# The Story of the Bahai Movement

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Sydney Sprague, The Story of the Bahai Movement, London: The Priory Press, 1907/1908, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> ....... On   . . . . . ., .
> 
> THE I LAND.
> The Story of the
> Bahai Movement
> ., A Universal Religion
> 
> By
> SYDNEY SPRAGUE
> 
> .. The people of Baba have not any aim save the
> prosperity and reformation of the world and the
> purifying of the nations."
> 
> SECOND      EDITION, REVISED.
> 
> THE PRIORY PRESS ..                     HAMPSTEAD
> LONDON:
> JOHN M. WATKINS 21 CECIL COURT ST. MARTIN'S LANE
> AND
> JONES & EVANS BOOKSELLERS LIMITE 0
> 77 gUEEN STREET CHEAPSIDE
> 
> I!JOB
> All rights reaerwd.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> HARVARD
> UNIVERSITY
> LlBRAft..."
> 
> MAYLE'S PENNY SERIES.
> 
> I.   EDWARD FITZGERALD'S RUBAIYAT OF OMAR
> KHAYYAM. with a Persian-English Vocabulary
> not given in the other editions published in this
> country.
> 
> II. THE BAHAI MOVEMENT.
> 
> TIl.   HIDDEN WORDS FROM THE ARABIC.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> THE BAHA! MOVEMENT
> 
> "PRA.ISE be to God that the divine Muse in this Bahai
> dispensation is one of absolutp love and of pure spirituality.
> It is not a worldly kingdom, for it is not war and dis-
> trw, nor the oppression of one people by anothf!r. Its army
> is the love of God, its victory is the ecstMY of the knowledge
> of God; its battle is that of Truth, the e:rposition of the
> Word i its warfare is against selfishness i its patience is its
> reserve i its entire meel.-ness is its CO'IUJ.1WI'ing pOWf!r, and its
> l0'08 for all is a glory for evermore. In a word it is spirit
> and it is 10'0s."
> " It is for us to CO'IUJider holD we may ed'UCate men that the
> dark:n.eSB of ignoran!!e and heedlessn888 may disappear and
> that the radianee of the kingdom may encompa88 the world;
> that the nations of men may be delivf!red Irom selfish am-
> bition and strife, and be rBVivijilld by the fragrance of God;
> that animosity and hatred may be dispf!rsed and wholly dis-
> appear, ,chile the attrading POWf!r of the 10'0e of God 80
> completely unites the hearts of men, that all hearts beat as a
> single heart; that the arteries of all mankind may pulBate
> with the love of God,. that oontention and war may uttf!rZy
> pass allDay, while peace and r6OO'n.ciliation lift their standard
> in the midst of the earth and men beeome enamoured of one
> another i that the joys oj spirituality may 'prevail O'Of!r
> material pleasures i that East and W ut may delight in one
> another as lovers, and North and South embrace ea!!h otltf!r in
> dOBest affection " that the visible world may be the mirror of
> the tl}Of'ld of the kingdom; that the image of the supreme
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> I
> The Bahai Movement
> COfIOOUf'8e may be reflected in all gatWngB0/        mtIt,.
> ,!tat tluJ
> eartk may be changed into tke paradise 0/ the GloriollM One,
> and tke Divine JeruBalem embrace t'M ter7'8Btrial globe."
> 
> B        HESE are the words of a great teacher, a Persian by
> birth, an exile from his country, and a prisoner of
> the Turkish Government in the little fortress town
> of Acre or Akka, at the foot of Mount Carmel, on the coast
> of Syria; a man who for over forty years has been perse-
> cuted and rejected, and endured the sufferings and privations
> of a prisoner's life, and yet these triumphant words, sounding
> a note of peace and joy, have recently fallen from his lips.
> Have they no significance for the Western world' Let us
> see if the life and teaching of this man now living but a few
> miles distant from Nazareth itself, and which are having
> such a stimulating effect throughout the Oriental world, may
> not be suggestive. to the nation~ of the West. This teacher,
> in fact, is making his appeal for religious unity not only to
> the people of the East, but also to the people of the West,
> and is there not as much need in the West as in the East,
> for religious unity' It is said to-day that in the West,
> there is more animosity and bitterness of feeling existing
> between the various churches than ever before. How are
> such divi>!ions to be healed 1
> Let us turn to India for a momt'nt, and see what this
> Bahai Movement has accomplished in a very short time.
> When I visited the city of Rangoon a year ago, I attended
> a Bahai meeting, at which representatives of six of the great
> world religions were asscmbled together, united by a wonder-
> ful bond of friendship and unity. This gathering was com-
> posed chiefly of men of mature age, doctors, lawyers, govern-
> ment employ~ and others, who had heen brought up as
> atrict Mohammedans, BuddhistS, Hindus, Jews, Zoroastrians
> and Christiane, yet here they were conferring together.
> If this Bahai spirit of love and tolerance as taught; by the
> "Master of Akka," 5n penetrate to India and draw together
> 1IIell of hostile faiths, may it not also shed ita benIgll in-
> fluence over the neople of the West 1 Bu' i' is not necessary
> 4:
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A U niversal Religio~
> to go to India to see what the Bahai M~vement has accom-
> plished. In fact in the city of Paris it has already been
> uniting Catholics, Protestants, Freethinkers and J ewa, and in
> ether cities in Europe as well as in the United States and
> Canada, the movement has been making its influence felt
> and has attracted many to it.
> The Bahai Movement claims to be the divine instrument
> . for bringing religious unity into the world; and for this
> reason, if for no other, it deserves attention. Its claim is
> too vital and important to be set aside; the long roll of ita
> martyrs; the wonderful lives of its founders; its regener-
> ating influence in Persia; the fact that people of nEldrly
> every race, creed and sect have been attracted to it, and finally,
> ita progrt'ss in the western world, all these things compel, if
> not admiration, at least interest. The birth of a great
> religious movement is not a thing to be ignored. Who could
> have imagined in the early days of Christianity, when it W88
> teaching with great force and beauty the vital doctrine of
> love and unity.-now 80 much lost sight of,-that a few
> centuries later it would so powerfully affect the world. In
> our study of the Bahai Movement we shall find many strik-
> ing points of similarit.y between it and the early movement
> .f the Christian faith.
> All great religious movementa have been founded by BOme
> great personality, who has a divine me8B&ge to deliver, and
> who succeeds in so changing and rene\\'ing the lives of men
> that they become saints and martyrs, and their blood becomes
> in truth "the seed of the church."
> Let me set forth as briefly as poSBible some of the
> characteristics of this new religious movement known as the
> Bahai Revelation, and what it has accomplished, and is still
> accomplishing in the world to-ciay, together with some
> account of its present leader Abdul Baha (Abbas Effendi),
> ~e man and his meBB&ge.
> In order to understand Abbas Effendi's position in regard
> to this movement, I must direct you to the great founder of
> c   thls religion, Baha Ullah, and his forerunner, the Bab. At
> the mention of the name of the Bab, there may be some who
> will imagine that Babism and the Bahai Faith are one and
> the same. But the latter is an outrgrowth of the former,
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> and differs from it essentially on many points, as one may
> easily discover, either by studying the early history of Bab-,
> ism and comparing it with the present movement known a&
> the Bahai Revelation, or by reading the early writings of
> the Bab and comparing them with those of Baha-Ullah,
> from whom the present movement takes its name.
> 'While comparing the two, we can notice the striking
> analogy that we have in New Testament history. We find
> the religious movement inaugurated by John the Baptist,
> differing materially from that begun by Jesus. Although
> John the Baptist evidently taught doctrines and a certain
> mode of living to his disciples, yet his only claim was that
> of a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for
> one who was to be preferred before him. So it was with
> l;he young Persian Bab, who gave to his followers certain
> forms and doctrines, and some rules drawn up in a book
> known as the "Bayan," but at the same time he continually
> proclaimed that he was but the Herald of one greater, wh()
> should come after him, and he told his disciples to be in
> constant expectation of "Him, whom God shall manifest."
> The Bab had indeed inaugurated a great reform, but his
> movement remained more 01' less Persian and Mohammedan;
> and one feels that it could never have become universal. It
> remained for Baha Ullah, who came after the Bab, to give
> this movement its truly broad, catholic and universal spirit
> which it possesses to-day.
> As a further elucidation, I will giVIl a brief sketch of the
> movement from its beginning.
> In the year 18~4 of our era, which corresponds to the year
> 1260 in the Mohammedan calendar, there appcared in Persia
> a youth, Mirza Ali Mohamed by name, who called himself
> tIte Bah, that is the door or gate through which men could
> arrive at the knowledge of Truth or God.
