Not formatted or fully proofread. See http://bahai-library.com/usnsa_bahai_world_5 ---------- [p1] THE BAHA'I WORLD 89 AND 90 OF THE BAHA'I ERA 1932. 1934A.D [p2] [p3] [p4] BAHA'U'LLAH KHANUM, THE MOST EXALTED LEAF, DAUGHTER OF BAHA'U'LLAH. [p5] [p6] [p7] MEMORIAL MARKING THE RESTING-PLACE OF THE MOST EXALTED LEAF. [p8] [p9] [p10] HER MAJESTY DOWAGER QUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA. [p11] \~t A bk [p12] [p13] FACSIMILE OF APPRECIATION WRITTEN BY DOWAGER QUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA. [p14] [p15] THE BAHA'I WORLD A Biennial International Record Prepared under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada with the approval of Shoghi Effendi Volume V 89 AND 90 OF THE BAHA'I ERA APRIL I932~ i~~4 A.D. BAHA BAHA'I PUBLISHING TRUST Wilmette, Illinois [p16] Copyright, 1936, by National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada Reprinted 1980 NOTE: The spelling of the Oriental words and proper names used in this issue of THE BAHA'I WORLD is according to the system of transliteration established at one of the International Oriental Congresses. Printed in the United States of America [p17] SHOGHI EFFENDI Guardian of the Baha'i Cause this work is dedicated in the hope that it will assist his efforts to promote that spiritual unity underlying and anticipating the CCMOSt Great Peace" BAHA'U'LLAH [p18] [p7] CONTENTS PART I PACE I. Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith 3 II.Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West 18 III. Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings 135 IV.The Passing of Baha'i Kh&num, the Most Exalted Leaf 169 PART II I. The World Order of Baha'u'llah 191 1. Presentday Administration of the Baha'i Faith 191 2. Excerpts from the Will and Testament of cAbdu~1~Bah4 201 3. Genealogy of the Bib Facing page 203 4. Genealogy of Baha'u'llah Facing page 205 5.Facsimile of Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assembles of the Baha'is of Persia and of Egypt 207, 208 6.The Spirit and Form of the Baha'i Administrative Order 210 7.Declaration of Trust and ByLaws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, 211 8.Facsimile of the Certificate of the United States Federal Government t to the Declaration of Trust entered into by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada 213 9.Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A 217219 10.Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly y of the Baha'is of Washington, D. C., U. S. A 222224 11.By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York 228 12.Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly y of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A 22923 1 13.Certificate of Incorporation, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma 236 14.Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Esslingen, Germany 237 15.Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi 239 16.Map of Baha'i holdings surrounding and dedicated to the shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel and tentative design of terraces 241 II. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar 265 1. Foreword 265 2. The Baha'i House of Worship 267 vii [p8] viii CONTENTS PAGE 3.The Spiritual Significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar 274 4. The Spell of the Temple 279 5. A Statement by the Architect 284 6.The Project of Ornamenting the Baha'i Temple Dome 287 7.Architectural Concrete of the Exposed Aggregate Type 293 8. God-Intoxicated Architecture 313 9.Model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at the Century of Progress Exposition, sition, Chicago, 1933 318 III. References to the Baha'i Faith, by: 322 Archduchess Anton of Austria, Charles ]laudouin, Prof. Norman Bentwich, Prof. E. G. Browne, Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, General Re-nato nato Piola Caselli, Rev. T. K. Cheyne, Valentine Chirol, Rev. K. T. Chung, Right Hon. The Earl Curzon of Keddleston, Prof. James Darmesteter, Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, Dr. Auguste Forel, Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, Dr. Henry H. Jessup, Prof. Jowett, Prof. Dimitry Kazarov, Helen Keller, Harry Charles Lukach, Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania, Alfred W. Martin, President Masaryk, Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Mr. Millar, Prof. Herbert A. Miller, The Hon. Lilian Helen Montague, Rev. Frederick W. Oakes, Sir Flinders Petrie, Charles H. Prist, Dr. Edmund Privat, Herbert Putnam, Ernest Renan, Right Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, Emile Schreiber, Prof. Han Prasad Shastri, Rev. Griffith J. Sparham, Shri Purohit Swami, Leo Tolstoy, Prof. Arminius Vambery, Sir Francis Younghusband. IV. Further Developments in the case of Baha'u'llah's House in Bagiad Ad 351 1.Excerpts from the Minutes of the XXII session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations: Nov. 3 to Dec. 6, 1932 351 2.Excerpts from the Minutes of the XXIV session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations: Oct. 23 to Nov. 4, 1933 354 3. Note 357 4. Mandates under the League of Nations 359 V. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals 360 1. Foreword 360 2.BaM'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting 360 3.Additional Material Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding the Baha'i Calendar 361 4.Historical Data Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding ing Baha'u'llah 365 VI. Youth Activities Throughout the Baha'i World 370 VII. In Memoriam 389 1. Mrs. Keith Ransom-Keller 389 2. Mrs. Agnes Parsons 410 3. Yusuf Khan-i-Vujdani 413 4. Dr. Arastii KMn Hakim 414 5. George Adam Benke 416 6. Edwin Scott 418 7. Mrs. Alice Barney 419 8. Mrs. Lisbeth Klitzing 420 9. Extracts from "IBaM'i News" 420 [p9] CONTENTS ix PART III PAGE I. Baha'i Directory 19331934 425 1. Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies 425 2. Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups 426 3. Officers and committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada 433 4. Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies and Groups in the United States and Canada 436 5. Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia 446 6. Address of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia 449 7. Alphabetical List of Baha'u'llah's BestKnown Writings 449 8. List of the Bib's BestKnown Works 452 II. Baha'i Bibliography 454 1. Baha'i Publications of America 454 (a) Books about the Ba1A'i Faith 454 (b) Writings of the B~b 456 (c) Writings of Baha'u'llah 456 (d) Writings of CAbd~1Bh~ 456 (e) Writings of Shoghi Effendi 458 (f) Prayers 458 (g) Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form 458 (li) Compilations 461 2. Baha'i Publications of England 463 3. Baha'i Literature in French 4. Baha'i Literature in Italian 465 5. Baha'i Literature in Dutch 465 6. Baha'i Literature in Danish 466 7. Baha'i Literature in Swedish 466 8. Baha'i Literature in Portuguese 466 9. Baha'i Literature in Albanian 466 10. Baha Literature in Esperanto 466 11. Baha'i Literature in Russian 467 12. Baha'i Literature in German 468 13. Baha'i Literature in Bulgarian 472 14. Ba1A'i Literature in Rumanian 472 15. Baha'i Literature in Czech 472 16. Baha'i Literature in Serbian 472 17. Baha'i Literature in Hungarian 473 18. Baha'i Literature in Greek 473 19. Baha'i Literature in Maori 473 20. ]lahi'i Literature in Spanish 473 21. Baha Literature in Oriental Languages 473 (a) Persian 473 (b) Urdu 475 (c) Arabic 475 (d) Turkish 475 (e) Burmese 475 (f) Chinese 475 (g) Hebrew 477 (h) Tartar 477 (i) Gujrati 477 [p10] x CONTENTS PAGE (j) Japanese 477 (k) Armenian 477 (1) Tamil 477 (in) Kurdish 477 22.Bahi'iLiterature in Braille (for the Blind) 477 23.Bah~'i Periodicals 477 24.References to the Baha'i Faith in Books by non-Bahi'i Authors 478 25.References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non-Bahi'i Writers 484 26.References by Baha'is in non-Bahi'i Publications 485 III. Transliteration of Oriental 'Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with Guide to Transliteration and Pronunciation of the Persian Alphabet 487 IV.Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature 491 PART IV I.The Administrative Order in the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, from a letter of Shoghi Effendi 497 II. The Descent of the New Jerusalem, by G. Townshend 507 HI. The Spiritual Basis of World Peace, by Horace Holley 511 IV. In the Footsteps of the Pioneers, by Keith Ransom-Kehier 519 V. The Orientation of Hope, by Alain Locke 527 VI. La Foje et la Science Unies par 1'Art, by Marie Antoinette Aussenac, Princesse de Brogue 529 VII.Religion and Social Progress, by Keith Ransom-Keller 533 VIII.Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, by Martha Root 541 IX. A Religion of Reconciliation, by Rev. Griffith J. Sparham 545 X. The Men of the Trees, by Richard St. Barbe Baker 549 XI. Les Probkmes du Monde et Ia Foje Baha'i, by tAli Afdalipur 553 XII.The Baha'i Movement, the Greatness of Its Power, by Martha Root 563 XIII. Der Sinn Unserer Zeit, by Dr. Hermann Grossmann 571 XIV. Le Baha'ism, by Eugen Relgis 574 XV. A Visit to Adriano~1e, by Martha Root 581 XVI. The Re-florescence of Historical Romance in Nabil, by Mary Maxwell 595 XVII.William Miller, Student of Prophecy, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick 600 XVIII.A New Cycle of Human Power, by Marion Holley 605 XIX. An Appreciation, by Dr. Rustum Vambery 609 XX. The True Sovereign, by Alfred B. Lunt 615 XXI. The Nature of the Divine Manifestations, by Glenn A. Shook 625 XXII. Religious Education for the Young, by Mrs. M. H. Inouye 635 XXIII.Why Do I Espouse the Baha'i Cause? by Chi Kao Fujisawa 638 XXIV. Count Leo Tolstoy and the Baha'i Movement, by Martha Root 642 XXV. A Chinese View of the Baha'i Cause, by Chan S. Liu 645 XXVI. Vernunft und Glaube, by Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel 647 XXVII.Influence of Astronomy on Religious Thought, by Giorgio Abetti 651 XXVIII. Haifa Calling, by Florence E. Pinchon 655 XXIX. Taking the Message to the Maori People, by Keith Ransom-Keh1er 660 XXX. Only a Word, by Laura Dreyfus-Barney 667 Song-Offerings 668 Echoes from the Spheres 675 Map of the Baha'i World Inside Back Cover [p11] ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Baha'i Kh&num, The Most Exalted Leaf, Daughter of Baha'u'llah Frontispiece Memorial Marking the Resting-Place of the Most Exalted Leaf Frontispiece Her Majesty Dowager Queen Marie of RumaniaFrontispiece Facsimile of Appreciation written by Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania Frontispiece Signets used by Baha'u'llah 4 Glimpses of CAbd~1BhP 8 Ñ 11 Impressions of the Hands of tAbdu'1-Bahi 15 Takyiy-i-Mawlini KhMid in Sulayrn&niyyih, clriq, where Baha'u'llah stayed during His period of retirement 19 Baha'i Women and Children, Representative of the East 36 Shrine of the Irnim Husayn in Karbila. X indicates Resting-place of Siyyid K&~im, one of the Forerunners of the BTh 42 Shrine of the Imim Husayn where the Mb often prayed (Refer to C(T1~e Dawn-Breakers," ers," Ch. II) 48 The Marriage Certificate of Baha'u'llah. 1251 A.H. (1835 A.D.) 53 Imperial Firman of N~siri'd-Din ShAh 1265 A.H. (1848 A.D.) with marginal note in his own hand, commanding Prince Nihdi-Quli Mirza to exterminate the Bab's of M~zindar~n, Persia (Refer to The Dawn Breakers, cli. XIX) 58 The Marriage Certificate of the Bib. 1258 A.H. (1842 A.D.) 63 The Tomb of Baha'u'llah in the years immediately following His Ascension 75 Portrait of tAbdu'1-BahA by Sigismund Ivanowski 76 House where Baha'u'llah passed away at Baha 78 The Garden of Ridvan 81 tAkki from the Beach 82 Newly-opened section of the International Baha'i archives where the portraits of Baha'u'llah and the BAt are preserved 84 The House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad 136 The Garden of Ridvan, Baghdid 146 Baha'i KlAnum, The Most Exalted Leaf 170 The Shrine of the Most Exalted Leaf at night 173 Views of the Shrine of the Most Exalted Leaf 176 Baha'i Khinum, The Most Exalted Leaf. Circa, 1895 180 Cort~ge of Baha'i KhAnum approaching the Shrine of the Mb 186 Feast given to the poor of Haifa in memory of Baha'i Kh&num 186 Members of the N.S.A. of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. In the background round is the lowest section of one of the ribs of the recently completed dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A 192 'Abdu'l-Baha's bedroom, Plaza Hotel, Chicago, 111., U. S. A., April, 1912 199 Baha'is of Chicago, Sept. 6, 1908, and Baha'i Pioneers of Chicago 200 Mirza Buzurg, Father of Baha'u'llah, and four of his sons 204 Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the N. S. A. of the Baha'is of Persia 207 Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the N. S. A. of the Baha'is of Egypt 208 xl [p12] xli ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The seal of the first Baha'i Assembly in the United States and Canada, 1897 212 Certificate of the United States Federal Government to the Declaration of Trust entered into by the N. S. A. of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada 213 Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A 217219 The Spiritual Assembly and Baha'i community of Chicago, Ill., U. S. A 221 Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Washington, D. C., U. S. A 222 Ñ 224 The Spiritual Assembly and Baha'i community of Washington, D. C., U. S. A. 226, 227 Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A 229 Ñ 23 1 The Spiritual Assembly and Baha'i community of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A 234 The Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma 236 Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Esslingen, Germany 238 Map of Baha holdings surrounding and dedicated to the Shrine of the Mb on Mt. Carmel, recently exempted from the payment of taxes by the Government ment of Palestine. Tentative design of terraces suggesting an idea of the future development of a part of this area 241 Unity Feast, Baha Summer School, July, 1933, Geyserville, California, U. S. A 243 Upper center: Group of friends attending the Baha'i Summer School at Geyserville, Calif. Left: The large fir tree under which many meetings are held. Lower center: View over the valley from Bosch Place. Right: A view of the beautiful ful redwood trees on the property 246 Some of the friends attending the Baha'i Summer School, Louhelen Ranch, in Michigan 249 The buildings and grounds at Louhelen Ranch, Davison, Michigan, and a group of Baha'i friends who participated in the fruitful and happy beginning of the Baha'i Summer School at this beautiful place249 The Baha'is of Racine, Wisconsin, U. S. A 262 The first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West, now being built at Witmette, near Chicago, cago, Illinois 266 Aerial view of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A 272 CAbdu~1.Bah~ after breaking the ground for the cornerstone of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar dhk&r in Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A 273 The Dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (March, 1934) showing details of the ornamentation ation 278 Baha'is assembled at the geometrical center of the Temple grounds, and invoking the Greatest Name as their faces are turned toward tAkk&, April 27, 1910 278 The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar the crowning institution in every Baha'i community. Between pages 280 Ñ 283 Work on Exhibit (of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar) 285 The Dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as now assembled. The ornamentation of the Dome was completed in March, 1934. The remainder of the ornamentation still to be completed 286 Details in the production of Temple Ornamentation290 Further details in the production of Temple Ornamentation 291 1933 Convention of the Baha of the U. S. and Canada. In the background entrance rance to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A 294 Surveys Marked on Concrete Bases 300 [p13] ILLUSTRATIONS xlii PAGE Timbers Constituting a Replica of the Steel of a Dome Section 3 01 First Steps in Making Models 302 Details Carved in Plaster Models 303 Plaster Models Erected on Dome Frame 304 Bottom Sections of Ribs to Extend Down Over the Clerestory 305 Plaster Molds Made from the Models 306 A Reinforcement Unit 307 Casting Operations 307 Brushing the Surface to Expose the Aggregate 308 Curing Chamber 309 Castings Ready for Shipment 310 The Dome as Now Assembled Ñ the remainder of the structure still to be completed leted 311 Cast of Clerestory section of great rib of dome312 Model of dome panel and casts 312 Mrs. Nettie Tobin kneeling by the stone chosen as the cornerstone of Baha'i Temple 317 Model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar exhibited in the Hall of Religions, A Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933 319 The first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar tlshqTh Ad, Turkistan, Russia 320 Seventh Persian National Baha'i Convention, 1933. (Keith Ransom-Keller in the center) 328 Girl Students of the Baha'i Tarbiyat School, Tihr&n, Persia 341 Baha'is gathered at the laying of the cornerstone of the IfIa~iratu'1-Quds (Baha'i headquarters), Tibr&n, Persia 346 Members of the various committees appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia (1933) 352 Map showing travels of the Bab and Baha'u'llah 362 Map showing section of route followed by Baha'u'llah on His journey from Baghdad to Constantinople 364 Young Baha'is of Batd~d 369 Baha'i Youth Group of London, England 371 The World Council of Youth 373 Baha'i Youth Group Committee, Tihr&n, Persia 376 The Karachi Young Men's Baha'i Association 378 Baha'i Youth Group, Manchester, England 381 Group of ninety-nine young Baha'is, Hotel Orrington, Evanston, Illinois, 1933 381 Keith Ransom-Kehier, a Hand of the Cause and first American Baha'i martyr 390 Baha'is of Tilinin bidding farewell to Keith Ransom-Kehier on her departure to Isf~h~n 395 Grave of Keith Ransom-Kehier, IsThMn, Persia 399 Grave of the Suit Anu'sh-Shuhad& (King of Martyrs), near which Keith Ransom-Keller eller was buried 399 Baha'is of I~fth~n gathered about the casket of Keith Ransom-Keller 408 Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Persia and representatives tives of various Baha'i centers in Persia assembled at the grave of Keith Ransom-.Kehler 408 Design of Memorial to Keith Ransom-Keller, 1sf 4h~n, Persia 411 Portrait of Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons 412 Yiisuf KhAn-i-VujdAni, distinguished Persian Baha'i teacher 413 Dr. Arastii Kh~n Hakim 415 George Adam Benke 417 [p14] xlv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Edwin Scott 418 Mrs. Alice Barney 419 Mrs. Lisbeth Klitzing 420 The National Convention of the Baha'is of Germany427 Ba1A'is of Rostock, Germany 427 The Haziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Karachi, India 429 The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Karachi, India 431 Baha'is of Karachi, India 431 Two views of the Baha'i Summer School at Esslingen, Germany 435 Baha'is of Poona, India 440 448 Zorastrian Baha'i Women The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bombay, India 448 Baha'is of Varna, Bulgaria 451 Egyptian Baha'i teacher with Abyssinian translator of J. E. Esslernont's 'Baha'u'llah and the New Era 451 Baha'is of Kunjangun, Burma 453 The Ha4ratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Rangoon, Burma 462 Baha'is of Sofia, Bulgaria 464 464 Baha'is of Burda', Caucasus 467 Baha'is of Hejibroun Baha'is of Auckland, New Zealand 469 Baha'is of Perth, Australia 469 Baha'is of Tunis, North Africa 471 Baha'i Home, Esslingen, Germany 471 The First Baha'i Group in Abyssinia 474 Baha'i Home, Rammen, Sweden 476 476 Baha'is of Aleppo, Syria Baha School, tlshqib6d, Turkitan, Russia 479 Baha'is of Antep, Turkey 479 Mr. and Mrs. Dunn's first flat in Avoca Street, Randwick, Sydney, N. S. W., first Baha'i meeting-place in Australia 483 Mrs. Blundell's home in Dunholme Road, Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand, first Baha'i meeting-place in New Zealand 483 Baha'is of Ism~-i1iyyih, Egypt 486 Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of tlr4q 490 Members of the National Convention of the Baha'is of tlriq 490 The Iyla4ratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), village of tAd iih Transjordania 496 The Masjid in Amul, Mizindarin, Persia, where Baha'u'llah was confined and bastinadoed 506 Square in Zanjin, Persia, where body of Hu,jjat was thrown and sixty martyrs were killed 510 House of Vahid (Siyyid Yahyay-i-Darabi) in Nayriz, Persia 510 Burial place of Vabid in Nayriz 510 The shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, M4zindar&n, Persia, where the body of Mulla Husayn, the BThu'1-B6,b, is interred 518 Tree near the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, from which Mulla Husayn, the BThu'1-Bab, was shot 318 The Masjid in Birfurush M~zindar~n, Persia, where Qudd& is buried 518 A group of Persian Baha'is including prominent pioneer workers 526 Aq~ Jan KhAn-i-Khamsih who carried out the order for the execution of the Bib. (Refer to ttThe Dawn-Breakers," Cli. XXIII) 532 [p15] ILLUSTRATIONS xv PAGE M~iie Antoinette Aussenac, Princesse de Brogue530 TihrAn, Persia 540 House owned and occupied by Baha'u'llah in Tihrin, Persia 540 H.R.H. Prince Paul of Yougoslavia 542 J-LR.H. Princess Olga of Yougoslavia 543 The Imim-Z~dih-Ma'sum, Tihrin, Persia, where the remains of the B~b were kept 544 Burial Place of "The Seven Martyrs" in Tihr~n 544 Burial Place, near Tibrin (underneath boulder), of Badi, bearer of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the ShTh of Persia 544 Manuchihr Khin the Muqtamidu'd-Dawlih who extended his protection to the Mb in 1sf ih4n, Persia (Refer to ~tThe Dawn-Breakers," Ch. X) 546 Richard St. Barbe Baker 548 Giants of the Redwood Empire Highway in Northern California ¶50 Group of Baha'i friends and students in Paris, France 562 House of Manuchihr KMn visited by the BTh during His stay in 1sf MAn, Persia 570 House of the Jm~m-Jumcih where the Bib stayed while in 1sf Ah~n, Persia 570 Hiji Muhammad-Karim KMn, archenemy of the Bab. (Refer to p. 184) 572 Eugen Relgis, Rumanian writer and peace worker575 Mosque of Sultan-Salim, Adrianople, Turkey 582 Interior of the Mosque 5 82 Governor and Mayor of Adrianople, Turkey, with Martha Root and Marion Jack, international Baha'i teachers 585 Must af a Big, 85 years old, who had seen Baha'u'llah in his boyhood home in Adrianople which was close to the Amru'lUh House 585 Ruins of Rida Big House 587 Ruins of Amru'llAh House 587 Ruins of tlzzatu'11Th House 589 Site of the old KMn-i-tArab caravanserai 589 Ruins of house in Muradiyyih quarter 591 \Tiews of the town and ruins of the castle of M6h-Kfi, Adhirb4yj in, Persia, where the Bab was confined 594 Castle of M4h-Kii 597 The site of East Rind ge, New Hampshire, which tradition cherishes as the place where the Millerites gathered in sincere expectation of being tttaken up to heaven" 601 The Ua;iratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Tihr~n, Persia 610 Site of the Garden of Jlkhini, Tihrin, Persia, where T~hirih (Qurratu'1-tAyn) suffered martyrdom 614 Original home of Tihirih (Qurratu'I-tAyn) in Qazyin, Persia, where she was born and lived 614 Baha'is of Baku, Caucasus 624 Baglidid from the west bank of the Tigris 633 Mrs. M. H. Inouye, President of Japan Women's University, Tokyo 636 Provincial convention of the Baha'is of Adhirbayj in, Persia 637 The Ija4ratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Yazd, Persia 641 Count Leo Tolstoy and his secretary 643 Chan S. Liu, Director of Bureau for the Improvement of Sericulture Department of Reconstruction, Honglok, Canton, China646 Baha'is of Sisin, Persia 650 Haifa, April 24, 1839, and Haifa at the time of tAbdu'1-BaM's passing 658 [p16] xvi ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Haifa, 1934, from Mount Carmel showing shrine of the Bab and gardens (left f ore-ground) ground) and Tomb of the Most Exalted Leaf (right foreground) 659 Early and late views of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel 661 Chief Mita Taupopoki, who summoned a Macni tribe to hear the Baha'i Message 663 Baha of Melbourne, Australia 666 G. G. Paul, first translator of Baha'i writings into Maori 666 [p17] INTRODUCTION DURING the past ten years the Baha'i community of East and West has learned to anticipate each successive volume of THE BAHA'I WORLD (the first number was entitled ttBahA'i Year Book") as the best means by which the individual believer may keep abreast of the steady development of the Faith throughout the world. This work, in its illustrations s as well as in its text, has recorded as completely as possible the progress of current Baha'i events and activities over an area now embracing forty countries. In addition, each volume has presented those Cchitil facts and fundamental principles that constitute the distinguishing features of the Message of Baha'u'llah to this age. The existence of so many evidences of a newly revealed Faith and Gospel for a humanity y arrived at a turning point in its spiritual and social evolution has likewise a profound significance for the non-Bah4'i student and scholar who desires to investigate the world religion founded by the Bib and Baha'u'llah. For in these pages the reader encounters both the revealed Word in its spiritual power, and the response which that utterance has evoked during the first ninety years of the Baha era. He will find what is unparalleled in religious s history Ñ the unbroken continuity of a divine Faith from the Manifestation onward through three generations of human experience, and will be able to apprehend what impregnable e foundations the Baha'i World Order rests upon in the life and teachings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, the life and interpretation of cAbdu~1~Bah& and (since the year 1921), in the development of an administrative order under the direction of the Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi. It is the avowed faith of Baha'is that this Revelation has established upon earth the spiritual impulse and the definite principles necessary for social regeneration and the attainment t of one true religion and social order throughout the world. In THE BAHA'I WORLD, therefore, those who seek a higher will and wisdom than man possesses may learn how, amid the trials and tribulations of a decadent society, a new age has begun to emerge from the world of the spirit to the realm of human action and belief. xvii [p18] [p19] STAFF OF EDITORS AMERICA Ñ Horace Holley, Chairman, 119 Waverly Place, New York City. Mrs. Stuart W. French, Secretary, 501 Bellefontaine St., Pasadena, Calif. Mr. Albert Windust, 5824 Emerald Ave., Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Edvard Lindstrom, Fayville, Mass. Mrs. Oliver LaFarge, Santa Fe, N. M. Miss Marion Holley, Box 492, Visalia, Calif. Victoria Bedikian, Assistant Photograph Editor, P. 0. Box 179, Montclair, N. J. GREAT BRITAIN Ñ Mrs. Annie B. Romer, 19 Grosvenor Place, London SW. 1, England. GERMANY Ñ Dr. Hermann Grossmann, 37 G6ringstrasse, Neckargemfind, Heidelberg, Germany. SWITZERLAND Ñ Mrs. H. Emogene Hoagg, case 181 Stand, Geneva, Switzerland. FRANCE Ñ Mine. Hesse, 24 rue du Boccador, Paris, France. PERSIA Ñ Mrs. Mardich Carpenter, do American Consul, Tihr&n, Persia. Dr. Lutfu'llAh Hakim, Avenue Chirkgh Barg, Tihr~n, Persia. INDIA AND BURMA Ñ Prof. Pritam Singh, 9 Langley Road, Lahore, India. PALESTINE Ñ Miss Effie Baker, Photograph Editor, Baha'i Pilgrim House, Haifa. EGYPT Ñ Muhammad Mustaf 4, Baha Bureau, P. Box 13, Daher, Cairo, Egypt. AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Ñ Bertram Dewing, 5 Aidred Road, Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. CIRAQ Afl4tiin Yatqiib, 273 New Street, Baghdad, CIrAq. INTERNATIONAL Ñ Martha L. Root, care Roy C. Wilhelm, 104 Wall St., New York City. xix [p20] [p1] PART ONE [p2] [p3] THE BAHA'I WORLD AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH B~ HORACE HOLLEY 1. A WORLDWIDE SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY ~~T/ae Tabernacle of Unity has been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Of one tree are ye all the fruit and of one bough the leaves. The world is but one country and mankind its citizens." Ñ BAHA' U LLAH. UP ON the spiritual foundation established by Baha'u'llah during the forty year period of His Mission (18531892), there stands today an independent religion represented by nearly eight hundred local communities of believers. These communities geographically are spread throughout all five continents. In point of race, class, nationality and religious origin, the followers of Baha'u'llah exemplify well-nigh the whole diversity of the modern world. They may be characterized as a true cross-section of humanity, a microcosm which, for all its relative littleness, carries within it individual men and women typifying the macrocosm of mankind. None of the historic causes of association served to create this worldwide spiritual community. Neither a common language, a common blood, a common civil government, a common tradition nor a mutual grievance acted upon Baha'is to suppiy a fixed center of interest or a goal of material advantage. On the contrary, membership in the Baha'i community in the land of its birth even to this day has been a severe disability, and outside of Persia the motive animating believers has been in direct opposition to the most in Ñ veterate prejudices of their environment. The Cause of Baha'u'llah has moved forward without the reinforcement of wealth, social prestige or other means of public influence. Every local Baha'i community exists by the voluntary association of individuals who consciously overcome the fundamental sanctions evolved throughout the centuries to justify the separations and antagonisms of human society. In America, this association means that white believers accept the spiritual equality of their Negro fellows. In Europe, it means the reconciliation of Protestant and Catholic upon the basis of a new and larger faith. In the Orient, Christian, Jewish and Mubammadan believers must stand apart from the rigid exclusiveness into which each was born. The central fact to be noted concerning the nature of the Baha'i Faith is that it contains a power, fulfilled in the realm of con-sdicnce, which can reverse the principle momentum of modern civilization Ñ the drive toward division and strife Ñ and initiate its own momentum moving steadily in the direction of unity and accord. It is in this power, and not in any criterion upheld by the world, that the Faith of Baha'u'llah has special significance. The forms of traditional opposition vested in nationality, race, class and creed are not the only social chasms which the Faith has bridged. There are even more implacable, if less visible differences between types and temperaments, such as flow inevitably from the contact of rational and emotional individuals, of active and passive dispositions, undermining capacity for cooperation in every organized society, which attain mutual under [p4] Signets used by Baha'u'llah. [p5] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA FAITH 5 standing and harmony in the Baha'i community. For personal congeniality, the selective principle elsewhere continually operative within the field of voluntary action, is an instinct which Baha'is must sacrifice to serve the principle of the oneness of mankind. A Baha'i community, therefore, is a constant and active spiritual victory, an overcoming of tensions which elsewhere come to the point of strife. No mere passive creed nor philosophic gospel which need never be put to the test in daily life has produced this world fellowship devoted to the teachings of Baha'u'llah. The basis of self-sacrifice on which the Baha'i community stands has created a religious society in which all human relations are transformed from social to spiritual prob-lerns. This fact is the door through which one must pass to arrive at insight of what the Faith of Baha'u'llah means to this age. The social problems of the age are predominantly political and economic. They are problems because human society is divided into nations each of which claims to be an end and a law unto itself and into classes each of which has raised an economic theory to the level of a sovereign and exclusive principle. Nationality has become a condition which overrides the fundamental humanity of all the peoples concerned, asserting the superiority of political considerations over ethical and moral needs. Similarly, economic groups uphold and promote social systems without regard to the quality of human relationships experienced in terms of religion. Tensions and oppositions between the different groups are organized for dominance and not for reconciliation. Each step toward more complete partisan organization increases the original tension and augments the separation of human beings; as the separation widens, the element of sympathy and fellowship on the human level is eventually denied. In the Baha'i community the same tensions and instinctive antagonisms exist, but the human separation has been made impossible. The same capacity for exclusive doctrines is present, but no doctrine representing one personality or one group can secure a hearing. All believers alike are subject to one spiritually supreme sovereignty in the teachings of Baha'u'llah. Disaffected individuals may withdraw. The community remains. For the Baha'i teachings are in themselves principles of life and they assert the supreme value of humanity without doctrines which correspond to any particular environment or condition. Thus members of the Baha'i community realize their tensions and oppositions as ethical or spiritual problems, to be faced and overcome in mutual consultation. Their faith has convinced them that the "tth" or "right" of any possible situation is not derived from partisan victory but from the needs of the community as an organic whole. A Baha'i community endures without disruption because oniy spiritual problems can be solved. When human relations are held to be political or social problems they are removed from the realm in which rational will has responsibility and influence. The ultimate result of this degradation of human relationships is the frenzy of desperate strife Ñ the outbreak of inhuman war. 2. THE RENEWAL OF FAITH ~~Theref ore the Lord of Mankind has caused His holy, divine Manifestations to come into the world. He has revealed His heavenly books in order to establish spiritual brotherhood, and through the power of the Holy Spirit has made it possible for perfect fraternity to be realized among mankind." Ñ tABDU'L-BAHA. In stating that the Cause national truth, which of Baha'u'llah is an independentmight be duplicated from religion, two essential factsthe same sources. Baha'u'llah are implied. created a reality in the The first fact is that world of the soul which the Baha'i Cause historicallynever before existed and was not an offshoot of could not exist apart any prior social principle from Him. or community. The teachings of The second fact is that Baha'u'llah are no artificialthe Faith of Baha'u'llah synthesis assembled from is a religion, standing the modern library of in the line of true religions: inter-Christianity, Christianity, Muhammadan [p6] 6 THE BAHA'I WORLD mm, Judaism and other prophetic Faiths. Its existence, like that of early Christianity, marks the return of faith as a direct and personal experience of the will of God. Because the divine will itself has been revealed in terms of human reality, the followers of Baha'u'llah are confident that their personal limitations can be transformed by an inflow of spiritual reinforcement from the higher world. It is for the privilege of access to the source of reality that they forego reliance upon the darkened self within and the un Ñ believing society without. The religious education of Baha'is revolutionizes their inherited attitude toward their own as well as other traditional religions. To Baha'is, religion is the life and teachings of the prophet. By identifying religion with its founder, they exclude from its spiritual reality all those accretions of human definition, ceremony and ritualistic practice emanating from followers required from time to time to make compromise with an unbelieving world. Furthermore, in limiting religion to the prophet they are able to perceive the oneness of God in the spiritual oneness of all the prophets. The Baha'i born into Christianity can wholeheartedly enter into fellowship with the Baha'i born into Muhammadanism because both have come to understand that Christ and Muhammad reflected the light of the one God into the darkness of the world. If certain teachings of Christ differ from certain teachings of Moses or Muhammad, the Baha'is know that all prophetic teachings are divided into two parts: one, consisting of the essential and unalterable principles of love, peace, unity and cooperation, renewed as divine commands in every cycle; the other, consisting of external practices (such as diet, marriage and similar ordinances) conforming to the requirements of one time and place. This Baha'i teaching leads to a profounder analysis or the process of history. The fol lowers of Baha'u'llah derive mental integrity from the realization made so clear and vivid by tAbdu'1-BahA that true insight into history discloses the uninterrupted and irresistible working of a Providence not denied nor made vain by any measure of human ignorance and unfaith. According to this insight, a cycle begins with the appearance of a prophet or manifestation of God, through whom the spirits of men are revivified and reborn. The rise of faith in God produces a religious community, whose power of enthusiasm and devotion releases the creative elements of a new and higher civilization. This civilization comes to its fruitful autumn in culture and mental achievement, to give way eventually to a barren winter of atheism, when strife and discord bring the civilization to an end. Under the burden of immortality, dishonor and cruelty marking this phase of the cycle, humanity lies helpless until the spiritual leader, the prophet, once more returns in the power of the Holy Spirit. Such is the Baha'i reading of the book of the past. Its reading of the present interprets these world troubles, this general chaos and confusion, as the hour when the renewal of religion is no longer a racial experience, a rebirth of one limited area of human society, but the destined unification of humanity itself in one faith and one order. It is by the parable of the vineyard that Baha of the Christian 'West behold their tradition and their present spiritual reality at last inseparably joined, their faith and their social outlook identified, their reverence for the power of God merged with intelligible grasp of their material environment. A human society which has substituted creeds for religion and armies for truth, even as all ancient prophets foretold, must needs come to abandon its instruments of violence and undergo purification until conscious, humble faith can be reborn. 3. THE BASIS OF UNITY C rThc best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee." Ñ BAHA'U'LLAH. Faith alone, no matter endure. The faith of the how wholehearted and early Christians was complete, sincere, affords no basis but its degree of inner on which the organic unity conviction when projected of a religious fellowship outward upon the field can [p7] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 7 of action soon disclosed a fatal lack of social principle. Whether the outer expression of love implied a democratic or an aristocratic order, a communal or individualistic society, raised fundamental questions after the crucifixion of the prophet which none had authority to solve. The Baha'i teaching has this vital distinction, that it extends from the realm of conscience and faith to the realm of social action. It confirms the substance of faith not merely as source of individual development but as a definitely ordered relationship to the community. Those who inspect the Baha'i Cause superficially may deny its claim to be a religion for the reason that it lacks most of the visible marks by which religions are recognized. But in place of ritual or other formal worship it contains a social principle Linking peopie to a community, the loyal observance of which makes spiritual faith coterminous with life itself. The Baha'is, having no professional clergy, forbidden ever to have a clergy, understand that religion, in this age, consists in an ttit dd toward God reflected in life." They are therefore conscious of no division between religious and secular actions. The inherent nature of the community created by Baha'u'llah has great significance at this time, when the relative values of democracy, of constitutional monarchy, of aristocracy and of communism are everywhere in dispute. Of the Baha'i community it may be declared definitely that its character does not reflect the communal theory. The rights of the individual are fully safeguarded and the fundamental distinctions of personal endowment natural among all people are fully preserved. Individual rights, however, are in.-terpreted in the light of the supreme law of brotherhood and not made a sanction for selfishness, oppression and indifference. On the other hand, the Baha'i order is not a democracy in the sense that it proceeds from the complete sovereignty of the people, whose representatives are limited to carrying out the popular will. Sovereignty, in the Baha'i community, is attributed to the divine prophet, and the elected representatives of the believers in their administrative function look to the teachings of Baha'u'llah for their guidance, having faith that the application of His universal principles is the source of order throughout the community. Every Baha'i administrative body feels itself a trustee, and in this capacity stands above the plane of dissension and is free of that pressure exerted by factional groups. The local community on April 21 of each year elects by universal adult suffrage an administrative body of nine members called the Spiritual Assembly. This body, with reference to all Baha'i matters, has sole power of decision. It represents the collective conscience of the community with respect to IBah&'i activities. Its capacity and power are supreme within certain definite limitations. The various local communities unite through delegates elected annually according to the principle of proportionate representation in the formation of a National Spiritual Assembly for their country or natural geographical area. This National Spiritual Assembly, likewise composed of nine meri-ibers, administers all national Baha'i affairs and may assume jurisdiction of any local matter felt to be of more than local importance. Spiritual Assemblies, local and national, combine an executive, a legislative and a judicial function, all within the limits set by the Baha'i teachings. They have no resemblance to religious bodies which can adopt articles of faith and regulate the processes of belief and worship. They are primarily responsible for the maintenance of unity within the Baha'i community and for the release of its collective power in service to the Cause. Membership in the Ba1A'i community is granted, on personal declaration of faith, to adult men and women. Six National Spiritual Assemblies have come into existence since the passing of tAbdu'1-Bahi in 1921. Each National Spiritual Assembly will, in future, constitute an electoral body in the formation of an International Spiritual Assembly, a consummation which will perfect the administrative order of the Faith and create, for the first time in history, an international tribunal representing a worldwide community united in a single faith. Baha'is maintain their contact with the source of inspiration and knowledge in the sacred writings of the Faith by continuous prayer, study and discussion. No believer [p8] Glimpses of Abdu'l-Baha. 8 [p9] Glimpses of tAbdu'1-BaM. 9 [p10] Glimpses of Abdu'l-Baha. [p11] (Jlimpses 0± Abdu'l-Baha. 11 [p12] 12 THE BAHA'I WORLD can ever have a finished, static faith any more than he can arrive at the end of his capacity for being. The community has but one meeting ordained in the teachings Ñ the general meeting held every nineteen days, on the first day of each month of nineteen days given in the new calendar established by the E~b. This Nineteen Day Feast is conducted simply and informally under a program divided into three parts. The first part consists in the reading of passages from writings of Baha'u'llah, the B&b and tAbdu'1 Ñ Baha Ñ a devotional meeting. Next follows general discussion of Baha'i activities Ñ the business meeting of the local community. After the consultation, the community breaks bread together and enjoys fellowship. The experience which Baha'is receive through participation in their spiritual world order is unique and cannot be paralleled in any other society. Their status of perfect equality as voting members of a constitutional body called upon to deal with matters which reflect, even though in miniature, the whole gamut of human problems and activities; their intense realization of kinship with believers representing so wide a diversity of races, classes and creeds; their assurance that this unity is based upon the highest spiritual sanction and contributes a necessary ethical quality to the world in this age Ñ all these opportunities for deeper and broader expe-rienc5 confer a privilege that is felt to be the fulfilment of life. 4. THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW DAY re1f man is left in his natural state, he will become lower than the animal and continue to grow more ignorant and imperfect. The savage tribes of Central Africa are evidence of this. Left in their natural condition, they have sunk to the lowest depths and degrees of barbarism, dimly groping in a world of mental and moral obscurity. God has purposed that the darkness of the world of nature shall be dispelled and the imperfect attributes of the natal self be effaced in the effulgent reflection of the Sun of Truth." Ñ tABDU'L-BAHA. The complete text of the Baha'i sacred writings has not yet been translated into English, but the present generation of believers have the supreme privilege of possessing the fundamental teachings of Baha'u'llah, together with the interpretation and lucid commentary of tAbdu'1-BahA, and more recently the exposition made by Shoghi Effendi of the teachings concerning the world order which Baha'u'llah came to establish. Of special significance to Baha'is of Europe and America is the fact that, unlike Christianity, the Cause of Baha'u'llah rests upon the prophet's own words and not upon a necessarily incomplete rendering of oral tradition. Furthermore, the commentary and explanation of the Baha'i gospel made by tAbdu'1-Bah4 preserves the spiritual integrity and essential aim of the revealed text, without the inevitable alloy of human personality which historically served to corrupt the gospel of Jesus and Mubammad. The Baha, moreover, has this distinctive advantage, that his approach to the teachings is personal and direct, without the veils interposed by any human intermediary. The works which suppiy the Baha'i teachings to English-reading believers are: The Kitib-i-Iq6n (Book of Certitude), in which Baha'u'llah revealed the oneness of the prophets and the identical foundation of all true religions, the law of cycies according to which the prophet returns at intervals of approximately one thousand years, and the nature of faith; Hidden Words, the essence of truths revealed by prophets in the past; prayers to quicken the soul's life and draw individuals and groups nearer to God; Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tar6At, The Tablet of the World, Kalim&t, Taja11iy~t, Bish6At, Ishr~q&t), which establish social and spiritual principles for the new era; Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tablet of the Branch, KitTh-i-tAhd, Law~-i-Aqdas), the appointment of CAbd 'lB If as the Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's teachings, the Testament of Baha'u'llah, and His message to the Christians; Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, ad [p13] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA FAITH 13 dressed to the son of a prominent Persian who had been a most ruthless oppressor of the believers, a Tablet which recapitulates many teachings Baha'u'llah had revealed in earlier works. The significant Tablets addressed to rulers of Europe and the Orient, as well as to the heads of American repub-. lics, about the year 1870, summoning them to undertake measures for the establishment of Universal Peace, constitute a chapter in the compilation entitled ttBah~?i Scriptures." The published writings of tAbdu'1-Bahi are: Some Answered Questions, dealing with the lives of the prophets, the interpretation of Bible prophecies, the nature of man, the awe principle of evolution and other philosophic subjects; Mysterious Forces of Civilization, a work addressed to the Persian peo-pie about forty years ago to show them the way to sound progress and true civilization; Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha, three volumes of excerpts from letters written to individual believers and Baha'i communities, which ii-lumine a vast range of subjects; Promulga Ñ tion of Universal Peace, in two volumes, from stenographic records of the public addresses delivered by the Master to audiences in Canada and the United States during the year 1912; The Wisdom of cAbdu~1~BaM, a similar record of His addresses in Paris; tAb du'1-BaM in London; and reprints of a number of individual Tablets, especially that sent to the Committee for a Durable Peace, The Hague, Holland, in 1919, and the Tablet addressed to the late Dr. Forel of Switzerland. The Will and Testament left by CAbdu~1~Bahi has special significance, in that it provided for the future development of Baha'i administrative institutions and the Guardianship. To these writings is now to be added the book entitled Baha'i Administration, consisting of the general letters written by Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Cause since the Master's death in 1921, which explain the details of the administrative order of the Cause, and his letters on World Order, which make clear the social principles imbedded in Baha'u'llah's Revelation. The literature has also been enriched by Shoghi Effendi's recent translation of The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation, a vivid eyewitness account of the episodes which resulted from the announcement of the Mb on May 23, 1844. The Traveller's Narrative, translated from a manuscript given by tAb du'1.-BahA to the late Prof. Edward G. Erowne of Cambridge University, is the only other historical record considered authentic from the Ba1A'i point of view. When it is borne in mind that the term ttreligious literature" has come to represent a wide diversity of subject matter, ranging from cosmic philosophy to the psychology of personal experience, from efforts to understand the universe plumbed by telescope and microscope to efforts to discipline the passions and desires of disordered human hearts, it is clear that any attempt to summarize the Baha teachings would indicate the limitations of the person making the summary rather than offer possession of a body of sacred literature touching the needs of man and society at every point. The study of Baha'i writings does not lead to any simpli-fled program either for the solution of social problems or for the development of human personality. Rather should it be likened to a clear light which illumines whatever is brought under its rays, or to spiritual nourishment which gives life to the spirit. The believer at first chiefly notes the passages which seem to confirm his own personal be-lids or treat of subjects close to his own previous training. This natural but nevertheless unjustifiable oversimplification of the nature of the Faith must gradually subside and give way to a deeper realization that the teachings of Baha'u'llah are as an ocean, and all personal capacity is but the vessel that must be refilled again and again. The sum and substance of the faith of Baha'is is not a doctrine, not an organization, but their acceptance of Baha'u'llah as Manifestation of God. In this acceptance lies the mystery of a unity that is general, not particular, inclusive, not exclusive, and limited in its gradual extension by no boundaries drawn in the social world nor arbitrary limitations accepted by habits formed during generations lacking a true spiritual culture. What the believer learns reverently to be grateful for is a source of wisdom to which he may turn for continuous mental and moral development Ñ a source of truth revealing a universe in which man's life has [p14] 14 TITlE BAHA'I WORLD valid purpose and assured realization. Human history begins to reflect the working of a beneficent Providence; the sharp outlines of material sciences gradually fade out in the light of one fundamental science of life; a profounder sociology, connected with the inner life, little by little displaces the superficial economic and political beliefs which like waves dash high an instant only to subside into the moveless volume of the sea. CCThe divine reality," tAbdu~1~Bah~ has said, "is unthinkable, limitless, eternal, immortal and invisible. The world of creation is bound by natural law, finite and mortal. The infinite reality cannot be said to ascend or descend. It is beyond the understanding of men, and cannot be described in terms which apply to the phenomenal sphere of the created world. Man, then, is in extreme need of the oniy power by which he is able to receive help from the divine reality, that power alone bringing him into contact with the source of all life. (CAn intermediary is needed to bring two extremes into relation with each other. Riches and poverty, plenty and need: without an intermediary there could be no relation between these pairs of opposites. So we can say that there must be a Mediator between God and man, and this is none other than the Holy Spirit, which brings the created earth into relation with the ~Unthink able One,' the divine reality. The divine reality may be likened to the sun and the Holy Spirit to the rays of the sun. As the rays of the sun bring the light and warmth of the sun to the earth, giving life to all created beings, so do the Manifestations bring the power of the holy spirit from the divine Sun of Reality to give light and life to the souls of men." In expounding the teachings of Baha'u'llah to public audiences in the West, tAbdu~1~ BaM frequently encountered the attitude that, while the liberal religionist might well welcome and endorse such tenets, the Baha'i teachings after all bring nothing new, since the principles of Christianity contain all the essentials of spritual truth. The believer whose heart has been touched by the Faith so perfectly exemplified by tAbdu~1Bah~ f eels no desire for controversy, but must needs point out the vital difference between a living faith and a passive formula or doctrine. 'What religion in its renewal brings is first of all an energy to translate belief into life. This impulse, received into the profoundest depths of consciousness, requires no startling "newness" of concept or theory to be appreciated as a gift from the divine world. It carries its own assurance as a renewal of life itself; it is as a candle that has been lighted, and in comparison with the miracle of light the discussion of religion as a form of belief becomes secondary in importance. Were the Baha'i Faith no more than a true revitalization of the revealed truths of former religions, it would by that quickening quality of inner life, that returning to God, still assert itself as the supreme fact of human experience in this age. For religion returns to earth in order to reestablish a standard of spiritual reality. It restores the quality of human existence, its active powers, when that reality has become overlaid with sterile rites and dogmas which substitute empty shadow for substance. In the person of the Manifestation it destroys all those imitations of religion gradually developed through the centuries and summons humanity to the path of sacrifice and devotion. Revelation, moreover, is progressive as well as periodic. Christianity in its original essence not oniy relighted the candle of faith which, in the years since Moses, had become extinguished Ñ it amplified the teachings of Moses with a new dimension which history has seen exemplified in the spread of faith from tribe to nations and peoples. Baha'u'llah has given religion its world dimen-sian, fulfilling the fundamental purpose of every previous Revelation. His Faith stands as the reality within Christianity, within Muhammadanism, within the religion of Moses, the spirit of each, but expressed in teachings which relate to all mankind. The Baha'i Faith, veiwed from within, is religion extended from the individual to embrace humanity. It is religion universalized; its teaching for the individual, spiritually identical with the teaching of Christ, supplies the individual with an ethics, a sociology, an ideal of social order, for which humanity in its earlier stages of development was not prepared. Individual fulfilment has [p15] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA FAITH 15 been given an objective social standard of reality, balancing the subjective ideal derived from religion in the past. Baha'u'llah has removed the false distinctions between the "spiritual" and "material" aspects of life, due to which religion has become separate from science, and morality has been divorced from all social activities. The whole arena of human affairs has been brought within the realm of spiritual truth, in the light of the teaching that materialism is not a thing but a motive within the human heart. overtaken all efforts to organize the principle of separation and competition, directly manifest in the power which has brought together the followers of Baha'u'llah in East and West. He has the assurance that the world's turmoil conceals from worldly minds the blessings long foretold, now forgotten, in the sayings which prophesied the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Sacred Literature of the Baha'i Faith conveys enlightenment. It inspires life. It frees the mind. It disciplines the heart. For believers, the Word is not a philosophy to be Right Hand. Left Hand. Impressions of the hands of tAbdu'I-Bah4 reproduced in the German magazine Sonne der W'ahrheit some years ago. The Baha'i learns to perceive the universe as a divine creation in which man has his destiny to fulfil under a beneficent Providence whose aims for humanity are made known through Prophets who stand between man and the Creator. He learns his true relation to the degrees and orders of the visible universe; his true relation to God, to himself, to his fellow man, to mankind. The more he studies the Baha'i teachings, the more he becomes imbued with the spirit of unity, the more vividly he perceives the law of unity working in the world today, indirectly manifest in the failure which has learned, but the sustenance of being throughout the span of mortal existence. "The Baha'i Faith," Shoghi Effendi stated in a recent letter addressed to a public official, ccrecognizes the unity of God and df 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. It inculcates the principle of equal [p16] THE BAHA'I WORLD opportunity, rights and privileges for both sexes, advocates compulsory education, abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth, recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, and provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace.~~ Those who, even courteously, would dismiss a Faith so firmly based, will have to admit that, whether or not by their test the teachings of Baha'u'llah are "new," the world's present plight is unprecedented, came without warning save in the utterances of Baha'u'llah and cAbdu1~Bahi, and day by day draws nearer a climax which strikes terror to the responsible student of current affairs. Humanity itself now seems to share the prison and exile which an unbelieving generation inflicted upon the Glory of God. 5. A BACKGROUND OF HEROIC SACRIFICE !fQ My beloved friends! You are the bearers of the name of God in this Day. You have been chosen as the repositories of His mystery. It behooves each one of you to manifest the attributes of God, and to exemplify by your deeds and words the signs of His right ecus-ness, s, His power and glory. Ponder the words of Jesus addressed to His disciples, as He sent them forth to pro~a gate the Cause of God." Ñ THE BAt The words of Baha'u'llah differ in the minds of believers from the words of philosophers because they have been given substance in the experience of life itself. The history of the Faith stands ever as a guide and commentary upon the meaning and influence of the written text. This history, unfolded contemporaneously with the rise of science and technology in the West, reasserts the providential element of human existence as it was reasserted by the spiritual consecration and personal suffering of the prophets and disciples of former times. The world of IsUm one hundred years ago lay in a darkness corresponding to the most degraded epoch of Europe's feudal age. Between the upper and nether millstones of an absolutist state and a materialistic church, the people of Persia were ground to a condition of extreme poverty and ignorance. The pomp of the civil and religious courts glittered above the general ruin like firedamp on a rotten log. In that world, however, a few devoted souis stood firm in their conviction that the religion of Mul3ammad was to be purified by the rise of a spiritual hero whose coming was assured in their interpretation of His gospel. This remnant of the faithful one by one became conscious that in ~A1i-Muhammad since known to history as the Bab (the "Gate"), their hopes had been realized, and under the BAt's inspiration scattered themselves as His apostles to arouse the people and prepare them for the restoration of IslAm to its original integrity. Against the Mb and His followers the whole force of church and state combined to extinguish a fiery zeal which soon threatened to bring their structure of power to the ground. The ministry of the Mb covered oniy the six years between 1844 and His martyrdom by a military firing squad in the public square at Tabriz on July 9, 1850. In the BTh's own written message He interpreted His mission to be the fulfilment of past religions and the heralding of a world educator and unifier, one who was to come to establish a new cycle. Most of the Mb's chosen disciples, and many thousands of followers, were publicly martyred in towns and villages throughout the country in those years. The seed, however, had been buried too deep in hearts to be extirpated by any physical instrument of oppression. After the Mb's martyrdom, the weight of official wrath fell upon ~ around whom the Mbis centered their hopes. kin-sayn~cA1i was imprisoned in Tihr~n, exiled to Baghdad, from BaghdAd sent to Constantinople under the jurisdiction of the SuI;in, exiled by the Turkish government to Adrian-ople, and at length imprisoned in the desolate barracks at tAkk~. In 1863, while delayed outside of Baghdid for the preparation of the caravan to be dis [p17] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 17 patched to Constantinople, Husayn-tAli established His Cause among the Bab's who insisted upon sharing His exile. His declaration was the origin of the Baha'i Faith in which the Bab's Cause was fulfilled. The Bab's who accepted 1Iusayn~CA1i as Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God) were fully conscious that His mission was not a development of the I3Abi movement but a new Cause for which the Bab had sacrificed His life as the first of those who recognized the manifestation or prophet of the new age. During forty years of exile and imprisonment, Baha'u'llah expounded a gospel which interpreted the spiritual meaning of ancient scriptures, renewed the reality of faith in God and established as the foundation of human society the principle of the oneness of mankind. This gospel came into being in the form of letters addressed to individual believers and to groups in response to questions, in books of religious laws and princi-pies, and in communications transm~ ted to the kings and rulers calling upon them to establish universal peace. This sacred literature has an authoritative commentary and interpretation in the text of CAbdu~1~Bah~~s writings during the years between Baha'u'llah's ascension in 1892 and tAbdu'1-BaM's departure in 1921, Baha'u'llah having left a testament naming tAb-du'1-BaM (His eldest son) as the Interpreter of His Book and the Center of His Covenant. The imprisonment of the Baha'i community at Akka ended at last in 1908, when the Young Turks party overthrew the existing political rdgime. For three years prior to the European War, CAbdu~1~Bahi then nearly seventy years of age, journeyed throughout Europe and America, and broadcast in public addresses and innumerable intimate gatherings the new spirit of brotherhood and world unity penetrating His very being as the consecrated Servant of Bab. The significance of CAb du'1-BaIA's commentary and explanation is that it makes mental and moral connection with the thoughts and social conditions of both East and West. Dealing with matters of religious, philosophical, ethical and sociological nature, tAbdu'I-BaM expounded all questions in the light of His conviction of the oneness of God and the providential character of human life in this age. The international Baha'i community, grief-stricken and appalled by its ioss of the wise and loving (cMaster~~ in 1921, learned with profound gratitude that tAbdu'1-BalTh in a wiii and testament had provided for thz continuance and future development of the Faith. This testament made clear the nature of the Spiritual Assemblies established in the text of Baha'u'llah and inaugurated a new center for the widespread community of believers in the appointment of His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. During the twelve years of general confusion since 1921, the Baha'i community has carried forward the work of internal consolidation and administrative order and has become conscious of its collective responsibility for the promotion of the blessed gospel of Baha'u'llah. In addition to the task of establishing the structure of local and national Spiritual Assemblies, the believers have translated Baha'i literature into many languages, have sent teachers to all parts of the world, and have resumed construction of the Baha'i House of Worship on the shore of Lake Michigan, near Chicago, the completion of which will be impressive evidence of th2 power of this new Faith. In the general letters issued to the Baha'i community by Shoghi Effendi in order to execute the provisions of CAbdu~1~Bah6t testament, believers have been given what they are confident is the most profound and accurate analysis of the prevailing social disorder and its true remedy in the World Order of Baha'u'llah. [p18] SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES IN THE EAST AND WEST PART ONE Ñ INTERNATIONAL B~ HORACE HOLLEY AT the time when the Survey was in preparation for the previous volume of The Baha'i World, the Ba1A'i community found itself in the full stream of international economic depression. It was noted in that Survey that the depression was in reality an unescapable test of the religious values prevalent in civilization. The rise of an unexpectedly powerful nationalism since that time, making possible a degree of control by states over industry in a time of peace commensurate with the control exercised as a matter of course during the war years, affords no reason why a Baha'i should withdraw that general statement. On the contrary, the nature of public events and trends since 1930 serves to throw it into far stronger relief. For the Baha'i community today is surrounded by a society compelled to make f ate-ful decision between the principle of internationalism, represented publicly by the League of Nations, and the principle of exclusively nationalistic sovereignty and power. The political bodies, which under the agony and stress of the European War had taken the new and unprecedented step of establishing a League embodying hope of political peace, were revealed, in the startling glare of general depression, as still essentially competitive with respect to that wide range of affairs on which the economic life of their people had come to depend. The devious and perplexing interrelations not oniy of commerce but also of the new and special problem represented by war debts and indemnities disclosed an immediate separation of vital interests which in action outweigh the ap parendy less immediate general interest of universal peace. The result has been the identification of nationalism with the struggle for existence, with a consequent intensification of that very separateness from which the European 'War inevitably derived. It was as though the states sincerely participating in the League had unexpectedly found themselves committed to a prior obligation Ñ the obligation to sustain their own people in commerce Ñ which had the effect, if not officially nevertheless practically, of canceling their obligations to the League. The course of the disarmament proceedings, not to men-don the withdrawal of two powers from the League, has written for all to read the political consequences of an economically competitive world. Followers of Baha'u'llah do not refer to such matters from any partisan point of view but solely to arrive at fuller understanding of the larger movements of the mysterious age in which they live. In this spirit of impartial analysis it may further be remarked that current nationalism has profoundly altered the customary relations of the state to its citizens, and likewise affected the nature of the state in itself. One observes a vast increase in the degree of responsibility assumed by government for the economic welfare of the people. Nationality and people appear as closely identified now with respect to normal activities as they were with respect to war making between 1914 and 1918. The strength of the state is its capacity to solve problems which peo-pie through various business agencies formerly assumed they had to solve for themselves. 18 [p19] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 19 Since the oniy public international agency in existence was never endowed with power to deal with economic problems from the international point of view, the unescapable responsibility has fallen upon national bodies to which the international point of view is not merely alien but also, as far as action is concerned, as yet impossible. While politically the world by means of the League emerged from the era of separate treaties into the era of the general covenant or pact, eco executive function and suppressed the legislative and judicial functions of government in practically every nation. Today decision and action tend to proceed independently, the legislative and judicial branches serving rather to justify action after the event than to anticipate and shape its course by preliminary inquiry and deliberation. Psychologically this means that the current period emphasises will at the expense of thought and habit. Socially it reveals the existence of Takyiy-I-Maw1An~ Khulid in Sulaym~niyyih, 'Jr~q, where Baha'u'llah stayed during his period of retirement. nomically the world is now proceeding through that same phase of separate treaties which characterized the last desperate decades preceding the war. The impact of this sudden and overwhelming responsibility has compelled the national state to make significant changes in its constitutional structure and its methods of oper Ñ anon. Whether these changes will in the future be regarded as "revolutionary" cannot now be determined, but the fact remains that the traditional balance between executive, legislative and judicial elements of government has been overthrown. The irresistible pressure of need for decision and action under unprecedented conditions has developed the crisis and emergency without precedent. Philosophically it means an instinctive breaking away from a past which no longer has meaning or influence. The balance between will, thought and habit must in time be fully restored, in government as in individual personality, because that balance is innate in human life itself. All emergency and crisis are inherently transitory, no matter how overwhelming the specific condition may appear. Deeper, however, than these changes going on in the political realm are the tacit assumptions upon which at present society is established. All public policy reflects a social philosophy of some sort, and the prevailing [p20] 20 THE BAHA'I WORLD philosophy, from the Baha'i point of view, is fatally limited. The individual everywhere is reckoned in terms of his political or economic citizenship and not in terms of his spiritual significance. Public pressure, through statute and collective opinion, seeks to give moral sanction to policies which have no root in moral truth. Humanity is divided against itself by the most powerful sanctions which can be devised, and by this division it may be seen how far the individual is swept from any foundation in righteousness. Man's relationship to a national state or a sectarian creed is no substitute for his relationship to God, and the effort to make it so is a desperate gamble with Destiny by which former societies have invariably destroyed themselves. The very process of social development since 1844 has been committed to this end, with no power of itself to check its course. Each step on the path to world war has apparently been inevitable, for the decisive factors at each step have been institutional and materialistic values rather than the humanitarian values which every religion in its purity has upheld. The decay of the individual Ñ his acceptance of false values Ñ has become organized as the very structure of civilization. Hence the clash of philosophies and institutions which project into action a general attitude severed from spiritual truth. Every civilization is the realization of man's collective will, and when that will is materialized the civilization possesses no source of healing. It is significant that one result of the social condition already manifest is the rapid destruction of our historic past. The increase of power in the state, made necessary by the increase of its responsibility, has, in some cases consciously and intentionally, in others unconsciously and without intention, established an entirely new scale of values and a new standard of usefulness upon all organized activities within the nation. No organized social activity, whether industrial, cultural or religious in character, can any longer maintain itself as a completely independent organism, feeding upon but entirely unanswerable to, the larger social organism of which it forms a part. The demand for social unity and more perfect coordination is serving rapidly to annul, by public opinion if not by statute, those larger and smaller social anarchies perpetuated from an earlier period under the protection of that indifference which, up to the present crisis, was considered the very flower of the democratic ideal. When, then, a true balance is again attained with the final recession of crisis, the nature of human socity will be far different from its nature in the autumn of 1929. The longer perspective of history may indeed explain the bitter economic crisis as the visible symptom of a society suffering from a more serious ailment than is even yet realized. The future verdict may be that international unity can rest upon no less substantial foundations than a true unity within the constituent nations, which preliminary unity could not be achieved apart from an emergency great enough to dominate the elaborately evolved divisive influences inherited from the past. The rise of nationalism may, at least, be viewed in two ways: first, as involving risk, if not inevitability, of a truly international war; and second, as the first major effort since feudalism to check the anarchy of individualism and socialize mankind. In the previous Survey reference was also made to the Baha teaching that by the year 1963 the foundations of universal peace will have been laid. Since the followers of Baha'u'llah accept this teaching as a truth superior to any human analysis of the course of events, they realize, more clearly than others can, the transitory character of existing conditions and the vast amount of readustment which humanity is destined to undergo during the next twenty-nine years. The rapidity of change and alteration during the period since 1914, stupendous though it has been, appears in the light of that prophetic teaching as no more than a feeble indication of changes and alterations yet to occur. What has happened, visibly and invisibly, is but preliminary to what must happen in less than half the span of man's allotted life. What the Baha'i community confidently anticipates is first, the general realization that social principles and doctrines cannot be divorced from spiritual truth, and second, that the nations and peoples will come to adopt an organic world order. [p21] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 21 The prevalent notion that political principles bear sanction merely from their source in a civil state, and that economic dictrines possess validity merely by concentrating upon one field of human activity isolated from the rest of life, is a fatal consequence of a religious tradition culminating in an artificial creed. Modern social principles are forms of a science compelled historically to build upon nonreligious foundations. Men as individuals may be religious, but society has come to be materialistic, and whatever else the course of events may produce it will reveal the impermanence of the basis upon which civilization rests. BaJA'is, therefore, have learned to cherish more deeply, and appreciate more fully, the pragmatic truth as well as the spiritual reality of tAbdu'1-BahS's exposition of the teachings of Baha'u'llah concerning the nature of human society. They have made transition from that preliminary stage, inevitable in a Cause gradually drawing its workers from a preexisting society, when the believers upheld the Baha'i social teachings as a static, if universal, religious creed, and have firmly entered that higher stage of development in which it is possible to realize that the principles enunciated by the Interpretor and Exemplar of the Faith have not oniy a divine origin but an immediate and direct relation to human history. They are the true path, apart from which is naught but frustration for the "armies that clash by night." Thus the Baha'is today feel a new insight into the significance of such principles as tcThe agreement of science and religion," "The abolition of prejudice," or "The establishment of a Supreme Tribunal," since they behold the throes of a society in which these aspects of truth are penetrating more deeply day by day. They behold and feel poignantly the sterile effort of the greatest human powers to solve problems apparently political and economic but in reality rooted in the spiritual domain. They are not blinded by the formidable nature of those powers expressing themselves through myriad doctrines emanating from the most highly trained and acute intelligences at the disposition of society. They see ttthe end of this valley from the begin-fling," and however they regret their own human weakness they possess a steadfast faith in the revealed purposes of the divine Will. Sooner or later events and conditions will compel the world to accept life as one reality and no longer as separate fragments termed ttreligion,~c economics, or "politics." Another significant development in the Baha'i community during the past two years has been its emergence from the view that Baha'i Administration is a method of internal unity and discipline to the larger view that it is a true world order, the pattern of that order which humanity wiii attain when disorder has run its course to the end. The belief which many friendly observers of the Faith have expressed, namely that the mission of this Cause is to introduce into society the leaven of a more liberal and universal outlook, a mission to be fulfilled when the "Baha'i principles" have won general acceptance Ñ this attitude, which has conditioned a certain number of Baha'is, at least in the West, has lost its force with the rise of knowledge concerning the world order of Baha'u'llah emanating from the Testament of tAbdu'1-Bah5. The Baha'is have been carried beyond that critical point of development, with its temptation to relax from the early zeal of teaching, overlook the vital importance of their own organic unity, and judge the progress of the Faith by criterions established in non-BaM'i realms of society. Their present realization, that the new wine cannot be held in old bottles, stands as a landmark in the evolution of the Baha community. For this realization has served to intensify the spirit of teaching, by making its aim the growth of the Baha'i community and not merely the spread of general principles; and it has greatly deepened the conviction of the believers that they are citizens of a worldwide spiritual commonwealth and not merely individual exponents of new and desirable ideals. To summarize this subject briefly, it is noted that the Baha'i community has come to see more and more clearly its essential separation from a world which has lost control of its own destiny. The followers of Baha'u'llah have been given knowledge that another war is inevitable; they consequently are striving to build upon the foundations which can alone endure. The source of this growth has been, in [p22] 22 THE BAHA'I WORLD part, the natural result of the impact of the general depression upon a Ba1A'i community habituated to think of life in terms of the teachings of Baha'u'llah, but even more the influence exerted by the general communications issued by the Guardian of the Faith during this two-year period, ttAmerica and the Most Great Peace," and "The Dispensa-don of Baha'u'llah." In these statements the Baha'is find their Faith reaffirmed in terms of clear insight into the nature of the current world movement. The present Survey is introduced with the necessary comment that in no visible and concrete activity but rather in a development of understanding and responsibility has the international Baha'i commuity most truly made definite progress since the previous voi-urne of this biennial record was prepared. THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM The worldwide Baha'i community responded to a profound common grief in the passing of Baha'i Khanum, daughter of Baha'u'llah, in July, 1932. Throughout the lifetime of the present generation of Baha'is in all countries, Baha'u'llah Khanum known by the title 'tGreatest Holy Leaf" bestowed upon her by Baha'u'llah, had been felt to be the exemplification of supreme devotion to the Faith, the exam-pie of perfect womanhood, and a link between the believers and the great historic period when the Cause had its Manifestation in the persons of the Mb and Baha'u'llah. From the stories by pilgrims returning from Haifa, from Baha'i Khanum's own communications written at the Guardian's behest during his absence from Haifa at intervals since the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha the Baha'is felt the unique quality of her life, and in the pang of her removal realized that an era in the evolution of God's Faith had come to a close. "Greatest Holy Leaf's immortal spirit winged its flight (to the) Great Beyond. Countless lovers (of her) saintly life in East and West seized with pangs of anguish. Plunged in unutterable sorrow humanity shall ere long recognize its irreparable loss The announcement received by the American National Spiritual Assembly on July 15 from Shoghi Effendi, communicated at once to all local communities, united the believers with a new and sacred bond and in the experience of tragic ioss inspired the hearts to rise higher above the oppressive limitations of a divided world. Between the National Assemblies flew messages expressing the burden of the mutual grief. All Baha"' Assemblies held special meetings, and for a period of nine months the Baha'i world suspended the observance of every manner of religious festivity. With this sorrow was mingled realization that upon the believers themselves henceforth would rest more and more collective responsibility for maintaining upon earth the Cause for which the Greatest Holy Leaf had during a long life paid unremitting sacrifice. From the Guardian within a few weeks came a tribute to her sacred memory which was published and spread among all Baha'i communities. From his pen came words expressive of the reverence and passionate loss which the Baha were unable to describe. It was realized that among the Divine blessings destined for this age there had been granted two Manifestations, but likewise a Holy Family. At Haifa, the scene of her life during the later years of the Cause, on August twenty-fifth a memorial feast was arranged for the poor and indigent in cAbdu~1~Bah4~s garden Ñ an occasion which was later described as unprecedented in that city. The thousand peo-pie, old and young, who received hospitality in the name of Baha'i Khanum, without distinction of race, class, or creed, stood, though they knew it not, on the very threshold of the new day when the spirit of love shall reign upon an earth so long accustomed to wretchedness and misery. Elsewhere in the present volume will be found tributes to her. Here must suffice this brief reference to the experience shared by all Baha, concluding with these excerpts from a letter written by the Greatest Holy Leaf to the American Baha'is in 1924. (cLet us then, affectionate brothers and sisters, ponder for awhile upon the underlying reason that had made God's divine Messengers prefer a life of torture to one of ease, and those blessed martyrs, so many of [p23] CURRENT BAnAl ACTIVITIES 23 them cut off in the springtime and promise of their youth, choose death with faces radiant with joy. What did the BTh sacrifice His promising youth for except out of a burning desire to have mankind live in unity and peace; and what was the spirit that animated those bold and heoric martyrs but love and adoration to a Cause they wished to triumph? What made Baha'u'llah, born and brought up in opulence, fling away all earthly possessions and choose upon Himself unspeakable hardships and deprivation, save for an earnest appeal to the world at large to turn their hatred for one another into genuine love and to make a world seething with blood a peaceful home for God's children; and why did tAbdu'1-BahA, who could have chosen a life of ease and comfort, prefer to lead a crusade against the strongholds of human hearts and make a direct appeal to individuals as well as groups that unless we love one another with all our might and with all our heart we are absolutely doomed. He carried a crusade not with a sword of steel but with a sword of love and affection. And if we dare call ourselves Baha'is it simply means that we have to follow in their wake. It means that we must always have the public weal in mind and not give ourselves wholly to our inclinations and desires, and it means that we must picture before us the perseverance and self-sacrifice of those early voiun-teers and make a wholehearted effort to be like unto them; and it shall be oniy in this way that we can safeguard the Cause of God... THE MISSION OF KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER IN PERSIA The action of the Persian and Turkish governments in exiling Baha'u'llah from His native land was the means employed by Providence to reveal the universal character of a Faith which hitherto had been viewed merely as a reform movement confined to IslAm. By successive steps, the Faith established itself in lands both East and West of Persia itself, among peoples having religious traditions different from that of Ishim. The new Cause took root and flourished most vigorously in regions which had developed the spirit of religious freedom; its growth re mamed slowest wherever intolerance still reigned. Throughout Persia, however, as Lord Cur-zon and other observers have testified, the martyrdom of the Bab and the banishment of Baha'u'llah by no means terminated the life of the Faith in that country. By Tablets received from Akka, by the influence of pilgrims who made the journey to the Great Prison for the privilege of praying near its formidable walls or happily of obtaining a glimpse of Baha'u'llah at the narrow window of His cell, and later by the ceaseless ministry of Abdu'l-Baha, the numbers of the believers in Persia increased steadily during the two generations arisen since the Announcement made by the Mb to the world in 1844. During the Master's ministry a number of Persian Baha'i teachers traveled to Europe and America, correspondence between Baha'i communities of the two countries was maintained, and the spiritual bond connecting them was strengthened by their mutual undertaking in the development of the Tarbiat Schools. "With the interruption of a few cases of persecution which took place in smaller towns and villages, an era of increasing tolerance marked the history of the Faith in the land of its origin. The postwar rise of the secular attitude, particularly pronounced in the Near East, with its undermining of clerical privilege and influence, favored the development of a Cause possessing no professional clergy but identifying religion with ethical and moral values rather than with ritualistic ceremony and an artificial creed. Among a population still medieval in outlook and bereft of modern education, the Baha'is formed a nucleus from which a higher type of civilization could gradually be developed. Other tendencies, however, began to prevail in Persia, and to the great surprise and grief of the American Baha'i community it became apparent since the preparation of the previous volume of the international record that alarming measures were being taken to suppress the Cause. A rigid ban was imposed upon the entrance of Baha'i literature, and the printing and circulation of the literature in Persia was suppressed. In June, 1932, the National Spiritual Assembly of American Baha'is appointed Mrs. [p24] 24 THE BAHA'I WORLD Keith Ransom-Kehier its representative to present in person an appeal to the Shah. This action followed the presentation of written appeals which brought no result. At that time, Mrs. Ransom-Keller had completed her journey to the Far East, described in Volume IV of the present work, and had returned to Haifa for spiritual renewal and preparation for additional international service to the Cause. Proceeding to Persia, she obtained an interview with the Court Minister, and on his assurance that the ban would be raised, cabled the National Spiritual Assembly that her mission had brought success, a consummation which later events unfortunately invalidated. Changes in the government compelled Mrs. Ransom-Keller to recognize the fact that the disabilities imposed upon Persian believers continued unchanged, and from January to October, 1933, the heroic American Baha'i maintained unremitting effort to overcome the forces of inertia resisting the advance of a universal Faith. On October 27, 1933, a cablegram from Tihr ~n conveyed the sad and startling news that the American representative, her spirit exhausted by the long ordeal, had succumbed at Isfahan. Recognizing the high importance of her Baha'i mission and martrydom in Persia, the American Assembly published a detailed report of her work and moreover took steps to obtain designs for a memorial to be erected at Isfahan to commemorate Mrs. Ransom-Kehier's unique contribution to the Baha'i union of East and West. The report appears in Part Two of the present volume, and will record, however inadequately, the determination of American believers to assist their fellow-Bah?is in Persia, symbolized in the sacrifice of Mrs. Ransom-Keller's life on Persian soil. To that statement may now be added the following excerpts from letters written by the Baha'i Assembly of Persia on November 21, and December 25, 1933: ccOrdained destiny and the desire of God has taken our beloved Keith Ransom Ñ Kehier away from us and lifted her to the AMA Kingdom, and has plunged the Baha'is of Persia into mourning. Our dear Keith spent approximately sixteen months in Persia; she entered the country from the western frontier, visiting the friends of KirmansMh, HamadAn and QarVin, after staying some time in Tihr4n and recovering from sickness she travelled to AdhirbAyj 4n where the friends derived great profit from her eloquent teaching; she then made another journey through the East and North, and the friends of Khur~s~n and M6zindar4n and GilAn had the bounty of her presence, her fluent speech, her spiritual life. Everywhere the friends paid her due honor, sending representatives ahead to welcome her into their cities, escorting her for some distance when she left. They felt themselves fortunate in being with her, and thanked God that the power of His word had raised out of the old beliefs such shining, devoted souis for the service of His Cause, the salvation of all the world; they prayed for the success of her important mission in this land. "During her sojourn in Tihr~n, Keith strained every nerve to fulfill the instructions of the Guardian. Her tireless effort, her refusal to rest, were an example in sacrifice, and recalled the impassioned deeds of our Heroic Age. On seven occasions she composed and sent to His Majesty lengthy petitions in which she clearly proved the necessity of lifting the ban on Baha'i literature, and asked the removal of existing restrictions on Baha'i activity. She left no phase of her task undone; in her meetings with distinguished officials she spoke with power and convincing authority, informing them of the Baha'i principles and of the greatness of Baha'u'llah's Cause throughout East and West, she gave countless talks to audiences of Baha'is and non-Bahi'is, setting forth in inspiring words the reality of religion and the teachings of the new Manifestation; all who heard her recognized the breadth of her knowledge, the value of the Baha'i Faith and its superiority to other ways of life. Her talks addressed to Baha'is kept us continually mindful of the main issues confronting us at this time. In the face of trials and difficulties besetting the Cause in our country she stood firm, and at all times turned in lowliness and prayer to Baha'u'llah and begged for confirmation. Her spiritual qualities, the beauty of her nature drew people to her, and awakened those who could corn [p25] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 25 prehend her station; she was an example of a true Baha'i. "The Guardian had instructed Keith to leave Tihr&n at the beginning of autumn, travel through Persia and leave Bi%hihr about December 21. The night preceding her departure from Tihr~n a large meeting was held in the Haziratu'1-Quds; the friends, deeply moved by her words of farewell, voiced their thanks and appreciation and love through a member of the Spiritual Assembly. On Friday, September 22 a large escort of friends accompanied her to the Baha village of Hasan-AbAd, a few miles out of town on the road to Qum; refreshments were served, many pictures taken, and after a last farewell Keith and her party continued on to Qum, escorted by a number of Tihrin friends and a delegate from the Tihr~n Spiritual Assembly. That night was spent in Qum, and a meeting was held of the Qum Baha'is and the delegation of welcome that had come on ahead from K&sh&n; Keith further met several Qur'an officials and discussed the teachings with them. CCOn Saturday, September 23 the party left for Kish4n; at Mishg~n, about twenty-two miles outside the city, a group of some two hundred and fifty Baha'is from K6sh~n, Ar~n and neighboring villages gathered as an escort; luncheon was served and Keith spoke, after which the party proceeded to the appointed residence in K~sh~in. Sunday, in accordance with the local Spiritual Assembly's program, was devoted to rest; on Monday and Tuesday several meetings were held for men and women respectively, Baha'is and non-Bahi'is. Wednesday Keith was invited to the village of Ar~n, where one meeting was held for men and a second for women, the majority at each being non-Bahi'is, and Keith delivered the Teachings with great spirituality and good cheer. Thursday afternoon in response to a previous invitation Keith went to the home of the governor where she met many leading officials, including the chief of police, the director of the municipal council, the directors of public health and of commerce; here three hours were passed, during which she viewed an exhibit of K~shin industrial products, and set forth at length the Baha'i principles. Friday afternoon a talk was given at a bril liant meeting arranged by the Children's Service Committee, many children joining in the program; that night a meeting of members of committees was held, in the course of which funds were raised to build the tomb of Aq~ M6ndil-Ali, one of the martyrs of M4zg~n; here Keith spoke on the importance of completing the census and of other pressing Baha'i duties. After a day's rest Keitb left on Sunday for the town of JaushiqAn; there a hundred people, Baha'is and non-Bah6As, including many from neighboring villages, gathered for luncheon and a meeting; a second meeting followed that evening with three hundred present, and all were delighted with the address. Keith returned to K~sh~n the next day, and on Tuesday attended two meetings, one for men, the other for women, which were planned especially for Baha'is; Wednesday afternoon she was photographed with several members of Women's Progress Committee, children of the character training classes and others, and spoke on the importance of women's progress. She was extremely pleased with the Baha'is of Ktbin and their zeal in serving the Cause. "Keith left Kishin on Thursday, October 5, escorted for some miles by the friends of that city, some of the KAsh&n friends continued on with her to IsThhAn, and many 1sf ~Mn friends caine ahead as far as Murch-ih-Khurt and Tarq (about sixty-three miles from Isflhin) to welcome her, and in complete happiness the party entered IsftMn October 6. Saturday afternoon, October 7 was spent visiting places sacred in Baha'i history, and that night the Spiritual Assembly and committees met at the Haziratu'1-Quds and Keith addressed them. A week's program was arranged, and meetings planned for every afternoon and evening. Sunday afternoon a women's meeting was held, and Sunday night a meeting for men, both Baha'is and others, in the Flaziratu'1-Quds, and Keith spoke at length on the calumnious articles in a local paper, dwelling on the true nature of Baha'is, their love of their own country and of all countries, their good will toward every human being. Monday afternoon Keith called on the governor at his home, and also met the head of the telegraph department and of the police; that evening [p26] 26 THE BAHA'I WORLD she received and addressed a group of iso Ñ lated believers. After their departure she fell ill, with chills and high fever, and from Tuesday, October 10 she was confined to her bed, unable to continue with the work that had been planned. Keith was constantly attended by Najmiyyih Kbinum'A14'i, the graduate nurse who had been her Tihr~n hostess, this lady and her husband, Ralima-tu'lUh KMn'A1A'i, had placed themselves entirely at Keith's disposition during her sojourn in this country, in accordance with the Guardian's instructions the two were escorting Keith throughout her journey and were to have accompanied her to B&hihr. ~~On Wednesday the illness was aggravated, and Doctor 'Abb6siyTh, one of the best doctors in IshliTh and a Baha'i, diagnosed the trouble as measles; by Friday her condition was much worse, and at her request a cable was sent the Guardian, begging for his prayers. The doctor then diagnosed smallpox; a consultation of several physicians was held, and Doctor 'AbAsiy~n's diagnosis and treatment approved. The illness was then seriously complicated by dysentery, which however yielded to treatment and Keith seemed on the point of recovering; meanwhile the following cable was received from the Guardian: "Wire news health Keith; Carpenter Na'imi welcome"; this was dated at Haifa October 21 and addressed to Tihr~n; a reply was cabled to the effect that Keith was better. Monday, October 22 she still had a slight fever but was sufficiently recovered to hear read a letter addressed to her from this Assembly, and to dictate a cable to the Guardian Ñ t tGuardian's prayers overcoming every difficulty." However at eleven o'clock Monday morning she suddenly, without any warning, lost the power of speech; the doctor was sent for, and said that a new complication had set in, and that a nerve-centre was paralyzed. After that for four hours she could still speak a few words; with difficulty she repeated CtY6. Bah&'u'1-Abhut" and "All4hu'Abhi", and motioned for those in the room to pray. The doctor gave a number of injections in the hope of saving her, and he and another Baha'i physician spent the night at her bedside; but every effort failed before ordained destiny, and our dearly-loved Keith ascended at four ten on Tuesday afternoon, the 9th of 'Jim, the year 90, corresponding to October 23, 1933. "As soon as Keith passed away, Najmiyyib Kh4num 'AIA'i and 'Atiyyih KhAnum Rab.-mini H~diyuff washed her body and placed it in a casket of fine workmanship; a great crowd of friends from Najaf Ñ Abid and I~f&h&n gathered, and a photograph was taken which will be forwarded; then a cortege of approximately six hundred friends was formed, to follow the flower-laden hearse down one of 1sf 4hAn's main avenues to a great cemetery; and here, in a place where many early Baha'is are buried, not far from the tombs of the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, Keith was laid to rest. For three days thereafter memorial services were held all over the city; it was said that such a funeral had never been seen in 1sf 4h4n. "The stupefying news of Keith's ascension was wired to the Tihr~n Spiritual Assembly, and from here to the Guardian and to New York. On Thursday, October 26 under the auspices of this Assembly the eight district meetings which are held weekly in Tihr4n conducted memorial services; on Friday, October 27 a large group met in the Haziratu'1-Quds; here a tablet for the departed was chanted, and the Guardian's letters, regarding Keith's high station, her wonderful qualities and mission, were read; a member of this Assembly then spoke on Keith's life; her missions undertaken at the Guardian's command, her services to the Cause in America, her historic journeys, her appointment as delegate from the American National Spiritual Assembly; during this talk the cable from your Assembly was received and was read to the friends. "The following cable was sent us by the Guardian on October 28: tThe intrepid defender and illustrious herald of God's Cause has risen triumphant from depths of darkness to her heavenly home; her magnificent deeds were hidden from the negligent in that land; the Supreme Concourse knew her worth; she possesses the rank of martyrdom and is one of the Hands of the Cause. The entire Tihrin Assembly will surely in conjunction with delegates from ShiMz, Kirm6n, .Ab4dih, Yazd and the southern ports go on pilgrimage in my stead to her venerated grave. [p27] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 27 (Signed) Shoghi.' This Assembly will leave Friday, November 23, just one month after her passing and will meet with the delegates specified in the Guardian's cable, as representatives of the Guardian at her illustrious resting-place. ttA second cable dated October 26 was received from your Assembly, and as stated above the last rites had taken place by that date; we are now waiting for the effects to arrive from Shir6z and JsThh4n, to deliver them to the American Consul and fulfill the requirements of Persian and American law. On Tuesday afternoon, November 7 a public memorial service was arranged by the Servants of the Merciful Committee at the Tili-rAn Ha~iratu'1-Quds, where members of the Women's Progress Committee spoke on Keith's life of service to the Cause. We have requested the Assemblies all over Persia to hold similar services." CCJ~ obedience to the Guardian's cabled instructions the members of this Assembly left TihrAn November 23, 1933 for I~f~h~n, where an evening meeting was held at the Jja4ratu'1-Quds in conjunction with the IsfM~n friends and the six delegates from those centres which Keith was to have visited . Ñ Shir6i, Abidili, Yazd, Kirmin and the southern ports; tablets were chanted, and Dr. Yiinis Kh~n Afnikhtih of this Assembly spoke impressively on Keith's spiritual qualities and the significance of her mission to Persia. On the following morning at eight o'clock, the Tihr~n and IsfThin Assemblies, the 1sf ~h~in committees, the six delegates and some Tihr~n friends who had accompanied this Assembly, proceeded to the cemetery, which is on the outskirts of JsfThin, stopped at the graves of the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, and then gathered at the enclosed ground which is the perpetual rest-ing~place of Keith. We stood over the dust of that pure spirit that was sacrificed for the Cause, and buried her honored grave in flowers; the Shir~z delegate, HAji Habibu'11&h Afnin, who had brought a bottle of rose-water from the House of the Bib, sprinkled it on the ground, and a large portrait of Keith, taken in Tihr~n and decorated with flowers, was placed above the grave. We stood in silence, visiting this radiant earth in the Guardian's stead, while prayers for the dead were chanted. Several photographs were then taken, three of which we enclose. At ten o'clock that morning another large meeting was held at the Haziraru'1-Quds, and here the secretary of this Assembly, Aq&y-i-Rawbani, read the letters sent by the Guardian to Persia regarding Keith and her mission; Aq~y-i-Yazd&ni of this Assembly then spoke on the importance of Isf~h4n to the Cause, and on the life of Keith, her many missions, the far-reaching effect of her services. Following this Aq&y-i-Afn6n, the Shir~z delegate, told how the friends in Shir~z had longed to meet Keith, how deeply they had felt this ioss, and his words further intensified the emotion of the gathering. On the morning of the 25th, this Assembly returned to Tihr6n. SWe feel the meeting of the Tihr4n Assembly and the delegates in 1sf &h6n at the grave of the first Western martyr to be of historic import, a significant ending to Keith's luminous life; surely the spiritual tumult which this pilgrimage caused in our hearts will give rise to far-reaching results. It is certain that the building of a memorial by the American friends will bring added fame to her grave, strengthen the bonds between East and West and prove a distinguished service to the Cause." PERSIA The activities of the Persian Baha'i community during the period 19321934 are embodied in a separate report prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of that land. A brief summary is included in this international survey which seeks to present a view of Baha'i developments as a whole. Of essential importance is the fact that this period marks the completion of all necessary preparations for the election by Baha'i delegates of a National Spiritual Assembly, the foundation of the Baha'i administrative order in each country. Hitherto on account of restrictions imposed by deep-seated prejudice of religious origin the Persian Baha'is have found it impossible to carry out the comprehensive plan required for the establishment of a National Spiritual Assembly, involving the election of delegates by each local community under uniform [p28] 28 THE BAHA'I WORLD conditions, and the meeting of the delegates in Convention. The steady growth of the Cause, however, and above all the success of the many traveling teachers who have carried information concerning Baha'i administrative principles to the remotest towns and villages, have created the conditions under which the Persian Baha'i community has found it possible to join its fellow communities of other lands in fulfilling the spiritual order enjoined in the Will and Testament of tAbdu'1-Bahi This achievement is one which the entire Baha'i world realizes has fundamental historic significance, bringing nearer the final stage of Bab6'i administration, the formation of the International Body. More than five hundred local communities arranged for participation in the election of delegates to the First Annual Convention, held at the end of April, 1934, the details of which will therefore be published in the next volume of The Baha'i World. Those in Western lands who have knowledge of Persian history may well pause to consider what a spiritual power Ñ what a manifestation of faith Ñ has penetrated a great section of the public, to bring about so profound a movement in an ancient land, among a people deemed backward and uneducated Ñ a movement linking together believers in so many cities, towns and villages in an administrative order inspired by universal principles and reflecting the spirit of a new age! Typifying the Baha'i development is the village of Saysan, some twenty-eight miles from Tabriz, which has 1600 inhabitants, 1250 of which are Baha'is. These believers maintain a well equipped Haziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Center) and two schools for boys and girls where two hundred and eleven students are enrolled. A class is also conducted for adult women who received no opportunities for education under the Muslim era. A contrasting but equally significant view of the Cause is to be found in the city of Tihr4n, where an active and large Baha'i community exists. Their efforts have laid the foundations of a Baha'i national administrative center, and initiated negotiations for the purchase of an extensive area on the slope of a mountain overlooking the city, to constitute the site of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar iqu'1-Adhk~r (Baha'i House of Worship) Ñ the third Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to be erected by the Baha'i world community. From the correspondence of the Baha'i Committee at Tihr~n the Western believers have learned with gratitude that generous contributions made by Mirza Asasi have been employed to restore the house occupied by Baha'u'llah in the village of Takur in Mazin-daran, originally the property of the Vazir, His father. What especially impresses a Baha'i of the West in following the activities of his fellow-believers in Persia is the degree to which they have developed educational institutions, not only for their own members but for non-Bahi'is as well. The essence of the Baha'i Faith is knowledge. The Revelation in itself is the greatest body of truth which exists in the modern world. But where the American believers, for example, find themselves surrounded with opportunities for secular education, and therefore have developed oniy facilities for expounding the Baha'i texts, the Persian Baha'is have been compelled to lay foundations for education in general. They consequently do not make distinctions between religious and secular education, but combine these two elements in their classes and schools, a fact which means much for the future civilization of that land. THE SPREAD OF BAHA'I LITERATURE The foundation upon which stands the steady development of the Faith from country to country is the spread of the literature. An age raised by Divine power to the plane of independent investigation of truth, liberated at last from those artificial influences which for hundreds of years have been associated with the propagation of religions, must needs have access to the Word of God and direct knowledge of its source and significance. The true result of the activities of every Baha'i teacher is to quicken hearts to an awareness of the Message of Baha'u'llah as delivered to every seeker, and not to impose even the most beneficent aspects of personal influence. The period 19321934 covered by the present volume has been noteworthy in the spread [p29] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 29 of Baha'i literature, as attested by the following facts. "Baha'u'llah and the New Era," by the late John E. Esslemont, was translated and published by devoted workers in these additional languages: Kurdish, Spanish, Bulgarian, Turkish, Japanese, Armenian, Serbian, Hungarian, Dutch, Albanian, Ñ bringing the total number of printed translations to twenty Ñ eight. Moreover, it appears from reports that these additional translations were in process: Urdu, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Greek, Bengali and Abyssinian. The "Hidden Words" of Baha'u'llah was translated into Russian, and work begun on translation into Esperanto, Czech, Gujrati and Urdu. CCTh Dawn-Breakers: NAbil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha'i Faith" was in process of translation into Arabic, while "The Tablet of Iqan" (Book of Certitude) was being rendered into Armenian, Danish and Czech. A Russian edition of the IqTh was published during this fruitful period. Valuable translations by Dr. Tsao of Shanghai into Chinese included ~tThe Tablet of Iqan," "Paris Talks of ~ and the Index to c tSome Answered Questions," the book itself being under way in a translation expected to appear in the near future. The same faithful worker has given Chinese renderings to a number of articles and pamphlets, among them tAbdu'1-Bah&'s Tablet to the Committee on a Durable Peace, The Hague. Baha'i literature in the English language will soon be enriched by translations undertaken by Prof. Zeine N. Zeine of the American University at Beirut. Prof. Zeine made preliminary renderings into English of the following works: ttKitAb-i-AqdAs "Ques-tiOns and Answers," an Appendix to the AqdAs ccvi it ti Tablet to Siyyidu'sh-ShuhAda," CcPrayer to the Dead," the 'tEx-alted Letters," "Tablet of Carmel," ttTblet of the Vision," Four Valleys, Tablets revealed for the Feasts of RidvTh, Nawruz, and the birthdays of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, and selected chapters from ttMemorials of the Faithful," by tAbdu'1-.Bah&. Contributions made by Baha'i authors to the literature during this period included the following works: by Dr. Hermann Gross-mann mann of Heidelberg, Germany, "Am Morgen ciner neuen Zeit," published by Strecker und Schroder, Stuttgart; by "Christophul," ccThe Promise of All Ages," published by Allen and Unwin, London; by Mary Hanford Ford, "The Secret of Life," and by Prof. Stanwood Cobb, "Security for a Failing World," early publication of which was expected. In the light of the statement made by Shoghi Effendi in a recent letter to an Amer-jean believer, that in the future the Faith would be spread effectively by the mediums of creative art, the writing of a play entitled tcThe Drama of the Kingdom," by Mrs. Basil Hall of London, and its publication in book form, appears to the believers a happy augury. BAHA'I SUMMER SCHOOLS The future historian of the Faith will devote particular attention to the development of Summer Schools by the various National Baha'i communities in this era. Nothing could more clearly distinguish the difference between the Cause of Baha'u'llah and the creeds to which former religions have been reduced by the spiritual attritions of the centuries than the eagerness with which Baha'is undertake to give serious study to their Sacred Scriptures, their attitude that these Scriptures constitute reality itself, and their determination to fit themselves to become teachers and expounders of the Word. Baha'i Summer Schools are lay institutions, without resemblance to schools of theology, conducted and frequented by believers who recognize no professional clergy, and who look to the Writings of their Faith not merely for knowledge of God but knowledge of man and the evolution of a true social order. At the time of this writing, Baha'i Summer Schools exist in Green Acre, Eliot, Maine, in Geyserville, California, at Louhelen Ranch, Davison, Michigan, and in Esslingen, Germany. The School at Green Acre had its origin in the public Conferences conducted by the late Sarah J. Farmer under the inspiration she received at the Parliament of Religions held in connection with the Chicago World's [p30] 30 THE BAHA'I WORLD Fair, 1893, later deepened and guided by her acceptance of the Baha'i Cause. The second Summer School established under Baha'i auspices was that held on the property of Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch at Geyserville, and it was the Pacific Coast Summer School which first in America made the transition from the general conference and public lecture type of gathering to the more intensive study type of gathering now prevalent. The German Baha'is next established an annual School at Esslingen, followed by the School held on the property of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Eggleston at Davison, Michigan. The section devoted to current Baha'i activities in the United States and Canada includes reports from the three American Summer Schools and facts about the study courses conducted during the period 19321934, while an article about Esslingen will be found under the topic CCG~~ farther on in the present survey. 'While there is no need to duplicate this material at this point, due emphasis must be given to the importance which the Baha'i Summer School has come to possess as a recognized institution in the Faith. Significant is the fact that the devotion of the believers, their interest in the Teachings, constitutes the reality of a Baha'i Summer School, and not its resources of physical equipment nor even of educational leaders trained according to professional standards. A Baha'i Summer School represents a free and voluntary association of believers for the purpose of mutual study and consultation, and consequently the institution will inevitably expand in the near future to many other countries. Already, an annual gathering at Paris contains the germ of a Baha'i School which continuance will undoubtedly expand into a form resembling the gatherings at Green Acre or Esslingen. It is not in these Schools, however, but in the permanent educational institutions created by the Baha'is of Persia and of Turkestan that the followers of Baha'u'llah have so far made their greatest achievement in terms of education. Similarly, teaching developments in Florida indicate that in a few years Baha residents and winter visitors from other Baha'i communities will find it possible to establish a Winter School equivalent in all essentials to the model already achieved. 'IRAQ A circular letter issued by the Spiritual Assembly of Haifa during 1934 made this interesting reference to Baha'i activities in cIr5q: cQfl~j~ country, honored and blessed by the presence of Baha'u'llah for well nigh twelve years, which event culminated in His public declaration, in the Garden of Ridvan, of the birth of a new spiritual cycle, is so closely connected with the history of the Cause that any changes or developments in it, related to the Cause, must be of great interest to all Baha'is." The following statement on Baha'i activities in CJr&q during 19321934 was prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is in that land. The youth and educated classes of the country have undergone awakening to truth freed from traditional limitations, and have begun to respond to the Message of Baha'u'llah. The Baha'i community has been joined by energetic new workers who are engaged in bringing the Teachings to their former friends and associates. A Youth Committee has been appointed to supervise and direct these efforts, its functions including the translation of literature into Arabic, the holding of public meetings and other means of spreading the Cause. The Assembly feels that the position of the Faith in tlrAq has greatly improved since the last biennial report, in part the consequence of the general increase of interest in world affairs, and in part directly due to the famous case of the House of Baha'u'llah at Baghdad, reported in the previous volume and referred to elsewhere in the present review. In this connection the Baha'is of Baghdad appreciate very deeply the cooperation received from Mrs. Marjorie Morten and Mr. Mountfort Mills, who at Shoghi Effendi's request carried on negotiations with the authorities of tIr~q. The purchase of a large area in the suburbs of Baghdad for the construction of a Baha'i Hall and community center, under the supervision of the National Assembly, is evidence of the growth of the Cause in [p31] CURRENT BAHA ACTIVITIES 31 tldq. The Baha'is themselves are fully aware of the important location of their city as a link between East and West and a principal stopping place for new airplane services. Other Western Baha'is whose visit to Baghdad rejoiced the believers were Miss Martha L. Root, the late Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier, and Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter. Quoting again from the circular letter received from the Haifa Assembly: our letter of December, 1933, we published the message of condolence Ñ and the Royal answer to it Ñ sent by the Central Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of cJr~q to His Majesty King Ghazi I of cIrAq after the passing away of his father, the late King Faysal I. We now have the pleasure of publishing the text of the recent correspondence exchanged between the Central Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of cIrAq and His Majesty King Gliazi I, on the occasion of His Majesty's marriage. The importance of these messages cannot be overemphasized as the progress of the Cause becomes more pronounced in that country, specially as they take place between the representative body of all the believers in cIr~~q and the highest sceptre of authority in that land. The reign of the new and youthful and enlightened ruler of Mesopotamia may usher in an era of more freedom for and tolerance towards the spread of the regenerating principles of Baha'u'llah in the land where He declared His Mission. ttThe translation of the abovementioned correspondence follows: tTo His Majesty, King Ghazi I, the Great, may God protect His Kingdom! tThe Baha'i Central Spiritual Assembly of Baghdad on behalf of its members and of all the Baha'is in tTr~q have the honor to convey to your Gracious Majesty their hearty congratulations and most sincere felicitation, and to express their utmost joy and happiness on the occasion of the marriage of their Heaven-protected King. They supplicate from the Kingdom of our Most Glorious (Abhi) Lord to bless and consecrate this glorious union, to protect with the glances (of the Eye) of His Divine Bounty this happy marriage, to encompass with prosperity and comfort, everlastingly, this matrimony, and to bestow upon the unique beloved loved of tJr~q, the holder of a cherished Throne, a blessed offspring, confirmed in the favours of its Creator, and assisted in the uplifting of this beloved country to the level of the advanced and progressive nations, under the protection of His Majesty, our Great King. CWC also beg from the Kingdom of our Lord, the Most Exalted, to protect Her Majesty the Queen 'AuTh and to guide Her Loin the Heights of His Glory with the Bounties of His Most Great Name, under the protection of Your Majesty. tDeign, Your Majesty, to accept our heartfelt hopes that Your Majesty's Glory may be everlasting, strengthened with Divine assistance, and our good wishes for the success and prosperity of all the members of the beloved Royal Family.' CC (Sgd.) AEDU'L RAZZAK AREAS, Cc tcThe following Royal answer, dated the 5th of February, was received: To the Secretary of the Baha'i Central Spiritual Assembly, Baghdad. am directed to express to you the thanks of His Majesty, our Great Ruler, for your letter, dated the 2nd of February, 1934, which conveyed your felicitations on the occasion of the happy marriage of His Majesty, and to solicit for you continual prosperity coupled with complete happiness and all-en-compassing peace.' (Sgd.) Ar-Anuni ALT JAWDAT, fC Private Secretary to His Majesty.'" In summarizing the developments in the Faith of Baha'u'llah in tIAq it is necessary to point out that the essential factor is not so much the specific actions of the believers themselves as the world movement by which every nation and people are compelled to adjust to the universal order which the Manifestation came to establish in this age. THE HOUSES OF BAHA'U'LLAH AT BAGHDAD The two previous volumes of THE BAHA'I WORLD have traced the development of the significant case which arose from the seizure by Muslim leaders of the Houses occupied by Baha'u'llah during His exile in the city of Baslidad. As recorded in those volumes, [p32] 32 THE BAHA'I WORLD the Baha'i community, after an unsuccessful recourse to the tIr~qi Courts, made appeal to the League of Nations under privilege of the fact that cIrAq was a Mandate state for which the Council of the League had ultimate responsibility. This petition, after examination by the Permanent Mandates Commission, was f a-vorably received, and led to the following report to the League Council: cdt recommends that the Council should ask the British Government to make representations to the tIr~qi Government with a view to the immediate redress of the denial of justice from which the petitioners have suffered." The full text of this and other official reports on the case are reprinted elsewhere in the present volume. Despite the efforts of the British Government to carry out the request of the Council Ñ the recommendation of the Permanent Mandates Commission having been adopted by that body Ñ the case remained unsettled on October 3, 1932, on which date tIr~q became a member state of the League of Nations, terminating the former relationship to Great Britain as Mandatory Power. As pointed out in Volume IV of THE BAHA'I WORLD, the entrance of tIr~q into the League of Nations before the Baha petition received satisfactory action created a delicate and unusual situation, the League having admitted a state which had failed to meet the Council's specific standard of justice. To the credit of the Permanent Mandates Commission's sense of responsibility and honor, the matter was not allowed to pass out of mind, but brought up for further consideration at the Twenty-fourth Session of the Commission, held at Geneva from October 23 to November 4, 1933. The Minutes of that Session record the fact that the unexpected and tragic death of King Faisal had made impossible the fulfillment of His Majesty's personal intention of settling the case of the Houses to the satisfaction of the Baha'i representative. This intention, stated to the representative by King Faisal as a matter of His Majesty's word of honor, was however known to and accepted by Nury Pasha es Sa'id, Foreign Minister. "In addition, the interested parties had noted with gratification that the present Government of tlr&q had officially announced its intention to carry out the policies inaugurated by His late Majesty." The solution proposed by His Majesty had been to expropriate the Baha'i property, still held by Muslim enemies of the Faith, and incorporate it, without destruction of the Houses, in a city improvement plan, a solution to which the Baha representative had agreed. Quoting from the Minutes of the Twenty-second Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission: ttToo much should not be made of the fact that an agreement had finally been reached between this (Ba Ñ h4'i) community and the tlriqi Government. That was not necessarily a proof of the generosity of the latter. It should be remembered that the Baha'is were, by their religion, tenets, and character, of an extremely conciliatory disposition." To the Baha'is, the history of this case is clear proof of the spiritual power reinforcing the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Otherwise, property of such slight material value, wrested from a small and feeble community by leaders of a religious majority, could never have become an international issue before the League of Nations. Baha'u'llah, in two Tablets, exalted this House of His exile in the following words: "Grieve not, 0 House of God, if the veil of thy sanctity be rent asunder by the in.-fideL. God hath, in the world of creation, adorned thee with the jewel of His remembrance. Such an adornment no man can, at any time, profane. Call thou to mind that which hath been revealed unto Mihdi, Our servant, in the first year of Our banishment to the Land of Mystery (Adrianople). Unto Him have We predicted that which must befall Our House, in the days to come, lest he grieve over the acts of robbery and violence already perpetrated against it. To Him We have written: This is not the first humiliation inflicted upon My House. In days gone by the hand of the oppressor hail heaped indignities upon it. Verily it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye. Thus have We unfolded to thee things hidden beyond the veil, inscrutable to all save God, the Almighty, the All-Praised. In the [p33] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 33 fullness of time, the Lord shall, by the power of truth, exalt it in the eyes of all men. He shall cause it to become the Standard of His Kingdom, the Shrine round which will circle the concourse of the faithful." TURKESTAN The Baha'i communities in Turkestan have during this period undergone a collective experience which raises them to a station of spiritual preeminence among the followers of Baha'u'llah. The following report was prepared by one who wrote from first hand knowledge of conditions, and whose simple statement of facts attains the significance of a historical document. Nothing could be more portentous and dramatic than this contrast between a community of poor and unassuming souls, imbued with superhuman faith and devotion, and their social environment based upon a philosophy denying Divine truth. In these pages we are witness to incidents that might have happened to early Christians under the dominance of Rome before its fall Ñ incidents which reveal afresh the unconquerable power of humility in the face of material might. While the Baha'is of other lands have assisted the believers of Turkestan as much as possible, not merely by petitioning the Goy Ñ eminent not to destroy or alienate the f a-mous Baha'i House of Worship at tlshqAbAd, but also by transmitting funds for the relief of friends compelled to flee to Persia, nevertheless this assistance from without has been necessarily slight and not to be compared to that help and solace which the Baha'is in Turkestan derived from their own spirit of faith. "In 1927, Baha'i administration and various branches thereof in the regions of Turkestan in general and at CJ4jq4bj~ in particular began to meet with certain restrictions and hardships which had gradually led to the entire closing up of many branches of Baha'i organization in that country. "The first Baha'i Committee which was closed was the Committee of Youth Unity, an organization which had developed remarkably and which was independently managing certain branches, namely a public reading-room, a library, night classes for adults, courses of study for the Esperanto and Russian languages, meetings and conferences for public-speaking, literary and teaching societies, etc. Practically all the Baha'i youth were members of these meetings and organizations and were rendering some sort of service. One of the founders of these organizations had, in the course of a speech, said that the Youth organizations are considered as a school where the Baha'i youth receive Baha'i education, are inspired with Baha'i spirit and prepare themselves for the large field of Baha'i activities in the days to come. ccFor this reason the first blow fell upon the organizations of the Baha'i Youth. After the closing up of these organizations, the Baha'i Youth held their meetings in the hail of the Haziratu'1-Quds and with a view to avoiding any further difficulties and to showing that other Baha'is beside young people were taking part in the Baha'i activities, some older friends were invited to attend these meetings which gradually began to flourish. ttSince in those days the governing members of such meetings were of a limited number, they were secretly kept under surveillance and otherwise persecuted; and on the other hand, a great deficiency was felt which consisted of the fact that other efficient friends were oniy attending the meetings and listening without having an opportunity to show their ability, enter the field of service and prepare themselves for future Baha'i activities; the deficiency was especially felt after the efficient governing members of the Baha'i organizations in Ishqabad were arrested. It was then arranged, at the suggestion of the Baha'i Youth and with the approval of the Central Spiritual Assembly, that efforts should be made to select and train a number of friends to replace those who were imprisoned and who were not likely to be released soon. Since during recent years any believer who had shown some fervency in the field of Baha'i activities was spied upon and placed under pressure, it was decided that the number of friends taking part in the program of the meetings should be increased as far as possible. Therefore those of [p34] 34 THE BAHA'I WORLD the friends who were endowed with literary and other qualifications and could speak in public were gradually and tactfully chosen from amongst men and women, young and old, and enrolled in the meetings and societies. Satisfactory results were obtained from these activities, of which the following are the more important: ttj~ In spite of the fact that no new teachers were visiting those places, that most of the Baha lecturers and servants of the Cause were arrested and detained, that every energetic and fervent believer was encountering all sorts of hardships, losses, a number (amounting this year to 100) of all those men and women who were formerly merely attending the meetings received good training, and are now able to act as teachers, promoters of Faith, lecturers, secretaries and writers, or in other words, to enter the field of service and replace their predecessors. "2. Another result obtained is the fact that the number of active believers who held the reins of Baha'i activities was increased, and since it was not an easy matter to place under surveillance such a large number of these fervent friends who had newly entered the field of active service, the restrictions were in part relaxed. Today we cannot find a single foreign Baha teacher, either resident or traveller, throughout Turkestan and the Caucasus; all Baha'i affairs are in the hands of these newly trained and enducated believers who have gone through the school of Baha'i administration and who are rendering important services. Meetings and Gatherings "At present meetings and gatherings of the friends in question have a greater spirit of spirituality and peace and order than in the past. The friends are becoming more anxious to attend meetings and a spirit of harmony, simplicity, sympathy, devotion and subservience is felt among all of them. It is apparent that a real unity, a heartfelt cooperation and sincere devotion are reigning among the friends and that these feelings are increasing among them. The solidarity, sacrifice and cooperation prevailing among the friends testify to virtual forgetfulness of self. Tribute should be paid to the sincere loyalty and obedience of the friends towards the Spiritual Assembly and its decisions. Spirit~l Assembly "The elections of the Spiritual Assembly are made every year in the middle of April two or three days before the Ridvan Feast. The system of secret voting by writing has been officially prohibited by the Government and the Spiritual Assembly had taken steps to resist and revert the order, but all without avail. The restriction has been increased. tcThe Assembly is obliged to send to the proper Department of the Government a copy of the minutes of the election, as well as a list giving the names of those on the Assembly. The Assembly meets six times a month and if necessary more. All the minutes of the Assembly concerning decisions taken are made in duplicate, and translated into Russian for dispatch to the Government department concerned. The Assembly is not allowed to form committees or branches since after the suppression of the Youth Association and organizations the committees and branches of the Assembly were soon suppressed in the year 1928 with the result that the duties and responsibilities of all the committees of the Assembly were placed on the shoulders of the Assembly itself. Therefore, with a view to assuring the good and speedy working of affairs and putting into force the decisions taken by the Assembly, all activities have been divided into nine sections for the fulfillment of each section of which a member of the Assembly takes full responsibility, carries out the work with the assistance of other friends, and gives a monthly report of his work to the Assembly. There is for instance the member in charge of charitable work, the member in charge of financial business, the one in charge of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, of Baha'i property, of ineefings, etc. The suppression of Assembly Committees rendered difficult the task of the Assembly and increased its duties and responsibilities, until the Assembly was holding eight sessions every month and each session lasted four or five hours. The provisional commissions which have lately been formed have to some extent lessened the heavy burdens of the Assembly. [p35] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 35 Mashriqu'l-Adhkar ttThe years 1928 and 1929 have proved exceptionally significant in the history of Baha'i administration since it was during those two years that the worst restrictions were imposed on the Assembly, its branches and committees, that conspicuous servants of the Cause were persecuted, Baha'i property confiscated and Baha'i activities in general curtailed. On two occasions the attitude of the local Government towards the Baha'is was clearly shown: first, on the occasion of the approval of new regulations and bylaws of the Baha'i Community in tlsh-q&b~d; second, when the contract of lease of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was concluded. t~These two events, which proved most significant, and the series of restrictions and hardships imposed at that time deserve to be explained saparately. We should mention here that the former comprehensive and detailed program of the Baha'i Community was cancelled and replaced by regulations very narrow in scope and of a short and ambiguous character. The question of the Baha'i regulations and the contract of lease of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was under discussion for months between the Spiritual Assembly and the local Government. Public meetings were formed by the Baha'is where the regulations were brought to the notice of the friends and discussed in detail and those articles of the program which were in contravention to Baha'i principles were rejected by the Baha'i Community, while those suggestions which were made by the friends were not accepted by the Government. Finally a short program of a limited scope was approved. With regard to the signature of the contract for lease of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, the friends showed particular resistance and refused to sign the cotnract; the doors of the Baha'i Temple were locked and sealed by the Government Property Department and it was advertised in the papers that the property was to be let. Many steps were then taken, communications were made and telegrams sent on the subject. Finally a contract was made on June 5th, 1928, whereby the Temple was let to the Baha'is for a period of five years. In the contract it has been stipulated that: It is recognized that the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is a Government property. (t2. The Ba1A'i Community have leased the property from the Government temporarily for a period of five years and have undertaken to make at their own expense all the repairs necessary for the upkeep of the place and also to pay all the Government taxes payable on property. The Baha'is must also insure the property and pay for the insurance fees. "No money is paid by the Baha'i Community for the Temple under the name of rent, but a total sum varying from 4000 to 5000 roubles per annum during the years before conclusion of the contract and 9000 roubles at present must be paid to the Government in respect of the Temple on account of taxes, dues, insurance fees, etc. "In addition to various undertakings made in accordance with the provisions of the contract, the Assembly has spent considerable sums of money during the last five years for internal and external repairs on the Tem-pie and, notwithstanding the scanty resources and financial difficulties of the friends, the latter, with a view to preserving the prestige and good name of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar before nonBahA'is, will have to spend annually half of the income of the National Fund on lighting, cleaning and general upkeep of the Temple. "On June 5th, 1933, the contract of the lease of the Temple expired and notwithstanding the fact that the friends had carried out most faithfully the terms of the contract to a point beyond that stipulated (which fact was certified by the Commission of Architects, who stated that the Baha'is had spent more than was stipulated in the contract for repairs and upkeep of the property) the friends were most anxious as to whether the contract would be renewed or the Government would change its policy and make such renewal difficult. But in view of the fact that this property is wellknown throughout those regions under the name of Baha'i Temple and the Government is fully aware of the fact that the Baha all over the world in cities, villages and the remotest corners of the globe have much interest and attachment to the property and are most anxiously watching the course of events re [p36] cJJ Baha'i Women and Children, Representative of the East. [p37] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 37 lating to it, they renewed the contract for a further period of five years without any difficulty and the Temple has, therefore, been let to the friends up to June 5th, 1938. Thus a new contract was entered into last June (1933) between the Baha'i Community represented by the Spiritual Assembly and the local Government represented by the Government Property Department and a certificate was given by the architects in respect of repairs in which it was stated that since during the last five years the terms of the old contract were most faithfully carried out, even to a point beyond that stipulated, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was again given in contract to the Baha'i Community for a further period of five years free of charge, together with the garden, hail and dependencies. Baha'i Educational Institutions and Methods ctThe cI4~qib&d Baha'i school for boys founded in 1897 is the first educational institution among the Eastern people of those regions to be conducted on modern lines. The school for girls which was founded in 1907 is also the best among the Eastern communities there. There were also two kindergartens, founded in 19171918, which, together with other Baha'i schools and the Baha'i Library and Public Reading Room, were run out of the income of the National Fund. All the teachers and servants of these five Baha'i educational institutions were Baha'is and were serving their national institutions at a small salary with a sense of loyalty and a spirit of sincerity, love and enthusiasm. Their remuneration was much smaller than that of their colleagues in non-Bah4'i schools, but they worked in order to help the National Fund. "In 1927 the thirtieth anniversary of the foundation of the first Baha'i school was brilliantly celebrated. A reception which was attended by a large number of Baha'is and non-Bah&'is clearly illustrated the Baha'i perseverance in and iove for educational pursuits and the fact that, in spite of scanty material resources, the Baha'is were conducting five educational institutions in a remarkably satisfactory manner, that their schools were flourishing and their prestige increasing to such a degree that non-Bah~'is were sending their children to Baha schools with a view to achieving the best academic and moral training. There is not a single illiterate among all the Baha'i children and young men of Turkestan and the Caucasus; the majority of the youth have finished the course of primary and secondary studies and about fifty young Baha'is are studying in higher institutions. "In 1927 and 1928 commissions were appointed by the Department of Education who came and inspected the Baha'i schools and investigated their methods of education and the educational acquirements of their students. Thereafter praise of the I3ahi'i schools appeared in the local press and at times these articles were attacked; the friends gradually formed the impression that plans were being made against Baha'i schools and that the authorities were oniy waiting for suitable opportunity to put them into effect. The curriculum of the schools did not include any religious questions or anything against the laws of the country, but the academic program and rules and the schools' text books were on the lines of those recommended by the Persian Department of Education. "In 1929 at the time when some of the members of the Assembly and a number of other notable Baha'is were imprisoned, rumors were circulated on the part of the Department of Education regarding the cios-ing of Baha'i schools. A delegation composed of three members of the Assembly, who were also teachers and superintendents of the school, namely Aq4 Azizullili Alioff, Hu-sayn Beg and Baha'u'llah Sami mi, was appointed to take the matter up officially with the Minister of Education. They talked things over with the latter for three days. The Department of Education was of the opinion that it would be advisable for the Baha'is to close up their schools themselves and to ask the Government to take charge of the schools. The Assembly did not accept this suggestion and therefore the discussions brought no result. The Department of Education chiefly maintained that the Baha'is were giving religious education and spiritual training to 600 children and that this was [p38] 38 THE BAHA'I WORLD explicitly in contravention with rules and laws as well as with the Government's system of education. rinally they declared that as the Baha'is were not willing to agree to the Government's wishes, the Latter were obliged to close the Baha'i schools by force. Therefore in October, 1928, the Boys' and Girls' Baha'i schools at tlshq&b&d, then the schools at Merv and Qali Qahili and then the kindergartens were closed up one after the other and new schools were founded to replace the former with the same students. Owing to lack of Persian teachers, the Department of Education had no other alternative but to enlist the same Baha'i teachers who had been teaching in the Baha'i schools. These teachers, men and women, were, however, gradually dismissed from the new schools and replaced by nonBahA'i teachers. During the first year the Baha'i students and teachers were treated with some consideration, but in the following year the authorities introduced radical changes which affected the curriculum, the teachers and the servants of these institutions. Among other changes made, five Baha'i teachers of the primary classes were discharged and replaced by five young non-Bah&'i teachers who had oniy an inadequate knowledge of Persian. The curriculum was changed to conform with that of other Russian schools. The teaching of Persian books published in Persia was discontinued. In short, in the course of the four years during which the Government had taken charge of Baha'i educational institutions, considerable changes have been made therein and certain noteworthy controversies have taken place between the Ba-hiM teachers and the school superintendents, as well as between Baha'i students, both boys and girls, and non-Bahi'i students and teachers which, being worth mentioning, have been recorded separately. Space does not permit us to give in detail an account of these events and we give here oniy two or three instances with a view to illustrating the situation. ttOne question which was always a cause of controversy between the friends and the Managing Board of the schools was that relating to the celebration of Baha'i Feasts and the commemoration of mourning days. The Superintendent as well as the nonBahA'i teachers was opposed to the children's absence on such occasions and their going instead to the Baha'i Hall to take part in the meeting. But the attitude adopted by the Superintendent towards the Baha'i children only served to strengthen their sense of attachment and religious feeling: the more the Superintendent and teachers showed their opposition, the more the students' perseverance and courage increased. Things went on in this way until the school managers had recourse to threat and intimidation and some of the best students, boys and girls, were dismissed. This severe action on the part of the school managers intensified the sentiments of the students and this led to hot controversies in class between the students and teachers. It happened one day that a paper which was hung on the wall in school contained an article published against religion and the prophets. The article closed with some offensive passage against His Holiness Baha'u'llah. The Baha'i children crossed out that part of the article. The following day the Superintendent noticed this, was furious and had the sentence rewritten on the paper. This was once more crossed out. For the third time the Superintendent ordered that the passage be rewritten and the pupils who had crossed it out be identified and punished. The students scratched out the sentence with a knife. The Superintendent commissioned inspectors to trace the perpetrators. The non-Bah4'i students helped the Superintendent and enabled him to trace the Baha'i students who were three Baha'i girls and a boy of the fifth grade; a council of the teachers was formed to discuss the matter and punish those responsible for the socalled offense, in order to intimidate the other students. The following day the whole paper was found slashed to pieces by a knife. The efforts made by the Superintendent to trace the perpetrators remained futile. As the girls who were found were too young, their parents were called to school and reprimanded for their daughters' act; the girls were listed in the newspaper as having disobeyed school regulations. The Superintendent, however, felt that should he speak abusively against things which the Baha'is held sacred, he would meet with fierce opposition from the Baha students. The Dc [p39] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 39 partment of Education disapproved of his tactless attitude, rebuked him severely and explained to the students that his action was unwarrantable and was not based on the instructions of the Department of Education. The Baha'i students, brought up in freedom of thought and unaccustomed to hearing abuse of their Faith, were not disposed to endure such treatment. The inexperienced superintendents and teachers gradually became aware of the situation and saw that the Baha'i children were of quite a different type from the rest, that their religion was a fundamental fact in their lives, and that they could not be won over nor their religious beliefs be weakened by humiliation, abusive language or mockery. The school Superintendent's tactless attitude resulted in undermining that discipline which is always a marked characteristic of Baha'i schools; the students did not consider the non-Bahi'i Superintendent and teachers of the school worthy of respect and so were not keeping order in the classes. They were preparing their lessons with reluctance and were not showing themselves respectful towards their teachers and school officials in public places. They paid respect only to their Baha'i teachers. In short, this method of conducting the school, which was aimed at weakening the students' religious beliefs, resulted in a completely chaotic state of affairs, and the students became more and more adverse to continuing attendance. Another policy of the School Principal was the discrimination made between the Baha'i and non-Bahi'i students. The latter, though far inferior to their Baha'i companions in studies and behavior, were given more favorable treatment and attention and had preference over the Baha'is. The unsatisfactory effects of such discrimination, the resulting animosity and rivalry among the students, can well be imagined. But the School managers had recourse to all sorts of means with a view to accomplishing their end. They even induced some of the Baha'i students to create differences among their classmates. Then they began to dismiss Baha'i teachers gradually under various pretexts. They would have done this at the very time they took charge of the school had they had experienced non-Bah6'i substitutes, as the head of the Department of Education himself had told the Baha'i representatives that the presence of Baha'i teachers in the School was strengthening the students' religious sentiments. So at the first opportunity they dismissed the Baha'i teachers and replaced them by non-Bah4'is, and the result was that the school which had enjoyed a good reputation on account of its sound organization and high moral standards was reduced to a deplorable condition and the pupils were decreasing in number and were entering other schools. The Superintendent of the School, realizing the gravity of the situation and the bad consequences derived from it, caused an order to be issued by the Department of Education whereby other schools were forbidden to accept students from the Persian Baha School unless these students were graduates of the latter institution. Among other objections raised against Baha'i teachers was a charge brought by the Superintendent to the effect that in the copybook of a 7th grade girl student he had seen the following sentence: "The Mash-riq'ul Ñ Adhkir is higher than the Church", he had taken the booklet to the Department of Education and said that the teacher had taught that sentence to the students in class and that this supplied a good excuse to dismiss him; as the teacher was highly influential in the school and much loved and respected by all the students, the Superintendent said that his presence would eventually nullify the activities of the school authorities. The Superintendent had, however, admitted that in other respects no oh. jection could be raised to the Baha teachers, whose behavior was irreproachable, and that the man in question could oniy be dismissed on this pretext. They took up the matter at the Teachers' Meeting and spread the news through the city so as to attract the attention of other teachers. The teacher in question said that it was the student himself who had written the sentence, which was merely an exercise done at home to illustrate the use of the Persian superlative; in proof of the fact that he had not dictated in class, he pointed out that the sentence did not appear in the copybooks of the other students. No attention was paid to this argument and the Superintendent summoned the student, had recourse to intimidation and ordered her to [p40] 40 THE BAHAI WORLD admit in writing that the teacher had dictated the sentence; the girl replied that she was neither afraid of the Superintendent's intimidation nor anxious for his help and would never allow herself to tell a lie about her teacher; that she had written the sentence at home when preparing her exercise and that no teacher had anything to do with it. All this proved unavailing, however, and the teacher was eventually dismissed and the secondary classes left without a teacher for some time. In short, all the efforts made by the school authorities and the large expenditure made by them with a view to diverting the Baha'i students from their religious and moral inclinations and attracting them to their own ideas remained futile. The Department of Education presumed that this failure was due to lack of efficiency on the part of the school authorities and for this reason the principal and superintendent of the school were repeatedly changed. In one year the superintendent of the school was replaced five times. In the course of school debates Baha'i children would raise questions which caused astonishment to those present. Space does not allow us to illustrate here the extremely unfriendly attitude adopted towards the faith of the younger Baha'i students. The last scheme planned against these children was to change the school premises since the authorities thought that as the students were studying near the Baha'i Temple, the continual view of the Temple dome and the walks under the trees of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar gardens were increasing their faith. The friends were reluctant to change the school premises, and the matter was under discussion for some time between them and the superintendent, but eventually the school was removed to the Armenian School buildings. Because the Armenian children were damaging the Temple gardens, the friends were greatly opposed to this and finally Russian children were removed to the Baha'i school. The change in school premises did not, needless to say, fulfill the expectations of the school authorities. Restrictions Placed on Individual Friends "The restrictions placed on individual Baha'is began in 1928 and the facts of the case are that in February, 1928, one of the most fervent friends, Husayn beg Qudsi, who was teaching Russian in the school, was arrested one night. He was a Russian national Ñ a learned man and fully acquainted with the Bible, and was at that time the person best qualified to teach Europeans and other Christians. He was in close touch with various nineteenth century Christian sects, including a group not unlike the Millerites, the followers of which believe that the Christ is soon to appear, and enumerate many traditions and prophecies, in addition to those set forth by the Baha'is, in support of the statement that the Son of Man will descend from Heaven to earth on clouds in the year 1844, corresponding to 1260 All. In short, Husayn beg was in touch with the Russians and had lately received a letter from the Guardian in which he was encouraged to guide the enlightened young Russians to the path of God. He, therefore, translated some of the Baha'i works into Russian and began to give the Message to the Russians. He also made a teaching tour to Russia and explained the Baha'i principles to a great many people. "Some Answered Questions," Abdu'l-Baha's Tablet to Dr. Forel, the Tablet to The Hague Conference and other Baha'i books were translated and made ready for publication; the Teaching Committee went ahead most efficiently with the work, and meetings were held which were attended by Europeans. But on a certain night in February, 1928, political officers entered the house of Husayn beg, arrested him and searched the premises. He was kept in prison for twenty-seven days and for some time no one knew what had happened to him, until towards the close of his imprisonment permission was given his family to visit him. Then he was set free on condition that he would not leave town. CCTh next to be arrested were two members of the Spiritual Assembly (Baha'u'llah Khan Samimi and Aqa Muhammad Fathu6l-lahioff) on October 25th, 1928, at 2 o'clock in the morning, following a careful search of their houses and the confiscation of all their Baha'i literature. These two friends were detained for about three months and were set free only after enduring many hardships. !CThe object of the officials in making these arrests was to prepare the way towards ar Ñ [p41] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 41 resting a much larger number of Baha'is: they had formed a general plan to this end, but they did not wish to put it into force at once and were trying out their plan in a few cases to see what the conse~uences would be, and who would oppose them and support the friends. They, therefore, arrested Husayn beg, who was their own national, and waited expectantly for an uproar to be raised; but contrary to their expectation, this was met with much calmness and patience. They then ventured to arrest and imprison the two members of the Spiritual Assembly. One of these was a young man whom they had selected with the intention of intimidating the Baha'i youth and disturbing their organization. In doing so, they expected strong protests and vigorous resistance, but since on the contrary no resistance was offered, they ventured on a still more serious move. On July 28th, 1929, twenty-four Baha'is were arrested, of whom seven were released after some days. One of them, Asliraf beg, who was a Russian national, was never heard of again and it is probable that he was put to death. The remaining sixteen souis were kept in prison for six months, during which period they were harshly treated, threatened and intimidated. They were eventually released and banished following energetic measures which were taken by the friends on their behalf. The circumstances of the case are worthy of being described separately and have no doubt been recorded. From 1930 to 1933 no more such cases have arisen and no other friends from tlshqTh4d have been arrested, but in the year 19281929 in other towns the wellknown and energetic friends were molested. For instance, in Tashkent, Aqa Habibullah Baqiroff, a member of the Spiritual Assembly, in Baku, Zargaroff and Mas-soumoff, respectively Chairman and Secretary of the Spiritual Assembly, together with some other friends from Bards, were imprisoned. Zaragaroff and Massoumoff were banished for three years to the extreme north of Russia in the vicinity of the Arctic Ocean, while Aqa Habibullali Baqiroff was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the neighborhood of the North Sea and the polar forests. From that date onward the students in schools and universities met with hardships and restrictions. Some of them were dis missed; it will suffice to mention here that nine students were dismissed from school in Leningrad and two in Tashkent, and College candidates when they were known to be active members of Baha'i organizations. The Baha'is, no matter what their occupations, formerly stopped work on public Baha'i holidays and would say openiy that Baha'is could not work on nine particular days throughout the year. The employers were reluctant to allow this privilege to their Baha'i workers, but the latter persisted both individually and collectively in abstaining from work and asserted that whether given wages or not and whether dismissed or not, they should stop work on these days. They offered to work extra hours, at nights or on Fridays (the weekly holiday) to make up for the Baha'i public holidays on which they abstained from working or else to go without their daily double wages. But the employers agreed to none of these alternatives and the situation gave rise to serious controversies and eventually resulted in the dismissal of some of the Baha'i workers. Especially in Mary, where all the Baha were craftsmen or working in Government offices and industrial concerns, the case assumed significance. In the "Tavakkul" Confectionery, for instance, which was founded by the Baha'is and was subsequently changed into a Government institution, the majority of the workers were Baha'is. On the first day of the Nawruz Festival the employees stopped work. On the following day all the workers who were Baha'is were dismissed. The manager of the firm, Mirza Assadull4h Rid4off, who was the chairman of the Spiritual Assembly and in whom the Government had placed much trust for his honesty and efficiency, was also dismissed. They supposed that these Baha'is would express repentance and ask to be reinstated, but the Baha'is did not refer to these employers again, and found other jobs. However, as the affairs of the firm were much disorganized by the change, all the Baha'i workers were finally reinstated, a matter which encouraged the believers and gave them a new lesson in steadfastness. For many years the Baha'is have been in the habit of abstaining from work on Baha'i public holidays and they find it unusual not to do so. The workers in the [p42] 42 THE BAHA'I WORLD abovementioned industrial firm of Mary were reengaged with the exception of the manager, who did not accept the terms proposed to him, and took another job which was less desirable than the former. ments or as craftsmen, etc. But a large number of friends who were not craftsmen and had no special professions nor any adequate capital met with severe financial distress. This was especially the case with Baha'is of Shrine of the Im4m Husayn in KarbilA. X indicates resting-place of Siyyid K~izim, one of the forerunners of the Bab. Economic Situation tcThe Baha'is in these regions are chiefly people who emigrated from Persia because of destitution. Some of them engaged in commercial pursuits, others became craftsmen or professional men. When commercial affairs came to nothing on account of the financial crisis, the friends gradually took up other work as employes in Government Depart-advanced advanced age who had earned their livelihood by working as small salesmen or as shoemakers, weavers, tailors, etc. Those of the Baha'is who were familiar with conditions were better able to secure jobs for themselves in the local departments, especially because of their knowledge of Russian and Turkish. During the past two years the friends in general suffered cosiderably on account of the economic crisis and only a [p43] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 43 limited number of Baha'is could be found who were able, to a satisfactory extent, to earn their living somehow or other. A f am-ily whose oniy breadwinner consisted of one person could not meet expenses living even at the average wage; this was why it became necessary for most Baha'i young men, women and girls to find work in tailoring houses, stocking factories and the like to help their families. CCOn the first day of Ridvan, 1933, there were 40 families who were Teceiving financial support from the Spiritual Assembly. The greater portion of the Baha'i National Fund has been given to needy friends for the last two years. The national expenditure of Baha'i institutions can be said to be devoted almost entirely to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and the poor class of friends. Thus there remain no funds for other expenses. The National Fund Committee is not even able to meet these two items of expenditure properly. This is why in the course of every week families who have lived in this country for years are leaving their homes and migrating to KhurAs6n (east Persia), which is the Persian province nearest to Turkestan. CCJ~ the year 19321933 the friends in Turkestan had and are still having a most trying time as far as the financial situation is concerned, and the Spiritual Assembly in 'Ishqabad was obliged to ask for contributions from all the Baha'i centers in Turkestan and the Caucasus. These Baha groups and centers, though suffering themselves from the financial crisis almost to the same degree as the friends in tIshq~b6A, responded to the call as far as their means permitted; the friends in Baku and Mary offered especially generous contributions to the relief fund. But all the contributions raised were not sufficient to meet even half the annual expenses, and the Spiritual Assembly had, therefore, to spend the reserve fund assigned to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to buy flour and distribute it to the friends. On one occasion all the friends were summoned by the Spiritual Assembly and invited to make every possible contribution to the relief fund; that day a wonderful spirit of sacrifice and generosity was shown; even the very poor contributed, offering their daily food, which consisted of only one ttpoud" (Russian weight) of flour; one man had 10 pounds of grain, another some potatoes, and each offered half of what he had; women gave up their bits of finery. They acted in accord with the Qur'an verse which says tThey gave up all their belongings, even their dearest.' But the National Fund had no money left nor the friends any means of subsistence. They are all in dire need of Continuous financial help from their fellow-workers in other parts of the world. "In conclusion, it should be pointed out that all these imprisonments, banishments and other persecutions are directed only against the religionists who have refused to go under the Bolshevik yoke; those who adhere to Communist principles, far from being under restrictions, enjoy many advantages and privileges." GERMANY Because each Baha'i community, no matter what its social environment, has an inner relationship to one universal Source of truth, and an outer relationship to one administrative order, the principle of unity established in the Teachings goes hand in hand with the coequal principle of diversity. That is, the application of the ideal of the oneness of mankind produces among the Ba1A'is not uniformity Ñ which tyranny ever and always seeks to maintain Ñ but that true self-de-velopment of individual and group which sustains the pillars of voluntary cooperative effort. Agreeing upon basic principles of truth and upon basic modes of consultation and decision, the Baha'is rejoice in that inherent and inevitable diversity arising from the existence in one Faith and one Order of so many different racial and national elements. Those very factors of racial difference which in the world make for suspicion and strife, in the Faith of Baha'u'llah constitute the very binding force of the spirit of union and harmony. To the Baha'is of Germany the believers in other lands look with loving appreciation for the emergence of a certain racial genius the manifestations of which will in the future contribute vitally to the development of the Faith. In the realm of science and spiritual philosophy, the believers understand, the [p44] 44 THE BAHA'I WORLD German Baha'is will prove themselves leaders on the path of world civilization. As indicated in the following statement prepared by Dr. Hermann Orossmann, the emphasis laid by the believers of Germany is upon the plane of understanding and inner experience. This emphasis makes for the development of spiritual power rather than for the production of interesting incidents available for historical record. "The general attitude of the Baha'i, inner as well as outer, is the result of his relationship with God. The Baha'i Faith teaches one to recognize the essence of religion in the manner that man directs himself unreservedly towards the Divine, and out of which through the medium of meditation he draws power and guidance for the reconstruction of his life. Looking inward he gains the victory over the dualism between the material and the spiritual, by the Manifestation of God, which is the creative principle that encompasses the plan, will, and action of all existence. The manifested world of creation in proportion to the essence of God, which is inconceivable to man, is like an infinitely small point in the inestimable eternity of the unknowable Creator. Himself, a member, a part of creation, himself a creation of this plan, he proceeds directing himself entirely to the Creator, and conscientiously he travels the way of the Logos toward his origin, and in this way listens to the secret of the great plan of creation as it has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery of salvation, and the unresting obedience to the creative will of the Logos. Out of this obedience as well results the outer attitude toward the numberless problems of life, for all manifestation to the Baha'i is Logos translated into action, the conceivable expression of the inconceivable Divine being; though the Baha'i Faith requires from the Baha'i the highest demands of moral action in relationship to his outer life. However, this action ceases for him to be a more or less unimportant attitude in world events. He realizes the more his obligation in the sense of the conscious action of the Logos. He himself, responsive to the Logos, has the solemn obligation to assist, through his own action, the Divine Will according to the Plan translated into deed for such a high conception of life, and the tasks which are caused by it for the Baha'i have no question except the sealed Divine Truth, which are outside the realm which is destined for him, and which is his obligation. (This, of course, does not exclude the fact that the duties for each man will be different according to his particular qualification.) Hence result for the study of the Baha'i Faith, as well as for the spreading and deepening of Baha'i principles, serious and far reaching demands and the' need of schooling before the believer is prepared to teach. t~Out of the recognition of this necessity the thought was born for Baha'i schooling arrangements. Occasional courses in different localities of friends as well as active themes offered on the occasion of different Baha Meetings have furnished the basis for experience. C(Q~ the basis of this experience a school meeting was arranged in the autumn of 1931 by the Esslinger Baha'i friends at their Baha'i home, situated near the Katharinen.-linde, for two days, at which occasion through different speakers and through general discussion the theme of salvation was taken up. This first experiment encouraged the coming together for eight days at the same place, which recommends itself for its lovely situation as well as its beneficial seclusion for this purpose, and where many friends came together from various parts of Germany. This meeting was arranged by the Esslinger Baha'i Assembly, which with touching self-sacrifice arranged everything with the greatest success for the care of the guests. The spiritual arrangement was taken care of by Dr. Albert Muhlschlegel, Stuttgart, Dr. Eugen Schmidt, Stuttgart, and Dr. T Ñ Jermann Grossmann, Neckargemund. By this first German Baha'i Summer Week the formula was found for the later meetings: different courses, which formed in themselves a certain unity so that they touched over and over again certain problems, and by these means brought out the unity of the Baha'i understanding in different persons; several single lectures and informal teachings were gIven during spare hours and during promenades. The life during the summer week is on a community basis, devotional meetings in the morning and evening, corn [p45] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 45 munity meals, informal walks during the evening, recreation in the garden of the Baha'i Home and in the meadows, a morning celebration as a conclusion on Sunday morn-in.g with song and music; everything is the impulse of the friends present. "During the first Baha'i week of the summer of 1932, the following subjects and courses were given: ~tIntroduction in the Greater Religions, by Dr. Albert Muhlschlegel. ccThe World of Baha'i Teachings, Dr. Hermann Grossmann. "The Place of the Baha in the Present World, Dr. Eugen Schmidt. ttDuring the second Baha'i Summer Week 1933, at which several foreign friends participated, the subjects were: "The Life of Man in the Light of the Baha'i Teachings. 'tThe life of Myself, Dr. Albert Muhi Ñ schiegel. "The Life of My Neighbor, Dr. Eugen Schmidt. "Life of God, Dr. Hermann Grossmann. "For the third Baha'i Summer Week 1934, the following subjects are planned: ccPeople and Faith, Dr. Albert Muhlschle-gel. ttBah~j'j Faith and Christianity, Dr. Eugen Schmidt. ccFrom Christ to Baha'u'llah, Dr. Hermann Grossmann. "God in Us, Emil Join. "The Esslinger Baha'i School presents in perfect natural form a distinctive expression of a religious life. It is just his religious attitude which determines, and it may also be the proof for this spiritual unity that during the year 1931, the year of the greatest political disruption in Germany, in spite of guests who were not acquainted with the Baha'i Faith, not the slightest discord came forth. The Esslinger Baha'i week also attained this high purpose during the year of 1933, the year of political reform, obedient to the Baha'i Faith as it was expressed already in the words of Christ~~ccRender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's," and thus keep faith. 'tBy this it can be understood that the Esslinger Summer School practically has become a symbol of the new formation and endeavors of the friends in Germany. It is new in the sense of a deepening of an always conscious form in the sense of those great Divine principles of the Logos in this age. ~tThe Baha'i Annual Meeting in Karisruhe in 1933 breathed the same spirit. Here as well the friends from different parts came together for two days, where the facilities of the meeting place, a Froberikindergarten with all its rooms and garden at our disposal for two days, assisted greatly to our unified meeting. The whole arrangement has been subjected to the one leading motive, ttUnity," and consequently lectures were named: 'tUnity and Cooperation in the Universe. (CUnity in Religion and Faith. ttThe Conception of Unity in Human Society. "The tasks which this epoch with all its events along the different spheres of life confronts us with are becoming greater, always more powerful are the demands which come to the Baha'i out of the absolute service, confidence and their loyalty. Visits of the friends to various places and the circulars of the National Spiritual Assembly of the German Baha'is reflect to the greatest extent the spiritual fulfilment of the inner and the outer obligations toward God and their Faith, and towards mankind, government, and people. May the spirit of recognition give us all the power to find in joyful fulfilment of our duty the right path which leads us through the Seven Valleys to the Mountain of Abh~!" MARTHA L. ROOT'S INTERNATIONAL SERVICES Miss Martha L. Root, international Baha'i teacher, has continued travelling uninterruptedly since we wrote of her in the last BAHA'I WORLD (Volume IV). After her work at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, for more than three months, where she personally met statesmen from more than fifty countries, spoke with them about the Baha'i Teachings and gave them important literature (especially Shoghi Effendi's c(Goal of a New World Order"), Miss Root went to central and southeastern Europe, where she has been working for nearly two years. First, in Praha, Czechoslo [p46] 46 THE BAHA'I WORLD vakia, she arranged for the translation and publication of Dr. J. E. Esslemont's book, "Baha'u'llah and the New Era," into the Czech language. The Foreword to this Czech edition is a quotation from President T. G. Masaryk of the Republic of Czechoslovakia about the Baha'i universal principles. Nearly five hundred books were placed in libraries, sent to editors, and distributed generally and five hundred placed on sale. Also, a translation of the "Kitab-i-Iq6n" into Czech was arranged for and made, though it is not yet published. A friend of the Baha'i teacher translated "Hidden Words" into Czech and it was used in the Baha'i Study Class. Many lectures, including one before the Czech Friends of Great Britain Society held in the Faculty of Letters, Charles University, also addresses before the All Peoples' Association in the Spolicensky Club, the Prague English Club, Prague English Grammar School lecture in Charlotte Garrigue Hall, the Mystical Society, the Y. W. C. A. and many others were given. November 20, 1932, Miss Root broadcast over (CR di Journal Station," a very powerful station which is heard all over Europe and even as far as New Zealand. Several magazine articles were written by her in Praha. This Baha'i teacher took part in the Czechoslovak Esperanto Congress in Oloo-. muc, May 1518, 1932, and on the new Zamenhof monument dedicated in the cen Ñ tral park of Oloomuc, the Baha'i Cause is engraved as one of the movements working for a universal auxiliary language and world peace. She also left Praha again to go to Paris in late July, 1932, to take part in the Twenty-fourth Universal Congress of Esperanto held in that capital. A Baha'i Esperanto session was a feature of that Congress. Miss Root met the Paris believers, and she also had an interview with Mr. A. L. M. Nicolas who, while he lived in Persia for twenty years, studied the Writings of the Bab and is a distinguished French historian of the BTh's Life and works Ñ his "Siyyid 'Ali-Muham-mad dit le Bib" is well known. Returning to Praha from Paris, Miss Root came by way of Vienna, and in Mbedling close by Vienna she had tea and an audience with Her Majesty Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania, Her Majesty Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, and H. R. H. Princess Ileana, who is Archduchess Anton of Austria; the event took place in the Archduchess's home. Another trip out of Praha was a journey to Poland. She visited Miss Lidja Zamenhof in Warsaw for two weeks and they worked together to promote the Teachings of Baha'u'llah in that country. Books were placed in several libraries Ñ and this was true in every country, literature in English and other languages was carefully placed after the Teachings had been explained. Also, in some countries small booklets such as ttWhat Is the Baha'i Movement?" and the tiny blue booklet were published in the language of the country. Miss Root made a trip to Lublin in the heart of Poland to interview the President of the great theological University of Lublin, Dr. Joseph Kruszynski, who in 1914 had visited Haifa and had met tAbd'lBh' On her way back to Praha from Poland she stopped for two days in the Czechoslovak city of Jagerndorf visiting the Esperantists, who arranged two public lectures and for her to meet groups in their homes. Mrs. Thilde Diestelhorst, a new Baha'i of Berlin, came to Praha and worked for one month with Miss Root in September, 1932. After several months' stay in Praha, Miss Root left January 25th, 1933, for Vienna where she stayed for one week, lecturing in the University of Vienna, and before the Quaker Society, the Theosophical Society, the American Women's Club, the Women s League for Peace and Freedom, the Student Forum; the Baha'is arranged a public lecture and several important smaller group meetings in their hail. Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter of California and Mrs. Diestel-horst of Berlin were in Vienna at that time, and spoke with Miss Root at several of the events. Dr. and Mrs. Carpenter came with her to Gy6r and Budapest in Hungary, and to Belgrade, Yugoslavia; in Gy6r they visited Mr. George Steiner, who was translating ~tBh"'11'h and the New Era" into Hungarian, and Miss Elisabeth Fitter of Gy6r arranged a public lecture in the church. During the week's stay in Budapest, Miss Root and Mrs. Carpenter gave a number of public lectures, speaking before the All Peo-pies' Association, the Women's League for [p47] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 47 Peace and Freedom, the Theosophical Society. Then in Belgrade they spoke in the Univer-sky, also before the American-Anglo-Yugo-slav Club, the Yugoslav University Women's Club, the Women's League for Peace and Freedom, the Esperanto Society of Belgrade. In both cities there was much publicity in all the daily newspapers. Miss Root while in Belgrade arranged for the translation of cCBhP~~11ih and the New Era" into Serbian and arranged for Professor Bogdan Popo-vitvh, the greatest Serbian scholar in Yugoslavia, to write the introduction. She was invited to tea in the Royal Palace by Their Royal Higlinesses Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia whom she had met in 1928. Miss Root only stayed one week in Bel Ñ grade and then returned to Budapest, where she looked after the publishing of ~tBh" u'llAh and the New Era" in the Hungarian language. Dr. Rustum Vamb&y wrote one introduction to this book and Miss Root wrote the other, which was an account of tAbdu'1-BahA's Visit to Budapest in 1913. Nearly four hundred of these books were sent out and the remainder of the thousand put on sale. For three months the Baha'i teacher remained in the Hungarian Capital. She lectured before the English speaking students in Budapest University, four hundred students and professors being present. She and the Professor of English Literature and the President of the Women's League for Peace and Freedom arranged a public Peace Forum in the Women's League hail; talks were also given before the Theosophists, before the Esperantists and in several clubs. Every week the Baha'i teacher invited groups to her hotel. Miss Marion E. Jack of Canada came from Sofia and spent one month with Miss Root in Budapest, and Miss Jack had the meetings in her larger room. Many homes were visited and several of the good friends in Budapest invited groups to their homes to meet the Baha'is. May 3 0th, 1933, Martha Root came again to Belgrade, where she took part in the Sixth Yugoslav Esperanto Congress which was held in the capital June 4th and 5th. Immediately afterwards she arranged for the publication of "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" in the Serbian language. She was again invited to the Royal Palace in Belgrade as the guest of H. R. H. Princess Olga and met also the two sisters of the hostess, H. R. H. Princess Elisabeth of Greece and H. R. H. Princess Marina of Greece. While the book was being printed Miss Root made a short strip through Yugoslavia, stopping for a day or two in Sarajevo and Dubrovnik then going on to Tirana, Albania, for five days where she met several of the friends she had known on her former visit in 1929. She had an interview with Mr. K. Kotta, President of the Parliament and he sent gracious greetings to Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Cause. She met Mr. Refo Chapari, the devoted Albanian Baha'i who has returned from New York City to live in Tirana and promote the Cause. She visited his home and the homes of some of his friends, they worked very hard; she also called upon several statesmen, the press representatives, the librarians, the publishers and the booksellers. Then returning to Belgrade the book and little booklets were already published and she sent out four hundred copies of the ttBah~'u'1Uh and the New Era" to editors, schools, Libraries in Yugoslavia and the remainder of the thousand were put on sale. She met the friends and then left for Ruse, Bulgaria, going down the Danube River in an Esperanto boat excursion to take an active part in the Twentieth Bulgarian Esperanto Congress held in Ruse, July 1418, 1933. She gave the greetings of Baha'is of the world at the opening held in a theatre with four hundred delegates and friends present from several cities in Bulgaria and Rumania. Other talks were given and a Baha'i Esperanto session was a feature of the Congress. Mr. Konstantin Dinkoff of Sofia, who had heard of the Teachings from Miss Marion E. Jack and had translated CCB h" '111 and the New Era" into Bulgarian, came to this Congress and brought one hundred copies to give to those interested. Dr. Herman Grossmann of Germany sent Baha Esperanto literature to be distributed. All the Esperantists were invited to come over to Bucharest, Rumania, where they were cordially received by the Mayor. Miss Root used the opportunity to call upon the woman educator and writer who was tans [p48] 48 THE BAHA'I WORLD lating "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" into Rumanian. Returning again to Belgrade with the Esperantist excursionists, Martha Root left at once for Athens, Greece, on July 27, 1933, where she arranged with the editor of one of the greatest daily newspapers in Athens for the translation of "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" into Greek. She met several will take until May first, 1934. In all these capitals, in addition to arranging for the translations and publications, she has tried to awaken interest through public lectures and equally through small study groups. Her aim has been to spend two years in central and southeastern Europe trying to help establish permanent Baha'i groups. Mrs. Jindriska Wurmova of Brno, Czecho Shrine of Jm&m Husayn where the Mb often prayed. (Refer to "The Dawn-Breakers," Chapter II) friends including editors, professors, Esper-antists, put books into some libraries, gave several interviews, visited the Esperanro Club, and after nine days returned to Belgrade. Her itinerary is to visit Adrianople for two weeks and write some articles, then come to Sofia, Bulgaria, and work with Miss Jack for one month in the Bulgarian capital. Then she expects to go to Bucharest to see about the Rumanian publication of Dr. Esslemont's book, and also go to Athens to see about its publication into Greek. This slovakia, one of the greatest peace workers in Czechoslovakia, said of Miss Root in 1932: "Some can give a Truth to one or two or three, but Miss Root is giving the Baha'i Teachings to our nation. One can oniy say of her what tAbdu'1-BahA wrote to her upon her return from South America in 1919: "Praise be to God the Call of the Kingdom has been received in South America and the seeds of Guidance have been sown in those cities and regions. Certainly the heat of the Sun of Reality, the rain of the Eternal Bounty and the breeze [p49] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 49 of the Love of God will make them germinate: have confidence." He also wrote to her: ~cAnyhow, thou art really a herald of the Kingdom and a harbinger of the Covenant and doest self-sacri-fice. Thou showest kindness to all nations; thou art sowing a seed that shall in the long run give rise to thousands of harvests; thou art planting a tree that shall till eternity put forth leaves, blossoms and fruits and whose shadow shall day by day grow in magnitude." FRANCE From Mr. C. N. Kennedy comes the foLlowing report on Baha'i activities in France, and more particularly in Paris. ttrrenchinen like Renan and Count Gobi-neau recognized in the dawn of the Bab movement an influence which would have aided in the development of civilization, but the socalled Baha'is themselves in France date back to oniy a short time before 1900. Cdt was Miss May Bolles, now Mrs. Maxwell, who, living in France at that period, spread the message. Mr. Mason Rerney, then a student at the tcole des Beaux Arts, was among the very first persons living in Paris to become a Baha'i and opened his studio for the meetings, for the inquirers and the friends. In 1900 Edith Sanderson and Miss Laura Barney, then living in Paris, heard of the Cause and a few months afterwards M. Hippolyte Dreyfus, and for years the meetings have been held in the homes of these three Baha'is. M. Hippolyte Dreyfus became an indefatigable student of this movement and the French translation of the books containing the works on the Faith are due to him as well as many articles and publications on the subject. He also gave conferences in many different centers such as at the tcole des Hautes tudes. It is interesting to note that at Lyons in 1908 the celebrated Mayor and Statesman, M. Edouard Herriott, presided at a meeting organized under the auspices of the Mission LaYque when M. Dreyfus gave a talk on the Cause. It was also through him that the Cause became knOwn in Tunisia. ccMeetings have been held in well-nigh every part of Paris, but since the last years the studio of Mr. and Mrs. Scott has been the central meeting place. It was in this studio that tAbdu'1-Bahi spoke on several occasions when he visited Paris. ccWhen the Master came to Paris, he was cordially received by many important people such as the late Pastor Wagner, who invited him to speak at his church. He also spoke before the students of the Faculty of Theology and to large audiences at l'Alliance Spiritualiste. tAbdu'[Bahi was visited by people of all classes and of,varied points of view, who seemed to be greatly satisfied by the privilege of meeting him. "In France the position of Religion is very special. As is well known the general tendency is laYque, but the religion of the country is Catholic which is always very powerful; the Protestants are a minority. There is, however, a spirit strong at work with the liberal-minded, and, no doubt, it will be mostly in these ranks that the Cause will be appreciated and fill a need. "The Baha'i group in Paris is a very changing group because often we had had in our Assemblies people that have heard of the Cause here but have become members of groups in the different countries to which they returned. Also often the friends of other parts of the world come and settle in Paris for a short period and attend regularly our meetings. Then again we are fortunate in having a strong Persian element in our Assemblies, not only some older men who are here for their business but many young students following University courses, and even a few young Persian women. "The Cause is considered as a very serious movement in intellectual centers and generally speaking the press has treated the subject in a dignified manner. The eminent philosopher Professor Bergson, after reading Dr. Esslemont's book ttBh"'11'h and the New Era," made some very interesting and appreciative remarks on the importance of the Cause. Mr. Ernile Schreiber, editor of the wellknown newspaper ties Echos," who recently returned from a trip to Palestine and Syria, has written about the movement in most generous terms. Mr. Schreiber has spoken about the Cause in an article which [p50] 50 THE BAHA'I WORLD has just been published in the "Illustration" and also in an excellent article which appeared quite recently in ties Echos." ~~Before giving a resum6 of this year's activity, permit me to quote a paragraph that a Frenchman will read when he opens the Encyclopedia Larousse to the Baha'i reference: ~Actue11ement ii y a des Baha'is partout, non seulement dans les pays inusuirnans, mais encore dans tous les pays d'Europe, comme aux Estates-Unis, au Canada, au Japon, aux Indes, etc. C'est que Baha'u'llah a su transformer le Babisme en une religion universelle qui se pr6sente comme 1'aboutissement et le compliment n6cessaire de toutes les anciennes croyances.' (Extrait du Larousse du XX~me Si&le.) ccTrnslation: tAt the present time there are Baha'is everywhere, not only in moslem countries, but also in all European countries, in the United States of America, Canada, Japan, India, etc. The fact is that Baha'u'llah succeeded in transforming Babisme into a urn-versa1 religion which presents itself as the result and the necessary complement of all the ancient creeds.' ccThe third assembly of the Union of Baha'i Students in Europe was held in Mrs. Scott's studio on December 26th and 27th and was well attended. The following subjects were ably and profitably treated by the young friends: ~ Individual development in view of the development of the community. "2. The Baha movement and World Economy. tC3 What should be the line of conduct of a Baha'i. CC4~ The importance of the Baha'i Cause in the East. "The fourth assembly which will also be held in Mrs. Scott's studio, has been fixed to take place during the Christmas holiday, which is the most convenient date for the students who are studying at provincial Universities and who come to Paris during the vacation. We have just received a letter from Teheran announcing the departure of the sixth group of young students whom the Persian Government is sending to Europe to follow the University courses and giving us the names of the nine young Baha'is who are coming to Paris. CCDuring the year we have had our regular fortnightly meetings at Mrs. Scott's and the members of the Spiritual Assembly meet once a month at the house of Mrs. Dreyfus-Barney to discuss questions regarding the working of the Cause. Miss Edith Sanderson has also arranged at her home a monthly meeting which is reserved to the Persian friends and Baha'i students who much appreciate the opportunity of debating on the Cause. C(W have been favored with communications from many Baha Assemblies, thus enabling us to follow with great interest the activities of the different groups throughout the world. "Jn our last letter we announced our intention of publishing a new edition of Mr. Nicola's book "Seyed Au Mohamed dit le Bib." We have since been fortunate in finding 250 copies of the original edition which will shortly be ready for sale. "In conclusion, we are pleased to announce that Mrs. Scott has donated a painting by Mr. Scott which will be sold for the benefit of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar fund." EGYPT In previous reviews the important part played by the Egyptian believers in the development of the Baha world community has been described. Under Muslim law, which still prevails in absence of a civil code, the courts were called upon to deterniine the status of Baha'is in relation to Islam. If considered in the light of dissenters against Islam, the Egyptian Baha'is would have incurred severe disabilities in such matters as marriage, inheritance, etc. The actions imti-ated by Muslim leaders led, however, to the court decision that the Baha'i Faith is an independent Religion, not to be viewed merely as a sect within Mul?ammadanism. This determination of official attitude is a matter of funchimental importance, creating the Legal basis upon which the Egyptian Baha'i community can in time claim and secure recognition of a code based entirely upon the Writings of Baha'u'llah. The principal events in Egypt during the period 19321934 were in relation to that vital objective. [p51] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 51 The Cause has developed rapidly in Egypt, drawing the attention of the Government and of the Muslim ecclesiastical authorities in that land. In Alexandria particularly the number of the Baha'i community has increased. As result of the formal separation from Islam enacted by the Muslim Ecclesiastical Court, the National Spiritual Assembly has prepared and published a compilation, with comments and explanations, of the important laws and ordinances revealed in the Aqd~s, a copy of which the Assembly officially presented to the Egyptian Government. This and other actions have, on the one hand, awakened the interest of some enlightened people, while on the other hand they have aroused the suspicion, enmity and violent opposition of the leading Egyptian divines. A member of the Egyptian Parliament has made public tribute to the Faith of Baha'u'llah, and recognized the services which western Baha'is are rendering Islam by upholding the divine authority of Mu$ammad. A well known Shaykh has published in a prominent newspaper of Cairo a series of violent criticisms of the yarious social, spiritual and religious Teachings of the Cause. To these vehement attacks the Baha'is made adequate response. One of their representatives refuted, logically and convincingly, in the pages of that same newspaper, all the charges and bitter criticisms of their ecclesiastical foe, securing thereby most effective publicity for the Cause. Interesting details of this episode were issued by the Spiritual Assembly of Haifa in one of its circular letters. 'tAs the progress of the Baha'i Faith grows from day to day and its influence spreads in the furthermost corners of the world, as the number of the Baha'i Communities multiplies and their social power becomes increasingly evident, and as the light of the Cause of Baha'u'llah encompasses the whole earth with C girdle of shining glory,' the believers will find themselves more and more subjected to the pressure of veiled or manifest attacks which the enemies of the Cause Ñ be they deluded enthusiasts or besotted mortals Ñ will exercise in the vain hope of undermining the faith of the followers of Baha-. 'u'lUh in tthe sublimity of their calling,' or cforcing the surrender of the newly-built stronghold of the Faith.' No words apply better to these assailants of the Cause than the following from the pen of our Beloved Guardian: tThriving 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 Oflly to sink, as rapidly as they had risen, into the mire of an ignominious end.' "In these days, a certain Muslim Shaykh in Egypt Ñ one of the ~U1em~'s of the famous Muslim University and religious seminary called ~A1-Azhar,' has published in a wellknown Arabic daily paper of Cairo, called ~Assiyassah,' a series of articles entitled tB haism, a Delightful Fancy,' attacking the Cause, its principles and its institutions. The author dwells at some length on his criticism of the equality of men and women as taught by Baha'u'llah and cAbdu~1~BaM, and the modus operandi of the distribution of legacies and heritage among heirs according to the laws of this Divine Dispensation. (Cm order to answer the foregoing article and to enlighten the public on the Baha'i Revelation, a most scholarly refutation of the baseless assertions, ridiculous arguments and foul misrepresentations of the aforementioned Sheikh has been written and published in the same paper, by Abdu'1 Jalil Beyk Sa'd Ñ a judge of the Civil courts in Egypt and one of the notable believers, in that land. This valiant upholder of the Faith of Baha'u'llah has shown remarkable assiduity and courage in proclaiming and supporting the Cause publicly and without any veil or disguise in a Muslim land where only recently the believers had to face most formidable obstacles in their struggle to enfranchise the Faith from the fetters of Muslim orthodoxy. "The following are the titles of the first four articles written by Abdu'1 Jalil Beyk Sa'd: 'Baha'ism Is an Eternal Truth, and Not a Delightful Fancy'; CBaha~ism and Universal Peace'; 'Baha'ism Is an Everlasting Truth Ñ It Is a Blessing and a Bounty for Islam, Not a Calamity and a Requital'; tBa-ha'ism and the Freedom of Women.' [p52] 52 THE BAHA'I WORLD CJ~ the first article, the author makes a successful attempt to prove the authenticity of this Divine Dispensation, its perfection and superiority over the religions of the past, and the universality of its teachings. Furthermore, in answer to the criticism of the aforementioned Shaykh of the incarnation of the divine spirit, the author asserts that the Invisible Essence of Divinity itself is exalted above any corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress or regress. 'What is meant by divine revelation from the Baha paint of view is a manifestation and not an incarnation of the divine attributes. "The believers may remember in this connection that Baha'u'llah writes in the KitTh-i-IqAn: CHC (the Divine Being) is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness God was alone; there was none else beside Him" is a sure testimony of this truth.' CCJ~ the second article, the author gives a detailed and comprehensive account of the writings and Tablets of Baha'u'llah concerning the Most Great Peace and the New World Order. He also quotes from the Talks of tAbdu'1-Bah~ delivered during His western tours, and by which He summoned all peoples to Universal Peace and Unity and warned them of the outbreak of the World War. ccThe third article is a most interesting exposition of the fact that the Baha'i Faith is a great blessing to Islam and one that confirms the latter rather than repudiates it. In support of his very well developed theme, the author quotes from the Hadith Ñ Muslirn religious Traditions Ñ and the Qur'an. The following are two of the quotations: tBy Him (the Divine Messenger) Islam will be glorified after its humiliation,' and tAt the beginning of every age, God shall send unto this nation (the Muslim) Him who will renew (for them) the status of His (God's) religion.~ "The fourth article deals with the degraded condition of women in Arabia, before the advent of Islam, a condition that persists today in certain countries and among certain people, their freedom and equality with men as established by the Ba-h&'i Cause, pointing out the wisdom and the justice of the Baha'i Laws in this connection. The author enumerates some famous women in the history of Islam, Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, women who by their physical prowess, intellectual abilities and spiritual loftiness surpassed many a man supposedly their superior. Qurrat-ul-Ayn is one of those women that the author names with special emphasis. Reference is also made to the remarkable progress and accomplishments of the modern woman. tcAmong other things, the Shaykh writes: tBahA'ism has forbidden the plurality of wives, it has thus committed a social crime and a severe tyranny.' This is only one of the numerous instances in which the learned Shaykh exposes and asserts his ludicrous ignorance and immature grasp of social order and the divine civilization revealed by Baha'u'llah. In this connection we cannot help remembering the words of the late Mirza Abu'1 Fazi Gulpayegan, a most erudite Baha'i historian, philosopher, and teacher, who wrote in his tBrilliant Proof': cCid the thirty-fourth verse of the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, where His Holiness the Christ says: "0 ye generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?" Yea, if it were possible for the sugarcane to yield a bitter fruit and for the fragrant rose to exhale a foul odor, such signs as these ("ye shall know the tree by its fruits") would never have been revealed in the heavenly books and such distinction would never have been appointed as the correct criterion.' (cThe articles of Abdu'1 Jalil Beyk Sa'd are published on the front page of the af ore-mentioned paper and also in other papers. They have aroused considerable interest in the Baha'i Faith, in Egypt, and will undoubtedly be the harbingers of its spread and progress there. The Central Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is in Egypt has appointed a Committee entrusted with the responsibility of writing on behalf of the said Assembly and in its name, answers to the attacks of the enemies of the Cause, or articles on the Baha Faith, in the papers." [p53] 4~~r _ ~ 4~;O~' & '< ~ V ~Y4;,~2~:~ ~ji ¾ ______I ~ ~ The Marriage Certificate of Baha'u'llah 1251 A.H. (1835 A.D.) [p54] 54 THE BAHA'I WORLD BRITISH ISLES The present influence of the Cause in England, as in France, is manifested not merely in the activities undertaken by the avowed Ba1A'is but also by the scholarship of a number of prominent OrientMists and students of international affairs who for a long period have collected manuscripts, edited works dealing with the history or teachings of the Faith, and made allusion to it in their own writings. From reports issued by the National Spiritual Assembly and by the London Spiritual Assembly the following items have been gleaned: (tThe first message received from Shoghi Effendi during the past year contained these words: The Guardian sincerely hopes that these newly elected members of the London Assembly will succeed this year in giving an added stimulus to the teaching work in London and the surrounding regions. You surely have among you some wonderful material with which you could work Ñ people who have experience and are versed in the teachings. The only thing that is needed is a con Ñ certed effort among the friends with wise and intelligent guidance on the part of the Assembly. In his moments of prayer the Guardian will think of you all and ask God to guide you and assist you. He trusts that the London group will be the focal center from which the light of Baha'u'llah will spread throughout the whole country and bring peace, hope and assurance to its suffering and disheartened population.~ "An attempt has been made to carry out the Guardian's wishes and while the result leaves much to be desired no one can measure results and there have been many obstacles, such as illness, economic difficulties, etc. "The London Center has. been maintained, in spite of all obstacles, and many visitors have come to inquire about the Movement, including Rev. Basil Viney, who is to speak for us; an Edinburgh professor, a Christian worker Ñ Mr. Jardine, who heard of the Movement in India; Mr. Armitage, an artist; Mr. Leach, a friend of Mr. Tobey's; Miss Felbermann, from Budapest; Miss Magda, from Canada; Mrs. Howlett, New York; Mr. Aird, Mr. Dobbie, Dr. Vawdrey, Miss Storey, Geneva; Mr. Mathews, New York; Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Henkel, Mr. Thorne, Mr. Moon, Mr. Rochan, Mr. Manoucher Hakim, Miss James, Mr. and Mrs. Hockings, Mrs. Evason, Mr. Fahramand, Berlin; Mrs. Holt, Miss Sturgis, Mr. Bartlett, Mrs. Hutcheson, from Australia (Mrs. Moftitt's daughter) Mr. Perkins, Mr. Emeric Sala, Montreal; Miss Helen Eraser, Miss Draper, Miss Sherwood, Mr. Neumirosky, Australia; Mr. Dighton, Mr. Maghath, Mr. Ratter, Miss Hatheway, Mrs. Allen, Cambridge; Mrs. Wisness, Miss Macdonald, Miss Goldsmith, Admiral Drury-Lowe, Miss Claridge, Miss Fishman, Miss Freitag, Manchester; Miss Rubenstein, Mr. and Mrs. Wright, Mr. Mowatt. (cWdd evening meetings have been carried on through faith and God's help Ñ as during the winter speakers were very difficult to obtain and many times when it seemed there would be no one present there were from 18 to 25. Only a few times did the attendance fall below this number. The outside speakers have proved exceptionally interesting, including Miss Helen Fraser, Mrs. Gladstone Solomon, Mr. Polak, Mr. Brian Goddard, Rev. Magnus C. Ratter, Mr. St. Barbe Baker, and Mrs. Vernon Smith. ccSeyeral discussion meetings were held which proved helpful and the Persian evenings when The Dawn-Breakers was especially considered, and Mr. Baha'i and Mr. Yazdi spoke were most instructive and interesting. CCA very special effort was made at the time of the Economic Conference and some publicity and advertising brought the Cause to the attention of many people. The Prayer Meeting held for all religions was most impressive; a special feature of this was the reading by the Hon. Lily Montagu, who has written a statement for the next issue of tThe Baha'i World,' as has the Rev. Griffith Sparham and Professor Waterhouse. "Referring to the Economic Conference and Mr. Mills' meetings, Shoghi Effendi wrote through his secretary: The Guardian was deeply gratified to learn that Mr. Mountfort Mills' sojourn among you has been so inspiring and so fruitful; and that the London friends have fully availed themselves of this opportunity to bring the Cause to the attention of the pub [p55] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 55 • lie. The invitation you have extended to the delegates at the Economic Conference he thoroughly appreciates and he would strongly advise you to take similar steps in the future whenever you find that circumstances are favorable to an extensive teaching of the faith. Although no one of the delegates responded to your invitation, yet the mere fact that they have been made aware of the existence of a Baha'i Center in London is in itself of immense benefit to the Cause. The immediate results of such an action may be very meager but it has, nevertheless, many far-reaching effects. (C C'fl~ Guardian hopes that your Assembly will always seek the help of such able international teachers of the faith as Mr. Mills, whose presence besides being very helpful to the friends, is also of incalculable benefit to their teaching efforts.' !cMr. Mills spoke at three 'Wednesday meetings, three Sunday meetings, came in to two prayer meetings and met many people individually. He says he seems to feel that he belongs to this group. The room was full each Sunday in spite of the very hot weather and Wednesdays very well attended Ñ brief extracts of his talks appeared in the English News Letter. Meetings were advertised in the Times, the Observer and the Standard. ccMi Goldman of Honolulu spent some time with us and spoke several times, and assisted in other ways. She gave the message to several people, individually. ccMr. Mark Tobey, of America and Tomes visited us several times, and helped in every way; bringing back messages from the Guardian upon his return from Haifa. He is now in China and Japan. "Recent Mr. Naimi from Teheran has spent some time with us and a large number of enthusiastic meetings were held. He spent nearly his entire time in Baha'i work Ñ the Sunday afternoon meetings, with tea, were largely attended and very inspirational and the Wednesday meetings most helpful. He brought fresh life and courage to us all and gave his supreme object as that of bringing the East and 'West closer together. He stayed over especially for the Nawruz Feast. ccThe commemoration days and feasts have all been observed. The Ri4'vAn last year was held at Lady Blomfield's home and will be again on April 21st next. The Passing of Baha'u'llah and also of cAbdu~1~BaM were fittingly remembered and the Birthday of Baha'u'llah was a Feast of Joy. The program was carried out almost entirely by the young people. At the recent Nawruz Feast Mr. Naimi spoke in a most inspired way and the beautiful play given last year at Ri4lvin was repeated. During the year one very large Unity Feast was given when Miss Qamble acted as hostess. The Nineteen Day Feasts have been held and while the attendance has been smaller than hoped for it is a beginning and we look forward to much better things in this respect this year. "As to publicity Ñ the chief item was the article in the publication cTown and Country' and some publicity in a CSh rt History of Religions' by Mr. E. B. Kellett. The author of this book was contacted, asked to come to the room, and interviewed. Several Baha'i books were given to him to read and he has promised if a second edition of the book appears to amend his account of the Baha'i Movement and quote from some of our books, such as The Dawn-Breakers and THE BAHA'I WORLD. The Sunday Dispatch, which is running a series of articles on different religions, has promised to send a representative to the Center and publish an article on tThe Baha'i Movement.' ~~Sl of our members have addressed groups during the year including Mrs. Slade, at Rev. Will Hayes' church, Miss Phillips, London Fields Fellowship, Miss Baxter, a Women's Meeting in East London, and Mrs. Romer a group of Christian Theosophists. t!The Secretary represents the Baha'is at an Inter-Religious Group where representatives of all religions work together Ñ in forming this group the Rev. Leslie Belton, a Unitarian, was quoted in a publication as saying tThe Bahai Movement has already put into practice the very thing for which we are now striving Ñ the unity of all religions.' CCEid that the Baha'i Cause is becoming better known to progressive and influential personalities in Great Britain is furnished by allusions to it found in current periodical and other literature. An example is the statement made by the Rt. Hon. Sir [p56] 56 THE BAHA'I WORLD Herbert Samuel, G.C.B., M.P., in John O'London's Weekly, March 25, 1933. He says: tlt is possible indeed to pick out points of fundamental agreement among all creeds. This is the essential purpose of the Baha'i Religion, the foundation and growth of which is one of the most striking movements that have proceeded from the East in recent generations.' tcDuring the past year there has been a welcome increase in the number of Persian students in London who are of the Baha'i Faith and have affiliated themselves with the activities of the Cause here. These have included Mr. Baha'i, Mr. Homayon, Mr. Djavidani and Mr. Yazdi. Other accessions to the local group have been Miss Gilmore and Miss Haines, who have been transferred to London from Bournemouth, for residential reasons. One of our newest and most active recruits, Mrs. Routh, formerly of Hampstead, has been lost to us temporarily. Her return from her sojourn in Australia is eagerly awaited. "That the Baha'i spirit and ideals are permeating other groups is manifest in many directions. At the regular Wednesday meetings the speakers have included Mr. Lional Aird, Secretary of the Friendship Committee of East and West; Mrs. Brants, International House for Students; Mr. Goldsmith, Esperanto Movement; and Mr. Chaplin of the All People's Association. The cooperation gives like-minded workers a fuller knowledge of the Revelation. Prayers for the work of the Cause are read especially on Monday afternoons; and Mrs. George's Sunday meetings are specially for teaching. tWh tAbdu'1-Bahi was in London I-fe outlined the idea of a play which has now been written by Mrs. Basil Hall and published under the title of tThe Drama of the Kingdom,' much to the satisfaction of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. A new avenue of approach to the Cause is opened by this notable work. "A Youth Group has recently been formed among the London Baha'is, and it is exceedingly promising for it is full of enthusiasm and fire. ttThey have their meetings every Friday night at 8 o'clock, tea is served at 10, but they often do not separate till 10:30, so great is their interest. "The energetic committee composed of Mr. and Mrs. Alisade, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Bal Ñ yuzi, Mr. Dekkan, Mr. Dear, Miss Phillips and Mr. Aziz Yazdi, and the two Misses le Gray, seems to have hit on a most successful plan for keeping up this interest and including everyone in its activities, for though at the first meeting there were only six, ever since the numbers have run to 19 or 20, with the young men and the girls in about equal proportions. "Mr. Aziz Yazdi from Egypt, and the young Persian men students here in London at present, help the meeting a good deal. ccDuring June and July, 1933, a conference was held in London which was a fulfilment of the prophecy and admonition of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Bah& Ñ the World Economic Conference Ñ when representatives of sixty-six nations met to discuss world problems. It was the beginning of a new era; the sign of the awakening in world consciousness of the unity of mankind. If re-suits were disappointing one must remember the immensity of the undertaking, the diversities, in all ways, of the participants, and their ingrained prejudices. But the idea of consultation is sound and definitely Baha'i; it will eventually succeed when human hearts have become purified and less selfish. "On Sunday, June 11th, the day preceding the opening of the Conference, the Baha'is held a prayer meeting for the spiritual guidance of the assembled delegates. Notices were sent to all delegations, newspapers, and interested people. The effort was not alone to acquaint visitors and others with our teachings, but to focus the dynamic power contained in the Baha'i Cause on the giant undertaking for the good of the human race. This meeting and later ones were advertised in the Saturday CTimes~ and tEvening Standard,' also in the tObserver.' Over fifty peo-pie attended the initial meeting where, under Mrs. Slade's chairmanship, a sincere spirituality and humility touched all hearts. As announced at this meeting Baha'i prayers for the guidance of the Conference were read in the Baha'i Room at noon, on many succeeding days. ttM Mountfort Miiis came to London to [p57] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 57 assist in the Baha'i work. He spoke at several advertised meetings on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. His subjects included: tToday: Our Great Privilege and Responsibility'; 'Our Stricken World: How Its Economic Ills Can Be Cured,' and Why the World Needs the Baha'i Movement.' The Baha'i Room was filled at all of these meetings, many inquirers asking questions and manifesting interest. Among some vital statements made by Mr. Mills were these: cBhi~~11Ah and CAbdu~1~Bah4 knew afld recognized the conditions of the world and the great need for a change in human consciousness seventy-five years ago, before any one else thought or spoke of it. They recognized the tt' which existed be.-tween religious systems and nations, and that nothing but the power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts could remedy it. I have asked many noted clergymen to explain the Holy Spirit but they have not been able to do it. CAbd~1Bh~ spoke of it as such a powerful force that when we go with it our possibilities are almost limitless, but when we go against it there is great danger of destruction. To my knowledge it was the first time a Manifestation of God had given a definite plan for the reconstruction of human society as a whole, and the first time that Oneness had been taught in this way. It seems to me that the inertia of the great mass of the people is more dangerous than active wickedness.' ccMr Mills, in answering numerous questions, said that tthe Baha'i plan worked in the days of CAbdu~1~BaM; that the organization which is inherent in the teachings of Baha'u'llah was the instrument through which the great spirit, which is surging through the world with more power than ever before, can work.' He quoted Shoghi Effendi as saying that teach one of the believers should think of himself not as English, French, German or American, but as a cell in an organism bounded only by the size of the planet.' He spoke of the discipline of submission to the Spiritual Assembly as a tfive Ñ finger spiritual exercise,' emphasizing the fact that tAbdu'1-BaM considered the Assemblies as a principle of organization so important that He referred matters to the Egyptan Assembly during His lifetime. He said, tThe great bounty of working for Bali A'u'llAh, under the leadership of Shoghi Effendi, constituted an opportunity rather than a sacrifice,' and added: tThe vital fact (reiterated often by Shoghi Effendi) that the Baha'is as whole did not realize the seriousness of the Cause Ñ that it was not only getting together and beaming on one another, but that the future civilization of the world was embedded in the teachings of Baha'u'llah and the working out of his great plan for Assemblies and individuals.' C!At the last meeting of the series, held on Sunday afternoon, July 16th, the pressing need of divine help in the baffling conditions of today was realized. Representatives of other religions were invited to join with the Baha'is, in prayer, in their own way, to the one God of all, for guidance and help. Professor Shastri represented the Hindu faith, Mr. A. Ogeerally, of Trinidad, the Moslems, Mrs. Bethune, the Christians, and Mr. Ho the Confucians. Great strength and beauty pervaded the Jewish prayers and readings rendered by the Hon. Lily Montagu. All differences were dissolved in the pure white light of spiritual unity in this meeting which illustrated the teaching of Baha'u'llah that ~A11 are the leaves of one tree,' in off&ing joint prayers to God. It is hoped that a meeting of a similar character, with a larger representation of the various world religions, will be held in the autumn." INDIA AND BURMA In this immense theater of social readjustment, where religion has for ages been a prime motive of individual attitude and action, the social consciousness born of the New Day creates issues whose outcome, scarcely perceptible as yet to the native non-Bah6A, will have enormous reverberations. The report of the National Spiritual Assembly for the period 19321934 follows. t~Mr Keith Ransom-Kehier toured through India and Burma in the early part of 1932. She visited Rangoon, Mandalay, Myamo and Kanjangaon in Burma and Calcutta, Benares, Lucknow, Agra, Delhi, Au-garh, Amritsar, Lahore, Karachi, Bombay, Poona, Hyderabad (Deccan) and Bolepur in [p58] '~'( ~ ft ~4§. ~ J~. & ~' ~c 7. ~ ~ I ~ ILW 7T~y ~JL1~. ~y}~ Imperial Firman of N6siri'd-Din ShTh, 1265 A.H. (1848 A.D.) with marginal note in his own hand, commanding Prince Mihdi-Quli Mirza to exterminate the Bab's of M~zindar~n, Persia. (Refer to The Dawn-Breakers, Ch. XIX.) [p59] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 59 Northern and Western India and delivered lectures under the auspices of Indian Universities and met professors, students and religious leaders in various towns. On March 21st of the same year she performed the opening ceremony of the first Haziratu'l-Quds constructed on the Indian soil at Karachi. Her visit to the university towns of our country proved very fruitful and the message of Baha'u'llah was broadcast to the intelligentsia in the country. Her discourses were listened to with deep interest and she created a very great impression both by her learning as well as eloquence. As a matter of fact, many were attracted to the Cause. Her passing away in 1sf ahan has been deeply mourned by every one who came in touch with her. "The National Spiritual Assembly of the Ba1A'is of India and Burma which was registered under the Religious Societies Registration Act in 19321933 has been functioning more or less successfully during the last two years and has now eight Assemblies affiliated to it, viz., Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Karachi, Kanj angaon, Mandalay, Poona and Rangoon Ñ Delhi being the youngest of them all. All the local Assemblies have been trying to do as much as they could to spread the Cause and the number of believers has been steadily increasing. Useful contacts have been formed with many religious organizations such as the Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj, the Theosophical Society and with other liberal religious reform movements in India. Baha'i representatives have attended many important religious conferences held in different parts of the country and their views have been received with a certain amount of respect and at times even accepted as being praiseworthy and practicable. ttThere has been a steadily increasing demand for Baha'i literature and for Baha'i magazines and journals. The Kaukib Ñ i-Hind, our Urdu monthly, did wonderful work and many Urdu speaking persons were attracted to the Cause through this magazine. Financial and other difficulties, however, compelled us to suspend its publication for some time. The ~Bh"" which was issued three times a month and suspended publication for six months had to be turned into a fortnightly and is being subscribed to by about 200 English speaking Baha'is and non-Ba1A'is. The Baha'i Magazine of U. S. A. has about forty subscribers in India. Nine copies of The Dawn-Breakers were presented by the N.S.A. to the nine big libraries in India, viz., Punjab Public Library, Lehore; University Library, Aligarli; Santineketan Library, Bolepur; Khudabakhsh Library, Patna; Osmania University Library, Hyderabad (Deccan) ; Bernard Library, Rangoon; Jerabai Wadia Library, Poona; Imperial Library, CalciAtta, and Jamia Milli Library, Delhi. The Bombay Baha'i Assembly also presented copies to local libraries. Our Poona Assembly presented copies of The Baha'i World, Vol. IV, to libraries as well as prominent Indians. ~tTh translation of Dr. Esselmont's Baha Ñ 'u'lIdh and the New Era was published in the Gujerati and the Burmese language, while the Urdu and the Hindi translations were in course of preparation and were nearing completion. Many other books have been translated from Persian and Arabic into Urdu and published by the Kaukib-i--Hind office at Delhi. A regular Publication Committee working under the supervision of the N.S.A., however, was needed and steps were being taken to evolve such a committee, which will supervise and control all publication work. ttOur greatest need is the sending out of traveling teachers to different parts of the country but we are greatly handicapped be-caused we have no such teachers who know English, Persian, Arabic, as well as the Indian languages so well, as to be able to go about and teach the Cause. Then our resources are also limited. We trust, however, that Persian and America teachers will be constantly visiting our country and inspiring us to spread the message among a people who are longing to hear this life-giving teaching which leads to concord and harmony among the warring creeds. Indian Baha'is enjoyed the special privilege of contributing their quota towards the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Chicago and also towards the completion of the dome of that beautiful temple. The Poona Assemblies' efforts in this direction are praiseworthy. We trust and hope that our humble services to the Cause of Baha'u'llah, however inadequate, will in times to come bear good fruit." [p60] 60 THE BAHA'I WORLD THE SOUVENIR OF tABDU'L-BAHA This statement has been compiled from reports by Hooper Harris and Marie Moore. "Each year, on the last Saturday in June, a group of a few hundred gathers in the beautiful pine grove surrounding Evergreen Cabin, at West Englewood, N~w Jersey. The occasion is the annual commemoration of the Souvenir of tAbdu'1-Bah6. The habitual readers of this biennial know that twenty-one years ago CAbd 'lB 1< Himself gave a feast in this same place to some three hundred of His friends and followers; and that every year since it has been celebrated at the same place and date. More and more it grows to be a happy and festive occasion not oniy for Baha'i friends from the cities round about but for the dwellers in and about West Englewood. "This year a new bond has been created between the Baha'i Assembly and the citizens of West Englewood, for during the winter the Baha'i friends had given public entertainments and concerts and made over the entire proceeds to the welfare committee of West Englewood for unemployment relief. This is one of the reasons why an unusually large number of people from the immediate vicinity were present. CCA special feature of the day this year was the placing of a marker at the spot in the grove where tAbd'lBh' stood on that memorable day in June, 1912, when He addressed the friends assembled at the feast which His bounty had prepared. Beneath the marker Ñ a small granite stone Ñ was placed a sealed copper box containing a paper signed by all those present on this occasion who were also present in 1912. The 'West Englewood Assembly offered this marker as a means to indicate and preserve this hallowed spot pending the erection in the future of a more permanent and adequate expression of loving memory to the one who in 1912 instituted this tgood gathering,' this most happy annual occasion. Brief talks recalling the original event were a part of the simple but beautiful ceremony of placing the stone. Ct~fflS annual gathering not oniy commemorates the feast given by tAbdu'1-BaM but it exemplifies the principles which He taught and the spirit which radiated from Him. For CAbd 'lBh' taught the Oneness of Humanity and the Oneness of all lieU-gions, and on this occasion come together peoples of different races, religions and nations in unity, love, and harmony. ~tThe program, too, bore witness of unity and the release from racial, national and religious prejudice Ñ such release as gladdens every heart illumined by Baha'u'llah's teachings for those taking part in it were from different races and nations. Gifted members of the Negro race rendered music and gave talks conducive to understanding and amity between the races. A native of far off Persia, distinguished in diplomatic service, gave the principal address of the evening. Thus the unity of the East and the 'West was evidenced. The addresses, also, helped people to understand how important and far-reaching is this principle of the Oneness of Mankind. In the afternoon the speaker called attention to the Scriptural background of the Baha'i Message, showing that the coming of Baha'u'llah fulfills prophecy; that the Baha administration which is being established in Baha'i communities fulfills prophecy; that this administration is the basis for a new world order under which there will be peace and justice for all mankind. He also explained how the Baha'i administration is symbolized by the heavenly bodies, thus showing in detail how the cheavens declare the Glory of God.' "The address of the evening when the topic discussed was the tSolution of World Problems' sounded the note of the need for spiritual unity. The speaker stated that the Word of God as revealed anew in this day through Baha'u'llah, ushering in an era of spiritual unity, love, fellowship, knowledge and justice, is the oniy solution for the personal, national and international problems which have been caused by mankind in its spiritual infancy. Man is now ready to come into his maturity when he can for the first time in history accomplish this spiritual unity. CCAt one time tAbdu'1-Bah& said, CThe basis of the teaching of Baha'u'llah is the Unity of Mankind and His greatest desire was that 'ove and goodwill should live in the hearts of men.' It was to illustrate and exemplify this unity that tAbdu'1-BaM gave the first [p61] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 61 feast and declared concerning it, tThis is a good gathering. The purpose of all is unity and agreement. The desire of all is attraction to the Kingdom of God. Since the intention of all is toward unity and agreement, it is certain that this gathering will be productive of great results.' "Each year this tgood gathering' has demonstrated by word and by deed to increasing numbers that men of different races and nations can come together happily and harmoniously. More and more clearly from this and similar gatherings goes forth the call that this is the dawn of the New Day whetein the Oneness of Humanity will tes-tablish its temple in the world of mankind.' ESPERANTO The rise and development of this universal auxiliary language reflects an important social law revealed by Baha'u'llah. Baha'is know and appreciate the many references to the subject of universal language found in the Tablets of tAbdu'1-Bahi especially His statement that "the seventh candle (i.e., of world unity) is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. The Baha'is, accordingly, have a continued interest in the progress of Esperanto, as attested by their participation in important Esperanto meetings and congresses, and moreover by the active part taken by such leading believers as Dr. and Mrs. Grossmann, Heidelburg, Miss E. M. Grossmann, Hamburg, Dr. A. Muhlschlegel, Stuttgart, Miss Evelyn Baxter, London, Miss Martha L. Root, and Miss Lidj a Zamenhof, daughter of the founder of Esperanto. The Esperanto review, La Nova Tago, has been published regularly in Germany under Baha auspices. One of the more important Baha'i texts recently translated into Esperanto and published is the Paris Talks of tAbdu'1-BaM. In addition, local Spiritual Assemblies in many countries provide Esperanto study classes for interested Baha'is. ATTACKS BY ENEMIES The power of the Revelation, directed as it is not merely to the revitalization of personal sonal faith and individual ethics but also to the establishment of new social laws, has of late years received the compliment of deliberate hostility on the part of missionaries, civil leaders, and ecciesiastics in various countries. In addition to the attacks made by Muhammadan leaders in Egypt, already cited, and those which have so long existed in Persia, special mention may now be made of violent opposition displayed by Christian missionaries in Persia and by the Soviet government in Russia. A book has been written against the Faith by a missionary located in Shiraz, with an introduction specially written for it by the Bishop of Persia. In Russia the Soviets have similarly openly criticized, condemned and attempted to ridicule some of the Baha'i Sacred Writings and have broadcast them in their official publication, with the result that they have assisted the Cause by diffusing the Teachings throughout the U. S. S. R. That modern tolerance which in reality is mere indifference wears ever thinner under the confusions of this transitional era, and the Baha'is are fully conscious of the fact that erelong these sporadic attacks will be multiplied and highly organized under the inevitable combination of anti-spiritual church and state. BAHA'I YOUTH The present volume contains the first statement on Baha'i youth activities throughout the world Baha'i community, and this section will be greatly developed in years to come. The important point to be considered here is that the entire generation of youth, whether Baha'i or non-BaM'i, occupies one of the most difficult yet significant positions which have existed in recorded history. Never before has a generation been so orphaned, so abandoned, so stripped of its natural connection with the past and so abruptly compelled to create its own future. Outside the World Order of Baha'u'llah, youth is given but few choices between coi-lective ideals which are either wholly materialistic or religious in a sentimental and ineffective fashion, alike incapable of solving [p62] 62 THE BAnAl WORLD those larger problems lying most heavily upon the younger generation. The era now being summarized is notable in that the Baha'i young people for the first time began to realize their unique responsibility and fulfill their limitless privileges of arising among the crdawn~breakers~~ of the world age. That generation receives the Teachings of Baha'u'llah in far completer form than could be available to the older believers a generation ago. Moreover, they stand upon the firm foundation of an administrative order only latent in the Cause before tAbdu'1 Ñ Baha'is Will and Testament indicated the plan Baha'u'llah had revealed for the future society. For them, therefore, the path forward is plainly marked, and in this possession they can become the center around which young people in all countries must revolve. Upon the Cause itself, moreover, the Ba-h6M youth has the privilege of contributing to the new forms by which Baha'i meetings should properly be conducted, since the older believers, conditioned by their past in Christianity or Islam, have unconsciously projected much of their traditional experience into their Baha'i activities. THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA A summary of Baha'i activities prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly in its annual report presented at the Convention in the spring of 1934 is reproduced herewith. Ten years ago the affairs of the Baha'i Faith in America began conscientiously and vigorously to reflect the laws of the new era released from the Will and Testament of tAbdu'1-Bahi through the spirit of the Guardian.. Regular and frequent correspondence with local Assemblies was initiated after the 1924 Convention. Tn December of that year the Baha'i News Letter was established in order to convey full information, and especially the general letters received from the Guardian, to every recognized believer in the United States and Canada. It is significant to note at this time that in that first number of the News Letter the National Treasurer reported that during the period of six and onehalf months ending October 16, 1924, the donations received amounted to $12,167.22. In that number also the National Spiritual Assembly announced it had voted $7,075 upon improvements in the Temple Foundation Hall, so that it might be usable for Baha'i meetings. The Convention held in 1925 was the first Convention composed of ninety-five delegates in accordance with the Guardian's plan conveyed in the letter dated March 12, 1923. At that Convention, also, was presented the first written report ever delivered by the National Baha'i representatives. 'Within a few months, the first Plan of Unified Action was adopted and issued to the American believers, and the gathering of the spiritual forces necessary for constructing the Temple of Baha'u'llah in the Western World had definitely begun. The Convention held in 1926 was composed of delegates from forty-two local Baha'i communities; this year delegates have been elected in fifty-seven communities. Since that modest sum of a little over $7,000 was spent upon the Foundation Hall, within less than eight years well-nigh $600,000 has been contributed and spent upon Ternpk construction. During 1924, the Guardian approved the idea of an international Baha year book. This brief glance back over the path traversed in ten years reveals the first indications of that mighty and irresistible momentum which shall continue unchecked until the whole world of humanity is embraced in one Faith and one Order. It should be more than sufficient evidence that any momentary doubt in the heart of any believer is but shadow lacking substance Ñ it is in truth more than sufficient to confirm our collective courage, clarify our vision and redouble our efforts to render real and enduring services to the glorious Kingdom. For far greater than any material gain achieved in this decade has been the spiritual progress. In 1924, it can be asserted without fear of contradiction, the American Baha'is had no clear standard to uphold even in the fundamentally important matter of passing upon the qualifications of members in the Baha'i community. The doors were held open for the entrance of applicants entertaining views and opinions of extreme variety and contradiction and not compelled to [p63] The Marriage Certificate of the Bib, 1258 A.H. (1842 A.D.). [p64] 64 THE BAHA'I WORLD show evidences that they possessed the spirit of unity. From that darkened twilight of half-truth and divided loyalty, the American Baha'i community has now, thanks to the Guardian's wisdom, forever emerged. The standard of reality has been created on the field of human action and intercourse as it had been created in the field of the spirit by Baha'u'llah. But that progress has not been achieved without some degree of confusion, of perplexity, and of grief. The law of motion, which the Master declared to be the law of life itself, cannot be applied to a great community of human beings without some suffering caused by the need of individuals to readjust, some to the very fact of motion and progress, others to the direction, the goal, to which the movement is aimed. The spiritual history of this decade can be written in these few, simple words: We have moved forward from individualism to the organic community, from personality to the unified body of the Cause. The very basis of that confidence in the superiority of individual "inspiration" and "guidance" which in the past has prevented the attainment of true unity, has now been destroyed by these remarkable words written by the Guardian in his recent general communication published as "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" Ñ "They (referring to the Universal House of Justice) Ñ They, and not the body of those who either directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the recipients of the divine guidance which is at once the lifeblood and ultimate safeguard of this Revelation." These words make it perfectly clear that the blessings of the heavenly world are, in this cycle, to be released for the community of the believers and not granted as separate and distinct gifts to individuals. The individual who seeks to receive his share of this divine outpouring must be devoted, mind, soui and spirit, to the needs of the community and wholly consecrated to general ends raised high above the plane of selfish ambition. This conception of divine law is what, in essence, differentiates the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah from all previous Revelations. That we have attained to its understanding within the present year means surely that the time has come when we must cease being ttChristian~BaM~is,~~ or "Mu-hammedan-Bah&is," or any other kind of divided Baha'i, and become Baha'is in the true meaning of that word. As the Guardian declared in that same communication: cdt should be noted that this Administrative Order is fundamentally different from anything that any Prophet has previously established." Now let us visualize the present area and resources of the America Baha'i community. When all reports have been received and passed on concerning local elections held on April 21, 1934, it is probable that the number of existing organized Baha'i communities in the United States and Canada will be fifty-nine. In addition there are more than ten local groups which can elect a Spiritual Assembly, in all likelihood, within a few years. The task of properly registering the isolated believers is not yet completed, but among them we can count in addition one or two hundred believers any or all of whom, with assistance, may become the nucleus of Baha communities in the future. The properties held in trust for the American Baha'is now consist of the House of Worship with its surrounding land and also land at Muskegon, Michigan; the assets of the Publishing Committee and of the BAHA'I MAGAZINE; and the Green Acre properties. When details have been completed, to these will be added the property donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch at Geyserville, by Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm at West Englewood, the house and land at Maiden, Massachusetts left to Shoghi Effendi by the late Maria P. Wilson, and property at Dublin, New Hampshire, which Mrs. Parsons expressly wished to donate as a memorial to CAbdu~1Bah~ in letters written shortly before her recent lamentable death. While no arbitrary value can be set upon these Baha'i properties, they represent more than a million dollars of assets to the Cause. Who would attempt to fix a price for the spiritual treasures deposited in the Archives? The national Baha'i activities are conducted through about thirty committees appointed annually by the National Spiritual Assembly. Taking into consideration the local Assemblies, the groups and the national Committees, there are at present more than [p65] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 65 one hundred different Baha'i bodies with which the National Assembly conducts correspondence and whose activities it endeavors to supervise within this country alone. Besides such purely Baha activities of a spiritual character, its responsibility includes three summer schools, the publication and sale of books, pamphlets and magazines, and the construction and use of the House of Worship. To trace the ramifications of all these Baha'i activities, it is necessary to follow with close attention the committee reports as submitted and published at the conclusion of each Baha'i year. The particular branch of activity maintained by each committee is capable of indefinite expansion. Teaching, publishing, publicity Ñ to name only three activities Ñ vigorously though they are now being promoted, will in the future, and perhaps in the near future, assume the proportions of tremendous national enterprises. The records of the National Spiritual Assembly are complete for at least twelve years. It would be difficult to imagine any type of situation which has not been encountered in the deliberations of the National Assembly during those years. For the coordination of all these activities and the maintenance of conscious unity, the Netivs Letter was established and has been continued without interruption. It may well be regarded in the light of constant reports of progress made to the believers, their source of information on general Baha'i affairs, and above all, their medium of contact with the Guardian of the Faith. Its expansion and development, especially in the regular reporting of local Baha'i news, is entirely a question of financial capacity on the part of the National Fund. When the resources are made available, that expansion will undoubtedly be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly then in office. The conviction freely expressed at the Convention last year, that local communities and individual believers should give more attention to Baha'i news, is an indication that a new and more profound feeling of responsibility has arisen. The American National Assembly has one international Baha'i function given by the Guardian himself, the preparation of material, through a Committee, for The Baha'i World, and the publication and sale of this biennial record. Three Major Events Turning now to the Baha'i year which cioses with this Annual Meeting. The current year has been characterized with three events of major importance. In their chronological order they were: the martyrdom of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier during the performance of her important mission in Persia Ñ a martydom not physically inflicted by enemies but voluntarily accepted by that noble spirit, whose efforts to remove the disabilities suffered by our Persian coworkers depleted her energies and opened the door to fatal disease; the completion of the external decoration of the Temple dome unit on March 3, 1934; and the receipt of the Guardian's extraordinary letter on "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" written at Haifa on February 8, 1934, and distributed to the friends in pamphlet form a number of weeks ago. The completion of the dome Unit also synchronized with the adoption of a new contract under which the clerestory section of the Temple is to be decorated during 1934. An article commemorating Mrs. Ransom-Kehier's mission and martyrdom in Persia was published in BAHA'I NEWS of January, 1934. That statement culminated in the Guardian's words, conveyed in a cablegram dated October 30, 1933: c(Keith~ precious life offered up in sacrifice to beloved Cause in Baha'u'llah's native land. On Persian soil, for Persia s sake, she encountered, challenged and fought the forces of darkness with high distinction, indomitable will, unswerving, exemplary loyalty. The mass of her helpless Persian brethren mourns the sudden ioss of their valiant emancipator. American believers grateful and proud of the memory of their first and distinguished martyr. Sorrow stricken, I lament my earthly separation from an invaluable collaborator, an unfailing counsellor, an esteemed and faithful friend. I urge the local Assemblies befittingly to organize memorial gatherings in memory of one whose international services entitled her to an eminent rank among the Hands of the Cause of Baha'u'llah." [p66] 66 THE BAHA'I WORLD As to the aim of her services in Persia Ñ the removal of the disabilities laid upon the Faith in that country Ñ more detailed reference is made farther on in this report. The Guardian's frequent and impressive statements on the subject of the continuance of Temple construction have quickened us all to a profounder understanding of the many significances attached to this tremendous enterprise. 