Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 181
181 should be quickened afresh. As there are changes of seasons in the physical world, so here are revolutions in the spiritual world. In autumn the trees lose their verdure and freshness, and are stripped of their leaves and branches, and look like a man who being in the last stage of consumption loses all his flesh and blood, or like a leper whose face is disfigured by the effects of leprosy and whose limbs have dropped down. But they are not left in this state. Another period comes, and autumn is followed by spring when a new life is given to the dead plants and they sprout forth into fresh leaves. Similar to these changes in the physical world, there are changes and revolutions in the spiritual world and periods of light and darkness follow each other succes- sively like day and night. At certain stages of the history of the world, men are stripped of spiritual excellences and the perfec- tion of manhood like trees in the autumn, while at others a wind blows from heaven which breathes life afresh into their hearts. This our time is also the beginning of a spring. The deadness of autumn was witnessed in the Punjab during the days when this country was under the Sikh sway. Knowledge had then quite disappeared and ignorance had become prevalent. Religious books had become so rare that they could not be found except in some high family which remained intact from Sikh oppression. The night of the Sikh rule has been followed by the day of Bri- tish dominion which has brought us the invaluable blessing of peace. The truth is that if regard is had to the general peace and security prevailing in the country and to the comforts which we can and do enjoy, it is unjust to compare the days of Sikh rule with even the nights of English Government. The time in which we live is a time of physical as well as spiritual blessings, and what has already appeared is a sign of the richness of the harvest that we may yet reap- It is true, however, that being