To the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout
the United States and Canada.
Friends and fellow-promoters of the Faith of God:
Forty years will have elapsed ere the close of this coming summer since
the name of Baha'u'llah was first mentioned on the American continent.
Strange indeed must appear to every observer, pondering in his heart the
significance of so great a landmark in the spiritual history of the great
American Republic, the circumstances which have attended this first public
reference to the Author of our beloved Faith. Stranger still must seem the
associations which the brief words uttered on that historic occasion must
have evoked in the minds of those who heard them.
Of pomp and circumstance, of any manifestations of public rejoicing or of
popular applause, there were none to greet this first intimation(1) to
America's citizens of the existence and purpose of the Revelation
proclaimed by Baha'u'llah. Nor did he who was its chosen instrument
profess himself a believer in the indwelling potency of the tidings he
conveyed, or suspect the magnitude of the forces which so cursory a
mention was destined to release.
Announced through the mouth of an avowed supporter of that narrow
ecclesiasticism which the Faith itself has challenged and seeks to
extirpate, characterized at the moment of its birth as an obscure offshoot
of a contemptible creed, the Message of the Most Great Name, fed by
streams of unceasing trial and warmed by the sunshine of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
tender care, has succeeded in driving its roots deep into America's genial
soil, has in less than half a century sent out its shoots and tendrils as
far as the remotest corners of the globe, and now stands, clothed in the
majesty of the consecrated Edifice it has reared in the heart of that
continent, determined to proclaim its right and vindicate its capacity to
redeem a stricken people. Unsupported by any of the advantages which
talent, rank and riches can confer, the community of the American
believers, despite its tender age, its numerical strength, its limited
experience, has by virtue of the inspired wisdom, the united will, the
incorruptible loyalty of its administrators and teachers achieved the
distinction of an undisputed leadership among its sister communities of
East and West in hastening the advent of the Golden Age anticipated by
Baha'u'llah.
And yet how grave the crises which this infant, this blessed, community
has weathered in the course of its checkered history! How slow and painful
the process that gradually brought it forth from the obscurity of
unmitigated neglect to the broad daylight of public recognition! How
severe the shocks which the ranks of its devoted adherents have sustained
through the defection of the faint in heart, the malice of the
mischief-maker, the treachery of the proud and the ambitious! What storms
of ridicule, of abuse and of calumny its representatives have had to face
in their staunch support of the integrity, and their valiant defense of
the fair name, of the Faith they had espoused! How persistent the
vicissitudes and disconcerting the reverses with which its privileged
members, young and old alike, individually and collectively, have had to
contend in their heroic endeavors to scale the heights which a loving
Master had summoned them to attain!
Many and powerful have been its enemies who, as soon as they discovered
the evidences of the growing ascendancy of its declared supporters, have
vied with one another in hurling at its face the vilest imputations and in
pouring out upon the Object of its devotion the vials of their fiercest
wrath. How often have these sneered at the scantiness of its resources and
the seeming stagnation of its life! How bitterly they ridiculed its
origins and, misconceiving its purpose, dismissed it as a useless
appendage of an expiring creed! Have they not in their written attacks
stigmatized the heroic person of the Forerunner of so holy a Revelation as
a coward recanter, a perverted apostate, and denounced the entire range of
His voluminous writings as the idle chatter of a thoughtless man? Have
they not chosen to ascribe to its divine Founder the basest motives which
an unscrupulous plotter and usurper can conceive, and regarded the Center
of His Covenant as the embodiment of ruthless tyranny, a stirrer of
mischief, and a notorious exponent of expediency and fraud? Its
world-unifying principles these impotent enemies of a steadily-rising
Faith have time and again denounced as fundamentally defective, have
pronounced its all-embracing program as utterly fantastic, and regarded
its vision of the future as chimerical and positively deceitful. The
fundamental verities that constitute its doctrine its foolish ill-wishers
have represented as a cloak of idle dogma, its administrative machinery
they have refused to differentiate from the soul of the Faith itself, and
the mysteries it reveres and upholds they have identified with sheer
superstition. The principle of unification which it advocates and with
which it stands identified they have misconceived as a shallow attempt at
uniformity, its repeated assertions of the reality of supernatural
agencies they have condemned as a vain belief in magic, and the glory of
its idealism they have rejected as mere utopia. Every process of
purification whereby an inscrutable Wisdom chose from time to time to
purge the body of His chosen followers of the defilement of the
undesirable and the unworthy, these victims of an unrelenting jealousy
have hailed as a symptom of the invading forces of schism which were soon
to sap its strength, vitiate its vitality, and complete its ruin.
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 urged
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 present-day
supporters can claim 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--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 Islam,
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'i 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 world-wide
dominion on the ruins of a collapsing Empire? Has not the animating spirit
of Islam 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?
