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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
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Pages 68-94
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America and the Most Great Peace
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1 |
To the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful
throughout the United States and Canada.
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Friends and fellow-promoters of the Faith of God:
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3 |
Forty years will have elapsed ere the close of this coming summer
since the name of Bahá'u'lláh was first mentioned on the
American continent. Strange indeed must appear to every observer,
pondering in his heart the significance of so great a landmark in the
spiritual history of the great American Republic, the circumstances
which have attended this first public reference to the Author of
our beloved Faith. Stranger still must seem the associations which
the brief words uttered on that historic occasion must have evoked
in the minds of those who heard them.
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4 |
Of pomp and circumstance, of any manifestations of public
rejoicing or of popular applause, there were none to greet this first
intimation
[1]
to America's citizens of the existence and purpose of
the Revelation proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh. Nor did he who was its
chosen instrument profess himself a believer in the indwelling
potency of the tidings he conveyed, or suspect the magnitude of the
forces which so cursory a mention was destined to release.
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Announced through the mouth of an avowed supporter of
that narrow ecclesiasticism which the Faith itself has challenged
and seeks to extirpate, characterized at the moment of its birth
as an obscure offshoot of a contemptible creed, the Message of the
Most Great Name, fed by streams of unceasing trial and warmed
by the sunshine of `Abdu'l-Bahá's tender care, has succeeded in
driving its roots deep into America's genial soil, has in less than
half a century sent out its shoots and tendrils as far as the remotest
corners of the globe, and now stands, clothed in the majesty
of the consecrated Edifice it has reared in the heart of that continent,
determined to proclaim its right and vindicate its capacity
to redeem a stricken people. Unsupported by any of the advantages
which talent, rank and riches can confer, the community of the
American believers, despite its tender age, its numerical strength,
its limited experience, has by virtue of the inspired wisdom, the
united will, the incorruptible loyalty of its administrators and teachers
achieved the distinction of an undisputed leadership among its
sister communities of East and West in hastening the advent of
the Golden Age anticipated by Bahá'u'lláh.
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And yet how grave the crises which this infant, this blessed,
community has weathered in the course of its checkered history!
How slow and painful the process that gradually brought it forth
from the obscurity of unmitigated neglect to the broad daylight
of public recognition! How severe the shocks which the ranks of
its devoted adherents have sustained through the defection of the
faint in heart, the malice of the mischief-maker, the treachery of
the proud and the ambitious! What storms of ridicule, of abuse
and of calumny its representatives have had to face in their staunch
support of the integrity, and their valiant defense of the fair
name, of the Faith they had espoused! How persistent the vicissitudes
and disconcerting the reverses with which its privileged members,
young and old alike, individually and collectively, have had
to contend in their heroic endeavors to scale the heights which a
loving Master had summoned them to attain!
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Many and powerful have been its enemies who, as soon as they
discovered the evidences of the growing ascendancy of its declared
supporters, have vied with one another in hurling at its face the
vilest imputations and in pouring out upon the Object of its devotion
the vials of their fiercest wrath. How often have these sneered
at the scantiness of its resources and the seeming stagnation of its
life! How bitterly they ridiculed its origins and, misconceiving its
purpose, dismissed it as a useless appendage of an expiring creed!
Have they not in their written attacks stigmatized the heroic person
of the Forerunner of so holy a Revelation as a coward recanter,
a perverted apostate, and denounced the entire range of
His voluminous writings as the idle chatter of a thoughtless man?
Have they not chosen to ascribe to its divine Founder the basest
motives which an unscrupulous plotter and usurper can conceive,
and regarded the Center of His Covenant as the embodiment of
ruthless tyranny, a stirrer of mischief, and a notorious exponent
of expediency and fraud? Its world-unifying principles these impotent
enemies of a steadily-rising Faith have time and again
denounced as fundamentally defective, have pronounced its all-embracing
program as utterly fantastic, and regarded its vision of the
future as chimerical and positively deceitful. The fundamental verities
that constitute its doctrine its foolish ill-wishers have represented
as a cloak of idle dogma, its administrative machinery they
have refused to differentiate from the soul of the Faith itself, and
the mysteries it reveres and upholds they have identified with sheer
superstition. The principle of unification which it advocates and
with which it stands identified they have misconceived as a shallow
attempt at uniformity, its repeated assertions of the reality of supernatural
agencies they have condemned as a vain belief in magic,
and the glory of its idealism they have rejected as mere utopia.
Every process of purification whereby an inscrutable Wisdom chose
from time to time to purge the body of His chosen followers of
the defilement of the undesirable and the unworthy, these victims
of an unrelenting jealousy have hailed as a symptom of the invading
forces of schism which were soon to sap its strength, vitiate its
vitality, and complete its ruin.
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Dearly-beloved friends! It is not for me, nor does it seem within
the competence of any one of the present generation, to trace the
exact and full history of the rise and gradual consolidation of this
invincible arm, this mighty organ, of a continually advancing Cause.
It would be premature at this early stage of its evolution, to attempt
an exhaustive analysis, or to arrive at a just estimate, of the impelling
forces that have urged it forward to occupy so exalted a
place among the various instruments which the Hand of Omnipotence
has fashioned, and is now perfecting, for the execution of
His divine Purpose. Future historians of this mighty Revelation,
endowed with pens abler than any which its present-day supporters
can claim to possess, will no doubt transmit to posterity a masterly
exposition of the origins of those forces which, through a remarkable
swing of the pendulum, have caused the administrative center
of the Faith to gravitate, away from its cradle, to the shores of the
American continent and towards its very heart--the present mainspring
and chief bulwark of its fast evolving institutions. On them
will devolve the task of recording the history, and of estimating
the significance, of so radical a revolution in the fortunes of a
slowly maturing Faith. Theirs will be the opportunity to extol
the virtues and to immortalize the memory of those men and women
who have participated in its accomplishment. Theirs will be the
privilege of evaluating the share which each of these champion-builders
of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh has had in ushering
in that golden Millennium, the promise of which lies enshrined in
His teachings.
