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WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
December, 1948
Gospel Times Today
Annamarie K. Honnold
This Is Our Faith
Floyd H. Munson
Do You Believe in Christ?
Eleanor S. Hutchens
Crisis and Creation, Editorial
Elsa Blakely
How “Practical” Is the Bahá’í Faith?
Arthur Dahl
Modern Vikings
Amelia Bowman
The Station of Christ, Compilation
With Our Readers
20¢
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. Editor: Garreta Busey. Managing Editor: Eleanor S. Hutchens. Associate Editors: Victor de Araujo, Elsa Blakely, Robert Durr, Pearle Easterbrook, Gertrude Henning, Flora Emily Hottes, Mabel H. Paine.
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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 1948 by
Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent
Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
THE birth of a new revelation of God’s will is inevitably attended by deep suffering for its Revealer. The cross of Christ has become His symbol, because it proclaims the sacrifice He was willing to make that the world might have more abundant life.
Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings were many and they extended over a long period of time. The bastinado, the cruel dungeon in Țihrán, exile, and for twenty-four years the “Most Great Prison” at ‘Akká were only part of them.
The frontispiece shows the building in which Bahá’u’lláh suffered cruelty and deprivation as a prisoner in ‘Akká. It makes the same appeal to our love as does the cross of Christ. “Forget not My bounties while I am absent,” He wrote to one of His loved ones. “Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. And be thou so steadfast in my love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee.”
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XIV DECEMBER, 1948 NUMBER 9
Gospel Times Today
ANNAMARIE K. HONNOLD
AT THE time of a solar eclipse
the eyes of astronomers and
laymen alike are cast heavenward.
The moon passes between
the sun and our planet. And a
dark shadow is cast upon a portion
of the earth’s surface. Light
from the sun is temporarily obscured.
A portion of our physical
world is thrown into darkness.
Today the spiritual world of man is suffering a prolonged eclipse. Again we would turn heavenward. An obstruction stands between man and his God. This impediment is the loss of faith in God and the failure to understand the station of Prophethood. In its wake follows the darkness of materialism and atheism. And these in turn produce prejudice and hatred, selfishness and greed, and the lack of ethical standards. Today even science appears to condone as normal our low moral state. Mankind stands in a dark shadow. It knows not which way to turn to find the Light.
This essay is not an attempt to prove the existence of God. Prominent people are proving this in their own ways. And we need only open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to know that He exists. But a mere belief in God is not sufficient guarantee that we and our world will become ethical. How could it be? Belief in His existence in itself gives us no clue as to why we are here or how we shall act or where we are headed. If belief stops here, life is frustration. For there is then no Guide to lead us.
Revealed religion, so little appreciated
today, has the only answer.
No other field can produce
the missing link. God manifests
Himself through the Prophet, the
divine Teacher. This Manifestation
of God is truly the “Forgotten
Man.” The Bahá’í looks at
history and discovers that such
an Educator has come to the
earth from time to time. Such an
advent occurs but rarely, perhaps
[Page 292]
once in a thousand years.
But since man has inhabited the
earth, the Prophet has stood within
reach. And as long as man exists,
there will be recurrent outpourings
of the Truth through
this Intermediary between God
and man.
In 1935 Pope Pius XI is said to have told some pilgrims who visited him that “history tells us again and again that when men reached the lowest ebb and began to curse and deny God, then was the moment God manifested Himself and reinfused confidence into men and started the return to better things.” And in 1940, President Roosevelt wrote a Christmas message to Pope Pius XII in which he said, “I take heart in remembering that, in a similar time, Isaiah first prophesied the birth of Christ. Before His coming the world was not unlike it is today. Then, as now, a conflagration had been set, and nations walked dangerously in the light of the fires they had themselves kindled. But in that very moment, a spiritual rebirth has been foreseen . . . Humble people are looking for a guiding light. We remember that the Christmas star was seen by the shepherds long before the leaders knew. While statesmen are considering a new order of things, a new order may well be at hand.”
In 1940, also, George Townshend, then canon of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, published a book, The Heart of the Gospel. A bird’s-eye view of this book may prove thought-provoking. That writer regards our civilization as proof of “the futility of human wisdom.” Contemporary problems call for reason and experience, of course, but coupled with intuition and faith. And the concept of divine revelation is accepted as a starting point.
Townshend regards the Bible
as universal history seen first
through the eyes of the Jewish
people and later through the eyes
of the Christians, whose age
would not end until the Gospel of
Jesus had been carried to the
ends of the earth. Strangely
enough the Bible has no word for
evolution, yet evolution is its
theme from start to finish. And
this history depicts man’s spiritual
development, which “is the
true business and meaning of his
existence.” For man is not only
a physical being. He is potentially
spiritual. In this connection it
is interesting to recall that William
Jennings Bryan, the great
orator at the turn of the century,
at one time said that “man has a
mind as well as a body, and a
soul as well as a mind. The mind
is greater than the body and the
soul is greater than the mind, and
[Page 293]
I object to having man’s pedigree
traced to one-third of him only
—and that the lowest third.”
But if man would evolve spiritually, he must put forth effort. “God must be sought if He is to be found; the truth must be striven for if it is to be realized.” A seed may not develop properly in poor soil. Worldly distractions may halt spiritual development. Even under the most favorable circumstance, growth is gradual. It comes only by degrees.
God, the “Over-Lord of Evolution,” places amongst men those Ministers of Evolution—an Abraham, a Moses, a Jesus Christ—to aid them in their spiritual growth. Appearing quietly in the East and with great simplicity, these Souls have from the beginning of history enabled men “to live the life.” Their coming has always precipitated antagonism and apprehension on the part of those in power. Yet no amount of persecution has ever prevented Them from fulfilling Their destiny.
But “the Christian community has not believed and does not now believe in a continuous and world-embracing scheme of Revelation in which Jesus Christ played a part,” says George Townshend. His Teachings are regarded as final, notwithstanding the fact that He Himself said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth.” And what of the world before Jesus? Before Him there appeared Moses. Jesus taught a more mature people, and He heightened the Ten Commandments. While Moses told His people, the Israelites, that they were to have only one God, Jesus bade all mankind have but one God. While Moses commanded man not to take the name of God in vain, Jesus went a step farther and said that “men were to hold God’s name and His attributes holy.” In an evolving world, religion, to be effective, must evolve also.
Each of the world’s great “religions”
is as a link in the chain
of the overall Religion of God.
At the same time each has stood
as an independent unit. “Abraham
had founded a spiritual
family. Moses founded a spiritual
nation. Jesus spiritualized
humanity.” Moses might have
given the knowledge Jesus gave.
But the people were not ready.
Jesus withheld much knowledge
which He might have given.
Again mankind was not prepared.
But the world in Jesus’
day was ready for His Gospel of
love, and that He poured forth in
[Page 294]
great abundance. His one great
commandment was that men
should love their Lord and their
neighbors. Material problems
would vanish in proportion to
the amount of love that was within
the human heart.
Jesus was born a Jew. He lived and died amongst His people. His apostles were Jews. The customs and traditions of the day had a strong grip upon the people and the leaders. And the scribes were blind. Jesus asked a great deal of men when He asked them to change. To those few humble disciples goes the credit of carrying forward a Message out of which emerged a worldwide Christian community. Untaught and unlettered though that small group may have been, it caught the new spirit and it struggled to keep it alive, to live with it and to share it with others.
Jesus’ task of tutoring those simple men was not an easy one. They had to learn that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. They had to learn the meaning of self-sacrifice and humility. There came the bitter lesson that following Him would not reward them with the praise of men. Service, rather than worldly leadership, was to become their way of life. “Superiority belonged to God alone. . .” Jesus Himself washed the feet of the disciples. He lowered Himself in order that they might “learn the secret of divine leadership,” the only leadership to which man should properly aspire.
From those small beginnings almost two thousand years ago there emerged the church. Into it crept the kind of authority Jesus forbade. Into it crept personal ambition. This, though powerless to destroy the church, weakened and split it. It rendered it less effective than it would have been had the heart of man been humble and pure even as Jesus desired. Today only twenty-seven per cent of the world’s population is Christian. And everywhere, both inside and outside the church, are signs of spiritual illness.
