The Wine of Astonishment

BY THE SAME AUTHOR FROM GEORGE RONALD

A Cry from the Heart The Flame (with Robert Quigley) God Loves Laughter Thief in the Night ALSO

The Prisoner and the Kings (General Publishing Co. Ltd., Toronto) Originally Fire in the Sky! Release the Sun (Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, II) THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT by WILLIAM SEARS

thou hast made lIS to drillk tlJl C'• • •

wine of aslollishment • •'. Thai thy beloved mqJ be Jeli"er,a." Psalms 60 : 1-5

GEORGE RONALD © George Ronald 1963 Fourth Reprint 1983

ISBN 0-85398-009-8 softcover

Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk CONTENTS pag8 I. THE SEALS ARE OPENED 9 2.. OUT OF THE SEA OF KNOWLEDGE 20

3á How TO UNRAVEL THE SECRET OF THE SCRIPTURES 2.6 4á THE MEANING BEHIND THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM 32, sá THE BREAD AND THE WINE, CONFESSIO:r-~ AND PENANCE 46 6. THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD 66 7á IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER 82. 8. THE SECRET OF THE TRINITY 97 9á MIRACLES 110 10. ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL-NoT A 11ATTER OF GEOGRAPHY 13 0 1 I. WHEN THE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN 137 12. THE MEANING OF RESURRECTION I~6 ApPENDICES 182.

REFERENCES 18 7

CHAPTER ONE

THE SEALS ARE OPENED

IT was a strange luncheon. We were an odd assortment: A Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, and myself a Baha'i. We were seated in a little coffee-shop, looking down on the blue waters of the Mediterranean, on the very spot where Roman galleys had unloaded their passengers in the days of the Caesars. Greeks had anchored their ships here in the distant age of Pericles and Socrates. The Phoenicians had used the harbour before them. As I raised the delicious cup of Turkish coffee to my lips, I could see the slender minaret of the mosque of 'Akka, Israel. It rose graceful and white against the cerulean blue sky. The walls of the great prison-fortress completely hid the graceful arches of the Crusaders' cathedral which lay buried beneath. The splattered, rust- reddened cannon-balls of Napoleon were still embedded in the stone walls of the fortress, a mute testim'ony to the failure of the Little Corporal to bend this ancient city to his \vill. The hills of Galilee, the home of Christ, rose in a distant, purple mist. Across the white-capped bay of Haifa, Mount Carmel slept like a giant leopard, watching, one eye on the sea, and the other on the plain of Sharon. Temples had been raised on the slopes of this sacred 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN'r

mountain to the goddess of Sidon, Astarte, worshipped by Jezebel. Here Elijah slew the priests of Baal. The waters of the river Kishon, down which the bodies floated to the sea, still emptied into the bay. Pythagoras, it is said, came to this mountain because of its sacred reputation. According to the Roman historian, Tacitus, the Emperor Vespasian also came here, to cons'uit an oracle of God believed to dwell on the mountainside. The caves of Elijall were now half-hidden by the gathering after~oon shadows. Sacred literature records that the angel Michael revealed the mystery of the last dfI:Ys and of the time of the end to Elijah on this same Mount Carmel. (1) The ~egendary stories of salvation and slaughter which this sea, plain, valley, and mountain could tell, would fill a hundred volumes, each one an encyclopedia. Conquerors and settlers had swept into this land one after another, in successive waves: Semites, Egyptians, .Hittites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, French, Turks, Germans, Hebrews, Arabs) and in this present day, peaceful_visitors from all parts of the world. Gods of every description had risen and fallen here. This land had been held sacred and holy .by multitudes down through the 'ages. It was now the home of fOll! great world religions. Surely there was no better place to talk of God. We were sitting in a coffee-shop in 'Akka, Israel, no\v called Accho after its ancient Hebrewname. Thecitywas known as Ptolemais during the reign of tIle conquering Egyptian dynasty. It was known as St. Jeanne d'Arc at the time of the Crusades. It \vas the 'Aklci. of the Turks. THB SEALS ARE OPENED

Less than a centuty ago it had "sunk to the level of a penal colony" for "murderers, highwaymen and robbets." This was the scene of our discussion, a site in which God had been a burning issue since the earliest days of history. -''! would like to see a religion that would please everybody," the Christian said, "and there's slim hope of accomplishing that miracle." ''Miracles are out!" my Muslim friend objected. "What I'm saying," the Christian continued, "is that we each have our own Prophet, or Messenger, and our own Book. What we need is a religion that would unite them and still please evetyone.. And there isn't a ghost of a chance of that happening." "Ghosts are out I" It was the Muslim again. The Jew objected. "But isn't that a promise of the saaed Scriptures? That there will one day be one uni- versal Faith ?" The Christian nodded. "The day of the 'one fold and one shepherd'. And don't tell me shepherds are out." "Maybe not shepherds," the Muslim replied, "but I'm not so sure about the wise men." "There aren't many wise men among us these days," I told the three of them, 'Cot we wouldn't still be sittiJ)g around waiting for the day of the one fold and one shepherd." Th~ Jew was indignant. "You do not believe it is coming?" ''1 believe in the one fold and the one shepherd," I told him, "but the day isn't coming, it's come-and gone." "He's been sitting too long in the sun," my Christian II 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

friend explained to the others. "Let's move into the. shade." . "It's not the sun that bothers me," I -said. "It's you thtee. I tell you the Shepherd has already come to bring all the holy flocks together, and upite all the people." The Jew cocked his head wisely. "Then where is the one fold? Not in this world" surely," he added, pointing to the Jerusalem Post witll its headlines of warfare and disputes. "Where," I asked him, "is the apple when the apple seed is planted? The fruit will come as a result of the planting of the seed. I tell you that the seed has been planted." The Muslim was abrupt. "Never mind the parable," he said. "Who is the shepherd? Where is his flock? What is his Book?" - "Baha'u'llah is the shepherd," I answered. "The Baha'is are His flock, and His Book-He has written over a hundred volumes." The Christian was skeptical. "If such a Faith already exists, why haven't I heard of it ?" "Why? Because your own Bible says: '1 will work a work in your days, which ye will not b"elieve, though it be told you.' " (2.) "rThat's exactly the point," he said. "It hasn't been told to me. Bow can you believe in something you've never heard of?" "You're hearing of it now," I told him. "Besides, your Book, your Bible, in the ver.y next verse says that this will all take place at the tifJle of the end., And then it adds that at that time ' • • . the earth shall be filled with 1.2. THE SEALS ARE OPENED

the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea'." (3) When I explained that the name of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah, when translated into English means, The Glory of the Lord, my Jewish friend shrugged. "Well," he said "if his name had :filled the earth, we might have heard of it." "You think the Baha'i Faith is not well known ?" ''Is it?" he asked. "Who knows about it ?" "How about the people in eight thousand Baha'I centres in over two hundred and fifty-seven c~untries, sovereignties, and dependencies in every part of the planet? People of every race, class, and previous religious conviction." I could see that they were surprised, so I showed them a map which outlined the astonishing spread of the Baha'i Faith during- the last ten years. "Look," I said. "Houses of Worship :raised up i~ every continent, one of them called the first new thing in archite~r~ since the thirteenth century." "It's news to me." "It shouldn't be," I said. "Baha'u'llih wrote to the kings and rulers of the world from this very city, Accho. He told them about the very things we've been discussing here to'day. He said that these trutlls were the foundations of all religious belief." The Jew was intrigued. He asked me, ''Wbat are you doing in Israel? How did a television sports-broadcastet ever become interested in these subjects ? You sound like a clergyman or a rabbi." "By no means!" I laughed. "We have no paid clergy 'tHB WINE OF AS'tONISHMENT

in the BaM'I Faith. I'm here," I said, "on a visit to the World Centre of the Baha'i Faith." I won't recount the things I told them during the many hours and days ,we spent at that charming coffee- shop. :We talked about God, life, and the future. I have related all these things in great detail in Thief in the Night*, the book which I began writing seven years ago as a detective story, and in which I submit a solution to The Strange Case of the Missing Millenium. In solving that century-old mystery of why Christ did not return as expected, I discovered the Baha'i Faith and Baha'u'llih. I shared with my new-found friends in 'Aklcl. a brief list of proofs taken from one chapter of Thiefin the Nighf. "Baha'u'llah," I assured them, "offers volumes of proofs that He is the One foretold in all the holy Books." "The Torah?" I 110dded. "The New Testament?" --"Yes." "The Qu'rdn?" "All three," I assured them. "And more. Baha'u'llah has also ful£lled the promises of the Bhagavad-Gita) the Zend-Avesta, as well as the hopes and dreams of the philo- sopher, the agnostic, and the skeptic." With the exactness of the stars, and with an over- * Thief in the Night (George Ronald, London) tells the unique and fascinating story of the fll1611ment of Scriptural prophecy, from all the sacred Books, as a proof of the validity of the Mission of Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith. This book is written from notes made before I accepted the Faith of Baba'u'J.Iah. Therefore, it is written from a Christian viewpoint. Perhaps now, as aBaba'i, I wo~d write it differently; however the essential, basic story would remain unchanged, it would grow only in stature. 'rHE SEALS ARE OPENED

flowing abundance of proof, Baha'u'lhih fulfilled prophecy after prophecy concerning the Messiah who would appear in the last days to bring about the day of the "one fold and one shepherd". I shared the following few with my new-found friends: I. Baha'u'llah's Faith appeared in the exact year foretold in the prophecies of Daniel, Matthew, Luke} Revelation} the Qu'ran, and the ancient Jewish Scriptures. 2.. He came to Israel as promised from the East. 3. Baha'u'llih came to Israel from ancient Assyria, from Persia as foretold. 4. He is known as "The Glory of God". 5. He came to the land of Canaan from the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, as Abraham had come before Him. 6. He was descended from Abraham, to whose "seed" was promised the land of Canaan in the last days. 7. Baha'u'llih came to Israel "by way of the sea". 8. He came, as promised in the astonishing prophecies of Micah, from "'fortified city to fortified city", from "the fortress to the rive!", from "'mountain to mountain", and from "sea to sea". 9. Baha'u'llih's Faith has its World Centre on the side of Mount Carmel; so He feeds his flock, as promised, from "the midst of Carmel". 10. Carmel and Sharon have both seen Him, and have felt His presence, and He was known as "The Glory of the Lord" which they would behold. II. His Law has "gone down from the mountain" to all parts of the world; from its world headquar- te:rs on Mount Carmel to Baha'i communities in every part of the planet. THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

12.. Sur:rounding the magnificent Shrines and Admini- strative buildings of His Faith, the Baha'I gardens on Mount Carmel and in the sandy plain of 'Aklci. have made the desert ". . . blossom as the rose"_ 13- The "place of his sanctuary" and His "'rest" has been "beautified", as foreseen by Isaiah. 14. The place where Baha'u'lIah's "feet" have walked has been made "glorious" with red and white paths> green lawns, flowering trees and blossoms of every description. 15- The children of Israel have been gathered together in His day; the Edict permitting them to return for the first time in twelve centuries to their homeland was signed in the very year, almost at tbe very moment, of the birth of His Faith. 16. A "house of prayer" for "all nations" will be raised on the side of the "mountain of God". 17. Baha'u'llah's ministry on earth lasted exactly "forty years" as foretold. 18. He "glorified" Christ and the greatness of Jesus throughout His writings. 19- He "toppled the kings" from their thrones, and had written to them :first, foretelling their fate. ' . 2.0. He has "unsealed" the holy Books of the past.

Each one of these proofs is supported by an entire chaptet of intriguing details in Thief in .the Night, a book which tells this amazing story in three hundred pages. The final two proofs (1) "He shall topple the kings from their thrones," and (2.) "He shall unseal the Books", were so filled with entertainment and promise that I decided to devote an entire book to each of them. THE SEALS ARE OPENED

One of these books, Fire in the Skyl*, tells the story of Baha'u'llah's Letters to the kings of the earth. The second book is this one, The Wine of Astonishment. In its own way, it is equally as dramatic and exciting as the others. I think you will agree, once you have read it, that Bahi'u'llah leaves no doubt about the fact that He has "unsealed" the Books and revealed their hidden, inner meanings. As is the case with each story associated with the life of Bahi'u'lhih, the cup is not only "filled", it "runneth over". This book gives Balli'u'lhih's own explanations con- cerning those controversial subjects in the Bible which have troubled and confused mankind for centuries, and which have led to discord and separation among the followers of religion. We sb,are with you in this volume the Writings of Baha'u'lhih which will "unseal" the "hidden meanings" of such subjects as:

The end of the World The Day of Judgement Baptism The Bread and Wh~e (Eucharist) The Trinity Confession and Penance Good and Evil The Son of God The Father Heaven and Hell (Purgatory and Limbo) * Fire ;'1 tbe Sky! The story of Baha'u'llah's Letters to the kings and rulers of His day, and the consequences of their disinterest, denial, and disobedience to the laws of love and justice which Baha'u'lIah appealed to them to uphold.

THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

The Stars falling from Heaven The darkening of the Sun and the Moon; the Moon turning to blood The Day of God The Seal of the Prophets TheRetum The Resurrection The ancient religious writings, in speaking of the Messiah at the time of the end, promise: "This is the Son of man • • • who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed." (5) The Old Testament foretells: "And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see ••• "They also that erred in spirit shall come to under- standing, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine." (6) The New Testament promises the same: " ••• judge nothing before the time, until the Lord COIJJ'~ who • • • will bring to light the hidden things of dark- ness • á ." (7) This book, The Wine of Astonishment, has been written. to demonstrate that Baha'u'llih has fulfilled "all these promises. It offers proof that in His teachings you will :find the wisdom, love, guidance, and assurance for which theá peoples of all :religions have been waiting for such a long, long time. Is it any wonder that my friends were interested? They :re~ned night after night to the coffee-shop 'tHE SEALS ARE OPENED

to hear more about this true story of ow: own day which rivalled the thousand and one nights of Sche- herazade. I will now share with you the many things we spoke about during those magic twilights bestde Marc Nostril"', the Roman sea. CHAP'tER ~WO

OUT OF THE SEA OF KNOWLEDGE

I HAD planned to write The Wine of Astonishment in a leisurely fashion when next I :returned to the Holy Land, but the immediate and sutprisingly dramatic :response to Thief in the Night fotced an earlier deadline. Mter neglecting to investigate the astonishing stoty of Baha'u'l1.ah and the Baha'i Faith for nearly a century, people in ever.y part of the world now suddenly seem eager to inquire about Him. Interested seekers from all backgrounds want to know exactly what Baha'u'llah has written and taught about the Scriptures. It was a blistering summer day when I finally settled down to work. I had eaten breakfast in Tel Aviv, "the hill of spring", and had lunched in Jaffa. I was thinking of the gods of other days as I gazed across the blue watets towards Cyprus. I could see Aphrodite rising from the foam of this ancient sea and wafting along the waves towards the mystic island. I thought of her counterpatt in Sidon to the north, the' enchanting Astarte. This seaport of Jaffa was the Joppa of Jonah, and it was here, near where I sat, that he boarded the ill-fated vessel which carried him to his appointment with the whale. This was the neighbourhood where Delilah was 2.0 OUT OF THE SEA OF KNOWLEDGE

born, the Japho of the Philistines .. It was even said by some to be the Jophey of mythology, and that out to sea was Andromeda's Rock, where the sacrificial maiden was bound to the stone, helplessly awaiting the sea- monster, until Perseus came to her rescue. Here Peter raised Tabitha from the dead. As I th.ought about the meaning of this event, I began to write the book in my head. I stopped off at Caesarea on the way back to Haifa. Ironically, I was walking beside a twentieth-century golf course when I made up my mind to make the two- thousand-year journey back to the days of Christ. I could see the shore where St. Paul had landed upon his return to Jerusalem after his great teaching victories in Ephesus. I was standing near the road along which Paul h~d been led to his imprisonment in the judgment hall of Herod, where he was. held captive by the Roman governor, Felix. The beach and adjacent land were littered with pottery and objects taken from the recent archeological diggings at this historic spot. Some accounts stated that an object had been uncovered with part of the name Pontius Pilate engraved upon it. Pilate had had a summer home along this same sea-washed shore. Peter had converted the Roman centution here. I walked along the seashore, thinking, "Perhaps on the very spot where I am standing, Peter and Paul stood." I thought of that other Caesarea, "the c~asts of Caesarea Philippi," where Jesus. had said of Peter's faith: "Upon this' rock I will build my church." But this did not prevent His. saying to this same Peter: "Get thee behind me, Satan." 2.1 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

What had He meant by these two greatly conflicting statements? There, Christ 'has told His disciples that He "must go unto Jerusalem" to be slain a:q.d to rise from the dead. What did this incredible statement really signify? There, Christ had promised that in the last dtJ)1S He would return t'in the glory of the Father". What was the meaning of this? In that same chapter of Matthew, which recounts the visit of Jesus to Caesarea Philippi, Christ spoke of the "sign of Jonah, the Prophet" who was three days and nights in the belly of the whale. He spoke of the "bread" that men should eat to be saved. These brief fragments from His holy lips have crystal- li2ed into doctrines which have, over the centuries, confUsed readers of.~e Scriptures. They have caused new sects of Christ's Faith to arise, and have launched disputes, persecutions, and wars. I decided to leave Caesarea at once and return to my fooms on the side of Mount Carmel, and to begin writing The Wine of Astonishment. Baha'u'IIah had so clearly and wonderfully explained the answers' to these puzzling questions, that it seemed almost tragic that the majority of mankind should still :remain unawate of this remarkable story. Surely it was long past time that a humanity disillusioned with its present-day world, should at last have the opportunity of tasting the "wine of astonishment" from the "new wine skins" of Baha'u'llah's teachings. I wanted all men to drink deeply and be refreshed. 22. OUT OF THB SEA OF KNOWLEDGE

As shown more fullyáin Thief in the Night*, it was not pos~:.ible, according to both the Old and New Testaments, fot anyone to understand thoroughly the meaning of the words of the Scriptures until the present day. According to prophecy, the Books had been ""sealed" until/he lime of the end. For example: In Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelatioll, a remarkable series of prophecies point out that (I) the Book of Scripture is sealed, and that (2) in the last days the Book will be opened. Isaiah in one chapter says: I. Sealcd: "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:" (I) z . Unscaled: "And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of ,the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see • . . They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doc- trine." (z) JJ"aiah continues his praise of the Holy One of Israel who will work: these wonders in the last day. Finally, in a burst of praise, he says in a following chapter: " ... the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose . . . the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall &ee the glory of the Lord. á • " (3) It was from the "midst of Carmel" that Baha'u'llah revealed many of His most important teachings which helped "unseal" the Books. His name, in English, means the glory of the Lord, or the glory of God. * See Thief in the Night, pp. 47-52 2.; THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

Next, Daniel: I. Sealed: "Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the tifJlC of the Jnd." (4) 2. Unsealed: "1 beheld till the [other] thrones were cast down,and the Ancient of days did sit ... and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." (5) This last promise of the "unsealing" is given by Daniel in the same chapter in which he says that "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven." . The very words Christ Himself used forRis own return, saying: "1 will come in the clouds of heaven." Revelatzon ends all doubt on this subject. The basic theme of this entire Book is the second coming of Christ. Revelation states plainly that those books which were sealed until the time 'of the end of Christ's return, would then be opened, and would be sealed no more: "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the Ii/JIB js at hand." (6) Then Revelation, like Daniel, repeats the same vision of the coming of the Messiah, the ":return of Christ. Daniel uses the same description as Christ Himself fo:!: that day when the books would be unsealed: "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man á á ." (7) Revelation says of. this Lamb of God, who will appear in the last days: "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof • . ." (8) OUT OF THE SEA OF KNOWLEDGE

Revelation also says of this Lamb that he was the light of the city of God, the New Jerusalem which was the Word of God. In the same verse, this Book says of this city: Ct • •• the glory of God did lighten it á á ." (9) Now let us examine the teachings of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, whose name means the glory of God. Let us test Him, and see if He has proved Himself "worthy to open the seals" of the sacred Scriptures. Let us look for convincing proof that He has honestly unsealed "the wine of astonishment" so that a troubled world "may be delivered." For if He has "unsealed" the meaning of the sacred Scriptures, He is the hope Qf the world.; and His teachings may well be the sole means for rescuing our -civilization from self-dest!tlction.

2., CHAPTER THREE

HOW TO UNRAVEL THE SECRET OF THE SCRIPTURES

THE famous scholar, Charles Baudouin, in his Contempor- ary Studies, writes glowingly of the explanations to be found in the teachings of BaM'u'llah. He says they ate "permeated with a sane and noble mysticism; ... nothing could speak more intimately to the soul, in low tones, and as if from within .•. SUCll is the new dawn in the East. We should give them our close attention; we should abandon our customary mood of disdainful superiority .•• [Baha'u'llih's] ethical code is dominated by the law of love taught by Jesus and by all the Prophets. In the thousand and one details of practical life, this law is subject to manifold interpretations. That of Baha'u'llah is unquestionably one of the most comprehensive of these, one of the most exalted, one of the most satis- factory to the modern mind •.." (I) BaM'u'llih, in His teachings, has given us the key \vith which to unlock the "hidden meanings" of the Bible as well as of the other Holy Books. In order to under- stand these holy Writings, it is imperative that we grasp the following basic truth: Human knowledge is of two kinds; One is the know- ledge of the s~es: sight, heating, touch, taste, and smell. 2.6 SECRET OF THE SCRIPTURES

We have a knowledge of many things through these outer senses. For example: The sun can be seen by the eye; sounds can be heard by the ear; heat and cold can be felt by the touch; foods can be tastedá; perfumes can be perceived by the sense of smell. These things are all apparent to the outer, physical senses. This is the first lcind 6f knowledge. (2.) The second lcind of human knowledge is intellectual. Intellectual realities are not perceptible to the-senses. They have no outward form. They occupy no space. They cannot be áseen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. Love is such a reality. The ear cannot heat love, nor can the eye see it. Love cannot be touched, tasted, or per- ceived by the sense of smell. ] oy is also an intellectual reality of this nature. Knowledge, likewise, cannot be recognized by the outward senses. These are not material thin gs. They are intellectual 01: spiritual qualities. The Writings of Baha'u'llah's Faith point out that. in order to explain these inward intellectual or spiritual realities, it is necessary to use figures or symbols which ate apparent to the outward senses. This is the easiest and most effective way in which such spiritual truths can be understood. Sometimes it ~s the only way. For example: If you wish to prove to others that you are happy~ it isn't enough simply to say, "I am happy." This statement alone cannot prove you are happy. It cannot. convey your inner feeling in the m~er you wish. Therefore, you use an outward symbol to express this inward feeling. You say, "My heart is singing like a lark!" ; or, "My heart is soaring in the skies like a cloud 1"; or, "1 am so bappy that it is springtime in my heart." THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

If you are in deep sorrow or grief, you say, "My heart is heavy"; Of, "1 am filled with black despair." You use things that are apparent to yow: listeners' outward senses in order to convey your inward spiritual condition. Only in this way can others clearly understand your feelings and thoughts. The best example is perhaps this one. Man has used light as a symbol of knowledge, and darkness as a symbol of ignorance for centuries. When a man understands something, he, says, "I see the light." When a problem is difficult to solve, he says, ''Who can shed some light (meaning knowledge) upon this difficulty?" We speak of primitive tribes living in the "darkness of ignorance". We say that cruel people are in the "darkness of error". Yet knowledge is not a light which is apparent to the outward sense of sight. Nor are ignorance and error outwardly visible as darkness. Light and darkness in this sense are used as symbols. . We say symbolically that the earth has succumbed to winter and is dead; but soon the spring will come and revive it. We say that one who is inattentive is asleep. We say that one who does not gtasp things quickly is a "dead-head". One who misses a meaning, we say, "is asleep at the switch". We call one who is cruel a tiger, one who is sly asnakcJ one who is wise an owl, and one who is vicious a mad dog. These are all outward symbols which are used to reveal an inward characteristic, truth, or reality. When we seek to explain the intellectual or spiritual realities, we are obliged to express them in a form which the outward senses can comprehend. Until thestudent of Scriptures understands this fundamental truth, the holy Books will remain incomprehensible to him. They seem 2.8 SECRET OF THE SCRIPTURES

contrary to reason. They are "sealed up" and closed to him. But once this truth is recognized, the unity and beauty to be found in the meanings of the sacred Scrip- tures immediately become apparent. What previously divjded men, now unites them. What was impossible for the logical mind to accept before, now becomes something lucid and inspiring. (3) The people hi the time of Christ did not understand this basic truth. Hence they denied Him. They could not accept Christ as the one promised by Moses. Moses had used outward symbols to indicate inward truths con- cerning the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament was filled with such symbols, but the followers. of Moses forgot that these outward symbols represented inward truths. They clung to the symbol itself, forgetting the inward meaning. Hence, in the day when Christ ap- peared, they denied Him and His Message, as the follow- ing demonstrates: Their holy Book said that the Messiah would come from an unknown place, would rule by a sword, would sit upon the throne of David, would promulgate the law of Moses. "Christ," they said, "has done none of these things. Therefore, He is obviously an imposter. He came from Nazareth, which is only too well known. He had no sword, nor an army by which to rule. He had no tll.tone to sit upon. In fact, he didn't even have a carpet to lie upon. He not only failed to promulgate and establish the law of Moses, he openly violated it." These people clung to the outward symbol rather than the inward truth. For, inwardly, each of these promises was fulfilled. THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

(1) Christ came from the womb of Mary, but His spirit came from God, from heaven, a place unknown to men. (2) The sword by which He.tuled was the sword of His tongue. (3) The blade of His teachings cut through the enemy of opposition and divided believer flom non- believer. (4) His throne was in the hearts of men. (5) History has shown that He did indeed promulgate and establish the law of Moses. However, not as the people of His day had expected. Wherever the Christian Bible is read today, it contains not only the New Testament of Christ, but also the Old Testament of Moses. Thus, the Law of the great "Interlocutor" has been carried into all parts of the planet and "promulgated" by the Mission of Christ. Baha'u'llih wrote_ an entire volume, over two hundred and fifty pages in length, in which He carefully explains these hidden scriptural meanings which have for such a long time confused the people of religion. This Book of Certitude written by BaM'u'J.Iah is a source and reference book for the scholar and student. * Baha'u'llih has written of these explanations: This is the Day whereon human ears have been privileged 10 hear what He IVho conversed with God [Moses] -heard upon Sit1ai, what He Who is the Friend of God [Muhammad] heard when lifted up towards Him, what He Who is the Spirit of God [Jesus] heard as He ascended 1/1110 Him, the Help in Peril} the Self-Subsisting. (4) With the aid of this "sea of knowledge", we shall * Kitab-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude). Also read Some AnsweredQuestions, written by 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah; this book also gives penetrating answers to those questions' most commonly asked by Christians. SECRET OF THE SCRIPTURES

examine certain specific instances in which the people of the past have clung to the otltwa~d symbol of Scripture, neglecting the inward truth; thus they were misled into error. The explanations offered here are the explanations which have been given by Baha'u'llah Himself. They are not explanations which His followers arrived at long after His own time. Here you will find the answers which . Baha'u'llah Himself, with His own pen, has given to these age-old questions. Bahi'u'llih, as shown in Thief in the Night, has offered the world overwhelming proof of the' truth of Hi~ Mission. Now, we shall exaJ;Dine additional proof. We shall test the meanings which He has unsealed from those Books which Isaiah, Daniel, and the New Testament say were "sealed up" until "the time of the end". Baha'u'llah has given the following promise: "This is the sealed and mystic Scroll, the repository of God's irrevocable Decree • • • that lay wr,apt within ~he veil of impenetrable mystery, and hath now been sent down as a token of the grace of Him Who is the Almighty • • • In it have We •.• writJen do'JPfJ the knowledge of all things from ftrst to last." (5) CHAPTER FOUR

