We may vainly search in the records of the earliest beginnings of any of
the recognized religions of the past for episodes as thrilling in their
details, or as far-reaching in their consequences, as those that illumine
the pages of the history of this Faith. The almost incredible
circumstances attending the martyrdom of that youthful Prince of Glory;
the forces of barbaric repression which this tragedy subsequently
released; the manifestations of unsurpassed heroism to which it gave rise;
the exhortations and warnings which have streamed from the pen of the
Divine Prisoner in His Epistles to the potentates of the Church and the
monarchs and rulers of the world; the undaunted loyalty with which our
brethren are battling in Muslim countries with the forces of religious
orthodoxy--these may be reckoned as the most outstanding features of what
the world will come to recognize as the greatest drama in the world's
spiritual history.
I need not recall, in this connection, the unfortunate episodes that have,
admittedly, and to a very great extent, marred the early history of both
Judaism and Islam. Nor is it necessary to stress the damaging effect of
the excesses, the rivalries and divisions, the fanatical outbursts and
acts of ingratitude that are associated with the early development of the
people of Israel and with the militant career of the ruthless pioneers of
the Faith of Muhammad.
It would be sufficient for my purpose to call attention to the great
number of those who, in the first two centuries of the Christian era,
"purchased an ignominious life by betraying the holy Scriptures into the
hands of the infidels," the scandalous conduct of those bishops who were
thereby branded as traitors, the discord of the African Church, the
gradual infiltration into Christian doctrine of the principles of the
Mithraic cult, of the Alexandrian school of thought, of the precepts of
Zoroastrianism and of Grecian philosophy, and the adoption by the churches
of Greece and of Asia of the institutions of provincial synods of a model
which they borrowed from the representative councils of their respective
countries.
How great was the obstinacy with which the Jewish converts among the early
Christians adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors, and how fervent
their eagerness to impose them on the Gentiles! Were not the first fifteen
bishops of Jerusalem all circumcised Jews, and had not the congregation
over which they presided united the laws of Moses with the doctrine of
Christ? Is it not a fact that no more than a twentieth part of the
subjects of the Roman Empire had enlisted themselves under the standard of
Christ before the conversion of Constantine? Was not the ruin of the
Temple, in the city of Jerusalem, and of the public religion of the Jews,
severely felt by the so-called Nazarenes, who persevered, above a century,
in the practice of the Mosaic Law?
How striking the contrast when we remember, in the light of the
afore-mentioned facts, the number of those followers of Baha'u'llah who,
in Persia and the adjoining countries, had enlisted at the time of His
Ascension as the convinced supporters of His Faith! How encouraging to
observe the undeviating loyalty with which His valiant followers are
guarding the purity and integrity of His clear and unequivocal teachings!
How edifying the spectacle of those who are battling with the forces of a
firmly intrenched orthodoxy in their struggle to emancipate themselves
from the fetters of an outworn creed! How inspiring the conduct of those
Muslim followers of Baha'u'llah who view, not with regret or apathy, but
with feelings of unconcealed satisfaction, the deserved chastisement which
the Almighty has inflicted upon those twin institutions of the Sultanate
and the Caliphate, those engines of despotism and sworn enemies of the
Cause of God!