Some Early Believers in the West
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-20 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Grace Shahrokh, Some Early Believers in the West, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Some Early Believers in the West

Grace Shahrokh
published in Windows to the Past

1992

1. Audio

To download the MP3 file, please go to bahai-library.com/wttp/programs.html.

2. HTML (see scan below)

SOME EARLY BELIEVERS IN THE WEST

A transcript of audio-cassette from the series Windows to the Past
by Grace L. Shahrokh

In
this series of Windows to the Past, let us open this one to the West,
and see how some spiritually distinguished souls caught the light of
the earliest rays of the rising sun of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation
coming from the East.

Regrettably,
because of limited time on audiotape, this presentation can tell you
brief stories
of only a few believers. Many other outstanding teachers and Hands of
the Cause deserve to be remembered. Highlights of their lives can be
found in volumes of The
Bahá'í World, an international record, or in biographies.

The
following brief accounts are like gazing at a small portion of the
brilliant galaxy of immortal heroines and heroes who devoted their
energies, talents, their very lives to the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. May
the examples of devotion these souls bequeath to us inspire us to
love and live the Faith with all the fervor of our hearts.

THORNTON
CHASE

What
a distinction! He is known as the first in the Western world to
embrace the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, the first American believer.
Abdu'l-Bahá called him Sabet, meaning Steadfast. Mr. Chase attended classes given by Ibrahim Kheiralla in Chicago in 1894 and
1895. While there were four others at the same time who professed to
believe in Bahá'u'lláh, they did not remain committed to that belief
as Mr. Chase did. His steadfastness earned him the distinction of being the first Bahá'í in America. Kheiralla's refusal to accept Abdu'l-Bahá as the sole authorized head
of the Bahá'í Faith led to a crisis at the turn of the century.

The following brief
accounts are like gazing at a small portion of the brilliant galaxy
of immortal heroines and heroes who devoted their energies, talents,
their very lives to the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. May the examples of
devotion these souls bequeath to us inspire us to love and live the
Faith with all the fervor of our hearts.

We
will start by speaking of Thornton Chase:

What
a distinction! He is known as the first in the western world to
embrace the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, the first American believer.
Abdu'l-Bahá called him Sabet, meaning Steadfast. (GPB, p. 257) Mr.
Chase attended classes given by Ibrahim Kheiralla in Chicago in 1894 and
1895. While there were four others at the same time who professed to
believe in Bahá'u'lláh, they did not remain committed to that belief
as Mr. Chase did. His steadfastness earned him the
distinction of being the first
Bahá'í in America. Kheiralla's
refusal to accept Abdu'l-Bahá as the sole authorized head of the
Bahá'í Faith led to a crisis at the turn of the century. Some became
disheartened by the rebellion of Kheiralla against Abdu'l-Bahá,
but not Thornton Chase. Such were his qualities of heart and mind
that nothing could remove his devotion to Abdu'l-Bahá as the one
appointed by Bahá'u'lláh to be the singular leader of the Bahá'í
Faith.

Mr.
Chase was a very articulate man, both in speaking and writing. In
1911 he wrote a nineteen verse poem entitled El Abha, an ode to the
mysterious spiritual powers of Abdu'l-Bahá, which can be found in
Star of the West magazine, volume 3, number 12.

Mr.
Chase made a pilgrimage in April, 1907, to
the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh and attained the presence of Abdu'l-Bahá
who was then a prisoner of the Turkish Empire. Undoubtedly this was
the greatest event of his life. He wrote of his experiences there in
a booklet called In
Galilee. One quote from it refers
to Abdu'l-Bahá: "...as each hungry pilgrim comes to that prison
house, that banquet hall of heavenly gifts, he takes him in his arms
and draws him to his breast with such sincerity and enthusiasm of
love that the petty cares ... of the world vanish away,
and one is at peace and in happiness because he has reached home and
found love there." (Some
Early Bahá'ís,
p. 6)

Interestingly,
the birth day of Thornton Chase was February 22, 1847, which 115
years earlier, was the birthday of President George Washington.
His family in Springfield, Massachusetts was Northern Baptist, and
he was given the best education possible. His earliest time of
manhood found him serving on the Northern forces of the Civil War,
becoming a captain. Mr. Chase loved music, had
a magnificent singing voice, and was a student of religious thought,
searching for a cause that would embody The Day of God. Great
expectation of the return of Christ swept the western world in the
1840's. The religious fervor must have made a deep impression
on the young Thornton Chase. For some time before he heard of the
Bahá'í Faith, he was a follower of the noble and mystical teachings
of Emanuel Swedenborg. (Some
Early Bahá'ís,
p. 3).

Mr. Chase was working as
an insurance salesman, based in Chicago, when a friend told him what
he had learned of Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá from Ibrahim
Khayrullah, a Syrian believer who emigrated to the United States, not
primarily as a Bahá'í teacher but for business ventures. (The Bahá'í
Faith in America pages 26 and 30) Ever searching, Mr. Chase entered
the classes offered by Khayrullah. However, Khayrullah mixed his own
imaginings and doubts about Abdu'l-Bahá into his presentations on the
Bahá'í Faith. To counter the effects of this, Abdu'l-Bahá, in 1900
and 1901, sent teachers to America who were completely loyal to the
Center of the Covenant and well-informed on the teachings of
Bahá'u'lláh. They were Mirza Abu'l-Fadl and Mirza Asad'u'llah.

Mr.
Chase wrote, "With these teachers came the first opportunity for
a correct and intimate knowledge of the true Bahá'í teachings ...
rather than psychic and occult experiments ... Many persons who had
conceived views imbued with imaginations and superstitions fell away
from the Cause - but those who remained discovered such spiritual
light,...and power in the teachings, that they were deeply confirmed
in their belief, and clung to it..." This is from a short paper
entitled A Brief History of the American Development of the Bahá'í
Movement, printed in Star of the West, Volume V, number 17. It is
fascinating to observe that notwithstanding Mr. Chase's obvious
position as one of the greatest pillars of the Bahá'í Community in
America, in this paper he makes no reference to himself whatsoever.
What an example of self-effacement and humility!

Mr. Chase's business career involved
a great deal of travel. In each city he visited, he would introduce
the Faith to many people and spend a good deal of time teaching
seriously interested individuals. The insurance company he worked for
transferred him to Los Angeles, California, by one account about two
years before he passed away. (Star of the West, Volume III, number
12) It is reported that the company decided to do this in the hope
that once removed from the center of Bahá'í activity in Chicago, he
would spend more time working and less time on the Faith. It did not
turn out that way. In California, he became a close friend of John
David Bosch, whose story will also be told later on.

Thornton
Chase was a very tall and handsome figure whose
security and joy in the Faith came through his personality. It is
written that a secretary in an office which he visited from time to
time, spoke in later years of the electrifying presence of Thornton
Chase. She recalled that whenever he came into the room,
people felt elated; joy wafted in with him; his face radiated light.
(Some Early Bahá'ís of the West, p.8) Others wrote of him that he
inspired love and trust, that one never heard a word of condemnation
or criticism from him, that he was a man of great
loving character, with a heart that drew to him warm friends and a
love which seemed to reach out, surround and envelop you. (Star of
the West Vol. 3, #12) He wrote many pamphlets to help in teaching the
Bahá'í Faith and a book, The
Bahá'í Revelation, which
filled a great need at that time for a clearly written exposition of
the teachings.

1912
was the exciting year of Abdu'l-Bahá's journey through America.The
Bahá'ís in California were eagerly anticipating the arrival of
Abdu'l-­Baha in October. In September Mr. Chase suffered an
illness and never recovered. Abdu'l-Bahá traveled to Los Angeles and
visited his grave in Inglewood Cemetery. Standing at the head of the
grave, He turned towards the East, raised His hands to heaven and
chanted a prayer, then spoke in praise of Mr. Chase, saying "This
is a personage who will not be forgotten. For the present his worth
is not known but in the future it will be inestimably dear. His sun
will be ever shining, his star will ever bestow the light." At
a later meeting, the Master said, "As many times as possible -
at least once a year- you should make it a point to visit his tomb,
for his spirit will be exhilarated through the loyalty of the
friends, and in the world of God will it be happy. The friends of God
must be kind to one another, whether it be in life or after death
...I loved Mr. Chase very much indeed. His heart was pure. He had no
other aim except service to the Cause ... The Blessed Perfection has
invited him to His Kingdom. At this very moment he is submerged in
the Sea of His Bounty." (Some Early Bahá'ís of the West, p. 11)

(Reference
sources for the above include God Passes By, Some
Early Bahá'ís of the West, The Bahá'í Faith in
America, Volume I, Star
of the West bound volumes
2 and 4,`Abdu'1-Baha,
biography by Balyuzi.)

JOHN
BOSCH

Many of us have heard of and possibly traveled to Bosch Bahá'í
School, now located in the redwood-forested hills north of Santa
Cruz, California. Do we know it had its beginnings in another
location as a gift of land in 1927 from a very generous couple, John
David Bosch and his wife Louise. John David Bosch was born in
Switzerland in 1855. His family was very religious followers of a
Protestant faith. He also knew the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg, a
Swedish mystic of the 18th century. In his teens, he left home and
went to Germany, France and Spain to study wine-making. When 24 years
old, he came to America, first to Nebraska where he worked on
railroad construction, then in Oklahoma as a cowboy. These rugged
occupations possibly gave him incentive to find a place where he
could use his education as a wine-maker, which he did as
superintendent of a winery in California. His career was extremely
successful and he acquired much land in three California counties.
But material success did not deter him from his spiritual quest.

In
1905 as John was traveling by train, he happened to meet an
acquaintance who was reading a
book called Abbas Effendi,
His Life and Teachings. (This refers to Abdu'l-Bahá, whose given name was Abbas.) Just think,
in such a moment, his life work which seemed so settled and
satisfying was about to be turned to another course.
He wanted to get a copy of the book and the friend referred him to
contact Mrs. Helen Goodall of Oakland. He attended meetings at her
home which were not totally to his taste as he was the only man in a
group of thirty to forty women, in a tea party setting. Yet their focus on the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh kept him
attending, and that same year he wrote to Abdu'l-Bahá requesting
acceptance as a believer.

Before
long came a great test of faith, of detachment and obedience. In 1910
he received a tablet from Abdu'l-Bahá, "According to the texts
of the Book of Aqdas both light and strong drinks are prohibited ...I
hope thou mayest become exhilarated with the wine of the love of God
... The after-effect of drinking is depression, but the wine of the
love of God bestoweth exaltation of the spirit." (World Order,
Fall 1971, p. 36) He divested himself of his positions in the
wine-making business in obedience to the teachings he loved. What
bounties would eventually be showered upon him by Abdu'l-Bahá for
giving up a business that he no doubt enjoyed and was a recognized
expert, being the supervisor of four wineries.

