A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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Chapter 1: The Glad Tidings |
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If we study the story of the “ascent of man” as recorded in
the pages of history, it becomes evident that the leading factor
in human progress is the advent, from time to time, of men
who pass beyond the accepted ideas of their day and become
the discoverers and revealers of truths hitherto unknown
among mankind. The inventor, the pioneer, the genius, the
Prophet—these are the men on whom the transformation of
world primarily depends. As Carlyle says:—
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The plain truth, very plain, we think is, that … one
man that has a higher Wisdom, a hitherto unknown
spiritual Truth in him, is stronger, not than ten men that
have it not, or than ten thousand, but than all men that
have it not; and stands among them with a quite ethereal,
angelic power, as with a sword out of Heaven’s own armory,
sky-tempered, which no buckler, and no tower of
brass, will finally withstand.
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In the history of science, of art, of music, we see abundant
illustrations of this truth, but in no domain is the supreme importance
of the great man and his message more clearly evident
than in that of religion. All down the ages, whenever the
spiritual life of men has become degenerate and their morals
corrupt, that most wonderful and mysterious of men, the
Prophet, makes His appearance. Alone against the world, without
a single human being capable of teaching, of guiding, of
fully understanding Him, or of sharing His responsibility, He
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arises, like a seer among blind men, to proclaim His gospel of
righteousness and truth.
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Amongst the Prophets some stand out with special preeminence.
Every few centuries a great Divine Revealer—a
Krishna, a Zoroaster, a Moses, a Jesus, a Muḥammad—appears
in the East, like a spiritual Sun, to illumine the darkened
minds of men and awaken their dormant souls. Whatever our
views as to the relative greatness of these religion-founders
we must admit that They have been the most potent factors in
the education of mankind. With one accord these Prophets
declare that the words They utter are not from Themselves,
but are a Revelation through Them, a Divine message of which
They are the bearers. Their recorded utterances abound, too,
in hints and promises of a great world teacher Who will appear
“in the fullness of time” to carry on Their work and bring
it to fruition, One Who will establish a reign of peace and
justice upon earth, and bring into one family all races, religions,
nations, and tribes, that “there may be one fold and
one shepherd” and that all may know and love God “from the
least even unto the greatest.”
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Surely the advent of this “Educator of Mankind,” in the latter
days, when He appears, must be the greatest event in
human history. And the Bahá’í Movement is proclaiming to the
world the glad tidings that this Educator has in fact appeared,
that His Revelation has been delivered and recorded and may
be studied by every earnest seeker, that the “Day of the Lord”
has already dawned and the “Sun or Righteousness” arisen. As
yet only a few on the mountaintops have caught sight of the
Glorious Orb, but already its rays are illumining heaven and
earth, and erelong it will rise above the mountains and shine
with full strength on the plains and valleys too, giving life and
guidance to all.
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