THE PROMISED DAY IS COME - PART FOUR
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CALIPHATE
These same forces, operating in a collateral field, have effected a still more remarkable, and a more
radical, revolution, culminating in the collapse and fall of the Muslim Caliphate, the most powerful
institution of the whole Islamic world. This event of portentous significance has, moreover, been followed
by a formal and definite separation of what was left of the Sunni faith in Turkey from the state, and by the
complete secularization of the Republic that has arisen on the ruins of the Ottoman theocratic empire.
This catastrophic fall, that stunned the Islamic world, and the avowed, the unqualified, and formal divorce
between the spiritual and temporal powers, which distinguished the revolution in Turkey from that which
occurred in Persia, I now proceed to consider.
Sunni Islam has sustained, not through the action of a foreign and invading Power, but at the hands
of a dictator, avowedly professing the Faith of Muhammad, a blow more grievous than that which fell,
almost simultaneously, upon its sister-sect in Persia. This retributive act, directed against the archenemy
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, recalls a similar disaster precipitated through the action of a Roman emperor,
during the latter part of the first century of the Christian era -- a disaster that razed to its foundations the
Temple of Solomon, destroyed the Holy of Holies, laid waste the city of David, uprooted the Jewish
hierarchy in Jerusalem, massacred thousands of the Jewish people -- the persecutors of the religion of
Jesus Christ -- dispersed the remainder over the surface of the earth, and reared a pagan colony on
Zion.
The Caliph, the self-styled vicar of the Prophet of Islam, exercised a spiritual sovereignty, and was
invested with a sacred character, which the Shah of Persia neither claimed nor possessed. Nor should it
be forgotten that the sphere of his spiritual jurisdiction extended to countries far beyond the confines of
his own empire, and embraced the overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout the world. He was,
moreover, in his capacity as the Prophet's representative on earth, regarded as the protector of the holy
cities of Mecca and Medina, the defender and propagator of Islam, and the commander of its followers in
any holy war they might be called upon to wage.
So potent, so august, so sacred a personage was at first by virtue of the abolition of the Sultanate in
Turkey, divested of that temporal authority which the exponents of the Sunni school have regarded as a
necessary concomitant to his high office. The sword, emblem of temporal sovereignty, was thus wrested
out of the hands of the commander who, for a brief period, was permitted to occupy such an anomalous
and precarious position. It was soon, however, trumpeted to the Sunni world, which had not previously
been in the least consulted, that the Caliphate itself had been extinguished, and that the country which
had accepted it as an appanage to its Sultanate, for more than four hundred years, had now permanently
disowned it. The Turks who had been the militant leaders of the Muhammadan world, since the Arab
decline, and who had carried the standard of Islam as far as the gates of Vienna, the seat of government
of Europe's premier Power, had resigned their leadership. The ex-caliph, shorn of his royal pomp,
stripped of the symbols of his vicarship, and deserted by friend and foe alike, was forced to flee from
Constantinople, the proud seat of a dual sovereignty, to the land of the infidels, resigning himself to that
same life of exile to which a number of his fellow-sovereigns had been and were still condemned.
Nor has the Sunni world, despite determined efforts, succeeded in designating anyone in his stead
who, though deprived of the sword of a commander, would still act as the custodian of the cloak and
standard of the Apostle of God -- the twin holy symbols of the Caliphate. Conferences were held,
discussions ensued, a Congress of the Caliphate was convened in the Egyptian capital, the City of the
Fatimites, only to result in the widely advertised and public confession of its failure: "They have agreed to
disagree!"
Strange, incredibly strange, must appear the position of this most powerful branch of the Islamic
Faith, with no outward and visible head to voice its sentiments and convictions, its unity irretrievably
shattered, its radiance obscured, its law undermined, its institutions thrown into hopeless confusion. This
institution that had challenged the inalienable, divinely appointed rights of the Imams of the Faith of
Muhammad, had, after the revolution of thirteen centuries, vanished like a smoke, an institution which
had dealt such merciless blows to a Faith Whose Herald was Himself a descendant of the Imams, the
lawful successors of the Apostle of God.
To what else could this remarkable prophecy, enshrined in the Lawh-i-Burhan, allude if not to the
downfall of this crowned overlord of Sunni Muslims? This was not all, however. The disappearance of the Caliph, the spiritual head of above two hundred
million Muhammadans, brought in its wake, in the land that had dealt Islam such a heavy blow, the
annulment of the shari'ah canonical Law, the disendowment of Sunni institutions, the promulgation of a
civil Code, the suppression of religious orders, the abrogation of ceremonials and traditions inculcated by
the religion of Muhammad. The Shaykhu'l-Islam and his satellites, including muftis, qadis, hujahs,
shaykhs, sufis, hajis, mawlavis, dervishes, and others, vanished at a stroke more determined, more open,
and drastic than the one dealt the Shi-Ites by the Shah and his government. The mosques of the capital,
the pride and glory of the Islamic world, were deserted, and the fairest and most famous of them all, the
peerless St. Sophia, "the Second Firmament," "the Vehicle of the Cherubim," converted by the blatant
creators of a secular regime into a museum. The Arabic tongue, the language of the Prophet of God,
was banished from the land, its alphabet was superseded by Latin characters, and the Koran itself
translated into Turkish for the few who still cared to read it. The constitution of the new Turkey not only
proclaimed formally the disestablishment and disendowment of Islam, with all its attendant and, in the
view of some, atheistic enactments, but also heralded various measures that aimed at its further
humiliation and weakening. Even the city of Constantinople, "the Dome of Islam," apostrophized in such
condemnatory terms by Baha'u'llah, which, after the fall of Byzantium, had been hailed by the great
Constantine as "the New Rome," and exalted to the rank of the metropolis of both the Roman Empire and
of Christendom, and subsequently revered as the seat of the Caliphs, was relegated to the position of a
provincial city and stripped of all its pomp and glory, its soaring and slender minarets standing sentinel at
the grave of so much vanished splendor and power.