When
John heard that Abdu'l-Bahá would soon be arriving in America, he
simply could not wait for the possibility that Abdu'l-Bahá might be
able to come to California. So he took a train bound for the East and
arrived at the hotel in New York where the Master was staying. Of his
first moments in Abdu'l-Bahá's majestic presence, John reminisced, "I
went as a business man. I had some questions to ask. When I saw Him I
forgot everything..." Then Abdu'l-Bahá told John all the things
he planned to ask. He said to Abdu'l-Bahá, "Oh, Abdu'l-Bahá, I
came three thousand miles to see you." Abdu'l-Bahá responded
with hearty laughter and said, "I came eight thousand miles to
see you!"

An
unexpected privilege soon came to John. Abdu'1-Baha said to him, "You
are one of the family,...come...anytime you want to." A tour of
New York by car was planned for Abdu'l-Bahá, who made John sit next
to Him. As soon as the drive started, John relates that Abdu'l-Bahá
sighed deeply, put His head on John's shoulder, close, like a child,
and went to sleep.

Can
you imagine the blessed head of Abdu'l-Bahá resting on your shoulder,
the touch of His pure white, silky hair and the fragrance of holiness
arising to surround you? No wonder John was enthralled and entranced.
Abdu'l-Bahá gave John the name Nurani, meaning filled with light. He
followed the Master everywhere for about three weeks and then
returned to California. He petitioned Abdu'l-Bahá to extend his trip
to California and it was accepted.

John
must have been overjoyed when Thornton Chase moved to California.
They became close friends, but sadly, Mr. Chase, who was eight years
older than John, passed away suddenly a few days before Abdu'l-Bahá
arrived in California. Another good friend of John's was Luther
Burbank, horticultural scientist and genius in plant hybridizing, who
lived in the same region as the Bosch’s. John made Burbank
well-acquainted with the Bahá'í teachings and he was favorably
impressed.

When
the Tablets of the Divine Plan came from Abdu'l-Bahá, Mr. and Mrs.
Bosch eagerly responded by going to Tahiti in 1920. The Tahitians
bestowed a title on John meaning "first king of the great family
of Bahá'ís arrived among us." In 1921, they embarked on a
teaching trip through Europe on their way to Haifa for pilgrimage,
arriving mid-November. What joy and happiness to see their beloved
Master again after nine years. John was the last Westerner to receive
from the hands of Abdu'l-Bahá a fruit from His garden. (The Bahá'í
World, Volume XI, p. 492) At that moment, no one could imagine that
in three days the Master would be gone. John recalled that the Master
walked straight and vigorously like a young man. He looked well and
strong. (World Order, Fall 1971 p. 40.)

In
the pre-dawn of November 28, John and Louise were awakened to the
stunning and awful word that Abdu'l-Bahá had suddenly passed away.
John was asked to help lift the coffin. Except for enemies of the
light, Abdu'l-Bahá was adored and revered by high and low in
Palestine. It was the Bosch's destiny to witness that adoration by
seeing ten thousand mourners following the cortege up Mt. Carmel to
the place of interment, in the Shrine of the Báb. (World Order, Fall
1971 p. 44)

The
Greatest Holy Leaf, Abdu'l-Bahá's sister, requested John and Louise
to remain in Haifa for the forty days of mourning. During this time,
Shoghi Effendi returned from England. He gave them the first copy of
the translated Will and Testament of Abdu'1-Baha for the Bahá'ís in
America. (The Bahá'í World volume XI p. 492)

Back
home again, they made frequent teaching trips in the west coast
States, in the service of the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. In
1927 the National Spiritual Assembly appointed a committee to find a
location for a western states Bahá'í summer school. John Bosch was on
that committee and recalled that in 1919 he had offered his
Geyserville property to Abdu'l-Bahá to be used for Bahá'í gatherings.
This was accepted and the first session opened on his seventy-second
birthday. This made the Guardian very happy who wrote that the school
would "flourish and attract an increasing number of
spiritually-minded, capable souls ... who would reinforce the work
that is being achieved for our beloved Cause." (The Bahá'í World
Vol. XI p. 493)

John
lived to see twenty sessions at Geyserville Bahá'í Summer School. How
happy it must have made them both to see what their gift meant to the
spiritual growth of so many Bahá'ís and seekers. Some years later the
school was renamed Bosch Bahá'í School and relocated near Santa Cruz,
California.

John
passed away July 22, 1946. So loved was he that the village stores
closed on the day of his funeral. The Guardian's cablegram read, in
part, "Profoundly grieve passing
dearly-beloved, great-hearted, high-minded distinguished servant of
Bahá'u'lláh, John Bosch. His saintly life, pioneer services,
historic contribution of institution of summer school, entitle him to
rank among outstanding figures of the closing year
of heroic, and opening years of formative age of the Bahá'í
Dispensation..." (The Bahá'í World Volume XI, p. 493-4) (Most of
above information is taken from The
Bahá'í World, Volume XI)

LOUISA
MOORE GETSINGER “LUA”

In
1897 about two years after Thornton Chase was confirmed as a follower
of Bahá'u'lláh, another class of Ibrahim Kheiralla's included a young
woman who, after her passing, was extolled by the Guardian
as the mother-teacher of the West, and as one of the nineteen
Disciples of Abdu'l-Bahá and Heralds of the Covenant in the West.
(Bahá'í Dictionary, p. 71) What were the events in her short life of
only forty-five years that culminated in such a station
of greatness.

Louisa
Aurora Moore was born November 1, 1871 into a farm family near the
village of Hume in upstate New York. She was an unusually talented
child, speaking eloquently and singing beautifully. She was
encouraged to develop these talents and chose to study in Chicago
instead of the closer and recognized center of theatre arts, New York
City. (The Flame, p. 17­1). She may have heard of Kheiralla's
classes on the Bahá'í Faith in Chicago from Dr. Chester Thacher, a
Bahá'í, for whom she worked as a housekeeper. Shortly after
completing the class she married another student, Dr. Edward
Getsinger, who accepted Bahá'u'lláh a few months later. Her zeal and
fervor for the newly found Faith were intense as she had been brought
up in an atmosphere of great religious excitement about the imminent
return of Christ. She returned to New York state to share the new
Faith with her family and friends. (The Bahai Faith in America,
Volume I, pages 90, 104, 116) Dr. Getsinger and
Lua also went to the West Coast upon the invitation of Phoebe Hearst,
the wife of California senator George Hearst. According to Dr.
Getsinger's memoirs, Mrs. Hearst had read of him in a newspaper in
1897. (Bahá'í World Vol. VI, p. 495).

The
Getsingers organized a class to share the Bahá'í teachings, as much
as was understood at that time. Mrs. Hearst and many others accepted
the Faith. Later in 1898, Mrs. Hearst's butler, Robert Turner also
became a believer. He was the first black American (African-American)
to have become a Bahá'í. (The Baha’i Faith in America p. 139-140)
These new Bahá'ís longed to see Abdu'l-Bahá, the living center of the
Faith of His Father.

Mrs.
Hearst had a tour of Egypt planned for the fall of 1898. Then it
became possible to attain the presence
of the Master Abdu'l-Bahá, Who was a
prisoner of the Turkish Empire in `Akka, not very far from Egypt. She
invited the Getsingers, Robert Turner, and several others to be her
guests on this historic first pilgrimage of Western believers. The
party broke their journey by
stopping at Mrs. Hearst's apartment in Paris. Friends of Mrs. Hearst
and two of her nieces were already at the apartment. The friends were
May Ellis Bolles, then twenty-eight years old, her mother and
brother. The story of May and her husband
Sutherland Maxwell will be told next. When May realized there was a
religious mission within the travel plans, she became eagerly
interested. Lua told her all she knew of the wonders of the new
Revelation. May and Mrs. Hearst's nieces became believers
in a short time and were invited to join the pilgrimage. (Baha’i
Faith in America p. 140-1)

Because
of the dangers surrounding Abdu'l-Bahá', only a few could go to Akka
at one time. They had to go first to Cairo, Egypt, and await
instructions from Abdu'l-Bahá. Dr. and Lua Getsinger were chosen to
be the first North American Bahá'ís to attain the presence of the
Master. It was December 10, 1898 when they were ushered into His
presence, an experience of such spiritual magnitude that their lives
were changed forever. Lua wrote to Thornton Chase, "...When I
left America I thought I knew a good deal ... but after seeing the
Master ...I am sure I know nothing ... The Face of the Master is
gloriously beautiful- His eyes read one's very soul- still they are
full of divine love - and fairly melt one's heart!" (Baha’i
Faith in America, p. 144-5). Dr. Getsinger wrote, "When I first
saw ... the Servant of Baha...in spite of my former belief (atheism)
I still had enough spiritual perception...to see at once a holy man,
a divine character...a soul that I could not comprehend and at that
moment I consecrated my life and all to the principles for which He
stands..." (Bahá'í World, Vol. VI, p. 495)

Abdu'l-Bahá
permitted the Getsingers to stay in Akka for five months to learn
Persian and to acquire deeper knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith. They
found discrepancies between what Kheiralla had taught them and what
they were now learning from Abdu'1-Baba Himself,
such as reincarnation, which is rejected in the Bahá'í teachings.
(Baha’i Faith in America, p.
146).

When
the Getsingers returned to America in May 1899, they had some
precious gifts to share with the friends in addition to a greatly
expanded and corrected knowledge. The gifts were the first photograph
ever taken of Abdu'l-Bahá,
this was made in 1868 in Adrianople whenAbdu'1-Baha was 24 years old;
also a calligraphic design of the Greatest Name/ an Arabic copy of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, and a wax cylinder recording of
the chanting of Abdu'l-Bahá. Dr. Getsinger had actually taken
a phonograph with him and Abdu'l-Bahá graciously consented to the
recording, which exists to this day. Can you imagine the excitement
and joy of the American believers to have these infinitely precious
things brought to them!

How
many Bahá'ís were there in
America in 1899? According to the carefully researched and
fascinating book, The
Bahá'í Faith in America, Volume I, by Dr. Robert Stockman, membership had grown from 2
believers in 1894, to 1,467 by September 1899. (TBFIA, pages 159,
160, 163).