Townshend closes The Heart
of the Gospel by telling us that
both secularism and the church
are incapable of coping with the
problems of the day. He finds
“no universal plan of reconstruction
to be a rallying point for the
nations of the earth,” except one,
and that is the one offered to the
world from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh.
Through Him, the problem
of mankind is seen in its
wholeness. Through Him, we become
conscious of the essential
oneness of the human race.
Through Him, men gain spiritual
[Page 295]
knowledge and lose prejudice.
Through Him, men around
the globe in various walks of life
advocate a federated world government.
Through Him, men
learn allegiance to a common revealed
religion, which honors all
those which have preceded it.
His followers, the Bahá’ís, are
filled with the zeal and devotion
of the early Christians. They are
well aware that this is a great
age. It is the Machine Age. It is
the Air Age. But it is far more
than these. It is the Age of Bahá’u’lláh.
Someone once said that one can read about Alexander and Caesar and Napoleon and not feel that they are a matter of personal concern; but when one reads of Christ, one feels that somehow there is a cord that stretches from that life to one’s own. Those who have read the words of Bahá’u’lláh, searching in hungry fashion for truth, ready to give up preconceived notions, have found a wisdom and an insight, a sweetness and a beauty, a plan for the world and a way of life for the individual, such as man might only dream about and never hope to find. Through Bahá’u’lláh, the Bahá’í is reborn.
There are numerous reasons why the name “Bahá’u’lláh” should become a matter of personal concern to all who are privileged to hear it. Only infrequently is the staggering claim to Prophethood made legitimately. When that claim is made, it invites investigation and an open mind. The claim is born in sorrow and grief. History can more easily elucidate its merits. Those of us who stand close to the time of declaration have the privilege of seeing the early beauty of the rising Sun at dawn. Few are awake, but to those few there comes an unmatched joy and challenge. Great is the inspiration that comes with the newborn day.
There are striking parallels
between the days of Jesus and
those of Bahá’u’lláh in the last
century. At each time the spiritual
leaders of the day were
blind to the truth. At each time
it was the obscure who first saw
the light and carried it forward.
Each Manifestation suffered mercilessly
at the hands of a cruel
enemy. Each asked a great deal
from the people to whom He
spoke. The people were to give
up custom and tradition, old beliefs
and thought-patterns. They
were to be willing to accept the
path of self-sacrifice and service
and genuine humility. The disciples
of neither would win the
praise of most men. Each appeared
in an age of arrogance
[Page 296]
and moral decay, an age of
spiritual eclipse. Each gave the
remedy for the illness of His day.
Jesus taught love. Bahá’u’lláh
taught love and world unity on
every front, be it racial, national,
economic, or religious.
In one world, which, with each passing day, we are more nearly approximating, it is essential that there be but one religion. If religion divides rather than unites, it defeats its own purpose. A few decades ago, Japan examined the world’s religions to discover if one other than its own might prove desirable. From a distance Christianity appealed, but on closer examination it was found unsuitable owing to its lack of unity and its lack of the ideal in action. The revival of ancient Shinto as the new all-national religion seemed preferable. However, there is a praiseworthy effort within Christianity to unite its ranks. But will the millions of people yet outside the fold of Christianity embrace it in preference perhaps to a more recent religion? An English historian has said that in the last hundred years more Christians have been converted to Muhammadanism than Muhammadans to Christianity. And a missionary from Persia once remarked that there are hundreds of millions of Muhammadans whom Christianity cannot reach. Yet, the Bahá’í Faith appeals to the peoples of many varying religious backgrounds. The people of no religion are regarded as “heathens.” Their faiths are but part of one master Religion. These faiths agree in their essential aspects. They differ from one another only in their nonessentials, which must change as conditions change. This offers fluidity to religion. Christ broke the Sabbath. He forbade divorce. But He sang the praises of one God. He restated the concept of the Golden Rule. The Bahá’í, in his new understanding, if of Jewish origin, reveres Jesus; if of Christian background, understands the work of Muḥammad; if of Muḥammadan upbringing, esteems Jesus and Moses; if formerly an atheist, he now sees the place of all the Prophets down through history.
A survey of the great living
religions reveals that they frequently
expect a Second Coming,
a return of the Manifestation of
God. Jesus Himself said, “Watch
therefore: for ye know not what
hour your Lord doth come. But
know this, that if the goodman of
the house had known in what
watch the thief would come, he
would have watched, and would
not have suffered his house to be
broken up. Therefore be ye also
[Page 297]
ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not the Son of man cometh.”
“For as the lightning cometh
out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west; so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man
be.” In one world it is plausible
enough that the Return expected
in various religions must be
through one Prophet, rather than
through many. Yet, where but
within the Bahá’í Faith is there
this belief that one Manifestation
might fulfill all the prophecies of
the Return? Independent investigation
has convinced the Bahá’í
that Bahá’u’lláh is that long-expected
One, whose advent has
been so eagerly awaited. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
warned wisely when he
said that we should be seekers of
Light, no matter from which Lantern
it shines forth; should not be
lovers of the Lantern.
In turning to Bahá’u’lláh, the Bahá’í finds his horizon expanding. He does not give up old loyalties. They simply broaden. If he loves Jesus, he loves Him yet; but he loves Bahá’u’lláh also. If he loves his race, he loves it yet; but he would first be a member of the human race. If he loves his country, he loves it yet; but he considers himself first of all a world citizen. In turning toward a Center the Bahá’ís draw near to one another. Unity becomes “the monarch of all aspirations.”
To conclude, the loss of faith in God and in His Prophets has cast a dark shadow upon the soul of man. Mankind is suffering a spiritual eclipse. Religion has lost its hold over men’s hearts and minds. So far has man strayed that there are those who go to the trouble to prove the existence of God. But even this knowledge does not bring morality. There is need for a modern Mediator between man and his God. In the last century Bahá’u’lláh was indeed as “a voice crying in the wilderness” when he addressed Himself to the Pope of His day, saying, “The Word which the Son concealed is made manifest.” History repeated itself and once again God’s Promised One passed by persecuted and unheeded. And in more recent times a Pope expected a Return. A canon of a Dublin Cathedral discovered Him.
Humble people in ninety-one countries around the globe have found religion renewed through the voice and pen and action of Bahá’u’lláh.
This Is Our Faith
FLOYD H. MUNSON
One hundred and four years
ago, in the country of Persia,
there came into being a
Faith, the birth of which shook
the pillars of established beliefs,
the flame of which swept with increasing
intensity over a land
submerged in the lethargy of ignorance
and superstition. Thus
began that religion now known as
the Bahá’í Faith, founded by
Bahá’u’lláh, who, if judged by
long-established proofs of Prophethood,
must be accepted as a
Prophet and Manifestation of
God.
Therefore the adherents of this Faith assert it is not a sect or a division of one of the great religions of the world; neither is it, in one sense, a new religion, rather it is religion renewed, reconciling divine teachings, proving them to be essentially one, and in its proof giving the true interpretation and explanation of the Holy Books: the Zend Avesta of the Zoroastrians, the Qur’án of the Muḥammadans, and the Old and New Testaments of our Bible. Thus a Bahá’í, in explaining the verities of his Faith, would first endeavor to confirm his listener in his own religion and cause him to appreciate the truths of God’s testament as revealed by the Prophet of his own particular belief.
The Bahá’í Faith encompasses all religions, unifies them by the reassertion of their true principles, which are wholly in accord, inasmuch as these fundamental truths come to mankind from God, the Source of all knowledge.
All of the great religions of the
past have had, for their origin,
a true Prophet, a holy soul, who
is chosen by God, inspired with
Divine knowledge and filled with
superior qualities and virtues for
the purpose of guiding the people,
educating them in such a
way as will preserve them and
cause them to progress toward a
goal destined by the Creator.
Thus these Prophets, these Divine
Educators, are the sign-posts on
the road to God, the seed-men of
the new civilization which always
follows; and were it not for their
appearance, spiritual darkness
would completely envelop mankind,
and the hell of evil and its
resulting chaos would be in ascendancy.
Those qualities which
are requisites of an ordered society,
such as mercy, love, and
rectitude of conduct, would cease
to be expressed and the assertion
[Page 299]
of their opposites would naturally
follow.
