The greatest bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion, for
assuredly the divine teachings of religion are above all other sources of
instruction and development to man. Religion confers upon man eternal life
and guides his footsteps in the world of morality. It opens the doors of
unending happiness and bestows everlasting honor upon the human kingdom.
It has been the basis of all civilization and progress in the history of
mankind.
We will, therefore, investigate religion, seeking from an unprejudiced
standpoint to discover whether it is the source of illumination, the cause
of development and the animating impulse of all human advancement. We will
investigate independently, free from the restrictions of dogmatic beliefs,
blind imitations of ancestral forms and the influence of mere human
opinion; for as we enter this question, we will find some who declare that
religion is a cause of uplift and betterment in the world, while others
assert just as positively that it is a detriment and a source of
degradation to mankind. We must give these questions thorough and
impartial consideration so that no doubt or uncertainty may linger in our
minds regarding them.
How shall we determine whether religion has been the cause of human
advancement or retrogression?
We will first consider the Founders of the religions--the Prophets--review
the story of Their lives, compare the conditions preceding Their
appearance with those subsequent to Their departure, following historical
records and irrefutable facts instead of relying upon traditionary
statements which are open to both acceptance and denial.
Among the great Prophets was Abraham, Who, being an iconoclast and a
Herald of the oneness of God, was banished from His native land. He
founded a family upon which the blessing of God descended, and it was
owing to this religious basis and ordination that the Abrahamic house
progressed and advanced. Through the divine benediction noteworthy and
luminous prophets issued from His lineage. There appeared Isaac, Ishmael,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon. The Holy Land was
conquered by the power of the Covenant of God with Abraham, and the glory
of the Solomonic wisdom and sovereignty dawned. All this was due to the
religion of God which this blessed lineage established and upheld. It is
evident that throughout the history of Abraham and His posterity this was
the source of their honor, advancement and civilization. Even today the
descendants of His household and lineage are found throughout the world.
There is another and more significant aspect to this religious impulse and
impetus. The children of Israel were in bondage and captivity in the land
of Egypt four hundred years. They were in an extreme state of degradation
and slavery under the tyranny and oppression of the Egyptians. While they
were in the condition of abject poverty, in the lowest degree of
abasement, ignorance and servility, Moses suddenly appeared among them.
Although He was but a shepherd, such majesty, grandeur and efficiency
became manifest in Him through the power of religion that His influence
continues to this day. His Prophethood was established throughout the
land, and the law of His Word became the foundation of the laws of the
nations. This unique Personage, single and alone, rescued the children of
Israel from bondage through the power of religious training and
discipline. He led them to the Holy Land and founded there a great
civilization which has become permanent and renowned and under which these
people attained the highest degree of honor and glory. He freed them from
bondage and captivity. He imbued them with qualities of progressiveness
and capability. They proved to be a civilizing people with instincts
toward education and scholastic attainment. Their philosophy became
renowned; their industries were celebrated throughout the nations. In all
lines of advancement which characterize a progressive people they achieved
distinction. In the splendor of the reign of Solomon their sciences and
arts advanced to such a degree that even the Greek philosophers journeyed
to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of the Hebrew sages and acquire the basis
of Israelitish law. According to eastern history this is an established
fact. Even Socrates visited the Jewish doctors in the Holy Land,
consorting with them and discussing the principles and basis of their
religious belief. After his return to Greece he formulated his
philosophical teaching of divine unity and advanced his belief in the
immortality of the spirit beyond the dissolution of the body. Without
doubt, Socrates absorbed these verities from the wise men of the Jews with
whom he came in contact. Hippocrates and other philosophers of the Greeks
likewise visited Palestine and acquired wisdom from the Jewish prophets,
studying the basis of ethics and morality, returning to their country with
contributions which have made Greece famous.