As
mentioned in the story on Thornton Chase, Ibrahim Kheiralla became
proud, and ambitious and was maneuvering to make himself the official
leader of the Bahá'ís in America, in direct opposition to the
explicit commands of the Will and Testament of Bahá'u'lláh which
appointed His Son Abdu'l-Bahá as the only authority and interpreter
of the Faith. When the Getsingers returned to America, they found the
infant Bahá'í community being sorely tried and divided over the
issue. (TBFIA chapter 12) The Getsingers, among others of capacity,
immediately took up the challenge of strengthening the understanding
and loyalty of their fellow-believers towards Abdu'l-Bahá.

Lua
made several trips to Akka and served Abdu'l-Bahá in special
ways.Once she stayed in Akka for a year and taught English in the
household of Abdu'l-Bahá. Abdu'l-Bahá loved to hear her sing. When
she sang "Nearer My God to Thee" it would bring tears to
His eyes. (Abdu'l-Bahá, by Balyuzi, p. 96-7) Another time when Lua
was back in America, she received a stunning letter and command from
Abdu'l-Bahá. Enclosed was a letter written by Abdu'l-Bahá to the Shah
of Persia, who was in Paris at the time, and Lua was instructed to
personally deliver it to the Shah. It was a time of great persecution
and killing of Bahá'ís in Persia and Abdu'l-Bahá was petitioning the
Shah to stop the shameful and barbaric actions. Lua traveled to Paris
in haste only to be turned away because the son of the Prime Minister
was very ill and not expected to live. She extracted the promise of
an appointment if the child would be healed overnight. Lua united
with the Bahá'ís in Paris in an all-night prayer vigil. With no doubt
about the outcome, she returned to the Prime Minister's office the
next day and was told that the child was recovering. The petition was
thus presented to the Shah and for a time the persecution was halted.
(The Flame, p. 68-70).

Abdu'l-Bahá's
trip to America in 1912 filled the Bahá'ís with indescribable
excitement and joy. Many who would never have been able to go to Akka
to attain His presence now found their heart's desire coming to them!
Lua was on a speaking tour in California when Abdu'l-Bahá arrived in
New York in April. On April 29th He arrived in Chicago and addressed
the concluding session of the Bahá'í Temple Unity convention the next
day. This is where Lua first saw her beloved Master in America. May
1, 1912, was the very special day when under a large tent, surrounded
by the spellbound believers, Abdu'l-Bahá laid the cornerstone for the
future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, that is House of Worship. After that
Abdu'1-Baha returned to New York and Lua followed Him. (The Flame, p.
79; Abdu'l-Bahá, by Balyuzi, p. 185-6).

In
New York, the Bahá'í artist Juliet Thompson had gained the permission
of Abdu'1-Baha to paint His portrait. Lua was there also in Juliet's
studio. As He sat very still for the painter, He seemed to be going
to sleep, but suddenly opened His eyes and addressed the women on the
meaning of the Covenant of God with such power that they were
awestruck. Juliet's diary records that it was at that moment that
Abdu'l-Bahá spoke directly to Lua and said "I appoint you Lua,
as a Herald of the Covenant. Go forth and proclaim this truth."
(The Flame, p. 102).

He
instructed her to go to California and continue teaching. She was a
dynamic speaker and drew large audiences. She very badly wanted to
stay near Abdu'l-Bahá and tried some delaying tactics, one was the
well-known story of walking in poison ivy. The painful condition was
quickly healed with a remedy from the Master. With a new
understanding about obedience being the expression of love, she
traveled to California where she was blessed by the presence of
Abdu'l-Bahá again in the fall. (The Flame, p. 88). He gave her the
title, Leva, meaning Banner.

In
1914 Abdu'l-Bahá directed Lua to teach in India, especially to
further acquaint the Maharajah of Jalowar with the Bahá'í teachings.
The Maharajah had met Abdu'l-Bahá in London and admired Him and the
Bahá'í Cause. Lua's health was not very strong. Her husband wrote,
"...she never spared herself...in a state of utter
exhaustion...she would pull herself together by sheer will power in
order to keep her appointments." Upon returning from India she
stayed in Haifa with Abdu'l-Bahá's family for seven months. (Star of
the West, Vol. VII, No. 4). It was the summer of 1915 and the world
war had started. Abdu'l-Bahá told Lua she must return to America as
He knew conditions would become very dangerous in Palestine. The ship
she took stopped in Cairo and Lua disembarked to see the Bahá'ís
there. She became very ill and unable to continue her journey. She
was cared for by a Bahá'í family and in times of returning strength
was engaged in teaching the Faith and teaching English lessons. On
May 2, she passed away from heart failure. (Star of the West, Vol.
VII, No. 19). Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a loving tribute and supplication,
in part, "0 Lord, Grant her a palace in the neighborhood of Thy
Most Great Mercy; cause her to dwell in the gardens of Thy paradise,
the Most High, illumine her countenance with the effulgence of Thy
good-pleasure in the Kingdom of Thy Glory..." (The Flame, p.
139).

A
few words about Dr. Edward Getsinger who was born in 1866 in
Frankenmuth, Michigan. At age seven, he ran away and was taken into
the home of a professor who
must have had a great influence on the lad. Edward got a medical
education and also was a lifelong student of astronomy and the Bible.
He was an atheist before becoming a Bahá'í, finding its clear logic
powerful enough to dispel his disbelief in a divine Creator. With the assistance of Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, he published the
first book of Bahá'í holy writings, The
Hidden Words, in America.
He passed away in 1935. (The
Bahá'í World, Vol. VI, p.
494-6)

When
Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, Lua, and Dr. Getsinger, and others in her company
made the historical first pilgrimage of Western believers to see
Abdu'l-Bahá in Akka, Palestine in 1898, they stopped en route at Mrs.
Hearst's apartment in Paris. Residing there were her two nieces and
her friend, Mary Martin Bolles and Mrs. Bolles' adult children, May
and Randolph. Who could imagine that the very fragile May who had
been almost bedridden for two years would soon become such a stalwart
and courageous follower of Bahá'u'lláh that forty­-two years
later, after ceaseless activity for the Faith, would lay down her
life as a martyr in a foreign land.

MAY MAXWELL

May Ellis Bolles was born on
January 14, 1870 in Englewood, New Jersey. As a young girl she had
very unusual spiritual sensitivity. When she was only eleven, she
experienced in a dream a light so brilliant that upon awakening she
was blinded for a day. Another time she had a vision of the Master,
Abdu'l-Bahá, thinking the identity of the vision was Jesus, until the
realization came to her after meeting the Master. She spent eleven
years in Paris with her mother and brother who was attending
architectural studies.

When
Mrs. Hearst's traveling companions met May for the first time, May
sensed something special about Lua Getsinger. When May's inquiries
revealed that there was a religious mission to their trip, Lua's
explanation of the return of Christ changed the direction of May's
life almost in an instant. She always called Lua her spiritual mother
and they became closest friends. May and Mrs. Heart's nieces within
a short time declared their belief in Bahá'u'lláh, and by their
earnest desire were invited to join the pilgrimage.

Because
of the restrictions on Abdu'l-Bahá, a prisoner of the Turkish Empire,
the pilgrims could not go in one group. May's turn came in February
1899. (Bahá'í World, Vol. VIII p. 633). For one so spiritually
attuned, the first encounter with Abdu'l-Bahá was almost too
powerful. She wrote, "I found myself at His feet, and He gently
raised me and seated me beside Him, all the while saying some loving
words in Persian in a voice that shook my heart ...I had been carried
suddenly to too great a height; my soul had come in contact with the
Divine Spirit; and this force so pure, so holy, so mighty, had
overwhelmed me ... To me He said "...You are like the rain upon
the earth making it bud and blossom and become fruitful; so shall the
Spirit of God descend upon you, filling with fruitfulness and you
shall go forth and water His vineyard. Now your troubles are ended
and you must wipe away your tears..." (An Early Pilgrimage, p.
12-13)

She
was troubled with illness while on pilgrimage. At one time the Master
cancelled a meeting on Mount
Carmel with the pilgrims, saying "...we could not go and leave
one of the beloved of God alone and sick. We could none of us be
happy unless all the beloved were happy." A little later a three
day trip was planned to the shrine of Bahá'u'lláh,
but May found herself ill again the night before. Confiding in Lua
that she didn't think Abdu'l-Bahá realized she was too weak for the
occasion, Lua said, "You will soon realize something of the
power of Abdu'l-Bahá." May relates in her record called An Early Pilgrimage, "It was about dawn when I awoke, feeling myself stirred by a
breeze. I cannot describe what followed, but through my soul was
flowing an essence; a mighty unseen force was penetrating all my
being, expanding it with boundless life and love
and happiness, lifting and enfolding me in its mighty strength and
peace. I knew then it was the Holy Spirit of God and that our Lord
was praying for His servants in that blessed dawn ...I
arose,...prayed and was quite well." (Early Pilgrimage, p.17)
After experiencing such a
spiritual healing, no wonder May's love for the Master was boundless
and she eagerly obeyed His bidding. All too soon, the time of
departure from His blessed presence was at hand. He comforted the
weeping pilgrims with these words,
"Now the time has come when we must part but the separation is
only of our bodies, in spirit we are united. Ye are the lights which
shall be diffused; ye are the waves of that sea which shall spread
and overflow the world ... Another commandment I give unto
you, that ye love one another even as I love you ... Look at Me and
be as I am; ye must die to yourselves and to the world, so shall ye
be born again and enter the Kingdom of Heaven..." (An Early
Pilgrimage, p.41-2)

Abdu'l-Bahá
directed May to return to
Paris and teach. Her fellow-pilgrims returned to America. She was the
lone Bahá'í on the European continent, but not for long. In four
years the Paris group of Bahá'ís numbered between 25 and 30. With her
spirit ablaze from the experience of her pilgrimage,
she taught her friends and their friends. The ever widening ripples
of interpersonal contact drew in souls of great capacity, such as the
first French believer, Hippolyte Dreyfus; the first English
believer, Thomas Breakwell; Agnes Alexander who became
a Hand of the Cause. This extensive teaching was done with very
little literature, only a few prayers and The Hidden
Words were available in
English. In 1901 the Master sent the great Bahá'í scholar Mirza
Abu’l-Fadl with translators to further educate the
Paris group.

She
became engaged to William Sutherland Maxwell, of Montreal, Canada, an
architectural student at the same school her brother attended. They
were married in London in May, 1902, and she left the lively group in
Paris to begin married life in Montreal, a lone Bahá'í again, not
another Bahá'í in all of vast Canada, but not for long. In 1903 her
husband entered the Faith, becoming the first Canadian Bahá'í. Their
home was a radiant center of hospitality and teaching, from which
themselves and many others traveled to all parts of Canada,
establishing new Bahá'í groups and Assemblies.

