PIVOTAL CENTRES STRENUOUS IMMEDIATE CONCERTED EFFORTS IMPERATIVE SAFEGUARD
OUTSTANDING PRIZES LABORIOUSLY WON FERVENTLY PRAYING SUCCESS DEEPEST LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 16 March 1957
16 March 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother:
The Beloved Guardian has been greatly impressed by the number of Teaching
Conferences held during the past year, especially in the virgin areas of
the Ten Year Crusade.
My records are not complete concerning the Teaching Conference of the
Northern Islands. Will you please cable me on receipt of this where this
Conference was held, and the dates....
Letter of 23 March 1957
23 March 1957
Dear Baha'i Friend,
Your loving letter of February 20th was duly received by the Beloved
Guardian, and on March 20th, the contributions referred to therein.
The Guardian has directed me to acknowledge your letter and the
contributions on his behalf. Receipt is enclosed.
Will you please write the Baha'is of ... on behalf of the Guardian, and
thank them for their contribution for the construction of the
International Archives Building. Their sacrifices in that difficult area,
at this time, shows their depth of spiritual consciousness. The Guardian
will pray for them, and for the success of their work.
The Guardian also wishes to assure the Baha'is of the British Isles, of
his appreciation of their sacrifice and devotion to the Cause of God. He
is praying for them, for the success of their historic work, and for the
rapid expansion of the Faith. He is sure the Blessings of the Beloved
Master will rest on each and every one.
Please send the Friends in Kuwait the enclosed photo, showing the present
stage of construction of the Archives Building.
He sends his loving Greetings...
Letter of 27 March 1957
27 March 1957
DEEPLY MOURN PASSING DEARLY LOVED MUCH ADMIRED GREATLY GIFTED OUTSTANDING
HAND CAUSE GEORGE TOWNSHEND. HIS DEATH MORROW PUBLICATION HIS CROWNING
ACHIEVEMENT ROBS BRITISH FOLLOWERS BAHA'U'LLAH THEIR MOST DISTINGUISHED
COLLABORATOR AND FAITH ITSELF ONE ITS STOUTEST DEFENDERS. HIS STERLING
QUALITIES HIS SCHOLARSHIP HIS CHALLENGING WRITINGS HIS HIGH ECCLESIASTICAL
POSITION UNRIVALLED ANY BAHA'I WESTERN WORLD ENTITLE HIM RANK WITH THOMAS
BREAKWELL DR. ESSLEMONT ONE OF THREE LUMINARIES SHEDDING BRILLIANT LUSTRE
ANNALS IRISH ENGLISH SCOTTISH BAHA'I COMMUNITIES. HIS FEARLESS
CHAMPIONSHIP CAUSE HE LOVED SO DEARLY SERVED SO VALIANTLY CONSTITUTES
SIGNIFICANT LANDMARK BRITISH BAHA'I HISTORY. SO ENVIABLE POSITION CALLS
FOR NATIONAL TRIBUTE HIS MEMORY BY ASSEMBLED DELEGATES VISITORS
FORTHCOMING BRITISH BAHA'I CONVENTION. ASSURE RELATIVES DEEPEST LOVING
SYMPATHY GRIEVOUS LOSS. CONFIDENT HIS REWARD INESTIMABLE ABHA KINGDOM.
SHOGHI
Letter of 30 March 1957
30 March 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother:
The Beloved Guardian has directed me to write you concerning a list which
he desires, showing the languages into which the scriptures, or parts of
them have been translated.
He has the book entitled "The Gospel in Many Tongues" issued by the
British and Foreign Bible Society, the Bible House, 146 Queen Victoria
Street, London, E.C.4, (in 1948). This shows specimens of 770 languages in
which this Society has published or circulated some portion of the Gospel.
In the preface, they state "If those versions published by other agents
are included, there are now well over a thousand forms of speech
represented in the Library at Bible House".
The Guardian would like to secure a list of the additional some 300
languages into which the Gospel has been translated, referred to in this
quotation. Could you secure it for him, from the Bible Society, at the
Bible House.
Is it fair to assume this would then be all the languages, from any
source, into which the Bible or parts have been translated? Your early
advice will be appreciated.
