Dear friends! How vast a panorama these gemlike, these soul-searching
divinely uttered pronouncements outspread before our eyes! What memories
they evoke! How sublime the principles they inculcate! What hopes they
engender! What apprehensions they excite! And yet how fragmentary must
these above-quoted words, suited as they are to the immediate purpose of
my theme, appear when compared with the torrential majesty which only the
reading of the full text can disclose! He Who was God's Vicar on earth,
addressing, at the most critical moment when His Revelation was attaining
its zenith, those who concentrated in their persons the splendor, the
sovereignty, and the strength of earthly dominion, could certainly not
subtract one jot or tittle from the weight and force which the
presentation of so historic a Message demanded. Neither the perils which
were fast closing in upon Him, nor the formidable power with which the
doctrine of absolute sovereignty invested, at that time, the emperors of
the West and the potentates of the East, could restrain the Exile and
Prisoner of Adrianople from communicating the full blast of His Message to
His twin imperial persecutors as well as to the rest of their
fellow-sovereigns.
The magnitude and diversity of the theme, the cogency of the argument, the
sublimity and audacity of the language, arrest our attention and astound
our minds. Emperors, kings and princes, chancellors and ministers, the
Pope himself, priests, monks and philosophers, the exponents of learning,
parliamentarians and deputies, the rich ones of the earth, the followers
of all religions, and the people of Baha--all are brought within the
purview of the Author of these Messages, and receive, each according to
their merits, the counsels and admonitions they deserve. No less amazing
is the diversity of the subjects touched upon in these Tablets. The
transcendent majesty and unity of an unknowable and unapproachable God is
extolled, and the oneness of His Messengers proclaimed and emphasized. The
uniqueness, the universality and potentialities of the Baha'i Faith are
stressed, and the purpose and character of the Babi Revelation unfolded.
The significance of Baha'u'llah's sufferings and banishments is disclosed,
and the tribulations rained down upon His Herald and upon His Namesake
recognized and lamented. His own yearning for the crown of martyrdom,
which they both so mysteriously won, is voiced, and the ineffable glories
and wonders in store for His own Dispensation foreshadowed. Episodes, at
once moving and marvelous, at various stages of His ministry, are
recounted, and the transitoriness of worldly pomp, fame, riches, and
sovereignty, repeatedly and categorically asserted. Appeals for the
application of the highest principles in human and international relations
are forcibly and insistently made, and the abandonment of discreditable
practices and conventions, detrimental to the happiness, the growth, the
prosperity and the unity of the human race, enjoined. Kings are censured,
ecclesiastical dignitaries arraigned, ministers and plenipotentiaries
condemned, and the identification of His advent with the coming of the
Father Himself unequivocally admitted and repeatedly announced. The
violent downfall of a few of these kings and emperors is prophesied, two
of them are definitely challenged, most are warned, all are appealed to
and exhorted.
In the Lawh-i-Sultan (Tablet to the _Sh_ah of Persia) Baha'u'llah
declares: "Would that the world-adorning wish of His Majesty might decree
that this Servant be brought face to face with the divines of the age, and
produce proofs and testimonies in the presence of His Majesty the _Sh_ah!
This Servant is ready, and taketh hope in God, that such a gathering may
be convened in order that the truth of the matter may be made clear and
manifest before His Majesty the _Sh_ah. It is then for thee to command,
and I stand ready before the throne of thy sovereignty. Decide, then, for
Me or against Me."
And moreover, in the Lawh-i-Ra'is, Baha'u'llah, recalling His conversation
with the Turkish officer charged with the task of enforcing His banishment
to the fortress-town of Akka, has written: "There is a matter, which, if
thou findest it possible, I request thee to submit to His Majesty the
Sultan, that for ten minutes this Youth be enabled to meet him, so that he
may demand whatsoever he deemeth as a sufficient testimony and regardeth
as proof of the veracity of Him Who is the Truth. Should God enable Him to
produce it, let him, then, release these wronged ones, and leave them to
themselves." "He promised," Baha'u'llah adds in that Tablet, "to transmit
this message, and to give Us his reply. We received, however, no news from
him. Although it becometh not Him Who is the Truth to present Himself
before any person, inasmuch as all have been created to obey Him, yet in
view of the condition of these little children and the large number of
women so far removed from their friends and countries, We have acquiesced
in this matter. In spite of this nothing hath resulted. Umar himself is
alive and accessible. Inquire from him, that the truth may be made known
unto you."
