Speech Of Professor Michael Sadler
We have met together to bid farewell to 'Abdu'l-Baha, and to thank God for
his example and teaching, and for the power of his prayers to bring Light
into confused thought, Hope into the place of dread, Faith where doubt
was, and into troubled hearts, the Love which overmasters self-seeking and
fear.
Though we all, among ourselves, in our devotional allegiance have our own
individual loyalties, to all of us 'Abdu'l-Baha brings, and has brought, a
message of Unity, of sympathy and of Peace. He bids us all be real and
true in what we profess to believe; and to treasure above everything the
Spirit behind the form. With him we bow before the Hidden Name, before
that which is of every life the Inner Life! He bids us worship in fearless
loyalty to our own faith, but with ever stronger yearning after Union,
Brotherhood, and Love; so turning ourselves in Spirit, and with our whole
heart, that we may enter more into the mind of God, which is above class,
above race, and beyond time.
Professor Sadler concluded with a beautiful prayer of James Martineau.
Mr. Eric Hammond said the Baha'i movement stood for unity; one God, one
people; a myriad souls manifesting the divine unity, a unity so complete
that no difference of colour or creed could possibly differentiate between
one Manifestation of God and another, and a sympathy so all-embracing as
to include the very lowest, meanest, shabbiest of men; unity, sympathy,
brotherhood, leading up to a concord universal. He concluded with a saying
of Baha'u'llah, that the divine cause of universal good could not be
limited to either East or West.
Miss Alice Buckton said we were standing at one of the springtimes of the
world, and from that assembly of representatives of thought and work and
love, would go out all over the world influences making for unity and
brotherhood The complete equality of men and women was one of the chief
notes of Baha'i teaching.
Sir Richard Stapley pointed out that unity must not be sought in the forms
and externals of religion, but in the inner spirit. In Persia there had
been such an impulse towards real unity as was a rebuke to this so-called
Christian country.
Mr. Claude Montefiore, as a Jew, rejoiced in the growth of the spirit of
unity, and regarded that meeting as prophetic of the better time to come,
and in some sense a fulfillment of the idea expressed by one who fell as a
martyr to the Roman Catholic faith, Sir Thomas More, who wrote of the
great Church of the Utopians, in which all varieties of creeds gathered
together, having a service and liturgy that expressed the higher unity,
while admitting special loyalties.
Mrs. Stannard dwelt on what that meeting and the sentiments expressed
meant to the East, especially to the women, whose condition it was
difficult for the West to understand.
Tammaddun'ul-Mulk testified to the unifying effect the Baha'i movement had
had in Persia, and of the wonderful way in which it had spread to America
and other countries.
Then 'Abdu'l-Baha rose to give his farewell address. An impressive figure,
the face rather worn but the eyes full of animation, he stood for about
fifteen minutes, speaking in soft musical Persian. With hands extended,
palms upwards, he closed with a prayer.
Next:
Farewell Words Of 'abdu'l-bahaPrevious:
Meeting Of Farewell To 'abdu'l-baha
Artificial Flower.ca - Download the EBook Wax Flowers
Informational
