angeless Faith of God, eternal in the past,
eternal in the future." In this Revelation the concepts of the past are
brought to a new level of understanding, and the social laws, changed to
suit the age now dawning, are designed to carry humanity forward into a
world civilization the splendours of which can as yet be scarcely
imagined.

In its affirmation of the validity of the great religions of the past, the
Kitab-i-Aqdas reiterates those eternal truths enunciated by all the Divine
Messengers: the unity of God, love of one's neighbour, and the moral
purpose of earthly life. At the same time it removes those elements of
past religious codes that now constitute obstacles to the emerging
unification of the world and the reconstruction of human society.

The Law of God for this Dispensation addresses the needs of the entire
human family. There are laws in the Kitab-i-Aqdas which are directed
primarily to the members of a specific section of humanity and can be
immediately understood by them but which, at first reading, may be obscure
to people of a different culture. Such, for example, is the law
prohibiting the confession of sins to a fellow human being which, though
understandable by those of Christian background, may puzzle others. Many
laws relate to those of past Dispensations, especially the two most recent
ones, those of Muhammad and the Bab embodied in the Qur'an and the Bayan.
Nevertheless, although certain ordinances of the Aqdas have such a focused
reference, they also have universal implications. Through His Law,
Baha'u'llah gradually unveils the significance of the new levels of
knowledge and behaviour to which the peoples of the world are being
called. He embeds His precepts in a setting of spiritual commentary,
keeping ever before the mind of the reader the principle that these laws,
no matter the subject with which they deal, serve the manifold purposes of
bringing tranquillity to human society, raising the standard of human
behaviour, increasing the range of human understanding, and spiritualizing
the life of each and all. Throughout, it is the relationship of the
individual soul to God and the fulfilment of its spiritual destiny that is
the ultimate aim of the laws of religion. "Think not", is Baha'u'llah's
own assertion, "that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay,
rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and
power." His Book of Laws is His "weightiest testimony unt