Surely for everything there is an all-comprehending wisdom; especially for
the great and important affairs of life. The supreme and most important
happening in the human world is the Manifestation of God and the descent
of the law of God. The holy, divine Manifestations did not reveal
themselves for the purpose of founding a nation, sect or faction. They did
not appear in order that a certain number might acknowledge their
prophethood. They did not declare their heavenly mission and message in
order to lay the foundation for a religious belief. Even His Holiness
Christ did not become manifest that we should merely believe in him as the
Christ, follow him and adore his mention. All these are limited in scope
and requirement whereas the Reality of Christ is an unlimited essence. The
infinite and unlimited Reality cannot be bounded by any limitation. Nay,
rather His Holiness Christ appeared in order to illumine the world of
humanity, to render the earthly world celestial, to make the human kingdom
a realm of angels, to unite the hearts, to enkindle the light of love in
human souls, so that such souls might become independent, attaining
complete unity and fellowship, turning to God, entering into the divine
Kingdom, receiving the bounties and bestowals of God and partaking of the
manna from heaven. Through Christ they were intended to be baptized by the
Holy Spirit, attain a new spirit and realize the life everlasting. All the
holy precepts and the announcements of prophetic laws were for these
various and heavenly purposes. Therefore we offer thanks to God that
although no earthly relation obtains among us, yet--Praise be to God!--ideal
and divine bonds blend us together. We have gathered here in this meeting,
eagerly anticipating the showing forth of the divine bestowals.
In past centuries the nations of the world have imagined that the law of
God demanded blind imitation of ancestral forms of belief and worship. For
example the Jews were captives of hereditary racial religious observances.
The Mohammedans likewise have been held in the bondage of traditionary
forms and ceremonials. The Christians also have been implicit followers of
ancient tradition and hereditary teaching. At the same time the basic
foundation of the religion of God which was ever the principle of love,
unity and the fellowship of humanity has been forsaken and cast aside,
each religious system holding tenaciously to imitations of ancestral forms
as the supreme essential. Therefore hatred and hostility have appeared in
the world instead of the divine fruitage of unity and love. By reason of
this it has been impossible for the followers of religion to meet together
in fellowship and agreement. Even contact and communication have been
considered contaminating and the outcome has been a condition of complete
alienation and mutual bigotry. There has been no investigation of the
essential underlying basis of reality. One whose father was a Jew,
invariably proved to be a Jew; a Mohammedan was born of a Mohammedan; a
Buddhist was a Buddhist because of the faith of his father before him; and
so on. In brief, religion was a heritage descending from father to son,
ancestry to posterity without investigation of the fundamental reality;
consequently all religionists were veiled, obscured and at variance.
Praise be to God! We are living in this most radiant century wherein human
perceptions have developed and investigations of real foundations
characterize mankind. Individually and collectively man is proving and
penetrating into the reality of outer and inner conditions. Therefore it
has come to pass that we are renouncing all that savors of blind
imitation, and impartially and independently investigating truth. Let us
understand what constitutes the reality of the divine religions. If a
Christian sets aside traditionary forms and blind imitation of ceremonials
and investigates the reality of the gospels, he will discover that the
foundation principles of the teachings of His Holiness Christ were mercy,
love, fellowship, benevolence, altruism, the resplendence or radiance of
divine bestowals, acquisition of the breaths of the Holy Spirit and
oneness with God. Furthermore he will learn that His Holiness declared
that the Father "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." The meaning of this
declaration is that the mercy of God encircles all mankind; that not a
single individual is deprived of the mercy of God; and no soul is denied
the resplendent bestowals of God. The whole human race is submerged in the
sea of the mercy of the Lord and we are all the sheep of the one divine
shepherd. Whatever shortcomings exist among us must be remedied. For
example those who are ignorant must be educated so that they may become
wise; the sick must be treated until they recover; those who are immature
must be trained in order to reach maturity; those asleep must be awakened.
All this must be accomplished through love and not through hatred and
hostility. Furthermore His Holiness Jesus Christ referring to the prophecy
of Isaiah, spoke of those who "having eyes, see not, having ears, hear
not, having hearts, understand not," yet they were to be healed. Therefore
it is evident that the bounties of Christ transformed the eye which was
blind into a seeing one, rendered the ear which was formerly deaf,
attentive, and made the hard, callous heart tender and sensitive. In other
words the meaning is that although the people possess external eyes, yet
the insight or perception of the soul is blind; although the outer ear
hears, the spiritual hearing is deaf; although they possess conscious
hearts they are without illumination; and the bounties of His Holiness
Christ save souls from these conditions. It is evident then that the
manifestation of the Messiah was synonymous with universal mercy. His
providence was universal and his teachings were for all. His lights were
not restricted to a few. Every "Christ" came to the world of mankind.
Therefore we must investigate the foundation of divine religion, discover
its reality, re-establish it and spread its message throughout the world
so that it may become the source of illumination and enlightenment to
mankind, the spiritually dead become alive, the spiritually blind receive
sight and those who are inattentive to God become awakened.