> 'The Bab began his mission as a Door by opening the
> people's minds to the real truths of their own religion, and
> he, like all great prophets, did not come to destroy but to
> fulfil, he did not tell his Mohammedan hearers that they had
> been deluded all these years by a false prophet, hut he did,
> however, rate them soundJy-as Jesus did the Pharisees--
> for their hypocrisy and their distortion of true religion. He
> B
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> also explained to them the true meaning of their prophecies
> and traditions that a Mahdi should come. To quote his own
> words, "in the past whenever there was need, God raised
> ,up a prophet on the earth bearing a book containing a divine
> revelation, and he will do the same in the future whenever
> there is need."
> The words of the Bab were naturally met with jeers and
> derision by the Mohammedan pharisees, and he had to endure
> insult and persecution CUlminating in his imprisonment and
> death. He was shot by order of the Persian government, in
> a public square in Tabriz.
> The life of the young reformer was not sacrificed in vain j
> during his life-time great numbers of earnest men and
> women had allied themselves to his cause and had been
> diligent in spreading his teachings throughout Persia, so that
> soon the movement had grown to such an extent that the
> Persian government and the Mullas became alarmed, think-
> ing it a. serious menace to the supremacy of Islam, and
> believing that the movement must have some political as
> well as religious meaning. Orders were given to plunder and
> persecute the followers of the Bab, and during these dark
> years many thousands gave up their lives and endured the
> worst oj tortures for their Faith. Here we find a record of
> heroic devotion, bravery and self-sacrifice which, as Professor
> E. G. Browne, of Cambridge, says, may perhaps be paralleled
> in history but cannot be surpassed. T. H. Huxley, Ernest
> Renan, and the Comte de Gobineau have also written in
> terms of the greatest admiration of these Persian martyrs,
> whom they can only compve to the early martyrs of the
> Christian Faith. One is tempted to dwell on these stirrillg
> events of the early days of the movement, but space does
> not permit more than a passing allusion to them. No
> account, however, should be given without at least mention-
> ing the name of Kurratul-Ayn, that remarkable heroine who
> has been called the Joan of Arc of her country and age. She
> was the daughter of one of the leading Ullemas of Islam, a
> woman of culture and position, known as a poetess, philoso-
> pher, linguist and theologian; she early became a convert to
> the new movement, and, leaving her home, travelled about
> Persia, speakingly publicly, and, it is said, converting many
> ';
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> to the ne~ Faith. Finally she was seized by the scandalized
> Mohammedana and cruelly martyred. This saintly woman
> by her great courage has led the way for her sisters in the
> Orient; and a new era for women has commenced, for both.
> the Bab and Baha Ullah preached the emancipation of
> women. Under this teaching woman assumes her rightfUl
> position as the equal of man..
> The Bab had left behind him a beautiful hope 88 a legacy
> to his followers, namely, that "He whom God shall manifest,"
> should arrive and complete what he had only imperfectly
> begun.
> For several years after the death of the Bab in 1850, the
> movement seemed in a very precarious conaition; it had a
> bad reputation with the Persian government; it was looked
> down upon with contempt by nearly all the Persians of
> wealth and position; its followers could only meet together
> secretly, and no one dared to breathe the hated name of
> II Babi,"; indeed it seemed for a time as though the Mullas
> had succeeded in crushing· out the young Faith entirely_
> There was the greatest need for the coming of the Promised
> One to save the movement from extinction, to restore the
> zeal and courage of the persecuted Babis. They were not to
> be disappointed in their hope, for, during the early sixties,
> there arose one whose grand personality, wonderful powers
> of utterance, and inspired writings, proclaimed him to be the
> Manifestation for which the Babis were waiting, and indeed
> when Baba Ullah publicly proclaimed that he was the
> Promised One, whose advent the Bab had foretold, the great
> DU1Jority of the Babis hailed him with joy as their Lord and
> Redeemer. There were, it is true, a few dissenting voices,
> even in the Baba Ullah's own family, who were content with
> the doctrines of the .Bah, and who did not wish to go beyond
> these. These grouped themselves around Subh-i-Ezel, but
> he never had many followers, and few of them now survive,
> so that their refusal to accept the teachings of Baba Ullah
> can hardly be called by the nlUlle of schism. The movement
> has outlived this little trouble, and another and more recent
> one, but its unity has been unimpaired, and it has emerged
> triumphant from these trials, showing to the world that it
> can preserve within itself thl unity which it lieaches.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A U ni versal Religion
> Bah. Ullah (the Glory of God) was born in 1817, and
> came of a wealthy and noble family. As a young man
> he became • follower of the Bab, although he had never
> aeen him. His prominence as a teacher of the New Faith
> led to hi/! imprisonment in Teheran. For some time he
> was kept in chains, together with several others, until
> finally hiB wealth was confiscated and he was exiled to
> the city of Baghdad in the Sultan of Turkey's dominions.
> 'While there he continued to teach the people, and his
> . influence over them became very great. During two years
> he withdrew himself to the mountains near Baghdad, and
> lived apart from mell, passing his time in prayer and medi-
> tation. On his return he publicly proclaimed his mission,
> which was that of establishing peace and religious unit,.
> in the world. He called to men, of every creed and
> race to oome under ~he standard of Unity, which he had
> upraised, and as~ist him in establishing the Kingdom of
> God and t.he Brntherllood of man upon the earth. The
> Mohammedan Mullahs of Baghdad soon became alarmed
> at having a man of such influence and power in their
> midst, and petitioned the Ottom!\n government to have
> him removed. Baha Ullah was accordingly summone(l to
> appear in Constantinople, and, together with his family
> and a little group of followers, he set out for that city. His
> stay in Constantinople was short, for the Turkish government
> decided to bani~h him to the city of Adrianople. From
> Adrianople Baha Unah wrote those famous letters (sent later
> from Akka) to the Kings of Europe and the Pope, calling
> upon them to abandon their injustice, their thoughts of
> warfare, and to assist in establiBhing Unity. The letters
> also contained prophetical utterances which were soon after
> fulfilled. After a few years spent in Adrianople, he. was
> again banished to a still more inaccessible spot, the little
> fortress town of Acre or Akka on the coast of Syria. Here
> Baha Ullah and his little band of followers passed some of
> the most terrible yeara of their exil!.', for Acre can only be
> described as pf>stilentisl, and it seems probable that Baha
> Ullah was Bent there in the hopes tha' a fever would soon
> rid the world of him. ~'or some time he and hiB followen
> were confined to two rooms in the barracks, but gradually
> g
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> more leniency was Shown them, the heart of the go~rnor
> becoming softened at witnessing the beroic sufferings of the
> little band. Baha Ullah spent most of his time in Acre in
> teaching those few followers who could hold communication
> with him*; in writing his instructions and admonitions to
> the world; in sending tablets to followers in dIfferent parts,
> and in writing a book known as
> 
> . THE BOOK OF LAWS.
> 
> In this book Baha Ullah tells his followers that the sword
> must for ever be put away; in its place the Word must
> arise. He proclaims Universal Peace and calls upon the
> nations to settle their differences by a board of arbitration;
> he pleads for a broad spirit of friendship and tolerance to be
> shown to all the peoples of the earth; "ye are all the fruits
> of one trt..e," as he beautifully expresses it; he enjoins his
> followers to seek for a universal language; he says, "this is
> the means of union, if ye knew it, and the greatest source of
> concord and civilization, did ye recognise it. Teach this
> common language to the children in all schools, that the
> whole world may become one land and one home"; he tells
> parents that they must educate their children, boy and girl
> alike, giving them the best education they can afford, and
> that the poor must be educated by a board of Councillors
> to be elected in each city, for he considers tha.t until
> ignorance is uprooted there can be no true progress; and he
> wishes so to impress on his followers the value of education,
> that he says, "he who educates his own son or the son of
> another, it is as though he educated the Son of God." All
> must learn and practice some craft, trade or profession,
> which if practised conscientiously and diligently, will be con-
> sidered as the highest act of prayer and worship toward
> God. There are no priests connected with this religion and
> 
> * There bas just been added to the little Penny Series "Hid-
> den Words, from the Arabic," written by Baha Ullah.
> 
> •
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> those who teach this Faith should not receive any pay but sup-
> port themselves by other means. The acquisition of science
> and art is commended. Marriage is advised, and celibacy
> and asceticism condemned. Baha Ullah wishes his religion to
> be one of joy and gladness. He tells his followers to asso-
> ciate with all the people of the world, and to show forth to
> others whatever good things they possess, in a word to be
> in the world, but not of it. He strongly condemns gambling,
> the use of opium, intemperance and othl'r vices, and he lays
> down some interesting hygienic laws. A law is given, advo-
> cating kindness to animals, and beasts of burden are not to
> be ill-treated or overloaded. Baha Ullah submits this
> " Book of Laws," as a standard rule of conduct, and a great
> means of nniting the various peoples 80 separated by ditTerent
> customs, prejudices, and habits. We cannot but admire the
> remarkably modem and tolerant IIpirit that animates these
> laws. All the things that Western reformers are striving
> for to-day, find a place in his universal religion, and yet
> these laws were written by Baha Ullah over forty years ago,
> while confined in an Eastern prison.