For your information, in the list of languages into which Baha'i
literature has been translated, there are some 20, not included in the
published book of the 770 languages into which Christian Scripture has
been published, as covered by the Book.
The question is, are these 20 included in the supplementary list, which
makes the 1,000 or more into which Christian Scripture has been
translated. Your sending the list will enable us to make the check here.
If you could secure this list and send it promptly, it might enable the
Guardian to include this interesting point in his Convention message....
Letter of 12 April 1957
12 April 1957
Dear John:
Enclosed please find the beloved Guardian's Message to the annual
convention; it should be delivered to the Chairman to be read to and
shared with the assembled friends....
P.S. In order to gain time this is being mailed through a pilgrim from
Rome.
P.S. No.2. Will you please acknowledge receipt of this letter by cable to
the Guardian.
Letter of 19 April 1957
19 April 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother,
The Beloved Guardian has been very deeply impressed with the latest book
of our dear departed co-worker, Hand of the Cause, George Townshend.
He feels that this Book should be used as the basis of a very active
campaign of teaching and publicity throughout the British Isles.
Publicity regarding the book should be arranged, book reviews secured, if
possible. Religious leaders should be sent copies, even the highest
Ecclesiastical leaders. Many copies should be mailed to the important
leaders of the Church of England, and other religious denominations of the
British Isles.
This book very finely presents the relationship between Christ and
Baha'u'llah, and outlines the manner in which the Baha'i Faith is setting
up the Kingdom of God, which the Christians are praying for.
The Guardian feels that very beneficial results will be achieved by this
active public programme, with this book, "Christ and Baha'u'llah" even if
it stirs up opposition and criticism for the time being.
He will pray for your Assembly, and for the success of your many labours
in the Cause of God....
Letter of 30 April 1957
30 April 1957
DEEPLY APPRECIATE CONVENTION MESSAGE REJOICE RECENT VICTORIES GREATLY
VALUE SPIRIT ANIMATING ENTIRE BRITISH BAHA'I COMMUNITY CHERISH BRIGHTEST
HOPES FERVENTLY SUPPLICATING RAPID CONSOLIDATION HOME FRONT ESSENTIAL
PRELUDE UNPRECEDENTED EXPANSION GLORIOUS MISSION BRITISH FOLLOWERS FAITH
BAHA'U'LLAH FOREIGN FIELDS DEEPEST LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 27 May 1957
27 May 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother:
The beloved Guardian has instructed me to write about the ... situation
raised in one of your recent letters....
It is inconceivable and wholly inadmissible that any Baha'is in a
community should be permitted to hold a Feast in their home and refuse
admission to another believer; and your Assembly should write accordingly
in very strong terms to the ... Assembly, pointing out that the Guardian
is not only surprised to learn of this situation, but disapproves of it in
the strongest terms.
Any Baha'i may attend a Feast, a local Baha'i, a Baha'i from out of town,
certainly an isolated Baha'i from the neighbourhood.
It is the duty of the ... Assembly to take strong measures to remedy this
situation, and to ensure that the Feasts are held in a place and in a
manner that conforms to the Baha'i spirit....
Letter of 7 June 1957 (Shetland Summer School)
7 June 1957 (Shetland Summer School)
SUPPLICATING ABUNDANT BLESSINGS DEEPEST LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 14 August 1957
14 August 1957
DELIGHTED HISTORIC GATHERING ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS UNPRECEDENTED
EXPANSION ACTIVITIES.
SHOGHI
Letter of 30 August 1957
30 August 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother:
Your communications with their enclosures and material sent under separate
cover have all arrived safely, and the beloved Guardian has instructed me
to answer you on his behalf and to acknowledge receipt of your letters
dated: July 24, 27 and 31, August 24, 27, and 30, September 7, 26, 27, and
28, October 5, 13 (signed by all members), and 15, November 5 (signed by
Dorothy Ferraby), and 28 (three), and December 14, 18, 27, and 28, 1956,
and January 8, 16, 20 (one undated), and 22nd, February 4, 6, 8, 11, 19,
21, 23, and 27, March 7, 8, 13, and 18 (two), May 6, 9, 21, (two), June 3,
11, 14, 19 and 25, July 12, 16, (two), 19, 21, 26, and August 2, and 5
signed by Ernest Gregory.