Such was the fate that overtook both Shi-Ite and Sunni Islam, in the two countries where they had
planted their banners and reared their most powerful and far-famed institutions. Such was their fate in
these two countries, in one of which Baha'u'llah died an exile, and in the other the Bab suffered a
martyr's death. Such was the fate of the self-styled Vicar of the Prophet of God, and of the favorite
ministers of the still awaited Imam.
This horde of degraded priests, stigmatized by Baha'u'llah as "doctors
of doubt," as the "abject manifestations of the Prince of Darkness," as "wolves" and "pharaohs," as "focal
centers of hellish fire," as "voracious beasts preying upon the carrion of the souls of men," and, as
testified by their own traditions, as both the sources and victims of mischief, have joined the various
swarms of shah-zadihs, of emirs, and princelings of fallen dynasties -- a witness and a warning unto all
nations of what must, sooner or later, befall those wielders of earthly dominion, be it royal or ecclesiastic,
who might dare to challenge or persecute the appointed Channels and Embodiments of Divine authority
and power.
Islam, at once the progenitor and persecutor of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, is, if we read aright the signs
of the times, only beginning to sustain the impact of this invincible and triumphant Faith. We need only
recall the nineteen hundred years of abject misery and dispersion which they, who only for the short
space of three years persecuted the Son of God, have had to endure, and are still enduring. We may
well ask ourselves, with mingled feelings of dread and awe, how severe must be the tribulations of those
who, during no less than fifty years, have, "at every moment tormented with a fresh torment" Him Who is
the Father, and who have, in addition, made His Herald -- Himself a Manifestation of God -- to quaff, in
such tragic circumstances, the cup of martyrdom.
I have, in the pages immediately preceding, quoted certain passages addressed collectively to the
members of the ecclesiastical order, both Islamic and Christian, and have then recorded a number of
specific addresses and references to Muslim divines, both Shi-Ites and Sunni, after which I proceeded to
describe the calamities that afflicted these Muhammadan hierarchies, their heads, their members, their
properties, their ceremonials, and institutions. Let us now consider the addresses specifically made to
the members of the Christian clerical order who, for the most part, have ignored the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
while a few among them have, as its Administrative Order gained in stature and spread its ramifications
over Christian countries, arisen to check its progress, to belittle its influence, and obscure its purpose.
HIS MESSAGES TO CHRISTIAN LEADERS
A glance at the writings of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation will reveal the
important and significant fact that He Who addressed collectively an immortal message to all the kings of
the earth, Who revealed a Tablet to each of the outstanding crowned heads of Europe and Asia, Who
issued His call to the sacerdotal leaders of Islam, both Sunni and Shi-Ites, Who did not exclude from His
purview the Jews and the Zoroastrians, has, apart from His numerous and repeated exhortations and
warnings to the entire Christian world, directed particular messages, some general, others precise and
challenging, to the heads, as well as to the rank and file, of the ecclesiastical orders of Christendom -- its
pope, its kings, its patriarchs, its archbishops, its bishops, its priests, and its monks. We have already, in
connection with the messages of Baha'u'llah to the crowned heads of the world, considered certain
features of the Tablet to the Roman Pontiff, as well as the words written to the kings of Christendom. Let
us now turn our attention to those passages in which the aristocracy of the church and its ordained
servants are singled out for exhortation and admonition by the Pen of Baha'u'llah :
"Say: O concourse of patriarchs! He Whom you were promised in the Tablets is come. Fear God, and follow not the vain
imaginings of the superstitious. Lay aside the things you possess, and take fast hold of the Tablet of
God by His sovereign power. Better is this for you than all your possessions. Unto this testifies every
understanding heart, and every man of insight. Pride yourselves on My Name, and yet shut yourselves
out as by a veil from Me? This indeed is a strange thing!"
"Say: O concourse of archbishops! He Who is the Lord of all men has appeared. In the plain of guidance He called mankind,
while you are numbered with the dead! Great is the blessedness of him who is stirred by the Breeze of
God, and has arisen from amongst the dead in this perspicuous Name."
"Say: O concourse of bishops! Trembling has seized all the kindreds of the earth, and He Who is the Everlasting Father
called aloud between earth and heaven. Blessed the ear that has heard, and the eye that has seen, and
the heart that has turned unto Him Who is the Point of Adoration of all who are in the heavens and all
who are on earth."
"O concourse of bishops! You are the stars of the heaven of My knowledge. My mercy desires not that you should
fall upon the earth. My justice, however, declares : `This is that which the Son [Jesus] has decreed.'
And whatsoever has proceeded out of His blameless, His truth speaking, trustworthy mouth, can never
be altered. The bells, verily, peal out My Name, and lament over Me, but My spirit rejoices with evident
gladness. The body of the Loved One yearns for the cross, and His head is eager for the spear, in the
path of the All-Merciful. The ascendancy of the oppressor can in no wise deter Him from His purpose."
And again: "The stars of the heaven of knowledge have fallen, they that adduce the proofs they possess
in order to demonstrate the truth of My Cause, and who make mention of God in My Name. When I
came unto them, in My majesty, however, they turned aside from Me. They, verily, are of the fallen. This
is what the Spirit [Jesus] prophesied when He came with the truth, and the Jewish doctors caviled at Him,
until they committed what made the Holy Spirit to lament, and the eyes of such as enjoy near access to
God to weep."
"Say : O concourse of priests! Leave the bells, and come forth, then, from your churches. It behooves you, in this day, to
proclaim aloud the Most Great Name among the nations. Prefer you to be silent, while every stone and
every tree shouts aloud: `The Lord is come in His great glory!'?... He that summons men in My name is,
verily, of Me, and he will show forth that which is beyond the power of all that are on earth.
