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[Page 439]

WORLD ORDER

MARCH 1940

RELIGION AND CIVILIZATION

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

BY THAT SACRED THRESHOLD

Ruhíyyih Khánum

THE REALITY OF CHRIST

Maye Harvey Gift

TO MANY PEOPLES

Marcia Steward Atwater

THE PATH TO BELIEF

Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick

[Page 440]

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

MARCH 1940 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 12

THE PATH TO BELIEF • Editorial ....................... 441

RELIGION AND CIVILIZATION • ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ ............. 443

BY THAT SACRED THRESHOLD • RUHÍYYIH KHÁNUM ..... 451

THE SEEKER, Poem • GERTRUDE W. ROBINSON .............. 456

TO MANY PEOPLES • MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER ............. 457

THE REALITY OF CHRIST • MAYE HARVEY GIFT ............. 460

EXPERIENCE • Poem • WILLIAM LESTER BROWN ............. 465

TRUTH AND WORLD UNITY • HORACE HOLLEY ................ 466

NABIL’S HISTORY OF THE BÁB, III • GEORGE TOWNSHEND ... 470

ATOMS IN ACTION • DALE S. COLE ....................... 475

INDEX TO VOLUME V .................................... 479

VIEWING THE WORLD AS AN ORGANISM

Change of address should be reported one month in advance.

WORLD ORDER is published monthly in New York, N. Y., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Stanwood Cobb, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick and Horace Holley. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Alice Simmons Cox, Genevieve L. Coy, G. A. Shook, Dale S. Cole, Marcia Atwater, Annamarie Honnold, Marzieh Gail, Hasan M. Balyusi, Shirin Fozdar, Inez Greeven. BUSINESS MANAGER: C. R. Wood. PUBLICATION OFFICE: 135 East 50th Street, New York, N. Y. EDITORIAL OFFICE: 536 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, Ill.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $2.00 per year, $1.75 to Public Libraries. Rate to addresses outside the United States, $2.25, foreign Library rate, $2.00, Single copies, 20 cents. Checks and money orders should be made payable to World Order Magazine, 135 East 50th Street, New York, N. Y. Entered as second class matter, May 1, 1935, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1940 by BAHA’I PUBLISHING CONEMITTEE. Title Registered at U. S. Patent Office.

March 1940, Volume 5, Number 12

[Page 441]

WORLD ORDER

March 1940 Volume 5 No. 12

THE PATH TO BELIEF

A NEW cry for belief in God is going out. Among certain intellectuals for a hundred or a hundred and fifty years skepticism has been the vogue. Religion has been considered childish and for the unthinking or unsophisticated.

Among many reasons for this a few stand out as obvious: one, the decadence of religion into superstition, the demand of religious leaders and their creeds that we should believe what was plainly contrary to reason; another, its decadence into formalism, an outward profession of belief which the daily life and actions of the professed believer often belied. Then again, the corruption of certain of the clergy in some countries, some of whom have made use of their position for their own aggrandizement, has turned sincere persons from religion.

Together with denying religion have we not set up other gods—for man must needs worship something? Thus with the advance of science and when through discovery and invention man found himself in seeming control of nature’s forces his religious skepticism not only increased but he made his own intellect and its creations his gods. Have we not believed ourselves able to solve all our own problems—physical, mental, social, economic, industrial, political—regardless of a higher Power?

But a change is taking place. Slowly we are realizing not only that our problems are not solved but that they are becoming more unsolvable and that our prized inventions are becoming unmanageable and are crushing us. From different sources outside the clergy comes a cry for the abandonment of skepticism, for a return to belief. There is an acknowledgement that the deep cause of our social ills is materialism and unbelief. The editors of a widely read magazine assert that “by no conceivable set of circumstances will it be possible to solve by materialism the titanic problems, domestic and international, with which humanity is faced today. The ultimate answers to the questions humanity raises are not and never have been, in the flesh.” The writers speak, I believe, for a large group when they call for a return to belief: “As laymen dedicated to the practise of Christianity we can merely record our certainty that in order to progress humanity must believe; it must have faith in certain absolute spiritual values, or at least that absolute spiritual values exist.”

[Page 442] What is the answer to this cry? To return to belief is not easy. Where is the path? Religious leaders do not agree as to what the spiritual absolutes are. They, at least some of them, acknowledge their failure in holding people to belief. To which belief shall people be brought back? Again, the masses are uninstructed in religious belief and are no longer content to accept a belief instead of material necessities. A generation of young people has come up with little positive religious instruction and these young people as parents have nothing in the way of religion to give to their children. A writer in a religious journal recently said in answer to the question, “Are young people losing their religious faith?”—“They cannot lose what they do not possess.” The very calamities and suffering inflicted by man upon man prevent many from belief in a God of goodness.

BUT there is a path to belief today. More than sixty years ago Bahá’u’lláh warned us of the effect of unbelief and He also pointed out the path to belief and to God. “The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land,” He said, “nothing but His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?”

What is His wholesome medicine? May it not be our very suffering? Bahá’u’lláh, however, leaves us in no doubt of how ungodliness is removed and human society revitalized today. It is through His potent Revelation. Thousands of hearts all over the world, inspired by this Revelation, already testify to this and are working with new zeal and with definite purpose to build a New World Order based on belief in God and in His guidance in the affairs of men. But what is His potent Revelation? Here it is possible to give only a hint. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá states it thus: “The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the oneness of religion.” Outwardly this oneness of mankind means, among other things, a world government; inwardly it means hearts so quickened with love and so cleansed of selfish desires that they “show the utmost love, rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and sincere kindliness unto all the peoples and kindreds of the world, be they friends or strangers.”

Why do not all who cry for a renewed belief in God find this path? Possibly some are looking in the wrong direction—backward to the old. Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation is new and tells what to do now. Then, too, is it possible that some of us do not want belief in God so much as what we think belief in God will bring— the material civilization which we see slipping away? Is it the loaves and fishes we seek or the Bread of Life? The sincere seeker will surely diligently inquire concerning this clear path to belief which is open to all. “The Book of God is wide open and His Word is summoning all mankind unto Him.”

B. H. K.

[Page 443]

RELIGION AND CIVILIZATION

WORDS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

BEHOLD with the eyes of discernment and see: these signs and thoughts, knowledge, science, arts, handicrafts and wonderful inventions, all spring from the wealth of wisdom and understanding. Every nation and tribe which hath dipped deep in this infinite ocean, hath advanced ahead of all others. The glory, honor and prosperity of a nation depend upon this: that like the sun they rise from thoughts, knowledge, science, art. “Are they indeed the same—they who know, and they who do not know?”

The nobility and glory of man consist in the fact that, amidst the beings, he is the dawning place of righteousness. Can any greater blessing be imagined by man than the consciousness that by divine assistance the means of comfort, peace and prosperity of the human race are in his hands?

No, by God, there is no greater or more complete pleasure nor happiness than this. How long, then, shall we seek our own selfish desires on the wings of egoism? How long shall we continue like savage people in the depths of ignorance and misery? God has provided us with eyes in order that we should seek throughout the world, and turn towards the causes of civilization and progress; ears are granted to us that, having listened to the wise precepts of the learned, we may become instructed, and that girding up the loins of resolution, we may follow their excellent example. Senses and inner faculties have been bestowed upon us, that we may use them for the good of mankind, and that we should become distinguished from the lower nature of men by the solidity and justness of our judgment, and continually engage ourselves in well-doing. Thus we may find a sure defense in the impregnable fortress of knowledge, and at all times be prepared to lay a new foundation for the general welfare of our race; to discover a new system upon which to remodel our existence, and to give it openly to the world.

How noble and excellent is man, if he only attain to that state for which he was designed. And how mean and contemptible, if he close his eyes to the public weal, and spend his precious capacities on personal and selfish ends. The greatest happiness lies in the happiness of others. He who urges the matchless steed of endeavor on the race course of justice and civilization is alone capable of comprehending the wonderful signs of the natural and spiritual world. For is it not written: “We shall cause them to see Our signs, both in the world and in themselves?” In the misery of men lieth their greatest sorrow. [Page 444] He who remaineth idle and indifferent, and continueth in his egoism, indulging constantly his carnal appetites, descendeth to the lowest abyss of degradation and ignorance. Lower is he than the most dangerous of wild beasts. For it is written: “These indeed are worse than brutes; and meaner than cattle in the sight of God are the deaf and the dumb who will not understand.” . . .

If a man give a thought, he will see that the Omnipotent God has distinguished him from amongst his creatures by the dress of honor, of virtue and intelligence. “Verily we have created man in the image of God.” He has been made to shine forth from the morning of unity by the blessings of divine manifestations.

Man has become the spring of divine wonders and the center of the mysteries of the heavenly Kingdom.

Now why should he pollute this pure mantle with the stain of selfish desires, and exchange this eternal honor for the lowest depths of baseness? “Dost thou think thy body a small thing, while in thee is enfolded the universe?”. . .

IN the center of the world of being, the greatest dignity and the highest honor, both outward and inward, and in the beginning and the end, belong to the prophets of God, although poverty indeed has at all times been their chief possession; and for a like cause universal honor is ascribed to the saints and the beloved of God. They did not seek wealth or self-advancement, neither did those kings and rulers whose fame for just government and greatness filled the world occupy themselves only with their personal ambition and the acquirement of riches, but accounted the general weal and the increase of the inhabitants of their countries and of the public treasure as their greatest care. Their glory was not bought with gold or silver, but was purchased by the soundness of their principles and the nobility of their aspirations. . . .

Yea, the true civilization will raise its banner in the center of the world, when some noble kings of high ambitions, the bright suns of the world of humanitarian enthusiasm, shall, for the good and happiness of all the human race, step forth with firm resolution and keen strength of mind and hold a conference on the question of universal peace; when keeping fast hold of the means of enforcing their views they shall establish a union of the states of the world, and conclude a definite treaty and strict alliance between them upon conditions not to be evaded. When the whole human race had been consulted through their representatives and invited to corroborate this treaty which verily would be a treaty of universal peace and would be accounted sacred by all the peoples of the earth, it would be the duty of the united powers of the world to see that this great treaty should be strengthened and should endure.

In such a universal treaty the limits of the borders and boundaries of every state should be fixed, and the customs and laws of every government; all the agreements and the affairs of state and the arrangements between the various governments should be propounded and settled in due form; the [Page 445] size of the armaments for each government should likewise be definitely agreed upon, because if in the case of any state there were to be an increase in the preparation for war, it would be a cause of alarm to the other states. At any rate the bases of this powerful alliance should be so fixed that, if one of the states afterwards broke any of the articles of it, the rest of the nations of the world would rise up and destroy it. Yea, the whole human race would band its forces together to exterminate it.

If so great a remedy should be applied to the sick body of the world, it would certainly be the means of continually and permanently healing its illness by the inculcation of universal moderation. Reflect that, under such conditions of life, no government or kingdom would need to prepare and accumulate war materials, or would need to pay heed to the invention of new weapons of offense for the vexation and hurt of mankind. On the contrary, they would only require a few soldiers, as a means of assuring the safety of the state and punishing the wicked and rebellious and preventing the growth of civil sedition. Not more than these few would be needed. In the first place, therefore, the servants of God—that is to say, all the inhabitants of a state—would be freed from bearing the burden of the tremendous expense of an army; in the second, the many persons who now devote their lives to the invention of fresh instruments of war would no longer waste their time upon such work, which but encourages ferocity and bloodthirstiness, and is repugnant to the universal ideal of humanity— on the contrary, they would then employ their natural gifts in the cause of the general well-being, and would contribute towards the peace and salvation of mankind. All the rulers of the world will then be settled on peaceful thrones amid the glory of a perfect civilization, and all the nations and peoples will rest in the cradle of peace and comfort.