THE MEANING BEHIND THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

.A RECENT article in a national magazine pointed out the extremes to which mankind has gone with :regard to what was once a simple, beautiful truth. A minority of the "Do Good" Baptists disag:reed with the doctrine of the group, the article alleged, and moved down the river to start a new church called the "Do Better" B~ptists. The ritual of baptism has caused almost as many disputes and divisions within the Christian tanks as have the differences of opinion regarding the Trinity. The forms and rituals of baptism have become multiplied, varied and impressive. Many church members have unwittingly replaced their belief in the inward truth of baptism with an acceptance of the outward form. Thus, the meaning of baptism as taught by Christ has been lost. The ~mbol has replaced the inward truth. The true significance of baptism has vanished in a maze of man- made and often conflicting rituals. In order to :restore a spirit of unity, Bahi'u'llih's teach.i.?gs have explained once again the inner significance of baptism. It is this: As the body be~omes purified and wholesome through the use of water to cleanse it, in 32. THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

like manner the soul of man becomes cleansed and freed from impurities when bathed in tPe spirit of belief in God. The meaning of baptism can be expressed in these words: "Oh God! As my body is washed free of physical blemishes by this water, in the same way cleanse and sanctify my soul from the impw:e things which are not worthy of Thy presence." True bapti~m is not with material water. It is with symbolical water-the water of knowledge and belief in God. If a man's heart is impure, if he hates his fellow men, he can wash his body with material water forever; and will still not be cleansed within. Baptism with water is an olltward symbol of an inward truth. It is the act of being purified of one's past errors by the water of the know- ledge of God, as given to mankind by His Messenger. Throughout the Holy Books this symbol of water is used to represent knowledge. In Jeremiah, the Lord says: "My people . . . have forsaken me the fountain of living waters ..." (1) Revelation speaks of the Lamb who will "unseal" the books in the last days, and says that this Lamb will: " ••• lead them unto living fountains of waters." (2) Isaiah also uses this symbol of water for knowledge; and speaks as well of its use in the last days} saying: "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought . . . and thou shalt be like a watered garden • á ." (3) THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

This particular passage is especially interesting, in view of the fact that Baha'u'llah's name, when translated. into English, means the glory of the "Lord. For, in this very same chapter, Isaiah promises: ". . . the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. . . . thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am." (4) Of all the Old Testament prophets, perhaps Habakkuk uses most effectively and clearly the symbol of water to represent the knowledge of God. He declares in a prophecy mentioned earlier: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord) as the waters cover the sea." (5) And once again we see the promise of the glory of the Lord (Baha'u'llah) who will bring this "water" of life. Habakkuk carefully points out that it will take inward vision to understand this truth, for he says: " .. '. regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, whichye will not believe} th.ough it be toldyou." (6) Christ also used this same symbol of 'RIater in speaking to the people of His day. He said: "Except a man be born of '/Pater and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (7) Obviously a man cannot be born physically of material water. However, he can be born spiritually by drinking the water of the knowledge of God, and by believing in God's Messenger, Who offers it. Christ made the symbology even more unmistakable saying: "tHE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

"Except a man be bom again, he cannot see the Idngdom of God." (8) Man must be born again of this water of life. In other words, he must believe. The people in the time of CI-.dist thought that He (Jesus) was talking utter nonsense when He told them they must be born again. "What does the Nazarene mean?" they asked. "Is it possible for a man to return to his mothoer's womb full- grown, that he might be born again? This teaching is nonsense." From their limited understanding, they were of course right. To the outward senses this was both impossible and U1tteasonable. But Christ's words were symbolic, not literal. Belief in the Messenger of God and acceptance of His Word is the true baptism in every age in which a Messen- ger of God appears. This baptism (re-birth) obviously :requires that the person being baptized be old enough to understand what he is being taught. Each person must decide for himself whether or not he believes, before being baptized. The practise of baptizing children and infants, who were too young to participate in the cere- ony with their own minds, was not a part of Christ's teaching. It was introduced into the Christian church long after the time of Christ. Bishop Barnes writes:" •.. it is hardly necessary to say that there is no evidence for infant baptism in the early church." He then quotes the church fathers who speak of fasting as being necessary before baptism, and being used as a regular practise. "One may doubt," he adds, "if any mother would let her infant fast 'one or two THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

days before': a fast of even a few hours would be impractical." (9) When the church adopted the doctrine of original sin, classifying every hwnan being born into the world as being born with the sin of Adam and Eve upon his soul, it became necessary to baptize infants as well as adults. Only in this way could the stigma be removed. For centuries there was considerable feeling that since a boy child born into the Jewish Faith must be circumcised within eight days of his birth, so each Christian child should be baptized in Christ as soon as possible after his or her birth, preferably within eight days. The church of the East and the church of the West differed in their views. Not only in the matter of baptism, but in almost every item of church service. Their constant disputes clearly indicated that these were matters, not of basic belief but rather of human interpretation. It has been said that the Eastern Church or Greek Church, and the Western Church or Latin Church, were ~'like a biological species divided in space and diversified in time". (10) Their differences grew with the passing of time until eventually the Roman Church baptized by aspersion (sprinkling), and the Greek Church by immersion. The Greek Cross had arms of equal1ength, while the Lati.tt Cross was elongated. Furthermore, the "Greeks prayed standing, the Latins kneeling •.• marriage was forbidden to Latin, permitted to Greek, priests; Latin priests shaved, Greek priests had contemplative beards. tfhe Latin clergy specialized itl politics, the Greek in theology," and so on. (i I) In both the Greek and Roman churches the idea of THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

belief in Christ before baptism gradually was lost. God- parents assumed the thinking and believing role for the infant. When Charlemagne began his great Christianis- ing campaign, he as king did the thinking for his would- be converts. He gav~ the Saxons he conquered a choice: be baptized or be slain. In one day he beheaded 4S 0 0 Saxons. Baptism removed all past sins, but made no provision for future sins. Thus, for centuries, the danger of sinning after baptism was considered so serious that many Christians postponed their baptism until their deathbeds, the Emperor Constantine being perhaps the moSt famQus example. This practice of postponing baptism was perilous, in that a believer might die unbaptized. It was also ruinous to the church as it tacitly permitted sin. At length, one sin after baptism was permittet.!. This opened the door, and gradually more sins were permitted. A Christian clergyman writes, " .•• in the end the ecclesiasticalá discipline of confession and absolution became standardized." (I 2.) Thus, it became possible to sin after baptism and still be saved through confession, absolution, and communion. The New Testament proves beyond doubt that it was necess~y for the people to unders~and the Words of Christ and to believe in Him before being baptized. The words of the Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles assure us that there is no true baptism where the mind does not participate in this rebirth. It is indeed, as Baha'u'llah explains, the water oj knowledge that is used. Christ demon- strated this troth when He said:

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; ... " ( I 3) 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

It was necessary to believe first, then to be baptized. In another place, Christ says: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (14) It is plain that the people must first be taught. When they understand and believe, then they are baptized. The baptism is merely the outward fulfillment of this inward belief. Paul understood this principle, and said: "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: á á ." (15) Paul knew that belief in Christ was the important thing. Once this belief existed, the baptism of the spirit was accomplished, but such baptism was always secondary to belief. For example, it is written in Acts: "and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." (16) Peter also understood this symbolic truth. It is said of him: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be bap- tized • •• " (17) It required from the people an act of the will to repent. They must give up the old ways and concepts and accept- the new belief. Then they could be baptized. Three verses later comes yet another example of, :first, the belief and then, second, the baplism: . "Then they that gladly received his 'Word were baptized: •••" (18) THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

There are these additional cleat references: "But when they believed • • • the things concerning the kingdom of God ••. they were baptized • ••" (19) '~Then Simon himself believed ." • • and • • . he was baptized • ••" (2.0) There is evidence that more than a century after Christ, this believing still preceded baptism. Justin Martyr, .in his First Apology in the chapter on worship, wrote that those "who are persuaded and believe that what we teach them and say is true, and undertake to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to exhort God with fasting for the :remission of their past sins" before being baptized. The Shepherd of Hetmas proposed that "The righteous dead need the preaching of the gospel and also baptism that they may be saved." Barnes, (21) in speaking of this book which hovered so long on the edge of the New Testament, says, "Though Hermas thus associates preach- ing with baptism, it seems not unfair to say that he a.ttaches to the rite a magical significance. Those who are baptized 'descend into the water dead, and they rise alive'." (22) And a final proof from the New Testament which sbo\vs conclusively that water alone is useless unless accompanied by belief: "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water,á what doth hinder me to be baptized? "And Philip said, If tholl believest with all thine hearl, thou inayest. And he answered and said, I believe • • • and he baptized him." (2.;) Belief is the important thing. Christ, in another place,

THB WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

said that "Whosoever be/ieu8th" in Him shouldnot perish, but would have "clema/life". Therefore, it was obviously possible to have this ete:rnallife and be saved without the baptism with material water. Jesus said to the thief on the cross: "Today shall thou be with me in paradise." (24) The thief believed, and without the baptism of material water, he gained etemal life. Another similar case is recorded: "And he [Jesus] said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." (2. 5) No material water was needed for her salvation. Unquestionable proof that material water is not necessary , for baptism, other than as a symbol, is found in LukeJ where it says of Jesus: " .•. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:" (2.6) No one would desire to be baptized by immersion in .£lames, or by spri.nkling with .physical fire, for obvious :reasons. The fire spoken of here is the ".fire of the love of God" which bums away our impurities and helps us to believe. The Greek word from which baptism is derived means both "to dip" and "to purify". The former is but the symbol which conveys the inward truth of the latter. Unfortunately, the outward symbol has been given such importance in itself that a great many people have completely forgotten the inward teality which it repre- THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

sents. They have lost sight of the sincere belief and inner decision which gives baptism its original .meaning and life. Many are baptized who d<;>n't believe with all their hearts and souls. Many don't believe at all. It has become merely a form. Gradually, every form of baptism imagin- able developed: private baptism; baptism by desire which requires nothing more than the dying wish; baptism for the dead, so that the living tnight be baptized on behalf of non-Christians no longer living; baptism by proxy in which, in singulat: cases, one person can be baptized for as many as fifty other souls who have died in original . SIO. Baptism, of course, did not originate with Christianity. It was practised by John the Baptist, by the Essenes, and by the pagans of old. This process of cleansing also ~ormed a part of the ritual of the Jews, long before the time of Christ. These Jewish "lustrations" were designed to "cleanse the body of ritual pollution", but were used o~ "various occasions, not once". Rowley writes, "l\Tevertheless, it is probable that Jewish lustrations have some historical connection with Christian baptism to the extent that the form of the ceremony developed out of the form of the lustrations." The Jews also practised proselyte baptism which "marked the experience of conversion from paganism to Judaism." (2.7) Obviously, the ritual of baptism itself is without meaning unless the truth that lies behind the ritual is understood. Christ warned of the danger of professing belief with the outward sense of speech while disbelieving in the inward heart. He said: "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall "tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (28) In every religion thete is an outward form of demonstrat- ing this inward belief in the Messenger of God, and of thus being accepted into His Faith. In Christianity it is baptism. In the Baha'i Faith it is a simple declaration of belief. The purpose of each of these acts is identical. Each is a sign of rebirth, renewal, purification, and acceptance of the Messenger of God. The method and name of the "expression of belief" changes from age to age, but the purpose is identical. Yet, as history clearly demonstrates, in each age the .followers of the old Faith always deny the new. They cling tenaciously to their own ancient, exclusive, outward symbol, unaware that its inward spirit is dead. A vast number of Christians in this day feel that only through baptism can a man be saved. In the day of Christ's early teaching many believed likewise that only through their own outward symbol, circumcision, the sign of the covenant with God, could they be faithful, and be saved. According to the injunction given in the Book of Genesis, each boy was to be circumcised. This was co'nsidered absolutely essential. The custom of circumcision was not specialized to the Jews. It was also prevalent among the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, Arabs, and Syrians as a health measure and for reducing sexual excitability. There is always the tendency of the followers of the new Faith to cling to the time-honoured customs of the old; not as a health measure, but as a symbol of the Covenant. Circumcision and baptism we~e clearly two 42. THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

different rites. Yet, many early Christians felt that baptism, like circumcision, should take place by the eighth day after birth. It is almost impossible for a new Faith to break away cleanly from the long-used rituals of its parent religion. The first fifteen Bishops of the Christ- ian Church in Jerusalem were circumcised Jews. The ritual of circumcision, in its putely religious sense as a sign of the Covenant, had a powerful hold on their • emotIons. Th,e New Testament speaks of early Christian teachers,

saymg: " ... certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." (2.9) Yet, the New Testament makes it clear that just as baptism is symbolical, so is circumcision. It is the belief that gives life, not the ritual. For example: "Is any man called [to God] being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called-in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcisionisnothing, but the l(eeping of the commandments of God." (30) The simple fact is this, Baha'u'lIah tells us: The new Prophet comes with the same, eternal Faith brought by His Predecessor. He renews men's belief in the inward realities. He helps them to shake off the outward symbols which have become encrusted and meaningless. Habit, superstition and time have killed the spirit and hidden the true inner meaning of baptism. In its place the outward sign of water has now become the important thing. The 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

conscience and spirit which prompted baptism in the beginning are lost entirely. The truth dies away at last, and men and children permit themselves to be baptized whether they have the inner belief or not. It is the conventional thing to do. It is the habit of the.i:c society. The Apostle Paul called upon those whom he taught, urging them to see that circumcision was inwardly a spiritual thing. It was a way of expressing detachment from the world. Paul said: ". . . ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands ... " Physically, of course, this was impossible, as impossible as being baptized in fire. It was a circumcision of the spirit. It was a cutting away of man's heart from the desires of the world. Baha'u'llah tells us that in this day there is no longer a need for using an outer symbol for this truth• . The inner reality itself can now be clearly understood by mankind. The Books have been "unsealed" and their inner meanings have been made clear. In this day, a man can read, study, and make up his own mind. He can decide for himself when he is ready to declare his inner decision or belief. It need no longer be done for him by ritual, by proxy, or l?y the use of an outward symbol, water. This is a new day, and mankind can now l?e baptized in a new sense. Humanity can be cleansed (baptized) with the water of the knowledge of God, and the fire of the love of God. The full beauty and majesty of such a baptism can be found in the words and teachings of God's Messenger for this age, Baha'u'llah, the glory of God.

THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM

Bahi'u'llah writes: "Great indeed is this Day/ The allusions made to it ill ali the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every Prophet of God) of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have} likewise/yearned to attain it." (32.)

CHAPTER FIVE

THE BREAD AND THE WINE, CONFESSION AND PENANCE

LET us examine another example in which entire groups of people have clung to the outward symbol, forgetting the inward truth; thus being led into grave errors that have lasted for centuries. This is the symbol of the bread and the wino. Christian sects and church groups have not only disagreed as to the inner meaning of this symbol, they have no common name for the sacrament itself. H. H. Rowley, in The Unity of the Bible, writes: "There is no agreement even as to the name by which it is known. To some it is the Lord's Supper, to others Holy Communion, to others the Eucharist, and to others the Mass:" (I) Jesus said: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I \vilI give for the life of the world." (2.) In the same chapter, He adds: ''Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (,) THE BREAD AND THE WINE

"What manner of madness is this?" the people of Christ's day asked each other. "How is it possible to eat of his flesh? Who can believe in such a man ?" The Writings of the Baha'i Faith help us to understand the meaning and beauty of these statements of Christ. This bread signifies the heavenly food to be found in the teachings of Christ. "If any man eat of this bread" simply means that if any man believes in Christ, accepts Him, and lives according to His teachings, he will gain everlasting life. "Whoso drinketh my blood" has the same meaning. Just as physical food nourishes the body, so does the spiritual food, the words of Christ, nourish the soul of man. Just as the various membersá of the physical body gain vitality and sustenance from the blood, so does the spirit of man receive sustenance from these , heavenly teachings. Christ showed plainly that by "heavenly bread" He meant the spirit of His teachings. He declared: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing á •. " (4) The flesh which man must eat, and which Christ speaks of in the previous verse, is the body of His teachings. This is the flesh that feeds mankind. It was the same food that was given to mankind in the day of Moses. The same symbol was used concerning Moses and those followers who: ". , . were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; "And did all eat the same spirituallneat;" (5) This symbol is used again in anothet verse of John where it is written: THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (6) Thus Christ expresses "coming to him" as eating; and "believing in him" as drinking. To eat is to draw near to Him, and to drink is to believe in Him. Whoever found guidance through the words of Christ by approach- ing and believing in Him, had indeed partaken of the "last supper" of bread and wine; and thus they became numbered among the living. Whoever remained afar and disbelieved was withoutá spiritual food, and was among the dead. (7) In still another place, Christ referred to this drink in words which conclusively show its symbolic nature: "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (8) The next verse says: "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive á á á (9) " Christ gave the same lessons privately to His disciples. He showed them that the "meat" of which He spoke \vas the teachings which God had given Him to deliver to mankind. It is recorded of Jesus: ''In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. "But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. THE BREAD AND THE WINE

"Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (10) The meat and the bread and the wine were all symbolical. They were inner nourishment described by an outward name. If the bread and wine were to have a purely physical meaning, they would be but a mere replica of many similar ceremonies held to honour the pagan gods of the past. . Cicero speaks of the corn of Ceres and the wine of Bacchus. Ritual cakes and grain were eaten in the wotship of Osiris, and were identified with his body. They were said to possess mystic powers. Demeter and Dionysius were worshipped in a form of eucharistic ritual. The same is true of Attis. A much closer parallel can be found in the cult of Mithra with its sacramental meal. Renan and Sir James Frazer both speak of it in theit works. Durant writes, "In the mysteries of Mithras the worshippers we~e offered consecrated bread and water." He adds that the Spanish conquistadores were shocked to find similar rites "~f a form of the sacred meal among the Indians of Mexico and Pelu." (11) , We read that in the early days of the Church, "members of the congregation, especially women, were allowed to 'propllesy'-i.e. to 'speak forth' in a trance of ecstasy.... When these performances conduced to ritual fever and theological chaos, the Church discouraged and :finally suppressed them.".. (12.) . These weekly ceremonies gradually developed into the Mass, but not until approxi- mately two hundred years after Christ.

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In fairness to the early Church, it must be pointed out that the Church did not deliberately set out to imitate pagan rites and superstitions. It had its hands full trying to control the flock, and to keep from being swamped by pagan ideas. The dilemma of the early Church arose partly from a misunderstanding of the meaning of Christ's words, and partly from a compromise made with pagan ideas in order to win popularity among the masses of people. . The Christian form of worship was too simple to impress either the Greek or the Roman. The pagans felt it was atheism because it had no images. The absence of priests proved to the pagans that there was no dignity in the Christian worship. Furthermore, the pagans felt that there could be no legal authority if -there were no "sacrifices"• Near the end of the second century, priests and rites were added to Christian worship. In spite of its persecu- tion of the Christians, the State ultimately was favourably impressed. Christian saints and images gradually re- placed the multitudinous gods of everyday pagan life. Sacrifice came with the sacred meal as offered by the priest. Durant states: "By the close of. the second centmy these weekly ceremonies had taken' the form of the Christian Mass. Based partly on the Judaic Temple services, partly on Greek mystery rituals of purification, vicarious sacrifice, and participation through communion, in the death-overcoming powers of the deity, the Mass grew slowly into a rich congerie of prayers, psalms, readings, sermons, antiphonal recitations, and, above all, that symbolic atoning sacrifice of the 'Lamb of God' THE BREAD AND THE WINE

which :replaced, in Christianity, the bloody offerings of older faiths. The bread and wine, which these cults had considered as gifts placed upon the altar before the god, were now conceived as changed by the priestly act of consecration into the body and blood of Christ, and were presented to God as a :repetition of the self-immolation. of Jesus on the Cross. Then, in an intense and moving ceremony, the worshippers partook of the very substance of their Saviour. It was a conception long sanctified by time; the pagan mind needed no schooling to receive it; by embodying it in the 'mystery of the Mass', Christianity became the last and greatest of the mystery religions." (I;) A Christian Bishop has written, "Now we are so accustomed to these ideas that they seem to many Christians to belong to Christ's teaching. It comes as a shock to them to learn that at bottom such ideas are pagan, not Jewish." (14) Zoroaster's Faith, well before the time of Christ, suffered the same infiltration of ideas from pagan beliefs. Reinach and Rawlinson both comment upon it. Zoro- aster disapptoved and detested the old Aryan custom of offering the juice of the intoxicating haoma plant to the gods, yet this ancient custom was gtadually adopted into Zoroastrian belief after His death. The priests drank part of the liquid, and then shared the Clremaining among the faithful in holy communion". The Essenes, áalso before Christ, had a similar ritual mea1. This sect of Judaism, according to. Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, Josephus the Jewish hist.or- ian, as well as the accounts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, not only had a sacted meal, but a rite of cleansing by watet. The Essenes (Holy Ones) bathed in water as a "sacrament ,1 THE WINE OFá ASTONISHMENT

of purification". Then they partook of a sacred meal presided over by a priest who pronounced a "blessing with the first portion of the bread and wine". Infant baptism was immediately followed by infant communion in the later days of the early Church, accord- ing to some sources. The two ceremonies were intimately and immediately connected. They were, in fact, consid- ered as a single ceremony. Cyprian refers to children who at the outset of their lives were taken to the Lord's table, and Augustine teaches that since John VI: f J shows that this sacrament (Eucharist) is as essential to salvation as baptism, infants need this as much as the other. This practice continued for many centuries, and still exists in the Greek Orthodox Church. In the Roman Church it continued until the twelfth or thirteenth century. (15)á The Council of Trent (1560) deaeed that children under the age of reason were not bound to observe this - rite in this manner, and thus baptism and the eucharist were separated. However, baptism was still linked with the eucharist, but only by a first communion. In the two rites of baptism and confirmation there can be seen a similarity to the two rites of circumcision' and the bar mitzvah of the Jewish Faith. ' Rowley states, "A Jewish boy enters potentially into the covenant at circumcision, but when he is 13 years of a.ge, he has the bat mitzvah ceremony whereby he enters of his own volition into the life and faith of Israel, and is recognized as a loyal child of Judaism." (16) - In Christianity, the child, unable to participate intel- lectually in baptism, has this decision later ratified for him by the sacrament of con.fu:mation. CONPESSION AND PENANCB

When the convert in the early days of the Church was baptized and purified, he became a channel which was cleansed sufficiently to :receive the Lord's Supper. His past sins were forgiven with baptism. The early Church had no instrument fot forgiving later, or fut\tte sins, hence death-bed baptism became ácommon. There was no sacrament of confession at that time. There was only public confession. At a later date, as mentioned earlier, one sin was pennitted after baptism. Gradually more leniency became necessary. This eventually led to the Church docttine of confession and absolution. It became a standardized procedure, and public confession gave way to private confession to the priest, who was authQrized to dispense absolution for sins committed after the original baptism. "None the less," one Christian account relates, "fot centuries t4e danger of sin aftet baptism was deemed so great that many Christians postponed baptism until they were at the point of death." (17) The inability to perceive and accept the simple beauty of Christ's meaning of the bread and the '/Pine led to centuries of such confusion with many quarrels and misWlder- standings. It also led to new rites, which were intto4,uced . in order to resolve the problems which atose because of the development of the old rites. As Durant says, in The Age of Faith, "The Chutch took literally the wOfds ascribed to Christ at the Last Supper: of the bread, 'this is my body'; and of the wine: 'this is my blood'. The main feature of the Mass was the 'ttansubstantia.tion' of wafers of bread and a chalice of wine into the body and blood of Christ by the miracu- lous power of the priest; and the original purpose of the THE WINE OF ASTONISHMBN'r

Mass was to allow the faithful to partake of the 'body and blood, soul and divinity', of the Second Person of the Triune Godby eating the consecrated Host and drinking the consecrated wine. As the drinking of the transub- stantiated wine risked spi11ing the blood of Christ, the custom arose in the twelfth century of communicating through taking only the Host; and when some conserva- tives (whose views were later adopted by the Hussites of Bohemia) demanded communion in both forms to make sure that they received the blood as well as the body of the Lord, theologians explalnedá that the blood of Christ was 'concomitant' with His body in the bread, and His body was 'concomitant' with His blood in the wine. A thousand marvels were told of the powet of the consecrated Host to cast out devils, cure diseases, stop fires, and detect perjury by choking liars. Every Christian was required to communicate at least once a yeat; and the First Communion of the young Chris~an was made an occasion of solemn pageantty and happy celebration." (18) The catalogue of problems which arose from such a literal conception of the meaning of baptism and of thl bread and the wine became greater with the passing of each century. Leo IX presided over a Council at Reims which Cffo:rb~de the clergy to receive fees for admirusterlng the eucharist, attending the sick or burying the dead." Baptism by total immersion was changed for aspersion (sprinkling) before the tenth centuty as "less dangerous in northern climes". The public confession of the early Church was replaced '4 CONFESSION AND PENANCB

by private confession in the fourth century "to spare embarrassment to dignitaries". By the eighth century the ecc~e~iastica1ly authorised p~ances for each sin were ,established and published as a kind of spiritual system of double entry bookkeeping. These penances were lightened with time. Partial or plenary indulgences, were granted by the Church. Con- fession absolved the sinner from the punishment of bell, but not from the temporal punishment in this world. This earthly punishment, however, could be removed by. indulgences. Some cases of wholesale forgiveness 0 sin on this earthly plane were granted as' early as the ninth century. Urban II offered the first plenary indulgence. It promised complete forgiveness of all sins to those who joined the First Crusade and fell in battle. This plenary indulgence for all who should fall. in war brought together an army of 30,000 men. The pain- ful story of the Crusades and the wars with the Muslims need not be repeated here nor the shame that came as a result to the followers of two great religions, Christianity and Islam. Forgetful of the teachings on love and brother- hood commanded by each of their Founders, they participated enthusiastically in the mutual slaughter. One brief account will suffice to demonstrate to what depths of degradation the lack of understanding con- cerning the inward truth of such doctrines can bring. It points out the sorrow that comes to those who blindly and slavishly follow the outward, material symbol rather than the imuard spiritual truth. Baptism leads to the Eucharist which leads to confes$ion which leads to Penance which leads to indulgence, and so on, ad infinitum. All are foreign to the simplicity, beauty and majesty of 'tHB WINE OF ASTONISHKBN'r

the teaching of His Holiness Christ. All are based on "vague and fragmentary" :r.:eferences which betray the vety spirit of love and compassion in His words. The Crusadets swarmed over the walls of Jerusalem on July IS,' 1099, and according to Raymond of Agiles, a priest who was an eyewitness: " ••• wondetful things were to be seen. Numbers of the Saracens were beheaded ••• others were, shot with mows, or forced to jump from the towers; others were tortured for several days and then burned' in flames. In the streets were seen piles of heads and hands and feet. One rode about everywhere amid the cotpses of men and horses." (19) Durant, in his The -Age of Faith, adds: "Other contero.. por~es contribute details: women were stabbed to death, suckling .babes were snatched by the leg from their mothe:r's breasts and flung over the walls, ot had their necks broken by being dashed against posts; and 70,000 Muslims remaining in the city were slaughtered. The sw:viving Jews were herded .into a synagogue and burned alive. The victors flocked to the chutch of the Holy Sepulchre, whose grotto, they believed, had 'once held the crucified Christ. There, embracing one another, they wept with joy and release, and thanked the God of Mercies for their victory." (2.0) Those who fell in the midst of such ecstatic slaughter received a plenary indulgence or complete forgiveness for all their past sins and rose in glory to the peace of heaven, according to the Church. , Thus "indulgences", which were at the outset designed to improve the earthly conduct of man, in reality led men asttay-demoralizing both the giver and the #I

receiver of the indulgence. The practice of 'granting CONFESSION AND PENANCE

indulgences grew alarmingly. Soon there arose the custom of "giving indulgences for :repeating certain prayers, atten~g special religious services, building bridges, roads, churches or hospitals, clearing or draining swamps, contributing to a Crusade, to an ecclesiastical institution, a Church Jubilee or a Christian war. • • • The system was put to many good uses, but it opened the doors to human cupidity." (21) A generation such as ours, which seldom questions the validity of its own traditional customs, is alarmed when it contemplates the history of events whicQ. gave them birth. It is even mote alarming when we study the spreading net of complicated rituals and ceremonies which have arisen from the literal orthodox interpretation of those simple WOlds of Christ: "he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." . Histoty records that the Ch'utch ctcommissioned certain ecclesiastics, usually friars, as 'llltJcstiarri to raise funds by offering indulgences in return for gifts, repen- tance and prayer. These solicitors-whom the English called 'pardoners'-developed a competitive zeal that scandalized many Christians; they exhibited:real or.false :relics to stimulate contributions; and they kept for them- selves a due or undue part of their :receipts. The Church made several efforts to reduce these abuses; The Fourth Late:tan Council ordered bishops to warn the faithful a.gainst false :relics and forged credentials; it ended the right of abbots, and limited that of bishops, to issue indulgences; and it called upon all ecclesiastics to exer- cise moderation in th~ zeal for the new device. In 1261 the Gounciláo£ Mainz denounced many glllJlstiani

