Glad Tidings

Gracious Prince! Our present is the glad tidings that he for whom the Christians and the Muslims were waiting, for whom rich and poor alike were yearning, and many looked heavenwards with sigh and longed that he should appear in their lifetime that they might be blessed by his sight, has appeared and has illumined the world with his light and filled it with his glory.

Those alone, however, can derive a benefit from his advent who hear and perceive so that what is written may be fulfilled:—“By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”1

Those who desire not to enter the kingdom of Heaven are wont to cite the scriptures wherein is written that he will descend from the heavens, and say we will not believe till he appears among the clouds surrounded by angels; for it is written: “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect.”2 And they say, we shall not believe till all this come to pass, lest we lose our faith and injure our belief.

But woe unto them, they do not reflect over the words of Jesus and strive not to comprehend what he has expounded in his parables and calling themselves his followers act like unbelievers. He himself has clearly said: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.”3 Then how do they conclude that he who was born in Nazareth ascended bodily unto heaven and will bodily descend again. Verily he ascended unto heaven as he had descended and his second advent will be like unto his first.

He who stumbles is to be pitied but woe is to him who perceives another stumbling and does not take heed, for the former can plead ignorance and say that he fell for want of a guide who could have warned him of the danger, but the latter can plead neither excuse nor extenuation, for he saw another falling and yet trod on the same path. He, therefore, deserves a greater punishment, for he repented not of error, even after it was made manifest. Was not it written: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”4

Then, did they not witness that Elijah did not descend from Heaven but appeared on earth in the person of John the Baptist, and yet those whose hearts were full of guile were misled by these words and laughed at Jesus and said: If thou art indeed the Messiah, then where is Elias who was to come before him? Even his disciples asked him, “Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?”5

God’s secrets are disclosed only at the time appointed for their disclosure and are disclosed only to those to whom God opens the gates of His knowledge. So Jesus told them that John was Elias and that they might accept him if they would. It is patent, therefore, that what was meant by Elias descending from heaven was that John should, as the angel had foretold before his birth, go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elias.6

Then what has come to these people that in spite of this explanation by Jesus of the meaning of descent from heaven, they cannot see their error and insist that Jesus must descend from Heaven? Did not the angel tell Zacharias that the coming of Elias from heaven meant that a chosen one would come in his spirit and power? and did not Jesus say that the coming of Elias was fulfilled in John the Baptist who came in his spirit and power? and was it not written “Let him who hath ears hear?”

But woe to these people that they hear not and have fallen into the same error into which the Scribes and Pharisees fell, and imagine that the Messiah will come down from Heaven!

Have not these people pondered over the prophecies contained in the scriptures concerning the second advent of Jesus? Have they not read that which Jesus said: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”7

If he was really to come down from Heaven, why did he give a warning that people should not be deceived by the fulfilment of a few signs and must wait till all be fulfilled? Would he not, in that case, have said, they shall appear from the Earth, but I shall come from Heaven, so that there can be no mistake? Why does he ask his disciples to endure and to wait? Why does he not say, accept him who comes from Heaven and reject all others? Why does he appoint any other sign but this? If he was to descend from Heaven, why did his disciples ask him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” Was this not sign enough that he would come down from heaven with a host of angels? and could there be any mistake about him?

The truth is that Jesus was wont to talk in parables, and his words had only this meaning that his second advent would be like unto the second advent of Elias, that is, another would appear in his spirit and power; and so indeed has it come to pass. Let him who hath eyes see, and let him who hath ears hear, lest he should be left waiting and be shut out from the kingdom of heaven like the Jews of old who sought to put a literal construction on the scriptures and thus lost a rare opportunity.

Gracious Prince! (May God be with you and open your heart to the acceptance of truth!) as related above it was appointed that one should come in the spirit of Jesus and not that Jesus should himself come down from Heaven. To know him, therefore, we should ponder over the words of the prophecies and should search for their true meaning like the diver who dives even unto the bottom of the ocean to seek for pearls, and not like him who, in his heart denying all heavenly laws, looks towards the Heavens that pearls may be showered on him; lest it should happen that when there is a cry made that the bridegroom cometh we should run in search of oil, like the virgins who took no oil with them, and the bride-groom should enter the house with the virgins that are ready and shut its doors on us, and leave us to wailing and the gnashing of teeth.8

The signs which Jesus has related concerning his second advent show that it will not take place till the beast which the Jews abhorred to such a degree that they did not like even to mention its name is sacrificed in Jerusalem. This indicates that his second advent would not take place shortly after his first advent, but was appointed for a much later period. Jesus says that if anybody claims to be the Messiah before that period, he is a false prophet and should be rejected. But when nations rise against nations and famines, wars, earthquakes, pestilences and iniquity abound, and the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars fall from heaven and the powers of heaven are shaken, then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in Heaven and he shall come from heaven in great glory.

