|
Whatever the conception of the Kingdom of God at the end of the nineteenth century, it certainly did not hold before Christians the same supreme objective of prayer or aspiration which Christ had commanded in the Lord's Prayer. It was rather the Kingdom of Man than of God-- not of all men but of one race only and of certain members of that race who had achieved for themselves supremacy over the others. It would mean a world-wide Church, the domination of the white man, of white man's civilization, and it contemplated the perpetuation of an ever-increasing trade. (104:1) 'Abdul-Baha's picture, painted in full length and glowing colour in His Western addresses, was different indeed. He saw the coming of the Kingdom as the opening of the treasuries of heaven,-- as the throwing wide of God's gates on splendours and glories hitherto beyond the reach of human imagination. So far were they from being a divine after-thought that they were, in fact, the originating motive of all creation, prepared before the foundation of the world. All the experiences of the whole human race, all the guidance and the education which the great Prophets had brought, all had been designed for and had led up to the human preparation for the Kingdom. Now, when the Prophets had completed their preliminary lessons and mankind was ready to attain maturity, God put forth His hand of power and sent the Lord of Hosts to release yet further spiritual energies and to establish at last the Kingdom of God on earth.
(104:2)
|