Now, when through the will of God, the Prophets, the Manifesters, appear, they reiterate the universal laws and principles which are eternal, the truths enunciated by other Divine Beings in ages past. They declare, and by their acts express, the absolute law of conformity with, and submission to, the One Supreme Being; they declare and express harmony and equity in our relation with one another; they reveal the image and likeness of God. The wisdom of the utterances from the Pen of Glory, through His Messengers of the time appointed, has been likened to the splendor of the morning sun, the light of which symbolizes knowledge, the warmth of which symbolizes the bestowals of life and blessings. The learning of the most renowned sages pales into nothingness before the radiation of one such as Jesus the Christ, Moses the Lawgiver, or Muḥammad the Messenger of God, just as the stars give no light before the effulgence of the rising sun.
Another part of their prescribed mission, their fore-ordained revelation, is the announcement of laws and ordinances relative to society and the affairs of men. These laws which have to do with administration, civil and criminal actions, marriage and divorce, prayers and observances, are established according to the requirements of the advancing civilization. “For man has been created a social being and his life and permanence depend upon cooperation and society. Therefore, the institutors of divine laws have assigned the greater part of them to administrative affairs and have considered the assistance, advancement and development of the people as the most important part of their mission. As human minds are discordant, and as it is virtually impossible for the possessors of even sound minds to agree upon that which will secure the protection and development of peoples, God, in His wisdom, has assigned the enactment of such laws to the Manifestations of His Command. According, also, to this same Divine Command, many of the laws of the previous Prophet are annulled as they are no longer suitable to the time of the new proclamation.”
Now, coupled with the announcements
of these Dawning-lights
of Revelation, there is a
part devoted to prophecy. In
every case we are given a “time
appointed,” a promise of a harvest-time,
of “the day of days.”
[Page 300]
Every Holy Book tells of this
“hour”—this time of fulfillment,
—when the Kingdom of God will
be manifest on this earth. Jesus
told of “the time of the end,” the
end of an old order, and gave
His followers a prayer which was
both a supplication and a prophecy:
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy
will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven.” He told of the coming
of His Father, the Lord of Hosts,
the Spirit of Truth who would
lead us to all truth. Matthew, too,
tells the story of this day, when
no servants would be sent, no Son
would be sent, but the Lord of the
Vineyard Himself would come to
take possession and manifest His
Sovereignty and Dominion.
Isaiah glories in this last most fateful chapter of the history of man. Daniel and John extol this day and in the Holy Book give us in veiled language the exact number of years before this new and last cycle would be inaugurated; the year which would be the beginning of a new order, when the old would be shaken down; a period of refreshments, of new vibratory release from the Throne of Power that would make all things new.
In the year 1844, in the little town of Shíráz in Persia, the trumpet blast was sounded when a Holy One called the Báb (the Gate) revealed Himself as the Primal Point of a new creation and the Herald of the One whom God would make manifest. The effect of His meteor-like appearance, though short in duration, was dazzling and far-reaching. Volumes have been written of those tumultuous years, when God spoke through this pure Being, and the impact of His mighty decrees struck with such bewildering power, until the soul-stirring spectacle of His departure to the realm of glory. Thousands became intoxicated with His beauty, believed in His mission and suffered tortured death at the hands of the evil ones who held the reins of authority. However, this moving drama was enacted, its purpose accomplished, and the way prepared for the Spirit of Truth to come. God Himself was made manifest, through the temple of man, in the person of a prince from the land of Írán.
Long has man prayed through
the ages, long has he waited for
this transcendant moment when
the curtains of revelation would
be parted and the Light of God
stand revealed. Far beyond the
ken of men the cosmic finger
moves, and the lonely figure of
one Soul, commissioned, writes
with words of supernal beauty
the destiny of Adamic man and
[Page 301]
the sovereign will of his Maker.
These glistening words of Him whom God has established on the highest throne are words that return not void, but accomplish that whereunto they are sent. Majestic is the power of God who directs the ways of men. Great is the love that in thir darkness sends forth the shining Orb of Beauty. Bahá’u’lláh, the Promise of God in the Day of Fulfillment: the Spirit returned in the apogee of glory summoned all to the Seat of Mercy, called the hearts of men and laid the foundation of a new moral order, establishing principles to which all activities of life must conform.
It is to Him we turn, and in that turning strive to enter the flow of His Will and to move with the stream of Life’s compulsion.
So the Bahá’í endeavors with heart and soul, in compliance with the dictates of that Will, to bring his Faith to the people, that we may all be gathered together “under the Tent of the Kingdom singing the song of Peace.”
LIKE BEASTS THAT PERISH
Love is the fundamental principle of God’s purpose for man,
and He has commanded us to love each other even as He loves us.
All these discords and disputes which we hear on all sides only
tend to increase materiality.
The world for the most part is sunk in materialism, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit are ignored. There is so little real spiritual feeling, and the progress of the world is for the most part merely material. Men are becoming like unto beasts that perish, for we know that they have no spiritual feeling—they do not turn to God, and they have no religion! These things belong to man alone, and if he is without them he is a prisoner of nature, and no whit better than the animal.
Do You Believe in Christ?
ELEANOR S. HUTCHENS
Dear Margaret:
The rich and varied strains of Tchaikowsky’s Fourth Symphony are being broadcast and can be blamed for any irregularities in syntax in this letter. Although my little radio spputters (with more than two “p’s”) whenever the furnace starts, and sinks to a scarcely audible whisper at the most inopportune times, still it provides companionship and good music.
For several days I’ve been wanting to answer the more serious portion of your letter asking my belief about Christ. It would be easy to give a brief answer, but I feel that you are genuinely perturbed about my religion and would like to understand my belief more fully.
Yes, I do believe that Jesus was the Christ, that He was God’s representative on earth, speaking as God instructed Him to, doing as God would have Him do, giving voice to the Word of God, Himself. Every word Jesus spoke was endowed with the power to change the hearts and lives of men, and was therefore more potent than the words of any philosopher or mere religious teacher. Furthermore, as God’s representative, He could say, “Follow Me,” and every living soul was obliged to choose whether he would obey and be “saved,” or whether he would refuse and lose his spiritual life. Never since the days when Christ first walked the earth has anyone been able to turn his back on the teachings and pattern of Christ without endangering his soul’s future growth.
This is what you believe, too, isn’t it? Perhaps you express it in slightly different terms, but this is the essence of all Christian faith.
What, then, is my Bahá’í faith?
This. You say, “Jesus existed
from the beginning. He is God.”
We believe this to an extent most
people do not understand, for
what made Jesus distinctive was
the Christ-spirit, God shining
through Him. It is this spirit
which must be present before
any religion can exist. It is this
that unites religions, so that Jesus
would say “Before Abraham
was, I am.” When the Semitic
peoples were lost and unbelieving
in the ancient land of Ur,
the spirit of God became manifest
in Abraham, who gave laws
and spiritual instruction that
could save the souls of the people
[Page 303]
of His day. Through Him the
Hebrew monotheistic faith developed.
Our faulty records prevent
our seeing more clearly the
Christ-spirit in Abraham.
Centuries later, when the Children of Israel were in captivity and were fast losing their faith, becoming pagan, God once again became manifest. He chose Moses, an exile and a homicide, to prove the power and strength of His Word in saving not only the individual, but a whole people. Moses became a temporal and spiritual leader, bringing to a downtrodden and barbaric people the law of God, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and love thy neighbor as thyself.” Here was the spirit of Christ at an earlier time teaching the basic principles of worship and of working together and living together in society. Here was the Word of God adapted to the understanding of a primitive people. Later, Christ could say, “For had you believed in Moses ye would have believed in Me.”
The civilization brought by the Words of Moses rose to magnificent splendor in the times of David and Solomon, and gradually declined thereafter as materialism engrossed the people. Once again, after a series of minor prophets failed to regenerate the people sufficiently, God became manifest, this time in Jesus of Nazareth. By His life, Jesus demonstrated the vast gulf between the observance of law and ceremony, still sedulously practiced by the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the true worship of the spirit as reflected in the lives of men. Through Jesus, God not only brought the people back to religion, but He gave them an additional lesson, teaching that righteousneess goes deeper than action, touching the thoughts behind actions, that sin is not only the taking of a life, but the feeling of anger and enmity. Even our fragmentary reports of Jesus prove without a doubt that He was endowed with superhuman power from God to heal the sick, to revive the spirits, to transform the souls, and to change the history of mankind.
