each other like the savage wolves,
and forget the laws of love and tolerance.

Now this luminous age has come, bringing with it wonderful civilization
and material progress. Men's intellects have widened, their perceptions
grown, but alas, in spite of all this, fresh blood is being spilt day by
day. Look at the present Turco-Italian war; consider for a moment the fate
of these unhappy people! How many have been killed during this sad time?
How many homes are ruined, wives desolate, and children orphans! And what
is to be gained in exchange for all this anguish and heartache? Only a
corner of the earth!

This all shows that material progress alone does not tend to uplift man.
On the contrary, the more he becomes immersed in material progress, the
more does his spirituality become obscured.

In times gone by progress on the material plane was not so rapid, neither
was there bloodshed in such profusion. In ancient warfare there were no
cannons, no guns, no dynamite, no shells, no torpedo boats, no
battleships, no submarines. Now, owing to material civilization, we have
all these inventions, and war goes from bad to worse! Europe itself has
become like one immense arsenal, full of explosives, and may God prevent
its ignition--for, should this happen, the whole world would be involved.

I want to make you understand that material progress and spiritual
progress are two very different things, and that only if material progress
goes hand in hand with spirituality can any real progress come about, and
the Most Great Peace reign in the world. If men followed the Holy Counsels
and the Teachings of the Prophets, if Divine Light shone in all hearts and
men were really religious, we should soon see peace on earth and the
Kingdom of God among men. The laws of God may be likened unto the soul and
material progress unto the body. If the body was not animated by the soul,
it would cease to exist. It is my earnest prayer that spirituality may
ever grow and increase in the world, so that customs may become
enlightened and peace and concord may be established.

War and rapine with their attendant cruelties are an abomination to God,
and bring their own punishment, for the God of love is also a God of
justice and each man must inevitably reap what he sows. Let us try to
understand the commands of the Most High and to order our lives as He
directs. True happiness depends on spiritual good and having the heart
ever open to receive the Di