SOME persons who are ignorant of the world of true humanity and its high ambitions for the general good, reckon such a glorious condition of life to be very difficult, nay, rather, impossible to compass. But it is not so. Far from it. For by the grace of God, and by the testimony of the beloved, those near to the threshold of the Creator, and by the incomparably high ambitions of the souls that are perfect, and the thoughts and opinions of the wisest men of the age, there never has been and is not now anything improbable and impossible in existence. What are required are the most resolved determination and the most ardent enthusiasm. How many things which in ancient times were regarded as impossibilities, of such a kind that the intellect could hardly conceive them, we now perceive to have become quite simple and easy! Why then should this great and important matter of universal peace, which is verily the sun amongst the lights of civilization, the cause of honor, freedom and salvation for all, be considered as something improbable of realization?

It is evident that the honor and greatness of man have not arisen through bloodthirstiness, the destruction [Page 446] of cities and kingdoms, the ruining and murdering of armies and peoples. On the contrary the cause of highmindedness and prosperity is based upon the cherishing of justice and the sympathy with one’s fellow-citizens, from the highest to the lowest, upon building up the kingdom, the cities and villages, the suburbs and the country and upon the freedom and quiet of the servants of God in laying down the foundations of the principles of progress and in the extension of the common weal, the increase of wealth and general prosperity. . . .

WHEN the children of Israel multiplied rapidly, they came to be scattered over all parts of the kingdom of Egypt. The Egyptian kings of the Hyksos dynasty began then to bestow honors and powers on their own people, the Egyptians, and to despise and oppress the Hebrews, who were regarded as foreigners. The children of Israel, who were dispersed throughout the land, were for a long time captives in the hands of the Egyptians, were oppressed and tortured, and were scorned by all the people; to this extent that the basest Egyptian might torture and persecute the noblest Hebrew. In fact, such was their bondage, degradation and oppression, that neither by day nor by night had the Israelites any security for their own lives; nor could their children and wives find any refuge or protection from the injustice and cruelty of Pharaoh’s ministers.

They were so unhappy that their food became even like unto morsels of their own hearts swelling with blood, and their drink became tears, like unto the river Oxus.

In such an agonized condition were they, until the Beauty of Moses beheld the splendor of the fire of Oneness, by the side of the valley of Safety— the blessed Shrine. And he heard the life-prolonging Voice of God from the spiritual divine fire in the Bush; which was neither from the East nor from the West. He was exalted to universal prophecy, and shone like the lamp of guidance among the Hebrews; and by the light of guidance he led those gone astray in the darkness of ignorance to the right path of knowledge and perfection. Having gathered all the various tribes of the Israelites together under the protecting shadow of the Word of Unity, he raised aloft the banner of perfect union over the hills of agreement and friendliness. So in a short time those ignorant people having been educated by the divine teaching, were no longer alienated one from the other, but were attached to the Oneness of God; they were saved from despite, degradation, poverty, captivity, and ignorance, and were divinely favored with the highest degree of renown and prosperity. They then emigrated from the kingdom of Egypt and turned their steps towards the original, native land of Israel; and so they arrived at the land of the Canaanites and Philistines. They first conquered the regions about the river Jordan and Jericho and dwelt in them, and later they occupied all the neighboring towns from Phoenicia, Zoan to Ammon.

Finally in the time of Joshua the Bani Israel came to have rule over the [Page 447] countries of thirty-one kingdoms. They then surpassed all the nations of the world in all kinds of human qualities; in science, knowledge, steadfastness, resolution, bravery, courage, honor and generosity. At that period whenever an Israelite entered into a company of people, he could be distinguished by his amiable characteristics; and if one of the other nations wished to praise anybody, they would compare him to an Israelite. It is written in several histories that the Greek philosophers, such as Pythagoras, acquired most of their knowledge of the divine and natural philosophy from the disciple of the great King Solomon. Socrates, when traveling, met some of the most celebrated theologians of Israel and learnt many things from them; and after his return to Greece he established the belief in the immortality of the soul after the decomposition of the bodily elements. The ignorant men in Athens consequently objected to one who had sounded the mystery of philosophy and were enraged against him; so that he was obliged to poison himself in prison.

HOWEVER, after the Jews had attained this high stage of civilization and had been privileged to reach the highest possible degree of prosperity, they gradually forgot the fundamental bases of religion—the law of Moses —and steeped themselves in superficial ceremonies and heathen customs. In the time of Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, there were great discussions among the children of Israel, and Jereboam claimed the kingship and set up the worship of idols. For many centuries, war was carried on between Rehoboam and Jereboam and his descendants, and the Jewish tribes became wholly disorganized and disunited.

Finally, forgetting the significance of God’s law, they darkened their ways with heathen superstitions and with outrageous revolt and rebellion. Their theological doctors disregarded the needs of humanity, which were written in the holy Books, and looked solely after their personal profits, which reduced the nation to the extreme of religious negligence and ignorance. As a result of this, their seemingly permanent prosperity was changed to the uttermost degree of degradation; the rulers of Persia, Greece and Rome defeated them; and the banner of their authority was destroyed. The ignorance and foolishness, selfishness and degradation of the religious leaders of the community were revealed in their fullness when they were opposed to Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. He tore up the life of the Israelites by its roots; and after the customary murdering, plundering and destroying of houses and fields and towns, he took captive those who survived his sword and brought them to Babylon. . . .

The purport of this is that men should consider how true religion becomes the means of civilization, fame, prosperity, the enhancer of dignity and education and a source of progress for the degraded and captive, the submissive and ignorant. And when it falls into the hands of ignorant and superstitious leaders, the great light of religion is changed by their evil acts into a great darkness. . . .

[Page 448] THE powerful Jewish nation vanished and disappeared; but those few of them who hastened to the protecting shade of the Blessed Tree of Christ, verily, they rejuvenated all the peoples of the world. . . .

All the rulers of the earth took determined measures to exterminate the people of Jesus. Nevertheless and in consequence, most of the disciples strove with all their heart and soul to spread abroad the divine religion; and presently all the kings of Europe, many of the peoples of Asia and Africa, and some of the dwellers in the Isles of the Ocean were gathered together under the protecting shadow of the Word of Unity. . . .

Many were the souls who forsook their personal profit, seeking to please God, and they spent their lives in educating and instructing the people. But when the dawn of the bright morning of the Beauty of Ahmad drew nigh, the reins of all Christianity had fallen into the hands of ignorant monks. And the merciful breezes of grace were entirely stayed, and the commandments of the glorious Gospel, which were at the roots of civilization, were set at naught by the evil acts and conduct of those who were outwardly honorable and inwardly unworthy.

All the authoritative historians of Europe, who have treated of the circumstances, conditions, manners, politics, education, and general civilization of the past centuries, Middle Ages, and modern times, have declared that during the ten medieval centuries, which extend from the beginning of the sixth century to the end of the fifteenth century the kingdoms of Europe were in a most unhappy state and terribly lacking in every essential of civilization.

The chief cause of this was, that the monks, as the Europeans called the spiritual leaders of religion, neglecting the eternal glory of obeying the holy precepts and the heavenly teachings of the Gospel, were in cooperation with the pillars of worldly government, the ministers of state, of that age, who were advocates of oppression and rebellion, and, closing their eyes to the glory which is enduring they aided one another in their efforts toward securing mere temporary advantages and carnal benefits. So that matters at length reached such a pass that the peoples fell wholly into the hands of the ministers of state and of the monks, with the result that the fundamental bases of the religion, civilization, and prosperity of the nations of Europe were destroyed.

AND then the dawn of hope arose, the season of the divine spring was at hand, the showers of mercy rained down, and the life-giving winds of grace blew upon mankind. The Sun of goodness, ascending from the horizon of Hijaz and of Yathreb, revealed itself in the holiness of the Prophet Muhammad and bestowed upon the world the light of everlasting glory. There was a change in the lands in which great talents were shown, and the meaning of the verse: “brightened the earth with the Light of the Lord” grew to be interpreted that the world became a new world and the dead body of the world was [Page 449] inspired anew with an infinite spirit of life. Oppression and ignorance were extirpated from their roots, and the high portico of knowledge and justice grew to be lofty and exalted. The sea of progress swept onward and the lights of science shone forth. The barbarous tribes and nations of the regions of Hijaz were the most ignorant of the peoples and barbarous tribes of the earth before the blazing of the burning lamp of the great Prophet in the land of Batha. Their depraved habits and horrible customs, their bloodthirstiness, quarrelling and animosities were described in the books and histories of that time; the civilized nations did not regard the Arabian tribes of Yathreb and Batha as human beings. But, after the dawn of the Luminary of the world in that land and country, through the teachings of that source of perfection and vessel of the revelation of God, the Possessor of Glory, and by the grace of the holy, divine Law, they were in a short time gathered together under the protecting shadow of the word of divine Unity; and those savage peoples progressed so far in the stages of humanity and ideal perfection that all the rest of the nations of that epoch were amazed and filled with wonderment.

The very tribes, races and nations who were always in the habit of scorning and despising the Arabians, and considering them a people of no account, thronged with great eagerness to the native land and kingdom of the Arabians in order to study politics and the branches of learning and the sciences, and to be taught the arts and handicrafts, and acquire other elements of civilization. . . . A people who were so grossly and cruelly ignorant were raised by the blessings of the teaching of the great Prophet to such power that they conquered the kingdoms of Egypt, Syria, Damascus, Chaldea, Arabia and Persia. In their sole hands was the administration of everything most important in the four corners of the world.

The Arabians became the first among the nations and peoples of the earth in science and art, education, philosophy, politics, morals, handicrafts and inventions. Verily, the growth of scattered savage tribes within a short period to the highest possible degree of human perfection, is the completest proof of the real power and prophethood of Muhammad, the chief of Creation. In the first ages of the sway of Islam, all the nations of Europe acquired their ideas of morality, and the art of civilization, from Islam and from the inhabitants of the kingdom of Spain. A study of books of general history will prove and make it manifest that most of the culture of Europe has been derived from Islam. . . .

So, from the beginning of the year 490 of Hegira to the year 693, the kings, generals and chief men of Europe were continually coming and going in the countries of Syria and Egypt. When finally they returned to Europe, they established there what they had seen and known of the politics, civilization, education, colleges, schools, and the excellent ceremonies and customs of the kingdoms of Islam, during that period of 203 years. The period of European civilization dates from that time!

[Page 450] THE purport of these disquisitions is plain and manifest, that the real sources of both our ideal and practical perfecting lie in the divine religions and that they are the fountainhead for the development of civilization, for the beneficent and universal education of humanity. . . .

When three things are realized on earth by the divine favor, the earth will be endowed with new life, with measureless refinement and beauty. The first is the blowing of the Spring Winds. Secondly, the overflowing mercy of the Showers of April. Thirdly, the heat of the bright Sun. When these three gifts are granted by the infinite Divine Bounty, then, by God’s permission, the faded trees and branches, gradually becoming green and flourishing, will be ornamented with every sort of bud, blossom and fruit. In like manner, when the sincere purposes and the justice of the sovereign, the knowledge and perfect political efficiency of the ministers of state and the ambition and enthusiasm of the people are all realized at the same time, then, indeed, the millennium of progress and human perfection, the consummation of the glory and the prosperity of the state and nation will be accomplished.

Excerpts from “Mysterious Forces of Civilization,” a work written not later than the year 1875 with the aim of contributing to the knowledge and welfare of the Persian people. The English translation was made from a copy of the edition lithographed in Bombay in 1882.

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The days are approaching their end, and yet the peoples of the earth are seen sunk in grievous heedlessness, and lost in manifest error. . . . Great, great is the Cause! The hour is approaching when the most great convulsion will have appeared. I swear by Him Who is the Truth! It shall cause separation to afflict every one, even those who circle around Me. . . . Say; O concourse of the heedless! I swear by God! The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: “Taste ye what your hands have wrought!”. . . The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived. He Who is the Pre-Existent is come, that He may bestow everlasting life, and grant eternal preservation, and confer that which is conducive to true living. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.

