Thoughts the Encourage Action

On August 8, 1912. the people of Dublin, New Hampshire had a lot to think about. Abdu'l-Baha had presented his own sort of "call to action" two days earlier, when speaking to an audience in Dublin. Here is part of what he said, in response to one question:


"mere knowledge is not sufficient for complete human attainment. The teachings of the Holy Books need a heavenly power and divine potency to carry them out. A house is not built by mere acquaintance with the plans. Money must be forthcoming; volition is necessary to construct it; a carpenter must be employed in its erection. It is not enough to say, 'The plan and purpose of this house are very good; I will live in it.' There are no walls of protection, there is no roof of shelter in this mere statement; the house must be actually built before we can live in it.
Briefly, the teachings of the Holy Books need a divine potency to complete their accomplishment in human hearts. In Persia Bahá’u’lláh reared and taught souls, established a bond of affiliation among various peoples and united divergent religious beliefs to such an extent that twenty thousand devoted ones sacrificed themselves for the Cause of God in the glorious unity of martyrdom. No differences whatever remained among these blessed souls—Christians, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, all blended, unified and agreed through the potency of His heavenly power, not by mere words, not by merely saying, 'Unity is good, and love is praiseworthy.' "

The above passage comes from the book The Promulgation of Universal Peace.