"From the beginning of time until the present day," 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself
affirms, "the light of Divine Revelation hath risen in the East and shed
its radiance upon the West. The illumination thus shed hath, however,
acquired in the West an extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith
proclaimed by Jesus. Though it first appeared in the East, yet not until
its light had been shed upon the West did the full measure of its
potentialities become manifest." "The day is approaching," He, in another
passage, assures us, "when ye shall witness how, through the splendor of
the Faith of Baha'u'llah, the West will 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 ever been the dawning-place of the Sun of
Truth. In the East all the Prophets of God have appeared ...The West hath
acquired illumination from the East but in 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 the doors of the Kingdom were first
opened in that land and the bestowals 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 North-Eastern States of
the American Republic, "is in the eyes of the one true God the land
wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries
of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide and the
free assemble." "May this American democracy," He Himself, while in
America, was heard to remark, "be the first nation to 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 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 all the peoples of the world... This American
nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the
pages of history, to become the envy of the world and be blest in both the
East and the West for the triumph of its people... The American continent
gives signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future is even
more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reaching. It
will lead all nations 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 last 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 principles 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
corner-stone 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--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 and 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 enamored 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
your own eyes, witness how brilliantly every one of you, even as a shining
star, will radiate in the firmament of your country the light of Divine
Guidance and will bestow upon its people the glory of an everlasting
life." "The range of your future achievements," He once more affirms,
"still remains undisclosed. I fervently hope that in the near future the
whole earth may be stirred and shaken by the results of your
achievements." "The 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 concerned," He admonishes them, "with the smallness of your numbers,
neither be oppressed by the multitude of an unbelieving world... Exert
yourselves; your mission is unspeakably glorious. Should success crown
your enterprise, America will assuredly evolve into a center from which
waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the throne of the Kingdom of
God will, in the plentitude of its majesty and glory, be firmly
established."
"The hope which 'Abdu'l-Baha cherishes for you," He thus urges them, "is
that the same success which has attended your efforts in America may crown
your endeavors in other parts of the world, that through you the fame of
the Cause of God may be diffused throughout the East and the West and the
advent of the Kingdom of the Lord of Hosts be proclaimed in all the five
continents of the globe... Thus far ye have been untiring in your labors.
Let your exertions, henceforth, increase a thousandfold. Summon the people
in these countries, capitals, islands, assemblies and churches to enter
the Abha Kingdom. The scope of your exertions must needs be extended. The
wider its range, the more striking will be the evidences of Divine
assistance... Oh! that I could travel, even though on foot and in the
utmost poverty, to these regions and, raising the call of Ya Baha'u'l-Abha
in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine
teachings! This, alas, I cannot do! How intensely I deplore it! Please
God, ye may achieve it." And finally, as if to crown all His previous
utterances, is this solemn affirmation embodying His Vision of America's
spiritual destiny: "The moment this Divine Message is carried forward by
the American believers from the shores of America and is propagated
through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of Australasia,
and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community will find itself
securely established upon the throne of an everlasting dominion. Then will
all the peoples of the world witness that this community is spiritually
illumined and divinely guided. Then will the whole earth resound with the
praises of its majesty and greatness."
It is in the light of these above-quoted words of 'Abdu'l-Baha that every
thoughtful and conscientious believer should ponder the significance of
this momentous utterance of Baha'u'llah: "In the East the light of His
Revelation hath broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His
dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O 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: 'I am the life-giver of the world!'"
Dearly-beloved friends! Can our eyes be so dim as to fail to recognize in
the anguish and turmoil which, greater than in any other country and in a
manner unprecedented in its history, are now afflicting the American
nation, evidences of the beginnings of that spiritual renaissance which
these pregnant words of 'Abdu'l-Baha so clearly foreshadow? The throes and
twinges of agony which the soul of a nation in travail is now beginning to
experience abundantly proclaim it. Contrast the sad plight of the nations
of the earth, and in particular this great Republic of the West, with the
rising fortunes of that handful of its citizens, whose mission, if they be
faithful to their trust, is to heal its wounds, restore its confidence and
revive its shattered hopes. Contrast the dreadful convulsions, the
internecine conflicts, the petty disputes, the outworn controversies, the
interminable revolutions that agitate the masses, with the calm new light
of Peace and of Truth which envelops, guides and sustains those valiant
inheritors of the law and love of Baha'u'llah. Compare the disintegrating
institutions, the discredited statesmanship, the exploded theories, the
appalling degradation, the follies and furies, the shifts, shams and
compromises that characterize the present age, with the steady
consolidation, the holy discipline, the unity and cohesiveness, the
assured conviction, the uncompromising loyalty, the heroic self-sacrifice
that constitute the hallmark of these faithful stewards and harbingers of
the golden age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
Small wonder that these prophetic words should have been revealed by
'Abdu'l-Baha: "The East," He assures us, "hath verily been illumined with
the light of the Kingdom. Ere long will this same light shed a still
greater illumination upon the West. Then will the hearts of its people be
vivified through the potency of the teachings of God and their souls be
set aglow by the undying fire of His love." "The prestige of the Faith of
God," He asserts, "has immensely increased. Its greatness is now manifest.