The Jews had been given more
warnings of the coming of Christ
than any other people, but they
misread the signs, and, for the
most part, renounced the very
Messiah for whom they had
prayed. They were told that He
would come out of an unknown
place, but they said, “This man
comes out of Nazareth. Can any
good come out of Nazareth?”
(not realizing that the spirit of
Jesus came from heaven, an unknown
place to men.) They were
[Page 304]
taught that He would sit upon the
throne of David, and they said,
“Herod sits upon the throne of
David while this man has no
place to lay his head.” They did
not realize that Jesus would become
the greatest of the descendants
of David and that His kingdom
in the hearts of men would
encircle the globe.
Jesus gave many parables describing His second coming, yet He was fearful lest His loved ones would fail to recognize Him. Had he literally expected to descend upon clouds of glory, surrounded by hosts of angels, He would have had no fear that His followers would be unprepared for His coming. It is clear that His words carried veiled meanings and were to serve as a sieve to sift the pure in heart.
We Bahá’ís believe that Jesus has come again!! Christ has once again walked the earth!! All the signs are coming to pass, the false prophets, the wars and rumors of wars, the rising up of nation against nation, the famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, the persecution of the Christians, the hatreds, iniquity, the waxing cold of the love of many, the spreading of the Gospel in all the world, the gathering together of the tribes of Israel, the great tribulations. We believe that we would be disloyal to Christ if we did not recognize Him when He made His reappearance on earth, if we disobeyed His instructions for the world today.
Did He return in the same body? Did Christ come in the body of Moses, in the body of Abraham? The body of the Prophet is a physical thing. It can be crucified. It can perish. But the Spirit of God speaking through His Messengers is eternal and the same from age to age. That is what we mean when we say that Christ has returned.
Bahá’u’lláh came to revive the
hearts, to draw the people to
God once more. He brought the
same moral teachings as His predecessors,
but just as Moses
could bring more teachings to
the people of His day than could
Abraham, and just as Jesus
could bring more to a people
that had lived for centuries under
the discipline of the Mosaic
Law; so Bahá’u’lláh was able to
bring a larger measure of truth
to a people who had been matured
under the teachings of
Christ and the other founders of
world religions (for we believe
that they too came from God and
were the same spirit, that they
were Manifestations of God.) He
has brought laws for the unification
of religion, for international
government, for the destruction
[Page 305]
of the prejudices that
separate the members of differing
races, religions, nations, and
classes, providing the impetus
for the welding together of humanity
into one harmonious unit.
Just as every soul was required by God to follow Jesus when God became manifest in Him, so today, every soul must turn to Bahá’u’lláh, the revealer of God’s Word for this day, obeying His laws, leading the life He taught. It is the choice Christ tried to prepare us for when He said, “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.”
Knowing how dearly you love God and strive to do His bidding, I hope you will make a thorough and serious study of the Bahá’í teachings. I am sending you The Promise of All Ages, for which your Bible study has prepared you. Then, if you wish, I will send other books too.
The afternoon and evening have slipped away without my having been able to convey on paper the burning faith and love that are in my heart. Yet, you may understand.
Lovingly,
ELEANOR
THE HOLY CHILD RETURNS
The performance of this mystery play [Eager Heart, by Miss Alice Buckton]
at the Church House, Westminster, was honored by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
This was a memorable occasion, as it was the first time He had ever
witnessed a dramatic performance.
The Master wept during the scene in which the Holy Child and His parents, overcome with fatigue, and suffering from hunger, were met by the hesitation of Eager Heart to admit them to the haven of rest which she had prepared, she, of course, failing to recognize the sacred visitors.
The Master afterwards joined the group of players. It was an arresting scene. In the eastern setting, the Messenger, in His Eastern robes, speaking to them in the beautiful Eastern words of the Divine significance of the events which had been portrayed.
Crisis and Creation
Editorial
THIRTY-FIVE hundred
years ago, Amenhotep IV,
that spiritually minded, reforming
monarch of Egypt, envisioned
and prayed for the brotherhood
of man under the beneficent
protection of one God. The
chant of hope has constantly been
repeated down the centuries.
Now we stand in the midst of the upheaval and chaos of the birth of that era.
All birth is upheaval, as the positive force of creation struggles to bring new life away from the negative pole of that which already has reached its apogee and is passing.
Historians philosophically reassure us that at every change in the social order, major or minor, human beings have been dismayed and fearful over “the crisis” facing them. Progress is a series of crises. Our cartoonists portray the caveman’s dire fear of a slingshot superseding the bludgeon; today we face atomic, germicidal and ray weapons instead of TNT and other explosives. Maybe five thousand years hence our progeny will regard our crisis as we regard the caveman’s.
Thus we may be philosophic and even grimly humorous over our problem today—one world or none.
We may take a long perspective of our road from caveman to United Nations and find assurance that the answer cannot be “none.” Even if the hurdle facing us is greater than those passed by our ancestors, it is scarcely logical to think that the story of human development on this planet can be ended summarily by man’s crass stupidity just at the moment when he has completely discovered the physical dimensions of his earth home, can move about in it freely and speedily, and is, from now on, keenly aware that from every sociological, economic, and cultural angle, verily “the earth is one country and mankind its citizens.”
That is a point of beginning, not ending.
Science witnesses that there is so much more to be discovered than is already known. All that has gone before would be purposeless if we stopped now.
So a long range perspective
may assure us of a glorious future
[Page 307]
ahead. But is philosophic
consolation enough to sustain us
during the gruelling crisis of the
next few decades?
We face an inhuman burden of taxation; whole populations are still starving; millions are still homeless and while they starve and wander, propaganda of hatreds assail us from all sides, the preparation of armaments and the roll call are on for the next world war, while local wars continue.
Where shall we turn for such inspiration as will give us the tremendous courage, fortitude, and clear vision we need?
Where have men turned before?
If we could have listened in on the conversations of the citizens of the classical era when Rome ruled the world, we would have peculiarly understood and sympathized with their complaints about the burden of taxation, the toll of the wars, the political intrigue, the difficulties of doing business, the moral corruption.
Also we would have heard discussion of many schools of philosophy, cults, and political creeds to find a path out of the confusion.
We might, too, have heard of a miserable sect that started in Palestine.
Would we have agreed with the sophisticates that they were a curious lot of fanatics not worth bothering about? Would we have agreed with the mobs at the games who believed they were a nuisance, only fit for extermination, and it was exciting to see what they would do in the arena facing the beasts?
Would we have pondered on “what they had” that seemed to give them power to rise not only above the burdens and problems that swamped them in common with the other citizens, but also endowed them with the sublime courage to take everything those worthy citizens hurled at them— ignominy, persecution, martyrdom?
They, too, were witnessing and devotedly serving the birth of a new era amidst the chaos of the old.
Faith, not philosophic contemplation, enabled them to do it.
A faith that, being in such
close perspective, could not evaluate
the implications of their
own acts for future generations.
A new “cultural pattern” as ethnologists
say, had been started
by One through the adoring faith
of eleven men and one superb
woman. The result—Christendom,
with its stress on the law of
love and brotherhood, still expressed
today in the social services
and institutions of humanitarian
[Page 308]
service that have given it
such distinction down the centuries.
It has happened, and is happening today, in global dimensions in a global crisis, this creation of a new “cultural pattern,” at the price of sacrifice. Sacrifice of what? Not only the twenty thousand Bahá’í martyrs who gave their lives in torture and death, but the daily expenditure of life energy poured out in constant service to this Faith; of home, leisure, comfort, health, money or means of livelihood, so gladly given to bridge the world from the old era of nationalism, racialism, political and religious division, into the new era of one world, one citizenry.
It is the command of the Founder of their Faith to achieve Unity.
The individual citizen’s mind, heart, and soul are the atomic structure of civilization. To the extent that this Unity becomes the new social consciousness will the legislative measures of a one-world society succeed or fail.