...Let the Breeze of God awaken you. Verily, it has wafted over the world. Well is it with him that has
discovered the fragrance thereof and been accounted among the well-assured." And again: These "fallen stars" of the firmament of Christendom, these "thick clouds" that have obscured the
radiance of the true Faith of God, these princes of the Church that have failed to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the "King of kings," these deluded ministers of the Son who have shunned and ignored the
promised Kingdom which the "Everlasting Father" has brought down from heaven, and is now
establishing upon earth -- these are experiencing, in this "Day of Reckoning," a crisis, not indeed as
critical as that which the Islamic sacerdotal order, the inveterate enemies of the Faith, has had to face,
but one which is no less widespread and significant. "Power has been seized" indeed, and is being
increasingly seized, from these ecclesiastics that speak in the name, and yet are so far away from the
spirit, of the Faith they profess.
We have only to look around us, as we survey the fortunes of Christian ecclesiastical orders, to
appreciate the steady deterioration of their influence, the decline of their power, the damage to their
prestige, the flouting of their authority, the dwindling of their congregations, the relaxation of their
discipline, the restriction of their press, the timidity of their leaders, the confusion in their ranks, the
progressive confiscation of their properties, the surrender of some of their most powerful strongholds,
and the extinction of other ancient and cherished institutions. Indeed, ever since the Divine summons
was issued, and the invitation extended, and the warning sounded, and the condemnation pronounced,
this process, that may be said to have been initiated with the collapse of the temporal sovereignty of the
Roman Pontiff, soon after the Tablet to the Pope had been revealed, has been operating with increasing
momentum, menacing the very basis on which the entire order is resting. Aided by the forces which the
Communist movement has unloosed, reinforced by the political consequences of the last war,
accelerated by the excessive, the blind, the intolerant, and militant nationalism which is now convulsing
the nations, and stimulated by the rising tide of materialism, irreligion, and paganism, this process is not
only tending to subvert ecclesiastical institutions, but appears to be leading to the rapid
de-christianization of the masses in many Christian countries.
I shall content myself with the enumeration of certain outstanding manifestations of this force which
is increasingly invading the domain, and assailing the firmest ramparts, of one of the leading religious
systems of mankind. The virtual extinction of the temporal power of the most preeminent ruler in
Christendom immediately after the creation of the Kingdom of Italy; the wave of anti clericalism that
swept over France after the collapse of the Napoleonic empire, and which culminated in the complete
separation of the Catholic Church from the state, in the laicization of the Third Republic, in the
secularization of education, and in the suppression and dispersal of religious orders; the swift and
sudden rise of that "religious irreligion," that bold, conscious, and organized assault launched in Soviet
Russia against the Greek Orthodox Church, that precipitated the disestablishment of the state religion,
that massacred a vast number of its members originally numbering above a hundred million souls, that
pulled down, closed, or converted into museums, theatres and warehouses, thousands upon thousands
of churches, monasteries, synagogues and mosques, that stripped the church of its six and a half million
acres of property, and sought, through its League of Militant Atheists and the promulgation of a "five-year
plan of godlessness," to loosen from its foundations the religious life of the masses; the dismemberment
of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that dissolved, by one stroke, the most powerful unit which owed its
allegiance to, and supported through its resources the administration of, the Church of Rome; the divorce
of the Spanish state from that same Church, and the overthrow of the monarchy, the champion of
Catholic Christendom; the nationalistic philosophy, the parent of an unbridled and obsolete nationalism,
which, having dethroned Islam, has indirectly assaulted the front line of the Christian church in
non-Christian lands, and is dealing such heavy blows to Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian Missions in
Persia, Turkey, and the Far East; the revolutionary movement that brought in its wake the persecution of
the Catholic Church in Mexico; and finally the gospel of modern paganism, unconcealed, aggressive, and
unrelenting, which, in the years preceding the present turmoil, and increasingly since its outbreak, has
swept over the continent of Europe, invading the citadels, and sowing confusion in the hearts of the
supporters, of the Catholic, the Greek Orthodox, and the Lutheran churches, in Austria, Poland,
the Baltic and Scandinavian states, and more recently in Western Europe, the home and center of the
most powerful hierarchies of Christendom.
CHRISTIAN NATIONS AGAINST CHRISTIAN NATIONS
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 Our-self unto you, and you recognized Me not.
This is yet another occasion vouchsafed unto you. This is the Day of God ; turn unto Him.... The
Beloved One loves not that you be consumed with the fire of your desires. Were you to be shut out as
by a veil from Him, this would be for no other reason than your own waywardness and ignorance. You
make mention of Me, and know Me not. You 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, while 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 bids you He Who desires for you
everlasting life.... We behold you, O children of the Kingdom, in darkness. This, verily, beseems you not.
Are you, in the face of the Light, fearful because of your deeds? Direct yourselves towards Him....
Verily, He [Jesus] said: `Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.' In this day,
however, We say: `Come 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 the One Who has sacrificed His life that you may be quickened?
Fear God, O followers of the Spirit [Jesus], and walk not in the footsteps of every divine that has gone far
astray.... Open the doors of your hearts. He Who is the Spirit [Jesus] verily, stands before them.
Wherefore keep afar from Him Who has purposed to draw you near unto a Resplendent Spot? Say: We,
in truth, have opened unto you the gates of the Kingdom. Will you bar the doors of your houses in My
face? This indeed is nothing 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 defence
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 Shi-Ite 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."