[Page 451]

BY THAT SACRED THRESHOLD

The Burial of the Purest Branch and of the Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

RUHIYYIH KHANUM

THE garden is dark. Twilight has fallen on Mount Carmel and the veils of dusk have deepened over the bay of ‘Akká. A group of men stand waiting by the gate, beneath the steps. Suddenly there is a stir, the gardener runs to illumine the entrance and amidst the white shafts of light a procession appears. A man clothed in black rests the weight of a coffin on his shoulder. It is the Guardian of the Cause, and he bears the mortal remains of the Purest Branch, Bahá’u’lláh’s beloved son. Slowly he and his fellow-bearers mount the narrow path and in silence approach the house adjacent to the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf. A devoted servant speeds ahead with rug and candelabra from the Holy Shrines, and swiftly prepares the room. The gentle, strong face of the Guardian enters the door, that precious weight always on his shoulder, and the coffin is laid temporarily to rest in a humble room, facing Bahjí, the Qibla of the Faith. Again those devoted servants, led by their Guardian, return to the gate and again remount the path with another sacred burden, this time the body of the wife of Bahá’u’lláh, the mother of the Master.

What a wave of joy seems to come onward with those simple processions! A joy indefinable, touched with deep tenderness and pathos. Like a great white pearl the marble temple marking the grave of Bahíyyih Khánum glows in the light of its reflectors, seeming afire on the dark mountain side, lighting up and watching over those two approaching the scene of their last resting-place.

When we enter to pay our respects to those beloved, revered and long since departed ones, their presence seems to fill the room. At last, after seventy years, that saintly mother lies reunited beside her son of whom Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “He was created of the light of Bahá.” Side by side, facing ‘Akká, the sweet fumes of attar of rose with which they have been anointed by the Guardian filling the room, they lie. And above them, lit by the flickering lights of the sentinel candles, the picture of the Greatest Holy Leaf hangs, her beautiful eyes, so full of love and that purity which is goodness itself, looking out over her mother and brother. What cause for joy and gratitude!

That tender youth, born to affliction, reared in exile, died in prison, buried in solitary haste! Here he lies, raised up from the earth by the hands [Page 452] of the Guardian of his Father’s Faith, removed from the lonely isolation of the Arab cemetery where he had been interred so long ago and placed beside his illustrious sister and holy mother, that mother who was affectionately known as “Búyúk Khánum” or “Great Lady.” Slender, stately, lovely to look on with white skin and blue eyes and dark hair; she who, when Bahá’u’lláh was thrown into the dungeon of Ṭihrán, was abandoned by friend and foe alike and who purchased food for her children by selling the gold buttons of her robes; she who was forced to leave this same son, then a delicate child of four, behind her when she followed Bahá’u’lláh into exile; she whose tender hands, unaccustomed to work, bled as she washed the clothes of her family; who remained patient, devout, serene and selfless to the end of her life, and who was laid to rest near ‘Akká in a cemetery away from her son, now lies beside him, so to remain forever more.

As we meditate beside those two eloquent coffins, covered with woven cloths, strewn with jasmine from the Threshold of the Báb’s tomb, so all-pervading is the presence of their spirits (or maybe it is their memory, as perfume lingers when the flower is withered) that the very room they rest in for so short a while becomes itself filled with the sweet peace of a shrine.

Not only has the Guardian raised them to rest in their rightful graves, put them where the whole world may see their honor and their glory, but in some mysterious way he has given them back to us. So long ago they passed away, so quietly, in days of such turmoil and oppression, were they laid to rest, that their places, at least to us of the West, were on written pages of the history of our Faith. But now their places are in our hearts. The veil of time and obscurity separating us has been rent asunder, and we find, to our joy and astonishment, two glowing and holy figures drawing nigh to us, entering into our lives, and ready to help us on that path which leads to their Lord and ours, Bahá’u’lláh.

How warm and living his personality suddenly seems, no longer a name, albeit a revered one, Mihdí, the Purest Branch, but a sweet and selfless youth filled with love and devotion for Him who was not only his earthly but heavenly Father as well. Slight of frame, small of stature, black of hair, scarce twenty years of age, when at the time of his death he acted as the amanuensis of Bahá’u’lláh, and the character of his script has remained to us as a tender reminder that he stood only on the threshold of manhood.

Bahá’u’lláh Himself in numerous Tablets had mentioned this beloved son of His, recounting His long separation from him when he was left behind in Persia and was deprived of his family; how later he suffered the exiles and imprisonments of his Father until that fateful day when, as Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “He has suffered martyrdom at a time when he lay imprisoned at the hands of his enemies.”

The cruelty of exile and banishment became the rigor of complete incarceration during Mihdí’s short life time. Upon entering the prison-city [Page 453] of ‘Akká they were interred in the barracks itself, and it was during this strict period of Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment, when they suffered the greatest privations and were the victims of terrible epidemics, that the Purest Branch passed way. No one of the devout and faithful, who, some on foot, some on mule back, made the long and arduous journey to see the face of their Lord, was admitted to His presence. They were forced to content themselves with a brief glimpse of Him as He stood in a window facing the little hill beyond the walls and moat where they were wont to await His appearance.

It was under such circumstances that one night, whilst walking on the roof of the fortress, the Purest Branch fell through the opening leading below and was fatally injured. It was the custom of those prisoners to get what air and exercise they could in this manner, and no doubt that youth, lost to all but his thoughts and meditations, stepped unawares through the unguarded skylight. Although the ceilings of Oriental rooms are very high it was not a fall which necessarily would cause the death of a person. But the Purest Branch was terribly injured. He bled profusely from the mouth, and his thigh was so battered and bleeding that his garment could not be removed but was torn from him—that pitiful relic which the Greatest Holy Leaf preserved for posterity, and which to this day may be seen with the stains of his life’s blood upon it. He survived for about thirty hours after the fall. The doctors hastily called in were powerless to help him, but we cannot but believe that it lay within the power of his Father to spare his life, if He had so willed it.

Bahá’u’lláh asked of His dying son if he desired to live, but he replied that his sole desire was that the gates of the prison should be opened so that the believers might visit their Lord. Bahá’u’lláh granted that youth’s earnest wish and sat beside His youngest son as they made him ready for the grave, and it was in those tragic circumstances that He revealed the following: “At this very moment My son is being washed before My face after Our having sacrificed him in the Most Great Prison . . .” “Glorified art Thou, O Lord, My God! Thou seest Me in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son bloodstained before My face. . .” Such sentences as these were wrung from the heart of the Blessed Beauty as He gazed upon His child. But then thundering forth came these marvelous words: “I have, O My Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united.” The tremendous significance of these words is inescapable. Bahá’u’lláh designates to His own child the role of blood-offering in order that the unity of all men which He has proclaimed may come about. The sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham is accomplished.

After, in secrecy, poverty, and haste, the Purest Branch had been interred, his gentle mother, the victim of so many sorrows and deprivations, saddened and wept unceasingly. Bahá’u’lláh on learning of her plight came to her and assured her she had no [Page 454] cause for grief for God had accepted this precious son as His Ransom to draw not only the believers nigh unto their Lord but to unify all the sons of men. After hearing these words that saintly soul was greatly comforted and ceased to mourn her heavy loss.

And who was such a mother? Not merely a holy and faithful woman, willing in the path of God to sacrifice her all, but she of whom Isaiah, in his 54th chapter, says: “For thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.” “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” And she to whom Bahá’u’lláh revealed the following: “Hear thou Me once again, God is well pleased with thee. . . . He hath made thee to be His companion in every one of his worlds, and hath nourished thee with His meeting and presence so long as His name and His remembrance and His kingdom and His empire shall endure.”

How fleeting and priceless the days that this mother and son lie side by side in that small room! To be privileged to draw close—in that strange and pitiful closeness one feels to a coffin in which all that remains of dear ones after the soul has flown rests, a token and reminder of our common mortality and immortality —is something never to be forgotten. Thousands will read those prayers and Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá forever immortalizing them. They will supplicate those radiant spirits to intercede on their behalf. They will seek humbly to follow in their noble footsteps. But it will never, so it seems to me, be as sweet and touching as to see them lying there together under the watchful eyes of Bahíyyih Khánum.

Whilst their tombs were still in process of excavation from the solid rock of the mountain, the Guardian learned that the Covenant-Breakers were protesting against the right of the Bahá’ís to remove the mother and brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to new graves, actually having the temerity to represent to the government their so-called claim as relatives of the deceased. As soon, however, as the civil authorities had the true state of facts made clear to them—that these same relatives had been the arch-enemies of the Master and His family, had left the true Cause of Bahá’u’lláh to follow their own devices, and had been denounced by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament—they approved the plan of the Guardian, and immediately issued the necessary papers for the exhumation of the bodies. Without risking further delay Shoghi Effendi two days later, himself removed the Purest Branch and his mother to Mount Carmel where, watched over by the loving devotion of the believers, and safeguarded from any danger of insult or injury, they could await, close to Bahíyyih Khánum’s shrine, their reinterment.

THE last stone is laid in the two vaults, the floors are paved in marble, the name plates fixed to mark their heads, the earth smoothed out, the [Page 455] path that leads to their last resting place built, but storm and rain sweep unceasingly over the crest of the mountain postponing the final arrangements until the day before Christmas dawns, bright and clear, as if a sign that this is the appointed time. At sunset we all gather in that humble, twice-blessed house. We hear the voice of one of the oldest and most devoted believers of the near East raised, at the command of his Guardian, in prayer. Tremulous, faint, yet filled with a poignant faith and love hard to describe but never to be forgotten, he prays. As voice follows voice, including that of the Guardian himself, it seems as if one could almost hear the refrain of those prayers sung in triumphant joy by an invisible concourse on high.

And now, again on the shoulder of the Guardian, they are borne forth to lie in state in the Holy Tomb of the Báb. Side by side, far greater than the great of this world, they lie by that sacred threshold, facing Bahjí, with candles burning at their heads and flowers before their feet. It is the eve of the birth of Christ. She who was foretold of Isaiah, he who was the son of Him of Whom Jesus said: “How be it when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth,” rest quietly here their last night before the earth hides them forever more from the eyes of men.

The following sunset we gather once again in that Holy Shrine. The Guardian chants the Tablet of Visitation, first in the Tomb of the Báb, then in the Tomb of the Master. The privileged friends who have been able to pilgrimage to Haifa for this sacred occasion enter with the Guardian a second time the Báb’s Shrine. Slowly, held aloft on the hands of the faithful, led by Shoghi Effendi who never relinquishes his precious burden, first the mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and then the Purest Branch are ushered from that Holy Spot. Once they circumambulate the Shrines, the coffin of beloved Mihdí, supported by the Guardian, followed by the Master’s mother, passes us slowly by. Around the Shrine, onward through the lighted garden, down the white path, out on to the moonlit road, that solemn procession passes. High, seeming to move of themselves, above the heads of those following, the coffins wend their way. They mount the steps and once again enter that gate leading to Bahíyyih Khánum’s resting place. They pass before us, outlined against the night sky across whose face fitful clouds make sport of the full moon. They approach, the face of the Guardian close to that priceless burden he bears. They pass on toward the waiting vaults.