This is our job, now and in the next few decades of chaotic suffering—to overthrow the idols of national, political, racial, and class loyalties which men so falsely deem to be eternal values, to which they tenaciously cling and which constitute the greatest obstacle to a peaceful one-world. They are more deadly than the new weapons we dread, for these weapons are merely the tools of these false idols. They ride men into a delirium of fear and from there into the frenzied suicide of war.
“Religion,” as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “is man’s attitude towards God reflected in his attitude towards his fellow man.”
There lie our loyalties—to God and to our fellow man; loyalties that are eternal and abiding, unassailable by any propaganda loosed upon them.
Where can we turn for the inspiration, courage, and faith we need now in this crisis of our era? To such authoritative truth as—
“In the Name of God, the Victor of the most victorious, proclaim: God will assist all those who arise to serve Him. No one is able to deprive Him of His majesty, His dominion, His sovereignty, for in the heaven and the earth and in all the realms of God, He is the Victorious and the Conqueror.”
Triumph will ever ring from this clarion call of the martyred Báb.
And from Bahá’u’lláh—
“He is supreme over His
servants, and standeth over His
creatures. In His Hand is the
[Page 309]
source of authority and truth.
He maketh men alive by His signs,
and causeth them to die through
His wrath. He shall not be asked
of His doings and His might is
equal unto all things. He is the
Potent, the All-Subduing. He
holdeth within His grasp the empire
of all things, and on His
right hand is fixed the Kingdom
of His Revelation. His power,
verily, embraceth the whole of
creation. Victory and overlordship
are His; all might and dominion
are His; all glory and
greatness are His. He, of a truth,
is the All-Glorious, the Most
Powerful, the Unconditioned.”
“Unity in its true meaning is that God alone should be realized as the one Power that animates and dominates all things which are but manifestations of Its energy.”
There, then, is the source of Unity this travailing world is struggling to achieve.
JUDGE NOT
Who are we that we should judge? How shall we know who, in the Sight of God, is the most important man? God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts! How many men who have seemed saint-like to their friends have fallen into the greatest humiliation. Think of Judas Iscariot; he began well, but remember his end! On the other hand, Paul, the Apostle, was in his early life an enemy of Christ, whilst later he became His most faithful servant. How then can we flatter ourselves and despise others?
Let us therefore be humble, without prejudices, preferring others’ good to our own! Let us never say, “I am a believer but he is an Infidel,” “I am near to God, whilst he is an outcast.” We can never know what will be the final judgment! Therefore let us help all who are in need of any kind of assistance.
How “Practical” Is the Bahá’í Faith?
ARTHUR DAHL
WE IN the United States, with
our fabulous success in the
production of material goods,
have been prone arbitrarily to
classify all ideas and suggested
ventures as either “practical” or
“impractical.” Since people who
think in these terms are apt to
dismiss the Bahá’í Faith, after a
superficial acquaintanceship with
its basic principles, as “impractical”
“idealistic,” and “utopian,”
it might be well to consider their
point of view more fully.
“Practical-Minded” people are generally those who are in the front lines of our economic, political, and social activity. They are the doers, as distinct from the thinkers and the planners. They are acutely conscious of the reality of things as they are today, and have a relatively short-term outlook. They evaluate any suggested course of action by the extent to which it fits in with the status quo and has a chance for success in the near future. They are acutely aware of human weaknesses, and accept them as fixed, permanent, and an important element in the calculations. In most cases they have little interest in the broad movements of past history, nor are they apt to look very far ahead. They are usually suspicious of those who live primarily in the world of ideas, particularly broad or general ideas, or concepts based upon historical perspective. They consider such people to be out of touch with “reality” and therefore “impractical.” An idea is worth-while only if it has an immediate, concrete application.
As is usually the case, there are elements of truth in both positions. Certainly any idea, to have value, must have some relationship to reality. But reality is not confined to the immediate, and the “practical-minded” people are themselves being shortsighted and unrealistic when they ignore longer term trends and the gradual process of change. The current position, its relationship to the past, and the trend pointing to the future must all be taken into consideration to give a true and balanced picture of reality.
Based upon the point of view
of the “practical-minded” people,
as defined above, the Bahá’í
Faith could probably be correctly
classified as “impractical.” Before
its goals can be reached
widespread and drastic changees
in human behavior and motivation
[Page 311]
must take place, which the
“practical-minded” person would
be apt to regard skeptically. And
in any case these changes are not
expected to take place overnight.
The Faith does not provide an
immediate solution for the
world’s ills. A casual observer
might even feel that, at least in
the Western world, it had made
little progress to date, in terms
of total number of believers and
other outward accomplishments.
And a cornerstone of the Faith
is an idea based upon historical
perspective, the concept of progressive
revelation. No, on his
own grounds there is ample reason
for the “practical-minded”
person to be dubious about the
Bahá’í Faith.
One may seriously question, however, whether this approach is the proper one to use in evaluating any attempt to solve the basic problems facing mankind today. These problems are too complex, too profound, too vast to admit of any short-term solution. As defined by the “practical” answer to these problems now available. Hence much of the feeling of hopelessness and despair that is so prevalent today.
Yet is this not far too narrow a use of the word “practical”? Fundamentally, a thing is practical if it will work, if it will be successful. This should be just as true whether the success is achieved tomorrow or a hundred years from now. And so a decision as to whether or not the Bahá’í Faith is workable should rest solely upon whether or not it seems to be on the right track and stands a chance of ultimately achieving its goal of unifying mankind and establishing universal peace and security.
This is where historical perspective
comes in. If one looks
only at conditions as they are
throughout the globe today, one
can easily be overwhelmed by the
extent and the power of the negative
forces that are tearing the
world apart and threatening to
overthrow our civilization; the
forces of nationalism, of materialism,
of racial prejudices, of
class warfare, of conflict between
religions. Seemingly these are insurmountable.
One will also be
struck by the weakened position
of religion as a direct influence
on the lives and actions of great
masses of people, by the widely
accepted notion that religion is
old-fashioned and passé in this
“enlightened” age. Based upon
an analysis of current conditions
alone, the claim of the Bahá’í
Faith that we are on the threshold
of a great resurgence of spiritual
power and religious feeling,
which will bring about an entirely
[Page 312]
new concept of world unity,
seems far-fetched indeed.
Yet if we study our own age in relation to the past, the Bahá’í explanations seem eminently sensible, so much so that it is a wonder that it is taking so long for them to be generally accepted. For countless historians have recorded the rise and fall of civilizations. Bahá’ís understand that each one was initiated and inspired by One who claimed to be, and was accepted by His followers as, a Manifestation of God, and Who brought the Word of God to the world in a form needed to meet the problems of the age in which He lived. And history corroborates the progressive advancement of these civilizations, each reaching a higher level of attainment than its predecessor. How logical that the goal of the era that lies ahead of us, the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, should be the unification of mankind.
There have been periods in the past when religion has weakened, when it has had little influence on the people, and when, as a result, chaos, violence, immorality and destruction have prevailed. But always such periods were followed by the appearance of a new Prophet, and a renaissance of spiritual values in the forming of a new and greater civilization and the resolving of the basic points of conflict. Is it either logical or scientific to assume that our own age is going to be an exception, that we have reached a dead-end of spiritual progress?
Once one accepts the validity of revealed religion and the Bahá’í principle of progressive revelation, one must decide on the truth of Bahá’u’lláh’s claim to be a Manifestation of God, the Prophet for this day. This can only be done by a careful, independent study of His writings, and those of His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, of His great-grandson, Shoghi Effendi. Once this hurdle is crossed all of the pieces that make up the vast panorama of the Bahá’í teachings fit logically into place. And it is only then that one can begin to appreciate just how practical the Bahá’í Faith is, in the sense that it is the only means whereby the world can find its way to peace and unity.
For it is evident that no permanent
cure for the world’s ills
can be achieved without some basic
worldwide change in people
themselves. Today’s hopelessness,
cynicism, immorality, and
dishonesty do not provide a solid
foundation for a good society.
But history shows that, in the
past, revealed religions, and they
alone have lifted entire peoples
[Page 313]
above such levels. To say that
this can’t be done is to ignore the
lessons of the past. And the
Bahá’í Faith shows signs of
achieving this renaissance again
in our own time. But further than
that, within the body of the
Bahá’í teachings lies a framework
of a new world society,
broader in scope and more profound
in conception than anything
else before the public today.