> In the following lines Baha Ullah tells his followers how
> religion should be taught to the world. "0 Children of Baha
> associate with all the people of the world, with men of all
> religions, in concord and harmony, in the spirit of perfect
> joy and fragrance. Remind them also of that which is for
> the benefit of all, but beware lest ye make the Word of God
> the cause of opposition and stumbling, or the source of
> hatred among you. If ye have a word or an essence which
> another has not, say it to him with the tongue of love and
> kindness. If it be accepted and impressed the end is at-
> tained, if not leave him to himself and pray for him, but do
> not molest him. The tongue of kindness is attractive to the
> heart and it is the sword of the spirit; it furnishes the true
> relation of thought to utterance; it is as the horizon for the
> arising of the sun of Wisdom and Knowledge. . . . Creatures
> were created through love, let them live in friendship and
> unity."
> Now the question arises, do his followers, the Bahais, carry
> out these laws, are they animated by the same spirit of
> tolerance and good will that breathes through these in-
> n
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> atructiona t I can but give my personal testimony of the
> lives and practices of the Bahais, as I have seen them in
> ..rioue parts of the Orient, together with the testimony of
> other men, an Englishman, an American, and a Frenchman.
> Profeaaor Browne, the author of the invaluable "History
> of Persian Literature," sayll, " The spirit which penades the
> Bahais is such that it can hardly fail to affect most power-
> fully all suhjected to its influence. Let those who have not.
> lOOn dillbelieve me if they will, but should that spirit once
> reveal itself to them they will experience an emotion they
> are not likely to forget."
> Myron H. Phelps of New York writes, "If we analyse
> this apirit which pervades the Bahais, if we seek to pene-
> trate that which marks them off from other men, the conclu-
> sion to which we are brought is that its 888ence is expreaaed
> in the one word Love. These men are lovers, lovers of God.
> of their Master and Teacher, of each other, and of all man-
> kind."
> M. Hippolyte Dreyfus of Paris, who haarecently returned
> from Persia, writes in a French review, that "he found
> among the inhabitants of Teheran and other cities all those
> imbued with liberal and progreBBive views were Bahais."
> Finally let me speak of those Bahais who are subjects of
> the British Empire, the Indian and Burmese Bahais, whom
> I came to know well during a recent stay in India. Every
> serioull-minded person who visits India and is a well-wisher
> of that glorious country, must regret the unhappy diffeTtlnce&
> that separate Indian from Indian, due chit<fty to religious
> animOllity. How one longs for a solution of this vexed
> problem. If only BOme broad faith could be found to in-
> elude all the wrangling and hostile sects and creeds I No"
> I believe moat earnt'stly that the solution of I,his llifficulty
> lies in the :Rahai Movement. I have already JVlinted out
> by an example taken from Rangoon, that, it haa brough'
> aruut this very Unity which all are desiring. How has i"
> been able to do this t
> The first command that is gi ven to a Rahai by his Leader'
> is this: Ie Do not antagonise or denounce any religion," he
> alBO says that" God is to every human being as great; as the
> indiv~dual mental capacity permits one to see him." The
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> Bahai propagandist in India has not the difficulty that besete
> a Christian miesionary, that of pulling down; his duty is
> only to build on to what is already there, for the Bahai
> teaches that the essence and truths of all religions are one i
> he sees the Hindu, Buddhist and Mohammedan with the
> aaml! eye, and he reverences the prophets of each; instead
> of showing where they were wrong, he shows where 'they
> were right; he acknowledges the common truth in Buddhism,
> Mohammedanism, ChriAtianity, and other great religions;
> he shows their adherents that a further revelation has come
> through the teaching of Baha Ullah; that its particular'
> mission is to uncover the truth of all religion by removing
> prejudice and ignorance from the minds of the people, and
> by uniting them in though" faith and love. The Bahai
> does not disdain the prophecies which have come down to·
> us from all religions, but points oub that they have all
> referred to the coming of a great teacher who should estab-
> lish peace and harmony on the earth.
> Let me say here a word about prophecy. There are many,
> • I know, who taJie no interest in the subject whatever, but,
> we must remember that prophecies exist in every religion,
> and they have to be reckoned with. If we are considering
> a universal movement to ('.onsist only of a few cultured
> minds, then we may perhaps dismias prophecy altogether,
> but we are not; we are thinking of millions of Christiana,
> Buddhists, Mohammedans and others, who all believe in
> prophecy. Unless a movement can fulfil the propheci8lt
> and expectations of these various peoples, it cannot succeed
> in being universal, it will only become another sect. Th8
> fact that the Bahai Faith does fulfil the prophecies of the
> different religions, is one of the greatest arguments in favoqr'
> of its unilersality. Another factor in the spreading of the
> Bahai Religion in the East, is the marvellous spirit already
> referred to, which animates the Bahaia, and is shown in
> their self-sacrificing lives.
> 
> One of the reasons why Christianity has failed to become
> the predominant religion in the East, is because of the
> pl't'judice against it., due to the misrepresentation of its true
> spirit. In a recent article b,. Professor Browne, he says,
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> "I have often heard wonder expressed by Christian ministers
> at the extraordinary success of Bahai misllionaries, as con-
> trasted with the almost complete failure of their own.
> ~ How is it,' they say, 'that the Christian Doctrine, the
> highest and noblest which the world has ever known, though
> supported by all the resources of Western civilisation, can
> only count its converts in ~Iohammedan lands by twos and
> threes, while Bahaism can reckon them by thousands l'
> The answer to my mind is as plain as the sun at mid-day.
> Western Christianity, save in the rarest cases,' is more
> Western than Christian, more racial than religious; and,
> by dallying with doctrines plainly incompatible with the
> .obvious meaning of its Founder's words, such as the
> theories of 'racial supremacy,' 'imperial destiny,' 'sur-
> 'Vival of the fittest,' and the like, grows steadily more, rather
> than less, material Did Christ belong to a 'dominant
> mce,' or even to a European or 'white' race' .                   •
> The dark-skinned races to whom the Christian missionaries
> go are not fools, and have no object in practising that
> curious self-deception wherewith so many excellent and
> well-meaning European and American Christians blind them-
> ,selves to the obvious fact that they attach much more
> importance to race than to religion; they clearly see the
> inconsistency of those who, while professing to believe that
> the God they worship incarnated Himself in the form of an
> Asiatic man-for this is what it comes to--do nevertheless
> habitually and almost instinctively express, both in speech
> ,and action, contempt for the 'natives' of Asia."
> 1 do not wish to enter into a controversy regarding the
> merits or demerits of the missionaries in the Orient, pre-:
> ferring simply to offer my tribute to some of those earnest
> ,and self-sacrificing ones whom I know, but I wonder how
> many f)f them really believe that there is 8 probability or a
> possibility of the many hundred millions of Mohammedans
> .and others becoming Christians. Those who have lived in
> the East know that it is as rare for a Mohammedan to
> become a Christian, 8S it is for a Christian in the West to
> become a Mohammedan. We must remember too, that
> the Mohammedans and others believe just as firmly as the
> Christians, that their religion will become predominant, but
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> history itself gives the refutation to this belief. Take fol"
> instance the two great religions of Christianity and M()J
> hammedanitlm. Can we say that, after all the zeal, the
> earnestness, the effort with which their adherents have tried.
> to convert each other, they are any nearer being united thaIi
> they were thirteen centuries ago t And among the millions-
> of Buddhists in the world do we notice any perceptible
> difference of numbers caused by their defection into otheJ."
> religions' And Buddhists also are making converts, so it is
> nothing but a continual exchange without approaching any
> nearer to unity.
> The present situation might be likened to a pyramid, one
> side being given to the Christians, another to the Buddhists,
> another to the Mohammedans, and another to the Hindus,
> Each one is trying to draw his neighbour OVf'r to his side of
> the pyramid. If instead of looking around, the} would look
> 'Up to the apex, they would behold the Light which they
> all are seeking.
> The great barrier separating Christians, Mohammedans,
> Buddhists, and others, is at length being broken down
> through the influence of this Bahai Movement, and a friendly,
> even a fraternal relationship is being established among them.
> There are not merely a few dozens so affected, but many
> thousands. May we not say then that perhaps the true
> spirit of Christianity is in this movement t W tl have but;.
