [Page 250] concerned with affairs which are heavenly. We are servants unto the world of morality. We consider that racial, religious, political and national prejudices are destructive to the world of humanity. We believe that the surface of the earth constitutes one home and all mankind forms one family. With all we are in the utmost sincerity and kindness.’

“Upon thee be the glory of Abhá!”

(signed)

‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ ‘ABBÁS.

JOHANNESBURG IN THE TRANSVAAL

Johannesburg, referred to as the New York of South Africa by our British friends, is a large, bountiful and well developed city. At the hotel after breakfast it was a delight to be drawn into conversation by a Hebrew lad. He and his parents and another Hebrew couple were soon deeply engrossed in discussing the meaning of prophethood, although their opinion differed widely from the Bahá’í standpoint. We met several times for an exchange of thought, once in the restful study of Rabbi Senner whose keen intellect responded readily.

Now, to do something in Johannesburg. My wordless supplication for guidance was answered when I was handed a letter from Mrs. Albert Cook of Kuil River in which she asked me to call upon her friend, the artist, Beatrice Reid.

Mrs. Reid was tall, slender, dignified and frankly puzzled by this stranger’s early call before nine in the morning. We became so deeply engrossed in the thrilling story of the Cause and the power and majesty of God’s Holy Manifestations, that we were amazed to find that two hours had slipped by and here stood the native servant prepared to serve eleven o’clock tea. The next afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Reid entertained a large group of friends to listen to the Message. Telephone calls were made and names and addresses were given me. This made life truly worth while. At the tea were artists, writers and military representatives. The hostess was known as a deep student and her guests were of the same type. What a pleasure to see their eyes brighten when they were told that certain of the prophecies which we were told in childhood referred to Christ did in truth refer to Bahá’u’lláh. Through assistance from on high many homes in Park Town were opened for me to give the Message.

One of these homes was that of Mr. and Mrs. Kemp. What a joy to know that only the power of God, reaching us in great [Page 251] waves of blessings through His Holy Manifestations, made such opportunities possible. House guests, family and invited guests formed the eleven o’clock group; others met at luncheon and departed only in time for the four o’clock tea visitors, and as those left the dinner guests arrived. Twenty or more came after dinner increasing the number in the spacious drawing room where after dinner coffee was served. The subjects of my talks were the history of the Bahá’í Cause and “The Root of All Knowledge is the Knowledge of God”. Until two in the morning during those eventful days we talked and answered questions until physically exhausted, yet we were trembling with the knowledge that we had experienced a foretaste of heaven.

An invitation to spend the weekend at the home of Colonel and Mrs. Purchase was accepted. There the Cause became the subject of consultation and the subject discussed by the friends brought together for this purpose.

LORENCO MARQUES

This is in Portuguese South Africa. At the station I was met by Mr. and Mrs. John Main whom I had met in Johannesburg. They arranged for drawingroom talks, the first in the mansion of the Portuguese Governor General, another at the British Club, and others at the Women’s Club, the Sport Club, the Golf Club. Always the Message was listened to with interest, with never an interruption. At the close, although the discussions varied greatly, always the questions regarding the brotherhood of man and universal peace were sure to come.

The golf club house was a white one story building, the balcony of which extended out over the blue water of Delagoa Bay. When we arrived the Reverend S. of the High Church was enjoying his afternoon tea. Mrs. M. and I joined him, and for half an hour, no other guests having arrived, we shared the Glad Tidings with him. Later a number of golfers joined us. This group was composed of the heads of British enterprises —light, water, power, tramservice—and what a pleasant, delightful group of men and women it was. Five of this group later entertained friends in their homes to hear the Message.

One scene in this city is indelibly impressed upon my memory. Dr. Clark, the friendly pastor of the Methodist church called for me to attend the tabernacle service of the Reverend Mr. Bishop. The audience consisted of three hundred Swazi lads dressed, some in househoy uniforms [Page 252] of unbleached muslin shorts and slip-ons bound with red, others in loin cloth. How picturesque they were! For thirty years the Reverend B. had taught these youth facing dangers daily. He had translated the Wesleyan hymns and Old Testament and was now working on the New Testament.