The day is approaching when it will have cast a tremendous tumult in men's
hearts. Rejoice, therefore, O denizens of America, rejoice with exceeding
gladness!"
Most prized and best-beloved brethren! As we look back upon the forty
years which have passed since the auspicious rays of the Baha'i Revelation
first warmed and illuminated the American continent we find that they may
well fall into four distinct periods, each culminating in an event of such
significance as to constitute a milestone along the road leading the
American believers towards their promised victory. The first of these four
decades (1893-1903), characterized by a process of slow and steady
fermentation, may be said to have culminated in the historic pilgrimages
undertaken by 'Abdu'l-Baha's American disciples to the shrine of
Baha'u'llah. The ten years which followed (1903-1913), so full of the
tests and trials which agitated, cleansed and energized the body of the
earliest pioneers of the Faith in that land, had as their happy climax
'Abdu'l-Baha's memorable visit to America. The third period (1913-1923), a
period of quiet and uninterrupted consolidation, had as its inevitable
result the birth of that divinely-appointed Administration, the
foundations of which the Will of a departed Master had unmistakably
established. The remaining ten years (1923-1933), distinguished throughout
by further internal development, as well as by a notable expansion of the
international activities of a growing community, witnessed the completion
of the superstructure of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar--the Administration's
mighty bulwark, the symbol of its strength and the sign of its future
glory.
Each of these successive periods would seem to have contributed its
distinct share in enriching the spiritual life of that community, and in
preparing its members for the discharge of the tremendous responsibilities
of their unique mission. The pilgrimages which its foremost
representatives were moved to undertake in that earliest period of its
history fired the souls of its members with a love and zeal which no
amount of adversity could quench. The tests and tribulations it
subsequently suffered enabled those who survived them to obtain a grasp of
the implications of their faith that no opposition, however determined and
well-organized, could ever hope to weaken. The institutions which its
tried and tested adherents later on established furnished their promoters
with that poise and stability which the increase of their numbers and the
ceaseless extension of their activities urgently demanded. And finally the
Temple which the exponents of an already firmly established Administration
were inspired to erect gave them the vision which neither the storms of
internal disorder nor the whirlwinds of international commotion could
possibly obscure.
It would take me too long to attempt even a brief description of the first
stirrings which the introduction of the Baha'i Revelation into the New
World, as conceived, initiated and directed by our beloved Master,
immediately created. Nor does space permit me to narrate the circumstances
attending the epoch-making visit of the first American pilgrims to
Baha'u'llah's hallowed shrine, to relate the deeds which signalized the
return of these bearers of a new-born Gospel to their native country, or
to assess the immediate consequences of their achievements. No word of
mine would suffice to express how instantly the revelation of
'Abdu'l-Baha's hopes, expectations and purpose for an awakened continent,
electrified the minds and hearts of those who were privileged to hear Him,
who were made the recipients of His inestimable blessings and the chosen
repositories of His confidence and trust. I can never hope to interpret
adequately the feelings that surged within those heroic hearts as they sat
at their Master's feet, beneath the shelter of His prison-house, eager to
absorb and intent to preserve the effusions of His divine Wisdom. I can
never pay sufficient tribute to that spirit of unyielding determination
which the impact of a magnetic personality and the spell of a mighty
utterance kindled in the entire company of these returning pilgrims, these
consecrated heralds of the Covenant of God, at so decisive an epoch of
their history. The memory of such names as Lua, Chase, MacNutt, Dealy,
Goodall, Dodge, Farmer and Brittingham--to mention only a few of that
immortal galaxy now gathered to the glory of Baha'u'llah--will for ever
remain associated with the rise and establishment of His Faith in the
American continent, and will continue to shed on its annals a lustre that
time can never dim.
It was through these pilgrimages, as they succeeded one another in the
years immediately following the ascension of Baha'u'llah, that the
splendor of the Covenant, beclouded for a time by the apparent ascendancy
of its Arch-Breaker, emerged triumphant amidst the vicissitudes which had
afflicted it. It was through the arrival of these pilgrims, and these
alone, that the gloom which had enveloped the disconsolate members of
'Abdu'l-Baha's family was finally dispelled. Through the agency of these
successive visitors the Greatest Holy Leaf, who alone with her Brother
among the members of her Father's household had to confront the rebellion
of almost the entire company of her relatives and associates, found that
consolation which so powerfully sustained her till the very close of her
life. By the forces which this little band of returning pilgrims was able
to release in the heart of that continent the death-knell of every scheme
initiated by the would-be wrecker of the Cause of God was sounded.
