less ocean.
Revelation may be likened to the rain. Can you imagine the cessation of
rain? Ever on the face of the earth somewhere rain is pouring down.
Briefly, the world of existence is progressive. It is subject to
development and growth. Consider how great has been the progress in this
radiant century. Civilization has unfolded. Nations have developed.
Industrialism and jurisprudence have expanded. Sciences, inventions and
discoveries have increased. All of these show that the world of existence
is continuously progressing and developing; and therefore, assuredly, the
virtues characterizing the maturity of man must, likewise, expand and
grow.

The greatest bestowal of God to man is the capacity to attain human
virtues. Therefore, the teachings of religion must be reformed and renewed
because past teachings are not suitable for the present time. For example,
the sciences of bygone centuries are not adequate for the present because
sciences have undergone reform. The industrialism of the past will not
ensure present efficiency because industrialism has advanced. The laws of
the past are being superseded because they are not applicable to this
time. All material conditions pertaining to the world of humanity have
undergone reform, have achieved development, and the institutes of the
past are not to be compared with those of this age. The laws and
institutes of former governments cannot be current today, for legislation
must be in conformity with the needs and requirements of the body politic
at this time.

This has been the case also with the religious teachings so long set forth
in the temples and churches, because they were not based upon the
fundamental principles of the religions of God. In other words, the
foundation of the divine religions had become obscured and nonessentials
of form and ceremony were adhered to--that is, the kernel of religion had
apparently disappeared, and only the shell remained. Consequently, it was
necessary that the fundamental basis of all religious teaching should be
restored, that the Sun of Reality which had set should rise again, that
the springtime which had refreshed the arena of life in ages gone by
should appear anew, that the rain which had ceased should descend, that
the breezes which had become stilled should blow once more.

Therefore, Baha'u'llah appeared from the horizon of the Orient and
reestablished the essential foundation of the religious teachings of the
world. The