'7 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMBNt'

as wicked liars, who displayed the stray bones of men or beasts as those of saints, trained themselves to weep on order, and offered purgatorial bargains for a maximu.m of coin and a minimum of prayer. Similar condemnations were issued by church councils at Vienna (I; I I) and Ravenna (1;17). The abuses contL.!ued." (22.) Confession, of course, was not a completely new con- cept arising with Christianity. In the practice of Mithraism at Eleusis, "the candidate was required to confess his sins." This public confession discouraged the Emperor .Nero from participating. This public confession was adopted by Christianity and later altered to private confessiol1 to overcome the same problem which had faced Nero and other notables, namely embarrassment. . George Townshend, Sometime Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, points out that Christ?s appointment of the twelve Apostles to "bind and loose" was in no way associated with the tight or privilege to forgive the individual sins of men, no! did this become a doctrine of the church as private confession for nearly four centuries. It was, he said, an authority to carry on His teachings. To them He, Christ, "committed the evangel- ization of, mankind • • ." To them He gave "all the authority and discipline which would be needed for the prosecution of the task •• The spiritual future 6f mankind would depend on them and on those who after them would walk in their steps-the step,s, that is, of humble faith ••." (2.;) Yet these words, whose "sins ye shall forgive they ate forgiven them," a mere fragment of the Gospels, have become the foundation fot an elaborate doctrine which ,8 CONFESSION AND PENANCE

has caused a great cleavage in the ranks of Christ's holy Faith. Baha.'u'llih writes of confession: "The sinner, when in a state wherein he finds himselffree ami severed from all else save God, mllst beg for forgiveness a'" pardon. It is not allowable 10 declare one's sins and tralJs- gressions before any man, inasmuch as this has not been, nor is, conducive to securing God's jorgiu8n8ss and pardon. At the same time such confession before the creatures leads to one's humiliation and abasement, and God.:-exalted in His glory/-does not wish for the humiliation of His servants. VerilY He is compassionate and beneficentl" (24) The purpose here is not to find fault with the sincere efforts of any religion to protect and to help its folJ.owets. Without doubt there have been many devoted and sacri- ficing attempts made to purify the inward life of Chris- tianity. The grave obstacle which eventually proved to be insurmountable was the simple truth that the pure waters of the Fountain of Christ had .gradually become tainted with compromise at their soutce. Whatever flowed out, in whatever direction, became increasingly discolouted and clouded ~y such ~ompromise•. The Chtu:ch fathers themselves wete appalled at the divisions which decimated even the ve!y early Church; and all because áof these differences in a literal interpreta- tion of doctrine. Irenaeus counted twenty varieties of Christianity in the year A.D. 187 (approximate), and by A.D. 384 Epiphanius listed eighty. (25) Baha'u'JJ.ah's Teachings :repeatedly explain that it is the inner meaning which is impo:ttant, and not the outward event. This is the lesson which man has failed to leam and with tragic consequences. The teachings of Christ 'rHB WINE OF AS'rONISHMSN't

were capable of purifying the spirit of man. They pro- vided tIle real food and nourishment fot-, those who believed. Considered from this viewpoint, the story of the 'Last Supper becomes an eternal analogy which can teach man down through the ages. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; "For this is my blood .••" (2.6) Reflect. How clear is' Christ's symbology: As man is physically fed by food and drink, so is his spirit nourished by spiritual food and drink-the "bread of heavenly teachings" taken with the "wine of~elief". Christ was not physically transformed into bread and wine before their eyes. If He had been, He could not have remained with them in person. The Writings of the Baha'i Faith state: "The disciples had taken many meals from the hand of Christ; why was the last supper distinguish~d from the others? It is evident that the heavenly bread did not signify this material bread, but rather the divine nourishment of the spiritual body of Christ, the divine graces and heavenly perfections of which his disciples partook, and with which they became :filled." (2.7) Jesus knew that His hour of departure was at hand. He wished to leave an unforgettable~ymbol by which His disciples would always :remember the importance of the Spi:rit of His teachings. His lesson said: "Approach the Word of God (Christ) CONFESSION AND PBNANCE

and believe." He told them: "This is my body and blood by which all men must be fed. He who eats of this food (these teachings) will never die because it nourishes the spitit which is everlasting; whosoever does not eat of it, is already dead; although physically he lnay have the appearance of life." Jesus told His disciples that if they ate His flesh and blood "they would have eternal life. There could be no doubt that He was speaking of the "heavenly food" of His teachings which came from God, fo~ He said: "La.bour not fot the meat which .perisheth, but tor that meat which enputeth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you ••• " (2.8) In the very next verse they asked Him: t

"What shall we do, that we :might work the works of God?" Christ had already told them: '~My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to :finish his work." Now to their question, Christ answered: "This is the work 4;)f God, that ye beJiepe on him whom he hath sent." (2.9) This was the "bread" and "wine" they should eat and drink: Belief in the Messenger of God. The physical bread or physical flesh was nothing more than a figurative way of conveying this inner truth. The New Testament clearly states: ". • • flesh ,and blood cannot inherit-the lcingdom of God;" (30) ~HE WINE OP AS-riONISHMENT

No one made this fact plainer than Christ Himself. In one single chaptet He says over and over: "1 am that bread of life ••• This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die •.• "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (3 I) This is stated by Christ in the same chaptet in which He warned the people not to labour for "the meat which perisheth." Still, they did not understand Him. Even His own disciples whom He had taught so patiendy could not comprehend this inward troth. "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can heat it?" Christ said: "Doth this offend you?" Then Jesus tried yet anoth~r way of helping them to understand: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that'I speak unto you, they ate spirit, and they are life." (; 2) Yet, in spite of His. :repeated lesson, His tenderness, Hi~ patience, and His love, it is written of His followers:

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." (33) Failure to understand these outward symbols OJ: their :relation to an inward truth led many in that day to deny 6z. CONFESSION AND PENANCB

Christ and to refuse His Message. We can well imagine the confusion and misunderstanding that would exist .2.,000 years later 1 Differences of opinion :regarding the meaning of the Last Supper, and as to whethet it should be'interpreted physically or figuratively, resulted in disputes which have indeed lasted for centuries. These quarrels have divided His Church, and varied its form and belief until they wouldábe beyond the tecognition of His Holiness Christ áHimself. History has shown that "the question whether the Eucharist was Jesus' flesh and blood in fact, or only after a manner, remained to be bittetly debated long after the Reformation." (34) The longer the time that passed, the less comprehen- sion there seemed to be concerning the beau.tiful troth. behind this outer symbol of the bread and the wine. This day in which we are now living is the Iong- promised day of "the one fold and the one shepherd." Baha'u'llili has come to unseal the meaning of the sacred Scriptures. His purpose is to :renew and restate the inward truth of these doctrines. Only in this way can all the separated and divided segments of religions and nations once more be bound togethet in unity. BaM'- u'llah's teachings deal with the spiritual and material needs of both the individ~l human being and the nation to which he belongs.* For this reason, the Baha'I. Teachings speak in detail of the true meaning of these various doctrines of His Holiness Christ. Baha'u'llah urges us, throughout His Writings, to '.'look into everything with a searching eye". Let no * See Appendix, Note Two. 6; 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

man be deceived by the outer shell, while ignoring the inner, living body of truth, He tells us. Man falls into his gravest errors, the Baha'i Writings explain, when he permits the outward {Ymbol to become more important than the inward truth for which it stands. This explanation has been but a glimmering of the reality of Christ's teachings, and of the pearls that lie hidden in the ocean of Baha'u'llah's utterance. Baha'u'llah has written:* "Know assuredly that just as thou firmly believest that the Word of God, exalted be His glory, endureth for ever, thou must, likewise, believe with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be exhausted. They who are its appointed interpreters [Messengers], they whose hearts ate the repositories of its secrets, are, however, the only ones who can comprehend its manifold wisdom. Whoso, while reading the Sacred Scriptures is tempted to choose tllerefrom whatever may suit him with which to challenge the authority of the Representative of God among men, is, indeed, as one dead, though to outward seeming he may 'walk and converse with his neighbours, and share with them their food and their drink." (3 5) For this same reason Christ said that those who did not believe in Him were "dead". Baha.'u'.llih adds: "Oh, would that the world could believe Mel Were all the things that lie enshrined within the heart of BaM [Baba'u'llih], and which the Lord, His God, * See Kit4b-i..lqan (Book of Certitude), !liddon Words Seven V(JI/eys~ J Gleanings From the Writings ofBaha'llllahJ and Pra.J'ers and Meditation.r, which ate among the more important books of the over one hundred volumes Baha.'u'llah has written fot the guidance of modern-day society. CONFESSION AND PENANCE

the Lord of all names, hath taught Him, to be unveiled to mankind, every man on earth would be dumb- founded. "How great the multitude of ttuth~ which the garment of words can nevet: contain t How vast the number of such verities as no expression can adequately des- cribe • • ." (; 6) In conveying spiritual truths, Baha'u'IIah's Teachings tell us, our speech is as ineffective as the cry of animals ttying to communicate with the human kingdom. We shalláunderstand this- more clearly as we explore next the meaning of the symbol: Jesus, the Son of God.. CHAPTER SIX

THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

MISUNDERSTANDING abo.ut the reality of the station of Christ has caused great difficulties among Christians for over nineteen centuries. It has even caused grave separation among His followers. Christ's station has been described as everything from that of a human reformer and teacher to that of the physical Son of God, even as that of God Himself. The very symbol used by the early Christians called attention to Christ's exalted station. When the sign of the fish was secretly used to identify Christian believers to each other (approximately A.D. 180), it was chosen, we are told, "because the Greek word for it [fish], I-CH-TH-U-S, formed the initials of the phrase Iesous Christus theou uios soter-cJesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour'." (I) Christians now find it exceedingly difficult to believe in or to accept any new Messenger of God, because of their misunderstanding of the station of Christ. Although Jesus Himself clearly promised that One would come after him, and .referred to His own return in over 2. 50 separate New Testament passages,* Christians still insist: * See Thief in the Night} pp. 66-71. "tHE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OP GOD

"Other Messengers ot Prophets are of much less importance than Christ. They are mere teachers, but Jesus is the Son of God. No other station can :rank as high as that." This attitude is reminiscent of what the people said at the time of Christ. They took this very same position in relation to Moses. When they were told about a new Messenger of God called Jesus of Nazareth, they an- swered: "He is but a poor, unlearned teacher. Moses was the Interlocutor, the Mouthpiece of God. He actually talked with God and heard His voice in the Holy Mountain. No other station can rank as high as this." Once again we find the outward .rymbol blinding the people to the inward truth. Christ wished to show the close relationship which existed between the Messenger or Prophet and God. Therefore, He used the clear symbol of the son; the only son, who is granted special privileges. in speaking for the father. In this light His explanations were readily understandable. The Apostles and later followers believed that the parable of the Vineyard demonstrated the validity of the Mission of Christ, the Son, in representing God. Christ's symbolical explanation of the relationship between Messen- ger and God was taken literallY. This led to the belief among some that Christ was the actual, physical son of God, His only son. "Jesus" they said) "must be believed ih, and accepted, not because of the great teachings which He brought, but because He was the only begotten Son of God." They ignored the fact that this concept was in direct conttadiction to Christ's own words. 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN'r

Jesus became supreme for these followers, not fQr the reason He Himself gave, namely His teachings and the spirit of love and brotherhood which He brought as a. Messenger of God, but because His followers believed that He, Christ; was the actual Son of God. Baha'u'llah assures us that it was the Holy Spirit reflected in Christ which was the means of His honour and greatness.' It was not the person of Jesus that was important, but the Holy Spirit of Christ which shone within Him. The same principle was true of Moses. It is true of every Messenger of God. They are all MitrOl'S that reflect the light of the Sun of God's truth. If the light does not shine within Them, they are merely frames and glass, nothing more. The writings o~ the Baha'i Faith state: "That which causes honour and greatness, is the ~en.dour and bounty of the divine perfections • • • e splendour and honour of the holy souls and the Divine Manifestations [Messengers] come from their heavenly perfections, bounties, and glory, and from nothing else." (2.) This is true of all the Founders of the great :religions: Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad~ the Bab, and Baha'u'lliih. However, for the sake of simplicity, and because this book is ditected to the Christian world, we shall speak in these pages mostly of Moses, Christ, and Baha'u'lliih. Baha'u'lliih points out that with the coming of each Messenge~ of God, His followers mistake the outward fonn for the inward reality. Hence they elevate His person to a. station which was never intended by the Founder Himself. THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

Christ expressed this theme of the sun (God) and the mirror (Messenger) with great clarity to His own dis- ciples. He said: "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also • • • he that hath seen me hath seen the Father • á ." (3) Unfortunately, these and other similar words were taken literally, and gradually the church doctrine of the Son of God was built upon them. Yet Jesus Himself, in the verse which follows tIle one just quoted, makes it quite clear that it is the light in the mirror, the Spirit within, that is the all-important thing. He told them: 'c••• I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." (4) It is the sun shining within the mirror that is respon- sible for the light. It is not the mirror itself. Had the followers of Christ understood this inner truth, they would have "watched" fot His return in the last dqy.t as He had commanded them. In this same chapter, Christ speaks several times of His own return, and twice mentions the Comforter whom God would send. Christ also mentions the "unsealing" of His own words by this Comforter : ('•.• he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance" whatsoever I have said tmto you." (5) The sun that shines in the mirror on Saturday is the same sun that shines in the mirr.or on Sunday and Monday. 'rhus the light of God that was reflected in each of THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

the Prophets was one and the same. From the day of Abraham to that of Christ, the same sunlight of God shone in each of His Mirrors or Messengers. Unable to understand this, the people stoned Christ: "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? "Jesus said -unto them, Verily) verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple ... " (6) Christ was speaking of the light of the sun (God), not the light in the mirror (Messenger). The light of God's Sun of Truth shining in the mirror of Christ did indeed exist and shine from the beginning of time in the mirror of other Messengers. Hence, Jesus might well say, with unquestionable truth when speaking of that light: "Before Abraham '\vas, I am." An almost identical story i& told of Krishna), long before the days of Jesus, the Christ. In the SOlJg of God} the Bhagavad-GitaJ Krishna speaks to his disciple, Arjuna: "I taught this yoga first to Vivaswat •.. " Arjuna replies : "Vivaswat was born long before you. How am' I to believe that' you were the first to teach this yoga?" Krishna explains: "1 am the birthless, the deathless . . • In every age I come back To deliver the holy, To destroy the sin of the sinner, To establish tighteousness." THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, in their translation of the Bhagavad-Gita, say: "Hinduism accepts the belief in many divine incarnations, including Krishna, Buddha and Jesus and foresees that there will be many more." (7) Krishna spoke of the difficulty of making the people of His day understand the inward truth behind the out- ward symbols. He said: "Those who lack discrimination may quote the letter of the scriptures, but they are really denying its inner truth. They are full of worldly desires, and hungry for the rewards of heaven • . . they teach elaborate rituals which are supp.osed to obtain pleasures and power for those who perform them." Krishna spoke almost the same words as Christ in ttying to get His followers to seek the inward truth. He said: "1 am ... the Word that is God ... I am the path ... " Yet the people could not see that He was speaking of the light within, and not of His physical person. This was the inward meaning of the outward symbol of these words spoken by both Krishna and Christ. Surely the people should have understood that Christ was delivering the Message given to Him by God when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." This same "I am", or Holy Spirit, was the one that spoke to Moses • saymg: "I am that I am. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you • • . This is my name forever, unto all generations." 'THE WINE OF ASTO}~ISHMENT

This was confirmed again when the Voice (Ahura Mazda) spoke to Zoroaster: "My name is I.Am ... I am the Keeper, the Creator, and Maintainer; I am the Discerner, I am the Most Beneficent Spirit." The teachings of the Baha'i Faith tell us that Christ was speaking of the Holy Spirit within Him, the "I Am", the light of the sun shining in the mirro!'; the eternal sun which had existed from the beginning. Christ was not referring to His physical body•. This is why He said: "Before Abraham was, I am." The difference between His inner Spirit and His outer self, Christ made clear in the words: " •.. Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God •.•" (8) Baha'u'llah also spoke of this spiritual sunlight which is reflected in God's perfect Mirrors, the Messengers of God. He testifies to its power, saying: "Know verily that whenever this Youth tumeth His eyes toward His own self, He findeth it the most insignificant of all creation. When he contemplates, however, the bright effulgences He hath been em.. powered to manifest, 10, that self is transfigured before Him into a sovereign Potency permeating the essence of all things visible and invisible." (9) Thus in every age, Baha'u'11ah tells us, each Messenger Who appears is both the "£rst" and the "last". He is theá Alpha and the Omega, for He is referring to the Holy Spirit which dwells within-the sunlight in the mirror-and it is the same in every age. Baha'u'llab, in his Book of Certitude, :repeatedly refers to 72. THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

such symbols, pointing out that man has ignored the greatness of the Spirit while exalting that of the Flesh: "If one will ponder but fC?t a while .•• one will surely discover all mysteries hidden in the terms 'grave', 'tomb', ... 'paradise', and 'hell'. But oh 1how strange and pitiful I Behold, all the people are imprisoned within the tomb of self, and lie buried beneath the nethermost depths of worldly desire! Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine . knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the frUit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by immortality. • • If by 'life' be meant this earthly life, it is evident that death must needs overtake it." (10) We have dealt generally with the title Son of God. We have shown that it is a tide which is symbolic of one who'represents the Father. Let us now be more specific. Let us examine the Old and the New Testament in an effort to determine the true meaning of the term itself; "Son of God". Although Christ made His own relationship. to Almighty God crystal clear, still it has been misunderstood, mis- represented, and misinterpreted for centuries. Those to whom Christ first spoke of this relationship thought He referred to Himself as a person and not to the Spirit within Him. These people objected violently. They became outraged and stoned Christ. They said He claimed to be God. 'tHE WINE OF AS~ONISHMEN't

Christ said: "I and my Father ate one." (II) The Sun and the Mirror ate one with regard to the light: this was His meaning. Yet he was misunderstood, for the Gospel records: - "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. "Jesus answered them. .•• for which of those [good works] do ye stone me? "The Jews answered him, saying, Fot a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." (12) Then Christ exposed theit lack of understanding of His words. He said: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? "If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the-scripture cannot be broken: "Say ye of him, .whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? ••• ~'Therefote they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand •••" (13) He, Christ, was the mittor; God was the sun that shone in that mirror. They wete thus one as to the light, but not as to essence. The miuor was not, and neyer could be, the sun itself. This was the lesson Christ taught. Jesus tried'in every way to make sure that this truth would not be misunderstood. The people sought e'to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabba~ but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." Christ tried to show them their ettor THE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

and that He was but an instrument of God: that He did not in any way consider Himself the equal of .God; not had He any power that was not God-given. He insisted: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (14) He again assured the people: "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (I') It was not sufficient for them. Christ was a blasphemer and in no way what they expected. Baha'u'llah has áwritten. that the people in every age deny the Messenger of God because He does not appear in the manner they expect. He says: "Were these [people] to ask the Light of Truth [Messengers] concerning those images which their idle fancy hath carved, and were they to :find His answer inconsistent with thek own conceptions and understanding of the Book, they would assuredly denounce Him Who is the Mine and Wellhead of all Knowledge as the very negation of unde~staoding. Such things have happened in every age." (16) When they "denounced" Christ for blasphemy and for breaking the Sabbath, Jesus pointed out that they did not understand their own Scripture. Christ accused them of interpreting it as they wished, and from an outward, not an inward, point of view. He told them:

7' THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me. '~And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life •.• "1 .am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not •.. " (17) Baha'u'llih spoke of those same misguided ones who, in every age, insist that God's Messenger conform to their own limited standard: Baha'u'llah pointed out that despite the fact that He had "unsealed" the Books so that all might understand the Truth, the people in this day were still acting as they had acted in the day of Christ. He warned: " .•• it behooveth no man to interpret the holy words according to his own imperfect understanding, nor, having found them to be contrary to his inclination and desires, to reject andá repudiate their truth. For such, today, is the manner of the divines [religious leaders] and doctors of the age, who occupy the seats of knowledge and learning, and who have named ignorance knowledge, and called oppression justice." (18) Christ's words show clearly that they had done the same thing to Him: "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth.you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. "'For bad ye believed Moses, yc. would have believed me: for he wrote of me. ''But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (19) Baha'u'llih has called attention to the tragedy which, 'tHE MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD,

llnhappily, takes place with the appearance of each new Prophet. The people remember the former Mirror, but forget the Light that shone in that Mirror. They are misled because the name, and the outer physical charac- teristics, of the new Messenger are different. They fail utterly to see that the inner Spirit is exactly the same.* They remember the Messenger, but they have forgotten the Message which He brought. Thus the Christians, like the people before them, exalted Christ, the Messenger of their Faith,. while neglecting His Message. They began to worship the Mirror of Jesus instead of the Light of Christ within. The station with which they invested Christ as the actual Son of God, because of their love for Him, now became an obstacle to their own spiritual progress. Consider: If Christ's greatness were to lieá in the fact that He was born of a mother only, having no father, then Adam must be considered greater than Christ; for Adam had neither father nor mother. Whether Adam came into existence slowly or immediately, he was without parents. This same station of superior greatness must also be awarded to Melchizedek, for he also was without parents, and he was also called the Son of God, and a king ,of righteousness and a king of peace: "'Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, not end of life; but made like unto the Son of God:" (20) We can find other examples where this station, the Son of God, was attributed symbolically to others beside * See Appendix, Note Three. 'tHE WINE 01' ASTONISHMBN't

Christ. When we trace the lineage of Jesus, we find this same station' bestowed upon Adam: "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the S01l of God." (2.1) The 'privilege of becoming sons of God was given even to the followers of Christ, under certain conditions : "But as many as :received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (2.2) In the Old Testament, it is pointed out that the sincete and faithful believers are gods and the sons of God: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgetb among the gods." (2.3) Or in yet another way, the verse which Christ himself quoted: "I' have said, Ye are gods; and all of'yOIl are childrln of the mosl High." (24) In the N81P Testament it is written of the &.ithful be- lievers: ''Behold, . what manner of love the Father hath be.. stowed upon us, that we should be called the Ions of God:" (2.5) And in the closing Book of the Bible, Revelation, it is established once and for all that this tenn "Son of God" is a symbolic term. It is a station which is reached by belief in God and in dtawing close to His Teachings and His Works: THE MBANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." (26) The teachings of the Baha'I. Faith make it quite clear that there is a vast difference between the station of the followers of Christ, and that of Christ Himself. It is' not the intention of the examples given above to imply that these followers are in any respect His equal. The respect, love and reverence which the members of the Baḥ'i Faith have for Christ is unequalled, and in ~ost cases even unapproached, in tl;le Christian congregations of the present day. God is the Sun, Christ and the other Messengers of God are the Rays of the Sun, and their followers are the earth. The Sun through its Rays brings life and light to the earth. The Messengers of God are in this way the soutce of all of man's spiritual life.. Hence, Christ said, "1 am the Way, and the Light, and no one cometh unto the Father except through Me." Christ was the tays of the sun in that day. There was no 'other source of life or light except in the warm.th, heat, and brightness of His, Christ's, Teachings. The intent of such examples is to show that these terms are outward vmbols of inward truths. These examples prove that becoming a Son of God is a spiritual, not a physical thing. These ve!ses make it obvious that the true being of a disciple is created' by a spiritual teality, and not by a physical power. Verse twelve of the fust chapter of John confers the • station: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. • • ." 'I'HE WI~E OP ASTONISHMENT

Verse thirteen shows that this station is solely a spititUal one: cc. • • Which were bom, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh} nor of the will of man, bllt of God." The disciples were bom of human patents, but their true being (that of the spirit) was bom of their belief in God thro-qgh the acceptance of Christ and His Message. This is one imPard meaning of the phrase "son of God". As it applied to Jesus, it had even a. richer significance. As all men ate children of one God, and members of one human family, the eldest soná co~ds special honour and respect. This place of honow: was the station of Christ. This is another ilfWard. truth. There are even greater meanings. The W.riting~ of the Faith of Balui'u'llah state: "But as Christ found existence th:cough the Spirit of God, He called Himself the Son of God." (z7) This is a glimpse of the inner truth' behind the 0111". symbol "Son of God". These are just a few leaves taken from the ttee of Baha'u'llah's explanations. B~'u'llah Himself says of the great variety of examples which He gives in His Book of Certitllde: . "All these things which We have repeatedly mentioned, and the details which we have cited from divets sourc~ have no other putpose' but to enable thee to grasp the meaning of the allusions in the utt~ances of the chosen Ones of God, lest certain of these utterances cause thy feet to falter and thyáheart to be dismayed." (28) Christ came in the station of the Son, and was mis- understood. Baha.'u'llah has come in the station of the THB MEANING OF: JESUS, SON OF GOD

Father and was misunderstood. Both stations are symbols. The Jews refused to accept Jesus when He came in the station of the Son because. they clung to the old outward form. The Christians in this day refuse to accept Baha'u- 'J.tah, Who has come in the station of the Father, for the SatJ;le :reason. We shall now examine the inner meaning of the symbolical station of the Father.

