Aim of Book

The endeavor in the following chapters will be to set forth, as far as possible, fairly and without prejudice, the salient features of the history and more especially of the teachings of the Bahá’í Cause, so that readers may be enabled to form an intelligent judgment as to their importance, and perhaps be induced to search into the subject more deeply for themselves.

Search after truth, however, important though it be, is not the whole aim and end of life. The truth is no dead thing, to be placed in a museum when found—to be labeled, classified, catalogued, exhibited and left there, dry and sterile. It is something vital which must take root in men’s hearts and bear fruit in their lives ere they reap the full reward of their search.

The real object, therefore, in spreading the knowledge of a prophetic revelation is that those who become convinced of its truth may proceed to practice its principles, to “lead the life” and diffuse the glad tidings, thus hastening the advent of that blessed day when God’s Will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Chapter 2: The Báb:3 The Forerunner Verily the oppressor hath slain the Beloved of the worlds that he might thereby quench the Light of God amidst His creatures and withhold mankind from the Stream of Celestial Life in the days of his Lord, the Gracious, the Bountiful.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, Tablet to Ra’ís.

Source: J. E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era (1923). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19241.

Esslemont, J. E.. (1923). *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19241/pg19241-images.html