'We know today that the collective responsibilities borne by the American Baha'is, since a resumption of Temple construction was undertaken about nine years ago, have had incalculable results in uniting the believers on the plane of sacrifice and action and in opening the door to a greater influx of spirit, for the strengthening and inspiration of the entire BaBi'i body. We behold clearly, furthermore, that the Baha'i House of Worship, rising in the very heart of the 'Western 'World, has created a visible evidence of the Cause of Baha'u'llah which has astonishing influence upon the public. Last of all, we are beginning to realize that, step by step, with the successful prosecution of this mighty task, the Temple has the significance of increasing Shoghi Effendi's capacity to exemplify his station of Guardian and Interpreter of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah not merely for the little present company of Baha'is but for the entire world. By this concentration of effort, by this surpassing sacrifice, the believers are given the glorious privilege of hastening that consummation most to be desired in these days of suffering and confusion Ñ the recognition by all mankind of the divine foundation which has been laid for Universal Peace in the Baha'i institutions of the Guardianship and the House of Justice. Touched by such thoughts, the National Spiritual Assembly several months ago inquired of Shoghi Effendi whether he would advise a continuance of Temple construction under a new contract calling for the decoration of the clerestory section this year. It was only after his sanction and complete approval had been received that the Assembly felt justified in bidding the Temple Trustees proceed with a new contract which prolongs the periof of rigorous economy and sacrifice another year. What now can be said of the third great event of this Baha'i year Ñ the Guardian's communication on tThe Dispensation of Baha'u'llah is this not, in itself, a spiritual blessing far outweighing the extent of our collective sacrifices to the National Fund? Is it not a source of inspiration, of insight, of spiritual knowledge, of calm courage, more than sufficient to enable us to face and overcome the greater problems that lie ahead? Shoghi Effendi's letter has already penetrated the hearts and minds of the friends in every community, but let us recall at this time at least two quotations: "The world's equilibrium," (words of Baha'u'llah) Cthath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hatb been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System Ñ the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed." And these words, also of Baha'u'llah: CCBY the sorrows which afflict the beauty of the All-Glorious! Such is the station ordained for the true believers that if to an extent smaller than a needle's eye the glory of that station were to be unveiled to mankind, every beholder would be consumed away in his longing to attain it. For this reason it hath been decreed that in this earthly life the full measure of the glory of his own sta-don should remain concealed from the eyes of such a believer." With this quotation is paralleled these words of tAbdu'1-BaM: "The station which he who hath truly recognized this Revelation will attain is the same as the flne ordained for such prophets of the house of Israel as are not regarded as Manifestations tendowed with constancy.'" Within this ocean of mystery, dear friends, we swim as fish ignorant of its nature; in such a Household we dwell as children unaware of the blessings it contains! One important remark, however, the National Spiritual Assembly feels it is incumbent to express in relation to the Guardian's letter: namely, that it constitutes our standard of reality in understanding and in giving the true Message. It is our standard of truth in determining the qualifications of those who apply for membership in any Baha'i community. [p67] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 67 Underlying Trends Each succeeding Baha year is not oniy a sequence of external events but also the working out of certain underlying trends, often glimpsed but obscurely, which reflect the collective feelings and thoughts of the friends at the time. Three underlying trends seem to emerge as careful study is given to the period traversed since the last Convention. One of these trends was a poignant conviction that the believers, the Temple dome not having been completed by June 1, 1933, and the Guardian's appeal cabled to that Convention having no visible or rather perceptible response in action commensurate with its vital importance, had somehow failed in their Baha mission and in this failure had become responsible for the possibility of general disaster to the country itself. Such a conviction requires most careful consideration, because if deepened and prolonged it can weaken and divert the collective forces by which the entire I3ah4'i community is sustained. The direct outcome of that attitude was a suggestion received by the National Assembly soon after the Convention from a number of local Assemblies, urging on the one hand that the Guardian be invited to America, and on the other hand that a great public meeting be arranged in the House of Worship at which the rulers of all nations were to have their attention called to Baha'u'llah's World Plan. This striking, courageous and heartfelt suggestion was studied, with the result that the National Assembly became convinced that the hopes and thoughts of the friends should be rallied around the unfinished task of Temple construction, in which task our highest hopes can alone be fulfilled, and that no such impressive teaching effort could attain success if based upon failure in our Temple work given us by the Guardian himself. These words, written to the Assembly by the Guardian on June 17, 1933, seemed to confirm that view: "The thing that is most urgent and of supreme importance is to insure the uninterrupted progress of the ornamentation work of the Temple." On July 26, the Assembly received this cablegram: gram: ~tOn early completion this mighty enterprise must chiefly depend satisfactory solution grave issues confronting Faith throughout East." On October 7, another cablegram was received as follows: 'tMainte-nance full construction schedule indispensable agency (to) enhance worldwide prestige (of) American Baha'i community, (to) further its aims, enrich its life, cement its unity and consecrate its outstanding achievements. Praying incessantly fulfillment its high destiny." Finally, the cablegram dated November 18, 1933: ctBahA:i communities East and 'West acclaim with one voice the stupendous achievements of those responsible for this latest manifestation of America's superb, sustained self-sacrifice. Supreme Concourse echo praises of those whose shining deeds are shedding on the Baha'i name a great, imperishable lustre. My heart swells with admiration and gratitude as I contemplate the increasing evidences of American believers' well-deserved, steadily advancing fame. The hour of Victory is at hand Ñ America's invincible heroism must and will achieve it." It is surely helpful to trace an important Baha'i attitude or conviction throughout its whole cycle of influence. We see from this brief record that a goal once established by the Guardian cannot be abandoned, cannot be replaced with any other objective, but remains the end of collective effort until completely attained. The power of service is surely given us in order to assist in the achievement of such universal goals as those which Shoghi Effendi from time to time sets up for the Baha'i community, and not for the promotion of any temporary or local plan we ourselves may wish to adopt. This thought is greatly confirmed by those words of the Guardian quoted in the special Temple letter issued by the National Assembly from Evanston on September 26, 1933: "Great as has been the measure of their self-sacrifice, yet unless they redouble their efforts and concentrate all their resources to bring the whole work to a successful completion, their energies will have been spent in vain. The second underlying trend this year has been to clarify the important subject of the Annual Convention. The final result is that the Guardian has again explained this sub [p68] 68 THE BAHA'I WORLD ject, and a compilation of all his references to this matter was published in November BAHA'I NEWS and continued in the issue of February, 1934. The understanding which the National Assembly has of the nature of the Annual Meeting has been made the subject of a separate statement and therefore need not be duplicated in this report. It may well be remarked, however, that such trends are bound to develop from time to time as the Baha community receives a new influx of vital power. The steady evolution from the dominance of personality to the domi Ñ nace of institutions, which is the history of the era which began with the Guardianship, makes it inevitable, and exceedingly desirable, that each and all the permanent Baha'i institutions Ñ the Convention, the local Spiritual Assembly, etc., Ñ become the subject of vigorous discussion to the end that its full scope and proper operation be clearly comprehended by the entire community. Such discussion stimulates thought, enlarges the vision and confirms the true believers in the spirit of loyalty and devotion. It is not merely lack of knowledge but also confusion of motives which holds back our collective development from that degree of unity and power required for the full unfoldment of the World Order of Baha'u'llah. The third important trend this year may be termed the increasing importance of America in the international Baha'i community, a trend whose spiritual source lies in the Guardian's letter entitled c(America and the Most Great Peace," the text of which was read at the Convention last year. Before that Convention closed, as the friends will recall, the delegates adopted a powerful resolution pledging support to the National Assembly in its effort to alleviate the sufferings and remove the injustices still endured by the Persian Baha'is. That effort, reported in part in the article commemorating Mrs. Keith Ransom-Keller's services, published in the January, 1934, issue of BAHA'I NEWS, has continued and cannot be relaxed until fully victorious. The continuance of Temple construction, as already noted, is in itself of direct international Baha'i significance. The National Spiritual Assembly, furthermore, has this year been requested by the Guardian to exert influence for the solution of other important international Baha'i problems, but these actions, in accordance with Shoghi Effendi's instructions, cannot at present be discussed. There are, on the other hand, a number of other international Baha'i matters consideration of which is important: the purchase of additional land in the vicinity of the Shrine of the BTh, the transfer of title to the Palestine Branch of the American N. S. A. of lands purchased by individual believers, and the special donation of $500 made a few months ago to the Baha community at tIshqTh~d for the relief of extreme suffering made known by the Guardian. In connection with the important subject of Baha land on Mount Carmel, it should be pointed out that Palestine, and especially the port of Haifa, has recently been undergoing vigorous development as result of a considerable strengthening of the Jewish Palestine movement caused by anti-Jewish activities in Europe. This development has not oniy brought about a great rise in property values, but is producing a condition which makes it increasingly difficult to secure land on Mount Carmel at any price. The very heart of the World Order of Baha'u'llah must today compete with a commercial demand for private residences which, once established, can with difficulty be brought under Baha'i ownership and control. Decisions of the N. S. A. In general letters and also in BAHA'I Nrws, the National Assembly during the past year has discussed with the local Assemblies a number of important subjects. Among these were: 1. The election of new Assemblies at Indianapolis, Cabin John, Toledo, Spokane, Monroe and Colorado Springs. 2. The recommendation by local Assemblies of names of believers to be considered in the appointment of National Committees. 3. The reminder that traveling teachers are under the jurisdiction of the local Assembly in each city, and where no Assembly exists, they are under the jurisdiction of the National Teaching Committee. 4. The decision that all literature, charts and other material used in Baha teaching [p69] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 69 should be confined to that which has been approved by the Reviewing Committee or has the recorded sanction of the N. S. A. 5. An invitation that local Assemblies send monthly reports outlining their activities. 6. The recommendation that each local Assembly keep a full and accurate file of BAHA'I NEWS and of general letters issued by the National Assembly, which file to be made available to all members of the community. 7. The decision that the National Treasurer has been instructed to receive oniy donations made in cash or negotiable securities, not in merchandise which must be sold. 8. The continuous report of the progress of Temple construction, with all the Guardian's messages on this subject. 9. The suggestion that local Assemblies arrange for the study by the entire community of the Guardian's World Order letters. 10. The appeal that at three successive Nineteen Day Feasts the believers join in the Master's Prayer for the Baha Community. 11. The suggestion that local Assemblies bring up for discussion at Nineteen Day Feasts the articles and statements in BAHA'I NEWS which call for cooperative effort. 12. An explanation of the threefold character of the Nineteen Day Feast. 13. The reminder of the vital importance of the local Spiritual Assembly in creating the conditions essential to the success of every national Baha undertaking. 14. The hope that matters of local importance can be settled locally, to free the National Assembly from petty questions and enable it consider larger questions of na Ñ tional policy. 15. The decision that the removal of believers from the voting list by local Assemblies be made conditional upon prior report to and recommendation by the National Assembly. 16. The callifig of a Memorial Meeting to commemorate Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier; the calling of a Memorial Meeting to commemorate Mrs. Agnes Parsons. 17. The appointment of an Assistant Treasurer in order to assist the Treasurer in keeping the believers informed concerning national financial matters, and the subsequent publication in BAHA'I NEWS of special articles explaining the relation of the National Fund to the establishment of World Order. 18. The issuing of monthly Financial Reports prepared by Mr. Mathisen as Accountant. 19. The establishment of a teaching medium Ñ the bulletin entitled "A New World Order" Ñ to enable the National Assembly to supplement and extend the teaching activities of all local Assemblies, and its distribution to a special list of 2,000 people throughout the United States and Canada. 20. An appeal to Baha architects to submit designs for a Memorial to Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier, to be constructed at 1sf ahan, Persia. 21. An appeal for contributions to purchase land on Mount Cannel, now owned by enemies of the Cause, after the receipt of a cablegram on this subject from Shoghi Effendi. 22. The decision to hold a national Ba-M'i meeting of thanksgiving and consecration in the House of Worship when the dome unit is completed and its cost entirely paid. 23. The decision that anonymous communications are not in conformity with the spirit or letter of the Teachings, and furthermore that the general distribution of any letter by an individual believer is an improper method of Baha'i consultation. 24. The issuing of the Convention call on March 9, 1934. 25. The recommendation that each unincorporated local Assembly study carefully and follow the procedures and guiding principles defined in the local ByLaws approved by the Guardian. 26. The distribution to the entire body of believers of the Guardian's letter, "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah," with the suggestion that it be made the subject of special consultation and that in preparing new believers for entrance into the community, the final teaching given them consist of this letter. 27. The preparation of an Outline and Summary by the National Assembly as material to be filed in newspaper offices and other organizations where it is important [p70] 70 THE BAHA'I WORLD that accurate information about the Cause be available. 28. The information that the Guardian does not wish us to pay attention to the erroneous publicity emanating from the New History Society. 29. The explanation that the circular letter issued by a local Assembly in April, 1934, was an improper method of Baha'i consultation. 30. The issuing to all local Assemblies of a photograph illustrating the completed Temple dome. 31. The reminder that traveling believers should carry Baha'i credentials. 32. The publication of Baha'i Directory. 33. The publication in BAHA'I NEWS of a statement summarizing the Guardian's instructions on the subject of the nonpolitical character of the Baha'i Faith. 34. Continuance of the effort to make an accurate and complete registry of isolated believers and the members of local groups, by means of an enrollment card to be signed by each believer desiring recognition as a Baha'i. 35. The publication in BANAl NEWS of a statement defining the rights of individual Baha'is. 36. The similar publication of a statement on the spiritual character of Baha'i elections. 37. The decision that local Assemblies can hold Baha'i meetings at any convenient time, without regard to the customs and practices of the churches. 38. The decision that local Assemblies are to submit to the National Assembly for final approval their plans for local incorpora Ñ don before the legal action is consummated. 39. The decision that Baha'i contact with Federal and State officials should be made through the National Spiritual Assembly. 40. The adoption of a list of topics to be discussed by individual members of the National Assembly in visiting local Assemblies: A. How is the BAHA'I NEWS distributed to all local believers and what steps are taken to discuss its contents? B. How are the Nineteen Day Feasts carried on and are they attended by all members of the community? C. How often does the Spiritual Assembly hold its meetings? D. How large a proportion of the local community is active S Baha'i service? E. Does the entire community thoroughly understand the importance of meeting the Guardian's wishes for the immediate completion of the Temple Dome? F. How can the local teaching activities be expanded? G. How is Baha'i literature distributed to non-Bah4'is, and how does the community handle the distribution of literature to believers? H. How large a proportion of the believers support the Baha'i Fund? I. Does the Spiritual Assembly take up and explain national and international Baha'i matters, as explained in the Guardian's letters and as from time to time reported in BAHA I NEWS? 41. The decision that the sole function of the Reviewing Committee is to examine and pass upon manuscripts with respect to their accuracy in conformity to the established Teachings, and that when the Reviewing Committee has passed upon the manuscript, the manuscript is then to be handed to the Editorial Committee to report to the National Assembly whether the manuscript is a desirable and useful contribution to Baha'i literature. When the National Assembly has given its approval to a manuscript, it must have opportunity to see the final proof before the manuscript is published in book or pamphlet form. 42. The decision that the discount of 33½ per cent given by the Publishing Committee shall be extended only to local Assemblies and not to groups. 43. The decision that the preparation of local groups for the election of a Spiritual Assembly shall be under the supervision of the National Teaching Committee. 44. The following views were recorded after consideration of a number of questions raised by a local Assembly. They are reported here as they touch upon matters of general interest. A. Members of a local community have the right to the local membership list at local elections. The list can be prepared aiphabeti [p71] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 71 cally, and copies handed out for use oniy during the period of balloting. B. When a believer is admitted into membership in a Baha community, he thereby receives all the rights, privileges and duties of Baha membership, and it is for the Spiritual Assembly to postpone the admission of applicants until they have familiarized each applicant with the members of the community. In other words, it is part of the teaching responsibility of a local Assembly to make applicants acquainted with their fellow believers. Otherwise a new believer is unable to use his voting right intelligently. 45. The publication in BAnAl NEWS, November, 1933, of a statement emphasizing the spiritual basis of all teaching work. 46. The publication in the same medium of a general statement on Plans and Policies for the Coming Baha'i Year, to rally the forces and unite the activities of the friends. As is apparent, the above list is very long and the details are easily forgotten unless some effort be made to recapitulate such items at the end of every Baha'i year. Communications from the Guardian The Guardian's communications. The past year, notable in that it marks the writing of c~The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah," has been enriched with many other letters and cable-grains from Shoghi Effendi. As far as possible, these have been shared with the be Ñ lievers in BAHA'I NEWS and also in the general letters issued to local Assemblies. A number of more important subjects are referred to here, that they may be more firmly held in mind. I. The conditions under which Baha'is may associate with the World Fellowship of Faiths and similar organizations. Published in August, 1933. 2. The "magnificent achievement of the American believers" in promoting the Tern-pie construction. Printed in September, 1933. 3. The passionate appeal cabled on November 2, 1933, and at once shared with the local Assemblies: CCAppeal hard pressed American believers heed this, my last passionate entreaty, not to suffer slightest interruption in Temple construction to dim the magnificence of their epoch making enterprise. The fair name of our beloved Faith is at stake. Its American stalwart defenders will once again vindicate its triumphant glory. I promise one year's respite upon successful conclusion first stage of the ornamentation of our glorious Temple." 4. Explanations of a number of questions : Ñ congregational prayer, the nature of the Nineteen Day Feasts, the instruction that prominent people should be approached by individual believers only with the assistance of the local or National Assembly, instruc-dons on the conduct of Baha'i Summer Schools. Published in October, 1933. 5. Cablegram announcing "Hour of Victory." Published in January, 1934. 6. Letters to the National Assembly concerning the station of Keith Ransom-Kehier, requesting that a model of the Temple be sent for the International Archives, describing conditions in Persia and requesting further effort to bring about relief, and stating that any slackness in the energy and enthusiasm of the friends, at this critical and most decisive moment, will have severe repercussions on the Cause. Published in January, 1934. 7. Explanations and comments made to individual believers, in reply to questions on a variety of subjects. Published in January, 1934. 8. Cablegram heartily welcoming proposal that Temple construction be continued under a new contract. Published in February, 1934. 9. Explanation of the nature of the Guardian's letters to individual believers. Published in February, 1934. 10. Approval of the teaching bulletin issued by the National Assembly. Published in February, 1934. 11. Letter to Mr. Joas, chairman of the Teaching Committee, March 5, 1934: "Concerning the abolition of the institution of paid national teachers, the Guardian wishes to reaffirm his former statements on this matter, and to stress once more that great care be taken to avoid the difficulties and the misunderstandings which in former days had caused so much trouble among the friends. The main point to be emphasized in [p72] 72 THE BAHA'I WORLD this connection is that of making the teachings of the Cause nut the work of a limited group but the chief duty and responsibility of every Baha'i. This is why no salaried teachers should any longer exist. But occasionally to defray the expenses of a teaching trip of a certain Baha'i, particularly when it is done spontaneously, can cause no harm to the Cause. Such an action, provided it is done with care and only when circumstances make it necessary, constitutes no violation of the principle already referred to. The danger in all activities of this nature is to give the impression that the teaching of the Cause is an institution, depending on the support of paid teachers. Those who willingly and with utmost detachment arise to promote the Cause should, undoubtedly, be helped in every way. But they have no claim whatever on the financial help which some friends may freely choose to extend to them." 12. Explanation of passages in "America and the Most Great Peace." Published in February, 1934. 13. Cablegram conveying gratitude for completion of dome unit. Published in April, 1934. 14. Leters to the National Assembly conveying advice on the use of Temple Foundation Hall, the best method of presenting the Master's 'Will to newcomers, the attitude to take toward Ahmad Sohrab's attacks, the immediate future here in America, the unau-thenic character of the illustration of the BTh appearing in the work by Nicolas, and the early signs of the spiritual renaissance, with a correction of a previous explanation of the teachers sent by the Master to America. Published in May, 1934. 15. In several communications Shoghi Effendi has given instructions concerning the relation of local Assemblies to the National Assembly. Writing the San Francisco Assembly on February 19, 1934, the Guardian, through his secretary, in acknowledging receipt of a copy of San Francisco BAHA'I NEws, declared: "On behalf of the Guardian I wish to thank you for your welcome letter of January 23rd, as well as for the enclosed December and January issues of the San Francisco news letter, all of which gave him a clear account of the progress of the Cause in that center. "He would greatly appreciate if you send him regularly two copies of your local news letter. He would also advise you to send to each of the Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies a copy of that circular which will, undoubtedly, prove of great interest to them. ttHowever in view of the principle that local activities should always be subordinated to the national interests, needs and requirements of the Faith, he feels that your Assembly should be careful not to develop their local organ to the extent that would jeopardize the national activities of the Cause in their country. Just as all local institutions, whether administrative or otherwise, must under all circumstances be considered as subsidiary to national organizations, so also local circular letters should be viewed as secondary in importance compared to the national organ of Baha activities. This principle, however, should not be interpreted as being detrimental to the local interests of the Baha'i community, but as an essential, nay indispensable means, whereby the administrative system of the Cause can work with efficiency and order." On February 20, a similar letter was sent the New York Assembly, from which the following excerpt is quoted: ttJust as the local Baha'i fund must under all circumstances be subordinated to the national fund, so also, every local circular letter should be considered as subsidiary to the national report of Baha'i activities in every country. Such a coordination between local and national efforts is indispensable, not oniy because of its economic advantages, but essentially due to the fact that upon the application of the principle underlying this process must inevitably depend the effective working of the entire administrative machinery of the Faith. There is order, coordination and system in the Cause, and not a jungle of conflicting interests and of continually clashing wills." This question is decisively settled in a letter to the National Assembly dated May 10, 1934: ctconcerning local Baha'i news letters, the Guardian strongly feels that they should be primarily devoted to the spread of [p73] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 73 local news and activities, and should under no circumstances contain any statement implying criticism of or even interference with the policy of the N. S. A. They may occasionally refer to items of a national scope, but this should be done oniy with the view of assisting and not hindering the national body of the Cause to carry out effectively its program and decisions. There is thus a definite line of demarcation between correspondence initiated by local and National Assemblies. Local activities should always be subordinated to those of a national character and importance. This is intended not to minimize the rOle of the local Assembly in the administrative order, but to establish and insure a sane relationship between that body and the national organism of the Cause." Reference to other communications from Shoghi Effendi is made in other sections of this report. Important Events of the Year An effort will now be made to outline the more important events of this year. Important donations have been made by Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch and Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm in the form of property. Mrs. Agnes Parsons made clear her intention to donate property at Dublin, New Hampshire, and her family will no doubt carry out this spiritual intention. A bequest in the amount of $1,000 has been received under the will and testament of the late Miss Elizabeth Sherman, and this donation was used in the form of a memorial to her by devoting it to the purchase of land on Mount Carmel. The older believers throughout the United States and Canada have made an excellent beginning on the preparation of material for the history of the Baha'i Faith in America. The National Assembly appeals for the immediate cooperation of all local Assemblies and older believers in the completion of this important task laid upon us by the Guardian in 1933. Mr. Louis J. Voelz has prepared and shipped to the Guardian a beautiful model of the Baha'i House of Worship. The Archives Committee has begun to catalog the contents of the National Baha'i Archives, preparatory to the transfer of these treasures to an Archives Room in the Temple foundation when funds permit its construction. Believers having original Tablets from tAbdu'1-BabA and other precious Baha'i papers and documents are urged to send these to the Archives Committee. Dr. Ali Ñ Kuli Khan has made a new translation of Seven Valleys and also Four Valleys. Local Assemblies have reported a greater number of new voting believers this year than ever before. The general teaching effort has been greatly increased. The Chicago Assembly, with the cooperation of many individual believers, and with the assistance of a special committee appointed by the National Assembly, conducted a display of the Temple model in the Hall of Religions during the 1933 session of the Century of Progress Exposition, in connection with which visitors were given an explanation of the Temple, of the teachings, and presented with free literature. The House of Worship has become the center of spiritual attraction for people from all parts of the country. It is now recognized as one of the important features to be visited by all who come to Chicago. The three Baha'i Summer Schools have greatly improved their teaching classes and discussion groups, and are to be regarded as vitally important institutions in our national Baha'i community. Teaneck, New Jersey, Washington, D. C., and Montreal, Quebec, have prepared articles of incorporation, as reported in greater detail by the Legal Committee. Mrs. Doris Holley has made an Index to BAHA'I NEWS from December, 1924, to November, 1933, containing some two thousand references. This index is now being mimeographed and copies will be sent local Assemblies and also offered for sale to individual believers. Steps have been taken to secure legal protection to confine the use of the symbol of the Greatest Name to the Baha'is, preventing its misuse by nonbelievers. A letter of appreciation has been written to Marie, Dowager Queen of Rumania, at the Guardian's request, expressing gratitude for her latest written tribute to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. This tribute will be reproduced in the next volume of The Baha'i World. [p74] 74 THE BAHA'I WORLD Recent advices from Persia and also from Australia and New Zealand state that National Spiritual Assemblies have been elected in those lands. This is a matter of very great international Baha'i importance. Under the supervision of the Committee on Free Literature, a series of new Baha'i pamphlets has been prepared and will be published in convenient size and uniform appearance. This new literature will be invaluable to local Assemblies and to all active teachers. The national ByLaws have been amended by striking out Section 12 of Article VIII, which defined the delegates as a consultative body existing throughout the year, Shoghi Effendi having made it clear that the continuous consultation is to be conducted through the local Assemblies. Section 7 of Article VIII has been amended by adding the words ctby ballot" to the sentence referring to the election of the Convention Chairman and Secretary. The activities of American believers in other lands are a very important part of our current Baha'i history. To the great services rendered throughout so many years by Miss Martha Root, Miss Agnes Alexander, Mrs. Louis Gregory, Miss Leonora Hoizapple, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Ro-mer, Mine. Dreyfus-Barney, Miss Julia Culver, Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. Max Greeven, Mrs. Emogene Hoagg, Mrs. Lynch, Dr. Susan I. Moody, Mr. Mountfort Mills, Miss Edith Sanderson, Miss Marion Jack, Mrs. Edwin Scott, Miss Adelaide Sharp and Mrs. Sharp, Mr. Mark Tobey and Mrs. Marjorie Morten, we more recently have cause for profound gratitude in the sacrifices and accomplishments of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier in Persia, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter in Tilirin, Miss Louise Wright in Holland, Miss Julia Goldman in Paris, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop at Geneva, and Mrs. Loulie Mathews during her recent travels to Australia and the South Seas. Matters for Special Consideration In conclusion, the National Spiritual Assembly wishes to express a few thoughts on subjects of permanent Baha'i importance which seem to call for careful consideration not oniy by the delegates but by local Assem blies and the body of the American believers. 1. The local Spiritual Assembly is a Ba-h&'i institution capable of expansion along many lines. Its power to render service to the Faith of Baha'u'llah is limited oniy by our own degree of collective local unity and understanding. Within its sphere of local jurisdiction the Spiritual Assembly must assume more and more responsibility in fulfilling the duties laid upon it in the Guardian general letters. The maintenance of unity and capacity for community action, the solving of personal problems, the promotion of teaching plans, the explanation of national policies and plans which can be achieved oniy by the cooperation of very part of the American Baha'i community, the continuous development of the true Baha spirit and knowledge through the Ninteen Day Feasts and other local meetings Ñ these and other obligations create the opportunity for experience and capacity unequalled by membership in any other movement or organization in the world. Year by year more is demanded of every Spiritual Assembly, as the mysterious power of the Cause is released in greater abundance. The measure of service enlarges steadily as the needs of the world increase. 2. One of the supreme blessings of American believers for many years was to receive indiyidual Tablets from the Master, revealed in answer to communications sent Him by hundreds of the friends. The Guardian has maintained this blessing in his special station, never failing in his expression of loving wisdom to his personal correspondents. But a Faith destined to spread throughout the entire world must inevitably develop to a point where the sheer number of adherents will make it impossible for the Guardian to continue personal contact with all individual Baha'is. Has not the time come when, as individual believers, we should ponder this vital matter, and scrupulously weigh the importance of our individual wishes and desires against the importance of the Guardianship itself, with its vital and irreplaceable responsibility for the achievement of universal ends? Does any one believer really wish to add unnecessarily to the burden of that task? Shall we, through mere thoughtlessness, bring Shoghi Effendi to the point of [p75] The Tomb of Baha'u'llah in the years immediately following His ascension. [p76] 76 THE BAHA'I WORLD complete fatigue? Can any letter received by an individual believer convey more than is conveyed to us all in the Guardian's general communications? This is one of the most delicate and vitally important questions which American believers can consider at this time. 3. The three Baha Summer Schools are institutions which deserve the wholehearted support of every local Assembly. The world with his fellow believers, and contribute to the development of the future Universities reflecting into the world the light of God's holy Revelation. 4. The basis and foundation of collective Baha'i progress and achievement is right use of the universal principle of consultation. Let us banish all personal limitations in our Baha'i consultation, all griefs, suspicions and fears, all dependence upon personal influence, Portrait of Abdu'l-Baha by Sigisrnond Ivanowski. is full of organized sources of knowledge which mislead the minds and hearts of the younger generation, and confirm the older generations in their present religious, economic and social prejudices. The Baha'i Summer Schools, feeble by comparison, are today the firm beginnings of our most effective effort to educate people in the divine teachings. An appeal is made to every American Ba1A'i to do his utmost to enroll in one of the three Schools, deepen his spiritual knowledge, enlarge his personal acquaintance and frankly and wholeheartedly participate in those general discussions devoted to purely Baha'i ends. It is a pity that here and there the Nineteen Day Feast is not yet appreciated, but some of the friends appear still to feel that conversation in a little, intimate group is more interesting and important than those general meetings held for the entire community. It should be apparent by now that the life of the Holy Spirit sustains the Tree, and oniy as we form part of that Tree as leaves upon its branches and [p77] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 77 twigs can we receive any portion of that true life. 5. The National Assembly believes sincerely that during the coming Baha'i year two considerations should be kept uppermost Ñ the completion of the new Temple contract for the external decoration of the clerestory section, including the repayment of the $10,000 borrowed in March to make up a deficit for the dome contract, and continuous study and discussion of the Guardian's letter on (cTh Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" in order that we may be united in the inner reality of the teachings and regenerated for its greater duties and responsibilities which lie ahead. This report concludes with the text of two cablegrams recently received from Shoghi Effendi. The first is dated May 12, 1934: ttUrge believers strictly adhere (to) National Assembly's instructions regarding anonymous letters." The second is dated May 18, 1934: "Prolonged negotiations (with) Palestine authorities (has) resulted (in) exemption from taxation (of the) entire area surrounding dedicated Shrines (on) Mount Carmel. Mountfort's notable share in securing implicit recognition (of the) sacredness (of the) Faith's International Center heightens (the) value (~1ff) his services (to) Bah4'u'1-lAli's House in Baghdad." May this note of spiritual victory sound throughout the coming Baha'i year! THE PORTRAIT OF CABDU~LBAHA MARY HANFORD FORD THE magnificent portrait of cAbdu~1. BaM painted by Sigismond Ivanowski at the request of Mrs. Frances Esty of Buffalo, N. Y., was on exhibition recently at the Baha'i Center in New York City, and attracted widespread interest and universal admiration. It is noteworthy for its exceeding beauty of color and technical treatment which render it marvelous as a work of art, but more than this, it is so perfect a portrait of tAbdu'1-BahA that its presence seems to restore Him to the world. After a number of experiments the artist decided that he must paint lAs subject in the open air surrounded by a landscape, which could not be recognized as local, and could not be designated as either oriental or occi Ñ dental, because, he said, tAbdu'1-BahA belongs to the world and His spiritual power is felt everywhere. So the environment is a broadly painted landscape with a glimpse of blue sea, flowers, shrubbery and a great tree under which tAbdu'1-Bahi is seated. Mr. Ivanowski had never been in Palestine, he had never seen cAbdu~1~Bahi. lie had learned something of the Baha'i Movement and was attracted toward it. Mrs. Esty said to him, ccCould you paint a portrait of CAbdu~1~Bah4, never having seen Him?" He hesitated a moment, and then replied, ~ could oniy do such a thing, Mrs. Esty, if I could come into the consciousness of tAbdu'1-BahA. I could not paint the portrait from a photograph." So he returned to his studio armed with such copies of the Baha'i literature as Mrs. Esty believed would be useful to him. Every great artist has the power of visualization, so that as he paints his subject he sees him with the inner eye, not merely the outer one. Such a power is almost unlimited, and is intensified by tranquility and meditation. For six months the artist gave himself to his noble guest, and at the end of this period he began to have definite designs for his portrait, out of which the beautiful final one emerged. The artist felt that the personality of the figure must be definitely given, because it must be recognized by those who had known and loved Him, and must remain to posterity as a veritable portrait of the widely known and loved Prophet figure. Thus the portraiture is unquestionable in this wonderful painting. The features, the unforgettable eyes, the posture, the singularly vivid life of [p78] House where Baha'u'llah Passed Away at Baha. [p79] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 79 the painted form, so that one feels as if at any moment He would speak. All these characteristics create a masterpiece such as one seldom sees. Moreover through that marvelous faculty of visualization, Mr. Jvanowski has painted tAbdu'1-Bah& seated on the 'ow wall which separates his garden from the highway of Haifa, where He often sat a moment before leaving for the City or Mt. Carmel, or when He returned to His home surrounded by eager questioners who could not let Him go. The artist unintentionally caught a veritable moment from CAbdu~1~Bah~~s daily life, and preserved it for us. Mr. Tvanowski says, "This is my masterpiece. I can never create anything like it again." Sigismond Ivanowski is a distinguished Polish-American artist whose portraits have been cherished and sought on both sides of the Atlantic for many years. tAKKA AND HAIFA In February, 1914, tAbdu'1-Bahi spoke these words concerning the future of Haifa: "As I look now over this scene I see so clearly that it will become one of the first emporiums of the world. This great semicircular bay will be transformed into the finest harbor, wherein the ships of all nations will seek shelter and refuge. The great vessels of all peoples will come to this port, bringing on their decks thousands and thousands of men and women from every part of the globe. The mountain and the plain will be dotted with the most modern buildings and palaces. Industries will be established and various institutions of philanthropic nature will be founded. The flower of civilization and culture from all nations will be brought here to blend their fragrance. •The entire harbor from tAkkA to Haifa will be one path of illumination. Mount Carmel itself will be submerged in a sea of light. A person standing on the summit of Mount Carmel itself and the passengers of the steamers coming to it will look upon the most sublime and majestic spectacle of the whole world." (Quoted in The Baha'i, India, October 10, 1933.) CAkk~ and Haifa, the scenes of the imprisonment of the Manifestation, the final liberation and last years of tAbdu'1-Bah4, and now, at Haifa, the Baha'i World Center, have for years been the goal of pilgrimage for believers of East and "West. in addition to their eternal sacredness as the Shrines marking the interment of the physical tern Ñ pies of Baha'u'llah, the Bib and tAbdu'1 Baha, this region is the place where the future international institutions of the Faith are to be raised. The House occupied by Baha'u'llah in tAkki, where the CcKitab~i~ AqdAs" was revealed, has by reason of its sacred character been recently added to the Baha'i Shrines exempt from taxation. During the early months of 1934 negotiations were under way with the authorities to obtain similar exemption for the area surrounding the Shrine of the Bib on Mount Carmel. The Shrine itself, in addition to the two pilgrim houses in Haifa, was previously made exempt. The area forming the sacred precincts of the Bib's Shrine will in part be converted into a series of terraces extending from the top of the mountain down as far as the site occupied by the German colony. Four terraces have been completed since ~Abdu'1 Baha'is Ascension in 1921. Most of the area is now owned by Baha, is entirely dedicated to the Shrine, and in part is registered in the name of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada: Palestine Branch. During the past two years a plot of land situated in the plain of CA1(1(~ in the neighborhood of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, has been donated by Haji Au Yazda, a resident of Haifa, and added to the area registered in the name of the Palestine Branch of the American Assembly. An article on C(Th New Town of Haifa" by Prof. L. P. Abererombie, published in The Palestine Post, Jerusalem, in 1934, gives a vivid picture of the material developments now taking place. "The town of Haifa has one of the most potentially useful, as well as remarkable and beautiful, sites in the world. The Bay of Haifa, seen from the top of Carmel, is a perfect arc with the exquisite town of Acre forming its northern extremity and snow [p80] 80 THE BAHA'I WORLD capped Herman closing the vista: a real site for a prophet to have chosen for his great miracle. ttThe limestone jut of Mount Carmel is the oniy place where the Palestinian hills come down to the sea; the ridge forms the northern terminal of the plain of Sharon, the great citrus fruit-growing district that is now almost continuous from Jail a. North of Carmel opens out that other great plain that runs at right angles instead of parallel to the Mediterranean, the vale of Esdraelon, a fertile expanse that, rising to a slight watershed, intersected by the Kishon, then descends more rapidly to the sunbaked valley of the Jordan. A smaller coastal plain, anciently known as the Emek Zabulon, extends northwards to Acre, enclosing the bay that has already been described. eon the narrow strip between the northern flank of Carmel and the southern hoffi of this bay lies the present town of Haifa, somewhat constricted in space, and right in front of it has been formed the splendid new harbor. If the townplanner alone had had the choice of a harbor site he would never have placed it directly in front of the compressed town, through which road, railway, and sidings can only just penetrate; it would have been placed a little more to the north, near the mouth of the Kishon. But harbor locations are determined primarily by marine requirements, and land-planning must accept the problem and devise a solution. Business Center cdt would seem that the business center of Haifa is definitely fixed in the old town. Rebuilding on a higher and more intensive scale, together with the small expansion on the reclaimed land between it and the harbour must provide all the space required for offices, banks, etc. Indeed, there is an opportunity for a splendid new street of commercial buildings on the Government property facing the harbor; this possibility is not being overlooked. tcHere then is the close-packed town with a narrow exit southwards between the ridge of Camel and the sea (at one place with not much more room than for railway and road), and northwards the open bay and sandy plain stretching as far as Acre. What is the future major grouping of the extension of this town which by all prognostics should become a rival in size and importance to Alexandria? The following is a forecast based upon the studies of three visits; topography, landownership, transport, and other imponderable influences have been taken into consideration, and faint indications can be construed into definite pointers. "As has already been said, in spite of the natural outlet for satellite suburban growth, much land has already been laid out for this purpose and building is proceeding. The levels are terrific and upon some of the limestone gorges it is impossible to build, but thanks to skilful planning in the local Haifa scheme and some fine parcelation work (as plotting for buildings is called) by the advisers of the landowners, the bill slopes and tops will be used without being spoilt. A planning bylaw has been passed prohibiting building on slopes exceeding a certain steepness; this will have the effect of keeping some of the deep gorges permanently open. On other slopes not quite so steep, houses have been built on concrete stilts that seize a hold upon the rocky ledges below. "Round the corner of the Carmel head the flat land is, perhaps, not so attractive, but there is already a charming bathing beach which will naturally develop into a country club, and the southwest slopes of Carmel are already being planned for a similar suburban development which will link up over the top with that approaching from the townside on the north. Pine trees grow well on Carmel; the pocketed limestone is oniy waiting to be transformed into gardens of enchantment. The Persian Baha'i garden overhanging Haifa shows what can be done by man in a few years with the most amiable geological formation that the earth possesses. The close juxtaposition of limestone mountains and town recalls the surroundings of Marseilles, but the Haifa people seem bent upon making more use of this wonderful gift of nature. CCSO much for the satellite growth of loose buildings, large houses, and highly graded roads Ñ in the highest degree attractive, but of course somewhat expensive. [p81] [p82] 82 THE BAHA'I WORLD tAkk~ from the beach. "Th industrial and more normal residential expansion of Haifa must take place to the north. As far as the Kishon building is already fairly well in progress; beyond the Kishon is the Haifa Bay, the old Emek Zab-uion, for which a great planning scheme is at this moment being prepared. Six years ago this was a desert with one tiny isolated fruit farm. Through it runs the recently made Haifa-Acre road, which eventually will form a link in the coastal road from Egypt to Asia Minor, and already upon it today there are the National Railway workshops, a large group of railway workers' houses, many small factories, and, most significant of all, the great terminal storage and shipload-ing plot of the clraq petroleum pipeline and its 800-acre refinery sites. Farther to the east, near the Nazareth road, is the Nesher cement works, located before planning control, but fortunately well placed for the prevailing winds. "The general zoning of this area for the future expansion of Haifa is unusual in arrangement, dictated by inevitable topographic circumstance, but excellent in logical sequence. It is an example of the unending variety which town-planning presents as compared with the comparative standardization in which architecture naturally falls. ccThe general arrangement then consists of a large and continuous industrial tract, extending from the mouth of the Kishon, the greater part on the north of it, to the Nesher cement works on the east. This zone is subdivided, as will be explained later. Enclosing it in a sweeping line from the sea inland, with a curve southwards, is a great continuous ~cut off' of open space. Though eventually it will occupy some of the most valuable ground in Palestine, this belt of open land is an excellent illustration of what well-disposed owners and a cooperating plan-fling authority can do, if the work is taken in time before the high values have been created. Residential Zone '~Beyond this belt runs the residential zone, occupying the whole space between the sea on the west, and on the east a boundary consisting of the Uamaan River on the north and an enclosing agricultural reservation on the south. In spite of the endless hummocks of the sand hills the land is essentially flat, its oniy artificial features being the railway and the Acre road already alluded to. This residential zone might be called a town in itself Ñ except that it is an integral part of [p83] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 83 Haifa with the industrial zone as its connecting link. It is planned for a population of 100,000 and could be extended farther north, if required, to the outskirts of Acre. Planned in a series of large units to facilitate development, the average density as compared with English methods is very iow. The single plots are at the rate of six per acre; but it must be remembered that land cultivation is one of the essentials of Palestinian development, and much of this land, given irrigation, is extremely fertile. ccThe plan provides for building flats with a greater density on the seaward side of the railway. Here the land is almost pure sand, and land for allotments can be reserved on the agricultural belt inland. These flats, like the groups of houses, will be disposed in large units enclosed by main roads, as the building blocks, for ventilation purposes must all face practically the same way; this grouping into big units will falsify the dismal forecast that has been made that site planning will of necessity revert to the monotony of parallel roads. return to the industrial area which forms the hinge, as it were, between the old commercial Haifa and the new residential, this is to be one of the most up-to-date and biggest industry cparks~ in the country. It consists of three subdivisions: That for normal industry, which starts at the coast and includes the I.P.C. tank storage area and railway workshops; the great cenclave~ of the petroleum refinery area, which is situated along the north bank of the Kishon, east of the Acre road; and an area reserved for noxious industries to the southeast, where the Nesher cement factory stands. In the first part of this industrial zone is placed the aerodrorne which will serve the whole district. Road Connections "The road connection with Haifa has been one of the major problems of planning. The Haifa-Acre road will remain the main through traffic route, and along the coast, taking the place of the old track on the shore, will be a coastal boulevard for lighter commercial and pleasure traffic. Between will be an industrial ring road which will form the backbone of the whole factory area. All three roads will connect directly with the harbor. In addition to roads there will be an elaborate system of railways interpenetrating the industrial zone. The principle has been adopted of keeping factory frontage roads and sidings distinct, so that each avoids interference by the other. ttlt will be intensely interesting to watch the evolution of this industrial area, which already shows signs of a rapid growth. The greatest flexibility has been allowed for, so that there is opportunity for the extended factory occupying several acres or the small plot. "The residential growth will naturally depend upon the speed at which industry develops; but there is every indication of a great industrial town springing up fully equipped and planned from the beginning." FRESH CONQUESTS The believer making conscientious effort to trace the irresistible progress of God's Faith in a world writhing with agony must keep his gaze upon two different sets of values: the accomplishments made by Baha'is for their Cause, and the penetration of the power of Baha'u'llah through channels unconscious of its Source. A more adequate summary would therefore include mention of the many conspicuous examples of the acceptance of Baha'i principles by individuals and institutions as necessary elements in the social philosophy of world reconstruction, not less than those achievements which are Baha'i in the more immediate sense of that word. Among the conquests made by believers them~e1ves since the previous international review was attempted, are to be mentioned the introduction of the Faith into Holland by Miss Louise Drake Wright, whose efforts have recently been reinforced by the assistance of Mr. Grosfeld, the Baha'i community established in YugoSlavia by Mms. Draga Bitch, the spread of the Cause to the Sudan and to Abyssinia by Egyptian believers, the Albanian translations made by Mr. Refo Chapary under most difficult conditions, and the publication of his translations of Kitab-i-Iq~n and Esslernont's "Baha'u'llah and the [p84] Newly-opened section of the International Baha'i Archives where the portraits of the Baha'u'llah and the BTh are preserved. [p85] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 85 New Era," and the advance in Bulgaria, Hungary, YugoSlavia and Rumania resulting from the heroic services of Miss Martha L. Root, Miss Marion Jack and Mrs. Louise Gregory. While engaged in teaching activities at Sofia, the devoted Herr Adam Benke of Leipsic passed into the Kingdom. His services will ever be held in grateful remembrance. Reference should also be made to the notable teaching journey carried out by Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Mathews, carrying them to Australia and the Far East; and to the race amity activities promoted in the United States by Dr. Walter Guy, Miss Knobloch and Mr. Louis Gregory. Their work in the Southern States planted the pure banner of the oneness of mankind upon a height unassailable by the forces of prejudice and tradition. The world Baha'i community at the end of 1934 found itself opposed by powerful influences, but against these onslaughts drew fresh courage and determination from the Well Spring of Truth for the fateful years to come. PART TWO Ñ THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA B~ NELLIE S. FRENCH IN the first message of Abdu'l-Baha to His friends throughout the world He says: Ñ ttThe world's great Light, once resplendent upon all mankind, has set to shine everlastingly from the Abbi Horizon, His Kingdom of fadeless glory shedding splendor upon His loved ones from on high, and breathing into their hearts and souls the breath of eternal life." "Ponder in your hearts that which He hath foretold in His Tablet tThe Divine Vision' that bath been spread throughout the world. Therein He saith:~~~tThereupon she wailed and exclaimed CM the world and all that is therein be a ransom for Thy woes, 0 Sovereign of heaven and earth! Wherefore hast Thou left Thyself in the hands of the dwellers of this prison city of tAkk? Hasten Thou to other realms, to Thy retreats above, unknown as yet to the mortal glance of the children of the world.' We smiled and spake not. Reflect upon these most exalted words, and comprehend the purpose of this hidden and sacred mystery." ~ ye beloved of the Lord! Beware, beware, lest ye hesitate and waver! Let not fear fall upon you, neither be troubled nor dismayed. Take ye good heed lest this calamitous day slacken the flames of your ardor, and quench your tender hopes. Today is the day for steadfastness and constancy. Blessed are they th4t stand firm and immovable as the rock and brave the storm and stress of this tempestuous hour. They verily, shall be the recipients of God's grace, verily shall receive His divine assistance, and shall be the truly victorious. They shall shine amidst mankind with a radiance which the dwellers of the Pavilion of Glory laud and magnify. To them is proclaimed this celestial call, revealed in His most holy Book: ~O My people! Be not perplexed should the star of My presence disappear, and the ocean of My utterance be stilled. In My presence among you there was the wisdom of God, and in My absence there is yet another, inscrutable to all but the One, the All-Knowing. Verily, We behold you from Our realm of effulgent glory and will graciously aid whosoever striveth for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the Celestial Concourse and a company of Our chosen angels.' "The Sun of Truth, that most great Light, has set upon the horizon of the world to rise with deathless splendor over the Realm of the Limitless. In His most holy Book He calleth the firm and steadfast of His friends. ~ peoples of the world! Should the radiance of My beauty be veiled, and the temple of My body be hidden, feel not perturbed, nay, arise and bestir yourselves, that My Cause may triumph, and My Word be heard by all mankind.' When on July 15th, 1932, the world was shaken by the news of the passing to the Greht Beyond of the Greatest Holy Leaf there was need indeed to have recourse to every promise and divine assurance that from [p86] 86 THE BAHA'I WORLD the Realm of the Limitless her radiant spirit would guide and support the grief-stricken and sorrowing hearts of those who longed to fly to the comfort and solace of the Guardian whose unutterable woe seemed inassuageable. Only in such moments as these is humanity drawn more closely together in the common sense of ioss and the effect upon the believers of the Western world was deep and lasting. A sense of irreparable loss through the breaking of the physical ties which bound to the believers the last "Remnant of Baha'u'llah entrusted to our frail and unworthy hands by our departed Master." Then followed that powerful and searching appeal from the Guardian~ccEntreat sorrow-stricken American believers never allow consciousness their agonizing ioss (to) paralyze (their) determiation (to) prosecute an enterprise on which (the) adored Object (of) our mourning centered her brightest hopes." This appeal referred to the Baha'i House of 'Worship and sent a new spirit of self-im-molation coursing through the hearts which the letters of the Guardian which follow oniy served to deepen and crystallize into action. Excerpts from Letters of the Guardian "In the blood of the unnumbered martyrs of Persia lay the seed of the Divinely-ap-pointed Administration which, though transplanted from its native soil, is now budding out, under your loving care, into a new order, destined to overshadow all mankind. For great as have been the attainments and unforgettable the services of the pioneers of the heroic age of the Cause in Persia, the contribution which their spiritual descendants, the American believers, the champion builders of the organic structure of the Cause, are now making towards the fulfillment of the Plan which must usher in the golden age of the Cause is no less meritorious in this strenuous period of its history. Would to God that by the end of the spring of the year 1933 the multitudes who, from the remote corners of the globe, will throng the grounds of the Great Fair to be held in the neighborhood of that hallowed shrine may, as the result of your sustained spirit of self-sacrifice, be privileged to gaze on the arrayed splendor of its dome Ñ a dome that shall stand as a flaming beacon and a symbol of hope amidst the gloom of a despairing world." March 21, 1932. ttMay completion dome Mashriqu'l-Adhkar crown united labors newly elected National Assembly." (Cablegram) May 3, 1932. am eager to Learn of the prospects of an early resumption of the construction of the Temple. I have already appealed to the American believers in this connection and wish to reiterate my plea and reaffirm my conviction that the completion of the dome before the end of the spring of 1933 is vital to the highest interests of the Cause in that land, and is the supreme obligation of every conscientious and loyal believer in the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Great damage will be inflicted on the prestige of the Cause if this glorious plan fails to materialize, while, on the other hand, its fulfillment will confer untold blessings on all branches of the activities of our beloved Faith." June 8, 1932. "Assembly's momentous decision fraught with incalculable consequences, worldwide benefits. Greatest Holy Leaf filled with delight. Both devoutly praying (for) unrelax-ing determination (to) consummate heroic enterprise. Abiding gratitude." (Cable-gram) June 10, 1932. assure American believers (on) behalf (of the) Holy Family (and) myself abiding gratitude (for the) numerous evidences (of) their valued sympathy. Our sorrow laden hearts much relieved (and) filled with gratitude. Out of (the) pang of anguish (which) bereaved America experienced in her sudden separation from CAbdu~1~ Baha, (the) administration (of) God's invincible Faith was born. Might not this present grief at ioss (of) Baha'u'llah's precious daughter release such forces as will ensure speedy completion (of) Mashriqu'1 Ñ Adhk&r, (the) administration's mighty bulwark, (the) symbol of its strength and harbinger (of) its promised glory." (Cablegram) August 8, 1932. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar So eloquent a message and so mighty an appeal resulted in the steady prosecution of the work on the Temple Dome and even in The decision to begin work immediately on the exterior decorations of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. [p87] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 87 the stress of the great financial crisis which had swept the country, leaving in its wake depleted resources and grave apprehension, slowly and surely the embroidered garment of the Dome took form, revealing to the eye the nobility and beauty of the plan which will one day eventuate in the most lovely symbol of the coming of the Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven.~~ "The Temple," said tAbdu'1-Bahi, t~j~ the very Law of God," and side by side with its growth there appeared new evidences of the penetrating power which compelled the hearts. Word came from Haifa in September that the prolonged and delicate negotiations relative to the purchase of the land on Mt. Carmel adjoining the shrine of the B&b had finally been successfully concluded, and the deed officially registered in the name of the American National Assembly, Palestine Branch. Many and varied are the confirmations which have blessed the activities of the friends both here and abroad as the work steadily progressed. The Guardian's frequent and impressive statements on the subject of the continuance of Temple construction have quickened us all to a profounder understanding of the many significances attached to this stupendous enterprise. We know that today the collective responsibilities borne by the American Baha'is, since the resumption of the Temple construction was undertaken about nine years ago, have had incalculable results in uniting the believers on the plane of sacrifice and action and in opening the door to a greater influx of spirit for the strengthening and inspiration of the entire Baha'i body. We behold clearly, furthermore, that the Baha'i House of Worship, rising in the very heart of the Western world, has created a visible evidence of the Cause of Baha'u'llah which has astonishing influence upon the public. Representation at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago The Century of Progress Exposition upon which the believers had built such fond hopes that through its officials a Universal Congress of Religions might be arranged, became manifestly an exposition for the advance of science, invention and commerce only. There had been every reason to expect that, as was the case during the 'World's Fair in 1893 in Chicago (when at the Congress of Religions the Baha'i Cause was first mentioned on the Western hemisphere), as well as the precedent established in London in 1924 when a conference of "Religions Within the British Empire" was held in connection with the Wembly Exposition, that some such conference would be included in the Century of Progress program when the Faith of Baha'u'llah might be presented to the thousands of visitors in a fine, dignified way. But although this hope proved vain another door was opened in the path of service and through the zeal and initiative of members of the Chicago and adjacent Baha'i Communities space was secured in the Hall of Religions at an unexpectedly iow figure and it became possible to place there a beautiful small model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar exquisitely made to scale by Mr. Louis J. Voelz of Kenosha, which attracted the attention of thousands upon thousands of visitors. Each day during the entire period of the Exposition found members of a special committee on hand to explain the tenets of the Faith, the symbolism of the design, distribute literature and invite all to visit the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar itself, where they might become informed of the promise which its completion foreshadowed. Another committee did yeoman service in Wilmette where thousands of visitors were conducted over the building and the meaning of the Faith cx Ñ plained. So far-reaching were the results of this service that it became a matter for general rejoicing among the friends. Thus does the Hand of Baha'u'llah shape the des" tinies of nations and races, and although this summer, 1934, will see no Baha'i representation at the Exposition itself, the marvelous beauty of the Dome with its gradually growing clerestory section has now become one of the sights of interest particularly mentioned in the guide books to Chicago. The Approach to the Public Through the Press In November 1933, the National Spiritual Assembly inaugurated a new method of approach to the public by issuing a bulletin [p88] 88 THE BAHA'I WORLD entitled (CA New World Order" which consisted of excerpts from the Words of Baha'u'llah, tAbdu~1~Bah& and Shoghi Effendi selected from the point of view of their application to current social conditions. Two thousand copies of the first edition of this bulletin were mailed to representative people throughout the United States and Canada. The Guardian especially commended this bulletin mentiornng it as an important step taken in the direction of teaching, and urged its careful composition from a literary and intellectual angle which would fit it for worldwide circulation. Another important printed communication prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly was a statement on the Baha'i Faith, its aims and purposes, its teachings, a brief outline of its history and of its administrative order. This statement was especially designed for conservation in newspaper reference files and was sent to a hundred or more of the most prominent papers in the hope that hereafter any mention of the raith might be based upon accurate information, thus avoiding the grave misapprehensions which have attached to the Cause in the past. In this connection mention should be made of the very fine annual report of the National Publicity Committee which states that Ñ "The ultimate goal of Baha'i publicity is to place before the reading public the pure teachings of Baha'u'llah with dignity and scrup-itlous accuracy. To realize that in the writings of both tAbdu'1BaM and Shoghi Effendi we have material for publicity which is the most important thought which can be given to the world at this crucial time. We must visualize the Baha'i publicity as being an arm of the Teaching work. The time has come when the vast reading audience will be taught through the medium of the Press as well as by word of mouth. Therefore the quality of material presented is of paramount importance." tcThe correspondence of the Publicity Committee has been carried on with forty-six Assemblies and Groups," which is evidence of the steady march in the same direction and under the able guidance of this committee. They have further made a fairly complete file of available speakers in the Faith with their special qualifications, so that tactful choice of teachers may be exercised when the various centers apply for assistance and information. A bulletin entitled t~The Fundamental Principles of News Writing" intended to become the basis from which the next step in Baha'i publicity may be taken, was issued to all Assemblies, and the national news releases have been used in approximately forty-two cities. The Baha House of Worship, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, has proven an attractive subject upon which to secure publicity and the unique beauty and significance of the construction of the building had awakened wide interest and opened many doors to the reading public. Inter Ñ Assembly Coininuni cation and the Baha'i News Subsequent to the Convention of 1924 communication between the National Spiritual Assembly and the Local Assemblies had attained such growth and volume that it became evident that some regular vehicle must be found for the spread of the news of the Faith to all centers, and for communicating the decisions and actions taken by the National Assembly in conformity with the growth and unfoldment of the Administration. In consequence the Baha'i News, a monthly printed journal, varying in size according to the amount of news and information to be disseminated, came into being and has grown now to be the most valuable agent for sharing Inter-Assembly news and excerpts from letters of the Guardian to individuals, which are of wise and momentous significance to all. The Distribution of Free Literature While the news of the Faith was thus being distributed effectually among the believers, a series of pamphlets based upon different phases of the teachings was printed and spread by the Temple program committee, the Local Spiritual Assemblies and those in charge of the exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition. The demand for these leaflets, or pamphlets, was so great that the following series is now in preparation and will soon be printed and ready for distribution: Ñ [p89] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 89 L Ñ The Baha'i House of Worship by Dr. Genevieve Coy. 11. Ñ The Most Great Peace by Marion Holley. JII. Ñ Homoculture Ñ The Educational System of the Ba1A'i World Order, by Prof. Stanwood Cobb. Baha'i Literature in Public Libraries Baha'i books in Public Libraries, having been found to be catalogued under various names, the National Spiritual Assembly received appeals to select a title which might be uniformly used so that all books could be listed under a uniform subject heading. The title chosen was CCB h~~i Religion" now in use in the Library of Congress in 'Washington, D. C. By concerted action the various libraries having Baha'i books throughout the country, of which there are now 123 public, and 26 University libraries, will be brought to use this title in listing books. An effort is being made by the Library Division of the Publishing Committee to place the following series in public and University libraries whenever the funds permit: Ñ Baha'i World, Vol. II and HI. Book of Assurance by Baha'u'llah. Baha'i Revelation by Thornton Chase. Baha'i: Spirit of the Age, by Horace Holley. Important Publications The two outstanding contributions to Baha'i literature brought out by the Pub Ñ lishing Committee during the last two years have been that exquisitely beautiful edition of the "Dawn-Breakers" both the plain and the de luxe editions, and the ~ To comment upon these sacred books transcends the power of any commentator. Only the Guardian himself can give adequate utterance to the power, the vast significance of the precious documents. "'Where else if not in the Kit~b-i-tq4n," says Shoghi Effendi, "can the student of the Bab Dispensation seek to find those affirmations that unmistakably attest the power and spirit which no man, except he be a Manifestation of God, can manifest?" (CCould such a thing," exclaims Baha'u'llah, ccbe made manifest except through the power of a Divine Revelation and the potency of God's Invincible Will? By the righteousness of God! Were anyone to entertain so great a Revelation in his heart the thought of such a declaration would alone confound him! Were the hearts of all men to be crowded into his heart, he would still hesitate to venture upon so awful an enterprise." Again Shoghi Effendi says in speaking of the BThi Dispensation which he has made known to us through this inimitable and glorious translation of ccThe Dawn-Breakers," Ñ ttThat He (the Bib) is not to be regarded merely as an inspired Precursor of the Baha Revelation, that in His person, as He Himself bears witness in the Persian Bayin, the object of all the Prophets gone before Him has been fulfilled, is a truth which I feel it my duty to demonstrate and emphasize. We would assuredly be failing in our duty to the Faith we possess, and would be violating one of its basic and sacred principles if in our words or by our conduct we hesitate to recognize the implications of this root Principle of Baha'i belief, or refuse to uphold unreservedly its integrity and demonstrate its truth. Indeed the chief motive actuating me to undertake the task of editing and translating Nabil's immortal Narrative has been to enable every follower of the Faith in the West to better understand and more readily grasp the tremendous implications of His exalted station and to more ardently admire and iove Him.~~ Inspired by the Guardian's diligent and painstaking labours in our behalf the study of Nabil's Narrative of the lives of that glorious company of His Apostles through whose faith and sacrifice, faith and sacrifice are literally born again into the human consciousness, a zealous and thorough study has been initiated by the friends and in every center now the excellent guide prepared for facilitating the study of the book is being employed by the friends with absorbing interest. The masterly translation of the holy Tablets revealed by Baha'u'llah and CAbd~ Baha for the Greatest Holy Leaf were a new and divine bounty afforded us by the gifted hand of the Guardian, and the receipt of [p90] 90 THE BAHA'I WORLD the remarkable letter, "The Golden Age of the Cause of Baha'u'llah" caused the American believers to become aware of the fact that predominant responsibilities were henceforth to rest upon the shoulders of American Baha'is to the same degree that in the early days of the Cause they were laid upon our Persian brothers. As we faced those responsibilities there arose before our eyes the comforting assurance of the Bib that Ñ ~cVeri1y God never reveals a Letter or 'Word from the Tongue of the Invisible Godly Tree, without at the same time of utterance the spirit of Its reality being created." ~The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" Nothing of such stupendous significance has heretofore issued from the pen of the Guardian of the Faith as his magnificent letter recently received and circulated to every member of the Faith under the title of "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah." To indicate even in a superficial way the dramatic effect of this historic document upon the believers is entirely beyond our reach. In clarifying the mysterious and impenetrable magnitude of the station of His Holiness the Bab, of the Divine Founder of the Faith, Baha'u'llah, and of the Center of the Covenant, tAbdu'1-.Bah4 of the Guardianship and that perfect and unique world order embodied in their plan of Administration, Shoghi Effendi has left nothing unsaid, no conceivable room for misapprehension, misinterpretation or misapplication. The perusal of its vital and impelling pages forefends the likelihood of varied opinion either on the part of the believers themselves, or of those who may feel inclined to become truly informed of the tenets of the Faith. This letter seems also to foreshadow the inevitable attacks from ignorant opposers of the Faith and by its masterly and invincible challenge it summons the hosts of the followers of the Baha'i banner to some such support of their belief as was manifest in the glorious defenders of the fortress of Shaykh Tabarsi. By its power the hearts of the friends are strengthened and united, and hand in hand they are arising to support the Guardian and render victorious the mighty founding of the Kingdom on earth. To every applicant for en-roliment roliment in the Baha'i Cause a copy of this document will be presented that he may become aware of the magnitude of the step which he is taking and conscious of the implications which the bearing of the Name of God in this Day involves; of the bounties and blessings unfathomable to the human consciousness which are to be his eternally, and of the divine grace which finds its channel through the obedience of the soul to the newly uttered Law of God. Eternal, majestic, unique is this glorious handiwork of the first Guardian of the Cause of God, and blest beyond compare are those who have been made the recipients of its historic pages! The Ba/id'! Magazine It is gratifying to witness the growing popularity of the Baha'i Magazine which, composed and issued under special instructions of the Guardian is becoming more universal in character and better suited to reach the general reading public than were its earlier editions which were more circumscribed in policy. "One of the most cherished hopes," says the Editorial Committee's report, "has been that we might make a superhuman endeavor to fulfill very definitely the prophecy of Abdu'l-Baha that the magazine would bring about the unity of the East and West. We have planned to have the whole world represented in its pages. Expanding lists of subscribers in the Orient have given welcome encouragement toward that end, and another important point is seen in the number of valuable articles which have been contributed by non-Bahi'is whose sympathetic interest has found generous expression in this way. Notable among these contributors have been Wang Tse-ping, noted Chinese scholar whose writing was translated by Dr. Tsao; Dr. Shio Sakani-shi, a Japanese writer; Mr. J. Milnor Dorey of the New York Times; interviews graciously granted by Norman Thomas and Dr. Wellington Koo; and the splendid translations from the French made expressly for the Magazine by Mine. Emilie McBride P6rigord. Persia and India have been especially appreciative of the Magazine and helpful in [p91] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 91 its distribution, while also frequently reproducing articles from its pages. Braille Transcriptions for the Blind The steady work of transcribing the Baha'i writings into Braille has been carried on by several believers and quite a number of books are now listed in the Braille circulating libraries connected with the Public Libraries in various cities. The National Spiritual Assembly recognizing the value of this work, recently created a National Corn-mittee for Braille Transcription. The aim of this committee will be to place at least one of the Baha'i books in each of the public libraries which operate Braille circulating departments, of which there are now twenty-five in the United States. The most important accomplishment along this line up to the present time is the edition of CcBaM~~ 'u'llAh and the New Era" transcribed at the request of the Guardian, copies of which have been placed in several public libraries in this country as well as at Baha, Geneva, Switzerland, and Tokyo, Japan. Efforts for Admission of Baha'i Literature Into Persia Prove Futile While the work of teaching was thus vig~ orously being prosecuted in the West the eyes of the friends were constantly on the alert for encouraging news from the Orient where our beloved Keith was laboring with such remarkable fortitude and zeal to secure the admission of the Baha'i literature into Persia, for it had become evident that the promises of His Excellency Teymourtash to see that the bans were removed, had been utterly disregarded and that he, himself, had been removed from office. The masterly correspondence of Keith, copies of which were sent to every Court Minister and to the President of the Parliament, in addition to her epistles to the Shah which will ever stand out as monuments to her brilliancy, her tact, her intense zeal and her perfect command of language in which to deal with this unique and baffling situation, appear elsewhere in this volume; but as the story was unfolding in the Orient the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada endeavored to bring pressure to bear through the Persian Minister in 'Washington. On July lath, 1933 a letter was presented by three representatives of the Baha'i Faith, portions of which, and the succeeding correspondence follow: Ñ "Your Excellency: On October 21, 1932, the members of this American Baha'i Assembly sent to the Persian Legation at Washington a copy of a cablegram which on September 14, 1932, had been dispatched to the Minister of the Court in Teheran. "This communication was acknowledged by Mr. Y. Azodi, Charg6 d'Affaires, under date of October 22, 1932. CtJ~ substance, the cablegram sent to the Court Minister on behalf of the American Baha'is expressed abiding gratitude for the decision to remove the ban on entry and circulation of Baha'i literature in Persia. (Con March 27, 1933, as the result of unexpected information indicating that this decision had either been reversed or never made effective, we addressed a respectful petition to his Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahiavi, expressing our profound hope that our understanding of the matter was incorrect and referring to the fact that the American Baha'is had informed the press that the ban had been removed, and in the event that this statement proved to be unfound the Baha'is would be reluctantly obliged to make it clear to the press that Baha'i literature is still prohibited from entry and circulation in Persia. CCThis petition we forwarded to our personal representative in Teheran, Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier, a Baha'i and American citizen, with the request that it be communicated to his Majesty on our behalf. "To our astonishment and regret, during May, 1933, we learned that not oniy is the ban on literature still rigorously applied, but that Baha'is in Persia are even incurring physical maltreatment at the present time. tThese circumstances were considered by the delegates representing sixty American cities who met in Annual Convention in the Foundation Hall of the Baha'i House of 'Worship at Wilmette, Illinois, from June 1 to 4, 1933. (nt seems desirable to inform your Excellency that the Twenty-fifth Annual Con [p92] 92 THE BAHA'I WORLD vention of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada adopted unanimously the fol Ñ lowing resolution: CC tResolved, that the delegates of the Twenty-fifth Annual Convention representing sixty communities of the United States and Canada, realizing the burdens of oppression still laid upon their brethren of Persia, recommend and urge the National Spiritual Assembly to take immediate action to bring about the cessation of the reported maltreatment of our Baha'i brethren, to secure the entry of Baha'i literature and to restore the constitutional provision for the printing and circulation of Baha literature within Persia; ~And be it further resolved, that the delegates pledge the support of the local Baha'i communities to the National Spiritual Assembly in its effort to carry out the terms of this appeal.' C!J~ view of this action on the part of the Annual Convention, expressing the deep concern and heartfelt anxiety of all American Baha'is to assist in bringing about a final alleviation of all civil disabilities still suffered by our beloved brothers and coworkers in Persia, the National Spiritual Assembly has requested its chairman and secretary to call upon your Excellency and respectfully request your good offices in bringing our petition to the notice of the Persian Government. CCIn discharging this grave responsibility, we respectfully point out to your Excellency the unique ties of sympathetic fellowship which have long united the Baha'is of America and Persia. For many years the Baha'is of the United States and Canada have courageously upheld the Prophethood of Muhammed as one of the divine Messengers, in the face of the traditional antipathy and indifference of a predominantly Christian population. In publishing and distributing the literature of our Faith we are actively promoting the reality of Muham-med as wdi as the reality of Jesus. By accepting Muliammed as a Prophet inspired with the same Holy Spirit as Jesus, we have entered into a spiritual unity with the Persian Baha'is without parellel in the history of the East or of the West. We state with all emphasis that apart from this spiritual bond of faith in the one God of all mankind, the relations of the various peoples and nations of the world are uncertain and replete with peril of war and economic chaos. crAfter entertaining the hope that the ancient land of Persia had been granted the high privilege of a r6gime based upon fearless justice, the very foundation of civilization, we cannot but deplore the survival from the past of indications that free intercourse on the part of American citizens with loyal citizens of Persia on matters of purely spiritual interest is prevented by regulations imposed by Persian authorities. CCThe Baha'is of America assert very f rankly to your Excellency their unhappiness because of the fact that unfounded prejudice against the Baha'is of Persia, whether emanating from atheistic or from ecclesiastical sources, can in this day and age find sanction from authorities of the State. Without this sanction, active or passive, it would be impossible to forbid the entry and circulation of a sacred literature which one day will be recognized as the glory of Persia, while at the same time permitting the entry and circulation of other religious literature the essential purpose of which is to defame the founder of Islam and overthrow the very foundation of Persian culture and ideals "The outcome of this representation will, we trust, enable the National Spiritual Assembly to inform the local Baha'i communities that their determined desire to assist in removing the disabilities and maltreatment of their Persian brothers has been completely realized." On July 26, 1933, the Assembly reported to Mrs. Ransom Ñ Kehier a summary of action taken by American Baha'is in the matter of conditions affecting the Persian believers, with the request that she communicate these facts and the attitude of the American Baha'is, to the officials of the Persian Government, and report the results, that the Assembly might inform the local American Baha'i communities whether their Convention resolution had borne fruit. The answer came in this message, cabled by Mrs. Ran-som-Kehier on September 10: ttPetition unanswered." [p93] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 93 The Passing of Keith Ransom-K doter The grief and disappointment of her mission, magnified by exhaustion resulting from self-sacrificing effort to meet every opportunity to visit and address Baha'i gatherings in Persia, reduced Mrs. Ransom-Kehier's strength to such a degree that during October, 1933, while in 1sf ALAn, this consecrated follower of Baha'u'llah fell victim to smallpox and succumbed within a few brief days. The news of this untoward event threw the western world into a period of mourning which oniy the confidence in the inevitable result of this noble sacrifice of her precious life could serve to alleviate. Since we had given of our best to Persia; since every ounce of her strength was spent in the pursuit of His good pleasure, in His inscrutable wisdom and His divine justice there could be no ioss, but oniy gain, gain for her glorious spirit, gain for Persia, gain for her native country, and best of all, gain in the penetration of the Mighty Word of God into the hearts of all mankind. By special request of the Guardian whose grief at the loss of this precious and powerful coworker, memorial services were observed in all Baha'i Communities and a monument, designs for which are now being prepared for selection by several Baha'i architects, a lasting tribute to her glorious labors for the Faith in Baha'u'llah's native land, will be erected over her burial place in IsfAhAn in the vicinity of the grave of Sultanu'sh-Shuhada, surnamed by Baha'u'llah the ~King of Martyrs." The Coin pletion of the Temple Dome and Its Effect Upon the Baha'i World While these events were transpiring in the Orient, the Occident was carrying on with an earnestness of purpose and a more intense spirit of unity than ever before, due to the compelling power of the Dome and the love and sacrifice which made its growth possible. Although some delay had accompanied the completion of this wondrous symbol of the unversality and beauty of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, because of the new and varied problems of construction which confronted the engineers for the first time, the beginning of March, 1934, saw its completion and the speedy drafting of a new contract for continuing work on the clerestory section. Communities increased in membership and whereas there had been but fifty-three Assemblies participating in the elec-don of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1933, the Convention call for 1934 proclaimed the addition of five new Local Spiritual Assemblies. The growing interest in the affairs of the Faith on the part of the public, its general expansion and the resultant importance likely to be attached to it by political interests of one kind or another outside of the Faith made it necessary, both for the believers themselves and for the world at large, to interpret the nonpolitical character of the Faith and the spirit of its administrative functions. A thorough search and analysis of the communications of the Guardian from the time of his assumption of the station devolving upon him by virtue of the divine Will and Testament of cAbdu~1~ Bah& to the present resulted in the following statement made through the columns of the Baha'i News and placed in the hands of every adherent of the Faith: Ñ THE FINAL STATEMENT ON THE DIVINE POLICY THE NONPOLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE BAHA'I FAITH A Statement Prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly in Response to the Request for Clarification of the Subject Voiced by the 1933 Annual Convention It is the view of the National Spiritual Assembly that the Guardian's references to the nonpolitical character of the Ba1i~'i Faith, when studied as a whole, are so clear that they can be fully grasped by all believers and rightly applied by all Local Spiritual Assemblies to any problems they may encounter. Should special circumstances arise, however, the National Assembly will make every effort to assist any Local Assembly to arrive at fuller understanding of this important subject. The first reference to consider is taken from the letter written by Shoghi Effendi [p94] 94 THE BAHA'I WORLD on March 21, 1932, published under the title of "The Golden Age of the Cause of Baha'u'llah." ~tJ feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress, now that the time is ripe, the importance of an instruction which, at the present stage of the evolution of our Faith, should be increasingly emphasized, irrespect-of its application to the East or to the West. And this principle is no other than that which involves the nonparticipation by the adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, whether in their individual capacities or collectively as local or national Assemblies, in any form of activity that might be interpreted, either directly or indirectly, as an interference in the political affairs of any particular government. "Let them rcfrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that worldwide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and foster. Let them beware lest they allow themselves to become the tools of unscrupulous politicians, or to be entrapped by the treacherous devices of the plotters and the perfidious among their countrymen. Let them so shape their lives and regulate their conduct that no charge of secrecy, of fraud, of bribery or of intimidation may, however ill-founded, be brought against them. It is their duty to strive to distinguish, as clearly as they possibly can, and if needed with the aid of their elected representatives, such posts and functions as are either diplomatic or political, from those that are purely administrative in character, and which under no circumstances are affected by the changes and chances that political activities and party government, in every land, must necessarily involve. Let them affirm their unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of Baha'u'llah, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of that Divine vine Polity which incarnates God's immutable Purpose for all men. (CLet them proclaim that in whatever country they reside, and however advanced their institutions, or profound their desire to enforce the laws, and apply the principles enunciated by Baha'u'llah they will, unhesitatingly, subordinate the operation of such laws and the application of such principles to the requirements and legal enactments of their respective governments. Theirs is not the purpose, while endeavoring to conduct and perfect the administrative affairs of their Faith, to violate, under any circumstances, the provisions of their country's constitution, much less to allow the machinery of their administration to supersede the government of their respective countries." This instruction raised the question whether believers should vote in any public election. A Tablet revealed by tAbdu'1-BahA to Mr. Thornton Chase was sent to the Guardian, and the following reply was received, dated January 26, 1933: "The Guardian fully recognizes the authenticity and controlling influence of this instruction from cAbdu~1~Bahi upon the question. He, however, feels under the responsibility of stating that the attitude taken by the Master (i.e., that American citizens are in duty bound to vote in public elections) implies certain reservations. He, therefore, lays it upon the individual conscience to see that in following the Master's instructions no Baha'i vote for an officer nor Baha'i participation in the affairs of the Republic shall involve acceptance by that individual of a program or policy that contravenes any vital principle, spiritual or social, of the Faith." The Guardian added to this letter the following postscript: t%f feel it incumbent upon me to clarify the above statement, written in my behalf, by stating that no vote cast, or office undertaken, by a Baha'i should necessarily constitute acceptance, by the voter or office holder, of the entire program of any political party. No Baha'i can be regarded as either a Republican or Democrat, as such. He is above all else, the supporter of the principles enunciated by Baha'u'llah, with which, I am firmly convinced, the program of no [p95] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 95 political party is completely harmonious." In a letter dated March 16, 1933, the Guardian sent these further details: (CAS regards the nonpolitical character of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi feels that there is no contradiction whatsoever between the Tablet (to Thornton Chase, referred to above) and the reservations to which he has referred. The Master surely never desired the friends to use their influence towards the realization and promotion of policies contrary to any of the principles of the Faith. The friends may vote, if they can do it, without identifying themselves with one party or another. To enter the arena of party politics is surely detrimental to the best interests of the Faith and will harm the Cause. It remains for the individuals to so use their right to vote as to keep aloof from party politics, and always bear in mind that they are voting on the merits of the individual, rather than because he belongs to one party or another. The matter must be made perfectly clear to the individuals, who will be left free to exercise their discretion and judgment. But if a certain person does enter into party politics and labors for the ascendency of one party over another, and continues to do it against the expressed appeals and warnings of the Assembly, then the Assembly has the right to refuse him the right to vote in Baha'i elections." The Administrative Order The Guardian says on page 60 of the "Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" Ñ "A word should now be said regarding the theory on which this Administrative Order is based and the principle that must govern the operation of its cheif institutions. It would be utterly misleading to attempt a comparison between this unique, this divinely conceived Order and any of the diverse systems, which the minds of men, at various periods of their history, have conceived for the government of human institutions. Such an attempt would in itself betray a lack of complete appreciation of the excellence of the handiwork of its great Author. How could it be otherwise when we remember that this Order constitutes the very pattern of that divine civilization which the almighty law of Baha'u'llah is designed to establish upon earth? The divers and ever shifting systems of human polity, whether past or present, whether originating in the East or in the West, offer no adequate criterion wherewith to estimate the potency of its hidden virtuse or to appraise the solidity of its foundations." To bring humanity under the divine protection through newly revealed laws dealing with mankind as one, to educate the individual consciousness beyond the limited outlook of self-interest, to unite varying opinions and submerge them in the beneficent influence of a new divine order, an order based upon equal opportunity and not equality, this is the task of the Guardian, in a lesser measure of the National Spiritual Assemblies, and in a primary degree of the Local Spiritual Assemblies. The transitional stage through which the administrative order has been passing, and in which it still remains, notwithstanding the progress of the past ten years, has been one of great struggle. Now, however the consciousness that in obedience to the Divine Law lies the true path to spiritual understanding is being definitely established in the minds and hearts of the adherents of the Faith. To quote from the words of the National Secretary Ñ tcFroI~ that darkened twilight of half-truth truth and divided loyalty, the American Ba1A'i Community has now, thanks to the Guardian's wisdom, forever emerged. The standard of reality has been created on the field of human action and intercourse, as it has been created in the field of the spirit by Baha'u'llah." Teaching Methods and Their Results The central point from which all Teaching emanates in this country is naturally the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar the edifice itself being the manifest center of the Divine Law on the physical plane. It is there that the glad-tidings may be given without restriction; it is there that hundreds of inquirers are attracted to receive the Message of the New Day, are welcomed in the Baha'i spirit of sympathetic understanding, no matter what the point of view. An able and active corn [p96] 96 THE BAHA'I WORLD mittee is ever in charge who arrange the programs, greet new corners and secure speakers. A plan is now under consideration whereby children who are brought by parents to the meetings may be given Baha'i instruction during the meetings and it is hoped that as soon as funds are available some adequate place may be prepared for them in the Temple itself. But vital as is the place of the Baha'i House of Worship in the general program for the spread of the knowledge of the Faith, it would be impossible to over-esti-mate the zealous and efficient work of the National Teaching Committee and those who have gone forth to labor in the field. Working with exceedingly limited finances and handicapped for want of a sufficient number of teachers to meet the growing demand both in this country and abroad, the work of teaching has been steadily and efficiently carried on. Far flung has been the glorious banner of Baha'u'llah and it is a matter for great rejoicing that in the forty countries where now the Faith is known and taught, in thirty of them the pioneer work has been done by volunteer teachers from this country. Among those who have arisen to serve in this way have been: Miss Agnes Alexander in Japan, Mrs. Emogene Hoagg in Italy and Switzerland, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Romer in England, Mr. and Mrs. Max Greeven in Germany, Mrs. Louise Gregory and Miss Marion Jack in eastern and central Europe, Miss Martha Root whose field is the world, Mr. Mark Tobey in China, Miss Wright in Holland, Miss Lenore Holsapple in Brazil, Miss Julia Goldman in Paris, Miss Adelaide Sharp, Mrs. Sharp and Dr. Susan I. Moody in Persia, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter also in Persia; Mrs. Marjorie Morton, Mr. Mountfort Mills who has been able to render most valuable services to the Guardian in connection with the House of Baha'u'llah in Baglid~d and in the matter of the land on Mt. Carmel which being now recognized as religious in character by the Government is thus freed from taxation; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bishop who have recently left their home in Portland, Oregon, and have gone to join the ranks of those in charge of the International work at Geneva, and lastly our precious Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier whose life has left an indelible impression on the friends both of the east and west. Beside these many of the believers en route to Haifa have been able to address the friends in various centers and assist in the collection of material for the Baha'i World. THE PROGRESS OF THE CAUSE IN CANADA The Vancouver Assembly reports steady growth especially in the unity and consciousness of the Faith among the friends, while the youth groups and study classes have been the source of an ever~increasing interest. The Press in Canada seems particularly friendly to the Cause and both there and in the eastern section of the country much benefit has derived from their generous assistance and cooperation. In reviewing the activites of the work in Montreal the most outstanding activity is found to be the preparation of the legal incorporation of the BabS'is there and in the province of Quebec based upon the form used by the New York Assembly and approved by the Guardian. For some time the use of a public hail was abandoned for reasons of economy in favor of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar but a resumption of a public meeting-place found grateful response and a course of lectures based on the following subjects awakened the livest interest. An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith 1. Ñ HISTORY AT THE CROSS ROADS (Deals with the historical significance of present day events and tendencies and visualizes the probabilities of the future.) CCTh Ordeal of this Generation" (cReligion as a Social Force" ttThe Breaking of a New Road" 2. Ñ THE REALITY OF MAN (Treats of the nature of man and his relationship to life and the universe.) "Man, the Human" (CTh Seedbed of Life" ttThe New Potentiality" [p97] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 97 3. Ñ THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH (Explains the principles of the Baha'i Faith, its universal ~ro gram and the nature of its rapidly extending institutions) "Spiritual Foundations" t~Humanitarian Objectives" CcAdiiti Institutions" "In speaking of the youth of Montreal the young people feel their continued indebtedness to the liberality and foresight of the Local Spiritual Assembly whose tolerance of their desire for free expression and whose sympathetic understanding and loving guidance have enabled them in a comparatively short time to become useful and firm supporters of their beloved Faith. There has been close association with the Negro Community Center, and hospitable reception from some of the church pulpits all of which has been a source of gratification and encouragement, while great grief is expressed in the Montreal report born of the passing of Baha'i KMnum to whose love and reverence the Friends there were especially wedded." THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS From Honolulu reports of the steady progress of the Faith are most gratifying and the comparative freedom from race prejudice among the inhabitants removes one of the barriers which in other lands seem so difficult to surmount. Honolulu writes of the great assistance which has been rendered by travelling teachers and mentions the visits of Mrs. Ransom-Kehier, Miss Root, Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher and others from the United States, of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Bolton from Sydney, Australia, and Mrs. Antoinette Naganuma from Tokyo as having awakened great interest and inspired many important workers in educational, scientific and social fields to lend their assistance in rendering the meetings attractive to the general public. The programs have included such subjects as Ñ ttThe Heart of the Hindu Scriptures" by Dr. Wendell Thomas of the Hawaii School of Religion of the University of Hawaii; a ttPage from the Book of Changes" by Prof. Shao Chang Lee who also interpreted most sympathetically the wisdom and teachings of Confucius; "The Essence of Buddhism" expounded by the Rev. Ernest Fujinaga, while the arrival of Miss Agnes Alexander from Japan for a prolonged sojourn has proven of immense value in the teaching work, and a Youth Group organized for the study of the Teachings gives promise of a brilliant future. THE UNITED STATES "The world's equilibrium bath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this New World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous system Ñ the like of which mortal eyes have never seen. "So widespread is the interest in the Faith of Baha'u'llah today," says the report of the National Teaching Committee, Cttht it would seem fitting to review briefly the developments in the Cause during the past year that have brought us up to this unique station so that we may be better prepared to meet the new responsibilities" Ñ "It became apparent to everyone after the Convention of 1933 that the major contribution the Baha'is of America could render the amelioration of the problems of the country, was the completion of the ornamentation of the Dome of that structure which symbolizes the ideals of the New Day. Thus all the spiritual and material resources of the friends were centered on achieving this goal. The unified and harmonized spirit attained by the believers in this encompassing sacrificial effort established a firm foundation through which the dynamic forces of the Baha'i faith could diffuse themselves into the world. Furthermore, this experience demonstrated that the lasting foundation of teaching work is perfect integration of all Baha'i activities. "With the completion of the Dome ornamentation and the release of the spiritual forces which, the Guardian stated, would attend this epochmaking event, the necessity for intensive public teaching service became evident. "The entire country realized how propitious was this moment for public work and [p98] 98 THE BAHA'I WORLD arose as a body to spread the universal principles of the Faith, bringing forth results almost miraculous. Ñ " Notable among the valiant services rendered were those of Dr. Stanwood Cobb who visited Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina interesting many people of distinction, and of that indomitable serv• ant of the Faith, Mr. Louis Gregory, whose work for Racial Amity will be mentioned later, but whose general plan of residing in a place and taking an interest in local affairs has been the means of opening for him the doors of churches, universities, clubs and other organizations. The Tennessee State Teachers' Association in annual convention, through one of its members offering to give up his time on the program especially so that Mr. Gregory might speak on "this wonderful message," listened in eager attention. In every section of the country teachers too numerous to mention have plowed the soil or scattered the seeds or reaped the harvest of former workmen in this vineyard of Baha'u'llah. The growing importance of inter-Assem-bly conferences on teaching and the extension work done from various centers in adjacent localities must eventuate in growth and development, for is this not the magnet which is destined to attract the hearts and set them aglow with new faith, new courage and renewed energy? Extensive has been the correspondence carried on with isolated believers, those pioneers in new fields upon whom rests the joy and responsibility of opening new doors, for it is not so much by large public meetings that the ccNews~~ is spread, but by personal contact and teaching in small groups in the home where cordial Baha'i hospitality serves to gladden the listener and quicken the spirit. Through his secretary the Guardian wrote to an American believer recently Ñ "In the Aqdas Baha'u'llah considers teaching as a spiritual obligation imposed upon every devoted believer and servant of His Faith. Should the Friends become fully conscious of this duty and arise to do their share, this Cause will soon permeate every home throughout the world and the Kingdom of God will be established." The Baha'i Youth Committee An important phase in the development of the American teaching program was inaugurated with the appointment of the Baha'i Youth Committee for 193 31934. In naming this new National Committee the National Spiritual Assembly did so tcrealiz~ ing the important position youth can fill in rounding out our administration activities, and in the profound hope this appointment may open a new point of teaching contact with the capable and universally minded youth of the world." From the first the committee was guided by the Guardian's instructions, to "strive to create an international body of active young Baha'i men and women who, conscious of their manifold and sacred responsibilities, will unanimously arise to spread the Holy Word." In January a letter was addressed to all International Baha'i youth groups inviting their cooperation, and in May a bulletin carrying editorials, current events, and detailed teaching suggestions was planned. Meanwhile the American Assemblies had been asked to appoint local youth committees, ~tconsisting of confirmed Baha'is, not over twenty-five years of age." These committees became the channels through which the National Committee functioned, beside which close association with the Summer Schools, reThe Baha'i World" and the Youth Section of the rrHerald of the South" produced excellent results and paved the way for expansion and development. Unquestionably the appointment of a Baha'i Youth Committee has emphasized a phase of teaching hitherto neglected. It is creating a ferment in the minds and hearts of young Baha'is throughout America. Already they are stepping out of immaturity, undertaking their rightful responsibilities, experimenting with the complex science of presenting the Cause, and winning certainty and ambition in the struggle. To be sure, several groups suffered a setback with the inauguration of this work when, pruned by the age limit, they were forced to retrench and reform upon a basis more conducive to the general health of the community. Their iosses were temporary [p99] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 99 and were more than offset by innumerable and thrilling proofs that young Baha'is aroused to the supreme advantage of this age, are fully qualified to render mature and splendid service. The complete assimilation of the Montreal youth group into the body of the Cause in that city is an outstanding example. Writing in February, 1934, to a member of the Youth Committee, the Secretary for Shoghi Effendi again set forth these ambitions, the contemplation of which must strengthen anew the resolution of all young Bab6'is: "He is supplicating for the development and success of your youth activities, and he wishes me to reiterate his wish that you should try to create a new spirit of service, and of common devotion to the Cause among young and intelligent Baha'is in your country, and to consolidate and widen the ties of friendship and of fellowship which must needs bind them with their fellow-laborers in other lands." Training and Teaching Children ccThe primary responsibility of the Committee on Training and Teaching Children this year has been the completion of the course of lessons initiated two years ago. This course, arranged in thirty-six lessons which can be covered in nine or ten months by children who have had some previous Baha'i instruction, is intended to serve two purposes. "First, it furnishes an orderly presentation of the purpose and evolution of religion, an understanding of which should be the basis for the study of the Baha'i Faith for any age group. The Material suggested can be adapted to the needs of children of grammar school age, Baha'i or nonBahA'i. ttSecond, it is offered as a point of departure for the development of a future extensive curriculum which will begin with the young Baha'i child himself and evolve in harmony with his growing conception of life and its purpose." c~One of the most difficult problems is that of finding teachers who can devote the necessary time, week after week, to this work. There is perhaps no other branch of Baha'i teaching service that requires such a degree of continuous effort, firmness and steadfastness as the instruction of Baha'i children." In His instructions to the Baha'i Sunday School in Washington, D. C., tAbdu'1-Bahi once wrote: "The Sunday School for the children, in which Tablets are read, the teachings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah explained, and the Word of God read to the children, is exceedingly blessed. Undoubtedly meetings should be held regularly and invested with importance so that day unto day its circle may be enlarged and quickened with the breaths of the Holy Spirit. If this meeting be organized befittingly and behoovingly, rest thou assured that it shall yield most great results; but firmness and steadfastness are necessary that it may not continue for a few days and later on little by little be forgotten. Its continuation depends upon firmness. In every cause firmness and steadfastness undoubtedly lead to results; otherwise it will continue for some days and then will be disorganized." (Star of the 'West, Vol. IX, page 92.) An effort is being made to secure a very complete collection of the stories told by 'Abdu'l-Baha and the committee wishes to use this means of further appeal to all the friends to send in any which they may have or to suggest the sources from which they may be obtained. The Baha'i Summer Schools The accounts and programs of the Summer Schools which follow will give some conception of the value of these institutions for studying the teachings to which the Guardian attaches the maximum importance. He is constantly encouraging the promoters of these schools and according to them the wisdom of his suggestions and instructions, at the same time exhorting the friends to attend thin and to take up, in orderly manner the study of the teachings and of the administration for the coming New World Order. [p100] 100 THE BAHA'I WORLD PACIFIC COAST BAHA'I SUMMER SCHOOL SEVENTH ANNUAL SESSION JULY 23RD TO AUGUST 5TH, 1933 G EYSERVILLE, in its seventh session, remained epitomized in the Unity Feast. The Feast has always crowned the Summer School; it is the first occurrence and the last memory. This year, as every year before, the homecoming of the friends, the joyful greetings of those long-separated, the welcome of our beloved hosts, took place under the overshadowing Big Tree, the botanical name of which has always been our puzzle Ñ a fact, however, never able to obscure its spirit of restfulness and peace. When the chairman, Mr. Leroy Joas, arose to begin the meeting, he addressed a group numbering almost one hundred and seventy-five. The whole west coast, from Portland to Los Angeles, inland to Phoenix, Arizona, was represented. And there were as well guests from New York and Australia. While the graciousness of Mrs. Baldwin of Hawaii, whose hospitality we enjoyed, seemed to pervade the gathering. The program comprised greetings from many friends, whose eloquence and love inspired, no, drew inspira-don from the remarkable spirit of the Baha'is. It was an unforgettable day; strangers remarked its atmosphere, and the Baha'is saw good omen for the days to come. The purpose of the founders of the School, and all those who have labored to mature it, has been the development of a true Baha'i university. For the first time success was nearly won. Indeed, if it were not for the high hopes of a greater future, we should say it had certainly been won. The program outlined three courses, carried through each morning for twelve days. A modern method was employed by the instructors, who were all Baha'is; so that the period included presentation of the subject, with a full twenty minutes reserved for group discussion. It was a technique new to all, but no effort to acquire it, however strenuous, could be misplaced; for group discussion is nothing more than Baha'i consultation, and only less in that Baha'is add to true discussion the element of love. The following subjects were exhaustively dealt with in the study classes: (1) The influence of Religion on Society, taught by Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Sew, Prof. 'Ward, Mr. loas, and Miss Holley. (2) The History of the Baha'i Faith Ñ Mr. Huriburt, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Caswell, Mrs. Cooper. (3) The Principles of Baha'i Administration Ñ Mr. Latimer, Prof. 'Ward, Mr. loas, The first course was designed as one which might adequately serve the needs of young believers, as they approach their contemporaries. The attempt was for objectivity with proofs based upon the social sciences, and for a survey of those essentials of belief, without an understanding of which no proof can be complete and no religion worthy of the name. Thereafter, three great faiths were chosen for further study: Judaism, Christianity, Muhammadanism. Although no study of two days' time could pretend to thoroughness, even a few hours sufficed to show a remarkable panorama, wherein great masses of men were welded into acting groups by the power of a Manifestation of God, and with the energy created through their faiths were impelled to create rich cultures. 'We were the audience for a tremendous demon. stration. The causality of religious inspiration in the process of history was irrefutably fixed. That was the story of the past. Obvi-ousiy, by analogy we should expect new cultures, further evolution, another religion of God. That the earth has indeed given birth to a new cycie is proved by the phenomenal appearance of new sciences, both physical and social, by the extension of communication to unite the world, by wide emancipation of individuals and states, and by the consciousness of an ordered society. Baha'is will submit that the power behind this development was, as in past times, the Manifestation of God Ñ Baha'u'llah. The second course of study dealt with the history of the Baha'i Faith, as ascertained [p101] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 101 from numerous sources. Never had such a comprehensive outline been presented at Geyserville. In the first period some of the outstanding prophecies from Holy Books were indicated. As background for the appearance of Baha'u'llah, the condition of nineteenth-century Persia was considered. The lives of the BTh and Baha'u'llah were studied in detail. And finally, the expansion of the Baha'i Faith into the western world was described by one who knew its development intimately. Mrs. Cooper not oniy accompanied the first western group to tAkk~ in 1898, but on her return was able to play a major part in its establishment in California. It was our privilege to hear from her a wealth of incident not accessible in books, rendered the more precious and impressive by her own appreciation. No one could have failed to have his understanding of the Master infinitely expanded by this presentation. The third course on the Principles of Baha'i Administration created great interest. It was certainly the most thorough effort ever made at the Summer School to understand this subject, and, as is usual in thorough work, the intricacies and possibilities of Administration expanded with the comprehension. Most of us had never realized either how little we knew or how much we had to learn. The classes began with an examination of administrative principles in past religions. The weaknesses of these religions became apparent as they were found to rest upon a faulty basis: the complete lack of revealed administration. How striking are the contrasts with the Cause of Baha'u'llah. Here no doubt was left to bewilder men. The succession, from the Manifestation to the Center of the Covenant to the Guardian, was plainly indicated. The institutions of Guardianship, Hands of the Cause, and Houses of Justice were fully described. Their duties were assigned, powers fixed, and in a most amazing way the responsibilities were distributed between the voting believers and their authorities, in such wise that no abuses could flourish or disrupt the whole. Never in any society has there been a soiu-tion quite comparable to this one. Baha'i Administration is unique and one would venture perfect, since it rests upon a Divine foundation. The Administration, however, is not a completed scheme except in the mind of its Founder. For us there remain many relationships to develop, many phases to understand, many techniques to master. It was in his exposition of these still unsettled processes that Mr. Latimer excelled. Under the guidance of his mind Administration became, not a theory, but a living organism. A description of the course of study barely indicates the true significance of Geyserville. Its activities are as inclusive as life, the life of a Baha'i group met in fellowship and love. To convey a picture of its full outline Ñ the values gained in personal consultation, the gaiety of Baha'is at play under the Big Tree and on annual holiday to Griffith Grove, the friendly intercourse with the community of Geyserville Ñ is quite impossible. Mention must be made, however, of one feature, the importance of which cannot be estimated by this brevity. Each morning the meetings were prefaced by a short devotional period under the Tree, and these times of quiet meditation prepared the hearts for the undertakings of the day. To rise with the mention of Baha'u'llah upon the tongue is to convert a common day into a prayer, the prayer of work offered in conscious service. 'Western Baha'is cannot easily overemphasize this practice. With these notes the more objective achievements of the Summer School are indicated, but nothing has in truth been said. These actions will be obliterated beneath another year, surpassed and lost from mind. What shall endure is subtler and perhaps never to be described. Can Geyserville thrill again to the tremendous understanding of the spirit fulfilled in history? Will the shifting vista of prophetic cycles ever seem quite so brilliant a discovery? No, for this was the first telling of the story. Another year may repeat; it can never uncover. Just so, we shall not know again the exhilaration of our first meeting with The Dawn-Breakers. But the seventh session claims another adventure. Through the study of Persian history and the rise of IslAm, and in the presence of our beloved friend from New [p102] 102 THE BAHA'I WORLD York, Mine. Orlova, we met the Orient! What a real wonder it is that any group of persons, Occidental to the bone, provincial by training, living on the furthermost edge of the most Western continent, should bring to the study of countries alien and remote an eager curiosity, a desire to emulate, a feeling of true oneness with their destiny. There is a phenomenon to startle the sociolo gist. For the World Order of Baha'u'llah not only will, but has united men of all races in one common brotherhood. Those of us who were privileged to live for two weeks in Geyserville returned to the world of everyday with faith and certainty. We no longer build upon a visionary hope. The new world is: we have lived in it; we are supported by it. Let us be cf good cheer! PROGRAM PACIFIC COAST BAHA'I SUMMER SCHOOL SEVENTH ANNUAL SESSION Bosch Place, Geyserville, California JULY 23RD TO AUGUST 5TH, 1933 DEvoTioNs: 9:00 a.m. daily under Big Tree. CLASSES: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily, in Odd Fellows Hall. ROUNOTABLE DISCUSSIONS: 2:30 p.m. each Tuesday and Friday in the Redwood Grove. TRAINING AND TEACHING OF CHILDREN: 9:30 a.m. daily in Children's Library. Under direction of National Committee for the Training and Teaching of Children. PUBLIC MEETINGS: Fellowship Dinner with Geyserville Grange, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 2 7th, at the Grange. Griffith Grove, Santa Rosa, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 30th. Odd Fellows Hall, Geyserville, 8:00 p.m. Thursday, August 3rd. UNITY FEAST: The annual reunion of the Friends and their guests, 12 noon, Sunday, July 23rd, under the Big Tree. TEACHING CONFERENCES: The Baha'is of the 'Western United States, 3:00 p.m. Saturday, July 29th, Odd Fellows Hall. CouRsEs OF STUDY: Influence of Religion on Society Ñ 9 :30 a.rn. daily. The History of the Baha'i Faith Ñ i 0:30 daily. Principles of Baha'i Administration Ñ 11:30 a.m. daily. Classes will be conducted by Baha'is, rn-cluding Prof. N. F. Ward, Mrs. Helen Bishop, Miss Marion Halley, Mrs. A. R. Seto, Mrs. Louise Gaswell, Mrs. E. G. Cooper, Mr. H. R. Huribut, Mr. G. 0. Latimer, Mr. Au M. Yazdi, Mr. Leroy Joas, etc. THE BAHA'I SUMMER SCHOOL AT LOUHELEN RANCH B~ ORCELLA REXFORD '~Religion is Ihe grealest instrument for the order of the world and the Iran quillify of all existent beings." Ñ Baha'u'llah. ABDU'L-BAHA, known as not happy in this day, Master by those of the for what day are you waiting Baha'i faith, continually to be happy? I declare urged His followers to a moment in this glorious be happy and ever sounded thecentury is greater than admonition: Be ye happy! all past centuries. If you be [p103] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 103 An onlooker standing on the shady lawn of Louhelen Ranch in Eastern Michigan and watching the arrival of the "Friends of God" could not help but be impressed with the fact that the followers of Abdu'l-Baha are the embodiment of these words. Many of them had given up an opportunity to visit the Century of Progress Exposition in order to attend summer school here. Those who had arrived ahead of the others greeted the newcomers with beaming faces and expressions of joy and affection. Sometimes there would be a moment of deep realization as two friends who were very close met after a year's separation. From far distances they gathered Ñ from Maine and Seattle, from Montreal and Florida. Verily, they "came from the east and from the west, from the north, and from the south to sit down in the kingdom of the Lord." The greetings of the Baha'is and their love for one another is very impressive even to those accustomed to that love. A new corner when asked for her impression of the summer school remarked with enthusiasm, "I never have received such a welcome from my own family. I don't believe any of my relatives would express as much delight at seeing me as these friends of God do when they get together. It is wonderful to belong to such a spiritual family. I feel for the first time that I have really come home." This celestial vibration set up was one of the outstanding impressions that we took away from the third Baha'i summer school at Louhelen Ranch, where we spent nine glorious days. Many voiced the sentiment, "It is like living in Heaven for a little while. How we dislike to go back to the world, but since we must, how splendid that we can carry this inspiration to others and share this heavenly bounty with them." It gives one just a glimpse of what life will come to mean when all the peoples of the world adopt the Baha'i program of the Oneness of Humanity and live according to the Baha'i ideals of the Most Great Peace. Many improvements for our comfort had been made since last year, that were a delight to us. A large barn had been converted into a roomy and airy assembly hail, and the space above into two stories of bedrooms for the comfort of the increased number of guests. The Guardian of the Baha'i Cause, Shoghi Effendi, has laid a great deal of stress on the importance of these summer schools for they embody that new and vital feature of Baha'i administration, consultation Ñ the gathering of the friends to talk together of ways and means for promoting the Baha'i Cause. They offer, too, a means of making new friends and cementing the bonds of unity and love for each other. Ideas are exchanged that furnish new inspiration and experience in the teaching field. These shared are of great assistance to those who teach. It was a delight to observe that many of the same people who were present last year had returned this summer. A practical business man observed, t~J would not miss this summer school. I arrange my vacation so as to bring my family here each year, for the inspiration I receive stays with me throughout the year." How shall we convey the spirit and the power of this brief session to one not present? It is difficult Ñ impossible. The mornings were taken up with classes, each giving information and inspiration in its own way. The period combining meditation and Tqlin' studies opened the daily program, turned the thoughts upward, and showed what new fields may be explored and higher thoughts released by meditative study. The daily lessons in Baha'i Administration reached a new depth of meaning in what had seemed to some mere routine and showed that the Revelation of Baha'u'llah makes clear God's plan from the beginning Ñ a plan culminating in the New World Order which is evolving from Baha'i Administration. The talks on the Influence of Religion on Society linked into those on Baha'i Administration and developed convincingly the idea that there is no adequate explanation of Society apart from Religion. The stories and inch-dents from CeThe Dawn-Breakers"2 interwoven with and illustrating the great and eternal truths which give life to the soul lifted us into the world of the spirit as they flowed from the lips of the speaker in a truly inspired manner. The afternoons were 1 The Book of Certitude by Baha'u'llah. 2 Nabil's Narrative of the early history of the Baha'i Cause. [p104] 104 THE BAHA'I WORLD thrown open to the public and an hour was devoted to a lecture on some aspect of the Baha'i Cause. Of great import is the fact that almost a third of the summer school were the youth of the Baha'is, radiant young people, many from schools, colleges and universities, and some who had gone out from schools into the working world, eager to study the precepts of the new age of which they will be a vital part. Most of them had attended the summer school last year and had so thoroughly enjoyed themselves that they eagerly looked forward to assembling together again this year. The intense earnestness in spiritual matters shown in their morning study and discussion group did not prevent, indeed enhanced, their enjoyment of the swimming, hiking and other amusements in the afternoons. A balanced life is the ideal Baha'i life. The evenings were turned over to the young people, and they planned interesting programs for the rest of the group. One evening was devoted to music, for Abdu'l-Baha often remarked, ttMusic is the language of the heart." Another evening was devoted to the personal experiences of those who had made pilgrimages to Haifa. One evening was just for fun when each was asked to write a poem about the person whose name was drawn by lot. These poems were read aloud, while the audience tried to guess who was being described. Another evening was given over to the methods by which the young people may teach the Baha'i Cause and they told of their experiences in that field of activity. One could not help feeling that with such unprejudiced and scientific minds attacking the problems of a sick and ailing world that the remedies will be applied in a wise, efficient, and intelligent manner. Such glorious days spent in the pursuit of spiritual wisdom! How we wish that all the world might have shared them with us for every one was striving to translate these words of tAbdu~1BahA into deeds: "Religion is an attitude toward God reflected in life." ttThe greatest gift of man is universal love, for this love is the magnet which renders existence eternal, attracts reality, and diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrates the heart of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a divine power which transports him to a divine station and man will make no real progress until illumined by this power of love. Strive to increase the love-force of reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction, to create new ideals and relationships. tcAlas! Alas! The world has not discovered the reality of religion hidden beneath the symbolic forms.~~ CENTRAL STATES SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM JULY 3 1 Ñ AUGUST 7, 1932 A.M. 9:159:45 Prayer and Meditation. Miss Pearl Easterbrook. 9:5010:50 Study of the Dawn-Breakers. Mr. Albert Vail. 10:5511:55 Adult Consultation Group. Chairman Ñ Orcella Rexford. P.M. 3:004:00 Public Lecture. 8:00 Campfire. Topics and Leaders for the Adult Consultation Mon. Ñ Baha'i Administration. Bishop Brown. Tues. Ñ Temple. Mrs. Ruth Moffett. Wed. Ñ Assembly Problems. Mrs. Greenleaf. Thurs. Ñ Indirect Teaching. Miss Easter-brook. Fri. Ñ Race Problems. Mrs. Mayc Harvey Gift. Sat Ñ Teaching Children. Mrs. Gift. Sun. Ñ Inspirational Teaching. Mr. Vail. Subjects and Speakers of the Public Lectures Mon. Ñ How to Gain Illumination. Mrs. Ruth Moffett. Tues. Ñ The World of the Future. Orcella Rexford. [p105] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 105 Wed. Ñ Race Relations in the Light of Religion and Science. Mrs. Gift. Thurs. Ñ How Love Brings Unity. Mr. Vail. Fri. Ñ The Most Great Peace. Miss Easter-brook. brook. Sat Ñ The Divine Solution of the Economic Problem. Mr. Vail. Sun. Ñ Tbe Great Message. Miss Easterbrook. Youth Consultation Group Morn Ñ The Twofold Motive of Consultation. Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf, Miss Sylvia Paine. •Tues. Ñ Immortality. Mr. Vail, Roscoe Springston. Wed. Ñ The Proof of God. Mr. Vail, Virginia Taylor. Thurs. Ñ Divine Unity: Races. Mrs. Gift, Wilfred Barton. Fri. Ñ Divine Unity: Economics and Government. Mr. Vail. Sat. Ñ 'What Is a Baha'i. Miss Easterbrook, Arnold Kettles. The evening campfires were times for in. formal talks and stories of the Master and Haifa. CENTRAL STATES SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM JUNE 25 Ñ JULY 3, 1933 A.M. 9:009:30 Iqan Meditations. Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf. 9:3 510:20 Baha'i Administration. Mrs. Greenleaf and Harlan Ober. 10:2511:00 Studies in Nabil's Narrative. Mrs. Dorothy Baker. 11:0511:50 Influence of Religion on Society. Mr. Ober. P.M. 2:30 Public Lecture. Daily. 7:00 Class in Teaching Methods. Subjects and Speakers of Public Lectures Monday Ñ The New Education. Miss Gretchen Westervelt. Tuesday Ñ The World of Tomorrow. Orcella Rexford. Wednesday Ñ The Cycle of Life. Mrs. Grace Ober. Thursday Ñ Carrying the Baha'i Message to South Africa. Miss Fanny Knobloch. Friday Ñ The New Civilization. Harlan Ober. Sunday Ñ Cosmic Consciousness of Unity. Mrs. Baker. The 8 o'clock evening program was in charge of the young people and was varied. The young people's Discussion and Consultation Group met daily from eleven to twelve with a leader and a guest speaker. Mrs. Baker was counsellor and advisor. B. H. K., Sec'y for the Committee. GREEN ACRE B~ GENEVIEVE L. Co~ 'IIPHE season of 1933 at spirit of cooperation Green Acre opened early which helped to make the in July with all activities centeredsummer a success. at the Inn. Lectures, CtBeginning July 10th, daily classes, discussion there were lectures three groups and devotional or four times a week meetings were held in the throughout the month. auditorium. Rates were so Dr. Glenn Shook gave low that the Inn was crowdedfour evening lectures for about six weeks. Many on cModern Aspects of of the Baha'i friends workedScience and Religion.' for room and board, thus The following week Mr. creating a Harlan Ober spoke on the tNew World Order'; and [p106] 106 THE BAHA'I WORLD the last week of July Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford discussed the cOneness of Mankind.' A series of evening lectures on CBh~~i Technique' was given by Mr. Sail a Kinney. Even though the regular Summer School did not begin until August, these lectures were all well attended and interested many outside the Cause. "A new feature of Green Acre life was a series of afternoon teas in the auditorium for the purpose of discussion. These teatime talks proved so enjoyable that they will doubtless be repeated the coming season. During July there were several Sunday afternoon meetings on Mt. Salvat with picnic suppers following, as well as marshmallow roasts on the beach by the river, a memorable picnic on the sands of Ogonquit, tennis matches and swimming parties. "The Amity Conference, July 28, 29, 30, followed Mrs. Ford's lectures, and filled the Inn to its capacity. Mr. Louis Gregory arranged an excellent program which everyone enjoyed. "On July 31st the study courses began Ñ courses primarily for those preparing to teach the Baha Faith, but open as well to anyone interested. They were held every day except Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The leader opened with a short talk on the subject announced and then gave the rest of the time to discussion. Although less study was done by the students than the committee had hoped, the courses proved most stimulating. Dr. Genevieve Coy led the discussion on cTbe BTh: the Dawn of a New Day;' Mr. Stanwood Cobb on tBah&'u'llih, the Sun of Truth;' Mr. Harlan Ober on cAbdu~1~Bah~: Principles of Divine Civilization;' and Mr. Horace Holley on tShoghi Effendi: the Worldwide Commonwealth.' ~tA Youth Conference under the direction of Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf was held the first week end in Eugust. What the conference lacked in numbers was compensated by the enthusiasm and devotion of those who came. Mrs. Baha'i Randall Lindstrum presided ably at a Youth Luncheon on Saturday, August 5th, drawing out discussion both by Baha'is and non-Bahi'is. The Saturday evening dance, a costume party, and the Sunday morning devotional meeting were conducted by the young people. "The Teaching Conference, August 27th to 3 0th, came as a climax to the whole summer. A very interesting program was planned in advance and carried out with Dr. Genevieve Coy as chairman in the three morning sessions, and Mr. Gregory, Mrs. Hebe Struven and Mr. Kinney successively as chairmen for the three afternoons, On Sunday, August 2 7th, there were reports of local Baha Communities on the past year's experience in using the program of the National Teaching Committee. On Monday, EDO' and Don'ts for Baha'i Teachers' and tThe Work of the Local Assembly in Guiding the Teaching in the Community' were the topics for discussion. CHOW Can the World Order of Baha'u'llah Be Presented to the Public?' and CHOW May the Baha'i Teacher Best Prepare Himself to Present the Baha'i Faith to People of Various Backgrounds?' proved very stimulating topics for discussion on Tuesday and Wednesday. These forums on Teaching were lively and helpful; they gave all an opportunity to express their views, and somehow out of these differing opinions came a greater understanding of each other and a greater enthusiasm for teaching the Faith. Altogether, this Teaching Conference was one of the most inspiring ever held in Green Acre." GREEN ACRE SUMMER SCHOOL Thirty-Ninth Annual Season PROGRAM General Conferences Shook: Modern Aspects of July 2-July 28 Science and Religion. July 181920, 8:30 P. July 10121416, 8:30 M. Ñ Mr. Harlan P. M. Ñ Dr. Glenn Ober: The New World Order. [p107] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 107 July 242526, 3:30 P. M. Ñ Mrs. Mary Han ford Ford: The Oneness of Mankind. Amity Conference July 282930 Ñ Under direction of National Amity Committee. For details refer to special Amity program. Baha'i Summer School July 31 August 26 The aim of the Summer School is to inculcate, by classes combining brief addresses with informal discussion, knowledge of the universal spiritual principles revealed by Baha'u'llah for the regeneration of human society and the unification of mankind in one true Faith. In their universal range, the Baha'i Teachings apply to each presentday problem Ñ the reconciliation of science and religion, the fundamental oneness of all revealed religions, knowledge of God, interracial amity, economics, international ethics, and world order. These courses are primarily for those who are preparing to teach the principles of the Baha'i Cause. However, anyone who is interested is welcome to attend the courses. The lectures will be 40 minutes in length and the remainder of the period will be spent in discussion. Mimeographed sheets with detailed assignments for study in each course will be provided. 10:3012:30 daily Course I. July 31 August 5. The Bib: The Dawn of the New Day. Dr. Genevieve Coy. Course II. August 712. Baha'u'llah: The Sun of Truth. Mr. Stanwood Cobb. Course III. August 1419. tAbdu'1-BaM: Principles of Divine Civilization. Mr. Harlan Ober. Course IV. August 2126. Shoghi Effendi: The Worldwide Baha'i Commonwealth. Mr. Horace Holley. Youth Conference held under direction of National Youth Committee Ñ Aug. 2 to Aug. 9. Sessions afternoons and evenings. Youth Luncheon Aug. 5, 1933. GREEN ACRE CONFERENCES B~ Louis G. GREGORY ~The oneness of the world of humanity shall be realized, accepted and established. When we reflect upon this blessed principle, it will become evident and manifest that it is the healing remedy for all human conditions. s. In this century of radiance His Holiness Baha'u'llah has proclaimed ed the reality of the oneness of the world of humanity and announced that all nations, peoples and races are ~ THE little world known as Green Acre, summer colony of the Baha'is in Maine, is not impressive by its size and numbers. Its eighty acres might be lost in the ample dimensions of so large a village as Eliot. Neither can it be counted a rival for the great resorts considering the numbers it attracts. It is rather the charm of beauty, idealism, thought, spirit, sociability, mysticism, that makes a deep impression upon its visitors and workers and hold a subtle sway from year to year. The annual conference for racial amity, one of the most virile and useful of Green Acre activities, was this past season more than eyer before a laboratory for the study of reality in human relations. It was digni-fled in procedure; its six sessions seemed to touch more people and phases of life than ever before, while its enthusiasm and happiness left nothing to be desired. It was providential to have as the opening speaker of the conference, Judge Edward H. Adams of Portsmouth, N. H., an hon [p108] 108 THE BAHA'I WORLD ored citizen of the community. His theme was, "The Eaith of Lincoln," and he proved himself one of the most eloquent speakers that ever graced a meeting. Modestly he disclaimed capacity to interpret Lincoln, saying that only the great can interpret each other. But he had not gone far before he seemed to his hearers to belong to another age, living amid scenes which tested the heroic; to be one with that band of patriots and lovers of freedom who saw rethe Glory of the coming of the Lord"; an associate and worker with our great martyr president, one of the most illustrious names of any clime or age. In poetic phrases pregnant with thought, the sublime faith of the great American liberator was eloquently set forth. Mr. Samuel A. Allen, industrial secretary of the New York Urban League, was the next speaker; he is one of those who, as a student, heard tAbd 'iBahA when He spoke at Howard University, Washington, D. C., twenty years ago. The subject of Mr. Allen's address was "Economics and Race Relations." From his vantage ground of service and observation, he showed how one of the most virulent results of prejudice is the way it affects people trying to earn a living, those prepared for service yet debarred by the accident of race. Social relations are much more easily established. But depression has greatly intensified the race problem. In New York City the Negro is denied admission to twenty-five unions. It sometimes happens that colored workers are laid off and whites substituted the very next day. Thousands are being driven into the radical parties under such pressure. Education and property do not make people happy. Fellowship and love do. If employers are to be reached and softened it must be by the Baha'i method. Simple justice is needed, not mercy. Baha'is should seek service on public welfare committees. A burning desire for right on the part of each can melt the cold world into oneness, he felt. The chairman, Mr. Harlan Ober, in closing the session said that Lincoln was great because he had no separatist mind but thought in terms of the whole. His spiritual love gave him vision. Now someone was greatly needed who could give Lincoln's vision to the whole world. He then reviewed the teachings and great message of cAbdu~1Bah5, and showed how they affect both economics and race relations and how all difficulties, "due to lack of love and altruism" must pass away in the light of the new teachings. Limited relief supplied by limited minds cannot solve such problems. But the divine love and wisdom from the Universal Physician will give relief. He exhorted patience to those who are victims of oppression. Mr. Carl Cartwright, a graduate of the University of Florida, a fine representative of the liberal youth, was presented as the principal speaker at the second session. He has discovered from his scientific studies that the socalled Nordic race is non-ex-istent, to say nothing of its claim to dominate history. There is no scientific sanction for the belief that one race is superior to another. Under his subject, "Negro Scientists Overcome Prejudice," he reviewed the life stories of two eminent Negro scientists, Dr. George W. Carver and Dr. Ernest F. Just. The bold research work and wonderful discoveries of these men have won them international fame and many honors. An amusing incident related was how the Lions Club, a business men's organization of Go-lumbus, Ga., recently entertained Dr. Carver at luncheon. A local editor, irate at such sociability, denounced the occurrence. Thereupon the president of the club retorted that doubtless the editor's real grievance was that he had not been considered important enough to be included in the invitation! This is another illustration of the growing liberality of the South. The students of a white college in Mississippi invited Dr. Carver to address them. When the reactionary faculty heard of it, they forbade the Doctor to enter the campus. The students not to be outdone, hired a hail off the campus and gave their guest a great ovation when he appeared among them. What they felt was a great honor to the school had been turned into disgrace by the faculty, they declared. The speaker felt that the great abilities of these men and others iike them would bring home to the world the certain knowledge of one humanity. [p109] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 109 The third session was featured by two formal addresses, one by Mr. Philip A. Mar-angella on CcRacial Amity and World Peace," and the other by Mrs. May Maxwell on the limitations existing in the minds of people of various races and nations, now happily disappearing before the glorious Light of the Sun of Truth. The informal conference brought to the fore a bevy of youth, some four or five young ladies and a Persian student, Foad Asbraf, all of whom showed fertility of thought and fluency of expression and indicated very clearly that the orthodox limitations and racial prejudices of the old order were to them nonexistent and unthinkable. It will doubtless require the youth to set the world in order. How beautiful are they in their faith, courage and Consciousness of power. We find, from the study of Nabi1,'~ that both Tkhirih and Mulla Husayn-i-Bushru'i closed their dazzling careers at thirty-six; the Glorious Bab at thirty; Quddus at twenty-seven; and that such characters as Zaynab, V4hid and Huj-jat were all included in the category of youth. We hail the beginnings of our American youth as amity workers. May their ends be glorious! The Spiritual meeting of Sunday morning had as chairman Mr. F. St. George Spend-love, who expressed the idea that human enlightenment must precede human relief. The ideal cannot be attained until first projected. Each race must draw upon the resources of all centers of culture. The problem of races suggested to Rev. Henry Benton Harris, the first speaker, the cross purposes of Jews and Sarnaritans in the time of Jesus when He spoke to the woman of Samaria. This woman became a new creature through the light of Christ. The same spirit of universality is voiced by Baha'u'llah and CAbdu~J~Bahi Whose light has dawned and Who are asking all mankind to see each other as servants of one God. Some, they exhort, are as children. They must not be hated because weak. All are created in His image and likeness. Such a movement as this is the world's greatest The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's History of the Dawn of the Baha'i Cause. need. May it change mankind into what it should be. In conclusion he quoted CAbdu~1 Baha as saying that he is blessed who prefers his brother to himself. Mr. Howard C. Ives opened his address with Words of Baha'u'llah: CCV 1 the Words that have descended from the heaven of the Will of God are the source of unity and harmony for the world. Close your eyes to racial differences and welcome all with the light of oneness. Everything in existence, he declared, has a center, whether it be a star or a system. Perhaps there is a great central Sun around which the universe revolves. Even as an army gets direction, power and victory from its general, so ideal forces and light are now flowing from the Great Center which establishes the higher Unity. He then presented four aspects of unity, following the outline of CAbdu~1~Bah6u the unity of mankind, the spiritual unity, the unity of the Holy Manifestations and the unity of the Divine Essence. Why should we still turn to man when we can turn to God? To accept and apply the decrees of the Manifestation of God is to attain the higher unity wherein nothing but reality exists. The worker's meeting on Sunday afternoon called forth expressions from those who are doing something to relieve human ills. It was a heart to heart gathering. Influential friends who had come to Green Acre for the first time, were encouraged to pour out their souls with perfect freedom. Others who were veterans in service likewise responded, sharing their rich experiences and extended studies. Har1em,*~ the metropolis of the Negro world, had impressive representatives of both races. Boston, sometimes referred to not as a city, but a state of mind, appeared to find its heart in this gathering. Self-examination, as well as study of the psychology of the prejudice of others, received due emphasis. The special object of this meeting was to brighten hopes and to tell ways of overcoming the various barriers to unity, that the ideal and real may be one. Grateful acknowledgments must be made to the talented friends who contributed draIn New York City. [p110] 110 THE BAHA'I WORLD matic readings, vocal and instrumental selections at the various meetings, expressing amity in so pleasing a form. The last session was held in the People's Baptist Church in Portsmouth, N. H., the City by the Sea. The congregation and successive pastors of this colored church over the years have given fine cooperation to this work. Mrs. Ludmila Bechtold of Brooklyn, N. Y., was chairman, bringing to bear her intelligent interest and love of the work. The Hull House~ address of 'Abdu'l-Baha was read as a fitting introduction. Mr. Samuel A. Allen again spoke and gave a striking picture of the numerous ills which attack the racially varied population of Harlem, as well as other cities. He shed his searchlight upon prejudices in various forms, intra as well as interracial. One curious incident related was that of a school teacher, training her children in jumping, who through prejudice held the rule higher for her colored pupils, only succeeding thereby in making them better jumpers than the others; another was how in a certain place a teacher who bad a Japanese boy take the place of George Washington in a play, lost her position because of it. A. A. Scbomberg, colored curator of a ten thousand dollar collection of books about the Negro race, collected it because when a boy in Cuba and called upon to write an article about his race, he was unable to find books in the library bearing upon that subject. Located in Chicago, Ill. In closing his address Mr. Allen related the story of two parents who were greatly alarmed one day to come upon their infant son and to find that by some means he held in his hands a carving knife. Fearing to approach him lest he harm himself, the mother tactfully held out to him an orange, whereupon he at once let fall the knife and reached for the fruit. The speaker again expressed his love of Green Acre and the conviction that a sick and sore humanity would find relief oniy through the divine remedies. Orcella Rerford, the last speaker of the conference, made a fitting climax in a word picture of the world of the future. The absence of extremes of wealth and poverty, locomotion by wings as well as planes, false doctrines removed that cause strife, ignoring of national boundaries that separate, all employed and all educated, everybody wishing to do right, all governed by universal law, all speaking the same tongue, all knowing and loving the same God, all acknowi-. edging the Supreme Tribunal and living in amity with all mankind Ñ these were some of the details of her wonderful picture of the future under Baha'u'llah's divine civilization. The speaker expressed the wish that each and all might stand in the smile of God. man who turns to God finds sunshine everywhere," says tAbdu'1-BaM. So closed this amity conference, one of many that have been held. But the last always seems the best. [p111] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 111 CONFERENCES FOR RACIAL AMITY GREEN ACRE, ELIOT, MAINE, JULY 28, 29 AND 30 PORTSMOUTH, N. H., JULY 30 1933 All Races and Religions are Welcome r!Behold how good and how ~leasanI it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Ñ Old Testament. "And I John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coining down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." All sessions except theAddress Mrs. Zyipha Mapp, last at Green Acre Inn, Boston, Mass. Eliot, Maine. 4:45 P. M. Afternoon Tea, Ole Bull Cottage 8 P. M., Friday, July 28 Mrs. Lorel Schophiocher, Chairman Hostess Prayer Solo 7:30 P. M., Sunday, July Mr. Harlan F. Ober 30 Miss Elizabeth Virgil Miss Christobel Harris, Accompanist. People's Baptist Church, Address Rev. Charles Este,Portsmouth Montreal Chairman Mr. Philip A. Address Mr. Sail a Kinney,Marangella, N. Y. New York Address Ñ Mrs. Mary PrayerRev. Henry Benton Hanford Ford, Harris New York City Music Church Choir Music Ñ The Misses Farrar, WelcomeJudge Edward H. Bridgeport, Ct. Adams SoloMrs. Dorothy Richardson 3:30 P. M., Saturday, July AddressMr. James H. Hubert, 29 New York AddressMrs. Grace Ober Chairman Miss Helen Campbell, New York This fine old world of Solo Mr. Oscar Vaughnours is but a child yet Five Minute Addresses by in the gocart. Patience! Nine Amity Workers. Give it time to learn its Afternoon Tea, Eliot Assembly,limbs. There is a Hand Hostesses that Guides! Ñ Tennyson's Princess. 11 A. M., Sunday, July 30 The foundation of the palace of peace is the consciousness the Supreme World Illuminesof the oneness of mankind. This World. Ñ BAHA'U'LLAH. ChairmanMrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf SoloMrs. Dorothy RichardsonPROGRESS IN RACIAL AMITY Miss Dorothy Wood, Accompanist Reading Mrs. Louise Gregory ttClose your eyes to racial AddressMrs. Mary Hanford differences and Ford Address Mr. Saff a Kinney welcome all with the light SoloMrs. Dorothy Richardsonof oneness." Baha'u'llah. ttN differences remain 3:30 P. M., Sunday, July between the white 30 and the colored. Both are Subject: Making the Worldaccepted at the Threshold Better: Social Workers of God and both are equally Meeting. loved in the sight of CAbdu~1~Bah6A~ Chairman Mr. Howard IvestAbdu'1-Bahi, the Center AddressDr. T. E. A. McCurdy,of the Covenant. Boston Whenever the thought of Address Mr. George W. Goodman,racial amity passes before Boston the mind's eye there appears simultaneously Subject: How the vision of that gentle and loving spirit, Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons, whom tAbd'lBh' chose to initiate and [p112] 112 THE BAHA'I WORLD forge that bond between the white and colored people, and upon whom He showered the bounty of His divine confirmations. Faithful to the end, Mrs. Parsons labored unceasingly and with her beautiful tact and loving approach she was able to breach the gap grown wide through centuries of prejudice which was undermining the whole structure of society. It is not enough that memorial services were held in her honor in every center, by special request of the Guardian. Her memory will ever be kept alive by those who seek to follow in her footsteps and take up the mission laid down by her untimely demise. The results of the laborers in this field for Racial Amity are so gratifying and furnish so potent a proof of the success which attends any gesture in this direction that one's heart swells in gratitude for the achievements of the past and the promise of the future, the near future. An article written by Mr. Horace Holley appearing in Unity Magazine reads in part as follows: Ñ ttEvery local Baha'i Community exists by the voluntary association of individuals who consciously overcome the fundamental sanctions evolved throughout the centuries to justify the separations and antagonisms of human society. In America, this association means that the white believers accept the spiritual equality of their Negro fellows. In Europe it means the reconciliation of Protestant and Catholic, upon the basis of a new and larger faith. In the Orient Christian, Jewish and Muhammedan believers must stand apart from the rigid exclusiveness with which each are born." To overcome these obstacles Amity Conferences have been held in many of the Baha'i centers throughout the country, white and colored teachers of the Faith have journeyed together throughout the South, resident teachers have labored in many of the southern cities and distinguished members of the faculties of the colored Univer-sides have accepted the Baha'i Faith and have made its introduction to their fellows and to the Universities, clubs and other organizations a matter of easy accomplishment. The Baha'i Center of New York has been particularly happy in its entertainment of these Amity Conferences. Urbana, Illinois, through an enthusiastic Youth group has brought the students of one of our greatest Universities together in a friendly association which promises great results for the future. Mr. Louis Gregory says in his report presented before the twenty-sixth annual Convention of the Baha'is in Wilmette: Ñ "The amazing progress of the colored people during a short period of time; their increasing group consciousness and solidarity, improved for the acquirement of knowledge and commercial development; their literature, art, scientific knowledge, collective enterprise; their keen sense of humor, cheerfulness under difficulties, stoical endurance of the economic depression; their ability when given a chance to measure up to the standards of other Americans; their native and cultivated graces which lend a fascination to their social life; their faith in God and adherence to religion despite the largely prevalent agnosticism of the day; their conciliatory spirit; these, and other qualities indicate powers which under divine guidance may yet, we trust, make a very considerable contribution to the world's net aggregate of service and universal progress. The advancement of an oppressed group is the resultant of two forces: Ñ What it can do in internal growth and what it can accomplish in cooperation with others. Both these powers depend upon the Supreme Power for their evolution and full expression. Workers and idealists look forward to the time when, out of the experience of pain all humanity will be ready for the divine teaching and nothing of superficial barriers will remain. Mr. Louis Gregory's report of his reception at Fisk University is particularly gratifying and the interest which has been expressed there in the Message of the New Day might almost be said to have surpassed that expressed in institutions under the direction of their white brothers. ESPERANTO The growing importance of Esperanto as a means of intercommunication between peoples and races has been keenly felt by [p113] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 113 Baha'i teachers traveling abroad and Esperanto clubs are becoming more and more numerous so that the National Spiritual Assembly has recently created a National Esperanto Committee whose function it is to associate with the various Esperanto groups arid express the sympathetic Baha'i attitude toward this universal language, especially because of CAbd~1Bh~~ approval and commendation of it. HISTORY OF THE BAHA'I FAITH IN AMERICA The work of compiling an accurate and complete history of the beginnings and progress of the Baha'i Faith in America reposes in the hands of an able committee of those long associated with the Faith who were privileged to be much in the presence and service of tAbdu'1-Bahi during His visit to this country, and who are able judges as to the accuracy of the data received. The committee however finds itself embarrassed because of a certain iack of appreciation of the vast importance of this work on the part of many who are in possession of facts of priceless value. Too great stress cannot be laid upon the necessity of prompt and accurate cooperation on the part of the friends that these records may be permanently preserved in the archives of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. THE ARCHIVES It is hoped that in the very near future a special room for the preservation of the historic documents and relics of sainted character may be constructed in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar where no harm can come to them and where they may be displayed in such a way as to be of easy access to the friends and at the same time, be protected beyond all possible damage. The committee has concerned itself chiefly this year "with making investigations in reference first, to the method of construction of a suitable room, and secondly to a plan for cataloging and arranging the Tablets of tAbdu'1-Bah6., letters of Shoghi Effendi, sacred objects, and various printed and manuscript materials bearing upon the growth of the Cause in America which together make up the national archives." "In carrying out these investigations the committee has corresponded with the Bureau of Standards, the Library of Congress, the British Museum, the Huntington Library, (San Marino, California) and has conferred with a number of archivists and librarians at the Oriental Institute, the Newberry Library, the Illinois Historical Society, and the Field Museum of Chicago. It is however, unnecessary to state that any information obtained by the committee with reference to the plans of the Guardian in organizing the international archives in Akka and Haifa will be a deciding influence in the plans to be recommended for the organization of the National Archives." CONCLUSION And now a word in conclusion. The survey which this article is intended to convey, tho briefly and inadequately expressed, suggests first the all-prevailing willingness to serve, the growth and expansion of the consciousness of the divine privilege which is the part of those laboring under the banner of Baha'u'llah, and secondly, that subtle and mystic bond which is knitting the believers more and more closely together and preparing them for the part they must play in the culminating events of the passing of an old order and the establishment of the new one. To quote from the recent letter of the Guardian, "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" Ñ CtLCt no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle its significance, or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God's irn Ñ mutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is not one less than Baha'u'llah Himself. Its shield and defender are the embattled hosts of the AbhA Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be born and flourish. The axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of tAbdu'1-BahA. Its guiding princi [p114] 114 THE BAHA'I WORLD pies are the Truths which LIe Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws that govern its operation and limit its function are those which have been expressly ordained in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The seat round which its spiritual, its humanitarian and administrative activities will cluster are the Mashriqu'1-AdhkAs-and d its Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its authority and buttress its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Baha'u'llah. The method it em-pioys, the standard it inculcates, incline it to neither East nor 'West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored. Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the tMost Great Peace'; its consummation the advent of that golden millennium Ñ the Day when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the Kingdom of God himself, the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah." While deeply conscious of the grave re-sponsiblities resting upon the shoulders of the collective body of the believers of the United States and Canada and all too fully aware of our inadequacy the comforting words of the Guardian written in his own hand to the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly should prove a solace to the hearts that are eager to leave no stone unturned which might prevent the attainment to that high standard of selfless service and devotion exemplified in the lives of the Dawn Breakers: Ñ "The American believers have in recent years shouldered tremendous responsibilities and have acquitted themselves magnificently of their tasks. The erection of the superstructure of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar the completion of the ornamentation of the Dome, their spontaneous decision to proceed with the decoration of the clerestory section, the purchase, the safeguarding and eventual recognition of the precincts of the Shrines on Mt. Carmel, the consolidation of the administrative machinery of the Faith in their country, the generous assistance extended by them to the needy, the harrassed and suffering among their brethren in many lands and the activity they now display in the teaching field are deeds for which the entire Baha'i world may well feel grateful." Shoghi. PART THREE Ñ PERSIA B~ DR. LUTFU'LLAH S. HAKfM AND MARDjIYYIH N. CARPENTER THE mountains where Baha'u'llah made His home stand over a city that now, after centuries, is restless with modern activity; streets are torn up, the ground is littered with bricks and debris, trucks shoulder caravans against the walls; through the noise and disorder a new capital is rising within the old. The Baha'i Cause in Persia is likewise going through a period of transition, of ceaseless activity, of multiform purpose Ñ toward its goal of the new civilization which is building in the shadows of the past, not without dust and heat. A record of recent events in Baha'i Persia must begin with the heartbreaking news of the ascension of Baha'u'llah's daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf, which reached Tihr~n by cable from the Guardian on July 15, 1932. Nine months of mourning were consecrated to her memory, during which services were continually held in her name all over Persia; in honor to her a day, July 21, was set aside, on which all Baha'is in the capital ceased from work; on Naw-Riiz, the festival that has been celebrated by Persians for thousands of years, no Baha'i festivities were held. In TihrAn for nine consecutive days memorial services were given, and following that these services continued every nineteen days for nine months; on these occasions incidents from the life of the Greatest Holy Leaf were told, and Tablets revealed for her chanted; during the mourning period ten memorial suppers were [p115] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 115 offered, and over seven hundred fed. To many gatherings Keith Ransom-Kehier, delegate to Persia from the National Spiritual Assembly of America, spoke unforgettably in the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf; outstanding occasions were at the home of Mirza tAbdu'1-~usayn KAzimuf, where she addressed one hundred and twenty women guests at a memorial luncheon, and again at the Haziratu'1-Quds, when she described her meetings with the Greatest Holy Leaf and gave the messages that this most exalted of women had sent through her to Persia, messages which had the pathos of a final leavetaking. The Persian Baha'is have felt very keenly the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and for her sake they are working with redoubled effort to bring about that Baha'i World Order whose founding she had witnessed, whose establishment was so dear to her heart. The immediate factor in furtherance of this aim has been the completion of measures Ñ such as the taking of the census and formation of new Local Assemblies Ñ necessary to the establishing of Persia's National Assembly. The Administration is gradually becoming consolidated in Persia; the sixth annual Baha'i convention met in TilirAn (April 29, 1932) and lasted twelve days; the Tihr~n Spiritual Assembly, elected (April 21, 1932) functions at present as the national body, having general supervision over Baha'i affairs of national importance; it further exerts its influence to help Baha'is outside of Persia, as when, in the case of the friends arrested in Istanbul, it was able to contribute toward their release by laying the facts before the Turkish bassador here, and again when it assisted in obtaining the freedom of the prisoners in Adanah. A glance at the committees which aid the Assembly in putting through its extensive program will give an idea of current Baha'i pursuits. Special attention is here paid to the committees of TihrAn, but similar ones function for the Assemblies throughout Persia; the names of these committees are of interest in that they often indicate problems peculair to Persia, such as the fact that the women still veil and as a result carry on much of their Baha'i activity independently of the men. Pending the formation of the Persian National Assembly, the Committee on Baha'i Affairs serves as the Local Assembly of Tihr4n; this body elects the members of all committees in the city, and in general supervises the work that is done; recent activities of this committee were the reception of Keith Ran-som-Kehier, the collection of 21,440 riyMs1 for the Temple in America, the arrangement of large joint meetings between the Assembly and its committees, care of individuals, instructions in current administrative duties, preparation of a lift of sacred Baha'i places in and about Tihr~n. The Service Committee has charge of all general meetings, feasts, memorials and the like. On one night in the week, six meetings especially for Baha'is are held throughout the city, the program of which includes the study of Baha literature and a short talk; members of the committee are present in each of these gatherings and assist in directing them; the committee further holds a memorial service for every deceased Baha'i, at which the life of the departed is described and prayers are chanted for him. The Women's Program Committee has the same duties as the Service Committee, but confines itself to women s activities; it arranges all types of gatherings, receives guests, provides a speaker for its daily meeting in different parts of the city, observes memorials. This committee was instrumental in arranging meetings for Keith Ransorn-Kehier and supplying interpreters for her; it received Mirza cA1i~Akbar Funltan, the noted educator and Baha'i lecturer who visited Tihr~n recently, and had him address a large group of women on child training; it has collaborated with the men in raising funds for the Baha'i Temple in America. The Boys' Service Committee has as its main duty the moral training of Baha'i youth; it instructs them in Baha'i history and principles, and trains them as teachers. Mirza tAli-Akbar Furi-tan has with the approval of the Assembly drawn up an entirely new curriculum which is shortly to be introduced all over Persia. Twenty classes attended by four hundred and thirtyfive students and taught largely 1 At this writing there are approximately fifteep riyfls to the dollar. [p116] 116 THE BAHA'I WORLD by committee members are held weekly in Tihr~n; eighteen of these study the ttDars-i-Akhhq", lessons in character-training composed of teachings of the various Manifestations of God, and the remaining two study the Ct7jqin~~ and ccSome Answered Questions" respectively. These classes meet at the homes of parents and are often visited by members of the Spiritual Assembly and other friends; opportunities are given the students to speak in public, and yearly examinations take place to which many are invited. On the eighth of RiQv~n of this year a feast was offered the students, several of them delivered short talks and Keith Ransom-Kehier presented prizes to those who ranked highest in the examinations. The Persian Baha wall-calendar has also been put out by this committee for two successive years, despite many obstacles; it is well circulated through Persia and has also been sent to Baha'i student groups in Europe. The Girls' Service Committee, similar in aim and program to the foregoing, is made up of forty women and conducts twenty-four classes weekly throughout the city; it too gives instruction in public speaking, and in 89 (1932) eight large gatherings were addressed by its students; it further maintains a Baha'i kindergarten. A chart shows that Tihr4n leads the char-acter-training 4asses numerically with four hundred and thirtyfive boys and five hundred and twenty-four girls; Najaf-Abid outside IsfAhAn has one hundred and ten boys and one hundred and ten girls, and Yazd one hundred and thirty boys and one hundred and ten girls; the classes are progressing satisfactorily in many other centres. The Teachers' Consulting Committee spreads the "Cause, holds teacher training classes and gives twenty-six meetings a week for inquirers; at each of these the teacher is accompanied by a student who thus becomes informed of teaching methods. The Women's Teaching Committee is similar to the above. It maintains five weekly meetings for women inquirers and attends a weekly class under the direction of JinAb-i-F6xlil-i-MAzindarAni. The Women's Progress Committee furthers the cause of Persian Baha'i women; this committee arranged a number of meetings for Keith, and her series of talks on Baha'i Administration addressed to the members themselves was considered epochmaking. The committee is in correspondence with similar groups all over Persia, studies Baha'i literature and maintains a class for adult illiterates, both Baha and non-BaM'is. Among vistors received by this committee were delegates from the second Eastern Women's Congress, for whom a meeting was held at which the committee chairman, Mahbiabih KhAnum NaMmi, addressed the visitors on the Baha'i principle of sex equality, and NiIr-Him~dih Kh4num, head of the delegates spoke on the Eaith of IslAm. The Adjustments Committee has been most successful in settling business or family differences that have arisen from time to time between individual Baha'is. The Census Committee has charge of taking the census for all Persia; it circulates the necessary blanks, works with Local Assemblies and other Census Committees, and makes a permanent record of the returns, as well as supplying certificates of births, marriages and deaths. The Cemetery Committee manages the Baha'i cemetery of Tilirin, a large park situated outside of town to the northwest, known as the Immortal Garden; this committee supervises the upkeep of the grounds, directs funerals, and has built an up-to-date mortuary; after a recent investigation municipal authorities expressed marked approval of its methods. The Properties Committee has, in accordance with recent law, been engaged in obtaining from the Government and registering the deeds to all buildings, lands and places of pilgrimage belonging to the Cause in Persia; these are registered in the name of the Guardian, pending the establishment of the National Assembly. Among properties so registered are the two Tarbiyat Schools, the Rasht Haziratu'1-Quds, some of the Hama-dAn properties, the house of Baha'u'llah in Tikur the IshtiMrd properties; the registration of the House of the Bib in ShirAz, the Tihiin cemetery, and all other Baha'i properties is soon to be effected. The Tem-pie Committee was established in 89 (1932) to collect funds for purchasing land near TihrAn for Persia's first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. The Guardian has given 30,000 riyMs to this end; two of the friends have given [p117] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 117 20,000, and numerous meetings are being held and contributions offered for this purpose. The East-West Committee corresponds with Baha'i centres in other parts of the world, receives visitors from foreign countries and in general furthers the harmonious relations between East and West. It translates for the Tihdn newsletter information received from abroad, corresponds with individuals, puts out a monthly newsletter, collects and spreads works on the Cause and Baha'i works in foreign languages. The 'Welfare Committee cares for those who are in need, regularly dispensing funds it receives from the Assembly and from individuals; it has placed welfare boxes in f our-teen leading Baha'i stores throughout the city; in the year 89 it gave out approximately 9,779 riy5ls. The Tablets Committee has been at work for some years collecting original Baha'i tablets and making two copies of each in bound volumes; one set goes to the Guardian, the other to the Tili-iAn Assembly. A majority of the tablets copied in 89 are in the hands of Mirza tAbdu'r-Rahm~n Rahiqi; Mirza Sayfu'11Th Majidi compared every copy with the original and up to now sixteen bound volumes have been prepared. The Children's Savings Bank Committee manages the bank which was founded in 76 (1919); during the intervening period over two thousand children have had shares in this institution, and by the end of 89 its capital had grown to 22,000 shares at ten riyils and 62 at a hundred riy4ls; many shareholders have left their interest on deposit, and the total present capital is 250,000 riy6is. In accord with the recent Government ruling that all such institutions be registered, the Assembly is taking the necessary steps to register the Children's Savings Bank. The Schools Committee has charge of the two Tarbiyat schools. The boys' school offers six preparatory grades and four intermediate; of the twenty-six teachers twenty are Baha'is, and of the five hundred and forty Ñ one students three hundred and thirty-nine are Baha'is, one hundred and seventy Ñ five Moslems, twenty-one Christians, four Jews and two Zoroastrians; the principal of the girls' school is Miss Adelaide Sharp, of Denver, U. S. A., and the superintendent is Riahangiz Kh6nnm Fat1i-A~zam of this city; there are thirtyfive teachers on the faculty, eleven grades are offered, and of seven hundred and nineteen students three hundred and fifty-nine are Baha'is, three hundred and fifty-two Moslems, and eight Jews. The Ministry of Education reports very favorably on the moral and mental training afforded by these institutions, and the girls have ranked especially high in the Government examinations. The buildings and grounds are situated in one of the best sections of TihrAn, and the Assembly recently borrowed 40,000 riy6is from other funds for repairs and new equipment; it is to be regretted that because of insufficient means the schools cannot increase their accommodations and as a result are obliged strictly to limit their student body. The Publishing Committee publishes Baha'i news from Persia and all over the world in a monthly paper, carries on an extensive correspondence, collects Baha'i literature for distribution to other Assemblies, has charge of the film of the Master taken in America, publishes the letters of the Guardian; it has recently brought out a compilation of prayers by tAbdu'1-BahA, a paper on the prohibition of narcotics, an essay by Dr. Y~tnis Kbin Afriikhih on fasting and prayer; a book entitled "The Analysis of Truth" by Mirza Hasan-i-N~sMb4di a Baha'i calendar by Mirza Muhammad Kh~n Labib. Books collected for distribution this year amounted to 2,200 volumes, and those distributed to 2,500; as a rule 1200 copies of News are put out, forty of which are sent abroad, only four numbers of the News appeared in 1932, however, owing to Government restrictions. Incidentally, while persecutions on religious grounds have considerably decreased in recent years, it would be inaccurate to say that religious freedom is permitted the Baha'is in Persia. Events demonstrate that a uniform treatment of adherents of the Faith is not to be expected here; readers in other countries doubtless wonder why on one hand we may give meetings attended by thousands of people, with the consent and cooperation of police authorities, and why on the other our literature, for no tangible reason, is forbidden entry; it must seem to them that with us, the exception is the [p118] 118 THE BAHA'I WORLD rule. A few examples will illustrate the situation. On receipt of the Guardian's cable announcing the ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf, a copy of his words was to be wired at once to all Persian centres; this was done but after some time it was learned that the authorities had never sent the wires; without informing the Baha'is they had confiscated them. The Assembly's repeatedly lodged complaints proved of no avail, and the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs refused to transmit the telegrams, although the money that had been paid for them was eventually refunded. Again three hundred copies of "Bh"'ll'h and the New Era" were sent by the Guardian to be entered on a special permit; despite every effort no permit was granted, and the books remained in Baghdad until one of the friends acting on his own responsibility brought one hundred and fifty of them in; the sum collected from their sale will go toward a Persian edition of the book when the authorities permit. Meanwhile books written by AvArih and his associates have the sanction of the Department of Education and are widespread, in spite of repeated petitions to the effect that such writings, devoted largely to the libeling of individuals, can in no wise promote the good of Persia. Baha'i marriage certificates are another case in point, using the official blanks means registering as Moslem, Christian, Jew or Zoroastrian; the TihrAn Assembly has made strenuous efforts to have the Baha certificates registered, but the Minister of Justice, the chief of the Registration Bureau and other authorities take the stand that this is impossible because the Baha'i Faith is not officially recognized in Persia; on the other hand the Baha'is will not use the Government certificates, as this is tantamount to recanting their faith; it is interesting that the BThul' authorities when pressed by the Assembly, registered the Baha'i certificates. The Qazsrin schools incident is a further illustration; authorities closed the Tavakkul Schools there on the grounds that Baha'i meetings had been held in the buildings, whereas such meetings had taken place oniy in the neighborhood; at Police Headquarters 1 Formerly B&rfur6sh. the principal, Vahid Ñ i-Kashfi, was forced to sign a statement to the effect that he would not reopen the schools. The TihrTh Assembly did all in its power to lift the ban, even addressing a petition to His Majesty the Shah eventually permission was granted the schools to reopen, but by that time a majority of the students had entered other institutions, the equipment was scattered and the boys' school was unable to reopen. Occasionally physical violence has also been the lot of the Baha'is. The people of Gui-p~ygAn rose against the friends, forbade them the use of the public baths, and in general attempted to boycott them; the importance of the bath institution in Persian life will be remembered; attendance at the bath amounts to a virtual ceremonial, and in view of average housing conditions is practically indispensable. The animosity increased, until a Ba1A'i woman in a neighboring town was critically hurt at one of the baths. Later Shaykh Ja'fari-i-Hid6yat, nephew of the great Baha'i historian Mirza Abu'1-Fadl, was severely beaten in the public bath, his clothes were torn and he escaped in a cloak; the next day when because of his injuries he was confined to bed, the authorities banished him from GulpAyg4n. He eventually reached Tihr~n, but the Assembly's endeavors, the many petitions went unheeded, and he was obliged to remain in the capital, separated from his family and dependents. In the MarilAn Quarter of Tabriz, an out-of-the-way district, the friends are still subject to molestation; recently Mubammadans kidnapped the wife of one of the Baha'is, took her to court and forcibly divorced her from her husband; the Tabriz Assembly further had difficulties with the police in holding meetings, but is no longer disturbed. In Kirm6nshTh, police closed the Baha'i library, but the Assembly was later successful in reopening it. In Mubammarih, parts of Khur~s4n and elsewhere there have been risings against the Baha'is, and the authorities, repeatedly appealed to, have quieted the trouble in some instances, while in others hostility has gradually subsided of itself. Meanwhile, teaching activity in Persia is ceaseless and much valuable work is being done by wellknown teachers in the capital [p119] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 119 and throughout the country. In this period of transition, the teacher fulfills an important function here, especially in view of the fact that many of the Teachings are revealed in Arabic, virtually a foreign language, and that the percentage of literacy is relatively small. Among those working in TihrAn is Jin~b-i-Fidi1--i-M4zindar&ni, wellknown in the United States, who in addition to addressing many groups of Baha'is and non-BaM'is is writing a detailed history of the Cause from its inception to the present. Mirza CA1i~Aq~ Adhari had planned to spread the Cause in Afgli&nist4n, but despite urgent requests from the Tihr~n and Mashhad Assemblies the Afsh4n Legation refused to grant him a visa and at present he is teaching in Mashliad. Mirza. cAli Akbar Furatan is active in Tabriz, where he has especially contributed toward the progress of the women and stimulated the youth; his travels through Adhirb&yjin were instrumental, with those of Mirza Uskuli and Mirza Ñ i-DiYtn, in completing the census for that province; Aq~y-i-Ra~-m&niy~n has been spreading the Cause in and about AbAdih in South Persia, and working toward completion of the census; Aq&y-i-NA~iq has been engaged in Kirrn&n, Mirza Mu;laq in BThul, Mirza tAlavi in Kh6zist&n and also with Mirza Niish&b4di in Kirm4nsh6h; JinTh-i-F&dil made a teaching trip to Rash, and Aq~y-i-Sa1sabi1 traveled through Gilan, fell ill, and died in a Rasht hospital. A few notes from the provinces will give a further idea of conditions throughout the country and of the problems Assemblies and teachers must meet. Among the Assemblies recently reestablished are those of Langarfid and Vazir-AMd, and among the new Assemblies are Sangisar and Kaftar Ñ Kulili, near Tabarsi; the Assembly functions oniy six months out of the year in Siy~hkh41-i--Di1m4n, as the Baha'is live there oniy during this period, and in San-gar, because most of the friends are farmers, administrative affairs are postponed during the first three months of the year, although the teaching activity is continuous~ Khiiz-istAn reports that in spite of much illiteracy and poverty the Cause is flourishing there; in Thibul, when Muhammadans refused to give burial to a number of Greeks who had come there to work on the tobacco plantations and had succumbed to illness, the Assembly was active in burying the dead and assisting their families. Baha'i Persia is divided into nineteen districts, in each of which the central Assembly works through the teachers and is at special pains to stimulate its district, distribute literature and establish other Assemblies. In addition to spreading the Cause, the Baha'is of this country have been successful in founding and maintaining a number of schools which have uniformly upheld a high standard of training, both spiritual and academic. There are the Tarbiyat Schools of Tihnin, the Tavakkul School of Qazvin, the Baha'i school at Sangisar, the Vahdat.-i-Bashar Schools at K~sh&n the VtriqTh school, the especially wellknown schools at Hamadan, the Hiishangi School at Yazd. Many kindergartens have been established, among them being the Tarbiyat Kindergarten under the direction of Ishr~qiyyih Kh4num Dhabih the H~madqn Kindergarten conducted by Mastfirih Khanum Tflaqiqi, and the kindergarten established by the Spiritual Assembly of Kirm4n. Building activity has also been considerably stimulated of recent years, and at this writing a majority of the five hundred Baha'i communities throughout Persia possess structures of their own. The Tihr~n Uaziratu'1-Quds was begun in 88 (1931), has been generously contributed to by friends throughout Persia, and is now nearing completion; this building, which at the Guardian's suggestion was modified to cost around 500,000 riyils, is in charge of a special committee and is in constant use for all types of Baha'i gatherings. In Tabriz a fund was collected and a second building purchased near the local Haziratu'1-Quds. The Spiritual Assembly of Sin has rented a house for administrative purposes; the IrAq Assembly has rented a bath building for the Baha'i community, and the Kirmin Assembly has bought a section of the municipal cemetery; because Mubammadans recently attempted to prevent the burying of a Baha'i woman with their dead, the Tabriz Assembly is likewise acquiring a cemetery; the Rasht Assembly is selling its Ua~iratu'1-Quds and will purchase a larger one; the [p120] 120 THE BAHA'I WORLD friends in Yazd have contributed widely toward their Haziratu'1 Ñ Quds, and the founder of the H~shangi School in that city has added a new building to the institution. When FurAghi the much-loved Baha'i teacher, passed away in K~sh6n recently, his heirs contributed 10,000 riy6ls to the K6shSn Haziratu'1-Quds and gave his Ar6n residence to that centre to serve as the local Uaziratu'1-Quds; Jawshiq~n has built a Haziratu'1-Quds. Baha'u'llah's house in Tikur has been completely restored by Siyyid Mulisin Khan As&si of the Tihr~n Spiritual Assembly, who previously built a new dam across the Tikur River. The following yearly incomes and expenditures, selected from the latest financial reports and quoted in riyMs, will serve as samples of Baha'i fund in this country and further illustrate conditions: Place Tihr6n F&rs Adhirb&yj ~n Hamad&n AMdih Khur~s4n K~sh~n Kirm6n S6xi GilAn KlThzistin Bandarjaz Bandar-tAbbis Sirj6n Income 90,137 52,819 40,607.95 37,624.60 22,750 21,926.05 19,692.55 14,409 12,142.10 5,135.70 2,870 2,206.15 1,928.75 476.90 Expenditures 85,093.17' 52,798.45 37,490.20 37,624.60 24,188 25,155.60 16,651.75 16,058 11,678.45 6,406.15 1,079 1,860.55 708.65 466.25 Of particular significance is the work carried on by the various Youth Groups throughout Persia, which groups it will be remembered are composed of young men only. The Tihrin Youth Group was established in 86 (1929) and now numbers three hundred members. These young men direct a library and reading room, write and produce plays which are enthusiastically attended, and engage in athletics in the grounds of the Ju{aziratu'1-Quds; they hold meetings for the study of Baha'i biographies, discussing historic Baha personalities, reading the Tablets revealed for them and distributing their pictures; they have organized four 1 This does not include the large sums spent on the IJa4 ratu'1-Qucls, etc. public speaking classes in different sections of the city, each of which is presided over by a competent Baha'i teacher, where they lecture on philosophical, historical and scientific material in relation to the Cause; in 89 (1932) they held two oratorical contests and gave prizes to the winners; they put out a monthly bulletin of their activities and maintain a correspondence with Persian Baha'i students in Europe; they arrange gatherings where returned pilgrims and Baha'i teachers address them and a number of them are studying extensively the history of the Cause with Jinib-.i-F64i1. This group formerly rented a building for its administrative affairs in the centre of town, but is now able to meet at the Hazi-ratu'1-Quds. In Mashhad the group has established the Bad? Library, collects books, does publishing work and puts out a circular letter; members of the Tabriz group de. livered talks of such excellence at the district convention that the delegates contributed a substantial sum toward their athletic field; this group has organized a highly successful class which meets every Baha'i month and is directed toward the betterment of living; they further post a bulletin of their activities. There are a large and active membership in Rash two hundred in Shi-Kjz, and newly established branches in SAri, KirmAn and Yazd. The Hamadin group numbers one hundred and fifty members and has proved so efficient that several important administrative duties, such as the arrangement of large public meetings and the taking of the census, have been delegated to them. Vastly important in connection with all Persian activities was the coming of Keith Ransom-Kehier, an event which marks a new era in the developing harmony between East and West. The history of her mission to Persia is yet to be written, and the Guardian tells us that it is too soon for us to estimate the magnitude of her work. Keith reached this city on June 29, 1932. In response to the Guardian's cable, we had wired to the Assemblies of KirminshAli Hamad6n and Qazvin, to prepare for her reception, and some of the friends from KirmThsh4h and Hamad4n escorted her to the capital. Our Service Committee sent a [p121] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 121 delegation of welcome including Spiritual Assembly members to Qazvin, about ninety-two miles from here, where Keith stayed two days. Her party then left for Tihr~n, and her first meeting with the Tihrin friends took place in the BidistAn, a Baha'i garden in Karaj, some twenty-five miles from town. Approximately one hundred men and women friends were present at this first reception, and greeted her with the Greatest Name. After refreshments the cavalcade set out for Tihr~n, and a second gathering was held that afternoon outside the city gates, at the home of Mirza cAb du'1-Husayn KhAdim, The house was packed and Baha'is lined the avenue, shouting ~CA11Th~u~Abh6V~ Though ill and tired, Keith spoke briefly, welcoming the friends, and the power of her spirit was felt even before her words could be translated; she was greeted by a woman speaker, and a prayer was chanted by the famous singer, Hishmat Kh&num Mulitadi. Keith was then escorted to the Grand Hotel. On the foLlowing day a reception was given at the home of ShuCaCu~11Th Kh4n tAU'i, and here Keith formally met the Assembly and in part set forth her mission. Meanwhile the committees were engaged in planning the extensive program which she was to carry out so brilliantly, Because her health was considerably undermined, she was invit~d to make her residence at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rahmatu'llAh Khan ~A1~'i who were her hosts during the entire sojourn and accompanied her on all her journeys; Keith repeatedly expressed affection for this f am-ily, and gratefulness for the care of Mrs. 'AU'i who is a graduate nurse. Keith's mission illustrates current Baha'i history in Persia; her activities were directed toward such ends as emphasizing the nature and purposes of Baha'i Administration, inspiring the women to shoulder a still greater burden, raising the ban on Baha'i literature, inaugurating the Persian Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. She was present in countless meetings, met many notables, wrote indefatigably. With regard to the freeing of Baha'i literature, she presented the letter of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States and Canada to the then Minister of Court, TaymAr-Thsh and obtained his promise that the restrictions would be removed; when the Minister left office and his new ruling failed to take effect, Keith wrote a number of petitions to His Majesty the Sh4h, to which no answer was received. Oniy once was an inconclusive interview given her at the Foreign Office. Her audiences ranged from small groups to thousands, and she was usually interpreted for by Messrs. KayvAn, Varq4, Nacimi, Sa-mimi, or later Vabid, Before the elections Keith and JinTh-i-F64i1 spoke extensively on the significance of Baha'i elections, the duty of the friends in this phase of the Administration, Over three thousand people heard her on the occasion of the Ridvan, at the Haziratu'l-Quds on a spring day when the atmosphere was so spiritual that the great crowd hardly stirred, and not even music broke the quiet, as the nine months' mourning for the Greatest Holy Leaf was only just terminated, On the night of the Bab's martyrdom, the friends met at the house of Mirza Ijusayn-tAli NCr, where the Bib's body was hidden for some time; a visitation Tablet was chanted in the room where the casket had lain, and Keith spoke on the earLy days of the Cause. Her work with women Baha'is and inquirers was extensive, and the Women's Program Committee arranged many meetings at which she discussed phases of the Administration, women's progress, child psychology and the like; it was felt that her presence gave tremendous impetus to the cause of Persian women, and those who heard her will not forget the thunder of her words. In 89 (1932) the Women's Teaching Committee held two noteworthy meetings for her at each of which approximately one hundred women inquirers were present, and Keith spoke to them on the growing understanding of IslAm in the West, through the spread of the Baha'i teachings; her stirring talks to the twenty-six members of the Women's Progress Committee dealt with the r6le that group will play in modern Persia. Keith's journeys through Persia in the autumn of 89 include visits to MizindarAn, GilAn, Adhirb4j&n and Khur6An; flashes of them come to us through Assembly reports, photographic records, her own articles, accounts of eyewitnesses; the Tihdn As [p122] 122 THE BAHA'I WORLD sembly has directed that all available material on her life in Persia be collected for presentation in book form. On receipt of this Assembly's wire announcing her arrival, the Tabriz Assembly had a reception arranged for her at the way-station of Miy~nij; the Assembly and many of the friends then went out of town to meet her and escorted her back to the Hazir-atu'l-Quds where the program of her stay was drawn up and a meeting held. The police attempted to prevent her contemplated visit to Mum, but the Assembly finally obtained their permission and she spent a day there with several of the friends as the guest of H4ji tAli-Akbar Abmaduf. After a number of meetings Keith and her party left for Sis~n, where all the friends in the district turned out to welcome her, lining the roads and shouting the Greatest Name: her talk to them was put into Persian by Mirza Kay Ñ v~in, and into Turkish by Mirza Euritan. At BThul sixteen carloads of friends including the Spiritual Assembly drove out to welcome her, meeting at a waypoint with the Assembly of SAri; Keith addressed them briefly and then drove into B6tul where she was formally welcomed by the Assembly; several meetings were held for men and women respectively, and Keith visited the caravanserai where Mulli Husayn stayed and Quddiis was martyred; later she and the Assembly were invited to tArab-Khayl; on the way a section of the road was flooded, and the friends of tArab-Khayl lifted her car up bodily and carried it across on their shoulders. She spent some days in Khur~s~n, speaking to Baha'is and non-BaM'is. She visited S~ri and many surrounding towns, addressing numerous audiences and going on pilgrimage with some two-hundred friends to the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi; she was joyfully received in Rasht, Pahiavi' and L~hij~n during a ten days' visit. Keith entered this country from the western frontier, coming by way of Kirm4nshAh and Hama-d&n; her last journey was southward, through Qum and K~sh4n to Isf4hin on the way to Shidz. Everywhere she toiled unceasingly, spurred the friends to still greater efforts in establishing the new 'World 1 Formerly Anzal!. Order, quickened and inspired the hosts of those who are following Baha'u'llah, until she came to rest at last, in IsThh&n, by the graves of early martyrs. Among the dignitaries Keith met in Tabriz was the Armenian patriarch, Mirza MMik-Tabikiy~n, the leading Armenian ecclesiastic in this part of the world, who showed himself greatly favorable to the Cause. In Sis4n the friends built an auto road over five miles long for her reception, and some thousand Baha'is came out to meet her in holiday clothing. At Zanj~n Keith visited the house of 1{ujj at, and astonished passersby by kneeling in the ruins to pray and weep. An important incident of her Maslihad visit was her meeting with the chief Muslim ecclesiastic in that city, keeper of all the shrines of ImAm RidA; this eminent divine entertained her at his home and escorted her through various secular institutions dedicated to the Im~m, such as the famous school and the great new hospital. When after a delay occasioned by motor trouble Keith and her party reached CAliyi Md-i-ShAh it developed that the Baha'is of Sari and Mihfur6zak had not received her telegram and had camped two days in pouring rain on a nearby hill, waiting to welcome her. At Bandar-i-jaz a large crowd came to the railway station and accompanied Keith and her party on foot to the residence appointed for her; their numbers drew such attention that authorities in the neighboring town of Jstir&bid phoned Bandar-i-jaz to find out what had happened, and were told by the police that an American Baha'i had come to visit the local Baha'i community. Keith's pilgrimage to Shaykh Tabarsi has already become history. The welcome by the friends of Balinamir and cAr bkh I was unforgettable, when hundreds came out to meet her, the young women and brides carrying trays loaded with incense, flowers, and bottles of rose-water, the children chanting Baha'i prayers. In Bibul Keith saw the house of Quddils and the place of his martyrdom, now an enclosed garden in the public square, and further visited the caravanserai where Mu1U Tjusayn's men were shot as they chanted the adh~n. Retrospectively it would seem that the [p123] CURRENT BATIA'1 ACTIVITIES 123 directing events of the past two years for Persia were the ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the mission and the tragic death of Keith, the continued consolidation of the Administration and the further grasp by the Baha'is of its implications, the teaching and building activity including the first plans toward Persia's first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and the growing recognition of the Baha'i Cause by the authorities and the general public. PART FOUR Ñ AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND By BERTRAM DEWING THE BAHA'I CAUSE IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND THIS issue of THE BAHA'I WORLD finds the Cause in Australia and New Zealand in a very much more healthy condition than was the case when the last volume was prepared. In reviewing the situation, a number of salient features present themselves for consideration. Firstly the wonderful work accomplished by Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier during her visit in 19312 has been more than maintained. Secondly, the terrain so to speak on which the Baha Cause in these lands finds itself is surveyed, with a view of throwing possible light on the trend of future teaching activities, whether individual or social. Thirdly, in regard to the consolidation of the Baha'i institutions of Australia and New Zealand, the Guardian has set the friends three immediate tasks: first, the establishment of a National Fund; secondly, the establishment of the National Assembly, and thirdly the training and support of their own traveling teachers. Fourthly, the Guardian has set the friends of New Zealand the special task of publishing a pamphlet in the Maori language and the taking of the Message to the Maori people. The years prior to the coming of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier in 1 931 were essentially years of seed-sowing during which unseen spiritual development took place, making possible the reaping that eventuated as a result of her work. All groups are consistently increasing their numbers and widening their activities. This applies particularly to Adelaide, S. A., Sydney, N. S. W., and Auckland, N. Z. In the cases of Melbourne, Vie., Brisbane, Que., and Perth, W. A., the progress has been much iess spectacular. In these three centers ever since Mother and Father Dunn first visited them ten or twelve years ago, the fortunes of the Cause have been spasmodic, their presence or absence resulting in alternate rallies and dispersions. Recently, however, in Perth and Melbourne conditions have improved and in each city there is now a small group of earnest, wholehearted Baha'is. There is little to report, but the progress made when expressed in spiritual values is quite as important as that of the larger groups. Throughout the world the Baha'is in each country have something more or less unique to contribute to the sum total of the work of the Cause and it is felt that a report would not be adequate if it overlooked this fact. By way of illustrating this, the American Baha'is are efficient in organizing administrative work and social and religious functions on a large scale; the Australian and New Zealand Baha'is on the other hand have made very little progress in this respect, but they have explored the devotional side of the teachings much more intensively than is apparent in America. At meetings more time is given to silence and to the healing prayers. Speculation as to why the devotional side is so much stressed, produces interesting thoughts. In the first place, environment conditions the work and characteristics of the Cause in each locality Ñ in America it is racial amity, in Persia religious unity Ñ and the Australians and New Zealanders, being intensely individualistic, naturally respond to the personal, or the religious aspect of the teachings of Baha'u'llah before they respond to the social. The populace not being socially [p124] 124 THE BAHA'I WORLD minded, do not respond to any new religious movement unless it has a personal appeal, such as something to do with health or prosperity. The Baha'i Teachings, it is true, do not teach people how to make money, in fact they definitely discourage any attempt to acquire material wealth in the name of religion. But they can show people how to cure themselves of illness and how to maintain that condition by acquiring inward poise and happiness, a condition infinitely more satisfying than any to be gained by taking all the nostrums in the world. Another thought that strikes one is that although the friends in many parts of the world are deprived of the traditions and the joy of listening to personal reminiscences concerning the occasion of a visit from the Master to their country, so that any conception of what He was really like is based on photographs, written accounts which are far too conspicuous by their absence, and speculation Ñ in spite of this disability, the Cause loses none of its vitality on that account. Compensation is obtained by much greater importance being attached to the Greatest Name. Therein lies the true secret of the undying continuity of the Cause. The spirit of the Dawn-Breakers is just as much alive in the remote corners of the Earth as elsewhere. People are still led to the BaJA is in their locality by the same unerring Guidance that showed the Letters of the Living the way that led to the B&b. In searching for methods of obtaining a recognized niche in the social structure, it is evident that the friends must look for additional methods of direct and indirect teaching more far-reaching than the formation of healing circles. At this juncture, therefore, a brief survey of some of the characteristics of Australia and New Zealand should prove profitable. We have already seen that the people are intensely individualistic. There are a number of reasons for this disinclination to be socially-minded. It is a characteristic of all frontier countries. Truly cultured people who are educated according to the standards set by Abdu'l-Baha that is, educated in such a way that they are spiritually, intellectually and materially well balanced units of the social structure, are not numerous. The inhabitants of a young country are too busily engaged in "making good" to be able to take the long view of life. There is that peculiar urge on the one hand to the right which clings to the traditions of the old world, and, on the other hand, that urge which strives to break away to the left, with the result that few tread the middle road. In a sense, of course, all countries today are frontier countries, so drastic are the social forces influencing their affairs, but nevertheless there is something essentially different about a young country, to which the term "frontier" is applied. Another factor influencing the lives of those living in these lands, is the vast distances between centers of population, as well as their isolated position in relation to the rest of the world. Australia and New Zealand and Tasmania to all intents and purposes are not four islands, but many islands centering around the huge cities and having satellite islands consisting of the scattered townships whose populations scarcely run into five figures. There are no villages and the rural population is too scattered for cui.-tural pursuits to thrive easily. The result of this translated into terms of behavior is that racing and other thoughtless pleasures prosper to an incredible extent. In public affairs the people in New Zealand are conservatively minded, in Australia much less owing to the larger industrial populations. In both countries various parties and cults claiming to possess the secret of immediate prosperity also thrive. In religion the orthodox churches obtain a poor hearing on the whole, but sensational evangelism, particularly in New Zealand, can always count upon an enormous following. The orthodox sects are tolerant to one another, but all adopt a narrow outlook towards non-Christian religions. Can the Baha'is obtain the best results by organizing inter-religious conferences? It is doubtful. Religious bigotry is not the open sore that it is in the Orient; rather the real enemy, a subtle one, is apathy. By showing their freedom from class prejudice and racial prejudice, the Baha'is are not likely to attract much attention. The chief charm of these lands is the freedom of nearly all sections of society from these great faults. In any case with the exception [p125] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 125 of the Maoris, there are no large secondary racial groups. There is, however, one racial prejudice, which, like the prejudice against non-Chris-tian religions, is extremely difficult to combat because it is directed against an external group in the Orient. The cause is a fear complex based upon a supposition, hence there is little that is concrete to work upon. In the field of economics there are better prospects because, Australia and New Zealand being primary producing countries, the stress laid upon agriculture and cooperation in the Baha'i Teachings should eventually appeal strongly to large sections of the community. Esperanto as a means of making contacts is strictly limited. In countries where one hardly ever meets a foreigner it is difficult to arouse much interest in an international language. While it is impossible to say with certainty in what direction the work of the Baha'is will prove the most fruitful, so mysterious are the workings of the Power of Baha'u'llah, it seems to be selfevident that the greatest opportunity awaits the Baha'is in the field of education, particularly adult education. Education does not end when an individual leaves school. In most countries there are numerous societies for him to join which will broaden his outlook and help to make him universally minded. Here they are few. In the universities, before he leaves, he can at least take a course of comparative religion, but in these parts religious subjects are absolutely barred. That there are serious shortcomings in the educational system is realized by many teachers. The principal of the Auckland Wesley College, speaking recently, said: "We must train our lads, not only to be intelligent and industrious farmers, but men able to appreciate their inheritance in art, literature and music Ñ not oniy to realize their duty to their farm land, but their obligations and duty as members of a great society. Our present troubles call for minds not chained to the past, but prepared for generous economic adjustments, and with a passion for the wellbeing of humanity." The point we wish to stress is that societies and other means of developing the culture of the people, while not entirely absent, are nevertheless totally inadequate. 'Without adequate preparation the people cannot learn to appreciate the reality of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. It, therefore, behooves the Baha'is to start or aid societies that will serve this purpose, and of this the Guardian fully approves. In a letter to him, the fact was mentioned that when a teacher goes to a town and advertises Baha'i lectures, many do not attend on account of the strangeness of the name, or, if they do, interest is not sustained, because, even though they may approve of the Baha'i principles, they do not feel inclined to attend meetings when they cannot subscribe to the funds and work for these principles until they accept the Manifestation. Shoghi Effendi, through his secretary, wrote as follows on September 29, 1933: (cHe was particularly gratified to learn of the suggestions you made for the effective and wide spread of the Message, and he has directed me to inform you that they all have met with his wholehearted approval. "Your proposals center around the problem of indirect teaching and such a method of presenting the Message is on the whole more suitable than the direct method in view of the fact that the masses today are not spiritually minded and resent anything which is presented to them in the name of religion. The tendency today is to disassociate morality from religion, to separate the human from the Divine as if the two were antagonistic and irreconcilable. Social reconstruction and peace are believed to be independent of any help which religion might offer. In other words, religion has been relegated to the background and everything is done in the name of humanity and of goodness. cdt is evident that under such circumstances it is not oniy difficult, but well nigh impossible, to present and teach the Cause in a direct manner. Religiously minded perSons are the exception and not the rule, and it is oniy with these people that we can speak of the Cause as essentially a religious faith. The masses who are more interested in the social and humanitarian teachings of the Faith should, therefore, be given an opportunity to learn about them and in this way be gradually drawn to study the deeper spiritual principles of the Cause. To start [p126] 126 THE BAHA'I WORLD a movement for social peace, like you have suggested is, therefore, very fruitful and may prove of an immense benefit to the Cause. Conversion is not a sudden process. It takes a long time and expresses itself under the pressure of different forces. It is hoped that by following this indirect method of teaching the friends will greatly add to the success and effectiveness of their efforts. ttConcerning the problem of racial prejudice in the United States and that of class prejudice in England, the Guardian wishes you to know that upon the complete abolition of such prejudices must depend the future success of the Cause. There is nothing more non-BabA'i than that. The friends should, therefore, exert themselves to the utmost that such evil conceptions may be totally eliminated from the minds of the people." Up to this point we have dealt mainly with matters dealing with conditions and prospects, and methods of teaching, which time may or may not vindicate. We must now turn to two matters that need the immediate and urgent attention of the friends. First is the training of teachers, the second is the establishing of a National Fund and the National Spiritual Assembly for Australia and New Zealand. Recently a Baha'i begged the Guardian to send another teacher to these lands. The Guardian, through his secretary, replied as follows: It is on young and active Baha'is like you that the Guardian centers all his hopes for the future progress and expansion of the Cause, and it is on their shoulders that he lays all the responsibility for the upkeep of the spirit of selfless service among their fellow-believers. 'Without that spirit, no work can be successfully achieved. With it triumph, though hardly won is but inevitable. You should, therefore, try your best to carry aflame within you the torch of faith, for through it you will surely find guidance, strength and eventual success. "The Guardian is fully conscious of the difficulties that impede the progress of the faith in your community. Chief among these, you mention the lack of courage and initiative on the part of the believers, and a feeling of inferiority which prevents them from addressing the public. It is precisely these weaknesses that he wishes the friends to overcome, for these do not oniy paralyze their efforts, but actually serve to quench the flame of faith in their hearts. Not until all the friends come to realize that everyone is able, in his own measure, to deliver the Message, can they ever hope to reach the goal that has been set before them by a Lv-ing and wise Master. It is no use for some able and eloquent teacher to take all the responsibility for the spread of the Cause. For such a thing is not only contrary to the spirit of the Teachings, but to the explicit text of the writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, both of whom place the obligation of teaching not in any particular class as in former ecclesiastical organizations, but on every faithful and loyal follower of the Cause. The teaching of the Word is thus made universal and compulsory. How long then shall we wait to carry out this command, the full wisdom of which oniy future generations will be able to appreciate? We have no special teachers in the Cause. Everyone is a potential teacher. He has oniy to use what God has given him and thus prove that he is faithful to his trust. ttVisiting teachers who are at least supposed in a general way to be more competent and able than the rest, are undoubtedly of a great help. But these can never replace the mass of individual believers and fulfill what must be inevitably accomplished through the collective effort and wisdom of the community at large. What visiting teachers are supposed to do is to give the final touch to the work that has been done, to consolidate rather than supplement individual efforts and thereby direct them in a constructive and suitable channel. Their task is to encourage and inspire individual believers, and to broaden and deepen their vision of the task that is to be done. And this, not by virtue of any inherent spiritual right, but in the spirit of simple and wholehearted coopera-. tion. "It is in this light that Shoghi Effendi views the whole problem of teaching, not only in New Zealand, but in all the Baha'i World. He would, therefore, encourage you to take a leading part in the carrying out of his wishes on the point, to take yourself an active interest in teaching, not oniy private, [p127] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 127 but also public, and in this way to stimulate the friends to follow your example. It is then, and oniy then, that there can be a need for a qualified and competent visiting teacher in order to bring to full fruition individual teaching efforts. The second duty is the establishing of the National Assembly. There is no doubt that the fewness of the friends and the great distances between centers will entail considerable sacrifice when this Assembly is established, but these difficulties will most likely prove to be more imaginary than real. In addition to the £ioo guaranteed by the Sydney friends, during the period under review, at least £300 has been forwarded to America for the construction of the Temple, a rather astonishing achievement when it is realized that the Baha'is in these lands are far from prosperous. Writing on the subject, the Guardian said: ttTMS illustrious Assembly that will be founded in the farthest corner of the earth with the help of the servants of the AbM Beauty is one of the pillars of the universal House of Justice; and it is also a clear testimony of the influence of the Word of God and the conquering power of His Divine Cause in that land." It is therefore evident that the friends will have to decide whether the Cause as a whole wiLl receive more benefit by continued sacrifices for the Temple, or by establishing their own N. S. A. and widening the basis of the International House of Justice. One thing is evident: that this is only one of many proofs that the completion of the Temple will give a tremendous stimulus to the Cause throughout the entire world. Taking the Message to the Maoris The task of taking the Message to the Maoris is one especially assigned to the New Zealand Baha'is by the Guardian. That this is a matter of extreme importance likely to produce far-reaching results is clearly shown by the letter from the Guardian on the subject. "It would be wonderful," he wrote, through his secretary, "if the Cause should enter their ranks and give its members a new life and spirit. The Faith of Baha'u'llah is not oniy for the highly civilized people, even though the benefit these can obtain we cannot truly appreciate at this early stage of its development. To the backward races the Cause should mean even more, for through it they shall obtain true social and intellectual equality with those who are at present their rulers and superiors Ñ a thing they can obtain with difficulty through ordinary channels of legal enactments and ordinary intellectual training. It is only through the Message of Baha'u'llah that the different races shall come to consider one another as true brethren and coworkers in the Faith of God. "The Guardian will therefore deeply value any activity the friends may pursue in bringing the Cause to the Maoris." The impression is sometimes erroneously given that the Maoris are a dying people. At one time it is true the white man s vices played havoc with their numbers, but this is passed and the rate of natural increase is greater than that of the white people. There are now 72,000 Maoris including half-castes in New Zealand, and they bid fair to pass the original population estimated to have been somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000. A superficial visit to New Zealand often reveals the Maori at his worst, also many do not realize that the Maori is at a transitional stage of social development. Too many tears are shed by those who have seen the passing of those primitive folkways and mores which made the Maori character such a lovable and magnificent thing. The past is always overprone to assume roseate hues and with all his good qualities, he was often a very bad savage. The fact remains that the Maoris are becoming civilized in the best sense of the word, and that all that is best in their makeup, will cause a new race, more virile, more lovable, to arise phoenix-like on the ruins of the old. Many have entered the professions, and government service; and more important still, in the country they are learning to farm scientifically. The future is bright for the Maori people and it should prove a much easier task to take the Message to them, than taking the Message to the Australian aborigines. [p128] 128 THE BAHA'I WORLD Survey of the Baha'i Cause in Adelaide, S. A. The most important events among the Adelaide Baha'is during the period are as follows: 1. Change of room to quieter and more dignified surroundings. 2. The work accomplished in connection with the formation of the proposed National Spiritual Assembly for Australia and New Zealand. 3. An attempt to introduce a Membership Form for all voting Baha'is. Opinion upon the advisability of adopting this measure was questioned by some of the friends and another Assembly, so the Guardian was appealed to. He gave his consent. 4. The continued improvement of the Herald of the South, and the introduction of a Baha Youth Section. 5. The consolidation of the Administrative aspect of the Cause and the energetic and harmonious working of the various Committees. 6. The extension of the Cause to the West Coast of South Australia due to the devoted efforts of two new Baha'is, Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne. They hold meetings in their home. 7. The return of Mrs. Dunn from her pilgrimage to Haifa. The Proposed National Spiritual Assembly The important task of organizing the preliminary work connected with the future National Spiritual Assembly has been vested by the Guardian in the Adelaide Spiritual Assembly. As a preliminary the other Assemblies have agreed to appoint a small committee from among their number to study the matter, to assist the formation of a national fund, and if possible to consider the possibility of supporting a national teacher. The matter of registering the Baha'i Cause in Australia as an incorporated body has been studied by the Adelaide Assembly and a copy of the Law and Statutes controlling Incorporation of Religious Bodies has been procured. The administration of the Baha'i Cause in Australia and New Zealand is the subject of the following communication from the Guardian. ccDear CoWorkers, "It is for the local Assemblies in Australia and New Zealand to take counsel together and deliberate whether it is feasible to ensure the formation and successful functioning of the National Spiritual Assembly in that Continent. I would be delighted to hear of its formation if the necessary precautions are taken beforehand, so as to make sure that the elected members can meet regularly, can direct effectively the national committees as well as the local Assemblies and groups under their jurisdiction; establish a National Fund; hold annual Baha'i Conventions; coordinate the various branches of Baha activity with efficiency, harmony and vigor. CC (Signed) SHOGHI." Herald of the South This Baha'i magazine continues to be published by the Adelaide Assembly, which undertook the task about four years ago when Mr. Dewing, the first editor, left Auckland to visit America. When he returned early in 1932 it was arranged that Mrs. Dobbins should continue to be the editor of the first half of the magazine and that Mr. Dewing with a committee should edit the second half which consists of the newly inaugurated International Baha'i Youth Section. For details of this important activity, refer to the Youth Reports in this volume of THE BA-HA I WORLD. During the last year, the HERALD was put on a sound financial footing, each of the Assemblies agreeing to subscribe a definite subsidy. In 1932 a new cover designed by Mr. Walter Lohse, a young German Baha'i of Montreal, was adopted. It is dignified, simple and compels attention as a work of art. It consists of a large C~9'~ in a field of silver surrounded by black concentric circles. Outside these circles are a number of stars representing a phase of the heavens in the Southern Hemisphere. Included among these stars is the constellation of the Southern Cross which is represented on both the Australian and New Zealand flags. The whole is printed on blue paper. Apart from articles of general interest and [p129] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 129 the Youth Section, the HERALD features items of BaJA'i news and a series of Esperanto lessons. These latter are very capably contributed by Mr. Waterman and prove helpful. In the January and April numbers of 1933, respectively, a printed circular concerning the needs and policy of the HERALD, and a CCLi the Life" card were enclosed in each copy. In conclusion, the HERALD OF THE SOUTH is fulfilling a threefold role which is of great importance to the Baha'i world. It is linking together more closely the Baha'i communities bordering the Pacific; in turn it is linking the Pacific with the rest of the world; and lastly it is attending to requirements of the Youth. Its policy is therefore truly international, which is the indispensable requirement of every BabS'i journal. The Committees of the Adelaide Assembly The outstanding work has been done by the Committee for the formation of the proposed National Spiritual Assembly; the Teaching Committee; Magazine Committee; and Social and Visiting Committees. The Teaching Committee was appointed to find the best means of spreading the Cause. It reviews all teaching activities, suggests improvements and recommends methods. The Social Committee organizes all social events such as picnics, social evenings, and so on. It has proved a very valuable committee. Among the social events, the outstanding were a farewell picnic to Mother and Father Dunn upon their removal to Sydney; an at home to Miss Bertha Mochan upon the eve of her marriage to Mr. J. Dobbins, and a picnic and social evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dobbins. The Visiting Committee calls upon sick Baha and renders any assistance to those who need it. If any of the members are absent from meetings for a long time, the Committee calls and keeps them in touch with the Baha'is. Meetings Baha'i Feasts are held regularly. Upon the receipt of the Guardian's cablegram announcing the Passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, they were suspended for a time, and a monthly Devotional meeting was substitued. Weekly meetings open to the public are held on Saturdays and Mondays; the Spiritual Assembly meets once a fortnight; the Teaching and Study Class meets once a month, and there is also a Men's weekly class. New Group at Yaninee, South Australia Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne, who came into the Cause quite recently, have already succeeded in establishing a small group in Yaninee, where they have a large sheep station adjoining the township. It is a wonderful achievement to have raised the standard of Baha'u'llah in this region for it would be hard to find a more unlikely place. This small group of earnest believers reminds us that no place is immune from the potent message of our Cause; the blind and the deaf are all around us, so also are those that see and hear. "The new Kingdom hath raised its tents in all regions and hath enveloped the East and the 'West wrote 'Abdu'l-Baha. Yaninee is four hundred miles from Adelaide and one hundred and fifty from Port Lincoln, a large town with a magnificent harbor on Eyre's Peninsula. The district has oniy been developed during the last sixteen years and still contains much virgin territory. Regular meetings are held and Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne are gradually educating a few to be proficient enough to take the Message to others. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ruhe, through their efforts, have become Baha'is. Mr. Ruhe left Germany six years ago and his wife three years, and they have been made very happy by Dr. Grossman, who sent them some German translations of the teachings. Melbourne, Victoria In Melbourne the progress of the Cause has always been spasmodic. Sometimes the group is apparently quite large, at others it dwindles and meetings are abandoned. Those who are sincere Baha'is have been well tested by many trying situations and it is a matter of great rejoicing that at last their constancy has won the day, numerous conflicting in [p130] 130 THE BAHA'I WORLD fi uences have fallen away and the future is full of hope for these faithful ones. Verily, "To the sincere ones, tests are a gift from God." One of the most earnest of all Ba-M'is, Mrs. Margaret Dixson is now back in Melbourne after a lengthy period of travel during which she has visited different parts of Victoria, and she is certain to provide the much needed staying influence. There is a really deep bond of unity growing up amongst the Friends, so that all the ups and downs through which we have passed, have proved worth while. Our ccca~ lamity has been our Providence" in very truth, for oniy through the dispersing of our members were we taught the value of the privilege of meeting together. In Sydney, New South Wales Sydney was the first city in these lands to hear proclaimed the Message of Baha'u'llah. The story of how Clara and Hyde Dunn felt the urge to leave the shores of America after reading the tcUnveiling of the Divine Plan," in which the Master urged the American Baha is to visit other countries, will some day be told in detail. In fact a history of the early days of the Cause in Australia is at present being compiled. Since their arrival in April, 1920, a number of Baha is have paid visits that seemed all too brief. They included Martha Root, Siegfried Schofilocher, and lastly Keith Ransom-Keller. Keith's visit opened up a new chapter for the Sydney friends and the benefits derived are perhaps more marked than in any other assembly, inasmuch as the group functioned vigorously for the first time under the guidance of the Spiritual Assembly. Since Keith's visit, the principal events were the leasing and furnishing of a room in 1932; the election of the Spiritual Assembly in 1932; the holding of regular meetings and socials; the establishment of a Sunday School; the establishment of friendly relations with other societies; the departure of Mother Dun for Haifa and her return with a Message from the Guardian urging the speedy establishment of a National Spiritual Assembly. Early in 1932 an inspiring gathering of the friends occurred in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, who offered to provide the necessary essary furnishings if the friends would rent a room. The offer was enthusiastically accepted and a room in 114 Hunter Street was found and attractively furnished. Regular meetings take place on Mondays and Thursdays, the latter being a study class. The Baha'i Study Guide has since been adopted and progress should be rapid. Advertised meetings are held on the first and third Sundays of the month. A feature of the activities of the Sydney Baha'is is the periodical social evenings at which a wonderfully happy atmosphere prevails. Brief addresses outlining the Baha'i Cause and Principles are delivered at these gatherings. Fireside meetings in the homes of the friends are also considered to be important and every Saturday evening Mrs. Routh reads the !cDawn~Breakers~~ in the Dunns' apartments. Mrs. Routh heard the Message from Mrs. Drake-Wright when traveling from America to England, and she associated with the Baha'is in England. The Sunday School is conducted by Mother Dunn and Mrs. Luby. Seven or eight children attend. An interesting feature of the Sunday School is that some of the parents are quite pleased that their children should be taught the Baha'i Message, although they themselves are not believers. On Christmas Eve some of the adults also went to Sunday School and watched the children being given their presents. It is hard to say who enjoyed the presents most, the adults or the children. All were thrilled at hearing the little voices singing the Baha'i hymns in unison. Fitting commemorative evenings were set apart to observe the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf to the Heavenly Realms. The hearts were deeply moved by the realization of what a source of comfort and strength she was to all in the Holy Household and to the Guardian in particular. At a time when the group was acquiring new vitality in April, 1932, the friends were saddened by the passing from their midst of a dear and ardent fellow-believer, Mrs. Alice Rose, aged seventy-eight. She heard the call to love and unity in Tasmania and never wavered for one moment, but served the Cause with the whole of her life and being. Her last words were, tCYa BaM'u'1-Abhi" [p131] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 131 The news of Keith's sacrifice of her life in Persia for the Cause came as a great shock to all the friends in the lands. Although many had never met her, everyone felt the loss to be personal. Impressive commemoration evenings were held in each Assembly as soon as the news arrived. There is no doubt but that her qualities will reappear in many souls who are stirred by her example. A matter about which we can speak with greater happiness was the reception given to Mother and Father Dunn on September 2 1st, 1932, to welcome them back to Sydney and especially to welcome the former as she brought news of her experiences in Haifa. Many friends were present and a wonderful spirit prevailed which afterwards bore good fruit. All were sorry that Mr. Dunn had not been able to accompany Mrs. Dunn to the Holy Land. During the last two years a number of addresses have been given to other associations. Friendly relations were established with the ttRadiant Health" Society, who invited the Baha'is to meet them. Father Dunn delivered a short address and Mr. Whitaker, on behalf of the Baha'is, invited the Radiant Health Society to be their guests. Mr. Whitaker upon another occasion addressed the Harmony center, which is an open forum and will always welcome a Baha'i speaker on its platform. The evening was a ceFraternity Night," when twenty societies cooperated for the purpose of hearing each other's point of view. ~ Dunn also represented the Baha'is upon a similar occasion at a later date. Those who heard him, said he spoke as one who was inspired. Much interest was aroused and many inquilies resulted. Mr. Dunn has spoken upon three occasions to a Spiritualist society upon aspects of the Baha'i Cause and has future engagements with two other spiritualist societies. He also gave a talk on healing to a healing group. People quickly become conscious of the power of the Baha'i healing prayers and Baha'is are asked to recite them at healings meetings. People are very grateful for this simple service. Regarding the administrative aspect of the Cause in Sydney, this has developed considerably since the election in 1932. For that election, the use of membership forms was introduced and many who had declared themselves Baha'is at the time of Keith's visit and before fell away. The innovation was made too suddenly for a soul young in the Cause to withstand the test. It is hoped gradually to attract these souL back into the service of Baha'u'llah. The Sydney Baha'is are very anxious to see established the National Spiritual Assembly. Negotiations between Assemblies for this purpose were commenced in September, 1932, and a resolution was carried to the effect that every effort be made to hold a National Convention in 1934. FulL consideration has been given by the members of the Baha'i community of New South Wales to have themselves established as a legal entity in conformity with the law of the State and there is no doubt this will be consummated in the near future as soon as everything can be satisfactorily arranged. Contributions to the Temple have been forwarded at intervals and in order to aid in the speedy completion of the Dome all available funds were sent to the Treasurer of the American National Spiritual Assembly on October 1st, 1933. In conclusion, it can be stated that the past two years have been a period in which the community spirit of the Sydney friends and the art of working in loving cooperation has been well developed. Many people have been given the Message and a number of the friends have become teachers and able speakers. The task of the next two years will be further to consolidate their local administrative activities and to evolve efficient direct and indirect teaching technique. The depressed times through which all are passing may on occasions make it seem difficult to improve methods and to increase activities, but God is good and comfort may be had in the thought that it is these same troub-bus times that have helped to unite the friends. The Sydney Baha are well equipped with speaking talent, and it is evident that the responsibility rests with them to turn this talent to some activity that will enable the Cause for the first time in these lands to stand out among all other religious bodies as the one which is performing a work impossible of achievement if its members had [p132] 132 THE BAHA'I WORLD not undergone a fundamental change of heart. PERTH, WEST AUSTRALIA At the present time, the little group continue to meet regularly on Monday evenings. There are about six or seven who are very loyal and come regularly, others who are interested come now and again. There are not enough declared believers to form an assembly. David Millar, a young and enthusiastic Baha'i, who has been in the Cause for some time together with his people, conducts a short Esperanto class at the beginning of the meeting, followed by Baha'i prayers and readings. THE BAHA CAUSE IN NEW ZEALAND Auckland The main features of the progress of the Cause in Auckland are: 1. The increase in numbers following the visit of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier has resulted in intreased activity and the number of believers has steadily increased. 2. A room has been rented and public meetings are held regularly. 3. The existence of the Cause has become more widely known and the friends have themselves taken the Message to other cities for the first time. There are reasons to believe that when Volume Six of the BAHA'I WORLD appears, there will be more than one active Baha group in New Zealand. 4. The taking of the Message to the Maoris and the translation of a pamphlet by Mr. G. G. Paul. In June, 1932, a permanent room was acquired by the friends. On Sundays those who are able give an address and conduct the meeting with the aid of a chairman. Discussion follows the address. This meeting is advertised in the papers and also on a board outside the building. Once a month tea is served in order to introduce the personal touch, without which no effective progress is possible. On Wednesdays there is a study class, which is open to the public, but is not advertised as it was found that the continuous arrival of strangers interfered with the deeper study of the teachings. During the last twelve months, the text book for study has been "Some Answered Questions." When this was finished the Baha'i Study Guide was adopted. One week the readings of the lesson are read and discussed, and the following week the friends deliver short ten minute addresses on the subject of the previous week, and so the class serves the additional purpose of a public speaking class. The Feasts continue to be held in private homes, the friends taking it in turn to act as host. Of late it has been the practice to read from the CCD Brkers" The sublimity of the lives of those early heroes of the Cause and the depth of the spiritual truths that underlie even the most simple of historical facts have filled the believers with wonder and joyful thankfulness. Following the sad news of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, a memorial meeting was held at which were read excerpts from the Writings in reference to her wonderful life of sacrifice and loving service, and the tribute written by Shoghi Effendi. Those present who had had the privilege of meeting her when visiting Haifa spoke of the loving welcome she gave them, and of how even being in her presence and the touch of her hand had such an influence that it would be an ever blessed memory. Indirect teaching activities have not yet become a feature of the activities of the Auckland Baha'is. A few who have the time, belong to progressive movements and endeavor to the best of their ability to shed upon the proceedings the light of Baha'u'llah. Occasionally an outside speaker has been invited to address the Baha'i Group. There have been very few outside meetings. Mrs. Axford addressed the Auckland Psychology Club, taking as a basis for her talk, Alfred Lunt's "Supreme Affliction." Much interest was aroused. Mrs. Bennett, a Maori lady, arranged for an at-home and invited a few of her friends to come and hear the Message. Bertram Dewing addressed another club of the same kind on (cEduca tion" from the Baha'i standpoint and was also well received. The principal social events were a gathering at Mrs. Dewing's home to meet Mr. and Mrs. Bolton of Sydney while en route to America. Miss Hodsdon also of Sydney was [p133] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 133 met by the friends while her ship was in port. Mrs. Hutchinson also of Sydney spent a few hours among the friends while returning to Sydney from England. Mr. Roy of Wellington paid a short visit and as a result the Cause in that city should make headway. A fair number of Baha'i books have been sold or lent and the (CS pre Affliction" was sent to a number of prominent citizens including the Governor, Lord Bledisloe, who graciously acknowledged the receipt of same. He was also sent "B h"'11'h and the New Era." There are Baha'i books in several of the Public Libraries in New Zealand. Mrs. Mac-Quarrie of Wellington reports that there are several Baha'i books in the Wellington Parliamentary Library. Teaching Trips by the Friends During the period under review, Miss Lilly and Miss Margaret Stevenson took the Message to Christchurch in the South Island, and to Wellington, the capital. In Wellington there are a few who are interested and Mrs. MacQuarrie and her daughter have both visited Shoghi Effendi. A few months before, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton of Sydney paid a visit to Wellington and interested a few people. It was therefore possible for the Misses Stevenson to hold some very profitable and harmonious meetings in Mr. Roy's home. While these two believers were giving the Message in the South, Mrs. Dewing and Mr. B. Dewing were paying a visit to a small township in the far north called Whangarei. Once again Esperanto proved an open sesame for Baha'is. Whangarei is the original home of Esperanto in New Zealand, and by inquiring if there were any Esperantists to be found in the town, they were directed to a lady and gentleman, who received them with wonderful warmth, and in turn directed them to other liberal minded people. It was decided to hold a public meeting the next day, and they were given every assistance to gather an audience. Later Mr. Dewing returned and altogether three advertised meetings and about ten meetings in private homes were held. As a result, several people declared they would like to form a Baha'i study circle. Early in 1933 Miss IL Blondell visited Ro-torua in the thermal region where there are a large number of Maoris. She was able to meet Guide Rangi, who heard Keith speak when she visited the town in 1930. She was interested in hearing about the pamphlet. Miss Blundell also gave the Message to others, some of whom became interested. Taking the Message to the Maori People The occasion of Keith's visit in 1930 is worth recalling by quoting from her article in the BAHA'I MAGAZINE of December, 1932. By good fortune on the evening of my arrival, I met Guide Rangi, a clever, gifted and beautiful Maori woman. I spoke to her of my mission and told her that I would visit Whakarewarewa, the Maori village, upon my return from Wairakei. "Chief Taupopoki met me with dignity and kindness, explaining that if I would come, he would gather together as many as possible to hear my message. On my return after dinner, I was greeted by a delegation, conducted to the central meeting place, while the Chief sent a boy around with a huge bell to announce my arrival and mon the Arawa tribe. In ten minutes the hail was quite filled and the Chief rose to welcome and introduce me. "After a few complimentary phrases he said, tTo what great matter are we about to listen? A subject of such urgent importance that this stranger travelling over many seas and abandoning her native Land has come to share with the Maoris, obscure and forgotten, her valuable purpose. We await impatiently the unfolding of her purpose. In giving the message I stressed the fact that the solidarity of mankind to which Baha'u'llah summons us does not mean the reduction of all human beings to a dead level of similarity; but rather the interdependent functioning of the various races and kindreds, each making its unique and indispensable contribution to the perfect expression of the body politic. The Baha'i social scheme is not to make the Maoris something quite different from themselves, but to stimulate them and all other peoples to attain their own highest development as a contribu-don to human advancement and welfare. "Then I spoke of how Baha'u'llah had [p134] 134 THE BAHA'I WORLD already accomplished the purport of His Message in uniting all the religions, races, nations and classes of the world, how ancient animosities had been forgotten and conquered under the banner of Divine Unity." A number of questions were asked when she had finished speaking. The account continues. "When the ques-dons had been answered, the Chief asked a native Christian minister to thank me and then closed the meeting. cIt is now evident,' he said, twhy this great news must be spread far and wide. The cessation of hatred, the establishment of good will in the world Ñ surely there is nothing greater than this. The Maoris heartily welcome the news that this One of Whom our messenger has spoken is already accomplishing this end.' When Keith returned to Auckland, a similar impressive meeting was arranged at the Orakei Maori village. She reminded them that although they used to fight much among themselves, at least all worshipped alike Rangi, the Mother of Heaven, but now their religion divided them and they had taken on the dissensions of Christendom with its sectarian loyalties. A Maori does not say cmy basket,' tmy coat'; he says cour basket,' etc., but now he is forced to say tmy religion,' for," said Keith, "you do not have it in common Ñ religion, the one thing that was revealed to bring unity, joy and concord into our lives. Baha'u'llah has wiped away these differences and united us as children of One Heavenly Father." The wish was expressed by Shoghi Effendi that Dr. Esslemont's book, tcBahi~u~11ih and the New Era," should be translated into Maori. Careful inquiries showed that there were certain difficulties to be overcome that might prove serious. In the first place many expressed the opinion, which was shAred by several Maoris, that it was an unnecessary task because most natives can read English and many speak it better than their own Maori tongue. A more serious objection was that it might not even be possible to convey the true meaning of the abstract thoughts expressed in the Baha writings through the medium of a language of a peopie who had no occasion to express these thoughts when they evolved their tongue. Thirdly, assuming that a satisfactory translation could be made, the field of search in which to find a suitable translator was strictly limited. It was essential that the translator should understand the spirit as well as the letter of the Baha'i teachings, in addition to b~ing a good Maori Ñ English scholar with a practical knowledge of the workings of the Mauri mind. In view of the above, the Assembly decided to write a suitable pamphlet and have it translated. The search for someone to undertake the second part of the work proved unexpectedly easy. Mr. G. G. Paul, a Maori who had been attending the meetings regularly, kindly offered to make the attempt and a committee was appointed to help him. The Maori Akarana Club also volunteered to assist and a meeting was arranged in the club rooms to review Mr. Paul's work. Members of the Spiritual Assembly were invited to be present and the occasion will surely be remembered by all concerned as one of dramatic and absorbing interest. Who can say that in years to come February 15th, 1933, will not be looked upon as a red letter day for the Maori people symbolizing the departure of the old order and the arriyal of a new. One of the Committee, Mrs. Greensmith, a New Zealand lady whose advice has been invaluable on account of her long experience as a teacher of Maori children, wrote in the HERALD OF THE SOUTH: "As we listened to the carefully chosen words and wonderfully rounded phrases as he (Mr. Paul) read, and as we checked from our English copies, we were deeply impressed by their spiritual content, and by the convinction that such phrasing and beauty of diction oniy could be attained by one thoroughly imbued with the beauty of the Baha'i Message. tRVe think that some parts of the Message especially will appeal to the Maori Ñ the erasure of all racial prejudice, the enfoidment of all mankind in one Brotherhood, the gospel of love. May every booklet issued be a strong seed to germinate for the Baha'i Cause" [p135] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS I. BAHA'U'LLAH O SON OF SPIRIT! Burst thy cage asunder, and even as the plicenix of love soar into the firmament of holiness. Renounce thyself and, filled with the spirit of mercy, abide in the realm of celestial sanctity. 