> the words of the· Christ, " Ye cannot gather figs from
> thistles," and "by their fruits ye shall know them."
> 
> I have written a short account of the Bahais in India,
> in a book entitled, "With the Rahais in India," and from
> this I shall quote an inCIdent which happened while I
> was in Bombay. I have mentioned that .Baha Ullah, in
> his "Book of I..aws," advised that a council should be
> elected in each Rahai community to look after the affairs of
> that community. In Bombay 'hey have such a council
> composed of nineteen persons, chiefly Mohammedans and
> Zoroastrians. These two peoplell were anything but friendly
> in the past, but now they are working togethpr harmoniously
> for the common good. One night, while I was attending s
> meeting of this council, .a poor Zoroastrian Rahai shopkeeper
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> .eame and told the members that aft'airs had been going very
> badly with him, and that he waa on the point of failure.
> The council deliberated, and decided that different members
> .should give a part of their time each day to helping him in
> his shop, lay in a new stock of goods and eive pecuniary
> help if necessary. This was done, and soon the man was on
> his feet again. This is an example to show that the Bahais
> practice the fraternity which they preach.
> A MohammeClan Rahai also arrived that evening in a
> state of much perplexity. He had just received from a
> :Mohammedan friend a hundred lottery tickets to dispose
> of, the lottery being for some Mohammedan charity. "I
> don't know what to do with them," the man said. "In the
> Book of Laws, Baha; Ullah has strongly forbidden gambling,
> but I am not sure whether a lottery would come under the
> head of gambling or not. If I accept and distribute these
> lottery tickets I may be breaking one of the laws, on the
> other hand, if I refuse them, I shall probably make this
> friend of mine, who is an influential Mohammedan, my
> bitter enemy." The nineteen members of the House of
> Justice, as the assembly ia called, deliberated together as to
> what should be done. Finally, a Zoroastrian member saw
> a way out of the diffioulty, and he proposed tnateach one of
> the Bahais should take a ticket, and then return them with
> the hundred rupees, writing that they did not care to take a
> a chance in a lottery, but they were very glad to help a
> Mohammedan charity. I wonder if all who read these lines
> will appreciate the beauty a.nd the greatness of this act. It
> .hows two great results of Rabai teaching-gambling, one of
> 'he most prevalent vices of the East, being looked uJ?On
> with aversion; and the feeling of animosity and hatred
> of Zoroastrian for Mohammedan, which has Andured for
> centuries, becoming so modified, that they are glad to help
> a Mohammedan charity. Truly this is no small fruit from
> the Bahai tree. I Wish it· were possible to speak here of
> many other cases of noble and disinterested examplea of
> aervice for the common good, which came under my notice
> in India.                                .
> This spirit of love and service to fellow men was exem-
> plified in an Indian Rahai actually giving his life, on one
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> occasion, to save mine, and "greater love hath no man than
> this."
> "Think," a Persian Bahai once said to me, "when I WlUI
> an orthodox Mohammedan, I used to wash my hands after
> shaking hands with a Christian, thinking myself polluted,
> now I want to shake haBds with all the worIeL"
> 
> Baha Ullah had been exil~ from his country in 1852, and
> after forty years of exile, wandering, and impriaonment, his
> earthly ministry came to an end.
> He left word to his disciples that after his departure, they
> should look to his eldest son, Abbas Effendi, &8 their Iead~
> and teacher, the one on whose shoulders hia mantle was to
> fall, the exponent and promulgator of hie teachings to the
> world. Since 1892, Abbas Effendi, who, thereafter, assumed
> the title Abdul Baha, the servant of God, haa been the
> leader of the Bahai Movement, and under his wIse and
> loving guidance it has grown and expanded, until ita influence
> has been felt in the four corners of the earth. I saw a
> striking example of this when I visited Acre some two years
> ago, and met men-from India, Burmah, Pelllia, Arabia,
> Egypt, Turkey, RU88ia, France, England and America-
> assembled there, to listen to the teachings of the Master, the
> name by which Abdul Baha is universally called. These
> men, belonging to various races, creeds, and sects, were
> gathered around one table breaking bread togetlier, and
> greeting each other as friends and brothers. Can such a
> scene be paralleled in any other spot on earth ,
> Abdul Baha is more than a teacher, he is a living example
> to men of what the Christ-life really is; love and kindn688
> seem to radiate from him and his dsily life is an expression
> of service to man He is showing to the materialistic and
> IC6Ptical tweutieth century, that t.his life is not merely an
> ideal, but a possibility, that we may take heart again and
> "turn our sight to ourselves to find God standing within u.s,
> powerful, mighty and supreme" (Baha Ullah); and that we
> may come into the sonship of the Kingdom of God.
> There have been Bome who have denied that such a per-
> sonality as Jesus could have lived uPOl'. the earth. The life
> of Abdul Baha proves the actuality of Jesus. The true
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> Bahai is also the truest Christian, he no longer speculates as
> to whether it was possible that 80 perfect a being could have
> trod the earth nineteen centuries ago; he looks at the life of
> of the "Master of .Akka," and knows. Such a life is an
> inspiration to the whole race. It is a greater argument for
> the love of God and the truth of religion than all the books
> of theology (old or new) ever written. Men have grown
> tired of theori88 and speculations, they want to hear again
> that note of love, unselfishness and brotherhood, that was
> heard nineteen hundred years ago. Such a no~e is llgain
> being sounded from that same Holy Land to-day, by the
> servant of Goo; Abdul Raha, who is teaching the world the
> forgotten truths, and preaching the true atonement, the
> at-one-ment of man with man, and man with God, revealing
> the true love, which is another word for service, the giving
> of oneself for the whole. He is teaching the lesson of
> oneness. No doctrines are so magnified by him that their
> non-acceptance would shut any soul out of the Kingdom.
> "All else save love," he says, "is merely outwardly uttered
> words"; again he says, "this is a religion of deeds, not
> words." He is calling to men and women of every race and
> creed to come under the standard of Unity, which he' is
> bearing aloft, to assist him in establishing the Kingdom of
> God, the Brotherhood of man on the earth here and now.
> Let those who are really desiring the reign of peace and
> gOodwill to man, and not simply the 'triumph of their own
> particular sect or creed, or of their own set of opinions,
> listen to the appeal of this roan who calla us to unity. Can
> we find anywhere to-day a greater instrument for bringing
> about this Unity and Brotherhood of man which we profess
> to desire, than in this Bahai Movement! It is giving to men,
> what some writer has said, is the best thing that any religion
> can give to man,--a ?i6W heart. It is uniting men in the
> only way thp.y can be united, through love, understanding
> and service.
> It will be thus seen that the message of the Bahai Move-
> menii is one of pence to the world, and that the Bahais
> consider this Manifestation as but another outpouring of
> Divine Truth upon the earth; that they are lovers of the
> Light from whatever liorizon it may appear, considering the
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> A Universal Religion
> different prophets and divine teachers of the past as lamps
> through which this Light shone forth and by which the
> world has been enlightened; therefore it considers all
> religions to be divine and possessing the essence of Truth
> which has since become obscured by the superstitions and
> different practices which have been added by man.
> Considering the power of assimilation that the Babai
> Religion has shown, its rapid growth amongst so many
> different races and religions, and the bond of real sympathy,
> affection and understanding which it is creating between
> FASt and West, may we not say that its claim to be a
> universal religion is not merely a beautiful ideal, but a
> growing reality 1
> 
> What earnest observer of life can deny that the world
> is passing through a great upheaval of thought. The old
> order of things is passing away, whether we wish it or no,
> men are everywhere seeking for truth, and people are being
> tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Such is the
> significance of the Higher Criticism, the New Theology, the
> springing up of so many societies and sects, the fact that
> many in Protestant lands are turning towards Catholicism,
> and that many in Catholic lands are becoming Prot.,st8nts
> or Free-thinkers. This is what is happening under Christian
> governments, but the same upheaval is occurring in other
> countries. What is to be the outcome of it all, There are
> many who recoil from the cold and unsympathetio systems
> of ethics put forward by certain materialists, and who at the
> same time are repulsed by the extremes to which certain
> occultists go. They feel the need of a religion, and yet the
> message of the churches is no longer vital to them. It is to
> such people that the Rahai Movement especially appeals.
> A religion which exalts work, education, science, and peace,
> should appeal to the Positivist, the Ethicist and the social
> reformer, and while upholding all the great social reforms,
> ne,'er loses grasp of the Eternal Realities. It contains that
> spiritual force, that vital faith, which is necessary to put·
> these reforms into execution.
> Such a religion wholly divorced from a spirit of com-
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> The Bahai Movement
> mercialism, and whose only warfare is against selfishness,
> must appeal to all that is highest and best in man.