Referring to these Tablets addressed to the sovereigns of the earth, and
which 'Abdu'l-Baha has acclaimed as a "miracle," Baha'u'llah has written:
"Each one of them hath been designated by a special name. The first hath
been named 'The Rumbling,' the second, 'The Blow,' the third, 'The
Inevitable,' the fourth, 'The Plain,' the fifth, 'The Catastrophe,' and
the others, 'The Stunning Trumpet Blast,' 'The Near Event,' 'The Great
Terror,' 'The Trumpet,' 'The Bugle,' and their like, so that all the
peoples of the earth may know, of a certainty, and may witness, with
outward and inner eyes, that He Who is the Lord of Names hath prevailed,
and will continue to prevail, under all conditions, over all men.... Never
since the beginning of the world hath the Message been so openly
proclaimed.... Glorified be this Power which hath shone forth and
compassed the worlds! This act of the Causer of Causes hath, when
revealed, produced two results. It hath at once sharpened the swords of
the infidels, and unloosed the tongues of such as have turned towards Him
in His remembrance and praise. This is the effect of the fertilizing
winds, mention of which hath been made aforetime in the Lawh-i-Haykal. The
whole earth is now in a state of pregnancy. The day is approaching when it
will have yielded its noblest fruits, when from it will have sprung forth
the loftiest trees, the most enchanting blossoms, the most heavenly
blessings. Immeasurably exalted is the breeze that wafteth from the
garment of thy Lord, the Glorified! For lo, it hath breathed its fragrance
and made all things new! Well it is with them that comprehend. It is
indubitably clear and evident that in these things He Who is the Lord of
Revelation hath sought nothing for Himself. Though aware that they would
lead to tribulations, and be the cause of troubles and afflictive trials,
He, solely as a token of His loving-kindness and favor, and for the
purpose of quickening the dead and of manifesting the Cause of the Lord of
all Names and Attributes, and of redeeming all who are on earth, hath
closed His eyes to His own well-being and borne that which no other person
hath borne or will bear."
The most important of His Tablets addressed to individual sovereigns
Baha'u'llah ordered to be written in the form of a pentacle, symbolizing
the temple of man, including therein, as a conclusion, the following words
which reveal the importance He attached to those Messages, and indicate
their direct association with the prophecy of the Old Testament: "Thus
have We built the Temple with the hands of power and might, could ye but
know it. This is the Temple promised unto you in the Book. Draw ye nigh
unto it. This is that which profiteth you, could ye but comprehend it. Be
fair, O peoples of the earth! Which is preferable, this, or a temple which
is built of clay? Set your faces towards it. Thus have ye been commanded
by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Follow ye His bidding, and
praise ye God, your Lord, for that which He hath bestowed upon you. He,
verily, is the Truth. No God is there but He. He revealeth what He
pleaseth, through His words 'Be and it is.'"
Referring to this same subject, He, in one of His Tablets, thus addresses
the followers of Jesus Christ: "O concourse of the followers of the Son!
Verily, the Temple hath been built with the hands of the will of your
Lord, the Almighty, the All-Bounteous. Bear, then, witness, O people, unto
that which I say: Which is preferable, that which is built of clay, or
that which is built by the hands of your Lord, the Revealer of verses?
This is the Temple promised unto you in the Tablets. It calleth aloud: 'O
followers of religions! Haste ye to attain unto Him Who is the Source of
all causes, and follow not every infidel and doubter.'"