When a movement fundamentally religious makes a weak nation strong,
changes a nondescript tribal people into a mighty and powerful
civilization, rescues them from captivity and elevates them to
sovereignty, transforms their ignorance into knowledge and endows them
with an impetus of advancement in all degrees of development (this is not
theory, but historical fact), it becomes evident that religion is the
cause of man's attainment to honor and sublimity.
But when we speak of religion, we mean the essential foundation or reality
of religion, not the dogmas and blind imitations which have gradually
encrusted it and which are the cause of the decline and effacement of a
nation. These are inevitably destructive and a menace and hindrance to a
nation's life--even as it is recorded in the Torah and confirmed in history
that when the Jews became fettered by empty forms and imitations, the
wrath of God became manifest. When they forsook the foundations of the law
of God, Nebuchadnezzar came and conquered the Holy Land. He killed and
made captive the people of Israel, laid waste the country and populous
cities and burned the villages. Seventy thousand Jews were carried away
captive to Babylon. He destroyed Jerusalem, despoiled the great Temple,
desecrated the Holy of Holies and burned the Torah, the heavenly book of
Scriptures. Therefore, we learn that allegiance to the essential
foundation of the divine religions is ever the cause of development and
progress, whereas the abandonment and beclouding of that essential reality
through blind imitations and adherence to dogmatic beliefs are the causes
of a nation's debasement and degradation. After their conquest by the
Babylonians the Jews were successively subjugated by the Greeks and
Romans. Under the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70 the Holy Land was
stripped and pillaged, Jerusalem razed to its foundations and the
Israelites scattered broadcast throughout the world. So complete was their
dispersion that they have continued without a country and government of
their own to the present day.
From this review of the history of the Jewish people we learn that the
foundation of the religion of God laid by Moses was the cause of their
eternal honor and national prestige, the animating impulse of their
advancement and racial supremacy and the source of that excellence which
will always command the respect and reverence of those who understand
their peculiar destiny and outcome. The dogmas and blind imitations which
gradually obscured the reality of the religion of God proved to be
Israel's destructive influences, causing the expulsion of these chosen
people from the Holy Land of their Covenant and promise.
What, then, is the mission of the divine Prophets? Their mission is the
education and advancement of the world of humanity. They are the real
Teachers and Educators, the universal Instructors of mankind. If we wish
to discover whether any one of these great Souls or Messengers was in
reality a Prophet of God, we must investigate the facts surrounding His
life and history, and the first point of our investigation will be the
education He bestowed upon mankind. If He has been an Educator, if He has
really trained a nation or people, causing it to rise from the lowest
depths of ignorance to the highest station of knowledge, then we are sure
that He was a Prophet. This is a plain and clear method of procedure,
proof that is irrefutable. We do not need to seek after other proofs. We
do not need to mention miracles, saying that out of rock water gushed
forth, for such miracles and statements may be denied and refused by those
who hear them. The deeds of Moses are conclusive evidences of His
Prophethood. If a man be fair, unbiased and willing to investigate
reality, he will undoubtedly testify to the fact that Moses was, verily, a
man of God and a great Personage.
In further consideration of this subject, I wish you to be fair and
reasonable in your judgment, setting aside all religious prejudices. We
should earnestly seek and thoroughly investigate realities, recognizing
that the purpose of the religion of God is the education of humanity and
the unity and fellowship of mankind. Furthermore, we will establish the
point that the foundations of the religions of God are one foundation.
This foundation is not multiple, for it is reality itself. Reality does
not admit of multiplicity, although each of the divine religions is
separable into two divisions. One concerns the world of morality and the
ethical training of human nature. It is directed to the advancement of the
world of humanity in general; it reveals and inculcates the knowledge of
God and makes possible the discovery of the verities of life. This is
ideal and spiritual teaching, the essential quality of divine religion,
and not subject to change or transformation. It is the one foundation of
all the religions of God. Therefore, the religions are essentially one and
the same.