MARTHA ROOT’S VISIT

Our beloved Martha reached Cape Town in December, 1924, and was made welcome and happy in the Auleta, Three Anchor Bay, where she became the magnet of attraction among the guests and to men and women of capacity wherever we went. We had given a series of radio talks and no time was lost in introducing Martha. Arrangements were made for the first broadcast which Martha had ever done. She was delighted with her success for she had feared that her voice would not carry well.

One hot Sunday afternoon during Christmas week we were entertained by the Chinese Republican Club which was made up of from twenty to thirty young Chinese men. Our hosts were dignified and extremely courteous. The only women present besides ourselves were the wife and daughter of the president. Standing at the side of the president, who interpreted, Martha gave a brief but thrilling narrative of her Bahá’í services during visits to various parts of China. All listened with rapt attention. At the close of the talk another distinguished Chinese gentleman arose and summed up the talk. Refreshments were served and during this time Bahá’í booklets in the Chinese language were distributed and an invitation given to attend our public lectures, notice of which would appear in the press. Two or three of these splendid men usually attended. The ladies called upon us during Martha’s stay and since the mother did not understand the English language the daughter acted as interpreter. This enabled us to interest them in the Glad Tidings. They were eager for a Truth which would bring nations together.

Part two will conclude this article in the December issue.

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O Son of Being!

Make mention of Me on My earth, that in My heaven I may remember thee, thus shall Mine eyes and thine be solaced.

—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

[Page 253]

WITH OUR READERS

IN submitting his article “A Bahá’í Philosophy of Education” to World Order for publication John Stroessler writes that it is “a condensation of a longer paper which was written by myself for an education class at the University of Washington where I completed my work on a M.A. degree last year. The present paper is not documented as the longer one was, but it draws heavily from the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.” Our readers will remember Mr. Stroessler’s former contribution to World Order, “The Army Does Something to a Man” in our March, 1946, issue. Mr. Stroessler is living in Seattle, Washington.

Jack Fatooh, writer of “Scientific Approach to Moral Conduct” writes of himself: “I am studying dentistry in San Francisco to have a good profession for pioneering. I accepted the Cause in Oakland when I was fifteen, in 1938. Due to a keen interest in youth work, I decided to write something on this subject, which is ‘mainly and directly concerned with Bahá’í youth,’ and ‘must be closely and continually identified with . . . (their) mission.’” And in another letter he says: “My curriculum in dental school is most rigorous and in addition to it I work two night shifts a week in a hospital doing work that I like to forget.” All this would seem not to leave very much time without a good deal of sacrifice for such a carefully written article as this which we publish and which, we believe, will be profitable reading for people of all ages and all religions.

“We Long for Divine Guidance” was written by Shirley Warde. Bahá’ís remember Mrs. Warde as radio announcer at the Centenary banquet. She has received wide recognition as actress, author and radio artist. She is now in Buenos Aires helping to develop radio work for Bahá’ís of South America.

“Blazing the Trail” is contributed by Stanwood Cobb for many years one of the editors of World Order and of The Bahá’í Magazine which preceded World Order. During those years and before he contributed generously to the magazine. He is well known to all Bahá’ís as the author of Security for a Failing World, a book widely used to introduce the Bahá’í Faith to those interested in better world conditions. Mr. Cobb is also the author of many other books which apply Bahá’í principles to educational problems. Important among these are Character, Discovering the Genius Within You, New Horizons for the Child. He was one of the founders of the movement for Progressive Education and contributes some of the best thought to that movement. In his own school in Chevy Chase and in his summer camp for children in Maine he puts in practice the principles of progressive education. His home is in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Horace Holley, well known to all our readers, contributes this month’s editorial, “This Power, This Glory”.