> 
> " 0 Pe6pU of the tIJ01'ltll Th8 cretd Qf God is /01' love and
> unUn, make it not to be a cause of discqrd and diss6ft8icm.
> I enjoin you to the I6rvice of tke nations and to tlt.e pacification
> 8f tM flm'ld.
> " 0 people oj the 1D01'ld I T16e pavilion OJ Unity is raised,
> dt; not gaze upon eack other ?Cith the 61J68 of fOl'eignm's, 'lie are
> all the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch.
> "Let him not glory who loves his ou;n COUlli1'Y, but let him
> glmy who lov8/1 the 1okole flm'ld,"-(Words of BAHA-ULLAB.)
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> NOTES                      ON              SOME                    BOO KS
> 
> PUBLISHED                AT
> 
> THE         PRIORY PRESS ..                                HAMPSTEAD
> 
> No. :2                                                                    1908
> 
> L  OVE is the mystic art of the soul. She comes to us with gentle
> movements, clad in quiet garb, "peaking of heavenly things. She
> is the consecrating spirit whose presence vivifies and sanctifies all
> human aspirations. Wi&hout her they ma) interest but cannot command.
> She must be in them, then through her gracious presence will they glow
> -pillars of fire to men in the dark nights of the wilderness. Love flows
> through tbe whole human race floom God as notbing else does. All other
> visions may fl>il us; all other voices be stilled for ever, but love remains,
> and she will go with us all the way, bringing us ever nearer to tbat
> Eternal Love through which the soul becomes one with the Eternal.
> Thus it is written in this little book, which is at the heart of all that is
> most worth baving in life.
> •• One with the Et.rnal,"· by Edgar Daplyn, Is. net.
> 
> The Pilyrim of the I ".finite bids us remember that we are not to allow
> ourselves to become soured or disappointed, or to think life a failure,
> because we do not find that acceptance which our mission seems to
> wan·ant. The largest measures of good the world has ever known have
> been effected by those whose lives, regarded from an indh'idual or
> personal point of view, were failures. It is by failure we succeed, just as
> by doubting we lea.rn. Our failures educate a faculty in us; they take
> their pmce o.~ instruments in our evolution; they do not lea"e us where
> they found us; they record themselves on our being as steps of progress
> and ele"ation, for there may be accomplished within us by failul'e some-
> thing much more enduring and far more valuable than we obtain by any of
> the rewards of temporal success, for the reward of every right act is con-
> tained in itself, and its value is not increased in any degree by accidental or
> subsidiary additions. In the Chinese Tao of Chuang-t,.e, which contains a.
> noble lesson of the worth of directness of purpose in life and conduct,
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (2)
> there is given a wholesome illustration of an independent and disinter-
> ested course of action in the instance of a famous archer, "who did well
> in hitting the mark, but ill in accepting praise for it."  We must learn.
> whether we will or no. A higher and more desirable good is only gained
> by abandoning a lower one. Thus St. Paul said, "I die daily," and every
> such death was the commencement of a new life in a loftier state or
> condition. We fail in order that we may succeed. The narrow and
> oppressive creed of to.day must be supeneded by the wider outlook and
> clearer illumination of to-morrow. The All·father lives and rules and
> acts, entirely uninfluenced by our views, just as the sun in itself is unin·
> fluenced by the clouds that veil our atmosphere. The Divine Fatherhood
> once seen remains a fact for evel', whethel' perceived at a given moment
> or not, We must trust in growth, not iu standing ~till; freelyaban-
> doning the tran-itive and intermedillte for a more advanced manifestation
> of spi! itual progress within us. The sincere searcher for truth will go
> fearle_lIly forwaril, undismayed by decaying mode!! and caducent forms,
> content to Ree his most cherished noLionl! and opinions crumble and
> decline even before he can see the fuller light, on his upward way to a
> better evolution.
> • "The Pilgrim uf the Infinite," by William D,niea, 2•. 6d. net.
> 
> In Five Beads on a Stri1lg, * M r8. Rhys gives us the tentat i ve expres-
> sion of such mu~ings as are started in the quietness of thought, when a
> word or a chance memory seem to put one on the track of a discoyery.
> In the first of these llIeditation~, which is called "Eidola," the imperish-
> able memories of the acts and appearances of a mlln are concoived as
> peopling the world with gentle ghosts, offspring of the man himself and
> of the minds that perceived and remembered him, each eidolan being
> some relation to its parents and yet living and sometimes persisting
> with a stran)!e life of its own, with unpremeditated powers and in-
> eluctible emanntions. "The Squirrel on the Nut·tree" takes us n~ain
> to the land of memories, which is so pre~iouA a posse~sion of those whom
> pain or di-ability debnrs from active life, that land whero "we can walk
> un wetted in the ra:n, untired op the longest way," that land of enchant-
> ment of which Heille wrote so wistfully, but wldeh is fr e only to those
> who have abandone,1 cmdng. In" The Church H.oof" is celebrnted
> one of several wonderful Norfolk churchcs whose hammel··beams are
> peopled by an angelic host, and .. The Daughters of the (~reen Bay
> Tree" id a gentle little sermon on the theme that women must eat of
> the tree of knowledge of evil as well as of good.
> * Fh"e lkads on a ~trillg," 3d. net.
> II
> 
> The "Poems and Hymns" of the late Profe~sOl' Shuttleworth, the
> well·known rector of S. Nicholas Cole.Abbey, htwe just been issued under
> the editorRhip of the Rev. E. H. Koch; and Canon Scott· Holland has
> contributed It charming introdnction. The poems of Henry Cary Shuttle-
> Worl h reflect a tine and ~piritulll intelligence, Rn(1 they are full of the
> sympnthetic vitality of the author; he wrote hi" hymns from the heart
> nnd they ~poke itS directly to the hearts of others. As the writer in the
> Gllltrdi"n recently expressed it, .. the poems, even npart from their per-
> sonal intere.t, are worth pl'eserving, and in the more than pretty dedi-
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> Digitized by   Goog Ie
> (4)
> cation to his wife, the line in which he very modestly depreciates their
> merit is enough itself to stamp him as a poet, He likens them to ' Dull
> water moving through a Wil.ste of grll8s.' Many of the poems have ..
> flavour of Home; some are devotional, for Christmas and Easter; all are
> 8unshiny. There is a fine war-song about Montrose, not unlike the
> • Bonnie Dundee,' b:1llad_"
> • " Poems and Hymns." by II: C. Shuttleworth. S•. 6<1. net.
> 
> VerRe4. * by Mrs. Allhusen and Mrs. Robertson Glallgow, is a little book
> of short lyrical poems and songs which ring alternately with patriotism
> and homely tenderness. In them the le~s obtrusive side of the results of
> the Indian Mutiny and of the South African war are touched pictur-
> esquely; we see the human being in the midst of the great event itself.
> After these songs of the soldier and the exile. the homelier verses come.
> In "Twice Wounded," there is the subtle sug~stion of a soul half re-
> leased and then recalled, and "The Abbe ~Jcard," recalls to us that;
> teacher of the deaf and dumb in Paris, who was guillotined during the
> Re,-olution. •. Laborn.re est Orare," is a mother's plea to God ill excuse
> for her prayers neglecte j in the hUlitle of a busy life.
> • "Verse.... by B. M. AUhusen and G. R. Glasgow. III- 6d. net.
> 
> THE PRIOR Y PRESS BOOKLETS, 3d. each net.
> 
> Though,t'/1OOM Amid's "Jou,'na! In.tiJn~."              Thoughla .from. Goet" ••
> Though" (i'Om. c, l'ke Lct!J»lo,n', B;'eviary."         Sdution. froui. Ie Sado;' Re,m'ht,...
> Selection. I)'oul. II Jrilhehn "lld,te,",               Thought.   "'011' loubert,
> lI"ande>:.jal. j·e...                              Thought. j>'O", Laem'do.i)'"
> Thought. j>'om R,.ietetUl.                              Thong!,t. 'rom S"tllell i .. p"o" an,l Ve,.,••
> Thov.gltta from. ..lIm'cu, A lutiiu ...                 Fi,_. B.ada 011 " SII'ing, by (J,'ae. Rhy••
> Hop., bll Rob..'t F. Horton.                            Reading. froul Willicu,l Lute.