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Does not the history of primitive Christianity and of the rise
of Islám, each in its own way, offer a striking parallel to this strange
phenomenon the beginnings of which we are now witnessing in this,
the first century of the Bahá'í Era? Has not the Divine Impulse
which gave birth to each of these great religious systems been
driven, through the operation of those forces which the irresistible
growth of the Faith itself had released, to seek away from the
land of its birth and in more propitious climes a ready field and
a more adequate medium for the incarnation of its spirit and the
propagation of its cause? Have not the Asiatic churches of Jerusalem,
of Antioch and of Alexandria, consisting chiefly of those
Jewish converts, whose character and temperament inclined them
to sympathize with the traditional ceremonies of the Mosaic Dispensation,
been forced as they steadily declined to recognize the
growing ascendancy of their Greek and Roman brethren? Have
they not been compelled to acknowledge the superior valor and
the trained efficiency which have enabled these standard-bearers of
the Cause of Jesus Christ to erect the symbols of His world-wide
dominion on the ruins of a collapsing Empire? Has not the animating
spirit of Islám been constrained, under the pressure of
similar circumstances, to abandon the inhospitable wastes of its
Arabian Home, the theatre of its greatest sufferings and exploits,
to yield in a distant land the fairest fruit of its slowly maturing
civilization?
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"From the beginning of time until the present day," `Abdu'l-Bahá
Himself affirms, "the light of Divine Revelation hath risen
in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The illumination
thus shed hath, however, acquired in the West an extraordinary
brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus. Though it first
appeared in the East, yet not until its light had been shed upon the
West did the full measure of its potentialities become manifest." "The
day is approaching," He, in another passage, assures us, "when
ye shall witness how, through the splendor of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh,
the West will have replaced the East, radiating the light of
Divine Guidance." "In the books of the Prophets," He again asserts,
"certain glad-tidings are recorded which are absolutely true and
free from doubt. The East hath ever been the dawning-place of the
Sun of Truth. In the East all the Prophets of God have appeared
...The West hath acquired illumination from the East but in
some respects the reflection of the light hath been greater in the
Occident. This is specially true of Christianity. Jesus Christ appeared
in Palestine and His teachings were founded in that country.
Although the doors of the Kingdom were first opened in that land
and the bestowals of God were spread broadcast from its center,
the people of the West have embraced and promulgated Christianity
more fully than the people of the East."
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Little wonder that from the same unerring pen there should
have flowed, after `Abdu'l-Bahá's memorable visit to the West,
these often-quoted words, the significance of which it would be
impossible for me to overrate: "The continent of America," He
announced in a Tablet unveiling His Divine Plan to the believers
residing in the North-Eastern States of the American Republic,
"is in the eyes of the one true God the land wherein the splendors
of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith
shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide and the free assemble."
"May this American democracy," He Himself, while in
America, was heard to remark, "be the first nation to establish the
foundation of international agreement. May it be the first nation
to proclaim the unity of mankind. May it be the first to unfurl the
standard of the `Most Great Peace'... The American people are
indeed worthy of being the first to build the tabernacle of the great
peace and proclaim the oneness of mankind... May America
become the distributing center of spiritual enlightenment and all
the world receive this heavenly blessing. For America has developed
powers and capacities greater and more wonderful than other nations...
May the inhabitants of this country become like angels
of heaven with faces turned continually toward God. May all of
them become servants of the omnipotent One. May they rise from
their present material attainments to such a height that heavenly
illumination may stream from this center to all the peoples of the
world... This American nation is equipped and empowered to
accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become
the envy of the world and be blest in both the East and the West
for the triumph of its people... The American continent gives
signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future is even
more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reaching.
It will lead all nations spiritually."
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Would it seem extravagant, in the light of so sublime an utterance,
to expect that in the midst of so enviable a region of the
earth and out of the agony and wreckage of an unprecedented
crisis there should burst forth a spiritual renaissance which, as it
propagates itself through the instrumentality of the American believers,
will rehabilitate the fortunes of a decadent age? It was
`Abdu'l-Bahá Himself, His most intimate associates testify, Who,
on more than one occasion, intimated that the establishment of His
Father's Faith in the North American continent ranked as the most
outstanding among the threefold aims which, as He conceived it,
constituted the principal objective of His ministry. It was He Who,
in the heyday of His life and almost immediately after His Father's
ascension, conceived the idea of inaugurating His mission by enlisting
the inhabitants of so promising a country under the banner
of Bahá'u'lláh. He it was Who in His unerring wisdom and out of
the abundance of His heart chose to bestow on His favored disciples,
to the very last day of His life, the tokens of His unfailing
solicitude and to overwhelm them with the marks of His special
favor. It was He Who, in His declining years, as soon as delivered
from the shackles of a long and cruel incarceration, decided to
visit the land which had remained for so many years the object of
His infinite care and love. It was He Who, through the power of
His presence and the charm of His utterance, infused into the entire
body of His followers those sentiments and principles which could
alone sustain them amidst the trials which the very prosecution of
their task would inevitably engender. Was He not, through the
several functions which He exercised whilst He dwelt amongst
them, whether in the laying of the corner-stone of their House of
Worship, or in the Feast which He offered them and at which He
chose to serve them in person, or in the emphasis which He on
a more solemn occasion placed on the implications of His spiritual
station--was He not, thereby, deliberately bequeathing to them all
the essentials of that spiritual heritage which He knew they would
ably safeguard and by their deeds continually enrich? And finally
who can doubt that in the Divine Plan which, in the evening of His
life, He unveiled to their eyes He was investing them with that
spiritual primacy on which they could rely in the fulfillment of their
high destiny?
