orld are awaiting two Manifestations, Who must be
contemporaneous; all wait for the fulfillment of this promise. In the
Bible the Jews have the promise of the Lord of Hosts and the Messiah; in
the Gospel the return of Christ and Elijah is promised.

In the religion of Muhammad there is the promise of the Mihdi and the
Messiah, and it is the same with the Zoroastrian and the other religions,
but if we relate these matters in detail, it would take too long. The
essential fact is that all are promised two Manifestations, Who will come,
one following on the other. It has been prophesied that in the time of
these two Manifestations the earth will be transformed, the world of
existence will be renewed, and beings will be clothed in new garments.
Justice and truth will encompass the world; enmity and hatred will
disappear; all causes of division among peoples, races and nations will
vanish; and the cause of union, harmony and concord will appear. The
negligent will awake, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dumb
will speak, the sick will be cured, the dead will arise. War will give
place to peace, enmity will be conquered by love, the causes of dispute
and wrangling will be entirely removed, and true felicity will be
attained. The world will become the mirror of the Heavenly Kingdom;
humanity will be the Throne of Divinity. All nations will become one; all
religions will be unified; all individual men will become of one family
and of one kindred. All the regions of the earth will become one; the
superstitions caused by races, countries, individuals, languages and
politics will disappear; and all men will attain to life eternal, under
the shadow of the Lord of Hosts.

Now we must prove from the Holy Books that these two Manifestations have
come, and we must divine the meaning of the words of the Prophets, for we
wish for proofs drawn from the Holy Books.

A few days ago, at table, we put forth rational proofs establishing the
truth of these two Manifestations.

To conclude: in the Book of Daniel, from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to
the martyrdom of Christ, seventy weeks are appointed; for by the martyrdom
of Christ the sacrifice is accomplished and the altar destroyed.(32) This
is a prophecy of the manifestation of Christ. These seventy weeks begin
with the restoration and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, concerning which
four edicts were issued by three kings.

The first was issued by Cyrus in the year 536 B.C.; this i