> 
> "Think on living," was, so Emerson tells uo, the ('hosen epitaph of 1certain wise mun. It is in the hope of conducing to such thought, that
> the Prior.,! Pre.s' BooHef8, consisting of selections from ~reat thinkers
> and writers of all time is heinl! issued. "'hile passages from the" Medi-
> tations of Marcus Aurelius to himself" have been cho~en to pioneer the
> series, bec,mse he, though a Roman emperor, a ml\n fnll of affairs, neyer
> forgot the supreme place that thought should occupy in all life. While
> regardinO' all mILD's natural cravings as legitimate, he nevertheless con-
> sidered their satisfaction was lawful only when it did not invoh'e any
> infring-cment of the universal good. Thus to him, as to Paul, while" all
> things were lawful, all things were not expedient," For tIllS reason he
> lays much stl'e,s upon !\Jail's Inner Self, that Self which. J'enouncing those
> individual passions and de~ires that isolate and divide man from his
> fellows. recogllise~ that it cun only full:v realise itself when it enters into
> conscioll~ harmony with all cosmic life. Through that Self mall may
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (6)
> 
> enter into communion with the Godhea r ; for in it God speaks to man,
> censuring or approving his every action.
> *              *              *                .
> In his meditations Amiel clearly discern~ and empha'lises the lack
> among- Western nations of soul·culture; he d'9'ells upon the superiority
> of the East over the 'Vest in this respect, prophecying that unless medI-
> tation and contemplation have their pl'lce in m"n's life, progress will be
> but another name for retrogrE's'!ion. Religion is the one llleans by whieh
> this soul·culture is pos-ible; thus m'].n cannot Ih'e without religion; man
> cannot live without meditation; man canuot live without God, are Amiel'.
> oonstant themes.
> Hi~ most marked charactllr-ifltic was an unquenchable love and rever-
> ence for Truth. ~o ,trong was thi~ feeling that even in his lectures he
> purposely repressed himself and his views, in order to present to his stu-
> dents truth unembellished and unadorned; with the result that they
> remained wholly unattracted and untouched by bis expositions. His own
> love of Truth was too intense for him to realise' that others might not
> share it with him: he forl!ot that personallO\'e and enthusiasm are often
> the mirror in which m"n firdt: beholds Trnth's mar\'ellous beauty; it was
> when gazing' into Beatrice'. eye~, that Dante first saw God. ThuB t;()
> many AmieI'>! life has seemed" failure. It is for the reader to decide,
> 'Bfter reading these eelection!'l, whether Amiel did indeed live in vain.
> ..             *              *                *
> Oarlyll'l's gospel to the world W8.ll, that only by accepting one's limi-
> tations could one become truly bles>led. Mall is not free in tile sense that
> he is free from all law : he is free only as he obeys the law of hi~ being.
> The able man, the true king of men, IS he who can most clearly discern
> what that law is. ThE'lI, when once it hHs been declared, Carlyle held
> that all men should be made toO conform to it; for in sllch obedience alone
> could they realise their truest welfare. He believed in the unity of all
> life, hence to him it seemed impossible that man was made for happines8,
> but rather for blessedness. Tl,is was becallse he had but a vague idea all
> to what constItutes hnppiness. it being to him s.l'Donymous with /letting.
> But if we accept Amiel's detinition, and regard it a!l the free development.
> of the god within, independent of environment and all externals whatever,
> then luippiness is only another name for blessedness, and stands for thai;
> deep abiding sense of peace which is the outcome of the knowledge thai;
> God is just, and that law, order and 10\'e are the ab801ute facts of exis-
> tence. Such happiness may be the lot of all of us.
> I           *              *              .                *
> It was Carlyle who did most to bring Goethe prominentlv before the
> English people; it was he who translated 'Vilbelm Mei8ter in~o Engli8h,
> and it is from his translation that the following selections have heeD
> made. Tbe book is a sketch of the development of man in all his endow-
> ments and faculties, Itrlldually proceeding from the tirst rude exhibition.
> of puppets and mountebanks, through the perfection of poetio and dra-
> matic art, up to the unfoltling of the principle of religion, and the
> greatest of all arts, the art of life, and in these quotations we see typified
> 
> DIgItIzed by   Google
> (7)
> the best manner in which our youth mal be trained, so that when the
> Wanderjahre arrives they may possess In themselves a sure guide that
> will never fail.
> *              •             *                 *
> Epictetus is chiefly concerned with the practical application of the
> ethics and theology of the Stoic philosophy; and our extracts are con-
> fined to these subjects. Epicttotus virtually admits that his teaching is a
> counsel of perfection; he frequently utters bitter complaints against the
> Stoics whose philosophy is empty talk, belied by their conduct; and he
> does not himself profess to have attained to the ideal which he expounds.
> *              *             *                 *
> In the" Layman's Breviary" of Leopold Schefer, we find the spirit
> Of pure optimism, under it.s two chief aspects of rapturous contemplation
> of the Divinity, and joyful acquiescence in the lot of man and the order
> of Nature.
> *              *             *                 *
> The peculiar beauty of Joubert is not in what is exclusively intellec-
> tual-it is in the union of soul with intellect·. He is the most prepossees-
> ing and convincing of witnes8es to the good of loving light, and his
> Thoughts, those emanations from his subtle and spiritual being, still
> . shine for us with inextinguishable lustre.
> *              *             *                 *
> Those sayings from Goethe have heen chosen which show him in his
> speculative mood, 8S the man who, like Plato's ideal philo~opher, was
> .. forever longing after the whole of things, both human and divine."
> . In this booklet will be found aphorisms from Profeesor Huxley's fine
> translation of the E8I!ay on Nature,. which few seem to know, and which
> Professor Huxley called "thi" wonderful rhapsody on 'Nature,' which
> has been 0. delight to me from my youth up."
> .              .                               ..
> Emerson, more than any of the other great writers of the age is a
> Voice. He does not argue hut he announces; he speaks when the Spirit
> moves him, and not longer. He would haYe been a light of the age of
> Buddha or of Solon, as well as of ours. Most of the extracts which are
> given as well as those from Shelley, were selected under the supervision
> of Dr. Richard Garnett. Those from Shelley are chiefly from hill proee
> writings.                                  .
> *              *             *                 *
> Henri Lacordaire, one of the greatest of modern preachers anel
> orator~, won men to the truth hy his eloquent reasoning. His voice was
> like a burning torch, and its flame penetrated iJ!,to all mi\lds and hearts.
> His life well fulfilled his own ideal of being, "strong as a diamond, more
> tender than 0. mother."
> *             .              *                 *
> .   Dr. Horton in his preface tells us·that the turning-point in William
> Law's teaching wall his acquaintance with the writings of the Germaa
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (8)
> mystic, Jacob Behmen. It produCed a change in him not altogether
> unlike that which was produCed in Wesley by his contact with the Mor·
> avian Bohler. The pa.ssages in this booklet are taken from The 8plrit
> of Prayer and The Spirit of £oue, works which followed this transfor·
> mation, and they present a contrast to the earlier and better known work,
> The Seri0U8 Oall. William Law is known to these two centuries of
> studious and devout readers mainly by The Serio!1A OaJl; and rightly, for
> that is a work of literary genius, which ranks itA! author with the masters
> of Eighteenth Century prose.
> n these later WritlOgs do not make the same claim to a place in
> English literature, they deserve even more fully a place in ~nglish
> religion, in the practical application of Christianity.
> *               *               *                 *
> THE PRIORY PRJo:Ss BOOKLETS are well printed on antique JlIIoper, and
> form dainty substitutes for the customary Christmas cam. They can
> also be had in limp leather (Is. 6d. net), and in Japanese vellum (9d. net),
> bindings.
> A DAINTY GIFT AT ANY TIME.
> A case containing any six numbers of the ordinary edition, to·
> gether with a beautiful hand·embroidered silk book cover (4s. 6d. net),
> makes a pretty little gift. *
> * The Priory PreS8 Booklets, Th....p.no. each net.
> 
> Uniform with this series are two little anthologies of Christmaa
> H!Dlns, Carols and Poems. selected from the writings of Luther, Th.
> II. Kempis, Jeremy Taylor, Southwell, Ben Johnson, Bishop Hall, Wither,
> Shakespeare, Herrick, Vaughan, Watts, Hemane, Scott, Seuthey, C.
> Rossetti, Thring, Hawker, Phillips Brooks, Lowell, George Macdonald,
> Addington Symonds, Canon Wilton, H. C. Shuttleworth, Stopford
> Brooke, and others.
> A CHltISTlIIAS WISH
> If in thy dreams some vision haunt thy way,
> If in thy heart some hidden hope abide,
> Too dee\>, too dear, to live in common day-
> God glve thee joy of it this happy tide.
> If in thy prayer some keener sense awaking,
> Shew thee glad angels on life's dark hillside,
> Tell thee the Christ is born, the bright day breaking-
> God grant thee Jlrace of it this holl' tide.
> H. C. SHUTTLEWORTH.
> From A Second Garl_d of OkriatmtU YerN•
> • A Garland of Chriatmaa Vene 8d. net; A S-nd Garland of Chrlatmu Verae, !d.