The Tablets which were subsequently revealed by the untiring pen of
'Abdu'l-Baha, embodying in passionate and unequivocal language His
instructions and counsels, His appeals and comments, His hopes and wishes,
His fears and warnings, soon began to be translated, published and
circulated throughout the length and breadth of the North American
continent, providing the ever-widening circle of the first believers with
that spiritual sustenance which could alone enable them to survive the
severe trials they were soon to experience.
The hour of an unprecedented crisis was, however, inexorably approaching.
Evidences of dissension, actuated by pride and ambition, were beginning to
obscure the radiance and retard the growth of the newly-born community
which the apostolic teachers of that continent had labored to establish.
He who had been instrumental in inaugurating so splendid an era in the
history of the Faith, on whom the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant had
conferred the titles of "Baha's Peter," of the "Shepherd of God's Flocks,"
of the "Conqueror of America," upon whom had been bestowed the unique
privilege of helping 'Abdu'l-Baha lay the foundation-stone of the Bab's
Mausoleum on Mt. Carmel--such a man, blinded by his extraordinary success
and aspiring after an uncontrolled domination over the beliefs and
activities of his fellow-disciples, insolently raised the standard of
revolt. Seceding from 'Abdu'l-Baha and allying himself with the Arch-Enemy
of the Faith of God, this deluded apostate sought, by perverting the
teachings and directing a campaign of unrelenting vilification against the
person of 'Abdu'l-Baha, to undermine the faith of those believers whom he
had during no less than eight years, so strenuously toiled to convert. By
the tracts he published, through the active collaboration of the
emissaries of his chief Ally, and reinforced by the efforts which the
Christian ecclesiastical enemies of the Baha'i Revelation were beginning
to exert, he succeeded in dealing the nascent Faith of God a blow from
which it could only slowly and painfully recover.
I need not dwell on the immediate effects of this serious yet transitory
cleavage in the ranks of the American adherents of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah. Nor do I need to expatiate on the character of the defamatory
writings that poured upon them. Nor does it seem necessary to recount the
measures to which an ever-vigilant Master resorted in order to assuage and
eventually to dissipate their apprehensions. It is for the future
historian to appraise the value of the mission of each of the four chosen
messengers of 'Abdu'l-Baha who, in rapid succession, were dispatched by
Him to pacify and reinvigorate that troubled community. His will be the
task of tracing, in the work which these deputies of 'Abdu'l-Baha were
commissioned to undertake, the beginnings of that vast Administration, the
corner-stone of which these messengers were instructed to lay--an
Administration whose symbolic Edifice He, at a later time, was to found in
person and whose basis and scope the provisions of His Will were destined
to widen.
Suffice it to say that at this stage of its evolution the activities of an
invincible Faith had assumed such dimensions as to force on the one hand
its enemies to devise fresh weapons for their projected assaults, and on
the other to encourage its supreme Promoter to instruct its followers,
through qualified representatives and teachers, in the rudiments of an
Administration which, as it evolved, would at once incarnate, safeguard
and foster its spirit. The works of such stubborn assailants as those of
Vatralsky, Wilson, Jessup and Richardson vie with one another in their
futile attempts to stain its purity, to arrest its march and compel its
surrender. To the charges of Nihilism, of heresy, of Muhammadan
Gnosticism, of immorality, of Occultism and Communism so freely leveled
against them, the undismayed victims of such outrageous denunciations,
acting under the instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha, retorted by initiating a
series of activities which by their very nature were to be the precursors
of permanent, officially recognized administrative institutions. The
inauguration of Chicago's first House of Spirituality designated by
'Abdu'l-Baha as that city's "House of Justice"; the establishment of the
Baha'i Publishing Society; the founding of the Green Acre Fellowship; the
publication of the Star of the West; the holding of the first Baha'i
National Convention, synchronizing with the transference of the sacred
remains of the Bab to its final resting-place on Mt. Carmel; the
incorporation of the Baha'i Temple Unity and the formation of the
Executive Committee of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar--these stand out as the
most conspicuous accomplishments of the American believers which have
immortalized the memory of the most turbulent period of their history.
Launched through these very acts into the troublesome seas of ceaseless
tribulation, piloted by the mighty arm of 'Abdu'l-Baha and manned by the
bold initiative and abundant vitality of a band of sorely-tried disciples,
the Ark of Baha'u'llah's Covenant has, ever since those days, been
steadily pursuing its course contemptuous of the storms of bitter
misfortune that have raged, and which must continue to assail it, as it
forges ahead towards the promised haven of undisturbed security and peace.