[Page 254] Sometimes articles and poems that we have accepted get buried in our files. Good material is put off for something that is urgent, that is timely, that will lose its force if put off. Some things are valuable at any time. So it happens that we are printing this month the poem “‘Akká” by Laura Romney Davis which came to us more than three years ago. Mrs. Davis lives in Toronto and has generously told us something of her connection with the Bahá’í Faith. “I heard about the Cause from our dear Martha Root,” she writes, “and at once accepted it. Our home has been visited by many teachers through the years, and served as a center before we had an Assembly. There are so many pleasant memories, for we have entertained Mrs. Maxwell, Jenabe Fazel, Rúḥíyyih Khanúm, Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf and many others.” Mrs. Davis is secretary of the Toronto Assembly. She has served on the regional teaching committee, has given Bahá’í talks at home and in other cities and serves the Faith in many ways.

Mable Hyde Paine’s review of The Promised Day Is Come is the fourteenth in the Bahá’í Literature series which we have been publishing from time to time for over a year and a half. These reviews or appreciations of Bahá’í writings give our readers some knowledge of the wealth and variety of Bahá’í literature and, we trust, stimulate many to delve more thoroughly into these books. No other reading can possibly give such an understanding of the times in which we live. One reader, a non-Bahá’í, was greatly impressed with Elizabeth Hackley’s review in the July issue about The Star of the West, the Bahá’í magazine in its early years. She wished she might own those volumes or at least have an opportunity to browse in them.

Mrs. Paine is a member of the Bahá’í News editorial committee and a member of the Urbana, Illinois, Local Assembly. She contributes at frequent intervals to World Order. “Bahá’u’lláh, the World Physician” appeared in our October, 1945, issue.

Nell Griffith Wilson whose poem, “Double Rainbow” appears in this issue has been writing and selling verse for several years, won many prizes, and published two books of verse and is ready to publish her third book. She is a member of the National League of American Pen Women and state president of Western Writers. Her home is in Kenwood, California. Previous contributions to World Order were “Song of Tomorrow”, January, 1946, and “A Blood Donor’s Prayer” in the June issue of this year.

Fanny Knobloch is well known to older Bahá’ís for she was active in the Faith in this country for many years. Her own account of the years she spent spreading the Bahá’í Message in South Africa will interest all readers of World Order. This account will be continued in our December issue. Miss Knobloch is now an invalid in the home of her nephew.

Personal experience has an appeal to all of us. The following words sent us by one of our Canadian friends were written (or, we judge, originally spoken) by a member of a minority race. He says in part: “It is only a few weeks since I became acquainted with this Bahá’í community. [Page 255] To confess the truth, when I was first told about the Bahá’í Faith . . I did not take it very seriously. I said to my friend, all religious teachings sound beautiful indeed! But how much of its heavenly doctrines are really in conformity with existing social reality? . . I was at a dead end as far as religion is concerned. But my friend insisted that his Bahá’í Faith is something different—different in the way of application of its principles to the actual social life of today. Half out of curiosity I began to read the book given to me, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era. Believe me, I was very much impressed not only by the beauty of its principles, but by the force of its sincerity. . . I’m sure no other established religion of today has even attempted so seriously so unselfishly, the reformation of existing social conditions in the fields of politics, economics, religion, racial relations, etc., so vitally concerned with the welfare of society and the basic peace of the world.

“The most pressing need of mankind today is the unity of nations, a unity based on genuine justice. A justice minus racial prejudice or sense of racial superiority. . .

“Please do not think I am saying this out of my resentment because of humiliation and embarrassment I experienced in this country for racial reasons, especially during the last few unfortunate years. At times I was so discouraged, so pessimistic. I was conscious that my view of life was becoming more and more negative. I was in bad shape, in a state of spiritual bankruptcy. But I am glad to tell you tonight that my instinct for appreciating the beautiful side of life was not wholly exhausted.

“When Mr.——— called on me one evening I was greatly impressed by his brotherly attitude toward a person of different race. I felt his sincerity, which more than convinced me that this Bahá’í Faith is not only life service but influence through example. . .”

