His [Baha’u’llah’s] purpose, far from belittling the station
of the Prophets gone before Him or of whittling down their teachings, is to
restate the basic truths which these teachings enshrine in a manner that would
conform to the needs, and be in consonance with the capacity, and be applicable
to the problems, the ills and perplexities, of the age in which we live. His
mission is to proclaim that the ages of the infancy and of the childhood of the
human race are past, that the convulsions associated with the present stage of
its adolescence are slowly and painfully preparing it to attain the stage of
manhood, and are heralding the approach of that Age of Ages when swords will be
beaten into plowshares, when the Kingdom promised by Jesus Christ will have
been established, and the peace of the planet definitely and permanently
ensured. Nor does Bahá'u'lláh claim finality for His own Revelation, but rather
stipulates that a fuller measure of the truth He has been commissioned by the
Almighty to vouchsafe to humanity, at so critical a juncture in its fortunes,
must needs be disclosed at future stages in the constant and limitless
evolution of mankind.
- Shoghi Effendi (Statement to the Special UN Committee
on Palestine, 1947; World Order magazine, October 1947)
