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[Page 359]

WORLD ORDER

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE

February, 1943

• God’s Promise Is Fulfilled . . . . Evelyn Lackey Bivins 361

• Man Is Responsible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 369

• Where’er You Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marzieh Gail 372

• The Tabernacle of Unity . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Durroh 378

• On Hearing the Bahá’í Message, Poem . . Preble Thale 384

• Love in Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lethia C. Fleming 385

• Brazil in Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beatrice Irwin 388

• That All May Live, Editorial . . . . . . . . . Alice S. Cox 392

• With our Readers . . 394

FIFTEEN CENTS

[Page 360]

BAHÁ’U’LLÁH TEACHES THAT MATERIAL CIVILIZATION IS INCOMPLETE, INSUFFICIENT AND THAT DIVINE CIVILIZATION MUST BE ESTABLISHED. . . . MANKIND RECEIVES THE BOUNTIES OF MATERIAL cIVILIZATION AS WELL AS DIVINE CIVILIZATION FROM THE HEAVENLY PROPHETS. THE CAPACITY FOR ACHIEVING EXTRAORDINARY AND PRAISEWORTHY PROGRESS IS BESTOWED BY THEM THROUGH THE BREATHS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND HEAVENLY CIVILIZATION IS NOT POSSIBLE OF ATTAINMENT OR ACCOMPLISHMENT OTHERWISE.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ.

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CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE

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

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SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 15c. Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1942 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.

FEBRUARY, 1943, VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 11

[Page 361]

WORLD ORDER

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE

VOLUME VIII FEBRUARY, 1943 NUMBER 11

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God’s Promise Is Fulfilled

Evelyn Lackey Bivins

BAHÁ’U’LLÁH UNSEALS PROPHECIES OF WORLD PEACE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

IS THERE a cure for the ills of the world today? A pessimist cannot answer, but those who have faith remember the eternal words: “Ask and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” In Isaiah 65:24 is the promise: “Before they call I will answer.” Yes, faith in divine providence gives assurance of a remedy “for the healing of the nations”.

Mankind has looked forward to an age of peace on earth for thousands of years. Could this be an empty hope? We cannot wait much longer, for science is producing ever more efficient tools of death. Wars must soon end or humanity will destroy itself.

Any enduring peace, according to discerning thinkers, calls for a federation of the nations of the world and for an improved economic system which provides for all. In short, a new universal civilization must soon come into existence!

[Page 362] An outer change requires an inner change. Undoubtedly the present distress of the world is the result of human hatred, prejudices, and greed. If these same motives continue to dominate human relations, then the new civilization would soon be no better than the old. What prevents this world here and now from being a heaven on earth? We know that whenever human hearts are charged with love, this world can be a paradise!

Is not the urgent need for peace on earth and in our hearts, a harbinger of its approach?

The ancient promise of peace was in connection with the teachings of a divine Lawgiver. Without a God-sent Guide, could blind humanity ever find the way to peace? In the second chapter of Isaiah is found the following: “And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established . . . and all nations shall flow into it . . . and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. . . . Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

Can this present crisis of the world be the time of trial and tribulation, the “judgment of the nations”?

The following significant passage is from The Christian Advocate of March 27, 1941: “The sins of all the nations have combined to precipitate what will probably be regarded by historians of the future as the major catastrophe of all time. . . . A judgment day has dawned for all the earth. . . . ‘We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ [Page 363] We have tried to build a civilization on force, profits, power, privilege. . . . Strong nations have exploited weaker ones, the white race has ridden through the world on the backs of the colored races. Powerful governments have protected and sanctioned injustices. . . . We have minted the blood and tears of our brothers into profits to add to our sordid and sodden gains. . . . The Jesus whom we declared, only yesterday, could save the world, is our only hope in this black hour. Whatever we do in defiance of His spirit and His will is to be our undoing. Let Him deliver us NOW!”

In Luke 21:25, 28 is found: “And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity. . . . and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

SCRIPTURES WERE SEALED

When further search for the meaning of our time is sought in the Scriptures, one meets with the confusion of conflicting interpretations. Indeed, one may unconsciously read into the text certain traditional meanings, inherited superstitions, which are not substantiated by closer study.

For example, in the Middle Ages, the thought of the “end of the world” brought terror and panic to the population, and today strikes fear to many hearts. Yet, would Jesus have told the people to pray for an earth that would be like heaven and for the establishment of God’s Kingdom into which all nations would flow, and which would endure forever, if the physical earth were to be destroyed? Is it not more reasonable and in accord with prophecy to believe the “end” is the end of a vast age, and the beginning of a new, totally different age for humanity, the age when “former things are passed away. . . . Behold I make all things new”? (Rev. 21:4, 5)

[Page 364] Another difficulty in understanding the prophecies is that some passages are literal, while others are figurative. If a passage contradicts other passages or goes against our sense of reason, then we should be on the lookout for a spiritual, figurative meaning. It is the “spirit” rather than the “letter” which is of greatest importance.

Of the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, some were literal, as in the case of His birthplace; other passages were symbolic, as, for example His “throne”,—not an earthly one, but an eternal spiritual throne in the hearts of His followers through the centuries.

It is these spiritual meanings of prophecies which the Jews could not understand, and so they failed to recognize their long expected Messiah! The most tragic of failures is that of refusing God’s Spokesman in His day of “Visitation”. In Luke, the nineteenth chapter, it is recorded that Jesus wept over Jerusalem exclaiming, “If thou hadst known . . . in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall . . . compass thee round . . . because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

A reason for the denial of Jesus we find in Mark 7:9: “Ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Is our generation free enough from attachment to custom and traditional interpretation to recognize God’s Promised One for the “latter days”?

As the various interpretations of prophecy are contradictory all cannot be correct.

Many Christians are waiting for Jesus with the nail prints in His hands to descend from the sky with a host of angels on a rain cloud, and will not accept Him if He does not come in this miraculous manner. Other Christians regard these [Page 365] signs as having a spiritual rather than a literal meaning, and anticipate the coming of a Divine Personage in a natural way, One Who shows forth the same spiritual power and supreme wisdom as Jesus Christ, Who speaks by the authority of God, and whose teachings will transform human society.