Unsatisfied with the achievements which crowned the concerted efforts of
their elected representatives within the American continent, and
emboldened by the initial success of their pioneer teachers, beyond its
confines, in Great Britain, France and Germany, the community of the
American believers resolved to win in distant climes fresh recruits to the
advancing army of Baha'u'llah. Setting out from the western shores of
their native land and impelled by the indomitable energy of a new-born
faith, these itinerant teachers of the Gospel of Baha'u'llah pushed on
towards the islands of the Pacific, and as far as China and Japan,
determined to establish beyond the farthest seas the outposts of their
beloved Faith. Both at home and abroad this community had by that time
demonstrated its capacity to widen the range and consolidate the
foundations of its vast endeavors. The angry voices that had been raised
in protest against its rise were being drowned amid the acclamations with
which the East greeted its recent victories. Those ugly features that had
loomed so threateningly were gradually receding into the distance,
furnishing a still wider field to these noble warriors for the exercise of
their latent energies.
The Faith of Baha'u'llah in the continent of America had indeed been
resuscitated. Phoenix-like it had risen in all its freshness, vigor and
beauty and was now, through the voice of its triumphant exponents,
insistingly calling to 'Abdu'l-Baha, imploring Him to undertake a journey
to its shores. The first fruits of the mission entrusted to its worthy
upholders had lent such poignancy to their call that 'Abdu'l-Baha, Who had
just been delivered from the fetters of a galling tyranny, found Himself
unable to resist. His great, His incomparable, love for His own favored
children impelled Him to respond. Their passionate entreaty had, moreover,
been reinforced by the numerous invitations which representatives of
various interested organizations, whether religious, educational or
humanitarian, had extended to Him, expressing their eagerness to receive
from His own mouth an exposition of His Father's teachings.
Though bent with age, though suffering from ailments resulting from the
accumulated cares of fifty years of exile and captivity, 'Abdu'l-Baha set
out on His memorable journey across the seas to the land where He might
bless by His presence, and sanctify through His deeds, the mighty acts His
spirit had led His disciples to perform. The circumstances that have
attended His triumphal progress through the chief cities of the United
States and Canada my pen is utterly incapable of describing. The joys
which the announcement of His arrival evoked, the publicity which His
activities created, the forces which His utterances released, the
opposition which the implications of His teachings excited, the
significant episodes to which His words and deeds continually gave
rise--these future generations will, no doubt, minutely and befittingly
register. They will carefully delineate their features, will cherish and
preserve their memory, and will transmit unimpaired the record of their
minutest details to their descendants. It would indeed be presumptuous on
our part to attempt, at the present time, to sketch even the bare outline
of so vast, so enthralling a theme. Contemplating after the lapse of above
twenty years this notable landmark in America's spiritual history we still
find ourselves compelled to confess our inability to grasp its import or
to fathom its mystery. I have alluded in the preceding pages to a few of
the more salient features of that never-to-be-forgotten visit. These
incidents, as we look back upon them, eloquently proclaim 'Abdu'l-Baha's
specific purpose to confer through these symbolic functions upon the
first-born of the communities of the West that spiritual primacy which was
to be the birthright of the American believers.
The seeds which 'Abdu'l-Baha's ceaseless activities so lavishly scattered
had endowed the United States and Canada, nay the entire continent, with
potentialities such as it had never known in its history. On the small
band of His trained and beloved disciples, and through them on their
descendants, He, through that visit, had bequeathed a priceless heritage--a
heritage which carried with it the sacred and primary obligation to arise
and carry on in that fertile field the work He had so gloriously
initiated. We can dimly picture to ourselves the wishes that must have
welled from His eager heart as He bade His last farewell to that promising
country. An inscrutable Wisdom, we can well imagine Him remark to His
disciples on the eve of His departure, has, in His infinite bounty singled
out your native land for the execution of a mighty purpose. Through the
agency of Baha'u'llah's Covenant I, as the ploughman, have been called
upon since the beginning of my ministry to turn up and break its ground.
The mighty confirmations that have, in the opening days of your career,
rained upon you have prepared and invigorated its soil. The tribulations
you subsequently were made to suffer have driven deep furrows into the
field which my hands had prepared. The seeds with which I have been
entrusted I have now scattered far and wide before you. Under your loving
care, by your ceaseless exertions, every one of these seeds must
germinate, every one must yield its destined fruit. A winter of
unprecedented severity will soon be upon you. Its storm-clouds are fast
gathering on the horizon. Tempestuous winds will assail you from every
side. The Light of the Covenant will be obscured through my departure.
These mighty blasts, this wintry desolation, shall however pass away. The
dormant seed will burst into fresh activity. It shall put forth its buds,
shall reveal, in mighty institutions, its leaves and blossoms. The vernal
showers which the tender mercies of my heavenly Father will cause to
descend upon you will enable this tender plant to spread out its branches
to regions far beyond the confines of your native land. And finally the
steadily mounting sun of His Revelation, shining in its meridian splendor,
will enable this mighty Tree of His Faith to yield, in the fullness of
time and on your soil, its golden fruit.