THE CONTINUITY OF REVELATION
The Faith standing identified with the name of Baha'u'llah disclaims any
intention to belittle any of the Prophets gone before Him, to whittle down any of their teachings, to
obscure, however slightly, the radiance of their Revelations, to oust them from the hearts of their
followers, to abrogate the fundamentals of their doctrines, to discard any of their revealed Books, or to
suppress the legitimate aspirations of their adherents. Repudiating the claim of any religion to be the
final revelation of God to man, disclaiming finality for His own Revelation, Baha'u'llah inculcates the basic
principle of the relativity of religious truth, the continuity of Divine Revelation, the progressiveness of
religious experience. His aim is to widen the basis of all revealed religions and to unravel the mysteries
of their scriptures. He insists on the unqualified recognition of the unity of their purpose, restates the
eternal verities they enshrine, coordinates their functions, distinguishes the essential and the authentic
from the nonessential and spurious in their teachings, separates the God-given truths from the
priest-prompted superstitions, and on this as a basis proclaims the possibility, and even prophecies the
inevitability, of their unification, and the consummation of their highest hopes.
As to Muhammad, the Apostle of God, let none among His followers who read these pages, think for
a moment that either Islam, or its Prophet, or His Book, or His appointed Successors, or any of His
authentic teachings, have been, or are to be in any way, or to however slight a degree, disparaged. The
lineage of the Bab, the descendant of the Imam Husayn; the divers and striking evidences, in Nabil's
Narrative, of the attitude of the Herald of our Faith towards the Founder, the Imams, and the Book of
Islam; the glowing tributes paid by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Iqan to Muhammad and His lawful
Successors, and particularly to the "peerless and incomparable" Imam Husayn; the arguments adduced,
forcibly, fearlessly, and publicly by Abdu'l-Baha, in churches and synagogues, to demonstrate the validity
of the Message of the Arabian Prophet; and last but not least the written testimonial of the Queen of
Rumania, who, born in the Anglican faith and notwithstanding the close alliance of her government with
the Greek Orthodox Church, the state religion of her adopted country, has, largely as a result of the
perusal of these public discourses of Abdu'l-Baha, been prompted to proclaim her recognition of the
prophetic function of Muhammad -- all proclaim, in no uncertain terms, the true attitude of the Baha'i
Faith towards its parent religion.
"God," is her royal tribute, "is All, everything. He is the power behind all beginnings.... His is the
Voice within us that shows us good and evil. But mostly we ignore or misunderstand this voice.
Therefore, did He choose His Elect to come down amongst us upon earth to make clear His Word, His
real meaning. Therefore, the Prophets; therefore, Christ, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, for man needs from
time to time a voice upon earth to bring God to him, to sharpen the realization of the existence of the true
God. Those voices sent to us had to become flesh, so that with our earthly ears we should be able to
hear and understand."
What greater proof, it may be pertinently asked, can the divines of either Persia or Turkey require
wherewith to demonstrate the recognition by the followers of Baha'u'llah of the exalted position occupied
by the Prophet Muhammad among the entire company of the Messengers of God? What greater service
do these divines expect us to render the Cause of Islam? What greater evidence of our competence can
they demand than that we should kindle, in quarters so far beyond their reach, the spark of an ardent and
sincere conversion to the truth voiced by the Apostle of God, and obtain from the pen of royalty this
public, and indeed historic, confession of His God-given Mission?
As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine
origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly
asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the
Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed, and the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is
upheld and defended. The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by Baha'u'llah as the "Spirit of
God," is proclaimed as the One Who "appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost," and is even extolled
as the "Essence of the Spirit." His mother is described as "that veiled and immortal, that most
beauteous, countenance," and the station of her Son eulogized as a "station which has been exalted
above the imaginings of all that dwell on earth," while Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused
"the mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth." "Know," Baha'u'llah has moreover
testified, "that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great
weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its
evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before you. The deepest
wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind has unfolded, the arts
which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but
manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent
Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created
things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the
unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind
were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man
who, with a face beaming with light, has turned towards Him."
Indeed, the essential prerequisites of admittance into the Baha'i fold of Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus,
Buddhists, and the followers of other ancient faiths, as well as of agnostics and even atheists, is the
wholehearted and unqualified acceptance by them all of the divine origin of both Islam and Christianity,
of the Prophetic functions of both Muhammad and Jesus Christ, of the legitimacy of the institution of the
Imanate, and of the primacy of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. Such are the central, the solid, the
incontrovertible principles that constitute the bedrock of Baha'i belief, which the Faith of Baha'u'llah is
proud to acknowledge, which its teachers proclaim, which its apologists defend, which its literature
disseminates, which its summer schools expound, and which the rank and file of its followers attest by
both word and deed.
Nor should it be thought for a moment that the followers of Baha'u'llah either seek to degrade or
even belittle the rank of the world's religious leaders, whether Christian, Muslim, or of any other
denomination, should their conduct conform to their professions, and be worthy of the position they
occupy. "Those divines," Baha'u'llah has affirmed, "...who are truly adorned with the ornament of
knowledge and of a goodly character are, verily, as a head to the body of the world, and as eyes to the
nations. The guidance of men has, at all times, been and is dependent upon these blessed souls." And
again: "The divine whose conduct is upright, and the sage who is just, are as the spirit unto the body of
the world. Well is it with that divine whose head is attired with the crown of justice, and whose temple is
adorned with the ornament of equity." And yet again: "The divine who has seized and quaffed the
most holy Wine, in the name of the sovereign Ordainer, is as an eye unto the world. Well is it with them
who obey him, and call him to remembrance." "Great is the blessedness of that divine," He, in another
connection, has written, "that has not allowed knowledge to become a veil between him and the One
Who is the Object of all knowledge, and who, when the Self-Subsisting appeared, has turned with a
beaming face towards Him. He, in truth, is numbered with the learned. The inmates of Paradise seek
the blessing of his breath, and his lamp sheds its radiance over all who are in heaven and on earth. He,
verily, is numbered with the inheritors of the Prophets. He that beholds him has, verily, beheld the True
One, and he that turned towards him has, verily, turned towards God, the Almighty, the All-Wise."