Only a few at the time of Jesus could recognize Him by His spiritual qualities. Would it be less difficult in the “latter days”? In Daniel 12:10 we find: “And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” In Luke 21:34 we read: “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth.” In Revelation 3:3 is found: “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” How does a thief come? As quietly as possible, accomplishes his work without disturbing the sleep of the occupants of the house, and when the occupants awaken, they behold the results. “If the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” (Matt. 24:43)

Should we not watch out, be careful that we make no mistake, that our mistakes do not prevent us, like the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ, from recognizing God’s Spokesman?

In fact the prophetic book was sealed up, and could not be understood until the time of the end. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. . . And I heard, but understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, [Page 366] Go thy way Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Dan. 12:4, 8, 9)

In regard to the sealed book the following is found in The Bahá’í Proofs: “As the learned attempted to interpret them before the appointed time they fell into error . . . and thus misled people instead of enlightening them.”

In Revelation, chapter 5, we read: “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? . . . And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book . . . . And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah. . . hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

THE APPOINTED MESSENGER

“If God sealed up the prophecies until the ‘appointed time’,” wrote J. E. Esslemont, “and did not fully reveal the interpretations even to the prophets who uttered them, we may expect that none but the appointed Messenger of God will be able to break the seals and disclose the meanings concealed in the casket of the prophetic parables.”

And now the GREAT MESSAGE! Are not the “signs of the times” in evidence? Will not your heart tell you that the “Desire of Nations” has come?

A Personage Whom even His enemies declared flawless, announced Himself as the Promised One in the year 1863. He wrote to the kings of the earth, announcing His Mission, calling upon them to arbitrate their differences and to establish justice in their affairs. He brought a plan for the New World Order which when carried out will make earth like heaven. His teachings are the onward steps of true civilization. He revealed truths in advance of His time, reaffirmed the teachings of Jesus Christ and explained the hidden meanings of [Page 367] all the holy books. To His followers, His love and wisdom were unmistakable. Thousands gladly accepted martyrdom to testify with their lives to the truth of His Cause.

From the East He came, the land of Persia, now called Írán. “As the lightening cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matt. 24:27.) “The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east . . . and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezek. 43:2)

His enlightened teachings and His increasing influence stirred up enmity and jealousy, so He was stripped of His property, banished from place to place, and finally sentenced to life imprisonment in the worst of Turkish prisons. “For out of prison he cometh to reign.” (Eccles. 4:14.) His banishments were from Ṭihrán, Írán, to Baghdád, from which He retired to the mountain of Sulaymáníyyih, thence to Constantinople, and Adrianople, and finally to the prison fortress at ‘Akká, Palestine. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, [of which Írán was once a part] and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.” (Mic. 7:12) In the vicinity of ‘Akká (also spelled Acca and Achor), at the foot of Mt. Carmel, located near the valley of Sharon and the mountains of Lebanon, He resided to the end of His days in the flesh. “The desert shall rejoice and blossom like a rose . . . the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the Glory of our God.” (Is. 35:2) “And I will give her . . . the valley of Achor for a door of hope; . . . and I will break the bow and the battle out of the earth.” (Hos. 2:15, 18)

The Promised One is known by His “New Name”. The spiritual title chosen by Him is “Bahá’u’lláh”, which translated [Page 368] from the Arabic means “Glory of God”. The word Bahá translated into English is “Glory”. Followers of Bahá’u’lláh are called by the name “Bahá’í”. “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” (Is. 62:2) “Behold, I come quickly. . . . Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God . . . and I will write upon him my new name.” (Rev. 3:11, 12) “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. . . . say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (Is. 40:5, 9) “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14.) “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten . . . . and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.” (Rev. 21:23, 24.)

Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed: “The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind to Him.”

“The allusions in the scriptures have been unfolded, and the signs recorded therein have been revealed, and the prophetic cry is continually being raised. And yet, all, except such as God was pleased to guide, are bewildered in the drunkenness of their heedlessness!”

“Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame.”

[Page 369]

Man Is Responsible

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

THIS evening we have guests—Mrs. Goodall, Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Wise, from California. They have come a long distance, for having heard that I am leaving for the Orient, they have come purposely to visit. These are among the old friends and firm and steadfast in the Cause. It is my hope that in California they will be aided in great undertakings because they are firm and steadfast in the Cause and holding to the Covenant of God.

Now to come to the subject: All creation is distinctive in its one aspect. The aspect may be a good one or an evil one. For example, consider the animals. Among them you find one class entitled domestic or blessed [as he puts it], which class is good. Another class is the ferocious animals which are evil, that is to say, they have the animal’s distinct aspect. Likewise, in the vegetable kingdom, some of them [vegetables] are useful; another type . . . are harmful. They have this one function or aspect. Likewise [are] the other forms of creation, except man in whom there are two aspects, one the merciful aspect, the divine aspect, the other the satanic aspect; one the good aspect, the other the evil aspect; one the spiritual aspect, the other the material or natural aspect. One aspect is absolute evil, the human aspect. The spiritual aspect is absolute good.

So man is possessed of two stations, the animal station and the station of manhood, praiseworthy morals or qualities, and uncommendable qualities. One aspect is light, the other is [Page 370] darkness. The natural aspect is the very foundation of the baser attributes or vices. They are the praiseless qualities. For example, you see in man jealousy, tyranny, falsehood and hypocrisy, blood thirstiness, dishonesty and hopefulness from a material standpoint, with the vices present, all of which belong to the animal stratum. In man anger is severe, tyranny is very severe, and these are the natural aspects, because the natural world is of sedition, is a world of vices; but the spiritual aspect, the merciful aspect, that is the light of guidance, that is justice, that is equity, that is philanthropy, that is veracity, that is trustworthiness, that is the covenant, that is firmness, that is love, that is fellowship and unity and self-sacrifice, that is the pathway of love. These two aspects are present in man, the merciful aspect which is the angelic aspect, and the satanic aspect which is the natural state of the world. Therefore, man is both capable of being an angel and an animal, both light and darkness, both sublime and base, both heavenly and earthly, both celestial and terrestrial. The two aspects are present in man.