0 MY SERVANT! Abandon not for that which perisheth an everlasting dominion, and cast not away celestial sovereignty for a worldly desire. This is the river of everlasting life that hath flowed from the wellspring of the pen of the merciful; well is it with them that drink! O MY SERVANT! Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy Soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more. O SON OF MY HANDMAID! Didst thou behold immortal sovereignty, thou wouldst strive to pass from this fleeting world. But to conceal the one from thee and to reveal the other is a mystery which none but the pure in heart can comprehend. 0 COMPANION OF MY THRONE! Hear no evil, and see no evil, abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that tUne own abasement be not exposed. Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou mayest put away this mortal frame, and repair unto the mys tic paradise and abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore. 0 CHILDREN OF NEGLIGENCE AND PASSION! Ye have suffered My enemy to enter My house and have cast out My friend, for ye have enshrined the iove of another than Me in your hearts. Give ear to the sayings of the Friend and turn towards His paradise. Worldly friends, seeking their own good, appear to love one the other, whereas the true Friend hath loved and doth love you for your own sakes; indeed He hath suffered for your guidance countless afflictions. Be not disloyal to such a Friend, nay rather hasten unto Him. Such is the daystar of the word of truth and faithfulness, that hath dawned above the horizon of the pen of the Lord of all names. Open your ears that ye may hearken unto the word of God, the help in peril, the self Ñ existent. 0 YE THAT PRIDE YOURSELVES ON MORTAL RICHES! Know ye in truth that wealth is a mighty barrier between the seeker and his desire, the lover and his beloved. The rich, but for a few, shall in no wise attain the court of His presence nor enter the city of content and resignatipn. Weii is it then with him, who, being rich, is not hindered by his riches from the eternal kingdom, nor deprived by them of imperishable dominion. By the most great name! The splendour of such a wealthy man shall illuminate the dwellers of heaven, even as the sun enlightens the people of the earth! 0 MY SONI The company of the ungodly increaseth sorrow, whilst fellowship with the righteous cleaneth the rust from off the heart. He that 135 [p136] The House of Baha'u'llah in Baha. 136 [p137] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 137 seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones; and he that desireth to hearken unto the word of God, let him give ear to the words of His chosen ones. 0 SON OF MY HANDMAID! Wouldst thou seek the grace of the holy spirit, enter into fellowship with the righteous, for he hath drunk the cup of eternal life at the hands of the immortal Cupbearer and even as the true morn doth quicken and illumine the hearts of the dead. 0 YE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD! Know verily that an unforeseen calamity is following you and that grievous retribution awaiteth you. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight. By My beauty! all your doings Lab My pen graven with open characters upon tablets of chrysolite. O OPPRESSORS ON EARTH! Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man~s injustice. This is My covenant which I have irrevocably decreed in the preserved tablet and sealed it with My seal of glory. 0 REBELLIOUS ONES! My forbearance hath emboldened you and My longsuffering hath made you negligent, in such wise that ye have spurred on the fiery charger of passion into perilous ways that lead unto destruction. Have ye thought Me heedless or that I was unaware? O SON OF WORLDLINESS! Pleasant is the realm of being, wert thou to attain thereto; glorious is the domain of eternity, shouldst thou pass beyond the world of mortality; sweet is the holy ecstasy if thou drinkest of the mystic chalice from the hands of the celestial Youth. Shouldst thou attain this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death, from toil and sin. O SON OF MY HANDMAID! Guidance hath ever been given by words, and now it is given by deeds. Every one must show forth deeds that are pure and holy, for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds as these belong only to Our loved ones. Strive then with heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds. In this wise We counsel you in this holy and resplendent tablet. 0 MY SERVANT! The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds. O KAMAL! The heights which through the most gracious favor of God, mortal man can attain in this Day are as yet unrevealed to his sight. The world of being hath never had, nor doth it yet possess the capacity for, such a revelation. The day, however, is fast approaching when the potentialities of so great a favor will, by virtue of His behest, be manifested unto men. Though the forces of the nations be arrayed against Him, though the kings of the earth be leagued to undermine His Cause, the power of His might shall stand unshaken. He, verily, speaketh the truth, and summoneth all mankind to the way of Him who is the Incomparable, the All-Knowing. All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kind-ness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth. Say: 0 friends! Drink your fill from this crystal stream that floweth through the heavenly grace of Him who is the Lord of Names. Let others partake of its waters in My name, that the leaders of men in every land may fully recognize the purpose for which the Eternal Truth hath been revealed, and the reason for which they themselves have been created. The vitality of men's belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the [p138] 138 THE BAHA'I WORLD Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power, 0 Hakim, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a transformation transcend-cit the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change. The Great Being saith: 0 ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure. Our hope is that the world's religious leaders and the rulers thereof will undoubtedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation, administer to a diseased and sorely-afflicted world the remedy it requires. It is incumbent upon them who are in authority to exercise moderation in all things. Whatsoever passeth upon the limits of moderation will cease to exert a beneficial influence. Consider for instance such things as liberty, civilization and the like. However much men of understanding may favorably regard them, they will, if carded to excess, exercise a pernicious influence upon men. Please God, the peoples of the world may be led, as the result of the high endeavors exerted by their rulers and the wise and learned amongst men, to recognize their best interests. 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. I beseech God, exalted be His glory, that He may graciously awaken the peoples of the earth, may grant that the end of their conduct may be profitable unto them, and aid them to accomplish that which beseemeth their station. 0 contending peoples and kindreds of the earth! Set your faces towards unity, and let the radiance of its light shine upon you. Gather ye together and, for the sake of God, resolve to root out whatever is the source of contention amongst you. Then will the effulgence of the world's great Luminary envelop the whole earth, and its inhabitants become the citizens of one city, and the occupants of one and the same throne. This wronged One hath, ever since the early days of His life, cherished none other desire but this, and will continue to entertain no wish except this wish. There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, deriye their inspiration from one heavenly source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requisites and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except a few which are the outcome of human perversity, were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Arise and, armed with the power of faith, shatter to pieces the gods of your vain imaginings, the sowers of dissension amongst you. Cleave unto that which draweth you together and uniteth you. This, verily, is the most exalted Word which the Mother Book hath sent down and revealed unto you. To this beareth witness the Tongue of Grandeur from His habitation of glory. Behold the disturbances which, for many a long year, have afflicted the earth, and the perturbation that bath seized its peoples. It [p139] EXCERPTS FROM BAJT-IA'1 SACRED WRITINGS 139 hath either been ravaged by war, or tormented by sudden and unforeseen calamities. Though the world is encompassed with misery and distress, yet no man bath paused to reflect what the cause or source of that may be. Whenever the True Counsellor uttered a word in admonishment, lo, they all denounced Him as a mover of mischief and rejected His claim. How bewildering, how confusing is such behavior! No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everywhere, though all were made for harmony and union. The Great Being saith: 0 well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon the world and sanctify it from tyranny. If the rulers and kings of the earth, the symbols of the power of God, exalted be His glory, arise and resolve to dedicate themselves to whatever will promote the highest interests of the whole of humanity, the reign of justice will assuredly be established amongst the children of men, and the effulgence of its light will envelop the whole earth. The Great Being saith: The structure of world stability and order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin pillars of reward and punishment. In another passage He hath written: Take heed, o concourse of the rulers of the world! There is no force on earth that can equal in its conquering power the force of justice and wisdom. Blessed is the king who marcheth with the ensign of wisdom unfurled before him, and the battalions of justice massed in his rear. He verily is the ornament that adorneth the brow of peace and the countenance of security. There can be no doubt whatever that if the daystar of iustice, which the clouds of tyranny have obscured, were to shed its light upon men, the face of the earth would be completely transformed. 0 ye the elected representatives of the people in every land! 'rake ye counsel together, and let your concern be oniy for that which profiteth mankind, and bettereth the condition thereof, if ye be of them that scan heedfully. Regard the world as the human body which, though at its creation whole and perfect, bath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies. Not for one day did it gain ease, nay its sickness waxed more severe, as it felL under the treatment of ignorant physicians who gave full rein to their personal desires, and have erred grievously. And if, at one time, through the care of an able physician, a member of that body was healed, the rest remained afflicted as before. Thus informeth you the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. We behold it, in this day, at the mercy of rulers so drunk with pride that they cannot discern clearly their own best advantage, much less recognize a Revelation so bewildering and challenging as this. And whenever any one of them hath striven to improve its condition, his motive hath been his own gain, whether confessedly so or not; and the unworthiness of this motive bath limited his power to heal or cure. That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error. The purpose underlying the revelation of every heavenly Book, nay of every divinely revealed verse, is to endue all men with righteousness and understanding, so that peace and tranquillity may be firmly established amongst them. 'Whatsoever instilleth assurance into the hearts of men, whatsoever exalteth their station or promoteth their con Ñ tentment, is acceptable in the sight of God. How lofty is the station which man, if he but chooseth to fulfil his high destiny, can attain! To what depths of degradation he can sink, depths which the meanest of creatures have never reached! Seize, 0 friends, the chance which this Day offereth you, and deprive not yourselves of the liberal effusion of His grace. I beseech God that He may graciously enable every one of you to adorn himself, in this blessed Day, with the orna [p140] 140 THE BAHA'I WORLD ment of pure and holy deeds. He, verily, doeth whatsoever He willeth. Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he dali inherently possess. Through a word proceeding out of the mouth of God he was called into being; by one word more he was guided to recognize the Source of his education; by yet another word his station and destiny were safeguarded. The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. If any man were to meditate on that which the Scriptures, sent down from the heaven of God's holy Will, have revealed, he will readily recognize that their purpose is that all men shall be regarded as one soui, so that the seal bearing the words "The Kingdom shall be God's" may be stamped on every heart, and the light of Divine bounty, of grace, and mercy may envelop all mankind. The one true God, exalted be His glory, hath wished nothing for Himself. The allegiance of mankind profiteth Him not, neither doth its perversity harm Him. The Bird of the Realm of Utterance voiceth continually this call: "All things have I willed for thee, and thee, too, for thine own sake." If the learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure. Were the earth to attain this station and be illumined with its light it could then be truly said of it: "Thou shalt see in it no hollows or rising hills." The generations that have gone before you Ñ whither are they' fled? And those round whom in life circled the fairest and the loveliest of the land, where now are they? Profit by their example, 0 people, and be not of them that are gone astray. Others ere long will lay hands on what ye possess, and enter into your habitations. Incline your ears to My words, and be not numbered among the foolish. For every one of you his paramount duty is to choose for himself that on which no other may infringe and none usurp from him. Such a thing Ñ and to this the Almighty is My witness Ñ is the love of God, could ye but perceive it. Build ye for yourselves such houses as the rain and floods can never destroy, which shall protect you from the changes and chances of this life. This is the instruction of Him Whom the world hath wronged and forsaken. Consider the pettiness of men's minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance. Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warn-eth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol, is the animal. That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him fron3 his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his gtation. It debaseth him to the level of extreme deprav-fry and wickedness. Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection. This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. 'We, verily, are the All-Knowing. Say: True liberty consisteth in man's submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will, that pervadeth all created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and heaven. [p141] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 141 All-praise to the unity of God, and all-honor to Him, the sovereign Lord, the incomparable and all-glorious Ruler of the universe, Who, out of utter nothingness, hath created the reality of all things, Who, from naught, bath brought into being the most refined and subtle elements of His creation, and Who, rescuing His creatures from the abasements of remoteness and the perils of ultimate extinction, bath received them into the Kingdom of incorruptible glory. Nothing short of His all-encompass-ing grace, His all-pervading mercy, could have possibly achieved it. How could it, otherwise, have been possible for sheer nothingness to have acquired by itself the worthiness and capacity to emerge from its state of nonexistence into the realm of being? Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him Ñ a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation. Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focussed the radiance of all His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty. These energies with which the DayStar of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is bidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp. The radiance of these energies may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It is clear and evident that until a fire is kindled the lamp will never be ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror it can never rep-reseat reseat the image of the sun nor reflect its light and glory. And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever can exist between the transcient and the Eternal, the contingent and the Absolute, He bath ordained that in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be made manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. Unto this subtle, this mysterious and ethereal Being He bath assigned a twofold nature; the physical, pertaining to the world of matter, and the spiritual, which is born of the substance of God Himself. He hath, moreover, conferred upon Him a double station. The first station, which is related to His innermost reality, representeth Him as One Whose voice is the voice of God Himself. To this testifieth the tradition: CcMani~ fold and mysterious is My relationship with God." The second station is the human station, exemplified by the following verses: ccj am but a man like you." "Say, praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, an apostle?" These Essences of Detachment, these resplendent Realities are the channels of God's all-pervasive grace. Led by the light of unfailing guidance, and invested with supreme sovereignty, they are commissioned to use the inspiration of their words, the effusions of their infallible grace and the sanctifying breeze of their revelation for the cleansing of every longing heart and receptive spirit from the dross and dust of earthly cares and limitations. Then, and only then, will the Trust of God, latent in the reality of man, emerge as resplendent as the rising Orb of Divine Revelation from behind the veil of concealment, and implant the ensign of its revealed glory upon the summit of men s hearts. From the foregoing passages and allusions it hath been made indubitably clear that in the kingdoms of earth and heaven there must needs be manifested a Being, an Essence Who shall act as a Manifestation and Vehicle for the transmission of the grace of the Divinity Itself, the Sovereign Lord of all. Through the Teachings of this DayStar of Truth every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his [p142] 142 THE BAHA'I WORLD inmost true self hath been endowed. It is for this very purpose that in every age and dispensation the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have appeared amongst men, and have evinced such power as is born of God and such might as only the eternal can reveal. Can one of sane mind ever seriously imagine that, in view of certain words the meaning of which he cannot comprehend, the portal of God's infinite guidance can ever be closed in the face of men? Can he ever conceive for these Divine Luminaries, these resplendent Lights either a beginning or an end? What outpouring flood can compare with the stream of His all-embracing grace, and what blessing can excel the evidences of so great and pervasive a mercy? There can be no doubt whatever that if for one moment the tide of His mercy and grace were to be withheld from the world, it would completely perish. For this reason, from the beginning that hath no beginning the portals of Divine mercy have been flung open to the face of all created things, and the clouds of Truth will continue to the end that hath no end to rain on the soil of human capacity, reality and personality their favors and bounties. Such hath been God's method continued from everlasting to everlasting. The purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare these gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves. That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity among men is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion. I testify before God to the greatness, the inconceivable greatness of this Revelation. Again and again have We in most of Our Tablets borne witness to this truth, that mankind may be roused from its heedlessness. In this most mighty Revelation, all the Dispensations of the past have attained their highest, their final consummation. That which hath been made manifest in this preeminent, this most exalted Revelation, stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will future ages witness its like. Followers of the Gospel, behold the gates of heaven are flung open. He that had ascended unto it is now come. Give ear to His voice calling aloud over land and sea, announcing to all mankind the advent of this Revelation Ñ a Revelation through the agency of which the Tongue of Grandeur is now proclaiming: "lo the sacred Pledge hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come!" The voice of the Son of Man is calling aloud from the sacred vale: ccHere am I, here am I, 0 God my God!" whilst from the Burning Bush breaketh forth the cry: "10, the Desire of the world is made manifest in His transcendent glory!" The Father hath come. That which ye were promised in the Kingdom of God is fulfilled. This is the Word which the Son veiled when He said to those around Him that at that time they could not bear it Verily the Spirit of Truth is come to guide you unto all truth He is the One Who glorified the Son and exalted His Cause. The Comforter Whose advent all the scriptures have promised is now come that He may reveal unto you all knowledge and wisdom. Seek Him over the entire surface of the earth, haply ye may find Him. By the righteousness of God, should a man, all alone, arise in the name of BaM and put on the armor of His love, him will the Almighty cause to be victorious, though the forces of earth and heaven be arrayed against him. By God besides Whom is none other God! Should any one arise for the triumph of our Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued against him. And if his love for Me wax stronger, God will establish his ascendency over all the powers of earth and heaven. Thus have We breathed the spirit of power into all regions. This is the King of Days, the Day that hath seen the coming of the Best-beloved, Him Who through all eternity bath been [p143] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 143 acclaimed the Desire of the World. The world of being shineth in this Day with the resplendency of this Divine Revelation. All created things extol its saving grace and sing its praises. The universe is wrapt in an ecstasy of joy and gladness. The scriptures of past Dispensations celebrate the great jubilee that must needs greet this most great Day of God. Well is it with him that hath lived to see this Day and hath recognized its station. Were mankind to give heed in a befitting manner to no more than one word of such a praise it would be so filled with delight as to be overpowered and lost in wonder. Entranced, it would then shine forth resplendent above the horizon of true understanding. Know of a certainty, that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Rei~e1ation has been vouchsafed to men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appear-eth above the horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approach-eth its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declines until it reacheth its setting point. Were it all of a sudden to manifest the energies latent within it, it would no doubt cause injury to all created things. In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men's hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist. Praise be to Thee, 0 Lord my God for the wondrous revelations of Thy inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast destined for myself. At one time Thou didst deliver me into the hands of Nimrod; at another Thou hast delivered Pharaoh's rod to persecute me. Thou alone canst estimate, through Thy all-encompassing knowledge and the operation of Thy Will, the incal-. culable afflictions I have suffered at their hands. Again Thou didst cast me into the prison-cell of the ungodly for no reason except that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the well-favored denizens of Thy kingdom an intimation of the vision with which Thou hadst, though Thy knowledge, inspired me and revealed to me its meaning through the potency of Thy might. And again Thou didst decree that I be beheaded by the sword of the infidel. Again I was crucified for having unveiled to men's eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign and everlasting power. How bitter the humiliations heaped upon me, in a subsequent age, on the plain of KarbilA! How lonely did I feel amidst Thy people; to what state of helplessness I was reduced in that land! Unsatisfied with such indignities, my persecutors decapitated me and carrying aloft my head from land to land paraded it before the gaze of the unbelieving multitude and deposited it on the seats of the perverse and faithless. In a later age I was suspended and my breast was made a target to the darts of the malicious cruelty of my foes. My limbs were riddled with bullets and my body was torn asunder. Finally, behold how in this day my treacherous enemies have leagued themselves against me, and are continually plotting to instil the venom of hate and malice into the souis of Thy servants. With all their might they are scheming to accomplish their purpose. Grievous as is my plight, 0 God, my Well-beloved, I render thanks unto Thee, and my spirit is grateful for whatsoever hath befallen me in the path of Thy good-pleasure. I am well pleased with that which Thou didst ordain for me, and welcome, however calamitous, the pains and sorrows I am made to suffer. There hath branched from the Sadratu'1-MuntalA this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation. Magnified be He, therefore, for this [p144] 144 THE BAHA'I WORLD sublime, this blessed, this mighty, this exalted Handiwork! A Word hath, as a token of Our grace, gone forth from the Most Great Tablet Ñ a Word which God hath adorned with the ornament of His own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth and all that is therein, and a sign of His greatness and power among its people. Render thanks unto God, 0 people, for His appearance; for verily He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth towards Him'~ hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned away from My Beauty, bath repudiated My Proof, and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His favored servants. We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable, His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish. Consider: Het 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 Qa'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 Ñ such a revelation, these vile and villainous people have sought to measure with their own deficient minds, their own deficient learning and understanding. Is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole charac * Abdu'l-Baha. t The fl&b. ter 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 Manifestation would be apparent. In the East the light of His Revelation bath broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, 0 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: tti am the life-giver of the world!" To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. "No vision taketh Him in, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiv-ing." The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace, according to His saying: "His grace hath transcended all things; My grace hath encompassed them all" hath caused those luminous Gems of holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence. These sanctified Mirrors, these Daysprings of ancient glory are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and Ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived [p145] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 145 their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory. They are the Treasuries of Divine knowledge, and the Repositories of celestial wisdom. Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is revealed the light that can never fade. These attributes of God are not and have never been vouchsafed specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay, all the Prophets of God, His well-favored, His holy and chosen Messengers, are, without exception, the bearers of His names and the embodiments of His attributes. They only differ in the intensity of their revelation, and the relative potency of their light. Even as He hath revealed: "Some of the Apostles We have caused to excel the others." It hath become therefore manifest and evident that within the tabernacles of these Prophets and chosen Ones of God the light of His infinite names and exalted attributes hath been reflected, even though the light of some of these attributes may or may not be outwardly revealed from these luminous Temples to the eyes of men. That a certain attribute of God hath not been outwardly manifested by these Essences of detachment doth in no wise imply that they Who are the Daysprings of God's attributes and the' Treasuries of His holy names did not actually possess it. Therefore, these illuminated Souls, these beauteous Countenances have, each and every one of them, been endowed with all the attributes of God, such as sovereignty, dominion and the like, even though, to outward seeming, they be shorn of all earthly majesty. Furthermore, it is evident to thee that the Bearers of the trust of God are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Bearers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are regarded as one soui and the same person. For they all drink from the one cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same tree of oneness. These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the station of essential unity. In this respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath revealed: CCNO difference do We make between any of His Messengers. For all of them summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the Unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of Proph-ethood, and honored with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Mahammad, the Point of the Qur'an, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: ~ am Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." A similar statement hath been made by Au. Sayings such as this, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of Divine knowledge, and been recorded in the scriptures. These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Daysprings of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: ccOr Cause is but one." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imims of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: ccMhd is our first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all." It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in divers attire. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold them all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith. Such is the unity of these Essences of being, those Luminaries of infinite and immeasurable splendor. 'Wherefore, should one of these Manifestations of holiness proclaim, saying ttj am the return of all the Prophets," He verily speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact, the truth of which is firmly established. We have already in the foregoing pages assigned two stations unto each of the Luminaries arising from the Daysprings of eternal holiness. One of these stations, the station of: [p146] The Garden of Ridvan, Baghd6.d. 146 [p147] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 147 essential unity, 'We have already explained. •CNO difference do We make between any of them." The other is the station of distinction, and pertaineth to the world of creation and to the changes and chances thereof. In this respect, each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially designated limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite Mission, and is entrusted with a particular Revelation. Even as He said: ccSome of the Apostles We have caused to excel the others. To some God hath spoken, some I-fe hath raised and exalted. And to Jesus, the Son of Mary, We gave manifest signs, and 'We strengthened Him with the Holy Spirit." It is because of this difference in their station and mission that the words and utterances flowing from these Wellsprings of Divine knowledge appear to diverge and differ. Otherwise, in the eyes of them that are initiated into the mysteries of divine wisdom, all their utterances are in reality but the expressions of one truth. As most of the people have failed to appreciate those stations to which We have referred, they therefore feel perplexed and dismayed at the varying utterances pronounced by Manifestations that are essentially one and the same. It hath ever been evident that all these divergencies of utterance are attributable to differences in station. Thus, viewed from the standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been and are applicable to those Essences of being, inasmuch as they all abide on the throne of Divine Revelation, and are established upon the seat of Divine Concealment. Through their appearance the Revelation of God is made manifest, and by their countenance the Beauty of God is revealed. Thus it is that the accents of God Himself have been heard uttered by these Manifestations of the Divine Being. Viewed in the light of their second station Ñ the station of distinction, differentiation, temporal limitations, characteristics and standards Ñ they manifest absolute servitude, utter destitution and complete seif-eff ace-ment. ment. Even as He saith: ttj am the servant of God. I am but a man like you." From these incontrovertible and fully demonstrated statements strive thou to apprehend the meaning of thd questions thou hast asked, that thou mayest become steadfast in the Faith of God, and not be dismayed by the divergencies in the utterances of His Prophets and Chosen Ones. In this day the breeze of God is wafted, and His Spirit hath pervaded all things. Such is the outpouring of His grace that the pen is stilled and the tongue is speechless. By virtue of this station, they have claimed for themselves to be the Voice of Divinity and the like; and by virtue of their station of Messengership, they have declared them-seives the Messengers of God. In every instance they have voiced an utterance that would conform to the requirements of the occasion, and have ascribed all these declarations to themselves, declarations ranging from the realm of Divine Revelation to the realm of creation, and from the domain of Divinity even unto the domain of earthly existence. Thus it is that whatsoever be their utterance, whether it pertain to the realm of Divinity, Lordship, Prophethood, Messenger-ship, Guardianship, Apostleship or Servitude, all is true, beyond a shadow of doubt. Therefore, these sayings which We have quoted in support of our argument must be attentively considered, that the divergent utterances of the Manifestations of the Unseen and Daysprings of holiness may cease to agitate the soui and perplex the mind. Consider the past. How many, whether high or low, have, at all times, yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the sanctified persons of His chosen Ones. How often have they expected His coming, how frequently have they prayed that the breeze of divine mercy may blow, and the promised Beauty may step forth from behind the veil of concealment, and be made manifest unto all the world. And whensoever the portals of grace would open, and the clouds of divine bounty would rain upon mankind, and the light of the Unseen would shine above the horizon of celestial might, they all denied Him and turned away from His face Ñ the face of God Himself. It is evident that the changes effected in [p148] 148 THE BAHA'I WORLD every Dispensation constitute the dark clouds that intervene between the eye of man s understanding and the Divine Luminary which shineth forth from the dayspring of the Divine Essence. Consider how men have for generations been blindly imitating their forefathers, and been trained according to such ways and manners as have been laid down by the dictates of their Faith. Were these men, therefore, suddenly to discover that a Man Who hath been living in their midst, Who with respect to every human limitation bath been their equal, had risen to abolish every established principle imposed by their Faith Ñ principles by which for centuries they have been disciplined, and every opposer and denier of which they have come to regard as infidel, profligate, and wicked Ñ they would of a certainty be veiled and hin dered from acknowledging His truth. Such things are as clouds that veil the eyes of those whose inner being hath not tasted the Salsabil of Detachment, nor drunk from the Kawthar of the knowledge of God. Such men, when acquainted with these circumstances, become so veiled that without the least question they pronounce the Manifestation of God an infidel, and sentence Him to death. Such things you must have witnessed and heard since the earliest days, and are observing them at this time. It behaves us, therefore, to exert the utmost endeavor, that by God's invisible assistance these dark veils, these clouds of Heaven-sent trials, may not hinder us from beholding the beauty of His shining Countenance, and that we may recognize Him oniy by His own Self. II. tABDU'L-BAHIA The Origin, Powers and Conditions of Man MODIFICATION OF SPECIES WE HAVE now come to the question of the modification of species and of organic development: that is to say, to the point of inquiring whether man's descent is from the animal. This theory has found credence in the minds of some European philosophers, and it is now very difficult to make its falseness understood, but in the future it will become evident and clear, and the European philosophers will themselves realise its untruth. For verily it is an evident error. When man looks at the beings with a penetrating regard, and attentively examines the condition of existences, and when he sees the state, the organization, and the perfection of the world, he will be convinced that in the possible world there is nothing more wonderful than that which already exists. For all existing beings, terrestrial and celestial, as well as this limitless space and all that is in it, have been created and organized, composed, arranged, and perfected as they ought to be; the universe has no imperfection; so that if all beings ings became pure intelligence and reflected for ever and ever, it is impossible that they could imagine anything better than that which exists. If, however, the creation in the past had not been adorned with utmost perfection, then existence would have been imperfect and meaningless, and in this case creation would have been incomplete. This question needs to be considered with the greatest attention and thought. For example, imagine that the world of possibility Ñ that is, the world of existence Ñ resembles in a general way the body of man. If this composition, organisation, perfection, beauty, and completeness which now exist in the human body were different, it would be absolute imperfection. Now, if we imagine a time when man belonged to the animal world, or when he was merely an animal, we shall find that existence would have been imperfect; that is to say, there would have been no man, and this chief member, which in the body of the world is like the brain and mind in man, [p149] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 149 would have been missing. The world would then have been quite imperfect. It is thus proved that if there had been a time when man was in the animal kingdom, the perfection of existence would have been destroyed; for man is the greatest member of this world, and if the body was without this chief member, surely it would be imperfect. We consider man as the greatest member because, among the creatures, he is the sum of all existing perfections. When we speak of man, we mean the perfect one, the foremost individual in the world, who is the sum of spiritual and apparent perfections, and who is like the sun among the beings. Then imagine that at one time the sun did not exist, but that it was a planet Ñ surely at such a time the relations of existence would be disordered. How can such a thing be imagined? To a man who examines the world of existence, what we have said is sufficient. There is another more subtle proof: all these endless beings which inhabit the world, whether man, animal, vegetable, mineral Ñ whatever they may be Ñ are surely, each one of them, composed of elements. There is no doubt that this perfection which is in all beings, is caused by the creation of God from the composing elements, by their appropriate mingling and proportionate quantities, the mode of their composition, and the influence of other beings. For all being are connected together like a chain, and reciprocal help, assistance, and influence belonging to the properties of things, are the causes of the existence, development, and growth of created beings. It is confirmed through evidences and proofs that every being univer sally acts upon other beings, either absolutely or through association. Finally, the perfection of each individual being, that is to say the perfection which you now see in man or apart from him, with regard to their atoms, members, or powers, is due to the composition of the elements, to their measure, to their balance, to the mode of their combina Ñ tion, and to mutual influence. When all these are gathered together, then man exists. As the perfection of man is entirely due to the composition of the atoms of the elements, to their measure, to the method of their combination, and to the mutual influ ence and action of the different beings Ñ then, since man was produced ten or a hundred thousand years ago from these earthly elements with the same measure and balance, the same method of combination and mingling, and the same influence of the other beings, exactly the same man existed then as now. This is evident and not worth debating. A thousand million years hence, if these elements of man are gathered together and arranged in this special proportion, and if the elements are combined according to the same method, and if they are affected by the same influence of other beings, exactly the same man will exist. For example, if after a hundred thousand years there is oil, fire, a wick, a lamp, and the lighter of the lamp Ñ briefly, if there are all the necessaries which now exist, exactly the same lamp will be obtained. These are conclusive and evident facts. But the arguments which these European philosophers have used raise doubtful proofs and are not conclusive. THE UNIVERSE IS WITHOUT BEGINNING The Origin of Man KNOW' that it is one of the most abstruse spiritual truths that the world of existence, that is to say this endless universe, has no beginning. We have already explained that the names and attributes of the Divinity themselves require the existence of beings. Although this subject has been explained in detail, we will speak of it again briefly. Know that an educator without pupils cannot be imagined, a monarch without subjects could not exist, a master without scholars cannot be appointed, a creator without a creature is impossible, a provider without those provided for cannot be conceived; for all the divine names and attributes demand the existence of beings. If we could imagine a time when no beings existed, this imagination would be the denial of the Divinity of God. Moreover, absolute nonexistence cannot become existence. If [p150] 150 THE BAHA'I WORLD the beings were absolutely nonexistent, existence would not have come into being. Therefore, as the Essence of Unity, that is the existence of God, is everlasting and eternal Ñ that is to say, it has neither beginning nor end Ñ it is certain that this world of existence, this endless universe, has neither beginning nor end. Yes, it may be that one of the parts of the universe, one of the globes, for example, may come into existence, or may be disintegrated, but the other endless globes are still existing; the universe would not be disordered nor destroyed; on the contrary, existence is eternal and perpetual. As each globe has a beginning, necessarily it has an end, because every composition, collective or particular, must of necessity be decomposed; the only difference is that some are quickly decomposed, and others more slowly, but it is impossible that a composed thing should not eventually be decomposed. It is necessary, therefore, that we should know what each of the important existences was in the beginning Ñ for there is no doubt that in the beginning the origin was one: the origin of all numbers is one and not two. Then it is evident that in the beginning matter was one, and that one matter appeared in different aspects in each element; thus various forms were produced, and these various aspects as they were produced became permanent, and each element was specialized. But this permanence was not definite, and did not attain realisation and perfect existence until after a very long time. Then these elements became composed, and organised and combined in infinite forms; or rather from the composition and combination of these elements innumerable beings appeared. This composition and arrangement through the wisdom of God and His preexistent might, were produced from one natural organisation, which was composed and combined with the greatest strength, conformably to wisdom, and according to a universal law. From this it is evident that it is the creation of God, and is not a fortuitous composition and arrangement.. This is why from every natural composition a being can come into existence, but from an accidental composition no being can come into existence. For example, if a man of his own mind and intelligence collects some elements and combines them, a living being will not be brought into existence, since the system is unnatural. This is the answer to the implied question, that, since beings are made by the composition and the combination of elements, why is it not possible for us to gather elements and mingle them together, and so create a living being. This is a false supposition, for the origin of this composition is from God; it is God who makes the combination, and as it is done according to the natural system, from each composition one being is produced, and an existence is realised. A composition made by man produces nothing, because man cannot create. Briefly, we have said that from the composition and combination of elements, from their decomposition, from their measure, and from the effect of other beings upon them, resulted forms, endless realities, and innumerable beings. But it is clear that this terrestrial globe in its present form did nor come into existence all at once; but that this universal existence gradually passed through different phases until it became adorned with its present perfection. Universal beings resemble and can be compared to particular beings, for both are subjected to one natural system, one universal law and divine organisation. So you will find the smallest atoms in the universal system are similar to the greatest beings of the universe. It is clear that they come into existence from one laboratory of might under one natural system, and one universal law; therefore they may be compared to one another. Thus the embryo of man in the womb of the mother gradually grows and develops, and appears in different forms and conditions, until in the degree of perfect beauty it reaches maturity, and appears in a perfect form with the utmost grace. And in the same way, the seed of this flower which you see was in the beginning an insignificant thing, and very small; and it grew and developed in the womb of the earth, and after appearing in various forms, came forth in this condition with perfect freshness and grace. In the same manner it is evident that this terrestrial globe having once found existence, grew and developed in the matrix of the universe, and came forth in different forms and conditions, until grad [p151] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'{ SACRED WRITINGS 151 ually it attained this present perfection, and became adorned with innumerable beings, and appeared as a finished organization. Then it is clear that original matter, which is in the embryonic state, and the mingled and composed elements which were its earliest forms, gradually grew and developed during many ages and cycles, passing from one shape and form to another, until they appeared in this perfection, this system, this organisation and this establishment, through the supreme wisdom of God. Let us return to our subject that man, in the beginning of his existence and in the womb of the earth, like the embryo in the womb of the mother, gradually grew and developed, and passed from one form to another, from one shape to another, until he appeared with this beauty and perfection, this force and this power. It is certain that in the beginning he had not this loveliness and grace and elegance, and that he oniy by degrees attained this shape, this form, this beauty, and this grace. There is no doubt that the human embryo did not at once appear in this form, neither did it then become the manifestation of the words ctp~ be unto God, the best of Creators." Gradually it passed through various conditions and different shapes, until it attained this form and beauty, this perfection, grace, and loveliness. Thus it is evident and confirmed that the development and growth of man on this earth, until he reached his present perfection, resembled the growth and development of the embryo in the womb of the mother: by degrees it passed from condition to condition, from form to form, from one shape to another, for this is according to the requirement of the universal system and Divine Law. That is to say, the embryo passes through different states and traverses numerous degrees, until it reaches the form in which it manifests the words ccPraise be to God, the best of Creators," and until the signs of reason and maturity appear. And in the same way, man's existence on this earth, from the beginning until it reaches this state, form, and condition, necessarily lasts a long time, and goes through many degrees until it reaches this condition. But from the begin-fling of man's existence he is a distinct species. In the same way, the embryo of man in the womb of the mother was at first in a strange form; then this body passes from shape to shape, from state to state, from form to form, until it appears in utmost beauty and perfection. But even when in the womb of the mother and in this strange form, entirely different from his present form and figure, he is the embryo of the superior species, and not of the animal; his species and essence undergo no change. Now, admitting that the traces of organs which have disappeared actually exist, this is not a proof of the impermanence and the non-originality of the species. At the most it proves that the form, and fashion, and the organs of man have progressed. Man was always a distinct species, a man, not an animal. So, if the embryo of man in the womb of the mother passes from one form to another, so that the second form in no way resembles the first, is this a proof that the species has changed? that it was at first an animal, and that its organs progressed and developed until it became a man? No, indeed! How puerile and unfounded is this idea and this thought! For the proof of the originality of the human species, and of the permanency of the nature of man, is clear and evident. THE DIFFERENCE WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN MAN AND THE ANIMAL ALREADY we have talked that man also is a species once or twice on the subjectof animal; for they say, of the spirit, but our do we not se~ that animals words have not been writtenand men share the same down. powers and senses? These Know that people belong simple, single elements to two categories, that which fill space are is to say, they constitute endlessly combined, and two parties. One party from each of these combinations deny the spirit, and one of the beings is say produced. Among [p152] 152 THE BAHA'I WORLD these beings is the possessor of spirit, of the powers and of the senses. The more perfect the combination, the nobler is the being. The combination of the elements in the body of man is more perfect than the composition of any other being; it is mingled in absolute equilibrium, therefore it is more noble and more perfect. "It is not," they say, ttthat he has a special power and spirit which the other animals lack: animals possess sensitive bodies, but man in some powers has more sensation Ñ although, in what concerns the outer senses, such as hearing, sight, taste, smell, touch, and even in some interior powers like memory, the animal is more richly endowed than man." ccThe animal, too," they say, (chas intelligence and perception all that they concede is that man's intelligence is greater. This is what the philosophers of the present state; this is their saying, this is their supposition, and thus their imagination decrees. So with powerful arguments and proofs, they make the descent of man go back to the animal, and say that there was once a time when man was an animal; that then the species changed, and progressed little by little until it reached the present status of man. But the theologians say: No, this is not so. Though man has powers and outer senses in common with the animal, yet an extraordinary power exists in him of which the animal is bereft. The sciences, arts, inventions, trades, and discoveries of realities, are the results of this spiritual power. This is a power which encompasses all things, comprehends their realities, discovers all the hidden mysteries of beings, and through this knowledge controls them: it even perceives things which do not exist outwardly; that is to say, intellectual realities which are not sensible, and which have no outward existence, because they are invisible; so it comprehends the mind, the spirit, the qualities, the characters, the love and sorrow of man, which are intellectual realities. Moreover, these existing sciences, arts, laws, and endless inventions of man at one time were invisible, mysterious, and hidden secrets; it is oniy the all-encompassig human power which has discovered and brought them out from the plane of the invisible to the plane of the visible. So telegraphy, photography, phonography, and all such inventions and wonderful arts, were at one time hidden mysteries: the human reality discovered and brought them out from the plane of the invisible to the plane of the visible. There was even a time when the qualities of this iron which you see Ñ indeed of all the metals Ñ were hidden mysteries; men discovered this metal, and wrought it in this industrial form. It is the same with all the other discoveries and inventions of man, which are innumerable. This we cannot deny. If we say that these are effects of powers which animals also have, and of the powers of the bodily senses, we see clearly and evidently that the animals are, in regard to these powers, superior to man. For example, the sight of animals is much more keen than the sight of man; so also is their power of smell and taste. Briefly, in the powers which animals and men have in common, the animal is often the more powerful. For example, let us take the power of memory: if you carry a pigeon from here to a distant country, and there set it free, it will return, for it remembers the way. Take a dog from here to the centre of Asia, set him free, and he will come back here and never once lose the road. So it is with the other powers such as hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. Thus it is clear that if there were not in man a power different from any of those of the animals, the latter would be superior to man in inventions and the comprehension of realities. Therefore it is evident that man has a gift which the animal does not possess. Now, the animal perceives sensible things, but does not perceive intellectual realities. For example, that which is within the range of its vision the animal sees, but that which is beyond the range of sight it is not possible for it to perceive, and it cannot imagine it. So it is not possible for the animal to understand that the earth has the form of a globe. But man from known things proves unknown things, and discovers unknown truths. For example, man sees the curve of the horizon, and from this he infers the roundness of the earth. The Pole Star at Akka, for instance, is at 330, that is to say, it is 330 above the horizon. When a man goes toward the North Pole, the Pole Star rises one degree above the [p153] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 153 horizon for each degree of distance that he travels, that is to say, the altitude of the Pole Star will be 340, then 4O~, then 5O~, then 6O~, then 7O~. If he reaches the North Pole that altitude of the Pole Star will be 900 or have attained the zenith, that is to say, will be directly overhead. This Pole Star and its ascension are sensible things. The further one goes towards the Pole, the higher the Pole Star rises; from these two known truths an unknown thing has been discovered, that is, that the horizon is curved: meaning that the horizon of each degree of the earth is a different horizon from that of another degree. Man perceives this, and proves from it an invisible thing which is the roundness of the earth. This it is impossible for the animal to perceive. In the same way, it cannot understand that the sun is the center and that the earth revolves around it. The animal is the captive of the senses and bound by them; all that is beyond the senses, the things that they do not control, the animal can never understand; although in the outer senses it is greater than man. Hence it is proved and verified that in man there is a power of discovery by which he is distinguished from the animals, and this is the spirit of man. Praise be to God! man is always turned towards the heights, and his aspiration is lofty; he always desires to reach a greater world than the world in which he is, and to mount to a higher sphere than that in which he is. The love of exaltation is one of the characteristics of man. I am astonished that certain philosophers of America and Europe are content to gradually approach the animal world, and so to go backwards; for the tendency of existence must be towards exaltation. Nevertheless, if you said to one of them, You are an animal Ñ he would be ex-trernely hurt and angry. What a difference between the human world and the world of the animal; between the elevation of man and the abasement of the animal; between the perfections of man and the ignorance of the animal; between the light of man and the darkness of the animal; between the glory of man and the degradation of the animal! An Arab child of ten years can manage two or three hundred camels els in the desert, and with his voice can lead them forward or turn them back. A weak Hindu can so control a huge elephant, that the elephant becomes the most obedient of servants. All things are subdued by the hand of man; he can resist nature, while all other creatures are captives of nature, none can depart from her requirements. Man alone can resist nature. Nature attracts bodies to the center of the earth; man through mechanical means goes far from it, and soars in the air. Nature prevents man from crossing the seas, man builds a ship, and he travels and voyages across the great ocean, and so on; the subject is endless. For example, man drives engines over the mountains and through the wildernesses, and gathers in one spot the news of the events of the East and West. All this is contrary to nature. The sea with its grandeur cannot deviate by an atom from the laws of nature; the sun in all its magnificence cannot deviate as much as a needle's point from the laws of nature, and can never comprehend the conditions, the state, the qualities, the movements, and the nature of man. What, then, is the power in this small body~ of man which encompasses all this? What is this ruling power by which he subdues all things? One more point remains: modern philosophers say: "We have never seen the spirit in man, and in spite of our researches into the secrets of the human body, we do not perceive a spiritual power. How can we imag-inc a power which is not sensible?" The theologians reply: "The spirit of the animal also is not sensible, and through its bodily powers it cannot be perceived. By what do you prove the existence of the spirit of the animal? There is no doubt that from its effects you prove that in the animal there is a power which is not in the plant, and this is the power of the senses; that is to say, sight, hearing, and also other powers; from these you infer that there is an animal spirit. In the same way, from the proofs and signs we have mentioned, we argue that there is a human spirit. Since in the animal there are signs which are not in the plant, you say this power of sensation is a property of the animal spirit; you also see in man signs, powers, and [p154] 154 THE BAHA'I WORLD perfections which do not exist in the animal; therefore you infer that there is a power in him which the animal is without." If we wish to deny everything that is not sensible, then we must deny the realities which unquestionably exist. For example, ethereal matter is not sensible, though it has an undoubted existence. The power of attraction is not sensible, though it certainly exists. From what do we affirm these existences? From their signs. Thus this light is the vibration of that ethereal matter, and from this vibration we infer the existence of ether. THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE Question. Ñ What do you say with regard to the theories held by some European philosophers on the growth and development of beings? Answer. Ñ This subject was spoken of the other day, but we will speak of it again. Briefly, this question will be decided by determining whether species are original or not. That is to say, has the species of man been established from its origin, or was it afterwards derived from the animals? CERTAIN European philosophers agree that the species grows and develops, and that even change and alteration are also possible. One of the proofs that they give for this theory is that through the attentive study and verification of the science of geology it has become clear that the existence of the vegetable preceded that of the animal, and that of the animal preceded that of man. They admit that both the vegetable and the animal species have changed, for in some of the strata of the earth they have discovered plants which existed in the past and are now extinct; they have progressed, grown in strength, their form and appearance have changed, and so the species have altered. In the same way, in the strata of the earth there are some species of animals which have changed and are transformed. One of these animals is the serpent. There are indications that the serpent once had feet; but through the lapse of time those members have disappeared. In the same way, in the vertebral coi-umn of man there is an indication which amounts to a proof that, like other animals, he once had a tail. At one time that member was useful, but when man developed it was no longer of use, and therefore it gradually disappeared. As the serpent took refuge under the ground, and became a creeping animal, it was no longer in need of feet, so they disappeared; but their traces survive. The principal argument is this: that the existence of traces of members proves that they once existed; and as now they are no longer of service, they have gradually disappeared. Therefore while the perfect and necessary members have remained, those which are unnecessary have gradually disappeared by the modification of the species, but the traces of them continue. The first answer to this argument is the fact that the animal having preceded man is not a proof of the evolution, change, and alteration of the species, nor that man was raised from the animal world to the human world. For while the individual appearance of these different beings is certain, it is possible that man came into existence after the animal. So when we examine the vegetable kingdom, we see that the fruits of the different trees do not arrive at maturity at one time; on the contrary, some come first and others afterwards. This priority does not prove that the later fruit of one tree was produced from the earlier fruit of another tree. Secondly, these slight signs and traces of members have perhaps a great reason of which the mind is not yet cognisant. How many things exist of which we do not yet know the reason! So the science of physiology, that is to say the knowledge of the composition of the members, records that the reason and cause of the difference in the colors of animals, and of the hair of men, of the redness of the lips, and of the variety of the colors of birds, is still unknown; it is secret and hidden. But it is known that [p155] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 155 the pupil of the eye is black, so as to attract the rays of the sun; for if it were another color, that is, uniformly white, it would not attract the rays of the sun. Therefore, as the reason of the things we have mentioned is unknown, it is possible that the reason and the wisdom of these traces of members, whether they be in the animal or man, are equally unknown. Certainly there is a reason, even though it is not known. Thirdly, let us suppose that there was a time when some animals, or even man, possessed some members which have now disappeared; this is not a sufficient proof of the change and evolution of the species. For man, from the beginning of the embryonic period till he reaches the degree of maturity, goes through different forms and appearances. His aspect, his form, his appearance, and color change; he passes from one form to another, and from one appearance to another. Nevertheless, from the beginning of the embryonic period he is of the species of man; that is to say, an embryo of a man, and not of an animal; but this is not at first apparent, but later it becomes visible and evident. For example, let us suppose that man once resembled the animal, and that now he has progressed and changed; supposing this to be true, it is still not a proof of the change of species; no, as before mentioned, it is merely like the change and alteration of the embryo of man until it reaches the degree of reason and perfection. 'We will state it more clearly: let us suppose that there was a time when man walked on his hands and feet, or had a tail; this change and alteration is like that of the fcrtus in the womb of the mother; although it changes in all ways, and grows and develops until it reaches the perfect form, from the beginning it is a special species. We also see in the vegetable kingdom that the original species of the genus do not change and alter, but the form, colour, and bulk will change and alter, or even progress. To recapitulate: as man in the womb of the mother passes from form to form, from shape to shape, changes and develops, and is still the human species from the beginning of the embryonic period Ñ in the same way man, from the beginning of his existence in the matrix of the world, is also a distinct species, that is, man, and has gradually evolved from one form to another. Therefore this change of appearance, this evolution of members, this development and growth, even though we admit the reality of growth and progress,' does not prevent the species from being original. Man from the beginning was in this perfect form and composition, and possessed capacity and aptitude for acquiring material and spiritual perfections, and was the manifestation of these words, "We will make man in Our image and likeness." He has oniy become more pleasing, more beautiful, and more graceful. Civilization has brought him out of his wild state, just as the wild fruits which are cultivated by a gardener become finer, sweeter, and acquire more freshness and delicacy. The gardeners of the world of humanity are the Prophets of God. tLe., if we admit, for example, that man had formerly been a quadruped, or had had a tail. SPIRITUAL PROOFS OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN THE proofs which we have adduced relative to the origin of the human species were logical proofs; now we will give the spiritual proofs, which are essential. For, as we have proved Divinity by logical arguments, and have also proved logically that man exists from his origin and foundation as man, and that his species has existed from all eternity, now we will establish spiritual proofs that human existence Ñ that is, the species of man Ñ is a necessary existence, and that without man the perfections of Divinity would not appear. But these are spiritual proofs, not logical proofs. We have many times demonstrated and established that man is the noblest of beings, the sum of all perfections, and that all beings and all existences are the centres from which the glory of God is reflected, that is to say, the signs of the Divinity of God are apparent in the realities of things and of creatures. Just as the terrestrial globe is the place where the rays of the sun are reflected Ñ as its light, its heat, and its influence are [p156] 156 THE BAHA'I WORLD apparent and visible in all the atoms of the earth Ñ so, in the same way, the atoms of beings, in this infinite space, proclaim and prove one of the divine perfections. Nothing is deprived of this benefit; it is either a sign of the mercy of God or it is a sign of His power, His greatness, His justice, His lordship which imparts education; or it is a sign of the generosity of God, His vision, His hearing, His knowledge, His grace, and so on. Without doubt each being is the centre of the shining forth of the glory of God: that is to say, the perfections of God appear from it and are resplendent in it. It is like the sun, which is resplendent in the desert, upon the sea, in the trees, in the fruits and blossoms, and in all earthly things. The world, indeed each existing being, proclaims to us one of the names of God, but the reality of man is the collective reality, the general reality, and is the centre where the glory of all the perfections of God shine forth. That is to say, for each name, each attribute, each perfection which we affirm of God, there exists a sign in man; if it were otherwise, man could not imagine these perfections, and could not understand them. So we say that God is the seer, and the eye is the sign of His vision; if this sight were not in man, how could we imagine the vision of God? for the blind, that is one born blind, cannot imagine sight; and the deaf, that is one deaf from birth, cannot imagine hearing; and the dead' cannot realize life. Consequently the Divinity of God, which is the sum of all perfections, 1 i.e., the spiritually dead. reflects itself in the reality of man; that is to say, the Essence of Oneness is the gathering of all perfections, and from this unity He casts a reflection upon the human reality. Man then is the perfect mirror facing the Sun of Truth, and is the centre of radiation: the Sun of Truth shines in this mirror. The reflection of the divine perfections appears in the reality of man, so he is the representative of God, the messenger of God. If man did not exist, the universe would be without result, for the object of existence is the appearance of the perfections of God. Therefore it cannot be said there was a time when man was not. All that we can say is that this terrestrial globe at one time did not exist, and at its beginning man did not appear upon it. But from the beginning which has no beginning, to the end which has no end, a perfect manifestation always exists. This man of whom we speak is not every man; we mean the perfect man. For the noblest part of the tree is the fruit, which is the reason of its existence; if the tree had no fruit, it would have no meaning. Therefore it cannot be imagined that the worlds of existence, whether the stars or this earth, were once inhabited by the donkey, cow, mouse, and cat, and that they were without man! This supposition is false and meaningless. The word of God is clear as the sun. This is a spiritual proof, but one which we cannot at the beginning put forth for the benefit of the materialists; first we must speak of the logical proofs, afterwards the spiritual proofs. THE SPIRIT AND MIND or MAN HAVE EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING Question. Ñ Does man in the beginning possess mind and spirit, or are they an out Ñ come of his evolution? Answer. Ñ The beginning of the existence of man on the terrestrial globe resembles his formation in the womb of the mother. The embryo in the womb of the mother gradually grows and develops until birth, after which it continues to grow and develop until it reaches the age of discretion and maturity. Though in infancy the signs of the mind and spirit appear in man, they do not reach the degree of perfection; they are imperfect. Only when man attains maturity do the mind and the spirit appear and become evident in utmost perfection. SO ALSO the formation of man in the matrix of the world was in the beginning like the embryo; then gradually he made progress in perfectness, and grew and developed until [p157] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 157 he readied the state of maturity, when the mind and spirit became visible in the greatest power. In the beginning of his formation the mind and spirit also existed, but they were hidden; later they were manifested. In the womb of the world mind and spirit also existed in the embryo, but they were concealed; afterwards they appeared. So it is that in the seed the tree exists, but it is hidden and concealed; when it develops and grows, the complete tree appears. In the same way the growth and development of all beings is gradual; this is the universal divine organization, and the natural system. The seed does not at once become a tree, the embryo does not at once become a man, the mineral does not suddenly become a stone, No, they grow and develop gradually, and attain the limit of perfection. All beings, whether large or small, were created perfect and complete ftoin the first, but their perfections appear in them by degrees. The organization of God is one: the evolution of existence is one: the divine system is one. Whether they be small or great beings, all are subject to one law and system. Each seed has in it from the first all the vegetable perfections. For example, in the seed all the vegetable perfections exist from the beginning, but not visibly; afterwards little by little they appear. So it is first the shoot which appears from the seed, then the branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruits; but from the beginning of its existence all these things are in the seed, potentially, though not apparently. In the same way, the embryo possesses from the first all perfections, such as the spirit, the mind, the sight, the smell, the taste Ñ in one word, all the powers Ñ but they are not visible, and become so oniy by degrees. Similarly, the terrestrial globe from the beginning was created with all its elements, substances, minerals, atoms, and organisms; kit these only appeared by degrees: first the mineral, then the plant, afterwards the animal, and finally man. But from the first these kinds and species existed, but were undeveloped in the terrestrial globe, and then appeared oniy gradually. For the supreme organization of God, and the universal natural system, surrounds all beings, and all are subject to this rule. When you consider this universal system, you see that there is not one of the beings, which at its coming into existence has reached the limit of perfection. No, they gradually grow and develop, and then attain the degree of perfection. THE APPEARING OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BODY Question. Ñ W hat is the wisdom of the spirit's appearing in the body? Answer. Ñ The wisdom of the appearance of the spirit in the body is this: the human spirit is a Divine Trust, and it must traverse all conditions; for its passage and movement through the conditions of existence will be the means of its acquiring perfections. So, when a man travels and passes through different regions and numerous countries with system and method, it is certainly a means of his acquiring perfection; for he will see places, scenes, and countries, from which he will discover the conditions and states of other nations. He will thus become acquainted with the geography of countries, and their wonders and arts; he will familiarize himself with the habits, customs, and usages of peoples; he will see the civilization and progress of the epoch; he will become aware of the policy of governments, and the power and capacity of each country. It is the same when the human spirit passes through the conditions of existence: it will become the possessor of each degree and station. Even in the condition of the body it will surely acquire perfections. BESIDES this, it is necessary that the signs of the perfection of the spirit should be apparent in this world, so that the world of creation may bring forth endless results, and this body may receive life and manifest the divine bounties. So, for example, the rays of the sun must shine upon the earth, and the solar heat develop the earthly beings; if the rays and heat of the sun did not shine upon [p158] 158 THE BAHA'I WORLD the earth, the earth would be uninhabited, without meaning, and its development would be retarded. In the same way, if the perfections of the spirit did not appear in this world, this world would be unenlightened and absolutely brutal. By the appearance of the spirit in the physical form, this world is enlightened. As the spirit of man is the cause of the life of the body, so the world is in the condition of the body, and man is in the condition of the spirit. If there were no man, the perfections of the spirit would not appear, and the light of the mind would not be resplendent in this world. This world would be like a body without a soui. This world is also in the condition of a fruit-tree, and man is like the fruit; without fruit the tree would be useless. Moreover, these members, these elements, this composition, which are found in the organism of man, are an attraction and magnet for the spirit; it is certain that the spirit will appear in it. So, a mirror which is clear will certainly attract the rays of the sun. It will become luminous, and wonderful images will appear in it. That is to say, when these existing elements are gathered together according to the natural order, and with perfect strength, they become a magnet for the spirit, and the spirit will become manifest in them with all its perfections. Under these conditions it cannot be said "what is the necessity for the rays of the sun to descend upon the mirror?" Ñ f or the connection which exists between the reality of things, whether they be spiritual or material, requires that when the mirror is clear and faces the sun, the light of the sun must become apparent in it. In the same way, when the elements are arranged and combined in the most glorious system, organization and manner, the human spirit will appear and be manifest in them. This is the decree of the Powerful, the 'Wise. THE RELATION BETWEEN GOD AND THE CREATURE Question. Ñ N4J hat is the nature of the connection between God and the creature, that is to say, between the Independent, the Most High, and the other beings? Answer . Ñ T he connection between God and the creatures is that of the creator to the creation; it is like the connection between the sun and the dark bodies of contingent beings, and is the connection between the maker and the things that he has made. The sun in its own essence is independent of the bodies which it lights; for its light is in itself, and is free and independent of the terrestrial globe; so the earth is under the influence of the sun and receives its light, whereas the sun and its rays are entirely independent of the earth. But if there were no sun, the earth and all earthly beings could not exist. HE dependence through the creatures upon God is a dependence of emanation: that is to say, creatures emanate from God, they do not manifest Him. The relation is that of emanation and not that of manifestation. The light of the sun emanates from the sun, it does not manifest it. The appearance through emanatioft is like the appearance of the rays from the luminary of the horizons of the world: that is to say, the holy essence of the Sun of Truth is not divided, and does not descend to the condition of the creatures. In the same way, the globe of the sun does not become divided and does not descend to the earth: no, the rays of the sun, which are its bounty, emanate from it, and illumine the dark bodies. But the appearance through manifestation is the manifestation of the branches, leaves, blossoms and fruit from the seed; for the seed in its own essence becomes branches and fruits, and its reality enters into the branches, the leaves, and fruits. This appearance through manifestation would be for God the Most High, simple imperfection, and this is quite impossible; for the implication would be that the Absolute Preexistent is qualified with phenomenal attributes; but if this were so, pure independence would become mere poverty, and true existence would become nonexistence, and this is impossible. Therefore all creatures emanate from God; [p159] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 159 that is to say, it is by God that all things are realized, and by Him that all beings have attained to existence. The first thing which emanated from God is that universal reality, which the ancient philosophers termed the "First Mind," and which the people of Baha call the ccFirst Will." This emanation, in that which concerns its action in the world of God, is not limited by time or place; it is without beginning or end; beginning and end in relation to God are one. The preexistence of God is the preexistence of essence, and also preexistence of time, and the phenomenality of contingency is essential and not temporal, as we have already explained one day at table. Though the "First Mind" is without beginning, it does not become a sharer in the preexistence of God, for the existence of the universal reality in relation to the existence of God is nothingness, and it has not the power to become an associate of God and like unto Him in preexistence. This subject has been before explained. The existence of living things signifies composition, and their death decomposition. But universal matter and the elements do not become absolutely annihilated and destroyed: no, their nonexistence is simply transformation. For instance, when man is annihilated he becomes dust, but he does not become absolutely nonexistent; he still exists in the shape of dust; but transformation has taken place, and this composition is accidentally decomposed. The annihilation of the other beings is the same, for existence does not become absolute nonexistence, and absolute nonexistence does not become existence. ON THE PROCEEDING OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FROM GOD Question Ñ In the Bible it is said that God breathed the spirit into the body of man: What is the meaning of this verse? Answer. Ñ Know that proceeding is of two kinds: the proceeding and appearance through emanation, and the proceeding and appearance through manifestation. The proceeding through emanation is like the coming forth of the action from the actor, of the writing from the writer. Now the writing emanates from the writer, and the discourse emanates from the speaker, and in the same way the human spirit emanates from God. It is not that it manifests God Ñ that is to say, no part has been detached from the Divine Reality to enter the body of man. No, as the discourse emanates from the speaker, the spirit appears in the body of man. BUT the proceeding through manifestation is the manifestation of the reality of a thing in other forms: like the coming forth of this tree from the seed of the tree, or the coming forth of the flower from the seed of the flower; for it is the seed itself which appears in the form of the branches, leaves, and flowers. This is called the proceeding through manifestation. The spirits of men, with reference to God, have dependence through emanation; just as the discourse proceeds from the speaker and the writing from the writer; that is to say, the speaker himself does not become the discourse, nor does the writer himself become the writing; no, rather they have the proceeding of emanation. The speaker has perfect ability and power, and the discourse emanates from him, as the action does from the actor. The Real Speaker, the Essence of Unity, has always been in one condition, which neither changes nor alters, has neither transformation nor vicissitude. He is the Eternal, the Immortal. Therefore the proceeding of the human spirits from God is through emanation. When it is said in the Bible that God breathed His spirit into man, this spirit is that which, like the discourse, emanates from the Real Speaker, taking effect in the reality of man. But the proceeding through manifestation (if by this is meant the divine appearance, and not division into parts), we have said, is the proceeding and the appearance of the Holy Spirit and the Word which is from God. As it is said in the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God"; then the Holy Spirit and the Word are the appearance of God. The Spirit [p160] 160 THE BAHA'I WORLD and the Word mean the divine perfections that appeared in the Reality of Christ, and these perfections were with God; so the sun manifests all its glory in the mirror. For the Word does not signify the body of Christ; no, but the divine perfections manifested in him. For Christ was like a clear mirror which was facing the Sun of Reality; and the perfections of the Sun of Reality, that is to say its light and heat, were visible and apparent in this mirror. If we look into the mirror we see the sun, and we say: it is the sun. Therefore the Word and the Holy Spirit, which signify the perfections of God, are the divine appearance. This is the meaning of the verse in the Gospel which says: tcThe Word was with God, and the Word was God"; for the divine perfections are not different from the Essence of Oneness. The perfections of Christ are called the Word, because all the beings are in the condition of letters, and one letter has not a complete meaning; whilst the perfections of Christ have the power of the word, because a complete meaning can be inferred from a word. As the Reality of Christ was the manifestation of the divine perfections, therefore it was like the word. Why? because he is the sum of perfect meanings. This is why he is called the Word. And know that the proceeding of the Word and the Holy Spirit from God, which is the proceeding and appearance of manifestation, must not be understood to mean that the Reality of Divinity had been divided into parts, or multiplied, or that it had descended from the exaltation of holiness and purity. God forbid! If a pure, fine mirror faces the sun, the light and heat, the form and the image of the sun will be resplendent in it with such manifestation, that if a beholder says of the sun which is brilliant and visible in the mirror: "This is the sun," it is true. Nevertheless the mirror is the mirror, and the sun is the sun. The One Sun, even if it appears in numerous mirrors, is one. This state is neither abiding nor entering, neither commingling nor descending; for entering, abiding, descending, issuing forth and commingling are the necessities and characteristics of bodies, not of spirits; then how much less do they belong to the sanctified and pure Reality of God. God is exempt from all that is not in accordance with His purity, and His exalted and sublime sanctity. The Sun of Reality, as we have said, Hs always been in one condition; it has no change, no alteration, no transformation, and no vicissitude. It is eternal and everlasting. But the Holy Reality of the Word of God is in the condition of the pure, fine, and shining mirror; the heat, the light, the image and likeness, that is to say the perfections of the Sun of Reality, appear in it. That is why Christ says in the Gospel: "The Father is in the Son," that is to say, the Sun of Reality appears in the mirror. Praise be to the One who shone upon this Holy Reality, who is sanctified among the beings! SOUL, SPIRIT, AND MIND Question. Ñ What is the difference between the mind, spirit, and soul? Answer. Ñ It has been before explained that spirit is universally divided into five categories: the vegetable spirit, the animal spirit, the human spirit, the spirit of faith, and the Holy Spirit. vegetable spirit is the power of growth which is brought about in the seed through the influence of other existences. The animal spirit is the power of all the senses, which is realized from the composition and mingling of elements; when this composition decomposes, the power also perishes and becomes annihilated. It may be likened to this lamp: when the oil, wick, and fire are combined it is lighted, and when this combination is dissolved, that is to say when the combined parts are separated from one another, the lamp also is extinguished. The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal is the rational soul; and these two names Ñ the human spirit and the rational soul Ñ designate one thing. This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is the rational satil, embraces all beings, and [p161] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 161 as far as human ability permits discovers the realities of things and becomes cognizant of their peculiarities and effpcts, and of the qualities and properties of beings. But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished, and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets. But the mind is the power of the human spirit. Spirit is the lamp; mind is the light which shines from the lamp. Spirit is the tree, and the mind is the fruit. Mind is the perfection of the spirit, and is its essential quality, as the sun's rays are the essential necessity of the sun. This explanation, though short, is complete; therefore reflect upon it, and if God wills, you may become acquainted with the details. THE PHYSICAL POWERS AND THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS IN MAN five outer powers exist, which are the agents of perception, that is to say, through these five powers man perceives ma Ñ terial beings. These are sight, which perceives visible forms; hearing, which perceives audible sounds; sine11, which perceives odors; taste, which perceives foods; and feeling, which is in all parts of the body, and perceives tangible things. These five powers perceive outward existences. Man has also spiritual powers: imagination, which conceives things; thought, which reflects upon realities; comprehension, which comprehends realities, memory, which retains whatever man imagines, thinks, and comprehends. The intermediary between the five outward powers and the inward powers, is the sense which they possess in common, that is to say, the sense which acts between the outer and inner powers, conveys to the inward powers whatever the outer powers discern. It is termed the common faculty, because it communicates between the outward and inward powers, and thus is common to the outward and inward powers. For instance, sight is one of the outer powers; it sees and perceives this flower, and conveys this perception to the inner power Ñ the common faculty Ñ which transmits this perception to the power of imagination, which in its turn conceives and forms this image and transmits it to the power of thought; the power of thought reflects, and having grasped the reality, conveys it to the power of comprehension; the comprehension, when it has comprehended it, delivers the image of the object perceived to the memory, and the memory keeps it in its repository. The outward powers are five: the power of sight, of hearing, of taste, of smell, and of feeling. The inner powers are also five: the common faculty, and the powers of imagination, thought, comprehension, and memory. THE CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENCES IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN Question. Ñ How many kinds of character has man? and what is the cause of the differences and varieties in men? Answer. Ñ He has the innate character, the inherited character, and the acquired character which is gained by education. WITH regard to the innate character, although the divine creation is purely good, yet the varieties of natural qualities in man come from the difference of degree; all are excellent, but they are more or less so, according to the degree. So all mankind possess intelligence and capacities, but the intelligence, the capacity, and the worthiness of men differ. This is evident. For example, take a number of children of one family, of one place, of one school, instructed by one teacher, reared on the same food, in the same climate, with the same clothing, and studying the same lessons Ñ it [p162] 162 THE BAHA'I WORLD is certain that among these children some will be clever in the sciences, some will be of average ability, and some dull. Hence it is clear that in the original nature there exists a difference of degree, and varieties of worthiness and capacity. This difference does not imply good or evil, but is simply a difference of degree. One has the highest degree, another the medium degree, and another the lowest degree. So man exists, the animal, the plant, and the mineral exist also Ñ but the degrees of the four existences vary. What a difference between the existence of man and of the animal! Yet both are existences. It is evident that in existence there are differences of degrees. The variety of inherited qualities <'comes from strength and weakness of constitution; that is to say, when the two parents are weak, the children will be weak; if they are strong, the children will be robust. In the same way, purity of blood has a great effect; for the pure germ is like the superior stock which exists in plants and animals. For example, you see that children born from a weak and feeble father and mother will naturally have a feeble constitution and weak nerves; they will be afflicted, and will have neither patience, nor endurance, nor resolution, nor perseverance, and will be hasty; for the children inherit the weakness and debility of their parents. Besides this, an especial blessing is conferred on some families and some generations. Thus it is an especial blessing that from among the descendants of Abraham should have come all the Prophets of the children of Israel. This is a blessing that God has granted to this descent: to Moses from his father and mother, to Christ from his mother's line; also to Muhammad and the Bab, and to all the Prophets and the Holy Manifestations of Israel. Hence it is evident that inherited character also exists, and to such a degree that if the characters are not in conformity with their origin, although they belong physically to that lineage, spiritually they are not considered members of the family; Like Canaan,' who is not reckoned as being of the race of Noah. 'Cf. Genesis ix. 25. But the difference of the qualities with regard to culture is very great; for education has great influence. Through education the ignorant become learned, the cowardly become valiant; through cultivation the crooked branch becomes straight, the acid, bitter fruit of the mountains and woods becomes sweet and delicious, and the five-petalled flower becomes hundred-petalled. Through education savage nations become civilized, and even the animals become domesticated. Education must be considered as most important; for as diseases in the world of bodies are extremely contagious, so, in the same way, qualities of spirit and heart are extremely contagious. Education has a universal influence, and the differences caused by it are very great. Perhaps some one will say, that since the capacity and worthiness of men differ, therefore the difference of capacity certainly causes the difference of characters.2 But this is not so; for capacity is of two kinds, natural capacity and acquired capacity. The first, which is the creation of God, is purely good Ñ in the creation of God there is no evil; but the acquired capacity has become the cause of the appearance of evil. For example, God has created all men in such a manner, and has given them such a constitution and such capacities, that they are benefited by sugar and honey, and harmed and destroyed by poison. This nature and constitution is innate, and God has given it equally to all mankind. But man begins little by little to accustom himself to poison, by taking a small quantity each day, and gradually increasing it, until he reaches such a point that he cannot live without a gramme of opium every day. The natural capacities are thus completely perverted. Observe how much the natural capacity and constitution can be changed, until by different habits and training they become entirely perverted. One does not criticize vicious people because of their innate capacities and nature, but rather for their acquired capacities and nature. In creation there is no evil; all is good. Certain qualities and natures innate in some men and apparently blameworthy are not so m reality. For example, from the beginning 2 ~ therefore people cannot be blamed for their character. [p163] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 163 of his life you can see in a nursing child the signs of desire, of anger, and of temper. Then, it may be said, good and evil are innate in the reality of man, and this is contrary to the pure goodness of nature and creation. The answer to this is that desire, which is to ask for something more, is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is used suitably. So, if a man has the desire to acquire science and knowledge, or to become compassionate, generous, and just, it is most praiseworthy. If he exercises his anger and wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, it is very praiseworthy; but if he does not use these qualities in a right way, they are blameworthy. Then it is evident that in creation and nature evil does not exist at all; but when the natural qualities of man are used in an unlawful way, they are blameworthy. So, if a rich and generous person gives a sum of money to a poor man for his own necessities, and if the poor man spends that sum of money on unlawful things, that will be blameworthy. It is the same with all the natural qualities of man, which constitute the capital of life; if they be used and displayed in an unlawful way, they become blameworthy. Therefore it is clear that creation is purely good. Consider that the worst of qualities and most odious of attributes, which is the foundation of all evil, is lying. No worse or more blameworthy quality than this can be imagined to exist; it is the destroyer of all human perfections, and the cause of innumerable vices. There is no worse characteristic than this; it is the foundation of all evils. Notwithstanding all this, if a doctor consoles a sick man by saying: ccThanl( God you are better, and there is hope of your recovery," though these words are contrary to the truth, yet they may become the consolation of the patient and the turning-point of the illness. This is not blameworthy. This question is now clearly elucidated. Salutations! THE DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE POSSESSED BY MAN, AND THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS Question. Ñ Of what degree is the intelligence of the human world, and what are its limitations? Answer. Ñ Know that intelligence varies; the lowest degree of intelligence is that of the animals, that is to say, the natural feeling which appears through the powers of the senses, and which is called sensation. In this, men and animals are sharers; moreover, some animals with regard to the senses are more powerful than man. But in humanity, intelligence differs and varies in accordance with the different conditions of man. THE first condition of intelligence in the world of nature is the intelligence of the rational soul. In this intelligence and in this power all men are sharers, whether they be neglectful or vigilant, believers or deniers. This human rational soul is God's creation; it contains and excels other creatures; as it is more noble and distinguished, it contains things. The power of the rational soul can discover the realities of things, comprehend the peculiarities of beings, and penetrate the mysteries of existence. All sciences, knowledge, arts, wonders, institutions, discoveries, and enterprises, come from the exercised intelligence of the rational soul. There was a time when they were unknown, preserved mysteries, and hidden secrets; the rational soui gradually discovered them and brought them out from the plane of the invisible and the hidden, into the realm of the visible. This is the greatest power of intelligence in the world of nature, which in its highest flight and soaring comprehends the realities, the properties, and the effects of the contingent beings. But the universal divine mind which is beyond nature, is the bounty of the Preexistent Power. This universal mind is divine; it embraces existing realities, and it receives the light of the mysteries of God. It is a conscious power, not a power of investigation and of research. The intellectual power of the world of nature is a power of [p164] 164 THE BAHA'I WORLD investigation, and by its researches it discovers the realities of beings, and the properties of existences; but the heavenly intellectual power which is beyond nature, embraces things and is cognizant of things, knows them, understands them, is aware of mysteries, realities, and divine significations, and is the discoverer of the concealed verities of the Kingdom. This divine intellectual power is the special attribute of the Holy Manifestations and the Dawning-places of prophet-hood; a ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, and a portion and a share of this power comes to them through the Holy Manifestations. The Holy Manifestations have three conditions: one the physical condition; one, that of the rational soul; and one, that of the manifestation of perfection and of the Lordly splendour. The body comprehends things according to the degree of its ability in the physical world, therefore in certain cases it shows physical weakness. For example: C7[ was sleeping and unconscious, the breeze of God passed over me and awoke me, and commanded me to proclaim the Word"; or when Christ in his thirtieth year was baptized, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him; before this, the Holy Spirit did not manifest itself in him. All these things refer to the bodily condition of the Manifestations; but their heavenly condition embraces all things, knows all mysteries, discovers all signs, and rules over all things; before as well as after their mission, it is the same. That is why Christ has said: N am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last": that is to say, there has never been and never shall be any change and alteration in me. MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD Question. Ñ To what extent can the understanding of man comprehend God? Answer. Ñ T his subject requires ample time, and to explain it thus at table is not easy; nevertheless we will speak of it briefly. KNOW that there are two kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of the essence of a thing, and the knowledge of its qualities. The essence of a thing is known through its qualities, otherwise it is unknown and hidden. As our knowledge of things, even of created and limited things, is knowledge of their qualities and not of their essence, how is it possible to comprehend in its essence the Divine Reality, which is unlimited? For the substance of the essence of anything is not comprehended, but only its qualities. For example, the substance of the sun is unknown, but is understood by its qualities, which are heat and light. The substance of the essence of man is unknown and not evident, but by its qualities it is characterized and known. Thus everything is known by its qualities and not by its essence. Although the mind encompasses all things, and the outward beings are comprehended by it, nevertheless these beings with regard to their essence are unknown; they are only known with regard to their qualities. Then how can the eternal everlasting Lord, who is held sanctified from comprehension and conception, be known by His essence? That is to say, as things can oniy be known by their qualities and not by their essence, it is certain that the Divine Reality is unknown with regard to its essence, and is known with regard to its attributes. Besides, how can the phenomenal reality embrace the Preexistent Reality? For comprehension is the result of encompassing Ñ embracing must be, so that comprehension may be Ñ and the Essence of Unity surrounds all, and is not surrounded. Also the difference of conditions in the world of beings is an obstacle to comprehension. For example: this mineral belongs to the mineral kingdom; however far it may rise, it can never comprehend the power of growth. The plants, the trees, whatever progress they may make, cannot conceive of the power of sight or the powers of the other senses; and the animal cannot imagine the condition of man, that is to say, his spiritual powers. Difference of condition is an obstacle [p165] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 165 to knowledge; the inferior degree cannot comprehend the superior degree. How then can the phenomenal reality comprehend the Preexistent Reality? Knowing God, therefore, means the comprehension and the knowledge of His attributes, and not of His Reality. This knowledge of the attributes is also proportioned to the capacity and power of man; it is not absolute. Philosophy consists in comprehending the reality of things as they exist, according to the capacity and the power of man. For the phenomenal reality can comprehend the Preexistent attributes oniy to the extent of the human capacity. The mystery of Divinity is sanctified and purified from the comprehension of the beings, for all that comes to the imagination is that which man understands, and the power of the understanding of man does not embrace the Reality of the Divine Essence. All that man is able to understand are the attributes of Divinity, the radiance of which appears and is visible in worlds and souls. When we look at the worlds and the souls, we see wonderful signs of the divine perfections, which are clear and apparent; for the reality of things proves the Universal Reality. The Reality of Divinity may be compared to the sun, which from the height of its magnificence shines upon all the horizons, and each horizon, and each soul, receives a share of its radiance. If this light and these rays did not exist, beings would not exist; all beings express something, and partake of some ray and portion of this light. The splendours of the perfections, bounties, and attributes of God shine forth and radiate from the reality of the Perfect Man, that is to say the Unique One, the universal Manifestation of God. Other beings receive oniy one ray, but the universal Manifestation is the mirror for this Sun, which appears and becomes manifest in it, with all its perfections, attributes, signs, and wonders. The knowledge of the Reality of the Divinity is impossible and unattainable, but the knowledge of the Manifestations of God is the knowledge of God, for the bounties, splendours, and divine attributes are apparent in them. Therefore if man attains to the knowledge of the Manifestations of God, he will attain to the knowledge of God; and if he be neglectful of the knowledge of the Holy Manifestation, he will be bereft of the knowledge of God. It is then ascertained and proved that the Holy Manifestations are the center of the bounty, signs, and perfections of God. Blessed are those who receive the light of the divine bounties from the enlightened Dawning-points! We hope that the Friends of God, like an attractive force, will draw these bounties from the source itself, and that they will arise with such illumination and signs that they will be evident proofs of the Sun of Reality. THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT Ñ (i) HAVING shown that the spirit of man exists, we must prove its immortality. The immortality of the spirit is mentioned in the Holy Books; it is the fundamental basis of the divine religions. Now punishments and rewards are said to be of two kinds. Firstly, the rewards and punishments of this life; secondly, those of the other world. But the paradise and hell of existence are found in all the worlds of God, whether in this world or in the spiritual heavenly worlds. Gaining these rewards is the gaining of eternal life. That is why Christ said, ttAct in such a way that you may find eternal life, and that you may be born of water and the spirit, so that you may enter into the Kingdom." The rewards of this life are the virtues and perfections which adorn the reality of man. For example, he was dark and becomes luminous, he was ignorant and becomes wise, he was neglectful and becomes vigilant, he was asleep and becomes awakened, he was dead and becomes living, he was blind and becomes a seer, he was deaf and becomes a hearer, he was earthly and becomes heavenly, he was material and becomes spiritual. Through these rewards he gains spiritual birth, and becomes a new creature. He becomes the manifestation of the verse in the [p166] 166 THE BAHA'I WORLD Gospel where it is said of the disciples that they were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;1 that is to say, they were delivered from the animal characteristics and qualities which are the characteristics of human nature, and they became qualified with the divine characteristics, which are the bounty of God; this is the meaning of the second birth. For such people there is no greater torture than being veiled from God, and no more severe punishment than sensual vices, dark qualities, lowness of nature, engrossment in carnal desires. When they are delivered through the light of faith from the darkness of these vices, and become illuminated with the radiance of the sun of reality, and ennobled with all the virtues, they esteem this the greatest reward, and they know it to be the true paradise. In the same way they consider that the spiritual punishment, that is to say the torture and punishment of existence, is to be subjected to the world of nature, to be veiled from God, to be brutal and ignorant, to fall into carnal lusts, to be absorbed in animal frailties; to be characterized with dark qualities, such as falsehood, tyranny, cruelty, attachment to the affairs of the world, and being immersed in satanic ideas; for them, these are the greatest punishments and tortures. Likewise the rewards of the other world are the eternal life which is clearly mentioned in all the Holy Books, the divine perfections, the eternal bounties, and everlasting felicity. The rewards of the other world are the perfections and the peace obtained in the spiritual worlds after leaving this world; whilst the rewards of this life are the real luminous perfections which are realized in this world, and which are the cause of eternal life, for they are the very progress of existence. It is like the man who passes from the embryonic world to the state of maturity, and becomes the manifestation of these words: ccBled be God, the best of Creators." The rewards of the other world are peace, the spiritual graces, the various spiritual gifts in the Kingdom of God, the gaining of the desires of the heart and the soui, and the meeting of God in the world of eternity. In the same way the 1Johni. 13. punishments of the other world, that is to say, the torments of the other world, consist in being deprived of the special divine blessings and the absolute bounties, and falling into the lowest degrees of existence. He who is deprived of these divine favors, although he continues after death, is considered as dead by the people of truth. The logical proof of the immortality of the spirit is this, that no sign can come from a non-existing thing; that is to say, it is impossible that from absolute nonexistence signs should appear, for the signs are the consequence of an existence, and the consequence depends upon the existence of the principle. So, from a non-existing sun no light can radiate, from a non-existing sea no waves appear, from a non-existing cloud no rain falls; a non-existing tree yields no fruit; a non-existing man neither manifests nor produces anything. Therefore as long as signs of existence appear, they are a proof that the possessor of the sign is existent. Consider that today the Kingdom of Christ exists: from a non-existing king how could such a great kingdom be manifested? How, from a non-existing sea, can the waves mount so high? From a non-existing garden, how can such fragrant breezes be wafted? Reflect that no effect, no trace, no influence remains of any being after its members are dispersed and its elements are decomposed, whether it be a mineral, a vegetable, or an animal. There is only the human reality and the spirit of man which, after the disintegration of the members, dispersing of the particles, and the destruction of the composition, persists, and continue to act and to have power. This question is extremely subtle: consider it attentively. This is a rational proof which we are giving, so that the wise may weigh it in the balance of reason and justice. But if the human spirit will rejoice and be attracted to the Kingdom of God, if the inner sight becomes opened, and the spiritual hearing strengthened, and the spiritual feelings predominant, he will see the immortality of the spirit as clearly as he sees the sun, and the glad tidings and signs of God will encompass him. [p167] EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 167 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT Ñ (ii) YESTERDAY we were occupied in discussing the immortality of the spirit. Know that the power and the comprehension of the human spirit are of two kinds: that is to say, they perceive and act in two different modes. One way is through instruments and organs: thus with this eye it sees, with this ear it bears, with this tongue it talks. Such is the action of the spirit, and the perception of the reality of man, by means of organs. That is to say, that the spirit is the seer, through the eyes; the spirit is the hearer, through the ear; the spirit is the speaker, through the tongue. The other manifestation of the powers and actions of the spirit is without instruments and organs. For example, in the state of sleep without eyes it sees, without an ear it hears, without a togue it speaks, without feet it runs. Briefly, these actions are beyond the means of instruments and organs. How often it happens that it sees a dream in the world of sleep, and its signification becomes apparent two years afterwards in corresponding events. In the same way, how many times it happens that a question which one cannot solve in the world of wakefulness, is solved in the world of dreams. In wakefulness the eye sees only for a short distance, but in dreams he who is in the East sees the West: awake he sees the present, in sleep he sees the future. In wakefulness, by means of rapid transit, at the most he can travel only twenty farsakhst an hour; in sleep, in the twinkling of an eye, he traverses the East and West. For the spirit travels in two different ways: without means, which is spiritual travelling; and with means, which is material travelling: as birds which fly, and those which are carried. In the time of sleep this body is as though dead; it does not see nor hear, it does not feel, it has no consciousness, no perception: that is to say, the powers of man have become inactive, but the spirit lives and subsists. Nay, its penetration is increased, its flight is higher, and its intelligence is greater. To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes, is like imagining that a bird in a_cage will be destroyed if the cage is 1 One Jarsakh is equivalent to about four miles. broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird. 'We see that without the cage this bird flies in the world of sleep; therefore if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist: its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness in-treased. In truth, from hell it reaches a paradise of delights, because for the thankful birds there is no paradise greater than freedom from the cage. That is why with utmost joy and happiness the martyrs hasten to the plain of sacrifice. In wakefulness the eye of man sees at the utmost as f at as one hour of distance,2 because through the instrumentality of the body the power of the spirit is thus determined; but with the inner sight and the mental eye it sees America, and it can perceive that which is there, and discover the conditions of things and organize affairs. If, then, the spirit were the same as the body, it would be necessary that the power of the inner sight should also be in the same proportion. Therefore it is evident that this spirit is different from the body, and that the bird is different from the cage, and that the power and penetration of the spirit is stronger without the intermediary of the body. Now, if the instrument is abandoned, the possessor of the instrument continues to act. For example, if the pen is abandoned or broken, the writer remains living and present; if a house is ruined, the owner is alive and existing. This is one of the logical evidences for the immortality of the soul. There is another: this body becomes weak, or heavy, or sick, or it finds health; it becomes tired or rested; sometimes the band or leg is amputated, or its physical power is crippled; it becomes blind or deaf or dumb; its limbs may become paralyzed; briefly, the body many have all the imperfections. Nevertheless, the spirit in its original state, in its own spiritual perception, will be eternal and perpetual; it neither finds any imperfec-don nor will it become crippled. But when the body is wholly subjected to disease and 2 It is a Persian custom to reckon distance by time. [p168] 168 THE BAHA'I WORLD misfortune, it is deprived of the bounty of the spirit; like a mirror which, when it becomes broken, or dirty, or dusty, cannot reflect the rays of the sun, nor any longer show its bounties. 'We have already explained that the spirit of man is not in the body, because it is freed and sanctified from entrance and exit, which are bodily conditions. The connection of the spirit with the body is like that of the sun with the mirror. Briefly, the human spirit is in one condition; it neither becomes ill from the diseases of the body, nor cured by its health; it does not become sick, nor weak, nor miserable, nor poor, nor light, nor small. That is to say, it will not be injured because of the infirmities of the body, and no effect will be visible even if the body becomes weak or if the hands and feet and tongue be cut off, or if it loses the power of hearing or sight. Therefore it is evident and certain that the spirit is different from the body, and that its duration is independent of that of the body; on the contrary, the spirit with the utmost greatness rules in the world of the body, and its power and influence, like the bounty of the sun in the mirror, are apparent and visible. But when the mirror becomes dusty or breaks, it will cease to reflect the rays of the sun. [p169] THE PASSING OF BAHA'U'LLAH KHANUM, THE MOST EXALTED LEAF ON July 15, 1932, the National Assembly received from the Guardian the following cablegram: Slsoghi Effendi's Message "Greatest Holy Leaf's immortal spirit winged its flight Great Beyond. Countless lovers her saintly life in East and 'West seized with pangs of anguish, plunged in unutterable sorrow. Humanity shall erelong recognize its irreparable loss. Our beloved Faith, well nigh crushed by devastating blow of tAbdu'1-BahS's unexpected Ascension, now laments passing (of) last remnant of Baha'u'llah, its most exalted member. Holy Family cruelly divested (of) its most precious great Adorning. I for my part bewail sudden removal (of) my sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life. Remains will repose (in the) vicinity (of the) Holy Shrines. So grievous a bereavement necessitates suspension for nine months throughout Baha world every manner religious festivity. Inform Local Assemblies and groups hold (in) bditting manner memorial gatherings (to) extol a life so laden (with) sacred experiences, so rich (in) imperishable memories. Advise holding additional Commemoration Service of strictly devotional character (in the) Auditorium (of the) Mashriqu'l-Adhkar." (Signed) SHOGHI. TABLETS REVEALED IN HONOR OF THE GREATEST HOLY LEAF To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada. DEARLY beloved friends: Moved by an unalterable devotion to the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, I feel prompted to share with you, and through you with the concourse of her steadfast lovers throughout the West, these significant passages which I have gleaned from various Tablets revealed in her honor by Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-BahA. Impregnated with that love after which the soul of a humanity in travail now hungers, these passages disclose, to the extent that our finite minds can comprehend, the nature of that mystic bond which on one hand, united her with the Spirit of her Almighty Father and, on the other hand, linked her so closely with her glorious Brother, the perfect Exemplar of that Spirit. The memory of her who was a pattern of goodness, of a pure and holy life, who was the embodiment of such heavenly virtues as oniy the priviliged inmates of the uppermost chambers in the tAbhA Paradise can fully appreciate, will long live enshrined in these immortal words Ñ a memory the ennobling influence of which will remain an inspiration and a solace amid the wreckage of a sadly shaken world. Conscious of the predominating share assumed, in recent years, by the American believers in alleviating the burden which that most exalted Leaf bore so heroically in the evening of her life, I can do no better than entrust into their hands these prized testimonies of the Founder of our Faith and of the Center of His Covenant. I feel confident 169 [p170] Baha'i KMnum, The Most Exalted Leaf. __ 2 Circa, 2890 1919 1931 [p171] THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM 171 that their elected representatives will take whatever measures are required for their prompt and wide circulation among their brethren throughout the West. They will, thereby, be contributing still further to the repayment of the great debt they owe her in the prosecution of a mighty and divinely-appointed task. Your true brother, SHOGHI. Haifa, Palestine, January 14, 1933. PASSAGES FROM TABLETS REVEALED BY BAHA'U'LLAH FT E IS the Eternal! This is My testimony for her who hath heard My voice and drawn nigh unto Me. Verily, she is a leaf that hath sprung from this preexistant Root. She bath revealed herself in My name and tasted of the sweet savors of My holy, My wondrous pleasure. At one time We gave her to drink from My honeyed Mouth, at another caused her to partake of My mighty, My luminous Kawthar. Upon her rest the glory of My name and the fragrance of My shining robe. Let these exalted words be thy love-song on the tree of Bah~, 0 thou most holy and resplendent Leaf: "GOd, besides Whom is none other God, the Lord of this world and the next!" Verily, We have elevated thee to the rank of one of the most distinguished among thy sex, and granted thee, in My court, a station such as none other woman hath surpassed. Thus have 'We preferred thee and raised thee above the rest, as a sign of grace from I-Jim Who is the Lord of the throne on high and earth below. We have created thine eyes to behold the light of My countenance, thine ears to hearken unto the melody of My words, thy body to pay homage before My throne. Do thou render thanks unto God, thy Lord, the Lord of all the world. How high is the testimony of the Sadra-tu'1-MuntaM for its leaf; how exalted the witness of the Tree of Life unto its fruit! Through My remembrance of her a fragrance laden with the perfume of musk bath been diffused; well is it with him that bath inhaled it and exclaimed: reAl! praise be to Thee, 0 Cod, my Lord the most glorious!" How sweet thy presence before Me: how sweet to gaze upon thy face, to bestow upon thee My lovingkindness, to favor thee with My tender care, to make mention of thee in this, My Tablet Ñ a Tablet which I have ordained as a token of My hidden and manifest grace unto thee! PASSAGES FROM TABLETS REVEALED BY CABDU~LBAHA O MY well-beloved, deeply spiritual sister! Day and night thou livest in my memory. Whenever I remember thee my heart swelleth with sadness and my regret groweth more intense. Grieve not, for I am thy true, thy unfailing comforter. Let neither despondency nor despair becloud the serenity of thy life or restrain thy freedom. These days shall pass away. We will, please God, in the tAbM Kingdom and beneath the sheltering ing shadow of the Blessed Beauty, forget all these our earthly cares and will find each one of these base calumnies amply compensated by I-us expressions of praise and favor. From the beginning of time sorrow and anxiety, regret and tribulation, have always been the lot of every loyal servant of God. Ponder this in thine heart and consider how very true it is. Wherefore, set thine heart on the tender mercies of the Ancient Beauty and be thou [p172] 172 THE BAHA'I WORLD filled with abiding joy and intense gladness. 0 thou my affectionate sister! In the daytime and in the night-season my thoughts ever turn to thee. Not for one moment do I cease to remember thee. My sorrow and regret concern not myself; they center around thee. ~Whenever I recall thine afflictions, tears that I cannot repress rain down from mine eyes. Dear and deeply spiritual sister! At morn and eventide, with the utmost ardor and humility, I supplicate at the Divine Threshold, and offer this, my prayer: Grant, 0 Thou my God, the Corn passionate, that that pure and blessed Leaf may be comforted by Thy sweet savors of holiness and sustained by the reviving breeze of Thy loving care and mercy. Reinforce her spirit with the signs of Thy Kingdom, and gladden her soul with the testimonies of Thy ever-lasang dominion. Comfort, 0 my God, her sorrowful heart with the remembrance of Thy face, initiate her into Thy hidden inys-teries, and inspire her with the revealed splendors of Thy heavenly light. Manifold are her sorrows, and infinitely grievous her distress. Bestow continually upon her the favor of Thy sustaining grace and, with every fleeting breath, grant her the blessing of Thy bounty. Her hopes and expectations are centered in Thee; open Thou to her face the portals of Thy tender mercies and lead her into the ways of Thy wondrous benevolence. Thou art the Generous, the All-loving, the Sustainer, the All-~bountiful." Dear sister, beloved of my heart and soul! The news of thy safe arrival and pleasant stay in the land of Egypt has reached me and filled my heart with exceeding gladness. I am thankful to Baha'u'llah for the good health thou dost enjoy and for the happiness He hath imparted to the hearts of the loved ones in that land. Should'st thou wish to know of the condition of this servant of the Threshold of the ~AbM Beauty, praise be to Him for having enabled me to inhale the fragrance of His tender mercy and partake of the delights of His lovingkindness and blessings. I am being continually reinforced forced by the energizing rays of His grace, and feel upheld by the uninterrupted aid of the victorious hosts of His Kingdom. My physical health is also improving. God be praised that from every quarter I receive the glad-tidings of the growing ascendancy of the Cause of God, and can Witness evidences of the increasing influence of its spread. My sister and beloved of my soul! I can never, never forget thee. However great the distance that separates us, we still feel as though we were seated under the same roof, in one and the same gathering, for are we not all under the shadow of the Tabernacle of God and beneath the canopy of His infinite grace and mercy? 0 thou my loving, my deeply spiritual sister! I trust that by the grace and lovingkindness of the one true God thou art, and wilt be, kept safe and secure beneath the sheltering shadow of the Blessed Beauty. Night and day thy countenance appeareth bef ore mine eyes, and in my mind are engraved the traits of thy character. (From a Tablet addressed to the Holy Mother): ~To my honored and distinguished sister do thou convey the expression of my heartfelt, my intense longing. Day and night she liveth in my remembrance. I dare make no mention of the feelings which separation from her has aroused in mine heart; for whatever I should attempt to express in writing will assuredly be effaced by the tears which such sentiments must bring to mine eyes. (From a Tablet addressed to His daughter) ~O Diy4I It is incumbent upon thee, throughout the journey, to be a close, a constant and cheerful companion to my honored and distinguished sister. Unceasingly, with the utmost vigor and devotion, exert thyself, by day and night, to gladden her blessed heart; for all her days she was denied a moment of tranquillity. She was astir and restless every hour of her life. Moth-like she circled in adoration round the undying flame of the Divine Candle, her spirit ablaze and her heart consumed by the fire of His love." [p173] The Shrine of the Most Exalted Leaf at night. 173 [p174] 174 THE BAHA'I WORLD A TRIBUTE BY SHOGHI EFFENDI Brethren and Fellow-Mourners in the Faith of Baha'u'llah: A SORROW, reminiscent in its poignancy, of the devastating grief caused by tAbd~1Bh~~ sudden removal from our midst, has stirred the Baha'i world to its foundations. The Greatest Holy Leaf, the well-beloved and treasured Remnant of Baha'u'llah entrusted to our frail and unworthy hands by our departed Master, has passed to the Great Beyond, leaving a legacy that time can never dim. The Community of the Most Great Name, in its entirety and to its very core, feels the sting of this cruel ioss. Inevitable though this calamitous event appeared to us all, however acute our apprehensions of its steady approach, the consciousness of its final consummation at this terrible hour leaves us, we whose souls have been impregnated by the energizing influence of her iove, prostrated and disconsolate. How can my lonely pen, so utterly inadequate to glorify so exalted a station, so impotent to portray the experiences of so sublime a life, so disqualified to recount the blessings she showered upon me since my earliest childhood Ñ how can such a pen repay the great debt of gratitude and love that I owe her whom I regarded as my chief sustainer, my most affectionate comforter, the joy and inspiration of my life? My grief is too immense, my remorse too profound, to be able to give full vent at this moment to the feelings that surge within me. Only future generations and pens abler than mine can, and will, pay a worthy tribute to the towering grandeur of her spiritual life, to the unique part she played throughout the tumultuous stages of Baha'i history, to the expressions of unqualified praise that have streamed from the pen of both Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-BahA, the Center of His Covenant, though unrecorded, and in the main unsuspected by the mass of her passionate admirers in East and YCest, the share she has had in influencing the course of some of the chief events in the annals of the Faith, the sufferings she bore, the sacrifices she made, the rare gifts of unfailing sympathy she so strikingly displayed Ñ these, and many others, stand so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the Cause itself that no future historian of the Faith of Baha'u'llah can afford to ignore or minimize. As far back as the concluding stages of the heroic age of the Cause, which witnessed the imprisonment of Baha'u'llah in the SiyTh-diM of TihrSn, the Greatest Holy Leaf, then still in her infancy, was privileged to taste of the cup of woe which the first believers of that Apostolic Age had quaffed. How well I remember her recall, at a time when her faculties were still unimpaired, the gnawing suspense that ate into the hearts of those who watched by her side, at the threshold of her pillaged house, expectant to hear at any moment the news of Baha'u'llah's imminent execution! In those sinister hours, she often recounted, her parents had so suddenly lost their earthly possessions that within the space of a single day from being the privileged member of one of the wealthiest families of TihMn she had sunk to the state of a sufferer from unconcealed poverty. Deprived of the means of subsistence, her illustrious mother, the famed NavyTh, was constrained to place in the palm of her daughter's hand a handful of flour and to induce her to accept it as a substitute for her daily bread. And when at a later time this revered and precious member of the Holy Family, then in her teens, came to be entrusted by the guiding hand of her Father with missions that no girl of her age could, or would be willing to, perform, with what spontaneous joy she seized her opportunity and acquitted herself of the task with which she had been entrusted! The delicacy and extreme gravity of such functions as she, from time to time, was called upon to fulfil, when the city of Baghd6d was swept by the hurricane which the heedlessness and perversity of Mirza Yahy~ had unchained, as well as the tender solicitude which, at so early an age, she evinced during the period of Baha'u'llah's enforced retirement to the mountains of Sulaym&niyyih, marked her as one who was [p175] THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM 175 both capable of sharing the burden, and willing to make the sacrifice, which her high birth demanded. How staunch was her faith, how calm her demeanor, how forgiving her attitude, how severe her trials, at a time when the forces of schism had rent asunder the ties that united the little band of exiles which had settled in Adrianople and whose fortunes seemed then to have sunk to their lowest ebb! It was in this period of extreme anxiety, when the rigours of a winter of exceptional severity, coupled with the privations entailed by unhealthy housing accommodation and dire financial distress, undermined once for all her health and sapped the vitality which she had hitherto so thoroughly enjoyed. The stress and storm of that period made an abiding impression upon her mind, and she retained till the time of her death on her beauteous and angelic face evidences of its intense hardships. Not until, however, she had been confined in the company of Baha'u'llah within the walls of the prison-city of tAkk4 did she display, in the plenitude of her power and in the full abundance of her iove for Him, those gifts that single her out, next to cAbdu31~Bahi among the members of the Holy Family, as the brightest embodiment of that love which is born of God and of that human sympathy which few mortals are capable of evincing. Banishing from her mind and heart every earthly attachment, renouncing the very idea of matrimony, she, standing resolutely by the side of a Brother whom she was to aid and serve so well, arose to dedicate her life to the service of her Father's glorious Cause. Whether in the management of the affairs of His household in which she excelled, or in the social relationships which she so assidu-ousiy cultivated in order to shield both Baha'u'llah and CAbdu~L~Bahi whether in the unfailing attention she paid to the every day needs of her Father, or in the traits of generosity, of affability and kindness, which she manifested, the Greatest Holy Leaf had by that time abundantly demonstrated her worthiness to rank as one of the noblest figures intimately associated with the lifelong work of Baha'u'llah. How grievous was the ingratitude, how blind the fanaticism, how persistent the malignity of the officials, their wives, and their subordinates, in return for the manifold bounties which she, in close association with her Brother, so profusely conferred upon them! Her patience, her magnanimity, her undiscriminating benevolence, far from disarming the hostility of that perverse generation, served oniy to inflame their rancour, to excite their jealousy, to intensify their fears. The gloom that had settled upon that little band of imprisoned believers, who languished in the Fortress of cAkk~ contrasted with the spirit of confident hope, of deep-rooted optimism that beamed upon her serene countenance. No calamity, however intense, could obscure the brightness of her saintly face, and no agitation, no matter how severe, could disturb the composure of her gracious and dignified behaviour. That her sensitive heart instantaneously reacted to the slightest injury that befell the least significant of creatures, whether friend or foe, no one who knew her well could doubt. And yet such was the restraining power of her will Ñ a will which her spirit of self-renunciation so often prompted her to suppress Ñ that a superficial observer might well be led to question the intensity of her emotions or to belittle the range of her sympathies. In the school of adversity she, already endowed by Providence with the virtues of meekness and fortitude, learned through the example and exhortations of the Great Sufferer, who was her Father, the lesson she was destined to teach the great mass of His followers for so long after Him. Armed with the powers with which an intimate and longstanding companionship with Baha'u'llah had already equipped her, and benefitting by the magnificent example which the steadily widening range of tAb-du'1-Bah&'s activities afforded her, she was prepared to face the storm which the treacherous conduct of the covenant-breakers had aroused and to withstand its most damaging onslaughts. Great as had been her sufferings ever since her infancy, the anguish of mind and heart which the ascension of Baha'u'llah occasioned nerved her, as never before, to a resolve which no upheaval could bend and which her frail constitution belied. Amidst the [p176] Views of the Shrine of the Most Exalted Leaf. 176 [p177] THE PASSING OF BAI-IIYYIH KHANUM 177 dust and heat of the commotion which that faithless and rebellious company engendered she found herself constrained to dissolve ties of family relationship, to sever longstanding and intimate friendships, to discard lesser loyalties for the sake of her supreme allegiance to a cause she had loved so dearly and had served so well. The disruption that ensued found her ranged by the side of Him Whom her departed Father had appointed as the Center of His Covenant and the authorized Expounder of His Word. Her venerated mother, as well as her distinguished pa5rnal uncle, 'Aqay-1-Kalim Ñ .-the twin pillars who, all throughout the various stages of Baha'u'llah's exile from the Land of His Birth to final place of His confinement, had demonstrated, unlike most of the members of His ramily, the tenacity of their loyalty Ñ had already passed behind the Veil. Death, in the most tragic circumstances, had also robbed her of the Purest Branch, her oniy brother besides cAbdu~1~ Baha, while still in the prime of youth. She alone of the family of Baha'u'llah remained to cheer the heart and reinforce the efforts of the Most Great Branch, against Whom were solidly arrayed the almost entire company of His faithless relatives. In her arduous task she was seconded by the diligent efforts of Munirili Kh&num, the Holy Mother, and those of her daughters whose age allowed them to assist in the accomplishment of that stupendous achievement with which the name of CAbd~1Bhf will forever remain associated. 'With the passing of Baha'u'llah and the fierce onslaught of the forces of disruption that followed in its wake, the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the heyday of her life, rose to the height of her great opportunity and acquitted herself worthily of her task. It would take me beyond the compass of the tribute I am moved to pay to her memory were I to dwell upon the incessant machinations to which Muhammad-~A1i, the arch-breaker of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, and his despicable supporters basely resorted, upon the agitation which their cleverly-di-rected campaign of misrepresentation and calumny produced in quarters directly connected with SultAn tAbdu~1~Hamid and his advisers, upon the trials and investigations to which it gave rise, upon the rigidity of the incarceration it reimposed, and upon the perils it revived. Suffice it to say that but for her sleepless vigilance, her tact, her courtesy, her extreme patience and heroic fortitude, grave complications might have ensued and the load of cAbdu~1~BahA~s anxious care would have been considerably increased. And when the storm-cloud that had darkened the horizon of the Holy Land had been finally dissipated and the call raised by our beloved tAbdu'1-Ba1A had stirred to a new life certain cities of the American and European continents, the Most Exalted Leaf became the recipient of the unbounded affection and blessings of One Who could best estimate her virtues and appreciate her merits. The decline of her precious life had by that time set in, and the burden of advancing age was beginning to becloud the radiance of her countenance. Forgetful of her own self, disdaining rest and comfort, and undeterred by the obstacles that still stood in her path, she, acting as the honoured hostess to a steadily increasing number of pilgrims who thronged tAbdu'1-BaM's residence from both the East and the West, continued to display those same attributes that had won her, in the preceding phases of her career, so great a measure of admiration and love. And when, in pursuance of God's inscrutable wisdom, the ban on tAbdu'1-BahA's confinement was lifted and the Plan which He, in the darkest hours of His confinement, had conceived materialized, He with unhesitating confidence, invested His trusted and honoured sister with the responsibility of attending to the multitudinous details arising out of His protracted absence from the Holy Land. No sooner had tAbdu'1-BaM stepped upon the shores of the European and American continents than our beloved Kh4num found herself weilnigh overwhelmed with thrilling messages, each betokening the irresistible advance of the Cause in a manner which, notwithstanding the vast range of her experience, seemed to her almost incredible. The years in which she basked in the sunshine of CAbdu~1~Bah&~s spiritual victories were, perhaps, among the brightest and happiest of her life. Little did she dream when, as a little girl, she was running about, in the courtyard [p178] 178 THE BAHA'! WORLD of her Father's house in Tihr4n, in the company of Him Whose destiny was to be one day the chosen Center of God's indestructible Covenant, that such a Brother would be capable of achieving, in realms so distant, and among races so utterly remote, so great and memorable a victory. The enthusiasm and joy which swelled in her breast as she greeted CAbd 'lB li' on His triumphant return from the West, I will not venture to aescribe. She was astounded at the vitality of which He had, despite His unimaginable sufferings, proved Himself capable. She was lost in admiration at the magnitude of the forces which His utterances had released. She was filled with thankfulness to Baha'u'llah for having enabled her to witness the evidences of such brilliant victory for His Cause no less than for His Son. The outbreak of the Great War gave her yet another opportunity to reveal the true worth of her character and to release the latent energies of her heart. The residence of Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa was besieged, all throughout that dreary conflict, by a concourse of famished men, women and children whom the maladministration, the cruelty and neglect of the officials of the Ottoman Government had driven to seek an alleviation to their woes. From the hand of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and out of the abundance of her heart, these hapless victims of a contemptible tyranny, received day after day unforgettable evidences of a love they had learned to envy and admire. Her words of cheer and comfort, the food, the money, the clothing she freely dispensed, the remedies which, by a process of her own, she herself prepared and diligently applied Ñ all these had their share in comforting the disconsolate, in restoring sight to the blind, in sheltering the orphan, in healing the sick, and in succoring the homeless and the wanderer. She had reached, amidst the darkness of the war days, the high watermark of her spiritual attainments. Few, if any, among the unnumbered benefactors of society whose privilege has been to allay, in various measures, the hardships and sufferings entailed by that fierce conflict, gave as freely and as disinterestedly as ~she did; few exercised that undefinable influence upon the beneficiaries of their gifts. Age seemed to have accentuated the tenderness of her loving heart, and to have widened still further the range of her sympathies. The sight of appalling suffering around her steeled her energies and revealed such potentialities that her most intimate associates had failed to suspect. The ascension of tAbdu'1 Ñ Baha, so tragic in its suddenness, was to her a terrible blow from the effects of which she never completely recovered. To her He, Whom she called, "Aq&," had been a refuge in times of adversity. On Him she had been led to place her sole reliance. In Him she had found ample compensation for the bereavements she had suffered, the desertions she had witnessed, the ingratitude she had been shown by friends and kindreds. No one could ever dream that a woman of her age, so frail in body, so sensitive of heart, so loaded with the cares of almost eighty years of incessant tribulation, could so long survive so shattering a blow. And yet, history, no less than the annals of our immortal Faith, shall record for her a share in the advancement and consolidation of the worldwide community which the hand of tAbdu'I-BabA had helped to fashion, which no one among the remnants of His Family can rival. Which of the blessings am I to recount, which in her unfailing solicitude she showered upon me, in the most critical and agitated hours of my life? To me, standing in so dire a need of the vitalizing grace of God, she was the living symbol of many an attribute I had learned to admire in tAbdu'1-BaM. She was to me a continual reminder of His inspiring personality, of His calm resignation, of His munificence and magnanimity. To me she was an incarnation of His winsome graciousness, of His all-encompassing tenderness and love. It would take me too long to make even a brief allusion to those incidents of her life, each of which eloquently proclaims her as a daughter, worthy to inherit that priceless heritage bequeathed to her by Baha'u'llah. A purity of life that reflected itself in even the minutest details of her daily occupations and activities; a tenderness of heart that obliterated every distinction of creed, class and colour; a resignation and serenity that evoked to the mind the calm and heroic ford [p179] THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM 179 tude of the B&b; a natural fondness of flowers and children that was so characteristic of Baha'u'llah; an unaffected simplicity of manners; an extreme sociability which made her accessible to all; a generosity, a love, at once disinterested and undiscriminating, that reflected so clearly the attributes of tAbdu'1-BaM's character; a sweetness of temper; a cheerfulness that no amount of sorrow could becloud; a quiet and unassuming disposition that served to enhance a thousandfold the prestige of her exalted rank; a forgiving nature that instantly disarmed the most unyielding enemy Ñ these rank among the outstanding attributes of a saintly life which history will acknowledge as having been endowed with a celestial potency that few of the heroes of the past possessed. No wonder that in Tablets, which stand as eternal testimonies to the beauty of her character, Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha have paid touching tributes to those things that testify to her exalted position among the members of their Family, that prochim her as an example to their followers, and as an oh. ject worthy of the admiration of all mankind. I need oniy, at this juncture, quote the following passage from a Tablet addressed by CAbd~1Bh~ to the Holy Mother, the tone of which reveals unmistakably the character of those ties that bound him to so precious, so devoted a sister: "To my honoured and distinguished sister do thou convey the expression of my heartfelt, my intense longing. Day and night she liveth in my remembrance: I dare make no mention of the feelings which separation from her has aroused in my heart, for whatever I should attempt to express in writing will assuredly be effaced by the tears which such sentiments must bring to my eyes. Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf! Through the mist of tears that fill my eyes I can clearly see, as I pen these lines, thy noble figure before me, and can recognize the serenity of thy kindly face. I can still gaze, though the shadows of the grave separate us, into thy blue, love-deep eyes, and can feel in its calm intensity, the immense love thou did'st bear for the Cause of thine Almighty Father, the attachment that bound thee to the most iowiy and insignificant among its followers, the warm affection thou didst cherish for me in thine heart. The memory of the ineffable beauty of thy smile shall ever continue to cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch of thine hand shall spur me on to follow steadfastly in thy way, the sweet magic of thy voice shall remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to hold fast to the rope thou did'st seize so firmly all the days of thy life. Bear thou this my message to tAbdu'1-BaLi, thine exalted and divinely-appointed Brother: If the Cause for which Baha'u'llah toiled and laboured, for which thou did'st suffer years of agonizing sorrow, for the sake of which streams of sacred blood have flown, should, in the days to come, encounter storms more severe than those it has already weathered, do thou continue to overshadow, with thine all-encompassing care and wisdom, thy frail, thy unworthy appointed child. Intercede, 0 noble and well-favored scion of a heavenly Father, for me no less than for the toiling masses of thy ardent lovers, who have sworn undying allegiance to thy memory, whose souls have been nourished by the energies of thy love, whose conduct has been moulded by the inspiring example of thy life, and whose imaginations are fired by the imperishable evidences of thy lively faith, thy unshakable constancy, thy invincible heroism, thy great renunciation. 'Whatever betide us, however distressing the vicissitudes which the nascent Faith of God may yet experience, we pledge ourselves, before the mercy-seat of thy glorious Father, to hand on, unimpaired and undivided, to generations yet unborn, the glory of that tradition of which thou hast been its most brilliant exemplar. In the innermost recesses of our hearts, 0 thou exalted Leaf of the AbM Paradise, we have reared for thee a shining mansion that the hand of time can never undermine, a shrine which shall frame eternally the matchless beauty of thy countenance, an altar whereon the fire of thy consuming iove shall burn forever. SHOGHI. The beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the merciful throughout the West. July 17, 1932. [p180] Baha'i KMnum The Most Exalted Leaf. Circa, 1895. 180 [p181] THE PASSING OF BAHIYYIJTT KHANUM 181 BAHA'I KUANUM B~ MARJORY MORTEN SHE was the daughter of Baha'u'llah and Asiyih Khinum and the sister of Abdu'l-Baha. She was named Baha'i. To the fol Ñ lowers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah she was known and reverenced as The Greatest Holy Leaf. To those she lived among she was 'Khinum,' which is to say, Lady. It is this Khinum, the woman, her pervading spirit, who lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her Ñ Khinurn, moving serene and steadfast through the days; showing goodness in a simple sharing of each day's portion and leaving for us to take and share in turn precious morsels of the substance that was for her the daily bread of life. HEN you think of the traits and ways that made up her lovely behavior she comes to you at first, perhaps, as she welcomed you among her guests, Ñ gracefully erect and poised, controlled yet at ease, Ñ putting others at ease, without familiarity, Ñ and with the mild dignity, simplicity and unseif consciousness of a great lady. Her graciousness and courtesy reflected the courtly Persia of another day. Even with her family she observed some of the punctilio of that day, gestures that for her were a part of a living ritual rather than a dead form; delicate values of human relationships that outlast all form and fashion and that expressed her innate respect and consideration for every fellow-being. And those restraining customs which in the East still hedged about a lady of her rank and station you saw as you came to know her that she accepted as she would inclement weather that kept her indoors: saw that she had moulded her life to the bounds of her sphere, pouring into it the resources of her own spirit, and had found scope for all her qualities. Her balance, sense of fineness and fitness and practical judgment she displayed in creating order and grace in the household, and all the elements that make for wellbeing she bl6nded in an ambience of harmony. Her strong will was never used to override and her decided opinions were never pressed upon another. Her ways were gentle. Others might break the shell with a blow: it was for her to unsheath the kernel with infinite care and skill. In her you met with no exactions, no biddance: she beckoned, smiling, and would have no one come heavy-footed or bent to her will. So quietly did she make her influence felt that you were scarcely conscious of its working. A ND she shed her creative sympathy in the form of tender interest in every detail in the lives of those around her, entering into their hours in the small and filling them with happiness. At the moment you did not recognize this sympathy as sympathy, but enjoyed it in pleasure. It is a charming Persian habit to wrap a gift in an embroidered silk or linen cloth, as fine in its way as the thing enclosed. So, always, she gave a gift within the gift. You took the happy warmth of contentment you felt when you were with her and oniy later came to realize that this was the fine wrapping of a deeper joy, a richer core. One of the endless glimpses of this twofold blessing we had one day when we were with her in tAkk& and she lay ill of fever, while all the house was filled with hushed preparations for a wedding,, that evening. Just before the simple ceremony she sent for the young girl, Ñ hardly more than a child, Ñ who came trembling and tearful. She blessed her with a smile, touched her white cotton dress and the veil and wreath of orange flowers we had improvised for her in western fashion, and said softly, tHow very pretty!' The little bride forgot her fears at that word of approval and went to her marriage with a blessing she was not yet able to understand. AMONG the Persians a mother in admon •ishing or consoling her child calls it inddar, mother. This tender expression she used gem-erally to all those who were close about her. Her murmur of, erinddar ayb naddrad," Ñ "Mother, never rnind," Ñ was an assuaging echo in the house. To each one she was corn [p182] 182 THE BAHA'I WORLD forter. But you would not be content to describe her as motherly. Motherliness is too confining a term. Mother-love embraces and holds, however lightly; has something of possessiveness, something that asks response to the love showered. There was no hint of this in her affection. She left spirit and body alike utterly free, demanding nothing of those she loved. And she would, it seemed, have them unaware of any debt of love. So light was her touch that she woke in them no sense of responsibility or conscious gratitude. Even when she comforted, her caress was feather soft: for she knew that those in sore need can be bruised by the least pressure of compassion. She would give the balm itself and add no weight of her own hand; so that healing and comfort came as a magic gift. At the time you neither knew nor asked its source, and your thankfulness overflowed in a happy sharing of the gift. SHE would not weigh your worth and reward you according to your deserts; nor would she consider whether your pain were inflicted or self-provoked, as if she knew that suffering has a sanctity of its own. She never sat in judgment and was not concerned with separating the sheep from the goats. Not oniy did she not single out black from white in the flock, but in the inner fold of your own nature she did not call the fault dark nor see the white lamb in a good action. She would not use criticism and censure. When you brought her your darkness she lit a taper. If you had done wrong or failed in your effort, or even failed to make the effort, she loved you the more, conscious of your chagrin in failure; pitying you for your weakness and defeat and pitying you, too, if you did not suffer and felt no shame in failure. You were sure that if one tried to hurt her she would wish to console him for his own cruelty. For her love was unconditioned, could penetrate disguise and see hunger behind the mask of fury, and she knew that the most brutal self is secretly hoping to find gentleness in another. She had that rarest heart-courage, Ñ to uncover the very quick of tenderness to any need. And so deep was her understanding that she plumbed all the miseries of the human heart and read their significance, blessing both the victim and the valid pain itself. SO alive was she to the source of all bounty that she had no consciousness of her own bounty. When she made a gift she seemed to be thanking you for it. The prompting included gratitude. When she gave joy she blessed you for it. It was almost as if she did nor distinguish giving from receiving: as when, during the last year of her life, she went one summer day to the mountain with the children of her family and sat watching them at their picnic. To have her there with them made the day a festival. This joy that she shed she shared. And when they came down in the evening she thanked them for her delight in their play and for the happiness their happiness had given her. Though she was unaware of her own iov-ing-kindness she was moved by the least trace of it in others. To serve her was not duty: it was high privilege. But she took nothing for granted in the way of devoted service and even in her last hours she whispered or smiled her thanks for every littlest ministration. Her generosity was instinctive, not considered: you felt no pause between impulse and act. You knew that her openhandedness was the evidence of an unbroken stream of impelling kindness that flowed through her, that never failed. She delighted in making presents, Ñ sweetmeats and goodies and coins for the children, and for others flowers, keepsakes, Ñ a vial of attar of roses, a rosary, or some delicate thing that she had used and cared for. Anything that was given her she one day gave to someone else, someone in whom she felt a special need of a special favour. She was channel rather than cup; open treasury, not locked casket. A ND as she would not lock away her small treasures, neither would she store up her wisdom and her riches of experience. In her, experience left no bitter ash. Her flame transmuted all of life, even its crude and base particles, into gold. And this gold she spent. Her wisdom was of the heart. She never reduced it to formula or precept: we have no wise sayings of hers that we can hang motto-like on our walls. Just by being what she was she gave us all that she knew. [p183] THE PASSING OF BAHA'U'LLAH KHANUM 183 A thousand of the things that cannot be uttered by the human tongue she spoke in smile and glance, and in tender silence. Often she would sit silent in a hum of voices, but never shut in a shell of silence, never isolated nor aloof. Her stillness was neither empty nor insistent: it did not hush nor summon others to quiet, but made accompaniment to the play of voices around her. How full she was of deep tranquillity: how far removed from mere placidity. She loved laughter and often joined in the eager, merry moods of the young people who clustered about her. These responsive humours were happy ripples on the sea of her tranquillity. SHE was seldom alone. The unity and selflessness that some may win by vigil and withdrawal she reached and maintained in the company of others. Her whole attitude of life was prayer. Her thoughts were kneeling thoughts. She found communion in shared quietude, and privacy in a sunny room where children played. Her room was the heart of the house. Around the glow of her brazier in winter or when she sat on her window divan in full sunlight, old and young would gather near her, filtering in one by one, slipping out again to work or play, or pausing for a moment in a busy day at tbe doorway for a glimpse. You left your shoes at the threshold of that room and you left, too, any outer covering of pose or manner you might have made for yourself for protection in a bleak world. Here was no need for pretence and brave showing: here in the light of her shining simplicity you became simple. All fear went out of you, all shyness, all timidity. Insensibly she tempered coldness and warmed indifference. You did not think, How good she is: how selfish am I. For the moment self was forgotten and, in the forgetting, conscious standards of comparison were lost. The current of intent that fed the ego was cut. You were free. A LTHQUGH for so many years she had been the head of that great household, directing every detail of its ordering, she showed no urge to small activity. 'When there was something to be done she did it straightway, giving it her full attention. When she sat with folded hands she was wholly there: no part of her mind seemed to be busy with the next step, the duty to come. It was in keeping with her harmony with life that she gave herself in her entirety to her hours of companionship and so made them complete. Islands in time. And she was not only in harmony with life and those who peopled it for her: she was never in conflict nor at variance within herself. In her inclinations you heard no dissident minority of hesitation, no murmur of reluctance that robs the act of its purity, its generosity. Her personality was so attuned to her spirit that integrity and purity were her natural expression, and her habit of recognizing and choosing the pure in all things was involuntary. She was incorruptible rather than innocent, for she knew the shapes of evil and faced them fearlessly. She regarded all life with something more generous than tolerance and her outlook was uncolored by any slightest tint of prejudice. If you had looked for fault you would have found oniy human sides of her rare qualities, and these sides linked you with her in understanding and allowed awe to give way to devotion. SHE was not learned nor even educated in a worldly sense: she drew her wisdom from hidden springs. Though her intelligence was of the heart, that heart itself was filled from sources deeper than human knowledge. She did not read much or often write but was in a constant state of communication with life. You felt that every object held something of import for her; that every phase of nature and every thing, animate and inanimate, were as letters and syllables formed to a message for her reading. And all that she gathered she translated into ways of Living. She did not expound or teach: won you by no argument or triumph of wit: never lent herself to persuasion or appeal. Depth to depth she shared with you a secret that through some alchemy of spirit fed your instant need. If she found you troubled she would not discuss your difficulties and try to solve your problems. You forgot them. Confusion and complexity were dissolved in her warm clarity. You reached with her a region of consciousness beyond clamour and doubt and [p184] 184 THE BAHA'I WORLD beyond questioning. You were reassured. With a word she gave you certainty, and reality of assurance. When a fig is plucked very early in the morning before the sun has warmed it, it holds a clear honeyed drop at the base. Its sweetness, distilled during the night, is condensed at dawn into a single globule suspended from the cool globe of the fruit, Ñ the soui of the fruit. So she gave you the essence together with the solid body of the fact. And as she showed us love in all the manifold workings of its guiding power and in the countless shades of its reflected glory, Ñ yielding herself utterly to its breath and so making it plain to our eyes, as a tree in abandoning itself to the wind becomes the breeze made visible, Ñ so, too, she made us feel that back of love itself is a mightier force, its Essence, which we are not yet able to bear in all its fulness. V HEN you went tb her unsatisfied and restless you discovered that your unrest and discontent were really homelessness of spirit. Over the next bill and the next you had gone, searching for sanctuary and peace. Here in her white room you found them. You found the way to bring heaven to little things, to compass the infinite with four walls. Here was home. She seemed not to separate this plane from the next, nor to long, Ñ for all the rigours of her years, Ñ to escape to the bright wonder of the future life. In her daily round she carried the commonplace to the edge of dream and showed you wonder in the trivial and the fugitive. Small things were not small to her: they were fragments of the vast. She gave you, not hope of bliss to come, but realization of present happiness. 'With her you felt marvel in every tiniest aspect of life around you, Ñ a flower, a shadow on the wall, a fold of her veil, a voice in the garden below; all these were touched with enchantment. You became aware of the mystery of the spirit animating all things, and of the preciousness of every instant. This moment, this now, was tinged with the beauty of the eternal and held an atom of happiness, absolute and eternal. THOUGH she had nothing of luxury and her possessions were few and of no great intrinsic value, she made none of the denial of life of the ascetic. She loved beauty. You would say that she lent to her surroundings her sense of order, fragrance and exquisiteness, but you look in vain for words to describe that inner sensibility of which these were the outer gossamer traces. Ever after to those who had known her any lovely thing, any perfection of refinement was a reminder of her. She was immortalized in all beauty. In the moth-green and silver of spring you find something of her fragrance and delicacy: in the fountain jet that is the voice of the garden you hear her. You remember her in the sound of the sea, and in the laughter of children. Wherever happiness is or friendship, she is there. NSf E of the West knew her only in the latter days of her life. But we could not find it in our hearts to wish that we had known her in her youth or earlier womanhood rather than in the time of her fulfillment. She had none of the habits of mind which we have come to associate with age. We see old age musing, looking over its shoulder; sighing over memories flattened between pages turned with the years, Ñ distinct, perhaps, and sharp in outline, but dried of the fullness and colour of living emotions. She had no need to turn back the leaves, to recapture any shreds of vanished hours. The essential filaments of the past were woven with the threads of the present into today's pattern. Her now embodied all her yesterdays. And you would not say that she was still beautiful, for that implies a preserving lacquer of time. Her beauty, too, was fulfillment, not vestige of former loveliness. A luminous tenderness played over her face, mobilizing its strength and nobleness of modelling. Though her clear tints had paled, Ñ except the colouring of her eyes that were still clearly blue, Ñ and her soft contours were carved away, she was more than beautiful in extreme slenderness and fragility, in fineness of texture and structure, and in grace that was long union of gracious [p185] THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM 185 thought and act. Her gestures were filled with meaning: her hovering hand blessed you before you felt its pressure. She had the swift response of youth and the ageless vital power of adding the charm of her own quality to the spoken word. In telling a little story, a simple picturing of some simple thing, she would pause, smile, hold the image; warm it before she gave it to you. When we begged her to tell us of the scenes of tumult and outrage that crowded her childhood or of the long hardship in exile and imprisonment, she would not try to recreate in part that drama too great for any telling, or even to bring to the surface an episode out of the troubled past. She would simply allow to emerge from her still depths some living impression, some poignant detail, and so move you with this glimpse that you felt all the seasons of her grief and the full measure of her pain: and you knew, too, that this grief, this pain, were never for herself. She could convey anguish itself in a look. And in this charged look you first saw human suffering, and then beneath that an intimation of woe immeas-ureable for the darkened understanding of those who had caused the suffering. HI ER burdens appeared light because she did not bend under them, and she approached great tasks without apparent effort. She seemed never to search nor to strive because she showed no trace of tension and strain. In all her life she had known none of the hot, dusty moments of human struggle, nor its breathless, small achievements, but had gone forward unfaltering, with a tranquil lifting of the heart in action, to meet a succession of difficult days. Her life could not be called martyrdom, for she did not recognize it as such. She was not shaken by the transports of rapture of the martyr and had no urge to raise the banner, to rush to encounter, to offer up with heroic valour. Her ardour burned with a steady flame. In the face of test and danger she neither hurried nor held back, but entered the perilous way with quiet breath. Her courage was born of her understanding faith, and it was this faith, this understanding, that carried her serene through years of incessant labour and meticulous service, and through times of waiting empty-handed, Ñ and through the bearing of irremediable sorrow and loss. SOMETHING greater than forgiveness she had shown in meeting the cruelties and strictures in her own life. To be hurt and to forgive is saintly but far beyond this is the power to comprehend and not be hurt. This power she had. The word inwlibn, which signifies acceptance without complaint, has come to be associated with her name. She was never known to complain or lament. It was not that she made the best of things, but that she found in everything, even in calamity itself, the germs of enduring wisdom. She did not resist the shocks and upheavals of life and she did not run counter to obstacles. She was never impatient. She was as incapable of impatience as she was of revolt. But this was not so much long-suffer-ance as it was quiet awareness of the forces that operate in the hours of waiting and inactivity. Always she moved with the larger rhythm, the wider sweep, toward the ultimate goal. Surely, confidently, she followed the circle of her orbit round the Sun of her existence, in that complete acquiescence, that perfect accord, which underlies faith itself. So she was in life. And when she came to die her failing facuhies threw into sharper and intenser relief the nature of her heart and spirit. It was as if she first let slip away the mechanical devices of the mind and the transient sense perceptions while holding fast to the end the essential elements of her being, unclouded by extremity of bodily weakness and pain. Still her smile spoke strength, serenity, tenderness and the love that is both recognition and bestowal. And so she left for remembrance a last clear record of the pattern of her life. [p186] Cortege of Baha'i KMnum approaching the Shrine of the Bab. Feast given to the poor of Haifa in memory of Baha'i KMnum. 186 [p187] THE PASSING OF BAHA'I KHANUM 187 EXCERPTS FROM DIARY OF MRS. KEITH RANSOM-.KEHLER, THE LAST AMONG WESTERN N PILGRIMS TO MEET THE MOST EXALTED D LEAF DURING THE CLOSING DAYS OF HER LIFE 1' ROM the Greatest Holy Leaf streamed an effulgence of beauty and heavenly love that I have never witnessed from any human being. To come into her presence was to hush and exalt the soui. She was like a bird at dawn, the coming of spring, a city on a far horizon; everything that wakes our wonder and reveals the depths and not the tumults of the heart. ttOn two occasions she removed my Baha ring and after holding it for some time replaced it reversed. Twice she blew on the palm of my hand, a sweet, cool, delicious breath and then exultantly exclaimed: tlt is all right now. (cHer mind was never quite clear except on the occasion of my parting. ttShe would reach out her delicate hand and, pressing my cheek close against her own, would make some lover-like exclamation. I was dissolved by her sweetness. "For the most part she would chant in a low delicious voice some glorious Tablet or poem, smoothing my hand or holding me under the chin as she sang. tDoes she remember me? Does she know who I am?' I asked. tWho is this, Kh&num?" asked 9iy~. (Muta11imih~ (teacher), she answered. She addresesed me and referred to me by that name. "On the eve of my departure I went to tea with the ladies of the Household. Kh4-num was very feeble, her visit to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah on the ascension night had been very hard for her. Every Sunday she insisted on going to the meeting on Mt. Carmel: she had to be lifted in and out of the car. tcHer thoughtfulness, her loving kindness, her self-mastery, her complete dedication to the things of the spirit never ceased to the last hour that I saw her, just a month and a day before her ascension. CCAS I was making my farewells ~iy& assisted her to her feet in spite of my protests. She folded me oh, so tenderly in her precious arms and said: tWhen you are come to Persia, I want you to give my iovc to every Baha in all that land, to the men the same as to the women. And when you reach the holy city of Tihdn enter it in my name, and teach there in my name. ~tHOW blind I was not to realize that she was sending her last message to Persia! "One morning as I lay on my bed I suddenly burst into hysterical weeping. I could not control myself for half an hour. It seemed so unreasonable for I had not any idea what I was weeping for. Ratimat suddenly did the same thing. When the telegram came the next day we realized that this occurred at the time of her passing. "How greatly I prize the ring stone, a coin from the pocket of Baha'u'llah, some rock candy and a broken phial (not broken when she presented it) of attar of roses that she had given me. Her spirit will always seem gloriously near because of these last heavenly meetings with her. ttBeautiful Kbinum, in your grace, kindness and love implore God's forgiveness for my faults and failings and intercede that the priceless gift of love which you so conSist Ñ ently taught us may descend into my cold and untenanted heart. This is my supreme petition that the gift of love may be mine once more. [p188] 188 THE BAHA'I WORLD THE GREATEST HOLY LEAF WILLARD P. HATCH eewhatever betide us we pledge ourselves, before the mercy-seat of thy glorious Father to hand on unimpaired and undivided, to generations yet unborn, the glory of the tradition of which t Tell of unselfish deeds that move the hearts, Of Love, more boundless than the air you breathe, That knows no sect, nor race Ñ betray-eth not, Too tender is to ever grief bequeathe: The mourner's strength shall then once more return, The sick one, prone upon a iowiy cot, Shall find redeeming grace, and hopeful, learn To live anew, from fragrances you ye brought. Greatest Holy Leaf: inured so to pain: Who gently shone above recurring blows, Like sunlight, streaming down the rugged cliffs, Unlocks the cold earth from imprisoning snows: Nor RiQv~n fount, whose glistening spray doth fall O'er marble path, to greet the circling brook, Had ever kinder heart or tongue recall, That here her Lord of Heaven's vision took. Greatest Holy Leaf: more loving she grew, With every onslaught hurled by heedless tribes; Fearless to stand, and patiently endure, From subtlety, its base and venomed gibes, No hero, burning with a saint's desire, To drive forth evil, which men's lusts enthrone, More bravely met opposing, brutal ire, Than she, who welcomed wounds by hatred sown. Greatest Holy Leaf: uprisen to the Blest: Adorned with gems of purest spirit gain. Thy Path in Eden walked, Baha'u'llah: Cut from Its roses every thorn of pain. Sacred with Brother of Thy Realm Divine, Thy Love to teach, with him on earth did dwell: Happiness proved she feasible, and Thine She lived, Thy precious Word of God to tell. Eternal Fire, a'light by Guardian Pen, Flames on the altar of Thy deathless praise: All other pens but mirrors that aspire, Glowing the while from its transforming rays. [p189] PART TWO [p190] [p191] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH PRESENTDAY ADMINISTRATION BAHA'I FAITH OF THE B~ HORACE HOLLEY IT HAS been the general characteristic of religion that organization marks the interruption of the true spiritual influence and serves to prevent the original impulse from being carried into the world. The organization has invariably become a substitute for religion rather than a method or an instrument used to give the religion effect. The separation of peoples into different traditions unbridged by any peaceful or constructive intercourse has made this inevitable. Up to the present time, in fact, no Founder of a revealed religion has explicitly laid down the principles that should guide the administrative machinery of the Faith He has estab Ñ lished. In the Baha'i Cause, the principles of world administration were expressed by Baha'u'llah, and these principles were developed in the writings of tAbdu'1-Bahi, more especially in His Will and Testament. The purpose of this organization is to make possible a true and lasting unity among peo-pies of different races, classes, interests, characters, and inherited creeds. A ciose and sympathetic study of this aspect of the Baha'i Cause will show that the purpose and method of Baha'i administration is so perfectly adapted to the fundamental spirit of the Revelation that it bears to it the same relationship as body to soui. In character, the principles of Baha'i administration represent the science of cooperation; in application, they provide for a new and higher type of morality worldwide in scope. In the clash and confusion of sectarian prejudice, the Baha'i Movement is impartial and sympathetic, offering a foundation upon which reconciliation can be firmly based. Amid the complex interrelations of governments, the Movement stands absolutely neutral as to political purposes and entirely obedient to all recognized authority. It will not be overlooked by the student that Baha'u'llah is the oniy religious teacher making obedience to just governments and rulers a definite spiritual command. In this brief analysis of the several features of the Baha'i system of administration the purpose is rather to place in the hands of the believers themselves a convenient summary of the available instructions than to clarify this aspect of the Movement to the non-BaM'i. Until one has made contact with the spirit of the Baha'i teachings and desires to cooperate wholeheartedly with their purpose, the administrative phase of the Movement can have little real meaning or appeal. At the time of the passing of cAbdu~1~Bah4, the organization was fully defined but not yet established among His followers. The responsibility for carrying out the instructions was placed by cAbdu~1Bahi upon His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to whom was assigned the function of "Guardian of the Cause." Obedience to the authority of the Guardian was definitely enjoined upon all Baha'is by tAbdu'1-BahA but this authority carries with it nothing of an arbitrary or personal character, being limited as to purpose and method by the writings of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1 Ñ Bah&. The Guardian unifies the efforts to bring into complete application those principles of world administration already clearly defined. To assist the Guardian in his manifold responsibilities and duties and particularly in the promotion of the teaching work, CAb-du'1-Bahi provided for the appointment of a group of coworkers to be known as "The 191 [p192] Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. In the background is the lowest section of one of the ribs of the recently completed dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A. 192 [p193] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 193 Hands of the Cause of God." The appointment of this body is a function of the Guardian, and these from their own number are to elect nine persons who will be closely associated with the Guardian in the discharge of his duties. It is the function of the Guardian also to appoint his own successor, this appointment to be ratified by the nine Hands of the Cause. It is the genius of the Baha'i Cause that the principle underlying the administration of its affairs aims to improve the life and upbuild the character of the individual believer in his own local community, wherever it may be, and not to enhance the prestige of those relatively few who, by election or appointment, hold positions of higher authority. Baha'i authority is measured by self-sacrifice and not by arbitrary power. This fundamental aim can be seen clearly on studying the significant emphasis which ~ placed upon the local Baha'i community. The local group, involving as it does men and women in all the normal activities and relations of life, is the foundation upon which rests the entire evolution of the Cause. The local Baha'i community is given official recognition oniy after its number of adult declared believers has become nine or more. Up to this point, the community exists as a voluntary group of workers and students of the Cause. In this connection, the word "community" is not used in the sense of any locality, exclusively Baha'i in membership, nor of any manner of living differing outwardly from the general environment, such as has been attempted by religionists and also members of philosophic and economic movements in the past. A Baha'i community is a unity of minds and hearts, an association of people entirely voluntary in character, established upon a common experience of devotion to the universal aims of Baha'u'llah and agreement as to the methods by which these aims can be advanced. A Baha'i community differs from other voluntary gatherings in that its foundation is so deeply laid and broadly extended that it can include any sincere soui. Whereas other associations are exclusive, in effect if not in intention, and from method if not from ideal, Baha'i association is inclusive, shutting the gates of fellowship to no sincere soui. In every gathering there is latent or developed some basis of selection. In religion this basis is a creed limited by the historical nature of its origin; in politics this is party or platform; in economics this is a mutual misfortune or mutual power; in the arts and sciences this basis consists of special training or activity or interest. In all these matters, the more exclusive the basis of selection, the stronger the movement Ñ a condition diametrically opposed to that existing in the Bah6¾ Cause. Hence the Cause, for all its spirit of growth and progress, develops slowly as regards the numbers of its active adherents. For people are accustomed to exclusiveness and division in all affairs. The important sanctions have ever been warrants and justifications of division. To enter the Baha'i Movement is to leave these sanctions behind Ñ an experience which at first invariably exposes one to new trials and sufferings, as the human ego revolts against the supreme sanction of universal love. The scientific must associate with the simple and unlearned, the rich with the poor, the white with the colored, the mystic with the literalist, the Christian with the Jew, the Muslim with the Parsee: and on terms removing the advantage of long established presumptions and privileges. But for this difficult experience there are glorious compensations. Let us remember that art grows sterile as it turns away from the common humanity, that philosophy likewise loses its vision when developed in solitude, and that politics and religion never succeed apart from the general needs of mankind. Human nature is not yet known, for we have all lived in a state of mental, moral, emotional or social defense, and the psychology of defense is the psychology of inhibition. But the love of God removes fear; the removal of fear establishes the latent powers, and association with others in spiritual love brings these powers into vital, positive expression. A Baha'i community is a gathering where this process can take place in this age, siowiy at first, as the new impetus gathers force, more rapidly as the members become conscious of the powers unfolding the flower of unity among men. Where the community is small and insig [p194] 194 THE BAHA'I WORLD nificant, in comparison with the population of the city or town, the first condition of growth is understanding of the Manifestation of Baha'u'llah, and the next condition is that of true humility. If these two conditions exist, the weakest soui becomes endowed with effective power in service to the Cause. The result of unity, in fact, is to share the powers and faculties of all with each. The responsibility for and supervision of local Baha affairs is vested in a body known as the Spiritual Assembly. This body (limited to nine members) is elected annually on April 21st, the first day of Ri4lv6n (the Festival commemorating the Declaration of Baha'u'llah) by the adult declared believers of the community, the voting list being drawn up by the outgoing Spiritual Assembly. Concerning the character and functions of this body, Abdu'l-Baha has written as follows: tcIt is incumbent upon everyone (every believer) not to take any step (of Babi'i activity) without consulting the Spiritual Assembly, and they must assuredly obey with heart and soui its bidding and be submissive unto it, that things may be properly ordered and well arranged. Otherwise every person will act independently and, after his own judgment, will follow his own desire, and do harm to the Cause. ccThe prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His divine fragrance, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and longsuffering in difficulties and servitude to His exalted Threshold. Should they be graciously aided to acquire these attributes, victory from the unseen Kingdom of Baha shall be vouchsafed to them. In this day, Assemblies of consultation are of the greatest importance and a vital necessity. Obedience unto them is essential and obligatory. The members thereof must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for ill-feeling or discord may arise. This can be attained when every member expresses with absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth forth his argument. Should anyone oppose, he must on no account feel hurt, for not until matters are fully discussed can the right way be revealed. The shining spark of truth cometh forth oniy after the clash of differing opinions. If after discussion a decision be carried unanimously, well and good; but if, the Lord forbid, differences of opinion should arise, a majority of voices must prevail. "The first condition is absolute 'ove and harmony amongst the members of the Assembly. They must be wholly free from estrangement and must manifest in themselves the Unity of God, for they are the waves of one sea, the drops of one river, the stars of one heaven, the rays of one sun, the trees of one orchard, the flowers of one garden. Should harmony of thought and absolute unity be nonexistent, that gathering shall be dispersed and that Assembly be brought to naught. ttThe second condition: They must when coming together turn their faces to the Kingdom on high and ask aid from the realm of Glory. Discussions must all be confined to spiritual matters that pertain to the training of souls, the instruction of children, the relief of the poor, the help of the feeble throughout all classes in the world, kindness to all peoples, the diffusion of the fragrances of God and the exaltation of His Holy Word. Should they endeavor to fulfil these conditions the grace of the Holy Spirit shall be vouchsafed unto them and that Assembly shall become the center of the divine blessings, the hosts of divine confirmation shall come to their aid, and they shall day by day receive a new effusion of spirit." The letters of Shoghi Effendi quote the fundamental instructions contained in the writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha on the character 0f Baha'i administration, and give them definite application: CCA careful study of Baha'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's Tablets will reveal that other duties (besides teaching the Cause), no less vital to the interests of the Cause, devolve upon the elected representatives of the friefids in every locality. "They must endeavor to promote amity and concord amongst the friends and secure an active and wholehearted cooperation for the service of the Cause. "They must do their utmost to extend at all times the helping hand to the poor, the sick, the disabled, the orphan, the widow, irrespective of color, caste and creed. (cThey must promote by every means in [p195] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 195 their power the material as well as spiritual enlightenment of youth, the means for the education of children; institute, whenever possible, Baha'i educational institutions; organize and supervise their work, and provide the best means for their progress and development. cfThey must bend every effort to promote the interests of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (i.e., House of Worship) ~1 and hasten the day when the work of this glorious Edifice2 will have been consummated. "They must encourage and stimulate by every means at their command, through subscriptions, reports and articles, the development of the various Baha'i magazines. ttThey must undertake the arrangement of the regular meetings of the friends, the feasts and anniversaries, as well as the special gatherings designed to serve and promote the social, intellectual and spiritual interests of their fellowmen. "They must supervise in these days when the cause is still in its infancy all Baha'i publications and translations, and provide in genergi for a dignified and accurate presentation of all Baha'i literature and its distribution to the general public. ttThese rank among the most outstanding obligations of the members of every Spiritual Assembly. In whatever locality the Cause has sufficiently expanded, and in order to insure efficiency and avoid confusion, each of these manifold functions will have to be referred to a special Committee, responsible to that Assembly, elected by it from among the friends in that locality, and upon whose work the Assembly will have to exercise constant and general supervision. "In every locality, be it city or hamlet, where the number of adult declared believers exceed nine, a local Spiritual Assembly must be forthwith established. "As the progress and extension of spiritual activities is dependent and conditioned upon material means, it is of absolute necessity that immediately after the establishment of local as well as national Spiritual Assemblies, a Baha'i Fund be established, to be placed un1 Referring particularly to Spiritual Assemblies in America. 2 On the shore of Lake Michigan. der the exclusive control of the Spiritual Assembly. All donations and contributions should be offered to the Treasurer of the Assembly, for the exprdss purpose of promoting the interests of the Cause throughout that locality or country. It is the sacred obligation of every conscientious and faithful servant of Baha'u'llah, who desires to see His Cause advance, to contribute freely and generously for the increase of that Fund. The members of the Spiritual Assembly will at their own discretion expend it to promote the teaching campaign, to help the needy, to establish educational Baha'i institutions, to extend in every way their sphere of service. c(Nothing whatever should be given to the public by any individual among the friends, unless fully considered and approved by the Spiritual Assembly in his locality; and, if this (as is undoubtedly the case) is a matter that pertains to the general interests of the Cause in that land, then it is incumbent upon the Spiritual Assembly to submit it to the consideration and approval of the National Body representing all the various local Assemblies. Not oniy with regard to publication, but all matters without any exception whatsoever, regarding the interests of the Cause in that locality, individually or collectively, should be referred exclusively to the Spiritual Assembly in that locality, which shall decide upon it, unless it be a matter of national interest, in which case it shall be referred to the National (Baha'i) Body. With this National Body also will rest the decision whether a given question is of local or national interest. (By national affairs is not meant matters that are political in their character, for the friends of God the world over are strictly forbidden to meddle with political affairs in any way whatever, but rather things that affect the spiritual activities of the body of the friends in that land.) "Full harmony, however, as well as cooperation among the various local Assemblies and the members themselves, and particularly between each Assembly and the National Body is of the utmost importance, for upon it depends the unity of the Cause of God, the solidarity of the friends, the full, speedy and efficient working of the spiritual activities of His loved ones. ttThe various Assemblies, local and na [p196] 196 THE BAHA'I WORLD tional, constitute today the bedrock upon the strength of which the Universal House (of Justice) is in future to be firmly established and raised. Not until these function vigorously and harmoniously can the hope for the termination of this period of transition be realized. Bear in mind that the keynote of the Cause of God is not dictatorial authority, but humble fellowship; not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and iov Ñ ing consultation. Nothing short of the spirit of a true Baha'i can hope to reconcile the principles of mercy and justice, of freedom and submission, of the sanctity of the right of the individual and of self-surrender, of vigilance, discretion and prudence on the one hand, and fellowship, candor, and courage on the other." Experience in the life of a Baha'i community and participation in the details of its several activities impresses one with the fact that Baha'i unity has in it new elements which work powerfully to expand one's area of sympathy, deepen one's insight, develop one's character and bring order and stability into all of one's affairs. There can be no higher privilege than the experience of attempting to serve faithfully upon a Spiritual Assembly, conscious as its members are of the unique standard upheld by CAbdu~1~Bah6 and bringing as it does the opportunity of dealing with a large range and diversity of human problems from an impersonal point of view. It is inevitable that the nine elected members shall exemplify diverse interests and types of character, with the result that unity of heart and conscience with the other eight members is a direct training to enter into spiritual unity with the larger body of mankind. No such schools of discipline and inspiration exist on earth today, for one must bear in mind that a Baha'i community can never be an exclusive group nor a closed circle of interests but, on the contrary, its fundamental purpose is to unify and cooperate with every possible element in the surrounding population. The local Spiritual Assembly after election organizes by electing from its own number a chairman, corresponding secretary, recording secretary and treasurer. It should appoint from its own members or from the local Baha'i community working committees re sponsible for the various permanent activities of the Cause. Since a Spiritual Assembly is established upon a new and higher ideal, the character, knowledge and purity of its members is essential to success. Wherever personal ambition, narrowness or impurity enters a Spiritual Assembly, the results are invariably to check the growth of the Cause and, if these conditions are prolonged, to destroy the foundation already laid. The careful student of the teachings will accept this result as one more vindication of the all-surrounding spirit protecting this Faith. The elimination of an unworthy group from the Baha'i Cause would be a bitter disappointment but not an evidence that the Cause had failed. On the contrary, the Cause could only be declared a failure if personal ambition, pride, narrowness and impurity should so prevail as to build a worldwide organization able to pervert the original purpose. The local Spiritual Assemblies of a country are linked together and coordinated through another elected body of nine members, the National Spiritual Assembly. This body comes into being by means of an annual election held by elected delegates representing the local Baha'i communities. The delegates are elected by all the adult declared believers of a community in which a Spiritual Assembly exists. The National Convention in which the delegates are gathered together is composed of an elective body based upon the principle of proportional representation. The total number of delegates is fixed by Shoghi Effendi for each country, and this number is fulfilled by assigning to each local community the number of delegates called for by its relative numerical strength. These National Conventions are preferably held during the period of Ridvan, the twelve days beginning April 21st which commemorate the Declaration made by Baha'u'llah in the Garden of Ridvan near Baglid&d. The recognition of delegates is vested in the outgoing National Spiritual Assembly. A National Convention is an occasion for deepening one's understanding of Baha'i activities and of sharing reports of national and local activities for the period of the elapsed year. It has been the custom to hold a public Baha'i Congress in connection with the Con [p197] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 197 vention. The function of a Baha'i delegate is limited to the duration of the National Convention and participation in the election of the new National Spiritual Assembly. While gathered together, the delegates are a consultative and advisory body whose recommendations are to be carefully considered by the members of the elected National Spiritual Assembly. Delegates unable to attend the Convention in person are permitted to vote for the new National Spiritual Assembly by mail. The relation of the National Spiritual Assembly to the local Spiritual Assemblies and to the body of the believers in the country is thus defined in the letters of the Guardian of the Cause: ccRegarding the establishment of National Assemblies, it is of vital importance that in every country, where the conditions are favorable and the number of the friends has grown and reached a considerable size Ñ that a National Spiritual Assembly be immediately established, representative of the friends throughout that country. "Its immediate purpose is to stimulate, unify and coordinate, by frequent personal consultations, the manifold activities of the friends as well as the local Assemblies; and by keeping in ciose and constant touch with the Holy Land, initiate measures, and direct in general the affairs of the Cause in that country. ttlt serves also another purpose, no iess essential than the first, as in the course of time it shall evolve into the National House of Justice (referred to in tAbd 'lBah4's 1K/ill as the cSeco dty House of Justice') which according to the explicit text of the Yes/a-inent will have, in conjunction with the other National Assemblies throughout the Baha'i world, to elect directly the members of the International or Universal House of Justice, that Supreme Council that will guide, organize and unify the affairs of the Movement throughout the world. CCThis National Spiritual Assembly which, pending the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, will have to be reelected once a year, obviously assumes grave responsibilities for it has to exercise full authority over all the local Assemblies in its province, and will have to direct the activities of the friends, guard vigilantly the Cause of God, and control and supervise the affairs of the Movement in general. teVital issues, affecting the interests of the Cause in that country, such as the matter of translation and publication, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, the teaching work, and other similar matters that stand distinct from strictly local affairs, must be under the full jurisdiction of the National Assembly. (cIt will have to refer each of these questions, even as the local Assemblies, to a special committee, to be elected by the members of the National Spiritual Assembly from among all the friends in that country, which will bear to it the same relations as the local committees bear to their respective local Assemblies. "With it, too, rests the decision whether a certain point at issue is strictly local in its nature, and should be reserved for the consideration and decision of the local Assembly, or whether it should fall under its own province and be a matter which ought to receive its special attention. ttlt is the bounden duty, in the interest of the Cause we all love and serve, of the members of the incoming National Assembly, once elected by the delegates at Convention time, to seek and have the utmost regard, individually as well as collectively, for the advice, the considered opinion and the true sentiments of the assembled delegates. Banishing every vestige of secrecy, of undue reticence, of dictatorial aloofness from their midst, they should radiantly and abundantly unfold to the eyes of the delegates by whom they were elected, their plans, their hopes and their cares. They should familiarize the delegates with the various matters that will have to be considered in the current year, and calmly and conscientiously study and weigh the opinions and judgments of the delegates. The newly elected National Assembly, during the few days when the Convention is in session, and after the dispersion of the delegates, should seek ways and means to cultivate understanding, facilitate and maintain the exchange of views, deepen confidence, and vindicate by every tangible evidence their one desire to serve and advance the common weal. "The National Spiritual Assembly, how [p198] 198 THE BAHA'I WORLD ever, in view of the unavoidable limitations imposed upon the convening of frequent and longstanding sessions of the Convention, will have to retain in its hands the final decision on all matters that affect the interests of the Cause Ñ such as the right to decide whether any local Assembly is functioning in accordance with the principles laid down for the conduct and the advancement of the Cause. ccThe seating of delegates to the Convention (i. e., the right to decide upon the validity of the credentials of the delegates at a given Convention), is vested in the outgoing National Assembly, and the right to decide who has the voting privilege is also ultimately placed in the hands of the National Spiritual Assembly, either when a local Spiritual Assembly is for the first time being formed in a given locality, or when differences arise between a new applicant and an already established local Assembly. CCwWere the National Spiritual Assembly to decide, after mature deliberation, to omit the holding of the Baha'i Convention and Congress in a given year, then they could, only in such a case, devise ways and means to insure that the annual election of the National Spiritual Assembly should be held by mail, provided it can be conducted with sufficient thoroughness, efficiency and dispatch. It would also appear to me unobjectionable to enable and even to require in the last resort such delegates as cannot possibly undertake the journey to the seat of the Baha'i Convention to send their votes, for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly only, by mail to the National Secretary." Concerning the matter of drawing up the voting list to be used at the annual local Baha'i elections, the responsibility for this is placed upon each local Spiritual Assembly, and as a guidance in the matter the Guardian has written the following: CCTO state very briefly and as adequately as present circumstances permit, the principal factors that must be taken into consideration before deciding whether a person may be regarded a true believer or not: Full recognition of the station of the Forerunner, the Author and the True Exemplar of the Baha'i Cause, as set forth in rAbdu~l~BahcPs Will and Testament; unreserved acceptance of and submission to whatsoever has been revealed by their Pen; loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved's sacred Will; and close association with the spirit as well as the form of the presentday Baha'i administration Ñ these I conceive to be the fundamental and primary considerations that must be fairly, discreetly and thoughtfully ascertained before reaching such a vital decision." tAbdu'1-Bahi's instructions provide for the further development of Baha'i organization through an International Spiritual Assembly to be elected by the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies. This international body has not yet come into existence, but its special character has been clearly defined: (CAnd now, concerning the Assembly (Baytu'1-tAd'1: i. e., House of Justice) which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the believers. Its members must be manifestations of the fear of God, and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast in God's Faith, and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this Assembly is meant the Universal Assembly: that is, in each country a secondary Assembly must be instituted, and these secondary Assemblies must elect the members of the Universal one. 'tUnto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved, and the Guardian of the Cause is its sacred head and the distinguished member, for life, of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him. •This assembly enacteth the laws and the executive eniorceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body, so that, through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of f air Ñ ness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself. "Unto the Most Holy Book everyone must turn, and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal Assembly. That which this body, either unanimously or by a maiority, doth carry, [p199] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 199 that is verily the truth and the purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that iove discord, hath shown forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant." Even at the present time, the Baha'is in all parts of the world maintain an intimate and cordial association by means of regular correspondence and individual visits. This contact of members of different races, na salaried professional clergy. The Baha'i conception of religion is one which combines mysticism, which is a sacred personal experience, with practical morality, which is a useful contact between the individual and his fellow man. In the nature of things, some souls are more advanced than others, and the function of spiritual teaching is given special importance in the writings of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Bahi. The Baha'i teacher, however, CAbdu~1~Bahi~s bedroom, Plaza Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A., April, 1912. tionalities and religious traditions is concrete proof that the burden of prejudice and the historical factors of division can be entirely overcome through the spirit of oneness established by Baha'u'llah. The general student of religion will not fail to note four essential characteristics of Baha'i administration. The first is its completely successful reconciliation of the usually opposed claims of democratic freedom and unanswerable authority. The second is the entire absence from the Baha'i Cause of anything approaching the institution of a has no authority over the individual conscience. The individual conscience must be subordinated to the decisions of a duly elected Spiritual Assembly, but this relationship is entirely different in character and results from the relationship of an individual with minister or priest. The third characteristic is the absence of internal factionalism, that bane of all organized effort, and the sure sign of the presence of spiritual disease. The predominant spirit of unity which distinguishes the Baha'i Cause in its relation to the world, making its fol [p200] Baha'i pioneers of Chicago. Baha'is of Chicago, September 6, 1908. 200 [p201] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 201 lowers strive for reconciliation rather than partisan victory, creates an internal condition, unlike that which exists in movements which accept partisan victory, in one or another form, as their very reason for being. Such movements can but disintegrate from within; the Baha'i Movement can but grow. Significant also is the fourth characteristic, namely, that the Baha'i Cause has within it an inherent necessity operating slowly but surely to bring its administration into the hands of those truly fitted for the nature of the work. The lesser vision gives way invariably for the larger vision, itself replaced by the still larger vision in due time. The result is an inevitable improvement in the qualities placed at the service of the Cause, until the highest attributes of humanity will be enrolled. In the Baha'i Cause we are actually witnessing the fulfilment of that strange and cryptic saying: ttThe meek shall inherit the earth." That the administrative machinery is not an end in itself but merely the means to spread everywhere the light of faith and brotherhood, is frequently expressed by the Guardian in his general letters, and this brief survey may well close with one of those passages: reNot by the force of numbers, not by the mere exposition of a set of new and noble principles, not by an organized campaign of teaching Ñ no matter how worldwide and elaborate in its character Ñ nut evess by the staunchness of our faith or the exaltation of our enthusiasm, can we ultimately hope to vindicate in the eyes of a critical and skeptical age the supreme claim of the A b/ad Revelation. One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Baha'u'llah." EXCERPTS FROM THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ABDU'L-BAHA FOREWORD IT IS significant of the completeness of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah that the text of His Book provided for every emergency confronting human souL in this age. The supreme tests of the Baha'i Faith had in fact already been successfully met during the days which followed the ascension of Baha'u'llah in 1892. By the appointment of tAbd'ul-Bahi as the Center of His Covenant, Baha'u'llah prolonged His own ministry for well-nigh thirty years, a period coinciding with an entire generation and therefore sufficient to withstand the onslaughts of those ambitious persons who arose to overthrow or pervert the Faith from within and without its ranks. For the words of cAbdu~1~Bahi, according to the text of this appointment, have spiritual validity with those of the Manifestation. Thus, during the ministry of cAbdu~1~ Baha, the Cause of Baha'u'llah was not oniy safeguarded from confusion and division, it was vastly extended into Europe, America and the rar East, and the fundamental literature of the Faith was amplified by cAbdu~1~ Baha'is public addresses and Tablets, many of which were directed to the administrative side of Baha'i service. By 1921, the outer form of this community had been fairly defined in many localities and impressed upon the habits as well as thoughts of the believers. Despite this fact, it is more than doubtful, it is positively certain, that the worldwide Baha'i community could not have survived the shock of cAbdu~1~Bah?s passing, and perpetuated its complex unity into the future, had He not made definite provision for a point of unity acceptable to all the believers [p202] 202 THE BAHA'I WORLD and a continuance of that administrative authority which is the body of the soui of faith. These provisions were made in the Will and Test ainent of !Abdu'l-Baha, excerpts from which follow. By the appointment of a Guardian of the Baha'i Cause, CAbdu~1 Baha created an executive head and center possessing unquestioned consecration and capacity for the tremendous task of inspiring the worldwide Baha'i community to develop along the path of human service marked out for it in the Religion of Baha'u'llah. ALL-PRAISE to Him who, by the Shield of His Covenant, hath guarded the Temple of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness, who by the Hosts of His Testament hath preserved the Sanctuary of His Most Beneficent Law and protected His Straight and Luminous Path, staying thereby the on~ slaught of the company of Covenant-break-ers, that have threatened to subvert His Divine Edifice; who bath watched over His Mighty Stronghold and All-glorious Faith, through the aid of men whom the slander of the slanderer affects not, whom no earthly calling, glory and power can turn aside from the Covenant of God and His Testament, established firmly by His clear and manifest words, writ and revealed by His All-glorious Pen and recorded in the Preserved Tablet. Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that Primal Branch of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing from th2 Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the twin surging seas; upon the offshoots of the Tree of Holiness, the twigs of the Celestial Tree, they that in the Day of the Great Dividing have stood fast and firm in the Covenant; upon the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God that have diffused widely the divine Fragrances, declared His Proofs, proclaimed His Faith, published abroad His Law, detached themselves from all things but Him, stood for righteousness in this world, and kindled the Fire of the Love of God in the very hearts and souis of His servants; upon them that have believed, rested assured, stood steadfast in His Covenant and followed the Light that after My passing shineth from the DaySpring of divine Guidance Ñ for behold! he is the blest and sacred Bough that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees. 'Well is it with him that seeketh the shelter of his shade that shadoweth all mankind. 0 ye beloved of the Lord! The greatest of all things is the protection of the True Faith of God, the preservation of His Law, the safeguarding of His Cause and service unto His Word. Ten thousand souls have shed streams of their sacred blood in this path, their precious lives they offered in sacrifice unto Him, hastened wrapt in holy ecstasy unto the glorious field of martyrdom, upraised the Standard of God's Faith and writ with their lifeblood upon the Tablet of the world the verses of His divine Unity. The sacred breast of His Holiness, the Exalted One Ñ May my life be a sacrifice unto Him Ñ was made a target to many a dart of woe, and in M~zindar~n, the blessed feet of the Abhi Beauty Ñ May my life be offered up for His loved ones Ñ were so grievously scourged as to bleed and be sore wounded. His neck also was put into captive chains and His feet made fast in the stocks. In every hour, for a period of fifty years, a new trial and calamity befell Him and fresh afflictions and cares beset Him. One of them: after having suffered intense vicissitudes, He was made homeless and a wanderer and fell a victim to still new vexations and troubles. J~ Cfrjq, the Daystar of the world was so exposed to the wiles of the people of malice as to be eclipsed in splendor. Later on He was sent an exile to the Great City (Con-stantinople) and thence to the Land of Mystery (Adrianople), whence, grievously wronged, He was eventually transferred to the Most Great Prison (tAklA) He whom the world bath wronged Ñ May my life be offered up for His loved ones Ñ was four times banished from city to city, till at last, condemned to perpetual confinement, He was incarcerated in this Prison, the prison of highway robbers, of brigands and of man-slayers. All this is but one of the trials that have afflicted the Blessed Beauty, the rest being even as grievous as this. According to the direct and sacred command of God, we are forbidden to utter [p203] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 203 slander, are commanded to show forth peace and amity, are exhorted to rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and peoples of the world. We must obey and be the well-wishers of the governments of the land, regard disloyalty unto a~ just king as disloyalty to God Himself and wishing evil to the government a transgression of the Cause of God. 0 God, my God! Thou seest this wronged servant of Thine, held fast in the talons of ferocious lions, of ravening wolves, of bloodthirsty beasts. Graciously assist me, through my love for Time, that I may drink deep of the chalice that brimmeth over with faithfulness to Thee and is filled with Thy bountiful Grace; so that, fallen upon the dust, I may sink prostrate and senseless whilst my vesture is dyed crimson with my blood. This is my wish, my heart's desire, my hope, my pride, my glory. Grant, 0 Lord my God, and my Refuge, that in my last hour, my end may even as musk shed its fragrance of glory! Is there a bounty greater than this? Nay, by Thy Glory! I call Thee to witness that no day passeth but that I quaff my fill from this cup, so grievous are the misdeeds wrought by them that have broken the Covenant, kindled discord, showed their malice, stirred sedition in the land and dishonored Thee amidst Thy servants. Lord! Shield Thou from these Covenant-breakers the mighty Stronghold of Thy Faith and protect Thy secret Sanctuary from the onslaught of the ungodly. Thou art in truth the Mighty, the Powerful, the Gracious, the Strong. o God, my God! Shield Thy trusted servants from the evils of self and passion, protect them with the watchful eye of Thy lovingkindness from all rancor, hate and envy, shelter them in the impregnable stronghold of Thy Cause and, safe from the darts of doubtfulness, make them the manifestations of Thy glorious Signs, illumine their faces with the effulgent rays shed from the Dayspring of Thy divine Unity, gladden their hearts with the verses revealed from Thy holy Kingdom, strengthen their loins by Thy all-swaying power that cometh from Thy Realm of Glory. Thou art the All-bountiful, the Protector, the Almighty, the Gracious. o ye that stand fast in the Covenant! When the hour corneth that this wronged and broken-winged bird will have taken its flight unto the Celestial Concourse, when it will have hastened to the Realm of the Unseen and its mortal frame will have been either lost or hidden beneath the dust, it is incumbent upon the Afnin, that are steadfast in the Covenant of God, and have branched from the Tree of Holiness; the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God Ñ the glory of the Lord rest upon them Ñ and all the friends and loved ones, one and all to bestir themselves and arise with heart and soui and in one accord, to diffuse the sweet savors of God, to teach His Cause and to promote His Faith. It behooveth them not to rest for a moment, neither to seek repose. They must disperse themselves in every land, pass by every clime and travel throughout all regions. Bestirred, without rest and steadfast to the end they must raise in every land the triumphal cry "0 Thou the Glory of Glories!" (Y~-.BaM'u'1-AbM), must achieve renown in the world wherever they go, must burn brightly even as a candle in every meeting and must kindle the flame of divine love in every assembly; that the light of truth may rise resplendent in the midmost heart of the world, that throughout the East and throughout the West a vast concourse may gather under the shadow of the Word of God, that the sweet savors of holiness may be diffused, that faces may shine radiantly, hearts be filled with the divine spirit and souls be made heavenly. In these days, the most important of all things is the guidance of the nations and peoples of the world. Teaching the Cause is of utmost importance for it is the head cornerstone of the foundation itself. This wronged servant has spent his days and nights in promoting the Cause and urging the peoples to service. He rested not a moment, till the fame of the Cause of God was noised abroad in the world and the celestial strains from the AbhA Kingdom roused the East and the West. The beloved of God must also follow the same example. This is the secret of faithfulness, this is the requirement of servitude to the Threshold of Baha! The disciples of Christ forgot themselves and all earthly things, forsook all their cares and belongings, purged themselves of self [p204] Mirza Buzurg. Mirza M~is~. Mirza Muham-Mirz~t-Rid~- -Rid~-Mirz~ rz~ YaIiy~t. mad-Quli. Quli. Mirza Buzurg, Father of Baha'u'llah, and four of his sons. 204 [p205] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 205 and passion and with absolute detachment scattered far and wide and engaged in calling the people of the world to the divine Guidance, till at last they made the world another world, illumined the surface of the earth and even to their last hour proved self-sacrificing in the pathway of that Beloved One of God. Finally in various lands they suffered glorious martyrdom. Let them that are men of action follow in their footsteps! o my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghs&n (Branches), the Afn&n (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the AMA Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi Ñ the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness Ñ as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghs&n, the Afn6n, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the firstborn of his lineal descendants. The sacred and youthful branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abhi Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One Ñ may my life be offered up for them both. Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso op-poseth him hath opposed God; whoso con-tendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him, hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God Ñ may the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him! The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice, upon all the Aghs~n, the AfnAn, the Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the Guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be iowiy before him. He that opposeth him hath opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause of God, will subvert His word and will become a manifestation of the Center of Sedition; Beware, beware, lest the days after the ascension (of Baha'u'llah) be repeated when the Center of Sedition waxed haughty and rebellious and with divine Unity for his excuse deprived himself and perturbed and poisoned others. No doubt every vainglorious one that pur-posed-i dissension and discord will not openly declare his evil purposes, nay rather, even as impure gold, would he seize upon divers measures and various pretexts that he may separate the gathering of the people of Bali. My object is to show that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and so soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the Cause of God, cast him out from the congregation of the people of Bah~ and in no wise accept any excuse from him. How often hath grievous error been disguised in the garb of truth, that it might sow the seeds of doubt in the hearts of men! 0 ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the Guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own lifetime him that shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing. He that is appointed must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus, should the firstborn of the Guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words: ttThe child is the secret essence of its sire," that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the Guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he (the Guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him. The Hands of the Cause of God must elect from their own number nine persons that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the Guardian of the [p206] 206 THE BAHA'I WORLD Cause of God. The election of these nine must be carried either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause of God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the Guardian of the Cause of God bath chosen as his successor. This assent must be given in such wise as the assenting and dissenting voices may not be distinguished (i. e., secret ballot). 0 friends! The Hands of the Cause of God must be nominated and appointed by the Guardian of the Cause of God. All must be under his shadow and obey his command. Should any, within or without the company of the Hands of the Cause of God disobey and seek division, the wrath of God and His vengeance will be upon him, for he will have caused a breach in the true Faith of God. The obligations of the Hands of the Cause of God are to diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souis of men, to promote learning, to improve the character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things. They must manifest the fear of God by their conduct, their manners, their deeds and their words. This body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the Guardian of the Cause of God. He must continually urge them to strive and endeavor to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet savors of God, and to guide all the peoples of the world, for it is the Light of Divine Gtidance that causeth all the universe to be illumined. To disregard, though it be for a moment, this absolute command which is binding upon everyone, is in nowise permitted, that the existent world may become even as the AbhA Paradise, that the surface of the earth may become heavenly, that contention and conflict amidst peoples, kindreds, nations and governments may disappear, that all the dwellers on earth may become one people and one race, that the world may become even as one home. Should differences arise they shall be amicably and conclusively settled by the Supreme Tribunal, that shall include members from all the governments and peoples of the world. 0 ye beloved of the Lord! In this sacred Dispensation, conflict and contention are in nowise permitted. Every aggressor deprives himself of God's grace. It is incumbent upon everyone to show the utmost love, rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and sincere kindliness unto all the people and kindreds of the world, be they friends or strangers. So intense must be the spirit of love and lovingkindness, that the stranger may find himself a friend, the enemy a true brother, no difference whatsoever existing between them. For universality is of God and all limitations earthly. Thus man must strive that his realty may manifest virtues and perfections, the light whereof may shine upon everyone. The light of the sun shineth upon all the world and the merciful showers of Divine Providence fall upon all peoples. The vivifying breeze reviveth every living creature and all beings endued with life obtain their share and portion at His heavenly board. In like manner, the affections and lovingkindness of the servants of the One True God must be bountifully and universally extended to all mankind. Regarding this, restrictions and limitations are in nowise permitted. Wherefore, 0 my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, goodwill and friendliness; that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Bah&, that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the Light of Unity. Should other peoples and nations be unfaithful to you show your fidelity unto them; should they be unjust toward you show justice towards them; should they keep aloof from you attract them to yourself; should they show their enmity b~ friendly towards them; should they poison your lives sweeten their souls; should they inflict a wound upon you be a salve to their sores. Such are the attributes of the sincere! Such are the attributes of the truthful! And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the [p207] Baha"' Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia. 207 ¶ % •.r ,. ,L~'~~J'] Ñ ~~~-vu ~ 4~4~ ~ KL~;JK4rj I , ~ ~L~J /;~L2. , ~ 4~J ~rT~L,~'r ~ ~i'~ 'K~~ S ] ~ 9 ~L [p208] Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt. 208 9) AY iU~ ~ ~ 4 C], ~ C J~JI J~,)~ j~ 'L~A ~ H d k~. JLI' 2Jc~jj~Yi~2 ~ 9) ~.2 [p209] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 209 believers. Its members must be manifestations of the fear of God and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast in God's faith and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this House is meant the Universal House of Justice; that is, in all countries, a secondary House of Justice must be instituted, and these secondary Houses of Justice must elect the members of the Universal one. Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the Guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him. Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him, whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead. 0 ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon you to be submissive to all monarchs that are just and show your fidelity to every righteous king. Serve ye the sovereigns of the world with utmost truthfulness and loyalty. Show obedience unto them and be their well-wishers. 'Without their leave and permission do not meddle with political affairs, for disloyalty to the just sovereign is disloyalty to God Himself. This is my counsel and the commandment of God unto you. Well is it with them that act accordingly. By the Ancient Beauty! This wronged one hath in nowise borne nor doth He bear a grudge against anyone; towards none doth He entertain any ill-feeling and uttereth no word save for the good of the world. My supreme obligation, however, of necessity, prompteth Me to guard and preserve the Cause of God. Thus, with the greatest regret, I counsel you saying: ttGd ye the Cause of God, protect His law and have the utmost fear of discord. This is the foundation of the belief of the people of BaM Ñ may my life be offered up for them. His Holiness, the Exalted One (the Bab), is the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerunner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abbas Beauty Ñ may my life be a sacrifice for His steadfast friends Ñ is the Supreme Manifestation of God and the Dayspring of His Most Divine Essence. All others are servants unto Him and do His bidding." Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority, doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hal shown forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant. By this House is meant that Universal House of Justice which is to be elected from all countries Ñ that is, from those parts in the East and 'West where the loved ones are to be found Ñ after the man-ncr of the customary elections in western countries, such as those of England. 0 ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause of God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause the straight to become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce contrary results. o God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy Proofs unto Thy loved ones and set forth clearly all things unto them, that they may watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight Path and protect Thy Resplendent Law. Thou art, verily, the All-knowing, the All-wise! Whosoever, and whatsoever meeting, becometh a hindrance to the diffusion of the Light of Faith, let the loved ones give them counsel and say: "Of all the gifts of God the greatest is the gift of Teaching. It draw-eth unto us the Grace of God and is our first obligation. Of such a gift how can we deprive ourselves? Nay, our lives, our goods, our comforts, our rest, we offer them all as a sacrifice for the AbliA Beauty and teach the Cause of God." Caution and prudence, however, must be observed even as recorded in the Book. The veil must in no wise be suddenly rent asunder. The Glory of Glories rest upon you! 0 ye the faithful loved ones of tAbdu'1-' [p210] 210 THE BAHA'I WORLD Bah4! It is incumbent upon you to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi, the twig that hath branched from the fruit given forth by the two hallowed and Divine Lote.-Trees, that no dust of despondency and sorrow may stain his radiant nature, that day by day he may wax greater in happiness, in joy and spirituality, and may grow to become even as a fruitful tree. For he is, after tAbdu'I-IBaM, the Guardian of the Cause of God. The Afnin, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him. He that obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him, hath turned away from God and he that denieth him, hail denied the True One. Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of Baha'u'llah), advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open wide the door of false interpretation. To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular convictions. All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error. The Glory of Glories rest upon you! THE SPIRIT AND FORM OF THE BAHA'I ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER !!And now as I look into the future, I hope to see the friends at all times, in every land, and of every shade of thought and character, voluntarily and joyously rallying round their local and in particular their national centers of activity, upholding and promoting ng their interests with complete unanimity and contentment, with perfect understanding, g, genuine enthusiasm, and sustained vigor. This indeed is the one joy and yearning ng of my life, for it is the fountainhead from which all future blessings will flow, the broad foundation upon which the security of the Divine Edifice must ultimately rest." Ñ SHOGHI EFFENDI. FOREWORD HE 192 61927 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada completed a task which, while pertaining to the outer and more material aspects of the Cause, nevertheless has a special signficance for its spirit and inward sacred purpose. This task consisted in creating a legal form which gives proper substance and substantial character to the administrative processes embodied in the Baha'i Teachings. The form adopted was that known as a Voluntary Trust, a species of corporation recognized under the common law and possessing a long and interesting history. The famous Covenant adopted by the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower, the first legal document in American history, is of the same nature as the Declaration of Trust voted by the National Spiritual Assembly. This Declaration of Trust, with its attendant ByLaws, is published for the information of the Baha'is of the world. Careful examination of the Declaration and its ByLaws will reveal the fact that this document contains no arbitrary elements nor features new to the Baha'i Cause. On the contrary, it represents a most conscientious effort to reflect those very administrative principles and elements already set forth in the letters of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, and already determining the methods and relationships of Baha'i collective association. The provision both in the Declaration and in the ByLaws for amendments in the future will permit the National Spiritual Assembly to adapt this document to such new administrative elements or principles as the Guardian may at any time give forth. The Declaration, in fact, is nothing more or less than a legal parallel of those moral and spiritual laws of unity inherent in the fulness of the Baha'i Revelation and making it the fulfillment of [p211] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 211 the ideal of Religion in the social as well as spiritual realm. Because in the Baha'i Faith this perfect correspondence exists between spiritual and social laws, the Baha'is believe that administrative success is identical with moral success; and that nothing iess than the true Baha'i spirit of devotion and sacrifice can inspire with effective power the worldwide body of unity, revealed by Baha'u'llah. Therefore it has seemed fitting and proper to accompany the Declaration of Trust with excerpts from the letters of Shoghi Effendi which furnished the source whence the provisions of the Declaration were drawn, and which furthermore give due emphasis to that essential spirit without which any and every social or religious form is but a dead and soulless body. Horace Holley. DECLARATION OF TRUST AND BYLAWS Of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Slates and Canada NVE, Allen B. McDaniel of Washington, D. C., Horace Holley of New York City, N. Y., Carl Scheffler of Evanston, Ilk, Roy C. Wilhelm of West Englewood, N. J., Florence Morton of 'Worcester, Mass., Amelia Collins of Princeton, Mass., ~A1i-Ku1i-Kh4n of New York City, N. Y., Mountfort Mills of New York City, N. Y., and Siegfried Schopflocher of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, duly chosen by the representatives of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada at the Annual Meeting held at San rrancisco, Calif., on April 29, April 30, May 1, and May 2, 1926, to be the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States and Canada, with full power to establish a Trust as hereinafter set forth, hereby declare that from this date the powers, responsibilities, rights, privileges and obligations reposed in said National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada by Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, by tAbdu'1-BaM, its Interpreter and Exemplar, and by Shoghi Effendi, its Guardian, shall be exercised, administered and carried on by the above-named National Spiritual Assembly and their duly qualified successors under this Declaration of Trust. The National Spiritual Assembly in adopting this form of association, union and fellowship, and in selecting for itself the designation of Trustees of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, does so as the administrative body of a religious community which has had continuous existence and responsibility for over eighteen years. In consequence of these activities the National Spiritual Assembly is called upon to administer such an ever-increasing diversity and volume of affairs and properties for the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, that we, its members, now feel it both desirable and necessary to give our collective functions more definite legal form. This action is taken in complete unanimity and with full recognition of the sacred relationship thereby created. We acknowledge in behalf of ourselves and our successors in this Trust the exalted religious standard established by Baha'u'llah for Baha'i administrative bodies in the utterance: "Be ye Trustees of the Morel/ni One among men"; and seek the help of God and His guidance in order to fulfill that exhortation. ARTICLE I The name of said Trust shall be the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. ARTICLE II Sharing the ideals and assisting the efforts of our fellow Baha'is to establish, uphold and promote the spiritual, educational and humanitarian teachings of human brotherhood, radiant faith, exalted character and selfless love revealed in the lives and utterances of all the Prophets and Messengers of God, Founders of the world's revealed religions Ñ and given renewed creative energy and uni [p212] 212 THE BAHA'! WORLD versa1 application to the conditions of this age in the life and utterances of Baha'u'llah Ñ we declare the purposes and objects of this Trust to be to administer the affairs of the Cause of Baha'u'llah for the benefit of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada according to the principles of Baha affiliation and administration created and established by Baha'u'llah, defined and explained by CAbd~1Bh~ and amplified and applied by Shoghi Effendi and his duly constituted successor and successors under the provision and kind f or the furtherance of the objects of this Trust with any person, firm, association, corporation, private, public or municipal or body politic, or any state, territory or colony thereof, or any foreign government; and in this connection, and in all transactions under the terms of this Trust, to do any and all things which a copartnership or natural person could do or exercise, and which now or hereafter may be authorized by law. The seal of the first Baha'i Assembly of the United States and Canada, 1897. of the Will and Testament of CAbd Wi Ba/id These purposes are to be realized by means of devotional meetings; by public meetings and conferences of an educational, humanitarian and spiritual character; by the publication of books, magazines and newspapers; by the construction of temples of universal worship and of other institutions and edifices for humanitarian service; by supervising, unifying, promoting and generally administering the activities of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada in the fulfillment of their religious offices, duties and ideals; and by any other means appropriate to these ends, or any of them. Other purposes and objects of this Trust are: a. The right to enter into, make, perform and carry out contracts of every sort 1'. To hold and be named as beneficiary under any trust established by law or otherwise or under any will or other testamentary instrument in connection with any gift, devise, or bequest in which a trust or trusts is or are established in any part of the world as well as in the United States and Canada; to receive gifts, devises or bequests of money or other property. c. All and whatsoever the several purposes and objects set forth in the written utterances of Baha'u'llah, tAbdu~1~ Bah~ and Shoghi Effendi, under which certain jurisdiction, powers and rights are granted to National Spiritual Assemblies. ci. Generally to do all things and acts which in the judgment of said Trus [p213] DEPARTMENT OF STATE ro WUom tbe~e pv~srnt~ ~Fafl wine, @ruti~i~v i1~3 JAa/ t/d A A '~t~ <~ '0 / _ ~ t ~~h#4 ~ &~ A~ ~ ~ Th~ S I ~f ~ Dt~ ~f of 1' ~2 ~. ~A'~ C~ ,~ Certificate of the United States Federal Government to the Declaration n of Trust entered into by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. 