This is a goodly temple and congregation, for--praise be to God!--this is a
house of worship wherein conscientious opinion has free sway. Every
religion and every religious aspiration may be freely voiced and expressed
here. Just as in the world of politics there is need for free thought,
likewise in the world of religion there should be the right of
unrestricted individual belief. Consider what a vast difference exists
between modern democracy and the old forms of despotism. Under an
autocratic government the opinions of men are not free, and development is
stifled, whereas in democracy, because thought and speech are not
restricted, the greatest progress is witnessed. It is likewise true in the
world of religion. When freedom of conscience, liberty of thought and
right of speech prevail--that is to say, when every man according to his
own idealization may give expression to his beliefs--development and growth
are inevitable. Therefore, this is a blessed church because its pulpit is
open to every religion, the ideals of which may be set forth with openness
and freedom. For this reason I am most grateful to the reverend doctor; I
find him indeed a servant of the oneness of humanity.
The holy Manifestations Who have been the Sources or Founders of the
various religious systems were united and agreed in purpose and teaching.
Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab and
Baha'u'llah are one in spirit and reality. Moreover, each Prophet
fulfilled the promise of the One Who came before Him and, likewise, Each
announced the One Who would follow. Consider how Abraham foretold the
coming of Moses, and Moses embodied the Abrahamic statement. Moses
prophesied the Messianic cycle, and Christ fulfilled the law of Moses. It
is evident, therefore, that the Holy Manifestations Who founded the
religious systems are united and agreed; there is no differentiation
possible in Their mission and teachings; all are reflectors of reality,
and all are promulgators of the religion of God. The divine religion is
reality, and reality is not multiple; it is one. Therefore, the
foundations of the religious systems are one because all proceed from the
indivisible reality; but the followers of these systems have disagreed;
discord, strife and warfare have arisen among them, for they have forsaken
the foundation and held to that which is but imitation and semblance.
Inasmuch as imitations differ, enmity and dissension have resulted. For
example, Jesus Christ--may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him!--laid the
foundation of eternal reality, but after His departure many sects and
divisions appeared in Christianity. What was the cause of this? There is
no doubt that they originated in dogmatic imitations, for the foundations
of Christ were reality itself, in which no divergence exists. When
imitations appeared, sects and denominations were formed.
If Christians of all denominations and divisions should investigate
reality, the foundations of Christ will unite them. No enmity or hatred
will remain, for they will all be under the one guidance of reality
itself. Likewise, in the wider field if all the existing religious systems
will turn away from ancestral imitations and investigate reality, seeking
the real meanings of the Holy Books, they will unite and agree upon the
same foundation, reality itself. As long as they follow counterfeit
doctrines or imitations instead of reality, animosity and discord will
exist and increase. Let me illustrate this. Moses and the prophets of
Israel announced the advent of the Messiah but expressed it in the
language of symbols. When Christ appeared, the Jews rejected Him, although
they were expecting His manifestation and in their temples and synagogues
were crying and lamenting, saying, "O God, hasten the coming of the
Messiah!" Why did they deny Him when He announced Himself? Because they
had followed ancestral forms and interpretations and were blind to the
reality of Christ. They had not perceived the inner significances of the
Holy Bible. They voiced their objections, saying, "We are expecting
Christ, but His coming is conditioned upon certain fulfillments and
prophetic announcements. Among the signs of His appearance is one that He
shall come from an unknown place, whereas now this claimant of Messiahship
has come from Nazareth. We know his home, and we are acquainted with his
mother.
"Second, one of the signs or Messianic conditions is that His scepter
would be an iron rod, and this Christ has not even a wooden staff.
"Third, He was to be seated upon the throne of David, whereas this
Messianic king is in the utmost state of poverty and has not even a mat.
"Fourth, He was to conquer the East and the West. This person has not even
conquered a village. How can he be the Messiah?
"Fifth, He was to promulgate the laws of the Bible. This one has not only
failed to promulgate the laws of the Bible, but he has broken the law of
the sabbath.
"Sixth, the Messiah was to gather together all the Jews who were scattered
in Palestine and restore them to honor and prestige, but this one has
degraded the Jews instead of uplifting them.
"Seventh, during His sovereignty even the animals were to enjoy blessings
and comfort, for according to the prophetic texts, He should establish
peace to such a universal extent that the eagle and quail would live
together, the lion and deer would feed in the same meadow, the wolf and
lamb would lie down in the same pasture. In the human kingdom warfare was
to cease entirely; spears would be turned into pruning hooks and swords
into plowshares. Now we see in the day of this would-be Messiah such
injustice prevails that even he himself is sacrificed. How could he be the
promised Christ?"
And so they spoke infamous words regarding Him.