CHAPTER SEVEN

IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER

THE stations of both The Father and The Son are, as men- tioned in the Scriptures, figurative. Jesus is hot God because He is called the Son. Baha'u'llah is not God be- cause He is called the Father. To express such a thought would be blasphemy, and contrary to all the teachings of the Bahi'i Faith. These titles are nothing mo-re than explanations of the relationship of Christ and Bah,a'u'llah to the infinite, unknowable, Almighty God, the Supreme Being who uncovers for men the brightness of His glory and know- ledge through His Messengers and Prophets in successive ages. Jesus represented God as the Son, the heit: of the Kingdom. Baha'u'llfth came as the Father. In this day of the "one fold and one shepherd", Baha'u'llah.is the Father who gathets together all the religions, nations, and races: just as a father gathers all his childrens He is the promised Shepherd of the "one fold", prophesied . for the last days in the sacred Scriptures. Christ clearly foretold that in the coming day of the Father, Who would be the shepherd of all theá sheep,á there would be other lambs (believers) in addition to the Christians. Jesus said: 8% IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER ('And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (1) Ezekiel speaks of this same day, appointing it at th, time ofthe end. It will take place, he says, when the children of Israel, will be gathered from all nations as lambs by the One Great Shepherd. The Jews were scatteted throughout the world in 70 A~D. when Titus desttoyed Jerusalem. Since this event took place after Christ's crucifixion, it was clear that Ezekiel's promise was fo! the latter Jays of The Father; a day of which Ezekiel spoke when he said: "And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to thei:r own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel . • ." (2.) This flock of Israel began to gathet after twelve centuries of separation. The Jews were finally pennitted to :return to Israel in 1844 with the signing of the Edict of Toleration. The faith of BaM'u'IIah, the Shepherd and Father of the flock, began in that same exact year, 1844.* Ezekiel promised: "And I. will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd • • • . "And I will make with them a covenant of peace •.." (3) This-servant David (Beloved) of the time of the end * Fot this unique and surprising story of how the Jews were permitted to return to their homeland by Th8 &,(1 of Toleralioll, signed in almost the exact bour of the birth of the Baha'! Faith, fld61ling the prophecy or Christ, that He would return to earth when "the times of the Gentiles" were fulfilled, read Thief in 10' Night, pp. 11-16. THE WINE OF' ASTONISHMENT

was Baha'u'llih. Bahi'u'llih wrote to the kings and rulers of the world on behalf of the "sheep" of the "other folds". He called upon those rulers of the world to unite and establish a "covenant of peace" so that the flock of God might be protected. Isaiah spoke of this same Father of the children of Israel, this good shepherd: "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand ••• "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm. á ." (4) In that same chapter, just five verses ~rlie:r, Isaiah promises that in that day: ". • • the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: fot the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (5) . Baha'u'J..Iah, Whose 11ame means the glory of the Lord, o:r the glory oj God, called Himself the Father, just as Christ had called Himself the Son. Both titles are symbolical. Baha'u'J..Iah's Mission was to gather all of the peoples of the world into one motal, peace-loving, prosperous world society. To establish the 'toneness of God,. the oneness of His Messengers, and the oneness of His children" was the purpose of Baha'u'J..Iah's lif~. The very administrative headquarters in which ~e-wo:dc of His Faith is carried out in thousands of centres mall . parts of the world is called, UThe sacred fold". In these "sacred folds" the sheep receive the food of His teachings. Micah prophesied: "In that day also he shall come even to thee from A~syria • • ." (6) IN ~HE GLORY OF THE FATHER Baha'u'llah came from Persia (once part of the ancient ldngdom of Assyria). Micah further p~ophesied that God would command this Messiah to: "Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the IIJidst oj Carmel:" (7) The World Centre of Baha'u'lhlh's Faith is in the midst of Carmel. From this centre, the rod of His teachings goes out in,to every' "sacred fold" in all parts of the planet. _ Micah concludes by saying of this Messiah of the last days, that fot forty years, a period equal to the number of years that the Jews were "coming out of the land of Egypt" ~ God'would: "shew unto him marvellous things." (8) Baha'u'llah' Mission began in 1852. It ended in 1892- exactly "forty years", as foretold. Furthermore, speaking of this same Mount Carmel, Isaiah declared: " ... Carmel and Sharo11, they sh.all see the glory oj the L,ord, and the excellency of our God." (9) Isaiah foretells that this will take place on the day when the "ransomed of the Lord" return to Israel. For the purpose of this book, concerning the nleanings hidden in the Scriptures, Isaiah makes a statement of even more significance, for in this same chapter, he says that wIlen the glory of the Lord appears: "Then the eyes of the. blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." (10) THE WINE OP ASTONISHMBNT

Baha'u'llih, whose name means the glory of the Lori/, leaves no doubt as to who is meant by these words of Isaiah.. With His own pen Baha'u'llah :records: "1 am the One Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath ex- tolled, the One with Whose name both the Torah and the Evangel [Gospels] were adorned." (II) Baha'u'llah, the Father, has unsealed the Books and clearly explained th~se long misunderstood truths. A careful examination of His teachings by a sincere seeker will reveal a "fountain of the refreshing water of truth," which will indeed ope1;l the eyes of the blind and unstop the eats of the deaf. The symbolical meaning of The Son and The Father is set down in l1nmistakable terms in Christ's own Parable of the Vineyard. "A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. "And'at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. "And they caught him, and beat him, and 'sent him away empty. "And again he sent unto them another setvant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the bead, and sent him away shamefully handled. "And again he sent another; and him they killled, and many others; beating some, and killing some. "Having yet thetefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will rever- ence my son. IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER "But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shal1 be ours. "And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. "What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others." (12.) The meaning is this: The vineyard is the earth. The man who planted it is God. The husbandmen to whom it was let out are the people of the earth, especially the religious leaders. The servant who was sent into the vineyard (earth) was the Messenger or Ptophet of God. He came to receive from the people of the eatth the fruit of the vineyard: i.e., th~ hearts of the people, hearts which believed in God and in His Messenger and both loved an~ served their fellowmen. The husbandmen (people and teligious leaders) denied the Messenger. They beat him and drove him off. So God sent another setvant (prophet) into the vineyard (earth) to claim His right from His creation. But the husbandmen (people and leaders) stoned him; they beat and killed the others as they came. Finally, the owner of the vineyard (God) sent His son (Christ) into the vineyard (earth). He thought: Surely they will honour Him, My Son, and at last know the ~th. They crucified Him. Then, according to the Parable, the Lord of the Vineyard (Baha'u'llih) came into the vineyatd himself to destroy the husbandmen. Baha'u'llih came in the station of the Father as Christ came in that of the Son. THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

Their Mission was one: to bring the \Vord of God to humanity. The entire history of religion is told in this one, brief parable. The servants or Messengers of God are many, but their Mission is one. The speakers, Messengers of God, are many, but the Word is one. The chapters vary, but they are all parts of the same unfolding progressive Book of God. There ate many lamps (Messengers) but the same light shines in each of them. In this day, the planet has been shrivelled to the size of a pea. We can speak around the world in a flash. We can see around the world in an instant. We can travel around the world in hours. The earth has become one small neighbourhood, one family. Hence the need for one Father. Baha'u'llih, the Lord of the Vineyard, has come that all the children of God may know and understand the Message of God for today. Baha'u'llah is' the Shepherd of all the sheep from whatever flock they may have come. Just as the station Son of God has blinded the Christians to .the Light of Baha'u'Ilah's truth, in like mannex the station Seal of the Prophets, attributed to Muhanunad by the Muslims, has kept the people of Islam from recog- nizing and accepting the Father and Shepherd of the . flock, Baha'u'llah. Yet a study of their sacred Book, the Qu'ran, t~veals that Muhammad never once implied that He (meaning the Holy Spirit within) would not return. There are two main classes of Prophets referred to in the Qu'ran. One is called Ndb! and the other is called RasAI. Nab! are the prophets who foretell events to come IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHBR and make prophecies of the futute. Rasd! is the Messenger Who brings a Book and Teachings. Muhammad, when He referred to Himself as the Seal of the Prophets, referred always to Ndb!, never to RasH/. His own words show that the Rastil (Messengers) of God will come continuously. He was the Seal of the Ndb!, for the time of such prophecy was past. With the coming of the "one fold, and one shepherd" and the uniting of all mankind into one flock of God, there was no longer the need for Prophets to speak and prophesy of that great day yet to come. It had arrived. Baha'u'lIah Himself declared: "He Who is the Seal of the Prophets hath said: 'Increase my wonder and amazement at Thee, 0 Godl' ... I testify that, through Thy Revelation, the things hidden in the Books of God have been revealed, and that whatsoever hath been recorded by Thy Messengers in the sacred Scriptures hath been fulfilled." (13) ".

Not only Christianity and Judaism spoke of the coming of that great day when there would be one Father for aU the people, and one Shepherd for all the flocks. Hinduism Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam all refer to this convergence of faith in one Fold in the last days. Zoroastrianism is particularly rich in this theme of the promised Father or Redeemer Who would come from Persia (the homeland of Baha'u'nah). This entire story of the coming of the Father, with its references from Daniel, Ezekiel} Jeremiah, Micah, Isajah, Hosea, the Sibylline Books and classical literature, is told in its full richness in Thief in the Night. * * See Part Three: the Proof, pp. 107-177. 'tHE WINE OF AS'tONISHM:EN~

The following are a few fresh and intriguing words from the prophecies of Zoroaster's Faith concerning the great Shepherd and Fathet ,of mankind. It is written of His coming: I. "God will give you [persia] a good ending." 2.. ((I will send someone from this nation [persia] Who will renew religion." 3. "When Persia and the othet countries are overtaken by the Arabs,* I will choose one from the generation of the Kings of Persia, so that He will call the people of the world 'from East to West to worship one God." (14) Baba.'u'IIah was descended ~om the line of Kings of the Sassanian dynasty of Persia. He was also descended from the line of Zoroaster Himself. M. N. Dhalla, High Priest of the Parsees of northwestern India, in his Zoroastrian The%gy, speaks of Zotoaster's "own kith and kin, a, superman of miraculous powers" who would come "to renovate the world." (15) "Zoroaster," Dhalla says, "postulated a. renovation of the universe, a new dispensation in which the world will become perfect at the last. days." (16) Plutarch also spoke of the ancient Persians' "belief that at the time of the Renovation, mankind will speak one language and have one commonwealth." (17) Miles Dawson, in his The Ethical Religion of Zoroaster. points out that according to Zoroastrian scriptures, " • •• the birth of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) began the last wotld-epoch of three thousand years; after three prophets of his seed have, at intervals, carried his doctrine through- * After the coming of the Muslims from Arabia. IN THE GLORY OP THE FATHER out the world, the Last Jmlgment will be pronounced, the Kingdom of Ahura-Mazda will come •••" (I8) It is now .approximately, perhaps exactly, three thous- and years since the appearance of Zoroaster. Three great Messengers of Gáod, Buddha, Christ and Muhammad, of the same "spiritual seed" as Zoroaster, haváe carried the Word of God into the "easts of the earth and the wests thereof.'" The Faith of Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God), which was heraldedá by the Bab, His Forerunner, has come exactly as promised. The Baha'i Faith, heralded by the Bah, and founded by Baha'u'llah, is one Faith, dating from the 2;rd of May, 1844- M. N. DhaUa says of these last days that "Ahura Mazda will come at that time vlith his Holy Spirit • • . to ac- complish this great work. The world-process will then come to its final consummation as ordained by him at the beginning of creation."* (19) Zoroaster, as recorded in the Avesta and in the Cathar, foresees the Father of humanity, the great Shepherd of the one fold. Dhalla writes, 'CAs the great Shepherd, Ahura Mazda will bring back into the fold of righteousness all those persons ..• who had left his flock." (20) The historical record of the life and teachings of Baba'u'nah, God Passes By, declares: "To Israel He (Baha'u'IIah) was neither more nor less "t!than the incarnation of the 'Everlasting Father', the * The prophetical comments fu the preceding pages about Zoroaster are not Baba'i teachings. They are interesting bits of information which I discovered myself when, as a Christian, I was studying and searching for an answer to my own questions. It was because of the astonishing things which I began to uncover, that I fitst started writing Thifj in Ihl Night.

'tHE WINE OF AS'rONISHMBNT

'Lord of Hosts' come down 'with .ten thousand saints'; to Christendom Christ returned 'in the glory of the Father'; to Shf'ah Islam the retum of the Irruim Husayn; to Sunol IsMm the descent of the 'Spirit of God' (Jesus Christ; to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krlsiina; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha." (2.1) Thus Baha'u'IJ.ah's station of The Father extends to all the gteat religions of the past~ for the Flock is humanity and the Fold is the sanctuary of !lis one universal Faith. Baha.'u'llah wrote that "the Word which the Son [Jellll] tOllcealed is made manifest." He said, C'it hath been sent Jown ;n the form of the hllman temple." The Teachings of the Baha'i Faith say: " ••• the Word was Himself [Baha.'u'IIah], and He Himself was the Father." Baha.'u'IJ.ah reminded the Christian world: "This is theá day whereon the Rock [petet] crleth out and shouteth ••• saying: 'Lol the Father is come, and that which ye were promised in the Kingdom is fu]filledl' " (2.~) Baha'u'IJ.ah wrote to the te1igious leaders of Christendom: "0 concourse of Bishops I ••• He who is the Everlasting Father calletháá aloud between earth and heaven. Blessed the ear that hath beard, and the eye that hath seen, and the heart that hath tumed unto Him •••" (2.3) Baha'u'IJ.ah :referred in many ways to the station of Christ as that of the Son and of Himself as the Father. He wrote to the leaders of Christian education: IN THE GLORY OP THE PA~HER

,cPonder ye, and be not of them who are veiled and fast asleep • • • Bethlehem is astir with the Breeze of God. We hear her voice saying: '0 most generous LordI ••• The sweet savours of thy presence have quickened me, after I had melted in my separation from Thee. Praised be Thou in that Thou has raised the veils ••.' " (2.4) And in direct words: "We called unto her ••• '0 Bethleheml This Light_ hath risen in the orient, and travelled towards the occident, until it reached_ thee in the evening of its life. Tell Me then: Do the sons recognize the Father, and acknowledge Him, or do they deny Him, even as the people aforetime denied Him Uesus, the Son] ?'" (25) Christ foretold, repeatedly, that He would go away, but would return again. His ~eaning is now cleat: The Holy Spirit which dwelt within Him would return in another human temple or body. He ptophesied that the "Spirit of Truth" would come. Christ said that this Comforter would explain to His own followers the meaning of His (Christ's) teachings. Jesus also pro-- phesied in this same chapter that when that great day came, the Promised One would no longer speak in parables. The Books would be '(unsealed" and whatever His, Christ's, followers in that day asked, the Father would explain to them. Jesus says: "It is expedient for you that I go away: for ifl go not . away, the Comforter will not come unto YOu;" (2.6) He promises in that same chapter: THB WINE OF ASTONISHMENt'

"And in that day ye shall ask me nothing . .• Whatso- everá ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." (27) And yet again: "These ~ings have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." (2.8) And á.finally, in the same chapter: "Howbeit when he~ the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide YON into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak •.. he shall take of mine} and shall shew it unto .1011." (2.9) Baha'u'llih echoed these words of Christ: "0 kings of Christendom I Heard" ye not the saying of Jesus, the Spitit of God, 'I go away, and come again unto you'? Wherefore, then, did ye fail, when He did come again unto you in the clouds of heaven, to draw nigh unto Him, that ye might behold His face, and be of them that attained his Presence?" (30) And, of that same chapter of the New Testament, Baha'u'l1ah has written: . "In a.p.other passage He sai.n: 'When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you unto all truth.' And yet, behold how, when He did bring tlle truth, ye refused to tum your faces towards Him, and per- sisted in disporting yourselves with your pastimesá and fancies. Ye welcomed Him not, neithet did ye IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER seek His Presence, that ye might hear the verses of God from His own mouth ..." (3 I) In His longing to help the lovers of Christ to under- stand this truth, BaM'u'llah declared: "0 concourse of Christians! ••• This is the Day of God; turn ye unto Him ... Ye make mention of Me, and know Me not. Ye call upon Me, and are heedless of 11y Revelation . . . . 0 people of the Gospell They who were not in the Kingdom have now entered it, whilst We behold you, in this day, tarryingatthegate ..• Verily, He [Jesus] said: 'Come ye after- Me, and. I will make you to become fishers of men.' In this day, ' however, We say: 'Come ye after Me, that We may make you to become quickeners of mankind.' " (32.)

The "fishers of men" have now become the "quicken- ers of mankind" as the day of the Son- gives way to the day of the Father. The complete oneness and inseparable- ness of the Missions of both the Son and the Father, ,of the Message of Christ with that of BaM'u'llah, is seen in these words of Baha'u'llah Himself cited in the book The Promised Day Is Come: "We, verily, have come for your sakes, and have borne the misfortunes of the world for your salvation. Flee ye the One Who hath sacrificed His life that ye may be quickened? ... 0 followers of the Spirit [Jesus] ... walk not in the footsteps of every divine [religious leader] that hath gone far astray ... Open the doors of your hearts. He Who is the Spirit [Jesus], verily, standeth before them. Wherefore keep ye afar from Him Who hath purposed to draw you nigh unto a Resplendent Spot? ... We, in truth, have opened Wlto

THE WINB OF AS'rONISHMENT

you the gates of the Kingdom. Will ye bar the doors of your houses in ~d.y face? This indeed is naught but a grievous ettor." (33) Could there be a more logical and acceptable explana- tion of the-symbols The Son and The Father? Next, let us consider that greatest of all Christian enigmas, that puzzle which has sundered and split the Faith of Clttist, a riddle which has divided His followers, and has been responsible for mote deaths than many wars-The Trinity. Let us see what the teachings of Baha'u'IIah tell us about the true meaning of Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. CHAPTER BIGH'r

THE SECRET OF THE TRINITY

T HE question of the Trinity has long troubled the Christian world. The disputes and bloodshed which characterized the early centuries during which Christianity was being formulated into an official, orthodox creed, have now been replaced by intellectual warfare. This question has still not been resolved to the common satisfaction of all Christians. Because of the Trinity, the Jews accused the Christians of abandoning belief in one God. Because of the Trinity, the pagans refused to abandon theit belief in many gods for a single Christian God, since this single God was, in reality, three gods, they said. The subject. of the true nature of Christ was the burning issue of the fourth century. Almost every Christian, in. the churches, at home, and in the street, was debating the subject of the Trinity. The brother of the famous Gregory of Nyassa,. Basil, wrote of the Eastern capital city of Constantinople: "This city is full of mechanics and slaves who are all of them profound theologians, and pteach in the shops and the streets. If you desire a,man to change a pie<;e of silver "he informs you wherein the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a. loaf ••• you are told that the Son is inferior to the Father; ap.d if you inquire whether THE WINE OP ASTONISHMENT

the bath is ready, the answer- is, the Son was made out of nothing." (I) St. Augustine recognized that this doctrine of the Tr.ip.ity was an obstacle to the mind. áHe spent fifteen years writing De Trinitate which he filled with analogies from life to explain the three persons in one God. Hilary, in the year 367, wrote a document of twelve volumes in an effort to set forth clearly this doctrine of the Church. He was unsuccessful. It has been said of this tempestuous time, that a creed was finally arrived at "Mter nearly fow: hundred years of conflict waged with anathema, excommunication. and banishment, and aided by torture and poison.•.." (2) Each faction employed "gladiators to sustain its point" and even armies were rallied to defend either one view or the other. H. G. Wells asserts in his history that "we :find all the Christian communities so agitated and exasperated by tortuous and elusive arguments about the nature of God as to be largely negligent of the simpler teachings of charity, service and brotherhood.that Jesus had inculcated." (3) TertuHian wrote of the doctrine: "1 believe because it is impossible." These were days of great heresies in the Church because of the doctririe of the Trinity. Since there wasá no accepted doctrine which represented the united official view of the Church, it-was difficult to decide who was the heretic and who was orthodox. The situation became so critical that at length the govenunent was forced to intervene. The Emperor Constantine called a genetal council of the Church at Nicaea in A.D. 32 S He attended the conference himself. THE SECRET OF THE 'tRINITY

At that time the burning question was the true nature of Christ. Did one say, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," or "Glory to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost" ? Athanasius and his followers were considered orthodox while Arius and his supporters were labelled heretic. Constantine banished Arius, but later, when Arius professed to the Emperor that he believed in the Nicene Creed with subtle reservations, Constantine ordered that he be accepted back into the fold. Athanasius refused, and was himself deprivedá of his office and banished. Arius died suddenly. His death was described as an act of God by the supporters' of Athanas- ius, and as an act of poison by the Arians (supporters of Arius). Constantine himself died the following 'year, having been baptized by one of the Arian bishops whom he had previously banished, Eusebius, Bishop of Nico- media and an Arian, who became the Emperor's "friend and counsellor". There is no mention of the word Trinity in the New Testament. The charge made against Christ, in His Day, was that He made Himself God by saying that the Father was in Him, and that He and the Father were one. There was a duality, according to His enemies. A triune God had no part in the early belief. It was not until the appearance of the fourth Gospel (approximately A.D. 100-110) that a third element is added: the Logos. John declares:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. "The ~ame was in the beginning with God." (4) ~HE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

The "Word" of Joha was :read as "Logos" in the Greek. This word is' said to be so complex in its meaning that there is no equivalent in modem language. The Stoics "had virtually made a god of Logos". Hellen- ized Jews looked upon the Logos as an intermediary between God and man to keep the One God pure and undefiled. Thus the "Word" became the "Holy Ghost", and together with the Father and the Son laid the found- ation for the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Logos)•. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch about A.D. 16o, appears to be the first of the Church Fathers to make use of the word Trinity when speaking of the Godhead. A history of that time says, "He does not, however, explain it according to the later usage of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but speaks of the Trinity of God, His Word, and His Wisdom." (5) Toward the end of that tempestuous fourth century, the battle shifted from the exact nature of Christ and centred around the nature of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost~ "Was the Holy Ghost on an equality with the Father and the Son, or was he the progeny of the Son? 'If so, as (Bishop] Gregory of Nazianzus pointed out, the Father must assume the ridiculous position of grandfather." (6) Justin 'Martyr (A.P. 110-165 ?),* in his First Apology, states that at first the "name of God" was pronounced over the applicant who would be baptized. However, when baptism had become a more standardized sacra-- mental ptocedute., the applicant was baptized: "In the * Approximate. THE SECRET OF THB 'tRINITY

name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,," And .tb~ three Persons, at last, were One. The problems attendant on the meaning of this phrase, "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," opened the doors to the wars o£ the Trinity. The concept of the Trinity was not a teaching of Christ. It was a doctrine of the Church which received official recognition in A.D. 32.5, neatly three hundred years after the Crucifixion. At the Council of Nicaea the official definition of the doctrine of the Trinity was formed. Although later Councils also dealt with this subject, the view framed a.t Nicaea substantially tepresents the understanding of the Trinity accepted by the Catholic Church even today. The Nicene Creed was adopted, teaching bodily Resurrection, and that the Father and the Son were One. The Creed was as follows: "We believe in on~ God, the Father Ahnighty, maker of all things visible or invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten ••• not made, beingá of one essence (homoousion) with the Father •• who for us men and our salvation came down and was made flesh, was made man, suffered, rose again the third day, ascended into heaven, and comes' to judge the quick and the dead • • ." (7) This differs somewhat from the "Nicenc Creed" n.ow in use, which is a revision made in A.D. 362.. The Council of Nicaea defined and shaped the doctrine of the Trinity. But it could not :resolve the inner and outet struggles which arose because of these vital points THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

of belief, nor could it bring to an end the dispute between the Athanasian and Arian points of view. • A Christian historian relates that oftentimes during an episcopal election, or an excommunication of an impor- tant figure, the cities of Antioch, Alexandria, and Con-' stantinople broke out into scenes of riot "that would have disgraced a revolution." Great numbers of people who were labelled "heretic" were massacred. Towns and villages were "utterly destroyed". Even the orthodox populace became divided into factions, and "fought like savages in the very churches". It is recorded that at the time of the reinstatementá of the Arian Bishop Macedonius, in Constantinople, three thousand people lost their lives in the fighting. This is reported as "considerably more than had suffered death in the whole ten yeats of the last pagan persecution." (8) "Probably more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in these two years," history records, "than by . all the persecutions of Christians by pagans in the history of Rome." (9) . This question of the Trinity has remained unsetded for nearly two dlousand years in spite of the efforts of religious leaders, scholars, and the intervention of governments. Baha'u'llah, Who has come in fulfillment of the pro-' mises made in all the Holy Books toá "unseal" the Scriptures, offers in HisáTteachings a clear explanation of the meaning of the Trinry: The Father, the Son} and the HolY Ghost. . Christ was speaking of Baha'u'llih when He promised that the Spirit ofTr~th would come to lead men unto all truth. Christ added: 102. THE SECRET. OF THE TRINITY

" •.. he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear [of God], that shall he ,speak ••• he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (10) • The Writings of the Baha'i Faith explain that, in one respect, each of the great religions has a Trinity. It is found in Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. However, this Trinity is merely the outward symbol of an inward truth. It should never be interpreted as meaning that God can be defined, divided, or limited in any way. God is One, single, unknowable, indefinable, indivis- ible, and infinite, Baha'u'llah tells us. The:re is no exception to this truth. The Trinity is to be understood in the following manner: In every revealed religion there are three esse~­ tial actors, (I) the Giver, (2.) the Gift} and (3) the Receiver ~~G~ . Almighty God is the Giver. The Messenger of God is the RBceiver of the Gift. The HolY Spirit is the Gift. In the case of Judaism, 'God was the Giver, Moses th9 R4ceiver of the Gift, and the HolY Spirit revealed in the symbol of the Burning Blish was the Gift.á In .the case of Christianity, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit in the symbol of the Dove. This Trinity composed of God, the Messenger, and the Holy Spirit, has existed in each . of the great teligiqns. For example: I. God, Moses, the Burning Bush. 2.. God, Zoroaster, the Sacred Fire. 3. God, Christ, the Dove. 4. God, Muhammad, the Angel Gabriel. ,. God, Baha'u'1llh, the Holy Maiden. (II) lOS THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

These are all the outward .rymhol of the same inward truth. They represent the moment when the. Holy Spirit or Wisdom of God became directly associated with the One Who was to be His Messenger. Bahi;u'lhih writes that God is exalted far above the knowledge of man. He cannot be desclibed, let alone measured, or divided. Therefore, there can be no trinity other than in symbol. Baha'u'IIah says: "Regard thou the one true God as One Who is apart from, and immeasurably exalted above, all created things. The whole universe reflecteth His glory, while He is Himself independent of, and ttanscendeth His creatw:es. This is the true meaning of Divine Unity ••• He is a true believer in Divine Unity who, far from confusing duality with oneness, :refuseth to allow any. notion of multiplicity to becloud his conception of the singleness of God, who will :regard the Divine Being as One Who, by His very nature, transcendeth the limitations of numbers." (12.) Having recognized the inviolable oneness of God, the figurative meaning of the Trinity can be understood with- out transgressing the fundamental principle. An a.nalogy may help to illustrate: There is a trinity .in. the sun, the rays of the sun, and the ,arth. Here too, we have the giver (sun), the gift (rays of the sun), and the receiver of the gift (earth). The sun and the earth are entirely separate and different. Yet, the soutce of all life on earth is from the sun, through its tays. In like manner, the source of all spiritual life on earth (the receiver of the gift) is from the Sun of Truth, God (the Giver) tlu:ough His Messengers or Rays (the Gift). THE SECRE't OF THE TRINI'ty

Th~ Trinity, in this case, ~s (1) God, the .Giver (sun), (2) the Holy Spirit or Messenger of God, the Gift (rays of the sun), and (3) the people of the earth, the receiver of fhi Gift (earth). The oneness, the infinite singleness of God (the sun) is never questioned. The sun remains completely separate and distinct from the earth, although the life-creating qualities of its :rays are the soutee of all earthly life, including that of mankind itself. The Writings of the Baha'i Faith say: "The descent of that Lordly Reality [God] into conditions and degrees would. be equivalent to im.. perfection and contrary to perfection, and is therefore . absolutely impossible ••• God is pure perfection, and creatures are but imperfections. For God to descend into the conditions of existence would be the greatest of imperfections • ." ." (I;) . Division is nota property of God, it is a property of creation. God, the Unknowable, is now, has ever "been, and will always be beyond the definition and under- standing of finite man. All that we know of the attributes and qualities of God is what we see :reHected in the lives of His Messengers. This is the true meaning of the Trinity. Thus the analogy of the mirtot is used in Baha'u'JJ.ah's teachings to demonstrate this inward truth. God is the SUD, Christ is the m.iJ:ror. The Holy Spirit is the :reflection of the Sun which shines in that Mirror. God is the Giver, Christ the Receiver, and the Holy Spirit is the Gift. The sun is the giver, the ~ror the receiver, and the reflection of the sun is the gift. This same Trinity lOS THE WINE OP ASTONISHMENT

has existed in each of the great religions, and has nothing to do with the oneness of God. Nor does it in any way challenge His infinity or singleness. When the sun is perfectly reflected in the mirror, we can see its light and feel its heat. Yet, we" would never say that the sun was physically in the mirror, nor that the mirror and sun were one and the same thing. The sun remains in the heaven, and is merely reflected in the • nurror. To conclude, the teachings of the Baha'i Faith say:

"The epitome of the discourse is that the Reality of Christ was a clear mirror, and the Sun of Reality, that is to say the Essence of "Oneness [God], with its. infinite perfections and attributes, became visible in the mirror. The meaning is not that the Sun, which is the Essence of the Divinity, became divided and multiplied; for the Sun is one, but it appeared in the mirror. This is why Christ said, 'The Father is in the Son,' meaning that the Sun is visible and manifest in this mirror . . . The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God which becomes visible and evident in the Reality [or mirror] of Christ .•• Hence it h3:s become certain and proved that the Essence of Divinity is absoltltely unique, and has no equal, no likeness, no equivalent. "This is the signification of the Three Persons of the Trinity. If it were otherwise, the foundations of the Religion of God would rest upon an illogical proposi... tion which the mind could never conceive, and how can the mind be forced to believe a thing \vhich it cannot conceive? A thing cannot be grasped by the intelligence except when it is clothed with an intelligible form; otherwise it is but an effort of the • • • lmagmatton. 'I'HE SECRE'r OF 'tHB 'tRINITY

"It has now become clear, from this explanation, what is the meaning of the Three Persons of the Trinity. The Oneness of God is also proved." (14)

What tragedies have occurred. because man elevates the outward symbol to the place of honour rightfully belonging to the inward truth-fow: hundred years of bitter physical struggle, and neatly two thousand years of verbal watfare. The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) declared Arius a heretic and that Christ was truly God, and that He was coequal and coetemal with the Father; and although separate, the Two wete One. The Council of Constantinople (A.D. ;81) declared the views of Apollinarius heretical, and confirmed the Nicene Creed that Christ was God, but truly man. The Council of Epheslls (A.D. 43 I) proclaimed Nestorius a heretic, and re.. emphasized the truth that the two natures of Christ and God were indivisibly one. The Conncil of Chalcedon (A.D. 45 I) affirmed that Christ and God were nevertheless perfectly separated and distinct. By the end of .the fourth century, the clash over the meaning of the Trinity had spread even beyond Gaul. Hilary, Bishop ofPoiters (A . D. 361), vigorously defended the Nicene Creed. It is said that in his struggle "to ex- plain the trinity," Hilary wrote a treatise consisting of twelve books. The misunderstanding of the meaning of the Trinity lecl to more. bloodshed among fellow Christians than all the persecutions by non-Christians. Gibbon has placed at less than two thousand the number of Christians. who were executed by judicial sentence during the terrible persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius in A.D. 303-3 I I. 'rHB WINE OF ASTONISHMENT.