213 [p214] 214 THE BAHA'I WORLD tees, i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, are necessary, proper and advantageous to promote the complete and successful administration of this Trust. ARTICLE V The central office of this Trust shall be located in such place as may be decided upon from time to time by the National Spiritual Assembly. ARTICLE VT ARTICLE Ill Section 1. All persons, firms, corporations and associations extending credit to, contracting with, or having any claim against the Trustees, i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly, and the members thereof, of any character whatsoever, whether legal or equitable and whether arising out of contract or tort, shall look solely to the funds of the Trust and to the property of the Trust estate for payment or indemnity, or for the payment of any debt, damage, judgment or decree or any money that may otherwise become due or payable from the Trustees, so that neither the Trustees, nor any of them, nor any of their officers or agents appointed by them hereunder, nor any beneficiary or beneficiaries herein named shall be personally liable theref or. Section 2. Every note, bond, proposal, obligation or contract in writing or other agreement or instrument made or given under this Trust shall be explicitly executed by the National Spiritual Assembly, as Trustees, by their duly authorized officers or agents. ARTICLE IV The Trustees, i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly, shall adopt for the conduct of the affairs entrusted to them under this Declaration of Trust, such bylaws, rules of procedure or regulations as are required to define and carry on its own administrative functions and those of the several local and other elements composing the body of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, not inconsistent with the terms of this instrument and all in accordance with the explicit instructions given us to date by Shoghi Lb fendi, Guardian of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, which instructions are already known to the Baha'is of the United States and Canada and accepted by them in the government and practice of their religious affairs. The seal of this Trust shall be circular in form, bearing the following description: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Declaration of Trust, 1927. ARTICLE VII This Declaration of Trust may be amended by majority vote of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada at any special meeting duly called for that purpose, provided that at least thirty (30) days prior to the date fixed for said meeting a copy of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member of the Assembly by the Secretary. ByLaws of the National Spiritual Assembly ARTICLE I lITHE National Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfillment of its sacred duties under this Trust, shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over all the activities and affairs of the Baha'i Cause throughout the United States and Canada, including paramount authority in the administration of this Trust. It shall endeavor to stimulate, unify and coordinate the manifold activities of the local Spiritual Assemblies (hereinafter defined) and of individual Baha'is in the United States and Canada and by all possible means assist them to promote the oneness of mankind. It shall be charged with the recognition of such local Assemblies, the scrutiny of local membership rolls, the calling of the Annual Meeting or special meetings and the seating of delegates to the Annual Meeting and their apportionment among the various local Baha communities. It shall appoint all national Baha'i committees and shall supervise the publication and distribution of Baha'i literature, the reviewing of all writ [p215] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 215 ings pertaining to the Baha'i Cause, the construction and administration of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its accessory activities, and the collection and disbursement of all funds for carrying on of this Trust. It shall decide whether any matter lies within its own jurisdiction or within the jurisdiction of any local Spiritual Assembly. It shall, in such cases as it considers suitable and necessary, entertain appeals from the decisions of local Spiritual Assemblies and shall have the right of final decision in all cases where the qualification of an individual or group for continued voting rights and membership in the Baha'i body is in question. It shall furthermore represent the Baha'is of the United States and Canada in all their cooperative and spiritual activities with the Baha'is of other lands, and shall constitute the soic electoral body of the United States and Canada in the formation of the Universal House of Justice provided for in the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i Cause. Above all, the National Spiritual Assembly shall ever seek to attain that station of unity in devotion to the Revelation of Baha'u'llah which will attract the confirmations of the Holy Spirit and enable the Assembly to serve the founding of the Most Great Peace. In all its deliberation and action the National Assembly shall have constantly before it as Divine guide and standard the utterance of Baha'u'llah: "It behooveth them (i.e., Spiritual Assemblies) to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to consider themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly." ARTICLE IL The Baha'is of the United States and Canada, for whose benefit this Trust has been established, shall consist of all persons resident in the United States and Canada who are recognized by the National Spiritual Assembly as having fulfilled the requirements of voting membership in a local Baha'i community. To become a voting member of a Baha'i community a person shall Ñ a. Be a resident of the locality defined by the area of jurisdiction of the local Spiritual Assembly, as provided by Article VII, Section 12, of this instrument. b. Have attained the age of 21 years. c. Have established to the satisfaction of the local Spiritual Assembly, subject to the approval of the National Assembly, that he possesses the qualifications of Baha'i faith and practice, required under the following standard: Full recognition of the station of the Forerunner (the Bab), the Author (Baha'u'llah), and tAbdu'1-Bah& the True Exemplar of the Baha'i Cause: unreserved acceptance of, and submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by their Pen; loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will; and close association with the spirit as well as the form of presentday Baha'i administration throughout the world. ARTICLE III The National Assembly shall consist of nine members chosen from among the Ba1A'is of the United States and Canada, who shall be elected by the said Baha'is in manner hereinafter provided, and who shall continue in office for the period of one year, or until their successors shall be elected. ARTICLE IV The officers of the National Spiritual Assembly shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as may be found necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs. The officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the Assembly taken by secret ballot. ARTICLE V The first meeting of a newly-elected National Assembly shall be called by the member elected to membership by the highest number of votes or, in case two or more members have received the same said highest number of votes, then by the member selected by lot from among those members; and this member shall preside until the permanent [p216] 216 THE BAHA'I WORLD Chairman shall be chosen. All subsequent meetings shall be called by the Secretary of the Assembly at the request of the Chairman or, in his absence or incapacity, of the Vice-Chairman, or of any three members of the Assembly; provided, however, that the Annual Meeting of the Assembly shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by a majority vote of the Assembly, as hereinafter provided. ARTICLE VI Five members of the National Assembly present at a meeting shall constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and constituting a quorum shall be sufficient for the conduct of business, except as otherwise provided in these ByLaws, and with due regard to the principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution of a Spiritual Assembly. The transactions and decisions of the National Assembly shall be recorded at each meeting by the Secretary, who shall supply copies of the minutes to the Assembly members after each meeting, and preserve the minutes in the official records of the Assembly. ARTICLE VII Whenever in any locality of the United States and Canada, be it city, town, or village, the number of Baha'is resident therein recognized by the National Spiritual Assembly exceeds nine, these may on April 21st of any year convene and elect by plurality vote a local administrative body of nine members, to be known as the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of that community. Every such Spiritual Assembly shall be elected annually thereafter upon each successive 21st day of April. The members shall hold office for the term of one year and until their successors are elected and qualified. When, however, the number of BaM is in any community is exactly nine, these may on April 21st of any year, or in successive years, constitute themselves the local Annual Assembly by joint declaration. Upon the recording of such declaration by the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said body of nine shall become established with the rights, privileges and duties of a local Spiritual Assembly as set forth in this instrument. Section 1. Each newly-elected local Spiritual Assembly shall at once proceed in the manner indicated in Articles IV and V of these ByLaws to the election of its officers, who shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as the Assembly finds necessary for the conduct of its business and the fulfillment of its spiritual duties. Immediately thereafter the Secretary chosen shall transmit to the Secretary of the National Assembly the names of the members of the newly-elected Assembly and a list of its officers. Section 2. The general powers and duties of a local Spiritual Assembly shall be as set forth in the writings of Baha'u'llah, tAbdu'1-Bahi and Shoghi Effendi. Section 3. Among its more specific duties, a local Spiritual Assembly shall have full jurisdiction of all Baha'i activities and affairs within the local community, subject, however, to the exclusive and paramount authority of the National Spiritual Assembly as defined therein. Section 4. Vacancies in the membership of a local Spiritual Assembly shall be filled by election at a special meeting of the local Baha'i community duly called for that purpose by the Assembly. In the event that the number of vacancies exceeds four, making a quorum of the local Assembly impossible. the election shall be held under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly. Section 5. The business of the local Assembly shall be conducted in like manner as provided for the deliberations of the National Assembly in Article VI above. Section 6. The local Assembly shall pass upon and approve the qualifications of each member of the Baha'i community before such members shall be admitted to voting membership; but where an individual is dissatisfied with the ruling of the local Spiritual Assembly upon his Baha'i qualifications, such individual may appeal from the ruling to the National Assembly, which shall thereupon take jurisdiction of and finally decide the case. Section 7. On or before the 1st day of February of each year the Secretary of each [p217] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. ~0U1)ts ~'1 1. (1 4~ TON L ~ ~d ~kV(k ~md K~p~ of dw J~(nk ~,f -.~irl I~~j of l)~'d~ i~ ~ud £~,z ~,ujd ~ ~u ib~ ~iat~ F i'e~~h!, l)o ~ fi t~d in ~did Oflke ~ ~. ~ February4 i~. ~ ~ IN T]~STIMOM VHUWO)?, I i~ ber~iu~to ~t ni~ 1~nid and ~flhed ~y O~Thjd1 ~ ~ T~r~ (hV~ of ~, ~••~'~) Ñ ~Ñ 4~ rnd 217 [p218] Certificate of Incorporation, Spiritual Assembly of Chicago, (page 2). 218 [p219] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of Chicago, (page 3). 219 [p220] 220 THE BAHA'I WORLD local Assembly shall send to the Secretary of the National Assembly a duly certified list of the voting members of the local Baha'i community for the information and approval of the National Assembly. Section 8. All matters arising within a local Baha'i community which are of purely local interest and do not affect the national interests of the Cause shall be under the primary jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assein-bly of that locality; but decision whether a particular matter invoives the interest and welfare of the national Baha'i body shall rest with the National Spiritual Assembly. Section 9. Any member of a local )Baha'i community may appeal from a decision of his Spiritual Assembly to the National Assembly, which shall determine whether it shall take jurisdiction of the matter or leave it to the local Spiritual Assembly for reconsideration. In the event that the National Assembly assumes jurisdiction of the matter, its finding shall be final. Section itO. Where any dissension exists within a local Baha'i community of such a character that it cannot be remedied by the efforts of the local Spiritual Assembly, this condition shall be referred by the Spiritual Assembly for consideration to the National Spiritual Assembly, whose action in the matter shall be final. Section ii. All questions arising between two or more local Spiritual Assemblies, or between members of different Baha'i communities, shall be submitted in the first instance to the National Assembly, which shall have original and final jurisdiction in all such matters. Section 12. The sphere of jurisdiction of a local Spiritual Assembly, with respect to residential qualification of membership, and voting rights of a believer in any Baha'i community, shall be the locality included within the civil limits of the city, town, or village, but Baha'is who reside in adjacent, outlying or suburban districts and can regularly attend the meetings of the local Baha'i community, may be enrolled on the membership list of the adjacent Spiritual Assembly and enjoy full voting rights pending the establishment of a local Spiritual Assembly in their home community. All differences of opinion concerning the sphere of jurisdiction of any local Spiritual Assembly or concerning the affiliation of any Baha'i or group of Baha'is in the United States and Canada shall be referred to the National Spiritual Assembly, whose decision in the matter shall be final. ARTICLE VIII The Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly at which its members shall be elected shall be known as the National Convention of the Baha of the United States and Canada, and shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by the National Assembly, which shall give sixty days' notice of the meeting to each local Baha'i community through its Spiritual Assembly. The National Assembly shall at the same time inform each Spiritual Assembly of the number of delegates to the Convention it has assigned to the local Baha'i community in accordance with the principle of proportionate representation in such manner that the entire number of delegates composing the National Convention shall be ninety-five. Upon receipt of this notice each local Spiritual Assembly shall, within a convenient period and after giving due and sufficient notice thereof, call a meeting of the voting members on its rolls for the purpose of electing their delegate or delegates to the National Convention; and, not later than thirty days before the date of the Convention, the Secretary of each local Spiritual Assembly shall certify to the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly the names and addresses of the delegates so elected. Sect2on 1. All delegates to the Convention shall be elected by plurality vote. Members who for illness or other unavoidable reasons are unable to be present at the election in person shall have the right to transmit their ballots by mail or telegram under conditions satisfactory to the local Spiritual Assembly. Section 2. All delegates to be seated at the Convention must be enrolled as voting members of the Baha'i community represented by them. Section 3. The rights and privileges of a delegate may not be assigned nor may they be exercised by proxy. Section 4. The recognition and seating of [p221] The Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of Chicago. The Baha'i community of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. 221 [p222] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Washington, D. C., U.S.A. 222 [p223] of flubs di COLE )IRIA y 4 the Ccrtitinat of 4 )x'4c4r't~ flU in tIAL Office tim day folio IS ~ tt )I I,. ~o hereunto my hand and affixed the seal of this A. D. 193 g ,4 ~ S Ifecoider oJ Deeds, 02. L Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Washington, D.C., U.S.A., (page 2). 223 [p224] CERTIFIED CQPY OF ~ ~ 74 Received for ~w. rnthe~A day.d _ (2 ~ ~ at and recorded in Liber *ne of the ~ Records of the District of CoIun~hi~ Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Washington, D.C., U.S.A., (page 3). 224 [p225] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 225 delegates to the National Convention shall be vested in the National Spiritual Assembly. Section 3. Delegates unable to be present in person at the Convention shall have the right to vote for members of the National Spiritual Assembly by mail or telegram under such conditions as may be indicated by the National Assembly. Section 6. If in any year the National Spiritual Assembly shall consider that it is impracticable or unwise to assemble together the delegates to the National Convention, the National Spiritual Assembly shall provide ways and means by which the business of the Convention may be conducted by correspondence or telegram. Section 7. The presiding officer of the National Spiritual Assembly present at the National Convention shall call to order the delegates, who shall then proceed to the permanent organization of the meeting, electing by ballot a presiding officer, a Secretary and such other officers as are necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the Convention. Section 8. The principal business of the National Convention shall be the election of the nine members of the incoming National Spiritual Assembly, the consideration of the reports of the financial and other activities of the outgoing National Assembly and its various committees, and deliberation upon the affairs of the Baha'i Cause in general, it being understood, however, in accordance with the principles of Baha'i administration defined by the Guardian that all deliberation and action of the delegates at the National Convention, other than the election of the members of the incoming National Spiritual Assembly, shall constitute merely advice and recommendation for consideration by the said Assembly, final decision on all matters concerning the affairs of the Baha'i Cause in the United States and Canada being vested soieiy in that body. Section 9. The general order of business to be taken up at the National Convention shall be prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly, but any and all matters pertaining to the Cause introduced by any of the delegates may upon motion and vote be taken up as part of the deliberations of the Convention. Section 10. The election of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality vote of the delegates recognized by the outgoing National Spiritual Assembly, i. e., the members elected shall be the nine persons receiving the greatest number of votes on the first ballot cast by delegates present at the Convention and delegates whose ballot has been transmitted to the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly by mail or telegram. In case by reason of a tie vote or votes the full membership is nor determined on the first ballot, then one or more additional ballots shall be taken until all nine members are elected. Section 11. All official business transacted at the National Convention shall be recorded and preserved in the records of the National Assembly. Section 12. Vacancies in the membership of the National Spiritual Assembly shall be filled by a plurality vote of the delegates composing the Convention which elected the Assembly, the ballot to be taken by correspondence or in any other manner decided upon by the National Spiritual Assembly. ARTICLE IX 'Where the National Spiritual Assembly has been given in these ByLaws exclusive and final jurisdiction, and paramount executive authority, in all matters pertaining to the activities and affairs of the Baha'i Cause in the United States and Canada, it is understood that any decision made or action taken upon such matters shall be subject in every instance to ultimate review and approval by the Guardian of the Cause or the Universal House of Justice. ARTICLE X Whatever functions and powers are not specifically attributed to local Spiritual Assemblies in these ByLaws shall be considered vested in the National Spiritual Assembly, which body is authorized to delegate such discretionary functions and powers as it deems necessary and advisable to the local Spiritual Assemblies within its jurisdiction. ARTICLE XI In order to preserve the spiritual character and purpose of Baha elections, the practice [p226] t~3 Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of Washington, D. C., U. S. A. [p227] Baha'i community of Baha'is of Washington, D. C., U. S. A. [p228] 228 THE BAHA'I WORLD of nominations or any other electoral method detrimental to a silent and prayerful election shall not prevail, so that each elector may vote for none but those whom prayer and reflection have inspired him to uphold. Among the most outstanding and sacred duties incumbent upon those who have been called upon to initiate, direct and coordinate the affairs of the Cause as members of local or national Spiritual Assemblies are: To win by every means in their power the confidence and affection of those whom it is their privilege to serve; to investigate and acquaint themselves with the considered views, the prevailing sentiments and the personal convictions of those whose welfare it is their solemn obligation to promote; to purge their deliberations and the general conduct of their affairs of selfcontained aloofness, the suspicion of secrecy, the stifling atmosphere of dictatorial assertiveness and of every word and deed that may savor of partiality, seif-centeredness and prejudice; and while retaining the sacred right of final decision in their hands, to invite discussion, ventilate grievances, welcome advice, and foster the sense of interdepedence and copartnership, of understanding and mutual confidence between themselves and all other Baha'is. ARTICLE XII These ByLaws may be amended by majority vote of the National Spiritual Assembly at any of its regular or special meetings, provided that at least fourteen days prior to the date fixed for the said meeting a copy of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member of the Assembly by the Secretary. BYLAWS OF THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK* ARTICLE I The Baha'is of the City of New York adopt this Corporation in order to suppiy proper legal status to the conduct of the affairs of a religious community which has had continuous existence for more than thirty years, being one of the first two local Baha communities established in North America. During this period the community has been recognized, encouraged and instructed in letters and communications addressed to it by tAbdu'1-Bah&, who in one communication designated New York CCT1~e City of the Covenant." It was in this city that tAbdu'1.-BahA devoted the larger portion of His American visit in 1912. The Assembly has been recognized since the Ascension of tAbdu'1-BahA in letters addressed to it by the Guard-'an of the Baha'i Faith. The New York Baha'i community has been continuously and uninterruptedly represented by delegates in the Annual Meetings held by the recognized national Baha'i body of North America since the formation of that body in 1909. The ~ The pattern for all local HaM' i constitutions. Spiritual Assembly is at present enrolled in the list of Local Spiritual Assemblies recognized by the National Spiritual Assembly. The Trustees, i. e., the Spiritual Assembly, recognize that this action has been taken in full unanimity and agreement. They acknowledge for themselves and on behalf of their successors the sacred meaning and universal purpose of the Baha'i Faith, the teachings and principles of which fulfil the divine promise of all former revealed religions. ARTICLE H In administering the affairs of the Baha'i Religion under this Corporation for the benefit of the Baha of the City of New York in accordance with the religious teachings and administrative principles of this Faith, the Spiritual Assembly shall act in conformity with the functions of a Local Spiritual Assembly as defined in the ByLaws adopted by the National Spiritual Assembly and published by that body for the information and guidance of Baha'is throughout the United States and Canada. [p229] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A. 229 [p230] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A., (page 2). 230 [p231] Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A., (page 3). 231 [p232] 232 THE BAHA'I WORLD ARTICLE III The Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfillment of its obligations and responsibilities under this Corporation, shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over all the local activities and affairs of the Baha'i community of the City of New York, including paramount authority in the administration of this Corporation. It shall be responsible for maintaining the integrity and accuracy of all Baha'i teaching, whether written or oral, undertaken throughout the local community. It shall make available the published literature of the Faith. It shall represent the community in its relations to the National Spiritual Assembly, in its relation to the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, to other local Baha communities, and to the general public in the City of New York. It shall be charged with the recognition of all applicants requesting membership in the local Baha'i community. It shall pass upon the right of any and all members of the community whose membership is in question to retain their status as voting members of the community. It shall call the meetings of the community, including the Baha'i Anniversaries and Feasts, the meetings of consultation, the Annual Meeting and the meeting for the election of delegates to the Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly. It shall appoint and supervise all committees of the Baha'i community. It shall collect and disburse all funds intended for the maintenance of this Corporation. It shall have full and complete custody of the headquarters or meeting place of the Baha'i corn-munity. It shall report to the National Spiritual Assembly annually, or when requested, the membership roll of the Baha'i community, for the information and approval of the national Baha'i body. The Spiritual Assembly, however, shall recognize the authority and right of the National Spiritual Assembly to declare at any time what activities and affairs of the Baha'i community of the City of New York are national in scope and hence subject to the jurisdiction of the national Baha body. It shall likewise recognize the right of any member of the community to appeal to the National Spiritual Assembly for review and decision of any matter in which the previous decision of the local Spiritual Assembly is felt by the member to be contrary to the explicit teachings of the Baha'i Faith or opposed to its best interests. It shall, on the other hand, have the authority and right to appeal from the decision of the National Assembly to the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith for review and final decision of any matter related to the Faith in the City of New York. ARTICLE IV The Spiritual Assembly, in administering this Corporation, shall ever bear in mind the ideals upheld in the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i Faith respecting the relationships of a Spiritual Assembly to its Baha'i community, respecting the relations of Baha'is to one another in the community, and the relationships of Baha'is to all non-Bahi'is, without prejudice of race, creed, class or nationality. The Assembly shall therefore above all recognize its sacred duty to maintain full and complete unity throughout the Baha'i community, to relieve and comfort the sick and distressed, to assist the poor and destitute, to protect the orphans, the crippled and the aged, to educate the children of Baha'is according to the highest religious and intellectual standards, to compose differences and disagreements among members of the community, to promulgate the principles of Divine Civilization revealed by Baha'u'llah, and to promote in every way possible the Baha'i aim of the oneness of mankind. It shall faithfully and devotedly uphold the general Baha activities and affairs initiated and sustained by the National Spiritual Assembly. It shall cooperate wholeheartedly with other local Spiritual Assemblies throughout North America in all matters declared by the National Spiritual Assembly to be of general Baha'i importance and concern. It shall rigorously abstain from any action or influence, direct or indirect, that savors of intervention on the part of a Baha'i body in matters of public politics and civil jurisdiction. It shall encourage intercourse between the Baha'i community of the City of New York and other recognized Baha'i communities, issuing letters of introduction to Baha'is traveling from New [p233] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 233 York and passing upon letters of introduction issued by other Baha'i Assemblies. It shall regard its authority as a means of rendering service to Baha'is and non-BaM'is and not as a source of arbitrary power. While retaining the sacred right of final decision in all matters pertaining to the Baha'i community, the Spiritual Assembly shall ever seek the advice and consultation of all members of the community, keep the community informed of all its affairs, and invite full and free discussion on the part of the community of all matters affecting the Eaith. ARTICLE V The Baha'is of the City of New York, for whose benefit this Corporation has been established, shall consist of all persons resident in the City of New York who are recognized by the Spiritual Assembly as having fulfilled the requirements of voting membership in this local Baha'i community. To become a voting member of this Baha'i community a person shall: a. Be a resident of the City of New York as defined by the area of jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, as provided hereinafter in this instrument. 1'. Have attained the age of 21 years. c. Have established to the satisfaction of the Spiritual Assembly, subject to the approval of the National Spiritual Assembly, that he (or she) possesses the qualifications of Baha'i Faith and practice required under the following standard: Full recognition of the Station of the Forerunner (the Bib), the Author (Baha'u'llah), and cAbdu~1~ Bah6~ the Exemplar of the Baha'i religion; unreserved acceptance of, and submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by Them; loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of tAbdu'1-BaM's sacred Will and Testament; and close association with the spirit as well as the form of Baha'i administration throughout the world. ARTICLE VI The Spiritual Assembly shall consist of nine Trustees chosen from among the Baha'is of the City of New York, who shall be elected by these Baha'is in a manner hereinafter provided and who shall continue in office for the period of one year, or until their successors shall be elected. ARTICLE VII The officers of the Spiritual Assembly shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as may be found necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs. The officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the entire membership of the Assembly taken by secret ballot. ARTICLE VIII The first meeting of a newly-elected Assembly shall be called by the member elected to membership by the highest number of votes, or, in case two or more members have received the same said highest number of votes, then by the member selected by lot from among those members; and this member shall preside until the permanent Chairman shall be chosen. All subsequent meetings shall be called by the Secretary of the Assembly at the request of the Chairman, or, in his absence or incapacity, of the Vice-Chairman, or of any three members of the Assembly; provided however that the Annual Meeting of the Assembly shall be held on April 2 1st, in accordance with the administrative principles recognized by all Baha'i Assemblies. Section 1. Five members of the Assembly present at a meeting shall constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and constituting a quorum shall be sufficient for the conduct of business, except as otherwise provided in these ByLaws, and with due regard to the principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution of a Spiritual Assembly. The transactions and decisions of the Assembly shall be recorded at each meeting by the Secretary, who shall have the minutes adopted and approved by the Assembly, and preserve them in the official records of the Assembly. Section 2. Vacancies in the membership of the Spiritual Assembly shall be filled by election at a special meeting of the local Baha'i community duly called for that pun [p234] Baha'i community of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A. Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A. 234 [p235] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 235 pose by the Assembly. In the event that the number of vacancies exceeds four, making a quorum of the Spiritual Assembly impossible, the election shall be under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly. ARTICLE IX The sphere of jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, with respect to residential qualification of membership, and voting rights of a believer in the Baha'i community, shall be the locality included within the civil limits of the City of New York, but Baha'is, who reside in adjacent, outlying or suburban districts and can regularly attend the meetings of the local Baha'i community, may be enrolled on the membership list of the Spiritual Assembly and enjoy full voting rights pending the establishment of a local Spiritual Assembly in their home community. ARTICLE X Section 1. Tn the event that any decision of the Assembly is unacceptable to any member or members of the community, the Assembly shall after endeavoring to compose the differences of opinion invite the said member or members to make appeal to the national Baha'i body and notify that body of the condition of the matter and the readiness of the Assembly to become party to the appeal. Section 2. In the same manner, if any difference arises between the Assembly and another local Assembly, or Assemblies, in North America, the Assembly shall report the matter to the national Baha'i body and inform that body of its readiness to make joint appeal together with the other Assembly or Assemblies. Section 3. If, however, the result of such appeal is unsatisfactory to the Spiritual Assembly or the Assembly at any time has son to believe that actions of the National Spiritual Assembly are affecting adversely the welfare and unity of the Baha'i corn-munity of the City of New York, it shall, after seeking to compose its difference of opinion with the national body in direct consultation, have the right to make appeal to the Guardian of the Faith. Section 4. The Assembly shall likewise have the right to make complaint to the National Spiritual Assembly in the event that matters of local Baha'i concern and influence are referred to the national body by a member or members of the local community without previous opportunity for action by the local Assembly. ARTICLE XI The Annual Meeting of the Corporation at which its Trustees shall be elected shall be held on April 21st at an hour and place to be fixed by the Assembly, which shall give not less than fifteen days' notice of the meeting to all members of the local Baha'i community. Section ii. The Assembly shall accept those votes transmitted to the Assembly before the election by members who by reason of sickness or other unavoidable reason are unable to be present at the election in person. Section 2. The election of members to the Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality vote. Section 3. All voting members of the local Baha'i community are eligible for election as members of the Spiritual Assembly. Section 4. The Assembly shall prepare an agenda for the Annual Meeting in which shall be included reports of the activities of the Assembly since its election, a financial statement showing all income and expenditure of its fund, reports of its committees and presentation of any other matters pertaining to the affairs of the Baha'i community. The Assembly, both preceding and following the annual election, shall invite discussion and welcome suggestions from the community, in order that its plans may reflect the community mind and heart. Section 5. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual Assembly to the National Assembly. ARTICLE XII In addition to the Annual Meeting, the Assembly shall arrange for regular meetings of the Baha'i community throughout the year at intervals of nineteen days, in accordance with the calendar incorporated in the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. [p236] Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma. 236 [p237] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 237 ARTICLE XIII The Spiritual Assembly, on notice from the National Spiritual Assembly, shall report the number of voting members in the local community, that the national Baha'i body may be duly informed of the number of delegates to be assigned to the Baha'i community of the City of New York in accordance with the principle of proportionate representation controlling the annual election of members to the National Spiritual Assembly. Section 1. When informed of the number of delegates assigned to the local community, the Spiritual Assembly shall call a special meeting of the community for the purpose of electing said number of delegates to represent the community at the Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly. Section 2. The election of delegates to the Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality vote. Section 3. All voting members of the local Baha'i community are eligible for electiOn as delegates to the Annual Meeting of the National Assembly. Section 4. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual Assembly to the National Spiritual Assembly, and the Spiritual Assembly shall meet all the conditions laid down by the national Baha'i body for the recognition of local Spiritual Assemblies and the participation of local Baha communities in the annual election of the national Baha body. ARTICLE XIV The seal of this Corporation shall be circular in form, bearing the following description: The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York, Corporate Seal. ARTICLE XV These ByLaws may be amended by majority vote of the Spiritual Assembly at any of its regular or special meetings, provided that at least fourteen days prior to the date fixed for the said meeting a copy of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member of the Assembly by the Secretary. CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION, THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF ESSLINGEN, GERMANY 1. NAMEN UND ZWECK. Die BaM'i-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Esslingen a/N. ist em Glied der BaM'i-Bewegung. Ihr Zweck ist die F6rderung, Verbreitung und Verwirklichung der BahA'i-Ideen gem~iss den Lehren Baha'u'llah's und cAbdu~1~Bah&s und ihrer Fortentwicklung durch deren von der Aligemeinheit der Baha'i in der Welt aner-kannten Nachfolger (Hiiter). 2. Srrz. Der Sic ist Esslingen a/N. 3. LINTRAGUNG. Die Eintragung in das Vereinsregister ist zu beantragen. 4. MITGLIEDSCHAFT. I. Edsverb der Mit gliedsc-haft. Mitglied kann jede in der Gemeinde Ess-lingen ans~issige voL1j~ihrige natiirliche Person werden, die bereit ist, dem Zweck der Bahi'i-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Esslingen zu dienen und durch die in Esslingen ans~ssigen Anh~inger Baha'u'llah's und tAbdu'1-Bahii's und des anerkannten Hilters (Baha'i) gem~iss den aligemeinen Baha'i Gepilogenheiten bezw. gemass de Satzungen der rechtm~issigen deutschen Nationalen BahA'i-Arbeitsgemein-schaft (BahA'i-Nationalrat) oder deren rechtm~ssigen Naclifolger gewThlt und von letzterer bestdtigt ist. Die Mitgliedschaft dauert jeweils em Jahr und kann beliebig erneuert werden. [p238] 238 THE BAHA'I WORLD II. Verlust der Mitgliedscha ft. Die Mitgliedschaft erlischt: a. nach Verlauf cines Jahres falls sie nicht erneuert wird. ii durch Tod. c. durch Austritt. d. durch Ausschluss. Der Austria ist an keine bestimmte Form oder Frist gebunden. Zum Ausschluss bedarf es der Dreiviertelmelirheit der MitgLieder dessen Stollvertreter bezw. dem Sekretar einberuf en. Eine besondere Form ist niclit vorgeschrieben. Die Beschlusse sind von dem Vorsitzenden und dem Sekret~r zu unter-zeichnen. Die Beschhisse werden mit em-facher Stimmenmehrbeit gefasst. 8. SCHEIDSGERICHT. Wegen aller aus dem Zweck des Vereins sich ergegenden Streitigkeiten unterwerfen Certificate of Incorporation, Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Esslingen, Germany. und der Besr~tigung durch den deutschen Baha' i -Nationairat bezw. dessen Reclits-nachfolger oder des Hikers. sich die Mitglieder cinem von deutschen BaIA'i-Nationalrat bezw. dessen Rechtsnach-folger zu ernennenden Schiedsgericht. S. BEITRAG. Eine bestimmte Beitragspflicht ist niclit vorgesehen. Es bleibt der Mitgliederver-sammiung tiberlassen hierUber Beschliisse zu fassen. 6. BILDUNG DES VORSTANDES. Der Vorstand wird von der Mitgliederver-sammiung a11j~ihr1ich mit einfacher Stimmen-mehrheit gewThlt und besteht aus dem Vorsitzenden, dessen Stellvertreter, dem Sek-ret~ir und dem Rechner. Thin obliegt die Ausfiihrung der Beschuiisse der Mitglieder-versammiung. 7. BBRTYFTJNG DER MITGLIEDERVERSAMM-LUNG UND BESCF-ILUSSFASSUNC. Die Mitgliederversammlungen werden nach Bedarf von dem Vorsitzenden bezw. 9. VEREINSVERMOGEN. Em eventuelles Vereinsverm5gen Thilt bei Aufluisung des Vereins dem deutschen BahA'i-Nationairat bezw. dessen Rechtsnachfolger ev. bis zur Naugriindung einer selbststmdi-gen Gruppe in Esslingen-in zweiter Linie dem Hiker zu. Esslingen, den 10 April, 1931. (Signed) Anna K6stlin Erna Kaiiffmann Hugo Bender Will. Munts Luise Rommel Ema L5ffler Lydia Faisler [p239] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'UThLAI-I 239 EXCERPTS FROM THE LETTERS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI J HAVE been acquainted by tha perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that have been publicly expressed, by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true precepts of the Cause, regarding the validity of institutions that stand inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Not that I for a moment view such faint misgivings in the light of an open challenge to the structure that embodies the Faith, nor is it because I question in the least the unyielding tenacity of the faith of the American believers, if I venture to dwell upon what seems to me appropriate observations at the present stage of the evolution of our beloved Cause. I am indeed inclined to welcome these expressed apprehensions inasmuch as they afford me an opportunity to familiarize the elected representatives of the believers with the origin and character of the institutions which stand at the very basis of the world order ushered in by Baha'u'llah. We should feel truly thankful for such futile attempts to undermine our beloved Faith Ñ attempts that protrude their ugly face from time to time, seem for a while able to create a breach in the ranks of the faithful, recede finally into the obscurity of oblivion, and are thought of no more. Such incidents we should regard as the interpositions of Providence, designed to fortify our faith, to clarify our vision, and to deepen our understanding of the essentials of His Divine Revelation. It would, however, be helpful and instructive to bear in mind certain basic principles with reference to the Will and Testa-inent of rAbdu)l~Bahd, which together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief depositary wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Baha'i Faith. A study of the provisions of these sacred documents will reveal the close relationship that exists between them, as well as the identity of purpose and method which they inculcate. Far from regarding their specific provisions as incompatible and contradictory in spirit, every fair-minded inquirer will readily admit that they are not oniy complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit. A comparison of their contents with the rest of Baha'i Sacred Writings will similarly establish the conformity of whatever they contain with the spirit as well as the letter of the authenticated writings and sayings of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-BaM. In fact, he who reads the Aqdds with care and diligence will not find it hard to discover that the Most Holy Book [Aqcldsj itself anticipates in a number of passages the institutions which CAbdu~1Bah~ ordains in His Will. By leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book of Laws fAqdds], Baha'u'llah seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of Baha Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions of the Master's Will has filled. To attempt to divorce the one from the other. to insinuate that the Teachings of Baha'u'llah have not been upheld, in their entirety and with absolute integrity, by what tAbdu'1-Bah4 has revealed in his Will, is an unpardonable affront to the unswerving fidelity that has characterized the life and labors of our beloved Master. I will not attempt in the least to assert or demonstrate the authenticity of the Will and Testament of rAbdu~l.Bahd, for that in itself would betray an apprehension on my part as to the unanimous confidence of the believers in the genuineness of the last written wishes of our departed Master. I will only confine my observations to those issues which may assist them to appreciate the essential unity that underlies the spiritual, the humanitarian, and the administrative principles enunciated by the Author and the Interpreter of the Baha'i Faith. I am at a loss to explain that strange mentality that inclines to uphold as the sole criterion of the truth of the Baha'i Teachings what is admittedly oniy an obscure and unauthenticated translation of an oral statement made by Abdu'l-Baha in defiance and total disregard of the available text of all of His universally recognized writings. I truly deplore the unfortunate distortions that have [p240] 240 THE BAHA'I WORLD resulted in days past from the incapacity of the interpreter to grasp the meaning of tAbdu'1-BahA, and from his incompetence to render adequately such truths as have been revealed to him by the Master's statements. Much of the confusion that has obscured the understanding of the believers should be attributed to this double error involved in the inexact rendering of an only partially understood statement. Not infrequently has the interpreter even failed to convey the exact purport of the inquirer's specific questions, and, by his deficiency of understanding and expression in conveying the answer of CAb du'lKBahA, has been responsible for reports wholly at variance with the true spirit and purpose of the Cause. It was chiefly in view of this misleading nature of the reports of the informal conversations of CAbdu~1~Bah& with visiting pilgrims, that I have insistently urged the believers of the 'West to regard such statements as merely personal impressions of the sayings of their Master, and to quote and consider as authentic only such translations as are based upon the authenticated text of His recorded utterances in the original tongue. It should be remembered by every follower of the Cause that the system of Baha'i administration is not an innovation imposed arbitrarily upon the Baha'is of the world since the Master's passing, but derives its authority from the Will and Test ainent of eAbdu~l~Bahd is specifically prescribed in unnumbered Tablet; and rests in some of its essential features upon the explicit provisions of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. It thus unifies and correlates the principles separately laid down by Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'I Ñ Baha, and is indissolubly bound with the essential verities of the Faith. To dissociate the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely spiritual and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to a mutilation of the body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the disintegration of its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith itself. Local and National Houses of Justice It should be carefully borne in mind that the local as well as the international Houses of Justice have been expressly enjoined by the Kitdh Ñ i-Aqdds; that the institution of the National Spiritual Assembly, as an intermediary body, and referred to in the Master's Will as the "Secondary House of Justice," has •the express sanction of tAbdu'1-Bah&; and that the method to be pursued for the election of the International and National Houses of Justice has been set forth by Him in His Will, as well as in a number of His Tablets. Moreover, the institutions of the local and national Funds, that are now the necessary adjuncts to all Local and National Spiritual Assemblies, have not oniy been established by cAbdu~1~BahA in the Tablets He revealed to the Baha'is of the Orient, but their importance and necessity have been repeatedly emphasized by Him in His utterances and writings. The concentration of authority in the. hands of the elected representatives of the believers; the necessity of the submission of every adherent of the Faith to the considered judgment of Baha'i Assemblies; His preference for unanimity in decision; the decisive character of the majority vote; and even the desirability for the exercise of close supervision over all Baha'i publications, have been sedulously instilled by tAbdu'1-Bah~, as evidenced by His authenticated and widely-scattered Tablets. To accept His br6ad and humanitarian Teachings on one hand, and to reject and dismiss with neglectful indifference His more challenging and distinguishing precepts, would be an act of manifest disloyalty to that which He has cherished most in His life. That the Spiritual Assemblies of today will be replaced in time by the Houses of Justice, and are to all intents and purposes identical and not separate bodies, is abundantly confirmed by tAbdu'1-Ba1A Himself. He has in fact in a Tablet addressed to the members of the first Chicago Spiritual Assembly, the first elected Baha'i body instituted in the United States, referred to them as the members of the "House of Justice" for that city, and has thus with His own pen established beyond any doubt the identity of the present Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies with the Houses of Justice referred to by Baha'u'llah. For reasons which are not difficult to discover, it has been found advisable to bestow upon the elected representatives of Baha'i communities throughout the world the temporary appella [p241] Map of Baha'i holdings surrounding and dedicated to the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, recently exempted from the payment of taxes by the Government of Palestine. . Tentative design of terraces suggesting an idea of the future development of a part of this area. 241 [p242] 242 THE BAHA'I WORLD tion of Spiritual Assemblies, a term which, as the position and aims of the Baha'i Faith arc better understood and more fully recognized, will gradually be superseded by the permanent and more appropriate designation of House of Justice. Not only will the presentday Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition 6f the Faith of Baha'u'llah, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power. And as the Baha'i Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plentitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Baha'i Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the world's future super-state. It must be pointed out, however, in this connection that, contrary to what has been confidently asserted, the establishment of the Supreme House of Justice is in no way dependent upon the adoption of the Baha'i Faith by the mass of the peoples of the world, nor does it presuppose its acceptance by the majority of the inhabitants of any one country. In fact, Abdu'l-Baha, Himself, in one of His earliest Tablets, contemplated the possibility of the formation of the Universal House of Justice in His own lifetime, and but for the unfavorable circumstances prevailing under the Turkish rdgime, would have, in all probability, taken the preliminary steps for its establishment. It will be evident, therefore, that given favorable circumstances, under which the Baha of Persia and of the adjoining countries under Soviet Rule may be enabled to elect their national representatives, in accordance with the guiding principles laid down in cAbdu~1~ Bah6 writings, the only remaining obstacle in the way of the definite formation of the International House of Justice will have been removed. For upon the National Houses of Justice of the East and West devolves the task, in conformity with the explicit provisions of the Will, of electing directly the members of the International House of Justice. Not until they are themselves fully representative of the rank and file of the believers in their respective countries, not until they have acquired the weight and the experience that will enable them to function vigorously in the organic life of the Cause, can they approach their sacred task, and provide the spiritual basis for the constitution of so august a body in the Baha'i world. The Institution of Guardianship It must be also clearly understood by every believer that the institution of Guardianship does not under any circumstances abrogate, or even in the slightest degree detract from, the powers granted to the Universal House of Justice by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, and repeatedly and solemnly confirmed by cAbdu~1~Bah6 in His Will. It does not constitute in any manner a contradiction to the Will and Writings of Baha'u'llah, nor does it nullify any of His revealed instructions. It enhances the prestige of that exalted assembly, stabilizes its supreme position, safeguards its unity, assures the continuity of its labors, without presuming in the slightest to infringe upon the inviolability of its clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction. We stand indeed too close to so monumental a document to claim for ourselves a complete understanding of all its implications, or to presume to have grasped the manifold mysteries it undoubtedly contains. Only future generations can comprehend the value and the significance attached to this Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed for the unification and the triumph of the worldwide Faith of Baha'u'llah. Only those who come after us will be in a position to realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship. They oniy will appreciate the significance of the vigorous language employed by Abdu'l-Baha with reference to the band of Covenant-breakers that has opposed Him in His days. To them alone will be revealed the suitability of the institutions initiated by tAbdu'1-Bah6. to the character of the future society which is to emerge out of the chaos and confusion of the present age. [p243] Unity Feast, Baha'i Summer School, July, 1933, Geyserville, California, U. S. A. [p244] 244 THE BANAl WORLD The Animating Purpose of Baha'i Institutions And, now, it behooves us to reflect on the animating purpose and the primary functions of these divinely-established institutions, the sacred character and the urn Ñ versal efficacy of which can be demonstrated oniy by the spirit they diffuse and the work they actually achieve. I need not dwell upon what I have already reiterated and emphasized that the administration of the Cause is to be conceived as an instrument and not a substitute for the Faith of Baha'u'llah, that it should be regarded as a channel through which His promised blessings may flow, that it should guard against such rigidity as would clog and fetter the liberating forces released by His Revelation. Who, I may ask, when viewing the international character of the Cause, its far-flung ramifications, the increasing complexity of its affairs, the diversity of its adherents, and the state of confusion that assails on every side the infant Faith of God, can for a moment ques Ñ don the necessity of some sort of adrninis trative machinery that will insure, amid the storm and stress of a struggling civilization, the unity of the Faith, the preservation of its identity, and the protection of its interests? To repudiate the validity .of the assemblies of the elected ministers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah would be to reject these count-iess Tablets of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha, wherein they have extolled their privileges and duties, emphasized the glory of their mission, revealed the immensity of their task, and warned them of the attacks they must needs expect from the unwisdom of friends, as well as from the malice of their enemies. lit is surely for those to whose hands so priceless a heritage has been committed to prayerfully watch lest the tool should supersede the Faith itself, lest undue concern for the minute details arising from the administration of the Cause obscure the vision of its promoters, lest partiality, ambition, and worldliness tend in the course of time to becloud the radiance, stain the purity, and impair the effectiveness of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. (February 27, 1929.) THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH AMID the reports that have of late reached the Holy Land, most of which witness to the triumphant march of the Cause, a few seem to betray a certain apprehension regarding the validity of the institutions which stand inseparably associated with the Faith of Baha'u'llah. These expressed misgivings appear to be actuated by certain whisperings which have emanated from quarters which are either wholly misinformed regarding the fundamentals of the Baha'i Revelation, or which deliberately contrive to sow the seeds of dissension in the hearts of the faithful. Viewed in the light of past experience, the inevitable result of such futile attempts, however persistent and malicious they be, is to contribute to a wider and deeper recognition by believers and unbelievers alike of the distinguishing features of the Faith proclaimed by Baha'u'llah. These challenging criticisms, whether or not dictated by malice, cannot but serve to galvanize the souls of its ardent supporters, and to consolidate the ranks of its faithful promoters. They will purge the Faith from those pernicious elements whose continued association with the believers tends to discredit the fair name of the Cause, and to tarnish the purity of its spirit. We should welcome, therefore, not oniy the open attacks which its avowed enemies persistently launch against it, but should also view as a blessing in disguise every storm of mischief with which they who apostatize their faith or claim to be its faithful exponents assail it from time to time. Instead of undermining the Faith, such assaults, both from within and without, reinforce its foundations, and excite the intensity of its flame. Designed to becloud its radiance, they proclaim to all the world the exalted character of its precepts, the completeness of its unity, the uniqueness of its position, and the pervasiveness of its influence. [p245] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 245 I do not feel for one moment that such clamor, mostly attributable to impotent rage against the resistless march of the Cause of God, can ever distress the valiant warriors of the Faith. For these heroic souis, whether they be contending in America's impregnable stronghold, or struggling in the heart of Europe, and across the seas as far as the continent of Australasia, have already abundantly demonstrated the tenacity of their faith and the abiding value of their conviction. I feel it, however, incumbent upon me by virtue of the responsibility attached to the Guardianship of the Faith, to dwell more fully upon the essential character and the distinguishing features of that world order as conceived by Baha'u'llah. It behooves us, dear friends, to endeavor not only to familiarize ourselves with the essential features of this supreme Handiwork of Baha'u'llah, but also to grasp the fundamental difference existing between this world-embracing, divinely-appointed Order and the chief ecclesiastical organizations of the world, whether they pertain to the Church of Christ, or to the ordinances of the Mul?ammadan Dispensation. For those whose priceless privilege is to guard over, administer the affairs, and advance the interests of these Baha'i institutions will have, sooner or later, to face this searching question: ccWhere and how does this Order established by Baha'u'llah, which to outward seeming is but a replica of the institutions established in Christianity and Islam, differ from them? Are not the twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, the institution of the national and local Assemblies, the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar but different names for the institutions of the Papacy and the Caliphate, with all their attending ecclesiastical orders which the Christians uphold and advocate? What can possibly be the agency that can safeguard these Baha'i institutions, so strikingly resemblant, in some of their features, to those which have been reared by the Fathers of the Church and the Apostles of Muhammad, from witnessing the deterioration in character, the breach of unity, and the extinction of influence, which have befallen all organized ized religious heirarchies? Why should they not eventually suffer the same fate that has overtaken the institutions which the successors of Christ and Muhammad have reared?" Upon the answer given to these challenging questions will, in a great measure, depend the success of the efforts which believers in every land are now exerting for the establishment of God's kingdom upon the earth. Few will fail to recognize that the Spirit breathed by Baha'u'llah upon the world, and which is manifesting itself with varying degrees of intensity through the efforts consciously displayed by His avowed supporters and indirectly through certain humanitarian organizations, can never permeate and exer-cisc an abiding influence upon mankind unless and until it incarnates itself in a visible Order, which would bear its name, wholly identify itself with His principles, and function in conformity with His laws. That Baha'u'llah in His Book of Aqdds, and later cAbdu~1Bahi in His Will Ñ a document which confirms, supplements, and correlates the provisions of the Aqdds Ñ have set forth in their entirety those essential elements for the constitution of the world Baha'i Commonwealth, no one who has read them will deny. According to these divinely-ordained administrative principles, the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah Ñ the Ark of human salvation Ñ must needs be modelled. From them, all future blessings must flow, and upon them its inviolable authority must ultimately rest. For Baha'u'llah, we should readily recognize, has not oniy imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal princi-pies, or propounded a certain philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as Abdu'l-Baha after Him, have, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of The Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth. Not only have [p246] Upper center: Group of friends attending the Baha'i Summer School at Geyserville, California. Left: The large fir tree under which many meetings are held. Lower center: View of valley from Bosch Place. Right: A view of the beautiful redwood trees on the property. [p247] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 247 they revealed all the directions required for the practical realization of those ideals which the Prophets of God have visualized, and which from time immemorial have inflamed the imagination of seers and poets in every age; they have also, in unequivocal and emphatic language, appointed those twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship as their chosen Successors, destined to apply the principles, promulgate the laws, protect the institutions, adapt ioy Ñ ally and intelligently the Faith to the requirements of progressive society, and consummate the incorruptible inheritance which the Founders of the Faith have bequeathed to the world. Should we look back to the past, were we to search out the Gospel and the Qur'an, we will readily recognize that neither the Christian nor the Islimic Dispensations can offer a parallel either to the system of Divine Economy so thoroughly established by Baha'u'llah, or to the safeguards which He has provided for its preservation and advancement. Therein, I am profoundly convinced, lies the answer to those questions to which I have already referred. None, I feel, will question the fact that the fundamental reason why the unity of the Church of Christ was irretrievably shattered, and its influence was in the course of time undermined was that the Edifice which the Fathers of the Church reared after the passing of His First Apostle was an Edifice that rested in nowise upon the explicit directions of Christ Himself. The authority and features of their administration were wholly inferred, and indirectly derived, with more or iess justification, from certain vague and fragmentary references which they found scattered amongst His utterances as recorded in the Gospel. Not one of the sacraments of the Church; not one of the rites and ceremonies which the Christian Fathers have elaborately devised and ostentatiously observed; not one of the elements of severe discipline they rigorously imposed upon the primitive Christians; none of these reposed on the direct authority of Christ, or emanated from His specific utterances. Not one of these did Christ conceive, none did He specifically invest with sufficient authority to either interpret His Word, or to add to that which He had not specifically enjoined. For this reason, in later generations, voices were raised in protest against the self-ap-pointed Authority which arrogated to itself privileges and powers which did not emanate from the clear text of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and which constituted a grave departure from the spirit which that Gospel did inculcate. They argued with force and justification that the canons promulgated by the Councils of the Church were not divinely-appointed laws, but were merely human devices which did not even rest upon the actual utterances of Jesus. Their contention centered around the fact that the vague and inconclusive words, addressed by Christ to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church," could never justify the extreme measures, the elaborate ceremonials, the fettering creeds and dogmas, with which His successors have gradually burdened and obscured His Faith. Had it been possible for the Church Fathers, whose unwarranted authority was thus fiercely assailed from every side, to refute the denunciations heaped upon them by quoting specific utterances of Christ regarding the future administration of His Church, or the nature of the authority of His Successors, they would surely have been capable of quenching the flame of controversy, and preserving the unity of Christendom. The Gos-pci, however, the oniy repository of the utterances of Christ, afforded no such shelter to these harassed leaders of the Church, who found themselves helpless in the face of the pitiless onslaught of their enemy, and who eventually had to submit to the forces of schism which invaded their ranks. In the Muhammadan Revelation, however, although His Faith as compared with that of Christ was, so far as the administration of His Dispensation is concerned, more complete and more specific in its provisions, yet in the matter of succession it gave no written, no binding and conclusive instructions to those whose mission was to propagate His Cause. For the text of the Qur'an, the ordinances of which regarding prayer, fasting, marriage, divorce, inheritance, pilgrimage, and the like, have after the revolution of thirteen hundred years remained intact and operative, gives no definite guidance re [p248] 248 THE BAHA'I WORLD garding the Law of Succession, the source of all the dissensions, the controversies, and schisms which have dismembered and discredited Jshm. Not so with the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. Unlike the Dispensation of Christ, unlike the Dispensation of Muhammad, unlike all the Dispensations of the past, the apostles of Baha'u'llah in every land, wherever they labor and toil, have before them in clear, in unequivocal and emphatic language, all the laws, the regulations, the principles, the institutions, the guidance, they require for the prosecution and consummation of their task. Both in the administrative provisions of the Baha'i Dispensation, and in the matter of succession, as embodied in the twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the followers of Baha'u'llah can summon to their aid such irrefutable evidences of Divine Guidance that none can resist, that none can belittle or ignore. Therein lies the distinguishing feature of the Baha'i Revelation. Therein lies the strength of the unity of the Faith, of the validity of a Revelation that claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify and fulfill them. We should also bear in mind that the distinguishing character of the Baha'i Revelation does not consist solely in the completeness and unquestionable validity of the Dispensation which the teachings of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Bahi have established. Its excellence lies also in the fact that those elements which in past Dispensations have, without the least authority from their Founders, been a source of corruption and of incalculable harm to the Faith of God, been strictly excluded by the clear text of Baha'u'llah's writings. Those unwarranted practices, in connection with the sacrament of baptism, of communion, of confession of sins, of ascetism, of priestly domination, of elaborate cerernonials, of holy war and of polygamy, have one and all been rigidly suppressed by the Pen of Baha'u'llah, whilst the rigidity and rigor of certain observances, such as fasting, and which are necessary to the devotional life of the individual, have been considerably abated. Dear friends! Feeble though our Faith may now appear in the eyes of men, who either denounce it as an offshoot of Islirn, 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. Oniy those who have already recognized the supreme station of Baha'u'llah, 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 Ñ His inestimable gift to mankind. • (March 21, 1930.) THE GOAL OF A NEW WORLD ORDER THE inexorable march of recent events has carried humanity so near to the goal foreshadowed by Baha'u'llah that no responsible follower of His Faith, viewing on all sides the distressing evidences of the world's travail, can remain unmoved at the thought of its approaching deliverance. lit would not seem inappropriate, at a time when we are commemorating the world over, the termination of the first decade since tAbdu'1-Bahi's sudden removal* from our midst, to ponder, in the light of the teach* * November 28, 1921. ings bequeathed by Him to the world, such events as have tended to hasten the gradual emergence of the World Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah. Ten years ago, this very day, there flashed upon the world the news of the passing of Him Who alone, through the ennobling influence of His love, strength and wisdom, could have proved its stay and solace in the many afflictions it was destined to suffer. How well we, the little band of His avowed supporters who lay claim to have recognized the Light that shone within Him, can still remember His repeated allusions, in [p249] Some of the friends attending the Baha'i Summer School, Louhelen Ranch in Michigan. The buildings and grounds at Louhelen Ranch, Davison, Michigan, and a group of Baha'i friends who participated in the fruitful and happy beginning of the Baha'i Summer School at this beautiful place. 249 [p250] 250 THE BAHA'I WORLD the evening of His earthly life, to the tribulation and turmoil with which an unregenerate humanity was to be increasingly afflicted. How poignantly some of us can recall His pregnant remarks, in the presence of the pilgrims and visitors who thronged His doors on the morrow of the jubilant celebrations that greeted the termination of the World War Ñ a war, which by the horrors it evoked, the losses it entailed and the complications it engendered, was destined to exert so far-reaching an influence on the fortunes of mankind. How serenely, yet how powerfully, He stressed the cruel deception which a Pact, hailed by peoples and nations as the embodiment of triumphant justice and the unfailing instrument of an abiding peace, held in store for an unrepentant humanity. Peace, Peace, how often we heard Him remark, the lips of potentates and peoples unceasingly pro claim, whereas the fire of unquenched hatreds still sinoulders in their hearts. How often we heard Him raise His voice, whilst the tumult of triumphant enthusiasm was still at its height and long before the faintest misgivings could have been felt or expressed, confidently declaring that the Document, extolled as the Charter of a liberated humanity, contained within itself seeds of such bitter deception as would further enslave the world. How abundant are now the evidences that attest the perspicacity of His unerring judgment! Ten years of unceasing turmoil, so laden with anguish, so fraught with incalculable consequences to the future of civilization, have brought the world to the verge of a calamity too awful to contemplate. Sad indeed is the contrast between the manifestations of confident enthusiasm in which the Plenipotentiaries at Versailles so freely indulged and the cry of unconcealed distress which victors and vanquished alike are now raising in the hour of bitter delusion. Neither the force which the Framers and Guarantors of the Peace Treaties have mustered, nor the lofty ideals which originally animated the Author of the Covenant of the League of Nations, have proved a sufficient bulwark against the forces of internal disruption with which a structure so laboriously contrived had been consistently assailed. Neither the provisions of the socalled called Settlement which the victorious Powers have sought to impose, nor the machinery of an institution which America s illustrious and farseeing President had conceived, have proved, either in conception or practice, adequate instruments to ensure the integrity of the Order they had striven to establish. re The ills from which the world now suffers," wrote cAbdu~1~Bahi in January 1920, ~~ivil1 multiply; the gloom which envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness ivill increase. The vanquished Powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every incas-ure that may rekindle the flame of war. Movements, newly-born and worldwide in their range, will exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread." Economic distress, since those words were written, together with political confusion, financial upheavals, religious restlessness and racial animosities, seem to have conspired to add immeasurably to the burdens under which an impoverished, a war-weary world is groaning. Such has been the cumulative effect of these successive crises, following one another with such bewildering rapidity, that the very foundations of society are trembling. The world, to whichever continent we turn our gaze, to however remote a region our survey may extend, is everywhere assailed by forces it can neither explain nor control. Europe, hitherto regarded as the cradle of a highly-vaunted civilization, as the torchbearer of liberty and the mainspring of the forces of world industry and commerce, stands bewildered and paralyzed at the sight of so tremendous an upheaval. Long-cher-ished ideals in the political no less than in the economic sphere of human activity are being severely tested under the pressure of reactionary forces on one hand and of an insidious and persistent radicalism on the other. From the heart of Asia distant rumblings, ominous and insistent, portend the steady onslaught of a creed which, by its negation of God, His Laws and Principles, threatens to disrupt the foundations of human society. The clamor of a nascent nationalism, coupled with a recrudescence of [p251] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 251 skepticism and unbelief, come as added misfortunes to a continent hitherto regarded as the symbol of agelong stability and undisturbed resignation. From darkest Africa the first stirrings of a conscious and determined revolt against the aims and methods of political and economic imperialism can be increasingly discerned, adding their share to the growing vicissitudes of a troubled age. Not even America, which until very recently prided itself on its traditional policy of aloofness and the selfcontained character of its economy, the invulnerability of its institutions and the evidences of its growing prosperity and prestige, has been able to resist the impelling forces that have swept her into the vortex of an economic hurricane that now threatens to impair the basis of her own industrial and economic life. Even faraway Australia, which, owing to its remoteness from the storm-centers of Europe, would have been expected to be immune from the trials and torments of an ailing continent, has been caught in this whirlpool of passion and strife, impotent to extricate herself from their ensnaring influence. Never indeed have there been such widespread and basic upheavals, whether in the social, economic or political spheres of human ac%ivity as those now going on in different parts of the world. Never have there been so many and varied sources of danger as those that now threaten the structure of society. The following words of Bahi'u'-. 11Th are indeed significant as we pause to reflect upon the present state of a strangely disordered world: C CHOW 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 divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be Lamentably defective." The disquieting influence of over thirty million souls living under minority conditions throughout the continent of Europe; the vast and ever-swelling army of the unemployed with its crushing burden and de moralizing influence on governments and peoples; the wicked, unbridled race of armaments swallowing an ever-increasing share of the substance of already impoverished nations; the utter demoralization from which the international financial markets are now increasingly suffering; the onslaught of secularism invading what has hitherto been regarded as the impregnable strongholds of Christian and Muslim orthodoxy Ñ these stand out as the gravest symptoms that bode ill for the future stability of the structure of modern civilization. Little wonder if one of Europe's pre~rninent thinkers, honored for his wisdom and restraint, should have been forced to make so bold an assertion: "The world is passing through the gravest crisis in the history of civilization." tRVe stand," writes another, ctbefore either a world catastrophe, or perhaps before the dawn of a greater era of truth and wisdom." "It is in such times," he adds, cethat religions have perished and are born." Might we not already discern, as we scan the political horizon, the alignment of those forces that are dividing afresh the continent of Europe into camps of potential combatants, determined upon a contest that may mark, unlike the last war, the end of an epoch, a vast epoch, in the history of human evolution? Are we, the privileged custodians of a priceless Faith, called upon to witness a cataclysmical change, politically as fundamental and spiritually as beneficent as that which precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire in the West? Might it not happen Ñ every vigilant adherent of the Faith of Baha'u'llah might well pause to reflect Ñ that out of this world eruption there may stream forces of such spiritual energy as shall recall, nay eclipse, the splendor of those signs and wonders that accompanied the establishment of the Faith of Jesus Christ? Might there not emerge out of the agony of a shaken world a religious revival of such scope and power as to even transcend the potency of those world-directing forces with which the Religions of the Past have, at fixed intervals and according to an inscrutable Wisdom, revived the fortunes of declining ages and peoples? Might not the bankruptcy of this present, this highly-vaunted materialistic civilization, in itself clear away the choking [p252] 252 THE BAHA'I WORLD weeds that now hinder the unfoldment and future efflorescence of God's struggling Faith? Let Baha'u'llah Himself shed the illumination of His words upon our path as we steer our course amid the pitfalls and miseries of this troubled age. More than fifty years ago, in a world far removed from the ills and trials that now torment it, there flowed from His Pen these prophetic words: !~The world is in travail and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And ivhen the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then will the Divine Standard be unfurled and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody." Dearly-beloved friends! Humanity, whether viewed in the light of man's individual, conduct or in the existing relationships between organized communities and nations, has, alas, strayed too far and suffered too great a decline to be redeemed through the unaided efforts of the best among its recognized rulers and statesmen Ñ however disinterested their motives, however concerted their action, however unsparing in their zeal and devotion to its cause. No scheme which the calculations of the highest statesmanship may yet devise, no doctrine which the most distinguished exponents of economic theory may hope to advance, no principle which the most ardent of moralists may strive to inculcate, can provide, in the last resort, adequate foundations upon which the future of a distracted world can be built. No appeal for mutual tolerance which the worldly-wise might raise, however compelling and insistent, can calm its passions or help restore its vigour. Nor would any general scheme of mere organized international cooperation, in whatever sphere of human activity, however ingenious in conception or extensive in scope, succeed in removing the root cause of the evil that has so rudely upset the equilibrium of present day society. Not even, I venture to assert, would the very act of devising the machinery required for the political and economic uni fication of the world Ñ a principle that has been increasingly advocated in recent times Ñ provide in itself the antidote against the poison that is steadily undermining the vigor of organized peoples and nations. What else, might we not confidently affirm, but the unreserved acceptance of the Divine Program enunciated, with such simplicity and force as far back as sixty years ago, by Baha'u'llah, embodying in its essentials God's divinely appointed scheme for the unification of mankind in this age, coupled with an indomitable conviction in the unfailing efficacy of each and all of its provisions, is eventually capable of withstanding the forces of internal disintegration which, if unchecked, must needs continue to eat into the vitals of a despairing society. It is towards this goal Ñ the goal of a new World Order, Divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, equitable in principle, challenging in Its features Ñ that a harassed humanity must strive. To claim to have grasped all the implications of Baha'u'llah's prodigious scheme for worldwide human solidarity, or to have fathomed its import, would be presumptuous on the part of even the declared supporters of His Faith. To attempt to visualize it in all its possibilities, to estimate its future benefits, to picture its glory, would be premature at even so advanced a stage in the evolution of mankind. All we can reasonably venture to attempt is to strive to obtain a glimpse of the first streaks of the promised Dawn that must, in the fulness of time, chase away the gloom that has encircled humanity. All we can do is to point out, in their broadest outlines, what appears to us to be the guiding principles underlying the World Order of Baha'u'llah, as amplified and enunciated by 'Ab.. du'1-BaM, the Center of His Covenant with all mankind and the appointed Interpreter and Expounder of His Word. That the unrest and suffering afflicting the mass of mankind are in no small measure the direct consequences of the World War and are attributable to the unwisdom and shortsightedness of the framers of the Peace Treaties only a biased mind can refuse to admit. That the financial obligations contracted in the course of the war, as well as [p253] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 253 the imposition of a staggering burden of reparations upon the vanquished, have, to a very great extent, been responsible for the maldistribution and consequent shortage of the world's monetary gold suppiy, which in turn has, to a very great measure, accentuated the phenomenal fall in prices and thereby relentlessly increased the burdens of impoverished countries, no impartial mind would question. That intergovernmental debts have imposed a severe strain on the masses of the people in Europe, have upset the equilibrium of national budgets, have crippled national industries, and led to an in Ñ crease in the number of the unemployed, is no less apparent to an unprejudiced observer. That the spirit of vindictiveness, of suspicion, of fear and rivalry, engendered by the war, and which the provisions of the Peace Treaties have served to perpetuate and foster, has led to an enormous increase of national competitive armaments, involving during the last year the aggregate expenditure of no iess than a thousand million pounds, which in turn has accentuated the effects of the worldwide depression, is a truth that even the most superficial observer will readily admit. That a narrow and brutal nationalism, which the postwar theory of self-deter-mination has served to reinforce, has been chiefly responsible for the policy of high and prohibitive tariffs, so injurious to the healthy flow of international trade and to the mechanism of international finance, is a fact which few would venture to dispute. It would be idle, however, to contend that the war, with all the losses it involved, the passions it aroused and the grievances it left behind, has solely been responsible for the unprecedented confusion into which almost every section of the civilized world is plunged at present. Is it not a fact Ñ and this is the central idea I desire to emphasize Ñ that the fundamental cause of this world unrest is attributable, not so much to the consequences of what must sooner or later come to be regarded as a transitory dislocation in the affairs of a continually changing world, but rather to the failure of those into whose hands the immediate destinies of peoples and nations have been committed, to adjust their systems of economic and political institutions to the imperative needs of a fast evoly Ñ ing age? Are not these intermittent crises that convulse presentday society due primarily to the lamentable inability of the world's recognized leaders to read aright the signs of the times, to rid themselves once for all of their preconceived ideas and fettering creeds, and to reshape the machinery of their respective governments according to those standards that are implicit in Baha'u'llah's supreme declaration of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the chief and distinguishing feature of the Faith He proclaimed? For the principle of the Oneness of Mankind, the cornerstone of Baha'u'llah's world-em-bracing dominion, implies nothing more or less than the enforcement of His scheme for the unification of the world Ñ the scheme to which we have already referred. CCJ~ every Dispensation," writes tAbdu'1-BahA, ccthe 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. How pathetic indeed are the efforts of these leaders of human institutions who, in utter disregard of the spirit of the age, are striving to adjust national processes, suited to the ancient days of selfcontained nations, to an age which must either achieve the unity of the world, as adumbrated by Baha'u'llah, or perish. At so critical an hour in the history of civilization it behooves the leaders of all the nations of the world, great and small, whether in the East or in the West, whether victors or vanquished, to give heed to the clarion call of Baha'u'llah and, thoroughly imbued with a sense of world solidarity, the sine qud non of loyalty to His Cause, arise manfully to carry out in its entirety the one remedial scheme He, the Divine Physician, has prescribed for an ailing humanity. Let them discard, once for all, every preconceived idea, every national prejudice, and give heed to the sublime counsel of tAbdu'1-BahA, the authorized Expounder of His teachings. You can best serve your country, was cAbdu~1~Bah~~s rejoinder to a high official in the service of the federal government of the United States of America, who had questioned Him as to [p254] 254 THE BAHA'I WORLD the best manner in which he could promote the interests of his government and people, if you strive, in your capacity as a citizen of the world, to assist in the eventual application of the principle of federalism underlying the government of your own country to the relationships now existing between the peoples and nations of the world. In "The Secret of Divine Civilization~~ (CCTh Mysterious Forces of Civilization"), tAbdu'1-Bahi's outstanding contribution to the future reorganization of the world, we read the following: ttT civilization will unfurl its banner in the midmost heart of the world whenever a certain number of its distinguished and high-minded sovereigns Ñ the shining exemplars of devotion and determination Ñ shall, for the good and happiness of all mankind, arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause of Universal Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertaking Ñ the real source of the peace and wellbeing of all the world Ñ should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing pact the limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying the relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and all international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that gov-eminent. Should this greatest of all remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure." CCA few," He further adds, ccunaware of the power latent in human endeavor, consider this matter as highly impracticable, nay even beyond the scope of man's utmost efforts. Such is not the case, however. On the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace of God, the lovingkindness of His favoured ones, the endeavors of unrivalled wise and capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas of the peerless leaders of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as unattainable. Endeavour, ceaseless endeavour, is required. Nothing short of an indomitable determination can possibly achieve it. Many a cause past ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet in this day have become most easy and practicable. Why should this most great and lofty cause Ñ the daystar of the firmament of true civilization and the cause of the glory, the advancement, the wellbeing and the success of all humanity Ñ be regarded as impossible of achievement? Surely the day will come when its beauteous light shall shed illumination upon the assemblage of man.~~ In one of His Tablets tAbdu'1-BahA, elucidating further His noble theme, reveals the following: ~'Jn cycles gone by, though harmony was established, yet, owing to the absence of means, the unity of all mankind could not have been achieved. Continents remained widely divided, nay even among the peoples of one and the same continent association and interchange of thought were well nigh impossible. Consequently intercourse, understanding and unity amongst all the peoples and kindreds of the earth were unattainable. In this day, however, means of communication have multiplied, and the five continents of the earth have virtually merged into one. In like manner all the members of the human family, whether peoples or governments, cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent. For none is self-sufficiency any longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples and [p255] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 255 nations, and the bonds of trade and industry, of agriculture and education, are being strengthened every day. Hence the unity of all mankind can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this glorious century. Of this past ages have been deprived, for this century Ñ the century of light Ñ has been endowed with unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination. Hence the miraculous unfolding of a fresh marvel every day. Eventually it will be seen how bright its candles will burn in the assemblage of man. ccBehold how its light is now dawning upon the world's darkened horizon. The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned. The second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will ere long be witnessed. The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass. The fourth candle is unity in religion which is the cornerstone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendour. The fifth candle is the unity of nations Ñ a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kin-drecis of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and eyery one of these will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization." Over sixty years ago, in His Tablet to Queen Victoria, Baha'u'llah, addressing "the concourse of the rulers of the earth," revealed the following: tcTake ye counsel together, and let your concern be oniy for that which profiteth mankind and bettereth the condition thereof • Regard the world as the human body which though created whole and perfect has been afflicted, through divers causes, with grave ills and maladies. Not for one day did it rest, nay its sicknesses waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of unskilled physicians who have spurred on the steed of their worldly desires and have erred grievously. And, if at one time, through the care of an able physician, a member of that body was healed, the rest remained afflicted as before. Thus informetli you the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. That which the Lord hath ordained as a sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, all-powerful and inspired Physician. This verily is the truth, and all else naught but error." In a further passage Baha'u'llah adds these words: ccWe see you adding every year unto your expenditures and laying the burden thereof on the people whom ye rule; this verily is naught but grievous injustice. Fear the sighs and tears of this wronged One, and burden not your peoples beyond that which they can endure. Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need armaments no more save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Be united, 0 concourse of the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you and your peoples find rest. Should any one among you take up arms against another rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice." What else could these weighty words signify if they did not point to the inevitable curtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable preliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations of the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in whose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dorninions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit an international executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a world parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their re [p256] 256 THE BAHA'I WORLD spective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a supreme tribunal whose judgment will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration. A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labour definitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law Ñ the product of the considered judgment of the world's federated representatives Ñ shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship Ñ such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a siowiy maturing age. t"The Tabernacle of Unity," Baha'u'llah proclaims in His message to all mankind, ~~has been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the leaves. The world is but one country and mankind its citizens. Let not a man glory in that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind." Let there be no misgivings as to the am-mating purpose of the worldwide Law of Baha'u'llah. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remould its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an everchanging world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity such as tAbdu'1-BahA Himself has explained: ttConsider the flowers of a garden. Though differing in kind, colour, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addeth unto their beauty. How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and colour! Diversity of hues, form and shape enricheth and adorn-eth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof. In like manner, when divers shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest. Naught but the celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men. The call of Baha'u'llah is primarily directed against all forms of provincialism, all insularities and prejudices. If long-cher-ished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulx have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer administer to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of hu [p257] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 257 inanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine. Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the pivot round which all the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve Ñ is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peo-pies and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not oniy to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of presentday society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds Ñ creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world Ñ a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units. It represents the consummation of human evolution Ñ an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the institution of independent and sovereign nations. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, kind, as proclaimed by Baha'u'llah, carries with it, no more and no iess, than a solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not oniy necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it. So marvellous a conception finds its earliest manifestations in the efforts consciously exerted and the modest beginnings already achieved by the declared adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah who, conscious of the sublimity of their calling and initiated into the ennobling principles of His Administration, are forging ahead to establish His Kingdom on this earth. It has its indirect manifestations in the gradual diffusion of the spirit of world solidarity which is spontaneously arising out of the welter of a disorganized society. It would be stimulating to follow the history of the growth and development of this lofty conception which must increasingly engage the attention of the responsible custodians of the destinies of peoples and nations. To the states and principalities just emerging from the welter of the great Napoleonic upheaval, whose chief preoccupation was either to recover their rights to an independent existence or to achieve their national unity, the conception of world solidarity seemed not only remote but inconceivable. It was not until the forces of nationalism had succeeded in overthrowing the foundations of the Holy Alliance that had sought to curb their rising power, that the possibility of a world order, transcending in its range the political institutions these nations had established, came to be seriously entertained. It was not until after the World War that these exponents of arrogant nationalism came to regard such an order as the object of a pernicious doctrine tending to sap that essential loyalty upon which the continued existence of their national life depended. With a vigour that recalled the energy with which the members of the Holy Alliance sought to stifle the spirit of a rising nationalism among the peoples liberated from the Napoleonic yoke, those champions of an unfettered national sovereignty, in their turn, have laboured and are still labouring [p258] 258 THE BAHA'I WORLD to discredit principles upon which their own salvation must ultimately depend. The fierce opposition which greeted the abortive scheme of the Geneva Protocol; the ridicule poured upon the proposal for a United States of Europe which was subsequently advanced, and the failure of the general scheme for the economic union of Europe, may appear as setbacks to the efforts which a handful of foresighted people are earnestly exerting to advance this noble ideal. And yet, are we not justified in de-nving fresh encouragement when we observe that the very consideration of such proposals is in itself an evidence of their steady growth in the minds and hearts of men. In the organized attempts that are being made to discredit so exalted a conception are we not witnessing the repetition, on a larger scale, of those stirring struggles and fierce controversies that preceded the birth, and assisted in the reconstruction, of the unified nations of the 'West? To take but one instance. How confident were the assertions made in the days preceding the unification of the states of the North American continent regarding the insuperable barriers that stood in the way of their ultimate federation! Was it not widely and emphatically declared that the conflicting interests, the mutual distrust, the differences of government and habit that divided the states were such as no force, whether spiritual or temporal, could ever hope to harmonize or control? And yet how different were the conditions prevailing a hundred and fifty years ago from those that characterize presentday society! It would indeed be no exaggeration to say that the absence of those facilities which modern scientific progress has placed at the service of humanity in our time made of the problem of welding the American states into a single federation a task infinitely more corn-piex than that which confronts a divided humanity in its efforts to achieve the unification of all mankind. Who knows that for so exalted a conception to take shape a suffering more intense than any it has yet experienced will have to be inflicted upon humanity? Could anything less than the fire of a civil war with all its violence and vicissitudes Ñ a war that nearly rent the great American Republic Ñ have welded the states, not only into a Union of independent units, but into a Nation, in spite of all the ethnic differences that characterized its component parts? That so fundamental a revolution, involving such far-reaching changes in the structure of society, can be achieved through the ordinary processes of diplomacy and education seems highly improbable. We have but to turn our gaze to humanity's bloodstained history to realize that nothing short of intense mental as well as physical agony has been able to precipitate those epochmaking changes that constitute the greatest landmarks in the history of human civilization. Great and far-reaching as have been those changes in the past, they cannot but appear, when viewed in their proper perspective, except as subsidiary adjustments preluding that transformation of unparalleled majesty and scope which humanity is in this age bound to undergo. That the forces of a world catastrophe can alone precipitate such a new phase of human thought is, alas, becoming increasingly apparent. That nothing short of the fire of a severe ordeal, unparalleled in its intensity, can fuse and weld the discordant entities, that constitute the elements of presentday civilization, into the integral components of the world Commonwealth of the future is a truth which future events will increasingly demonstrate. The prophetic voice of Baha'u'llah warning, in the concluding passages of the Hidden Words, "the peoples of the world" that an unforeseen calamity is following them and that grievous retribution awaiteth them" throws indeed a lurid light upon the immediate fortunes of sorrowing humanity. Nothing but a fiery ordeal, out of which humanity will emerge, chastened and prepared, can succeed in implanting that sense of responsibility which the leaders of a newborn age must arise to shoulder. I would again direct your attention to those ominous words of Baha'u'llah which I have already quoted: "And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake." Has not tAbdu'1-BaM Himself asserted in unequivocal language that "another war, [p259] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 259 fiercer than the last, will assuredly break out"? Upon the consummation of this colossal, this unspeakably glorious enterprise Ñ an enterprise that baffled the resources of Roman statesmanship and which Napoleon's desperate efforts failed to achieve Ñ will depend the ultimate realization of that millennium of which poets of all ages have sung and seers have long dreamed. Upon it will de Ñ pend the fulfillment of the prophecies uttered by the Prophets of old when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares and the lion and the lamb lie down together. lit alone can usher in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father as anticipated by the Faith of Jesus Christ. It alone can lay the foundation for the New World Order visualized by Baha'u'llah Ñ a World Order that shall reflect, however dimly, upon this earthly plane, the ineffable splendours of the Abhi Kingdom. One word more in conclusion. The proclamation of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the head cornerstone of Baha'u'llah's all-em-bracing dominion Ñ can under no circumstances be compared with such expressions of pious hope as have been uttered in the past. His is not merely a call which He raised, alone and unaided, in the face of the relentless and combined opposition of two of the most powerful Oriental potentates of His day Ñ while Himself an exile and prisoner in their hands. It implies at once a warning and a promise Ñ a warning that in it lies the sole means for the salvation of a greatly suffering world, a promise that its realization is at hand. Uttered at a time when its possibility had not yet been seriously envisaged in any part of the world, it has, by virtue of that celestial potency with which the Spirit of Baha'u'llah has breathed into it, come at last to be regarded, by an increasing number of thoughtful men, not only as an approaching possibility, but as the necessary outcome of the forces now operating in the world. Surely the world, contracted and trans formed into a single highly complex organism by the marvellous progress achieved in the real of physical science, by the worldwide expansion of commerce and industry, and struggling, under the pressure of world economic forces, amidst the pitfalls of a materialistic civilization, stands in dire need of a restatement of the Truth underlying all the Revelations of the past in a language suited to its essential requirements. And what voice other than that of Baha'u'llah Ñ the Mouthpiece of God for this age Ñ is capable of effecting a transformation of society as radical as that which lie has already accomplished in the hearts of those men and women, so diversified and seemingly irreconcilable, who constitute the body of His declared followers throughout the world? That such a mighty conception is fast budding out in the minds of men, that voices are being raised in its support, that its salient features must fast crystallize in the consciousness of those who are in authority, few indeed can doubt. That its modest begin-flings have already taken shape in the worldwide Administration with which the adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah stands associated oniy those whose hearts are tainted by prejudice can fail to perceive. Ours, dearly-beloved coworkers, is the paramount duty to continue, with undimmed vision and unabated zeal, to assist in the final erection of that Edifice the foundations of which Baha'u'llah has laid in our hearts. Ours is the duty to derive added hope and strength from the general trend of recent events, however dark their immediate effects, and to pray with unremitting fervour that He may hasten the approach of the realization of that Wondrous Vision which constitutes the brightest emanation of His Mind and the fairest fruit of the fairest civilization the world has yet seen. Might not the hundredth anniversary' of the Declaration of the Faith of Baha'u'llah mark the inauguration of so vast an era in human history? (November 28, 1931.) 11963. [p260] 260 THE BAHA'I WORLD NONPOLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE BAHA I FAITH \VE STAND too close to so colossal a Revelation to expect in this, the first century of its era, to arrive at a just estimate of its towering grandeur, its infinite possibilities, its transcendent beauty. Small though our present numbers may be, however limited our capacities, or circumscribed our influence, we, into whose hands so pure, so tender, so precious a heritage has been entrusted, should at all times strive, with unrelaxing vigilance, to abstain from any thoughts, words, or deeds, that might tend to dim its brilliance, or injure its growth. Dear friends: Clear and emphatic as are the instructions which our departed Master has reiterated in countless Tablets bequeathed by Him to his followers throughout the world, a few, owing to the restricted influence of the Cause in the 'West, have been purposely withheld from the body of His occidental disciples, who, despite their numerical inferiority, are now exercising such a preponderating influence in the direction and administration of its affairs. I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress, now that the time is ripe, the importance of an instruction which, at the present state of the evolution of our Faith, should be increasingly emphasized, irrespective of its application to the East or to the West. And this principle is no other than that which involves the nonparticipation by the adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, whether in their individual capacities or collectively as local or national Assemblies, in any form of activity that might be interpreted, either directly or indirectly, as an interference in the political affairs of any particular government. Whether it be in the publications which they initiate and supervise; or in their official and public deliberations; or in the posts they occupy and the services they render; or in the communications they address to their fellow-disciples; or in their dealings with men of eminence and authority; or in their affiliations with kindred societies and organizations, it is, I am firmly convinced, their first and sacred obligation to abstain from any word or deed that might be construed as a violation of this vital prin ciple. Theirs is the duty to demonstrate, on one hand, their unqualified loyalty and obedience to whatever is the considered judgment of their respective governments. Let them refrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that worldwide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and foster. Let them beware lest they allow themselves to become the tools of unscrupulous politicians, or to be entrapped by the treacherous devices of the plotters and the perfidious among their countrymen. Let them so shape their lives and regulate their conduct that no charge of secrecy, of fraud, of bribery or of intimidation may, however ill-founded, be brought against them. Let them rise above all par-ticularisnci and partisanship, above the vain disputes, the petty calculations, the tan-scient passions that agitate the face, and engage the attention, of a changing world. It is their duty to strive to distinguish, as clearly as they possibly can, and if needed with the aid of their elected representatives, such posts and functions as are either diplomatic or political from those that are purely administrative in character, and which under no circumstances are affected by the changes and chances that political activities and party government, in every land, must necessarily involve. Let them affirm their unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of Baha'u'llah, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of that Divine Polity which incarnates God s immutable Purpose for all men. It should be made unmistakably clear that such an attitude implies neither the slightest indifference to the cause and interests of their own country, nor involves any insubordination on their part to the authority of [p261] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 261 recognized and established governments. Nor does it constitute a repudiation of their sacred obligation to promote, in the most effective manner, the best interests of their government and people. It indicates the desire cherished by every true and loyal follower of Baha'u'llah to serve, in an unselfish, unostentatious and patriotic fashion, the highest interests of the country to which he belongs, and in a way that would entail no deparrnre from the high standards of integrity and truthfulness associated with the teachings of His Faith. (March 21, 1932.) AMERICA AND THE MOST GREAT PEACE 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 rn2ged 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 presentday supporters can daim 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 Ñ 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 Baha'u'llah has had in ushering in that golden Millennium, the promise of which lies enshrined in His teachings. Does not the history of primitive Christianity and of the rise of Islim, 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 Baha 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 worldwide dominion on the ruins of a collapsing Empire? Has not the animating spirit of Ishm 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? rrFroin the beginning of time until the present day," tAbdu'1 Ñ Bah6. Himself affirms, erthe light of Divine Revelation hath risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The illurninatiois thus shed bath, however, acquired in the West an extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus. Though it first appeared [p262] The Baha'is of Racine, Wisconsin, U. S. A. [p263] THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 263 in the East, yet not un~til its light had been shed upon the West did the full measure of its potenhidities be manifest." ~The day is approaching," He, in another passage, assures us, ~when ye shall uuilness how, through the splendor of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, the West wilt 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 aver been the dawning-place of the Sun of Truth. in floe East all the Pro pheis of God have appeared. The West hath acquired illu-m~nation from the East but ut 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 floe doors of the Kingdom were first opened in that land and the bestoivals 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." Little wonder that from the same unerring pen there should have flowed, after Abdu'l-Baha'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 NorthEastern States of the American Republic, ~is in the eyes of the one true God Ihe land wherein the splendors of His lighi shall be revealed, where the righteous wifl abide and the free assem Ñ ble." ~May this American democracy," He Himself, while in America, was heard to remark, The the first nation lo 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 any 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 afl the peoples of the world. •This American nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to beconse the envy of the world and be blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of its people. The Ansericai'z continent gives signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reach-ing. It will lead all naaons spiritually." 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-Baha 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 Baha'u'llah. 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 hst 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 princi [p264] 264 THE BAHA'I WORLD pies 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 cornerstone 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 Ñ 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? ~O ye apostles of Baha'u'llah!" He thus addresses them in one of His Tablets, ~May my life be sacrificed for you! Behold the portals which Baha'u'llah hath opened before you! Consider how exalted a~d 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 en~moured 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 yo~r own eyes, witness how brilliantly every one of you, even as a shining star, will radiate in the firmament of your co~mtry the light of Divine Guidance and will bestow upon its people the glory of an everlasting life." ~The rcmge of your future achievements," He once more a~rms, ~still remains i~ndisclosed. I fervei'ztly hope that in the near futztre the whole earth may be stirred and shaken by the results of your achievements." ~Thc 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 cancerned," He admonishes them, ~with ihe sm~dlness of your numbers, 'neither be oppressed by the multitude of an itnbe-lieving world. Exert yourselves; your mission is unspeakably glorious. Should s~ic-cess crown your enterprise, America will assuredly evolve into a center from which waves of spirit ual power will emanate, and the throne of the Kin gdoin of God will, in the plentifude of its majesty and glory, be firmly established." (April 21, 1933.) [p265] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR Visible Embodiment of the Universality of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. FOREWORD MANY discerning minds fulfills the original have testified to the intention of religion profoundly significant in each dispensation, change which has taken before that intention place during recent years had become altered and in the character of popularveiled by human invention religious thinking. Re-ligionand belief. has developed an entirely The Mashriqu'I Ñ Adhkir is new emphasis, more especiallya channel releasing spiritual for the layman, quite independentpowers for social regenera-don of the older sectarian because it fills a different divisions. function than that assumed Instead of considering by the sectarian church. that religion is a matter Its essential purpose of turning toward an is to provide a community meeting-place abstract creed, the averagefor all who are seeking religionist today is to worship God, and achieves concerned with the practicalthis purpose by interposing applications of religion tono manmade veils between the problems of human the worshiper and the life. Religion, in brief, Supreme. Thus, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar after having apparently is freely open to people of lost its influence in all Faiths on equal terms, terms of theology, has expressing in this the been restored more powerfullyuniversality of Baha'u'llah than ever as a spirit of who affirmed the oneness brotherhood, an impulse of all the Prophets. toward unity, and an ideal Moreover, since the Baha making for a more enlightened civilizationFaith has no profes Ñ sional throughout the world. clergy, the worshiper Against this background, entering the Temple hears the institution of the no sermon and takes part Mashriqu'l-Adhkar stands in no ritual the emotional revealed as the supreme effect of which is to expression of all those establish a separate modern religious tendenciesgroup consciousness. Not animated by social ideals whicheven music Ñ only the reading do not repudiate the of the text of the Holy reality of spiritual experienceBooks Ñ will condition the experience but seek to transform of free worship and meditation it into a dynamic striving in this edifice dedicated for unity. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar the unity of mankind. when clearly understood, Integral with the Temple gives the world its most are its accessory buildings, potent agency for applying mysticalwithout which the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar vision or idealistic would not be a complete aspiration to the service social institution. These of humanity. It makes buildings are to be devoted to visible and concrete those such activities as a deeper meanings and wider possibilitiesschool for science, a hospice, of religion which could a hospital, an asylum not be realized until for orphans. Here the the dawn of this universal circle of spiritual experience age. at last joins, as prayer The term "Mashriqu'1-Adhkir"and worship arc allied means literally, ccDawning~p1acedirectly to creative service, of the praise of God." eliminating the static subjective To appreciate the significanceelements from religion of this Baha'i institution,and laying a foundation we must lay aside all customaryfor a new and higher ideas of the churches type of human association. and cathedrals of the HORACE HOLLEY. past. The Mashriqu'1-Adhk4r265 [p266] The first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West, now being built at Wilmette, near Chicago, Illinois. 266 [p267] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 267 THE BAHA'I HOUSE OF WORSHIP AN INSTITUTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH B~ GENEVIEVE L. Co~ AT WILMETTE, Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan, the superstructure of the Baha'i House of Worship has recently been completed. At the present time the ornamental surface decoration of perforated artificial stone is being applied to the exterior of the building. This Baha'i Temple has aroused the enthusiastic interest of architects because of the new principles of design and decoration which Mr. Louis Bourgeois incorporated in his unique model of the completed structure. It has drawn the attention of engineers because of the unusual problems of construction which had to be solved in order to bring the architect's plans into actual existence. But the problems presented and solved in the Baha'i House of Worship and the accessory institutions which will later be added include those of an even more fundamental significance than the ones presented to the architect and engineer. Humanity today is entering into the dawn of a new age. Customs and institutions of an outworn civilization are disintegrating. When the world has been cleared of their debris, the foundation of a new world order will rise, and on it the new civilization of universal brotherhood and peace will be established, "This is a new cycle of human power. It is the hour of the unity of the sons of men and of the drawing together of all races and classes. War will cease between nations, and by the will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers." (cAbdu~1~Bah&.) The Baha'i Temple is the expression in material form of the spiritual power which will establish the age of peace and cooperation throughout the world. It is a symbol of the Divine Will which in this new day will weld all mankind into a great spiritual brotherhood, in which differences of race, nationality, class and creed will cease to separate men into suspicious, warring groups. The Baha'i House of Worship on Lake Michigan is oniy the first of many such edifices which will later be built in America. But because it is the initial structure of this type on this continent it has a special im Ñ portance at this time. It is also of particular interest because of the beauty and uniqueness of its architecture. The late Louis Bourgeois, architect of the Temple, wrote the following concerning his work on the designs, plans and model. "The history of this Temple, as step by step it unfolds, is so unique that already the story will fill a book. Its inception was not from man for, as musicians, artists, poets receive their inspiration from another realm, feel themselves to be a receiver by whose means a heavenly melody, a new idea, is given to the world, so the Temple's architect through all his years of labor was ever conscious that Baha'u'llah was the creator of this building to be erected to His glory. When the manmade creeds are stripped away from all the religions we find nothing left but harmony. Today, however, religion is so entangled in the superstitions and hypotheses of men that it must needs be stated in a new form to be once again pure and undefiled. Likewise in architecture those fundamental structural lines which originated in the faith of all religions are the same, but so covered over are they with the decorations picturing creed upon creed and superstitiOn upon superstition that we must needs lay them aside and create a new form of ornamentation. Into this new design, then, of the Temple is woven, in symbolic form, the great Baha'i teaching of unity Ñ the unity of all religions and of all mankind. There are combinations of mathematical lines, symbolizing those of the universe, and in their intricate merging of circle into circle, of circle within circle, we visualize the merging of all the religions into one." A brief description of the plan and dimensions of the Temple are quoted from an [p268] 268 THE BAHA'I WORLD article in TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, written by Allan McDaniel, director of The Research Service, Inc., engineers who supervised the construction of the Baha'i House of Worship. tcStructurally the Temple is remarkable in that it will comprise a steel, reinforced concrete and glass framework, on which will be placed the highly ornamental surf ace material. It is a nonagon, or nine-sided structure; each side having the form of a circular arc, with a large doorway in the center; and the whole edifice giving the appearance of extending welcoming arms to the people approaching from every direction. Pylons forty-five feet in height stand like senti-neis at the corners of the first story. Above the gallery, the clerestory and the dome are also nine-sided but with the ribs rising from midway of the first story sides. CCTO get a mental picture of the Temple, imagine a lofty cylindrical room topped with a hemispherical dome of 75 feet interior diameter and extending to a height of 135 feet in the center, formed of glass supported in a metal framework. The glass roof and sides protect the interior of the building from the weather. When completed, the glass will be concealed within the exterior and interior surface ornamental material, which will act as perforated screens through which the light will pass. "The weight of the structure and the dome is carried principally at nine points equally distant from the center, and the superstructure is supported on a circular platform or foundation, 202 feet in diameter at the ground surface, and rising by 18 concentric steps to the main floor of the Temple, which is 153 feet in diameter. "Entering any one of the nine doors, one wiii pass through a hallway into the central circular room or auditorium. Out of this main hail open radially (and separated by the hallways) nine smaller rooms, comparable to chapels in a cathedral. Looking upward toward the dome, will be seen a gallery 36 feet above the main floor, and above this a second (or singers') gallery 61 feet above the floor level. Above the second gallery is a 19 foot clerestory from which springs the dome. The galleries project 10 feet into the central hail, giving the latter a clear interior diameter of 75 feet. The dome will be in three parts; the outer dome of perforated concrete or metal, the concealed wire glass weatherproof dome, and the inner dome of perforated material, decorative in character. The central domed hail will have an area of about 4,000 square feet and seat about 700 people. The nine small rooms opening out of the main hail are about 20 feet wide, 24 feet deep and with ceilings 33 feet high. These auxiliary rooms will seat about 1 00 persons each. (CTh construction of the ornamental surface structure involves new materials and a new technique of construction. The completed external ornamentation of the dome unit, carried out by the John J. Earley Studios, reveals an entirely new quality of textural surface, made possible by the plastic medium employed. Hand-carved models were made of all the different sections, and from the resulting molds each completed section has been individually cast and then gone over by expert craftsmen. The material selected was quartz, with a medium of white cement. The result is a surface harder and more enduring than rock, and at the same time carrying an intricate design as delicate as lace. The color scheme shades from pure white on the dome to light buff at the base. An unusual plan of illumination will later be installed. "The architect, Louis Bourgeois, Cli conceived a Temple of Light in which structure, as usually understood, is to be concealed, visible support eliminated as far as possible, and the whole fabric to take on the airy substance of a dream; it is a lacy envelope enshrining an idea, the idea of Light, a shelter of cobweb interposed between earth and sky, struck through and through with light Ñ light which shall partly consume the forms and make of it a thing of fiery.' " Ñ (Statement of Mr. H. Van Buren Magonigle, architect.) The building of this structure has been financed by the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, assisted by contributions from those in all parts of the world. Regarding these latter gifts cAbdu~1~Bah~ said, "These contributions are most important. Notwithstanding the miserable condition of Persia, money has poured in and is still coming [p269] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 269 for this purpose; although many families are extremely poor, so they have scarcely enough to keep themselves, nevertheless, they give towards it. For many years the 'West has contributed to the East, and now through the mercies and bounties of God a miracle has been performed and, for the first time in the history of the world, the East is contributing to the West." Some concrete facts concerning the cost of the Temple, erected through the self-sacrifice of Eastern and Western Baha'is, will now be presented. The land on which the House of Worship stands was acquired at intervals from 1909 to 1914, at a total cost of about $125,000. The structure rests upon nine caissons of steel and concrete, which are sunk 120 feet in the ground, in order to reach bedrock. These caissons and the foundation structure cost some $200,000. The superstructure was built by the Fuller Construction Company at a cost of $400,000. 000. Jr was completed and dedicated on May 1, 1931, nineteen years to a day from the date on which cAbd 'iBahi consecrated the Temple site. The external decoration of the dome unit was completed March 1, 1934, at a cost of approximately $170,000. In March, 1934, a contract was made with John. J. Eadey for the external decoration of the clerestory section, for $3 5,000. (CQ{ the total amount of $895,000 thus far expended, the sum of $570,000 was paid out for materials and labor during a period of unemployment unparalleled in our history. Hundreds of hours of work were thus pro-yided for workmen, many of whom might otherwise have been idle. Of the attitude of the men who worked for the twenty-four subcontractors who built the superstructure, the following has been written: cdt is gratifying to note that in all the various operations where men of different trades and training must of necessity work together and at times get in each other's way, there was the utmost harmony with no visible labor disputes or strikes. In fact, a spirit of devotion to the work and enthusiasm in its outcome was shown throughout the entire operations. There were no delays due to misunderstanding, but each and every man connected with the work seemed to regard it as an opportunity to take part in a worthwhile undertaking." (From an article by Frederick H. Newell, in THE BAHA'I WORLD, Vol. IV, p. 199.) Comments in newspapers and magazines on the unique beauty of this House of Worship have been many. We have space to quote oniy two of these. Sherwin Cody, in the Magazine section of the Nrw YORK TIMES, wrote of the model of the Temple when it was on view in the Kevorkian Gallery in New York City, "Americans will have to pause long enough to find that an artist has wrought into this building the conception of a Religious League of Nations." A writer in the CHRISTIAN REGISTER said, "Wonderful as the architectural design of the Temple is, those most concerned in its erection see in the universal service it will render to mankind its supreme importance." Let us now turn from the description of the physical structure and building of the Baha House of Worship to a more detailed consideration of its social and spiritual significance. The thinking man who is concerned with the problems of modern society Ñ the direction in which the social order should move, the means by which this progress may be hastened Ñ will find in the purposes of the Baha'i Temple and its accessories concrete and definite solutions to many of his questions. The Baha'i Faith presents a comprehensive plan for a new world order, and the basic principles of this plan are exemplified in the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Ñ that is, in the House of 'Worship and its related buildings. Since the Baha'i answer to the question of what constitutes an ideal social order is accepted by many thousands of people in the five continents of the world, the intelligent modern man will do well to inform himself of the details of a faith and a practice which are motivating the lives of Baha'is throughout the world. What constitutes the "Good Society," and how may the peoples of the world move to attain the goals of that society? These questions are answered by Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, and His soiu-tions have been interpreted and amplified by His son, tAbdu'1-Bah6 and by Shoghi [p270] 270 THE BAHA'I WORLD Effendi, the present Guardian of the Faith. The following discussion contains a brief summary of their most important teachings, and a statement of the way in which these principles are incorporated in the institution of the Baha'i House of Worship. As a basic element of faith, the Baha accepts the statement of Baha'u'llah, (CTIne root of all knowledge is the knowledge of God, and this knowledge is impossible save through His Manifestation," that is, save through the Prophet, the Divine Educator. That this does not imply an otherworldly, impractical mysticism will be evident as this discussion continues. It does clearly make the life of man dependent upon a divine plan and a divine Teacher. The Baha'i Faith is therefore based firmly on the unswerving conviction that a purely materialistic concept of society is untenable. The first duty of man and of society is to try to understand the goals of the divine plan, as spoken and written by the great religious Prophets Ñ Zoroaster, Buddha, Moses, Christ, Mubam-mad and, in this age, by Baha'u'llah. Prayer is also an important means of coming into contact with the divine purposes. For these reasons, prayer, meditation and the reading and study of the words of the Divine Educators are the necessary means with which the Baha'i prepares himself to evolve spiritually and to take part in the Life of society. The Baha Temple is the place in which men and women will meet each morning for worship, before undertaking the practice of life in a society which they are striving to mold nearer to the divine plan. In this house of worship there will be no sermons; the reading or chanting of prayers and meditational writings of the Prophets, and a reverent silence are the best preparation for a day of active service Ñ that service itself being accounted another form of worship. The question may be asked, "Why need there be a group worship; why should not each individual pray and meditate alone in his own home?" The answer is contained in another of the basic Baha'i principles Ñ the oneness of mankind. Shoghi Effendi has described this principle as t~the pivot around which all the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve." To the Baha'i the oneness of mankind kind is ~ mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope." It necessitates so close a sense of unity with till men that prejudices of class, race, nationality and creed must be absolutely destroyed. The more intimately man understands and serves all people the nearer he comes to the knowledge of God. The Baha'i seeks to attain "transparent fellowship" with every human being he meets, in order that a truly divine unity may be spread through the world. Worship in the Baha Temple is a privilege freely offered to all men and women who, forsaking the limitations of prejudices and creeds, seek to enter into a true spiritual communion with God, and into a loving unity with their fellows. From such group prayer and meditation man may receive an inspiration, a strengthening of his own aspirations by those of his neighbors, which cannot come from solitary worship, however sincere it may be. In Chicago, in 1912, tAbdu'1.-BahA said, "The purpose of places of worship and edifices for adoration is simply that of unity, in order that various nations, divergent races, varying souTh may gather there, and among them amity, love and accord may be realized. The original purpose is this. That is why Baha'u'llah has commanded that a place be built for all the religionists of the world; that all religions and races and sects may gather together; that the Oneness of the human world may be proclaimed; that all the human race is the servant of God, and that all are submerged in the Ocean of God's Mercy." This, then, is the purpose of worship in the Baha'i Temple Ñ that man may grow into a fuller sense of unity with the divine purposes, and into a closer fellowship with other men of all classes, races, creeds and nations. The accessory institutions of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar indicate some of the ways in which the Baha'i turns into channels of practical service the inspiration he has obtained through worship. Prayer and meditation are only one part of man's responsibility to God. The principle of the importance of activity lies at the very heart of the Baha'i teachings. "The principle of faith [p271] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 271 is to lessen words and to increase deeds. He whose words exceed his acts, know verily that his non-being is better than his being and death better than life. Deeds reveal the station of the man. The effect of deeds is in truth more powerful than that of words." (From Words of Wisdom, Baha'u'llah.) ~A11 effort and exertion put forth by man from the fulness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of people. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, he is giving praise." (Wisdom of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p. 165.) When the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at Wilmette is completed it will include a hospital and dispensary, a school for orphan children, a hospice, and a college for higher scientific education. In these institutions the principle of the oneness of mankind will be put into concrete practice. Their services will be dispensed irrespective of color, race or tionality. The inclusion of a college for scientific education in this group of institutions draws attention to another basic Baha'i principle, that religion must be in accord with science and reason. "Religion and science are the two wings upon which man's intelligence can soar into the heights, with which the human soul can progress. It is not possible to fly with one wing alone! Should a man try to fly with the wing of religion alone he would quickly fall into the quagmire of superstition, whilst, on the other hand, with the wing of science alone he would also make no progress, but fall into the despairing slough of materialism. The religion which does not walk hand in hand with science is itself in the darkness of superstition and ignorance. When religion, shorn of its superstitions, traditions, and unintelligent dogmas, shows its conformity with science, then will there be a great unifying, cleansing force in the world, which wii sweep before it all wars, disagreements, discords and strugglesÑ and then will mankind be united in the power of the love of God." (Wisdom of Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 132135.) Other fundamental principles which are exemplified in the founding of a college on the Temple grounds are (1) the independent investigation of truth Ñ ttno man should follow blindly his ancestors and forefathers. Each must see with his own eyes, hear with his own ears, and investigate truth." (2) Universal education,~~~ctA11 mankind should partake of both knowledge ana education. The education of each child is obligatory." "To acquire knowledge is incumbent upon all, but of those sciences which may profit the people of the earth, and not such sciences as begin in mere words, and end in mere words." (Baha'u'llah, Tajalliyit.) Baha'u'llah recognized man's need for beauty in his surroundings, and the buildings on the Temple grounds will be encircled by gardens and trees. On May 1, 1912, at the dedication of the land on which the Baha House of Worship in Wilmette is built, cAbdu~1~Bahi spoke of the first Baha'i Tem-pie in the world, built in cJshqib~d, Russia. He said, "Just imagine an edifice of that beauty in the center, very lofty, surrounded centrally by gardens, variegated flowers, with nine avenues interlacing nine gardens, nine poois and nine fountains, and see how de-liglitful it will be! That is the way it should be! It is matchless, most beautiful! Such is the design. There will be no greater geometry than this, and I hope that in Chicago ('Wilmette) it will be like this." The fundamental principle of the oneness of mankind, fostered by worship in the Baha'i Temple, must, of course, express itself through many channels other than the institutions of service on the adjacent grounds. Baha'is carry their ideal of unity into all the activities of daily living, whether they function as worker, as citizen, or as creative artist. The aims of a Baha'i as a world citizen may best be stated in the words of Shoghi Effendi. C tSome form of a world Super-State must needs be evolved, in whose favor all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a state will have [p272] Aerial view of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A. [p273] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 273 to include within its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law Ñ the product of the considered judgment of the world's fed-CAbdu~1~Bah4 CAbdu~1~Bah4 after breaking the ground for the cornerstone of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A. by their respective governments;erated representatives Ñ shall and a Supreme Tribunal have as its sanction whose judgment will have a the instant and coercive binding effect even in intervention of the combined such cases where the partiesforces of the federated units; concerned did not voluntarily agreeand finally a world community to submit their case in which the fury of a to its consideration. capricious and militant nationalism A world community in will have been transmuted which all economic barriersinto an abiding consciousness will have been perma-nentlyof world citizenship Ñ such, demolished and the interdependenceindeed, appears, in its broadest [p274] 274 THE BAHA'I WORLD outline, the Order anticipated by Bah6] u'Ilih." (The Goal of a New World Order, pp. 2021.) It is evident that the followers of the Baha'i Faith must find in their worship an inspiration which will give them power to work at a stupendous task. But they find no cause for discouragement, for they are convinced of the truth of tAbdu'1-Bah&'s statement, "Thanks to the unfailing grace of God nothing whatever can be regarded as unattainable. Endeavor, ceaseless endeavor is required." Meditation and prayer in the Baha'i Temple is one of the means through which Baha'is acquire the strength to persevere in this "ceaseless endeavor." The significance to the social order of the Baha'i ideal which is taking concrete form in the Baha'i House of Worship in Wil-mette can best be summarized in the words of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. CcNothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship centering in the heart of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the evils that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is assuredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, reinforced on the one hand by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and on the other by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend. And of all the institutions that stand associated with His Holy Name, surely none save the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar can most adequately provide the essentials of Baha'i worship and service, both so vital to the regeneration of the world." THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR A LETTER FROM SHOGHI BEFENDI The Beloved of the Lord and the Handinaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada. MY well-beloved friends: Ever since that remarkable manifestation of Baha'i solidarity and self-sacrifice which has signalized the proceedings of last year memorable Convention, I have been expectantly awaiting the news of a steady and continuous support of the Plan which can alone ensure, crc the present year draws to its close, the resumption of building operations on our beloved Temple. Moved by an impulse that I could not resist, I have felt impelled to forego what may be regarded as the most valuable and sacred possession in the Holy Land for the furthering of that noble enterprise which you have set your hearts to achieve. With the hearty concurrence of our dear Baha brother, Ziaoullih Asgarzadeh, who years ago donated it to the Most Holy Shrine, this precious ornament of the Tomb of Baha' u'llih has been already shipped to your shores, with our fondest hope that the proceeds from its sale may at once ennoble and reinforce the unnumbered offerings of the American believers already accumulated on the altar of Baha'i sacrifice. I have longed ever since to witness such evidences of spontaneous and generous response on your part as would tend to fortify within me a confidence that has never wavered in the inexhaustible vitality of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in that land. I need not stress at this moment the high hopes which so startling a display of unsparing devotion to our sacred Temple has already aroused in the breasts of the multitude of our brethren throughout the East. Nor is it I feel necessary to impress upon those who are primarily concerned with its erection the gradual change of outlook which the early prospect of the construction of the far-famed Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in America has unmistakably occasioned in high places among the hitherto sceptical and indifferent [p275] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 275 towards the merits and the practicability of the Faith proclaimed by Baha'u'llah. Neither do I need to expatiate upon the hopes and fears of the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the evening of her life, with deepening shadows caused by failing eyesight and declining strength swiftly gathering about her, yearning to hear as the one remaining solace in her swiftly ebbing life the news of the resumption of work on an Edifice, the glories of which she has, from the lips of cAbdu~1. Bab Himself, learned to admire. I cannot surely overrate at the present juncture in the progress of our task the challenging character of these remaining months of the year as a swiftly passing opportunity which it is in our power to seize and utilize, crc it is too late, for the edification of our expectant brethren throughout the East, for the vindication in the eyes of the world at large of the realities of our Faith, and last but not least for the realization of what is the Greatest Holy Leaf's fondest desire. As I have already intimated in the course of my conversations with visiting pilgrims, so vast and significant an enterprise as the construction of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West should be supported, not by the munificence of a few but by the joint contributions of the entire mass of the convinced followers of the Faith. It cannot be denied that the emanations of spiritual power and inspiration destined to radiate from the central Edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will to a very large extent depend upon the range and variety of the contributing believers, as well as upon the nature and degree of self-abnegation which their unsolicited offerings will entail. Moreover, we should, I feel, regard it as an axiom and guiding principle of Baha'i administration that in the conduct of every specific Baha'i activity, as different from undertakings of a humanitarian, philanthropic, or charitable character, which may in future be conducted under Baha'i auspices, oniy those who have already identified themselves with the Faith and are regarded as its avowed and unreserved supporters should be invited to join and collaborate. For apart from the consideration of embarrassing complications which the association of nonbelievers in the financing of institutions of a strictly Baha character er may conceivably engender in the administration of the Baha'i community of the future, it should be remembered that these specific Baha'i institutions, which should be viewed in the light of Baha'u'llah's gifts bestowed upon the world, can best function and most powerfully exert their influence in the world only if reared and maintained solely by the support of those who are fully conscious of, and are unreservedly submissive to, the claims inherent in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. In cases, however, when a friend or sympathizer of the Faith eagerly insists on a monetary contribution for the promotion of the Faith, such gifts should be accepted and duly acknowledged by the elected representatives of the believers with the express understanding that they would be utilized by them oniy to reinforce that section of the Baha'i Fund exclusively devoted to philanthropic or charitable purposes. For, as the Faith of Baha'u'llah extends in scope and and in influence, and the resources of Baha'i communities correspondingly multiply, it will become increasingly desirable to differentiate between such departments of the Baha'i treasury as minister to the needs of the world at large, and those that are specifically designed to promote the direct interests of the Faith itself. From this apparent divorce between Baha'i and humanitarian activities it must not, however, be inferred that the animating purpose of the Faith of Baha'u'llah stands at variance with the aims and objects of the humanitarian and philanthropic institutions of the day. Nay, it should be realized by every judicious promoter of the Faith that at such an early stage in the evolution and crystallization of the Cause such dis-crirninating and precautionary measures are inevitable and even necessary if the nascent institutions of the Faith are to emerge triumphant and unimpaired from the present welter of confused and often conflicting interests with which they are surrounded. This note of warning may not be thought inappropriate at a time when, inflamed by a consuming passion to witness the early completion of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, we may not oniy be apt to acquiesce in the desire of those who, as yet uninitiated into the Cause, are willing to lend financial assistance to its [p276] 276 THE BAHA'I WORLD institutions, but may even feel inclined to solicit from them such aid as it is in their power to render. Ours surely is the paramount duty so to acquit ourselves in the discharge of our most sacred task that in the days to come neither the tongue of the slanderer nor the pen of the malevolent may dare to insinuate that so beauteous, so significant an Edifice has been reared by anything short of the unanimous, the exclusive, and the self-sacrificing strivings of the small yet determined body of the convinced supporters of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. How delicate our task, how pressing the responsibility that weighs upon us, who are called upon on one hand to preserve inviolate the integrity and the identity of the regenerating Faith of Baha'u'llah, and to vindicate on the other its broad, its humanitarian, its all-embracing principles! True, we cannot fail to realize at the present stage of our work the extremely limited number of contributors qualified to lend financial support to such a vast, such an elaborate and costly enterprise. We are fully aware of the many issues and varied Baha'i activities that are unavoidably held in abeyance pending the successful conclusion of the Plan of Unified Action. We are only too conscious of the pressing need of some sort of befitting and concrete embodiment of the spirit animating the Cause that would stand in the heart of the American Continent both as a witness and as a rallying center to the manifold activities of a fast growing Faith. But spurred by those reflections may we not bestir ourselves and resolve as we have never resolved before to hasten by every means in our power the consummation of this all-absorbing yet so meritorious a task? I beseech you, dear friends, not to allow considerations of number, or the consciousness of the limitation of our resources, or even the experience of inevitable setbacks which every mighty undertaking is bound to encounter, to blur your vision, to dim your hopes, or to paralyze your efforts in the prosecution of your divinely appointed task. Neither, do I entreat you, to suffer the least deviation into the paths of expediency and compromise to obstruct those channels of vivifying grace that can alone provide the inspiration and strength vital not oniy to the successful conduct of its material construction, but to the fulfillment of its high destiny. And while we bend our efforts and strain our nerves in a feverish pursuit to provide the necessary means for the speedy construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, may we not pause for a moment to examine those statements which set forth the purpose as well as the functions of this symbolical yet so spiritually potent Edifice? It will be readily admitted that at a time when the tenets of a Faith, not yet fully emerged from the fires of repression, are as yet improperly defined and imperfectly understood, the utmost caution should be exercised in revealing the true nature of those institutions which are indissolubly associated with its name. Without attempting an exhaustive survey of the distinguishing features and purpose of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar I should feel content at the present time to draw your attention to what I regard as certain misleading statements that have found currency in various quarters, and which may lead gradually to a grave misapprehension of the true purpose and essential character of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. It should be borne in mind that the central Edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar round which in the fulness of time shall cluster such institutions of social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant, should be regarded apart from these Dependencies, as a House solely designed and entirely dedicated to the worship of God in accordance with the few yet definitely prescribed principles established by Baha'u'llah in the KitAb-i Aqd~s. It should not be inferred, however, from this general statement that the interior of the central Edifice itself will be converted into a conglomeration of religious services conducted along lines associated with the traditional procedure obtaining in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other temples of worship. Its various avenues of approach, all converging towards the central Hall beneath its dome, will not serve as admittance to those sectarian adherents of rigid formulx and manmade [p277] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 277 creeds, each bent, according to his way, to observe his rites, recite his prayers, perform his ablutions, and display the particular symbols of his faith within separately defined sections of Baha'u'llah's Universal House of Worship. Far from the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar offering such a spectacle of incoherent and confused sectarian observances and rites, a condition wholly incompatible with the provisions of the Aqdis and irreconcilable with the spirit it inculcates, the central House of Baha'i worship, enshrined within the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, will gather within its chastened walls, in a serenely spiritual atmosphere, only those who, discarding forever the trappings of elaborate and ostentatious ceremony, are willing worshippers of the one true God, as manifested in this age in the Person of Baha'u'llah. To them will the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar symbolize the fundamental verity underlying the Baha'i Faith, that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is not final but progressive. Theirs will be the conviction that an all-loving and ever-watchful Father Who, in the past, and at various stages in the evolution of mankind, has sent forth His Prophets as the Bearers of His Message and the Manifestations of His Light to mankind, cannot at this critical period of their civilization withhold from His chil-dien the Guidance which they sorely need amid the darkness which has beset them, and which neither the light of science nor that of human intellect and wisdom can succeed in dissipating. And thus having recognized in Baha'u'llah the source whence this celestial light proceeds, they will irresistibly feel attracted to seek the shelter of His House, and congregate therein, unhampered by ceremonials and unfettered by creed, to render homage to the one true God, the Essence and Orb of eternal Truth, and to exalt and magnify the name of His Messengers and Prophets Who, from time immemorial even unto our day, have, under divers circumstances and in varying measure, mirrored forth to a dark and wayward world the light of heavenly Guidance. But however inspiring the conception of Baha'i worship, as witnessed in the central Edifice of this exalted Temple, it cannot be regarded as the sole, nor even the essential, factor in the part which the Mashriqu'1-. Adhk~r, as designed by Baha'u'llah, is destined to play in the organic life of the Baha'i community. Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific pursuits centering around the Dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Baha'i worship, however exalted in its conception, however passionate in fervor, can never hope to achieve beyond the meager and often transitory results produced by the contemplations of the ascetic or the communion of the passive worshipper. It cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the worshipper himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and transfused into that dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity which it is the supreme privilege of the Dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to facilitate and promote. Nor will the exertions, no matter how disinterested and strenuous, of those who within the precincts of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will be engaged in administering the affairs of the future Baha'i Commonwealth, fructify and prosper unless they are brought into close and daily comnmnion with those spiritual agencies centering in and radiating from the central Shrine of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship centering in the heart of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the ills that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is assuredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, reinforced on one hand by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and on the other by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend. And of all the institutions that stand associated with His Holy Name, surely none save the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar can most adequately provide the essentials of Baha'i worship and service, both so vital to the regeneration of the world. Therein lies the secret of the loftiness, of the potency, [p278] The Dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (March, 1934) showing details of the ornamentation. Baha'is assembled at the geometrical center of the Temple grounds, and invoking the Greatest Name as their faces are turned toward Akka, April 27, 1910. 278 [p279] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 279 of the unique position of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as one of the outstanding institutions conceived by Baha'u'llah. Dearly-beloved friends! May we not as the trustees of so priceless a heritage, arise to fulfill our high destiny? Haifa, Palestine, October 25, 1929. THE SPELL OF THE TEMPLE ALLEN B. MCDANIEL crAnd finally who can be so bold as to deny that the completion of the superstructure of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Ñ the crowning glory of America's past and present achievements ts Ñ 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 tritest adoration? Ñ SnoGnI EFFENDI ONE hot afternoon in August, 1921, two men entered the office of the Earley Studio in Washington. They arrived unannounced and presented to John J. Earley, the head of the studio, the photograph of a model of a beautiful building. One of these gentlemen, a man of rather distinguished appearance, introduced himself as Louis Bourgeois, the architect of the building shown in the photograph. He stated that he had been sent to the studio by an engineer, a mutual friend. Mr. Bourgeois explained that the model was the accepted design for a universal Temple, which the followers of Baha'u'llah all over the world were going to erect on a sightly location on the shore of Lake Michigan about fifteen miles north of Chicago. Soon it became evident that the design was the dream of this architect's life, a vision that had come to him. At that moment he was seeking a material with which to build this unique and beautiful structure and someone with the sympathetic understanding, ability and experience to put this design into material form. The architect left the photograph of the Temple with the studio and thus began an eleven-year study by Mr. Earley and his assistants of one of the most remarkable building projects in all history. Meanwhile, the Temple Trustees, the national organization in charge of the building of the Temple, started construction * The Dawning Place of God's Praise. work with the sinking of nine great concrete caissons to a depth of 136 feet to bed rock, and the erection of a circular foundation containing a domed hail which has been used for meetings since its completion. Nine years passed and funds became available for the building of the superstructure of the Temple. During this period an almost continuous investigation was carried on to solve the problem of what materials to use in building a structure, the design of which seemed to be a cclacey envelope enshrining an idea, the idea of light, a shelter of cobweb interposed between earth and sky, struck through and through with Light Ñ light which shall partly consume the forms and make of it a thing faery." Mr. Bourgeois and the Temple Trustees had originally planned on erecting the Tem-pie in sections, story by story, as funds became available. And so in 1930, when $400,000 was on hand for the resumption of the building work, it was decided to build the first story complete and cover it with a temporary roof, until further funds made it possible to build the first gallery story, and so on until the dome was finished. But a careful analysis indicated the desirability of constructing the entire superstructure framework for an amount well within the available resources. This plan. was adopted and carried out within a year's time. So efficiently and economically was this done that it was possible to install the entire plumbing system and part of the heating [p280] 280 THE BAHA'I WORLD and lighting systems thus affording a completely enclosed and usable building. Just before the building of the superstructure of the Temple began in September, 1930, the architect, Mr. Bourgeois, died in his studio home on the Temple property. But he had completed his design including fullsized drawings of all of the exterior ornamentation, great drawings of remarkable beauty and accuracy, and details for the dome reaching a length of 109 feet. With these detailed data and with the results of years of consultation with the architect, we believe that we know the problem and have a clear conception of his vision Ñ a Tern-pie of Light with a great pierced dome having ribs extending toward the heavens like great arms lifted in supplication Ñ a gleaming white building through which the sunlight would stream to illumine all within, and through which by night the temple light would shine out to enlighten a darkened world. The vision of the architect penetrated the sky, where he saw not only the stars and constellations, but their orbits, circles, ovals and vesicas of endless variety weaving in and out like a great celestial fabric. This is the theme of the dome ornamentation, the courses of the firmament. But to give life to this fabric, tendrils, leaves and flower forms were added. Interwoven in this fabric are the symbols of the great religious movements of the past and present, the swastika used in many ancient faiths, the six-pointed star of Moses, the cross of Christianity, the star and crescent of Muhammadanism, and the nine-pointed star of the universal religious faith of the followers of Baha'u'llah (Glory of God). With the architect gone, and with the fruits of his years of devoted service in hand, the Temple Trustees turned to The Research Service of Washington, D. C., an organization of specialists in the fields of engineering and construction, men who had been associated with some of the great works in America and abroad, and requested this concern to determine on the material or materials and the methods to be used in clothing the Temple superstructure with ttthe lacey envelope" that would complete the building and materialize the dream of Bourgeois. And so nearly eleven years after the Earley Studio received its first call from the architect, two engineers called on Mr. John J. Earley and informed him that his studio had been selected, after two years of intensive investigation, to prepare the exterior ornamentation of the dome of the Temple of Light. Fortunately the Earley Studio had available a plant at Rosslyn, Va., that was especially adapted to the construction of the dome ornamentation. This plant was assigned to the project and early in July, 1932, the preliminary work was started. This involved the layout and construction of a fullsized wooden model of one panel of the structural outer framework of the existing dome structure that would finally support the concrete ornamentation. An analysis quickly indicated that it would be more efficient and economical in the end to make the dome ornamentation at this plant rather than on the Temple property, as originally contemplated by the architect. The principal purpose of this model of the dome panel was to serve as a standard of measurement from which the dimensions of the various sections of the field and the ribs of the dome could be taken off later and used. Also this model was used for the purpose of studying the plaster of Paris casts of the dome ornamentation. It was necessary to study the dome ornamentation, which is unique in having about one-third of its area perforated. If these perforations were too large they would destroy the architectural continuity. Were they too small they would not be apparent. All of the exterior surfaces of the ornamentation were carefully modelled and this modelling studied so as to secure the proper lights and shades and thus give character to the surface, especially when seen from a distance. It was necessary to study every ornamentation detail over a period of several months, so that it would fit into the design, as the brush strokes of the painter fit into and form a part of his masterpiece. The first step in the preparation of the ornamentation was the modelling and carving of the original clay model for each and every section. The sculptor made a tracing of the architect's original fullsized drawing for each surface and then transferred this [p281] Detail of outer surface of concrete case. Model of dome with plaster models of panel and rib. ccThe Mashriqu'l-Adhkar the crowning institution in every Baha'i community. An edifice that will in time become God's Universal House of Worship." Ñ SHOGHI EFFENDI. An aeroplane view of the Temple an the shore of Lab [p282] Carving model ot a section ot the dome ornamentation. Ltiful site The Temple as it will at "~Vilmette look when completed. on igan. [p283] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 283 design on to the clay surface. From this outline he modelled and carved out the fullsized clay model. Plaster of Paris impressions were taken of the clay surfaces and from these the plaster of Paris model was prepared. These models were well reinforced with hemp and jute and rods. The rough plaster of Paris model was carefully carved to give the final surface texture and modelling. From each plaster cast or model a plaster of Paris mould was made and this represented the negative of the final cast section. The unique feature in the casting of the concrete sections is the use of a mat or framework of high carbon steel rods which forms the reinforcement, serves to give high early strength to the casting for handling and subsequently makes of each section a structure which is designed to resist the highest possible pressures produced from wind, snow, ice, etc. After the concrete casts are taken out of the moulds a group of skilled laborers scrape the mortar from the outer surfaces and thoroughly clean these surfaces down to the exposed aggregate. This leaves the entire outer surface of a white radiant quality. The vision of the architect involved a structure that would be indeed a Temple of Light. His design called for an outer surface that was radiantly white at the dome and graded to a light buff tone at the base of the building. The contractor and the engineer spent several months in a search through the eastern section of the United States to find just the right material for the aggregate of the concrete. After visiting many outcroppings of native stone and quarries it was decided to use two qualities of quartz Ñ a pure white opaque quartz from Kings Creek, S. C., and a crystalline quartz from Moneta, Va. This material is quarried and shipped in large pieces to the plant where it is passed through a jaw crusher and a series of rolls until it is of the required size for the coarser aggregate. The waste is then taken and again passed through the rolls and crushed finer for the sand. These aggregates are mixed with white cement and water to form the plastic concrete which is carefully poured and tamped in the moulds. The casting is a!-lowed to set for from eighteen to twenty hours depending upon temperature and moisture conditions before it is removed from the mould. The scraping and finishing of the outer surfaces of each cast requires a little less time than an average working day. After the cast has been scraped and cleaned, it is then removed to a large room where the air is kept moist. The concrete casts are allowed to remain in this moist chamber for a period of at least two weeks. They are then removed to the storage yard and subsequently loaded in freight cats and shipped to the Temple for erection on the dome. Inserts are imbedded in the four corners of each concrete casting. These provide a means of bolting the ornamentation to the structural steel skeleton of the dome. An interesting feature of the ornamentation is its division into the two hundred and seventy sections of the field of the dome and the one hundred and seventeen sections of the great ribs. These sections are separated by a space of a half inch to allow for deflection and temperature changes in both the steel structure and concrete material of the ornamentation. This entire project is unique in the history of building construction. It does not mean simply the building of another church or temple. Continuous study and investigation extending over the past decade has evolved the new idea of constructing a framework and then building and placing on this framework the design which in itself is a superimposed structure. Even to the layman it is apparent that this method of construction is simple, direct and economical. It is believed that it is the oniy practicable method for a building of this unique and ornamental nature. The estimates of the engineers for the construction of this Temple, in accordance with the ordinary methods of stone masonry and with the use of white marble, would have involved an expenditure of about ten times what this building will cost. Even a building laboriously carved out of white marble and requiring a long period of years for execution would not have met the architect's requirements of a radiantly white building of a permanent and enduring material. The development of the work of the ama [p284] 284 THE BAHA'I WORLD mentation has developed a spirit among the workers which is known as "The Spell of the Temple." Many delightful little stories of personal interest could be told of the workers who are largely craftsmen of long experience. Then man who had the final carving of the plaster of Paris casts insisted on doing all of this work. Several of the workers, when learning that the Temple was being built by voluntary contributions made largely by poor people all over the world and on the basis of sacrifice, voluntarily suggested a reduction in their pay. Mr. Taylor, Mr. Earley's associate, personally laid out and superintended every part of the work involved in the construction of the wooden model of the dome panel, the casting shed and other parts of the job. The design and supervision of this work involved an endless amount of time and effort. And thus the work goes on and on. The spirit of the project seems to involve devotion and selfless service. The "Spell of the Temple" has inspired everyone connected with the work to heights of craftsmanship, to degrees of ingenuity and a sustained enthusiasm that recall the days of the cathedral builders of the Middle Ages. A STATEMENT BY THE ARCHITECT TIII1HE Master, cAbdu~1~BaM, told us that the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will symbolize the body of the Manifestation among men. Of supreme importance, then, to all Baha'is, and especially to those of us who live in America is the building of this great Edifice at Wil-mete, Illinois, by the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. The history of this Temple, as step by step it unfolds, is so unique that already the story will fill a book. Its inception was not from man for, as musicians, artists, poets receive their inspiration from another realm, feel themselves to be a receiver by whose means a heavenly melody is transmitted, a new idea is given to the world, so the Temple's architect through all his years of labor was ever conscious that Baha'u'llah was the creator of this building to be erected to His glory. And the architect's belief was confirmed in a talk with the beloved Master. When the manmade creeds are stripped away from all the religions we find nothing left but harmony. Today, however, religion is so entangled in the superstitions and hypotheses of men that it must needs be stated in a new form to be once again pure and undefiled. Likewise in architecture those fundamental structural lines which originated in the faith of all religions are the same, but so covered over are they with the decorations picturing creed upon creed and superstition after superstition that we must needs lay them aside and create a new form of ornamentation. Into this new design, then, of the Temple is woven, in symbolic form, the great Baha'i teaching of unity Ñ the unity of all religions and of all mankind. There are combinations of mathematical lines, symbolizing those of the universe, and in their intricate merging of circle into circle, of circle within circle, we visualize the merging of all the religions into one. On the first floor of the Baha'i Temple there will be the great auditorium of the building, above which will rise the stately dome, 162 feet high. A corridor encircles the dome on the outside, and inside the building is a circle of rooms, or alcoves, all opening upon the main auditorium. A circle of steps, eighteen in all, will surround the structure on the outside and lead to the auditorium floor. These eighteen steps represent the eighteen first disciples of the Bib, and the door to which they lead stands for the Mb himself. In the rear of the building will be steps leading to the first and second balconies which, tier above tier, follow the circular dome. In the second balcony choirs of children will sing their songs of praise to God, the all-glorious. The auditorium under the dome, with its beautiful molded tracery, will be protected inside by a glass dome and in the space be. [p285] Work on Exhibit Ñ Workmen fit together plaster sections of the fullsize model of the dome for the Baha'i Temple of Light. 285 [p286] The Dome of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as now assembled. The ornamentation of the dome was completed in March, 1934. The remainder of the ornamentation still to be completed. 286 [p287] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 287 tween the stone dome and the glass dome will be placed electric lights which will shine through the auditorium. On the dome's pinnacle there will be a sunken room and this will house a mighty search light. Through the nine faces made by the ribs which will bind the dome into a unity this search light will radiate its starlike rays. Louis J. BOURGEOIS. THE PROJECT OF ORNAMENTING THE BAHA'I TEMPLE DOME* From Journal of the American Concrete Institute. B~ JOHN J. EARLEY-TWELVE LVE years ago, last August, two gentlemen came to my studio in Washington. They came unexpectedly and they brought with them oniy the photograph of a plaster model. They had been sent by a mutual friend, an engineer, deeply interested in the work being done with concrete by this studio, who suggested that we might offer a solution for their problem. One of these gentlemen was Mr. Louis Bourgeois, an architect, and the most unusual personality I have met in that profession. The other was Mr. Ashton, his friend, and the photograph which they brought was of a Temple, the most exotically beautiful building I have ever seen. It came up our of the earth like the sprout of some great plant bursting out to life and growth. Mr. Bourgeois explained that he was the architect of the building and a member of the Baha'i Faith who believe themselves to be the children of a new era, who believe that they have received a new Manifestation. It soon became clear that this Temple was the dream of Mr. Bourgeois' life, that all his hopes and ambitions were centered in it, and that he believed himself to have been inspired to design a temple unlike any other in the world, so that it might be the symbol of a new religion in a new age. At that moment he was anxiously seeking a material with which to build it and someone with the ability to understand his work and the skill to execute it. He left with me the photo* * Presented at 29th Annual Convention, Chicago, Feb. 2124, 1933. t Architectural Sculptor, Washington, D. C. graph, after autographing it. I have it still. It marks the beginning of the project for me. In the time which intervened between this meeting and the death of Mr. Bourgeois about two years ago, there developed between us an interesting and instructive friendship. We studied this temple with all its ramifications of form, of treatment and of meaning as a preparation for the time when work on it would be begun. It was strange, in a way, that we of the studio should have given so much thought to it. We bad no authority to do so and as a matter of fact we were not commissioned to do the work until this summer just past. But somehow it always seemed to be our work. We understood it, we had the material and were equipped to do it. The architect was interesting to us and we to him. And then there was the job itself, a thing to fascinate the imagination. A temple of light with a great pierced dome through which by day the sunlight would stream to enlighten all within and through which by night the Temple light shone out into a darkened world. When at night we look into the sky we see only the stars but could we see the arbits of the stars how wonderful it would be. Great curves intertwining in weird perspective. Ovals, circles, and vesicas of endless variety twisted and woven into some great cosmic fabric. This is the theme of the dome, the courses of the stars woven into a fabric. But this is not all, interwoven with the courses of the stars in the pattern of the dome are the tendrils of livings things, leaves, and flowers, because no symbol of [p288] 288 THE BAHA'I WORLD creation would be complete without a symbol of life. Lifted above the dome are nine great ribs, nine aspirations that mount higher than the courses of the stars. I wonder after all if it was strange that we of the studio should have given so much thought to this project? The drawings left to us by the architect adequately illustrate his ideas about the decorations of the dome but they do not pretend to show a method for making the dome nor for attaching it to the steel skeleton. Among his drawings are some of the most extraordinary fullsized details of ornament. There is one of a panel in the field of the dome which is seventy feet long, another of the face of the great rib which is ninety feet long. Each of these drawings was made in one piece in a loft building on La Salle Street in Chicago where Mr. Bourgeois stretched out on the floor a great sheet of paper and with his pencil tied to the end of a long stick he drew in great sweeps, in a manner never to be forgotten, the interlacing ornament of the dome. One line through another, under and over, onward and upward until the motif was corn.-pleted. Never have I seen a greater feat of draftsmanship nor a more interesting draftsman than Mr. Bourgeois. Most surprising of all perhaps is the approximation to accuracy which he maintained in these great drawings in spite of the disadvantages under which he worked. He was obliged to stand on the drawing which he was making and his oniy view of the whole was from the top of a step ladder. It became necessary after the death of Mr. Bourgeois for the Temple Trustees to carry the drawings further. This matter was put in charge of The Research Service of Washington, D. C., which allotted to our studio the development of the ornamental dome. I can not begin to tell you how many factors enter into such a problem and I am sure that we automatically give consideration to many without being able to recall or to name them: Just as an operating surgeon might know the position and function of every vein and sinew, the names of which have long since been forgotten. So in discussing such a problem consideration can be given only to principles such as these: The decoration of the temple must always be subservient to the architecture, the theme of the ornament must not be lost. The craftsmanship must be adequate, practical and economical; the materials must be suitable and enduring. Were we to treat the exterior surface of the dome so that the perforations were too large they would destroy the architectural continuity. Were they too small they would not appear to be perforations. If the surface were simply perforated without further treatment the decoration would be inadequate, the theme would be lost, there would be no pathways of the stars nor movements of living things. All this must be modelled into the surface of the dome with care and good judgment, so that at no place will the intertwining of this complicated grille escape from the configuration of the hemisphere. The interior surface of the dome is the subject of another group of considerations. If the solids between the perforations are too large the dome will appear as a dark surface spotted with bright dots. It would be like looking into a colander. If the solids be too thin, the light which enters will seem to bend around them and the bright spots will resolve into a confused blur. The pattern would be lost. And so with time and the greatest of care every ornamental detail must be adjusted to the unity of the architecture and the sequence of the story, as words are made to tell a story in the cadence of a poem. Intermediate between the artistic and the practical there is a zone of translation where the asthetic is translated into the practical and where the complex is made simple. One who makes this translation must be thoroughly versed in theory and in practice. He must be able to understand the abstract form of a project and the means by which it may be determined in material by the operation of craftsmen. Such a translation has a real economic value, for it brings to the execution of the work many pairs of skillful hands which would not be available if the pure form of the project were not determined in the medium of the craftsmen. This work was undertaken by my associate, Mr. Taylor. It required a perfect understanding of all the factors of the problem [p289] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 289 and unusual resourcefulness. It was necessary to express the forms, relations and measurements in terms which our craftsmen could understand and use. In my opinion it was one of the most important factors in the execution of the work. Imagine translating such a theme into a practical operation, which would not involve anything new in the technique of the studio. Spherical measurements must become bits of wood of certain length cut to a given radius, complicated angles became jointed boards, skewed solids became simple frame work with internal bracing. The pathways of the stars were just clay models of ornamental grilles, plaster casts were just plaster casts and piece molds remained unchanged. The work of the craftsmen was as yesterday and the day before. It interested them. It was in their medium. They understood it. Formulas became pieces of wood and of plaster: We have men who can do nothing with formulas but who can do wonders in wood and in plaster. This translation was brought about by means of a fullsized model of one ninth, forty degrees, of the dome. In my opinion a model of this kind was practically necessary. Drawings could have been made but from the viewpoint of the studio they would have been exceedingly complicated. Certain architectural requirements disturbed the geometrical symmetry of the dome. By this I mean that the great ribs would not have been well done if they radiated simply from the pole as do meridians. They needed a thickness at the top which moved their sides from the meridians of the sphere and required that they be joined together at the top into a boss. Further, the sides of these great ribs warp continuously from the spring line of the dome where they are radial, to the top where they are parallel. Cross sections through the rib taken at intervals between the bottom and the top may be likened to a series of trapezoids becoming more nearly rectilineal as they progress from the bottom to the top. In addition to this all fillets diminish at a purely arbitrary rate from bottom to top and the fields of the ornament are continously changing. Theoretically the three panels in the field of the dome were distorted but the distortion was actually very little and practical econ omy indicated that they should be made symmetrical to a degree where one model and one mold would serve for all. We began our model by constructing in the yard of our studio a fullsized wooden frame representing exactly the steel for one Ñ ninth of the dome. To do this we gathered from the structural drawings of the building all available information pertaining to the dome. All of this was condensed to one diagram showing a reflected plan and a section. This was a diagram pure and simple, there was nothing pictorial about it. It contained every available shred of information about the structure and we reproduced it at fullsize on specially prepared strips of concrete pavement in the yard of the studio. The principal lines of the plan were extended far out beyond the periphery of the dome to points where one could see up and over the dome. These lines terminated in bronze pins set in concrete hubs. Over the plan a frame work was constructed and on it were placed timbers located exactly as are the steel ribs and purlins on the skeleton of the dome. From over the pins, which terminated the principal lines of the plan, a transit quickly and easily drew planes up and through the curved surfaces of the dome, just as a great invisible knife might slice a melon. Strips of wood were made which represented the thickness of the concrete shell and a frame was made which represented the form of the great ribs. These were carefully lifted up over the frame work of the dome and carefully set with the aid of the transit in their proper relation to the ornamental dome and the structural steel. Now for the first time, we faced reality and were able to see the relation between the existing steel structure and a proposed concrete covering. All other relations of form such as that between the area of the concrete dome and its thickness; the relations of length, heiglif and width in the great ribs, and curve of the rib up over the arc of the dome, all such ceased to be concepts and became experiences. The question whether this dome should be poured in place as a continuous fabric or precast and set, ceased to be a question. It was immediately apparent to practical judgment that a per [p290] t ~4 Figures 1, 2, and 3. Fig. 1~~~~ccWe began our model by constructing in the yard of our studio a fullsized wooden frame representing exactly the steel for one-ninth h of the dome." Figs. 2 and 3 Ñ ttEvery available shred of informa Ñ tion about the structure we reproduced at full size on specially prepared strips of concrete pavement.~~ 290 [p291] Figures 4, 5, and 6. Fig. ~ frame was made to represent the form of the great ribs." Fig. 5~~C(The precast sections of the field were joined in a pattern following closely the center lines of the steel ribs and purlins." Fig. 6 Ñ "The great ribs we divided into voussoirs corresponding to the heights of the sections of the field from purlin to purlin." 291 [p292] 292 THE BAHA'I WORLD forated concrete shell such as this dome, if cast as a continuous fabric attached to and supported by steel members, would tear it self to pieces in its first drying. I do not mean by this that the dome would break into many pieces and fall to the ground but I mean that the first volume change between wet and dry would set up internal stresses which could be relieved only by a great number of incipient cracks which might heal or which might grow larger as time passed. 'We, therefore, decided to precast the dome and set it in place. In doing this we completely excluded every element of construction, even a stiffening effect, and placed the concrete dome simply as a load upon the steel. We decided that the precast sections of the field might each contain a hundred square feet more or less and that they might be jointed in a pattern following closely that established by the center lines of the steel ribs and purlins. The great concrete ribs we divided into voussoirs the length of which corresponded to the heights of the sections of the field from purlin to purlin. Pieces of this size would, we estimated, weigh approximately two or three tons. They would be large enough to contain a dignified section of ornament and small enough to be easily handled and to be reinforced against shrinkage with a reasonable hope of success. Between each precast section there is an open joint onehalf inch wide. It is provided to allow free movement in every direction to each cast, and to provide a means of taking up such variations as would naturally occur between the contours of the steel skeleton and the concrete shell. Considered from the point of view of appearance such joints in the surface of a white dome should be hardly visible. On a curved surface one quickly loses direct elevation and in perspective the joints would quickly be lost. A brilliantly white surface may be expected to cast a halo of light over the joints to obscure them and further, if they do appear, they will be an orderly division of large areas that are well in scale with the dome. The pieces of the dome and ribs will be mechanically attached to the steel frame. Fittings will be cast in the concrete by means of which the castings will be bolted to the structural steel skeleton, nothing will be needed to set this dome in place but light hoisting apparatus and wrenches. Much yet remains to be done in designing reinforcements, and in the selection of materials for the metal attachments, the reinforcements, the aggregate, the cement, and all the various details of preparation and execution. Each decision affords a new thrill and stirs our interest to the highest point. It is a project for which we feel that the best is none too good. It has never lost its interest for ourselves or for our men. Many delightful little stories of personal interest might be told of such incidents as these: My associate, Mr. Taylor, personally laid out every line and measurement on the job; our plaster carver desires above all else to carve the great plaster model by himself without help; a member of the Baha'i Faith wanted to give all the aggregate, if the quartz deposit on his homestead would meet our requirements. Unfortunately it did not. And so the development of the work goes on. It has been sincerely studied and sincerely met. No combination of steel and concrete could be more frankly made. No separation of finish from structure could be more completely made. I am deejly impressed by the simplicity and the economy of this solution to a complex problem, and I present it to you for your consideration. I have spoken to the Institute before of a method of construction, which completely separated the structure and the ornamentation, pointing out its practical advantages and the reasons for them, indicating its history and giving examples of its application. The idea of building without decoration and of decorating after construction is not new. Indeed it is so very old that perhaps it may seem to be new. Familiarity with architectural form does not go back much further than the Renaissance and the same may be said of building methods, therefore, very old forms and very old methods particularly when applied by a new technique to a new material may easily be regarded as a daring innovation. When the time came to build, the Temple Trustees were forced to decide whether the temple should be built as an indeterminate structure or whether it should be translated [p293] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 293 into a conventional form. I do not know the reasoning which led them to accept the conventional design. We have never considered the structure of the building except to dream that this Temple might have been built as it seems to be built. On the other hand I am sure that sound economic reasoning led them to decide to separate completely the ornamentation from the structure. The separation was as complete as it could possibly be. The structural elements were entirely completed before we began our work which consisted only in clothing the skeleton with an ornamental covering expressive not only of the form but the spirit of the architect's design. ARCHITECTURAL CONCRETE OF THE EXPOSED AGGREGATE TYPE'S From Journal of the American Concrete Institute. B~ JOHN J. EARLEYt Member Amen can Concrete Institute TITFILS paper is the continuation of a paper presented last year to the Institute. The previous paper described the problem presented by the ornamentation of the Baha'i Temple.' This paper describes some of the technique by which architectural concrete of the exposed aggregate type has been developed and some of the methods by which the ornamentation of the Temple has been done. As I look back over the work of our studio with concrete I see from year to year a noticeable improvement in its appearance. The work is better both in design and execution. The improvement has been continued and rational and in general what should be expected from a studio such as ours. Nevertheless, I am impressed that the most important improvements affecting the nature of the material did not come gradually from year to year but quickly, when the material was made to take on an added quality to meet the requirements of some particular job of work. It took on character, which was necessary for that work, which suddenly developed in the highly concentrated attention paid to the problem, which remained with the material after the * Presented at the 30th Annual Convention American Concrete Institute, Toronto, Feb. 2022, 1934. t Architectural Sculptor, Washington, D. C. 1 JoURNAL American Concrete Inst., June, 1933, Proceedings, Vol. 29, p. 403. experience had passed and which befitted it for a new order of use. I have in a more or less disconnected way recorded in the Proceedings of the American Concrete Institute some of the most important developments. For instance: We developed for the work at Meridian Hill Park control of the appearance of concrete of the exposed aggregate type by means of a two-step gradation of the aggregate.2 Upon this theme rested all future development of this type of architectural concrete. We reasoned that if every particle of stone exposed upon the surface of the concrete might be considered as a spot of color in juxtaposition to other spots of color, all the knowledge of color and texture of the mosaicist and of the pointilist painter could be immediately applied to concrete. It would eliminate the necessity for a long period of experimentation. It would, if a technique could be devised, permit concrete to participate in the traditions of these older arts and transform it almost immediately into an acceptable architectural medium. We thought that a suitable technique must be one by which the particles of stone could be distributed and exposed on the surface of the concrete in a predetermined manner. Reasoning from the surface to the mass is a natural process. It is particularly so to an artist. We, therefore, thought that the 2 Proceedings, Amer. Concrete Inst., Vol. 16, p. 70 [p294] 1933 Convention of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. [p295] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 295 desired end could be reached by making the concrete so that any section through it would have the character desired for the surface. Current work in the laboratories at home and abroad indicated that by carefully grading the aggregates, highly desirable qualities could be given to concrete, such as increased strength and density. Two methods of gradation were being studied. That by which the aggregate was evenly graded through many sizes from fine to coarse, and that by which it was graded into three sizes, fine, medium, and coarse. Practically equal strengths and densities were obtained by either method but it always appeared that, when the latter method was applied to aggregates passing a half-inch sieve, the best results were obtained by omitting the medium size. We, therefore, designed a two-step gradation which proved itself to be just what we wanted. It gave to concrete of the type in which we were interested the best structural qualities and characteristics of appearance adaptable to our theme and quite different from the appearance of concrete made with aggregate graded by other methods. Furthermore, our two-step method of gradation gave to concrete better workability than did the other methods. It prevented segregation and bridging and gave better flow. It permitted us to fill perfectly the most complicated molds. Another example: We developed for the casting of Lorado Taft's Fountain of Time8 a control of the water-cement ratio in the molds at the time of set by means of an absorptive core, which as part of the mold extracted free water and permitted the concrete to be placed in one consistency and to set in another. The Fountain of Time is so large a single group that we decided to cast it in place, in a plaster mold of more than four thousand pieces made on the original model. The usual process of casting is to pour material into a mold as into a basin, but in this case the usual process was reversed. The material was packed between an inverted mold and an inner core. The core was framed with wood, covered with metal lath and a very porous plaster. This highly absorptive inner core drew off the excess water, which had been used as a vehicle for placing the concrete, and left the concrete tightly packed between it and the mold in such a condition that it would not shrink away from the mold but would harden into a strong, sharp cast. Here a major change in technique added something new to our concrete not oniy for the Fountain of Time but for succeeding work. Again: For the Church of the Sacred Heart at Washington4 we developed poiy-chrome coloring by means of the aggregate to meet the requirements of the architects, Murphy and Olmsted, for a Byzantine-Romanesque church done in the manner of the churches of Ravenna. Technical control was exercised by means of raised contour lines in the molds. They permitted the use in one casting of many aggregates of as many colors, separated them and kept each in its own place without losing anything of unity in the mass of concrete. Design in color was now possible and concrete became a modern mosaic of unusual beauty with a character all its own and an adaptability greater than that of any medium with which we had had experience. I believe that this was the most impressive gesture ever made with architectural concrete. For us it was a great adventure. It stimulated us to efforts which can be clearly seen in a steady and rational improvement. Not for a long time did another problem force us to devise an essential change in technique. In the years 1932 and 1933 we had entrusted to us two epoch marking jobs of work, namely: the ceilings of the passages to the courts in the new building at Washington for the United States Department of Justice and the dome of the Baha'i Temple at mete, Illinois. Both of these works presented the difficulties, the challenge necessary to lift us above normal improvement to one of those extraordinary technical changes which give new and lasting character to a material. For the ceilings of the Department of Justice we devised a system of forming by which thin precast slabs of concrete mosaics were used as forms for structural elements and normal forming was eliminated. 8 Proceedings, Amer. Concrete Inst., Vol. 19, p. 185. Proceedings, Amer. Concrete Inst., Vol. 20, p. 157. [p296] 296 THE BAHA'I WORLD (With your permission I will reserve a discussion of these ceilings for another time.) For the dome of the Baha'i Temple it was necessary to develop in the concrete greater early strength than we had done before. We did this by a new modification of technique. It retained a predetermined quantity of water in the concrete in the mold at the time of set by controlling the size, that is to say the surface, of the small aggregate. The casts for the dome of the Baha'i Tern-pie weighed as much as three tons each. The nature of the molds in which they were cast made it necessary to turn them over within twenty hours and to remove the mold so that their surface might be treated to expose the aggregate. Frankly we were impressed. We felt the necessity for increased stability in these casts and we reasoned that it could be obtained by further decreasing the quantities of water in the concrete at the time of set. The difficulty was that we had been in the habit of extracting as much water as we could. We knew from experience that a properly designed capillary system when applied to wet concrete would extract all free water, that is, water which is not restrained in concrete by some force equal to or greater than the force of the capillaries. We also understood that this restraint is exercised principally by the surface of the aggregates and of the cement, to which water attaches itself with ever increasing tenacity as the particles become smaller. From this we reasoned that if surface could be brought under control a predetermined quantity of water, either more or less, could be retained in concrete against the puii of a capillary systeni. We learned that control can be exercised to a remarkable degree. Concrete can be designed from which water will run freely or in which water will be retained against the force of capillarity. Our concrete is composed of materials generally grouped into three sizes, the large aggregate, the small aggregate and the cement. We applied our theory to the small aggregate because the surface of the large aggregate was too insignificantly small and because the surface of the cement was too tightly covered by water to afford us much hope of success. Changes in the size of the small aggregate produced the exact result desired. We extracted the additional water, obtained the increased stability in the concrete, turned over the three-ton casts in twenty hours, removed the mold and exposed the aggregate. Exactly what we did was to increase the mean diameter of the small aggregate .0015 inch by changing the opening of a sieve from .0125 to .014 inch. Considered casually it seems ridiculous that so small a change to but one of the ingredients should make so great a difference in the character of the concrete. It might be interesting to note that particles of the size indicated are about the largest which may be classified as small aggregate with surface sufficiently dominant to be subject to this technique. The application of this theory clearly proves that less water makes better concrete. But it should be remembered that water means practically nothing to a concrete product in its first phase. When concrete is being mixed and placed, water is oniy a vehicle carrying the solid particles. But water is of great importance in the second phase when the concrete is at rest in its mold and beginning to set. Further, our experience teaches that the new technique will control not only the strength of concrete but its density. There is no need for elaborate tests to establish this. It is perfectly apparent to one watching the concrete in the mold while the water is being extracted, and to one handling and studying the casts after they have been made. Here, I believe, is another extraordinary technical improvement devised for the execution of the dome of the Baha'i Temple, which gave an added character not only for the improvement of architectural but of structural concrete. Here is a means to control over a wide range the water-cement ratio in concrete at the time of set. It is a tool from which much is to be expected. We believe that such ciose control of water will be of ever increasing value as thin sections come into more general use. Indeed it may be that thin sections will never come into general use without such a close control of water. Other interesting processes and devices were used in casting and erecting the Temple dome. Some of them are new to concrete [p297] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 297 construction and others of them are improvements. The character of the work was such that one major technical development was not sufficient to meet all requirements. Many minor improvements and ingenious devices were also needed. The process of exposing aggregate evenly over the surface by brushing concrete with wire brushes before it is thoroughly set is still essentially of the technique of making architectural concrete of the exposed aggregate type and is now used in our studio for all our work with concrete. Certain difficulties imposed by the process would be relieved if a substitute process could be found to expose the aggregate properly after the concrete has set. Our experience with other methods such as rubbing, mechanical brushing, chemical treatment, sand blasting, tooling and the like have not been satisfactory. Hand brushing establishes beautiful architectural planes, uniform surfaces and good drawing. The other methods have produced for us poorly established architectural planes with marked erosion and bad drawing. The advantages of hand surfacing are still more apparent when colored aggregates are used. More violent methods fracture the surface of these aggregates and change their color. The mold or forms in which concrete is cast are at present one of the great difficulties of the industry. Complicated forms test the skill of a craftsman and are a handi-. cap on the performance of concrete in the architectural field. Had the molds for the Baha'i Temple dome been necessarily made with some nonpiastic material, as wood or metal, the difficulties and the cost might have endangered the project or might have defeated it. Indeed there were many who admired the beauty of the Temple dome but who thought its execution to be impossible or impractical. Fortunately we had had much experience in making molds for other unusual projects. We knew the remarkable adaptability and economy of molds made with a plastic material when applied to complex forms, therefore: we made the molds of the Temple dome with plaster. Although these molds were far more complicated than any we had previously made for concrete, they added nothing new in principle but much to experience. It was difficult to fill the deep and narrow molds of the great ribs. It was particularly difficult to £11 the molds of the perforated sections of the ribs. They were channel shaped and consisted of an inner and outer form with five inches between. This space was almost completely choked by projections designed to form the holes in the ornament and by reinforcements. Here, truly, was a need for two consistencies. One for placing concrete in these complicated and unhandy molds and one for a strength to meet previously explained requirements. The problem presented was paradoxical. If the consistency were wet enough to permit the concrete to fill properly such a mold, the required strength would not be developed; and, if the consistency were dry enough to develop the required strength, the concrete could not be properly filled into such a mold. The casts were cured in a chamber in which the air was kept close to maximum humidity by intermittent spraying of the floor. The floor was covered to a depth of about three inches with pebbles screened through a one-quarter inch sieve. Evaporation from the floor kept the air moist but not filled with spray. The intention was to keep the casts from drying out and not to add more water. The structural steel designed to support the concrete dome was composed of curved ribs radially spaced and of straight purlins fastened on top of them. This structure did not coincide with a spherical form well enough to support the ornamental envelope. 'We, therefore, imposed upon it a furring system of light steel tees bent to conform to a sphere and to the underside of the envelope. These tees afforded a support along two sides of each piece of concrete and a means to fasten the concrete envelope to the structural steel. The concrete dome was divided into three hundred eighty-seven pieces, which corresponded to the paneL formed in the structural steel by the intersecting ribs and purlins. At every corner of the concrete casts there was inserted a steel fitting drilled and threaded to receive a cap screw. The inserts were placed so that each fitting in the top of a cast could be joined to a corresponding fitting in the adjacent cast by bolting to [p298] 298 THE BAHA'I WORLD them a steel plate passed behind the furring tee. This arrangement held each concrete cast close to the furring tees but permitted it to move as might be required by expansion and contraction in either the concrete or the steel. To the fittings at the bottom of the casts were attached short pieces of steel angles, which rested on the purlins and prevented the casts from slipping down. When the concrete casts were set by this method there was an open joint onehalf inch wide on every side, and each piece of the concrete dome was completely free from every other piece. I have no knowledge of another masonry structure assembled by this method. It is a logical one even though somewhat contrary to precedent. The members of the Baha'i Faith look upon their Temple as a building which will last for a long time and so does this studio. Every precaution has been taken to make the concrete as well as it can be made iii the present state of the art. We believe that the concrete in the Baha'i Temple will endure better than terra-cotta, freestone, marble or any other building stone excepting granite. At the same time our studio, because of its experience with all these materials, knows that masonry materials in architectural form will not endure indefinitely. To monumental buildings which have stood for a long time, as time is reckoned in human history, there have been many repairs and replacements. We have, therefore, arranged the temple dome so that any piece can be repaired and, if need be, reino~ed and replaced without disturbing any other piece. Further, if the furring system through neglect should deteriorate to such a condition that it were advisable to replace it, it can be moved and replaced without disassembling the concrete dome. These provisions for maintenance should be regarded neither as unnecessary precautions nor as a lack of faith in the durability of any of the materials. Indeed it would be presumptuous to attribute to the steel structure and the concrete envelope an endurance greater than they can possibly possess. Materials were chosen with care like to that exercised in making and assembling the dome. White quartz was selected for aggregate because it is beautiful and strong and can resist erosion and corrosion. Copper bearing steel was used for the furring system because some metallurgists say that steel containing a small quantity of copper will not rust as readily as plain steel. We were not greatly impressed by this, but, if the effect were there we wanted the dome to benefit by it. Chrome-nickel-steel alloy, usually called stainless steel, was chosen for the fittings which hold the concrete casts in place. It can hardly be called stainless but certainly it has shown a good resistance to rusting, as the term is generally understood. We felt the need of a rust resisting metal for the fittings because, if rust worked back between them and the concrete, it might break the corners of the casts. We considered aluminum but thought it might corrode excessively in concrete. We disliked the green stain of bronze. From other suitable metal we selected the steel alloy as the best obtainable within reasonable costs. The fittings have since been inserted in wet concrete, stored in damp storage, washed with muriatic acid and weathered, all in the process of making the concrete dome. We are pleased by their performance and feel assured that their deterioration will be very slow. I understand from the engineer in charge that the economy afforded by concrete for the ornamental dome of the Baha'i Temple was truly remarkable. Great difference between the cost of concrete and that of other material is to b~ expected when the work is difficult and complicated. When the work is simple the difference in costs is not so great. But, when concrete is properly used, when the technique is intelligent, there is always economy, freedom of design and a flexibility unequaled by another material. Let the Baha'i Temple be admitted as evidence to support my testimony that concrete of the exposed aggregate type is no longer in an experimental state but is ready for use and is an entirely satisfactory architectural medium. All present indications point to exposed aggregate as the mark of architectural concrete. I see nothing in the art of making concrete which threatens its supremacy. I know of no existing process which is likely to set up another element of concrete in the place of the aggregate to [p299] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 299 dominate its appearance, and I repeat what I said more than ten years ago, namely: the aggregate is the dominant element of concrete, therefore, the appearance of the concrete should be the appearance of the aggregate. Further, it has been thoroughly demonstrated that the character of the aggregate has been made to control the character of the concrete and that such concrete has been made to meet every architectural requirement. I do not hesitate to assert without weakening qualifications of any kind that from the point of view of designing architect, artist architect, and the studio executing their work there is no masonry material with which as much of form and color can be expressed as with exposed aggregate concrete. That is a positive statement. It is as definite as any statement I have made before the Institute. I mean it. I can support it. The reason for making it is that it is now time to make an end of unbelief and doubt in concrete as an architectural material. The architects who still doubt are depriving themselves of a great and efficient medium, with which to solve modern architectural problems. They might do well to investigate and to learn why Louis Bourgeois chose exposed aggregate concrete for the execution of his exotically beautiful temple and why Zantzinger, Boric and Me-dary chose it for the strikingly colorf iii ceilings of their Department of Justice. The presentatIon of the foregoing ~a~er by Mr. Farley was followed by stereo fiticon views with descriptions of details of manujacturing and construction methods, devices and procedure. Their firesentation here is in turn followed U• 27427 8) by recoflvelztion discussion" Ñ consisting almost wholly in questions from the convention audknce and Mr. Earley's answers Ñ EDITOR. The Baha'is are a Persian faith which originated about 70 years ago and came to this country by way of the Paris Exposition of 1900. The architect, Louis Bourgeois, (deceased), had, as the dream of his life, that he might execute an architectural symbol of a new religion which would not be reminiscent of the forms which had served as symbols for other religions. The sketch indicates the nature of the problem for execution in architectural concrete. The dome is about 100 feet in diameter; the decorations perforated. Reduced in scale, they are as fine as a piece of Duchesse lace, and these perforations are carried down through the building in grilles filling all the openings and with architectural surfaces covered with a tracery as fine as is found in the marble slabs of the Taj Mahal. Our studio had nothing to do with the construction of this skeleton (described by Benjamin Shapiro in a paper before this Institute~?). The dome is of glass to serve as a watershed. Above it is now superimposed the perforated concrete dome. Its theme is that by day the light of the sun will filter into the Temple, symbolic of the light of faith and at night the light of the Temple will filter out to illuminate the darkened world. It is called CCA Temple of Light." It is of very unusual design. The plan of the first lift is of a nine-pointed star; the second is the same, but oriented so that the points do not coincide. First a record had to be made of the physical condition of the dome. Men made wooden templates on every line of pylons around the dome, because to precast the dome sections in concrete in our studio in Rosslyn, Virginia, and then to ship and assemble them at Wilmette, it was very necessary that no mistakes be made. The dome was very complicated by reason of the fact that the ribs were not radial. It would have been difficult to translate the necessary calculations into the mind of the craftsmen who had to do the work. JOURNAL, Amer. Concrete Inst., Jan.-Feb. 1934, Proceedings, Vol. 30, p. 239. [p300] 300 THE BAHA'I WORLD Figures 1 and 2. Ñ Surveys marked on concrete bases for a full size model of one-ninth of the dome. We decided to build a full size model of one-ninth of this dome so that all the measurements and lines could be taken off it in a series of templates rather than in a series of calculations. First, on a concrete platform, a full size projected plan of the dome was laid out. The white lines (Figure 1) indicate the joints between the sections of the field and two ribs. From the periphery of the do me another plan was projected of the outer edge of the dome. The dark spots indicate sections through the rib and the dark line connecting them is the plan of the five-inch thick concrete envelope of the dome. On top of this full sized plan of a ninth of the dome we constructed a scaffolding; timbers were set with exact relation to the steel which existed on the dome. [p301] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 301 Figures 3, 4, and 5. Ñ A scaffold supports timbers constituting a replica of the steel of a dome section. Over timbers exactly representingwere marked with center the steel work were timberslines (Figure 4, below). exactly representing The great ribs were laid the purlins and over the out in plan on the ground purlins in turn were placedin relation to a vertical strips representing the section through the dome. thickness of the concrete The framework running up field sections of the over the section describes dome. (Figure 3, top left.)one of the great ribs Both ribs and purlins (Figure 5, top right). [p302] 302 THE BAHA'I WORLD Figures 6 and 7. Ñ First steps in making models. After the layout had been made it was necessary that the configuration of the dome be translated from the model into the workshop as a basis upon which to build the models of the field of the dome. That was done by spinning on the floor a plaster disk like a saucer. (Figure 6, top.) Then there was laid off on that the lines which correspond with the boundary lines of the field of the dome. On the saucer-like form plaster slabs were cast. The timbers are merely reinforce-meats for the back of the slabs, and those slabs were taken off this saucer-like shape and placed on the floor at some other position. Subsequently they were sawed into lengths and put together to give sections of the surface of the dome as might be needed for the work. (Figure 7, bottom.) Such curved slabs formed the basis of all models of the dome. [p303] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 303 Figures 8 and 9. Ñ Details were carved in plaster models. Models were first roughed out in clay and then cast in plaster and then re-carved by band. (Figure 8, top.) This was done so that the lines, the drawings, of this very complicated ornament might be as true and as nice as possible. Then again it was done so that the modelling on the face of the dome might be carefully done with due consideration to this phase of the problem: If the modelling of this ornament were overdone by erecting projections or by excessive perforations, the continuity of the architectural dome would be lost. If, on the other hand, the surface of these models was without movement, the dome would present an appearance more like a colander, just a plain surface with holes punched in it, which would not be architecturally acceptable. Figure 9 shows two sections of the great ribs placed together on the pattern of the dome showing the half-inch joints which separated them. [p304] 304 THE BAHA'I WORLD Figures 10 and 11. Ñ Plaster models erected on the dome frame. Models were carefully checked by placing them on the frame of the dome. (Figures 10, 11.) The bottom sections of the great ribs extending down over the clerestory were not a part of the dome: they were modelled separately. (Figures 12, 13, next page.) The top of the model coincides with the spring-line of the dome. In this assembly it was possible to judge the character of the ornament and the character of the modelling to be sure that the uniformity of surface was retained and the proper degree of decoration and that there had been achieved a proper balance of perforations with the general area of the dome. Note the half-inch joint surrounding every piece Ñ each casting independent of every other. The bottom castings were about ten feet square, five inches thick and, as finally cast of concrete, weighed between three and three and a half tons each. [p305] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR. 305 Figures 12 and 13 . Ñ Bottoin sections of ribs to extend down over the clerestory. After the models were made, the next thing was to make molds on them, and these molds were necessarily very complicated (Figures 14, 15, 16) because the ornament is perforated, which means that, wherever there is a perforation in the ornament, there must be a projection in the mold. Those projections were five inches high and very numerous, which meant that if a concrete casting were made in a mold as ordinarily constructed, it would be impossible ever to remove that mold, because if, in moving it, it was twisted the slightest bit, all of these projections would bind so on the perforations that it would be entirely impossible to remove the mold. Another thing, these molds had to be removed within 24 hours, before the cast was as hard as it would have to get. So, wherever there was a perforation, it was treated in the mold as a plug, and, when the mold was removed from the cast, the plug would remain in the cast and it was removed separately, and afterwards reassembled in the mold. [p306] Figures 14, 15, and 16. Ñ Plaster molds were made from the models. [p307] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 307 Figure 17. Ñ A reinforcement unit. Figures 18 and 19. Ñ Casting operations. Reinforcement (Figure flatten. That is a thing 17) was designed on the we have to be very careful theory that, if sections about, because slab castings, of the dome could be held particularly when they rigidly around the edges, are new, have a tendency to there was very little bend; if they are flat, likelihood that castings they will curve, and, would [p308] 308 THE BAHA'I WORLD if curved, they have a tendency to flatten. Every one of these castings is a section of the curved surface of the dome and we held the edges .of them as firmly as we could. Reinforcements were bent to follow the curvature of the ornaments and wherever they crossed they were electrically welded so might be dead or chalky or have the appearance of a plaster casting, we chose an aggregate to give a maximum of reflection Ñ a white crystalline quartz. Studies made with the white crystalline quartz, while they were better than dead white surfaces, because the broken faces reflected light, showed too lit. Figures 20 and 21. Ñ Brushing the surface to expose the aggregate. that each reinforcement unit was a welded mesh. It was the desire of the architect that the dome should be the whitest thing possible and we have learned that so much white presents a difficult problem. Because we thought that, even though the surface was to be broken by ornamentations and perforations, there was great danger that it tie scintillation to avoid monotony. So, we also chose a clear translucent quartz. We mixed about one-quarter of the translucent quartz with three-quarters of the white opaque quartz and the result was very pleasing. This quartz came from South Carolina and the clear quartz from a little deposit neat Lynchburg, Virginia. Because our requirements for size are so exact that nobody [p309] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 309 has any sympathy with us, we crush our own aggregates. The quartz passes through a jaw crusher to an elevator, through screens and back through a set of balanced rolls, and it keeps circulating, and whenever the stone passes through one of these screens it passes to its proper bin. By this method we effect an economy because the amount of crushed does not further reduce those sizes and by using two sizes in a two-step gradation, we are able to get seventy per cent of usable product out of the crude material. Pictures will not show, so you must accept my statement that all particles of each of the two sizes we use are as nearly of one size as it is practical to make them. To Figures 22 and 23. Ñ Curing chamber. material of one size which may be expected from the mass of raw material is about fifteen per cent. That was impossible, because some of the aggregates we have used (some highly colored ones), cost as much as $2,000.00 a ton and fifteen per cent is not a satisfactory recovery in usable product. Therefore by taking out all particles which are the right size, between every crushing operation, so that further attrition indicate the character of the screening, I would say that the size is such as you might expect to have between alternate sieves in a set of standard sieves. We used a little open mixer, for a one bag batch. We find that by using a small mixer that is open, in which we can see the concrete while it is being mixed, we can vary the consistency as the cast progresses to meet our requirements. I suppose that sort of [p310] Figures 24, 25, and 26. Ñ Castings ready for shipment. [p311] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 311 thing applies to our own particular work much more than it would to ordinary concrete. Casting this dome involved matters of economy as well as artistic problems: When the molds were finished from models done with the greatest care, our mental attitude changed and we made an effort to produce casts with the least possible effort that would maintain quality. We have a shed which is covered by a light framework; in this molds gate. Some may wonder that so many men are employed on one piece. The reason is that concrete which has stiffened enough in 1 8 or 20 hours to permit its remoVal from molds and to stand it up, has a tendency to keep on hardening, and it is very wise to finish the surfacing as soon as it possibly can be done, because the difference in the hardness of the surface between morning and afternoon is a thing you would have to experience to believe. Figure 27. Ñ The dome as now assembled Ñ the remainder mainder of the structure still to be completed. were set on concrete foundations in a crane line one after another, and every day every alternate mold was filled. (Figures 18, 19.) Across every mold an angle iron was bolted down to a fitting in the mold. The angle iron has holes bored in it to serve as a jig in placing the fittings (used in final assembly of the dome) which were bolted to the angle. (Figure 19.) The iron served also as a gage for centering the reinforcing web in the concrete casting. The following morning these castings were turned out from the mold and leaned in a vertical position against posts. That put them in exactly the right position to be brushed and surfaced to expose the aggre "While the casts are being surfaced the alternate molds are being filled and the molds released are assembled for their next pouring the following day. When casts have been washed they are picked up by the crane and stored in a damp chamber. (Figures 22, 23.) This has wooden walls, plastered inside with emulsified asphalt and a roof of canvas in panels on light frames easily lifted off when at the end of two weeks curing, the crane lifts castings out for air curing and shipment. Figures 24 and 25 show castings of dome sections preliminary to shipment. The figure indicates about the scale of the texture and also the varying shades in the color of the [p312] Cast of clerestory section Model of dome panel of great rib of dome. and casts. [p313] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 313 two kinds of aggregate. The darker spots are of the translucent quartz and the white spots are the opaque quartz. Though the clear quartz appears dark in a photograph it is, as seen in the casting, not a white spot but a bright spot. We determined in these castings that we would avoid patching, and wherever something occurred that was a defect of an inconsiderable character, we just frankly left it; it is better to leave them than to make an attempt at patching. The drawings which were left to us by the architect from this point onward arc rather sketchy. They are all that is necessary to convey his idea, but they do not in any sense express any of the details of the ornamentation. We feel, however, that the building ing below the dome is going to introduce an exceedingly interesting problem in ornamentation. We have already established in the dome a pattern, but as we come down we have two characters of surface Ñ openings to be covered by perforated grilles which must be done in relation to perforated grilles in the story above, which in turn are related to the dome. So, while the dome and all the openings require perforations, we have struc Ñ tural surfaces which are not perforated and we arc looking forward with a great deal of pleasure to the experience of relating this continuous ornament so that we will not lose the structure of the building nor the sense that the structure is solid and that the openings are perforated ornamentations. GOD-INTOXICATED ARCHITECTURE MANKIND in the making has marked his progress by the temples he has built. Most of these have long since disappeared; the records of these are blank. When fragments of others are found they give us perhaps our oniy evidence as to the existence of nations, wholly lost except for these fragments. Such ruins prove that these forgotten natiohs possessed intelligence and a high degree of skill during milleniums long before the historic era. They afford clues, fascinating but elusive, of systems of primitive thought and practice. The material temples have survived the deities to which they were erected. Primarily a temple is not a church, not a place of public worship, quite the contrary. It is a consecrated piece of ground, not to be profaned by the careless crowd; it has been defined as the dwelling house of the Deity to which it is consecrated and whose presence is marked by a statue or other symbol. Here are kept the sacred treasures, the gifts and tribute of the worshipers. A church building on the contrary is often regarded as a social center, a place of meeting for all who may be interested. It is not narrowly limited to the use of the priesthood but is more comparable to a school or place of instruction, an evolution in part comparable to the Jewish synagogue, a place for religious instruction and worship. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar with its surrounding buildings may be said to combine the conceptions both of a temple, and of a church with class rooms and facilities for study and meditation. In one sense it has no direct ancestors; it stands in a class by itself. Yet it has its predecessors or prototypes, infinite in number and variety. Some of these doubtless have had an influence on the design; a few in a negative way, warnings what not to do; others have been helpful in suggesting size and form. It is well worth our time to study the "ancestors" or predecessors of the temple, so that we may appreciate the magnitude and far-reaching effect of the work in hand, namely, the building of the Baha'i Temple, now in course of construction at Wilmette, Illinois. It is, of course, impossible in a brief article to do much more than suggest a few lines of thought. The most complete or readily available source of information on the growth of the ideals of a temple are in the Hebrew sacred books, at least those combined and printed together as the Old Testament. There have been recorded the traditions reaching back into pre Ñ historic times; giving the development of a Semitic people from the days of [p314] 314 THE BAHA'I WORLD human sacrifice, when each tribal deity had a local habitation, on up to the times when there was erected for their god a permanent home or temple in Jerusalem, a rectangular room or structure into which the high priest alone could enter once a year. This was surrounded by courts and cloisters where the various classes of people might meet for public worship. The essential feature of each temple, erected in succession at Jerusalem on the older ruin, was this (CHOL of Holies" devoted to the Divine Presence. So far as is known, it was a plain boxlike room of 20 cubits on each edge; that is, about 30 feet high, wide and long. The buildings which surrounded and concealed this, in whole or in part, were doubtless ornamented in Oriental fashion; possibly a mixture of Cretan, Egyptian and Babylonian styles. Nothing characteristically Hebraic has been found. There are no traces of the ornamentation nor of the colors used; many of which were doubtless vivid. The Greeks had much of the same idea, a room or darkened enclosure devoted to the presence of a particular god whose statue was enshrined there. This was surrounded by columns all relatively severe, with little ornamentation; a striking contrast to the elaborate details of their far Eastern contemporaries. It must not be supposed, h6wever, that these temples were colorless. Those that remained have been bleached white by the weather, but particles of color found in interstices show that they were not originally of the snowy white pentalic marble. Possibly the best idea of one of these temples devoted to the presence of a specific god can be had from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C., where the great statue practically fills the building. The doorways of the Lincoln Memorial are unobstructed, whereas the doors of the Grecian and Roman temples were thrown open oniy on great occasions when the multitude was allowed to gaze upon the statue from a distance. The Romans followed the Greeks in simplicity of outline, erecting rectangular buildings, carefully proportioned and conforming to certain architectural conventions which became more and more rigid as the arts declined. In contrast to these Grecian and Roman structures, which the world has regarded as the highest achievement of art, were the Egyptian temples. In these the more striking feature was the entrance or approach with gigantic pyions guarding the doorways, all massive, everything designed for permanence and with resultant heavy, serious and gloomy effects. Opposed to the straight lines, 'ow roofs and boxlike forms of the classic age are the curves and elaborate tracery of the temples and tombs of Persia, India, and China, Ñ with arches, slender posts, openings of all sizes and shapes, riots of forms and color, peaked roofs, spires, pagodas, minarets and domes, fantastic to western eyes, grotesque rather than serious. All in a sense were intended to serve the same purpose, namely, to guard and protect the sacred relics, images or symbols which denoted the presence of a diety or which turned the worshipers from worldly to spiritual thoughts. One of the most impressive forms of architecture evolved by the human race, the Byzantine, was a creation of the Greco-Roman world, particularly, its Eastern branch, the Eastern Roman Empire located at Byzantium (now Constantinople) from whence the name Byzantine is derived. The special character of this Byzantine architecture, of which St. Sofia is the most notable example, is the placing of a round dome upon a square base the four walls of which are each supported externally by half-domes. In the most perfect elaboration of this architectural system, as in the Turkish mosques of Constantinople, the central dome lifts its majestic head skyward above the friendly grouping half-domes clustering at its base and enclosed in the four slender tapering minarets; while the interior presents a special beauty of vast space unbroken by supporting columns, a majestic simplicity which commends itself especially to Mubammadans as expressive of the Unity of God. During the progress of the renaissance of art in Europe came the evolution of the Gothic forms notable for the pointed arch and for symmetrical pinnacles. There was in medieval Europe a period when men s energies seemed to be devoted to the multiplication of these churches and cathedrals [p315] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 315 repeating over and over again, with slight variation, the more attractive of these structures, embodying a union of the Greek system of columnar construction with the Roman vaulting and arches. In fact, to the European mind a church or temple must be based upon some of these types. A reaction from these well established forms took place in New England where there developed the characteristic colonial church, barnlike in form and with a plain pointed steeple; possessing a certain charm from simplicity as contrasted with the more ornate European structures. There is a tendency to try to improve on these forms. In attempting to develop something suitable and yet characteristic, there has come about a wide range of effort shown by some of the more recent structures in the United States, particularly those adopted by the founders or followers of the newer religions or sects. As an illustration of such an attempt may be noted the temple at Salt Lake City, obviously inspired by European ideals and yet not following classical lines, This is a temple in the restricted sense in that its use is confined to the priesthood; while the people as a whole must congregate for worship in a tabernacle nearby. Bearing in mind these recent attempts and the older wellknown types, it is of peculiar interest to view the sketches of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. lit is erected on a circular foundation which reaches down to bedrock, the building itself being nine-sided. It has no front nor back, as all sides are identi Ñ cal. There is hardly a straight line visible, everything is curved. In place of solidity an attempt is made to create an impression of airiness. The architect, Louis Bourgeois, "has conceived a Temple of Light in which structure, as usually understood, is to be concealed, visible support eliminated as far as possible, and the whole fabric to take on the airy substance of a dream; it is a lacy envelope enslirining an idea, the idea of Light, a shelter of cobweb interposed between earth and sky, struck through and through with light Ñ light which shall partly consume the forms and make of it a thing of faery."1 1 Statement of Mr. H. Van Euren Magonigle, archi-tea of New York City. It is to be noted that each type of religious architecture that humanity has created has been an expression of a definite religious belief. The Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman temples, respectively, were of this kind. Christendom experimented with adaptations of the Roman basilica, until the glorious Gothic architecture flowered out in the mid-die ages as a perfect expression of the inspiration and upsoaring qualities of the Christian faith. Meanwhile the Muhammadan world was evolving from the Byzantine church the mosque which, as already stated, is a perfect expression of the simplicity of dogma of the strictly unitarian faith of IsHm. It was to be expected that the new power and inspiration of the Baha'i Faith should express itself in new forms of art and architecture. Such a form would naturally evolve from preexisting forms just as, for instance, the Muhammadan mosque evolved from the Byzantine, and the Gothic from the basilica; yet would be in a way a de novo creation. A study of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, designed by Louis Bourgeois, will make it evident that his glorious creation does exactly this. It embodies, as definitely conceived by him, the characteristics of past religious architecture brought together in a new whole of which there is no similar example. In other words, this inspired architect has created a new form of architecture perfectly adapted to the expression of the Baha Faith with its universality and its worldwide comprehensive scope. The test of a beautiful form is to see it without ornamentation. This test is well met by the Temple as it stands at present;2 even without the external decoration which the architect, Louis Bourgeois, has designed for it. Standing as it does near the Lake Shore, without the competition from tall buildings, it dominates the landscape. The sun's rays reflected from the glass and aluminum roof catch the eye when miles away. Approaching, the details gradually become prominent, but seen from any angle or distance the building is singularly well balanced and attractive. Much more is to be done; to enable the visitor to gain some impression of what 2 1931. [p316] 316 THE BAHA'I WORLD the building will ultimately look like there has been erected in a most conspicuous place near the roadside, a drawing of the structure as it will ultimately appear when the surface, including the dome, has been covered by the tracery designed by the 6rchitect. To the engineer or person of imagination, the structure as it now stands is perhaps more interesting than it will be when fully completed. It is now possible to see the large and graceful curves and to appreciate the care and skill required to preserve proper proportions and bring about a true balance of lines. There is no other building like it nor have constructors been called upon to meet similar problems.3 In the first place, as well known, the building is nine sided with nine similar entrances. Thus from whatever direction the structure is seen, the view, excepting for the foreground, is practically identical. The front, seen from any angle, is not a flat surface but the arches are curved either toward or away from the observer, as well as in the vertical plane. The play of sunlight and shade on the building, changing from hour to hour brings out new beauties in the design, so that one, for the time being, does not notice the bare, rough surfaces of the concrete. The accompanying picture taken soon after the dome was erected in May, 1931, gives an excellent idea of the general shape and proportions as seen from the ground. Another view from the air gives the setting in connection with the surrounding highways, waterways and buildings. The site is peculiarly well adapted for the building. On the east, across Sheridan Boulevard, is the broad expanse of Lake Michigan. To the north and west of the building the North Side Canal takes clear water from the lake and carries it down through the city of Chicago, helping to purify or dilute the wastes from that great city. In the same way, the influences flowing from the Temple may well be pictured as helping to elevate the spiritual conceptions of the great mass of people. ~ The writer, the late Frederick H. Newell, was president of The Research Service, Inc., engineers who supervised the construction of the Baha'i House of Worship. The dome is perhaps the most conspicuous feature. This has been built of about 100,000 pieces of aluminum and glass. When complete, according to the vision of the architect, this glass dome will not be seen either from outside or inside the Temple. It is to serve the useful purpose of keeping out wind and weather. Outside of it will be the highly ornamental covering designed by the architect through which is to shine the light from the interior, making real the conception of a Temple of Light. On the inside of the dome it is intended also to place ornamental patterns through which the daylight may shine into the great central auditorium. The ornamentation will extend downward covering the bare spaces. The great vertical windows will ultimately be partly concealed by tracery of stone or metal, both inside and out, bringing about the general view given in the picture as conceived by the artist. These perforated panels which will appear upon the outside as well as the inside of the structure are shown in the accompanying illustrations, one of these being for the exterior of a doorway, the other to partly conceal the window. These are made from full size drawings or casts prepared by Mr. Bourgeois. Turning from the vision of what will be, it is interesting to note some of the details as to how the present structure has been completed. The accompanying views show the way in which the steel columns were erected and then covered by the protecting concrete poured in wooden forms ultimately stripped away. The preparation of the forms for the arches with their complex curves afforded excellent opportunity for theoretical and practical mathematics as well as skilled carpentry. The contract for erecting this superstruc Ñ ture was entered into with George A. Fuller Company on August 27, 1930. This organization worked in collaboration with twenty-four subcontractors under liberal and mutually satisfactory arrangements. It is gratifying to note that in all the various operations where men of different trades and training must of necessity work together and at times get in each other's way, there was the utmost harmony with no visible [p317] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 317 labor disputes nor strikes. In fact, a spirit of devotion to the work and enthusiasm in its outcome was shown throughout the entire operations. There were no delays due to misunderstanding but each and every man connected with the work seemed to regard it as an opportunity to take part in a worthwhile undertaking. all of these factors led to the conclusion that it might be possible, while building the lower story, to continue the work to the point where the entire building would be outlined and enclosed. This was found practicable; by executing the work as a whole large savings have been made and economies secured which otherwise would have been Mrs. Nettie Tobin kneeling by the stone which she carried as her contribution to the Temple in the very early days, and tAbdu'1 Bah& chose as the ccr stone" when He visited the site in 1912. The stone is now incorporated into the building, and serves as a special place for prayer and meditation. When first it became apparent that funds would be available to Continue construction on the foundations, laid in 1922, the assumption was that, with the funds available, the first story oniy could be completed with the exterior ornamentation. This would have necessitated the building of a temporary roof, an expensive affair which later must be removed. Careful consideration of impracticable. Thus by clear engineering vision, it has been possible to realize the hopes of a structure completed to a degree where it can be put to use and one which is an inspiration and a challenge to all believers to continue to the degree of perfection. The building of the Temple has aroused interest of the people the world over, for [p318] 318 THE BAHA'I WORLD this is truly the first universal temple which is open to all the peoples of the world, regardless of race, sect or belief. In the years to come people from everywhere will gather under the central dome to worship the one God in the spirit of loving unity, in accordance with the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. FREDERICK H. NEWELL. MODEL OF THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR AT THE CENTURY OF PROGRESS EXPOSITION CHICAGO 1933 B~ SOPHIE LOEDING AT MIDNIGHT on September 9, 1933, a beautiful model of the Temple, made by Mr. Louis J. Voelz, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was placed on exhibition in the Hall of Religions at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Its position was most advantageous, as everyone entering the Hall of Religions passed this replica of the Tem-pie at some time during his progress through the building. Significantly enough, it was oniy about ten feet away from the famous Chalice of Antioch, which was also on exhibition in the Hall of Religions. In order that the greatest possible amount of dignified publicity might be obtained from the use of the model, a placard, bearing the following inscription was placed above it: CCBAHA~I HOUSE OF WORSHIP UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT WILMETTE, FOURTEEN MILES NORTH ON SHERIDAN ROAD, DEDICATED TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER REVEALED BY BAHA'U'LLAH BASED ON HUMAN BROTHERHOOD WITHOUT PREJUDICE OF RACE, CLASS, NATIONALITY OR CREED. VISITORS WELCOME." as well as a small framed photograph of the architect's drawing. In addition to this it was arranged to have one of the friends constantly in attendance each day from ten o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night. The days were divided into three four-hour periods, the ladies serving during the day and the gentlemen during the evening ning hours. The National Spiritual Assembly authorized the printing of fifty thousand pamphlets ~~Wht is the Baha'i Faith?" These were distributed to those persons who evinced sufficient interest to ask for them. However, several weeks before the close of the Exposition, the suppiy of fifty tholisand pamphlets was exhausted, and an additional twenty-five thousand was ordered. 'When it was realized that Fair officials conservatively estimated that ten thousand persons passed through the Hall of Religions daily, all of whom saw the model and a large percentage of whom stopped to examine it, read the legend accompanying it, and listened to the remarks of the attendant, it is not difficult to form a fairly accurate opinion of the very great number of people from all over the world who have, through this medium, learned something of the Baha'i Faith. Much could be told of the hundreds of extremely interesting experiences enjoyed by the various attendants in their contacts with the public. It was illuminating to find how very many persons, who, although not Baha'is, had a knowledge of the Baha'i Faith. Equally, or perhaps more important, was it, to learn how many, many there were, who had never even heard the name ~tBah6.'i" for it brought a realization of how great is our responsibility today, to spread the Message of Baha'u'llah. Again and again were voiced such thoughts as "That's what the world needs today," and "That's the first sensible religious idea I've heard." Especially interesting was the experience of one of the friends who had an opportunity to speak with a [p319] Model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar exhibited in the Hall of Religions, A Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933. 319 [p320] C.4 The first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar tlshqThAd, Turkistan, Russia. [p321] THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR 321 lady who said that just a year ago she had visited the Temple in tI~q~b~d, which, she said, strangely enough, was the only church in Soviet Russia which had been permitted to remain open. There were a number of visitors from the Holy Land who had known Abdu'l-Baha and who knew the Shrines on Mt. Carmel, and also one oriental group whose members, in passing, hissed, reminding us of the enemies always about us. Many, too, were the remarks which made us realize how very much teaching there is to do Ñ such as statements that the little model of our Temple represented the Vatican, St. Peter's in Rome, a Jewish Temple, a Sun-worshippers' Temple, the Mormon Temple, the Taj Mahal and many others, equally farfetched. It was a privilege to be able to explain to those having such erroneous ideas, what the Temple really represents, and to give them, however briefly, an outline of the Baha'i Faith. So often the response was instantaneous, showing how ready the world at large is for the Message of Baha'u'llah. The results of this exhibit have already become apparent in a number of ways. The beauty of the model is so arresting that a great many of those who saw it have visited the Temple in Wilmette, and have attended the public meetings there. The Publishing Committee reports an increased demand for books from various parts of the country, proving that interest in the Baha'i Faith has been greatly stimulated by this concrete evidence of the existence in the world today of a new Revelation from On High. Those who had the opportunity of serving as attendants at Baha'i Exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition, bear eloquent testimony to the wonderful part it has played in bringing a knowledge of the Baha'i Faith to a very great number of people, in deepening the knowledge of many others and in correcting innumerable erroneous ideas entertained by thousands of persons. [p322] REFERENCES TO THE BAR AM FAITH Alphabetical List of Archduchess Anton of Austria Charles Baudouin Prof. Norman Bentwich, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Prof. E. G. Browne, MA., M.B., Ca'mbridge University Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, D.Litt., Manchester College, Oxford General Renato Piola Caselli Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.Litt., D.D., Oxford University, Fellow of British Academy Sir Valentine Chirol Rev. K. T. Chung Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Keddleston Prof. James Darmesteter, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, WA. Dr. Auguste Ford, University of Zurich Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons Dr. Henry H. Jessup, D.D. Prof. Jowett, Oxford University Prof. Dirniry Kazaroy, University of Sofia Miss Helen Keller Harry Charles Lukach Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania Alfred W. Martin, Society for Ethical Cul-hire, New York President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Do yen of Jurisprudence of Japan Mr. Millar Prof. Herbert A. Miller, Bryn Mawr College The Hon. Lilian Helen Montagu, J.P., D.H.L. Rev. Frederick W. Gakes Sir Flinders Petrie, Archaeologist Charles H. Prist Dr. Edmund Privat, University of Geneva Herbert Putnam, Congressional Library, W/ashington, D. C. Ernest Renan Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, G.C.B., MT. Emile Schreiber, Publicist Prof. Han Prasad Shastri, D.Litt. Rev. Griffith J. Sparham Shri Purohit Swami Leo Tolstoy Prof. Arminius Vimb6ry, Hungarian Acad ensy of Pesth Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. I. Br DOWAGER QUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA. A WOMAN brought me the other day a Book. I spell it with a capital letter because it is a glorious Book of love and goodness, strength and beauty. She gave it to me because she had learned I was in grief and sadness and wanted to help. She put it into my hands saying: seem to live up to His teachings." And when I opened the Book I saw it was the word of cAbdu~1~BahA, prophet of love and kindness, and of his father the great teacher of international goodwill and understanding Ñ of a religion which links all creeds. Their writings are a great cry toward peace, reaching beyond all limits of frontiers, above all dissension about rites and dogmas. It is a religion based upon the inner spirit of God, upon that great, not-to-be-overcome verity that God is love, meaning just that. It teaches that all hatreds, intrigues, suspicions, evil words, all aggressive patriotism even, are outside the one essential law of God, and that special beliefs are but surface things whereas the heart that beats with divine love knows no tribe nor race. It is a wondrous Message that Baha'u'llah and his son tAbdu~1~Bah4 have given us. They have not set it up aggressively knowing that the germ of eternal truth which lies at its core cannot but take root and spread. Miss Martha L. Root. Ñ Rditor. 