* * *

Some time ago one of our readers sent us an account of the happy experience of two Bahá’ís when they carried out Bahá’u’lláh’s injunction to “Consort with all the people of the world with love and fragrance.” She writes: “Two members of the Race Unity committee in Philadelphia were the guests of a Negro clergyman in this city. Perhaps thirty-five or more persons were present at that home, representing chiefly public school teachers of the city, social workers and others of culture and refinement. In his welcoming address, the pastor spoke warmly of the Bahá’í Faith, of his friendship with some of its members, and of the efforts of Bahá’ís to bring about better race relations.”

A talk by the Assistant Superintendent of Schools emphasized the steady, though slow, “progress that has been made in recent years toward placing persons in positions in the schools according to merit, regardless of race, color or creed.” The reply of the speaker to the question as to why there is increasing interest at this time in the matter of giving justice to all regardless of race or creed was that it is “in the air” in these days.

Our Bahá’í friends felt that there is a definite reason why this desire to give justice to all is “in the air” in these days. They had in mind these words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Among the results of the manifestation of spiritual forces will be that the human world will adapt itself to [Page 256] a new social form, the Justice of God will become manifest throughout human affairs and human equality will be universally established.” Later one of the friends had an opportunity to speak briefly and was able to explain “about the new spirit which has been breathed into the world in this age by Bahá’u’lláh and that this new dynamic spiritual force is destroying old conditions and is bringing about Divine Justice and human understanding; . . that in this great age God’s own plan has been set in motion; that this plan has no place in it for prejudices of race, religion, nation, or politics. . . These remarks gave the Bahá’ís the opportunity to talk with many of the friends later during the refreshment period about the ‘manifestation of spiritual forces.’”

* * *

Here are a few statements culled from a Michigan newspaper which give further evidence that school officials are awake to the duty of eliminating prejudice through education in the schools:

“Reduction of national and international prejudice is one of the most important obligations of today’s schools,” Dr. Edgar G. Johnson, associate professor in the University of Michigan School of Education said.

“National unity is threatened by four major areas of prejudice: (1) against foreigners, even the second or third generation American; (2) against minority religious faiths; (3) against the economically underprivileged; and (4) against minority racial groups. Since prejudices are learned, not inherited, teachers have a primary responsibility in promoting national and international tolerance and understanding, Johnson said.”

* * *

One of our South American Bahá’ís living in Buenos Aires in writing about “Creative Living” stresses the thought that no one is too great or too small to live creatively. A humble task, she declares, done to serve someone or humanity at large is a step in creative living. Then forgetfulness of self and thought of others may develop into great universal love. “It is impossible,” she says, “to attain creative living without love which is the cause of creation.” And she adds, “last but not least of all, learn to pray. In the beginning you merely repeat the words, but soon they acquire meaning for you and you draw your strength from the Source, because then your ‘assistance will be the assistance of the Blessed Perfection. If all the world should be gathered against you, you would still possess this. It is a weapon to fight with forever and ever and with it you will always be victorious. It is a sword which will never be dulled, a magazine which is always full.’”

—THE EDITORS.

[Page 257]

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.

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.

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.

Some Answered Questions. ‘Abdu’l-Baha’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.

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.

God Passes By, by Shoghi Effendi. The authoritative documented historical survey of the Bahá’í Faith through the four periods of its first century: The Ministry of the Báb, the Ministry of Bahá’u’lláh, the Ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the Inception of the Formative Age (1921-1944). In these pages the world’s supreme spiritual drama unfolds. xxiii plus 412 pages; Bound in fabrikoid. $2.50.

BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE

110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois

[Page 258]

TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY

promulgated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Throughout North America in 1912

These teachings were given by Bahá’u’lláh
over seventy years ago and are to be
found in His published
writings of that time.

The oneness of mankind.

Independent investigation of truth.

The foundation of all religions is one.

Religion must be the cause of unity.

Religion must be in accord with science and reason.

Equality between men and women.

Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten.

Universal peace.

Universal education.

Spiritual solution of the economic problem.

A universal language.

An international tribunal.