Charles Mason Remey: Firmness in the Covenant -September 2, 1914

 

FIRMNESS IN THE COVENANT

 

            This article was written in the Fall of 1914, and some typed manuscriptcopies of it were at that time circulated among a few Bahais in the European Assemblies, where and when, it will be recalled, certain conditions of violation, centered in London, caused the matter of firmness in The Covenant to be forcibly called to the attention of the friends throughout the entire Bahai world. 

 

            It is with the approval of the Bahai Committee of Investigation that copies of this treaties are now being circulated in this manifold form.

                                                                                   

                                                                                    C. M. R.

                                                                                        

                                                                                          27 March, 1918,

 

                                                                                                Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

FIRMNESS IN THE CAUSE OF GOD.

 

            These days are the days of the Light of God in the world.  From The Center of the Bahai Covenant there is now proceeding the Light of Guidance of the Abha Kingdom, and through this channel of Divine Grace the people of the Cause are spiritually sustained and enabled to do God’s work in the world.  Therefore, it is of the greatest importance that each and every Bahai Assembly be protected from those contrary or dark or destructive forces which are attacking the firmness of the friends of the Cause, seeking to separate and cut them off from The Center from which is radiating the spirit of the Covenant.

            Sacred history tells us that the day of revelation has ever been the time of supreme spiritual test for the people.  When the sun is at its zenith, then the shadows are the blackest and the most sharply defined, while in the  night there are no shadows.  So it has been during the ministry of each divine manifestation when the Light of the Sun of Truth is the brightest.  In the day of each of God’s messengers upon earth the belief and faith of the people has been sorely tried and tested, while in the times following the ministries of the prophets (which spiritually speaking was for humanity the time of the night) the signs of the Truth became so manifest that the people were able to follow God’s Word without danger of difficulty.

 

            During the day of Moses, He was the point of revelation, and all who attached themselves to Him were firm and strong in the Lord, while those who allowed the spirit of denial to enter into their hearts severed themselves from the source of light and became as dead trees without life or fruit.

 

            In the days when Moses was leading the Children of Israel through the wilderness the dangers, trials, and tests were many.  The people were constantly doubting and violating the law, and Moses has great difficulty in keeping them firm in His command; but during the age which followed the commandments of Moses were so firmly established in Israel that the people followed the law in comparative ease and safety.  After the departure of Moses from this earthly plane it became clear that He was the Prophet of God, and thus all became strong in Him, who was the point of divine guidance in His day.

 

            During the days of Jesus, the Christ, there were vast multitudes who followed Him and who were attracted to the principles of His teachings, but of these there were but a few who knew Him to be The Christ, The Son of The Living God, the Channel of Divine Revelation, Truth, and Eternal Life to the world.  Those of the people who recognized His divine station received in fullness that spiritual bounty which He brought to the world, but those who were merely attracted to the general principles of what He taught, but were blind to the fact that He was the Center from which, or the channel through whom, these divine bounties were being given to the world, were not in a position to receive the blessings of God.  Thus the divinity of Christ was the supreme test for all who heard His message.  They were attacked and beset upon all sides by the doubts of the world, but those whose souls were quickened with spiritual perception knew Him to be The Christ, the Son of the Living God, and through this knowledge and the spiritual blessings which resulted therefrom they became the foundations of the church and were the means through which Christianity was perpetuated and handed down to the people of future generations. 

           

            The Apostles of Christ suffered many doubts and their belief was sorely tested, but through the care and guidance of their divine shepherd Jesus they were shielded from denial, and in the end all save one remained firm in the Cause.

 

            Thus the true foundation of Christ, which was in Jesus Himself, having been firmly laid in the hearts of the earliest Christians, the way was made comparatively easy for the people of after generations to come into the faith, for, looking implicitly to Jesus, there was no question as to the all-important point of the revelation; namely that Christ, the Incarnate Word, was the source of their spiritual life, and His word and spirit was their way to God.

 

            Thus, as one examines into the early history of each of the religions of the past, it is clearly seen that in each day of revelation the all-important thing has been that the people should know and accept the anointed One – the Point of Divine Manifestation; that they should implicitly follow His teaching, and then turn their backs upon all doubt and denial which would cause their separating from the source of spirit, which is the Manifestation Himself.

 

            As it has been in the past revelations, so it is in the present revelation of these latter days.  During the ministry of The First Point, The Bab, the great test to the people was His divinity.  He labored and taught and suffered years of imprisonment, and He shed His blood that the people might now that the people might know that He was the First Point of this Latter-Day Revelation, and that through Him they might be prepared to receive from the Promised One Baha’o’llah.

