The worlds of God are in perfect harmony and correspondence one with
another. Each world in this limitless universe is, as it were, a mirror
reflecting the history and nature of all the rest. The physical universe
is, likewise, in perfect correspondence with the spiritual or divine
realm. The world of matter is an outer expression or facsimile of the
inner kingdom of spirit. The world of minds corresponds with the world of
hearts.
If we look reflectively upon the material world, we realize that all outer
phenomena are dependent upon the sun. Without the sun the phenomenal world
would be in a state of utter darkness and devoid of life. All earthly
creation--whether mineral, vegetable, animal or human--is dependent upon the
heat, light and splendor of the great central solar body for training and
development. Were it not for the solar heat and sunlight, no minerals
would have been formed, no vegetable, animal and human organisms would or
could have become existent. It is clearly evident, therefore, that the sun
is the source of life to all earthly and outer phenomena.
In the inner world, the world of the Kingdom, the Sun of Reality is the
Trainer and Educator of minds, souls and spirits. Were it not for the
effulgent rays of the Sun of Reality, they would be deprived of growth and
development; nay, rather, they would be nonexistent. For just as the
physical sun is the trainer of all outer and phenomenal forms of being
through the radiation of its light and heat, so the radiation of the light
and heat of the Sun of Reality gives growth, education and evolution to
minds, souls and spirits toward the station of perfection.
Christ was the Sun of Reality which shone from the heavenly horizon of
Christianity, training, protecting, confirming minds, souls and spirits
until they came into harmony with the divine Kingdom and attained capacity
for descent of the infinite bounties of God. Were it not for the
appearance of His splendor, they would have remained in the darkness of
imperfection and remoteness from God. But because that Sun of Reality
shone forth and flooded its light into the world of minds, souls and
spirits, they became radiant. He conferred a new and eternal life upon
them.
When the phenomenal sun appears from the vernal point of dawning in the
zodiac, a wondrous and vibrant commotion is set up in the body of the
earthly world. The withered trees are quickened with animation, the black
soil becomes verdant with new growth, fresh and fragrant flowers bloom,
the world of dust is refreshed, renewed life forces surge through the
veins of every animate being, and a new springtime carpets the meadows,
plains, mountains and valleys with wondrous forms of life. That which was
dead and desolate is revived and resuscitated; that which was withered,
faded and stricken is transformed by the spirit of a new creation. In the
same way the Sun of Reality, when it illumines the horizon of the inner
world, animates, vivifies and quickens with a divine and wonderful power.
The trees of human minds clothe themselves in new and verdant robes,
putting on leaves and blossoms and bearing spiritual fruits of the
heavenly glad tidings. Then fragrant flowers of inner significances appear
from the soil of human souls, and the whole being of man awakens to a new
and divine activity. This is the growth and development of the inner world
through the effulgent light of divine guidance and the heat of the fire of
the love of God.
The physical sun has its rising and its setting. The earthly world has its
day and its night. After each sunset there is a sunrise and the coming of
a new dawn. The Sun of Reality, likewise, has its rising and setting.
There is a day and a night in the world of spirituality. After each
departure there is a return and the dawning light of a new day.
Furthermore, the reality of Divinity is characterized by certain names and
attributes. Among these names are Creator, Resuscitator, Provider, the
All-Present, Almighty, Omniscient and Giver. These names and attributes of
Divinity are eternal and not accidental. This is a very subtle point which
demands close attention. Their existence is proved and necessitated by the
appearance of phenomena. For example, Creator presupposes creation,
Resuscitator implies resuscitation, Provider necessitates provision;
otherwise, these would be empty and impossible names. Merciful evidences
an object upon which mercy is bestowed. If mercy were not manifest, this
attribute of God would not be realized. The name Lord proves the existence
of subjects over whom sovereignty is exercised. The name Omniscient
demands the objects of all-knowing. Unless these objects existed,
omniscience would be meaningless and without function. The name the Wise
necessitates objects for the exercise of wisdom; and unless wisdom
comprehended them, this name would be inconceivable. Therefore, the divine
names and attributes presuppose the existence of phenomena implied by
those names and attributes. And vice versa--the sovereignty of God is
proved and established through their verity and being.
Reflect then carefully that the sovereignty of God is not accidental but
everlasting and eternal, and that it necessitates the existence of
phenomenal being. Kingship necessitates a kingdom, an army, a treasury,
subjects, a court and ministers. How could there be a king without
subjects, dominion and wealth? Otherwise, anybody could claim to be a
king. "Where is your army?" "I do not need one." "Where is your country?"
"It is unnecessary. I am a king without a kingdom, without army, subjects
or sovereignty." Is this possible?
Therefore, divine sovereignty necessitates a creation over which its
dominion is exercised. There must be evidences of sovereignty. If we try
to conceive of a time when creation was nonexistent, when there were no
subjects or creatures under divine dominion and control, Divinity itself
would disappear; there would be a cessation of the bounty of God, just as
the kingship and favor of an earthly monarch would disappear if his
kingdom did not exist. The sovereignty of God is eternal. There has been
no beginning; there will be no end. This is as evident as the sun at
midday, even to one endowed with limited reason.
When we consider the phenomenal sun, we see that its heat and light are
continuous. There is no cessation to the solar bounty. If the sun at any
time were without light or heat, it would not be the sun. How do we
recognize the sun? Through its heat and effulgence. If it be deprived of
its rays and heat, it is no longer a sun; it is merely a dark globe or
sphere in the heavens. The bounties of the sun must be perpetual in order
that it may be qualified as a solar center of energy, illumination and
attraction.
Likewise, the divine bounties of the Sun of Reality are perpetual. Its
light is forever shining. Its love is forever radiating. Its bounty never
ceases. It could not be said that the power and effulgence of God was ever
subject to cessation. It could not be claimed that the divinity of the
Almighty One had come to an end. For the divinity of God is eternal.
Therefore, the divine bounties--whether phenomenal and accidental or
spiritual and ideal--are perpetual. But the people of religion are of two
kinds: Some worship the sun, and some adore the dawning points from which
the sun rises. For instance, the Jews adore the Mosaic point of dawning,
the Zoroastrians that of Zoroaster. The people of Abraham turned to the
point of rising in Abraham. When the Sun of Reality transferred its
illumination from the Abrahamic to the Mosaic point of dawning, the people
of Abraham denied its appearance because they were turning toward the
point and not to the Sun of Reality itself. When that Sun of Reality with
its divine bestowal, its heavenly glow and effulgence transferred to the
Messianic point of rising, the Jews denied its appearance in Jesus, for
they were not worshipers of the Sun itself but adored its rising in Moses.
Had they been worshipers of the Sun of Reality, they would have turned to
Christ instead of denying Him as the Messiah.
What was the reason of this deprivation? It was simply because they were
imitating fathers and ancestors in forms of belief instead of turning
toward the Sun of Divinity. For this reason they were deprived of the
bounty which dawned in the Messianic dayspring. Holding tenaciously to the
former dawning point, they still remain in this position of deprivation.
Consider the people and nations of the earth today and observe this same
tenacious allegiance to ancestral belief. He whose father was a
Zoroastrian is a Zoroastrian. He whose father was a Buddhist remains a
Buddhist. The son of a Muslim continues a Muslim, and so on throughout.
Why is this? Because they are slaves and captives of mere imitation. They
have not investigated the reality of religion and arrived at its
fundamentals and conclusions. The Jew, for instance, has not proved the
validity of Moses by investigating reality. He is a Jew because his father
was a Jew. He imitates the forms and belief of his fathers and ancestors.
There is no thought or mention of reality. And so it is with the other
peoples of religion. This is the purpose of our statement that they
worship the dawning point rather than the Sun of Reality itself.
If in the day of Jesus Christ the Jews had forsaken imitation and
investigated reality, they would assuredly have believed in and accepted
Him, for the Messianic effulgence was far greater than the Mosaic. The Sun
of Reality, when it appeared from the dawning point of Christ, was as the
midsummer sun in brilliancy and beauty.
Now, therefore, we must be admonished and realize that mere imitation of
fathers and ancestors is fruitless. Nay, rather, we must exert ourselves
to the utmost in investigating and turning toward the Sun of Reality, no
matter from what dayspring or dawning point it may appear. The phenomenal
sun is one sun. If tomorrow it should rise in the West, it is the same
sun. We cannot say, "This is not the sun because it has appeared in the
West." For East and West are but earthly and imaginary directions. In the
station of the sun there is neither East nor West. It is ever shining from
its place in the heavens. In the focal point of the solar circle there is
no rising, no setting. Therefore, sunrise and sunset have relation to
earthly observation and not to the luminary itself. Nay, rather, night in
the solar orb is inconceivable. In that center of effulgence, constant
light and illumination prevail. Its risings and settings are, therefore,
only apparent and not actual. They have relation to our earthly point of
view. We could not consider it the sun if there were a cessation of its
light, heat and splendor. To do so would be equivalent to calling a black
stone a diamond. This would be meaningless. If a man is a miser and you
call him generous, it will produce no change in him.
The purport of this is that God is almighty, but His greatness cannot be
brought within the grasp of human limitation. We cannot limit God to a
boundary. Man is limited, but the world of Divinity is unlimited.
Prescribing limitation to God is human ignorance. God is the Ancient, the
Almighty; His attributes are infinite. He is God because His light, His
sovereignty, is infinite. If He can be limited to human ideas, He is not
God. Strange it is that, notwithstanding these are self-evident truths,
man continues to build walls and fences of limitation about God, about
Divinity so glorious, illimitable, boundless. Consider the endless
phenomena of His creation. They are infinite; the universe is infinite.
Who shall declare its height, its depth and length? It is absolutely
infinite. How could an almighty sovereignty, a Divinity so wondrous, be
brought within the limitations of faulty human minds even as to terms and
definition? Shall we then say that God has performed a certain thing and
He will never be able to perform it again? That the Sun of His effulgence
once shone upon the world but now has set forever? That His mercy, His
grace, His bounty once descended but now have ceased? Is this possible?
No! We can never say nor believe with truth that His Manifestation, the
adored verity, the Sun of Reality, shall cease to shine upon the world.
O God! Thou Who art kind. Verily, certain souls have gathered in this
meeting turning to Thee with their hearts and spirits. They are seeking
the everlasting bounty. They are in need of Thine infinite mercy.
O Lord! Remove the veils from their eyes, and dispel the darkness of
ignorance. Confer upon them the light of knowledge and wisdom. Illumine
these contrite hearts with the radiance of the Sun of Reality. Make these
eyes perceptive through witnessing the lights of Thy sovereignty. Suffer
these spirits to rejoice through the great glad tidings, and receive these
souls into Thy supreme Kingdom.
O Lord! Verily, we are weak; make us mighty. We are poor; assist us from
the treasury of Thy munificence. We are dead; resuscitate us through the
breath of the Holy Spirit. We lack patience in tests and in
long-suffering; permit us to attain the lights of oneness.
O Lord! Make this assemblage the cause of upraising the standard of the
oneness of the world of humanity, and confirm these souls so that they may
become the promoters of international peace.
O Lord! Verily, the people are veiled and in a state of contention with
each other, shedding the blood and destroying the possessions of each
other. Throughout the world there is war and conflict. In every direction
there is strife, bloodshed and ferocity.
O Lord! Guide human souls in order that they may turn away from warfare
and battle, that they may become loving and kind to each other, that they
may enter into affiliation and serve the oneness and solidarity of
humanity.
O Lord! The horizons of the world are darkened by this dissension. O God!
Illumine them, and through the lights of Thy love let the hearts become
radiant. Through the blessing of Thy bestowal resuscitate the spirits
until every soul shall perceive and act in accordance with Thy teachings.
Thou art the Almighty. Thou art the Omniscient. Thou art the Seer. O Lord,
be compassionate to all.