All the Divine Prophets have come for this purpose, in order to educate mankind, in order to stimulate and encourage the merciful aspect, that the glory of the spirit may be enhanced; that the virtues of the world of humanity may become apparent, in order to release humanity from the world of materiality and make it in accord with the realm of reality. For this purpose have the prophets been sent. Now if the virtues of the world of humanity overcome the animal aspect, then light will encompass and the darkness will vanish and man will become merciful, will become even preferable to the angels, will be the manifestation of the Mercies of God, will be overshadowed with the glances of God. He has attained to the second birth. He has been baptized with the Holy Spirit. He has attained to the life everlasting.

[Page 371] But if the natural aspect should overcome; if darkness should overcome the light; if misguidance should overcome guidance; [if] the satanic should become stronger than the angelic; if the animal aspect should overcome the human aspect; if the vices should overcome the praiseworthy virtues; then, he is even baser than the animals, because in the animal there is only one aspect—the animal aspect. If it [the animal] is ferocious, then it is not responsible, because in the world of nature the animal is ferocious; it is not possessed of the intellectual faculties; it is not blessed with perception; it is not blessed with the reflection of God. Hence the animal is not responsible for its actions.

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Hitherto unpublished address by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá given at 309 West 78th Street, New York, July 9, 1912.

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REFLECTION OF GOD

All-praise and glory be to God Who, through the power of His might, hath delivered His creation from the nakedness of non-existence, and clothed it with the mantle of life. From among all created things He hath singled out for His special favor the pure, the gemlike reality of man, and invested it with a unique capacity of knowing Him and of reflecting the greatness of His glory. This twofold distinction conferred upon him hath cleansed away from his heart the rust of every vain desire, and made him worthy of the vesture with which his Creator hath deigned to cloth him. It hath served to rescue his soul from the wretchedness of ignorance.

—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.

[Page 372]

Where’er You Walk

Marzieh Gail

HE LEFT the woman and her child in the sand hills, gray under the burning sky. He gave her a skin full of dates and another of water, and turned and left her. She followed, calling to him, but he went on, not turning back, not answering. At last she cried out: “Is it God who has bidden you to do this?” And he spoke the one word: “Yes.” He went on, and left her and his child in the empty hills. He saw the spring that would bubble up there out of the sand, and the House he would build in a time to come, a square House that would stand through the ages as a sign for all men. And he saw that the child would not die; he saw it living, and the stream of his posterity shining in the world for ever and ever. But he knew, too, as he went away over the fiery hills, that he would never see again this woman that he loved. . . .

The land lay out beneath him. The silver plains, the palm trees blowing, and far against the sky, the feathery blue sea. He watched it for a long time; it was all as he had known it would be. It was all there as he had dreamt it long ago: honeycomb, and wheat; white flocks, fields of white lilies; doves nesting; green figs on the boughs. It was all as in his dream. But he was not to enter the land; he was not to set foot down there in the valleys. He was to stay here always, laid in a grave in the sand where no one would find it. Before, it had been refused him to see the glory that his heart longed for; now he was not to go down into the land. . . .

[Page 373] He stood at the altar in the darkness, sheltering the fire. The flames burned in his eyes and wavered over the walls. He could hear the soldiers coming nearer; they had fought their way into the city, burning and pillaging, cutting the inhabitants down. Now their cries swelled around the Temple; now they were beating at the door. It gave, and someone was panting down there in the darkness. He stepped in front of the altar, guarding the flame, placing his body between the flame and the man working towards him in the shadows. Then the light struck on a curved blade swinging over him. As he fell, he hurled his rosary at the man and it made a bright circle in the darkness. His blood spurted into the flame and smoked on the altar. . . .

He came in from the garden to the bedroom of his wife and looked down at her as she slept. His eyes clouded, until her face was only a paler shadow in the shadows. The child lay in her arms. He wanted to kiss it one last time, but she clasped it so tightly he was afraid to waken her. He turned from them both and left them, and went out into the dark. . . .

He heard them casting lots for his clothing as he hung above them. Their spittle had dried on his cheeks. They were calling to him to come down from where he was, they were shouting: He saved others; himself he cannot save. He could taste the fruit of another vineyard on his lips. He could see, two thousand years to come, women still wearing this hour against their breasts. He hung, outspread against the sky, and the blood was slipping from his hands and feet. . . .

When he walked through the street they turned to laugh at him; sometimes they struck him; once when he was bowed at prayer they covered him with entrails from a sheep. Even their idols seemed to mock him as he passed; idols that stood, insolent and firm, after ten years of his preaching, and looked [Page 374] down at him. He said the idols were only wood and stone; he said there was another God, one God, that no man could see; but only beggars listened to him, while the idols had thousands of worshippers from far and near, and stood plain in the sunlight. He left his home and went away to another place, a city in the mountains where fruit trees grew. He thought the people would listen to him here, because they were not his people. But when he opened his lips, they stoned him. . . .

Thousands of oil lamps were burning in the mosques. In the fire temples, flame went up from the tripods, and priests in mouth-veils and long yellow robes were tending it. In cathedrals, white tapers were lighted, tips fluttering like moths in the shadows. Every church had its lights; every synagogue and temple; even the darkest shrine had its floating wick or its red spark of incense. But here in the bare room on the mountain, no lamp, no candle, no light. Only the blackness, only the slow cold eating into the brick of the walls and floor. The world lighted its lamps and its tapers and censers for him: and he here on the mountain, alone and a prisoner in the night. . . .

They straightened as best they could the broken young body and washed the blood from it. Before His eyes they tore the garments from the shattered limbs and cleansed them. He leaned above His son and spoke to him: should He spare his life; should He make him well again? The memory of the answer was here in the cell, would always be here: The son would have his blood pour out on the prison floor, if only the people who were far away could come to their Beloved; if only they could come to his Father, and stand before Him, and be in His presence; so the priests and kings, the mountain wastes, town walls and bars, should no longer keep them back.

[Page 375] They had carried him away now, tight in his shroud. They had gathered up his stained clothing, his poor, tattered clothing, not the embroidered robes he would have worn, as a young prince in the faraway gardens at home. The place was empty where he had lain. It was as if tuberoses had fallen here, maimed and broken on their stalks.

