Upon them be Baha’u’l-Abha!
O ye people of the Kingdom of Abha!
There are two influences tending toward prosperity and
progress which emanate from the forefront of advancement of the world of
humanity. They remind the negligent, awaken them that sleep, give sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, power of utterance to the mutes and life to the
dead.
One is the influence of civilization - that development of
the world of nature that concerns the material life of man. It promotes
physical advancement and cultivates the social virtues. The laws and deductions
of science, so indispensable to progress, are the product of the lofty thoughts
of sound minds, the accumulated results of the efforts of ancient and modern
scholars. The most effective power for the promotion and dissemination of this
influence is just government.
The other is the divine influence, the holy and spiritual
revelations, which insure eternal glory, everlasting happiness, the
illumination of the world, the appearance of merciful phenomena in the world of
humanity, and perpetual life. The fundamental basis thereof is the teachings
and the precepts of the prophets, the dictates and attraction of the
conscience, which belong to the realm of morality. Like unto the lamp they
illuminate and brighten the depths and recesses of human realities. the
effective power of this the Word of God.
But the advancement of civilization, material perfections
and human virtues will bear no fruit or result unless joined to the spiritual
perfections; merciful qualities and sound morals, and the happiness of the
human world, which is the original goal, will not be attained. For although
through the advancement of civilization and the adornment and refinement of the
material world, happiness is realized, and the sight of hopes fulfilled in
perfect beauty wins the heart, yet, concomitantly, great dangers, severe
ordeals and awful catastrophes are involved.