history of the race
can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of
newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its former state of
limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with new
virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties,
perfect bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts
and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient
during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the
requirements of its maturity." "In every Dispensation," He moreover has
written, "the light of Divine Guidance has been focused upon one central
theme.... In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious century, the
foundation of the Faith of God, and the distinguishing feature of His Law,
is the consciousness of the oneness of mankind."

RELIGION AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION

The Revelation associated with the Faith of Jesus Christ focused attention
primarily on the redemption of the individual and the molding of his
conduct, and stressed, as its central theme, the necessity of inculcating
a high standard of morality and discipline into man, as the fundamental
unit in human society. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find any reference to
the unity of nations or the unification of mankind as a whole. When Jesus
spoke to those around Him, He addressed them primarily as individuals
rather than as component parts of one universal, indivisible entity. The
whole surface of the earth was as yet unexplored, and the organization of
all its peoples and nations as one unit could, consequently, not be
envisaged, how much less proclaimed or established. What other
interpretation can be given to these words, addressed specifically by
Baha'u'llah to the followers of the Gospel, in which the fundamental
distinction between the Mission of Jesus Christ, concerning primarily the
individual, and His own Message, directed more particularly to mankind as
a whole, has been definitely established: "Verily, He [Jesus] said: 'Come
ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.' In this day,
however, We say: 'Come ye after Me, that We may make you to become the
quickeners of mankind.'"

The Faith of Islam, the succeeding link in the chain of Divine Revelation,
introduced, as Baha'u'llah Himself testifies, the conception of the nation
as a unit and a vital stage in the organization of human society, and
embodied it in its teaching. T