Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 12
12 despaired of God’s grace. They imagine that God’s bounties were limited to those who have gone before and that they are like stepsons who cannot hope to inherit their stepfather’s property. They are, therefore, content to feed on the crumbs which those, who have gone before, have left for them out of charity. But none of these conditions is natural. The indif- ference of the first class of people referred to above, the fruitless efforts of the second, and the contentment born of despair of the last, are alike unavailing and unprofit- able. The only thing which can profit the seekers of God is the true recognition and knowledge of Him, which dispels all gloom and removes all that separates man from his Maker and ultimately brings man into the very presence of God. Such knowledge alone can present religion to man in a shape which is acceptable and which the judgment of man can approve; and this has always been done and can only be done by a Prophet of God. Consider therefore whether there is any religion today, whose followers claim still to possess that which was given to the world through the Prophets? Is it not true that men have either reconciled themselves to the belief that God’s blessings have been exhausted on those who have gone before, or renounced religion altogether, or deluded themselves with the belief that they have arrived at the goal, only, however, like the person in a mesmeric trance, who accepts all absurdities as true which have no reality for the lookers on? If this is so, the world is as much in need of a Prophet today as it was in any previous age. That is why the holy founder