He has come to us many a time, from the realms of the placeless, where the maids of heaven live, each in her house of pearl; where the ever-blooming youths go round with their jeweled flagons. He has come, many a time, and taken on our life, and suffered our human days as we suffer them.

The Letters of Negation have denied Him when He came, and if you asked them what is the secret of the universe, unless it be He?—they have had no answer to give. There is nothing, they have answered, it is all shifting confusion, like a dream. And if you said, what is a dream?—they have had no answer.

But the Letters of Affirmation have declared Him, whenever He has come. He is the mystery, they have said, He is the meaning of the universe.

When He spoke, the first door of fire opened before Him, and also the first door of light. And the Letters of Negation withered away; and the Letters of Affirmation saw their joyous and clamoring blood flow down for Him.

He has come, many a time, and walked among us, so that hardly anyone lives who was not born under one or another of His laws, however dimly remembered; and hardly anyone has thought or written except in the breath of His words.

Who is He, this One who has come, and loved us for ourselves, and not as human lovers do, in search of their own good. Why has He loved us, who are busy with our little [Page 376] day of life, as animals and insects are busy, so that we have no time to listen to Him. (We have plenty of time for other things—the letter that will fade in a box, the money that will be lost, the book that will gather dust.)

In the end, we have always bowed down to Him, long after we have put Him to death. He has said, “Am I not your Lord?” (A-lastu bi-Rabbikum?) and in the end we have answered, “Yea, verily.” (Balá) And we have at last believed in His name, that He was the Friend of God, or the Interlocutor of God, or the Son of God, or the Messenger of God, or the Glory of God. And all men will in the end kneel down to Him: “And thou shalt see every nation kneeling.”

How can we draw close to Him, in this day when He has been amongst us again? Sometimes, reading His words, we hear His voice as He first recited them, as they flowed from His mouth, far away in the narrow prison over the sea. We hear the beat of the rhyming Arabic and Persian syllables, and the suffering voice, unending as the waves below the barred window.

We remember the divan where He sat in His last days, His white felt cap on the cushion, His ewer and basin, the small leather slippers by His bed. But how can we approach Him, shut out as we are by His light. How shall we know Him, if our eyes see Him in the placeless world beyond this one. . .

We go outward, away from time. We step off the rim of the universe. We pass onward, as those whose equivalents we are, passed onward before us. We bequeath our living to those who come after, in this hand-me-down planet. (If [Page 377] we have beauty, others had beauty before us, and will have it again; if we have a singing voice, they were singing in Persepolis and Thebes.) We pass, like the shape of fog in the wind.

And against the body in the ground, and the grass fading over it, and the stone effaced; and against our ways gone in such a short time from anyone’s memory—against this, we have His word. And out in the placeless regions beyond time, we have His voice.

Perhaps that is why, wherever He walks, the light slips round from face to face. And we shall know Him by the welcome, the swift penetrating mercy, the concealing grace; by the splendor, the obliterating glory. So let them have the darkness who desire it. But let us have the light.

A-lastu bi-Rabbikum?

Balá

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References: The Báb, Le Béyan Persan (A.L.M. Nicolas, tr.); ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions (Abraham); Shoghi Effendi The Spiritual Potencies of That Consecrated Spot (Bahá’u’lláh, and the Purest Branch); Rúḥíyyih Khánum, “By that Sacred Threshold”, World Order, March, 1940 (The Purest Branch); Al-Bukhárí (El-Bokhari), Les Traditions Islamiques (O. Houdas, tr.) (Abraham); Browne, E. G., A Year Amongst the Persians (Zoroastrians); Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha; A. V. W. Jackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Írán; The Jewish Encyclopedia (Lily); Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers (The Báb); The New Testament: Matthew, Mark (Jesus); The Old Testament: Exodus 33, Deuteronomy 32, 34, (Moses); and Song of Solomon; The Qur‘án (Abraham, Jeans, Paradise).

[Page 378]

The Tabernacle Of Unity

Phyllis Durroh

ON THE Bahá’ís of the Americas, rests the hope of the world! We are the only nations now left who can upraise the banner of our glorious Faith. We must be worthy of our destiny!

In many of his recent writings, Shoghi Effendi, the Bahá’í Guardian, has issued stirring appeals for the extension of our teaching efforts. He insists that nothing be permitted to slow down or hamper this work. Are we, as Bahá’ís, convinced of the imperative need for this that he considers so important?

“We can well perceive,” Bahá’u’lláh said, “how the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably defective.”

The world’s afflictions continue to spread and intensify. Can we Bahá’ís do anything to stop this? We feel that Bahá’u’lláh’s message contains the remedy that can counteract the enmity and hatred that fill the earth and can mitigate their effects. We must let the world know the wholesome [Page 379] medicine prescribed by the Divine Physician. We must prepare as never before to spread His teachings wherever we go. Much of this work will, of necessity, be amongst minority peoples. In order to reach them, we must understand something of their problems. Let us consider briefly three groups —the Negro, the Jew, the Japanese.

Perhaps the smallest in numbers is the Japanese. Many of these are loyal citizens. Yet, too often, have they been subjected to discrimination, to a “cold-pogrom” which effectively barred them, along with the Filipinos, the Chinese and the Indians, from all but a few lines of work. They have been made to feel that they were second-class citizens. Then our government found it a military necessity to interne them. Perhaps most of them could understand the need for this. But, if the American people had, through the years, treated them with equity and justice, with love and lovingkindness, the stranger might even have become a “friend, the enemy a true brother, no difference whatsoever existing between them. For universality is of God and all limitations earthly.”

So might the Jew have become a friend, perfectly integrated into our democracy. Instead, he is separate, too often regarded with suspicion. The world has accused him of causing all its ills. Glibly it blames him for the depression, labor troubles and strikes, the last war and, now, this one. Indifferent or actively antagonistic, many people refuse to seek the real causes of these ills and to realize that they affect the Jew as adversely as they do the rest of us. It takes an effort to think for ourselves. It is so much easier just to blame the Jew.

We do not blame the Negro. Many of us hate him or ignore him. We segregate him. We lynch him. We insult [Page 380] him. We deny him justice. We mistreat him with fiendish cleverness. If we lift his burden in one place, we clamp it down tighter in another. To the Negro, justice is a beautiful word. But it is only a word—an apparently unattainable ideal. . . . Just as we deny many jobs to the Jew because of his race, so we have refused the Negro equal opportunity in the right to work because of his color.