It has been estimated by H. W. Smith that "the :figure (%,000) would be scarcely more than doubled fot the whole period of the Roman Empire-not one ten thousandth of the áblood that Christianity itself vIas to spill in the course of its career." (15) The persecution of Christian by Christian, for heresy in one fOJ:m or another, continued fOI over a thousand years. Durant, in his Age of Faith, writes, "Com- pared with the persecutions of heresy in Europe from 1127 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by Romans in the Erst three centuries after Christ was a mild human procedure." (16) When Constao.tius, the son of the baptized Constantine, came to power, he was the "first Christian-bred emperor". He ignored his father's policy, and agreed to the Christ- ians' request that he close the pagan temples; whoever opposed the decree would be put to death. Thus, less than fifty years aftet the last pagan persecution of the Christians the first Christian persecution of the pagans took place. All because of the failure to Understand the true purpose and meaning of Christ's teachings. Baha'u'llib declared that it was to release the ('necks of men" from the chains of such cruel beliefs that He had come with His message of unity for this day. BahA'u'lhih writes, in His Book The Glad Tidings, that the "first Glad Tidings" which He has brought to all the people of the world "is the abolishing of the decree of religious warfare from the Book" of God. In unsealing the truth of the meanings hidden in Scripture, Baha.'u'lIah writes in praise of God, with His own Pen: t08 THE SECRET OF 'tHE TRINITY

"He is the Declarer, the Knower, the Omniscient I • . . it has been OUtain! that the ears of the people of the world - should be purified through the kawtbar [river] of divine utterance from false narrations and be prepared to hear-ken unto the blessed, pure, exalted Word which hath appeared from the treasury of the knowledge of the Maker of heaven and Creator of names. "Blessed are those ,vho are justl" (17)

CH.A.P'rER NINE

MIRACLES

MANKIND in every age, including the present, shows a great taste for wonders, signs, portents, and miracles•. His love of "magic" never vanishes. Although the credulity of the early centuries of this era has now been replaced by a universal skepticism, underneath there still :remains a remarkable, an almost incurable demand for the miraculous. Miracles are a drug that temporarily astonishes and influences the beholders, but a drug that soon wears off, leaving apathy and disillusionment. It creates an appetite that must be continuously fed with new miracles in ordet to keep it satisfied. Eventually, the miracle-lover becomes an addict whose mind can be teached by neither reason nor logic. Christ healed ten lepers, but only one remained to acknowledge the wonder and to thank him. Christ asked: - "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? '''There are not found that :returned to give gloty to God, save this stranger." (1) Christ Himself forcefully demonstrated the need fot MIRACLES

man to believe because of the teachings He had brought, and not because of miracles. When Thomas :refused to believe without the proof of a wonder, Jesus rebuked him, saying: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (2) Of Christ it is also written that for many others, the miracles had no meaning: ('But though he h1.d done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him." (3) Baha'u'llih strongly denounced this hunger for miracles. He said to the religious leaders of Baghdad who demanded a sign for the ptoof'of His Mission: ". . . The Cause of God is not a. theatrical display that is presented every hour, of which some new diver- sion may be asked for every day. If it were thus, the Cause of God would become mere child's play." (4) Religious history shows clearly that miracles have never been the means of changing the hearts of men. Miracles may astonish, may please the onlooker, but they are soon forgotten. The purpose of the Messenger of God is to transform the character of mankind. His, Mission is to draw people nearer to God through their own inner volition, not by His outward compulsion. A man's belief in God and religion must be the :result of understanding, , not mystification. The Writings of the Baha'I Faith explain that the pri- mary :reason for the appearance of a Messenger of God is: III THE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN~

". • • to educate the souls of men, and refine the character of every living man • • . The most vital- duty, in this day, is to purify your characters, to correct your manners, and improve your conduct." (s) The teachings of the Baha'I Faith insist that its follow- ers: ". • • must show forth such character and conduct among His [God's] creatures, that the fragrance of their holiness may be shed upon the whole world, and may quicken the [spiritually] dead ••• " (6) This is why Moses, Christ, Baha'u'lhih, and all the Messengers of God have come: to reform both the inner and outer life of men. They did not come to perform miracles and to work 'Wonders. The teachings of Bab.a'u'llih's Faith point out that the proof of a World-Educator or Messenger of God is the education which He gives to man. The proof of the great bridge-builder is the great bridge. The proof of the great singer is the great song. One cannot establish a reputation as a great architect by changing wine into water, or a stick into a snake. Only a great building, built according to his specifications, can prove that a man is a. great architect. In like manner, miracles do not proveá . the validity of a Messenger of God. His Message proves it. 1fuacles are only secondary proofs. Most frequently such miracles are of a symbolical natute, and should not be taken literally. The Writings of the Baha'i Faith say: "What then is the mission of the divine prophets? Their mission is the education and a.dvancement of the world of humanity. They are the teal teachers and MIRACLES

educators, the universal instructors of mankind. If we wish to discover whether any of these great souls or messengers was in reality a prophet of God, we must investigate the facts surrounding His life and . history; anq the first point of out investigation will be the education He bestowed upon m~kind. If He has been an educator, if He has really trained a nation or a people, causing it to rise from the lowest depths of ignorance to the highest station of knowledge, then we are sure that He was a prophet. This is a plain and clear method of procedure, proof that is irrefutable .... We do not need to mention miracles, saying that out of rock water gushed forth, for such miracles and state- ments may be denied and refused by those who hear them. The deeds of Moses are conclusive evidences of His prophethood." (7)á ~ . The same is true of Christ, ~{uhammad, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, or Baha'u'llah. That They are Educators is proved by Their teachings. That They can attract the hearts of men is proved by the great num- ber of Their followers. Their Messages are the proof of the validity of Their Missions. This is the real miracle: that they bring a knowledge which banishes ignorance. Mter all, man is surrounded every day by so-called miracles. Often he is entirely unaware of them. If a handful of steel screws is dropped, they fall to the floor, drawn by gravity. Yet, if a powerful magnet, or electro- magnet approaches them, they áfly upward, breaking this natural law of gravitation. A higher power has been applied. In an earlier age thi~ would have been considered an astounding miracle. All wonders that appear to be conttary to known laws, seem to be miracles. 'tHE WINE OP AS'tONISHMENT

It is a miracle that man flies like a bird in his jet planes; dives in the sea like a fish in his submarines; races across the land at terrific speeds; imprisons light in a glass bulb; speaks in an instant. across continents; witnesses on a television screen events taking place at that mom~t thousands of miles away; sustains the animation of the heart artificially so that vital surgery may be performed; or replaces a blind eye with one that sees~ We are encircled with miracles every moment of our lives. The ink from the typewriter, by which this chapter is being written, is composed of countless, immeasurable atoms. Each one is a solar system with its own central star and planets circling around it in the form of electrons. In the space of time it takes to type this page, each electron racing around the central proton, as the planets circle our sun, will have travelled much farther than the distance from New York to London and return. The p~ysical wonders that encompass us stagger the mind. How can we hope to take in the spiritual reality that underlies them? These miracles do not break the law of God's natural creation. They are truths that have always existed, but have remained until recently hidden in the vast treasure-house of God's knowledge. At last, the developing mind of man has brought them out from the unknown into the known. Explaining the proton, electron, atom, or molecule to a person living in the day of Moses ot Christ, would have been impossible. To accept such fantastic "mir- acles" would have been equally impossible for them. Yet we accept these truths now as a part of our everyday life. Is it any wonder that Jesus said to Nicodemus: MIRACLES "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" (8) The proof of the Messenger of God is His Message and never His miracles. When a man wishes to purchase an automobile, he accepts ottejects it depending upon the performance of that car. He judges it according to the qualities which an automobile is supposed to possess. He does not buy the car because the salesman is able to change tyres into golden platters. This truth applies in all fields" A dog is not measured by his ability to pullli~e a horse, nor is a horse judged by his bark, eyesight, sense of smell, and instinct for watch- fulness and protection. T.o,e end must partake of the means. If the end is education, the means must be instruction. If one wishes to obtain a teaching degree, he goes to school, not to a wizard, a sorcerer, or a magician. Baha'u'llah has plainly written that the Messengers of God have come to educate the minds and souls of men, to uplift their' station and dignity. They have not come to blunt men's senses or dull their minds with miracles. Baha'u'llah's Writings say: "It is incumbent upon ev~ry man, in this Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will promote the interests, and exalt the station, of all nations and just governments. Through each and everyone of the verses which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed, the doors of love and unity have been unlocked and flung open to the face of men . • • Whatsoever hath led the crJIdren of men to shun one another, and hath caused dissensions and divisions amongst them, hath, through the revela- tion of these words, been nullified and abolished. THE WINE OF AS'rONISHMENT

From the heaven of God's will, and for the purpose of ennobling the world of being and of elevating the minds anti souls oj men, hath been sent down that which is the mosl effective instrument for the education of the whole humall race • • • It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world. Through the power released by these exalted words He hath lent a fresh impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men's hearts, and hath obliteratcd every trace of . . . limitatioll from God's ho!J Book." (9) (Author's italics)

Yet, despite the fact that religion is primarily a pr<r- gressive system of spiritual education, the cry of man has ever been that recorded in the Bible:

" ... if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles ••• ?" (10)

Miracles, wonder, and magic create an insatiable thirst among men. Each wonder must be eclipsed. by a greater marvel. Eventually all bonds 'of restraint are gone, and miracles become, not the property of the Prophet, but of His disciples and apostles. Next they become the daily food and drink of the populace. The church made this .alarming discovery itself, and finally had to place an iron hand on the working of mitacles, as well as on the teporting of such miracles. An historian has written of the appalling results of the love of miracles in the Christian Faith: "A multitude of mysterious and supernatural beings had descended into Christianity from pagan antiquity, and were still coming into it from Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, as trolls, elves, giants, fairies, goblins, gnomes, MIRACLES

ogres, banshees, mysterious dragons, blood-sucking vampires; and new superstitions were always entering Europe from the East. Dead men walked the air as ghosts; men who had sold themselves to the Devil roamed woods and fields as werewolves; the souls of children dead before baptism haunted the marshes as will-O'-the-wisps. When St., Edmund Rich saw a flock of black crows he recognized them at once as a flock of devils come to fetch the soul of a local usurer. When a demon is exorcised from a man, said many a medieval story, a big black fly-sometimes a dog-could be seen issuing from his mouth. The population of devils never declined." (I I) There were, of course, good angels who were looked upon with favour, if kept under reasonable control. This idea of a special angel to protect each child and adult came from Zoroastrian theology, not Christian, though it was not a teaching of Zoroaster. Dawson, in his Ethical Religion of Zoroaster, tells of "guardian angels" for every man, woman and child. As Durant states, "The majestic monotheism of the founder became-as in Christianity- the polytheism of the people." The Church struggled against these beliefs in miracuá lous events. She punished severely. She tried to root out black magic and other illegal wonders. In spite of this effort, magic and miracles "flourished in a thousand plac6s ••• nearly everybody believed in some magical means of turning the powet of supernatural beings to a desired end." (12) Iacopo de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, wrote a. bool{ in which he had a magical story for each day of the year" a story about the miracles of one of the Saints, THE WINE OF AS~ONISHMEN'r

including the slaying of dragons. Although the Church "counselled a certain suspension of belief" concerning some of these stories, it was fruitless. The stories were loved, believed, and accepted. One account states that "The enlightened Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons in the ninth century, complained that 'things of such absurdity are believed by Christians as no one ever aforetime could induce the heathen to believe.' " (I 3) Miracles which had once been used to inspire, now served only to degrade. It was too late to stop it. Pandora had opened the box herself. Baha'u'llah recognized the danget of miracles. He knew the insecurity of any heart which insisted upon miracles before "believing." Baha'u'llah courageously challenged this demand for miracles. His words have put an end to any religious importance which might be attributed to miracles. Baha'u'JJ.ah spoke on b~ha1f of all the Messengers of God, for all time. While He was in exile in Baghdad, near the place along the river Cheba! where Ezekiel in vision had seen the glory of God, Baha'u'llah was under attack by the religious leaders of the area. They had devised a cunning plan, by which they could arouse the animosity of the people against Baha'u'llah: miracles. Their plan was to belittle Baha'u'llih in the eyes of the people. These religious leaders sent an efi?lssary named Hasan-i-'Ammu to Bahi'u'llih with a list of abstruse questions taken from vague and fragmentary references found in their Scripture and Traditions. They felt that Baha'u'lIah would surely make a fool of Himself in trying to answer such diffic;ult questions. As no priest or scholar MIRACLES

among theit own most illustrious leaders had yet been able to resolve these problems, how could Baha.'u'lJ.a.h ever hope to? They chuckled with glee at the prospect of His humiliation. Baha.'u'llah, Who had come to IIItseal the meaning of the holy Books of the past, answered the questions briefly and lucidly. He answered each question to the complete satisfaction, as well as the utter amazement, of the representative of the religious leaders.á It was not a matter of "miracles," but a matter of knowledge. These religious leaders were forced to recognize the vastness of BaM'u'1.lah's knowledge. But they would not be shaken from their purpose. Baha'u'llah must be dis- credited at any cost. Therefore they continued with the.it conspiracy. They decided to appeal to BaM'u'.llah fo:r a wonder, a sign, for a physical miracle. "Weá are not contented," they said, "we are not con- vinced by this [His great knowledge]. We do not ac- knowledge the validity of his [Baha'u'llih's] mission just because he is wise and righteous. Therefore we ask himá to show us a miracle in order to satisfy and tranquiJJize our hearts. " The emissary. they sent to Baha'u'llah repeated these words. He said, "We testify that the knowledge thou dost possess is such as none can rival. Such a knowledge however, is insufficient proof to vindicate the exalted station which the people ascribe to thee." It was the same old familiar cry to which Christ had listened: "It is not enough that .men love you, follow you, and that your words and teachings are acknowledged to be true and beautiful. We would see a sign from you." 1]9 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

Hasan-i-'Ammu said to Baha'u'llih, "Produce if thou speakest the truth, what the combined forces of the peoples of the earth are powerless to produce." To the surprise of Hasan-i-'Ammu, the representative of the :religious leaders, Baha'u'llah agreed at once to perform such a miracle. This was a step unique in the annals of religious history: a Messenger of God agreeing beforehand to perform a miracle, at the request of the religious leaders, to test their sincerity. Baha.'u'llah announced to the emissary that He would happily per.. form a suitable miracle. No doubt His inner eye twinkled with .amusement as He contemplated the outcome. "Although you have no right to ask this," Baha'u'llah told the emissary, " ... still I allow and accept this request." Baha'u'llah, knowing that the realápurpose behind the :request was to humiliate Him publicly an~ thus prove Him to be false, insisted upon certain conditions. "The 'ulamas [religious leaders] must assemble, and, with one accord, choose one miracle." This was Bahi'u'llih's first demand. There was yet another condition. They must also agree, He said, to put in writ- ing that "after the performance of this miracle they will . no longer entertain doubts about Me, and that all will acknowledge and confess the truth of My Cause." Baha'u'llah was not to be betrayed by their cunning. He told their representative that it was not enough for them merely to agree to put this in writing, they must actually sign such a document before the performance of the agreed-upon miracle. . "Let them seal this paper," He told the emissary, "and bring it to Me. This must be the accepted criterion: 12.0 MIRACLBSá

if the miracle is performed, no doubt will remain for them; and if not, We shall be convicted of impostute." This was a clear, courageous reply. The challenge had been accepted by Baha'u'llah and thrown back to the religious l~ders. Hasan-i-'Ammti~ the representative, was deeply affected both by Baha'u'llah's answers to his abstruse theological questions~ and by the generosity and wil1ingness of Bahi'u'llab to perform the miracle. "There is no more to be said," Hasan-i-'Ammu declared. He arose from his interview, expressed his new-found respect and admiration for Baha'u'llah, and departed to deliver Baha'u'l1ah's challenging reply to the clergy. (14) "Days passed and he failed to come back to Us," Baha'u'llab recorded. "Eventually, there came another messenger who informed Us that the people [leaders] had given up what they originally had purposed."* (15) The original emissary sent word to Baha'u'llah that the august body of religious leaders had failed to arrive at a decision. They had been stunned by Bam'u'llah's challenge. They could not agree upon a miracle fot Baha'u'lliih to perform. They could not now even agree upon the widsom of letting Baha'u'llah 3ttempt to per- fonn a miracle of any kind. They had expected an out- right refusal from Baha'u'llah. They had planned to use this refusal to denounce Him as a fraud. Now they were deeply concerned about the danger of giving Baba.'u'llah any opportunity to perform a miracle; even if they were ever able to agree upon one definite miracle. They • This delightful story is told in more detail in Fire in'the Sky!, the account ofBaha'u'llah's Letters to the religious and secular leaders of the world.

12.1 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMBNT

decided that it would be safer to drop the mattet entitely. They were interested in a victory over Baha'u'JJah that would debase Him, not in offering Him an opportunity to exalt Himself a.t their expense. These religious leaders could not find any satisfactory ans~er to the troublesome question they kept asking themselves: "What if Baha'u'llih should actually peiform the miracle ?" The news of their challenge to Baha'u'IIah, and of His bold teply, was given widespread publicity. The original emissary, Hasan-i-'Ammu, made the story everywhere known. He travelled to Perisa, and while in Tihrao, told the story in person to the Foreign Minister. (16) When. Baha'u'llah was informed of the decision of the religious leaders in reply to His offer, He said: "We have through this all-satisfying, all-embracing message- which We sent, revealed and vindicated the mitacles of all the Prophets, inasmuch as We left the choice to the 'ulatnas [clergy] themselves, undertaking to reveal whatever they would decide upon." (17) In speaking of His offer to perform this miracle in Baghdad, Baha'u'llah said once again that these outer wonders were of no importance. It was the inner spiritual truths which the Messengers of God taught that were everything. The experience of every Prophet, Baha'u'llah said, had been the same: "Whoso hath in bygone ages asked Us [the Messengets of God] to produce the signs of God, hath, no sooner than We revealed them to him, repudiated God's truth. The people, however, have, for the most part, rem~ed heedless. They whose eyes are illumined with the light of understanding .•. will embrace His truth. These ate they who are truly sincere." (IS) MIRACLES

Eyes that ate opened to the inner light, will see and believe. This is the real miracle. It is this jnner conviction, not an outer compulsion, that makes a true and lasting believer in any truth, ;religious or otbetwise. Jesus ex- plained this principle to His disciples when He said: "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." (I9) Christ, in these words, states two truths: I. It is not the miracles, but the inward truth that nourishes. 2.. Many miracles, s'uch as the miracle of the loaves and fishes, are symbolical in their meaning. The story of the five barley loaves and two small :fishes which fed five thousand has been considered by some to be one of theá greatest of Christ's miracles. Yet Christ Himself made it plain t4at it was not a physical, but a symbolical marvel. Christ fed the people with what he called "the meat which perishes not, the meat that is everlasting". He fed them the "bread of life" which He said was the teaching of the Messenget of God who had come down from heaven to give life to the world. Christ did not :refer to the "loaves and fishes" as an outward wonder at all. When He spoke to His disciples of this event, fIe said: ,eYe seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and wete filled. " ~acles and partaking of the "bread of life" were two different things. The Baha'I teaching on miracles is expressed by 'Abdu'l-Baba as follows: " .•. for the manifestations these miracles and wondetful signs have no importance; they do not even wish to mention them. For, if we 12 3 'tHE WINB OF ASTONISHMBNl'

consider miracles a gteat proof, they are still only proots and atguments fot those who are present when they are performed. • • • The meaning is not that the manifesta- tions are unable to perform miracles, for ~ey have all power. But fot them inner sight, spiritual healing, and eternal life are the valuable and important things." (Some AnsweredQuestions) Chap. XXII.) If miracles are ascribed to the founders of religion, and become engtafted upon the teaching, they will inevitably be used to mislead, delude, and defraud the simple and ttusting among the children of men, says ,Abdu'l-Baba. History clearly illustrates this. Thus it is imperative that men should understand the symbolical imPard truth behind these outward stories, mysteries, and ceremonies which are found in all the past teligions in varying degrees. Otherwise the sincere soul will become disillusioned when he learns that all these . miracles he has held so dear, and considered as the exclusive and sacred property of his own belief, were loved with equal devotion by equally sincere souls iná the pagan past. The great rival of Christianity in the early centuries, Mitlu:aism, is an example. The ceremony in the Mithraeum (natural cave or vault) was more ciude and less sublimated than Christian worship, but greatly similar with its seven degrees of Mithraic mysteries, "one involving a communion of btead and wine, another a purification of the hands and tongue with honey, the third a simulated death and resurrection, and in a fourth the subject was marked on the forehead with a symbolic sign. Mystic rituals such as the repetition of sacred formulas, the chanting of music, and the purification by baptism, by the ringing of bells, 12.4 MIRACLES

by the sacred fire of the temple candles ... The highest degree was held by the priests who were addressed as 'pater', a name later corrupted to 'papa' and then to 'pope'." (20) "The term papa} 'father', which became in English pope} was applied in the fust three centuries to any Christian bishop." (21) Paganism was keetlly aware of the power of an appeal . to the physical senses, as were Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and the ancient faiths, in varying forms. With their altars, rituals, robes, and candles they appealed powerfully to the sense of sight. Incense and perfumes appealed to the sense of smell; bells, chanting and singing to the sense of hearing; the bread and wine to the sense of taste; and beads and sacred objects to the sense of touch. The early Church followed this example, and improved upon it. It established a magnificent pageantry of power- ful appeal to all the physical senses. This accounted for,. and still accounts for, the grave difficulty which its follow- em llad and have in objectively seeing and understanding the true meaning behind these symbolical ceremonies. These rituals becarne the thing believed in, instead of the vital truths which they symbolized; just as the miracles became the source of Christ's greatness to many, rather than the spiritual truths for which they stood. This dilemma has been satirically expressed by a biographer of George Santayana who observed: "So powerful was the hold of church ritual and pageantry upon him that he, Santayana, was described as one who believed that there was no God, and that the Virgin Mary was His mother." 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

If the greatness of Christ were to be based upon His performing miracles, then' it would lower rather than raise His station. Such miracles were not performed by Christ alone. Others besides Christ had performe9 these same wonders, according to written record, and many, many years before Christianity. Pagan literature is filled with stories of such miracles as the loaves and fishes, walking on water, raising from the dead, restoring sight and hearing, casting out devils) and resurrection. It is obvious that these miracles did not originate with Christi~ty. There are many accounts of such events. One of them will suffice: "Jesus turned water into wine, as did Dionysus on January sixth of every year; and multiplied loaves of bread, as did Elisha. He walked on water like Orion" Poseidon's son. He :raised men from the dead, as did Elijah and Elisha-this feat had. once been so common that Aristophanes, in The Frogs (ca. 405 B.C.), made Dionysiu5 say of Hermes andá of Hermes' father that performing resurrections was a family profession. He [Christ] gave sight to the blind by application of his spittle, the remedy which Thoth had used to restore the eye of Horus ... He healed the leper, the lunatic, the deaf and dumb, as did Asklepios." (zz) Baha'u'llah wrote of the miracles which are attributed to Christ. He assigns to them their true worth and beauty. Baha'u'llih declares: ''We testify that when He [Christ] came into the world, He shed the splendour of Hisá glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from tIle leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through . Hun, the unchaste and wayward were l1ealed. Through MIRACLES

His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified. "Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the recognition of' the Lord, his God. Whoso alloweth himself to be shut out from Him is indeed a leper, who shall not be remembered in the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the All-Praised. We bear witness that through the power of the Word of God every leper was cleansed, every sickness was healed, every human infirmity was banished. He [Christ] it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him." (2.3)

In these words, we see yet another of the meanings which Baha'u'llah has unsealed from the sacred literature of the past. He has shown His strong disapproval of the use of miracles as a source of proof for the validity of the Mission of the Messenger of God. In clear, unmistakable language, Baha'u'llah calls upon His followers not to become a prey to outward 'Wonders and signs. He urgeS them instead to look with an inward eye. He says: "Mine aim hath ever been, and still is, to suppress whatever is the cause of contention amidst the peoples of the earth, and of separation amongst the nations, so that all men may be sanctified from every earthly attachment, and be set free to occupy themselves with their own interests. We entreat Our loved ones not to besmirch the hem of Our raiment with the dust offalsehood, neither to allow references to what thf:Y have regarded In ",iracles and prodigies to debase OJlr rank and station, or mar the purity and sanctity ofOllr name." (24) I%.7 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

