What a sorry spectacle of impotence and disruption does this fratricidal
war, which Christian nations are waging against Christian
nations--Anglicans pitted against Lutherans, Catholics against Greek
Orthodox, Catholics against Catholics, and Protestants against
Protestants--in support of a so-called Christian civilization, offer to the
eyes of those who are already perceiving the bankruptcy of the
institutions that claim to speak in the name, and to be the custodians, of
the Faith of Jesus Christ! The powerlessness and despair of the Holy See
to halt this internecine strife, in which the children of the Prince of
Peace--blessed and supported by the benedictions and harangues of the
prelates of a hopelessly divided church--are engaged, proclaim the degree
of subservience into which the once all-powerful institutions of the
Christian Faith have sunk, and are a striking reminder of the parallel
state of decadence into which the hierarchies of its sister religion have
fallen.
How tragically has Christendom ignored, and how far it has strayed from,
that high mission which He Who is the true Prince of Peace has, in these,
the concluding passages of His Tablet to Pope Pius IX, called upon the
entire body of Christians to fulfill--passages which establish, for all
time, the distinction between the Mission of Baha'u'llah in this age and
that of Jesus Christ: "Say: O concourse of Christians! We have, on a
previous occasion, revealed Ourself unto you, and ye recognized Me not.
This is yet another occasion vouchsafed unto you. This is the Day of God;
turn ye unto Him.... The Beloved One loveth not that ye be consumed with
the fire of your desires. Were ye to be shut out as by a veil from Him,
this would be for no other reason than your own waywardness and ignorance.
Ye make mention of Me, and know Me not. Ye call upon Me, and are heedless
of My Revelation.... O people of the Gospel! They who were not in the
Kingdom have now entered it, whilst We behold you, in this day, tarrying
at the gate. Rend the veils asunder by the power of your Lord, the
Almighty, the All-Bounteous, and enter, then, in My name My Kingdom. Thus
biddeth you He Who desireth for you everlasting life.... We behold you, O
children of the Kingdom, in darkness. This, verily, beseemeth you not. Are
ye, in the face of the Light, fearful because of your deeds? Direct
yourselves towards Him.... Verily, He [Jesus] said: 'Come ye after Me, and
I will make you to become fishers of men.' In this day, however, We say:
'Come ye after Me, that We may make you to become the quickeners of
mankind.'" "Say," He moreover has written, "We, verily, have come for your
sakes, and have borne the misfortunes of the world for your salvation.
Flee ye the One Who hath sacrificed His life that ye may be quickened?
Fear God, O followers of the Spirit [Jesus], and walk not in the footsteps
of every divine that hath gone far astray.... Open the doors of your
hearts. He Who is the Spirit [Jesus] verily, standeth before them.
Wherefore keep ye afar from Him Who hath purposed to draw you nigh unto a
Resplendent Spot? Say: We, in truth, have opened unto you the gates of the
Kingdom. Will ye bar the doors of your houses in My face? This indeed is
naught but a grievous error."
Such is the pass to which the Christian clergy have come--a clergy that
have interposed themselves between their flock and the Christ returned in
the glory of the Father. As the Faith of this Promised One penetrates
farther and farther into the heart of Christendom, as its recruits from
the garrisons which its spirit is assailing multiply, and provoke a
concerted and determined action in defense of the strongholds of Christian
orthodoxy, and as the forces of nationalism, paganism, secularism and
racialism move jointly towards a climax, might we not expect that the
decline in the power, the authority, and the prestige of these
ecclesiastics will be accentuated, and further demonstrate the truth, and
more fully unfold the implications, of Baha'u'llah's pronouncement
predicting the eclipse of the luminaries of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Devastating indeed has been the havoc wrought in the fortunes of the
_Sh_i'ih hierarchy in Persia, and pitiable the lot reserved for its
remnant now groaning under the yoke of a civil authority it had for
centuries scorned and dominated. Cataclysmic indeed has been the collapse
of the most preeminent institution of Sunni Islam, and irretrievable the
downfall of its hierarchy in a country that had championed the cause of
the self-styled vicar of the Prophet of God. Steady and relentless is the
process which has brought such destruction, shame, division, and weakness
to the defenders of the strongholds of Christian ecclesiasticism, and
black indeed are the clouds that darken its horizon. Through the actions
of Muslim and Christian divines--"idols," whom Baha'u'llah has stigmatized
as constituting the majority of His enemies--who failed, as commanded by
Him, to lay aside their pens and fling away their fancies, and who, as He
Himself testified, had they believed in Him would have brought about the
conversion of the masses, Islam and Christianity have, it would be no
exaggeration to say, entered the most critical phase of their history.
Let none, however, mistake my purpose, or misrepresent this cardinal truth
which is of the essence of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The divine origin of
all the Prophets of God--including Jesus Christ and the Apostle of God, the
two greatest Manifestations preceding the Revelation of the Bab--is
unreservedly and unshakably upheld by each and every follower of the
Baha'i religion. The fundamental unity of these Messengers of God is
clearly recognized, the continuity of their Revelations is affirmed, the
God-given authority and correlative character of their Books is admitted,
the singleness of their aims and purposes is proclaimed, the uniqueness of
their influence emphasized, the ultimate reconciliation of their teachings
and followers taught and anticipated. "They all," according to
Baha'u'llah's testimony, "abide in the same tabernacle, soar in the same
heaven, are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech, and
proclaim the same Faith."