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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
49 stories in the library.
Howard Colby Ives recalled how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá listened patiently to a clergyman's long questions, then spoke to him with such love that the visitor was transformed, and sent him off with an armful of roses.
Howard Colby Ives followed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to His room in New York. In the stillness the Master simply asked whether he was interested in renunciation, and Ives, without words, left His presence with his soul treading the heights.
Howard Colby Ives recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met every questioner first with silence, listening so completely that He seemed to listen with the speaker’s own ears.
Howard Colby Ives asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá three times what detachment meant. The Master said nothing until they reached His room, then turned and gently asked whether he was interested in detachment.
When Howard Colby Ives wrote in 1912 that his Brotherhood Church had closed for lack of funds, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's reply joked about the philosophy of the age and urged him to give his whole life to spreading the teachings.
In 1912 the minister Howard Colby Ives received a Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Baha that he took at first for simply a beautiful letter. When his church closed, a second Tablet consoled him with humour and called him to teach the Faith.
In Dublin, New Hampshire, in August 1912, the minister Howard Colby Ives spent a Sunday with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and said he would never doubt again. He later wrote that he had spoken many months too soon.
At their first meeting in New York in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá sat knee to knee with Howard Colby Ives, wiped away his tears, told him one must always be happy, and laughed.
Wary after years of disappointed hopes, Howard Colby Ives was persuaded to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at the Hotel Ansonia, where he was called into the Master's room and, in a long silence with Him, found the faith he had sought.
Howard Colby Ives explains that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's courtesy was really reverence for the soul in every person, and recalls how the husband of His hostess in Dublin called Him the most perfect gentleman he had ever known.
Howard Colby Ives recalls ‘Abdu’l-Bahá serving His guests with His own hands while eating nothing Himself, and His simple answer when asked to be honorary chairman of a Bahá’í Assembly.
When Howard Colby Ives's Brotherhood Church in Jersey City had to close for lack of funds, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to him that this had happened so that he might be free to call the people to the Kingdom.
When a group of boys came to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in New York, He greeted the only Black boy among them as “a black rose,” and the other boys looked at him with new eyes.
An unschooled miner who travelled far on foot to hear ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in San Francisco was so absorbed in His words that he took the interpreter for an intruder, never realizing the Master was speaking Persian.
Howard Colby Ives describes how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught souls: He never argued, pressed a point or told him what to believe, but showed by His own voice and manner how one should be.
Howard Colby Ives asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá why he should believe in Bahá’u’lláh. After a long silence the Master spoke of the sincerity a minister's heart must have, and only months later did Ives realize his question had been answered.
Longing to be perfect yet despairing of his own weakness, Howard Colby Ives asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá how he could ever reach so high a goal. The Master answered that it is accomplished little by little.
Struggling to give up smoking, Howard Colby Ives asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for help. Instead of a lecture, the Master told him not to let it trouble him, and two days later the desire left him for seven years.
In New York in 1912, Lua Getsinger told Grace Robarts that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wished her to marry Harlan Ober, a man she scarcely knew. Grace obeyed, and the Master Himself performed their marriage.
Howard Colby Ives went to ask 'Abdu'l-Bahá what renunciation means. The Master talked about something else on the walk back, and then asked Howard a question of His own.
A crowd of boys came to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York. The only Black boy among them was afraid he would not be welcome, but 'Abdu'l-Bahá greeted him, loud enough for all to hear, as a black rose.
Howard Colby Ives invited 'Abdu'l-Bahá to speak at the church he had named the Brotherhood Church. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke on brotherhood, Howard felt ashamed of how little he had lived the word.
A few days before 'Abdu'l-Bahá sailed from America, Howard Colby Ives sat close to Him as He gave His last instructions to His friends, and later put all of the words into his book.
Howard Colby Ives wished he could meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá alone, without even an interpreter. At a crowded New York hotel, 'Abdu'l-Bahá called him over, sent everyone out, and sat with him in silence.
Saying goodbye to 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the ship that took Him from America, Howard Colby Ives knelt and placed the Master's hand on his head. He never forgot how still that hand lay.
