an international Bahá’í conference, who will elect an International Assembly of nine. None of these bodies has authority or power to pass upon matters of doctrine and faith. None can, directly or indirectly, assume to come between the individual soul and God. Their province is confined to the practical affairs of life, corresponding to the function of the legislator and the executive rather than the priest. To the Bahá’ís, the text left by Bahá’u’lláh in writing, together with the commentary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, likewise in writing, constitutes a religion in its fullness and maturity of expression, giving no opportunity to those superimposed creeds which arbitrarily narrow and control the gates of faith.
This outline of the form along which the Cause is now developing establishes, very obviously, a kind of moral school whose students are voluntarily practicing the elementary lessons of world brotherhood. Small though it is, in comparison with the vast population of the earth, it nevertheless must be regarded as a “working model“ of that unity we all long for, and an evidence of the essential power of the vision of Bahá’u’lláh too concrete to be dismissed. As in the early days of the movement, this present development proceeds without the inducement of material reward, since the strictest injunction is laid upon Bahá’ís to abstain from political activities in or through the Cause.
In conclusion, I ask you to consider one all-important fact: Just as a lighted lamp is to be measured, not by its physical size, but rather by the area covered by its rays, so a living religion should be estimated, not in terms of numbers nor of property, but by the area of human experience it is able to illumine through its innate force of truth. Were we to follow, sympathetically and understandingly, those beams of conscious love that shine so brightly through the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, never again could we bring ourselves to use the term “religions,“ but rather should we behold successive outpourings of one same Divine Love, undivided and indivisible—infinitely humble, the very spirit of meekness, outwardly soon overthrown, yet returning again and again through the ages, the teacher, the consoler, the reconciler of all mankind. None can claim that he is a follower of Bahá’u’lláh until, in spirit, he is a follower of every Messenger who has brightened earth with the “glad-tidings“ of the victory of God. None can claim that he is a follower of Bahá’u’lláh who conceives any portion or aspect of life as non-religious, non-contributive to the eternal ascent of the soul. None can claim that he is a follower of Bahá’u’lláh whilst secret intolerance separates him from any fellowman. Above all, none can claim that he is a follower of Bahá’u’lláh whose heart remains barren, fearful or indifferent in this present age—the day which is witness to the overthrow of the foundations of materialism, and the kindling of human hearts with the spirit of universal knowledge and love.
Permit me to close this brief, all too-inadequate presentation of the Bahá’í Cause with a prayer uttered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
“Bring thy children together again, O Lord, by the power of Thy Covenant, and gather their dispersion by the might of Thy promise, and unite their hearts by the dominion of Thy love. Make them love one another so that they may sacrifice their spirits, expend their substance and freely devote their lives for each other’s sake.
“O Lord, cause to descend upon them quietness and tranquillity. Shower upon them the clouds of Thy mercy in great abundance, and make them to characterise themselves with the attributes of the Merciful!
“O Lord, make us firm in Thy noble command and bestow upon us Thy gifts through Thy bounty, grace and munificence.
“Verily, Thou art the Generous, the Merciful, the Willer of all good!”