What
was her method? It was pure love and patience. From a letter she
wrote in 1915, "We must first touch the heart to awaken it, if
it opens and responds we must sow the priceless seed...Prepare the
soil with the warmth of your love just as the sun prepares the soil
in the spring...in a kind way try to remove prejudices...Never oppose
people's ideas and statements, but give them a little nobler way of
seeing life...My great and wise teacher, Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, laid down
these divine principles of teaching...He showed me that it is the
Spirit of God that is doing the work; we must wait upon the Spirit
and do its bidding only!

Ten
years passed and she had the privilege of another pilgrimage, this
time with her husband. Their prayer and longing was to be able to
have a child, which came true a few years later. Abdu'l-Bahá wrote,
"Praise be to God that thy prayer is answered and thy desire
realized. In the garden of existence a rose has blossomed with the
utmost freshness, fragrance and beauty...I beg of God that this
little child may become great and wonderful in the Divine Kingdom."
They named her Mary. In 1937, the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, chose her
for his wife. How perfectly was the prayer of the Master fulfilled
for this child. She was elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause in
1952, a talented author, a world-traveler, an eloquent speaker, all
for the advancement of the Faith; she is known to us as Amatu'l-Baha
Ruhiyyih Khanum. (The Priceless Pearl, p. 153, 254)

May
Maxwell was also a civic leader. She supported a Children's Court in
Montreal and a milk distribution service for children, started the
first Montessori school in Canada. Such was her admirable reputation
as a Bahá'í in the city that when the Master came to Montreal in
1912, there was, in His words, "no antagonist and no adversary."
What excitement and joy for the believers in Montreal when the
Master came. May made the majority of arrangements. `Abdu'l-Bahá
gave seven public lectures; at one in a Methodist church there were
twelve hundred in attendance. He addressed four meetings in the
Maxwell home, which is a Bahá'í sacred place. (The Bahá'í World, p.
637)

The
Maxwells' service on Bahá'í institutions in
Canada included years on the Spiritual Assembly of Montreal, the
National Spiritual Assembly, plus many other activities for Bahá'í
publications, schools, youth and racial unity. Her love for the
Master was so deep that His passing away was extremely hard
on her. Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum writes, "...she suffered a
complete breakdown in health caused by the shock of His death...for a
year we did not know if she would live or die...My father felt that
the only hope of dispelling the grief...was for her
to make the pilgrimage to Haifa again, this
time to see the young successor of Abdu'l-Bahá. In April 1923 we
arrived in Haifa and it was Shoghi Effendi who literally resurrected
a woman who was so ill she could...not walk a step...From that time
the love
of my mother's heart became entirely centered in the Guardian ... She
once more served the Cause very actively." (The Priceless Pearl,
p. 150)

In
1935, inspired by the Guardian's appeal for pioneers to go to Europe,
she spent two years there, with Mr. Maxwell, their daughter, and two
relatives teaching in Germany, Belgium and France, concluding the
sojourn with a pilgrimage to the Sacred Shrines. The Maxwells
returned to Montreal in fall 1937 but without Mary who then made
Haifa her home.

The
Guardian's call for pioneers
to go to Central and South America captivated May's restless spirit.
With the approval of the Guardian and her husband, May and her niece
made the long journey by ship to South America, arriving in Buenos
Aires in February, 1940. But her spiritual
influence there was destined to be from beyond this world of time and
space. Three days after arriving, she suddenly passed away. The
Guardian's tribute entitled her as
Abdu'l-Bahá's beloved handmaid and distinguished disciple and gave
her the priceless
honor of a martyr's crown because she laid down her life in such a
spirit of consecration and self-sacrifice. (Messages to America,
Shoghi Effendi, 1932-1946, p. 38-40)

Some
words of the spiritual attraction she radiated are remarkable.
Abdu'l-Bahá wrote, "May Maxwell is really a Bahá'í ... Whosoever
meets her feels from her association the susceptibilities of the
Kingdom. Her company uplifts and develops the soul." Her
daughter wrote, "...I don't think I ever knew anyone who
inspired the love Mother did - so that it was like an event when one
was going to see her. And this I felt all my life...it never became
commonplace!" Juliet Thompson, a close friend, wrote of May
being "so fragile, so luminous...the most delicate, perfect
beauty, flower-like and star-like." (The Bahá'í World, Vol.
VIII, p. 638, 634)

HAND
OF THE CAUSE WILLIAM S. MAXWELL

William Sutherland Maxwell
occupies a unique position in Bahá'í history as he became in 1903 the
first Canadian Bahá'í. Thirty-seven years later the Guardian
appointed him to be the architect of the majestic Shrine of the Bab,
and in 1951 he was the first Canadian Bahá'í to be named a Hand of
the Cause. He was born into a distinguished family of
Montreal and studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in
Paris. (The Bahá'í World, Vol. VIII, p. 635-6 and Vol. XIII, p. 380)
He became one of the finest architects in Canada and held the
positions of president of the Royal Architectural Institute
of Canada and Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Academy. (George
Townshend, p. 55)

Immediately
after the passing of Mr. Maxwell's wife, the Guardian invited him to
come and reside in Haifa. He became the Guardian's close friend,
trusted and gifted collaborator in designing the superstructure of
white marble over the Shrine of the Báb on Mt. Carmel. After two
years of work on the preparations, on the 100th anniversary of the
Declaration of the Báb, May 22, 1944, the Guardian announced that
the design was chosen. Because of the aftermath of the war years,
actual work on it could not start until 1948.

After
eleven years in Haifa, Mr. Maxwell made a trip to Montreal to visit
relatives. While there, he passed away in March 1952. The Maxwells
had willed their historic home in Montreal to the Canadian National
Assembly. (The Priceless Pearl, p. 157-8, 236-246) The Guardian's
memorial extolled his saintly life, his services in Canada and
pronounced that one of the doors of the Báb's tomb is named after
him as tribute to his services. (Messages to the Bahá'í World, p.
132, 169)

THOMAS
BREAKWELL

This
is a brief account of Thomas Breakwell,
the first English Bahá'í who was mentioned in the story about May
Bolles Maxwell. Abdu'l-Bahá refused to give permission for May to
leave Paris in the summer of 1901, much to the annoyance of May's
mother who wanted her to leave for a vacation place.
The reason for Abdu'l-Bahá's decision soon became apparent when a
friend of hers brought a young Englishman to meet May, feeling that
he would be interested in hearing about the Bahá'í teachings.

The
following are excerpts from May's memories about Breakwell: "I
shall never forget opening the door and seeing him standing there. It
was like looking at a veiled light. I saw at once his pure heart, his
burning spirit, his thirsty soul...he stayed a short time. As he was
leaving, he said that Mrs. Milner told him that I had received some
teachings which had a great effect on my life and...he would like
to...hear what I could tell him. We made an appointment for the
following morning...At the appointed hour...he arrived, his eyes
shining, his face illumined, his voice vibrating under the stress of
great emotion. He looked at me very intently and then said, 'I have
come to you to help me. Yesterday after I left you, I walked alone
down the boulevard and suddenly some great force nearly swept me off
my feet. I stood still as though awaiting something and a voice
announced to me distinctly, 'Christ has come!' Then he said, 'What do
you think this means?' Then I gave him the Message and teachings from
the beginning...He was like a blazing light. Such was his capacity,
that he received the Message in all its fullness and all its strength
and beauty within three days and on the third day he wrote his
supplication to Abdu'l-Bahá which in its force and simplicity I have
never seen equaled..." (Star of the West, Volume 5, number
19.)

The
supplication which Thomas wrote to Abdu'l-Bahá was this: "My
Lord! I believe; forgive me, Thy servant, Thomas Breakwell"
What is it that he implores forgiveness from the Master? We will
learn that in a little while. Thomas now had only one great longing -
to meet the Master. May wrote to the Master asking permission for her
young friend to make the pilgrimage and enclosed his supplication.
That same day when May went to get her mail, there was a cablegram
from Abdu'l-Bahá, it said "You may leave Paris at any time."
May joined her mother and brother at the seaside. When her mother
learned that Abdu'l-Bahá's permission came the very day that Thomas
became confirmed, she burst into tears and exclaimed, "You have
indeed a wonderful Master."

May
describes Thomas as being of medium height, slender, erect and
graceful with intense eyes and an indescribable charm. She learned
that he had an important position in a cotton mill in a southern
state of America and usually spent long summer vacations in Europe.
Before long, permission came from Abdu'l-Bahá for Thomas to make the
pilgrimage. He was the first Englishman to go as a pilgrim. He
traveled in the company of another young man, an American Bahá'í.
Upon their arrival at the house of Abdu'l-Bahá in Akka, they were
ushered into a large room where they expected to find their Master. A
group of Eastern men stood at one end of the room. Thomas became
distressed and disappointed as he saw no one there who had any effect
on him. He was afraid that he had failed to recognize the beloved
Master. Suddenly a door opened and he beheld what seemed to him the
rising Sun. He sprang to his feet to approach the dazzling splendor
and majesty of Abdu'l-Bahá, his despair instantly transformed to
indescribable joy. What had troubled Thomas so much that he hoped for
the Master's forgiveness? He confided to Abdu'l-Bahá that although he
had a high paying position in a cotton mill, he realized that the
child labor used there was wrong. Abdu'l-Bahá had three words, "Cable
your resignation." Thomas instantly obeyed. Because of
restrictions imposed by the civil authorities, Thomas could stay only
two days in the prison city, Akka. Dr.Yunis Khan, a secretary for
Abdu'l-Bahá, wrote his impressions: "The fervor and the faith of
this young man were so sublime in character that his blessed name
shall ring throughout centuries, and shall be remembered with deep
affection in many chronicles. Verses from the Gospels which attest to
the glories of the Kingdom were always on his lips... Whenever he was
in the presence of our peerless Master he was rapt in wonderment...
The day he left, the Master told him: Stay in Paris. As bidden by
the Master, I accompanied him on his return journey to Haifa, the
point of embarkation. Away from Akka, it was possible to entertain
him for an hour or two in the home of one of the believers before his
boat was ready to sail ... we were in a room that looked towards
Akka. There he would stand every now and then perfectly still facing
Akka in a state of communion. Whilst his eyes welled with tears, his
tongue uttered words of supplication...In that state of ecstasy he
asked me whether he could correspond with me... My letters in answer
to his, he said, would convey to him the fragrances of the effulgent
city of `Akka. We were all in tears when we bade farewell to him."
(`Abdu'l-Bahá by Balyuzi, p. 77).