> net. In leather binding, Ie. 6d. e~, net; in Japanese "ellum binding, lid. each, net.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (9)
> In reading Mra. Glasg.>w's S!.:etche4 in Scarlet,· we feel, as the writer in
> the Bookmo,n remarks, ., that we ha\'e soldier·sketches written from the
> lile-written with a: pen dipped in sympathy, and that sympathy which
> (lOmes from knowledge and experience. Every day affairs in a soldier's
> life, entirely understood and sim:rly told, these are the thinjZs that make
> up the little book. Humour an pathos, the bare facts and the under-
> lying emotions of joy and pain, the common lot of man whkh is often 80
> uncommon to each individual man-the writer has grasped all this, and
> her words ring true, "
> • .. Sketches ill Se&rlet," by Mrs. Glasgow, 10, Od, net.
> 
> The same writer has written "wo II.ttractlve II.nd II.mUI!I1OjI: little plays
> for amateurs, which, as they require but little scenery, and are easy to
> &Qt, would do admirably for home or school, or charity entertainments.
> The Burglar contains parts for three women, two girls and two boys;
> Mr. Verel:er's At Home,· of which the scene is au artist's studio, for &
> man, three wOlDen and a girl.
> • ",The Burglar" and "Mr. Vereker'. At Home," by MN. Glasgow, ed, net. each
> 
> In Wilere Wild Bird4 Sing, we are told in a series of monthly notes
> about the birds, insects and flowers that are to be found in the woOds and
> fields and I>l.08s and gardens of our country at all times and seasons of
> the year. The writer is evidently a true lover of nature, and his eyes
> have been trained to notice, not only the beauty of the June hedgrows,
> but Nature's slighter touches, the lichens on the grey bark of the oak
> tree, the silver threads of floating ~mer and the sheen of the dragon-
> fly's win~. The author in his preface sayl.ll, he has tried "to make his
> records 10 the simplest possible manner." In a large measure he has
> succeeded, simply becanse his love of nature isquite spontaneous, and not
> simulated for literary effect, as it is in so much modern writing of the
> kind.
> • "Whel'e Wild Bird. Sing," by James E, Whiting, I., net.
> 
> A Pro,e Poet of Ohildhood· is a little volume of selections from
> Richter, compiled by Mrs. Sharman. All who are interested in the edu-
> cation of children, will find valuable suggestions in the ideas contributed
> to the subject by the great German p~et and philosopher. Richter
> rightly views education as the development of strong and beautiful
> cli8racter. and Jays the duty of watching and keeping its growth where it
> ought to lie, with the parents. In his opinion, the cultivation of indi-
> vidual character eclipses the mere acquisition of knowledge, although
> upon this point also he has much to say. Few lDen have possessed such
> insight into the workings of a child's thought and feelings, and perhaps
> fewer still have deemed the study worthy of all the care that can be be-
> .towed upon it. Philosophic toought poetically expressed, practical
> hints jllowing with the rainbow hues of imagination, and a mingling of
> humour and pathos truly characteristic are to be found in "Levana II
> and the Autobiography of Jean Paul Richter.          .
> * "A Prose Poet of Childhood," by K. B. Sharman, 1.. net.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (10)
> Sir Samuel Wilks has re.published in pamphlet form three lectures
> delivered before the Hampstead Scientific Societ~. 1'he Relation of
> Science to .A.rt in Reference to Trute and Beauty*-Splral.-.A.1IIbidexterity_
> The subject of the fint lecture is a large one on which much could be
> said on many sides and it is inconceivable' that any two people would
> agree on all the questions which might arise out of it. Sir Samuel Wilh
> deals with a very popular subject of dispute whcn he discusses the rela·
> tion which exists between the utility and the beauty of buildings. He
> does not agree with Ruskin in disliking the London Terminus of the
> Midland Railway Company, which, "being Gothic, suggests an ecclefi-
> astical edifice." He discusses the perennial question as to whether there
> is a standard of beauty existing in the human mind and he favoun the
> negative view on the gronnd that the Hottentot and the Greek ideals are
> not identical, and quotes Ruskin's opinion tha.t "why we receive pleasure
> from some forms and colours and not from others is no more to lie asked
> Or answered than why we like sugar or dislike wormwood."                     .
> * .. The RelAtion of Sclellce to Art In reference to Taate "nd Be&nty," by Sir Samuel
> WUka, Bt., 6d •.net.
> 
> The writer tells us that his early interest in the subject of Spiral,·
> was owing to his intercourse with his old colleague James Hinton, widely,
> known as the author of a little book styled the .Mll',tery of Pa.in. Hinton.
> contributed several articles 011 "Life and Nature," to the Cornhill, theD
> under the editorship of Thackeray. In one of these he wrote the follow.
> ing lines :-" The most .superficial glance reveals a spiral tendency as a
> generlO.l characteristic both of the vegetable and animal creation, but a.
> minute examination traces it in evely detail. An evidently spiral con-
> struction is manifll8t from the lowest rudimenti of life UpWllrdfi through
> every organ of the highest and most complex animal. The beautiful
> spiral form of the branches of many trees a.nd of the shells which adorn
> the coast, are striking examples merely of a universal law. The spiral il$
> the direction a body moving under resistance ever tends to take.
> Growth under resistance is the chief cause of the spiral form lI.S8umed by
> living things. The formation of the heart also ill an illteresting illus·
> tration of the law of spiral growth." This wa@the idea expressed by
> Hinton many years ago,and is the text of the lecture. There is an in-
> teresting drawing showing the close likeness of the human brain to t.he
> walnut, first pointed out bl Cowley in the time of Charles 11. Other
> illust.rations show Hogarth s Curve of Beauty, the Spiral Pump of
> Archimedes, and the Human Heart.                                            .
> * .. SplraJs, • by the Mme writer. 6d. net.
> The lecture on Ambidexterity* points out ill a most lucid manner the
> limitations of the use of the left hand and expo_ the fallacy of the be-
> lief that true ambidexterity simply consists in teaching the left hand tq
> copy slavishly movements which ha,'e been acquired by the right, Th~
> author points out that the left hand is not an exact copy of the right and
> the natural writing for the left band is " mirror writing," the thread of a.
> screw intended to be driven1n by the left hand should be the reverse ot
> that intended for the right, and 80 forth. Hence it follows that to train..
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (11)
> the left hand to copy the writing of the right cannot be the foundationS'
> of ambidexterity as some maintain but is based on an ignorance of ana·
> tomical details. Sir Samuel Wilks does not discourage the training of
> the left hand, but he does ul"Jl'e that the left hand should be trained to do-
> on the left side of the body 8imilar things to those performed on the other
> side by the right. To do this it will naturally move in the reverse direc·
> tion to that taken by the right hand.
> * "Ambidexterity," by the same author, 3d. net.
> Under the titl~ of The Relation of Man to the Animal World, Sir
> Samuel Wilks has repUblished an address which he delivered at the
> Church Congress at Folkestone, a few years ago. Tho writer endeavours-
> to bring before the reader what our actual position is as a nation towards
> the lower kingdom of animals; and to show how very little the majority
> of people have considered this wider question of our relation to all
> animals generally.
> • "The Relation of Mall to the Animal World," Is. net.
> 
> The Secret of the Unioeree and _other E~.ayl/, * are merely attempts ~.
> indicate the lines along which future thought should progre~s; they aim
> at being sU!r~estive rather than conclusive in the ideas they formulate,
> and are published in the hope of stimulating man's individual thought-
> upon the deep problems that underlie existence. The basis of tlieir
> thought is evolution, with all its magnific'.lnt possibilities: evolution,
> however, regarded from a philosophic, as well as from a scientific stand~
> point.
> " Men grow too great
> For narrow creeds of right and wrong, which fade
> Before the unmeasured thirst for good: while peace
> Rises within them ever more and more."
> -BROWNING •
> • " The Secret of the Universe and other Essays." Sa. 6d. net.
> 
> A HELPFUL LITTLE BOOK.
> Hope,· is the titl~ of a little book by Dr. Horton, in which the
> writer speaks" to the prisoners of hope." baving himself lodged some-
> time in the dungeon of despondency. For Hope dwells in dungeons-
> rather than in palaces, and her speecfi is for the sorrowful rather than for
> the joyful, and her music is more allied to the dirge than to the pean.
> • .. Hope," by Robert F. Horton, 3d. net.
> 
> In introducing to children and their friends a popular re·issue of
> HaPP!l Hour, for Ohildren, or, The ParentB' Oabinet,· Miss Conatance"
> Hill writes that :-
> The idea of such a publication was first started by my motber, Mrs.
