As a youth Edward Granville Browne had read reports about the Bab written by a European visitor in Persia. He had become so attracted by the story of the Bab’s faith that he eventually dedicated himself to learning all that he could about the new religion. In 1888 he journeyed to Persia and met with many of the Baha’is, including some individuals who had known the Bab personally. In 1890 he set out for Ottoman territory to meet Baha’u’llah.
In his interview, Baha'u'llah addressed him as follows:
“Praise be to God that thou has attained! ... Thou has come to see a prisoner and an exile. … We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. … That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled-what harm is there in this? … Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come. … Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? … Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. … These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family. … Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind. …”
26 сен 2023
