h from the garment of thy Lord, the Glorified! For lo, it hath
breathed its fragrance and made all things new! Well is it with them that
comprehend." "The onrushing winds of the grace of God," He, in the
Suratu'l-Haykal, proclaims, "have passed over all things. Every creature
hath been endowed with all the potentialities it can carry. And yet the
peoples of the world have denied this grace! Every tree hath been endowed
with the choicest fruits, every ocean enriched with the most luminous
gems. Man, himself, hath been invested with the gifts of understanding and
knowledge. The whole creation hath been made the recipient of the
revelation of the All-Merciful, and the earth the repository of things
inscrutable to all except God, the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. The
time is approaching when every created thing will have cast its burden.
Glorified be God Who hath vouchsafed this grace that encompasseth all
things, whether seen or unseen!"

"The Call of God," 'Abdu'l-Baha has written, "when raised, breathed a new
life into the body of mankind, and infused a new spirit into the whole
creation. It is for this reason that the world hath been moved to its
depths, and the hearts and consciences of men been quickened. Erelong the
evidences of this regeneration will be revealed, and the fast asleep will
be awakened."

Universal Fermentation

As we view the world around us, we are compelled to observe the manifold
evidences of that universal fermentation which, in every continent of the
globe and in every department of human life, be it religious, social,
economic or political, is purging and reshaping humanity in anticipation
of the Day when the wholeness of the human race will have been recognized
and its unity established. A twofold process, however, can be
distinguished, each tending, in its own way and with an accelerated
momentum, to bring to a climax the forces that are transforming the face
of our planet. The first is essentially an integrating process, while the
second is fundamentally disruptive. The former, as it steadily evolves,
unfolds a System which may well serve as a pattern for that world polity
towards which a strangely-disordered world is continually advancing; while
the latter, as its disintegrating influence deepens, tends to tear down,
with increasing violence, the antiquated barriers that seek to block
humanity's progress towards its destined goal. The constructive process
stands associated wi