"Respect the divines amongst you," is His exhortation, "They whose acts conform to the knowledge they
possess, who observe the statutes of God, and decree the things God has decreed in the Book. Know
that they are the lamps of guidance between earth and heaven. They that have no consideration for the
position and merit of the divines amongst them have, verily, altered the bounty of God vouchsafed unto
them."
Dear friends! I have, in the preceding pages, attempted to represent this world-afflicting ordeal that
has laid its grip upon mankind as primarily a judgment of God pronounced against the peoples of the
earth, who, for a century, have refused to recognize the One Whose advent had been promised to all
religions, and in Whose Faith all nations can alone, and must eventually, seek their true salvation. I have
quoted certain passages from the writings of Baha'u'llah and the Bab (the Door) that reveal the
character, and foreshadow the occurrence of this divinely inflicted visitation. I have enumerated the
woeful trials with which the Faith, its Herald, its Founder, and its Exemplar, have been afflicted, and
exposed the tragic failure of the generality of mankind and its leaders to protest against these
tribulations, and to acknowledge the claims advanced by those Who bore them. I have, moreover,
indicated that a direct, an awful, an inescapable responsibility rested on the sovereigns of the earth and
the world's religious leaders who, in the days of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, held within their grasp the reins
of absolute political and religious authority. I have also endeavored to show how, as a result of the direct
and active antagonism of some of them to the Faith, and the neglect by others of their unquestioned duty
to investigate its truth and its claims, to vindicate its innocence, and avenge its injuries, both kings and
ecclesiastics have been, and are still being, subjected to the dire punishments which their sins of
omission and commission have provoked. I have, owing to the chief responsibility which they incurred,
as a result of the undisputed ascendancy they held over their subjects and followers, quoted extensively
from the messages, the exhortations and warnings addressed to them by the Founders of our Faith, and
expatiated on the consequences that have flowed from these momentous and epoch-making utterances.
This great retributive calamity, for which the world's supreme leaders, both secular and religious, are
to be regarded as primarily answerable, as testified by Baha'u'llah, should not, if we would correctly
appraise it, be regarded solely as a punishment meted out by God to a world that has, for a hundred
years, persisted in its refusal to embrace the truth of the redemptive Message proffered to it by the
supreme Messenger of God in this day. It should be viewed also, though to a lesser degree, in the light
of a divine retribution for the perversity of the human race in general, in casting itself adrift from those
elementary principles which must, at all times, govern, and can alone safeguard, the life and progress of
mankind. Humanity has, alas, with increasing insistence, preferred, instead of acknowledging and
adoring the Spirit of God as embodied in His religion in this day, to worship those false idols, untruths
and half-truths, which are obscuring its religions, corrupting its spiritual life, convulsing its political
institutions, corroding its social fabric, and shattering its economic structure.
Not only have the peoples of the earth ignored, and some of them even assailed, a Faith which is at
once the essence, the promise, the reconciler, and the unifier of all religions, but they have drifted away
from their own religions, and set up on their subverted altars other gods wholly alien not only to the spirit
but to the traditional forms of their ancient faiths.
"The face of the world," Baha'u'llah laments, "has altered. The way of God and the religion of God
have ceased to be of any worth in the eyes of men." "The vitality of men's belief in God," He also has
written, "is dying out in every land.... The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human
society." "Religion," He affirms, "is verily the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world,
and of tranquillity amongst its peoples.... The greater the decline of religion, the more grievous the
waywardness of the ungodly. This cannot but lead in the end to chaos and confusion." An again:
"Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable stronghold for the protection and welfare of the peoples of
the world." "As the body of man," He, in another connection, has written, "needs a garment to clothe it,
so the body of mankind must needs be adorned with the mantle of justice and wisdom. Its robe is the
Revelation vouchsafed unto it by God."
THE THREE FALSE GOD'S
This vital force is dying out, this mighty agency has been scorned, this radiant
light obscured, this impregnable stronghold abandoned, this beauteous robe discarded. God Himself
has indeed been dethroned from the hearts of men, and an idolatrous world passionately and
clamorously hails and worships the false gods which its own idle fancies have fatuously created, and its
misguided hands so impiously exalted. The chief idols in the desecrated temple of mankind are none
other than the triple gods of Nationalism, Racialism and Communism, at whose altars governments and
peoples, whether democratic or totalitarian, at peace or at war, of the East or of the West, Christian or
Islamic, are, in various forms and in different degrees, now worshipping. Their high priests are the
politicians and the worldly-wise, the so-called sages of the age; their sacrifice, the flesh and blood of the
slaughtered multitudes; their incantations outworn shibboleths and insidious and irreverent formulas;
their incense, the smoke of anguish that ascends from the lacerated hearts of the bereaved, the maimed,
and the homeless.
The theories and policies, so unsound, so pernicious, which deify the state and exalt the nation
above mankind, which seek to subordinate the sister races of the world to one single race, which
discriminate between the black and the white, and which tolerate the dominance of one privileged class
over all others -- these are the dark, the false, and crooked doctrines for which any man or people who
believes in them, or acts upon them, must, sooner or later, incur the wrath and chastisement of God.
"Movements," is the warning sounded by Abdu'l-Baha, "newly born and worldwide in their range, will
exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great
importance. Its influence will spread."
Contrasting with, and irreconcilably opposed to, these war-engendering, world-convulsing doctrines
are the healing, the saving, the pregnant truths proclaimed by Baha'u'llah, the Divine Organizer and
Savior of the whole human race -- truths which should be regarded as the animating force and the
hallmark of His Revelation:
"The world is but one country, and mankind its citizens." "Let not a man glory in that he loves his
country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind."
