Hotel Mealpin, New York City
April 28th, 1919
(Stenographically reported)
Beloved friends: As we have gathered here day by day and
night by night in this room in the heart of this great city, we must have all
realized that we are in the presence of an extraordinary event, that as the
torrents of living water have poured from these great creative Tablets over our
souls, we have been submerged in a realm of light and beauty and love which
leaves us in great amazement. It may be that the most difficult thing for the
soul is to become conscious of the greatness of events with which we are
contemporaneous. We look back over the history of the human race and we see how
many thousand years ago God made covenant with mankind through Abraham, and in
that covenant He promised that the day would come upon this dark world when the
seed of Abraham should be as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea.
When Moses gave the great Tablets to the Israelitish people
and they gathered on either side of the mountain and took an oath of allegiance
and devotion and love and loyalty to that great covenant of steadfastness and
servitude to the people, another great epoch in the seed sowing was
unfolded. When we look back upon such
periods in the world we realize their greatness. We understand their sublime
significance, and yet we here gathered are living in a period so infinitely
greater and more wonderful that we are dazzled by the brightness of the light
so that we cannot see. Those Israelitish people fulfilled their covenant and
were led away and found the Promised Land of God.
And then, after a period of time came the Beloved One, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and gathered around him a little group of souls and illumined them, educated them, taught them and prepared them for the great seed sowing of that Christian era. After their Beloved One had ascended to the supreme realm and they were left alone on earth without him they went to the mountain top and renounced all that they had in this world. They gave up their homes, their families, their possessions, all that was near and dear to them on this earthly plane of existence, and they dedicated themselves utterly to the servitude of Jesus Christ, to their Lord and their Master, to go forth and to be the torch bearers to the world of humanity. They were the seed of God in the world. Their seed and their children's seed spread and enveloped the world until today the great Christian dispensation that was sown by these early disciples has enveloped a great part of the world.
In what a day are we living, in what an age are we? We have the privilege today that those disciples had, but not after the departure of our Beloved, but while he is still in our midst. He is calling us to ascend to the mountain top, to sacrifice and renunciation, to give up all in life, because Baha’u’llah has said in this day let no one come to Me unless he has his head in his hand. ‘Abdu’l-Baha is calling us again; He has for twenty years been calling this nation. We have been partially asleep and partially deaf and partially blind, but now we are awakened and because in His infinite bounty He has created a new spiritual springtime. God through the great laws of evolution has permitted the world to be harrowed and furrowed by war and sorrow and calamity until it is prepared; the soil of human hearts is prepared for the eternal seed of life, the seed of the love of the adored Beloved One. And now ‘Abdu’l-Baha has sent this seed to us, the potentiality, the mystery of a seed which shall unfold throughout ages, and cycles and generations to millions and millions of human beings.
What is that seed to be? Are we not ourselves that seed?
Must we not be of that pure essence that wherever we go and become implanted in
that place even temporarily we impart the life of God, the life of the Covenant
to the people of the world? This is the seed of life. See the whirlwind that
the world has reaped in this day because they have sown their tares! Mankind
has sown in selfishness, darkness, ignorance and greed, and now today it is
reaping this terrible whirlwind of the flood of infinite calamities; but now ‘Abdu’l-Baha
is calling us to sow the seed of truth, of love, of light, of justice, of
righteousness, and eternal unfathomable peace, that shall envelop all mankind
for hundreds of thousands of years.
We must all realize that never from the beginning of the
world until now was such a moment offered to any people. We are truly standing
in that "eleventh hour," promised from the foundation of the world.
You remember in the Book of Daniel it says that at the time of the end,
"they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and
they who turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." And
this is that hour of consummation in which we are gathered. Every one of us is
blest beyond all the inhabitants of the earth because we have the privilege to
be in the presence of the most sublime creative Word of God which is being
poured upon our hearts and innate reality to create in us a new capacity and to
send us forth to give life to the people of the world.