These three groups of people present to the Bahá’ís a compelling challenge. In the disruption of the lives of the Japanese, in the ever-present fear of the Jew lest the tide of anti-Semitism rise against him in this country as it has also in others, in the cynical belief of the Negro that he is fighting, in this war, as in all our wars, for a freedom and democracy he will not be allowed to share—in all these crises, the Bahá’ís recognize a fertile soil. We have the seed—the message of the Divine Unity and the Oneness of Mankind. We must water it with love, friendship and union that we may reap a glorious harvest for mankind.

We need not be deterred by race or color. Among anthropologists, the opinion is growing that these distinctions in peoples are merely the results of climate, geography, education, environment and other accidental conditions. They tell us, moreover, that there are no races in any exact sense; that the so-called pure, superior or inferior races are myths; that any attempt we may make to classify men according to these arbitrary groupings is scientifically unjustifiable; that there is no such thing as instinctive race antipathy. There is only false education or the fear that the interests of other peoples are contrary to our own.

With these views, true religion is thoroughly in accord. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says, “God makes no distinction between the white and black. If the hearts are pure, both are acceptable [Page 381] before Him. God is no respector of persons on account of color or race. All colors are acceptable to Him be they white, black or yellow. Inasmuch as all were created in the image of God, we must bring ourselves to realize that all embody divine possibilities.” “Wherever you find the Attributes of God, love that person, whether he be of your family or of another. Shed the Light of a boundless love on every human being whom you meet, whether of your country, your race, your political party, or of any other nation, color or shade of political opinion.” “God . . . made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” “Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch.” “All races, tribes, sects and classes share equally in the bounty of their Heavenly Father.” There should be such love and fellowship between us that we regard mankind as a rich mine, filled with gems of inestimable value for our searching. Our standard should be the degree of faithfulness, of obedience to God’s law. We should remember that “the heart illumined by the light of God is nearest and dearest to God! and inasmuch as God has endowed man with such favor that he is called the image of God, this is truly a supreme perfection of attainment, a divine station which is not to be sacrificed by the mere accident of color.”

Through interracial meetings and other experiments, sociologists have attacked the problem of bringing about better racial understanding. Scientists and other writers are contributing their share to the task. Play and sports are helping. Throughout the land, fairminded men and women are working to break down the barriers that separate peoples. Mutual experiences in citizenship, in defense of country, in labor solidarity, in education are working to defeat racial animosities. As far as they go, all these efforts are commendable. [Page 382] But, in the last analysis, God is the great Remover of difficulties. Only a Divine Plan can succeed.

To the Bahá’ís, such a plan has been given. “In every Dispensation, the light of Divine Guidance has been focussed upon one central theme. . . . In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious Century, the foundation of the Faith of God and the distinguishing feature of His Law is the consciousness of the Oneness of Mankind.” We know that all peoples have their own responsibility to help bring about racial amity. Yet, inspired by the many examples of the love, understanding and undiscriminating fellowship shown by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to America, we must be prepared to be several steps in advance of those who are not of our Faith. We must seek out opportunities to show the world our contempt for its false standards. We must take as our watchword complete freedom from racial prejudice and seize all possible opportunities for associating in love and friendship with minority peoples. We must help to build a world where there will be but one race—children of God; where the sole criterion of judgment will be the degree of spiritual capacity and development; where the accepted order will be peace, love and fellowship; and where hatred and ill-will will be outlawed. We must spread abroad the potent ideals of the Founder of our Faith; ideals that include the uniting of the peoples of the world into one race; ideals that include social and economic justice and security for all mankind; ideals that include the outlawing of offensive warfare and the establishment of a world federation of nations; ideals that include the removal of economic barriers and the more nearly equal distribution of wealth, ideals that include the removal of the causes of religious strife—in short, the Oneness of Mankind.

The Negro, the Jew, the Japanese and all the other minorities are hungry for this message. The Bahá’í Faith alone can [Page 383] give it. The Guardian says the need is immediate and insistent. He urges us not to think we can “wait confidently until the initiative has been taken and the favorable circumstances created, by agencies that stand outside the orbit of our Faith.” “If this matter,” he says, “remaineth without change, enmity will be increased day by day, and the final result will be hardship and may end in bloodshed. . . . Casting away once and for all the fallacious doctrine of racial superiority, with all its attendant evils, confusion, and miseries, and welcoming and encouraging the intermixture of races, and tearing down the barriers that now divide them, they should each endeavor, day and night, to fulfill their particular responsibilities in the common task which so urgently faces them. Let them, while each is attempting to contribute its share to the solution of this perplexing problem, call to mind the Warnings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and visualize, while there is yet time, the dire consequences that must follow if this challenging and unhappy situation that faces the entire American nation is not definitely remedied.”

Only the love of God and the understanding of His teachings offer a satisfactory and permanent solution of this problem. “It is plain and manifest that the surest means towards the well-being and prosperity of men and towards the highest object of civilization, the liberty of the citizen, are love and friendship and the most intimate union between all individuals of the human race. Nothing in the world can be imagined or rendered easy without union and agreement; and the true, divine religion is the most perfect cause of friendship and union in the world. As it is written: ‘Hadst thou expended all that was in the earth, thou couldst not reconcile their hearts; but God reconciled them.’”

Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed the Oneness of the human race and the unity and fellowship of His creatures. To each one of us, of whatever race, God has given a degree of perception [Page 384] and capacity. If we develop these qualities, if we reflect, ever more and more, the love of God, then, and only then, can we overcome the ills of the world. Reinforced by the divine power of Bahá’u’lláh, we shall indeed, raise the standard of the Oneness of Mankind and bring all the peoples of the earth into the Tabernacle of Unity.

---

ON HEARING THE BAHÁ’Í MESSAGE

PREBLE THALE

Because

There is no peace

Other than that

Which comes from within,

From the inexhaustible wells

Of the spirit—

From our too-little recognized,

Acknowledged, utilized,

Heritage of eons;

Because

You have helped increase

My understanding

Of the joyous effects of discipline

Radiantly acquiesced in,

In the soul’s traverse

Of the infinite—

My praise be to God, O beloved friend,

That you have shown me the opened door

To peace without end.