Back
in Paris, Thomas immediately became engaged in teaching the Cause.
May wrote, "He had become the guiding star of our group ... In
the meetings he spoke with a simplicity and eloquence which won the
hearts and quickened the souls." Whenever he visited May's
family, he gave most of his attention to her mother, who had not
recognized the station of `Abdu'l-Bahá and was in need of love and
kindness. May wrote, "...his kindness and love to my mother
during those days in Paris produced a great effect on her ... he was
always a joy and a consolation to her ... before she understood the
glory of the Cause." (Star of West, Vol. V No. 19).

Dear
listeners, let us pause for a moment's reflection on the example of
Breakwell's sensitivity and special kindness to May's mother. How
often does it happen that when we are in the company of both
believers and those who have not yet been touched, we sometimes
ignore the latter because we have many things to talk about with our
fellow-Bahá'ís. May we always cause the spouse, the parents,
relatives and friends of believers to feel that they are included and
loved as deeply as we love our Bahá'í friends.

Thomas's
parents came to see him in Paris. They wanted him to return to
London, but he explained to them that he must stay in Paris as the
Master had asked him to do so. Thomas led his father into the Cause,
and enclosed his father's supplication to Abdu'l-Bahá with his own
letter to Dr. Khan, Abdu'l-Bahá's secretary. Abdu'l-Bahá responded
with a tablet for Thomas's father.

Then
there was a tragic development. Thomas was in the last stages of
tuberculosis and in great pain. He wrote to Dr. Khan that he found
the suffering enabled him to draw nearer to his Lord. A few days
after receiving this letter, Dr. Khan relates that he was walking
with the Master one evening when "He turned to me and said: Have
you heard? No, Master, I replied, and He said, "Breakwell has
passed away. I am grieved, very grieved. I have written a prayer of
visitation for him. It is very moving, so moving that twice I could
not withhold my tears when I was writing it. You must translate it
well, so that whoever reads it will weep." (Abdu'l-Bahá, by
Balyuzi, p.78) Here are some extracts from that eulogy:

“O Breakwell, my beloved! Where us thy beautiful
countenance and where is they eloquent tongue? Where is thy radiant
brow and where is thy brilliant face? O my dear, O
Breakwell! Where are thy bright eyes and where are thy smiling lips?
Where are thy gentle cheeks and where is thy graceful stature?
O my dear, O Breakwell! Verily thou hast abandoned this
transitory world and soared upward to the Kingdom, hast attained to
the grace of the Invisible Realm and sacrificed thyself at the
Threshold of the Lord of Might.
O my beloved, O Breakwell! Verily,
thy Lord hath chosen thee for His love, guided thee to the court of
His Holiness, caused thee to enter into the presence of His company
and granted thee to behold His beauty.
O my beloved, O
Breakwell! Thou hast become a star in the most exalted horizon, a
lamp among the angels of heaven, a living spirit in the Supreme
World, and art established upon the throne of Immortality.
O my adored one, O Breakwell! I
mention thy name continually, I never forget thee, I pray for thee
day and night, and I see thee clearly and manifestly, O my adored
one, O Breakwell.”

Dr.
Khan writes that a year later Abdu'l-Bahá picked out an envelope
unopened from the day's mail and said to him, "How pleasing is
the fragrance that emanates from this envelope. Make haste to open it
and see where it comes from." In it there was a postcard colored
a beautiful shade and attached to it was one solitary flower ...
Written in letters of gold were these words: "He is not dead. He
lives on in the Kingdom of God...This flower was picked from
Breakwell's grave...Praise be to the Lord that my son left this world
for the next with the recognition and love of Abdu'l-Bahá." As
soon as Dr. Khan translated it, the Master at once rose up from His
seat, took the card, put it on His blessed brow, and tears flowed
down His cheeks. (Some Early Bahá'ís of the West, p. 72)

In
a cablegram in 1957, on the passing of Hand of the Cause George
Townshend, the Guardian wrote that Thomas Breakwell, along with Mr.
Townshend and Dr. Esslemont, were three luminaries shedding brilliant
luster on the annals of the Irish, English, and Scottish Bahá'í
communities. (Bahá'í World Vol. XIII, p. 845). (Chief reference
source - Some Early Bahá'ís of the West by O.Z. Whitehead)

HAND
OF THE CAUSE JOHN E. ESSLEMONT, M.D.

After
Breakwell, the second of the three luminaries of the British Isles is
Dr. John Esslemont. The Guardian also designated
him as one of the nineteen disciples of `Abdu'l-Bahá. (Bahá'í
Dictionary, p. 71) He was the author of Bahá'u'lláh
and the New Era, a book
which the Guardian wrote is the textbook of the Faith and would
"inspire generations yet unborn to tread the path
of truth and service." It was first published in 1923 and has
been in print continuously ever since, over seventy-two years at the
time of this presentation in 1996; in addition it is translated into
numerous languages. Who was this remarkable man?
John Esslemont was born in Scotland in 1874 into a very distinguished
family. He graduated from a medical school in Scotland with medals
and honors, went on to win a research scholarship in pharmacology at
a university in Germany. In addition to medical and scientific studies, he investigated many religious beliefs, and
was fluent in French, Spanish, German, Esperanto, and Persian. But
the tragedy of his life was that he contracted tuberculosis while in
college. In 1901 he went to Australia for two years,
becoming a hospital staff doctor, also a district surgeon and health
officer in Alexander County. While in Australia, he was married
briefly. He returned to Scotland, but for a better climate soon
proceeded to South Africa and worked there for five years.
His next move was to Bournemouth, England where he was the resident
medical officer in a sanatorium for patients afflicted with
tuberculosis. The treatment of the disease became one of Dr.
Esslemont's principal interests. He developed a plan for the
eradication of tuberculosis
which was presented to the British Medical Association but it was not
put into practice by the medical profession and government; however,
his research and work in promoting a national health service
culminated in the formation of the
British National Health Service.

He
first heard of the Baha’i Faith in 1914 from the wife of a colleague who had met Abdu’l-Baha
in London. He was instantly attracted to the teachings. He wrote
“They impressed me as meeting the great needs of the modern
world more fully and satisfactorily than any other presentation of religion
which I had come across." Dr. Esslemont's enthusiasm and happiness knew no bounds and he quickly became involved in teaching the faith in Bournemouth, in both the sanatorium and
the city itself. In 1916 he started writing a
book on the Faith.

A
friend, Major Tudor Pole, visited Abdu'l-Bahá in 1918, and spoke
so highly of Dr. Esslemont's services that Shoghi Effendi commenced
a correspondence with him, the beginning of a warm friendship. Dr. Esslemont received a
tablet of encouragement and
praise from Abdu'l-Bahá, who also requested to see a copy of his
book. In November 1919, Dr. Esslemont arrived in Haifa to
visit the Master and brought the almost completed manuscript. At
the same time there was also a
group of American and Persian pilgrims.
Dr. Esslemont interviewed them all and gained more material
for the book. The most important source of information was,
of course, the talks of Abdu'l-Bahá to the pilgrims.

Dr.
Esslemont stayed in Haifa for
two months, and in that time took
Persian language lessons, gave Esperanto lessons, and visited the
sacred and historical places. Abdu'l-Bahá discussed his book with
him and suggested that it should be shortened. Since he had
just acquired a lot of new
material from the other pilgrims, he decided to return to England and
redo the manuscript. Abdu'l­Baha
planned to have it translated into Persian so He could correct and
perfect it. It must not be forgotten that during his pilgrimage Dr.
Esslemont had the great bounty
of meeting his engaging correspondent,
the young Shoghi Effendi, and deepening their friendship. By August 1920, Dr. Esslemont
sent the new manuscript to Abdu'l-Bahá,
writing "I hope the Master will be pleased with it, but
the more he alters it the
better I shall be pleased, for it is
not my own ideas but the Bahá'í Truths that I wish to
present..."

The
next month Shoghi Effendi visited Dr. Esslemont in Bournemouth. As
you recall Shoghi Effendi went to England in 1920 to attend college at Oxford University.
There is a short biography on Dr. Esslemont
by Dr. Moojan Momen in which he writes, "To gauge something
of the great mental energy of Dr. Esslemont it should be realized
that at this time, apart from his full-time work at the sanatorium, he was engaged in Persian studies, local and national
Bahá'í work ... Esperanto work and in addition, he had become secretary of the local League of Nations Union where he hoped he might find
individuals who would be interested in the Faith."

Because of the ever-increasing work of the Faith, Abdu'l-Bahá was able to correct
only three and a half of the
chapters of Esslemont's book by the time of His Ascension in
November, 1921. Dr. Esslemont turned with eager devotion to Shoghi Effendi who had to return to Haifa, and who, through the Will and Testament of
Abdu'l-Bahá, was called to be the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He hoped Shoghi Effendi would be able to finish correcting the manuscript, which he did in early 1923, and wrote
"Your book, I am sure, is the finest presentation that has so far been given of the Cause, and I am confident that it will arouse immense
interest." It was published in England that same year and in America in 1924.

His biographer writes: "The importance of Esslemont's book at the time ... was monumental. For four decades the Faith had been spreading in the West, being taught by eminent Bahá'ís, each of whom had
placed their
personal interpretations and understandings upon it
...Esslemont's book, so much more accurate, clearly written and easy
to read, was a spark of light coinciding with the commencement
of one of the most important periods of Bahá'í history."

Dr.
Esslemont suffered times of incapacity due to poor health, but
otherwise served the Cause with all his energy. In
1922, he
became a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís
of the British Isles. The next year in April, the
first Spiritual
Assembly was formed in Bournemouth, but in the same month, Dr.
Esslemont left the city, as the sanatorium where he worked was
sold and his position ended. He returned to his native city, Aberdeen,
Scotland, for the summer and made several
speaking trips throughout
England and Scotland in 1923 and 1924. His physical condition made it
imperative that he should not stay another winter in
Scotland. The Guardian, who was looking for an able assistant, extended
him an invitation to come to Haifa,
which he gratefully accepted
and arrived in Haifa in November 1924.

He assisted
the Guardian in the translation
of the
Tablet of Ahmad, The Hidden Words and some passages from the
Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. 1925 found Dr. Esslemont struggling with
more severe spells of illness. In November, one year after his
arrival in Haifa, he suffered a fatal stroke, a complication of
tuberculosis. He was only 51 years old.
Shoghi Effendi stayed up all night with his dying
friend. On Esslemont's finger Shoghi Effendi placed his own Bahá'í
ring, and helped carry the casket to the Bahá'í cemetery on
Mount Carmel where it is interred next to a cousin of the Bab.