Jesus said, "Work while it is day, for soon the night
cometh, when the way to the vineyard will not be so easy to find.'' And ‘Abdu’l-Baha
said, "Now while the Sun of Truth is still shining and the Son of God's
Covenant is manifest, go forth and work, for soon the night time cometh and the
way to the vineyard will not be so easy to find." Many years ago in Acca
our Beloved Master said to us, "The time will come when the people will
come here to Acca as you are coming now and they will weep and lament because
they have not seen one of these days." He said, "They will tear down
these gates and build gates of the most beautiful marble in the world and then
the ages will roll by and new generations will come and they will bring bricks
of solid gold and silver and build the gates." And then in the garden of
Ridvan which sheltered Baha’u’llah during His lifetime, He said, "You are
privileged to enter this garden to drink of this Fountain of Light, to be in
this presence during His appearance in the Temple of Man on this earth. There
is no period that can be compared in this world, to living in the day
contemporaneous with the appearance of that Beloved One on the earth. It is
different from any other time. It is life, it is joy, it is ecstasy, it is springtime,
because His feet are treading this earth!"
We can hear His voice. We know that He is still guarding,
and protecting and sheltering us in the midst of this dark world and never
shall we have such a privilege to serve as while He is in our midst. There must
be a great significance in His saying, "Soon the night time shall come and
the way to the vineyard will not be so easy to find.'' What is this great
mystery? Why is He calling on us now to go forth and sow the seed at this time,
now? Because the ground is prepared, the way is made plain, the hearts are
hungering and thirsting in every corner of the world, and this great capacity
is created; also because the seed only germinates in the heat rays of the Sun
of Truth. There is no period of love like the period when the Beloved is in our
midst. He is the Beloved and we are His lovers, and while He is on the earth
the heat of His love, the fire of His beauty, that love burning in the hearts
of His servants is what will cause the seed which is sown to grow and germinate
and expand and bring forth a great harvest. That is why He said one word spoken
during the lifetime of the Beloved is worth volumes hereafter. One word spoken
during this day while He is on the earth is worth volumes hereafter, and He has
said, "One deed done in this day is worth the greatest deeds in the future
generations."
He told us that even the words of the thieves upon the cross
are known and remembered throughout all ages and throughout all nations and
people because they were spoken in the lifetime of Christ while He was on the
earth. They were spoken in the full blazing light of the Sun. Now we have this
privilege to go forth and in the light of the Sun of Truth and the Sun of
Reality and sow these seeds, and they will produce a wonderful harvest because
the rays of His love are pouring upon the world. How can we do less than this
for Him? We have no other way of expressing our love for ‘Abdu’l-Baha. This is
the proof of love. It is this love that has drawn us together. He is the great
magnet that has drawn us together from all parts and brought us here until we
are fused and united in a love that makes us seem an absolute body, a temple. We
are one people, one gathering, one congregation of the Lord in this day and He
is pouring His Spirit upon us for a great purpose.
We must not leave
these gatherings even for a moment, and we must not leave them when the final
Tablet is given to us and we have heard its wonderful message. Then we must
stay together, all whose hearts are touched and moved by this great force, we
must come together and work to carry out this plan. We must grasp this wonderful
opportunity and realize that the like of this has never been given to any
people in any time from the beginning of the world until today.
Today, heralding the Kingdom is the magnetic force of the
world of humanity because there is great richness in the souls. The divine
teachings are the spirit of this age; they are the sun of this age. Every soul
must endeavor in order that the veils may be torn away from the eyes, then
instantly they see the Sun, and the heart and the eyes become illumined thereby.
“Now, through the assistance and favor of God, this power of
guidance and this merciful bestowal are found in thee! Therefore, with the
utmost power go forward so that to the mouldering bones thou carries life, to
the blind eyes thou givest sight, quickening souls that are depressed -- for
every road will in the end become crooked except the road of the Kingdom, which
day by day becomes straighter!”
Unquestionably the heavenly melody cannot be measured by the
melody of the earth, and the artificial lamps cannot be measured by the
heavenly Sun. Therefore, one must strive for whatsoever is eternal and
everlasting in order day by day to become more illumined, day by day to grow
stronger and day by day find new life.
(Star of the West, vol. 10, no.11,
September 1919)