Now inasmuch as the Jews were submerged in the sea of ancestral
imitations, they could not comprehend the meaning of these prophecies. All
the words of the prophets were fulfilled, but because the Jews held
tenaciously to hereditary interpretations, they did not understand the
inner meanings of the Holy Bible; therefore, they denied Jesus Christ, the
Messiah. The purpose of the prophetic words was not the outward or literal
meaning, but the inner symbolical significance. For example, it was
announced that the Messiah was to come from an unknown place. This did not
refer to the birthplace of the physical body of Jesus. It has reference to
the reality of the Christ--that is to say, the Christ reality was to appear
from the invisible realm--for the divine reality of Christ is holy and
sanctified above place.
His sword was to be a sword of iron. This signified His tongue which
should separate the true from the false and by which great sword of attack
He would conquer the kingdoms of hearts. He did not conquer by the
physical power of an iron rod; He conquered the East and the West by the
sword of His utterance.
He was seated upon the throne of David, but His sovereignty was neither a
Napoleonic sovereignty nor the vanishing dominion of a Pharaoh. The Christ
Kingdom was everlasting, eternal in the heaven of the divine Will.
By His promulgating the laws of the Bible the reality of the law of Moses
was meant. The Sinaitic law is the foundation of the reality of
Christianity. Christ promulgated it and gave it higher, spiritual
expression.
He conquered and subdued the East and West. His conquest was effected
through the breaths of the Holy Spirit, which eliminated all boundaries
and shone from all horizons.
In His day, according to prophecy, the wolf and the lamb were to drink
from the same fountain. This was realized in Christ. The fountain referred
to was the Gospel, from which the water of life gushes forth. The wolf and
lamb are opposed and divergent races symbolized by these animals. Their
meeting and association were impossible, but having become believers in
Jesus Christ those who were formerly as wolves and lambs became united
through the words of the Gospel.
The purport is that all the meanings of the prophecies were fulfilled, but
because the Jews were captives of ancestral imitations and did not
perceive the reality of the meanings of these words, they denied Christ;
nay, they even went so far as to crucify Him. Consider how harmful is
imitation. These were interpretations handed down from fathers and
ancestors, and because the Jews held fast to them, they were deprived.
It is evident, then, that we must forsake all such imitations and beliefs
so that we may not commit this error. We must investigate reality, lay
aside selfish notions and banish hearsay from our minds. The Jews consider
Christ the enemy of Moses, whereas, on the contrary, Christ promoted the
Word of Moses. He spread the name of Moses throughout the Orient and
Occident. He promulgated the teachings of Moses. Had it not been for
Christ, you would not have heard the name of Moses; and unless the
manifestation of Messiahship had appeared in Christ, we would not have
received the Old Testament.
The truth is that Christ fulfilled the Mosaic law and in every way upheld
Moses; but the Jews, blinded by imitations and prejudices, considered Him
the enemy of Moses.
Among the great religious systems of the world is Islam. About three
hundred million people acknowledge it. For more than a thousand years
there has been enmity and strife between Muslims and Christians, owing to
misunderstanding and spiritual blindness. If prejudices and imitations
were abandoned, there would be no enmity whatever between them, and these
hundreds of millions of antagonistic religionists would adorn the world of
humanity by their unity.
I wish now to call your attention to a most important point. All Islam
considers the Qur'an the Word of God. In this sacred Book there are
explicit texts which are not traditional, stating that Christ was the Word
of God, that He was the Spirit of God, that Jesus Christ came into this
world through the quickening breaths of the Holy Spirit and that Mary, His
mother, was holy and sanctified. In the Qur'an a whole chapter is devoted
to the story of Jesus. It records that in the time of His youth He
worshiped God in the temple at Jerusalem, that manna descended from heaven
for His sustenance and that He uttered words immediately after His birth.
In brief, in the Qur'an there is eulogy and commendation of Christ such as
you do not find in the Gospel. The Gospel does not record that the child
Jesus spoke at birth or that God caused sustenance to descend from heaven
for Him, but in the Qur'an it is repeatedly stated that God sent down
manna day by day as food for Him. Furthermore, it is significant and
convincing that when Muhammad proclaimed His work and mission, His first
objection to His own followers was, "Why have you not believed on Jesus
Christ? Why have you not accepted the Gospel? Why have you not believed in
Moses? Why have you not followed the precepts of the Old Testament? Why
have you not understood the prophets of Israel? Why have you not believed
in the disciples of Christ? The first duty incumbent upon ye, O Arabians,
is to accept and believe in these. You must consider Moses as a Prophet.
You must accept Jesus Christ as the Word of God. You must know the Old and
the New Testaments as the Word of God. You must believe in Jesus Christ as
the product of the Holy Spirit." His people answered, "O Muhammad! We will
become believers although our fathers and ancestors were not believers,
and we are proud of them. Tell us what is going to become of them?"