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"O ye apostles of Bahá'u'lláh!" He thus addresses them in one
of His Tablets, "May my life be sacrificed for you!... Behold
the portals which Bahá'u'lláh hath opened before you! Consider how
exalted and lofty is the station you are destined to attain; how
unique the favors with which you have been endowed." "My
thoughts," He tells them in another passage, "are turned towards
you, and my heart leaps within me at your mention. Could ye know
how my soul glows with your love, so great a happiness would flood
your hearts as to cause you to become enamored with each other."
"The full measure of your success," He declares in another Tablet,
"is as yet unrevealed, its significance still unapprehended. Ere long
ye will, with your own eyes, witness how brilliantly every one of
you, even as a shining star, will radiate in the firmament of your
country the light of Divine Guidance and will bestow upon its people
the glory of an everlasting life." "The range of your future achievements,"
He once more affirms, "still remains undisclosed. I fervently
hope that in the near future the whole earth may be stirred and
shaken by the results of your achievements." "The Almighty," He
assures them, "will no doubt grant you the help of His grace, will
invest you with the tokens of His might, and will endue your souls
with the sustaining power of His holy Spirit." "Be not concerned,"
He admonishes them, "with the smallness of your numbers, neither
be oppressed by the multitude of an unbelieving world... Exert
yourselves; your mission is unspeakably glorious. Should success
crown your enterprise, America will assuredly evolve into a center
from which waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the throne
of the Kingdom of God will, in the plentitude of its majesty and
glory, be firmly established."
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"The hope which `Abdu'l-Bahá cherishes for you," He thus
urges them, "is that the same success which has attended your efforts
in America may crown your endeavors in other parts of the
world, that through you the fame of the Cause of God may be diffused
throughout the East and the West and the advent of the Kingdom
of the Lord of Hosts be proclaimed in all the five continents
of the globe... Thus far ye have been untiring in your labors.
Let your exertions, henceforth, increase a thousandfold. Summon
the people in these countries, capitals, islands, assemblies and
churches to enter the Abhá Kingdom. The scope of your exertions
must needs be extended. The wider its range, the more striking
will be the evidences of Divine assistance... Oh! that I could
travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these
regions and, raising the call of Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá in cities, villages,
mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This,
alas, I cannot do! How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may
achieve it." And finally, as if to crown all His previous utterances,
is this solemn affirmation embodying His Vision of America's spiritual
destiny: "The moment this Divine Message is carried forward
by the American believers from the shores of America and is propagated
through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of
Australasia, and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community
will find itself securely established upon the throne of an everlasting
dominion. Then will all the peoples of the world witness that this
community is spiritually illumined and divinely guided. Then will
the whole earth resound with the praises of its majesty and greatness."
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It is in the light of these above-quoted words of `Abdu'l-Bahá
that every thoughtful and conscientious believer should ponder the
significance of this momentous utterance of Bahá'u'lláh: "In the
East the light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West have
appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O
people, and be not of those who have turned a deaf ear to the admonitions
of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Praised...
Should they attempt to conceal its light on the continent, it will
assuredly rear its head in the midmost heart of the ocean, and, raising
its voice, proclaim: `I am the life-giver of the world!'"
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Dearly-beloved friends! Can our eyes be so dim as to fail to
recognize in the anguish and turmoil which, greater than in any
other country and in a manner unprecedented in its history, are
now afflicting the American nation, evidences of the beginnings of
that spiritual renaissance which these pregnant words of `Abdu'l-Bahá
so clearly foreshadow? The throes and twinges of agony
which the soul of a nation in travail is now beginning to experience
abundantly proclaim it. Contrast the sad plight of the nations
of the earth, and in particular this great Republic of the West, with
the rising fortunes of that handful of its citizens, whose mission,
if they be faithful to their trust, is to heal its wounds, restore its
confidence and revive its shattered hopes. Contrast the dreadful
convulsions, the internecine conflicts, the petty disputes, the outworn
controversies, the interminable revolutions that agitate the
masses, with the calm new light of Peace and of Truth which envelops,
guides and sustains those valiant inheritors of the law and
love of Bahá'u'lláh. Compare the disintegrating institutions, the
discredited statesmanship, the exploded theories, the appalling degradation,
the follies and furies, the shifts, shams and compromises
that characterize the present age, with the steady consolidation, the
holy discipline, the unity and cohesiveness, the assured conviction,
the uncompromising loyalty, the heroic self-sacrifice that constitute
the hallmark of these faithful stewards and harbingers of the
golden age of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
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Small wonder that these prophetic words should have been revealed
by `Abdu'l-Bahá: "The East," He assures us, "hath verily
been illumined with the light of the Kingdom. Ere long will this
same light shed a still greater illumination upon the West. Then
will the hearts of its people be vivified through the potency of the
teachings of God and their souls be set aglow by the undying fire
of His love." "The prestige of the Faith of God," He asserts, "has
immensely increased. Its greatness is now manifest. The day is approaching
when it will have cast a tremendous tumult in men's
hearts. Rejoice, therefore, O denizens of America, rejoice with
exceeding gladness!"
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Most prized and best-beloved brethren! As we look back upon
the forty years which have passed since the auspicious rays of the
Bahá'í Revelation first warmed and illuminated the American continent
we find that they may well fall into four distinct periods,
each culminating in an event of such significance as to constitute
a milestone along the road leading the American believers towards
their promised victory. The first of these four decades (1893-1903),
characterized by a process of slow and steady fermentation, may be
said to have culminated in the historic pilgrimages undertaken by
`Abdu'l-Bahá's American disciples to the shrine of Bahá'u'lláh.
