proclamations and the words of his heralds may make known to his subjects his gracious
edicts, and show them how merciful and how just he is: but, before these subjects can
recognize and truly know him personally, they require to behold him and hear his voice.
Even then their knowledge of their Sovereign will not be perfect, but in its own degree it
will be real. So it is also with regard to the King of all Kings, the Lord of the Worlds,
the Almighty Creator and Preserver of all things. His messengers
(مُرْسَلوُنَ), who bring us His
edicts and declare His Attributes, cannot reveal Him to His creatures in such a way as to
enable them to attain to a real, personal acquaintance with Him who is invisible. Besides
all that the Prophets can teach him, man needs a visible Manifestation of the Divine, a
personal Manifestation (مَظْهَر)
of God, a link with God, One who is Himself perfectly human
and perfectly Divine, whom men can come to know as well as they know their own friends, or
even better, and who can gain the love of their hearts, and thus lead them to serve God,
not for the sake of reward, not through fear of punishment, but through true and sincere
love, which is unselfish, and is therefore the highest of human attributes. The true
Revelation will therefore tell men beforehand of this Manifestation, leading them before
His appearance to expect Him, telling them by what signs to recognize Him, and after His
Advent recording His words and works so clearly that in all after ages men may be able
with the eye of faith to see Him reflected therein as in a mirror, and may thus come to
know Him, and in Him to know God Most High.
That Revelation which fulfils all these six conditions has alone the right to be called
God's True and Final Revelation to His creatures.
It is very possible that the Revelation which satisfies these six conditions may
contain certain Divine Mysteries far beyond the compass and grasp of human reason, so that
through his feeble and finite intellect
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