The
grief-stricken
Guardian wrote to the Bahá'í world, in part: "On
the 22nd November 1925 that memorable and sacred day in which the
Bahá'ís of the Orient celebrated the twin festivals of the Declaration
of the Bab and the birthday of Abdu'l-Bahá, Dr. John E.
Esslemont
passed on to the Abha Kingdom ... With
tearful eyes I
supplicate at the Threshold of Bahá'u'lláh...and request you all
to join in my ardent prayers for the fuller unfolding in the realms
beyond of a soul that has already achieved so high a spiritual
standing
in this world. For by the beauty of his character,
by his knowledge of the Cause, by the conspicuous achievements of his
book, he has immortalised his name, and by sheer
merit deserved to rank as one of the Hands of the Cause of God."

(References on Dr.
Esslemont are from Bahá'í Dictionary; Dr. John Ebenezer Esslemont,
by Moojan Momen; The Bahá'í World, Vol.
VIII, pp.929-35.)

HAND
OF THE CAUSE GEORGE TOWNSHEND

One
of the three great luminaries of the Bahá'í Faith in the British Isles is
George Townshend
of Ireland. He occupies a unique position in
Bahá'í history as he was the first ordained priest in Christendom to
renounce his vows in order to become a Bahá'í, the first Hand of
the Cause in Europe, called by the Guardian the "pre-eminent Bahá'í
writer"
and "Bahá'u'lláh's chosen instrument." He assisted the
Guardian for many years with English translation of Bahá'í scripture.

The
following account is condensed from the excellent and fascinating
biography written by David Hofman, retired member of the Universal
House of Justice, who knew him
personally.

George Townshend was born on June 14, 1876 in Dublin to an
eminent, wealthy and philanthropic family, one of fourteen children. He graduated from Hertford College at
Oxford, having studied classic literature and English. A tall fellow, he excelled in running sports. A literary and administrative talent began to
emerge. Back in Dublin he wrote for The Irish Times and worked in a law firm, earning a law degree, but he became unhappy in this occupation. His generous
father offered to support him for
two years
in any
country he would choose. Can you believe he chose Salt
Lake City, Utah? What a drastic change
from the Emerald Isle! For two years he camped
and explored, going on horseback into the Rocky Mountains and to Yellowstone Park, sometimes working as a logger.

During this time, he came across a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Book of
the Hindu
religion. It initiated
within him a spiritual longing to know and to serve God. He became active in the church of his family, the Anglican Church, known in America as the Episcopal church. He was ordained as a priest in 1906 in St. Mark's
Cathedral, Salt Lake City, and
was in charge of a mission to
the Mormons and Indians at Provo and Springville, Utah. However, in
1909 he became interested in a mystical, ethical movement called The
Great Work, left the ministry, and worked
one year teaching in Salt Lake High School.

The
next year he met a man from the University of the South, an Episcopalian-owned
college in Sewannee, Tennessee, who offered Reverend Townshend a
position there, and it was accepted. His life was happily filled
with academic accomplishments, both as a special theology
student and assistant professor of English. More importantly
he found a love; Nellie Roche, a schoolteacher in Nashville.
They planned to get married in summer of 1913 at George's family
home in
Ireland and to return to Sewanee in autumn. George was
now an American citizen. He left first to make arrangements, and
Nellie was to follow.

The
prospect of security in academia and a beautiful, talented bride
must have brought him to a pinnacle of joyful
anticipation, but
bewildering disappointments and defeats were about to break.

In Ireland awaiting the
arrival of Nellie, he received a heartbreaking telegram from
her. Nellie broke their engagement in order to help a sister
who had no one else
to turn to but Nellie. George returned to Sewanee and
taught there for three more years. Nellie became a successful
life insurance
underwriter in Nashville. She never married.
But don't forget her. Their
paths will cross many years later in a beautiful
way.

Another
crushing disappointment was three years later when the movement,
The Great Work, which he had supported for six years, was
found to be financially fraudulent and fell apart. That summer he
traveled to Ireland and planned to return to Sewanee for the autumn
term. A third blow of suffering, this time physical, was George's
lot. He had been prone to eye trouble in the past and it
came again, causing blindness for several weeks. He cabled his
resignation to the University. As Mr. Hofman wrote, "In one great
wave of calamity, he had lost his bride, his sight, his spiritual
allegiance and his employment." His sight was eventually restored,
but at the age of 41 he had to decide what to do for a livelihood.
His mother encouraged him to return to the work of the
priesthood in the Church of Ireland. While
he was recovering
from blindness in the winter of 1916, he received a litle
gift from a friend at Sewanee, a few pamphlets about the Bahá'í
Faith. Ever the truth-seeker, it interested him and he wrote for the books
offered, receiving three volumes of Tablets of
Abdu'l-Bahá.

In
1918 he married Anna Sarah Maxwell, called Nancy, and soon accepted
the position of rector at a small village church in western Ireland.
Son Brian was born in 1920 and daughter Una in 1921. Later
he would be elected a Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and
Archdeacon of Clonfert. He was suggested for a bishopric but
declined the honor. He
was highly esteemed by his fellow clergymen
and regarded by many as the best preacher in the
Church of
Ireland.

Soon
after settling into the spacious parsonage at Ahascragh, County Galway,
George wrote to Abdu'l-Bahá expressing his attraction to the
Bahá'í teachings and prayers. An extensive and loving reply came from
Abdu'l-Bahá. Before
long, George
wrote again to Abdu'l-Bahá
declaring his belief through a beautiful poem – the first lines "Hail to Thee, Scion of Glory, Whose utterance poureth abroad the joy of the heavenly knowledge and the light of the greatest of days!" The loving, encouraging reply from Abdu'l-Bahá promised him the confirmations of the Kingdom
of God, and expressed Abdu'l-Bahá's
hope that "thy church will come under the Heavenly Jerusalem." This phrase became George's charter of action and for
the rest of his life, he struggled to fulfill this hope of Abdu'l-Bahá's.

November
16, 1921, George wrote a long letter to Abdu'l-Bahá of remarkable
humility and longing for self-sacrifice. It was received in
Haifa on December 8, 1921, ten days after the Ascension of
Abdu'l-Bahá. We can feel assured, however, that Abdu'l-Bahá was always
totally aware of George's pure heart and great destiny from the
very beginning.

George
immediately turned his pure-hearted
devotion to Shoghi Effendi,
the grandson of Abdu'l-Bahá appointed in His will and testament
to be the Guardian of the Cause of God. In 1926 George wrote
to the Guardian offering to help him with refining English translations
of some of the Writings of
Bahá'u'lláh. The overworked Guardian
immediately and warmly welcomed this collaboration which continued
for the next eighteen years. The first project was The Hidden
Words. For
this, and many more after that, the Guardian wrote
warm praise "...your excellent
judgement, your literary ability
and your keen sympathy and devoted care in revising ...passages
which I have rendered into English are deeply appreciated
by me and I shall make use of your suggestions...I hope
to send you some more in future..." In addition,
the Guardian asked
George to review and edit the manuscripts of God
Passes By and The Unfoldment of World Civilization, and
to write the introductions
to The
Dawn-Breakers and God
Passes By, plus
essays for The
Bahá'í World volumes.
His essay on The
Hidden Words became
the introduction to it in some editions.

George's
literary and spiritual
gifts also produced three persuasive books
on the Bahá'í Faith for Christian readers which will be briefly
described later.

This
close collaboration developed into a deep and loving friendship. Over
the years, the Guardian invited George five times to come to
Haifa as his guest, but poor George was never able to accept. In the years prior to his resignation from the church, his responsibilites as a rector did not
allow enough time off, and after his resignation, his restricted financial situation and failing health prevented him.

His assistance
to the Guardian
afforded George a very thorough
Bahá'í education. The flame of his love for Bahá'u'lláh grew
more and more consuming,
and he began to long for the day when he could find a way
to be
independent from
his ties to the church and devote all his time and strength to the
Cause.

Prior
to 1926, George believed that by staying as a clergyman and working
within the church, he could gradually influence its leaders to
bring the whole church into the Cause of
Bahá'u'lláh. He planned to
do this mainly through his writing. His first effort was a book
of prayers and meditations emphasizing renewed revelation of
truth from God and a new spiritual civilization, but without directly
mentioning the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. Called
The Altar
on the Hearth, it
was popular and sold well. [online here]

For
over twenty years George tried to free himself from the church, but
two serious obstacles continuously frustrated every effort. The
first was the opposition of his wife, who, while
having an appreciation
for the Bahá'í Faith and George's attachment to it, would
not agree to his leaving the priesthood because of the financial
difficulties that would result. The thought of poverty and
insecurity for herself and the two young children
was just more
than she could bear. Secondly, any other type of employment he
pursued either fell through or offered no real job security.

His
anomalous position of being a declared yet unofficial believer puzzled
many. The
Guardian, always compassionate,
wrote to a National
Spiritual Assembly in 1946, "...our dear
Bahá'í brother, George Townshend, can best serve the Faith at the
present time where
he is; he is now contacting many high ecclesiastics in his church ...
Perhaps in the future the way will open for him to travel and
teach..."

George's
duties as the rector of a country church fortunately afforded him
enough free time for three important things: his work for the Guardian, authoring his own
books, and time to
spend with his
children. Excursions
to parks and forests; whimsical stories; producing a children's play
replete with leprechauns and fairies, and
tender spiritual training were the delight of Brian and Una whose
fond memories of him as a wonderful father are recorded in his
biography.

His
next book after The Altar on
the Hearth was The
Promise of All
Ages, published
in 1934, which forthrightly declared progressive revelation,
the mission of Bahá'u'lláh, and the signs Christ gave alluding
to this, the Day of God. Fortunately, it is still in print,
and translated into
many languages. The Guardian was highly pleased
with George's literary abilities and said, "He is the best
writer we have ... He
is the pre-eminent Bahá'í writer." George hoped
that The
Promise of All Ages would
open the way for his church to
become informed
and accept Bahá'u'lláh as Christ returned.

We
should appreciate the very great bravery and detachment in George's
character to do this bold proclamation. In 1934 the orthodoxy of the
church was not to be questioned; anyone doing so
would be thought to
be deranged or heretical. George wrote to
the Guardian, "...the author ... will very
soon lose both his reputation
and his livelihood ... The
publicity and the controversy which
will ensue ... are
highly distasteful to me ...I rely
on Baha to
give me courage
and serenity in dealing with the difficulties that will arise."
He fully expected to be expelled from the church for
proclaiming the Bahá'í Faith, but this did not happen, not even
a reprimand.