And again:"You are the fruits of one tree,
and the leaves of one branch." "Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and kindreds
of the earth, that haply ... all mankind may become the upholders of one order, and the inhabitants of one
city.... You dwell in one world, and have been created through the operation of one Will." "Beware lest
the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you. Be as the fingers of
one hand, the members of one body."
And yet
again: "All the saplings of the world have
appeared from one Tree, and all the drops from one Ocean, and all beings owe their existence to one
Being."
And furthermore:
"That one indeed is a man who today dedicates himself to the service of the entire human race."
THE WEAKENED PILLARS OF RELIGION
Not only must irreligion and its monstrous offspring, the triple curse that
oppresses the soul of mankind in this day, be held responsible for the ills which are so tragically
besetting it, but other evils and vices, which are, for the most part, the direct consequences of the
"weakening of the pillars of religion," must also be regarded as contributory factors to the manifold guilt
of which individuals and nations stand convicted. The signs of moral downfall, consequent to the
dethronement of religion and the enthronement of these usurping idols, are too numerous and too patent
for even a superficial observer of the state of present-day society to fail to notice. The spread of
lawlessness, of drunkenness, of gambling, and of crime; the inordinate love of pleasure, of riches, and
other earthly vanities; the laxity in morals, revealing itself in the irresponsible attitude towards marriage,
in the weakening of parental control, in the rising tide of divorce, in the deterioration in the standard of
literature and of the press, and in the advocacy of theories that are the very negation of purity, of morality
and chastity -- these evidences of moral decadence, invading both the East and the West, permeating
every stratum of society, and instilling their poison in its members of both sexes, young and old alike,
blacken still further the scroll upon which are inscribed the manifold transgressions of an unrepentant
humanity.
Small wonder that Baha'u'llah, the Divine Physician, should have declared: "In this day the tastes of
men have changed, and their power of perception has altered. The contrary winds of the world, and its
colors, have provoked a cold, and deprived men's nostrils of the sweet savors of Revelation."
Brimful and bitter indeed is the cup of humanity that has failed to respond to the summons of God as
voiced by His Supreme Messenger, that has dimmed the lamp of its faith in its Creator, that has
transferred, in so great a measure, the allegiance owed Him to the gods of its own invention, and
polluted itself with the evils and vices which such a transference must necessarily engender.
Dear friends! It is in this light that we, the followers of Baha'u'llah, should regard this visitation of
God which, in the concluding years of the first century of the Baha'i era, afflicts the generality, and has
thrown into such a bewildering confusion the affairs, of mankind. It is because of this dual guilt, the
things it has done and the things it has left undone, its misdeeds as well as its dismal and signal failure
to accomplish its clear and unmistakable duty towards God, His Messenger, and His Faith, that this
grievous ordeal, whatever its immediate political and economic causes, has laid its adamantine grip upon
it.
God, however, as has been pointed out in the very beginning of these pages, does not only punish
the wrongdoings of His children. He chastises because He is just, and He chastens because He loves.
Having chastened them, He cannot, in His great mercy, leave them to their fate. Indeed, by the very act
of chastening them He prepares them for the mission for which He has created them. "My calamity is My
providence," He, by the mouth of Baha'u'llah, has assured them, "outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but
inwardly it is light and mercy."
The flames which His Divine justice have kindled cleanse an unregenerate humanity, and fuse its
discordant, its warring elements as no other agency can cleanse or fuse them. It is not only a retributory
and destructive fire, but a disciplinary and creative process, whose aim is the salvation, through
unification, of the entire planet. Mysteriously, slowly, and resistlessly God accomplishes His design,
though the sight that meets our eyes in this day be the spectacle of a world hopelessly entangled in its
own meshes, utterly careless of the Voice which, for a century, has been calling it to God, and miserably
subservient to the siren voices which are attempting to lure it into the vast abyss.
God's purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone can bring about, and the full
significance of which He alone can fathom, the Great, the Golden Age of a long-divided, a long-afflicted
humanity. Its present state, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its distant
future, however, is radiant, gloriously radiant -- so radiant that no eye can visualize it.
"The winds of despair," writes Baha'u'llah, as He surveys the immediate destinies of mankind, "are,
alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily
increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the
prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." "Such shall be its plight," He, in another
connection, has declared, "that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly." "These fruitless
strifes," He, on the other hand, contemplating the future of mankind, has emphatically prophesied, in the
course of His memorable interview with the Persian orientalist, Edward G. Browne, "these ruinous wars
shall pass away, and the `Most Great Peace' shall come.... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord
must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family." "Soon," He predicts, "will the present-day
order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." "After a time," He also has written, "all the
governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And following a universal
convulsion, the sun of justice will rise from the horizon of the unseen realm." "The whole earth," He,
moreover, has stated, "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." "All nations and kindreds," Abdu'l-Baha likewise has written,"...will become a
single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences
among nations, will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common faith, will
be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will dwell in one common fatherland, which is
the planet itself."
What we witness at the present time, during "this gravest crisis in the history of civilization," recalling
such times in which "religions have perished and are born," is the adolescent stage in the slow and
painful evolution of humanity, preparatory to the attainment of the stage of manhood, the stage of
maturity, the promise of which is embedded in the teachings, and enshrined in the prophecies, of
Baha'u'llah. The tumult of this age of transition is characteristic of the impetuosity and irrational instincts
of youth, its follies, its prodigality, its pride, its self-assurance, its rebelliousness, and contempt of
discipline.
The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again to return, while
the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must signalize the coming of age of the entire
human race, is yet to come. The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals
of humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages, "the
time of the end," in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the
annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquillity of an
undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men
will have given way to the worldwide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements
that constitute human society.