Now every one who thinks over these signs will understand that all of them have been fulfilled.

Plague has appeared and caused such devastation as never had occurred before over such a large area.

The Earth has been shaken by tremblings so severe that the like of them had never been felt before.

In spite of irrigation canals and facilities for the carriage of commodities, for instance, railroads and steamships, the world has passed through famine so severe that they have made the lives of men miserable.

Iniquity abounds to such a degree that not only a brother betrays a brother but finds pleasure in the act.

All these signs have been fulfilled so clearly that no doubt has been left concerning them.

As to the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of the stars and the shaking of the powers of Heaven, it might appear as if they had not yet been fulfilled. But those who reflect over sacred writings and are familiar with the working of Divine laws have no difficulty in arriving at the real meaning of these words.

It is obvious that these words cannot be taken literally. If the Sun were to be really darkened, life on this planet would become extinct, as all life is dependent on the light of the Sun. If the stars fell from the heavens, this world would be annihilated, for every part of this Universe is dependent upon the other and cannot exist without it. Again, if the powers of Heaven were shaken literally, not only men but even angels would cease to exist. Jesus himself has said that after these things come to pass, the Son of Man will take away the Earth from the evil-doers and give the inheritance thereof to the righteous. But if the Sun and the Moon should cease to give forth light and the stars fall out of heaven, the coming of Jesus and the giving of the inheritance to the righteous would become impossible.

It is clear, therefore, that this prophecy cannot be construed literally and that there is a hidden meaning in it, as is very often the case with revealed words; and that meaning is that the Sun and the Moon will be eclipsed in those days and meteors will fall in large numbers, and the power of religious leaders over their followers will be weakened, for in religious literature heavenly powers signify leaders of religion.

These signs appear at first sight to be very common ones, for solar and lunar eclipses and the falling of meteors are no extraordinary phenomena, and the power of religious leaders has often been shaken before. But on reflection it would appear that these are mighty signs, for although details are not given in the Gospels, these having been compiled a considerable time after Jesus, the Islamic traditions specify a limitation concerning these eclipses which invests them with peculiar value as signs indicating the period when the Messiah would re-appear.

This limitation is that these eclipses would occur in the lunar month of Ramazan and that the Moon would be eclipsed on the 13th and the Sun would be eclipsed on the 28th of the month. This concurrence has never before been witnessed in the time of any person claiming to be a prophet, but it has taken place in these days when the other signs have also been fulfilled. In the year 1894, eclipses of the Sun and the Moon were observed in the month of Ramazan on the 28th and the 13th of the month, respectively, as had been written.

Again, the falling of meteors is a common enough phenomenon, especially during the month of November, but as soon as any remarkable feature is introduced into this phenomenon it will rank as a sign, just as wars, famines and pestilences, which are common visitations become signs under a combination of certain circumstances.

We see that this sign has also been remarkably fulfilled in these days. Whenever the earth passes through the region of meteors this phenomenon is observed; but during the years 1866, 1872, 1879 and 1885 it was observed much more frequently than it had ever been done before. The reason is that portions of a comet, called M. Biela’s Comet, have become separated from the main body, with the result, that during those years meteors fell in extraordinarily large numbers. There is no historical record of a similar occurrence in past ages. Therefore this is also a clear sign by which we can fix the time of the second advent of the Messiah.

Similarly about the power and influence of religious leaders. The hold of religious leaders over their followers has never been so weak as in these days, and the sway of religion over the lives of the people has never been so loose before. Profanity and irreligion are rife on all sides and people have come to regard religion as a superstition and an encumbrance. This is not confined to the followers of any particular religion; all religions are being ridiculed and whatever power religious leaders are able to retain and exercise over their followers is of a kind more political than religious. This again is a sign which has been fulfilled in these days.