George's
longing to be free from the church prompted him to write to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles,
offering to
sell to them the copyrights to
his books. He believed that the
proceeds would be sufficient to support his family. The Assembly's
response was positive and resulted in the founding
of the
British Bahá'í Publishing Trust. All business details were worked out
with the exception of one, overlooked in all the excitement,
and that was the required cooperation of George's wife, Nancy.
When she became aware that George planned to suddenly
leave the
church and rely on the uncertain sale of his writings for a livelihood,
she was appalled and threatened to leave him. Realizing that
the break-up of his home and marriage would be disastrous for the reputation of the Cause
and for himself, he gave up such a plan. Freedom
was still ten long years away.

George's
next book was The
Heart of the Gospel, written
in 1938, a
brilliant appeal to Christians to hearken to the call of Bahá'u'lláh.
It elucidates history as spiritual evolution, man's ultimate
destiny, and examines Gospel teachings overlooked by church theology.
When it was published in 1939, he sent a copy of it to
his Bishop, expecting a negative response, but the Bishop gave it a
commendation, and wrote George that he should have told much more
about Bahá'u'lláh for His teachings were wonderful!

George
then openly declared to the Bishop his stand, "I have found today
no original spiritual leadership ... except
in the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh...I have accepted His teachings in their entirety, have
identified myself with His Cause and joined the Bahá'í fellowship."
The Bishop ignored this slap at the Establishment, and
wrote that he would like to read George's other Bahá'í book, The Promise
of All Ages. It
seems that his reputation for solid scholarship,
his integrity, his humility would not allow his Bishop nor
the majority of his colleagues to label him as deranged or heretical,
as he had thought they would. George was really in a dilemma to find
a way out of the church. He could not resign because
his wife utterly opposed such a step, and he could not get
himself dismissed even by the most forthright declaration of belief
and fellowship in another religious system.

But
he did not give up. His two goals were to win his wife to complete
allegiance
to the Bahá'í Faith, gaining her approval for leaving
the church, and to proclaim even more strenuously that the
fulfillment of Christianity was to accept Christ's return in the
revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. He
sent hundreds of copies of his
two books to clergymen
and laymen in Ireland, and received some
favorable reviews in newspapers.

A
fantastic proclamation opportunity occurred when he preached the
sermon on June 30, 1940 in the national cathedral, St. Patricks in
Dublin. He wrote later, "...I spoke
of
harmony and concord as the
purpose of Christianity and all true religion, said the religion of
Bahá'u'lláh was today the only religion I could find living up
to this, and pleaded that we should follow suit, and closedby affirming that the future belongs to the Church
that did follow suit ... the Dean of the Cathedral
did what he never did to me before­he
volunteered how much he liked the sermon and what a change it was
from what they had been listening to of late!"

How
sad to realize that in spite of their
favorable attitude towards George's
proclamation, not one other clergyman at that time felt moved
to enter himself and his congregation into the New Jerusalem.

Let
us go back to two years earlier. In 1938 something totally amazing
and undreamed of happened. George
received a letter from
his former fiancee, Nellie Roche of Tennessee. It was in 1916
that they had last met. George went to Ireland for the summer of
1916, intending to return to the University in Sewanee, Tennessee,
but illness and possibly
the heartache of the broken engagement decided him to stay in Ireland
and start over. Nellie had
become a Bahá'í in 1937. George's writings appeared in Bahá'í
publications which Nellie saw and, of course, recognized his name as
her long-ago love. George's
reply brought her up-to-date on all
that had transpired in the last twenty-two years, especially his
hopes of finding a way to support his family outside of his position
in the church. Nellie's response to this was to offer him her
newly-received inheritance
of $5,000 as a loan until he could
receive steady income. This filled him with hope and happiness.

George
was the lone Bahá'í in the whole of Ireland for many years until his
son and daughter were old enough to understand and join him
in activity. He would have infrequent visits from traveling Bahá'ís and sometimes
travel to London to meet with Bahá'ís. The
correspondence with Nellie gave him great spiritual comradeship and
encouragement in his isolation. With the safety net of her loan,
he resolved to
resign as soon as the war was over, move to Dublin
and work as a freelance writer. Nancy wavered between cooperating
with this and bouts of anxiety. She wrote to Nellie asking her to
appeal to George to wait until he reached retirement age
in order to receive
his pension. Nellie's response was so wise
and understanding that Nancy was inspired to host weekly firesides
where George taught the Faith to their friends and neighbors.
He wrote that the Bahá'í meetings, started in November 1942,
were an astonishing
success. Shortages caused by the war increased. Kind and generous Nellie sent food parcels to
the Townshend family. Nellie passed away in 1958, surviving George by sixteen months.

In 1946, George was filled
with happiness and pride
because their daughter Una, then 25 years old, became the
first pioneer to Dublin.

George sent the Guardian's history of the first hundred years of the Bahá'í Faith, entitled God Passes By, with letters proclaiming the return
of Christ, to senior clergy in Ireland, no doubt
hoping that one of them
would take offense and force him out of the church. Finally
someone objected to him. In spring 1947, George's Bishop showed
him a letter from an Anglican
missionary complaining that George's
book, The Promise of All Ages, exalted
Bahá'u'lláh at the
expense of Christ. George responded to the Bishop's questioning by
plainly declaring his belief in Bahá'u'lláh as the return of Christ.
He wrote the Guardian
that the Bishop was kind but very narrow
and utterly perplexed, and departure from the church appeared to
be at hand.

On
the advise of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles,
George decided to resign from the church in September 1947, and
move to Dublin to help establish the first local Bahá'í Assembly in
Ireland. The Assembly pledged to assist him financially, and to
support Nancy if she would become widowed. All nine National Bahá'í
Assemblies in the world at that time felt honored to contribute
support. By leaving the church, George forfeited all insurance
and pension he had paid into. He was 71 years old and had
no real assets other than some royalties from his books. A
small house was found in a suburb of Dublin and purchased with the
help of Nellie's loan, and they moved in October 1947.

George's
resignation was received kindly by his Bishop, who praised him
for his character and his many years of faithful and efficient work.
To explain his unprecedented act and to promote the Cause of
Bahá'u'lláh as the revitalizing, unifying force for all the sects
of Christianity, George wrote a clear and beautiful essay called The
Old Churches and the New World Faith, which
can be found in
his biography and in Volume XIII of the Bahá'í
World.

It is interesting to note the extent of the distribution of copies: British Isles, 8,122; Australia 5,000; United States 2,000; Canada 4,000, plus an unknown
number in Egypt and Germany.
These were sent to the clergy, politicians,
professionals and leaders, even to the King of the British Empire who returned an acknowledgement. All nine National Spiritual Assemblies
contributed to the effort.
Plans and personnel set up to deal with the expected response proved unnecessary. The response was
slight, mostly formal acknowledge­ments. It must have been a tremendous disappointment to all who worked so hard on the project. The Guardian wrote, "Your challenging letter to the Christians - so well conceived - has shown clearly how deep is the sleep of the heedless
these days. It
is like knocking on a grave; the dead make no response!"

The sudden change from the spacious country house, the Rectory at Ahascragh with a maid
and gardener,
to the small
home, tiny yard, and no household help was too difficult a change for Nancy. She missed her many friends, knowing no one in
Dublin at first. Nevertheless she actually
enrolled in
the Faith and became
a member of
the first Spiritual Assembly in Dublin. George was delighted with
his wife finally by his side spiritually. They went
on teaching trips
and attended summer schools. But it was a short-lived event as
Nancy never adjusted well to living in Dublin and became withdrawn,
refusing to participate in the Bahá'í hospitality and activities
which George wanted to do.

When
Adib Taherzadeh, who later became a well-known Bahá'í author and
member of the Universal House of Justice, moved to Dublin, George
was overjoyed as Adib provided the spiritual companionship and
stimulation he needed. George was chairman of the local Assembly
and
delegate to the national convention, active in all kinds
of teaching and study meetings, yet November 1951 found him descending
into depression. He wrote to the Guardian deploring his waning
enthusiasm, feeling that he had somehow failed to do what
the Guardian
and Abdu'l-Bahá expected of him. A month passed before
he had a reply which, to his utter astonishment, was a personal
cable from the Guardian informing him that he was elevated to
the rank of a Hand of the Cause of God, the first in Europe.

George
became imbued with a renewed spirit and arose to his new responsibilities
with all the fervor of his great, loving heart. In
1953, four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences were held. George, accompanied by Nancy, attended the one in
Stockholm, Sweden as a representative
of the
Guardian. He addressed the conference on "The Sufferings of Bahá'u'lláh and Their
Significance," a masterpiece which is reproduced in The Bahá'í World, Volumes XII and XVI. As a Hand of the
Cause he fostered the spiritual welfare of the Bahá'ís in the British Isles, Norway, Faroe Islands and
Iceland. A new force of love and enthusiasm poured forth from him. His great knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith and Christian scriptures confirmed souls beyond number.

In his last days,
ill and weak from Parkinson's
disease, instead of resting, George
gave his utmost
exertion to finish a book he had started many years before, called Christ and Bahá'u'lláh. Unable to speak
or write,
he whispered the final pages to his son and daughter.
It expounds the
vision of history as spiritual evolution and was written explicitly for Christians, clearly explaining how Bahá'u'lláh is Christ returned in the glory of the Father. The Guardian called it George's crowning
achievement and
urged its use in vigorous teaching
and publicity programs in English-speaking countries. David Hofman, his publisher and
bio­grapher, calls the book "an epic ...
a masterpiece ... indeed a work of genius." Fortunately,
it is still in
print, and, I feel, essential reading for any thoughtful Christian who is struggling to understand the relationship between Christ and Bahá'u'lláh.

George passed away
on March 25, 1957, a few days
after his crowning achievement came
into print.

Tributes poured in, many from those he had served as a clergyman in Ahascragh. Una
wrote, "...a Roman
Catholic told us how she and many others went
to him for advice ... they knew he would never breathe a word to anyone. She spoke of his absolute
goodness and said the local people all said he
was a saint."

George
was also deeply mystical and expressed it in thrilling poetry.
His poems and prayers of spiritual longing, collected in
a book called The Mission
of Bahá'u'lláh, bring
tears to the eyes
and joy to the soul.

