peoples and nations. What else, might
we not confidently affirm, but the unreserved acceptance of the Divine
Program enunciated, with such simplicity and force as far back as sixty
years ago, by Baha'u'llah, embodying in its essentials God's divinely
appointed scheme for the unification of mankind in this age, coupled with
an indomitable conviction in the unfailing efficacy of each and all of its
provisions, is eventually capable of withstanding the forces of internal
disintegration which, if unchecked, must needs continue to eat into the
vitals of a despairing society. It is towards this goal--the goal of a new
World Order, Divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, equitable in
principle, challenging in its features--that a harassed humanity must
strive.

To claim to have grasped all the implications of Baha'u'llah's prodigious
scheme for world-wide human solidarity, or to have fathomed its import,
would be presumptuous on the part of even the declared supporters of His
Faith. To attempt to visualize it in all its possibilities, to estimate
its future benefits, to picture its glory, would be premature at even so
advanced a stage in the evolution of mankind.

The Guiding Principles of World Order

All we can reasonably venture to attempt is to strive to obtain a glimpse
of the first streaks of the promised Dawn that must, in the fullness of
time, chase away the gloom that has encircled humanity. All we can do is
to point out, in their broadest outlines, what appear to us to be the
guiding principles underlying the World Order of Baha'u'llah, as amplified
and enunciated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of His Covenant with all
mankind and the appointed Interpreter and Expounder of His Word.

That the unrest and suffering afflicting the mass of mankind are in no
small measure the direct consequences of the World War and are
attributable to the unwisdom and shortsightedness of the framers of the
Peace Treaties only a biased mind can refuse to admit. That the financial
obligations contracted in the course of the war, as well as the imposition
of a staggering burden of reparations upon the vanquished, have, to a very
great extent, been responsible for the maldistribution and consequent
shortage of the world's monetary gold supply, which in turn has, to a very
great measure, accentuated the phenomenal fall in prices and thereby
relentlessly increased the burdens of impoverished countries, no impartial
mind would questi