The ten years which followed (1903-1913), so full of the tests and
trials which agitated, cleansed and energized the body of the earliest
pioneers of the Faith in that land, had as their happy climax `Abdu'l-Bahá's
memorable visit to America. The third period (1913-1923),
a period of quiet and uninterrupted consolidation, had as its inevitable
result the birth of that divinely-appointed Administration, the
foundations of which the Will of a departed Master had unmistakably
established. The remaining ten years (1923-1933), distinguished
throughout by further internal development, as well as
by a notable expansion of the international activities of a growing
community, witnessed the completion of the superstructure of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkár--the Administration's mighty bulwark, the
symbol of its strength and the sign of its future glory.
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Each of these successive periods would seem to have contributed
its distinct share in enriching the spiritual life of that community,
and in preparing its members for the discharge of the tremendous
responsibilities of their unique mission. The pilgrimages which its
foremost representatives were moved to undertake in that earliest
period of its history fired the souls of its members with a love and
zeal which no amount of adversity could quench. The tests and
tribulations it subsequently suffered enabled those who survived
them to obtain a grasp of the implications of their faith that no
opposition, however determined and well-organized, could ever hope
to weaken. The institutions which its tried and tested adherents
later on established furnished their promoters with that poise and
stability which the increase of their numbers and the ceaseless extension
of their activities urgently demanded. And finally the Temple
which the exponents of an already firmly established Administration
were inspired to erect gave them the vision which neither
the storms of internal disorder nor the whirlwinds of international
commotion could possibly obscure.
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It would take me too long to attempt even a brief description
of the first stirrings which the introduction of the Bahá'í Revelation
into the New World, as conceived, initiated and directed by our
beloved Master, immediately created. Nor does space permit me
to narrate the circumstances attending the epoch-making visit of
the first American pilgrims to Bahá'u'lláh's hallowed shrine, to
relate the deeds which signalized the return of these bearers of a
new-born Gospel to their native country, or to assess the immediate
consequences of their achievements. No word of mine would suffice
to express how instantly the revelation of `Abdu'l-Bahá's hopes,
expectations and purpose for an awakened continent, electrified the
minds and hearts of those who were privileged to hear Him, who
were made the recipients of His inestimable blessings and the chosen
repositories of His confidence and trust. I can never hope to interpret
adequately the feelings that surged within those heroic hearts
as they sat at their Master's feet, beneath the shelter of His prison-house,
eager to absorb and intent to preserve the effusions of His
divine Wisdom. I can never pay sufficient tribute to that spirit of
unyielding determination which the impact of a magnetic personality
and the spell of a mighty utterance kindled in the entire
company of these returning pilgrims, these consecrated heralds of
the Covenant of God, at so decisive an epoch of their history. The
memory of such names as Lua, Chase, MacNutt, Dealy, Goodall,
Dodge, Farmer and Brittingham--to mention only a few of that
immortal galaxy now gathered to the glory of Bahá'u'lláh--will
for ever remain associated with the rise and establishment of His
Faith in the American continent, and will continue to shed on its
annals a lustre that time can never dim.
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It was through these pilgrimages, as they succeeded one another
in the years immediately following the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh,
that the splendor of the Covenant, beclouded for a time by the
apparent ascendancy of its Arch-Breaker, emerged triumphant
amidst the vicissitudes which had afflicted it. It was through the
arrival of these pilgrims, and these alone, that the gloom which
had enveloped the disconsolate members of `Abdu'l-Bahá's family
was finally dispelled. Through the agency of these successive visitors
the Greatest Holy Leaf, who alone with her Brother among
the members of her Father's household had to confront the rebellion
of almost the entire company of her relatives and associates,
found that consolation which so powerfully sustained her
till the very close of her life. By the forces which this little band
of returning pilgrims was able to release in the heart of that continent
the death-knell of every scheme initiated by the would-be
wrecker of the Cause of God was sounded.
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The Tablets which were subsequently revealed by the untiring
pen of `Abdu'l-Bahá, embodying in passionate and unequivocal
language His instructions and counsels, His appeals and comments,
His hopes and wishes, His fears and warnings, soon began to be
translated, published and circulated throughout the length and
breadth of the North American continent, providing the ever-widening
circle of the first believers with that spiritual sustenance which
could alone enable them to survive the severe trials they were soon
to experience.
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The hour of an unprecedented crisis was, however, inexorably
approaching. Evidences of dissension, actuated by pride and ambition,
were beginning to obscure the radiance and retard the growth
of the newly-born community which the apostolic teachers of that
continent had labored to establish. He who had been instrumental
in inaugurating so splendid an era in the history of the Faith, on
whom the Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant had conferred the
titles of "Bahá's Peter," of the "Shepherd of God's Flocks," of
the "Conqueror of America," upon whom had been bestowed the
unique privilege of helping `Abdu'l-Bahá lay the foundation-stone
of the Báb's Mausoleum on Mt. Carmel--such a man, blinded by
his extraordinary success and aspiring after an uncontrolled domination
over the beliefs and activities of his fellow-disciples, insolently
raised the standard of revolt. Seceding from `Abdu'l-Bahá
and allying himself with the Arch-Enemy of the Faith of God, this
deluded apostate sought, by perverting the teachings and directing
a campaign of unrelenting vilification against the person of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
to undermine the faith of those believers whom he had during
no less than eight years, so strenuously toiled to convert. By the
tracts he published, through the active collaboration of the emissaries
of his chief Ally, and reinforced by the efforts which the
Christian ecclesiastical enemies of the Bahá'í Revelation were beginning
to exert, he succeeded in dealing the nascent Faith of God
a blow from which it could only slowly and painfully recover.