The second classification or division comprises social laws and
regulations applicable to human conduct. This is not the essential
spiritual quality of religion. It is subject to change and transformation
according to the exigencies and requirements of time and place. For
instance, in the time of Noah certain requirements made it necessary that
all seafood be allowable or lawful. During the time of the Abrahamic
Prophethood it was considered allowable, because of a certain exigency,
that a man should marry his aunt, even as Sarah was the sister of
Abraham's mother. During the cycle of Adam it was lawful and expedient for
a man to marry his own sister, even as Abel, Cain and Seth, the sons of
Adam, married their sisters. But in the law of the Pentateuch revealed by
Moses these marriages were forbidden and their custom and sanction
abrogated. Other laws formerly valid were annulled during the time of
Moses. For example, it was lawful in Abraham's cycle to eat the flesh of
the camel, but during the time of Jacob this was prohibited. Such changes
and transformations in the teaching of religion are applicable to the
ordinary conditions of life, but they are not important or essential.
Moses lived in the wilderness of Sinai where crime necessitated direct
punishment. There were no penitentiaries or penalties of imprisonment.
Therefore, according to the exigency of the time and place it was a law of
God that an eye should be given for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It
would not be practicable to enforce this law at the present time--for
instance, to blind a man who accidentally blinded you. In the Torah there
are many commands concerning the punishment of a murderer. It would not be
allowable or possible to carry out these ordinances today. Human
conditions and exigencies are such that even the question of capital
punishment--the one penalty which most nations have continued to enforce
for murder--is now under discussion by wise men who are debating its
advisability. In fact, laws for the ordinary conditions of life are only
valid temporarily. The exigencies of the time of Moses justified cutting
off a man's hand for theft, but such a penalty is not allowable now. Time
changes conditions, and laws change to suit conditions. We must remember
that these changing laws are not the essentials; they are the accidentals
of religion. The essential ordinances established by a Manifestation of
God are spiritual; they concern moralities, the ethical development of man
and faith in God. They are ideal and necessarily permanent--expressions of
the one foundation and not amenable to change or transformation.
Therefore, the fundamental basis of the revealed religion of God is
immutable, unchanging throughout the centuries, not subject to the varying
conditions of the human world.
Christ ratified and proclaimed the foundation of the law of Moses.
Muhammad and all the Prophets have revoiced that same foundation of
reality. Therefore, the purposes and accomplishments of the divine
Messengers have been one and the same. They were the source of advancement
to the body politic and the cause of the honor and divine civilization of
humanity, the foundation of which is one and the same in every
dispensation. It is evident, then, that the proofs of the validity and
inspiration of a Prophet of God are the deeds of beneficent accomplishment
and greatness emanating from Him. If He proves to be instrumental in the
elevation and betterment of mankind, He is undoubtedly a valid and
heavenly Messenger.
I wish you to be reasonable and just in your consideration of the
following statements:
At the time when the Israelites had been dispersed by the power of the
Roman Empire and the national life of the Hebrew people had been effaced
by their conquerors--when the law of God had seemingly passed from them and
the foundation of the religion of God was apparently destroyed--Jesus
Christ appeared. When He arose among the Jews, the first thing He did was
to proclaim the validity of the Manifestation of Moses. He declared that
the Torah, the Old Testament, was the Book of God and that all the
prophets of Israel were valid and true. He extolled the mission of Moses,
and through His proclamation the name of Moses was spread throughout the
world. Through Christianity the greatness of Moses became known among all
nations. It is a fact that before the appearance of Christ, the name of
Moses had not been heard in Persia. In India they had no knowledge of
Judaism, and it was only through the Christianizing of Europe that the
teachings of the Old Testament became spread in that region. Throughout
Europe there was not a copy of the Old Testament. But consider this
carefully and judge it aright: Through the instrumentality of Christ,
through the translation of the New Testament, the little volume of the
Gospel, the Old Testament, the Torah, has been translated into six hundred
languages and spread everywhere in the world. The names of the Hebrew
prophets became household words among the nations, who believed that the
children of Israel were, verily, the chosen people of God, a holy nation
under the especial blessing and protection of God, and that, therefore,
the prophets who had arisen in Israel were the daysprings of revelation
and brilliant stars in the heaven of the will of God.