322 [p323] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 323 There is oniy one great verity in it: Love, the mainspring of every energy, tolerance towards each other, desire of understanding each other, knowing each other, helping each other, forgiving each other. It is Christ's Message taken up anew, in the same words almost, but adapted to the thousand years and more difference that lies between the year one and today. No man could fail to be better because of this Book. I commend it to you all. If ever the name of Baha'u'llah or tAbdu'1-Bahi comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their Books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as thej have into mine. One's busy day may seem too full for religion. Or one may have a religion that satisfies. But the teachings of these gentle, wise and kindly men are compatible with all religion, and with no religion. Seek them, and be the happier. (From the Toronto Daily Star, May 4, 1926.) Of course, if you take the stand that creation has no aim, it is easy to dismiss life and death with a shrug and a "that ends it all; nothing comes after." But how difficult it is so to dismiss the universe, our worlcj, the animal and vegetable world, and man. How clearly one sees a plan in everything. How unthinkable it is that the miraculous development that has brought man's body, brain and spirit to what it is, should cease. Why should it cease? Why is it not logical that it goes on? Not the body, which is oniy an instrument, but the invisible spark or fire within the body which makes man one witb the wider plan of creation. My words are lame, and why should I grope for meanings when I can quote from one who has said it so much more plainly, CAbdu~1~BaM whom I know would sanction the use of his words: ccThe whole physical creation is perishable. Material bodies arc composed of atoms. When these atoms begin to separate, decoin position sets in. Then comes what we call death. ttThis composition of atoms which constitutes the body or mortal element of any created being, is temporary. When the power of attraction which holds these atoms together is withdrawn, the body as such ceases to exist. "With the soui it is different. The soui is not a combination of elements, is not composed of many atoms, is of one indivisible substance and therefore eternal. ~tIt is entirely out of the order of physical creation; it is immortal! The soul, being an invisible, indivisible substance, can suffer neither disintegration nor destruction. Therefore there is no reason for its coming to an end. tcCid the aim of creation: Is it possible that all is created to evolve and develop through countless ages with merely this small goal in view Ñ a few years of iran's life on earth? Is it not unthinkable that this should be the final aim of existence? Does a man cease to exist when he leaves his body? If his life comes to an end, then all previous evolution is useless. All has been for nothing. All those eons of evolution for nothing! Can we imagine that creation had no greater aim than this? t~The very existence of man's intelligence proves his immortality. His intelligence is the intermediary between his body and his spirit. 'When man allows his spirit, through his soul, to enlighten his understanding, then does he contain all creation; because man being the culmination of all that went before, and thus superior to all previous evolutions, contains all the lower already-evolved world within himself. Illumined by the spirit through the instrumentality of the soul, man's radiant intelligence makes him the crowning-point of creation!" Thus does cAbdu~1~BaLi explain to us the soul Ñ the most convincing elucidation II know. (From the Toronto Daily Star, September 28, 1926.) At first we all conceive of God as something or somebody apart from ourselves. We [p324] 324 THE BAHA'I WORLD think He is something or somebody definite, outside of us, whose quality, meaning and so-to-say ctpersona1ity~~ we can grasp with our human, finite minds, and express in mere words. This is not so. We cannot, with our earthly faculties entirely grasp His meaning Ñ no more than we can really understand the meaning of Eternity. God is certainly not the old Fatherly gentleman with the long beard that in our childhood we saw pictured sitting amongst clouds on the throne of judgment, holding the lightning of vengeance in His hand. God is something simpler, happier, and yet infinitely more tremendous. God is All, Everything. He is the Power behind all beginnings. He is the inexhaustible source of suppiy, of love, of good, of progress, of achievement. God is therefore Happiness. His is the voice within us that shows us good and evil. But mostly we ignore or misunderstand this voice. Therefore did He choose his Elect to come down amongst us upon earth to make clear His word, His real meaning. Therefore the Prophets; therefore Christ, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, for man needs from time to time a voice upon earth to bring God to him, to sharpen the realization of the existence of the true God. Those voices sent to us had to become flesh, so that with our earthly ears we should be able to hear and understand. Those who read their Bible with "peeled eyes" will find in almost every line some revelation. But it takes long life, suffering or some sudden event to tear all at once the veii from our eyes, so that we can truly see. Sorrow and suffering are the surest and also the most common instructors, the straightest channel to God Ñ that is to say, to that inner something within each of us which is God. Happiness beyond all understanding comes with this revelation that God is within us, if we will but listen to His voice. We need not seek Him in the clouds. He is the All-Father whence we came and to whom we shall return when, having done with this earthly body, we pass onward. If I have repeated myself, forgive me. There are so many ways of saying things, but what is important is the truth which lies in all the many ways of expressing it. (From the Philadelphia erEvening Bulletin," Monday, September 27, 1926.) "Lately a great hope has come to me from one, tAbdu~1~Bah~. I have found in His and His Father, Baha'u'llah's Message of Faith all my yearning for real religion satisfied. If you ever hear of Baha'is or of the Baha'i Movement which is known in America, you will know what that is. What I mean: these Books have strengthened me beyond belief and I am now ready to die any day full of hope. But I pray God not to take me away yet for I still have a lot of work to do." ccThe Baha'i teaching brings peace and understanding. t~Jt 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. ccSaddened by the continual strife amongst believers of many confessions and wearied of their intolerance towards each other, I discovered in the Baha'i teaching the real spirit of Christ so often denied and misunderstood: (cUnity instead of strife, hope instead of condemnation, love instead of hate, and a great reassurance for all men." ttThe Baha'i teaching brings peace to the soui and hope to the heart. ttTo those in search of assurance the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering." 1934. [p325] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 325 IL BY PROFESSOR K S. BROWNE. Introduction to Myron H. Phelps' !Abbas Effendi, pages xv-xx; 1903 rev. 1912 Ñ I have often heard wonder expressed by Christian ministers at the extraordinary success of BThi missionaries, as contrasted with the almost complete failure of their own. CCHOW is it," they say, ccthat the Christian doctrine, the highest and the noblest which the world has ever known, though supported by all the resources of 'Western civilization, can only count its converts in Muhammadan lands by twos and threes, while BAbiism can reckon them by thousands?" The answer, to my mind, is plain as the sun at midday. 'Western Christianity, save in the rarest cases, is more 'Western than Christian, more racial than religious; and by dallying with doctrines plainly incompatible with the obvious meaning of its Founder's words, such as the theories of "racial supremacy," "im-perial destiny,"" survival of the fittest," and the like, grows steadily more rather than less material. Did Christ belong to a c!dit race," or even to a European or Ctwhite race"? I am not arguing that the Christian religion is true, but merely that it is in manifest conflict with several other theories of life which practically regulate the conduct of all States and most individuals in the Western world, a world which, on the whole, judges all things, including religions, mainly by material, or to use the more popular term, ccpractica1~~ standards. • There is, of course, another factor in the success of the BThi propagandist, as compared with the Christian missionary, in the conversion of Muhammadans to his faith: namely, that the former admits, while the latter rejects, the Divine inspiration of the Qur'an and the prophetic function of Muhammad. The Christian missionary must begin by attacking, explicitly or by implication, both these beliefs; too often forgetting that if (as happens but rarely) he succeeds in destroying them, he destroys with them that recognition of former prophetic dispensations (including the Jewish and the Christian) which Muhammad and the Qur'an proclaim, and converts his Muslim antagonist not to Christianity, but to Skepticism or Atheism. What, indeed, could be more illogical on the part of Christian missionaries to Muhammadan lands than to devote much time and labor to the composition of controversial works which endeavor to prove, in one and the same breath, first, that the Qur'an is a lying imposture, and, secondly, that it bears witness to the truth of Christ's mission, as though any value attached to the testimony of one proved a liar! The BiN (or Baha'i) propagandist, on the other hand, admits that Muhammad was the prophet of God and that the Qur'an is the Word of God, denies nothing but their finality, and does not discredit his own witness when he draws from that source arguments to prove his faith. To the Western observer, however, it is the complete sincerity of the B~bis, their fearless disregard of death and torture undergone for the sake of their religion, their certain conviction as to the truth of their faith, their generally admirable conduct towards mankind and especially towards their fellow-believers, which constitutes their strongest claim on his attention. Introduction to Myron H. Phelps' rAbbas Lifendi, pages xii-xiv Ñ It was under the influence of this enthusiasm that I penned the introduction to my translation of the Traveller's Narrative. This enthusiasm, condoned, if not shared, by many kindly critics and reviewers, exposed me to a somewhat savage attack in the Oxford Magazine, an attack concluding with the assertion that my Introduction displayed "a personal attitude almost inconceivable in a rational European, and a style unpardonable in a university teacher." (The review in question appeared in the Oxford Magazine of May 25, 1892, page 394, "the prominence given to the Bab in this book is an absurd violation of historical perspective; and the translation of the Traveller's Narrative a waste of the powers and opportunities of a Persian Scholar.") Increasing age and experience (more's the pity!) are apt enough, even without the as [p326] 326 THE BAHA'! WORLD sistance of the Oxford Magazine, to modify our enthusiasms; but in this case, at least, time has so far vindicated my judgment against that of my Oxford reviewer that he could scarcely now maintain, as he formerly asserted, that the Bab religion "had affected the least important part of the Muslim World, and that not deeply." Every one who is in the slightest degree conversant with the actual state of things (September 27, 1903), in Persia now recognizes that the number and influence of the Bab's in that country is immensely greater than it was fifteen years ago. A Traveller's Narrative, page 309 Ñ The appearance of such a woman as Qurratu'1-cAyn is in any country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy Ñ nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvelous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal amidst her countrywomen. Had the Bab religion no other claim to greatness, this were suflicient Ñ chat it produced a heroine like Qurratu'1-tAyn. yn. Introduction to A Traveller's Narrative, pages ix, x Ñ Though I dimly suspected whither I was going and whom I was to behold (for no distinct intimation had been given to me), a second or two elapsed ere, with a throb of wonder and awe, I became definitely conscious chat the room was not untenanted. In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt headdress of the kind called t~j by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jetblack hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain. A mild, dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: rrprgise be to God, that thou hast attained! Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile. We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled Ñ what harm is there in this? Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the CMost Great Peace' shall come. Do not you in Europe need this also? is not this that which Christ foretold? Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one fain-fly. Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind. 7' Such, so far as I can recall them, were the words which, besides many others, I heard from Baha. Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely to gain or lose by their diffusion. Introduction to A Traveller's Narrative, pages xxxv, xxxvi Ñ Seldom have I seen one whose appearance impressed me more. A tall, strongly built man holding himself straight as an arrow, with white turban and raiment, long black [p327] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 327 locks reaching almost to the shoulder, broad powerful forehead, indicating a strong intellect, combined with an unswerving will, eyes keen as a hawk's, and strongly marked but pleasing features Ñ such was my first impression of Abbas Effendi, ccT1~e Master" (CAgh~) as he par excellence is called by the Bab's. Subsequent conversation with him served only to heighten the respect with which his appearance had from the first inspired me. One more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians and the Muhammadans, could, I should think, be scarcely found even amongst the eloquent, ready and subtle race to which he belongs. These qualities, combined with a bearing at once majestic and genial, made me cease to wonder at the influence and esteem which he enjoyed even beyond the circle of his father's followers. About the greatness of this man and his power no one who had seen him could entertain a doubt. III. B~ DR. J. ESTLIN CARPENTER. Excerpts from Comparative Religion, pages 70, 71 Ñ From that subtle race issues the most remarkable movement which modern Muhammadanism has produced. Disciples gathered round him, and the movement was not checked by his arrest, his imprisonment for nearly six years and his final execution in 1850. It, too, claims to be a universal teaching; it has already its noble army of martyrs and its holy books; has Persia, in the midst of her miseries, given birth to a religion which will go round the world? IV. B~ THE Rrv. T. K. CIXTEYNE, D.LITT., D.D. Excerpts from The Reconciliation of Races and Religions, (1914) Ñ There was living quite lately a human being* of such consummate excellence that many think it is both permissible and inevitable even to identify him mystically with the invisible Godhead. Hisj combina * Baha'u'llah. t 8Th. don of mildness and power is so rare that we have to place him in a line with supernormal men. We learn that, at great points in his career after he had been in an ecstasy, such radiance of might and majesty streamed from his countenance that none could bear to look upon the effulgence of his glory and beauty. Nor was it an uncommon occurrence for unbelievers involuntarily to bow down in lowly obeisance on beholding His Holiness. The gentle spirit of the Bab is surely high up in the cycles of eternity. Who can fail, as Professor Browne says, to be attracted by him? UHis sorrowful and persecuted life; his purity of conduct and youth; his courage and uncomplaining patience under misfortune; his complete self-negation; the dim ideal of a better state of things which can be discerned through the obscure mystic utterancds of the Baydn; but most of all, his tragic death, all serve to enlist our sympathies on behalf of the young prophet of Shir6z." C~11 sentait Ic besoin d'une reforme pro-fond a introduire dans les moeurs publiques. Ii s'est sacrifi6 pour 1'humanit6; pour elle ii a donn6 son corps et son ante, pour elle ii a subi les privations, les affronts, les injures. Ia torture et le martyre." (Mons. Nicolas.) If there has been any prophet in recent times, it is to Baha'u'llah that we must go. Character is the final judge. Baha'u'llah was a man of the highest class Ñ that of prophets. But he was free from the last infirmity of noble minds, and would certainly not have separated himself from others. He would have understood the saying: Ccfl~Tou1d God all the Lord's people were prophets!" What he does say, howeyer, is just as fine: "I do not desire lordship over others; I desire all men to be even as I am. The day is not far off when the details of tAbdu'1-BahA's missionary journeys will be admitted to be of historical importance. How gentle and wise he was, hundreds could testify from personal knowledge, and I, too, could perhaps say something. I will only, however, give here the outward framework of CAbd~1Bh~~ life, and of his apostolic journeys, with the help of my friend Lutfull4h. During his stay in London he visited Ox [p328] L.a Seventh Persian National Baha'i Convention, 1933. (Keith Ransom-Kehier in the center.) [p329] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 329 ford (where he and his party Ñ of Persians mainly Ñ were the guests of Professor and Mrs. Cheyne), Edinburgh, Clifton and Woking. It is fitting to notice here that the audience at Oxford, though highly academic, seemed to be deeply interested, and that Dr. Carpenter made an admirable speech. V. By PROFESSOR VAMJ3tRY. Testimony to the Religion of 'Abdu'l-Baha. (Published in Egyptian Gazette, Sept. 24, 1913, by Mrs. 1. Stannard.) Ñ I forward this humble petition to the sanctified and holy presence of tAbdu'1-Bahi tAbbt, who is the center of knowledge, famous throughout the world, and loved by all mankind. 0 thou noble friend who art conferring guidance upon humanity Ñ May my life be a ransom to thee! The loving epistle which you have condescended to write to this servant, and the rug which you have forwarded, came safely to hand. The time of the meeting with your Excellency, and the memory of the benediction of your presence, recurred to the memory of this servant, and I am longing for the time when I shall meet you again. Although I have traveled through many countries and cities of Jsl6m, yet have I never met so lofty a character and so exalted a personage as your Excellency, and I can bear witness that it is not possible to find such another. On this account, I am hoping that the ideals and accomplishments of your Excellency may be crowned with success and yield results under all conditions; because behind these ideals and deeds I easily discern the eternal welfare and prosperity of the world of humanity. This servant, in order to gain firsthand information and experience, entered into the ranks of various religions, that is, outwardly, I became a Jew, Christian, Muhammadan and Zoroastrian. I discovered that the devotees of these various religions do nothing else but hate and anathematize each other, that all their religions have become the instruments of tyranny and oppression in the hands of rulers and governors, and that they are the causes of the destruction of the world of humanity. Considering those evil results, every person is forced by necessity to enlist himself on the side of your Excellency, and accept with joy the prospect of a fundamental basis for a universal religion of God, being laid through your efforts. I have seen the father of your Excellency from afar. I have realized the self-sacrifice and noble courage of his son, and I am lost in admiration. For the principles and aims of your Excellency, I express the utmost respect and devotion, and if God, the Most High, confers long life, I will be able to serve you under all condition. I pray and supplicate this from the depths of my heart. Your servant, (Mamhenyn.) VAMBI~RY. VI. Kr HARRY CHARLES LUKACH. Quotation from The Fringe of the East (Macmillan & Co., London, 1913.) Ñ Bah4'ism is now estimated to count more than two million adherents, mostly composed of Persian and Indian Shi'~hs, but in Ñ eluding also many Sunnis from the Turkish Empire and North Africa, and not a few Brahmans, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists and Jews. It possesses even European converts, and has made some hcadway in the United States. Of all the religions which have been encountered in the course of this journey Ñ the stagnant pools of Oriental Christianity, the strange survivals of sun-worship, and idolatry tinged with Mubammadanism, the immutable relic of the Sumerians Ñ it is the only one which is alive, which is aggressive, which is extending its frontiers, instead of secluding itself within its ancient haunts. It is a thing which may revivify Islim, and make great changes on the face of the Asiatic world. VII. Bx~ VALENTINE CHIROL. Quotations from The Middle Eastern Question or Some Political Problems of Indian Defense, chapter XI, page 116 (The Revival of BThiism.) Ñ When one has been like Satdi, a great personage, and then a common soldier, and [p330] 330 THE BAHA'I WORLD then a prisoner of a Christian feudal chief; when one has worked as a navvy on the fortifications of the Count of Antioch, and wandered back afoot to Shir~z after infinite pain and labor, he may well be disposed to think that nothing that exists is real, or, at least, has any substantial reality worth clinging to. Today the public peace of Persia is no longer subject to such violent perturbations. At least, as far as we are concerned, the appearances of peace prevail, and few of us care or have occasion to look beyond the appearances. But for the Persians themselves, have the conditions very much changed? Do they not witness one day the sudden rise of this or that favorite of fortune and the next day his sudden fall? Have they not seen the At4bak Ñ i-Atzam twice hold sway as the Slidli's all-powerful Vazir, and twice hurled down from that pinnacle by a bolt from the blue? How many other ministers and governors have sat for a time on the seats of the mighty and been swept away by some intrigue as sordid as that to which they owed their own exaltation? And how many in humbler stations have been in the meantime the recipients of their unworthy favors or the victims of their arbitrary oppression? A village which but yesterday was fairly prosperous is beggared today by some neighboring landlord higher up the valley, who, having duly propitiated those in authority, diverts for the benefit of his own estates the whole of its slender supply of water. The progress of a governor or royal prince, with all his customary retinue of ravenous hangers-on, eats out the countryside through which it passes more effectually than a flight of locusts. The visitation is as ruinous and as unaccountable. Is it not the absence of all visible moral correlation of cause and effect in these phenomena of daily life that has gone far to produce the stolid fatalism of the masses, the scoffing skepticism of the more educated classes, and from time to time the revolt of some nobler minds? Of such the most recent and perhaps the noblest of all became the founder of B&biism. Chapter XI, page 120 Ñ The BTh was dead, but not B6biism. Lie was not the first, and still less the last, of a long line of martyrs who have testified that even in a country gangrened with corruption and atrophied with indifferentisnct like Persia, the soul of a nation survives, inarticulate, perhaps, and in a way helpless, but still capable of sudden spasms of vitality. Chapter Xl, page 124 Ñ Socially one of the most interesting features of B6biism is the raising of woman to a much higher plane than she is usually admitted to in the East. The Bab himself had no more devoted a disciple than the beautiful and gifted lady, known as Qurratu'1-tAyn, the "Consolation of the Eyes," who, having shared all the dangers of the first apostolic missions in the north, challenged and suffered death with virile fortitude, as one of the Seven Martyrs of Tihr6n. No memory is more deeply venerated or kindles greater enthusiasm than hers, and the influence which she yielded in her lifetime still inures to her sex. VIII. B~ PROFESSOR JOWETT of Oxford. Quotation from Heroic Lives, pages 305 Ñ Prof. Jowett of Oxford, Master of Balliol, the translator of Plato, studied the movement and was so impressed thereby that he said: ttThe BThite Baha'i movement may not impossibly turn out to have the promise of the future." Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter quotes Prof. Edward Caird, Prof. Jowett's successor as Master of Balliol, as saying, "He thought BThiism (as the Baha'i movement was then called) might prove the most important religious movement since foundation of Christianity." Prof. Carpenter himself gives a sketch of the Baha movement in his recent book on Comparative Religion and asks, "Has Persia, in the midst of her miseries, given birth to a religion that will go around the world?" IX. By ALFRED W. MARTIN. Excerpts from Comparative Religion and the Religion of the Future, pages 8191 Ñ Inasmuch as a fellowship of faiths is at once the dearest hope and ultimate goal of the Baha'i movement, it behooves us to take [p331] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 331 cognizance of it and its mission. Today this religious movement has a million and more adherents, including people from all parts of the globe and representing a remarkable variety of race, color, class and creed. It has been given literary expression in a veritable library of Asiatic, European, and American works to which additions are annually made as the movement grows and grapples with the great problems that grow out of its cardinal teachings. It has a long roll of martyrs for the cause for which it stands, twenty thousand in Persia alone, proving it to be a movement worth dying for as well as worth living by. From its inception it has been identified with Baha'u'llah, who paid the price of prolonged exile, imprisonment, bodily suffering, and mental anguish for the faith he cherished Ñ a man of imposing personality as revealed in his writings, characterized by intense moral earnestness and profound spirituality, gifted with the selfsame power so conspicuous in the character of Jesus, the power to appreciate people ideally, that is, to see them at the leyci of their best and to make even the lowest types think well of themselves because of potentialities within them to which he pointed, but of which they were wholly unaware; a prophet whose greatest contribution was not any specific doctrine he proclaimed, but an informing spiritual power breathed into the world through the example of his life and thereby quickening souis into new spiritual activity. Surely a movement of which all this can be said deserves Ñ nay, compels Ñ our respectful recognition and sincere appreciation. Taking precedence over all else in its gospel is the message of unity in religion. It is the crowning glory of the Baha'i movement that, while deprecating sectarianism in its preaching, it has faithfully practised what it preached by refraining from becoming itself a sect. Its representatives do not attempt to impose any beliefs upon others, whether by argument or bribery; rather do they seek to put beliefs that have illumined their own lives within the reach of those who feel they need illumination. No, not a sect, not a part of humanity cut off from all the rest, living for itself and aiming to convert all the rest into ma terial for its own growth; no, not that, but a leaven, causing spiritual fermentation in all religions, quickening them with the spirit of catholicity and fraternalism. 'Who shall say but that just as the little company of the Mayflower, landing on Plymouth Rock, proved to be the small beginning of a mighty nation, the ideal germ of a democracy which, if true to its principles, shall yet overspread the habitable globe, so the little company of Baha'is exiled from their Persian home may yet prove to be the small beginning of the worldwide movement, the ideal germ of democracy in religion, the Universal Church of Mankind? X. By PROF. JAMES DARMESTETER. Excerpt from Art in "Persia: A Historical and Literary Sketch" (translated by G. K. Nariman), and incorporated in Persia and Parsis, Part I, edited by G. K. Nariman. Published under patronage of the 1dm League, Bombay, 1925. (The Marker Literary Series for Persia, No. 2.) Ñ The political reprieve brought about by the Siif is did not result in the regeneration of thought. But the last century which marks the end of Persia has had its revival and twofold revival, literary and religious. The funeral ceremonies by which Persia celebrates every year for centuries Ñ the fatal day of the 10th of Muharram, when the son of tAli breathed his last at Karbili Ñ have developed a popular theater and produced a sincere poetry, dramatic and human, whicb is worth all the rhetoric of the poets. During the same times an attempt at religious renovation was made, the religion of Bibi-ism. Demoralized for centuries by ten foreign conquests, by the yoke of a composite religion in which she believed just enough to persecute, by the enervating influence of a mystical philosophy which disabled men for action and divested life of all aim and objects, Persia has been making unexpected efforts for the last fifty-five years to remake for herself a virile ideal. B4biism has little of originality in its dogmas and mythology. Its mystic doctrine takes its rise from Siifism and the old sects of the Aijides formed around the dogma of divine incarnation. But the morality it inculcates is a [p332] 332 THE BAHA'I WORLD revolution. It has the ethics of the West. It suppresses lawful impurities which are a great barrier dividing IslAm from Christendom. It denounces polygamy, the fruitful source of Oriental degeneration. It seeks to reconstitute the family and it elevates man and in elevating him exalts woman up to his level. BAbjism, which diffused itself in less than five years from one end of Persia to another, which was bathed in 1852 in the blood of its martyrs, has been silently progressing and propagating itself. If Persia is to be at all regenerate it will be through this new faith. XI. By CHARLES BAUDOUIN. Excerpts from Contemporary Studies, Part III, page 131. (Allan & Unwin, London, 1924.) Ñ We 'Westerners are too apt to imagine that the huge continent of Asia is sleeping as soundly as a mummy. We smile at the vanity of the ancient Hebrews, who believed themselves to be the chosen people. We are amazed at the intolerance of the Greeks and the Rornans, who looked upon the members of all races as barbarians. Nevertheless, we ourselves are like the Hebrews, the Greeks and the Romans. As Europeans we believe Europe to be the only world that matters, though from time to time we may turn a paternal eye towards America, regarding our offspring in the New World with mingled feelings of condescension and pride. Nevertheless, the great cataclysm of 1914 is leading some of us to undertake a critical examination of the inviolable dogma that the European nations are the elect. Has there not been of late years a demonstration of the nullity of modern civilization Ñ the nui-lity which had already been proclaimed by Rousseau, Carlyle, Ruskin, Tolstoy, and Nietzsche? We are now inclined to listen more attentively to whispers from the East. Our self-complacency has been disturbed by such utterances as that of Rabindranath Tagore, who, lecturing at the Imperial University of Tokio on June 18, 1916, foretold a great future for Asia. The political civilization of Europe was "carnivorous and cannibalistic in its tendencies." The East was patient, and could afford to wait till the West, "hurry after the expedient," had to halt for want of breath. ttEurope while busily speeding to her engagements, disdainfully casts her glance from her carriage window at the reaper reaping his harvest in the field, and in her intoxication of speed, cannot but think him as siow and ever receding backwards. But the speed comes to its end, the engagement loses its meaning, and the hungry heart clamors for food, till at last she comes to the lonely reaper reaping his harvest in the sun. For if the office cannot wait, or the buying and selling, or the craving for excitement Ñ love waits, and beauty, and the wisdom of suffering and the fruits of patient devotion and reverent meekness of simple faith. And thus shall wait the East till her time comes. Being thus led to turn our eyes towards Asia, we are astonished to find how much we have misunderstood it; and we blush when we realize our previous ignorance of the fact that, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, Asia gave birth to a great religious movement Ñ a movement signalized for its spiritual purity, one which has had thousands of martyrs, one which Tolstoy has described. H. Dreyfus, the French historian of this movement, says that it is not cca new religion," but "religion renewed," and that it provides "the only possible basis for a mutual understanding between religion and free thought." Above all, we are impressed by the fact that, in our own time, such a manifestation can occur, and that the new faith should have undergone a development far more extensive than that undergone in the same space of time nearly two thousand years ago, by budding Christianity. At the present time, the majority of the inhabitants of Persia have, to a varying extent, accepted the BAbjist faith. In the great towns of Europe, America, and Asia, there are active centers for the propaganda of the liberal ideas and the doctrine of human community, which form the foundations of Bahi'ist teaching. We shall not grasp the full significance of this tendency until we pass from the description of Bah6Nsm as a theory to that of Bahi'ism as a practice, for the core of religion is not metaphysics, but morality. [p333] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 333 The Bah4'ist ethical code is dominated by the law of love taught by Jesus and by all the prophets. In the thousand and one details of practical life, this law is subject to manifold interpretations. That of Baha'u'llah is unquestionably one of the most comprehensive of these, one of the most exalted, one of the most satisfactory to the modern mind. That is why Baha'u'llah is a severe critic of the patriotism which plays so large a part in the national life of our day. Love of our native land is legitimate, but this love must not be exclusive. A man should love his country more than he loves his house (this is the dogma held by every patriot) ; but Baha'u'llah adds that he should love the divine world more than he loves his country. From this standpoint, patriotism is seen to be an intermediate stage on the road of renunciation, an incomplete and hybrid religion, something we have to get beyond. Throughout his life Baha'u'llah regarded the ideal universal peace as one of the most important of his aims. Baha'u'llah is in this respect enunciating a novel and fruitful idea. There is a better way of dealing with social evils than by trying to cure them after they have come to pass. We should try to prevent them by removing their causes, which act on the individual, and especially on the child. Nothing can be more plastic than the nature of the child. The government's first duty must be to provide for the careful and efficient education of children, remembering that education is something more than instruction. This will be an enormous step towards the solution of the social problem, and to take such a step will be the first task of the Baha'u'llah (House of Justice). "It is ordained upon every father to rear his son or his daughter. by means of the sciences, the arts, and all the commandments; and if any one should neglect to do so, then the members of the council, should the offender be a wealthy man, must levy from him the sum necessary f or the education of his child. When the neglectful parent is poor, the cost of the necessary education must be borne by the council, which will provide a refuge for the unfortunate." The Baytu~1cAd~1, likewise, must prepare the way for the establishment of universal peace, doing this by organizing courts of arbitration and by influencing the governments. Long before the Esperantists had begun their campaign, and more than twenty years before Nicholas II had summoned the first Hague congress, Baha'u'llah was insisting on the need for a universal language and courts of arbitration. He returns to these matters again and again: ccLet all the nations become one in faith, and let all men be brothers, in order that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men may be strengthened. What harm can there be in that? It is going to happen. There will be an end to sterile conflicts, to ruinous wars; and the Great Peace will come!" Such were the words of Baha'u'llah in 1890, two years before his death. While adopting and developing the Christian law of love, Baha'u'llah rejected the Christian principle of asceticism. He discountenanced the macerations which were a nightmare of the Middle Ages, and whose evil effects persist even in our own days. Bah~'ism, then, is an ethical system, a system of social morality. But it would be a mistake to regard Bahi'ist teaching as a collection of abstract rules imposed from without. BaM'ism is permeated with a sane and noble mysticism; nothing could be more firmly rooted in the inner life, more benignly spiritual; nothing could speak more intimately to the soui, in low tones, and as if from within. Such is the new voice that sounds to us from Asia; such is the new dawn in the East. We should give them our close attention; we should abandon our customary mood of disdainful superiority. Doubtless, Baha'u'llah's teaching is not definitive. The Persian prophet does not offer it to us as such. Nor can we Europeans assimilate all of it; for modern science leads us to make certain claims in matters of thought Ñ claims we cannot relinquish, claims we should not try to forego. But even though Baha'u'llah's precepts (like those of the Gospels) may not fully satisfy all these intellectual demands, they are rarely in conflict with our scientific outlooks. If they are to become our own spiritual food, they must be supplemented, they must be relived by the religious spirits [p334] 334 THE BAHA'I WORLD of Europe, must be rethought by minds schooled in the Western mode of thought. But, in its existing form, Bah6'ist teaching may serve, amid our present chaos, to open for us a road leading to solace and to comfort; may restore our confidence in the spiritual destiny of man. It reveals to us how the human mind is in travail; it gives us an inkling of the fact that the greatest happenings of the day are not the ones we were inclined to regard as the most momentous, not the ones which are making the loudest noise. XII. Da. HENRY II. JESS{JP, D.D. From the World's Parliament of Religions; Volume II, 13th Day, under Criticism and Discussion of Missionary Methods, page 1122. At the Columbian Exposition of 1893, at Chicago. Edited by the Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D. (The Parliament Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893.) Ñ This, then, is our mission: that we who are made in the image of God should remember that all men are made in God's image. To this divine knowledge we owe all we are, all we hope for. We are rising gradually toward that image, and we owe to our fellowmen to aid them in returning to it in the Glory of God and the Beauty of Holiness. It is a celestial privilege and with it comes a high responsibility, from which there is no escape. In the Palace of Babji, or Delight, lust outside the Fortress of tAkkA, on the Syrian coast, there died a few months since, a famous Persian sage, the Bab Saint, named Baha'u'llah Ñ the "Glory of God" Ñ the head of that vast reform party of Persian Muslims, who accept the New Testament as the Word of God and Christ as the Deliverer of men, who regard all nations as one, and all men as brothers. Three years ago he was visited by a Cambridge scholar and gave utterance to sentiments so noble, so Christlike, that we repeat them as our closing words: "Tht all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religions should cease and differences of race be annulled. What harm is there in this? Yet so it shall be. These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the cMost Great Peace' shall come. Do not you in Europe need this also? Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind." XIII. By THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL CURZON. Excerpts from Persia, Vol. I, pages 4965 04. ('Written in 1892.) Ñ Beauty and the female sex also lent their consecration to the new creed and the heroism of the lovely but ill-fated poetess of Qazvin, Zarrin-T4j (Crown of Gold) or Qurratu'1-~Ayn (Solace of the Eyes), who, throwing off the veil, carried the missionary torch far and wide, is one of the most affecting episodes in modern history. The lowest estimate places the present number of Bab's in Persia at half a million. I am disposed to think, from conversations with persons well qualified to judge, that the total is nearer one million. They are to be found in every walk of life, from the ministers and nobles of the Court to the scavenger or the groom, not the least arena of their activity being the Mussulman priesthood itself. It will have been noticed that the movement was initiated by Siyyids, H~tjis and MullAs, i.e., persons who, either by descent, from pious inclination, or by profession, were intimately concerned with the Mubammadan creed; and h is among even the professed votaries of the faith that they continue to make their converts. Quite recently the Bab's have had great success in the camp of another enemy, having secured many proselytes among the Jewish populations of the Persian towns. I hear that during the past year (1891) they are reported to have made 150 Jewish converts in Tihr&n, 100 in Flamad6n, 50 in K6shAn, and 75 per cent of the Jews at Gulpiyig4n. The two victims, whose names were H4ji Mirza Ijasan and H~ji Mirza Husayn, have been renamed by the B~bis: Su1~nu'sh-Shuhad4', or King of Martyrs, and Mah-b~bu'sh-Shuhad~', or Beloved of Martyrs Ñ [p335] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 335 and their naked graves in the cemetery have become places of pilgrimage where many a tear is shed over the fate of the "Martyrs of IsfiMn." It is these little incidents, protruding from time to time their ugly features, that prove Persia to be not as yet quite redeemed, and that somewhat staggers the tall-talkers about Ir~nian civilization. If one conclusion more than another has been forced upon our notice by the retrospect in which I have indulged, it is that a sublime and murmuring [?] devotion has been incul Ñ cated by this new faith, whatever it be. There is, I believe, but one instance of a BThi having recanted under pressure of menace of suffering, and he reverted to the faith and was executed within two years. Tales of magnificent heroism illumine the bloodstained pages of Bab history. Ignorant and unlettered as many of its votaries are, and have been, they are yet prepared to die for their religion, and fires of Smithfield did not kindle a nobler courage than has met and defied the more refined torture-mongers of Tihrin. Of no small account, then, must be the tenets of a creed that can awaken in its followers so rare and beautiful a spirit of self-sacrifice. From the facts that Bibi-ism in its earliest years found itself in con. flict with the civil powers and that an attempt was made by Bab's upon the life of the SMh, it has been wrongly inferred that the movement was political in origin and Nihilist in character. It does not appear from a study of the writings either of the Bab or his successors, that there is any foundation for such a suspicion. The charge of immorality seems to have arisen partly from the malignant inventions of opponents, partly from the much greater freedom claimed for women by the Bab, which in the oriental mind is scarcely dissociable from profligacy of conduct. If B~ibiism continues to grow at its present rate of progression, a time may conceivably come when it will oust Muhammadanism from the field in Persia. Since its recruits are won from the best soldiers of the garrison whom it is attacking, there is greater reason to believe that it may ultimately prevail. The pure and suffering life of the Bab, his ignominious death, the heroism and martyrdom of his followers, will appeal to many others who can find no similar phenomena in the contemporaneous records of IslAm. XIV. By SIR FRANCIS YOUNGHTJSBAND. Excerpts from The Gleam. (1923.) Ñ The story of the Bib, as Mirza tAli Muhammad called himself, was the story of spiritual heroism unsurpassed in Svabhava's experience; and his own adventurous soul was fired by it. That a youth of no social influence and no education should, by the simple power of insight, be able to pierce into the heart of things and see the real truth, and then hold on to it with such firmness of conviction and present it with such suasion that he was able to convince men that he was the Messiah and get them to follow him to death itself, was one of those splendid facts in human history that Syab-hava loved to meditate on. This was a true hero whom he would wish to emulate and whose experiences he would profit by. The Mb's passionate sincerity could not be doubted, for he had given his life for his faith. And that there must be something in his message that appealed to men and satisfied their souls, was witnessed to by the fact that thousands gave their lives in his cause and millions now follow him. If a young man could, in only six years of ministry, by the sincerity of his purpose and the attraction of his personality, so inspire rich and poor, cultured and illiterate, alike, with belief in himself and his doctrines that they would remain staunch, though hunted down and without trial sentenced to death, sawn asunder, strangled, shot, blown from guns; and if men of high position and culture in Persia, Turkey and Egypt in numbers to this day adhere to his doctrines, his life must be one of those events in the last hundred years which is really worth study. And that study fortunately has been made by the Frenchman Gobineau and by Professor E. G. Browne, so that we are able to have a faithful representation of its main features. Thus, in oniy his thirtieth year, in the year 1850, ended the heroic career of a true God-man. Of the sincerity of his conviction that he was God-appointed, the manner of his death is the amplest possible proof. [p336] 336 THE BAHA'I WORLD In the belief that he would thereby save others from the error of their present beliefs he willingly sacrificed his life. And of his power of attaching men to him, the passionate devotion of hundreds and even thousands of men who gave their lives in his cause is convincing testimony. He himself was but CC letter out of that most mighty book, a dewdrop from that limitless ocean." The One to come would reveal all mysteries and all riddles. This was the humility of true insight. And it has had its effect. His movement has grown and expanded, and it has yet a great future before it. During his six years of ministry, four of which were spent in captivity, he had permeated all Persia with his ideas. And since his death the movement has spread to Turkey, Egypt, India and even into Europe and America. His adherents are now numbered by millions. The spirit which pervades them, says Professor Browne, ~tj~ such that it cannot fail to affect most powerfully all subject to its influence." XV. Excerpt from The Christian Commonwealth, January 22, 1913: CC CAbdu~1~ Baha at Oxford Ñ tAbdu'1-BaM addressed a large and deeply interested audience at Manchester College, Oxford, on December 31. The Persian leader spoke in his native tongue, Mirza Abmad Sohrab interpreting. Principal Estlin Carpenter presided, and introduced the speaker by saying that they owed the honor and pleasure of meeting ~Abd'1Bh' to their revered friend, Dr. Cheyne, who was deeply interested in the Baha'i teaching. The movement sprung up during the middle of the last century in Persia, with the advent of a young Mu1~ammadan who took to himself the title of the Bab (meaning door or gate, through which men could arrive at the knowledge or truth of God), and who commenced teaching in Persia in the year 1844. The purity of his character, the nobility of his words, aroused great enthusiasm. He was, however, subjected to great hostility by the authorities, who secured his arrest and imprisonment, and he was finally executed in 1850. But the movement went on, and the writings of the DAb, which had been copious, were widely read. The movement has been brought into India, Europe, and the United States. It does not seek to create a new sect, but to inspire all sects with a deep fundamental love. The late Dr. Jowett once said to him that he had been so deeply impressed with the teachings and character of the Mb that he thought B6tiisrn, as the present movement was then known, might become the greatest religious movement since the birth of Christ. XVI. B~r REV. J. TYSSUL DAVIS, B.A. Quotation from A Lea gue of Religions. Excerpts from Chapter X: ctBahAJism~The Religion of Reconciliation." (The Lindsey Press, London, England.) Ñ The Baha'i religion has made its way because it meets the needs of its day. It fits the larger outlook of our time better than the rigid exclusive older faiths. A characteristic is its unexpected liberality and toleration. It accepts all the great religions as true, and their scriptures as inspired. The Bah&'ists bid the followers of these faiths disentangle from the windings of racial, par-ticularist, local prejudices, the vital, immortal thread, the pure gospel of eternal worth, and to apply this essential element to life. Instances are quoted of people being recommended to work within the older faiths, to remain, vitalizing them upon the principles of the new faith. They cannot fear new facts, new truths as the Creed-defenders must. They believe in a progressive revelation. They admit the cogency of modern criticism and allow that God is in His nature incomprehensible, but is to be known through His manifestations. Their ethical ideal is very high and is of the type we 'Westerners have learnt to designate ccChrist~ like." "What does he do to his enemies that he makes them his friends?" was asked concerning the late leader. What astonishes the student is not anything in the ethics or philosophy of this movement, but the extraordinary response its ideal has awakened in such numbers of people, the powerful influence this standard actually exerts on conduct. It is due to four things: (1) It makes a call on the Heroic Element in man. [p337] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 33? It offers no bribe. It bids men endure, give up, carry the cross. It calls them to sacrifice, to bear torture, to suffer martyrdom, to brave death. (2) It offers liberty of thong/at. Even upon such a vital question as immortality it will not bind opinion. Its atmosphere is one of trust and hope, not of dogmatic chill. (3) It is a religion of love. ttNotwithstanding the interminable catalogue of extreme and almost incredible sufferings and privations which this heroic band of men and women have endured Ñ more terrible than many martyrdoms Ñ there is not a trace of resentment or bitterness to be observed among them. One would suppose that they were the most fortunate of the people among whom they live, as indeed they do certainly consider themselves, in that they have been permitted to live near their beloved Lord, beside which they count their sufferings as nothing" (Phelps). Love for the Master, love for the brethren, love for the neighbors, love for the alien, love for all humanity, love for all life, love for God Ñ the old, well-tried way trod once before in Syria, trodden again. (4) It is a religion in harmony with science. It has here the advantage of being thirteen centuries later than Islirn. This new dispensation has been tried in the furnace, and has not been found wanting. It has been proved valid by the lives of those who have endured all things on its behalf. Here is something more appealing than its logic and rational philosophy. "To the 'Western observer" (writes Prof. Browne), "it is the complete sincerity of the Bab's, their fearless disregard of death and torture undergone for the sake of their religion, their certain conviction as to the truth of their faith, their generally admirable conduct toward mankind, especially toward their fellow-believers, which constitute their strongest claim on his attention." "By their fruits shall ye know them!" We cannot but address to this youthful religion an All Hail! of welcome. We cannot fail to see in its activity another proof of the living witness in our own day of the working of the sleepless spirit of God in the hearts of men, for He cannot rest, by the necessity of His nature, until He bath made in conscious reality, as in power, the whole world His own. XVII. By HERBERT PUTNAM. Librarian of Congress. The dominant impression that survives in my memory of tAbdu'1-BaM is that of an extraordinary nobility: physically, in the head so massive yet so finely poised, and the modeling of the features; but spiritually, in the serenity of expression, and the suggestion of grave and responsible meditation in the deeper lines of the face. But there was also, in his complexion, carriage, and expression, an assurance of the complete health which is a requisite of a sane judgment. And when, as in a lighter mood, his featu~es relaxed into the playful, the assurance was added of a sense of humor without which there is no true sense of proportion. I have never met any one concerned with the philosophies of life whose judgment might seem so reliable in matters of practical conduct. My regret is that my meetings with him were so few and that I could not benefit by a lengthier Contact with a personality coin-bining a dignity so impressive with human traits so engaging. I wish that he could be multiplied! XVIII. B~r LEO TOLSTOY Translated from a letter to Mine. Isabel Grinevskaya, Oct. 22, 1903. I am very glad that Mr. V. V. Stassov has told you of the goo.d impression which your book has made on me, and I thank you for sending it. I have known about the Bab's for a long time, and have always been interested in their teachings. It seems to me that these teachings, as well as all the rationalistic social religious teachings that have arisen lately out of the original teachings of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and IsUm distorted by the priests, have a great future for this very reason that these teachings, discarding all these distorting incrustations that cause division, aspire to unite into one common religion of all mankind. Therefore, the teachings of the Bab is, inasmuch as they have rejected the old Mu [p338] 338 THE BAHA'I WORLD h ammadan superstitions and have not established new superstitions which would divide them from other new superstitions (unfor-tunately something of the kind is noticed in the exposition of the Teachings of the Bib), and inasmuch as they keep to the principal fundamental ideas of brotherhood, equality and love, have a great future before them. In the Mubammadan religion there has been lately going on an intensive spiritual movement. I know that one such movement is centered in the French colonies in Africa, and has its name (I do not remember it), and its prophet. Another movement exists in India, Lahore, and also has its prophet and publishes its paper t~Review of Religions." Both these religious teachings contain nothing new, neither do they have for their principal object a changing of the outlook of the people and thus do not change the relationship between the people, as is the case with B&biism, though not so much in its theory (Teachings of the Bib) as in the practice of life as far as I know it. I therefore sympathize with Bibjism with all my heart inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God. Translated from a letter to Phd ul Khan Wadelbekow. (This communication is dated 1908 and is found among epistles written to Caucasian Muhammadans.) In answer to your letter which questions how one should understand the term God. I send you a collection of writings from my literary and reading club, in which some thoughts upon the nature of God are included. in my opinion if we were to free ourselves from all false conception of God we should, whether as Christians or Mu-hainmadans free ourselves entirely from picturing God as a personality. The conception which then seems to me to be the best for meeting the requirements of reason and heart is found in 4th chap. St. John, 71215 that means God is Love. It therefore follows that God lives in us according to the measure or capacity of each soul to express His nature. This thought is implicit more or less clearly in all religions, and therefore in Mu-bammadanism. Concerning your s~cond question upon what awaits us after death I can only reply that on dying we return to God from whose Life we came. God, however, being Love we can on going over expect God oniy. Concerning your third question, I answer that so far as I understand Ishm, like all other religions, Brahrnanisrn, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., it contains great basic truths but that these have become corrupted by superstition, and coarse interpretations and filled with unnecessary legendic descrip-. dons. I have had much help in my researches to get clear upon Mubammadanism by a splendid little book tlhe sayings of Muhammad.' The teachings of the B~bis which come to us out of IslAm have through Baha'u'llah teachings been gradually developed and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching. XIX. B~ DR. EDMUND ]?RIVAT. The practical and spiritual understanding between nations, the realization of the unity of mankind above all barriers of language and religion, the feeling of responsibility towards all who suffer from grief or injustice, are oniy different branches of the same central teaching which gives the Baha'i Movement such a faithful and active family of workers in so many countries. XX. lix' DR. AUGUSTE FOREL. En 1920 seulement j'ai appris h connaitre, ~ Karisruhe, la religion supra-confessionelle et mondiale des Baha'is fond6e en Orient par le persan Baha'u'llah ii y a 70 ans. C'est la vraie religion du Bien social humain, sans dogmes, ni pr6tres, reliant entre eux touts les hommes sur notre petit globe terreste. ft ntis devenu Baha'i. XXI. By GENERAL CASELLI. Having been engaged all of his life in the training of me, he does this (i.e., write on the subject of religion) more as a "shepherd of a flock" might do, in hope of persuading [p339] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 339 his friends and brothers to turn spontaneously to the Illumined Path of the Great Revelation. xxii. By'-rAEDERIcK W. OAKBS. The Enlightener of human minds in respect to their religious foundations and privileges is of ~~ch vital importance that no one is safe who does not stop and listen for its quiet meaning, and is to the mind of men, as the cooling breeze that unseen passes its breath over the varying leaves of a tree. Watch it! And see how uniformly, like an unseen hand passing caressingly over all its leaves: Full of tender care and even in its gifts of iove and greater life: Caresses each leaf. Such it is to one who has seated himself amid the flowers and fruit trees in the Garden Beautiful at tAkk~ just within the circle of that Holy and Blessed shrine where rests the Mortal part of the Great Enlightener. His handiwork is there, you touch the fruit and flowers his hand gave new life's hopes to, and kneeling as I did beside Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Marvelous Manifestation, felt the spirit's immortal love of Him who rests there. While I could not speak the words of the Litany, my soui knew the wondrous meaning, for every word was a word of the soul's language that speaks of the Eternal love and care of the Eternal Father. So softly and so living were the reflections from his beautiful personality, that one needed not spoken words to be interpreted. And this Pilgrim came away renewed and refreshed to such a degree, that the hard bands of formalism were replaced by the freedom of love and light that will ever make that sojourn there the prize memory and the Door of revelation never to be closed again, and never becloud the glorious Truth of Universal Brotherhood. A calm, and glorious influence that claims the heart and whispers to each of the pulsing leaves of the great family in all experiences of life, "Be not afraid, It is I!" Ñ And makes us long to help all the world to know the meaning of those words spoken by The Great Revealer, CCLCt us strive with heart and soul that unity may dwell in the world." And to catch the greatness of the word "Strive," in quietness and reflection. XXIII. Thr MR. MILLAR. Editor of Jo/on O'Groat Journal, Wick, Scotland. I was in Chicago for oniy some ten days, yet it would take a hundred chapters to describe all the splendid sights and institutions I was privileged to see. No doubt Chicago has more than its fair share of alien gangsters and gunmen, and the despicable doings of this obnoxious class has badly vitiated its civic life and reputation. But for all that it is a magnificent city Ñ in many respects probably the finest in America; a city of which its residents have innumerable reasons to be proud. Every day indeed was filled up with sightseeing and the enjoyment of lavish hospitality. One day, for example, I was entertained to lunch at the Illinois Athletic Club as the guest of Mr. Robert Black, a prosperous Scot belonging to Wigtonshire, who is in the building trade. 1-Ic is an ex-president of the St. Andrew's Society. Mr. Falconer and other Scots friends were present, and they were all exceedingly kind and complimentary. I could not, in short, have been treated with more distinction if I had been a prominent Minister of State instead of a humble Scottish journalist out on a mission of fraternity and good will. On the same day I met by appointment Mr. Albert R. Windust with whom I went out to see the Baha Temple which is in course of being erected at Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan. It is about an hour's ride out on the elevated railway. Only the foundation and basement have so far been constructed, and the work was meanwhile stopped but, we understand, is now shortly to be resumed. I have no hesitation in saying that when completed this Temple will be one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the world. I had the privilege of an introduction to the architect, a Frenchman, M. Bourgeois, who speaks English fluently. We spent a considerable time with him in his beautiful studio overlooking the Lake, and he did me the honour of showing me the plans of the Temple, drawings which cost him years of toil, and they are far beyond anything I could have imagined in beauty and spiritual [p340] 340 THE BAHA'I WORLD significance. M. Bourgeois, who is well advanced in years, is a genius and mystic Ñ a gentleman of charming personality. In all that I had the pleasure of seeing in his studio I had a privilege that is given to few. My signature is in his personal book, which contains the names of some of the great ones of the earth! Mr. Windust, who is a leading Baha'i in the city, is a quiet and humble man, but full of fine ideas and ideals. He treated me with the utmost brotherly courtesy. How is it, I kept asking myself, that it should be mine to have all this privilege and honour? There was no reason save that they told me I had touched the chords of truth and sincerity in referring to and reviewing the Baha'i writings and principles in a few short articles in this Journal. The Temple is designed to represent these principles Ñ universal religion, universal brotherhood, universal education, and the union of science and religion. Meantime the Chicagoans are seemingly indifferent to all its spiritual significance; but some day they will wake up to a realisation of the fact that its symbolism will mark the city as one of destiny in the world. XXIV. By CHARLES H. PRIST. Editor, Pasadena Star News. Humanity is the better, the nobler, for the Baha'i Faith. It is a Faith that enriches the soul; that takes from life its dross. I am prompted thus to express myself because of what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have read of the results of the Movement founded by the Reverend Baha'u'llah. Embodied within that Movement is the spirit of world brotherhood; that brotherhood that makes for unity of thought and action. Though not a member of the Baha'i Faith, I sense its tremendous potency for good. Ever is it helping to usher in the dawn of the day of "Peace on Earth Good Will to Men." By the spread of its teachings, the Baha'i Cause is slowly, yet steadily, making the Golden Rule a practical reality. With the high idealism of Baha'u'llah as its guide, the Baha'i Faith is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Countless are its good works. For example, to the pressing economic problems it gives a new interpretation, a new solution. But above all else it is causing peoples everywhere to realize they are as one, by heart and spirit divinely united. And so I find joy in paying this little tribute to a cause that is adding to the sweetness, the happiness, the cleanness of life. XXV. B~r PROF. HARI PRASAD SHASTRI, D. LITT. My contact with the Baha Movement and my acquaintance with its teachings, given by Jja4lrat-i--BahA'u'llih, have filled me with real joy, as I see that this Movement, so cosmopolitan in its appeal, and so spiritual in its advocacy of Truth~ is sure to bring peace and joy to the hearts of millions. Free from metaphysical subtleties, practical in its outlook, above all sectarianism, and based on God, the substratum of the human soul and the phenomenal world, the Baha'i Movement carries peace and illumination with it. As long as it is kept free from orthodoxy and church-spirit, and above personalities, it will continue to be a blessing to its followers. XXVI. B-i-SHRI PUROHIT SWAMI. I am in entire sympathy with all of the principles that the Baha'i Movement stands for; there is nothing which is contrary to what I am preaching. I think at this stage of the world such teachings are needed more than anything else. I find the keynote of the Teachings is the spiritual regeneration of the world. The world is getting more and more spiritually bankrupt every day, and if it requires anything it requires spiritual life. The Baha'i Movement stands above all caste, creed and color and is based on pure spiritual unity. XXVII. B~ SIR FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND. For many years I have been interested in the rise and progress of the Baha'i Movement. Its roots go deep down into the past and yet it looks far forward into the future. It realizes and preaches the oneness of man [p341] Girl students at the Baha Tarbiyat School, Tihr4n, Persia. [p342] 342 THE BAHA'I WORLD kind. And I have noticed how ardently its followers work for the furtherance of peace and for the general welfare of mankind. God must be with them and their success therefore assured. XXVIII. B~ Paor. HERBERT A. MILLER The central drive of the Baha Movement is for human unity. It would secure this through unprejudiced search for truth, making religion conform to scientific discovery and insisting that fundamentally all religions are alike. For the coming of urn-versal peace, there is great foresight and wisdom as to details. Among other things there should be a universal language; so the Baha'is take a great interest in Esperanto though they do not insist on it as the ultimate language. No other religious movement has put so much emphasis on the emancipation and education of women. Everyone should work whether rich or poor and poverty should be abolished. What will be the course of the Bab4'i Movement no one can prophesy, but I think it is no exaggeration to claim that the program is the finest fruit of the religious contribution of Asia. XXIX. By DR. ATJGTJSTE FOREL. J'avais 6crit les lignes qui pr6c~-dent dent en 1912. Que dois-je ajouter aujour-d'hui en aoftt 1921, apr~s les horribles guerres qui viennent de rnettre 1'humanit6 ~t feu et ~ sang, tout en d6voilant plus que jamais 'a terrible ftrocit6 de nos passions haineuses? Rien, sinon que nous devons derneurer d'autant plus ferrnes, d'autant plus in6bran-lables dans notre lute pour ic Bien social. Nos enfants ne doivent pas se d&zourager; us doivent au contraire profiter du chaos mondial actuel pour aider ii 'a p6nible organisation sup6rieure et supranationale de L'humanit4 a 1'aide d'une f6d6ration uni-verselle des peuples. "En 1920 seulement j'ai appris h con Ñ naitre, ~ Karisruhe, Ia religion supraconfes-sionnelle et mondiale des Baha'is fondde en Orient par ic person Baha'u'llah ii y a 70 C'est la vraie religion du Bien social humain, sans dogmes, ni pr~tres, reliant entre eux tous les hommes sur notre petit globe terrestre. Je suis devenu Baha'i. Que cette religion vive et prosp&e pour le bien de L'humanit6; (eat fl mon voeu le plus ardent. (Excerpt from Dr. Auguste Forel's Will) XXX. B~r THE Kr. HON. SIR HERBERT SAMUEL, G.C.B., M.P. In John O'London's Weekly, March 25th, 1933. "It is possible indeed to pick out points of fundamental agreement among all creeds. That is the essential purpose of the Baha'i Religion, the foundation and growth of which is one of the most striking movements that have proceeded from the East in recent generations." XXXI. By REV. K. T. CHUNG. ccLast summer upon my return from a visit to Japan, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Keith Ransoni-Kehier on the boat. It was learnt that this lady is a teacher of the Baha'i Cause, so we conversed upon various subjects of human life very thoroughly. It was soon found that what the lady imparted to me came from the source of Truth as I have felt inwardly all along, so I at once realized that the Baha'i Faith can offer numerous and profound benefits to mankind. CCMY senior, Mr. Y. S. Tsao, is a well-read man. His mental capacity and deep experience are far above the average man. He often said that during this period of our country when old beliefs have lost their hold upon the people, it is absolutely necessary to seek a religion of all-embracing Truth which may exert its powerful influence in saving the situation. For the last ten years, he has investigated indefatigably into the teachings of the Baha'i Cause. Recently, he has completed his translations of the book on the New Era and showed me a copy of the proof. After carefully reading it, I came to the full realization that the Truth as imparted to me by Mrs. Ransom-Kehier is veritable and unshakable. This Truth of great value to mankind has been eminently translated by Mr. Tsao and now the Chinese people have the opportunity of reading it, and I cannot but express my profound apprecia [p343] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 343 don for the same. Should the Truth of the Baha'i Faith be widely disseminated among the Chinese people, it will naturally lead to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Should everybody again exert his efforts towards the extension of this beneficent influence throughout the world, it will then bring about world peace and the gen-ergl welfare of humanity." (From Rev. K. T. Chung's Preface to the Chinese version of Dr. Esslemont's Book.) XXXII. B~ PROF. DIMITRY KAZAROV. University, Sofia, Bulgaria. Une des causes principales de la situation actuelle du monde c'est que 1'hurnanit6 est trop en arri6re encore dans son developpe-meat spirituel. Voila pourquoi tout en-seignement qui a pour but ~ eveiller et fortifier la conscience morale et religieuse des hommes est d'une importance capitale pour 1'avenir de notre race. Le Bahaisme est un de ces enseignements. Ii a ce merite qu'en portant des principes qui sont communs de toutes les grands r6ligions (Ct specialement du christianisme) cherche ~t les adapter aux conditions de Ia vie actuelle et ~i la psy-chologie de 1'homrne moderne. En outre ii travail pour 1'union des hommes de tout nationalit6 et race dans une conscience morale et rdligieuse commune. Ii n'a pas Ia prdtention d'&re autant une r6ligion nou-velle qu'un trait d'union entre les grandes r6ligions existants: ce sur quoi ii insiste surtout ce n'est pas d'abandoner la religion ~ Ia queue nous appartennons dej?i pour en chercher une autre, mais ~t faire une effort pour trouver dans cette meme r6ligion 1'd6-ment qui nous unit aux autres et d'en faire la force d6terminante de notre conduite toute enti6re. Cet 6l6ment (commun ~ toutes les grandes religions) c'est la conscience que nous sommes avant tout des &tres spirituels, unis dans une m~me entit6 spirituelle dont nous ne sommes que des parties-unies entre cues par 1'attribut fonda-mental de cette entit6 spirituelle Ñ ~t savoir I'amour. Manifester, realiser, dev6lopper chez nous et chez les autres (surtout ches les enf ants) cette conscience de notre nature spirituelle a 1'amour comme son attribut fondarnental c'est la chose principale que nous devons poursuivre avant tout et par toutes les manifestations de notre activit6. C'est en m~me temps he seule moyen par lequel nous pouvons esperer de r6aliser une union toujours grandissant parmi les hommes. Le Bahaisme est un des enseignernent qui cherche a eveiller chez nous-n'importe ~i queue r6iigion nous appartenons-justement cette conscience de notre nature spirituelle. Ii y a plus de 20 ans un groupe d'hommes a femmes de diff6rentes nationalit6s et religions, anim6s par le d6sir de travailler pour 1'union des peuples, ont cornrnenc6 ~ publier un journal en esperanto sous le titre (cUniversala Unigo." Le premier article du premier Numero de cc journal 6tait consacr6 au Bahaisme et ~ son fondateur. Ii mc semble que ce fait est une preuve 6clatante de ce que j~ viens de dire sur le Bahaisme. XXXIII. B~ Rrv. GRIFFITH J. SPARHAM. Higligate Hill Unitarian Christian ChUrch, London, England. In his book "A League of Religions," the Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, formerly minister of the Theistic Church in London, and at present minister of a Unitarian Church in Bristol, England, the writer sets out to demonstrate that each great religious movement in the world has contributed something of peculiar importance to the spiritual life of man. Thus, he says, the great contribution of Zoroastrianisrn has been the thought of Purity; of Brahmanism that of Justice; of Mohammedanism that of Submission; of Christianity that of Service; and so on. In each instance he lays his finger on the one thing par excellence for which the particular religious culture seemed to him to stand, and tries to catch its special contribution in an epigrammatic phrase. Coming, in this way, to Bah&'ism, he names it ~tthe Religion of Reconciliation." In his chapter on Bah~'ism he says: ccThe Baha'i religion has made its way because it meets the need of the day. It fits the larger outlook of our time, better than the rigid older faiths. A characteristic is its unexpected liberality and tolerance. It accepts all the great religions as true and their scriptures as inspired." [p344] 344 THE BAHA'I WORLD This, then, as he sees Bah?ism, is its essential features: liberality, toleration, the spirit of reconciliation; and that, not in the sense, as Mr. H. G. Wells has it in his "Soul of a Bishop," of making a ttco1lection~~ of approved portions of the world's varied and differing creeds, but in the sense, as he also puts it in the same book of achieving a great simplification.'' CtBah5~ists~~ says Dr. Davis, "bid the fob lowers of these (that is, the world's) faiths disentangle from the windings of racial, particularist, local prejudices, the vital, immortal thread of the pure gospel of eternal worth, and to apply this essential element to life." That is Dr. Davis's interpretation of the genius of Bah4'ism, and that it is a true one, no one who has studied Bah?ism, even superficially, can question, least of all the outsider. Indeed one may go further and assert that no one who has studied Bah4'ism, whether superficially or otherwise, would wish to question it; particularly if he approaches the subject from a liberal and unprejudiced point of view. In the last act of his cWandering Jew," Mr. Temple Thurston puts into the mouth of Matteos, the Wandering Jew, himself, the splendid line, (CAll men are Christians Ñ all are Jews." He might equally well have written, "All men are Christians Ñ all are Baha'is." For, if the sense of the Unity of Truth is a predominant characteristic of liberally-minded people, whatever may be their religious tradition, it is predominantly a characteristic of BaM'ism; since here is a religious system based, fundamentally, on the one, simple, profound, comprehensive doctrine of the unity of God, which carries with it, as its necessary corollary and consequence, the parallel doctrine of the unity of Man. This, at all events, is the conviction of the present writer; and it is why, as a Unitarian, building his own faith on the same basic principles of divine and human unity, he has long felt sympathy with and good will toward a religious culture which stands on a foundation identical with that of the faith he holds. And a religion that affirms the unity of things must of necessity be a religion of reconciliation; the truth of which in the case of BaM'ism is clear. XXXI V. ERNEST RENAN. Passage tir6 de Renan C!LCS Apdtres, P." Edition Ldvy, Paris, 1866. INJOTRE si&cle a vu des mouvements religicux tout aussi extraordinaires que ceux d'autrefois, mouvements qui ont provoqud autant d'enthousiasme, qui oat eu d6j~, proportion gard6e, plus de martyrs, a dqnt l'avenir est encore incertain. Je ne pane pas des Mormons, secte ~i quelques 6gards si sotte et si abjecte que l'on hdsite ~ la prendre au s6rieux. II est instructif, cependant, de voir en plein 1 9~me si&le des milliers d'hommes de notre race vivant dans le miracle, croyant avec une foi aveugle des merveilles qu'ils disent avoir vues et touches. Ii y a d6j~ toute une litt6rature pour montrer 1'accord du mormonisme et de Ia science; cc qui vaut mieux, cette religion, fond6e sur de niaises impostures, a su accomplir des prodiges de patience a d'abn6gation; dans cinq cents ans des docteurs prouveront sa divinit~ par les merveilles de son 6tablissement. Le Babisme, en Perse, a 6t6 un ph6nom~nc autrement considdrable. Un homme doux et sans aucune pr6tention, une sorte de Spinoza modeste et pieux, s'est vu, presque malgrd lui, dev6 an rang de thaumaturge d'incarna-tion divine, et est devenu ic chef d'une secte nombreuse, ardente et fanatique, qui a failli amener une r6volution comparable ~ celle de l'Islam. Des milliers de martyrs soni accourus pour lui avec l'all6gresse au-devant de Ia mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-&tre dans 1'historie du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Bab's, ~ T6-h6ran. "On vit cc jour-h dans les rues a les bazars de T6hdran, dit un narrateur qui a tout su d'original, un spectacle que Ta population semble devoir n'oublier jamais. Quand Ia conversation encore aujourd'hui se met sur cette mati&e, on peut juger Fad Ñ miration mel6e d'horreur que la foule dprouve et que les ann6es n'ont pas diminuce. On vit s'avancer entre les bourreaux des en-fants et des femmes ics chairs ouvertes sur tout le corps, avec des m&hes allum6es, flam-bantes, fich6es dans les blessures. On trainait les victimes par des cordes et on les faisait marcher ~ coups de fouet. Enfant et femmes s'avan~aient en chantant un verset qui din [p345] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 345 En v6rit6 nous venons de Dieu et nous re-tournons h Lui. Leurs voix s'devaient, &latantes, au-dessus du silence profond de la foule. Quand un des supplici6s tombait et qu'on le faisait relever ~ coups de fouct ou de bajonnette, pour peu que Ia perte de son sang qui ruisselait sur tous ses membres lui laiss&t encore un peu de force, ii se mettait ~t danser a criait avec un surcroit d'en-thousiasme: (CEn v6rit6 nous sommes ~ Dicu et nous retournons ~t lui." Quciques-uns des enf ants expir~rent pendant le trajet; les bourreaux jettrent leurs corps sous les pieds de leurs p&es et de leurs soeurs, qui march&-ent fi&ement dessus et ne leur donn&ent pas deux regards. Quand on arriva au lieu d'ex6cution, on proposa encore aux victimes La vie pour leur abjuration. Un bourreau imagina de dire ~i un p~re que, s'il ne c&lait pas, ii couperait Ia gorge ~ ses deux fils sur sa poitrine. C'&aient deux petits gar~ons dont l'aYn6 avait 14 ans et qui, rouges de leur sang, les chairs calcin6ss, 6coutaient froidernent le dialogue; le p~re r6pondit, en se couchant par terre, qu'il 6tait pr& et 1'ain6 des enfants, r&lamant avec emporte-ment son droit de'ainesse, demanda ~ ~tre 6gorg~ le premier. (I) Enfin tout fut achev6. La nuit tomba sur un amas de chairs in-formes; les t&tes 6taient attach6es en paquets au potent justicier et les chiens des faubourgs se dirigeaient par troupes de ce c5t& Cela se passait en 1852. La secte de Moz-dak sous Chosro~s Nousch fut ~touff6e dans un pareil bain de sang. Le ddvouement absolu est pour les nations naYves La plus exquise des jouissances et une sorte de besoin. Dans 1'affaire des BaNs, on vit des gens qui 6taient ~ peine de La secte, venir se d6noncer eux-m~mes afin qu'on les adjoignir aux patients. Ii est si doux ~ 1'homme de sufirir pour quelque chose, que dans bien des cas 1'app&t du martyre suflit pour faire croire. Un disciple qui fat le compagnon de sup-puce du Bab, suspendu ii cOt6 de lui aux remparts de Tabriz et attendant la mort, (I) Un autre d6tail que je tiens de source premi&re est celui-ci: Quciques sectaires, qu'on voulait amener ~ r6tractation, furent attach~s ~ la gucule tie canons amorc~s d'une m&che longue a brtdant lentement. On leur proposait de couper la m&che, s'ils reniajent le Bab. Eux, les bras tendus vers le £eu, le suppliaient de se h&ter et tie venir bien vite consommer leuer bonheur. n'avait qu'un mot ?~ la bouche "Es Ñ tu content de moi, maitre?". XXXV. hr HON. LILIAN HELEN MONTAGUE, J.P., D.H.L. As a Jewess I am interested in the Baha'i Community. The teaching lays particular stress on the Unity of God and the Unity of Man, and incorporates the doctrine of the Hebrew Prophets that the Unity of God is revealed in the Unity of men. Also, we seem to share the conception of God's messengers as being those people who in their deep reverence for the attributes of God, His beauty, His truth, His righteousness and His justice, seek to imitate Him in their imperfect human way. The light of God is reflected in the soui of him who seeks to be receptive. Like the members of the Baha'i community, we Jews are scattered all over the world, but united in a spiritual brotherhood. The Peace ideal enumerated by the Hebrew Prophets is founded on faith in the ultimate triumph of God's justice and righteousness. XXXVI. By NORMAN BENTWICH. From rCPalestine,~~ p. 235 Ñ ttPalestine may indeed be now regarded as the land not of three but of four faiths, because the Baha'i creed, which has its center of faith and pilgrimage in Acre and Haifa, is attaining to the character of a world-religion. So far as its influence goes in the land, it is a factor making for international and inrerreligious understanding." (From !rPa1CSIinC,~~ by Norman Bentwich, p. 235.) XXXVII. By E~xwr SCHRETBER. 1. Trois proph&es. Alors que Le marxisme sovi6tique proclame le matdrialisme historique, alors que les jeunes g6n6rations sionistes sont 6galement de plus en pius indiffdrentes aux croyances 6tablies, une nouvelle religion est n6e en Orient, et doctrine prend, dans les circonstances actu-elles, un int6rdt d'autant pius grand que, s'6cartant du domaine purement philo-sophique, elk pr&onise en 6conomie politique [p346] C.~) Baha'is gathered at the laying of the cornerstone of the I~Jaziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Tihr~n, Persia. [p347] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 347 des solutions qui coincident curieusemcnt avec les pr6occupations de notre 6poque. Cette religion, de plus, est par essence anti-raciste. Elle est n~e en Perse, vers 1840, et les trois prophates successifs qui Pont pra-ch6e sont des Persans, c'est-~-dire des musul-mans de naissance. Le premier, le cr6ateur, s'appelait le Bab. Ii pr&ha vers 1850, et pr6conisa, outre La r6conciliation des diff6rents cultes qui divi-sent 1'humanit6, la lib6ration de la femme, r~duite aujourd'hui encore un quasi escia-vage clans tout 1'Islam. Une Persane d'une rare beaut6, et qui, chose rare chez les inusulmanes, 6tait dou6e d'un grand talent oratoire, r6pondant nom diflicile ~ prononcer de Qourratou Ñ 'l'Am, 1'accompagna dans ses r6unions, n'h&i-tant pas, en donnant e11e-rn~me 1'exeinple, ~ pr6coniser la suppression du voile pour les femmes. Le B&b et elle r6ussirent ~ convaincre, a l'6poque, des dizaines de milliers de Persans et he shah de Perse les emprisonna 1'un et 1'autre, ainsi que La plupart de leurs partisans. Le BTh fut pendu. Sa belle collaboratrice fut 6trangl6e dans sa prison. Leurs disciples furent exil6s ~i Saint-Jean-d'Acre, devenue, aujourd'hui, yule palestinienne. C'est lit que i'ai visit6 la maison du successeur du B&b, Baha'u'llah, transform6e aujourd'hui en temple du CCBh~ e<' C'est ainsi que s'intitule cette religion, qui est plut3t une doctrine phulosophique, car die ne comporte rn culte d6fini, ni surtout de clerg6. Les pratres, disent Les bahaistes, sont tent6s de fausser, dans un but de lucre, 1'id6alisme d6sint6ress6 des cr6ateurs de religions. Baha'u'llah, le principal des trois proph-tes, r6pandit sa doctrine non seulement en Orient, mais dans beaucoup de pays d'Europe, et surtout aux Etats-Unis oii son influence fut telle que le nombre des bahaystes attient aujourd'hui plusieurs millions. II fut pers6-cut6 par ics Perses et mourut en exil. Son fils, Abdul Baha, lui succ~da et formula, d'apr~s les principes de son p~re, la doctrine &onomique du Bahaisme; elle in Ñ dique une prescience 6tonnante des 6v6ne-ments qui se sont d6rouks depuis: la guerre d'abord, la crise ensuite. Ii mourut peu apr& La guerre, ayant vu la r6alisation de la pre Ñ mi&e partie de ses proph6ties. L'originalit6 du bahaisme eat de chercher ~ faire passer dans le domaine pratique, et plus particuli&ement dans le domaine social, les principes essentiels du judaYsme, du ca-tholicisme et de 1'islamisme, en les combinant a en les adaptant aux besoins de notre ~poque. Le BahaYsme proclame que les rapports sociaux deviennent fatalement impossibles dans une soci6t6 oji 1'id6alisme individuel ne donne pas une base certaine aux engagements qui lient les hommes entre eux. L'individu se sent de plus en plus isol6 milieu d'une jungle sociale qui menace, ~ beaucoup d'6gards, son bien-6tre et sa curit& La bonne volont6 et 1'honn~tet6, ne produisant plus dans sa vie et dans son travail le r&ultat qu'il attend, tendent ~t perdre pour lui toute valeur pratique. De lit nais-sent, selon les caract&es, 1'indiff4rence et ic d6couragement, ou 1'audace, le manque de scrupules qui tendent ~ se procurer par tous les rnoyens, m~me les plus r6pr6hensibles, les b6n~fices mat6riels n&essaires ~ 1'exist-ence. La soci6t6, n'6tant plus soumise ~ aucum contr6le, ni politique ni moral, devient un vaisseau sans gouvernail oii personne ne peut plus rien pr6voir et qui eat sujet ~t des crises de plus en pius fr6quentes et de plus en plus violentes. L'6poque actuelle, d6clarent les proph&es persans, marque la fin d'une dviii-sation qui ne sert plus les int6r~ts de 1'hu-manit6. Elle aboutit Li la faillite compl%te des institutions morales a rnat6rielles destin6es ~ assurer le bien-etre et la s6curit6 des hommes, c'est-~i-dire 1'Etat, 1'Eglise, le Commerce et 1'Industrie. Le principe fondamental d'oi peat venir le salut de la civilisation engag6e dans des vojes qui conduisent ~ sa destruction est 'a solidarit6 des nations et des races. Car 1'interp~n6tration des peuples est devenue telle qu'il leur est impossible de trouver isol6-ment la voje de Ia prosp6rit6. Ces prophdties, qui pouvaient paraitre cx-cessives a quelque pat pessimistes ~i 1'~poque oit elles oat 6t6 faites, vers 1890, ne sont pas, les 6v6nements 1'ont prouv6, de simples j6r6miades. Ii reste ~ examiner comment, partant de ces donndes, qui ne sont que trop exactes, le Bahaisme, con~u dans Ia Perse lointaine et si arri6r6e ~ 1'6poque, [p348] 348 THE BAHA'I WORLD aboutit aux m~mes conclusions que la plupart des 6conomistes rnodernes qui, dans les dif-f6rents pays de civilisation occidental&, pro-clament qu'en dehors d'unc collaboration internationale ii n'y a pas d'issue possible ~ Ia cnse actuelle entrainant tous le peuples a une mis&re toujours plus grande. (From LES EcHos, Paris, France, September 27, 1933.) Une religion tc6conomique.~~ Les principes du bahaisme, formul6s par son principal proph&te, Baha'u'llah, peuvent paraitre sdrieusement compromis en ian temps oii la fr6n6sie nationaliste, r6cemment ag-grav& de racisme, semble en doigner de plus en plus l'application. Toute La question est de savoir si ceux qui sont en faveur aujourd'hui, dans tant de pays, sont susceptibles de r6soudre le pro-bl%me non pas de la prosp6rit6, mais simple-ment du logement et de Ia faim, dans les differentes nations qui nient par leurs th6o-ries et tous leurs actes 'a solidarit6 des peuples et des races. Une nouvelle guerre mondiale sera sans doute n6cessaire pour que 1'humanit6, qui n'a pas encore compris la leQon de 1914, se rende enfin compte que les solutions de violence et de conqu6te ne peuvent engendrer que 'a ruine g~n6rale, sans profit pour aucun des bellig6rants. Quoi qu'il en soft, ks principales pens6es &onomiques de Baha'u'llah, telles qu'elles ont 6t6 formul6es ii y a un demisi&le, prou-vent que Ia sagesse et le simple bon sens ont cela de commun avec les 6crevisses, c'est qu'il leur arrive fr6quemment de marcher ~ reculons. Voici les principaux pr6ceptes de ce moderne Marc-Aurele: C(L~6vo1ution humaine se divise en cycles organiques, correspondant ~ Ia dur6e d'une religion, laquelle en d'environ un millier d'ann&s. Un cycle social nouveau commence toutes les fob qu'apparait un proph&e dont 1'influence et les enseignements renouvellent la vie intdrieure de 1'homme et font ddferler ~ travers le monde une nouvelle vague de progres. ttChaque nouveau cycle d6truit les croy ances et les institutions us6es du cycle pr&6-dent a fonde sin d'autres croyances, en &roite conformit~, celles-h, avec les besoins actuels de 1'humanit6, une civilisation nou-velle. CCL~influence de chaque proph~ve s'est, clans le pass~, limit6e ~ une race ou une religion, en raison de "isolement g6ographique des regions a des races, inais le si~cle dans lequel nous entrons n6cessite la cr6ation d'un ordre organique s'&endant au monde entier. Si le vicil esprit de tribu persiste, la science d&-ruira le monde, ses forces destructrices ne pouvant &re contr6l6es que par une hu-manit5 unie travaillant pour la prosp6riv6 et le bien commun. "La loi de la lutte pour Ia vie n'existe plus pour 1'homme d&s qu'iI devient conscient de ses pouvoirs spirituels et moraux. Elle est alors rernplac& par Ia loi pius haute de la coop6ration. Sous cette loi, 1'individu jouira Pun statut beaucoup pius large que celui pA est accord~ aux citoyens passifs cia corps politique actuel. L'administration publique passera des mains de partisans politiques qui trahissent 'a cause du peuple aux mains d'homines capables de considdrer une charge publique comme une mission sacree. "La stabilit6 6conomique ne d6pend pas de l'application de tel plan socialiste ou communiste plus ou moThs thdorique, maTh du sentiment de la so1idarit~ morale qui unit tous les hommes et de cette conception que les richesses ne sont pas La fin de La vie, mats seulement un moyen de vivre. ttL'important n'est pas en une aveugle soumission g6n6rale ~t tel syst~me politique, ~ tel r~g1ement, qui ont pour effet de sup-primer chez 1'individu tout sentiment de responsibilit6 morale, maTh en tin esprit d'entr'aide a de coop6ration. Ni le principe cl6mocratique, ni Ic principe aristocratique ne peuvent fournir s~par6ment ~ Ia soci6t6 une base solide. La democratie est impuis-sante contre les querelles intestines et 1'aris Ñ tocratie ne subsiste que par la guerre. Uric combinasion des deux principes est donc n6cessaire. "En cette p6riode de transition entre le vieji age de la concurrence et I'~re nouvelle de Ia coop&ration, 'a vie maine de 1'huma-nit6 est en p6ril. Les ambitions nationalistes, la lutte des classes, Ia peur a les convoitises [p349] REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH 6conomiques sont autant de forces qui poussent ~ une nouvelle guerre internationale. Tous les Gouvernements du monde doivent soutenir et organiser une assembl6e dont les membres sojent dus par 1'6lite des nations. Ceux-ci devront mettre au point, au-dessus des 6goYsmes particuliers, le nouveau statut 6conomique du monde en dehors duquel tous les pays, mais surtout 1'Europe, seront conduits aux pires catastrophes." Abdul Baha, son successeur, reprenant la doctrine de son p~re, concluait dans un dis-cours prononc6 ~t New-York en 1912: "La civilisation mat&ielle a atteint, en Occident, ic plus haut degr~ de son d6velop-pement. Mais c'est en Orient qu'a a pris naissance a que s'est ddvelopp6e la civilisa-don spirituelle. Un lien s'&ablira entre ces deux forces, et leur union est la condition de 1'immense progr~s qui doit etre accompli. tcHors de Ii, Ia s6curit6 a la confiance feront de plus en plus d6faut, les luttes et les dissensions s'accroitront de jour en jour et les divergences entre nations s'accentue-ront davantage. Les pays augmenteront constamment leurs armements; La guerre, puis Ia certitude d'une ante guerre mondiale angoisseront de pius en pius les esprits. L'unit6 du genre humain est le premier fondement de toutes les vertus." Ainsi parla Abdul Baha en 1912, et tout se passa comme ii l'avait prddit. Mais ces paroles n'cnt pas viedhi; dies pourraient, sans le moindre changement, 6tre r6p6t6es en 1933. Auj ourd'hui, comme ii y a vingt ans, la menace de Ia guerre est de nouveau suspendue an Ñ dessus de nos totes et les causes de haines et de conflits s'accumu.-lent ~ tel point que, s'il existe vrairnent Un flux et un reflux des id&s, on peut presque conclure, avec une certaine dose d'optimisme, que nous avons jamais ~t6 Si pr~s de venir aux id6es de coop6ration qui, seules, peuvent nous sauver. (From LES ECHOS, Paris, France, September 28, 1933.) XXXVIII. B~ MR. ROKUICHIRO MASUJIMA. ttThe Japanese race is of rational mind. No superstition can play with it. Japan is the only country in the world where religious tolerance has always existed. The Japanese Emperor is the patron of all religious teachings. The Baha'i publications how form part of His Majesty's Library as accepted by the Imperial House. "The search for truth and universal education inculcated by the Baha'i Teachings, if soundly conducted, cannot fail to interest the Japanese mind. BaM'ism is bound to permeate the Japanese race in a short time." XXXIX. B~ Miss HELEN KELLER. The philosophy of Baha'u'llah deserves the best thought we can give it. I am returning the book so that other blind people who have more leisure than myself may be "shown a ray of Divinity" and their hearts be "bathed in an inundation of eternal love." I take this opportunity to thank you for your kind thought of me, and for the inspiration which even the most cursory reading of Baha'u'llah's life cannot fail to impart. What nobler theme than the "good of the world and the happiness of the nations" can occupy our lives? The message of universal peace will surely prevail. It is useless to combine or conspire against an idea which has in it potency to create a new earth and a new heaven and to quicken human beings with a holy passion of service. (In a personal letter written to an American Baha'i after having read something from the Braille edition of "Baha'u'llah and the New Era.") XL. B~ Sw. FLINDERS PETRIE. The Baha'i Movement of Persia should be a welcome adjunct to true Christianity; we must always remember how artificial the growth of Latin Christian ideas has been as compared with the wide and less defined beliefs native to early Christian faith." (In a letter to the "Daily Sketch," London, England, December 16, 1932.) XLI. B~ PRESIDENT MASARYK Or CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Continue to do what you are doing, spread these principles of humanity and do not wait for the diplomats. Diplomats alone cannot bring the peace, but it is a great thing that official people begin to speak about these universal peace principles. Take [p350] 350 THE BAHA'I WORLD these principles to the diplomats, to the universities and colleges and other schools, and also write about them. It is the people who will bring the universal peace. (In an audience with an American Baha'i journalist in Praha, in 1928.) XLII. B~ ARCHDUCHESS ANTON OF AUSTRIA. Archduchess Anton of Austria, who before her marriage was Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana of Rumania, in an audience with Martha L. Root, June 19, 1934, in Vienna, gave the followiAg statement for The Baha'i World, Vol. V: ~tj like the Baha'i Movement because it reconciles all Faiths, and teaches that science is from God as well as religion, and its ideal is peace. XLIII. B~ DR. HERBERT ADAMS GIBBONS. American Historian. I have had on my desk, and have read several times, the three extracts from CAb du'1-Baha's Message of Social Regeneration. Taken together, they form an unanswerable argument and plea for the oniy way that the world can be made over. If we could put into effect this program, we should indeed have a new world order. t(The morals of humanity must undergo change. New remedy and solution for human problems must be adopted. Human intellects themselves must change and be subject to the universal reformation." In these three sentences we really have it all. (Excerpt from personal letter dated May 18, 1934.) [p351] THE PER-OF F FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S HOUSE IN BAGHDAD I. EXCERPTS FROM THE MINUTES OF TWENTY-SECOND SESSION OF THE MANENT MANDATES COMMISSION THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS Held at Geneva from November 3rd to December 6th, 1932 THE BAHA'I CASE THE Chairman, with regard to the Baha case, observed that the Mandates Commission had on several occasions been obliged to take up this matter. He thought it desirable to recall them. Fourteenth Session, October 26th to November 13th, 1928: Petition dated September 11th, 1928, from the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of Baglid~d (document C.P.M. 784). ttThe Commission draws the Council's attention to the considerations and conclusions suggested to it by an examination of the petition of the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of Baghd~id and of the documents accompanying it. t~It recommends that the Council should ask the British Government to make representations to the tlriqi Government with a view to the immediate redress of the denial of justice from which the petitioners have suffered. "Moreover, the Commission proposes to the Council that the petitioners be answered in the following terms: tThe Permanent Mandates Commission, recognizing the justice of the complaint made by the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of Baglid&d, has recommended to the Council of the League such action as it thinks proper to redress the wrong suffered by the petitioners. Approved by the Council on March 4th, 1929. Sixteenth Session, November 6th to 2 6th, 1929: ((4 Administration of Justice. "The Commission took note of a statement by the accredited representative that the Government of the mandatory Power and the tIr~qi authorities are endeavoring to give effect to the Council's resolution of March 4th, 1929, and to redress the wrong done to the Baha'i sect by the denial of justice it has suffered. The Commission welcomed the assurance by the accredited representative that it is no longer possible for such arbitrary action to be taken in tIr~q (pages 26 and 27)." Approved by the Council on January 13th, 1930. Nineteenth Session, November 4th to 19th, 1930: tC3 Administration of Justice. "The Commission notes a statement by the accredited representative that the tlr&qi Government has appointed a Commission to propose some method of providing redress for the wrong done to the Baha'i sect by the denial of justice to that sect. It regrets that such redress has not yet been given, in 351 [p352] Members of the various committees appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia (193~). [p353] CASE OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S HOUSE IN BAGHDAD 353 spite of the Council's endorsement on March 4th, 1929, of the Commission's conclusions (pages 77, 82)." Approved by the Council on January 22nd, 1931. Twenty-first Session, October 26th to November 13th, 1931: (t2 Administration of Justice. "The Commission learned with regret that the mandatory Power had not yet succeeded in obtaining redress for the Baha'i community in respect of the miscarriage of justice of which it was the victim and to which allusion was made in the Commission's two previous reports to the Council on tlriq (pages 97 and 98)." Approved by the Council on January 25th, 1932. He desired to draw the attention of the representative of the United Kingdom to the anxiety which the Commission felt at the fact that, up to the present, the Baha'is had obtained no satisfaction in this matter. Could Mr. Flood give any information to allay that anxiety? Mr. Flood replied that, as the Commission had already been informed, the tIr~qi Government had arranged, in order to satisfy the Baha'is, that the two houses in question should be set apart for public utility purposes. That arrangement had been accepted by the Baha'is, but difficulties in the further application of the plan were being caused by the existence of a town-planning scheme for Baghdad, in which these houses were involved. Until a scheme had been definitely decided upon, the tlrAqi Government would be unable to carry out the proposal. It had, however, given a pledge which would satisfy the Baha'is' wishes, and it would certainly honour that pledge. It was much to be hoped that the question would soon be finally settled. Mr. Orts regretted to have to note that, in spite of the insistence of the Council, no measure had yet been taken by the 'IrAqi Government to remove the consequences of the action which the United Kingdom Government itself had not hesitated to describe as a ~ of justice.'' Reference to the observations which the United Kingdom Government had appended to the Baha'i petition in 1928 would show that no mandatory Power had ever condemned in such severe terms the action taken by a local authority. Three years had passed and the denial of iustice remained, although the mandatory Power, the Commission and the Council itself had in turn severely condemned the way in which the Baha'is had been treated. What had to be done was to remove the effects of a flagrant denial of justice, whereas difficulties had been raised owing to a town-planning scheme in which the Commission was not the least interested. It was at least surprising that such secondary considerations were brought forward in the circumstances. Was it said that the Baha'is were such a small minority in tlr4q that there was no need to bother unduly about them? It was the very fact that the minority was a small one that made it necessary for the authorities to safeguard its rights. However that might be, the repeated recommendations of the Council had been deliberately ignored by the CIr~qi Government, and the mandate had come to an end without the wrong inflicted on this minority having been put right. It would be the duty of the Mandates Commission to draw the attention of the Council to that fact. This matter called for serious reflection. It showed the weakness of the tlrAqi Government; the power which an intolerant majority had over it; finally, it justified the anxiety felt by all the racial and religious minorities as a result of the cessation of British control in tIr~q. Mr. Flood replied that, although the wrong had not yet been righted, the tIr~qi Government had already undertaken to prevent the alteration or demolition of those houses. A solution acceptable to the Baha'is bad been found and the tlrSqi Government would carry it out as soon as it was in a position to do so. He agreed with M. Orts that town-planning schemes were not of immediate interest to the Commission: he had, however, been obliged to mention the fact because it was only the difficulty in settling the town-planning scheme which was at present holding up the creation of the proposed gardens around the houses and the entire fulfilment of the other proposals, [p354] 354 THE BAHA'I WORLD which, he was convinced, would finally be implemented. M. Rappard said that he had long been in touch with the Baha'i representatives. Too much should not be made of the fact that an agreement had finally been reached between this community and the cJriqi Government. That was not necessarily a proof of the generosity of the latter. It should be remembered that the Baha'is were, by their religion, tenets, and character, of an ex-trernely conciliatory disposition. Public opinion should not be misled by the fact that the Baha'is had reluctantly agreed to a solution which they themselves did not regard as just (indeed, no impartial onlooker could regard it as just). Moreover, the solution itself had not yet been put into effect. II. EXCERPTS FROM THE MINUTES OF TWENTY-FOURTH SESSION OF THE MANENT MANDATES COMMISSION THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS Held at Geneva from October 23rd to November 4/13, 1933 THE PER-OF OF rlrdq: Procedstre to be followed in connection with the Examination of the Report by the ex-Mandatory Power for the Period January to October, 1932. 'IUHE Baha'i affair was different: the event had occurred during the period of the inandatory regime, the responsibility of the ex-mandatory Power was involved and there was reason to expect that the latter should render an account of the action it had taken, before relinquishing the mandate, to ensure the hononrable settlement of the matter. rcThi was the last occasion for the Commission to insist that the recommendations of the Council in this matter should not remain without result. For that reason, M. Orts considered that the Commission should ask the accredited representative, with a view to the observations on the report which the Commission would submit to the Coun-cii, whether he could give the assurance that the Baha'i question would be satisfactorily settled without further delay. It was important to take into account the fact that if, as a result of the dilatory attitude adopted by the 'Iraqi Government in this matter, even though of secondary importance, the recommendations of the Council could be ignored, any subsequent intervention which the latter might feel itself in a position to institute for the benefit of other minorities would be prejudiced in advance. If, on this matter, the last word did not rest with the Council of the League of Nations, all the minorities in ~Ir~q would have one additional reason for anxiety as to the fate which the future might hold in store for them. M. Orts admitted that the apprehension expressed by M. Palacios did not trouble him much. With regard to the Ba-h&'i, he was almost certain that the accredited representative would say that the question would be satisfactorily settled, so that the Commission would be able to say in its observations to the Council that it had been happy to learn that the matter was progressing favourably. CCThe Chairman understood, from the second part of his statement, that M. Rap-pard hoped the Commission would find something to say to show that its mission had come to an end. If that were so, he entirely agreed. It ought at all events to be made clear that, although the Commission had no longer anything to do with tIr~q, it realized that nothing bad as yet been done for the Bah6.' is. The accredited representative would, of course, be entitled to say that the Commission was not concerned with events that had taken place in cIrAq after October 3rd, 1932, but the Chairman wished to say that he had received from an authoritative source certain information which might jim-tify optimism. He felt himself called upon [p355] CASE OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S HOUSE IN BAGHDAD 355 to communicate the following information to the Commission, acting in a purely unofficial capacity: "The new tlr4qi coalition cabinet, and more particularly the late King Feisal, had been all in favour of carrying out the settlement plan concluded between the tTr~iqi Government and the Baha'is. The King had given to the representatives of this community, whom the Commission knew, his word of honour that the agreed plan would be carried through. He had renewed this assurance in the presence of NAn P&shA his minister for Foreign Affairs, who had subsequently confirmed it himself. The plan agreed upon involved the execution of a new town-planning scheme of which the Baha'i houses were to form part. King reisal had given the assurance that, even if this plan were not carried out, the houses would none the less be expropriated by the Government in connection with the building of a new bridge to replace or supplement the present socalled North Bridge across the River Tigris. His Majesty had been quite emphatic that in this way the settlement of the Baha'i case would be carried through as agreed, whether the town-planning scheme became effective or not. The King had further declared that the money necessary for the expropriation of the houses would be appropriated at the session of Parliament to be held in the Spring of 1934. His Majesty had left no doubt in the minds of those concerned that their mission had been well repaid and that the new State of 'Iraq was prepared to fulfil the execution of the settlement agreed upon. "Since that time had intervened the untimely and tragic death of King Feisal. Since that sad event, however, Nun P~sM Satid, still Foreign Minister of tIAq, has confirmed these promises of His late Majesty in the presence of His Excellency Y~sin P~sh~ H~shimi, Minister of Finance for tlr&q. In addition, the interested parties had noted with gratification that the present Government of tIr~q had officially announced its intention to carry out the policies inaugurated by His late Majesty." tJRAQ: EXAMINATION OF THE REPORT FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY TO OCTOBER 1932 Captain Vyvyan Holt, Oriental Secretary of the United Kingdom Embassy at Baghddd, accredited representative of the ex-mcrnda-tory Power, caine to the table of the Commission. THE BAHA'I CASE. IN~1. ORTS noted that section 7, page 10, "The Baha Houses," dealt with a question that had constantly occupied the attention of the Commission for five years. In 1929, the Council, following on a report of the Commission, based on observations submitted by the mandatory Power, had made certain recommendations for the settlement of this matter in a way which would compensate the consequences of the denial of justice suffered by the Baha'is. He was grateful to the mandatory Power for the details on this subject given in the report, but felt that the Commission would be obliged to point out to the Council that, in actual fact, the Council's recommendations had not produced any result at the time when the mandatory regime came to an end. If the Commission found itself bound to mention this fact, he would be glad if it were also found possible to add that the accredited representative had confirmed what was said in the report Ñ namely, that an arrangement was in sight which would be acceptable to the Baha'is and that it might be hoped that the tIr~qi Government would take the recommendations of the Council into ac Ñ count and would endeavor to apply this solution in the near future. Although he had not insisted on his previous question, he felt bound to insist upon this one, because it had arisen in the course of the mandatory regime and ought to have been settled long before the expiration of that regime. [p356] 356 THE BAHA'I WORLD "Captain Holt said that, up to the time of the termination of the mandate, the representatives of the mandatory Power had kept in the closest touch with the question. The position with regard to the Baha'i houses at the time of the termination of the mandate had been described by M. Flood at the twenty-second session of the Commission. Since then, direct conversations Ñ which could hardly be called negotiations Ñ had taken place between the Baha'i representatives and the CIr~qi Government. It was difficult for him to give any account of what had passed at these conversations, because no representatives of the United Kingdom Government had participated in them. As far as he was aware, however, the CIfliqi Government fully intended to carry out the arrangement reached, but not executed, before the expiry of the mandate. The whole question had now become one of town planning. The idea was that the Baha'i houses should form a small square and that the roads should pass round them. The buildings themselves would be adapted for public use, probably as a dispensary. CCM Gas referred to the sentence in sec tion 7: "a solution acceptable to the Baha'i had been found." Did that mean that this solution should be regarded as having been, in fact, accepted by the Baha'i "Captain Halt said that the solution described to the Mandates Commission at the twenty-second session had been accepted by the Baha'i representative. He did not know if it had been modified subsequently in its details, but the tlr4qi Government was bound by its pledge to carry out the general lines of the plan reached under the auspices of the mandatory regime. ttM. Rappard said that the Mandates Commission had found itself in a situation of great difficulty in the matter of the Assyrians and these Baha'i houses. The tlrftqi Government, when under the mandatory regime, had contracted a moral debt. Now that 'Idiq had been emancipated, the Commission had been deprived of its right to press the claim, but that fact had not suppressed the debt. "Captain Holt said that M. Rappard's metaphor might be extended still further, in that the duty of collecting the debt had passed to another body." CIRAQ OBSERVATIONS OF THE COMMISSION 'rHE Commission examined the following draft: 'The Commission took note of the report submitted by the Government of the United Kingdom on the administration of cIrAq during the period January 1st to October 3rd, 1932, on which date the mandatory regime in that territory came to an end and the country was admitted as~ a Member of the League. The representative whom the cx-mandatory Power had placed at the Commission's disposal gave further information verbally in reply to the questions put to him. CAS last year, and for the same reasons, the Commission has refrained from submitting to the Council observations on the administration of tlr&q during the first nine months of 1932. It merely calls the Coun-cii's attention to the minutes of the meetings at which this territory was dealt with. cNevertheless the Commission feels bound to point out to the Council ta toutes fins utiles' that, at the time of expiration of the mandatory regime in tlrAq, the question of the reparation due to the Community of the Baha'i for the denial of justice of which it was the victim had not yet been actually settled, although the community concerned had reason to believe that an arrangement to which it had subscribed would be brought into application.' "Count Dc Penha Garcia observed that, from the draft text of the observations, it appeared that the Commission had discussed oniy the Baha'i question, which, in his view, did not merit more attention than certain other matters which arose in connection with the last report of the ex-mandatory Power just examined by the Commission. Consequently, it would be preferable merely to [p357] CASE OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S HOUSE IN BAGHDAD 357 mention the Baha'i problem in the body of the statement, The fact that the Council's attention was drawn to the Minutes of the meetings at which tlrAq had been discussed should suffice. ttM. Rappard, supported by Lord Lugard, thought that the observations should state that various points bad arisen, including that of the Baha'i. "Mile. Dannevig asked why, if the Commission referred to the Baha'i problem, no mention was made of the Assyrian problem. ccThe Chairman replied that the situation with regard to the latter was different. The Commission had discussed the question of the Assyrians last November Ñ that was to say, after the expiration of the mandatory regime in tldq Ñ in accordance with a request made by the Council in September, 1932. Consequently, the Commission's recommendations with regard to the Assyrians were subsequent to the termination of the mandatory regime. CCM. Rappard drew attention to the difference between the two cases: no international onal tribunal was any longer cognisant of the Baha'i question, whereas the Council had the question of the Assyrians before it. ~tM. De Hailer (Mandates Section) explained that the Commission had examined the petitions of the Assyrians after the termination of the mandate only because it had definitely been requested to do so by the Council. Had it not been so requested, it might be doubted whether the Commission would have had any power to examine them. ccLord Lugard thought that it was not sufficient merely to draw attention to the Minutes. The Minutes would be read, it was hoped, in any case; but, in view of the still unfulfilled promise regarding the Baha'i, he thought that mention should be made of that case. If the Commission said nothing about the Assyrians, that was because the problem was before the Council. ttAfter an exchange of views, the Commission adopted, with certain amendments, the final text to be submitted to the Council (Annex 17)." ANNEX 17 EXTRACT FROM THE MANENT MANDATES COUNCIL OF THE L ~IRAQ 'lURE Commission took note of the report submitted by the Government of the United Kingdom on the administration of tIr~q during the period January 1st-October 3rd, 1932, on which date the mandatory regime in that territory came to an end and tIr~q was admitted as a Member of the League. The representative whom the ex-mandatory Power had accredited to the The information communicated to the Permanent Mandates Commission by its Chairman, as noted in the Minutes of the 24th Session of the Commission quoted on REPORT OF THE PER-COMMISSION MMISSION TO THE EAGUE OF NATIONS Commission gave further information verbally in reply to the questions put to him. "Th Commission has refrained from submitting to the Council detailed observations on the administration of tlniq during the first nine months of 1932. It merely calls the Council's attention to the Minutes of the meetings at which this territory was dealt with for the last time, and, in particular, to the passages relating to the community of the Baha'is." III. NOTE page 00 supra, was contained in an informal report to the Commission made by two representatives of the Baha'is sent by the Guardian of the Cause to Baghdad in February, [p358] 358 THE BAHA'I WORLD 1933, in connection with the case of the Baha'i Houses. The members of this mission were Mountfort Mills and Marjory Morten. It was sent specifically to establish a direct relationship between the Baha'is and the new State of tIMq, declared an independent Sovereignty and full member of the League of Nations on the 3rd of October, 1932. Until that date negotiations in the matter had been carried on exclusively through Great Britain, the Mandatory Power under the League of Nations for the former Mandated Territory of ~Ir~q. These negotiations were conducted chiefly through the several British High Commissioners for tlr&q under the Mandate. The last High Commissioner, Sir Francis Humphrys, G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.J.E., is now British Ambassador to the new State of tlr4q and the thorough knowledge of the case of the Baha'i Houses gained while High Commissioner he kindly placed at the service of the mission unofficially. This was greatly appreciated. The American Minister to tlriq, Mr. Knabenschue, also gave most useful unofficial aid. And throughout its stay in Baglid~id the mission worked in close co Ñ operation with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of tIr~q, which rendered invaluable assistance through its devoted President, H~ji Mahrniid QassAbchi and Mirza Effendi Vakil. The mission was received with the utmost courtesy by His Late Majesty King Feisal and NAn PAsh~ Satid, Minister for Foreign Affairs of cIr~q. Two audiences were granted by His Majesty notwithstanding his preoccupation with a concurrent crisis of a grave nature in his Cabinet. The results of these conferences were substantially as stated by the Chairman of the Permanent Mandates Commission in the passage from its Minutes already referred to. It should, however, be pointed out that the promise given by His Majesty was based upon an earlier written assurance to the High Commissioner for tlr6q from Ja!far P~ish& AlcAskari, as Acting Prime Minister of cIr&q, in a letter dated the 19th of January, 1932. And it is only fitting, besides being a pleasure, to record in addition the gracious hospitality offered to the mission by His Majesty; his breadth of view and frankness in discussion, especially concerning the difficulties he had met with in trying to solve the problem of the Houses, and the impression of deep sincerity which he made when pledging his word, ccma parole d'honneur," that the settlement agreed upon with the Baha'is would be carried out. This pledge was made in the presence of his Minister for Foreign Affairs, who added his own promise to that of His Majesty and stated, too, that the Prime Minister of tlr&q, Rashid tAli Big GiUni, had given his assurance that the promise made by Jatfar P~sh& Al 'Askari in his letter to the High Commissioner of the 19th of January, 1932, above mentioned, would be executed by the Government of C1y~q It seemed, therefore, that at last the long sought ending of this difficult matter was within sight, and the members of the mission, in txwn, promised His Majesty to give this encouraging information to the League of Nations, which still had the case under consideration. This latter promise was fulfilled through the report made by the mis-non to the Permanent Mandates Commission. Since these promises were exchanged the untimely death of King Feisal has intervened. 'What this sad event will mean in the future development of the case it is at present too early to foresee. But the profoundly regrettable fact must be accepted that a wise and powerful influence which recognized and was genuinely seeking to give effect to the justice of the Baha claim has been removed from the scene. Favorable indications for the future, however, are found in the solemn assurance given by the young King Gh&zi as he ascended the throne of tlriq that it would be his aim to carry on the policies of his illustrious father: and the then existing Government pledged itself to the same purpose. Also, NPri P6shi Sacid, who is still Minister for Foreign Affairs, has loyally confirmed the promise of his late Sovereign and his own. This confirmation was made in the presence of his colleague, Y4sin P&shi Hishimi, at that time Minister of Finance of tIr~q, when both were representing tlr&q in Geneva at the meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations held in October, 1933. Furthermore, it is reliably reported that the prelimi [p359] CASE OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S HOUSE IN BAGHDAD 359 nary work on the proposed new North Bridge across the River Tigris in Baghd4d has been begun. This accords with the promise of His Late Majesty, who also said that the money for the complete construction of the bridge was then already on hand. So, despite the long succession of disappointments which has deferred the settlement of the case, culminating in the tragic death of King Feisal at the very moment when he had promised his great power and authority in support of the Baha'i claim, the situation disclosed by the foregoing facts seems to justify the belief that His Majesty King GhSzi and the Government of tlr4q will honor the pledge of his personal word given by the dead King. MOUNTFORT MILLS. Iv. MANDATES UNDER THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS B~ QUINCEY WRIGHT (Member of the Faculty of the University of Chicago. Published by the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. June, 1930. A!! rights reserved.) Quotation page 204 is the oniy reference to the Baha'is. AT the twelfth session ~Ir~tq was again considered by the Commission, and information was requested on the protection of Minorities suggested by the League s commission on the Mosul dispute and on economic equality with respect to the customs drawback law of 1926 and various oil concessions. The extension of the Anglo-Persian oil concession to 1996 was approved at the fourteenth session, but on this occasion, examination of a petition from the Baha'is indicated a serious denial of justice" arising from tcreligious fanaticism" and Cta weakening of the Mandatory's control." The Mandatory was called upon to "redress" the wrong "without delay" and the incident pre-dis-. posed the Commission against further reduction of the Mandatory's control as proposed by the draft Anglo-tlr&q treaty of December 14, 1927. At the sixteenth session Great Britain announced the abandonment of the treaty and its intention to recommend the admission of CJrAq to the League in l932.~ 40a League of Nations Council Minutes, XIV, 247, 264, 270, 276; XVI, 183, 203. [p360] BAHA'I CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS FOREWORD B~ DR. J. B. ESSLEMONT From Baha'u'llah and the New Era AMONG different peoples and at different times many different methods have been adopted for the measurement of time and fixing of dates, and several different calendars are still in daily use, e. g., the Gregorian in Western Europe, the Julian in many countries of Eastern Europe, the Hebrew among the Jews, and the Mul?ammadan in Muslim countries. The B&b signalized the importance of the dispensation which He came to heAld, by inaugurating a new calendar. In this, as in the Gregorian Calendar, the lunar month is abandoned and the solar year is adopted. The Baha'i year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i. e., 361 days), with the addition of certain tcintercalary days" (four in ordinary and five in leap years) between the eighteenth and nineteenth months in order to adjust the calendar to the solar year. The Mb named the months after the attributes of God. The Baha'i New Year, like the ancient Persian New Year, is astronomically fixed, commencing at the March equinox (March 21st), and the Baha era commences with the year of the Bib's declaration (i. e., 1844 A.D., 1260 A.H.). In the not far distant future it will be necessary that all peoples in the world agree on a common calendar. It seems, therefore, fitting that the new age of unity should have a new calendar free from the objections and associations which make each of the older calendars unacceptable to large sections of the world's population, and it is difficult to see how any other arrangement could exceed in simplicity and convenience that proposed by the Mb. BAHA'I( FEASTS, ANNIVERSARIES AND DAYS OF FASTING Feast of Ridvan (Declaration of Baha'u'llah), April 21-May 2, 1863• Feast of Nawruz (New Year), March 21. Declaration of the Bib, May 23, 1844. Fete Day of tAbdu'1-Bah&, November 26. Birth of Baha'u'llah, November 12, 1817. Birth of the ETh, October 20, 1819. Birth of tAbdu'1-Ba1A, May 23, 1844. Ascension of Baha'u'llah, May 29, 1892. Martyrdom of the BTh, July 9, 1850. Ascension of tAbdu'1-Ba1A, November 28, 1921. Fasting season lasts 19 days beginning with the first day of the month of cA14~, March 2 Ñ the feast of Nawruz follows immediately after. 360 [p361] Days 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Month 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th BAHA'I CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS 361 Additional Material Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II), Regarding the Ba/id' i Calendar The Badic Calendar (Baha'i Calendar) has been taken by me from the rrKitdb4Asmd~,~~ one of the works written by the Bib. As I have observed in these days that certain believers are inclined to regard the year in which Baha'u'llah departed from BaghdAd to Constantinople as marking the beginning of the Badi' Calendar, I have requested Mirza Aq~ Jan, the arnenuensis of Baha'u'llah, to ascertain His will and desire concerning this matter. Baha'u'llah answered and said: ~The year sixty A.fl. (1844 A.D.), the year of the Declaration of the Bib, must be regarded as the beginning of the Mdit Calendar.' The Declaration of the Bib took place on the evening preceding the fifth day of Jam6Ai-yu'1-Avval, of the year 1260 A.H. It has been ordained that the solar calendar be followed, and that the vernal Equinox, the day of Nawruz, be regarded as the New Year's Day of the Badit Calendar. The year sixty, in which the fifth day of Jamidiyu'1-Avval Arabic Name Ja151 JamM KamM Eid6il (liii IstijiM Isnql6l The names of follows: coincided with the sixty-fifth day after Naw-Riiz, has accordingly been regarded as the first year of the Badic Calendar. As in that year, the day of Nawruz, the vernal Equinox, preceded by sixty-six days the date of the Declaration of the Bab, I have therefore, throughout my history, regarded the Naw Ñ Riiz of the year sixty-one Ad-I. (the NAWRUZ immediately following the Declaration of the Bib) as the first Nawruz of the Badi~ Calendar. I have accordingly considered the Naw-Riiz of this present year, the year 1306 AS-I., which is the 47th solar year after the Declaration of the Bab, as the 46th Nawruz of the Badit Calendar. Soon after Baha'u'llah had left the fortress of cAkk~ and was dwelling in the house of Malik, in that city, He commanded me to transcribe the text of the Badic Calendar and to instruct the believers in its details. On the very day in which I received His command, I composed, in verse and prose, an exposition of the main features of that Calendar and presented it to Him. The versified copy, being now unavailable, I am herein transcribing the version in prose. The days of the week are named as follows: English Name Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Translation Glory Beauty Perfection Grace Justice Majesty Independence the months, which are the same as the days of each month, are as Arabic Name Baha JalAl Jamtil tAzamat Rabmat Ka1im~t KamM Asm&' tlzzat Mashiyyat Translation Splendor Glory Beauty Grandeur Light Mercy Words Perfection Names Might Will First Days March 21st April 9th April 28th May 17th June 5th June 24th July 13th August 1st August 20th September 8th September 27th [p362] Map showing Travels of the Bab and Baha'u'llah. 362 [p363] Month 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th Arabic Name Ii Qudrat Qawi Masi'il Sharaf Sultin Mulk CA1i~ BAHA'I CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS 363 Translation Knowledge Power Speech Questions Honor Sovereignty Dominion Loftiness First Days October 16th November 4th November 23rd December 12th December 31st January 19th February 7th March 2nd Ayy~m-i-H4 (Intercalary Days) February 26th to March 1st inclusive Ñ four in ordinary and The first day of each month is thus the day of Baha, and the last day of each month the day of 'AU'. The BTh has regarded the solar year, of 365 days, 5 hours, and fifty odd minutes, as consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of certain intercalary days. He has named the New Year's Day, which is the Day of Naw-Riiz, the day of Baha, of the month of Baha. He has ordained the month of cA14~ to be the month of fasting, and has decreed that the Day of NAWRUZ should mark the termination of that period. As the Bab did not specifically define the place for the four days and the fraction of a day in the BadiC Calendar, the people of the Baydn were at a loss as to how they should regard them. The revelation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas in the city of tAkk~ resolved this problem and settled the issue. Baha'u'llah designated those days as the "A' iH4" and ordained that they should immediately precede the month of tAU' which is the month of fasting. He enjoined upon His followers to devote these days to feasting, rejoicing, and charity. Immediately upon the termination of these intercalary days, Baha'u'llah ordained the month of fasting to begin. I have heard it stated that 1. Alif 2. B~' tAb 4. DM 5. Mb 6. V~v 7. Abad 8. J~d 9. Baha 10. Hubb A. Father. D. Gate. V. Eternity. Generosity. Splendor. Love. some of the people of the Baydn, the fob lowers of Mirza Yaby~, have regarded these intercalary days as coming immediately after the month of tAl?, thus terminating their fast five days before the day of Naw-Riiz. This, notwithstanding the explicit text of the Baydn which states that the day of Naw-Rifiz must needs be the first day of the month of Baha, and must follow immediately after the last day of the month of cA14~ Others, aware of this contradiction, have started their fasting on the fifth day of the month of tAU', and included the intercalary days within the period of fasting. Every fourth year the number of the intercalary days is raised from four to five. The day of Nawruz falls on the 21st of March oniy if the vernal Equinox precedes the setting of the sun on that day. Should the vernal Equinox take place after sunset, Naw-Riiz will have to be celebrated on the following day. The Bab has, moreover, in His writings, revealed in the Arabic tongue, divided the years following the date of His Revelation, into cycles of nineteen years each. The names of the years in each cycle are as follows: 11. Bahh4j 12. JavTh 13. Ahad 14. VahMb 15. VidAd 16. Badi 17. Bali 18. Abh& 19. VA1?id Delightful Answer. Single. Bountiful. Affection. Beginning. Luminous. Most Luminous. Unity. [p364] Map showing Section of route followed by Baha'u'llah on His journey from ]3aghd~d to Constantinople. 364 [p365] BAHA'I CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS 365 Each cycie of nineteen years is called VAhid. Nineteen cycles constitute a period called KuIl-i-Shay'. The numerical value of the word ttVAhid" is nineteen, that of ttKull-i-Shay' " is 361. ~tV612id" signifies unity, and is symbolic of the unity of God. The Mb has, moreover, stated that this system of His is dependent upon the acceptance and good-pleasure of "Him Whom God shall make manifest." One word from Him would suffice either to establish it for all time, or to annul it foreyer. For instance, the date of the 21st of April, 1930, which is the first day of Ri4v&n, and which according to the Kitab-i-Aqdas must coincide with the ccthirteenth day of the second Baha'i month," and which fell this year (1930) on Monday, would, according to the system of the BadE Calendar, be described as follows: t~The day of Kam6i, the day of Qudrat, of the month of Jal4l, of the year Baha, of the fifth Vahid, of the first Kull-i-Shay'." HISTORICAL DATA GLEANED FROM NABIL'S NARRATIVE (VOL. II) REGARDING A. BAGHDAD Works Revealed During This Period arrival latter part Jam4diyu'th-Thini 1269 Al-I. Qullu't-Tat&m March 12 Ñ April 10, 1853, A.D. departure for Sulaym~niyyih on Wednesday, April 10, 1854 A.D. Ñ Rajab 12, 1270 AlL B. SULAYMKN4YYTH Prayers Qa~idiy.-i-VarqA'iyyih Before reaching Sulayrn6niyyih, He lived for a time on the Sar-Gak mountain. Saqiyas-Ghayb-i-Baq~ During His absence from Baghdad, His family transferred their residence from House of H6ji CAIi Madad to that of Sulaym&n-i-Ghan-nam. Nabil arrived at BaghdAd 6 months after Baha'u'llah's departure for Sulaym6niyyih. Tafsir-i-Hunihit-i Sahifiy-i-Shattiyyih C. BAGHDAD Haft-V6Ai (Seven Valleys) arrived from Sulaym~niyyihTafsir-i-Hii on Wednesday, March 19, Lawh-i-HAriyyih 1856 A.D. Ñ Rajab 12, 1272 Kitib-i-fqTh NH. Ka1im&t-i-Makn~nih (Hidden Words) Houses Occupied During This Period House of IjAjitAli-Madad (in old Baglid~d) House of Su1aym~n-i-Ghann~m [p366] 366 THE BAHA'I WORLD C. BACHDAjn Ñ continued departure from Mazratiy-i-Vash-shAsh: Thursday, March 26, 1863 A.D. Ñ Shavv5l 5 1279 A.H. Tablet of the Holy Mariner revealed while in the Mazratiy-i-Vashsh6sh. departure from BaghdAd for Constantinople, Wednesday afternoon (first day of Ridvan), April 22, 1863 A.D.~Dhi~1~Qatdih 3, 1279 A.H. Siiriy-i-Sabr revealed on first day of Ridvan. arrival at Garden of Najibiyyih (Gar-den of Ridvan), April 22, 1863 A.D.~Dhi~1~Qatdih 3, 1279 A.H. arrival of Baha'u'llah's Family at Garden of Ridvan on eighth day after first of Ridvan. departure from Garden of Ridvan for Constantinople last day of Ridvan, at noon on Sunday, May 3, 1863 A.D. Ñ Dhi'I-Qa~dih 14, 1279 A.H. length of overland journey from Garden of Ridvan to Sarnsiin on Black Sea: 110 days. Works Revealed During This Period Sub$6na-Rabbiya'1-At Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand TIar-i-tUj&b Halih Ñ Halih-Y& BisMrat Ghulimu'1-Khuld Bizivu-Bidih-Jimi MallThu'1-Quds (Holy Mariner) S&iy-i-Sabr Houses Occupied During This Period Firayj &, (arrival early afternoon Ñ stayed seven days) arrived on Sunday, May 3, 1863 A.D. Ñ Dhi'I-Qa~dih 14, 1279 A.H. (Firayj~t is about 3 miles distant from Bat. d&d) Judaydili, Dili-tAbMs, Qarili-Tapili, Sal4hiyyih, (stayed two nights) Diist-Khurm~tA, Thwuq, Kark6k, (stayed two days) Irbil, Z4b River, Baha'u'llah, MonA, (stayed 3 days) Z4kh1i Jazirih, Nisibin, Ijasan-Aq&, M~rdin, DiyAr-Bakr, Macdan~Mis, Kh6xpflt, (stayed 2 or 3 days) Matdan-Nuqrih, Dilik-T&sh, Siv6s, Amasia, (stayed 2 days) I1&hiyyih, (while approaching S6.m-s4n, "Lawh-i-Hawdaj" was revealed), (last day of overland journey) S6msi~n, (stayed 7 days) Black Sea port. Sailed in a Turkish steamer about sunset for Constantinople Sinope, (arrived next day about noon) Black Sea port. Stayed few hours Any~bu1i, (arrived next day). [p367] Duration 3 nights 1 week 6 months 1 year 3 months? 11 months BAHA'I CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS 367 D. CONSTANTINOPLE arrival at noon on Sunday, August 16, 1863 A.D. Rabicu~1~Avva1 1, 1280 A.I-I. Length of sea voyage from S~rnsiin to Constantinople 3 days. Length of journey from Constantinople to Adrian-ople 12 days. Works Revealed Dun-Houses Occupied Dur ing This Period ing This Period Subhinika-Y~i-Hii Lawh-i-tAbdu'1-tAziz Va-Vukak House of Shamsi Big (2-storey, near Khir-gih ShaLl? Mosque) House of Visi P~sh4 (3 storey, near Sultan Muhammad Mosque) Duration 1 month 3 months 1. Kikhik-Chakmachih (3 hours from Constantinople Ñ spent one night) 2. Buyiik Ñ Chakmachih (arrival about noon) 3. Salvari 4. E. ADRIANOPLE Works Revealed During This Period arrival on Saturday, December 12, 1863 A.D. Ñ Rajab 1, Law~-i-~ajj 1280 I AM. Length of stay: 4 years, 8 months, KitTh-i-Badit 22 days. Siiriy-i-Muliik (Tablet Length of overland journeyof the Kings) from Constantinople to Adri-anople: Siiriy-i-Amr 12 days. Siiriy-i--Damrn Departure from Alv&ii-i-Laylatu'1-Quds Add-anople on Mun&j ~thiy-i-Siyim (Prayers Wednes Ñ day,Augustfor Fasting) 12, 1868 A.D. Ñ Rabitu'th-Thini Law~ Ñ i-Sayy~h 22 1285 A.H. Law~-i-N4u1yiin I (First Tablet to Napoleon Ill) Lawh-i-Su1t~n (Tablet to the ShTh of Persia) Lawh-i-Nuq~ih Houses Occupied During This Period 1. KMn-i--tArAb (caravanserai, two-storey, near house of CIzz~t~jjg~) 2. House in Mur&diyyih quarter, near Tak-yiy-i-Mawlavi 3. House in MurAdiyyih quarter, near house 2 4. KMniy-i-Amru'llAh (several stories, near Sult6n-Salim Mosque) 5. House of Ridi Big 6. House of Amru'llAh (3 storey. North of Sultan-Sal un Mosque) 7. House of ~Izzat-Aq~ [p368] Duration 2 years, 2 months, 5 days 3 months 2 or 3 months 368 THE BAHA'I WORLD 1. Uziin-Kupri 2. KasMnih, (arrived about noon. Lawh-i-Ra'is (Tablet of Ra'is) was revealed in this place) j (length of journey from Adrianople to Gallipoli about 4 days) 3. Gallipoli ~ (after a few days' stay sailed before noon in Austrian steamer for Alexandria, Egypt) 4. Madelli, (arrived about sunset Ñ left at night) 5. Smyrna, (stayed 2 days, left at night) 6. Alexandria, (arrived in the morning, transhipped and left at night for Haifa) 7. Port Said, (arrived morning, left the same day at night) 8. Jaff a, (left at midnight) 9. Haifa, (arrived in the morning, landed and after a few hours left on a sailing vessel for tAkk~) F. tAKKA arrival on Monday, August 31, A.D. 186 8 Ñ Jam6xliyu'1-Anal Anal 12, 1285 A.H. Purest Branch died on Thursday, June 23, 1870 A.D.~~Rabicu~1~ Avval 23, 1287 A.H. Passed away May 29, 1892 A.D. Works Revealed During This Period Lawh-i-Napulyian II (2nd Tablet to Napoleon III) Lawh-i-Malikih (Tablet to Queen Victoria) Lawh-i-Malik.-i-Riis (Tablet to the Czar) S&iy-i-Haykal Lawh-i-BurBin Lawh-i-Ibn-i-Dhi'b (Epistle to Son of the Wolf) Lawh-i-Np (Tablet to the Pope) Houses Occupied During This Period 1. Barracks 2. House of Malik 3. House of R4biCih 4. House of Mansi5r 5. House of CAbb~d (where KitTh Ñ i-Aq-das was revealed) 6. Mazr&ih 7. Qasr (Mansion, where He passed away) [p369] Young Baha'is of Baha. Picture taken near the spot blessed by the declaration of Baha'u'llah's mission in the Ri~1vdn garden. In the center is Miss Sarah Baghdddi, first and only Baha'i nurse in the hospital now established upon this historic site. [p370] YOUTH ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE BAHA' WORLD 1. SURVEY OF YOUTH ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE BAHA'I WORLD 'THIS is an age of contrast in which we live. Perhaps there is none more striking than that between the emphasis placed upon youth, and the responsibilities in fact assumed by young people. Especially is this true in America. Volumes of words have been written, hundreds of groups formed; every commentator on the current spectacle lauds or bewails youth; the older generation enjoins them to assume the woes that have engulfed the world; young people themselves talk with fervor of their opportunities. Everyone expects that youth will act. But youth has not acted. Intentions, when there were any, have been dissipated in talk. And as for the most of young America, they have had too much fun to bother. In Europe the situation may be somewhat otherwise. A strange and compelling movement visited Germany immediately after the war, and gave rise to the now famous Youth Movement. Since that time, young people have distinguished themselves both for their follies and their energy. Indisputably, they have formed the strength of the parties of such men as Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler. But that a portion of them have been lacking in essential qualities must be deduced from such criticisms of society as those, for example, of Jos6 Ortega y Gasset. This acute and brilliant Spaniard is unrelenting in his condemnation, having written: "This fighting-shy of every obligation partly explains the phenomenon, half ridiculous, half disgraceful, of the setting-up in our days of the platform of ~youth' as youth. Perhaps there is no more grotesque spectacle offered by our times."1 But if the hopes of maturer men have so 1 The Revolt of the Masses, Chap. XV. far been misplaced, they have not been unjustified. Nothing is more natural than to expect that in these difficult times even children must lay aside their playthings, while men and women in their first strength will muster every talent to the answering of our supreme challenge. It is as bewildering as it is disappointing to have to admit that a sound expectation has still to find some response in the actions of young people. In the light of this universal condition, Baha'is must note with eagerness an undercurrent which is just now growing up. All over the Baha world, there has been a development of interest in the possibilities of youth work. One can almost date the tendency. The beginning of the year 1933 saw the establishment of the Baha Youth Committee of the United States and Canada, while groups were organized in London and Basbd~d, and in what other places one cannot tell. The data is unfortunately limited. But one may hazard a guess that the movement is sound and genuine, genuine because, perhaps, it rests directly upon a remarkable and historic letter from the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, enunciating the goal of a New World Order. It does not appear ridiculous nor even improbable that this ideal Ñ and this alone Ñ is capable of engaging the enthusiasm of a generation not at all insensitive to the character of our modern world. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that already Baha'is may note a response worthy of the hopes of Shoghi Effendi. In January, 1933, one of his letters was printed in the Herald of the South. ccTh movement," he wrote, "js in need of young people, who have been spiritually awakened, to arise and stem the tide of a material civilization that has brought mankind to the verge of ruin. .370 [p371] Baha'i Youth group of London, England. [p372] 372 THE BAHA'I WORLD Should the forces, now playing havoc with society, be let loose, should we neglect our duty to check them and bring them under our control, no man dare imagine what the future will bring. "It is upon the young people that the greatest suffering will fall. They should, therefore, mobilize their ranks, and, with one accord, arise and consummate their task and establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth." It is the purpose of this survey to indicate, although incompletely, the nature of the activities now being undertaken by young Baha'is. THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. At various times in the past few years, the National Spiritual Assembly has attempted to inaugurate some type of action among younger believers, but never with any great success. At last, however, a mechanism has been evolved which it is hoped will perpetuate itself and stimulate growth. In February, 1932, a Baha'i Youth Committee was announced, the purpose of which was to "make a study of the range of activities suitable for Baha'i young people and to recommend plans and programs to be carried out by Baha'i Youth Committees to be appointed by Local Spiritual Assemblies." Upon the receipt of a preliminary report, the National Spiritual Assembly named a National Committee of six members for the year 193334, issuing at the same time a call for appointments of local Committees. The organization is to be of the simplest, with a large flexibility gained through local solution of most problems. The national body, as at present envisioned, is of course directly responsible to the National Spiritual Assembly. It will also attempt to advise local youth groups, assist in the working out of their programs, disseminate news of mutual interest, and maintain a high standard of effort and enthusiasm. The Guardian has also indicated a larger field of work, in a letter addressed to the Committee in August, 1933. His secretary wrote: ctThere are two important points which Shoghi Effendi would like you always to emphasize. In the first place he would strongly urge you to cooperate, heart and soul, with all the various assemblies, groups and committees throughout the Baha'i world, to ask for their assistance and help for the successful discharge of your duties and obligations, and in this way to try to build up an active and ready mind among the Baha'i youth throughout the world. In other words, you should not confine your activities to the national sphere but should strive to create under the supervision of your National Spiritual Assembly an international body of active young Baha'i men and women who, conscious of their manifold and sacred responsibilities, will unanimously arise to spread the Holy Word. The second point which the Guardian wishes you to stress and to keep always in mind is the necessity for every loyal and active member of your committee to fully concentrate on the thorough study and understanding of the spiritual and administrative principles of the Faith, as a necessary step for active and fruitful teaching. You should first equip yourselves with the necessary amount of knowledge about the Cause and then, and only then, try to teach." At this writing, it is not possible to say in what manner these instructions will be carried out, but the Committee is impressed by the magnitude and seriousness of the Guardian's purposes. Although the Youth Committee stands at the threshold of its undertakings, there are already established numerous groups throughout the country. It would be quite impossible to describe the nature of these various organizations, although their diversity of method is intriguing and valuable. A few examples, however, may serve as types. New York City has probably the largest group. Its activities are directed by a Committee of seven, elected directly by the young people and approved by the local Assembly. Several kinds of meetings are sponsored, including weekly forums, public symposiums, and social occasions in the nature of teas, literary discussions, musical or dramatic programs, and picnics. At the forum meetings, such subjects as the following are presented, always with a Baha'i emphasis: ttEcclesiasticism and Faith Today," "Youth and a World Superstate," "Molding the Mass Mind," ttCi~C and Cure," [p373] The World Council of Youth. Held iii Pasadena, California, in August, 1932. Many of the younger members of various Baha'i Communities were in attendance at this Conference and rendered valuable services in the interest of World Peace and World Understanding. [p374] 374 THE BAHA'I WORLD "Art, the Pulse of Life," ttChanging Science," "The Marriage Tablets," CCECO. nomic Equity," etc. The symposiums have also been highly successful, attracting a large hearing because they include speakers representative of all schools of thought and of all racial and national groups. The Baha'i young people in Peoria, Illinois, conduct a type of indirect teaching which is most interesting. They have organized a group of high school girls, to the number of sixty, into a CtCharm Culture and Character Club." The principles of their charter were taken directly from that Tablet of Abdu'l-Baha's beginning, "0 army of life Ñ ". Their study for the year 193334 is character as evidenced in the lives of great men, and they are using for a text Albert Vail's book, Heroic Lives. The Baha'is are now planning to organize two more units, one among the grammer school girls and another from the first year high school stu Ñ dents. The work is wholly indirect, but many of the members attracted to the Club are later susceptible to direct teaching. In Honolulu, Hawaii, there are a number of university students who meet weekly to participate in discussions and informal lec-tunng. They began some two years ago as a World Fellowship group, under the guidance of Miss Julia Goldman, but through the study of Esslemont, several have become confirmed and a good many more interested. This group also presents speakers of note, from time to time, placing a public invitation in the campus newspaper. In Inglewood, California, under the auspices of the Los Angeles Assembly, a number of students have been meeting since the spring of 1933, instructing themselves most earnestly, with the help of Mrs. Roxan Allen. Starting with five, they have grown to include sixteen regular members and have loaned their books to some thirty people. The secretary writes, "Our group is a purely study group. We feel that much of our success has been due to the fact that we do not combine study with social activities. In this way we attract only students. At our regular meetings, we read oniy the words of Baha'u'llah and CAbd~1Bh~~~ Perhaps the most interesting development among the American young people has taken place in Montreal, Canada. A full account of the history of that youth group was carried in Volume IV of THE BAaA'i WORLD. Another phase has since appeared which is worthy of comment, because it illustrates in a perfect fashion what should be the ideal achievement of all youth groups: namely, an integration of young Baha'is into mature responsibility in the community. Miss Rosemary Gillies writes: "In Montreal a youth group such as we used to have no longer exists. However, as most of our qualified speakers are young Baha'is, youth predominates at the meetings. Only two of our young people are under twenty-five, while all are serving on Committee actively. The chairman of our Teaching Corn Ñ mince is from our youth group, as well as the chairman, corresponding secretary, and treasurer of our local Spiritual Assembly. Therefore you can easily see that we are in every sense of the word now an integral part of the community, capable and eager to serve. While evolving to this state through the agency of our Youth Group, this has always been our aim and the purpose of the Youth Group Ñ to fit us for responsibility. Whether we could have done this without the medium of our Youth Group is doubtful. The attitude of our local Assembly at this time is to be highly recommended. Never were we under a feeling of constant supervision, but were trusted to carry on our work by ourselves, reporting our activities in the normal way required by all other Baha'i committees. I do not think this liberality or trust was ever violated by the Youth Group. Now we recognize that we are one of these tshifting armies of youth' ; so we are considering the advisability of begin-fling another group for young people between the ages of seventeen and the early twenties. Another phase of youth work which received new emphasis in 1933 was the development of specialized courses of study in the three Summer Schools. In Geyserville, a course of twelve lessons was offered on the Influence of Religion on Society. The subject matter was designed to cover the needs of young people who must be able to meet the intellectual arguments of their contemporaries. The approach was historical and [p375] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 375 social, emphasizing the Baha'i explanation of the prophetic cycle, but including as well an analysis of what are, precisely, the funda-rnentals of any true religion. This study, which was highly successful, grew out of the experience of some of the younger Baha'is in the World Council of Youth, which was held in Pasadena directly after the Olympic Games of 1932. At this conference, Baha'i leaders were able to direct the discussion in such a manner that a thorough groundwork for the presentation of the Cause was laid down by the conferees themselves. But to do this required the historical, social and psychological data which the Geyserville School later attempted to pass on to its students. Knowledge of the trends of current thought, together with a sound knowledge of the Baha Faith, and a facility in discussion method are proving to be impregnable defenses against the insufficient attitudes of modern young people. The Central States Summer School had planned a full program for its younger students. The attendance was so high Ñ twenty-six Ñ that there is a possibility of holding a separate conference for them in 1934, the facilities of the schooi being limited to sixty. The work was under the guidance of Mrs. Dorothy Baker, who is herself young and unbelievably successful in this field. Classes were held in the morning, recreations in the afternoons, and in the evenings the young Baha'is took entire charge of the programs for the adults. Mrs. Baker writes, "I can honestly say that in the two years we have specialized on the young people at Louhelen, we have witnessed a unity impossible to describe." All of the students, including an atheist and several strangers to the Cause, left the School with a new enthusiasm, and with complete devotion to the leadership of Baha'u'llah. The details of the program at Green Acre have not been received, but there too a special effort was made to attract the young Baha'is, and a dinner meeting was held which was most impressive to all in attendance. The National Convention in June, 1933, cannot be ignored, for it was at this time that another dinner occurred which will long remain in the minds of all Baha'i young people. Ninety-nine persons were there. It was the final gathering of the Convention, and the final dedication of the sincerdst loyalties of the younger believers. It marked, too, the real inauguration of the campaign of Baha'i youth in America to awaken their contemporaries to the significance of our age, to energize them in service to the new world order, and to lead them in the end to the sure and friendly haven of Baha'u'llah's guidance and protection. If the record of developments among young American believers arouses a sense of expectancy, no less impressive is the survey of the international scene. The Guardian's objective, ttan international body of active young Baha'i men and women," builds from a foundation of considerable strength, even in this early period. Although reports have not been received from all groups, it is interesting to note conditions in the following countries. ENGLAND; In London a Baha'i Youth Group was started in January, 1933. Numbering six in the beginning, the group now lists twenty voting members, all of whom are Baha'is, governing their activities through a General Committee of nine and three sub-commit-tees on Meetings, Hospitality and Propaganda. Their weekly programs alternate between a study of Nabil's Narrative and a general meeting, at which subjects of public interest are discussed and related to the teachings of Baha'u'llah. This group has been exceptionally successful with its social activities. Two plays, written by a Persian Baha'i student, were acted and an attendance of two hundred registered for one of the performances. In August the group arranged a Summer School, taking a bungalow at Shoreham. Eight were able to attend, studying under the direction of Mr. Baha'i, chairman of the Youth Group. "The lectures were based on the cultural and social evolution of man since the very early days of Christ, touching briefly on the effect of Christianity upon the world, and following events to the birth of Muhammad, with special emphasis on Islamic cuLture and civilization right up to the time of the Bab and Baha'u'llah." [p376] Baha'i Youth Group committee, Tihdn, Persia. [p377] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 377 The secretaray writes: "The young people are very earnest, study apart from the meetings, and we are always receiving fresh ideas from one or the other to make the group a success.~~ The National Spiritual Assembly also sponsors a youth group in Manchester, whose activities at present are centered around an Esperanto class. FRANCE. In France, although some fifty Persian Baha'i students have come to attend the various universities, they are so scattered that no organization is possible except in Paris. Here they have formed an Oriental Students' Union whose members cooperate actively with the local Baha'is. The students also maintain their own weekly meetings, with the help of Miss Edith Sanderson. Since not more than twenty of the members of the Union live in Paris, annual conferences are called. ctTh aim of the conferences is to exchange views and to initiate them into the ways of developing the Cause in Europe and especially the way in which it is possible to attract the university youth to the Cause." The coining meeting, which is to be held during the Christmas holidays of 1933, promises to be very fine. Not only will all of the Persian members from the provinces reunite, but the Union has invited the young people of other countries to attend, and the participation of the London Youth Group is assured. The Union fulfills a most necessary function for Baha'i students in France, and contributes as well to the growth of understanding between the friends of Persia and Europe. And that is, as the secretary says, "our final aim and hope." GERMANY. Dr. Hermann Grossmann writes this interesting comment from Germany: "As the new government (Nazi) in Germany has collected the different youth movements in Germany under the leadership of a special state commissioner, there is in fact no private youth-work in Germany now and it is for this reason that no report can be published in THE BAHA'I WORLD." HUNGARY. Word comes from the Geneva Bureau of four young Ba1A'is who are trying to form a group in Gydr. At present, they are greatly handicapped by local conditions, but it is cheering to know of their efforts. They write: cdt is impossible to get up any meetings in our city for fear of having trouble. One could develop a certain activity among the intellectuals, but iack of translated literature hinders the work in spite of good will. We are therefore now looking for correspondents for our little group in all parts of the world; for this reason we would be grateful if you would send us addresses of local groups and individuals, and Ñ what is the most important to us Ñ addresses of different translators of Baha'i literature." The address of the secretary is: Mr. Nicolas Erdelyi, KAlvAria u. 21, Gybr, Hungary. 'IRAQ One of the most impressive accounts has been sent from BaghdAd, and its interest is so great that we are printing the report almost verbatim. The secretary, Mr. Jamil I. Baglidadi, writes: "The early summer months of 1933 found the Baha'i community of Baghd~id alive with a considerable number of enthusiastic Baha'i young men, eager to volunteer their services to the worldwide Cause of Baha'u'llah. This remarkable new spirit of enthusiasm and responsibility for the progress of the Faith, felt among the youths, is undoubtedly a divine outpouring of the Holy Spirit. By suggestion of the local Spiritual Assembly of Baghdad, a group of about thirty young men assembled and, having discussed the question as to the best manner whereby they could promote the interests of the Faith, concluded that it was advisable to formulate and adopt a set of bylaws for the efficient conduct of their endeavours and the proper organization of their activities. A committee of three, appointed for the purpose, submitted certain rules which were accepted by the body of the young men and approved by the Spiritual Assembly of Baghd6d. The following are among the outstanding articles: [p378] The Karachi Young Men's Baha'i Association. [p379] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 379 1. The purpose of the Baha'i Youth Committee shall be to assist the said Assembly of Baghdad in its efforts, and to carry ~ its decisions. 2. Every member of the Baha'i Youth Committee is urged and expected to make regular monthly contributions to the Committee's own fund. 3. The age of the voting members shall be above 19 and below 40 years. 4. The Baha'i Youth Committee shall elect an administrative body of nine, which shall consist of a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and five other inem Ñ hers. "The activities that the Committee are undertaking are many and diversified. They include: teaching Baha'i children; welcoming and serving pilgrims to and from the Holy Land; running the library; arranging and presiding over the weekly meetings; delivering talks; translating into Arabic the Guardian's translation of the Dawn-Break-ers, circular Letters from Assemblies, certain articles from the Baha'i World, Baha'i Magazine and Baha'i News; corresponding with solitary believers in different parts of tlr:tq, as well as with Baha'i groups throughout the world; and last but not least, teaching the Cause to young interested souis. "It is rejoicing to say that several young people have accepted the Baha'i Teachings this year, and there are some who are about to do so. "N(~e hope that this feeling of responsibility and of assuming a leading part in the construction of the World Order of Baha'u'llah will dominate the life of every devoted and faithful young man and woman throughout the Baha'i world." JAPAN. There are no youth groups in Japan, due apparently to the fact that "the youth of Japan are strongly turning, or have been turning for a good many years, to the Communist ideas." Baha'is have reason to make note of this tendency, and of the qualities of mind which have contributed to its development. A correspondent states that the ideas are "very widespread." "Hundreds of students are in prison. The policy of the police has been such as to increase the fire of communism among the students even though they dared not express it. I would say the majority (of the young Japanese) are serious minded. The youth find the religions of today out of date, from which they gather nothing to help them solve the present day problems. Some years ago a professor of the Imperial University who is internationally known said to me that it was not the better part of the students but the best of them who were willing to sacrifice themselves, knowing they would not be able to get positions afterwards. The great gap between the rich and poor and also the lack of sympathy of the rich has been the greatest cause of the spreading of communistic ideas, and people who did not acknowledge themselves as communists yet held sympathy for them in a surprising way." The observer then adds, ~ am very fond of the students in Japan. I have been able to reach them through teaching in some of their English speaking classes. It was most wonderful how the students themselves would suggest talking of the Baha'i teachings or of Baha'u'llah, asking me to tell them more. NEW ZEALAND. The prospects for youth activity in Australia and New Zealand have been analyzed by Mr. Bertram Dewing: "The Baha'i Cause in these lands does not contain many young people as yet, although there are indications that this deficiency will ere long be remedied. The Auckland Assembly, and the Sydney Assembly both possess a few active young Baha'is and it is hoped they will be able to establish groups fairly soon. Wellington, Perth and Brisbane, where there are groups oniy, each contain young Baha'is Only Adelaide has an active Baha'i youth group which has been in existence now for about two years. ttThe prospects of interesting young people in these lands is probably not much less bright than elsewhere, although on the face of it, it would appeai that there are a nuin-ber of severe handicaps. The climate is so mild even in winter, and outdoor and indoor pleasures so numerous, that the opportuni [p380] 380 THE BAHA'I WORLD ties for serious thought are greatly reduced. In view of this, it would seem that any group to be really successful must be able to adapt itself to these conditions by organizing frequent picnics, hikes and so on. Another drawback is the lack of a more liberal education. The great social problems of the day from the viewpoint of the internationalist are scarcely touched upon, although Australia probably suffers less in this respect than New Zealand. Spiritual teaching is gravely neglected in the government schools and the University Colleges of New Zealand do not even have courses in comparative religion. The consequence is that when young people do think, they are led either to support emotional reactionary evangelical movements, or to discount the value of religion altogether and to confine their efforts to flash-in-the-pan political panaceas that may or may not be highly radical. Nevertheless, there are compensations. The very isolation of these lands is a guarantee that the young people will grow up free from the violent national prejudices that afflict the older countries of the world; the perfect climate builds two of the healthiest groups on the face of the globe; and the absence of religious teaching is an invitation to the young people to investigate for themselves. In New Zealand of late, there are definite indications that the people are taking matters into their own hands and are determined to create educational facilities to provide themselves with a broader and more spiritual culture. One of these indications is the astonishing growth of dramatic clubs; the other is the creation of the New Zealand People's University Movement. This movement is based on the Danish Folk Schools and aims to establish residential colleges in the country where the people are taught to acquire a iove of knowledge and to have an open mind upon all matters, even upon religion. The young Baha'is in Auckland are supporting this movement to the best of their ability.~~ PERSIA. The following account of activities in Tihr&n has been extracted from an article, ttProgress in Persia," printed in THE BANAl MAGAZINE of September, 1932. C(The Baha'i youth of Tihr&n are organized in a club known as cThe Association of Baha Youth.' Mr. A. M. Nabili says: '~ tThis is a sort of a club, but you shall find it a very unique kind of club for it has as its obj&t the training of the young men on the Baha'i lines of organization and preventing their being influenced by the general moral weaknesses.' The club is open to all Baha'i youth from eighteen to forty in age, irrespective of color, nationality and former religious belief. The organization and administration is along Baha'i lines. A Managing Body of nine has charge of all affairs of the association. This Managing Body is chosen by the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly from nineteen who are elected annually by vote of all the members of the club. ttTh varied and far-reaching work of this very active organization is carried on by commissions of nine each appointed by the Managing Body. The names of some of these commissions will give an idea of the scope of the work of the association: The Library and Reading Room Commission, The Educa-don Commission, The Commission for Teaching the Cause, for Glasses in Public Speaking, for Amateur Theatricals, the Sports Commission, the Social and Census Commissions. Other Commissions are Finance, Employment, Assistance, Commercial Institutions, Entertainment. This tClub' is indeed only ta sort of Club.' It would seem to be a whole school and welfare organization combined. ttThe Education Commission organizes classes for teaching English and other languages, arts and craft, music, etc., publishes a bulletin (hung on the wall) every Baha'i month (19 days) called The Message of the Youth,' in which is given news of activities of the Association and articles on the Cause and other useful general subjects. The latest activity of this Commission is the establishment of a class for teaching music on modern lines. This commission also arranges for dialogues on the lives of the Baha'i martyrs and the great servants of the Cause. tA place has been appointed by the commission for Teaching the Cause, very centrally located, where once a week a teacher receives any seekers brought there by mem [p381] Baha'i Youth Group, Manchester, England. Group of ninety-nine young Baha'is participating in a luncheon held during the Convention period (1933) at the Hotel Orrington, Evanston, Illinois, for the purpose of discussing plans for Baha'i work among the youth of the world. 381 [p382] 382 THE BAHA'I WORLD hers of the association. Among the general duties of the members is to bring at least one seeker of truth to this place in the year.' Public conferences on the various teachings of Baha'u'llah are arranged by this commission, leaflets and pamphlets printed and distributed. "A Social and Census Commission keeps a record of the members and is on the lookout for new members." The magnitude of the work undertaken by these young Baha'is in Tihr~n is truly amazing to us in the West. A letter from Mr. Jamsheed Baha'u'llah's of Tabriz, Persia, indicates the same type of activity, executed upon a somewhat smaller scale. SYRIA. Writing from the American University of Beirut, Mr. A. Faizi has contributed a paragraph which may well serve as a summary for the ambitions of all of these young Baha'is, in whatever part of the world they live and work. "The Baha'i students at Beirut form a nucleus of youth that fully believes in a new cycle of human power' to be brought about by putting in practice the heavenly teachings of Baha'u'llah. Armed with the weapons of scientific thinking and of past and current events, and equipped with the spiritual heritage of the Baha'i Faith to which they are jealously devoted, they are preparing themselves to take part in the great labor of constructing a new world order out of the d6bris of the shattered civilization of today. As a matter of fact, every believer must and shall have a task in that great labor." HERALD OF THE SOUTH We cannot ciose this survey of the international scene without some reference to the Baha'i magazine printed in Adelaide, S. A., The Herald of the South. "About two years ago," writes Mr. E. B. M. Dewing, "half the Herald of the South was placed at the disposal of the Baha'i youth of the world. The main objects of the Youth Section are to enable the Baha youth to express themselves individually and as a whole; to encourage them to develop their literary ability; to enable them to become familiar with one another's names and by getting to know one another better, the unity of the Cause will be enhanced. One of the most vital services of this magazine will be that it will help the Baha'i youth to understand their own problems and those of other groups. All Baha'i Assemblies and Youth Groups are invited to make this section a success, and to enable the Cause to contribute some constructive and original thinking to the cause of the world's youth." Mr. Dewing, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand, having recently completed his studies in America, has been appointed editor of the Youth Section. This is the first international magazine to be specialized to the pursuits of young Baha'is, and it is gratifying to know that a medium already exists, through which this rapidly-growing body may express itself. The Guardian has written a note to the American Youth Committee, but it is addressed in a larger sense, we may feel sure, to the whole body of young Baha throughout the world. One could not conceive more invigorating instructions, addressed by a beloved leader to the army of those who desire to be his cclti I warriors." CCYOU are eminently qualified for the work you have undertaken, and you should therefore redouble your efforts and be always thankful, happy and confident. I will constantly pray for your guidance and spiritual advancement. Rest assured, and persevere in your high endeavours." [p383] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 383 THE WORLD COUNCIL OF YOUTH HELD IN PASADENA B~ NELLIE S. FRENCH IT WAS eminently fitting that so much excellence of brawn and such physical prowess as was assembled in Southern California for the celebration of the Tenth Olympiade should find its higher expression subsequent to the athletic contests, in a World Council of Youth for the consideration of intellectual and spiritual matters as well. Thus the World Council of Youth,* conceived in the mind of a brilliant young graduate of the California Institute of Technology, was born and developed remarkable proportions right here under our eyes, and, while independent of the sponsorship of any particular educational institution, it was accorded the hospitality of the Institute of Technology where one of the ioveiy new buildings was placed at its disposal. Practically all of the closed sessions of the Council were held in the Humanities Building except on a few occasions when cordial hospitality was extended from various sources. The age limit of eligibility to participation in the discussions was thirty years, and the oniy adults whose presence was welcomed were those especially invited to shed light upon some given subject, or to act as advisors. Two large public meetings were held, however, one at the opening of the Council, when the aims and plans were announced, and the second at the ciose of the ninth day, in order that the public might be made cognizant of what had transpired during the discussions. But although these meetings were held behind closed doors one could but feel the vibrant forces set astir by the clean, honest, earnest discussions, in which these hundred and more delegates, young men and young women from thirty-four countries, representatives of many races, associated together in a real quest for the means of better international understanding. Pasadena, California, August 1627, 1932. The public meetings were held in the new Civic Auditorium where fifteen hundred or more people attended, evidence sufficient of the interest and enthusiasm with which this new gesture was received. The accompanying photograph, and the resume of proceedings which appears elsewhere, written by an accredited delegate to the Conference, will amply justify the pride and gratification which the writer, as patroness, experienced in having lent a humble share to the success of this unique and significant event. It was a rare privilege merely to meet these splendid, intelligent young people, outstanding representatives of the celebrated universities of China and Japan, of Germany, India and England, and of our own and other countries, all fine looking and some particularly attractive in their native costumes, and all, heart and soui, dedicated to the spirit of service to humanity. When the Council came to an end and the separation took place, there stole over all a cloud of sorrow at the parting of the ways, for a bond of true friendship had been formed which had its roots down deep in the hearts of every participant. Every argument, every difference of opinion, every feeling of strangeness had given place to the most harmonious conclusions, the most respectful consideration, the most lasting friendship. A sameness of purpose had engendered a knowledge of the sameness of ideals and established that incontrovertible proof of human oneness, regardless of color, race or creed. And so we have seen the first 'World Council of Youth come and go, but not without lasting results, for we have also witnessed the organization of a permanent Council with definite plans for a next meeting to follow the Eleventh Olympiade in Berlin in 1936, and we have burnished up the star of hope until it shines radiantly in [p384] 384 THE BAHA'I WORLD our minds with the promise of future glories or mercenary relationships, but upon the law yet untried, and future internationalism yet of justice to all and the consciousness of urn-unknown; unknown; one not founded upon political versal love for God and man. RELIGION AND THE WORLD COUNCIL OF YOUTH B~ MARION HOLLEY B AHA'IS must find a special interest and significance in the proceedings of the World Council of Youth. And particularly they may discover, in a study of its discussions, implications of a method susceptible of sensible development and wide application to the field of spiritual education. The World Council, conceived in the mind of its chairman, Mr. Ray Cromley, as a mental counterpart of the Olympic Games, held its first sessions in Pasadena, at the California Institute of Technology, August 1626, 1932. Out of a total of one hundred and ten delegates, approximately sixty represented nations other than the United States. Among these delegates were numbered men who had worked with Gandhi; one who had suffered imprisonment for pacifism; men outstanding in educational fields in China and Japan; leaders of the European and American Youth Movements; actual participants in the Olympic Games; countless others, renowned and obscure, but each one vibrant with purpose to discover those mutual ambitions and needs which might serve as bonds in a world whose physical proximity demands a spiritual mating. In the words of its chairman: "Youth must learn to face things clearly, to find behind the confusion and the misunderstanding, wrongs to be righted and bridges of friendship and cooperation to be builded. Always, it seems, the standards of education and religion have conflicted with the standards of life Ñ and Youth raised in an idealistic world is flung unprepared into a world of life, whose every purpose seems contrary to that former world. What then is Youth to do Ñ . Ñ reject the teaching of its training, or attempt to inculcate those teachings into life? But were this statement obvious Ñ and it is not Ñ there is yet the question of what education? What religion? 'What life? To answer one of these questions was the direct purpose of the Commission on Religion and Philosophy. To facilitate progress, discussions were divided among four subcommissions, on The Place of Religion in the Life of Today, Comparative Religion, Young People's Methods, and Missionaries. These, after four days, gathered again to attack their problems together. The subject was vast, and time of necessity limited. Yet in a few days, the horizon of religion, distant and vague to a modern mind, divided into questions of concrete and specific import, questions met squarely and shaped into some analysis of value. 'What is religion? Wbat are its indispensable minimums? Is philosophy a sufficient ethical impulse? How are the arguments of a scientific naturalism to be met? Is religion chiefly humanitarianism? 'Will an atheistic order of society be sufficient for the needs of a future world? is religion's present ineffectiveness due to religion, or to man? What relationships are discoverable between the various forms of religion? 'X'~hat must be the essentials of the religion of the modern? Is there any justi Ñ fication for missionary endeavor? What applications has religion to the fields of economics, politics, education? Such were the problems attacked, and in a manner to develop that creative discussion which "represents a faith in the possibility of setting up thought-conditions by which people will find the right ways for themselves." The method is none other than that of group thinking, a process at first alien [p385] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 385 to a collection of individualistic egos, but an ideal much sought after by those who glimpse, in the amalgamation of diverse viewpoint, the possibility of a greater creation than many develop from the lonesome sterility of an isolated mind. Let us not impute a mysterious power or inspiration to rational method. Upon the foundation of share thinking, no structure will rise unproportionate to the dimensions of its base. The scope, profundity and quality of intellectual material inevitably shapes the result; and a well-stocked mind, tolerant and imaginative, may thus alter the whole course of group thought. Here, indubitably, appears the Baha'i opportunity. In the sessions of the Commission on Religion, it was often the privilege of Baha'is to indicate the more comprehensive attitude, to suggest explanations which, in their lucidity and reasonableness, appealed as obvious to delegates not yet informed of our modern Educator. But influence exerted in this manner must never be understood as the imposition of one opinion upon unwilling recipients, nor propaganda seizing unfair advantages. The laboratory of a creative discussion group is receptive oniy to those ideas which appeal. The consideration of religion in a World Council must needs be general in its implica-turns. It was our fortune to have among the participants a Hindu; a Buddhist; an atheist; white, colored and Chinese Christians representing diverse Protestant sects and Catholics; a Theosophist; and three Baha'is Ñ numbering thirty-four in all. The foremost problem, before any advance could occur, was to mark off religion from other phases of activity, characterize it, find its basic factors, if any, and judge these factors as to validity and usefulness in the modern world. Had the Commission, in other words, anything to apply to society, or was religion a chimera of the uneducated mind, at best an outworn mode of belief and behavior? Moreover, did these various delegates find in their elementary faiths a common denominator to apply mutually? Or must they return to their home countries and circles, condemned to local endeavor? If so, the vision of international consultation and action found itself shattered. This was not to define religion, however. The optimism of the first sessions dissolved into despair, as philosophy, humanism, atheism, naturalism, humantarianism, institu Ñ tionalism, insistently monopolized a discussion which had set itself to understand the nature of religion. These might be interesting subjects in themselves, but surely to consider them must oniy delay the course of that inquiry which pointed towards the place of religion in the world today. Let us grant that ctphulosophy is the rational approach to reality," an intellectual activity, whereas ttreligious experience involves the whole personality," working radical changes in man. Refute naturalism as an insuili-cient explanation of the origin of life, not to mention spiritual manifestations. Show the impotency of humanism to transmute character in the large, and in the face of grave discouragement and tests, to sustain an exalted social attitude, a vital and efficacious morale. Admit the lamentable ineffectiveness of present religious institutions, but face the dilemma that no social force may operate except through an institution. Consider all of these problems. But in the end a solution remained as remote as the day you began. You had not yet defined religion. Thus did the sessions appear at the close of three days. But suddenly, and with what astonishment, the group perceived in this chaotic mass of data and deliberation the outlines of a definitive form. Clarity of conception on the nature of religion, a clarity long since resigned to the land of unknowables, shaped itself in the minds of the exhausted delegates. And they realized to their delight that time spent in wrestling with these impinging ideas had served to mark them off from their object. Religion, elusive to the finish, had unwittingly been captured and bounded and set off, both from its opposites, and from related subjects. Although they had not yet settled upon what it was, they knew very well what it was not. Now this is a very great triumph. The gravest difficulties that beset a believing man, the most bewildering arguments, silence him principally because he cannot disentangle from the opposing viewpoint those factors [p386] 386 THE BAHA'! WORLD which do not apply to his case, those assumptions having no relevancy because they attach something be does not in reality support. The members of the Religion Commission discovered that religipn is usually underestimated. Either it is judged as an institution, and an outworn one, ot envisioned as a purely personal relationship with the motivating Power often named God. Neither conception is adequate or just. Consequently, neither conception can withstand the concentrated scrutiny of an antagonist. The very minimum definition, they decided, must include both phases. And indeed, what phenomenon of nature is there that does not require two things: the idea or impulse or spirit, and the expression or form? Religion, therefore, according to this group, must be defined as "an attitude toward Divinity which is reflected in life." With this to stand on, the burden grew considerably lighter. Two facts, puzzling in themselves, found meaning in reference to their decision. The subcommission on Comparative Religion had reported that their study revealed a distinction in the teachings of religions. Each religion consisted of two phases, primary and secondary. The primary doctrines seemed comparable in every major faith. These include a belief in some sort df power controlling the universe, and a consequent attitude toward humanity, an attitude social, or brotherly, or loving. This sounded like the long-sought definition of the group. And in fact, it would seem natural that a minimum definition should apply to the teachings of all Prophets. If Muhammadan Ñ ism and Buddhism and Christianity could be called alike religions, then one might expect a common core of similarities between them. There were in addition the secondary teachings, and these appeared to vary, according to historical time, locale and culture. These shaped the institutions, and gave them a specific character. Moreover, they often grew into a nuisance. As one boy wrote: "Secondary teachings that find expression in form, theology and moral concepts differ widely, change with the times, are often corrupted, and have been the cause of religious prejudice and strife. They have been the means of alienating religiously-inclined people and peoples from religion. They have fostered the strife between the liberated modern mind and religion." Institutional form, in other words, quite logically became outmoded, or found no justification when applied to an alien society. And form was too easily confused with the fundamental thing. Men forgot that the stream of religion might be turned into new banks, if occasion should warrant it. Here, indeed, was an explanation of our present situation. Dynamic life could not accord with static dogma. ceWlien man and his particular religion seem to come to the parting of the ways, it need not necessarily imply that either one or both of them are inherently wrong within themselves. Quite possibly they did not keep pace down the avenue of time. At an impasse such as this, one or the other must change pace or direction, conform to the other, or go a separate way. The institution, divorced from man, cannot survive. Man, on the other hand, can survive and found new institutions." Well then, what shall be the nature of these institutions? Five points characterized the description: 1. "The religion of the modern must satisfy the intellect. 2. "Religion must aid in and hasten the development of culture. Philosophy and art ought to be cultivated in connection with the modern's religion. 3 CC~& religion of the modern must strive determinedly for the abolition of all prejudices and rivalries between those of various religious beliefs, and for the abandonment of superstition. 4. "The religion of the new type must maintain and increase the humanitarian activities of the present, at the same time not neglecting the development of the spiritual phases of man by a too-absorbing interest in the alleviation of suffering and pain in others. 5, "The religion of the modern should cultivate wholesome physical development and the recreational side of life. "SUMMARY: The new form of religion which must come will touch all phases of man's life. The body must nor suffer at the [p387] YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE BAHA'I WORLD 387 hands of the spirit, neither must the spirit occupy all the attention. The intellect must be satisfied, man must retain his sympathy for and interest in his fellows, he must de-veiop his body, and especially must he attend to the needs of his spiritual nature." Thus ended one aspect of the discussion. In a summary of this sort, more must be omitted than included. There has been no mention of that portion of the argument which introduced the judgment that religion is a basic human institution, the essence of culture, and that a decadent religion must of necessity herald a decadent society. Nor have these fundamental assertions been developed, in their application to economics, race problems, international poll-tics, tics, education. The compass of the paper does not permit it. Baha'is, however, must ask at least these questions. The Commission has stated that (cintelligent spiritual leadership is the only thing which can reinstate the dynamic of religion." From whence do we procure this leadership? What persons may we look to? Is it reasonable to expect that men, heretofore dependent upon assistance, may at last lift themselves by their own bootstraps? Does any movement of humanity stir to life, crystallize and vigorously wheel into action, without a rallying point, without that impulsive Center Who alone is the nexus between unlimited Power and feeble but responsive instruments? HERALDS OF THE DAWN Dedicated to the Babd'i Youth in all lands. As shining Knights went forth of old On their quest for the Holy Grail, So go we forth in armours bright, With courage which ne'er will fail; 'We fear no foe Ñ the "Greatest Name," Is on our Banner unfurled; Baha'u'llah is our defense, We are Knights of the Living Word. CHORUS Onward we march with the Sword of Truth Our breastplate and shield is Love; Our helmet Faith Ñ our army made strong By Hosts from the Realms above; And loudly we cry in clarion tones, Which resound over land and sea; Awake! Arise! ye nations all Ñ For Heralds of the Dawn are we. Our hearts are ever aflame with love, Our feet with the Gospel shod; We hold aloft our Sword of Truth, A symbol of the Word of God; The Guardian is our Captain sure And we follow at His Command, While the Light of El Abha appears Over sea and over land. [p388] 388 THE BAHA'I WORLD CHORUS Onward we march with the Sword of Truth Our breastplate and shield is Love Our helmet Faith Ñ our army made strong, By Hosts from the Realms above; And loudly we cry in clarion tones Which resound over land and sea, Awake! Arise! ye nations all Ñ For Heralds of the Dawn are we. SHAHNAZ WAIIB [p389] IN MEMORIAM I. THE UNITY OF EAST AND WEST American Baha'i Sacrifices Her Life in Service to Persian Believers. MRS. KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER'S MISSION THE death of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Keller at IsfAh~n, Persia, October 23, 1933, culminated a mission which constitutes one of the most poignant episodes in the current history of the Baha'i Faith. The last year of this heroic believer's life, devoted to the high aim of securing from the Persian government a removal of the ban on entry and circulation of Baha'i literature, as well as a final lifting of the heavy disabilities laid for so many years upon Persjan Baha, may be likened to a wave whose concentrated force breaks upon a rocklike obstacle, then recedes to be gathered into the body of the sea. While the obstacle remains, the force has not been spent in vain. In future years the effect of this valiant faith will be fully disclosed. Mrs. Ransom-Keller carried forward a mighty task on which the American Baha'i community has exerted itself over a long period of time: the consolidation of the spiritual unity of the East and West in fulfillment of the universal principles revealed by Baha'u'llah. The chief obstacle to this unity has throughout the eighty-nine years of Baha'i history consisted in the resistance made by Persia to the new conceptions of amity and fellowship created by Baha'u'llah, a notable expression of which was the work known as "The Mysterious Forces of Civilization" written by tAbdu'1-BaM to inspire his fellow Persians with the true spirit of enlightenment and progress. The present era of the Cause, dating from the appointment of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian in tAbdu'1-Bah&s Will and Testament, has witnessed a rapid development of the relations between the Baha'i communities of Persia and America. By 1921, however, 389 under tAbdu'1-Bah?s guidance, a lasting foundation had already been laid in the cooperation extended by American Baha'is in the work of the Tarbiat School at TihrAn, through donations for scholarships and also the important services rendered the School by Dr. Susan I. Moody, Miss Lillian Kappes, Dr. Clock, Dr. Genevieve Coy and Miss Elizabeth Stewart. The Persian Baha'is, meanwhile, had made their own unique and eternal contribution to the American Baha'i community through the visits of such influential Baha teachers as Mirza Abu'1-Fadl and Jinab-e-Fadel. During 1925 an opportunity was afforded American believers to express their attitude of spiritual unity with their Persian coworkers by the transmission of funds for the relief of the believers afflicted by floods at Nariz. Since 1921, moreover, Dr. Genevieve Coy served for a term as teacher in the Tar-biat School, and her visit to Persia was followed by that of Miss Martha Root and Mrs. Siegfried Schopilocher. In 1927 a fresh outbreak of persecutions led to the preparation of an appeal on the part of the American National Spiritual Assembly to His Majesty Reda Shah Pahiavi, copies of which were published and spread throughout the United States and Canada. Soon afterward a statement on the Cause prepared by the Assembly and addressed to leading Persian Moslems was translated into Persian by the Tihr~n Baha'i community, and printed copies of this statement were sent to many hundreds of influential people in that country. Again, early in 1932 the American Baha'i Assembly addressed petitions to the Shah and his Prime Minister that the ban on entry [p390] Keith Ransom-Keller, a Hand of the Cause and first American Baha'i martyr. 390 [p391] IN MEMORIAM 391 of Baha'i literature be removed. This forma1 representation failing in its purpose, on June 10, 1932, the American National Spiritual Assembly addressed a communication to His Majesty requesting the recognition of Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier as its representative duly chosen and empowered to present in person its renewed appeal. This letter, sent to Mrs. Ransom-Kehier as her credentials for the important mission with which she had been entrusted at Shoghi Effendi's request, stated in part: "Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehier, an American citizen, a member of the Baha'i community of this country, and a distinguished student of the teachings and history of the Baha'i Faith, can, with your Majesty's gracious permission, amplify and supplement the statements made by this Assembly in the written petition addressed to your Majesty under date of January 12, 1932. ccMore effectively than in our written communication, this personal representative can make clear to your Majesty how widely spread throughout America, and especially among the Baha'is, is the appreciation of the notable reforms which have been made in Persia as the result of your Majesty's administration of affairs in that land. Mrs. Ransorn-Kehier can likewise affirm for your Majesty the importance of the spiritual ties binding Persia and America through the reverence of the believers in both countries for the enlightened religious teachings of Baha'u'llah, the extraordinary effect of these teachings in paying high tribute to the prophetic character of the mission of Muliam-mad, overcoming the prejudice and misunderstanding prevalent among Christians in opposition to IsUm for more than one thousand years, and the high moral value Baha'i religious teachings have had for Persia by inculcating loyalty to Government, forbidding sedition and upholding true ideals of education and humanitarian service. ttThe appointment of a representative to journey to TihrAn for the purpose of presenting in person the petition of this Assembly will make it evident to your Majesty how profoundly the American Baha'is are moved by their inability to communicate fully with their fellow-religionists in Persia by reason of the Postal regulations still prohibiting the entry of Baha'i books and magazines published in the United States and Canada." It will be recalled that in Baha'i News dated October, 1932, was published this reference to Mrs. Ransoni-Kehier from a Letter written to the National Spiritual Assembly by the Guardian's secretary: "Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier is now with us in Haifa and in a few days will start for Persia. She rendered wonderful services in both Australia and India, and Shoghi Effendi trusts that she will do the same in Persia.~~ On August 20, 1932, the following cablegram was received: ccMission successful. (Signed) Keith." On September 14 the National Spiritual Assembly, rejoiced by this swift consummation, despatched a cablegram to the Court Minister at Tihr~n as follows: "On behalf American Baha'is we express abiding gratitude for removal ban on entry Baha'i literature into Persia. This noble action of His Imperial Majesty's Government has profoundly impressed Baha'is of the United States and Canada who have already felt strong attachment to Baha'u'llah's native land. We wish to assure your Highness of our sympathy for his Imperial Majesty, our great interest in the progress and welfare of his Empire and our desire to assist in enhancing its prestige throughout the world." This message was brought to the attention of the Persian Minister at Washington in a letter dated October 21, 1932. A statement to the American press was also issued reporting that Mrs. Ransom-Kehier had received firm assurance from the Court Minister that the postal regulations under which Baha'i literature had been confiscated would be immediately annulled. Before taking up the events which destroyed this hope, it is interesting to learn of the impressive reception given Mrs. Ran-som-Kehier by the Persian Baha'is on her arrival in that land. In November, 1932, the Spiritual Assembly of Haifa, Palestine, issued a general letter throughout the Baha'i world, from which the following excerpts are taken: tCMrs Keith Ransorn-Kehier, the energetic and faithful Baha'i teacher, has been the object of great enthusiasm and loving devotion on the part of the Persian believers. [p392] 392 THE BAHA'I WORLD • In Tabriz several meetings were held in the Hazirut-ul-Quds where large numbers of Baha'is, both men and women, had the pleasure of greeting the international Baha'i teacher. From Tabriz she proceeded to Milan, accompanied by a group of believers. But before leaving Tabriz, the police authorities, apparently disturbed by the scenes of Baha'i rejoicing, sent warning and forbade the believers to hold any meetings in honor of Mrs. Ransom-Keller at Tabriz, and requested her to abandon her visit to Milan. But the Spiritual Assembly immediately sent a delegation to the authorities and upon assuring them that no demonstrations held by the Baha'is would disturb the public peace, permission was granted for her journey to Milan. CCA most thrilling meeting was held in Milan, where old and young believers witnessed in Mrs. Ransom-Keller's visit the dawn of the fulfillment of the prophecy found more than once in the Tablets of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Bahi to the Persian Baha'is, that the day will come when tbrothers and sisters from the 'West will arrive and help you in promoting the Cause.' "After proceeding to Sisan, Mianej, Azar-bayejan and Qazwin, Mrs. Ransom-Kehier proceeded to Tilipin. A reception committee, followed by a group of more than a hundred believers, met the guest at a garden about four miles from the city. Her entrance in Tilirin was like the visit of a queen, amid the acciamations of thousands of rejoicing Baha'is. Never had TihrAn so welcomed any guest from the West." Mrs. Ransom-Keller's own report of her successful interview with the Court Minister was written to the American National Spiritual Assembly on August 20, 1932, the brevity of the communication revealing the pressure of that physical weakness against which she struggled so gallantly to the end. t!On August 15 I saw His Highness Taymur Tash and received from him the direct, unqualified assurance that Baha'i literature would be admitted freely into Persia and permitted to circulate." From other sources the American Assembly learned further details of this interview. "His Highness received the Baha'i delegate kindly and listened with attention to her appeal. He stated that the matter did not require her to seek audience with the Shah nor to send him the written petition. The former letter of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States has been received and given due attention. tJ hereby promise that the restrictions on the import of Baha'i books will be removed.' Mrs. Ransom-Kehier thereupon asked whether sh~ could cable America and inform the American Baha'is of this assurance. The Court Minister replied that she most assuredly could do so and that she must consider the matter as finally settled. Mrs. Ransom-Kehier then asked whether she might arrange to have her own Baha'i books sent to her for use while in Persia, and the Minister said there was no reason why she might not do so." It was not until the receipt of a letter from Mrs. Ransom-Kehier dated January 20, 1933, that the American Baha'is learned that the assurance given their representative by the Court Minister had not become fruitful in action. In that letter she stated that the Baha'i books shipped to her from Beirut had been confiscated, and that she had written the Court Minister to acquaint him with this fact and renew her petition on behalf of the American Baha'is. This letter also conveyed the disturbing information that, during a visit to Azarbayejan, the Governor General had refused to receive her and moreover that police orders had been issued forcing the abandonment of meetings arranged in her honor by the local Baha'is. Later, press dispatches from Persia reported that changes had been made in the office of Court Minister, making it clear that all of Mrs. Ransom-Keller's work would have to be done over again. Undiscouraged, Mrs. Ransom-Kehier immediately arranged an interview with the Secretary charged with American affairs at the Foreign Office. In a report of this conversation sent to the American Assembly, the following significant statement is quoted: CCHe informed me that at the present time our Baha'i literature could not circulate in Persia for three reasons. First, that it is contrary to the constitution of Persia to recognize any religion founded after IsUm, and, since the Baha'i religion cannot legally receive recognition, it follows that our liter [p393] IN MEMORIAM 393 ature must remain unrecognized. Second, that it is contrary to the constitution of Persia to permit the circulation of any literature opposed to IsUm. Third, that the circulation of Baha'i literature at this time might cause grave internal disorders that would bring much suffering to the Baha'is themselves." This interview was in fact also reported to the Shah himself, in a letter which the valiant American Baha'i addressed to him on February 25, 1933, in a supreme effort to fulfil her delicate and difficult mission. "In my report to America," she informed his Majesty, t~J shall be constrained to admit that I must have misunderstood completely the purpose and intent of the interpreter, for exhaustive investigation reveals no reference in the Constitution of Persia to the status of religions founded later than Islam. "Since every Baha'i before he can so designate himself must accept the validity of the Prophet Muhammad and display toward the Qur'an the same reverence as that shown by the most orthodox Muslim, and since this attitude is inculcated through Baha'i literature, the point of excluding it because it is opposed to IslAm will, I fear, be incomprehensible. I shall await your Majesty's authority to submit the result of my conversation with the Foreign Office, herein set forth, to the proper Baha'i centers throughout the world; for I have no desire, a second time, to find myself mistaken as to your Majesty's intention." This appeal to the Shah receiving no reply, the National Spiritual Assembly in America, realizing that its report to the press stating that the ban on entry of Baha'i literature into Persia had been removed was proved untrue, dispatched to its representative in Persia another communication to be presented to the Shah. This communication was dated March 27, 1933. A portion is quoted, as follows: "Information has been received which leads us to believe that the permission granted in your Majesty's name by your Majesty's Minister of Court some months ago removing the ban on the entrance of Baha'i literature into Persia has now been withdrawn. ttWe trust that events will prove our present understanding of your Majesty's in-tendon tendon to be incorrect. The recent gracious action of your Majesty in asserting the power of religious freedom and opening the door to the amenities of international communication customary in modern lands was by us immediately communicated to all leading newspapers in the United States and Canada together with an expression of our grateful recognition of your Majesty's response to our petition. ttThis announcement to the press was considered by us of extreme importance in view of the fact that it is among American Baha'is that the love and admiration for Persia and its people is most pronounced. The effect of the Baha'i teachings upon believers in all countries outside of Persia has for many years been to establish not oniy an attitude of spiritual respect for the historic greatness of Persia but also a firm and unyielding confidence in the future greatness and worldwide influence of the Persian people. ccThe responsibility seems now resting upon us to inform the press that our previous communication, made in perfect good faith, must now be withdrawn. CtThe press in America exercises such far-reaching influence that we have ever been most scrupulous and careful in authorizing only the most conservative and accurate statements. The American press has become aware that on account of the existence of Baha'i communities in many lands the American National Spiritual Assembly is well informed and enjoys unusual sources of information. Our devotion to the spiritual character of the Faith of Baha'u'llah makes it incumbent upon us to maintain our reputation with newspaper editors of unfailing sincerity and reliable accuracy. ccOur petition we entrust to our accredited representative, Mrs. Keith Ransorn-Kehier, who, at our request, traveled to Persia many months ago in order to represent the Baha'is of the United States and Canada in our appeal to your Majesty and your Majesty's Government for a favorable and final decision in the matter of the entrance and circulation of Baha'i literature." Mrs. Ransom-Kehier presented the foregoing communication to the Shah in a letter dated Tihr~n, April 23, 1933. Meanwhile, on April 3, she addressed his Majesty once [p394] 394 THE BAHA'I WORLD again in a letter which pointed out her obligation to report the results of her mission in Persia, and with that letter enclosed a detailed summary of her interview with the Foreign Office. Before the opening of the Annual Convention of American Baha'is on June 1, 1933, it had become clear to the National Spiritual Assembly that the matter had come to no favorable decision, and reports were received which indicated even a recurrence of the physical maltreatment of Persian Baha'is. On advice of Shoghi Effendi the problem was accordingly laid before the assembled Convention delegates, with the result that the delegates unanimously pledged their support in the National Assembly's effort to alleviate these dire conditions. In order to carry out the spirit of this action, the Assembly on July 10, 1933, sent personal representatives with a communication to present to the Persian Minister at Washington, thus opening a new phase in the progress of the matter. Meanwhile, though her physical illness had increased, Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier, as afterward learned, had been continuing her efforts in Tilirin. Thus, in a letter dated June 8, 1933, she once more addressed the Persian Shah, in a letter which stands as an expression of deep concern at the unfavorable conditions existing for the Persian Ba-hi'is, with a most passionate and devoted resolve to leave no stone unturned in effort to change the official attitude. Some excerpts follow: ~ year ago this month I reached Persia as representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, having traveled halfway around the world to present a petition on their behalf to your gracious Majesty requesting the removal of the ban on entry and circulation of Baha'i literature in Persia. "This petition was framed because of the incalculable blessings which your Majesty's reign has bestowed upon Persia; because of the advancement, the liberation and the protection which, under the firm and spectacular power exhibited by your Majesty, have elevated this sacred land of ours to the forefront of progress and revival. ecCertainly it would have been folly to have sent such a communication in any period preceding your Majesty's accession, for at that time ears were deaf to every plea of justice, and Persia had become the tragic plaything of wilful, corrupt and ruthless lords. (CBUt mindful of the great blessings which have flowed from your Maj esty's enlightened rule, the Baha'is of the United States and Canada felt that the time was now ripe, that the amazing accomplishments of your Majesty now favored the idea of consummating the complete emancipation of the Baha'is of Persia from the trammels and deprivations inherited from the dark past. CCW must look not to Shah Abbas nor to Nadir Shah but to the distant past Ñ to the days of Cyrus, Darius and Jamsheed Ñ for anything comparable to the accomplishments which in twelve brief years have characterized your Majesty's achievements. "Th were the ideas we had in mind when petitioning your Majesty to remove this last barrier from the pathway of Baha'i freedom and progress in Persia by according us the privilege of the press, an ordinary cmi right in all but the most backward of countries. "In fact, in the Minutes of the Twenty-Second Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations we find the statement (pages 4 142) CflWas it said that the Baha'is were such a small minority in ~Ir~q that there was no need to bother about them? It was the very fact that the minority was a small one that made it necessary for the authorities to safeguard its rights. It showed the weakness of the Iriqi Government; the power which an intolerant majority had over if Ñ and this record has gone out not oniy to the fifty-six nations that comprise the League but to the whole world, carrying this reproach to the Jr~qi Government for its treatment of the Baha'is. cCTh Baha'is of Persia are not a weak and helpless minority; we stand in numbers next to the State religion; but as the League report further says, cThe Baha'is are by their religion, tenets and character of an extremely conciliatory disposition.' ccFor that reason they patiently endure whatever hardships are imposed upon them [p395] IN MEMORIAM 395 by their governments, and for that same reason they are worthy of the utmost trust and confidence from those in authority. "The numerous communications which I have had the honor of addressing to the Crown since my interview at the Foreign Office have had but one purpose: that of ascertaining in definite and dependable form whether or not the amazing and feeble statements given me there were really in accord with your Majesty's intent and desire." however, are thousands of volumes that have been confiscated. Even a brief survey of any one of these will prove that Baha'u'llah lays down as fundamental, loyalty to one's government, and the sanctity and verity of IsUin." On that same day, moreover, the representative of the American Baha'is felt compelled to appeal once more to the Shah. "To my horror and grief I have just heard of the burning, on the part of your Majesty's officials in Kirmanshah, of the sacred photo-Bah4'is Baha'is of Tilirin bidding farewell to Keith Ransorn-Kehier on her departure to 1sf Thin. To every Cabinet Minister and to the President of Parliament, Mrs. Ransom-Kehier sent on July 3, 1933, a letter containing the following statements: ~tTt would give me great pleasure to place in your hands portions of our Baha'i literature in order to prove the great contribution that it has made to the advancement of IslAm in countries unfriendly to its reception; but although Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian literature, all opposed to IslAm, is permitted to circulate, our Baha literature that upholds and converts to Islim is denied this privilege. Therefore I have nothing available to present to you. "In the Post Offices and Customs of Persia, graphs of tAbd'lBh' I am fully convinced that such a sacrilege has been committed without the knowledge of your Majesty, for it is fundamentally contrary to the policy of expansion, protection and tolerance that have characterized your Majesty's evident intent with regard to the advancement of Persia. CtIt is because I am certain that such an infamy was perpetrated without the knowledge or consent of your Majesty that I am presenting this memorandum to acquaint your Majesty with these highhanded and abominable outrages committed by your Majesty's irresponsible servants. "Assuredly the most precious and sacred [p396] 396 THE BAHA'I WORLD thing in life to any man is his religious conviction. Without hesitation thousands of Baha'is have given their lives for their faith. That flame that once burned in Persia alone has now enkindled the world. The Baha'is as a body stand ready if necessary to die for the protection of their belief. We are willing to endure any degree of injustice and persecution ourselves but, when it comes to regarding with other than outraged sentiment a gratuitous indignity offered to that illustrious example of human perfection, tAbdu'1-Bahi, the Baha'is of the world arise in the full strength of their solidarity to utter a vehement protest. CCJ~ His Will and Testament, tAbdu'1-Bahi gives us this last instruction: tConsort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good will and friendliness; that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Baha; that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the light of unity.' CCJS the one who uttered such words of peace and reconciliation worthy of suppression and desecration? now with the most intense fervor supplicate and implore your Majesty to put a final stop to these fanatical persecutions that disgrace in the eyes of men the annals of Persia's former rulers, by removing this ban against Baha'i literature, that bids fair if it continues to involve the world in contempt for this sacred land." The Minister of Education, replying in a letter dated "bitarikh 28 Ñ 4 Ñ Ñ Ñ 13 12. No. 9880/4320" to the communication which Mrs. Ransom-Keller sent to all members of the Cabinet, made this significant statement: "I would inform you that today all individuals and inhabitants of the country, whether Mubammadans or people of other nations, are resting in the cradle of tranquillity and security under the shadow of the power and grandeur of His Majesty Shahanshah Pahiavi, may our souis be sacrificed for him, and they benefit equally from the privilege of existing laws. But in the meantime new publications which are considered sidered contrary to the official religion of the country or its political aspect can not be agreed to." Meanwhile, as it became apparent that communications addressed to the ruler did not penetrate the official entourage and reach the Shah himself, the American Assembly, as already mentioned, applied to the Persian Minister at Washington. The letter dated July 10, 1933, was presented to the Minister by three representatives. It read, in part, as follows: "Your Excellency: On October 21, 1932, the members of this American Baha'i Assembly sent to the Persian Legation at Washington a copy of a cablegram which on September 14, 1932, had been dispatched to the Minister of the Court in Teherin. CCThis communication was acknowledged by Mr. Y. Azodi, Charge d'Affaires, under date of October 22, 1932. "In substance, the cablegram sent to the Court Minister on behalf of the American Baha'is expressed abiding gratitude for the decision to remove the ban on entry and circulation of Baha'i literature in Persia. (cOn March 27, 1933, as the result of unexpected information indicating that this decision had either been reversed or never made effective, we addressed a respectful petition to His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahiavi, expressing our profound hope that our understanding of the matter was incorrect and referring to the fact that the American Baha'is had informed the press that the ban had been removed, and in the event that this statement proved to be unfounded the Baha would be reluctantly obliged to make it clear to the press that Baha'i literature is still prohibited from entry and circulation in Persia. "This petition we forwarded to our personal representative in Teheran, Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier, a Baha'i and American citizen, with the request that it be communicated to his Majesty on our behalf. CCTO our astonishment and regret, during May, 1933, we learned that not oniy is the ban on literature still rigorously applied, but that Baha'is in Persia are even incurring physical maltreatment at the present time. ttThese circumstances were considered by the delegates representing sixty American [p397] IN MEMORIAM 397 cities who met in Annual Convention in the Foundation Hall of the Baha'i House of Worship at Wilmette, Illinois, from June 1 to 4, 1933. "It seems desirable to inform your Excellency that the Twenty-Fifth Annual Convention of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada adopted unanimously the following resolution: tResolved, that the delegates of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Convention representing sixty communities of the United States and Canada, realizing the burdens of oppression still laid upon their brethren of Persia, recommend and urge the National Spiritual Assembly to take immediate action to bring about the cessation of the reported maltreatment of our Baha'i brethren, to secure the entry of Baha'i literature and to restore the Constitutional provision for the printing and circulation of Baha'i literature within Persia; tAnd be it further resolved, that the delegates pledge the support of the local Baha'i communities to the National Spiritual Assembly in its effort to carry out the terms of this appeal.' ttln view of this action on the part of the Annual Convention, expressing the deep concern and heartfelt anxiety of all American Baha'is to assist in bringing about a final alleviation of all civil disabilities still suffered by our beloved brothers and coworkers in Persia, the National Spiritual Assembly has requested its chairman and secretary to call upon your Excellency and respectfully request your good offices in bringing our petition to the notice of the Persian Government. "In discharging this grave responsibility, we respectfully point out to your Excellency the unique ties of sympathetic fellowship which have long united the Baha'is of America and Persia. For many years the Baha'is of the United States and Canada have courageously upheld the Prophethood of Mu-bammad as one of the divine Messengers, in the face of the traditional antipathy and indifference of a predominantly Christian population. In publishing and distributing the literature of our Faith we are actively promoting the reality of Mubammad as well as the reality of Jesus. By accepting Muhammad as a Prophet inspired with the same Holy Spirit as Jesus, we have entered into a spiritual unity with the Persian Baha'is without parallel in the history of the East or of the 'West. 'We state with all emphasis that apart from this spiritual bond of faith in the one God of all mankind, the relations of the various peoples and nations of the world are uncertain and replete with peril of war and economic chaos. ~Afrer entertaining the hope that the ancient land of Persia had been granted the high privilege of a regime based upon fearless justice, the very foundation of ciyilization, we cannot but deplore the survival from the past of indications that free intercourse on the part of American citizens with loyal citizens of Persia on matters of purely spiritual interest is prevented by Thgulations imposed by Persian authorities. cCThe Baha'is of America assert very frankly to your Excellency their unhappiness because of the fact that unfounded prejudice against the Baha'is of Persia, whether emanating from atheistic or from ecclesiastical sources, can in this day and age find sanction from authorities of the State. Without this sanction, active or passive, it would be impossible to forbid the entry and circulation of a sacred literature which one day will be recognized as the glory of Persia, while at the same time permitting the entry and circulation of other religious literature the essential p&irpose of which is to defame the founder of IsUm and overthrow the very foundation of Persian culture and ideals. ccThc outcome of this representation will, we trust, enable the National Spiritual Assembly to inform the local Baha'i communities that their determined desire to assist in removing the disabilities and maltreatment of their Persian brothers has been completely realized." On July 26, 1933, the Assembly reported to Mrs. Ransom-Keller a summary of actions taken by American Baha'is in the matter of conditions affecting the Persian believers, with the request that she communicate these facts and the attitude of the American Baha'is, to the officials of the Persian Government, and report the results, that the Assembly might inform the local American Bah6] [p398] 398 THE BAHA'I WORLD communities whether their Convention resolution had borne fruit. The answer came in this message, cabled by Mrs. Ransom-Keller on September 1 0: "Petition unanswered." The grief and disappointment caused by this outcome of her mission, magnified by exhaustion resulting from self-sacrificing effort to meet every opportunity to visit and address Baha'i gatherings in Persia, reduced Mrs. Ransom-Kehier's strength to such a degree that on October 23, 1933, while at 1sf ih~n, this consecrated follower of Baha'u'llah fell victim to small pox and succumbed within a few brief hours. This grievous event was announced in Baha'i News of November, 1933, as follows: ccOn October 27, 1933, the Spiritual Assembly of Tihr~n, Persia, cabled the startling news that Mrs. K~ith Ransom-Kehier had passed into the spiritual Kingdom. With burning hearts the Persian Baha'is conveyed their grief at this mysterious culmination of our sister's special mission in the land of the birth of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. "The beloved Guardian on October 30 dispatched this message: tKeith's precious life offered up in sacrifice to beloved Cause in Baha'u'llah's native land. On Persian soil, for Persia's sake, she encountered, challenged and fought the forces of darkness with high distinction, indomitable will, unswerving, exemplary loyalty. The mass of her helpless Persian brethren mourns the sudden loss of their valiant emancipator. American believers grateful and proud of the memory of their first and distinguished martyr. Sorrow stricken, I lament my earthly separation from an invaluable collaborator, an unfailing counsellor, an esteemed and faithful friend. I urge the Local Assemblies befittingly to organize memorial gatherings in memory of one whose international services entitled her to an eminent rank among the Hands of the Cause of Baha'u'llah.' (Signed) Shoghi. "A message from the American Consul at Tihr&n, communicated through the Secretary of State, brought the information that Keith had passed on at I~fTh~n on October 23. ttWith the approval of Mrs. Keith Ran-som-Kehier's nearest relative, a message was cabled to the Tihr~n Assembly asking that burial be arranged at Isf&hin under Baha'i auspices, and stating that the American Assembly will construct a permanent memorial. CCShog1~i Effendi, on November 3, sent this message: tlnstructed 1sf AlAn Assembly to inter Keith in the vicinity of the grave of Sultanushushuada, surnamed by Baha'u'llah ttKing of Martyrs." "The detailed reports which our beloved sister has during the past year sent from TihrAn, to convey information on the result of her mission, as the representative of the American believers chosen by the Guardian, to secure from the Persian Government the lifting of the ban on entry of Baha literature and also removal of the difficulties and hardships placed upon the Persian Baha'is, form one of the precious and important historical records of the Cause. A summary of these reports will be published in Baha'i News next month. "Local Spiritual Assemblies and groups are requested to arrange memorial meetings in accordance with the Guardian's wish." The papers of New York and other cities reported in detail the news of the death of this American citizen in Persia. The following statement was published in the "New York American" on October 28, 1933: c¶r\jrs Keith Ransom-Kehier, who spent the last year in Teheran, Persia, as representative of the American National Baha'i Assembly, died in that city on October 25, it was reported in a cable received yesterday by the Assembly from the secretary of the Teheran Baha'i community. ttln August, 1932, Mrs. Ransom-Kehier, after two years' travel in China, Japan and India as a Baha'i teacher, went to Persia on a special mission to represent the American Baha'is in appealing to the Shah's government for removal of the ban on entry of Bab4'i literature into the country of the origin of the world religion established by Baha'u'llah nearly seventy years ago. "From the Court Minister, Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehier received assurance that the prohibition, passed under the former r6gime while the Muhammedan clergy were at the height of their power, would be rescinded. ttThis promise was, however, unfulfilled, and Mrs. Keith Ransom-Keller devoted the remaining months of her life to the task of penetrating the imperial entourage and pre [p399] Grave of Keith Ransom-Kehier, Isf~.h~n, Persia. Grave of the Su1t~nu'sh-Shuhad~ (King of Martyrs), near which Keith Ransom-Kehier was buried. 399 [p400] 400 THE BAHA'I WORLD senting to the Shah in person a formal petition prepared by the American Baha'i Assembly on behalf of the sixty Baha'i communities of the United States and Canada. ccThe American Baha'is will erect in Teheran (correctly I~fih&n) a memorial to commemorate the work of Mrs. Ransom-Kehier, the second American Baha'i to die in Persia while serving the cause of unity and international peace." That memorial, we may be assured, will in future be visited by innumerable Baha'is of West and East as a shrine marking the physical interment of a pure and valiant Baha spirit who, not in vain, sacrificed its earthly existence for the sake of the believers in that land. The above statement has been prepared in reverent acknowledgment of Mrs. Ransom-Kebler's mighty services to the Baha'i Faith, that the worldwide community of believers may know what has been done to this date in effort to assist in bringing about freedom and security for the Baha'is of Persia. II. Grand-Hotel, Tihr~n, Persia, 3rd. April, 1933. Your Majesty, In a matter of vital importance to a vast number of people, I took the liberty, a few weeks ago, of invoking Your Majesty's assistance. Your Majesty's Foreign Office has given me information so strange, so inconsistent and out of keeping with Your Majesty's recognized policies that before making this interview public it seemed only wise and just to inform Your Majesty of its tenor. For that reason I summarized its main points and submitted them for approval to Your Majesty before dispatching this news to the world. Having as yet received no reply from the Throne I am now, with humble supplication, presenting my full report to Your Majesty hoping and praying that Your Majesty will indicate your good-pleasure in this matter, since I have nothing in mind but the satisfaction and approval of Your Just and Gracious Majesty. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is is of the United States and Canada, an officially incorporated body, is now pressing me for further information cdrvcerning their petition. This petition has already been granted by a then-accredited Minister of the Crown. They are therefore at a loss to understand why the question involved in their petition remains in its former status. Since this is a matter of international import may I again, very beseechingly, request Your Majesty to give me an authentic answer concerning the enclosed report. Relying on Your Majesty's grace Very respectfully, (Sgd.) KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER. To: His Imperial Majesty the Shahanshali of Persia Riza Shah Pahievi, T i h r 6 ii. Grand-Hotel, Tihrin, Persia, 3rd. March, 1933. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States and Canada. Dear Baha'i friends: My delay in submitting this report is due to my having summarized it in a petition to His Imperial Majesty requesting that He consent to affirm its accuracy. You are already too familiar with my experience of last summer when a then-accredited Minister of the Crown gave me a firm and solemn assurance that has since been entirely disregarded and that now seems to be invalid. In order to avoid the repetition of sending wrong or inaccurate information around the world a second time it seemed to me more fitting to ascertain the authenticity of what I am about to set forth. His Majesty not having seen fit to reply to my supplication on the one hand, and your request for further information on the other, now necessitate the following response. With the sanction of the a-Minister of [p401] IN MEMORIAM 401 Court, as already reported, I sent for some Baha'i books. When they were examined by the Customs authorities I was denied the right to receive them. Astonished and perplexed I at once wrote the former Minister to inquire why his definite and unqualified promise was being disregarded. There was no response to my inquiry and very shortly thereafter he was dismissed. You can imagine my concern to find that all of our efforts, hopes and past assurance have proven valueless and that the matter of the circulation of our literature is in a worse condition today in this advanced rdgime than it was some years ago, when there was no ban against it. I confess that my ingenuity is becoming more and more taxed to understand this violent opposition, on the part of certain Ministers and those in political posts, to our Faith. Like the intelligentsia in every land today, many educated Persians regard religion as a matter of minor consideration, except a negligible percentage who still display a forma1 loyalty to hUm. The daughter of a Persian in the diplomatic service, whom I met abroad, answered when asked her religious allegiance, ctLe Lion et le Soleil," (the ancient symbol of Persia). Here are the Baha'is scattered round the world, protecting the prestige and advancing the interests of Persia; making of every Baha'i convert an adherent of Persia's state religion, Islam; Persian Baha'is, like all others scrupulously refraining from any political activity; serving with honesty and zeal in administrative posts; loyally supporting the progressive policies of the Government; what more could a politician ask? Of course if they want us to say that the Qa'im has not come thirty thousand Baha'is, with joy and valor, have looked upon death as a less formidable alternative. Perhaps a reason for this resentment is beecause we of other lands have widely and easily succeeded in making friends for Persia where Persians themselves have been iess successful; perhaps it is the mediaeval reflex that still grips the minds of those emerging from the dark night of Persia's ignorance and fanaticism into the Shining Era of Pahievi; perhaps the larger, richer, fuller outlook on life given in the Baha'i teachings causes instinctive stinctive dread on the part of generations constrained through dogmatism and repressed by hereditary conservatism. Whatever the reason, we see the amazing phenomenon of those both in and out of Persia who are devoting themselves to her advancement, persecuted, dispossessed and reviled, by Persians. One of the most intelligent and well-informed men in Persia is Mr. Mohammed Au Khan Furuqi, former Persian Secretary to the League of Nations and now Foreign Minister. Of his great ability there is not the slightest doubt. I have heard a rumor to the effect that his father supported the claim of Yahya, brother of Baha'u'llah, called Subhi Ezel, and, though this group is now practically extinct, the few remaining Ezelis are still animated by their only raison d'Ftres, that of opposing, thwarting and persecuting the Baha to the extent of their capacity. The first rigid exclusion of our literature was when Mirza Puruqi was Minister of Finance. If our information be correct, from him probably emanated this suggestion that was enacted by the Council. At the interview which I am about to discuss, his Secretary for America informed me that this practice has now become so firmly entrenched that even the Shah Himself (who, perhaps as a matter of routine, signed this decree when President of the Council) is now helpless to reverse it, for fear of an uprising. Naturally the Secretary did not state it that way; he merely said that to remove this ban would cause internal disorder; but there is no other logical inference that can be deduced from his admission. When we recall the brilliant and spectacular manner in which His Majesty with astounding intrepidity, and no untoward results, changed many of the age-old customs of this country we are, of course, constrained to conclude that this regulation, supposedly devised by the present Foreign Minister and superimposed in the midst of the vicious and corrupt conditions of the past, now constitutes a law so powerful that even a new and advanced dynasty is forced to respect it. However, I will discuss this further in its proper place. It is certainly shocking enough, wherever it is discussed that members of His Majesty's Coy [p402] 402 THE BAT-TAft WORLD eminent should, with perfect candor, give out such discreditable information to f or-cigners. It is well that such an astonishing admission of Persia's weakness should have been made to a friend and lover of Persia who thoroughly disbelieves and denies it, instead of to an enemy. The Minister of Posts and Telegraph was kind enough to grant me an interview and treated me with the utmost courtesy and respect. I was filled with gratitude for the consideration which he showed me. The Per-suns are unriyalled for suavity, courtesy and hospitality. But on two occasions he has denied the use of the public telegraph for Baha'i communications; one a death message, when the Tibrin Assembly wished to inform Persian Baha'is of the ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf. So you see that these Ministers, most vitally concerned in the question of Baha publications and printing, are not cordially disposed toward the Cause. Having twice importuned the Shahanshah for an audience, so that there could be no mistake as to His intentions and desire, I was summoned after sonic weeks to the Foreign Office. On that very day I was seized with a violent attack of sciatica and was unable to touch my foot to the floor f or more than a week. Finally when I was up and about again an appointment was made for me, after office hours to avoid interruptions. I was very fortunate in having the matter handled by the Secretary for American Affairs, Mr. Shayesteli, a gentleman of much affability and sincere kindliness who extended to me the greatest courtesy. Mr. Assadi was my interpreter. Being a Columbia University MA. he was admirable for this work. How strange the ways of God, that I, a poor, feelAe, old woman from the distant West, should be pleading for liberty and justice in the land of Baha'u'llah, who has given to the world its most advanced standards of humanitarianism and enlightenment. After the interchange of usual compliments, I introduced the subject by speaking of the love and loyalty which the Baha'is of the world entertain toward Persia. As is customary in such cases the gentleman spoke of the friendly relations between Persia and America, and of how much Persia appreciated these sentiments on the part of the West. I hastened, as I always do on such occasions which are constantly recurring, (for it does not suit the purposes of official Persia to admit the vital and valuable service which the Baha'is everywhere are rendering to this land), I hastened to inform him that to the bulk of our hundred and thirty millions Persia is a mere name Ñ just another Oriental country; while the money contributed for schools, hospitals and the like represents to the American churchgoer no definite love for this country, since the donor is un< concerned whether it goes to China, Siam, Turkey or Persia as long as it is saving infidels and converting heathen. With more persistence than tact I never leave this subject until it is definitely understood that the sentiments which the Baha'is entertain toward Persia and the international service which we are rendering to Persia is not to be confused with anything else. Mr. Shayesteb inquired politely as to our numbers, asking if many Christians had left their faith to embrace this teaching. At once I explained that th~ phenomenal progress of the Baha'i Cause in every land is due to its support and reenforcetnent of the great religious teachings of the world: that a Jew to become a Baha'i must acknowledge Jesus; that a Christian to become a Baha'i must acknowledge Zoroaster; that a Hindu to become a BaU'i must accept Mubammad; that the Baha'i teachings attack no belief, do not require the relinquishment of one's faith, but protect the sanctities and enhance the spiritual value of every religion. "It might be possible f or Christians to argue this way and to accept the Baha'i Cause while remaining Christians; but to the Moslem the idea is absolutely impossible. To reconcile being a BaU?i and a Moslem would be outside the limits of Isl4m." "The idea of being a Baha'i and a Moslem is no less comprehensible to the non-Bah4'i Moslem, than being a BaU'i and a Christian is to the non-Bah&'i Christian: it offers to the fanatical and dogmatic Christian the same obstacles which you have described as applying to the Moslem. But certainly to the Baha'i Moslem and to the Baha Christian no such obstacles exist, the proof being that [p403] IN MEMORTAM 403 we have nor abandoned our original faith. The fact that we have a vast concourse of Moslem Baha'is who have reconciled the two beliefs, demonstrates that this attitude has not proved as difficult to many millions of Moslems as your suggestion would imply." The Secretary gave an interesting account of Sufism and Sheikhism, showing that they were philosophies, a way of life which, though the Persian might not accept, he could understand; while the Baha'i Cause offered a challenge to IslAm. Of course I fully agreed that the Baha'i teachings offer a challenge to the world, since they enfold a new civilization. tt:But" said the Secretary with amiability, cc we will discuss these abstruse points at future meetings." It seemed from this that there was to be a complete interchange of Views. I was astonished and gratified. And now the real purpose of the interview was broached. "You have written requesting an audience with His Majesty?" he suggested kindly. t~Yes" I answered, "on a subject of vital importance to millions of people: the free entry and circulation of Baha'i literature." Throughout the interview Mr. Shayestei spoke in the most conciliatory and tactful way. I am full of admiration for his gentleness and delicacy. "The Bab's must show great patience in this matter; in due course of time this will be possible, but now it is necessary to wait. Being a foreigner you cannot understand the laws of Persia. It is against our constitution to admit literature contrary to IslAm." Naturally it was a blow to hear that the promise and assurance of an accredited Minister of the Crown, given me oniy a few months before, were untrustworthy and invalid. But at once I rallied sufficiently to say that our literature supports IslAm, converts to IslAm, defends IslAm, and gave the classic example of Queen Marie's having, as a Baha'i convert, acknowledged the authenticity of Mubammad in the English-speaking press. I then repeated the same thing that I bad said to the former Minister of Court: "T'ne Baha'is of the West are at a total ioss to comprehend why Jews, Zoroastrians, Christians and Hindus who violently oppose Islam, are permitted to import and print their literature, while the Baha'is, who embrace and support Isflm, are denied this simple, civil right." The answer was not verbal, being only a bland smile. For on the basis of both logic and justice this must be quite as incomprehensible to the intelligent Persian as to the average Occidental. "It is contrary to the law," the Secretary continued, "to recognize any religion founded after IslAm; since the Baha'i Movement cannot be recognized its literature can have no standing." This information nearly overwhelmed me. I did not know how it could be possible that no one had ever informed me of this condition, since the basis of our teaching is respect for the law of the land. Of course if this thing that we have been pressing were contrary to law nothing more could be done about it. Immediately upon leaving the Foreign Office I hastened to make inquiry, for this represented an obstacle so grave as to check any future activity in the matter. To my intense relief I found that neither the Constitution nor constitutional law makes any reference to religions founded after Islim. Some one argued, however, that since Moslems believe in the finality of Jslkrn and since IslAm is the constitutional state religion that this involves the repudiation of any later religion. The established state religion of England is Christianity. Church and state are one; the bishops of the church of England sit in the House of Lords. Christianity teaches that no religion will follow it. Jesus will come and all other religions will be abrogated. Along this line of argument Moslems should have no rights in England and Islimic literature should be barred. But instead the Moslems have their Mosque and the Qur'an is even taught in the universities. This is the practice of enlightened countries everywhere. Since all civilized lands offer complete religious freedom, these gentlemen were placing themselves in the awkward position of saying that Persia is not fully civilized Ñ an admission which I should think they would be the last to make. On this point, brought up two or three [p404] 404 THE BAHA'I WORLD times as the conversation progressed, I must have misunderstood entirely the information that was being conveyed, for the constitution not oniy does not deny recognition to later religions but says that every citizen of Persia has equal rights before the law. As I sat there, through my mind kept running the query, why if the circulation of our literature is contrary to law should the Secretary have assured me at the very outset that presently this privilege would be granted? I did not press many queries nor advance many arguments for, after all, the kind Secretary could do no differently from his instructions, and could exercise no final authority. My purpose was not to debate with him, since he was oniy an intermediary, but to gather as full information as possible concerning the viewpoint of his superiors: he probably thought me a rather inept and easily-persuaded old woman. ctIn spite of all the bloodshed, all the oppression, all the appalling cruelty of the past Persia has never been able to do enough to the Baha'is to make us hate her. To whatever degree these persecutions may be continued we will always remain loyal to this land and venerate and serve it as the home of Baha'u'llah." The Secretary looked distinctly embarrassed. ttBut the Persians have always been tolerant," he said. I regret that I was sufficiently undisciplined to laugh out loud: the idea was so quaint. CCYOU must certainly have been informed of the 30,000 martyrs whom the Persian Baha'is have offered in the pathway of God?" I inquired. Both men looked unaffectedly amazed. "Certainly not so many," ventured Mr. Assadi. CCOn the authority of European historians, to whom the matter made no difference one way or the other, it is so estimated." They then accepted the statement without further opposition. "But the Baha'is killed the Persians, too," I was told. ttThey were all Persians," I answered; "but no Baha ever killed a Persian or anyone else. The B~bis, who were attacked by the Imperial Army for the avowed purpose of extermination, defended themselves; but Baha'u'llah, who came after the Bib, taught that tit is better to be slain than to slay.' CCTO us they are all the same, BThis and Baha'is" "The Mbis became Baha'is but there were many differences in their teaching," I answered. I couldn't help wondering if in America we would entrust to those not completely informed a discussion with a foreign representative, such as I am here. "Th Persians have never shown the religious intolerance of the Europeans," repeated the Secretary. I make no attempt to fathom his purpose in this statement; whether he assumed that I was uninformed of the notorious cruelty practised by the Persians toward Jews, Zoroastrians and Kaffirs generally, or whether he himself was uninformed. "Woe betide the first Jew who crossed the path of a Persian on a holy day," I quoted Lord Curzon. "What of the humiliating suppression of the Zoroastrians who could not even wear a new dress?" ttBut they did not harm them," was the lame reply, as if such persecutions were harmless. I dropped the discussion: I was not there to argue nor antagonize, but to gather valuable information. A recollection of "the fiendish ingenuity of the torture-mongers of Tilirin," as described by Count de Gobineau, Nicholas, Lord Curzon, Captain von Goumoens and others flashed through my mind, however. I remembered my meeting a few days before with a young Baha'i, shockingly disfigured, because in infancy he had been thrust into an oven by these harmless people, and was thereby partially cooked. Please do not forget when reading this that in every instance the atmosphere was kept perfectly clear and quiet. There was no tension; the suavity and affability of the Secretary never relaxed. "It would be a very ill-advised thing to remove this ban on Baha'i literature at present. You have just spoken of the Baha'is who lost their lives. It is for the protection of the Baha'is themselves that this petition from America is denied. The result of granting it might be fraught with the gravest danger to the Baha'is themselves. The Shah is a kind father to all his subjects; a father [p405] IN MEMORIAM 405 loves all of his children alike; it is to save and help the Baha'is that the request is denied for the present. Later it can be granted, but this must be gradual; now is not the time." This was positively too much. First I am told that the Persians are tolerant and harmless; then, that if other Persians obtain ordinary civil rights they will likely be butchered by their tolerant and harmless Persian brothers; Persians against Persians, not against outsiders. It was like the previous statement that it is against the law to circulate our literature and that presently it can circulate. Imagine my having to sit there and calmly listen while Persian officials discussed, without shame, the incapacity of their own monarch, certainly one of the most valiant, heroic, decisive and just rulers in the world, to handle this minor situation. I was profoundly shocked at the callousness with which this feeble argument was advanced. Do they think that the press of the world has not been ringing with the stupendous accomplishments of the Shahanshali; of his intrepid onslaughts against the forces of ignorance, conservatism and decadence in this country; of his supreme determination to elevate Persia in spite of her own opposition and timidity above her rnediaevalism to a position of advancement and modern culture? Did they expect me to agree with them as to powerlessness of this superman who has securely established an enlightened dynasty; who has literally changed the physical face of his country in a few brief years; who has completely broken the paralyzing power of the clergy; who has set at naught the religious practices of centuries Ñ the most difficult of all political accomplishments; who has taken trousers from women and skirts from men; who has inaugurated a new economic life for Persia; who is rapidly substituting patriotism for religious fanaticism; who has defied European powers; who has achieved for all religions, including the Baha'is, comparative protection and safety; the irresistible power of whose word is sufficient to accomplish the most far reaching and dramatic results? It was quite evident that they did not realize the full import of what they were saying, and I did not discuss it with them. Within my own memory, in Persia's dark and corrupt past, Baha'i literature had circulated freely and Persian cities are today full of these books, imported in that period. There was no royal firman, no new law that stopped their import but, if I am correctly informed, the personal connivance of the present Foreign Minister; and now, God save us, I am told by Persian officials that though the Shah is sufficiently powerful so that previous interpretations of the Qur'an may be modified; that compulsory military service may be established; that the fez and chadur may be cast aside; that the clergy may be dispossessed; yet this regulation, suggested perhaps by the former Minister of Finance, is above the Shariat, above traditional customs, above the innumerable changes which have already been achieved and has become so sacrosanct that the Shah fears the effect of its removal on the people. The suggestion is odious, fantastic and ridiculous; and I took the liberty of expressing this in a letter to His Imperial Majesty. "Why are the American Baha'is interfering in these questions which concern Persia?" Mr. Assadi enquired. 