This will indeed be the fitting climax of that process of integration which, starting with the family, the
smallest unit in the scale of human organization, must, after having called successively into being the
tribe, the city-state, and the nation, continue to operate until it culminates in the unification of the whole
world, the final object and the crowning glory of human evolution on this planet. It is this stage which
humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery
ordeal which humanity is experiencing is mysteriously paving the way. It is with this stage that the
fortunes and the purpose of the Faith of Baha'u'llah are indissolubly linked. It is the creative energies
which His Revelation has released in the "year sixty," and later reinforced by the successive effusions of
celestial power vouchsafed in the "year nine" and the "year eighty" to all mankind, that have instilled into
humanity the capacity to attain this final stage in its organic and collective evolution. It is with the Golden
Age of His Dispensation that the consummation of this process will be forever associated. It is the
structure of His New World Order, now stirring in the womb of the administrative institutions He Himself
has created, that will serve both as a pattern and a nucleus of that world commonwealth which is the
sure, the inevitable destiny of the peoples and nations of the earth.
Just as the organic evolution of mankind has been slow and gradual, and involved successively the
unification of the family, the tribe, the city-state, and the nation, so has the light vouchsafed by the
Revelation of God, at various stages in the evolution of religion, and reflected in the successive
Dispensations of the past, been slow and progressive. Indeed the measure of Divine Revelation, in
every age, has been adapted to, and commensurate with, the degree of social progress achieved in that
age by a constantly evolving humanity.
"It has been decreed by Us," explains Baha'u'llah, "that the Word of God, and all the potentialities
thereof, shall be manifested unto men in strict conformity with such conditions as have been foreordained
by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.... Should the Word be allowed to release suddenly all the
energies latent within it, no man could sustain the weight of so mighty a Revelation." "All created things,"
Abdu'l-Baha, elucidating this truth, has affirmed, "have their degree or stage of maturity. The period of
maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing.... The animal attains a stage of full growth and
completeness, and in the human kingdom man reaches his maturity when the light of his intelligence
attains its greatest power and development. ...Similarly there are periods and stages in the collective life
of humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of childhood, at another its period of youth, but
now it has entered its long-predicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which are everywhere
apparent.... That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither
meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation. Humanity has
emerged from its former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with
new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, perfect bestowals, are
awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although
timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements
of its maturity." "In every Dispensation," He moreover has written, "the light of Divine Guidance has been
focussed upon one central theme.... In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious century, the foundation of
the Faith of God, and the distinguishing feature of His Law, is the consciousness of the oneness of
mankind."
The Revelation associated with the Faith of Jesus Christ focussed attention
primarily on the redemption of the individual and the molding of his conduct, and stressed, as its central
theme, the necessity of inculcating a high standard of morality and discipline into man, as the
fundamental unit in human society. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find any reference to the unity of
nations or the unification of mankind as a whole. When Jesus spoke to those around Him, He
addressed them primarily as individuals rather than as component parts of one universal, indivisible
entity. The whole surface of the earth was as yet unexplored, and the organization of all its peoples and
nations as one unit could, consequently, not be envisaged, how much less proclaimed or established.
What other interpretation can be given to these words, addressed specifically by Baha'u'llah to the
followers of the Gospel, in which the fundamental distinction between the Mission of Jesus Christ,
concerning primarily the individual, and His own Message, directed more particularly to mankind as a
whole, has been definitely established : "Verily, He [Jesus] said: `Come after Me, and I will make you to
become fishers of men.' In this day, however, We say: `Come after Me, that We may make you to
become the quickeners of mankind.'"
The Faith of Islam, the succeeding link in the chain of Divine Revelation, introduced, as Baha'u'llah
Himself testifies, the conception of the nation as a unit and a vital stage in the organization of human
society, and embodied it in its teaching. This indeed is what is meant by this brief yet highly significant
and illuminating pronouncement of Baha'u'llah: "Of old [Islamic Dispensation] it has been revealed :
`Love of one's country is an element of the Faith of God.'" This principle was established and stressed
by the Apostle of God, inasmuch as the evolution of human society required it at that time. Nor could any
stage above and beyond it have been envisaged, as world conditions preliminary to the establishment of
a superior form of organization were as yet unobtainable. The conception of nationality, the attainment
to the state of nationhood, may, therefore, be said to be the distinguishing characteristics of the
Muhammadan Dispensation, in the course of which the nations and races of the world, and particularly in
Europe and America, were unified and achieved political independence.
Abdu'l-Baha Himself elucidates this truth in one of His Tablets : "In cycles gone by, though
harmony was established, yet, owing to the absence of means, the unity of all mankind could not have
been achieved. Continents remained widely divided, nay even among the peoples of one and the same
continent association and interchange of thought were well-near impossible. Consequently intercourse,
understanding and unity amongst all the peoples and kindreds of the earth were unattainable. In this day,
however, means of communication have multiplied, and the five continents of the earth have virtually
merged into one.... In like manner all the members of the human family, whether peoples or
governments, cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent. For none is self-sufficiency
any longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples and nations, and the bonds of trade and
industry, of agriculture and education, are being strengthened every day. Hence the unity of all mankind
can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this
glorious century. Of this past ages have been deprived, for this century -- the century of light -- has been
endowed with unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination. Hence the miraculous unfolding
of a fresh marvel every day. Eventually it will be seen how bright its candles will burn in the assemblage
of man."
"Behold," He further explains, "how its light is now dawning upon the world's darkened horizon. The
first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned. The
second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will before long be
witnessed. The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass. The fourth candle is
unity in religion which is the cornerstone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be
revealed in all its splendor. The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which, in this century, will be
securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one
common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and
kindreds of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in
which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and every one of these will inevitably come to
pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization."
"One of the great events," Abdu'l-Baha has, in His "Some Answered Questions," affirmed, "which is
to occur in the Day of the manifestation of that Incomparable Branch [Baha'u'llah] is the hoisting of the
Standard of God among all nations. By this is meant that all nations and kindreds will be gathered
together under the shadow of this Divine Banner, which is no other than the Lordly Branch itself, and will
become a single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and
differences among nations, will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common
faith, will be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will dwell in one common fatherland,
which is the planet itself."