 

            Those followers of The Bab who remained free from the doubts and evil suggestions of the enemies of the Cause became the pillars of steadfastness, and in the days which passed, before the coming of Baha’o’llah, they were the strength of the Cause.

 

            When Baha’o’llah appeared and declared Himself to be The One whose coming The Bab had foretold, those who in reality were firm in The Covenant of The Bab received Baha’o’llah, and through Him received the new spirit of the Kingdom which He brought.

 

            In the day of Baha’o’llah there was no refuge for any save Him.  The tests of the believers were severe.  Many violators arose, endeavoring to sow seeds of doubt in the hearts of the Bahais, thus to sever them from the source of light which was the Manifestation “Baha’o’llah.”  Those who withstood all tests and remained firm and steadfast were blessed and showered with the Divine Bounties of the kingdom, while those who entertained doubts grew cold, and cut themselves off from the Living Root of Truth.  These doubting souls came to naught; they were as limbs falling to the ground. 

            Again, in this present day of the ministry of the appointed Center of The Covenant of Baha the people are being tested and tried in faith.  Baha’o’llah appointed a center of guidance who should be as a shepherd to the flock of spiritual sheep, the believers in His Cause.  The Center of the Covenant is the explainer of the teachings of Baha’o’llah, and from that Center is now being radiated to the people of the Cause the living spirit of Baha’o’llah.

 

            As the leaves on a tree receive their sustenance from the root of the tree through the branch, so do the Bahais now receive their spiritual sustenance from Baha’o’llah through obedience to the one whom He appointed to be the shepherd and the guardian of His flock - - Abdul Baha.

 

            Therefore, in this day of The Center of The Covenant, the all important thing us for the Bahais to be firm in Abdul Baha, and the one thing to be avoided is the spirit of denial of The Testament of Baha’o’llah.  If that spirit of violation, which is the spirit of the nakazeen, enters the soul of a Bahai it is as poison and death to his spirit, for it cuts him off from the source of divine light, and he becomes as a diseased or a dead member of the kingdom, and perforce caste himself down from the high station to which he was called. 

 

            In the sacred teaching we are taught that spiritual enemies are of two kinds; open enemies who oppose frankly face to face, and those enemies who come in the guise of friends seeking by seditious means to destroy the faith of the believers.  As for the first, who openly combat the Cause, Abdul Baha tells us to love them, and to treat them with the utmost consideration and kindness, as friends, and thus soften their hearts and win them to the Cause; but, as for the second, those who would deceive us into believing that they are friends in order that they may secretly attack the Cause and thus accomplish its destruction, Abdul Baha tells us to avoid all association with them.  As long as the friends obey this injunction, the Cause is protected and safe and no harm can come from them, but if Abdul Baha’s word is not obeyed, and those people are allowed to associate with the friends, spiritual death and destruction will inevitably follow. 

 

            The Center of the Covenant is the heart of the body of Bahais in the world, and from that center each member of the body (each believer) is receiving spiritual life and force.  In the physical body, when the blood circulation is in good order, each organ and member of the body is sustained and nourished, and the whole body is active and in health, but if poison is injected and the circulation is stopped, the organs will cease to be sustained, and illness and death will ensue.

 

            In like manner so it is with the Bahais.  When the spirit of denial enters into their midst, the souls become severed from Abdul Baha, their source of light is out off, and spiritual degeneration and destruction and death come quickly.

 

            When a member of the physical body becomes gangrenous, it is necessary to amputate that member and cast it away, otherwise the whole body will become infected and die.

            If perchance a believer has doubts, or is suffering spiritually the love and attention of the friends is poured upon him in order that he may be healed and again made strong in the Cause, but if a Bahai falls into the condition of the nakazeen he immediately becomes a danger to all Bahais with whom he contacts, and for the safety of the Cause he must be eliminated.  When people associate with one who is in contact with a person who is ill with a loathsome disease, it is as if they were contacting directly with the sick person, so far as the contagion is concerned, for disease germs may be carried by one to many. 

 

            So it is also with one who associated with the nakazeen upon one side and with true Bahais upon the other side, for in this way the poisonous doubts and spirit of the violation may be conveyed to many believers without their contacting directly with the first cause of the trouble.  The reality of the matter is, that as soon as one allows oneself to imbibe this insidious poison one places oneself in the condition of the nakazeen, and then the people should also avoid that one along with the other violators.

