e cautioned not to permit theological dogmas or
other preconceptions to lead them into discriminating among those whom God
has used as channels of His light:

Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any
distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to
discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their
Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if ye be of
them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured, moreover, that
the works and acts of each and every one of these Manifestations of God,
nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and whatsoever they may manifest in the
future, are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His Will and
Purpose....(34)

Baha'u'llah compares the interventions of the Divine Revelations to the
return of spring. The Messengers of God are not merely teachers, although
this is one of their primary functions. Rather, the spirit of their words,
together with the example of their lives, has the capacity to tap the
roots of human motivation and to induce fundamental and lasting change.
Their influence opens new realms of understanding and achievement:

And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true
God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever can exist between the
transient and the Eternal, the contingent and the Absolute, He hath
ordained that in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be
made manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven.... Led by the light of
unfailing guidance, and invested with supreme sovereignty, They [the
Messengers of God] are commissioned to use the inspiration of Their words,
the effusions of Their infallible grace and the sanctifying breeze of
Their Revelation for the cleansing of every longing heart and receptive
spirit from the dross and dust of earthly cares and limitations. Then, and
only then, will the Trust of God, latent in the reality of man, emerge ...
and implant the ensign of its revealed glory upon the summits of men's
hearts.(35)

Without this intervention from the world of God, human nature remains the
captive of instinct, as well as of unconscious assumptions and patterns of
behavior that have been culturally determined:

Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He [God]
... chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know
Him and to love Him--a capacity that must needs be