The implications of such a parting message could not long remain
unrevealed to 'Abdu'l-Baha's initiated disciples. No sooner had He
concluded His long and arduous journey across the American and European
continents than the tremendous happenings to which He had alluded began to
be made manifest. A conflict, such as He had predicted, severed for a time
all means of communication with those on whom He had come to place such
implicit trust and from whom He was expecting so much in return. The
wintry desolation, with all its havoc and carnage, pursued during four
years its relentless course, while He, repairing to the quiet solitude of
His residence in the close neighborhood of Baha'u'llah's hallowed shrine,
continued to communicate His thoughts and wishes to those whom He had left
behind and on whom He had conferred the unique tokens of His favor. In the
immortal Tablets which, in the long hours of His communion with His
dearly-beloved friends He was moved to reveal, He unfolded to their eyes
His conception of their spiritual destiny, His Plan for the mission He
wished them to undertake. The seeds His hands had sown He was now watering
with that same care, that same love and patience, which had characterized
His previous endeavors whilst He was laboring in their midst.
The clarion call which 'Abdu'l-Baha had raised was the signal for an
outburst of renewed activity which, alike in the motives it inspired and
the forces it set in motion, America had scarcely experienced. Lending an
unprecedented impetus to the work which the enterprising ambassadors of
the Message of Baha'u'llah had initiated in distant lands, this mighty
movement has continued to spread until the present day, has gathered
momentum as it extended its ramifications over the surface of the globe,
and will continue to accelerate its march until the last wishes of its
original Promoter are completely fulfilled.
Forsaking home, kindred, friends and position a handful of men and women,
fired with a zeal and confidence which no human agency can kindle, arose
to carry out the mandate which 'Abdu'l-Baha had issued. Sailing northward
as far as Alaska, pushing on to the West Indies, penetrating the South
American continent to the banks of the Amazon and across the Andes to the
southernmost ends of the Argentine Republic, pressing on westward into the
island of Tahiti and beyond it to the Australian continent and still
beyond it as far as New Zealand and Tasmania, these intrepid heralds of
the Faith of Baha'u'llah have succeeded by their very acts in setting to
the present generation of their fellow-believers throughout the East an
example which they may well emulate. Headed by their illustrious
representative, who ever since the call of 'Abdu'l-Baha was raised has
been twice round the world and is still, with marvellous courage and
fortitude, enriching the matchless record of her services, these men and
women have been instrumental in extending, to a degree as yet unsurpassed
in Baha'i history, the sway of Baha'u'llah's universal dominion. In the
face of almost insurmountable obstacles they have succeeded in most of the
countries through which they have passed or in which they have resided, in
proclaiming the teachings of their Faith, in circulating its literature,
in defending its cause, in laying the basis of its institutions and in
reinforcing the number of its declared supporters. It would be impossible
for me to unfold in this short compass the tale of such heroic actions.
Nor can any tribute of mine do justice to the spirit which has enabled
these standard-bearers of the Religion of God to win such laurels and to
confer such distinction on the generation to which they belong.
The Cause of Baha'u'llah had by that time encircled the globe. Its light,
born in darkest Persia, had been carried successively to the European, the
African and the American continents, and was now penetrating the heart of
Australia, encompassing thereby the whole earth with a girdle of shining
glory. The share which such worthy, such stout-hearted, disciples have had
in brightening the last days of 'Abdu'l-Baha's earthly life He alone has
truly recognized and can sufficiently estimate. The unique and eternal
significance of such accomplishments the labors of the rising generation
will assuredly reveal, their memory its works will befittingly preserve
and extol. How deep a satisfaction 'Abdu'l-Baha must have felt, while
conscious of the approaching hour of His departure, as He witnessed the
first fruits of the international services of these heroes of His Father's
Faith! To their keeping He had committed a great and goodly heritage. In
the twilight of His earthly life He could rest content in the serene
assurance that such able hands could be relied upon to preserve its
integrity and exalt its virtue.
The passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha, so sudden in the circumstances which caused
it, so dramatic in its consequences, could neither impede the operation of
such a dynamic force nor obscure its purpose. Those fervid appeals,
embodied in the Will and Testament of a departed Master, could not but
confirm its aim, define its character and reinforce the promise of its
ultimate success.