And so the Bahá’í Faith offers
the two essential elements for
overcoming the divisive forces
rampant throughout the world
and establishing a new era of
peace and unity: the spiritual
power to turn men once more toward
the ageless virtues as a
guide to their daily lives, and a
specific and detailed program
for a new universal order, providing
for a world government,
an international system of economics,
the abolition of racial,
class, and religious prejudices,
equality of men and women, universal
education, an international
language, and many other provisions
in the social, political, and
economic fields. How can such a
program be “impractical,” when
anything short of it is bound to
fail? And when failure may
mean the virtual destruction of
our civilization?
Webster’s New International Dictionary defines “practical” as: “opposed to theoretical, ideal, or speculative . . . given or disposed to action as opposed to speculation . . . capable of applying knowledge to some useful end.” On the basis of this definition the Bahá’í Faith is eminently practical. It is a very real and specific, not a theoretical, concept, and it is a religion of action, which is being applied daily to decidedly useful ends. The results are not superficially spectacular, since they concern neither total numbers of believers nor quantity of physical property accumulated, but they are nonetheless very real and impressive to one who takes the trouble to examine them.
The Bahá’í community consists
of believers in over ninety-one
countries. These people have
a multitude of religious, economic,
and social backgrounds,
and truly represent a cross-section
of humanity. Yet no matter
where their previous interests
lay, no matter what their approach
to the fundamental problems
of life had been, they have
found a satisfactory answer in
the extensive teachings of the
Faith. And in spite of the contrary
attitudes of the world
around them, they are putting
into practice and living the
Bahá’í principles today, both individually
and as a group. The
Bahá’í Administrative Order as
[Page 314]
it is now functioning is a pilot
model of the world order of the
future, the working nucleus
around which this new society
can grow. Within this community
the caste distinctions in India
and the antagonism between
black and white in America disappear,
a feeling of close kinship
exists between Bahá’ís of
different races and nations, a
spirit of love, cooperation, and
fellowship predominates. And as
a result one finds a well-balanced,
thoroughly adjusted
group of people looking toward
the future with hope and confidence.
If it can happen to them,
why not to the world at large?
And so, once one realizes that the great religions of the past have overcome negative forces that were, relatively speaking, fully as strong as those we face today, and then grasps the breadth and scope and logic of the Bahá’í Faith, it looms as the only “practical” road to that united, peaceful world of the future for which we all yearn.
Each Manifestation is the heart of the world and the proficient Physician of every patient. The world of humanity is sick, but that skilled Physician hath the remedy and He bestoweth divine teachings, exhorations and advices which are the remedy of every ailment and the dressing for every wound. Undoubtedly, the wise physician discovereth the needs of the patient at every season and prescribeth medicine . . . The prescription of the proficient physicians of the past and the future will not be the same; nay, rather they will be in accord with the ailment of the patient . . . In former dispensations the sick body of the world could not bear the strong and overpowering remedies. That is why His Highness the Christ said: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of the Comforter, who is sent by the Father, is come, He will guide you into all truth.
—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
Modern Vikings
AMELIA BOWMAN
“THE youth of Sweden need
adventure,” a Swedish author
said to me at a dinner shortly
after my arrival in Stockholm
last October, “so that the viking
spirit may find expression. Swedish
youth have not participated
in the recent wars, and have not,
therefore, had contact with new
people and new lands as the
youth of neighboring countries.
They need to feel the spirit of adventure.”
“What could be a greater adventure today,” I replied, “than to become a part of a great New World that would bring together the ends of the earth? The challenge today,” I continued, “is just as real and vital as was the challenge to the early Vikings to venture out in search of new lands. The same courage and daring are needed today to establish a new way of life, to become unifiers of mankind and bridge the divisions of race, religion, nation and class. To find these Vikings I have crossed the ocean! and when I find them to tell them of the course which Bahá’u’lláh, the Master Pilot, has charted to guide the world to unity and peace.”
“Just how do you expect to find these Vikings?” he inquired, “For youth today does not want to investigate religion. It would be impossible to get them to see religion as an adventure.”
“Well, first of all, these modern Vikings must be sincere. They must also want a better world! It is not those with great intelligence, necessarily, or those with wealth and position that we must seek but those whose hearts have felt the great love and compassion for mankind.”
One of the first of the modern
vikings to arise in Sweden was
inspired to work for the peace of
mankind when, as a small child,
he accompanied his father on a
trip. On the train were many
wounded men being returned to
Germany after the first world
war. One man, who was dying,
talked with him, and he realized
that this man had a child just his
own age, whom this father would
never see. He tried to comfort
the man, and, in those moments
of human compassion a great
desire for peace was aroused.
When fourteen years of age he
became an ardent Esperantist,
because he felt that in this way he
could advance the cause of
peace. When Martha Root, the
star Bahá’í teacher, visited Stockholm
and spoke before the Esperanto
[Page 316]
club on November 21,
1934, she placed the manuscript
of her Bahá’í talk in the hands of
this youth! He took it home and
filed it away until, in 1947, thirteen
years later, two Bahá’í
pioneer teachers, spoke again at
that Club. He went home and
searched out the manuscript and
read it. Today he is an enthusiastic
Bahá’í, working for all the
principles of a new way of life,
which include the adoption of an
international auxiliary language
to promote understanding and
good-will among the peoples of
the world.
Another of our modern vikings here in Stockholm recalled reading a newspaper clipping which epitomized Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet to Queen Victoria. His foster parents in England had framed this clipping and hung it in their library. Later, in 1927, Mrs. Marguerite Kinlock had spoken to him about the Bahá’í Faith. He had helped Mrs. Jennie Anderson, when she came to Stockholm, to get a proper transfer from one street car to another, and she had told him more about the Faith. On his return to Stockholm after his summer vacation he went to her to get something to read and to study, and subsequently became a believer.
Another, a neighbor here on Rindogaten, where I have found lodgings in overcrowded Stockholm, had investigated many religions and had come to believe in the fundamental oneness of all religions and the brotherhood of man. As a member of the Theosophical Society she secured their cooperation in a showing of the film, “The End or The Beginning,” which presents the challenge that science brings to the peoples of the world to establish peace or be annihilated. Before the showing of the picture “The Bahá’í Peace Program” was presented, pointing out the need for world federation and world religion.
The newspapers have carried many items about the Bahá’í World Faith, and a long article about the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, appeared in one of Stockholm’s daily papers. The writer is an ardent worker for peace, both through her pen and through her lectures given throughout Sweden. An editor of a newspaper in northern Sweden wrote Mrs. Schopflocher in Maine that he would appreciate receiving material about the Bahá’í Faith, about which she had spoken to him on her visit to Sweden.
Other vikings working for the
advancement of Sweden, whom
I have met, include Miss Kirsten
Hesselgren, a former member of
[Page 317]
Rihstag, who is earnest, open-minded,
and eager to know about
the Bahá’í teachings for Universal
Peace. She is the most beloved
woman in all Sweden, I am
told, and this is easy to understand,
for she has the simplicity
of greatness, the directness of a
great and clear vision and the
love of humanity in her heart.
Mr. Gunnar Hirdman, director
of the Workers’ Educational
Movement, a vital man whom one
recognizes as a fearless worker
and educator. Editors, educators,
authors, as well as organizations
working for peace, for equality
of men and women, and other
universal principles, are all striving
for a better world.
It is the little group of Bahá’ís, dedicated to the service of the Divine Plan of God for this Day, however, that constitute that nucleus of the new race of men, the new world civilization, whom history will one day record as the spiritual descendants of the early vikings. They are every day advancing the cause of peace in the hearts of the people through the regenerating spirit released in this Revelation. One day this small nucleus will be a dynamic and vital link in the world-encircling Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Through the election of the Stockholm Spiritual Assembly on April 21, 1948, Sweden became part of the structural framework of the New World Order, which already extends throughout North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, the British Isles, Germany, Austria, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Egypt and Sudan, ‘Iráq, Palestine, Íran, India and Burma.