Therefore, Christ really promulgated Judaism; for he was a Jew and not
opposed to the Jews. He did not deny the Prophethood of Moses; on the
contrary, He proclaimed and ratified it. He did not invalidate the Torah;
He spread its teachings. That portion of the ordinances of Moses which
concerned transactions and unimportant conditions underwent
transformation, but the essential teachings of Moses were revoiced and
confirmed by Christ without change. He left nothing unfinished or
incomplete. Likewise, through the supreme efficacy and power of the Word
of God He united most of the nations of the East and the West. This was
accomplished at a time when these nations were opposed to each other in
hostility and strife. He led them beneath the overshadowing tent of the
oneness of humanity. He educated them until they became united and agreed,
and through His spirit of conciliation the Roman, Greek, Chaldean and
Egyptian were blended in a composite civilization. This wonderful power
and extraordinary efficacy of the Word prove conclusively the validity of
Christ. Consider how His heavenly sovereignty is still permanent and
lasting. Verily, this is conclusive proof and manifest evidence.
From another horizon we see Muhammad, the Prophet of Arabia, appearing.
You may not know that the first address of Muhammad to His tribe was the
statement, "Verily, Moses was a Prophet of God, and the Torah is a Book of
God. Verily, O ye people, ye must believe in the Torah, in Moses and the
prophets. Ye must accept all the prophets of Israel as valid." In the
Qur'an, the Muslim Bible, there are seven statements or repetitions of the
Mosaic narrative, and in all the historic accounts Moses is praised.
Muhammad announces that Moses was the greatest Prophet of God, that God
guided Him in the wilderness of Sinai, that through the light of guidance
Moses hearkened to the summons of God, that He was the Interlocutor of God
and the bearer of the tablet of the Ten Commandments, that all the
contemporary nations of the world arose against Him and that eventually
Moses conquered them, for falsehood and error are ever overcome by truth.
There are many other instances of Muhammad's confirmation of Moses. I am
mentioning but a few. Consider that Muhammad was born among the savage and
barbarous tribes of Arabia, lived among them and was outwardly illiterate
and uninformed of the Holy Books of God. The Arabian people were in the
utmost ignorance and barbarism. They buried their infant daughters alive,
considering this to be an evidence of a valorous and lofty nature. They
lived in bondage and serfdom under the Persian and Roman governments and
were scattered throughout the desert, engaged in continual strife and
bloodshed. When the light of Muhammad dawned, the darkness of ignorance
was dispelled from the deserts of Arabia. In a short period of time those
barbarous peoples attained a superlative degree of civilization which,
with Ba_gh_dad as its center, extended as far westward as Spain and
afterward influenced the greater part of Europe. What proof of Prophethood
could be greater than this, unless we close our eyes to justice and remain
obstinately opposed to reason?
Today the Christians are believers in Moses, accept Him as a Prophet of
God and praise Him most highly. The Muslims are, likewise, believers in
Moses, accept the validity of His Prophethood, at the same time believing
in Christ. Could it be said that the acceptance of Moses by the Christians
and Muslims has been harmful and detrimental to those people? On the
contrary, it has been beneficial to them, proving that they have been
fair-minded and just. What harm could result to the Jewish people, then,
if they in return should accept Christ and acknowledge the validity of the
Prophethood of Muhammad? By this acceptance and praiseworthy attitude the
enmity and hatred which have afflicted mankind so many centuries would be
dispelled, fanaticism and bloodshed pass away and the world be blessed by
unity and agreement. Christians and Muslims believe and admit that Moses
was the Interlocutor of God. Why do you not say that Christ was the Word
of God? Why do you not speak these few words that will do away with all
this difficulty? Then there will be no more hatred and fanaticism, no more
warfare and bloodshed in the Land of Promise. Then there will be peace
among you forever.
