|
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
|
Pages 22-25
|
|
A Living Organism
| |
1 |
It should also be borne in mind that the machinery of the Cause
has been so fashioned, that whatever is deemed necessary to incorporate
into it in order to keep it in the forefront of all progressive
movements, can, according to the provisions made by Bahá'u'lláh,
be safely embodied therein. To this testify the words of Bahá'u'lláh,
as recorded in the Eighth Leaf of the exalted Paradise: "It is incumbent
upon the Trustees of the House of Justice to take counsel
together regarding those things which have not outwardly been revealed
in the Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable to them.
God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He,
verily, is the Provider, the Omniscient." Not only has the House of
Justice been invested by Bahá'u'lláh with the authority to legislate
whatsoever has not been explicitly and outwardly recorded in His
holy Writ, upon it has also been conferred by the Will and Testament
of `Abdu'l-Bahá the right and power to abrogate, according to
the changes and requirements of the time, whatever has been already
enacted and enforced by a preceding House of Justice. In this connection,
He revealed the following in His Will: "And inasmuch as
the House of Justice hath power to enact laws that are not expressly
recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions, so
also it hath power to repeal the same. Thus for example, the House
of Justice enacteth today a certain law and enforceth it, and a hundred
years hence, circumstances having profoundly changed and the
conditions having altered, another House of Justice will then have
power, according to the exigencies of the time, to alter that law.
This it can do because that law formeth no part of the divine explicit
text. The House of Justice is both the initiator and the abrogator of
its own laws." Such is the immutability of His revealed Word. Such
is the elasticity which characterizes the functions of His appointed
ministers. The first preserves the identity of His Faith, and guards
the integrity of His law. The second enables it, even as a living
organism, to expand and adapt itself to the needs and requirements
of an ever-changing society.
| |
2 |
Dear friends! Feeble though our Faith may now appear in the
eyes of men, who either denounce it as an offshoot of Islám, or contemptuously
ignore it as one more of those obscure sects that abound
in the West, this priceless gem of Divine Revelation, now still in its
embryonic state, shall evolve within the shell of His law, and shall
forge ahead, undivided and unimpaired, till it embraces the whole of
mankind. Only those who have already recognized the supreme station
of Bahá'u'lláh, only those whose hearts have been touched by
His love, and have become familiar with the potency of His spirit,
can adequately appreciate the value of this Divine Economy--His
inestimable gift to mankind.
| |
3 |
Leaders of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of
human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity
and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of
their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation
of Bahá'u'lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying
enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid
the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no
doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the
institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up
throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves,
unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inferences,
or unauthorized interpretations of His Word.
| |
4 |
How pressing and sacred the responsibility that now weighs upon
those who are already acquainted with these teachings! How glorious
the task of those who are called upon to vindicate their truth, and
demonstrate their practicability to an unbelieving world! Nothing
short of an immovable conviction in their divine origin, and their
uniqueness in the annals of religion; nothing short of an unwavering
purpose to execute and apply them to the administrative machinery
of the Cause, can be sufficient to establish their reality, and insure
their success. How vast is the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh! How great
the magnitude of His blessings showered upon humanity in this
day! And yet, how poor, how inadequate our conception of their
significance and glory! This generation stands too close to so
colossal a Revelation to appreciate, in their full measure, the infinite
possibilities of His Faith, the unprecedented character of His Cause,
and the mysterious dispensations of His Providence.
| |
5 |
In the Íqán, Bahá'u'lláh, wishing to emphasize the transcendent
character of this new Day of God, reinforces the strength of His
argument by His reference to the text of a correct and authorized
tradition, which reveals the following: "Knowledge is twenty and
seven letters. All that the Prophets have revealed are two letters
thereof. No man thus far hath known more than these two letters.
But when the Qá'im shall arise, He will cause the remaining twenty
and five letters to be made manifest." And then immediately follow
these confirming and illuminating words of Bahá'u'lláh: "Consider:
He hath declared knowledge to consist of twenty and seven letters,
and regarded all the prophets, from Adam even unto Muhammad,
the `seal,' as expounders of only two letters thereof. He also saith
that the Qá'im will reveal all the remaining twenty and five letters.
Behold from this utterance how great and lofty is His station! His
rank excelleth that of all the prophets, and His revelation transcendeth
the comprehension and understanding of all their chosen
ones. A revelation, of which the prophets of God, His saints and
chosen ones have either not been informed or which, in pursuance
of God's inscrutable decree, they have not disclosed--such a revelation,
these vile and villainous people have sought to measure with
their own deficient minds, their own deficient learning and understanding."
| |
6 |
In another passage of the same Book, Bahá'u'lláh, referring to the
transformation effected by every Revelation in the ways, thoughts
and manners of the people, reveals these words: "Is not the object
of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character
of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly
and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external
conditions? For if the character of mankind be not changed, the
futility of God's universal Manifestations would be apparent."
| |
7 |
Did not Christ Himself, addressing His disciples, utter these
words: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will
guide you into all truth"?
| |
8 |
From the text of this recognized tradition, as well as from the
words of Christ, as attested by the Gospel, every unprejudiced observer
will readily apprehend the magnitude of the Faith which
Bahá'u'lláh has revealed, and recognize the staggering weight of the
claim He has advanced. No wonder if `Abdu'l-Bahá has portrayed in
such lurid colors the fierceness of the agitation that shall center in
the days to come round the nascent institutions of the Faith. We can
now but faintly discern the beginnings of that turmoil which the rise
and ascendancy of the Cause of God is destined to cast in the world.
| |
|
|