No words could be plainer than these, regarding the station of miracles. Baha'u'lliih wams mankind that the "torossion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of humall sociery." Nothing, He says, but the power of the Word of God t..lttough His Messengers, can cleanse and revive it. Then Bahi'u'llah asks: Is it possible for man to trans- mute base metal into gold? As perplexing and difficult as such a task may be, He informs us, the still great~ task of "converting satanic strength" (worldly desire) into heavenly power (detachment) is a task which the Messen.. gers of God have "been empowered to accomplish". No miracle can be greater than such a wonder. Bahi'u'llah writes: "The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity :required for so great and far-reaching a change." (Z5) This, after all, Baha'u'IIah tells us, is the real miracle: the transformation of base human clay into a spiritual being, the raising of man above his animal desires to his proper place in the human kingdom. This is indeed the greatest miracle of all. This gradual spiritual evolution of man is also the entire purpose of human existence. It is for the purpose of assisting in the performance of this miracle, which is one ofeducation, that the MessengetS and Prophets come to earth. The "Word" of the Messenger of God changes the sinner into the saint. It heals the leprosy of disbelief. It opens the eyes of the spiritually blind. It restores life to those who are spiritually dead. It brings agreement and love between light and dark skins. It unites men of conflicting religious belief. It links together men of MIRACLES

opposing nations. Without desttoying the value of the individual contribution of each, it fuses into wj]1ing cooperation the active and passive personalities; the donrlnant and the :recessive; the introvert and the extro- vert. It harmonizes the views of capital and labour. It restores health and unity to crippled mortals by convert- ing "virtuous thieves, generous backbiters, and kindly profligates" into whqlesome, integrated human beings. It inspires the divergent members of society to surrender all, spontaneously and generously, even life if necessary, fot their fellowmen, who may be perfe~ strangers. All this is done, Baba'u'llah tells us, through the power of God, "the ,Divine Charmer". Is there any mitacle that can be compared with this mitacle? CHAPTER TEN

ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL-NOT A MATTER OF GEOGRAPHY

BAHA'U'LLAH'S teachings catefully explain the inner meaning behind these outer symbols of Heaven and Hell, and tell us why these symbolic terms should not be taken áliterally. According to the, Baha'i Faith, .Heaven is harmony with the Will of God and unity with our fellowmen: a state of perfection. Hell is the want of such harmony: a state of 4nperfection. Thus, a man may be either in Heaven or Hell while still living on this earth. The joys of Heaven ate spiritual joys, and the pains of Hell consist of the deprivation of those joys. (1) Heaven is a figurative way of expressing the satisfaction of knowing and loving God. Heaven is the attaining of the utmost perfection of which one is capable. Heaven is the obtaining of spiritual life. It is entering into the Kingdom of God and accepting the Messenger of God, that spiritual Educator, when He appears. This act of belief leads man closer to spiritual Trot11 because of his new-found knowledge; and, hence, closer to God. Heaven is the complete assurance that the vital part of man is not put into the ground at his death, and that he has the opportunity and privilege of attaining everlasting life. 13 0 ABOUT HEAVBN AND HBLL Hell is the opposite of all these things. .Hell is the tragedy of being deprived of the knowledge of God. Hell is the failure to acquire spiritual perfections while on this earth. Hell is the loss of spiritual station in the world to come. Heaven is life. Hell is death. The Scriptures them- selves haye made this symbolical point, but man, inter- preting the ScrIptures literally, has too often failed to Wlderstand this truth. In Hebrew, the word Sheol (Hell) "most commonly signifies the grave, or the place or state of the dead." Sometimes (2) it refers to Hell, . '" sometimes to the grave. David says, in the Psalms: ('Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings~ and among them." (3) The alternate meaning given for Hell in this verse is grave. The -"wickedness" of men has brought them death or hell, for they are far from God. When Jonah refused to serve God and fled from Him~ he was cast into the belly of the whale. This was a symbol of his temporary spiritual death, his grave, his Hell Jonah himse1f laments: " ... I cried by reason of mine affliction Wlto the Lord~ and he heard me: out of the belly of hell cried I á á ." (4) The belly of hell, Jonah says, not the belly of the whale. It is clearly a symbol for the deprivation of spiritual sight. As the doctrine of the Church grew more complicated,. H.ea:~Ten ~;,nd Hell were no longer sufficient to resolve all of the problems which presented the,mselvCs4 Purgatory: 13 1 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN't

and J,imbo were added. Thus, reward and pll1lishment became a matte!: of geography. This concept of a "purgatory" or degrees of Heaven and Hell was already popular in the theology of Zoroaster, long before Christianity. All dead souls passed over the Sifting Bridg, and the wicked fell to a level commensurate with their sins. Dawson, in his Ethical RBJigion oj' Zoroaster, says that there was only temporary punishment for the soul which had more virtues tba.n vices. If he had sinned, but had also done good works in his day, he would rise toheaven after 12,000 years. The Hell from which the Messenger of God releases the people when He comes to teach them the Truth is the Hell of ignorance and error. He lifts the souls to the Heaven of undetstanding. The graves of ignorance and caor give up their spiritually dead at His Word. St. John the Divine records in Revelation how he saw the vision of the coming of the Messiah: " •.. and his name is called The Word of God." (s) In the next chapter, he declares that when "the books were opened" or II11sealed: " ... death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ..." (6) The Messenger of God, or The Word of God, raises the spiritually dead from the graves of ettor. He frees them from the Hell of unbelief in which they lie dead and imprisoned. In almost the next breath, St. John says that he saw the "'new Jerusalem" which is the Word of God come down from Heaven. In that same chapter he says that the 132. ABOUT HBAVEN AND HELL Messiah made "all things new". This new Jersualem, o:r Word of God, he said, had no need of the sun (former teachings and explanations) : tif God did lighten it á á ." (7) 'c••• fot the glory

B~'u'llah, Whose name means the glory tif God, has "opened the books" and clarified the symbols which have confused and divided the people of religion for centuries. He has not come to :raise the spiritually dead of any single Faith, but :rather to give life to the spiritually dead of every past belief, and to raise them from their tombs of misunderstanding. He has let into their tombs of death the fresh a.h: and sunlight of truth by his whole- some explanations. The teachings of the Baha'i Faith explain that the references made in the past by the Messengers of God to "pa:radi.se, to hell-fire, to future reward and punishment", were made to uplift the souls of men. These conceptions of Heaven and Hell were necessary symbols for an age in which there was little or no education. These analogies and parables of the past helped to convey an inward truth so that the people of those ages might grasp the importance of living a pure, motal, and useful life. Unfortunately, literal-minded mankind bas given a permanency to these stories and symbols which is entirely unjustified. These anciet).t appendages are unsuited to man's present level of spiritual growth. Man has clung to the outward symbol and has abandoned the inward truth. In a more simple age, outward physical symbol was necessary to express the meaning; but in an advanced intellectual age, the ifmlard trllth itself can be explained and understood. THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

For this reason Baha'u'llah "has comeá to unseal these inward truths. The actual pain of physical bllming, such as has been described as a punishment of hell, can only be associated with the body and its material senses. Physical pain is left behind with the death of the physical body. The hell-fire that the soul can feel is the fu:e of separation, the dreadful pain of being kept away from the nearness and beauty of God. This pain is likened to having an unquenchable tbitst, and being deprived of the cooling waters of the love of God. This is the real hell. The spiritu~ worlds, Baha'u'llah tells us, are infinite. Thus, the :finite mind cannot grasp them, not describe them. Consequently, the language used in dealing with these realities, by its ver.y nature, m\lSt be poetic and symbolic rather. than exact. The Hell of brimstone and me was a symbol used in the :religious writings of the past to convey the most dreadfulá terrots imaginable' which awaited those who disobeyed the laws of God, or who lived in amanne.r contrary to the spiritual life. The Heaven of pearly ga.tes, :roads of precious gems, with golden stairs, was likewise a symbol of the ;richness of the :reward awaiting those faithful souls who lived in accordance with the Will of God. These old-fashioned material symbols of heaven an.d hell were used to convey an inward truth which could :not otherwise have been undetstood at the time. Mankind has now outgrown them. The human mind has become more mature. Man is at last able to understand that the true rewards and punishments are spiritual and intellec- tual, not physical. He" is able to realize that there is no ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL pain which can equal the anguish of a soul which has neglected or deprived itself of its opportunities in this life. Physical suffering can never compru:e with the SO%-" tows of the spirit. Almost every man knows that the greatest hardship he can be made to suffer is to be weighed down with an inner so:rrow or grief. This anguish can become so great that he will even seek to destroy his physical being in an effort to escape it. In this day man does not need an outward symbol to portray the terrors of Hell. This Hell ~sts within him when he shuts himself out from God, from service to mankind, from justice, from right doing. No Hell, Baha'u'llih's teachings say, can compare with the agony which such a soul feels upon leaving this world. "Hell is an extinct 'volcano," as fat as its physical nature is concerned. The day of the so-called Devil, with the long tail, homs, and spear,' is gone. There is no fiery- furnace with such a personified evil character in charge. Heaven and Hell are spiritual conditions, not actual places. Heaven and Hell are not a matterá of geography. Closeness to God is Heaven, remoteness from Him is Hell. Perfections of the spirit are Heaven, imperfections Hell. To have a. good and praiseworthy human character is Heaven, to have an animal nat;u:re is Hell. A full, riCh. life of love and service to mankind keeps a man in Heav~ while an empty life of hatred. prejudice, greed and opposition keeps him in Hell. It is that simple. Pleasw:e and pain, light and dark, joy and sorrow, are all attempts to express the inexpressible Heaven and Hell. They can only be described or understood as conditions: one of complete fulfilment, one of utter emptiness. It is impossible toá,catch the ocean in a cup, and all words 13' THE WINE OP ASTONISHMENT

used in an effort to explain these subjects must walk blind and crippled toward their unattainable goal. The Writings of the Baha'i Faith say: "We must endeavour with heart and soul in order that the veil covering the eye of inner vision may be re- moved, that we may .•. realize that material blessings as compared with spiritual bounties are as nothing." (8) They are Hell as compared witll Heaven. And in another place: "In the matrix of the mother we were the recipients of endowments and blessings of God, yet these were as nothing compared to the po\vers and graces bestowed upon us after birth into this human world. Likewise if we are bom from the matrix of this physical and phenomenal environment into the freedom and lofti- ness of the life and vision spiritual, we shall consider this mortal existence and its blessings as worthless by comparison." (9) It is the difference between the grave and life, between Hell and Heaven. And, finally: "Verily, the Pen is unable to move in a. befitting manner in explaining this truth, its exaltation and loftiness. The Hand of Mercy ,shall cause it to enter men's minds, though it can never be grasped by an explanation, nor be described by those means which are available to the world. . • Life hereafter is such as we' are unable to describe. The ktlowledge thereof is with God alone, the Lord of all the Worlds." (10) These are a few glimpses into the ttue meaning of the symbols Heaven and Hell as unsealed by the Pen of Baha'u'llah,from the sacred books of the past. 13 6 CHAPttBR. ELBVEN

WHEN THE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

WHAT does it mean in the Scriptures when it says: "The stars shall fall from heaven"? What is the explana- tion of the words: "The smt and the moon shall be darkened" ? Baha'u'IIah has unsealed the meaning of these puzzling statements in His B()ok of Certitude. These sttange, and apparently impossible, events were foretold in even the oldest sacred books. Such prophecies have caused men to tum. away from the Messengers of God in every' age. The people of Christ's day rejected Him because they had not witnessed the fulfilment of the signs which were to foretell the coming of their Messiah. The Christians reject Bah,a'u'llih for the same reason. The Christians and theJew~ ate both awaiting the same sign: The fall of the stars from Heaven. They are still awaiting the physical appearance of signs and wonders which have already been fulfilled spiritually and symbolically. Baha'u'llah explains in His Writings that these signs were actually fulfilled at the time of Christ for the Jews, and have been fulfilled again in this day for the Christians. Unfortunately, religion., which in its youthful vitality and purity is able to open man's inwatd eye to these 1'7 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMBNT

spiritual truths, gradually loses this inner strength. The spiritual truths become obscured or forgotten while the symbols which represent them, the rites and rituals" become the all-important thing. The people in every age, blindly following their leaders, deny the new Messenger of God in much the same manner as the people of a previous age had denied the Messenger who had, appeared to them. The believers in the old religion refuse to accept either the new Messenger or His teachings, in spite of the fact that His true purpose in coming is toá restore the original vitality of their own Faith and to heal their ills 'and resolve their problems. Baha'u'J.Iah says of the people who live in the day of the appearance of any Messenger of God: "Had they sought with a humble mind from the Manjfest~tions [Messengers] of God in every Dis.. pensation the true meaning of these words revealed in the sacred books-words the misapprehension of which hath caused men to be deprived ofthe recognition [of the Prophet]-they surely would have been guided to the light of the Sun of Truth, and would have discovered the mysteries of divine knowledge and wisdom." (1) In order to prevent such a misunderstanding in this present day, Baha'u'llah says: "This servant will now share with thee a dewdrop out of the fathomless ocean of the truths treasured in these holy words •.•" (2) His purpose, Baha'u'llah states, is to clarify the allu- sions and symbolical language of Scripture so that man- 13 8 WHBN THE STARS FELL FROM: HBAVEN

kind will henceforth be prevented from denying the Messenget of God because of misunderstanding. One of the prophecies which has kept the Jews, Christians, and Muslims from accepting the Promised One concerns the signs that will appear in the heavens at the time of His appearance. One after another the follow- ers of each of these teIigions have insisted that none of these signs has eVe£ been fulfilled. Among these pro.. phecies is this often-quoted one from the book of Joel: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. "For behold, in those days •• I will also gather all

nations ••• the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." (3) This same prophecy is to be found also in the Books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel and others. The maintaining that this prophecy was to be fulfilled only in the day of Christ' is proved to be false by the number of times it. is :repeated in the New Testament in Matthew, Luke and Revelation. Christ Himself foretells these same events which will take place in the day of His :reti.ttn: "Immediatdy after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon, shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and' the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ••• and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (4) It is equally clear that the prophecy conceming the "assembling of the nations" associated with these signs THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

in the heavens did not refer to the day of Jesus, for Christ Himself spoke of the future fu16Ument of this prophecy. Christ said that it would be fulfilled in the day of His second coming, when He would appear in the glory of the Father. Jesus completes His statement about these signs in the heavens with the followittg words: "And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (5) Then Christ refers again to that hour, saying: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory ..• before him shall be gathered all nations. (6) Baba'u'llib clearly explains these, and similar passages in. the Bible. He points out that all of them are symbolical truths. Such statements use outward .rymho!s to illustrate Inward truths. Specifically, Baha'u'llah writes: . "The term 'heaven' denoteth loftiness and exaltation, inasmuch as it is the seat of the revelation of those Manifestations- of Holiness [Moses, Jesus, and the other Messengers] ... though delivered from the womb of their mother, [they] have in reality descended from the heaven of the Will of God. Though they be dwelling on this earth, yet their true habitations are the retreats of glory in the realms above. Whilst walk- ing amongst mortals, they soar in the heaven of the divine presence." (7) BaM'u'llih also explains the meaning of the "clouds" in which these Messengers appear: "'By the term 'clouds' is meant those things which are contrary to the ways and desires of men ... These 'clouds' signify, in one sense, the annulment of laws, the abrogation of former Dispensations [teachings], WHEN THE S't ARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

the repeal of rituals and customs current amongst men, the exalting of the illiterate faithful above the learned opposers of the Faith. In another sen.se, they mean the appearance of that immortal Beauty [the Prophet] in the image of mortal man, with such human limitations as eating and drinking, poverty and riches, glory and abasement, sleeping' and waking, and such other things as cast doubt in the minds of men, and cause them to tum away. All such veils are symbolically referred to as 'clouds'." (8) BaM'u'llah adds: "These are the 'clouds' that cause the heavens of the knowledge and understanding of all that dwell on earth to be cloven asunder ..• Even as the clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the SWl, so do these things hinder the souls bfmen from recognizing the light of the divine Luminary (ot Messenger of God]." (9) The people reject the Messenger because of these "clouds", and angrily they speak w<;>rds such as these, from sacred Scripture: "Unless an angel be sent down and take part in His warnings, we will not believe." Baha.'u'IIah points out that all of the Prophets have been subjected to poverty and affliction, to hunger, to the ills and chances of this world. Because they were subject to such needs and wants, the people could not believe that they were Messengers of God. Consequendy the people were filled with misgivings and doubts. These doubts are the "clouds", Bab,a'u'llah says, which obscure the "heaven" of their understanding~ 'tHE WINE OP ASTONISHMENT

In His Book oj Cortitlldo, Bahi'u'IJah explains in detail the meaning of the prophecies concerning the sun, moon, stars, and the heavens. He shows that these likewise ate not to be taken in the literal sense. The Messengers of God, He says, were primarily concerned with spiritual, not material things, and with spiritual and not physical li~llt. . When the Prophets mention' the sun, in connection with the so-called Day of Judgment, they refer to the SUn of Ri,ghteousness. The star we call the sun is the supreme source of light to our physical world. In like manner, the Messenger of God is the supreme source of om spiritual light. Moses was the sun of the Jews, Christ the sun of the Christians, Muhammad the sun of the Muslims, and Baha'u'J.Iah the sun of the Baha'Is. When the Prophet speaks of áthe sun being darkened, He means that the pure teachings of these spiritual Suns, (former Messengers of God) have become obscured by misrepresentation, misunderstanding, compromise, and prejudice. The people are left in spiritual darkness because this sun no longer shines. The moon and the- stars are the lesser soutces of illu- mination in this physical world. Hence they are used as symbols representing the religious leaders and teachers who, although lesser lights than their P~ophet, still should guide and inspire the people. When it is said that the moon shall not give her light, or that it shall be IlImed into blood, and the .starsfall from heatJlJII, it means that the leaders of religion shall become mote inte%ested in material than in spiritual things. They shall become debased. They shall engage in strife and con- tention. The priests and clergy shall become worldly- WHEN THE STARS FELL PROM HEAVEN

minded. They shall be concerned about earthfyrathetthan heavenlY things. Therefore, these moons and stars ate darkened and shed no light. Their. thoughts are turned toward flesh and blood instead of toward the spirit. They value the lamp itself more than they do the light within it. The moon has no light of its own. It receives its light from the sun. The moon shines with this reflected light after the disappearance of the sun. In similar manner, these :religious leaders, the disciples and followet8 of the Prophet, receive their light from this Messenger of God. They ate the moons of His sun; they reflect His light upon the world after He has depatted. Their brightness is not that of the Sun. It is a lesser, reflected light, but it comes from the. same, one original Sun. Thus when the Messenger has left the earth, these religious leaders (moons) brigh.ten the heavens of man's understanding which would be dark without them. These religious leaders are also the lesser lights of night," the stars. They do not have the btightness of the sun, but men can chart theit course by these stats when the sun of day has disappeared. Baha'u'llih, writing to the :religious leaders of Christ- ianity, declared: (cYe are the stars of the heaven. of My knowledge. My mercy desireth not that ye should fall upon the earth." * (10) The meaning of such prophecies is of course not exhausted by one explanation. There ate other ways in which these symbols can be interpreted. Baha'u'l.la.h tells us that in yet another sense, the words "sun" and • See Chapter Thirteen of Fire in the Skyl

THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

"moon" and "stats" are applied to the laws, ordinances, and instructions which ate given by the Messenger of God. Each Messenger of God changes the forms, rituals, and customs of the former Messenger. He alters them accord- ing to the needs of the age in whic~ He appears. Enact- ments sllch as marriage, divorce, prayer, baptism, etc. are changed or modified by each new Messenger -of God. So, in this sense, Ba.ha.'u'llib says, the "sun" and "moon" ate changed, and the "stars" are scattered and dispersed. These laws and instructions fall from their place of honour. They no longer shed light upon man's problems in a mote advanced age.. Therefore, they disappear and fade from sight with the appearance of the- new Sun of Truth, or MessengeJ: of God; just as the moon and stars vanish when the physical sun appears above the horizon. In His own words, Ba.ha.'u'llih says: "It is evident and manifest unto every discerning observer that even as the light of the star fadeth before the effulgent splendour of the sun, so doth the luminary of earthly knowledge, of wisdom, and understanding vanish into nothingness when brought face to face with the resplendent glories of the Sun of Truth [Messenger of God], the Day-star of divine enlighten- ment." (II) The moon has no light of its own. It receives its light from the sun. If it were possible for the moon to refuse - the light of the sun, which is, the sole source of its illumination, it would become a dark, dead sphere. The moon must take its light from the sun. When the sun of yesterday is gone, it must take its light from the sun of today. WHEN 'tHE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

Therefore, the prophecies say, when the moon (ot' religious leaders) refuse to recognize the new Sun (or Messenger) it. will no longer give off light. It cannot shed light upon the people if it has turned away from the source of its light. Such a moon (religious leader) is no longer spiritual since it has lost its light. It is wholly material. It is of the "flesh" not the "spirit", and there- fore it is said that it has "turned into blood". In another way, just asá clouds obscure the sun, so do clouds hide the moon. When dust storms arise, the sun appears red. On cer~ain occasions in history these dust clouds in the sky have turned the moon an awesome red. The "clouds" of doubt or misunderstanding which cover the Sun of Truth, and surround the moons of His teaching, turn the moon into blood, just as the clouds of the earth tum the physical moon red. In many cases, the literal fulfilment of these prophecies would of course be impossible and contrary to reason. The BaM' f teachings declate: "'Whatever the intelligence of man cannot understand, religion ought not to accept. Religion and science walk hand in hand, and any religion contrary to science is not the truth." (12.) For example, it would be absurd for the moon to be liter'llly turned into blood. It would serve no purpose. It vfould be physically impossible for the stars to fallon the earth. Even the remote approach of a star would consume the earth. The smallest of the visible stars is immeasurably greater than the earth. It would be as though the "greatest of all mountains were to fall upon the tiniest mustard seed." It is an utter impossibility. 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN'r

There are other "signs ~ the heavens" mentioned in the holy Books. Matthew relates that Christ said: "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the fow: winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (13) The appearance of "angels" accompanying the pro- mised 11essiah is spoken of in other places in the Bible, as well as in other holy Books. Baha'u'llah writes of this, saying: "And now, concerning His words: 'And He shall send His angels ... ' By 'angels' is meant those who, :reinforced by the power of the spirit, have consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human traits and limitations, and have clothed themselves with the attributes of the most exalted Beings ... inasmuch as these holy beings ... have become endowed with the attributes of the spiritual, and have been adorned with the noble traits of the blessed, they therefore have been designated as 'angels'." (14) Those selfless and devoted souls who believe in God and His Messenger, and 'who dedicate the.it lives to setV- ing their fellow men and in spreading the word of God are "angels". Such receptive souls will indeed hear the sound of His "trumpet" and will respond to the call "from the four winds, and from one end of heaven to the othet." áFor this "trumpet" is the voice of the Messenger of God. His teachings are the sound of the trumpet which both attracts and alarms humanity. In the same chapter in which Joel says, the "sun and the moon shall be datk, and the stars shall withdraw their WHEN THE S-r ARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

shining", he also associates the "trumpet" with the day of the coming of the Messiah. He declares:

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion ..• for the day of the Lord cometh •••" (15) _ Baha'u'llih sounded the "trumpet" of His teachings from Zion. From this "nest of the Prophets", Israel, which is the World Centre of the Baha'I Faith, Baha'u'- nab's explanations revealing the inner meanings of the holy Books have gone out to the four corners of the earth. These te~chings have been well received and deeply app:reciat~d by many modern thinkers in every part of the world. An entire book has been compiled of the tributes which such wQrld figures have paid to the greatness of the Baha'I Faith. Isaiah also. speaks of this voice of the Me&senger of God from Israel in the last <lays, Who will sound His "trumpet". Because of His teachings, Isaiah promises the people: ,c••• thy darkness (shall) be as the noonday:" (16) Isaiah prophesies that this Wondrous Personage will: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my peopl~ their transgression .••" (17)

If the people will hear the sound of the ttumpet, if they will believe and obey, Isaiah promises them that:

" •.• the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought •.• and thou shalt be like a watered garden ••• " (18) THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENtt

Where before they had been in darkness, Isaiah says, they would now be in light: "Then shall dly light break forth as the moming, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy right... eousness shall go before thee ••. " (19) And mostá amazing 'of all, in this saD;le chapter, Isaiah prophesies for this "believing" people: " ••• the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." (20) Baha'u'lIah, Whose name means the glory of the Lor" liftedup His voice, like a trumpet, in the Holy Land; from there His teachings ate spreading to the whole world. These are some of the meanings of "angels" and "trumpets" which are seen and heard in the "heaven" of man's understanding. The followers of Moses did not understand the inner meaning of these signs and words ; therefore they 1:ejected Christ. The followers of Jesus do not understand the inner meaning of these signs and words in this day. Thus they have deprived themselves of the joy of knowing and believing in Baha'u'lIah, Who has fulfilled all of the signs for which they ate waiting, and for which they have already waited for such a long, long time. Baha'u'llah writes: "The people have always busied themselves with such specious discourses, vainly protesting: 'Wherefore . hath not this or that sign appeared ?' Such ills befell them only because they have clung to the ways of the divines [religious leaders] of the age in which they lived, and blindly imitated them in accepting or denying •••" (2.1) WHEN THE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

He adds: "These leaders ..• As they have literally interpreted the Word of God, and the sayings and traditions of the Letters of Unity [the Messengers], and expounded them according to their own deficient understanding, they have therefore deprived themselves and all their people ofá the bountiful showers of the grace and mercies of God." (2Z) Baha.'u'llih exposes the futility of an outward fulfilment of these prophecies, and shows how useless they would be in helping to develop the moral character of man- kind. In His Book of Certitudc, He writes: "They have even failed to perceive that were the signs of the Manifestation of God in every age toappeat in the visible realm in accordance with the text of established traditions, none could possibly deny or tum away, nor would the blessed be distinguished from the miserable, an.d the ttansg:cessorfrom the God-fearing. Judge fairly: Were the prophecies recorded in the Gospel to be literally fulfilled; were Jesus, Son of Mary, accompanied by angels, to descend from the visible heaven upon the clouds; who would dare to disbelieve, who would date to reject the truth, and wax disdainful? Nay, such consternatio~ would immediately seize all the dwellers of the earth that no soul would feel able to utter a word, .much less to reject or accept the truth." (2.;) If these prophecies were to be literally fulfilled, one of the primary purposes of religion, and of the coming of the Messengers of God, would be subverted. l3aha'u'llah warns mankind: THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT.