This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as
Abdu'l-Baha assures us, will, in this century, be securely established. "The Tongue of Grandeur,"
Baha'u'llah Himself affirms, "has ... in the Day of His Manifestation proclaimed: `It is not his to boast who
loves his country, but it is his who loves the world.'" "Through the power," He adds, "released by these
exalted words He has lent a fresh impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men's hearts, and has
obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation from God's Holy Book."
A word of warning should, however, be uttered in this connection. The love
of one's country, instilled and stressed by the teaching of Islam, as "an element of the Faith of God," has
not, through this declaration, this clarion-call of Baha'u'llah, been either condemned or disparaged. It
should not, indeed it cannot, be construed as a repudiation, or regarded in the light of a censure,
pronounced against a sane and intelligent patriotism, nor does it seek to undermine the allegiance and
loyalty of any individual to his country, nor does it conflict with the legitimate aspirations, rights, and
duties of any individual state or nation. All it does imply and proclaim is the insufficiency of patriotism, in
view of the fundamental changes effected in the economic life of society and the interdependence of the
nations, and as the consequence of the contraction of the world, through the revolution in the means of
transportation and communication -- conditions that did not and could not exist either in the days of
Jesus Christ or of Muhammad. It calls for a wider loyalty, which should not, and indeed does not, conflict
with lesser loyalties. It instills a love which, in view of its scope, must include and not exclude the love of
one's own country. It lays, through this loyalty which it inspires, and this love which it infuses, the only
foundation on which the concept of world citizenship can thrive, and the structure of world unification can
rest. It does insist, however, on the subordination of national considerations and particularistic interests
to the imperative and paramount claims of humanity as a whole, inasmuch as in a world of
interdependent nations and peoples the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of
the whole.
The world is, in truth, moving on towards its destiny. The interdependence of the peoples and nations
of the earth, whatever the leaders of the divisive forces of the world may say or do, is already an
accomplished fact. Its unity in the economic sphere is now understood and recognized. The welfare of
the part means the welfare of the whole, and the distress of the part brings distress to the whole. The
Revelation of Baha'u'llah has, in His own words, "lent a fresh impulse and set a new direction" to this
vast process now operating in the world. The fires lit by this great ordeal are the consequences of men's
failure to recognize it. They are, moreover, hastening its consummation. Adversity, prolonged, worldwide,
afflictive, allied to chaos and universal destruction, must needs convulse the nations, stir the conscience
of the world, disillusion the masses, precipitate a radical change in the very conception of society, and
coalesce ultimately the disjointed, the bleeding limbs of mankind into one body, single, organically
united, and indivisible.
To the general character, the implications and features of this world
commonwealth, destined to emerge, sooner or later, out of the carnage, agony, and havoc of this great
world convulsion, I have already referred in my previous communications. Suffice it to say that this
consummation will, by its very nature, be a gradual process, and must, as Baha'u'llah has Himself
anticipated, lead at first to the establishment of that Lesser Peace which the nations of the earth, as yet
unconscious of His Revelation and yet unwittingly enforcing the general principles which He has
enunciated, will themselves establish. This momentous and historic step, involving the reconstruction of
mankind, as the result of the universal recognition of its oneness and wholeness, will bring in its wake
the spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the recognition of the character, and the
acknowledgment of the claims, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah -- the essential condition to that ultimate fusion
of all races, creeds, classes, and nations which must signalize the emergence of His New World Order.
Then will the coming of age of the entire human race be proclaimed and celebrated by all the
peoples and nations of the earth. Then will the banner of the Most Great Peace be hoisted. Then will the
worldwide sovereignty of Baha'u'llah -- the Establisher of the Kingdom of the Father foretold by the Son,
and anticipated by the Prophets of God before Him and after Him -- be recognized, acclaimed, and firmly
established. Then will a world civilization be born, flourish, and perpetuate itself, a civilization with a
fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive. Then will the Everlasting
Covenant be fulfilled in its completeness. Then will the promise enshrined in all the Books of God be
redeemed, and all the prophecies uttered by the Prophets of old come to pass, and the vision of seers
and poets be realized. Then will the planet, galvanized through the universal belief of its dwellers in one
God, and their allegiance to one common Revelation, mirror, within the limitations imposed upon it, the
effulgent glories of the sovereignty of Baha'u'llah, shining in the plenitude of its splendor in the Abha
Paradise, and be made the footstool of His Throne on high, and acclaimed as the earthly heaven,
capable of fulfilling that ineffable destiny fixed for it, from time immemorial, by the love and wisdom of its
Creator.
Not ours, puny mortals that we are, to attempt, at so critical a stage in the long and checkered
history of mankind, to arrive at a precise and satisfactory understanding of the steps which must
successively lead a bleeding humanity, wretchedly oblivious of its God, and careless of Baha'u'llah, from
its calvary to its ultimate resurrection. Not ours, the living witnesses of the all-subduing potency of His
Faith, to question, for a moment, and however dark the misery that enshrouds the world, the ability of
Baha'u'llah to forge, with the hammer of His Will, and through the fire of tribulation, upon the anvil of this
travailing age, and in the particular shape His mind has envisioned, these scattered and mutually
destructive fragments into which a perverse world has fallen, into one single unit, solid and indivisible,
able to execute His design for the children of men.
Ours rather the duty, however confused the scene, however dismal the present outlook, however
circumscribed the resources we dispose of, to labor serenely, confidently, and unremittingly to lend our
share of assistance, in whichever way circumstances may enable us, to the operation of the forces
which, as marshalled and directed by Baha'u'llah, are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and
shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory.
To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the West.
Shoghi, Haifa, Palestine, March 28, 1941