But there is an interpretation to all this for "those of understanding." Bahais reject metempsychosis, but they have a doctrine of "Return," which must be borne in mind. This principle is expressed by Phelps as follows: "When a character with which we are familiar as possessed by some individual of the past, reappears in another individual of the present, we say that the former has returned."[182] Baha states it thus: "In every succeeding Manifestation those souls who exceed all in faith, assurance, and self-denial can be declared to be the return of the former persons who attained to these states in the preceding Manifestation. For that which appeared from the former servants became manifest in the subsequent ones."[183] Their classic illustration of this is John the Baptist. Abdul Baha says: "Christ said that John the Baptist was Elijah. The same perfections which were in Elijah existed in John, and were exactly realized in him. Not the essence but the qualities are regarded. As the flower of last year has returned, so this person, John, was a manifestation of the bounty, perfections, the character, the qualities, and the virtues of Elias. John said, 'I am not Elias'—not his substance and individuality."[184] Remey clearly states the idea: "The return of a prophet does not refer to the return to this world of a personality. It refers to the return in another personality of the impersonal Spirit, the Word or Spirit of God, which spoke through the prophets in the past.... People are mistakenly looking for the personal individual return of their own special prophet."[185] In accordance with this theory of the "Return," Abdul Baha wrote to the Bahai Council of New York: "I am not Christ; I am not eternal."[186] To Mrs. Grundy he said: "Some call me Christ; it is imagination."[187] Yet the final word of his missionary, Mr. Remey, is: "The same Christ which was in Jesus is again manifest in the Bahai Revelation. The real Christians are those who recognize the New Covenant to be the return of the same Christ,—the Word of God."[188] In like manner this usurper of Christ's name is proclaimed to be "the expected one," the "desire of all nations" under other names to the various religions.
V. Bahaism deals with the prophecies of the Bible in a manner derogatory to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Bahaism asserts that "the promises and prophecies given in the Holy Scriptures have been fulfilled by the appearance of the Prince of the Universe, the great Baha Ullah and of Abdul Baha."[189] A volume would be necessary to review their treatment of the prophecies. They quote a multitude of verses without proof that their applications are valid. The "messenger" and "Elijah" of the Book of Malachi are declared to be the Bab.[190] He is also the Angel with the sound of the trumpet (Rev. iv. 1) and his cycle is the "First Resurrection." Baha is declared to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. Of chapter ix. 1-6, "unto us a child is born, ... the Prince of Peace." Dealy says: "Many misguided people have referred this to Jesus Christ."[191] In verse 1, "Galilee of the nations," land of Zebulun and Naphtali, is made to mean Acca (Acre in Syria) where Baha lived in exile, and not the region of Christ's ministry, contradicting Matthew iv. 13-16. By a great stretch of imagination Acca[192] becomes Jerusalem, "the city of the great king" (Ps. xlviii. 12), and Mount Carmel becomes Mount Zion, and Isaiah ii. 3 refers to them, "for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Even "the root out of Jesse"[193] and the millennial peace are only partially referred to Christ. They find the real fulfillment in Baha Ullah, whom they imagine to be descended from Abraham, through an imaginary descendant of his named Jesse.[194] The new covenant and the law written on the heart is again the Bahai dispensation, contrary to Hebrews viii. 8, 10, 16. When Baha as a prisoner in chains rode into Acca seated on an ass, he fulfilled Zechariah ix. 9.[195]
I attended a Bahai meeting in the Masonic Temple in Chicago. The leader read the following verses as all fulfilled in Bahaism.[196] The "son of man" (Dan. vii.) was Abdul Baha, and the "Ancient of Days," Baha. The question of Proverbs xxx. 3, "What is his name and what his son's name?" was answered, Baha and Abdul Baha; similarly in Psalms lxxii. and ii., "The King" and the "King's Son." The "Branch" (Zech. vi. 12-13) who shall build the temple was again Abdul Baha, and the latter is specially urgent that the Bahai Temple in Chicago should be built in his day, so that the prophecy may appear to be fulfilled. The dates in Daniel are juggled with. For example, Abdul Baha explains Daniel viii. by taking the solar year. He calculates [197] that the 2,300 days were completed at the Bab's manifestation in 1844. In Daniel xii. 6 the lunar[198] year is resorted to, and the forty-two months (1,260 years) are dated from the hegira of Mohammed, but Daniel xii. 11 does not come exactly right, so the terminus a quo is made to be the proclamation of the prophethood of Mohammed, three years after his mission, which was ten years before the hegira. By this means the date of Baha's manifestation (1863) is reached. In connection with Daniel xii. and Revelation xi. we have the startling information, so contradictory to history, that "in the beginning of the seventh century after Christ, when Jerusalem was conquered, the Holy of Holies was outwardly preserved, that is to say, the house which Solomon built. The Holy of Holies was preserved, guarded, and respected."