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I need not dwell on the immediate effects of this serious yet
transitory cleavage in the ranks of the American adherents of the
Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. Nor do I need to expatiate on the character
of the defamatory writings that poured upon them. Nor does it
seem necessary to recount the measures to which an ever-vigilant
Master resorted in order to assuage and eventually to dissipate
their apprehensions. It is for the future historian to appraise the
value of the mission of each of the four chosen messengers of
`Abdu'l-Bahá who, in rapid succession, were dispatched by Him
to pacify and reinvigorate that troubled community. His will be the
task of tracing, in the work which these deputies of `Abdu'l-Bahá
were commissioned to undertake, the beginnings of that vast Administration,
the corner-stone of which these messengers were instructed
to lay--an Administration whose symbolic Edifice He, at
a later time, was to found in person and whose basis and scope the
provisions of His Will were destined to widen.
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Suffice it to say that at this stage of its evolution the activities
of an invincible Faith had assumed such dimensions as to force
on the one hand its enemies to devise fresh weapons for their
projected assaults, and on the other to encourage its supreme Promoter
to instruct its followers, through qualified representatives and
teachers, in the rudiments of an Administration which, as it evolved,
would at once incarnate, safeguard and foster its spirit. The works
of such stubborn assailants as those of Vatralsky, Wilson, Jessup
and Richardson vie with one another in their futile attempts to
stain its purity, to arrest its march and compel its surrender. To
the charges of Nihilism, of heresy, of Muhammadan Gnosticism,
of immorality, of Occultism and Communism so freely leveled
against them, the undismayed victims of such outrageous denunciations,
acting under the instructions of `Abdu'l-Bahá, retorted
by initiating a series of activities which by their very nature were
to be the precursors of permanent, officially recognized administrative
institutions. The inauguration of Chicago's first House of
Spirituality designated by `Abdu'l-Bahá as that city's "House of
Justice"; the establishment of the Bahá'í Publishing Society; the
founding of the Green Acre Fellowship; the publication of the Star
of the West; the holding of the first Bahá'í National Convention,
synchronizing with the transference of the sacred remains of the
Báb to its final resting-place on Mt. Carmel; the incorporation of
the Bahá'í Temple Unity and the formation of the Executive Committee
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár--these stand out as the most
conspicuous accomplishments of the American believers which have
immortalized the memory of the most turbulent period of their
history. Launched through these very acts into the troublesome seas
of ceaseless tribulation, piloted by the mighty arm of `Abdu'l-Bahá
and manned by the bold initiative and abundant vitality of a band
of sorely-tried disciples, the Ark of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant has,
ever since those days, been steadily pursuing its course contemptuous
of the storms of bitter misfortune that have raged, and which
must continue to assail it, as it forges ahead towards the promised
haven of undisturbed security and peace.
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Unsatisfied with the achievements which crowned the concerted
efforts of their elected representatives within the American continent,
and emboldened by the initial success of their pioneer teachers,
beyond its confines, in Great Britain, France and Germany, the
community of the American believers resolved to win in distant
climes fresh recruits to the advancing army of Bahá'u'lláh. Setting
out from the western shores of their native land and impelled
by the indomitable energy of a new-born faith, these itinerant
teachers of the Gospel of Bahá'u'lláh pushed on towards the islands
of the Pacific, and as far as China and Japan, determined to establish
beyond the farthest seas the outposts of their beloved Faith.
Both at home and abroad this community had by that time demonstrated
its capacity to widen the range and consolidate the foundations
of its vast endeavors. The angry voices that had been raised
in protest against its rise were being drowned amid the acclamations
with which the East greeted its recent victories. Those ugly
features that had loomed so threateningly were gradually receding
into the distance, furnishing a still wider field to these noble warriors
for the exercise of their latent energies.
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The Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in the continent of America had indeed
been resuscitated. Phoenix-like it had risen in all its freshness,
vigor and beauty and was now, through the voice of its triumphant
exponents, insistingly calling to `Abdu'l-Bahá, imploring Him to
undertake a journey to its shores. The first fruits of the mission
entrusted to its worthy upholders had lent such poignancy to their
call that `Abdu'l-Bahá, Who had just been delivered from the
fetters of a galling tyranny, found Himself unable to resist. His
great, His incomparable, love for His own favored children impelled
Him to respond. Their passionate entreaty had, moreover,
been reinforced by the numerous invitations which representatives
of various interested organizations, whether religious, educational
or humanitarian, had extended to Him, expressing their eagerness
to receive from His own mouth an exposition of His Father's
teachings.
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Though bent with age, though suffering from ailments resulting
from the accumulated cares of fifty years of exile and captivity,
`Abdu'l-Bahá set out on His memorable journey across the seas
to the land where He might bless by His presence, and sanctify
through His deeds, the mighty acts His spirit had led His disciples
to perform. The circumstances that have attended His triumphal
progress through the chief cities of the United States and Canada
my pen is utterly incapable of describing. The joys which the announcement
of His arrival evoked, the publicity which His activities
created, the forces which His utterances released, the opposition
which the implications of His teachings excited, the significant
episodes to which His words and deeds continually gave rise--
these future generations will, no doubt, minutely and befittingly
register. They will carefully delineate their features, will cherish
and preserve their memory, and will transmit unimpaired the record
of their minutest details to their descendants. It would indeed be
presumptuous on our part to attempt, at the present time, to sketch
even the bare outline of so vast, so enthralling a theme. Contemplating
after the lapse of above twenty years this notable landmark
in America's spiritual history we still find ourselves compelled to
confess our inability to grasp its import or to fathom its mystery.
I have alluded in the preceding pages to a few of the more salient
features of that never-to-be-forgotten visit. These incidents, as we
look back upon them, eloquently proclaim `Abdu'l-Bahá's specific
purpose to confer through these symbolic functions upon the first-born
of the communities of the West that spiritual primacy which
was to be the birthright of the American believers.