[Page 385]

Love in Diversity

Lethia C. Fleming

WE Bahá’ís consider it a great privilege to be included in a program that is dedicated to the promotion of a better understanding between the races, for the keynote of the Bahá’í Faith is Unity.

This morning we would ask that you consider with us the thought of beauty and harmony in diversity.

The Creator of all is one God. From this same God all creation sprang into existence, and He is the one goal, towards which everything in nature yearns. In the world of created beings, how varied and diverse are the species, yet with one sole origin. All the differences that appear are those of outward form and color. This diversity of type is apparent throughout the whole of Nature.

Let us think now of a beautiful garden full of flowers, shrubs and trees. Each flower has a different charm, a peculiar beauty, its own perfume and color. The trees too, how varied are they in size, in growth, in foliage—and what different fruits they bear. Yet all these flowers, shrubs and trees spring from the self-same earth, the same sun shines upon them and the same clouds give them rain.

So it is with humanity. It is made up of many races, and its peoples are of different color, white, black, yellow, brown and red—but they all come from the same God, and all are servants to Him. This diversity among the children of men has unhappily not the same effect as it has among the vegetable creation, where the spirit shown is more harmonious. Among [Page 386] men exists the diversity of animosity, and it is this that causes war and hatred among the different nations of the world.

Years ago, Abraham Lincoln faced a war torn nation with this plea—“A house divided against itself can not stand—in unity there is strength.” Today a disjoined world totters on the brink of disaster and ruin. Again the world is facing a critical hour, one which, we believe, can be met only by the dedication to the principle of the “Oneness of Mankind”.

Regardless of whether we be Jew or Gentile, yellow, black or white, Chinese or English, capital or labor, rich or poor, we all stand with our backs to the wall of possible annihilation. We are divided against ourselves and our world-house can not stand.

In reality we are one household of humanity, each individual group possessing wonderful innate capacities which only require suitable education for their development, and each can play a part which instead of impoverishing, will enrich and complete the life of all the other members of the body of humanity. Individuals, races, and nations are great, not because of acquisition but because of contribution.

Let each one of us resolve to learn a lesson from the vegetable creation and realize that it is diversity and variety that constitute its charm. That each flower, each tree, each fruit, besides being beautiful itself, brings out by contrast the qualities of the others, and shows to advantage the special loveliness of each and all.

Thus it should be among the children of God. The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it was in the beautiful music we heard this morning, where many different notes blended together in the making of the perfect chords.

[Page 387] Every edifice is made of many different stones, yet each depends on the other to such an extent that if one were displaced the whole building would suffer; if one is faulty the structure is imperfect.

When we meet people whose opinions differ from ours, we must not turn our faces from them. All are seeking Truth, and there are as many roads leading to it as there are breaths of God’s servants. Truth has many aspects, but it remains always and for ever one. We must not allow difference of opinion, or diversity of thought to separate us from our fellow men, or to be the cause of dispute, hatred and strife in our hearts.

I close with the words of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, “Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the fruits of one orchard. . . . Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country, let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind.”

---

THE STANDARD

Freedom from racial prejudice, in any of its forms, should, at such a time as this when an increasingly large section of the human race is falling a victim to its devastating ferocity, be adopted as the watchword of the entire body of American believers, in whichever state they reside, in whatever circles they move, whatever their age, traditions, tastes, and habits. It should be consistently demonstrated in every phase of their activity and life, whether in the Bahá’í community or outside it, in public or in private, formally as well as informally, individually as well as in their official capacity as organized groups, committees and Assemblies.

—SHOGHI EFFENDI.

[Page 388]

Brazil In Renaissance

Beatrice Irwin

WITH the whole world in renaissance each country makes definite and characteristic contributions to the new pattern towards which our planet trends. The conception of unity which dominates this pattern is something more comprehensive than anything hitherto known, and it demands the remodeling of national as well as individual consciousness to a vastly expanded horizon. In short, thought and action are becoming subject to principles rather than to prejudices.

The role that Brazil is playing, and the larger destiny that she will fulfill in the material and spiritual map of the near future, promises to be prodigious. Her youthful stature in the family of nations, makes her achievement and promise the greater, for in the terms of modern civilization this land is only 440 years old.

Contact with a country of renown, like that with a person of distinction, is always enhanced by knowledge of the background that has brought it to its present eminence. All is better valued and understood in the light of those struggling steps that reveal the weakness as well as the strength and innate purpose of a people and a land.

The civilized history of Brazil shows an inherent love of peace and tolerance and a determined desire for a unity expressive of its own inner urge, rather than an evolution fashioned after the temporary patterns offered by the various peoples who have visited its shores. However, the Brazilian has a friendly and logical mind, and is intelligently absorptive of any element that he can conveniently assimilate. In a world [Page 389] of clashing ideologies and devastating destruction Brazil is an evolving bulwark of integrated strength and vision.

In coping with the problems of space, transport, climatic intensities, lack of engineering efficiency, and a population of intermingled races, probably Brazil and Russia are the two countries that have best learned the meaning of interdependence.

The historic background of Brazil is romantic, at times even fabulous, yet always spiritually stable in its purpose. It is this fact above all others, that has equipped Brazil to meet present world conditions, for, from the outset, unity of language, racial amity and national solidarity have been the key-builders of this land.

Just forty-nine years after discovery of Brazil by the navigator, José de Cabral (April 22, 1500), Portugal dispatched Thomé de Souza with a colonizing expedition which included six Jesuits. These men demanded nothing of the Crown except the hope and freedom of establishing the spiritual ideals of their order on virgin soil.

At this epoch the Jesuit movement was in its pristine purity, unsullied by the shadows that later dimmed its history. The ideals of spiritual unity, combined with unity of language and national solidarity which they brought to Brazil, laid enduring foundations of strength and progress. On arrival (1549), this expedition found an Eden of nature inhabited by vigorous, friendly, nomadic, but savage Tupi and Tamoyo Indians, who at least were unprejudiced by any previous religious education. The Conquistadores of Mexico and Peru had developed colonization by terrorism, destruction and cruelty, but in Brazil peaceful methods of education and miscegenation were successfully adopted.