'tThe Baha'i world is one great organism. What concerns one part concerns all. If even a finger is infected the whole body suffers. It is impossible for the followers of other faiths, that separate and divide men from their fellows, to grasp the meaning of Baha'i inclusiveness and solidarity." CCBUt Persia has many, many problems confronting her; she has no time to deal with these questions," I was told. I was not rude enough to say: ttThe circulation of Baha'i literature is one of those problems confronting Persia." What I did say was that this strangulation of our communication, the oniy blemish of the religious tolerance of Persia, makes our propaganda for Persia throughout the world unnecessarily difficult; for we can not assert that in contrast to her dark past she now enjoys complete religious freedom. This is what we are longing to say. "Persia has been through too many crises and difficulties; what she needs is peace." (cThe last thing that the Baha'is of the [p406] 406 THE BAHA'I WORLD world desire is in any way to hinder or to embarrass Persia. Since peace is the foundation of the Baha'i teachings we are in heartiest accord with this sentiment." I stopped there though tempted to add: "But in what country anywhere is there tranquillity where men are unequal before the law; where there is suppression, coercion and intimidation; where ordinary civil rights are denied and where recourse of police protection is unavailing?" One of the richest ornaments of modern Persia is the name of Mirza Abu'1 ]Fadl-i--Gulpayagani. As traveller and speaker he has adorned the foremost platforms of the world and her great libraries welcome his writings. But still within the past few weeks his nephew was beaten in the public bath of that town and was deported to Tihr~n, with inadequate preparation and without notice, by the police. Obliged to leave all of his possessions there and to come without money or proper clothing to a strange city, how did this represent that equality before the law, that the constitution of Persia vouchsafes to every subject? Especially when this glaring injustice was committed by the law itself? Does the Foreign Office seriously expect me to believe that this mighty monarch at whose slightest word all Persia stands at attention and displays obedience is incapable of upholding the constitution of this land and timid about issuing peremptory orders to village policemen? Do they expect me to imagine that His Imperial Maj esty is informed of these outrages and permits them, because he is helpless to prevent them? Things have reached a very strange pass when Western Baha'is entertain a more exalted and confident admiration and respect for the all-conquering power of the Shah than Persian Moslems, and His own officials at that. Again I called attention to what the Baha'is of the world, wherever they are scattered, are doing to promote the interests and to enhance the prestige of Persia. CCBt when I was in Geneva in 1927 I saw an attack on Persia, written by the American Baha'is, that has no real basis; it transpired that there had been a quarrel in Shiraz between a Baha'i and a Moslem family, over some property. The Persian Baha'is had conveyed wrong information to America and there they had exaggerated this trivial incident into something of major importance that reflected discredit on Persia," said the Secretary. "That year I was serving on a committee and I never knew or heard of our publishing such a pamphlet." "Perhaps I can find it for you," he answered. "I think it is here somewhere." cc~ certainly wish you would, for to my knowledge the Baha'is have never issued such a statement. As you have already mentioned we have many enemies and this may be their work in order to undermine the position of Persian Baha'is." The only pamphlet of which I am cognizant is the one addressed to His Majesty on the subject of the martyrdoms of Jabrum. But since, by no stretch of the imagination, could the pillage and burning of twenty Baha'i homes and the murder of eight people in Jahrum be construed into a quarrel between a Baha'i and Moslem family in Shiraz over some property, the Secretary could not have been referring to this article. Moreover, when we remember the great stir and revulsion that it created throughout the civilized world against Persia; the press protests; the expressions of horror from all sides; this letter which aroused universal indignation certainly could not be described in such a feeble way as ctreflecting discredit on Persia.~~ If any person or any organization could write or say anything to stop evil practices in America every right-minded American would look upon such a person or group as a great benefactor and not as an enemy. So it was the duty of the American Baha'is to exercise whatever restraining influence was possible to prevent such barbarous and appalling practices in Persia. These martyrdorns victimized men, women and children who had broken no law but the ancient bestial law of hatred, enmity and strife; whose oniy fault was a belief in love and peace and goodwill. "You understand that now you have had your answer to this petition. It will not be necessary to discuss it any further." At the beginning of the conversation future interviews had been mentioned. (cIt is not prac [p407] IN MEMORIAM 407 ticable nor expedient to grant this request at present." And again the Secretary repeated, "Later on the matter will adjust itself and the ban will be removed." In the beginning I had mentioned our being g an officially incorporated body enjoying the sanction and protection of the Government t of the United States. tq shall communicate your conclusion to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada," I said, "and when their answer is returned it may be necessary to consult you further. I am not referring to anything remote and metaphysical. There may be some practical questions to discuss." ~ shall be glad to receive you at any time," he answered, with the same imperturbable e courtesy; and with every show of respect and urbanity he accompanied me to the door. I liked him exceedingly. He expressed some kind compliment for my age and general attitude which might have been construed to mean that he regretted d seeing me involved with such an unsavory and nefarious crew as the Baha'is. It is really very amusing: how we pity those who are not Baha'is, and how those who are not Baha'is pity us. It seemed incredible to me that this message, , as it was delivered, could really have come from His Majesty, who has the clearest, the most definite, the most precise ideas, together r with the soundest possible judgment. That this mass of illogicalities and vulnerable arguments could possibly have proceeded from the Throne seemed to me beyond belief; for certainly the Shah would not say that things were in the Constitution which are not to be found there; would not sanction religious intolerance when his whole policy, for which every Baha'i in the world is indebted debted to him, has been toward greater and greater religious freedom; and certainly it is difficult to imagine that He would announce His own timidity and powerlessness to cope with a very ordinary situation Ñ that of conferring ferring a commonplace civil right on a large number of his subjects. For that reason I addressed His Majesty in terms of the enclosed letter, summarizing as briefly as the subject-matter permitted the conversation herein related; asking His Majesty graciously to respond as to whether or not the information received was according ing to his intent, and if so to accord me permission to release it to the waiting Baha'i world. No answer has as yet reached me. Therefore fore I shall now submit this full report to the Crown, Telying still upon his clemency and justice. If at last no answer is vouchsafed I shall be constrained, in response to your requests, reluctantly to send this record as it stands. With loving Baha'i greetings, Your sister in el-Abha, KEITH. III. EXTRACT FROM THE NEWS LETTER CCUNITY OF THE EAST AND THE COMMITTEE" TJHRAN, PERSIA "C' k) N pilgrimage to Keith's grave, the Tibrin Assembly left for I~fihin November 23rd, in fulfillment of the Guardian's instructions, , and a large meeting was held there on November 24th, at which the Tihr&n and 1sf Thin Assemblies, the Tihr6n and 1sf ihan friends, and the six delegates from those centers s which Keith was to have visited Ñ Shir~z, Yazd, Kirm~n, Abddih and the southern ports Ñ were present. On the following OF THE WEST morning the two Assemblies in conjunction with the delegates and many other friends proceeded to the cemetery on the outskirts of 1sf iMn, stopped as Keith herself had done a few days before her last illness at the graves of the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, and gathered close by at the resting-place place of the ccfirst western martyr." An enlarged larged photograph of Keith brought by the Assembly from Tihr&n was placed above the [p408] Baha of 1sf Thin gathered about the casket of Keith Ransom-Keller. Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia and representatives of various Baha'i centers in Persia assembled at the grave of Keith Ransom-Kehier. 408 [p409] IN MEMORIAM 409 grave, and the ground was covered with flowers' the ShirAz delegate, HabibullTh Afn~n, poured out rose water which he had brought from the House of the Bib, and gave some to each of the friends; all stood in silence while prayers for dead were chanted. Later a second memorial service was held at the Haziratu'1-Quds, where the Guardian's letters regarding Keith and her Persian mission were read, her spiritual rank and glorious services described, and fervent tributes paid her; a memorial dinner was then offered in her name, and on the following day the Central Assembly returned to Tihrin. In addition to the Assemblies and delegates who made this pilgrimage in the Guardian's stead, the Guardian sent a special representative, Aq~y-i-Faydi of Tihr~n, who travelling from Haifa laid a beautiful wreath on Keith's grave on behalf of the Guardian. Recent instructions from Haifa stress the importance of informing all centers in Persia of Keith's eminent station, so that all may know that she was "the first Baha'i martyr of the West, the standard-bearer of this longsuffering people, the true, unequalled champion of God's followers in that land, envied by her spiritual brethren of the West"; that "she solidly welded the Baha'is of the East and the NVest"; and that "in life and in death she glorified and exalted God's Cause." Iv • "I have fallen, though I never faltered. Months of effort with nothing accomplished is the record that confronts me. If anyone in future should be interested in this thwarted adventure of mine, he alone can say whether near or far from the seemingly impregnable heights of complaisance and indifference, my tired old body fell. The smoke and din of battle arc today too dense for me to ascertain whether I moved forward or was slain in my tracks. ccNothing in the world is meaningless, suffering least of all. Sacrifice with its attendant agony is a germ, an organism. Man cannot blight its fruition as he can the seeds of earth. Once sown it blooms, I think f or-ever, ever, in the sweet fields of eternity. Mine will be a very modest flower, perhaps like the single, tiny forget-me-not, watered by the blood of Quddiis that I plucked in the Sabz-i-Mayd&n of B~rfuriis1r should it ever catch the eye, may one who seems to be struggling in vain garner it in the name of Shoghi Effendi and cherish it for his dear remembrance. tWhile the tired waves vainly breaking Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back through creeks and inlets making, Silent comes flooding in the main.' KEITH V. KEITH o poet soui, whose unremitting toil Has helped to rend the veils from dark Iran, Thy tree of love is planted in her soil, Where Suns have clothed the crescent faith of man. When, in the dawn of that immortal day, Our martyrs quaffed of God's eternal wine, The stream of glory coursed its crimson way Until it blended their rich blood with thine. [p410] 410 THE BAHA'I WORLD First martyr from America to stain The rose of Persia with thy fragrant blood, The annals of thy life fore'er remain The signs of love's unconquerable flood. The Su1~nu'sh-Shuhad~'s path is there, Where thy sure footsteps followed to his shrine, And 1sf 4hAn has now become aware Thou wert ordained a tfland of the Divine'. PHILIP AMALFI MARANGELLA New York, December, 1933 MRS. AGNES PARSONS ~~Great1y deplore loss distinguished handmaid of Baha'u'llah. Through her manifold pioneer services she has proved herself worthy of implicit confidence reposed in her by ~ Advise American believers hold befitting memorial gatherings. Assure relatives heartfelt sympathy, prayers. (Signed) Shoghi. (Cable to National Spiritual Assembly) "The dress was destroyed, but the one who wore the dress is living." These words are part of a wonderful teaching on immortality which cAbdu~I~Bah& gave to Mrs. Parsons when she supplicated for a word from Him for a friend who was inconsolable because of the passing of a dear one. It seems appropriate now in connection with the going away of our dear sister herself, for in this world tshe proved herself worthy of the implicit confidence reposed in her by tAbdu'1-Bah~," as stated in the cable about her from our Guardian. On Friday, January 19, 1934, at about six p.m., Mrs. Parsons was crossing a street alone and was knocked down by a passing automobile. A serious illness followed, and finally on Tuesday night, January 23rd, about midnight, she ascended to the world of eternal, radiant light and life. "The human spirit comes from God and to Him it returns." Mrs. Parsons, we are informed, had reached the age of seventy-three years, a long and eventful life which, as far as all earthly measurements are concerned, seemed full of promise for many more years of service. The oniy child of General and Mrs. Royal, Mrs. Parsons was born into and lived in what at that time was considered a beautifully sheltered world. Until middle age when she first became a Baha'i she had never known nor associated with any one outside of her own immediate circle. The absolutely miraculous creative effect of the Revealed Word of Baha'u'llah was never more pronounced than in the unfoldment of this great soul into a devoted and loyal follower of the Risen Sun of Righteousness and Truth. Mrs. Parsons first heard of the Baha'i Teachings around 1908, and became a confirmed follower of the Baha'i Revelation when she made her pilgrimage to see Baha in Haifa in 1910. Our recorded Baha'i history gives abundant proof of her outstanding service to the Cause in 1912 when tAbdu'1-Bahi was in Washington. There is no statement which any one could make which would sufficiently glorify her for the magnificent services which it was her privilege to render at that time. It was Pure Bounty from God the Almighty to her that she was able to offer to CAbdu~1~Ba1A the hospitality of her new home during the greater part of His first visit to Washington in the spring of 1912. Every one who witnessed her indefatigable work can wholeheartedly testify that she left no stone unturned to make her service perfect at the feet of the Lord. CAbdu~1~~ BaM Himself testified to this fact. Some of the marvelous talks which Abdu'l-Baha gave in her home are recorded in the tcPromulgation of Universal Peace," but there were many private interviews with individuals and groups from the official and social circles of Washington which have never been printed. Many of the details of the Master's visit have been written by Mrs. Parsons herself, and no doubt this important [p411] INSCRIPTION In Loving Memory of Keith Ransom-Kehier, 1878, Jsf~h~n 1933. "Keith's Precious Life Offered Up in Sacrifice to Beloved Cause in Baha'u'llah's Native Land." Ñ ShoghiEffendi. ~The East Shall Become Illumined, the West Perfumed and the Children n of Men Shall Enter Beneath the All-Em-bracing g Canopy of the Oneness of the World of Humanity." Ñ CAb-du'l-Bahd. . Design by Myron Potter, Architect, of Memorial to be constructed by the American Baha'is in honor of Keith Ransom-Keller at 1sf Th~tn. [p412] 412 THE BAHA'I WORLD document will be included in the history of the Cause in America. Tn August, 1912, tAbdu'1-Bah& visited Dublin, N. H., where Mr. and Mrs. Parsons maintained their summer residence. Here Mrs. Parsons turned over to tAbdu'1-Ba1A for the exclusive use of Himself and His entourage, one of her places there known as tcDay~ spring." Thus two of her homes Ñ one in both subjectively and objectively received, shows that she was confirmed. From that time on Mrs. Parsons gradually began to serve very definitely in the Cause, for the most part giving the Message to groups in her own immediate circle. Traveling teachers who came to Washington always received an invitation to speak to these groups in her home. Portrait of Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons. ~rThroitgh her manifold pioneer services she has proved herself worthy of the implicit confidence reposcJ in her by !Abdu)lBahd))SHOGHI EFFENDI. Washington and one in Dublin Ñ will forever be mentioned in the Baha'i history of this country. During His stay in Dublin tAbdu'1-Bah& talked again to many individuals and groups of great importance. tAbdu'1-Bah& often referred, during these times, to Mrs. Parsons' spirituality and to her significant services to the Cause of God. That she was tt lid" to render this service and that she so wholeheartedly and graciously and happily arose and translated into the world of action all those instructions Her second visit to the Presence of the Master in Haifa, Palestine, was made during the winter and early spring of 1920. During this second visit she received from tAbdu'1 Ñ BaWl a remarkable instruction Ñ a command Ñ which, carried into execution, placed her in the ranks of those who rendered pioneer services to the Cause. "The blessings that come to one are greater than those one seeks," said tAbdu'1-Bah4. This instruction was not sought by Mrs. Parsons; it came to her from the heaven of the Master's Divine [p413] IN MEMORIAM 413 Will, and was in truth and in fact a great and overwhelming surprise to Mrs. Parsons herself. The Master's instruction was as follows: ~ want you to arrange a Convention for unity of the colored and white races. You must have people to help you." After Mrs. Parsons returned to America she often spoke of this command. In those days c!to arrange a Convention" seemed a country in time to serve as Chairman of one of the Convention sessions. At this meeting he read the following message from 'Abdu'1-. BaM sent through him to be read at the Convention: "Say to this Convention that never since the beginning of time has one inure important been held. This Convention stands for the Oneness of Humanity; it will become the cause of the removal of hostility Yiisuf KMn-i-Vujd~ni, distinguished Persian Baha'i teacher. d. 1934 tremendous undertaking, but she always said: "I will be able to do it. I must for it is the Will of tAbdu'1-BahA." And in accordance with the explicit command of the Master she succeeded in gathering around her a helpful, active and earnest Committee. During the period of preparation for this Convention (and the preliminary work consumed weeks and even months), Mr. Mount-fort Mills was in Haifa. He returned to this between races; it will be the cause of the enlightenment of America. It will Ñ if wisely managed and continued Ñ check the deadly struggle between these races which otherwise will inevitably break out." Immediately after the close of the Convention Mrs. Parsons sent the following cable to tAbdu'1-Bahi: ccCoeti successful. Meetings crowded. Hearts comforted." And [p414] 414 THE BAHA'I WORLD tAbdu'1-BahA replied at once by cable: "The white-colored Convention produced happiness. Hoping will establish same in all America.~~ The Tablets of the Master which followed, not oniy to Mrs. Parsons but to others, indicated that this first Amity Convention was termed by the Master "the mother convention" from which many Amity Conventions would be born, and in one Tablet He called it a perfect convention. Since that time Amity Conventions arranged by the Baha'i Interracial Committees Ñ both national and local Ñ have been held in nearly all the large cities of America: three additional Conventions have been held in Washington, and in Green Acre every summer a Baha'i Amity Convention is held as part of the regular program. It is difficult to convey to any one the full import of the work accomplished by Mrs. Parsons. One sees at a glance, even from this brief statement, that she was confirmed. The Master said to her: rcGd has elected you and led you to the Kingdom of Abha, therefore you must be very grateful to God, the Bes tower of these bounties upon you. Any outline of Mrs. Parsons' services Ñ brief or otherwise Ñ would not be complete without a word about her wonderful cooperation with the National and Local Baha'i Funds to the fullest extent of her ability; without mention of her many charitable and kindly deeds. Pages could be written doubtless about her contributions and helpful donations along many lines. At the time of her passing she was a member of the Washington Spiritual Assembly, Chairman of the National Interracial Corn-mittee, and a member of the Interracial Committee of the Baha'is of Washington, D.C. Mrs. Parsons had a unique station. Absolutely no one can fill her place. She had a capacity all her own, and her station was a particular one not conferred upon any one else. She was very dear to the Master and He showed her great and extraordinary favor. Her place is empty; there is no one to fill it. Down through the ages her unique position in the Cause will be spoken of and written about, for a conferred position, conferred by the Master, can never die. MARIAM HANEY DR. ARASTI2T KEAN HAKfM (18771934) Dr. Arastii Kh4n was the grandson of Hakim Masih, court physician to Muhammad Shdi and the first Jewish Baha'i. Uakim Masih had learned something of the new faith through IThirib herself, during the early days of the Bib's manifestation, when he was in Baghd&d, and from that time on he had searched for the source of her power. Later in TihrAn he offered to visit the prison and treat a Baha'i child, when the Moslem doctors had refused; the child's father was the famous Ismu'1I&hu'1-Asdaq, and in the course of these visits Hakim Masih became a Baha'i. He later achieved fame in the Cause, and among other Tablets, Baha'u'llah revealed the following for him: "In the name of God, the Wise, the All-knowing: 0 Hakim, be staunch in the faith of thy Lord, that the blasts of oppressors may not cause thee to shake; be enduring in the Cause of thy Lord, by thy trust in the Lord and His might; and say, 0 men, how long will ye sin and stray, how long will ye place passion over salvation? Do ye not see that those who left your midst have not returned, that those who were scattered have not again been gathered? Ere long shall your days to come pass by as your days that are gone. Fear your merciful Lord: by the one true God He hath desired only that which will draw you ciose unto Him and cause you to enter the realms of eternity, and He is the Giver, the Kind. Eat ye of the fruit of the eternal tree which is ever at hand, for those bereft of it are back of heavy veils. Then know We are imprisoned where eyes can never penetrate, where ears cannot distinguish the words that God the Wise, the Able, and the Knowing doth reveal. By such means have they sought to withhold God's slaves from hearing the words of their Lord, that His light might go out in the midst of His creatures; but God in His might hath revealed what He willed unto those who were turning toward Him with radiant [p415] IN MEMORIAM 415 faces. Then guard what We have entrusted to thee: thou hast in the sight of God a high station; praise Him, be of those who acclaim Him. Grieve not over that which hail come upon Us, be content with what God hath desired for Us, for 'We are in radiant gladness, and all praise is meet for the Lord of the heavens and earth." Dr. Arastii's father Hakim Su1aym~n was likewise a Baha and Dr. Arastfi himself Master, who wrote him many tablets. In 1900 Afl~iti$n died. Shortly after his brother's death Aras~A KhAn went to tAkk4, where it was his privilege to stay in the Master's presence one year. During the first days of his Visit the Master continually addressed him as CCAfl~ ifin," which puzzled him considerably; until one night when he and Dr. Yvnis Kh&n Afnikhtih were following the Master through the narrow crooked streets of the prison city, the Master again addressed him Dr. Arastd KhAn Hakirn. gradually increased his services in the Cause as he grew to manhood. Meanwhile he was carrying on the family tradition, as are his Sons today, of practicing medicine. About 1897 he had graduated from the American School in Tihr~n and was working in the American Hospital, where he already showed signs of that healing personality which later made him one of the foremost doctors in the capital. At this period he spent many hours in out of the way houses in the back streets of Tihr~n, studying this faith, in those days when knowledge of Baha'u'llah's cause often ended in death. Soon he began to teach on his own account; his brother Afl&t~n was also an ardent Baha'i, much loved by the as AflitAn and said, ~Do you know why I call you Aflitian? It is because I desire his truth and spirituality to reappear in you." Arastit developed rapidly in cAkkA studying the Master's way, and he worked with Dr. Ytnis KhAn translating letters from the Western Baha'i. The Master had hoped to send him to America, but family concerns necessitated his return home. Here he worked devotedly for the Cause, founding a weekly teaching meeting which continued to his death, and which according to his will is to be perpetuated. He received his medical diploma, became known throughout the capital for his generosity to the poor and for his gentleness. In 1911 he was in London [p416] 416 THE BAHA'I WORLD with a patient and ably defended the Cause from Azali activities, and he was with the Master in Switzerland. In 1925 he again went abroad, this time visiting the Guardian in Haifa. During his last years his health failed, but although he was ill himself he continued to visit the sick. His frequent meetings with Keith Ransom-Keller were an important event of his last year; it was she who arranged a match between his son Dr. Quhm-~Iusayn Kh6n and the sister-in-law of Ralimat Ah'i, officiating herself at the wedding which will long be remembered in Tihr~n. Dr. ArastA's death made a deep impression on Baha'is and non-BahS'is alike. Several hundred persons attended his funeral, following his coffin up one of the main thoroughfares of the capital. In commemoration of his passing, The Guardian sent to his family the following cablegram: "Beloved Arasvii joined Immortals (of) Supreme Concourse. Fully share your grief earthly separation. Praying fervently. Awaiting account life with photograph for Ba1A'i World." (Signed) Shoghi. The Qur'~nic verse chosen for Dr. Arastii KhAn's gravestone symbolizes what his life was: ~O well-assured spirit, willing and blessed go thou back to thy Lord." GEORGE ADAM BENKE. George Adam Benke was born on a flourishing and prosperous farm in Fredericksfelt, Southern Russia, of Godfearing parents in the year 1878. When but a small boy of nine he had an attack of smallpox. Taking a severe cold after this, he lay at death's door for four years. The doctors had little hope of a recovery. When his mother heard this, she fell on her knees at his little cot, beseeching God to restore her boy to health, promising that if he recovered, his life should be dedicated to God's service as a missionary. Very shortly after this a peasant woman was found who declared she could effect a cure. She proceeded to administer doses of sarsaparilla brewed from an herb, and fed the boy oniy on unleavened bread. At the end of two weeks there was a marked improvement, so the child was allowed to have his regular food for a time, and then to go back again to her treatment. In a very short time Adam was up and about. When the time drew near for his higher education, a great famine and pestilence fell on the land. The crops failed. Barely enough grain was saved for the families' nourishment, while twenty-six of the best horses and cattle died. All thought of educating Adam as a missionary had to be abandoned, and instead he became a schoolmaster. Nevertheless his mother's great desire for him filled his thoughts, and while unable to go forth to foreign fields, or become a university student, still he could and did live a life of love for God. And when, in 1901, he married Miss Lina Wolf from Carisruhe, Baden, they together searched long and lovingly for truth. Then came the world's war, after which German soldiers came to the Crimea. Life soon became very hazardous, and it seemed better to escape with the soldiers. They then settled in Liepzig, and having had to leave all their worldly possessions behind them, they had to begin all over again. Some twelve or more months later, while they were still investigating reality through the Theosophical Society, they had the joy of meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Ober and Miss Alma Knoblock, who gave to them the glorious message of Baha'u'llah. They then knew that they had found what they had long sougl±t, The Pearl of Great Price, and thereafter they gave all attention to the study of the Sacred utterances. To Mr. Benke's delight, he found in the University Library of Liepzig the Russian writings by Thomansky and Rosenberg translations from Baha'u'llah. These he proceeded to put into German and, in order to enable himself to further enrich the German Baha'i Library, he set himself the task of studying English, since a good number of these precious words had already been translated into English. In June, 1931, Mr. Benke was called to help Mrs. Jack in Sofia, where his knowledge of Russian was of great benefit, since that language is now taught in the high schools. He worked arduously in this city nearly three months, leaving no stone unturned in his [p417] IN MEMORIAM 417 efforts to find the ready souL. He was sent during the month of August to the lisper-anto Congress at Starazagora, and meeting the Bulgarian President on the train, who became much attracted to him, he was elected honorary vice-president of the Congress. He was again called to Sofia the following year, and remained until his passing in November. During those months Mr. Benke of the Administration in order that he might become absolutely efficient in this important matter, and such an obedient servant that be would be above reproach. His longing was that all believers should be firmly centered in the One chosen for us by our Heavenly Beloved tAbdu'1-Bah& to guard and guide us after His ascension. The second year in Sofia he was again elected as vice-president of the Esperanto George Adam Benke. worked night and day. Nothing could divert his attention from the work in hand. When nothing else offered he studied Bulgarian, English, and Esperanto. His ambition to become an efficient teacher of the Cause and a servant of whom his beloved Guardian would be proud was very great. This devo-don to the Great Head of the Ba1A'i Administration was very touching. He wanted to obey not only to the letter, but to the spirit, and studied earnestly every letter from the Great Guardian, and every word Congress, this time held in that city. Later he was invited to Varna on the Black Sea. Here he spoke twice under the auspices of the Esperanto Society to groups of enquirers. On his return journey he stopped over in Starazagora to renew his acquaintance with the Esperanto friends and refresh their knowledge of the teachings. Likewise he looked up his friend Dr. Tchervenkof in Ploydjy to meet those interested by him in that city. Up to the very hour of his death Mr. [p418] 418 THE BAHA'I WORLD Benke was in harness and in the evening he taught a Russian lady, and later, until after midnight, he was giving counsci and advice to a young Bulgarian brother. He had no illness at the last, oniy a short halfhour of discomfort during which time he turned in prayer to Baha'u'llah for relief, and sweetly passed with the ttRemover of difficulties" on his lips, into the great beyond, to join the noble army of martyrs in the Su their heavenly welfare as well as for the peace, unity and concord of all humanity. His example in living the life spoke even more loudly than his eloquent words. MR. EDWIN SCOTT. The passing of Mr. Edwin Scott, for many years a loyal and active member of the Baha'i Cause, was deeply felt by the friends Edwin Scott. preme Concourse, and at last to see face to face the Adored One whom he had never met in life except frequently in the happy hours of dreams. His body was laid to rest in the Sofia cemetery. All who knew him in Sofia and elsewhere testified to the beauty of his life and character. Many and many a one felt that when he went they had lost a dear friend and brother and one whose interest in them was of immense spiritual help, for he longed for with whom he had spent long years in loving, active service in Paris. In 1911 when tAb-du'1-BahA visited Paris He spoke several times in the studio of Mr. and Mrs. Scott and to this day that studio continues to be the Baha'i center where Mrs. Scott welcomes the Baha'i friends, whether tourists or residents of Paris, with the same beautiful courtesy, finding thus her greatest source of joy and consolation since the loss of her husband. Because of his recognized ability as an artist Mr. Scott was made Chevalier of the [p419] TN MEMORIAM 419 L6gion d'Honneur and he was a distinguished member of la Soci6t6 National des Beaux Arts. Five of his paintings were purchased by the French government and after his demise one of his works was hung in the Salle du Jeu de Paume, in the Museum of State in Paris, a distinction much sought after by painters. Washington home of Mr. and Mrs. Barney was open for Baha'i meetings on many occasions. Mrs. Barney visited Acc& in the spring of 1905 with her daughter Laura, remaining there near tAbd~1BahA a month, during which time she painted the portrait of the son of the Governor. Mrs. Alice Barney. The Baha'i Cause has suffered a grievous loss through the passing of Mr. Edwin Scott. MRS. ALICE BARNEY. Mrs. Alice Barney, gifted poetess, painter, dramatist, musician, architect and craftswoman who passed away in Los Angeles in 1931, lived as her friends and contemporaries attest, in a world of beauty. She became interested in the Baha'i Cause shortly after her daughter Laura (now Mine. Dreyfus-Barney of Paris) visited Haifa in 1900. The Mrs. Barney's paintings are to be found in most of the important museums of the United States, the National Museum of Washington alone having as many as five of her-works, while a painting which she exhibited in the Paris Salon was purchased by the French Government. She was always a generous patron of the arts and offered her encouragement especially to members of the colored race, assisting them to develop their talents with sympathetic understanding. The wellknown settlement ccNeighbor~ hood-House" was her gift to the city of [p420] 420 THE BAHA'I WORLD Washington, and this splendid institution interested tAbdu'1-Bah& very much when He visited Washington in 1912. Mrs. Barney was particularly attracted to the Baha'i Cause because of its broad teachings of tolerance, its humanitarianism, its love of the beautiful and fruitful action. Elsewhere in this volume appears a re Cause in America, and loyal servants of the AbM Kingdom. Word has come of the passing of Dr. Auguste Forel, the distinguished savant of Switzerland, known throughout the world as one of the foremost scientists of this day. In 1920 Dr. Forel embraced the Baha'i Cause, and 'Abdu'l-Baha addressed to him Lisbeth Klitzing. 18 84193 3. markable portrait of Mirza Abu'I-Fadl which was made during the visit of this great teacher to Washington in 1903. IN MEMORIAM During the past two years the BAnk 'I NEWS has carried the announcements of the passing of the dearly beloved American believers whose names are listed below. It is with great sorrow that we chronicle the ioss of these members of the Baha'i Communities, many of whom were valiant pioneers of the that great Tablet presenting the scientific proofs of God's existence, which was published in its entirety in the Star of the West, Vol. 13, pages 101 to 109. By his tireless research Dr. Forel greatly augmented scientific knowledge and rendered inestimable service to mankind, and the beauty of his life and character will long remain with us as an example of selfless service to humanity. Mrs. Dora Taylor passed from this life August 18th. Mrs. Taylor united with the Cincinnati group of Baha'is more than [p421] IN MEMORIAM 421 twenty-five years ago. At her request, the service used at the funeral of Mr. Louis Bourgeois, was read by Miss Hilda Stauss. Mrs. Taylor had been incapacitated for many years by a most distressing illness. She was the wife of Benjamin R. Taylor and leaves four children. The Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly and Community of Baha'is report the passing of one of their honored members, Edgar F. Waite. He was born in Massachusetts in 1865, moved to Chicago in 1893, remaining until 1915, when he went to California. He has been a valued member of the Los Angeles Community of Baha'is for fifteen years, having been for several years Chairman of the Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly. His life has been one of self-sacrificing service to the Cause, and his passing a perfect example of "radiant acquiescence" to the will of Baha'u'llah. The friends feel keenly the absence of Mr. 'Waite's physical presence and sincerely sympathize with Mrs. Shahnaz Waite in her bereavement. On Thursday, September 17th, at Hono-iuiu, one of our much loved friends, Mrs. Meta A. Sutherland, passed on suddenly to the Spiritual Kingdom. She served the Cause faithfully and lovingly for many years as a member of the Honolulu Baha'i Assembly and through her spirit of steadfastness, understanding, gentleness and true humility, endeared herself to all. She was born in Honolulu on May 8th, 1862, and was one of the early believers in the Islands. THE PASSING OF MME. DELAGNEL. Once again the friends of Washington, D. C., were called upon to translate into the world of action the divine injunction of Baha'u'llah, ~ have made death to thee as glad-tidings " Without this teaching the devoted friends of Mine. Josephine Cowles deLagnel would have been a sorrowful group, for her passing into the life eternal and radiant would have meant a bereavement inexpressibly great and very deeply felt. This faithful maidservant was for many years an active and beloved member of the Washington Baha'i Community and for many years she had served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. Mine. deLagnel became a Baha'i in 1902, and from the day she entered the Fold she was a comprehending follower of the Faith, Ñ loyal, devoted, sincere at every point and at all times. She had "found her Lord," as she so often said, and so all of the Teachings emanating from the Source of Life and Light and Love in this Great Day constituted her armor and buckler and were indeed all-in-all to her. Through the creative effect of the Holy Utterances she had developed spiritual ears and spiritual eyes and a keen spiritual perception. Her greatest charm was her firmness in faith and her longing to serve the Most Great Cause. She was eighty-five years of age, yet she was active up to the time of her serious illness which began about six weeks before the final dissolution of that once very strong body. She was well equipped for service for she had a strong spirit and a strong mind in a strong body. Those who knew her well during all the thirty years of her devotion to the Cause will remember her unique and beautiful character, and the 'Washington friends in particular will always remember that her home was the Baha'i meeting-place for years. When tAbdu'1-Bah~ was in Washington in 19 12, He visited her home, and thereafter she herself and many others considered the home was especially blessed and that it had an unusually pure spiritual atmosphere. tAbdu'1-Bah& said to her, CCSh is My real daughter, there is no one who could be dearer to me than she is because she really serves. I love her. I love her very much." And in one of her own Tablets from Him, these words, "Every soui has a protector, but praise be to God thou hast God." And during the storms and stress of life she held firmly to these Holy Words. Mrs. May Warrick Hughes, Glendale, Calif. Miss Lena Geib, Bloomfield, N. J. Mrs. Rachel 0. North, Chicago, Ill. Mr. Charles T. Kerin, Pittsburgh, Penna. Mrs. Ingrid Anna Nelson, Hollywood, Calif. Miss Mable Sankey, San Francisco, Calif. Mr. Herman Pauli, New York, N. Y. Miss Ada Murray, Washington, D. C. Mr. Edward Fuhrman, Sr.,Washington,D.C. Mr. Arthur D. Mayo, Washington, D. C. Mr. Irving H. Vail, Pasadena, Calif. Captain Albert W. Hall, Akron, Ohio. [p422] Mr. S. T. Ditmars, Spokane, Wash. Mr. Arthur James, Bloomfield, N. J. Mr. Augustus Doblernan, Baltimore, Md. Mrs. Henrietta Wagner, Santa Barbara, Calif. Dr. Emma McKay Appel, Chicago, Ill. Mr. Stephen Saghatielan, Portland, Ore. Mr. Carl G. Hilirnan, Seattle, 'Wash. Dawn Nabil Britt, Seattle, 'Wash. Mrs. Belle Blaney, Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Shari Boros, Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Hazel Chandon Hopkins, Gridley, Calif. Mr. Frank Miller, Los Angeles, Calif. Mirza. Ellen Davies, Detroit, Mich.' Mr. Frederick Heather, Bloomfield, N. J. Mr. William R. Ripley, Orlando, Fla. Mother Beecher, Lima, Ohio. Mrs. Ann Marshall, San Francisco, Calif. Dr. Frederick W. D'Evelyn, San Francisco, Calif. Mr. Charles Greenleaf, Texas. Miss Mary Vistue, Denver, Cob. Miss Martha Robinson, New York, N. Y. Miss Ann Boylan, New York, N. Y. Miss Jennie Bishop, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Cora C. Horn, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Marion Hotchkiss, New York, N. Y. Mr. Robert J. Edgar, Phoenix. Ariz. Infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kendricks, Hinsdale, N. H. Mr. Nels Peterson, Fruitport, Mich. Mrs. Alice Ives Breed, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Harriet Sprague, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Annie Stewart, Kooskia, Ida. Mrs. Margaret Adams, Johnstown, N. Y. Dr. Charles Berrien Hall, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Altia May, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Leona S. Barnitz, Washington, D. C. Mrs. W. H. Repogle, Bakersfield, Calif. Mr. Frank W. Doty, Yonkers, N. Y. Mr. J. T. Reddin, Marstock, Nova Scotia. Miss Katherine Brandeau, Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Angela Lynch, San Francisco, Calif. Mr. John Hampel, Milwaukee, Wis. Mrs. Pauline Ayres, Trenton, N. J. Mrs. E. A. Dillabough, Farran Point, Ont. Mr. Frederick Diehi, Pasadena, Calif. Mrs. Mary Lucas, Boston, Mass. Mrs. Lily Wiggins, Phoenix, Ariz. Mrs. George W. Busey, Urbana, Ill. Mrs. Katherine Berdessen, Kaloma, Wash. Mrs. Katherine Sankey, Oakland, Calif. Mrs. Mary B. Morris, San Francisco, Calif. Mr. M. B. Lessen, Racine, Wis. Mrs. Katherine Miller, Racine, Wis. [p423] PART THREE [p424] [p425] BAHA'I DIRECTORY, 19331934 90 OF THE BAHA'I( ERA BAHA'I NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Caucasus, Care of Mr. DiyA'u'lhh A~gliarz6Aih, 4 Victoria Avenue, Bishopsgate, London, E. C. 2, ENGLAND. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt, P. 0. Box 13 Daher, Cairo, EGYPT. Telegraphic Address: Bahabureau, Cairo. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Great Britain, 19 Grosvenor Place, London, S. W. 1, ENGLAND. Telegraphic Address: National, Care Asgharz6xlih, London. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany, Care of Herr Paul Golirner, Neckarstrasse 127, Stuttgart, GERMANY. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma, Care of Mr. Pritam Singh, 50 Temple Road, Lahore, INDIx. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of tlriq. Care of cAbdu~r~Razz~q Abbas, Custom House, Bagbd6i, ~IRAQ. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia, Care of P6rsiy~n, Timtche Hajeb-Dowich Bazaar, Tihr~n, PERSIA. Telegraphic Address: RawMni, P6xsiy6n, Tihr~n. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Turkist6n, Care of Mr. IQiy~'u'11Ah A~gharzSdih, 4 Victoria Avenue, Bishopsgate, London, E. C. 2, ENGLAND. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, Secretariat, Evergreen Cabin, West Englewood, N. J., U. S. A. Telegraphic Address: Baha, New York. International Baha'i Bureau, Case 181, Stand, Geneva, SWITZERLAND. Telegraphic Address: Baha'i, Geneva. 425 [p426] 426 THE BAHAI WORLD 2. BAHA'{ LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES AND GROUPS This list has been compiled by the International Baha'i Bureau of Geneva, Switzerland. Omissions, errors and changes should be reported immediately to the Bureau, address Case 181 Stand, Geneva. ABYSSINIA Ñ Adis-Ababa: Sabri Elias, P. 0. Box 193. ALEANIA Ñ Tiran& Mr. Refo Chapari, N. K. Luno Skendo. AUSTRALIA Ñ Adelaide: Box 90 B., G. P. 0. * Brisbane: Mr. John B. Bedgood, Isaac St., Paddington. * Hobart: Miss Greta Lamprill, 'tNewlands" Toorak Ave., Tasmania. Melbourne: Box 1237, G. P. 0. Perth: Mrs. Annie 0. Miller, 73 Berwick St., Victoria Park. Sydney: P. 0. Box 3116, G. P. 0. Yaninee: Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne. AUSTRIA Ñ Vienna: Mr. Franz Pallinger, J6sefst~idter-str. 37, VIII. Graz: Herr Adolf Fontana, Kirchengasse, 14. Salzburg: Miss Steffie Fiirtli, Hotel Elisabeth. BELGIUM Ñ Antwerp: Mine. Steinmann, 53 Ave. Van Peet. BRAZIL Ñ Baha: Miss Lenore Holsapple, Avenida Oceanica 46. BULGARIA Ñ Ploydjy: Mr. I. V. Popov, Vegetaria Resto Ñ racio, ccRodstvenost.~~ Sofia: Mr. Konstantin Dinkoff, P. 0. Box 103. Turnovo: Mrs. Dora Bourmoff. Varna: Mrs. L. Gregory, Boulevard Slivnitza 28. BURMA (see India and Burma) Ñ CANADA (see United States and Canada) Ñ CAUCASUS Ñ ~B4ka B~h-Khini. Bitfim. * Burd6. Chini. Darband. Erivan. Ganjib. Khilhi. KitgcMy. Naft5l&n. Petroyki. SA1iy~n. Shakki. Sham&khi. Shirav~n. Tiflis. CHINA Ñ Canton: Mr. C. S. Liii, lies. Agricultural College, Sun Yat Sen University. Hong Kong: Mr. Pei Tswi, Manager, Bank of China. Shanghai: Mirza H. A. Ouskouli, Box 551. Czrcno-SLovAKIA Ñ BRNo: Mr. Mahmiid Khamsy, u. Dr. Tu~ka. 17. Praha: Mr. Vuk Eclitner, c/o Bruckner, U. Pujcovny 2. Pressburg: Mr. Kiuss, Wachneisterweg 8. DENMARK Ñ Kopenhagen: Miss Johanna Sbrensen, Dros-selvej 9. EGYPT Ñ Alexandria: P. 0. Box 1865. Assiut: Mr. tAniyatu'lIAh Ibrihim. Cairo: P. 0. Box 13, Daher. Tsm~ tiliyyih: Mr. Khalil tAyid, Suez Canal Co. Kantara: Mr. Muhammad 'Avaydi, Customs Dept. Port-Said: P. 0. Box 213. R&si'1-Khalij: Mr. Fu'~d Yazdi. [p427] The National Convention of the Baha'is of Germany. Baha'is of Rostock, Germany. 427 [p428] Shibini'1-Kawm: Mr. IbrThim Stefanos. Tanta: Mr. ~Abdu'1-Hamid Zaki. Tawfiqiyyih: Mr. Mikbi'il Yi~suf, Station Master. FRANCE Ñ Nanterre (Seine): Mr. H. Safa, 66 ar. G. Cldmenceau. Paris: Mine. Dreyfus-Barney, 74 rue Ray-nouard. GERMANY Ñ I. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany: Chairman: Frau Alice Schwarz, Stuttgart, Alexanderstr. 3. Vice-C hai rinan: Herr Dr. Adelbert Miihl-schiegel, Stuttgart, Urbanst. 11. Secretary: Herr Paul Golimer, Stuttgart, Neckarstr. 127. Assistant Secretary: Herr Dr. Eugen Schmidt, Stuttgart, Reinsburgstr. 198. Treasurer: Herr Friedrich Schweizer, Zuffen-hausen-Stuttgart, Karlstr. 26. II. Committees: Publishing Committee: Verlagsabteilung des Geistigen Nationairats der Deutschen Baha'i, Stuttgart, Alexanderstr. 3. (For German books.) Baha Esperanto Eldonej o, Neckarge-miind, Gdringstr. 37. (For Esperanto books oniy.) Baha'i Magazines: ccSe der Walirheit: Frau Alice Schwarz, Stuttgart, Alexan-derstr. 3. ttLa Nova Tago": Dr. Hermann Gross-mann, NeckargemUnd, Gdringstr. 37. III. Local Assemblies (~) and Groups: Berlin: Herr Theo Lehne, Dallgow-Dbber-itz, Parkstr. 24. Bremen: Herr Max Greeven, Unter den Lichen 2. Dresden A 24: Herr Paul Kdhler, Feld-schlasschenstr. 22. Esslingen/Neckar: Fri. Anne Kbstlin, Agnesbau. Fellbach/Stuttgart: Herr S. H~fner, Balm-hofstr. Frankfurt: Herr Carl Barthel, 'W6hlerstr. 14. Geislingen (Steige) -Altenstadt: Herr Hans Kraiss, Gelweg 22. Gdppingen: Herr Karl Motzer, Pfarrstr. 16. ~Hamburg: Fri. Anna Bostelmann, Post-schliessfach 3319. Heidelberg: Dr. Hermann Grossmann; Nec-kargemiind (Heidelberg) Gbringstr. 37. Heilbronn: Fr. Marie Ott, Bbckingen-Heil-bronn, Grossgartacherstr. 38. Heppenheim: Herr Hans Schmitt, Post-schliessfach 41. * Karlsruhe-Riippur-Gartenstadt: Frau Martha Brauns, Resedenweg 70. * Leipzig: Fri. Grisela Holz, Fichtestr. 16, III. Mannheim: Herr Fritz Winter, N 3, 12. Rostock/M.: Fr. Dr. M. Waicker, Schiller-str. 23. Salszburg: Fri. Stefanie Fiirth, Hotel Elisabeth, Gesterreich. Schwerin/M.: Fr. Frieda Reuter, Sandstr. 1. '~Stuttgart: Baha'i-Biiro, Alexanderstr. 3. Warnemiinde: Herr Emil Jam, Reuterstr. 31. GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Ñ '~ London: 19 Grosvenor Place, London S. W. 1. Altrincham, Cheshire: Mr. C. Craven, 15 Norman Road. Bath: Miss Isabel Carey, ttNew1ands,~~ Bloomfield Road. Blackburn, Nr.: Mrs. Cooper, Feniscowles, Old Hall Pleasington. Bradford: Miss Burgess, 6 Crow Tree Lane, Daisy Hill. Bournemouth: Miss May Chessman, South-crnhay, Cambridge Road. Broadstonc: Miss Grace Challis, ttRizwan" Nursing Home. Bristol: Mrs. D. Weeks, 49 Filton Grove, Harfield. Bruckless, Ireland: Mrs. Eforde, Bruckless House, Co. Gaiway. Farnham, Surrey: Mrs. Leitch, Fairfield Lodge. Framfield, Sussex: Miss Cheape, Great Street. Hounslow: Mr. Charles Cole, Sutton Villa, Sutton Road. Ilford, Essex: Mrs. Helen A. Long, 93 Empress Ave. Manchester: Mr. Sugar, 16 Lily St., Grump-sail. Newcastle-on-Tyne: Mr. and Mrs. Busby, 21 Rothbury Tee, Heaton. [p429] The Ua~Sratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Karachi, India. [p430] Northumberland: Mr. Busby, S South Croft, Forest Hill. Okehampton, Devon: Mrs. Scarramucci, South Zeal. Orpington, Kent: Miss n. Evelyn Baxter, (cTimberscombe~~ Station Hill. Southampton: Miss ]?latt, St. Roumons, Bit-terne. York: Mrs. Eliza P. Kenworthy, 24 Second Ave., Hewortli. HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (see United States and Canada) Ñ HOLLAND Ñ Berlicum, N. B.: W. E. M. Grosfeld. Brummen: Gelderland, Herr and Frau Epple, Zutphenscheweg 74. Enschede: Herr C. J. Bertelinck, Hoog-straat 3. Haarlem: Fri. Lithe Braun, Spruit en Bosch-str. 15. HUNGARY Ñ Gyar: Mrs. George Steiner, Ap~tivr u. 8. INDIA AND BURMA Ñ Agra: Mr. tUthm~n Gliani, Telegraph Master, Sadar Bazar. Bombay: p. 0. Box 470. Calcutta: 17 Mianjan Ostagar Lane, Park Circus. Chapra (Saram): Mr. Ahmad-tAli, v. Raw-dili. Chittagong: Mr. Amiru'1-TsUm, Divin Btiz~r. Daidanau-Kalazoo: Mr. Saya Ko Ba Sein, P. 0. Kunyangoon, Hauthawaddy District. Delhi: Karol Bagh, Mr. Mahfiizu'1 TIaqq clii ~Karachi: Preedy Road, Camp. Kawlin, Burma: Mr. Khudi-Bakhsh. * Kunjangun, District Hanthawaddy, Burma: Mr. U. Son. ~?Lahore: 50 Temple Road. * Mandalay, Burma, c/o Siyyid Mu~pf ft Ritmi, 115, 84 Street, Kunj an. ~?Poona: P. 0. Box 8. Rangoon: P. 0. Box 299. * Surat: Mr. N. R. Vakil, Khapatia, Chakia. Simla: Mr. tAblAs-tAli Butt, Army Headquarters, Fanje Akhbar. Tounggyi, Burma: Mr. ~Abd'Rh'd tIRAQ Ñ Adhy~bih: c/o Siyyid Khalil Qamar, Through tAbb' Ganji, Shahrab&n. * tAv~shiq: Siyyid Khalil Qamar, c/o Abbas Ganji, ShalirabAn. Baghdad: Mr. Adib R. Baslidadi, Secondary School, Karkh. Baq6ba: Siyyid Khalil Qamar, c/o tAbb~s Ganji, ThahrabAn. * Basrili: c/o Zakariyy~ Doccat, Port Directorate, Ashar. Kh6niqin: Mosul: cjo Khadari Ilymii, King Ghazi Street. ISLANDS Ñ Society Islands: Papeetee, Tahiti, Mr. and Mrs. Georg Spitze. ITALY Ñ Florence: Signora Campani, Viale Duca di Genova, 24. Livorno: R. Mouzun, Allievo Ufliciale, R. Academia Navale. Rome: Mrs. Kropf-Venturino, Via Porta Pinciana, 14. JAPAN Ñ Hyogoken: Mine. Fukuko Aibara, Shuku-gawa Nishinomiya. Kobe: Mr. Sanzo Misawa, 40 Urumachi, Kyoriuchi. Kyoto: Prof. Tokujiro Toni, Nishino Tom Shimoda Chiuri. * Tokyo: Mrs. Yuri Furukawa, 53 Funa-machi, Yotzuya. Yokohama: Prof. S. Koyama, University of Commerce. J UGO-SLAVIA Ñ Belgrade: Miss Draga 1116, 13 Zmaj od No-baja. Petrinja: Mr. Phi. P. Opatchitch, (Carpag). Zagreb: Mr. Ivan Filipac, Bosanska 40. LITHUANIA Ñ Radviliskis: Mr. Andrius Borkauskas. Yoniskis: Mr. Yusefo Petruijo, Tantginim N. Mokykia. NEW ZEALAND Ñ Auckland: Miss Margaret Stevenson, 3 Cowie Road, Parnell. Nelson: Mrs. E. Watkin, Stoke. 'Wellington: Mrs. Jessie McQuarrie, 120 Willis Street. NORWAY Ñ Ej6sanger: Mr. Ludvig Anj6r, Case 96. (From Aug. 15 to Dec. 15 address Tide-rnanns Gade 29 III, Oslo.) Oslo: Miss Johanna Schubarth, Strdmsveich 20, Apart. 42. [p431] The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Karachi, India. Baha'is of Karachi, India. 431 [p432] PALESTINE AND TRANSJORDANIA Ñ C4~~yyfl~ P. 0. Box 11 Samakh tAkk~: Mr. Fawzi Jarr&h. Gaza: Mr. MisbTh Mur&d. Haifa: P. 0. Box 23. Hebron: Mr. Jjusayn Rtihi, Education Dept. Jaffa: Mr. CAbdu~s~Samad NahMs fr~ni. NThlus: Mirza Badic Bushni'i, District Oh-cer. Salt, Transjordania: Mr. H. R~hi, Salt Secondary School. PERSIA Ñ PERSIA (see subsection CCBh~~i Administrative Divisions in Persia"). PHILIPPINES Ñ Manila: Mr. Theodoro Yanko, 421 Muelle de la Industria. POLAND Ñ Warsaw: Miss Lydj a Zamenhof, Kr6lewska 41. RHODESIA Ñ RUMANIA Ñ Bucarest, Comitetul Baha'i stn. Dr. Istrate 10. RUSSIA Ñ Leningrad: Isabel Grinevskaya, Prospect Na-himson, No. 10, log. 32. SOUTH AFRICA Ñ Heidelberg: Prof. C. Y. Spruyt, Lower Market St. Johannesburg: Mrs. A. Kemp, 30 Wellington Road, Parktown. Pretoria: P. 0. Box 876. StDXN Ñ Dfrf6r: Mr. Gabra cAbdu~I1~h, Senior Translator, D4rfiir Province, Siid~n Government. SWEDEN Ñ R~immen: Pastor and Mrs. Rudd-Palmgren, Villa bstervik. Stockholm: Miss A. Zetterlund, Kocksgatan 35 B. Uddevalla: Mr. W. J. Kjelmann. SWITZERLAND Ñ Altstetten b/ Zurich: Prof. Volkart, Stamp-fenbrunnen Str. 21. Gebr. Paul and Otto Eichernberger (as above). Gen~ve: International Baha'i Bureau, 20 bis, rue General Dufour, or Case 181 Stand. Kilchberg, b/ ZUrich: Mrs. Vautier, Manch-hofstr. 32. Lausanne: Mine. Beck, 3 rue Caroline. Obersommeri, b/ Amriswil: Mr. Fritz Semle, Kinderheim Holdergarten. Pully (Lausanne): Mine. Libermann, Villa Carina Dent d'Oche. Tarasp: Mr. J. Wiihchli, Rainstrasse 2, ZiA-rich. ZUrich: Herr Leo Bernhard, Brunaustr. 61 II. SYRIA Ñ Aleppo: Post Box 445. Alexandretta: M. Abbas Wakil, Service des Eaux. Beirut: P. 0. Box 774. Damascus: Shaykh cAbdu~r~Rahmin Hindi. Masliqara (Lebanon): Mr. Zaynu'1-tAbidin Baslididi. Mersine: Mr. Ism~ci1 fr~ni. TUNISIA Ñ Tunis: Rue Hock 39, Mr. A. A. ~Iayy~ni. TURKEY Ñ Adana: Miss Zikriye Naci, American Hospital P. K. 15. Antep: Mr. Jamil CAli c/a Mr. Najj~r Su-laymin Aqi, NajjAr B~z~ir. Biridjik: Mr. CAbdu~1~Q4dir L&zib. Istanbul: P. 0. Box 167, Galata. Izmir: Mr. David Norlin, P. K. 388. TURKISTAN Ñ Andij&n. Ar~iq. Aryfil. Birim-'Ali. BukhirA. ChArj ii. Gul-Tapih. CJshqThAd Khawqand. Kislavodski. Marqil6n. * Mary. Qahqahih. Samarqand. Taj an. Takht-i-Biz~r. T&shkand. YiXltin. UNITED STATES tion 4) Ñ WEST INDIES, BRITISH Ñ Barbados Miss Ella Robarts, c/o Mrs. Hy-man, Woodside Bay Street, Bridgetown. AND CANADA (see sub-sec [p433] BAHA'! DIRECTORY, 19331934 433 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY O Mr. Allen B. McDaniel, Chairman Mr. Carl Scheffler, Vice-Chairman Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm, Treasurer Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary Mr. Siegfried Schopilocher Mr. Leroy C. Toas Mrs. Nellie S. French Mr. George Orr Latimer Mr. Alfred E. Lunt Address: EVERGREEN CABIN, West Englewood, New Jersey COMMITTEES ARCHIvES Ñ Mr. Edwin W. Mattoon, Chairman Mrs. Carl Scheffler, Secretary 1821 Lincoln St., Evanston, Ill. Miss Julia Sobel Mr. Albert Windust Miss Gertrude Buikema BAHA'I MAGAZINE Ñ Address: 1000 Chandler Bldg., Washington, D. C. Editors: Prof. Stanwood Cobb Mrs. Mariam Haney Mrs. John E. Kirkpatrick Contributing Editors: Mr. Leroy Joas Mrs. Loulie Mathews Mrs. May Maxwell Mr. Alfred E. Lunt Mrs. Doris McKay Miss Sylvia Paine Business Manager: Mrs. Allen B. McDaniel BAHA'I REPRESENTATION AT CENTURY OF PROGRESS ExrosITxoN Ñ Mr. Carl Scheffler, Chairman Miss Sophie Loeding, Secretary 4318 Greenview Ave., Chicago, Ill. Mr. Monroe Las Mr. Andrew F. Matthisen Miss Edna True. THE BAUX'i WORLD, VOLUME V Ñ Mr. Horace Holley, Chairman Mrs. Nellie S. French, Secretary 501 Bellefontaine St., Pasadena, Calif. Mr. Albert Windust Mrs. Edvard Lindstrom Mrs. Oliver LaFarge Miss Marion Holley Mrs. Victoria Bedikian, Photograph Editor BAHA'I YoUTH Ñ Mrs. Edvard Lindstrom, Chairman Miss Marion Holley, Secretary Box 492, Visalia, Calif. Mr. Paul Haney Miss Gertrude Gewirtz Miss Rosemary Gillies Miss Sylvia Paine CONTACTS Ñ Miss Martha Woodsum, Secretary Sherman Square Hotel, New York City (Eastern and Southern States) Miss Lucy Marshall 20 Broderick St., San Francisco, Calif. Mrs. Ruth Brandt c/o Linfoot, 376 60th St., Oakland, Calif. ('Western States) Mr. Rowland Estall 194 Riverside Drive, St. Lambert, P. Q., Canada (Canada) Miss Sophie Loeding 4318 Greenview Avenue, Chicago, Ill. (Central States) EDITING TABLETS OF CAHDU~LBAHA Mrs. Corinne True, Chairman 418 Forest Ave., Wilmette, Ill. Dr. Zia Bagdadi [p434] Mrs. Edward D. Struven Miss Edna True EDITORIAL Ñ Mrs. Marie B. Moore, Chairman 41 Convent Avenue, New York, N. Y. Dr. Genevieve L. Coy Mr. Horace Holley FREE LITERATURE Ñ Mr. George Latimer, Chairman 1927 N. E. 40th Avenue, Portland, Ore. Mrs. Louise Caswell Mrs. Charles Bishop GREEN ACRE PROPERTIES Ñ Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher, Chairman Mrs. Emma Flynn, Secretary-Treasurer, Eliot, Maine Mrs. W. 0. Inglis Mrs. Dorothy Cress HISTORY OF THE BAHA'I CAUSE IN AMERICA Ñ Mr. Charles Mason Remey, Chairman, 2440 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C. Mrs. May Maxwell Mrs. Mariam Haney Mrs. Ella G. Cooper Mr. George 0. Latimer Mr. Albert Windust Miss Gertrude Buikerna INTERRACIAL AMITY Ñ Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons, Chairman, 1818 N. St., Washington, D. C. Mr. Louis G. Gregory, Secretary Mrs. Loulie A. Mathews LEGAL Ñ Mr. Horace Holley, Chairman, 4 East 12th St., New York, N. Y. Mr. Allen B. McDaniel Mr. Louis G. Gregory Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher MAGAZINE PLAN Ñ Mr. Allen B. McDaniel, Chairman, 1000 Chandler Building, Washington, D.C. Dr. Genevieve L. Coy Mrs. Marie B. Moore Mrs. Florence Morton Mr. Bishop Brown PUBLICITY Ñ Mrs. Ruth Randall-Brown, Chairman Mrs. Doris McKay, Secretary, 401 N. St. Clair St., Pittsburgh, Pa. Miss Alice N. Parker Mrs. A. F. Matthisen Mrs. Rowland Estall Mrs. Nellie S. French Mr. Willard McKay PUBLISHING Ñ Mr. Horace Holley, Chairman Mrs. Clara R. Wood, Secretary, P. 0. Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York, N. Y. Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm Mrs. Marie B. Moore Miss Bertha Herklotz Miss Martha Woodsum, Library Division REVIEWING Ñ Mrs. Horace Holley, Secretary, 4 East 12th St., New York, N. Y. Dr. Genevieve L. Coy Mrs. Marie B. Moore. STUDY OUTLINES Ñ Mrs. Rex Collison, Secretary, 681 Castle St., Geneva, N. Y. Miss Marguerite McKay CENTRAL STATES SUMMER SCHOOL Ñ Mr. L. W. Eggleston, Chairman Mrs. J. E. Kirkpatrick, Secretary, Olives Mich. Mrs. Dorothy Baker GREEN ACRE SUMMER SCHOOL Ñ Dr. Genevieve L. Coy, Chairman, 419 W. 119th St., New York City Miss Cora Gray Mr. Harlan Ober Miss Helen Campbell Prof. Glenn A. Shook PACIFIC COAST SUMMER ScHooL Ñ Mr. John D. Bosch, Chairman Mr. Leroy C. Ioas, Secretary, 640 46th Avenue, San Francisco, Calif. Mr. George 0. Latimer Mrs. Ella G. Cooper Mrs. Amelia Collins TEACHING Ñ Mr. Leroy C. Joas, Chairman Miss Charlotte Linfoot, Secretary, 376 60th St., Oakland, Calif. Mrs. Ella G. Cooper Mr. George 0. Latimer Mr. Bishop Brown Mrs. Florence Morton Dr. Lenore Morris [p435] Two views of the Baha'i Summer School at Esslingen, Germany. 435 [p436] 436 THE BA TEACHING AND TRAINING CHILDREN Ñ Miss Charlotte Linfoot, Chairman, 376 60th St., Oakland, Calif. Mrs. Marion Yazdi, Secretary Miss Ella Bailey Mrs. Viola Tuttle Miss Doris Lolise Mrs. J. W. Gift Miss Elizabeth Hackley TEMPLE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION Ñ Mr. Carl Scheffler, Chairman, 1821 Lincoln St., Evanston, Ill. Mr. Allen B. McDaniel Mr. Andrew F. Matthisen Mr. Clarence Ulirich, Consulting Member TEMPLE PROGRAM Ñ Mr. Carl Scheffler, Chairman Mrs. Clarence Ulirich, Secretary, 904 N. Hayes Ave., Oak Park, Ill. Mrs. Shelley N. Parker Mr. A. F. Matthisen Mrs. Harry Wairath Mr. Monroe Toas Dr. Pettit Mrs. Bartholomew Mrs. Edwards BRAILLE TRANSCRIPTIONS Ñ Mrs. Nellie S. French, Chairman, 501 Bellefontaine St., Pasadena, Calif. Miss Ella C. Quant Mrs. Constance Rodman PHOTOGRAPHS Ñ Mr. George Spendlove, 2811 Albemarle St., Washington, D. C. ESPERANTO Ñ Mr. James Morton, Chairman Miss Della Lincoln, Secretary, 1120 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. Miss Louise Thompson Miss Lucy Marshall Mr. A. IE. Regal ANNUAL SOUVENIR OF eAbdu~l~Bahd~ Mr. Curtis Kelsey, Chairman Dr. Edward Wilber, Secretary, Evergreen Cabin, West Englewood, N.J. Mrs. Maud Gaudreaux Dr. Genevieve Coy Mr. Hooper Harris 4. LOCAL BAHA'I GROUPS IN PHOrNIX, ARIZONA Ñ Mr. Clinton Bugbee, Chairman Mr. Walter Jones, Vice-Chairman Mr. Win. McCoy, Recording Secretary Mrs. C. H. Bughee, Cor. Sec. Mr. Clarence Iverson, Treasurer Mrs. Jennie Bowman Mrs. Emma Jones Miss Nina Ruppers Mr. Paul Schoeny Address: Mrs. C. H. Bugbee, Secretary, P. 0. Box 2172, Phoenix, Ariz. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mr. Au M. Yazdi, Chairman Prof. N. Forsyth Ward, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Laura Kelsey Allen, Secretary Mrs. Marion Yazdi, Treasurer SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES AND THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Miss Ella M. Bailey Miss Helen Rutledge Mrs. Kathryn Frankland Mrs. Georgia Ralston Mrs. Janet N. Ward Address: Mrs. Laura Kelsey Allen, Secretary, 198 Bret Hate Road, Berkeley, Calif. GEYSERVILLE, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Edith Whitton, Chairman Mrs. Alice Wald, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Pearl Feldmeyer, Secretary Mr. John D. Bosch, Treasurer Mrs. Louise Bosch Mrs. Nellie Wilson Miss Alice Griffith Mrs. Grace Allison J. P. Whitton, Sr. [p437] Address: Mrs. Pearl Feldmeyer, Secretary, Geyserville, Calif. GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Jean Lamb, Chairman Mrs. Anna Stewart, Treasurer Mrs. Loretha Beckett, Secretary Mr. Dexter Lamb Mr. Glen R. Huglis Mr. John Mathias Mrs. Mabel Wever Miss Emma Lou Wever Mrs. Harriet Cline Address: Mrs. Loretha Beckett, Secretary, 324 W. Windsor Road, Glendale, Calif. LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Mayah Schulz, Chairman Miss Pearl Anderson, Vice-Chairman Miss June Jarvis, Secretary Mr. C. W. Tracy, Treasurer Mrs. C. W. Tracy Mr. John J. Hazel Mrs. John J. Hetzel Mr. 0. N. Lindsay Mr. Roif Orr Address: Miss June Jarvis, Secretary, 1828 E. 5th St., Long Beach, Calif. Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Rina Valentine, Chairman Mr. L. A. Whitmore, Vice-Chairman Dr. Doris E. Goodrick, Cor. Secretary Mrs. Oni Finks, Rec. Secretary Mr. P. W. Howard, Treasurer Mrs. Loa Shaffer, Librarian Mr. Elmer Duckett Mr. W. F. Kyle Dr. Charles Win Address: Dr. Doris E. Goodrick, Secretary, 1157 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mr. A. C. Joas, Chairman Mr. Elmer Dearborn, Vice-Chairman Mrs. A. C. Joas, Treasurer Mrs. J. V. Matteson, Librarian Mr. J. V. Matteson, Secretary Miss Helen S. Greeman Mrs. Paul S. Jones Mr. J. J. O'Neill Mrs. Helen Matteson Address: Mr. J. V. Matteson, Secretary, 3225 Fruityale Avenue, Oakland, Calif. PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Zuriel Ryder, Chairman Mrs. Annie Libby, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Adelaide Alderson, Rec. Secretary Mrs. Nellie S. French, Cor. Secretary Mrs. Ethel Edell, Treasurer Mrs. Amelia Collins Mrs. Edith Lennard Dr. Wilhelm Madsen Mrs. Elizabeth Eaton Address: Mrs. Nellie S. French, Secretary 501 Bellefontaine St., Pasadena, Calif. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mrs. Ella G. Cooper, Chairman Mr. Leroy C. Joas, Vice-Chairman Mr. W. H. Smith, Treasurer Miss Lucy J. Marshall, Cor. Secretary Miss Nadeen G. Cooper, Secretary Mr. J. B. Shaw Mrs. Mayme Seto Mrs. Lena Lee Mrs. Mary Burland Address: Miss Nadeen G. Cooper, Secretary, 291 Broderick St., San Francisco, Calif. SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA Ñ Mr. Edward P. A. Connaughton, Chairman Mr. John Sievers, Vice-Chairman Miss Helen F. Starr, Secretary Mrs. Johanna Corrigijo, Treasurer Mrs. Angela Connauglnon Mrs. Anna Sievers Mrs. Cora S. Taylor Mrs. Albert Ackerman Mr. Anthony L. Corrigijo Address: Miss Helen E. Starr, Secretary, 206 W. Canon Perdido St., Apt. 11, Santa Barbara, Calif. MONTREAL, P. Q., CANADA Ñ Miss Rosemary Gillies, Chairman Mr. W. S. Maxwell, Vice-Chairman Mr. J. Verhooven, Treasurer [p438] Mr. R. Estall, Cor. Secretary Mr. E. V. Harrison, 0cm. Secretary Miss A. Savage Mrs. Mosher Mrs. May Maxwell Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher Address: Mr. E. V. Harrison, Secretary, 1362 Greene Ave., Westmount, P. Q., Canada. VANCOUVER, B. C., CANADA Ñ Mr. Austin Collin, Chairman Mr. Stanley B. Kemp, Treasurer Mrs. Rhoda A. Harvey, Secretary Mrs. Alice Helliar Mrs. Evelyn Kemp Mrs. Ethel Hammond Mrs. Curry Miss Muriel Warnickie Mrs. G. Monroe Address: Mrs. Rhoda A. Harvey, Secretary, 1460 Bute St., Vancouver, B. C., Canada. COLORADO SPRINGS, CoLoRADo Ñ Mrs. Catherine J. Myers, Chairin cm Miss Ruth Montgomery, Vice-Chairman Miss Katherine E. Bacchus, Treasurer Mrs. L. 0. Wilson, Secretary Mrs. Bessie Corey Mrs. Margaret Lyons Mrs. Gertrude A. Olmstead Miss Gwendolyn McReynolds Mr. L. 0. Wilson Address: Mrs. L. 0. Wilson, Secretary, 1332 N. Tej on, Colorado Springs, Cob. Acting Secretary Ñ Miss Katherine Bacchus, 311 Uintah St., Colorado Springs, Cob. DENVER, COLORADO Ñ Mr. G. Nathaniel Clark, Chairman Mr. Edgar R. Meyer, Vice-Chairman Mrs. C. N. Clark, Secretary Mr. Raphael Lillywhite, Treasurer Mr. John Shirk Mrs. Edgar R. Meyer Mrs. Grace Sprout Mrs. Josephine H. Clark Mrs. Clara A. Harrison Address: Mrs. G. N. Clark, Secretary, 4141 Xavier St., Denver, Cob. Nrw HAVEN, CONNECTICUT Ñ Mr. Herbert Patzer, Chairman Mrs. Randolph Bolles, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Charles P. Hillhouse, Secretary Miss Mildred Page, Treasurer Miss Emma Hinman Miss Gertrude Duell Mrs. Margaret McCue Mrs. Frances La Roza Miss Flora Wiegan Address: Mrs. Chas. P. Hillhouse, Secretary, 462 First Avenue, West Haven, Conn. WASHINGTON, D. C. Ñ Mr. Stanwood Cobb, Chairman Miss Elizabeth G. Hopper, Vice-C hairman Mr. George D. Miller, Secretary Mr. Carl C. King, Treasurer Mrs. Agnes Parsons Mrs. Mariam Haney Miss Doris Lohse Mrs. John Stewart Mr. William E. Gibson Address: Mr. George D. Miller, Secretary, 1717 Kilbourne Place, N. W., Washington, D. C. IN4IANI I, FLORIDA Ñ Mr. H. R. Hagerman, Chairman Mrs. Margaret Atwater, Vice-Chairman Miss Corinne d'Armour, Secretary Mr. Claude Layman, Treasurer Mr. William M. Atwater Mr. Chester M. Davison Miss Gladys Griffin Miss Emma Gelles Miss Caroline Harbin Address: Miss Corinne d'Armour, Secretary, 44 Northwest 10th Ave., Miami, Fla. ST. AUGUSTINE, ELORTDA Ñ Miss S. A. Blocker, Chairman Mrs. Walter B. Guy, Treasurer Mrs. J. E. Jones, Secretary Dr. Walter B. Guy Miss Mae Titchner Mrs. F. A. Shaw [p439] Mrs. M. A. Caidwell Dr. N. W. Collier Miss M. L. Jones Address: Mrs. Josephine E. Jones, Secretary, Florida Normal and Industrial Institute, St. Augustine, Fla. HONOLULU, HAWAII Ñ Mr. Arthur Husted, Chairman Mrs. S. A. Baldwin, Vice-Chairman Mr. Otto H. Swezey, Rec. Secretary Mrs. Otto H. Swezey, Treasurer Mrs. E. I. Adoiplison, Secretary Mrs. Arthur Husted Miss Elizabeth Muther Mrs. Gertrude C. Piutti Mrs. Florence B. Johnson Address: Mrs. E. I. Aciolphson, Secretary, 712 17th Ave., Honolulu, T. H. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Ñ Mr. Albert Windust, Chairman Mr. Monroe loas, Vice-Chairman Mr. H. F. Wairath, Treasurer Miss Sophie Loeding, Cor. Secretary Mrs. Sarah S. Wairath, Rec. Secretary Mr. A. F. Matthisen Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards Mrs. Nina Matthisen Dr. Zia Bagdadi Address: Miss Sophie Loeding, Secretary, 4318 Greenview Ave., Chicago, Ill. EVANSTON, ILLINOIS Ñ Mr. Carl Scheffler, Chairman Mrs. Flora Ernst, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Carl Scheffler, Secretary Mr. Marshall N. Tyler, Treasurer Mrs. Inez B. Ford Miss Louise Mayer Miss Bessie Garrison Mrs. Marshall N. Tyler Mrs. Jessie C. Hunt Address: Mrs. May Scheffler, Secretary, 1821 Lincoln St., Evanston, Ill. PEORIA, ILLINOIS Ñ Mrs. Alice Cox, Chairman Mr. Chester F. Barnett, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Esther Dersch, Treasurer Miss Zoe Meyer, Recording Secretary Miss Helen Hindson, Cor. Secretary Mrs. Maye Harvey Gift Miss Pearle U. Esterbrook Miss Irnogene Talbott Mr. Charles R. Burns Address: Miss Helen Hindson, Secretary, 922 Fifth Ave., Peoria, Ill. SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS Ñ Mrs. Annie B. Killius, Chairman Mrs. Fred Whipp, Vice-C hcdrinan Mrs. Katie Lauchner, Treasurer Miss Gretchen Bergman, Rec. Secretary Mrs. Anna Jurgens, Cor. Secretary Mrs. Lillian Bergman Mr. Rieke Jurgens Mr. Albert C. Killius Mr. Aden Lauchner Address: Mrs. Rieke Jurgens, Secretary, 201 'West Calhoun Ave., Springfield, Ill. URBANA, ILLINOIS Ñ Mrs. Jacob Kunz, Chairman Mrs. George Busey, Treasurer Mr. H. J. Snider, Secretary Mrs. FT. A. Harding Mrs. W. F. Handschin Mrs. E. B. Paine Miss Silvia Paine Mrs. V. B. Shelford Mrs. H. J. Snider Address: Mr. LI. J. Snider, Secretary, 506 W. Penn Ave., Urbana, Ill. WILMETTE, ILLINOIS Ñ Mrs. Corinne True, Chairman Mr. Carl Hannen, Vice-Chairman Mr& Anne W. Bartholomew, Secretary and Treasurer Mrs. Carl Hannen Mr. Ed. D. Struven Mrs. B D. Struven Dr. Kathryn True Miss Edna True Mr. Franklyn Olsen Address: Mrs. Anne W. Bartholomew, Secretary, 1627 Forest Ave., Wilmette, Ill. [p440] Baha'is of Poona, India. [p441] INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Ñ Dr. Lillian K. Sielken, Chairman Miss Olive M. MacLean, Treasurer Mrs. A. E. Keller, Secretary Mrs. J. M. Eaves Miss Lorraine Barlet Mrs. Miriam M. Forman Mr. David Hugo Forman Mrs. C. J. Summers Miss Anna L. Shannon Address: Mrs. A. E. Keller, Secretary, 3443 Birchwood Ave., Indianapolis, md. ELIOT, MAINE Ñ Mr. Harlan Ober, Chairman Mrs. Emma Flynn, Vice-C hairnian Mrs. Dorothy Cress, Treasurer Miss Louise Thompson, Secretary Mrs. Ivy Edwards, Assist. Secretary Miss Emma Thompson Mr. Frank Ashton Mrs. Grace Ober Miss Maud Mickle Address: Miss Louise Thompson, Secretary, Eliot, Maine. BALTIMORE, MARYLAND Ñ Mrs. F. W. Hipsley, Chairman Mr. Clarence Percival, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Albert Dorrida, Treasurer Miss A. L. Mann, Secretary Mr. R. R. Mann Miss Tahirih Mann Mrs. Jessie Stallings Mrs. M. E. Thompson Mrs. Hazel Langroll Address: Miss Amelia L. Mann, Secretary, 23 S. Highland Ave., Baltimore, Md. CABIN JOHN, MARYLAND Ñ Mrs. Pauline A. Hannen, Chairman Mr. Win. B. Patzer, Vice-Chairman Miss Alma S. Knobloch, Treasurer Mrs. Margaret R. Patzer, Secretary Miss Fanny A. Knobloch Mrs. Rudolph Heman Mrs. George Camplair Mrs. Esther Lewis Mr. Paul T. Hannen Address: Mrs. Margaret R. Patzer, Secretary, Box 31, Cabin John, Md. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Ñ Mrs. Caroline Nelson, Chairman Mr. Alfred E. Lunt, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Sadie E. J. Oglesby, Treasurer Mrs. Zyipha 0. Mapp, Secretary Miss Roushan Wilkinson, Asst. Secretary Mr. Clarence Shepard Mrs. Harold Bowditch Miss A. Rideout Miss Rachel Small Address: Mrs. Z. 0. Mapp, Secretary, Box 526, Avon, Mass. WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS Ñ Mr. Leslie C. Russell, Chairman Mrs. Florence Morton, Vice-Chairman Mr. Howard Struven, Treasurer Miss Fanny M. Holmes, Secretary Mrs. Jessie Higman Dr. Wilger L. Jones Mr. Edvard Lindstrom Mrs. Ruth Russell Mrs. Hebe Struven Address: Miss Fanny M. Holmes, Secretary, 103 'Webster St., 'Worcester, Mass. DETROIT, MICHIGAN Ñ Mr. L. W. Eggleston, Chairman Mrs. Roscoe Springston, Treasurer Mrs. G. A. Schoenback, Rec. Secretary Mrs. L. W. Eggleston, Con Secretary Mr. Wendell Bacon Mrs. Wendell Bacon Mr. Roscoe Springston Miss Amy Brady Mrs. Edna Lucas Address: Mrs. L. W. Eggleston, Secretary 201 E. Kirby Ave., Detroit, Mich. FRtJITI'ORT-GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN Ñ Mr. Nels Peterson, Treasurer Mr. James Cooper Miss Gladys Rusted Mrs. Mary Frazer, Secretary Mrs. Charles Richter Miss Agnes Modeen Miss Edna McManamey Mr. Henry Peterson Mr. Wyatt Cooper [p442] Address: Mrs. Mary Frazer, Secretary, R. F. D. 1, Box 138, Fruitport, Mich. LANSING, MICHIGAN Ñ Mrs. Kittie A. Shetterly, Chairman Mr. George Angell, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Ada Crandall, Treasurer Mrs. Lucille Melendy, Secretary Miss Marie Fox Mr. Bert Peet Mrs. Henry Jersey Mrs. Edna Angell Mrs. Cora Reed Address: Mrs. Lucille Melendey, Secretary, 607 N. Magnolia, Lansing, Mich. MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN Ñ Mrs. Iva Smack, Chairman Miss Josie Spink, Treasurer Mrs. Helene B. Maxfield, Secretary Mr. Frank Spink Miss Edith Bail Mrs. Millie Moorman Miss Daisy Schaub Mrs. Anna Wagner Mrs. Bertha Smith Address: Mrs. Helene Bagg Maxfield, Secretary 332 Jackson Ave., Muskegon, Mich. MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA Ñ Mrs. J. M. Stapleton, Chairman Miss Fritzi L. Steinmetz, Secretary Miss Katherine Morgan, Treasurer Miss Elsa H. Steinrnetz, Librarian Mrs. Lucile Bates Mrs. Agnes Mead Mrs. R. Steinmetz Mrs. M. A. Fox Miss Kaukab MacCutcheon Address: Miss Fritzi L. Steinmetz, Secretary, 904 W. 22nd St., Minneapolis, Minn. ST. PAUL, MTNNESOTA Ñ hr. Clement Woolson, Chairman Miss Eleanor Hedin, Treasurer Mrs. Clement Woolson, Cor. Secretary Miss D. Constanza Mr. Abbas Mr. Edgar Hedin Miss E. Barnett Mr. Paul Constanza Mrs. N. Hedin Address: Mrs. Clement Woolson, Secretary, 1553 Portland Avenue, St. Paul, Minn. MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY Ñ Mr. Charles H. Edsall, Chairman Mrs. Muretta Rankin, Treasurer Miss Anna E. Van Blarcum, Secretary Mr. M. B. Saloy Miss Bess Noyes Mrs. Caroline Simpson Mrs. L. Edsall Mrs. Victoria Bedikian Mrs. R. Fooks Address: Miss A. E. Van Blarcum, Secretary, 19 Walnut Crescent, Montclair, N. J. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY Ñ Mr. A. Bippart, Chairman Mr. H. Grasmere, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Win. U. Witman, Secretary Mr. Ackerman, Treasurer Mr. F. Clark, Librarian Miss J. Bush Mr. R. loas Miss Polly Smith Mrs. F. Clark Address: Mrs. Win. U. Witman, Secretary, 68 Scotland Road, South Orange, N. J. TEANECK (WEST ENGLEWOOD), NEW JERSEY Ñ Mr. Curtis D. Kelsey, Chairman Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm, Vice-Chairman Mr. Richard Grosser, Treasurer Mr. Archie G. Tichenor, Secretary Mr. Robert Puller Mrs. ma Sands Forth Mrs. Florence Watkins Mr. Albert L. Walkup Dr. Edward Wilber Address: Mr. A. G. Tichenor, Secretary, Evergreen Cabin, West Englewood, N.J. BINGHAMTON, Nrw YORK Ñ Mrs. Helen Inderlied, Chairman Mrs. Alvin Palmatier, Vice-Chairman Mr. Edward Beicher, Treasurer Miss Millie B. Herrick, Secretary Mrs. Rera Beicher, Rec. Secretary Mrs. Cora Oliver [p443] Mrs. Charlotte Robinson Miss Elizabeth Schwab Rev. J. A. Hayward Address: Miss Millie B. Herrick, Secretary, 18 North St., Binghamton, N. Y. BUFFALO, NEW YORK Ñ Mrs. Mary Rumsey Movius, Chairman Mrs. Earl C. MacCurdy, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Morris S. Bush, Secretary Mrs. Jessie A. Price, Treasurer Miss N. Grace Bissell Mr. Morris S. Bush Mrs. Harold M. Esty Mr. Earl C. MacCurdy Miss Mary B. Underwood Address: Mrs. Morris S. Bush, Secretary, 77 Livingston St., Buffalo, N. Y. NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Ñ Mr. Horace Holley, Chairman Mr. Hooper Harris, Vice-Chairman Miss 0. B. Crum, Treasurer Miss Bertha T-Jerklotz, Cor. Secretary Miss Julia K. Threlkeld, Rec. Secretary Mrs. Marie Moore Mr. Edward B. Kinney Miss Elsa Russell Miss Martha J. Woodsum Address: Miss B. Herklotz, Secretary, Baha'i Center, 119 W. 57th St., New York, N. Y. YONKERS, NEW YORK Ñ Mrs. Maud Gaudreaux, Chairman Miss Margaret Crandall, Vice-Chairman Miss Dorothy Wright, Treasurer Mrs. Lillian Stoddard, Secretary Mrs. Elise Weil Mr. Frank Deats Mr. Lawrence F. Doty Mrs. Carrie MacCauley Miss Lyla Gaudreaux Address: Mrs. Lillian Stoddard, Secretary, 40 Caryl Ave., Yonkers, N. Y. AKRON, OHIo Ñ Mr. Russell L. Brooker, Chairman Miss Zelma Borst, Treasurer Mrs. Nellie C. Fenton, Secretary Mrs. May A. Brooker Mr. Howard E. Fenton Mr. Thomas H. Sauter Mrs. Helen Sauter Miss Anna Kee Mr. Win. Crippen Address: Mrs. Nellie C. Fenton, Secretary, 876 Wyley Ave., Akron, Ohio CINCINNATI, OHIO Ñ Mr. Lothar W. Schurgast, Chairman Miss Ruth Phillips, Treasurer Miss Hilda Stauss, Secretary Mrs. Gertrude Schurgast Mr. Benjamin R. Taylor Miss Virginia Taylor Miss Lorene Briegel Mrs. Marie L. Stauss Mr. Joseph Stauss Address: Miss Hilda Stauss, Secretary, 3640 Epworth Ave., Westwood, Cincinnati, Ohio CLEVELAND, Gino Ñ Mrs. Lethia Fleming, Chairman Dr. Myrta P. Sandoz, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Louise Smith, Treasurer Mrs. Katharine Cole, Secretary Mrs. Mary Martin Mrs. Amelia Kibby Mrs. Mabel Perry Prof. William Sandoz Mr. Dale S. Cole Address: Mrs. Dale S. Cole, Secretary, 3174 Corydon Road, Cleveland, Ohio COLUMBUS, Onio Ñ Mrs. Harriet Schwartz, Chairman Mrs. Ann Reinhard, Treasurer Mrs. Margarete Hespelt-Acebo, Secretary Mrs. Ann Wahistein Mrs. Lulu Alexander Mr. Jose B. Acebo Mrs. D. Rice Mrs. R. Steinberg Mrs. R. Smith Address: Mrs. Margarete Hespelt-Acebo, Secretary, Box 109, Reynoldsburg, Ohio ToLEDo, OHIo Ñ Mr. Roy Boyle, Chairman Mrs. Madeline Boyle, Vice-Chairman [p444] Mr. Charles Hill, Treasurer Mrs. Cecile Hill, Secretary Mrs. Grace Woods, Librarian Mrs. Daisy Ashenfelter Mr. William Cook Mrs. Luella Scanes Mr. Joe Scanes Address: Mrs. Cecile Hill, Secretary 432 Ohio St., Toledo, Ohio PORTLAND, OREGON Ñ Mr. Fred S. Young, Chairman Miss Ella Meissner, Vice-Chairman Mr. J. W. Latimer, Secretary Mr. G. 0. Latimer, Treasurer Mrs. Louise Caswell Mrs. Myrtle Campbell Mrs. A. J. Ray Mr. Charles R. Bishop Mr. Fred Krueger Address: Mr. J. W. Latimer, Secretary, 1927 N. E. 40th Ave., Portland, Ore. PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Ñ Miss Ethel C. Revell, Chairman Miss Sophia Rieger, Vice-Chairman Miss Jessie E. Revell, Secretary and Treas. Mrs. M. J. Revell, Librarian Miss Elizabeth Riley Mrs. India Haggarty Mrs. Ida Huff Mr. Temple L. Bates Miss Martha Washington Address: Miss Jessie E. Revell, Secretary, 2531 N. 19th St., Philadelphia, Pa. PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA Ñ Mr. Bishop Brown, Chairman Mrs. Doris McKay, Vice-Chairman Miss Alice Parker, Treasurer Mrs. Ruth Randall-Brown, Secretary Mr. Willard McKay, Librarian Mr. Walter Buchanan Miss Bessie Seker Miss Eve Korin Miss Leila Payne Address: Mrs. Ruth Randall-Brown, Secretary, Box 9, Ingomar, Pa. MONROE, WASHINGTON Ñ Mr. Gale Marsolais, Chairman Mr. James Paul Hays, Vice-Chairman Miss Chrissella Newell, Secretary Miss Levina Sprau, Treasurer Mr. Alexander Marsolais Miss Alice Marsolais Miss Myrtle Tegmeier Miss Mabel Bycon Miss Ruth Schilaty Address: Miss Chrissella Newell, Secretary Monroe, Wash. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Ñ Mr. H. G. Amundson, Chairman Mr. C. G. Nordquist, Vice-Chairman Miss Elsa Nordquist, Secretary Miss Doris Foye, Treasurer Mr. John F. Britt Mr. C. H. Jellsett Mr. B. W. Schneider Mrs. Margaret Schneider Mrs. ERie Snyder Address: Miss Elsa Nordquist, Secretary, 4508 18th Ave., N. E., Seattle, 'Wash. SPOKANE, WASHINGTON Ñ Mrs. Agnes B. Blodgert, Chairman Mrs. Isabelle M. Campbell, Secretary and Treasurer Miss Nellie Raney Miss Florence Snow Mrs. Nellie Eyerley Miss Elizabeth Campbell Mr. H. A. Sinks Miss Mariella Ladd Oldendorf Mr. D. M. Campbell Address: Mrs. Isabelle M. Campbell, Secretary, 1427 S. Madison St., Spokane, Wash. KENOSETA, WISCONSIN Ñ Mrs. Grace Anderson, Chairman Mr. Earl Parker, Vice-Chairman Mr. Win. C. Schend, Treasurer Miss Gertrude Collins, Librarian Mr. Louis J. Voelz, Secretary Mrs. Augusta Nelson Mr. Peter Nelson Mr. Alfred Anderson Mrs. Carrie Gates Address: Mr. Louis J. Voelz, Secretary, 6108 Sheridan Road, Kenosha, Wis. [p445] MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN Ñ Mr. H. Suhm, Chairman Mr. C. Suhm, Treasurer and Vice-Chair-man Mrs. Orol Jeanette Clark, Secretary Mrs. M. Baylor Dr. L. H. Clark Mr. William Kapp Dr. M. King Mr. C. Reimer Mrs. H. 'Milks Address: Mrs. Orol J. Clark, Secretary, 1702 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee, Wis. RACINE, WISCONSIN Ñ Mr. Theo. D. Lorentzen, Chairman Mr. Andrew J. Nelson, Vice-C hairinan Mr. Harold R. Olsen, Secretary Mr. Magnus Poulson, Treasurer Mrs. Helen Lorentzen Mrs. Florence Hanson Mr. A. L. Morris Mrs. E. L. Morris Mr. Hiram Jones Address: Mr. Harold R. Olsen, Secretary, 1332 Russet St., Racine, NQ~is. GROUPS CALIFORNIA Ñ BXJRLINGAME, Mrs. C. Kuhiman, Secretary, 811 Alpine Ave. CLEARLAKE HIGHLANDS, Mrs. Flora M. Clark, P. 0. Box 47 SANTA MONICA, Mrs. Frances Carre, Secretary, Castle Rock Beach, Star Route SOUTH GATE, Mrs. Josephine F. Clark, Secretary, 8158 San Juan Ave. VERDtYGO CITY, Mrs. J. A. Erickson, Secretary, c/o Mrs. W. M. Cline, P. 0. Box 184 VISALIA, Miss Jane Baker, Secretary, 150 1 W. Main St. CONNECTICUT Ñ HARTFORD, Miss Gladys Palmer, Secretary, P. 0. Box 355, Rockyille, Conn. FLORIDA Ñ JACKSONVILLE, Miss Kathryn L. Vernon, Secretary, 707 Post Sr. EJAwAn Ñ MAUI, Mrs. May Fantom, Secretary, Spreckelsville IOWA Ñ Kroini, Mrs. Glenn Carison, Secretary, 1206 Orleans Ave. MASSACHUSETTS Ñ PROVINCETOWN, Mrs. Ralph Harlow, Secretary, P. 0. Box 305 SPRINGFIELD, Mrs. M. St. Laurent, Secre Ñ tary, 131 Hickory St. MICHIGAN Ñ ANN ARBOR, Mrs. W. M. Parker, Secretary, 1601 Pontiac St. FLINT, Mrs. Mina Nickels, Secretary, 1326 Begole St. MINNESOTA Ñ DULUTH, Mr. E. Bauers, Secretary, 624 Arlington Ave., Duluth Heights MONTANA Ñ BUTTE, Mrs. Evalina Caidwell, Secretary, P.O. Box 1058 NEW I Ñ IAMPSHITRE Ñ PORTSMOUTH, Mr. Louis Gregory, Secretary, 47 South Street. NEW JERSEY Ñ ASBURY PARK, Miss Jane Durand, Secretary, 1305 Comstock St. JERSEY CITY, Mr. Fred G. Hale, Secretary, 258 Woodlawn Ave. NEW YORK Ñ GENEVA, Mr. R. C. Collison, Secretary, 681 Castle St. ITHACA, Miss H. B. Townley, Secretary, 241 S. Cayuga St. ROCHESTER, Mrs. P. R. Meinhard, Secretary, 139' 2 Plymouth Ave., S. OHIO Ñ DAYTON, Mr. Joseph McCoy, Secretary, 200 Audubon Park LIMA, Mr. Floyd Spaler, Secretary, 504 Orena St. SANDUSKY, Mrs. Jennie Fields, Secretary, 1106 Decatur St. WISCONSIN Ñ MADISON, Mrs. May P. Stebbins, Secretary, Observatory Hill [p446] 446 THE BAHA'I WORLD BAHA'I ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS I I. DISTRICT: TIHR~AN 1. TIHRAN, 2. Qum, 3. Hadrat-i-tAb-du'1-tAzim, 4. ljasan4b4d-i-B6qiruf, 5. JacfarAbid, 6. cAijyAbid, 7. SharifTh~d, 8. Jsm6AIAbAd, 9. KabirThAxl, 10. tAbdu'1-ibid, ii. Diy&ThAd, 12. SAliir, 13. Muzaf-fariyyih, 14. Maqs'idTh4d, 15. JalAliyyiy-i-Biqinif, 16. Kam6iiyyiy-i-B4qiruf, 17. Kh6niyThAd-i-Varqi, 18. Chishmih-i-SliThi, 19. CAdl6bAd 20. Qaltih-i-Naw, 21.. Rid6Ab&d, 22. Karaj, 23. Quihak, 24. Tajrish, 25. Qa1cih~i~Hasan KMn, 26. KaUk, 27. Chiltir-T~qi, 28. Fishandak.-i-Tiliqin, 29. Qaryih-i-KAhkabiid, 30. Ga-tihdih, 31. Safajkh4ni, 32. Jiist4n, 33. AwrAzin, 34. Shalirak 35 Var4min. TI. DISTRICT: ABPDJH 1. ABADIR, 2. IdrisTh6xl, 3. Himmat~-bid, 4. DargMk, 5. KAshk 6 Saft' -i-Baliman, 7. Vazir&b&d, 8. Iqlid, 9. ChinAr, 10. NajafAMd, 11. Isfand&bid-i-Abarqii, 12. Bav6n~t, 13. Far6uinih, 14. tAbbisiMd, 15 Khurrami 16. tA1iy4b~d. HI. DISTRICT: KASHAN 1. KASHAN 2. WdiqAn, 3. Ar~n, 4. Niishib&d S Mushg~n, 6. Jawshiq~n, 7. Abiy~nih, 8. MAzgTh, 9. Barzuk, 10. Qamsar, 11. Nar&q, 12. J~sb, 13. Rubit-i-Turk, 14. Yazdil, 15. Maraq. IV. DISTRICT: KmMiiN 1. KIRMAN, 2. Rafsinj~n, 3. Bandartab-bAs, 4. Sirj~n, 5. Barn, 6. An4r 7 Khur-ramTh6A, 8. Zarand, 9. Chatn~d, 10. B&ghayn, 11. R~var, 12. Hiitak, 13. Jab4l-BAraz, 14. Jiip~r, 15. Jiraft, 16. N~iq, 17. PAriz, 18. FathTh6xI-i-Iqt~7, 19. Khayr -i-Iqtdt, 20. Uusayn6b6xl-i-RafsinjTh, 21. Hurmuzd&IAd, 22. RAbir. V. DISTRICT: QAZVIN 1. QAZVIN, 2. QadimThAd, 3. Amin&bAd, 4. Nusr&t6iIAd, 5. Muhammad4Md, 6. Shaliristin, 7. Gulkin, 8. 'A1i-Rid~b&d, 9. Kalihdarih, 10. Ishtihird, 11. Sir6s, 12. RAdMr, 13. Sarkhin 14 Zanj4n. VI. DISTRICT: ADHJRBiiYJAN 1. TABRIZ, 2. Mi1~n, 3. Uskii, 4. B&vayl, 5. Ilkhichi 6. M6snaqin, 7. G6Ng4n, 8. DihkMriq~n, 9. Shishav~n, 10. Riishat, 11. BunTh, 12. Mar&ghih, 13. tAlaviy6n, 14. Khurm4zard, 15. Aghchih-Dizaj, 16. Qujihi, 17. S6vijbul&gh, 18. RidA'iy-yih, 19. Qahram4nlii, 20. Miyinduib, 21. Shipur, 22. Khuy, 23. Pirkandi, 24. Vashluq, 25. fvughli, 26. Marand, 27. Zuniiz, 28. Kundalij, 29, Yigin, 30. Khiminih, 31. JuIf 4, 32 Shabistar 33. Says6n, 34. Matanih, 35. Diznib, 36. Bibs. kandi, 37. K&vij~n, 38. Ardabil, 39. Khalkh6l 40 Khtijin, 41. A1-i-FHshim 42. Ahar, 43. Qarahshir~n, 44. Miy4naj. VII. DISTRICT: YAZD 1. YAZD, 2. Ardakin, 3. HusaynilAd, 4. Ja~far6b~id, 5. 'Asribid, 6. Q4simTh6xl, 7. tA1iy~bAd, 8. tlzzibid 9 Shamsi 10. SatdThAd, 11. SharafTh6xl 12. AmirTh6A, 13. Mihrjird, 14. HasanibAd (Quvb5Md), 15. MaryamAbid, 16. NasrTh&d-i-Pishkiih, 17. KhudTh6x1-i-Pishk~h 18. MihdiyThAd-1-Hfimih, 19. Hasan6ibid-i-HAmih, 20. Mihdiy4Md-i-Rast~q, 21. Narsiyib6xl, 22.Sakhiivid, 23.K&hihbayk, 24. Khurramsh4h 25. Hurmuzak-i-Pishkiih, 26. Siyyid-Mirzi, 27. Khayr6~Ad, 28. Dahaj, 29. Mahmiid4b4d, 30. Hanza-Miy4nkiih, 31 G6safsh&r 32. N&imTh~d, 33. Rahmat4b~d, 34. HirAt, 35. Taft, 36. Mub6rikih 37 Mansh4d, 38. Mihriz, 39. Maybud, 40. A1I&h&b61, 41. Muham-madTh6xl-i-Chibuk, 42. Bun6tak-i-S6.dAt, 43. Khuydak, 44. Nadushin, 45. Abran-dTh64, 46. Sariyazd, 47. Fahraj, 48. Ahris-tAn, 49. Marvast, 50. Har6~barj~n, 51. An~rak 52 Shahrib~Mk. VIII. DISTRICT: ISFAHAN 1. ISFAHAN, 2. NajafAbid, 3. Ardist6n, 4. Bur~jand, 5. Qahfirukh, 6. Jaz, 7. [p447] BAHA'I S&mind~ti1bayki, 8. Chamgard~n, 9. AfAs, 10. Dastjird-i-Im~mz~dih, 11. Iskandari, 12. M~van, 13. Zav~rih, 14. Muham-madiyyiy-i-Gardan, 15. Kh~1inj in, 16. Shabridi, 17. Chidg~n, 18. KurdisuflA, 19. Daraj, 20. DiLiq~n, 21. Sidih, 22. Varqd-FaMdas (fl, 23. Mihrgird, 24. Kharzi~q, 25. Chikin 26. Hisni, 27. Dihaq, 28. Rustamib~d, 29. clbidkhin, 30. Naqivin (?), 31. Tir~n-i--Gardan, 32. Mfis6AbAd, 33. Mihrak, 34. MAghdar~n, 35. Sind~n, 36. Karniram, 37. Tushiz, 38. Ear5duminih, 39. Jarqiiviyyih, 40. San~dgTh, 41. Dumanih, 42. Adirjin, 43. Surinjin, 44. MihdiyThid, 45. Qadar-kMn, 46. Dishakin, 47. Chilchih 48. M6ras6n, 49. AbrAsmiram (?), 50. Naw-garTh, 51. Riz, 52. Qaltiy-i-SMh, 53. KhuyrAn, 54. Nikin. IN. DISTRICT: EARS 1. SHIRAZ 2 Nayriz, 3. Sarvist6.n, 4. DAriy6n, 5. Satdi, 6. Qal6i 7 ZThhizar, 8. Zarqin, 9. Kin6rih-Marvdasht 10. tIm6A&Md-i-Marvdasht 11. Kushak-i-Marvdasht 12 F~rfiq, 13. Firjzi, 14. Shains4Md-i-Burza, 15. FathAlAd, 16. ShamsThAd-i-Takht, 17. Jalirum, 18. Bia-shihr, 19. D&rib, 20. Kizirian, 21. Bayd~', 22. Qasr-i-Dasht, 23. KhayrTh6x1-i-Bayd~', 24. Jbr4himThAd-i-Bayd&, 25. Qaltih-Naw Ñ i-BaydA', 26. Q6simAbAd-i-BaydA', 27. MilyAn. X. DISTRICT: HAMADXN 1. HAMADAN, 2. Amz6jird, 3. Baha, 4. ~usaynAbAd, 5. Aqjihui~, 6. SAr-i-Qu-maysh 7 Lilihj in, 8. Qirvih Ñ Kurdist~n, 9. Chanqalii, 10 Khushib 11. JamshidA-b&d, 12. Uchtappih, 13. AqbulAgh, 14. Mirz6<-HisAri, 15. Tishnig4, 16. Duny~-Th~d, 17. KiishakAb4d, 18. Isfand~Md, 19. Qub~qtappih, 20. KabiThrAhang, 21. AmirThAd, 22. Mirza. XI. DISTRICT: QA'INXT 1. BIRJAND, 2. Kundur, 3. Isqar&r, 4. Bidisag, 5. Nawfirist, 6. SarchAh, 7. Asi-y~b~n, 8. Durukhsh 9 Dastjird, 10. SamiiUb~d, 11. SAd, 12. Nawkand, 13. Khuisf, 14. Tuflb 15 Kh~nik, 16. SikAn, 17. Qal'ih-KiTh, 18. Zirk, 19. Niik, 20. NawzAd 21 Khin. XII. DISTRICT: 'IRAQ 1. tIRAQ 2. Gu1p6yg~n, 3. Khalaj6tid, 4. Sh4h~ib&d, S. Mashliad 6. Tlusayn4b4d, 7. Varq4', 8. Amirili, 9. Mahallit. XIII. DISTRICT: GJLAN 1 RASHT, 2. Bandar.-i-Pahlavi, 3. Lihi-j~in, 4. Langanid, 5. SiyThkal 6 Sh4hsav6x, 7. Sangar. XIV. DISTRICT: KHPZTSTAN 1. AHVAZ, 2. Dizfi5i, 4. ibidin, 5. Mu-hammarih 6 Khurram4bid, 7. Hindij in, 8. Bunijird. XV. DISTRICT: KIRMANSHXH 1. KIRMANSHAH, 2. Sanandaj, 3. Ka-rand, 4. Qasr-i-Shirin, 5. Dayniir. XVI. DISTRICT: KHURASAN 1. MASHHAD, 2. Sabzivir, 3. Kikhak, 4. Rawshanavand, 5. NayshAbi~r, 6. Mac~ miiri, 7. RiihThid, 8. Firdaws, 9. Bighis-tin, 10. Jazin, 11. Bunin, 12. Sar~yTh, 13. Bast~q, 14. Katihtalkh, 15. Darjaz, 16. Mahnih, 17. HasanThAd, 18. tAbdu'11&-hAbAd, hAbAd, 19. Gayfin, 20. BijistAn, 21. Z~bu1ist~n, 22. Kh4sh-i-BalAchistin 23. Na~rAb~d-i-Fur4gli, 24. Zahiribid, 25. Shams~ib~d, 26. Miyindihi, 27. M&istAn, 28. YAnis, 29. Mi, 30. KhayrThAd, 31. D~varzan, 32. SharifTh~d 33. NasrThAd-i-J6rn, 34. Kal&t, 35. KAriz, 36. Shirv~n, 37. Av~z, 38. Hisir, 39. Z4dih, 40. Tur-bat-i-Shaykh-J~m, 41. Pitraw, 42. Murgli Ñ zir, 43. Khayru'1 Ñ Qur4, 44. Bagh-i-Dahak, 45. BushnWiyyih, 46. Turbat-i-Haydariy-yih, 47. FurAgh, 48. ShAfi¾bAd, 49. Tabas, 50. Nimiq, 51. Bujniard, 52. Jajaram, 53. ZAhid~n, 54. 1sf arAyin, 55. QiicMn, 56. GunAbTh, 57. Kushg-i-B~gL, 58. Sun-hint 59. Qa1ciy~~i~Kabir, 60. RuMt-i-Gaz. XVII. DISTRICT: SANGSAR 1. SANGSAR, 2. Shahmirz~d, 3. Simn~n, 4. Aftar. XVIII. DISTRICT: SARI 1. SARI, 2. MThfuriazak, 3. Kafshgar-KuI&h, 4. lv-al, 5. Chalihzamin, 6. Arat&, [p448] Zoroastrian Baha'i Wom:n. The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bombay, India. 448 [p449] BAHA'I DIRECTORY, 193 31934 449 7. Amirili, 8. Ashraf 9 ShThi, 10. Raw-XX. DISTRICT: BLBUL shankAh. XIX. DISTRICT: BANDAR-I-JAZ 1. BANDAR-I-JAZ, 2. Gumishtappih, 3. Baha'u'llah 4. Gurg6n, 5. SMhr6d. 1. BABUL, 2. Diyakulih, 3. Baha'i, 4. Arabkhayl, 5. Firayd~n-Kin6r, 6. Mash-hadsar, hadsar, 7. Kaypurchul 8 Amul, 9. KhAr khiin, 10. N6r. V 6. ADDRESSES OF CENTERS OF BAHA'I ADMIN ISTRATIVE DIVISIONS IN P 1. 711-IRAN: Mirza cA1i~Akbar Rawh6ni, Avenue Sipah. Telegraphic address: Rawbini, Parsiy6n, Tihrin. 2. RBADIH: Dr. Muhammad-~Ius4yn Agih. 3. KASHAN: Tij irat-KhAniy-i-FurAghi. Telegraphic address: Rawh4ni, Fur-usiA K4sMn. 4. KIRMAN: Mirza Shahriy~r Aryini, SarAy-i-Chihir-Siig. Telegraphic address: RawhAni, Aryini ChiMr S6g, Kirm~n. 5. QAZVfN: Mirza Muhammad KMn Tas-limi. Telegraphic address: RawliAni, Caslimi, Qazvin. 6. TABMZ: Mirza tAn6yatu'llAh Abmad-piir. Telegraphic address: Raw1~ni, Ahmadpiir, Tabriz. 7. YAZD: Mirza Habibullili Khin Afn~n. Telegraphic address: RawhAni, At-nin, Yazd. 8. ISFAHAN: Mirza. Muhammad KhAn JshrAgi, Post and Telegraph Office. Telegraphic address: Rawh4ni, ¾b-rAgi, Posts IspThin. 9. Si-iWAz: LutfullAh KhAn Munajjim. Telegraphic address: Rawh6ni, Mu-najjim, Shiriz. 10. HAMADAN: Mirza Mughil Az~dih. Telegraphic address: RawMni, Mug-biUzAdili, HamadAn. 11. BfRJAND: H4ji Muhammad-~A1i 'Izadi, Telegraphic address: Rawbani, Izadi. Birjand. 12. tIRAQ: Mirza Faraju'llah Darakhshin, SarAy-i-Gulshan. Telegraphic address: RawlThni, Darakhshin Guishan, tldiq. 13. RASHT: Mirza Ijusayn tAt6.'i, Post Office. Telegraphic address: Rawb4ni, Parsiy4n, Raslit. 14. AnvAz: Mirza Muhammad Rustarni. 15. KIRMANSHAH: Dr. Habibu'llAh KhAn Muayyad. Telegraphic address: Raw Ñ mi, Muayyad, KirminshAh. 16. MASHAD: Mirza tAli Khin Gu1g~ni, Pahiavi Bank. Telegraphic address: RawhAni, GulgAni, Mashbad. 17. SANGSAR: Mirza ChirAgh~cA1i Tiby~ni. 18. SARi: Mirza }lasan Aqi ~Jaqiqi. Telegraphic address: RamMni, Haqiqi, MMiyyih Sari. 19. BANDAR-I-JAZ: Mirza Muhammad-RidA, JttimAd-z~dih. Telegraphic address: RawhAni, Ittim6. d-zidih, Ban-darj az. 20. BABUL: Dr. Fur4ghu'116t Kh&n Bassiri. 7 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S BESTKNOWN WRITINGS Alv6ij-i--Laylatu'1-Quds. Bish&r~ t (Glad-Tidihgs). Asl-i-Qullu'1-Khayr. ChiMr-V~di (Four Az Ñ Bigh-i-41&hi. Valleys). BAz-Av-u-Bidih-J~mi. Ghuhmu'1-Khuld. Hafv-V~di (Seven Valleys). [p450] Halih-Halih.-Y6-Bish&rat. Hiir-i-tUjib. Ishr~q6t (Effulgences). Kalimit-i-Firdawsiyyih (Words of Paradise). Ka1im&t-i-Makn~nih (Hidden Words). KitAb-i-tAhd (Book of Covenant). Kitab-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book). KitAb-i-IqAn (Book of Certitude). Kitib-i-Sultin (Tablet to the ShTh of Persia). ~ Lawh~i~cAbdu31~Vahhib. Law1~i-i-tAbudu'r-Razz~q. Lawh-i-Ahb4b. Lawh-i-Ahmad (Tablet of Ahmad). Law1~i-i-Amv6j. Lawh-i-Anta'1-KAfi. Law~i-i-Aqdas. Lawh-i-Ashraf. Lawh-i-Ayiy-i-N&. Lawh-i-Bah&. Lawh-i--Bapi. Lawh-i-Basitatu'1-Ilaqiqih. Lawh-i-Bismilih. Lawlyi-Bulbulu' l-Fir&q. Lawh-i-BurMn. Law~-i-Duny~ (Tablet of the World). Lawh-i-Fitnih. Lawh-i-Ghulimu'1-Khuld. Lawh-i-Habib. Lawh-i-Haft--Pursish. Law~-i-~aqq. Lawh-i-Hawdaj. Lawh-i-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom). Lawh-i-Hirtik. Lawh-i-Hiiriyyih. Lawh-i-Husayn. Lawh-i-Ibn-.i-Dhi'b (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf). Lawh-i-IttiMd. Lawh-i-Jam6i. L~wh-i-Karirn. Lawh-i-Karrnil. Lawh-i-Kullu't-Tatim. Lawh-i-Malikih (Tablet to Queen Victoria). Lawh-i-Malik-i-Riis (Tablet to the Czar of Russia). Lawh-i-MalUhu'1-Quds (Tablet of the Holy Mariner). Lawh-i-Manikchi-SThib. Law1~-i-Maq~iSd. Lawb-i-Maryam. Lawh-i-Mawhid. Lawh-i-Mub&hilih. Lawh-i-N&sir. Lawh-i-Nasir. Lawlj Ñ i--Nipulyiin I (First Tablet to Napoleon III). Law1~-i-N6pu1yiin II poleon III). Lawli-i-Nuqtih. Lawly-i-Pip (Tablet to the Pope). Lawh~i~Pisar~tAmm. Lawh-i-Quds. Lawli i Rafi Lawh 1 Ra is (Tablet to RaMs). Lawli 'Raqsha. Lawh i Rasul Lawh i Ruh Lawh 1 Ru ya Lawh 1 Sahab Lawh i Salman I. Lawh-i-Salm4n II. Lawh-i-S6msian. Law~-i-SayyTh. Lawh Ñ i-Shaykh-flni. Lawh Ñ i-Tawhid. Lawh-i-Tibb. Law1~-i-TuqA. Lawh-i-Yiisuf. Lawh-i-Zaynu'1-Muqarrabin. Law~-i-Ziy&rih. Madinatu'r-Ridi. Madinatu't-Tawhid. Mathnavi. Qad-Ihtaraqa'1-MukhlisAn. Qa~idiy-i-Varq~'iyyih. Rashh-i-tAm~. RidvAnu~1~cAd1. Ridv~nu'l-Iqr~r. 5alif-i-Mayyit (Prayer for the Dead). S6qi-Az-Ghayb-i-Bacpi. Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand. Sub14na~Rabbiya~1~AcJA. Subhanaka-Y&-Ha. S&ratu-lUh. Siiriy-i-Atr&b. S&iy-i-Ahz4n. Si2iriy-i-Amin. Siiriy-i-Amr. (Second Table to Na [p451] Baha'is of Varna, Bulgaria. Egyptian Baha Teacher with Abyssinian translator r of J. E. Esslemont's "Baha'u'llah and the New Era." 451 [p452] 452 THE BAHA'I WORLD Sfiriy-i-AsmA. Sariy-i-Bay6n. SAriy-i-BurMn. S&iy-i-Damm. Siiriy-i-Dhabih. Siiriy-i-Dhibh. Siiriy-i-Dhikr. Sfiiuy-i-FaQI. Siiriy-i-Fu'id. S&iy-i-Ghusn (Tablet of the Branch). Siiriy-i-Hajj I. Siiriy-i-lIajj II. S&iy-i-Haykal. Siiriy-i-Hifz. Siiriy-i-Hijr. Siiriy-i-tIMd. Siiriy-i-Ism. S4riy-i-Ismuna'1-Mursil. Sflriy-i-JavAd. SAriy-i-Khit&b. Siiriy-i-Man'. SAriy-i-Mubik. SAriy-i-Nid6~ Siiriy-i--Qadir. S&iy-i-Qahir. Siiriy-i-Qalam. Sfiriy-i-$abr. Siiriy-i-SultAn. Siiriy-i-Vafl. Siiriy-i-Ziy4rih. Sfiriy-i-Zubur. Sariy-i-Ziihiar. Tafsir-i-Hia. Tafsir-i-Hunif A t-i-Muqa~a'ih. Tafsir-i-S&iy-i-Va'sh-Shams. Tajalijyit (Revelations). Tardilt (Ornaments). Ziy~rat-N~mih (The Visiting Tablet). Ziyirat-Nimiy-i-AwliyA. Ziy6rat-N~miy-i-Bibu'1-B~b va Qudd6s. Ziyirar-N~miy-i-Bayt. Ziy6rat Ñ Nimiy-i-Maryam. Ziy~rat-N4miy-i-Siyyidu'sh-Shuhad~. 8. 1. The Persian Bay~in. 2. The Arabic BayAn. 3. The Qayyiimu'1-Asm~'. 4. The Sa~Afatu'1-Ijararnayn. 5. The Da1&i1~i~Sabcih. 6. Commentary on the Siirih of Kawthar. 7. Commentary on the Siirih of Va~1~cA~r. 8. The Kitab-i-Aqdas 9. Sahifiy-i-Makhdhiimiyyih. 10. Sahifiy-i-Jatfariyyih. 11. Ziy6rat-i-ShTh-tAbdu'1-tAzim. 12. Kit Th-i-Panj -Sha'n. 13. Sahifiy-i-Radav'yyih. 14. RisMiy~i~cAd1iyyih. 15. Risiliy-i-Fiqhiyyih. 16. Risiliy-i-Dhahabiyyih. 17. Kit Abu'r-RAh. 18. Siiriy Ñ i-Tawhid. 19. Lawh-i-HunifAt. 20. Tafsir-i-Nubuvvat-i-KMssih. 22. Khas?1y-i-Sab~ih. 23. Epistles to Muhammad ShAh and HAji Mirza AqAsi. N. B. Ñ The Bib Himself states in one passage of the Persian Bay~n that His writings comprise no iess than 500,000 verses. [p453] ('4 Bah Li s of Kunjangun, Burma. [p454] 1. Baha'i Publications of America. (a) Books About the Baha Faith. (b) Writings of the Mb. (c) Writings of Baha'u'llah. (d) Writings of tAbdu'1-BaM. (e) Writings of Shoghi Effendi. (f) Prayers. (g) Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form. (h) Compilations. 2. Baha'i Publications of England. 3. Bab6N Literature in French. 4. Baha Literature in Italian. 5. Baha'i Literature in Netherland. 6. Baha'i Literature in Danish. 7. Baha'i Literature in Swedish. 8. Baha'i Literature in Portuguese. 9. Baha'i Literature in Albanian. 10. Baha'i Literature in Esperanto. 11. Baha Literature in Russian. 12. Baha'i Literature in German. 13. Baha'i Literature in Bulgarian. 14. Baha'i Literature in Rumanian. 15. Baha'i Literature in Czech. 16. Baha'i Literature in Serbian. 17. Baha'i Literature in Hungarian. 18. Baha'i Literature in Greek. 19. Baha'i Literature in Maori. 20. Baha'i Literature in Spanish. 2 1. Baha Literature in Oriental Languages. (a) Persian. (b) Urdu. (c) Arabic. (d) Turkish. (e) Burmese. (f) Chinese. (g) Hebrew. (h) Tatar. (i) Gujrati. (j) Japanese. (k) Tamil. (1) Kurdish. 22. Baha'i Literature Blind). 23. Baha'i Periodicals. 24. References to the Baha'i Faith in Books and Pamphlets by Non-Bah&i Authors. 25. References to the Baha Faith in Magazines by Non-Bah&'i Writers. 26. References to the Baha'i Faith by Ba-hi'is in Non-Bah?i Publications. in Braille (for the The books and pamphlets in this section have been published under Baha'i auspices or approved by a recognized Baha'i body BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS or AMERICA Published and Distributed by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly P. 0. Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York, N. Y. with the exception of the older publications (marked by an asterisk, :?) which are now out of print (a) BOOKS ABOUT THE BAHA'I FAITH Baha'i Proofs, The, by Mirza tAbu'I-Fa4l of Gu1p~yig~n. The bestknown book of this great Oriental scholar, philosopher and disciple of Baha'u'llah translated into English. It presents the truth of the Ba-h&'i Revelation from manifold points of 454 view, and also contains a biographical outline of the lives of the Bib, Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Babi. 288 pp. Crown 8vo.; 4% x 6'/2. Bound in blue cloth. Baha'i Revelation, The, by Thornton Chase. This book contains a most excellent compilation of the teachings of Baha'u'llah, [p455] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 4 gathered from various translations and arranged so as to be consecutive as to subjects. A clear account of the evolution of spiritual consciousness showing the oneness of purpose of all the great religions of the world, and culminating today in the fulfillment of all the religions of the past. 182 pp. Crown 8vo.; S'2 x 8. Bound in green cloth. Baha'i: Spirit of the Age, The, by Horace Holley. Presenting the Baha'i Movement and teachings as the synthesis of all modern movements. 212 pp. Crown Svo.; 6 x 8. Bound in blue cloth. Baha'i World, The (April 1926-April 1928). A biennial record giving a comprehensive account of the activities of the Baha'i Cause throughout the world. Contains many interesting illustrations showing the universal growth of this movement. 304 pp., 7 x 10. Bound in blue cloth. Baha'i World, The (April 1928-April 1930). The third volume in the biennial series of Baha'i records continuing recent historical developments of the Cause throughout the world. Besides the many excellent illustrations, this volume contains a reproduction of a hand illuminated Tablet of Baha'u'llah in !Abdu'l-Baha's handwriting. 378 pp., 7 x 10. Bound in red cloth. Baha'i Year Book (April 1925-April 1926). Volume I, a record of current activities with articles on various Baha'i institutions, newly translated teachings, photographs, etc. Bound in green cloth. 174 pp.; 7 x 10. For Volume II, see The Baha'i World. '~Bahd'isin Ñ the Modern Social Religion, by Horace Holley. Mitchell Kennerly, New York, 1913. Baha'u'llah and the New Era, by J. E. Essle-mont. An authoritative and comprehensive survey of Baha'i history and the teachings as related to present religious, scientific and social conditions in Europe and America, with many quotations from the writings. New edition. 308 pp. Post Svo.; S x 7. Bound in green cloth. In paper. Coming of the Glory, by Florence E. Pinchon. An interesting narrative giving the spirit and the principles of the Baha'i Movement. 144 pp. Post Svo.; 4% x Bound in blue cloth. Dawn-Breakers, The. Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi. 736 pp. 61/2 x 9%. 200 pp. of illustra-dons. Reproductions of twenty tablets written by the Mb. Standard edition bound in green leather. Limited edition bound in morocco. ~:.Lessons on the Baha'i Revelation, by W. Hooper Harris. '~Life and Teachings of Abbas Eflendi, The, by Myron H. Phelps. Published by Put-nain & Sons. ~:.New Day, The, by Charles Mason Remey. Baha'i Publishing Society. Chicago, 1919. ~:.New Revelation: Its Marvelous Message, The, by Nathan Ward Fitzgerald. Tacoma, 1905. Oriental Rose, The, by Mary Hanford Ford. A vivid presentation of historical aspects of the Baha Movement. 214 pp. Post Svo.; 512 x 734. Bound in blue cloth. ~:-Peace of the World, The, by Charles Mason Rerney. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1919. %ocial Principle, The, by Horace Holley. Laurence J. Gomme, New York, 1915. Traveller's Narrative, A, translated into English by Edward G. Browne, M.A.M.B. Written to illustrate the Episode of the BTh. 448 pp. New edition from original plates in the possession of Cambridge University Press. Bound in blue cloth. ~?Truth of It, The, by Arthur Pillsbury Dodge. Mutual Publishing Company, New York, 1901. Universal Religion, The, by Hippolyte Dreyfus. An introductory work on the Baha'i Cause by a French Orientalist, who has translated many of the writings of Baha'u'llah. 176 pp. Crown Svo., P2 x 8. Bound in black cloth. Whence Comes the Light? by Loulie A. Mathews. The author gives a clear understanding in this brief outline of the approach to the Baha'i Cause and the noble grandeur of its founders. The quotations from Baha writings throw light upon every phase of life. 84 pp. 5 x 6. Bound in paper. [p456] 456 THE BAHA'I WORLD The Secret of Life, by Mary Hanford Ford. San Francisco, 1933. My Pilgrimage to the Land of Desire, by Marie A. Watson. The story of Mrs. Watson's visit to Haifa in 1921, with an interesting account of her healing by CAb du'1-BahA. 24 pp. 6 x 9%. Paper cover. (b) WRITINGS OF THE BiB (See Baha'i Literature in French.) (c) WRITINGS OF BAHA'U'LLAH Baha'i Scriptures. Compiled by Horace Hol-ley, Brentano's, New York, 1923. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York, 1929. Book of Certitude, The (Kit&b-i-fq&n), revealed by Baha'u'llah. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1931. This work reveals the oneness of all the Prophets and their significance as the expression of the 'Will of God. 55~ x 8's. Bound in blue cloth. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, translated by Julie Chanler. A work written by Baha'u'llah in His last years, addressed to the son of a prominent Persian who had been a savage enemy of the Cause. This Tablet recapitulates many teachings Baha'u'llah had revealed in earlier works. 140 pp. Royal Svo.; 6'4 x 9~4. Bound in blue cloth and white parchment. Hidden Words, translated by Shoghi Ef Ñ fendi. The essence of the teachings of all the Prophets. 54 pp. 16 mo.; 14¼ 16¼. Three editions: black leather, blue cloth, and paper cover. ~:-seven Valleys. Translated by tAliQuli Khan. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago. Source of Spirit nal Qualities, The. Four page leaflet. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1924. Ssiratu'1-Hay/zal. Translated from the Arabic by Antun Hadd&d. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1900. Tablets of Bahci'u' lid/a (Tar~z~t, The Tablet of the World, Kalim4t, Tajalliy4t, Bish&r6t Ishr~q4t), social and spiritual principles of the new age. 138 pp. 6¼ x 10. Bound in blue cloth. Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tablet of the Branch, Kit Th~i~cAhd, Lawh-i-Aqdas), the appointment of Abdu'l-Baha as the interpreter of the teachings of Baha'u'llah, the Testament of Baha'u'llah, and His message to the Christians. 168 pp. Post 8vo.; ~¼ x 71/2. Bound in paper. (d) WRITINGS OF CABDT4~L~BAHA Abdu'l-Baha on Divine Philosophy (com-piled by Isabel F. Chamberlain). Tudor Press, Boston, 1916. Abdu'l-Baha in London, edited by Eric Hammond. A record of public and private addresses delivered in 1911. 134 pp. Post 8vo.; S x 734. Paper binding. !Abdu'l-Baha in New York. Baha'i Assembly, New York, 1922. A new edition containing selected addresses delivered at Go-lumbia University and various churches and at public meetings by tAbdu'1-BahA while in New York. Also Tablets written to the New York Spiritual Assembly by tAbdu'1-BaM. Bound in sapphire blue paper 4/2 X 6%. Baha'i Peace Program, The. A compilation containing a letter from CAbdu~1~BaM pertaining to a plan of peace and a letter to Dr. IForel entitled "God and His Universe," a scientific statement of the laws governing the world and showing the necessity of absolute harmony in the relations of all mankind united under one spiritual law. Bound in blue leather with gold stamping. Also bound in green paper with dark green stamping. Baha'i Scriptures. Compiled by Horace Halley, Brentano's, New York, 1923. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York, 1929. ~Definition of Love, by Abdu'l-Baha. Received at New York, December 7, 1902. Divine Secret for Human Civilization, by Josephine D. Storey. A charmingly bound book, compiled from the words of cAb~ du'1-BaM showing the relation of the Twelve Basic Principles of the Baha'i Cause to the foundation of the new world order of the future. 96 pp. l6mo.; 434 x 6. Bound in white parchment stamped in gold. Also bound in paper. Foundations of World Unity, The. Selected addresses delivered by tAbdu'1-.BaM at Universities, Churches, Synagogues, Peace Societies and similar public meetings during His journey through America in 1912. 112 pp. Royal 8vo.; 6 x 9. Paper covers. [p457] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY '~Letter from St. Jean D'Arc, A, The Unity Press, 1906. ~Letter of Love" from Abdu'l-Baha CAb-bds to the Beloved in America. Baha'i Publishing Society, 1902. *Letter and Tablet to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace: The Hague. Baha Publishing Society, Chicago, 1920. ~Letters to the Friends in Persia. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, January 21, 1906. Mysterious Forces of Civilization. A work addressed to the people of Persia nearly forty years ago to show the way to true progress. 132 pp. Royal 8vo.; 6~4 X 9'2. Bound in black cloth. 'SPrayers and Tablets. 1906. Promulgation of Universal Peace, edited by Howard MacNun. Public addresses delivered throughout the United States and Canada in 1912. This work contains tAbdu'1-Bah~'s spiritual message to the American people, whom he summoned to establish the CCMOSt Great Peace" which is the consummation of the ideals of all re-ligionists, scientists and humanitarians. 232 pp. Imperial 8vo.; 6'2 x 934. Bound in black cloth in two volumes. Reality of Man, The. A compilation from the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha explaining the relations of mind, soul and spirit. Compiled by Horace Holley. Bound in dark red paper. Size 412 x 6~4. *Reality of Religion Ñ Tablet of CAbdu~1~ Ba/3d, The. Four-page leaflet. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1924. Some Answered Questions, edited by Laura Clifford Barney. An expression of fiinda Ñ mental spiritual and philosophic problems. 350 pp. Royal Svo.; 6'2 x 9~4. Bound in black cloth. ~Tab!et on Universal Peace, a letter written by tAbdu'1-Bahi in 1919 to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace. 'Tablet to the Beloved of God in America. Translated by 'Ali-Quli-Khin. Cambridge, Mass., January 3, 1906. * Tablet to the Beloved of God of the Occident. Translated by Alirnad IsfAhini (Abmad Suhr6ib), Washington, D. C., September 8, 1906. Tablets by eAbdu~1~BaJsd !Abbas to the House of Justice of Chicago, to the Ladies' As-seinhly of Teaching, and others. Tablets of !Abdu~1~BaIxi, compiled by Albert K. 'Windust. Intimate letters written in reply to questions addressed by individuals and groups. Three volumes. Volume one and three (new edition) bound in blue cloth. Volume two bound in black cloth. Tablets to the East and West. Translated by Aiimad tsfMvini (Ahmad Subrib). The Baha'i Assembly of Washington, D. C., 1908. Tablets Cont ining Instructions. Trans.-lated by M. A. E. Washington, D. C., August 29, 1906. Tablets Containing General Instructions. Translated by Ahmad Isfihini (Alimad SuhrTh). The Baha'i Association of Washington, D. C., 1907. '~Tab1ets to Japan. Compiled by Agnes Alexander. New York, 1928. '~ Tablets to Some American Believers in the Year 1900. The Board of Council, New York, 1901. * Tablets from Abdu'l-Baha rAbbds to EL F. W/restling Brewster. Baha'i Publishing Society, 1902. The Garden of the Heart. A compilation of passages on nature from Baha'i Sacred Writings and from the Bible, selected by Frances Esty. Bound in colored linen. ~?UnveiIing of the Divine Plan. Translated by Ahrnad SuhjAb. Tudor Press, Boston, 1919. Utterances to Two Young Men. Board of Council, New York, 1901. Visiting Tablets for Martyrs Who Suffered in Persia. Translated by tAli-Quli Khan. Baha'i Board of Council, New York, 1901. ~?Wil1 and Testament of !Abdu'l-Baha, The. National Spiritual Assembly, 1925. Wisdom of !Abdu'l-Baha Edited by Lady Blomfieki. Previously published under the title of "Paris Talks," a brief but comprehensive presentation of His Message. 172 pp. Post 8vo.; S x 712 paper covers. Bound in green cloth. * Wisdom Talks of !Abdu'l-Baha. Chicago. Baha'i News Service. ~Woman's Great Station. An address given in New York in 1912. [p458] 458 (e) WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI Baha'i Administration. A work compiled by the National Spiritual Assembly to present the original sources of instruction on the duties and responsibilities of believers, in their relations to the local, national and international bodies of the Cause. Part One, Excerpts from the Will and Testament of tAbdu'1-BaM; Part Two, Letters from Shoghi Effendi to the American National Spiritual Assembly and the body of American believers from January 21, 1922, to March 21, 1932; Part Three, Declaration of Trust by the National Spiritual Assembly; ByLaws of a local Spiritual Assembly. 282 pp. Royal Svo.; 6 x 9%. Bound in blue cloth. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York, 1933. '~Letters from Shoghi Effendi, selections from letters written by the grandson of tAb-du'1-Bah6, appointed Guardian of the Cause by Him, regarding details of administering the affairs of the Movement; (the complete letters are included in "Ba-M'i Administration"). Baha Publishing Company, New York, 1924. World Order of Baha'u'llah, The. Baha'i Publishing Committee. New York, March, 1929. World Order of Baha'u'llah, The: Further Considerations. Baha'i Publishing Coin-mittee, New York, 1930. Goal of a New World Order, The. Baha'i Publishing Committee. New York, 1932. Golden Age of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, The. Baha Publishing Committee, New York, 1932. America and the Most Great Peace. Baha'i Publishing Committee. New York, 1933. Dispensation of B hd'u'lldh, The. Baha Publishing Committee, New York, 1934. (f) PRAYERS Baha'i Prayers. The Mb, Baha'u'llah and ~Abdu'1 Ñ Baha. A large collection of prayers, newly compiled, to meet the needs of the spiritual life of today. 210 pp. 1 Gino.; 334 x 6. Bound in blue cloth and also bound in blue paper. Baha'i Prayers by Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha. 16 pp. 312 x S. Gray paper cover. *Prayers, Tablets, Instructions, etc., gathered by American visitors in tAkk4, 1900. '~Prayers Revealed by Baha'u'llah. Containing also prayers revealed by Abdu'l-Baha. 108 pp. 3 X SI 2• Black paper cover. (g) BAHA'I LITERATURE IN PAMPHLET FORM Abdu'l-Baha's First Days in America, intimate and beautiful glimpses of the Master, from ihe diary of Juliet Thompson. 40 pp. Printed by The Roycrofters. Paper cover. ~Addresses, by Jinab-i-Fa4il. Booklets. S Nos. Translated by Al2mad Suhrab. Seattle, 1921. * Addresses delivered before the New York and Chicago Assemblies, by C~~jt4 Karim Effendi. Translated by Abmad SuhrTh. Persian-American Publishing Co., Los Angeles, 1924. Akka Lights, by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph FL Hannen. Baha'i Benediction, The. Music and words by Louise R. Waite. Baha'i Calendar for 1932. Consisting of twelve sheets of colored cardboard stock, one for each month, with Baha'i dates, feasts, anniversaries and quotations in addition to the monthly calendar. Compiled and arranged by Doris Holley. 9 x 12. 'Baha'i Census. U. S. Government pamphlet showing the registration of the Baha'i as an organized religious body. Baha'i Faith, The, by a Methodist Layman, questions and answers suggested by personal experience. Baha'i Faith~ The, by Horace Holley. An explanation of the nature of the worldwide Baha'i community. The Baha House of Worship. A brief description of the Baha'i Temple at Wil Ñ mette Illinois, quoting words of Abdu'l-Baha. on the spiritual significance of Ba-hi'i Houses of Worship, with an outline of Baha'i history and c/kbdu~1Bah~~s summary of Baha'i teachings. Illustrated. 8 pp. ~:-Bghd'i Hymnal, words and music by Louise R. Waite. Paper. 'Baha'i Indexes, by Charles Mason Remey. Newport, R. I., 1923. [p459] BAHA'I B Baha'i Manuscripts, by Charles Mason Re-mey, Newport, R. I., 1923. Baha'i Mart yrdoms in Persia in the Year 1903 A. D., by T{aji Mirza 1Iaydar-~A1i. Translated by Yi~inis Kh~n. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1907. Baha'i Movement, The. Articles originally published in Vedic Magazine of Lahore. J. L. Zuahien, Vesey, 1916. Baha Movement, The: Its Spiritual Dynamic, by Albert Vail, reprint of a magaZine article. Baha'i Movement, The. A pamphlet outlining the history and aims of the Cause, with a statement on Baha'i Administration and many quotations from the Writings. Baha Movement in its Social Economic Aspeci, The, by Helen Campbell. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1915. Baha'i Movement, The, by Charles Mason Remey. Washington, D. C., 1912. Baha'i Persecutions in Persia, reprint of letter written to the ShTh of Persia, Richi Shah Pahiavi, July, 1926, by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Baha'i Religion, The, a reprint of the two Baha'i papers presented at the Conference on Some Living Religions within the British Empire. Paper, 24 pp. Baha'i Revelation, The, by Thornton Chase. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1909. Baha Revelation and Reconstruction, The, by Charles Mason Remey. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1919. Baha Teachings, by Charles Mason Rerney. (Seven bound pamphlets.) Washington, D. C., 1917. Baha'u'llah and His Message, by J. E. Essle-mont, briefly outlining the spiritual message of the New Day. ~Bef ore Abraham Was I Am, by Thornton Chase, an explanation of the Station of the Prophet. '~Bird's Eye View of the World in the Year 2000, a reprint of article by Orrol Harper in The Baha'i Magazine. ~Brief Account of my Visit to !Akka, A, by Mary L. Lucas. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1905. ~Brilliant Proof, The, by Mirza ~Abu'1 Fadi of Gulp~yig~n, a refutation of an attack on the Cause by a Protestant missionary. Contains both English and Persian text. ~:.Call of God, The, by George Latimer, the significance of the return of the Messenger. ~Chapter on Strikes, a supplement to "Some Answered Questions." ~Coinpilation, No. 9, available in: English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian, Yiddish. * Constructive Principles of the Baha'i Movement, by Charles Mason Remey. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1917. ~Daily Lessons Received at !Akkd~19O8, by Helen S. Goodall and Ella G. Cooper. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1908. Principles of the Baha'i Faith. The new edition of the little blue ~No. 9" Compilation. ~Dawn of Knowledge and the Most Great Peace, by Paul Kingston Dealy, the Baha'i Cause and ancient prophecy. Declaration of Trust, and ByLaws of the National Spirihial Assembly of the Baha'is of the UnUed Shttes and Canada, with amendments adopted to April 1, 1933. The legal instrument defining the nature and functions of the institutions existing in the American Baha'i community, with the ByLaws approved for use by Local Spiritual Assemblies. (Reprinted from Baha'i Administration.) 24 pp. 6 x 9. Paper covers. '~Divine Revelation, the Basis of Civilization, by Antun JIadd~d. Board of Coun-cii, New York, 1902. ~Early Pilgrimage, An, 1898, by May Maxwell. Baha Publishing Society, Chicago, 1917. ~'Episodes in My life, by Munirih KMnurn. Translated by AI~imad Suhr6~b. Persian-American Publishing Co., Los Angeles, 1924. 'KFlowers Cnlled from the Rose Garden of !Akka by Three Pilgrims in 1908. ~From the World's Greatest Prisoner to His Prison Friends, by Isabel Fraser-Chamber-lain. Tudor Press, Boston, 1916. ~God and I-us Man~festations (compiled by Mrs. J. W. Gift), an outline for the study of such Baha'i topics as the need of a Manifestation, the signs of His appear [p460] 460 ance, His influence upon civilization, the proofs of His cause, etc. Paper covers. * Green Acre, a reprint of article published in the Baha'i Magazine. *Hcaveisly Feast, A, by Charles and Mariam Haney. ~Heavenly Vista, A, by Louis G. Gregory. 'FIn Spirit and in Truth, by A. S. Agnew. '~KnocJz and It Shall Be Opened Unto You, by Roy and M. J. M. 'SIn Meinoriam (Miss Lillian F. Kappers and Dr. Sarah Clock), by Dr. Susan J. Moody, Union Press, Camp Karachi. ~In Galilee, by Thornton Chase. An interesting account of a Visit to Haifa in 1907. ~Knowing God Through Love, by ~Abu'1-Fadi. Farewell address. Baha'i Assembly, Washington. '~Lectures by Jindb-i-Fddil, a series of lectures by a Persian scholar appointed by Abdu'l-Baha. to teach the principles of the Baha'i Cause in America. Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 5 only. Lessons in Religion, by Shaykh Muhammad-~A1i Q6Nni, prepared especially for children. Translated by Edith Ruhiyyih Sanderson. ~Letter from Honolulu, by Charles Mason Remey. Privately printed. February 17, 1917. ~Le1ter written on behalf of the "Friends" of 1sf dhd'n, Persia, to the American Believers, by Mirza ~Abdu'1-Husayn. ~Light of the World, by a Group of Pilgrims. The Tudor Press, Boston, 1920. '~Martinists' Report, by M. Gabriel Sasi. An address concerning the Baha'i Religion delivered at the Paris Exposition of 1900. ~Martyrdoms ~n Persia in 1903, by H~ji Mirza Haydar-~A1i, relating the circumstances in which seventy Persian Baha'is were martyred. ~Map Showing Travels of the Bab and Baha'u'llah. Drawn by J. F. Clevenger, 1927. 11I2x14T2. ~Maxims of Bahd'isin, by Antun 1Iadd~d. Board of Council, New York. ~Message of the Kingdom of God, The, by James F. Brittingham. 1907. * Message from Akka, Antun Hadd~id. ~Notes Taken at rAkkd, by Corinne True. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1907. Observations of a Baha'i Traveler, by Charles Mason Remey. Washington, D.C., 1914. Oneness of Mankind, The, selections from words of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha on interracial amity, compiled by Louis G. Gregory and Mariam Haney. 64 pp., paper covers. Outlines of Study of Christ, compiled by the Outline Bureau of the National Baha'i Teaching Committee. Mimeographed. Baha'i Study Course, an aid for individual students of the teachings and for Baha Communities who desire to follow a definite course of study. (Reference books needed with this course: Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Wisdom of Abdu'l-Baha and Foundations of World Unity.) Mimeographed. Study Outline for Kitdb-i-Iqdn (Book of Certitude). Mimeographed. Study Guide for The Dawn-Breakers. Mimeographed. Baha'i Less oi't Outlines for Children, a series of 36 lessons in four sections. Mimeographed. Twenty Less oils in the Baha'i Revelation, a supplement to the Baha'i Study Course. Mimeographed. Material and Divine Civilization, compiled by the Outline Bureau of the National Teaching Committee, 1930. Mimeographed. Baha'i Teachings Concerning Christ, compiled by the Outline Bureau of the National Teaching Committee, 19281929. Mimeographed. ~Outlii'zes for Study of Scriptures, compiled by the Outline Bureau of the National Baha'i classes and meetings, compiled by Louis G. Gregory. Mimeographed. ~Passing of Abdu'l-Baha, The, by Lady Blomfield and Shoghi Effendi. Questions and Topics for Discussion in Ba-M'i classes and meetings, compiled by Louis G. Gregory. Mimeographed. '~Races of Men Ñ Many or One, The, compiled by Louis G. Gregory. 40 pp., paper covers. ~Rays from the Sun of Tridh, Ida Finch. '~Revelation of Baha'u'llah, The, Isabella D. Brittingham. Bab4'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1902. [p461] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY ~SpirH of World Unity, The, selections from words of Abdu'l-Baha. in America on religious, racial and scientific subjects. 24 pp. Paper covers. '~Spiritual Opportunities of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, selections from words of Abdu'l-Baha. The National Spiritual Assembly. '~Star of the West, November, 1925, Peace Number. '~Station of Manifestation, by Antun Had-did. Study of Outlines of Science, compiled by the Outline Bureau of the National Baha'i Teaching Committee. Mimeographed. Table Talks. Regarding Reincarnation and other subjects. Table Talks at rA/zkd, by Abdu'l-Baha Abbas, by Arthur S. Agnew. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1907. Table Talks with Abdu'l-Baha, by Mr. and Mrs. George Winterburn. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1908. * Tablet on Universal Peace, a letter written by Abdu'l-Baha in 1919 to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace. ~Tablets to Japan, a collection of letters written by Abdu'l-Baha to Japanese and to Americans serving the Cause in Japan. Foreword by Agnes Alexander. Through Warring Countries to the Moun-. tam of God, by Charles Mason Remey. Private printing. '~True Gardener, The (from notes by L.H. C.B.). Rangoon Standard Press, 1930. Ten Days in the Light of eAkkd, by Julia M. Grundy. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1907. Twelve articles introductory to the study of the Baha'i teachings, by Charles Mason Remey. Unity Through Love, by Howard Mac Ñ Nutt. * Universal Consciousness, of the Baha'i Re-ligio-n, by Charles Mason Remey. Universal Principles of the Baha'i Movement. Persian-American Bulletin, Washington, D. C., 1912. * Visit to Abbas Effendi in 1899, by Margaret B. Peake. Grier Press, Chicago, 1911. '~What Is a Baha'i by Dr. J. E. Esslemont. American edition published by Louis Bourgeois, Chicago, 1921. What Is the Baha'i Movement? A brief explanation by the late Dr. J. E. Esslemont, author of Baha'u'llah and the New Era." Available in many languages. * What Went Ye Out For ta See? by Thornton Chase, a letter written in reply to an inquiry from a Christian. ~Whence? Why? Whither? Man! Things! Other Things! by Arthur Pillsbury Dodge. Arid Press, Westwood, Mass., 1907. World Economy of Baha'u'llah, The, by Horace Holley. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1931. The Baha'i explanation of current world depression and unrest, with a summary of the principles revealed by Baha'u'llah to make possible international order, peace and social justice. 32 pp. Paper covers. World of Abdu'l-Baha, The, by Mary Hanford Ford. (h) COMPILATIONS Baha Cause. Eight-page pamphlet prepared by the National Teaching Committee. Baha'i Publishing Society, 1924. 'Baha'i Calendar. Daily excerpts from the writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha. Privately printed in Honolulu, New York and other cities. Baha House of Worship. Descriptian of the Baha'i Temple with Illustrations. By Charles Mason Rerney. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1917. * Baha'i Hymns and Poems, by Louise R. Waite. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1904, New York, 1927. Baha'i Message. Compiled by Horace Hol-icy, Chicago, 1920. Baha'i Scriptures. Compiled by Horace Hol-icy, Brentano's, New York, 1923. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York, 1929. Baha'i Temple. Reprints of press comments and Temple symbolism. Published by Louis Bourgeois, Chicago, 1921. ~Compi1ation. Concerning the Most Great Peace. Tudor Press, Boston, 1918. '~Compi1ation No. 9. Available in different languages. *Co~npi1ation of Utterances from the Pen of Abdu'l-Baha Regarding His Station. 19 pages. November 26, 1906. ~Divine Pearls. Compiled by Victoria Bedi-kian, [p462] The H~tziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Rangoon, Burma. [p463] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 463 ream of God, The. By Albert Durrant Watson. A poem. Baha'i Publishing Society. Chicago, 1922. Foundations of World Unity. Compiled by Horace Holley, New York, 1927. Garden of the Heart, The. Compiled by Frances Esty. ~?God and His Manifestations. Compiled by Mrs. M. H. Gift. '~God's Heroes. By Laura Clifford Barney. A drama. Lippincott, London and Philadelphia, 1910. '~Hymns of Peace and Praise. By Louise R. Waite. Chicago, 1910. Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. By Charles Mason Re-mey. Five preliminary sketches. Privately printed. 'Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. By Charles Mason Re-mey. (Baha'i House of Worship.) Privately printed. Mashriqu'l-AdlaIzdr and the Baha'i Movement. By Jean Masson. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1921. ~Most Great Peace, The. From the utterances of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-Bahi. Tudor Press, Boston, 1916. Oneness of Mankind. A compilation of the utterances of Baha'u'llah and tAbdu'1-BaM by Mariam Haney and Louis Gregory, to assist the progress of interracial amity, 1927. ~Prayers Revealed by Baha'u'llah and rAb du'l-Balod. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Boston, 1923. 'Trospectus of a Series of Five Lectures upon the Baha'i Movement, by Charles Mason Remey. ~?Racial Amity. Compiled by M. H. and M.M. Thoughts That Build. By Rev. J. Storer. Macmillan Co., New York, 1924. Universal Principles of the Baha'i Move-inent Ñ Social, Economic, Governmental. Persian-American Bulletin, 1912. Views of Haifa, eAkizd, Mt. Carmel and Other Places. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago. 2. BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS OF ENGLAND CAbdu~lBahd in London. Addresses delivered by CAbdu~1~BahA during His visit in London, with description of His life and activities. Ba/ad'! Faith, The, by G. Paigrave Simpson. Baha'i: Spirit of the Age, The, by Horace Holley. (See list one.) Published by Kegan, Paul. Baha'u'llah and The New Era, by J. E. Essle-mont. (See list one.) Published by George Allen & IJnwin, Ltd. Brief Account of the Baha'i Movement, by Ethel J. Rosenberg. Published by Burnside, Ltd. Coming of "The Glory," The, by Florence E. Pinchon. Published by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., London. Drama of the Kingdom, The, by Mrs. Basil Hall, London, 1933. God's Heroes, by Laura Clifford Barney. (See list one.) Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah. (See list one.) Life and Teachings of Abbas Efiendi, The, by Myron H. Phelps. Published by Put-narn & Sons. Meditations of A Bafad'i Christian, by E. T. Hall. C. E. Bennett & Co., Manchester, 191?. Modern Social Religion, The, by Horace Holley. Published by Sidgwick & Jackson. 1912. Mysterious Forces of Civilization, The. (See list one.) Paris Talks. (See list one, "The Wisdom of tAbdu'1-BahA.") Published by G. Bell & Son. Passing of Abdu'l-Baha The. (See list one.) Promise of All Ages, The, by "Christophul." Published by Simpkin, Marshal, Ltd., 1934. Universal Religion, The, by Hippolyte Dreyfus, an introductory work on the Baha'i Cause by a French orientalist who has translated many of the writings of Baha'u'llah. Universal Religion, The, by E. T. Hall. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles, 1927. [p464] Baha'is of Sofia, Bulgaria. Baha'is of Burda~, Caucasus. 464 [p465] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 465 Unity Triumphant, by Elizabeth Herrick. The Revelation of Baha'u'llah as the fulfilment of Christianity, with extensive quotations and bibliography. Published by Kegan, Paul. Reconciliation of Races and Religions, The, by Thomas Kelly Cheyne, Dr. Lit., D.D. Religions of the Empire, edited by W. Lof-tus Hare. Published by Duckworth (Lon-don). Addresses delivered by representa-tires of the several religions invited to participate in the Conference on Some Living Religions Within the British Empire, held at the Imperial Institute, London, England, from September 22 to Oc tober 3, 1924. Includes two papers read on the Baha Cause. 519 pp. Cloth cover. Some Answered Questions. (See list one.) Published by Kegan, Paul. Traveller's Narrative, A. The Episode of the B&b translated by Prof. E. C Browne, M.A., E.B.A., M.R.A.S. Cambridge University Press. What Is a Baha'i by J. F. Esslemont, a reprint of chapter three of his larger work. Published by Burnside, Ltd. Year with the Baha'is in India and Burma, A, by Sidney Sprague. The Priory Press, London, 1908. BAHA'I LITERATURE Baha'u'llah et L'Lrc Nouvelle. Geneva, 1932. Le Baydn Arabe, traduit par A. L. M. Nico-las. Editions Leroux, Paris. Le Baydn Persan, traduit par A. L. M. Nico-las. Librairie Geutliner, Paris. Quatre volumes, 191114. Du re~gne de Dieu et A l'Agneau, par Sacy Gabriel, Juin 12, 1902, se trouve chez 1'auteur au Claire. L'Econoinie Mondiale de Baha'u'llah, par Horace Holley. Traduction de Gabriel des Hons. Paris, 1932. L'Epitre au Fils dii Loup, Baha'u'llah, tra-duction franqaise par Hippolyte Dreyfus. Librairie Champion, Paris. Essai sur le Bahdisme, La port6e sociale, par Hippolyte Dreyfus. Editions Leroux, Paris. La Lefons de St. Jean d'Aere, traduction franqaise de CCS Answered Questions," by Laura Clifford Barney. Editions Le-roux, Paris. Livre des Sept Preuves, Le, traduction par A. L. M. Nicolas, Paris, 1902. L'Oeuvre de Baha'u'llah, traduit par Hippo-lyte Dreyfus. Edition Leroux, Paris. Trois volumes. Le Vrai Baha'i. Le Cinquh?rne Chapitre tie Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Traduction par Eduard Roscoe Matthews. Memoir on the Bab's, par M. S6vruguin. Mirza on the Bab's, par M. Mochenin. :?Tablette de Baha'u'llah ecrite d Adriano pie pour nit des croyants de Qazvin. ~:-Trois Lettres a des Persans. tAbdu'1-Bah6~ (Juin-Juillet, 1907.) 4 BAHA'I LITERATURE IN ITALIAN Baha'u'llah e hi Nuova Era. Translation of J. K Esslemont's book. rrChe Cosa e ii Movhnento Baha'i" (Leaf-let.) Discorsi di !Abdu'l-Baha (Paris Talks). I )i'rincipii Baha'i. Booklet translation of the Baha'i Principles as given by tAbdu'1-Bah4 at various times, taken from Paris Talks and other sources. 1925. Florence. Parole Ye/ate (Hidden Words). Florence, 1926. Some Answered Questions (in preparation). BAHA'I LITERATURE TN NETHERLAND Algeineene Beginselen der Baha'i Beweging. !fBah&u~ll6h and the New Era." Rotterdam, Amsterdam, 1914. 1933. [p466] 466 THE BAHA'I WORLD BAHA'I LITERATURE IN DANISH Baha'u'llah ag bans Budskab (Baha'u'llah and His Message), by J. E. Esslemont. Translated into Danish by Johanne S6rensen. December, 1926. eeBahd~u~lldh and the New Era." Copenhagen, 1932. Hvad ei Baha'i Berageken (What is the Ba-hiM Movement?), by J. E. Esslemont. Translated into Danish by Johanne Sorensen. April, 1926. 7. BAHA'{ LITERATURE IN SWEDISH Baha'u'llah and the New Era, 1932. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE Baha'u'llah E La Nova Era, por Dr. J. lB. Esslernont. Oflicinas Graphicas de Fonseca Filho & Co., Rua Cruzeiro de S. Francisco No. 16, Baha, Brazil. A Major Paz. Santos, 1922. Paris Talks. Para, Brazil. 9. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN ALBANIAN FjaP! Ti! Eshehura (Hidden Words), New Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Tiran~, 1933. York. Kitdb-i-iqdn, Tiran~, 1932. 10. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN ESPERANTO Baha'u'llah: Ka~itaj vorto), ella perso lingvo tradukis Lutfu'llih S. Hakim, John E. Esslemont, London, Brita Esperantista Asocio, jaro ne indikata, ~O, 39 pp. Ka&itaj vorto), ella angla lingvo tradukis Vasily J. Erosenko, Japanujo, loko kaj jaro ne indikataj, 8~, 23 pp. tAbdu'1-BaM: Baha (Bahaaj!) instruoj, loko kaj jaro ne indikataj, 80, 16 pp. Kompulajo, vortoj de Baha'u'llah kaj tAb-du'1-BaM, Wandsbek, Germany, Baha Esperanto-Eldonejo, jaro ne indikata, 80, 16 pp. Esslemont, Dr. J. E.: Baha'u'llah ha) lit nova epoko, el la angla originalo tradukita de Lidja Zamenhof, Weinheim (Germany), Baha'i Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1930, 8~, 191 pp. Religia Iza) Scienco lazi hi lu-mo de Ia Ba-haja (bahaa!) rivelajo, London, Brita Es-perantista Asocio, 1919, 80, 28 pp. .Baha'u'llah ti] Lia Misio, Hamburg, Esperanto Komitato de Ia Baha Movado. 1926, 80, 22 pp. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: La esenco de l'Bahaismo, Wandsbek, Baha Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1929, ~O ~ pp. Historio, instruoj kaj valoro de let Baha'i-inovado. Hamburg, Esperanto Komitato de 'a Babaa-movado, 1925, 80, ~ pp. [p467] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 467 Kliemke, Dr. Ernst: Bahaismo ka) politilzo, la stata idealo lai~ la instruoj de Bah~'u' Ñ 11Th, Wandsbek, Germany, Baha Esper-anto-Eldonejo, 1929, 80, 8 pp. Miihlschlegel, Adelbert: Parolado en la dua Baha kunveno dum la XVIIIa Univer-sala Kongreso de Esperanto en Genevo, Stuttgart, 1925, 80, 4 pp• heim, Baha Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1931, 8~, 8 pp. Kio estas la Baha movado? Genf, 1925, 80, 8 pp. Kio estas Ia Baha inovado? Wandsbek, jaro ne indikata, 8~, 4 pp. La Nova Tago. La infernacia bahaa esper-anto-gazeto. Weinheim (Germany), Ba-Bah~'is Baha'is of Heilbronn. Root, Martha~ Bahaaj sciencaj pruvoj de vivo post morto. Praha 1927, 8~, 7 pp. Bahaaj pntvoj de vivo post mono, Wands-bek, Germany, Baha Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1928, 80, 8 pp. S.S.: La Historio de l'Bahaj'a (Baha!) Mo-vado, Universala Fido, esperantigita de William W. Mann, London, the Priory Press, 1907, 80, 24 pp. Lidja Zarnenhof: Homo, Dio, Prof eto, Wien haa Esperanto-Eldonejo. Quarterly sin~e 1925. Paris Talks of Abdu'l-Baha. Weinheim, Baden, 1932. For information on German and Esperanto Baha'i literature and magazines please ad Ñ dress Dr. Hermann Grossmann, Weinheim (Bergstrasse), Friedrich-Voglerstrasse, 4, Germany. 11. BA HAl LITERATURE IN RUSSIAN Baha'u'llah and the New Kitdb-i-fqdn. Riga, Pus Era. Printed in Latvia, jela 14, 1933. 1930. Tablet from eAbdu~l~Bahd. Lessons in Religion, B~tki~i, 1909. by Shaykh Mu1~ammad-Talk Talk about Baha'i Faith. B~ki~t. Baha'u'llah, by Isabel Talk of Abdu'l-Baha in Grinevskaya. Leningrad, New York. Ishqabad, 1912. 1922. Bah'iyyat, by M. Blanovsky. Tablet to the Hague, by Moscow, 1914. Hidden Words Abdu'l-Baha. London, of Baha'u'llah. Riga, 1922. 1934. No. 9. (Compilation.) New York, N. Y. [p468] 468 THE BAHA'I WORLD 12. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN GE Baha'u'llah: Tablet von Islardqdt, Tablet von Tardzdt, W/orte des Paradieses, Tablet von Tajcdliydt, Probe Botschaf ten. Aus dem Englischen von A. Braun und E. Ruoff. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Bah~'i-Vereinigung. 1912, 80, 73 p. Baha'u'llah: Frohe Botschaf ten, Worte des Paradieses, Tablett Tardzat, Tablett Ta-jalliydt, Tablelt Ishrdqdt. Nach der eng-glischen Uebersetzung von ~A1i-Qu1i Khan deutsch von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen BaM'?Bundes, 1921, 8~, 123 p. Baha'u'llah: Verborgene Work, Worte der Weisheit und Gebete. Aus dem Engli-schen von A. Braun und E. Ruoff. Stuttgart, Verlag der BaM'i-Vereinigung, 1916, 80, ]jJ4p• Baha'u'llah: Verbor gene Worte, Worte der "~Q~eisheit und Gebete. Nach der engli-schen Uebersetzung von Shoghi Effendi, deutsch von Alice Schwarz und W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen BaM'i-Bundes, 1924, 8~, 109 p. Baha'u'llah: Das heilige Tablet, geoffenbart in Bag]~d~d. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der BaLI'i-Vereinigung, 1911, ~O, 8 p. Baha'u'llah: Das Tc~blet vom Zweig. Aus den Englischen von Fr. Schweizer. He-rausgegeben von den Baha'is in Zuffen-hausen. Ohne Jalir, 80, 8 p. Abdu'l-Baha: Evangelium der Liebe und des Friedens fur unsere Zeit (Ansprachen in Paris). Aus dem Englisehen von W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Bah~.'i-Vereinigung. 1914, 80, 172 p. Abdu'l-Baha: Ansprachen, gehalten im Herbst 1911 in Paris. Aus dem Engli-schen von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bah~'i-Bundes, 1921, 80, 196 p. Abdu'l-Baha: Beaniwortete Fragen. Nach der englischen Ausgabe von L. Clifford Barney, deutsch von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i -Bundes G.m.b.H. 1929, 8~, VIII und 392 p. Abdu'l-Baha: Fine Botschaft an die Juden. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stutt gart, un Selbstverlag der BaM'i-Vereini-gung. 1913, 80, 15 p. Abdu'l-Baha: Tabelle (Tablets) an die Ge-meiner Belehritng. Deutsch von Fanny Knobloch. 1906, ohne Angabe des Ortes, 80, 12 P. Abdu'l-Baha: Tabelle (Tablets) an die Ge. liebten Gottes des Abendlandes. Deutsch von Fanny A. Knobloch. 1906, ohne An~ gabe des Ortes, 80, 8 p. Bahd'iperlen (Worte von Baha'u'llah und Abdu'l-Baha). Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bah~'i-Bundes, 1921, 80, 16p• Shoghi Effendi: Die Weltordnung von Baha'u'llah. Aus dem Englischen. Heraus-gegeben vom Deutschen BaM'i-National-rat, Stuttgart, M~rz 1930, S~, 15 p. Shoghi Effendi: An die Gelieb ten des Ilerrn -und an die Dieiserinnen des Barm-herzigen in der ganzen Welt. Aus dem Englischen. Herausgegeben yam deut-schen BaM'i-Nationalrat, Stuttgart, April 1930 (vervie1f~i1tigt), Folio, 17 p. Andreas, Dr. F. C.: Die Bab's in Persien. Leipzig, Verlag der Akademischen Buch-handlung (W. Faber), 1896, 80, 68 p. Baha'i Kh~num: Brief an die Freunde Got/es und an die D2enerinnen des Barm-herzigen im Abendland. Aus dern En-glischen von A. Schwarz. Ohne Angabe des Ortes und dese Jahres. 80, 4 p. Blomfield, Sit~rih und Shoghi Effendi: Das Hinscheiden ~Abdu'l Ñ Baha'is. Ohne An-gabe des Ortes und des Jahres, 80, 32 p. Brittingham, Isabella D.: Die Offenbarung von Baha'u'llah. Aus dern Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag des Bah4'i-Vereinigung, 1910, 80, 47 p. Carpenter, Marion: Majniln und LayM. Nach Baha'u'llah's Erz~ih1ung in den "Sieben Talern." Deutsch von E. M. Gr. und Dr. H. Gr. Wandsbek, Weltgemein-schaft 1926, 80, 8 p. Chase, Thornton: Die Baha'u'llah. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bah6.'i-Bundes, 1925, 80, XVI + 168 p. [p469] Baha'is of Auckland, New Zealand. Baha'is of Perth, Australia. 469 [p470] 470 Chase, Thornton: Ehe Abraham war, war Ic/a. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag, der Bah&i-Vereinigung. Ohne Jahr, 8~, 8 p. Dreyfus, Dr. Hippolyte: Finheits-Religion. Jhre Wirkung auf Staat, Erziehung, So-zialpolitik, Frauenrechte und auf die em-zelne Persanliclikeit. Deutsch von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bahi'i-Bundes, 1920, 80, 40 p. Dreyfus, Dr. Hippolyte: Bdbisinus u-nd Bahd'ism us. Deutsch von Margarete Platte. Frankfurt aM. Neuer Frankfurter Verlag G.m.b.H., 1909, 8~, 61 p. Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Baha'u'llah und das Neue Zeitalter. Deutsch von H. K. und W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bah&i-Bundes, 1927, 80, VIII 431 p. Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Was ist cm Ba-hai'i? Aus dem Englischen iibersetzt und herausgegeben von der Bahi'i-Arbeitsge-meinschaft Esslingen. Oline Jahr. (ver-vielfAtigt) 40, 20 p. Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Der Weg zum Frieden. Sonderdruck des Kapitels X aus "Baha'u'llah und das Neue Zeitalter." Herausgegeben von der BaM'i-Arbeitsge-meinschaft Esslingen. Ohne Jalir, 8~, 8 p. Fadi, Mirza Abu'1: Geschichte und Wa/or-heitsbeweise Ar Bahd'i-Religion. Nach der englischen Uebersetzung von CA1i~Qu1i Khan deutsch von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bahi'i-Bundes G.m. bR. 1919, 80, XXIV + 295 p. Fadi, Mirza Abu'1. Gldnzender Beweis (Burhme L~itne). Aus dem Englischen von Fr. Schweizer. Herausgegeben von der Baha'i -Vereinigung Zuffenhausen, ohne Jalir, 8~, 45 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Die soziale Frage und ihre Lbsung hn Shine der Ba-lod'i-Lehre. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deut-schen BahA'i-Bundes, 1923, 80, 12 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Die Bahd'i-Be-wegung, i/ore Ceschichte, Lehren und Be-deutung. Herausgegeben von der BahA'i-Bewegung. Hamburg, 1926, 80, 8 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Das 'Wesen der Bahd'i-Lehre. Ohne Angabe des Ortes und des Jahres. 80, 8 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Bahd'i-Erzie-hung. Wandsbek, Weltgemeinschaft, Deutscher Zweig, 1924, 80, 8 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Rosen gil rtlein-Lehrstun den. Lehrproben zur Bah4'i-Er-ziehung. Herausgegeben von der Weltge-meinschaft, Wandsberk, ohne Jahr, 80, 12 p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: C/ag-nan. Eine ErzThlung aus unserer Zeit. 'Wandsbek, 1927, 8~, S p. Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Am Morgen einer neuen Zeit, Stuttgart, 1932. NV. H.: Universaler Friede, Univ ersale Religion. Die Bahi'i-Bewegung, ihr Zweck und Ziel. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Ba Ñ M'i-Vereinigung. 1915, 80, 30 p. W. H.: Die Bahd'i-Bewegung ins AU ge-ineinen und i/ore grossen VYirkungen in Indien. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen BaM'i-Bundes, 1922, 8~, 56 p. NV. H.: Die Zeichen wnserer Zeit ins Lichte der Bibel und Ar Bahd'i-Lehre, Stuttgart, Verlag der Bahi'i-Vereinigung. 1916, 80, 16 p. Holley, Horace: Die \Y7ellwirtschaft von Baha'u'llah. Aus dern Englischen.. 30 p. Geneva, 1934. Kliemke, Dr. Ernst: Bahd'i-Lelore und Pal itik. Das Staatsideal nach den Lehren Baha'u'llah's. Ohne Angabe des Ortes unci des Jalires. 80, 8 p. Maxwell, May: Jos, der Schiiferlznabe, eAb~ du'l-Bahd nacherzdlb it. Aus dem Engli-schen von Dr. H. Gr. Wandsbek, Welt-gemeinschaft, Deutscher Zweig, 1924, 80, 8 p. Mtihlschlegel, Adelbert: Melodrama mm drift en Deutschen Bahd'i-Kongress 80. Ohne Angabe des Ortes, September 1924, 80, 8 p. Mflhlschlegel, Adelbert: Kidvcrn 81, Pest-spiel. Stuttgart, Bah&'i-Bund, Deutscher Zweig, 1925, 80, 8 p. Najmajer, Marie von: Qurrat&l~eAyn. Em Bud aus Persiens Neuzeit, Wien, 1894. Phelps, Myron H.: tAbdu~I~Bahd eAbbas, Leben urn! Lebren. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Dent-schen BaM'i-Bundes, 1922, 80, 248 p. Remey, Charles Mason: Das neue Zeitalter. Die BahA'i-Offenbarung. Deutsch von W. H., Verlag des Deutschen Bah6N-Bundes, Bundes, Stuttgart, 1923, 8~, 32 p. [p471] Baha'is of Tunis, North Africa. Baha'i Home, Esslingen, Germany. 471 [p472] 472 THE BAHA'I WORLD Remey, Charles Mason: Einheit. Die Of-fenbarung des Baha'u'llah. Deutsch von Fanny A. Knobloch. Ohne Angabe des Ortes und des Jahres. 80, 8 p. Roemer, Dr. Hermann: Die Bdbi-Bahd'z'. Potsdam, Verlag der Deutschen Orient-Mission, 1912, 80, VII + 192 p. Rosenberg, Ethel J.: Die Bahd'i-Lehre, deren ethische und soziale Begriffe. Aus dern Englischen von Fr. Schweizer. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Bahi'i-Vereinigung, 1908, 80, 8 p. S. S.: Em Jahr unter den Behd'i in Indien und Birma. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Bah~i'i-Vereinigung, oline Jahr, 80, 46 p. S. S.: Die Geschichte der Bahd'i-Bewegung. Aus dem Englischen von W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der BaLi'i-Vereinigung. 1913, 80,22 p. Schwarz, Alice: Die universale Weltreli-gion. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen BaM'i-Bundes, 1919, 80, 35 p• Wright, A. H.: Bab and seine Secte in Per-sien, Leipzig. Religiase Lichblicke. Einige Erhiuterungen zur Bah~'i-Bewegung. Aus dem Franz6-sischen sischen von Albert Renf tie. Stuttgart, Verlag der Bah~'i-Vereinigung, 1916, ~O, 16 p. Edweiterte Auflage, Stuttgart, 1928, Verlag des Deutschen Bah~'i-Bundes, 80 24 p. Die Geschichte voin kleinen Vogel und an-dere Erzdhlungen aus dern Leben TAb-du'l-Bahd's. Wandsbek, Weltgemein-schaft, Deutscher Zweig, 1925, 8~, 8 p. Aus Leben und Lebre des Bahd'isinus. Hamburg, BaM'i-Verlag, 1918, 80, 42 p. Die Bahd'i-Bewcgung. Flugblatt. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Bah~'i-Bundes, ohne Jahr, 8~, 4 p• Was ist die Bahd'i-Bewegung. Flugblatt. Ohne Angabe des Ortes und des Jahres. (2 Ausgaben: Hamburg und Wien), 80, 8 bezw. 10 p. An der Schivelle eines neues Zeitalters. Flugblatt. Stuttgart, W. H. Oline Jahr. 80, 10 p. Bericht vorn ersten Deutschen Bahd'i-Kon-gress 1.921. Herausgegeben von der Ba-h6'i-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Esslingen (ver-vielThltigt) 40, 54 p• Weihnachtsbeilage fur Kinder. Dezember 1921. Beilage zur Sonne der Wahrheit, 80, 8 p. 13 BAHA'I LITERATURE IN BULGARIAN Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Sofia, 1932. 14. BAHA) if LITERATURE IN RUMANIAN Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Bucarest, 1934. Ce Este Miscarea Baha'i, Bucarest, 1934. 15. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN CZECH Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Prague, 1932. 16. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN SERBIA N Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Belgrade, 1933. [p473] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 473 17. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN HUNGARIAN Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Budapest. 1933. 18. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN GREEK Ba! "u'lldh and the New Era, Athens, 1934. 19. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN MAGRI Pamphlet by G. G. Paul, Auckland, New Zealand, 1933. 20. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN SPANISH Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Baha, 1934. 21. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN ORIENTAL (a) PERSIAN Book of Mubin, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, The. Bombay. Book of Iqtiddr, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, The. Bombay. Kaliindt-i-Makn~inih (Hidden Words). Ishrdqdt, Tardzdt, Tajalliydt, The. Bombay. Lawh-i-Ahrnad, Tashkand. Tablets from Baha'u'llah. Cairo. Kitdb-i-iqdn, The. Cairo and Bombay. Tablet of Baha'u'llah to the Shah of Persia. Cairo. Tablets and Prayers from Baha'u'llah. Cairo. The Seven Valleys. Cairo and Bombay. Will and Testament of Bahd'u' 11db, The. ~fshqTh~d and Cairo. Ad~iyiy-i-Hadrat-i-Mahb~ib (Book of Prayers). Cairo. Some Answered Questions. London. Lawh-i-Mag~id. Traveller's Narrative, The. London and Thshkand, 1916. Bombay. Prayers from eAbdu~l.~Bahd. Tihr~n, 1930. Muduniyyih, The, by Abdu'l-Baha. Cairo and Bombay. Natijatu'l-Baydn, compiled by Mirza Na~im. Tablet to the Shdlo of Persia. Cairo. Siydsiyyih, The, by Abdu'l-Baha. Bombay. Will and Testament of !Abdu'l-Baha, The. Bombay and Cairo. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The. Bah6~. u'11Th. Cairo. Addresses of Abdu'l-Baha in Europe. Cairo. Tablets of rAbdu~l~Bahd, The. Vol. 1. Cairo. Tablet to the Hague by Abdu'l-Baha. Cairo. Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha, The. Vol. 2. Cairo. Addresses of !Abdu'l-Baha. Cairo. Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha, The. Vol. 3. Cairo. Tablet of Abdu'l-Baha to Dr. Forel. Cairo. Al Ñ Fard'id, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo. Kashf u'1-Ghit ci' compiled by Siyyid Mihdi Gulp6~yig~ini. ~Jshq~b~d. Letters of Mirza Abu'l-Eadl. Cairo. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Haifa, 1932. History of the Martyrs of Yazd, The. Cairo. Dald'ilu'lilrfdn, Mirza Haydar~rAli. Bombay. [p474] 474 THE BAHA'I WORLD BihjaIu'~-~udiir, Mirza I~Iaydar-~Ali. Bombay. Aydt-i-Mu'arrakhi, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl, China. P.Jsdliy-i-lstidldliyyih, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl, Egypt. Istidldliyyiy-i-Afshdr. Bombay. The Brilliant Proof, by Mirza Abu'1-Fa~i. Tdrikh-i-Jadid. Bombay. An-N~ziru'l-Abhd-Fi-Muf awaddt i -~Abdu'l- Baha. Table talks collected by Laura C. Barney. Kegan, Paul, London, 1908. Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Twenty-two page booklet written in Persian on the Baha'i Temple. Published by the Baha'i Assembly of Washington, D. C. Hadiqatu'l-Bahd'iyyih. Bombay, 1927. Kavdkibu'd-Durriyyih. Cairo. The First Baha'i Group in Abyssinia. Bahru'I-~Irfdn, by Mu1~ammad AfsMr. Bombay. History of Tahirib, The. Cairo. Travels of Abdu'l-Baha, The. Vol. 1 and 2, Mirza Ma1~mud Zarq~ni. Bombay. Early Tablets of Baha'u'llah, The, compiled by Baron Rosen, St. Petersburg. Memorials of the Faithful, eAbdu~l~Bahd. Haifa. Irtibdt-i-Sharq va Gharb. Tihr~n, 1931. Questions and Answers (Appendix to Kihib-i-A qdds.). Tihr~n. Bahd'ism and Socialism. Ishqabad. Mundziratu'd-Diniyyih. Cairo. Dur~isu'd-Diydnih (Lessons in Religion) Cairo and Tihr~in. Mat hnavi (Nabil's chronological poem) Cairo. [p475] Poems by Nayyir. Tihr~n, 1930. Istidldliyyih, I and II, by Na~im, Tabriz, 1911 and 1912. Magdliy Ñ i-Bahd'i. Delhi, 191 5. Poems, by Na~im. Tabriz, Tihr~in, Cairo and Bombay. The 19 Talks. Cairo. Usiil-i-Tadris. Tihr~n. Baha'i Faith and Socialism. Ishqabad. Fard 'idu'd-Diniyyih. Mashhad. Tuhfiy-i-Tdhirih. Delhi, 1933. The Passing of Abdu'l-Baha. Delhi, 1933. The Baha'i Calendar. Tihr~tn. (b) URDU Translation of the Tabli~t to the World. Bombay. Translation of Ishrdqdt, Bishdrdt, Kalirndt, Tardzdt, Tajalliyat, of Baha'u'llah. Agra, 1918. Pay gkdin-i-Sulh. Seven Valleys, The. Bombay, 1929. Baha'i Tdlim (The Hague Tablet). Ilaydar-Ab~d, 1923. Hidden Words, The. Bombay. Why People of the World Could Not Know Their Promised One. Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha, The. Words of Abdu'l-Baha, The. Payg/2din-i Sulk. Agra. Kitdb-i-iqdn. Al-Mi~ydru's-Sahih. 1910. Tablet to the Hague. Haydar-Abad, 1923. Traveller's Narrative, A. 1908. ~Unij-u-Nuziil. Rangoon, 1904. Kitdbu'z-Zuhiir. Al-Bakigu'l-Mubin. Agra. Revelation of Baha'u'llah, by Mrs. I. D. Brit-tingham. Rangoon, 1902. Javdb-i-Qddiydnihd. Rangoon, 1908. Burhdn-i-Sarih. Agra. 14'qdqu'l-Haqq, by Mirza Mal:imud Zarq~ni. 19089. Us~ii-i-Bahd'i. Delhi. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The. Delhi. Dawr-i-Bahd'i. Sharh-i-Aydt. (c) ARABIC Kitab-i-Aqdas. Bombay, Cairo, Persia. Tshrdqdt, Tajalijydi, Tardzdt, and Kalimdt, The. Cairo. Talks of Abdu'l-Baha in Europe, The. Translation anonymous. Cairo. Baha'u'llah and the New Era, by Dr. J. E. Esslemont. Cairo, 1930. Some Answered Questions. Cairo, 1930. Baha'i Principles; Summary of Baha'i Teachings. Cairo, 1928. Prayers from Baha'u'llah. Tabriz, 1911. Traveller's Narrative, A. Baha'i Pearls, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo, 1900. Baha'i Proofs, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo, 1925. Tablet to the Hague. Risd!iy-i-Ainriyyih, by Mu~af~. Cairo. (d) TURKISH Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha. B~k~i, 1915. Talk. About the Baha'i Faith. B~ki~i. Talk, in New York. B~k~i, 1922, ~fshqTh~d, 191g. Babd'i Hareketi. Istanbul, 1930. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Istanbul, 1932. (e) BURMESE Some Answered Questions. Mandalay, 1915. Revelation of Baha'u'llah. Mandalay, 1907. Huhiatu'lldhu'l-BdligL2ib. Rangoon, 1927. What Is the Baha'i Movement. Rangoon. Duriis-i-Akhldqiyyih. Mandalay, 1930. Huqiiqu'l-insdniyyih. Mandalay, 1928. Mizdnu'l-Furgdn. Mandalay, 1908. Duriisu'd-Diydnib. Mandalay, 1922. Tablet of Love. Mandalay, 1922. Baha'i Principles. Mandalay, 1919. To Live the Life. Mandalay. Shajaratu'l-Adydn. Rangoon, 1909. Su'al va Javdb. ~Aqd'id-i-Bahd'iydn. The Baha'i Short Thesis. Mandalay, 1913. Nizdm-Ndmih. 1907. Short History of the Cause, A. 1913. Divine Laws. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Mandalay, 1933. (f) CHINESE Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Shanghai, 1931. The Most Great Peace. Shanghai, 1931. Light of the Age. Shanghai, 1926. The Valuable Contribution of the Baha'i Cause (I, II). Shanghai, 1932. [p476] Baha'i Home, Rammen, Sweden. Baha'is of Aleppo, Syria. 476 [p477] BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY 477 Paris Talks. Shanghai, 1931. Kitdb-i-iqdn. Shanghai. The Goal of a New World Order. Shanghai, 1931. Index to Some Answered Questions. Shanghai, 1933. (g) HEBREW Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Haifa, 1931. (h) TARTAR Vahdat, by Abdu'l-Baha. Tashkand 1918. (i) GUJRATI Fardmin-BaIoi, by Mirza AbuN-Fadi. Bombay, 1921. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Bombay, 1932. (j) JAPANESE What Is Bahd'is-rn, by Dr. G. J. Augur. 1916. A Letter to the Women of Japan, by Agnes B. Alexander. 1916. Religion of Love. 1917. The Most Great Peace, translated by Dr. Inouye, 1917. Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, translated by Dr. Inouye. 1918. The Baha'i Revelation, translated by Dr. Inouye. 1920. The Cafl, translated by T. Toni. 1920. What Is the Baha'i Movement, translated by T. Inouye. 1929. New Civilization, by K. Torikai. 1917. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Tokyo, 1932. (k) ARMENIAN What Is the Baha'i Movement? 1933, Prag. Pamphlet. 1920, Cairo. Pamphlet. 1928, Istanbul. Baha'u'llah and the New Era. 1933, Aleppo. (I) TAMIL The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, by I. Brit-tingham, translated by V. M. Swami. Rangoon, 1906. (in) KURDISH Baha'u'llah and the New Era. Baghd~id, 1934. 22. BAHA'I LITERATURE IN BRAILLE (FOR THE BLIND) A Letter to the Blind Women in Japan, by Agnes B. Alexander. Tokyo, 1917. Seek and it shall be given you, by Tokijiro Toni. Tokyo, 1917. What Is the Baha'i' Movement? by T. Inouye. 1929. La Baha Revelacio. 1929. The Hidden Words, by Baha'u'llah. Book of Prayers. Seven Valleys, by Baha'u'llah. The Kitdb-i-fqdn, by Baha'u'llah. Ishrdqdt, by Baha'u'llah. S~ra1u'l-HaykaI, by Baha'u'llah. Some Answered Questions, by Abdu'l-Baha (in part). Baha'u'llah and the New Era. California. 23. BAHA'I PERIODICALS Baha'i Magazine, Star of the West, The. Official magazine of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Founded by Albert Windust and Gertrude Buikema in Chicago, 1910; now published in Washington, D. C.; Stanwood Cobb, Editor; Mariam Haney, Mrs. John Kirkpatrick, Associate Editors; Margaret McDaniel, Business Manager. Address: 1000 Chandler Building, Washington, D. C. Baha'i News. The bulletin of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Baha'i News Letter. The Bulletin of the Na.-tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt. Baha'i Weekly, The. The Baha'i Magazine for India and Burma. Editor, Prof. Pri-tam-Singh, 50 Temple Road, Lahore, India. [p478] 478 THE BAHA'I WORLD Bulletin, International Baha'i. Bureau Case 1 8 1 Stand, Geneva, Switzerland. Herald of the South, The. The Baha'i maga-zinc for New Zealand and Australia. Address: P.O. Box 447D, Adelaide, Australia. Kawkab-i-Hind: a monthly Indian Urdzi Magazine. Edited and published in Delhi, India, by JinAb~iYMaw1avi-HQi1" Siyyid Mahfiizu'1-Haqq ~Ilmi under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma. Address: Karol Bagh, Delhi, India. La Nova Tago (The New Day). The International BaM'i-Esperanto Magazine, pub-fished fished four times a year by the Esperanto Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany. Address: Gdringstr. 37, Neckargemiind, Germany. News Letter from Baha'is of the British Isles. 19 Grosvenor Place, London, S. W. 1. Sonne der Wahrheit, Organ des Deutschen Baha'is. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen BahA'i-Bundes, monthly since March, 1921. 3 Alexanderstr., Stuttgart, Germany. Unity of the East and the West Committee. c/o Dr. Y. AfMkhtih Avenue Bargh, Tihrin, Persia. 24. REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH IN BOOKS B AMERICAN Adams, Rev. Isaac: Persia by a Persian, 1900. Annual Report, by Near East College Association, 19301931. Atherton, Gertrude: Julia France and Her Times. Stokes & Co., New York, 1912. Atkins, Cairn Glenn: Modern Religious Cults and Movements. Fleming Revell. New York, 1923. Barrows, Rev. John Henry: The World's Parliament of Religions. 2 Vols. The Parliament Publishing Co., Chicago, 1893. Baudouin, Charles: Contemporary Studies. Fr. trans., E. and C. Paul. E. P. Dutton, New York, 1925. Bell, Archie: The Spell of the Holy Land. The Page Co., Boston, 1915. Benjamin, S. G. W.: Persia and the Persians. Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1886. Bentwich, Norman. The Religious Foundations of Internationalism. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1933. Bibesco, Princess G. V.: The Eight Paradises. English translation. E. P. Dutton, New York, 1923. Cowles, Alton House: The Conquering Horseman. Christopher Publishing Co., 1923. Elirenpreis, Marcus: The Soul of the East. Viking Press, New York, 1928. Eliwood: Reconstruction of Religion. Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 7, Macmillan, New York, 1932. Ferguson, Charles W.: The Confusion of Tongues. Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1928. Gazyini, M. J.: A Brief History of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Religion. San Diego, Calif., 1914. Gibbons, Herbert Adams: Wider Horizons. Century Co., New York, 1930. Harmon, W. W.: Micro cosin, Macrocosm. By the Author, Boston, 1915. Harry, Myriam: A Springtide in Palestine. Houghton Muffin, Boston, 1924. History of the Nineteenth Century Year by Year. 3 VoL. (See page 1131.) P. F. Collier & Son, New York, 1902. Holmes, John Haynes: Palestine: Today and Tomorrow. Macmillan, New York, 1929. Hoover, W. I. T.: Religionisms and Christianity. The Stratford Co., Boston, 1924. Jewett, Mary: Reminiscences of My Life in Persia. Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, 1909. Keyserling, Hermann: Travel Diary of a Philosopher. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 1925. Kolin, Hans: A History of Nationalism in the Fast. Harcourt Brace, New York, 1929. Martin, Alfred W.: Comparative Religion and the Religion of the Future. Appleton Go., New York, 1926. [p479] Baha'i School Ishqabad, Turkisifin, Russia. Baha'is of Antep, Turkey. 479 [p480] Matthews, J. B., and Duvall, Sylvanus M.: Conflict or Cooperation, A Study Outline. The American Committee, World Youth Peace Congress. New York, 1928. Miller: Bahd'isrn: Its Origin, History, Teachings. Fleming Revell Co., New York, 1931. Miller, Herbert A.: The Beginnings of Tomorrow. F. A. Stokes, New York, 1932. Pemberton, L. B.: A Modern Pilgrimage to Palestine. Dorrance & Co., Philadelphia, 1925. Randall, John Herman: A World Community. F. A. Stokes, New York, 1930. Religious Bodies, 1926: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 2 Vols. Washington, D. C., 1929. Sinclair, Upton. The Profits of Religion. Pasadena, 1918. Spear, R. E.: Missions and Modern History. 2 Vols. Spengler, Oswald: The Decline of the West Ñ Perspectives of World History. Alfred Knopf, 1928. Todd, A. J.: Theories of Social Progress. Macmillan & Co., New York, 1924. Tyssul, Rev. J. A League of Religions. London, 1926. Vail, Albert: Heroic Lives. Beacon Press, Boston, 1917. Vaughan, John Gaines: Religion, a Comparative Study. Abingdon Press, Cincinnati, 1919. Wells, Lady Dorothy: Beyond the Bos-p horus. Wilson, Rev. S. C.: Bahd'ism and Its Claims. Fleming Revell Co., New York, 1915. Wilson, Rev. S. G.: Persian Life and Customs. Fleming Revell Co., New York, 1895. Zwerner, Samuel M.: lsldrn, a Challenge to Faith. New York, 1907. ENGLISH Ashbee, C. R.: A Palestine Note Book. Doubleday Page, 1923. Browne, Edward G.: Materials for the Study of the Bab Religion. Cambridge University Press, 1918. Browne, Edward G.: A Persian Anthology. Browne, Edward G.: History of Persian Literature erature in Modern Times. Cambridge University Press, 1924. Browne, Edward G.: A Literary History of Persia. 4 Vols. Cambridge, 1924. Browne, Edward G.: A Traveller's Narrative, Written to illustrate the Episode of the Bab. 2 Vols., one in Persian. Cambridge University Press, 1891. Browne, Edward G.: The Persian Revolu-lion. Cambridge, 1910. Browne, Edward G.: A Year Among the Persians. Adam & Black, London, 1893. Carpenter, J. E.: Comparative Religion. Cheyne, Thomas Kelley: The Reconciliation of Races and Religions. A. & C. Black, London, 1914. Chirol, Valentine: The Middle Eastern Question. Curzon, George: Persia and the Persian Question. 2 Vols. London, 1892. Hammond, Eric: The Splendor of God. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, June, 1919. Hastings, James: Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. T. & T. Ckrk, Edinburgh, 1909. Husayn (Mirza of Hamad~n): The Tank-i-Jadid. English translation by Edward G. Browne. Cambridge University Press, 1893. Jackson, A. V. Williams: Persia, Past and Present. Macmillan, London, 1906. Jessup, Henry Harris: Fifty-three Years in Syria. Fleming Revell, New York, 1910. Malcolm, Napier: Five Years in a Persian Town. E. P. Dutton, New York, 1907. Markham, Clements R.: A General Sketch of the History of Persia. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1874. Maud, Constance E.: Sparks Ainon~g the Stubble. P. Allen & Co., 1924. Narim6n, G. K.: Persia and Parsis. Bombay, 1925. Oliphant, Lawrence: Haifa or Life in Modem Palestine. William Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1887. O'Leary, DeLacy: Isidin at the Cross Roads. Kegan, Paul, London, 1923. Phelps, M. H.: Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi. G. P. Putnam's Sons, London, 1912. Pole, W. Tudor: Private Dowding. John Watkins, London, 1917. Pole, W. Tudor: Some Deeper Aspects of the War. Taylor Bros., Bristol, 1914. [p481] Religions of the Empire. Edited by William Hare. Duckworth, London, 1925. Religious Systems of the World. Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1908. Rice, C. Colliver: Persian Women and Their Ways. Seeley Service, London, 1923. Sheil, Lady: Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. John Murray, London, 1856. Skrine, Francis H. B.: Bahd'isrn, the Re.-ligion of Brotherhood, and Its Place in the Evolution of Creeds. Longmans, Green, London, 1912. Sykes, Sir Percy: Persia. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1922. P. M. Sykes: A History of Persia. 2 VoIs. London, 1915. Underhull, Evelyn: The Life of the Spirit and the Life Today. Wetheren & Co., London, 1925. Ussher, John: Journey from London to Persepolis. London, 1865. Watson, Albert Durant: Birth Through Death. McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1920. Watson, Albert Durant: The Poetical Works of. Ryerson Press, Toronto; 1924. Watson, Albert Durant: The Twentieth Plane. George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1919. Watson, Robert Grant: History of Persia. Smith Elder, London, 1866. Wollaston, Arthur N. The Sword of Isldrn. John Murray, London, 1905. Sir F. Younghusband: The Gleam. John Murray, 1923. FRENCH Balteau, M. j.: Le Bdb'isme: Lecture fait par M. J. B. d la S~ance du 22 Mai, 1896. Acad~mie Nationale de Reims, Reirns, 1897. De Vaux, Baron Carra: Les Penseurs de l'Isldm. Vol. 5: Geutliner, Paris, 1926. Gobineau, Comte de: Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Cent rale. Paris, 1924 and 1928. M. E. Fagnan: Revue Critique de I'Histoire et de Lilt erature. 1887. Huart, C.: La Religion de Bab. Paris, 1889. Lammens, Henri, S. J.: L'Islcim Ñ Croyances et Institutions. Imprimerie Cathol. Beirut, 1926. Lammens, Henri, S. J.: La Syrie. Vol. I. Imprimerie Cathol. Beirut, 1921. Moutet, Edouard: L'Isldm. Payot, Paris, 1923 Nicolas, A. L. M.: Siyyid ~Ali Muhammad dii Le Bab (Histoire). Dujarric & Co., Paris. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Siyyt'd rAli Muhammad dit Le Bab (Dogme). Dujarric & Co., Paris, 1905. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Essai sur le Shaykhisme. Vol. 1. Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahs~i'i. Paul Geutliner, Paris, 1910. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Essai sur le Shayk/oismc. Vol. 2. Siyyid K6~zirn-i-Rashti. Paul Geuthner, Paris. 1914. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Fssai sur le Shaykhisrne. Vol. 3. La Doctrine. Ernest Leroux Paris, 1911. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Essai sur le Shaykhisme. Vol. 4. Science de Dieu. Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1911. Nicolas, A. L. M.: Religions et Soch~tt~s. Alcan, Paris, 1905. Renan, Ernest: Les Ap6tres. Levy, Paris, 1866. Collection Scientifiques de l'Institute des Lan gues Orientales. Vol. I, III. By Baron Victor Rosen. G. Sacy: 12 Juin, 1902 (pamphlet). Serena, Mine. C.: Hoinmes et Choses en Perse. Watson, R. G.: History of Persia. GERMAN Die Kultur der Gegenwart, herausgegeben von Paul Hinneberg, Teil I, Abteilung III, 1. I. Goldziher in: die Religionen des Orients. Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, 1923, pp. 138141. Clemen, C.: Die nichtchristlichen Kultur-religionen, Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, 1921. Vol. I, p. 7, Vol. II, pp. 100104. Scheurlen, Paul: Die Sektn der Gegenwart, Stuttgart, Queliverlag der Ev. Gesell-schaft, 1921, pp. 169175. Geheime Gesellschaf ten, herausgegeben von P. Ch. Martens, Bad Schmiedeberg, Verlag von F. E. Baumann, ohne Angabe des Jahres, p. 272. Forel, August: Die Medizin der Gegenwart in Seibsidarstellungen, Leipzig, Verlag von Felix Meiner, 1926, pp. 25, 26, 28, 34. [p482] Ford, August: Der VVeg zur Kultur, Leipzig, Anzengruber-Verlag, 1924, pp. 132/ 33, 157, 163. Forel, August: Kicine Philosophie fur Jeder-mann, Dresden, Kaden & Co., 1928, pp. 24ff. Forel, August: Dci' wa/are Sozialisnsus der Zukunft, Berlin, Verlag Deutscher Arbei-ter-Abstinenten-Bund, 1926, p. 14. Forel, August: Testament, Lausanne, Edition de La Libre Pensde International, 1931, p. 13. Aufistrebende Kulturbewekungen, herausge-geben von Karl Dopf, Hamburg, Signal-Verlag, 1927, II Lieferung, pp. 3 538. Tots to) under des Orient, herausgegeben von Paul Birukoff, Zurich und Leipzig, Ro-tapfel-Verlag, 1925, pp. 86, 9599, 120, 123, 262, 264, 265. Schoenaich, General von: Pallistina, Halber-stadt, H. Meyer's Buchdruckerei, 1926, pp. 103105. Klbtzel, C. Z.: Die Strasse der Zelontausend, Hamburg, Gebrtider Enoch Verlag, 1925, pp. 195/96. Faut, Adolf: Romantik. oder Ref orination, Gotha, Leopold Klotz-Verlag, 1925, pp. 49f. Rosen, Friedrich: Persien in Wort urn! Bud, Berlin, Franz Schneider-Verh{g, 1926, pp. 55/56. Das Reich Gottes auf Erden, herausgegeben von Rudolf Burkert, Niemes, Druck von A. Bienert, 1929, p. 27. Graham, John W.: Der Glaube cities Qudizers, Leipzig, Qu~iker-Ver1ag, 1926, p. 48. Strothmann, R.: Die Zwiilfer-ScLi'a, Leipzig, Otto Harrassowitz, 1926, pp. 54, 163. Freda, Dy. Ludwig: Urn den Sozialisnius, Stuttgart, Herald-Verlag, 1921, p. 86. Kriegsdienstverweigerer in vielen Liindern, Bericht fiber die internationale Konferenz in Sonntagsberg (Oesterreich), 1928, p. 6. Zustande ins heutigen Persien, herausgegeben von Dr. Walter Schulz, Leipzig, Verlag von Karl W. Hirsemann, 1903, pp. IV, ~/, + 210214, 330. Loti, Pierre: Aus Persiens W/nnderwelt, Dresden, Carl Reissner, 1922, p. 102. Ross, Cohn: Der \Veg nach Osten, Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1923, p. 166. Die bisherigen Erfolge der VYelt-Hilfssprache Esperanto auf der gauzen Welt, herausge-geben von Proelss und Sappi, Graz, Paulus-Verlag, 1922, pp. 53, 70, 75. Manifest der Internationalen Bewegung Juli' christlichen Kominunisinus, Heppenheim, Verlag Neu-Sonnefelder-Jugend, p. 10. Kerr, Alfred: New York und London, Berlin, S. Fischer, 1923, p. 15. Heydorn, lXJilhelrn: Nur Mensch sein, Hamburg, Verlag-Menschheitspartei, 1930, p. 38. Wolff, Heirnut: Pilgrim des neuen Zeitalters, Karlsruhe-Radolfzell, Ligenverlag, ohne Angabe des Jalires. May, Karl: Im Reiche des Silbernen Lbwen, vol. I, pp. 434, 448. Religions zugehv5rigkeit in Baden, herausge-geben vom Badischen Statistisehen Lande-saint, Freiburg i.B., Herder u. Co., 1928, p. 131. Ailgeineines Konversations Ñ Lexikon, Berlin, Verlag fur Wissen und Bildung, 1928. Artikel: Bab, Bah4'isrnus. Meyers Konversations Ñ Lexikon, 2. Auf-lage von 1866, vol. 12, p. 787. Artikel: Persien. 7. Auflage 1924, Artikel: Bab, Bah6Ns-mus. Vambery, Hermann: Meine W7rnderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien, Budapest, 1867. Kremer, A. von: Geschichte der berrschen-den Ideen des Isldrns, Leipzig, 1868. Polak, Dr. Jakob: Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner, Leipzig, 1865. Ethe, Dr. Hermann: Essays uisd Studien, Berlin, 1872. Kayserling, Hermann, Graf: Reistagebuch eines Philosophen. Stuebe, Prof. H.: Geschichte der Weltre-ligionen in: Die neue Volkshochschule, Leipzig, E. G. Weimann, 1925, vol. I, p. 54. Artikel: der Bibismus. Thielman, Baron Max Von: Journey in the Caucasus, Persia and Turkey. Najmajer, Marie Von: Poems on Qurratu'1-!Ayn. Vienna, 1874. PERSIAN Ndsikhu't-Tavdrikh, The. NAr-i-Haqiqat, The. [p483] Mr. and Mrs. Dunn's first Mrs. Blundell's home in flat in Avoca Street, Dunholme Road, Remuera, Randwick, Sydney, N. Auckland, New Zealand, S. W. First first Baha'i meeting-place inBah&i meeting-place in Australia. New Zealand. [p484] 484 THE BAHA'I WORLD 25. REFERENCES TO AMERICAN MAGAZINES American Journal of Theology, January, 1902. Architectural Record, The, June, 1920. Art World, March, 1917. Asia, May, 1924. Atlantic Monthly, September, 1926. Bibliotheca Sacra, January, 1915. Book Buyer, June, 1901. Chambers' Journal. Crisis, The, May, 1912. Crisis, The, June, 1912. Chicagoan, September, 1931. Construction Methods, August, 1931. Construction Methods, July, 1933. Contemporary Review, August, 1869. Contemporary Review, October, 1869. Contemporary Review, March, 1912. Contemporary Review Advertiser, Decem-her, 1885. Current History, December, 1925. Current Literature, July, 1901. Current Literature, September, 1911. Current Literature, June, 191 2. Eclectic Magazine, February, 1886. Eclectic Magazine, September, 1896. Engineering News-Record, January 8, 1931. Esoteric Christianity, February, 1915. Everybody's, December, 1911. Ever ywoman, December, 1915. Ever ywoman, December, 1916. Fortnightly Review, June, 1911. Fortnightly Review, April, 1912. Fortnightly Review, June, 1913. Forum, July, 1925. Friends' Intelligencer, September, 1925. Harper's Weekly, July, 1912. Hearst's Magazine, July, 1912. Independent, April, 1912. Independent, July, 1912. Independent, September, 1912. Independent, December, 1921. Journal of the American Concrete Institute, March-April, 1934, and July, 1933. Detroit, Mich. Journal of Air Law, January, 1934. Chicago. Littel's Living Age, August, 1869. Literary Digest, May, 1912. Literary Digest, August, 1920. Literary Digest, December, 1921. Mentor, The, November, 1920. Missioiiary Review, October, 1902. Missionary Review, February, 1904. Missionary Review, March, 1904. Miss onary Review, May, 1906. Missionary Review, October, 1911. Missionary Review, October, 1914. Missionary Review, August, 1919. Missionary Review, October, 1921. Moslem World, October, 1931. Nation (N. Y.), June 21, 1866. National, December, 19O~. National, May, 1922. Nineteenth Century, February, 1915. New York Times, February, 1913. New York Times Book Review, August 1, 1920. North American, April, 1901. North American, June, 1912. Open Court, June, 1904. Open Court, August, 1915. Open Court, October, 1915. Open Court, November, 1915. Open Court, August, 1916. Open Court, October, 1916. Open Court, November, 1916. Open Court, March, 1931. Outlook, June, 1901. Outlook, June, 1912. Outlook, December, 1920. Outlook, December, 1921. Psychology Magazine, May, 1930. Review of Reviews, February, 1901. Review of Reviews, June, 1912. Review of Reviews, February, 1922. Spokesman, The (Negro), September, 1925. Scientific American, August, 1920. Survey, April, 1912. Time, July 20, 1931. Uni~ty, February, 1918. Unity, December, 1921. Unity, April, 1929. Vedic Magazine (Lahore), Vol. 8, No. 9. [p485] W/ilmette Life, September 14, 1933, 'Wil-mette, Ill. World's Work, July, 1912. World's Work, July, 1922. World Unity, December, 1930. World Unity, February, 1933. ENGLISH MAGAZINES Academy, The, March, 1895. All the Year Around, July, 1869. Arena, The, November, 1904. Asia tic Quarterly Review, April, 1913. Christian Commonwealth, January 1, 1913. Christian Commonwealth, January 22, 1913. Christian Commonwealth, January 29, 1913. Christian Commonwealth, February 12, 1913. Clifton Chronical and Directory, January, 1913. Edinburgh Evening News, January, 1913. illustrated Weekly of India, March 24. 1931. Indian Review (Madras), August, 1914. The Inquirer, May 16, 1931, London. Inquirer and Christian Life, May 10, 1930. International Psychic Gazette, Nos. 6 and 7. Journal of the Royal Asi~atic Society, Vol. XXI, 18891892. London Budget, January, 1913. Saturday Review, January, 1894. Scols Pictorial, January, 1913. Scottish Review, April, 1892. spectator, The, April, 1892. Sunday Herald, Woking, London, January 24, 1913. Town and Country News, November 24, 1933, London. FRENCH MAGAZINES L'Ann6e Philosophique, Vol. III, 1869. Revue de l'Historie des Religions, Vol. XVIII. Revue Critique d'Histoire et de Litterature, April 18, 1887. L'Illustration, September 30, 1933. Journal Asiatique, Vol. II. Journal Asiatique, Vols. VII, VIII, 1866. Journal Asiatique, Vol. X. Revue Moderne, 18651866. Bulletin Melanges Asiatiques, Vol. IV. Bulletin de l'Acad~nsie Imperiale de St. Petersburg, Vols. VIII, IX. SWISS MAGAZINES Siifi Quarterly, March, 1928 (published in Eng~i~{). NETHERLAND MAGAZINES Wereld Kronick, April 7, 1934, Rotterdam. RUSSIAN Zapiski, by Baron Rosen, 1889. GERMAN Deutsche Rundschau, Vol. XVIII, 1879. Journal of the German Oriental Society, Vol. V, 1S51. 26. REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'{ FAITH BY BAHA'IS IN NONBAHA'i PUBLICATIONS Time and Tide, April 14, 1934. London. Kaisar-i Hind, December 31, 1933. Bombay. Religious Education, September, 1932. Chicago. The New flu 7nanist,January-February, 1933. Chicago. Forum, May, 1916. New York. Forum, August, 1917. New York. Literary Digest, November 20, 1931. New York. New Orient, January, 1926. New York. Open Court, July, 1931. Chicago. Oregon Mineralogist, January, 1934. Port land, Oregon. Unity, February 19, 1934. Chicago. Sanj Vartainan, September, 1933. Bombay. The Quarterly Journal of Speech, March-April, 1934. Ann Arbor, Michigan. The China Critic, May 25, 1933. Shanghai. World Unity, April, 1932. New York. World Unity, November, 1933 (and successive issues). New York. The Gift and Art Shop, August, 1932. New York. [p486] Baha'is of Ism6?iliyyih, Egypt. [p487] TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL WORDS FREQUENTLY USED IN BAHA'I LITERATURE tAb& Ab&dih CAbb~ cAbdu~1~BahA CAbd~1Hid CAbd~1H tAbdu'llTh Abu'1-Fadl tAdasiyyih AdhAn AdhirbAy~ ~n Afn~in AgbsAn tAhd Ahmad Ahs~'i Ahv~z Akbar CAkI rAli CAliMid Alhh-u-Abhi Alvih AlvAh-i-SalAtin Amin Amir Amir Ñ Nizim Amru'llAh Amul Anzali Aq& Aqdas cAbi~ Asrn~' CAv~iq Ay6&li Azal tAzamat tAziz Bib BAbu'1-Bib Baha BaM Baha'i Baha'u'llah Baha'i Baha'i Bahichistin BandarJAbb~s B6qir Baha'u'llah B&rfuriish Basrih B~ti5m Bay&n Bayt Big Birjand Bishir6t Bisrni'llih BukhAr~ Bun~jird Btishihr Bushniyih Bushrii'i Chihriq DaU'il-i-Sabtih Dfr4ghih Dawlat-Abid Dhabih Duzd6b Fari'id F~r&n Farm~n Farrish-Bashi Firs Farsakh Fath~cA1i Firdaws Firdawsi Ganjib Gihin Gui GulastAn Gurgin Habib Hadith Hadrat Jyliji Ijiji Mirza Aqisi fj~ijj Flamachin Hiasan Haydar-tAli Haykal Haziratu'1-Quds Himmat-Abid ~Iujjat ljusayn Huvaydar Jbr6tirn B Irn~rn frnAm~Jumcih tmim Ñ ZAdih Iqan IrAn clraq cJriq~i~cAjam 1sf Thin !JsbqAb6~d Isliriqit Ishtihird IsUm Jsmiciliyyih IstarThid Jzzt Jalil Jarn4diyu'1-Avval Jam&1 JamM-i-Mub&rak Jamil-i.-Qidam ¾sb Jubbib Ka~bih Kad-Khud6 Kalantar Kalirn Kalirn6t Karnil Karand KarbilA K6sh&n KashkAl Kawmu's-S&Ayidih Kawthar KAzim K~4imayn KhAn KhalkhM KMniqayn Khayli-KhAb Khurisin Kiiuy Kirmin Kirminshih Kitab-i-Aqdas KITAB-I-AQDAS Kitab-i-Aqdas KiLtb-i-fqAn Kulili Kurdist~n Lihij An L~r Lawli LuristAn Madrisih Mahbfibu'sh-Shuhad& Mahd-i-tU1y~ 487 [p488] 488 THE BAHA'I WORLD M6h-KA Mahmiad MalAyir Man-Yuzhiruhu'114h Maq~m MarAghih MarhabA Mary Mas4'il Mashhad Mashiyyat Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Masjid Mayd~n M~zindarin MiMi Mihrib Mil4n Mitr4j Mirza Mishkin-Qalam Mu'adhdhin Mufti Muhammad Mubammarih Muharram Mujtahid Mulk Mull6 Munirih Mustagh&th Muzaffari'd-Din Nabil Najaf Naj af-Ab64 N~qi4in NavvTh Naw-Riiz Nayriz Nish~b4r Nu q~ih N~ir Pahiavi Q&di Q~diyin Qahqahih Q&im Qa1y~n Q Qasr-i-Shirin Qawi Qayyflm Qayyiimu'1-Asm~' Qazvin Qiblih QiachAn Quddiis Qudrat Qum Qur'an QurbTh Qurratu'1 Ñ ~Ayn Rafsinj ~n Rahim Rahm~in Rahmat Ramad4n Rasht RawMni Ridvan Riihu'llAh Sabziv~r Sadratu'1-Muntah& Sihibu'z-Zam&n ~a$i fatu'l-~aramayn SaCid Samarqand Sangsar S6ri Shatbin Sh4h Shahid Shahmirz~d Shihri$d Sharaf Shaykh Shaykh-Tabarsi Shaykhu'1-Islim Shi'ih ShirAz Shushtar Simn~n Sis~n Sistin Siy4h-CMI Siyyid Siifi Sulaym4n SultAn SultAn-AIAd Su1t~nu'sh-Shuhad&' Sunni S6ratu'1-Haykal Siirih Tabriz TThirih Taj alliy6.t TAkur Taqi Tarizit Tarbiyat Tishkand Tawhid Thurayy4 Tihr~n Tfim&n Turkist4n tUlam~ Uriimiyyih cUth Vahid VThid Vali Vali-tAhd Varq4 Vazir Y4 Ñ BahA'u'1-AbM Yazd Zanj~n Zarand Zaynu'1-Muqarrabin [p489] a as in 1.. as (e) in ii as (o) in aw as in account best short mown a as in i.. as (ec) in ii.. as (oo) in arm meet moon ORIENTAL TERMS IN BAHA'I LITERATURE 489 GUIDE TO TRANSLITERATION AND PRONUNCIATION OF THE PERSIAN ALPHABET The "F' added to the name of a to" Thus town signifies Thelonging means Shirizi native of Shir~iz. [p490] Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of ~Ir~iq. Members of the National Convention of the Baha'is of ~Ir~q. 490 [p491] DEFINITIONS OF ORIENTAL tAb4: Cloak or mantle. cAbd~1Bah~: servant of Bah4. Adhin: Muslim call to prayer. Adib: literally ccthe learned." AghPn: literally "branches." Denotes sons and descendants of Baha'u'llah. Afnin: literally cctwigs.~~ Denotes the relations of the Bab. A.H.: "After Hijirah." Date of M4iarn-mad's migration from Mecca to Medina, and basis of Muhamnmdan chronology. ALtar: "Greater." cAmA~: literally (clight cloud," symbolizes the ccFi t Invisible Substance." Amin: literally ccth trusted." Amir: t~Lord " ~prince," ttcornmander,~~ governor. Aq~: ~tMaster" Title given by Baha'u'llah to tAbdu'1-BaM. A';am: cCTh greatest." Bib: "Gate." Title assumed by Mirza tAli-Muhammad, after the declaration of His Mission in Shiriz in May 1844, A.D. Bab: follower of the Bib. Bad?: literally "the wonderful." Bah~: ~tG1ory," ccsp1endor,~~ (c1ight.~~ Title by which Baha'u'llah (Mirza Husayn-cAli) is designated. Baha'i: follower of Baha'u'llah. Baha: literally CCde1ight.~~ Denotes that part of the Plain of tAkk4 where the Shrine and the Mansion of Baha'u'llah are situated. Bani-H~ishirn: the family from which Mu-bamrnad descended. Baha'u'llah: "Remnant of God"; title applied both to the B~b and to Baha'u'llah. Bay6n: ccUtt (cexplanation~~ Title given by the Mb to His Revelation, particularly to His Books. Big: Honorary title, lower title than Kh&n. Bishir4t: literally ccG1ad~tidings.~~ Title of one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah. Caravansarai: An inn for caravans. D4r4ghih: CcHigh constable." Dawlili: "State," "government." "Endowed with constancy": a title given to Prophets who revealed a book and instituted religious laws. Farm&n: "Order," 'tcommand, ttroyal decree. FarrAsh: "Footman," "lictor," attendant." Farnish-BAshi: The head-farrish. Farsakh: Unit of measurement. Its length differs in different parts of the country according to the nature of the ground, the local interpretation of the term being the distance which a laden mule will walk in the hour, which varies from three to four miles. Arabicised from the old Persian "parsang," and is supposed to be derived from pieces of stone (sang) placed on the roadside. "Fourth Heaven": one of the stages of the invisible Realm. ccGuarded Tablet": denotes the Knowledge of God and of His Manifestation. H~ji: A Muhan-unadan who has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca. kIa~iratu'1-Quds: IBah?i Headquarters. Hijirab: literally 'emigration." The basis of Mubammadan chronology. The date of Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina. Howdab: A litter carried by a camel, mule, horse or elephant for traveling purposes. 11: "Clan." ImAm: Title of the twelve shitah successors of Muhammad. Also applied to Muslim religious leaders. Imim~Jumtih: The leading imAm in a town or city; chief of the mull&hs. 491 [p492] Im~im-Z~dih: Descendant of an im&m or his shrine. iq&n: literally "Certitude." The title of Baha'u'llah's epistle to the uncle of the Bab. Ishr~q5t: literally tteffu1gences.~~ Title of one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah. Isrif ii: the Angel whose function is to sound the trumpet on the Day of Judgment. JThiliyyih: the dark age of ignorance among the Arabs before the appearance of Muhammad. JamM-i-Mubirak: literally "the Blessed Beauty," applied by certain Baha'is to Baha'u'llah. JamAl-i-Qidam: literally ctthe ancient Beauty." Applied by certain Baha'is to Baha'u'llah. Jubbih: An outer coat. Katbih: Ancient shrine at Mecca. Now recognized as the most holy shrine of Islim. Kabir: literally "great." Kad-KhndA: Chief of a ward or parish in a town; headman of a village. Kalantar: "Mayor." Kalim: CCO who discourses." KalimAt: literally !cwords.~~ Title of one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah. KarbiU'i: A Muhammadan who has performed the pilgrimage to KarbiU. Kawthar: a river in Paradise, whence all the other rivers derive their source. Khin: CCPrince~~ lord," ccb1~~ "chief-tam. Kitab-i-Aqdas: literally "The Most Holy Book." Title of Baha'u'llah's Book of Laws. Kulih: The Persian lambskin hat worn by government employees and civilians. Madrisib: Religious college. Man-Yuzhiruhu'llih: CCH Whom God will make manifest." The title given by the Mb to the promised One. Maslihadi: A Muhammadan who has performed the pilgrimage to Mashhad. Mashriqu'l-Adhkar: literally 'tthe dawning-place of the praise of God." Title designating Baha House of Worship. Maslid: Mosque, temple, place of worship. Maydin: A subdivision of a farsakh. A square or open place. Mihdi: Title of the Manifestation expected by Islim. Mihrib: The principal place in a mosque where the im6rn prays with his face turned towards Mecca. Micril: "Ascent," used with reference to Muhammad's ascension to heaven. Mirza: A contraction of Amir-Z6xlih, meaning son of Amir. When affixed to a name it signifies prince; when prefixed simply Mr. Mishkin-Qalam: literally "the musk-scented pen. Mu'adhdhin: The one who sounds the AdMn the Muhammadan call to prayer. Mujtahid: Muhammadan doctor-of-law. Most of the mujtahids of Persia have received their diplomas from the most eminent jurists of Karbili and Najaf. Mdli: Muhammad an priest. Musta~li4th: "He Who is invoked." The numerical value of which has been assigned by the B~b as the limit of the time fixed for the advent of the promised Manifesta-ton. Nabil: ccLearned~~ "bi" Naw-R1iz: tcNew~Day.~~ Name applied to the Baha New Year's Day; according to the Persian Calendar the day on which the sun enters Aries. Pahlavin: ccAthI ~, ~~champion"~ term applied to brave and muscular men. Q~di: Judge: civil, criminal, and ecclesias-twa1. Q6'im: "He Who shall arise." Title designating the promised One of Jsl~ni. Qa1y~in: A pipe for smoking through water. Qiblih: The direction to which people turn in prayer; especially Mecca, the Qiblih of all Muhammaclans. Qur'an: "Sacrifice." Riavin: the name of the custodian of Para-disc. Baha'u'llah uses it to denote Paradise itself. [p493] ORIENTA Sadratu'1-Muntah6.: the name of a tree planted by the Arabs in ancient times at the end of a road, to serve as a guide. As a symbol it denotes the Manifestation of God in His Day. SThibu'z-Zam~n: tiord of the Age"; one of the titles of the promised Q?im. Salsabil: a fountain in Paradise. Samandar: literally "the phoenix." Sark~r-i-.Aq4: literally the ccHonorable Master," applied by certain Baha to 'Abdu'l-Baha. "Seal of the Prophets": one of the titles of Muhammad. tcSevent1~ Sphere": the highest stage of the invisible Realm. Denotes also the Manifestation of Baha'u'llah. Shahid: "Martyr." Plural of martyr is Shu Ñ hachi. Shaykhu'l Ñ IsIAm: Head of religious court, appointed to every large city by the ShAh. Sirit: literally ttbridge" or "path," denotes the religion of God. Siyyid: Descendant of the Prophet Muham Ñ mad. SArih: Name of the chapters of the Qur'an. Tajalliy&t: literally "splendors." Title of one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah. Tar4zit: literally "ornaments." Title of one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah. TiSm~in: A sum of money equivalent to a dollar. ~ literally "the strongest handle," symbolic of the Faith of God. Va1i~cAhd: C~fl~ to the throne." Varaqiy-i-tUlyA: literally ttthe most exalted Leaf," applied to Baha'i Kh&num, sister of tAbdu'1-Bah6. Varq&: literally tcth dove." Viliyat: guardianship. "White Path": symbolizes the Religion of God. Z6dih: "Son." Zaynu'1-Muqarrabin: literally ccthe Ornament of the favored." [p494] [p495] PART FOUR [p496] The Haziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Village of Adasiyyih, Transjordania. [p497] THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER IN THE DISPENSATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH B~ SHOGIU EFFENDI DEARLY-BELOVED brethren in du'1-BaM! With the ascension of Baha'u'llah the DayStar of Divine guidance which, as foretold by Shaykh Alimad and Siyyid K4zim, had risen in Shiniz and, while pursuing its westward course, had mounted its zenith in Adrianople, had finally sunk be-iow the horizon of tAkki never to rise again ere the complete revolution of one thousand years. The setting of so effulgent an Orb brought to a definite termination the period of Divine Revelation Ñ the initial and most vitalizing stage in the Baha'i era. Inaugurated by the Bib, culminating in Baha'u'llah, anticipated and extolled by the entire company of the Prophets of this great prophetic cycle, this period has, except for the short interval between the Bab's martyrdom and Baha'u'llah's shaking experiences in the Siyih-ChM of Tihr~n, been characterized by almost fifty years of continuous and progressive Revelation Ñ a period which by its duration and fecundity must be regarded as unparalleled in the entire field of the world's spiritual history. The passing of tAbdu'1-Bahd, on the other hand, marks the closing of the Heroic and Apostolic Age of this same Dispensation Ñ that primitive period of our Faith the splendors of which can never be rivalled, much less be eclipsed, by the magnificence that must needs distinguish the future victories of Baha'u'llah's Revelation. For neither the achievements of the champion-builders of the presentday institutions of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, nor the tumultuous triumphs which the heroes of its Golden Age will in the coining days succeed in winning, can measure with, or be included within the same category as the wondrous works associated with the names of those who have generated its very life and laid its pristine foundations. That first and creative age of the Baha'i era must, by its very nature, stand above and apart from the formative period into which we have entered and the golden age destined to succeed it. tAbdu'1-Bah6, Who incarnates an institution ~for which we can find no parallel whatsoever in any of the world's recognized religious systems, may be said to have closed the Age to which He Himself belonged and opened the one in which we are now laboring. His 'Will and Testament should thus be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of urn Who is the Mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Baha'i Dispensation. The period in which the seed of the Faith had been slowly germinating is thus intertwined both with the one which must witness its efflorescence and the subsequent age in which that seed will have finally yielded its golden fruit. The creative energies released by the Law of Baha'u'llah, permeating and evolving within the mind of tAbdu'1-Bah4, have, by their very impact and ciose interaction, given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New 'World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation. The Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who communicated the generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant Ñ the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God Ñ the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Baha can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the original and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it. Baha'u'llah's inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into the conduct of cAbd~1Bhi and their 497 [p498] 498 THE BAHA'I WORLD motives have been so closely wedded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the Faith. The Administrative Order, which ever since Abdu'l-Baha's ascension has evolved and is taking shape under our very eyes in no fewer than forty countries of the world, may be considered as the framework of the 'Will itself, the inviolable stronghold wherein this newborn child is being nurtured and develops. This Administrative Order, as it expands and consolidates itself, will no doubt manifest the potentialities and reveal the full implications of this momentous Document Ñ this most remarkable expression of the 'Will of One of the most remarkable Figures of the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah. It will, as its component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not oniy as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fulness of time the whole of mankind. It should be noted in this connection that this Administrative Order is fundamentally different from anything that any Prophet has previously established, inasmuch as Baha'u'llah has Himself revealed its principles, established its institutions, appointed the person to interpret His Word and conferred the necessary authority on the body designed to supplement and apply His legislative ordinances. Therein lies the secret of its strength, its fundamental distinction, and the guarantee against disintegration and schism. Nowhere in the sacred scriptures of any of the world's religious systems, nor even in the writings of the Inaugurator of the B&bi Dispensation, do we find any provisions establishing a covenant or providing for an administrative order that can compare in scope and authority with those that lie at the very basis of the Baha'i Dispensation. Has either Christianity or Islim, to take as an instance two of the most widely diffused and outstanding among the world's recognized religions, anything to offer that can measure with, or be regarded as equivalent to, either the Book of Baha'u'llah's Covenant or to the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha Does the text of either the Gospel or the Qur'an confer sufficient authority upon those leaders and councils that have claimed the right and assumed the function of interpreting the provisions of their sacred scriptures and of administering the affairs of their respective communities? Could Peter, the admitted chief of the Apostles, or the 1mm ~A1i the cousin and legitimate successor of the Prophet, produce in support of the primacy with which both had been invested written and explicit affirmations from Christ and Muhammad that could have silenced those who either among their contemporaries or in a later age have repudiated their author-fry and, by their action, precipitated the schisms that persist until the present day? Where, we may confidently ask, in the recorded sayings of Jesus Christ, whether in the matter of succession or in the provision of a set of specific laws and clearly defined administrative ordinances, as distinguished from purely spiritual principles, can we find anything approaching the detailed injunc Ñ tions, laws and warnings that abound in the authenticated utterances of both Baha'u'llah and ~Abd'1Bh'? Can any passage of the Qur'an, which in respect to its legal code, its administrative and devotional ordinances marks already a notable advance over previous and more corrupted Revelations, be construed as placing upon an unassailable basis the undoubted authority with which Muhammad had, verbally and on several occasions, invested His successor? Can the Author of the Bab Dispensation, however much He may have succeeded through the provisions of the Persian Bayin in averting a schism as permanent and catastrophic as those that afflicted Christianity and Islim Ñ can He be said to have produced instruments for the safeguarding of His Faith as definite and efficacious as those which must for all time preserve the unity of the organized followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah Alone of the Revelations gone before it this Faith has, through the explicit directions, the repeated warnings, the authenticated safeguards incorporated and elaborated in its teachings, succeeded in raising a structure which the bewildered followers of bankrupt [p499] THE DISPENSATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH 499 and broken creeds might well approach and critically examine, and seek, ere it is too late, the invulnerable security of its world-embracing shelter. No wonder that He Who through the operation of His W~i11 has inaugurated so vast and unique an Order and Who is the Center of so mighty a Covenant should have written these words: ~So firm and mighty is this Covenant that from the beginning of time until the preseni day no religious Dispensation hath produced its like." ~Whatsoever is latent in the innermost of this holy cycle," He wrote during the darkest and most dangerous days of His ministry, ~shall gradually appear and be made manifest, for now is but the beginning of its growth and the dayspring of the revelation of its signs." ~Fear not," are His reassuring words foreshadowing the rise of the Administrative Order established by His Will, ~Jear not if this Branch be severed from this material world and cast aside its leaves; nay, the leaves thereof shall flourjsh, for this Branch will grow after it is cut off from this world below, it shall reach the loftiest pinnacles of glory, and it shall bear such fruits as will perfume the world with their fragrance." To what else if not to the power and majesty which this Administrative Order Ñ the rudiments of the future all-enfolding Baha'i Commonwealth Ñ is destined to manifest, can these utterances of Baha'u'llah allude: ~The world's eq2hilibriulu hath been upset through the vibrating infience of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this won Ñ drous System Ñ the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed." The B~b Himself, in the course of His references to "Him Whom God will make manifest" anticipates the System and glorifies the World Order which the Revelation of Baha'u'llah is destined to unfold. ~Well is it with him," is His remarkable statement in the third chapter of the Persian Bay~n, ~who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Baha'u'llah and rendereth thanks unto his Lord! For He will assuredly be made inani-Jest. God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the Baydn." In the Tablets of Baha'u'llah where the institutions of the International and local Houses of Justice are specifically designated and formally established; in the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God which first Baha'u'llah and then Abdu'l-Baha brought into being; in the institution of both local and national Assemblies which in their embryonic stage were already functioning in the days preceding Abdu'l-Baha's ascension in the authority with which the Author of our Faith and the Center of His Covenant have in their Tablets chosen to confer upon them; in the institution of the Local Fund which operated according to Abdu'l-Baha's specific injunctions addressed to certain Assemblies in Persia; in the verses of the KITAB-I-AQDAS the implications of which clearly anticipate the institution of the Guardianship; in the explanation which Abdu'l-Baha, in one of His Tablets, has given to, and the emphasis He has placed upon, the hereditary principle and the law of primogeniture as having been upheld by the Prophets of the past Ñ in these we can discern the faint glimmerings and discover the earliest intimation of the nature and working of the Administrative Order which the Will of ~Abdu'b Baha was at a later time destined to proclaim and formally establish. An attempt, I feel, should at the present juncture be made to explain the character and functions of the twin pillars that support this mighty Administrative Structure Ñ the institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. To describe in their entirety the diverse elements that function in conjunction with these institutions is beyond the scope and purpose of this general exposition of the fundamental verities of the Faith. To define with accuracy and minuteness the features, and to analyze exhaustively the nature of the relationships which, on the one hand, bind together these two fundamental organs of the Will of Abdu'l-Baha and connect, on the other, each of them to the Author of the Faith and the Center of His Covenant is a task which future generations will no doubt adequately fulfill. My present intention is to elaborate certain salient features of this scheme which, however close we may stand to its colossal structure, are already so clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore. [p500] 500 THE BAHA'I WORLD It should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Baha'u'llah should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions and complimentary in their aim and purpose. Their common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. Acting in conjunction with each other these two inseparable institutions administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions. Severally, each operates within a clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is equipped with its own attendant institutions Ñ instruments designed for the effective discharge of its particular responsibilities and duties. Each exercises, within the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, its rights and prerogatives. These are neither contradictory, nor detract in the slightest degree from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually destructive, they supplement each other's authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their aims. Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship, the World Order of Baha'u'llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as tAbdu~L~BaM has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God. CCIn all the Divine Dispensations," He states, in a Tablet addressed to a follower of the raith in Persia, 'tthe eldest son hath been given extraordinary distinctions. Even the station of prophet-hood hath been his birthright." Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperilled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be completely lacking, and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn. Severed from the no less essential institu don of the Universal House of Justice this same System of the Will of tAbdu~1~Bah4 would be paralyzed in its action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which the Author of the KiiAb-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and administrative ordinances. He is the Interpreter of the Word of God," tAbdu'1 Ñ Baha, referring to the functions of the Guardian of the Faith, asserts, using in His Will the very term which He Himself had chosen when refuting the argument of the Covenant-breakers who had challenged His right to interpret the utterances of Baha'u'llah. ~~After him," He adds, rrwill succeed the firstborn of his lineal descendants." !eThc mighty stronghold," He further explains, r~shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God." erIt is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice, upon all the Aghsdn, the Afndn, the Hands of the Cause of God, to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the Guardian of the Cause of God." rq~ is incumbent i4on the members of the House of Justice," Baha'u'llah, on the other hand, declares in the Eighth Leaf of the Exalted Paradise, !!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." Unto the Most Holy Book" (the Kitab-i-Aqdas), tAbdu'1-BaM states in His Will, C revery one must turn, and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority dodd carry, that is verily the truth and the ~ur pose of God Himself. WJfsoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of thens that love discord, hath shown forth malice, and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant." Not oniy does ~Abd'LBh' confirm in His Will Baha'u'llah's above-quoted statement, but invests this body with the additional right and power to abrogate, according to the exigencies of time, its own enactments, as well as those of a preceding House of Justice. rrlnasinuch as the House of Jus [p501] so' THE DISPENSATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH lice," is His explicit statement in His W'ill, ~hath power to enact laws that are not expressly recorded in (he Book and bear upon daily transactions, so also it hath power to repeal the same This it can do because these laws form no part of the divine explicit lext." Referring to both the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice we read these emphatic words~ ~The sacred and youthful Branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be unhersally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abh~i Beauty, ~tnder the shelter and unerring guidance of the Exalted One (the BTh) (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decde is of God." From these statements it is made indubitably clear and evident that the Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and that the Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings. The interpretation of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International I-louse of Justice, whose exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha'u'llah has not expressly revealed. Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other. Neither will seek to curtail the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely invested. Though the Guardian of the Faith has been made vhq permanent head of so august a body he can never, even temporarily, assume the right of exclusive legislation. He cannot override the decision of the majority of his fellow-members, but is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any en Ñ actrnent he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Baha'u'llah's revealed utterances. File interprets what has been specifically revealed, and cannot legislate except in his capacity as member of the Universal House of Justice. He is debarred from laying down independently the Constitution that must govern the organized activities of his fellow-members, members, and from exercising his influence in a manner that would encroach upon the liberty of those whose sacred right is to elect the body of his collaborators. It should be borne in mind that the institution of the Guardianship has been anticipated by Abdu'l-Baha in an allusion lie made in a Tablet addressed, long before His own ascension, to three of His friends in Persia. To their question as to whether there would be any person to whom all the Baha'is would be called upon to turn after His ascension He made the following reply: ~As to the question ye have asked me, know verily that this is a well-guarded secret. it is even as a gem concealed within its shell. That it will be revealed is predestined. The time will come ivhen its light ivill appear, when ~ts evidences will be made rnanifes~, and its secrets unravelled." Dear1y~be1oved friends! Exalted as is the position and vital as is the function of the institution of the Guardianship in the Administrative Order of the Baha'u'llah, and staggering as must be the weight of responsibility which it carries, its importance must, whatever be the language of the Will, be in no wise overemphasized. The Guardian of the Faith must not under any circumstances, and whatever his merits or his achievements, be exalted to the rank that will make him a co-sharer with Abdu'l-Baha in the unique position which the Center of the Covenant occupies Ñ much less to the station exclu Ñ sively ordained for the Manifestation of God. So grave a departure from the established tenets of our Faith is nothing short of open blasphemy. As I have already stated, in the course of my references to Abdu'l-Baha's station, however great the gulf that separates Him from the Author of a Divine Revelation, it can never measure with the distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and the Guardians who are its chosen ministers. There is a far, far greater distance separating the Guardian from the Center of the Covenant than there is between the Center of the Covenant and its Author. No Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place on record, can ever claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Baha'u'llah or the stainless [p502] 502 THE BAHA'I WORLD mirror that reflects His light. Though overshadowed by the unfailing, the unerring protection of Baha'u'llah and of the Bab, and however much he may share with 'Abdu'l-Baha the right and obligation to interpret the Baha'i teachings, he remains essentially human and cannot, if he wishes to remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself under any pretence whatsoever, the rights, the privil6ges and prerogatives which Baha'u'llah has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and master, to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life would be tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined within our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Baha'u'llah and of tAbdu~1~Bahi does not necessarily confer upon him a station coequal with those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and different in nature. To the integrity of this cardinal principle of our Faith the words, the deeds of its present and future Guardians must abundantly testify. By their conduct and example they must needs establish its truth upon an unassailable foundation and transmit to future generations unimpeachable evidences of its iyality. For my own part to hesitate in recognizing so vital a truth or to vacillate in proclaiming so firm a conviction must constitute a shameless betrayal of the confidence reposed in me by cAbdu~1BahA and an unpardonable usurpation of the authority with which He Himself has been invested. A word should now be said regarding the theory on which this Administrative Order is based and the principle that must govern the operation of its chief institutions. It would be utterly misleading to attempt a comparison between this unique, this divinely-conceived Order and any of the diverse systems which the minds of men, at various periods of their history, have contrived for the government of human institu-dons. Such an attempt would in itself betray a lack of complete appreciation of the excellence of the handiwork of its great Author. How could it be otherwise when we remember that this Order constitutes the very pattern of that divine civilization which the almighty Law of Baha'u'llah is designed to establish upon earth? The divers and ever-shifting systems of human polity, whether past or present, whether originating in the East or in the West, offer no adequate criterion wherewith to estimate the potency of its hidden virtues or to appraise the solidity of its foundations. The Baha'i Commonwealth of the future, of which this vast Administrative Order is the sole framework, is, both in theory and practice, not oniy unique in the entire history of political institutions, but can find no parallel in the annals of any of the world's recognized religious systems. No form of democratic government; no system of autocracy or of dictatorship, whether monarchical or republican; no intermediary scheme of a purely aristocratic order; nor even any of the recognized types of theocracy, whether it be the Hebrew Commonwealth, or the various Christian ecclesiastical organizations, or the Imamate or the Caliphate in IslAm Ñ none of these can be identified or be said to conform with the Administrative Order which the master-hand of its perfect Architect has fashioned. This newborn Administrative Order incorporates within its structure certain elements which are to be found in each of the three recognized forms of secular government, without being in any sense a mere replica of any one of them, and without introducing within its machinery any of the objectionable features which they inherently possess. It blends and harmonizes, as no government fashioned by mortal hands has as yet accomplished, the salutary truths which each of these systems undoubtedly contains without vitiating the integrity of those God-given verities on which it is ultimately founded. The Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah must in no wise be regarded as [p503] THE DISPENSATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH 503 purely democratic in character inasmuch as the basic assumption which requires Ml democracies to depend fundamentally upon getting their mandate from the people is altogether lacking in this Dispensation. In the conduct of the administrative affairs of the Faith, in the enactment of the legislation necessary to supplement the laws of the KITAB-I-AQDAS, the members of the Universal House of Justice, it should be borne in mind, are not, as Baha'u'llah's utterances clearly imply, responsible to those whom they represent, nor are they allowed to be governed by the feelings, the general opinion, and even the convictions of the mass of the faithful, or of those who directly elect them. They are to follow, in a prayerful attitude, the dictates and promptings of their conscience. They may, indeed they must, acquaint themselves with the conditions prevailing among the community, must weigh dispassionately in their minds the merits of any case presented for their consideration, but must reserve for themselves the right of an unfettered decision, crGod will verily fl~ spire them with whatsoever He willeth," is Baha'u'llah's incontrovertible assurance. They, and not the body of those who either directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the recipients of the divine guidance which is at once the lifeblood and ultimate safeguard of this Revelation. Moreover, he who symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation has been made the interpreter of the words of its Author, and ceases consequently, by virtue of the actual authority vested in him, to be the figurehead invariably associated with the prevailing systems of constitutional monarchies. Nor can the Baha Administrative Order be dismissed as a hard and rigid system of unmitigated autocracy or as an idle imitation of any form of absolutistic ecciesias-tical government, whether it be the Papacy, the Imamate or any other similar institution, for the obvious reason that upon the international elected representatives of the foLlowers of Baha'u'llah has been conferred the exclusive right of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the Baha'i writings. Neither the Guardian of the Faith nor any institution apart from the International House of Justice can ever usurp this vital and essential power or encroach Upon that sacred right. The abolition of professional priesthood with its accompanying sacraments of baptism, of communion and of confession of sins, the laws requiring the election by universal suffrage of all local, national, and international Houses of Justice, the total absence of episcopal authority with its attendant privileges, corruptions and bureaucratic tendencies, are further evidences of the non-autocratic character of the Baha'i Administrative Order and of its inclination to democratic methods in the administration of its affairs. Nor is this Order identified with the name of Baha'u'llah to be confused with any system of purely aristocratic government in view of the fact that it upholds, on the one hand, the hereditary principle and entrusts the Guardian of the Faith with the obligation of interpreting its teachings, and provides, on the other, for the free and direct election from among the mass of the faithful of the body that constitutes its highest legislative organ. Whereas this Administrative Order cannot be said to have been modelled after any of these recognized systems of government, it nevertheless embodies, reconciles and assimilates within its framework such wholesome elements as are to be found in each one of them. The hereditary authority which the Guardian is called upon to exercise, the vital and essential functions which the Universal House of Justice discharges, the specific provisions requiring its democratic election by the representatives of the faithful Ñ these combine to demonstrate the truth that this divinely revealed Order, which can never be identified with any of the standard types of government referred to by Aristotle in his works, embodies and blends with the spiritual verities on which it is based the beneficent elements which are to be found in each one of them. The admitted evils inherent in each of these systems being rigidly and permanently excluded, this unique Order, however long it may endure and however extensive its ramifications, cannot ever degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy which must sooner or later corrupt the machinery of all manmade and essentially defective political institutions. [p504] 504 THE BAHA'I WORLD Dearly-beloved friends! Significant as are the origins of this mighty administrative structure, and however unique its features, the happenings that may be said to have heralded its birth and signalized the initial stage of its evolution seem no less remarkable. How striking, how edifying the contrast between the process of siow and steady consolidation that characterizes the growth of its infant strength and the devastating onrush of the forces of disintegration that are assailing the outworn institutions, both religious and secular, of presentday society! The vitality which the organic institutions of this great, this ever-expanding Order so strongly exhibit; the obstacles which the high courage, the undaunted resolution of its administrators have already surmounted; the fire of an unquenchable enthusiasm that glows with undiminislid fervor in the hearts of its itinerant teachers; the heights of self-sacrifice which its champion-builders are now attaining; the breadth of vision, the confident hope, the creative joy, the inward peace, the uncompromising integrity, the exemplary discipline, the unyielding unity and solidarity which its stalwart defenders manifest; the degree to which its moving Spirit has shown itself capable of assimilating the diversified elements within its pale, of cleansing them of all forms of prejudice and of fusing them with its own structure Ñ these are evidences of a power which a disillusioned and sadly shaken society can ill afford to ignore. Compare these splendid manifestations of the spirit animating this vibrant body of the Faith of Baha'u'llah with the cries and agony, the follies and vanities, the bitterness and prejudices, the wickedness and divisions of an ailing and chaotic world. Witness the fear that torments its leaders and paralyzes the action of its blind and bewildered statesmen. How fierce the hatreds, how false the ambitions, how petty the pursuits, how deep-rooted the suspicions of its peoples! How disquieting the lawlessness, the corruption, the unbelief that are eating into the vitals of a tottering civilization! Might not this process of steady deterioration which is insidiously invading so many departments of human activity and thought be regarded as a necessary accompaniment to the rise of this almighty Arm of BahA'u' -lUli? Might we not look upon the momentous happenings which, in the course of the past twenty years, have so deeply agitated every continent of the earth, as ominous signs simultaneously proclaiming the agonies of a disintegrating civilization and the birth-pangs of that World Order Ñ that Ark of human salvation Ñ that must needs arise upon its ruins? The catastrophic fall of mighty monarchies and empires in the European continent, allusions to some of which may be found in the prophecies of Baha'u'llah; the decline that has set in, and is still continuing, in the fortunes of the Shitah hierarchy in His own native land; the fall of the Q4jir dynasty, the traditional enemy of His Faith; the overthrow of the Sultanate and the Caliphate, the sustaining pillars of Sunni IsUm, to which the destruction of Jerusalem in the latter part of the first century of the Christian era offers a striking parallel; the wave of secularization which is invading the Muhammadan ecclesiastical institutions in Egypt and sapping the loyalty of its staunchest supporters; the humiliating blo#s that have afflicted some of the most powerful Churches of Christendom in Russia, in Western Europe and Central America; the dissemination of those subversive doctrines that are undermining the foundations and overthrowing the structure of seemingly impregnable strongholds in the political and social spheres of human activity; the signs of an impending catastrophe, strangely reminiscent of the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, which threatens to engulf the whole structure of presentday civilization Ñ all witness to the tumult which the birth of this mighty Organ of the Religion of Baha'u'llah has cast into the world Ñ a tumult which will grow in scope and in intensity as the implications of this constantly evolving Scheme are more fully understood and its ramifications more widely extended over the surface of the globe. A word more in conclusion. The rise and establishment of this Administrative Order Ñ the shell that shields and enshrines so precious a gem Ñ constitutes the hallmark of this second and formative age of the Baha'i era. It will come to be regarded, as it recedes farther [p505] THE DISPENSATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH 505 and farther from our eyes, as the chief agency empowered to usher in the concluding phase, the consummation of this glorious Dispensation. Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God's immutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no one less than Baha'u'llah Himself. Its shield and defender are the embattled hosts of the Abbi Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no iess than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be born and flourish. The axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of CAbdu~1~Bahi. Its guiding principles are the truths which He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws that govern its operation and limit its functions are those which have been expressly ordained in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The seat rouhd which its spiritual, its humanitarian and administrative activities will cluster are the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its authority and buttress its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Baha'u'llah. The methods it employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored. Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the "Most Great Peace"; its consummation the advent of that golden millennium Ñ the Day when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the Kingdom of God Himself, the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah. [p506] The Masjid in Amul, M6~zindar~n, Persia, where Baha'u'llah was confined and bastinadoed. 506 [p507] THE DESCENT OF THE NEW JERUSALEM B~ G. TOWNSHEND UNNOTICED by the great world, unfeared as yet by the forces of Evil that now hold revel on the earth, the cause of Baha'u'llah Ñ of God in His Glory made manifest among men Ñ confident, resplendent and irresistible, lifts its young strength amid the wrecks and ruins of an outworn and dissolving civilization. Neither today nor at any period throughout the past has God left His people bereft of comfort or deprived of guidance. Age after age without intermission He has sent His Messengers to renew the glad tidings of the nearness and the love of God and to give to the people the help and the counsel of which they stood in need. The gates of His mercy have never been closed, and His grace has been poured down upon mankind continuously. But the present age stands alone in the richness and in the splendor of the gifts that have been bestowed upon it. The sum of all the bounties of the past will not equal in glory the bounty which is lavished upon this dawning Dispensation. Never before has the Word of God sounded so full and clear. Never before has Revelation been so copious, or so comprehensive. Never before have all the predictions of the Scriptures concerning God's greatest advent been fulfilled in thir completeness. Never has the power of the Most High been asserted with such prevailing force. And though all the High Prophets since the world began have promised that one day God's will would reign victorious over a regenerated and beatified earth, no Messenger before Baha'u'llah ever proclaimed that God's victory had been won or that the Golden Age had dawned. In spite of the gathering darkness of our times, this Age is steeped in heavenly light. Though society is disintegrating, yet stability and order are fixed and rooted in our midst. Though turmoil and despair grip men's minds, yet the greatest happiness the human 507 heart can know is brought within the reach of all. Indeed this distress of nations with perplexity, this failing of men's hearts for fear and for looking on the things that are coming on the earth, is but a repetition of what has happened so often in the history of the world's religions Ñ a sign that mankind in its onward march has missed a turn in the road, has in a crisis refused to hear the Word of God and to heed His new command, and is now, unlighted and unguided, plunging forward down a trackless steep. They know not that a new Messenger has descended to the earth; that a new Decree from the Most High has been issued; that a fuller revelation has been vouchsafed; that a new economy takes shape among the nations; that God has burned up the past and that from its ashes arises the fabric of a new civilization based on the knowledge of the unity of mankind. They have not turned to that one Center from which alone the light of heaven is poured forth, nor given ear to that teaching which unravels the difficulties of the hour. Would they but do so, how soon might the face of the world be changed! How soon might sorrow and sighing and tears flee away and a new splendor shine in heaven and a new life waken on earth. For them who in this Day of Judgment have recognized the Manifestation of God and have acknowledged the divine Prophet-hood of Baha'u'llah, to them it is given to know the mystery of the present world Ñ tribulation, to see the path of deliverance, and to hear the voice of the angelic Guide calling His people to safety. Here in the Covenant of Baha'u'llah is the answer to all the needs of a travailing world Ñ the needs men know too well and the deeper need they scarcely recognize. Here men give up darkness for light, exchange perplexity for understanding, fear for hope, doubt for radiant confidence. Here all [p508] 508 THE BAHA'I WORLD the nobler ideals of our time, enriched and amplified yet further by the aid of heaven are woven into an harmonious and practicable scheme. Here is set forth a definite, positive and authoritative program that fits the present yet does not disown the past. Here is the healing of our social sores, the solution of our economic problems, the quickening of a universal religion. Here is a peaceful and progressive system of reform that discovers to all nations a basis of agreement and constructs thereon a stable and indestructible world order. Here is unfolded a Truth that appeals to reason as to faith, that directs the statesman, encourages the humanitarian, enlightens the scientist, inspires the philosopher. Here is a Beauty that wins, a Love that charms, a Power that none may resist. Fresh as the springtime, vigorous as the rising sun, the Baha'i Cause has not appeared in a world unwarned and unexpectant of its approach. If it looks towards the future, if it initiates a new civilization higher than any yet known upon this earth, it is rooted solidly in the past. It has had its heralds and its prophets. Its line of ancestry is as long as it is authentic and illustrious. Its coming is foreshadowed in the earliest traditions of the race, and the preparation for its advent is the theme that gives to universal history its direction and its continuity. It fulfills the promises made through centuries and milleniums by the great Seers of all lands. The reign of world peace, the organized unification of mankind which under God it has the power to inaugurate, have been the subject of inspired prophecy since time began. The antiquity of the Cause stretches back beyond that of any institution now extant. Its roll of heroes and martyrs, of those who toiled and fought and died in its service, out-dates the beginnings of all historic dynasties and the records and the legends of any living nation. The glorious succession of its champions and its servants is not merely a matter of some material or formal sequence, does not depend on rite or ceremony nor on the will of man. It is more intimate, more precious and profounder far. It is the succession of those who in all times and lands have loved God's Name and have been called and chosen by Him to do His work. The spirit that animates the Cause today is the spirit that has animated the birth of every Dispensation. Here is garnered up the fine essence of all the teachings of the world's religions. Here reverence is given to all the High Prophets of past times, whatever their race or nation, from Muhammad back to Noah and beyond: all are acclaimed alike as Fellow-Messengers of the One Self-revealing God, cooperating all from first to last in the development of a single plan of world-redemption. The Baha'i Cause is the true heir of the ages and holds in trust their spiritual wealth. But it is not the product of the past. That which it possesses is not the accumulated knowledge of many generations, nor is it merely the sum of mankind's bygone achievements and dearly bought experience. It is not born of human greatness. It is not the creation of a line of geniuses, nor of a company of saints and seers. It owes its being to God. God is its origin. God is its lawgiver. God is its guide. God is its stay. It has no leader but God. Once again the Day sprung from on High has visited mankind and a new Era has broken. God again has shown Himself to His children. A Divine Messenger has taken birth among men and has gathered in to His strong hands the reins of civilization and of progress. Through a period of mortification, bitter but brief, we pass swiftly to the blessings foretold so long. "Fear not: it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Now is the Day of Destiny. This century is the climacteric of the history of the human race. Round this Divine Messenger the Baha'i Cause is centered. It bears His Name Ñ the Sacred Name by which He declared His mission: "the Glory of God," Baha'u'llah. It exists to serve Him, to proclaim His Deity, to establish His Kingdom among all nations. The friends of the Cause are bound together by a common devotion, a common law, a common obedience. Here is no close fraternity, no secret brotherhood. Membership is not sealed by any ceremony, nor is admission marked by any form. The Cause is surrounded by the protection of God and all its gates are open day and night. He who enters here does not leave behind [p509] DESCENT OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 509 his traditions nor deny the faith in which he was reared. Be he Jew, Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, or the follower of any other High Prophet, here he finds whatever was worthy in his own belief fulfilled and developed. No regard is paid to prestige of race or of color. Members of all religions, inhabitants of all the countries and all the islands of the seas meet here updn a common level as Friends of the Cause of God. For them this Day of Judgment has no terrors; for they have seen God manifest in His glory. The anguish of this present time breeds in them no doubt nor misgiving. Bound by a common obedience, animated by a common purpose, they share the high privilege and responsibility of proclaiming the new advent of the Most High and testifying to that Covenant which is now the hope and the salvation of mankind. Through what vicissitudes has the cause of Baha'u'llah already past! What enthusiasm, daring, fortitude, devotion has it invoked in its votaries! What fierce and bloody persecutions has it endured! What storms, what battles await it still before its standard waves unchallenged over the wide earth! Already the Sacred Shrine where in the Holy Land the body of Baha'u'llah lies buried, and the sister shrines of his Forerunner and his successor, the Bab and tAbdu'1-Bah5 are the goal of pilgrims from many lands. Already the fabric of the Universal Temple he commanded to be built (unequalled in beauty, unparalleled in design) rises in the heart of the American continent to be a symbol and a proof of the consummation of all that has been most fair in the achievements and promises of the past. Already amidst the disruption of an obsolescent economy the system of law and order which he set forth is taking shape in the world. Through the betterment of means of locomotion and communication, which men idly imagine they have made through their own greatness, God has advanced the physical unification of the nations, and by His indefeasible might He moulds the reluctant hearts and wills of men to those ideals of thought and action which Baha'u'llah revealed and on which are to be based that earthwide peace and felicity which shall mark the fulfillment of God's ancient purpose for mankind. [p510] Square in Zanj~n, Persia, where body of Hujiat was thrown and 60 martyrs were killed. House of Vahid (Siyyid Yahy~y-i-Darabi) in Nayriz, Persia. Burial place of Valid in Nayriz. 510 [p511] THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF WORLD PEACE B~ HORACE HOLLEY DESPITE its serious mistakes in the realm of ultimate interpretation of values, modern science has made possible one notable advance of at least indirectly a spiritual nature: it has created within the human mind a firm sense of the existence of universal Lw. The modern man inhabits a world whose processes he is increasingly convinced are understandable and trustworthy, capable of rational perception, and even where not yet known, impossible to be held subject to mere chance and caprice. By this substantial gain, the modern man stands above and beyond the ancestor whose universe was a superficial appearance concealing forces and powers whose unknown processes continually suggested a variety of conflicting aims and wills, contact with which compelled him to develop elaborate rituals in the nature of a fearful if cunning defense. The modern man, moreover, has won an entirely new sense of courage and integrity not oniy from his capacity to understand nature rationally but also from his proven power of making mechanical instruments and appliances superior to those with which by nature lie was endowed. In the camera he possesses a superior eye; in the radio a superior ear; in the electronic tube a touch infinitely more sensitive than that of the human hand. But the hour of triumph and conquest in mail's age-old struggle with nature has by some mysterious providence coincided with his utter humiliation in his relations with himself and his fellowman. Time surely never witnessed a spectacle more dramatic and more momentous than this tragic contrast between man as scientist and as citizen, between man as mechanic and man as the orphan of life, a lost and bewildered soui. What wonder that many sensitive and fragile personalities endeavor, in such a ter Ñ rible hour, to abandon and repudiate all that so much bitter effort has secured, preferring the passive peace of some irrational and unworldly faith to the active struggle required in order to extend the powers of reason from the scientific to the social domain. By quitting the battlefield, they think to win for themselves some secret treaty, the terms of which will enable them to continue their existence untroubled, even though the continuance be as the dreamless sleep of a child. For the more heroic, the meaning of life in this age has come to be the supreme obligation, inevitable (and therefore glorious) because it has been imposed by an historic sequence of events arising from humanity itself, of going forward to the peak of another mountain of achievement, far higher than material science, from which the race can rise above its social ignorance and confusion even as in previous ages man has achieved victory over other problems which at the time appeared as desperate as the modern struggle for world peace. In surveying this supreme obligation in the light of our rational powers, the formidable antagonism of social institutions culminating in the armed national states is clearly no superhuman situation but an antagonism emanating directly from the human will. If we envisage war or economic disaster as overwhelming earthquakes, as all-destroying hurricanes, the symbol cannot be made to transfer responsibility from man to the nature, to the universe, from which actual earthquakes and hurricanes proceed. The antagonistic institutions, large and small, are nothing more than groups of people willingly captive to a competitive ideal. What devastates society is the diversity and conflict of loyalties; in other words the fatal lack of one loyalty embracing mankind. Conscious effort for the attainment of world order must begin here, in an intense and constant realization of the disparity be511 [p512] 512 THE BAHA'I WORLD tween the organic unity of the external universe and the disunity of the subjective world. Measured by the diversity of loyalties, human society would appear to be constituted of members of unrelated species no Less essentially committed to strife than the beasts of the jungle or the insects of the swamp. Because the world of nature contains different species which pursue and are pursued, it would appear as though humanity had taken its iesson of life from a lower order, a kingdom of existence bereft of reason, in which nature has implanted the seeds of incessant physical struggle. But the instinct of self-preservation dominating the animal is adjusted to the attainment of its own goal, whiie the diverse loyalties of mankind are impossible of realization. Their effect is to undermine the very foundation of human life. Not to instinct but to spiritual ignorance must be attributed that condition of society in which men's highest loyalties arrive at destruction and death, a self-betrayal rather than a fulfillment of self. Every loyalty is composed of two elements: an external object which can be rationally grasped and perceived, and a subjective motive which is elusive because identified with the object or goal to be achieved. For this reason, rational comparison of 5n-flicting loyalties is impossible, because the rational power has become adapted to values external to man and is helpless in dealing with the origin and character of motives. The motive is prior to the object, and the motive employs reason as its instrument and justification. Human reason is a searchlight which throws a brilliant light upon scenes outside and beyond the realm of motive, but behind the searchlight all is blackest darkness. We therefore insist upon an unvarying and ever reliable mathematics but tolerate extreme variety and unreliability in religion. We have become rational in relation to all that is below man, but remain pre-rational in relation to all that pertains to the human heart itself. This chasm in the continuity of rational reality is excused on the assumption that the rational power is inherently limited, can only deal with a restricted area of values, and that consequently, when the profoundest human motives are at issue, reason must give way to faith. This assumption means nothing less than that the searchlight of the rational power can not, for some reason not explained, be turned in any direction save that external to human nature. It means also that man in himself is not an organic unity but is a dual being, split by the artificial distinction between reason and faith and compelled eternally to act under two irreconcilable laws. The distinction is not removed but rather further complicated by the claim that faith is a "higher" reason, a power having author-fry to annul, at any time, what ordinary reason holds to be useful, true or necessary. For such a claim establishes more than duality at the heart of human life Ñ it compels a strife between "mind" and "heart" at crucial moments of destiny which constitutes the ultimate source of conflict in society as a whole. To recapitulate: the civilization in which the very existence of humanity is enmeshed has become the prey of nationalistic, class, racial and also ecclesiastical loyalties. These irreconcilable loyalties have, in our own generation, precipitated an international war and an international economic collapse which have not only released the greatest amount of death and suffering recorded in human history but have impaired the whole structure of civilization. Furthermore, these loyalties, despite the bitterest experience, remain essentially unreconciled and are today more highly armed for destruction than in 1914. This is the objective picture of human life today. When we examine these loyalties we find them resting upon motives and flowing from impulses which defy control, rooted as they are in the subjective world of the heart which remains irrational, while rationalizing its wishes and its aims. In this world, blind faith and not reason sits upon the throne. But the demands of that faith no longer correspond to the clear needs of human life. Faith has identified itself not with life but with death. The power of reason, which perceives the crisis, at present can not deal with motives, but on the contrary is the instrument and tool by which irrational faith forges its own destruction. Every organized loyalty has rationalized itself into a self [p513] THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF WORLD PEACE 513 contained philosophy beyond the reach of successful attack from without and beyond the reach of suspicion on the part of those remaining within. Society has become a chaos because man is divided against himself. He has become powerful in all realms where he has applied reason; he has become a helpless victim in the realm where he has renounced reason in favor of blind faith. The influence which has made man willing to sacrifice reason for faith, which has convinced him that his deepest motives and highest loyalties are subject to laws outside or beyond reason, is organized religion Ñ the exclusive and dogmatic church. The next step, therefore, for those who sincerely desire to serve the rational ideal of world order, Lies in a reexamination of the claim sponsored by the dogmas of every creed and inculcated into the tender and responsive minds of children, that reason has no concern with the deepest motives of life but is an alien power which must remain outside the holy of holies until given the lesser task of justifying the motives adopted, in some mysterious and irrational way, by faith and also the task of enabling faith to achieve its aim. The picture of the subjective world corresponding to the insane condition of modern civilization is that man's religion has remained primitive and pre-rational while man s knowledge and capacity for action have miraculously multiplied. The ghost of the savage behind the altar commands the soui of the statesman who instigates war and of the economist who turns industry into a daily and lifelong social combat. The claim that reason can not deal with the substance of faith is a wholly artificial claim. It rests upon an assumption of human duality directly projecting the conception of warring, antagonistic gods marking the age of the savage. If God is one, and God is the creator of humanity, then the human spirit is one in essence and can achieve an organic unity far beyond this present stage characterized by the assumed irreconcilability of reason and faith. Since progress and achievement have followed upon every determined effort of man to control the forces of life and respond to the rational order of the universe, how can we entertain the impossible and wholly unauthorized claim that the door to the reality of human nature is to reason forever barred? Onehalf civilized, onehalf primitive savage Ñ this condition of humanity is in itself the most challenging proof that progress, far from being finished and complete, offers today the possibility of advance in the spiritual realm comparable tq that already achieved in the field of material science. tAbdu'1-Bahi is a world personage in this age with an importance to humanity f at transcending that of people now exerting supreme social influence, for the reason that tAbdu'1-BabA carried the power of reason across the chasm which for us still yawns between intelligence and faith. In Him there existed a consciousness fulfilled and organically united, blending perfectly the power of understanding with the quality of faith. His faith had no irrational element, and his reason illumined the dark recesses where faith is born and its quality determined. Against the whole momentum of an age glorifying the savage in its religion, He stood rocklike, immovable in the conviction that these very social disasters are evidence that the time to attain spiritual knowledge has dawned. In place of the traditional conception of man as being forever divided against himself, He established a reality which reason can accept and faith, true faith, must recognize and extol as the highest privilege of existence. Perceiving that spiritual ignorance has run its course in the organization of armed national states, He spoke with assurance of man's future attainment of world unity and world order to follow this brief period during which the irrational, savage outlook is being finally discredited and left behind. "God's greatest gift to man is that of intellect, or understanding. Understanding is the power by which man acquires his knowledge of the several kingdoms of creation, and of various stages of existence, as well as of much that is invisible. Possessing this gift he is, in himself, the sum of earlier creations; he is able to get into touch with those kingdoms, and by this gift he frequently, through his scientific knowledge, can reach out with prophetic vision. Intellect is, in truth, the most precious gift bestowed upon man by the divine bounty. Man alone. [p514] 514 THE BAHA'I WORLD among created beings, has this wonderful power. "All creation, preceding man, is bound by the stern law of nature. The great sun, the multitudes of stars, the oceans and seas, the mountains, the rivers, the trees, and all animals, great or small Ñ none are able to evade obedience to nature's law. "Man alone has freedom, and by his understanding or intellect has been able to gain control of and adapt some of those natural laws to his own needs. (cGod gave this power to man that it might be used for the advancement of civilization, for the good of humanity, to increase love and concord and peace. But man prefers to use this gift to destroy instead of to build, for inj ustice and oppression, for hatred and discord and devastation, for the destruction of his fellow-creatures, whom Christ has commanded that he should love as himself. cccid the aim of creation: is it possible that all is created to evolve and develop through countless ages with this small goal in view Ñ a few years of a man's life on earth? Is it not unthinkable that this should be the final aim of existence? "Th mineral evolves until it is absorbed in the life of the plant, the plant progresses until it finally loses its life in that of the animal; the animal, in its turn, forming part of the food of man, is absorbed into human life. Thus, man is shown to be the sum of all creation, the superior of all created beings, the gdal to which countless ages of existence have progressed. CCWhe we speak of the soul we mean the motive power of this physical body which lives under its entire control in accordance with its dictates. If the soui identifies itself with the material world it remains dark, for in the natural world there is corruption, aggression, struggles for existence, greed, darkness, transgression and vice. If the soul remains in this station and moves along these paths it will be the recipient of this darkness; but, if it becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of mind, its darkness will be transformed into light, its tyranny into justice, its ignorance into wisdom, its aggression into loving kindness, until it reach the apex. Man will become free from egotism; he will be released from the material world. ccThere is, however, a faculty in man which unfolds to his vision the secrets of existence. It gives him a power whereby he may investigate the reality of every object. It leads man on and on to the luminous station of divine sublimity and frees him from the fetters of self, causing him to ascend to the pure heaven of sanctity. This is the power of the mind, for the soul is not, of itself, capable of unrolling the mysteries of phenomena; but the mind can accomplish this and therefore it is a power superior to the soul. CCT1~ere is still another power which i~ differentiated from that of the soul and mind. This third power is the spirit which is an emanation from the divine bestower; it is the effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the radiation of the celestial world, the spirit of faith, the spirit Christ refers to when he says: CThose that are born of the flesh are flesh, and those that are born of the spirit are spirit.' ttJf a man reflects he will understand the spiritual significance of the law of progress; how all things move from the inferior to the superior degree. ctThe greatest power in the realm and range of human existence is spirit Ñ the divine breath which animates and pervades all things. lit is manifested throughout creation in different degrees or kingdoms. t~In the mineral kingdom it manifests itself by the power of cohesion. In the vegetable kingdom it is the spirit augmentative or power of growth, the animus of life and development in plants, trees and organisms of the floral world. In this degree of its manifestation, spirit is unconscious of the powers which qualify the kingdom of the animal. The distinctive virtue or ~plus' of the animal is sense perception; it sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels but in turn is incapable of the conscious ideation or reflection which characterize and differentiate the human kingdom. The animal neither exercises nor apprehends this distinctive human power and gift. From the visible it can not draw conclusions regarding the invisible whereas the human mind from visible and known premises attains knowledge of the [p515] THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF WORLD PEACE 515 unknown and invisible. Likewise the human spirit has its limitations. It can not comprehend the phenomena of the kingdom transcending the human station, for it is a captive of powers and life forces which have their operation upon its own plane of existence and it cannot go beyond that boundary. "The mission of the Prophets, the revelation of the holy books, the manifestation of the heavenly teachers and the purpose of divine philosophy all center in the training of the human realities so that they may become clear and pure as mirrors and reflect the light and love of the Sun of Reality. This is the true evolution and progress of humanity." In this teaching, if we apprehend it correctly, the law of progress is revealed as the action of a higher form of life upon a lower. An element in the mineral kingdom remains in the limitations of that kingdom until it is gathered up and assimilated by the vegetable kingdom, which in turn rises not by its own power but through action of the animal kingdom. Elements in the vegetable kingdom die in that kingdom to be reborn in the animal kingdom, and similarly elements in the realm of the animal, when as-sirnilated by man, die to be reborn as it were on a higher plane. But how is man to rise above himself? For man there is no higher kingdom of physical existence to extend this principle of development by actual assimilation of the physical type. Of the four de~rees of existence in the world of nature, man himself is the apex; wherefore the elements of man's physical being can go no higher, but through his physical death aie restored to the lower planes. In this closed circle of physical existence the elements eternally rise and fall, establishing the rhythmic cycle of the world of nature. In his primitive, savage state, man sought however to extend this cycle from the physical to the conscious realm. He believed that he could acquire the qualities of anothev man by eating his flesh. This conception, prolonged during nameless ages, assumed an elaborate ritual and formed the basis of his religious beliefs. Little by little the bloody sacrifice became refined; instead of eating the flesh he laid it upon the altar of his tribal god. Eventually the stark savage belief persisted oniy as a symbol; it became sufficient to sacrifice an animal in place of a human being. By Old Testament times even this more innocent murder was condemned by prophetic leaders. The sacrifice was preferably wholly symbolic, by gifts, by flowers and fruit. Behind this evolution of belief and religious practice we may feel the burden of a bitter, prolonged struggle for understanding of the spiritual law of evolution: the conception that qualities are obtained by partaking of substance had the apparent sanction of nature itself. Even today the struggle has not been won. For even today the blind faith is widespread that man draws near God and partakes of divine qualities in mass or communion Ñ by partaking of a physical substance, a consecrated bread and wine. What wonder, when religion in its most sacred teachings has not left behind the primitive savage who sought to evolve and progress by eating the flesh of his fallen foe Ñ what wonder that mankind has no capacity to arise above loyalties essentially blind, selfish and partisan, loyalties that are tribal in essence, loyalties that can devastate the entire civilized world? For the mirror of rational intelligence, endowed with power to reflect whatever realities it faces, has been given no realm of spiritual truth to substitute for the visible realm of nature Ñ the lower world of insect and of beast. But tAbdu'1 Ñ Baha has illumined that lost world of spiritual truth. He has freed the power of reason and intelligence from its servitude to biological fact and disclosed an illimitable universe still to be explored. The central principle of tAbd'lBh" teaching is that the Prophets, human though they are in all that pertains to the body, constitute an order of existence higher than man, a kingdom which acts upon man, purifying his motives and releasing his innate powers, assimilating man and raising him to a plane of consciousness transcending his former nature as truly as the animal transcends the senseless tree. By the spirit that flows through the Prophet, animating his words, man in turning sincerely to that [p516] 516 THE BAHA'I WORLD source of reality is saved from the dominance of instincts and motives emanating from the world of nature which is lower in degree because it lacks the quality of mind. The relation of man to Prophet is not that of flesh sacrificed to a jealous tribal god, not that of slave to a Monarch enthroned upon mysterious magical powers; it is the relation of child to parent, of student to educator, and the true essence of religion consists in attaining knowledge of and rendering devotion to the laws and principles of evolution in the kingdom of spirit. The faithful student of spiritual truth is, in consciousness, assimilated by and into that truth, no less actually than the mineral element which the living root absorbs. As exemplified by tAbdu'1-BaM, religion is clearly a value not merely conforming to reason but the realm which offers reason and understanding its supreme opportunity. The substance of spiritual truth constitutes the real world in which intelligence can function freely and become completely fulfilled. The actual relation of reason to faith arises from consideration of the fact that it is by faith that man has capacity to recognize the Prophet Ñ it is the quality of faith which makes it possible to turn the searchlight of intelligence toward the source of reality; but the knowledge thereby obtained remains a function of the rational mind. Faith, then, is an expression of will and not of intelligence. tAbdu'1-Bahi has forever freed man from superstition and imagination. He has interpreted the reality of man in the light of the reality of religion. That religion in its purity conforms to reason is His fundamental claim. From this higher level of perception one can turn back to the condition of divided and antagonistic loyalties which underlies the sinister turmoil of this period, and apprehend it as evidence of the decay of the inherited religions. The God-given intelligence of humanity is functioning in the darkness of unfaith, and hence the devotion to falsified religions, the hysteria of economic and political movements, the soul-consuming strife of race and class. In the rise of psychological sciences whicb explore the "unconscious" and "subcon-scious" fields in man, we have a valiant, if misdirected, struggle to extend the powers of rational intelligence to control human motives and beliefs. In reality, man has no mysterious CCsubconscious~~ self, but rather, in his natural condition, draws upon the instincts and impulses of the animal world. It is the physical organism, directly receptive to and penetrated by the same forces acting upon the animal kingdom, which psychologists actually explore. It is possible to plumb the depths of nature in man's being, but human reality Ñ the direction of man's true progress Ñ lies not backward in that dark abyss but forward toward "rebirth" into the spiritual kingdom. This age, in its confused struggle of ideals, has but given rational form to the blind feelings of man's physical, therefore animal organism. Our society vainly endeavors, in its most turbulent mass movements, to find outlet for fears, rages and frustrated hopes which in the animal are temporary and harmless, but in a society possessing scientific means of destruction can lead to nothing else than universal conflict. A rational faith Ñ a knowledge of how these motives can be transmuted into forces of cooperation Ñ alone stands between us and this catastrophe. The basis of world order, in short, is a humanity whose mind is not acted upon from the lower kingdoms but is illumined by the light of God. Until men become imbued with true, rational faith, the supreme goal of world order and peace will never be achieved. For urn-versal peace is a reality oniy on the plane of spiritual truth. Civilization bereft of any source of reality and guidance is a dead body, prey to the maggots and the worms. Through the power of the Holy Spirit alone can we leave this death behind. "The Holy Spirit is the light from the Sun of Truth bringing, by its infinite power, life and illumination to all mankind, flooding all souls with divine radiance, conveying the blessings ~of God's mercy to the whole world. The earth, without the medium of the warmth and light of the rays of the sun, could receive no benefits from the sun. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the very cause of the life of man; without the Holy Spirit he would have no intellect, he would be unable to acquire his scientific knowledge by which [p517] THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF WORLD PEACE Si? his great influence over the rest of creation is gained. The Holy Spirit it is, which, through the mediation of the Prophets of God, teaches spiritual virtues to man and enables him to acquire eternal life." In this clear, unflickering light reflected from the mind of tAbdu'1-Bahi as from a burnished mirror held to the sun, humanity has been granted capacity of vision in the otherwise darkened subjective world. By His insight one can rise above the mass consciousness and apprehend the meaning of the age not as the superficial clash of nations, classes and races, but as the final struggle of the animal nature with the spiritual nature of man. The raging tornado has its central point of perfect calm, and the Faith of 1kM'-u'llih promulgated by tAbdu'1-Bah& is the universal peace hidden from physical sight behind the desperate movements of the dying civilization in which we live. Entering that Faith, men attain peace within themselves, and by this peace have peace with each other Ñ the Most Great Peace, the Peace of God. [p518] The shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, M~zindarin, Persia, where the body of Mu11~ lu{usayn, the BThu'1-B~b, is interred. Tree, near the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, from which Mu11~ Husayn, the Baha'u'llah, was shot. The Masjid in B~rfur~ish M~zindar~n, Persia, where Quddiis is buried. 518 [p519] IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PIONEERS B~ KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER HAVE spread and established a religion throughout the world in less than four score years is eloquent testimony to the spiritual quantum contained in the message of Baha'u'llah. Historians record as phenomenal the accomplishment of the followers of Mul2am-mad in carrying his teachings from the Red Sea to the Baltic, from India to Gibraltar, in eighty years; but in a corresponding period the BaWl Faith has become firmly rooted on all the continents of the earth. Needless to say this has not taken place of itself. The divine rapture that sent our Persian martyrs dancing to their death had its more practical reflex in the worldwide projects of those who, scatterin~ near and far, bore to mankind the tcimperis1~ab1e evangel of eternal salvation," reiterated today by Baha'u'llah. Leaving California where the historic pioneers Thornton Chase, Lua, Mrs. Goodall, Mrs. Cooper, and others prepared the way for the coming of cAbd~1B1 my first objective was Japan. Calling en route at Honolulu, consecrated by the labors of Dr. Augur and Agnes Alexander, I found a brilliant Baha'i Community; alert, active, zealous, ably abetted by the tireless enthusiasm of Miss Julia Goldman. Charles Mason Remey and George On Latimer, Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Bishop, Orcella Rexford, Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn, on their journey to Australia, Martha Root who had left a few months before my arrival; and since my departure from America, Mrs. Schopflocher, Mrs. Loulie Mathews and Mrs. Marion Little are among the Baha who have made their contribution to the advancement of the Cause in Hawaii: which incidentally I think the most beautiful spot in all this earth. Pressing on to Japan I observed in Agnes Alexander that untiring service that has made her the trusted agent of tAbdu'1-BaM and of Shoghi Effendi in this ancient and remarkable land; a land to which 'Abdu'l-Baha has given such unqualified promises of spiritual expansion and attainment. How simple a thing when trees have been felled and underbrush cleared, the unyielding earth broken, the seed sown, tended and watered; drought, hail, hurricane and flood withstood; how exceedingly simple to walk ccthrough the land at eve and pluck the ripened ears!" No name is worthy of men-non in any country except the name of those who with heroism and intrepidity first went forth to face the odds and difficulties, yes, terrors of the untried and the unknown in order to plant the mighty standard of Baha'u'llah in the midmost heart of the world. The names of Dr. Augur and of Agnes Alexander must ever remain the names to which all others are subsidiary in recounting the history of the Cause in Japan. Mrs. Ida Finch, Mrs. Greeven (then Inez Cook), Martha Root, and later Mrs. Schopilocher and Mr. George Spendlove have assisted in furthering Baha'i interests in this fascinating country. In Volume IV of this work Agnes wrote a very kind account of my happy visit. I must attest to my profound appreciation of the quality of those whom, by her unsparing efforts, she has attracted to the Cause. A native Christian minister, Buddhist priests, university professors, journalists, merchants, students, teachers, officials; the wide range of her activities, the endless flow of her efforts, and her sincere detachment and devotion created a profound impression upon Baha'is and non-Bahi'is alike. It is a grave mistake for the world to judge Japan by the policies of those who are at present guiding her destinies and preparing her internal propaganda. A nation of absolutely disciplined human beings, men, women and children, has resulted from long 519 [p520] 520 THE BAHA'I WORLD cycles of enlightenment and idealism and must not be lightly regarded; for theirs is a salient contribution to civilization. No one could read the article by Torijino Toni in Volume IV of The Baha'i World without a truer and deeper understanding of the spirit of Japan. Reaching China I encountered for the first time on my journey the illustrious name of Martha Root as the pioneer Baha teacher. She had sojourned in other lands that I had visited, but like myself was treading in the footsteps of others. Here she herself had been the first to bring this great evangel, and the evidences of her strenuous and ceaseless toil in that great vineyard will be immortal. In America she had given the message to President C. S. Liu of Sun Yat Sen Agricultural College while he was an undergraduate at Cornell; and later to his sister, President Fung Ling Liu of Union Normal College, then a graduate student at the University of Michigan. At Tsing Hua University she confirmed President Y. S. Tsao and his wife in the Cause, and the Baha'i world is aware of his outstanding service in translating tAbdn'1-BaLi Baha and Dr. Esslernont into Chinese. On her journeys through the Celestial Empire Martha carried on in her great tradition; interviewing statesmen, publicists and dignitaries; speaking in the foremost Universities; obtaining constant publicity for the Cause through the newspapers; broadcasting; receiving inrnimerable visitors. It was rewarding to meet those whom she had interested and gratifying to witness the steadfast devotion of those whom she had confirmed. Miss Alexander and Mrs. Schopflocher have also paid several visits to China. The traces of a world pioneer I have found in many places where his foot has never trod; our "ambassador without portfolio" as it were, Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm. Carrying on a worldwide correspondence, his cordial and cheerful letters, his gifts of reading matter and Baha'i books, his continuous encouragement and helpfulness to those scattered beyond the confines of ordinary Baha'i association, have made him, though personally unseen, one of the most popular and beloved of the Baha'i teachers. No more romantic story will embellish the history of the Cause than the recital of how Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn, then well past middle-life, burning all their bridges behind them, answered the summons of Abdu'l-Baha and arose to carry the Baha'i message to Australia and New Zealand. Their endeavors have been indefatigable, their accomplishments stupendous. "Whoso maketh efforts for Me in My way will I guide them." The trials, difficulties and vicissitudes that they faced and conquered must be recorded at length in a suitable memorial. At last there was a happy issue out of all their afflictions. Mr. Dunn found an excellent position that necessitated his travelling over the whole Commonwealth, so that he has actually given the message in every settlement on that vast continent. Equally persevering, Mrs. Dunn remained behind in the larger cities, consolidated their joint labors, formed classes, conducted meetings, fostered Assemblies, until at last, as a reward of their efforts, the National Spiritual Assembly is in process of formation. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn (lovingly called Father and Mother by all Baha'is) are of singular beauty both of person and character. Mr. Dunn has the rarest and most charming disposition: loving, forgiving, genial, his spiritual attributes fit him peculiarly to teach the Baha'i Cause. Mrs. Dunn has a qnality of faith that I have seldom met. She lives in the Presence of God with a kind of awe and candor that assure men of His Power and Benignity; while her service is like the service of the earth to the sun, of the magnet to the p0k, of the lover to his beloved. When so ill, with a dangerous illness, that any other woman would have been in a hospital, she was still ministering and serving and helping and soothing, until her very persistence in doing carried its own great message. What a simple matter then to harvest all this effort and sacrifice and self-effacement in my joyous visits to Australia and New Zealand. Martha and ERie Baker, one of the first Australian Baha'is, visited New Zealand before me; and Martha and Seigfried Schop-flocher, Australia. There was much activity among the friends to receive n-ic. Full and interesting [p521] IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PIONEERS 521 programs had been arranged, resulting in confirmations in the various centers visited, and in the formation of active study classes. Perhaps fuller details will be furnished by the friends in the Southern Hemisphere; "Down Under" as they say. No tribute that I could pay would be adequate to express the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of the entire Baha'i world, for the cordial welcome and sincere cooperation which is everywhere and continuously extended to us by the Theosophical Society. 'Wherever we may go this is always the first platform open to us; these audiences, always intelligent and responsive, offer us our first encouragement. In Sydney I spoke twice in the great Theosophical Auditorium and from their station my lectures were broadcast to thousands of listeners. I was entertained at ctthe Manor," their community center, and sent off with letters of introduction to other lodges in different countries. Mr. and Mrs. van Gelder and their family, who live in beautiful Blavatsky Park in Batavia, extended to me the most exemplary kindness and hospitality at the request of the Sydney Theosophists. All over the world this Society displays toward us the same spirit anqi the same goodwill. Mr. Grosfeld, our dear Baha'i pioneer in Java, is awaiting the arrival of an Egyptian Baha'i friend of his in order to carry on a fuller program of activities. My stay in Malay was not long enough to admit of more than newspaper reports and private interviews. Sharing the ardors and rewards of the first mission to India and Burma were, among others who assisted the saintly Jam6i Effendi, Dr. tAbdu'1-klakim, now of Rangoon, Burma, and Siyyid Mu~taf A RAmi of Mandalay, the latter accompanying Baha'u'llah's great emissary on his extensive journeys to the East.' Arriving in Burma I went at once to Mandalay where to my great delight I met Mrs. Schopflocher and Lionel Loveday just down from a thdimand-mile trip on the Irrawaddy, "where the flyin' fishes play." These flying 1 A fascinating account of their experiences was published in the Baha'i Magazine. fish, by-the-bye, were the women who plied back and forth on the river boats. In addition to my many engagements in Mandalay, we drove twice to the hill station of Maymyo where I spoke to the Young Men's Union. I was very cordially received throughout Burma and was especially happy in the great house of Ma Tin in Mandalay; designed and built to accommodate tAbdu'1-BaM on his hoped-for but never accomplished journey to Burma. Very handsome properties are owned by the Baha'i Community of Mandalay, the most recent acquisition being the estate of Siyyid Mustaf~ Ri2rmi, in which he is now merely holding a life trust. Our tireless Martha has preceded me there as usual and has written a lively record of her visit. The grace and charm of the Burmese young people are worthy of comment. The beautiful and accomplished daughters and granddaughter of U. Nyunyu, chairman of the Assembly; the son and daughter of Dr. Uakim, so earnest and devoted; the lovely and gentle Baha children that I met wherever I went, impressed me deeply. So much has already been written about Daidenow Kalazoo Kungjangoon, ttthe village of CAbdu~1~Bah4,~~ that I cannot heighten the descriptions of Mrs. Greeven and Mrs. Schopilocher. In the warmth of their welcome, the extent of their hospitality, and the sincerity of their lives these village Baha'is are a source of pride and pleasure to the Western visitor. The Rangoon friends had arranged a comprehensive program for me that they may perhaps discuss in their report. They were very efficient in their cooperation, arranging my conferences so that I met the most intelligent, progressive and inquiring in the city. By now their Ua~iratu'1-Quds must be completed, which will greatly increase the prestige of the Cause. The crowning joy of my visit was meeting in person those great pioneers of the Day of Baha'u'llah, Siyyid Mugail Rami and Dr. Hakini, who had in their youth, with Jamil Effendi, helped establish the Cause in India and Burma. The calm beauty of their lives seems a miracle amidst the haste and noise and vui [p522] 522 THE BAHA'I WORLD garity of our disintegrating civilization. I know that they belong to that host whose tread is measured to the tap of an unseen drummer. As tAbdu~1~Bah& expresses it, Ccthe horse gallopeth though the rider is invisible." Their ears were constantly listening for commands that mine were too gross to hear. The music of Dr. Hakim's voice as he prostrated himself each dawn and chanted our great prayer leaves the memory of my visit half real, half ethereal, as of daily duties performed amidst the drift of pinions. The youthful exuberance of the venerable Siyyid Mustaf~ wa~ a constant surprise. Though now advanced in years he never seemed to show weariness or ennui or delation (if there be such a word Ñ the normal swing from elation). His was a peace and a joy that the world can neither give nor take away. Some years later Nemur Effendi followed in the footsteps of Mirza JaM in India, leaving a train of spectacular converts: among them N. R. Vakil, President of the National Spiritual Assembly; Pritam Singh, M.A., its able Secretary, editor and publisher of The Baha'i; Mahfoozu'1 IjAq Ilmi, prominent teacher and editor of the Urdu Monthly, Kaukab-i-Hind; Hishrnat.-u'llih Koreshi Oxford graduate and man of letters; the late Professor Shir~zi of Karachi; And many another, generously devoting his life to the Cause. Later several 'Western teachers visited India; among them Hooper Harris and Harlan Ober; Dr. and Mrs. Getsinger; Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher; on three occasions Mrs. Greeven, Mrs. Stannard and Martha Root. A large number of the Baha'is of Western India (Karachi, Bombay, Poona) are Persian Zoroastrians or Parsis. There are no Baha in the world superior to those recruited from the Zoroastrian group. tAbdu'1-BahA again and again attested to their sincerity, their simple faith, their purity of motive, their sacrifice and their utter devotion. A generous account of my activities in Bombay and Karachi appeared in the previous number of this series. Professor Pritam Singli, M.A., late of the chair of economics in Allah Abad University, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma, was designated to ac company me and arrange my meetings. Due to his initiative and connections I spoke in all the great universities in the various Indian cities that I visited, and to many associations, churches, clubs and social groups, where the message was cordially received. But it is practically impossible for me to write of my own activities; I never seem to myself to be accomplishing anything. Through the kind offices of Sir Akbar Hydari I received an official invitation from Hyderabad Deccan to be the guest of the state. I cannot sufficiently thank Mr. Rus-turn Khosrove, Secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of Poona who accompanied me, acting as my personal secretary as well. It was very gratifying to meet here the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Court, the former Prime Minister, the Minister of State, Nabob Mehdi Yar Jung Ba-lAdur, and others of the nobility and cabinet, and to discuss with them our teachings. Hyderabad Deccan is the home of notable women as well as men; outstanding among them being Mine. S. Naidu, the renowned poetess who visited America some years since. Mine. Naidu was still absent in England at the time of my visit but I was the guest of her two remarkable daughters, Oxford women, and of Dr. Naidu, at "The Golden Threshold." Mrs. Soogra Humayan Mirza is a famous Muslim woman, writer, editor, philanthropist, educator and world traveller. She is the author of sixteen books and is identified with many progressive movements. Another woman of exceptional gifts and ability is Dr. Ethel M. Pope, a Canadian-American, President of Zenana College of Usmania University. She not oniy holds her music licentiate (L.R.A.M.) but has the earned degree of Litt. D.; speaks many languages fluently; contributes to leading poetry magazines; and manages the financial as well as the academic branch of her college. Twenty-five great lumbering oxcarts gather these veiled undergraduates from all parts of the city and bring them, in curtained seclusion, to study for the B.A. degree. One of the most gracious, erudite and able men whom I have met is Sir Ahmad Husayn [p523] IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PIONEERS 523 Amin Jung BaUdur, Minister of Court in this Kingdom. Kipling tells us that East and West meet CCWhen two strong men stand face to face Though they come from the ends of the earth." Sir Alimad is of that category; a man who by the dignity of his bearing, the affability of his demeanor, the breadth and fluidity of his knowledge, the charm of his manner, and his innate, unconscious catholicity, widens the scope and deepens the significance of social contacts. An appreciation of the Cause from the pen of Sir Ahmad, written at Martha's request, appears on another page of this volume. Altogether Hyderabad struck me as one of the most alert and progressive lands in the Orient. The programs arranged in Poona and Surat, respectively, afforded me the liveliest pleasure, for the meetings proved very popular and were attended by the representative people of these cities. Sir tAli Delavi, Prime Minister of the Bombay Presidency, acted as my chairman on one occasion, and spoke with great appreciation of the Baha'i teachings. The next continent that I touched upon was Africa, which I had visited several times before; but alas! I was not able to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Miss Fanny Knobloch, who with her sister, Mrs. Pauline Hannan, established the Cause in South Africa. I disembarked at the Soudan but approached no nearer to the scene of her repeated activities. More advanced in age than Mr. and Mrs. Dunn when she undertook this trip, with extremely straitened finances, again and again she literally taught until she dropped; due to the exigencies of the climate that brought on a dilatation of the heart. Who can estimate the incalculable harvests that will one day be garnered from her love and sacrifice? My brief visit to the Northern coast of South America some years ago was equally remote from the pioneer work of Leonora Holsapple and Maude Mickle; who like the other American pioneers already mentioned, answered the summons of tAbdu'1-Bah& pro Ñ ceeding to Baha, Brazil. Their gallantry, their hard work in mastering an unknown language and supporting themselves as they established the Cause, their conquest of difficulties, their unremitting perseverance, is surely written in ineffaceable letters "upon the preserved Tablet of God." Martha has also visited several South American cities. Leonora had preceded me to some of the islands of the West Indies, but to a few of them I was the first to carry the message. My longest teaching period on that tour was in Barbadoes where Leonora had ably paved the way for me a year or two before. Let me record that I have found nowhere people more eager, more receptive, more alert or kinder than the Barbadians. God willing, I yearn to go back there for further teaching. I was very gratified to hear of the visit of Miss Ella Robarts to this beloved spot. Returning to Haifa for further instructions, Shoghi Effendi graciously permitted me to come to the land of God's pioneers, the B~b and Baha'u'llah; to walk the earth deified by Their Presence; to visit the scenes sanctified by Their noble army of martyrs; to read in the lives of their survivors those lessons of sacrifice, patience and steadfast faith that illumine the Cause. En route I spent a few days in the holy city of Baha'i where Baha'u'llah declared His Mission and, finally sojourning in the Garden of Ridy An, gave to our Faith its most joyous festival. These Baha'is are full of spirit and energy, and though I met oniy a few representatives from other tlriqi Assemblies I was immensely assured of their devotion and zeal. The monumental work of Mountfort Mills in representing before the League of Nations Baha'i interests in Bagbd6.d has already been fully recorded, in a previous volume of the Baha'i World. Mrs. Schopflocher's visit left a deep irn-pression and wrought good results. She had several audiences with His Majesty, the late King Feisal, and Martha, following her, also had an audience with the King. Incidentally I know of no better place to mention Mrs. Schopilocher's memorable visit to Russia; the only American Baha'i, so far as I am informed, to teach in the Soviet Union. Years since, M. and Mine. DreyfussBar-ney and Mason Remey had come to Persia; [p524] 524 THE BAHA WORLD then, to the Tarbiyat School, Miss Kappes, Miss Coy, Miss and Mrs. Sharp; Dr. Clock had come to be near Miss Kappes; Mrs. Schop-flocher had visited Persia on two occasions; Martha travelled through some of the provinces; and Effie Baker, photographing for The Dawn-Breakers, reached places that no western Baha'i has seen before or since. The important work of Miss Lillian Kappes, who gave her life to the Baha'i Cause in Persia, is attested by the present position of the Tarbiyat School, so ably managed by Miss Adelaide Sharp. She has today brought it to a position of preeminence in this educational field. Her unflagging zeal, her sound management, her personal dedication to teaching as a profession, are crowning with success the hardships and difficulties that still surround the educational activities of Persia. But foremost amongst the Western pioneers in this sacred land must ever stand the name of Susan Isabel Moody, M.D., who, blessed by tAbd'lBh' was entrusted with the great mission of spreading scientific methods and hygienic measures amongst the women of Persia. At the time of her arrival not only crude but barbarous practices sometimes obtained in obstetrical work; infant mortality still remains very high; the care and feeding of children was little understood. For many years she labored valiantly against the hosts of ignorance and resistance to change, working on against great obstacles until the violent fanaticism that ended in the murder of Major Imbrie made it inadvisable for foreign Baha'is to remain longer in Persia. When under the enlightened reCgiine of the present ruler, Ridi Shih Pahiavi, all danger was obviated, so deep was her devotion to her spiritual fatherland that she determined to end her days in this beloved country; and though nearing eighty, took the long and difficult trip from America back to Persia, a few years ago. Her work in founding the girls' Sunday School and in assisting the Tarbiyat School is still another monument to her greatness. Although very feeble and partially bedridden, so unconquerable is her spirit, so cheerful her disposition, so intense her eagerness for the Cause and its welfare, that young and old throng to see her, and her presence is a blessing to every meeting that she finds strength to attend. She always reminds me of the lines of Stevenson: "I knew a silver head was bright beyond compare, I knew a queen of toil, with a crown of silver hair; Garland of valor and sorrow, of beauty and renown; Life that honors the brave crowned her himself with the crown." Some of my most impressive experiences here have been recorded in letters to Mrs. Helen P. Bishop, published in the Baha'i Magazine. At present (August, 1933) I am in TihrAn and have not yet visited the South of Persia. This would seem the appropriate moment to mention those immortal Persian pioneers to America, sent us through the bounty of cAbdu~1~Bah4: Mirza Abu'1-Faa1-i-Gu1p~yi-g~ni, and Jinib-i-F$il MAzindarAni. My advent to the Holy Cause of God is so recent that it exactly corresponds with Jin&b-i-F&dil's first visit, but all America bears testimony to the outstanding achievements of these powerful and notable pioneers. Having been identified with the Baha'i Cause for oniy twelve years, there must have been countless teachers in the early days with whose names I am unfamiliar. I hope that all such oversights will be forgiven. I have mentioned the name of every teacher in foreign fields known to me. Undoubtedly Jin~b-i-E64i1 in his forthcoming history will record the work of those whose names I have unintentionally omitted. Though residing in Europe during several years my itinerary has not yet taken me, as a Baha, to the scenes made memorable by early Baha'i teachers. May Ellis Maxwell, who also established the Cause in Canada, Alma Knobloch, George Latimer and Mason Remey, Dr. and Mrs. Getsinger and more recently Mrs. Louise Gregory, Miss Marion Jack, Orcella Rexford, Mr. Kiuss, Mrs. Emo-gene Hoagg, Miss Julia Culver, Mrs. Stan-nard, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter, Lady Blomfield, Mrs. Stuart French, Mrs. Amelia Collins, Miss Louise Drake Wright, and others have taught on the continent; but preeminently Martha Root, who has spread the message not only in the leading universities and highest circles of Europe, but to royalty, [p525] IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PIONEERS 525 confirming the present Dowager Marie, then Queen of Rumania, in the Cause. Mr. Siegfried Schopilocher, a veteran world traveller, has supplemented his frequent business voyages with Baha'i teaching. Tn 1932 the Guardian bade me goodbye with a smile; that smile that soars like a bird from his lips to its heavenly nest. Ct~0~ should be very grateful to Baha'u'llah for extending to you this opportunity for service," he said. Amidst the perplexities, hardships and problems that often beset my path I think that my abiding protection is a sense of deep and reverent gratitude; gratitude that I have been privileged, not to hear about, but to witness, in a thousand gleaming camp fires round the world the marshalling of the army of the Lord of Hosts; to behold in every land the unsheathing of His terrible, swift sword; to see, with mine eyes, the Glory of the Coming of the Lord. Men and women from every tribe and kindred of the earth, forgetting their age-old tutelage of hatred and antagonism, abandoning their prejudices and racial inhibitions, rejecting the animosi-. ties of ancient creed and dogma, learning new and shining lessons of forbearance, love and forgiveness; pressing forward in deadly, deadly earnest against man's eternal foes: ignorance, oppression, superstition, greed, crime, war, poverty, injustice; putting aside every personal consideration to serve the mighty ends of peace and righteousness. Surely gratitude is the only appropriate emotion with which to regard the spectacle of life at the flood tide of its spiritual ardor. For in this Cause every Baha'i is a pioneer; a pioneer in a new manner of living, a new outlook on life; a new assurance; a new fortitude, because ours is a new promise; the promise that at last that celestial city ceeter~ nal in the heavens, whose Builder and Maker is God"; that Holy City, New Jerusalem, shall descend to earth and that the tabernacle of God shall be among men. The doors of that city tcshall never be closed by day and night; there shall be none; and into it will the kings of earth bring their glories." It is for the speedy fulfillment of this promise that Baha'i pioneers are laboring so ardu-ousiy throughout the world. [p526] A group of Persian Baha'is including Pioneer Workers. [p527] THE ORIENTATION OF HOPE B~ ALAIN LOCKE AS THE clouds darken over our chaotic world, all of us Ñ even those who still cherish the dream and hope of a new world order of peace, righteousness and justice, must face the question of where to focus our expectations, where to orient our hopes. To do otherwise is merely to hug an ideal to our bosoms in childish consolation and passive fatalism Ñ a reaction oniy too human, but not worthy of the possessors of a virile and truly prophetic spiritual revelation. If we fall victims to the twilight mood and the monastic flight from reality, are we not really false friends and even spiritual traitors to the universal ideal? Must we not as true Baha'i believers in these times embrace our principles more positively, more realistically, and point everywhere possible our assertion of the teachings with a direct challenge? In fact, for those of us who are truly dawn-minded, the present twilight hour, this dusk of disillusionment is auspicious. It is the occasion and opportunity of convincing many who were sceptical because they could not see the impending failure of the old order, but who now almost without exception are in a questioning and thoroughly disillusioned mood. Especially does it seem to me to be the opportunity to bring the Baha'i principles again forcefully to the attention of statesmen and men of practical affairs, who now may in all likelihood be in their period of greatest receptivity, having turned to so many plans and remedies to little or no avail. Is it not reasonably clear to us that now is the time for a worldwide, confident and determined offensive of peaceful propagandg for the basic principles of the Cause of brotherhood, peace and social justice? I have one humble suggestion: that without forgetting the language in terms of which we ourselves have learned the principles, we shall take pains to learn and speak a language which the practical-minded man of affairs, and the realistic common man can and will understand. The message must be translated to terms and ideas and practical issues of the presentday world and its problems and dilemmas, or, I am afraid, much of the advantage of this marvelous seedtime will be lost. Too often previously, we have been confronted with that characteristic and almost pardonable distrust of the average man for the Ctpanacea type of solution," his interest in oniy one segment of the problem. Today even the man in the street is becoming keenly convinced of the fundamental and wide-scale character of the difficulties underlying the present crisis. In a recent article, H. G. Wells has this to say: ttlt is becoming plain to us that the disaster of the Great War and our present social and economic disorder arc not isolated misfortunes, but broad aspects of a now profound disharmony in the conditions of human life. A huge release of human energy through invention and discovery drives us on inexorably toward the establishment of a new type of society in which the production and distribution of necessities will be the easy task of a diminishing moiety of the population, while research, new enterprise, new extensions and elaborations of living, the conquest not simply of material but of moral and intellectual power and of beauty, vitality and happiness become the occupation of an ever increasing multitude. We cannot go back. Retrogression to iess progressive conditions seems more difficult and dangerous now than a revolutionary advance. Either we must go on to this new state of disciplined plenty or lapse into chaotic and violent barbarism.~~ And of this that he calls Ccan imperative new world order," Mr. Wells has this interesting and challenging thing to say: CCI doubt if it is in the capacity of any single human being to lead our race around this difficult corner. The carryover from the catastrophic phase of today to the new world state of freedom and abundant life must, I believe, be the work of a gathering, growing 527 [p528] 528 THE BAHA'I WORLD number of men inspired by a common apprehension of the needs and possibilities of the case. I am thinking of a wide, unorganized growth of understanding. When that understanding develops commanding force, the new world will be made accessible, and not before." I have cited this quotation as a representative sample of the drift of intelligent thought today upon the whole world situation. Its tone and trend show clearly just that groping toward universal and spiritual principles and forces which alone can save us. More clearly still, it reveals the demand for a social ideal of religious appeal and intensity, but at the same time sane, practical and progressive. This despair and disillusionment of the present, this bankruptcy of materialism must be seized upon constructively and positively as a God-given opportunity for teaching men where the true principles and hopes of a new and universal human order really can be found. And to do that powerfully, effectively, the Baha'i teaching needs an inspired extension of that potent realism of tAbdu'1-BahS by which he crowned and fulfilled the basic idealism of Baha'u'llah. [p529] LA FOJ ET LA SCIENCE UNJES PAR FART B~ MARIE ANTOINETTE AUSSENAC-BROGLIE A CETTE 6poque oii 1'humanit6 semble sortir d'un long sommeil pour reyjyre ~ 1'Esprit, consciemment ou inconsciemment, 1'homme cherche a s'6lance ~ La poursuite de 1'invisible et de sciences qui nous y condui-sent. L'angoisse religieuse aussi n'a jatnais &6 pius intense. Par sa grande 6volution 1'homme actuel est pr~t ~ recevoir le grand message de Baha'u'llah dans son mouvement syn-th6tique qui nous fait passer de 1'ancienne compr6hension des divisions ~ Ia compr6hen-sion moderne oii nous cherchons ~ suivre les ondes qui se propagent traversant toute limitation humaine et de la cr6ation. Chaque combat que nous Ijyrons ~ nos penchant nous d~gage des voiles qui s6parent le monde visible du monde invisible et aug-mente en nous cette capacit6 de perception et de s'accorder aux Iongueurs d'ondes les plus vari~es, de vibrer au contact des rythmes les pius divers de Ia creation. Tout ce qui nous vient directement de Ia nature est touj ours harmonie absolue. Le tout est de capter 1'~qui1ibre de toute chose et lui donner la voix au moyen d'un instrument capable d'6mevtre les m~mes harmonies que notre &me, cc qui nous fait vibrer et devenir le lien entre Ic pass6 et l'avenir en atteignant une nouvelle 6tape correspondant h I'6volution du monde. En religion, Ia cause de Baha'u'llah, qui est la grande r6v6lation de noise ~poque, est la meme que celle du Christ, son temple a son fondement les mames mis en harmonic avec le degr~ de maturit~ moderne. Nous trou-vons dans ce m~me mouvement ~ travers le B&b, Baha'u'llah, tAbdu'1-BaM Shoghi Effendi, une continuation avec remise de pou-voirs pour notre ~volution Si rnrns restons conscients de la gravit6 du moindre d6tourne-ment des pouvoirs venant d'une Source Divine. Ceci exige de notre part un constant 6tat d'tveil, moms sur le pass~ que sur le pr6sent et 1'avenir, une grande foi et ob6issance pour suivre chaque nouveau sillon de notre courant qu'impose au Gardien le rytlime du destin. Actuellement, c'est vers Lui que doivent se joindre nos efforts dans tout l'6lan de notre enthousiasme. Shoghi Effendi nous donne une pr6cieuse clef dans son enseignement pour rendre effective la loi de 1'Amour car ce n'est que dans cette vibration d'Amour que nous pun-vons nous accorder ~i toutes les grandes forces, mettre en contact le cerveau 6metteur a r6cepteur avec les choses cherch6es. La pens6e est spirituelle et pour se manifester ii faut qu'elle emprunte une image et c'est cette image qui en forni6e par ics vibrations qu'on peut saisir. II est donc pr6cieux que chacun de nous 6tablisse un lien spirituel ~ HaYfa pour dmettre a recevoir les inspirations venant d'un m~rne courant pour les communiquer i 1'humanit6 selon nos dons et possibilit6s. De tout temps la parole et Ia musique ant dt6 de puissants moyens. Par defl 1'histoire, nous savons queue part Ia musique a toujours pnse pour mettre Ia mati&re au service de 1'Esprit. Plus de deux milk ans avant notre are, on connaissait le pouvoir de Ia musique pour entrer en communication avec 1'au-deli et jouir sur Ia terre de lit pr6sence Divine. Cer-tames musiques rituelles 6taient qualifi6es pour faire descendre ici-bas les esprits c6lestes, d'autres pour 6voquer les esprits de 1'ordre terrestre. La musique restant longtemps dans ce Mat niveau des primitifs devait passer par de multiples conceptions. Musique classique (re-. ligieuse ou profane), musique romantique, sensuelle, m6canique et m&me destructive avec tout le raffinement a brutalit6 inat6riels 529 [p530] Marie Antoinette Aussenac, Princesse de Brogue. 530 [p531] LA VOl ET LA SCIENCE UNIES PAR L'ART 531 pour se rencontrer en 6quilibre avec Ia mu-sique spirituelle. A cette 6poque du rythme universel on se sent pouss~ vers de nouvelles vibrations sonores a on 6pouve le besoin absoin 1'elim-iner Ia partie mat6rielle pour entrer en communication avec 1'au-delA ~ 1'aide de la concentration et du pouvoir de nous tourner vers les grandes forces spirituelles par de1~ 1'invisible, ce qu'Abdel Baha appelait "su Ñ prdme concours." C'est apr~s une longue connaissance du piano en associant souvent mon jeu avec orchestre que peu ~i peu j 'ai acquis la certitude qu'il y avait derri~re ces expressions de sonoritd une richesse encore voil6e dont nous n' avions jusqu'ici pu apercevoir qu'unc faible partie dans ics instruments existants. Que Ia science devait coinruencer i~ explorer un nouveau chemin dont les sources sont iliimit6es. Je veux parler de 1'influence de 1'Esprit sur Ia mati&re et des instruments d'ondes s'aj outant aux instruments actuels. L'~tat r6ceptif encourage la manifestation des forces qui sommeillent au fond de notre 6tre et qu'on a pris 1'habitude d'appeler "sub-conscient." Tant que nous poursuivons spon-t6n6rnent le "mol intellectuel" ces forces restent cach&s. Pour qu'elles emergent ii est n6cessaire que nous nous entrainions i~ un 6tar d'abandon, de renoncernent, pour ainsi dire. II faut refouler le moi humain dont L'instrument "Ether" Con~u en 1915 par Nicolas Obotihow autour de La Liturgie musicale "Le Livre de Vie" et mentionn6 comme premier instrument radio-6lectrique dans le Dictionnaire de 1'Encyclop6die Musicale du Conservatoire, en 1925. Cette conception coYncidait avec mes rech4rches de cr6er un instrument agissant non seulement sur 1'oreille mais sur les centres nerveaux et psychiques. Tin instrument sans division de clavier et sans contact afin que l'execution puisse &tre livr6e au subeonscient. Cet instrument a pu &tre r6alis6 au point de vue 6lectrique en 1933, par Michel Billaudot. nous sommes Ic plus fier, celui qui a peins~, creus6, appris, enr6gistr~, compris. II est n6cessaire d'entrer dans cet ~tat apr~s nous dtre exerc6 ~t 'a concentration mentale psi requiert au contraire toute 1'attentivit6 dont nous sommes capables et c'est le jev alternatif de cette concentration, de cette d6tente, c'est Ic rythrne binaire des lois fonda-mentales de Ia vie qul font que certains 6tats r6ceptifs que Von croit supranomaux ont pour caract6ristique unt passivit~ des nerfs moteurs laissant leur activitd enti&e aux nerfs passifs. C'est cet dtat qui permet La transmission de 'a conception musicale spirituelle par La captation des ondes sans contact. Dans cette captation, 1'ex6cutant est un d6tecteur d'ondes comparable ~ un r&epteur de T.S.F. Les ondes rasdiques d'origine soit psychique (radiation de la pensde conscient te ou in-consciente), soft physique (radiation de Ia mati~re inerte ou vivante) induisent dans 1'organisme antenne de 1'ex6cntant, des cour-ants de force qui actionnent directernent sur les auditeurs ces courants ont une efficacit6 r~e11e sur les troubles nerveux a circulatoires; us rernontent le potentiel vital •et agissent comme r~gu1ateur de 'a tension nerveuse. Ccci laisse entrevoir les possibilit& des fluides soniques rnani6s avec initiation sur de nouvelles bases musicales unissant les pouvoirs de 1'Orient avec ceux de 1'Occident, par l'union de Ia garnrne de 7 et de S sons Join le crdateur, Nicolas Obouhow, tout en sui-vant son propre chemin, se trouve en parfaite syntonisation avec les r6vdavions de Baha'u'llah. C'est dans de communs efforts et unit6 de pens6e qu'a 6t6 con~ue et r6alis6e le "Croix Sonore," parfait symbole de la balance en 6quilibre dont les nouvelles vibrations ont pour but de r~v61er le monde promis oii tous les hommes seront de frtres. [p532] Aq~ J~n Kh~n-i-Kh6.msih who carried out the order for the execution of the BTh. (Refer to Dawn-Breakers, Ch. XXIII.) 532 [p533] RELIGION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS B~ KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER AS WE examine the course of history we are constrained to recognize the all-impor-. tant function of religion in man's development and social progress. From age to age there has appeared on earth a Being tcpeerless and unique," who has exercised over the hearts and minds and souis of those who have heard and accepted His message a power and an authority that is never shared by another person. Few human beings can influence their fellowrnen throughout the course of their own lifetime; to extend this influence to the third or four generation is the utmost of human capacity: But the Founders of the great religions of the world change and control the action of millions of people for hundreds, yes, thousands of years, as in the case of Moses and Zoroaster. All existing civilizations in the world are civilizations originating in religion, so far as history reveals their origin, founded and fostered by great Prophets or Messengers: Brabmanism and Shintoisin, being of prehistoric origin, must be excluded from historical evidence; but there is every indication of their springing from a personal, not a mythological source. To repeat, no other than the Founders of the great religions of the world have ever been able to change and regiment whole peo-pies, races, nations and ethnic groups, within a few brief generations; demolishing the existing beliefs and practices of those to whom they have appeared and substituting their own new and ofttimes drastic teachings. Up to the threshold of the present century, the great artistic, social, political, legal and educational institutions of history have grown out of the laws, ordinances and principles laid down by the Prophets to the era or people that produced these institutions. The vast scheme of enlightened and humanitarian administration introduced by King Akka when he embraced Buddhism; the miraculous and dramatic energy of Gothic architecture; the educational enterprises under religious sponsorship in Arabia, India and Europe, the interdependence of church and state, as one of the most firmly established aspects of history; the evident influence of religious doctrine in the codification of Justinian law, Ñ are only a few of the many instances that come to mind as illustrating the far reaching, unparalleled power of the Founders of the great religions of the world. The only example of appreciable advancement in the fundamental social relations, and the spiritualizing of human practice is due, taking our evidence from history, to these great Messengers and Educators of mankind. Not the founders of new systems of philosophy, not the conquerors of vast territories, not the enlightened SCientist, not the monarch, no matter how humane, can accomplish these great ethnological movements over more than brief periods and sporadically. The One who comes with the authentic religious message from age to age holds the allegiance of His followers when every earthly aspect that accompanied His arrival has been discarded and forgotten. A study of the comparative religions of the world reveals to us the inescapable fact that they all teach the same great spiritual truths. All religions teach that there is but one great creative power, the source of light and life. To the Buddhist this creative power is an abstract principle, not a personal being, but nevertheless the Buddha teaches a fundamental unifying creative power. All religions teach the oneness of humanity; a fact oniy recently established through the science of anthropology, of which Prof. Franz Boas of Columbia University is the chief proponent. All religions have for their basis of action the practice of love and good will as the one attitude through which mankind can be well pleasing to God thus accomplishing the great purpose for which be was created. All religions teach some form of survival, advancing a belief in immortality; and all religions, 533 [p534] 534 THE BAHA'I WORLD without exception, teach that through their Founder and through Him alone can mankind know God or attain the essential path to salvation. Each one of the religions, as it has been founded in turn, has displayed always this changeless aspect of its teaching. However, side by side with these spiritual truths there is invariably revealed by each great Messenger who establishes His religion in the world, a body of laws and ordinances that constitute a temporal social program. These laws vary according to the time, place, condition of society and the human needs of those to whom the Prophet makes His revelation. The liveliest source of divergence among the followers of the great religions of the world is the difference in these temporal or social teachings that have been given by their Founder, as the plan and desire of God. For long after the conditions have passed which made teachings necessary, men still cling to these obsolescent forms and ceremonies. The Founder of each religion has always covenanted with His followers that a successor would follow Him; that that same spirit which had enabled Him to lighten men's burdens and to purify their hearts would appear in another being like unto Himself; but the course of history always reveals the same story Ñ the Promised One comes into the world with a great message of authority, more advanced teachings than those which men had received in the past dispensation, and is met in every age with the most violent and perhaps tragic rejectiOn Ofl the part of those to whom He had been sent. One of the irrefutable proofs of His reality has been that ofttimes with no prestige, no power, no position, but facing the organized opposition of society as well, in spite of all opposition and denial He has triumphantly succeeded in establishing His cause. A study of comparative religions shows that their Founders have always claimed to derive their power from God, have always taught the same basic spiritual truths, have always brought an uplifting and progressive social program and have always obtained the same historical results, Ñ that of elevating men to loftier human relations and to greater spiritual ideals. As previously stated each of the great re ligions of the world today have been promised by its Founder that the same spirit which was in Him will return and dwell amongst men. The Buddha taught his followers that He was not the first Buddha nor would He be the last. Therefore the Buddhists are expecting the fifth Buddha. The Zoroastrians have been promised Shah Baroum; the Christians are expecting the Second Coming; the Muhammadans, the Imam Mahdi; the Brahmans, the twelfth incarnation of Vishnu; the Jews are still expecting their Messiah. Each religion has been promised by its Founder that when this promised One appears He will establish love and brotherhood, peace and goodwill throughout the earth. With each religion divided into innumerable sects it would seem impossible to reconcile the conflicting and contending divisions of any one of the religions within itself. To produce affection and sympathetic understanding among the great religions themselves would indeed require the incomparable influence of One endowed with the power of God, as in each instance this Promised One was to be. It is selfevident that each of the religions, in this sublime expectation, is referring to one Personality, not several; for if each of these expected Messengers came, as promised, He would not produce harmony and accord, but greater conflict and misunderstanding. When sincere and spiritually-minded men and women, of whatever faith, examine the identity of teaching in all of the great religions, as previously explained, they are compelled, if they are candid and dispassionate, to admit the basic unity of all religious teaching. To find these earnest exponents of true religion to whom the spirit and not the letter of their faith is of paramount importance, would be to obliterate religious differences and to institute the practice rather than the profession of one's belief; for all religions are based upon the law of love. That ccpressed down and running over men give back into our bosoms" the sympathy and generosity which we express towards them is not oniy a teaching common to all religions, but is sound psychology as well. Not by the arrogance of assuming everyone else to be in the wrong and ourselves in the right; not by a blind refusal to investi [p535] RELIGION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 535 gate and accredit the beliefs of others, but by an independent approach to the study: first Ñ of what we owe to religions; second Ñ of the great basic teachings which they hold in common; and third Ñ of the immeasurable influence which they have exerted throughout out the ages over the lives of the millions who have teemed this earth. By this approach can we find the reconciling attitude that will enable us to enter into sincere accord with those who are seeking and worshipping God everywhere. The New Politics One of the lively sources of divergence and misunderstanding among men is religion. Something which will create in men the will to harmony and friendship is basic to a solution of the world's more material problems. Religious accord presupposes the determination to solve the world's problems on the basis of justice and goodwill. But even with a desire for goodwill we must have some intelligent method, some sane and workable plan by which the inequalities and miseries of human life can be readjusted to safer and nobler ends. When men arise with religious fervor, determined to carry forward a great spiritual command, as in the case of the religious teachings of the past, history discloses to us with a startling rapidity old methods, standards and practices are discarded and new ones established, under religious sanction. In the case of the serious political problems which confront the world, erupting from generation to generation in war, which not only dislocates civil and economic life but destroys valuable human life as well, it is evident, even to ignorant people, that some power higher than the state is essential to that internal regulation amongst the governments of the world that will adjudicate national differences without resort to arms. The participation of various states in a League of Nations and in a World Court is convincing evidence that thinking people realize that the old world in which governments and nations could live to themselves alone has given place to a new world, shrunk to such all-inclusive dimensions that today the nations of the world are, "members one of another." In times past war brought merely political changes, but today, with an active revolutionary party in all of the great industrialized countries, war would produce changes of such profound social and economic signifi cance as to be fraught with the gravest danger to civilization. Therefore some method must be devised whereby all the nations heartily and willingly give over political affairs of an international character to a body empowered to act. In order to draw every nation into such a scheme the group comprising this final par-liarnent must be completely impartial, just and free from all political entanglements. Many of the great nations today are suffering under political schemes devised for a world which has vanished. At present most of the problems treated through political channels, in accordance with past custom, are not in the least political in nature: reparations, unemployment, tariff, state insurance protection, all kinds of improvement of domain are nor political but economic considerations, while other issues, handled thiough the mechanism of politics, are legal. The simple, easy, uncomplicated problems of the past could be solved by party methods, but today's problems are different. Government to be effective must be efficient. Those who govern must be equipped for government. Social experimentation proves that governing is a very exact science that cannot be spontaneously put into practice by ignorant, uninformed men no matter how lofty and humanitarian their sentiments. After finding men with ideals of justice and human betterment, selfless and dedicated to the common good Ñ there are such in every country of the world Ñ they must next possess enlightenment and information, relying in all exact matters upon expert opinion and advice. To correct the inefficiency of party politics those elected to that ultimate international office suggested in this article, would have but one task before them: to administer public affairs not upon the basis of party patronage, political allegiance and the whim [p536] 536 THE BAHA'I WORLD of constituencies, but upon the basis of intelligent inquiry, unbiased investigation and impartial judgment. Free and open expression of opinion is essential in such considerations, but there could be no final interest as to which opinion prevailed. Personal loyalty and adherence to preconceptions would have to be effaced. What happened to personal opinions and ideas would in such a body become a matter of indifference: for the only objective would be arrival at true, just and workable conclusions. This would constitute government consultation, which could be established in the simplest village, as well as in international affairs, thus relieving the world from the strife and inefficiency of party conflicts. Popular suffrage won at such sacrifice and expense should never be relinquished. All local governments could be directly elected; national bodies elected by delegates, democratically chosen; and the final international body could then be elected by the various national governments; this would preclude either popular favor or prejudice. Having suggested a basis for religious and nationalistic harmony there still remains a very lively source of misunderstanding and conflict in the racial prejudices that separate mankind. Fortunately the youth of the world is not yet inured to the blindness and folly of racial antagonism. Exchange professors and students, enormously increased travel, the radical conclusions of anthropologists and biologists concerning the basic likeness of the races, increasing recognition of the danger to world peace in racial conflicts, as well as the ordinary common sense view that any race that has survived the incalculable vicissitudes of history has valuable power and assets that make it worthy of respect: these and other considerations have formed a strong bond of racial amity around the world. To trace the infiltrations and modifications of the races through migration and admixture is merely another means of telling the story of human progress. The Ainus and Pigmy are illustrations of pure races. Ethnology gives no example of any race that has attained to high superiority without a fecundating contact with those different from itself. As we know, human beings increase in geometrical ratio: we have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents, etc. At this rate, a rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic acquaints us with the fact that by the end of twenty generations, or about seven hundred years, every man has 1,937,152 ancestors; adding another three hundred years, or ten more generations, the total comes to 1,743,643,248 ancestors in one thousand years. Just one generation more, the thirty-first, brings our ancestry to 3,487,286,496, and as there have never been as many people as that on the globe at any time all our hysteria about pure and superior races is not oniy, in the words of Professor Best, ~tpure myth, but pure bunk." That mankind is one great family is common to all religious beliefs. C~God made of one blood all men to dwell upon the face of the earth." "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?" If this view be pressed and humanity be so regarded, we must admit that the more evolved and advanced the organism the more differentiated the organs. Each organ is specialized for its own peculiar function, which cannot be performed by any other organ. The most important contribution to the body is the high degree of distinction in its parts; and so with the great organism of humanity: each race, each nationality has its own peculiar part and function in the development of mankind; due to its differences, no other can fill that place, no other can perform that service. The growing interdependence of mankind, his increasing enlightenment, his ever-widen-ing acquaintance with other peoples and races, as well as the social security of a better understanding, are once more reviving the old religious sanctions of universal brotherhood and increasing human sentiments of goodwill and sympathy. The special gift deposited in each of the socalled races (for ethnology has not accepted the idea of a basic difference) is of enormous value and advantage to the welfare and advancement of the organism of humanity; therefore racial differences should never be discredited, but enthusiastically fostered and developed. The recognition of those superiorities possessed by each of the races [p537] RELIGION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 537 constitutes a basis whereon racial enmity may be annulled; for the conquest of prejudice is fundamental to any lasting solution of human problems. The day has passed when one must speak with bated breath of the existing economic structure as a sacrosanct institution derived from God. The educated youth of every land are studying economics and freely discussing the fallacies, inadequacies and failures of the present system. In this worldwide depression capital and labor alike are suffering from the deficiencies of our economic practice. The spectacle of 355,000,000,000 bushels of excess wheat in the world with millions of people undernourished and starving; virgin products and raw materials going to waste while the nations suffer from unemployment; low wages prohibiting distribution and consumption, upon which economic welfare depends; these and many other pressing problems are challenging the attention of statesmen, economists, manufacturers, laborers, farmers, everywhere. 'Whatever the world's political status, we are obliged to recognize that it is an economic unit; no nation today can solve its economic problem independently. With the establishment of an International House of Justice along the lines previously suggested, these pressing economic problems could be solved for the whole world. There could be, for example, an international control of the food suppiy, a stabilized international currency, equitable distribution and administration in matters too far-reaching for local control. Since the earth is the basis of wealth, and food the necessity for human welfare, any solution of the economic problem would start with the farmer. If he were permitted to pay his taxes either in money or in kind the produce could be distributed by the community authorities to those points where it was most needed, thereby bringing the best price. For this purpose a common storehouse would be required, such for example, as the Canadian farmers used in their Wheat Pool. A competent secretary to control this storehouse would levy a graduated tax, those producing the most paying perhaps, a fifth, while those producing little would be tax-exempt. exempt. Those producing less than their requirements would be assisted from the common store to the extent of their legitimate needs. There should be several sources of income locally: taxes on animals, wealth without inheritors, a portion of the mines, and so forth; while the common treasury would have to pay from its revenue running expenses, such as public safety, hygiene and the like; its national tax, support of an orphanage, a hospital, the poor relief already mentioned and education. Thus this most fundamental of all public services would be removed from politics and expediency. Economists say that the world is suffering from underconsumption of both men and materials. If every man labored there would be no drudgery. If all men worked consumption would be universal and leisure a common benefaction. In a well ordered world there would be no idle rich and no idle poor. The yawning gulf between capital and labor cannot be spanned through wages: the time will never come when the laborer will be satisfied with his hire. The abolition of wages and the substitution of profit-sharing would obviate this fundamental source of disagreement. Then if each workman became a stockholder in the business for which he worked he would give to it his utmost loyalty and effort. Such a plan would not work satisfactorily unless it were universally adopted. With every man working and every man owner in a business everyone would then become both a capitalist and a laborer: the wide divergence existing between them would by this method be bridged. Under international direction, strong laws could be made to protect the capitalist from heavy losses and the laborer from want. A form of testamentary will redistributing wealth with every generation would safeguard society from the concentration of capital in the hands of the few. With such a plan as given in this and the preceding article the sabotage that the natiOns of the world are now practicing on the economic machine would cease. The program for social advancement and world betterment outlined in previous articles constitute part of the plan of Baha'u'llah, [p538] 538 THE BAHA'I WORLD Founder of the Baha'i Cause, for the solution of human problems. Born near Tihr6n, Persia, in 1817, a descendant of the ancient royal dynasty, He passed from this world a titular prisoner in the penal coiony of tAkki, Palestine, in 1892. He spent forty years in exile and in prison for promulgating universal peace and human brotherhood. In addition to the religious, racial, political and economical reconciliation already briefly described in this series, He has laid down as principles essential to human advancement: the independent search for truth, whereby we will free ourselves from ancient dogmas, inhibitions and superstitions in our investigation of reality; accord between religion, science, reason, and the abandonment of belief contrary to established proof; universal education; a universal auxiliary language; the equality between men and women; and, fundamental to all advancement, the conquest of prejudice. It is important to note that all of the great principles laid down by Baha'u'llah were enunciated between 1844 and 1866, long in advance of their general acceptance. Today many of them seem commonplace, but when we recall that they were set forth in central Asia, from sixty to eighty years ago, we realize how challenging they were. How are we to account for the fact that Baha'u'llah formulated His program long in advance of its acceptance if not on the basis of an innate knowledge, power and influence on His part? Everything that He suggested is today, two generations later, being agitated as necessary to advancement and security. But when He called for peace in 1869 a disarmament conference would have been an impossibility. Peace was certainly not a new idea; it had been in the world for centuries; however its general pursuit did not start until long after Baha'u'llah had incorporated it into His plan, together with the Court of International Arbitration, which was first founded thirty years later at the Hague. When Baha'u'llah called for universal education the rulers of the world prided themselves in keeping their subjects in ignorance; but today education is the ideal of every civilized government. In Persia in 1844 the Bab, Who foretold the coming of Baha'u'llah, announced the era of the equality between men and women: its fulfillment since that time has been phenomenal. When Baha'u'llah spoke of reason and science as supporting true religion Darwin and Huxley were being denounced as destroyers of faith. Today Eddington, Pupin, Milliken and other great scientists declare materialism much too fantastic for science. It is unnecessary to continue this form of argument for it is selfevident that the whole Baha'i program was formulated by Baha'u'llah long in advance of its agitation or adoption in the world. cAbdu~I~BahA son of Baha'u'llah, and in Ñ terpreter of the Baha'i teachings, says to His followers: "It is incumbent upon you to be submissive to all monarchs who are just and to show your fidelity to every righteous king. Serve ye the sovereigns of the world with utmost truth and loyalty. Show your obedience unto them and be their well-wishers, without their leave and permission do not meddle with political affairs; well is it with them that act accordingly." The sane and noble plan given by Baha'u'llah to emancipate us from our present difficulties is a plan that would have to be voluntarily and peacefully embraced, in order to establish its glorious results. The Baha'i Faith, numbering many millions of followers throughout the world, has for its immediate objective the fostering of love and goodwill among mankind. Representatives of every religion, every race, every nationality, every social class, every degree of humanity from the lowest unto the highest are daily swelling our numbers and enhancing the prestige of peace and of brotherhood in the world. Hereditary animosities, age-old enmities, apparently insurmountable barriers are being abrogated and forgotten under the compel-'jag influence of these mighty teachings of Baha'u'llah. To Baha'is, this practice of world friendship is not a mere wistful idea; it is the common basis of everyday life. The world is full of societies and movements, some working for peace, some for the advancement of women, some for the solution of the economic problems, some for education, some for a universal language, some [p539] 539 RELIGION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS for racial amity, some for brotherhood and understanding: but the Baha'i Cause is the oniy one that combines all of these objectives under the guidance of Baha'u'llah, Who first compiled the all-inclusive program from which each in turn has sprung. The following words of Baha'u'llah are recorded by Prof. E. G. Browne of Cambridge University, who visited Him in Akka in 1889: ~tWe desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment ... that all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the tMost Great Peace' shall come. These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease and all men be as one kindred and one family. Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind." [p540] Tihr~n, Persia. House owned and occupied by Baha'u'llah in Tihr~n, Persia. 540 [p541] PRINCE PAUL AND PRINCESS OLGA OF YUGOSLAVIA (Excerpts from an Article Written by Martha L. Root) LONG have I wished to present to you a pen picture of H. R. H. Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and his wife, H. R. H. Princess Olga, who before her marriage was a Greek Princess, niece of His Majesty King Constantine and daughter of H. R. H. Prince Nicholas of Greece. The first time I met them was at tea at the Royal Palace in Belgrade, for H. R. H. Prince Paul is a cousin of His Majesty King Alexander of Yugoslavia and they live in the Royal Palace, sometimes representing the King and Queen at state functions when Their Majesties cannot be present. Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania and H. R. H. Princess Ileana were visiting the King and Queen of Yugoslavia in January, 1928, and had brought with them some of their Baha'i books. The young prince and princesses read them too, and it was because the writer was a Baha'i, that through the courtesy of Princess Ileana, the,. invitation came from Their Royal Highnesses Prince Paul and Princess Olga to come to the Royal Palace in January, 1928, and tell them about these universal principles for world peace. They saw my Esperanto pin and it chanced that our introductory conversation was about this universal auxiliary language. H. R. H. Prince Paul said: ~ts a few words in Esperanto that we may hear it spoken.~~ "It sounds like Spanish," they agreed, and then followed a little discussion how some kind of a universal auxiliary language is necessary to world peace. We spoke of Baha'u'llah's principles of universal education, the equal education of the girl and the boy, the doing away of all prejudices in order to bring into solid reality chis ideal of the oneness of humanity and the permanent peace. I remember so well Her Royal Highness Princess Olga said: ccCou1dn~t we do something to help Miss Root? Couldn't we translate one of those little Baha'i booklets about the peace principles into Serbian, just as Ileana did into Rumanian? Her husband replied: "Yes, we could, but we might not do it as well as my professor, Professor Bogdan Popovitch, who is one of the finest Serbian scholars in the world." This prince then explained to me that so much of his own education had been in other countries Ñ I understand he has taken his M. A. degree in Oxford University Ñ he has lived so much abroad that while I know his Serbian is perfect, he said he felt his teacher might give a better translation. So Prince Paul left the tea table to write for me a note of introduction to Professor Bog-dan Popovitch. (The latter made a marvelous translation of a small Baha'i compilation which to this day is praised throughout Yugoslavia.) 'When we spoke of Haifa, Palestine, and the Family of tAbdu'1-BaM the young princesses said: (cIt must be lovely to go to Palestine and see and speak with the sister of tAbdu'1-Ba1A, Baha'i Khinum, and with Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i work." They said they had read "Some Answered Questions" and other books which Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania and Princess Ileana bad brought. The next time I was in Belgrade, that wonderful city, the ccGte~~ between East and West Ñ the Gate through which the Crusaders passed en route to the Holy Land, the Gate through which came the Turks on their "mission" of conquest into Europe, the Gate through which have thronged the nationals of Europe, who knows, it may in this twentieth century, become a Gate to enduring peace and the tranquillity of suffering humanity! Ñ was in February, 1933, five years later. I was impressed what faces, full of peace, the Yugoslavs have! Also, Yugoslavia is a micro541 541 [p542] 542 THE BAHA'I WORLD cosm of the world macrocosm in this new universal age; just what Yugoslavia must do and is doing to build up permanent peace amid its religions, its races, its varied interests of these several South Slav groups, so grade to take part in a Yugoslav National Esperanto Congress). The guest said: ccoh I beg you not to tell Dr. Prince, the American Minister, that I am urging Esperanto, for he does not care for this simple language H. R. H. Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. the whole universe must and perhaps he wouldn't do the same, for the whole arrange for me to come world is but one country and see you again!" Prince and mankind are its citizens.Paul, who possesses such H. R. H. Prince Paul anda sense of fun, laughed H. R. H. Princess Olga gaily and replied: "Oh, again invited me to the yes, I'll tell Dr. Prince I'm palace. Quite unexpectedly going to learn Esperanto; we again spoke of Esper-antoI think it is better than first (as the writer studying twenty-two languages!" was coming to Bel Dr. Prince is one of the greatest [p543] PRINCE PAUL AND PRINCESS OLGA 543 linguists, also he is very loved by us all. Then we spoke of the Teachings of Baha'u'llah for the education of the inner spirit as well as for the intellect. Coming to Belgrade in June, 1933, the writer had tea at the Royal Palace with H. R. H. Princess Olga and her two lovely sisters, H. R. H. Princess Elisabeth and 'u'llAh and the New Era," which was to be published soon. When I had tea with H. R. H. Princess Olga in Dedinje Royal Palace up on the heights just above Belgrade, on March 12th, 1934, among the first questions asked were, "oh have you been to Haifa since you were here? How is Shoghi Effendi and how are H. R. H. Princess Olga of Yugoslavia with Prince Nicholas and Prince Alexander. H. R. H. Princess Marina of Greece. We spoke of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in Haifa, Palestine, and how several princes and princesses of Europe have expressed interest in his great task to help make a better world and have sent him greetings and wishes for success. These princesses said they would be very glad to see the Greek edition of Dr. J. E. Esslemont's book, tPaM members of tAbdu'1-Bahi's Family?" We spoke of Baha'u'llah's Teachings about education. This is only one group of princes and princesses who have liked the Principles of Baha'u'llah and read carefully some of His great Writings. There are others and for all of them Shoghi Effendi prays fervently for their welfare, their success and their spiritual advancement. [p544] The Imim~Zidih~Macs~im Tihr~n, Persia, where the remains ns of the Mb were kept. Burial-place of ccThe Seven Martyrs" in Tihr~n. Burial-place near TihrAn (under-neath h boulder) of BadE, bearer of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the ShAh of Persia. 544 [p545] A RELIGION OF RECONCILIATION B~ REV. GRIFFITH J. SPARHAM High gate Hill Unitarian Christian Church, London, England IN his book MA League of Religions," the Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, formerly minister of the Theistic Church in London, and at present minister of a Unitarian Church in Bristol, England, sets out to demonstrate that each great religious movement in the world has contributed something of peculiar importance to the spiritual life of man. Thus, he says, the great contribu-don of Zoroastrianism has been the thought of Purity; of Brahmanism that of Justice; of Muhammadanism that of Submission; of Christianity that of Service; and so on. In each instance he lays his finger on the one thing par excellence for which the particular religious culture seemed to him to stand, and tries to catch its special contribution in an epigrammaric phrase. Coming, in this way, to Baha'ism, he names it Ccthe Religion of Reconciliation." In his chapter on Bah&ism he says: ~tTh Baha'i religion has made its way because it meets the need of the day. It fits the larger outlook of our time, better than the rigid older faiths. A characteristic is its unexpected liberality and tolerance. It accepts all the great religions as true and their scriptures as inspired." This, then, as he sees Bahi'ism, is its essential feature: liberality, toleration, the spirit of reconciliation; and that, not in the sense, as Mr. H. G. Wells has it in his ttSoul of a Bishop," of making a "collection" of approved portions of the world's varied and differing creeds, but in the sense, as he also puts it in the same book, of achieving a great ttsimplification" CCBahi~ists~~ says Dr. Davis, ccbid the followers of these (that is, the world's) faiths disentangle from the windings of racial, par-ticularist, local prejudices, the vital, immortal thread of the pure gospel of eternal worth, and to apply this essential element to life." That is Dr. Davis's interpretation of the genius of BaM'ism, and that it is a true one, no one who has studied Bah?ism, even superficially, can question, least of all the outsider. Indeed one may go further and assert that no one who has studied BahA'isrn, whether superficially or otherwise, would wish to question it; particularly if he approaches the subject from a liberal and unprejudiced point of view. In the last act of his "Wandering Jew," Mr. Temple Thurston puts into the mouth of Matteos, the Wandering Jew, himself, the splendid line, CCA11 men are Christians Ñ all are Jews." He might equally well have written, "All men are Christians Ñ all are Baha'is." For, if the sense of the Unity of Truth is a predominant characteristic of liberally-minded people, whatever may be their religious tradition, it is predominantly a characteristic of Bah6'ism; since here is a religious system based, fundamentally, on the one, simple, profound, comprehensive doc-trifle of the unity of God, which carries with it, as its necessary corollary and consequence, the parallel doctrine of the unity of Man. This, at all events, is the conviction of the present writer; and it is why, as a Unitarian, building his own faith on the same basic principles of divine and human unity, he has long felt sympathy with and good will toward a religious culture which stands on a foundation identical with that of the faith he holds. And a religion that affirms the unity of things must of necessity be a religion of reconciliation; the truth of which in the case of Bahi'ism is clear. For the Christian world especially Bahi-'ism should prove in a peculiar measure a tutor toward the reconciling spirit, inasmuch as nothing is more potent for the undermining of that exclusiveness that has been a feature of orthodox Christianity than a study of Christian origins, and nothing can make the nature of those origins clearer than the discovery of a parallel series of events in modern times; and that parallel series, as Dr. Estlin Carpenter points out in his "Relation 545 [p546] 546 THE BAHA'! WORLD of Jesus to His Age and Ours," is found in the story of BaM'ism, a fact that a glance at the story of the beginnings of the two religious movements will show. Historically, Christianity was an offshoot fuller sense. By reason of His greater spiritual l endowments Jesus became the dominating g figure of the movement, which came to be called after him, or rather his title. Then Jesus was crucified, and in course of time an expositor of the, by this time, new religion arose in the person of Saul, who was later called Paul. In a similar way, historically, Baha'ism took its departure from the Shi'ah sect of IslAm, and in some degree from the Siifi form of it. It began, as a distinct thing, with Mirza tAli Muhammad, known as the BTh, Manfichihr-KhAn, the Mu~tamidu'd-Daw1ih who extended his protection to the Bab in Isf4Mn, Persia. (Refer to Dawn-Breakers, Breakers, cli. X.) of Judaism. As a distinct thing it began, as Professor Seely reminds us in his ttEcce Homo," with the preaching of the Kingdom of God by John, known as the Baptist, among whose followers was Jesus. John was put in prison, and subsequently beheaded, and Jesus, who became known as the Christ, came forward to carry on the work, in a [p547] A RELIGION OF RECONCILIATION 547 among whose followers was Mirza Ijusayn tA1L Mirza CALi Muhammad was martyred, and Mirza Ijusayn tAli who became known as Baha'u'llah, came forward to carry on the work in a fuller sense. By reason of His greater spiritual endowments Mirza Husayn tAli became the dominating figure of the movement, which came to be called after him, or rather his title. Then Mirza. Husayn ~A1i passed, and an expositor of the, by this time, new religion, arose in the person of cAbbis Effendi, who was later called 'Abdu'l-Baha. That is the parallel. It is almost exact. And the worth of this from the Christian point of view is that it gives those who are unprejudiced a sense of relative values. It shows the development of things in their natural light and their true proportions. And above all it demonstrates that the central thing in Christianity, as in Bah&ism, is a universal conception of the Kingdom of God which, in turn, at once leads men out to the point at which Christianity and Bahi'isrn stand not merely on common ground, but actually become one faith. Not merely in this subtle sense, however, is Bah~'ism a religion of reconciliation. It is so in the very warp and woof of its being. The early doctrines of the BAt may appear to the western mind to savor, as is proper and natural, somewhat of the soil from which they sprang. There was a tendency toward the pantheistic teaching of the Stif is. A reverence was attached to certain numbers. From time to time, also, in Bahi'isrn itself an inclination toward the miraculous and the prophetic has appeared. And that these elements have corn-mended themselves to some of the most spiritually minded men in the Baha'i world is worthy of note. It shows that they stand for truths, and therefore should not be readily dismissed. But whether we accept these things or not, they are not of the main stuff of the body spiritual of Bahi'ism. We may accept them, or otherwise, without touching fundamental issues. The essentials of Bah&-'ism, and its increasingly emergent feature, are its insistence on certain great spiritual ideals and principles and its development of these, which are in every case of the inclusive, or universal sort. To begin with, there is the insistence on the Unity of Mankind. Mankind, says Baha ism, is one, and the supreme loyalty, under God, is not to a creed, or a nation, but to the human race. Then, there is the insistence on the Unity of Truth. Truth, says Bah&'ism, is one, and every man should seek it independently both on the material and on the spiritual plane. Again there is the insistence on the Unity of Religion. Religion, says BaM'ism, is one, since God is one, and revelation is the growing apprehension of Him by mankind, and every great Teacher has been, and is, in greater or less degree, a prophet of His one inclusive word. Yet, again, Science and Religion are one, in so far as each is true, since all truth is but knowledge of the one reality of God. Further, we have the doctrine that man and woman are in their ultimate nature one, variants, simply, of one spiritual stock. Education, therefore, should be equally for both. Prejudice of all kinds should be forgotten; and in the sense of their common origin nations should learn to live in mutual accord and peace. These are factors which illustrate the essence of Bahi'ism, and manfest its essentials, and there is nothing in the essential elements of Bahi'ism, but what reveals it as a reconciling power. t~To be a Baha'i," said Abdu'l-Baha on one occasion, (cineans simply to love all the world; to iove humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood." Or as He said on another occasion, it is for men to recognize that they are as ~ soui in many bodies," ttfr the more we love each other the nearer shall we be to God." There are many other aspects of Bah~i'ism that might be alluded to; its emphasis on the life that is prayer; the thought that is communion; the religion that is the immersion of the soui in God; to say nothing of its extraordinarily detailed and comprehensive teaching on and practical work for the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of mankind, and for international interdependence, cooperation and good will. But what are these, except variants of one theme Ñ which is the theme of true religion wherever it is discovered? They spring from the basic conception of one humanity in one God, which faith, whenever men hold it, under whatever name, reconciles the world. [p548] Richard St. Barbe Baker Founder of the ~Men of th& Trees" and internationally known silviculturist. Mr. Baker has spent eight years in the heart of Africa reclaiming the mahogany forests in Nigeria and teaching the natives of Kenya the value of trees. During all these years he so endeared himself to the natives that he was made a Thlood brother" of the tribes, oiie of the only two white men to experience this honor. 548 [p549] THE MEN OF THE TREES B~ RICHARD ST. BARBE BAKER, Founder V/HO are the Men of the Trees? They are tree lovers the world over who are working to create a universal tree-sense and encourage all to plant, protect and iove trees everywhere. The first Men of the Trees were African tribesmen who, in response to an appeal that was made, volunteered to protect their rapidly vanishing forests and plant trees in their farms and so leave behind them a forest instead of a trail of destruction. The life and prosperity of the dwellers of equatorial Africa are inseparably bound up with their forests. Lofty and dense, they have provided food and shelter for the wandering inhabitants from time immemorial. Whenever the farmer wanted a new piece of land upon which to grow his food crops, he would go into the forest, cut down the trees, burn the grass and reap his crops, and then move on, repeating the same process of destruction. This method of nomadic farming has been practiced for hundreds of years, with the result that the end of the virgin forest is now in sight. The Sahara has not always been desert. At the time of Muhammad great numbers of Arabs invaded that region, farmed and moved on deeper into the forest region. They brought with them vast herds of goats which would not permit of tree growth in their wake. As recently as two thousand years ago a King of Egypt received a present of buff a-ioes sent from a place which is now surrounded by desert. Those who have studied the habits of the African buffalo know that although they graze in open parkiands in the early morning and at night, they lay up in the dense forest during the greater part of the day. Further evidence comes from remains of trees which have been discovered on the banks of vanished rivers and on the shores of dried up lakes. Away to the north of the Gold Coast in the French sphere of influence, seeing the end of the forest in sight with little more virgin land in which to make their farms, the chiefs have forbidden marriage and the women have refused to bear children, for they will not raise sons and daughters for starvation! They are forever being driven before the oncoming desert and are forgetting even the simpler arts such as pottery making, and their poor crops are buried by the sand. As Assistant Conservator of Forests in Kenya, I called the chiefs and elders to me as I passed through that country. Day after day they came to my camp, and night after night they went away fully determined to do something, though not knowing how to begin. They said, ttWhat you want is an army of Morans. They are the young men and warriors. When I talked to them about the importance of tree-planting they said, "That is Shauri ya Mungu," (God's business). To be in a better position to help them I studied their language, their folklore and tribal customs, and was initiated into their secret society, an ancient institution which safeguarded the history of the past which was handed down by word of mouth through its members. Soon I came to understand and iove these people and wanted to be of service to them. They called me aBwana MrKubwa,~~ meaning "Big Master," but I said, ~ am your M~tuinwe," (slave). After three months safari travelling from place to place from thirty-six different camps, it suddenly dawned on me that for any constructive action in that part of Africa there was always a ceremonial dance. So I sent for the captains of the dances and when they came to my camp I said, "You have a dance when the beans are planted, and another when the corn is reaped; what about a dance for the trees Ñ for tree-planting?" ttTrees~~ said they, tttht is Shauri ya Mungu, (God's business,) to look after the trees." "Yes," said I, "but if you cut all the 549 [p550] Giants of the Redwood Empire Highivay in Northern California leading toward the ~Grove of International Understanding" established by Mr. St. Barbe Baker. These trees are thousands of years old and at one time covered all of this country. . They are fast disappearing and it was the missioiz of Mr. Baker (a awaken the people to their ancknt glory, their u~nspeakable grandeur and their value as evidences of a distant past. It is in this remaining redwood grove that Mr. Baker has visualized a meeting place for all races and all religions which he has nan~d the !rGrove of International Understanding." 550 [p551] THE MEN OF THE TREES 551 mother trees which provide the seed you don't give Mungu a chance." Apparently they had not thought of that. Then I suggested that it might be a good plan to have a dance for the trees. I said, "Suppose we have a dance at my camp in three weeks' time? I will offer a prize for the best turned-out warrior." It was agreed that this would be a good thing; so three weeks later three thousand turned up at my camp carrying their spears and shields as if prepared for battle, but on the point of their spears was a little black ball of ostrich feathers. That was a sign that they came in peace and not in war. They marched past and fell in before a solitary sacred tree, for when they cut down a forest they were in the habit of leaving just one tree to collect the spirits of the other trees that had been sacrificed to make the farms. This was an indication to me that they were tree-lovers at heart. They had the tree-sense already developed in no small degree. That day I called for men amongst them who would promise to become forest protectors and tree-planters. From the first five hundred volunteers I picked fifty for the trial experiment, and a badge was tied on their wrists with a kinyatta worked with green and white beads Ñ green to remind them of their obligation to plant trees, and white because every man of the trees must have a safi (clean) heart. If a man had not fulfilled his tree-planting obliga+ion he could not be said to have a saji heart and was not allowed to be present at the dance of the trees. As time went by, these young African tribesmen more than fulfilled their tree-planting obligation. Like Boy Scouts they promised to do one good deed each day, plant ten trees, seedlings or seeds each year and take care of trees everywhere. At first the very simplicity of doing one kind act for another was not readily understood by them; they were naturally kind to each other and most considerate for their parents. One of the most delightful experiences of my life happened some days after the inauguration ceremony of the Men of the Trees. I had been riding round my forest and came back tired one evening when my boy Rama zani bin Oman said, CCB there are many Morans who want to see you. ccTell them to go away," said I. "Don't they know the office is closed?" After tea I was somewhat refreshed and went out for a walk in my garden. There on the fringe of my compound I saw a number of young Men of the Trees talking earnestly amongst themselves; so I strolled in their direction, and when I came up to them I said, "Did not Rarnazani tell you to go away? Don't you know the office is closed? Did nor he tell you to go away? Did he not say eKesho~?" Then one of the lads stepped out in front of the rest, looked me straight in the eyes with winning frankness and exclaimed, ccBwana did you not tell us that we must do one good deed each day before the sun went down? In two hours the sun will go down and so far we have been unable to think of one good deed to do. We have come to ask you to help us to think of a good deed to do." I was nonpiussed. These people whom I had set on the way wanted to do something very definite then and there to further the cause. Hard by there were thousands of young seedlings waiting to be planted out. They were of the Mutarakwa, pencil cedar kind, and most valuable. I had applied to Government for money to spend in planting, but there was none available. It seemed to me that these delightful people had teen specially sent to me to meet this need. ttCome along," said I. ccEvery man who plants out fifty young trees, that will count as his good deed and he can go away with a clear conscience, feeling that he has fulfilled his obligation for the day." Then onwards evening by evening they came to my camp and when they could not think of a better good deed to do they planted out trees, and in this first nursery they raised over eighty thousand young Mu-tarakwa. Their simple faith inspired others and soon tribes who were suspicious or jealous of each other banded themselves together, taking as their motto and password tCTWAHAMWE~~ meaning "We are all working together as one man," or used imperatively, (CPU1L together." In 1924 I was invited to read a paper at the Conference of Living Religions within [p552] 552 THE BAHA'I WORLD the Empire on the beliefs of the A-Kikuyu. It was there that I had the pleasure of meeting many interested in the Baha'i Cause, amongst whom was Claudia Stuart Coles, who became a great inspiration in my life, and one of the most active members of the Council of the Men of the Tress, which shortly.after this was started in London under the chairmanship of Sir Horace 17'lunkett. The Men of the Trees came into being in Palestine in 1929, and Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Cause, was one of the first to give his practical support in this movement to restore that land to its pristine glory by tree-planting.' I began to realize the truth expounded by tAbdu'1-Bahi, that "in the Baha'i Cause, arts, sciences and all crafts are considered as worship. Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fulness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity." The science of Forestry arose from a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a necessity of life, and in addition ministering to man's aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Trees are forever giving to life; they are giving more than they take. Their roots dig down deep into the mother earth and raise the mineral wealth which comes up with the sap into the leaves where, under the influence of sunlight, sugar compounds are formed which are stored in the heart of the tree for the service of man. In the course of growing the tree is forever creating life-giving air, purifying the atmosphere which we breathe, improving the soil with its leaf fall, providing beauty to behold. It is a living poem of root, trunk, limb and branch, twigs and bud, blossom and fruit, providing shelter for man, birds and beasts. Trees are essential for the very existence 1F. J. Tear, MA., Department of Agriculture and Forests near American Colony in Jerusalem, is honorary Secretary for Palestine. of man, and when man has neglected to care for them he has in consequence suffered and perished. Therefore forest protection and tree-planting should receive the wholehearted support of the people of every nation on earth. ttHe that planteth a tree is a servant of God, He provideth a kindness for many generations And faces that he bath not seen shall bless him." So sang Henry van Dyke, a great man of the trees whose passing we mourn. May it not be that nations as well as tribes will be brought together in this great brotherhood based on beautifying the world by the cultivation and care of one of God's loveliest creations Ñ the Tree. Note: What is Africa? This narrative of personal experiences during an eight years' stay in the Mahogany Forests of Nigeria and in the Highlands of Kenya reveals the truth behind the tales we hear. It is vibrant with the enthusiasm of a man whose whole life is devoted to a constructive mission: the planting and preservation of trees for what they can give us. Already Captain Baker has so inspired the indigenous tribesmen with the contagious passion of his ideals that they have turned out in bands of hundreds and thousands at his command, and have pledged themselves to forest protection and tree planting, thus stopping the tide of the desert, their ancient enemy. He is a man who not oniy can, but does move mountains. He is one of the oniy two white men who have been admitted with full rites and ceremonies as a blood brother of the tribes. (The above was written by Tom Gait, undergraduate of Harvard University, for the loose cover of Richard St. Barbe Baker's "Men of the Trees."). [p553] LBS PROBLEMES DU MONDE ET LA FOJ BAHA CAUSERIE FAITE PAR tALI AFDALIPIYR d l~z riunion de l'Union des Etudiants Baha'is le 31 Dicenibre 1933 d Paris M ESDAMES, Messieurs, mes chers amis, C'est avec un vif plaisir que je inc suis vu charg6 par le Malifel Rouhani de Paris de prendre aujourd'hui Ia parole, dans notre quartrThrne congr~s annuel. Ce plaisir m'est d'autant plus cher et pr6cieux, que c'est la premi~re fois que j'ai 1'honneur d'assister ~i ces belles r~unions. Des emp~chements de toute sorte m'avaient jusqu'ici priv6 Wy venir. Je me voyais pour ainsi dire un peu coupabic, malgr6 moi-m~me; et je voulais me racheter dans les limites de mes humbles possibilit6s. C'est pourquoi j'ai accuejili avec beaucoup de plaisir, 1'ordre qui m'a 6t6 donn6. J'essayais ainsi de me faire pardonner mon absence pendant les trois premi&es con-f6rences. Je n'aurais jamais os6 parler devant vous qui ates infiniment micux renseign6s que moi, si je n'6tais pas anim~ de cet esprit. Je vous prierais donc, Mesdames et Messieurs, d'~tre indulgents ~ mon ~gard, d'autant plus que je dois m'exprimer dans une langue qui n'est pas mienne, et qu'il m'a 6t6 tr~s difficile de me documenter, faute de temps et de possibilit6s. Le sujet dont je vais vous entretenir au-jourd'hui est le suivant: ties probkmes actuels du monde a le BahA'isme." Je suis le premier ~t avouer qu'il est trop ample, et par cons~quent cop diflicile pour moi. Ii y a tant de probl6rnes dans le monde, qu'il faa vraiment avoir de t~1'audace," comme le disait Danton, pour se permettre de leur trouver une solution applicable partout et toujours. En tout cas, je inc propose de montrer que le b6haYsme est le seul remade, la solution unique pour tous ces probkmes. Et pour cela je dois commencer par analyser chacune des dif-ftrentes difficult6s por lesquelles le monde passe en ce moment, et faire voir ensuite de queue mani~re Ic khaYsme est ~ maine d'y rem6dier, et montrer enfin que c'est lui qui peut assurer au monde le salut et Ia prosp6rit6 dont ii a tant besoin, surtout depuis un certain temps. Mesdarnes et Messieurs, nous savons tous que 1'humanit~ est dans un dtat de crise aigiie. Les tensions internationales, les lutes des classes et des partis, les rivalit6s ~conomiques des diff6rents pays, La convoitise des uns, la faiblesse des autres, les divergences entre les divers peuples, les incoh6rences sociales, le manque de scrupule de tous et bien d'autres problZmes, qui pour ne pas 6tre aussi impor-tants que ceux dont je viens vous parler, n en contribuent pas mains ~ s6parer les hommes les uns des autres; tout cela fait que notre pauvre plan&e qui devrait ~tre un v6ritable paradis, n'est plus qu'un enfer, oui, un enfer dans toute l'acception du mot. Dieu nous a cr66s. Par Ia voix de ses innombrables proph&es ii nous a enseign6 que c'est seulement notre union et notre entente qui peuvent nous assurer un bonheur social sOt et durable; et regardez oii en est 1'hu-manit6 dans cette voje! Rien ne marche; tout est boulevers6; ii n'y a qu'une chose qui compte, et c'est 1'int6r~t personnel. Les hommes deyrajent en avoir honte. Au milieu de tout ce d6sordre, et de toutes ces divergences, une poign& d'hommes, con-scients du v6ritable 6tat des chases, voyant que 1'humanit6 aveugl6e par les passions funestes a les cupidit& exag&&s des horn-me; s'approche d'un pr6cipice, oii elk peut s'6craser encore une fois, comme ii y a quinze ans, veulent empecher le d6sastre et font tout ce qu'ils peuvent pour cela. Cette poign6e d'hommes, c'est nous, les Baha'is. Le voyage du Maitre au d6but de ce skcle en Europe et en Am&ique, en est une preuve &latante. Lui qui sentait si bien 1'effroyable guerre 553 [p554] 554 THE BAHA'I WORLD venir, a fait tout pour la pr~venir. On l'a mal 6cout6. Voici Ic r6sultat. J'en passe. Je ne dis pas quc nous sommes seuls ~ ~tre pacifistes et humanitaires. Mais je pr&-tends que nous sommes les seuls ~ poss6der l'inestimable talisman qui doit pr6venir les pires catastrophes, qui doit unir les hommes dans un commun accord, et faire le bonheur et la prosp4rit6 de 1'humanit6. Et cela parce que nous envisageons les probkmes du monde sous Icur forme la plus g6n6rale, et que nous disposons de Ia connaissance d'une nouvelle rdvtlation, d'un esprit surhumain et divin dont les autres sont d6pourvus. Ii paraft donc tout naturel quc La seule solution des innombrables probkmes actuels et futurs du monde, soft le b6huiisme. Et c'est cela que je me propose de d6montrer sow tine forme qui barre le chemin ~t toute ~quivoque. Je vais envisager la chose sous deux aspects: J'examinerai d'abord 'Cs probkmes sociaux, c'est-~-dire le r6le du b~haYsme dans les relations des hommes les uns avec les autres. lEt ensuite j'aborderai I'&ude, un peu moms importante, de l'influence que notre Cause peut avoir sur ic genre humain au point de vue purement personnel. Les sujets les plus important de d6saccord entre les hommes sont actuellement, d'abord la question des nationalit6s, ensuite la lutte des classes et des partis, et enfin les rivalit6s 6conomiques. D'autres probkmes moms im-portants, mais pas du tout ndgligeables, contribuent aussi ?~ cette m~sentente. Je commencerai par dxaminer d'abord ces trois questions qui sont les plus 6pineuses. Je dirai ensuite un ntiot sur les probkrnes de seconde importance. Nationalitd! Quel beau mod Et ii est d'autant plus beau que son vrai sens a le plus &happ6 aux hommes. J'ai envie de crier Ia fameuse phrase de Madame Roland, pied de 1'6chafaud en la modifiant un peu: (Co Nationalitd, que de crimes on comma en ton nom!" Oui, 'a nationalit6 qui se confond en g6ndral avec l'amour de Ia patrie, est tr~s belle. Mais ii faa la comprendre, et comme dans tout CCThat is the question." Muhammad disait: "L'amour de Ia Patrie fait partie de Ia croyance en Dieu." Je ne vats pas comme ce grand philosophe et po&e Molavi, pr6tendre que le proph&e n'entendait point par 1&, le sens habituel du ma "Pa trie." Cette mankre de voir a son pour a son contre. De toute fa~on elle nous 6loigne du domaine purernent mat6riel qui nous int6resse en cc moment. En tout cas, je ne sum pas de cet avis. Je crois que par le mat CCPti~~ Muhamniad a bien vouiu dire le pays dans lequel nous et nos parents sommes nes. Je trouve d'ailleurs que c'est tout ~ fait normal; et qu'un homme aussi sage que Mu{iammad ne pouvait pas ne pas conseiller ~ ses disciples l'amour de la patrie. Nous avons d'ailleurs une confirmation 6clatante de cc que les envoyds de Dieu sont de grands patriotes, dans Ia personne de notre Seigneur Abdu'l-Baha, qui, rnalgr6 les ddboires et les peines que lui avajent caus6s ses compatriotes, est rest6 pendant toute sa vie un Persan, un vrai persan, un bon persan, qu'on pourrait citer comme le plus bel exemple du patriot-isme et de la conservation nationale. S'il en est ainsi, et surtout puisqu'il en est vraiment ainsi, yoyons pourquoi faa-il aimer sa patrie? C'est encore le proph~te arabe qui Pa dit d'une mani~re moms directe: ttCelui qui West pas reconnaissant envers les hommes, ne l'est pas envers le Dieu." Et quels sont les gens envers qui nous devons ~tre reconnaissants en premier lieu, si ce ne sont point nos compatriotes? Nous avons vu ic jour parmi eux, us nous ont elev6s, nourris, soign6s; us nous ont donn6 tout ce que nous poss6dons au point de vue mat6riel et moral, ~ commencer par la vie. us corn-prennent note langage, As ont les m6mes habitudes que nous. Et en un mat ce sont nos compatriotes. Eh bien, si flOUS Voulons aimer les hommes, n'cst-ce pas par eux que nous devons commencer? C'est le raisonnement que font tous les nationalistes. us n'oublient qu'un seul point, et c'est Ii le vrai maiheur. Gui, us oublient que le chemin dans lequel us se sont engag~s ne se termine pas Ii. us crojent ~tre arriv6s au but, quand us ont seulement parcouru une pauvre petite moiti6 de leur route. IL arr&tent leur course, juste au moment oii elle commence ~ ~tre rnt6ressante. En effet, puisque c'est si beau d'aimer, puisque sans amour La mort vaut mieux que la vie, puisque nous avons vu queue joie, quel bonheur, queue b6atitude at queue fdicit~ nous procurait 1'amour de nos compatriotes. pourquoi nous arr&ter en si bon chemin? Si [p555] LES PROBLtMES DU MONDE ET LA FOI BAHA'I 555 l'amour de nos concitoyens, et par consequent celui de notre patrie, doit nous rendre si heureux, et puisqu'il en est vraiment ainsi, pourquoi ne pas airner aussi les autres hommes a les autres pays? Cela augmenterait d'abord notre joie personnelle, car celui qui nourrit une haine contre un autre, en souffre autant, sinon plus, que la personne d&est~e. Cette conception deyrait suflire ~t nous faire aimer les autres hommes. Mais ii y a encore une autre raison qui doit nous pousser davantage vers cet amour. Et cette raison capitale est que cela nous assure la s6curit~, oui la s6-curit6 dont on pane tellernent en ce moment, mais dont personne ne comprend le vrai sens. 11 est bien entendu que la rdciprocit6 et la bonne foi sont les conditions essentielles de cc que je dis. Mais de m~me que 1'enfant ne peut pas courir avant d'avoir appris ~i marcher, de mdme pour pouvoir aimer 1'humanit6 enti&e, ii est indispensable de commencer par aimer ses compatriotes. Pour pouvoir servir le monde, ii faut d'abord apprendre ~t servir son propre pays. II y a treize skcles, Muhammad disait: ttL'amour de 'a Patrie fait partie int6grale de la Religion." Ii a ainsi voulu preparer les hommes pour le grand jour; pour le jour oji la voix divine de Baha'u'llah lancait ?~ travers 1'univers agonisant le farneux appel ~ l'arnour et ~ Ia paix universels. C'est alors que ic Maitre Suprame nous dit: ccVous &tes tous les fruits d'un m&me arbre et les feujiles d'une m~rne branche." Ii ne faut pas voir une contradiction entre l'Islarnisme et le Bahi'isme. Quand le premier a fait son apparition, 1'humanit6 au sens large du mot n'existait pour ainsi dire pas. II aurait 6t~ d6pLac6 de pr6cher Ia paix universelle. Alas Muhammad a dit: CCJe suis Ic proph&e au salue." Aujourd'hui 1'hurnanit6 a grandi, Ic monde a 6volu6. C'est pourquoi notre Seigneur dit: "Si je pouvais j'aurais embrass6 la main de mon meurtrier." Queue dif-f&ence a queue le§on pour nous tous! Nous devons en conclure que le temps du national-isme brutal et de 1'hdroisrne bestial est bien fini. Avant tout les hommes ont besoin de vivre honn&ement, et avec le plus de bien 6tre possible. Ii faut comprendre le monde d'aujourd'hui, et ne plus se croire au Moyen Age. D'autre part, du temps de Muhammad, les moyens mat6nels ne permettaient pas aux monarques les lev&s en masse des peuples les uns contre les autres. Les conflits n'6taient que locaux; une guerre internationale n'avait pas de sens. Les hommes ne connaisajent que leurs voisins, et de plus Ia moiti~ des continents n'6tait pas encore d6couverte. D'ail-leurs les armes offensives et d&fensives 6taient si rudimentaires que m6me dans les grandes guerres, ii n'y avait j amais plus de quelques centaines de victimes. C'est pour cela que les pr6ceptcs de Muhammad suffisajent pour assurer ic bonheur de cette humanit6 en herbe. Tandis que maintenant les progr~s mat6-rich, rdsultant des d6couvertes et des inven-dons scientifiques, ont cr66 ce qu'on peut appeler la science de Ia guerre. Chaque pays poss~de des ~co1es sp&iales oii l'on apprend aux hommes 1'art de s'entr'tuer. Des milliers de savants au lieu d'orienter leurs recherches vers Ia d6couverte des rem~des des innom-brables maux mat6riels et moraux de 1'hu-manit6, se crusent le cervcau pour trouver Ia meilleure mani~re d'an6antir un autre homme. Ces hydravions, ces cuirass6s, ces torpilleurs, ces canons ~t longue port&, ces obus ~ gaz asphyxiant, ces mitrailleuses, ces fortifications, tout cela c'est pour faire mourir plus facilement les autres hommes. Voih, Mesdames et Messieurs, le gachis dans lequel nous nous d6battons, a oii nous resterions 6ternellement si le bras puissant de Baha'u'llah ne pouvait nous aider ~ nous en tirer. Qui peur en diet sauver maintenant Ic monde si ce n'est pas Ic b6haYsme qui prend 1'amour du prochain pour base? Quels sont ceux qui sont capables de donner au monde ce qu ii lui manque pour son bonheur si CC n'est pas nous, les Baha'is Baha'u'llah en pr~chant la paix universelle a ordonn6 1'institution d'une Maison de Justice Internationale pour juger les conflits qui pourraient survenir ntre les diffdrents peuples, a pour cr6er une l6gislation conforme aux vrais besoins des hommes et ceci, ii y a de longues ann&s. Les maiheurs de ces derniers temps et la terrible crainte d'une nouvelle catastrophe ant serrd si fort 1'hu-manit6 ~i la gorge, que cette bumanit6 si r6calcitrante et si peu d6bonnaire, cr& des institutions dans le genre de la Cour Inter [p556] 556 THE BAHA'I WORLD nationale de Justice de la Haye, et de la Soci6t6 des Nations, qui bien que tr~s loin d'&re parfaites et puissantes, a bien que pas ma1 de peuples se montrent pessimistes quant ~t leur eflicacitd, voire m~me leur utilit~, montrent quand rn6me dans queue direction les hommes cherchent leur salut; et de quel cOt6 s'orientent les espoirs. Ce n'est plus la lutte pour la vie qui doit s6l6ctionner les 6tres, les hommes et les peuples viables. Ii faut qu'une entr'aide pouss6e et poursuivie porte les hommes ~t donner de la force aux faibles, de la vie aux agonisants, afin que 1'humanir~ enti~re puisse se glorifier de a qu'elle m6rite bien le titre de Cr6ature Su-pr~me. C'esv l'avis de tout ic monde, m~me des nations les plus belligueuses. Ii est ma1-heureux que certaines gens confondent encore ic pacifisrns et la faiblesse. Etre pacifique cela ne veut pas dire qu'on se laisse faire. D'autant plus que le pacifisme doit &tre toujours accornpagn6 d'une justice absolue, de l'6galit6 des droits a des devoirs, et d'un esprit de commune cornpr6hension et de bonne volont6. Pour parer ~ une controverse, je suis oblig6 d'ouvrir une petite parenth~se. On pourrait objecter que le militarisme rend 1'homme capable de mieux supporter Ia vie et ses d6boires, qu'il forme le caract&e de 1'homme, du vrai homme fort ete entreprenant. Je ne dis pas que cette objection ne soit pas fond&. Bien au contraire; moi aussi je partage cette opinion. Ii n'y a pas en effet de meilleure &ole pour un jeune homme que le r6girnent. Ah! je sais bien que cette opinion 6tonne quand c'estcelle d'un B6haY. Mais perrnettez-moi de m'expliquer. Je ne dis pas que cc sont les fusils, les mitrailleuses, ics canons et tous les autres engins guerriers qui forment ce que j'ai appek le caract&e de 1'homme. Non cc n'est pas cela. Ces instruments n'ont pas d'~me, comment influencerajent-ils un etre anim6? C'est l'esprit de discipline, de soli-darit6 dans les diff4rentes p6rip6ties de Ia vie, de camaraderie a d'autres choses dans cc genre qui constituent le vrai int6r&t du service militaire, que je consid&e comme presqu'indispensable. Si nous 1'abolissons nous aurons rendu un tr~s grand service ~ l'humanit6. Mais nous aurons du m~me coup priv~ 'es hommes de cette formation de carac tare qui leur est n6cessaire. Rien ne nous emp&he de remplacer le service rnilitaire par un autre du meme genre, par un service social, sans arri&re pens6e guerri&c. Ce serait quelque chose comme les cours rn6nagers pour jeunes lilies. N'est-ce pas, Mesdarnes et Messieurs, que vous 6tes maintenant de mon avis sur cc sujet? Un probkme d'une grande actualit6 qui peut dtre trait6 en marge de 1'6tude des nationalit6s est celui de la colonisation a des abus qui en r6sultent. Ii existe mal-heureusement encore des peuples incapables de se diriger eux-m~mes. Cela a servi de pr6texte aux autres nations pius fortes, de les plier sous leur joug, et d'6rendre meme cette op6ration vers des pays assez civilis6s n-iais plus faibles. Si nous avons un petit fr&e malade et ignorant, ce n'est pas une raison pour accaparer ses biens. Au con-traire, nous devons 1'aider d'abord ~ recouvrer sa sant6 et ensuite ~t acqu6rir une 6ducation convenable. Les colonisateurs sont anim6s en apparence de cet esprit. MaTh j'aime mieux me taire sic leurs vraies intentions. Je tiens ~ faire remarquer simplement que le b6-haisme n'a pas oubli6 ces maiheureux qui n'ont que le tort de ne pas avoir 6t6 favoris~s par le sort. Ii a mis les peuples arridr6s sous Ia direction et la protection de la Maison de Justice, cc qui permet, tout en 6vitant les exc&s, de barrer le chemin ~ 'a cupidit6 des grandes puissances. Je ne m'attarderai pas davantage sur Li question des nationalit& et sur la mani&re de montrer comment le b6haisme est ~ m6me d'y rem6dier. Le probkme eat aussi long qu'int6ressant et m6riterait de faire le sujet d'une conf6rence entkre. Permettez-rnoi d'en rester 1~, et d'aborder 1'6tude de Ia lute des classes qui met les bommes aux prises les uns contre les autres. Je ne veux pas vous parler des raisons pour lesquelles Dieu n'a pas voulu que tous les hommes sojent ~gaux. Mais vous constatez bien avec moi qu'il en est ainsi, cependant que "on aft encore abus6 de cette apparence d'in6galit6 pour montrer l'injustice qui r~gne sur la terre et en conclure des choses qui sont contraires ~ nos opinions de B6haYs. Je prends la chose telle qu'elle se pr6sente. Sur Ia terre ii y a des forts et des faibles, des homines plus ou moms intelligents, des [p557] LES PROBLtMES DU MONDE ET LA FOI BAHA'I 557 malades et des gens qui jouissent d'une bonne sant6, des riches et des pauvres, des heureux et des maiheureux, que sais-je encore? Tout ce que je vois c'est que les hommes ne sont pas 6gaux, quand maine je r6p&e avec Leibniz "Tout est pour ie micux dans Ic meilleur des mondes possibles." Ces diff6rences de quelque source qu'elles viennent, font que les hommes dont l'6tat social se rapproche le plus ics uns des autres, 'unissent pour se d6fendre contre les autres. Des diff6rentes classes naissent ainsi. Vous voyez des conservateurs, des fascistes, des communistes, etc., etc. Ces classes s'en veulent a en g~n6ral ne se 1'envoient pas dire. Ces diff6rentes divisions forment une nouvelle classification de la soci6t~, de m&me que les nationalit6s en formajent une anise. Mais j'avoue que cette nouvelle classification est moms fantaisiste que la premi6re. C'est pourquoi ii est peut&re plus facile cl'y rem6-dier. En tout cas Si flOUS partageons 1'opinion g6n6rale, nous devons en conclure que de iQur en jour cette late deviendra plus ar-dente et plus &pre et qu'il n'y a aucune issue, ~ moms que 1'hurnanit6 enti&e ne forme une seule classe. Mais cette solution peat ~tre envisagde de deux points de vue. Je veux dire que les hommes peuvent former une classe unique par deux m6thodes. La premi&e est que les hommes des dif-f6rents pays et des diff6rentes conditions deviennent tous 6gaux au pius grand nombre de points de rue possible: condition sociale, aptitude ~t Ia civilisation a au progr~s, intelligence, 6tat de sant6, etc, etc. Mais nous tombons Ft bel a bien dans une solution impossible, voire rndme absurde. Nous avons vu en effet que les hommes ma1gr~ eux, et sans qu'ils y sojent pour rien, ne sont pas tous dans un m~me 6tat, et cela ~ aucun point de vue. Et alors nous trouvons cette m6me impossibilit6 comme r6ponse ii noise probl&me. Donc ce n'est pas cela qui pent gu&ir le ma1; ilfaut trouver autre chose. Et cette autre chose est la seconde m6thode de r6solution dont je vais vous parler. La voici, et vous jugerez vous-m~mes Si cue est astu-cieuse. Si au lieu de rendre tous les hommes dgaux Ñ opdration qui s'av&e impossible Ñ en vue de les r&oncilier ~ jamais les uns avec les autres, nous tachions de cr6er cet esprit de r6conciliation et de cornpr6hension par un moyen un peu moms brusque, ne serions-nous pas plus sfirs d'arriver au but sans avon 6t6 arrat~s ~ chaque instant par de nouvelles diflicult&? C'est cela qu'a cherch6 Baha'u'llah. En unissant 1'ouvrier et le patron sous le symbole divin de la cause; en faisant d~pendre le salaire non pas du gr6 des capital-istes, maTh comme 6tant proportionnel au chiffre d'affaires, ii a non seulement cr6~ dans le coeur de 1'ouvrier 1'inestimable joie de travailler pour lui-n~me, puis-qu'il gagne d'autant plus qu'il travaille davantage, mais ii a encore attdnu6 a affaibli, au point de les rendre n6gligeables, les exigences et les revendications, vis ~i vis l'une de 1'autre, des deux classes les plus importantes de la soci&6 actuelle, 'Cs ouvriers et les patrons. Qu'en dites-vous? N'est-ce pas que c'est admirable? Le contraire m'aurait vraiment konn~. Puisque c'est Dieu en personne qut se charge de metre un peu d'ordre dans sa cr~ation, ii serait regrettable s'il s'cn dtait tir6 moms bien, lui qui est la puissance, la justice et la bont6 metrics. Pour pr6server le monde contre la monotonie qui est tin des pius cifroyables visages de Ia mort et due n6ant, ii n'a pas fait tous les hommes ~gaux. Mais alors pour faire voir que cela tie 1'emp~chait pas d'&re juste et bienveillant, ii a institu6 ces belles lois pour que les hommes tout en se trouvant dans les rangs les plus diff4rents de la soci&6, ne s'y crojent pas maiheureux et d6laiss6s par leur Cr6ateur, et qu'ils ajent maine de Ia joie dans 1'accom-plissement de leur devoir. Voil~ le deuxkine point acquis. Je viens de montrer que Ic B6haYsme eat Ia seule doctrine qui peut r6soudre cilicacement et d'une mani&re durable le probkme de Ia lutte des classes. Je vais maintenant 6tudier 'a troi-si~me et derni&e question sociale ~t laquelle le b6haysme a apport6 son remade bienfaisant et agr~ab1e. C'est des riva1it~s 6conomiques des dif-f6rents pays dont je veux parler. Ma t&che est maintenant d'autant plus facile, quc les dux sujets pr&~demment trait6s, vont me permettre d'aller plus vite dans 1'6tude de cc dernier. Examinons d'abord un peu les mots memes "Rivalit6s 6conomiques." La rivalit~ est formde par Ia composition de deux senti [p558] 558 THE BAHA'I WORLD ments, 1'6goYsme et la jalousie, 1'un aussi m6prisable que l'autre. Cette rivalit6 a quel-quefois du hon lorsqu'on n'en abuse point. File active les progr~s mat&riels et m~me mor~ux des hommes at des groupes d'hom-mes. En tout cas, cue devient tout ~ fait intol6rable quand elle est accompagn6e du mat tt&onomique." Les rivalit6s 6conom-iques naissent quand des hommes se proposent de s'enrichir, de se cr6er un commerce et une industrie florissants, au ddpens de leurs pro-chains, de leurs semblables, de leurs fr&es. Ces rivalitds sont dans la nature mdme de la plupart des hommes; et Ia crise' par laquelle nous passons en ce moment, a augnciente encore davantage ce sentiment naturel. Que faire contre ce ma1? Les hommes ont f aim, us ont froid, us veulent ceci, us veulent cela, a rien n'arrate leurs exigences. Sous le pr~texte de chercher leur bien ~tre et celui des leurs, us veulent priver leurs voisins de cc qui leur est indispensable. Cela va bien loin comme vous le pensez et comme nous le voyans tous. Ii est indiscutable qu'un homme qui n'a pas son n6cessaire, se permet tout pour se le proturer. Ii vole, ii tue, ii commet les plus horribles crimes. Je ne veux pas entrer dans les dttails, ce qui allongera encore davantage cette petite causerie qui commence ~ d6passer son cadre. Je dis tout simplement que dans ce cas sans vouloir dire qu'un tel homme a raison, je ne lui donne pas tout ~ fait tort. Si mes enfants, meurent de f aim, je peux me permettre, sans que ma conscience me blame pour cela, de voler le b16 qui va &re brfik faute d'acheteur. Des hommes emploient les denr6es comme combustible dans les locomotives, us jettent des millions de litres de lait dans les rivikres, us brulent des milliers de bestiaux, parce qu'ils veulent vendre le reste plus cher. Er pendant ce temps. Je ne crois pas avoir besoin de vous dire ce qui se passe a de tracer devant vous des sc~nes horribles de d6tresse, de mis&e, de faim, de froid et de mort. Ne devons-nous pas avoir honte de cc qui se passe sous nos yeux? Et si les g6n6rations futures apprenaient un jour cc qui s'est pass6 de notre temps, n'auraient-ils pas le droit de nous maudire? Gui, Mesdames et Messieurs, voih ~ quoi aboutissent les riva1it~s 6co-nomiques. N'accusans pas le Dieu d'injustice. La surface de la terre est suflisamment grande pour nourrir maintenant et longtemps encore, tous les hommes. Et si Ufl jour le nombre des habitants de notre pauvre plan&e eat si grand qu' die ne peut plus les nourrir, je suis sOt que Ia science aura d6j~t trouv6 depuis longtemps, 'a mankre d'avoir du b16 sans cultiver le sol, et due lait sans traire les vaches. C'est nous, les hommes, qui par nos mauvaises m6thodes de r6partition des biens, cr6ons tant de maiheurs, k oh ie bon Dieu Wa voulu que du bonheur. C'est ~ nons Ñ m~mes que nous devons en vouloir si nos fr~res meurent de f aim et de froid. Je ne donne plus de d6tails parce que cela m'effraie. En tout cas c'est main-tenant que nons comprenons ~ quel point le b6haisme est indispensable pour mettre fin ces horreurs auxquelles nous cornmen~ons ~t prendre tellement 1'habitude que nous ne nous rendons plus compte de leur 6nomit6. En prenant pour base des relations entre les hommes 'a coop6ration et la charit6, en freinant les basses cupidit6s avec ses lois divines, en criant une fois de plus ~ tons les hommes qu'ils sont des fr~res, et qu'ils se doivent une entr'aide mutuelle soutenue et voulue de bon gr6, ii montre qu'il est le seul, absolument le seul remade ~ mutes les douleurs de cette maiheureuse humanit6. Voihi traa6s tr~s succincternent les trois questions sociales les plus importantes aux-queues comme nous 1'axons vu, Ic B6h~isme apporte des solutions aussi eflicaces que durables. Ii me reste encore quelque sujets de moindre importance dont je vais vous dire un mot ~ propos de chacun. Je commence par l'6galit6 de 1'homme et de 'a femme. Jusqu'~ nos jours la femme a 6t6 tr~s ma1 comprise. On Pa consid6r6e tant6t au-dessus et tantOt au Ñ dessous de cc qu'elle est en r6alit6; d'oii des exag6rations d'un c6t6 aussi bien que de 1'autre. On a dit enfin que la femme 6rait l'6gal de 1'homme. C'est une mani&e de s'exprimer, mais elle n'est pas rigoureusement exacte. Ii existe entre 1'homme a la femme des diE. f6rences extr~mement marqu&s, et ii est impossible de las faire disparaitre, car cues tiennent a la nature mdme des choses. Ii y a certes des points de resemblance. Ii ne peut [p559] LES PROBLtMES DU MONDE ET LA FOI BAHA'I 559 donc etre question d'6ga1it~ que sur ces points. Et en dehors de cela cc mot est tout ~ fait fantaisiste. Le b6haYsrne Pa rectifi~ en disant que 1'homme et Ia fernme sont les compl6ments Pun de 1'autre. Ii n'y a pas de sup6riorit6, d'6galit6 ou d'inf6riorit6. Ii y a que La femme cornpkte 1'homme, qu'elle lui est indispensable et rdciproquement. C'est La mani&re la plus naturelle de r&oudre la question. Elle Pent compte d'une part du physique m~me de 1'hornme et de la femme, a de 1'autre elle est tout ~ fait 6quitable. En prenant cette id6e pour base des relations entre 1'homme et la femme, nous arrivons une nouvelle conception de la vie conjugale qui La rend bien plus ~gr6ab1e. Nous corn-prenons du m&me coup la vraie place que la femme doit occuper dans la soci6t6 et par cons6quent ses v6ritables droits et devoirs. La seconde question est 1'institution de l'instruction ~ub1ique, qui est une des pius beureuses nouveaut6s du b6haYsme. Comme en g~n6ral les conflits les exc~s, les crimes a tout ce qui est vii a bas, a pour principale comme 1'ignorance, on volt combien la port6e de ce commandernent eat grande. Son importance est si bien connue que malgr6 1'amour du rndtier j'en reste lit pour cette question. Je crois toutefois qu'il ne serait pas d6p1ac~ maintenant de dire un mat sur le travail obli-gatoire. Le d~soeuvrement ennuje 1'hornme et le pousse maine quelquefois vers des choses inutiles, nuisibles, voire m&me dangereuses pour 1'humanitd. L'obligation d'avoir un em-ploi est tr~s utile ~ 1'individu tout en faisant profiter la soci6t6 de Pun de ses membres qui ne sera plus trait6 de parasite. Le troisi~me et le dernier sujet qui est loin d'dtre n6gligeable est 1'id6e g~niale et divine qu'a eue Baha'u'llah de conseiller le choix d'une langue internationale que tous les hommes apprendrajent sans que cela porte le moindre prdjudice aux diff6rentes langues et litt6ratures existant sur la terre. Cela facili-tera le commerce, 1'industrie, le tourisme et en un ma toutes les relations que les hommes des diff6rents pays peuvent avoir les uns avec les autres. Uric g6n6ralisation naturelle et imm~diate eat Ia creation d'une monnaic in-ternationale, dont la n6cessit6 est des pius 6videntes surtout ~t l'~poque actuelle. J'ai fini ainsi avec les probkrnes sociaux a les solutions que le b6haYsme y a apport~es. Et maintenant je d6fie les sociologues les plus 6minents, les 6conomistes les plus corn-p6tents, les humanistes les plus d6sint4ress6s, les hommes politiques les pius en vue, de mieux trouver que Baha'u'llah, de faire une synthse plus intime Ct plus appropri6e des diff6rents rem~des des innombrables maux de 1'humanit6, en une doctrine aussi succincte, aussi souple, ayant une port6e aussi grande et &ant aussi durable. Pourquoi Baha'u'llah a-.t-il r6ussi ~. 6difier cette oeuvre formidable? La r6ponse en est Hen simple Ñ C'est parce qu'iI puisait ses principes dans une source que 1'humanit~ n'a connue que de temps en temps par 1'interm6diaire de quciques hommes, de quciques surhommes. Les hommes politiques qui se creusent actuellement le cerveau pour trouver quelque chose qui puisse assurer le bonheur du genre humain, ignorent cette source. Ii leur est impossible de s'en ap-procher. C'est pour cela que les r6sultats auxpuels us aboutissent sont des chefs d'oeuvre d'incoh&ence et d'absurdit6. Pas-Sons. II ne me reste plus qu'h examiner le cOt6 personnel de la Cause, c'est ~ dire 1'aide que le b6haYsme peut apporter, et qu'il apporte aux maiheurs intimes de chaque homrne, ~i ses besoins personnels. Comme jje n'ai pas 1'intention d'6terniser ma causerie, je con-sid&e entre un grand nombre de sujets, deux dont 1'irnportance m'a frapp6. De nos jours, oii la science tout en pous-sant tr&s loin 1'~tude rn6dicale du corps hu-main et tout en d6couvrant chaque jour quelque chose de nouveau, n'en contribue pas moms ~i exposer notre organisme ~ des maladies qui n'existaient pas du temps de nos ancetres, ou qui existajent du moms d'ttne mani&e inappr6ciable, 1'hygi&ne et les questions qui s'y rattachent plus ou moms pren-nent tine importance capitale dans la vie de 1'homme. Baha'u'llah qui sait de quel c6t6 1'humanitd est conduite n'a pas oubli6 ce probl&me primordial. De tr&s sages conseils hygi6niques figurent donc dans ses 6crits. Je ne veux pas entrer dans les d6tails, mais vous tous qui &es sfirement tr~s au courant de ces conseils, vous &es d'accord avec moi, que Si tous les hommes les suivajent, les diff6rentes maladies, et par suite la mortalit6 en serajent consid6rablement att6nu6es. La chose a plu-tOt une importance rnat6rielle; maTh n'est-ce [p560] 560 THE BAHA'! WORLD pas qu'une bonne santa est Ia premi&e des choses qu'un homme doit avoir pour &re & m~me d'accomplir son devoir envers la soci-etc. En donnant ian tour religieux ~ 1'hygi~he qu'on a quelquefois tendance ~ mettre au sec-and plan, Baha'u'llah a vouiu gu6rir le corps comme ii a voulu gutrir Fame. Et ma foi ii y a bien r~ussi comme partout ailleurs. J'arrive maintenant ~i la toute derni&c question qui mettra cette fois le point final cc que je vais vous dire aujourd'hui. C'est je crois Ia plus d6licate et Ia plus difticile ~t traiter. Je veux parler du c6td po6tique a mystique du b6haisme. Et cela est d'autant pius important pour nous persans que la po6sie est ie fond de notre &me. Quciquefois dans 'a vie des circonstances dont nous ig-norons m&me l'ongine, viennent nous attris-ter. Nous pouvons m~me &re triste tout en &ant sOt qu'il n'y a pour cela aucune cause tangible. Personellement j'ai bien souvent eu cc chagrin qui vient, on ne sait d'oii, et qui est si persistant que nen ne peut le dissiper. C'est alors que nous avons besoin de dire ~ quelqu'un ce qui se passe en nous, d'avoir une ame soeur. Musset disait: (CEn se plaig-nant on se console." Gui ii nous arrive souvent de vouloir nous plaindre ~t quelqu'un. Cela n'est pas toujours possible. Les autres hommes qui ne sont pas dans Ic m~me &at d'&me que nous, oat une certaine diflicult6 nous comprendre, ~ saisir cc qui se passe en nous au jusre. us sont par cons6quent incapables de nous consoler. Nous nous sen-tons seuls, abandonn&, d6laiss6s par le sort et par les hommes. C'est en cc moment qu'une voix divine vient frapper notre oreille, et qui nous dit: CCSi les hommes te laissent, eh bien, je sum avec toi, celui qui Ca cr6e, qui t'aime pour toi-m&me, et qui ne te d6laissera jamais." C'est lit la voix de Baha'u'llah. Ii vient ~ notre secours; ii nous tire de notre embarras moral; ii nous aide ~i porter le fardeau de la vie, qui eat quelquefois si lourd. Et comment serait-il possible que cc sait autrernent? Un bon p&e ne d6laisse j amais son his maiheur-eux. Pt Baha'u'llah, notre Seigneur, notre p&re ~t tous, nous laisserait-il seuls quand nous avons besoin de quelqu'un pour nous corn-prendre, pour nous consoler, pour faire killer dans Ia nuit obscure de notre d6sespoir 1'~toile de 1'amour divin, de cet amour qui est au Ñ dessus de tout, et qui ~t iui seul pourrait suflire au bonheur de 1'humanit6? Non, ii ne nous abandonne pas ~ nos crueL maiheurs, ii vient vers nous ics bras tendus pour nous prendre au sein de sa divinit6. Nous lisons une de ses belles prires, et nous voil~ em-port6s dans un empire c6leste, oii nous ne voyons que lui, o& now n'entendons quc sa voix divine. Cela nous console a apaise none douleur. Nous commen~ons ~ revivre une autre vie nouvelle oii tout est bel et rose. Mesdames et Messieurs, vous voyez donc bien que notre Seigneur Baha'u'llah n'a rien oubli6, pasle moindre d&ail, pour nous assurer le bonheur, et pour nous rendre la vie plus agr6able. Ii a pens6 ~ tous les maux de 1'humanit6, aux probkmes les plus 6pineux; ii a trouv6 des rem~des pour les uns et des solutions pour les autres. Plus on approfondit sa Cause, pius on reste 6merveilld devant ce chef-d'oeuvre de bon sens, d'humanit6, de justice et de Charit6; plus on sent un fluide c6leste nous envahir et entrer dans le plus profond de noise ~tre; plus on admire cette force divine qui a si bien compris sa cr6ation et qui y a a mis tant d'harmonie, de souplesse a de beaut6. Rendons-lui 1'hontimage qu'il m6rite par son g6nie et par le sacrifice qu'il a fait de sa personne pour nous. Tachons d'6tre ~t la hauteur pour le servir avec d6vouement et reconnaissance. Imitons-le si toutefois 1'homme pea imiter le Dieu. Soyons heureux d'~tre les premiers rescap6s du monde en p6ril. Sachons &tre dignes de celui qui a pay6 de sa personne pour nous, en payant de notre personne pour nos fr&es maiheureux. Car c'est cela qu'il a voulu, et c'est pour cela qu'il est venu. Continuons son admirable oeuvre si flOUS ne volons pas dtre des ingrats. Employons-y toute note force, toute notre ardeur. Mettons-y tout note amour, afin que 1'hurnanit6 acqui~re Ic saint dont elle a tellement be~oin. Ii a mis son oeuvre entre nos mains, comprenons-la. Que chacun de nous se dise en sortant d'ici: CCJe sub un Baha'i; mon Seigneur m'a sauv6. Mon premier devoir et le plus sacr~, est de porter sa parole divine parmi les autres hommes, puis-que c 'est ainsi que je viendrai en aide aux maiheureux." Et c'est alors, Mesdames et [p561] LES PROBLtMES DU MONDE ET LA FOI BAHA'I %1 Messieurs que nous serons envers les amis qui n'habitant dignes de 'a t&che qui pas Paris, ont Men voulu nous incombe, et dont se d6ranger pour nous d6pend le salut de 1'hurnanitd.honorer de leur pr6sence; H ne me reste plus qu'~ et ~ renouveler encore vous remercier totis de une fois toute ma gratitude l'attention que vous envers le Mahfel Rouani de avez bien voulu apporter Paris de m'avoir procur~ ~ cette causerie par 1'honneur et le plaisir simple esprit de bont6; de prendre aujourd'hui ~ exprimer toute noise la parole dans cette belle reconnaissance r6union. [p562] Group of Baha'i friends and students in Paris, France. [p563] THE BAHA MOVEMENT THE GREATNESS OF ITS POWER B~ MARTHA L. RooT EACH year come appreciations of the Baha'i Movement both from believers and other men and women of affairs who glimpse the greatness of this Force which today is powerfully wakening the world to universal consciousness. Seeking humanity is lifting up its head from inertness in this chaos, it is turning towards this Light. What does it say of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah How is it impressed by these universal Teachings which stand out so clearly against the background of eternity? There are many tributes of praise coming from the five continents and I can present herewith oniy a few; but every manifestation of the power of these Teachings will be an everlasting treasure in our human history. Kings, queens, presidents of republics, princes, princesses, statesmen, scientists, poets and professors have given sincere and high tribute to the Teachings of Baha'u'llah and to the wonderful life of Abdu'l-Baha The forewords of this Volume V. and "The Visit of tAbdu'1-BaM to Budapcst" Ñ which was an introduction to the Hungarian edition of Dr. J. E. Esslemont's ttBahi'u'lUh and the New Era" published in 1933 Ñ as well as the introduction to the Yugoslav edition of this same took also published in 1933, and which appear in other parts of this volume, are proofs of how great thinkers respond to the potency of these Baha'i ideals. Beginning with the group of Slav nations, the five, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, I hope to show you their sympathy and their cultural contribution to the Baha'i Cause. ~Abd'1Bh' in 1914, in a conversation in Haifa, Palestine, with Dr. Joseph Kruszynski, now President of the celebrated Roman Catholic University in Lublin, Poland, said that there had been no greater writer in Europe than Count Leo Tolstoy. I replied to this gracious president that Count Tolstoy knew about the Baha'i Teachings later in his life and that he had written: "We spend our lives trying to unlock the mystery of the universe; there was a Turkish~ Prisoner, Baha'u'llah, who had the key!" Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky, a Russian poet in Leningrad two decades ago, gave a great impetus to the Baha'i Movement and to world art in her three famous writings, the two dramas, ttB~b~~ and ~cBah&u~1LAh~~ and a narrative called CtA Journey to the Countries of the Sun." The last named is an account of her visit to tAbdu'1-Bah& in 1910 when He was in Ramleh, Egypt. While the last is in prose it has verses introduced so that we might almost say that the three form a triology in poetic form presenting the new universal religion of the oneness of mankind proclaimed by those three heavenly Personages, the Bib the Forerunner, Baha'u'llah the Revealer of the Word, and tAbdu'1-Bahi the Center of the Covenant of the Baha'i Movement. From the point of view of art the dramas rank high. Mr. Wesselitzky, President of the Foreign Press Association of London, in 1905 wrote of this drama "Bab": t~J was at once attracted by the rare combination of philosophical thought with great power of expression, beauty, imagery, and harmony of verse. I keenly felt the delight of reading a new, great poem and discovering a new first-rate poet." In another lecture in London in 1907, which was afterwards published in pamphlets in English and French,? * Mr. Wesselitzky writes: "Amidst the sorrows of disastrous war and those dreadful inner troubles, that book, CB~b~ was my oniy happy impression, and it remains since a permanent source of Baha'u'llah was imprisoned by order of the two Muhammadan nations, Persia and Turkey. Pamphlets in French and English, London, 1907, at the Press of "Cronide," 29 Besborough Street, London, S. W. 563 [p564] 564 THE BAHA'I WORLD joy and comfort as a manifest proof of the vitality of Russia and its creative genius. "The romantic side of this drama, too, is quite original. The plot is not based on free love as in the French drama, and not on seduction as in cFaust,~ but on renouncement and self-sacrifice. The romantic side of the Bib is closely allied with the metaphysical-ethical side. The drama has so much of the Latter that every act may seem to be a sermon and the drama itself a suite of sermons. Yet all that preaching is relieved by genuine enthusiasm, eloquence of the heart and real passion. The conflict in the soui of the hero is not between passion and reason, but between two passions Ñ human love and love divine Ñ the latter being stronger and more ardent than the former. It is that manifestation of the power of the higher aims in the heart of man which is the chief feature of this book and the secret of its irresistible charm." I have before me as I write this article a clipping sent from Russia from the tcHera1d~~ of January, 1904: "The play BiB appeared in May of last year, 1903, the most inconvenient time for the appearance of a book. Nevertheless the pens of critics began to move in the journals and magazines in order to compose hymn-songs of praise to the author. Moreover an enlightened Persian society sent her an inspired letter of thanks; and above all, Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky had the spiritual satisfaction that among those who eulogized her drama was the lion of contemporary Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy. The impression was such that it made us think that amidst the statistics representing the Persian throngs were real Persians; it seemed as if the scenes exhaled the perfume of the roses of ShiAz!" When I wrote asking Mrs. Grinevsky about these dramas she sent me several letters and clippings of the book reviews. The CtJournal de Saint-Peterbourg," January, 1912, has a large headline CCB h" '11'h" and I quote paragraphs from the review of this second great drama: CcBh~~~11~h means the Glory of God Ñ such is the title of the new tragedy with which Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky has enriched Russian dramatic literature. We must praise without restriction a work whose high, dramatic significance is combined with admirable form. The author of the drama tMb' that work of such strong thought, has never attained such a powerful conception as this poem. ttThc mind of the reader, attracted by a rhythm of an unspeakably harmonious poetry, rises imperceptibly to summits where the most grave problems are discussed, problems over which thoughtful humanity bends with fear and despair, helpless to solve them. The characters are analyzed with great psychological insight. ccBah~~u~11~h the central figure, is depicted with the clearness and power of an antique high-relief. The complexity of that elect-nature is presented with the authority and truth of the great masters of the classical theater. What a lofty iesson, what eloquence sursum corda in that life of pure bounty, of selflessness in that wide desire to spread peace! CtH not to be moved, fascinated by the nobility of this Apostolic character? "The origin of a Faith analyzed with the help of true science is carried forward with great art, beginning with the first thought which moves the heart of the Apostle, who loves mankind as He loves His family and His own country. "The author gives a vision, a revelation of all that is hidden of moving, precious depths in that supreme struggle. The liberating pain, the majesty of effort, the active bounty Ñ all these elements of that struggle remain ordinarily unattainable for the crowd which cannot fathom under their austere dogmas, one of the beautiful forces of human unity. "The love, the deep necessity which lives in each human heart passes throughout the tragedy as an undercurrent, the fountainhead of which, never drying, remains hidden to the exterior world. "That beautiful and bold work points a return to the school of majesty and aesthetic morality, the aspiration to the eternal truth which are the indelible character of permanent works." Mrs. Grinevsky visited tAbdu'1-Bahi in Ramleh, Egypt, for two weeks in December, 1910. He praised the two dramas. (I do not know that He ever saw the narrative.) When He held the manuscript of "Baha'u'llah" in His hands, He blessed it and prophesied to [p565] THE BAHA'I MOVEMENT 565 the author that these two dramas would be played in Tihrin! !~A Journey to the Countries of the Sun," a narrative of her visit to tAbdu'1-Bahi was completed in 1914; it is a book of five hundred and fifty pages, but owing to the world war it was not published, nor has it yet been translated into other languages. May Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky, this great Russian poet who has made such a cultural contribution to literature and to the Baha'i Movement, some day see all her works translated into European languages! The English reading world eagerly awaits them, I know, for many inquiries come from the United States and Great Britain asking where it is possible to get these books in Russian, in French, or in German! The first man in Poland, so far as is known, to write anything about the Baha'i Movement was Dr. Joseph Kruszynski, now President of Lublin University. When this generation is gone, none will be left who can tell the world about meeting tAbdu'1-Bah& and what He said to them and how His great and gracious presence impressed them, so on May 31, 1932, I called upon Dr. Kruszynski in Lublin in the heart of Poland. I found him a tall, handsome, scholarly, kindly, interesting man with eyes full of light. His whole expression beamed a welcome and hospitality to the writer because he knew that she, too, had known tAbdu'1-BaM. "Are you the Roman Catholic priest who visited tAb-du'1-BahA in Palestine in 1914, and was the first to write about the Baha'i Movement in Poland?" I asked, and he replied that he was that priest. He said that while in Haifa he heard of CAbdu~1~Bah~ such a world-renowned spiritual teacher living there, and decided to call upon Him. CCHOW well I remember that day," said President Kruszynski. "It was July 14, 1914. I went at eleven o'clock in the morning. My card, I recall, read ~Joseph Kruszynski, Roman Catholic Priest, Doctor and Professor of Old Testament in Wia-clawek Roman Catholic Seminary, Wlo-clawek, Poland.' He led me to His drawing-room and had me sit at His right. He expressed how glad He was that I was in His home and we spoke of many matters; oh, our discourse was very interesting." First they spoke of Poland and of Polish writers, and the Catholic priest said he was astonished that this Persian scholar knew so much about the history and the sufferings of the Poles and that He had read their literature. He said that tAbdu'1-Bahi told him that Sienkiewicz's works had been tans-lated into Arabic and He had read them and considered Sienkiewicz a great man, but He added that Tolstoy was a great man, too, that there was no greater writer in Europe than Tolstoy. ttj asked tAbdu'1-Bahi," said Dr. Kruszyn-ski, "what is the Baha Movement? He told that it is a religion of brotherhood and explained to me about a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, a great Baha'i Temple which is being built in Chicago and gave me a picture of it. He said that after many years the Baha'i Movement will be very great, that there will be many believers in this religion. He said it was His hope that all peoples can be united in these Teachings. ~ asked 'Abdu'l-Baha, tWho is Christ?' and He answered that Christ was oniy one of the great Prophets, World Teachers, that Moses was a great Prophet but that Jesus Christ was greater than Moses and came to make the world better than it was in the time of the Jews. He said Muhammad came to make people better, and now in our time all these religions are not sufficient, and Baha'u'llah (Not I, but My Father Baha'u'llah came,' He said to me) to make better the Muhammadan religion, the Christian religion, the Jewish religion, all the religions. tAbdu'I-Bahi also said that the Baha'i religion was better for this epoch than Christianity and Mubammadanism." I give you Dr. Kruszynski's reply which, though it shows that he is not a Baha'i, still it sincerely expresses tolerance and sympathy for the aim of the Baha Cause. ~ told tAbdu'1-BahA," said he, ~tthat the correction of His Father is very great, but oniy for the Muhammadan religion because the Mu1~ammadan religion is an exclusive one, but His Father has made religion less exclusive and more a religion of brotherhood. However, in the Christian religion, we believe in a revealed religion; we believe the Bible is a Revelation direct from God and that Jesus Christ is God and man in one, and [p566] 566 THE BAHA'! WORLD this cannot be changed. I know that among the Christian believers are abuses, faults, but the idea of our religion is correct. And tAbdu~1~Bah4 considered that the religion of His Father, Bah4' is the last and best religion. So between our viewpoints there was just this difference. ~ believe the Baha'i religion has many principles for the social life: I believe the foundation of the Baha'i Teaching is suited to our times; questions of the social life in our age are very great. The relation of Baha'u'llah to Moses and Muhammad I think is correct, but the relation to Christ is not correct. tAbdu'1-BaIA knew very well about Christianity, I was convinced of this, but the Teachings of Christ are inspired, the Books of the New Testament are inspired and I believe in these Revelations." Again Dr. Kruszynski said: ttj believe the Teachings of Baha'u'llah are the teachings of a very great philosopher. I consider that Baha'u'llah has been the greatest philosopher in our times, but His principles are no other than a great philosophic system adapted to our epoch. He has given the world a philosophical system uniting religious beliefs with social foundations. I remember one sentence I said to tAbdu'1-BaM: ~ believe your reformation is very great, very good for Mul2ammadans because they are intolerant, very exclusive, they will not participate in or associate with other religionists; Christians are more tolerant. For example, I believe in my religion, but I myself honor your religion. A Mul1iammadan would be intolerant to all other religions. You have reformed religion so that your believers will be more friendly, more cordial to Catholics. I thank you very much, CAbdu~1~BaM, because You are bringing people nearer to the Catholic religion than Muhammad has brought them.'" This first article ever written about the Baha'i Movement in Poland, Dr. Kruszynski told me, appeared in "Slowa Kujawskie" ("The Word of Kujavia") in Wioclawek. I could not get a copy of it, but he told me it contained a short history of the Baha'i Movement and all that tAbdu'1-BahA had said to him during that memorable visit. Down in the south of Poland Miss Thelkia Zawidowska, a school teacher in Rava Ruska, came into the possession of tAbdu'1-Bah&s "Paris Talks" a few years ago and translated the book into Polish. It was the first Baha'i book ever published in Polish, and when about two years ago Baha'is in other countries heard of it and wrote to ask her, she replied: ttj read the book with such ecstasy, I cannot express it. I translated it and at that time a rich elderly gentleman here paid for its publication. I should love to read similar books along this line of thought, if it is possible to get them." The first Baha'i book published in the Czech language was "Zjev Hnuti Miroveho Na Vycho&," a peace movement of the East, by Milos Wurm, a young university student whose home was in Brno. His mother, Pani JindikThka Wurmova, is one of the two greatest peace workers in Czechoslovakia. The second book published in Czech was "Baha'u'llah and the New Era," translated by Mrs. Pavia Moudra, the other great peace worker of this land. She has also translated CCJq&n~~ into Czech, and Professor Dr. V. Lesny, Professor of Indology and Old Persian in the Charles University, Praha, has promised to write the introduction for this latter book. He is an author well known, his book on ttBuddhism" is famous, as are also his studies about Indian Philology, Philosophy and Culture, which appear in Czech, German, English and French. I had a most interesting conversation with Professor Lesny in my hotel in Praha about the Baha'i Movement. He said among many other things that the conditions are so changed now, since the technic of the present time has destroyed the barriers between nations, that the world needs a uniting force, a kind of super-religion, and he added: t7j think the Baha'i Movement could develop to such a kind of religion. I am quite convinced of it, so far as I know the Teachings of Baha'u'llah. He continued: t~J do not blame Christianity, it has done a good work for culture in Europe, but there are too many dogmas in Christianity at the present time." He compared Christianity with Buddhism, saj-ing that Buddhism was very good for India from the sixth century B.C. and the Teachings of Christ have been good for the whole world; but as there is a progress of the mind [p567] THE BAHA'I MOVEMENT 567 there must be no stopping, and in the Baha'i Faith one can see the continued progress of religion. This distinguished professor also said: "Czechoslovakia is a religious country, but we have always been against any kind of tyranny in religion. We were for freedom of thought already in the time of our Jan Hiis, and in the fourteenth century we had already fought for the freedom of thought in religion in our country, and we are in favour of every movement whose goal is for religious freedom and development. Everything must be done on a democratic basis, there must be international brotherhood. We must learn to have confidence in ourselves and then in others. One path to learn this is through inner spiritual education, and a good way to attain such an education may be through the Baha'i Teachings." It is a pleasure to state what Mrs. Draga hitch, a poet and journalist of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, who translated ~tBah67'u'11Ah and the New Era" into Serbian and who is now a radiant Baha'i, has written; in it I hope you will see the soui of the Serbs: poetic Serbia's greatest charm is spiritual. Here are her own words: ttWh I received the book CAbdu~1~BahA~s ~Paris Talks' in the spring of 1932, while I was still in London, it was as if subconsciously I had known Baha'u'llah and CAbd 'lBh' and Their Teachings from my childhood. Since then the book was precious to me, I never parted from it but read it often. Reading it again and again, in September last, I had the wish to translate it into Serbian, not knowing the richness of Baha'i literature and that there are many Baha'i books that can be translated. "Then in February, 1933, out of the blue, destiny sent me a true Baha'i, Martha Root, who asked me to translate !Baha'u'llah and the New Era' into our language. This book helped me to have a clear understanding of the Baha'i Movement, which I consider to be the best renewal of religion and the one just needed for this universal age. It is not oniy a Faith, but it is a social religion in which is found the solution of present day problems, and especially it contains the new conception of the oneness of mankind. Despairing Yugoslavs who have come through the Great War and attained their cherished ideal of Yugoslav unity, now have a deep longing for unity spiritually at home and then with all mankind. So I think these Baha'i Teachings will be accepted, because for a long time they have been yearned for in our country. c~personally I can say that this Baha'i Teaching came to me in just the time of my life when I needed it most. Although all my life I have been wishing to help others, sometimes there was bitterness in my heart because those for whom I sacrificed so much were not conscious of the price I gave in order to bring them happiness and success. Also, II felt that those whom I loved and who loved me, in the most important moments did not understand the purity of my feeling and the unselfishness of my actions; this realization always brought me great torment and loneliness. Now that I am a Baha'i, the feeling of bitterness has wholly passed from my life, and I am happy that I have done what I did for others. Now that I turn to God, I never feel alone; I have the Company of Baha'u'llah and cAbdu~1Bahi My life is filled with happiness and I have serenity in my heart. (Signed) Draga hitch." Bulgaria, too, is a Slav country and its inhabitants are deeply spiritual. I remember a great Balkan writer saying to me once, after I had lectured in Sofia about the Baha'i Movement: "The Bulgarians may be the first of the Balkan countries to accept these Teachings and to carry them the farthest, for they are seekers in religion." Once I spoke with Colonel Marinoy of Sofia about the Baha'i Teachings when I interviewed him at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva where he was one of the Bulgarian delegates. He had not known much about the Baha'i Cause but he said: "I shall study these principles. For the fifty-five years that Bulgaria has had an independent life, she has produced a very rich literature. I mention this only to tell you of the universality of Bulgarian thought; it dwells gladly on the problems, the sufferings, the hopes of mankind. Our nation, Bulgaria, which has created the third European civilization, which has shattered the religious conscience of the medieval Europe, and which [p568] 568 THE BAHA'I WORLD has paved the way for Reformation, is today, too, in the first rank of workers for a better world and for a more spiritual life." So in all these five Slav countries one can see there is a celestial fire burning. Albania, playground of heaven, the little country of glorious sunshine, deep blue skies, brilliant moonlight, bright stars, has made its contribution, too, to the Ba1A'i Movement. Several Baha'i books have been translated into Albanian by the devoted Baha'i, Mr. Refo Chapari. As one Tirana editor wrote: "The Baha'i Movement takes the God-part of all the religions." This tiny kingdom is very liberal. His Majesty King Zog I. says: ttJ do not care whether my peo-pie are Muhammadans, Catholics or Greek Orthodox if they are loyal Albanians; religion is a private matter." Mr. K. Kotta, President of the Parliament in Tirana, whom I met again on my second visit in june, 1933, said to me that all religions are honored in Albania. All men respect one another no matter what Faith they profess. He also said that for the development of Albania the oniy way of progress is everlasting peace. He had seen the articles about Albania in ccThe Baha'i Magazine" and said to me: "When you meet Shoghi Effendi, give him my best regards and best wishes for the development of the humanitarian Baha'i Movement." Mr. Herman Bernstein, American Minister in Tirana, and he is also an author who has taken a deep interest in the promotion of peace and international goodwill, said to me at the American Legation in June, 1933: "First of all Albania is one of the very few countries where religious hate and prejudice are not to be found. As far as I could observe the Kingdom of Albania and the Albanian people they are genuinely peace-Loving; their code of honor is very high." Mr. Bernstein said he would like very much to see the editions of tThe Baha'i World" and learn more of the progress of the Baha'i Movement in other countries. He explained how he had heard of the Baha'i Cause in the United States, read some of the Teachings and found them very noble. Professor M. Vekshi in Tirana wrote an interesting introduction to the Albanian edition of CCB h" '1I'h and the New Era," the closing paragraph of which is: ccThe holy Baha'i books point out that the duty of man is to work courageously, because whatever is for love, peace, and the salvation of the world is a divine inspiration and a dominant power. To promote these Baha'i ideas in Albania it is necessary, (1) to establish a Baha'i center in Tirana; (2) to found a library in that center; (3) to publish a monthly Baha'i magazine, the name chosen is tThe Supreme Pen'; (4) to organize conferences. Mr. Paul Ligeti, an architect of Budapest, Hungary, in an interview gave me a remarkably illuminating idea of the history of human and spiritual culture and a way out of chaos. The conversation turned to spiritual culture and he said: "When we see the whole way from the remote past until this time, we can understand that a period like our chaos has been like other movements in history, thus we can believe we can make the same way out of chaos in this epoch." He showed how when an age is poor in culture, it is oniy poor in civilization but it is often very rich from another point of view, this chaotic period is always a time of great religious conception. Man is not a thinking animal and in those plastic periods when life is easy he enjoys living, but in the cataclysm when there is one catastrophe after another then he truly thinks, and philosophy, religion and the most vision-like art which is music is born. He has written a little about the Baha'i Movement in his Hungarian book, C~The Way Out of Chaos," because as he says: "I was impressed; it was something that I believe, I saw that the Baha'i religion coming from Persia states that each great religion is in its essence the same and this same essence must return from epoch to epoch. I heard no more until you came, and now I am delighted to hear the Baha'i Movement is going forward and I shall study it profoundly. We must not wait. We must have a new seriousness, a new feeling for our duties; we must be strict with ourselves and kind to the unhappy humanity around us, and I am quite sure it is enough to have the deep feeling to return to the old God to attain the bounty of the new God Ñ because there are no old Gods and no new Gods, it was in every time the same [p569] THE BAHA'I MOVEMENT 569 God who has spoken in a new manner to evolving humanity!" Mr. Zsigmond Polgar, a keen and illumined Jewish Baha'i in Budapest, told me that today there are many Jews believing in Christ. He felt that Judaism has a very great mission; it was partially fulfilled in Jesus Christ but only partially. ttNow is the time," he says, "when our Lord has sent a new Prophet, Baha'u'llah, to humanity and we should accept His Teachings, otherwise we lose Christ a second time." He also said that antisemitism as such does not exist; it is oniy hatred in the world. When the hatred from one human being to another can be eliminated, when attatks of the strong against the weak can be made to cease, there will be no antisemitism. The divine means to stop this evil is the Baha'i Teachings. Professor Henry Marczali, one of the great professors and writers of Hungary, said to the audience after one of my lectures on the Baha'i Movement: ttYes, the unity of God must have for consequence the unity of mankind." Young Denis Balint Szanto, a Baha'i boy sixteen years old, in Budapest wrote: ttThe Baha'i Movement is the finest religion; I hope that this beautiful idea will conquer the hearts throughout the world." I had tea with Dr. Edmond Privat and his wife in Geneva, the last of April, 1932, just after their return from India where they had been with Mahatma Chandi for several months. Dr. Privat, this erudite writer and keen analyzer of men who has himself read many of the Baha'i books (and he is one of the greatest lights in the Esperanto world), said to me: ccYou will be interested to know that Mahatma Gliandi knows the Baha'i Teachings very well and thinks they are excellent." Sir Ahmed Hussein (Nawag Amin Jung BahAdur) of the Court of the Great Nizam in Hyderabad, Deccan, India, says: object of the Baha'i Movement is to make people understand religion and religious institutions in their true spirit Ñ the spirit of faith and service which underlies all religions of the world. Peace and goodwill are consequences that flow from faith and service. "The Baha'is work and suffer in the spirit of faith and service, in order to attain worldwide peace and goodwill. They take nothing from any religion except its spirit of faith and service; in this sense the Baha'is are of all religions, though they are not bound to follow any particular practice of any particular religion. It is for the preachers and missionaries to explain what is the spirit of faith and service that underlies any religion; I believe the Baha'is understand it well." The Baha'i Movement is being broadcast considerably and the microphone speeches prove the susceptibility of the mass of the people to the spoken word. Psychologically people sometimes listen eagerly to words which perhaps they would not trouble to read if they were oniy printed; the talk over the air often inspires them to get the Baha'i literature to find out what is this Baha'i basic simplicity of the inner life. How does it throw open the doors of serenity and certainty to a restless and bewildered humanity? I agree with Sir John Ervine who says we do not yet sufficiently understand the influence which the microphone has and which it will increasingly have on our lives. The salient fact is that the microphone is influential, not because of its mechanical, but because of its personal quality: it makes a voice that is talking to millions sound as if it were talking to one! So the greatness of the Power of this Baha Movement is being manifested over the air, and in the literature of more than fifty nations and in the lives of millions of people, though it is still oniy in the first century of its history! [p570] House of Mani~ichihr Kh~n visited by the BTh during His stay in 1sf Thin, Persia. Ho use of the M~m-Jum~ih where the BTh stayed while in Jsf~h~in, Persia. 570 [p571] DER SJNN UNSERER ZEIT VON HERMANN GROSSMANN ~ Dies ist em neuer Zeitkreis mensciolicher Macht. Alle Horizonte der Welt sind erleuchtet, und die Welt wird wirklich wie em Garten und Paradies werden." S UCHEN und Tasten geht durch die Welt, Unrast, Ungewissheit und Sorgen halten die Menschheit gefangen. Auf den verschieden-sten Gebieten des Lebens seheri wir Altes, Ueberkommenes, zerbrochen am Boden lie-gen, die alte Ordnung erzittert und sttirzt krachend im Toben der entfesselten Elemente zusammen. Und doch ist Plan in dem alien: aus Suchen und Tasten erwThhst eine neuc Entwickelung zur Vollendung und Reife. Denn das ist der Sinn unserer Zeit: em Wendepunkt in der geistigen Entwicke lungs-geschichte der Menschheit. Em zaghaftes Friihuingserwachen zunmhst aus der Starre des Winters und doch schon em Ansatz zu neuem, kraftvollen Reifen: em Vogel Phanix, der sich in seiner verlorenen Schdn-heit verbrennt, urn aus der Asche in gr5sserer Schanheit neu zu erstehen. Es ist nicht der erste Wendepunkt in der Geistesgeschichte der Menschheit. Durch Jahrtausende hindurch wiederholt sich das Spiel bei den verschiedenen Kulturen und Valkern. Moses und Zoroaster bezeichneten soiche Wenden, Christus crschien mit neuer Kraft im Kulturzusammenbruch der hel-Lenistisch-r6mischen Welt, wiihrend in Ara-bien Muhammeds malinende Stimme den Wandel hervorrief. Einst war die 'Welt durch natflrliche Schranken, Gebirge, Strdrne und Meere in zahilose Menschheitsinseln zergliedert, und jede dieser Insein entwickelte fUr sich einen Geist und eine Kuirur, die eine nur wenig von der anderen beeinflusst. Verschie-dene Lebensbedingungen schufen verschie-dene Formen des Lebens, in der Lebensform schiugen Sitte, Anschauung, Wesen und Kultur ihre Wurzeln und verst~irkten zu-n~ichst die natiirlichen Grenzen der Gruppen und Valker. Ihre Entwikelung wurde ver-schieden, fur jedes ergaben sich zu an-deren Zeiten andere Wenden, aber doch waren alle die verschiedenen Wenden Teile cines einheitlichen Planes. Denn der Weg der Natur ist der Weg zur Vollendung und Reife. Er volizielit sich bei der Pflanze in jedem Jahr von der Knospe bis zur Fruclit, aber er vollzieht sich bei ilir auch fiber die Jahre hinweg vom ersten, zarten Keim bis zum kr~iftigen Baum mit seiner hundert-fachen Verzweigung. Jeder Wendepunkt in d er g ci st i g en Menschheitsentwickelung brachte em Knospen, Waclisen und Reif en, und wenn auch die Fruclit am Schiuss wieder abfiel, so war sic doch nicht vergeblich ge-reift, denn fiber der Starre und Stille des Winters hat sich dann immer der neuc Keim vorbereitet, bis er im neuen Friihling hervor-brach und cm neuer Wendepunkt wurde. Mose Lehre verfiel in den Menschen in Ve6iusserlichung und Verengung, aber Christi Lehre hat daraus sich erhoben. Alte Weisheit der Weden konnte vergehen, aber die hohe Weisheit Buddlias wurde statt ilirer geboren. Sab~iischer Glaube war in Aber-glauben versunken, doch Muhammed erhob ilin in grbsserer Reinheit. Sooft aber em neuer Wendepunkt folgte, war er em Mei-lenstein in der geistigen Entwickelung der Menschheit, em Zeichen, urn wieviel sic seit dem letzten Wendepunkt Ñ trotz voriiberge-henden Stilistandes oder gelegentlich audi wohi scheinbaren Rtickschritts Ñ vorankam. Und immer karn sie fur den, der zu erkennen bemiiht ist, voran. Die verschiedenen Kul-turen iand Vblkergruppen jedoch sind mit iliren verschiedenen Wenden wie verschiedene Teile eines einzigen Baumes: Wurzeln, Zweige und Laubwerk. Jedes hat cine Auf-gabe ilk sich, aber alle haben sie auch cine Aufgabe gemeinsam: die Entwickelung des Baumes, von dem sie alle cm Teil sind. Gebirge, Strdme und Meere trennten die Menschheit. Heute haben Eisenbahn, Dampf-schiff, Auto und Flugzeug, Fernsprecher, 571 [p572] 572 THE BAHA'I WORLD Zeitung und Film die Schranken ilberwun-den, und die Menschheit biLlet, mag sie sich auch noch so sehr dagegen verschliessen, eine einzige Einheit. Der Orient studiert Europas Kultur, und das Abendland holt sich geistige Weisheit des Orients heriiber. Em stiindiger Austausch schrweisst die Kulturen zusammen. So ist heute nicht mehr die Zeit malist es em hohes Ziel, denn die Menschheit hat einen Jahrtausende langen Weg hinter sich, Stein urn Stein haben zahulose Wenden getiirrnt; der Stein, dere sich heute darauf baut, ist der letzte, der Schlussstein, und sein Name ist ttVollendung und Einheit." Jeder Wendepunkt hat semen Denkstein besessen. In den grossen Manifestationen der Hiji Mutiammad-Karim KMn archenemy of the BTh. (Refer to Kitdb-i-iqdn, p. 184) verschiedener, artlich umzeichneter Wenden, vielmelir cm einziger grosser Wendepunkt fur eine geeinigte Menschheit. Freilich: nicht ohne Widerstand weichen die trennenden Mauern: Vorurteile aller Art, Eigennutz und Kurzsichtigkeit heisst es zuvor iiberwinden. Hart prallen die Gegens~itze noch einmal zusammen, Revolutionen und Umwalzungen sind auf alien Gebieten die Folge, aber aus beiden erkennen wir die Evolution, die zur Hbhe emporfiihrt. Und dies-g6tdichen g6tdichen Geisteskraft, cinern Moses, Zoroaster, in Christus und Muhammad finden die Wenden ihren Ausdruck. Heuce ist Baha'u'llah der gewaltige Denkstein. Seit zwei Generationen durchweht der Geist seiner Lebre, der BaM'i-Lehre, die Welt, wie einst Christi Geist und Muhammads Kraft die Vdlker durchbebte. Und was an Suchen und Tasten, an Werden und Entstehen heute die Erde durchziehen mag, aus semen Werken ghiht uns der Funke ziindend entgegen, [p573] DER SINN UNSERER ZEIT 573 zugleich als em Finden und Erkennen uralter, ewiger Weisheit und Wahrheit. (CQ Menschen! Die IPforten des Gottes-reiches sind aufgesprungen, die Sonne der Wahrheit erleuchtet das Weltall, die Brunnen des Lebens quellen hervor, der Morgen des Erbarmens ist angebrochen, das grbsste und kdstlichste Licht strahit, urn in die Herzen der Menschen zu leucliten. Wacht auf und hart auf die Stimme des Herrn, der aus alien Teilen des erhabeneen Reichs ruft: Kornrnt zu Mir, o Menschenkinder! Kommt zu Mir, o ihr, die ihr diirstet und trinkt von dern stissen Wasser, das wie em Giessbach iiber alle Teile des Erdballs herabstikzt! Nun ist es Zeit! Nun ist die ausersehene Zeit!" (Abdu'l-Baha. Es ist das Wesen der Bah~'i-Lehre, dass sie uns die inneren Zusarnmenh~inge zwischen den verschiedenen Gottesoffenbarern und die einzige grosse Einheit, die sic alle bilden, be-wusst macht, dass sie uns untertaucht in den ewig fliessenden Quell gdttlicher Geiste-serneucrung und tejihaftig werden ]iisst an der Kraft, die aus der Manifestation Seines Schdpferwillens hervorgeht. "So sind," sagt tAbdu'1-Bah6, "die heiligen Manifestationen Gottes die Mittelpunkte des Liclites der Wirklichkeit, der Quellen der verborgenen Geheimnisse und der Gaben der Liebe. Sie strahien wieder in der Welt der Herzen und Gedanken und giessen ewige Gnade fiber die geistige Welt aus. Sie geben geistiges Leben und leuchten mit dem Lichte der Wiridich-keit und waliren Bedeutung. Die Erleuch-tung der Gedankenwelt entspringt diesen Mirtelpunkten des Lichtes und Quellen der verborgenen Geheimnisse. Ohne die Gaben ihres Glanzes und die Anweisungen dieser heiligen Wesen w~ire die Welt der Seelen und Gedanken in undruchdringlichem Dunkel, oline die unwiderleglichen Leliren dieser Quellen der Geheimnisse wiirde die Mensch-heft zum Tummelplatz tierischer Geltiste und Eigenschaften, das Scm aller Dinge unwirk-lich werden und kein walires Leben bestehen. Darum heisst es im Evangelium: Cim Anfang war das Wort,' das heisst, dass es die Ursache war alien Lebens."' 1 Beantwortetc Fragen, Kap. 42. Unter dem Einfluss der Manifestationen linda die Menschheir in allmThlichern Fort-schritt Erlasung aus ihrem Zwiespalt, aus den inneren und ~.usseren Nbten, sie selber aber muss helfen am Werk der Eribsung, indem sic die Lehren der Manifestationen beachtet und ihrer Verwirklichung nachs-trebt, denn nur ccwer immer strebend sich bemiiht, den kannen wir erlasen" (Goethe). ~'Liebe Mich," heisst es in den Verborgenen Worten Baha'u'llah's, C(damit Ich dich liebe. Wenn du Mich nicht liebst, kann Meine Liebe niemals zu dir gelangen. Merke dir dies, o Diener!" Allein, der Bah6N-Gedanke erhebt sich weit fiber menschliche Verengung und Dog-men. Er will die Menschen dazu bringen CCmit ihren eigenen Augen zu schauen und mit iliren eigenen Ohren zu hbren" und sie so zur wahren, unverdorbenen Erkenntnis geleiten. Naclidem die Menschheit das Stadium der Kindheit iiberwunden hat, ist sie nun in das Stadium der Reife getreten. Von so hoher Warte aus ist es kiar, dass die Bah~'i-Lehre keine starre Form des Glaubens erwartet. Nicht alle Menschen sind gleich reif, und erst a11m~ih1iche Entwickelung ver-mag die Erfiillung zu bringen. Die Ba1A'i-Lehre erkennt ihre Aufgabe darin, dass sie den Menschen mit der g6ttlichen OfTen-barung verbindet und ruft die Menschheit zusammen in der Arbeit fur die menschliche Einheit. ccVerkehret mit alien Vblkern in Liebe und (geistigem) Dufthairch. Gemein-schaft ist die Ursache der Einigkeit, und Einigkeit ist in der Welt die Queue der Ordnung. Gesegnet sind die, die freund-lich sind, und mit Liebe dienen."2 ccBaM~u~11ih wendet sich an die ganze Menschheit," sagr tAbdu'1-Bah4, Ctmit den Worten: tihr seid alle Blatter an einem Zweige und Friichte von einem Baurne,' d.h. die Menschheit ist nichts als em Baum, und die Nationen oder Valker sind wie die verschied-enen Aeste oder Zweige, die einzelnen Menschen aber wie seine Blilten und rriichte. • Baha'u'llah vcrktindigte die Einheit der menschlichen 'Welt, er tauchte alle in das Meer der g6ttlichen Grossmut." 2 Baha'u'llah, Worte der Weisheit. [p574] LE BAHA'I' PAR EUGEN RELGIS D'APRtS sa d6finition id6aliste, La religion est universaliste. Quel que soit le Dieu qu'elle proclame, foute religion fut, au commencement, I'expression de 'a tendance d'unification de 1'humanit6 et de la lutte contre les forces temporaires. Son substratum, pius sentimental que rationnel, a pr~pard un d6veloppement de la solidarit6. Dans l'antiquitd, cette so1idarit~ fut limit6e dans une r6gion, dans un groupement de peuples, dans une race. C'6tait aussi un progr~s devant des innombrables croyances d6nomm&s payennes ou fdtichistes. Dc 1'idol&trie des petits groupements, on est arriv6 aux masses fondues dans un d~isme, lanc6 par les proph&es et accapar6e ensuite par C C1~ repr&entants de Dieu sur la terre." La religion a perdu sa save vitale lorsque, incorpor& dans une 6glise, son esprit orig-inaire fut alter6 par les dominateuts des peuples, Ñ d~natur6 par un clerg6 au service d'une caste, d'une politique ou d'un &at. Ainsi, au lieu de contribuer ~ l'unification, La religion, est devenue un instrument de lutte temporelle, augmentant Ia mel6e des int6r&s contraires, croyant qu'elle pea servir Ia foi ~ 1'aide du sabre, monopolisant Dieu au profit d'un peuple, plus exactement: de celui d'une minorit6 privikgide. Nous savons bien que nous ne disons rien de nouveau. C'est une simple mais n6cessaire constatation, dans le cadre d'une oeuvre consacr6e aux actions universalistes. C'est pourquoi nous devons enregistrer, volontiers, un mouvement qui tend au rekvement de Ia religion sur ic plan plan6taire et cosmique: le Bahd'ismc. CeluY-ci a ic m6rite d'&re d6pouill6 de "n~v6lations," en se pr6sentant avec quelques principes 6thiques r6sult& d'une analyze rationnelle de Ia vie humaine et avec un imp6ratif spirituel extrait de la conscience de 'a so1idarit~ universelle et de La loi virale de Ia coop~ration. 1 Chapitre extrait d'un livre inedit: Cf Cosinomdtap-ohs," & paraitre bientOt en francais, espagnol et roumain. Ce mouvement a 6t6 pr6par6 en Perse, en 1844, par un jeune homme qui s'appelait Bib. Martyris~ en 1850, apr~s six ans de lutte pour Ia r6formation et l'6largissement de la religion, ii, eat comme succ6sseur Baha'u'llah qui peat ~tre consid&6 comme Ic vrai fondateur du mouvement Bahai. Persecutd Iui aussi avec cruaut6, ii a pass6 d'une prison ~t l'autre, de Perse en Turquie et ensuite en Palestine. Pendant le 40 ans de son exil, ii a d6velopp6 les principes qui reprdsentent ajourd'hui la base d'une religion universdlle. Ses disciples ont r6pandu ses principes pendant qu'il restait dans les prisons. Lorsqu'en 1892 Baha'u'llah mourut, ~ I'&ge de 75 ans, ii, laissa comme promoteur et interpr&e Sons fib Abdul' Baha, qui a partag6 avec son pare l'exile et les prisons jusqu'en 1908, quand ii s'6tablit ~ HaYf a, en Palestine. D'ici, le mouvement fut r6pandu dans tous les pays. Abdul' BaM voyagea en Europe, en Afrique et en Am6rique, pr6chant infatigablement ics en-seignements de Ia paix et de la fraternrte. Ii mourut en 1921, ~ l'&ge de 77 ans, laissant son petit Ñ fib Shoghi Effendi comme "premier gardien de 'a Cause." Au temps de Bib a de Baha'u'llah, lorsque La Perse se trouvait dans une extrame d6ca-dence, lorsque le fanatisme 6tait un instrument de pers6cution dans la main du gouv-ernement corrompu, lorsque les sciences et ics arts 6taient consid6r6s comme a les femmes 6taient tenues en ignorance et esciavage, les adaptes de cc nouveau mouve-ment furent d6poss6dds, torturds, 6xil6s. Les martyres de cette religion humaine s'6l6vaient au nombre de 20.000. En 1892, les adeptes du BahA'isme comptaient au moms un demi-million (Lord Curzon de Kedleston, dans son livre La Perse). Aujourd'hui, us d6-passent deux millions. Sous 1'influence de Baha'u'llah, les membres de dif6rentes religions a d'innombrables sectes ont r~ussi ~ s unir dans une v6ritable fraternit6, en sup-primant les pr6jug~s, 6l6vant des &oles, 574 [p575] LE BAHA'ISME 575 d6v~nant plus &lair& et plus tokrants. Dc Verse, le mouvement Baha s'est r6pandu partout, dans toutes les cat6gories sociales. On compte des milliers de Bahi'istes dans toutes les capitales occidentales; le mouve-ment a gagn6 les plus grands esprits de la civilisation et de la science contemporaines. ressemblance. tie vrai Dieu est ~ jamais inconnaissable ~ 1'homme." II feat pas le Dieu des innombrables sectes, ni celui des vari6t6s du christianisme, ni celui du fatal-isme musulman, ni celui des Juifs dev6ts ou du Nirvana boudiste. On a quand m~me besoin d'un mot pour indiquer tcla toute Eugen Relgis, Rumanian. Writer and peace worker, who first heard of the Baha'i Teachings from the late Dr. Auguste Forel. Li serait fastidjeux d'6num6rer toutes leurs t~moignages. Je dois Ia connaissance du mouvement Baha'i au savant Auguste Ford, lorsqu'en 1930 ii me parla de Ia "religion du bien social." Ce ttlibre penseur" avait encorpor6 dans son credo les principes du BahA'isme. Repoussant les blagues des soi-disants chr6. tiens, qui jonglaient avec les mots Dieu, religion, etc., Forel 6carte le Dieu fabriqu6 par les ~ leur image et leur puissance inconnaissable de 1'Univers avec ses millions de soleils." Celui qui s'appelle ath6e, trahit son inconscience ou sa vanite. Ii existe une religion. Et Ford 1'appelle simplement: ccNous autres ~incr6du1es' je le dis aux croyans, chr6tiens de toute sorte, juifs, musulmans, etc., nous avons aussi note religion, c'est-i--dire celle du "Bien social humain." Mais le mouvement Baha'i fait aussi appel aux homme d'une religion Ñ chr6tiens, musul [p576] 576 THE BAHA'I WORLD mans, juifs, hindous, zoroastriens Ñ pour s 'unir dans une fraternit6 qui supprirne la haine et les pr6jug6s et qui, "en changeant les coeurs et la vie des hommes, en fait des cr6atures nouvelles." A cet ~gard, ic temple bahaiste d6v~ a Chicago est bien symbolique; dans 'a grande salle centrale, se trouve une chapelle pour chaque religion, pour chaque culte existant; n'importe qui peut s'incliner devant "antel de sa religion, dans une atmos-ph&e de communion sup6rieure, d'harrnonie de divers cultes dans l'esprit d'une "nouvelle civilisation, oii la coop6ration remplacera hi concurrence, oii l'amiti6 prendra 'a place de La haine, oji le d6vouement ~ la volontd divine sera substitu6 ~ l'6goisme et aux d6sirs mon-dams." Baha'u'llah consid&rait les grandes religions comme des partis du plan universel de 1'6ducation et due salut de l'humanite. Chaque proph~te qui a proclam6 un Dieu unique et l'amour du prochain, a expose sa doctrine dans ttla forme la hiieux adapt6e aux besoins de l'~poque dans laquelle ii vivait." Mais 1'homme est arriv6 ~ une phase de d~veloppement qui ic rend capable de 'tcomprendre un enseignement plus univer-sel." Le mouvement Baha comprend des ernseignements d'anciennes religions, en les harmonisant avec tous les progr~s de la science et de 'a technique contemporarnes. Non seulement l'unit6 spirituelle, mais aussi La mat6rielle: tcLe t6kgraphe, le t6ldphone, les a6roplanes, Ia radio, etc., tout contribue ~ l'unification de I'humanite." Nous pouvons trouver une pareille proclamation de Ia tendance vers l'unit6 dans les oeuvres les plus rigoureusement scientifiques. Par exemple, dans: "La Biologic de 'a Guerre" du professeur George-Fr. Nicolai. Ii est n6cessaire de reproduire ici les principes du BahaYsme: "religion interna-tionale universelle sans dognes ni pr&tres." Ces principes furent 6nonc6s par Baha'u'llah en 1852: 1. La recherche illimit6e de Ia vdrit6 et 1'abandon des superstitions et des pr~jug~s. 2. L'unit6 de 1'humanit6: ttVous etes tous les feujiles d'un meme arbre, les ileurs d'un m~em jardin." 3. La religion doit d6terminer l'amour et l'harmonie, autrement elle n'est pas une religion. 4. Toutes les religions sont une dans leurs principes fondamentaux. 5. La religion doit avancer main i main avec Ia science. La foi et La raison doivent &re dans un accord complet. 6. La piax universelle. L'&tablissement d'une Socidt6 des Nations universelle, d'une Cour d'arbitrage et d'un Parlarnent international. 7. L'adoption d'une langque universelle auxiliaire qui sera enseign6e dans toutes les 6coles du monde. (Esperanto.) 8. L'instruction obligatoire pour tous. Education rigoureuse, surtout pour les jeunes-Riles, qui seront les mares et les premkres 6ducatrices de Ia g~n6ration future. 9. Possibilit& 6gales de d6veloppement et droits dgaux pour 1'homme et la femme. 10. Du travail pour tous. Ni riche paresseux, ni pauvre paresseux. Le travail, avec la volont6 de servir son prochain, est l'~gal d'un acte de foi. 11. L'abolition des extr6mes de 'a pauv-ret6 et de la richesse. Le soin pour le n6ces-saire de l'existence (Care for the needy), Ñ chaque dtre humain ayant les mames droits mx biens corporels a mentaux. 12. La reconnaissance de l'unitd de Dieu et l'obdissance ~ ses commendements, rdv6lds par ses manifestations divines. Ce dernier principe est exprim6, dans autres tracts publi6s ~ g6n%ve, dans la mani6re suivante: 12. Les pr6ceptes des Baha'i, leur morale, constituent 'a religion unifiante et universelle de 1'humanitd toute enti~re. Unite, V&it6, Libert6, Amour. .Des imp6ratifs que nous trouvons dans n'importe quel cr6do universaliste, que nous avons exprim6 aussi dans nos c7Principes humani-taristes," en 1921, quand nous n'avons pas m~me soupconnd l'existence du mouvement Baha'i, vicux presque d'un skcle! Ii est naturel que les chemins plan6taires s'entre-croisent ~ un moment donnd, pour s'unir 6troitement ou pour aller paraldilement vers leur but commun. Les uns sont partis de la science, d'autres de 1'6thique. Les uns, du postulat spirituel; d'autres, du mat6rialisme. Mais Ia v6rit6 supreme les unit tous dans son eternelle et toute puissante lumi~re. Ce qui donne au BahA'isme tine valeur positive, c'est le fait que la notion de la [p577] LE BAHA'ISME 577 religion est ddlivr6e d'apparences, de dogmes et de la tyranie de la caste ~ccl6siastique Ñ et qu 'elle est confondue dans le grand courant de Ia vie humaine et universelle. Une telle religion supprime les int6rm6diaires entre 1'homme et Dieu; elle 6carte les ex-ploitateurs de l'ignorance et de Ia mis~re populaire, en faisant de chaque homme, de queue religion qu'il soft, un individu capable d'6ldvation spirituelle, responsable de ses actions devant sa propre conscience, solidaire avec I'humanit6 at le monde. Le BahaYsme, puriflant Ia religion des mythes et de 'a mystique st&ile, supprime aussi Ia contradiction entre Ia science et la religion; repous-sant les prdjug6s sociaux, ii efface ics dif-f&ences entre les nations, les races et les cat~gories sociales, que les diverses Eglises sournises aux Etats et aux politiciens ant accentu6 au cours des si&les. Le Bahaysme proclame donc une culture humaine et uni-verselle, bas~e sur la solidarit6 de l'esp&e hurnaine enti&e. Ii donsid&e m6me 1'hu-manitd comme un organisme, en accentuant, par des arguments de 'a vie spirituelle, Ia conception biologique de "l'organisme de l'humanitc" dans le temps et l'espace. Des nombreuses ouvrages ont 6t6 consacr6s au Bah6'isme, non seulements par ses pro-moteurs, mais aussi par les sociologues et les savants europ6ens et am6ricaines qui ont examin6 les oeuvres de Baha'u'llah et dtAbdul'BaM avec ics instruments d'investi-gation rationaliste. Elles ont r6sist6 aux plus rigoureux et aux plus sceptiques examens3 Certains, comme Hyppolyte Dreyfus et Horace Holley, ont exarnind Ic cOt6 social et 6conomique du BahaYsme.2 H. Holley, par-tant des principes bah&istes, montre le chaos dans lequel se d6bat le monde moderne, depuis que Ia guerre Ñ 6chap~e au contrOle dont furent investis les conducteurs de 1'Etat Ñ a passe dans le domaine illimit6 de l'activit6 sociale et 6conomique. Halley fait ressortir troTh faits: (1) ttLes gouvernements sont devenus pour I'humanit~ les principales sources de p6ril" par l'incessant accroissement de l'armement; (2) L'industrie et le corn1 1 "L'oeuvre de Baha'u'llah," en 3 volumes, traduits en francais par H. Dreyfus. Edit. Ii. Leroux, Paris. 2 "Baha sur Le Bah4'isme," son histoire, sa port~e sociale, par flyppolyte Dreyfus Ñ et ~'L'6conomie inon-diale de Baha'u'llah" par Horace Ilolley, Paris 1932. merce ne nourrissent plus, n'habillent plus et n'abritent plus les foules; au contraire, la pauvret6 a ~norm6ment augment6 t'avec Ia concentration des moyens de production et de distribution des richesses, £~ laquelle ne correspond pas une politique sociale appro-pri6e"; (3) A cause de 'a diversit6 a des antagonismes entre les cultes et les dogmes (qui sont arriv6s sous la d6pendance des autorit~s civiles pour "faire donner force de loi aux principes de morale") les religions 6tablies ttau lieu d'intensifier en 1'homme la vie int6rieure qui unit les &res dans un esprit d'entr'aide et de coopdration, empoisonnent les sources mdmes de cette vie." Elles pro-voquent ainsi des luttes sanglantes, CCla corn-p&ition qui produit le nationalisme dans 1'Etat et Ia fureur d'accroisesement personnel chez les individus." Donc, 1'Etat, le Capitalisme et l'Eglise sont aujourd'hui les troTh causes qui sapent les fondements d'une civilisation qui ne sea plus aux int6rets de 1'humanit6. Le nouvel ordre ne peat pas &re fondd que stir l'unit~ de 1'humanit6, sur la d6pendance mutuelle oii Sc trouvent les races qui ont une corn-munautd d'origines et de huts.3 L'organisa-don sociale actuelle s'6croule ~i cause du tts6paratisme et de la diveresit6," son mobile 6tant I'int6r~t personnel. C'est int&essant de constater, dans le cadre de cette 6tude, qu' Horace Holley, dans l'expos~ de l'&on-omie mondiale de Baha'u'llah, arrive aux conclusions proches de celles de la conception cosrnom6tapolite. Faisant une analogie avec I'4oque de d6cadence de 1'Empire romain, ii montre comment Ia nouvelle croyance chr6tiennes r6ussit alors ~ se pandre Ñ et ii pr&ise que ttla r&tauration de Ia soci6r~ fut l'ouvrage des individus r6g6n&6s, forrn6s en groupe coop6ratif a non point 1'effev d'une r6forme de tarifs, d'un rajustement des salaires ou d'une r6. organisation du commerce et de la l6gisla-tion." Par le renouvellernent spirituel on peat arriver ~ une r6forme essentielle. "U science spirituelle, dont 1'objet est le prob-kme centrale du bien-atre de Phumanit6 • peut cr&r les organismes n&essaires Vous &tes les fruits d'un seul arbre, les feujiles d'nne seule branche les fleurs d'un seul jardin" (Baha'u'llah) ci?. J. E. EssIem~nt: "Baha'u'llah et 1'Fre nouvelle." Gen&ve 1932. [p578] 578 THE BAHA'I WORLD an fonctionnement de 1'esprit de coop6ration ~ travers la soci6t6." C'est le point de d6part des principes de Baha'u'llah, qui a developp6 un plan de r6organisation sociale, bas~e sur toutes les r6alit6s de la vie humaine. Le chaos et les r6volutions vont augmenter sans cesse, tant que "ne sera pas cr66 un organisme de gouvernement du monde inv~sti ~ 1'~gard du genre humain d'une autorit6 supreme, et auquel les Etats nationaux seront soumis comme des provinces n'exercant qu'une juridiction locale." Nous avons 1'impression de lire un des principes cosrnom&a-polites! La concordance y est aussi en cc qui concerne 1'attitude envers le socialisme et le communisme.' "Le gouvernement mondial" est un left-motif du Bahi'isme et du Cosmop&apolisme, quoi qu'ils ajent des points de d6part diff6rants. t~Tant qu'un tel gouvernement ne sera pas 6tabli, le divorce subsistera entre les valeurs d'ordre CCreligieux~~ et celle d'ordre tt6u1ier~~ L'administration sociale doit dtre faite par des 6lus du genre humain" Ñ non par des politiciens immorales qui maintiennent la CCd6sunion sociale, afin de se m6nager les moyens de p&her en eau trouble" L'6tablissement d'un gouvernement man-diala, comme un corollaire indispensable, la r6g6n6ration de La communaut6 locale, au scm de laquelle se produisent les principales r6lations entre les hommes. Dans ces corn-munaut6s locales ~~s'dabore la qualit6 de La vie de 1'homme," par 1'dducation et par d'autres moyens sur lesquels ii n'est pas lieu d'insister ici. Aujourd'hui, ces communaut6s locales (nations, classes, etc.) sont des ccl Ñ lules malades dans un corps souffrant. La sant6 y va revenir lorsque 1'individu ne sera pas un simple instrument politique, mais 6l6ment 6conomique, ayant droit au n6ces-saire de 1'existence (ceci nous rappelle le minimum d'existence" de Popper-Lynkeus). La victoire du socialisme ne r6soud pas le probkme d'un ~tstatut humain." Le social-isme, le coitimunisme, n'expriment pas ct1~es~ sentielle r6alit6 de 1'homme"; us constituent un effort d'organisation mat6rielle, ~~mais non point d'unification des &res," en n6gligeant La nature intime de 1'homme ~tr ne s'oc.-'Cf. les discours d'Abdul'Bah& en Am6rique et en Europe, pendant les ann6es 19111912. cuper que du m&anisme social externe." Le socialisme peut produire "une apparence d'ordre," mais au d6pens de 1'esprir humain. C'est par La reconnaissance des principes spirituels de 1'association entre les hommes Ñ par "I'6ducation spirituelle de 1'homme, Ia transformation de son id6alisme passif en un &at positif ott ii travaillera activement, de concert avec ses semblables, ~i de fins corn-muns " Ñ qu'on 6tablira une civilisation bas6e sur les int6rats gdndraux et permanents de 1'humanite. Les trois objectifs du BahA'isme: le gouv-ernement mondial, les communaut~s locales r~g6n6r6es et 1'6ciucation spirituelle sont fortement li6s entre eux. Leurs puisannces d'action sont d6clanch6es par des individual-itds, en divers pays, par tles &mes les plus hautes qui reconnaissent en eux les plus grandes valeurs d'id6alisme et de force pratique qui sojent au monde." La force d'in-ertie de 1'6volution pass6e r6siste encore; elle doit ~tre vaincue, car (Cia v6rit6 reste du c6td du mouvement qui pousse ~ la paix universelle." Seule la foi consciente peut pencher la balance en faveur de 1'6volution naturelle et non de la r6volution Ñ en faveur d'un ordre humain et non du chaos provoqu~ par les guerriers et les politiciens. Pour les adeptes du Bah&'isme, de plus en plus nombreux, les enseignements de Baha'-. u'11Th repr6sentent Ia source de cette "foi consciente." Comme le dit Auguste Forel, ce n'est pas La foi en un certain dogme autoritaire qui fait que 1'homme soit reLigieux Ñ mais c'est cc1~ardeur de sa conviction dans 1'avenir du Bien social de 1'humanit6, de son prochain d'aujourd'hui a de demain. Social est synonime de maral, Ñ tandis que La croy-ance ou 1'incroyance dans une vie apr~s hi mort, c'est une autre question Ñ qui peut ~tre mise de cOt6." Les dl6ments positifs du Bahaisme peuvent attirer atissi la jeunesse occidentale, ~kv~e par 1'~ducation ration-naliste. Forel prdcise: tAbdu'1-BaM ddclare que le monisme et 1'dvolution darwinienne sont en parfaite harmonie avec le charit~ chr6tienne, ainsi qu'avec la religion univer-selle, international; prach6e et pratiqu6e par Baha'u'llah 2 Nous recommandons & ceux qul d&irent approfon-dir cette doctrine, le livre de J. E. Esslemont: 'Baha'u'llah et 1'Ere nouveLle," traduite en plusieurs langues. [p579] LE BAHA'ISME 579 Le BahA'isme est, en v6rit6, aussi une heureuse synth~se de la civilisation mat6rielle et de Ia culture spirituelle, de 1'Occident et de 1'Orient. Reconnaissant que "les choses de Ia mati&e sont en &roite relation avec les choses de l'esprit et du cocur," CAbdu~1~BaM disait, dans un de ses discours prononc6s en Am6rique (1912) que Ia civilisation mat6-rielle a atteint en Occident ie point cui-munant du d6veloppement, mais que La v6ritable civilisation spirituelle est apparue en Orient. Les grands maitres spirituels sont venus de l'Orient. Bouddha, Confucius, Moise, J6sus, Muhammad, Zoroastre, Baha'u'llah. Mais dans nos jours d'interd6pendance plandtaire, 1'Orient a besoin des bienfaisances de Ia civilisations rnat6rielle. ttL'Orient daft prendre ~ 1'Occident sa civilisation mat6rielle, et 1'Occident emprunter ~ l'Orient sa civilisation spirituelle." Les sceptiques, qui ne vojent que les d6-mends du moment, pouraient objecter que les ttbienfaisances" de l'Orient sont aujourd'hui: l'imp6rialisme exasp6r6 du Japon (avec Ia mis&e chronique de Ia Chine et de 1'Tnde) ainsi que la dictature implacable de la Russie sovi6tique. La v6rit6 est, que ces manifestations ne sont pas locales, sp6cifiques ~i 1'Orient; elles sont les formes extrernistes d'une crise de transformation mondiales. La premi%re est l'agonie d'une 6poque qui dis-parait; la derni&e est la naissance d'une 6poque nouvelle. La prcmi~re ne yea pas mourir: elle veut attirer dans son tambeau, par une guerre plan6taire, un nouveaumonde qui yea vivre Ñ rnais qui, dans son ardeur, pratique la m6thode violente de l'adversaire a qui n'a pas encore eu le temps d'apprendre aussi les autres lois qui gouvernent La vie hurnaine: Ñ non settlement 1'irnp6ratif matd-vie1, mais aussi 1'irnpdratif spirituel est aux fondements de tout nouveau monde. A ce point de vue, la conc6ption de Baha'u'llah sur l'6volution humain nous parait extram~mcnt importante. Ii voit dans cent tvolution un cycle organique de milleans ~t peu pr~s, correspondant ~ la durde d'une religion. Le cycle social commence toujours avec l'apparition d'un proph&e, dont 1'en-seignement renouvelle La vie int6rieure de 1'homrne et ~~fait d6ferler ~ travers le monde une nouvelle vague de progr~s." crchaque nouveau cycle d6truit les croyances et les institutions us6es du cycle pr&6dent et fonde sur d'autres croyances, en &roite conformit6, celles-li, avec les besoins acrnels de 1'hurnanit6, une civilisation nouvelle.1 A son tour, cette civilisation d6choit, car les nouvelles doctrines humaines prennent la place de celles prkh6es par le proph~te Ñ et, finalement, apparait une autre conception religieuse (ott scientifique) du monde. Dans les mill6naires pass~s, l'influence des fondateurs de religion a 6t~ limit6e, Li cause de I'isolement g6ographique des continents ou des races. Aujourd'hui, l'influence du cycle s'6tend sur le monde entier. II exprime l'unit6 spirituelle qui s'6tend sur 1'hurnanit~ entkre. ccL~&re de l'emprisonnernent touche sa fin" et l'hornme peut s'dancer ~tsur les ailes de la foi et de la raison, dans ics roy-aurnes plus ~kv6s de l'amour spirituel et de Ia vtrit6."2 Le nouvel ordre organique du monde sera l'oeuvre de cette unit6 spirituelle, que Baha'u'llah await proclarn6 avec plus de fermet~ ques les autres, et ~t laqudlle 'a science apporte son t6moignage rationnel et intellectuel. Le proph&e a proclam6 la rupture d6finitive entre l'&e de Ia concurrence et de l'tre de coop6ration, tandis que Ia science, d'autre part, cca tir6 1'homme de l'impuissance oti ii se trouvait ~ 1'6gard de la nature physique."~ De ces deux rn6thodes ressort, comme de la conception cosmom6tapolite, un r&ablisse-ment de la responsabilit6 morale de 1'individu. N'oublions pas: si 1'humanit6 ne devient pas consciente de sa double unit6 spirituelle a organique, cue p6rira alors, m~me par les 6kments d'une science saiss Iournanitt Si Ia science fabrique tries armes vivantes" de l'esprit, les maitres temporaires utilisent 'es 6l6rnents de Ia science pour fabriquier ties armes morts" de la guerre nationale et chile. L'hurnanit6 doit choisir aujourd'hui entre ~l'esprit de tribu" et la solidarit6 universelle qui cttravaille pour la prosp6rit6 et le bien communs." Nous avons trac6 dans ces pages seulement 'a signification du Bah~'isme, sans examiner tous ses principes et son programme pratique 1 cf. H. flolley: "L'Economie mondiale tie Bah~' p. 21. 2 Cit6 par Esslemont: ~'Bah&'u'11&h a 1'Ere now wile," p. 281. Holley, op. cit. [p580] $80 THE BAHA'I WORLD dans lequel sont harmonis6es avec 1'id6al re Ñ ligieux ~les aspirations et les objectifs de la science sociale." Mais on dolt attirer l'at Ñ tendon de tous les esprits libres sur ce mouve Ñ ment, dont les promoteurs on le m6rite d'avoir contribu6 ~ 'a clarification de l'an-controverse entre la religion et la science Ñ et d'avoir donn6 it maint hommes un peu de leur tol6rance et de leur optimisme: CCL~humanit6 6t4it jusqu'ici restde dans le stade de 1'enfance; die approche maintenant de Ia maturit6," (CAbdu~1~Bah6, Washington, 1912). Qui osera r6p&er aujourd'hui, dans la m6ke de La haine nationale et sociale, cette sentence de progr~s? C'est un Oriental qui nous a dit cela, ~ nous, orgueilleux ou sceptiques Occidentaux. Noud voudrons voir aujourd'hui, dans 1'Allemagne hid6riste, dans les pays tcrroris6s par le fascisme, paralys6s par la dictature politique, Ñ un spectacle relat6 par le suisse Auguste Forel d'apr&s l'anglais Sprague, qui a vii en Birmanie et en mdc, des bouddhistes, des mahom6dans, des chr6tiens a des juifs, qui allajent bras-dessus bras-dessous, comme des fr~res, ttau grand ~tonnement de la population qui n'a jamais vu une chose pareille!" [p581] A VISIT TO ADRIANOPLIE B~ MARTHA L. ROOT S HOGI-JI EFFENDI has written: CCBh~~ u'llAh said that while in Adrianople He had planted a seed under every stone." (Prefacing this article with a three paragraph historical introduction, it may be said that almost all places where Baha'u'llah sojourned have been visited later by pilgrims and written about fully, but no one, so far as I know, has visited Adrianople in our day to give to the world a description of this city Ñ MADE SACRED BY His HOLY PRESENCE. We know from Professor Edward G. Browne's books published by the Cambridge University Press, England, something of the life of Baha'u'llah in Adrianople during His exile there. We know He arrived with His family and friends on Saturday, December 12, 1863, and remained until Wednesday, August 12, 1868; He was forty-six years old when He caine and His son, Abbas Effendi known as was a youth of nine teen years while His daughter, Baha'i Kh&num, was a girl seventeen years old. How different was their journey from Constantinople to the present luxurious Oriental Express trip when the train speeds swiftly over the distance in exactly six hours' time! Their journey to Adrianople, evidently hurried and enforced, for they were nor prepared and were oniy thinly clad, took twelve days and was full of hardships as the weather was bitterly cold. Baha'i KhAnum said long years after that she was a strong, well girl before those terrible exile journeys. Their first lodging in Adrianople was in the KMn~i~tArab Caravanserai where they stayed three nights. All one knew about it was that it was near the house of Izzat .&q&. Then they lived for one week in a house in the Mudd'iyyih quarter near the Takyiy-i-Mawlavi and then changed to a winter house close by. Twice Baha'u'llah lived in the house of Amr'u'1h Big, which has been spoken of by Aq~ Rick in his early account as a three-storey house to the North of Sul~n Salim Mosque. Another house in which He lived was the home of Ri4U Big. Then He returned to the residence of Amr'-u'lUh Big, but the last eleven months of His stay were spent in the home of 'Izzat Aq~. We know, too, that He was sometimes in the Munidiyyih Mosque and very often in the Sult6n Salim Mosque where He met and spoke with thinkers. Then after Baha'u'llah and His followers were settled in Adrianople, we know from "A Traveller's Narrative: According to statements heard from travellers and from certain great and learned men of that city, they behaved and conducted themselves there also in such wise that the inhabitants of the district and the government officials used to eulogize them and all used to show them respect and deference. Baha'u'llah was wont to hold intercourse with the doctors, scholars, magnates and nobles, thereby attaining fame and celebrity throughout Roumelia. The materials of comfort were gathered together, neither fear nor dread remained, they reposed on the couch of ease and passed their time in quietude" Ñ until a half-brother, Subh Ñ i-Ezel, the ttJudas" of their own group, tried to poison Him. This with Subh-i-Ezel's other weak and evil deeds led in the end to a still further exile, Baha'u'llah and His followers being sent to tAkk~ in Palestine, and the half-brother with his family and a few others being placed at Farmagusta, Cyprus. Thus in this "Land of Mystery" as Baha'u'llah called Roumelia, took place that great dividing of the good from the evil which since has proved a mighty blessing, though it was fraught with inconceivable suffering.) Miss Marion E. Jack, a Baha'i who is a painter from Canada. and the writer, a Baha'i who is a journalist and magazine writer from the United States, came to Adrianople, on October 17, 1933, to look for "traces of the Traceless Friend." Their quest was "to seek, to find and not to fail" to portray 581 [p582] Mosque of Su1~n-Salim, Adrianople, Turkey. Interior of the Mosque. 582 [p583] A VISIT TO ADRIANOPLE 583 Adrianople to the Baha'i world Miss Jack through her brush and the writer through her pen. Their visit simply told is as follows: Coming into the main station of Adrianople at eleven o'clock at night, they were asked first to open all their bags at the Customs. There in that room lighted by one solitary lamp, the officials stood by and the examiner, as he looked at Miss Jack's suitcases, picked up from the top tray of one of them "The Baha'i Weekly" published in Lahore, India Ñ never did that heading look quite so large as when he turned it up and down! He regarded it minutely, commented to the others. Then when he turned to my opened bag, first he picked out from the cloth pocket under the upper lid my card picture of the Greatest Name; I explained it. Next he took up Baha'is photograph. I said: CCSi CAbd~1 Baha Abbas." He replied, tt ~ Bah&." The next picture he took to inspect was a snapshot of Shoghi Ff1 endi and I said who he is; the fourth photograph inspected was a lovely likeness of Shoghi Effendi when he was a child of two years. The incidents of that entire baggage inspection proved certainly that Baha'i literature can be taken into Turkey. Everyone was kind, thorough and trustworthy. The porter, an old man, left the bags to take my arm and help me down the steps, calling to the others to bring the light. The chief who spoke French and all the others came out, chose a carriage for us, helped us into it, shook hands with us and said: "Htl de 1'Europe. Madame Marie!" This main station in Adrianople, as the Irish would say, is "out of it!" It is two and a half miles from the city proper and is called Kara-Agatch. The beautiful road lighted by the moon was lined on each side with great poplar, plane and willow trees mystic with shadows, and as we came over the fine Maritza bridge the lights of the city gleamed a we1-come in this tVLand of Mystery." We entered the only hotel that there is in Adrianople, Hotel de l'Europe, and in that moment the clock was striking midnight. All our arrangements with Madame were made behind her closed door, then a bright Turkish boy showed us to our rooms. Imagine our surprise next morning to find that our landlady was not Turkish, but was Austrian-Yugoslav-Jtalian! (For geographical divisions have been frequent in Central and Southeastern Europe during her lifetime.) She speaks French, German, Italian and Turkish. This Adrianople, which the Turks call Edirne, was a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants before the Balkan wars and the world war. Now it numbers only forty thousand. It is on the direct Oriental Express route from Constantinople to Paris, and is also on the main motoring way from Central Asia to 'Western Europe. One remembers, too, that in 1360 Adrianople was made the capital of the great Turkish Empire and became the center from which radiated the light of IslAm to a Western world. Its mosque architecture is extraordinarily beautiful. Adrianople is interesting, too, because it is so typically Turkish, much more so than is Constantinople, which is now considerably westernized. What might seem to you, 0 readers, so easy to do Ñ get an interpreter and in onehalf day find all the houses where Baha'u'llah lived and the people who had met Him, was not easy at all: in fact, the Persian story of the Manjoon of love, searching for Laila his beloved, even in the dust, was not more circuitous and unusual than were our experiences in Adrianople. First we made friends, for why should the Turks who have been through four wars with Western enemies and had a few severe criticisms made of them by foreign journalists accept us until they knew why we had come? Also, we on our side did not know if they, Muhammadans, would graciously accept Baha'is to write this historical sketch. The first morning it rained. Down through the stone-cobbled streets the water poured in little torrents. Standing at our window, we saw the people of Adrianople trying to cross these fiercely flowing rivulets but none could do it without immersing their feet far down in the pools. However, after midday dinner the skies suddenly cleared, the streams disappeared leaving the cobble stones clean and white. The sun came out in glory, shedding its warmth generously, and we took a horse and carriage driven by a kind Turk whose name was Mustaf a. [p584] 584 THE BAHA'I WORLD Madame Marie told him we wished to be taken to Mur4diyyih Mosque. We rode through Government Street, the principal thoroughfare, picturesque with its vistas of bazaars and its brightly colored rugs hanging outside the shops, but most interesting of all we passed some of the most beautiful mosques to be found anywhere in the world. We drove over the cobbled stones of some extremely narrow streets till we came into a more open road which led to the Muridiyyih district. Leaving Mustaf a and the carriage at the foot of the hill, we walked up the steep, needle-eye road lined on each side with little shops and a mill where a horse goes round and round turning wheels to grind the olive into oil. The Mu-r6xliyyih Mosque crowns the slope and, just as we were coming, the muezzim came out on a parapet of the slender, graceful minaret and using his hand as funnel loudspeaker chanted the call to prayer. When we reached the historic mosque we did not go in at once because a Hiji and some others were engrossed in their daily devotions. We walked about looking at this noble mass of splendid architecture, but most of all scanning the horizon to see where Baha'u'llah might have lived. Mur4diyyih section in Baha'u'llah's day was one of the most fashionable residential summer districts of Adrianople, even the Sultan had a summer palace in that quarter. The air is most pure and fresh on this mountain slope and the grapes there were world renowned. The route to Bulgaria and on to Central and Western Europe and the road to Constantinople wind like broad white ribbons through the plains below stretching on and on until out of sight. We found the Takyiy-i-Mawlavi, a building for dervishes in the last century, it is just in front of the mosque Ñ and we knew that Baha'u'llah's houses, one at least, was very near to that. Miss Jack took her pencil and sketch book to draw this Takyiy-i-Maw--lavi and the fountain in front of it where women were carrying away heavy pails of water hung on poles balanced over their shoulders. What Water of Life the women of Baha'u'llah's time could have carried away when He was at that well! I went into the mosque, for now it was quite empty except for the kindly old caretaker whose eyes were filled with peace. It is a beautiful interior, high and lofty and the blue fajence, of various hues from the delicate Chinese green-blue of the East to the deep rich Seyres' blue of the 'West, is marvelously colorful although now it is more than five hundred years old. No wonder a man from Poland famous in tile designing has just come to make a study of these tiles and that many come from the United States just to see this fajence work. It was made by a Persian whom the Turks invited to come and decorate this mosque. Quotations from the holy Qur'an illumined the walls. All colors were soft and harmonious, such rich old tones are seldom seen in our modern churches; but the outer things were almost as if I did not see them, so absorbed was I in the consciousness that this was a place where He had prayed and where God had spoken to Him as of old He had spoken to Moses in the Burning Bush! I was impressed how in all His exiles, Baha'u'llah seemed always to live close to the mosques Ñ the symbols of the divine in the earth-plane. In His hours of prayer in these terrestrial edifices God certainly revealed to Him how the dead world was to be revivified. What wonderful Works were written by Baha'u'llah in Adrianople! There were fourteen that we know of, and among these were the Tablets to the Kings, the Prayers on Fasting, the first Tablet to Napoleon III. and the great Tablet to the ShTh of Persia which have been translated into our 'Western languages. Kneeling with forehead to the rugs in this memorable mosque, the writer felt with a throb of wonder how far Baha'u'llah had come to meet our Western world! Adria-nople was His closest approach Ñ in the outer plane Ñ to our Occident: but all these thoughts dropped into subconsciousness as one bowed in silent love in His Living presence. He was there in that mosque! And the one listening heard anew that His Teachings, the Logos, carry in Themselves the Power that will make of this world of earth a high paradise. The moments there were sublime, not to be described but experienced! Later when the writer lifted her eyes from devotion, she glanced once more about the [p585] Governor and Mayor of Adrianople, Turkey, with Martha Root and Marion Jack, international Baha'i teachers. Mu~tafi Big, 85 years old, who had seen Baha'u'llah in his boyhood home in Adrian-ople, , which was close to the Arnru'11Th House. 585 [p586] 586 THE BAHA'I WORLD mosque before arising from her knees. As she saw the Verses from the Qur'an upon the walls, she thought of Abdu'l-Baha's Words when He was asked what we in the United States and Canada should do with the Tablets He revealed to the United States and Canada and sent to us in 1919. He replied to put them into the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago, not into the vaults but upon the walls. Our new Baha'i temple in the 'West and probably other Mashriqu'l-Adhkar's in various parts of the globe will become renowned later as the great new architecture and the new ideal of spiritual edifices conceived in the twentieth century. The Baha'i architecture will reflect the essential traits of our Baha'i believers Ñ universality, spiritual solidarity, spiritual refinement, beauty, joyousness, sincerity and light. More than any other edifice in the world, the new Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago presents in concrete, in bronze, in quartz a gleaming reflection of all these inner qualities. How little we realize that we, too, are building for the centuries ahead in our new architecture, and that the name of our Louis Bourgeois, who designed this first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the Americas, will be much more known and praised five hundred years from now even than it is today in the West. Sometimes it is good to see the famous mosques of Sinan and other Muhammadan architects who lived in the epoch of a former World Teacher; it quickens in us a realization of the stupendous spiritual age in which we ourselves are living. As the days went by we kept coming back to this Mur&diyyih section so often, that Mustafa, our driver, said to the neighbors gathered about us to see the sketches, that we seemed to love Muridiyyih the best of all the places in Adrianople. Then after nearly two weeks' time we found the sites of the two houses where Baha'u'llah had lived, how we found all the sites is as interesting as a navel, but space does not permit its telling. An old man, Muhammad Hilmi Big, a fine type of Turk, told us that he had been a neighbor, that his boyhood home had been just across the roadway from Baha'u'llah's house and he showed us the old structure of his place. He explained that there had been two ccBahA~i Bigs"' great Persian, who lived in the mansion just adjoining the entrance gate to the MurAdiyyih Mosque, sd-dom went out, but the other one, 'Abbas Big, used to go everywhere and used to treat the boys with much friendliness; but the great Baha'i Big, too, was good to the boys, He had pilau given to them. This man told us too, and showed us what an immense house had been the mansion of Baha'u'llah; it had eighteen rooms and a Turkish bath Ñ one can see from the site that it had been a very great mansion. The house was demolished in the Russian war fifty years ago; a cheap house had been built twenty-five years ago on the part of the lot nearest to the entrance gate, but most of that, too, had been razed in the last Balkan war. Muhanti-mad Hilmi Big showed us that just beyond the wall of Baha'u'llah's house was a stretch of land through which runs a brook, and the Baha'is also had that entire place which extended down to the river in that time. There were several different buildings including stables and a large, long garden. He told us that these Persians had beautiful Arabian horses and two donkeys. There had been a house rather larger than the others in this garden enclosure, situated at the lower bend of the grounds and several people told us that Baha'u'llah had also lived there for a short time. That house overlooked the summer palace of the Sultan which stood lower on an opposite slope still in the Muridiyyih section. Now there is only the site of Baha'u'llah's house, all his houses were dernolishcd in the wars. We think that Baha'u'llah might have lived in this lower house the first week as it was close to the Takyiy-i-Mawlavi, just as an early historian relates. It could be reached from Takyiy-i-Mawlavi and Murk-diyyih Mosque by going down a steep, narrow pathway part of which is stone steps, or one could have approached it through the garden. Muhammad Hilmi Big told us there were more than fifty Persians living in these places and that very many visitors came; they, too, were entertained there. This genial man explained that one of the members of Baha'i Perhaps Baha'u'llah did not go out much in those first winter months but wrote. [p587] Ruins of Ri~I~t Big House. Ruins of Amru'11Th House. 587 [p588] 588 THE BAHA'I WORLD u'llih's family gave Persian lessons to the head of the Mevievi Cherleri dervishes. Our kind Adrianople friend, Muhammad Hilmi Bey, at the end of our visit said very softly that perhaps we knew they were exiles because they changed religion, but he added most sincerely and with iove straight from the heart: cQyh were very, very kind, they didn't harm anybody and they did good to everybody!" Then he said goodbye to us and with a questioning smile Ñ before he started cane in hand to stride slowly down the hill to his house Ñ this brave, true man who has seen three Balkan wars and the world war despoil Adrianople said to us: "How have you liked us Turks? Do you find Turkish folks don't eat people from other countries!" Beloved Turkish brother whose boyhood home was close beside the house of Baha'u'llah, if only we could express to you how lovely we found you and how kind we found the citizens of Adrianople! And to learn from you and others that your citizens here were good to Baha'u'llah endears us forever to your historic city! Home of Amr'u'llAh Big was the third residence where Baha'u'llah lived in Adria-nople; this site was the easiest to find and was verified by the greatest number of citizens. This great house stood just near the main entrance to the magnificent Sultan Salim Mosque, oniy the street separated it from the mosque grounds. Thus as one comes out from this North Gate of Sultan Salim Mosque, the house stood across the thoroughfare just to the left. An old caretaker in the mosque pointed out the site to us. An old man who sold chocolates down the mosque road quickly pointed to this ruined lot when we asked for the house of Dervishes no longer hold their services in these buildings at Takyiy-i-Mawlavi, but one man there who used to be dervish told us that Baha'u'llah had lived in this lower house and then later in the one up by the entrance gate. He said that Baha'is had used the kitchen, the dining-room and the bathroom of the Takyiy-i-Mawlavi and showed us these rooms Ñ and probably they did in those first few days until they could get established. The dervishes then were a large and flourishing group, they had four buildings right beside the mosque. Some of the photographs of earlier meetings show that they all wore the high taj head Ñ Amr'u'llAh Big. The neighbours said the same, and a man in a shop over by the MurA-diyyih quarter totd our driver Mustaf 6. of this same location when we had asked there. Also, a man in public life showed us this place Ñ and walked with us on through two or three other streets and pointed out the sites of the houses of Rida Big and Izzat Aq~ and the Khan-i-Arib Caravanserai site very near the grounds of Izzat Aqi. We could see from the ruins that the three residences were all remarkably large mansions and we heard that all three hosts were distinguishzd men of Adrianople at that time. Now this Amr'u'llih Big lot, which is like one whole block Ñ and the house covered all of it Ñ is oniy a place of ruins; the ground is covered with crumbled stones, flowering thistles and weeds. Part of the old wall still stands and a large portion of an enormous old fireplace which the Turks call the We heard of an old man, Musvafl Big, eighty-five years old, who had seen Baha'u'llah. When he met him he told us that he had been a neighbor living near the house of Amr'u'llAh Big and that he had carried yogurt to t~Bah&'i Big" (Baha'u'llah), and the latter always had pilau given to him to carry home. His eyes shone as he spoke of Baha'u'llah, and he tried to show us how noble He was: this kindly, sincere old man, a Turk, stood up and tried to make us understand how Baha Big walked with such a dignity and power, and how He bowed to people who saluted Him Ñ he told us that all people saluted Baha'u'llah, that every one loved and revered Him. We were informed that Baha'u'llah had a kitchen for the poor. This man told us, too, that Baha'u'llah had a great vineyard Ñ from his description we think it was like a garden with an arbour in the center. He said that Baha'u'llah went there often, sometimes alone to spend the day, sometimes He went there with His friends and they walked up and down. When He would return at night with his cortege, this n-ian told us, that Baha'u'llah's twenty servants (followers) would all stand together outside the house to salute Him and He always returned their greeting so iov Ñ ingly. [p589] Ruins of ~Izzatu'1Uh House. Site of the old Kh~n-i-~Ar~b Caravanser.ai. 589 [p590] 590 THE BAHA'I WORLD We took this good friend with us and went out to vineyard site. He measured off the distances and showed us where the entrance gate had been. The grounds would cover in area about three city blocks; the land is on an elevation and the place is only about seven minutes' walk from Sultan Salim Mosque. This vineyard was between the Mur&diyyih Mosque slope and Sultan Salim Mosque; one could walk to it easily from either location. Mu~af~ Big said to us: "Oh, how many grapes did we receive from the hand of Baha'i Big! He gave us so many grapes always!" I heard that the grapes of Adrianople were very celebrated then; later in the wars the grapevines were all destroyed. I was very impressed how in every place Baha'u'llah lived in His exiles, He had a garden. One day when Miss Jack and I went again to the vacant lot where the house of Amr'-u'11&h Big had stood, Mustaf 4 Big came over to us, cane in hand, with the firm eager tread of one who knows and wishes us to know all the history of the place. He showed how one part was the quarter for the women, another the suites for the men and he pointed to the great fireplace in the rear where the cooking was done. However, he pointed to a two-story house with the middle portion three stories just across the street but a little further down, and he said that some of Baha'u'llah's followers lived in that house, that most of the cooking was done over there. He said that generally the food was prepared and brought to Baha'u'llah at the Amr'u'llih mansion Ñ though I did understand him to say sometimes the cooking would all be done in the Amr'u'11&h tCkitchen~~ fireplace and carried over to the green house where most of the Persian friends ate their meals. He told us that this old house, which was green in colour in Baha'u'llah's time, has now been remodelled and is painted pink. He made it very clear that Baha'u'llah Himself never lived there. (A pretty Turkish girl came out from the pink house when we took a photograph and a sketch; she asked about the great Man whose friends had eaten in her home!) This much at least we learned, that Baha'u'llah lived for a long time in the home of Amr'u'lUh Rig; the old man told us Lie lived in Adrianople nearly five years. We know that when the Prince of Peace lived and walked in Adrianople He was an honoured member in three of the great Turkish families, He lived in some splendid mansions of that great former metropolis, and He was loved and reverenced by those who knew Him. Is it not significant that the one man in Adrianople who said: ~ saw Baha'u'llah!" tells us that he received pilau and grapes and that Baha'u'llah loved the poor and had a kitchen for them! It seems to me that it must have been in this house of Amr'u'll6h Big or in the house adjacent that Subh-i-Ezel poisoned the food of Baha'u'llah, for he was living there in the latter time of His stay, and then left this house and went to live in the home of Izzat AqA for the last eleven months of Ills sojourn in Adrianople. Baha'u'llah was always a peacemaker and what He has said about this cruel and terrible event is very just and noble. His innocence is proved, too, by the fact that He continued to stay in the homes of these great men, loved by all and served by an ever increasing number of followers who came from Persia, from Mesopotamia and Constantinople. While Subh-i-Ezel, who had always been tenderly cared for by his older half-brother, Baha'u'llah, has told in his own writings that, after the poisoning when Baha'u'llah went out and dwelt in an other house, that he was so deserted he and his little son had to go themselves to the bazaar to buy their bread. Certainly from all one can learn today, Baha'u'llah was held in high esteem from the day He arrived until the day He left Adrianople, whereas when we mentioned the name of Subh-i-Eze1'~ (also known as Mirza Yahy~) in Adrianople, no one there had heard of him. There is not very much to be said about the ruins of the houses of Riih Big and Izzat AqA except that one can see from the old stone walls and baths and fireplaces what extraordinarily large mansions they were. In passing, I may say that when I was in Haifa, Palestine, in March, 1925, I saw the two grandchildren of Subh-i-Ezel living in the home of Abdu'l-Baha's Family and both were Baha'i believers. Miss Jack said that she had met the son of Subh-i-Ezel at the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Baha, in March, 1931; he was then a follower of Baha'u'llah. [p591] A VISIT TO ADRIANOPLE 591 Certainly from them one would have a glorious view of the Sultan Salim Mosque. We were told that the house of Izzat Aq~ had a very large library ttwhere the Ba-M'is studied" Ñ perhaps they meant where Baha'u'llah wrote or received the thinkers and seekers. It was the room where the three fireplaces are, the ruins of those three fireplaces are shown in the photograph. The fact that Baha'u'llah was living in the homes of these three great citizens of Adrianople called ArTh-i.-Kh&n, or simply Arab Caravanserai Ñ there were great differences of opinion but both sites are now used for large schools. We took a photograph of the one they said was Kh6n-i-Ar4b Caravanserai near to the house of Izzat Aq4, and a sketch of the other one which is not far from the Sultan Salim Mosque. Sultan Salim Mosque, where Baha'u'llah often went, is considered to be the most beautiful mosque in Turkey and was de Ruins of house in Muddiyyih quarter. proves in itself that He was loved and honoured in their midst. We hope that others coming after us will find out more about these two houses. Concerning the K1An-i-Arib Caravanserai, we searched for that for nearly three weeks; in going to the old caravanserais we saw what Luxurious hostelries they must have been in that epoch, but we were told later that the Kh4n-i-Ar~b Caravanserai was not one of the great fashionable ones but was for the Arib middle and poorer classes. Probably Baha'u'llah and His followers were taken there by the Turkish officials from Constantinople who brought them to Roumelia. There were said to be two KhAn-i-ArTh caravanserais Ñ or some persons said that one was signed by Sinan, the great Turkish architect. Certainly its wide cloisters would be ideal as a place to sit and speak of matters divine, and its interior is full of beauty. Miss Jack and I were each asked to write our impressions of this mosque to be used in a Turkish book and we did so. Also, the writer sent to the Governor of Adrianople Province, Salim Ozdemir Big Effendi, an article "Seeing Adrianople With New York Eyes," which was published on the front page of ccMilli Gazete" on Monday, November 6th, 1933, the day we left. Both the painter and the writer had been guests of the Governor, the Mayor, the Prefect of Police and the Director of Mosques in the Municipal Building, at the tenth fete day [p592] $92 THE BAHA'I WORLD of the Republic of Turkey, held in Adria-nople, on October 29th, 1933, and this article gave her impressions of the spirit of the Turkish people. I had an interesting interview with His Excellency Governor Salim Ozdemir Big Effendi in Government House, on November 2nd, 1933. He told me that next year they hope to build a most modern hotel for tourists; he is President of the Touring Club of Adrianople, organized in 1932. I found him a keen, brilliant thinker and well read. During the hour I showed him "The Baha'i World" Vol. IV., in which is given the list of houses where Baha'u'llah stayed in Adria-nople and also the Books He wrote while there. The names of the Books were eagerly scanned. This statesman said that he knew the Baha'i Movement well, that he has made a study of all religions and has read several of the Works of Baha'u'llah and cAbdu~1~ Baha. Governor Salim Ozdemir Big assured me, too, that he considers the Baha'i Cause a social religion whose aim is to unite all the religions; he made it very clear that any real religion is allowed in Turkey; there is complete freedom of conscience, but it is forbidden to make propaganda for any religion. When I asked His Excellency if he would think it cCpropaganda~~ if I should send him a copy of this historical sketch, he smiled and replied: "No," and he added with genuine sincerity that he would be very glad indeed to have the literature on this movement and know of its progress in the five continents. He asked me how many Baha'is we have in the United States, saying he heard we had a million and a half who are attracted to the Teachings. It was thanks to the Government Office that the locations of the houses of Ri4& Big, 'Iz?at Aq~ and the KbAn-i-ArTh Caravanserai were verified for this historical sketch Ñ and it is the first time since Baha'u'llah was in Adrianople that the Western world has known where and what kind of houses these were; furthermore it has opened the doors to greater research, for any more information that can be gathered will be sent to us. I feel happy that we could meet the man who had seen 'Abbas Big and knew the Muddiyyih house well, and that we had explained to us the Amr'u'lUh Big house and the Vineyard by a man who was a neighbor and who saw Baha'u'llah. Every one was kind at Government House. One of the young secretaries, Miss Fikret Shukru, went with me to the Sultan Salim Mosque Library to see if there is any Baha'i literature there. The librarian showed us this wonderful library adorned with great paintings by Ri~LA Big, one of Mecca and the other of Medina Ñ I have never been to Mecca or Medina, but these remarkable paintings were just next to seeing those holy shrines Ñ this library would be very interesting to Westerners. After looking over the books, the gracious librarian opened another door which led out to a balcony in the mosque itself, and we could look down into the center of this great edifice where we saw a mulla and his pupil who is studying to be a mufti, and the young man was saying the whole Qur'Th by heart, six hundred pages in three hours! It shows how hard the Eastern divinity student has to work to pass his examinations! One citizen, who is a very learned scholar in Adrianople and has one of the finest private libraries there, one day brought for us to see, for he knew we were interested, a copy of a Turkish magazine called ccItch tihat," dated February 15, 1922, which had tAbdu'1-Bah&'s picture on the front cover and another picture of Him was on the first page. The article was one of a series of three giving in Arabic a history of the Baha'i Movement. Part of it was a translation from the books of Professor Edward G. Browne of Cambridge University. When I had the interview with the Mayor Ekram Bey Effendi on June 15, 1933, he said, among many other things, that he knew about the Baha'i Movement, and I showed him ccThe Baha'i World" Vol. IV. with the list of houses. He told me to leave my address with him and if he can find out any more about these houses he will send me further information. He also said that he would be interested in seeing the Baha'i literature and this historical sketch. I am sure the citizens of Adrianople would be glad to know what became of the distinguished Persian exiles who lived in their city for more than four years. A number were [p593] 593 A VISIT TO ADRIANOPLE extremely interested in the photographs of tAbdu'1-BahA and Baha'i Kh~num and inquired if they could get them; they also asked if it would be possible to see the photograph of Baha'u'llah. People were intensely interested in the paintings of Miss Jack; each time she went out to sketch they gathered about her, and I know the artist was pleased when the Turkish women would give her shoulder a loving little pat and exclaim: Ctifi! Aferin!" (Bravo! Bravo!) Children flocked about her to see the picture grow, and in the eyes of many men and women and youth was the question: CCWh are these sites so dear to yaw?" They are dear, because there the World Teacher for this new universal cycle, the Glory of God, Baha'u'llah, once lived! And to you, 0 readers, if you ask me I would say that any one who becomes (tan Adrianople H~ji" Ñ that is, one who makes the pilgrimage to Adrianople Ñ will attain through this visit a deeper spiritual insight: he will attract to his soul a new capacity and a new understanding of those "Seeds Planted Under Every Stone in That Vicinity!" [p594] Views of the town and ruins of the castle of M~h-KI~I, ~Adhir-b~yj~n, b~yj~n, Persia, where the B~b was confined. 594 [p595] THE RE-FLORESCENCE OF HISTORICAL ROMANCE IN NABIL B~ MARY MAXWELL ONE of the most inspiring things about Nabil's Narrative, The Dawn-Breakers, is that it creates, not alone a background of knowledge and authenticity in which to set the Baha'i Cause in its present worldwide expression, nor just a key to a "way" of living and being that we in the West had almost forgotten was possible to the human race, (latent indeed within their seed of humanness), but opens before us a stage which was a nation and an epoch in history, on which a pageant of romance, of adventure and heroism unequaled by any crusade plays itself before us. And siowiy as we become more en rapport with the thought and mode of expression of Nabil, that pageant and its figures begin to take hold on us, to live for us as realisms; or perhaps something deeper still, we take hold of them and, inspired by their deeds and the lofty atmosphere of their lives, try to carry out into our own far Western World that same banner of shining belief and inner conviction that they raised aloft in Persia not eighty years ago. The mere sound of their names is music to us; their faces, in which the light of their actions shone so brightly, become stars in the new world dawn, casting forever their radiance upon the path of men. The dusty roads of Persia, winding amidst its rocky hills and wind and heat-swept plains, become familiar highways in our minds down which we follow, with love and tender adoration, the green-turbaned, slight figure of the Bib led by his cavalcade of guards who loved Him so devotedly they begged Him to escape from their custody. Or we accompany Qur-ratu'1-tAyn in her howdah, travelling from city to city and raising a call no woman had ever dared to proclaim before in the lands of her bondage. Or it is after the hoofs of Mulli Husayn's horse that we speed, hearing his cry, cy~ Sihibu'z-Zam~n!" shaking the very walls of our hearts. In Nabil we partake of the food of beauty, a rare thing in a world grown clouded with strife, terror and sadness. We see the days rise under the light of a heavy golden sun, in a land where the weight of its heat falls on the world like a tangible cloak; we await the nights under an Eastern sky where when the moon is absent a million stars hang iow to light your way, and when the moon is present she eclipses in white light all but her own deep and mysterious shadows. Against these settings rise the nineteen Letters of the Living. The first, the Bab. No one person could attempt an adequate description of that blessed Youth, but through the book run testimonies of Him, as though He were a wind in the tree of humanity and the voices of the leaves each gave their separate praise to Him. ". His countenance revealed an expression of humility and kindliness which I can never describe." "Every time I met Him, I found Him in such a state of humility and lowliness as words fail me to describe; His downcast eyes, His extreme courtesy, and the serene expression of His face made an indelible impression upon my soul." "The sweetness of His utterance still lingers in my memory." "The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Our hearts vibrated in their depths to the appeal of His utterance." Not alone did every bearing of that One give forth testimony of His station, but His walk was sufficient for Quddfis to distinguish Him. tWhy seek you to hide Him from me?" he exclaimed. ttj can recognize Him by His gait. I confidently testify that none besides Him, whether in the East or in the 'West, can claim to be the Truth. None other can manifest the power and majesty that radiate from His holy person. 595 [p596] 596 THE BAHA'I WORLD After passing from one persecution to another, and prison to prison, always with that surpassing meekness of mien, the glory of the light within Him was turned like a beacon upon the world when He declared His station to the 'ulamAs of Tabriz at His trial. He entered that room where all were arrayed against Him, and they were but the symbols of the nation which would at length kill Him and seek to hound from the earth His teachings and His followers, and that nation in turn was only the voice of a darkened world which perished from His light. And yet, "the majesty of His gait, the expression of overpowering confidence which sat upon His brow Ñ above all, the spirit of power which shone from His whole being, appeared to have for a moment crushed the soui out of the body of those whom He had greeted. A deep, a mysterious silence, suddenly fell upon them. Not one soui in that distinguished assembly dared breathe a single word. At last the stillness which brooded over them was broken by the Ni~mu'1 Ñ tUlarni'. tWho do you claim to be,' he asked the Bib, Cand what is the message which you have brought?' tJ am,' thrice exclaimed the Bib, ~I ani, I am, the promised One! I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose men Ñ tion you have risen, whose advent you have longcd to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word and to pledge allegiance to My person.'" Thus did God's paean rise in this greatest dawn of history, summoning a world to the shores of His Communion. In Baha'u'llah's own Words: "Nigh unto the celestial paradise a new garden hath been made manifest, round which circle the denizens of the realm on high and the immortal dwellers of the exalted paradise. Strive then that ye may attain that station, that ye may unravel from its windflowers the mysteries of love and know from its eternal fruit the secret of divine and consummate wisdom." What was the fragrance of those ttwind. flowers"? No faint perfume of abstinence, no celibate fragance that retired from the world, but a deep and abiding passion of being. A love that burned like a fire in the hearts of the souis and they became as stubble in its flame. Their lives were romance, sacrifice, love, and a deep and mysterious joy. Were they not Ñ those who bared their breasts to the seen and unseen shafts of the enemy Ñ like that whale of iove that swallows up the seven seas and says, "Is there yet any more?" and like that 1over~~ccthou wilt see him cool in fire and find him dry even in the sea." When the heroes of Shaykb Tabarsi had been reduced to starving to death on the bone dust of their horses, grass, and their saddle and shoe leather, did not Qudd~s say, while rolling a cannonball scornfully with his foot: "How utterly unaware are these boastful aggressors of the power of God's avenging wrath! Fear not the threats of the wicked, neither be dismayed by the clamour of the ungodly." Then he continued, saying that no power on earth could hasten or postpone the hour of their death, but should they allow themselves for one moment to become afraid they would have cast themselves out of the stronghold of Divine protection. Baha'u'llah said: (CM love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he that turn-eth away shall surely stray and perish." When we have followed Nabil's Narrative to the last of its multiple truths, histories and wisdoms, we find that the key to it, to the lives of those early Bab martyrs, nay to the Cause of the Mb and Baha'u'llah, is summed up in the mystery of love. Their love was their indomitable and miraculous strength, their shining armour of protection, the diadem of their faith, the blood in which they pledged their eternal Beloved Ñ that One for whom the heart of the world has ever languished and sought. Nabif becomes a lyric poet in those lines in which he describes the love of Baha'u'llah and the BTh. "The Mb, whose trials and sufferings had preceded, in almost every case, those of Baha'u'llah, had offered Himself to ransom His Beloved from the perils that beset that precious Life; whilst Baha'u'llah, on His part, unwilling that He who so [p597] HISTORICAL ROMANCE IN NABILL 597 greatly loved Him should be the sole Sufferer, shared at every turn the cup that had touched His lips. Such love no eye has ever beheld, nor has mortal heart conceived such mutual devotion. If the branches of every tree were turned into pens, and all the seas armies of the Sh4h for eleven months. Riding out in the teeth of twelve thousand men and crying, (CO Lord of the Age," he and the invincible host of God's followers dispersed the terrified enemy. At length he shed his blood at Quddds' feet whilst speaking of the Castle of MTh-Kii. into ink, and earth and heaven rolled into one parchment, the immensity of that love would still remain unexplored, and the depths of that devotion unfathomed." Our minds turn to Mulli Ijusayn, who, mounted at the head of two hundred companions, bearing the prophesied Black Standard of Muhammad, and wearing the Bab's green turban, held at bay the combined depths of the Sea of Revelation and their beloved Bib, ere his life ebbed away. Or we remember Qurratu'1-tAyn, beautiful and famous, who escaped clandestinely from her own home in which her husband had imprisoned her in his opposition to her BThi Faith, leaving her children motherless and making their father her bitterest enemy, to arise and proclaim throughout Persia and [p598] 598 THE BAHA'I WORLD 'Idq the glory of the New Day. She created such a furor throughout the East that E. G. Browne was compelled to pay her one of the most glowing tributes woman has ever received. "The appearance of such a woman as Qurratu'1-~Ayn is in any country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy Ñ nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvellous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal amongst her countrywomen. Had the Bab Religion no other claim to greatness this were sufficient Ñ that it produced a heroine like Qurratu'1-tAyn." The queenly names of history fade before the unveiled beauty of "her whom the tongue of power bath named Tahirih Ñ .the pure one. That moment, when, with one gesture of freeing herself and all women from the veils of weakness, inferiority, and submission, Qurratu'1-~Ayn and the Bab men unveiled, is unrivaled and has no precedent. Some turned from her bared face and doubted the Messenger of God because of tradition; one old man, unable to bear the age in which he found himself, attempted suicide; Quddi~s was spellbound with indignation; but Qur-raru'1-~Ayn cast her glance towards Baha'u'llah, who had named her "Tahirili," and said: cVerily, amid gardens and rivers shall the pious dwell in the seat of truth, in the presence of the potent King.' This day is the day of festivity and universal rejoicing, the day on which the fetters of the past are burst asunder. Let those who have shared in this great achievement arise and embrace each other." And they feasted together in the tent of Baha'u'llah, surrounded by the beautiful gardens of Badaslit. The same quality of beauty and majesty pervades all the events chronicled by Nabil; sincerity is all that is required to become deeply and permanently inspired by the record contained in The Dawn-Breakers, for no heart who loved truth could read its history unmoved and remain unchanged. Here one tastes again those "living waters" that alone can revivify mankind and nurture in him the seed of immortality. Even the humblest of souis won undying glory, like that man who, seated in the bazaars of 1sf AMn, heard the proclamation of the BTh's message while sifting his wheat, and instantly and unhesitatingly accepted it. Later he hastened, sieve in hand, to join the heroes of Tabarsi, saying, !cnwith this sieve which I carry with me I intend to sift the peopie in every city through which I pass. Whomsoever I find ready to espouse the Cause I have embraced, I will ask to join me and hasten forthwith to the field of martyrdom." Of all the wise and devout of that city he alone received the crown of a martyr's fame. And there was that heart-shattered boy who, when in Tabriz, heard of the Blessed BTh, longed to speed to Him and offer his life in the lists of His followers, and was imprisoned by his family who thought that if not already bewitched, one glimpse of the Bib would enchant him permanently as it did thousands. Inconsolable, he languished and pined for the oniy expression that could ever satisfy his pure young soui. The agony of his longing was rewarded when in a vision he saw the Bab, who addressed to him these words: "Rejoice, the hour is approaching when, in this very city, I shall be suspended before the eyes of the multitude and shall fall a victim to the fire of the enemy. I shall choose no one but you to share with me the cup of martyrdom. Rest assured that this promise I give you shall be fulfilled." A few years later it was this youth's head that rested on the heart of the Mb as they hung bound from the walls of the barrack square of Tabriz, and it was his flesh that was inextricably interwoven with the Bab's remains after their joint execution. To some Nabil will be a fascinating historical document. To others, great literature. Some will feel crushed by the tragedy of the brutally sacrificed lives of thousands. Others will be exalted by the knowledge that again the human soui has risen to its greatest heights and men have died immortal deaths. But to all of these its more subtile fragrance will be lost. Only those who have through some experience in life touched to their lips [p599] 599 HISTORICAL ROMANCE TN NABIIL the cup of divine love, Beloved It be head or will fully grasp the purportturban which he throws!" of this mighty pageant. And they, becoming fired They will know why the with that same zeal that martyrs sometimes sang pervaded those Dawn-Breakers, will when being led to execution:carry on and establish "Happy he whom love's that vision of hope for intoxication So hath the world, for which overcome that scarce he they died. knows Whether at the feet of the [p600] WILLIAM MILLER, STUDENT OF PROPHECY B~ RUTH HYDE KIRKPATRICK ONE reads the story of William Miller with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow, of admiration and pity. He is known as the founder of the Adventist sect or Millerites as they are often called. To one familiar with Baha'i history his story and belief have great interest and significance. For he it was in America, who after diligent study of the Scriptures received assurance that the second coming of Christ was near at hand. The date which his studies led him to accept as the time of the Coming was marvelously close to the time when the Sun dawned in Persia in the person of the illumined and radiant youth known as the Mb. William Miller's life covered the years 1782 to 1849. He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but his father soon moved to Low Hampton in eastern New York and there with the exception of a few years when he was first married he dwelt for the rest of his life. Brought up as he was under pioneer conditions he received little schooling but he had a deep craving for knowledge and made up for the school deficiency by eagerly reading and studying by himself. Like his father he made his livelihood by farming and was a man of standing and influence in his community. During the war of 1812 he served as captain in the army. In his early years his thinking and philosophy were influenced by such authors as Hume, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and like many of his time he became an avowed deist. He denied divine revelation and the inspiration of the Bible although he supported the church in his community and often read the sermon in the absence of the preacher. When he was about thirty-four, influenced by a certain sermon, his own doubts, and a sincere desire for truth, he undertook a thorough study of the Scriptures in order to let his own mind and heart answer the question as to their divine inspiration. That he might be uninfluenced by the opinions of others he discarded all commentaries. The text of the Bible, the marginal references and Cruden's Concordance were his only tools. He found his self-imposed task most absorbing and was soon devoting all his spare time to it. He evolved a systematic method of s~tudy, most painstaking and conscientious, in which he laid down exact rules for himself to follow as to how to understand parables, figures, visions, doctrine, the relation of history to prophecy. Literal interpretation had the preference. CCJf a word makes good sense as it stands," he said, CCd does no violence to the simple laws of nature, it is to be understood literally; if not, figuratively."' At the end of two years he had carefully gone through the Bible, verse by verse. How this intensive study changed his views he himself told in his later years: "I had denied the Bible for twelve years. I used to read it to see how curiously men would act and contradict each other. But suddenly I became more solemn; its truth began to dawn upon my mind; and I was in great darkness for six months. I saw that, if the Bible was true, Christ was the oniy Saviour of men. I then began to study the Scriptures more fully Ñ determined to study, text by text, till I was fully satisfied as to their import. In comparing scripture with scripture, such a light broke in upon my mind as I had never before seen. I was about two years in going through the Bible in this manner; and I found it a perfect piece of order and beauty. And, though, I have been greatly disappointed, yet I have never ceased td love and regard the authority of the Scriptures. "2 Among the several conclusions at which he arrived was that the Lord Jesus Christ would soon appear again in the body on earth, that He would destroy the wicked and 600 [p601] WILLIAM MILLER, STUDENT OF PROPHECY 601 rule the world in peace and righteousness for a thousand years. He wrote: "I was thus brought, in 1 8 1 8, at the close of my two years' study of the Scriptures, to the solemn conclusion that in about twenty-five years from that time all of the affairs of our present state would be wound up; that all its pride and power, pomp and vanity, wickedness and oppression, would come to an end; 2,300 days and the seventy weeks given in the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel.4 A number of years intervened before Mr. Miller began to give public lectures on his belief in the early coming of Christ. But from 1831 until his death in 1849 he devoted his time and means to public labors. He became widely known and exerted a great influence throughout the country. He says: The site at East Rindge, New Hampshire, which tradition cherishes as the place where the Millerites gathered in sintere expectation of being tttaken up to heaven." and that in the place of the kingdoms of this world, the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the Messiah would be established under the whole heaven; and that in about twenty-five years, the glory of the Lord would be revealed, and all flesh would see it together Ñ the desert bud and blossom as the rose, the fir-tree come up instead of the thorn, and instead of the briar, the myrtle-tree Ñ the curse be removed from off the earth, death be destroyed, reward be given to the servants of God, the prophets and saints, and them who fear his name and those be destroyed who destroy the earth."3 The date which he set for the second coming of Christ was sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, and was based on the prophecies concerning the was overwhelmed with invitations to labor in different places. I labored extensively in all the New England and Middle States, in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and in Canada East and West, giving about four thousand lectures in something like five hundred different towns. "~ Many ministers embraced his views. These and others began to preach and icc-ture on the Second Coming. Miller had no desire to establish a separate denomination but was finally driven to it by opposition. ~CMY whole object," he wrote in reviewing his life work, a desire to convert souL to God, to notify the world of a coming judgment, and to induce my fellowrnen to make that preparation of heart, which will enable them to meet their God in peace."6 [p602] 602 THE BAHA'I WORLD He estimated that about 50,000 embraced his belief. As the expected time drew near opposition increased and false accusations and violent denunciations were published and spread. 