evil as he pleases. It follows therefore, that the record of our lives must be good or bad, according to the use we make of this talent, and that we must be judged according to our record, otherwise we would not be responsible for our actions, but would exist under the same blameless conditions as animals and inanimate matter; no higher, no greater than they.

In view of this fact, all doctrines, laws and commandments given by God through his prophets and Apostles for our spiritual welfare, must be in strict harmony and accord with Mind, our only light and guide. If we find that commands and teachings said to be from God, are not in harmony with this light, we may be sure that they are inventions and teachings of man and not of God. It is then our duty to reject them as spurious. Under such conditions, we are justified in declaring that they are not from God, for He never would give and never has given us unjust or unreasonable commands. As God is just, He will not hold us responsible for violation of laws which we cannot comprehend, particularly when upon investigation of those laws, we find them in direct opposition to the light of reason, which He has bestowed upon us as our guide toward Him. There would be no evidence of His Love, Justice, and Mercy, in this. Therefore whenever we encounter teachings which violate Reason, we are justified in concluding that they are not from God, but have had their origin in the ignorance or purpose of men, and should be vigorously rejected.

God the Almighty is Infinite Justice. His Truth must be conformable to Reason, and within the limits of our comprehension. There is no higher utterance predicated of Him than "Come now and let us reason together."

The attitude of "seeking" Truth, is, after all, the most necessary factor in finding it. Christ and all the God-inspired men urged this continually. People who are so slothful and careless spiritually that they make no effort to understand Gods laws and commands, must take the inevitable consequences. Christ likened them to the man whose Lord gave unto him one talent which he hid in the earth. As a punishment for his negligence, the talent was taken from him and given "unto him which hath ten talents"; i. e. to the diligent and earnest seeking, who prefers the world to come, rather than this present and short-lived existence.

May the Light of the Truth now spreading from the Kingdom of God upon earth, illumine all who seek and knock earnestly at the door of Salvation; who lay aside pride and antagonism of belief and have the courage to think for themselves.

January 1st, 1900.

IBRAHIM G. KHEIRALLA.

BEHÁ 'U'LLÁH

CHAPTER I.

PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE AND IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, FROM A SCIENTIFIC AND

LOGICAL STANDPOINT.

Ages have passed since the dawn of human history. Civilizations have followed civilizations, in continuously higher development, and the religious beliefs of mankind have risen with them, from rude barbarism of worship, to the high and varied theological forms of the Nineteenth Century. Throughout all times, human interest and longing have centered in "Know thyself." The learned and philosophical of every race, have sought along the line of this inquiry, to prove conclusively the existence of the soul and its immortality, but, as yet, no solution of this momentous question has been reached from a scientific and logical standpoint.

On the contrary, the outcome of all, or nearly all investigation of soul phenomena, has been, that soul existence and immortality cannot be scientifically and logically shown, and human hopes, in consequence, have inclined toward the belief that through occultism, we may, in the future, discover the hidden way to a certainty of proof concerning the life hereafter.

The Rev. Philip Moxom, in his paper, "The Proof of the Immortality of the Soul," read by him before the Parliament of Religions, in Chicago in 1893, page 170, says: "A third consideration is, that a scientific proof of immortality, is, at present, impossible, in the ordinary sense of the phrase 'scientific proof.""

A well-known divine of the Church of England (in his book, "The Great Secret," page 4) says: "I venture to claim a hearing, first of all on account of the gravity of my subject. Can Immortality be proved by occult science? Is the survival of the entire personality after the temporary shock of dissolution through death, in any degree demonstrable? It is the supreme question which everyone must ask, the single great secret in the solution of which we are all equally interested; and I claim the right, too, because I have devoted so many years of my life to that solution. life to that solution. In the nature of things, I must soon solve the question for myself; and I should like, before I pass out into darkness, to leave on record, as completely as may be, my gropings toward the light."

On account of this uncertainty, many of our fellow creatures have been led astray and have renounced their belief in an existence after the dissolution of the body; religious teachings have been discarded; the sacred books cast away and ridiculed. Men have professed agnosticism and followed materialistic theories, saying "There is no God, neither is there a hereafter;" that "the life of man is confined solely to the duration of his ex