It should not be forgotten that, apart from these specific Tablets in
which the kings of the earth are severally and collectively addressed,
Baha'u'llah has revealed other Tablets--the Lawh-i-Ra'is being an
outstanding example--and interspersed the mass of His voluminous writings
with unnumbered passages, in which direct addresses, as well as
references, have been made to ministers, governments, and their accredited
representatives. I am not concerned, however, with such addresses and
references, which, vital as they are, cannot be regarded as being endowed
with that peculiar pregnancy which direct and specific messages, voiced by
the Manifestation of God and directed to the world's Chief Magistrates in
His day, must possess.
Dear friends! Enough has been said to portray the tribulations which, for
so long a time, overwhelmed the Founders of so preeminent a Revelation,
and which the world has so disastrously ignored. Sufficient attention has
also been directed to the Messages addressed to those sovereign rulers
who, either in the exercise of their unconditioned authority, have
deliberately provoked these sufferings, or could have, in the plenitude of
their power, arisen to mitigate their effect or deflect their tragic
course. Let us now consider the consequences that have ensued. The
reaction of these monarchs was, as already stated, varied and unmistakable
and, as the march of events has gradually unfolded, disastrous in its
consequences. One of the most outstanding amongst these sovereigns treated
the Divine Summons with gross disrespect, dismissing it with a curt and
insolent reply, written by one of his ministers. Another laid violent hold
on the bearer of the Message, tortured, branded, and brutally slew him.
Others preferred to maintain a contemptuous silence. All failed completely
in their duty to arise and extend their assistance. Two of them, in
particular, prompted by the dual impulse of fear and anger, tightened
their grip on the Cause they had jointly resolved to uproot. The one
condemned his Divine Prisoner to yet another banishment, to "the most
unsightly of cities in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the
foulest in water," whilst the other, powerless to lay hands on the Prime
Mover of a hated Faith, subjected its adherents under his sway to abject
and savage cruelties. The recital of Baha'u'llah's sufferings, embodied in
those Messages, failed to evoke compassion in their hearts. His appeals,
the like of which neither the annals of Christianity nor even those of
Islam have recorded, were disdainfully rejected. The dark warnings He
uttered were haughtily scorned. The bold challenges He issued were
ignored. The chastisements He predicted they derisively brushed aside.
What, then--might we not consider--has, in the face of so complete and
ignominious a rejection, happened, and is still happening, in the course,
and particularly in the closing years, of this, the first Baha'i century,
a century fraught with such tumultuous sufferings and violent outrages for
the persecuted Faith of Baha'u'llah? Empires fallen in dust, kingdoms
subverted, dynasties extinguished, royalty besmirched, kings assassinated,
poisoned, driven into exile, subjugated in their own realms, whilst the
few remaining thrones are trembling with the repercussions of the fall of
their fellows.
This process, so gigantic, so catastrophic, may be said to have had its
inception on that memorable night when, in an obscure corner of _Sh_iraz,
the Bab, in the presence of the First Letter to believe in Him, revealed
the first chapter of His celebrated commentary on the Surih of Joseph (The
Qayyum-i-Asma), in which He trumpeted His Call to the sovereigns and
princes of the earth. It passed from incubation to visible manifestation
when Baha'u'llah's prophecies, enshrined for all time in the
Suriy-i-Haykal, and uttered before Napoleon III's dramatic downfall and
the self-imposed imprisonment of Pope Pius IX in the Vatican, were
fulfilled. It gathered momentum when, in the days of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the
Great War extinguished the Romanov, the Hohenzollern, and Hapsburg
dynasties, and converted powerful time-honored monarchies into republics.
It was further accelerated, soon after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, by the
demise of the effete Qajar dynasty in Persia, and the stupendous collapse
of both the Sultanate and the Caliphate. It is still operating, under our
very eyes, as we behold the fate which, in the course of this colossal and
ravaging struggle, is successively overtaking the crowned heads of the
European continent. Surely, no man, contemplating dispassionately the
manifestations of this relentless revolutionizing process, within
comparatively so short a time, can escape the conclusion that the last
hundred years may well be regarded, in so far as the fortunes of royalty
are concerned, as one of the most cataclysmic periods in the annals of
mankind.