'tOur motives were assailed, our principles misrepresented, and our characters traduced. Time passed on, and the 21st of March, 1844, passed by without our witnessing the appearing of our Lord. Our disappointment was great, and many walked no more with ~ he wrote. There was a tendency toward fanaticism and excitement among some of his followers. Both these Mr. Miller strongly condemned as he did sectarianism, bigotry, dis Ñ putations, denunciations and all that led to disorder and uneasiness. When the 22nd of March, 1844, passed and the longed-for event failed to take place there was quite a general turning to the "seventh month," and October 22nd was looked forward to with great certainty by many. The belief in this day was held by his followers rather than by Mr. Miller, though he too accepted it as the day drew near. Mr. Miller's biographer speaks as fol-iows in regard to this time: ttThe time immediately preceding the 22nd of October was one of great calmness of mind and of pleasurable expectation on the part of those who regarded that point of time with interest. There was a nearness of approach to God, and a sweetness of communion with him, to which those who experienced it will ever recur with pleasure. During the last ten days, secular business was, for the most part, suspended; and those who looked for the advent gave themselves to the work of preparation for that event, as they would for death."8 Other dates seem to have been set by different groups but they had no authority from Mr. Miller. Quoting again from Mr. Miller's biographer we learn: "This (October 22nd, 1844) was the oniy specific day which was regarded by intelligent Adventists with any positiveness. There were other days named by those whose opinions were received with no favor."9 There are stories still current that on the appointed day groups of believers donned ascension robes and went to a hilltop there to await Christ's appearance. Such traditions prevail quite generally. At East Rindge, New Hampshire, was a group of Millerites under the leadership of a certain Ezra Carr. As the day approached, these believers, we are told, began to dispose of their property and prepare their ascension robes. A certain hill is pointed out as the one the group ascended to await the great appearance. One very aged woman, the oniy one living in the community whose memory reaches back to that time, when asked whether she could recall that incident stated "that the only thing that she remembers of the occasion was the disappointment of a (then) small boy whom Mrs. Carr had promised to ttake up' with her, telling him he could be an angel."10 That Mr. Miller had no part in anything of this kind seems plain. There were evidently some cases of extravagances but the published accounts of them were greatly exaggerated. In regard to this, Mr. Miller's biographer1 says: "All reports respecting the prepar~ttion of ascension robes, etc., and which are still by many believed, were demonstrated over and over again to be false and scandalous. In the investigation of the truth of such, no labor and expense was spared; and it became morally certain that no instance of the kind anywhere on-curred.~11 He relates one instance where a group of a hundred and fifty from the city of Philadelphia, misled by the pretended vision of one of their number, camped in a field outside the city in two large tents for one night but, convinced of their folly, returned the next morning to their homes and duties. In spite of his disappointment as to time Mr. Miller continued to preach the early coming of Christ, acknowledging his mistake but believing it oniy a slight one in chronology. To this belief he was clinging when he passed into the next world in 1849. We close the book containing the "Chris-tian Life and Public Labors of William Mil-icr" with a feeling of deep respect for this strong, Godfearing man, upright and conscientious in every respect, with a feeling too of yearning that his vision might have been enlarged so that he could have seen the true fulfillment of the prophecies he so thoroughly and lovingly studied. We close the book and [p603] WILLIAM MILLER, STUDENT OF PROPHECY 603 turn to another book, "The Dawn-Breakers," and read the pages where is recorded the story of the finding of the Promised One, the story of how the Bab made himself known to the seeker, Mulli ~usayn. The contrast between the two stories is startling. A spirit Ñ essence and absolute assurance pervades this latter account as it is told in The Dawn-Breakers. Briefly this is the story. On the evening of May 23rd, 1844, in the city of Shir4z in the south of Persia in an upper room of the home of a young merchant two young men conversed. The one, the young merchant, was the host; the other, Mulli Husayn, was a scholar, a pupil of Shaykh Abmad and Siyyid K&zim who taught that the day of the coming of the Promised One was near at hand. In his earnest quest for the Beloved, in prayer and great humility, Mull,4 Husayn had come to this city. The conversation was concerning this all-important event, for nothing else mattered to Mulli Husayn, the seeker. Time passed all unnoticed as he listened to the words of wisdom and knowledge that flowed from the lips of his host, and gradually Mulli Husayn became conscious that he was in the presence of the One he so earnestly sought. His own words as recorded in The Dawn-Breakers will best 'give us the depth of this experience: ttJ sat spellbound by His utterance, oblivious of time and of those who awaited me. Suddenly the call of the mu'adhdhin summoning the faithful to their morning prayer, awakened me from the state of ecstasy into which I seemed to have fallen. All the delights, all the ineffable glories, which the Almighty has recounted in His Book as the priceless possessions of the people of Paradise Ñ these I seem to have been experiencing that night. I was enthralled by the music of that voice which rose and fell as He chanted; now swelling forth as He revealed verses again acquiring subtle harmonies as He uttered the prayers He was revealing. At the end of each invocation He would repeat this verse: CF from the glory of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, be that which His creatures affirm of Him! And peace be upon His Messengers! And praise be to God, the Lord of all beings!' "He then addressed me in these words: ~O thou who art the first to believe in Me! Verily I say, I am the Mb, the Gate of God, and thou are the B~bu'1-B~b, the gate of that Gate.' Further MullA ~usayn says: ccThis Revelation, so suddenly and impetuously thrust upon me, came as a thunderbolt which, for a time, seemed to have benumbed my faculties. I was blinded by its dazzling splendor and overwhelmed by its crushing force. Excitement, joy, awe, and wonder stirred the depths of my soui. Predominant among these emotions was a sense of gladness and strength which seemed to have transfigured me. I seemed to be the Voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: cAwake for, lo! the morning Light has broken. Arise, for His Cause is made manifest. The portal of His grace is open wide; enter therein, 0 peoples of the world! For He who is your promised One is come!' "12 So it was given to MullA ~usayn to see the Promised One, to behold His reality. His search was rewarded, his prayers answered. Many saw Him daily as He went about His business, but their eyes were holden. Our thoMghts turn again to William Miller and the Western World which he represented. No, the crude imagination and undeveloped spiritual capacities of the New World would never have discovered the Beloved had He appeared here. A background of centuries of spiritual culture, an atmosphere totally unlike that of pioneer America, was necessary to produce one who could successfully explore the hidden mysteries, could recognize the Promised Beloved and understand the signs. The vision of William Miller was limited by the environment into which he was born. He belonged to a time of superstition and imagination, an age which craved a sign, a sign of its own creation, spectacular and staggering. But the signs were fulfilled, unknown to all but a few in the world. Ponder these words of Baha'u'llah: ccoh ye who seek the lights of My face! Superstitions have enveloped the inhabitants of the earth, and prevented them from turning toward the horizon of certainty; Among men, some say: cHave the verses descended?' Answer: EYes, by the Lord of [p604] 604 THE BAHA'I WORLD the Heavens!' CHas the hour come?' tMuch more, it has passed, by the manifestation of the arguments! Verily the True Thing has arrived and the True One has appeared with His proofs and His demonstrations. Yea, the plain and the desert of judgment have been revealed by broad daylight in the midst of horrors and anxiety; while earthquakes have broken loose, and the cries of nations have arisen in the fear of God, the strong, the all-powerful.' tHas the trump of Judgment Day been heard?' CYCS the Day of God has come.' tls the catastrophe finished?' Answer: Yes, by the Lord of Hosts!' tH the resurrection come?' ~Much more, He who subsists by Himself has come, with the Kingdom of signs!' References: 1. Sketches of the Christian Life and Public Labors of William Miller, by James White. Seventh Day Adventist Association, Battle Creek, Mich., 1875. p. 50. 2. Hem, p. 357. 3. Idern, p. 57. 4. See Some Answered Onestions, by Abdu'l-Baha, Baha Publishing Committee, New York, for the Baha'i interpretation of these prophecies. S. Life of Miller above cited, p. 360. 6. Idem, p. 361. 7. Idem, p. 363. 8. Idem, p. 298. 9. 14cm, p. 299. 10. Quoted from a letter written by the present owner of this property, dated September 18, 1933. 11. Life of Miller above cited, p. 299. 12. The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative, Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York. pp. 62 and if. 13. Epistle to Ike Son of the Wolf, Baha'u'llah. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York. p. 101. The writer is indebted to Mr. M. H. Touty of Shanghai, China, for the following information concerning others in different parts of the world who believed that Christ would again appear on earth about 1844: (1) In one of his lectures Miller made this statement: "One or two on every quarter of the globe have proclaimed the news and agree in the time Ñ Wolff, of Asia; Irwin, late of England; Mason of Scotland; Davis of South Carolina; and quite a number in this region are or have been giving the cry." (Quoted from "Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ about the Year 1843." William Miller, Lecture 16, p. 238. Boston, Joshua V. Hines, 1842. Quoted by Edwin R. Thiele in North China News, Shanghai, October 14, 1931.) (2) A pamphlet by Leonard Heinrich Kelber printed at Stuttgart, 1835, contains the statement, for not 1836, but the year 1843 is the terminus, at which the great struggle between light and darkness will be finished, and the long expected reign of peace of our Lord jestis will commence on earth." (3) In England in the early part of the nineteenth century under the inspiration of Edward Irving a group of clergymen and laymen met together every year for five years and "spent six full days in close and laborious examination of the Scriptures," in order to find what the Bible revealed in regard to the second coming of Christ. The date set by this group of students was 1847. (See the life of Edward Irving, Mrs. Oliphant, London, Hurst and Blackett.) [p605] "A NEW CYCLE OF HUMAN POWER" B~ MARION HOLLEY HE period in which we happen to live, this bountiful and chaotic present, has visited our world with an undue share of surprises. So unprecedented have been the developments of the last fifty years, that men are ill-fitted to cope with them, turning even potential benefits into channels of destruction. While possessed of powers which in other times would have seemed superhuman, and blessed with an abundance of materials, both physical and mental, men have nevertheless proven themselves poor managers. Individuals have lost the gift for simple happiness, and the social body struggles in a turmoil of ever more serious crises. The situation, now surely in a critical phase, requires the application of honest intelligence. It is a curious fact that our need has evoked so little of it. Nowhere is this more aptly illustrated than in the current approach to an issue which, without question, forms one of our gravest problems. The issue rears its head in a hundred shapes. It may be seen in the quarrel of science with religion, in the emphasis upon material and immediate values, in disrespect for an older generation's virtues, in the common usage of such unmistakable phrases as ccget by," and c(chise1.~~ In short, whether the evidence be small or great, local or universal, it indicates an attitude which has pervaded our society Ñ an attitude minimizing the possibilities of the spiritual, or, if you prefer, disregarding those nonmaterial values which contribute so profoundly to character. Now perhaps the most barren approach to this problem is that of downright rationalization. There appeared recently, in a national magazine, an article by a most able writer, analyzing what he called "the crisis in character." His essay was thoroughly convincing, his examples typical and the deductions faultlessly drawn. But the reasoning was capped by an inexcusable paragraph. CCIs the problem insoluble," he wrote, (Cd is the future necessarily as dark as the present situation would indicate? I refuse to believe so. If there is to be a regeneration of the national character it can come oniy by the regeneration of each of us as individuals • a change which one cannot predict but of which one need not despair."1 I am reminded of another author who, in sketching the probable course of future events, asserted that a new Ctsocial conscience" would be required. He then continued, "Let us for the moment assume it." Whereupon, having provided in this simple manner the foundation essential to the success of his platform, he completed the essay, and the world was restored once more to normalcy.2 Unfortunately, history proceeds unaltered by such cheerful fantasies. There is another type of thinking which, though honest, is rendered useless by its faulty focus. It is the interpretation which takes no account of perspective and ignores the bias inevitably stamped upon us by our times. For perceptions are as relative in social situations as in physical, and absolute dicta are prone to lose their validity. Today the U. S. S. R. may adopt as its slogan, "Reli-gion is the curse of the people." But there are those who, reading events from another angle, might insist that the people are the curse of religion. Scores of young modernists are busy rearing an epitaph to revealed religion. Will they receive kinder support from time's unfolding panorama than was accorded to Lucretius, that Roman poet who joyfully buried religion, some fifty years before the birth of Christ? Curiously enough, he too placed confidence in the rational mind. It was the Greek scientist who "first opposing dared raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand."3 One can excuse the Roman's mis1 1 James Truslow Adams, "The Crisis in Character," Harper's Magazine, August, 1933. 2 Edward C. Aswell, "Social Revolution," The Forum, July, 1933. ~ Lucretius, ~Beyond Religion," Anthology of World Poetry, ed. by Mark Van Doren, Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1928. 605 [p606] 606 THE BAHA WORLD calculation more easily than a modern's, since the former, without benefit of anthropology, could not know that religion constitutes, apparently, one of the universal elements of culture. Still a third type of thinking obscures our comprehension of the social problem. It involves the attachment of undue importance to symptoms, with a relative indifference to possible causes; and gives rise to a method of cure based on the eradication of these symptoms. Followers of the method, though lavish in the expenditure of their energies, achieve results that are shamefully inadequate. The outstanding example of our day is provided by workers for peace Ñ literally millions of them, if one includes the members of organizations maintaining an interest in the struggle Ñ who attempt a solution through disarmament. Valiantly they strive to stamp out war by restraining nations whose activities are dictated by the system under which they live. And the system is a war system, competitive, selfish, necessarily cruel. In spite of obvious failure Ñ for the imminence of armed conflict is greater in 1933 than at any time since the World War Ñ little attention is devoted to the thesis that "no general disarmament is possible in the absence of a well-organized World Community." Yet in that assertion, Salvador de Madariaga possibly has isolated the cause, and therefore the basic cure, of war.1 Thinkers of this kind give currency to the notions that automobiles, motion pictures, or the younger generation are the sources of our character crisis. They are gifted with powers of description; they make impressive pronouncements. But they neglect to point out that the younger generation is what it is, not because of natural perversity, but because of its social environment. They fail to cure either the young or the environment. Now the Western world, and more particularly the United States, has created an image of itself, whether by the use of such intellectual processes as have been described, or by others more trustworthy. It is interesting to examine that image, for it reflects what the modern world believes itself to be. In the American phase, the picture was elab-1 Salvador de Madariaga, Disarmament, Coward-Mc-Cann, McCIelland, 1929. orately assembled at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, in the summer of 1933. The idea of progress, in the words of its leading exponent, ttis a theory that the lot of mankind on this earth can be continually improved by the attainment of exact knowledge and the subjugation of the material world to the requirements of human welfare."2 The Exposition was dedicated to the portrayal of achievements in this category, notably to the accomplishments of science. And they have been, in the last century, stupendous. They have changed the face of the earth, and vastly altered man s activities. They have invested him with a mighty power. They have raised him almost to mastery of the forces of nature. Man stands, in the twentieth century, on a pinnacle of knowledge and control. With a conquest so dazzling and so recent, little wonder that he indulges in self-congrat-ulation, and reads the significance of all things in terms of his latest success. But even as this world-conception unfolds itself, thrilling the eye with its perfect mechanism, and the mind with a vision of perpetual progress, a mist of doubt steals in and enshrouds the whole. For the picture is not complete. Our century of progress is also a century of retrogression. And this "brave new world" is no world at all, but only a half-world constructed from the things we most admire. 'What of the Great 'War, with its fifty million men engaged in military activity, and its economic losses estimated at three hundred billions of dollars? How shall we explain or solve the universal economic maladjustment which even now is clutching society, carrying in its wake unestimated physical and moral havoc? What of the obstacles encountered by the democratic ideal, the political treacheries to which it has been turned, the dangerous growth of physical violence as the supporter of the state, rather than a trained public opinion? How can there be any basis for a thesis such as Oswald Spengler's, in "The Decline of the West"; yet, if there is none, why should his book be so obviously feared? Such observations as these did not belong 2 Charles Beard, ed., A Century of Progress, Harper & Bros., New York, 1932, p. 6. [p607] "A NEW CYCLE OF HUMAN POWER" 607 in a Century of Progress Exposition. They did not appear. But they, and a hundred like them, indicate a world strangely compounded of conquest and defeat. It is evident that man has learned to control a vast number of things, but not yet his own actions, nor his relations with his neighbors. It is still more certain that his magnificent achievements in the physical sciences may be overbalanced, even destroyed, unless this social control be mastered. The possibility has been graphically stated in a recent book: "A distinguished economist and student of international affairs recently expressed to me his private opinion that modern civilization was due, not for a sudden collapse out of which something better would arise, but for a long decline similar to that by which the Roman Empire slid into the Dark Ages. A hundred years from now, he predicted, historians would be talking about that great age of mechanical civilization which reached its apex about 1914. I think substantially the same nightmare haunts the dreams of many intelligent men today."' This is the problem which stands athwart our destiny, the crisis we are obliged to face and dare not evade. Now there is one deduction which may safely be drawn: the problem is essentially one of lack Ñ lack of ability or intelligence or virtue. For every material advantage lies ready to use. A cue was provided perhaps by Mr. Beard's book, "A Century of Progress." Chapters were devoted to Industry, Transportation, Agriculture, Banking, Government, Medicine, Education, etc., but there was a striking omission. Religion was granted exactly no place at all. One reviewer wrote, with a certain complacency: CCHOW. ever great the advance in individual phases or groups, organized religion as a whole stands today just about where it stood a hundred years ago, and has read itself out of inclusion in a volume dedicated to the prog-gress of a century."2 It is possible that this omission, trivial and even amusing as it may appear, actually underscores with grim emphasis the poverty of soul which has carried us to our present impasse. 'George Soule, A Planned Society, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1932, p. 275. 2 Maynard Shipley, Book Review in The Survey Graphic, September, 1933, p. 477. As a matter of fact, there is surprising agreement upon this. Ortega y Gasset concludes his acute study of European condi-dons in this manner: ttThis is the question: Europe has been left without a moral code. It is not that the mass-man has thrown over an antiquated one in exchange for a new one, but that at the center of his scheme of life there is precisely the aspiration to live without conforming to any moral code."8 August Claessens, secretary of the New York Socialist Party, writes: ~cLt is pure fancy that a transitional state can prosper and new society function unless a changed social psychology is achieved" unless there is CCa diffusion of idealism among the masses."4 'Walter Lippmann asserts that "the ideal of an ordered society involves not a mere change in the outward forms of things but in the essential habits and practices of mankind."5 Examples such as these could be multiplied indefinitely, but I am aware would not serve to strengthen the point. They do suggest, however, another difficulty. For even if we were to discover that society's fundamental need is a new virtue and integrity, a strengthening of character and will, the development of a moral code applicable to these increased resources Ñ and if we were to isolate this need as the core and motivation of the solution Ñ what could be done about it? Yes, what could be done about it? Virtue, unfortunately, is not a commodity to be ordered, but a sentiment which has animated the heart of humanity, some times more and in other times icss. Indeed, there is almost a rhythm about it, a rhythm which can be mapped through the course of the centuries. It is comforting to say, with President Roosevelt, that "the overwhelming majority of the people recognize that human welfare has not increased and does not increase through mere materialism and luxury, but it does progress through integrity, unselfish-Jose ose Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1932. Chapter 15. ' August Claessens, "Four Means to Labor Control," The Socialism of Our Times, A Symposium, ed. by Laidler and Thomas, Vanguard Press, New York, 1929, pp. 7576. Walter Lippmann, Charter Day Address, Univer-sky of California, March 24, 1933. [p608] 608 THE BAHA'I WORLD ness, responsibility and justice."1 But the assertion does not make the statement true. Were it true, we should not be talking about it. We should not be searching, and so far in vain, for means to check the decadence into which society drifts. One at least of our fertile theories Ñ whether socialism, the intensification of nationalism, a federated world, a return to first-century Christianity, eugenics, or another Ñ would strike on success. Gustave Le Bon has written the appropriate words, ccJf we try then to discover why so many nations perished after a long decline 'We find that these profound falls had generally the same cause Ñ enfeeblement of the Will. It was always by this enfeeblement of character, and not by that of intelligence that the great peoples disappeared from history."2 Is this to be our epitaph? The world is a confusing place at best, and considerations such as these do not make it less so. There exists, however, one interpretation which, standing upon the frank admission of woeful fact, looks forward to a better order Ñ a social order not utopian, but possible of achievement through definite actions. Oswald Spengler has written Ñ and this is perhaps his most profound intuition Ñ that ccculture is ever synonymous with religious creativeness."8 The hope of a restoration of our powers then, let it be clearly understood, lies primarily in the awakening of true spiritual dynamics. Now the Baha'i Faith carries the tre-1 President Roosevelt's Message to Congress, January, 1934. 2 Gustave Le Bon, La Psychologie Politique, 1910. Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, 1918, \Tol U, p. 308. mendous affirmation that, although we live in the midst of a cultural decline, there has been born among us "a new cycle of human power." And the impetus originating and supporting this cycle is none other than the Manifestation of God, Baha'u'llah, acting upon the world and vitalizing it through the will and the bounty of God. It is as well to state the case frankly, for in such straits as we now find ourselves, no man can afford to ignore a possibility, however fantastic it may seem on first hearing. tAbdu'1-Bahi has said: CCToday no power save the great power of the Word of God, which comprehends the realities of things, can gather together under the shade of the same tree, the minds and hearts of the world of humanity. It is the motive-power of all things; it is the mover of souis and the controller and governor of the human world."4 In this way, with a stroke at the center of man s failure, with a cure for the rottenness at the core of his civilization, has the new cycle been inaugurated. It is a daring Faith and a living Faith. Through the enthusiasm it arouses in its followers, the potentiality and future of a new world order is assured. For "the time of former things is past and a new time has been created, and all things are made new by the desire of God. But oniy a new eye can perceive, and a new mind can comprehend this station. The words carry a challenge which demands investigation. It would be foolhardy to ignore it. For by what right does any man walk abroad, and call himself a citizen of the world, if he be not cognizant of its condition and enamored of its promise? ~ Star of the West, Vol. VI, p. 65. Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 117. [p609] AN APPRECIATION B~ DR. RUSZTEM VAMBiRY Introduction to the Hungarian Translation of Dr. Jo/an E. Esslemont's book !rBahd~u)lldh and the New Era," by the son of the late Professor Arminius Vdrnb6ry. How does Saulus get among the Pauli? 'What authority has the skeptical sociologist or even the critical lawyer to accoirpany with introductory words a book which wishes to make the Hungarian reader acquainted with the teachings of one of the modern Oriental religions? It is twenty years since a certain visitor was announced in the home of my late father on the Danube River. I was accustomed to meet Turkish, Tartar, Persian and Hindu pilgrims who used to seek out this one time dervish (my father), as they were on their way from East to West. However, this visitor had an exceptional appearance: he was of medium height, slightly bent with age, had a dove-white beard, eyes full of fire, from the benevolent light of which the convincing power of faith and knowledge radiated. I did not undestand his words, for he spoke with my father in Persian, but I understood his personality in the irresistible magic of which was reflected the conscious-mess of apostolic vocation. After the lapse of two decades I still see the dignified appearance of tAbdu'1-BaM as a living reality! He was the eldest son of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of this universal religion, and he inherited from His Father the prophetic inspiration and mission to be the Expounder of the unity of mankind, of peace and of social iustlce. Ex oriente mx. Mankind was accustomed for a good many thousand years for the birth of these exceptional World Teachers like Lao Tze, Confucius, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad to come from the countries of the East, with Whose Names the ideas of the world religions are associated. Only the great thunderers of the Reformation, Wycliffe, Hus, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin are the representatives of the critical spirit of the 'West, in the history of religions. Baha'u'llah belonged to neither of these groups, and the Baha'i movement, which is aiming at the comprehensive unification of the basic idea of all cultural religions, cannot be classified under the traditional heading of religious denominations. This makes it plain that my late father who in his ~ of My Struggles," although he did not confess any of the positive religions, still received with sincere and warm sympathy far beyond the interest which he had as an Orientalist for all spiritual movements of the East, the Baha'i Movement and Its Apostle, cAbd~1B My father, in his book ti4y Migrations and What I Saw in Persia, 1867," devoted a chapter to. the Bab Movement, which movement was the forerunner to the Baha Revelation. This movement had been started by Mirza tAli Muhammad, a young merchant of ShirAz who in the forties of the last century appeared as the Prophet of a religion reforming Islim and very soon found nurner-Gus followers. He proclaimed that the Almighty is the Knowledge and he is the Gate (BTh) through which truth and faith can be approached. The tyrannical government of Persia did not permit any trifling with the question of reformation. They not only executed with exceptional cruelty the "Gate of God," but sent more than twenty thousand men, women and children to martyr-dorn. It is, however, an eternal experience that the earth does not drink the blood of martyrs without leaving great traces. So it happened that one of the followers of B~b, Mirza Hnsayn ~A1i of Ni~r, whose father was a high official of the Court of Persia, not only gave new power to the movement but broadened what was originally a more restricted Faith into a universal religion. Mirza Husayn of N&, a few years later assuming the name of Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God), professed in His faith the unity of mankind, the oneness of mdi-609 609 [p610] The IIa~iratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Tihr~n, Persia. [p611] AN APPRECIATION 611 gions under the sign of reconciliation of state and religion. However, religious and political intolerance did not spare Baha'u'llah either. Having been put into fetters with His followers he was suffering in the Persian prison, afterwards was exiled to Baghdad. Then the SIAh of Persia, frightened by the ever growing number of the Prophet's followers, extradited Him to the Sultan of Turkey. His calvary still did not come to an end. Though at first he met a friendly reception, the jealousy of Muhammadan orthodoxy very soon interned Him in Adrianople where He came into contact with the Western world. Later on He was deported to Akka in Palestine. In this penal colony, Baha'u'llah was kept in prison with seventy of His followers and had to suffer for years the agony of misery and deprivation, and yet His following was continually growing, and when after years He was allowed to move a little more freely in that region, which he could not leave until His death, at the age of seventy-five years, in 1892, still from the fartherest East the followers came to try to see Him and to hear more about His Teachings. After His passing, His eldest son and spiritual heir, Abdu'l-Baha (Servant of Baha) continued and expounded the work of His Father. For forty years He shared His Father's imprisonment and after His release, He began to travel. With His powerful mind innately knowing both the East and the West, and with unparalleled oratorical power and rare intelligence He was preaching the faith of the oneness of mankind. First in London and Paris, later on in 1912 in the United States in assemblies of various denominations, in universities, in peace societies, in gatherings of feminist organizations, of Theosophists, He explained and advocated the Teaching of Baha'u'llah; even the Free Masons found their highest ideals expressed in these teachings. The fob lowing year He continued His work in Germany and Austria, reaching on his way in April, 1913, Budapest where He was staying for nine days. During this time His room in the Dunapalota Hotel became a veritable mecca for all those whom the mysticism of the East and the wisdom of its Master attracted into its magic circle. Among His visitors were Count Albert Apponyi, Prelate Alexander Giesswein, Professor Ignatius Goldziher the Orientalist of worldwide renown, Professor Robert A. Nadler the famous Budapest painter and leader of the Hungarian Theosophical Society, Director Leopold Stark the engineer. A visit was paid to him by Muhammadan students most of whom were from Turkey, led by Professor Julius Germanus. Our newspapers discussed with great interest the humanitarian mission of 'Abd'1 Bald. During His stay in Budapest he delivered two lectures in Persian, one under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, the Esperantists and the feminist organizations, in the Hall of the old Parliament, the other at the meeting room of the National Museum. His addresses were translated into Hungarian and English, without losing much of their power by these translations. An audience of many hundred people most attentively followed His words by which He promoted with the inspiration of a Prophet that only \he synthesis of Eastern and Western culture could cure the mortally sick mankind. During His Budapest visit, tAbdu'1-BaM repeatedly met my late father with whom He afterwards continued to correspond. These letters appeared in English and Arabic newspapers and magazInes, and it would not be without interest to the Hungarians if I publish in Hungarian the lines my late father wrote to tAbdu'1-BaM in Persian: CCThis submissive petition I deliver to the Holy and Blessed Presence of CAbdu%1~BaM the Center of the Covenant of all Knowledge, renowned in the whole world and loved by all humanity. ~ Thou noble Friend, who endows humanity with Guidance, may my life be a sacrifice for Thee! "Ti-i beloved letter Thou hast condescended to write to this servant, as well as the rug which Thou hast sent, arrived rightly into my possession. The time in which I was permitted to be in the Presence of Thy Highness and the memory of the blessing of Thy Presence will always remain a memory of this servant and I yearn for the time in which I may be together with Thee. "Although I have travelled through many [p612] 612 THE BAHA'I WORLD countries and cities of IsUm I have not yet met anywhere else with such a lofty character and such a noble Personality, and I testify that it is impossible to find such an one anywhere else. By these means I hope that Thy ideals and realizations will be crowned with success and will show under all conditions good results, because, underneath these ideals and deeds, I readily can discover the eternal welfare and wellbeing of humanity. C(That I might obtain, at first hand, information and to make experiences, this servant put himself into centers of the different religions: outwardly, I became a Jew, a Christian, a Muhammadan and a Zoroastrian. Through this experience I made the discovery, that the confessors of the different religions know nothing better to do than to hate one another and to damn one another; furthermore, I realized that all these religions, in the hands of the worldly rulers, became the means of tyranny and suppression, that they, therefore, became the cause of destructiOn for humanity. "Should we consider these malicious re-suits, we shall find that necessarily every one is obliged to put himself on the side of Thy noble Personality; and the essential foundation of a universal religion, as laid down by Thy efforts should be accepted joyfully. ttj have seen in the distance the Father of Thy Eminence, I have visualized for myself the Person of the Son and am filled with admiration. ~ bring to expression the greatest esteem and loyalty to the principles and aims of Thy Excellency and should God; the All-Highest, grant me long life, I shall serve Thee under all conditions. "For this I supplicate and pray from the depths of my heart! "Thy servant, ~ VAMUtRY." Even the flowery language of this letter which finds its explanation in the Oriental language and thought expresses in a symbolic way the importance of the Baha'i Movement in which the Oriental form covers the Western progressive mind. It is true that the Baha'i Revelation is a religious movement Ñ a religion which has no priests or clergymen, only followers, and has no mystic religious ceremonies, oniy thoughts and feelings Ñ still, it includes more than the mystery of infiniteness and eternity Ñ unknowable to the human being Ñ expressed by the idea of God. It is a religious movement not hostile to any religion, but teaching Christians to follow as perfectly as possible the Gospel of Christ and to live the Life of Jesus. The same may be said is Baha'u'llah's aim with regard to members of other Faiths. The Baha'i movement is enemy to nothing except to prejudice, blindness and superstition which prevent religions, races, nations and classes from recognizing their own origin and value. Though in its inception, the Baha'i Movement, or rather its forerunner the BThi Movement, resembles Protestantism, still in its effect, it far surpasses the teachings of Luther on ctwerkt~tiges Christenthum" (effi-cient Christianty). Its moral system promises not oniy happiness in another World, but equally guarantees earthly tranquillity by preaching the peace, peace between states, peace between classes and peace between men. cAbd~1Bh~~ mission as the "Ambassador of mankind," in preaching the Baha'i Faith was followed by success, not because of church organization or the mystic effect of ceremonies, but it was due to the spiritual content of the religion itself. All over the world, in Persia, Burma, India, Egypt and the Westeren States of Europe, and in the United States, Baha'i communities came into existence, everywhere gathering increasing strength. From California to Japan, from Scotland to the Cape, everywhere this modern social religion took root because it expressed the unquenchable desire to unite mankind, torn in pieces, into a spiritual, social, economic synthesis of a higher order. Never was the desire stronger and its fulfillment more difficult than in the critical period after the world war. However, the faith that moves mountains does not know helplessness and the wish always includes the bud of its reality. Therefore, the following teachings expressing the essence of the Baha'i Faith may arouse even the interest of skeptical thinkers. The following principles express the essence of the Baha'i Teachings: (1) Unfettered search after truth, and the abandonment of all superstition and prejudice. [p613] AN APPRECIATION 613 (2) The oneness of mankind: all are "leaves of one tree, flowers in one garden." (3) Religion must be the cause of iove and harmony, else it is no religion. (4) All religions are one in their fundamental principles. (5) Religion must go hand in hand with science. Faith and reason must be in full accord. (6) Universal peace: the establishment of a Universal League of Nations, of International Arbitration and an International Parliament. (7) The adoption of an International Auxiliary Language which shall be taught in the schools of the world. (8) Compulsory education Ñ especially for girls, who will be the mothers and the first educators of the next generation. (9) Equal opportunities of development and equal rights and privileges for both sexes. (10) Work for all: no idle rich and no idle poor. cnworl( in the spirit of service is worship." (11) Abolition of extremes of poverty and wealth: care for the needy. (12) Recognition of the unity of God and obedience to His Revealed Commands as revealed through His Divine Manifestations. These principles impress the reader rather as a social program than as a religious credo. Still, we should not forget that every moral credo, as, for example, the Sermon on the Mount at the time of the Roman Empre and its slavery, endeavors to create a more just social organization, more suitable to human interest by awakening the human conscience. Again, on the other hand, the social tendencies of most recent times are assuming, in many ways, the form of a religious faith. In Europe where the scientific outlook in the last century has shaken the foundations of religious belief, there is an unquenchable thirst for a new spiritual awakening. The Theosophical Movement, Bergson's philos-. ophy, just as the moral system of rationalism assuming a religious form are all witnesses to the same need. Therefore Bahi'ism, which aims to reconcile the social evolution of man with his spiritual needs on a higher plane, may justly attract the attention and interest of cultured mankind. All social ideals can be approached from two sides: from the side of faith and from the side of knowledge. tAbdu'1-Bah&'s comparison that mankind can reach the higher realm of justice and iove oniy with the combined wings of religion and science has therefore a most deep significance. With one wing you cannot fly. If man uses oniy the wing of religion he will perish in the mire of superstition; if he rises oniy on the wing of science he will sink in the marshes of materialism. Therefore, the Teachings of Baha'u'llah are based on the reconciliation of religion and science, and the idea of God is identical with the Infinite and Unknowable. Or as tAbdu'1-BaLi expressed it: CCOe truth cannot contradict another truth." Again He said: ccBeware of prejudice! Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A star has the same radiance whether it shines from the East or from the West." Thus in the Baha'i Teaching we see united the Unknowable transcendent ideas of eternal truth with a higher social human justice. In the sign of these Teachings, the Baha'i Movement unites the Unknowable, transcendent truth with a more perfect truth of human society. The flowery and sometimes even high-flown style in which its Apostles and followers express their Eastern faith in the ideas of Western thought may impress the Hungarian reader as rather strange. Yet their language is the same as we know from the Bible, the Qur'an, the Vedas. All the more fascinating is the visionary purport of the sentences containing a promise for a happier future of mankind. I find, in this combination, why my late father, who, in the lectures and writings of a long life, was always striving for the practical enforcement of scientific thought against prejudice, took such keen interest in the Baha'i Movement, the latest growth or branch on the tree of Oriental Wisdom, and why he felt such a warm sympathy with tAbdu'1-Babi, the inspired expounder of the Teaching. I thought to fulfill a reverent duty by calling, with these unpretentious words, the attention of the Hungarian public to Dr. John E. Essle-mont's work, which, among so many literary manifestations of the Baha'i Movement, offers the complete summary of Baha'u'llah's Social Religion. [p614] Site of the Garden of ilklAni Tihnin, Persia, where T~hirih (Qurratu~1~!Ayn) suffered martyrdom. Original home of TThirih (Qurratu'1-~Ayn), in Qazvin, Persia, where she was born and lived. 614 [p615] THE TRUE SOVEREIGN B~ ALFRED E. LUNT rrverilyt hose who have denied God and adhered unto nature as nature is, are indeed void of both science and wisdoin, Ñ are they not of the erring?" Ñ BAHA'U'LLAH. THE law of cause and effect, being divinely ordained as a basic law of creation, is inexorable and ever active. In these fateful years when the nations have fallen into evil times; when the wheel of suff~ring presses ever more heavily upon every soul; when a rude awakening has come upon a people (organized humanity) whose forgetfulness of God in years of seeming prosperity instilled selfish pride and isolation from their fellowmen to a degree unexampled in human history; there stand out again, in words as luminous and as final as those first written upon the wall of Beishazzar's ancient temple CCThou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting." Such a sweeping judgment could owe its origin only to deepseated and prolonged disobedience to the divine law itself. And with equal force it may be said that for these present evidences of widespread collapse there must have existed an anterior cause. No student of human destiny in the mass could fail to analyze in a true spirit of research what lies behind this stupendous change that has suddenly afflicted not One country or race alone but the whole world. This depression, or crisis, or panic, by whatever name it may be termed, exhibits symptoms radically different from those that have characterized the recorded depressions of other periods. It is, in the first place, a universal calamity. Other depressions have resembled a local or functional disease of one part or member of the body of the race. But we are witnessing, today, something far more basic and deepseated. The infection has penetrated to every vital organ and function. The body of humanity, itself, is sick and infirm, as if its life-forces were withdrawn, and the confirmation of health and wellbeing secluded. And just as a man, seriously ill, yields up both will and confidence, so in the confusion of thought, the baffling nature of the disease, and the absence of physicians sufficiently skilled to diagnose the cause of this illness, Ñ men of business, the socalled captains of industry, await day by day new disasters, impotent and incapable any longer of summoning the daring, the cocksureness upon which they have always relied to preserve and stabilize their affairs and the affairs of the people generally who, in blind faith, have always entrusted their investments to the care of these giants of the industrial realm. The real truth is Ñ what is going on is the collapse of the pillars of the temple of the old order. The powerful stimulus of the new wine," that has been unsealed in this day of renovation, is rending the old structure with a force stronger than dynamite. This new wine cannot be safely put into the old bottles. Its effect upon the people has already stirred within them a distaste for the unsound and selfish system so long in control of their destinies, even though they, themselves, are still largely unaware of th~ source of this new impetus. A penetrating light has illumined the secret recesses and exposed the deeds done in darkness. Every plotter against the true welfare of humanity, suddenly, to his dismay and astonishment, sees this searchlight of the divine assayer uncovering his hidden schemes to the eyes of the world. Small wonder at his astonishment at what he may deem to be his betrayal at the hands of those business and political elements, now powerless, that have so long sheltered such practices. In this manner, the bulwarks of a rejected system are crumbling. When the waters cease to flow the soil becomes arid, parched and dead. When a people perversely turn aside from the Foun 615 [p616] 616 THE BAHA'! WORLD tam of Living Water, and are full unto repletion with the bitter water distilled by Nature in her laboratories of insensate forces, the health-giving life stream becomes diverted and ceases to invigorate and renew the mental and spiritual tissues. In such a process, humanity becomes a mere distorted image of the real man whose lineaments have been so vividly described by Baha'u'llah when He said,~~(cThe true man appeareth before the Merciful One like unto the heavens; his sight and hearing are the sun and moon; his bright and shining qualities are the stars; his station is the highest one; his traces arc the educators of existence." That mystic and pregnant saying Ñ "And when they forgot God He caused them to forget themselves," illumines the picture with a profound wisdom, and is the keynote of our subject. One of its clear implications is that the reality of man, his true self, is always in the state of remembrance of God. So, also, one who is conscious of Him, f or-getting and forsaking Him not, is ever conscious of that Holy reality within him, and is rightly guided. But the state of a people who have forgotten God, and turned to the false sovereign, is identical with that of one who is not himself but is lost in the wilderness of aberration and imagination. He has forgotten himself. False perspectives, misleading and fanciful conceptions of life, an utter failure of guidance characterizes him who has forgotten that "Essence of Life," his true identity, placed within him by the Hand of Power. What more terrible penalty than to lose remembrance and contact with that luminous reality within can be imagined? Surely, this can oniy be the result of a deliberate and radical departure from the sweeping command of the Supreme Executive Power of the universe. In short, the quoted words themselves are the best pronouncement and definition, for they clearly state that this departure, this sin, was no less than forgetfulness of God. It is an arraignment of the idolators who by forgetting Him have denied His Sovereignty, and have thus disobeyed the first and greatest commandment. The burning issue, beside which every ordinary problem becomes trifling, is the struggle in the breast of man between the soy-ereignties nties of the nether and the divine worlds. The Sacred Books of every people bear witness to the divine mandate on this question. ccThou shalt have no other gods before Me." "I, the Lord thy God am a jealous God." CCO Son of Spirit! There is no rest for thee except if thou dost renounce thyself and turn unto Me." "0 Son of Light! Forget all else but Me and commune with My Spirit." "Today is the Day wherein the Throne of the Lord calleth among the people unto all the dwellers of the earth and commandeth them to glorify and sanctify God." CCAnd the Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day." "For the Day of God is He, Himself, who hath appeared with the truth." CCB re of hesitating to accept this Beauty after the Ruler of Might, Power and Glory hath appeared." ccThis Day is the Day of God and God alone is speaking in it, and none should be mentioned save Him." C!This is the Day in which the inhabitants of all the world shall enter under the shelter of the 'Word of God." The coming of every major Prophet and Manifestation of God to the earth has been distinctly marked by this clarion call to the people to accept and be humble before the True Sovereign of the nations: With power and authority, as well as with love and pleading, these Holy Ones have commanded the people to forsake the idols and return unto the true King. Invariably, the advent of a Prophet has been at a time of great spiritual darkness. Invariably, the people have been found cleaving to the glittering counterfeits of reality, whether to gold, to fame and exaltation, to worldly absorptions, or to the water and clay. All these counterfeits, reared up as idols though not acknowledged as such by the people, are and have been the mirages of Nature, cleverly fashioned to resemble the true allurement of the divine reality, itself. Regardless of outer and claimed beliefs, of sectarian adherence to the form of a religion, of pharasaical conformity to the external requirements of traditional observance, Ñ at the heart of the people, speaking generally and not failing to note individual exceptions, has reposed the hidden love and quest of the soui for the things that Christ declared to be strong barriers to entrance into the Kingdom of God. The things or objects we love best, for [p617] THE TRUE SOVEREIGN 617 those we sacrifice the most. What sacrifices, what energies, what lifelong pursuits have been laid at the feet of these idols that men have preferred to God, the Author of their being? In such a life, God is essentially forgotten however much He is mentioned with the tongue. Read the powerful utterances of Baha'-. u'114h with insight, and a great underlying motive and purpose is revealed as the reassertion of the Divine Sovereignty, that that Sovereignty has in this Age reentered the world with mighty power and will and must be reestablished in the consciousness of all men. Only the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit could accomplish this task which has baffled mankind for so many long ages. But the clear explanations of the Word of God regarding this supreme issue have been reserved for this day and hour and for the first time mankind as a whole is brought face to face with this eternal question. Victory in this matter coulj not have been achieved in former ages. Both capacity and destiny were lacking in the race oniy now entering into the dawn of its maturity. But the clear promise of the revealed Books of every prophetic cycle authoritatively pronounced this transcendent change to be certain and inevitable in the Day of Universal Manifestation, a day so startling to mankind as to be made synonymous with the "end of the world," a day whose transformation would be of a magnitude so stupendous as to cause even the memory of the old order to become a misty tradition and confused dream. In such a day our generation came upon the earth. To the people of faith the events of this period, calamitous and inexorable as they outwardly seem, are the expected symptoms of a body racked by disease into whose vitals a powerful, alterative, healing elixir has been poured. Stimulated at first into restlessness and pain, the benumbed tissues which have become lethargic under the devastating toxins of the poisons ignorantly self-administered by the patient are begin-fling to quicken. This elixir is none other than the Love and Knowledge of the Creator, the true diagnostician and physician for the ills of humanity. His prescription for health and wellbeing have been His Commandments, the chief of which is His Right to universal acceptance of His Sovereignty. Upon this recognition depend the receptivity and worthiness of mankind with respect to the merciful bestowaL that ever flow to loyal subjects. The Love and the Knowledge of God, the divine assurances, the heavenly stations ascribed to the people of sincerity, the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom, the order and welfare of the social, political and economic life of the race, the immortal and eternal life, are the rewards of the firmness and loyalty of a people, not of their disobedience and rejection. The Covenant of God is bilateral and mutual; its benefits cannot flow except to those who, on their part, perform faithfully the promises taken from them in exchange. And of these promises the recognition of His Sovereignty precedes all else. Therefore, what is necessary? is that sovereignty universally recognized and obeyed today, Ñ and, if not, what sovereignty rules the people? We have previously commented on the fact that the masses of the people irrespective of class or origin have turned their faces to the idols emblematic of a false sovereign. This false sovereign is none other than the usurping power of Nature, whose qualities and characteristics, imitations of the real, instill attraction into the material images of life. Baha'u'llah in no unmeasured terms declares such worshippers to be of the t~erring." 'Abdu'l-Baha tells us that these erring adorers of Nature are enmeshed in the talons or claws of Nature. A moment's reflection suffices to prove the unworthiness of this sovereign possessed oniy of blind instinct, lacking intelligence and reason, a con-genes of elemental forces deposited by the Creator in the pit of the universe as the womb of life, a sign of wisdom and also a testing ground for the development of divine consciousness and the achievement of human destiny. And yet, because these elemental forces are involuntary and in a certain sense automatic in their operation, they are deprived of the merciful qualities. Ruthless and cruel are they, when unrestrained. Sad it is that a being like man, endowed with the divine inheritance, with potentialities from the Hand of God so exalted above Nature as to be utterly incomprehensible to her, should [p618] 618 THE BAHA'I WORLD bow the knee to that which has neither sense nor feeling. Fire has no sentiment and will destroy not oniy a great city but human life, itself. The tidal waves of ocean as they roll over the homes and fertile fields of man are impelled by a cause that knows no mercy. That instinctive hunger that animates the animal world fails to implant in the consciousness of a great fish either knowledge or concern that in one mouthful he swallows perhaps a hundred thousand smaller fry. The tiger, obeying his natural instinct, has absolutely no awareness of the anguish of the man or beast into whom his rending fangs are plunged. And, astonishing as it is, many a victorious general, on the embattled fields of a war of aggression, misled by his imaginary patriotism and wholly dominated by the destructive, cruel principle of nature, is strangely unconscious that, by a single word of command, he has sealed the fate and consigned to death a hundred thousand men. 'While as a result the fatherland perchance obtains a few more square miles of territory, or, more likely, becomes involved in disputes as to indemnities ultimately resulting in misery for both victor and vanquished. For such inconsequential gains myriads are compelled to yield up life. Such are the mandates of sovereign Nature. Nature, in short, has no sense of values as we know them. A library of precious manuscripts is oniy fodder for her fire. The premature slaughter of those thousands of soldiers, ordained by leaders bereft of guidance, is heralded by the unthinking as a triumph befitting exaltation and commemoration. But let us not suppose that the men of war, possessed in common with all other men of the capacity to know God and to understand His law, arc excused in comparison with the tiger who is deprived of that capacity. In such a comparison we see the vast gulf that lies between responsibility and the lack of it. The striking element in common, however, is the utter subjection of both to the dictates of the inferior sovereignty. As a consequence, these men although vested with reason and spiritual susceptibilities place themselves below the plane of the animal who, responsible oniy to his instincts has broken no law. For this human bloodthirstiness, this violation of a higher, binding law, is it to be supposed that no retribution will follow? "0 Rebellious One! My forbearance bath emboldened you and My longsuffering made you negligent, in such wise that ye have spurred on the fiery charger of passion into perilous ways that lead unto destruction. Have ye thought Me negligent or unaware?"' In this indictment of the darker aspect of Nature's sovereignty emphasis is laid solely upon those natural elements that inter-pene-trate and mislead the minds. The other side of the natural duality, associated with the beneficent law of composition, with the fruitful bountiful provisions of aesthetic beauty, food and comfort, the growing crops, the sweet spring breezes, the refreshing rains and glorious sunlight, Ñ constitutes an outpouring of the constructive forces of the universe that guarantees existence, and is a sign of the unchangeable, universal bestowal of the Creator. With this aspect of Nature we can have no quarrel. Its service is, on the whole, to the otherwise helpless physical structure of the race, and has less to do with our mental reactions. Even if to the unthinking these unfailing bounties tend to endear man to nature to the extent of veiling him to the menace of the forces of her cc1eft~~ or sinister side, no fault can be traced to this merciful provision, for it is, per se, the ~srne qud non" of life upon the earth. The real menace, however, which has imprisoned man in chains stronger than steel, and lulled him into a coma and a forgetfulness deeper than that set up by the most potent anaesthetic, is that serpentine phase of nature that pertains to the subtle, invisible emanations finding reception in the motivation of human conduct. For these have influence with the mind of man, and, hence, with the downward flight of the soui. Described by tAbdu'1-Bah4 in "Some Answered Questions" as one of the meanings of the serpent in the creational story of Genesis, and explained by Him to be ctattachment~~ to the world, this interior, compelling natural power is, in fact, that hynotic, miasmatic and counterfeit reality which has usurped, in the mind of man, the true sovereignty of the Merciful One. Concealing its real face in a mask of allurement, we have been unaware of its lineaments of horror and cruelty, 1 Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words (Persian) verse 65. [p619] THE TRUE SOVEREIGN 619 its poverty of honor, worth or intelligence, its fiery, death-dealing lust, its fatherhood of lies and deceit, its instinctive unreasoning tyranny, or its evil suggestiveness. It is this sphinxlike countenance, traces of which we are led to believe men have attempted to enshrine in the grotesque, horrible idols common to certain nations lost in superstition, that exerts a paramount power over human destiny. This is because of the things we have in common with her, derived from the ancient inheritances. It is this benurnbing and tyrannical power that, in the fulness of time, Baha'u'llah in the divine arena has challenged as the seducer and betrayer of mankind's ordained destiny. Have not the songs of the prophets illumined this historic page of humanity's advancement with the glad tidings that in the Day of God this dragon should be cast into the pit? Granted that without the divine dynamic, lacking the penetrating power of the Word of God revealed to this generation, the people would be unable to achieve this victory and emerge from the prison of the self. Admitting that the seeds of allegiance to natural sovereignty are implanted in the deep roots of our beings, nevertheless the revela-don of knowledge from the Apex of Truth is the dispeller of superstition and ignorance. If the Divine Will has ordained this deliverance, as is clearly stated, nothing can withstand it. The regeneration of the human race is in large measure held back by ignorance of its bidden and latent powers. Largely, also, by the failure of the individual to investigate the reality and see with his own eyes. An understanding of the real produces invariably repudiation of and disgust for the counterfeit. The secrets of unity and its irresistible power unioose the supreme forces of the Realm of Might to destroy the armies of the nether world. And today the light of unity is breaking over the horizon. "Ye are all the leaves of one tree, the drops of one sea." Unity reinforced by the Divine Love, indeed synonymous with it, is laden with a mysterious power flowing from the Oneness of God and incorporated into the very core of creation. Informed and armed with this supreme weapon, humanity will find wings with which to rise above the water and clay and attain its true place in the boundless spaces of the Kingdom of God, the goal of its high destiny. For Nature's selfish isolation and discord, the True Sovereign grants union and brotherhood. For her cruelty and unreason He establishes love and heavenly knowledge. For her dark and treacherous suggestions, her hypoc-rises, her sanguinary wars, and her economic injustice, He bestows guidance, truth, order and that happiness that the exile feels when at last he has entered his real home. Are these insidious enemies of our true welfare the inheritance of aeons of life when man was emerging from the slime of the waters, when Nature wholly dominated him, or are they the results of a gradual yielding to the natural allurement, the real fall of man enshrined in a mysterious tradition wherein he deliberately chose to dwell in the water and clay of the lower self and to forsake the heavenly delights of the divine provision? Certain it is that in the countless milleniurns of his life on earth he has been brought face to face with the prophetic admonishments, and, flouting them, suffered the pains and punishments of disobedience. Nothing is clearer in the Sacred Books than that in a day concealed in the mists of creation he took a covenant with his Creator by which the infinite bestowals of God were promised him in exchange for his guerdon of obedience and acknowledgment of the True Sovereign. If, now, these bestowals appear to be with Ñ drawn; if in their place we are confronted with depression and unhappiness more widespread and more poignant than men have hitherto experienced; if the utmost ingenuity of our leaders is powerless to find the key to the solution, Ñ can it be doubted that, if these premises are true, the reason for this deprivation is mankind's own default? Not the vengeance of God, but the unchangeable law of cause arid effect operating in the arena of human affairs, has brought upon us these scourges. Long continued disobedience to the Command, forgetfulness and doubt of the True Sovereign have created in the heart of humanity a potent magnet of attraction for the indrawing of the destructive, death-dealing force of Nature which is ever ready to seize hold of those who madly stray from the impregnable stronghold and wan [p620] 620 THE BAHA'I WORLD der in the morasses of remoteness and ignorance. At what point in its evolution the race became endowed with that capacity to know God that is commensurate with the assumption of responsibility, no record exists. Man has always stood at the forefront of the army of life, despite the unproved theories of certain anthropologists that he is merely a branch or descendant of inferior animals. Humanity is the main stem of the creational order. Concealed in the matrix of life as is the great oak in the acorn, his superior potentialities have slowly unfolded in the march of the centuries.' And in the long succession of aeons and ages, when civilization after civilization became buried and submerged by earthshaking cataclysms, who can say with accuracy that our present civilization surpasses or even equals the apex attained by former peoples, our remote ancestors? Man is very ancient. And the succession of divine teachers known as prophets stretches back to a period little imagined by the orthodox literalists. The building of these cycles of human existence, whose climax is to witness the entrance of all mankind into a universal era of brotherhood, peace and knowledge of reality, is the evident cre-ational purpose indelibly recorded in the Word of God revealed to every nation. Herein lies food for thought. For it betokens the latent capacity of the race to evolve the supreme achievement of attaining a worldwide unity. As well to say that the oak tree, having reached the leafy stage is incapable of putting forth its seed-fruitage, as to insist that man is forever bound by the limitations, superstitions and prejudices he now exhibits. The little acorn, a mere pulpy mass, is in nature bound, once buried in the rich soil, to increase in stature and grandeur until its full fruitage bursts forth. And, yet, many socalled leaders of thought upon whose conclusions the people lean, the materialistic philosophers, the Thai-low thinkers whose vision is veiled to the intangible, controlling power that governs the world of reality, Ñ have taught that if there is a Creator He has absented Himself from His creation and forgotten it; that 1 Abdu'l-Baha, '~Some Answered Questions." mankind is left wholly to its own resources. This is forgetting God, with a vengeance. Were it not for the redoubtable Champions of Truth, who resolutely arise amidst mankind in the time of need, revealing the Will and Word of God, such a philosophy might well attain a proud and irrefutable eminence, since all admit the evident truth that the Essence of God is unknowable. But the very existence of these divine intermediaries, dotting the pages of history at times most inconvenient to the oppressors of humanity, is and always has been an irritating, insurmountable fact to the materialists. Either must they deny their actual historical existence, or otherwise explain their enormous and unique influence upon the masses of humanity. Briefly, the materialist philosophers have endeavored to link man to the animal in such fashion as to deny to him and cause him to despair of the spiritual qualities and powers resident within him. But these qualities have ever been emphasized and certified by the Messengers who have ceaselessly called the people to awaken and put forth this glorious fruitage of the human tree of life. Let us assume for a moment as true the definitions of the Manifestations of God concerning the true station of man. That in the sight of his Creator, he is, as it were, the pivot of creation, a microcosm containing within himself the secrets of heaven and hell, the divine and nether worlds. That he has been given dominion over every lesser plane of life including the elemental forces. That his soui is capable of both upward and downward flights. That he possesses powers unrivalled and unequalled by animal, vegetable and mineral realms, among them reason, spiritual susceptibility, the capacity of discovery and invention, and the ability to know his Creator, which implies a consciousness, amounting to certainty, of the realities of the divine world. That his heart is above all else the home of the Spirit of God, endowed with capacity to become the recipient of the Divine Love, than which no greater bounty is imaginable in the world of creation. That he is destined, through the establishment of unity in his own ranks, to uncover in this world the fragrant flowers of the Kingdom of God. That because of the free will of his soui he may choose the high [p621] THE TRUE SOVEREIGN 621 or the low flight. That the ancient myth of the "devil" and all his works may be traced to man, himself, in his excursions into the dark caverns of Nature and his submission to her behests. Not only this but, as a result, he becomes an emissary of that cruel sovereign, supplementing its impulses with his all powerful will, and registering its cruelties upon his fellow-beings with all the accumulated force of his (God-given) mind. Thus he has used gifts of which Nature is totally lacking, to refine and augment her blind forces. For this reason the ttdevil" has been reputed to be intelligent, capable of plots against the divine Sovereign, challenging His authority and His right to command humanity, and asserting in place thereof his own egoistic supremacy. Such are the actual and latent glories and abasement of man described in the Book of Life. Can we doubt that the Will of his Lord, Himself the Creator, through His wisdom, of the natural forces, will become enacted and established on this planet? Already, glorious signs of this fulfillment are witnessed in the earth. The hour, concealed in the Book of Fate, has arrived when a new order is in process of institution. And the first and greatest step is the enthronement of His Sovereignty, through wisdom and explanation and the awakening of the new consciousness. "For every hour there is a fate," asserts Baha'u'llah. The destined hour for this consummation is here and now, consonant with the declaration of the Divine Decree. CcBeside Him, every one changeth by the will on His part, and He is the Almighty, the precious, the Wise Nothing can move between the heaven and earth without My permission, and no soul can ascend to the Kingdom without My Command; but My creatures veiled themselves from My power and authority, and were of those who were negligent."1 CC~9 My servants! The Ancient Beauty commands: Hasten to the shadow of immortality, nearness and mercy, from the shadow of desire, remoteness and heedlessness. Be ye ablaze like unto flre, so that ye may consume thick veils and quicken and immortalize cold and veiled bodies through the heat of the divine love. Be ye pure like unto 'Baha'u'llah. Baha'i Scriptures, pp. 219, 220. air, that ye may enter the sacred abode of My Friendship."2 One of the greatest superstitions of our race is the one held by the pessimists who insist that what is commonly regarded as human nature is unchangeable, that its manifest weaknesses are fixed and static. This view is ignorantly misleading and but panders to the suggestions of the inferior sovereignty. In the first place, the real human nature is by no means the powerless entity portrayed by the pessimist. Human nature is definitely associated with a world infinitely removed from the realm of instinctive obedience that characterizes the lower beings. The animal spirit, the highest of these lower orders, has been defined by CAbdu~1~Bah4 as "the virtue perceptive, resulting from the admixture and absorption of the vital elements generated in the heart, which apprehend sense imfrressions." But the human spirit, He tells us, ttconsists of the rational faculty which apprehends general ideas and things intelligible and perceptible." But the Spirit of Faith, the next stage above that of the human spirit, He explains, Ñ "is the life of the spirit of man, when it is fortified thereby, as Christ (to whom be Glory) saith Ctbat which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Ñ .' The human spirit then, according to this exact definition, fiossesses the power to acquire and reinforce itself by appropriating the eternal gifts of the Spirit of Faith. Thus the faculty of reason may become illuminated, rather united with that Spirit that confers the immortal existence. In the face of these evident truths, human nature is seen as a distinct creation fully endowed with power, through the exercise of its unique rational faculty and the power of selection and choice resident in the will, to inhibit and ultimately render powerless the inordinate impulses of the lower phase of its nature. To do this, however, it must have recourse to a superior power. This power, happily, has affinity and connection with the noble reality of man, and is the goal of the upward flight of the soul. This power which is no less than the Divine Reality, the Conferer of true existence, has established the station of the Spirit of Faith as a center of Its outpouring, and beyond 2 Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Ahrnad, [p622] 622 THE BAHA'! WORLD this yet other stations of Divine Nearness, in the journey of the soui toward its Creator. But since the station of Faith is nearest to man, it is the appointed place of his transformation from the world of nature, just as the vegetable realm raises and transforms the stony particles of the mineral. By attaining the consciousness of the spirit of faith, a consciousness identical with certainty Ñ as contrasted with mere belief Ñ we enter the oniy Fortress against which Nature's onslaught is powerless. Many of the natural impulses, rightly used and under the control of man's reality, are by no means destructive. The perpetuation of the race, the satisfaction of the requirements of food, shelter and warmth, the physical zest of exercise and manly sports, the struggle against injustice, the ambition of achievement in the fulfillment of the individual destiny, the urge of work, and many other phases of life upon the earth are more or less primitive impulses quite outside the destructive, prohibited category. The Command in this New Age is, on the other hand, directed against the plain sources of unhappiness and disorder now rampant in human society. Among these are disunity and discord in the religious, political and economic life; selfishness and treachery; living unto oneself; race prejudice; hypocrisy, lies and deceit; cruelty; slander, gossip and backbiting (this last trinity of sin being sternly forbidden by the Divine Lawgiver of this new cycle); oppression in every form; becoming a cause of sorrow to others; war; supinely following the beliefs and practices of ancestors by failing to investigate for oneself the reality of every matter; mendicancy; parasitism; the separation of humanity by virtue of class, religious and racial barriers; making religion a cause of hatred and animosity between divergent sects; discrimination against womankind; the captivity of the world of Nature; political and industrial corruption; belief in those dogmas and imitations of truth that are not acceptable to both religion and science; departure from the Divine Foundations established by the Prophets of God and cleaving to manmade systems; denial or rejection of the True Sovereign. Without exception, these seeds of unhap piness are emanations from the natural, contingent world. Without exception they are prohibited and condemned by God at this time. Human society has become so infiltrated with these poisons that our old friend, the pessimist, confidently says~~ccThe burden of proof lies with those who dispute my conclusions." As against this, we would, with the right degree of modesty, refer to the fundamental structure upon which this exposition is based. And to the differentiations and demonstrations thus far made we would add, very briefly, this: Life is a process of emancipation from the grosser limitations into the refinements of true existence. All these proofs are sufficiently contained in the structure of creation, itself. The mineral substance shakes off its inertia by becoming absorbed into the expanding life of the plant. The cells of the plant, in turn, its roots firmly imprisoned in the earth, take on locomotion through assimilation into the swiftly moving animal, as well as into the perfected atoms of the human body. There, these iowiy cells meet and contact with a being animated with the mysterious power of thought. This process is the emancipation and progress of the uncouth mineral atom to an infinitely high station. This law of physical advancement is not reversed in the realm of mind and soui. The unity of arrangement uncovered by science in the atom is affirmed by the scientist to be the same as that disclosed in the great stellar systems. And since the law of unity is basic, and evidently an essential part of the celestial plan, we discover it, likewise, in the world of mind and spirit. Consequently the advancement of humanity, inspired by the mental and spiritual susceptibilities, must ever be in the direction of new conquests over the hampering shackles of its outgrown consciousness. This, in order that the new freedom may be availed of. Note, too, that the very nature and quality of the mineral ccii is lost and transformed in its upward ascent. Emergence from the fog-ridden swamps of Nature presupposes and is conditioned upon the acceptance of the True Sovereign. For this task requires fortitude, faith and understanding without which the capacity [p623] THE TRUE SOVEREIGN 623 necessary to attract, as a magnet, the divine confirmation cannot appear. So great a salvation requires recognition of its Source; such a sweeping emancipation can be viewed oniy in the light of the mercy and forgiveness of God, like unto the heavenly table set before the returned, repentant prodigal. CCJ~ this Day, a great banquet is celebrated in the Supreme Concourse; for all that was promised in the divine Books has appeared. This is the Day of the most great rejoicing. All must direct themselves to the Court of Nearness with the utmost joy, happiness, exultation and gladness, and deliver them Ñ selves from the fire of separation."' CCO Son of Man! My majesty is My be Ñ stowal to thee, and My grandeur the token of My Mercy unto thee. That which be-seemeth Me none shall understand, nor can any one recount. Verily! I have treasured it in My hidden storehouses and in the tabernacles of My command, as a token of My lovingkindness unto My servants and mercy unto My people."2 Finally, let it not be supposed that we fail to recognize the real battleground as resident in the very soul of man, for these elemental forces arc very flesh of his flesh, fabric of his texture, interwoven into the fibers of his being and implanted in his consciousness as with barbed hooks of steel, Yet, it is man who embodies these forces. It is he who supplies the intelligence to convert them into deeds. These intangible proclivities embedded within him find expression only through his entity and his instrumentality. So tenaciously do these tendencies cling to our everyday thoughts that were we to analyze our lives wholly from the point of view of the lower self, the problem would appear hopeless. In this dilemma, the pessimist is entangled. The attachment of the soui, through its downward flight, to the nether elements is encouraged by inheritance, tradition and example, as well as by its own mistaken hunger. But in every man whose departure from the divine command has not become habitual to the point of callousness, the consciousness of sin sets up the ever recurring fire of remorse. What secret and hidden agonies, what real 1 Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 152. 2 Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words (Arabic), verse 64. suffering goes on in the hearts day after day throughout the length and breadth of humanity's domain, as the voice of conscience, the stinging reproach of our inner reality and identity calls us to account. What despair and sense of bafflement oppresses us as we again and yet again submit to forces seemingly impossible to control. What sacrifice could be too great for deliverance from that taskmaster, that false guide, obedience to whose suggestions has brought upon us both the past and the present calamities. Sin, in this sense, is used as the equivalent of remoteness from God. Our sense of shame is because the nobler element within us, the divinely bestowed reality, is fully aware of the surrender of the conscious ego to inferior and wholly mortal snares. The transfer of consciousness to the plane of reality, however, unfurL the wings of the human spirit and through this union with the conscious self, the fortification is perfected. Then are the words of the saying made manifest: (cLove does not accept a soui alive to its own desires; a falcon preys not on a dead mouse."8 Herein is foreshadowed the Divine Purpose and the reason of existence of the human race. The field of nature is the battleground; the contending forces are the dual human elements each striving to control the flight of the soul; both opposing ensigns bear the insignia CCRe lit but one is true and the other is false; the battle slogans are, respectively, "Know thy Lord"; and "Baha thyself"; the rewards of victory are the immortal and eternal life, on the one hand; and, on the other, mortality; the sovereigns, the True One, and the usurper. Through the infinite wisdom of the Creator, this dramatic setting for the enactment of humanity's salvation has been established. That the century and cycle in which we are fortunate enough to live marks the advent of the decisive struggle as well as the victory of the True Sovereign through the enlightenment of the race, none who are even slightly informed of the meanings of the Holy Books, or of the almost miraculous changes now taking place in human psychology, can doubt.4 ~ Seven Valleys, by Baha'u'llah. ~ The complete text of this essay is available in The Baha'i Magazine. Ñ Editor. [p624] Baha'is of Baha, Caucasus. [p625] THE NATURE OF TUE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS B~ GLENN A. SHooK THIS EVOLVING WORLD IN SPEAKING of prayer tAbdu'1-Bah4 once said, ctEff rt should be made to make attachment to God." When asked how this attachment is to be made, he replied, ccKnowledge is love. Study, listen to exhortations, think, try to understand the wisdom and greatness of God." From the earliest times Ñ the knowledge of which we obtain oniy by inference Ñ down to the present, man has been profoundly affected by thinking about God. The concept of God, like any other fundamental concept, was undoubtedly a matter of siow development. In the last analysis the oniy way in which man can know God is by experience. The individual knows by his own experience or that of some other person or that of the race. This knowledge cannot be like the knowledge of familiar objects around us, or the knowledge we gain by observation, experiment and inference. Naturally we put more stress upon what men have thought about God in the past than we do upon some means by which we may gain a knowledge of God. This puts a very heavy burden upon traditional belief and the latter is not always equal to it. The mere fact that men have believed in God in the past is not sufficient grounds for a vital faith today. For several hundred years men believed that the earth was the center of the universe but that belief was discounted when the Copernican theory was established. Again what men have thought of God in the past is of importance to us today because it is only by such study that we can know how man has developed religiously. The only way we can discover certain phases of the Divine Plan for this race, or the oniy way in which we can read any meaning into life, is to study man's development. Before the modern historic method was applied to the history of religion it was customary to paint an ideal picture of our religious development, especially the development of our own religion, with the result that most of us are not prepared for any kind of critical study. Until quite recently it was practically impossible for a scholar to write an unbiased treatise upon comparative religion. 'White's history of the struggle between Theology and Science' is the story of a long conflict between scientific facts on the one hand and unwarranted tradition on the other. There is no doubt that many sincere religionists of that period honestly felt that the position of God in the universe would be impaired by the advance of science. In all this we see the struggle of the race for truth but we must never suppose that we are out of the struggle. It is a very hopeful sign that today men from all walks of life are making a defense for God. The warfare today is against unscholarly and superficial thinking, the kind of thinking that overlooks the most obvious facts of man s development, namely his mental and spiritual experience. This idea of an evolving, progressive concept of God has not received sufficient attention in the past. While we realize that early man s notion of God cannot compare with the exalted ideas of today nevertheless we do not like to feel that the world was en.-tirely deprived of the great spiritual bounties. This is not error but oniy natural, however we must expand our ideas of the universe. Just as we permit a child's primitive ideas of God, realizing that there are mature peo-pie with more exalted concepts, so we must think of the earth as a part of the universe. 1 "History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," by Andrew D. White. 625 [p626] 626 THE BAHA'I WORLD Man has always existed so, when this planet was in comparative darkness and ignorance, other worlds may have been enlightened. On the other hand there is a kind of progressive belief, a product of the desire for truth, that does, in a real sense, create the object of the belief. Some men believed in the Ptolernaic theory after it was refuted. This kind of belief creates nothing, but there were others that believed in the Copernican theory long before it was fully demonstrated and their belief led to the truth. It is this kind of belief that has advanced the knowledge of God. A static dogmatic belief is never real although it may become an integral part of our religious life while a progressive dynamic belief is always real and consequently contributes something to the sum total of our knowledge. In dealing with man's spiritual development we cannot confine ourselves to the historic method. 'We fail to realize that there are laws in the universe, governing man's mental and spiritual growth, laws that we discover by drawing near to God and not by making God in our own image. Some of our modern philosophers amid the comforts of life may find difficulty in reconciling the omnipotence of God with His mercy but the great saints of all time have never been in such a dilemma. It is a singular fact that the truly great souls suffer the most and complain the least, but it is something more than this Ñ it is a fact that must have its say in any religious discussion. The fact that we are in any sort of dilemma would indicate that we too are in the process of becoming. In this connection the theory of evolution, which by the way is the only means we have for extending our knowledge in time, is of great assistance to us for it helps us to see the Divine Plan as it really is. 'We realize more and more that ideas, as well as things, have been, are and ever shall be in a state of change. As long as we hold to the notion of spontaneous creation in any field of thought we are unable to make any real progress in that field. This has been confirmed by experience. To be sure when an evolving biological world first made its appearance it led directly to a mechanistic concept of life but we must remember that at the time of its inception the leading minds of the day were decidedly materialistic. While we cannot adjust discoverable facts to fit a static philosophy we can adjust our philosophy to fit the facts. We have discovered, after a good many years of anxiety, that we can conceive of a God of an evolving world quite as readily as we can a God of a world of spontaneous creation. The only difficulty is that many traditional and philosophical ideas started with a static world, so that the moment we begin to push back into history to search out an idea like creation, we fear for the eminence of God. But if we fear to look backward we are also afraid to look forward, which is worse. In a sense this merely indicates that we have no real knowledge of God, for if we have ever been conscious of His presence no theory regarding 1-us nonexistence will disturb us; and if the heart has never known Him then no theory regarding Him may be of much assistance, but it may prepare the way. The great Prophets realize this, so when they appear upon earth they first appeal to the heart. Thousands of people, inside and outside of Christendom, think of God as a loving Father because of the life and words of Christ. Hundreds of pilgrims entered the presence of cAbdu~1~Bah& with perplexing questions, oniy to find that they were relatively unimportant. They came away with something that no philosopher has ever been able to bestow, namely the love of God, dynamic and enduring. Nevertheless Christ came into the world to reflect to us the attributes of God and we cannot think of Christ and His mission without this background of ideas concerning God. For thousands of years the world was being prepared for the Gospel of Christ and Christ prepared the world for the coming of Baha'u'llah. It is this everchanging flux of ideas concerning God and the place of the Manifestations in the scheme of things that concern us here. In the long run progress always results. 'We would like to see things move along without breaks and setbacks but that is not so much an indication of our fine sense of orderliness as a confession of our ignorance of the laws of nature, of our own limitations, and the Divine Plan. [p627] NATURE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 627 Every loyal adherent of an ancient religious system firmly believes that his religion and his religion alone has the power of expansion and that finally the other religions will come to realize this. Yet the difficulties of such a position are perfectly clear, for the atheist and agnostic are equally sure of their position. This shows how very difficult it is for man to see the world in its entirety. SPIRITS AND GODS If, even in our own day it is difficult for men to grasp the concept of the world as a whole, it is surely not surprising that among earlier mankind such an effort was not made. As man in early times found it impossible to explain every phenomenon in terms of his own physical activity, he was led to create a galaxy of morp or less independent spirits to account for what he saw and experienced. Then, as his time and opportunity for thinking and clarifying and co Ñ ordinating ideas increased, he simplified this system by introducing deities for some universal cause. For example, at first a multitude of spirits healed various diseases, or perhaps the same disease upon different days and occasions, but as man came to think of healing in a general sense, a deity was assigned to this concept of healing. The deity can now preside over all healing, and what is more important, as Hocking points out,' the deity has a continuous character and may support a definite relationship. The god is no longer attached to particular physical objects but he is still associated with the tangible. With a deity ruling over recurring events real progress begins, for now experience enters in and it is even possible to maintain a record of the god's deeds. Such records form a large part of the tradition of every religious people. Greek history is replete with the deeds of their gods, as Hebrew history is filled with the deeds of its God. The continuous character of a deity may even be studied, so to speak. The local prophet often reviews the tradition of his people, stressing points that have been overlooked or neg-~Hocking~~~ttThe Meaning of God in Human Experience. lected, and adding to their knowledge of God or their gods as the case may be. When St. Paul was in Athens he made good use of the Greek propensity for gods in his famous speech on Mars Hill. In a few paragraphs he gives them an exalted picture of the one true Cod. While some of the early ideas of their deities seem crude and materialistic to us, we should not overlook the fact that the most highly developed mystics of our day sometimes think and speak of the Divine Presence as a light, a vibration or an outpouring, although realizing at the same time that the Absolute can have none of these attributes. Perhaps even primitive man often thought and felt beyond the imagery of his religious institution. Again, if we are in a state of development we cannot think of the growth of the concept of God as a progress from error to truth. Our scientific experience of the last three hundred years has demonstrated that, as far as scientific knowledge goes, we have not passed from error to truth, but rather from one stage to a higher stage. The crude ideas of primitive man were true to him, but new experience down through the ages has extended and modified his concepts. There is a god of healing and a god of plant life, but we believe it is the same god. On the other hand we still believe in tribal gods until we unite all religions, and in a few hundred years, at most, the entire world will look upon this present plurality of religions as an error. In short, a plurality of gods is no more error than a plurality of religions, however complaisantly we may regard the latter. We are not concerned, however, wholly with what primitive man thought about God. We may pause to ask what was God's relation to man? Did the deity to whom primitive man prayed answer his prayers? Did he receive help and comfort in the time of his troubles? Undoubtedly God answered prayers then as He does today, namely according to our capacity. God cannot confer bounties upon people if they are not ready for them. An ignorant, undeveloped man has no cultural wants or desires. LIe does not ask for faith and knowledge of God, and he, therefore, cannot be endowed with those [p628] 628 THE BAHA'I WORLD qualities. Primitive man probably asked for such things as rain, sons, and victory in battle, and these he undoubtedly received according to the wisdom of God. Some of the principles of the Baha'i Cause like the oneness of the world of humanity, independent investigation of truth, equality of men and women, would have been almost meaningless to the early Christian church even at its zenith. But humanity as a whole did not evolve gradually, step by step. It is highly probable 'that every advance was made by some spiritual genius. Every real advance that has been made in art or music, for example, can be attributed to some individual rather than to the masses. Even the socalled folk songs are believed to be the creation of some musical genius and not that of a group of people of average musical ability. What we label good music today is that which has been created by masters and not the sum total of all the creations of mediocrity. Thus it is not unlikely that in prehistoric times some exceptional individual with greater insight than the average served to raise the general level of religious thought. This does not mean, however, that only the best was transmitted, or that the best was very near to what we might be pleased to call the truth. Hocking was undoubtedly right when he said': tcIt is a curious paradox that this most original and constant knowledge should be the most difficult and slowest subject to change, the most ancient subject of human experimentation, the most encumbered with rubbish and error. We understand in part the reason for these errors. We understand that it is not natural for man to reflect, becoming fully aware of that with which he is thinking. We understand that we have little or no native power of recognizing either self or God apart from mediators: so that in the conceptions we make of God there must always be an overburden and overinfluence of the medium, physical or personal, wherein God is thought." From remote times, then, man has struggled with two ideas, God as pure spirit and God incarnate, or the One and the Absolute, on the one hand, and the moral and personal 1 flocking Ñ --"The Meaning of God in Human Experience." on the other. In speaking in this connection Hocking says:2 "After all, there is no other essential error in thinking of God than this: that God becomes an object among other objects, natural or psychical. And this is not all error. For not oniy do these over-materialized conceptions hold fast the genuine objectivity of God (which all-impor-tant character is usually weakened by attempts to think of God as pure spirit); but further, there is indispensable truth in the tendency to incarnate God in his works, and to think of him as there where his activity is and where his objects are. I would rather have a worshipper of a thousand idols than a worshipper of a subjective deity or an abstraction." When we come to recorded history the ideas are more refined, but still in the process of development. We need not dwell upon this period as everyone is familiar with Old Testament history and it is replete with examples of the changing viewpoint. As a passing example, contrast the God of Genesis, who cannot find Adam when he hides from Him, with the God of the Psalms, or again the God of the Proverbs with the God of the New Testament. When the Universal Manifestation comes He floods the earth with light, and questions that perplexed the sages of all times are elucidated in a few words, that is, to the peopie of capacity. Thus with the coming of Christ the world was confronted with new questions. Christ gave a new interpretation of God and He also raised questions regarding Himself. Those nearest Him could not comprehend His station and they were not a little bothered by this fact. In one instance He raises the question Himself: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" They answered that some said that he was John the Baptist, Elias, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. When He asked the disciples what they themselves thought, Peter answered, CCThou art Christ, the San of the living God." The Jews as a whole put the burden of proof upon Him as is clearly shown by their question: "How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." But He could not tell them plainly, 2 Hocking Ñ ~The Meaning of God in Human Experience." [p629] NATURE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 629 for they were not seeking the truth. Eventually, however, a few did realize His station and they revolutionized the religions of Europe. Although His own people did not accept Him, nevertheless they were better prepared than most of the nations to promote His teachings. Merely as an historical character the progress He made in divine knowledge was so great that He must be classed as a spiritual genius. He is now recognized as peerless and unique. What happened? Manifestly the world was ready for a great message and God sent this great light. To many devout followers of Christ this is the consummation of all religious history, and yet there is nothing in the words of Christ nor the prophets that would lead necessarily to this conclusion, and our experiences would indicate that a great spiritual leader is as necessary today as at any time in the past. Christ did not indicate that divine revelation had come to an end. Everything was not accomplished at this time. The world must go through greater agony and confusion in order to appreciate the value of prophetic religion. We are still worshippers of idols in the form of gold and philosophical abstractions. Nevertheless this is the Divine Plan as we comprehend it. The race, as the individual, learns of its weakness through blunders. It grows and develops by striving and overcoming. Through the dark ages the station of Christ was an enigma. Was He human or divine? The church apparently solved this fundamental problem by combining the cultural mysticism of the Hellenistic mystery-religions with prophetic or revealed religion resulting in the socalled "Christian God-mysticism." The morals and ethics of the church were derived from revealed religion, i. e., from the Old and New Testament, but their ideas of God and Christ were considerably modified, to say the least, by medieval mysticism. The disastrous results of this experiment are obvious to any student of religious history. Heiler, in speaking of this period says,1 ccThe static God with whom the mystic in his ecstasy becomes wholly one is outside time and space, without any vital relation to the world and history." And again: cCMti 1 Heiler t~Praer~) cism and religion of revelation are the two opposite tendencies of the higher piety which in history ever repel, yet ever attract each other." The Religion of Baha'u'llah, however, is inclusive and needs no interpreter other than tAbdu'1-BahA who was appointed by the Divine Manifestation, Baha'u'llah. THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROrHET When the Prophet comes into the world He always differentiates, in no uncertain terms, between the scaffolding and the solid structure of religion and it is sometimes a surprise to religious doctors that the majority of their ideas are useless. But just as fitful spirits paved the way for deities of continuous character so our metaphysical notions may have been a necessary preliminary to the truth that has been given to us by the Manifestations for this day. Therefore many of our traditional ideas in religion and philosophy must give way to advanced ideas, ideas compatible with the maturity of this age. This is particularly true with the current concepts of the nature of the Divine Manifestations. Even the great mystics, who have preserved the reality of religion for us, have often gone astray upon such concepts as the Divine Essence. To quote Heiler2: "The incomprehensible paradox that the small human ~I' has become an infinite tJ, the mystic can understand oniy as meaning that he himself has become God. As Plotinus says, the ecstatic !has become God, nay, rather he is God.' Catherine of Genoa declares joyfully: tMy ~ is God, and I know no other "I" but this my God.' And Madam Guyon expresses herself in a similar fashion." In the very nature of the case the Prophet alone can assist us in tearing down the scaffolding which has helped construct the edifice but which is now not only useless but unsightly. We must there turn to the Prophet and let Him report what He has seen and experienced. At the outset, the idea of a Manifestation of God coming to our planet in this day is so unique that the world at large cannot grasp it. To the majority of mankind religions are, in the last analysis, institutions 2 Heiler, Prederich, t'Prayer," p. 141. [p630] 630 THE BAHA'I WORLD of the past, and to this majority progress can oniy be made by walking reluctantly backwards. The popular belief today concerning Christ amounts to nothing more than this: He was and is an example of a perfect life and can therefore serve, regardless of theological controversy, as a model for our lives. But this vacuous belief is inadequate for our present needs. It is popular because it satisfies a flickering desire for something religious without interfering with our everyday pursuits. It often happens that the more we study an ancient religion the more irrelevant does that religion become to our modern life unless we possess some spiritual quality. This is confirmed by experience both past and present. If we are spiritual, however, then our study will assist us in making a correct estimate of any religion. Hocking1 gets at the root of the matter when he says, ccThe deeds of the mystics constitute the hard parts of history; the rest has its day and passes. ~ We are concerned here, however, with a world which is not primarily spiritual. Hence at the outset, we cannot expect the unspiritual philosophers to make many contributions to our knowledge of the nature of the Prophets; rather we must be prepared to reject many of their conclusions. In dealing with everyday affairs we constantly fall back upon generalizations derived from experience. The good executive uses standardized decisions wherever he can to simplify his work and to avoid mental strain. When we discover a new principle, however, our generalizations may be of very little value to us; we must rely upon logic. It is no iess true in the field of religion. When the great Prophet comes into the world He brings truths that we cannot grasp. if we hold to the superstitions of our ancestors. Baha'u'llah not oniy warns us of the futility of falling back upon tradition but sets it forth as a principle. The "independent investigation of truth?' and ccthe abandonment of all prejudices" are as necessary for the preservation of society today as the "Thou shalt nots" of the Pentateuch. 1 Hocking Ñ "The Meaning of God in Human Experience. TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF GOD Let us see then, in the light of the writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha how far our knowledge of God and the Manifestations of God agrees with the truth. When we say that God is just, we are not describing God for we cannot think of justice unless we think of some person. Therefore the word "justice" gives us no concept of His form or being. On the other hand we cannot think of God as unjust, therefore in the words of tAbdu~1~Bah~,l ccWe affirm these names and attributes, not to prove the perfections of God but to deny that He is capable of imperfections." The difficulty here is not that God is just and something more which is beyond us, but rather that we do not know what the justice of God is, for if we did we would probably understand the essence of God. As 'Abdu'l-Baha says,' cdt is not that we comprehend His knowledge, His sight, His power and life, for it is beyond our comprehension; for the essential names and attributes of God are identical with His Essence, and His Essence is above all comprehension." If we could understand the reality of God we would then look beyond for what, I suppose, we might call the essence of essences, and, should we attain that, we would still look beyond; which is just a complicated way of saying we never can understand the essence. We speak the truth when we say that God is just, He always has been just, and always will be just, but the statement does not imply that we comprehend God's justice. Nevertheless, we are forced to admit that such a statement must convey something to the mind for we all feel that when we think of God's justice we have something very definite in mind but tAbdu'1-BahA makes it clear that the qualities attributed to God can have meaning only when applied to the Manifestations of God, otherwise we are thinking of God as a creature like ourselves which is pure imagination. He says,2 "Ac-cordingly all these attributes, names, praises, and eulogies apply to the places of Manifestation; and all that we imagine and suppose 1 ~ Answered Questions," p. 170. 2 "Some Answered Questions," p. 176. [p631] NATURE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 631 besides them is mere imagination, for we have no means of comprehending that which is invisible and inaccessible." This is a very illuminating statement for it shows clearly that all philosophical speculations as to the nature of God are futile. In this instance then, we are not justified in making any inference regarding the justice of God. tAbd~1Bh says,1 "Therefore reflect that different peoples of the world are revolving around imaginations, and are worshippers of idols of thoughts and conjectures. They are not aware of this; they consider their imaginations to be the Reality which is withdrawn from all comprehension, and purified from all descriptions. They regard themselves as the people of unity and the others as the worshippers of idols; but idols at least have a mineral existence, while the idols of thoughts and imaginations of man are but fancies; they have not even mineral existence." Again He says, 1 tCHOW ever far mind may progress, though it may reach to the final degree of comprehension, the limit of understanding, it beholds the divine sign and attributes in the world of creation, and not in the world of God." The scientific development of recent years may be of assistance to us here. Up to the end of the nineteenth century scientists were confident that we could reduce the physical world to mechanical models and that when a model could be built to represent a given phenomenon, the phenomenon was completely explained. in that period they sought for no reality beyond the mechanical explanation. To them, matter could be reduced to sinai1 particles iike billiard balls, and light was a wave disturbance in an ether, like a wave in an elastic solid, say, a rope. Today, however, we realize that the reality must lie beyond the models, beyond the mathematical equations. If we cannot comprehend the reality or essence of the physical world which is visible, it seems highly improbable that we will be able to throw much light upon the world of God. It is interesting to recall, in tbis connection, a statement by Eddington2 just a few years ago. He says: "Penetrating as deeply 1 ~Some Answered Questions," p. 167. 2 Eddington, A. S., "Science and the Unseen World." as we can by the methods of physical investigation into the nature of a human being we reach oniy symbolic description. Far from attempting to dogmatize as to the nature of the reality thus symbolized, physics most strongly insists that its methods do not penetrate behind the symbolism." When we turn back to early man, therefore, we see that his God must have been, in the very nature of the case, decidedly anthropomorphic. Even idols have their place in primitive religion and may be regarded with as much respect as philosophical abstractions. What applies to justice applies to any other attribute iike mercy or power. When we say that God is merciful we simply affirm that He cannot be unmerciful and be God, but that does not mean that we, His creation, understand His mercy. We may understand the mercy of man, a creature like ourselves, but the mercy of God may be something quite different from the mercy of man. We are merciful to our children and deprive them of that which is harmful but they may in some instances regard our mercy as punishment. When the world is dark and deprived of the Divine Spirit, man sometimes raises this question, CCJf God is merciful how can He permit suffering?" 'This question has always bothered sincere people who are loving and kind. They would relieve the suffering of the world; how can a merciful God permit it? Is He not as kind as they to His creatures? The question implies that we understand the mercy of God, or what amounts to the same thing, that the mercy of God is identical with our mercy. This may seem a little difficult at first, but it is because we have never realized our limitations when it comes to speculations concerning the nature of Divim-. ity. Again, as we pointed out earlier, all extant religions were born in a static world but we actually are living in an evolving world and it is certain that we will get more and more light as the world advances. It is also int&resting to note, in this connection, that the great saints have always suffered and yet they never feel that suffering is incompatible with Divine mercy. Let us consider another attribute. We may say that God is infinite or omnipotent, but [p632] 632 THE BAHA'I WORLD here again the statement does not carry with it the assumption that we comprehend thc infinite or omnipotent character of God. To begin with we cannot form a definite picture of infinity in the physical world. If something increases without limit it exceeds all bounds. No matter how the mind strives to conceive of a great physical magnitude, infinity always lies beyond. This limitation certainly holds in the spiritual world. tAbdu'1-Bahi' makes this clear when He says, "It is evident that the human understanding is a quality of the existence of man, and that man is a sign of God. How can the quality of the sign surround the creator of the sign? That is to say, how can the understanding, which is a quality of the existence of man, comprehend God. Therefore the Reality of the Divinity is hidden from all comprehension and concealed from the minds of all men." We are now in a position to consider a modern philosophical dilemma. "How can God be merciful and omnipotent? He might permit suff5ing because His power is limited or He might have the power to eliminate suffering but not be merciful. How can He be both merciful and all powerful?" The question seems plausible, at first sight, but in the light of the great spiritual truths revealed to us in this day the statement is meaningless. If we cannot comprehend the omnipotence of God we cannot make any inference regarding it. To affirm certain attributes of God is not therefore, identical with understanding these attributes when applied to God. The attributes apply to the Manifestations or Prophets of God. To quote tAbdu'1-Bah4 again, ccTherefore all that the human reality knows, discovers and understands of the names, attributes and perfections of God, refer to these Holy Manifestations. There is no access to anything else: tthe way is closed and seeking is forbidden.' "2 Many great philosophers have realized that the Creator of all things must be unknowable. Spencer makes this clear in his First Principles. He says: "By continually seeking to know and being continually thrown back 1 ~Some Answered Questions," p. 168. 2 ttSome Answered Questions," p. 169. with a deepened conviction of the impossibility of knowing, we keep alive the consciousness that it is alike our highest wisdom and our highest duty to regard that through which all things exist as the Unknowable." Unfortunately, however, such men sometimes fail to realize that a knowledge of the attributes of God may be obtained through His Manifestations. In other words, we are not entirely devoid of any knowledge of God, or of the Unknowable, except as this knowledge refers to His Reality. The approach to God then, is oniy through His Messengers. All our knowledge of God must come through the Manifestations. "The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His divine Manifestation."8 GOD'S RELATION To MAN IN PROPHETIC RELIGION For the first time in recorded history wc have authentic information on the nature of a Divine Manifestation or Prophet. That is, the Prophet for this day has given us some light about His own station. Humanity has always struggled with two ideas about God. He is the One, the Absolute, and the Infinite and again He is a moral and personal God. The first concept finds expression in medieval mysticism which is cold and nonpersonal compared with prophetic religion which is always warm, dynamic and progressive. To the mystic, God is not a revelation in history; God reveals himself to every man in mystical inspirations and visions. Of course mysticism does not always appear in its pure form. The Christian God-mysticism and the Sufist-mysticism of IslAm have always shown fervor and personal warmth. In general, mysticism has been independent of ecclesiastical authority and consequently it has been able to emerge from religious dogma and materialism in the past and we see popular forms of it even today. Some of the mystics of the past and some modern cults teach that there is a part of the Divine Essence in each individual or that we are potential gods. Now this is only ' Baha'u'llah, "Words of Wisdom." [p633] NATURE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 633 natural and indicates a real striving toward God, for we may ask, "How can we comprehend the Divine unless there is a little of the Divine within us?" tAbdu'1-BaM tells us that our relation to God is like the connection between the ray and the sun. The rays emanate from the sun but are not part of the sun. Again we are the creation and not a part of the Creator. To illustrate, the author writes a book which forth or proceeding through "manifesta-tion", like the coming forth of the flower from the seed. In this case the reality or essence of the seed passes into the flower. Man's proceeding or dependence is not like this, for tAbdu'1-Bahi says, C!BUt the appearance through manifestation is the manifestation of the branches, leaves, blossoms and fruit from the seed; for the seed in its own essence becomes branches and fruits, and its Bagbd4d from the west bank of the Tigris. may produce a profound effect upon society but the book does not contain a part of the writer. The author might be Likened to the essence of the writing as he always transcends the medium which expresses his thought. Again the musician sends forth sound vibratiOns into the air which may produce visible effects upon his audience but the music is not a part of the composer but rather an emanation, as it were, from the composer. In speaking of the relation between man, the created, and God, the Creator, CAbdu~1 Baha says that this "proceeding", "coming forth" or ttdependence~~ is like the ray which emanates from the sun or the discourse which comes forth or emanates from the speaker. There is however another kind of coming reality enters into branches, the leaves and fruits. "This appearance through manifestation would be for God the most High, simple imperfection, and this is quite impossible; for the implication would be that the absolute Ike-existent is qualified with phenomenal attributes; but if this were so, pure independence would become pure poverty and true existence would become nonexistence and this is not possible." Hence we, His creatures, emanate from Him like the light which emanates from the sun, and are therefore not a part of the reality or essence. In some respects the great Prophets or Manifestations are like other men. CAbdu~1~. [p634] 634 THE BAHA'I WORLD BaM says, ""We said that the Manfestations have three planes. First the physical reality, which depends upon the body; secondly, the individual reality, that is to say, the rational soul; thirdly, the divine appearance, which is the divine perfections, the cause of the life of existence, of the education of souls, of the guidance of people, and of the enlight-ment of the contingent world." On the other hand tAbd 'iBahi makes it clear that the Holy Manifestations have a station that is unique. He says that no matter how far th~ disciples of Christ advance they will never reach the station of Christ. In this sense Christ was not a man like other men. Although the Manifestations have a station that is beyond our comprehension, even they are not a part of the Divine. They manifest the attributes and perfections of God in the sense that the perfect mirror reflects the rays of the sun to us. cAbdu~1~Bah& says, ccBut the proceeding through manifestation (if by this is meant the Divine appearance, and not division into parts), we have said, is the proceeding and appearance of the Holy Spirit and the Word which is from God." He emphasizes the point more strongly in another place; ttAnd know that the proceeding of the Word and the Holy Spirit from God, which is the proceeding and appearance of manifestation, must not be understood to mean that the Reality of Divinity has been divided, into parts, or multiplied, or that it has descended from the exaltation of holiness and purity. God forbid!" Was Christ God incarnate? If we mean by this that Christ was the perfect Manifestation of God; that He was the perfect reflection of God and that when men looked upon Him it was as if they looked upon the face of God, then the answer is, yes, for this is the testimony of Himself. To quote from John 14; he that bath seen me bath seen the Father; I am in the Father and the Father in me." That is, the Divine attributes of God are reflected in Christ. God can dwell in us oniy in the sense that the sun dwells in the mirror. While we cannot understand the essence of God we are commanded to try and understand the ccwisdom and greatness of God." To recapitulate: man emanates from God like the ray from the sun and is not therefore a part of the essence or reality of God, and in consequence he is not a potential god. If God were love, mercy, justice, etc., we might manifest Him for we have these attributes, but we have shown that the essence lies back of the attributes, so to speak, and is unknowable. Even the great Prophets like Christ and Baha'u'llah do not contain a part of the Divine in the sense that the Divine is divided into parts. They manifest to us the Divine Perfections. The proceeding or coming forth, in this case, is not like the ray from the sun, nor the music from the musician for it is not a creation emanating from a creator. Hence the term "emana-tion" is not used in this connection. The Manifestations are mediums through which the Divine Perfections are transmitted to us and we may think of their station as analogous to the fine, polished mirror which reflects perfectly the rays of the sun. Our knowledge of God comes through His Manifestations and they inform us oniy of His attributes and not His Reality. Moreover this knowledge is limited by our capacity.' "Knowing God, therefore means the comprehension and the knowledge of His attributes and not His Reality. This knowledge of His attributes is also proportioned to the capacity and power of mat and is not absolute." ~'Some Answered Questions," p. 256. [p635] RELIGIOUS EDUCATION FOR THE YOUNG B~ MRS. M. H. INoUYE 'I1HERE is a deep sense of restlessness throughout the world, and we feel we are walking about carrying high explosives Ñ a horrible long march of unemployed, crumbling sound of the world economic structure, hot racial hatred casting the dark shadow of another great war. These explosives we have been handling with great fear. For we know they have already passed the safety point, and we are standing in imminent danger of an explosion which would scatter us, and by which even our most cherished all over the world would be blown to atoms. Yet can we wait and act like men foredoomed to destruction? No one dare to deny that we must struggle through this age of crisis. The ablest minds of the world have been already devoting themselves to soive this great issue. And here in such a world as this the function of religion takes on new meaning as the salt of the earth. Before religion could be dynamic power to cure the world from its critical condition, however, it must cure itself from the long suffering disease of religious conflict, which weakened men's noble aspiration and made our spiritual progress much slower than it should have been. We know many notable religious leaders as early as in the nineteenth century attempted to reconstruct traditional religion to meet the urgent needs of that age. Any progressive religion of today owes a great debt of gratitude to these men of insight, and thanks to them for that intolerant orthodoxies have learned the necessity to transform their crude exclusive attitude towards other religions and other human interests into the spirit of concordance, since this spirit of concordance is not based on uncertainty of conviction but on a wide acquaintance with the history of other beliefs and with constantly new human needs. The Baha movement with its lofty principle of spiritual concordance has also been a guiding light in showing how to seek the way of awakening the vision of one living God among all the peoples. It is still an inexpressible pity for us to hear that the younger generation of today have nothing to do with religion, and their religious attachment seems utterly vanished. And there is a grain of truth in this. I meet many young educated men and women who openly confess that they lost belief in their family religions, most sacred in the olden times, and even felt strong repugnance against religion on the whole. They say their scientifically trained mind can not bear absurd conflicts among different sects, and hoary dogmas contrary to the intelligence of the day. Nevertheless, this religious cooling of the young does not mean they are nonreligious. On the contrary we see how ardently their devotional sentiment seeks its outburst as the worthy builders of the world tomorrow. It is not these young people's failure even if they are indifferent to traditional religion after all, but the men who cage religion in theology and tradition should be most blamed. Reorganizing religious education for the young, therefore, is of most importance and necessity. First of all we must let them know that religion in its purest form has root in the very interests of men to live better and happier, and will carry them beyond these mere interests for the sake of the highest. And for this purpose to reenforce religious enthusiasm among the young I believe we need not teach them particular forms or ideas of any traditional religion. The one thing that we should teach is to focus their hearts and minds upon the experience of One Living God, the ultimate source of their living and being. And to my great joy as an educator I have seen many souls awakened to religious 635 [p636] 636 THE BAHA'I WORLD life and ideals so unselfish and loyal that they will be the strong creators of "a new earth and a new heaven." This does not oniy happen in the heart of the young but also in that of society. No effectively and constructively, and bring better understanding and permanent peace and progress to all mankind. Let us be thankful for this tendency of the world, and let us be ever courageous enough Mrs. M. H. Inouye, President of Japan Women's University, Tokyo. keen observer can miss to invite the whole world the fact that this matured to work in and with One industrial society has God, the spring of creative awakened to its spiritual insight and abundant hope. want and begun to feel And let me close this brief the necessity to fortify article with an old Japanese itself with spiritual ode: force, faith in and loyaltyttMany pathways are there for God. For the world now at the foot to climb the knows only ccGod centered mountain, life," not "Man centered But behold! on the summit life" can discover the we all see the same glorious way to solve the day's moon." impending problems most [p637] Provincial Convention of the Baha'is of Ad1airb~yI~n, Persia. [p638] WHY DO I ESPOUSE THE BAHA CAUSE?1 B~ CrnKAo FUJISAWA HERE is no denying that in recent decades, means of communication and transportation have unprecedently multiplied and thereby shortened the world distance, so much so that all nations have become increasingly interdependent; their ever tightening bonds of trade and industry, of finance and economics, of agriculture and education have brought us home to an insight that the oneness of the world is a hardly disputable fact, in so far as the material aspects of our civilization are concerned. Nevertheless, on the other hand, we are witnessing humanity hopelessly in the grip of moral bewilderment, political chaos and class antagonism, which threaten to undermine the very foundations of our civilization. In the face of these actualities, an easygoing popular belief that the realization of economic, financial and technical solidarity of the nations would ipso facto give rise to a golden epoch of permanent peace and sincere cooperation among mankind has suffered a miserable shipwreck and proved a naive illusion. The World War and the postbellum international complications specifically bear witness to this blunt realism of our day. Indeed, in attempting to combat the social maladies, a variety of ingenious remedies have been proposed such as socialism, communism, bolshevism and fascism, but they have after all fallen far short of the final solution of the problem concerned. In a word, the unifying tendency of our modern material civilization could not automatically call into existence the spiritual and moral unity of mankind. This is a great ks-son fraught with far-reaching consequences and which we should take to heart very seriously. 1 Address delivered on the Anniversary of the Announcement of the B&b, May 23, celebrated by the Baha'is of Tokyo. How then is this outwardly somewhat paradoxical phenomenon to be accounted for? As for me, I am persuaded after a prolonged meditation that this exceedingly deplorable state of things is primarily due to the ostensible neglect on the part of the leaders of the world of a thoroughgoing philosophical study of the inner structure of human beings. Mainly, thanks to the sacred scriptures bequeathed by ancient oriental sages, I have come to apprehend that our human consciousness is generally obscured and bemired with the rust of obstinate bias, as well as of shallow preconceptions, in such a manner that the ultimate truth of the universe remains unfortunately shrouded from us. Hence it is oniy in erasing, so to speak, all this mental rust by means of a deep introspection and strenuous spiritual training that we may attain to the primordial stage of pure consciousness, wherein the Light of the Sun of Truth is revealed as on the spotless surface of a mirror. Consequently, the spiritual process in question is, as it were, a regress towards the inmost recess of our hearts, intrinsically opposite to the popular conception of progress which implies no more nor less than a mere precipitating advance, not accompanied by any retrospective act of our soni. This is the principal reason why the wonderful progress achieved in the realm of natural science and material technics has had no direct bearing upon the solution of the philosophical problem of subduing, what we may call ego-cent risin, whose lamentable rampancy has hindered us so far from bringing about the unity of mankind on a firm moral and religious basis. From what precedes, it becomes now evident that the matter of great urgency for us all is reconstitution of the absolute authority of one single religion to be worshipped by 638 [p639] WHY DO I ESPOUSE T HE BAHA'I CAUSE? 639 all mankind, irrespective of the diversity of nationalities, races, languages and traditions, because religion is the very key wherewith to disclose the otherwise hidden sanctuary of our genuine heart, through which only we can have communion with God, the Originator of the universe. Just as the Sun, the image of God the Almighty, lavishes upon all creatures and things so benignantly its ever fostering radiance and helps them to the consummation of their respective natures, so will we human beings in whose purified hearts the omnipresent God comes to dwell, never fail to behave with deep iove and overflowing sympathy towards one another since God will infallibly convince us that we are all the offspring of one common stock. From this unshakable belief there will gradually emerge the grand idea of the spiritual unity of mankind. However, why have the existent religions ceased to play the supreme rOle of leading us back to the stern presence of God? It appears to me that there are two causes answerable for this visible decline of religions: one is sectarianism which is adverse to the inner nature of religion itself; and the other is the anachronistic narrow-mindedness of religious leaders. For many a century the great religious communities Ñ Christian, Buddhist, Muhamrnadan, Hindu and others Ñ have not only existed indifferently side by side, but also they have been in frequent hostility and strife one against the other. Besides, what has rendered the situation worse is that each of them has become split up into a large number of sects, which are often bitterly opposed to one another. It goes without saying that this phenomenon has considerably discredited the past religions and deprived them of their original spirtual force. Secondly, religious teachers have shown an exceedingly bigoted and narrow-minded attitude towards the achievements of modern sciences and often betray a hardly justifiable disposition in blindly condemning those who wish to refute candidly such a fantastic story as the passage from the Bible according to which the world was made in six days by the hand of a personal God. It is obvious that true religion will never come into conflict with science, for the plane of the religious world is situated much higher than that of the scientific world. I believe personally that science is not merely reconcilable with religion, but also it should serve as the most powerful means of carrying into effect the religious ideal on earth. We have waited long for the advent of a new all-embracing religion which would be able to fittingly meet the requirements of the times, and this ardent desire was at last fiul-filled in the person of Baha'u'llah, a great modern Prophet Who appeared in Persia sounding His mighty trumpet call to afflicted humanity. Perusal of numerous Tablets left for us by Baha'u'llah has impressed me so strongly with the unusual profundity of His thought and His penetrating wisdom that I could not but feel irresistibly attracted towards His noble Cause. Baha'u'llah's sublime mission was to r& cover the unity of all mankind through God. He said among other things that of the Tree of Knowledge the All-glorious fruit is this exalted word: "Of one Tree are ye the fruits and of one bough the leaves." "Let not a man glory in this that he 'oves his country, but let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind." He conveyed the following message with regard to the future of mankind: "All nations should become as one in faith and all men as brothers; the bonds of affection and unity between the SOflS Of men should be strengthened, diversity of religion should cease and the differences of race be annulled these strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease and all men be as one kindred and one family." As a means of promoting religious unity He advocated above all the utmost charity and tolerance as being conducive to over-coining egocentrism of all shades and he earnestly called upon His followers to consort with the people of all religions with joy and gladness. His magnanimity is undoubtedly unique as shown by any great Prophet and is in sharp contrast to the stubborn narrow-mindedness with which other existent religions are generally marked. In connection with the desirability of stimulating a close cooperation between the Occident and Orient, CAbdu~1~Bah4 refers to the value of modern scientific civilization as [p640] 640 WORLD THE BAHA'I follows: 'tjn these days the East is in need of material progress and the 'West is in need of a spiritual ideal. It would be well for the West to turn to the East for illumination and to give in exchange its scientific knowledge. There must be this interchange of gifts. The East and the West must unite to give to each other what is lacking. This union will bring about true civilization where the spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material." Thus, the spiritual unity of mankind must first of all be guaranteed and then contemporary material civilization, instead of continuing, as at present, to weigh heavily upon us, will turn out to be the most efficacious device to translate into reality the divine will of the Absolute. Another distinct feature of the Baha'i Religion is the absence of any professional priesthood: all Baha'is are exhorted to share, whatever their occupation, in the work of teaching the ultimate truth of the universe, according to their opportunities and abilities. We can directly turn to the Divine Manifestations of the Infinite which will unfailingly reveal Itself in the deepest region of our consciousness. When we all address ourselves unanimously to one Center, then there can be neither moral confusion nor superficial sophistication, and the nearer we all draw to the rallying force of the one Absolute God, the nearer do we draw to each other. Thus, there is no wonder that the Baha'i Movement is bound to sweep the most enlightened strata of society in every country. [p641] The II~iratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Headquarters), Yazd, Persia. [p642] COUNT LEO TOLSTOY AND THE BAll AN MOVEMENT B~ MARTHA L. ROOT HEN I was in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1927, I met the secretary of Count Leo Tolstoy, Mr. Valentin Bulgakov; we had a long talk about Count Tolstoy and his contact with the Baha'i Movement. Later, in December, 1930, I met Miss Alexandra Tol.-stoy, the youngest daughter of this great Russian writer and humanitarian. She said to me then, cWhat Mr. Bulgakov has told you about my father's interest in the Baha'i Movement is true. He was with him during the last four years of my father's life; he was his secretary and arranged his library." Then, too, I corresponded with Mrs. Isabel Grin-evsky of Leningrad in 1927 and she wrote me about Count Tolstoy. It is through these kind friends that I have the facts for this article. An added interest was given to the subject for me when only a few days ago, May 31, 1932, I interviewed the president of a Roman Catholic university in Poland who had met CAbd~1Bh~ in 1914, in Haifa, Palestine. tAbdu'I-Balti said to him that there was no greater writer in Europe than Count Leo Tolstoy. "What a pity that Tolstoy, who so admired the Teachings of tAbdu'1-BahA, never had the privilege of meeting Him." CCCOUnt Tolstoy knew the Baha'i Teachings through literature. I think he did not know any BabS'is personally," said Mr. Bul-gakov in his talk with me. CCHe first beard of the Baha'i Movement in May, 1903, when Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky brought out in Leningrad (the former capital of Russia that then was called St. Petersburg) a great drama called Bab; it was in verse and gave the illumined history of the Forerunner of the Baha'i Movement, a young man called B~b and His disciples called Letters of the Living; the scenes were laid in Persia. This drama was played in one of the principal theatres of St. Petersburg, in January, 1904, and given a remarkable reception. Some of the critics went far in its praise. For example, the poet Fiedler (who afterward translated the drama into German) said: tWe receive from the five acts of the poetical drama Bab more information about the Baha'i Movement than from the deep, scientific researches of Professor Edward G. Browne, Gobineau and Russian scientists and historians. As the Herold has already published two full feujile-tons about the poem, we shall speak only of the performance of the play. Rarely has the renown of any play preceded the performance as has this of Mrs. Grinevsky.' " The Herold of January, 1904, printed the following: crThe drama appeared in May of last year, 1903, the most inconvenient time for the coming out of a book, but nevertheless pens of critics began to move in the journals and magazines in praise of the author's work. Moreover, enlightened Persian society sent an inspired letter of thanks; and above all, Isabel Grinevsky had the high spiritual satisfaction that among those who praised her drama was the lion of contemporary Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy." Mr. Wesselitzsky, a Russian journalist and president of the Foreign Press Association in London, gave an address about this drama Rd/I in London, in English and the lecture was published in pamphlet form in French and English. I quote one paragraph from this speech: "Amidst the sorrows of disastrous war and those dreadful inner troubles, that book, 13db, was my oniy happy impression and it has remained since a permanent source of joy and comfort as a manifest proof of the vitality of Russia and its creative genius."1 1 Taken from a pamphlet, the speech delivered by Mr. Wesselitzky, President of the Foreign Press Association of London, published in French and English. London, 1907, at the press of "Chronide," 29 Besborough Street, London, S. W. 642 [p643] COUNT LEO TOLSTOY AND THE BANAl MOVEMENT 643 "Count Tolstoy read this drama Bab with great interest," Mr. Bulgakov told me, 'tand sent a letter to Mrs. Grinevsky praising her work and telling her he was in sympathy with these teachings of the IBahA'i Movement." His letter to her was published in the press of Russia. Mrs. Grinevsky also wrote me about this letter from Count Tolstoy which she has preserved. Next Count Tolstoy read a booklet by Mr. Arakewian that described further the history of the People" by Ivan Nagivin, in which the author writes much about different religions, the old Christian sects in Russia, the Indian Religions, and about BaM'ism. Tolstoy liked this work because it opposed militarism and all fighting and stood for universal peace. He gave copies of this book to several of his friends, sending them from his home in Yas-naya Polyana. When I asked Mr. Bulgakov if Count Tolstoy had Baha'i books in his library, he re Count Leo Tolstoy and his secretary, Mr. Valenrin Bulgakov, taken in 1910. of the early followers of the Bib and gave a short account of the teachings. He studied it with eager interest, his secretary told me, and sent a copy of it to one of his friends, Mr. Boulanger, who was writing a book about all religions. Count Tolstoy urged Mr. Bou-langer to include a chapter on Baha'ism in this new book. Unfortunately the book was not published before Count Tolstoy passed on, then came the World War and it was never printed. "Count Tolstoy's heart and soui were in all universal movements like the Baha'i Movement that aim at the unity of all mankind," said Mr. Bulgakov. He also told me that Count Tolstoy read with deep appreciation the book, ttThe Voices plied: ~~Certain1y, he had Baha books in several languages. After he had read the drama Bab and knew of the Baha'i Movement, he sent and bought what books he could get. I remember a picture in one of the English books Ñ a picture of a young man who looked like Christ, and was the Founder of this movement." The secretary said that Count Tolstoy had studied the Bibles of all religions profoundly. As one of the prin~ip1es of Baha'u'llah is a universal auxiliary language, I asked the secretary what Count Tolstoy thought about such a language to help promote world peace, and quickly he replied; ccHe thought it was very important, and when he heard for the [p644] 644 THE BAHA'I WORLD first time about Esperanto he was so delighted that he took an Esperanto grammar, studied it two hours and wrote a letter in Esperanto! He was then about seventy years old. He knew many languages, Russian, English, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin." Count Tolstoy, I feel, was a Baha'i in spirit, for the word signifies in the Persian language "Light-bearer," even though he heard of the Teachings late in life. He was born September 10, 1828, and so was nearly seventy-five when he first learned through the drama Rib of this universal religion for peace which had its rise in Persia about the middle of the nineteenth century. He passed on November 10, 1910, but in one of his last writings, I hear, he penned these words which will be read not oniy by this generation but by millions yet unborn: "We spend our lives trying to unlock the mystery of the universe, but there was a Turkish Prisoner, Baha'u'llah, in tAkk~, Palestine, who had the key!" [p645] A CHINESE VIEW OF THE BAHA'I CAUSE B~ CHAN S. Lw IN this wartorn world and in the midst of world economic depression, naturally one begins to think of the deeper problems in life. Can we lessen the amount of sufferings in the world? Instead of spending seventy per cent or more of our revenue for war preparatioflis, will a larger percentage of it go into education and other constructive purposes? In spite of our wonderful scientific discoveries in these few centuries, can better use be made of them for the benefit of humanity instead of killing each other? So much is heard about overproduction in certain sections of the world and much suffering is being wrought, yet in many parts of the world the people are in dire want. Can a better system of distribution be devised, so that the entire human family will be mutually benefited? As the prophets foretold, ccPeace on earth, peace among men." When will this prophecy come true? These are some of the vital problems confronting many of the thinking minds of today. It seems to inc that through our modern scientific development and progress, humanity ought to be able to extract itself out of the ancient drudgery and the rule of nature; yet, unfortunately, its moral code and ideas are still of a primitive nature;, consequently it has not taken the full advantage of inventions and discoveries. For instance, with our modern communications and method of production, no nation is able to keep her doors closed from other nations and the world ought to be treated as one economic whole; and yet we are prevented by our ancient ideas, prejudices and narrow ideas of nationalism and race; hence, it is no easy matter to tear down our economic barriers, such as high tariff walls, etc., which are partly responsible for our economic depression. The present economic conference in London is a tendency toward and grows out of necessity for a better world cooperation economically. However, if the world intends to make any progress at all and to save herself from destruction, many other kinds of cooperation are needed besides economic fields. To be certain of creating a better world order, humanity must undergo a psychological change. In other words, a change of hearts is needed. Moreover, there must be certain sound principles to go by, just like the scientists who in order to carry out experiments successfully, some hypothesis must be formulated to guide their work. In addition to sound principles there must be some practical organization so as to crystallize or to prosecute these principles and for their fulfillment. In 1921 when I was a student at Cornell University, I first heard of the Cause and was much impressed by its beauty and greatness. I feel that the Baha'i Cause embodied all the essentials for working out a new epoch which I outline above, and being consistent with the best ideas of the past and present. Having been back to China for ten years I still maintain that these are the best principles to be followed and ultimately they will save humanity. For those who have not yet known the Cause, I shall quote the 12 principles laid down by Baha'u'llah some eighty years ago. The Twelve Principles: 1. Unfettered search after truth, and the abandonment of all superstition and prejudice. 2. The oneness of Mankind: all are "leaves of one tree, flowers in one garden." 3. Religion must be a cause of love and harmony, else it is no religion. 4. All religions are one in their fundamental principles. 645 [p646] 646 THE BAHA'I WORLD 5. Religion must go hand-in-hand with science. Faith and reason must be in full accord. 6. UniversaL peace: The establishment of a first educators of the next generation. 9. Equal opportunities of development and equal rights and privileges for both sexes. 10. Work for all: No idle rich and no idle Director of Bureau for the Improvement of Sen-culture, culture, Department of Reconstruction, Hon glok, Canton, China. Universal League of Nations, poor, "Work in the spitit of Inter-of of service is national Arbitration worship." and an Interna-11. 11. Abolition of extremes tional Parliament. of poverty and 7. The adoption of an wealth: Care for the needy. International Lan-12. 12. Recognition of the guage which shall be Unity of God and taught in all the obedience to His Revealed schools of the world. Commands, 8. Compulsory education as revealed through His Ñ especially for Divine Mani-girls, irls, who will be the festations. mothers and the [p647] VERNUNFT UND GLAUBE VON DR. ADELBERT MPHLSCHLEGEL 'VERNUNFT und Glaube werden hiiufig Ms Gegensatz emfunden, ja sogar ab etwas Unvereinbares, sich Feindliches. Die Men-schen denken, reden und handelin im t~ig-lichen Leben meistens nach dem Verstand, mit Trieben, Affekten und etwas Moral vet-mischt, was zusammen je nach Temperament und Entwicklungsstufe melir oder weniger ccVernunft~~ zum Ausdruck bringt. Ancirer-seits haben sie danebenher ihren CCG1auben,~~ di. die Glaubenslelire ilirer Kirche, die aber ihrem Alltagsdenken und Ñ handeln vielfach widerspricht. So z.B. das Wort Christi: ~'Liebe deinen N~chsten wie dich selbst." Wie wenig wird danach gehandelt! So bleibt vorn Cia uben nur noch em Ftrrwahrhalten der fiberkommenen Lelire, cm Nichtwider-sprechen tibrig. Nun gibt es manche Menschen, darunter niclit die schlechtesten Denker, die sich in ihren Grunds~itzen und in ihrern Weitbild nur auf das logisch Beweisbare stiitzen wollen. Alles andere dartiber hinaus, sagen sie, mag Privatsache bleben. So rerbiast hier der Glaube zur Hypothese oder gar zu ciner "Sadie fur alte Weiber," die mitleidig be-hichelt wird. Auf der Gegenseite aber unter den From-men und G1~ubigen gehen ebenf ails viele irre, nur in ganz andrer Art: Die religibsen Lehren der betreffenden Konfession oder Sekte werden huiufig ungepriift hingenom-men und oft wird vor harten Fragen des Naclidenkens in eine seichte Erbauungsstim-mung ausgewichen, sofern diese nicht gar in verbolirten Fanatismus umschhigt. Diese Zust~inde der Menschheit sind niclit nur unvolikommen, sic sind geradezu gefThr-lich. Man darf dies nick unterscMtzen. Aus der Gesehiclite wird uns dies erschreck-end kiar. In Europa z.B. hatten im Laufe der Jahrhunderte Ketzerverfolgungen und Religionskriege etwa ebensoviel Opfer gef or-dert, wie die Katastrophe des Weltkrieges. Dieses Elend w~ire vermieden worden, wenn in jenem Zeiten tinter der Menschheit die Erkenntnis der Glaubenskraft so selir das Gleichgewicht gehalten Elite, dab Fanatis-mus, Willkiir und Verhetzung durch welt-liche und kirchuiche Nachthaber keinen NThrbodcn bitten finden k6nnen. Einst-weilen, vom 16. Jahrhundert ab, hatte sich wissenschafdiches Forschen und Denken von der Kirche freigemacht. Wohi ist dies zur Ursache des seitherigen Aufschwungs der Naturwissenschaften geworden; andrerseits aber sind in der rnenschlichen Seele die beiden Prinzipien Glaube und Vernunft immer mehr auseinandergewaclisen. Die moderne Zivili-scion entbehrte so des Schwergewichtes awE religi5ser Grundlage und die urspriinglichen Segnungen dieser Zivilisation sind allzu-Mufig von den Menschen in Obel verkelirt worden. Aufkhirung wurde Haibbildung, Entdeckerfreude diente dem Eonkurrieren-den Imperialismus einiger Grobmichte, tech-nischer, Eortschritt entartate zur Massen-fabrikation grausamer Mordinstrumente und zur Unterdrtickung der Arbeiterkiasse. So ist das Blat, das in der Zeit der franzbsischen Revolution, Napoleons und zuletzt des Welt-kriegs und der russischen Revolution geflos-sen ist, letzten Endes vorwiegend durch dieses andere Extrem des Gegensatzes von Vernunft iand Glaube verschuldet worden. Wie einst in den Jalirhunderten vorher das Gnadenge-schenk der Religion durch Blutvergieben befleckt worden war, so ist sp~iterhin bis heute die Gottesgabe der W"issenschaft in der ge Ñ schilderten Art mibbraucht worden und hat Diinkel, Elend und Hab verursacht. Die Erl6sung der Menschheit aus diesem unwtirdigen Zustand ist niclit m6glich, die in der Menschenseele Vernunft und Glaube in einer grundsiitzlich anderen, hbheren Weise in Zusammenklang gebraclit werden. Wir mflssen kiar erkennen, dab Vernunft und Glaube polare Teile cines Ganzen sind. Der Mensch braucht beide gleichsam wie die beiden F1i~ge1 seiner Seele. tAbdu'1 BaM sagt: "Er kann niclit mit einem FlUgel allein fliegen. Wenn er versuclit, allein mit dem 647 [p648] 648 THE BAHA'I WORLD FWgel tier Religion zu fliegen, so wird er landen im Schlamm des Aberglaubens. Und wenn er sich unterfiingt, nur mit dem Fitigel der Wissenschaft zu fliegen, so wird er in dem traurigen Sumpf des Materialismus enden." Soiche Worte nimmt der schuicbte g1~ubige Mensch dankbar im Herzen auf. Fur den kritischen Denker abet ist em Glaubensinhalt nur dann annehncibar, wenn er der Vernunft niclit widerspricht. Wit wollen daher ver-suchen, diesen Gegenstand vom naturwissen-schaftlichen Gesichtspunkt aus zu betrachten und zugleich auch im Liclite der Baha'i' Lehre: In der ganzen Natur kdnnen wir em ewiges Zusammenspiel der grundlegenden Prinzipien Kraft, Stoff und Form erblicken. Stoff ist das Medium fur das Wechselspiel von Kraft und Form. Die Wirkung der Kraft im Stoff wird an der Form erkennbar. Umgekehrt kann die Figenart der Form Kr~ifte fessein oder ibsen. cAbd~1 BaJA erkhrt in den '~Btwrtte Fragen," dab sich das Geistige in fiinf Stufen jiubert: als Pflanzengeist, Tiergeist, Men-schengeist oder Geist der verni~nftigen Seele, gdttlicher Geist oder Geist des Glaubens, und Heiliger Geist. Wir wollen nun im Folgen-den unsren Buck auf das Wechselspiel von Kraft und Form in diesen verschiedenen Ebenen werfen: Schon im Mineraireich, z.B. in der Kristall-bildung, ist dies deutlich zu erkennen. An-schaulicher wird es jedoch im Pilauzenreich. Wit sehen bier eine gebeirnnissvolle Kraft, weiche die Pflanze zu Waclistum, Bliite und Frucht treibt; wir k6nnen sic nicht genau messen, noch sie erschbpfend erkVdren; sie ist etwas Irrationales. Andrerseits entsteht durch diese Wachstumkraft eine jeder Pflan-zenart eigentiimliche Form, exakt mebbar und definierbar; sie ist erwas Rationales. Zwischen diesen Beiden, der Kraft und der Form, Liegt das, was wir die Form der Kraft und die Kraft der Form nennen kannen. Das Erstere zeigt sich z.B. als gewisse Wach-stumsgesetze wie Heliotropismus u.a. Ge-radezu riihrend ist es, wie eine Pflanze aus dem finstersten Dunkel der Sonne entgegen-strebt, oder wie em Rankengewachs sich bber weite Spannen hinweg nach cinem Halt tastet. Welcher tcG1aube~~ liegt in diesem Wachstumsinstinktl Das Letztere, das wir oben die Kraft der Form genannt haben, offenbart sich in der sinnyollen Anordnung der ZeIlen, weiche durch Kan~i1e, Stiitzgewebe usw. den aufbauenden S~ften die Wege ebnete. "Mieviel ttGerechtigkeit~~ liegt in dieser IPlanmiibigkeit! Im Tierreich kommt diese Polariflit von Kraft und Form awE haherer Ebene zum Aus-druck. Das Tier vereinight in sich die Eigen-heiten des vegetativen Lebens (Wachstum, S~ftekreisiauf, Atmung usw.) mit den Eigenheiten des Animalischen (Muskulatur, Nervensystem und Sinnesorgane usw.), denen em primitiver Ansatz von Seele mit Trieben und Instinkten entspricht. AwE dieser Stufe stellen die Triebe den Krafrpol dar, das Irrationale; sie kannen beim Haustier als Zirtliclikeits-und Anhiinglicbkeirstrieb bis zu tierischer Liebe und Treue sich vere-deln. Die Sinneseindriicke dagegen knannen wir als den Formpol der Tierseele bezeichnen. Und die Instinkte, die das Tier zum ricliti-gen, di. instinktgerechten Verlialten, a~-leiten, sind das Verbindende zwischen Trieb unci Sinneswahrnehmungen. Je intensiver die Tierseele zwischen diesen Polen lebt und Erfahrungen sammelt, umsomehr entwickelt me sich. Der Mensch hat in seinem seelisch-kbrper- lichen Organisrnus die bisher besprochenen pflanzlichen und tierischen Qualitiiten in menschlicher Eigenart vereint. Zudem un-terscheidet er sich vom Tier durch Denk-Cdhigkeit und Jchbewustsein. Daher konnte Descartes den beides voraussetzenden Satz cccogito ergo sum" (~tIch denke, foiglich bin ich") zum Ausgangspunkt seiner Phuloso-phie nelirnen. Der Intellekt bedeutet her den Formpol, wThrend der Wille, aus dem tie Ñ rischen Triebe veredelt, den Kraftpol dam-steilt. Tritt dieser Wille zu cinern Gegen-stand oder einer Person melir oder weniger unabbingig von Verstandesiriberlegung auf, so nennen wir dies Liebe. 1st der 'Wile durch eine intellektuelle Anschauung festgelegt, so ist Cs em Glauben oder Streben nach einem verstandesm~sigen Ziel. Betracliten wir z.B. einen rein verstandesm~sigen Vorgang wie das Schaclispiel, so sehen wir, das der Erfoig des Spielers etwa von viererlei ab-hangt: erstens, von der Liebe zum Spiel, d.h. von dern Willen, cine Partie zu beginnen; zweitens von Glauben, die Partie zu gewin [p649] 649 VERNUNFT UND GLAUBE nen, wenn er sich auf die bewahrten Spiel-regein verliist; drittens, vom genauen Beach-ten dieser Spielregeln; viertens, vom Verstand, der kiar beobacliten und denken kann. Wir haben also audi scion auf der Ebene des Verstandlichen die geistigen Eigenschaften Liebe, Glaube, Gerechtigkeit, Erkenntnis in primitiver Art vor uns. Jedoch ist diese Art auch einem Basewiclit zug~ing1ich. Der Mensch aber ist zu Hbherem berufen. Er soil die Stufe des g5ttlichen Geistes er-reichen. Dann ist der Kraftpol Wille zur gdttlichen Liebe geworden, zu einer Liebe im hbchsten Sinne des Wortes als Allumf as-sendes Sch6pferisches, geistiges Verbunden-sein mit aller Kreatur. Dann ist der nur verstandesbedingte Glauben (wic z.B.an die Schachspielregeln) zu jenem machtvollen Glauben gereift, der tcBerge versetzen kann," ciner Liebe zu Gott, semen Propheten und deren Lebre urn! Gebote, die ganz sich hingibt und daf fir eintritt audi da, wo der Verstand es nicht begreift, etwa vergleichbar dem grenzenlosen Vertrauen der reinen Kindes-seele zu den Eltern. Dann ist das Befolgen von Verstandestiberlegungen zur reiigi6sen Gerechtigkeit verwandelt, weiche aus frejem Willen durch Befolgen der Leliren und Ge-bote zur Selbststmdigkeit fiihrt. 'in Sinne des Wortes Baha'u'llah's: "0 Sohn des Geistes! Die Gerechtigkeit ist in Meinen Augen vor allem andern das K6stlichste. Wenn du nach Mir verlangst, dann wende dich nicht vor ilir ab und vernachliissige sic nick, damit Ich dir Mein Vertrauen schenke. Mit Hilfe der Gerechtigkeit wirst du mit deinen eigenen Augen und nicht mit den Augen andrer sehen, du wirst alles mit deinem eigenen Versfiindnis erkennen und nick mit dem deines Nebenmenschen. Er. w~ige in deinem Herzen Wit du sein solitest. Wahrlich, die Gerechtigkeit ist Meine Gabe ilk dich; sie ist das Zeichen Meiner liebe-vollen Giite zu dir; deshaib hake sie dir stets vor Augen." Dann ist schijeslich auch das logische Gehirndenken zur erleuchteten, in-tuiriven Erkenntnis verkhirt. 'Wie auf jeder der bisher beschriebenen Stufen so Kingt audi auf dieser Stufe die Entwicklung der menschuichen Seek stark davon ab, das Kraft und Form sich in reinster und engster Art austauschen, das jede Erkenntnis zu noch mehr Liebe und Glaube fiihrt mid das Lick und Glaube zu Gerechtigkeit und Erkenntnis befithigen. Uebedicken wir noch cinmal die Ent Ñ sprechungen der verschiedenen Ebenen, so ergibt sich folgendes Schema: gattlicher Liebe Glaube GerechtigkeirErkenntnis Geist: menschl. Wille Verstandesrn& Ñ verstandgerechtesVerstand Geist: siger Handein Glaube Tiergeist: Trieb Jnstinkt instinktgerechresSinne Handein Pflanzengeist:WachsturnskraftWachstumskraftleitendeForm Jnstinkt Form Wir sehen also, das Glaube und Vernunft keine uniiberbriickbaren Gegens~tze sind. Vielmelir bedingen sie beide die Entwicklung der Menschenseele und sind zugleich deren Ausdruck. Wie der Mensch Ebendild Gottes und der Welt ist, so baben auch diese beiden Eigenschaf ten in alien Reichen der Natur ibr Spiegelbild. Em Philosoph, der fur seine lJeberzeugung eintritt und seine Lebren lebt, wird durch Erfabrungen und Leid so gebiutert, dab er dadureb erst recit wieder zu h6heren Er-kenntnissen komrnt, wiihrend er sonst der Gefalir verfijilt, in unrealen gedanklichen Spekulationen sich zu verirren. Umgekehrt wird em g1~ubiger Mensch, warn a die Lehren seines I3ekenntnisses lebt, durch diese tcGerecbtigkeit~~ zu selbsfiindiger IErkenntnis gelangen und so imsvande sein, diese Lehren auf breiterer Erfahrungsgrundlage mit der Vernunft in Einklang zu bringen; sonst bliebe scm Glaube leicht in sentimentaler Fr5mmelei oder in starrem Fanatismus stecken. Im neuen Zeitalter Baha'u'llah's werden neuc Menschen entstehen. Ihnen wird dies nicht mehr Problem und Sehnsuchr sein, sondern se1bst-verst~nd1iche, gelebte Wirk-. liclikeit. [p650] [p651] [p652] Baha'is of Sisin, Persia. [p653] INFLUENCE OF ASTRONOMY ON RELIGIOUS THOUGHT B~ GIORGIO ABETTI (Translated from the Italian by H. F. H.) HAT the borderlines arc between science and faith, and how to trace them, is a problem that has been ably expounded in numerous writings, among the most classic of which is a letter written by Galileo to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Maria Cristina di Lorena, at the time of some of the most important and revolutionary events in the history of human thought. Today we find, from a religious point of view in the Baha'i Teachings that the relationship existing between ~~science" and c!religion~~ is considered to be a fundamental one. Specialized Science is a dominion of the few elect, who make of some branch of science their lifework, adding one by one the stones that go to construct our great temple of knowledge: an edifice that would be in itself mute and useless, had it not direct and immediate contact with humanity. And oniy because of this close relationship, the development of knowledge along lines of the various sciences has its "raison d'&tre"; for the material advantage gained for man's daily life is of secondary importance to the great benefit derived from a wider and better acquaintance with the world in which he lives. 'While general literature, history, ethical science, philosophy, music and art serve to elevate the soul of man and carry him to sublime heights in the realm of thought, they tell him nothing concerning his relative position in this world which God has destined for him; neither do they tell him how it was created nor where it is placed, nor what its destiny. For this knowledge the physical, mathematical and natural sciences are necessary; and the continual unravelling of the mysteries of the heavens is always a cause for wonder and admiration. Especially in the field of astronomy the progress made these last fifty years has been indeed phenomenal, and such as can be compared to that made during the lives of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. What changes do such discoveries bring to the great human family? Will they contribute in some specific way to its betterment? It is difficult to affirm absolutely, especially in the light of recent world happenings that have brought such devastation and ruin to man both physically and morally. But I believe we can draw certain conclusions from the recent discoveries made and theories developed by astronomers, which prove that incalculable benefits to humanity have resulted from them, and I would also say that these benefits might be considered equal to those which faith and religion might give. One even finds that they are brought into such ciose relationship, one with the other, as to form a bond between men that surpasses the limits of different regions, bringing people of all races and tongues into a universal fraternity of one language Ñ an international tongue. As all good Christians acknowledge that in the coming of Christ, and in the teachings given by Him, the salvation and redemption of humanity was effected, so also those who have the gift of reason, and think not oniy of the pleasures of this mundane life, must acknowledge that from the time that we have come to know something of the form and size and position of the earth in the great infinite construction of the universe, the mind is better prepared now, and more nearly ready to understand and to venerate the greatness of God. At one time it was believed that the earth, of which neither the form nor the move651 651 [p654] 654 THE BAHAYL WORLD fore, when considering the Glory of God and of these divine mysteries of His Son, must diffuse creation, abandon the in all the world. This idea he gets of his own is not a Babel of tongues brief lifespan conceived and therefore incomprehensible to in space and time so as this or that people; to lift himself into it is a universal language the higher ideals of life that well-presented and that are completely outsideexplained should be understood, mere terrestrial existence.and should prove of such This, then, is the universalcommon good as to bring language that the DisciplesUniversal Peace to the of God, teaching and entire human family. venerating [p655] HAIFA CALLING B~ FLORENCE E. PINCHON "Some day rAkkd and Haifa will be connected as one large city, with a long breakwater sheltering harbor and docks, and a driveway, through orange groves, skirting the sea. The ships of all nations will be seen here, commerce will thrive, and the Bay of rAkkd will be the center of the pilgrimage of the world Ñ the sovereignty of world reverence." CABDU~LBAHi IT was a thrilling moment when, on the morning of the 31st of October, 1933, we paused in the business of the day, to listen to the voice of Haifa, Palestine, calling the British Isles. The broadcast was taking place on the occasion of the opening, by the High Commissioner of Palestine, of the new harbor, whose construction now makes the port of Haifa one of the finest and most sheltered havens in the Mediterranean. Flowever, to Baha'is generally, the ceremony meant something far more than the mere inauguration of a harbor. For not oniy does it mark the opening of a new door between the Eastern and Western worlds Ñ in itself an event of outstanding consequence both to world communications and world relations Ñ but to those who could trace, however dimly, the working-out of a divine plan and purpose, the happening seemed fraught with a profound spiritual significance. The masterly description given in the broadcast of the beautiful and historic scene in which the ceremony took place, with all its ancient and sacred associations, and now its new world importance, filled one with a deep content. For were we not actual witnesses of the beginning of the fulfillment of those glowing predictions, uttered long ago by tAbdu'1-BahA, concerning the brilliant destiny that awaited this, the home of His lifelong exile and labors? Authoritative writers suggest that the immediate future is likely to witness a reawakening of the whole of the region formerly known to us as Asia Minor. In Palestine this renaissance is already well begun, with its radiating point at the port of Haifa. Symbolic of this progressive spirit, the new harbor here will constitute a landmark in the annals of world intercourse, and play a leading part in the developments that are taking place in the Near and Middle East. The ancient town of Haifa lies on the southern horn of a magnificent bay, three miles deep and nine miles wide, just where the green promontory of Mt. Carmel breaks the two hundred miles of inhospitable coastline and yellow sand-dunes stretching northwards from Port Said. At the other extremity of the bay, the grey fortress of tAkk' di Acre of the Crusades, and Christianity's last stronghold in Palestine Ñ stands out into the blue Syrian Sea. The great sen-il-circular harbor so formed is now spanned by a breakwater about one and a half miles long, which runs out from Rasel-Kcriin at the northern extremity of the base of Mt. Carmel, eastwards ;~ a line parallel to the town front. The leeside of the harbor is formed by another breakwater, about half a mile long, running out at right angles to the main one. The sheltered haven so constituted encloses an area about the size of Genoa harbor, and can afford accommodation to every class of vessel navigating the Levant. Yet contrary to what has happened in the case of most other seaports, the harbor does not overshadow the town, but has been designed to suit the landscape and fit with due proportion into the whole noble picture. All who have visited this spot seem to agree that, as Sir Cunliffe Lister observed in his reply from London to the High Commissioner, it is a monument to British engineering genius, and an achievement of which they may be justly proud. And, in this connection, it may not be without interest 655 [p656] 656 THE BANAl WORLD to note, that if two imaginary lines were drawn across the globe, passing through the widespread British dominions and colonies, they would quite naturally meet and intersect at this point of the Holy Land. While Haifa, in the near future, is likely to become an important naval, land and air base of the Empire. Yet, in spite of its unique position and rich associations, until within quite recent years this particular part of the Near East has lain all neglected and forgotten by men. In the days of the Canaanites, Haifa was known as Shikrnona, and later, to the Jews, as Hepha or haven. Among the Medes and Phoenicians it was famed as an important station on the highroads of the nations. For Nature appears to have endowed it with advantages granted to no other seaport on the Eastern Mediterranean. About half a century ago, a group of prominent Englishmen, recognizing the immense possibilities of this locality, agitated for the cession of Haifa to Great Britain. And later, the author of "New Old Land" and founder of the modern Zionist Movement, sailed along its shores and envisioned for it a brilliant future. But it was in 1868, at the time when the whole country lay under the indolent Turkish rule, that the first flush of another dawn broke above these ancient hills of God, and a breeze of a new morning ruffled its sleeping waves. For when tAkk& was but a grim penal settlement Ñ a home of the owi and the bat Ñ and Haifa a small obscure town, a Messenger of God was sent here by the Persian and Turkish governments, as a lifelong prisoner and exile. And so, here, beneath the shadow of Mt. Carmel, in the land of Jesus Christ and of the Prophets, Baha'u'llah lived and suffered, and finally triumphed, delivering to men His message of world unity and peace, and pointing our the spiritual and practical means by which such a consummation might be achieved. Visiting pilgrims tell us that, from this time onward the whole district began to change; that even the atmosphere seemed charged with a purer and more vibrant qual-fry. So intimately related are the things of earth and heaven, things temporal and things eternal. Amid these fateful days of darkness and chaos, we find ourselves turning, with ever increasing longing, towards the heavenly Light that once shone from that ioneiy fortress, bearing again across the world's troubled waters the reassuring voice of the Counsellor of Nations: "Be not afraid." Ñ ttThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the Most Great Peace shall came!" Today we are witnessing in the steadily growing importance of Haifa and its magnificent harbor, the materialization of Abdu'l-Baha's predictions, and the justification of all those who have dared to dream greatly concerning her. Planted at the feet of green and majestic Carmel she is beginning to blossom like the proverbial rose. One of the principal causes contributing to this prosperity is, of course, the fact that at Haifa the gigantic pipeline of some 600 miles, through which will pour the petroleum from the oil fields of Mosul, will find its outlet to the refineries and to the. sea. This vast enterprise and the implications that oil Ñ the igniter of the nations Ñ brings in its wake would alone entitle Haifa to be called Ñ "City of Light and of the Future." It is also anticipated that for economic, political and strategic reasons, em long a railway will follow the route of the oil-pipes, crossing the wide stretches of desert that lie between Haifa and Baghdad, and tapping the trade of Upper Mesopotamia, the Euphrates valley and Eastern Turkey, and so forming a truly golden link between the Eastern and Western Worlds. A link that, as some of us realize, was forged spiritually long ago, when Baha'u'llah journeyed across these same deserts in hardship and suffering in order that a path might be blazoned for the kinship of East and West, and differences of race be annulled. So comes today the wheel of destiny full circle, and Haifa is again about to fulfil her ancient purpose as a highway for the nations, as well as a great distributing center for the world's merchandise. Soon, as a certain writer has predicted, Ñ "We shall hear of wool from Mosul, barley and grains from flak and Palestine, dates from Amara, potash and phosphates from the Dead Sea, rice, skins and hides from Persia, oranges from Jail? a precious articles from Central Asia and [p657] HAIFA CALLING 657 India, all passing through Haifa to the markets of the 'West." In short, as Abdu'l-Baha foretold, it will become one of the first emporiums of the world. And the story does not end here. It is, indeed, oniy the beginning. Few of us can imagine the high destiny that awaits this ttdit white spot" from which has flashed forth, in this new cycie of human power, the guiding Light of the Spirit. "The flowers of civilization and culture from all nations will be brought here to blend their fragrances together and blaze the way for the brotherhood of man." tAbdu'1-BaM prophesied in 1914: "The entire harbor from Akka to Haifa will be ~ path of illumination. Carmel itself will be submerged in a sea of light. A person standing on the summit of the mountain, and passengers on the incoming steamers will look upon the most sublime and maiestic spectacle of the whole world." The searchlight, that shines across the harbor from Abdu'l-Baha's shrine on the mountainside, is itself a witness that the word of God is being accomplished. As the Psalmist sang: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mt. Zion" Ñ because it has been and is destined increasingly to become Ñ ttthe City of the great King." Among the statements made by Abdu'l-Baha may be quoted: "In the future the distance between Akka and Haifa will be built up, and the two cities will join and clasp hands, becoming the two terminal sections of one mighty metropolis. As I look now over this scene, I see so clearly that it will become one of the first emporiums of the world. This great semicircular bay will be transformed into the fine harbor, wherein the ships of all nations will sqek shelter and refuge. The great vessels of all peoples will come to this port, bringing on their decks thousands and thousands of men and women from every part of the globe. The mountain and the plain will be dotted with the most modern buildings and palaces. Industries will be established and various institutions of philanthropic nature will be founded. Wonderful gardens, orchards, groves and parks will be laid out on all sides. At night the great city will be lighted by electricity. The entire harbor from tAkk6 to Haifa will be one path of illumination. Powerful searchlights will be placed on both sides of Mount Carmel to guide the steamers. Mount Carmel itself, from top to bottom, will be submerged in a sea of light. A person standing on the summit of Mount Carmel, and the passengers of the steamers coming to it, will look upon the most sublime and majestic spectacle of the whole world!"1 "The day will come when this mountain will be resplendent with light Ñ lights from top to bottom. On one side of it there will be a hotel, a universal hotel. Its doors will be open to all the people of the world. Whoever comes will be a guest. On the other side of the mountain there will be a university in which all the higher sciences will be taught. On another part of it there will be a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (Baha'i Temple). On another part of it there will be a home for the incurables. In still another part there will be a home for the poor. In still another part there will a home for orphans. All these will be administered with love. ~ foresee that this harbor f Haifa] will be full of vessels. And from here to the blessed Shrine IBahiell there will be wide avenues, on both sides of which there will be trees and gardens. On the surrounding land at Baha similar institutions to those on Mount Carmel will be established. And from all these places the songs of praise and exaltation will be raised to the Supreme Concourse."2 1 Haifa, February 14, 1914. 2 Mount Carmel, January 4, 1920. [p658] Haifa, April 24, 1839. H a if a at the time of Abdu'l-Baha's passing. 658 [p659] Haifa, 1934, from Mt. Carmel, showing Shrine of the B~b and Gardens (left foreground) and Tomb of the Most Exalted Leaf (right foreground). [p660] TAKING THE MESSAGE TO THE MAO RI PEOPLE I LOST for centuries in the forgotten back~ wash of nations, the Maoris of New Zealand furnish a remarkable ethnological study. As you can well imagine I have no authority near me here in Persia, but if I remember correctly Griffith Taylor, Professor Dixon and others assert a close kinship between the Ainus of Japan and the Maoris, assigning to these primitive folk a Caucasian origin. This is a direct challenge to the Polynesian descent ordinarily ascribed to them. I remember Professor Thomas' having dealt with this subject but as it is now near twenty-five years since we sat under his inspiring tutelage I can't in the least recall his conclusions. However, Griffith Taylor, with characteristic vigor and clarity, presents an exciting graph in which he shows that the oldest races have strayed furthest from the point of origin. The most primitive vehicles are those furthest from the great cities; those oniy recently discarded within a closet radius, while the newest modes of locomotion are in the city and its environs. In excavating, the oldest things would be found in the lowest strata, the later things nearer the surface. Basing his conclusion on this argument he says that the Ainus and Maoris have been flung to the p~riphery of the globe by gradual displacement from the seat of their Caucasian origin through the development of newer races. But my interest in the Maoris was neither formal nor ethnological. Here is a group, fast vanishing, that gives us a picture of life in a spacious, poetic aspect. Clever and alert the Maori, to his great detriment, has quickly assumed the habits of our western civilization. Our customs and practices are totally unsuited to the requirements of races who, through cycles of unmolested effort, have developed their own proper and protective mores. As a result of abandoning by force of circumstances, his own mode of life, the Maori population of New Zealand has been decimated. These statistics are quite informal but some one told me that whereas they numbered over a million at the time of the British occupation there now remain some sixty-five thousand. They must have been a nation of poets and artists for everything they touched, before they were corrupted by civilization, seems to bear the impress of beauty except Niki the mascot, and the totem figures. In the War Memorial Museum (which graces and dominates the city of Auckland overlooking from an eminence its beautiful harbor), are preserved the finest examples of early Maori artistry. A magnificent war canoe fashioned to carry near a hundred warriors was hollowed from a giant tree and spliced with infinite ingenuity to form its double prow. The indelible decoration of conventional design in black and white on the red background of the exterior showed a mastery of balance, scale and symmetry. It was far more akin to the Arabic than to the Greek, the two masters of pure design, and unlike any Polynesian art with which I am familiar. Their ubiquitous woodcarvings are of a genre entirely different from their painting. Although they lack delicacy, and the figures are crude, literal and often ugly, there is an opulent vigor of detail about them that bespeaks a robust and dramatic taste. The houses, with their low-hanging eaves, had originally no windows and oniy one entrance door. At Rotorua, the famous thermal region of New Zealand, there is a model "Pa" or village. It interested me far more than the natural wonders, which in spite of great exploitation on the part of New Zealanders seem decidedly feeble in comparison to Yellowstone Park, for example. But in the "Pa" I saw a faithful reproduction of the original environment of the Maori. Around the village is a double stockade designed with deep strategy, to discomfit an attacking enemy; for inside the first stock660 660 [p661] Early and late views of the Shrine of the Bib on Mt. Carmel. 661 [p662] 662 THE BAHA'I WORLD ade is a trench in which the spearmen concealed themselves, wounding the legs of the attackers and thus incapacitating them. The Priest and One Chief dominated the village life and occupied the best houses. A cache, on stilts very like that used by our northern tribes of Indians, preserved the village food from marauding animals. Specially selected maidens prepared that of the priest and fed him by hand. The Town Hall, as it were, the central meeting place, was a thing of joyous beauty in miniature: the broad rooftree and beams were decorated with Arabesques in black, red and white, since the house is thatched with stout straw the low eaves were supported by red pilasters ornately carved with the legends and traditions of the race. Much mother of pearl was used on the figures and the whole effect was that of the exotic, the remote and the wondrous. There was not one false note, not one detail that marred the sense of perfect harmony. Many heroic and interesting tales are told of the Maoris by the British in their experience of subjugating them. They had a sense of justice and fairplay well illustrated by the fact that when their ammunition was exhausted the Chief sent word to the English Commander that hostilities must cease until they could suppiy themselves. They were astonished when their opponents refused, since they themselves never took advantage of a helpless enemy. The native poi or dance is remarkably graceful. There is scarcely any movement of the body except a plastic pose, but the intricate coordination of the hands and arms in the manipulation of the poi-ball calls for magnificent skill. The Maoris are tall and muscularly built (another evidence in favor of their western origin), and execute the war dance, intended to excite the valor of the fighters, with inexhaustible vitality and ease. Through the kindness of the Maori Society in Auckland I was given a letter of introduction to Chief Mita Taupopoki when I set out for Rotorua. By good fortune, on the evening of my arrival, I met Guide Rangi, a clever, gifted and beautiful Maori woman, with the accomplishments of both races. I spoke to her of my letter to the Chief and of my mission and told her that I would visit Wacka, the Maori village, upon my return from Wairacki. Chief Taupopoki, as you can see from his photograph, is a handsome and impressive old gentleman. He received me with dignity and kindness, explaining that a previous meeting had long been arranged for that evening, but that if I would come he would gather together as many as possible to bear my message. On my return after dinner, I was greeted by a delegation, conducted to the central meeting place, while the Chief sent a boy around with a huge bell to announce my arrival and summon the Arawa tribe. In ten minutes the hail was quite filled and the Chief arose to welcome and to introduce me. After a few complimentary phrases he said, ttTO what great matter are we about to listen? A subject of such urgent importance that this stranger traveling over many seas and abandoning her native land has come to share with the Maoris, obscure and forgotten, her valuable news. We await impatiently the unfolding of her purpose." Although I speak no Maori I could recognize it as an endearing and gracious language. Its expressions are poesy and its cadences a song. The Maoris are natural orators, the women as well as the men, and express themselves on public occasions with singular rhythm and felicity. In giving the message I stressed the fact that the solidarity of mankind to which Baha'u'llah summons us does not mean the reduction of all human beings to a dead level of similarity; but rather the interdependent functioning of the various races and kindreds, each making its unique and indispensable contribution to the perfect expression of the body politic. In the Baha'i social scheme the purpose is not to make Maoris something quite different from themselves, but to stimulate them and all other peoples to attain their own highest development as a contribution to human advancement and welfare. Then I spoke of how Baha'u'llah had already accomplished the purport of His message in uniting all the religions, races, nations and classes of the world, how ancient animosities and hereditary hatreds had been [p663] TAKING THE MESSAGE TO THE MAGRI PEOPLE 663 conquered and forgotten under the Banner of Divine Unity. When I had finished there were a series of intelligent and important questions asked me. The Maoris are a very keen and apt ttlt is now evident," he said, "why this great news must be spread far and wide. The cessation of hatred, the establishment of good will in the world Ñ surely there is nothing greater than this. The Maoris heartily wel Chief Mita Taupopoki who summoned the Arawa tribe of Maoris to hear the Baha'i Message. race and the educated amongst them attain the highest culture. In this connection I think of Mrs. Rewa Bennett, the first Maori woman to hold the office of magistrate; Mrs. Coiwill and Mr. Paul, official Maori interpreter to the government. When the questions had been answered the Chief asked a native Christian minister to thank mc and then closed the meeting. come the assurance that this One of Whom our messenger has spoken is already accomplishing this end." On my return to Auckland I was honored by an invitation to a Maori banquet at Oraki. It was very impressive. Following the cus-torn, the men came out to greet us but the women performed the welcoming poi. I was to witness the ancient method of cooking [p664] 664 THE BAHA'I WORLD called Ic hangi. A trench is dug and into it are flung stones which have lain in a great fire; onto the stones is thrown the meat and around it are piled potatoes and other vegetables; a large basket of clams is placed at one side and, at the other, fish wrapped in flax leaves. When all is ready, equally hot stones are placed on top of the food and a bucket of water dashed over the whole which is now covered with rough cloths, on which earth is immediately packed, closing in the hot steam. In the mean time the women have been deftly weaving lovely baskets from flax leaves which will serve as dishes for the hot food. Since the hangi cannot be disturbed for an hour we go into the hail to carry on the program. Mrs. Witaka, the spokesman of the village, arises to greet me. CCThe Maoris rejoice that one from afar has come to share with them her knowledge of the great world. But you have come to a deserted home, where only a tale and a recollection can speak to you: the Maoris have departed! You must seek for them beyond." Her words were intensely solemn and impressive, and though I could not understand her, I saw that those who could were deeply moved. "The affairs of those far removed are echoed here amongst us, nor are we so remote that we can escape the cares that burden mankind. We would know if you bring comfort and peace to those who need this message. That you have honored us with your coming and displayed a generous kindness to us has warmed and rejoiced our hearts. Speak then that we may know the purpose that speeds you round the world. My greetings are finished." When her speech had been translated I gave the Baha message, Mr. Graham, a naturalized Maori, translating. Once more I spoke of how Baha'u'llah had united His followers and redeemed us from our prejudice and hardness of heart. Since the Maoris are nearly all Christian converts, I stressed the fact that the foundation of His message is identical with that of Jesus. "To whatever degree the Maori tribes fought and contended, at least you were united in your religious belief: you all worshipped alike Rangi, the Mother of Heaven; but now your religion has divided you. You have taken over the quarrels and contentions of Christendom and in your sectarian loyalties are learning to hate and oppose each other. And this, too, in the name of Him Who said: CBy this shall men know that you are My disciples Ñ that you love one another,' a Maori can't say cmy basket,' cmy food,' ~my coat': you must say tour basket,' tour food': but you are forced to say 'my religion' for you do not hold it in common Ñ religion the one thing that was revealed to bring unity, joy and concord into our lives. Baha'u'llah has wiped away these differences and united us as children of the One Heavenly Father." After a poetic speech of thanks on the part of Mrs. Witaka we went to open the hangi. The odor was delicious, and piling the food into the flax baskets and trays, we sat down to a delectable feast. After an appropriate ceremony I took my leave, performing te hangi the pressing Ñ not the rubbing Ñ of noses with my gracious hostesses. It is many a winter, my dear, since we tramped across the campus in the slush, to our class in ~~Social Origins"; but you were a haunting presence at these interesting and significant meetings. Here is a gifted, an ingenious and a socially-minded people dropping into desuetude. Nature has but one motto: "Adapt or perish." They were perfectly adapted to their natural surroundings. Will they be able to readapt to the requirements of an artificial life soon enough to preserve for us the evidence of their ancient and generous culture? KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER. II. Excerpts from Report on Baha'i Activities in Australia and New Zealand HE wish was expressed by Maori. Careful enquiries Shoghi U-fendi that Dr. showed that there were Esselmont's book, ccBah4~u~11&h andcertain difficulties the New Era" should be to be overcome that might translated into prove serious. In the first place many [p665] TAKING THE MESSAGE TO THE MAORI PEOPLE 665 expressed the opinion which was shared by several Maoris that it was an unnecessary task because most natives can read English and many speak it better than their own Maori tongue. A more serious objection was that it might not even be possible to convey the true meaning of the abstract thoughts expressed in the Baha'i writings through the medium of a language of a people who had no occasion to express these thoughts when they evolved their tongue. Thirdly, assuming that a satisfactory translation could be made, the field of search in which to find a suitable translator was strictly limited. It was essential that the translator should understand the spirit as well as the letter of the Baha'i teachings, in addition to being a good Maori-English scholar with a practical knowledge of the workings of the Maori mind. In view of the above, the Assembly decided to write a suitable pamphlet and have it translated. The search for someone to undertake the second part of the work proved unexpectedly easy. Mr. G. G. Paul, a Maori who had been attending the meetings regularly, kindly offered to make the attempt and a committee was appointed to help him. The Maori Akarana Club also volunteered to assist and a meeting was arranged in the club rooms to review Mr. Paul's work. Members of the Spiritual Assembly were invited to be present and the occasion will surely be remembered by all concerned as one of dramatic and absorbing interest. Who can say that in years to come February 15th, 1933, will not be looked upon as a red letter day for the Maori people symbolizing the departure of the old order and the arrival of a new? We entered the room towards the end of the proceedings and found the Maoris and white people sitting around the table listening in wrapt attention. The room was dimly lighted and this served to enhance the impression that the occasion was one of momentous importance. We seated ourselves and listened while Mr. G. Graham, Chairman of the Club, read a passage in English and Mr. Paul replied with the same passage in the melodious tongue of his people. This continued with hardly an interruption like a litany, until we began to marvel that those examining his work should find so little to question. At length the litany ceased. Mr. Graham arose and in an interesting impromptu speech eulogized the work of Mr. Paul and explained some of the difficulties he had overcome. We were conscious of a feeling of exultation as we heard him say that all the committee were amazed at the degree of success achieved, and that he considered that Mr. Paul had produced a classic in the Maori tongue, superior even to the work of the great scholars who translated the Bible into Maori. Others also uttered words of praise. One Maori lady maintained that Mr. Paul had captured the atmosphere of the old style of spiritual Maori, the rendering being of such poignant beauty that it brought tears to her eyes. She also stated that it helped her to understand the Baha'i teachings much better, notwithstanding that she is a well-educated woman who often lectures in English. Another Maori lady also said that it moved her deeply. One of the Committee, Mrs. Greensmith, a New Zealand lady whose advice has been invaluable on account of her long experience as a teacher of Maori children, wrote in the "Herald of the South": "AS we listened to the carefully chosen words and wonderfully rounded phrases as he (Mr. Paul) read, and as we checked from our English copies, we were deeply impressed by their spiritual content and by the conviction that such phrasing and beauty of diction only could be attained by one thoroughly imbued with the beauty of the Baha'i Message. "We think that some parts of the Message especially will appeal to the Maori Ñ the erasure of all racial prejudice, the enfoidment of all mankind in one Brotherhood, the gos-pci of love. May every booklet issued be a strong seed to germinate for the Baha'i Cause." [p666] Baha'is of Melbourne, Australia. G. G. Paul, first translator of Baha'i writings into Maori. 666 [p667] ONLY A WORD B~ LAURA DREYFUS-BARNEY IT is a satisfaction to me to be able to reach the Baha'i World through this excei-lent publication which spans distances and unites people of kindred thought. It is a part of the vast plan of action organized and animated by Shoghi Effendi to connect the Friends in their constructive efforts throughout the world. Shoghi Effendi! How well I remember the first time I saw him in the Holy Land. He was then a little boy of five or six years of age, clothed in a brown Persian garment, chanting a prayer in tAbdu'1-BaM's presence; his earnest eyes, his firm mouth looked predestined. No doubt, in asking me to collaborate with "The Baha'i World," our Friends have borne in mind the many months that I was privileged to live in the prison town of tAkk&, near CAbdu~1~Bah&. I have seen the seasons of the year pass over that medieval stronghold; I have seen the storm tossed waves of winter beat against the ramparts below my windows, and outside the walled city I have seen the great plains near the Mansion of Baha covered with myriads of bright spring flowers and, after the scorching sun of summer, the color of the plains matching the sand of the desert. I have seen many people from many parts of the world, different in ideas, customs and situation, enter cAbdu~1. Baha'is presence and each and all felt that He understood their needs and purposes. It is difficult to condense into words the volume of force that radiated from His teachings. He spoke simply and His sentences became a part of one's inner thoughts seeking a worthy outlet in action. I have heard the stirring history of the Cause from those who lived the heroic days; for years I have been reading the written word which, through the centuries, will unfold wisdom to seekers. Above all, I have seen "the Master" day in, day out, unf altering and joyous in His mission of education and 'ove. I would like, sometime, to step out of the whirl of my present life to describe how cAbdu~1~BahA appeared to me as I observed His majestic sensitive beauty, His life, active and human, forceful and inspired. Without doubt, He saw beyond the present~~tCthe wise man sees the tree in the seed." Step by step, event after event, have led to His conclusions. Men have followed shortsighted passions Ñ economic disorder, war, revolution, mass suffering. tAbdu'1-BaM spoke also of another time, when the mind and the heart, united, should establish true civilization. Ali! when will this time be the present? Perhaps when men understand the lessons of the past and the purpose of existence. We, who have lived through this last half century, have witnessed the world knitted closely together by many interests; science has compassed time and space and given us power to turn darkness into light, cold into warmth, scarcity into plenty; but are we not further away from content and peace, and friendliness? 'Why this present misery, this disorder, this enmity? Perhaps high purpose and generous sentiment have been brushed aside in the material onrush of progress; and, now, material civilization itself cries out to be saved from the destruction which is inevitable unless some guiding power comes to the rescue. We are again at the crossing of the ways. The choice of the road of progress should be made clear by the Word of Baha'u'llah enjoining His followers to consider that world affairs are home affairs, to mingle with all men in helpful understanding, to penetrate and disclose the secret forces of civilization. I recall one day, when we were taking early morning tea, tAbdu'1-Bah4 sat looking out at the dawn-lit horizon; He spoke softly, as though to HimAf. We must learn how to read the Universe; it is an open book. All the worlds, known and unknown, are ours if we ~re at one with the Spirit. 667 [p668] I THE GLORY OF GOD My stars unleash their forces like falcons from the hill To sweep through myriad courses, returning as I will Each with its time, its tether, its flight above, below, Perfecting all together an aim they none can know. From heaven unto heaven I guide their tireless way On silent wings and even that falter not nor stray Nor cross My firm decision nor pass My bound and goal, Their leagues within My vision, their hours in My control. On them I laid a duty of seasons without flaw; Their gardens sow My beauty, their deserts reap My law. Each drop and grain I make them, of sands and waters spilt, And what is there to shake them, the worlds that I have built? Ye race I raised of darkness more splendid than the sun, All restlessness, all starkness, all perfect, all undone, How have you thought to leave Me who lands and waters give? How have you thought to grieve Me, the Life of all that live? From error to worse error, wherever you have gone I darkened in that terror to brighten in that dawn, I cried in wind and ocean when you were as the beast, I fired each mad emotion whereby your souls increased. Nearer than pain or pleasure, you did not see My face: Dearer than golden treasure, you trod upon My grace; You held My pure creation an emptiness, a pit, To damn with your damnation, you weakest things of it! Life within life I made you, an angel in a beast, Hell within heaven laid you, starvation at a feast That you for purer water should thirst, and stranger wine, Spent wolves grown sick of slaughter and craving to be Mine In peace your own creation, for God your own desire, When depth of desolation compelled you to aspire. My love is your true history and not these broken days Your memory makes a mystery to startle and amaze: My love that like a garden shall flower in its awn rain The fervent rose of pardon from darkened earth of pain. My stars unleash their forces like falcons from the hill But you run longer courses through My more secret will; To you I gave My beauty, in you I breathed My breath: My love is all your duty, bright angels without death! As rivers from the mountain wind surely to the sea, Your lives, a scattered fountain, return at last to Me. 668 The Hands of Glory plan it, the Heart of Peace restores For hates that were as granite the victory of your wars. I make your fields be holy whatever blood is shed, The mighty and the lowly shall lie upon one bed, Eor they who would not centre as angels to their trust On humbled bellies enter My he~ven for a crust. Already, see, what glory shines bright against your brows! The fond, incredulous story you whispered house to house Of Love they cast in prison for murderers to deny, Now Sun of Truth arisen, it flames from sky to sky! For souls that would not falter in dread and drouth and dearth I raise My fallen altar and reign throughout the earth. From every radiant spirit the meek, unhonored guest I summon to inherit new kingdoms of the blest. I close the former pages, I fold the ancient scroll; I yield My promised ages that ripen fruits of soul To shine like stars eternal above the nights that damn o people made supernal for Glory that I Am. Ñ HORACE ITIOLLEY. WEEP YE NO MORE Men sought Him in the market and the Street, Some sought with eager eyes, on eager feet, And some with desolate hearts and patient tears Saying, "He is not here. Oh, nevermore shall we Hear as of old the beautiful tales and sweet Nor dream those dreams were true. These are the empty years. Nor shall we hear again the Voice that brake Upon the peasant ears of Galilee. Faith has grown old and tired, or has grown afraid. And we shall never hope that wisdom came To kneel at the folded quiet feet of a child. Gone is the faith that once was true. Vain are the creeds." There came a Voice from the great East, and Spake Crossing the gulf two thousand years had made: Ñ ~Oh, piteous, mutilated, blind and dumb Bearers of pain Ñ lift your rejoicing eyes, Weep ye no more! The Comforter hath come!" Ñ ELSIE PATTERSON GRANMER. III THE DAB (GATE OF GOD) Gate of God, through whose bright portal, streaming, The Light of Truth went flooding o'er the world; In Thy Saul the Divine Truth was gleaming Whose rays proclaimed the New Day was unfurled! [p669] Gate of God, through Thine, our eyes are seeing The Beauty of God's Glorious Promised One Who came; and lot the grandeur of His Being Shone with the Splendor of a Mighty Sun! Gate of God, our hearts through Thine are knowing The Love which thrills creation into life, Yet vain is praise to Thee Whose Orb was glowing Serene amidst the chaos of man's strife. Ñ PHILIP AMALrI MARANGELLA. TO ABDU'L-BAHA I see the world a crystal star, Uplifted are the eyes of men A fountain flings its drops afar, Past human hope, past mortal ken. Behold this fountain, how it leaps Higher than Asia's snow crowned steeps On Ñ on into the endless blue A rainbow fountain lost to view, Unless love grant an inner eye To glimpse its path of mystery. Its drops on every nation fall And as they answer to its call They blossom as they seek the Sun Where they with it Ñ are lost and won! o sod of nations, now your hour Lie drenched beneath this radiant power As waiting Earth renew your gaze Here where the fountain leaps and plays. I see the world of crystal star Enchanted are the eyes of men A fountain flings its drops afar Past human hope, past mortal ken. Ñ BEATRICE IRWIN. 0 PROPHET HEART (tAbdu'I-Bah4) 0 Prophet Heart! Whose pulse beats life for me, Through world on world, my iove shall search for Thee. From earth's high peaks I gaze at star-swept skies To glimpse the light reflected by Thine eyes. I probe the mystic veils of time and space To trace the outline of Thy boundless grace. I wing my soul through all the singing spheres To hear the same love-song Thy soui endears. O Prophet Heart! Thy throbbing sings to me; My list'ning heart eternally follows Thee To learn Thy secret of Divinity. Ñ PHILIP AMALFX MARANGELLA. PROPHECY In the bushed and mystical hour Between dark and dawn, A Vision ~1eamed in the Unseen. And gazing, I beheld an Altar In honour of the Unknowable God. A great Altar, as of granite, More enduring than the everlasting hills. A wind blew through empty space. And on the Wings of the Wind, a Voice Unheard, save in the secret silence of the heart, proclaimed: "Behold the foursquare Foundation of the Universe." And as I gazed, a figure arrayed in radiant robes Stood suddenly near the Altar, Beautiful in the strength of young manhood, Glorious, pure, with fearless eyes. The Voice of the Wind sang "Behold Truth!" And He stood as a Cornerstone of the Altar. Again I looked, and again a figure stood At the second corner of the Altar, A majestic awesome Being, Wisdom written on His noble brow And a glory as of Celestial spheres Irradiating His Most Great Beauty. "Behold Law!" The Unheard Voice vibrated through the golden air. And He stood as the Cornerstone of the Foundation principles of the Universe. And yet again? To the third corner I turned my gaze And beheld the Manifestation of "Love," Clothed in living white, A pale light as of moonlight Silvering His white hair and beard. He stood in calm majesty, His Countenance Glowing with an inward light and sweetness And an enveloping tenderness That turned my heart to tears. Turning once more, a fourth figure stood, Eyes searching beneath shining brow, Power and invincible determination In every line. "Here stands Justice" And the Voice swept on. Truth, Law, Love, Justice, Ñ Manifestations of the eternal principles That rule the Universe. All space was bathed in a light As of the illumination of sacrifice. As I mused, trembling with awe And the vision faded to a dim glory, A memory fell into my heart, A memory of words uttered in prayer A million times by a million souls: [p670] 670 THE BAHA'I WORLD "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done on Earth As it is in Heaven." And a great hope thrilled the air. Then above me shone a wondrous light That filled the measureless dome of Heaven, Ñ A rainbow vast, Ñ and across the space From horizon to horizon blazed out prophetic words: ttThe Most Great Peace Shall Come." One stepped forth. A clarion voice rang clear: "Awake! Arise! Brothers and sisters all Gird on your flaming swords, Unfurl the standards Of the Lord of Hosts. If we but strive for Truth, for Law, For Love, for Justice, The Most Great Peace Must Come. The Kingdom of Heaven is here." Then all who felt that urge Divine Waged endless war in their own hearts and souls And marched forth, a silent host To Victory. Ñ MARY RUMSEY Movius. VII GEBET Vater, ~Th rufe in unsrer Not, weiche die Menschen von heute so qualt. Vater, ich weib, es ist wie der Tod, was dem schwankenden Herzen noch fehit. Tod des L~rms. Dann rcift das Schweigen, liebend sich Hintiberneigen, zitternd Dir Entgegenschmiegen, fest verwachsen in Dir Liegen. Str6mt von Dir das grobe Sausen, bin ich dort und drin und drauben, bist Du drauben, dort und drinnen, flammt mein Wollen, glfiht mein Sinnen, bliiht mein Flihien, mich zu schenken, Dich zu kiinden, Dich zu denken in mein Hen DAn Weltenlenken, in die Welt mein Herz zn senken. '~'enn es so in Dir nur rulit, bist Du Geist in mir und Blut. In des Lebcnsweges Mine haltst du inne deine Schritte. Was ist bleibend, was vergiianglich? was erlasend, was verfanglich? was zn wenig, was zu viel? was der Ursprung, was das Ziel? Ñ Such nicht auben. Bleibe cigen. Nur in dir kann es sich zeigen. Wenn die Wogen dort vergrollen, wandelt Sehnen sich zum Wollen. Und das Wollen wird zum Flehen: "Einsam siehst dii hier mich stehen, Vater, der sich in mir spiegelt. Spende mir dein Wart entsiegelt, deine Kraft zu steilem Wandern, deine Vielsamkeit im andern." A. MOHLSCHLEGEL. VIII TRANSMUTATION The Alchemy of the Baha'i Faith In the uneasy crucible of human need Stir many an age-old symbol, many a creed, Trailing the purple and the samite of their faiths Amid myriad truths and half-truths, concepts, wraiths Of bloody heathen rites. Whilst myths from ev'ry clime, Philosophies and pagan fables born with time, In the inchoate ebon welter, mount and sink. When lo! a mystic shimrn'ring glory stains the brink, And widening, deepening, spreads its mesh of gold; Blending fair visions, newer concepts with the old; Purging traditions of their deadly dire discord; Binding the warring elements in love's accord; Pouring into men's hearts its messages of peace, Of Universal Brotherhood, of fear's surcease. Ñ E. L. FENTON. THE CAUSE IS REAL It is real! It is! Short, shout, 0 cold, gray, heart And dull, complaining mind! The Cause is real! There is a fire that burns and does not die, There is a beauty that can never fade, There is a love Ñ Arise, leap, let your dreams burn! Let all your life a dream Blaze up in splendor to the love of God Like flame into the sun! Ye shall be winged with fire And tipped with crimson, And all the dawns and sunsets of the world Shall pale before your joy. It is real! It is! 0 you, who moan and creep Ñ Fly, love, laugh, worship, sing! And die as did the Viking king who sailed At sunset forth into an unknown sea. Riding a ship of flame To find his GodI Ñ LORNA B. TASKER. TRUE VISION The world is Lull of discord and strife, And war-clouds arise in the sky; [p671] 671 There is greed, and nation gainst nation doth stand, 'While foes in the ambush of t lie; But Dawn is breaking Ñ Cod rules from on high, And war shall forevermore cease, No matter how dark the hour may seem, Look not at it Ñ but through it Ñ to PEACE. There are hearts that are weary, broken and torn And injustice seems most to hold sway, The poor are downtrodden, the weak are oppressed 'While the struggle grows harder each day; But a New Era dawneth Ñ with heart-hopes fulfilled There's a Light from the heavens above; No matter how dark the hour may seem, Look not at it Ñ but through it Ñ to LOVE. There are souls that are held by strong prison walls, Of fear Ñ in a darksome place, While prejudice manacles heart and mind, Against class, religion and race; But Freedom is coming Ñ and souls must awake, Else pass neath the chastening Rod; No matter how dark the evil may seem, Look not at it Ñ but through i/ Ñ to GOD. Ñ SHAHNAZ WAITE. NEARING COMPLETION New broken like a blossom on the blue The Temple Dome dreams upward into space, Its glass in sheaths of shadow lies Their purple curves contrast the grace Of the white symbols soaring to the Sun! Those rhythms wrought exultant to a crown Of unity; joy born of sacrifice, Desired through aeons of aspiring life That rose and fell upon the tides of time: A foam of souls, charting the sea Truth By stars that stream from Prophet's eyes, Those portals through which races pass Reborn, to bud and bloom anew. Oh breathless moment, hushed with hope This "diamond age" reveals a nine-rayed star, The Temple dome guards, and yet flings those beams afar Peace tours her radiance on the dawning hour Rise man, and mate your strength with this white power. Ñ BEATRICE IRWIN. XII MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR Ñ -"THE DAWNING-POINT OF PRAISE" I Ñ THE VISION THE wondrous dream of prophets and of seers Draws to its consummation long foretold, A temple to the mighty Lord of Hosts Swings wide its portals to a waiting world. The ancient Jew foresaw a House of Prayer for every race, A later prophet glimpsed a Temple vast Ejiled with the glory of the Lord, Its waters pouring forth to vivify mankind. The poet, too, envisioned it % sacred fane, "A temple neither Pagod, Mosque nor Church, "But loftier, simpler, always open-doored "To every breath from heaven. And Truth and Peace "And Love and Justice came and dwelt therein." The heart of man hath ever longed to join With other hearts in worship of that Lord Who is the common Father of mankind. li Ñ THE PATHWAY UPWARD Throughout the past man has erected temples to his God Expressive of the vision of each age. The dreams of Moses were enshrined within the '~Tent of Martyrdom," O'ershadowed by that Deity who, as a cloud of smoke Or pillar of bright flame, Led forth a people weak and murmuring, From Egypt to the Promised Land. They grew and flourished until under Solomon They reared a temple to that greater Lord Who made of them the envy of the woild, The source of light and learning to the Greek and Sheba's Queen. But men were not yet brothers all, For Gentiles dared not tread upon the Holy Court So sacred to the Jew. The Lord Christ came with love for all the world; And temples rose through East and 'West To celebrate His praise. But still the people could not catch a vision universal as His love; They welcomed not His sheep of other folds. Muhammad came; before His love the lowly mingled with the proud, The rich and poor were one before their Lord. In reverence did they build the mosques of God, But welcomed not the Infidel within. IlL Ñ THE HEIGHTS Today the world attains maturity. The rising Sun of Truth Ñ Baha'u'llah, Has brought to man the light of a new day, A day of brotherhood inclusive and divine. His voice proclaims in clarion tones, "We have created you from one same clay, 'let none exalt himself above the rest; ttEe as one soul in thought and deed, 'And welcome all in peace and unity." Again that wondrous Voice peAs forth, tt0 Concourse of Creation I Peoples all! "Construct ye Homes most beautiful in His Great Holy Name. "Commemorate thy Lord the Merciful in spirit and great joy. [p672] "Teach your descendants what bath been revealed "By His Most Holy Pen, ~And let them chant His Verses in these 'Dawning-Points of Praise!' Today beside the inland sea There stands this t~Dawning~Point of Praise," This symbol of a majesty, a love, a power, That casts aside man's vain imaginings, Man's limitations and taboos, Extending open arms to all the world, To all the races, nations, creeds, In an enfolding love that comes alone from God. That day so long foretold by prophets and by seers Hath dawned indeed upon the world of man. Behold the Temple of the Living God! IV Ñ UNIVERSALITY Within its walls will be revered The sacred Book of every age. Beneath its dome stand Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, Men of Christ's faith and of no creed at all; 'Who, stripped of all enslaving rites, United in eternal truth, Pour forth their adoration unto God. For men of every shore and race and clime Have aided in the rearing of this fane; The maidens and the little children too Lay at its doors their gifts of sacrifice, That there might rise an Edifice Divine To pour forth light and love upon the world, And meet each need of humankind. And thus about this House of Prayer Will other noble structures rise; A place of rest for pilgrims from afar, A college for the sciences and arts, And philanthropic shelters for the weak and desolate. Their services will be dispensed without regard to race or creed, Their gates be flung wide open to mankind, With prejudice toward none, With love for all the world. V Ñ INVITATION Unto a world confused with strife, Bound helpless in the cords of greed and hate, Reverberates this challenge of God's love, "Come unto Me ye Sons of men! "This is the dawning of the Day of Light. "Unstop your ears and hear My call! "Unveil your eyes and see! "Think not the gateways of this shrine "Lead to an altar desolate; ~'These terraced steps will guide your feet "Up to the very threshold of the Throne. ~'Come and behold what bounties God bestows!" "The Kingdom of the highest Heaven descends to earth this day, ttAdorned as is the bride to meet her lord. t~Adorned with peace for earth's sad wilderness, ~Adorned with justice for the high and iow, "Adorned with knowledge of the pathway unto life, "Adorned with certainty of daily bread, "Adorned with music and with festival, "And crowned with God's own love for all mankind." Ñ MArE HARVEY GIFT. XIII THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR Dedicated to the architect, Louis Bourgeois f!fl cannot be denied that the emanations of spirit-flat power and inspiration destined to radiate from the central edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will to a very large extent depend upon the range and variety of contributing believers, as well as upon the nature and degree of self-abnegation which their unsolicited offerings will entail Ñ SHOGHI EFFENDI. The Holy Spirit, heaven-sent, fired the soul of man: Descended to his heart, devout, who asked of God a plan; Foundations, wedded to the rock; a dome uplifted high; And caught between are beauty, love, and star-paths from the sky Ñ 0 never did the mind of man conceive so sweet a thing, To symbol thus, in steel and stone, the body of his King: The King of God's effulgence; Mirror Mighty of His Will Ñ Baha'u'llah Ñ to still remain, the cycled years to fill: o Temple of God's Mystery! 0 Temple of His Love! Thy Message thrills humanity with Mercy from above! o build the Temple, wonderful Ñ complete its matchless plan; Ye heirs, reborn of God's great Love, who dwell here but a span! The passing years from birth to death are worlds to make or mar, With deeds that wither in the dust, or guide man from afar: And blest are they who leave a sign to prove their love for God; Achieving by His Spirit's grace, dominion o'er the clod Ñ Exultant they, in realms serene, within the walls of Might; Protected by the deeds of flame, resulting from His Light. For Lo! the lips of praying hosts shall ever chant His fame, In Temple of His unity, Who brought the Greatest Name. Ñ WILLARD P. HATCH. XIV HAIFA'S NEW HARBOR A gateway has been opened In the Garden of the Lord Giant Ships from farthest lands Passing through it, pause, clasp hands, Then fare forth upon their way Harbingers of a new dayl [p673] 673 SONG OFFERINGS Inpalpable their Kingly cargoes, wrought With bright, etheral symbols so long sought, Now radiating from these ships that ride At peace, in Haifa's royal harbor wide! Here, for a brief spell freed from fear and hate, The hands of Progress knock at heaven's gate, The multicolored heart of life in flower Blossoms with dreams of peace and a new power! The magic of her strength grave Science shows Through stone and metal blended in the snows Of a white arm flung forth upon the Sea Bless&d breakwater of Serenity! Embracing arm, that draws into its breast Lovers long parted, severed East and West, At last they leap into a close embrace Heedless of ancient History's sad face. She may stand by, shedding a molten tear, The lovers laugh, to them the dawn is clear, Crowning the glory of that promised day When East and West at last shall be made one Beneath the might of Mercy's rising sun! Blest be the opening of this Gate of Light That leads the way to Carmel's blazing height. Ñ BEATRICE IRWIN. NABIL Nabil! Nabil! We long to feel The spirit which thy comrades knew When Faith's pure tree in Persia's garden grew. Our earthbound eyes Shall never glimpse iov&s paradise, But here can see thy swiftly moving pen Reveal a record of those apostolic men Who found the B&b, the Gate to God. They caused the seed of truth to burst in flame And thrill the watching multitudes with His Name, When o'er the crimson path they trod With shining faces and with singing hearts. Thy vibrant narrative unrolls A tale whose motivating force imparts To our young souls The most majestic love on earth; The pregnant drama of a Faith at birth; The death-defying eloquence and deeds Which crashed Islim's encrusted creeds And cleared the way for men of light To see the Abba Glory! NatAl! Thine is the unblemished story Of how those humble men proclaimed God's might To theologians skilled in literal law And stirred thy famed Iran to gaze with awe; Whose courage and sublimer sacrifice Shall ever be the strangely mystical device That laid the cornerstone of this New Age. Let the wide world but see thy page And cry aloud: ttThe Lord has come To call His faithful people to their promised home." Nabil! Nabill We strive to understand The meaning of that Guardian Hand Which sent thy narrative to this western shore To teach and guide us evermore. Nabil! Ñ PHILTP AMALFI MARANGELLA. xv' TIff BLACK STANDARD (Au incident of the defensive efforts of the Bab's, followers of the 13db, the Herald of the Baha'i Cause, when attacked by an oppression instigated by religious fanaticism. The Baha'is, however, trust to their i-c-sfiective governments, whose loyal subjects they are, to defend them.) Black was the Standard, black as the midnight, Borne from MasMd to fine Tabarsi: Eloating o'er heroes, heroes of God-light; Standard of Heaven, heroes like starlight; Mirrors reflecting, shining with B~b-1ight; Calling, '~Rejoice, for man to be free." Village to village, onward the Standard! Wooing earth's noblest, calling from lust: Severed the souls, who carried this Standard; Fearless the hearts, behind the Black Standard; Honoured to troop beneath the Black Standard; Trooping to God, Redeemer of dust. Leaving earth's honours: leaving earth's power; B~b'u'1-Mb calling, "Hail Tabarsi!" Leaving possessions to greet the blest hour; Souls in the budding, blooming to flower; Build they the fortress, while the tests shower; Tests that were flooding, like a great sea. Baha'u'llah found Ñ He loved and He sought them, (Hidden the Spring of their rapturous glee) Two only knew, He called and He taught them; Gold for earth's fires, assayed and He wrought them; Into God's image swiftly He brought them; Claiming their souls for Love's greatest fee. Pure was Qudchis, and ready to fill them: Glowing with zeal, of radiant heart Ñ Loving God's Truths and glad to instill them; Loving mankind, with treasures to will them; Treasures of Truth with which to re Ñ fill them; Praying to God His Faith to impart. Young were God's heroes, mounting their horses: Young to the world, yet seveted and free; Fearless, God's heroes crushed the great forces; Tyranny's power, braggart, armed forces; Flung into hordes, where infamy courses, Only to weaken, break, and to flee. Heroes of God, the siege drawing tighter: Gaunt were their forms, their faces were pale; Grass was their food, their figures grew slighter; Leather they ate, their spirits the brighter; Dauntless were they, their souls ever brighter; Careless of blows that could not prevail. Dawn saw them praying, God's will obeying: (Never were they to drink of defeat) [p674] 674 THE BAHA'I WORLD Enemies tell it: "E'en in their slaying, When at last killed by bitter betraying, Victors o'er death, His praise they were saying, And life's Red Chalice poured at His feet. Qudct6s at last, they terribly slew him: Merciless hearts, ferocious in wrath; Worse than wild beasts, with torture they hew him, Piercing their cries Ñ Qudd~s, as they threw him, Tearing his limbs and flesh as they slew him, Prayed God to forgive them, show them His Path. Heaven above, and God, Who received them: (His heroes they, refused by the earth) Heirs to His bliss, and none has bereaved them; Blest with His Love, Who never deceived them; Infinite gifts, with glory achieved them; Sons of the Spirit, born of new birth. Ñ WILLARD P. HATCH. XVII DIE SIEBEN TAkER Der Mensch f~ihrt auf aus trdgem Schiaf im ersten Morgensehein. Er hat gelebt, wie es sich traf; jetzt mub es anders scm. Er such, er such den Weg zum ticlit. Oft lachen Narren ilirn ins Gesicht. Er aber labt vom Suchen nicht und findet Pfade, wirr und schmal, durch's erste Tal. Da fiihit er Verwandtes in jedem Ding, Ailvaters Kinder wie er, und mub sie lieben, grob und gering; ihn fiberstramt cm Meer. Er weib niclit, wie er's Lassen soil, so hoch sein Herz von Liebe schwoll, so allumarmend fibervoll Ñ o Gotteskindschaft, silbe Qual im zweiten Tal! IDa erlebt er des Andern heimliches Leid und alint des Daseins Idee, und sielit die Welt wie Gottes Kleid, erblickt irn Tropfen die See und erfabt der Symbole inneren Sinn und des Erdenmenschen Drauben und Drin und beider Welten Woher und Wohin. So steigt er die Stufen in heiliger Zahi durch's ciritte Tal. Dann wird sein Auge selbst zum Licht, schant ilberall Lichtes nur. Verworrene Viellielt wird zuniclit, das Eine wird seine Natur. Und Grob und Klein und Grab und Fein und Ja urn! Nein und Sonn' und Stein sind alle scm und wesensein. So schritt er durch das Hocliportal un's vierte Tal. In Strahienfuhle bricht hervor die Gottesunendlichkeit, das tr~gt kein Auge, fabt kein Obr, kein Wort und keine Zeit. Reich steht er da wie Sonnenland und, was er rflhrt, wird lichtverwandt. Die Kohie ward zum Diamant. Schwer tr~gt er semen heiligen Gral durch's ffinfte Tal. IDa win! sein eigenes Selbst zunicht, von Guadenlast gebeugt. Die letzte Erdenstiitze bricht, der Gottmensch wird gezeugt. In Wehen wird die Seele erschtittert, was stark und ruhig schien, erzittert, was reich ummanert war, verwittert. so ernsam zieht der Pfad und kahi durch's sechste TM. Und schwindet so das letzte Stuck des alien Adam bin, dann reifct jenseits Leid md Gitick das schuichte Wort ~Ich bin," und klingt in Gott in alien Dingen, und briclit aus alien Lebensringen in weltenweitem Sichumschwingcn, em Siegesstrahl, em Lichtfanal Ñ das siebte Tal. A. MCT{LSCHLEGEL. XVIII ZANJAN What bloodstained walls are these that speak to me With tongues long silenced by the swords of hate, When valiant souls proclaimed their faith to be The love of God, through Him they called "The Gate." These sands their footsteps rod shall ever wail A lamentation of thy tragic tale. They fought, they died, but their unsullied deeds Shall live and burn as torches in each age To clear the d6bris of tradition's creeds From Truth's immortal page. Zanjan! Thy ageing walls, unknown, Now echo stone on stone, Their death-destroying cry Announcing God's own plan, Whose Faith they never would deny: "Ya Sahib-uz-Zaman!" Ñ PHILIP A. MARANGELLA. XIX STEPPING STONES The years pass on, silently as night Closes on the fretful day, And leave their mark of joy or sorrow, That brands us as their pay. The yearnings of our hearts form traces, Gathered throughout the years; That we may sing a lilting song, Or grieve with bitter tears. Elusive hope Ñ Acute despair Ñ Whatever life's toll brings; Are treads on crystal stepping stones, That exalt to higher things. Ñ MYRTLE W. CAMPBELL. [p675] ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES [p676] [p677] cd~ 0\ '.4 v~ ~&~~#~#A &~k{~c 4 'Xa. ~~a1,z&* ILk ~ ~ c:~'K~/j~ 2 ~ ~jt I ~~' [p678] 678 THE BAHA'I WORLD The Making of the Temple Duet for Soprano and Alto Words by JANET BOLTON ~ ~Afodeiato Music by NINA B. MATTHTSEN DUET What Hand ar ~ WI IJkJ~I rayed the hopes of all the a ges In this bright shape, this many pointed star? ~I I I I hi ~ ~ K ~ r ~ I I I I I I What Ar chi -tect ect de~signed this firmfoun-da-tion? ? On which to build love's'ThmpledAv-a 61:III I tar? What Wisdom setthe wrni-fngflg-hts of .Je~-sus Above the cen -tu~ries ies for-ev v ~~tII Ñ ~ ~ ~ rnternafionaj Copyright Secured Copyrigbt MCMXXXI by Nina Benedict Matthi~en All Rig1it~ Re~ervei [p679] 679 ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES ~. ]~- I k ~ 7'F 'r• 'J ~ more9 Emblazon Across a mystic Portal those ev-er-]ast-ingwords,Iam the Door. What Mas ter Mind conceived those gatesof spleli dor ~ 4 4 1W Ñ . ~. ~ I ~ I,~. ~ Ñ ~ I I I I I I ~ Slo~vty I I Nine gold en doors en-cir cling 'round a bout t That it should be a ~ *.~wK4~rw I I, I L Ñ K K I I. I I Dtiwn-ii{g place of prais es Claim -ing the true, the faithful and de - ,, ,, ID ID ~ :0I~UET vout. Here God is One! as er- of the [p680] 680 THE BAHA'I WORLD 'ibm pie ie InThee wetrusL...andthe iskin all world Ñ 2 I I I Ñ I.. I I I '•~ 'it-'I~'~. ~ I I I H NJ F~I I flIJ 4~ ~ 4W~4~. Thus by Mo-ham mad Seal of all the Proph -ets By Moses and byBud-dha ~ ~ Ñ ~ ~ v:v.~-i~i~ I • I.. [• I I I 'I I j w. ~ let the By every cup that I I l~ii¶It: ill ~ 4 frees from srn F' and sor row nr ye tribes and nations and I I I be blest Here each have life be-ie i I t I i I i i I I 4 ~4 •~ ~i I'. r ~ I~: K~ ~ v~. ~ I I I I Ñ Ñ t) Ñ Ñ • ~ ~ ~ neafh it he~1-ing shTI-ow Atyl tb~ God ma4e th~ 'Ibm-pIe of His ~ k,~ ~ ~ VK I~ ~ ~ [p681] 681 ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES The Lonely Stranger! WordB Duet for Soprano and Alto RENA M. 0. PE~TERSEN Andante Musie by NINA B. MATTHISEN % DUET "I ________________________________ ,w w . w. A. L I ,~I. a Ñ u I Ñ . I r r strang or fn this des -ert drear~ His most ho ly foot prints tray oiled at God's high coni -mand, Teaoh big Ba -h~s pre -cepts ~ ~• ~. atempo in r I I y I r v fol low with out fear. He will guide and keep thee; ~!ve to Him thy tbru out eai~th's broaAi land. Steps grow wid er, deep er, all in blest ac - -Iitaempof mpof ~ v~ - Ñ Ñ , •1 r r r hand, Our dear MaR ter leads us thru earth'~toiI-some sand. cord, As we near the Ring -dom, fol -low-ing our Lord. Int.rn.tional Copy~igM Scvur0dCo~'right MCMXXXI by Nina Benedict Matthiseu All RIghtS Re~.erv.d [p682] 682 THE BAHA'I WORLD OtW8O. ~V j~=-t.~V ~=01. 01. I ' Ñ : I I .1 Ñ Ñ K I '1~ Ñ Mo-ses,Bnd-dha, Je sus came to savo mau-kind Prom-iseA Ba ha's Ya Ba-h~i -u'I- Ab h~4 lead us thin the ,night, Thin earth's lone ly V1 1421 ~ I Ñ w. I ~it I Ñ . I r L I I corn -ing, toour earth so blind. Prop bets all fore4old it, jour -ney, safeto God's great light. Lord! ThoD art no strang er, er, Pu I I K L Ñ . L Ñ .~ Irk I I I I I' I y ~ Ñ Ñ . I God's un :fail -ing plan, His great glo-ryguides us, blessing ev -'ry n~v er- more we'll roam; For Thy love will guide us to our beav'n-ly ) D.S. man. home. [p683] 683 Words and music by SHAHNAZ WAITE ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES Prelude Moderato / Lo! An gel ic ic 4K~ 'F F hosts tri urn rn -phant t Nowsur round oneve ry ry side And in that heaven ly ly strains are spread -ing ing Peace and love ~ ~ ~ p I A" I V I, Copyright MCMXXX by Louise R.W~ite, Hollywood, Calif.. [p684] 684 THE BAHA'I WORLD will abide Hark! the heaven ly con~-course sing ing fI si I I I Joy -ous prais es to their King Lift your Voj0 es t~J.L now and join them And loves Ben e -dic dic -tion sing I I I I i'm I. V. hr ri I I I I' I LH. And loves Ben e -dic ic -tion sing: Ñ [p685] ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES 685 TEMPLE SONG. Wards & Music By LOUISE R. WAITE. Ñ I. K I j I U U p •~• •w Ñ The Tern-pie to our Gb -rious King C~i rise a lone through love, And A Tern-pie or true u ni ty Where. in all na -tions meet, And With in this Tern-pie's might y walls His spir it e'er will be, And ~ ~ ~ F ~ ~ ~ 42 6 I I I as we built it let US send, Up to His throne a -bove, A wer-ship Gad and Him a lone, Iii pray'r and com-inune sweet. A chant ed there the songs of love, The songs of u ni ty. And - ~': ~': I I I I I ng to wa ken • ev -'ry heart Md spread Bweet har~ mon y; A Tern-pie to the liv ing God Who hears our ev -'ry call, The ev -'ry heart tha±' is in tune With His great, by ng heart,WIII 1• br love A of Kings and Lord of Lords And Fa u ty song tri -uniph ant clear and strong, King ther of us all. The be with in this Tern-pie fair An ev er- last -ing part. Will F Ñ .1 I I •,. I ~ E~ Jj Lf ~ song tri -umph- ant, clear and strong, (X love and u ni ty. King of Ki~gs and Lord of Lords, And Fa -ther of us all. be with in this Tern-pie fair An ev er -I~at ing part. I [p686] 686 THE BAHA'I WORLD CHORUS Then come and build a Tern pie great. Now 'f&2tnalx, I • I King of Love, For Love alone is King. F~ar Love a lone is I ~I I k I I I .~. W•4~ I I I II ~ .~.j• I~•1 I II I w ~ l'3dverse [p687] 687 ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES Allegro. Great Day of God. Words & Music by L. R. WAITE. 1 a Great day looked of for, "I God,Iong Thy day ~dawn or we Might do and pro ~ Pow Pow er, Of jKnow ledge and of .7-.~ ~ -7..-un un 1 1 ~ty and known o~r all the splendor Thy Sun shall shine a a a -tionHath given en a new day of rec love, love, Soon re-sur-Day,whenGod,the tioti,Of Fa earth, -ther~ And Is bove. r~i birth. bright in all its to His whole cre-c1aii'~.Greatday c1aii'~.Greatday na -tionShall EW1~5 ~P when praiseHisho-lyname%3reat ev -'ry Lig)ii, clouds -sti ti now now be-dimsightGreat No of per.tionCan ou~ su I . I I ' I I I I '~i~ 1 I I I I I i I I ' I j I I I I k Great Day of the unveiling Of Truth~ Deep mysteries, When every hidden secret Of earth and sky and seas, In all their wondrous beauty, To man shall be revealed; Nor can an act or motive By man now be concealed. Great Day of God,AII glorious; Great Day of Peace,so blest; The thought of Thee brings gladnes8, And dilates every breast. Great Day of one religion, When all are understood; One faith in Life Eternal, One God, one Brotherhood. [p688] 688 THE BAHA'I WORLD His glorious Sun has Risen. k Words & Masic byL E.I~. WAITE. ~et for us no dom now bath all His wondrous drous His glo -rio~is ris en, Go Sun has teU to tid He He the joy -ings: ngs: His aus ame and King.. ong dwellt a. us, with rings from shore to ev ry doubt suc birds the trees the r•:~~~ ech o of His in all pain and Love embraced ~11 .r~rr ~ darkness to show the per-feet it is, ~uid x~ho 80 ev er King-dam we praise Thy Ho ly ly more, prais es The come' now sor Wher pow'rs, row, His and na, ture th~ :I~. w•.w•wIU' r~*~ shore, He came to banish ish cun-ib, Es -tablish'dhere tablish'dhere on earth C Iow'rs,Kin of a, Roy ai I I I I t k I I ~' I day' way. This is the ra -diant diant morn -ing of' the mill-en en -nia~ nia~ will" en ter love di aad peace his heart' May Name;Thyin, and ~1o-rious-vine Ii till. h ris -ight ight t en, its Jrnir:;jw;ei ~• [p689] ~89 Words & Music by L. R. WAITE. ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES Tell the Wondrous Story Tell the won-droua sto ry, Tell it near and far He hascome as promised He thePrinceof Peace f• F F Of the loving Father. Of BA-HX-'VL LAM LAM Tell It e -ver ver Come in might an power nd all strife must cease He has come in tell it That all men may Know Now has come Gods Kingdom glo ry Dark ness now must flee Fa -ther of all na-*lons On this earth below. low. II IlTell thewondrous story it near and We will teU of Thee 'III -.II far Of the Iov-ing Father Of-BA HA OL LAM!II I 1 I I I 1 I I I I [p690] 690 AL -4,-THE THE BAHAI WORLD God Is All-Glorious L~JIS3 c.mce Andante'F~Li~. .&sc MENDELSSOHN I AL-4 4 IAR 'U' LB riA~ 114 J 4 4 [p691] 691 ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES r~ [ii I~ '7' r v A --HA HA Al tAB ~L1 AD HA AL LAX 1J Al 1j~ A I~.iI ~ Th Yr ~ -Ar-i.. in~ -L&M L&M 'U'-A.BHAA.L .L ?.A9t U -LE-lik AL li il7~L~ Lr Ñ i~ ~' ~' ~ LAR ~1 Ñ 11 Ñ AD Ñ HA ALLA1~ '13' AB-HA ALW{ Ñ F [p692] 692 THE BAHA'I WORLD a i~. L k ' r ~ UAB ILk ALLA~HU~'L~RA ALLAN •~U• ww ww ~ ABHL AL t~ ~ ~AL n LAM 'U' -ABHA ABHA AL-XA1~ U!. I I I I I I I. -A.BHA A.BHA AL 114 IF • .L. ~e t r V r LA~ •~U' -A.B-WA ~* 11F~1Vg I-4- 4,. ,. 1 Ñ Ii K I Ñ u w w A!. ZAII-~u-Aj-)4AAL Rd --vq*tw%P *tw%P L ~~' ]~W~ L~M [p693] ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES 693 ga.t Ii Ñ if ____________ Ñ ~ ~ F~ IAH Kit Kit 1~ ~ [p694] 694 ) THE BAHA'I WORLD ,4fl/$A~~ IV ,~•. A~fAN~/5 A'4 ~ f N. 0 ?i~OPh'6T A'fdRr. DfD/C474~o r~1 2AA'~9. A'fN IY Pd/Z/P dA~.ftA/ ,b'4,VAN5fUA. ,UOWL ?. WIT/I EXP,f~ff~Off. Hid~e) Wb'oJf P~'zU 8(A7J Zr,'I .~6'd~ fo,q ,~f Ñ , T&?o~6' J$4~' 4A' £IZf(# WO~O ~Y I~'YI I. ~ ~ ~ ~'4~ ~k#' *1 k~ k~ I I I_________ ~OM i~T#$ 6Q4W f4,~'f I ,9 $T,Zf~fWfP7 J/f//I /~ ~/A'~'f/ 7~ [p695] 0 A?O~Dhf 7 6'64A'r. 695 ) ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES L/~h'T ,?f-FZA7-ID 8~ r6'/NI~'r~'j '.7, iv,Ii - -itii;LZJ ;LZJ Wi V., - p p F k h I PiVOII Th'~f A'Y~ 7/C ~'f/~ ~ O# T/Af I IM' £~9CI Th ~VdCf Th'f ~'T-~IA/f Of T#Y I 4 P/t~/ R70.9f 0. cm. h 1t'if~-LF.% ~,f~9cf..t wiir~ ,~'y x~'~7h',9o1'~# *iz r~ ~'~'~-i,y~ ~#mi I Ñ Ñ [p696] 696 0 ~'~POpNi~r #~b?7. THE BAHA'I WORLD I I To ~'/MR I LOb'! Ñ LONG_____ TA'r 6o~'1IN -DMR$ 7W1 TA'Y Tk~o8-i/N# J/,s'aS ToiVY Z/ST N/Ne [p697] 0 P,?dP#Er ~yF4Ar. 697 ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES 6 Ñ p y Ñ . yr~ -TdR,v-RL-2r ~FARN PaL THY THY (LI i ii I I 66-C~i'ira~ ~/ Ñ V/A' Ñ / Ñ ~ AA [p698] JYWIC ly 698 THE BAHA'I WORLD A5~77~5~ ~/A?Gce yr ~ A~' '~4g~5 ~ j*~, 4~e~r?~ /d~e.V~f ~ 7A~'e~ e,~ 0/ ;%-~1-o/ o/ ~ .,4~ ~ I VV I I .17 L L~r ~ t~4,~ ~ 9~ A,a~ ~ ~6 ~to.,j IA ,oco'r-t~t. I J~Ce ~ ~ ~. rice A~ 4ove ~"t, ~ ~4~• ~ ~ )~z~ i~'e 'C1ean~ ~ ~s'~,ia~T9 £ £* ~ ~ A ~ 44 'U I I C, B fl~7C~ ~~6keoz~1g~,t ~te, ~ [p699] 699 I? ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES ,S~~aAa~ %~d~9 Ana ~a&~~4fe,r-S'~flk.~'%$ S'~flk.~'%$ p~ 7~. ~V ~f~7~Ieres ii' 1~a ~'•"~ rde~c~n ~ ~~'1~ ~c~A~co ~4 am_______ '~ a/I ~I [p700] 700 kL P 0) THE BAHA'I WORLD Benediction "Sing this melody in all gatherings of Love and Harmony of' the beloved of God. Abdu'l-Baha Abbas. LOUISE R. WAITE. rail II May God's kve flQW hover r oe'r us As a dove with out-streehed wings .j J ,j ~ J .~i .1.~ ' p 'While peace tAiat flows a round us To His each heart sweet comfort brings ii' M I I j II now receive His spi-nt And May its rad-jance shed a far we I gzllarp.~ ,~ Now here in Love a bid- ing In the realms and of EL-AB HA. [p701] CONTENTS OF VOLUME I Ñ BAHA'I YEAR BOOK AND VOLUMES II, III AND IV THE BAHA WORLD [p702] [p703] CONTENTS OF BAHA'I YEAR BOOK VOLUME I PART ONE tCO Army of Life!" A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Baha'i Faith. Outline of Baha'i History. The Passing of tAbdu'1-BalTh. PART TWO Extracts from Baha'i Sacred Writings. A Statement on Presentday Administration of the Baha'i Cause. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Brief History of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in America. Extracts from Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Report. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of tlshqAlxid. Impressions of Haifa. Kunj angoon. Old and New Paths at Green Acre. World Unity Conference. PART THREE National Spiritual Assemblies. Leading Local Baha'i Centers. Baha'i Periodicals. Bibliography. References to the Baha'i Movement. European and American Cities Visited by CAbdu~1~Bah~. Transliteration of Oriental Terms Frequently Used in Baha'i Literature. Dr. J. E. Esslemont. PART FOUR The Relation of the Baha'i Cause to Modern Progressive Movements. The Unity of Civilization. Equality of Men and Women. Esperanto and the Baha'i Teachings. Unity of Religions. Science and Religion. Universal Education. Racial Amity. The Economic Teaching of Abdu'l-Baha. World Peace. 703 [p704] Co N TENTS OlE THE BAHA'I WORLD VOLUME II PART ONE C(O Army of Life!" Ñ Words of tAbdu'1-BahA. A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Baha'i Faith and Outline of Baha'i History. The Passing of Abdu'l-Baha Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West. PART TWO Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings. Soul, Mind, Spirit and the Essence of Divinity. A Statement on PresentDay Administration of the Baha'i Cause. Excerpts from the Will and Testament of eAbdui~Bahd. The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration. Declaration of Trust. ByLaws of the National Spiritual Assembly. Excerpts from Letters of Shoghi Effendi. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals. BaJA'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Address of 'Abdu'l-Baha delivered at Baha'i Convention, Chicago, 1912. The Structure of the Baha'i Temple. Address delivered by tAbdu~1Bah~ at the Dedication of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar Grounds, May, 1912. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of tlshq&b&d. Impressions of Haifa. Haifa, tAkk& and Baha'i. Kunjangoon Ñ The Village of CAbdu~1~Bah~i. Through India and Burma. Green Acre and the Ideal of World Unity. References to the Baha'i Faith. Queen Marie of Rumania pays tribute to the beauty and nobility of the Baha'i Teachings. PART THREE Baha'i Directory, 1928. Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies. Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies. Baha'i Groups with names and addresses of correspondents. Baha'i Groups. Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia. Baha'i Periodicals. Baha'i Bibliography. Section One Ñ List One: Baha'i Publications of America. 704 [p705] VOLUME II 705 Section Two Ñ List Two: Baha'i Publications of England. Ñ List Three: Baha'i Literature in French. Ñ List Four: Baha'i Literature in German. Ñ List Five: Partial List of Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages. Section Three Ñ Alphabetical List of Baha'i books and pamphlets. Section Four Ñ References to the Baha'i Movement in non-Bahi'i works. Section Five Ñ References to the Baha'i Movement in magazines. Transliteration of Oriental Terms frequently used in Baha'i literature. Guide to the transliteration and pronunciation of the Persian alphabet. PART FOUR Introduction to The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Poem Ñ ttA Prayer." The Baha'i Religion Ñ Papers read at the Conference of Some Living Religions Within the British Empire, 1924. Paper I Ñ By Horace Holley. Paper Il Ñ By Ri4fi Effendi AfnAn. Living Religions and the Baha'i Movement. The Baha'i Attitude Towards Muhammad. A Modern Interpretation of Muhammadanism. The WorldWide Influence of Qurratu~1~tAyn. Souvenir Feast of tAbdu'1-BaM. The Baha'i Cause at the Universal Esperanto Congresses at Edinburgh and Danzig. On the Borders of Lake Leman. Translation of a Letter from the Israclitish Assembly of Baha'is of Tihr~n, Persia. InterRacial Amity. Appendix Ñ Tablet to America revealed by Baha'u'llah. Baha'i Persecutions in Persia Ñ An Appeal to His Imperial Majesty Ri~U Shih Pahiavi. Appendix One Ñ Summary of Baha'i Teachings. Appendix Two Ñ Excerpts from Letters of Baha'u'llah to the SuIt~n of Turkey and the Sh&h of Persia. Appendix Three Ñ Words of tAbdu'1-BaIA concerning Persia. [p706] CONTENTS OF THE BAHA'I WORLD VOLUME III PART ONE ttThe City of Certitude" Ñ Words of Baha'u'llah. Aims and Purposes of the Baha Faith. Baha'u'llah: The Voice of Religious Reconciliation. The Dawn of the Baha'i Revelation. (From Nabil's Narrative.) Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West. PART TWO Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings. The World Order of Baha'u'llah. 1. Presentday Administration of the Baha'i Faith. 2. Excerpts from the Will and Testament of eAbdu~lBghd. 3. The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration. 4. Declaration of Trust by the National Spiritual Assembly. 5. Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi. 6. Text of Baha'i application for civil recognition by the Palestine Administration. 7. Facsimile of Baha'i marriage certificates adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of Persia and Egypt. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Green Acre and the Baha'i Ideal of Interracial Amity. References to the Baha'i Faith. The Case of Baha'u'llah's House in Baglid6d before the League of Nations. Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney. PART THREE Baha'i Directory, 1930. 1. Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies. 2. Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies. 3. Baha'i Groups. 4. Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia. 5. Baha Periodicals. Baha'i Bibliography. 1. Baha'i Publications. a. of America. b. of England. c. in French. d. in German and other Western Languages. e. in Oriental Languages (partial list). 2. Alphabetical List of Baha'i Books and Pamphlets. 3. References to the Baha'i Faith in Non-BaM'i works. 4. References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines. Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with guide to the transliteration and pronunciation of the Persian Alphabet. Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature. 706 [p707] VOLUME III 707 PART FOUR Baha'u'llah's Divine Economy: a Letter of Shoghi Effendi. The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah: A Reflection, by EL Townsend. Abdu'l-Baha's Visit to Woking, England. Impressions of Haifa, by Alaine Locke, A.B., Ph.D. The World Vision of a Savant, by Dr. Auguste Henri Forel. The Cultural Principles of the Baha'i Movement, by Dr. Ernst Kliemke. The Relation of the Mb to the Traditions of IslAm, by Wanden Mathews LaFarge. The Baha'i Movement in German Universities, by Martha L. Root. The City Foursquare, by Allen B. McDaniel. Religion for the New Age, by John Herman Randall. "Before Abraham Was, I Am!" by Thornton Chase. The Races of Men Ñ Many or One, by Louis G. Gregory. Haifa Ñ and the Baha'is, by Dr. John Haynes Holmes. A Visit to Rustum Vamb6ry, by Martha L. Root. The Baha'i Cause at the XXth Universal Congress of Esperanto at Antwerp, Belgium, August, 1928, by Martha L. Root. Shrines and Gardens, by Beatrice Irwin. An Audience with King Feisal, by Martha L. Root. Baha'u'llah and His Teachings, Reprinted from the Japan Times and Mail. tAbdu'1-BahA and the Rabbi, by Willard P. Hatch. Some Experiences Among the Poor in Brazil, by Leonora Holsapple. A Trip to Tahiti, by Louise Bosch. [p708] CONTENTS OF THE BAHA'I WORLD VOLUME IV PART ONE I. Baha'u'llah: The Voice of Religious Reconciliation. II. Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith. Ill. Martyrdom of the B&b (From Nabil's Narrative). IV. Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West. V. Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings. PART TWO I. The World Order of Ilah4'u'llAh. 1. Presentday Administration of the Baha'i Faith. 2. Excerpts from the Will and Testament of rAbdu~l~Bahd. 3. The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration. 4. Declaration of Trust by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. 5. Certificate of Incorporation by the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York. 6. Documents related to the incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada as a recognized d Religious Society in Palestine. 7. Petition addressed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada to the Prime Minister of the Egyptian Government. 8. Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi. 9. Facsimile of Baha'i Marriage Certificates adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of Persia and of Egypt. 10. Facsimile of the Certificate of the United States Federal Government to the Declaration of Trust entered into by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. 11. Facsimile of the Certificate of the Palestine Government incorporating the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada as a Religious Society in Palestine. 12. Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation, The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York. 708 [p709] VOLUME IV 709 II. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. 1. Foreword. 2. Architecture Expressing the Renewal of Religion. 3. God-intoxicated Architecture. 4. The Baha'i Temple. 5. A Temple of Light. 6. A Statement by the Architect. 7. Dedication of the Temple. 8. A Glorious Gift Ñ from a Shrine to a Shrine. 9. The Spiritual Significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. III. References to the Baha'i Faith. IV. Further Developments in the Case of Baha'u'llah's House: Extracts from the Minutes of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. 1. Minutes of the Sixteenth Session: November 1929. 2. Minutes of the Nineteenth Session: November 1930. 3. Minutes of the Twentieth Session: June 193 1. 4. Letter from the British Government. 5. Minutes of the Twenty-first Session: November 1931. 6. Extracts from the Report to the Council of the League of Nations. /. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals. 1. Foreword. 2. Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting. 3. Additional Material gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding ing the Baha'i Calendar. 4. Historical Data gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding Baha'u'llah. VI. Short History of the International Baha'i Bureau at Geneva, Switzerland. VII. In Memoriam. 1. Miss Ethel Rosenberg. 2. Mrs. C. S. Coles. 3. Consul Albert Schwarz. PART THREE I. Baha'i Directory, 193 1193 2. 1. Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies. 2. Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups. 3. Officers and Committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. 4. Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies and Groups in the United States and Canada. [p710] 710 THE BAHA'I WORLD 5. Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia. 6. Address of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia. 7. List of the Bab's bestknown works. II. Baha'i Bibliography. 1. Baha Publications of America. (a) Books about the Baha'i Faith. (b) Writings of the Bab. (c) Writings of Baha'u'llah. (d) Writings of Abdu'l-Baha. (e) Writings of Shoghi Effendi. (f) Prayers. (g) Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form. (h) Compilations. 2. Baha Publications of England. 3. Baha'i Literature in French. 4. Baha'i Literature in Italian. 5. Baha'i Literature in Dutch. 6. Baha'i Literature in Danish. 7. Baha'i Literature in Swedish. 8. Baha'i Literature in Portuguese. 9. Baha'i Literature in Albanian. 10. Baha'i Literature in Esperanto. 11. Baha'i Literature in Russian. 12. Baha'i Literature in German. 13. Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages. (a) Persian. (b) Urdu. (c) Arabic. (d) Turkish. (e) Burmese. (f) Chinese. (g) Hebrew. (h) Tatar. (i) Gujrati. (j) Japanese. (k) Armenian. (1) Tamil. 14. Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the Blind). 15. Baha'i Periodicals. 16. References to the Baha'i Faith in Books by non-Bahi'i Authors. 17. References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non Ñ Baha'i 'Writers. [p711] VOLUME I V 711 III. Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with Guide to Transliteration and Pronunciation of the Persian Alphabet. IV. Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature. Glossary. PART FOUR I. The Goal of a New World Order: A Letter of Shoghi Effendi. II. The Way of the Master, by G. Townshcnd. III. Italy and the Baha'i Cause, by General Renato Piola Caselli. IV. The World Economy of Baha'u'llah, by Horace' Holley. V. Education as a Source of Good Will, by President Bayard Dodge. VI. Unity through Diversity: A Baha'i Principle, by Akin Locke, A.B., Ph.D. VII. A Short Chronicle of tAbdu'1-BahA's Visit to London, 19111912, by Lady Blomfield. VIII. Professor Auguste Forel and the Babi'i Teaching, by Stanwood Cobb. IX. A Tribute from Dr. Edmond Privat. X. A Visit to CAkk~ by Mrs. Alexander Whyte. XI. The First Fruits of Victory, by Keith Ransom-Keller. XII. Where Is the Key to World Unity, by Louise Drake Wright. XIII. A Visit to Baha, by Nancy Bowditch. XLV. Religion in Asia, by Herbert A. Miller. XV. China's Tribute to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. XVI. Appreciations of the Baha'i Movement, by Martha L. Root. XVII. The Supreme Affliction, by Alfred B Lunt. XVIII. The Baha'i Movement and North American University Circles, by Martha L. Root. XIX. Baha'i Ideals of Education, by Stanwood Cobb. XX. Man and Mankind on the Way of Progress, by Lydj a Zamenhof. XXI. The Epidemic of the Persian Jews, by A. J. Wienberg. XXII. The Younger Generation, by Mardiyyih Nabil Carpenter. XXIII. Light on Basic Unity, by Louis G. Gregory. XXIV. The Baha'i Movement in Japan, by Tokujiro Toni. XXV. Science and Religion, compiled by Loulie A. Mathews. XXVI. A Baha'i Traveler in Palestine, by Walter B. Guy, M.D. XXVII. Dr. David Starr Jordan, by Willard P. Hatch. Song-offerings. Echoes from the Spheres. [p712]