Thus all that was written having been fulfilled, the Messiah must surely have appeared and it behoves those who love him to seek him, lest he should seize them and say:

“Have I then tarried so long that ye grew weary of waiting for me, and thinking that I would not come ye have laid hands on the gardens and palaces that ye may dispose of them as ye will?”

Those who seek him will have no difficulty in finding him, for he has himself specified the place of his appearance and has kept nothing secret lest some say:

“How shall we find him by seeking in the wide world”? Has he not said: “For, as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be”?9

This parable clearly indicates that he will appear in the East and his doctrine will spread to the uttermost corners of the West; and thus indeed has it come to pass. He appeared in India, which is in the East, and which has from ancient days been the seat of knowledge and learning, and very soon his teachings were propagated in the farthest corners of the earth, so that his followers are to be found even outside Asia, e.g., in Europe and America.

If one reflects a little over the words of the Bible, one is convinced that this is the time appointed for the second advent of the Messiah, for Jesus has said:— “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.”10 This shows that one of the objects of the advent of Jesus was to fulfil the law of Moses, for he says he has come to fulfil the law and enjoins upon his disciples obedience to the law. “The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.”11

Another object of his advent was to call people to the kingdom of heaven. Even during the early days of his ministry he is recorded as saying; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”12 and he continued to preach this even unto the end of his ministry as is apparent from the injunction which he laid upon his disciples when sending them forth to preach in the world: “And as ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand”13 or, according to another version “And say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”14

The kingdom of heaven cannot be taken to mean the advent of Jesus himself, for he always described his own coming as the coming of the Son, and said that God would come after he had been crucified.

He relates this in the form of a parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard, but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyards. What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, therefore, shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others.”15

In this parable the vineyard stands for divine guidance, and the lord of the vineyard is Moses, who came into the world as the manifestation of the attributes and glory of God, and the husbandmen are the Israelites, and the servants who were sent for the fruit are the prophets who were sent after Moses, and the son is Jesus himself, who came last of all, but who was, after Moses, the most beloved and honoured prophet of God; but the Israelites rejected him also and put him on the Cross.

Then, the only thing left was the appearance of the Prophet whose advent was to be like the advent of God Himself, and who was to appear not from among the Israelites as heretofore, but from among their brethren the Ishmaelites concerning whom Jesus had said, “Did ye never read in the scriptures. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing and is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore, say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder,”16 and concerning whom Moses had prophesied:—“And the Lord said unto me. They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth: and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”17

This that had been written in the scriptures was bound to be fulfilled, otherwise the words of God’s elect, Moses and Jesus, would have proved false, as it had been written, “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously.”18

The words of the elect were, however, literally fulfilled, and God raised a prophet like unto Moses from among the brethren of the Israelites, that is, from among the descendants of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael, by means of whom the kingdom of Divine guidance was taken from the Israelites and was given to the Muslims, and the stone that the builders had rejected became the head of the corner, and whosoever fell on him (that is, whosoever attacked him) was broken, and on whomsoever he fell (that is, whomsoever he attacked) was ground into powder, and whosoever did not hearken to his words, God did require it of him.

Jesus cannot be that prophet for he had himself said that that prophet would come after he (Jesus) had been crucified.

Nor can it mean the Church, for the Church is not a prophet and the scriptures say that the Promised One would be a prophet who, like Moses, will manifest the glory of God, the law will be in his right hand, and with ten thousand saints he would descend upon the enemies of God from Mount Paran, that is, the hills round Mecca; as is written, “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.”19 It is obvious that the Church is not a prophet, nor did it shine forth from Mount Paran, nor did it come into the world with ‘ten thousands of saints.’

This manifestation of the glory of God that was to shine forth from Mount Paran, was none other than the noblest of men, the first among Prophets, the Perfect, the Praised, Ahmad and Muhammad, upon whose people their brethren had shut the gates of the kingdom of heaven and whom the chiefs of his own tribe had cast out as useless, but the same did become the head of the corner.

He had to leave Mecca with a solitary companion, but God succoured him so that when his own nation raised a mighty army to destroy him and his little band of followers, and, marching over two hundred miles of desert, attacked him in his adopted home, then in the words of Jesus, “Whosoever fell on him was broken.” God made a handful of men, poorly armed and without provisions, the means of inflicting an humiliating defeat on an army captained by experienced generals.

