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It would have been easy and natural for 'Abdul-Baha in the circumstances to have challenged the Western fallacy, exposed its error, developed an argument brilliant and overpowering to emphasize the agreement of His teaching with that of the Bible, and the hollowness of the Western expectation of a man-made kingdom and of materialistic hegemony of one race over others. But 'Abdul-Baha did nothing of the kind. The great ideal which He held before His audiences was at all times and places one and the same: Unity Through Love. His Paris Talks are full throughout of a spiritual wisdom, a spontaneous warmth of heart and sweetness and winning tenderness that would be hard to match in the world's revealed religious literature. His first public address was delivered in a Christian Church in London. He said, (92:2) This truth of a new dawning of power in the world became the master thought of all His speeches throughout His work in the West. In America, however, He addressed the Americans particularly as Christians and made an appeal to them not to be listeners only but to become the reapers whom Christ had prophesied would arise in His harvest day. He sought not only to instruct and illumine the minds of His audience but to awaken in them the power of spirituality and enthusiasm which would overcome the materialism that infected mankind and would develop in them a new loving spirituality which would enable His message to get home to their hearts.
(93:2)
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