Verily, I now declare to you that Moses was the Interlocutor of God and a
most noteworthy Prophet, that Moses revealed the fundamental law of God
and founded the real ethical basis of the civilization and progress of
humanity. What harm is there in this? Have I lost anything by saying this
to you and believing it as a Baha'i? On the contrary, it benefits me; and
Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Movement, confirms me, saying, "You
have been fair and just in your judgment; you have impartially
investigated the truth and arrived at a true conclusion; you have
announced your belief in Moses, a Prophet of God, and accepted the Torah,
the Book of God." Inasmuch as it is possible for me to sweep away all
evidences of prejudice by such a liberal and universal statement of
belief, why is it not possible for you to do likewise? Why not put an end
to this religious strife and establish a bond of connection between the
hearts of men? Why should not the followers of one religion praise the
Founder or Teacher of another? The other religionists extol the greatness
of Moses and admit that He was the Founder of Judaism. Why do the Hebrews
refuse to praise and accept the other great Messengers Who have appeared
in the world? What harm could there be in this? What rightful objection?
None whatever. You would lose nothing by such action and statement. On the
contrary, you would contribute to the welfare of mankind. You would be
instrumental in establishing the happiness of the world of humanity. The
eternal honor of man depends upon the liberalism of this modern age.
Inasmuch as our God is one God and the Creator of all mankind, He provides
for and protects all. We acknowledge Him as a God of kindness, justice and
mercy. Why then should we, His children and followers, war and fight,
bringing sorrow and grief into the hearts of each other? God is loving and
merciful. His intention in religion has ever been the bond of unity and
affinity between humankind.
Praise be to God! The medieval ages of darkness have passed away and this
century of radiance has dawned, this century wherein the reality of things
is becoming evident, wherein science is penetrating the mysteries of the
universe, the oneness of the world of humanity is being established, and
service to mankind is the paramount motive of all existence. Shall we
remain steeped in our fanaticisms and cling to our prejudices? Is it
fitting that we should still be bound and restricted by ancient fables and
superstitions of the past, be handicapped by superannuated beliefs and the
ignorances of dark ages, waging religious wars, fighting and shedding
blood, shunning and anathematizing each other? Is this becoming? Is it not
better for us to be loving and considerate toward each other? Is it not
preferable to enjoy fellowship and unity, join in anthems of praise to the
most high God and extol all His Prophets in the spirit of acceptance and
true vision? Then, indeed, this world will become a paradise, and the
promised Day of God will dawn. Then, according to the prophecy of Isaiah,
the wolf and the lamb will drink from the same stream, the owl and the
vulture will nest together in the same branches, and the lion and the calf
pasture in the same meadow. What does this mean? It means that fierce and
contending religions, hostile creeds and divergent beliefs will reconcile
and associate, notwithstanding their former hatreds and antagonism.
Through the liberalism of human attitude demanded in this radiant century
they will blend together in perfect fellowship and love. This is the
spirit and meaning of Isaiah's words. There will never be a day when this
prophecy will come to pass literally, for these animals by their natures
cannot mingle and associate in kindness and love. Therefore, this prophecy
symbolizes the unity and agreement of races, nations and peoples who will
come together in attitudes of intelligence, illumination and spirituality.
The age has dawned when human fellowship will become a reality.
The century has come when all religions shall be unified.
The dispensation is at hand when all nations shall enjoy the blessings of
international peace.
The cycle has arrived when racial prejudice will be abandoned by tribes
and peoples of the world.
The epoch has begun wherein all native lands will be conjoined in one
great human family.
For all mankind shall dwell in peace and security beneath the shelter of
the great tabernacle of the one living God.
25 October 1912
Talk at Hotel Sacramento
Sacramento, California