[199] On this alleged fact Abdul Baha founds an argument.[200] Prophecies referring to the glory of God or of the Father are applied to Baha, because his title means "glory of God." The Bab, according to the custom in Persia, gave many high-sounding titles. Baha's rival was called "The Dawn of the Eternal." Voliva, the successor of Dowie, might assume some fitting title and claim to fulfill the prophecies. He has a good foundation for interpretation, he does really live in Zion City (Illinois). Our Bahais further tell us that the "New Jerusalem," the new heaven and the new earth, mean the new dispensation, the new laws of Baha. This is now "the day of God," "the day of judgment," "the kingdom of God," "the second resurrection."[201] The parable of the vineyard is a favourite proof text. It says that the Lord of the vineyard will come himself and will utterly destroy the wicked husbandmen. This, they say, is a real coming of the Father, even as the Son came. In that case the destroying must be real, and we should expect that Baha would have destroyed the religious leaders of Mecca or Kerbela, Jerusalem or Rome. "No," says the Bahai, "the destroying is figurative, and means simply the abrogation of their authority." Well, if he escapes to a figurative interpretation, we too can interpret the coming of the Lord of the Vineyard as his visitation on Jerusalem in the time of Titus.
Baha Ullah's method of interpretation and adaptation of prophecies is best seen in his "Ikan." In it he interprets at length Matthew xxiv.[202] In brief it is as follows: "After the tribulation of those days" means times of difficulty in understanding God's word and attaining divine knowledge; "the sun shall be darkened and the moon cease to give light," that is the teachings and the ordinances of the preceding dispensation shall lose their influence and efficiency. "The stars shall fall," etc., means the divines shall fall from the knowledge of religion, and the powers of science and religion shall be shaken. Because of the absence of the Son of Divine Beauty, the moon of knowledge, and the stars of intuitive wisdom, "all the tribes of the earth shall mourn." "They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven," that is Baha Ullah shall appear from the heaven of the Supreme Will, outwardly from his mother's womb. "In the clouds" means in doubts which are caused by the human limitations of the Manifestation, eating, drinking, marrying, etc. "And he shall send his angels," the spiritual believers sent as preachers of Baha. The separation of the sheep from the goats, as we learn subsequently, means the schism at the death of Baha, when the violators, the brothers of Abdul Baha and their adherents, were exscinded.[203] Even granting an allegorical interpretation of Christ's words, only a stretch of imagination can find any reference to Baha.
It should be borne in mind that Oriental Bahai writers have read Keith on Prophecy in Persian and the publications of the Mission Press at Beirut. Abdul Baha said to Dr. H. H. Jessup, "I am familiar with the books of your press."[204] M. Abul Fazl refers to and quotes them. Writers in English (as Kheiralla, Remey, Dealy, and Brittingham) refer to Miller, Cummings, Seiss, Guinness, and others. Yet with all their familiarity with apocalyptic literature, they make an exceedingly weak presentation. Their claims are so baseless as to require no refutation. They are a mass of unfounded assertions and assumptions,—vain, bold, and brazen. We may admit the declarations of Baha and Abul Fazl, which are but trite principles of hermeneutics, that figurative and allegorical language abounds in the Scriptures, that many meanings are "sealed" till after their fulfillment, that the prophecies of the Old Testament were only partially fulfilled at Christ's first coming. But their inference does not follow. There is nothing to prove the assertions that the prophecies were fulfilled in the Bab and Baha. They furnish no scintilla of evidence. For example, "the government shall be upon his shoulders." Was this fulfilled in Baha? He came and went; the nations and their rulers from 1817 to 1892 were neither literally nor figuratively under his sway. He did not nor does he rule over the nations. He did not reign in Mount Zion nor in Jerusalem. Jerusalem did not cease to be trodden down of the Gentiles. Abundance of peace did not attend him, but great wars. The signs of Christ's Second Advent have not been fulfilled in Baha, either actually or metaphorically.[205] As well may Ahmad Quadiani or Dowie assert their pretensions. Baha's claim is antichristian. The day of Christ's power through the Holy Spirit has not passed. It is still His day. The knowledge of Christ is yet more covering the earth. Men of diverse races and religions in Asia, Africa, and the isles of the seas are being joined in the common faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ as Saviour of Men. There are more Christians in Korea than Bahais in Persia. More Jews have become Christian since Baha was born than have become Bahais from all races and religions outside of Persia. Christ still goes forth conquering and to conquer.