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The seeds which `Abdu'l-Bahá's ceaseless activities so lavishly
scattered had endowed the United States and Canada, nay the
entire continent, with potentialities such as it had never known in
its history. On the small band of His trained and beloved disciples,
and through them on their descendants, He, through that visit, had
bequeathed a priceless heritage--a heritage which carried with it
the sacred and primary obligation to arise and carry on in that
fertile field the work He had so gloriously initiated. We can dimly
picture to ourselves the wishes that must have welled from His
eager heart as He bade His last farewell to that promising country.
An inscrutable Wisdom, we can well imagine Him remark to His
disciples on the eve of His departure, has, in His infinite bounty
singled out your native land for the execution of a mighty purpose.
Through the agency of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant I, as the ploughman,
have been called upon since the beginning of my ministry to turn
up and break its ground. The mighty confirmations that have, in
the opening days of your career, rained upon you have prepared
and invigorated its soil. The tribulations you subsequently were
made to suffer have driven deep furrows into the field which my
hands had prepared. The seeds with which I have been entrusted I
have now scattered far and wide before you. Under your loving
care, by your ceaseless exertions, every one of these seeds must
germinate, every one must yield its destined fruit. A winter of
unprecedented severity will soon be upon you. Its storm-clouds are
fast gathering on the horizon. Tempestuous winds will assail you
from every side. The Light of the Covenant will be obscured
through my departure. These mighty blasts, this wintry desolation,
shall however pass away. The dormant seed will burst into fresh
activity. It shall put forth its buds, shall reveal, in mighty institutions,
its leaves and blossoms. The vernal showers which the tender
mercies of my heavenly Father will cause to descend upon you
will enable this tender plant to spread out its branches to regions
far beyond the confines of your native land. And finally the steadily
mounting sun of His Revelation, shining in its meridian splendor,
will enable this mighty Tree of His Faith to yield, in the fullness
of time and on your soil, its golden fruit.
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The implications of such a parting message could not long remain
unrevealed to `Abdu'l-Bahá's initiated disciples. No sooner
had He concluded His long and arduous journey across the American
and European continents than the tremendous happenings to
which He had alluded began to be made manifest. A conflict, such
as He had predicted, severed for a time all means of communication
with those on whom He had come to place such implicit trust
and from whom He was expecting so much in return. The wintry
desolation, with all its havoc and carnage, pursued during four
years its relentless course, while He, repairing to the quiet solitude
of His residence in the close neighborhood of Bahá'u'lláh's hallowed
shrine, continued to communicate His thoughts and wishes
to those whom He had left behind and on whom He had conferred
the unique tokens of His favor. In the immortal Tablets
which, in the long hours of His communion with His dearly-beloved
friends He was moved to reveal, He unfolded to their eyes
His conception of their spiritual destiny, His Plan for the mission
He wished them to undertake. The seeds His hands had sown He
was now watering with that same care, that same love and patience,
which had characterized His previous endeavors whilst He was
laboring in their midst.
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The clarion call which `Abdu'l-Bahá had raised was the signal
for an outburst of renewed activity which, alike in the motives
it inspired and the forces it set in motion, America had scarcely
experienced. Lending an unprecedented impetus to the work which
the enterprising ambassadors of the Message of Bahá'u'lláh had
initiated in distant lands, this mighty movement has continued to
spread until the present day, has gathered momentum as it extended
its ramifications over the surface of the globe, and will continue
to accelerate its march until the last wishes of its original Promoter
are completely fulfilled.
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Forsaking home, kindred, friends and position a handful of
men and women, fired with a zeal and confidence which no human
agency can kindle, arose to carry out the mandate which `Abdu'l-Bahá
had issued. Sailing northward as far as Alaska, pushing on
to the West Indies, penetrating the South American continent to the
banks of the Amazon and across the Andes to the southernmost
ends of the Argentine Republic, pressing on westward into the
island of Tahiti and beyond it to the Australian continent and still
beyond it as far as New Zealand and Tasmania, these intrepid
heralds of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh have succeeded by their very
acts in setting to the present generation of their fellow-believers
throughout the East an example which they may well emulate.
Headed by their illustrious representative, who ever since the call
of `Abdu'l-Bahá was raised has been twice round the world and
is still, with marvellous courage and fortitude, enriching the matchless
record of her services, these men and women have been instrumental
in extending, to a degree as yet unsurpassed in Bahá'í history,
the sway of Bahá'u'lláh's universal dominion. In the face of
almost insurmountable obstacles they have succeeded in most of
the countries through which they have passed or in which they
have resided, in proclaiming the teachings of their Faith, in circulating
its literature, in defending its cause, in laying the basis of
its institutions and in reinforcing the number of its declared supporters.
It would be impossible for me to unfold in this short
compass the tale of such heroic actions. Nor can any tribute of
mine do justice to the spirit which has enabled these standard-bearers
of the Religion of God to win such laurels and to confer
such distinction on the generation to which they belong.
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The Cause of Bahá'u'lláh had by that time encircled the globe.
Its light, born in darkest Persia, had been carried successively to
the European, the African and the American continents, and was
now penetrating the heart of Australia, encompassing thereby the
whole earth with a girdle of shining glory. The share which such
worthy, such stout-hearted, disciples have had in brightening the
last days of `Abdu'l-Bahá's earthly life He alone has truly recognized
and can sufficiently estimate. The unique and eternal significance
of such accomplishments the labors of the rising generation
will assuredly reveal, their memory its works will befittingly preserve
and extol. How deep a satisfaction `Abdu'l-Bahá must have
felt, while conscious of the approaching hour of His departure, as
He witnessed the first fruits of the international services of these
heroes of His Father's Faith! To their keeping He had committed
a great and goodly heritage. In the twilight of His earthly life He
could rest content in the serene assurance that such able hands
could be relied upon to preserve its integrity and exalt its virtue.