This, however, did not stop them, and after each act of transgression they abused the pardon extended to them and were repeatedly guilty of breach of faith. Then God commanded this Prophet to attack them in their strongholds to prove that his triumphs were secured by the Grace and Help of God and not because the enemy laboured under a disadvantage in attacking him in his home after undergoing the hardships of a long desert journey. Then was fulfilled the other part of the saying of Jesus, for, whichever way he turned victory kissed his stirrup and he vanquished his enemies in their very homes and “on whomsoever he fell he ground him to powder.”

He who shone forth from Mount Paran with ten thousand saints, in whose right hand was a fiery law which consumes all impurities of the flesh and turns the grossest heart into pure gold, concerning whom Jesus had said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. How be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come;”20 and whose servant every prophet is proud to call himself, is the self-same Muhammad, the Holy Founder of Islam, who to-day is called a robber and a tyrant who dyed the surface of earth with blood.

This, however, is not to be wondered at. The enemies of God are ever cast in the same mould and it is customary with them to find fault with all things. John came neither eating nor drinking and they said, “He hath a devil.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said, “Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.”21

Jesus of Nazareth came without the sword and was crucified innocent. “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, king of the Jews.”22 “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver him now, if He will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.”23 And again: “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.”24 But when Muhammad (on whom be peace and the blessings of God!), the Prophet of God, who was the Perfect manifestation both of the Beauty and of the Glory of God, chastised the transgressors and evil-doers when they had become lost to all sense of honesty, morality, and even humanity, the priests of this day, who are the successors of the scribes and pharisees, forgetting the case of Jesus, cry out “Behold a man who calls himself the Prophet of God and His manifestation; he draws his sword against his enemy and destroys him. Is this his truth and his righteousness? Why does he not pardon and spread the mantle of forgiveness over the heads of mankind.”

They forget that in the hour of his victory he was merciful; when his enemies were delivered into his hands he forgave them; when the rope was put round their necks he released them; when the sword was about to be applied to their throats he granted them new life, and forgave such a multitude of sins and transgressions that if his forgiveness were divided among a thousand prophets it would exceed that which all of them together had shown.

But as God, the fountain-head of Mercy and forgiveness, seizes the evil-doer and chastises him, to correct but not to inflict pain; so did this Prophet that he might prove himself the like of Moses and the Perfect Manifestation of God.

Had he not done this, these very detractors would have cried out, “Behold this man, who calls himself the like of Moses. Where are his ten thousands of saints who were to accompany him from Mount Paran to chastise the evil- doer and to establish the kingdom of God on earth? He calls himself the last Law-giver but when was it fulfilled of him that “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the Great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors: and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors?”25

If he had never made war and had gone on forgiving, they would have said, When did he divide the spoil with the strong, that we should believe he will establish the Kingdom of God upon Earth?

So had their ancestors spoken concerning Jesus, If he is indeed a king, then let him show us the signs of one. They forgot that kingdoms are not of the Earth alone, but also of the heart, as the people of these days forget that humility and forgiveness alone are not virtues and that to punish the transgressor, to rescue the weak and the oppressed from the power of the tyrant, and to establish justice and truth in the world also count as virtues, and that he alone is perfect who exercises each of these virtues when occasion or necessity calls for it.

In short, noble prince! (may God open your heart to the acceptance of truth!) the advent of a mighty Prophet after Jesus had been foretold, who was to come in the power and spirit of Moses, and the object of the second advent of Jesus was to fulfil the law of this second Moses, as the object of his first advent was to fulfil the law of the first Moses; and in order to establish a resemblance between the two dispensations it was necessary that the interval between the first Moses and the first advent of Jesus should correspond with the interval between the appearance of the second Moses and the second advent of Jesus.

History informs us that the former interval was between thirteen and fourteen centuries, and as over thirteen hundred years have now passed after the advent of the second Moses, this is another indication that the present is the age appointed for the second advent of Jesus.

It may occur to Your Royal Highness that Islam is in such a sorry plight in these days that it is impossible that the Messiah should appear to support it.

Your Royal Highness should, however, keep in view the fact that religion and the followers of a religion are two very different things, and that the religion taught by a revealed book and that practised by those who profess to believe in that book are sometimes as opposed to each other as light is to darkness.

Jesus says: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil,”26 but in spite of this he says concerning the Scribes and Pharisees of his time, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.”27

And again, he says concerning them, “But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves…. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

…Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell.”28

Again he describes the common people as “this wicked and adulterous generation.”