Out of the pangs of anguish which His bereaved followers have suffered,
amid the heat and dust which the attacks launched by a sleepless enemy had
precipitated, the Administration of Baha'u'llah's invincible Faith was
born. The potent energies released through the ascension of the Center of
His Covenant crystallized into this supreme, this infallible Organ for the
accomplishment of a Divine Purpose. The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha
unveiled its character, reaffirmed its basis, supplemented its principles,
asserted its indispensability, and enumerated its chief institutions. With
that self-same spontaneity which had characterized her response to the
Message proclaimed by Baha'u'llah America had now arisen to espouse the
cause of the Administration which the Will and Testament of His Son had
unmistakably established. It was given to her, and to her alone, in the
turbulent years following the revelation of so momentous a Document, to
become the fearless champion of that Administration, the pivot of its
new-born institutions and the leading promoter of its influence. To their
Persian brethren, who in the heroic age of the Faith had won the crown of
martyrdom, the American believers, forerunners of its golden age, were now
worthily succeeding, bearing in their turn the palm of a hard-won victory.
The unbroken record of their illustrious deeds had established beyond the
shadow of a doubt their preponderating share in shaping the destinies of
their Faith. In a world writhing with pain and declining into chaos this
community--the vanguard of the liberating forces of Baha'u'llah--succeeded
in the years following 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing in raising high above the
institutions established by its sister communities in East and West what
may well constitute the chief pillar of that future House--a House which
posterity will regard as the last refuge of a tottering civilization.
In the prosecution of their task neither the whisperings of the
treacherous nor the virulent attacks of their avowed enemies were allowed
to deflect them from their high purpose or to undermine their faith in the
sublimity of their calling. The agitation provoked by him who in his
incessant and sordid pursuit of earthly riches would have, but for
'Abdu'l-Baha's warning, sullied the fair name of their Faith, had left
them in the main undisturbed. Schooled by tribulation and secure within
the stronghold of their fast evolving institutions they scorned his
insinuations and by their unswerving loyalty were able to shatter his
hopes. They refused to allow any consideration of the admitted prestige
and past services of his father and of his associates to weaken their
determination to ignore entirely the person whom 'Abdu'l-Baha had so
emphatically condemned. The veiled attacks with which a handful of deluded
enthusiasts subsequently sought in the pages of their periodical to check
the growth and blight the prospects of an infant Administration had
likewise failed to achieve their purpose. The attitude which a besotted
woman later on assumed, her ludicrous assertions, her boldness in flouting
the Will of 'Abdu'l-Baha and in challenging its authenticity and her
attempts to subvert its principles were again powerless to produce the
slightest breach in the ranks of its valiant upholders. The treacherous
schemes which the ambition of a perfidious and still more recent enemy has
devised and through which he is still striving to deface 'Abdu'l-Baha's
noble handiwork and corrupt its administrative principles are being once
more completely frustrated. These intermittent and abortive attempts on
the part of its assailants to force the surrender of the newly built
stronghold of the Faith its defenders have from the very beginning utterly
disdained. No matter how fierce the assaults of the enemy or skillful his
stratagem they have refused to yield one jot or one tittle of their
cherished convictions. His insinuations and clamor they have consistently
ignored. The motives which animated his actions, the methods he steadily
pursued, the precarious privileges he seemed momentarily to enjoy they
could not but despise. Thriving 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 only to sink, as rapidly as they had risen, into the mire of an
ignominious end.
From the midst of these afflictive trials, reminiscent in some of their
aspects of the violent storm that had accompanied the birth of the Faith
in their native land, the American believers had again triumphantly
emerged, their course undeflected, their fame unsullied, their heritage
unimpaired. A series of magnificent accomplishments, each more significant
than the previous, were to shed increasing lustre on an already
illustrious record. In the dark years immediately following 'Abdu'l-Baha's
ascension their deeds shone with a radiance that made them the object of
the envy and the admiration of the less privileged among their brethren.
The entire community, untrammeled and supremely confident, was rising to a
great and glorious opportunity. The forces that had motivated its birth,
that had assisted in its rise, were now accelerating its growth, in a
manner and with such rapidity that neither the pangs of a world-wide
sorrow nor the unceasing convulsions of a distracted age could paralyze
its efforts or retard its march.
Internally the community had embarked in a number of enterprises that were
to enable it on the one hand to extend still further the scope of its
spiritual jurisdiction and on the other to fashion the essential
instruments for the creation and consolidation of the institutions which
such an extension imperatively demanded. Externally its undertakings were
inspired by the twofold objective of prosecuting, even more intensely than
before, the admirable work which in each of the five continents its
international teachers had initiated, and of assuming an increasing share
in the handling and solution of the delicate and complex problems with
which a newly-emancipated Faith was being confronted. The birth of the
Administration in that continent had signalized these praiseworthy
exertions. Its gradual consolidation was destined to insure their
continuance and to accentuate their effectiveness.