Now they lay the Purest Branch to rest. Shoghi Effendi himself enters the carpeted vault and gently eases the coffin to its preordained place. Himself he strews it with flowers, his hands the last to caress it. The mother of the Master is then placed in the same manner by the Guardian in the neighboring vault. Not six feet apart they rest. The silent faces of the believers in the brilliant light of the lamps, form a waiting circle; Masons are called to seal the tombs. Respectfully and deftly they fulfill their task. Flowers are heaped upon the vaults and the Guardian sprinkles [Page 456] a vial of attar of rose upon them. The pungent scent is caught up on the breeze and bathes our faces. And now the voice of Shoghi Effendi is raised as he chants those Tablets revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and destined by Him to be read at their graves.

SURELY this is a dream? It cannot be I that stand here gazing at these new-made graves, laid in the breast of ancient Carmel. Beneath me stretches an endless vista. ‘Akká gleams white across the bay. That one-time prison-city where these two were so long captives, near which they were once buried. The reaches of the sea and plain lie before me, opening out to where the moon silvers the rims of the mountains of the Holy Land, the Land of the Prophets, the Land of the loved ones of God, the Land chosen to be the Seat of the Ark of God in this most glorious Day. Forever and increasingly about the resting-place of this mother, sister, brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the life-giving activities of their Faith will swarm. Close to them, focused on their shrines, great institutions will rise to strengthen the soul and body of mankind. And forever interwoven with those institutions will be the memory and example of these three holy persons. Their way has become our way, and they lead us on before, heading the ranks of Bahá’u’lláh’s followers.

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THE SEEKER

GERTRUDE W. ROBINSON

THERE must be loveliness I have not known

Else hunger would not be so deep.

Despair would crush me,

But this yearning passion for the altitudes

Beyond my ken

Knows but one answer,

Full completion.

No cry can be so faint, but finds response

Somewhere in all infinity;

And so my soul shall keep its inner urge

To scale the unseen heights

And breathe the unimagined airs

Of rarified and mystic climes.

Somewhere all Beauty waits

Beyond the Seven Valleys of the soul;

And naught shall keep my hungry heart

From seeking through the endless reach

Of all Eternity

The loveliness my heart has never known.

[Page 457]

TO MANY PEOPLES

MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER

To the student of comparative Religion, a great basic agreement on the fundamental principles of spiritual Truth stands out in bold relief against the variance of historically relative outer form. In view of this the undeniable antipathy among the world’s religious systems seems well-nigh incredible. It is just as incredible as the age old superstition that the color of a man’s skin, the outer garment of the man, somehow determines whether he is a human being or perhaps not quite a human being! This emphasis upon externals is utterly unworthy of man’s intelligence, to say nothing of his spiritual heritage. It does actually seem as if the human race has ever gone out of its way to discover differences among its members, rather than similarity.

Each great religion sees itself as the hope of the world yet today the ominous rumblings of another world war brings home to all nations the essential inter-dependence of humanity on this globe, and the crying need of a Universal Faith to lead the way to peace. Where there is antipathy among religions, can there be less than antipathy among races and peoples? For the great basic purpose of all religion is to unite mankind—all the prophets have stressed the brotherhood of man. If it fails to do this, can it be religion? The answer is a most emphatic No! And the cause of its failure amounts to this—the aforesaid emphasis on externals and differences of outer form. For we have only to read the great scriptures of all lands to be struck by the same insistence on the great moral principles of justice, honesty, love and obedience to the revealed Word of God. This is the essence of true religion, the various rituals, traditions and interpretations are the accumulation of years of more or less effectual leadership by the church, and have absolutely nothing to do with the Word, as revealed by the Prophets themselves. These vary with time and temperament, until they reach such proportion, that, originally designed to protect and perpetuate the Truth, they become its concealers, and the causes of enmity between men. Form! Religious prejudice is no less absurd than that I should hate a man because my eyes are blue and his are brown. Variety is the joy of God in His Creation —why should man hate that which is superficially different from himself when the great and underlying fact of the Oneness of Humanity stares him in the face, if he will open his eyes to see it.

I spoke of the crying need for a World Faith—for a unity among religious [Page 458] systems that will provide the spiritual basis for the outer form of World Unity—for “spirit builds the vehicles through which it manifests!” Now the strange thing is, the need is here, and the Faith is here but these two are slow in greeting each other. Why? The answer is simple—each religion stands accused of that attitude of which each in its infancy accused its immediate predecessor—that “the hand of God is chained up!” No more Revelations. Of course they don’t say this until someone actually claims a new Revelation, because the scriptures of each speak of the “return” of the Prophet—but in spite of this, the followers of Moses refused the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christians refused the Revelation of Muhammad, and Muhammadans refused the mighty Revelation of the Báb, in the year 1844—and all the religions jointly and scornfully refused the Glory of God, Bahá’u’lláh, the great universal Prophet of the Time of the End.

The history of all Revelation is the same—all but a few detached souls wear the blinkers of tradition. These few, their sight unobstructed by the vanities of the world, are able to see the Revelation of God in the Prophet —and are martyred by the blind for their perspicacity. And the Prophet himself becomes each time the Sacrifice on the altar of human egotism and ignorance. As the great drama of progressive Revelation unfolds itself to us through the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh we marvel at human stupidity including, most emphatically, our own. But we are made the more acutely aware for the need for this Revelation—for only God himself through a Prophet could have torn the veils from our eyes and made us able to see, in all its glory, the continuity of God’s messengers and their divine consistency. Only Bahá’u’lláh could have given us the key which would unlock the inner shrine of the essential Truth of God’s former Revelations, and there we find in all its wonderful brilliance, the priceless jewel of Unity—of the Oneness of Truth. Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation is the catalytic agent of religion—sent by the great Chemist. He is commissioned to unite all men under the banner of one God, one Religion, one Humanity!

What, we ask, could be more logical, more merciful, more just, than that the Almighty God should, far from singling out one small group of people at just one time in all the eternality of time, should manifest from the beginning of creation, to many peoples at many times, and according to their capacity to receive His Truth. Are we not all His children— did He not create us all—shall some be merely stepchildren, left without divine education until the Time of the End when, notwithstanding our lack of guidance we are to be held accountable for our transgressions? Surely this would be the essence of injustice. Can one pass a college entrance examination without having had a high-school preparatory course? Surely the University of God has had its great Professors in every part of this globe—who have taught the various grades according to the exigencies of the times. The prevailing attitude of “we are the chosen people” among [Page 459] the religious systems harms religion irreparably in the eyes of intelligent people who want a just and merciful God or no God at all. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: “If Religion is not a cause for harmony, better no religion.” And He also said: “If you were to investigate the Reality of religion you would find that it is One Reality.”

Today we speak in world terms— world wars—world peace—a universal language—world economy— and we live in a world which has actually contracted into a neighborhood through the agencies of transportation, economics, and intercommunication. Why in the name of all that is consistent, is it so difficult to accept a world Prophet with a world message? The greatest difficulty appears to me to be this. Modern intelligent people who live in this world-consciousness of the mind, have long since been forced to seek elsewhere the answers to life than in the church. They see religion disputing within itself—that which preaches unity disunited. This insults their God-given intelligence and they renounce all religion, at least in its organized forms. They damn it without having ever really understood it. For they do not know that Bahá’u’lláh has come—who is there to tell them? Surely not the churches they have renounced—the churches don’t know. If they did, the world wouldn’t be in chaos.

No, these people who think for themselves don’t know that today God has told us through His last great Message, that the maturity of Man is here. Today true religion speaks to the intellect as well as to the heart— for man has grown up. Today, we are told, and it sounds strange to our ears, that religion must agree with science and reason. We are given light on the all-important economic question for the first time in the history of Revelation. But the people whose intelligence could accept such a wonderful gift from God have become so estranged from religion that they shut their ears at its mention.

Who is there, thus, left to hear of the Advent of the Lord of Hosts— and who is there to tell him? Intelligence is alienated—the churches don’t know. Two great groups of people are thus shut off to begin with —who is left? Those whom the Lord Jesus Christ addressed when He said: “seek and ye shall find.” Those simple people in whose hearts a tiny bell is ringing—announcing that somewhere in the world today exists the object of their life-long search. It is to these that we quote Bahá’u’lláh’s own divinely challenging words: “Tell the people of the world that the Promised One has come with proofs and evidences!”

[Page 460]

THE REALITY OF CHRIST

MAYE HARVEY GIFT

THE Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is the Christ of the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” “Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:” “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the sons of God.” He is the Christ of compassion, the divine Shepherd, Who, leaving the ninety and nine, sought with infinite tenderness for that one sheep which was lost. He is the anguished Father scanning the horizon, and finally welcoming back the penitent and abject prodigal with love and every honor.

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He Who exemplified in His own life the teaching He offered to men. Thus might He say, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” The great principle is embodied here that the Creator not only reveals spiritual laws for His children, He sends them a perfect life lived in their particular age, an exemplar. What an incomparable God, what a wondrous Christ!

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He Who, knowing that such a message as His could mean only tribulation and death, was in no wise deterred. “He accepted every calamity and suffering in order to guide men to the truth. Had he desired to save his own life and were he without wish to offer himself in sacrifice he would not have been able to guide a single soul.” “His Holiness Christ like unto the seed sacrificed himself for the tree of Christianity. Therefore his perfections, bounties, favors, lights and graces became manifest in the Christian community, for the coming of which he sacrificed himself.” He called to His followers, in their turn, to sacrifice the imperfections of their lower animal nature to those divine attributes.

THE Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He Whose holy power translated earthly men into celestial men. Observe His followers contending over leadership. Observe these timorous ones forsaking and denying Him on the eve of His tragic martyrdom. See their despair upon His death, their feeling that His Cause was lost. But later—behold these same souls imbued with power divine, the flaming torches to illumine a benighted world; detached from earthly ties and so intrepid as to glory in tribulation and in the laying down of their lives in the path of God.

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere gave these teachings on the eternal worth and destiny of the human soul: “What shall it profit a [Page 461] man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” “And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.” It is by means of the Water of Life and the Fire of the Love of God that His chosen Prophet transforms earthly men. With the acceptance of the bounty of this Messenger they become eternal souls. The “many mansions” provide for those of differing spiritual attainments or talents.

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He Who proclaimed the validity of the prophets of Israel, and spread the name of His predecessor, Moses, throughout the world wherever the Christian Gospel was carried. He Who also promised that God would send future guidance through One Whom He variously named “The Spirit of Truth,” “The Lord of the Vineyard,” and “The Father.” Thus did He teach another great and fundamental principle of religion, progressive revelation.

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He Who heralded glad tidings of the Kingdom; Who taught His followers this prayer, the daily prayer of the Christian world throughout the centuries, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” and Who promised that petitions asked in His name would be granted. He is answering this one. Bahá’ís believe, with the approaching new civilization, which is rising imperceptibly out of the welter of the old.

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is that heroic Messenger of God Who spoke out against the religious hypocrisy and commercialism of His day. Hark to His words, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter. . . . Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. . . . Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: . . . Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere is He of that other great prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. . . . Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee . . . that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovest them even as thou lovest me.” Religion is based upon love— [Page 462] love of God for His children, and mankind’s love for God. Love is the great unifying force throughout all realms of creation. If religion loses this chief distinguishing feature, where is its divine power?

UNITED ANCIENT PEOPLES

The Christ Whom the Bahá’ís revere was the sole unifying power in a decadent world. He united many nations. “The conquering Greeks and Romans, the prejudiced Egyptians and Assyrians were all in a condition of strife, enmity and war but His Holiness gathered these various peoples together and removed the foundations of discord . . . through divine power, the power of the Holy Spirit. . . . They were blended and quickened by the infusion of a new life. The spirituality of Christ overcame their difficulties so that their disagreements passed away completely. In this way these divergent peoples were unified and became welded in a bond of love which alone can unite hearts.”

This is the Christ Whom Bahá’u’lláh recalls to our hearts; and to this Christ He pays an unexampled tribute. “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 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 his 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.”