Thus a faith which had its beginnings in the Message of its Founder to the rulers of the world, in which they were offered “The Most Great Peace,” finds itself established as a world religion, bringing together in an organic unity the various religions, races, and nations of the world. These modern vikings, working for a Divine Plan, are constantly realizing new spiritual values. They are of those of whom Bahá’u’lláh said, “That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.”
The Station of Christ
A Compilation from the Bahá’í Writings
THE DIVINE Prophets came
to establish the unity of the
Kingdom in human hearts. All
of them proclaimed the glad tidings
of the divine bestowals to
the world of mankind. All
brought the same message of divine
love to the world. His Holiness
Jesus Christ gave His life
upon the cross for the unity of
mankind. Those who believed in
Him likewise sacrificed life, honor,
possessions, family, everything,
that this human world
might be released from the hell
of discord, enmity and strife.
His foundation was the oneness
of humanity. Only a few were
attracted to Him. They were not
the kings and rulers of His time.
They were not rich and important
people. Some of them were
catchers of fishes. Most of them
were ignorant men, not trained
in the knowledge of this world.
One of the greatest of them,
Peter, could not remember the
days of the week. All of them
were of the least consequence in
the eyes of the world. But their
hearts were pure and attracted
by the fires of the divine spirit
manifested in Christ. With this
small army Christ conquered the
world of the east and the west.
Kings and nations rose against
Him. Philosophers and the greatest
men of learning assailed and
blasphemed His cause. All were
defeated and overcome; their
tongues silenced; their lamps
extinguished; their hatred
quenched; no trace of them now
remain. They have become as
non-existent while His kingdom
is triumphant and eternal.
The brilliant star of His cause has ascended to the zenith while night has enveloped and eclipsed His enemies. His name beloved and adored by a few disciples now commands the reverence of kings and nations of the world. His power is eternal; His sovereignty will continue forever while those who opposed Him are sleeping in the dust, their very names unknown, forgotten. The little army of disciples has become a mighty cohort of millions. The Heavenly Host, the Supreme Concourse, are His legions, the Word of God is His sword, the power of God is His victory.
His Holiness Jesus Christ
knew this would come to pass
and was content to suffer. His
abasement was His glorification;
His crown of thorns a heavenly
diadem. When they pressed it
upon His blessed head and spat
[Page 319]
in His beautiful face they laid
the foundation of His everlasting
kingdom. He still reigns
while they and their names have
become lost and unknown. He is
eternal and glorious; they are
non-existent. They sought to destroy
Him, but they destroyed
themselves and increased the intensity
of His flame by the winds
of their opposition.
Through His death and teachings we have entered into His kingdom. His essential teaching was the unity of mankind and attainment of supreme human virtues through love . . .
Christ was a divine center of unity and love. Whenever discord prevails instead of unity, wherever hatred and antagonism take the place of love and spiritual fellowship, anti-Christ reigns instead of Christ . . . He loved even His enemies and prayed in the hour of his crucifixion for those who killed Him. Therefore to be a Christian is not merely to bear the name of Christ and say, “I belong to a Christian government.” To be a real Christian is to be a servant in His cause and kingdom, to go forth under His banner of peace and love toward all mankind, to be self-sacrificing and obedient, to become quickened by the breaths of the Holy Spirit, to be mirrors reflecting the radiance of the divinity of Christ, to be fruitful trees in the garden of His planting, to refresh the world by the water of life of His teachings; in all things to be like Him and filled with the spirit of his love.
Therefore let your faces be more radiant with hope and heavenly determination to serve the cause of God . . . to kindle anew the spirit of humanity with divine fires and to reflect the glory of heaven to this gloomy world of materialism. When you possess these divine susceptibilities you will be able to awaken and develop them in others. We cannot give of our wealth to the poor unless we possess it. . . .
Array yourselves in the perfection
of divine virtues. I hope
you may be quickened and vivified
by the breaths of the Holy
Spirit. Then shall ye indeed become
the angels of heaven whom
Christ promised would appear
in this day to gather the harvest
of divine planting. This is my
hope. This is my prayer for you.
(Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
2-5)
His Holiness Jesus Christ was
an Educator of humanity. His
teachings were altruistic; His bestowal
universal. He taught mankind
by the power of the Holy
Spirit and not through human
agency. . . . If you reflect upon
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the essential teachings of Jesus
you will realize that they are the
light of the world. Nobody can
question their Truth. They are
the very source of life and the
cause of happiness to the human
race. The forms and superstitions
which appeared and obscured
the Light did not affect
the Reality of Christ. . . . His
Holiness Christ was a real Shepherd.
At the time of His Manifestation,
the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians
and Egyptians were like
so many scattered flocks. Christ
breathed upon them the spirit
of unity and harmonized them.
(Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
82, 157)
When the Lord Christ was
crowned with thorns, He knew
that all diadems of the world
were at His feet. All earthly
crowns, however brilliant, powerful
and resplendent bowed in
adoration before the Crown of
Thorns! It was from this sure and
certain knowledge He spoke,
when He said;—“All power is
given unto Me, in Heaven and
in Earth.”
(Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 156)
Know thou that when the Son
of Man yielded up His breath to
God, the whole creation wept
with a great weeping. By sacrificing
Himself, however, a fresh
capacity was infused into all created
things. Its evidences, as witnessed
in all the peoples of the
earth, are now manifest before
thee. The deepest wisdom which
the sages have uttered, the profoundest
learning which any
mind hath unfolded, the arts
which the ablest hands have produced,
the influence exerted by
the most potent of rulers, are but
manifestations of the quickening
power released by His transcendent,
His all-pervasive, and resplendent
Spirit.
We testify that when He came
into the world, He shed the splendor
of His glory upon all created
things. Through Him the
leper recovered from the leprosy
of perversity and ignorance.
Through Him, the unchaste and
wayward were healed. Through
His power, born of Almighty
God, the eyes of the blind were
opened, and the soul of the sinner
sanctified . . .
(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh,
p. 85)
When Christ appeared He
manifested Himself at Jerusalem.
He called men to the Kingdom
of God, He invited them to
eternal life, and He told them
to acquire human perfections.
The Light of Guidance was shed
forth by that Radiant Star, and
He at length gave His life for
humanity. All through His
blessed life He suffered oppression
and hardship, and in spite
of all this, humanity was his enemy.
They denied Him, scorned
[Page 321]
Him, ill-treated Him and cursed
Him. He was not treated like a
man—and yet in spite of all this,
He was the embodiment of pity
and of supreme goodness and
love. He loved all humanity, but
they treated Him as an enemy
and were incapable of appreciating
Him. They set no value on
His words, and were not illumined
by the flame of His love.
Later they realized Who He was: that He was the sacred and Divine Light, and that His Words held eternal life. His heart was full of love for all the world, His goodness was destined to reach each one—and as they began to realize these things they repented, but He had been crucified.
It was not until many years
after His ascension that they
knew who He was, and at the
time of His ascension He had
only a few disciples; only a comparatively
small following believed
His precepts and followed
His Laws. The ignorant
said, “Who is this individual; He
has only a few disciples?” But
those who knew said, “He is the
Sun who will shine in the East
and in the West; He is the Manifestation
Who will give life to
the world.” What the first disciples
had seen the world realized
later.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Wisdom Talks in Paris,
pp. 107, 108)
Consider the days of His Holiness
Christ, how the light of
Guidance brightened twelve
hearts. How limited it seemed
but how expansive it became afterward
and illumined the world!
(Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
189)
The Reality of Christ, that is
to say the Word of God, is the
cause of spiritual life. It is a
“quickening spirit,” meaning
that all the imperfections which
come from the requirements of
the physical life of men, are
transformed into human perfections
by the teachings and education
of that spirit. Therefore
Christ was a quickening spirit,
and the cause of life in all mankind
. . . The position of Christ
was that of absolute perfection;
He made His divine perfections
shine like the sun upon all believing
souls, and the bounties of
the Light shone and radiated in
the reality of men. . . . The Reality
of Christ was a clear and polished
mirror of the greatest purity
and fineness. . . . The Sun
of Reality, that is to say, the
Essence of Oneness with its infinite
perfections and attributes,
became visible in the Mirror.
(Some Answered Questions, pp. 130-138)
Consider to what extent the
love of God Makes itself manifest.
Among the signs of His love
which appear in the world are
the dawning-points of His Manifestations.