As a number of questions raised in your letters have been answered by
cable or through the National Assembly Secretary, I will not go into those
again here.
He was interested to see the Tablets which Dr. Moayad located in
Cambridge, and appreciated having copies of them.
It has been a great pleasure to have had so many members of the British
Baha'i community here last winter and spring as pilgrims.
He is immensely proud of the work which has been accomplished during the
last year, of the remarkable spirit of dedication which animates the
entire community, and which invariably produces, at an hour of crisis, a
strong and healthy reaction on the part of the community to rush
reinforcements to its weak Assemblies, when they are in danger of
dissolution.
He realises that the enforcement of the general rule that an Assembly must
function within civic limits has caused considerable havoc in Britain, as
well as other countries. However, it enables the friends, through
splitting up into smaller communities, to have before their eyes the
appetising prospect of forming yet another Spiritual Assembly, all on
their own, so to speak. It gives more believers the opportunity to serve
on these Administrative Bodies, challenges the teaching activities of them
all, and stimulates them to fresh efforts in the hope of early victory.
The news of the success of your Convention this year; the fact that the
community was able to manoeuvre its finances into a position of
equilibrium, a position, incidentally, which it should make every effort
to maintain; the large number of friends who attended the beautiful
memorial meeting held for the dear Hand of the Cause, George Townshend,
also pleased and encouraged our beloved Guardian.
He was pleased to hear from Rhodesia of the incorporation of the Salisbury
Assembly, which seems to be in the nature of a foundation for the future
incorporation of all Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Rhodesias. This
is yet another valuable service which your Assembly has been instrumental
in rendering the Faith in Africa.
He thanks your Assembly for the coloured photographs of the
Haziratu'l-Quds and also for the film of the Summer School which you sent
him. He was very pleased also to receive copies of the Irish pamphlets,
and hopes the Gaelic translation will soon be out.
As regards your question about printing in books the approval of the
National Assembly, he thinks that, if in certain circumstances this seems
inadvisable, there is no objection to omitting it. The approval of the
National Body should be sought for all Baha'i publications, so as to
protect the Faith from unofficially disseminating information which may in
some respects be false or inaccurate. Once this has been done, it is not
so essential for the fact to appear in the book, if it will mitigate the
effects of the book and decrease its sales....
The death of the Hand of the Cause, George Townshend, is a great loss to
the British community as it not only deprives them of their most
distinguished member, their unique Hand, but also of a most inspiring and
faithful co-worker and a distinguished Baha'i author. His latest book has
been read with great interest by the Guardian, and he hopes your Assembly
is ensuring its wide distribution to various religious leaders in Britain.
If opposition to the Faith can be aroused through this book, it will be
the greatest service that dear George Townshend has ever rendered. It was
always his hope that, through his pen, sparks would fly and begin the
conflagration in whose light the Faith would shine forth in all its
splendour. Let us hope that this last service of his will indeed prove to
be the vital spark setting off this process of opposition which will
inevitably lead to a wide recognition and acceptance of the Faith.
The Guardian hopes that during the present year the home Assemblies will
not only be maintained and groups prepared for assembly status next
Ridvan, but that it will be possible to reinforce the work in the islands
off the shores of the British Isles. The sooner a nucleus of local people
is established in these goal places the sooner will the pioneers be able
to move on to new fields and to lend their assistance to the teaching work
either on the Home Front or in the Pacific area.
Please assure the dear pioneers that he greatly admires their
steadfastness of purpose, their self-sacrifice and their exemplary spirit,
and that he particularly prays for them in the Holy Shrines.
As regards the future work in the Pacific: It is entirely premature at
this time for your Assembly to think about the work there. The Home Front
and the work in the neighbouring islands around Great Britain, as well as
those allotted under the Ten Year Plan to your Assembly in the
Mediterranean, must receive the concentrated attention of your Body, its
Committees and the believers. When the time comes to become active in the
Pacific area, you may be sure he will let you know!
He feels that the urgent need now is to get out "Some Answered Questions",
which is one of the most important books for a proper study of the Faith.
When this has been printed, the next publication of the Master's Works can
be considered....
