nd what voice other than
that of Baha'u'llah--the Mouthpiece of God for this age--is capable of
effecting a transformation of society as radical as that which He has
already accomplished in the hearts of those men and women, so diversified
and seemingly irreconcilable, who constitute the body of His declared
followers throughout the world?

That such a mighty conception is fast budding out in the minds of men,
that voices are being raised in its support, that its salient features
must fast crystallize in the consciousness of those who are in authority,
few indeed can doubt. That its modest beginnings have already taken shape
in the world-wide Administration with which the adherents of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah stand associated only those whose hearts are tainted by
prejudice can fail to perceive.

(28 November 1931 to the Baha'is of the West, published in "The World
Order of Baha'u'llah: Selected Letters", pp. 33-37, 40-43, 45-48) [47]

48: No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Baha'i...

No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Baha'i
Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His
teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever
hope to achieve anything above or beyond that "Lesser Peace" to which the
Author of our Faith has Himself alluded in His writings. "Now that ye have
refused the Most Great Peace," He, admonishing the kings and rulers of the
earth, has written, "hold ye fast unto this the Lesser Peace, that haply
ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your
dependents." Expatiating on this Lesser Peace, He thus addresses in that
same Tablet the rulers of the earth: "Be reconciled among yourselves, that
ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your
territories and dominions... Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby
will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find
rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up
arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but
manifest justice."

The Most Great Peace, on the other hand, as conceived by Baha'u'llah--a
peace that must inevitably follow as the practical consequence of the
spiritualization of the world and the fusion of all its races, creeds,
classes and nations--can rest on no other basis, and can be preserved
through no other agency, except the divinel