After a long, tiring day, 'Abdu'l-Bahá came home so weak that His friends had to help Him inside. Fifteen minutes later His strong voice rang through the house again.
'Abdu'l-Bahá listened while a committee in New York talked things over. Then He stopped at the door and asked them one question.
A boy of about thirteen, the only Black boy in a group visiting 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York, was afraid he might not be welcome. 'Abdu'l-Bahá called him "a black rose" in front of everyone.
On a long trolley ride, Howard Colby Ives noticed the young woman beside him looking at his book, so he moved it over to share. By the end of the ride she wanted to know who had written it.
In 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá united two American Bahá'ís in marriage. At the wedding, before guests from many countries, He chanted a prayer for them.
At Lake Mohonk in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told some young people the fable of the mice who could not decide who would bell the cat, and likened it to the peace conferences of the day.
Howard Colby Ives, a minister who had long searched for God without finding Him, met 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York in 1912. His doubts did not end that day; certainty came months later, after the Master had left America.
Howard Colby Ives, an unhappy minister, met 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York in 1912. Months of study and turmoil followed, and when his Brotherhood Church had to close, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote to him that it had happened to free him to call people to the Kingdom.
Howard Colby Ives recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, after listening to the executive committee of the New York Spiritual Assembly deliberate for half an hour, paused at the door and asked why they did not execute.
When Howard Colby Ives, then a Unitarian minister, impatiently disputed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretation of Christ’s words, the Master looked at him with love and said softly that Ives should try his way and He would try His.
Howard Colby Ives made a special journey to ask 'Abdu'l-Bahá about renunciation. On the walk back the Master spoke only of horizons; then, in His room, He asked Ives whether he was interested in renunciation.
Howard Colby Ives recalls a Sunday in New York in April 1912 when some twenty or thirty boys from the East Side came to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and He welcomed the only Black boy among them, before them all, as a black rose.
On May 19, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke on brotherhood at the Brotherhood Church in Jersey City, where Howard Colby Ives was the unpaid minister. Ives, who had named the church, felt ashamed of how little he had lived the word.
On December 2, 1912, three days before He sailed from America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave His last instructions to a group of friends in New York. Howard Colby Ives, sitting close to Him, later quoted the talk in full.
A group of boys from New York's East Side came to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The only Black boy among them feared he might not be welcome, and the Master greeted him before them all as "a black rose."
On a trolley to Newark, Howard Colby Ives shared his copy of Some Answered Questions with the young woman beside him. At the end of the ride she asked who the author was, and the next Sunday she came to hear 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
In April 1912 Howard Colby Ives went without an appointment to the Hotel Ansonia in New York. 'Abdu'l-Bahá beckoned him across a crowded room, sent everyone else out, and sat with him alone.
On 17 July 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá united Harlan Ober and Grace Robarts in marriage. At the evening ceremony, performed by Howard Colby Ives before guests from many lands, the Master chanted a prayer for the couple.
At the farewell aboard the S.S. Celtic in December 1912, Howard Colby Ives knelt and placed 'Abdu'l-Bahá's hand on his head. The hand lay still, and Ives remembered it ever after as a sign of the Master's humility.
After an exhausting day of speaking, 'Abdu'l-Bahá had to be almost carried into the house. Within fifteen minutes He was calling for His secretary with more than His usual energy. An incident recorded by Howard Colby Ives.
'Abdu'l-Bahá listened for half an hour to a meeting of the executive committee of the New York Spiritual Assembly. Then He rose, paused at the door, and asked why they did not execute.
At his first meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Howard Colby Ives could not speak; after a long silence the Master placed His hand upon his breast, saying that it was the heart that speaks.
Worn out by years of travel-teaching with no home of their own, Mable Ives (Rizwanea) agreed to spend one day in prayer before deciding to stop, and was brought to submission, gratitude and love for her circumstances.
In a 1934 letter to Doris McKay, Howard Colby Ives explained how he and his wife accepted a life without a settled home, trusting that God provides a heavenly home for those who accept His Will.