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The passing of `Abdu'l-Bahá, so sudden in the circumstances
which caused it, so dramatic in its consequences, could neither impede
the operation of such a dynamic force nor obscure its purpose.
Those fervid appeals, embodied in the Will and Testament of a
departed Master, could not but confirm its aim, define its character
and reinforce the promise of its ultimate success.
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Out of the pangs of anguish which His bereaved followers have
suffered, amid the heat and dust which the attacks launched by
a sleepless enemy had precipitated, the Administration of Bahá'u'lláh's
invincible Faith was born. The potent energies released
through the ascension of the Center of His Covenant crystallized
into this supreme, this infallible Organ for the accomplishment of
a Divine Purpose. The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá unveiled
its character, reaffirmed its basis, supplemented its principles,
asserted its indispensability, and enumerated its chief institutions.
With that self-same spontaneity which had characterized her response
to the Message proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh America had
now arisen to espouse the cause of the Administration which the
Will and Testament of His Son had unmistakably established. It
was given to her, and to her alone, in the turbulent years following
the revelation of so momentous a Document, to become the fearless
champion of that Administration, the pivot of its new-born institutions
and the leading promoter of its influence. To their Persian
brethren, who in the heroic age of the Faith had won the crown
of martyrdom, the American believers, forerunners of its golden
age, were now worthily succeeding, bearing in their turn the palm
of a hard-won victory. The unbroken record of their illustrious
deeds had established beyond the shadow of a doubt their preponderating
share in shaping the destinies of their Faith. In a world
writhing with pain and declining into chaos this community--
the vanguard of the liberating forces of Bahá'u'lláh--succeeded in
the years following `Abdu'l-Bahá's passing in raising high above
the institutions established by its sister communities in East and
West what may well constitute the chief pillar of that future House
--a House which posterity will regard as the last refuge of a tottering
civilization.
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In the prosecution of their task neither the whisperings of the
treacherous nor the virulent attacks of their avowed enemies were
allowed to deflect them from their high purpose or to undermine
their faith in the sublimity of their calling. The agitation provoked
by him who in his incessant and sordid pursuit of earthly
riches would have, but for `Abdu'l-Bahá's warning, sullied the
fair name of their Faith, had left them in the main undisturbed.
Schooled by tribulation and secure within the stronghold of their
fast evolving institutions they scorned his insinuations and by their
unswerving loyalty were able to shatter his hopes. They refused to
allow any consideration of the admitted prestige and past services
of his father and of his associates to weaken their determination
to ignore entirely the person whom `Abdu'l-Bahá had so emphatically
condemned. The veiled attacks with which a handful of deluded
enthusiasts subsequently sought in the pages of their periodical
to check the growth and blight the prospects of an infant
Administration had likewise failed to achieve their purpose. The
attitude which a besotted woman later on assumed, her ludicrous
assertions, her boldness in flouting the Will of `Abdu'l-Bahá and
in challenging its authenticity and her attempts to subvert its principles
were again powerless to produce the slightest breach in the
ranks of its valiant upholders. The treacherous schemes which the
ambition of a perfidious and still more recent enemy has devised
and through which he is still striving to deface `Abdu'l-Bahá's noble
handiwork and corrupt its administrative principles are being once
more completely frustrated. These intermittent and abortive attempts
on the part of its assailants to force the surrender of the
newly built stronghold of the Faith its defenders have from the
very beginning utterly disdained. No matter how fierce the assaults
of the enemy or skillful his stratagem they have refused to yield
one jot or one tittle of their cherished convictions. His insinuations
and clamor they have consistently ignored. The motives which animated
his actions, the methods he steadily pursued, the precarious
privileges he seemed momentarily to enjoy they could not but
despise. Thriving for a time through the devices which their scheming
minds had conceived and supported by the ephemeral advantages
which fame, ability or fortune can confer these notorious exponents
of corruption and heresy have succeeded in protruding for a time
their ugly features only to sink, as rapidly as they had risen, into
the mire of an ignominious end.
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From the midst of these afflictive trials, reminiscent in some of
their aspects of the violent storm that had accompanied the birth
of the Faith in their native land, the American believers had again
triumphantly emerged, their course undeflected, their fame unsullied,
their heritage unimpaired. A series of magnificent accomplishments,
each more significant than the previous, were to shed increasing
lustre on an already illustrious record. In the dark years immediately
following `Abdu'l-Bahá's ascension their deeds shone with
a radiance that made them the object of the envy and the admiration
of the less privileged among their brethren. The entire community,
untrammeled and supremely confident, was rising to a great and
glorious opportunity. The forces that had motivated its birth, that
had assisted in its rise, were now accelerating its growth, in a
manner and with such rapidity that neither the pangs of a world-wide
sorrow nor the unceasing convulsions of a distracted age could
paralyze its efforts or retard its march.
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Internally the community had embarked in a number of enterprises
that were to enable it on the one hand to extend still further
the scope of its spiritual jurisdiction and on the other to fashion
the essential instruments for the creation and consolidation of the
institutions which such an extension imperatively demanded. Externally
its undertakings were inspired by the twofold objective of
prosecuting, even more intensely than before, the admirable work
which in each of the five continents its international teachers had
initiated, and of assuming an increasing share in the handling and
solution of the delicate and complex problems with which a newly-emancipated
Faith was being confronted. The birth of the Administration
in that continent had signalized these praiseworthy exertions.
Its gradual consolidation was destined to insure their
continuance and to accentuate their effectiveness.
