[6] Father of Dr Faríd and brother-in-law
of `Abdu'l-Bahá. He was one of the Persian teachers sent to America by
`Abdu'l-Bahá at the turn of the century.
[7] Rector of the Church of the Ascension in New
York. Juliet was, at this time, in love with him.
[8] Sister of `Abdu'l-Bahá; the premier
woman of the Bahá'í Revelation.
[14] Howard MacNutt, a leading
Bahá'í from Brooklyn.
[15] Írán was at this time in
the midst of the Constitutional Revolution, 1906-1911. Eventually, the country
was divided into two spheres of influence: Russia took the north, and Great
Britain the south.
[28] NOTE: A discrepancy exists in the
various manuscripts of Juliet Thompson's diary concerning the identities of the
children from the East mentioned here.
[33] That day (the third of July) we had been to the House of the Blessed
Perfection in `Akká. It is a palace, spacious, stately, but it has not
the charm of the Master's House. In the room of the Blessed Perfection was a
marvellous atmosphere. I felt intense vibrations, currents of Life. When we
left, X leaned her head against the door.--J.T.
[34] Ibráhím George
Khayru'lláh (Kheiralla)--The believer who first brought the
Bahá'í Faith to America. He later rebelled against
`Abdu'l-Bahá and broke the Covenant.
[36] That is, Howard MacNutt, Hooper Harris, and William Hoar. This refers to
disputes involving these believers which took place in the New York
Bahá'í Community.
[37] The early name of the Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá'ís of New York.
[43] Táhirih, Bábí heroine and Letter of the Living.
[44] A musical term: an altered note (such as
a sharp or flat) foreign to the key indicated by the signature.
[45] Mr Sidney Sprague, a prominent American
Bahá'í and travelling teacher.
[46] In 1893 Rev. Grant had become rector of
the New York Church of the Ascension, long the stronghold of fashionable,
orthodox Episcopalians, but now with a dwindling congregation in a declining
neighbourhood. His sweeping innovations were successful, but controversial:
pews were no longer private property, but opened to the public; sermons were
preached on issues of the day; new afternoon musical services attracted
hundreds; Sunday evenings, the People's Forum debated political and economic
questions, often until midnight. Grant became the militant leader of the
radical wing of the city's clergy.
[47] An oral tradition of the teachings of Muhammad.
[48] The intent of this tradition is, of
course, metaphorical. The Bahá'í Faith rejects the doctrine of
Divine incarnation. The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith states:
"God ... can in no wise incarnate His infinite, His unknowable, His
incorruptible and all-embracing Reality in the concrete and limited frame of a
mortal being. Indeed, the God Who could so incarnate His own reality would, in
the light of the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, cease immediately to
be God." (World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 112)
[49] At this time, large numbers of people
were becoming Bahá'ís in Írán.
[50] The Ridván Garden, a short
distance from `Akká, was one of Bahá'u'lláh's favourite
resting places.
[53] Many of the early American
Bahá'ís believed that `Abdu'l-Bahá was the Return of
Christ, despite His many denials. In one Tablet `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote:
"You have written that there is a difference among the believers concerning the
`Second Coming of Christ'. Gracious God! Time and again this question hath
arisen, and its answer hath emanated in a clear and irrefutable statement from
the pen of `Abdu'l-Bahá, that what is meant in the prophecies by the
`Lord of Hosts' and the `Promised Christ' is the Blessed Perfection
(Bahá'u'lláh) and His holiness ... (the
Báb). My name is `Abdu'l-Bahá. My qualification is
`Abdu'l-Bahá. My reality is `Abdu'l-Bahá. My praise is
`Abdu'l-Bahá. Thraldom to the Blessed Perfection is my glorious and
refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my perpetual religion ...
No name, no title, no mention, no commendation have I, nor will ever have,
except `Abdu'l-Bahá." (World Order of Bahá'u'lláh,
p. 139)
[54] The passage in the Aqdas reads: "Let nothing grieve thee, O Land
of Tá [Tihrán] ... Ere long will the state of affairs within
thee be changed, and the reins of power fall into the hands of the people."
(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paras 91 and 93, pp. 53, 53)
[55] 1936. There seems no reason to conceal
it now. He gave me a cylinder of gold louis, so that I might be able to
return.--J.T.
The Louis d'or was a gold twenty franc piece, at the time worth slightly more
than five US dollars.--ED.
[56] Hájí Mírzá
Haydar-`Alí, an early believer and champion teacher of the Cause in
Írán, was known to Western pilgrims as the "Angel of Carmel".
See A. Q. Faizi, Stories from the Delight of Hearts.
[58] "There is no room in my heart for any but Thee," I said to Him once. "I
want you to be like that," He answered, "to be filled with the Love of God, to
be entirely cut from the world and always to hold to My garment."--J.T.
[59] When He is speaking, His mouth has an
upward turn at the comers, which gives Him that divine, smiling expression.
--J.T.
[66] This time my heart is more sensitive.
His voice pierces and wrings it. Every note of that voice makes my heart
quiver.--J.T.
[67] Dr Yúnís Khán
Afrúkhtih, who served `Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa from 1900 to
1909; Mírzá Badí'u'lláh, half brother of
`Abdu'l-Bahá; and Mírzá Munír-i Zayn, son of the
famous Bahá'í scribe Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín.
[68] While I was walking with Rúhá the day before on Mount Cannel,
as we sat on a fallen tree to rest, she had broached the subject of my marrying
Mason Remey. Our Lord had told her to ask me about it. "You are treating
Juliet like one of Your own daughters who were married in this way,"
Rúhá had said. "It is too strong a test for her." "Just ask her
and see what she says," our Lord had repeated. "But," added Rúhá
to me, "if the Master should command me now: `Go, leave your husband and
children and jump into the sea,' I would go and jump!"--J.T.
