God's purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone can bring
about, and the full significance of which He alone can fathom, the Great,
the Golden Age of a long-divided, a long-afflicted humanity. Its present
state, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its
distant future, however, is radiant, gloriously radiant--so radiant that no
eye can visualize it.
"The winds of despair," writes Baha'u'llah, as He surveys the immediate
destinies of mankind, "are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the
strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The
signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as
the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." "Such shall be
its plight," He, in another connection, has declared, "that to disclose it
now would not be meet and seemly." "These fruitless strifes," He, on the
other hand, contemplating the future of mankind, has emphatically
prophesied, in the course of His memorable interview with the Persian
orientalist, Edward G. Browne, "these ruinous wars shall pass away, and
the 'Most Great Peace' shall come.... These strifes and this bloodshed and
discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family." "Soon,"
He predicts, "will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one
spread out in its stead." "After a time," He also has written, "all the
governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And
following a universal convulsion, the sun of justice will rise from the
horizon of the unseen realm." "The whole earth," He, moreover, has stated,
"is now in a state of pregnancy. The day is approaching when it will have
yielded its noblest fruits, when from it will have sprung forth the
loftiest trees, the most enchanting blossoms, the most heavenly
blessings." "All nations and kindreds," 'Abdu'l-Baha likewise has written,
"...will become a single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the
hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations, will be
eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common
faith, will be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will
dwell in one common fatherland, which is the planet itself."
What we witness at the present time, during "this gravest crisis in the
history of civilization," recalling such times in which "religions have
perished and are born," is the adolescent stage in the slow and painful
evolution of humanity, preparatory to the attainment of the stage of
manhood, the stage of maturity, the promise of which is embedded in the
teachings, and enshrined in the prophecies, of Baha'u'llah. The tumult of
this age of transition is characteristic of the impetuosity and irrational
instincts of youth, its follies, its prodigality, its pride, its
self-assurance, its rebelliousness, and contempt of discipline.