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This discernment excels by far a purely intellectual understanding. It is bestowed upon the seeker in his encounter with light and truth. But for him both rational thinking and the experience itself are necessary. The words of Jesus are noteworthy on this point: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be o God, or whether I speak of myself (John 7:16-17)." And whoever reflects on the warning according to which false prophets, like true ones, must be recognized by their fruits (Matt 7:16), and considers with an unbiased mind what is beginning to take shape on a small scale in the Baha'i Community-- the unity of mankind in which all men of all races, nations and religions are integrated-- he will be able to recognize how Baha'u'llah quickens the hearts and unites men: "The proof of the sun is the light thereof, which shineth and envelopeth all things. The evidence of the shower is the bounty thereof, which reneweth and investeth the world with the mantle of life. Yea, the blind can perceive naught from the sun except its heat, and the arid soil hath no share of the showers of mercy." It is the profound experience of the Baha'i that the God who is said to be dead is alive and that He has fulfilled the promise He made to the prophets by leading mankind to peace and unity through Baha'u'llah. (23:1) see But Baha'u'llah does not represent the final stage in the history of the Salvation of Man. He proclaims that God will continue in the future to send His messengers to mankind "to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom" and "to array ever man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds" (Gl). (23:2) This is the fundamental belief of Baha'u'llah's followers: that religion is not static but dynamic, that God did not manifest Himself for once and for all in the past but has done so at irregular cyclic intervals and will continue to do so in the future. They believe that the birth of each revealed religion was as the "tide of Fortune" and that the progressive development of the human race is dependent on the appearance of the divine manifestations.
(23:3)
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