ice or separation into nations such as
French, German, American and so on is unnatural and proceeds from human
motive and ignorance. All are the children and servants of God. Why should
we be separated by artificial and imaginary boundaries? In the animal
kingdom the doves flock together in harmony and agreement. They have no
prejudices. We are human and superior in intelligence. Is it befitting
that lower creatures should manifest virtues which lack expression in man?

Baha'u'llah has proclaimed and promulgated the foundation of international
peace. For thousands of years men and nations have gone forth to the
battlefield to settle their differences. The cause of this has been
ignorance and degeneracy. Praise be to God! In this radiant century minds
have developed, perceptions have become keener, eyes are illumined and
ears attentive. Therefore, it will be impossible for war to continue.
Consider human ignorance and inconsistency. A man who kills another man is
punished by execution, but a military genius who kills one hundred
thousand of his fellow creatures is immortalized as a hero. One man steals
a small sum of money and is imprisoned as a thief. Another pillages a
whole country and is honored as a patriot and conqueror. A single
falsehood brings reproach and censure, but the wiles of politicians and
diplomats excite the admiration and praise of a nation. Consider the
ignorance and inconsistency of mankind. How darkened and savage are the
instincts of humanity!

Baha'u'llah has announced that no matter how far the world of humanity may
advance in material civilization, it is nevertheless in need of spiritual
virtues and the bounties of God. The spirit of man is not illumined and
quickened through material sources. It is not resuscitated by
investigating phenomena of the world of matter. The spirit of man is in
need of the protection of the Holy Spirit. Just as he advances by
progressive stages from the mere physical world of being into the
intellectual realm, so must he develop upward in moral attributes and
spiritual graces. In the process of this attainment he is ever in need of
the bestowals of the Holy Spirit. Material development may be likened to
the glass of a lamp, whereas divine virtues and spiritual susceptibilities
are the light within the glass. The lamp chimney is worthless without the
light; likewise, man in his material condition requires the radiance and
vivification of the divine graces and mercifu