"Know verily that the purpose underlying all these symbolic terms and abstruse allusions, which emanate from the Revealers of God's holy Cause, hath been to test and prove the peoples of the world; that thereby the earth of the pure and illuminated hearts may be known from the perishable and barren soil. From time immemorial such hath been the way of God amidst His creatures, and. to this testify the records of the sacred books." (24) Baha'u'llah and Christ both denounced the religious leaders of Their day, because these leaders not only denied the Messenger themselves, but they deliberately prevented their followers from understanding and accept- ing Him. Christ knew only too well that the religious leaders of His day refused to understand the inward truth behind His symbolic words.' He said: "Woe unto you, lawyers 1 for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." (2.5) Baha'u'llih said: "As the adherents of Jesus have never understood the hidden meaning of these words, and as the signs which they and the leaders of their Faith have expected have failed to appear, they therefore refused to acknowledge, even until now, the truth of those Manifestations of Holiness [Messengers] that have since the days of Jesus been made manifest. They have thus deprived themselves of the outpourings of God's holy grace~ and of the wonders of His divine utterance." (z6)

Then He wams: 15 0 WHEN THE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

"0 heedless people t Ye repeat what your fathers, in a bygone age, have said. Whatever fruits they have gathered from the tree of their faithlessness, the same shall ye gather also •.•" (27) Baha'u'llah, speaking with the same authority with which Moses and Jesus spoke of old, cries out against this spiritual blindness: "Even as the people of Israel, in the time of Moses" bartered away the bread of heaven for the sordid things of the earth, these people, likewise, sought to exchange the divinely-revealed verses for their foul, their vile, and idle desires. In like manner, thou beholdest in this day that although spiritual sustenance ha,th descended from the heaven of divine mercy, and been showered from the clouds of His loving-kindness • yet these people, :ravenous as the dogs, have 0 •

gathered around carrion, and contented themselves with the stagnant waters of a. briny lake. Gracious God! how strange the way of this~ people! ••• They scoffed at the verses, a single letter of which is greater than the creation of heavens and earth, and which quickeneth the dead in the valley of self and desire with the spirit of faith; and clamoured saying: 'Cause our fathers to speed out of their sepulchres.' Such was the perversity and pride of that people." (2.8) This has been the story of religion in every age. The people cling tenaciously to the outward .rymbols, neglecting:t forgetting, ot: denying the inward truths. Baha'u'llah exclaims: "Great God I ••• They confidently assert that such traditions as indicate the advent of the expected [promised One] have not yet been fulfilled, whilst they 15 1 ~HE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN'r

themselves have failed to inhale the fragrance of the meaning of these traditions, and are still oblivious of the fact that all the signs foretold 4ave come to pass, that the way of God's holy Cause hath been revealed, and the concourse of the faithful, swift as lightning, are, áeven now, passing upon that way, whilst these foolish divines [religious leaders] wait expecting to witness the signs foretold. Say, 0 ye foolish ones! Wait ye even as those before you are waiting 1" (z9) Thus Baha'u'lhih has unsealed the meaning of the darkening of the sun and the moon, of the stars falling from heaven, of the appearance of angels,á.and of the sound of the trumpet. Baha'u'llih has disclosed the division, unhappiness, and suffering that come ftom looking with the outer and not the inner eye upon these truths. When the new day dawns, it is futile to cling to the light of yestetday, which has vanished. The snob appeal of following the traditional and popular way has long been used to attract material- minded man. .Almost evetyone wants to belong to the oldest, the richest, or the most exclusive of whatever it is. Anything that is for the common man, the masses, ot for everyone, is both unwelcome and unwanted. This has been true in the beginning days. of ever.y religion. Belief in the new Faith. was never popular. The followers of Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and Baha'u'lhihá were all declasse in the early days. Immediately after the founding of their Faith th~y were ridiculed as a strange minority believing in some weird cult. A few examples will make this clear. The religious leaders said to Muhammad's followers that no one followed Muhammad "except the abject 152. WHEN THE STARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

amongst us, those who are wOtthy of no attention." To Muhammad they said, "We see not any who have followed Thee except our meanest ones of hasty judge- ment." (30) The religious leaders said almost exactly the same thing to the followers of Christ: "Are ye also deceived? "Have any of the :rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people [followers of Jesus] who knoweth not the law ate cursed." (; I) Christ made it plain that it was the purity of a man's heart, the sincerity of his belief, and not his station in life, or his adherence to the old ttaditional path, \vhich was important. Christ answered these same .religious leaders, saying: "Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you ••. the publicans and the harlots believed him:" (32.) When Baha'u'llah, His family, and His followets were exiled to the great and dreadful prison of'Aklci. because of His teachings, He wrote of the religious leaders of Islam: "And if anyone ask the~! 'For what crime were they imprisoned?' They would answer and say: 'They, verily, sought to supplant the Faith with a new religion.' . "If that which is ancient be what ye prefer, wherefore, then, have ye discarded the Torah [Old Testament] and the Evangel [New Testament]? Clear it up, 0 men! By My life I There is no place for you to flee in this day. If this be My crime, then Muhammad, the Apostle 'tHE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

of God, committed it before Me, and before Him He Who was the Spirit of God [Jesus Christ], and yet earlier He Who conversed with God [Moses]. And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause, then indeed am I the greatest of sinners I Such a sin I will not barter for the kingdoms of earth and heaven." (;3) Ezekiel prophesied of this new day in which the Word of God would .be spoken to a people who would be "impudent and hard-hearted". He made it plain that men in that day would have to have inner vision in order to understand the Word of God. Ezekiel records: "1 will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; á á ." (34) Then he adds: "He that heareth, let him hear á • ." (3 5) In this same chapter, Ezekiel speaks of the wonder of this vision, and of beholding the glory of the Lord. He says: cc. • • and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood thete,. as. the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face." (36) The rivet Chebar, known of old as the river Khabar~ has its source west of Baghdad and empties into the Euphrates in ancient Babylon. It was in this very :region, near the Chebar, that Baba'u'llah, Whose name means the glory of the Lord, announced His Mission. In this same region BaM'u'llah :revealed His Kitdb-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude) which has been quoted so ftequendy in this volume. It has been written of this Book ofBaha'u'llah's, WHEN 'tHE S'rARS FELL FROM HEAVEN

it proffered to mankind the 'Choice Sealed Wine', CtO • • •

whose seal is of cmusk', and broke the 'seals' of the 'Book' :referred to by Daniel, and disclosed the meaning of the 'words' destined to remain 'closed up' till the 'time of the end'." (37) . It was in this Book, the Book ofCer/itm/e, that Baha'u'J.Iah clearly and beautifully explained the meaning of all those things which have' puzzled and divided men in the past. In this Book, Baha'u'IIah lIIISealcd the secrets of both the Old and the New Testament, and laid bare the "gems of Truth" which were concealed there. CHAPTER. TWELVE

THE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

W HA T is the meaning of the Resurrection of His Holiness Jesus the ,Christ? It is written that after t1u:ee days He :rose from the dead. How can this be explained to the logical mind? Baha'u'l.1.ah has a1~o unsealed the meaning of tile "tesw::rection" of Christ and the meaning of "resurrection day". Baha'u'J.Iah pointed out that there was a beautiful, eternal troth hidden in this inward symbol of the Resurrec- tion, but that it had been gravely misunderstood. As a result, it became the cause of disputes between religions, as well as between :religion and science. The doctrine of the Resurrection has also been the cause of preventing literal-minded people from accepting the new Messenger of God, Baha'u'll~, in this day. By clinging to this belief in the bodily :resurrection, the eyes of the people have become blinded to the truth. They have deprived themselves of the spiritual resnrrec- lion, the very basic purpose of their existence on earth. Such people are truly "dead" in the "graves" of ertor. The Teachings of the Baha'i Faith say:

"The resurrections of the [Messengers of God] are not of the body •.. Their parables, and Their instructions 15 6 'tHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION have a. spiritual and divine signification, and have no connection with material things." (I) In the Gospel ofJohn it says! elAnd no man hath ascended up to b.eaven, but he that C9me down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (2) Again in John it is written: ('Fot I came down from heaven. á ." (3) Christ says in these verses that He, the Son of man, is in heaven at tIle time while He, Christ, is on earth. He also says that he came down from heaven, though physi- cally it is known that He came from the womb of Mary and that His physical body was botn of Mary. Is it any wondet that the people could not understand these verses? We can appreciate their bewilderment, as. exptessed in JoIm: "And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he Said1) I came down from heaven?" (4) There can be no doubt that when it is said.: The Son of man is "come down from heaven", this is a spiritual truth, not a material fact. It means that although Christ was, apparently, born from the womb of Ma:cy, His spirit, and the reality of His teachings, came from God. Just as Christ's cOIning do'lPn from heaven is a spiritual rather than a physical fact, so too His disappearance under the eatth for three days, His subsequent restl"cction and ascension IIp to heaven are spiritual, not physical facts. They are all inward, not olltward truths. THE WINB OP ASTONISHMBN'I'

Baba'u'J.Iah's Teachings say clearly: ,cTherefore we say that the meaning of Chtist's resurá rcclion is as follows: The disciples were troubled and agitated after the martyrdom of Christ. The Reali!! oj Christ, which signifies His t\1achings, His bounties, His perfections, and His spiritual power, was bidden and concealed for two or thtee days after" His martyr- dom, and was not :resplendent and manifest. No, rather it was lost; for the believers were few in number and were troubled and agitated. The Cause of Christ was like a, lifeless body; and, when after thtee days the disciples became assured and steadfast, and began to serve the Cause of Christ, and resolved to spread the divine teachings; putting His counsels into practice, and arising to serve Hini, the Reality of Christ became :resplendent and His bounty appeared; His religion found life, His teachings and His admonitions became evident and visible. In other words, the Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body, until the life and bounty of the Holy Spirit surrounded it." (5) . Let us examine the inner meaning of the reSIIIT8GnOn and, by means of the Scriptutes, prove to ow: own satisfaction that it is symbolical. The reslI"eclion "and ascension of Christ, if taken literally, ate conttaty to science and to reason. Baha'u'IIah's teachings say that any religion which is contraty to ttue science is nothing more than superstition. Science has proved that there ate stars in. space minions of light years away from us. If the physical body of Christ were to ascend into a heaven beyond this universe, the joumey would not be completed yet. It would take mil1ions of years, and He would still be ascending. 1,8 THE MEANING OPRESURREC~ION

The mathematicians, during the 1840'S, scoffed at those litetal-minded Bible scholars who said Christ would S0011 appear ('on a cloud". Clouds, they said, ate vapow:s which rise from the earth, they do not "come down". They also pointed out that Christ would have to make hundreds of thousands .0£ "solo flights" if all the world were to see Him, because of the curvature of'the eatth.* Obviously, the coming, the :resurrection., andá the ascension of Christ were symbolical. If Christ really had risen physically from the dead, then all His patient love and teaching would be fruitless. Men would believe in Him solely because of this miracle, and not because of a sincete, voluntary effort on theit part to turn toward God. A miracle of this nature would compel the wickedest sinnet to tepent. The sheep and.the goats would both respond to the fotce of this prodigy,. and moral values would be set aside. Belief would be brought about by coercion. This is contrary to the spirit of the teachings of Christ, as well as to those of all the Messen- gers of God. Furthermore, if Christ's greatness were to be based on His physical ascent into heaven, then Elijah would have an equal claim to that station of greatness. It is written in the Old Testament that many years before Chtist Elijah ascended into heaven with his physical body. In the Second Book of Kings it is :recorded: "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of :fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both [Elijah and Elisha] asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (6) * See Thi8J in th, Night, pp. I-S• . 159 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

Enoch would also have an equal station, for he, too, as is related in both Genesis and Hebrews, was taken up by God with his physical body "that he should not see death". Durant, in Caesar and Christ, writes that the idea of such a translation "into the sky in body and in life was familiar to ~e Jews; they tell it of Moses, Enoch, Elijah and Isaiah." (7) Such an ascent is also described before the time of Christ, concerning Mithra, of vlhom it is said, " ••• in the end, his earthly mission fulfilled, Mithra after a Last Supper ascended into heaven, where he has never ceased to succour his own." (8) Clearly these ascents, including that of Christ, are to be understood symbolically. If Christ's greatness were based upon His resurrection flom the tomb vnth a physical body, then there are many saints who should be consid~ed equally as great, for they, too, were resurrected by God. It is recorded that they came out of their graves with their physical bodies, just as Christ had done. Perhaps their resurrection is even mote meritorious, since they were resurrected not three days after their deaths, but after fat longer periods of time. It is written in :MatthSIP that Christ gave up the ghost: "And the graves were opened; and rna..flY bodies of the saints which slept arose, "And came out of the graves after his resurrec- . á .." (9) tlon If the greatness of Christ is based 'llpOn the fact that He not only arose f:rom the dead, but proved it to His THE MEANING OF RESURRECTI.ON

followers by appearing to them, then these saints must still be considered equally great, for they, too, not o.n.ly resurrected, but also proved it by appearing to many_ It is written in Matthew that they: ". __ came out of the graves after his :resurrection, . " • and appeared unto many." (10) Obviously, these words are meant to be taken symbol- ically, not literally. There is scarcely a person who does not believe that the story of Jonah, who was three days and three nights in the belly of the "whale, llas an inward symbolical meaning ratheJ: than an outwatd physical one. Thatá the resurrection of Christ is in like n1anner to be taken sym- bolically is shown by His own words. Christ likens His own death, and burial, to that very sto:cy of Jonah and the big fish. . When the Pharisees accused Christ of casting out devils with the help of the prince of devils, Beelzebub, Jesus branded those who believed such a doctrine a "generation of vipers" _ They asked Christ fot a sign. They wanted a proof 01: a miracle to show that He 'was the Messiah. "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying-, Master, we would see a sign from thee." (I I) Christ refused to work a miracle o:r to give them a sign. He said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: "tHE WINE OF' AS~ONISHMENT

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (12)

Christ was crucified on the day which has come, among Christians, to be known as Good Friday. He arose, or was resw:rected, from the earth on what is called Easter Sunday. Obviously He was then only two nights, Friday night and Saturday night, in the earth; and not three nights as Christ promised He would be. The meaning is obviously a symbolical one. Jonah was chosen by God to go. to Nineveh and cry against that wicked city. Jonah did not wish to go. He was reluctant to carry out his responsibility. He fled from the face of the Lord. The spirit died within him, and he was cast into the sea of materialism. He was swallowed up by the whale of earthlY desires and disobedience. All signs of Jonah~s spiritual life had vahlshed. Jonah himself declated that he cried out to the Lord from "hell". The belly of the whale was the grave of his disobedience and lack of understanding.* At last, obedient to the edict of Almighty God, Jonah tutned his heart to Nineveh and to his responsibilities. The whale and the sea gave up their treasure, for Jáonah's spirit could no lange! be restrained by such graves. He was resurrected. He went to Nineveh. He was afire with the miracle of the rebirth which God had caused in his soul. He preached to the wicked city of Nineveh. The people repented, and they were saved tlu:ough the resurrection of Jonah. * See chapter ten, p. 131, for explanation of the word used by Jonah (Sheol) which can mean both "hell" and "grave." THE MEANING OF RESURRECTION.

In a like manner, it was not the body of Christ, but. the body of His Cause, His teachings, which were buried in the earth, in the grave of neglect. When His disciples, under the inspiration of a woman, Mary of Magdala, realized in their hearts that Christ was with them always in spirit, and that His preaching and teaching' were the source of all life, then the body of Christ's Faith was ~~~h~ . George Townshend, Sometime Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral, in Dublin, Ireland, and Archdeacon of Clon- fert, has expressed this in his book The Hearl of the * Gospel. He w~ites of the disciples and their earnest belief, to the very last moment, that Christ's kingdom was to be an earthly one in which they would enjoy positions of glory and power among. men. "The tragic close ofRis [Christ's] career brought their spiritual failure to unmistakable expression. Peter denied His Master thrice; Thomas doubted Him; Judas betrayed Him; all in the hour ofllis danger forsook Him and fled. The crucifixion cast them into utter amazement and despair ••. Their world was empty. Their beloved Lord was defeated-the mocking Scribe was right. They had made .some terrible mistak:e. • •. For three days the Cause of Christ lay in their hearts dead and buried. None can tell what might have happened, had it not been for the intuition and courage of one who was not of their number-a woman, Mary of Magdala. She it was who was the first to understand the reality of eternal life and Christ's eternal Sonshlp •.• and tecognized that if His * George Townshend was so deeply moved by the explanations given in the Faith of Bahi'u'llah, that he left his high position in the Church and beCame an ardent and devoted follower of the Baha'i Faith.

16; ~HB WINE OP AS'tONISHMENT

body was dead, His spirit was indestructible and was alive breathing in mortal. power. She cheered the disqples. She communicated to them her vision, quick- ened their faith and :renewed theit courage." (13) Thus, after three days, the Body of Christ's teachings was resurrected, and it arose from that tomb of death. The symbolical use of death in this sense is frequent and unmistakable throughout the Bible. For example we find in the New Testament: "And you hath he quickened who were. dead in tres... passes and sins;" (14) And again: "But she that liveth in pleasure lsins of the flesh] is dead-while she liveth." (15) Bishop E. W. Bames, quotes the early Christian work the Shepherd of Hermas as saying: "Those who are bap- tized descend into the water dead, and they rise alive." And in another place.the New Testament declares: "Fot: as the boify without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (16) The Boify of Christ's Faith, without the works of His disciples to give it life, was dead for three days. Baha'u'llah comments with sadness upon the failure of mankind to grasp the meaning of such Scriptural events as the Resurrection. "Again and again they :read those verses which clearly testify to the reality of these holy themes, and bear wit- ness to the truth of the Manifestations [Messengers] of etemal Glory, and still apprehend not their purpose. 1 64 TáHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

They have even failed to realize, all this time, that; hi every age, the reading of the scriptures and holy books isá for no other purpose except to enable the reader to apprehend their meaning and unravel their innermost mysteries. Oth€rwise reading, without understanding, is of no abiding profit unto man." (17) Unless the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the people of His day believed in the resurrection and life which the Word of Christ could give them, they would be spiritually dead. This was the sign of Jonab and the sign of Christ. It was an outward symbol of the inward truth. Christ, in His very last words on earth, at the cruci- fixion, emphasized this principle once again: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit •.. " (18) His spirit} not his boify. Christ was eager fOJ: His disciples to understand the meaning of His words. He told them: "It is the spirit that quickenetb; the flesh ptofiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, thry are spitit, and they are life." (19) Christ demonstrated that it was the preaching, the words which He spoke, that the people must pay atten... tion to if they were to have life. These words, this preaching, was the sign of Jonah. This was the :m.itacle which Christ promised to give them. He said: "1-fhe men of Nineveh shal1 rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because thlfY repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." (2.0) THE WINE OF ASTONISHMEN't

Paul's :first epistle to the Corinthians also shows plainly the symbology of the resurrection. He says of this inward ttuth: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption ... It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body .•. this mortal must put on immortality." (21) In the same chapter, Paul says of the resutrection of Christ: " he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. •• e

"And last of all he was seen of me also .•." (22) Now Christ's appearances to Ills disciples after the resurrection, took place long' before Paul's experience on the road to DamaSCtlS. Dunkerly, in Beyond the Gospels, says, " ..• it is interesting to find Paul ~peaking of his conversion as one of the resurrection appearances; this :raises problems as to the nature of the :a:esU!rection, but we cannot enter into that here~" (2.;) In one of the famous creeds ot the Christian church are found the words: "He descended into Hell, the' third day He rose again from the dead." It is further stated in this creed that true faith is based upon the belief in the c"resurrection~, of the body". As shown in the chapter on Heaven and Hell, these are not places, with a devil in charge of evil at one end, and a God in charge ofgood at the other. This would be a duality of authority, and would mean that the oneness and infinity of God would be destroyed. This Vv~ould be contrary to science and reason. It is necessary to under- stand these truths symbolically. 'tHB MEANING OF RESURRECTION

Man's failure to understand that these truths are figura- tive, and his rigid insistence upon their literal inter- pretation, have led to the weakening and discredit of :religion. To maintain that the :resurrection of Christ was unique and solely a miracle of Christ, leads to graye problems, for we shall see that the symbol of the bodily :resurrection is not limited to Jesus and to Christianity. Although Alexander emden, in his unabridgeg. Con- cordance of the Bible, stated that, "The resurrection is a doctrine unknown to the wisest heathens, and peculiar to the gospel," we find that similar (24) phenomena have been attributed to many gods in the Mediterranean area. Some of these resurrection stories date back to neatly 3,000 years before Christ. These tales of the death and res~ection of the gods were commonly known, until they were suppressed by force in the fOllrth century of the Christian era. Among the gods who performed this miracle of death and resurrection were: Mithra, Dionysus, Osiris, Attis, Persephone, Eurydice, and Aphrodite. The Feast of Sa1:\:ttnalia in which a mock king is slain as an atoning . sacrifice for the people was one of the most thoroughly enjoyed spectacles. Patterson, ,in his Mithraism and Christianity, and Smith, in his Man and His Gods, both speak of the outward similarity in these resurrection stories. Toynbee lists "eighty-seven correspondences between the story of Jesus' life and the stories of certain Hellenic 'saviours'•••" Adonis was buried in a stone tomb. He was mourned; then he was declared tesurrected, following which he ascended into heaven. (2.5) The demi-god Heraldes in myth was sent by God to THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENl'

maintain a kingly authority over mankind. He suffered a.gonies. He resigned himself to the will of his heavenly father. He was sacrificed, and his mortal remains miraculously disappeared. He descended into hell. He made special appearances to the women of his gatherings. The death and glorious resurrection of Herakles were celebrated each year in a festival at Tarsus, the boyhood home of Paul. (26) As the similarity between Christian rituals and those of other beliefs becomes more generally known, it is obvious that an insistence on a literal acceptance of such truths as the resurrection can only lead to th~ gradual weakening and dissolution of the faith of the individual Christian. Whereas an understanding of the symbolic nature of these troths, and of their true meaning, can only serve to fortify and strengthen his belief. Taken as a literal truth, resurrection can only serve to divide and separate. Taken symbolically, it tells the simple, beautiful story of the continual death and rebirth .of the spirit, a process ver.y similar to the death pf the earth in winter and its rebirth in the springtime. When. the Christians preach the truth of Christ crucified, it is the inward symbol of His sacrifice that is important, not the outward fact that He was crucified. Christ's greatness does not depend upon His crucifixion, fox He shares this distinction with thousands and thousands of others, many ~jmioaIs of the worst sort. Crucifixion was not a unique punishment given only to Jesus. The Roman highways, in those days, were dotted with punished criminals who had been crucified. It was the most commonly accepted form of punishing serious offenders. It is interesting to note that some SOUIces state that a tree and not a cross was THE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

used for such punishment. Victims of crucifixion were hanged or nailed to a ttee, ot a pole, with theit hands above their heads. When the Galileans followed Judas . the Gaulonite as the Messiah, during the rule of the procurator Quirinius, two thousand of them were crucified in one mass slaughter. Throughout the lives of these World Educators, or Messengers of God, it is always the spirit which is important, never the body. One of the strongest and cleatest proofs which ~hrist. gave to prove that bodily' :resUttection .was useless in changing the hearts of men, can be found in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus wanted to make certain once and for all that everyone understood this point: that it was the Message of the Prophets which was important, and which btought new life, not a miracle such as resurrection. In His parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Christ declares that even the miracle of physical rcsN"cction will not aid those who lack the capacity to hear and to follow the Messengers of God. The rich man from the depths of hell called upon Father Abraham. to send a special messenger to his five brothers; lest, because of theit disobedience 'to the laáws of God, they too might be cast into hell. Abraham replied: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The rich man, according to this parable given by Christ, implored for something greater than. words or teachings. He wanted a sign, a miracle to awaken his brothers. He said: 'tHE WINE OF AS'rONISHMENT

"Nay, father Abraham: but" if one went unto them from the dead, thry will repent." The answer, fot all time, is recorded in Abraham's reply: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will th~ be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (2.7)

There could be no clearer statement of the unimport- ance of the physical return from the grave. Nor could there be stronger emphasis upon the importance of the words and teachings of the Messengers of God. This parable is from the words and teachings of Christ Himself upon the unimportance of resurrecting from the dead. He stressed that the spirit which the Prophets bring through their teachings can do more to aid humanity than any such. outwardly astounding signs as ":raising from the dead". The terms "life" and "death", Bahi'u'llih tells us, refer to the "life" of faith and the "death" of unbelief. It is the spirit of faith and belief which brings about the :resmrection. Just as we say that in the winter the world is dead, and remains so until the springtime comes to awaken and revive it. This, also, is resurrection. The dead will speed out of their sepulchres in the last day, according to Scripture. Again, this is a spiritual truth, Baha'u'llih tells us. It means that when the Prophet or Messenger of God appears, it is the Day of Judgment for all. It is the last days of the old religion. A new spiritual springtime has come. The spiritually dead will be awakened and will speed out of their sepulchres of unbelief. Thek physical bodies do not come back from physical graves. Never! 'tHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

The physical body is of little importance other than as a channel or instrument for the ever-developing spiritual qualities within man. Christ Himself told the young man who wanted to delay his acceptance of Jesus long enough to bury his father: ".- •. let the dead bury the dead.•••" He meant, let those who do (28) not believe (i.e. the spiritually dead), bury the physically dead. In another place He says: "The flesh profiteth nothing" and "that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit." (z9) Bahi'u'llih writes: "In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual significance of the terms 'life', 'resurrection', and 'judgment'••• Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine know- ledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is cro\vned by immortality. Even as it hath been said: He who is a true believer liveth both in this world and in the world to come.' If by 'life' be meant this earthly life, it is evident that death must needs overtake it." (39) According to Baha'u'llah's teachings, resurrection is the birth of the individual into spiritual life. It ácomes through the gift of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon man by Christ and th~ othet Messengers of God in whatever age they may appear. The grave from which the individual 17 1 THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

arises is the grave of ignorance and negligence of God. The sleep from which he awakens is the dormant spiritual condition in which many await the dawn of the new Day of God. This dawn, or coming of the Messenger of God, illuminates all who live on the face of the earth. Everyone, except those who are spiritually blind, will see and recognize it. The present Day of Resurrection is not a day of twenty- fow: hours, but an era which has already begun. It will last as long as men ate being called from their graves of spiritual death or lack of faith and belief. The Messenger of God for this day, Baha'u'lhih, is calling upon all men to arise from their graves of doubt and error, just as Christ called to them in the :reign of the Roman Caesars. This is the true meaning behind "being born again". From spiritual death man is brought to spiritual life. Jesus said: "Ye must be bom again." Whoever was quickened by His word attained unto new life and to resurrection. It is the same in this day. Baha'u'llah has breathed the words of God upon humanity, andá all those who are quickened by this life-giving spirit, attain to the day of resurrection and are thus delivered from the graves of spiritual death. There is a verse. concerning this truth in the sacred Scriptures of Islam, which says: c'When the Qa'im (Promised Oile) riseth that day is the Day of Resurrection." (; I) This is the day when new "life" has been bestowed upon man by God's Messenger; therefore, man has been rescued from "death". Baha'u'llah says: 'tHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

" ..• the people, owing to their failure to grasp the meaning of these words, rejected and despised the person of the Manifestation [Messenger of God], deprived themselves of the light His divine guidance, and refused to follow the example of that immortal Beauty." (32.) The teachings of Bahi'u:llah's Faith state that tesw:rec- tion has "nothing to do' with the gross physical body. That body, once dead, is done with. It decomposes and its scattered atoms will never be :a:ecomposed into the same physical body." (33) Jesus knew that His spirit would return, when bidden by God, in another human temple (flesh). Otherwise He would not have repeatedly warned His followers to watch and be alert for the time oEllis return. There would ,have been no need to warn them if He, Christ, were literally and physically to "return" in the clouds with "angels". * There is yet one final consideration. Suppose Christ were to descend tq the earth in the flesh, what then? Who would be able to recognize Him? Even our artists have painted Him after their own imaginations. Some- times He has fair skiO., sometimes dark. Some picture Him with blue eyes .and some with black; with blonde hair or brunette; slight or sturdy. Mter nearly two thousand years, who could possibly recognize Him? If we say, "God would assist us to recognize Him," then let us remember the following remarkable facts: , A. Uohn, 2.0 : 14~I 5) It is less than three days since the crucifixion of Christ. Yet, Mary Magdalene does not * 'These symbols have been explained in detail in chapter cleven, When Ihe Stars Fell from Heaven.

THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

know Christ when He appears to here It is not 2000 years, but less than seventy-two hours. "e... she turnedherselflJack, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast bome Him hence, tell me where thou bast laid him, and I will take him away." Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast seven devils. Mary Magdalene, who had kept the vigil through the hour of the agony on the cross, did not recognize Christ until He called to her and said, "Mary." What chance would strangers have nearly twenty centuries later? B. (John, 21 : 4) A few days later, Jesus appeared toá His disciples. He was close enough to converse with them. In spite of this, they failed to recognize Him. "But when the mortling was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus." Not tlntil Christ had filled their net with a multitude of fish. Not until He performed a miracle, did they know it was He, Jesus. These were His chosen disciples, but a few hours after His crucifixion. C. (Matthew) 28) Jesus made an appointment with His disciples in Galilee after His death. "There they shall see me," He promised: "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted." (Matthew, %8 : 16-17) THE MEANING OF RBSURRECTION

Even of the. chosen eleven, some doubted; although they were awaiting Jesus by appointment. D. (Luke) 2.4 : 36-37) "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted} and supposed that they had seen a spirit." They didn't know Him though he stood in their midst. E. (Luke) 24 : 15-16): " ... while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they ShOllld not know him." They called Jesus "stranger" until He made Himself known unto them. In every case, Christ made Himself known unto His closest chosen disciples by words, by miracles, or by an example. They did not know Him by their outward sight. Now, nearly two thousand years later, how could His followers, divided into hundreds of sects, hating each other, devoid of the closeness, dedication and intimacy which Christ's disciples enjoyed, ever hope to recognize Him in the flesh? The answer is simple: They could not. The teachings of the Baha'I Faith also liken resUttec... . tio:n, or the coming of a Messenger of God such as Christ or Bahi'u'llah, to a spiritual springtime. In the world of nature, the Spring not op.ly brings about the growth .and awakening of new life, but also causes the destruction of the old and effete. The same sun that makes flowers grow and trees bud, also brings about the decay and THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

disintegration of what is dead and useless. The Spring loosens the ice and melts the snow of Winter. It sets in motion the flood and the storm which cleanse and purify the earth. Following this, new life is born on all sides. Every man glories in the beautiful and fragrant resurrection of life in the Springtime after the cold Winter of a.dead and frozen world. This same process takes place in the world of man's spirit. The spiritual springtime caused by the coming of a Messenger of God, brings about similar commotion and change. Thus, the Day of Resurrection is also the Day of Judgment. The Day in which corruption and imitation of truth are discarded. Outworn ideas and customs that no longer fit the age, are done away with .. The ice of prejudice and the snow of superstition which accumulated during the Winter of religious declin~, are melted and ttansfol1ned. Spiritual energies which have been frozen up are released to flood and renovate the world. Things that were dead come to life again in this spiritual springtime. The fruits, vegetables, and grains come to life in this new physical springtime so that man ~an be fed and nourished. In like ~anner, the spiritual springtime of the coming of the Prophet brings the spiritual foods without which mankind would wither away and die spiritually. If it were not for this spiritual resurrection, man.would remain dead, buried in the grave of his animal nature. In Baha'u'llah's words, resurrection} rebirth, and retnrn all have the same fundamental meaning: the spiritually dead are resurrected from their graves of heedlessness. Those who have passed into spiritual death while living, ate reborn. Those qualities of love, integrity, and justice:t 'rHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

which have vanished from men's lives, retllrn with the coming of God's Messenger. Each Prophet comes from the same single heaven of the knowledge of an Infinite and Almighty God. Each brings the same light of truth to a &rkened world. Hence, they are called Suns. The sun is the source of the light of day. Resurrection comes from the Latin word sngerc, "to rise", \vith the prefix: "te" meaning again. To :rise again. When the Sun of Truth, the Messenger of God, rises again on a night of earthly darkness, He brings the Day of Resurrection. This is' the Day of God that "rises again" and renews all things. It is also the Day of Judgment. On the Day whenáthe Messenger of God appears, all ate judged by their acceptance or rejection of His Message. The sheep are separated from the goats by His appearance. The sheep tecognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, and follow Him, "for they know his voice". (34) Baha.'u'llah writes: "Behold how the generality of mankind hath been endued with the capacity to hearken unto God's most exalted Word-the Word upon which must depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men • • ." (35) From the preceding explanations, we can be sure that the resurrection of Christ is to be understood symboli- cally. It is plainly an inward truth: The Body of Christ's Faith was dead. It arose again with its real life of the spirit. The outward symbol of this inward truth is the story of the RBslirrection. Ba.ha.'u'J.Iah has IIIIsealed this spiritual or inner meaning THE WINE OF AsttONISHMENT

and made it crystal clear in His Writings. The outward symbol is this: The body of Christ -rose from the dead. The inward truth is this: The body of His Faith was dead because of the fear and the scattering of His followers. Through the courage and determination of His disciples~ it rose from this state of apparent extinction and appeared with its real life, that of the Spirit. It was restllTected. This is the true meaning of tesurtection. Baha'u'lJ,ah says: "The mysteries of the Resurrection Day ••• have all become manifest, but the people are heedless and veiled ..••" (; 6) In another place, Baha'u'llih declares that it was fOf the purpose of helping mankind to understand this truth that He IInsealed) in detail, the meanings from the sacred Books: "0 brother, behold bow the inner mysteries of -:re- birth', of "return', and of "resurrection' have each, through these all-sufficing, these unanswetable, and conclusive utterances, been unveiled and -unravelled before thine eyes. God grant that through His gracious and invisible assistance, thou ,mayest divest thy body and soul of the old garment, and array thyself with the new and imperishable attire." (37) The explanation of other, puzzles, such as the stoty of .Atlam and Eve, the story of Creation, the immortality of thl soul,jree-will, reincarnation, and proofs of the existence of God, have been explained elsewhere. * • See Some AnswereJQuestions (Baha'i Publishing Trusts, London and Wilmette); also Thief in the Night. 'rHE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

The present book has dealt only with basic Christian subjects. Ninety years ago hardly anyone would teach the Christian Bible in Persia. Baha'u'lhlh asked, "Why?" He was told, "It is not the Word of God." Baha'u'lhih replied, "You must read it with an under--_ standirtg of its meaning, not as those who merely recite words." Now, Baha'is allover the East, and in some 260 countries throughout the planet, :read and study the Bible. They love and revere Moses and Christ. They spread the truth of this Holy Book everywhere. Baha'u'llah has opened the eyes of the entire world to the beautiful teachings to be found in the sacred Books of the Christians and Jews. He has spread the Cause of Christ iná the heart of Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism. He has made these teachings understand- a.ble and acceptable to the scientist and the skeptic. He has removed "the barrier of names." (38) Thus, Bahi'u'llih has fulfilled completely the prophecy from the Book of Psalms which gave this volume its title. He has, indeed, unsealed "the wine of astonishment"- so that the beloved of God might drink and be "deliv.. eted" from the superstitions of the past. Baha'u'llah has cleared away the misunderstandings and doubts. which were caused by literal interpretations, and has clarified the meaning of the sacred Scriptures of all Religions. If you believe the things you have read in this book, you are now faced with one of the -most important decisions of your life. If you feel that Baba'u'llah has IIIJsea/ed the sacred Books and brought you a richer understanding of their truth, then this is still one mote THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

ptoof that He is the Pro?JJised One of all religions. * For this reason you o\ve it to yourself and to your fellowmen to investigate the Baha'i Faith with all the ardour and thoroughness at your command. The Baha'i Faith offers a single powerful answer to the problems that beset our present-day civilization. The Writings of BaM'u'll~h's Faith clearly demonstrate that there is one basic underlying cause for all these modern tragedies: Man is out of touch áwith God and with the world of spiritual values. Man is still more material than he is moral or spiritual. He should be both, in balance. Since man ignores these basic spiritual and moral values, he finds himself in his present dilemma of war, crime, delinquency, mental illness, divorce, alcoholism, and the other heart-breaking evidences of his own spirit- ual immaturity. In the Baha'i Faith you will find the :remedy for these ills. What's mote, you will find that the remedy works. This is not a vague and pious hope; • • • It IS a prorruse. The Baha'i Faith has demonstrated its power to unite people of every national background, every colour of skin, every level of society, and every religious origin. In every part of the world the Baha'is are doing some- thing about their Faith-not just talking about it. Because of this spirit of enthusiasm, the Baha'i Faith has been described as the most "rapidly growing" world Faith in religious history. t * For proof from the Bible showing Baha.'u'Hah's astonishing ful6bnent of prophecy, see Thiefin the Night; for proofs whichappea1 to reason and the modem scientific mind see Fire in the Sk'y~ which tells the story of Bahi'u'llah's Letters to the Rulers of the world, outlining the needs of present..day society. t See Note Two, Appendix. THE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

If you find the Word of Baha'u'llih to be the truth, as 1 am confident you will, then arise and serve it. This is the finest way in which you can serve your fellow man today~ Upon such action may depend not only your own peace of mind and tranquillity, but the -well-being, security, and future happiness of all mankind. Ask yourself this question: Are the following words written about BaM'u'llih true? "The mysteries of the holy Books have become explained in the [appearance] ofBaha'u'llah. Before he appeared these mysteries were not understood. Baha'u'lhlli opened and unsealed these mysteries." (39) The Rnal decision rests with you#

APPENDIX

NOTE ONE

Fot a more thorough and more beautiful explanation of the relationship of Christianity to the Baha'I Faith, :read Some AnS'J1Jered Questions, Paris Talks, and The Promulgation of Universal Peace) by 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah. The views set forth in the preceding chapters ate limited by my own background as a Christian. I was searching for a greater troth which I felt might be more suited to the present day. Therefore, much of the accent in. this present volume is on the Christian viewpoint• .In the works of 'Abdu'l-Baha you will receive a pute, .crystal stream of knowledge and wisdom, exceedingly refreshing and full of exciting new horizons applicable to all :religions. The famous Orientalist and scholar, Edward Granville Browne, of Cambridge University, who met and talked with cAbdu'l-Baha, praised His depth of knowledge of the sacred Scriptures. Browne wrote: "Subsequent conversa- tion with bim [CAbdu'I-Baha] served only to heighten the :respect with which his appea:rance had from the first inspired me. One more eloquent of speech, more ready of largument, m.ore apt of illustration, mote intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans, could, I should think~ scarcely be found. • •• These qualities, combined with a bearing at once majestic and genial., made me cease to 18% THE WINE OF AS'I'ONISHMENT

wonder at the influence and esteemá which he enjoyed even beyond the circle of his father's followers. About tP.e greatness of this man and his power no one who had seen him could entertain a doubt." (1) Herbett Putnam, Librarian of the American Congress at the time of 'Abdu'l-Baha.'s visit to America in 1912, 'Wtote : "A personality combining a dignity so impressive, with human traits so engaging. I wish that he could be multiplied." (2.) Ptofessot Yone Noguchi was deeply moved by the explanations which 'Abdu'l~Baha. gave to all the difficult questions which were presented to Him fat answer. He said, "His ['Abdu'l-Baha's] words are as simple as the sunlight; again like the sunlight, they are universal. . • • No teacher, I think, is more impottant today than cAbdu'I-Baha.." (3) Canon T. K. Cheyne, Bible scholar and famous Chtistian clergyman, calledá'Abdu'I-Baha. an "Ambassador to humanity". APPENDIX

NOTE TV/O

The BaM'f Faith ofiers a wonderful ethical and moral code for the development of the individual. It also establishes fundamental principles for a world-wide social plan which can rehabilitate the human race. These principles have already been tested on a planetaty scale in some eight thousand centres in ever.y continent, and in the islands of the seas, under the direction of the World Centre of the Faith which" is in Haifa-'Akka, Ist:ael, the Holy Land. Fifty-six National and Regional Assemblies, freely elected by the adult Baha'is of the world, represent over two hundred and fifty-eight major countries, sovereignties, and dependencies. The Baha'i Faith has raised Houses of Worship in the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, in Australia, and in Mrica: Hou~es of Worship dedicated to the oneness ofall religions. The number of Baha'is has doubled and trebIed thrOUghOllt the world during the past tew years. Figures as to numbers given one year become obsolete the next, so :rapidly is this World Faith capturing the lleatts of the l:>eoples of the world, among men and women and child", . ten of every skin colour and belief. * * For a brief but dramatic picture of the spread and scope of the Baha'i Faith at the present tilne, see the booklet Convincing Answers (Baha'i' Publishing Trust, Wihnette, Illinois) by the ~ame author. It tells how the Baha'i Faith meets the needs of the present day, and why it has been called "the roost rapidly growing vlo.rld Faith in religious history~" THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

Amol1g the basic principles proclaimed by Baha'u'llah to establish peace and order in the world in this day, are the following: I. The oneness of mankind. 2.. Indepel1dent investigation of truth. 3. The common foundation of all religions. 4. The essential harmony of science and religion. 5. Equality of men and women. 6. Elimination of prejudice of all kinds. 7. Universal compulsoryedu<;ation. 8._ A spiritual solution of the economic problem healing the social relationships of nations. 9- A universal auxiliary language. 10. Universal peace upheld by a world government. Baha'u'llah has btought not only the principles, but the laws, agencies, and institutions .to establish and maintain. an enduring peace among all nations_ This system is based upon universal :representation, and an unquestioned belief in the oneness of God, His Messen- gers, and the entire human race.

EDITOR'S NOTE The gro\vth of the. Baha'i Faith is strikingly demonstrated by a con1- parison of the statistics on the previous page and on p. 179, as cited by the author in 1963, with those for 1974: nearly 70,000 centres through- out the world, with 115 National and Regional AsselnbJies, and Baha'is in 330 independent nations, significant territories and islands. APPENDIX

NOTE THREE

The name Baha'llllah, when translated into English, means the Glory of God. The name Christ, when translated into English, means the Anointed.' _ Jesus of Nazareth was the name of the Founder of Christianity. He was known by the title Christ. Husayn 'Ali of Nut was the name of iQ,e Founder of the Baha'I Faith. He was known by the title Bdh4/u'llah. BaM'u'JJ.ah was also known as BaM. (Glory). A person who believes in Him was, therefore, known as a Baha'i. Baha(f) means of Bahd'u'J/ah.* Christ(ian) means of Christ. A, Christian is a follower of Christ, and a Baha'i is a follower of Baha'u'JJ.ah. It is that simple. The Baha'i Faith began in Persia (han) in 1844. Baba'u'llih, the Founder, is a descendant of Abraham, whose "seed" would "inherit the earth" in the last days.t * BaM' f is pronounced: Ba-ha'-ee Baha'u'llah is pronounced: B~-ha'-ol-lab. t 'fbe astonishing story of how Baha'u'llah was driven in exile ftom Persia to 'the Holy Land, fulfilling proph~cy after prophecy from the Bible and holy Books of other religions, is told in detail in 'Thief in 11M Night, by the same author.

I86 REFERENCES Bahd'J WorldFailh, BaM'i Publishing Committee, Wilmette, 1943. BpiJlle of the Son of the Wolf, Baba'u'llah. Baha'i Publishing Committee" Wilmette, 1941. GletJtIing.r refers to Gleanings From The WrilillU rI BtJIJd'II'IIJlJ. BAhA'j Publishing Trus~ New York, ~939. God Pasles By, Shoghi Effendi~ Baha-i Publishing Committee, Wilmette, 1944- The Hearl of the Gospel, George Townshend; George Ronald, London. Talisman Books, 1960. Kitib-i-Iqan. Baha'i Publishing Trust, London, 1946. Chapter One: The Seals Are Opened I. Thiefin Ihe Night, Sears, pp. 1,2.-153 2. Habakkuk, 1 : , 3. ibid,.2 : 14 4. Thief in the Nighl, pp. 17S-176 S. Enoch, 46 : 2. 6. Laiah,29 : 18, 24 7. I Corinlhians) 4 : S Chapter Two: Out of the Sea of Knowledge I. Isaiah, 29 : I I 2. ibid, 29 : 18, 24 3. ibid, 3S : 1-2 4. Daniel, 12. : 9 S. ibid, 7 : 9-10 6. Revelation, 22: to 7. ibid, 14 : 14 8. ibid, S : 9 9. ibid, 2.1 : 23 Chapter Three: The Secret of the Scriptures I. ConlellJporary SlmliesJ Baudouin, Part m~ pp. 139-146. AlIen & Unwin, 192.4- 2. SOIlJIJ AnJ'J1Jered12l18lliolll, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Part 2 : xvi THE WINE OP AS'tONISHMENl' 3. ibid 4. The Advent of Divine JIIJlif6, Shoghi Effendi, p. 66 s. Gleanings, pp. 2.81-282- Chapter Four: Baptism I. Jeremiah, 2. : 13 2.. Revelation, 7 : 17 ~. l.,jJzf!J, S8 : II 4. ibid, 58 : 8-9 ,. Habakkuk, 2. : 14- 6. ibid, I : S 7á John, 3 : , 8. ibid, 3 : 3 9. The Bin of Christianity, Bames, p. 2.77 10. The Age of Faith, Durant, p. S2.8 II. ibid. 1%. The Rise of Christianity, p. 2.80 13. Mark, 16 : 16 14. Matthew, 28 : 19 15. I Corinthian.r, I : 11 16. Acts, 18 : 8 17. ibid, 2,: 38 18. ibid, 2. : 41 19. ibid, 8 : 12 2.0. ibid, 8 : 13 %1. Shepherd of Hennas, Similitude ix, 16 2.z.. The Rise oj Cbrislianil)', p. 259 %3- Acts, 8 : ;6--3 8 24- Luke, 2; : 43 2.5. ibid, 7 : 50 2.6. ibid, 3 : 16 ... 2.7- The Unity of the Bible, Rowley, p. 135 28. Mal/hew, 7 : 2.1 2.9. Acts, 15 : I 30 • I Corinthians, 7 - 18-1 9 3I. C%SJian.r, 2 : I I 32. Gleanings, p. I I. Chapter Five: The Bread and the Wine, Confession and Penance I. The UnilJ of the Bible, p. !47 %. John, 6 : 51 3. ibid, 6 : S4 4. ibid, 6 : 63 REFBRENCES s. I Corinthians, 10 : 2-3 6. John, 6 : 35 7. Some .Answered/2l1eslion.r, Part :1; xxi 8. John, 7 : 37-38 9á ibid, 7 : 39 10. ibid, 4 : 31-34 I I _ Caesar and Christ, Durant, p. 600 J2. ibid, p. 599 J 3. ibid, pp. 599-600 J4. The Rise of Chrirlianity, POl 295 15. The Unity of Ihl Bib/e, p. 16. ibid, p. 142 I" 17- The Rise ofChrisfi(/nl~, p. 2.80 18. The Age of Faith, pp. 740-741 19. Medieval Mind, Ta.ylor, I, p. SSt 20. The Age of Faith, pp. '91:-'92 21. ibid, p. 740 22. ibid. 23. Hearl of the Gospel, Townshend, p. 136 24. Baha'i World Faith, pp. 193-194 25. Caesar and Christ, p. 616 26. Malthew, 26 : %6-28 27. Some AfJ.f»JeredQII8.rJiol1,f, Part 2. : xxi 2.8. John, 6 : 27 29- ibid, 6 : 2.8-29 30. 1 CorinllJiansl IS : 50 31 • John, 6 : 48, 50, 55 32. ibid, 6 : 60-63 33. ibid, 6 : 66 34- Man and His Gotb, Smith) p. 20I 35. Gleanings, pp. 175-176 36• ibid, p. 176 Chapter Six: Jesus, Son of God I. Caesar and Chrisl, p. 60I 2. Some AnsweredQneslionl} Part 2" xviii 3- John} 14 : 7-9 4. ibid, 14 : '10 ,. ibid, 14 : 26 6. ibid, 8 : 57-59 7- The Song of Gad: BbagavaJ-Gi'/a, Translated by Swami Prabhavaoaoda and Christopher Isherwood, p. 133 8. Matthew, 19 : 17 THB WINE OF ASTONISHMENT 9- Gleanings, p. 102 10. Kitdb-I-IqdnJ pp. 120-121 II. John} 10 : 30 12. ibid, 10 : 31-;; 13. ibid, 10 : 34-39 14. ibid~ 5 : 19 IS. ibid, 12 : 49 16. Kitdb-I-Iqdn, p. 182. 17. John, 5 : 39,40 ,43 18. Kitdb-I-Iqdn~ p. 182. 19- John, 5 : 45-47 20. Hebrews, 7 : ; 2.1. Luke, 3 : 38 22. John, I : 12 23~ Psalms, 82: I, 6 24. ibid, 82 : 6 25. IJohnJ 3 : I .:6. Reue/alion, 21 : 7 2.7. Some AnsweredQ1I8slimlJ', Part z: xii 28. Kitdb-I-Iqdn, p. 134 Cbapte:r Seven: The Glory of the Father I. John, 10 : 16 2. Ezekiel, 34 : 13 3- ibid, 34 : 23, 2.5 4. Isaiah;40 : 10-11 s. ibid, 40 :5 6. Micah, 7 ; 12- 7. ibid, 7á: 14 8. ibid, 7 : 15 9 Isaiah, 35 : 2

10. ibid, 35 : 5 II. Baha'i World Faith, p. 52. Tahlet fo the Czar 1.2. Mark, 12 : 1-9 13. Gleanings, p .. 162, 163 14. Religious Debates} Nategh, p. 30 IS. Zoroastrian Theology, M, N. Dhal1a, p. 182 16. ibid, p. 181 17. ibid, p. 182 18. Cited Age of Faith, Durant 19- Zoroastrian Theology, M. N. Dha1Ja, p. 60 2.0. ibid, p. 61 21. God Passes By, p. 94 R.EFERENCES 22. The Promised Day is Come, Sboghi Elfendi, p. 31 23- ibid, pp. lo4-10S 24. ibid, p. 106 2S. ibid, p. 106 26. John, 16 : 7 27. John, 16 : 23 %8. John, 16 : 25 29. ibid, 16 : 13, IS ,0. ,I. The Promised Day is Come, pp. 26-27 ibid, p. 27 32. ibid, pp. 109*110 ~3. ibid, p. 110

Chapter Eight: The Trinity I. Decline and Fa/J of the Roman Empire, Gibbon, ill, p. 7' 2. Mall and His Gods, p. 22."' 3. Outline of His/olY, Wells, p. 545 4. John, I : 1-2 , s. Fathers Without Theology, Strachey, p. 48 6. ibid, p. 107 7. Caesar and Christ, p. 660 8. Man and His Gods, p. 224 9. Age of Faith, p. 8 10. John, 16 : 13, IS II. God Passes By, p. 101 12. Gleaning.r, pp. 166-167 1,3. Some Anm'credQuestiolls, Part.2. : xxvii 14. ibid. IS. Man and His Gods, p. 210 16. Age oj'Fai'lh, p. 484 17. Baha'I World Faith, p. 191

Chapter Nine: Miracles J. Luke, 17 : 17-18 2. John, 20 : .2.9 3. ibid, 12. : 37 4. Some AnsweredQuestions, Part J: be ,. Advent of Divine Jutlue, pp. %1-.2.2 6. ibid. 7. Baha'I World Faith, pp. 2.73-~74 8. John, 3 : 12- 9- Gleanings, pp. 94-96 Iu. Judges, 6 : I; THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT

1 I. Age of Faith, pp. 9 84-9 85 I %. ibid, p. 985 I3- ibid. 14. God Passes BYJ p. 144 15. Gleanings, p. \132. 16. God Passes By, p. 144 17. ibid, p. 144; Some AnsweredQuesfionsJ Part I: ix 18. Gleani/lgs) p. 132 19. John, 6 : 26 20. Man and His Godr, p. 130 21. Caesar and Christ, p. 617 22. Man and His Gods, p. 202- 23. Gleanings, p. 86 24. Epistle to JheSolt of the Wolf, Baha'u'llah, p. ; 3 25- Gleanings, p. 200 Chapter Ten: Heaven and Hell I. Bahd'tlJldh and the New Era, Esslcmont, p. 2.04 2. CrUden"s Concordance, (see 'hell') 3- Psalms, '5 : IS 4. Jonah, 2. : z 5. RevelatioN, 19 : 13 6. ibid, 20 : 13 j. ibid, 21 : 23 8. Bahd'i World Faith, p. 266 9. ibid, pp. 266-267 10. ibid, pp. 145(6; 342

Chapter Eleven: Stars Fell From Heaven I. Kildb-I-IqanJ p. 28 2. ibid, p. 28 3. Joel, 2. : 31 ; 3 :1-2; 2. : 10 4- MaflherPJ 24 : 29-3 0 5. ibid, 24 : 30 6. ibid, 25 : 31-32 7. Kildb-I-Iqan, p. 67 8. ibid, pp. 71-72 9. ibid, p. 72. 10. Promised Day Is Come, p. 105 II. Kildb-I-Iqan, p. 37 12. Paris Talks, 'Abdu'l-Baba 13. MaII/;eTP,24 : 31 I~. ICiI4b-i-Iqt1n, pp. 78-80 REFERENCES IS- Joe/~ .2 : I 16. lsaiah~ ,8 : 10

18. ibid, ,8 : 17. ibid, 58 : I

19- ibid, S8 : 8 JI

20. ibid. 21. 1(jtdb-I-IfJdn~ pp. 81-82 22. ibid, p. 82 23. ibidt p. 80-81 24. ibid, p. 49 2S. Lulu, I I : 52 %6. Kitdb-I-ItJ.4n, p. 80 27. ibid, p. 207 28. ibid, pp. 208-209 29. ibid, p. 83 30. ibid, p. %22 31-. John, 7 : 41-49 32. Matthew, 21 : 31-32 33. Epistle 10 the Son of the Wolf, p. 52- 34á Ezekiel, 3 : 2.7 3'. ibid, 36• ibid, 3 : 23 37- GodPassesB.11 p. 139 Chapter Twelve: Resurrection I. Some .An.sweredQ,lI8slions, Part 2: xxiii 2. John, 3 : 13 3. ibid,6: 38 4. ibid, 6 : 42- . S• Some .An.sweretlQllesliOtJ.l, Part 2. : xxiii 6. lIKings, 2. : I I . 7. Caesar and ChriJ/~ pp. 573-'74- 8. The Rise of Chrl.rliani!1~ p. 59 9á Matthew, 27 : 5%-53 10. ibid, 27 : '3 II. ibid, 12 : 38 12. ibid, 12 : 39-40 I;. Heart ofthe Gospel, pp. 140-141 14. Epheskms, 2. : I . 15. I Timothy, 5 : 6 16. James, 2. : 26 17. Kitdb-I..lqdn, p. 172- 18. Luke, 2, : 46 'tHE WINE OF AS'rONISHMENT 19. John, 6 : 63 20. Matthew, 12 : 41 21. I Corinthians, 15 : 42, 44, 53 22. ibid, 15 : 7-8 23. Beyond the Gospel.r, Dunkerley, p. 19 24. emden's Concordance (see ":resurrection", early edition only) 25. Man and Hi.t Gods., pp. 187, 181, 18z 26. ibid, p. 18% 2.7. Luke, 16 : 29-31 28. Mallhew1 8 : 22 29. John, 3 : 6 30. !J~d~~Iqdn/PáI2o 31. ibid, p. 144 32. ibid, p. I I4 33. &hd'II'lldh and The New Era, pp. 239-240 34- John, 10 : 4 3S. GleaniI1g.r" Baha'u'llah, p. 97 36. 'J)ah4'1 WorldFailh, p. 172. 37. Kilab-I-Iqan, p. 1S8 38. See Promulgation oJUniver.tal Peate, cAbdu'I-Baba, p. 1.°7 39. ibid, p. 192.

APPENDIX Note One: I. Introduction, Bpi.rode of The Bab, E. G. Brown~, pp. 35-36 2. Appreciations of the Baha'i Faith 3. ibid, pp. 5~o The Wine of Astonishment

William Sears

This book gives clear and straightforward explanations of many puzzling and contro- versial Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, Baptism, Resurrection, Miracles, and others.

&1.50 net or $2.75 ISBN 0á85398-009á8

GEORGE RONALD • OXFORD