The
tribute from the Guardian called George "dearly loved ... greatly gifted
most distinguished collaborator..."his sterling qualities,his scholarship, his challenging writings, his high
ecclesiastical position
unrivaled any Bahá'í
western world, entitle him rank with Thomas Breakwell
,Dr. Esslemont one
of three
luminaries shedding brilliant luster annals Irish English
Scottish Bahá'í communities. His fearless championship
Cause he loved so dearly served so valiantly constitutes
significant landmark British
Bahá'í history.."

HAND OF
THE CAUSE HORACE H. HOLLEY

Horace
Holley fulfilled
an important mission in the establishment of the Bahá'í
Administrative Order in the Western world under the direction
of the Guardian. For
those who have become Bahá'ís in
recent years, it is possible that they are not familiar with the
self-sacrifice
and accomplishments of this great American believer
who was elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951.

While
the term Administrative Order might sound less than exciting, let
us consider that without proper administration, any great endeavor will
break down and dissipate for numerous reasons, such as
lack of communication, confusion in line of command, factionalism,
and the like. We know that the Bahá'í Administrative Order is not of
man-made design, but is firmly based on the revealed word
of Bahá'u'lláh and the authorized interpretations of Abdu'l-Bahá,
and after Him, Shoghi Effendi. It is the vehicle by
which the world-unifying teachings of Bahá'u'lláh will attain the
supremely noble goal, that of unifying the disparate peoples of
the world and
applying justice.

Horace
Holley became the Guardian's right hand man in America, so
completely reliable, efficient and capable was he in implementing the
Guardian's directives on the establishment of the Administrative Order.

Horace
Hotchkiss Holley was
born in 1887 in Connecticut and his ancestors
included many educators and ministers. His major in college
was literature. He had a brilliant, analytical mind and also had
another side; that of an idealist and mystic. He was a published
poet. After college,
he went to Europe in 1909. He met a young lady who showed him a book
that changed the course of his life. The book was Abbas Effendi, His Life and Teachings.

Mr. Holley wrote that at first he thought it "possible to encompass
the Revelation of
Bahá'u'lláh by reducing it
to a formula ...gradually my ventures proved...
that I myself was to be encompassed,
re-oriented, remoulded in all the realms of my being."

Mr.
Holley married and was living in Italy in 1911 when they heard that
Abdu'l-Bahá was in France.
They immediately traveled to attain the presence of the Master.
Horace underwent a kind of instant­aneous
spiritual rebirth at his first glimpse of Abdu'l-Bahá at
a distance. "My whole body underwent a shock. My heart leapt, my
knees weakened, a thrill of acute receptive feeling flowed from head
to foot ... While
my own personality was flowing away, a new being,
not my own assumed its place. A glory ... poured
into me and
I was conscious of a most intense impulse to admire."

From
Italy, Mr. Holley, his wife and little daughter moved to Paris where
he operated an art gallery. In 1913 he wrote his first book about
the Bahá'í Faith, entitled Bahá'ísm-The Modern Social Religion. It
was praised by Abdu'l-Bahá. Another move, this time to
New York City in 1914, where he worked for a publishing company and
then an advertising agency.

The
first National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada
was formed in 1922. The next year Horace was elected a member
and was re-elected for a total of thirty-six years. He served as the
secretary for thirty-four years. That must be a record!
In 1925 Mr. Holley gave up his personal career to devote his
entire time to Bahá'í work. Imagine the sacrifice! To give up
a high salary and big city career to work for a religion little known
and unappreciated by the world at large with only very modest compensation
from the Bahá'í Fund. Don't forget that during those years
the pressing
need and overwhelming financial responsibility for
the Bahá'ís was supporting the construction of the Mother Temple of
the West and the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab. However,
Mr. Holley must have found working for the Faith much more
satisfying
than anything else.

Shoghi
Effendi was extremely appreciative of his efficient service and
really wanted and needed Mr. Holley to help him in Haifa, but sacrificed this wish as he realized Horace was indispensable to the fledgling
Bahá'í administration in America. The Guardian
wrote him,
"My dearest co-worker ... Your
personal contribution to so many aspects
and phases of the Movement, performed so diligently, so effectively,
and so thoroughly are truly a source of joy and inspiration
to me. How much I feel
the need of a similar worker by
my side in Haifa, as competent, as thorough, as methodical, as alert
as yourself. You cannot and should not leave your post for
the present. Haifa will have to take care of itself for some time.
Your grateful brother, Shoghi."

Mr.
Holley's literary talents were given freely in service to the Faith.
He wrote two more books plus a book-length collection of his
talks and essays. In 1921 he edited the first comprehensive
compilation of the words of Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá in English. It
was later revised and published as Bahá'í
World Faith. He
wrote for
the early Bahá'í magazine Star
of the West, was
on the editorial board
and wrote for the publication World Order, and
he was on the
Bahá'í Publishing Committee. Mr. Holley conceived
the idea of a series of books recording the international activities
of the Faith. The Guardian enthusiastically accepted this idea and thus
the volumes called The
Bahá'í World came
into being. Shoghi Effendi acted as the editor-in-chief, and Holley,
the executor. Mr.
Holley wrote the section International Survey of Current Bahá'í Activities
for every volume up to the time of his passing in 1960. It
was he who gave titles to the long general letters from the Guardian,
picking out key phrases that captured
the imagination of
the readers, and put subtitles throughout to facilitate their study.

Mr.
Holley created and the Guardian approved publication of a regular
newsletter for the Bahá'ís nationwide, thus began in 1925 the
magazine Bahá'í News for 65 years, now evolved into the paper called The American Bahá'í. With
the help of a Bahá'í lawyer, he
wrote the Declaration of Trust of the National Assembly and the
By-laws of a Local Assembly which the Guardian made the pattern for
similar legal
instruments of the Faith in all other countries.

The
National Secretariat was in New York City, naturally, as that was
where the National secretary lived. However,
in 1939 the time
came when Shoghi Effendi wished the secretariat to move to the vicinity of the Temple in
Wilmette, Illinois so the spiritual and administrative centers in America would be
fused into one. Another major sacrifice for Mr. Holley to give up all that was familiar and enjoyable in
New York, and relocate to a small town in the Midwest. This trusted, deeply
devoted servant, of course, realized the needs of the Faith were of greater importance
than his own.
In Wilmette, he quickly made new friends, was accepted into Rotarians, and founded the Wilmette
Historical Commission. In addition to his outstanding writing and publishing abilities, he was a distinguished speaker, giving public lectures and courses at Bahá'í summer
schools.

December 1951, Shoghi
Effendi announced the appointment of Horace Holley as a Hand of the Cause in America, along with two others, Dorothy
Baker and Leroy Ioas. But this rank and
honor did not take
him from continuing his work as secretary of the National
Spiritual Assembly.

Did Mr. Holley ever
get to meet the Guardian he loved so much? Yes, in 1953 after attending Intercontinental Conferences
in Chicago, Europe, Africa and India at the request of the Guardian.

After the
passing of Shoghi
Effendi in 1957, Mr. Holley's fellow-Hands desired him to come and serve as one of the nine
Hands in the Holy Land; therefore he resigned from the National Assembly in 1959 and
arrived in
Haifa on the last day of
that year. Another sacrificial
move as he was then 72 years old, in ill health and very frail. Six months later he passed away. The cablegram, a loving tribute from his fellow-Hands read "Grieved announce passing (in) Haifa
much loved distinguished Hand Cause Horace Holley outstanding
champion (of the) Faith since days (of the) Master, praised
by beloved Guardian for unique contribution (in) development Administrative
Order. His indefatigable services (in) protection, teaching,
administrative fields, culminating service (in the) Holy Land
(is) inspiring example present, future generations Bahá'ís."

Now
almost forty years later, are we not that future generation which
is inspired by the example of true devotion, reliability, and
detachment from self which Hand of the Cause Horace Holley left
as a priceless legacy? (Reference
source for above from The
Bahá'í World, volume
XIII.)

Now
that the accounts of a few dedicated servants of Bahá'u'lláh
were related to you, it is timely to contemplate some of the oustanding qualites
which made them so unique. Thornton
Chase, May Maxwell and George Townshend were for a time the
only Bahá'ís in their entire
country; Chase in the United States; May, in Europe and later Canada;
and Hand of the Cause Mr. Townshend in Ireland. What steadfastness
this takes, to be so
firm in conviction that no kind of isolation could discourage! To
stand out as different from
their unawakened friends and family was
not frightening to them. They were the
epitome of the words spoken by the Master to May at the close of
her pilgrimage in 1899: "And
now I give you a commandment which shall be for a covenant between
you and Me - that ye
have faith, that your faith be steadfast
as a rock that no storms can move, that nothing can disturb,
and that it endure through all things even to the end ... be not
shaken in your faith; for I am with you always, whether living or
dead, I am with
you to the end. As you have faith so shall your
powers and blessings be. This is the balance ...
this is the balance..
.this is the balance." (An Early Pilgrimage, p. 40) It's
obvious that all these souls had the supreme quality of steadfastness,
like a rock that no storms could move, and those who
lived to be elderly never became content that they had accomplished
enough and
settled back for restful inactivity. The early American believers exhibited firmness in their attachment to the
Center of the Covenant when confronted with the spirit of rebellion
in some contemporaries. John
Bosch is an inspiring example of obedience to the law of Bahá'u'lláh by giving up his ties to
liquor production. In this Faith,
sooner or later we become aware of the bounties and blessings that
descend into our lives as an unavoidable consequence of obedience
to the sacred laws.

All
of them showed great love to all, that kind of love that is born
from the words of Abdu'l-Bahá, "Real love is impossible unless one turn
his face towards God and be attracted to His beauty." (Bahá'í
World Faith, p. 364) And all had innate
self-effacement and humility about their considerable accomplishments, feeling
themselves to be only instruments for the purposes
of the
Beloved. Surely, they acutely understood this prayer from Abdu'l-Bahá: “O Sun
of Bounty, send down
a shaft of light. Grant us pity, grant us grace. By
Thy beauty, we come with no provisions but our sins, with
no good deeds to tell of, only hopes." (Selections
Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 7)

3. Image scans of original publication

Download: Some Early Believers in the West.pdf.

METADATA

Views11780 views since posted 2013-05-23; last edit 2026-03-04 18:08 UTC;

previous at archive.org.../shahrokh_early_believers_west
Language
English
Permission
author
History
Typed 2013-06 by Grace Shahrokh; Formatted 2013-07-08 by Jonah Winters.
Share

Shortlink: bahai-library.com/4133
Citation: ris/4133

select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings

home

sitemap

series

chronology

search:
author

title

date

tags

adv. search
languages

inventory

bibliography

abbreviations

links

about

contact

RSS

new
-- Some Early Believers in the West (Used by permission of the curator)