To enumerate only the most outstanding accomplishments which, in their own
country and beyond its confines, have so greatly enhanced the prestige of
the American believers and have redounded to the glory and honor of the
Most Great Name is all I can presently undertake, leaving to future
generations the task of explaining their import and of affixing a fitting
estimate to their value. To the body of their elected representatives must
be attributed the honor of having been the first among their sister
Assemblies of East and West to devise, promulgate and legalize the
essential instruments for the effective discharge of their collective
duties--instruments which every properly constituted Baha'i community must
regard as a pattern worthy to be adopted and copied. To their efforts must
likewise be ascribed the historic achievement of establishing their
national endowments upon a permanent and unassailable basis and of
creating the necessary agency for the formation of those subsidiary organs
whose function is to administer on behalf of their trustees such
possessions as these may acquire beyond the limits of their immediate
jurisdiction. By the weight of their moral support so freely extended to
their Egyptian brethren they were able to remove some of the most
formidable obstacles which the Faith had to surmount in its struggle to
enfranchise itself from the fetters of Muslim orthodoxy. Through the
effective and timely intervention of these same elected representatives
they were able to avert the woes and dangers which had menaced their
persecuted fellow-workers in the Soviet Republics, and to ward off the
rage which had threatened with immediate ruin one of the most precious and
noblest of Baha'i institutions. Nothing short of the whole-hearted
assistance, whether moral or financial which the American believers,
individually and collectively, were moved to extend on several occasions
to the needy and harassed among their brethren in Persia could have saved
these hapless victims of the consequences of the calamities that had
visited them in the years following 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension. It was the
publicity which the efforts of their American brethren had created, the
protests they were led to make, the appeals and petitions they had
submitted, which mitigated these sufferings and curbed the violence of the
worst and most tyrannical opponents of the Faith in that land. Who else,
if not one of their most distinguished representatives, has risen to force
upon the attention of the highest Tribunal the world has yet seen the
grievances which a Faith, robbed of one of its holiest sanctuaries, had
suffered at the hand of the usurper? Who else has succeeded in securing,
through patient and persistent effort, those written affirmations which
proclaim the justice of a persecuted cause and tacitly recognize its right
to an independent religious status? "The Commission," is the resolution
passed by the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations,
"recommends that the Council should ask the British Government to make
representations to the Iraqi Government with a view to the immediate
redress of the denial of justice from which the petitioners (the Baha'i
Spiritual Assembly of Ba_gh_dad) have suffered." Has any one else except
an American believer been led to obtain from royalty such remarkable and
repeated testimonies to the regenerating power of the Faith of God, such
striking references to the universality of its teachings and the sublimity
of its mission. "The Baha'i teaching," such is the Queen's written
testimony, "brings peace and understanding. It 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. Saddened 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: Unity instead of strife, Hope instead of
condemnation, Love instead of hate, and a great reassurance for all men."
Have not the American adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, through the
courage displayed by one of the most brilliant members of their community,
been instrumental in paving the way for the removal of those barriers
which have, for well-nigh a century, hampered the growth and crippled the
energy of their fellow-believers in Persia? Is it not America who, ever
mindful of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passionate entreaty, has sent out to the ends of
the earth a steadily increasing number of its most consecrated
citizens--men and women the one wish of whose lives is to consolidate the
foundations of Baha'u'llah's world-embracing dominion? In the northernmost
capitals of Europe, in most of its central states, throughout the Balkan
Peninsula, along the shores of the African, the Asiatic and South American
continents are to be found this day a small band of women pioneers who,
single-handed and with scanty resources, are toiling for the advent of the
Day 'Abdu'l-Baha has foretold. Did not the attitude of the Greatest Holy
Leaf, as she approached the close of her life, bear eloquent testimony to
the incomparable share which her steadfast and self-sacrificing lovers in
that continent have had in lightening the burden which had weighed so long
and so heavily on her heart? And finally who can be so bold as to deny
that the completion of the superstructure of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar--the
crowning glory of America's past and present achievements--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 truest adoration?
Fellow-believers in the American continent! Great indeed have been your
past and present achievements! Immeasurably greater are the wonders which
the future has in store for you! The Edifice your sacrifices have raised
still remains to be clothed. The House which must needs be supported by
the highest administrative institution your hands have reared, is as yet
unbuilt. The provisions of the chief Repository of those laws that must
govern its operation are thus far mostly undisclosed. The Standard which,
if 'Abdu'l-Baha's wishes are to be fulfilled, must be raised in your own
country has yet to be unfurled. The Unity of which that standard is to be
the symbol is far from being yet established. The machinery which must
needs incarnate and preserve that unity is not even created. Will it be
America, will it be one of the countries of Europe, who will arise to
assume the leadership essential to the shaping of the destinies of this
troubled age? Will America allow any of her sister communities in East or
West to achieve such ascendancy as shall deprive her of that spiritual
primacy with which she has been invested and which she has thus far so
nobly retained? Will she not rather contribute, by a still further
revelation of those inherent powers that motivate her life, to enhance the
priceless heritage which the love and wisdom of a departed Master have
conferred upon her?
Her past has been a testimony to the inexhaustible vitality of her faith.
May not her future confirm it?
Your true brother,
SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 21, 1933.