Muhammad replied, "I declare unto you that they occupy the lowest stratum
of hell because they did not believe in Moses and Christ and because they
did not accept the Bible; and although they are my own ancestors, yet they
are in despair in hell." This is an explicit text of the Qur'an; it is not
a story or tradition but from the Qur'an itself, which is in the hands of
the people. Therefore, it is evident that ignorance and misunderstanding
have caused so much warfare and strife between Christians and Muslims. If
both should investigate the underlying truth of their religious beliefs,
the outcome would be unity and agreement; strife and bitterness would pass
away forever and the world of humanity find peace and composure. Consider
that there are two hundred and fifty million Christians and three hundred
million Muslims. How much blood has flowed in their wars; how many nations
have been destroyed; how many children have been made fatherless; how many
fathers and mothers have mourned the loss of children and dear ones! All
this has been due to prejudice, misunderstanding and imitations of
ancestral beliefs without investigation of reality. If the Holy Books were
rightly understood, none of this discord and distress would have existed,
but love and fellowship would have prevailed instead. This is true with
all the other religions as well. The conditions I have named will apply
equally to all. The essential purpose of the religion of God is to
establish unity among mankind. The divine Manifestations were Founders of
the means of fellowship and love. They did not come to create discord,
strife and hatred in the world. The religion of God is the cause of love,
but if it is made to be the source of enmity and bloodshed, surely its
absence is preferable to its existence; for then it becomes satanic,
detrimental and an obstacle to the human world.
In the Orient the various peoples and nations were in a state of
antagonism and strife, manifesting the utmost enmity and hatred toward
each other. Darkness encompassed the world of mankind. At such a time as
this Baha'u'llah appeared. He removed all the imitations and prejudices
which had caused separation and misunderstanding and laid the foundation
of the one religion of God. When this was accomplished, Muslims,
Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Buddhists all were united in actual
fellowship and love. The souls who followed Baha'u'llah from every nation
have become as one family living in agreement and accord, willing to
sacrifice life for each other. The Muslim will give his life for the
Christian, the Christian for the Jew and all of them for the Zoroastrian.
They live together in love, fellowship and unity. They have attained to
the condition of rebirth in the Spirit of God. They have become revivified
and regenerated through the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Praise be to God!
This light has come forth from the East, and eventually there shall be no
discord or enmity in the Orient. Through the power of Baha'u'llah all will
be united. He upraised this standard of the oneness of humanity in prison.
When subjected to banishment by two kings, while a refugee from enemies of
all nations and during the days of His long imprisonment He wrote to the
kings and rulers of the world in words of wonderful eloquence, arraigning
them severely and summoning them to the divine standard of unity and
justice. He exhorted them to peace and international agreement, making it
incumbent upon them to establish a board of international arbitration--that
from all nations and governments of the world there should be delegates
selected for a congress of nations which should constitute a universal
arbitral court of justice to settle international disputes. He wrote to
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of
Germany, Napoleon III of France and others, inviting them to world unity
and peace. Through a heavenly power He was enabled to promulgate these
ideals in the Orient. Kings could not withstand Him. They endeavored to
extinguish His light but served only to increase its intensity and
illumination. While in prison He stood against the _Sh_ah of Persia and
Sultan of Turkey and promulgated His teachings until He firmly established
the banner of truth and the oneness of humankind. I was a prisoner with
Him for forty years until the Young Turks of the Committee of Union and
Progress overthrew the despotism of 'Abdu'l-Hamid, dethroned him and
proclaimed liberty. This committee set me free from tyranny and
oppression; otherwise, I should have been in prison until the days of my
life were ended. The purport is this: that Baha'u'llah in prison was able
to proclaim and establish the foundations of peace although two despotic
kings were His enemies and oppressors. The King of Persia, Nasiri'd-Din
_Sh_ah, had killed twenty thousand Baha'is, martyrs who in absolute
severance and complete willingness offered their lives joyfully for their
faith. These two powerful and tyrannical kings could not withstand a
prisoner; this Prisoner upheld the standard of humanity and brought the
people of the Orient into agreement and unity. Today in the East, only
those who have not followed Baha'u'llah are in opposition and enmity. The
people of the nations who have accepted Him as the standard of divine
guidance enjoy a condition of actual fellowship and love. If you should
attend a meeting in the East, you could not distinguish between Christian
and Muslim; you would not know which was Jew, Zoroastrian or Buddhist, so
completely have they become fraternized and their religious differences
been leveled. They associate in the utmost love and spiritual fragrance as
if they belonged to one family, as if they were one people.
17 June 1912
Talk at 309 West Seventy-eighth Street, New York