With a few bold strokes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pictures this Christ for us. “Jesus was a Manifestation of God. Everything of Him pertained to God. To know Him was to know God. To love Him was to love God. To obey Him was to obey God. He was the Source of all divine qualities. In this Mirror the Light of the Sun of Reality was reflected to the world. Through this Mirror the Energy of God was transmitted to the world. The whole disk of the Sun of Reality was reflected in Him.”

Can more be said in praise of the All-Glorious Son?

AS THE WORLD SEES HIM

Another picture of the Christ has been painted for the world, one with which we are well acquainted, one which it has deemed sacrilegious to analyze. But like the connoisseur of rare paintings let us examine its composition, its perspective, its lines, its coloring. Such a study can but enhance our understanding and appreciation of all authentic art.

We observe considerable likeness to the first portrait, but there are other lines. These we would study. Here [Page 463] are some sketched in by those Jewish converts who continued their ancestral ceremonials, and endeavored to impose them on their Gentile brethren. With the first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem circumcised Jews, it is no wonder that their flock began to confuse the teachings of Jesus with the rituals of Judaism. How could this insure the purity and distinctive character of the infant Christian Faith?

See these lines drawn by those who, in adapting His teachings to a public honeycombed with strange and fallacious philosophies, began compromising these pristine truths of God to please shallow seekers after novelty. This resulted, according to one writer, in the “gradual infiltration into Christian doctrine of the principles of the Mithraic cult, of the Alexandrian school of thought, of the precepts of Zoroastrianism and of Grecian philosophy, and the adoption by the churches of Greece and Asia of the institution of provincial synods of a model which they borrowed from the representative councils of their respective countries.”

The composition of this portrait becomes more evident with increasing stress upon the Virgin Birth and the miracles of Jesus as proofs of His heavenly mission. While a thoughtful person will not limit the power of God, one may question whether miracles are proofs of divinity to a questioning mind. The mission of the prophet is to enunciate spiritual truths and to beautify character. What relation is there between this and the ability to walk on the water, spectacular as that may be? Is not the perfect life of Jesus a greater proof? Are not His transforming teachings incontrovertible evidence? If having but one earthly parent is indicative of a divine station, what shall we say of the station of the first man?

This picture continues to take form as later believers, eager to prove His Messiahship to the resisting Jews, pressed into service many Old Testament prophecies, either far-fetched or unrelated to the life and times of Jesus. These latter centered around an era of world peace, the permanent re-establishment of the Jews in their homeland, or in the universal recognition of one God and one common Faith. Are these the strokes of a master-painter? Mosheim in his “History of the Church,” says: “It must by no means pass unnoticed, that the discussion instituted against the opposers of Christianity in this age (3rd century), departed far from the primitive simplicity and the correct method of controversy. For the Christian doctors, who were in part educated in the schools of rhetoricians and sophists, inconsiderately transferred the arts of these teachers to the Cause of Christianity; and therefore considered it of no importance whether an antagonist were confounded by these artifices or by solid arguments. . . . And the Platonists contributed to the currency of the practice by asserting that it was no sin for a person to employ falsehoods and fallacies for the support of truth when it was in danger of being borne down.”

DIVISION IN CHRISTIANITY

Does the doctrine of the Trinity lend clarity of color to the portrait of the Christ? “It is said that once John [Page 464] of Chrysostom was walking along the seashore thinking over the question of the trinity and trying to reconcile it with finite reason; his attention was attracted by a boy sitting on the shore putting water into a cup. Approaching him, he said, ‘My child, what art thou doing?’ ‘I am trying to put the sea into this cup’ was the answer. ‘How foolish art thou,’ said John, ‘in trying to do the impossible.’ The child replied, ‘Thy work is stranger than mine, for thou art laboring to bring within the grasp of the intellect the conception of the trinity.’” Note how this doctrine has affected those who believe in the unity of God. It has caused a great schism within Christianity itself. Then we read in the Qur’án, “They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily God is the Messiah, the son of Mary;’ but the Messiah saith, ‘O children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord:’ verily, he who associates aught with God, God hath forbidden him Paradise, and his resort is the Fire. . . . They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the third of three;’ for there is no God but one.” The attitude of the Jews is similar to that of the Muslims, attributing idolatry to believers in what they term three gods. Why should they forsake their teachings for this type of human imagination which only confuses the mind?

The results of this picture we are reaping today in division and strife; in the blurring of divine ideals into feverish human expedients. “None, I feel, will question the fact that the fundamental reason why the unity of the Church of Christ was irretrievably shattered, and its influence was in the course of time undermined, was that the Edifice which the Fathers of the Church reared after the passing of the First Apostle was an Edifice that rested in nowise upon the explicit directions of Christ Himself. The authority and the features of their administration were wholly inferred and indirectly derived, with more or less justification, from certain vague and fragmentary references which they found scattered amongst His utterances as recorded in the Gospel. Not one of the sacraments of the Church; not one of the rites and ceremonies which the Christian Fathers have elaborately devised and ostentatiously observed; not one of the elements of the severe discipline they rigorously imposed upon primitive Christians; none of these repose on the direct authority of Christ, or emanated from His specific utterances. Not one of these did Christ conceive, none did He specifically invest with sufficient authority to either interpret His Word, or to add to what He had not specifically enjoined.”

We now place these two portraits side by side, and under them we are forced to write this conclusion of a Presbyterian minister: we must “cut back through Christianity to Christ, back through the centuries-old religion about Jesus to the original religion of Jesus.” If not, “the spirit of Christ will live in institutions other than our own.”

It is apparent that the power of the pure teachings of the Prophet in transforming lives and in evolving a great civilization is incontestable. The dire and subversive results of the substituted imaginations of man are [Page 465] equally irrefutable. Since this has proved consistently true through the centuries, the only justifiable conclusion is that it takes a Prophet to interpret a Prophet. Those who have accepted Bahá’u’lláh’s picture of the Christ agree that it has given them a unique appreciation of His holy station, His teachings and His mission. This is one function of “The Spirit of Truth” of Whom Jesus in part said: “He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine and declare it unto you.”

Bahá’u’lláh stands out as the incomparable spiritual genius of this era. Even His opposers have been unable to name His peer. He has renewed and amplified all the eternal verities of the spirit, and has revealed a plan for a new world order of peace and justice. It is most illuminating and life-imparting to realize that the Christ we have newly-discovered, urges His followers forward toward that “Spirit of Truth” Who should guide man into all truth, and toward that Kingdom which was the burden of His teachings two thousand years ago. What but the plan of the Creator Himself could be so sublime, so far-reaching and so utterly beyond the imaginations of man!

“Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty!

“All nations shall come and worship before thee!”

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EXPERIENCE

WILLIAM LESTER BROWN

To learn that less is not so much as more,

Is not so easy as it seems to be.

It is so hard to lay aside the things we now possess

So that the hand may grasp the greater gift.

But, learning this, Truth makes man then, both rich and free

According to capacity.

To wait intelligently, therefore, means more than just to watch.

The interim is set aside to synthesize experiences;

To pack the things we need and leave the rest behind.

For, the chances are, the tools we toil with here

Are all too coarse to carve with over there.

[Page 466]

TRUTH AND WORLD UNITY

HORACE HOLLEY

THE chemist who obtains a healing remedy by the combination of elements knows well that he himself has created nothing. He has but made it possible for certain powers inherent in the ingredients to work their beneficent force for the human system. The same elements which, in one combination, will heal disease, may, in a different blending, produce a most destructive explosion. What the chemist brings to his work is knowledge of the elements, but their vital powers and mysterious forces are part of the universal creation which utterly transcends the will of man.

The greatest chemistry of all is that which deals with the union and order of human beings in the state of society. In human beings the Creator has deposited powers and forces which, on the physical plane, represent the highest expression of elemental life, but which, on the mental and spiritual planes, contain attributes raised as high above nature as electricity is raised above other forms of force. History is our record of this most potent chemistry—the laboratory notebook in which is preserved the results of many social experiments, some describing notable successes, others grimly depicting those wars, revolutions and other human explosions by which societies have been utterly destroyed. The ingredient which all experience proves to be essential to the preservation of civilization is mutual loyalty based upon the foundation of divine love. The ingredient invariably leading to social explosion is hate.

So sinister have become the influences making for hatred today that the time has surely come to learn the laws of that spiritual chemistry which determines the outcome of all human relations. The world has become a laboratory in which the very powers of life and death are being manipulated by the ignorant, the evil, and the insane.

THE first principle of civilization is that no human being, however weak and lowly, can be regarded as a brute beast and outcast whose fate is a matter of indifference to his fellow men. Even though latent and undeveloped, the attributes of man are divinely created, and the abuse of human beings involves the sure movements of a guardian destiny. Nor can human association be founded on any social structure admitting or compelling servitude to an arbitrary authority or effecting involuntary cooperation among the people.

Great emphasis has been given this fundamental matter of man’s spiritual endowment in the writings [Page 467] of Bahá’u’lláh. “Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation of that Most Great Light. . . . To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created beings, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed. . . . Man, the noblest and most perfect of all created things, excelleth them all in the intensity of this revelation, and is a fuller expression of its glory.”

In the light of this truth, it seems evident that altogether too much power is attributed to those human organizations which employ material might and ruthless coercion to attain their ends. At their very root lies a blight which sooner or later must carry death and disintegration to their branches, their twigs and their leaves. The following quotation indicates how fruitless are the efforts to establish the association of men on any other than a basis of spiritual truth: “Economic distress . . . together with political confusion, financial upheavals, religious restlessness and racial animosities, seem to have conspired to add immeasurably to the burdens under which an impoverished, a war-weary world is groaning. Such has been the cumulative effect of these crises, following one another with such bewildering rapidity, that the very foundations of society are trembling. The world, to whichever continent we turn our gaze . . . is everywhere assailed by forces it can neither explain nor control . . . Humanity, whether viewed in the light of man’s individual conduct or of the existing relationships between organized communities and nations, has, alas, strayed too far and suffered too great a decline to be redeemed through the unaided efforts of the best among its recognized rulers and statesmen— however disinterested their motives, however concerted their action, however unsparing in their zeal and devotion to its cause. No scheme which the calculations of the highest statesmanship may yet devise; no doctrine which the most distinguished exponents of economic theory may hope to advance; no principle which the most ardent of moralists may strive to inculcate, can provide, in the last resort, adequate foundations upon which the future of a distracted world can be built.”

IF social policy, devoid of the higher powers of love, and consequently incapable of inspiring unity and cooperation, can not construct a true civilization, then has once and for all been demonstrated the vitality of our aspiration after truth. For it is evident that the inherent nature of truth as law, apart from mere opinion, is that law must be obeyed. We determine whether a given principle is law or mere opinion in two ways: by the reward that comes from obedience, and by the penalty involved in disobedience. Applying this test to present-day civilization, no argument [Page 468] is needed to prove that the entire world staggers under severe blows and suffers under a dire punishment that can not be attributed to any human power or source. It is the divine power of truth and love which has been left outside our social theories and overlooked as the essential ingredient in the life of man.

And yet this organized hatred appears to be so invincible, with its armaments hurling death from land, from sea, from air! What forest can resist the devouring flame that grows what it feeds on? Here, indeed, we stand in need of a faith so firm and so assured that it can gaze clear-eyed upon this tragic array of destructive material power, and realize that it is impotent in comparison to truth. We need that conscious, that understanding faith which knows, and knows once for all, that hatred is not a positive force, an independent reality, but only the negative absence of love. Those who are lost in darkness fear the darkness and think it is an active evil, but darkness becomes nothing when light appears.

The Bahá’í writings contain a passage which at this hour should be proclaimed to the far corners of the earth. This passage describes how the light of spiritual truth is arising in our age to banish hatred and fear from the souls of men.