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To enumerate only the most outstanding accomplishments which,
in their own country and beyond its confines, have so greatly enhanced
the prestige of the American believers and have redounded
to the glory and honor of the Most Great Name is all I can presently
undertake, leaving to future generations the task of explaining
their import and of affixing a fitting estimate to their value. To the
body of their elected representatives must be attributed the honor
of having been the first among their sister Assemblies of East and
West to devise, promulgate and legalize the essential instruments
for the effective discharge of their collective duties--instruments
which every properly constituted Bahá'í community must regard as
a pattern worthy to be adopted and copied. To their efforts must
likewise be ascribed the historic achievement of establishing their
national endowments upon a permanent and unassailable basis and
of creating the necessary agency for the formation of those subsidiary
organs whose function is to administer on behalf of their
trustees such possessions as these may acquire beyond the limits
of their immediate jurisdiction. By the weight of their moral support
so freely extended to their Egyptian brethren they were able
to remove some of the most formidable obstacles which the Faith
had to surmount in its struggle to enfranchise itself from the fetters
of Muslim orthodoxy. Through the effective and timely intervention
of these same elected representatives they were able to avert the
woes and dangers which had menaced their persecuted fellow-workers
in the Soviet Republics, and to ward off the rage which had
threatened with immediate ruin one of the most precious and noblest
of Bahá'í institutions. Nothing short of the whole-hearted assistance,
whether moral or financial which the American believers,
individually and collectively, were moved to extend on several occasions
to the needy and harassed among their brethren in Persia
could have saved these hapless victims of the consequences of the
calamities that had visited them in the years following `Abdu'l-Bahá's
ascension. It was the publicity which the efforts of their
American brethren had created, the protests they were led to make,
the appeals and petitions they had submitted, which mitigated these
sufferings and curbed the violence of the worst and most tyrannical
opponents of the Faith in that land. Who else, if not one of their
most distinguished representatives, has risen to force upon the
attention of the highest Tribunal the world has yet seen the grievances
which a Faith, robbed of one of its holiest sanctuaries, had
suffered at the hand of the usurper? Who else has succeeded in
securing, through patient and persistent effort, those written affirmations
which proclaim the justice of a persecuted cause and tacitly
recognize its right to an independent religious status? "The Commission,"
is the resolution passed by the Permanent Mandates Commission
of the League of Nations, "recommends that the Council
should ask the British Government to make representations to the
Iráqí Government with a view to the immediate redress of the
denial of justice from which the petitioners (the Bahá'í Spiritual
Assembly of Baghdád) have suffered." Has any one else except
an American believer been led to obtain from royalty such remarkable
and repeated testimonies to the regenerating power of
the Faith of God, such striking references to the universality of
its teachings and the sublimity of its mission. "The Bahá'í teaching,"
such is the Queen's written testimony, "brings peace and understanding.
It is like a wide embrace gathering together all those
who have long searched for words of hope. It accepts all great
Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all
doors open. Saddened by the continual strife amongst believers of
many confessions and wearied of their intolerance towards each
other, I discovered in the Bahá'í teaching the real spirit of Christ
so often denied and misunderstood: Unity instead of strife, Hope
instead of condemnation, Love instead of hate, and a great reassurance
for all men." Have not the American adherents of the
Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, through the courage displayed by one of the
most brilliant members of their community, been instrumental in
paving the way for the removal of those barriers which have, for
well-nigh a century, hampered the growth and crippled the energy
of their fellow-believers in Persia? Is it not America who, ever
mindful of `Abdu'l-Bahá's passionate entreaty, has sent out to the
ends of the earth a steadily increasing number of its most consecrated
citizens--men and women the one wish of whose lives is to
consolidate the foundations of Bahá'u'lláh's world-embracing dominion?
In the northernmost capitals of Europe, in most of its
central states, throughout the Balkan Peninsula, along the shores
of the African, the Asiatic and South American continents are to
be found this day a small band of women pioneers who, single-handed
and with scanty resources, are toiling for the advent of the
Day `Abdu'l-Bahá has foretold. Did not the attitude of the Greatest
Holy Leaf, as she approached the close of her life, bear eloquent
testimony to the incomparable share which her steadfast and self-sacrificing
lovers in that continent have had in lightening the burden
which had weighed so long and so heavily on her heart? And
finally who can be so bold as to deny that the completion of the
superstructure of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár--the crowning glory of
America's past and present achievements--has forged that mystic
chain which is to link, more firmly than ever, the hearts of its
champion-builders with Him Who is the Source and Center of their
Faith and the Object of their truest adoration?
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Fellow-believers in the American continent! Great indeed have
been your past and present achievements! Immeasurably greater
are the wonders which the future has in store for you! The Edifice
your sacrifices have raised still remains to be clothed. The House
which must needs be supported by the highest administrative institution
your hands have reared, is as yet unbuilt. The provisions
of the chief Repository of those laws that must govern its operation
are thus far mostly undisclosed. The Standard which, if
`Abdu'l-Bahá's wishes are to be fulfilled, must be raised in your
own country has yet to be unfurled. The Unity of which that standard
is to be the symbol is far from being yet established. The machinery
which must needs incarnate and preserve that unity is not
even created. Will it be America, will it be one of the countries of
Europe, who will arise to assume the leadership essential to the
shaping of the destinies of this troubled age? Will America allow
any of her sister communities in East or West to achieve such
ascendancy as shall deprive her of that spiritual primacy with
which she has been invested and which she has thus far so nobly
retained? Will she not rather contribute, by a still further revelation
of those inherent powers that motivate her life, to enhance
the priceless heritage which the love and wisdom of a departed
Master have conferred upon her?
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Her past has been a testimony to the inexhaustible vitality of
her faith. May not her future confirm it?
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Your true brother,
SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 21, 1933.
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Notes
1. [In an address by Dr. Henry H. Jessup at the Parliament of Religions, Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.--Editor.]
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