[Page 390] Though religious freedom is now fully established yet the philosophy of the positivist, Auguste Comte, has a greater following in Brazil than in any other land. In Rio a fine hall is dedicated to the regular discussion of Comte’s ideas. This ethical influence, combined with the Brazilian’s natural faith in himself, his country, and the Golden Rule, really constitutes a guidance akin to the inspired words of Bahá’u’lláh, “Let a man see with his own eyes and not with the eyes of another.” “Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country but let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind.” “Ye are all the leaves of one tree, the drops of one sea.”

When I was traveling in Brazil as a goodwill correspondent my press work brought me into contact with directors of institutes and many leaders of thought. I found in them an openminded interest in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh that was not surprising, since His new design for living inculcates those principles of peace, consultation, and racial amity by which the Brazilians have been progressing, and which Bahá’u’lláh proclaims as essential qualities of the universal civilization now in process of birth. Bahá’í Writings which have been translated into Portuguese are in circulation in public libraries in Rio and Sao Paulo. Both these cities have remarkable book stores, stocked with the literature of many lands, for these Brazilians are great readers and good linguists, keeping well abreast of modern thought and science, to which they are adding their own contributions.

The Oswaldo Cruz Institute for the combat of tropical diseases, the famous snake serum farm at Butantan, and the enchanting forestry museum at Tremenbé are all monuments to the desire for human welfare and scientific progress. Before leaving Brazil it was my good fortune to cooperate with the Government in some forestry research which involved travel [Page 391] and gave opportunity to observe rural conditions. Though these are often poor and backward, yet it is a clean orderly poverty devoid of beggary.

As forty per cent of Brazil is forest land, it is not unlikely that in the near future the next economic boom may be developed from the vast forests which have already yielded one brief rubber boom and three thousand classified specimens of the finest grained and most exquisitely colored woods that our world knows, woods that are suitable for every kind of service. Brazil owns much, and seems to claim nothing, except the fulfillment of its growth, its ideals and its freedom.

The atmosphere of this land is free of tension, suspicion and fear, and what may yet be lacking in order and efficiency is more than compensated for by an abundance of energy and by the engaging wealth of nature that eagerly awaits fuller utilization. This virginal land of unexplored spaces, of latent riches, of building cities, of transcendent natural beauty,— this land of evolving enterprise and of climatic and geographic challenge, is carving its character and experience from within and that is why its future glows so bright.

---

MESSENGERS OF LIGHT

The teachers of the Cause must be heavenly, lordly and radiant. They must be embodied spirit, personified intellect, and arise in service with the utmost firmness, steadfastness and self-sacrifice. In their journeys they must not be attached to food and clothing. They must concentrate their thoughts on the outpourings of the Kingdom of God and beg for the confirmations of the Holy Spirit.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

[Page 392]

That All May Live

NOT ONE story, but many have been told of how men under fire on the fighting fronts have turned earnestly to prayer—heartfelt but spoken prayer—some praying for the first time since childhood. “In our desperate need, face to face with stark realities, we cry out to a Creator we hope is Merciful and Generous,” one air marine has related to his mother.

“And I’ve come to the conclusion,” he continued resolutely, “that this strife, worse than that of animals in their struggle for existence, is a shameful thing for man. A realization of right values is the one way out. I reason that God must be a God for all men,—all races; that He is a God for all days, not for Sundays alone; and that only in a change of attitude of peoples toward peoples and the establishment of an international government showing this change can we have hope of life and advancing human welfare. But how can we bring the peoples of the world together to get this done!”

Bahá’ís, hearing words such as these, respond with prayers of praise to God, as well as of further beseeching for His divine bestowals for mankind, for they see hearts torn through common suffering beginning to turn at last to the Source of true assistance, seeking life where it may be found.

At the same time believers in the Divine healing message of Bahá’u’lláh, after hearing the cries of a world in need, feel their own hearts catch brighter flame from the Word of Bahá’u’lláh: “Every body calleth aloud for a soul.” “For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude.” “Heavenly souls must needs quicken, with the breath of the Word of God, the dead bodies with a fresh spirit.” “The companions of God are in this day the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world.”

[Page 393] Tremendous is the responsibility which rests in the hands of the believers of God in this day, for it is their mission of becoming, under the power of the Holy Spirit, “the quickeners of mankind”. The promise of Bahá’u’lláh is, however, that those who bear His message of new life will find that new life pulsing more deeply and creatively within their own beings. Out of love and fidelity and trust in Him, out of sublime renunciation, willingness to sacrifice position, comfort, pleasure, even life itself, the Bahá’í teacher becomes an instrument for the transmission of God’s love and guidance,—successful in so far as he gives unselfishly, and transformed himself by the Divine Grace which expresses through him. At the moment he loses himself that others may live, he becomes secure in the unfolding life Bahá’u’lláh has offered to him.

Under the law of spiritual and organic unity which Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed to the world, self-development cannot be attained by the man who lives without thought of his place of service in human society. Spiritual attainment for men in the new Day requires fulfillment of the law of love in world-wide relationships. The highest development for individuals and for nations is the becoming an illumined, functioning, contributing part of the newly realized unit of the human family. Bahá’u’lláh has, through the revelation of this law opened wide the door of Paradise on earth,—a new garden of undreamed-of human achievement and happiness.

The supreme function of Bahá’ís, then, at this critical time, the greatest service that they can render for the life of mankind, Bahá’u’lláh has urgently counselled them, is to carry His message by word and by deed. Through this act of faith they free their own souls for the inflow of life’s creative spiritual forces, and build foundations for a united world—a world that is destined to provide a spiritual, intellectual and physical environment conducive to the fruition of latent and God-created human capacities in themselves and in all men.—A. S. C.

[Page 394]

WITH OUR READERS

More and more of our Bahá’í youth are entering the service of their country and carrying with them a faith and understanding which no other group has. One of them who is in a hospital unit states his feelings in this way: “I feel very fortunate to have an opportunity to really serve our country and our world. Isn’t it wonderful to see the forces of good coming through this terrible chaos and confusion? More and more seem to realize that we must have justice and a new real unity after we have won a chance for it in this war. Mankind is certainly suffering to attain those ends. Let’s pray even more strongly that it will be guided rapidly into the Most Great Peace.”

