# The Wine of Astonishment

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: William Sears, The Wine of Astonishment, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> 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.
> 
> THE WINE OF ASTONISHMENT
> 
> 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
>
> — *The Wine of Astonishment (Used by permission of the curator)*