[Page 322]
What an infinite degree
of love is reflected by the
divine Manifestations toward
mankind! For the sake of guiding
the people they have willingly
forfeited their lives to resuscitate
human hearts. They
have accepted the cross. . . . If
His Holiness Jesus Christ had
not possessed love for the world
of humanity, surely He would
not have welcomed the cross. He
was crucified for the love of
mankind. Consider the infinite
degree of that love . . . It has
been likewise with all the Prophets
and holy souls . . .
(Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
250, 251)
In the Word of God there is
still another unity, the Oneness of
the Manifestations of God, His
Holiness Abraham, Moses, Jesus
Christ, Muḥammad, the Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh. This is the unity
divine, heavenly, radiant, merciful;
the one reality appearing in
its successive manifestations. For
instance, the sun is one and the
same but its points of dawning
are various. During the summer
season it rises from the northern
point of the ecliptic; in winter
it appears from the southern
point of rising. Each month between
it appears from a certain
zodiacal position. Although these
dawning points are different, the
sun is the same sun which has
appeared from them all. The
significance is the reality of
prophethood which is symbolized
by the sun, and the Holy Manifestations
are the dawning places
or zodiacal points.
(Bahá’í World Faith p. 259)
The Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is
the same as the Cause of Christ.
It is the same Temple and the
same Foundation. Both of these
are spiritual springtimes and seasons
of the soul-refreshing awakening
and ths cause of the renovation
of the life of mankind.
The spring of this year is the
same as the spring of last year.
The origins and ends are the
same. The sun of today is the
sun of yesterday. In the coming
of Christ, the divine teachings
were given in accordance with
the infancy of the human race.
The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh
have the same basic principles,
but are according to the stage of
the maturity of the world and the
requirements of this illumined
age.
(Bahá’í World Faith p. 400)
WITH OUR READERS
“GOSPEL Times Today,” the lead
article this month, was written
by Annamarie Kunz Honnold, a
contributor of whom we last heard
in 1945 (“Signs of the Times,”
June, 1945). Mrs. Honnold lives in
Havertown, Pennsylvania, with her
husband—a member of the law
faculty of the University of Pennsylvania
—and her two children.
She is a graduate of the University
of Illinois. She has made several trips
abroad. The last one was in 1939
with her husband. They returned to
this country after the outbreak of
war. In teaching the Bahá’í way of
life, Mrs. Honnold has served as editor
of Bahá’í Youth and for four
years as secretary of the Regional
Teaching Committee of Maryland,
Virginia, and West Virginia. At present,
as chairman of the Child Education
Committee, her most important
work is educating children for world
peace.
Floyd H. Munson (“Lords of Creation”, July, 1948), mentions at the beginning of “This Is Our Faith,” his most recent contribution, that the knowledge of the Bahá’í teachings will first of all cause a person to appreciate the truths of God’s testament as revealed by the Prophet of his own particular creed. We believe that Mr. Munson’s article, the piece by Mrs. Hutchens, and the compilation on the “Station of Christ” will contribute something towards deepening the understanding of all those, who this month, celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Eleanor Sweney Hutchens is well known to readers of W. O. She is one of our editors, lives in Champaign, and constantly contributes articles and editorials. Her piece this month —“Do You Believe in Christ?”— written as a letter to a friend, takes a step further Mr. Munson’s comment on the relationship of the Bahá’í Faith to Christianity. Bahá’ís believe in Jesus and His Teachings, says Mrs. Hutchens. Believe that He came, taught, was crucified. Still more: they believe He has now come again. And Mrs. Hutchens explains that the body of Jesus, being a physical thing, can be crucified, can perish. But the Spirit of God that spoke through Jesus is eternal, and the Spirit has returned in the body of Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’ís can see therefore in Christmas not only the birth, but also the rebirth of Christ.
Our editorial, “Crisis and Creation,” was written by Elsa Blakely. Mrs. Blakely is one of our new editors.
When Bahá’ís speak of world
peace and a slowly emerging world
civilization, they are often asked if
the Bahá’í plan will really work. Arthur
Dahl (“Mullá Ḥusayn: First
Letter of the Living,” June,
1948), discusses the issue in his
article “How ‘Practical’ is the Bahá’í
Faith.” He questions the concept of
“practical” and “impractical” as applied
by the U.S. citizen in everyday
life, where the ‘thinkers’ and the
‘planners’ are confronted by the
more positive ‘doers’, losing out because
[Page 324]
they cannot manage success in
the near future. Mr. Dahl would
rather oppose the idea of “practical”
as something that will work—
whether in the next few years or in a
historical span of time. And he proceeds
to show why anything short of
a historical, long-range program is
bound to fail—is bound to be “impractical”
—in solving the basic
problems facing mankind today.
Incidentally, Mr. Dahl, who lives in Palo Alto, California, wrote this piece when he was forced to stay in bed for three days with the flu. We don’t like to see our contributors catch the flu, but if this is necessary for them to write articles, well then we shall have to be “practical.”
Amelia Bowman writes from Stockholm, Sweden, where she has been living since the end of 1947 as a Bahá’í pioneer teacher. Mrs. Bowman’s “Modern Vikings” are the people of Sweden who take up the challenge of a new world civilization, who have felt the great love and compassion for mankind and wish to build a better world. The youth of Sweden that need adventure (because they did not go to war and forcibly come into contact with peoples of other countries) can find today in the Bahá’í teachings, Mrs. Bowman suggests, a challenge that is just as real and vital as was the challenge of the early vikings. And it is these people who want a better world that history will one day record as the spiritual descendants of the early vikings.
We are indebted to Nellie French, Gertrude Struven and Mariam Haney, three Bahá’ís of long standing, for the compilation on the “Station of Christ.” For many years they have been serious students of the Bahá’í teachings, and of the relationship of the words of Bahá’u’lláh to the words of the Bible.
These selections appear this month instead of part III of “What Modern Man Must Know About Religion.” This compilation will be resumed in January.
* * *
What is the ultimate objective of the Bahá’í Faith?
Answer: Bahá’u’lláh said to Professor Edward G. Browne of the University of Cambridge in 1890: “. . . We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. . . . That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled—What harm is there in this? . . . Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the Most Great Peace shall come. . . . Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? . . . Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. . . . These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family. . . . Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
Bahá’í Sacred Writings
Works of Bahá’u’lláh
Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
KITÁB-I-ÍQÁN (Book of Certitude)
In this work Bahá’u’lláh reveals the oneness of religion, traces its continuity and evolution through the successive Manifestations of God, and correlates revelation with the major movements of history. Translated by Shoghi Effendi.
HIDDEN WORDS
The essence of all revealed truth, expressed in brief meditations impregnated with spiritual power. Translated by Shoghi Effendi.
THE SEVEN VALLEYS, THE FOUR VALLEYS
Treatises on the progress of the soul and the action of spirit on human being, revealed to disclose the difference between religion and philosophy. Translated by ‘Alí-Kulí Khán.
EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF
The force and significance of divine Revelation opposed by the ruthless deniers in church and state. One of Bahá’u’lláh’s last works, it cites from and recapitulates the meaning of many other Tablets.
TABLETS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
The Tablet of Tarázát, Tablet of the World, Words of Paradise, Tablet of Tajallíyát, Glad Tidings and Tablet of Ishráqát, containing social principles and laws, are found in Chapter Four of Bahá’í World Faith. The Tablet of the Branch and Kitáb-i-‘Ahd, setting forth the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, are found in Chapter Five of the same work. Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablets to the Kings form part of Chapter One of that work.
GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
These excerpts were selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi, and offer a representative compilation of words of Bahá’u’lláh: the Bahá’í teachings on the nature of religion, the regeneration of the soul and the transformation of human society.
PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS BY BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
In these passages, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi, the relationship of man to God attained by prayer and meditation has been firmly established above and beyond the influence of superstition and imagination.
Words of Bahá’u’lláh
Inscribed Over the Nine Entrances of the
House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois
- The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
- The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me.
- My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure.
- Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.
- Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.
- I have made death a messenger of joy to thee; wherefore dost thou grieve?
- Make mention of Me on My earth that in My heaven I may remember thee.
- O rich ones on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust.
- The source of all learnings is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory.