The whole of mankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to
terminate its age-long martyrdom. And yet it stubbornly refuses to embrace
the light and acknowledge the sovereign authority of the one Power that
can extricate it from its entanglements, and avert the woeful calamity
that threatens to engulf it.
Ominous indeed is the voice of Baha'u'llah that rings through these
prophetic words: "O ye peoples of the world! Know, verily, that an
unforeseen calamity followeth you, and grievous retribution awaiteth you.
Think not that which ye have committed hath been effaced in My sight." And
again: "We have a fixed time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the
appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on
you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every
direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord
will then chastise you!"
Must humanity, tormented as she now is, be afflicted with still severer
tribulations ere their purifying influence can prepare her to enter the
heavenly Kingdom destined to be established upon earth? Must the
inauguration of so vast, so unique, so illumined an era in human history
be ushered in by so great a catastrophe in human affairs as to recall, nay
surpass, the appalling collapse of Roman civilization in the first
centuries of the Christian Era? Must a series of profound convulsions stir
and rock the human race ere Baha'u'llah can be enthroned in the hearts and
consciences of the masses, ere His undisputed ascendancy is universally
recognized, and the noble edifice of His World Order is reared and
established?
The long ages of infancy and childhood, through which the human race had
to pass, have receded into the background. Humanity is now experiencing
the commotions invariably associated with the most turbulent stage of its
evolution, the stage of adolescence, when the impetuosity of youth and its
vehemence reach their climax, and must gradually be superseded by the
calmness, the wisdom, and the maturity that characterize the stage of
manhood. Then will the human race reach that stature of ripeness which
will enable it to acquire all the powers and capacities upon which its
ultimate development must depend.