“In cycles gone by, though harmony was established, yet, owing to the absence of means, the unity of all mankind could not have been achieved. Continents remained widely divided, nay even among the people of one and the same continent, association and interchange of thought were well nigh impossible. Consequently, intercourse, understanding and unity amongst all the peoples and kindreds of the earth were unattainable. In this day, however, means of communication have multiplied, and the five continents of the earth have virtually merged into one. . . . In like manner, all the members of the human family, whether peoples or governments, cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent. For none is self-sufliciency any longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples and nations, and the bonds of trade and industry, of agriculture and education, are being strengthened every day. Hence the unity of all mankind can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this glorious century. Of this, past ages have been deprived, for this century—the century of light —has been endowed with unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination. . . .

“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 ere long 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 nations—a unity which in this century will be securely established, [Page 469] 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, that is, 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.”

THE first principle of civilization has already been described as recognition of the spiritual nature of man. The second principle is recognition of the truth that a human society capable of solving its problems is no mere casual or artificial grouping of a large number of human beings, but the reflection and outworking of a creative spirit. A civilization which has come to its decline, and entered its death-struggle, abandons all its external and materialistic trappings of false faith, and reaches up for a faith that is pure and sanctified from the stains of historical prejudice. When such a renewal of faith can be found, it releases the spirit by which a new and higher civilization can be gradually attained. The spirit that moves the minds and hearts today is a world spirit. Its necessary creation is a world society, and the path leading to that world society is the sincere acceptance of the oneness of mankind.

We of today live in a transitional age, the “forty years of wilderness” that lie between the old world and the new. The part each man plays is determined by whether he looks forward or backward, whether he responds to materialism or spirituality, whether he is slave to the darkness or the servant of the light. As has been so poignantly expressed: “The whole of mankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate its age-long martyrdom. And yet it stubbornly refuses to embrace the light and acknowledge the sovereign authority of the one Power that can extricate it from its entanglements, and avert the woeful calamity that threatens to engulf it.”

THERE appear to be three distinct periods in this new stage of world unity; first, that in which the need of the larger unity is denied and resisted; second, that when the need of unity is admitted, but substitutes for the true, organic unity are attempted; and third, the hour when all resistance and subterfuge are abandoned, and the spirit of unity is at last awakened among men. We have already passed through the first of these periods. At present we are still depending upon incomplete measures and half-hearted efforts. The signs are not lacking, however, that many individuals have begun to respond to the new world spirit, and are spiritually ready to serve its universal aim. For such, these words of Bahá’u’lláh will bring abundant confirmation: “Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of things unseen.”

[Page 470]

NABIL’S HISTORY OF THE BÁB

GEORGE TOWNSHEND

III.

THE Báb early in His ministry knew the fate that awaited Him at its end. On their return from the pilgrimage to Mecca, He said goodbye to His beloved companion Quddús and told him sadly that they would not see each other again on earth; that Quddús would soon meet a martyr’s death. “But,” He said, “on the shores of the Great Beyond, in the realm of immortality, the joy of an eternal Reunion awaits us . . . I, too, shall tread the path of sacrifice. . . .”

Nor was this high, heroic spirit of devotion found only in the leaders, or in the men; it was displayed likewise by women, by girls, by children, by all.

Ṭáhirih, that outstanding star of Persian womanhood, the one woman-apostle of the Báb, of whom Professor Browne said that if the Bábí cause had done nothing else, to have produced such a woman as her in such a time and such a country would have made it illustrious,—Ṭáhirih, beautiful, exquisite, learned, eloquent, showed a courage and enterprise in spite of the disability of her sex which made her conspicuous even among the Bábís; when her time of martyrdom drew near she met it with rapture and endured a painful death with dignity and calm.

Nabil records how numbers of girls and boys and aged men in the siege of Tabarsi or Nayriz or Zanjan played their full part with the other Bábís in the defense of the asylum to which they had been driven; how mothers would encourage their children to suffer and to die rather than repudiate their faith; how the protracted resistance of the Bábís at Zanjan was due in no small measure to the activity of the Bábí women who ministered to the sick and wounded, repaired the barricades, sewed garments, baked bread, cheered the faint-hearted and restored the faith of the wavering, while even the children showed the same enthusiasm as their elders and did what their tender strength permitted to the good of the common cause; and when at length the defenders were overwhelmed, the women endured with steadfastness the cruelties heaped upon them till they found release from their tormentors in a martyr’s death. To the believer in the Báb and in Bahá’u’lláh this account of the Heroic Age of the Faith is precious and moving beyond words: it inspires, it stimulates, it fortifies.

But also to another class of readers [Page 471] (a class which at present, unfortunately for the world, is much larger) this work of Nabil’s has an extraordinary interest. It claims the particular regard and deserves the most patient study of every student of religious history and of everyone who believes in the reality of Divine Revelation. For here in Nabil’s work is a direct account of one of those august events which occur at rare intervals in the progress of humanity and which are fraught always with the most momentous consequences: the birth of a new World Religion.

As the Bábí Faith is distinguished from all earlier religions in this respect, that the knowledge of it spread almost instantly from the East to the West; so this record which Nabil made of its beginnings, holds in the history of comparative religion a position in certain respects altogether unique.

THE world (no doubt through its own fault) has to lament that there has been preserved so little authentic information as to the rise of the great Religions of ancient times, as to the life and death of their Founders, as to the efforts and heroisms and fate of their immediate followers. In nothing is the sad truth that the world knows nothing of its greatest men more unhappily conspicuous than in the meagreness of testimony concerning the Authors of the successive World Revelations of the past.

The eager interest and loving reverence of the faithful have in later years made so much of the little information that is available; deficiencies too have been so well filled in by tradition, by legend or even by myth; and enthusiastic scholars have so often assumed an air of certitude about matters which prove on scrutiny to be merely conjectural, that there is current a gravely exaggerated idea as to our real knowledge of the rise of any of the world religions prior to Islam.

The personality and the philosophy of Buddha seem to have charmed the western world more than that of any other non-Christian prophet. Generous tributes to the beauty and sweetness of his character and to the loftiness of his spiritual wisdom are to be found in the writings of many a Christian divine, and his teachings are accessible to the English public in a variety of popular editions.

Yet the immensity of Buddhistic literature serves only to set off the paucity of contemporary or early written records and does not remove the obscurity which hangs about the details of the Prophet’s life or the origin of his teaching. The fact that some skeptical scholars have explained Buddha away as a sun-myth and have questioned the antiquity of the Buddhist tradition is of no great interest save as testifying to the uncertainty which subsists about the whole matter. One of the best known English authorities (Mrs. Rhys Davids in “Buddhism” pp. 17-19) admits that the Pali Canon was not committed to writing till 80 B. C. (about one hundred and sixty years after the teaching had been introduced into Ceylon; and four hundred years after the death of Buddha himself.) She concludes that the life of Buddha “as an historical fact is at least as well [Page 472] demonstrated as that of the founder of any other religion of antiquity” and that the story of his life “however draped and embroidered with myth and legend” cannot be dismissed as historically untrue without “extravagant recourse to forced interpretations and assumptions of improbable happenings.”

THE New Testament has been the guide and inspiration of western religion for nineteen centuries; but everybody must wish that extant accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ were less brief and fragmentary, and those who cherish this wish most warmly are those who love Him best and seek to discern and follow His way most earnestly. Of the early teachers of Christianity, the confessors and martyrs of the first three centuries of our Era, we know much less than about the Founder Himself. Many volumes were in those days written with fine art and preserved with zealous care concerning the history of Rome, the conquests of Caesar and the like; but the history of the Christian Faith was looked on as a wholly inconsiderable matter. The cultivated world of that period had not the least conception of the relative importance of the New Revelation. They did not trouble to make any note of its development nor in those unruly and indiscriminating times did they regard such records as the Christians themselves made to be of sufficient interest to be preserved.

The meagreness of the information we possess about the age of the Christian martyrs is lamented by the learned and conservative Mosheim. He writes: “The actions and sayings of those holy martyrs from the moment of their imprisonment to their last gasp were carefully recorded in order to be read on certain days and thus proposed as models to future ages. But few, however, of these ancient acts are come down to our times. . . . From the eighth century downwards several Greek and Latin writers endeavored to make up this loss by compiling with vast labor accounts of the lives and actions of the ancient martyrs. But most of them have given us little else than a series of fables adorned with a profusion of rhetorical flowers and striking images, as the wiser even among the Romish doctors frankly acknowledge. Nor are these records that pass under the name of martyrology worthy of superior credit since they bear the most evident marks both of ignorance and falsehood. So that upon the whole this part of ecclesiastical history for want of ancient and authentic monuments is extremely imperfect and necessarily attended with much obscurity.”

Gibbon remarks in the 15th chapter of his history: “the scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesiastical history seldom enable us to dispel the dark cloud that hangs over the first age of the church,” and in a footnote to the 16th chapter: “In the various compilations of the Augustan history (a part of which was composed under the reign of Constantine) there are not six lines that relate to the Christians; nor has the diligence of Xiphilin discovered their name in the large history of Dion Cassius.”

Naturally we know more about the great figures of early Islam than about [Page 473] those of other religions, for the Faith arose in more recent times, its extension was amazingly rapid, and it developed within a very few centuries a culture of a most brilliantly intellectual type. But our information concerning Muhammad’s personality and His teaching, about His immediate companions and followers, seems to be scanty enough. It has not been sufficiently full or conclusive or authentic to prevent an extraordinary variety of interpretation and belief as to Muhammad’s character and actions, and little of it has till very recently been accessible to western readers. Gibbon scandalously caricatured the Prophet, whom he called “an illiterate barbarian.” The genius of Carlyle moved him in 1840 to protest that “our current hypotheses about Mahomet that he was a scheming impostor, a Falsehood Incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be now untenable to anyone. The lies which well meaning zeal has heaped round this man are disgraceful to ourselves only.” But this warning has been little heeded and western scholars may be found to describe Muhammad as “a brigand chief,” and the like, even in this present century.

More than twelve centuries elapsed between the rise of Muhammad and the rise of the Báb whom He foretold; world-conditions in the interval changed and progressed, and anyone who investigates the Bábí religion is enabled to learn the true facts concerning the Founder and His immediate followers with a degree of fulness and accuracy never before possible in human history. No earlier Revelation is so well documented as this. It came to mankind at the same time as the railway, the telegraph, the telephone. How great the significance of the little casual fact that one of the very earliest English references to the Bábí Faith sets forth the execution of the Bábís in 1852 as given in the Teheran Gazette of that day! The Báb’s crusade was so vigorous, and it was shared in by so many eminent persons, that it attained the widest publicity in Persia and threatened to shake the whole corrupt ecclesiastical system. Though the country was backward and weak, yet Britain and Russia had there important imperial interests which brought many foreign residents, official and otherwise, to the capital. Some of these were sufficiently interested in the Movement to spread some knowledge of it in Europe. Western references to the Báb date back as far as 1851, and have been (some on a large and some on a small scale) continuous since that time. Some of the more important of these references are to be found in Comte de Gobineau’s “Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l’Asie Centrale,” and in Lord Curzon’s “Persia and the Persian Question.”

Professor Browne, of Cambridge University, gives the names of four Persian histories as adverting to the religion, one of them at great length, and has himself in such works as “A Traveler’s Narrative” and “Materials for the Study of the Bábí Religion,” made public a large amount of early information on the progress of the Faith. Three volumes of the Báb’s own works have been translated by A. L. M. Nicolas and published in [Page 474] France.