> Frederic Hill, then Mi!l8 Martha Cowper. Her plan, and that of her coo:
> adjutora, was to combine, in each volume, writings upon a variety of
> subjects suited to the different ages and differing tastes of the members of
> a young family.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> [\-.=~
> I   TIlE lSL\[\;J)        II
> 
> Digi Ized by   Goog Ie
> (13)
> SeTeral generations of such readers have proved by their enjoyment-
> of fresh editions of the work that its purpose has been successfully carried
> out.
> Many children have been inspired with a love of mechanics, and have
> made articles described in the writings on that subject. Others have
> been taught to observe Nature, and even in earliest. childhood to compre-
> hend some of her wonders; while all have found entertainment in the
> tales and biographies.
> Happily the ideas started by the authors of thiA work have been
> adopted to a great extent in recent years, as is shown by a more enlight-
> ened manner of teaching children than was formerly in vogue.. Object
> lessons of all kinds are being introduced into our schools to give clear-
> ideas and to open up paths in which the child himself Olay delight to push
> forward. But these instructions are specially connected witli the desk
> and the teacher, whereas" Happy Hours for Children, or, the Parents'
> Cabinet, " is essentially a book for home and holiday.
> * .. Happy Hours for Children," price 38. &d. net, for the set, which comprises sill
> crown octavo volumes.
> 
> In De UrbibWi (:Id.) the author makes a vigorous protest against the
> modern craze for straight wide roads, and by means of diagrams showl
> the superiority of a "honeycomb" to a "chessboard" pattern. Several
> reasons are adduced in support of a narrower type of road than finds
> favour with the authorities that nowadays regulate such matters. The
> paper concludes with a strong appeal for limitation of cities in the matter
> of size, and enforced preservation of the country immediately round a
> town. The same idea of " country verSU8 town" is illustrated in a short
> allegory by the same author, entitled The IBland (Id. ) In neither of these
> papers are the suggestions, whether made or implied, of a revolutionary
> character; and the same moderation and mistrust of draRtic changes is
> shown in the little paper entitled 'l'heShilling, the Foot, and the Pound (ld.)
> which is in effect an earnest appeal against the introduction of the Metric
> System, and an expression of doubt as to the practical advantages of               anv
> Decimal system; though certain simplifications are at the 8ame time sug-
> gested. The recent Esperanto Congrel!s at Cambridge drew from the
> author of the above papers, a pamphlet on Modem Luti.. (4d.) in which the
> possibilities of the classical language as a medium of international com-
> munication are carefully examined. The conclusion arrived at is that a
> simplified post-classical Latin is eminently suited for the purpose required,
> owing to the wide spread study of Roman literature and the absence of
> any possible international jealousy.
> Lastly, we may refer to the booklet entitled Rota Harmonica (6d.) in
> which the physical relations underlying the Harmonic Scale, are discussed
> in a clear and popular manner, and exhibited in a convenient graphical
> form. An interesting feature is a page of ordinary music, with the key-
> note indicated tltToughout, which music has been set up ill and printed from
> the usual type. A further attempt to simplify music takes the form of a
> novel and interesting keyboard, very similar to the existing one, and (we
> are assured) much easier to play upon owing to the fact thut only three
> key-forms require to be l6l\rnt.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> ~o l' AI
> 
> --~      .
> ~It",o~\c;. .
> ~
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (15)
> "Schema Declinationum Conjugationumque Latinarum," being the
> ~Dfl.ections of the Latin Declensions and Conj ugations tabularlyarrallsred.
> with illustrative examples for repetition. This is specially adapteU for
> ase in schoobo, in conjunction with an ordinary grammar. It is in a limp
> eloth cover, and the price ill fourpence net.
> 
> Dr. Horton ha.'! written three little books; in the first of these, he
> speaks to us of Purity, Love, Unselfishness and Discipline, which he des-
> cribes as being the four pillars which bear up the home; in the second he
> tells about the Admiration of Success, of Success which is Failure, and of
> Failure which is Succes8; in the third he describes Living together,
> Living together in the Family, and Living together as Husband and
> Wife.
> * .. The Four Pillars of tho Home," by Dr. Horton, Od. net.
> .. SIlCcea. and Failure," by Dr. Horton, 6d. net
> .. On Living Together,"' by Dr. Horton, 6d. net.
> 
> MAYLE'S PENNY SERIES.
> 
> III 1856 Fitzileraid first saw a MS. of Omar Khayyam, the astronomer
> .poet of Persia, and recognising the beauty of the verses he issued his
> translation of them in 1859, and it is through this version that most
> people will probably make their acquaintance. }!'itzGerald W&l! long in
> coming into recognition, even after Meredith, Tennyson, Swinburne and
> Rossetti had joined in his praise.                                   .
> But few poems have been more widely read during the past few
> years.   This little 'penny rep!,int contains a Persian-English vocabulary,
> which should be of considerable use to those who possess copies of this
> poem, ~for such a vocabulary is_~()t~o be found in tll~ID_o~expensiv~
> editions publ~shed in thi~olmtry~
> 
> The second number of this Eeries is The Stm-y 0/ the Bahai Movement,
> by Sydney Sprague. The distinct claim of the Bahai Faith is that the
> Eternal Word has manifested itself to the world in our day in the person
> of Baha Ullah, and that the Logos speaking through him, is giving new
> spiritual life to the people through the power of the creative word.
> Hidden Word"j'rom the Arabic, wa~ probably written by the Founder
> of the Bahni ~Iovemellt during his impri~onment at Akka. It has been
> termed by some the Bahni Gospel, by others the Bhagavad Gita of the
> Bahais. Jt is presented as the third number of the penny series.
> 
> The Story 0/ Hamp .•tead, traces its growth from a Saxon village of
> . of sixty souls to a borough with a population of over 80,000. It. is issued
> at One Penny, and illustrated with reproductions from scarce old
> engraving~.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
> (16)
> The R088lyn Hill Stf'1ll0nB now in courae of publication, are being
> issued every month. The first number was issued in January, 1908.
> The price is One Penny monthly.
> I.   The Mystery of SotTOw.
> II.   The Alchemy of Sacrifice.
> 111.   A Free Catholic Church,
> IV.    i'he Mense of Sin,
> *                 *                *                   *
> Before Hampstead wa.'1 swallowed up in Greater London, that is to
> f<II.y, before the latter part of the nineteenth century, the old village of
> Hampstead and its surroundings had a character of their own. Ever
> since that feclcles8 King James 1. came to the throne of England, Lon·
> doners used to come to Hampstead in search of summer qaarters, or a
> long summer holiday. Retired tradesmen who desired to end their days
> in pure air amid rural scenes, settled there; patients came to drink the
> waters of the once famous wells; and rich lawyers spent their hard-
> earned leisure in the shady gardens which lay on the outskirts of the
> village. From the time of Pope and Gay Hampstead became a favourite
> resort of authors, actors, and divines; the artists who made Hampstead
> famous came somewhat later. But the continuous history of the place
> does not centre round any of these ~roups; it is to be sought in the
> history of the Manor and the Parish Church. The Manor belonged to the
> monks of S. Peter, Westminster; the Parish Church was their creation;
> and both Manor and Church were in the charge of the Prior of the Abbey.
> The records which the monks have left throw much light on the economic
> and social condition of a rural villa:;re near a great metropolis in the
> Middle Ages. After the Reformation the interest becomes more personal;
> it turns largely on the lives of the lords of the Manor, notable personages,
> whose fortunes were intimately connected with the history of the place;
> and the lives of the vicars, who were men representative of their age,
> leaders of the local society, and closely connected with the village Iffe.
> We have many types, from the vigorous Tory High Churchman of Queen
> Anne's day, Dr. Warren, who ouilied schoolboys and dissenters with
> equal gusto, to Dr. Ainger of early Victorian times, the model of a pious
> and energetic' Evangelical. We have too the Parish Clerk, frequentlr,
> somnolent, who disturbed the congregation hy his irrelevant" .Amens. '
> Park, the historian of Hampstead, was imperfectly acquainted with the
> early history of both Church and Manor; and it has been worked out for
> the first time by Mr. J. Kennedy, from the Westminster Abbey archives,
> in his recently publisherl work, .. '.J;'he Manor and Parish Church of Hamp-
> stead and its Vicars." * The post· Reformation history also is given more
> more fully than in any previous work; and in subordination to the his·
> tory of the Manor, of the Church, and of the Vicars, the history of the
> village itself is sketched in for a background.
> * "The lIanor and Pari.h Church of Hampstead "lid it. Vicars." by J. Kennedy,
> illmJtrated, with portraits, views and maps, 4s. llet.
> 
> THE PRIORY PRESS will be pleased to furnis~ estimates
> for printing at any time. Special attention is given to
> privately printed books.
> 
> Digitized by   Google
>
> — *The Story of the Bahai Movement (Used by permission of the curator)*