delegates
selected for a congress of nations which should constitute a universal
arbitral court of justice to settle international disputes. He wrote to
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of
Germany, Napoleon III of France and others, inviting them to world unity
and peace. Through a heavenly power He was enabled to promulgate these
ideals in the Orient. Kings could not withstand Him. They endeavored to
extinguish His light but served only to increase its intensity and
illumination. While in prison He stood against the _Sh_ah of Persia and
Sultan of Turkey and promulgated His teachings until He firmly established
the banner of truth and the oneness of humankind. I was a prisoner with
Him for forty years until the Young Turks of the Committee of Union and
Progress overthrew the despotism of 'Abdu'l-Hamid, dethroned him and
proclaimed liberty. This committee set me free from tyranny and
oppression; otherwise, I should have been in prison until the days of my
life were ended. The purport is this: that Baha'u'llah in prison was able
to proclaim and establish the foundations of peace although two despotic
kings were His enemies and oppressors. The King of Persia, Nasiri'd-Din
_Sh_ah, had killed twenty thousand Baha'is, martyrs who in absolute
severance and complete willingness offered their lives joyfully for their
faith. These two powerful and tyrannical kings could not withstand a
prisoner; this Prisoner upheld the standard of humanity and brought the
people of the Orient into agreement and unity. Today in the East, only
those who have not followed Baha'u'llah are in opposition and enmity. The
people of the nations who have accepted Him as the standard of divine
guidance enjoy a condition of actual fellowship and love. If you should
attend a meeting in the East, you could not distinguish between Christian
and Muslim; you would not know which was Jew, Zoroastrian or Buddhist, so
completely have they become fraternized and their religious differences
been leveled. They associate in the utmost love and spiritual fragrance as
if they belonged to one family, as if they were one people.

17 June 1912
Talk at 309 West Seventy-eighth Street, New York

Notes by Emma C. Melick

We should all visit the sick. When they are in sorrow and suffering, it is
a real help and benefit to have a friend come. Happiness is a great healer
to those who are ill. In the East it is the custom to call upon the