gion, the road of the divine Kingdom. It
involves the acquisition of praiseworthy attributes, heavenly illumination
and righteous actions in the world of humanity. This pathway is conducive
to the progress and uplift of the world. It is the source of human
enlightenment, training and ethical improvement--the magnet which attracts
the love of God because of the knowledge of God it bestows. This is the
road of the holy Manifestations of God; for They are, in reality, the
foundation of the divine religion of oneness. There is no change or
transformation in this pathway. It is the cause of human betterment, the
acquisition of heavenly virtues and the illumination of mankind.

Alas that humanity is completely submerged in imitations and unrealities,
notwithstanding that the truth of divine religion has ever remained the
same. Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is
darkened, and the light of religion is not apparent. This darkness is
conducive to differences and dissensions; rites and dogmas are many and
various; therefore, discord has arisen among the religious systems,
whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the
source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of
praiseworthy qualities, but the people are holding to the counterfeit and
imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies, so they are bereft and
deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited
from their fathers and ancestors. To such an extent has this prevailed
that they have taken away the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in
the darkness of imitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be
conducive to life has become the cause of death; that which should have
been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance; that which was
a factor in the sublimity of human nature has proved to be its
degradation. Therefore, the realm of the religionist has gradually
narrowed and darkened, and the sphere of the materialist has widened and
advanced; for the religionist has held to imitation and counterfeit,
neglecting and discarding holiness and the sacred reality of religion.
When the sun sets, it is the time for bats to fly. They come forth because
they are creatures of the night. When the lights of religion become
darkened, the materialists appear. They are the bats of night. The decline
of religion is their time of activity; they seek the shadows when