‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s first public appearance before a western
audience significantly enough took place in a Christian house of worship, when,
on September 10, 1911, He addressed an overflowing
congregation from the pulpit of the City Temple. Introduced by the Pastor, the
Reverend R. J. Campbell, He, in simple and moving language, and with vibrant
voice, proclaimed the unity of God, affirmed the fundamental oneness of
religion, and announced that the hour of the unity of the sons of men, of all
races, religions and classes had struck. On another occasion, on September 17,
at the request of the Venerable Archdeacon Wilberforce, He addressed the
congregation of St. John the Divine, at Westminster, after evening service,
choosing as His theme the transcendental greatness of the Godhead, as affirmed
and elucidated by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Íqán. “The Archdeacon,” wrote a
contemporary of that event, “had the Bishop’s chair placed for his Guest on the
chancel steps, and, standing beside Him, read the translation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
address himself. The congregation was profoundly moved, and, following the
Archdeacon’s example, knelt to receive the blessing of the Servant of God—Who
stood with extended arms—His wonderful voice rising and falling in the silence
with the power of His invocation.”
At the invitation of the Lord Mayor of London He breakfasted with him at the Mansion House; addressed the Theosophical Society at their headquarters, at the express request of their President, and also a Meeting of the Higher Thought center in London; was invited by a deputation from the Bramo-Somaj Society to deliver a lecture under their auspices; visited and delivered an address on world unity at the Mosque at Woking, at the invitation of the Muslim Community of Great Britain, and was entertained by Persian princes, noblemen, ex-ministers and members of the Persian Legation in London. He stayed as a guest in Dr. T. K. Cheyne’s home in Oxford, and He delivered an address to “a large and deeply interested audience,” highly academic in character, gathered at Manchester College in that city, and presided over by Dr. Estlin Carpenter. He also spoke from the pulpit of a Congregational Church in the East End of London, in response to the request of its Pastor; addressed gatherings in Caxton Hall and Westminster Hall, the latter under the chairmanship of Sir Thomas Berkeley, and witnessed a performance of “Eager Heart,” a Christmas mystery play at the Church House, Westminster, the first dramatic performance He had ever beheld, and which in its graphic depiction of the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ moved Him to tears. In the Hall of the Passmore Edwards’ Settlement, in Tavistock Place, he spoke to an audience of about four hundred and sixty representative people, presided over by Prof. Michael Sadler, called on a number of working women of that Settlement, who were on holiday at Vanners’, in Byfleet, some twenty miles out of London, and paid a second visit there, meeting on that occasion people of every condition who had specially gathered to see Him, among whom were “the clergy of several denominations, a headmaster of a boys’ public school, a member of Parliament, a doctor, a famous political writer, the vice-chancellor of a university, several journalists, a well-known poet, and a magistrate from London.” “He will long be remembered,” wrote a chronicler of His visit to England, describing that occasion, “as He sat in the bow window in the afternoon sunshine, His arm round a very ragged but very happy little boy who had come to ask ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for sixpence for his money box and for his invalid mother, whilst round Him in the room were gathered men and women discussing Education, Socialism, the first Reform Bill, and the relation of submarines and wireless telegraphy to the new era on which man is entering.”
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God
Passes By’)