Tonight I am very happy, for I have come here to meet my friends. I
consider you my relatives, my companions; and I am your comrade.
You must be thankful to God that you are poor, for Jesus Christ has said,
"Blessed are the poor." He never said, "Blessed are the rich." He said,
too, that the Kingdom is for the poor and that it is easier for a camel to
enter a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter God's Kingdom.
Therefore, you must be thankful to God that although in this world you are
indigent, yet the treasures of God are within your reach; and although in
the material realm you are poor, yet in the Kingdom of God you are
precious. Jesus Himself was poor. He did not belong to the rich. He passed
His time in the desert, traveling among the poor, and lived upon the herbs
of the field. He had no place to lay His head, no home. He was exposed in
the open to heat, cold and frost--to inclement weather of all kinds--yet He
chose this rather than riches. If riches were considered a glory, the
Prophet Moses would have chosen them; Jesus would have been a rich man.
When Jesus Christ appeared, it was the poor who first accepted Him, not
the rich. Therefore, you are the disciples of Jesus Christ; you are His
comrades, for He outwardly was poor, not rich. Even this earth's happiness
does not depend upon wealth. You will find many of the wealthy exposed to
dangers and troubled by difficulties, and in their last moments upon the
bed of death there remains the regret that they must be separated from
that to which their hearts are so attached. They come into this world
naked, and they must go from it naked. All they possess they must leave
behind and pass away solitary, alone. Often at the time of death their
souls are filled with remorse; and worst of all, their hope in the mercy
of God is less than ours. Praise be to God! Our hope is in the mercy of
God, and there is no doubt that the divine compassion is bestowed upon the
poor. Jesus Christ said so; Baha'u'llah said so. While Baha'u'llah was in
Ba_gh_dad, still in possession of great wealth, He left all He had and
went alone from the city, living two years among the poor. They were His
comrades. He ate with them, slept with them and gloried in being one of
them. He chose for one of His names the title of The Poor One and often in
His Writings refers to Himself as Darvi_sh_, which in Persian means poor;
and of this title He was very proud. He admonished all that we must be the
servants of the poor, helpers of the poor, remember the sorrows of the
poor, associate with them; for thereby we may inherit the Kingdom of
heaven. God has not said that there are mansions prepared for us if we
pass our time associating with the rich, but He has said there are many
mansions prepared for the servants of the poor, for the poor are very dear
to God. The mercies and bounties of God are with them. The rich are mostly
negligent, inattentive, steeped in worldliness, depending upon their
means, whereas the poor are dependent upon God, and their reliance is upon
Him, not upon themselves. Therefore, the poor are nearer the threshold of
God and His throne.
Jesus was a poor man. One night when He was out in the fields, the rain
began to fall. He had no place to go for shelter so He lifted His eyes
toward heaven, saying, "O Father! For the birds of the air Thou hast
created nests, for the sheep a fold, for the animals dens, for the fish
places of refuge, but for Me Thou hast provided no shelter. There is no
place where I may lay My head. My bed consists of the cold ground; My
lamps at night are the stars, and My food is the grass of the field. Yet
who upon earth is richer than I? For the greatest blessing Thou hast not
given to the rich and mighty but unto Me, for Thou hast given Me the poor.
To me Thou hast granted this blessing. They are Mine. Therefore am I the
richest man on earth."
So, my comrades, you are following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Your
lives are similar to His life; your attitude is like unto His; you
resemble Him more than the rich do. Therefore, we will thank God that we
have been so blessed with real riches. And in conclusion, I ask you to
accept 'Abdu'l-Baha as your servant.
At the end of this meeting, 'Abdu'l-Baha stood at the Bowery entrance to
the Mission hall, shaking hands with four or five hundred men and placing
within each palm a piece of silver.