AMID the great and ever-growing library of works on the Báb, the Chronicle of Nabil’s holds a most conspicuous place. While it is informal and unofficial; while it is not used by the Bahá’ís to determine any point of teaching, yet it is as nearly as may be the Bábí’s own story of the Báb’s crusade. It is not in a philosophic sense a history: it is not an ordered exposition of the development of the Báb’s Revelation. Nabil is as much an editor as an author. He gathers items of information with care, industry and eager zeal for truth, and pieces them together in their proper chronological sequence. For the most part he sets forth this or that event as he had it from some believer who had taken part in it, or had witnessed it, or had heard of it from an eyewitness. He enjoyed in his labors the special help of some of the members of the inmost circle of the Faith, including the brother of Bahá’u’lláh and the amanuensis of the Báb. Bahá’u’lláh Himself saw a portion of the manuscript of Nabil and expressed His general approval and acceptance of it. It has in the fullest degree the character of a Bábí Gospel. If we possessed an authorized and large scale account of the Acts of Jesus Christ written by one of the Twelve and preserved in the form in which it came from the author’s pen, we would have a Christian Gospel as authentic in its sphere as this of Nabil’s in its. Here with a distinctness and in a detail unequalled in any early literature of the world we can examine the manner in which a Great Revelation comes among men and can study the phenomena of a dawning Age of Faith before any system of theology or of organization has taken shape and when the Prophet shows forth His majesty through the exertion of a quickening spiritual power which awakes in the true-hearted an altogether miraculous enthusiasm and courage and at the same time stirs the obscurantists and the vicious to deeds of hate and fear and cruelty.

In this respect, the value of Nabil’s work is enhanced by the fact that its composition is itself one of the products of the Prophet’s creative power. The spirit which impels the pen of Nabil is the spirit of the other Bábís. His mental attitude as an author is the same as that of the heroes who form his subject. Faith in the Báb as the Prophet of God prompted him to undertake this work. Faith sustained him to its completion. Faith invigorates every sentence and word in it. As one reads one is conscious that the outlook, the mood, the style of the book reflect the same eager, buoyant, irresistible faith as inspires the lofty exploits it records. By a thousand proofs Nabil shows his desire to be fair and just to all; but at the same time he writes as an avowed and eager and determined participant in a life and death struggle in which neither side gives nor expects quarter, but which must be fought out to an end. The temper of the writing resembles that of a battle song in which (even in moments of what seem irredeemable defeat) the note of assured triumph transcends all other notes.

(To be continued)

In parts I and II, Nabil’s faith and experience are described, the Báb’s declaration to Mullá Ḥusayn delineated, the recognition of the new Prophet by His first disciples made dramatic, and the growing opposition and cruelty of His enemies in church and state recounted.

[Page 475]

“ATOMS IN ACTION”

DALE S. COLE

IN his very readable, interesting new book, Atoms in Action, George Russell Harrison writes:

“Experience has shown no better way of eliminating poverty than by well-directed ‘atom-smashing.’ Poverty can be abolished by replacing it with wealth; and the systematic investigation of matter and energy without regard to immediate practical ends has turned out to be the most direct road to social riches. In the long run digging for truth has always proved not only more interesting but more profitable, than digging for gold. If urged on by the love of digging, one digs deeper than if searching for some particular nugget. Practicality is inevitably short-sighted, and is self-handicapped by the fact that it is looking so hard for some single objective that it may miss much that nature presents to one who is purposefully digging for whatever may turn up.”

While these observations refer to experiences in the realm of the science of physics, there are several very pragmatic ideas suggested which may well be carried over into the sphere of spiritual education.

The world is suffering from “spiritual poverty” more distressingly than from any other kind of want and it is certainly a profound truism that even such poverty can “best be abolished by replacing it with wealth,” especially when the supply of wealth is unlimited, the source apparent, and the way of its attainment defined, which is the comforting and inspiring information now given by the Bahá’í Revelation to bewildered mankind.

In order to discover this wealth and to employ it for advancement, “systematic investigation” is necessary, an unbiased and persistent effort on our part which is not too much concerned with and motivated by “immediate practical ends” but which has confidence that such God-given wealth will, sooner or later, promote the well being of the greatest number.

We should realize that the Divine Plan is not primarily designed for short-term, incomplete and localized improvement of conditions, no matter how distressing they may be. Man must build solidly, intelligently and feelingly for the future even though it be on the ruins of the present. “In the long run digging for truth has always proved not only more interesting but more profitable than digging for gold.” And if this be true of scientific truths, how much more “interesting and profitable” must it be now and “in the long run” to dig for spiritual truth. This is the supreme objective of spiritual education.

[Page 476] A technique to be employed in this schooling of humanity is introduced by an “if,” a condition. “If urged on by the love of digging, one digs deeper than if searching for some particular nugget.” This qualification of loving to dig can be acquired and it is a cumulative joy, for as the limitless possibilities of the Divine Plan unfold into consciousness, bit by bit as one digs, every-day perplexities which are but trivialities in the great “scheme of things entire,” fade into relative insignificance and one becomes intrigued with the great sweep of the irresistible forces which permeate life. One should become aware of living in eternity.

FOR the true student, study begets love of study and is not without its immediate rewards. A sense of accomplishment bringing moments of deep satisfaction when one fact or another is learned; the joy of assimilating some bit of assurance, of throwing away some haunting doubt or uncertainty, of becoming convinced that there is a benevolent power directing man’s ultimate destiny and that this destiny is not circumscribed by time or dimension.

These rewards are immediate and to be enjoyed as we study, regardless of the tremendous extent of the Divine Plan. They are not lost in the immensity of the task because the effects on us can be felt while we dig.

The first step suggested then, is the acquirement of a “love of digging” for then we will “dig deeper,” and the wealth is such, that no matter how deeply we dig, there is always more to be acquired. As we become proficient in digging, we progress faster, understand more clearly, assimilate more completely and consciously or unconsciously, adopt into our lives all of those beneficent graces which attend having a knowledge of spiritual truth.

But, it is suggested in connection with scientific investigation, “practicality is inevitably short-sighted and self-handicapped.” Being too immediately practical may engender selfishness and limit the ends possible of achievement. We are not digging for merely one specific nugget, but for wealth in its broadest terms. We are not searching for some small favor now, but for grace for all time and for all peoples. We must have faith that, if our search is of the right kind, not focussed on some temporary, limited objective, the wealth uncovered, be it what it may, will not only profit us here and now, but others elsewhere and in years to come.

The Divine Wisdom that created the wealth we are seeking, also incorporated in it those qualities which make it adequately and ultimately good. We do not have to assay each bit as it is uncovered. We can be fully assured that spiritual truth is inherently good in part and wholly. We must dig “purposefully” for “whatever may turn up” and have faith that it will be right and good, for truth cannot be otherwise.

The science of physics was once considered as a part of “natural philosophy” because it operated in the realm of physical forces and existences, and still does. It has its sphere of action and its sources of information. However associated, these are [Page 477] not specifically the same as sources of spiritual knowledge, despite the advisability of applying similar techniques of investigation. We should not dig in the wrong or barren places for spiritual truths however underlying and fundamental they may prove to be. We must study the repositories of spiritual truth existing as such, if we are to be expeditious, and the repository for today and tomorrow is the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

NOTE that “well-directed ‘atom-smashing’” is proposed as a means of eliminating poverty. It is so defined because it has brought so many valuable things into our lives. By breaking down the atom, new forms of wealth become available in the industrial and commercial worlds. A process of destruction of something proceeds and is employed to obtain something yet more valuable and worthwhile. Something goes but something better comes. By breaking up the atom constructive benefits appear in the material world. Then why weep for the poor atom? Is it not fulfilling a higher destiny by being exploded than by remaining an inert atom intact?

Why regret too much the passing of the old and inadequate in attaining the new and adequate? Unless one has faith in the new and the future, it is difficult not to be concerned with the “smashing” of the old.

But the smashing referred to is not really destructive. “The scientist, like the artist, creates something new merely by rearrangement of the old.” Man does not create, neither can he actually destroy. He learns, and within limits, rearranges and controls.

The natural world of the future will contain, doubtless, just as much matter and energy as at present— just as many atoms. Some will exist as such but some will be “exploded” into more useful and valuable existences; states not as tangible as the individual atom, but possessing untold possibilities.

“Atoms in action” may function as atoms or in a state of transformation. In either case they are not passive but dynamic. They, in their world, suggest man in his. Life is an integration of the physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects just as atomic existence is an integration of “forces and energies.”

So long as man remains merely a physical and intellectual system of matter and energy, his possibilities for advancement are circumscribed, but when he undergoes the transformation of spiritual enlightenment and inspiration, his possibilities for achievement are augmented many fold. But in this change, his old “atomic self” undergoes a “smashing” of more or less intensity and he thereafter becomes more active than passive, more spiritual than material.

Atoms may be manipulated singly or in groups, depending upon the end in view. But groups of atoms are but aggregations of single entities. Likewise in human society, what really affects one affects the group and vice versa. Synchronization of individual actions results in group eflfectiveness.

Mr. Harrison concludes: “Whether the world of the future derives its motive power from sunbeams, from atomic rays, or merely from the refinement [Page 478] of present sources of power, it will be an interesting world. Man holds within his hands the power to make that world virtually what he will. In particular, one of the bits of wisdom he is slowly learning in his gradual climb is that nature need not be accepted as she is at the moment, but can be smoothed out over a period of time and over an area of space, to make the ups and downs of life less severe.”

With “nature” let us include “human nature.”

If this be true of nature, not considering spiritual influences, what must the future offer considering them and voluntarily incorporating them into life?

Digging for such suggested wealth is the most interesting and profitable project imaginable. That the repository of this vast treasure is the Bahá’í Revelation is the claim of Bahá’u’lláh. No claim could be more challenging and more hopeful.

The mere knowledge that a Divine Plan exists brings assurance in this time of confusion. The scientist investigates wholeheartedly where he feels there may be possibilities of finding. Is it not logical that all socially-minded, thinking people investigate thoroughly this Revelation, and thereby discover that true source of wealth which can abolish poverty of every kind for all people forever?

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TO my servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.

[Page 479]

INDEX

WORLD ORDER

Volume Five, April, 1939 — March, 1940

Titles

ABBAS EFFENDI, by Marcia Steward Atwater, 344

‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ, A MEETING WITH, by Martha L. Root, 183

AGONY, OUT OF THIS, Editorial, by Horace Holley, 241

AMERICAN INDIAN, by Olivia Kelsey, 309

AMERICA INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES, HAS, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 225

AMERICA, THE DESTINY OF, by Shoghi Effendi, 83

AMERICAN, THE VANISHING, by Pasupuleti Gopala Krishnayya, 143

ART AND COMMUNITY, by Mark Tobey, 33

ART OF SCULPTURE, THE, Fragment from the Chinese, 394

ATOMs IN ACTION, by Dale S. Cole, 475

BAHÁ’Í, WHAT IS A, by Roberta V. Kaley, 318

BELIEF, THE PATH TO, Editorial, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 441

BURSTING THE CAGE ASUNDER, by Louis G. Gregory, 329

CAPITAL AND LABOR BE RECONCILED, HOW CAN, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 135

CHILD GUIDANCE CLINICS, by H. P. Maiti, 21

CHINESE, WISDOM OF THE ANCIENT, by Shao Chang Lee, 167

CHRIST, THE REALITY OF, by Maye Harvey Gift, 460

CHURCH, ESTABLISHMENT OF THE, by Joyce Lyon Dahl, 105

CONTRASTS, THE GREAT, by Dale S. Cole, 395

CREATION, IN THE MIRROR OF, by Olivia Kelsey, 419

DAWN, THEY MET THE, by Alice Simmons Cox, 243, 297, 348

DIVINE ART or LIVING, THE, by Marcia Steward Atwater, 236

ECONOMICS; THE UNREDEEMED SOCIAL AREA, Editorial, by Horace Holley, 1

EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER, by Horace Holley, 66

ERA, ASPECTS OF THE OLD AND NEW, by S. Tormo, 426

EVIL, THE PROBLEM OF, by Garreta Busey, 49

EXISTENCE, THE FRUIT OF, Editorial, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 321