 

            This avoidance of the nakazeen (violators) applies to all the Bahais, whether they are old and firm in the Cause, or whether they are young in the Covenant.  No individual or assemblage of Bahais can, under any conditions, violate this order of the Divine Physician without suffering the inevitable consequence.

 

            In order to illustrate this point, Abdul Baha once said that an army of one thousand men in perfect health and vigor could not heal one man ill with an infectious disease, but that association with one ill man would cause the infection of the whole army.

 

            We all know how necessary it is to quarantine certain diseases, notwithstanding our love for the ill person and our sorrow at being separated from that one. However, at such a time personal sentiments must be sacrificed for the good of the community, and the infected must be separated from those whom they might infect. In like manner must all personal desires and attachments be sacrificed for the welfare of The Cause of God, and particularly at a time when the Cause is being assailed by the disease of violation. It was reported the other day in a certain city in Europe an enemy was caught with a bottle of cholera germs,  with which he was about to pollute the city water supply. He was arrested and imprisoned.  Although hard upon the aggressor, it was indeed a mercy for the people of that city that the police lost no time in placing this man where he could attempt no more harm.

 

            Now, with equal alacrity, let us Bahais all arise to carry out the commands of The Center of the Covenant.  As soon as we know of anyone attempting to poison or pollute the source of our spiritual light by secretly spreading false teachings and doubts as to the validity of The Covenant and The Testament of Baha’o’llah, which is Abdul Baha, let us immediately separate ourselves from that person so that we may be safe and that person be in a position where he cannot harm the Cause, for such a one can do no harm to the Cause without mingling with the believers.  As long as the poison is kept from the body all is safe and well. 

 

            We can draw a lesson from the warfare now rife here in Europe.  In order that soldiers may be in a condition to flight and overcome the enemy, they must have good ammunition, be properly fed and nourished, and kept free from disease and illness.  It is a generally acknowledged fact in the military world that it is more difficult to keep an army in good physical condition free from internal weaknesses than it is to overcome an enemy in the open field. 

 

            The spirit of The Covenant is ever going out from The Center to those who are working and serving in the far corners of the world.  Abdul Baha is the Spiritual Commander and the believers are His soldiers in the field.

 

            Like the military commander’s thought for his soldiers, Abdul Baha’s concern is ever for the protection and spiritual welfare of those who are teaching the Cause of Baha’o’llah in the various countries – that His spiritual soldiers may be nourished and fed upon the pure food of the Word of God and kept in good condition, free from all spiritual disease and weakness.  Therefore, Abdul Baha is protecting His people from the poison of violation by the many explicit instructions and exhortations in Tablets and by the spoken word, through the study of which we know how to recognize those violate The Covenant, and by non-association with these souls protect The Cause of God which is so dear to all of us. 

 

            During the past two years, it has been my privilege to travel extensively in America and Europe, visiting all of the larger and many of the smaller Bahai Assemblies.  It has been remarked by the experienced Bahais that in the Assemblies where the people are entirely free from the influence of the spirit of the nakazeen and are strong in The Covenant and Testament, that there is activity, movement, growth, harmony and Bahai spirit very manifest; whereas in those Centers where wavering souls are mingling with the Bahais (those who secretly deny The Covenant and Testament of Baha’o’llah) there is always the spirit of quiescence, no movement or growth, inharmony, and all of those characteristics which indicate stagnation, disintegration, and spiritual disease and death.  Such signs are demonstrations of the spiritual wisdom of Abdul Baha, and the necessity for all to follow minutely the commands of our Spiritual Commander, even though we ourselves may not comprehend his wisdom. 

 

            Sheep have been used to symbolize the believers of God.  Of all animals sheep are the most gentle, unsuspecting of danger, and the most helpless in the presence of the wolf.  Their only safety lies in obeying the voice of the shepherd and remaining safe within the fold.  If the wolf is let into the fold, nothing can save the sheep, but as long as he is kept out from amongst the sheep all are perfectly safe from harm.  In a parallel manner are true Bahais sheep-like in their gentleness and love and in following their Spiritual Shepherd, Abdul Baha. Like the sheep who meekly follow their shepherd, the Bahais who unquestioningly obey The Center of The Covenant are protected and safe in the Testament of Baha’o’llah.

CHARLES MASON REMEY.

Written in Europe,

     2-September-1914.