As to your question about the words used in the marriage ceremony; the two
versions mean practically the same thing, and either may be used.(90)
It is most regrettable that the Caravan should have gotten hold of ...; if
this situation is stirred up too much it will only enable Ahmad Sohrab to
make a big fuss and get more publicity. In view of this the Guardian feels
your Assembly should be watchful and seek out, if possible, a suitable
person and a suitable opportunity to call to her attention the facts that
the Baha'i Faith, so widely spread and acknowledged, has nothing to do
with the Caravan which is a purely opportunist organisation and so loosely
knit together as to have almost no power of influencing people one way or
another. To do the wrong thing in a situation such as this would be worse
than to do nothing.
He assures you one and all of his loving prayers for your success in all
you do for the Faith.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers,
The year that has just elapsed, following upon the swift and spectacular
success achieved by the firmly grounded, the progressive and alert British
Baha'i community in the heart of the African Continent--a success attested
by the triumphant emergence of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Central and East Africa--has witnessed a progress throughout the
length and breadth of the Homefront, as well as in the northern islands in
the neighbourhood of the British Isles, which, though not spectacular,
nevertheless testifies to the earnestness, the devotion and the exemplary
tenacity with which the members of this community are conducting, in all
its aspects, the noble Mission entrusted to their care, and are grappling
with the manifold problems involved in its prosecution.
This present and crucial year must be signalised in the annals of British
Baha'i history by a substantial measure of internal administrative
consolidation and a noticeable expansion in the all-important teaching
field, which will enable the members of this community, now standing on
the threshold of a new and brilliant phase in the unfoldment of their
Mission in foreign fields, to reinforce and broaden the base of their
future operations beyond the confines of their native land.
The splendid work achieved, in such a short space of time, in a field so
distant, and amongst a race so alien in its background, outlook and
customs, must, if the significance of that Mission is to be properly
assessed, be regarded as only a prelude to the series of future campaigns
which the privileged members of the British Baha'i community, residing and
firmly rooted in the heart of a far-flung Commonwealth and Empire, will,
if faithful to such a Mission, launch, in the years ahead, in the islands
of the North Sea and of the Mediterranean, as well as in the remote
territories situated in the Pacific area--campaigns which, in their range
and significance, must throw into shade the feats performed in the African
Continent.
To be enabled to rise to this occasion, to ensure the energetic, the
systematic and uninterrupted conduct of so vast and diversified an
enterprise, amidst peoples and races fully as promising, and even more
remotedly situated, and presenting them with a challenge more severe than
any which has faced them in the past, the small band of the ardent, the
high minded, the resolute followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, charged
by Destiny and by virtue of the enviable position they occupy, with so
glorious a responsibility for the future awakening of the great masses,
living under the shadow of, or whose governments are directly associated
with, the British Crown, must needs in the years immediately ahead,
acquire greater coherence, increase more rapidly in numbers, definitely
emerge from obscurity, plumb greater depths of consecration, enrich its
store of administrative experience, become definitely self-supporting, and
associate itself more closely, through the body of its elected
representatives and its future Hands, with the National and Regional
Spiritual Assemblies on the European mainland and in all the other
continents of the globe, and particularly with the Hands already appointed
in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The sooner these prime requisites, so essential for a further unfoldment
of the mighty potentialities inherent in so splendid a Mission, are
fulfilled, the sooner will the call be raised for the opening of a new
chapter in the history of British Baha'i achievements overseas.
The rapid multiplication of isolated centres, groups and local assemblies,
particularly in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Eire; the
incorporation of firmly grounded local spiritual assemblies; a greater
measure of publicity; a wider dissemination of Baha'i literature; a quick
and substantial rehabilitation of the vitally important national Fund; a
firmer grasp of the essential verities of the Faith; a more profound study
of its history and a deeper understanding of the genesis, the
significance, the workings, and the present status and achievements of its
embryonic World Order and of the Covenant to which it owes its birth and
vitality--these remain the rock-bottom requirements which alone can
guarantee the opening and hasten the advent, of that blissful era which
every British Baha'i heart so eagerly anticipates, and the glories of
which can, at present, be but dimly discerned.
