Heart of the Gospel: The Bible and the Baha'i Faith
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: George Townshend, Heart of the Gospel: The Bible and the Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com.
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Heart of the Gospel:

The Bible and the Bahá'í Faith

George Townshend

United Kingdom: Lindsay Drummond Ltd., 1939

single page

chapter 1

First published by Lindsay Drummond Ltd., 1939

Second Edition, revised and enlarged, published by George Ronald, 1951

This Edition 1995, ISBN 0-8598-020-9

Printed in Great Britain by the Alden Press, Oxford

CONTENTS

Chapt. Page

Publisher's Noteix

Introduction1

I.The Bible as Universal History7

II.History as Spiritual Evolution12

III.Man's Destiny and Man's Effort25

IV.The Overlord of Evolution35

V.The Ministers of Evolution46

VI.The Power of Christ58

VII.The Succession of Revelations68

VIII.The Relation of Christ to Moses76

IX.The Independence of Christ88

X.The Spiritualising of Mankind100

XI.The Rejection by the Men of Earth111

XII.The Founding of a Christian Community120

XIII.The Announcement of the Kingdom of God 137

Epilogue146

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Mr. Townshend used three versions of the Bible: the King James, the Revised, and the Moffatt translation. It has seemed fitting to retain his quotations in forms familiar to him.

In these days when the truths of Christianity are diluted and compromised to fit the notions of an age admittedly unbelieving, this classic work on the and the Bahá’í Faith speaks compellingly to those who cannot forget the deepest truths in which they were reared, and likewise to those who, deprived of religion in childhood and youth by elders who had forsaken it, yet sense their loss, their ignorance of purpose, the hollowness of days spent only for material benefit.

George Townshend possessed a supreme trust in God, the Creator and Sustainer of all life. His book mirrors his profound contemplation of this central Mystery, his poet's joy in all Its manifestations, a believer's confidence which nothing was able to deflect. He wrote to awaken us to these realities.

[page 1]

INTRODUCTION

This essay endeavours to follow the guidance of Bahá'u'lláh
back to Christ and to let the light of the Gospel shine in its
ancient purity upon the darkness of our time. It is conceived
and written in the firm belief that any Christian who reaches
the heart of the Gospel and understands the true exaltation
of Christ will soon discover the way that lies open, through
Bahá'u'lláh, to the reunion of the Christian Churches, the
re-Christianising of the West, and the regeneration of the
human race.

The Bible bears witness that history in its essence is a
spiritual thing and cannot be rightly understood except from
a spiritual point of view. Realistic as the sacred narrative
is, exposing freely all the weakness and wickedness of
mankind, it maintains always the spiritual attitude. It never
modifies its opening words: 'In the beginning, God'. It shows
that the forces which impel history and the laws that govern
it, its origin and its ultimate issue, all belong to the
spiritual realm. It reveals in human events the presence of
a universal continuity which flows on for ever, as a
mysterious divine Will works out its gradual purpose upon the
surface of the planet.

The true beginnings of the Gospel are not to be found within
the limits of the New Testament. They reach back through the
length of the Bible to the Pentateuch, to the time of Moses
and of Abraham and beyond. They are

[page 2]

involved in the design of Creation itself. And its end is
revealed only in those prophecies and promises which fill the
closing chapters of the Scripture and which through all the
vicissitudes of these intervening centuries have warmed the
hearts of Christians with expectancy and hope.

If we are to follow the example of the Bible in dealing with
the problems of our time, we will regard first their spiritual
aspect and will search out the spiritual issues that are at
stake, since upon these the material issues depend. We shall
be prepared to trace the causes of today's events far back
through modern and medieval times to spiritual energies
released by our eternal Father in distant centuries.
In His teaching, and particularly in His Book of Certitude*
Bahá'u'lláh makes it clear that the Bible was given to mankind
for the same purpose as that for which the Gospel was
preached: to prepare humanity that they might recognise,
appreciate, and use with wisdom the supreme crisis which He
foresaw, and in which we find ourselves involved today, when,
standing at the apex of the corporate history of mankind, we
are in a position of unprecedented danger and also of
unprecedented opportunity. Bahá'u'lláh explained that the
perplexity of our world leaders, their inability to master the
problems of the era or tell whence these problems came or why
they came or whither they lead or what they mean, is
ultimately due to a moral and spiritual cause. It springs from
a misunderstanding of the Gospel, and a misinterpretation of
the symbolism and the abstruse terms in which many of

* Kitab-i-Iqan (Trans. by Shoghi Effendi. London: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust. 2nd ed. 1961.)

[page 3]

its prophecies, promises, warnings and pronouncements are
veiled. This figurative language of Scripture is a touchstone
by which God distinguishes and rewards the truehearted and the
sincere. It yields up its real significance not to human
learning, as is commonly supposed, but to an open and
unprejudiced mind, to a pure and devout spirit which seeks the
truth for love of God.

. . . Man He writes can never hope to attain unto the
knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream
of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of
immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and
favour, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and
deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding
and recognition of God and His Prophets. (p. 3)

'Abdu'l-Bahá, expounding this truth, spoke often in the West
of the profound importance, and the difficulty, of reaching
a true interpretation of Scripture and urged His hearers to
learn from the errors of the past. He expressed Himself, for
instance, in the following words to a Bible class in New York
City:

I have been informed that the purpose of your class meeting
is to study the significances and mysteries of the holy
scriptures and understand the meaning of the divine
testaments. It is a cause of great happiness to me that you
are turning unto the kingdom of God, that you desire to
approach the presence of God and to become informed of the
realities and precepts of God.

[page 4]

It is my hope that you may put forth your most earnest
endeavour to accomplish this end; that you may investigate and
study the holy scriptures word by word so that you may attain
knowledge of the mysteries hidden therein. Be not satisfied
with words but seek to understand the spiritual meaning hidden
in the heart of the words. The Jews read the Old Testament
night and day, memorising its words and texts, yet without
comprehending a single meaning or inner significance; for had
they understood the real meaning of the Old Testament they
would have become believers in His Holiness Christ, inasmuch
as the Old Testament was revealed to prepare His coming. As
the Jewish doctors and rabbis did not believe in His Holiness
it is evident that they were ignorant of the real significance
of the Old Testament. It is difficult to comprehend even the
words of a philosopher; how much more difficult it is to
understand the words of God.*

How far the Christian Churches have wandered from a true
understanding of the Gospel may be judged from the argument
of this book. We are living in the Day of God which Christ
announced and for which He prepared men's souls; and yet not
one among the illustrious learned leaders of the Churches has
proved capable of recognising it or has troubled to examine
the claims of Bahá'u'lláh when these were drawn to his
attention.

How disastrous may be the results of trusting to human
learning rather than to a spiritual mind and a pure heart

* The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Vol. II, pp. 454-5,
(Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 454-55.)

[page 5]

For a true interpretation of Scripture may be seen from the
fate of Jewry after its rejection of Jesus Christ, or from the
humiliations of the Christian Church when it turned away from
its Lord on His return.

[page 6]

[This page intentionally blank.]

[page 7]

single page

chapter 1

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-- Heart of the Gospel: The Bible and the Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)