VI. Bahaism, in its treatment of Jesus Christ as a man in His earthly life, belittles Him by both its denials and its affirmations. Of His temptation it says, "the devil signifies the human nature of Christ, through which He was tempted." His miracles of healing are denied.[206] Baha and Abul Fazl admit the possibility of miracles, but deny their evidential value,[207] but Abdul Baha denies their reality. He says: "The miracles of Christ were spiritual teachings, not literal deeds."[208] The raising of the dead means that the dead (in sin) are blessed with spiritual life.[209] By blindness (John ix.) is meant ignorance and error; by sight, knowledge and guidance.[210] The spittle coming from Christ was the meaning of His words, the clay was the expression He used in accordance with their understanding.[211] At the crucifixion darkness did not prevail, nor the earthquake, nor was the vail of the temple rent in twain.[212] The crucifixion was not an atoning sacrifice; Christ quaffed the cup of martyrdom "to cultivate and educate us."[213] The washing away of sins by Christ was not by His blood, but was by the practice of His teachings."[214] Christ did not rise from the dead. "Resurrection of the body is an unintelligible matter contrary to natural laws."[215] The body, which signifies His word, arose when faith in His cause revived in the minds of the disciples after three days.[216] Christ's real resurrection was the coming of Mohammed. "Christ by saying that He would be three days in the heart of the earth meant that He would appear in the third cycle. The Christian was one, the Mohammedan the second, and that of Baha the third." "The ascension of Christ with an elemental body is contrary to science." He ascended in the same sense as Baha ascended, viz., departed to the other world. Thus Bahaism denies the miracles,[217] atonement, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
A section of the "Tarikh-i-Jadid"[218] is devoted to the denial and refutation of miracles. A blind man in Teheran sent to Baha praying that his eyes might be opened. He received answer that it was for the glory of God that he remain blind. The Bab, at his examination in Tabriz, was asked to restore the sick Mohammed Shah to health. He replied: "It is not in my power, but I can write two thousand verses a day. Who else can do that?" He thus appealed not simply to the quality of his poetry but to its quantity as a proof of his manifestation. In like manner, Manes, in old times, painted pictures in his "revelations" and appealed to them as proof of his inspiration. While denying miracles, Bahais lay much stress, as we have seen, on minute fulfillments of prophecies.
Bahaism belittles the life and work of Jesus in instituting comparisons between Christ and Baha derogatory to the former. Baha says: "It is not meet ... to repeat the error of seeking help of ... the Son Jesus. Let thy satisfaction be in myself." Abdul Baha says: "The difference between Baha and Christ is that between the sun and moon. The light of the sun [Baha] subsists in itself while the moon gets light from the Sun." "All the teachings of Christ will not exceed ten pages.[219] Those of the Blessed Perfection exceed sixty or seventy volumes. Christ's instructions refer to individuals. Those of the Blessed Perfection are for all nations, although they apply as well to all individuals. The instructions of Christ were heard by but few persons; there were eleven who believed, although Christians say there were one hundred and twenty. The teachings of the Blessed Perfection were spread throughout the world during his lifetime. The reputation of Christ did not extend from Nazareth to Acca [22 miles]; the reputation of the Blessed Perfection extended throughout the world. Jesus Christ did not send a letter even to a village chief; the Blessed Perfection sent letters to all the kings of the earth."[220] Notice how he repeats ad nauseam the title for Baha, but uses no title for the Lord Jesus Christ, though the Moslems invariably do use a title in speaking of the latter.
There is an evident effort on the part of Kheiralla and Abul Fazl to minimize the proofs regarding Christ from prophecy, miracles, and history, with the idea thereby of magnifying the proof for Baha in contrast. For example, "The Gospels contain only a few pages of the true Words of God. Christ's teachings were not written in the original language nor written in His day, His power was slow in proving effective, and many even denied His existence."[221] "Even Peter denied Him, but Baha Ullah has educated thousands of souls, faithful under the menace of the sword."[222] In explaining the progress of Bahaism among the Jews and Zoroastrians, Abul Fazl says: "Christians could not convert even one Jew or Zoroastrian except by force or compulsion." He ignores the fact that millions of Persians had been converted to Christ from Zoroaster before the sword of Islam smote Persia. This belittling of Christ—His life and work and influence—shows that a spirit antagonistic to Christ really animates the Bahai leaders, in spite of their professions to the contrary.
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