Now, of a certainty, is not the time for the members of this gallant band,
so thinly spread over the length and breadth of its island home, and
reaching out, so laboriously yet so determinedly to the inhospitable
islands fringing its northern and western coasts, to dwell, however
tentatively, on the nature of the tantalising task awaiting them in the
not distant future, or to seek to probe into its mysterious, divinely
guided operation. Theirs is the duty to plod on, however tedious the
nature of the work demanding their immediate attention, however formidable
the obstacles involved in its proper execution, however prolonged the
effort which its success necessitates, until the signs of its ultimate
consummation, heralding the launching of what is sure to be the most
spectacular phase of their Mission, are clearly discerned.
A responsibility, at once colossal, sacred and highly challenging, faces
not only the body of the elected representatives of this community, but
each and every one of its members. As the world spiritual Crusade, to the
successful prosecution of which the British followers of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah have, singly and collectively, so markedly contributed,
approaches its mid-point, the evidences of this indispensable quickening
of the tempo of Baha'i activity all over the British Isles and the islands
situated in their neighbourhood and far beyond their confines, must become
more manifest and rapidly multiply. The admiration and esteem in which a
community, relatively small in numbers, strictly limited in resources, yet
capable of such solid and enduring achievements, is held by its sister and
daughter communities in every continent of the globe, far from declining
must be further enhanced. The historic process originated as far back as
the year which witnessed the formulation of the Six Year Plan on the
occasion of the Centenary of the Declaration of the Bab in _Sh_iraz, which
gathered momentum, as a result of the inauguration of the Two Year Plan
which followed the Centenary of the Bab's Martyrdom in Tabriz, which
received a tremendous impetus, in consequence of the launching of the Ten
Year Crusade, commemorating the centenary celebrations of the birth of
Baha'u'llah's Mission in ?ihran--such a process must, as the centenary
celebrations designed to commemorate the Declaration of that same Mission
in Ba_gh_dad approaches, be so markedly accelerated, and yield such a
harvest, as will astonish the entire Baha'i world, and give the signal for
the inauguration, by those who have so spontaneously set this process in
motion, more than a decade ago, of a blissful era designed to carry the
chief builders of Baha'u'llah's embryonic World Order, throughout the
unnumbered, the diversified and widely scattered Dependencies of the
British Crown, to still greater heights of achievements in the service and
for the glory of His Faith.
May they, as they forge ahead along the high road leading to ultimate,
total and complete victory, receive as their daily sustenance, a still
fuller measure of the abounding grace, promised to the believers of an
earlier generation by the Centre of the Covenant, the Author of the Divine
Plan, Himself, on the occasion of His twice-repeated visit to their
shores, and which has been unfailingly vouchsafed to themselves, in the
course of over three decades, since the birth of the Formative Age of the
Faith and the rise of its Administrative Order in their homeland.
Shoghi
Letter of 7 September 1957
7 September 1957
Dear Baha'i Brother,
On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of
your letter of 17th August enclosing the minutes of the meeting of the
British N.S.A. held at the Summer School on August 8th....
Letter of 14 September 1957
14 September 1957
WELCOME DETERMINATION ASSEMBLED FRIENDS SUMMER SCHOOL PRAYING FERVENTLY
FRIENDS ATTAIN GOALS SCALE NOBLER HEIGHTS PATH SERVICE CAUSE BAHA'U'LLAH.
SHOGHI
Letter of 2 October 1957
2 October 1957
Dear John:
In "The Voice of Youth" for July, page ten, there is an article by David
Solomon in which he quotes some very significant passages from the Dead
Sea Scrolls. The Guardian would like to have the exact source of these
passages, and the quotations in the paragraphs in which they occur,
written out in full....
Letter of 11 October 1957
11 October 1957(91)
CONFIDENT BRITISH COMMUNITY RICHLY DESERVES NEW HONOUR.
SHOGHI
THE GUARDIAN'S MESSAGES
TO LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES
The Assemblies are listed in alphabetical order but their letters are
chronologically arranged.
Belfast
Bristol
Cardiff
Dublin
Eccles
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham
Oxford
Portsmouth
Reading
Letter of 23 April 1950
23 April 1950
To the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Belfast
Dear Baha'i Friends,
Your letter of April 12th, conveying such heartening news, was received by
our beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his
behalf.