Utterances of Bahá’u’lláh with interesting illustrations and comments. She was followed by Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford, who, with the grace and forcefulness that have endeared her to two generations of Bahá’ís, set forth the inner meaning of such a gathering, convened from so many races, lands and climes.
Dr. H. H. Proctor, Congregational minister from Brooklyn, gave a stirring account of the work of his colored congregation in building a church, to be opened in the fall, in which many sects and denominations will worship. One of the rooms in this edifice will be dedicated to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
A feature that contributed an element of true loveliness to the meeting was the music furnished by one of the village choirs. Due to some inadvertence the organ, which was to have been delivered by truck to the Log Cabin, failed to come, so the church members carried it several blocks in order to contribute the music for the occasion. The voices seemed unusually beautiful in the soft air and lent great charm to the program.
The feature of outstanding importance at the Souvenir meeting was the presence of Rúḥí Effendi Afnán, who but a few days before had arrived from Haifa, Palestine. The most striking characteristics of this pleasing young man are sanity and modesty. Gifted with exceptional clarity of thought and native penetration, he brings to the work of the Cause a true spiritual ardor, that usually does not accompany the attitude of the student.
To the average man an ideal is something wistful, elusive, withdrawn, impractical. To the social benefactor and man of vision the ideal is not the antithesis of the practical: the ideal and the practical go hand in hand; the antithesis of the ideal is the brutal. The only distinction between the ideal and the practical is a difference of tense: the practical is present; the ideal is future. And if today’s ideal does not become the practice of tomorrow, then it was not an ideal at all, but a phantasy, a chimera, a vagary. It is with the definite assurance that today’s teaching will become tomorrow’s action that Rúḥí Effendi Afnán continually speaks of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. To his enlightened eyes “the glory of the coming of the Lord” is already existent, and the government of Bahá’u’lláh already established, through that leap of the mind that sees the present order of brutality and chaos replaced by the “healing of the nations.”
In his brief speech he developed a very interesting theme on the reconciliation of science and religion.
There is always an exuberance in such Bahá’í gatherings. The picnic supper in the grove was a joyous reunion of old friends and new, a merry material feast following such a noble spiritual banquet. It was most gratifying to note a large number of new Bahá’ís, inducted into the Cause during the past year.
At the evening session, Mr. Hooper Harris, of New York, one of the most impressive and informed speakers in the Cause, gave a brief survey of some of the fundamental Bahá’í teachings, followed by Rúḥí Effendi Afnán, who, with his marked lucidity and restraint, set forth our most important principles.
The memorable day was brought to a close by a prayer and benediction from a local minister.
Bahá’í meetings continually demonstrate the efficacy of the teachings of the Founders of the Faith. Particularly is it noticeable in this sacred spot in West Englewood where the Divine Exemplar traveled the path and pointed the way. “You must know,” said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “that God is compassionate towards all; you must love all from the utmost depths of your heart . . . You shall by no manner of means prefer yourselves before others. Let all your thoughts be turned toward the rejoicing of hearts . . . Let each one amongst you be illumined, be spiritual, be divine, be glorious, be of God, and be a Bahá’í.”
