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220: The Lord of all mankind hath fashioned this … |
The Lord of all mankind hath fashioned this
human realm to be a Garden of Eden, an earthly paradise.
If, as it must, it findeth the way to harmony and peace, to
love and mutual trust, it will become a true abode of bliss, a
place of manifold blessings and unending delights. Therein
shall be revealed the excellence of humankind, therein shall
the rays of the Sun of Truth shine forth on every hand.
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Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together
in Eden. No sooner, however, did a quarrel break
out between Adam and Satan than they were, one and all,
banished from the Garden, and this was meant as a warning
to the human race, a means of telling humankind that
dissension—even with the Devil—is the way to bitter loss.
This is why, in our illumined age, God teacheth that conflicts
and disputes are not allowable, not even with Satan himself.
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Gracious God! Even with such a lesson before him, how
heedless is man! Still do we see his world at war from pole
to pole. There is war among the religions; war among the
nations; war among the peoples; war among the rulers.
What a welcome change would it be, if only these black
clouds would lift from off the skies of the world, so that the
light of reality could be shed abroad! If only the darksome
dust of this continual fighting and killing could settle forever,
and the sweet winds of God’s loving-kindness could
blow from out the well-spring of peace. Then would this
world become another world, and the earth would shine
with the light of her Lord.
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If there is any hope, it is solely in the bounties of God:
that His strengthening grace will come, and the struggling
and contending will cease, and the acid bite of blood-dripping
steel will be turned into the honey-dew of friendship
and probity and trust. How sweet would that day be in
the mouth, how fragrant as musk the scent thereof.
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