it will grow large
and full of flavour, a delight to the taste.

The strongest proof adduced by the second group is this, that the tribes
of Africa are, generally speaking, ignorant and wild, while the civilized
peoples of America are, in general, possessed of wisdom and understanding,
which proveth that the difference between these two peoples is due to
education and experience. Such are the stated views of the philosophers.

The Manifestations of God, on the other hand, affirm that differences are
demonstrably and indisputably innate, and that "We have caused some of you
to excel others"(6) is a proven and inescapable fact. It is certain that
human beings are, by their very nature, different one from the other.
Observe a small group of children, born of the same parents, attending the
same school, receiving the same education, living on the same diet: some,
becoming well educated, will achieve a high degree of advancement; some
will reach a middle level; and some will not prove educable at all. It is
therefore clear that the disparity among individuals is due to differences
of degree which are innate.

But the Manifestations also consider that training and education
demonstrably exert a tremendous influence. If, for example, a child is
deprived of schooling he will certainly remain ignorant, and his knowledge
will be limited to what he is able to find out for himself; but if he is
brought to a qualified teacher to study the sciences and arts, he will
learn of the discoveries made by thousands of other human beings. Thus
education is a guide to those who have gone astray; it maketh the blind to
see; it bestoweth judgement on the foolish, and a yield of greatness on
the unproductive; it causeth the mute to speak, and turneth the false dawn
into the true morning's light; through it the tiny seed will become a
towering palm, and the runaway slave, a reigning king.

Thus is it certain that education exerteh an influence, and for this
reason the Manifestation of God, the Well-Springs of His mercy, are raised
up in the world, that through the breaths of holiness They may educate the
human race, and make of the sucking child a strong and valiant man.
Through Them will the outcasts of the earth become the cherished
companions of Heaven, and the portionless receive their due.

(From a Tablet--translated from the Persian) [36]

"37: Question.--How many kinds of character has man, and what is the
cause..."

Questio