Then, are the Muslims of the present day more iniquitous than the Israelites, that the Messiah should not be born among them?

However iniquitous they may be, their iniquity cannot detract from the teachings of Islam, just as the wickedness of the Jews in the time of Jesus could not detract from the teachings of Moses. He who disobeys the injunctions of his religion is alone responsible for the breach and digs his own grave: his doings do not affect the word of God. Similarly, he who fashions a new doctrine owing to his ignorance or misconstruction of the scriptures, is alone responsible for his heresies, and these do not pollute the scriptures.

Is it not written that the Sadducees professed to derive their denial of the judgment-day from the Old Testament and that their divines once appeared before Jesus to convince him of the truth of this heresy, but that he silenced them?

Islam and the Holy Quran, therefore, are not responsible for the doings and beliefs of the Muslims.

Islam is a light before which the lights of all other faiths fade into darkness; it is a sun before which no lamp can give light, but woe unto these people, that they have turned their backs upon it lest their eyes should perceive its light and begin to see.

It is like a pearl thrown by a child before an animal. The child throws it away deeming it worthless, the animal runs away from it imagining it to be harmful.

But the Lord of the Prophets who reigns over the Universe from His Throne in Heaven, cannot permit the Light which He has sent into the world to be ignored. He has, therefore, sent His beloved to fulfil the Law that was given to Muhammad (peace be on him and the blessings of God!) as Jesus was sent to fulfil the Law of Moses, and to work in the spirit and power of Jesus and be called by his name and be glorified till the end of the days as the Messiah of the Lord, so that that be fulfilled which was written, “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”29

He alone, therefore, can see Jesus who believes that in this age a Prophet has been raised in his name, and there is no other way of seeing him.

He who was to come is come: blessed are those that know him and believe in him.

Yes, the preacher of Islam has appeared so that the Final Law be fulfilled and those who dwell in the corners of the earth may enter the kingdom of Heaven through him and become the servants of Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him!) for without submission to him there is no redemption and for those who deny him there is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth.

As the first Messiah brought no new dispensation but came to strengthen and fulfil the law of Moses, so this second Messiah came to strengthen and fulfil the Law of Muhammad (on whom be peace and the blessings of God!) and as the first Messiah came to preach, “Beware, the kingdom of God is nigh, the Lord of the Universe is about to appear, be ye prepared, the Heir to everlasting salvation is coming, make ye ready for him,” so this Messiah is sent to preach unto the world; “The kingdom of God is come, the Lord of the Universe has appeared, the Heir to everlasting salvation has come, enter then among his servants and follow me that I may lead you to his palace and make room for you at his table, for he has entrusted the keys of his palace to me and has appointed me the steward of his household.”

If it be said, How shall we know that his words are true and that God has made him the Messiah and that all that he speaks concerning Islam is the truth, for we have been warned that “Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” and again “There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders: insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”30

Here indeed is a warning against false prophets and it is said that they shall show great signs and wonders, but is it not also said that “If it were possible they shall deceive the very elect,”? which shows that there are means of knowing the true prophet from the false ones by the help of which the elect shall know the true prophet and shall not be deceived by the false ones.

Their signs and wonders must be of a nature different from that of the signs and wonders of the true prophets, for if that were not so, then how can we say that Moses and David and John and even Jesus himself were true prophets?

We find, however, that Jesus puts forward his signs and wonders as testimonies of his truth, for we read that when John sent his disciples to Jesus and they asked him, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” he answered and said unto them, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”31 And it is written “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”32

It is clear, therefore, that signs and prophecies are the testimonies of the truth of a prophet, and the wonders which Jesus attributes to false prophets are of a nature different from those shown by God’s prophets and are of the kind of tricks and sleights of hand, whereas, the signs of true prophets are of a supernatural order which manifest the glory of God.

Such signs and prophecies being the means of knowing a prophet, the Messenger and Prophet of these days may also be judged by the signs which he has shown and the prophecies which he has made and which have been fulfilled at their appointed time.

These signs are of two kinds. The life, teachings and work of a prophet are signs in themselves and there are other signs which concern, and are fulfilled in the persons of, others. I shall, therefore, relate both kinds of signs; and shall first speak of the miraculous life, teachings and work of this Messiah.