ars ago, the
destiny which mankind must, at its stage of maturity, achieve: "And He
(the Lord) shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people:
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more ...And there shall come forth a rod out of the
stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots... And he shall
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf
and the young lion and the fatling together... And the sucking child shall
play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on
the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea."

The writer of the Apocalypse, prefiguring the millenial glory which a
redeemed, a jubilant humanity must witness, has similarly testified: "And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.'"

Who can doubt that such a consummation--the coming of age of the human
race--must signalize, in its turn, the inauguration of a world civilization
such as no mortal eye hath ever beheld or human mind conceived? Who is it
that can imagine the lofty standard which such a civilization, as it
unfolds itself, is destined to attain? Who can measure the heights to
which human intelligence, liberated from its shackles, will soar? Who can
visualize the realms which the human spirit, vitalized by the outpouring
light of Baha'u'llah, shining in the plenitude of its glory, will
discover?

What more fitting conclusion t