Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 126
WISE COUNSELLOR Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I 126 means of acquiring knowledge and the vast treasures of knowledge that have been made available. The plentiful supply of paper, the multiplicity of printing presses, the organisation of post offices whereby we can transmit our thoughts to distant lands at little cost, the telegraph system, railways, steamships and other means of transportation are all divine bounties. If man does not employ these bounties beneficently and misuses them, he will be called to account for them and suffer chastisement. If he uses them beneficently they will be multiplied unto him. In my younger days books were obtained with difficulty; those who possessed them were reluctant to lend them. Latterly the finest publications of Constantinople, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunisia and Morocco have become easily available without any trouble. It is thus incumbent upon every one to derive the utmost benefit, in this time of peace, from these divine bounties. The need of religion is emphasised by the consideration that human life demands regulation. The purpose of law is to safeguard human rights. Public law suffers from the limitation that it can only punish offences once they have been committed; it has no power to eradicate their causes. For instance, it is possible for law to punish rape; but it is beyond the province of law to put down evil desires, or exclude vicious companions, or control the roving eye which incite a person to commit that offence. It is religion that restrains us from all this. It resents evil. In the eye of religion a virtuous one and a vicious one are not alike. They are not equal in respect of their beliefs and