The second group of principles refers to Revelation. The real process
of revelation, by what means and in what manner the infinite and
incorporeal Being makes His Will known to man, and how the latter
becomes conscious and convinced of the fact that a Divine communication
has been made to him, remains a mystery to all but those privileged
persons who have been actually addressed by the Almighty. “As the blind
man who had never possessed the sense of sight is incapable of
comprehending the actual process of seeing, so are we, born without
that wonderful prophetic eye, without the prophetic faculty of the
mind, incapable of comprehending and depicting the process of
inspiration that goes on within the mind of the privileged” (Schmiedl,
Studien, p. 183). God reveals Himself also in nature, in the power and
wisdom displayed in its phenomena. He reveals Himself in the history of
nations, and especially in the history of Israel. He reveals Himself in
the intelligence of man. In all these cases the revelation is made to
all alike. Those who have eyes may see, those who have ears may hear,
and recognise, every one according to his capacity, the presence of the
Almighty in the working of the laws of nature, in the development and
fates of nations, and in the life of every individual person. In all
these cases we can test and prove the revelation by ourselves, and need
not exclusively rely on authority. When, however, a Divine
communication is made to one privileged individual, through whom it is
made known to a whole community, or to mankind, there is no other means
of testing the correctness of the revelation than the trustworthiness
of the privileged individual.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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