imitations differ widely,
therefore, the religions are divergent and antagonistic. These imitations
may be likened to clouds which obscure the sunrise; but reality is the
sun. If the clouds disperse, the Sun of Reality shines upon all, and no
difference of vision will exist. The religions will then agree, for
fundamentally they are the same. The subject is one, but predicates are
many.

The divine religions are like the progression of the seasons of the year.
When the earth becomes dead and desolate and because of frost and cold no
trace of vanished spring remains, the springtime dawns again and clothes
everything with a new garment of life. The meadows become fresh and green,
the trees are adorned with verdure and fruits appear upon them. Then the
winter comes again, and all the traces of spring disappear. This is the
continuous cycle of the seasons--spring, winter, then the return of spring.
But though the calendar changes and the years move forward, each
springtime that comes is the return of the springtime that has gone; this
spring is the renewal of the former spring. Springtime is springtime, no
matter when or how often it comes. The divine Prophets are as the coming
of spring, each renewing and quickening the teachings of the Prophet Who
came before Him. Just as all seasons of spring are essentially one as to
newness of life, vernal showers and beauty, so the essence of the mission
and accomplishment of all the Prophets is one and the same. Now the people
of religion have lost sight of the essential reality of the spiritual
springtime. They have held tenaciously to ancestral forms and imitations,
and because of this there is variance, strife and altercation among them.
Therefore, we must now abandon these imitations and seek the foundation of
the divine teachings; and inasmuch as the foundation is one reality, the
divergent religionists must agree in it so that love and unity will be
established among all people and denominations.

At a time when the Orient was rent by religious dissension Baha'u'llah
appeared. He founded teachings which became the means of uniting the
various and divergent peoples. He promulgated principles which removed the
cause of their dissension, until today in Persia those who had been
constantly at war are united. Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians,
Jews--people of every belief and denomination who have followed the
teachings of Baha'u'llah--have attained complete fellowship and spiritual