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CONTENTS

Baha'i Terms of Use Part One: ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHETS IN THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY 1: NATURE IS GOVERNED BY ONE UNIVERSAL LAW 2: PROOFS AND EVIDENCES OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 3: THE NEED OF AN EDUCATOR 4: ABRAHAM 5: MOSES 6: CHRIST 7: MUHAMMAD 8: THE BÁB 9: BAHÁ'U'LLÁH 10: TRADITIONAL PROOFS EXEMPLIFIED FROM THE BOOK OF DANIEL 11: COMMENTARY ON THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN 12: COMMENTARY ON THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER OF ISAIAH 13: COMMENTARY ON THE TWELFTH CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN 14: SPIRITUAL PROOFS 15: TRUE WEALTH Part Two: SOME CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS 16: OUTWARD FORMS AND SYMBOLS MUST BE USED TO CONVEY INTELLECTUAL CONCEPTIONS 17: THE BIRTH OF CHRIST 18: THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST IS DUE TO HIS PERFECTIONS 19: THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST 20: THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM 21: THE SYMBOLISM OF THE BREAD AND THE WINE 22: MIRACLES 23: THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST 24: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLES 25: THE HOLY SPIRIT 26: THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT 27: THE TRINITY 28: EXPLANATION OF VERSE FIVE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 29: EXPLANATION OF VERSE TWENTY-TWO, CHAPTER FIFTEEN, OF THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 30: ADAM AND EVE 31: EXPLANATION OF BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT 32: EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE "FOR MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN" 33: THE "RETURN" SPOKEN OF BY THE PROPHETS 34: PETER'S CONFESSION OF FAITH 35: PREDESTINATION Part Three: ON THE POWERS AND CONDITIONS OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD 36: THE FIVE ASPECTS OF SPIRIT 37: THE DIVINITY CAN ONLY BE COMPREHENDED THROUGH THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 38: THE THREE STATIONS OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 39: THE HUMAN CONDITION AND THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 40: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 41: THE UNIVERSAL CYCLES 42: THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 43: THE TWO CLASSES OF PROPHETS 44: EXPLANATION OF THE REBUKES ADDRESSED BY GOD TO THE PROPHETS 45: EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE OF THE KITÁB-I-AQDAS, "THERE IS NO PARTNER FOR HIM WHO IS THE DAYSPRING OF REVELATION IN HIS MOST GREAT INFALLIBILITY" Part Four: ON THE ORIGIN, POWERS AND CONDITIONS OF MAN 46: MODIFICATION OF SPECIES 47: THE UNIVERSE IS WITHOUT BEGINNING; THE ORIGIN OF MAN 48: THE DIFFERENCE EXISTING BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMAL 49: THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE 50: SPIRITUAL PROOFS OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN 51: THE SPIRIT AND MIND OF MAN HAVE EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING 52: THE APPEARING OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BODY 53: THE RELATION BETWEEN GOD AND THE CREATURE 54: ON THE PROCEEDING OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FROM GOD 55: SOUL, SPIRIT AND MIND 56: THE PHYSICAL POWERS AND THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS 57: THE CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENCES IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN 58: THE DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE POSSESSED BY MAN AND THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS 59: MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 60: THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT (1) 61: THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT (2) 62: PERFECTIONS ARE WITHOUT LIMIT 63: THE PROGRESS OF MAN IN THE OTHER WORLD 64: THE STATE OF MAN AND HIS PROGRESS AFTER DEATH 65: EXPLANATION OF A VERSE IN THE KITÁB-I-AQDAS 66: THE EXISTENCE OF THE RATIONAL SOUL AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY THE IMMORTALITY OF CHILDREN 67: ETERNAL LIFE AND ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD 68: FATE 69: THE INFLUENCE OF THE STARS 70: FREE WILL 71: VISIONS AND COMMUNICATION WITH SPIRITS 72: HEALING BY SPIRITUAL MEANS 73: HEALING BY MATERIAL MEANS Part Five: MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 74: THE NONEXISTENCE OF EVIL 75: TWO KINDS OF TORMENT 76: THE JUSTICE AND MERCY OF GOD 77: THE RIGHT METHOD OF TREATING CRIMINALS 78: STRIKES 79: THE REALITY OF THE EXTERIOR WORLD 80: REAL PREEXISTENCE 81: REINCARNATION 82: PANTHEISM 83: THE FOUR METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE 84: THE NECESSITY OF FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

PART ONE: ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHETS IN THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY

1: NATURE IS GOVERNED BY ONE UNIVERSAL LAW

Nature is that condition, that reality, which in appearance consists in life and death, or, in other words, in the composition and decomposition of all things.

This Nature is subjected to an absolute organization, to determined laws, to a complete order and a finished design, from which it will never depart--to such a degree, indeed, that if you look carefully and with keen sight, from the smallest invisible atom up to such large bodies of the world of existence as the globe of the sun or the other great stars and luminous spheres, whether you regard their arrangement, their composition, their form or their movement, you will find that all are in the highest degree of organization and are under one law from which they will never depart.

But when you look at Nature itself, you see that it has no intelligence, no will. For instance, the nature of fire is to burn; it burns without will or intelligence. The nature of water is fluidity; it flows without will or intelligence. The nature of the sun is radiance; it shines without will or intelligence. The nature of vapor is to ascend; it ascends without will or intelligence. Thus it is clear that the natural movements of all things are compelled; there are no voluntary movements except those of animals and, above all, those of man. Man is able to resist and to oppose Nature because he discovers the constitution of things, and through this he commands the forces of Nature; all the inventions he has made are due to his discovery of the constitution of things. For example, he invented the telegraph, which is the means of communication between the East and the West. It is evident, then, that man rules over Nature.