[69] Mírzá Mihdí, the
Purest Branch, the youngest son of Bahá'u'lláh and His consort
Navváb (Ásíyyih Khánum died after an
accidental fall from the roof of the prison in `Akká. See GodPasses By, pp. 188-89.
[70] The cylinder of gold louis the Master had
given me so that I might return to Him.--J.T.
[75] Disputes had developed in New York
between Mr MacNutt and other prominent Bahá'ís. It became the
general opinion that MacNutt's teaching of the Faith was incorrect in some
aspects.--ED.
[76] Enlarging the Board from nine to nineteen members.--J.T.
[77] He said "see them again." Ten years ago, in 1926, I went--and saw
them, and the beloved Guardian. But the Master was not there.--J.T.
[78] During the First World War, Hippolyte,
then in the army, guarded a bridge!--J. T.
[79] 1947. When I saw Laura this year I said:
"Remember Thonon!" "The waterfall," she answered.--J.T.
[80] Edith Sanderson, a Bahá'í
from Paris, and her mother.
[81] The X of the Thonon diary is not the X of
the `Akká diary, but somebody else who must remain incognito.--J.T.
1947. Some years later Elizabeth also died from an illness contracted
there.--J.T.
[86] Sultán Husayn Mírzá;
grandson of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh.--Ed.
[87] 1947. Years later I heard that he had been born again--a
Bahá'í--and was serving the Cause with great zeal in Persia. His
poor young brother, Prince Bahrám, died in the First World War, on a
torpedoed ship.--J.T.
[88] Juliet was, at this time, a member of the
Church of the Ascension. It was not until much later that the Guardian of the
Faith instructed the Bahá'ís of the United States to sever formal
affiliations with churches. See Messages to America, pp. 4-5.
[90] Ahmad Sohráb, now part of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's entourage.
[91] 1947. In the years that followed she would often say to me: "I love the
Master more than you do, Julie, and I obey Him better than you do, for
He performed a miracle for me, which He never did for you! He took all the
bitterness out of my heart."
There was another occasion, which I find I haven't mentioned in my diary, when
my darling little mother knelt before the Master. This was a public occasion,
after He had spoken in a church. The service over, the whole congregation,
including a multitude of believers, surged toward the chancel to shake hands
with Him. Mamma was the only one in that long procession who sank to her knees
and kissed his hand.--J.T.
[92] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 7-9.
[93] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 9-11.
[94] A follower of the economic philosophy of
Henry George who advocated a single tax on profits from the sale of land.
[95] An allusion to the Last Supper. See Mark
14:15 and Luke 22:12.
[96] Cf. The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 11-13.
[111] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 123-26.
[112] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 126-29.
[113] In December of that same year, Mrs Tatum
came to see me. "The Master," told me, "said such a strange thing to me just
before He left America. I had been saying how sorry I was that I had left my
car in Boston and couldn't put it at His disposal as I had done last spring.
He answered: `Soon, Mrs Tatum, you will not need your car, for you will be
riding in a chariot of fire.' I wonder, Juliet, what He meant by that!"
Within a few weeks, dear Mrs Tatum died suddenly.--J.T.
[114] Louis Potter, one of the best-known
sculptors in this country, also died in 1912, in August, very tragically. Even
after seeing the Master and really loving Him, he was still seeking truth in
other directions. He went out to California to follow a spiritual quack, whose
methods of healing killed poor Louis. The last thing from his gifted hand was
[a] beautiful medal with the Master's profile on it.--J.T.
[115] Bahá'ís to not believe
that `Abdu'l-Bahá is a Prophet of God, although this was a widespread
notion at this time. The prophets of the Bahá'í Faith are
Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb.
[116] Mount Morris Baptist Church. See The
Promulgation of Universal Peace, Second Edition, pp. 147-50.
[117] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 163-71.
118 After this, Walter Hampton came to the Master every day--he never missed a
day--till our Lord went to Dublin [New Hampshire].--J.T.
[121] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 213-16.
[122] We never dreamed how soon He would be
with her there.--J.T.
`Abdu'l-Bahá journeyed to California, arriving in San Francisco on 1
October 1912. Lua made the arrangements for his visit.--ED.
[123] 1947. There may have been two meanings
to that visit to the Museum and the second meaning I could not have thought of
till 1940, when I became so deeply involved in the Bahá'í work in
Mexico and completely at one in heart and spirit with the believers
there.--J.T.
[124] 1947. He died of his
humiliations which were more than human flesh could bear. And in the end he
would weep and say to a friend, who told me afterward, "Do you think we did all
we could have done for the Master?" He tried his best to communicate
with me, but fate had made me inaccessible. "I must write to Juliet,"
he said. "There is something I must tell her." I have never known what
this was.--J.T.
Dr Grant was eventually publicly disgraced and forced to resign his position in
the Church of the Ascension. He retired to his country home and died less than
three years later.--ED.
[125] 1947. Just after the Master ascended,
dear Mrs Goodall died and Ella sent the rosary back to me. Several years later
I gave it to Romeyn Benjamin. It played a miraculous part in his life and when
he died, eight years ago, again it came back to me.--J.T.
[126] In exactly a month, to the day, He saw
me in Green Acre, where Mamma and I were His guests for four days.--J.T.
[127] See The Promulgation of Universal
Peace, Second Edition, pp. 431-37.
Chapter 4