We wish we might hear from more of our youth in the service. They need our prayers, and such notes as the above are an inspiration to us to hasten in spreading the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.

* * *

A letter from a newly declared believer near Albuquerque, New Mexico, tells us how the doors have opened immediately for her to teach the Cause and serve in the sphere of racial unity. Since the letter is long we select and condense as follows: “I am a Spanish-American and live in an all-Spanish, all-Catholic community ten miles from town. I have studied the Bahá’í Cause with Dr. E. Lenore Morris and Dr. A. L. Morris for more than a year. . . . Here the Race Unity question is just as great as Religious Unity and needs to be a reality. . . . A week after I sent in my membership card Mrs. Dorothy Baker was here for a regional conference. . . . I invited a colored lady whom I had met only once and to whom I had given two World Order magazines to attend a lecture by Mrs. Baker. At first Mrs. D. declined saying, ‘They say colored folks are welcome but it is not so.’ But to my surprise and joy she went to hear Mrs. Baker and said, ‘How I enjoyed it, and it is not new to me!’ . . . There is a group of seven ladies who meet once a week in a small house of Mrs. D’s which she calls her [Page 395] ‘House of Prayer’. I have met with them twice. Now they have asked to meet in my home, and I have plans with the help of Mrs. Kathryn Frankland to open a Bahá’í study class. Pray that I too may become an inspired Bahá’í teacher.”

* * *

This month our leading article, “God’s Promise Is Fulfilled”, is by a new contributor, Mrs. Evelyn Lackey Bivins of Greenwood, Mississippi. This is a new state, too, to send a contribution to World Order. We believe our readers and our teachers will find Mrs. Bivins’ article helpful in teaching our Faith from the point of view of Biblical prophecy. Mrs. Bivins is a member of the Regional Teaching Committee for her region, in which the group at Jackson, Mississippi, is near assembly status.

A new contributor to our magazine is Phyllis Durroh of Peoria, Illinois. Mrs. Durroh, we are told, is a comparatively new believer and is active in the Peoria Bahá’í Community on the Race Unity Committee and as chairman of the Youth Committee. In her article entitled “The Tabernacle of Unity” she speaks from the experience of one of a minority race.

The contribution, “Brazil in Renaissance” by Beatrice Irwin, is most welcome since it helps us to a better understanding of our friends and neighbors in the great country of Brazil. Miss Irwin, who is the author of two books on color and light, travels and lectures widely, and is “a world citizen in the fullest sense of the word. She was born in the Himalaya Mountains of British parents and graduated from Cheltenham College and Oxford University.” She is now an American citizen. She is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Societies of New York and London. Readers of World Order will remember Miss Irwin’s other contributions to our magazine. Her last previous one appeared in the April, 1939, issue.

“Where’er You Walk” by Marzieh Gail is a beautiful piece of prose imagery bringing to us the consciousness of the oneness of all the Manifestations with Bahá’u’lláh in Their suffering as in Their teachings. Mrs. Gail is a somewhat frequent contributor to our magazine. In October, 1940, appeared a contribution from her pen. At present she is living in New York City.

[Page 396] The contribution, “Love in Diversity” by Lethia C. Fleming, was given originally as a radio broacast on the Wings Over Jordan program, June 14, 1942. Mrs. Fleming is engaged in social welfare work with the Cuyahoga County Welfare Association (Ohio). She is Director of Radio for the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and is connected with many humanitarian and educational organizations. Many letters of appreciation of this talk were received by Mrs. Fleming from Bahá’ís and from those who heard of the Cause for the first time, and there were numerous requests for copies of the talk. Mrs. Fleming has been a Bahá’í since before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America and is an active member of the Cleveland Bahá’í Community. She gives many talks about the Faith.

“Preble Thale” is the pen name of Mrs. Hazel Stauter, recording secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Seattle, Washington. In the Seattle community she is also adviser for the Bahá’í Youth Group and serves on both the Education and Teaching Committee and the Children’s Education Committee. Last summer she was able to use her experience with children in assisting Mrs. Wilks, a Seattle Bahá’í, in the presentation of a course entitled, “Pioneering—in the Field of Children”. Mrs. Stauter is herself the mother of two small children. At the present time she is a secretary in the American merchant marine industry, and until recently was a private secretary to a consulting engineer for the Norwegian Merchant Marine. Any spare time that she may find she gives in helping young mothers adjust to the changing times in the training of children.

The editorial this month is by Mrs. Cox. Bahá’í Lessons and the book review are crowded out of this issue.

—THE EDITORS.

[Page 397]

BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE

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

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

Kitáb-i-Íqán, Translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work (Book of Certitude) unifies and coordinates the revealed Religions of the past, demonstrating their oneness in fulfillment of the purpose of Revelation. Bound in cloth. 198 pages. $2.50.

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

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

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

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

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

BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE

110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILLINOIS

[Page 398]

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

RECOGNIZES THE UNITY OF GOD AND HIS PROPHETS,

UPHOLDS THE PRINCIPLE OF AN UNFETTERED SEARCH AFTER TRUTH,

CONDEMNS ALL FORMS OF SUPERSTITION AND PREJUDICE,

TEACHES THAT THE FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE OF RELIGION IS TO PROMOTE CONCORD AND HARMONY, THAT IT MUST GO HAND IN HAND WITH SCIENCE, AND THAT IT CONSTITUTES THE SOLE AND ULTIMATE BASIS OF A PEACEFUL, AN ORDERED AND PROGRESSIVE SOCIETY. . . .

INCULCATES THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES FOR BOTH SEXES,

ADVOCATES COMPULSORY EDUCATION,

ABOLISHES EXTREMES OF POVERTY AND WEALTH,

EXALTS WORK PERFORMED IN THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE TO THE RANK OF WORSHIP,

RECOMMENDS THE ADOPTION OF AN AUXILIARY INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE, . . .

PROVIDES THE NECESSARY AGENCIES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF A PERMANENT AND UNIVERSAL PEACE.

—SHOGHI EFFENDI.