EXPERIENCE, Poem, by William Lester Brown, 465

FAR VISION, Poem, by Gertrude W. Robinson, 425

FEDERATION, THE CONCEPT OF, by Sirdar D. K. Sen, 263

GARNERING AMONG THE GLEANINGS, by Dale S. Cole, 173

GOD, DO WE BELIEVE IN, by G. A. Shook, 137

GOD, THE WORD OF, Editorial, by Stanwood Cobb, 201

HAPPINESS, THE WAY TO, Editorial, by Stanwood Cobb, 361

HUMAN LIFE, THE ACHIEVEMENT OF, Editorial, by Stanwood Cobb, 121

HYMN OF THE WORLD, Poem, by Stameko Djurdjivic, 430

IMMORTALITY, ASSURANCE OF, Compilation, 254

INTEGRITY, THE CROWN OF VIRTUE, by Helen Griffing, 358

ISLAM, by Ali-Kuli Khan, 27, 62, 100, 154, 178, 228

ISRAEL, REJOICE O, by Alice Simmons Cox, 87

JOURNEY TO THE ARCTICS, A, by Nellie S. French, 398

LIBERTY, TRUE, by Ida Judith Baum, 417

LIVING, MODES OF, by Lewis Zerby, 17

MAGIC TO LAW, FROM, Editorial, by Horace Holley, 81

MANKIND REACHED MATURITY, HAS, by Kenneth Christian, 292

MAN, THE MEDIAL, by Louise D. Boyle, 3

MAN, THE MOST MODERN, by Kenneth Christian, 97

MAN’s ILLUSION, by Pearle U. Easterbrook, 277

MAN’s UNDISCOVERED FREEDOM, Editorial, by Horace Holley, 401

NABIL’s HISTORY OF THE BÁB, by George Townshend, 375, 431, 470

NATIONS, TO ALL, Poem, by Rose Noller, 190

NEW MANSIONS FOR NEW MEN, Book Review, by Alice Simmons Cox, 35

OLD SDLDIER OF EUROPE, TO AN, Poem, by George Nedwin Hansen, 233

PACIFISM, THE ANSWER TO WAR, IS, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 104

PANAMA, IMPRESSIONS OF, by Cora Hitt Oliver and Louise Caswell, 427

PEACE, A DIVINE CREATION, Words of Bahá’u’lláh, 354; Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 363; by Shoghi Effendi, 403

PEACE, TEACHING FOR, by P. Seshradri, 388

PEOPLES, TO MANY, by Marcia Steward Atwater, 457

[Page 480] PRAYER, by Pearle U. Easterbrook, 59

PRAYER, THE UNIVERSE IN, by Maye Harvey Gift, 191

PRISONER OF WAR 31163, Book Review, by Helen Campbell, 158

RACE, IS THERE DIVISION OF, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 414

RACE UNITY, by Shoghi Effendi, 203

RELIGION AND CIVILIZATION, Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 443

RELIGION AND CULTURE, Editorial, by Stanwood Cobb, 41

RELIGIONS BORN, HOW ARE, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 379

RELIGION, THE ONENESS OF, by Doris McKay, 13, 71, 115, 148

REVALUATION OF PEACE, by Beatrice Irwin, 11

SACRED THRESHOLD, BY THAT, by Ruhíyyih Khánum, 451

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA, by Anna McClure Sholl, 185

SCIENCE AND VALUE, by G. A. Shook, 332

SCIENCE CONTRIBUTES, by G. A. Shook, 248

SCRIPTURES OF DIFFERENT FAITHS, THE, by Pritam Singh, 208

SEEKER, THE, Poem, by Gertrude W. Robinson, 456

SELF, GIVING UP THE, by Jessica Levine Russell, 234

SEVEN VALLEYS, THE, Poem, by Everett Tabor Gamage, 112

SOCIETY, THE GOOD, Book Review, by Alice Simmons Cox, 195

SONG CELESTIAL, THE, Book Review, by Willard McKay, 76

SOUL’S JOURNEY, THE, Poem, by Elsie Patterson Cranmer, 227

SPIRITUAL BILL OF RIGHTS, A, by Kenneth Christian, 323

SPIRITUAL BIRTH, THE GOAL OF, by Mabel E. Hune, 69

SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION, THE, by Richard D. Mosier, 218

SPIRITUAL GROWTH, by G. A. Shook, 408

SPIRITUAL PERSPECIIVE, by Marie M. Kershaw, 391

SPIRITUAL REALISM, Editorial, by Horace Holley, 161

TIME HAS ARRIVED, THE, by Ben Ellison, 273

TOMORROW, Poem, by Everett Tabor Gamage, 172

TRUTH AND RELIGION, by Horace Holley, 371

TRUTH AND SOCIETY, by Horace Holley, 259

TRUTH AND WORLD UNITY, by Horace Holley, 466

TWILIGHT OF THE WISE, THE, by Dale S. Cole, 24

UNIVERSAL PEACE, THE BAHÁ’Í TEACHINGS ON, by National Spiritual Assembly, 283

VALLEY OF ASTONISHMENT, THE, by Howard Colby Ives, 338

VALLEY OF CONTENTMENT, THE, by Mardiyyih Nabil Carpenter, 306

VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE, THE, by Horace Holley, 222

VALLEY OF LOVE, THE, by Juliet Thompson, 163

VALLEY OF SEARCH, THE, by Zoe Meyer, 131

VALLEY OF SELFLESSNESS, THE, by Hussein Rabbani, 381

VALLEY OF UNITY, THE, by Helen Pilkington Bishop, 256

VISION, THE, Poem, by Elsie Patterson Cranmer, 184

WITNESS, THE, Poem, by Elsie Patterson Cranmer, 152

WORLD CITIZENS, by Caroline S. Woodruff, 327

WORLD ECONOMY, TRANSITION IN, by Emeric Sala, 43

WORLD OF TOMORROW, THE, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 53

WORLD ORDER, A NEW, by Shoghi Effendi, 281

WORLD PEACE, CAN EDUCATION BRING, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, 176

WORLD PSYCHE, CRISIS OF THE, by Wilfrid Barton, 123

WORLD WE LIVE IN, THE, by Don T. MacNally, 315

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, by Lilyan Fancher-Bush, 301

Authors

‘ADDU’L-BAHÁ, Peace a Divine Creation, 363; Religion and Civilization, 443

ATWATER, MARCIA STEWARD, The Divine Art of Living, 236; Abbas Effendi, 344; To Many Peoples, 457

BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, Peace a Divine Creation, 354

BARTON, WILFRID, Crisis of the World Psyche, 123

BAUM, IDA JUDITH, True Liberty, 417

BISHOP, HELEN PILKINGTON, The Valley of Unity, 256

BOYLE, LOUISE D., The Medial Man, 3

BROWN, WILLIAM LESTER, Experience, 465

BUSEY, GARRETA, The Problem of Evil, 49

CAMPBELL, HELEN, Prisoner of War 31163, 158

CASWELL, LOUISE, and CORA HITT OLIVER, Impressions of Panama, 427

CHRISTIAN, KENNETH, The Most Modern Man, 97; Has Mankind Reached Maturity? 292; A Spiritual Bill of Rights, 323

[Page 481] COBB, STANWOOD, Religion and Culture, 41; The Achievement of Human Life, 121; The Word of God, 201; The Way to Happiness, 361

COLE, DALE S., The Twilight of the Wise, 24; Garnering Among the Gleanings, 173; The Great Contrasts, 395; Atoms in Action, 475

COX, ALICE SIMMONS, New Mansions for New Men, 35; Rejoice, O Israel, 87; The Good Society, 195; They Met the Dawn, 243, 297, 348

CRANMER, ELSIE PATTERSON, The Witness, 152; The Vision, 184; The Soul’s Journey, 227

DAHL, JOYCE LYON, Establishment of the Church, 105

DJURDJIVIC, STAMEKO, Hymn of the World, 430

EASTERBROOK, PEARLE U., Prayer, 59; Man’s Illusion, 277

ELLISON, BEN, The Time Has Arrived, 273

FRENCH, NELLIE S., A Journey to the Arctics, 398

FANCHER-BUSH, LILYAN, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, 301

GAMAGE, EVERETT TABOR, The Seven Valleys, 112; Tomorrow, 172

GIFT, MAYE HARVEY, The Universe in Prayer, 191; The Reality of Christ, 460

GREGORY, LOUIS G., Bursting the Cage Asunder, 329

GRIFFING, HELEN, Integrity: The Crown of Virtue, 358

HANSEN, GEORGE NEDWIN, To an Old Soldier of Europe, 233

HOLLEY, HORACE, Economics: The Unredeemed Social Area, 1; Education for Character, 66; From Magic to Law, 81; Spiritual Realism, 161; The Valley of Knowledge, 222; Out of this Agony, 241; Truth and Society, 259; Truth and Religion, 371; Man’s Undiscovered Freedom, 401; Truth and World Unity, 466

HUNE, MABEL E., The Goal of Spiritual Birth, 69

IRWIN, BEATRICE, Revaluation of Peace, 11

IVES, HOWARD COLBY, The Valley of Astonishment, 338

KALEY, ROBERTA V., What is a Bahá’í? 318

KELSEY, OLIVIA, American Indian, 309; In the Mirror of Creation, 419

KERSHAW, MARIE M., Spiritual Perspective, 391

KHAN, ALI—KULI, Islam, 27, 62, 100, 154, 178, 228

KIRKPATRICK, BERTHA HYDE, The World of Tomorrow, 53; Is Pacifism the Answer to War? 104; How Can Capital and Labor Be Reconciled? 135; Can Education Bring World Peace? 176; Has America International Responsibilities? 225; The Fruit of Existence, 321; How Are Religions Born? 379; Is There Division of Race? 414; The Path to Belief, 441

KRISHNAYYA, PASUPULETI GOPALA, The Vanishing American, 143

MAITI, H. P., Child Guidance Clinics, 21

LEE, SHAO CHANG, Wisdom of the Ancient Chinese, 167

MACNALLY, DON T., The World We Live In, 315

MCKAY, DORIS, The Oneness of Religion, 13, 71, 115, 148

MCKAY, WILLARD, The Song Celestial, book review, 76

MEYER, ZOE, The Valley of Search, 131

MOSIER, RICHARD D., The Spiritual Element in Education, 218

NOLLER, ROSE, To All Nations, 190

OLIVER, CORA HITT, and LOUISE CASWELL, Impressions of Panama, 427

PRITAM SINGH, The Scriptures of Different Faiths, 208

RABBANI, HUSSEIN, The Valley of Selflessness, 381

ROBINSON, GERTRUDE W., Far Vision, 425; The Seeker, 456

ROOT, MARTHA L., A Meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 193

RUHÍYYIH KHÁNUM, By That Sacred Threshold, 451

RUSSELL, JESSICA LEVINE, Giving Up the Self, 234

SALA, EMERIC, Transition in World Economy, 43

SEN, SIRDAR D. K., The Concept of Federation, 263

SESHRADRI, P., Teaching for Peace, 388

SHOGHI EFFENDI, The Destiny of America, 83; Race Unity, 203; A New World Order, 281; Peace a Divine Creation, 403

SHOLL, ANNA MCCLURE, St. Catherine of Siena, 185

SHOOK, G. A., Do We Believe in God? 137; Science Contributes, 248; Science and Value, 332; Spiritual Growth, 408

THOMPSON, JULIET, The Valley of Love, 163

TOBEY, MARK, Art and Community, 33

TORMO, S., Aspects of the Old and New Era, 426

WOODRUFF, CAROLINE S., World Citizens, 327

ZERBY, LEWIS, Modes of Living, 17

[Page 482]

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