The Days Are Many, the Sun Is One

On the morning of Sunday, May 19, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at the Church of the Divine Paternity on Central Park West, New York. Mahmúd's diary records that the minister, Dr Frank Oliver Hall, first spoke at length about the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh and the Covenant, and explained that the name 'Abdu'l-Bahá meant that He was under the canopy of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. Esther Foster took the notes of the Master's address that were published in The Promulgation of Universal Peace. He opened with these words:

Religions are many, but the reality of religion is one. The days are many, but the sun is one. The fountains are many, but the fountainhead is one. The branches are many, but the tree is one.

Abraham heralded reality, He went on; Moses promulgated it; Christ established it; Muḥammad was its Messenger; the Báb was its door; Bahá'u'lláh was its splendor. Reality is one and does not admit multiplicity or division. "Reality is as the sun, which shines forth from different dawning points." The religions differ because they have held to dogmatic imitations, which are like clouds that hide the sunrise. He compared the Prophets to the coming of spring: each spring is the return of the one before, and each Prophet renews the teachings of the Prophet Who came before Him.

He then described some of the principles of Bahá'u'lláh: the oneness of humanity, the independent investigation of reality, and the harmony of religion and science.

If religion does not agree with science, it is superstition and ignorance; for God has endowed man with reason in order that he may perceive reality.

Religion must also be conducive to love and unity, He said. He showed how Moses had gathered the divided tribes of Israel, how Christ had united the warring peoples of His time, and how Muḥammad had united the tribes of Arabia.

If it becomes the cause of hatred and strife, its absence is preferable. Its purpose is unity, and its foundations are one.

He closed with Bahá'u'lláh's work in Persia. There, He said, peoples who would not eat together or drink from the same water had been bound together by such ties of love that they were completely united, and it was hoped that through Bahá'u'lláh's life and teachings the East and the West would become so united that no trace of enmity would remain.

After the talk, Mahmúd writes, the audience asked to file past the podium to shake His hand, and the crowd around His carriage afterwards was so great that it was difficult for it to move.

A retelling based on The Promulgation of Universal Peace ('Abdu'l-Bahá), talk of 19 May 1912 at the Church of the Divine Paternity, Central Park West, New York (notes by Esther Foster), with details from Mahmúd's Diary. For the fuller account, see the originals.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1922). *The Promulgation of Universal Peace*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation-universal-peace/